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AP Trending SummaryBrief at 7:05 p.m. ESTThere’s no escaping gold in Tarkwa. It’s in the forest. It’s under your feet as you walk the streets of Ghana’s biggest mining town. It’s the economy. Exposed holes in the ground bear witness to attempts at illegally digging out some of the precious metal and a polluted river on the edge of town shows the consequences of the boom in semi-industrial scale mining. The environmental damage has triggered a wave of protest in the capital Accra demanding a ban on all small-scale mining operations in places like Tarkwa. In turn, anxious local politicians—ahead of national elections on December 7—have tried to reassure registered mines that they will be shielded from the government’s threat to crack down on illegal activities, which it calls “galamsey”. “In Accra, they want to ban you, but I’m here to tell you that I support miners,” George Mireku Duker, the deputy mining minister and a local legislator, told managers at four underground mines during site visits in October. Duker acknowledges that illegal mining is a “worry”, but he knows that a voter backlash against the New Patriotic Party government which he is part of could cost him his job on December 7. He won the seat by just 101 votes in 2020. “The small-scale mining sector employs more than 1 million Ghanaians and large-scale mines employ less than 10,000,” Duker told Bloomberg News. “You want to take their livelihood from them?” The mines visited by Duker have existed since colonial times and are now operated either privately or for community use by Ghanaians to counterbalance the foreign grip on large-scale mining in the indebted West African country. These artisanal and small-scale (ASM) mines—defined as operations on an area smaller than 25 acres—produced more than a quarter of the four million ounces of gold Ghana officially mined in 2023, estimated to be worth $10.6 billion at today’s prices, up from 10 percent in 2012. Equipped with heavy machinery and turbocharged by lax regulation, the ASM sector remains largely informal: by some estimates, as many as 70 percent of these mines—which have mushroomed in places like Tarkwa—are unregulated. The illicit gold rush is being powered by surging prices—up by more than a third this year to a record-high of $2,787 an ounce in October—and willing buyers in Dubai and beyond. The impact in Tarkwa is visible: tents at the top of slopes, with threadbare clothes hanging over wood panels hide the activities of a mine at the heart of the town while young men loiter outside Chinese machinery shops, offering their services as operators in exchange for a share of what is found in the rivers. The line between legal and illegal operators is often blurred. “A lot of people do have a license,” says Ishmael Quaicoe, head of the environmental and safety engineering department at Tarkwa’s University of Mines and Technology, “but their operations don’t conform with what the law asks them to do.” Demonstrations in September and October focused on the impact of galamsey miners. But when the Trades Union Congress threw its weight behind the campaign it raised the stakes, calling for an outright ban on all small-scale gold mining to halt activity blamed for polluting rivers—one Ghana Water Company facility said in August that 60 percent of the raw water it treated was affected by illegal mining, depressing cocoa production and destroying forests. Both main political groups—the governing NPP and the opposition National Democratic Congress—have traded accusations over the mining issue. And with elections around the corner President Nana Akufo-Addo responded to the calls for a ban by threatening to send soldiers to mining towns to crack down on galamsey operations. He has yet to follow through on that pledge, but the announcement triggered memories of a heavy-handed effort to close down illegal mining in 2017. The ban on ASM mining lasted about two years, but the move backfired on the government, with allies citing it as one of the reasons for the loss of its parliamentary majority in the 2020 elections. At least 4.5 million people—workers and dependents—rely on gold for their livelihood, according to a 2020 government estimate. So the timing of the protests has created a dilemma for the NPP which polls suggest could be headed for its worst-ever election results on December 7, according to the Accra-based Global Analytics. For all its mineral wealth, almost 20 percent of people in Tarkwa-Nsuaem municipality—Duker’s constituency—live in acute poverty, facing multiple deprivations from a lack of clean water to decent shelter, according to the Ghana Statistical Service. A shortage of educational opportunities means young people often gravitate toward the ASM sector’s low-skilled and often dangerous jobs. “They are