Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt warns AI could reach a ‘dangerous point’ in futureAmerican and European stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after inflation data cemented expectations that the US Federal Reserve will trim interest rates next month. While the Dow fell slightly, the other two major US indices advanced, led by the tech-rich Nasdaq, which piled on almost two percent to close above 20,000 points for the first time. The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7 percent last month from a year ago, up slightly from 2.6 percent in October. "With the CPI numbers broadly in line, it is likely that the Fed will not be derailed and will cut rates again next week," Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. "The data is not a showstopper for the current bull run on Wall Street," he added. Ahead of the data, investors priced in an 86 percent chance the Fed will cut interest rates next week by a quarter percentage point. That rose to more than 98 percent after the CPI data was published. Stocks in Paris and Frankfurt rose ahead of the European Central Bank's own interest rate announcement on Thursday, with analysts expecting another cut as it seeks to boost eurozone growth. Investors are also eyeing political developments in France, where officials said President Emmanuel Macron aims to name a new prime minister "within 48 hours" as he seeks to end political deadlock following the ouster of Michel Barnier. In company news, shares in German retail giant Zalando shed more than four percent on Frankfurt's DAX index, after it acquired domestic rival About You in a deal worth around 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion). Shares in Zara owner Inditex slid more than six percent after a record quarterly profit for the group fell short of market estimates. Among US companies, Google parent Alphabet earned 5.5 percent as it announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date. That added to gains after Google also announced Tuesday details of a breakthrough quantum chip. Shares in Shanghai rose but Hong Kong gave up an early rally to end in the red. Traders were keeping tabs on China to see if it will announce further measures to support its struggling economy as leaders were to gather Wednesday for a conference to hammer out next year's agenda. President Xi Jinping and other top leaders on Monday announced their first major shift in policy for more than a decade, saying they would "implement a more active fiscal policy and an appropriately relaxed" strategy. Those remarks sparked hopes for more interest rate cuts and the freeing up of more cash for lending. New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 44,148.56 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,084.19 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.8 percent at 20,034.89 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,301.62 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,423.40 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 20,399.16 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 39,372.23 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 20,155.05 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,432.49 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0498 from $1.0527 on Tuesday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2752 from $1.2771 Dollar/yen: UP at 152.40 yen from 151.95 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.31 from 82.42 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.8 percent at $73.52 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $70.29 per barrel burs-jmb/mlm
Walmart is testing out body-cams for store employees in one market in Texas. A spokesperson said the goal of the pilot is to improve worker safety and evaluate the results. Earlier this year, Axon introduced a line of cameras designed for retail and healthcare workers. Walmart shoppers in Texas may want to think twice before losing their cool with a store employee — the interaction could be captured from an up-close-and-personal camera angle. The retail giant is testing body-cams for store employees in the Dallas area. A Walmart spokesperson told Business Insider the goal of the pilot is to improve worker safety and evaluate the results before making long-term decisions about a wider rollout. "While we don't talk about the specifics of our security measures, we are always looking at new and innovative technology used across the retail industry," the spokesperson said. One shopper told CNBC they saw a receipt-checker in Denton, Texas, wearing a yellow-and-black camera earlier this month, and an image of a rack of 16 similarly colored cameras was posted last month to the r/Walmart forum on Reddit. A Walmart-branded poster in the image instructs users in ways to wear the camera, how to stop and start recording an event, and a reminder to remove the camera when visiting break rooms or restrooms. The charging station for the cameras is marked with the Axon brand, which is most widely known for supplying body cameras for law enforcement officers. Axon declined to comment. Earlier this year, Axom introduced a line of cameras designed for retail and healthcare workers, which look similar to the ones in the Reddit image. In a survey, Axon found nearly half of retail workers said they had seen or been a victim of physical or verbal violence while on the job. Of those, most surveyed said they had experienced multiple incidents. The company said one retailer who used the cameras in an early trial saw the number of incidents cut in half, and another found the cameras to be highly effective at de-escalating confrontations. Over the summer, TJ Maxx equipped store associates with body cameras as a method to deter crime. "We hope that these body cameras will help us de-escalate incidents, deter crime, and demonstrate to our Associates and customers that we take safety in our stores seriously," a spokesperson said at the time. If you are a Walmart worker who wants to share your perspective, please contact Dominick via email or text/call/Signal at 646.768.4750. Responses will be kept confidential, and Business Insider strongly recommends using a personal email and a non-work device when reaching outNo one was injured during the Taveuni ferris wheel incident on yesterday according to Wairiki Sevens tournament director Iowane Gade. Mr Gade while admitting that the incident had taken place refused to elaborate on how it happended. He said apart from none of the riders getting injured, he would not comment on why and how the ferris wheel malfunctioned midway through a ride. He did not want to disclose the operator’s name either. A video is circulating on social media showing smoke coming from the engine with onlookers jumping in to manually stop the engine so that the riders can get off. All the riders then disembarked safely from the malfunctioned ferris wheel. Mr Gade confirmed they have instructed the ferris wheel operator to cease operation citing public safety remains paramount. He added the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) would inspect and dismantle the ride today (Thursday). “The ferris wheel incident will not affect the week long Wairiki Sevens rugby tournament this week,” Mr Gade said. “The competition will run as normal; it started on Tuesday and finishes Saturday; we want spectators to come out in numbers to show their support,” he said. Police spokesperson, Wame Bautolu, while confirming the incident said they would provide further details of the incident later. Feedback: sampras.anand@fijisun.com.fj
HALIFAX — The Transportation Safety Board of Canada is investigating after sparks and flames shot from under the wing of a plane that landed hard in Halifax. Nikki Valentine, a Halifax woman who was on the plane, said passengers felt a "massive rumble" upon landing at the Halifax Stanfield International Airport Saturday night. "The cabin tilted, we saw sparks and then flames and then smoke started getting sucked into the cabin," she told The Canadian Press in a direct message over social media. Airport spokesperson Tiffany Chase said Saturday an Air Canada Express flight operated by the regional carrier PAL Airlines, arriving from St. John’s, N.L., experienced an incident upon landing at approximately 9:30 p.m. Air Canada spokesperson Peter Fitzpatrick said late Saturday that the plane experienced a "suspected landing gear issue" after arrival and was unable to reach the terminal. Fitzpatrick said the crew and 73 passengers were off-loaded by bus and nobody on board was injured. A Nova Scotia RCMP spokesperson said on Saturday that some minor injuries were reported, but clarified Sunday that in fact no one was injured. Valentine said she is "especially thankful the pilot was able to get ahold of the situation very fast." The incident temporarily halted flight activity at the airport. As of Sunday afternoon, Valentine and other passengers were still without the bags they were instructed to leave on the plane. Valentine said she contacted Air Canada, who told her that it could be up to three more days before their bags are returned as the investigation into the incident continues. "A lot of people have things like house keys or wallets they needed and couldn't get," she said. "It's all proper procedure, and I'd rather the inconvenience (of missing bags) than if anything bad had happened, of course, but it's still tough." This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 29, 2024. Lyndsay Armstrong, The Canadian Press
An incident above Oregon earlier this month may not be so easy to explain away, according to several people, including some with first-hand knowledge of the event. On the evening of Saturday, Dec. 7, multiple pilots reported unidentified red lights “zooming” around the sky over Oregon to air traffic controllers. See video of one of the sightings here: On a recording of one of the conversations, two pilots were perplexed by what they saw. “We’re seeing three or four targets,” one pilot said. “They’re all altitudes. Up and down. It’s pretty crazy.” The pilot describes the lights “shooting way up” into the range of 50,000 feet. “Just had another one show up,” said another pilot, who reported that the light was “zipping towards us and back out towards the ocean, red in color, moving at extreme speeds. I don’t even know how to describe it.” “You are cleared to maneuver as necessary left and right to avoid the UFO out there,” an air traffic controller told him. Tim Gallaudet, an oceanographer and retired rear admiral in the U.S. Navy who testified last month before Congress about government transparency when it comes to “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” the government’s term for unidentified flying objects or UFOs, sees the lights over Oregon as part of a trend of mysterious events witnessed by pilots. While one researcher told KGW that the lights appear “to be Starlink satellites, most likely,” Gallaudet and others don’t believe Oregon’s lights can be explained that way. “Nothing that we make can move like they were describing,” Gallaudet said Monday. “Starlink is pretty easy to observe and verify because the satellites seem to move in a pretty predictable orbit.” “Most pilots who see Starlink, they know they’re seeing Starlink,” he added. The Oregonian/OregonLive spoke with several people who had first-hand knowledge of the lights over Oregon. Those people, who were unable to go on the record out of concern for their jobs, said the lights did not move like Starlink or look like Starlink. And they do not believe they were Starlink. But they do not have a good explanation for what they are. Unlike the drones seen over the East Coast, these red lights have so far defied an easy explanation. At the time, the Federal Aviation Administration confirmed at least one of these sightings in a statement, saying, “A pilot reported seeing unidentified lights while flying in Seattle Air Route Traffic Control Center airspace on Saturday, Dec. 7.” The FAA has declined to offer any further