Category: Security

As Greater Hartford faces an incredible demand for affordable housing and long-term rentals, the high number of listings on Airbnb shows plenty of open properties or rentals available.

But according to experts, those Airbnb properties are contributing to the declining supply of long-term rentals.

A consumer affairs study from last year marked Connecticut as the worst state for renters. The report said the median gross rental on a two-bedroom apartment is $1,441, and the vacancy rate is 3.5%. It appears many potential sellers and landlords are content with the short-term benefits of Airbnb, and that has put a further squeeze on any person or family seeking long-term rentals.

“If someone takes a piece of property and converts it into an Airbnb, there’s one less house for sale, it’s one less apartment to be rented, ” said David Sacco, a University of New Haven lecturer in the finance, economics, management and entrepreneurship program. “The demand for rentals and the demand for housing in this area hasn’t changed. In fact, it’s probably gone up in the last four years as people have pushed out of New York City to places like Connecticut to work at home. There’s probably more demand for housing (in Connecticut) than there was four years ago.”

Sacco said the increase in Airbnbs has not only decreased apartment and housing availability but are also competition for hotels. He said real estate is all about supply and demand, and Airbnb properties are taking away supply from the long-term rental markets.

“There is also less housing for sale because people are essentially converting their property to short-term rentals. I think that’s an area where you have a finite supply issue and that exasperates it a little bit because there is this new opportunity for people to monetize property they own that just didn’t exist five or 10 years ago,” Sacco said.

He said because of the demand, prices have gone up.

“The national real estate market is really scattered. There are a lot of different regions and different regions have different issues. In the Northeast, we have a dense pack of real estate and housing that you are going to have anywhere in the country. There are basically no places to build new housing except where housing already exists,” Sacco said. “In other parts of the country there is plenty of room to expand. Places like Connecticut and most of the Northeast don’t have the ability to sprawl out like other areas.

Sacha Armstrong-Crockett, luxury real estate advisor with William Pitt Sotheby’s International, said she is seeing a rise in small investors in Hartford County.

“There’s an increased demand for rentals as buying a home becomes more challenging. Some markets are highly competitive, where, unfortunately, many people are either being priced out or repeatedly overlooked. A reliable and stable rental market is essential to meet the needs of those unable to buy,” Armstrong-Crockett said.

Any quick search on the Airbnb platform turns up dozens of listings for Hartford sites, from one room to entire homes. The prices also vary widely, with some rooms list for less than $50 per night, while homes can be hundreds of dollars a night. Others are listed by the week at higher prices. There also are many listings in surrounding towns.

Armstrong-Crockett said the rise of Airbnb presents both benefits and challenges in Hartford County.

“When it’s a small business or a source of supplemental income for families, it can positively contribute to a community,” she said.

“However, if it reaches the point when it reduces long-term rental options, it could affect local housing availability. As someone who works with investors and offers fair housing and first-time buyer workshops to renters, I understand both perspectives,” Armstrong-Crockett said. “Real estate is a financial product for property owners, but housing is also fundamentally a human right. Property owners who provide long-term, healthy and stable housing are important to any community.”

She said she is monitoring the historic Linus B. Plimpton House located at 847 Asylum St. in Hartford, which is being handled by Armstrong-Crockett’s colleague Ellen Sebastian. The house dates back to 1862.

“It’s a NINA property, meaning it must be owner-occupied. The home also features two stunning apartments. It’ll be fascinating to see how things unfold. My hope is that it becomes a space for multigenerational living or that someone creates a truly unique, high-end rental opportunities for the Hartford community,” Armstrong-Crockett said.

NINA is Northside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance, Inc. which is a Hartford non-profit that “rehabilitates blighted historic houses as owner-occupied opportunities for low-to-moderate-income households,” according to its website.

‘No place to build’

One solution is that the government gets involved, but Sacco said rent control may not be the answer and that there is “very little the government can do to alleviate the supply and demand issue.”

“They can do what the government in New York City has done for years and pose some form of rent price control,” Sacco said. “The problem with price control, which we see in New York City in spades, is that price control, all that they do is exacerbate the shortage because there is not going to be more supply that is created. In fact, there is going to be less supply as the prices are artificially held low and people have less incentive to rent their existing property and people have even less incentive to improve their existing properties to make them more attractive to people.