already dying from poverty so they don’t hear you when you talk about the dangers of mercury or cyanide,” says Elorm Ama Governor-Ababio who was arrested while participating in a protest by Democracy Hub—the activist organization—in Accra. “You put them through so much trauma that when they see a literal threat to their life they see it as a beacon of hope,” adds Governor-Ababio, who denies any wrongdoing. Making the good delivery list School children in Ghana are taught that their country—known as the Gold Coast since British colonial rule—is so rich in the precious metal that the sand glistened as the first Europeans approached shore in the 15th century. In those early days, Akan traders bartered their gold dust for European alcohol, copper and even clothing. Centuries later Ghana remains Africa’s biggest producer, with major operators such as the UK-based Anglogold Ashanti Plc, Gold Fields Ltd. from South Africa, American miner Newmont Corp and China’s Chifeng Jilong Gold Mining Co. all active. At the other end of the scale are the ASM operators. Adwoa Pokuaa Boaduo, a mining engineer who wrote a doctoral thesis on the potential for artisanal and small-scale mining reform in Ghana, says a lack of compliance checks makes it relatively easy for licensed gold buyers to purchase from illegal mines, legitimizing their output. Rosemary Addico, who leads the responsible gold program at Solidaridad’s West Africa—an NGO which encourages miners to follow global best practices—believes the onus should be on the buyers to scrutinize the source: “Once international buyers insist on some requirements, the traders will be more careful about where they are sourcing gold from and how it’s mined.” For gold to be accepted by the world’s most demanding buyers, including central banks, institutional investors and luxury brands, it must come from refiners on the London Bullion Market Association’s Good Delivery List. The influential trade body doesn’t certify mines, but does make the refiners it accredits responsible for the gold in their supply chains, leaving many loath to accept anything directly from small-scale producers that could jeopardize their place on the list. There are, however, plenty of other willing buyers of Ghanaian gold with few questions asked. Nana Akwuasi Awuah, the head of the state-owned gold marketing company—and a number of market participants—say metal from the smaller illegal mines often ends up with Dubai refineries. None of these are on the LBMA’s Good Delivery List, though the emirate does have rules requiring refiners to check that gold has been sourced responsibly. Once imported, the gold can be re-refined and sold as “recycled” bullion to jewelers in India and other markets further east, and even LBMA-accredited refiners, without reference to its origin. The LBMA requires refiners to conduct checks to ensure gold is sourced responsibly, but the reality is that the provenance of recycled gold can be very difficult to determine, according to a 2022 study published on the trade association’s website. Illegal mining also carries an economic cost for Ghana, which is wrestling with more than $30 billion of external debt and secured a $3 billion bailout from the International Monetary Fund last year. If the industry was formalized, Ghana would earn more than double its revenue from gold this year, according to Martin Ayisi, the chief executive officer of Ghana’s Minerals Commission, which regulates large and small miners. At least three-quarters of the country’s artisanal and small-scale gold output isn’t captured in export figures at all, he estimates. That’s because it’s either smuggled out by land to neighboring Ivory Coast, Togo and Burkina Faso, which have a lower withholding tax on unprocessed gold, or it’s treated as a transshipment from one of these countries through Ghana, even though it was mined in Ghana all along. “There are all sorts of schemes to smuggle out the gold,” says Ayisi. “There’s one way to stop it, by further dropping the tax,” which was cut to 1.5 percent from 3 percent in 2022, driving an immediate spike in Ghana’s output. The Dubai connection In 2023, the United Arab Emirates reported that $3.2 billion of gold (52.9 metric tons net weight) was imported from Ghana. That same year, Ghana reported exporting just $1.7 billion of the metal to the UAE (27.8 metric tons net weight), according to the United Nations’ Comtrade Database. That amounts to a shortfall about $1.5 billion. Dubai—one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE—has no gold mines, and has positioned itself as a hub for the metal. The LBMA considers the UAE a high-risk jurisdiction and imposes additional checks for any gold sourced from there. But Safeya AlSafi, the UAE’s acting assistant undersecretary for commercial control and governance at the Ministry of Economy, told