information and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the lights did not fall under their purview. Gallaudet sees that lack of explanation is part of a trend. In 2015, Gallaudet was serving as a meteorologist with the task of reducing flight safety risks for a naval exercise off the East Coast. “During this exercise, I received an email on the Navy’s secure network from the operations officer of Fleet Forces Command,” Gallaudet testified before Congress. “The text of the email was brief but alarming,” Gallaudet said, “with words to the effect: ‘If any of you know what these are, tell me ASAP. We are having multiple near-midair collisions, and if we do not resolve it soon, we will have to shut down the exercise.’” The email included a video of “an unidentified object exhibiting flight and structural characteristics unlike anything in our arsenal.” But, he told Congress, “The very next day, the email disappeared from my account and those of the other recipients without explanation.” Observing objects that have no explanation is not new. It’s so common that the government has an agency called the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office that collects reports of UFOs. The official line, however, is that most of these mysterious celestial events do have a concrete explanation. The All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Oregon lights but Jon Kosloski, the director of the office, also testified before Congress in November. “Only a very small percentage of reports AARO receives are potentially anomalous,” Kosloski said. “These are the cases that require significant time, resources, and a focused scientific inquiry by AARO and its wide network of partners.” “It is important to underscore,” he added, “that, to date, AARO has discovered no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial beings, activity, or technology.” Gallaudet isn’t so sure. “Something is happening we don’t fully understand,” he said. “Consider this,” Gallaudet said. “Our galaxy alone has between 100 and 400 billion stars. We know there are habitable planets around many stars and the observable universe has at least 2 trillion galaxies.” Gallaudet doesn’t know what the lights over Oregon were last week. But he thinks the official silence about those lights and other unexplained phenomena is because the government is worried about what will happen if they admit they don’t have total control over United States airspace. “We know life can evolve and is a property of this universe because we’re here,” he said. “How can we think, as big and old the universe is, we’re the only planet where that happened? It’s just really naive and myopic.” ©2024 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections voted Wednesday to deny a GOP challenge that attempted to throw out 60,000 ballots in a state Supreme Court race. The Democratic incumbent in the race leads by just over 700 votes. Two recounts have been performed, but neither revealed enough votes for Republican Jefferson Griffin to surpass Democrat Allison Riggs. The elections board, which is led 3-2 by Democrats, could now move to certify the results of the race. Griffin's campaign had filed hundreds of legal challenges across the state in their allegations that nearly 60,000 people voted illegally. Their main contention was that these people didn't have a Social Security number or driver's license number in their voter registration records. “These voters were not eligible to cast a ballot without first lawfully registering,” attorneys for Griffin’s campaign wrote in the first brief to North Carolina's election board. There were three categories of votes at issue. The first involved voter registration applications processed two decades ago that were supposed to require people to note their driver’s license or Social Security numbers, but the form didn't list that requirement. Thousands of voters didn't include the requirement as a result. The other two categories involve overseas voters who haven't lived in North Carolina and those who failed to provide photo identification with their ballot. All three categories were put to a vote, with the first two falling along party lines. The final measure was rejected unanimously. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER Griffin or the North Carolina Republican Party will likely appeal the decision. In a statement, North Carolina GOP Chairman Jason Simmons criticized the ruling and said the party would "review the board’s decision and reserve the right to any future actions to protect the integrity of our elections."ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey gambling regulators have handed out $40,000 in fines to two sportsbooks and a tech company for violations that included taking bets on unauthorized events, and on games that had already ended. In information made public Monday, the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement fined DraftKings $20,000. It also levied $10,000 fines on Rush Street Interactive NJ and the sports betting technology company Kambi. According to documents released by the state, Rush Street accepted 16 bets worth $1,523 in Nov. 2021 on a college basketball game between the University of North Carolina-Asheville and Tennessee Tech University after the game had already concluded with a UNC victory. Kambi told the enforcement division that a trader had failed to manually remove that game from its betting markets, saying it had stopped receiving messages from its own sports data provider due to a network connectivity error. Kambi said it has updated its guidelines and retrained its traders to prevent a recurrence. Kambi, which is based in Malta, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Monday. Rush Street declined comment, and DraftKings had no immediate comment Monday. DraftKings stopped using Kambi in 2021. In March 2022 Rush Street took seven bets totaling just under $2,900 on three Magic City Jai Alai games after the results were already known. Kambi told the division it experienced a connectivity issue that allowed the bets to be accepted after the games were over. An explanation of what Kambi did to address the situation was blacked out in documents released by the division. A month earlier Rush Street took 13 wagers worth $8,150 with pre-match odds on a Professional Golf Association match after the event had already begun. In this case, Kambi told the division a newly hired trader failed to enter the correct closing time time for bets on the event. The trader and a supervisor underwent retraining. DraftKings was fined for taking bets on unapproved events including Russian basketball for nine months in 2020 and 2021. It eventually voided over $61,000 in bets and returned the money to customers after being directed to do so by the state. In this case, Kambi told the division it misidentified this particular Russian basketball league as one that was approved for wagering in New Jersey. DraftKings told the state it did not catch the error, either. In 2020, DraftKings accepted 484 wagers on unapproved table tennis matches. Kambi incorrectly enabled the events for wagering without conditions required by the state, the division said. In Feb. 2022, the division said DraftKings took pre-season NFL bets involving specific players but did not give the state specific information on what information was to be included in the bets, drawing 182 wagers worth nearly $7,000 that were later voided and refunded to customers. ___ Follow Wayne Parry on X atNavarro sentenced to 25 years for murdering 2-year-old, injuring babyBryce Thompson scored 17 points and achieved a milestone as Oklahoma State defeated Miami 80-74 on Friday afternoon in a Charleston Classic consolation game in Charleston, S.C. Thompson made 6-of-14 shots from the floor, surpassing 1,000 points for his career at Oklahoma State (4-1), which also got 15 points from Marchelus Avery. The Cowboys won in large part thanks to their impressive 3-point shooting (10-for-22, 45.5 percent). Oklahoma State backup guard Arturo Dean, a Miami native, posted eight points and one steal. He led the nation in steals last season while playing for Florida International. Miami (3-2) has lost two straight games in Charleston, failing to take a lead at any point. They will play on Sunday against either Nevada or VCU. The Hurricanes on Friday were led by Nijel Pack, who had a game-high 20 points. Brandon Johnson had a double-double for Miami with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Matthew Cleveland scored 11 points and Lynn Kidd and Paul Djobet added 10 points apiece for Miami. Miami, which fell behind 7-0 in Thursday's loss to Drake, got behind 9-0 on Friday as Abou Ousmane scored six of his eight points. Oklahoma State stretched its lead to 18 before settling for a 43-27 advantage at the break. Pack led all first-half scorers with 10 points, but Miami shot just 29.6 percent from the floor, including 3-of-13 on 3-pointers (23.1). Oklahoma State shot 48.4 percent, including 8-for-15 on 3-pointers (53.3 percent) before intermission. The Cowboys also had a 14-8 edge in paint points. In the second half, Miami closed its 20-point deficit to 55-42 with 12:12 left. Miami got a bit closer as two straight short jumpers by Kidd, trimming the deficit to 73-62 with 3:25 to play. The Hurricanes cut it to 77-70 on Pack's 3-pointer with 34 seconds remaining, but the Cowboys hit their free throws to close out the win. --Field Level Media
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Trump expected to name Kelly Loeffler for Agriculture secretaryThe use of AI is growing rapidly among holiday hunters, as recent reports state that more than four in ten (41 percent) consumers say they have used AI to help plan or research a holiday. This is perhaps expected, considering that 45 percent of consumers stat they feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of holiday choices. To help holiday hunters narrow down their options, the experts at AIPRM have utilised AI to recommend the top travel destinations for 2025, as well as tips provided to Digital Journal for travelling on a budget. To gather the data, AIPRM sought to find the best travel destinations for 2025, by utilising AI. To do this, they asked ChatGPT to list the best holiday destinations for 2025, for which it utilised sites such as LonelyPlanet , Gap360 , and Expedia . The firms also asked for tips on planning a holiday on a budget, and tips to save money on your holiday. AI’s Top Travel Destinations for a 2025 Getaway: Brescia, Italy Brescia is definitely worth adding to your 2025 travel list. Its rich history makes it home to multiple UNESCO World Heritage sites, such as The City Museum, which includes Roman sites, churches, and an art gallery, so you can be sure to have a charming cultural city break in this stunning Italian setting. Santa Barbara, California, USA This coastal city offers a vast array of options for your holiday itinerary, so there’s something for everyone in Santa Barbara. Whether it’s relaxing beaches, outdoor activities, gorgeous architecture and culture, or bars and restaurants you enjoy, you can find it all in Santa Barbara. Chiang Rai, Thailand If you love natural beauty and culture, look no further than the ancient city of Chiang Rai, Thailand in 2025. With its various attractions such as Khun Korn Waterfall and its surrounding bamboo forest, royal temples, artwork, and museums, culture is not in short supply here. Additionally, you can visit the Thai Elephant Care Centre, or alternatively, indulge in the city’s nightlife, and enjoy local food and live music. Albanian Riviera, Albania The Albanian Riviera is known for its stunning turquoise waters and mountains along the coastline in southwestern Albania. The best time of the year to visit is said to be around May-September. One of its most well-known attractions is The Blue Eye: A freshwater spring with clear water that bubbles up from a deep hole. Abu Dhabi, UAE Abu Dhabi’s gorgeous landscapes, such as deserts and beaches, and variety of holiday activities make it a great destination for a 2025 getaway. Offering a variety of shopping malls, museums, theme parks, and a vibrant food scene, this is a great place to add to your holiday list. Spring and autumn are said to be the best times to visit, due to fewer crowds and slightly cheaper accommodation costs. Do these ideas work? Even if they do not, AI can assist those holidaymakers seeking travel at a lower cost. AI’s Top Tips for Travelling on a Budget: Pre-Travel Planning Accommodation & Transport General Tips and Resources Dr. Tim Sandle is Digital Journal's Editor-at-Large for science news.Tim specializes in science, technology, environmental, business, and health journalism. He is additionally a practising microbiologist; and an author. He is also interested in history, politics and current affairs.Major stock indexes we mixed on Wall Street in afternoon trading Monday, marking a choppy start to a holiday-shortened week. The S&P 500 rose 0.6%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 21 points, or 0.1% as of 2:22 p.m. Eastern time. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 1%. Gains in technology and communications stocks helped outweigh losses in consumer goods companies and elsewhere in the market. Semiconductor giant Nvidia, whose enormous valuation gives it an outsize influence on indexes, rose 3.6%. Broadcom jumped 5.7% to also help support the broader market. Walmart fell 2.2% and PepsiCo slid 1.3%. Japanese automakers Honda Motor and Nissan said they are talking about combining in a deal that might also include Mitsubishi Motors. U.S.-listed shares in Honda jumped 12.1% , while Nissan fell 0.9%. Eli Lilly rose 3.3% after announcing that regulators approved Zepbound as the first and only prescription medicine for adults with sleep apnea. Department store Nordstrom fell 1.7% after it agreed to be taken private by Nordstrom family members and a Mexican retail group in a $6.25 billion deal. The Conference Board said that consumer confidence slipped in December. Its consumer confidence index fell back to 104.7 from 112.8 in November. Wall Street was expecting a reading of 113.8. The unexpectedly weak consumer confidence update follows several generally strong economic reports last week. One report showed the overall economy grew at a 3.1% annualized rate during the summer, faster than earlier thought. The latest report on unemployment benefit applications showed that the job market remains solid. A report on Friday said a measure of inflation the Federal Reserve likes to use was slightly lower last month than economists expected. Worries about inflation edging higher again had been weighing on Wall Street and the Fed. The central bank just delivered its third cut to interest rates this year, but inflation has been hovering stubbornly above its target of 2%. It has signaled that it could deliver fewer cuts to interest rates next year than it earlier anticipated because of concerns over inflation. Expectations for more interest rate cuts have helped drive a 25% gain for the S&P 500 in 2024. That drive included 57 all-time highs this year. Inflation concerns have added to uncertainties heading into 2025, which include the labor market's path ahead and shifting economic policies under an incoming President Donald Trump. "Put simply, much of the strong market performance prior to last week was driven by expectations that a best-case scenario was the base case for 2025," said Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Company Treasury yields rose in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.59% from 4.53% late Friday. European markets were mostly lower, while markets in Asia gained ground. Wall Street has several other economic reports to look forward to this week. On Tuesday, the U.S. will release its November report for sales of newly constructed homes. A weekly update on unemployment benefits is expected on Thursday. Markets in the U.S. will close at 1 p.m. Eastern on Tuesday for Christmas Eve and will remain closed on Wednesday for Christmas.
Daily year-round service will seamlessly connect our guests between the nation's capital and one of our key West Coast hubs SEATTLE , Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Alaska Airlines is proud to announce new nonstop service between San Diego International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), becoming the only airline to offer this direct route and enhance connectivity to the nation's capital. Tickets will soon be available for purchase on www.alaskaair.com . On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Transportation approved our application as part of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2024 to operate roundtrip service between San Diego and DCA. For nearly 40 years, we've proudly served San Diego with the exceptional and caring service that we're known for. We've connected our guests to DCA since 2001 and today offer nonstop service from Seattle , Portland , San Francisco and Los Angeles . "We are pleased the DOT sees the value of Alaska providing direct service between San Diego and DCA, and we thank the many leaders, local businesses and organizations who supported our bid," said CEO Ben Minicucci. "This new route reflects our commitment to San Diego , home of the nation's largest military community, and offers our guests a seamless travel option to our nation's capital." "Today is a great day for the San Diego Region with the announcement of a new, nonstop flight to Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. This flight will further connect our growing defense, research and innovation economies to our leaders in the Capitol," said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria . "Securing this flight was a team effort by our partners from Alaska Airlines, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, and our congressional delegation. I especially want to thank U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker for selecting San Diego as one of the five new DCA flight slot recipients." As the carrier with the most nonstop destinations from San Diego , Alaska will offer 40 nonstop destinations and more than 70 peak-day departures when our new service to DCA begins. Together with our Global Partners, we offer one-stop service from San Diego International Airport (SAN) to more than 330 destinations.* Currently, SAN has the greatest number of passengers of any U.S. airport without service to DCA. Whether you're flying nonstop or catching a connecting a flight at SAN, www.alaskaair.com has options for what works best for you: you can book flights on 22 partner airlines or redeem Mileage Plan miles, all on our site. "We are very pleased Alaska Airlines has received approval to begin nonstop service between San Diego International Airport and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport," said Kimberly J. Becker , president and CEO, San Diego County Regional Airport Authority. " San Diego has been the largest origin-destination market without service to Reagan National Airport and it has significant defense, biotech, and communications technology sectors that require efficient access to the core of the national capital region. This new nonstop route will greatly enhance the connectivity between these two strategic regions for business and our leisure passengers." Alaska's elevated travel experience offers a blend of comfort and caring service for a seamless journey, including no change fees, the most legroom in First Class* and Premium Class, satellite Wi-Fi and the most generous Mileage Plan with the fastest path to elite status. Savor the best of West Coast-inspired food and beverages, including complimentary snacks and chef-curated meals. With access to Alaska Lounge locations for members and First Class guests on flights more than 2,000 miles, you can unwind in ultimate comfort before take-off. Building off our newest Lounge in San Francisco , we're set to nearly double our footprint in 3 years. We recently announced a plan to continue expanding our Lounge program, including in San Diego and Honolulu , followed by a new world-class Lounge in Seattle to support international service. We'll begin with an expanded Anchorage Lounge early next year and open our new Portland Lounge in 2026. In September, we began adding more Premium Class seating across our mainline fleet, including our 900ERs, 800s and MAX9s. We plan to increase our 737-800 First Class seats from 12 to 16 to make it easy for our guests to upgrade and meet the demand for premium seating. In First Class, our new premium seating will provide a calf rest, new seatback device holder, 6-way headrest with neck support and USB-C charging capabilities. In our 737-800 Main Cabin and Premium Class, guests will continue to experience comfort and convenience at every seat with improved features, including new device holders with built in cup holders, USB-C charging and a 6-way headrest with dedicated neck support. *Peak-day AS+HA departures and YE1H25 destinations as of 12/16/24. Global Partner connecting destinations available round-trip on 12/19/24 (representative day) as of 12/16/24. **Out of any U.S. legacy airline excluding lie-flat seats About Alaska Air Group Alaska Air Group, Inc. is based in Seattle and comprised of subsidiaries Alaska Airlines, Hawaiian Holdings, Inc., Horizon Air and McGee Air Services. With our recent acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines, we now serve more than 140 destinations throughout North America , Central America, Asia and across the Pacific. We are committed to safety, remarkable customer care, operational excellence, financial performance and sustainability. Alaska Airlines is a member of the one world Alliance. With one world and our additional global partners, our guests have more choices than ever to purchase, earn or redeem on alaskaair.com across 30 airlines and more than 1,000 worldwide destinations. Book travel throughout the Pacific on Hawaiian Airlines at hawaiianairlines.com . Learn more about Alaska Airlines at news.alaskaair.com and Hawaiian Airlines at newsroom.hawaiianairlines.com/blog . Alaska Air Group is traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) as "ALK." View original content to download multimedia: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/alaska-airlines-selected-to-connect-san-diego-and-ronald-reagan-washington-national-airport-with-nonstop-service-302334277.html SOURCE ALASKA AIRLINESThe 27-year-old achieved the feat with a 23-yard run during the fourth quarter of the Eagles’ crushing 41-7 success at Lincoln Financial Field. Barkley is 100 yards short of Eric Dickerson’s record of 2,105 yards, set in 1984 for the Los Angeles Rams, ahead of next week’s regular season finale against the New York Giants. However, he could be rested for that game in order to protect him from injury ahead of the play-offs. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers kept alive their dreams of reaching the play-offs by overcoming the Carolina Panthers 48-14. Veteran quarterback Baker Mayfield produced a dominant performance at Raymond James Stadium, registering five passing touchdowns to equal a Buccaneers franchise record. The Buffalo Bills clinched the AFC conference number two seed for the post season with a 40-14 success over the New York Jets at Highmark Stadium. Josh Allen passed for 182 yards and two touchdowns, while rushing for another. Buffalo finish the 2024 regular season undefeated at home, with eight wins from as many games. The Indianapolis Colts’ hopes of reaching the play-offs were ended by a 45-33 defeat to the Giants. Malik Nabers exploded for 171 yards and two touchdowns and Ihmir Smith-Marsette broke a 100-yard kick-off return to give the Giants their highest-scoring output under head coach Brian Daboll. Quarterback Drew Lock threw four touchdown passes and accounted for a fifth on the ground to seal the win. Elsewhere, Mac Jones threw two touchdowns to help the Jacksonville Jaguars defeat the Tennessee Titans 20-13, while the Las Vegas Raiders beat the New Orleans Saints 25-10.The Alberta government gave its citizens an Australian sack of “modern” coal for Christmas as well as a load of misinformation accompanied by a mountain of disingenuousness. Announcements, Events & more from Tyee and select partners As Billionaire Overlords Cheer Journalism’s Death, Fight Back Support the reporting you want to see in the world. Join our Tyee Builder drive and sign up by Dec. 31. In an abrupt news conference held Friday, Energy Minister Brian Jean and Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz declared that the government was changing mining policy for Alberta because the world needed more metallurgical coal. “It’s a big day,” said Jean, who has been lobbied relentlessly by the Coal Association of Canada and Australian billionaire and mining magnate Gina Rinehart to support coal mining in the Rockies. The Alberta Coal Modernization Initiative, or CIMI, said Jean, would not only develop new rules for coal mining in the eastern slopes but increase coal royalties which currently stand at one per cent. He added that “air, water and land would not be sacrificed” even though, in addition to opening the door for new underground coal mining projects, he openly embraced support for what the government classifies as a cancelled project : the Grassy Mountain open-pit coal mining development, owned by Rinehart. Yet Jean’s claims defy the geographical realities of coal mining and its environmental risks . Surface-coal mining has a long record of creating toxic dust, destroying mountains and polluting watersheds for decades. For that very reason, Alberta and federal regulators previously rejected Grassy Mountain as “uneconomic” and a significant threat to water quality and quantity in 2021. But Jean has described the project as an “advanced coal project” which supposedly makes it exempt from a current moratorium on coal mining. (The courts are challenging the minister’s interpretation .) He also said Grassy Mountain would be exempt from any new rules. A shift most Albertans oppose During the conference, neither Jean nor Schulz made any reference to what the public really wants. Repeated surveys have consistently shown that most Albertans don’t support coal mining of any kind in the eastern slopes of the Rockies. In fact, most believe the government’s only priority should be the protection of critical watersheds. Jean admitted Friday that coal development in the past had been “bad,” but that something called “responsible resource development” — a catchphrase for every speculative project in Alberta — would prevent selenium pollution, a multi-billion-dollar bane of metallurgical coal mining in neighbouring B.C. and many parts of Alberta. No viable technology has currently solved this environmental problem. “If the technology doesn’t exist, it won’t happen,” Jean responded to a media question. “But we do understand it does exist.” The news conference was so abbreviated that it is not clear what type of surface or underground mining will soon be dotting the eastern slopes in the years ahead, only that more is coming. Queries from The Tyee to the energy minister went unanswered. Reaction to the rushed announcement just five days before Christmas was swift and angry from a variety of Albertans, including former civil servants and environmental experts. Corb Lund, a popular musician who lives in southern Alberta, described the government press conference as “an Orwellian word salad meant to calm the public right before Xmas.” RELATED STORIES When Is Mountaintop Removal Not Mountaintop Removal? In Alberta, of Course! An Australian Coal Baron Subverts Alberta’s Democracy Alberta’s Coal Fight Heats Up He concluded: “Grassy Mountain is a go and we'll say anything to make it happen then let even more mines into the Rockies in after that.” Charges of ‘greenwashing’ Dr. Bill Donahue, the former chief monitoring officer and executive director of science in Alberta’s environmental monitoring branch and now an independent scientist in B.C., was equally blunt. “It is all greenwashing bullshit,” Donahue told The Tyee. “It is a way to push the UCP’s original 2020 plan to open up the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains to coal mining, and now we’ll make a case for it again.” He called the announcement “a farce.” Contrary to claims made by Jean that one unspecified coal mining generated revenues as high as $200 million, Donahue said the industry acted as a minor economic player with extreme environmental costs in the province. “For most years in recent history the total provincial coal royalties average around $10 million a year. It is not even a rounding error in terms of provincial budgets.” In his view, claims the government would strengthen regulation in consultation with industry were bogus. “The existing regulations ensured that Grassy Mountain project was rejected by regulators in 2021. If you create a new regime that advocates and approves a project like Grassy as the current government is now doing, then you are weakening standards, not strengthening them.” What Alberta environment monitoring and research has consistently shown, from the McLeod River headwaters to the Crowsnest Pass, added Donahue, is that coal mining pollutes the air with toxic coal dust and contaminates distant waterways with selenium and other heavy metals (arsenic and cadmium) for decades, including long after Alberta's nominal regulatory reclamation has been completed. Moreover, the type of contaminants leaching from coal mines “significantly reduces the quality of water and its suitability for irrigation.” The fact that the Alberta government can look across the Rockies and see what is happening in Elk Valley — where mining has created a multi-billion-dollar selenium problem, complete with lawsuits — and still support coal mining here is just galling, added Donahue. Why is coal mining being supported by the UCP government “when Albertans will benefit so little from it?” he asked. David Luff, the former deputy environment minister who helped craft the 1976 Coal Policy that protected the eastern slopes, characterized Jean’s promise to guard water quality with modernized rules for coal mining as both dishonest and incorrect. “If this were true, the government would not permit any new coal mining in the eastern slopes and require that all lands disturbed by coal exploration and development be reclaimed within the next three years,” Luff told The Tyee. Jean had offered in his news conference that an approach called highwall mining would prevent wider environmental harm. Luff said, “There are currently no coal mines operating anywhere in the world — even those using high-wall mining technologies that prevent 100 per cent of the selenium produced at the mine site from entering watersheds downstream.” Luff added that Northback has already calculated that its proposed mining project will leach 10 micrograms per litre of selenium concentration into downstream waterways — a target 10 times higher than the Government of Alberta guideline for the pollutant. “This information alone should be enough evidence to stop Northback in its tracks,” he told The Tyee. The Alberta’s government new scheme to revive coal mining in the Rockies also failed to include the overwhelming democratic wishes and interests of its citizens, Luff said. “The Government must undertake extensive consultation and engagement regarding the public's vision for the eastern slopes and a set of guiding principles that both the government and the Alberta Energy Regulator would follow to achieve the public's vision,” he said. “The discussion doesn't begin with the development of a new modernized coal policy. The discussion begins with a new modernized eastern slopes policy.” ‘The government hasn’t listened’ Laura Laing and her husband’s ranch is in the municipal district of Ranchland, whose inhabitants overwhelmingly oppose coal mining in the headwaters of the Old Man River as a dramatic threat to water quality. She called Jean’s comments totally disingenuous. “The government hasn’t listened. Saying no open-pit or mountain-top removal does not say no surface coal mining, or no new coal development in this landscape. Albertans aren’t falling for it.” Open-pit mining underway in Elk Valley, BC, on the west side of the Rockies across from the proposed Grassy Mountain project. Photo by Callum Gunn. In 2020, former premier Jason Kenney opened the Rockies to Australian coal speculators when he abruptly cancelled the 1976 Coal Policy that effectively banned open-pit mining in the Rockies. He justified the gutting of protections as needed modernization. And he did so just before a public holiday. But unprecedented public protests forced the Kenney government to backtrack and restore the Coal Policy in 2021. Ever since, the UCP government of Danielle Smith has actively sought ways to support the Australian coal lobby and whittle away at protections for the eastern slopes. Rinehart’s company claims the massive project will right historic wrongs by reclaiming pits and gouges on the mountain left by previous miners. “Wow, that’s smart,” said Jean. “They are looking at something that wasn’t reclaimed properly, they are going to require the company to reclaim it properly, and at the same time they are going to do it economically and not cause environmental problems. That’s a great solution.” The facts speak otherwise. Katie Morrison, executive director for the Southern Alberta chapter of CPAWS, noted that “the previous mine disturbance is 12 per cent of the proposed new project footprint, with an additional eight per cent disturbance by roads and oil and gas developments. It is nonsensical to justify such a massive increase in disturbance and associated long-term and potentially unresolvable risks to air and water quality, species at risk, health, Treaty rights, and many others, in the name of reclamation.” She and other critics don’t understand why Jean calls the destruction of an intact mountain just to reclaim 12 per cent of old mining damages “smart.” Morrison added that Jean’s announcement clearly put the interests of the coal industry ahead of the public interest in the province. She also called the conference a bad case of déjà vu: “The government was highly criticized in May 2020 for quietly rescinding the 1976 Coal Policy on the Friday of a long weekend, without any prior consultation with Albertans.” And now they’ve done the same thing again. A selective referendum Jean’s coal modernization announcement comes on the heels of a fraudulent referendum on the future of coal mining held in the Crowsnest Pass. Fossil fuel lobbyists and the Smith government openly supported the referendum in an attempt to manufacture an illusory social licence for the Grassy Mountain project. When Is Mountaintop Removal Not Mountaintop Removal? In Alberta, of Course! read more Referendums can be blunt instruments. They typically offer a false choice: jobs and prosperity or unemployment and despair. Research has shown they can seduce voters with promises based on corporate or government propaganda with no accountability. As a consequence, they often produce decisions based on limited and biased information or the overstated benefits of some development. That’s exactly what the Grassy Mountain referendum did. It deceptively asked Crowsnest Pass residents if they supported Rinehart’s coal project without mentioning an inconvenient fact: the proposed project is located in the municipal district of Ranchland where almost all residents are opposed to the scheme. An Australian Coal Baron Subverts Alberta’s Democracy read more Asking residents of one geographic location to make judgements on a foreign-owned project actually located in another jurisdiction completely undermines the spirit of democracy. (Incredibly, UCP supporters and the local council for Crowsnest Pass now want to annex part of Ranchland where the mine will be located.) The referendum also excluded a quarter of the tax-paying property owners in the Pass because they did not live there full-time and would have voted no to a mine. Alberta’s Coal Fight Heats Up read more Furthermore, the municipality