“Any time you put in price controls you end up with bigger shortages than you had before which doesn’t help the problem. It’s great for some and then everyone else gets priced out,” Sacco said. “You still have the same shortage, and it just gets exasperated, meaning ultimately the market has to come to an equilibrium which is tough in this area because there is no place to build. It’s hard to see where the growth is coming from. Unfortunately, more people, including young people, may consider moving away from this area.”

“I know we tend to think of it as bad with an exodus of people leaving the region that we are living in for real estate prices, but in reality, a lot economic value is being created as well for those people who can move and have more affordable housing and to those areas where real estate values start going up as well,” Sacco said.

Changing markets

David Haberfeld, a Bristol-based real estate investor and entrepreneur, runs Haberfeld Enterprises and said Airbnb is one of the contributing factors, but not a main reason, some buyers and renters are struggling to find housing or rent in the state.

“People think that there is this crazy housing shortage because there is no supply, but the supply is just not on the market,” Haberfeld said. “It’s not listed, so there is a shortage, but not a real shortage of units. People think that greedy landlords are the reason the prices are so high and think that Airbnb is taking away all of the apartments, but it’s just not true. They are contributing factors but not the main drivers.”

Other reasons Haberfeld mentioned sellers aren’t putting their houses on the market are higher interest rates and higher bank fees.

“Airbnbs are also necessary,” Haberfeld said. “I’m a fan and I’m an operator. People that have had a fire in their house and need a place to go and have a family that can’t fit into the hotel room, Airbnb is the right answer for them. Who wants to be the one to say you can’t have Airbnbs here so you have to leave our community, and you can’t stay here.

“Traveling nurses are another group,” he said. “Who wants to say traveling nurses cannot come to our area because we don’t allow Airbnb and hotels are too expensive for them. There is definitely a valid use for Airbnb in every community to have some.”

Haberfeld said tenant/landlord laws have pushed landlords toward renting Airbnbs. He switched to renting Airbnbs in Bristol during the eviction moratorium during the pandemic. He stopped renting his properties because he didn’t want to take the financial risk.

“The reason is you can’t make money in a long-term rental anymore and the tenant/landlord laws are so skewed and are so tenant friendly that landlords are shifting toward Airbnb because the government is abusing the landlords,” Haberfeld said. “Saying that you have to let them live here for free during the eviction moratorium. The Fair Rent Commissions are killing landlords.

“If the tide was to change and the government was to stop abusing landlords and if someone is not paying you can evict them in a timely manner,” he added. “The Fair Rent Commissions are almost unnecessary in my opinion. Some of these short-term rentals will come back to the market. Short-term rentals are about four times as much work as long-term rentals and not everyone wants to do it. But people are kind of forced to do it.”

Jacek Mikolajczyk, a realtor at Berkshire Hathaway, suggests that many potential sellers are also using Airbnb while waiting for a better environment to sell.

“We are seeing a little bit of a slowdown,” Mikolajczyk said. “Some of the homeowners are trying to survive and are trying to rent until the mortgage rates go back down and they can list their house again and get the most income they can for them.

“In this market, there are not too many homes listed,” he added. “People are thinking they are going to get the prices they were getting during COVID, but that’s not the case anymore and it’s hard to let them go for less, so they try an Airbnb. As soon as the mortgage rates go down and more buyers will come back and will start bidding again. … My team sells more than 100 homes per year. We see what is going on.”

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© 2025 Hartford Courant

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Idaho House Republican leader previewed a slate of large tax cuts Idahoans could see this year, beginning with a potentially historic cut to individual and corporate income taxes.

The cut would bring Idaho’s flat income tax rate to 5.3%, down from the 5.695% that it is currently, which the state estimates would amount to a $240 million reduction in revenue.

House Speaker Mike Moyle told a House committee Thursday that his bill is “probably the biggest income tax cut in Idaho history.”

Moyle said he plans to propose further cuts to sales tax and property tax in the coming days.

Republican Gov. Brad Little proposed a $100 million tax cut during his annual address earlier this year, bragging that officials have cut taxes by $4.6 billion over the last six years. But Moyle has said he wants more, and aims to approach $5 billion in reductions by the end of the year.

“I hope that we can work together to try to drive taxes down in the state of Idaho,” Moyle told the committee. “This is an opportunity to get it done while the iron’s hot.”

Democrats expressed concern that the tax cut could jeopardize the state’s obligation to fund essential services for citizens. Idaho is second-to-last in per-pupil funding for education of all states plus Washington, D.C.

Assistant House Minority Leader Steve Berch, a Democrat, said he opposed the proposal because it was missing a broader analysis of what programs the state needs to fund this year, and how much money will be needed to pay for them.

