Daily Archives: June 24, 2021

The Evolution of the Global Business: Barbados as a Global Services Centre – JD Supra

Posted: June 24, 2021 at 11:36 pm

It is important to preface this piece by stating that Barbados has always been a jurisdiction of substance and high standards when it comes to facilitating Global Business. Notwithstanding this, the way in which adopted global policy has dictated the means of doing business has transformed or better worded, enhanced Barbados position as a Global Services Centre (herein GSC).

Traditionally, Barbados has been known as an offshore jurisdiction or an International Financial Center (herein IFC). It among other developed and developing jurisdictions, has competed to be the best at providing a favorable Investment climate by offering a flexible, dynamic and nimble approach to regulating business within its jurisdiction. This has effectively enabled a wide array of professionals to conceptualize advanced structuring options which maximize the profits and wealth of their clients and businesses.

However, Barbados enhanced its approach to facilitating global business by not only being an advantageous jurisdiction to hold wealth, but to also repatriate wealth from. At current, Barbados has forty plus double tax treaties (herein DTT) and other bilateral agreements which enhance the benefit of various tax structures. These agreements further strengthened not only the image of Barbados as a place to do business, but that doing business in Barbados is acceptable to contracting states of the various treaties.

Unfortunately, a number of global organizations and superpowers, most notably the European Union and the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (herein OECD), took concerned notice of the estimated two third of the worlds wealth being parked offshore within the Caribbean. As a result, Caribbean IFCs such as Barbados, quickly garnered the unfair reputation of being tax havens and thereafter in the global business community became cumbersome to associate with corporate structure strategies. This sentiment was further compounded by means of blacklisting jurisdictions, as doing business from or with parties from blacklisted jurisdictions became increasingly difficult.

The prescribed medicine has come in many forms over the years and most recently through the OECDs Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Action Plan (herein BEPS Action Plan). Here, the OECD posited that fundamental changes are actively required to prevent double non-taxation, as well as cases of no or low taxation associated with practices that artificially segregate taxable income from the activities that generate this income. This rhetoric was clearly targeted towards IFCs and in order for them to be taken off of these negative lists, they would have to expressly agree to and implement policy intended to carry out BEPS Action Plan objectives. Specifically, the removal of preferential tax regimes which were deemed to be contributors to harmful tax practices and the implementation of legislation which would force corporate entities to illustrate management and control from within Barbados which was intrinsically linked with the income generated.

Following the dismantling of all preferential regimes and tactically converging its corporation tax regime to an across the board low tax regime, the next step for Barbados was to implement an Economic Substance Regime (herein ES Regime). In brief, this regime was introduced by way of The Companies (Economic Substance) Act, 2019-43. It focuses on Barbados resident companies which conducted specific relevant activities, and it requires these entities to illustrate that the core income generating activity is being managed and controlled from within Barbados.

Arguably, this approach is not one which is revolutionary to Barbados, but rather an enhancement of the approach already practiced. For example, entities which had to illustrate tax residency to benefit from the previously mentioned DTTs and other foreign tax administrator requirements have over the years put similar measures in place to ensure that their entities for all intents and purposes were considered as resident in Barbados. The new approach however, forces Barbados into the role of GSC, as the ES Regime standards requires a variety of services to be provided to these entities to meet the necessary substance. Consequently, Barbados must be a one-stop shop for the companies that it hosts as resident companies and the jurisdiction must position itself to be able to provide a multiplicity of services to meet this demand.

In sum, Barbados has had to move away from the passive nature of being an IFC to the more active and all-encompassing position of a GSC. Fortunately as prefaced, Barbados has illustrated that it is capable of meeting global business demands and though this approach is of a foreign derivative, Barbados is fine-tuned to remain an attractive jurisdiction for the global business community.

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Student loan servicer censured over ‘what appears to be false’ congressional testimony – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 11:36 pm

Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and John Kennedy (R-LA) sent a letter to a key student loan servicer CEO over "what appear to be false and misleading" statements during a congressional testimony on April 13, Yahoo Finance has learned.

We write to seek information on what appears to be false and misleading testimony that you provided at a hearing before the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Policy on April 13, 2021," they wrote.

Warren, the chair of the committee, and Kennedy, a ranking member, sent the letter to Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA) CEO James Steeley on Wednesday evening.

"This is a serious matter," the senators stressed. "Our hearing was held in part to understand the role of student loan servicers and the extent to which they bear responsibility for the myriad failures of the student loan program. But it appears that you have failed to provide accurate information about your company, undermining the Subcommittee's fact-finding role and potentially misleading committee members and the public."

Warren and Kennedy are asking Steeley to respond to their letter by July 7 and are planning a follow-up hearing on the matter.

PHEAA CEO James Steeley. (screenshot/PHEAA Facebook)

PHEAA administers the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program, which operates as FedLoan Servicing. During the April testimony, Steeley stated that he didn't believe the Department of Education (ED) had penalized or fined the company regarding its servicing.

