Wayne Rooney encourages I’m A Celeb viewers to vote for Coleen to do a trialSTATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) — Penn State players have watched Ashton Jeanty make opponents look silly all season. They don't want to be the next defenders Boise State’s star posterizes with jukes, spin moves, stiff arms and heavy shoulders. But they also know that slowing down Jeanty, who finished second in Heisman Trophy voting , will be their toughest task yet when the two teams meet in the College Football Playoff quarterfinal Fiesta Bowl on Dec. 31. “In any other year, I think the guy wins the Heisman,” Penn State coach James Franklin said. “You could make the argument that he should have won it this year. He is hard to tackle. He is compact, 5-(foot)-10, he has the ability to run away from you. He has the ability to make you miss.” Jeanty led the nation with 2,497 rushing yards on 344 carries this season. He scored more touchdowns (30) than any player since Najee Harris scored 30 times with Alabama in 2020. Additionally, Jeanty’s yards after contact (1,889) exceed every FBS running backs’ rushing total since Oklahoma State’s Chuba Hubbard led the NCAA with 2,094 total rushing yards in 2019. Jeanty also forced an NCAA-record 143 missed tackles this season. The junior did it all behind an offensive line that has been forced to shuffle its parts in the wake of numerous injuries. Only left tackle Kage Casey and left guard Ben Dooley have started every game up front for the Broncos this season. “He’s a beast in terms of his production on the field, but then also his durability,” Franklin said. “There’s not too many people that are able to get clean shots on him. All of it is super impressive. But I think the stat that I mentioned earlier, the most impressive stat is the yards after contact.” This could be Jeanty’s biggest challenge to date, too. Although he’s helped Boise State churn out 250 rushing yards per game, good for fifth among FBS programs, the Nittany Lions are well stocked to defend the run. Story continues below video Their defense is seventh nationally allowing just 100 rushing yards per game and has tightened up down the stretch. In its last six games, Penn State is allowing just 2.7 yards per rush and has only given up three rushing touchdowns, two coming in the Big Ten championship game against No. 1 Oregon. “They’ve had our backs throughout the whole year,” Penn State quarterback Drew Allar said. “They have made me a lot better throughout the year, just going against the best defense in America and just glad I got to go against them every day in practice and not against them out on the field in a game setting.” In the opening round of the CFP, Penn State held SMU to just 58 rushing yards on 36 carries. Meanwhile, the Nittany Lions notched 11 of their 50 tackles for loss over the last six games against the Mustangs. Most of those came from a defensive line that regularly rotates run-stuffing tackles Zane Durant, Dvon J-Thomas and Coziah Izzard between dynamic ends Abdul Carter and Dani Dennis-Sutton. Carter alone has 21 1/2 of his team’s 102 stops behind the line of scrimmage this year. He's hoping to add a few against Jeanty and stay off the star back's own long-running highlight reel. “I’m living in my dreams,” Carter said. “I’m having the most fun I ever had playing football and I’ve been playing since I was 8 years old. I’m very blessed. I’m just very humbled to have this opportunity. I just want to keep taking advantage of all the opportunities that I have.” Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here . AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-footballai poker game 。

Loo-less town's battle illustrates national problem

Penn State preparing for hard-charging Jeanty and Boise State in CFP quarterfinals

Singer-keyboardist Edgar Winter is 78. TV personality Gayle King (“CBS This Morning”) is 70. Actor Denzel Washington is 70. Drummer Mike McGuire of Shenandoah is 66. Country singer-guitarist Marty Roe of Diamond Rio is 64. Actor Malcolm Gets (“Caroline in the City”) is 61. Political commentator Ana Navarro (“The View”) is 53. Comedian Seth Meyers (“Late Night With Seth Meyers”) is 51. Actor Brendan Hines (“Suits”) is 48. Actor Joe Manganiello (“True Blood”) is 48. Actor Vanessa Ferlito (“NCIS: New Orleans”) is 47. Singer John Legend is 46. Actor Andre Holland (“Moonlight”) is 45. Actor Sienna Miller is 43. Actor Miles Brown (“black-ish”) is 20. — Associated Press Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!