“It’s hard to make a decision on whether to support something when you’re only looking at one side of the ledger,” Berch said, before voting against introducing the bill.

Democratic Rep. John Gannon said he was concerned the income tax cut would jeopardize the possibility of amending the state’s grocery tax, which has become a hot-button topic at the Legislature.

In addition to cutting income taxes, Moyle’s bill would also expand a tax exemption for military pensions to allow retired veterans with disabilities to deduct their benefits as long as they have a job. The current exemption allows retired, disabled veterans 62 and older to do so, as well as all veterans older than 65.

The proposal would also remove capital gains taxes from transactions of gold and silver, or bullion, allowing residents to reduce their taxable income.

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© 2025 The Idaho Statesman

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

President Trump on Tuesday announced that OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank are partnering on a venture to direct more than $100 billion toward computing infrastructure that will power artificial intelligence in the United States.

“It will ensure the future of technology,” Trump said at a news conference at the White House, where he was joined by executives from the high-profile companies. “What we want to do is we want to keep it in this country. China is a competitor and others are competitors.”

The trio of tech giants is expected to commit an initial $100 billion to the initiative, dubbed the Stargate project, and plan to invest a total of $500 billion in AI infrastructure over the next four years, OpenAI said in a blog post. Trump claimed the effort will quickly create more than 100,000 American jobs and called it a “resounding declaration of confidence in America’s potential under a new president.”

As companies compete globally to build new AI products, the initiative underscores the potential for tech jobs to fuel the U.S. economy. The AI race is increasing the demand worldwide for data centers, facilities that house computing equipment such as servers used to process the trove of information needed to train and maintain AI systems.

Still, questions linger about how Stargate will pan out. Billionaire Elon Musk, who has emerged in recent months as one of Trump’s close advisers and is heading the newly-formed Department of Government Efficiency, publicly challenged the initiative.

“They don’t actually have the money,” Musk posted Tuesday on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter. “SoftBank has well under $10B secured. I have that on good authority.”

On Wednesday, OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman fired back on X. “Wrong, as you surely know,” he wrote. “want to come visit the first site already under way? this is great for the country. i realize what is great for the country isn’t always what’s optimal for your companies, but in your new role i hope you’ll mostly put [America] first.”

Musk, who runs an artificial intelligence company, xAI, but was also an early investor in OpenAI, is embroiled in a legal battle with OpenAI and has accused the San Francisco-based company of putting profits over the “benefit of humanity.”

While AI is being put to use to address a seemingly limitless array of challenges including fighting wildfires and diagnosing diseases, concerns remain about the impact the technology will have on jobs, people’s safety and other issues. Trump has downplayed such worries, repealing a 2023 executive order by former President Biden that aimed to place safety guardrails around AI.

Along with SoftBank, OpenAI and Oracle, a technology fund in the United Arab Emirates named MGX will provide funding for Stargate, according to OpenAI’s blog post. Masayoshi Son, the chief executive of SoftBank, will be the chairman of Stargate. Technology partners include Arm, Microsoft, NVIDIA,

The first data centers for Stargate are under construction in Texas, Oracle Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison said at the news conference. It’s unclear whether new data centers will be built in California as part of this effort, but OpenAI’s blog post said that Stargate is looking at potential sites across the United States.

“I’m thrilled we get to do this in the United States of America,” Altman said at the news conference. “I think this will be the most important project of this era.”

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© 2025 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

In his first days in office, President Donald Trump signed executive orders that sent many federal employees reeling: looming layoffs, a freeze on federal hiring and and new back-to-office expectations for many remote workers. On Wednesday, he announced that employees in diversity, equity and inclusion roles would be put on paid leave.

He’s vowed to do much more, tapping Tesla CEO Elon Musk to run a new Department of Government Efficiency.

While the White House sits more than 2,000 miles from the Golden State, the commander-in-chief’s actions stand to affect plenty of Californians. About 250,000 federal workers live in California, including tens of thousands in the Bay Area.

Only Virginia and the District of Columbia had more civilian federal workers than California last year, according to data from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, closely followed by Maryland.

“It’s the great unknown,” said Bobbie Scopa, a retired firefighter and former chief with decades of experience in the U.S. Forest Service. She now advocates for federal firefighters. While past hiring freezes have not affected the fire services directly, “everything seems to be a little bit different this time,” she said.

The federal government is one of the largest employers in the country, with just over 3 million employees. They work for federal agencies such as the Forest Service, NASA, FEMA, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.

