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	Voter Information

Main article: 2015 FIFA corruption case

In May 2006, British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging, and Ticket Scandals (HarperCollins) caused controversy within the football world by detailing an alleged international cash-for-contracts scandal following the collapse of FIFA's marketing partner International Sport and Leisure (ISL) and revealed how some football officials had been urged to secretly repay the sweeteners they received. The book also alleged that vote-rigging had occurred in the fight for Sepp Blatter's continued control of FIFA as the organization's president. Shortly after the release of Foul! a BBC Panorama exposé by Jennings and BBC producer Roger Corke, screened on 11 June 2006, reported that Blatter was being investigated by Swiss police over his role in a secret deal to repay more than £1m worth of bribes pocketed by football officials. Lord Triesman, the former chairman of the English Football Association, described FIFA as an organization that "behaves like a mafia family," highlighting the organization's "decades-long traditions of bribes, bungs, and corruption."[89]

All testimonies offered in the Panorama exposé were provided through a disguised voice, appearance, or both, save one: Mel Brennan, a former CONCACAF official, became the first high-level football insider to go public with substantial allegations of corruption, nonfeasance, and malfeasance by CONCACAF and FIFA leadership. Brennan—the highest-level African-American in the history of world football governance—joined Jennings, Trinidadian journalist Lisana Liburd, and many others in exposing allegedly inappropriate allocations of money by CONCACAF and drew connections between ostensible CONCACAF criminality and similar behaviours at FIFA. Since then, and in the light of fresh allegations of corruption by FIFA in late 2010,[90] both Jennings and Brennan remain highly critical of FIFA. Brennan has called directly for an alternative to FIFA to be considered by the stakeholders of the sport worldwide.[91]

In a further Panorama exposé broadcast on 29 November 2010, Jennings alleged that three senior FIFA officials, Nicolas Leoz, Issa Hayatou and Ricardo Teixeira, had been paid huge bribes by ISL between 1989 and 1999, which FIFA had failed to investigate. Jennings claimed they appeared on a list of 175 bribes paid by ISL, totalling about $100 million. A former ISL executive said there were suspicions within the company that they were only awarded the marketing contract for successive World Cups by paying bribes to FIFA officials. The program also alleged that another current official, Jack Warner, has been repeatedly involved in reselling World Cup tickets to touts; Blatter said that FIFA had not investigated the allegation because it had not been told about it via 'official channels.'

Panorama also alleged that FIFA requires nations bidding to host the World Cup to agree to implement special laws, including a blanket tax exemption for FIFA and its corporate sponsors and limitation of workers rights. Contrary to FIFA's demands, these conditions were revealed by the Dutch government, resulting in them being told by FIFA that their bid could be adversely affected. Following Jennings' earlier investigations, he was banned from all FIFA press conferences for reasons he claimed had not been made clear. The accused officials failed to answer questions about his latest allegations verbally or by letter.

Prime Minister David Cameron and Andy Anson, head of England's World Cup bid, criticized the timing of the broadcast three days before FIFA decided on the host for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, because it might damage England's bid; the voters included officials accused by the program.[92][93]

In June 2011, it came to light that the International Olympic Committee had started inquiry proceedings against FIFA honorary president João Havelange into claims of bribery. Panorama alleged that Havelange accepted a $1 million 'bung' in 1997 from ISL. The IOC stated that it "takes all allegations of corruption very seriously, and we would always ask for any evidence of wrongdoing involving any IOC members to be passed to our ethics commission".[94]

In a 2014 interview, American sportswriter Dave Zirin said that corruption is endemic to FIFA leadership and that the organization should be abolished for the game's good. He said that currently, FIFA is in charge of both monitoring corruption in association football matches and marketing and selling the sport, but that two "separate" organizational bodies are needed: an organizational body that monitors corruption and match-fixing and the like and an organization that's responsible for marketing and sponsorships and selling the sport. Zirin said the idea of having a single organization responsible for both seems highly ineffective and detrimental to the sport.[95]

In May 2015, 14 people were arrested, including nine FIFA officials, after being accused of corruption.[96]

In the 2022 World Cup bid, Qatar was honoured to host the World Cup. Since then it has been discovered that Qatar paid as much as 200 billion dollars to host the World Cup. This information was discovered by the Tass news agency in Russia.[97]
Guilty pleas

Between 2013 and 2015 four individuals, and two sports television rights corporations pleaded guilty to United States financial misconduct charges. The pleas of Chuck Blazer, José Hawilla, Daryan Warner, Darrell Warner, Traffic Group and Traffic Sports USA were unsealed in May 2015.[9] In another 2015 case, Singapore also imposed a 6-year "harshest sentence ever received for match-fixing" on match-fixer Eric Ding who had bribed three Lebanese FIFA football officials with prostitutes as an inducement to fix future matches that they would officiate, as well as perverting the course of justice.[98]
Indictments and arrests

Fourteen FIFA officials and marketing executives were indicted by the United States Department of Justice in May 2015. The officials were arrested in Switzerland and are in the process of extradition to the US. Specific charges (brought under the RICO act) include wire fraud, racketeering, and money laundering.[99]

"Swiss authorities say they have also opened a separate criminal investigation into FIFA's operations pertaining to the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids".[100]

FIFA's top officials were arrested at a hotel in Switzerland on suspicion of receiving bribes totalling $100m (£65m). The US Department of Justice stated that nine FIFA officials and four executives of sports management companies were arrested and accused of over $150m in bribes.[101] The UK Shadow Home Secretary and Labour Member of Parliament, Andy Burnham, stated in May 2015 that England should boycott the 2018 World Cup against corruption in FIFA and military aggression by Russia.[102]
2018 and 2022 World Cup bids
Further information: 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup bids and Garcia Report

FIFA's choice to award the 2018 World Cup to Russia and the 2022 World Cup to Qatar has been widely criticized by media.[103][104][105][106] It has been alleged that some FIFA inside sources insist that the Russian kickbacks of cash and gifts given to FIFA executive members were enough to secure the Russian 2018 bid weeks before the result was announced.[107] Sepp Blatter was widely criticized in the media for giving a warning about the "evils of the media" in a speech to FIFA executive committee members shortly before they voted on the hosting of the 2018 World Cup, a reference to The Sunday Times exposés,[108] and the Panorama investigation.[109]

Two members of FIFA's executive committee were banned from all football-related activity in November 2010 for allegedly offering to sell their votes to undercover newspaper reporters. In early May 2011, a British parliamentary inquiry into why England failed to secure the 2018 finals was told by a member of parliament, Damian Collins, that there was evidence from The Sunday Times newspaper that Issa Hayatou of Cameroon and Jacques Anouma of Ivory Coast were paid by Qatar. Qatar has categorically denied the allegations, as have Hayatou and Anouma.[110]

FIFA president Blatter said, as of 23 May 2011, that the British newspaper The Sunday Times has agreed to bring its whistle-blowing source to meet senior FIFA officials, who will decide whether to order a new investigation into alleged World Cup bidding corruption. "[The Sunday Times] are happy, they agreed that they will bring this whistleblower here to Zürich and then we will have a discussion, an investigation of this", Blatter said.