Bloomberg News that the shortfall could be due to incorrect information from the country of origin, adding, “I don’t know exactly if there is any actual smuggling. We have a very strict system.” At the Minerals Commission, Ayisi acknowledged challenges recording what leaves Ghana. Ghana was one of the first countries in Africa to legalize artisanal and small-scale mining, a sector which globally contributes about a fifth of the world’s gold supply, according to a World Gold Council report. Today, most officials agree that further formalization is essential to curb smuggling and reverse the environmental fallout. The country has now joined a pilot program—along with Peru, the Philippines and Tanzania— to pre-approve some small-scale mines and sell their gold directly to refiners certified by the LBMA. But the lack of financial incentives to operate responsibly gives the miners little reason to join the pilot, critics say. The LBMA is partly motivated by a desire to secure more “clean” gold for its refiners, who are effectively losing out on a fifth of the global supply because of its stringent sourcing requirements. For governments it means they can sell directly to LBMA refineries, opening up a more formal market for their gold. “Will we solve all of the evils of the world?” asks Neil Harby, the LBMA’s chief technical officer. “No, but we’ve got to start somewhere.” Back in Accra, one of just three of Ghana’s 16 regions that doesn’t produce gold, the anti-galamsey movement is gaining momentum even if the protests have died down as the election focus has shifted to the economy—with inflation above 20 percent for more than a year—and a lack of jobs, in the country of 34 million. Billboard-sized images of brown rivers and reports of birth defects, allegedly linked to galamsey, have left voters with graphic images of the damage. Yet neither of the two main parties is in a position to fully capitalize on the anti-ASM anger. Both have at different times clamped down on illegal mining but have also have financially benefitted from “illegalities in the small-scale mining sector,” according to a 2021 report by a former environment minister, Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng. In 2022 Ghana passed a law that authorized mining in forest reserves earmarked for conservation. Out of these mining licenses, at least four have been granted by the government in reserves given special status due to their rare flora and fauna, according to The Fourth Estate, an investigative project by Ghanaian journalists. The Frimpong-Boateng report, which accused politicians on both sides of having a conflict of interest, was dismissed by the presidency as lacking evidence. But it prompted a probe by Ghana’s Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice that is continuing. “For about two decades now, parties have been rewarding their loyalists with concessions,” says E. Gyimah-Boadi, founder of the Accra-based non-partisan research network, Afrobarometer. “They are not going to expose themselves by committing to doing anything that will tie their hands.” Richard Ahiagbah, the director of communications at the NPP rejects the claim, saying that the 2017 ban, shows the government is committed to clamping down on the ASM sector. The NDC also denies any conflict of interest during their own time in office. Samuel Gyamfi, the party’s national communications officer, described the environmental crisis as “unprecedented” and blamed the NPP for it. For Dora Kowfia, a 54-year-old former artisanal miner, it is a confusing moment. She has has previously backed the NPP, but says that this time she doesn’t know who to vote for. She now sells textile at a roadside stall outside Tarkwa, overlooking the Bonsa River, where the impact of illegal mining is visible in the brown waters. Asked if she was concerned about the pollution, Kowfia, echoing a widely held view in mining communities in Ghana, says: “Accra is saying ‘stop galamsey’. I want leaders who will either protect it or bring us new jobs.” With assistance from Verity Ratcliffe, Ekow Dontoh and Michael Ovaska/BloombergIn a message to the American people, the King expressed “great sadness” at the news of Mr Carter’s death, describing him as “a committed public servant” who “devoted his life to promoting peace and human rights”. He added: “His dedication and humility served as an inspiration to many, and I remember with great fondness his visit to the United Kingdom in 1977. “My thoughts and prayers are with President Carter’s family and the American people at this time.” Mr Carter, a former peanut farmer, served one term in the White House between 1977 and 1981 and spent his post-presidency years as a global humanitarian, winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002. Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Carter had “lived his values in the service of others to the very end” through “decades of selfless public service”. Praising a “lifelong dedication to peace” that saw him win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, Sir Keir added: “Motivated by his strong faith and values, President Carter redefined the post-presidency with a remarkable commitment to social justice and human rights at home and abroad.” Tributes to Mr Carter followed the announcement of his death by his family on Sunday, more than a year after he decided to enter hospice care. His son, Chip Carter, said: “My father was a hero, not only to me but to everyone who believes in peace, human rights, and unselfish love.” US President Joe Biden, one of the first elected politicians to endorse Mr Carter’s bid for the presidency in 1976, said the world had “lost an extraordinary leader, statesman and humanitarian”. He said: “Over six decades, we had the honour of calling Jimmy Carter a dear friend. But, what’s extraordinary about Jimmy Carter, though, is that millions of people throughout America and the world who never met him thought of him as a dear friend as well. “With his compassion and moral clarity, he worked to eradicate disease, forge peace, advance civil rights and human rights, promote free and fair elections, house the homeless, and always advocate for the least among us.” Vice President Kamala Harris said Mr Carter “reminded our nation and the world that there is strength in decency and compassion”. “His life and legacy continue to inspire me — and will inspire generations to come,” she said. “Our world is a better place because of President Carter.” Other UK politicians also paid tribute to Mr Carter. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said he was “an inspiration” who “led a truly remarkable life dedicated to public service with a genuine care for people”. Scottish First Minister John Swinney described the former president as “a good, decent, honest man who strove for peace in all that he did”, while Welsh First Minister said he was “a remarkable man” and “a humanitarian and scholar”. Former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said Mr Carter’s “life was a testament to public service”. He added: “I always had the greatest respect for him, his spirit and his dedication. He fundamentally cared and consistently toiled to help those in need.” Gordon Brown, another former prime minister, said it was a “privilege” to have known Mr Carter, who “will be mourned, not just in America, but in every continent where human rights are valued”. Mr Carter is expected to receive a state funeral featuring public observances in Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington DC before being buried in his hometown of Plains, Georgia. A moderate democrat born in Plains in October 1924, Mr Carter’s political career took him from the Georgia state senate to the state governorship and, finally, the White House, where he took office as 39th president in the wake of the Watergate scandal and the Vietnam War. His presidency saw economic disruption amid volatile oil prices, along with social tensions at home and challenges abroad including the Iranian revolution that sparked a 444-day hostage crisis at the US embassy in Tehran. But he also brokered the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel, which led to a peace treaty between the two countries in 1979. After his defeat in the 1980 presidential election, he worked more than four decades leading The Carter Centre, which he and his late wife Rosalynn co-founded in 1982 to “wage peace, fight disease, and build hope”. Under his leadership, the Carter Center virtually eliminated Guinea Worm disease, which has gone from affecting 3.5 million people in Africa and Asia in 1986 to just 14 in 2023. Mrs Carter, who died last year aged 96, had played a more active role in her husband’s presidency than previous first ladies, with Mr Carter saying she had been “my equal partner in everything I ever accomplished”. Earlier this year, on his 100th birthday, Mr Carter received a private congratulatory message from the King, expressing admiration for his life of public serviceNone

