Daily Archives: September 22, 2021

CF Industries (CF) Halts Operations at its UK Facilities – Entrepreneur

Posted: September 22, 2021 at 2:54 am

This story originally appeared on Zacks

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF recently announced that it is halting operations at both its Billingham and Ince, UK, manufacturing facilities due to high natural gas prices. The company does not have an estimate for when production will resume at these complexes.

- Zacks

The company is exposed to headwinds stemming from higher natural gas costs. CF Industries encountered higher year-over-year costs during first-half 2021. Natural gas cost was $3.24 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in the first half of 2021, up from $2.20 per MMBtu in the year-ago period. The increase was partly driven by higher natural gas costs in the UK and increased gas prices in North America stemming from the severe winter weather.

The company expects natural gas costs to increase year over year in 2021. As such, higher natural gas costs may raise its cost of sales and hurt margins.

Shares of CF Industries have gained 53.9% in the past year compared with a 53.5% rise of the industry.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

CF Industries, in its last earnings call, stated that it expects nitrogen pricing to be positive as higher economic activities, the need to replenish coarse grains stocks globally and increased energy prices in Europe and Asia are expected to sustain a tighter global nitrogen supply as well as demand balance into 2023.

The global demand for nitrogen is also strong, the company noted. It expects strong global demand for coarse grains to contribute to sustained low global stocks into 2022, supporting strong nitrogen demand in the upcoming years. An increase in economic activities has also contributed to higher industrial consumption of nitrogen products.

CF Industries currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Nucor Corporation NUE, The Chemours Company CC and Olin Corporation OLN.

Nucor has a projected earnings growth rate of around 508% for the current year. The companys shares have soared 112.1% in a year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Chemours has an expected earnings growth rate of around 86.4% for the current year. The companys shares have gained 38.6% in the past year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Olin has an expected earnings growth rate of around 639.3% for the current fiscal. The companys shares have surged 265.3% in the past year. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1.

5 Stocks Set to Double

Each was handpicked by a Zacks expert as the #1 favorite stock to gain +100% or more in 2021. Previous recommendations have soared +143.0%, +175.9%, +498.3% and +673.0%.

Most of the stocks in this report are flying under Wall Street radar, which provides a great opportunity to get in on the ground floor.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free reportNucor Corporation (NUE): Free Stock Analysis ReportCF Industries Holdings, Inc. (CF): Free Stock Analysis ReportOlin Corporation (OLN): Free Stock Analysis ReportThe Chemours Company (CC): Free Stock Analysis ReportTo read this article on Zacks.com click here.Zacks Investment Research

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BRAVE CF Partners With German MMA Promotion To Hold Live Events In 2022 – International Business Times

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KEY POINTS

Bahrain-based BRAVE Combat Federation has announced three live events to be held in Germany on April 9, 16 and 23 of 2022.

We are very excited to start our BRAVE CF national MMA vision in Germany with threegroundbreaking shows, saidBRAVE CF president Mohammed Shahid.

With the largest market share in European MMA, it is the responsibility of BRAVE CF to develop the MMA industry in the continent. With a strong partner like NFC (National Fighting Championship), we are confident to not only put on some action-packed MMA shows but also see many national superstars coming from Germany.

The shows will be co-promoted alongside the National Fighting Championship (NFC), the top mixed martial arts (MMA) organization in the country.

Started operatingonly in 2019, NFC has quickly risen to the top of the German MMA scene and has a focus on developing the next generation of homegrowntalents.

FIGHTING.de will also serve as the official media partner of BRAVE CF during its stretch of eventsin Germany.

The cooperation with BRAVE CF is an honor for us and shows that we are on the right track to make MMA huge in Germany,Michael Ortlepp, CEO of FIGHTING.DE, stated.

To work with such a high profile partner like BRAVE CF is a huge step for the development of MMA in our country. Also its an incredible chance for local fighters to present and prove themselves on such a big international stage.

BRAVE CF has already been to 23 differentcountries since its inception in 2016.

The promotion will look to add the 24th country on itslist as the upcoming BRAVE CF 54 on Saturday, September 25thwill mark itsfirst-ever trip to Poland.

BRAVE CF lightweight champion Amin Ayoub will be defending his title against Egypts Ahmed Amir in the main event.

