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Public Safety Summit draws in law enforcement from across Mississippi

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Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch and Commissioner of Public Safety Sean Tindell joined together last week to organize the state’s first ever Public Safety Summit.

The Summit served as a three-day resource event for those involved in criminal justice in the Magnolia State. Attendees were able to network, learn, and discuss issues they face on a day-to-day basis. It began on May 8th and was hosted at the Sheraton Flowood’s The Refuge Hotel & Conference Center and featured a variety of speakers.

Experts come from across the public and private sector focused on obstacles within occupations linked to criminal justice, the evolution of the drug culture, domestic violence, cyber-crime, legal issues for law enforcement, and human trafficking.

“The public safety team we have at DPS and the staff at the Attorney General’s office have really come together and pulled off what I think is a great inaugural event and one that I hope will continue for many, many years,” said Commissioner Tindell. “If that is a legacy, I leave it is certainly one I’d be proud of.”

The event also featured the Governor’s Awards Luncheon where Governor Tate Reeves was in attendance to recognize outstanding service within the law enforcement community.

Department of Public Safety (DPS) Commissioner Tindell said the idea for the Summit came as part of a directive to create better communications between local law enforcement and DPS.

“As soon as I took office, I started going around the state meeting with various associations, and really trying to educate and update them on what was going on at the Department of Public Safety at a statewide level and let them know we want to work with them,” said Tindell. “In the course of doing that I realized that they all have their individual assignments and associations, but we never pull all that together and have a public safety summit where we tried to bring first responders from different parts of the state together to discuss issues that affect public safety.”

State agencies team up

The keynote speech at the Summit was given by David M. Cooper, a retired Navy Seal with the Naval Special Warfare Development Group. He focused on the best way to build successful teams from the standpoint of how SEALS are trained.

Organizers estimated several hundred individuals were present for the three-day event. Tindell said the response he received from first responders who attended the event has been very positive, adding that many are grateful for the ability to get together and discuss issues that they are seeing across the state.

During the preliminary planning, Tindell learned the Attorney General was planning an event to highlight the impact of human trafficking. The state agencies agreed to cohost the event together and bring additional aspects to the Summit.

“It’s amazing to have everyone together to talk about public safety as we rally to stand strong and united. We know that is how we make more positive strides together,” said Attorney General Fitch. “Having all of the law enforcement, prosecutors, investigators, and advocates altogether sends a strong message.”

Fitch said the summit signified that all levels of the criminal justice system are coming together to find better ways to serve their communities.

Focus on Human Trafficking

Attorney General Fitch, who partnered in the preparation for the event, has been a vocal advocate for victims of human trafficking. The Attorney General’s office houses investigators dedicated to handling crimes related to human trafficking, as well as prosecutors who ensure that perpetrators are held responsible.

In the 2022 Legislative session, a fund was established within the Attorney General’s office to support victims’ services through collecting fees, court fines, and any designated appropriations.

Fitch has reiterated that human trafficking is not only happening in many parts of the world, but also in Mississippi.

The Summit featured a panel of experts who discussed the realities of human trafficking in Mississippi.

Those in attendance also heard from Tim Ballard, the founder of Operation Underground Railroad and the focal point for the documentary “Operation Toussaint.”

“I think the messaging will be very strong tonight, it’ll bring it home and remind people that it is happening to our children and young people,” Fitch said of the viewing of the documentary which event goers participated in on Tuesday.

The documentary centers on Ballard’s life after he left his post as a special agent for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to form Operation Underground Railroad. The story shows how Ballard and his team went undercover to rescue children who were victims of sex trafficking.

Ballard, who continues this work through his non-profit, Operation Underground Railroad, said it wasn’t until he was sent oversees on assignment that he realized what a massive problem human trafficking really is.

During his time attempting to find Americans who were acting as sex-tourists in other countries, it became increasingly difficult to walk away from an assignment without resolution.

“In 2012, there was one happening in Columbia and one in Haiti where I got so deep that when they told me to come home, I just quit,” said Ballard. “I just said, ‘I’ll find a way to fund it on our own, we have to finish these operations.’”

When the 2012 operations were completed, it resulted in one of the largest human trafficking recoveries ever, with over 160 women and children being recovered.

Operation Underground Railroad: Who are they?

Operation Underground Railroad was launched in the wake of the successful operations abroad. Since then, the organization has grown to over 150 full-time employees. The non-profit also contracts with dozens of people throughout the world and holds offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Central and South America, Mexico, the Caribbean, Europe, and the U.S.

The organization provides training, resources, technology and more for law enforcement.