The senators pointed to a letter from ED's Federal Student Aid from May 10, which stated that since 2016, the federal government had in fact found nine issues with how PHEAA managed the PSLF program, issued four corrective action plans, and two big fines.

"This new information provided .. by the Education Department reveals that nine Department reviews conducted since 2016 revealed problems with PHEAA's implementation of the program," resulting in multiple fines and corrective action plans, the senators stated.

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They added that if the testimony was false "knowingly and willfully," then that subjected him to fines and criminal charges. The letter added that there will also be a follow-up hearing on that matter.

"PHEAA respects the Senate subcommittees interest in ensuring the presentation of truthful and accurate testimony but categorically denies that the testimony offered by PHEAAs CEO was anything other than a truthful and good-faith effort to answer the multi-part questions posed by Senator Warren at the April 13 hearing," a PHEAA spokesperson told Yahoo Finance in a statement. "PHEAA will respond to the letter appropriately but will not engage in further public debate through the media."

Designed by Congress to help public servants from teachers to firefighters the PSLF program has been a major problem the federal government has been grappling with for years.

The PSLF program enables government and non-profit employees with federally-backed student loans to apply for forgiveness after proof of 120 monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan.

The denial rates for the PSLF program have been steep: Recent data revealed that out of more than 390,000 PSLF forms submitted between November 2020 and April this year, only 3,458 met the requirements for PSLF 2.1%.

The data also revealed that only around 5,500 have had their loans discharged via PSLF, as of April 30.

Even though more than 175,000 active-duty service members with federal loans are eligible for PSLF, only 124 members had their applications approved, a recent report found.

Bryant Elementary School kindergarten teacher Chris Johnson sets up his classroom on April 09, 2021 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

During the April hearing, Warren asked PHEAA's Steeley to confirm the fact that based on audits by ED since 2016, PHEAA's automated system created "errors" and "mistakenly disqualifie[d] payments."

"I do not believe that that is correct," Steeley responded, adding that he wasn't familiar with the audits.

Warren later pressed Steeley again, asking if ED had "terminated your contract or penalized your company in any way for its errors and mismanagement" of the PSLF program.

Steeley responded: "No, they have not."

Based on a letter from ED's Federal Student Aid's Richard Cordray, who heads the student loan program, between February 2016 and March 2021, PHEAA had indeed been fined and/or told to correct its behavior by the federal government.

As the CEO of the company, the letter from the senators added, it is "inexplicable that you were not aware of this series of ... findings."

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the IRS budget request on Capitol Hill in Washington,DC on June 8, 2021. (Photo by EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / POOL / AFP)

Cordray's letter to the senators, which was obtained by Yahoo Finance, found:

ED said between February and April 2016, ED found that PHEAA had made errors in counting payments of 28%. The errors were reduced to 3% in October 2016, after PHEAA implemented ED's recommendations, and the company automated payment counts.

In 2017, ED said it found problems with how PHEAA did employment certifications and again, counting qualifying payments. Both reviews found issues with how it handed consolidation loans, and found incorrect valuations for loan accounts where the borrower paid more than what was required. The government told PHEAA to correct the accounts.

In 2020, again, ED conducted three reviews, on TEPSLF and PSLF. On TEPSLF, it found issues regarding denials, resulting in the government asking PHEAA to correct its errors and "requiring FedLoan to repay $108,000 to the Department in June 2020."

On PSLF, ED found that there was a 20% error rate when it came to CARES Act denials (i.e. during this period, the government made PSLF payments on the borrowers' behalf). ED told PHEAA to fix this matter.

In September 2020, ED started looking into how PHEAA was handling qualifying payments for consolidation loans.

In October 2020, ED fined PHEAA $136,000 and asked the company to fix its errors for "failure to properly apply automatic forbearance for income-driven repayment ... applications, affecting over 65,000 borrowers."

In March 2021, ED found a 20% error rate in how PHEAA handled military PSLF applications.

Finally, ED also revealed that it is looking at drafting new corrective action plans to address recent issues, such as the CARES Act and PSLF denials.

Former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Director Richard Cordray testifies before House Financial Services Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee hearing in Washington, July 30, 2014. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

Some lawmakers and advocates have long blamed servicers for poor implementation.

"Rampant breakdowns across the student loan market harm every type of borrower, with every type of loan, at every stage of repayment," former Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) official Seth Frotman said in a testimony in Congress in September 2019. "Lost paperwork, mishandled payments, deceptive disclosures, and the routine denial of borrowers repayment rights all add up to billions of dollars in additional debt for millions of borrowers."

In an interview with Yahoo Finance in April, Warren said: "Weve got these middlemen, these student loan debt servicers that were with us today, who cant seem to keep straight."

Warren has also called on ED to stop working with Navient and PHEAA.

"These student loan debt servicers, theyre making buckets of money to help their bottom line but not to help the students who are really in trouble trying to repay their loans," she said.

Aarthi is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. She can be reached at aarthi@yahoofinance.com. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.

