Latest news with #FGA
Business News Wales
13-06-2025
- General
- Business News Wales
Public Map Platform Project Exhibits at International Architecture Exhibition
A Wrexham University Arts Professor is exhibiting in Italy this summer as part of a project aimed at creating a mapping tool for communities. Alec Shepley, Associate Dean for Research and Professor of Art and Society, is co-leading the Public Map Platform (PMP) project, which is being led by Professor Flora Samuel from the University of Cambridge's Department of Architecture and Professor Scott Orford of Cardiff University. The PMP is piloting an online map to help local authorities and their communities picture what is happening in a place, as a basis for informed decision making. It has been developed in response to the Welsh Government's need to operationalise the Future Generations Wales Act (FGA), as well as the Isle of Anglesey County Council's need to align its activities and performance with the FGA. The project aims to help Anglesey achieve and evidence its progress towards its wellbeing objectives surrounding children and young people, net zero carbon and poverty. To showcase the progress made through the project so far the project team's work is being exhibited in the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia until November. The exhibit has been put together by Professor Shepley; Professor Samuel; Dr Irit Catz, Dr Caitlin Shepherd from Cambridge University; and Piers Taylor, from Invisible Studio. Professor Shepley said: 'It's a huge honour that the PMP project is now showing in Italy, as part of the 19th International Architecture Exhibition, which is centred around architecture being a response to the climate and how human design has been led by the need for shelter and survival. 'Our PMP exhibit features photographic panels, which demonstrate what we have achieved as a collective so far, which has mostly been a creative journey around the isle of Anglesey with Gillian Brownson, Lisa Hudson and Rhys Trimble – three multitalented bards, who have worked with children and young people, with the aim of co-creating narratives about a sense of place, imagining their ideal future on the island through poetry, visual arts and creative writing. 'The research has been live and applied, and has seen us collect rich cultural and environmental data from the island's children and young people themselves to help us inform the map. 'This project embodies what Wrexham research is all about – it's about bringing about positive changes, co-created with the community, with the aim of making things better for them. 'Although this project has been taking place in Anglesey, it's a model that can be carried out for any local authority across the UK.' The International Architecture Exhibition is an international exhibition of architecture from nations around the world and held in Venice biennially. This year's exhibition is titled, 'Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.' and will be open to the public until November 23.
Miami Herald
14-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Meet the Florida group chipping away at public benefits one state at a time
PHOENIX - As an Arizona bill to block people from using government aid to buy soda headed to the governor's desk in April, the nation's top health official joined Arizona lawmakers in the state Capitol to celebrate its passage. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said to applause that the legislation was just the start and that he wanted to prevent federal funding from paying for other unhealthy foods. "We're not going to do that overnight," Kennedy said. "We're going to do that in the next four years." Those words of caution proved prescient when Arizona's Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed the bill a week later. Nevertheless, state legislation to restrict what low-income people can buy using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is gaining momentum, boosted by Kennedy's touting it as part of his "Make America Healthy Again" platform. At least 14 states have considered bills this year with similar SNAP restrictions on specific unhealthy foods such as candy, with Idaho and Utah passing such legislation as of mid-April. Healthy food itself isn't largely a partisan issue, and those who study nutrition tend to agree that reducing the amount of sugary food people eat is a good idea to avoid health consequences such as heart disease. But the question over the government's role in deciding who can buy what has become political. The organization largely behind SNAP restriction legislation is the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative policy think tank out of Florida, and its affiliated lobbying arm, which has used the name Opportunity Solutions Project. FGA has worked for more than a decade to reshape the nation's public assistance programs. That includes SNAP, which federal data shows helps an average of 42 million people afford food each month. It also advocates for ways to cut Medicaid, the federal-state program that connects 71 million people to subsidized health care, including efforts in Idaho and Montana this year. FGA's proposals often seek to limit who taps into that aid and the help they receive. Those backing the group's mission say the goal is to save tax dollars and help people lift