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Frank Bisignano, the CEO of financial services, has been nominated by President-elect Donald Trump as the Social Security Administration’s commissioner . On Wednesday night, Trump said on social media that Frank is a business leader with a great history of changing big companies. He will be in charge of fulfilling the agency’s promise to the American people for many years to come! At the moment, Bisignano is in charge of Fiserv, one of the biggest financial software firms in the nation and a major player in financial services and payments. He previously served in top leadership roles at Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase, among other big institutions. New Social Security commissioner under the Trump administration Bisignano will have to take on the enormous responsibility of safeguarding the future of the Social Security program if the Senate confirms him as its head. In 2035, the Social Security trust fund may run out of money, according to a government analysis . During his campaign, Trump pledged not to reduce Social Security benefits, which are received by over 67 million Americans who are elderly or disabled. However, he made no explicit legislative recommendations to guarantee the program’s viability. In his remarks, Trump praised Bisignano’s extensive experience guiding financial services companies through significant change. According to Trump, Frank is a business leader with an impressive history of changing big businesses. Delivering on the Agency’s promise to the American people will be his responsibility. As a senior vice president of what was then Shearson Lehman Brothers , the investment bank whose failure in 2008 contributed to the start of the global recession, Mr. Bisignano soared into one of the most sought-after roles in the New York banking industry in his late 20s. He worked with the bank for about five years in the late 1980s before moving on to other big Wall Street institutions , including Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and JPMorgan Chase & Company. One of the few to receive compensation exceeding $100 million in 2017, Mr. Bisignano was named the nation’s second-highest-paid CEO. Additionally, he earned over 2,000 times the typical wage of an employee at First Data Corporation, his company that later merged with Fiserv. A long history of political giving to Republicans Mr. Bisignano has contributed to politics for a long time, mostly to Republicans. According to federal campaign finance reports, Tracy Bisignano, his wife, gave Mr. Trump’s campaign close to $1 million in October. However, in November 2023, he contributed $15,000 to the presidential campaign of Chris Christie, a Republican who had previously served as governor of New Jersey and had run against Trump before withdrawing. Before disclosing the post that Mr. Bisignano was being named for, Mr. Trump praised him and his family on social media earlier on Wednesday and shared an in-depth biography of Mr. Bisignano. An hour later, the president-elect clarified his position, putting a stop to rumors about Mr. Bisignano’s future. Why will the Social Security Administration need Bisignano? The American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) SSA General Committee highlighted that after unprecedented achievements under outgoing Commissioner O’Malley in collaboration with AFGE, including a 6.2% increase in productivity and a rise in employee engagement and morale, SSA will welcome a new commissioner, the group said. As long as the new commissioner reciprocates and upholds their legal and contractual commitments to the union and the employees, AFGE is prepared to work in good faith with them. Our joint objectives should be to improve employee morale and retain talent. According to Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden, millions of Americans rely on Social Security to provide them with the defined benefits they have earned by contributing to the program with each paycheck. With the assistance of thousands of field offices nationwide and a customer service department that desperately needs a 21st-century makeover, SSA makes sure that all benefits are distributed in full and on schedule. In light of Trump’s promises to eliminate the federal workforce, I’m interested in learning how Mr. Bisignano intends to guarantee Social Security benefits are paid out without any problems.
