pbet casino Nearly two dozen charities that help at-risk youth have received Fraser Valley Realtors Charitable Foundation (FVRCF) grants to help fund their work. Every year, the foundation gives grants to eligible charities that have applied to help at-risk youth under 29 in select cities south of the Fraser River. The charities must work in Surrey, North Delta, Mission, Abbotsford, the City of Langley, the Township of Langley, or White Rock. "At-risk youth are a key part of our communities, and it is essential that we support them with the tools, guidance, and opportunities they need to succeed," said John Barbisan, chair of the FVRCF. "We are grateful to partner with these outstanding organizations that are making a meaningful difference in the lives of youth across the Fraser Valley." The grant recipients were announced at a celebration on Wednesday (Dec. 11) at the foundation's office in Surrey (15463 104 Ave). "Among the recipients are organizations providing mentorship programs, educational support, mental health counselling, and recreational activities — all aimed at helping young people build resilience, self-confidence, and a sense of belonging. These initiatives are essential for fostering positive change and ensuring a healthier, more inclusive future for the region," notes an FVRCF news release Thursday (Dec. 12). The following charities received grants: Cyrus Centre (Abbotsford), Mackie's Place Social House (Surrey), Greater Vancouver Youth Unlimited (Mission), Encompass Support Services Society (Langley City & Township of Langley), Take a Hike Youth Mental Health Foundation (North Delta & Mission), Surrey Fire Fighters' Nutritional Snack Program Society (Surrey), Options Community Services (Surrey), BeMorr Society (All regions), You Wear it Well...Just for Grads Society (Surrey, North Delta, White Rock), Cares Counselling Society (Abbotsford), The Elizabeth Fry Society of Greater Vancouver (Surrey), Pathfinder Youth Centre Society (Surrey), Big Brothers Big Sisters of Langley (Langley City, Township of Langley), Communitas Supportive Care Society (Langley City, Township of Langley, Abbotsford, Mission), Camp Choice BC (all regions), Zajac Ranch Society (all regions), Alex Neighbourhood House (Surrey, White Rock), Metro Vancouver Regional Parks Foundation & CTS Youth Society (Surrey & Township of Langley), Nisa Foundation (Surrey, North Delta, Abbotsford and White Rock), Fraser Region Community Justice Initiatives Association (Langley City, Township of Langley), PLEA Community Services of BC (Surrey). Cyrus Centre in Abbotsford, Mackies Place Youth Social House in Surrey, and Encompass Support Services Society in the Township and City of Langley received two-year grants. For more information on the foundation visit, .

Lions vs. 49ers odds, spread, line, time: Week 17 Monday Night Football picks from NFL model on 28-12 rollIs Enron back? If it's a joke, some former employees aren't laughingBashar al-Assad's government has been accused of carrying out torture, rape, summary executions and other abuses since since Syria's civil war started in 2011. UN investigators have said that accountability must be taken at the highest level after the downfall of the hardline ruler on Sunday. Here is what we know about the extent of the abuses committed: In 2013 a former Syrian army photographer known by the codename "Caesar" fled the country, taking with him some 55,000 graphic images taken between 2011 and 2013. The photos, authenticated by experts, show corpses tortured and starved to death in Syrian prisons. Some people had their eyes gouged out. The photos showed emaciated bodies, people with wounds on the back or stomach, and also a picture of hundreds of corpses in a shed surrounded by plastic bags used for burials. Assad's Syrian government said only that the pictures were "political". But Caesar testified to a US Congress committee and his photographs inspired a 2020 US law which imposed economic sanctions on Syria and judicial proceedings in Europe against Assad's entourage. In Germany and Sweden eight people suspected of crime against humanity were arrested in July in an operation codenamed "Caesar". Germany, the Netherlands and France have since 2022 convicted several top officials from the Syrian intelligence service and militias. UN investigators say they have lists with the names of 4,000 government officials and operatives responsible for abuses. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2012 spoke of a "torture archipelago" in which the "use of electricity, burning with car battery acid, sexual assault and humiliation, the pulling of fingernails, and mock execution" were practised in government prisons. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in 2022 more than 100,000 people had died in the prisons since 2011. In 2023, the UN's top court, the International Court of Justice, ordered Syria to stop "inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment". In 2020, seven Syrian refugees filed a complaint in Germany saying that they had been victims of torture and sexual violence, including rape, electric shocks on the genitals, forced nudity or forced abortion between 2011 and 2013. The UN said in 2018 there had been systmatic rape and sexual violence against civilians by soldiers or pro-Assad militias. It said an investigation had found rebels had committed similar crimes, but fewer. On November 25, 2024, the Syrian Human Rights Network (SNHR) said there had been at least 11,553 incidents of sexual violence against women, including girls aged under 18, by the warring parties since March 2011. Some 