An estimated 38,000 federal workers live in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, according to data from California’s Employment Development Department.

Many of those local workers are watching the news, waiting to see how the next executive order might affect them. At least one local veteran of the federal government isn’t too worried, however.

“This is all kind of a PR game right now,” said Leon Panetta, former Secretary of Defense and current chairman of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy, based at CSU Monterey Bay. Trump “can make it uncomfortable for federal employees, but I don’t think he can take a lot of the steps that he’s threatening to take.”

Panetta, also former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, described Trump’s move as “campaign hoopla … to convince the American people that he’s getting things done.”

Trump has often vowed to cut federal spending and eliminate some agencies entirely, but he made many of the same promises before his first term as president, and the federal workforce actually grew from 2.81 to 2.88 million employees during his term.

“Reagan came in and said he was going to get rid of the Department of Education and a bunch of other things, and ultimately was unable to do it,” Panetta said, referring to former Republican President Ronald Reagan. He said the same thing could happen with Trump’s new promises.

Already controversy is swirling around Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, dubbed DOGE.

The commission, which formally joined the government within the Executive Office of the President, has been tasked with finding ways to reduce the federal budget, though Congress would get the final say. Within hours of the new administration taking office, unions and government watchdog groups had sued over the commission, asserting there must be public input and transparency to comply with the law.

“If you really want to focus on efficiency in government, if you really want to focus on reducing the debt and trying to implement fiscal order, there are better ways to try to accomplish those goals,” Panetta said, adding that real change at the federal level takes time and cooperation.

The fear, and the reality, of a Musk-induced termination is familiar for thousands of Bay Area residents, including around 6,000 former employees of Twitter, which Musk acquired and turned into X. Some are suing Musk over their abrupt terminations.

The Department of Veterans Affairs is the federal government’s largest employer agency, with just over 21% of the workforce, followed by the Navy and the Army, which employ about 10% each.

Since 1999, the number of federal workers has remained somewhat stable at around 2.8 million people, until 2019 when it started to grow, reaching over 3 million in 2024 for the first time since 1993, outside of the census staff hiring that happens every 10 years.

“There is no legitimate rationale for slashing the size of the federal workforce. The number of federal workers has grown by roughly 6% over the past 50 years, while the U.S. population served by the federal government has increased by 57%,” said Everett Kelley, national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents hundreds of thousands of federal workers, and is one of the groups suing the administration over DOGE.

While uncertainty swirls, Scopa said the new administration could present an opportunity to make the federal fire services more efficient, but says a hiring freeze would put them in a bind, with many critical senior positions unfilled as fires continue to consume large swaths of California. Even absent a hiring freeze, Scopa worries all the talk of slashing the federal workforce could deter would-be applicants.

“With everything going on and all the threats against federal employees,” she said, “why would (someone) want to take a chance and go to work for the feds?”

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© 2025 MediaNews Group, Inc

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

More than 20,000 illegal guns have been seized by the NYPD during the Adams administration, the mayor and police commissioner said Wednesday.

The official tally — 20,137 since the start of 2022, including 377 so far this year — is updated daily on the NYPD website. More than 1,400 of the seized weapons were untraceable ghost guns.

But Mayor Eric Adams and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, at a press conference at the 25th Precinct, in East Harlem, stressed the story behind the numbers.

“That’s 20,000 weapons that no longer can threaten the safety of New Yorkers and our neighborhoods, our families and our children,” Adams said, “20,000 fewer chances that a New Yorker is shot or killed.”

Tisch, meanwhile, lamented a criminal justice system that too often returns to the streets those charged with gun crimes.

“Far too often,” she said, “violent criminals arrested with illegal guns find themselves right back on our streets, cycling through a system that fails to hold them accountable.”

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© 2025 New York Daily News

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Democratic lawmakers in Olympia are once again considering a sweeping package of gun control measures — this time, a trio of bills that would enhance gun storage, limit bulk purchases of guns and ammunition and possibly require gun buyers to get permits.

Public hearings held by the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee on Tuesday drew many to the Capitol, with most of those who showed up in person in support of the proposals, while more than 2,000 people signed in online, mostly in opposition.

Committee members first took up House Bill 1152, legislation which would create specific regulations for gun owners to properly and safely store firearms them in homes and/or vehicles.