Lightweight contenderRolando Dy predicted that Ayoub will easily win the fight, courtesy ofthe Frenchman'smuch superior style inside the cage.

Amin Ayoub will defend his BRAVE CF Lightweight Championship against Egypt's Ahmed Amir in the main event of BRAVE CF 54 on September 25, 2021 in Konin, Poland. Photo: BRAVE CF

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BreatheCon Offers Adults With Cystic Fibrosis Opportunity to Connect – Cystic Fibrosis News Today

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A two-day virtual event called BreatheCon will offer adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) an opportunity to connect and share their experiences through open and honest dialogue.

Registration for the Sept. 2425 event, which is hosted by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, is free online.

CF can be extremely isolating, but it can feel even more so when it feels like theres no one like you in the community, Tannaz Motevalli, one of the event planners, said in an accompanying video.

Its extremely important that we learn how to be a community where no one feels alone when collecting with others with CF, they added.

This years BreatheCon will include, for the first time, a matching program for newer participants: attendees for whom this is their first or second BreatheCon will be paired with a veteran of the event, who will be in touch before the event starts and serve as a point of contact to answer questions and help newcomers navigate the online event space.

BreatheCon will kick off at 6:15 p.m. Sept. 24. The first day will feature an opening talk by three adults living with CF, two of whom are the events co-chairs. There also will be an artist showcase and an online happy hour where attendees can break into small groups for discussions.

The event resumes the next afternoon. The second day of BreatheCon will include a variety of sessions in which experts will talk about specific aspects of navigating life with CF, ranging from ensuring adequate nutrition, to navigating challenges with insurance, to mental health considerations.

There will be talks about Trikafta, a triple-combination therapy for CF caused by certain mutations, as well as opportunities for participants to engage in physical exercise and improvisational comedy. The second day also will feature several chances for small group discussions, and the events last day will conclude with a second happy hour.

Attendees at BreatheCon are asked to adhere to certain community guidelines, including refraining from offensive speech, being respectful of others life experiences, and keeping breakout videos and chats confidential. Attendees also are asked to use their real identity in the online space, and not to ask for or give medical advice.

For more information about BreatheCon, email the organizers at[emailprotected].

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CF Industries Holdings, Inc. Announces Halt of Operations at UK Facilities – Business Wire

Posted: at 2:54 am

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, today announced that it is halting operations at both its Billingham and Ince, UK, manufacturing complexes due to high natural gas prices. The Company does not have an estimate for when production will resume at the facilities.

About CF Industries Holdings, Inc.At CF Industries, our mission is to provide clean energy to feed and fuel the world sustainably. With our employees focused on safe and reliable operations, environmental stewardship, and disciplined capital and corporate management, we are on a path to decarbonize our ammonia production network the worlds largest to enable green and blue hydrogen and nitrogen products for energy, fertilizer, emissions abatement and other industrial activities. Our nine manufacturing complexes in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, an unparalleled storage, transportation and distribution network in North America, and logistics capabilities enabling a global reach underpin our strategy to leverage our unique capabilities to accelerate the worlds transition to clean energy. CF Industries routinely posts investor announcements and additional information on the companys website at http://www.cfindustries.com and encourages those interested in the company to check there frequently.

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CF schools require everyone to wear masks indoors, effective immediately – Leader-Telegram

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Man denied cystic fibrosis drug by one insurer has it approved by another – CBC.ca

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A Halifax man denied a cystic fibrosis drug by one insurance company has had it approved by another.

Stefan Strecko was devastated last month after his approval for Trikafta, what some consider a groundbreaking drug, was revoked.

His partner of three years was able to add him to her insurance plan with Sun Life.

"It's giving me a lot more peace of mind, even though I've only been on it for two weeks, I feel like my health is, like, stabilized almost," said Strecko, 28.

Cystic fibrosisis a genetic disease that causes lung infections and reduces the ability to breathe.

Sun Life is one of the few insurance companies in Canada that covers the drug. Strecko saidhe has not heard anything from Canada Life since it denied him coverage.

"It was much easier with Sun Life than my previous application with Canada Life," said Strecko. "I was added to her plan, and it was a quick couple of phone calls between Sun Life and the pharmaceutical company."