8,024 could be blamed on the Assad government and the others mainly on the jihadist Islamic State. In 2016 UN investigators said Syrian authorities were responsible for acts which came down to "extermination" and could be compared to "crimes against humanity". It pointed to the Saydnaya prison outside Damascus, which was described in 2017 by Amnesty International as a human slaughter house carrying out a "policy of extermination". The United States said there was a "crematorium" at the prison which was used to dispose of the bodies of thousands of inmates. In 2022 the Syrian Observatory for Human Righs said around 30,000 people had been killed at Saydnaya, some of them after being tortured. In April 2020, the chemical weapons watchdog OPCW accused the Syrian army of chemical weapons attacks in Latamne in northern Syria in 2017. In November 2023 France issued international arrest warrants against Bashar al-Assad, his brother Maher and two generals on suspicion of complicity in the chemical attacks in August 2013 near Damascus, which according to US intelligence left 1,000 dead. Assad's forces have also been accused of using sarin gas on the rebel town of Khan Sheikhun in April 2017, and also of chlorine gas attacks. Assad's government denied using chemical weapons. Israel says it has staged strikes on some chemical weapons sites this week to stop supplies falling into the hands of extremists. acm-lc/jmy/twTOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Republicans made claims about illegal voting by noncitizens a centerpiece of their 2024 campaign messaging and plan to push legislation in the new Congress requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship. Yet there's one place with a GOP supermajority where linking voting to citizenship appears to be a nonstarter: Kansas. That's because the state has been there, done that, and all but a few Republicans would prefer not to go there again. Kansas imposed a proof-of-citizenship requirement over a decade ago that grew into one of the biggest political fiascos in the state in recent memory. The law, passed by the state Legislature in 2011 and implemented two years later, ended up blocking the voter registrations of more than 31,000 U.S. citizens who were otherwise eligible to vote. That was 12% of everyone seeking to register in Kansas for the first time. Federal courts ultimately declared the law an unconstitutional burden on voting rights, and it hasn't been enforced since 2018. Kansas provides a cautionary tale about how pursuing an election concern that in fact is extremely rare risks disenfranchising a far greater number of people who are legally entitled to vote. The state’s top elections official, Secretary of State Scott Schwab, championed the idea as a legislator and now says states and the federal government shouldn't touch it. “Kansas did that 10 years ago,” said Schwab, a Republican. “It didn’t work out so well.” Steven Fish, a 45-year-old warehouse worker in eastern Kansas, said he understands the motivation behind the law. In his thinking, the state was like a store owner who fears getting robbed and installs locks. But in 2014, after the birth of his now 11-year-old son inspired him to be “a little more responsible” and follow politics, he didn’t have an acceptable copy of his birth certificate to get registered to vote in Kansas. “The locks didn’t work,” said Fish, one of nine Kansas residents who sued the state over the law. “You caught a bunch of people who didn’t do anything wrong.” Kansas' experience appeared to receive little if any attention outside the state as Republicans elsewhere pursued proof-of-citizenship requirements this year. Arizona enacted a requirement this year, applying it to voting for state and local elections but not for Congress or president. The Republican-led U.S. House passed a proof-of-citizenship requirement in the summer and plans to bring back similar legislation after the GOP won control of the Senate in November. In Ohio, the Republican secretary of state revised the form that poll workers use for voter eligibility challenges to require those not born in the U.S. to show naturalization papers to cast a regular ballot. A federal judge declined to block the practice days before the election. Also, sizable majorities of voters in Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Carolina and the presidential swing states of North Carolina and Wisconsin were inspired to amend their state constitutions' provisions on voting even though the changes were only symbolic. Provisions that previously declared that all U.S. citizens could vote now say that only U.S. citizens can vote — a meaningless distinction with no practical effect on who is eligible. To be clear, voters already must attest to being U.S. citizens when they register to vote and noncitizens can face fines, prison and deportation if they lie and are caught. “There is nothing unconstitutional about ensuring that only American citizens can vote in American elections,” U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, of Texas, the leading sponsor of the congressional proposal, said in an email statement to The Associated Press. After Kansas residents challenged their state's law, both a federal judge and federal appeals court concluded that it violated a law limiting states to collecting only the minimum information needed to determine whether someone is eligible to vote. That's an issue Congress could resolve. The courts ruled that with “scant” evidence of an actual problem, Kansas couldn't justify a law that kept hundreds of eligible citizens from registering