Tag: 3BL

Authored by Baker Tilly’s Michael J. Kessler, III

For many small healthcare organizations, it can be a challenge to balance the complex environment of quality care, compliance and financial sustainability. Proper cost allocation and financial reporting, understanding Medicare Part A co-insurance and bad debt management, strategic planning for workforce transitions, and staying current with regulatory changes and documentation are key for any small healthcare organization to proactively plan for and adapt to uncertainty.

Proper cost allocation and financial reporting

One of the most crucial considerations for small healthcare organizations is to have systems in place that can accurately allocate costs. Accurate cost allocation directly impacts reimbursement, financial transparency and strategic decision making. Organizations should work with a qualified professional to determine which systems will enable them to have detailed tracking across all service lines. The chosen system must be able to determine how tracking will take place as well as which metrics need to be captured — for example, nursing hours per day, square footage, pounds of laundry processed, etc. Without proper tracking, costs cannot be allocated effectively. This approach allows organizations to understand which areas are profitable, supports informed decisions and meets the expectations of both lenders and board members.

Understanding Medicare Part A co-insurance and bad debt management

Navigating the complexities of Medicare Part A co-insurance is a significant challenge for skilled nursing facilities. After a pre-determined length of a patient’s Medicare Part A stay, a resident becomes responsible for co-insurance, which can easily turn into bad debt if unpaid. Facilities need a system and a way of logging bad debt, whether that is a simple Excel file or an integrated billing system to track these unpaid co-insurance amounts. Remaining compliant with billing and collection policies is essential for claiming reimbursable bad debts on the Medicare cost report. Small healthcare organizations can maximize their reimbursement and reduce financial risk by evaluating internal controls and building a system to track effectively, as well as training staff to manage these processes effectively.

Strategic planning for workforce transitions

As a large portion of the healthcare industry workforce is nearing retirement age, a significant staffing challenge is beginning to loom. It is vital to take the time now to assess which roles are at risk and develop succession plans to ensure continuity. Evaluate current staff for potential internal promotions, identify if there is a need for recruitment and consider outsourcing where it makes sense within the organization. If there is a potential for outsourcing staff to support back-office functions like accounting, tax or HR and payroll services, the Baker Tilly Advantage team is able to step in and be a source of support and continuity. Proactive planning can help organizations present institutional knowledge and maintain operational stability, particularly in specialized roles such as healthcare accounting, where finding qualified candidates for experienced roles can be especially difficult.

Staying current with regulatory changes and documentation requirements

Healthcare regulations, especially those related to Medicare and Medicaid, are constantly evolving and have a direct impact on reimbursement and compliance. Organizations must prioritize educating clinical staff about documentation requirements for both state and federal programs. Regularly auditing claims can ensure proper documentation and help you stay informed about major regulatory changes. Additionally, educating organization board members about the complexities of operations can increase awareness of how regulatory changes and operational decisions can affect the organization’s overall health. An informed board is better equipped to make strategic decisions and support the organization’s mission, ensuring that governance aligns with both regulatory demands and business objectives. Leveraging internal and external expertise can help your organization adapt to new requirements and avoid denied claims or financial losses due to inadequate documentation and uninformed organization members.

Small healthcare organizations have the unique challenge of operating in a dynamic and demanding environment. It’s crucial that they can be proactive in addressing key areas such as these. Keeping these items in mind can help organizations build a resilient safety net that helps them mitigate risk and positions the organization for sustainable growth and improve patient care.

For more guidance, contact an experienced Baker Tilly industry practitioner about your healthcare organization today.

CHARLOTTE, N.C., October 29, 2025 /3BL/ – Discovery Education, the creator of essential PreK-12 learning solutions used in classrooms around the world, offers educators new resources and a unique career event to drive student engagement in workforce exploration on National STEM Day and beyond. Held annually on November 8th, National STEM Day unites communities to celebrate the importance of teaching K-12 students about science, technology, engineering, and math.

Research from the Education Insights 2025–2026: Fueling Learning Through Engagement report indicates that 87% of high school students think that career connections make classrooms engaging and over 93% of educators agree that student engagement is a critical metric for understanding overall achievement. To support the effort of making classrooms engaging by connecting instruction to potential future careers, Discovery Education offers the following learning resources:

Futures Fair Event

On November 5, 2025, from 10:30 AM to 2 PM ET, schools across the United States are invited to join the Futures Fair, a free event offering 30-minute interactive presentations from professionals across a range of industries. Organizations participating in the Futures Fair include 3M, ASME, Clayco, CVS Health, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Genentech, Hartford, Honda, Honeywell, Illumina, LIV Golf, Meta, Norton, Nucor, Polar Bears International, Prologis, The Home Depot, Verizon, and Warner Bros. Discovery. The presentations, as well as mentorship opportunities and standards-aligned hands-on activities, will give students new insights into potential career opportunities and the skills needed for future success in that field.

Learn more and register for the Discovery Education Futures Fair at discoveryeducation.com/futures-fair.

Immersive Learning

Discover more free immersive learning resources from Discovery Education and partners here.