“We exist to empower law enforcement and also, even more important, the after-care services that are required to take those who have been extracted and rescued and heel them,” said Ballard.

Many often believe human trafficking is far away. Ballard said the U.S. is generally number one for demand of child exploitation material. The U.S. also ranks in the top three in destination countries.

“We say, human trafficking has different faces in different places,” said Ballard. He said each country and region has particulars that differentiate the way human trafficking is taking place there.

Ballard and his team work to coordinate and locate all of the tools possible law enforcement may need. He says if they don’t already have it, his non-profit is dedicated to finding it.

Ballard expressed concern for the Southern U.S. border where thousands of undocumented individuals, particularly children in un-investigated situations, are crossing. Ballard called the oversight “tragic.”

How they provide resources

J.C. Holt, Director of Domestic Operations, says Operation Underground Railroad works to interface with police departments specializing in sex crimes. The organization provides resources like training, equipment and funding in order to supplement and assist what law enforcement is already doing.

“We are able to come in and we can fund some of the tools that they need,” said Holt. “Some of the things we do for instance is to provide funding for cutting forensic digital tools that involve digital extraction from devices.”

Holt said these tools can often be applied to electronic storage devices found in the field by an officer. They can contain content that would be used as evidence for an eventual case, such as computer hardware and software.

The organization also has a specialized electronic detection K-9 program. The ESV K-9s are trained to pick up on a chemical scent that is commonly found on electronic storage devices. The organizations funded 71 of these dogs across the U.S. in over 30 states.

One of those K-9s is currently in service in North Mississippi.

“Let’s face it, this is not an issue a lot of people want to talk about. It’s a dark subject, I think it’s very familiar for us all to say – this isn’t happening in my community,” said Holt. “We have just found that to be not true. Most communities seem to have this embedded, its deeper, it’s not surface level and it exposes some of our most vulnerable people.”

Law enforcement officers are often shocked to find out that there is no “catch” to these provided resources, according to Holt. The only request made by Operation Underground Railroad is to hear success stories that can be shared so the mission can continue.

Ballard said over the last 10 years their relationship with law enforcement, particularly in the U.S., has increased exponentially. He said they stand with the local officers and provide the resources they need to fight trafficking in their communities.

The post Public Safety Summit draws in law enforcement from across Mississippi appeared first on Magnolia Tribune.

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By: Sarah Ulmer
Title: Public Safety Summit draws in law enforcement from across Mississippi
Sourced From: magnoliatribune.com/2023/05/15/public-safety-summit-draws-in-law-enforcement-from-across-mississippi/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=public-safety-summit-draws-in-law-enforcement-from-across-mississippi
Published Date: Mon, 15 May 2023 18:15:29 +0000

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Staring mortality in the face at Christmas

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11 months ago

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December 16, 2023

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My friend Jarrod is dying after an eight year battle with cancer. He’s lived a life worth celebrating, one that has drawn people to Christ.

I was going about my business this week when I received a text that stopped me in my tracks. A college friend was being moved to hospice care.

Jarrod Egley was diagnosed with colorectal cancer in early 2017. In the fall of 2018, tests revealed the cancer had spread to his lungs and Jarrod’s cancer was classified as Stage IV.

For almost eight years from the date of the original diagnosis, he’s fought. Through surgeries, radiation, endless rounds and cycles of chemotherapy, and experimental immunotherapies, he’s fought.

Last year, I flew out to California and spent some time with Jarrod and his wife, Emily. We sat outside one night. He acknowledged to me that it was not a question of ‘if’, but ‘when’ the cancer would claim his life. I told him I was sorry, because what else is there to say?

We talked about our faith, about the trials of Job, about Jacob wrestling with God, about Paul’s affliction. But mostly we reflected on our time together in school, on the good things, and the mundane things, that happened since.

Jarrod and I met at Tulane University. One Sunday morning in the Spring of my freshman year, I rose from my dorm room bed, dressed, and began walking down Saint Charles Avenue in New Orleans with no particular agenda. I walked until I came across First Baptist Church and the thought flickered in the vacuous recesses of my brain to enter.

Some would say it was a lark. The Calvinist in me says providence. The walk that morning changed the trajectory of my time at Tulane and my life on the whole. Intervarsity Christian Fellowship and the Baptist Collegiate Ministry became central to my life and put me in regular league with Jarrod. I met him first at the BCM and we ultimately ended up attending church together.

Jarrod was a faithful servant on and off campus. He helped organize a group of us that would weekly make our way down to the Esplanade seawall on the backside of the French Quarter to feed the homeless. On Friday nights, he could be found at chapel with a small cadre of students foregoing Bourbon Street for early 2000s worship music.

