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Trump makes first trip to Arlington National Cemetery since Veterans Day criticism

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Reported by Politico 2 hours ago.

After Skipping Events Honoring Fallen Soldiers, Trump Visits Arlington Cemetery

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The visit was a studied contrast, and an implicit atonement, to the president’s decisions last month to forgo a ceremony in France and the traditional visit to Arlington on Veterans Day. Reported by NYTimes.com 2 hours ago.

Gemini Midstream Announces New Partnership Focused on Providing Transport Solution for East Texas Haynesville Development

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HOUSTON, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gemini Midstream Holdings, LLC and its affiliates (“Gemini” or the “Company”) today announced the development of the Gemini Carthage Pipeline, a new natural gas system in Harrison and Panola Counties, Texas, capable of delivering in excess of 1.2 billion cubic feet per day of high pressure, dry natural gas into the Carthage area. The system will be operational in the first quarter of 2019 and will initially serve natural gas produced by Rockcliff Energy II LLC (“Rockcliff”) from a dedicated area encompassing over 180,000 surface acres. This new dedication will bring the total gross acres dedicated to Gemini to over 260,000 surface acres across East Texas and North Louisiana.In addition to the Gemini Carthage Pipeline, Gemini is seeking customers for a proposed natural gas pipeline from Carthage to the Beaumont area in Orange County, Texas, to connect growing natural gas supply in the Arklatex region to premium markets along the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast. The Gemini Gulf Coast Pipeline (“GGCP”) will be capable of delivering over 1.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas to such markets, providing shippers with access to growing liquefied natural gas export and industrial markets.

In early 2018, together with its initial customer, Tanos Exploration III, LLC, Gemini formed Gemini Arklatex Partners, LLC (the “Arklatex Joint Venture”) to build a gas-focused midstream business in East Texas and North Louisiana. The Company initially made two acquisitions in Harrison County, Texas and Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, with over 150 miles of natural gas gathering pipelines. The acquired assets have provided Gemini with a strategic asset base in the core of the Haynesville, and are optimally situated to meet the increased development activity in both areas.

Gemini is led by industry veterans and supported by Quantum Energy Partners (“Quantum”), a leading energy private equity firm. Management and Quantum have made substantial financial commitments to fully fund the buildout of the Company’s strategic asset base and growth initiatives in the Arklatex region, including the development of GGCP.

Gemini was founded by John O’Shea as Chief Executive Officer, Kevin Coxon as Chief Operating Officer, Chris Hearn as Chief Financial Officer and Cesar Espino as EVP Engineering and Operations. Prior to Gemini, O’Shea served as Chief Executive Officer of Navigator Energy Services, LLC, a Permian Basin crude oil transport, gathering and storage company that was sold to NuStar Energy L.P. for approximately $1.5 billion in May 2017. Prior to Navigator, O’Shea and Coxon founded Millennium Midstream Partners, where they executed a buy-and-build strategy over a six-year period with gas gathering assets in East and Central Texas and processing assets in South Louisiana. Hearn was co-founder of Strata Energy Investments and previously co-founded and jointly led the First Reserve Energy Infrastructure Funds business, including First Reserve’s original investment in Navigator. Espino has held a range of senior operations roles, including Chief Operating Officer at Tristream Energy LLC and VP of Midstream Operations for Eagle Rock Energy Partners LP. Gemini’s executive team is rounded out with Chief Administrative Officer Ken Hertel, who formerly served as Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer and Controller of PennTex Midstream Partners, LP.

John O’Shea remarked on the transaction with Rockcliff, “We found the perfect partner to add to our growing Arklatex gas business. Alan Smith is an exceptional entrepreneur who has built many successful energy companies, and we are excited that he and his team will participate with us in the Arklatex Joint Venture. Quantum continues to assist us with our growth, and I’m pleased that they are fully supportive of Gemini undertaking GGCP, which will provide a direct outlet for the growing Haynesville production in East Texas to the booming Gulf Coast markets. We look forward to helping more producers and downstream customers achieve their business objectives.”

Dheeraj Verma, President of Quantum, commented, “We are excited by the momentum that Gemini has created by offering creative midstream solutions to East Texas producers. The management team is led by proven entrepreneurs, and our substantial equity commitment demonstrates our confidence in their extensive industry experience, reputation and customer-driven approach.”

*About Gemini Midstream Holdings, LLC*

Gemini is a multi-project midstream business focused on the acquisition and development of upstream-oriented gathering and processing assets and end-user focused downstream infrastructure. The executive leadership team of Gemini has over 150 years of combined midstream experience with producers as well as refiners, marketers and other end users to commercialize, construct, finance, own and operate crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids midstream facilities. For more information about the Company, please visit www.geminimidstream.com, or contact Chris Hearn at (281) 657-3611 or at info@gemmid.com.

*About Quantum Energy Partners*

Founded in 1998, Quantum Energy Partners is a leading provider of private equity capital to the global energy industry, having managed together with its affiliates more than $16 billion in equity commitments since inception. For more information on Quantum, please visit www.quantumep.com. For investor relations, please contact Michael Dalton at (713) 452-2110. To show Quantum an investment opportunity, please contact Eric Nielsen at (713) 452-2050.

  Reported by GlobeNewswire 11 hours ago.

Here are the hedge fund managers to watch in 2019 as the industry battles poor performance

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Here are the hedge fund managers to watch in 2019 as the industry battles poor performance· Hedge fund managers struggled through 2018, as market volatility and fee pressure cut into returns and profits. 
· The top funds to watch in 2019 are a mix of well-known veterans, up-and-coming start-ups and star traders ready to set out on their own. 

Through the first half of 2018, hedge funds were getting along pretty well. The year did not finish on the same note. 

The third quarter was the first three-month stretch where fund closures outpaced launches in more than a year, and market volatility in October and November wiped out many managers' marginal gains for the year.

We talked to top hedge fund consultants, recruiters, lawyers and investors for their picks about the managers they'll be watching next year. 

They include well-known names like Point72's Steven Cohen and AQR's Cliff Asness, but also lesser known managers who are distinguishing themselves in other ways with unique strategies. 

Here they are. 

 

-Point72 Asset Management-

Point72 founder Steve Cohen was back to managing outside investor money this year after a two-year ban he received in a government crackdown on insider trading that focused on his old hedge fund firm, SAC Capital. 