Violations of the storage requirements outlined in the bill could result in a Class 1 civil infraction and a monetary penalty up to $1,000. Penalties could be higher for those whose firearms are obtained, due to improper storage, by someone who is not legally allowed to possess firearms. Owners could face a misdemeanor in those cases, a gross misdemeanor if a prohibited person uses the firearm to commit a crime, or a Class C felony if the firearm is used to commit personal injury or death to a third party.

“Responsible gun ownership and public safety go hand in hand. The majority of firearm owners take safety seriously, and this bill builds on that shared value to address the pressing public safety issue — unsecured firearms,” bill sponsor Rep. Beth Doglio, D-Olympia, told the committee. “When firearms are not stored securely, the risks to our communities, particularly to children, are undeniable.”

Others spoke in opposition.

“Punish the thief, and not the person for being stolen from,” said Teddy Chow, a prosecuting attorney who said he believed the measure would further victimize those who have their fire arms stolen.

If passed, new gun storage requirements would take effect Jan. 1, 2026.

A second bill, House Bill 1132 sponsored by Rep. Darya Farivar, D-Seattle, and other Democratic lawmakers, would do two things: limit the number of firearms a person can purchase at one time to one every 30 days, as well as limit the sale of ammo sold to a single buyer at 100 rounds of .50 caliber ammo or 1,000 rounds of all other types of ammo in a 30-day period.

Farivar said there are currently no restrictions, but that the “need for action is urgent.”

“The fact of the matter is that ordinary people are not buying 12 guns or 12,000 rounds of ammunition a year,” she said.

Others were not convinced.

Allen Ernst, a competitive shooter, said it takes practice to improve in highly competitive shooting and that he can easily shoot more than 1,000 rounds in a month.

“Restricting my ability to purchase ammunition in any amount infringes upon my federal level constitutional rights and impairs the rights clearly afforded to me in Washington state’s Constitution,” he said.

The legislation does allow some exceptions for law enforcement and private security companies. Violations could result in a Class 1 civil infraction, punishable by up to a $500 fine, or a misdemeanor for repeat violations.

If passed, the law would go into effect 90 days after the session adjourns April 27.

Lawmakers are also considering House Bill 1163, sponsored by Rep. Liz Berry, D-Seattle, and other Democratic lawmakers.

The bill would effectively create a “permit to purchase” system in Washington, and would prohibit dealers from selling or transferring firearms to those who have not obtained a permit. The bill also requires those who wish to purchase a firearm to take a required firearms safety training course.

Currently Washington does not have a permit to purchase system, but does have a 10-day waiting period for the purchase of firearms.

Kirk Struble, the regional director for Ducks Unlimited, testified against the bill on Tuesday, saying it would impose “redundant training” for hunters and that it “creates significant barriers” for lawful firearms transfers. Hunters are already required to take safety courses, he said, and this bill could reduce the number of new hunters in Washington if enacted.

But others, like Alex McCourt, an assistant professor and public health lawyer for Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions, say “permit to purchase” laws can save lives. He told the committee that a growing body of research shows reductions in gun violence using several measures including homicide, suicide, mass shootings and shootings of law enforcement officers.

“In particular, our research has found that the combination of point of sale background checks and permit to purchase systems can be quite powerful,” he said.

If adopted, the law would go into effect Nov. 1, 2026. A companion bill is in the Senate, but has not yet been scheduled for a public hearing.

Other gun bills in the mix

While not a gun control measure, the committee also heard a bill that would restore the right to possess a firearm for certain people. Felony sex offenses, animal cruelty and felony offenses resulting in maximum sentences of at least 20 years are some of the offenses not allowed under the bill to petition for reinstatement.

House Bill 1118 is sponsored by Rep. Tarra Simmons, D-Bremerton, a formerly incarcerated lawmaker who said the bill could help people like her regain their right to own a firearm. The bill was the only piece of legislation heard Tuesday in the committee that had Republican co-sponsors signed on in support, including Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, and Rep. Joel McEntire, R-Cathlamet.

Daniel Mitchell, on behalf of the Washington Civil Rights Association, spoke in favor of the proposal. He said that a recent Supreme Court case found that permanently removing firearms rights for nonviolent crimes goes against the Second Amendment. “There are a pile of violations out there that should stop people from having firearms, however forgiveness is the very essence of our constitutional republic,” he said.

But again, others were not convinced.

Anne Anderson, representing the Washington State Narcotics Investigators Association, said she opposed the bill and that there’s been a lot of work done in the Legislature to enact gun safety laws in the state.

“It defies logic to turn around and restore gun rights to individuals who are a known threat,” she said.