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The next evolution of citizen experience – Federal News Network

Posted: at 11:35 pm

Citizen experience has been a focus of federal agencies since being named a cross-agency priority in 2011, when agencies were asked to develop customer service plans. It remained part of the Presidents Management Agenda in 2018. Then, as with so many other modernization initiatives, the response to the COVID-19 pandemic kicked the digitization of citizen service into an accelerated gear. Yet work on ensuring that the government by the people, for the people is being responsive to modern customer service needs is by no means complete.

As with any new administration, there are an array of new programs on the horizon. With the societal challenges we face today, we can expect an even more rapid deployment of such programs to help spur economic recovery, respond to inequality, and improve public health management. These programs will need support from agencies across the government. How can organizations begin preparing to meet not just the citizen service needs of today but also those of the future? The answer is a healthy combination of people, processes and technology.

In March 2020, the Small Business Administration needed to staff up quickly to meet the incoming demand for services as they related to the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, put in place to help stabilize the economy. The SBA needed thousands of new customer service agents to meet demand. Knowing they could not hire this workforce internally, SBA sought contractor support.

The reach of this virtual, scalable team allowed demand to be met, so business owners in need could quickly connect with someone for assistance. As time went on, the volume fluctuated greatly. The team was able to handle these peaks with metrics consistent with those on slower days in terms of speed to answer, call time, and satisfaction. This was due to the flexibility afforded by a virtual model. The SBA could reach into a pool of qualified and call-ready representatives when they needed to meet high volumes, and similarly, quickly scale back when call volume slowed.

The fluidity in staffing levels was matched by the flexibility where people were sourced. The use of virtual support enables quick ramp-ups because it opens up the recruiting pool across the U.S. Organizations are not bound to recruiting within a geographic area, accessing the right talent for the job, regardless of location.

Getting the sheer number of people needed to meet contact center needs is only part of the solution: Those people then need to be trained. The key to onboarding thousands of agents quickly is having an effective learning strategy in place. Ideally, this is a mix of instructor-led and on-demand training to meet the learning needs and preferences of the agents. In the case of SBA, the short ramp-up period required rapid development of an e-learning curriculum and on-the-job reference materials from scratch that allowed agents to be call-ready within days.

This kind of online learning can also be created from existing training, taking traditional classroom curriculum and turning it into a self-paced learning environment that agents could do at any time. A self-paced curriculum should include gamification elements to keep learners motivated and processing at the pace needed to meet staffing goals. Additionally, it is critical that comprehension of the materials is measured for proficiency and reported before allowing customer interactions. After onboarding, on-demand resources also allow for ongoing learning, with agents being able to go back and refresh their knowledge at any time.

Beyond these self-driven materials, building a community among agents is also critical. Organizations should find ways to help people reach out to colleagues to answer questions, discuss current challenges, and learn from more experienced agents for ongoing learning and support. A successful virtual community cultivates engagement, allowing agents to build and nurture relationships in a remote setting.

Better citizen experience starts with a better employee experience. Whether agents are working in a brick-and- mortar center or virtually, they need to have systems that make their job easier. Organizations need to ensure they have the right tools in place to empower agents to carry out the mission. Some key technology investments include:

Improving citizen service is more than just meeting a mandate, it is what our government was designed to do serve the people. Thinking about the people, processes, and technology that need to be in place to efficiently meet this overarching mission of service to the citizen is critical in every agency. While the SBA showed that citizen service can ramp up in an emergency, maintaining continuity of operations is something that should be happening across government.

Jon Brown is vice president of client results at Liveops.

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Intelligent Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) Software Company Alfi Bolsters National Sales Team with Addition of Christopher Whalen as Vice President -…

Posted: at 11:35 pm

Digital Advertising Veteran to Support and Expand National Sales as Company Grows Rapidly

MIAMI BEACH, FL / ACCESSWIRE / June 23, 2021 /Alfi, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALF) ("Alfi" or the "Company"), an AI enterprise SaaS platform powering computer vision with machine learning models to allow content publishers and brand owners to deliver interactive, intelligent information without violating user privacy, announced today the appointment of Christopher Whalen as Vice President of National Sales.

In his new role, Whalen will be responsible for executing the company's advertising sales growth strategies, as well as driving and expanding Alfi's sales operations nationally. He will report directly to Ron Spears, Alfi Chief Revenue Officer, who joined the Company in March and comes from Google Ventures-backed Firefly, which provides street-level digital media on taxis and rideshare vehicles.

"Chris brings with him a wealth of DOOH industry knowledge and highly-regarded agency and client contacts," said Ron Spears, CRO, Alfi. "Having helped grow local and national networks across airport, transit, and mall media networks, his diverse skills and valuable experience are exactly what we need to lead our fast-growing sales team."