Cohen, famously known for winning just about any trade he makes, was not immune to the performance struggles that afflicted others in his industry, reportedly finishing flat for the year through November. His firm currently manages around $13 billion, including Cohen's own personal fortune. 

His multi-strategy firm, with sub-units running different styles of funds, will still be a big-time draw for both investors and analysts,  said Jason Schulman, a partner at recruiting firm Long Ridge Partners. Investors at single-manager firms are starting to sour on the reliance of one single strategy or manager to produce returns, Schulman said, pushing them from funds mimicking Julian Robertson's Tiger Capital Management to platforms like Cohen's. 

“Money and investment professionals will flow to larger and more stable platforms,” Schulman said. His firm is starting to get people to return their calls that had ignored them “for six, 12, even 18 months.”

Point72 is ready to grow. The manager's new New York office in Hudson Yards is set to open in early 2019 and is 20% bigger than the combined space at its two Manhattan offices, both on Madison Avenue. -Voleon Capital-

The biggest fund founded with machine-learning techniques as the firm's core strategy is, asset-wise, nowhere close to threatening the biggest old-school stock-pickers.

But this new type of fund — which is attracting “gamers, hackers and people who have never played in the space before,” according to Protege Partners chief investment officer Michael Weinberg — is pushing quants and old-school traders alike re-evaluate how they are getting and using data.

The biggest fund in the space is $2 billion Voleon Capital Management, which was founded in 2007 by Michael Kharitonov, who has a Ph.D. in computer science, and Jon McAuliffe, who has a Ph.D. in statistics. Instead of "having humans look at individual events within the marketplace," the firm's algorithms look at "persistent effects across large swaths of data," the firm's website reads. 

And performance has, reportedly, been solid, posting annualized returns of roughly 10% since the fund first started trading in 2008 through 2017, despite losing money the first two years.-Kirkoswald Capital Partners-

Greg Coffey is beating the United Kingdom to the punch with his own Brexit, as the former star trader at GLG Partners is moving his trading desk for his hedge fund Kirkoswald Capital to New York at the beginning of 2019.

The Australian fund manager retired in 2012 at the age of 41 to spend time with his family before launching Kirkoswald this year. The trader, who was once named the "Wizard of Oz" because of his trading success and Australian heritage, is reportedly concerned with London's role as a financial powerhouse post-Brexit. His concerns echo those of Brexit critics as well as other hedge fund managers like Citadel's Ken Griffin, who said "London’s days as the epicenter of financial markets, for the time being, are now in its past" in November.

Coffey has been confident in his abilities to raise outside capital and generate solid returns, reportedly telling investors in October that he managed $500 million and expected it to double by the end of 2018. Another investor presentation said the firm has the capacity to manage $2 billion. Through the end of October, Coffey's flagship macro fund was reportedly up 6.2% the first six months of the year. 
See the rest of the story at Business Insider Reported by Business Insider 11 hours ago.

South African-based Routed Signs Expansion Agreement for Ubersmith Subscription Business Software

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Vendor-neutral cloud computing services company signs renewal agreement for use with more customersUbersmith software helps billing, customer service and sales work efficiently

NEW YORK and CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Routed, a vendor-neutral cloud infrastructure provider in South Africa, signed an expansion agreement to take further advantage of subscription business management software from Ubersmith, an INAP (NASDAQ: INAP) company, to further enable its fast-paced growth.

The company is a model of efficiency using the Ubersmith software suite to automate pay-per-use billing to reduce the chance of mistakes in a manual process, as well as centralize customer information including client contracts. It bills clients on a pay-per-use model and sells its solutions through partners, such as internet service providers (ISPs) and managed service providers (MSPs).

Ubersmith provides the flexibility for Routed to efficiently bill large enterprises as well as smaller MSPs. In addition, all of Routed’s customers use the Ubersmith software Client Portal for easy access to information on the services they’re using.

Based in Cape Town with data centers there as well as in Johannesburg, Routed’s vendor-neutral cloud hosting platform is built using VMware technology — specifically vCloud Director stack. The company takes advantage of Ubersmith’s built-in integration with vCloud Director, as well as QuickBooks so that clients’ usage data is pulled into the billing system.

“The Ubersmith software is ideal for the kind of subscription billing we do and the business model we have while integrating well with other applications and infrastructure, and remaining open for the future as needed,” said Andrew Cruise, managing director of Routed. “It makes our lives easier, helping our people in billing, customer service and sales work efficiently to handle the growth today and prepare for the scalability needs of our business tomorrow.”

Future plans at Routed include expansion of the Ubersmith software to include the Sales Manager and Order Manager, which provide workflow tools and automation from the initial quote to account setup, provisioning, billing and more.

“We are pleased to partner more deeply with Routed to help enable its cloud business and its ability to launch and support high-quality services with great efficiency,” said Kurt Daniel, CEO of Ubersmith. “We’re pleased to play a role in Routed’s success in South Africa and beyond as they take further advantage of the full range of turnkey usage-based billing, infrastructure and operations capabilities we offer to their organization and their customers.”

*About Ubersmith
*Ubersmith, an INAP (NASDAQ: INAP) company, is a global leader in subscription business management software for organizations of all sizes. The company’s suite of usage-based billing, quoting, order management, infrastructure management and help desk ticketing solutions is integrated, open and scalable. Over 100 companies around the world rely on Ubersmith to better serve their customers, better run their businesses, shorten time-to-market and boost overall efficiency. For more info, please visit https://ubersmith.com.

*About Routed*
Routed is a true cloud provider. Secure, robust and reliable, the Routed cloud platform is vendor neutral and offers scalable, full or hybrid cloud hosting. Engaging directly or within a channel, Routed delivers cloud and infrastructure solutions to enterprise customers, wholesale partners, resellers and affiliates.

The company was founded in 2016 in response to a growing demand for data center hosting solutions following the rapid growth and penetration of fast, reliable connectivity services in South Africa. Routed is led by industry veterans with over 35 years of experience in delivering and managing secure cloud and infrastructure solutions both locally and internationally. https://www.routed.co.za/

Media Contacts:

Glenn Rossman
Baker Communications Group, for Ubersmith
(914) 623-8354
ubersmith@bakercg.com

Samantha Watt
GinjaNinjaPR, for Routed
+27-84-458-4857
Samantha@ginjaninjapr.co.za  Reported by GlobeNewswire 11 hours ago.