for every noncitizen who was improperly registered. A federal judge concluded that the state’s evidence showed that only 39 noncitizens had registered to vote from 1999 through 2012 — an average of just three a year. In 2013, then-Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, a Republican who had built a national reputation advocating tough immigration laws, described the possibility of voting by immigrants living in the U.S. illegally as a serious threat. He was elected attorney general in 2022 and still strongly backs the idea, arguing that federal court rulings in the Kansas case “almost certainly got it wrong.” Kobach also said a key issue in the legal challenge — people being unable to fix problems with their registrations within a 90-day window — has probably been solved. “The technological challenge of how quickly can you verify someone’s citizenship is getting easier,” Kobach said. “As time goes on, it will get even easier.” The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Kansas case in 2020. But in August, it split 5-4 in allowing Arizona to continue enforcing its law for voting in state and local elections while a legal challenge goes forward. Seeing the possibility of a different Supreme Court decision in the future, U.S. Rep.-elect Derek Schmidt says states and Congress should pursue proof-of-citizenship requirements. Schmidt was the Kansas attorney general when his state's law was challenged. "If the same matter arose now and was litigated, the facts would be different," he said in an interview. But voting rights advocates dismiss the idea that a legal challenge would turn out differently. Mark Johnson, one of the attorneys who fought the Kansas law, said opponents now have a template for a successful court fight. “We know the people we can call," Johnson said. “We know that we’ve got the expert witnesses. We know how to try things like this.” He predicted "a flurry — a landslide — of litigation against this.” Initially, the Kansas requirement's impacts seemed to fall most heavily on politically unaffiliated and young voters. As of fall 2013, 57% of the voters blocked from registering were unaffiliated and 40% were under 30. But Fish was in his mid-30s, and six of the nine residents who sued over the Kansas law were 35 or older. Three even produced citizenship documents and still didn’t get registered, according to court documents. “There wasn’t a single one of us that was actually an illegal or had misinterpreted or misrepresented any information or had done anything wrong,” Fish said. He was supposed to produce his birth certificate when he sought to register in 2014 while renewing his Kansas driver's license at an office in a strip mall in Lawrence. A clerk wouldn't accept the copy Fish had of his birth certificate. He still doesn't know where to find the original, having been born on an Air Force base in Illinois that closed in the 1990s. Several of the people joining Fish in the lawsuit were veterans, all born in the U.S., and Fish said he was stunned that they could be prevented from registering. Liz Azore, a senior adviser to the nonpartisan Voting Rights Lab, said millions of Americans haven't traveled outside the U.S. and don't have passports that might act as proof of citizenship, or don't have ready access to their birth certificates. She and other voting rights advocates are skeptical that there are administrative fixes that will make a proof-of-citizenship law run more smoothly today than it did in Kansas a decade ago. “It’s going to cover a lot of people from all walks of life,” Avore said. “It’s going to be disenfranchising large swaths of the country.” Associated Press writer Julie Carr Smyth in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

It's not enough to simply have a home these days. Everyone needs a smart home outfitted with the latest technology that promises to make your life substantially easier. To be honest, there are definitely some must-have devices you need for your smart home , from smart doorbells to see who's visiting to smart lights so that you can control everything right from your phone. Gone are the days where you have to worry about whether you remembered to turn off all the lights before you went on vacation. With the right apps, you can see and adjust as needed from anywhere. A smart home doesn't even necessarily need to be a proper house. Even apartments, condos, and townhouses can benefit greatly. Of course, this depends on the proper installation of every device. It's natural to get excited over the prospect of how much easier your life will become with all these items set up, but even a single error can significantly hamper a device's usefulness. Before you go nuts buying every smart gadget you can find on Amazon, it helps to familiarize yourself with the myriad mistakes that can come when installing smart home products. You may have never even considered some of these before, so get started on the right foot so you can feel confident about your new products. As you browse through Amazon, Home Depot, Best Buy, and other retailers out there, you may become overwhelmed by the sheer volume of smart home products available. It can be exciting to see what you can retrofit your house with, and you may feel like going on a shopping spree, adding numerous items to your cart without a care in the world. This can add up quickly, and you may find yourself at a crossroads with what products you truly feel like you need. Before doing anything, you should establish a budget. There should be a set amount you can comfortably spend right now. Remember, even if you