Alfi is changing the way consumers interact with DOOH displays. The Company's software makes digital screens instantly intelligent by using computer vision and AI to understand the demographics of who is in front of the screen, and then serves targeted advertisements based on real-time emotion, gender, age, and geo-location via dynamic creative video. Alfi's technology also offers immediate audience metrics and precise post-campaign attribution reporting in a privacy compliant manner, without the use of cookies.

Today, Alfi's technology is integrated into major retail and rideshare experiences around the world including AI-enabled digital advertising screen pilot programs with NEOOH of Brazil and American Eagle, as well as AI-enabled tablets in value cabs in Belfast and rideshares in Miami.

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Prior to joining Alfi, Whalen served as the Vice President of National Sales for Starlite Media, a leading shopper marketing and out of home advertising company. Before that, he developed and executed revenue-generating growth strategies at leading DOOH companies such as JCDecaux, Vector Media, and Westfield Media Group.

"Alfi is building an intelligent network' that will change how brands connect with consumers in real-life, OOH environments," said Christopher Whalen, VP of National Sales, Alfi. "Having spent 15 years serving this market, I look forward to bringing this groundbreaking technology and media to advertisers, and working with my new team to reach impactful milestones.''

"Christopher's outstanding track-record, paired with the tremendous demand for Alfi among advertisers, sets us up for exponential growth this year alone," said Paul Pereira, CEO, Alfi. "We are certain Christopher will be instrumental in helping Alfi achieve our goals."

Christopher is an active member of multiple professional LinkedIn groups in the OOH industry, including: Out-of-Home Advertising Professionals, Out of Home Specialist Association, OOH Media Professionals Collaboration, and Mall Advertising.

About Alfi Inc.

Alfi, Inc. provides solutions that bring transparency and accountability to the digital out of home advertising marketplace. Since 2018, Alfi, Inc. has been developing its artificial intelligence advertising platform to deliver targeted advertising in an ethical and privacy-conscious manner.

For more information, please visit: https://www.getalfi.com.

Alfi Inc. Media ContactDanielle DeVoren / Laura SchoolerKCSA Strategic CommunicationsAlfi@kcsa.com

Alfi Inc. Company ContactDennis McIntoshChief Financial Officerd.mcintosh@getalfi.com

Alfi Inc. Investor RelationsTraDigital IRKevin McGrath+1-646-418-7002kevin@tradigitalir.com

SOURCE: Alfi, Inc.

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Jurassic World Evolution 2 preview: Deeper management, better dinosaurs, and a whole load of customization options – Gamesradar

Posted: at 11:35 pm

Call them what you want flying reptiles, marine reptiles, dinosaurs the prehistoric scaly beasts have always been the focus of Frontier Development's dinosaur theme park sim, as you'd hope for a game called Jurassic World Evolution. Okay, technically flying reptiles and marine reptiles aren't dinosaurs, but all breeds are being put under the spotlight in Jurassic World Evolution 2. The sequel to 2018's breakout success is putting a focus on enhancements across all areas of keeping your park residents safe, happy, and importantly, contained within their enclosures.

Speaking to game director, Rich Newbold, and executive producer, Adam Woods, they say the team has four core areas where the sequel will make significant improvements, ranging from enhanced creativity for park building, deeper management for both dinosaurs and guests, a rich narrative, and more dinosaurs (and reptiles) than ever over 75 species in total. The full game will feature four unique game modes at launch, including a campaign that will offer an original story set after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and the new Chaos Theory mode which will let you play through key events from the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films for exciting 'What If' scenarios. There will also be the Challenge and Sandbox modes returning from the original game too.

While an improved campaign is certainly a focus for Frontier, there will be consistent improvements applied across all four of those modes. Woods and Newbold walk me through a park built in Sandbox mode in the new Tiger Environment seen in the Jurassic World Evolution 2 trailers released so far, which comes complete with a dramatic mountainous backdrop and gloriously terrifying snowstorm events. The most impressive immediate impact is the changes being made to the dinosaurs themselves - aka the game's scaled stars.

The dinosaurs themselves are getting enhanced behaviors, allowing them to more closely mimic what we assume they did in the wild, including resting and preening, interacting with each other more, or having the option to hunt in a pack if that's in a species' nature. You'll be able to unlock more body color and pattern variations too, which will allow you to create more unique dinosaurs, or even make their markings tie in with the environment more.

Beyond this though, the way your dinosaurs interact with their enclosures is getting far more involved too. When you first release an incubated dinosaur from the Hammond Creation Lab (now hatched from a batch of eggs and able to be released in batches rather than singularly), they will start scoping out their environment, looking for the elements they know they need such as food, water, forest areas, or a new feature called Ground Fibre. From these initial wanderings, your dinosaurs will then start digitally carving out a dynamic territory an area of their enclosure that they'll see as their area, which will develop over time. Territories of different species within a single enclosure will overlap and complement each other, allowing you to blend together these creatures for a spectacular showcase for your guests.