Between Dandelions, Inc Announces Leonard ''Buck'' Gatewood Former President and CEO of PanEnergy Trading Company to Strategic Advisory Board

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Between Dandelions, Inc Announces Leonard ''Buck'' Gatewood Former President and CEO of PanEnergy Trading Company to Strategic Advisory Board *NORTH MIAMI, FL / ACCESSWIRE / December 18, 2018 */ Between Dandelions, Inc. (OTC PINK: HOPS) ("BD") is pleased to announce Leonard ''Buck'' Gatewood as the newest member to its Strategic Advisory Board (''SAB''). Mr. Gatewood was the former President and CEO of PanEnergy Trading Company which was eventually sold to Duke Energy in a stock deal valued at 7.4 Billion dollars and became the Senior Vice President, of Strategic Planning and Development at Duke Energy. Mr. Gatewood has over 40 years in the public and private sectors and served on several boards during his professional tenure as an executive for multiple high-profile companies.

Sean Spiegelman, BD CEO, stated, ''The company is excited about the present and future and believes it is well positioned as a social purpose entity committed to building long-term shareholder value. Today is a day where we have clearly strengthened the company with the addition of a well-known, respected and tenured former executive in the natural gas and energy industry. Mr. Gatewood has the proven expertise as a C-Suite executive in positioning small and large companies to best take advantage and align themselves in changing and explosive market environments during the initial growth phase and beyond. The SAB now sits at nine members who all bring valuable knowledge and expertise to the table to help management navigate the tremendous opportunities in the Hemp and hemp-derived CBD arena.''

"As an initial investor and long-term shareholder in the publicly traded Appalachian Mountain Brewery, Inc. (HOPS) now Between Dandelions, Inc. (BD), I watched Sean Spiegelman and his management team navigate a large and complex market and build a well know and run, profitable craft beer and food products manufacturing and distribution company in North Carolina and expand into South Carolina and Tennessee. I am honored to now be a member of the Strategic Advisory Board to work with Sean and the other members of the ''SAB'' to develop Between Dandelions brands into a successful hemp and hemp-derived CBD manufacturing and distribution entity that adds shareholder value while providing customers with high quality products that give back to our countries Veterans as a social purpose entity.", said Leonard Gatewood.

The "SAB" will not provide a consensus or vote on a course of action for the Company. The members have agreed to interact with the Company in an advisory capacity only and will have no responsibility or authority in the operations of Company's business. The use of any information, perspectives or opinions provided by members of the Board will be at the sole discretion of the CEO of Company.

*About Between Dandelions, Inc.*

BD is a Florida publicly traded, social-purpose driven lifestyle and branding company which is currently developing a line of high-end proprietary Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products to be grown and processed in North Carolina by United States Military Veterans and extracted and tested in North Carolina as well. The company's Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products are expected to be distributed in North Carolina in the beginning of 2019 and expand up and down the east coast thereafter. BD's line of products will be aimed at supporting alternatives to opiates and focus on giving back to our country's veterans thru multiple programs like OVAAT and Backpacks for Life. BD will initially operate thru an e-commerce platform that will facilitate both retail and wholesale business as well as be a vertically integrated Hemp and hemp-derived CBD company. BD and its partners will perform cultivation, manufacturing, processing, testing, sales, marketing and distribution of Hemp and hemp-derived CBD products. The company will continue to investigate opportunities to work with other socially-minded businesses that are looking to bring their brands to market and give back to our country's veterans. For more info: www.ovaat.org and www.backsforlife.org

*Investor Contact:*

Justin Kulik
Radius, Inc.
jk@consultradius.com

*FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS*

This release contains certain "forward-looking statements" relating to the business of Between Dandelions, Inc. (BD, hereafter) and its subsidiary companies, which can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "estimates,""believes,""anticipates,""intends,""expects" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those described herein as anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Certain of these risks and uncertainties are or will be described in greater detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on BD's current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on BD. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting BD will be those anticipated by BD. These forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which are beyond the control of the Company) or other assumptions that may cause actual actions taken or results or performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. BD undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws. **These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

*Contact:*

sean@betweendandelions.com

*SOURCE:* Between Dandelions, Inc
View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/530802/Between-Dandelions-Inc-Announces-Leonard-Buck-Gatewood-Former-President-and-CEO-of-PanEnergy-Trading-Company-to-Strategic-Advisory-Board Reported by Accesswire 11 hours ago.

Delivering Crypto Data at the Blink of an Eye, Nomics Announces $3 Million in Series A Funding

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Delivering Crypto Data at the Blink of an Eye, Nomics Announces $3 Million in Series A Funding *Arthur Ventures Leads the Round with Coinbase and Digital Currency Group Participating; Demonstrates Increasing Demand for Fast, High-Quality Crypto Data Among Funds, Exchanges and Fintech Developers *

*BOSTON, MA and MINNEAPOLIS, MN / ACCESSWIRE / December 18, 2018 /* Nomics, a cryptocurrency data company that delivers professional-grade, cloud-based data products and APIs for institutional crypto investors, today announces it has raised $3 million in Series A funding. Venture capital firm Arthur Ventures led the funding round and cryptocurrency industry veterans, such as BitGo Co-Founder Ben Davenport, Coinbase Ventures, CoVenture Crypto and Digital Currency Group, also participated.

Boston and Minneapolis-based Nomics will use the funding to develop new products based on significant demand for its data among institutional crypto investors. Specifically, the company will deploy the capital towards its goal of indexing 95 percent of all order book, raw trade and blockchain data available for cryptoassets. The company will also be adding more talent with plans to invest in its engineering team in 2019.

''Crypto investors need to make lightning fas decisions based on highly reliable, consistent, normalized and high fidelity data, which has never been easily attainable for the cryptocurrency asset class,'' said Clay Collins, CEO of Nomics. ''Nomics addresses this problem and makes the decentralized financial system more accessible, useful and understandable. We're developing the data ‘backbone' for the open financial system and with this additional funding, we plan to build on our success by strengthening our offerings.''