of Crowsnest Pass also did not disclose its own conflict of interest in sponsoring a referendum. In 2021 the council signed a secret agreement drafted by Rinehart’s company to provide water from the York River water license for the Grassy project. The agreement doesn’t expire until 2028. In a slick corporate campaign, Rinehart’s company spent millions on trying to buy local support and even drove citizens to the polls. It won the referendum by promising jobs and prosperity even though foreign-owned coal mines have a poor track record of delivering either jobs or prosperity. The CEO of Rinehart’s Northback Holdings, Mike Young, has called the recent “yes” vote in the municipality of Crowsnest Pass “a mandate for responsible development.” Young also explained the explicit reason for UCP government intervention on Rinehart’s behalf: “Premier Smith requested a local referendum and voters have given a clear message. The decisive victory shifts the focus to the next steps by the premier and the need to provide clarity on regulatory processes and to provide certainty for resource investment in general.” And that’s what Jean’s modernization announcement was all about. But the so-called modernization policy has cruelly ignored the economic interests of people who depend on fresh water from the mountains in southern Alberta. In particular the framing of the referendum directly disenfranchised more than 200,000 Albertans who live downstream of the mining project, and whose water quality and quantity would be dramatically affected by a mine located in the headwaters of the Old Man River watershed. That was the blunt conclusion of a 2021 regulatory decision that Brian Jean and his government now seek to openly overturn by providing exemptions for billionaire lobbyists, along with deceitful rhetoric about “modernization.” Read more: Alberta
No Iranian drone 'mothership' off the United States, Pentagon saysHow Washington outsider Jimmy Carter wooed voters tired of Vietnam and WatergateHow Washington outsider Jimmy Carter wooed voters tired of Vietnam and Watergate
American and European stock markets mostly rose on Wednesday after inflation data cemented expectations that the US Federal Reserve will trim interest rates next month. While the Dow fell slightly, the other two major US indices advanced, led by the tech-rich Nasdaq, which piled on almost two percent to close above 20,000 points for the first time. The consumer price index (CPI) rose to 2.7 percent last month from a year ago, up slightly from 2.6 percent in October. "With the CPI numbers broadly in line, it is likely that the Fed will not be derailed and will cut rates again next week," Jochen Stanzl, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. "The data is not a showstopper for the current bull run on Wall Street," he added. Ahead of the data, investors priced in an 86 percent chance the Fed will cut interest rates next week by a quarter percentage point. That rose to more than 98 percent after the CPI data was published. Stocks in Paris and Frankfurt rose ahead of the European Central Bank's own interest rate announcement on Thursday, with analysts expecting another cut as it seeks to boost eurozone growth. Investors are also eyeing political developments in France, where officials said President Emmanuel Macron aims to name a new prime minister "within 48 hours" as he seeks to end political deadlock following the ouster of Michel Barnier. In company news, shares in German retail giant Zalando shed more than four percent on Frankfurt's DAX index, after it acquired domestic rival About You in a deal worth around 1.1 billion euros ($1.2 billion). Shares in Zara owner Inditex slid more than six percent after a record quarterly profit for the group fell short of market estimates. Among US companies, Google parent Alphabet earned 5.5 percent as it announced the launch of Gemini 2.0, its most advanced artificial intelligence model to date. That added to gains after Google also announced Tuesday details of a breakthrough quantum chip. Shares in Shanghai rose but Hong Kong gave up an early rally to end in the red. Traders were keeping tabs on China to see if it will announce further measures to support its struggling economy as leaders were to gather Wednesday for a conference to hammer out next year's agenda. President Xi Jinping and other top leaders on Monday announced their first major shift in policy for more than a decade, saying they would "implement a more active fiscal policy and an appropriately relaxed" strategy. Those remarks sparked hopes for more interest rate cuts and the freeing up of more cash for lending. New York - Dow: DOWN 0.2 percent at 44,148.56 (close) New York - S&P 500: UP 0.8 percent at 6,084.19 (close) New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 1.8 percent at 20,034.89 (close) London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 8,301.62 (close) Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,423.40 (close) Frankfurt - DAX: UP 0.3 percent at 20,399.16 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 39,372.23 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 0.8 percent at 20,155.05 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 3,432.49 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0498 from $1.0527 on Tuesday Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2752 from $1.2771 Dollar/yen: UP at 152.40 yen from 151.95 yen Euro/pound: DOWN at 82.31 from 82.42 pence Brent North Sea Crude: UP 1.8 percent at $73.52 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 2.4 percent at $70.29 per barrel burs-jmb/mlm
ATLANTA — Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian, has died. He was 100 years old. The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care , at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023 , spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said. “Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family. Businessman, Navy officer, evangelist, politician, negotiator, author, woodworker, citizen of the world — Carter forged a path that still challenges political assumptions and stands out among the 45 men who reached the nation’s highest office. The 39th president leveraged his ambition with a keen intellect, deep religious faith and prodigious work ethic, conducting diplomatic missions into his 80s and building houses for the poor well into his 90s. “My faith demands — this is not optional — my faith demands that I do whatever I can, wherever I am, whenever I can, for as long as I can, with whatever I have to try to make a difference,” Carter once said. In this Nov. 3, 2019, file photo, former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. A moderate Democrat, Carter entered the 1976 presidential race as a little-known Georgia governor with a broad smile, outspoken Baptist mores and technocratic plans reflecting his education as an engineer. His no-frills campaign depended on public financing, and his promise not to deceive the American people resonated after Richard Nixon’s disgrace and U.S. defeat in southeast Asia. “If I ever lie to you, if I ever make a misleading statement, don’t vote for me. I would not deserve to be your president,” Carter repeated before narrowly beating Republican incumbent Gerald Ford, who had lost popularity pardoning Nixon. Carter governed amid Cold War pressures, turbulent oil markets and social upheaval over racism, women’s rights and America’s global role. His most acclaimed achievement in office was a Mideast peace deal that he brokered by keeping Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin at the bargaining table for 13 days in 1978. That Camp David experience inspired the post-presidential center where Carter would establish so much of his legacy. Yet Carter’s electoral coalition splintered under double-digit inflation, gasoline lines and the 444-day hostage crisis in Iran. His bleakest hour came when eight Americans died in a failed hostage rescue in April 1980, helping to ensure his landslide defeat to Republican Ronald Reagan. Carter acknowledged in his 2020 “White House Diary” that he could be “micromanaging” and “excessively autocratic,” complicating dealings with Congress and the federal bureaucracy. He also turned a cold shoulder to Washington’s news media and lobbyists, not fully appreciating their influence on his political fortunes. “It didn’t take us long to realize that the underestimation existed, but by that time we were not able to repair the mistake,” Carter told historians in 1982, suggesting that he had “an inherent incompatibility” with Washington insiders. Carter insisted his overall approach was sound and that he achieved his primary objectives — to “protect our nation’s security and interests peacefully” and “enhance human rights here and abroad” — even if he fell spectacularly short of a second term. FILE - From left, President Barack Obama, former President Jimmy Carter, first lady Michelle Obama and former President Bill Clinton wave from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington during a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington where Martin Luther King Jr. spoke, Aug. 28, 2013. Ignominious defeat, though, allowed for renewal. The Carters founded The Carter Center in 1982 as a first-of-its-kind base of operations, asserting themselves as international peacemakers and champions of democracy, public health and human rights. “I was not interested in just building a museum or storing my White House records and memorabilia,” Carter wrote in a memoir published after his 90th birthday. “I wanted a place where we could work.” That work included easing nuclear tensions in North and South Korea, helping to avert a U.S. invasion of Haiti and negotiating cease-fires in Bosnia and Sudan. By 2022, The Carter Center had declared at least 113 elections in Latin America, Asia and Africa to be free or fraudulent. Recently, the center began monitoring U.S. elections as well. Carter’s stubborn self-assuredness and even self-righteousness proved effective once he was unencumbered by the Washington order, sometimes to the point of frustrating his successors . He went “where others are not treading,” he said, to places like Ethiopia, Liberia and North Korea, where he secured the release of an American who had wandered across the border in 2010. “I can say what I like. I can meet whom I want. I can take on projects that please me and reject the ones that don’t,” Carter said. He announced an arms-reduction-for-aid deal with North Korea without clearing the details with Bill Clinton’s White House. He openly criticized President George W. Bush for the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He also criticized America’s approach to Israel with his 2006 book “Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.” And he repeatedly countered U.S. administrations by insisting North Korea should be included in international affairs, a position that most aligned Carter with Republican President Donald Trump. Among the center’s many public health initiatives, Carter vowed to eradicate the guinea worm parasite during his lifetime, and nearly achieved it: Cases dropped from millions in the 1980s to nearly a handful. With hardhats and hammers, the Carters also built homes with Habitat for Humanity. The Nobel committee’s 2002 Peace Prize cites his “untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, to advance democracy and human rights, and to promote economic and social development.” Carter should have won it alongside Sadat and Begin in 1978, the chairman added. Carter accepted the recognition saying there was more work to be done. “The world is now, in many ways, a more dangerous place,” he said. “The greater ease of travel and communication has not been matched by equal understanding and mutual respect.” FILE - Jimmy Carter gives his acceptance speech after accepting the Democratic nomination for president on the convention floor, July 15, 1976, at New York's Madison Square Garden. Carter’s globetrotting took him to remote villages where he met little “Jimmy Carters,” so