Specifically, the whistle-blower claims that FIFA executive committee members Issa Hayatou and Jacques Anouma were paid $1.5 million to vote for Qatar.[111][112] The emirate's bid beat the United States in a final round of voting last December. Blatter did not rule out reopening the 2022 vote if corruption could be proved, but urged taking the matter "step by step". The FIFA president said his organization is "anxiously awaiting" more evidence before asking its ethics committee to examine allegations made in Britain's Parliament in early May 2011.

Hayatou, who is from Cameroon, leads the Confederation of African Football and is a FIFA vice-president. Anouma is president of Ivorian Football Federation. The whistle-blower said Qatar agreed to pay a third African voter, Amos Adamu, for his support. The Nigerian was later suspended from voting after a FIFA ethics court ruled he solicited bribes from undercover Sunday Times reporters posing as lobbyists. Blatter said the newspaper and its whistle-blower would meet with FIFA secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, and legal director, Marco Villiger.

Allegations against FIFA officials have also been made to the UK Parliament by David Triesman, the former head of England's bid and the English Football Association. Triesman told the lawmakers that four long-standing FIFA executive committee members—Jack Warner, Nicolás Leoz, Ricardo Teixeira and Worawi Makudi—engaged in "improper and unethical" conduct in the 2018 bidding, which was won by Russia. All six FIFA voters have denied wrongdoing.[113]

On 28 September 2015, Sepp Blatter suggested that the 2018 World Cup being awarded to Russia was planned before the voting, and that the 2022 World Cup would have then been awarded to the United States. However, this plan changed after the election ballot, and the 2022 World Cup was awarded to Qatar instead of the U.S.[114][115]

According to leaked documents seen by The Sunday Times, Qatari state-run television channel Al Jazeera secretly offered $400 million to FIFA, for broadcasting rights, just 21 days before FIFA announced that Qatar would hold the 2022 World Cup.[116][117]

On July 17, 2012, in the wake of announced anti-corruption reforms by Sepp Blatter, the president of the FIFA,[118] the organization appointed U.S. lawyer Michael J. Garcia as the chairman of the investigative chamber of FIFA Ethics Committee, while German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert was appointed as the chairman of the Ethics Committee's adjudication chamber.[119]

In August 2012, Garcia declared his intention to investigate the bidding process and decision to respectively award the right to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cup to Russia and Qatar by the FIFA Executive Committee.[120] Garcia delivered his subsequent 350-page report in September 2014, and Eckert then announced that it would not be made public for legal reasons.[121]

On November 13, 2014, Eckert released a 42-page summary of his findings after reviewing Garcia's report. The summary cleared both Russia and Qatar of any wrongdoing during the bidding for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups,[122] leaving Russia and Qatar free to stage their respective World Cups.[123]

FIFA welcomed "the fact that a degree of closure has been reached," while the Associated Press wrote that the Eckert summary "was denounced by critics as a whitewash".[123] Hours after the Eckert summary was released, Garcia himself criticized it for being "materially incomplete" with "erroneous representations of the facts and conclusions," while declaring his intention to appeal to FIFA's Appeal Committee.[122] On December 16, 2014, FIFA's Appeal Committee dismissed Garcia's appeal against the Eckert summary as "not admissible." FIFA also stated that Eckert's summary was "neither legally binding nor appealable."[124] A day later, Garcia resigned from his role as FIFA ethics investigator in protest of FIFA's conduct, citing a "lack of leadership" and lost confidence in the independence of Eckert from FIFA.[125] In June 2015, Swiss authorities claimed the report was of "little value".[126]

In November 2022, the FIFA officials told players not to get involved in politics but focus on sports when they are in Qatar.[127] A few weeks earlier, the football associations and players of Denmark and Australia criticized Qatar for this.[128][129]
2011 FIFA presidential election

FIFA announced on 25 May 2011 that it had opened the investigation to examine the conduct of four officials—Mohamed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner, along with Caribbean Football Union (CFU) officials Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester—in relation to claims made by executive committee member, Chuck Blazer.[130][131][132] Blazer, who was at the time, the general secretary of the CONCACAF confederation, has alleged that violations were committed under the FIFA code of ethics during a meeting organized by Bin Hammam and Warner on 10 and 11 May—the same time Lord Triesman had accused Warner of demanding money for a World Cup 2018 vote—in relation to the 2011 FIFA presidential election,[133] in which Bin Hammam, who also played a key role in the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, allegedly offered financial incentives for votes cast in his favour during the presidential election.

As a result of the investigation both Bin Hammam and Warner were suspended.[134] Warner reacted to his suspension by questioning Blatter's conduct and adding that FIFA secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, had told him via e-mail that Qatar had bought the 2022 World Cup.[135][136] Valcke subsequently issued a statement denying he had suggested it was bribery, saying instead that the country had "used its financial muscle to lobby for support". Qatar officials denied any impropriety.[137] Bin Hammam also responded by writing to FIFA, protesting unfair treatment in suspension by the FIFA Ethics Committee and FIFA administration.[138]

Further evidence emerged of alleged corruption. On 30 May 2011, Fred Lunn, vice-president of the Bahamas Football Association, said that he was given $40,000 in cash[139] as an incitement to vote for FIFA presidential candidate, Mohamed bin Hammam. In addition, on 11 June 2011 Louis Giskus, president of the Surinamese Football Association, alleged that he was given $40,000 in cash for "development projects" as an incentive to vote for Bin Hammam.[140]
Response to allegations

After being re-elected as president of FIFA, Sepp Blatter responded to the allegations by promising to reform FIFA in wake of the bribery scandal, with Danny Jordaan, CEO of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, saying there is great expectation for reform.[141] Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is being tipped for a role on the newly proposed 'Solutions Committee', and former Netherlands national football team player Johan Cruyff was also being linked with a role.[136][142]