If passed, the law would go into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourns.

All four bills heard Tuesday in the House are scheduled for an executive session in the House Civil Rights & Judiciary Committee on Friday.

Following the House hearing, the Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a nonprofit that “works to save lives and eliminate the harms caused by gun violence,” held a news conference alongside Democratic lawmakers including Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle, Sen. Manka Dhingra, D-Redmond, and Sen. Javier Valdez, D-Seattle. The nonprofit said that while it is in support of all the gun control measures introduced this year, it has also spent a lot of effort trying to get the permit to purchase bill passed this legislative session.

The Senate Law & Justice Committee heard Senate Bill 5099 Tuesday morning. The legislation would establish additional requirements for licensed firearms dealers in the state, and will be voted on in an executive session Thursday. Sen. John Lovick, D-Mill Creek, is the prime sponsor of the bill and also a former law enforcement officer. Thirteen other Democratic senators are also sponsoring the bill.

Lawmakers are also considering Senate Bill 5098, sponsored by Valdez and other Democratic senators, which would place restrictions on carrying guns in places like public buildings, parks and playgrounds, and county fairs.

The bill was voted out of executive session last week and was referred to the Senate Ways & Means Committee.

Republicans, during a Tuesday news conference, said they do not believe Washington needs any more gun control measures, as they believe it already has some of the strictest gun laws in the country.

The latest gun control measures come after most Democrats voted to ban assault weapons in 2023 and voted to prohibit the sale of “high-capacity” magazines in 2022.

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© 2025 The Seattle Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Senators have thrown their support behind a proposed loan repayment program for veterans who provide mental health services to other veterans in Wyoming.

In a unanimous vote, the Senate Transportation, Highways and Military Affairs Committee on Thursday approved Senate File 30, “Wyoming’s investment in veteran’s mental health.” SF 30 would establish the Wyoming veteran loan repayment program, which would provide loan repayment for veterans who study at the University of Wyoming and go on to provide mental health services within the state to other veterans.

“The problem we are trying to solve is to try to get some additional mental health providers across the state, to specifically get after veterans mental health,” Maj. Gen. Greg Porter, the adjutant general for the state of Wyoming, told the committee.

Particularly in Wyoming’s low-population areas, it can be difficult for veterans to access mental health services, Porter said.

“We are really trying to drive down the suicide rate in the veteran population,” he said, adding that the program created by SF 30 is a “first attempt” to push mental health providers, who are also veterans themselves, out into Wyoming.

According to Lt. Col. Karen Hinkle, who currently serves as senior legal counsel for the Wyoming Military Department, the loan repayment program would be administered by the University of Wyoming. It would require that participants be citizens and veterans, and be seeking a master’s or doctorate-level degree at UW. Funds would be granted for the cost of attendance, and to qualify for repayment, a graduate would be required to work in state for the minimum amount of time necessary to repay the loan, plus three years. They would also have to dedicate at least 25% of their practice time to other veterans.

Mike Smith with the University of Wyoming said the program would operate differently than other loan repayment programs that encourage medical professionals to work in the state. The program would cover the full cost of attendance, including room and board.

Smith called the repayment program “more expansive and generous” than existing similar programs, but expressed concern over the funding model.

“Those existing other programs are funded through the normal appropriations process, through the general fund,” Smith said. “The practical effect of the way this is set up now, it is a cut to the university block grant.”

The committee approved an amendment to SF 30 to fund it through the general fund, at an expense of $250,000, rather than to take the expenditure from funding already allocated to the university. The estimated cost of attendance for mental health graduate programs at UW is $26,732 for residents and $40,532 for non-residents.

Sen. John Kolb, R-Rock Springs, asked if the program would be open to veterans under any military discharge status. Hinkle said that it would be open to any discharge except dishonorable, and Kolb made an amendment to include exclusion for any discharge “other than honorable.” That amendment failed.

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© 2025 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Lynn Ban, the jewelry designer who worked with stars including Rihanna and Beyoncé and starred in Netflix’s “Bling Empire: New York,” has died.

Ban died Monday, her son Sebastian announced Wednesday in a moving Instagram statement. She died weeks after she underwent emergency brain surgery after a skiing accident in December. She was 52.

“She was and always will be my best friend, the best mother to me, and someone who cared for all. She always had a smile on her face even when times were tough during her recovery process,” Sebastian wrote. “She was a fighter until the end and is the strongest woman I know.”