themselves out of poverty. Critics argue that FGA's proposals are a backdoor way to cut off aid to people who need it and that making healthy food and health care more affordable is a better fix. Now, FGA sees more room for change under the Trump administration and the Kennedy-led health department, calling 2025 a "window of opportunity for major reform," according to its latest annual report. A Vision for Limiting Government Benefits Tarren Bragdon, a former Maine legislator, founded FGA in 2011 to promote policies to "free millions from government dependency and open the doors for them to chase their own American Dream," he said in a statement on FGA's website. The main foundation started out as a staff of three with about $60,000 in the bank. As of 2023, it had a budget of more than $15 million and a team of roughly 64, according to the latest available tax documents, and that's not counting the lobbying arm. The foundation got early funding from a grant from the State Policy Network, which has long backed right-leaning think tanks with ties to conservative activists including brothers Charles and David Koch. FGA declined several interview requests for this article. In recent years, the nonprofit helped draft a 2017 Mississippi law, the Jackson Free Press found, which intensified eligibility checks for public aid that made it more difficult for some applicants to qualify. It successfully pushed a 2023 effort in Idaho to impose work requirements for food benefits that health care advocates said led some recipients to lose access. The same year, the group helped pass SNAP restrictions affecting eligibility in Iowa. Since those restrictions have taken effect, the Food Bank of Iowa has seen a record number of people show up at its pantries amid rising grocery prices and a scaling back of covid pandemic-era federal support, said Annette Hacker, a vice president at the nonprofit. Part of the group's strategy is to pass legislation state by state, with the idea that the crush of new laws will increase pressure on the federal government. For example, states can't limit what food is purchased through SNAP without federal approval through a waiver process. And in the past, some of FGA's efforts have stalled because states never got that approval. Kennedy's agenda now echoes some of FGA's key messages, and he has said states can expect approval of their waivers. Meanwhile, congressional leaders are eyeing nationwide Medicaid cuts and work requirements, which FGA considers among its major issues. The foundation also has a connection working inside the administration: Its former policy director, Sam Adolphsen, was tapped to advise President Donald Trump on domestic matters. "We're excited to fight from Topeka to Washington, D.C., as opposed to Washington, D.C., to Topeka," Roy Lenardson, FGA's state government affairs director, told Kansas lawmakers in February when testifying in support of SNAP legislation there. Shaping State Policies In the states, FGA has become known as a conservative "thought leader," said Brian Colby, vice president of public policy for Missouri Budget Project, a progressive nonprofit that provides analysis of state policy issues. "Conservatives used to try to chop away at the federal budget," Colby said. "These guys are doing it at the state level." In its 14 years, FGA has created a playbook to shape state policy discussions around public benefits behind the scenes. In Montana, retired Republican legislator Cary Smith, who worked with FGA, said not all of the think tank's ideas split along party lines. "They offer a buffet of options," he said. "Their agenda is making government accountable; it's in the name." He said besides drafting legislation, FGA provides talking points and data to help policymakers support their arguments. "They would go in and would say, 'This is what Medicaid fraud is costing us,'" Smith said. "That would be the number you'd want to use in your bill." In January, FGA released a memo for states to "stop taxpayer-funded junk food." In February, Stateline reported that Wyoming Republican state Rep. Jacob Wasserburger said the group asked him to sponsor a SNAP restriction bill. The state sponsor of similar legislation in Missouri has repeated at least one of FGA's talking points, as reported by the Missouri Independent. In Arizona, Republican Rep. Leo Biasiucci, who sponsored the SNAP legislation there, told KFF Health News FGA was behind that bill as well. Opponents of such bills argue the proposals are not as simple as they sound. Amid debate on a SNAP bill in Montana, Kiera Condon, with the Montana Food Bank Network, testified the legislation would force grocery store workers to sort through what counts as soda or candy, "which could result in retailers not participating in SNAP at all." State lawmakers tabled the Montana bill in April. Montana legislators also easily passed a bill to extend the state's Medicaid expansion program even after FGA began publishing a series of papers that asserted the program was "breaking" Montana's budget. FGA had presented data saying most Montanans on the program don't work, which state data refutes. Ed Bolen, who leads food aid strategies at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank, said FGA has a pattern of proposing technical changes to existing laws and "unworkable work requirements" that cause people to lose