The Nomics API enables users to access historical and real-time financial data about tokenized assets including price quotes, trading indicators and other types of normalized data through API endpoints. It addresses problems with cryptoasset data, such as inconsistency, accessibility and disaggregation. These issues have arisen with an explosion in new exchanges, new cryptoassets and trading volume in recent years. Crypto investors, such as hedge funds, can develop and test investment strategies, feed their machine learning models and trading algorithms, accurately track their portfolio and fluctuations in the market, and build compelling financial data-enabled software using the Nomics API.

''The Nomics API is well-equipped to keep pace with growing investor demand for accurate, gapless crypto market data,'' said Patrick Meenan, partner at Arthur Ventures. ''Some of the largest industry players are Nomics customers and investors. The API product has made an impression on the market and with our investment, the company is well-positioned to accelerate growth and continue to meet growing demand. In addition, we were attracted to Nomics' talented team, commitment to leading the API crypto data market, proprietary technology and strong client base.''

Nomics currently indexes over 3.5 billion data points and is serving over 35 million API calls per month. The investment includes additional participation from several crypto industry investors, including CityBlock Capital, King Capital, PolyMath and TokenSoft.

"Over time cryptocurrency data has become more expensive and complex to standardize,'' said Nikhil Kalghatgi, partner at CoVenture Crypto. ''Unlike traditional markets where data feeds come from a central source, such as the NYSE, in the world of crypto, each exchange develops its own set of APIs. With different methods of organizing data, investors have problems with consistency and scalability. Nomics helps produce clean, consistent data, which is an integral part of the cryptocurrency infrastructure."

For more information, please visit https://nomicsapi.com.

*About Nomics*

Based in Boston and Minneapolis, Nomics was launched in 2018 by co-founders Clay Collins and Nicholas Gauthier. The company was created in response to increasing demand for clean, gapless, high-fidelity cryptoasset data for funds, exchanges, and fintech developers. The company offers free and paid APIs for powering investment strategy backtests, machine learning models, real-time trading bots, portfolio valuation and fintech apps.

*Media Contact*

Stephen Sumner
Caliber Corporate Advisers
stephen@calibercorporateadvisers.com
888-550-6385 ext. 15

*SOURCE:* Nomics
View source version on accesswire.com:
https://www.accesswire.com/530518/Delivering-Crypto-Data-at-the-Blink-of-an-Eye-Nomics-Announces-3-Million-in-Series-A-Funding Reported by Accesswire 10 hours ago.

DAV officers help local veterans Thursdays at Boone County Library

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Service officers with Chapter 6, Harrison DAV, will be available to help local area veterans on site at the Boone County Library in Harrison each Thursday, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Service officers will now be available to assist… Reported by Harrison Daily 10 hours ago.

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr to Deliver Keynote at Telemed Leadership Forum 2019 in Washington, DC

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WASHINGTON, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr, who has been leading the Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to support telehealth and telemedicine programs for underserved populations, will speak to a national audience of telehealth leaders at the Telemed Leadership Forum 2019 in Washington, DC, on April 3, 2019.In August 2018, the FCC unanimously approved the $100 million Connected Care Pilot Program, which would focus on projects to bring telehealth, including remote patient monitoring programs, to low-income Americans, particularly veterans and those in rural areas. Commissioner Carr will discuss the importance of the pilot program, its progress, and answer audience questions.

Telemed Leadership Forum 2019, which be held at the Washington Marriott Georgetown, April 3-5, is designed to deliver solid, innovative and valuable information on how telehealth is transforming healthcare delivery. With the explosive growth in telehealth, data and technology, this Forum is an opportunity for healthcare leaders to share, learn and discuss empirical evidence for the value of telehealth.

Attendees will also hear from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Center for Innovation’s Seamless Care Models Group and have an opportunity to ask CMS program leaders questions.

Other keynote speakers include: Martin Kohn, M.D., former Chief Medical Scientist at Sentrian and former Chief Medical Scientist at IBM Research; and Hassan Tetteh, M.D., Chief Medical Informatics Officer, United States Navy.

The line-up of speakers and panelists include telehealth leaders from organizations such as, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Northwell Health, U.S. Dept. of Veteran Affairs, University of Rochester Medical Center, Thomas Jefferson University, Arcadian Telepsychiatry, Kaiser Permanente, Bon Secours Mercy Health, Avera eCare, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, and much more.

See the agenda and speakers on the website at https://telemed.org/.

Telemed Leadership Forum 2019 is now accepting Early Bird registration for both in-person and live-streaming tickets. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. Press passes are available by contacting hello@telemed.org.

Telemed Leadership Forum 2019 is hosted by URAC, an independent, nonprofit healthcare accreditor in Washington, D.C. URAC developed the first independent, third-party Telehealth Accreditation program to offer comprehensive oversight of diverse telehealth programs.

*About URAC*
Founded in 1990, URAC is the independent leader in advancing healthcare quality through leadership, accreditation, measurement and innovation. URAC offers a wide range of quality benchmarking programs that reflect the latest changes in healthcare and provide a symbol of excellence for organizations to showcase their validated commitment to quality and accountability. URAC uses evidence-based measures and develops standards through inclusive engagement with a broad range of stakeholders committed to improving the quality of healthcare. For more information, visit urac.org  

CONTACT: Che Parker, MA
URAC
202-326-3968
cparker@urac.org Reported by GlobeNewswire 10 hours ago.

The North American Bitcoin Conference Stands Out as One of 2019’s Most Important Worldwide Crypto Events

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MIAMI, Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via CryptoCurrencyWire – 2019 will kick off with what has become widely accepted as one of the most important blockchain conferences of the year. The North American Bitcoin Conference, sponsored by Keynote and part of the World Blockchain Forum, will take place Jan. 16-18, 2019, at the James L. Knight Center in Miami, Florida. This premier crypto conference, now in its seventh year, will draw cryptocurrency and blockchain leaders from all across the globe as they come together for this historical event.The North American Bitcoin Conference is the longest-running, most-attended finance conference for the blockchain and crypto industries, with each event attracting thousands of attendees. The 2019 conference will feature a lineup of more than 60 world-class presenters, including technology veterans and company founders who have collectively raised more than $18.1 billion in initial coin offerings (ICOs).