Jarrod was a loyal friend in those years. Never rude or biting. Not prone to an insult for an easy laugh. Persistently encouraging. An engineering student, his mind worked linearly and was oriented to problem solving. There were never a lot of wasted words — always a lot of deliberative questions when he disagreed or did not understand a point. He exhibited intelligence, empathy, and the kind of moral conviction that sets someone apart.

He also had a wry and dry sense of humor and a penchant for beating people at Madden football. He was fair-to-midland on the ultimate frisbee pitch. Along the way, there were crawfish boils, Mardi Gras outtings, poorly attended Tulane football games, and more than a decent amount of wing eating.

After college, I lost touch with Jarrod. He moved back to his home state of California. He got married to his college sweetheart, who could not have anticipated her husband’s journey, but has been a steady and constant helpmate throughout. Jarrod became a very successful engineer and a bourbon connoisseur. One of his bucket list trips took him to Kentucky, where he got to meet and became friends with bourbon “Hall of Famer” Freddie Johnson of Buffalo Trace acclaim.

Jarrod at Buffalo Trace Distillery (Spring 2022).

Sitting in his backyard nearly 20 years after graduating from Tulane, I saw many of the same qualities I had grown to admire when we were students together. I saw a husband who doted on and supported Emily’s passions. But I also saw someone whose body had been beaten to hell and back, who was tired, and who, like Jacob, had been wrestling with God. We quickly fell back into friendship, which perhaps is the mark of good friendship.

We all have aspirations in our youth — for the kind of spouse or parent we might be, for what we might accomplish, for what we might experience. Along the way, dreams are satisfied, modified, or they die on the vine. The clock inevitably works against all of us. That night in Oceanside, California, Jarrod, a numbers guy, saw that time was not on his side. He believed, as we all would, that he still had more to give, more impact to be made, and more things to see and experience.

After that trip, Jarrod and I stayed in touch, most frequently triggered by news of his cancer. It has been mostly the bad variety in recent months. Now spread throughout his body, down to his bones, he has lived in constant pain for months. Not even a steady diet of morphine and an implanted pain pump solve for it. Jarrod’s been hospitalized twelve times just in 2023.

But his matter of fact sense of humor and way of seeing the world remains in tact. So too does his faith that despite these trials, he has always been safe in the hands of Christ.

There are people in the world who believe that life is random, disordered, and without reason. I am not among them. I think my friend is staring mortality in the face at Christmas for a reason.

For thousands of years before Christ came, there was darkness and despair. Sin and shame gripped the hearts of men. Until one holy night, God, in His infinite love, mercy and wisdom, sent His son to save. Jesus is the light of the world and the hope of man. He has won victory over death and Jarrod’s will not be the exception. Jesus came for Jarrod, and for you.

For thousands of years since Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection, His disciples have been used as divine instruments to point the way to God. Jarrod is among them. If life expectancies were the measure, Jarrod would be at the midway point for most people. He’s made a lifetime of impact for the Kingdom and on other people.

So, to my friend Jarrod, you were placed here with a purpose. You have run your race. You are loved. And when this chapter closes, you will hear “well done, my good and faithful servant.” There is no greater evidence of a life well lived.

While Jarrod and Emily have been fortunate to have health insurance, their portion of the medical bills so far in 2023 have eclipsed $30,000, and Emily is facing additional uncovered expenses during Jarrod’s hospice care, including a night nurse that costs over $400 a night. If you would like to help defray the cost, a contribution can be made at their Go Fund Me page.

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Title: Staring mortality in the face at Christmas
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Published Date: Sat, 16 Dec 2023 15:05:22 +0000

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Magnolia Mornings: December 15, 2023

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11 months ago

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December 15, 2023

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Important state and national stories, market and business news, sports and entertainment, delivered in quick-hit fashion to start your day informed.

In Mississippi

1. Laurin St. Pe’ named CEO of Singing River Health System

Laurin St. Pe

The Board of Trustees of Singing River Health System announced the immediate appointment of Laurin St. Pe’ as the Chief Executive Officer on Thursday.

“We are thrilled to announce Laurin St. Pe as the new CEO of Singing River,” said Steve Ates, Board President in a statement. “His wealth of healthcare experience and proven track record make him the ideal leader to steer our health system toward its next phase of growth and success.”

St. Pe’, who has been serving as Interim CEO since July 2023, said he is honored to assume the role of CEO at Singing River. He has worked at Singing River as Administrator of Singing River Health System’s Pascagoula Hospital and Gulfport Hospital, in addition to overseeing program service lines throughout the entire system to his subsequent appointment as Chief Operating Officer of Singing River.