UEFA secretary-general Gianni Infantino said he hopes for "concrete" measures to be taken by the world game's authority. Saying that "the UEFA executive committee has taken note of the will of FIFA to take concrete and effective measures for good governance ... [and is] following the situation closely."[143]

IOC president Jacques Rogge commented on the situation by saying that he believes FIFA "can emerge stronger" from its worst-ever crisis, stating that "I will not point a finger and lecture ... I am sure FIFA can emerge stronger and from within".[144]

Several of FIFA's partners and sponsors have raised concerns about the allegations of corruption, including Coca-Cola, Adidas, Emirates and Visa.[145][146][147] Coca-Cola raised concerns by saying "the current allegations being raised are distressing and bad for the sport"; with Adidas saying "the negative tenor of the public debate around Fifa at the moment is neither good for football nor for Fifa and its partners"; moreover Emirates raised its concerns by saying "we hope that these issues will be resolved as soon as possible"; and Visa adding "the current situation is clearly not good for the game and we ask that Fifa take all necessary steps to resolve the concerns that have been raised."[145]

Australian Sports Minister Mark Arbib said it was clear FIFA needed to change, saying "there is no doubt there needs to be reform of FIFA. This is something that we're hearing worldwide", with Australian Senator Nick Xenophon accusing FIFA of "scamming" the country out of the A$46 million (US$35 million) it spent on the Australia 2022 FIFA World Cup bid, saying that "until the investigation into FIFA has been completed, Australia must hold off spending any more taxpayers' money on any future World Cup bids."[148]

Theo Zwanziger, president of the German Football Association, also called on FIFA to re-examine the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.[149]

Transparency International, which had called on FIFA to postpone the election pending a full independent investigation, renewed its call on FIFA to change its governance structure.[150]

Moreover, former Argentine football player Diego Maradona was critical of FIFA in light of the corruption scandal, comparing members of the board to dinosaurs. He said "Fifa is a big museum. They are dinosaurs who do not want to relinquish power. It's always going to be the same."[151] In October 2011, Dick Pound criticized the organization, saying, "FIFA has fallen far short of a credible demonstration that it recognizes the many problems it faces, that it has the will to solve them, that it is willing to be transparent about what it is doing and what it finds, and that its conduct in the future will be such that the public can be confident in the governance of the sport."[152]
2018 revision of code of ethics

In 2018, FIFA revised its code of ethics to remove corruption as one of the enumerated bases of ethical violations.[153] It retained bribery, misappropriation of funds and manipulation of competitions as offences, but added a statute of limitation clause that those offences could not be pursued after a ten-year period.[153]

The revision also made it an offence to make public statements of a defamatory nature against FIFA.[153] Alexandra Wrage, a former member of the FIFA governance committee and an expert in anti-bribery compliance, said that of the revision that "the real value to FIFA is the chilling effect this will have on critics".[153]
See also

Sports portaliconAssociation football portaliconWomen's association football portal

Association football culture
Association football tactics and skills
FIFA (video game series)
List of association football clubs
List of association football competitions
List of association football stadiums by country
List of women's national association football teams
List of top association football goal scorers
List of women's association football clubs
Lists of association football players
FIFA Congress

Notes

Australia has been a member of the AFC since 2006.
French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname are CONCACAF members although they are in South America. The French Guiana team is a member of CONCACAF but not of FIFA.

Teams representing the nations of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, Israel, Kazakhstan, Russia (suspended by UEFA in 2022), and Turkey are UEFA members, although the majority or entirety of their territory is outside of continental Europe. Monaco is not a member of UEFA or FIFA.

References

Harris, Rob (14 August 2018). "Keep bribes quiet for 10 years, FIFA won't punish you". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 14 August 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

Further reading

Paul Darby, Africa, Football and Fifa: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance (Sport in the Global Society), Frank Cass Publishers 2002, ISBN 0-7146-8029-X.
John Sugden, FIFA and the Contest For World Football, Polity Press 1998, ISBN 0-7456-1661-5.
Jim Trecker, Charles Miers, J. Brett Whitesell, ed., Women's Soccer: The Game and the Fifa World Cup, Universe 2000, Revised Edition, ISBN 0-7893-0527-5.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to FIFA.
Wikiquote has quotations related to FIFA.

Official website Edit this at Wikidata (in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, Arabic, Indonesian, Japanese, and Korean)
"FIFA's Dirty Secrets" transcript—An episode of the BBC's Panorama
Document on alleged FIFA corruption

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Categories:

FIFA1904 establishments in FranceAssociation football governing bodiesOrganisations based in ZürichInternational sports organisations based in SwitzerlandSports organizations established in 1904Association of Summer Olympic International Federations

This page was last edited on 27 December 2023, at 16:55 (UTC).

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Patriots agree to hire Jerod Mayo as next head coach, Bill Belichick's successor The New England Patriots have named Jerod Mayo to succeed Bill Belichick as the franchise's 15th head coach

ByKYLE HIGHTOWER AND ROB MAADDI AP sports writers January 12, 2024, 3:30 PM

FILE -New England Patriots outside linebacker Jerod Mayo (51) warms up on the field before an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Oct.13, 2013, in Foxborough, Mass. The New England Patriots have agreed to hire Jerod Mayo to succeed Bill Belichick as their next head coach, according to a person familiar with the situation. Details were still being worked out on Friday, Jan. 12, 2024, according to the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the team hasn't announced the decision. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File) FILE -New England Patriots outside linebacker Jerod Mayo (51) warms up on the field before an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Oct.13, 2013, in Foxborough, Mass. The New England Patrio...Show more The Associated Press FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Jerod Mayo spent his entire professional football career learning from Bill Belichick, first as a player and then as an assistant.

He'll now have the weighty task of succeeding the future Hall of Famer and leading a New England Patriots team as its first new voice in more than two decades.

The Patriots named Mayo to succeed Belichick as the franchise's 15th head coach on Friday. Mayo is the first Black head coach in team history.

He will be formally introduced at a news conference on Wednesday, the team announced.

Mayo played eight NFL seasons and won a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots during the 2014 season. He has been an assistant under Belichick since 2019, serving primarily as the Patriots linebackers coach. He'll become the NFL's youngest head coach at age 37.