Speakers that have been announced thus far include:

· David Chaum, inventor of digital cash
· Dr. Patrick Byrne, founder of Overstock.com and t0
· Halsey Minor, founder of CNET
· Veronica McGregor, head of legal at Shapeshift.io
· Matthew Roszak, co-founder of Bloq
· Charlie Shrem, Bitcoin pioneer
· Maja Vujinoc, CEO at OGroup
· Craig Sellars, co-founder of Tether
· Jason King, co-founder of Academy
· Bruce Fenton, president of Atlantic Financial
· Epperly Li, investment director at Bitmain
· Marco Santori, president of Blockchain.com
· Andrew Filipowski, chairman of Tally Capital
· Sang Lee, president & CEO of Darcmatter
· Alexa Hefti, blockchain tax lead at Deloitte
· Jeffrey Tucker, editorial director at American Institute for Economic Research

Above and beyond the robust array of speakers and sponsors, the conference will include brand-new Lightning Networking sessions and creative installments. An added focus for January’s conference will be a dedicated Security Tokens track, unpacking the new frontier that has combined securities and blockchain technology. Mainstay topics discussed at the conference will include investments, legal implications and regulations, the way decentralization is disrupting multiple industries, and successful ICOs of the past and present.

Tickets for The North American Bitcoin Conference Miami are available at https://btcmiami.com/tickets. 

Past crypto-assets that have been launched concurrent with The North American Bitcoin series of conferences include:

· Ethereum, launched in August 2014 at The North American Bitcoin Conference Chicago
· Dash, launched in January 2016 at The North American Bitcoin Conference Miami
· Litecoin, launched in August 2013 at The European Blockchain Conference
· Factom, launched in January 2016 at The North American Bitcoin Conference Miami

Keynote, the sponsoring organization of The North American Bitcoin Conference, is a premier provider of world-class events for the blockchain industry. The Keynote team desires to provide conference attendees with valuable opportunities to meet influential individuals in the crypto space, learn about new products and investment opportunities, discuss white papers, and gain a better understanding about the quickly expanding world of blockchain. Speakers, exhibitors and sponsors attending The North American Bitcoin Conference represent some of the greatest blockchain companies and experts in the space.

*The North American Bitcoin Conference Contact:
*Online contact form: https://btcmiami.com/contact-us/
Sponsorship and exhibiting information: amy@keynote.ae
Media inquiries: amandah@keynote.ae

*Corporate Communications Contact:
*CryptoCurrencyWire (CCW)
New York, New York
*www.CryptoCurrencyWire.com*
212.418.1217 Office
*Editor@CryptoCurrencyWire.com* Reported by GlobeNewswire 10 hours ago.

Barclays just hired two Wall Street veterans in its chief investment office (BARC)

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Barclays just hired two Wall Street veterans in its chief investment office (BARC)· Barclays just hired two new executives, Sanjeev Mordani and Ravi Singh, to work under the CIO of the international unit. 
· While naming some new senior hires, Barclays has made big cuts to about 100 senior staff this year.
· Insiders at Barclays say the cuts of senior staff this year and managing director promotions in December signal a desire to give promising up-and-comers opportunities for advancement

Barclays just hired two senior executives, Sanjeev Mordani and Ravi Singh, to work under the chief investment officer of its international unit, Art Mbanefo.

Mordani, who led cross asset solutions and strategies at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will join Barclays in the chief investment office and will be responsible for driving the structured finance business in the Americas.

"We are confident that his creativity and strong client relationships will accelerate our efforts to enhance Barclays' client offering," the bank said in a memo sent to staff and seen by Business Insider. 

Singh, a Credit Suisse and Goldman Sachs alum, will also join Barclays' CIO office. His role is unclear, but the memo said that "his entrepreneurial spirit and strong track record will significantly enhance our ability to deliver additional top line revenue and drive returns."

"These appointments are additional examples of the high impact talent we are attracting to Barclays, and demonstrate the scale of opportunities in front of us," Mbanefo said in the memo.

*Read more:*The cohead of Barclays' research business is leaving as the UK bank's senior shake-up continues

The hires come as the bank named a fresh crop of managing directors, promoting 85 employees to the rank as of January 1. While Tim Throsby, a JPMorgan alum who now heads Barclays corporate and investment bank, has named some top senior-level hires since joining in 2016, the bank has slashed managing-director roles and other senior jobs as part of a broader reorganization that kicked off earlier this year.

Barclays is known as one of the more top-heavy firms in The City, and insiders there say the cuts to senior staff this year and the promotions in December signal a desire to give promising up-and-comers opportunities for advancement.

Mbanefo has been taking on more responsibilities this year. His remit includes running Barclays' Financing Resource Management team and overseeing business managers and the office of the CEO, according to an announcement at the bank in late August.

*SEE ALSO: Barclays just named its new crop of managing directors — here is the list*

Join the conversation about this story » Reported by Business Insider 10 hours ago.

Medpricer Announces Increased Reach with Added Staff in 2018

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The SaaS provider expands customer delivery team and increases national sales presence

GUILFORD, Conn. (PRWEB) December 18, 2018

Medpricer, the leading purchased services cost management solution for the healthcare industry, today announced staffing changes to support the company’s rapid market expansion and commercial growth. These changes come as no surprise as Medpricer is set to hit record subscription revenue this year following nation-wide adoption of their purchased services platform.

The company’s most recent hires support its growing strategic souring expertise by adding two industry veterans to its team. The company welcomed Nicole Barker, RN as its new Senior Director of Customer Success and Anna Ormiston as a Director of Strategic Sourcing and Analytics at the end of Q3. These sourcing professionals, with a combined 30 years in the industry, previously worked with MD Buyline and Vizient. They will be responsible for ensuring that Medpricer customers are getting optimal results from their mSource subscriptions.

Furthermore, Medpricer increased its sales force increased by 150% in 2018 to keep up with their commercial success. Their sales force will partner with healthcare supply chain veterans to demonstrate the ROI that healthcare providers can achieve with a dedicated purchased services strategy in place.

With the staff growth in 2018, Medpricer’s female employee base now makes up 59% of its team – a 24% increase since 2017. Female-led departments include Finance, Marketing, Operations, Software QA and Customer Success. Almost half of Medpricer’s female employees hold engineering or math-based roles.

