Meanwhile. . .

A new reparations committee in New York State has sparked anger from Republicans who argue that the panel will only divide the state. New York will create a commission tasked with studying potential reparations for state residents who are descendants of enslaved people under a bill signed into law by Governor Kathy Hochul on Tuesday. The commission, which will present its findings in 2025, will be tasked with examining the state's legacy of slavery and making non-binding recommendations on how to address racial and structural inequalities in New York that could include monetary compensation. Anything proposed by the panel would need to be passed by the state legislature and governor.

As Need Rises, Housing Aid Hits Lowest Level in Nearly 25 Years

The first thing a student might notice in  [Indiana's] Burkhart Elementary School’s new sensory room is the light tube. Or maybe the slide. Or the trampoline and crash mat. There are magnetic tiles on a wall to the right and scooter boards all over the floor. The room invites play, but it also serves a purpose: To help students calm down — or wake up — and get ready to learn. “It’s such a cool opportunity, because there’s not a child in the school who couldn’t benefit from it,” said Brooke McDonald, the school’s occupational therapist who supervises the room. The sensory room at Burkhart opened last week thanks to a $9,000 grant from the Perry Education Foundation. It’s a first for the school and only the second such space in Perry Township elementary schools, said the foundation’s president, Mary Blake.

According to a new analysis by Travel Smart, a campaign by the European Federation for Transport and Environment, about half of over 200 global business firms reduced their business-related travel emissions by over 50% from 2019 to 2022. Much of this reduction in emissions could be attributed to less air travel since the pandemic.

 

BOOKS: The Rebellious CEO: 12 Leaders Who Did It Right By Ralph Nader. One of corporate America's greatest foes shows how 12 CEOs he has known uniquely rejected narrow yardsticks of shareholder value by leading companies to larger models of prosperity and justice Over the course of 7 decades Ralph Nader has been Corporate America's fiercest critic. Supreme Court Justice William Powell singled out Nader in his infamous memo as the "single most effective antagonist of American business."

 

A Gallup poll found that 77% of Americans believe crime rates a.ropped 8%, while property crime fell 6.3% to what would be its lowest level since 1961.

 

States with the highest and lowest rates of homelessness

 

Google is shelling out $700 million to settle an antitrust lawsuit brought by state prosecutors over the high fees it charges app developers, a court filing said yesterday. Who’s eligible? Around 102 million consumers who made purchases on Google Play from Aug. 16, 2016, through Sept. 30 of this year. Most will receive automatic payments.  

  

A 90-year-old earns a master's degree.

 

An intense storm system battered the northeast coast of the US yesterday with high winds, heavy rain, and flooding, leaving 59 million people from Virginia to Maine under flood watches and knocking out power for more than 700,000 people. At least four people were killed in the storm. More than 500 flights were canceled across the region, particularly to and from airports in New York City and Boston, with Boston Logan International Airport seeing winds as high as 68 mph. The storm also dumped between 2 to 5 inches of rain across the Northeast. See photos from the storm here.

Pennsylvania has become the 25th state to mandate personal finance education, meaning the majority of U.S. high school students will receive some financial guidance before graduation.

If you have caroling on your holiday activities list, you should know that you’ll be doing more than just spreading cheer — you’ll be improving your overall mental and physical health. A growing body of research shows that singing together at any occasion, holiday or not, boosts well-being. One of the reasons for that is endorphins, those happy hormones runners are always going on about. “Singing is one of the mega-mechanisms we use for bonding,” Robin Dunbar, a professor of evolutionary psychology at the University of Oxford, told The Guardian. “Singing in the shower gives you a bit of an uplift, but when doing it communally, there’s something about the synchrony of singing that creates this massive endorphin uplift.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill yesterday that makes entering Texas illegally a state crime. The law, which takes effect in March, will give state and local law enforcement the authority to arrest migrants suspected of crossing the border from Mexico. It will likely be challenged, as federal law already makes it illegal to enter the U.S. without permission