Strecko saidhe was able to pick up the pills shortly after and he saw improvements after his first few doses.

"I saw changes, probably within the first three days of taking it," said Strecko. "I really felt a lot clearer and drier and overall was coughing much, much less, which is a huge difference for me."

Strecko said the cost is about $25,000 per month. Sun Life will cover 80 per cent and the remainder is subsidized by the pharmaceutical company.

Strecko said he's had some side effects, but nothing major.

"I just had some pretty bad congestion, a sore throat, things like that probably lasted three days, and then I felt better after that," he said. "It's not a bad trade-off."

This is the first modulator drug Strecko has taken.

Until now, Strecko has taken drugs that treat the symptoms of cystic fibrosis. Modulator drugs actually seek to improve the faulty protein that people with cystic fibrosis produce.

Trikafta repairs the protein that causes people with CF to have a thick buildup of mucus in the lungs and pancreas.

Strecko saidTrikafta will be part of his treatment for the foreseeable future or at least until something better comes along, and that adding three more pills to the 50 per day he already takes is no big deal.

He said it's a small price to pay for extending his life and bettering his health.

"I'm definitely less worried and less anxious kind of about my health and how things are going to be. And it just gives me a lot of hope for normalcy and in the future."

The Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health, a national organization that determines the clinical and cost-effectiveness of prescription drugs,recommendsTrikafta be reimbursed by public drug plans.

However, it states the coverage should extend only to those who have at least one F508del mutation, and they must have a measure of lung functionof 90 per cent or less.

Streckothinks that is unfair.

"It's great for some people that can get it, obviously, but for others, they're kind of going to be left waiting, saying, 'Do I have to get sick or to get on this medication?'"

Additionally, the agency's recommendations aren't binding.

Strecko saidhe's excited to have received Trikafta and happy that some others will be able to get it, too.

However, he's not giving up the fight to get the drug covered for all CF patients by the federal government.

"My heart breaks a little bit to see people still waiting for it," he said. "We're all in this as a team together, and I just hope that all the CF patients can get it too because I think that's the most important thing."

Sun Life was not immediately available for comment.

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Looking Forward to the Future: CF Montreal vs Chicago Fire Preview – Hot Time In Old Town

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In case you missed it, the Chicago Fire played Indy Eleven in a friendly on Tuesday, that they won 3-1. Normally something like an untelevised friendly with a lower division opponent wouldnt be a blip on the radar. However, something newsworthy did happen that night. Fire homegrown talent Missael Rodriguez scored twice.

Rodriguez just signed a 4 year deal with the club that technically starts on New Years Day 2022, but he was given a runout with the rest of the reserves Tuesday, and he made the most out of his organizational showcase. After leading the U19s to a MLS Next tournament victory, hes now coming to the senior roster with two goals and a lot of hype. I wish he could come into the setup now, but he cant. And I cant wait until he does.

Chicago Fire all-time MLS record vs CF Montreal: 7W-6D-9L, 30 GF / 30 GA, 27 pts out of 66+

Chicago Fire away MLS record vs CF Montreal: 2W-3D-7L, 13 GF / 19 GA, 9 pts out of 36

Montreal is not fading at the end of the season like they historically do. They have only lost once since August 14th, a 1-0 loss in Nashville on the 14th. In that time theyre 3-2-1, with wins over Toronto, Orlando, and the Red Bulls. their draws were against Cincinnati while down a player, and Philadelphia. Theyve been scoring in bunches as well. Their wins against Toronto and Orlando had a combined score of 7-3, with 4 of the goals scored coming against Orlando.

With the season basically over, my lineup dream lineup would look something like this:

Yes, for those looking, its a 4-4-2. The Fires current personnel, and unless a massive amount of roster turnover happens in the offseason, the best way to play for this squad given the talent they have is a central diamond. Sekulic and Navarro can still push up in attack giving the team width, but they dont have any natural attacking wingers in the squad, so they should concentrate on working through the middle of the park.

All of this is possible because of the acquisition of Federico Navarro. His ability to cover so much ground frees up the need for the fire to play with a double pivot. They can push that second player forward and play another attacking-minded player, say, Brian Gutierrez (injury permitting) , instead of Gaston Gimenez who is good at what he does, but his spot is now redundant.