• In Operation Communication, a new immersive game from the STEM Careers Coalition, students in grades 6-12 experience a day in the life of an employee in a simulated workplace, navigating production schedules, team dynamics, and customer satisfaction. Players practice a wide range of active skills with a focus on effective communication in the workplace to keep the production line running smoothly and create happy customers. Students can then use the new Career Finder tool to explore career pathways based on their interests. Powered by the STEM Careers Coalition, these resources help students find out about new careers and discover how classroom learning connects to real-world possibilities. The STEM Careers Coalition is an alliance of industries and non-profit organizations providing 15M+ students with equitable access to STEM resources and career connections since its launch in 2019.
• TimePod Adventures in collaboration with Verizon utilizes state-of-the-art, life-size Augmented Reality that students can interact with and control from a web browser on any device. Guided by an AI-powered assistant and featuring grade-band specific lesson plans, students face challenges and solve problems. In addition, educators can find more research-backed insights in the recent Immersive Learning as an Instructional Game Changer white paper.
• Salvage Safari is a new, free interactive game created with Niagara Cares and Filament Games inviting students in grades 3-8 to explore a coastal environment, collect and sort waste, and learn the science behind recycling, all within Roblox.

Virtual Field Trips

Discover more Discovery Education virtual field trips here or on the Virtual Field Trips channel in Discovery Education Experience. The latest include VFTs with partners such as Sesame Workshop, the U.S. National Science Foundation, Illumina, and more.

Careers at Sea and Shore: A Virtual Field Trip to Maritime Manufacturing Centers
Premieres: October 29, 2025
Grades 6-12

This virtual field trip shows students the world of innovative maritime manufacturing as they explore how submarines are built and the amazing careers of the individuals building them. Discover how the healthy, drug-free choices students make today can lead to meaningful and rewarding careers in the future – including the careers that create national security systems that can operate underwater. Featuring experts from Ocean Aero, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this virtual field trip highlights the creative, real-world career pathways and technologies shaping the future of maritime manufacturing. This virtual field trip, funded through the DOW’s Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment Program, is connected to Operation Prevention, a program with the Drug Enforcement Administration providing no-cost online tools that support every member of the community with the power of prevention.

Amphibian Adventures: A Build the Change Virtual Field Trip to the Georgia Wetlands 
Premieres: December 4, 2025
Grades 3-8

Join the LEGO Group and Discovery Education as we head to Jekyll Island and the Okefenokee Swamp to learn about the lifecycle and habitat of everyone’s favorite web-footed friend: frogs. As an indicator species, frogs can tell us a lot about the health of an entire ecosystem. “Hop” aboard a swamp boat to explore frog conservation efforts, including ways to help frogs in your community. This Virtual Field Trip is part of Build the Change, a program with the LEGO Group celebrating the power of play to boost learning and improve the world around you.

Classroom Activities

• The new Honda Safety in Action: From Racetrack to Roadway – It Takes All of Us is a two-part video series that brings professional racing into the classroom to help teach real-world safety habits. Featuring motocross champions Jett and Hunter Lawrence and IndyCar driver Scott Dixon, the new video series demonstrates how advanced safety technologies connect to everyday choices, such as wearing a helmet, buckling up, and avoiding distractions. This resource is from Honda Safety Driven, a program with Honda.
• With standards-aligned lesson plans and engaging student activities, educators can bring the lessons from the golf course to the classroom and beyond. These resources are from LIV to Learn, a program with LIV Golf, offering young people ages 11-14 and educators digital resources that explore STEM, life skills, and career opportunities, while also addressing topics of teamwork and sustainability.
• With Science Fair Central – an initiative created in collaboration with The Home Depot® – educators and families discover over 100 science and engineering project starters, student planning guides, judging tools, and hands-on activities. The resources challenge students to design a device using magnetism to fish trash from local waterways, use characteristics of an armadillo’s shell to create an architectural design solution, build catapults and trebuchets for a physics class mini-challenge, experiment with materials to insulate and cool a beverage, and more.
• With career inspiration profiles, students meet with STEM professionals at Itron as they share stories about careers making a difference in our world. Created with Itron, these resources are designed to help foster dialogue on the importance of energy and resource utilization.

Discovery Education subscribers can find all this content and more within the following products:

• Experience: Turn engaging content, such as virtual field trips and immersive learning content, into impactful classroom lessons with strategic, educator support through Discovery Education Experience, the essential classroom companion. These ready-to-teach lessons are easily accessible from the Sandbox Channel, Immersive Explorers Channel, and Virtual Field Trips Channel. STEM-focused resources encourage active student participation, critical thinking, and real-world application of knowledge while supporting educators with built-in instructional strategies and flexible teaching tools.
• Career Connect: Available to all users of Discovery Education Experience, the award-winning Career Connect fosters student engagement by connecting classroom learning to real-world applications and potential careers. Through Career Connect, educators request virtual classroom visits from industry professionals from organizations – such as Genentech, Trane Technologies, Nucor – and can select from an array of job types, industries, languages, and locations to further personalize interactions.
• Mystery Science: The STEM collection from Mystery Science offers a unique standards-aligned science curriculum for grades K-5 designed to help students stay curious.
• Science Techbook: Built around engaging real-world phenomena and designed for real classrooms, Science Techbook is a core science curriculum that combines ready-to-teach science lessons, STEM careers, hands-on learning, and embedded literacy and math practice to help every student thrive. 