For herbivores, paleobotany is a driving force for these dynamic territories, and it's a feature that's being incorporated into the base game for Jurassic World Evolution 2, following its introduction in the Claire's Sanctuary DLC. Paleobotany is really just about the nutritional elements your dinosaur needs to stay healthy, and Jurassic World Evolution 2 removes the generic herbivore feeders, and instead encourages you to plant trees and shrubs that provide the correct food substances for each of your dinosaur species whether it be Ground Fibre, Tall Fibre, Ground Nut, or something else entirely. The development team has even taken these new environment reactive terrain brushes straight from extinct plants from back in prehistoric times, reimaging them for how the terrain paint tools work in the game.

The result is that the enclosures look and feel a lot more organic, with players able to build up several smaller biomes within a single enclosure to satisfy those territorial needs. The original game could feel a little repetitive in the way you built up the forest and water areas, but now it seems like there's much more creativity in how you cater for creature happiness. That includes various scenery objects for your enclosures too, so it finally goes beyond just the terrain paints and feeders.

That customization extends to the way you improve the experience for your guests too, and not just in that you can place decorations in your park to improve how it looks. Along with requirements for essentials like food, water, restrooms, and gift shops, guests will now fall into one of four interest groups. There are those that just fall under the "standard" interests group, but there are also those looking for adventure, nature, and luxury. Different areas of your park can be tailored to satisfy those interests. For example, nature-focused guests will gravitate towards the herbivore enclosures, while those seeking adventure are going to make a beeline for your T-Rex. Now, you'll be able to choose and tailor your amenities to better complement the guests heading to different sections of your park.

Amenities in particular are a building type that can be customized both inside and out. An amenity can be configured to add interior modules, such as an aquarium, display cabinets, infotainment, skeleton displays, and more all of which have values that align with these guest interests. Externally, the modules that you add won't, sadly, be reflected, but there are ways to change the appearance and theme of your buildings. You can change the roof decorations, signage, where the entrance is, add theme decoration to the ground area, or change the paintwork. It'll be much easier to make themed areas of your park that do feel unique, again moving away from the singular designed facilities of the original game.

New attraction buildings complement the more shell-like amenities though, and offer specific building types like a fully-fledged aquarium that should add more variation to your park. It'll be interesting to be able to spend just as much time making your guests happy as you will your dinosaurs. It was definitely something that felt a little more neglected in the original game, so it's pleasing to see that the park building experience as a whole is being taken into consideration. And of course, happy guests means happy pockets, which in turn means you'll have happier dinosaurs. It's a win, win.

Management improvements don't stop there either, with Jurassic World Evolution 2 adding more tools and an additional ground team type. That'll mean you have to work a little harder to understand your residents. For the existing rangers, you can now place Ranger Posts within the enclosures and assign a ranger team to that post. This will allow you to build up a ranger patrol route, and rangers passing through will scan the dinosaurs in that area. Rather than being instantly accessible, the information on the dinos now has a fog of war effect on it, and your rangers will need to go out on a status check run to check why a dino might be unhappy. But, to actually heal your dinos or cure them of illness, you'll need to send in your new mobile vet units from the Paleo Medical Facility, which is a fresh addition for this sequel. Vets can be sent in after a problem has been flagged by the rangers, and either help out in the field, or bring the dinosaurs back to the Paleo Medical Facility for treatment.

Although you'll need to enlist the help of your rangers, what I particularly love about what I've seen so far of Jurassic World Evolution 2 is the life improvements. Information is clustered together in a much better way, meaning you're not clicking between menus to paint a terrain with more trees, and then back to your dinosaur to see if you've added enough to make them happy. It's all in one place now, so adding trees increases your dino's contentment in a single menu they're small tweaks in this bigger whole, but necessary ones. So far, this is everything the original strived to be, but with just more of everything. More dinosaurs and reptiles, more management options with deeper tools, enhanced customization, and, most importantly, more opportunities to connect with the dinosaurs themselves. If you fell in love with the first game, we're all no doubt about to lose many more hours to this dino park sim sequel when it launches sometime this year.

Jurassic World Evolution 2 is launching on PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, PS5, and PS4. Check out more of the new games arriving in 2021 and beyond.

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Evolution of a Wellesley electrical box – The Swellesley Report

Posted: at 11:35 pm

I happened upon Wellesley High Schools Evolutions program team finishing its electrical box painting at the intersection of Kingsbury and Linden Streets on Wednesday. They started it on Monday and were expecting to have it finished this week.

Student Ellie Ostler says the box features a frog, spotted salamander, and fairy shrimp, reflecting the inhabitants of vernal pools in Wellesley like the ones studied by Evolutions students this year. Ostler and Luke Graves came up with the design, and visual arts teacher Brian Corey from the Evolutions Program provided support throughout the process.

This is 1 of 4 new electrical box designs emerging in town this spring and summer, adding to the existing ones previously approved and completed through the program coordinated by the Wellesley Police Department and the Towns Public Art Committee.

More artists will have their shot in the fall at giving additional electrical boxes in town a new look.