can't get everything all at once, you can start saving once more to get something else down the line. It's all about reeling in expectations so that you don't become overwhelmed. Plus, setting a budget also helps you figure out what items you need right this second. Some smart home gadgets will seem essential, while others would be nice, but you could ultimately wait on them. It's also good to slow down for a beat to get more information on what all is out there. Even if you don't have a ton to spend at the moment, there are still plenty of affordable smart home devices to make your space look luxurious . It may seem contradictory to talk about sticking to a budget and avoiding the cheapest smart home products, but the true lesson is about being a savvy shopper. You don't want to sacrifice quality just to save a few bucks, so it's vital to conduct due diligence and ensure the item you're getting will benefit you for years to come. A cheaper product doesn't inherently mean it's automatically inferior. Perhaps it merely comes from a brand that isn't as well-known as something like Samsung. It is important to look at reviews to see what other people who have purchased it have to say. It's also good to see how long ago a certain item came out. A smart home gadget that's a year old may be cheaper now but still perfectly viable. In contrast, something that came out five years ago may be incredibly cheap, but its technology could be woefully out of date. You don't want to put your house at risk with older tech. In some instances, it may be beneficial to splurge on something you can feel confident in, especially if it's a product designed to lock your doors for greater security. In the interest of having a true smart home where all your devices can communicate, everything you purchase must be compatible. That doesn't necessarily mean everything has to be from the same brand. On the contrary, you may find it more advantageous to mix and match because one company may have a better smart doorbell while another has a smart thermostat you've had your eye on. Ultimately, you'll want to establish a central smart home platform that can communicate with devices made by different manufacturers. The platforms to look into include Google Home, Amazon Alexa, and Apple HomeKit. Google Home, for instance, is compatible with many great devices , like the August Wi-Fi Smart Lock and the Nest Doorbell. Alexa and HomeKit have similar wide breadths when it comes to implementing devices. If you don't already have one of these platforms, you'll want to determine which one to get first before purchasing any specialized gadgets. The platform is effectively the centralized hub that you can administer commands, such as telling an Alexa device to turn off the lights in the living room. You can also sync everything via an app on your smartphone to do things remotely. A smart home platform isn't the only thing to ensure all of your devices can connect with one another. You also need to ensure your Wi-Fi capabilities can reach to every end of your property, and in some cases, they can reach outside in case you have any gadgets located outside the home. Additionally, the fact that you're adding a bunch of devices that need to connect with Wi-Fi means there will be a greater strain overall that could impact how fast things like streaming become. You may want to consider upgrading your internet speed. If it's at 100 megabits per second currently, you may want to think about going up to 300 Mbps if you're planning a total smart home retrofit. Even with that, ensuring the Wi-Fi signal can reach every corner of the house is still a necessity. It can be good to learn how to extend Wi-Fi range outside of your home , which can sometimes be achieved by simply moving the router to a more ideal location. Extenders and mesh networks can also aid you in getting the Wi-Fi signal further. This will definitely be a necessity if you live in a particularly large home with multiple stories. With so many smart home options out there, you may feel like getting everything under the sun. However, there are no one-size-fits-all solutions, especially considering every house is going to be formatted a bit differently. Before getting started, it helps to understand what's most important to you and your family so that everything serves a purpose. If your primary concern is security, then look at smart home gadgets that'll aid with that, like cameras. A thermostat may be neat, but you may be able to delay getting that for the time being so that you can get cameras installed around your property. If you're interested in reducing your energy usage, you'll want to learn how to adjust the settings for every device. Smart lights may come with a predesignated brightness level, but you should look into how to adjust it, especially in rooms that may not benefit from having the most light possible. Anyone unsure of their priorities should consult their family. They may have opinions on what devices would provide the best, most immediate benefit. One of the main reasons why people install smart home gadgets is to enhance their abode's safety and security. Cameras monitor everything on your property, and you can install keypads onto all of your exterior doors, requiring a password to unlock rather than a key. All these devices can provide you with greater peace of mind, but they come with their own security threats you need to be cautious of. As with any device connected to Wi-Fi, your smart home devices can get hacked. As always, it's critical to implement strong passwords that aren't easy to guess. You also