Meanwhile, if Aliseda is healthy again, he should slot into the second striker role where he is most comfortable, handing Luka the main attacking playmaker role. Chinonso Offor is offside less than Robert Beric and baring a Ricardo Pepi-like rise for Missael Rodriguez or a big-time striker signing in the offseason, hes your 2022 starting striker.

Clog the Midfield: At the moment, Montreals best player is Djordje Mihailovic. The ex-Frie homegrown talent has flourished in French Canada. This season, he's second in assists behind Carles Gil. In order to prevent Montreal from getting anything done, you have to shut down Djordje.

The best way to get this done is to clog the midfield to make sure he doesnt have the room he needs to work. The strategy I laid out in the lineup section would be the best way to do this; clog up the midfield and make the passing lanes so tight that Montreal have to go elsewhere to get any offense. However. regardless of how they do it, they must make it hard for Djordje Mihailovic to affect the game.

Figure Out the Offense: The Fire have a big problem. They cant score goals. Luka Stojanovic putting the ball in the back of the net a few times aside, the Fire havent been able to find a consistent goal scorer for any length of time. What they have to figure out now is if they have someone who can score going into the next season, or if they have to go out and get one in the offseason to supplement the trio of young strikers theyll have on the roster in 2022.

Chinonso Offor has been good at everything other than scoring goals. His positioning and timing on runs have been impeccable. However, he hasnt yet gotten that killer instinct that all great strikers have. He needs to gain that, or he could be on the outside looking in once next season rolls around.

Television: WGN-TV

Streaming: CFFC Live

Teams are so close in the middle of the eastern conference quality-wise, that the things that separate them are the details, like having the ability to put the ball in the back of the net. For that reason, the Fire are at the bottom of the midfield, and will probably end up with another L in their record. 3-1 to the ex-Impact.

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CF library to be closed during construction – Leader-Telegram

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How HR can find the free speech line – HR Dive

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HR pros should prepare for free speech complaints before issues arise, according to Greg Hare, shareholder at Ogletree Deakins an undertaking that can require employers to set rules and implement training.

Addressing the crowd at a Sept. 10 Society for Human Resource Management conference session on the balance between employee free speech and workplace civility, Hare leaned on his baseball coaching experience to emphasize one key takeaway for HR professionals: know what to do when the ball is hit to you.

"There's a reason that the United States has had one of the biggest challenges in the world when it comes to COVID compliance," Hare said. "It's because we are unabashed individuals. Everybody has their own mind, everybody has their own thoughts, everybody thinks that they know the best way to do things. That includes your employees as well."

Having worked with clients over the years to perform "human resources triage," he provided some advice on approaching difficult situations.

When the #MeToo movement happened, in many cases, "people [already] knew there was a problem," Hare said. But when leaders in those situations heard the complaints, they often didn't want to investigate "they didn't want it to be true," Hare said and the organization did nothing.

Contrived issues happen as well, when bad-faith whistleblowers are attempting to undermine another person or group out of resentment or for another reason. Hare used the 2007 Duke lacrosse scandal as an example of a mistaken rush to judgment.

Due process doesn't tend to occur in the workplace except in unionized environments, Hare noted; "wrongful termination" can be determined based on age, sex, national origin, disability, and related markers, but it doesn't apply in most nonrelated free speech circumstances.

Still, employers should strive for due process "as a matter of positive employee relations and positive workplace culture," Hare said. "Even though that employee is gone fired on Tuesday on Wednesday morning, [when] you go back to work, the employee may not be there, but all their co-workers [will be]. And they're going to be looking at you and saying, 'Was that fair?'"

Workers often misunderstand the right of free speech in the United States, Hare said, thinking it should be consequence-free at all levels. But the obligation to allow free speech only applies to the government.

"As a company, [you] can uphold your virtues, cultures, customs, and you can insist that employees don't do something that undermines the company," Hare said. "That's pretty fundamental."

Hare brought up the example of a Colorado-based company: in the wake of Colorado's legalization of recreational marijuana, an employee posted a photo on social media of himself smoking a joint while wearing the company uniform and operating a forklift.

"Naturally in that situation [with the employee in] a safety-sensitive position, [wearing the] company uniform that's tremendously embarrassing," Hare said. "The last thing that a company needs to do is tolerate that type of behavior."