“While women are typically underrepresented in STEM positions and in technology organizations, Medpricer has established a space of workplace equality,” said Medpricer’s Director of Marketing and Growth Lindsay Wise. “We’re working toward creating a paradigm shift in female STEM careers, as well as in the healthcare industry with our work creating solutions that focus on improving community care.”

“We couldn’t be prouder of Medpricer’s continued growth. We’re dedicated to continuously building our team and advancing our technology to truly optimize our customers’ cost management lifecycle,” said Mickey Meehan, Medpricer’s Chief Customer Officer. “With exciting, new machine learning solutions in hand, our team is looking forward to making a difference in healthcare in 2019.”

About Medpricer
For more than a decade, Medpricer has helped move savings strategies forward with scalable purchased services solutions that improve sourcing efficiency and financial health. Their industry-leading software, mSource®, is the only all-in-one contract management, negotiation, and analytics platform that enables organizations to tailor contract terms to fit their unique needs – not those of a group. Engage with your purchasing data, learn from market intelligence, unite your stakeholders, and move contracts through the pipeline – faster. No catches, no hidden admin fees. Discover substantial savings and deliver outcomes that continuously improve the quality of patient care. To learn how other leading healthcare providers are transforming their savings strategy, call (888) 453-4554 or visit http://www.Medpricer.com. Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.

FanThreeSixty Launches Data-Driven Fan Activations

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New software capabilities and platform upgrades improve targeting for sports marketers

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (PRWEB) December 18, 2018

FanThreeSixty, an industry-leading fan engagement software and analytics company, extended the capabilities of its Fan Engagement Platform, giving sports teams and entertainment venues a single source of truth for fan insights. As part of the platform upgrade, FanThreeSixty included automated audience segmentations and fan activations. This lets marketers trigger seamless, personalized interactions with their fans which optimizes audience targeting and improves campaign performance.

"The future of sports marketing is all about intelligent fan journeys," said Jason Houseworth, CEO, FanThreeSixty. "By transforming our software into a broader fan engagement platform, we're giving marketers a sophisticated tool that leverages machine learning and predictive analytics to capture and engage fans in ways that reflect their individual behaviors and interests.”

The security and privacy of fan data is built into the GDPR-compliant Fan Engagement Platform, only storing the data that fans give permission to collect.

“We are committed to customer privacy, so we are transparent with our clients and their fans about how their data is used. This gives fans the choice to opt-in or opt-out,” said Houseworth. “By putting them in control of their data, we’re serving the fans’ best interests while putting them in control of their experience.” said Houseworth.

GDPR will impact all companies across industries in the U.S.; so, FanThreeSixty is giving sports and entertainment brands both the technology platform and the strategy to shift from legacy systems to a GDPR-compliant fan engagement platform-as-a-service, adds Houseworth.

Other features on the enhanced platform include Fan Insights, a reporting tool that gives a more granular-level view into a fan’s behavior derived from his or her engagement on marketing campaigns. This lets marketers better understand which sponsors drive the most value from their fan base, as well as which messages resonate with with each distinct fan.

With an amplified reports view, users can track conversions tied to sales programs and marketing campaigns, as well as fan purchases, including data from both ticketing and online merchandise sales from its integration with Fanatics, one of the world’s largest eCommerce sites for sportswear. Marketers can then use this information to target fans based on their purchasing behavior or to derive insights about a fan’s favorite player.

Together, these new capabilities transform the way sports and entertainment brands act on their fan data to create remarkable fan experiences while streamlining marketing campaigns and sales programs. FanThreeSixty will continue to refine its platform in 2019 and beyond to expand automated features, giving marketers a comprehensive solution for seamless fan engagement.

About FanThreeSixty
FanThreeSixty offers data-driven solutions for every touchpoint throughout the fan journey. Founded by sports and tech veterans, FanThreeSixty changes the way sports and entertainment brands act on fan data. FanThreeSixty’s industry-leading fan engagement platform accelerates the data transformation, creating a 360-degree view of the fan. This leads organizations to actionable insights that maximize the value of every fan and creates remarkable fan experiences. fanthreesixty.com Reported by PRWeb 9 hours ago.

Goldman Sachs and Salesforce backed a company that helps call center workers tell when you're angry. Now, it's helping doctors fight depression.

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Goldman Sachs and Salesforce backed a company that helps call center workers tell when you're angry. Now, it's helping doctors fight depression.· Cogito, a tech startup out of MIT, has raised $73 million with backing from Goldman Sachs and Salesforce Ventures. It boosts the quality of call centers' customer service by analyzing customers' voices and flagging when they're unsatisfied.
· This month, Cogito spun out a new company focused on detecting mental illness based on the sound of your voice.
· A growing cluster of health-tech CEOs, clinicians, and entrepreneurs say voice is the future of healthcare. 

For Sub Datta, the fight for better tools to identify severe bouts of depression is deeply personal.

Datta lives with clinical depression. He's also the first leader of a new company that's using data collected from smartphones — including the sound of a user's voice — to detect acute episodes of mental illnesses like his.

Called CompanionMX, the company was recently spun out of MIT enterprise company Cogito, which has raised $73 million from backers like Goldman Sachs and Salesforce Ventures. Cogito helps increase the quality of call centers' customer service by analyzing customers' voices and flagging when they're unsatisfied.

CompanionMX's current focus is an app called Companion, which analyzes the sound of your voice along with data on how much time you spend texting, calling, or using social media. 

Every time you send Companion a short recording or voice note, the app analyzes how you sound. Together with the data on how you're using your phone, that information helps create a picture of your mental health. The information can also be shared with a clinician who can offer support.

Datta sees Companion's continuous stream of data as a critical alternative to the current model, which consists largely of sporadic therapy visits and last-minute emergency room trips. Although depression is currently the leading cause of disability worldwide, as many as two-thirds of people with the disorder go without treatment, according to data from the National Alliance for Mental Illness. Beyond resulting in needless pain and suffering, that also costs US businesses billions in lost productivity every year.

The information that Companion gathers can be thought of as a new "vital sign" for mental health — one that could help clinicians intervene before symptoms worsen or even lead to thoughts of suicide — according to Datta.

"This way people like myself don’t have to rely on intermittent data but rather have continual data," he told Business Insider.

*How Companion works*

The Companion tool is available as an app for iPhone and Android users after a healthcare professional recommends you use it.