A new Traffic Box Art interactive map with photos, locations, and artist information will be available later this summer, according to the town.

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ESPN’s Jay Williams claims hacker used his Twitter account to post extremely wrong Celtics reaction – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 11:35 pm

There were many reactions to the news that the Boston Celtics were hiring Ime Udoka, currently a Brooklyn Nets assistant, as their next head coach. The most curious came from the Twitter account of Jay Williams.

The former Duke basketball star and current ESPN analyst appeared to react to Udoka's hire on Wednesday with praise for the man's talent and resume. Udoka has been an NBA assistant since 2012, working for the Nets as well as the San Antonio Spurs and Philadelphia 76ers.

However, the tweet in question led with a rather curious claim, that Udoka is the first head coach of color in Celtics history. The tweet was quickly deleted.

Now, as well-meaning as that tweet appears to be, it is also wrong. Extraordinarily wrong.

Udoka is in fact not the first head coach of color in Celtics history. Or the second. Or the third. He is the sixth, behind Bill Russell, K.C. Jones, Tom Sanders, M.L. Carr and Doc Rivers. The Celtics were actually the first team in NBA history to have a Black head coach via Russell.

The tweet was so wrong that even LeBron James had to weigh in, theorizing that the screencaps have to be photoshopped:

Unfortunately for Williams, the tweet was apparently quite real, and the reaction on Twitter was about what you would imagine. Hours later, he confirmed that the Celtics tweet came from his account, but then used a well-known defense by claiming he had been hacked.

There's obviously no way to confirm whether or not Williams is lying for what would be an embarrassing mistake, but let's just maintain some perspective here.

We've all seen what Twitter hacks look like, and they usually contain some combination of foul language, random product pushing, questionable direct messages and absolute gibberish. In this case, we're talking about a tweet that went to great lengths to not just push forward a clearly wrong bit of analysis, but even managed to mimic Williams' Twitter cadence (the man is a fan of ellipses and emojis).

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If we're looking at the work of a hacker, we are not looking at the work of a normal hacker. It would have to be a person committed to degrading Williams and/or ESPN in every phase of the operation and having the talent and subtlety to do it. After all, what's a more nefarious hacker than the one people won't even believe intervened in the first place?

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The evolution of Michael Conforto from a tough 2016 season to dynamic all-around player he is today | Baseball Night in NY – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 11:35 pm

On BNNY, Terry Collins revisits Michael Conforto's difficult 2016 season and explains how he persevered through his struggles to become one of the Mets top players. Watch more Baseball Night in NY: https://sny.tv/shows/baseball-night-in-ny About Baseball Night in New York: On Baseball Night in New York, host Doug Williams is joined by a cast of leading New York baseball writers and other experts to discuss the latest off-season news involving the New York Mets, Yankees, and key division rivals. About SNY: SNY is an award winning, multiplatform regional sports network serving millions across the country through unparalleled coverage of all things New York sports. SNY delivers the most comprehensive access to all of the Tri-State area's professional and collegiate sports teams through nightly sports and entertainment programs. SNY.tv is the go-to digital communal home for New York sports fans to get succinct, easy-to-read updates, video highlights and features, recaps, news, opinion, rumors, insight and fan reaction on their favorite New York sports teams. Check out more from SNY at https://sny.tv Subscribe to SNY on YouTube: https://on.sny.tv/S5RYeWN Like SNY on Facebook: https://on.sny.tv/rBYAHLi Follow SNY on Twitter: https://on.sny.tv/nOn1uq1 Follow SNY on Instagram: https://on.sny.tv/lEArPVp

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The evolution of Michael Conforto from a tough 2016 season to dynamic all-around player he is today | Baseball Night in NY - Yahoo Sports

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Tesla Rallies So Much That This Years Loss Is Set to Disappear – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 11:35 pm

(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. shares are back in vogue.

The electric vehicle makers stock is up nearly 10% in three sessions, leaving them poised to erase the losses that piled up this year as investors moved out of growth stocks and sentiment shifted against the company.

The latest surge reversed nearly two months of lackluster trading, when investors soured on the company amid growing competition threats from traditional automakers, signs of a potential sales slowdown in China and an ongoing semiconductor shortage.

Those concerns may have taken a backseat this week as optimism about surging growth buoyed the broader market and President Joe Biden reached a deal with a group of Republican and Democratic senators on a $559 billion infrastructure plan. That package proposes investing heavily into developing the electric vehicle ecosystem in the U.S., promising to bolster Tesla and its competitors.

Tesla shares rose as much as 6.3% to $697.62 on Thursday, and closed up 3.5% at $679.82. The shares ended 2020 at $705.67. The stock is now down just 3.7% this year.

Some of the strength in the stock on Thursday could also be attributed to a tweet from Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk, who said he will try to do his best to give long-term Tesla shareholders preference in any future IPO of the Starlink unit of SpaceX.

(Updates stock move in second and fifth paragraphs.)