A health care advocacy group is railing against President-elect Donald Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for health and human services secretary, saying it will be “dangerous” to the health of the American people. During a news conference Friday in front of Portland City Hall, several speakers affiliated with the nonprofit Protect Our Care, which advocates to protect the Affordable Care Act, Medicare and Medicaid, decried Kennedy’s false rhetoric questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines, among other conspiracy theories. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Capitol Hill in 2023. Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post “His message is, ‘We are going to make eradicated diseases great again,’ ” said Mark Gallagher, a leader of Protect Our Care Maine. Vaccines have stopped or slowed the spread of infectious diseases such as measles, mumps, polio, pertussis, chickenpox and influenza, and saved millions of lives. The quick development of COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives worldwide during the pandemic. Kennedy has falsely claimed that vaccines cause autism, and cast doubts about the safety of vaccines during testimony before the Maine Legislature in 2015. He also has spread myths that the 1918 influenza pandemic was caused by vaccine research, among other things. Trump’s nominees must be confirmed by the Senate, and Maine’s senators, Republican Susan Collins and independent Angus King, have not yet taken a stand on specific nominees, according to their offices. “I think you are going to do some unbelievable things,” Trump said, praising RFK Jr. during a recent event at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “If you like health and you like people that live a long time, it’s the most important position.” Kennedy, in defending his nomination, said on the X social media platform that “there’s a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic.” “Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” Kennedy wrote. “I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.” But Dr. Patricia Hymanson, a retired physician and former state lawmaker, said Kennedy has “embraced radical conspiracy theories” about science and medicine. Hymanson also called out Kennedy for wanting to pause scientific research into new medications. “He will sabotage science and hurt people,” said Hymanson, speaking on behalf of the Maine Medical Association, which represents physicians. “We are calling on our entire federal delegation to stop this nomination. We cannot have an unqualified person who has never led undermining decades of progress to keep Mainers healthy.” Kennedy has advocated for removing fluoride from public drinking water supplies, considered by health experts as one of the most important advancements in public health during the 20th century. He has also attacked the Food and Drug Administration, which is tasked with protecting the food supply, safety of medications and approving new drugs and vaccines. “If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you. 1. Preserve your records. 2. Pack your bags,” Kennedy said on social media in October. Kennedy made an appearance in 2015 before the Maine Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, w here he repeated debunked claims about vaccines as lawmakers were debating a vaccine bill. Maine lawmakers eventually passed a bill that eliminated religious and philosophic exemptions for school-required vaccinations. Since the law went into effect, Maine’s kindergarten vaccination rates have improved and are among the best in the nation. Matthew Felling, a King spokesperson, said in a written statement that the senator “will review and consider all nominations when the next administration formally sends them to the Senate in 2025 – though he acknowledges that some of those mentioned thus far do not appear to have the requisite background or experience for the important posts in question.” We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. 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San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy will miss Sunday's game against the Packers with a sore throwing shoulder
HOUSTON — Dillon Brooks scored a season-high 28 points and led the Houston Rockets to a 116-88 win over the Portland Trail Blazers in an NBA Cup game on Friday night. Brooks matched a career-high with six 3-pointers on eight attempts, and the Rockets made 15 of 39 (38.5%) from beyond the arc. Tari Eason scored 22 points off the bench, Jalen Green had 17 and Alperen Sengun added 14 as the Rockets won for the seventh time in eight games. Six of those wins were by double figures. Houston is 2-0 in NBA Cup play For Portland, Deni Avdija and Shaedon Sharpe scores 13 points apiece and Toumani Camara had 11. Portland has lost two straight games to open a four-game trip. They previously won three straight at home. The Trail Blazers are 1-1 in the in-season tournament. Takeaways Trail Blazers: Portland was missing two of its five leading scorers in Scoot Henderson, out for the first time with a left quad contusion, and Deandre Ayton, who remained sidelined with a deep contusion in his right index finger. Rockets: Houston, at 12-5, has outscored opponents by 163 points through 17 games, the highest total through the first 17 games of a season in franchise history. The previous record of 131 was held by the defending champion 1996-97 Rockets, who started the season 15-2. Portland Trail Blazers guard Rayan Rupert, right, defends against Houston Rockets forward Amen Thompson (1) during the second half of an Emirates NBA Cup basketball game in Houston, Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. Credit: AP/Ashley Landis Key moment The Rockets were trailing early when Eason checked in and provided a spark, scoring 12 points in an energetic 13 minutes in the first half. Eason finished with a game-best plus-minus of +33 points. Key stat Houston outscored Portland 23-7 in fast-break points and generated 28 points off Portland’s 21 turnovers. Up next The Trail Blazers and the Rockets will meet again Saturday night in Houston for the second half of a back-to-back.By Emily Brookes * Cask, box, bag-in-box. Chateau Cardboard. Goon bag. Whatever you call it, you probably don't have a high opinion of box wine. In Aotearoa it's been synonymous with "bad wine", a hangover from the 1980s when, much cheaper per millilitre of grog than glass bottle