Mayo's hire comes a day after Belichick agreed to part ways with the Patriots after a 24-year run that included six Super Bowl wins.

Mayo immediately rose to the top of the list of viable Belichick successors after the Patriots took the unique step of announcing they were giving the assistant a long-term extension last offseason. Mayo, along with Belichick's son and fellow linebackers coach Steve Belichick, handled the play calling duties for the Patriots defense over the past two seasons.

Despite New England's 4-13 record this season, the team's defense has remained highly ranked in several categories despite losing top linebacker Matt Judon and rookie cornerback Christian Gonzalez early to season-ending injuries.

Though it's unclear what the terms of Mayo's deal prior to last season entailed, it came after he interviewed for multiple head coaching jobs in Philadelphia and Carolina each of the past two years.

In announcing the decision to part ways with Belichick on Thursday, Patriots owner Robert Kraft promised to move quickly on trying to fill the hole.

Kraft said that the mandate for the next coach would be a return to the postseason for a Patriots team that has missed the playoffs in three of the past four seasons and hasn't won a playoff game since the 2018 season.

"We're looking for someone who can help us get back to the playoffs and win," Kraft said. "Believe me, after my family, this is really one of the two most important assets in my life. I am very upset when we don't win games. It carries the whole week. So, I promise you I'll be focused to do the best I can do to make sure we're putting ourselves in the best long-term position to win for many years."

During his time in the coaching ranks, Mayo has quickly developed a reputation for being able to relate to players.

Former Patriots safety Devin McCourty played alongside Mayo for six seasons and then under him from 2019-22.

During an appearance on NBC Sports' Pro Football Talk on Friday, McCourty pointed out that one thing that will benefit Mayo is that he also had the opportunity to hone his skills in other places as well, notably the time he spent working in finance at Optum.

"When you hear him talk, he talks not just leadership in football by kind of CEO talk in life leading people," McCourty said.

Patriots linebacker Ja'Whaun Bentley said earlier this month that Mayo already garners lots of respect around the locker room.

"Players love him. I love to play for him. He gets the best out of his players," Bentley said. "At the same time, he understands as far as the culture and everything how to get everybody going."

But Mayo will likely get criticism from some about how much time he's spent inside the Patriot bubble. That's nothing he can't overcome, McCourty said.

"I understand the reservations of people who are like, 'Well, all he is, is a Patriot,'" McCourty said. "But when people get to be around him and talk to him, they'll see the differences in him and Bill and how the organization will be going forward."

One thing Mayo isn't expected to have is the same control over personnel matters like Belichick did for most of his tenure with the Patriots. Along with being coach, Belichick also served as New England's de facto general manager.

But Kraft pointed out on Thursday that Belichick didn't receive that power until after he won his third Super Bowl with the team following the 2004 season and that Belichick "earned it and it worked pretty well for most of the time."

That means a new general manager hire, or some other restructuring of the front office, is likely next on Kraft's plate.

"I think it's good to have checks and balances," Kraft said.

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One day short of his first 100 days in the White House, on April 28, 2021, President Joe Biden spoke to a joint session of Congress, where he outlined an ambitious vision for the nation. In a time of rising autocrats who believed democracy was failing, he asked, could the United States demonstrate that democracy is still vital?

"Can our democracy deliver on its promise that all of us, created equal in the image of God, have a chance to lead lives of dignity, respect, and possibility? Can our democracy deliver…to the most pressing needs of our people? Can our democracy overcome the lies, anger, hate, and fears that have pulled us apart?"

America's adversaries were betting that the U.S. was so full of anger and division that it could not. "But they are wrong," Biden said. "You know it; I know it. But we have to prove them wrong."

"We have to prove democracy still works—that our government still works and we can deliver for our people."

In that speech, Biden outlined a plan to begin investing in the nation again as well as to rebuild the country's neglected infrastructure. "Throughout our history," he noted, "public investment and infrastructure has literally transformed America—our attitudes, as well as our opportunities."

In the first two years of his administration, when Democrats controlled both chambers of Congress, lawmakers set out to do what Biden asked. They passed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to help restart the nation's economy after the pandemic-induced crash; the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (better known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) to repair roads, bridges, and waterlines, extend broadband, and build infrastructure for electric vehicles; the roughly $280 billion CHIPS and Science Act to promote scientific research and manufacturing of semiconductors; and the Inflation Reduction Act, which sought to curb inflation by lowering prescription drug prices, promoting domestic renewable energy production, and investing in measures to combat climate change.

This was a dramatic shift from the previous 40 years of U.S. policy, when lawmakers maintained that slashing the government would stimulate economic growth, and pundits widely predicted that the Democrats' policies would create a recession.

But in 2023, with the results of the investment in the United States falling into place, it is clear that those policies justified Biden's faith in them. The U.S. economy is stronger than that of any other country in the Group of Seven (G7)—a political and economic forum consisting of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, along with the European Union—with higher growth and faster drops in inflation than any other G7 country over the past three years.

Heather Long of the Washington Post said yesterday there was only one word for the U.S. economy in 2023, and that word is "miracle."

Rather than cooling over the course of the year, growth accelerated to an astonishing 4.9% annualized rate in the third quarter of the year while inflation cooled from 6.4% to 3.1% and the economy added more than 2.5 million jobs. The S&P 500, which is a stock market index of 500 of the largest companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges, ended this year up 24%. The Nasdaq composite index, which focuses on technology stocks, gained more than 40%. Noah Berlatsky, writing for Public Notice yesterday, pointed out that new businesses are starting up at a near-record pace, and that holiday sales this year were up 3.1%.

Unemployment has remained below 4% for 22 months in a row for the first time since the late 1960s. That low unemployment has enabled labor to make significant gains, with unionized workers in the automobile industry, UPS, Hollywood, railroads, and service industries winning higher wages and other benefits. Real wages have risen faster than inflation, especially for those at the bottom of the economy, whose wages have risen by 4.5% after inflation between 2020 and 2023.

Meanwhile, perhaps as a reflection of better economic conditions in the wake of the pandemic, the nation has had a record drop in homicides and other categories of violent crime. The only crime that has risen in 2023 is vehicle theft.

While Biden has focused on making the economy deliver for ordinary Americans, Vice President Kamala Harris has emphasized protecting the right of all Americans to be treated equally before the law.

In April 2023, when the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature expelled two young Black legislators, Justin Jones and Justin J. Pearson, for participating in a call for gun safety legislation after a mass shooting at a school in Nashville, Harris traveled to Nashville's historically Black Fisk University to support them and their cause.