benefits. After working with policymakers in Kansas for a decade, FGA helped pass legislation that limited how long people can access cash assistance, added work requirements to SNAP, and banned the state from spending federal or state funds to promote public aid. Many of those changes came through 2015 legislation known as the "HOPE Act" drafted by FGA, The Washington Post reported. Analysis from Kansas Appleseed, an advocacy organization for low-income Kansans, found the SNAP caseload sharply declined after the bill was enacted because of the new hurdles, dropping from 140,000 households in January 2014 to 90,000 as of January 2020. "It's death by a thousand cuts," said Karen Siebert, an adviser for Harvesters, a community food bank network in Kansas and Missouri. "Some of these FGA proposals are such complex policies, it's hard to argue against and to explain the ripple effects." In 2024, the foundation produced more than two dozen videos featuring state politicians from across the nation touting the organization's goals and dozens of research papers arguing public benefits are wrecking state budgets. FGA also has its own polling team to produce data out of the states it's working to influence. The organization released a list of 14 states it labeled as "redder and better" places to exert more influence. That included Idaho, where the group has four registered lobbyists in the state Capitol. In 2023, FGA helped present and successfully lobby for legislation there to require people receiving food aid to work at least 80 hours a month. The organization called the resulting law "landmark welfare reform" years in the making. And this year, Idaho lawmakers passed more requirements for people enrolled in Medicaid who can work. FGA staffers worked with one of the co-sponsors of the legislation on a similar bill last year that failed, then again this year. A compromise bill passed with FGA's backing, marking another victory for the foundation. David Lehman, a lobbyist for the Idaho Association of Community Providers, which represents health organizations that have opposed FGA bills, said Idaho illustrates how FGA works with sympathetic lawmakers in conservative states to gain more ground. "They're pushing an already rolling rock downhill," he said. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Arabian Post
14-05-2025
- Business
- Arabian Post
FGA Trust Appointed as ABC Bank's Eligible Introducer to Pioneer AI-Driven Wealth Corridor Between Asia and Africa
HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach Newswire – 14 May 2025 – FGA Trust, a Hong Kong-based innovative licensed digital trust platform provides comprehensive fiduciary solutions, has been officially appointed as the Eligible Introducer of ABC Bank, an leading Mauritius financial institution with over a decade of regional expertise, marking a strategic leap to empower high-net-worth individuals(HNWIs) in tapping Africa's booming investment opportunities. This appointment aligns with both parties' digital transformation roadmap, which combines the bank's African foothold with FGA Trust's AI-powered solutions to unlock high-growth opportunities for Asia's HNWIs in Africa's $3.4 trillion economy. FGA Trust provides an AI-optimized solution to fasten the client onboarding application process, automating KYC and documentation process while ensuring full regulatory compliance. Mauritius has been a strategic gateway for businesses to enter Africa, as it ranked among Africa's top three foreign direct investment destinations. The appointment offers structured access to offshore bank accounts, trust structure, multiple financing and investment channels, tailored for Asian and African HNWIs alike. FGA Trust's AI-driven Wealth Corridor helps to bridge the Asian wealth with African growth via such an appointment, echoing the Belt and Road Initiative. It also merges FGA's expertise in Asia private wealth frameworks with ABC's on-ground insights into African jurisdictions. Mr. Kavi Harilela, Director of FGA Trust, said: 'This appointment isn't just about bridging geographies—it's about rewriting the rules of engagement between Asian capital and African innovation. Africa's complexity demands more than ambition—it requires institutional trust. We would like to provide bank-grade custodianship and also build a foundation of compliance-by-design.' By connecting FGA Trust's AI precision and fiduciary solutions with the ABC Bank's finance infrastructure, it is creating a frictionless pipeline for investments into Africa's digital leapfrogging, opening up more opportunities for global HNWIs. Hashtag: #FGA #assetmanagement #HongKong #資產管理 #Trust #信托 #OffshoreBank #離岸銀行 Wechat: 香港FGA信托 The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. FGA Trust FGA Trust is a Hong Kong-licensed financial institution specializing in bank-grade asset protection and customizable trust solutions. Our services provide a secure framework for managing and safeguarding clients' assets, ensuring their financial legacies are preserved according to their wishes. With a team of experts from the trust, financial services, and payment sectors, we utilize cutting-edge, compliant technology to deliver customer-first services that prioritize safety and discretion. At FGA Trust, we empower clients to live confidently, knowing their arrangements are optimized for their benefit.