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Drunk “Male Couple” Falls Down Elevator Shaft Of Hotel LobbySeveral members of the Freedom Caucus set to take full control of the Wyoming House promise to unify a divided Republican Party. Rep. Jeremy Haroldson, R-Wheatland, the incoming speaker pro tempore, thinks “unity is very much visible and palatable. You can feel it.” Come on. Expecting far-right politicians who won by denigrating their enemies within the GOP to suddenly play nice is laughable. The Freedom Caucus didn’t transform from a small rag-tag group into today’s well-organized powerhouse to do anything but push its agenda by any means necessary. The Freedom Caucus maligned GOP primary opponents in the Wyoming Caucus at every turn. It flooded voters with incendiary mailers containing misinformation difficult to counter in the short campaign cycle. Wyoming Caucus “traditional conservatives,” on the sidelines licking their wounds, don’t expect the Freedom Caucus to become less vicious. Nobody will be hugging and singing “Kumbaya” with their new overlords anytime soon. After the Freedom Caucus posted enough 2022 victories to form a solid 26-vote bloc — not enough to pass legislation on its own, but sufficient to kill measures during a budget session — former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyo., offered this assessment: “They’re based on fear, lack of trust, lack of any kind of comity, and they think compromise is a dirty word,” said Simpson, a GOP icon whom the far-right insults as a “Republican in name only.” Rep. Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, will be the speaker of the House, and Sen. Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, Senate president when lawmakers officially vote on Jan. 14. Neiman became the only Freedom Caucus member in the House Republican leadership when he surprised everyone with his ascension to majority floor leader in 2022. Given the power to decide what bills would be heard in the 2023 and 2024 sessions, Neiman flexed the caucus’ muscle and positioned himself to move up the ladder if the Freedom Caucus won more seats. All of next year’s House leadership team belong to the Freedom Caucus or are aligned with the group. Along with Neiman and Haroldson, Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, is majority floor leader, and Rep. Ocean Andrew, R-Laramie, is majority whip. The Freedom Caucus is not officially part of the Senate, but endorses Senate primary candidates, and several in the upper chamber align with its positions. On many issues, that includes Biteman, who agrees with the caucus’ obsession with implementing voting restrictions to “protect the integrity” of an elections system that is already one of the nation’s safest. In other words, the effort is a performative waste of taxpayer dollars. I predict they’ll recoup those funds by cutting essential services. Expect a Freedom Caucus budget blitzkrieg, eliminating “liberal” programs it doesn’t like, especially if they help poor people. The Department of Health will be targeted for cruel cuts when hardworking Wyomingites need better access to quality health care, not less. The hue and cry over rising property taxes continues, despite the majority of counties experiencing less than 6% increases. We still don’t know the full impact property tax relief measures will have on local governments to provide essential services like fire and police departments. The public K-12 system could suffer major losses if the Freedom Caucus expands a program that stashes $20 million in taxpayer funds into “education savings accounts” of up to $6,000 per student that can be spent on private or religious schools, illegal under the Wyoming Constitution. The Freedom Caucus won’t rest until it removes all income restrictions, so public funds can be available to all families, including wealthy ones who want to send their kids to religious “schools of choice.” They can already do that using their own money instead of public funds meant to guarantee a free public education for all. This kind of destructive legislation will likely make it through the House. I’m putting my stock in the Senate to stop it and not Gov. Mark Gordon, whose veto pen has proven flimsy in the past. I’m more optimistic about the Senate because the body chose a more traditional conservative, Sen. Tara Nethercott, R-Cheyenne, as majority floor leader. Nethercott can kill bills by not letting them be voted on. Will she take the most extreme dreck from the House and deep-six it? Those who abhor the Freedom Caucus agenda certainly hope so. We won’t know Nethercott’s plans before she executes them. There’s a lot of gamesmanship, and the senator has plenty of experience wheeling and dealing on the floor. Compared to others who might have been chosen when both chambers made far-right turns, Nethercott is probably the most willing to compromise. Simpson once described turbulent lawmaking: “Now it’s just sharp elbows, and instead of having a caucus where you sit down and say, ‘What are you doing for your country?’ you sit figuring out how to screw the other side.” GOP caucuses upended the last session over turf wars that didn’t address issues like health care, affordable housing and economic diversification. Wyoming’s shifting political winds chose the Freedom Caucus to set us on the “right” course. Based on its brief but antagonistic, win-at-all-cost history, I think voters got it dreadfully wrong.

Sullinger leads Kent State past Div. III-Heidelberg 84-80