In the wake of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Supreme Court decision overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that recognized the constitutional right to abortion, Harris became the administration's most vocal advocate for abortion rights. "How dare they?" she demanded. "How dare they tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her own body?... How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future? How dare they try to deny women their rights and their freedoms?" She brought together civil rights leaders and reproductive rights advocates to work together to defend Americans' civil and human rights.

In fall 2023, Harris traveled around the nation's colleges to urge students to unite behind issues that disproportionately affect younger Americans: "reproductive freedom, common sense gun safety laws, climate action, voting rights, LGBTQ+ equality, and teaching America's full history."

"Opening doors of opportunity, guaranteeing some more fairness and justice—that's the essence of America," Biden said when he spoke to Congress in April 2021. "That's democracy in action.

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ontent Authenticity Statement

100% of this week's newsletter was generated by me, the human. When I use AI, I will disclose it prominently. Learn why this kind of disclosure is important. Watch This Newsletter On YouTube ��

Click here for the video �� version of this newsletter on YouTube »

Click here for an MP3 audio �� only version » What's On My Mind: Three Words and Four Enemies of 2024

Let's talk about the future today, and my three words as we head into 2024. If you're unfamiliar, the three words exercise is something conceived by my friend Chris Brogan back in 2006. I've participated ever since. Rather than create resolutions which are difficult to keep, the three words exercise puts together three words that form your mantra for the coming year, a way to help you make decisions.

My twist on it is to restrict it to just verbs, because verbs are actions to take. I like the three words as an easy way to remind myself of what I'm supposed to be doing, if I find that my mind and focus have wandered.

My words for this year were release, revoke, and renew - to let go of things that were unhelpful, to revoke access in my head to things that no longer serve the work I do, and to renew the things that do work. For the most part, 2023 went along those lines, with plenty of interesting curve balls. I made tons of new friends and colleagues in 2023, generative AI caused massive pivots in everything, and the chaos of the world amped up.

So what's on tap for 2024? In years past I have had to reflect deeply on the year that was and what the year ahead might portend. Sometimes I'd spend close to two weeks mulling over what my focus should be for the new year, what three words capture the spirit of the moment.

2024 requires no such mental gymnastics for me this year. The moment I thought seriously about the year ahead and what is likely in the cards, my three words sprang into my head and won't dislodge.

So, what are those compelling words?

Discern. Defend. Disrupt.

For folks in my martial tradition, you likely recognize these as the first parts of what Stephen K. Hayes teaches as the 5 Ds of self defense, and they are wholly applicable to the year ahead.

Why these words? Why did this provoke such a strong reaction? Because from my point of view, everything that 2023 was, 2024 will be much more of, and it's not going to be positive at a big picture level. To be clear, there will still be plenty of room for love, for joy, for happiness in your individual world. But in the big picture, not so much. If you're looking for an optimistic, rose-colored look at the future to set the tone for the year ahead, this is not it - it might make sense for you to skip the rest of this issue for another time.

We're headed into 2024 facing four major enemies. Enemy 1

The geopolitical events will be bigger; the wars in Ukraine and Israel aren't going to slow down any time soon, and there are half a dozen other flashpoints just waiting for someone to toss a match into the pools of gasoline, like the war along the Armenian border, the conflict in Yemen, the war in Ethiopia... you get the idea.

There will be a presidential election cycle in the USA, and that will usher in a new era of disinformation, misinformation, and deception like never before seen, thanks in part to generative AI. We already had armed conflict during the previous election cycle, with insurrectionists storming the halls of Congress. There's no reason to believe that trend will stop. Enemy 2

The climate events that made 2023 an alarming year will continue to amplify in 2024. Bigger storms. Drier droughts. Heavier floods. And what's uncomfortable about climate change is that many of the existing models and projections have a mathematical flaw that's only been recently addressed - that feedback loops are not independent of each other. Sea ice melting impacts more than just Arctic water temperatures. It causes other feedback loops like methane reserves in permafrost to accelerate as well.

We're already in a state of food insecurity for a large amount of the planet, and that's going to get worse this year as climate change accelerates. Food insecurity isn't strictly biblical famine from the movies or from 1980s charity appeals. It's a lot more insidious, and looks just as much like a single mother trying to decide what limited food she can afford to buy this week, or a student couch surfing and managing one meal a day, as it does a starving child in a war zone, or a family in a migrant caravan.

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The Hamas terrorist attack of Oct. 7, an epic failure by Israeli intelligence, also was a baffling failure of the nation's vaunted military, a New York Times investigation finds:

Troops were "out of position and so poorly organized that soldiers communicated in impromptu WhatsApp groups and relied on social media posts for targeting information." Unbelievably, the Israel Defense Forces didn't appear to have a battle plan to respond to a large-scale Hamas attack on Israeli soil. Yaakov Amidror, a retired Israeli general and a former national security adviser to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the paper: "The army does not prepare itself for things it thinks are impossible."

Key findings by The Times:

"Israeli military reservists were not prepared to quickly mobilize and deploy. Some described heading south on their own initiative. ... Terrorists blocked key highway intersections, leaving soldiers bogged down in firefights as they tried to enter besieged towns." "Records from early in the day show that, even during the attack, the military still assessed that Hamas, at best, would be able to breach Israel's border fence in just a few places. A separate intelligence document, prepared weeks later, shows that Hamas teams actually breached the fence in more than 30 locations." "When the attacks began, many soldiers were fighting for their lives instead of protecting residents nearby. ... The division that was supposed to be directing the battle was trying not to get overrun." On the holiday weekend (Simchat Torah), as Israeli intelligence officials tried to make sense of unusual Hamas activity just over the border in Gaza, many soldiers "were allowed to keep sleeping."

The bottom line: "The scope of the catastrophe, if not the attack itself, was preventable, according to records and interviews," The Times concludes.

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Hello ta-chkon-7na, I trust you are feeling well today. Whether you are just starting your day with a cup of coffee or getting ready to settle in for the night, let's celebrate because it's Sunday!