Ban, her son continued, “was the funniest and coolest mum” who devoted herself to caring for her loved ones including husband and business partner Jett Kain. Kain did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.

A Singapore native, Ban was born to real estate development executive David Ban and gemologist Patricia Ban. She gained notoriety for the eponymous line of bold jewelry that she established in 2011. In the following years, high-profile stars including Rihanna, Beyoncé, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar and Madonna sported Ban’s pieces. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Doja Cat and Megan Thee Stallion were also among the stars wearing Ban’s designs.

“Lynn you will always be our fairy godmother! Love you forever and always,” Rihanna commented on Wednesday’s post. “Can’t believe I’m writing this in a comment section rn! Thank you for all the joy you brought to us!”

Drag star and “RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Aquaria also paid tribute Wednesday: “Lynn’s stylish journeys throughout the world would always bring me so much joy and inspiration to dare to dream.”

Ban’s jewelry and out-there personal style earned her more than just a roster of loyal, A-list clientele. It made her a reality TV star. She made her “Bling Empire: New York” debut in January 2023. The series premiered on Netflix and was a spinoff of the Los Angeles-based “Bling Empire.” The New York cast starred Ban, Dorothy Wang, Tina Leung, Blake Abbie, Stephen Hung, Deborah Valdez-Hung, Richard Chang and Vika Abby. Netflix canceled both “Bling Empire” series in 2023.

On Wednesday Ban’s co-star Wang wrote in an Instagram story that “it has been terribly hard trying to think of anything happy or positive to share today.”

“You are one in a billion,” Abbie remembered Ban on Instagram, sharing photos of tender moments with his former co-star.

Ban told Tatler in a May 2023 interview about her ambitions to further expand her own empire beyond jewelry. She also spoke about her philosophy about owning vintage luxury pieces.

“Clothes have to have a life, a memory. Go out, get drunk, dance. That’s what fashion is for me — you live in it,” she told the outlet.

Weeks before her death, Ban told her Instagram followers about the skiing accident that occurred during a family vacation in Aspen, Colorado. She said she “face planted” after reaching the top of a mountain. Though she was able to descend and ski patrol determined she did not have a concussion, Ban said, she went to a hospital for a CT scan, which showed she had a brain bleed.

“Last thing I remember was being intubated and waking up after an emergency craniotomy,” Ban said in December. She acknowledged the “long road of recovery ahead” and branded herself a “survivor.”

Ban concluded her post: “Grateful and blessed to see the new year.”

On Wednesday, Ban’s son wrote he was determined to ensure his mother “is never forgotten” and her life “is celebrated as it deserves to be.”

He added: “As a final message to my mum, I would just like to say that I will miss you forever and to end in something she always told me ‘I love you more than life itself’ mum.”

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© 2025 Los Angeles Times

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.

North Korea is accelerating preparations to send more troops to Russia amid an increasing number of casualties, South Korea said on Friday, while Ukraine said the North’s additional support would mainly include missile and artillery troops.

About 4,000 of the up to 12,000 North Korean troops dispatched to Russia’s Kursk region to help it in its war against Ukraine have been killed or wounded, according to Ukraine on Wednesday.

“It is estimated that the North Korean military is accelerating follow-up measures and preparations for additional troop deployments amid an increasing number of the casualties and prisoners of war that occurred four months into the Russian-Ukrainian war,” said South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, or JCS, on Friday, without elaborating.

The JSC said in December that it believed the North was preparing to send “suicide drones” to Russia alongside additional troops, aimed to modernize its conventional forces, which are qualitatively inferior to those of South Korea, by using the war as an opportunity to consume old forces and ensure new ones gain combat experience.

Separately, Ukraine’s military intelligence chief also said North Korea was expected to send reinforcements to Kursk and it would mostly be missile and artillery troops, defense and security publication The War Zone reported.

The War Zone cited Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency, as saying the North would also send more of the KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles that it had already provided to Moscow, and the North Koreans would train Russians on all of those systems.

Budanov added that he didn’t know how many new troops would be coming or when they would arrive, but The New York Times, citing an unidentified U.S. defence official, reported on Wednesday that North Korean reinforcements were expected in Kursk “within the next two months.”

Barbs at UN

Russia and North Korea once again declined to confirm or deny the North’s troop deployment to Kursk.

When criticized over deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang at a disarmament conference at the U.N. Office in Geneva on Thursday, Russian envoy Andrey Belyousov said: “On the Korean Peninsula, South Korea, the United States, and Western allies are trying to portray themselves as protectors of peace, but this is contradictory to reality.”