Incumbent Zoran Milanovic wins Croatia's presidential election: Exit pollsPolice recovered a watch stolen from Travis Kelce’s home during a robbery, sources said. Law enforcement officials had not previously made mention of the stolen watch, and had only released information suggesting $20,000 cash had been stolen from the NFL star when his home was burglarized in October, according to TMZ . Sources familiar with the case said authorities investigating a string of burglaries at the residences of professional athletes have retrieved the famous athlete’s watch in Rhode Island, according to ABC News . KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – NOVEMBER 04: Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs reacts during an NFL Football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on November 04, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images) The home of the Kansas City Chiefs tight end was targeted while he played for the team, sources said. The home of Patrick Mahomes was robbed the day prior, according to police documents. Other athletes have also been victimized by what police now believe to be a sophisticated crime unit. The NFL issued a stark warning to its athletes, advising that they stay off social media and avoid declaring their play and travel schedules on public social media platforms. They believe the alleged robbers are targeting their homes while they are at games, according to ABC News. KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – NOVEMBER 10: Travis Kelce #87 of the Kansas City Chiefs walks off the field following the Chiefs 16-14 win over the Denver Broncos at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on November 10, 2024 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by David Eulitt/Getty Images) The suspects are carrying out extensive surveillance and are sometimes posing as delivery men to stay under the radar, an NFL memo said, according to ABC News. The alleged robbers may also be acting as maintenance workers or joggers, as a way of learning more about the residences and neighbor hoods they are targeting, the memo added. A security source that is close to the situation told the outlet that the suspects seem to know precisely what they are looking for, and where to locate the items within the home. They are making their way inside the luxury properties and departing within 15 minutes with valuables in-hand, the source claimed. (RELATED: South American Crime Ring Suspected In Robberies Of NFL Stars: REPORT) Police have not confirmed the identity of anyone involved in this case, and have not released suspect information at this time.

Damien Duff's decision not to impose 'ridiculous' booze ban is reaping rewardsIs Enron back? If it’s a joke, some former employees aren’t laughingIn the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in September, throngs of fashion elites were flocking to a makeshift catwalk along the French capital’s Avenue de Saxe. Paris fashion week was in full swing. But as the likes of Vogue editor Anna Wintour and Olympic diver Tom Daley took their seats for Stella McCartney’s summer 2025 runway show, Anne Jessopp found herself fighting nerves. The Royal Mint chief executive had spent more than a month preparing the 1,138-year-old institution for its runway debut: presenting an exclusive line of recycled gold necklaces, buttons and even a conceptual bra from its new moneymaker, the jewellery line 886. The project was no easy task. The Royal Mint’s team of expert jewellers and former coin makers spent 600 hours handcrafting nearly 100 pieces at its headquarters in Llantrisant, south Wales. But being asked to supply McCartney’s show was a coup for the 62-year-old boss of the government-owned British coin maker, who has spent the past six years developing new lines of revenue that could help the company stay relevant as the use of cash dwindles. Jessopp told the Observer it was a sign that the Mint was “really doing the right thing”. The Royal Mint was founded in London in 886 to make the country’s currency. It forged and minted coins at the Tower of London until 1968, when the company – which is wholly owned by the Treasury – moved to Llantrisant. The Preston-born economics graduate first joined the Royal Mint in 2009, having worked in the human resources departments of companies including Rolls-Royce, Procter & Gamble, and the RAC. She arrived at the Mint just as the government shelved plans for its sale . Jessopp had been put in charge of supporting its transformation from a government agency into its own limited company, still fully owned by the Treasury. At the time, currency circulation was still its