named by admiring parents. But he spent most of his days in the same one-story Plains house — expanded and guarded by Secret Service agents — where they lived before he became governor. He regularly taught Sunday School lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church until his mobility declined and the coronavirus pandemic raged. Those sessions drew visitors from around the world to the small sanctuary where Carter will receive his final send-off after a state funeral at Washington’s National Cathedral. The common assessment that he was a better ex-president than president rankled Carter and his allies. His prolific post-presidency gave him a brand above politics, particularly for Americans too young to witness him in office. But Carter also lived long enough to see biographers and historians reassess his White House years more generously. His record includes the deregulation of key industries, reduction of U.S. dependence on foreign oil, cautious management of the national debt and notable legislation on the environment, education and mental health. He focused on human rights in foreign policy, pressuring dictators to release thousands of political prisoners . He acknowledged America’s historical imperialism, pardoned Vietnam War draft evaders and relinquished control of the Panama Canal. He normalized relations with China. “I am not nominating Jimmy Carter for a place on Mount Rushmore,” Stuart Eizenstat, Carter’s domestic policy director, wrote in a 2018 book. “He was not a great president” but also not the “hapless and weak” caricature voters rejected in 1980, Eizenstat said. Rather, Carter was “good and productive” and “delivered results, many of which were realized only after he left office.” Madeleine Albright, a national security staffer for Carter and Clinton’s secretary of state, wrote in Eizenstat’s forward that Carter was “consequential and successful” and expressed hope that “perceptions will continue to evolve” about his presidency. “Our country was lucky to have him as our leader,” said Albright, who died in 2022. Jonathan Alter, who penned a comprehensive Carter biography published in 2020, said in an interview that Carter should be remembered for “an epic American life” spanning from a humble start in a home with no electricity or indoor plumbing through decades on the world stage across two centuries. “He will likely go down as one of the most misunderstood and underestimated figures in American history,” Alter told The Associated Press. FILE - President Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter are pictured with their daughter Amy at the first of seven inaugural balls in Washington, Jan. 20, 1977, at the Pension Building. James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains and spent his early years in nearby Archery. His family was a minority in the mostly Black community, decades before the civil rights movement played out at the dawn of Carter’s political career. Carter, who campaigned as a moderate on race relations but governed more progressively, talked often of the influence of his Black caregivers and playmates but also noted his advantages: His land-owning father sat atop Archery’s tenant-farming system and owned a main street grocery. His mother, Lillian , would become a staple of his political campaigns. Seeking to broaden his world beyond Plains and its population of fewer than 1,000 — then and now — Carter won an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1946. That same year he married Rosalynn Smith, another Plains native, a decision he considered more important than any he made as head of state. She shared his desire to see the world, sacrificing college to support his Navy career. Carter climbed in rank to lieutenant, but then his father was diagnosed with cancer, so the submarine officer set aside his ambitions of admiralty and moved the family back to Plains. His decision angered Rosalynn, even as she dived into the peanut business alongside her husband. Carter again failed to talk with his wife before his first run for office — he later called it “inconceivable” not to have consulted her on such major life decisions — but this time, she was on board. “My wife is much more political,” Carter told the AP in 2021. He won a state Senate seat in 1962 but wasn’t long for the General Assembly and its back-slapping, deal-cutting ways. He ran for governor in 1966 — losing to arch-segregationist Lester Maddox — and then immediately focused on the next campaign. Carter had spoken out against church segregation as a Baptist deacon and opposed racist “Dixiecrats” as a state senator. Yet as a local school board leader in the 1950s he had not pushed to end school segregation even after the Supreme Court's Brown v. Board of Education decision, despite his private support for integration. And in 1970, Carter ran for governor again as the more conservative Democrat against Carl Sanders, a wealthy businessman Carter mocked as “Cufflinks Carl.” Sanders never forgave him for anonymous, race-baiting flyers, which Carter disavowed. Ultimately, Carter won his races by attracting both Black voters and culturally conservative whites. Once in office, he was more direct. “I say to you quite frankly that the time for racial discrimination is over,” he declared in his 1971 inaugural address, setting a new standard for Southern governors that landed him on the cover of Time magazine. FILE - President Jimmy Carter leans across the roof of his car to shake hands along the parade route through Bardstown, Ky., July 31, 1979. The president climbed on top of the car as the parade moved toward the high school gym, where a town meeting was held. His statehouse initiatives included environmental protection, boosting rural education and overhauling antiquated executive branch structures. He proclaimed Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the slain civil rights leader’s home state. And he decided, as he received presidential candidates in 1972, that they were no more talented than he was. In 1974, he ran Democrats’ national campaign arm. Then he declared his own candidacy for 1976. An Atlanta newspaper responded with the headline: “Jimmy Who?” The Carters and a “Peanut Brigade” of family members and Georgia supporters camped out in Iowa and New Hampshire, establishing both states as presidential proving grounds. His first Senate endorsement: a young first-termer from Delaware named Joe Biden. Yet it was Carter’s ability to navigate America’s complex racial and rural politics that cemented the nomination. He swept the Deep South that November, the last Democrat to do so, as many white Southerners shifted to Republicans in response to civil rights initiatives. A self-declared “born-again Christian,” Carter drew snickers by referring to Scripture in a Playboy magazine interview, saying he “had looked on many women with lust. I’ve committed adultery in my heart many times.” The remarks gave Ford a new foothold and television comedians pounced — including NBC’s new “Saturday Night Live” show. But voters weary of cynicism in politics found it endearing. Carter chose Minnesota Sen. Walter “Fritz” Mondale as his running mate on a “Grits and Fritz” ticket. In office, he elevated the vice presidency and the first lady’s office. Mondale’s governing partnership was a model for influential successors Al Gore, Dick Cheney and Biden. Rosalynn Carter was one of the most involved presidential spouses in history, welcomed into Cabinet meetings and huddles with lawmakers and top aides. The Carters presided with uncommon informality: He used his nickname “Jimmy” even when taking the oath of office, carried his own luggage and tried to silence the Marine Band’s “Hail to the Chief.” They bought their clothes off the rack. Carter wore a cardigan for a White House address, urging Americans to conserve energy by turning down their thermostats. Amy, the youngest of four children, attended District of Columbia public school. Washington’s social and media elite scorned their style. But the larger concern was that “he hated politics,” according to Eizenstat, leaving him nowhere to turn politically once economic turmoil and foreign policy challenges took their toll. FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter uses a hand saw to even an edge as he works on a Habitat for Humanity home in Pikeville, Ky., June 16, 1997. Carter partially deregulated the airline, railroad and trucking industries and established the departments of Education and Energy, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He designated millions of acres of Alaska as national parks or wildlife refuges. He appointed a then-record number of women and nonwhite people to federal posts. He never had a Supreme Court nomination, but he elevated civil rights attorney Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the nation’s second highest court, positioning her for a promotion in 1993. He appointed Paul Volker, the Federal Reserve chairman whose policies would help the economy boom in the 1980s — after Carter left office. He built on Nixon’s opening with China, and though he tolerated autocrats in Asia, pushed Latin America from dictatorships to democracy. But he couldn’t immediately tame inflation or the related energy crisis. And then came Iran. After he admitted the exiled Shah of Iran to the U.S. for medical treatment, the American Embassy in Tehran was overrun in 1979 by followers of the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Negotiations to free the hostages broke down repeatedly ahead of the failed rescue attempt. The same year, Carter signed SALT II, the new strategic arms treaty with Leonid Brezhnev of the Soviet Union, only to pull it back, impose trade sanctions and order a U.S. boycott of the Moscow Olympics after the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. Hoping to instill optimism, he delivered what the media dubbed his “malaise” speech, although he didn’t use that word. He declared the nation was suffering “a crisis of confidence.” By then, many Americans had lost confidence in the president, not themselves. Carter campaigned sparingly for reelection because of the hostage crisis, instead sending Rosalynn as Sen. Edward M. Kennedy challenged him for the Democratic nomination. Carter famously said he’d “kick his ass,” but was hobbled by Kennedy as Reagan rallied a broad coalition with “make America great again” appeals and asking voters whether they were “better off than you were four years ago.” Reagan further capitalized on Carter’s lecturing tone, eviscerating him in their lone fall debate with the quip: “There you go again.” Carter lost all but six states and Republicans rolled to a new Senate majority. Carter successfully negotiated the hostages’ freedom after the election, but in one final, bitter turn of events, Tehran waited until hours after Carter left office to let them walk free. FILE - President-elect Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd as he and his wife Rosalynn arrive at the Plains Baptist Church to attend services in Plains, Ga., Nov. 22, 1976. At 56, Carter returned to Georgia with “no idea what I would do with the rest of my life.” Four decades after launching The Carter Center, he still talked of unfinished business. “I thought when we got into politics we would have resolved everything,” Carter told the AP in 2021. “But it’s turned out to be much more long-lasting and insidious than I had thought it was. I think in general, the world itself is much more divided than in previous years.” Still, he affirmed what he said when he underwent treatment for a cancer diagnosis in his 10th decade of life. “I’m perfectly at ease with whatever comes,” he said in 2015 . “I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve had thousands of friends, I’ve had an exciting, adventurous and gratifying existence.” Former Associated Press journalist Alex Sanz contributed to this report. Jimmy Carter is shown at age 6, with his sister, Gloria, 4, in 1931 in Plains, Georgia. (AP Photo) This is a 1932 photo of Jimmy Carter at age 7 in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo) Lt. Jimmy Carter peers at instruments on submarine USS K-1 in a 1952 photo. Directly in front of Carter, smoking a cigar, is Don Dickson. He had forgotten he ever served with Carter until he came upon the photo during Christmas, 1977. A friend got it to the White House where Carter wrote: "To my friend Donald Dickson - Jimmy Carter, USS K-1 to White House." (AP Photo) FILE - In this Sept. 15, 1966 file photo, then Georgia State Sen. Jimmy Carter hugs his wife, Rosalynn, at his Atlanta campaign headquarters. Jimmy Carter, winner in Georgia's runoff primary in the Democratic Party to determine the party's candidate for the November election for governor, 1970. (AP Photo) Former State Sen. Jimmy Carter listens to applause at the Capitol in Atlanta on April 3, 1970, after announcing his candidacy or governor. In background, his wife Rosalyn holds two-year-old daughter Amy who joined in the applause. Carter, 45, of Plains, Ga., finished third in the 1966 Democratic Primary behind Gov. Lester Maddox and Ellis Arnall. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly) Democratic gubernatorial nominee Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn clutch the microphones as he claims victory in a runoff election at campaign headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, September 24, 1970. Carter beat former Georgia Governor Carl Sanders for the nomination and will face Republican candidate Hal Suit, veteran television newsman, in the general election Nov. 3, 1970. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly) Former state Sen. Jimmy Carter breaks into a broad smile after early returns gave him a lead of almost 2-1 in the Democratic runoff against former Gov. Carl Sanders, Sept. 23, 1970, in Atlanta, Ga. The winner will meet the Republic Hal Suit for the governorship of Georgia on the Nov. 3 general election. (AP Photo/Charles Kelly) Governor-elect Jimmy Carter and his daughter Amy, 3, walk about the grounds by the fountain at the Governor's Mansion in Atlanta, Ga., Jan. 10, 1971, as they get to know the place where they will live for the next four years. Carter will be sworn in as governor of Georgia Tuesday. (AP Photo) Judge Robert H. Jordan administers the oath of office to Gov. Jimmy Carter during ceremonies at the state capitol in Atlanta. Ga., Jan. 12, 1971. Next to the judge is former Gov. Lester Maddox, who will take over as lieutenant governer of Georgia. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter of Georgia, seen here Feb. 6, 1971, already described as a symbol of a new breed of moderate southern politician, says that the race question has ceased to be a major issue "between or among candidates" running for office in the old confederacy. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter, Governor of Georgia, is shown at his desk in Atlanta, on February 19, 1971. (AP Photo) Georgia's Gov. Jimmy Carter reaches for pen February 25, 1972 to sign a Georgia Senate House resolution opposing forced busing to achieve integration in the classrooms of the United States. Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter joins a half-dozen Rockettes in a high kick, September 21, 1973, at Radio City Music Hall in New York, while visiting backstage before an afternoon performance. Carter is in New York to induce the film industry to make pictures in his state. (AP Photo/stf) Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, right, and Delaware Gov. Sherman Tribbitt say hello to Atlanta Braves Hank Aaron, left, following a rain canceled game with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, Sept. 27, 1973, Atlanta, Ga. The cancellation slowed Aaron’s opportunity to tie or break Babe Ruth’s home run record. (AP Photo) Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter spoke to 18,000 messengers to the Southern Baptist Convention on Thursday, June 13, 1974 in Dallas, Texas. He urged Baptists to use their personal and political influence to return the nation to ideals of stronger commitment and higher ethics. He said "there is no natural division between a man's Christian life and his political life." (AP Photo/Greg Smith) Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter tells a gathering, Saturday, Oct. 5, 1974 at the National Press Club in Washington about his ideas concerning energy conservation. (AP Photo) In this Thursday, Aug. 14, 1975 file photo, former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter announces in Washington that he qualified for federal matching funds to help finance his campaign for the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. Former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter, right, drew about 5,000 people to Youngstown's Federal Plaza in Youngstown, Ohio, in his quest for support in Tuesday's Ohio Democratic primary, June 7, 1976. The presidential hopeful waded into the crowd, shaking hands and signing autographs. Carter, speaking to the largest crowd to assemble during his Ohio campaign, said 1976 would be a Democratic year because of the Watergate aftermath and other national ills. (AP Photo) In this Monday, Aug. 23, 1976 file photo, Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter gives an informal press conference in Los Angeles during a campaign tour through the West and Midwest. On Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015. (AP Photo) Democratic Presidential nominee Jimmy Carter, left, eats some freshly roasted barbecue chicken with his brother Billy Carter at Billy's gas station, Sept 11, 1976, Plains, Ga. The nominee had returned the night before from a week of campaigning, and planned to hold an impromptu press conference at the gas station. (AP Photo/Jeff Taylor) Democratic presidential nominee, Jimmy Carter, is all smiles as he talks with his brother Billy at the Carter Family Peanut warehouse, September 18, 1976. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter stands in a large mound of peanuts at the Carter Peanut Warehouse in Plains, Ga., September 22, 1976. The Democratic party presidential nominee took an early morning walk through the warehouse to inspect some of the harvest. (AP Photo) FILE - In this Oct. 6, 1976 file photo with his wife Rosalynn Carter looking on at center, Democratic presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, center left, shakes hands with President Gerald Ford at the conclusion of their debate at the Palace of Fine Arts Theater in San Francisco, Calif. (AP Photo, File) Jimmy Carter, Democratic candidate for president, is joined by his daughter, Amy, as he waves from the rostrum at Fort Worth Convention Center, Texas, Sunday, Nov. 1, 1976. Carter and his family have been campaigning Texas, making a last minute bid for the state's 26 electoral votes. The others are not identified. (AP Photo) U.S. President-elect Jimmy Carter waves to supporters as he is surrounded by family members at a hotel in Atlanta, Ga., on Nov. 3, 1976. Carter won the presidential election by 297 electoral votes to 241 for Ford. Standing next to him is his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter Amy Lynn, far right. The others are unidentified. (AP Photo) President-elect Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn wipe tears from their eyes after returning to their home town in Plains, Ga., Nov. 3, 1976. The Carter family was greeted by local residents after returning from Atlanta. (AP Photo) President-elect Jimmy Carter leans over to shake hands with some of the people riding the "Peanut Special" to Washington D.C., Jan. 19, 1977. They will travel all night, arriving in Washington in time for Carter's inauguration as President tomorrow. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter takes the oath of office as the nation's 39th president during inauguration ceremonies in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 1977. Carter's wife, Rosalynn, holds the Bible used in the first inauguration by George Washington as U.S. Chief Justice Warren Burger administers the oath. Looking on at left are, Happy Rockefeller, Betty Ford, Joan Mondale, Amy Carter, and outgoing President Gerald Ford. Behind Carter is Vice President Walter Mondale. At far right is former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller. (AP Photo) Rosalynn Carter, left, looks up at her husband Jimmy Carter as he takes the oath of office as the 39th President of the United States at the Capitol, Thursday, Jan. 20, 1977, Washington, D.C. Mrs. Carter held a family Bible for her husband. (AP Photo) Jimmy Carter and first lady Rosalynn Carter walk down Pennsylvania Avenue after Carter was sworn in as the nations 39th President, Jan. 20, 1977, Washington, D.C. (AP Photo) FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 20, 1977 file photo, President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd while walking with his wife, Rosalynn, and their daughter, Amy, along Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House following his inauguration in Washington. (AP Photo/Suzanne Vlamis) In this Jan. 24, 1977 file photo, President Jimmy Carter is interviewed in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. In this file photo dated May 1977, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, right, and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II with French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing, at Buckingham Palace in London. In this Feb. 20, 1978, file photo, President Jimmy Carter listens to Sen. Joseph R. Biden, D-Del., as they wait to speak at fund raising reception at Padua Academy in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Barry Thumma, File) President Jimmy Carter tucks his thumbs into his jeans and laughs as he prepares to head down the Salmon River in Idaho August 1978 for a three day rubber raft float. (AP Photo) United States President Jimmy Carter, on a visit to West Germany in 1978, rides with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt during a review of United States Forces at a base near Frankfurt. (AP Photo) Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin clasp hands on the north lawn of the White House after signing the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel on March 26, 1979. (AP Photo/ Bob Daugherty) President Jimmy Carter, left, and Soviet President Leonid Brezhnev, right, sign the documents of the SALT II Treaty in the Vienna Imperial Hofburg Palace, Monday, June 18, 1979, Vienna, Austria. President Jimmy Carter leans across the roof of his car to shake hands along the parade route through Bardstown, Ky., Tuesday afternoon, July 31, 1979. The president climbed on top of the car as the parade moved toward the high school gym, where a town meeting was held. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty) In this April 25, 1980 file photo, President Jimmy Carter prepares to make a national television address from the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, on the failed mission to rescue the Iran hostages. President Jimmy Carter applauds as Sen. Edward Kennedy waves to cheering crowds of the Democratic National Convention in New York's Madison Square Garden, Aug. 14, 1980. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty) President Jimmy Carter raises a clenched fist during his address to the Democratic Convention, August 15, 1980, in New York's Madison Square Garden where he accepted his party's nomination to face Republican Ronald Reagan in the general election. (AP Photo/stf) Massachusetts Senator Edward M. Kennedy greets President Jimmy Carter after he landed at Boston's Logan Airport, Aug. 21, 1980. President Carter is in Boston to address the American Legion Convention being held in Boston. (AP Photo) President Jimmy Carter, left, and Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas enjoy a chuckle during a rally for Carter in Texarkana, Texas, Oct. 22, 1980. Texarkana was the last stop for Carter on a three-city one-day campaign swing through Texas. (AP Photo/John Duricka) In this Oct. 28, 1980 file photo, President Jimmy Carter shakes hands with Republican Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan after debating in the Cleveland Music Hall in Cleveland. (AP Photo/Madeline Drexler, File) Former US President Jimmy Carter, who had negotiated for the hostages release right up to the last hours of his Presidency, lifts his arm to the crowd, while putting his other hand around the shoulders of a former hostage in Iran, believed to be Bruce Laingen, at US AIR Force Hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany, Wednesday, January 21, 1981. Former Pres. Jimmy Carter, center, is joined by his wife Rosalynn and his brother Billy Carter during session of the Democratic National Convention, Tuesday, July 19, 1988, Atlanta, Ga. Billy had been recently diagnosed with cancer. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter speaks to newsmen as PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, right, looks on after the two men met in Paris Wednesday, April 4, 1990. Carter said he felt some leaders did not represent the region's yearning for peace. (AP Photo/Pierre Gieizes) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, center, introduces his wife Rosalynn, right, to Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Jiang Zemin, April 14, 1991 in Beijing. (AP Photo/Mark Avery) Former President Jimmy Carter gestures at a United Nations news conference in New York, April 23, 1993 about the world conference on Human Rights to be held by the United Nations in Vienna June 14-25. (AP Photo/Richard Drew) Former Presidents George Bush, left, and Jimmy Carter, right, stand with President Clinton and wave to volunteers during a kick-off rally for the President's Volunteer Summit at Marcus Foster Stadium in Philladelphia, PA., Sunday morning April 27, 1997. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia) President Bill Clinton presents former President Jimmy Carter, right, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor, during a ceremony at the Carter Center in Atlanta Monday, Aug. 9, 1999. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter adjusts his glasses during a press conference in Managua, Nicaragua, Thursday, July 6, 2006. The former president and 2002 Nobel Peace Prize winner is heading a delegation from the democracy-promoting Carter Center, based at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, to observe preparations for Nicaragua's Nov. 5 presidential election. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix) In this Friday, Dec. 8, 2006 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter signs copies of his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Ga. (AP Photo/Ric Feld) Former President George H.W. Bush, left, watches as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton chat during a dedication ceremony for the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, N.C., Thursday, May 31, 2007. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome) Former President Jimmy Carter poses for a portrait during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Former President Jimmy Carter poses on the red carpet for the documentary film, "Jimmy Carter: Man From Plains" during the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Monday, Sept. 10, 2007. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and his wife Rosalynn wave to the audience at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Former President Jimmy Carter, right, and former first lady Rosalynn Carter are seen on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Former President Jimmy Carter waves to the crowd as he goes on stage at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Monday, Aug. 25, 2008.(AP Photo/Paul Sancya) Former President Jimmy Carter, right, is seen with Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya) President-elect Barack Obama is welcomed by President George W. Bush for a meeting at the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2009, with former presidents, from left, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) In this photo taken Saturday, May 29, 2010, former South Africa president Nelson Mandela, right, reacts with former US president Jimmy Carter, during a reunion with The Elders, three years after he launched the group, in Johannesburg, South Africa. (AP Photo/Jeff Moore, Pool) Former US President Jimmy Carter, center, one of the delegates of the Elders group of retired prominent world figures, holds a Palestinian child during a visit to the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Silwan, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2010. (AP Photo/Menahem Kahana, Pool) Former President Jimmy Carter, 86, leads Habitat for Humanity volunteers to help build and repair houses in Washington's Ivy City neighborhood, Monday, Oct. 4, 2010. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) FILE - In this Friday, Oct. 22, 2010 file photo, former president of Ireland, Mary Robinson, background right, looks at former U.S. president, Jimmy Carter, center, while visiting a weekly protest in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah. The protest was organized by groups supporting Palestinians evicted from their homes in east Jerusalem by Israeli authorities. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, his wife, Rosalynn, and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan conclude a visit to a polling center the southern capital of Juba Sunday, Jan. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Pete Muller) Former President Jimmy Carter signs his name in the guest book at the Jewish Community center in Havana, Cuba, Monday March 28, 2011. Carter arrived in Cuba to discuss economic policies and ways to improve Washington-Havana relations, which are even more tense than usual over the imprisonment of Alan Gross, a U.S. contractor, on the island. C (AP Photo/Adalberto Roque, Pool) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter pauses during an interview as he and his wife Rosalynn visit a Habitat for Humanity project in Leogane, Haiti, Monday Nov. 7, 2011. The Carters joined volunteers from around the world to build 100 homes in partnership with earthquake-affected families in Haiti during a week-long Habitat for Humanity housing project. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, sits prior to a meeting with Israel's President Shimon Peres at the President's residence in Jerusalem, Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012. Peres met two of 'The Elders', a group composed of eminent global leaders brought together by Nelson Mandela. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter watches baseball players work out before Game 2 of the National League Division Series between the Atlanta Braves and the Los Angeles Dodgers, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Dave Martin) Former President Jimmy Carter speaks during a forum at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston, Thursday, Nov. 20, 2014. Among other topics, Carter discussed his new book, "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence, and Power." (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) President Jimmy Carter, left, and Rosalynn Carter arrive at the 2015 MusiCares Person of the Year event at the Los Angeles Convention Center on Friday, Feb. 6, 2015 in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP) In this July 10, 2015, file photo, former President Jimmy Carter is seen in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File) In a Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015 file photo, former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday School class at Maranatha Baptist Church in his hometown, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) Former President Jimmy Carter answers questions during a news conference at a Habitat for Humanity building site Monday, Nov. 2, 2015, in Memphis, Tenn. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, have volunteered a week of their time annually to Habitat for Humanity since 1984, events dubbed "Carter work projects" that draw thousands of volunteers and take months of planning. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey) Former President Bill Clinton, left, and former president Jimmy Carter shake hands after speaking at a Clinton Global Initiative meeting Tuesday, June 14, 2016, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter holds a morning devotion in Memphis, Tenn., on Monday, Aug. 22, 2016, before he and his wife Rosalynn help build a home for Habitat for Humanity. (AP Photo/Alex Sanz) Former president Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter arrive during the 58th Presidential Inauguration at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Friday, Jan. 20, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) In this Feb. 8, 2017, file photo, former President Jimmy Carter speaks during a ribbon cutting ceremony for a solar panel project on farmland he owns in his hometown of Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File) Former President George W. Bush, center, speaks as fellow former Presidents from right, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter look on during a hurricanes relief concert in College Station, Texas, Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017. All five living former U.S. presidents joined to support a Texas concert raising money for relief efforts from Hurricane Harvey, Irma and Maria's devastation in Texas, Florida, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (AP Photo/LM Otero) Former President Jimmy Carter, 93, sits for an interview about his new book "Faith: A Journey For All" which will debut at no. 7 on the New York Times best sellers list, pictured before a book signing Wednesday, April 11, 2018, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis) Former President Jimmy Carter speaks as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams listens during a news conference to announce Abrams' rural health care plan Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018, in Plains, Ga. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former President Jimmy Carter and Rosalynn Carter are seen ahead of an NFL football game between the Atlanta Falcons and the Cincinnati Bengals, Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) Former President Jimmy Carter takes questions submitted by students during an annual Carter Town Hall held at Emory University Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis) Democratic presidential candidate former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg, left, meets with former President Jimmy Carter, center, at Buffalo Cafe in Plains, Ga., Sunday, March 1, 2020. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) Former President Jimmy Carter reacts as his wife Rosalynn Carter speaks during a reception to celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary on July 10, 2021, in Plains, Ga. In this Nov. 3, 2019, file photo, former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Ga. FILE - Former President Jimmy Carter teaches Sunday school at Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Ga., Nov. 3, 2019. Well-wishes and fond remembrances for the former president continued to roll in Sunday, Feb. 19, 2023, a day after he entered hospice care at his home in Georgia. (AP Photo/John Amis, File) Former President Jimmy Carter, arrives to attend a tribute service for his wife and former first lady Rosalynn Carter, at Glenn Memorial Church, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) Former President Jimmy Carter arrives for the funeral service for his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church, Wednesday, Nov. 29, 2023, in Plains, Ga. The former first lady died on Nov. 19. She was 96. (AP Photo/John Bazemore) A sign wishing former President Jimmy Carter a happy 100th birthday sits on the North Lawn of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh) Get local news delivered to your inbox!Texas AG sues NCAA to block transgender athletes in women’s sportsA look back at 2024 in photos