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Silicon Valley Bank employees received their annual bonuses Friday just hours before regulators seized the failing bank, according to people with knowledge of the payments. The Santa Clara, California-based bank has historically paid employee bonuses on the second Friday of March, said the people, who declined to be identified speaking about the awards. The payments were for work done in 2022 and had been in process days before the bank’s collapse, the sources said. -snip- A spokesman for the FDIC declined to comment on the bonuses.

DETROIT – General Motors will offer voluntary buyouts to a “majority” of its 58,000 U.S. white-collar employees, as it aims to cut $2 billion in structural costs over the next two years, according to a letter sent to workers Thursday from CEO Mary Barra. The “Voluntary Separation Program,” or VSP, will be offered to all U.S. salaried employees who have spent five or more years at the company as of June 30. Outside of the U.S., the automaker will offer buyouts to executives with at least two years of time at the company. GM expects to take a pretax charge...

South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem vetoed legislation that would have identified central bank digital currency as money with cryptocurrency being excluded. “At this moment in time, such a government-backed electronic currency has not yet been created,” Noem explained to lawmakers. “More importantly, South Dakota should not open the door to a potential future overreach by the federal government.” House Bill 1193 would have defined money as a “medium of exchange that is currently authorized or adopted by a domestic or foreign government.” The bill was passed 49-17 in the South Dakota House of Representatives and 24-9 in the Senate...

As the city of San Francisco debates how to pay for a legacy of racism, its slavery disclosure ordinance asking businesses that contract with the city for voluntary donations to "ameliorate the effects of slavery" has not received a donation in seven years. San Francisco's Human Rights Commission released a memo in December 2022 that advocated the city give $5 million to each eligible Black resident. The U.S. Census estimated about 42,390 Black residents in the city in 2021. The commission didn't say how many people would be eligible for the $5 million. In 2006, San Francisco created a "slavery...

Explanation: Put on your red/blue glasses and float next to asteroid 101955 Bennu. Shaped like a spinning toy top with boulders littering its rough surface, the tiny Solar System world is about one Empire State Building (less than 500 meters) across. Frames used to construct this 3D anaglyph were taken by PolyCam on the OSIRIS_REx spacecraft on December 3, 2018 from a distance of about 80 kilometers. With a sample from the asteroid's rocky surface on board, OSIRIS_REx departed Bennu's vicinity in May of 2021 and is now enroute to planet Earth. The robotic spacecraft is scheduled to return the...

Bud Grant, the Hall of Fame coach who led the Minnesota Vikings to four Super Bowl appearances, has died at the age of 95, the Vikings announced Saturday. In Grant's 28 seasons as a head coach in Canada and with the Vikings, his teams reached the playoffs 20 times, played in 10 championship games and won four titles. However, none of those titles came in the NFL, as he became the first coach to lose four Super Bowls. Grant was the first person to be inducted into both the CFL Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame....

"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be...

The judge in the picture above in Kyle Duncan. He is a sitting judge on the 5th Circuit Cour of Appeals. The hideous creature on the right is Tirien Steinbach. She is the Dean of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Stanford University (did you even know there was such a thing?) Duncan was invited by the Stanford Chapter of the Federalist Society to give a speech on guns, COVD mandates and Twitter. As he was to being speaking he was ambushed by the hideous creature who then spouted off about how terrible Duncan was. But she then launched into an...

Yes, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is running to be the Republican nominee for president. He just hasn’t made it official yet. Most political observers expect him to run and the general public is becoming interested in finding out who he is and what he offers. Case in point, the book sales for his memoir, “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Survival,” outsold first week sales of books written by Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. Even the Washington Post had to admit that DeSantis is running, stating the obvious, and reporting he is beginning to staff up...

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has called for the release of “QAnon Shaman” Jacob Chansley after the release of the January 6th footage by Fox News Host Tucker Carlson. Musk posted “Free Jacob Chansley” on his Twitter page after footage of Chansley reading Former President Donald Trump’s tweet to the crowds on January 6th, telling them to “go home and remain peaceful.” Free Jacob Chansley https://t.co/8BbeXF2Fye — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 10, 2023 The billionaire went on to compare Chansley’s situation with the man who had assaulted Dave Chapelle during one of his shows.