Once you grant the app permission to collect data on how you use your phone, it looks at four main metrics: physical and social isolation (how much time you spend by yourself vs. with others), your mood, and your energy levels.

After a few days of running in the background, the app can give you a picture of what Datta calls your "overall behavioral stability," or your baseline. That way when someone suddenly diverts from their regular behavior — perhaps suddenly spending a lot of time alone, for example — the app can tell. 

The app's key metric, however, is voice.

When Companion prompts you to do so, you leave a short voice note on the app, similar to how you'd send a friend a voice note over iMessage or WhatsApp. You can say anything throughout the course of the voice note, but it's generally regarded as a kind of short audio diary, Joshua Feast, the CEO of Cogito and a member of CompanionMX's board of directors, told Business Insider.

*Read more:* Your phone and smartwatch may soon tell doctors if you're entering a depressive episode — and Olympian Michael Phelps is on board

"Think of it like a little moment of reflection where you get immediate feedback on how you’re sounding," said Feast.

Just as the app looks at your overall phone usage to determine your baseline activity patterns, it also analyzes your voice over time to give you an idea of your norm based on everything from your pitch and tone to your volume and enunciation. Then it can detect when you diverge from that pattern. 

Before becoming available to the general public, researchers tested Companion in a series of clinical trials with medical institutions including Brigham and Women's Hospital and the US Veterans Administration. Based on those results, the Companion team decided the app could provide patients with clinically meaningful information.

"With voice you get more precision — it’s quite unique and distinctive, like fingerprints," David K. Ahern, the director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital's digital behavioral health research program and a co-principal investigator of a recent clinical trial using Companion on a subset of patients, told Business Insider last year. 

As a result of that research, the Companion team also discovered that leaving voice notes was something people genuinely enjoyed doing, Feast said.

*Is 2019 the year of voice in healthcare?*

There's a growing movement in healthcare to home in on voice as the next big health tool. While some see voice as a way for clinicians to speed up patient visits, others see it more like Datta does, as a means of detecting illness in patients.

"The killer app is going to be voice" as an addition to electronic medical records, said Toby Cosgrove, the former CEO of the leading academic medical center Cleveland Clinic and a new executive advisor to Google Cloud, at a recent health conference in San Francisco called the Rock Health Summit.

Paul Markovich, the CEO of the health insurer Blue Shield of California, agreed with Cosgrove, he told Business Insider this month.

Voice is "going to be big in the future," Markovich said.

*Read more:* The CEO of one of the largest US health insurers has a warning for Amazon on its healthcare ambitions

He described a pilot program that Blue Shield is currently running with physicians that involves having them record themselves during patient visits. An algorithm translates the relevant information from the recordings into patients' electronic medical records.

That's similar to the way Suki, a new AI startup backed by Salesforce chief Marc Benioff, aims to help doctors record medical notes. Augmedix, another startup that helps doctors record notes from patient visits, does so using Google Glass.

On the patient side of healthcare, several companies are also looking at voice as a way to detect when a patient isn't feeling well.

Amazon recently filed a patent aimed at enabling its voice assistant Alexa to detect when a user is sick with something like a cold or the flu, for example. And Cogito, CompanionMX's parent company, has been using data collected from the sound of users' voices to enhance companies' customer service abilities for the past decade.

"Capturing voice and understanding and translating that meaning is helpful and can be useful clinically," Markovich said.

*SEE ALSO: A Silicon Valley startup is growing 'mini brains' to create new drugs for schizophrenia and autism — and big pharma is investing millions*

*DON'T MISS: Your phone and smartwatch may soon tell doctors if you're entering a depressive episode — and Olympian Michael Phelps is on board*

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: Some animal fathers are impressive parents, like seahorse dads who give birth to 2,000 babies Reported by Business Insider 8 hours ago.

Smithfield Foods Unveils New Charitable Grant Program

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Company Commits up to $1.5 Million to Support Philanthropic Areas of Focus

SMITHFIELD, Va., Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Smithfield Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Smithfield Foods, Inc., has unveiled a new charitable grant program through which it will donate up to $1.5 million each year to support projects in the company’s three charitable giving focus areas: hunger relief, education, and veterans. The grant program adds to the tens of millions of dollars invested annually through cash and in-kind donations, including $27.4 million in 2017, to address the unique needs of Smithfield’s local communities.Through the new charitable grant program, Smithfield will pursue year-long projects with key non-profit partners to support the communities where its employees live, work, and raise their families. Each grant awarded will be a minimum of $250,000. Organizations interested in applying must be a recognized 501(c)(3) public charity to be considered eligible.

“Smithfield is honored to stand with and assist the organizations and initiatives that align with the areas of focus that we are truly passionate about as a company,” said Keira Lombardo, senior vice president of corporate affairs for Smithfield Foods and president of the Smithfield Foundation. “We believe that by supporting these ongoing, critical efforts, we are benefitting not only these organizations, but also our people and the vitality of the communities we call home.”

The online application is now available until January 25, 2019. Awarded recipients will be notified of their selection in February 2019. To apply for a Smithfield Foundation grant, please visit www.SmithfieldFoundation.com.

*About Smithfield Foods*

Smithfield Foods is a $15 billion global food company and the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. In the United States, the company is also the leader in numerous packaged meats categories with popular brands including Smithfield^®, Eckrich^®, Nathan's Famous^®, Farmland^®, Armour^®, Farmer John^®, Kretschmar^®, John Morrell^®, Cook's^®, Gwaltney^®, Carando^®, Margherita^®, Curly's^®, Healthy Ones^®, Morliny^®, Krakus^® and Berlinki^®. Smithfield Foods is committed to providing good food in a responsible way and maintains robust animal care, community involvement, employee safety, environmental and food safety and quality programs. For more information, visit www.smithfieldfoods.com, and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Media Contact:

Smithfield Foods, Inc.
Lisa Martin
lvmartin@smithfield.com 
(757) 365-1980 Reported by GlobeNewswire 8 hours ago.

Industry Veteran Mike Graziadei Joins Insight Financial Services

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Enterprise Demand for Equipment Financing Drives Continued Growth for IFS

COSTA MESA, Calif., Dec. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Insight Financial Services (IFS), a division of Insight Investments, LLC, today announced the continued expansion of its enterprise sales team with the addition of Mike Graziadei as Vice President Senior Account Executive. Mike will support IFS’ leadership and continued growth in the enterprise market.