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Dec 31, 2023 View in browser POLITICO Playbook

By Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza and Rachael Bade

Presented by The U.S. Chamber of Commerce

With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine

WATERLOO, IOWA - DECEMBER 19: Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a campaign event on December 19, 2023 in Waterloo, Iowa. Iowa Republicans will be the first to select their party's nomination for the 2024 presidential race, when they go to caucus on January 15, 2024. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Donald Trump's legal issues are one of the biggest question marks hanging over the new year. | Scott Olson/Getty Images DRIVING THE DAY

It's finally here: the last day of a long, wild year in politics. And now, we can all look forward to a very quiet, calm year that could (1) see a rematch of the last presidential election, (2) find the Supreme Court deciding if a former president should be tossed off state ballots for being an insurrectionist, (3) feature that same former president prosecuted on nearly 100 charges and (4) witness the current president get impeached for unknown reasons.

It'll be a super easy year, y'all.

The year-end, year-opening vibe is nicely captured by a headline in the Wall Street Journal: "Republicans Have a Great Chance to Retake the Senate in 2024* "

Pay attention to that asterisk: " *But they did in 2022, too — abortion access, economy and [DONALD] TRUMP's legal troubles are seen as unpredictable factors."

Let's look at those three "unpredictable factors" …

ABORTION ACCESS — WSJ's Molly Ball has a whip-smart read on how supporters of abortion rights have recently shifted the language they use and enjoyed wild electoral success. (Out: "choice." In: "freedom.")

"'Talking about this in the context of values really widens our support,' said [pollster ANGELA] KUEFLER, an adviser to the Nov. 7 ballot initiative in Ohio that added a right to abortion to the state's constitution, winning by nearly 14 points in a state President [JOE] BIDEN lost by eight. By values, she explained, she was principally talking about the idea of freedom. In polling by Kuefler's firm, Global Strategy Group, majorities answered 'yes' to both 'Should we restore the rights we had under Roe v. Wade?' and 'Should personal decisions like abortion be up to women rather than the government?' But the latter statement outperformed the former by a whopping 19-point margin, she noted, adding, 'It's the values language that allows us to win by such big margins.' …

"It was the Dobbs decision itself that most powerfully changed the discussion … But many advocates believe the shift has also been driven by a subtle but powerful change in messaging that has reshaped the way liberals talk about abortion, fundamentally changing the terms of the highly charged debate and leaving conservatives scrambling to respond. …

"Abortion-rights activists rarely use the term 'pro-choice' anymore, preferring to talk about people's 'freedom to decide.' In September, the abortion-rights group Naral Pro-Choice America, founded in 1969, changed its name to Reproductive Freedom for All. Grounded in research that predates the Dobbs ruling, these new buzzwords have helped the abortion-rights side resonate across partisan lines. Republicans have noticed the resonance with their liberty-loving voters. 'They stole freedom!' one antiabortion Republican consultant recently remarked."

THE ECONOMY — "You won't hear President Biden talking about it much, but a key record has been broken during his watch: The United States is producing more oil than any country ever has," write WaPo's Evan Halper and Toluse Olorunnipa.

That, of course, is helping reduce inflation. Nationwide, the average gallon of gasoline now costs $3.11, per AAA. (It's under $3 a gallon in the battleground states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia, though the prices in Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania are among the nation's very highest.) And, per WaPo, "analysts project it could stay that way leading up to the presidential election, potentially assuaging the economic anxieties of swing state voters who will be crucial to Biden's hopes of a second term."

And yet, the issue isn't so straightforward for Biden: "[I]t is not something the president publicly boasts about. The politics of oil are particularly tricky for Democrats, whose chances for victory in the 2024 elections could hinge on whether young, climate-conscious voters come out in big numbers. Many of those voters want to hear that Biden is doing everything in his power to keep oil in the ground."

TRUMP'S LEGAL TROUBLES — "Trump's bold claims that he's immune from criminal prosecution over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election 'threaten to undermine democracy,'" special counsel JACK SMITH warned the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in a brief yesterday, Josh Gerstein and Kyle Cheney report.

"'Rather than vindicating our constitutional framework, the defendant's sweeping immunity claim threatens to license Presidents to commit crimes to remain in office,' Smith and his team wrote in an 82-page filing. 'The Founders did not intend and would never have countenanced such a result.'"

The big picture: "Smith's argument sets the framework for the most crucial test of his prosecution of Trump for seeking to subvert the 2020 election, the beginning of a must-win legal battle that is likely headed for the Supreme Court as soon as next month."

You can expect to hear a whole lot more about all three of those topics — abortion rights, the economy and Trump's legal woes — in 2024. Welcome to the election year.

Good Sunday morning, and happy New Year's Eve. Thanks for reading Playbook. What are your plans to ring in the new year? Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.

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Join us for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's annual State of American Business event January 11 to discover how innovation enables businesses to serve customers, solve problems and strengthen society. During our biggest event of the year, you will hear from U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Suzanne P. Clark and other leading CEOs highlighting how America's free enterprise system is crucial for the long-term success of our country.

MEANWHILE, IN THE VIRGIN ISLANDS — "Biden Lies Low in St. Croix During Holiday Week," by NYT's Lisa Friedman: Yesterday, Biden and first lady JILL BIDEN "taped an interview with Ryan Seacrest, due to air on New Year's Eve as part of ABC's 'Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve with Ryan Seacrest.' In the evening, the president and first lady dined at Too Chez, one of the island's top restaurants, and he afterward revealed his New Year's resolution. 'To come back next year,' Mr. Biden said."

SUNDAY BEST …

— Sen. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-Pa.) on speaking out about his depression, on NBC's "Meet the Press": "When it got released where I was and where it was going, it was a big story. And so I had assumed that that would be the end of my career. And I don't know what kind of impact that would have on my family or anything, so I really didn't know what would happen at that point. … It's a risk that I wanted to take because I wanted to help people and know that I don't want them to suffer the way — or put any kinds of despair that I've been in." More from Kelly Garrity

— New Hampshire Gov. CHRIS SUNUNU on non-Trump candidates splitting the vote, on CNN's "State of the Union": "There's no doubt that, if [CHRIS] CHRISTIE stays in the race, the risk is that he takes [NIKKI HALEY's] margin of the win, right? And so I think Chris is going to make a quick calculation. He's obviously really upset all the pro-Trump people, right? I think he's a smart guy. He wants to have a voice in this party. He doesn't want to go forward upsetting all the anti-Trump people too because he kind of overstayed his welcome, put his ego first."