The health system says St. Pe played a crucial role in the financial revitalization of Singing River Health System while steering the organization toward financial stability.

2. Gulfport-Biloxi airport, Stennis evacuated after threats

The Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport was evacuated on Thursday morning “out of an abundance of caution,” airport officials said, after receiving an emailed threat to certain transportation entities across the state.

The airport was thoroughly security swept, cleared and reopened in just over two hours. Gulfport-Biloxi is now operating regularly.

The threat was also sent to Stennis International Airport. Their staff and personnel were also evacuated until the facilities could be swept and cleared.

Any passenger whose travel was affected by the evacuation is encouraged to contact their respective air carrier.

3. Cassidy arrested in Iowa for beheading Satanic Temple statue

Former Mississippi congressional and legislative candidate Michael Cassidy was arrested this week in Iowa for beheading a statue at the state’s Capitol erected by The Satanic Temple.

Cassidy reportedly decapitated the statue and turned himself to police on Thursday. He was charged with fourth degree criminal mischief. He then started an online legal defense fund where he’s raised upwards of $20,000 as of Thursday night, according to his X account.

4. “Serial fraudster” ordered to cease offering investments into companies

According to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, on October 26, 2023, Secretary Michael Watson and the Securities Division issued an order against Stephone N. Patton. The SOS says Patton is a serial fraudster with multiple criminal convictions in Mississippi and Florida.

Through business filings with the SEC and Mississippi, Patton has held himself to be the CEO of various companies, including Star Oil and Gas Company, Inc., North Gulf Energy Corporation, Inc., Patton Oilfield Services, Inc., and Patton Farms, LLC.

The SOS says using these business filings and company websites, Patton claimed to have raised hundreds of billions of dollars through investment opportunities. Through investigative efforts and collaboration with the SEC, the SOS discovered none of Patton’s companies are operational, have any assets, or generate any revenues. Account records show Patton spent investors’ funds almost as soon as he received them on personal expenses. The total amount of known investments made to Patton’s fraudulent companies is over $80,000. Further, none of Patton’s investment offerings have been registered or notice filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office.

The SOS order requires Patton to cease and desist from offering investments with his companies, requiring Patton to permanently deactivate his companies’ websites to prevent any further dissemination of his false or misleading information. Patton is also ordered to pay an administrative penalty of $25,000 to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s Office for these violations, in addition to restitution owed to all his Mississippi investors.

National News & Foreign Policy

1. Congressional retirements mounting as 2024 election cycle nears

Retirement and departure announcements are piling up ahead of the start to the 2024 election cycle. The New York Times has developed a Retirement Tracker that currently shows 22 Democrats and 11 Republicans who are in Congress now will not be seeking re-election next year.

“Dozens of members of Congress have announced plans to leave their seats in the House of Representatives, setting a rapid pace for congressional departures, with more expected as the 2024 election draws closer,” the NY Times reports. “Given Republicans’ razor-thin House majority, the wave of exits has the potential to lead to a significant shake-up next year.”

You can find the tracker here.

2. Texas, Daily Wire, The Federalist sue U.S. State Department over media censorship

The U.S. State Department’s Global Engagement Center has come under fire as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton along with The Daily Wire and The Federalist have filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the department funded technology that could “render disfavored press outlets unprofitable.” They claim that the department has helped social media – Facebook, YouTube and X (formerly Twitter) – to censor free speech while funding technologies used to censor right-leaning news outlets such as theirs.

New Civil Liberties Alliance is representing The Daily Wire and The Federalist. Paxton and the outlets claim the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a British think tank, received a $100,000 grant from the State Department in 2021, and NewsGuard, which rates the “misinformation” levels of news outlets, received $25,000 from the State Department in 2020, according to the lawsuit.

According to the State Department’s website, the Global Engagement Center’s mission is to direct, lead, synchronize, integrate, and coordinate U.S. Federal Government efforts to recognize, understand, expose, and counter foreign state and non-state propaganda and disinformation efforts aimed at undermining or influencing the policies, security, or stability of the United States, its allies, and partner nations.

As reported by Reuters, the lawsuit cited a GDI-produced list from December 2022 that ranked The Daily Wire and The Federalist as among the 10 “riskiest sites” for news while the least-risky included The New York Times, Associated Press and NPR. Reuters notes that the lawsuit alleges such “blacklists” are reducing revenues to The Daily Wire and The Federalist along with their visibility on social media and ranking results from browser searches.