biggest business, accounting for about 58% of revenues and generating £10.7m in pre-tax profits, alongside a smaller commemorative coin division. Fast forward 16 years and the circulating coins business last posted a £13m annual loss . It is a symptom of a years-long decline in cash use accelerated by the pandemic, when lockdowns and health fears cut hand-to-hand contact and boosted card payments. While cash is still used by many as a way to stick to budgets, the overall trend has taken its toll. This year, for the first time, Treasury officials did not make an annual order for new coins to be minted for general circulation. That has prompted some hard decisions. For one thing, while the Mint will continue supplying UK coins on request, it emerged in April that it was pulling out of the overseas coin supply market. It is part of a wider diversification strategy that bosses, including Jessopp – who was appointed chief executive in 2018 – have deployed to transform the business. “We didn’t want it to be on our watch that the Royal Mint cease to exist,” she said. Diversifying the portfolio has meant growing some of its smaller businesses. That has resulted in a fresh international push for its commemorative coin range, and working to expand the appeal of its gold investment arm. The chief executive introduced gold bars starting at £100 and exchange-traded commodities (ETCs) via the London Stock Exchange to draw in more young and female investors. But Jessopp knew more needed to be done. “We had to come up with some new businesses. We put together a team to look at what the opportunities were.” Some ideas – such as a Royal Mint-branded zip wire over the Bristol channel – never left the drawing board. But others stuck. This included its 886 jewellery line. Since launching in 2022, with an online store and shopfront in the swanky Burlington Arcade in London, it has cornered a segment of the market interested in sustainable, British-made luxury items. And with bestsellers such as a £2,076 18-carat gold ring and a £345 quarter-sovereign pendant necklace, it has lured big spenders and now boasts celebrity customers including the actor Cate Blanchett, U2’s Adam Clayton and the musician James Blake. Sign up to Observed Analysis and opinion on the week's news and culture brought to you by the best Observer writers after newsletter promotion But a need for a steady supply of sustainable gold also opened the door to another opportunity: precious metals recycling. In August, Jessopp unveiled a “pioneering” factory that recovers gold from electronic waste, creating a more sustainable source of the precious metal for the coin manufacturer’s luxury jewellery line. The factory in south Wales, which has been under construction since March 2022, is designed to extract gold from up to 4,000 tonnes a year of circuit boards sourced in the UK from electronics, including phones, laptops and TVs, with the help of patented new chemistry created by Canadian clean technology firm Excir. Jessopp says it now has the rights to set up factories with similar recycling programmes in other countries, potentially creating a new export for the 1,000-year-old firm. “We’ve got the international licence to run similar factories right around the world. So we’re working with Excir and another partner to look at what that will look like. “We sort of have found ourselves at the forefront of a new industry,” she added. The hope, ultimately, is that 886 – which is due to break even next year – would make up about 20% of profits in the long-term, with another 20% from the e-waste recycling business. “We’re still investing in our new businesses. So this next couple of years, we’re going to still be on that crossover, but we’ve got a trajectory to be really moving forward,” Jessopp says. Age “In my second year of my sensational 60s.” Family “I have a husband, Ian, and two wonderful daughters, as well as two lovely dogs and a geriatric cat.” Education “I was one of the first females at the all-male Kirkham grammar school. I went on to obtain an economics degree.” Pay “I’m so fortunate to be in a job with six-figure salary.” Last holiday “A really special week in the beautiful Amalfi coast.” Phrase she overuses “‘It can’t be that difficult’, which I know must be annoying for my team.” How she relaxes “I live in a small town in the Brecon Beacons. I love a relaxing weekend eating at the local restaurant and shopping in our high street. I always have a project on the go and I love researching and making it happen.”None