But employers needn't hire a handful of HR workers just to monitor employees' social media behavior. With the exception of closer inspection of high-level C-suite hires, for example, it's rarely worth the company's time to monitor employees' public social lives so closely. (Gaining employees' trust and respect is, of course, another issue with surveillance.)

When issues do come across the HR desk, it's important to ask: Is this work-related? Sometimes, as in the case of protests of workplace-tangential issues, it can be complicated, Hare said: "If employees are protesting the country's immigration laws, and therefore the company's rules for verifying eligibility for employment, is that work-related?"

Employers are most likely to get in trouble for reprimanding or firing employees for speech when it violates policies laid out by agencies like the National Labor Relations Board, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Because agencies' priorities can change significantly from one administration to the next, employers need to keep on top of new rules.

During the Obama era, Hare said, the NLRB issued a number of workplace-related rules meant to protect workers' right to organize that likely had a big impact on many employer handbooks, including requiring employees not to engage in insubordinate activity or share confidential information online. While many of those rules were "peeled back" and clarified during the Trump years, Hare said, they are likely to shift again with the current administration.

Employers should also keep in mind that if made in good faith, "even a nonvalid substantive claim can result in a valid retaliation claim."

Beyond federal agencies, over the past few years, "more and more states are starting to dive into the employment law sphere," Hare said. With the additional strain of COVID-19, even counties and cities have issued ordinances that HR leaders need to track.

Finally, in addition to HR pros understanding what to do, other managers need to know as well, Hare said. Often, employees take their issues to direct supervisors rather than HR.

Sometimes, companies can find themselves facing discrimination or other claims when a front-line supervisor dismisses an employee's complaint out of hand, resulting in a legitimate complaint that nothing was done.

"Make sure that your front-line managers know to acknowledge the complaint," Hare said. "Simply teach all of them to say, Thank you. I appreciate you using our open door policy to bring that to the company's attention. We take complaints like this very seriously. We will investigate, we will make sure that we look into this, and then we will come back to you to tell you what we have found.'"

After acknowledging, supervisors should know how and where to escalate the complaint so it can be investigated, with any issues fixed and adjustments made so the problem will be less likely to occur in the future.

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How HR can find the free speech line - HR Dive

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Was Free Speech Absolutism a Mistake in Higher Education? – National Review

Posted: at 2:53 am

Students of New York University protest then president-elect Donald Trump in Manhattan, N.Y., November 16, 2016. (Bria Webb/Reuters)

The American Left used free speech to obtain a position of ideological domination in our colleges and universities and now that they have that position, theyre turning against free speech in favor of controls over speech that doesnt further their agenda. Should those of us on the other side of our great political divide learn something from that?

In a recent book, Michael Knowles argues that conservatives should have fought the Left by suppressing their speech. The Martin Centers Sumantra Maitra reviews his book here.

Maitra writes, Knowles is a conservative, in the original sense of the term. That means he cuts through the fantasy that has permeated American conservatism (as opposed to their more power-friendly and reactionary Euro cousins) in the past forty years, namely, that humans are all fundamentally rational animals, and that everything can be solved by civil persuasion in the marketplace of ideas. Its increasingly hard to square that worldview with the reality of the last four years, and Knowless book offers a mild reprimand while suggesting a few course corrections.

According to Knowles, our effort at maintaining value-neutral universities was doomed to failure. American conservatives should have tried to keep out the destructive ideas of progressivism, deconstructionism, and all the other isms that today bedevil us. The responses by conservatives to leftist ideas have been naive, feeble, and impotent, he argues.

So, what course of action does he prescribe? In particular, we would need to restore prohibitions against obscenity, which politically correct radicals have long exploited to arouse the peoples base passions and undermine their liberty, just as the Founding Fathers feared, Knowles writes.

I havent read the book, but I doubt that such prohibitions would have done anything to stem the tide of bad ideas flowing into our universities. Also, I wonder what the U.S. would be like if a conservative cabal had been in control since, say, the 1950s, using power to suppress speech that it found threatening. History teaches us that power is dangerous, no matter who wields it.

Knowless book opens (or re-opens) a debate thats worth having, at least.

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Was Free Speech Absolutism a Mistake in Higher Education? - National Review

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