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Tesla Rallies So Much That This Years Loss Is Set to Disappear - Yahoo Finance

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2021 NFL Preview: Texans’ fall to the bottom of the NFL was swift and complete – Yahoo Sports

Posted: at 11:35 pm

Yahoo Sports is previewing all 32 teams as we get ready for the NFL season, counting down the teams one per weekday in reverse order of our initial 2021 power rankings. No. 1 will be revealed on Aug. 4, the day before the Hall of Fame Game.

(Yahoo Sports graphics by Amber Matsumoto)

Hard as it is to believe, the Houston Texans haven't been the NFLs biggest joke for that long.

The league moves fast. Before giving away future Hall of Famers DeAndre Hopkins and J.J. Watt, turning over the franchise to an overmatched team development figure, trading away any draft pick not nailed down and having their star quarterback in the news for all the wrong reasons, the Texans were soundly beating the Kansas City Chiefs in a divisional round playoff game.

This moment was Jan. 12, 2020. Houston led 24-7. The Texans win probability peaked at 91.3 percent. Barring a collapse, they were going to the AFC championship game.

That moment was less than a year-and-a-half ago. Crazy.

Of course, the Texans did collapse and lost that game. Nothing has gone right since. Usually it takes many years for a franchise to sink to the absolute bottom. Not the Texans.

Even if we remove the Deshaun Watson situation for a moment, the Texans don't have a lot to feel good about. The roster is shockingly bad. Not counting Watson, the Texans best player is offensive tackle Laremy Tunsil? Well-traveled receiver Brandin Cooks? Safety Justin Reid? Yikes. And somehow, someway, it's also the oldest roster in the NFL.

Poor David Culley. He is 65, a football lifer who has been an assistant all the way back to 1978 at Austin Peay. This is his first chance to be a head coach. He gets to lead the worst team in the NFL, and inherits the Watson mess on top of it all.

The details of Watsons alleged sexual misconduct are voluminous. Nobody knows how the NFL will handle it. Nobody knows if the Texans will trade Watson when it is settled. (Hey, remember when possibly trading Watson was the big controversial headline of the offseason?) The Houston media seems to believe that Watson will not be back, one way or another. Its a horrible situation, for everyone. Nobody wins.

Story continues

Football-wise, even if Watson plays 17 games it's hard to imagine he does so with a clear head. Hes a magical player but this is not a situation conducive to a normal season. Even when Watson played last year and played very well, the Texans were 4-12. If Tyrod Taylor or rookie Davis Mills starts for the Texans, they arent winning 25 percent of their games.

The Texans are a cautionary example of how fast things can fall apart in the NFL. A bad coach in Bill OBrien is given too much power and makes an all-time bad trade with Hopkins. Incompetent ownership doesnt know how to right the ship. Bad moves lead to more bad moves. Before you know it, the team is pouring too many resources into signing three mediocre running backs like thats a viable solution in the modern NFL.

With Watson the Texans are still probably the worst team in the NFL, which is nearly impossible to do with an elite QB. Without Watson, the Texans could be one of the worst teams weve seen in a while. The Texans should be projected to have the worst offense (if no Watson) and worst defense in the NFL.

It took dysfunctional teams like Washington and the New York Jets decades to get to this level of hilarity. The Texans sunk to the bottom and never even had time to take a deep breath on the way down.

David Johnson is one of the few Texans who will return in 2021 (Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images)

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We'll just leave Deshaun Watson out of this because who knows how it'll end up. Though it seems fair to note that if Watson is traded, it will be for a lot less than the Texans could have gotten when the offseason started. J.J. Watt was cut, which was a charitable move for a franchise icon but it didn't help the Texans in any way. Will Fuller also left in free agency. The Texans' biggest move, in terms of money per year, was signing quarterback Tyrod Taylor at $5.5 million. Then the Texans used their first draft pick and only top 100 pick, in the third round, on Stanford quarterback Davis Mills. If Watson does return, that means the Texans' two biggest moves of the offseason were on their second- and third-string quarterbacks. The Texans also traded a sixth-round pick to the Cincinnati Bengals for quarterback Ryan Finley and a seventh-round pick in March ... then cut Finley in May. The Texans signed running backs Phillip Lindsay and Mark Ingram when they already had David Johnson, who was infamously acquired in the DeAndre Hopkins trade. The Texans made a ton of moves. New general manager Nick Caserio made 79 transactions from Jan. 7 when he was hired through late May. At that point Houston had 27 new offensive players, 22 new defensive players and one new special teams player on the 90-man offseason roster, according to John McClain of the Houston Chronicle. Yet, it's hard to say the roster is better. This is a statement we've all gotten used to: There's no apparent plan in Houston.