Miami Herald
08-05-2025
- Health
- Miami Herald
Florida group is chipping away at public food, health benefits a state at a time
As an Arizona bill to block people from using government aid to buy soda headed to the governor's desk in April, the nation's top health official joined Arizona lawmakers in the state Capitol to celebrate its passage. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said to applause that the legislation was just the start and that he wanted to prevent federal funding from paying for other unhealthy foods. 'We're not going to do that overnight,' Kennedy said. 'We're going to do that in the next four years.' Those words of caution proved prescient when Arizona's Democratic governor, Katie Hobbs, vetoed the bill a week later. Nevertheless, state legislation to restrict what low-income people can buy using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is gaining momentum, boosted by Kennedy's touting it as part of his 'Make America Healthy Again' platform. At least 14 states have considered bills this year with similar SNAP restrictions on specific unhealthy foods such as candy, with Idaho and Utah passing such legislation as of mid-April. Healthy food itself isn't largely a partisan issue, and those who study nutrition tend to agree that reducing the amount of sugary food people eat is a good idea to avoid health consequences such as heart disease. But the question over the government's role in deciding who can buy what has become political. The organization largely behind SNAP restriction legislation is the Foundation for Government Accountability, a conservative policy think tank out of Florida, and its affiliated lobbying arm, which has used the name Opportunity Solutions Project. FGA has worked for more than a decade to reshape the nation's public assistance programs. That includes SNAP, which federal data shows helps an average of 42 million people afford food each month. It also advocates for ways to cut Medicaid, the federal-state program that connects 71 million people to subsidized healthcare, including efforts in Idaho and Montana this year. FGA's proposals often seek to limit who taps into that aid and the help they receive. Those backing the group's mission say the goal is to save tax dollars and help people lift themselves out of poverty. Critics argue that FGA's proposals are a backdoor way to cut off aid to people who need it and that making healthy food and healthcare more affordable is a better fix. Now, FGA sees more room for change under the Trump administration and the Kennedy-led health department, calling 2025 a 'window of opportunity for major reform,' according to its latest annual report. A vision for limiting government benefits Tarren Bragdon, a former Maine legislator, founded FGA in 2011 to promote policies to 'free millions from government dependency and open the doors for them to chase their own American Dream,' he said in a statement on FGA's website. The main foundation, based in Naples, Florida, started out as a staff of three with about $60,000 in the bank. As of 2023, it had a budget of more than $15 million and a team of roughly 64, according to the latest available tax documents, and that's not counting the lobbying arm. The foundation got early funding from a grant from the State Policy Network, which has long backed right-leaning think tanks with ties to conservative activists including brothers Charles and David Koch. FGA declined several interview requests for this article. In recent years, the nonprofit helped draft a 2017 Mississippi law, the Jackson Free Press found, which intensified eligibility checks for public aid that made it more difficult for some applicants to qualify. It successfully pushed a 2023 effort in Idaho to impose work requirements for food benefits that health care advocates said led some recipients to lose access. The same year, the group helped pass SNAP restrictions affecting eligibility in Iowa. Since those restrictions have taken effect, the Food Bank of Iowa has seen a record number of people show up at its pantries amid rising grocery prices and a scaling back of covid pandemic-era federal support, said Annette Hacker, a vice president at the nonprofit. Part of the group's strategy is to pass legislation state by state, with the idea that the crush of new laws will increase pressure on the federal government. For example, states can't limit what food is purchased through SNAP without federal approval through a waiver process. And in the past, some of FGA's efforts have stalled because states never got that approval. Kennedy's agenda now echoes some of FGA's key messages, and he has said states can expect approval of their waivers. Meanwhile, congressional leaders are eyeing nationwide Medicaid cuts and work requirements, which FGA considers among its major issues. The foundation also has a connection working inside the administration: Its former policy director, Sam Adolphsen, was tapped to advise President Donald Trump on domestic matters. 