Is Enron back? If it’s a joke, some former employees aren’t laughingIsan heritage takes centre stage in Khon KaenHere’s the problem with the state of the Patriots. There are too many problems to count. Talent. Coaching. Roster construction. Fundamentals. Penalties. Mixed messaging and more. So where to begin with an eye on 2025? Start here, with the definitive ranking of the Patriots’ on-field problems heading into a critical offseason where the franchise must identify and institute some solutions. 1. Offensive talent As always in the NFL, talent wins. Or, in the Patriots’ case, keeps them from competing. If it weren’t for Drake Maye, no GM in the NFL would swap rosters with the Patriots. Even with Maye, it’s a risky proposition. The Patriots don’t employ a starting-caliber offensive tackle and arguably just one starting-caliber offensive linemen. No wide receiver on this roster ranks above a No. 3 option on an average offense, or scares any defensive coordinator. Both position groups rank among the worst, if not the worst, in the NFL. No wonder the Pats are the league’s only team not to score 25 points this season. You could argue both positions need a complete overhaul over the next 12-16 months, with only one player deserving to stay in each room (Mike Onwenu and DeMario Douglas). If the Patriots’ chief problem, indeed, was coaching, they would have stumbled into a few more touchdowns by now; individual greatness breaking through surrounding mediocrity. Instead, all of their best plays have been Maye masterpieces: from the 12-second, game-tying touchdown at Tennessee; 40-yard, pinpoint touchdown to Kayshon Boutte in his starting debut versus Houston; and fourth-and-15 conversion at Miami on a wing and a prayer. That’s talent, real talent, and the only talent they can count on. 2. Development Name a player who’s demonstrated appreciable improvement this season. There’s Maye, Christian Gonzalez, and ...? Perhaps Keion White, though he has one sack since Week 2. Young safety Marte Mapu, selected right after White, has gone from playing 100% of the snaps in his season debut to multi-time healthy scratch. Another 2023 draft pick, Kayshon Boutte, has been a roller-coaster in a better statistical season. None of the offensive linemen have progressed. That’s on coaching. 3. Defensive coaching Even during the dog days of the Bill Belichick era, you could always bank on a sturdy defense. Jerod Mayo promised that would continue in September, gloating about how the Patriots would “always have a good run defense” after they upset Cincinnati in Week 1. Let’s check on that. The Pats’ run defense ranks 29th by DVOA, 21st in yards allowed per game and 20th by EPA. The Patriots have been failed by their coaches on this side of the ball more than offense, for the simple fact there is more talent available to them. Not to mention the missed tackles, poor angles and constant cycle of communication issues that dogged them as recently as last weekend. Never before have the Patriots suffered from so many fundamental breakdowns this late in the season. Not to mention, the secondary packs plenty of talent; from Gonzalez, Kyle Dugger, Jabrill Peppers and others. It’s a new era with new problems that start with Mayo and rookie defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. 4. Defensive talent Gonzalez is the lone blue-chip talent on the defensive depth chart, and even an elite cornerback can’t stop the Pats from plummeting into the bottom five of the league by advanced metrics like DVOA and EPA. Even by more basic measures, like points allowed per drive and turnover percentage, the Pats rank bottom 10. They stink. Christian Barmore’s blood clots have been an unfortunate health scare for him, and bad bounce for the team. Barmore and Gonzalez are the only tentpole players on this side of the ball, with White’s trajectory still unclear and veterans like Dugger, Peppers, Ja’Whaun Bentley and Jahlani Tavai are closer to above average than Pro Bowl-caliber. Meanwhile, front-seven players like Daniel Ekuale, Anfernee Jennings, Christian Elliss and Jeremiah Pharms Jr. are being asked to play all three downs and surpassing career highs in snaps. And don’t forget Raekwon McMillan (released), Joshua Uche (traded), Jaquelin Roy (street free agent) and Sione Takitaki, who have all played at least 15% of snaps this season. It should be better than this, but the ceiling was never as high as once believed. 