GRADE: D-

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The Texans signed Tyrod Taylor, drafted Davis Mills when they had limited picks and also added Jeff Driskel. Those are the moves of a team that doesn't plan to have Deshaun Watson, or the moves of a team that doesn't know what it's doing. Either answer is acceptable. Let's assume Watson moves on, since it seems that's what Houston is telling us. Watson dragged a horrible Texans team to four wins and a lot of close losses last season. He was so good, on such a bad team, he should have gotten MVP consideration. The only good news for the Texans is if Watson is cleared by the NFL and then traded, they are a practical lock for the first pick in 2022 and can start over at quarterback. Thankfully, Bill O'Brien didn't trade away that pick before he was fired. It's very unlikely that whoever the Texans draft in 2022 would be as good as Watson, but this franchise is a debacle and hitting the factory reset button might be for the best.

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Houston's win total at BetMGM opened at 4.5 and was bet down to 4. If Watson plays all season (that still has to be among the potential outcomes in this crazy story), then getting to 4-13 is possible. Watson is that good. If the Texans' quarterback is Tyrod Taylor or Davis Mills, how could you ever predict them to get four wins? This roster is as bad as you'll ever find in the NFL. Take the under, which might be in play even if Watson plays for Houston. It seems like a near lock without Watson.

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From Yahoo's Scott Pianowski: "The Texans are getting ignored at most fantasy tables, in part because of Deshaun Watson's uncertain status, but also because of a glaring lack of talent on the roster and a stunning lack of common sense in the front office. David Johnson is the only player sneaking into the Top 100, slotting right at the century mark in early Yahoo drafts.

"Johnson quietly played solid football last year, posting his career-best YPC and checking in as fantasy's RB19 despite missing four games. Hes a long way from the player that dominated fantasy back in 2016, but running backs commonly have very short runs of relevance.

"In simplest terms, I'm likely to fade Johnson, along with his teammates. The Texans have brought in layers of backfield competition, both young (Phillip Lindsay) and old (Mark Ingram). And it's generally a bad idea to invest in a fantasy back if you don't believe in his team as a whole; game script is unlikely to be your friend. Johnson was considered a dynamic receiver early in his career, but we haven't seen that player recently. I can't in good faith pitch any of the Texans to you."

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Three teams in NFL history have intercepted three or fewer passes in a season. The 1982 Houston Oilers, who played nine games due to a strike, had three. The 2018 San Francisco 49ers intercepted only two. And the Texans last season had just three picks on 541 opponent passing attempts. One was by defensive end J.J. Watt, who isn't around anymore. The Texans have very few playmakers on defense, and it won't get better without Watt disrupting opponents up front. The Texans' defense ranked 30th in Football Outsiders' DVOA last season, and it could drop two spots this season unless new coordinator Lovie Smith can pull off a miracle.

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Who is David Culley?

Culley was a surprise hire, and is a great story.

Culley, 65, is the oldest first-time head coach in NFL history. He worked for 27 years as an NFL assistant, with a few more years in college, but never got a shot to be a head coach or even an offensive coordinator. Culley spent the past two seasons as assistant head coach/pass coordinator/receivers coach with the Baltimore Ravens. The Texans were impressed with Culley's character and his positive attitude, which could come in handy this season.

"When you listen to people talk about David Culley, there are themes that continually repeat themselves," Texans GM Nick Caserio said at Culley's introductory news conference. "Themes such as what a special person he is, how much positive energy he emanates, a prime example of an individual that believes in servant leadership, someone who conducts himself in a way that brings out the best in others, and an outstanding communicator and teacher."

Culley has a hard job ahead of him. During his introductory news conference, most of the questions were about Deshaun Watson, and that was long before any of the accusations were made against the quarterback. But he has a shot, finally.

Guys are going to rally behind him and support him, and theyll want to play their best for him, running back Mark Ingram said, according to the Houston Chronicle. Thats the type of guy he is. Hes going to be a players coach whos real and will support his players and his team. You want to go hard for a guy like that.

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Maybe David Culley's positive attitude rubs off, the Deshaun Watson situation gets settled and the Texans don't finish in last place of the AFC South. It's hard to expect anything more than that. The biggest win this year would be finding some solid young pieces, Culley proving he was the right hire and getting an answer to the future at quarterback whether it's Watson, Davis Mills or the first pick of the 2022 draft. Any positive news in Houston would be welcomed.

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It's hard to predict an 0-17 season for any team, but it can't be ruled out. If Deshaun Watson doesn't play for Houston, the Texans could have the worst offense and the worst defense in the NFL, with a first-time head coach and one of the hardest schedules in the NFL. And if Watson is traded it could be for far less than a team should get for an elite QB, for reasons we all understand. This season could be historically ugly.

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I'd like to offer some prediction on what will happen with Deshaun Watson, but I have no idea how it turns out. No matter if Watson plays all season, some of the season, none of the season or for another team, I can't figure out how the Texans win more than four games. They went 4-12 last season with a quarterback playing at an elite level; what would they have been without him? And the roster as a whole is worse this season. This is a long-term rebuild, and Texans fans would probably be happy with any signs the franchise knows how to dig out of this mess.

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2021 NFL Preview: Texans' fall to the bottom of the NFL was swift and complete - Yahoo Sports

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