'We're excited to fight from Topeka to Washington, D.C., as opposed to Washington, D.C., to Topeka,' Roy Lenardson, FGA's state government affairs director, told Kansas lawmakers in February when testifying in support of SNAP legislation there. Shaping state policies In the states, FGA has become known as a conservative 'thought leader,' said Brian Colby, vice president of public policy for Missouri Budget Project, a progressive nonprofit that provides analysis of state policy issues. 'Conservatives used to try to chop away at the federal budget,' Colby said. 'These guys are doing it at the state level.' In its 14 years, FGA has created a playbook to shape state policy discussions around public benefits behind the scenes. In Montana, retired Republican legislator Cary Smith, who worked with FGA, said not all of the think tank's ideas split along party lines. 'They offer a buffet of options,' he said. 'Their agenda is making government accountable; it's in the name.' He said besides drafting legislation, FGA provides talking points and data to help policymakers support their arguments. 'They would go in and would say, 'This is what Medicaid fraud is costing us,'' Smith said. 'That would be the number you'd want to use in your bill.' In January, FGA released a memo for states to 'stop taxpayer-funded junk food.' In February, Stateline reported that Wyoming Republican state Rep. Jacob Wasserburger said the group asked him to sponsor a SNAP restriction bill. The state sponsor of similar legislation in Missouri has repeated at least one of FGA's talking points, as reported by the Missouri Independent. In Arizona, Republican Rep. Leo Biasiucci, who sponsored the SNAP legislation there, told KFF Health News FGA was behind that bill as well. Opponents of such bills argue the proposals are not as simple as they sound. Amid debate on a SNAP bill in Montana, Kiera Condon, with the Montana Food Bank Network, testified the legislation would force grocery store workers to sort through what counts as soda or candy, 'which could result in retailers not participating in SNAP at all.' State lawmakers tabled the Montana bill in April. Montana legislators also easily passed a bill to extend the state's Medicaid expansion program even after FGA began publishing a series of papers that asserted the program was 'breaking' Montana's budget. FGA had presented data saying most Montanans on the program don't work, which state data refutes. Ed Bolen, who leads food aid strategies at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think tank, said FGA has a pattern of proposing technical changes to existing laws and 'unworkable work requirements' that cause people to lose benefits. After working with policymakers in Kansas for a decade, FGA helped pass legislation that limited how long people can access cash assistance, added work requirements to SNAP, and banned the state from spending federal or state funds to promote public aid. Many of those changes came through 2015 legislation known as the 'HOPE Act' drafted by FGA, The Washington Post reported. Analysis from Kansas Appleseed, an advocacy organization for low-income Kansans, found the SNAP caseload sharply declined after the bill was enacted because of the new hurdles, dropping from 140,000 households in January 2014 to 90,000 as of January 2020. 'It's death by a thousand cuts,' said Karen Siebert, an adviser for Harvesters, a community food bank network in Kansas and Missouri. 'Some of these FGA proposals are such complex policies, it's hard to argue against and to explain the ripple effects.' In 2024, the foundation produced more than two dozen videos featuring state politicians from across the nation touting the organization's goals and dozens of research papers arguing public benefits are wrecking state budgets. FGA also has its own polling team to produce data out of the states it's working to influence. The organization released a list of 14 states it labeled as 'redder and better' places to exert more influence. That included Idaho, where the group has four registered lobbyists in the state Capitol. In 2023, FGA helped present and successfully lobby for legislation there to require people receiving food aid to work at least 80 hours a month. The organization called the resulting law 'landmark welfare reform' years in the making. And this year, Idaho lawmakers passed more requirements for people enrolled in Medicaid who can work. FGA staffers worked with one of the co-sponsors of the legislation on a similar bill last year that failed, then again this year. A compromise bill passed with FGA's backing, marking another victory for the foundation. David Lehman, a lobbyist for the Idaho Association of Community Providers, which represents health organizations that have opposed FGA bills, said Idaho illustrates how FGA works with sympathetic lawmakers in conservative states to gain more ground. 'They're pushing an already rolling rock downhill,' he said. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF—an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about KFF.