and cork, it became the preferred receptacle for wine made from inferior grapes that would otherwise have been waste. As our wine industry matured, serious winemakers turned to bottles, leaving casks the preserve of students looking for a cheap way to a good night and those who make mulled wine at Christmas. "It's very unusual for New Zealand that no one picked it up and said, 'Actually this is a great delivery system'," says winemaker Matt Dicey. Until now. There's nothing about being in a bag that makes wine bad; in fact, thanks to its one-way valve, it keeps wine fresher once opened for longer than a bottle. And Dicey is among a wave of Kiwi winemakers on a mission to show that box wine can be good wine, and that we should all be embracing it. Dicey and his brother, James, make wine under their eponymous label in Bannockburn, Central Otago. Far from cheap and inferior, their Pinot Noir typically starts at above $35 retail, and they farm organically. The brothers' eco-consciousness led them to put some of their wine into box (their preferred term). "For 98 percent of people that buy wine, they drink it immediately, and the need for a bottle in that circumstance is non-existent," says Dicey. "It's actually a terrible delivery system, because it's so carbon intensive." Fellow winemaker Nadine Worley is from Australia - where the "goon bag" was developed, in the 1960s. After 10 years making wine at Marlborough's Mud House, she started teaching sustainability in the Viticulture programme at Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT). "I was down this big rabbit hole, which you only have time to do in academia, going - oh my god, why is no one talking about this? You've grown the grapes, you've made the wine, the last thing you do is package it, and that has such a big impact on your environmental footprint". So when she and her friend, viticulturist Logie Mackenzie, decided to launch their own organic wine label, they looked for a non-glass packaging solution. Fugitive launched in 2021 with Sauvignon Blanc in stainless steel kegs and reusable bottles. But as of 2023, at Fugitive bottles are out, and wine in 2L fully recyclable soft plastic bladders held in cardboard boxes are in. "I was really anti-plastic, so that's something I had to wrestle with," Worley says. She was swayed by studies that showed these materials netted 40% less carbon emissions than a standard 750ml bottle. Dicey is a much bigger operation than Fugitive, making many different wines, most of it bottled. Still, when the brothers decided to put some wine into box (aluminium was discounted for being difficult in large format; PET is arguably the best in terms of recyclability but allows too much oxygen to enter the wine), they chose to lead with a big hitter. "We decided Central Pinot was the perfect thing to change the perception of what's being delivered in box," Dicey says. "The perfect foil for people's negative connotations around what it meant to have a cask wine." The answer to whether the same wine would taste different in bottle as opposed to box is "an easy yeah-nah," says Dicey. "There should be no taste difference between bottle and box." So how has the market responded? "Only once have I been booted out of a restaurant for pouring someone a glass from a bag-in-bottle," Dicey says. "You certainly have some pushback from a certain subset within consumers, but you get no pushback from others." Those born after the era of boxed Muller-Thurgau, the same generation that has grown up with the threat of climate change, are generally much more open-minded. Once opened, a box wine will stay fresh for a month, even six weeks - much longer than a bottle of wine. Dicey reckons that promotes responsible drinking, and brings pricing benefits. "It can be a $15 glasspour and there's no wastage." Both Dicey and Fugitive had to import their own bagging machines, as there were none available in Aotearoa. But recently Wineworks Marlborough, a contract bottling and warehousing company, has imported its own bagging unit from France. "We have many clients who are looking at alternative packaging formats to be able to offer their premium product, just delivered in a different way," says CEO Peter Crowe. Though trials of the machine only finished in early November, Wineworks already has a few clients lined up, among them Muse, another Marlborough winery making only box wine. "We have interest from around 20 different winery clients considering this format," Crowe adds. He credits Dicey with leading the charge in boxing "premium (New Zealand) offerings at premium pricing", saying research shows others should quickly follow suit (Mt Edward has notably boxed some of the 2023 wines in its lower-budget Ted range). "Overseas there is a growing trend for premium wines packaged in bag-in-box, particularly amongst younger drinkers," Crowe notes. "This is just the start of the box wine revolution," Worsley agrees. "We did it with screw caps - people used to think you can't put good wine under screw cap." There will always be a place for glass bottles, particularly for ageing wine. But, "that glass bottle we've been using, it's pretty much the same bottle for 400 years. So I think it's time we had another look at that." *Emily Brookes in a freelance lifestyle and entertainment writer.
Rookie Bucky Irving relishes opportunity to help Buccaneers any way he can against skidding RaidersOrlando Magic forward Franz Wagner will be sidelined indefinitely with a torn right oblique muscle, the NBA team said Saturday, a major blow for a club already missing star Paolo Banchero with the same injury. Wagner was hurt in the Magic's 102-94 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday. Jeff Weltman, Orlando president of basketball operations, said he would be re-evaluated in four weeks. Wagner has played a key role in keeping the Magic competitive since Banchero was injured on October 30. He has scored at least 20 points in nine straight games and is averaging 24.4 points, 5.7 assists and 5.6 rebounds per game for the season. At 16-9 the Magic are in third place in the Eastern Conference. However, they are still without Banchero, who said on Monday he had "finally" been able to take part in some on-court ball-handling and spot shooting practice. "Obviously (there) wasn't any sprinting or cutting or anything," Banchero said. "But hopefully in the next few weeks I can start getting into more of that and just work my way back into playing shape." bb/sev