5. Game management I had no clue how the Patriots arrived at their game plans to win in Arizona, especially coming off a bye. Countless screens on offense, which kept Maye’s rocket arm in its holster, and a season-low blitz rate for the NFL’s worst quarterback against the blitz. That wasn’t the first set of head-scratching plans we’ve seen this season. Van Pelt’s conservative play-calling is, to a small degree, understandable given issues with pass protection. But the predictability is a problem, as is Mayo’s overly cautious game management. Too few fourth-down attempts and too many punts and long field goal tries. The Patriots must chase winning, not wait for it to fall into their laps. 6. Culture The starting left tackle quit on the team. The new veteran wide receiver left midseason in a “mutual decision.” Several receivers have expressed dismay over the play-calling, including two-time offender Boutte as recently as last weekend. Veteran defenders have called each other out, while Mayo shields that unit from criticism and goes in on his offense. Asked why the defense has fallen so far this season, Mayo chalked up the Patriots’ struggles to injuries Monday on WEEI. “I would say early on, we felt pretty good about the (defenders) we had out there. You look at the first game... you had (Ja’Whuan) Bentley out there... you had the safeties rolling... Obviously (Christian) Barmore wasn’t there... those things have obviously hurt us,” Mayo said. “Now, not making excuses and the other guys have definitely stepped up and tried to fill those roles, but those things definitely take a toll and just gotta be better.” Where is the accountability? Or lessons learned? 7. Infrastructure Take it from the players. The Patriots ranked 29th out of 32 organizations, per the NFLPA Report Card released last February. The report card, otherwise known as a player survey about working conditions, specifically hammered their weight room (F grade), ownership (D-plus) and training staff and training room. The Patriots also ranked dead last in cash spending over the 10 years prior to Mayo taking over as head coach and Eliot Wolf as de facto GM. 8. Offseason errors Ostensibly, Eliot Wolf’s goal last spring was to reset in Year 1 of a rebuild. Offload bad contracts, dump veterans who won’t play and trigger a youth movement while stockpiling draft picks. Wolf had some hits: signing Antonio Gibson and Austin Hooper in free agency, and netting Drake Maye atop the draft. Hitting on Maye means more than any combination of signings or draft picks will for the foreseeable future. That’s the power of the quarterback position, and specifically franchise quarterbacks. But Maye, so far, is the only hit in a draft, which has cause for concern moving forward. For example, if the Patriots had stuck at No. 34 overall in the second round and selected Ladd McConkey, the whole season trajectory may have changed. McConkey has thrived with similar opportunity in Los Angeles, where the Chargers’ receiving corps is just as unthreatening as the Patriots. Instead, the Pats moved back and took Ja’Lynn Polk. Through 14 games, Polk has a dozen catches, still can’t run his routes consistently enough and is mired in a historically bad rookie season. Meanwhile, the Pats still don’t have any answers or even insights into their other rookies from Caedan Wallace to Javon Baker, Layden Robinson, Marcellas Dial and Joe Milton. Not to mention, Wolf failed to rebuild the same offensive line that undercut the Patriots’ 2023 season, and has since been charged with protecting Maye, the face of the franchise. Stocking that position with mid-round picks and low-level free agents was inexcusable in real time. 9. Desirability The Patriots hired the 12th candidate they interviewed for their offensive coordinator position last January. Calvin Ridley passed on the Pats as a free agent in March. Brandon Aiyuk shot down a trade to New England in August. If the Patriots fire Mayo and/or a coordinator or two next month, who wants to work for such a fickle ownership group as this? Who wants to play here? Maye, unfortunately, is the only selling point, aside from whatever bags of cash the Patriots intend to send at their free-agent targets this spring. 10. Media missteps As others have noted, ex-Patriots assistant Joe Judge once talked his way out of being the head coach of the Giants by pairing disastrous play with equally disastrous press conferences at the end his second season. Mayo may be walking a similar path. Mayo has walked back several comments this season, after calling out his team, offensive coordinator and delivered mixed messages about his quarterbacks. He’s also made innumerable excuses for his defense. This has exacerbated his poor performance, which was to be expected to a degree, considering Mayo had only coached for five years before this season. Mayo appears to have a grip on this lately, keeping all answers short and varying degrees of salty during his last press conference on Friday morning. Smart move. But will it be too little, too late?