— Rep. TONY GONZALES (R-Texas) on immigration policy, on "Fox News Sunday": "Most of America believes in legal immigration. But what we're seeing is not that. This is chaos. And so enough is enough. It's time to deport those that illegally come into the United States. And President Biden can either do that, or he can watch and lose and watch the next president enforce those policies that are on the books. Hosting Speaker [MIKE] JOHNSON next week is very critical to getting House Republicans on board. I'm expecting at least 60 of my Republican colleagues to join us on that visit."

— Rep. MIKE TURNER (R-Ohio) on whether Biden should order attacks on the Houthis in Yemen, on ABC's "This Week": "I think the president absolutely has to look at what actions need to be taken in Yemen to be able to prevent the Houthis to continue to put commercial and military vessels at risk. The fact that the president's not doing that is giving Iran a total pass and the ability to operate without consequences in the area. This is a franchise of Iran again, just like Hezbollah and Hamas are, and the administration's [timidity] is really very curious."

TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week's must-read opinion pieces.

"No, 2023 wasn't all bad, and here are 23 reasons why not," by the WaPo editorial board "How to Stop Our High-Tech Equipment From Arming Russia and China," by Chris Miller and Jordan Schneider in the NYT "A Look Back at '23 and Me," by WSJ's Peggy Noonan "Why Was It So Hard for Nikki Haley to Say 'Slavery'? History Has the Answer," by POLITICO Magazine's Joshua Zeitz "A Midwestern Republican Stands Up for Trans Rights," by NYT's Lydia Polgreen "The US and Europe Risk Flunking Geopolitics 101," by Bloomberg's Niall Ferguson

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At the White House

Biden and VP KAMALA HARRIS have nothing on their public schedules. PLAYBOOK READS

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A 20mm Phalanx CIWS weapons defense cannon is mounted on the U.S. Navy destroyer USS Gravely on March 14, 2023.

The U.S. brought down Houthi missiles and ships in the Red Sea following their attacks on vessels. | John C. Clark/AP Photo

1. WAR REPORT: In the latest skirmish that has drawn in the American military, the U.S. today downed three Houthi ships in the Red Sea after they'd fired on Navy helicopters, per NYT's Vivek Shankar. The ships' crews, backed by Iran and newly targeting commercial vessels as retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war, were killed. The U.S. also brought down two missiles the Houthis had launched, per Bloomberg's Yi Wei Wong.

Meanwhile, Israel's assault on Gaza intensified further yesterday, rocketing the Palestinian death toll higher in defiance of U.S. pressure on a war that the Biden administration nonetheless supports, NYT's Raja Abdulrahim, Roni Caryn Rabin and Thomas Fuller report. Israeli PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU warned that the war will last "many more months," per Reuters. At the same time, Democratic frustration in the U.S. continued to grow, as Sen. TIM KAINE (D-Va.) criticized the Biden administration for going around Congress to send weapons to Israel.

2. IN AND OUT: "New Spin on a Revolving Door: Pentagon Officials Turned Venture Capitalists," by NYT's Eric Lipton: "Retiring generals and departing top Pentagon officials once migrated regularly to the big established weapons makers like Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Now they are increasingly flocking to venture capital firms that have collectively pumped billions of dollars into Silicon Valley-style startups offering the Pentagon new war-fighting tools like autonomous killer drones, hypersonic jets and space surveillance equipment."

3. BEYOND THE BELTWAY: Across the country, a host of new state laws are scheduled to take effect tomorrow, and AP's David Lieb and Geoff Mulvihill round up several of the most notable. Multiple states have new gun restrictions, from red-flag laws to ghost guns. Several take aim at online pornography in various ways. Three will implement new bans on transition-related medical care for transgender children.

And the minimum wage will jump in 22 states — but that probably won't have much effect on low-paid workers, WSJ's Austen Hufford writes. "The reason: Robust raises in recent years have rendered pay floors largely irrelevant, even in states that aggressively lifted them."

4. SHAPING THE NEXT GENERATION: "How a conservative group's videos gained a foothold in classrooms with help from Republican officials," by NBC's Tyler Kingkade and Antonia Hylton: "Its recent videos feature messages opposing transgender health care and suggesting Americans say 'Merry Christmas' instead of 'Happy holidays.' Last year, the organization debuted a line of cartoons and classroom materials aimed at school children, called PragerU Kids, which over the last six months has received approval from four state education agencies. … NBC News spoke with education policy specialists, attorneys and ethics experts who say PragerU's courting of elected officials raises red flags."

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5. PRIMARY COLORS: Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon and Pennsylvania are all weighing changes to their primary election systems next year, NBC's Jane Timm rounds up. Most of the efforts aim to broaden closed partisan primaries to include more independent or unaffiliated voters. In multiple states, organizers are seeking ballot measures to go before voters next fall that would institute nonpartisan primaries and potentially ranked-choice voting in the general election.

6. BEYOND HALEY'S CIVIL WAR GAFFE: "Led by Trump, GOP candidates take polarizing stances on race and history," by WaPo's Maeve Reston, Hannah Knowles and Meryl Kornfield: "The Republican Party's three leading presidential candidates are speaking about history and race in polarizing and provocative ways that sometimes diverge from or distort the facts, some political strategists, experts and civil rights leaders said. Their comments have stoked outrage among many Americans and risk alienating wide swaths of voters … But their rhetoric is also appealing to many Americans who lean conservative, interviews with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire show."

7. WHAT MIKE GALLAGHER IS UP TO: The House Select Committee on China's aggressive approach to tackling relations with the rival superpower faces a big test next year: whether it can turn its policy proposals into law, Phelim Kine reports. Gallagher, the Wisconsin Republican who chairs the panel, says he wants "a big China bill." His attack-dog efforts have turned off some Democrats and experts who warn about overstating Beijing's threat level or getting too protectionist. But "even some of the dissenters argue that they're getting closer to crafting a passable bill," thanks to the committee's reputation as a bipartisan "oasis."

8. DEMS' ONGOING STRUGGLE: "Activists who engage with voters of color are looking for messages that will resonate in 2024," by AP's Ayanna Alexander and Gary Fields: "Voting activists said they know voters of color are essential for Biden and cited myriad reasons for the drop in support. Among them is the failure to pass a law that would have strengthened voting rights, after numerous Republican-controlled states passed restrictions in the past few years, and Biden's promise about student loan forgiveness, only to see the Supreme Court kill it."