Sports & Entertainment

1. SEC releases 2024 schedules

Wednesday evening, the Southeastern Conference released the 2024 football schedules for its member schools, including of interest in the Magnolia State the schedules for Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

It is the first schedule that includes new conference members University of Oklahoma and University of Texas, bringing the conference to 16 schools. Each SEC team will play eight conference football games plus at least one required opponent from the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac 12 or major independent, each team will have two open dates.

The 2024 season will be the first year the SEC will play a schedule without divisional competition since 1991. The top two teams in the league standings based on winning percentage will play in the 33rd SEC Football Championship Game in Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Saturday, December 7.

2. White, Jesiolowski, Jones honored by MAIS

John White

The Midsouth Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) in Mississippi, comprised of non-public schools, announced this week that Madison-Ridgeland Academy’s senior quarterback John White was named the 6A Player of the Year while Hartfield’s Reed Jesiolowski and Hartfield Chris Jones were named the MAIS 6A Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year, respectively.

All three have committed to play college football at the University of Mississippi.

White is Mississippi’s all-time leader in career passing yards with 15,259 yards, a record he broke during the 2023 season.

MAIS, like the Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) for public schools, is broken down into classifications, from 1A to 6A. However, MHSAA added a 7A this season.

Markets & Business

1. Consumer retail sales up as energy, gas prices move down

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this week that the Consumer Price Index rose 0.1% in November after being unchanged in October. Retail sales rose 0.3% in November after rising 0.2% in October, meaning consumers continue to spend at the start of the holiday season.

The CPI or inflation rate is 3.1%, higher than the Federal Reserve target of 2% but below the 9% peak in 2022 which reached a 40-year high.

As for the energy index, BLS reported that it fell 2.3% in November after decreasing 2.5% in October. The gasoline index decreased 6% in November, following a 5% decrease in the previous month.

The index for fuel oil fell in November, decreasing 2.7%. However, the natural gas index rose 2.8% over the month after rising 1.2% the previous month. The index for electricity also rose 1.4% in November, after increasing 0.3% in October.

The energy index fell 5.4% over the past 12 months. The gasoline index decreased 8.9%, the natural gas index declined 10.4%, and the fuel oil index fell 24.8% over this 12-month span.

2. Week’s market rally continues into Friday

At close of trading on Thursday, the U.S. markets continued the week’s rally, pushing the Dow up 158 points to 37,248 while the Nasdaq and S&P also made gains, 27 points and 12 points, respectively, to close at 14,761 and 4,719.

The record high for the Dow on Thursday moved futures up 102 points.

According to CNBC, the major averages are headed for their seventh straight positive week. As of Thursday, the Dow is higher on the week by 2.8%. The S&P 500 is up by 2.5%, while the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.5% this week.

Stocks rallied after the Federal Reserve left rates unchanged this week while members look towards cuts in the new year and beyond.

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Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 13:00:00 +0000

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New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off

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11 months ago

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December 15, 2023

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Interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin said this week that only about 59% of the City of Jackson’s water customers are paying their bills.

JXN Water has announced new rates and fees coming in 2024. Those who are not paying will be at risk of shut offs.

The company, which was established by federal appointed interim Third-Party Director Ted Henifin, has been overseeing the city’s water system for the better part of a year.

Officials estimated that the average cost for water in the city was $76 per month for residents. Henifin clarified that JXN water will not attempt to recoup any charges prior to November 29, 2022, and will work with those who have failed to pay since that time.

He said only about 59 percent of the city’s water customers are paying their bills.

“You can’t forgive bills, so we have to be creative in how we part that,” said Henifin in reference to Mississippi’s laws that prevent giving away water.

According to a release by JXN Water announcing the rate changes, residents in single family households with small meters that use up to 748 gallons daily would see a bill increase of roughly .30 cents per day. Research indicates that the average U.S. family uses 300 gallons per day.

SNAP customers will have a new rate tier that could lower their bill by up to .69 cents per day, on average.

“Those who need to save the most benefit from saving money by drinking tap water. This new rate structure makes water affordability possible for 12,500 JXN Water customers who receive SNAP benefits,” said Henifin in the release.

Read more about the anticipated rate changes here.

New fees will also be implemented, including a new service fee of $50, service deposit of $100, returned check fee of $25, service restoration fee of $100, and meter tampering charge of $500. 

JXN Water has continued to encourage residents to use the water, with Henifin going on the record in a federal status hearing saying that the water “was safe to drink.”

More conversation regarding the billing process is expected to come at next week’s Jackson City Council meeting.

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By: Sarah Ulmer
Title: New water rates expected in Jackson come 2024; those who don’t pay face shut off
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Published Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2023 20:00:00 +0000

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