Here's my wish list for the incoming Trump administration to make America healthy and prosperous and great again in 2025. 1. Slash job-killing regulations The regulatory state is a $2 trillion tax on the American economy. We all want worker safety, a clean environment and consumer protections, but in too many cases the costs of regulations far outweigh the societal benefits. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to slash 10 rules for every new rule. Just do it, Mr. President. ADVERTISEMENT 2. Make the Trump tax cuts permanent As JFK, Ronald Reagan and others have proven throughout history, lower tax rates lead to more growth, more investment and more jobs. The Trump tax cuts meant that a typical family of four earning $75,000 a year saw their tax bill fall by half -- a benefit valued at more than $2,000. And the corporate tax rate fell from 35% -- the highest in the world -- to 21%, bringing jobs and capital to America. Trump has promised to make all these tax cuts permanent. Why? Because they worked almost exactly as we anticipated they would. 3. Replace welfare with work Growth will require more able-bodied Americans getting off welfare and into jobs. Welfare -- which includes cash assistance, public housing, food stamps, disability payments, unemployment benefits and Medicaid -- needs to be a hand up, not a handout. 4. Use America's abundant natural resources America has well more than $50 trillion of natural resources that are accessible with existing drilling and mining technologies. This is a vast storehouse of wealth that far surpasses what any other nation is endowed with. We can use the royalty payments and leases to reduce our national debt while creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. 5. Cut medical costs, demand transparency One of many ways to bring health care costs down to consumers (and taxpayers, who pay half the costs) is to require hospitals, pharmacies, doctors and health clinics to list prices for what they are charging. The Committee to Unleash Prosperity estimates that $1 trillion to $2 trillion could be reduced from health care costs, with no reduction in the quality of care, by allowing consumers to shop around on the internet for the best price -- just as we do when we buy groceries, a home or a car. This will foster free market competition and lower prices. 6. Allow school choice for all families Test scores in America have been plummeting. Kids are graduating from high school -- if at all -- without even being able to read the diploma. America no longer ranks in the top 10 in many academic achievement ratings. A child can get a better education at HALF the cost in the Catholic school system and in many charters. Trump has endorsed universal school choice for ALL children regardless of income or ethnicity or race. This is the civil rights issue of our time. 7. Implement a pro-America immigration policy Trump's committed to securing our border, but we also need legal immigrants through a merit-based immigration system. This visa system would select immigrants based on their skills, talents, investment capital, English language ability and education level. These characteristics all presage success in America. 8. Revive America's great cities Our once-great cities in America -- from New York to Chicago to Detroit to San Francisco to Seattle -- have come to look like war zones. Crime has run rampant. Businesses and people and capital are fleeing and leaving the poorest Americans -- mostly minorities -- stranded with tragically limited opportunities. Since 2020, our major cities have lost nearly 1 million residents. And tens of thousands of businesses. ADVERTISEMENT Trump wants to revitalize our cities and abandoned rural areas through deregulation, reduction in tax rates, changes in zoning policies and infrastructure investments. 9. Pull out of the Paris Climate Change Treaty We must end American participation in globalist treaties that hurt America most. This includes the Paris Climate Accords -- a treaty with which most other nations have failed to comply, yet which places huge burdens on American companies and workers. Trump also has pledged to end global taxation -- such as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's global minimum tax. Do we even need a United Nations? 10. Finally, drain the swamp There is a reason why three of the five wealthiest counties in America are in or around Washington, D.C. Washington is getting rich at the expense of the rest of us. Fewer than 10% of overpaid federal workers (of which there are more than 2 million) are working full time in the office even though COVID-19 ended three years ago. These are swamp employees that often get paid $150,000 or more a year. Fire them if they don't show up. And relocate federal agencies in other cities. These are admittedly bold aspirations for an economic transformation toward freedom and free enterprise. But the one person who can get it done is Trump. Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation.Private equity bids long goodbye to IPOsChar Ashariadaha in darkness amid Rajshahi's modernization

Is Enron back? If it’s a joke, some former employees aren’t laughing

Studs and Duds: Knicks bring down the house in Capital One Arena against WizardsBy JUAN A. LOZANO, Associated Press HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company’s collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work, wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions and rendered $60 billion in Enron stock worthless. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were eventually convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release that it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video that was full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” Enron’s new website features a company store, where various items featuring the brand’s tilted “E” logo are for sale, including a $118 hoodie. In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but that “We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company’s website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show that College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory that claims all birds are actually surveillance drones for the government. Peters said that since learning about the “relaunch” of Enron, she has spoken with several other former employees and they are also upset by it. She said the apparent stunt was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, who is 74 years old, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70