Newsweek
23-04-2025
- Sport
- Newsweek
Best Magic vs. Celtics Player Props, ATS Bets: C's Heavy Game 2 Favorites
Can Jonathan Isaac (left) and the Magic upset the Celtics on Wednesday night at TD Garden? Can Jonathan Isaac (left) and the Magic upset the Celtics on Wednesday night at TD Garden? Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The Celtics and the Cavaliers lived up their reputations as the teams to beat in the East as the postseason got underway last weekend. Boston beat Orlando 103-86 and Cleveland blew out Miami, 121-100 in Game 1 of their respective series. Wednesday night brings Game 2 in both Magic vs. Celtics and Heat vs. Cavaliers, and neither of those games is expected to be close -- both favorites are laying at least 10 points. Magic vs. Celtics Odds: Spread, ML, Total DK FD bet365 ORL spread +10.5 (-110) +10.5 (-110) +10.5 (-110) BOS spread -10.5 (-110) -10.5 (-110) -10.5 (-110) ORL ML +400 +410 +400 BOS ML -535 -550 -550 Total 196.5 (o-110; u-110) 196.5 (o-110; u-110) 196.5 (o-110; u-110) In Boston, the Celtics will look to start fast after they trailed Game 1 49-48 at halftime. The reigning champs are expected to be without Jayson Tatum (wrist) tonight as he recovers from a hard fall in Game 1. Orlando, which got 59 points combined from Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, will need to get more from its supporting cast in Game 2 and beyond to keep this series interesting. Banchero (36 points) and Wagner (23) were outsanding, but they were the only Orlando players who topped seven points last Sunday. How to Watch Magic vs. Celtics Tipoff: 7 p.m. ET Channel: TNT/truTV/Max Best Magic vs. Celtics Player Props Kristaps Porzingis Over 19.5 Points (+106 at FanDuel) -- 1 unit Boston struggled on offense early in Game 1, and a big reason was Porzingis's inability to get going. In 26 minutes of action, he scored just 5 points on 1-for-8 FG shooting, including 0-for-2 from 3-point land. One of the Magic's biggest strengths this year was how well they defended the 3-point line, but don't expect Porzingis -- who averaged 6 3PA per game this year -- to be that quiet from deep in two straight games. The 7-foot-2 matchup nightmare took at least three 3-pointers in 41 of his 42 regular-season starts, and he scored 23 and 17 points in the two regular-season meetings between Boston and Orlando in which he was active. Porzingis won't pick up all of Tatum's slack in the likely absence of Boston's top scorer, but he'll be one of the main beneficiaries of the extra looks as the Celtics seek a 2-0 series lead without a player who averages 20 FGA per game. Tatum missed 10 games for the Celtics this year, and Porzingis was also sidelined for five of those contests. But in five games Boston played this year with Porzingis but without Tatum, the former scored 26, 19, 17, 25 and 30 points on an average of 14.6 FGA per game while making 10-of-27 total 3-point attempts in those games. Magic vs. Celtics Prediction, Best Bets Even if Boston struggles to score without Tatum tonight, the Magic do not appear to have enough alongside Banchero and Wagner to pull the upset on the road. Despite Orlando's regular-season success against the C's -- the Magic went 2-1 vs. Boston this year -- these teams are not exactly evenly matched, and it's hard to see Boston giving up another 36-point night to Banchero. With that in mind, give me the Celtics, who outscored the Magic 55-37 after halftime in Game 1, to win big and cover as heavy favorites. Magic vs. Celtics Best Bets: Celtics -10.5 (-110 at FanDuel) -- 1 unit Magic Team Total Under 92.5 (-108 at DraftKings) -- 1 unit Newsweek may earn an affiliate commission if you sign up through the links in this article. See the sportsbook operator's terms and conditions for important details. Sports betting operators have no influence over newsroom coverage.