“IFS has earned an excellent reputation for providing technology financing solutions to enterprises nationwide. By bringing in industry veterans like Mike, we advance our ability to provide the best products and service in the industry,” said Scott Sullivan, Executive Vice President, Insight Investments, LLC. “Mike’s industry experience makes him an outstanding complement for the team and we look forward to his contributions to the growth of the business.”

Mike’s focus will be to extend IFS’s leadership in the enterprise market and accelerate the momentum of the company’s best-in-class technology refresh capabilities for corporate clients. He joins the company with more than 20 years of sales experience in enterprise IT leasing. Prior to joining IFS, Mike served as Senior Vice President at Wells Fargo Technology Finance where he managed the company’s first in-house technology leasing offering. Earlier, he started an IT leasing company which was later sold to GE Capital and then to Wells Fargo Bank. He has held senior roles with GE Technology Finance and Comdisco.

Mike holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Business Administration, Information Systems from San Diego State University.

*About Insight Financial Services*
Insight Financial Services (IFS), a division of Insight Investments, LLC, delivers customized technology leasing solutions for organizations acquiring hardware, software and associated services. With a national managed portfolio in excess of $800 million, IFS prides itself in a hands-on, collaborative approach to leasing. Its Asset Management Online System (AMOS) provides clients with anywhere, anytime asset and lease management. For more information, visit www.ifsleasing.com.

Media Contact:
Christy Kemp
303-898-3390
ckemp@dahliapr.com Reported by GlobeNewswire 7 hours ago.

Veterans Choice: How we reported this story

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Return to main story on fees paid to private contractors in the Veterans Choice program. Since 2014, Congress has pumped $19.4 billion into the Veterans Choice Program to buy private medical care for veterans. We wanted to know how the money was spent. As of Sept. 30, 2018, the program’s expenditures totaled about $12.6 billion, according to a running tally provided to Congress every two weeks. An additional $2.4 billion has been committed but not yet spent, and there was $4.3 billion left over, according to the most recent report. (We’ve posted a simplified version of this report here.) The ... >>More Reported by PolitiFact 6 hours ago.

What you need to know on Wall Street today

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What you need to know on Wall Street today *Welcome to Finance Insider, Business Insider's summary of the top stories of the past 24 hours. Sign up here to get the best of Business Insider delivered direct to your inbox.*

*The Fed’s next decision is its most important in recent memory — and the future of the stock market is at stake*

The Federal Reserve will announce its next rate-hike decision on Wednesday, and the stakes have rarely been higher.

A big part of that stems from the turbulence that's rocked the stock market in recent weeks. With major US indexes already in correction territory, one wrong step could open the floodgates for more selling.

As a result, the Fed finds itself in a difficult situation. If the central bank signals too much future monetary tightening for the market's tastes, the 10-year bull market could meet its demise. And if the Fed adopts a more dovish tone than expected, there will be speculation that it was been strong-armed by politicians.

*Facebook's catastrophic year has caused Mark Zuckerberg to lose more money than any of the world's other 500 richest billionaires*

Mark Zuckerberg's net worth took a major hit this year after scandals plagued Facebook.

Zuckerberg's wealth took its biggest nosedive after Facebook's disastrous second-quarter earnings were announced in July.

Zuckerberg began the year with about $75 billion, but, according to Bloomberg's Billionaire Index, he was worth about $56 billion on Monday. That's a $19 billion drop.

*Barclays just hired two Wall Street veterans in its chief investment office*

Barclays just hired two senior executives, Sanjeev Mordani and Ravi Singh, to work under the chief investment officer of its international unit, Art Mbanefo.

Mordani, who led cross asset solutions and strategies at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, will join Barclays in the chief investment office and will be responsible for driving the structured finance business in the Americas.

"We are confident that his creativity and strong client relationships will accelerate our efforts to enhance Barclays' client offering," the bank said in a memo sent to staff and seen by Business Insider.

*In markets news*

· Investors have given up on a popular stock-market hedge — here's how that could change the way the market trades in 2019

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The legendary economist who predicted the housing crisis says the US will win the trade war Reported by Business Insider 6 hours ago.

The VA’s private care program gave companies billions and vets longer waits

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For years, conservatives have assailed the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs as a dysfunctional bureaucracy. They said private enterprise would mean better, easier-to-access health care for veterans. President Donald Trump embraced that position, enthusiastically moving to expand the private sector’s role. Here’s what has actually happened in the four years since the government began sending more veterans to private care: longer waits for appointments and, a new analysis of VA claims data by ProPublica and PolitiFact shows, higher costs for taxpayers. Since 2014, 1.9 million former service members have received private medical care through a program called Veterans Choice. It ... >>More Reported by PolitiFact 6 hours ago.

Trump Administration To Rescind Punishment Policy In Schools

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Trump Administration To Rescind Punishment Policy In Schools Watch VideoThe Trump administration is planning to rescind an Obama-era policy on discipline in school.

On Tuesday, the Federal School Safety Commission released a report on recommendations to improve safety in U.S. schools. That's the group the Trump administration formed in the wake of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., 

The New York Times points out that instead of looking into how to keep schools safe from guns and mass shootings, the commission focused on disciplinary measures in schools. The letter claimed the Obama-era policy focused on disciplining students in a "nondiscriminatory manner," but actually contributed to more violence in schools.

The Education Department says the policy was put in place in 2014. The Times reports it came after evidence showed minority students were being punished more often and at a tougher degree than white students for the same or lesser offenses. The outlet also reports "disabled students were too quickly being shunted into remedial or special-education programs."

Critics said while these were simply guidelines and not required, it put pressure on schools to keep suspensions low rather than focus on school safety.

Education Secretary Betsy Devos said the commission's work proved, "there is no single policy that will make our schools safer," but she said the "report provides a wide-ranging menu of best practices and resources that all state, community, and school leaders should consider while developing school safety plans and procedures that will work for their students and teachers."

Rescinding the Obama-era punishment guidelines was just one of many recommendations by the commission. Other ideas included having schools try and find veterans and people with a law enforcement background to work in schools, as well as trying to reduce cyberbullying.  Reported by Newsy 5 hours ago.
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