He added that joint military exercises between South Korea and the U.S. on the Korean peninsula during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s state visit to Pyongyang last year showed the collusion of South Korea and the United States as “potential aggressors.”

North Korean diplomat Ju Yong Chol also called the North’s efforts to strengthen its defense capabilities a “legitimate exercise of the right” to self-defense that was fully in accordance with the U.N. Charter.

“Our status as a fully nuclear-armed state is an undeniable and indisputable reality, regardless of whether other countries recognize it or not,” Ju added.

In response, Kim Il-hoon, South Korea’s deputy permanent representative to the U.N. in Geneva, said the North was making a “futile effort” to distort the cause and result of the situation on the Korean peninsula.

“The South Korea-U.S. alliance was formed as a result of North Korea’s 1950 invasion of South Korea and devastation of the Korean Peninsula … North Korea and Russia saying their military cooperation is legal is a sophistry. They are violating many principles of the U.N. Charter,” Kim added.

State Democratic lawmakers are pushing a bill that would allow Maryland voters to raise the minimum wage from $15 to $20 — including for workers in the service industry — but it’s receiving a thumbs down from Republicans

“The minimum wage in Maryland is not enough to meet the cost of living,” Del. Adrian Boafo of Prince George’s County said at a press conference in Annapolis Thursday. “All working people deserve to be able to earn enough when they work — to be able to feed their families and afford a place to live.”

Boafo and Sen. Cory McCray from Baltimore City, both Democrats, are sponsoring the Maryland No Tax on Tips Act. This multi-faceted bill seeks to increase the $3.63 minimum wage for restaurant workers to $15, exempt their tips from taxation, give a $10,000 tax credit to restaurants to assist with the transition to paying higher wages and gradually increase the state’s $15 minimum wage to $20 by 2030 if voters choose to do so.

Boafo said that if Marylanders vote to raise the minimum wage, the phase-up to $20 would take longer for service workers.

Maryland’s legislature has a Democratic supermajority, but raising the minimum wage will be a tough sell for its Republican counterparts.

A collective groan erupted from the General Assembly’s joint Republican Caucus when they were informed of the bill at a press conference Thursday afternoon.

Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, a representative of the upper Eastern Shore, called it “dead on arrival.”

Legislation passed in 2019 was poised to gradually increase Maryland’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025. Gov. Wes Moore overrode the phase-up process with a bill sponsored on behalf of his administration in 2023. Because of his legislation, Maryland’s minimum wage was raised to $15 in January 2024.

“You’re saying ‘the fight for 15’ has become ‘the tussle for 20?’” asked House Minority Leader Jason Buckel of Allegany County.

In an interview, Del. Seth Howard, a Republican representing Anne Arundel County, said there’s no current law against businesses paying employees $20 an hour.

“If they’re going to come down here and they’re going to support a minimum wage bill that’s going to mandate all businesses pay $20, they better damn well be paying $20 for a long time before they get down here and mandate other small businesses do it,” he said.

A Hart Research Associates poll of 500 likely Maryland voters conducted between Jan. 13 and 18 found that 63% favor raising the minimum wage to $20.

According to Saru Jayaraman, the president of One Fair Wage, a national organization that works to end subminimum wages for service workers, Black women are the majority of tipped workers in Maryland.

Christian Nunez, the president of the National Organization for Women, said that the subminimum wage for service industry employees is “a continuous way that racism and sexism” plays a role in how people are paid.

Khadija Sheriff has worked in Maryland’s tipped service industry for three years. She said Thursday that workers are struggling to cover the rising cost of living and that having to fill the gap between the $3.63 minimum wage and the state’s $15 minimum wage with tips leaves workers vulnerable to the will of customers, who often harass them.

“Living on subminimum wage and relying on tips is incredibly unstable. Our rent and bills don’t fluctuate with the economy, but our tips do,” she said. “It’s hard not to feel like my livelihood is at the expense of someone else’s mood.”

California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Minnesota, Montana, Alaska and Washington, D.C., all currently require restaurant and service workers to be paid the state minimum wage with tips on top.

Jayaraman said other states are on track to pass similar legislation.

“It is moving in New York. It is moving in Colorado. It is moving in Arizona and Ohio,” she said. “It can move and pass here.”

President Donald Trump campaigned on not taxing tips. Boafo said he hopes that will help the Maryland bill pass on a bipartisan basis.

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© 2025 The Baltimore Sun

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.