9. WHAT 2023 MEANT: The climate future arrived in 2023, writes WaPo's Chico Harlan, because the year "will mark a point when humanity crossed into a new climate era — an age of 'global boiling,' as United Nations Secretary General ANTÓNIO GUTERRES called it. The year included the hottest single day on record (July 6) and the hottest ever month (July), not to mention the hottest June, the hottest August, the hottest September, the hottest October, the hottest November, and probably the hottest December. It included a day, Nov. 17, when global temperatures, for the first time ever, reached 2 degrees Celsius above the preindustrial levels." PLAYBOOKERS

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Content Authenticity Statement

100% of this week's newsletter was generated by me, the human. When I use AI, I will disclose it prominently. Learn why this kind of disclosure is important. Watch This Newsletter On YouTube ��

Click here for the video �� version of this newsletter on YouTube »

Click here for an MP3 audio �� only version » What's On My Mind: Three Words and Four Enemies of 2024

Let's talk about the future today, and my three words as we head into 2024. If you're unfamiliar, the three words exercise is something conceived by my friend Chris Brogan back in 2006. I've participated ever since. Rather than create resolutions which are difficult to keep, the three words exercise puts together three words that form your mantra for the coming year, a way to help you make decisions.

My twist on it is to restrict it to just verbs, because verbs are actions to take. I like the three words as an easy way to remind myself of what I'm supposed to be doing, if I find that my mind and focus have wandered.

My words for this year were release, revoke, and renew - to let go of things that were unhelpful, to revoke access in my head to things that no longer serve the work I do, and to renew the things that do work. For the most part, 2023 went along those lines, with plenty of interesting curve balls. I made tons of new friends and colleagues in 2023, generative AI caused massive pivots in everything, and the chaos of the world amped up.

So what's on tap for 2024? In years past I have had to reflect deeply on the year that was and what the year ahead might portend. Sometimes I'd spend close to two weeks mulling over what my focus should be for the new year, what three words capture the spirit of the moment.

2024 requires no such mental gymnastics for me this year. The moment I thought seriously about the year ahead and what is likely in the cards, my three words sprang into my head and won't dislodge.

So, what are those compelling words?

Discern. Defend. Disrupt.

For folks in my martial tradition, you likely recognize these as the first parts of what Stephen K. Hayes teaches as the 5 Ds of self defense, and they are wholly applicable to the year ahead.

Why these words? Why did this provoke such a strong reaction? Because from my point of view, everything that 2023 was, 2024 will be much more of, and it's not going to be positive at a big picture level. To be clear, there will still be plenty of room for love, for joy, for happiness in your individual world. But in the big picture, not so much. If you're looking for an optimistic, rose-colored look at the future to set the tone for the year ahead, this is not it - it might make sense for you to skip the rest of this issue for another time.

We're headed into 2024 facing four major enemies. Enemy 1

In Puerto Rico, scattered to widespread showers provided limited relief in areas experiencing abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1). D0 was removed from the northeastern corner of Puerto Rico, where there were some rainfall totals of at least 2 to 4 inches. Meanwhile, there were small D0 and D1 reductions in the west-central Puerto Rican highlands, where heavy rain was reported.

The U.S. Virgin Islands have trended drier. Weather observers indicate that St. Thomas received 0.66 inches or less, St. John received 0.89 inches or less, while St. Croix received mostly 0.04 inches or less on the western end of the island and 0.43 inches or less on the eastern end. Year to date percent of normal precipitation for the islands is 88.4% for St. John, 55.4% for St. Thomas and 45.0% for St. Croix.

Conditions have been sufficiently dry, however, for the Standardized Precipitation Index to show drought conditions on the one-, three- and six-month time scale for all islands. The values for St. Croix indicated extreme drought (D3-SL), an intensification of conditions from the previous week. The values for St. Thomas also indicate worsening drought conditions, so the island has been changed to severe drought (D2-S). St. John remains at moderate drought (D1-S). The wells' depth to water level continued to increase with the dry conditions since the start of the year.

The recently introduced area of abnormal dryness (D0) in south-central Alaska was eradicated by heavy precipitation. Kodiak received precipitation totaling 6.79 inches during the first 16 days of the month, with 4.42 inches falling from May 8-10. Farther north, significant ice-jam flooding occurred along portions of the Yukon and Kuskokwim Rivers. Notably, near-record flooding along the Yukon River affected the eastern Alaska community of Circle, where the water reportedly rose to its highest level since 1945.

There were no changes to the Hawaiian depiction, which continued to feature a small area of abnormal dryness (D0) and moderate drought (D1) along and near the north shore of the Big Island.

The Republic of Palau rainfall was below normal for the week with 0.35 inches at Palau IAP and 0.67 inches at Koror. Precipitation was ample last week, so water supplies should be adequate.

The Mariana Islands were all on the dry side. Saipan received 0.45 inches and was abnormally dry (D0). Rota reported 0.51 inches. Guam collected 0.20 inches in the rain gauge and was categorized as being abnormally dry this week. The first two weeks of May 2023 have been drier than any other two-week period so far this year. Vegetation has dried out slightly. These islands need an inch weekly to meet minimum water needs.

The Patent Public Search tool is a new web-based patent search application that will replace internal legacy search tools PubEast and PubWest and external legacy search tools PatFT and AppFT. Patent Public Search has two user selectable modern interfaces that provide enhanced access to prior art. The new, powerful, and flexible capabilities of the application will improve the overall patent searching process.

If you are new to patent searches, or want to use the functionality that was available in the USPTO's PatFT/AppFT, select 'Basic Search' to look for patents by keywords or common fields, such as inventor or publication number. Select 'Advanced Search' to use full query options as well as to further filter a patent search by database or organize documents through tagging.

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• Model and promote the implementation of these guidelines.

o Obtain your COVID-19 vaccine booster per the CDC guidelines. For more information

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A presidential election. A return to the moon. A better job market. Those are some of the big headlines expected in 2024 — and we're delighted that you've chosen 5 Things to be your trusted guide in this exciting news cycle. Here's what you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On With Your Day.

By Alexandra Banner

1 New laws

Several state and federal laws went into effect this week that impact everything from minimum wage to gender-affirming care for minors. A total of 22 states, plus Washington, DC, raised their minimum wage on Monday, and more states have wage increases set for the coming months. Another marquee issue across state legislatures in 2023 was gender-affirming care for minors, with several Republican-led states moving to enact restrictions. Among the states that recently passed a ban on such treatments for minors are Idaho and Louisiana. On the other hand, many Democratic states passed laws protecting abortion rights, including two that took effect Monday in California and Washington.

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