Most Republicans and Republican-leaning voters want former President Donald Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, a recent survey from The Economist/YouGov shows.“Who do you want to be the Republican Party’s nominee for president in 2024?” the survey asked both Republicans and Republican-leaners.The survey found that among both groups, 63 percent chose Trump, while only 20 percent said “someone else.” Another 18 percent said they are not sure.Sixty-one percent of Republicans, specifically, said they want Trump as the 2024 GOP nominee, and 69 percent of independents said the same. Additionally, 65 percent of Trump 2020 voters want the former president to...

SVB Financial Group faced a perfect storm, but there are plenty of other banks that would face big losses if they were forced to dump securities to raise cash Silicon Valley Bank has failed following a run on deposits, after its parent company’s share price crashed a record 60% on Thursday. Trading of SVB Financial Group’s SIVB stock was halted early Friday, after the shares plunged again in premarket trading. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said SVB was one of a few banks she was “monitoring very carefully.” Reaction poured in from several analysts who discussed the bank’s liquidity risk.

Note: This article may contain commentary reflecting the author's opinion. Sir Michael Caine, the 89-year-old internationally renowned actor, has, according to reports, soundly denounced the characterization of his 1964 break-out film ‘Zulu’ as a “key text” for “white nationalists” and “supremacists,” by the UK government, according to The Daily Mail. .....

[Catholic Caucus] German synodal way backs same-sex blessingsParticipants in the synodal way’s final assembly overwhelmingly endorsed a document Friday urging German bishops to permit same-sex blessings officially in their dioceses.The five-page document, “Blessing ceremonies for couples who love each other,” was passed by 176 votes for, 14 against, and 12 abstentions at its second reading, meaning it was formally adopted as a resolution of the synodal way.The German bishops supported the text by 38 votes in favor, 9 against, and 11 abstentions.The document — which contradicts a 2021 Vatican declaration that “the Church does not have, and cannot have, the...

A blind man says he wants to read Playboy for the articles but can’t. On Wednesday, Donald Nixon — who is legally blind — filed a lawsuit against the legendary company’s website, claiming that it was in violation of the American with Disabilities Act, TMZ reported

Sometimes a single incident efficiently summarizes a larger trend. So it is with New York University’s selection of its new president, Linda Mills, a licensed clinical social worker and an NYU social work professor. She researches trauma and bias, as well as race and gender in the legal academy. She is a documentary filmmaker and teaches advocacy filmmaking. She serves as an NYU vice chancellor and as a senior vice provost for Global Programs and University Life. In all these roles, Mills is the very embodiment of the contemporary academy. The most significant part of her identity, however, and the...

Britain's finance ministry and the Bank of England are working together to minimise the disruption that could stem from a collapse of the UK arm of Silicon Valley Bank (SIVB.O), which has been seized by U.S. regulators, the ministry said on Saturday.

SEC Staff Consulted With Green Financial Firm Accused Of Selling ‘Fictitious’ Carbon CreditsJohn Hugh DeMastri on March 11, 2023 U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) officials met with representatives of a Swiss climate firm now under fire for allegedly selling “fictitious” carbon credits to discuss climate regulations, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation investigation.Millions of dollars worth of carbon credits issued by the Swiss firm South Pole could not be reliably tied back to actual greenhouse gas reductions, according to a report by Dutch investigative journalism outlet Follow the Money.SEC officials met with a representative of South Pole in...

California is finally lifting its mask mandate for individuals in healthcare settings, per updated guidance from the California Department of Public Health (CDPH). The department announced the changes last week, citing the end of the Golden State’s coronavirus State of Emergency, which wrapped up roughly three years after the start of the pandemic.

The University of Notre Dame’s gender studies program is hosting a talk with the author of a book titled “Queer Holiness.” Set to take place on March 23rd, the event titled “Queer Holiness” will focus on “the gift of LGBTQI people to the church” and will feature Charles Bell, the author of a book by the same name. “For millennia, institutional churches have told LGBTQI people what God expects them to be and how to act,” the description reads before going on to say “in parts of the church, LGBTQI people remain the subject of hostile questions.” A description of...