want to be aware of potential malicious links sent to you via email. When you click on the link, the hacker gains access to your network, including any gadgets connected to it. This is just one of many things to know when installing a smart lock to your home . Luckily, there are ways to protect yourself. Two-factor authentication may be more work on your end, but it makes your network harder to get into. You also want to be cautious of purchasing older products that may have out-of-date security features. You may even want to consider connecting your devices to a secondary network as opposed to the main one you use for your laptops and TVs. That way, even if a hacker gets onto one network, they're still separated from everything else. Regularly updating the software regularly is another essential component of ensuring your smart home can't get hacked. You're probably used to your laptop and smartphone needing updates every so often to fix bugs and give you greater security features. As much as you may want to delay such updates because it puts your devices out of commission for a while, it's critical to do so for peace of mind. The same holds true with any smart home devices you purchase. The companies behind these products regularly put out security updates to handle the latest cyber threats, meaning if you delay updating them, you're at an even greater risk of getting hacked. This includes any third-party apps you may need to download to use certain devices. In addition to updating a device's firmware, you also need to be on top of updating that app to stay safe and ensure everything works as it should. None of this is meant to scare you, by the way. Most people should be used to updating their devices regularly anyway, but smart home items merely add some extra products to be mindful of. Whether you live with a spouse or several roommates, it's good that everyone understands how to use any smart gadgets you install. It can even work to your benefit to get everyone up-to-speed on the latest devices. For example, one person may want it a certain temperature in their bedroom while another housemate wants a completely different temperature for their room. Everyone can be happy if everyone knows how to utilize the smart thermostat. When you buy something new, it's a good idea to review the basics with your family or friends, such as which app they need to download. It's also beneficial to keep housemates in mind when deciding where the central hub should be located. Ideally, you'll place it in a common space so that people can voice their commands in a place they already go to often. Even more important is informing other people about a code to get inside the house. The last thing you want is for someone to get locked outside, especially if they can't reach you otherwise. Lastly, it's good to walk everyone through the basic security measures mentioned above so that no one inadvertently allows hackers onto your Wi-Fi. Homeowners can start benefitting immediately by installing smart home products. However, if you rent, you'll want to double-check with your landlord to ensure everything's good before getting started. There are plenty of renter-friendly smart home gadgets , like lights and vacuums, that shouldn't be a problem since you're not permanently impacting anything like the wall or door. But if you want to install a smart doorbell to your unit, you may want to get approval first just to be safe. Conversely, plenty of renters have encountered landlords who transform their units into smart homes without any input from the tenant. There can be advantages to this, such as an in-unit washer and dryer being hooked up to an app automatically so that your landlord knows immediately when something breaks. However, it's understandable if tenants have reservations about giving too much control away to their landlords. After all, a system-wide issue could impact what you can and can't use in your home, like having a keypad to get into your apartment only for a bug to prevent entry. Plus, it's your landlord who's primarily in charge of ensuring all security updates are followed. If you have any concerns about the products your landlord wants to install inside your apartment, it's good to have a conversation in advance. A DIY project can be a fun endeavor — provided you understand what you're doing. You may not be dealing with hammers and saws when it comes to smart home gadgets, but it can still be the best course of action to have professionals at least help you out for more complicated setups. You probably don't need any outside assistance if you're only getting a few items, like an Amazon Alexa to sync up with some lights. However, a total smart home makeover may be a bit beyond your capabilities. However, an expert can ensure everything connects to your home's Wi-Fi properly. When you're dealing with something as critical as a home security system, it's always a good idea to make sure everything works properly. Additionally, gadgets like smart thermostats may require alterations to the pre-existing wiring, which you should never tamper with if you don't have the expertise. Naturally, hiring a contractor for this work will cost you additional funds, which you'll need to factor into your budget if that's the route you want to go. You also don't need to do absolutely everything right off the bat. You can start with a few gadgets you know you can handle installing on your own, and if that works out, you can move on to more advanced tech to have the smartest home on your block.

Joe Biden’s wife pressured the president to pardon her son Hunter