SCOTT AFB, Illinois, Dec. 21 -- The U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command issued the following news: Air Mobility Command has awarded 12 Distinguished Flying Crosses, four Bronze Star Medals, 208 Air Medals and 73 Meritorious Service Medals for actions taken during Operation Allies Refuge from its second and final awards board held in November. Those being awarded include maintainers, loadmasters, Raven-trained security forces, aeromedical evacuation personnel, and tanker aircrews across the Tot  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Census Bureau issued the following news release on Dec. 19, 2023: Population trends are returning to pre-pandemic norms as the number of annual deaths decreased last year and migration reverted to patterns not seen since before 2020, according to the new Vintage 2023 population estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The nation gained more than 1.6 million people this past year, growing by 0.5% to 334,914,895. More states experienced population growt  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission issued the following enforcement news release: The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today announced the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois has approved the previously announced settlement and entered a consent order of permanent injunction, civil monetary penalty, and equitable relief against Changpeng Zhao and his companies Binance Holdings Limited, Binance Holdings (IE) Limited, and Binance (Services) H  more

CHICAGO, Illinois, Dec. 20 -- Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul issued the following news release on Dec. 19, 2023: Attorney General Kwame Raoul, as part of a bipartisan group of 52 attorneys general, today announced a $700 million agreement with Google to settle allegations of anticompetitive conduct related to the Google Play Store. According to the settlement, Google will pay $630 million in restitution, minus costs and fees, to consumers who made purchases on the Google Play Store betw  more

CHICAGO, Illinois, Dec. 20 -- The Illinois Senate Republicans issued the following statement on Dec. 19, 2023: * * * State Senator Erica Harriss (56th-Glen Carbon) has released the below statement following the announcement and potential sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel Corporation: "For me, the question of whether this potential sale is good news or not, will come down to whether it will allow Granite City steelworkers to keep their jobs. Unfortunately, our community has had hope of stabilit  more

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois, Dec. 20 -- The Illinois State Treasurer issued the following news release on Dec. 19, 2023: The State Treasurer's Office has made more than $1.2 billion in investment earnings from the state investment portfolio in 2023, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs announced today. That amount includes the $115 million earned in November. Another $891 million in gross investment earnings was earned for cities, villages, school districts, counties and other units of government tha  more

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, Dec. 21 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory issued the following news: The modern economy is increasingly data-driven and dependent on advanced computing at a time when the traditional semiconductor materials used for computers are reaching their absolute performance limits. This gap in materials performance is pushing researchers to develop new materials for computing microelectronics with better performance characteristics and hig  more

PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory issued the following news: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and NETL are developing the next generation of advanced carbon dioxide (CO2) capture concepts to support the United States in achieving ambitious goals for a greenhouse gas (GHG)-neutral economy by 2050, a carbon-free power sector by 2035 and a 50% reduction from 2005 levels in economy-wide net GHG pollution by 2030. Research   more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the names of individuals who will hold senior staff positions in Washington, D.C. Georgette Furukawa has been appointed Chief of Staff for the Agricultural Marketing Service Most recently, Georgette A. Furukawa served at the White House as an Advisor to the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AA & NHPI) team in the Office of the Chi  more

WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 -- The U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement issued the following news release on Dec. 19, 2023: The Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement today announced an $8 million investment through President Biden's Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for states and Tribes to update their abandoned mine land inventories, to support future remediation efforts. The enhanced Abandoned Mine Land Inventory System, commonly known as   more

OLYMPIA, Washington, Dec. 20 -- Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson issued the following news release on Dec. 19, 2023: Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced today he is partnering with Sen. Joe Nguyen, D-White Center, and Rep. Travis Couture, R-Allyn, to propose legislation in the 2024 session to create an Artificial Intelligence Task Force. The task force will convene industry representatives, civil liberty groups, subject matter experts and other stakeholders to discuss AI benef  more