“STEM lessons are a powerful way to spark student curiosity by connecting classroom learning to the real world. National STEM Day is a great opportunity for educators to tap into students’ interest in STEM, and these curated resources from Discovery Education make it easy and fun to do so,” said Jamie Jenkins, Senior Director of Instructional Design at Discovery Education.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning solutions, visit www.discoveryeducation.com, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.

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About Discovery Education 
Discovery Education is the worldwide edtech leader whose state-of-the-art, PreK-12, digital solutions help educators engage all students and support higher academic achievement. Through award-winning multimedia content, instructional supports, and innovative classroom tools that are effective, engaging, and easy to use, Discovery Education helps educators deliver powerful learning experiences. Discovery Education serves approximately 4.5 million educators and 45 million students worldwide, and its resources are accessed in over 100 countries and territories. Through partnerships with districts, states, and trusted organizations, Discovery Education empowers teachers with essential edtech solutions that inspire curiosity, build confidence, and accelerate learning. Learn more at www.discoveryeducation.com.

Contact 
Grace Maliska
Discovery Education
Email: gmaliska@discoveryed.com

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has adjusted its timeline for developing climate disclosure rules under Senate Bill (SB) 253 and Senate Bill (SB) 261. While the agency takes more time to finalize guidance, the reporting deadlines for covered companies remain unchanged.

SB 253 and SB 261 Overview

SB 253 applies to companies with more than $1 billion in annual revenue that “do business in California.” It requires disclosure of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, beginning with Scopes 1 and 2 in 2026, followed by Scope 3 in 2027. The disclosures must follow recognized GHG accounting standards and will eventually require independent assurance (CARB Program Page). The first disclosures for Scope 1 and 2 emissions are due June 30, 2026.

SB 261 applies to companies with more than $500 million in annual revenue and requires biennial reports describing their climate-related financial risks and mitigation measures. These reports are expected to align closely with the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) framework. The first reports are due January 1, 2026.

Together, these two laws form the foundation of California’s climate disclosure framework, aiming to provide investors and the public with consistent and comparable information on corporate climate risks and impacts.

A Shift in the Rulemaking Timeline 

In early October 2025, CARB announced that it would extend its rulemaking schedule for the state’s climate disclosure laws, SB 253 (the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act) and SB 261 (the Climate-Related Financial Risk Disclosure Act), into the first quarter of 2026. CARB explained that the extension allows more time to review public comments and refine key definitions and reporting processes. The agency has emphasized its goal of ensuring that the final regulations are clear and workable for companies of different sizes and industries.

While this adjustment gives CARB additional time to develop detailed rules, it does not alter the statutory deadlines for company reporting under the two laws. Organizations subject to SB 253 or SB 261 should continue preparing for their upcoming disclosure obligations. 

The reporting deadlines established by statute remain in place:

• SB 261: First climate risk report due January 1, 2026
• SB 253: First GHG emissions report (Scopes 1 and 2) due June 30, 2026, with Scope 3 disclosures beginning in 2027 

CARB has indicated it may apply enforcement discretion during the initial reporting cycle if companies demonstrate good-faith compliance efforts. However, the legal obligations remain intact.

What This Means for Businesses 

The timeline change gives CARB more flexibility but does not extend this flexibility to companies. Because the statutory deadlines have not shifted, organizations should continue planning and collecting data even as they wait for final guidance.

Despite these delays, experts agree that early preparation is the best strategy. Companies can start mapping emissions data, evaluating climate-related financial risks, and aligning their internal processes with the GHG Protocol and TCFD standards.

Steps to Prepare Now 

Starting early can reduce compliance risk, improve data quality, and demonstrate a good-faith approach once reporting begins. We recommend taking the following steps:

1. Confirm applicability. Review your operations and revenue structure to determine whether your company falls within the scope of SB 253 or SB 261.
2. Start data collection. Gather GHG emissions data for fiscal year 2025 and identify any gaps in Scope 3 data availability.
3. Align with existing frameworks. Use the GHG Protocol and TCFD as references, since CARB has signaled that its rules will rely on these standards.
4. Engage stakeholders. Coordinate sustainability, finance, and legal teams to establish governance around disclosure.
5. Monitor updates. Follow CARB’s official program page and workshops for the latest information.

How Antea Group Can Help

At Antea Group, we recognize that the delay in CARB’s rulemaking creates uncertainty for companies that still need to meet near-term deadlines. Our recommendation is that clients move forward with SB 261 reporting by January 1, 2026, even if that means including omission statements where specific data or methodologies are not yet available. Submitting an initial report demonstrates good-faith compliance and provides a foundation to build on once the final CARB guidance is published.

Antea Group can support your organization in two critical ways:

1. Report preparation and disclosure support. Our consultants can help you develop and document your first climate risk disclosure under SB 261 or your initial emissions report under SB 253. We guide clients in identifying reportable data, framing omission statements appropriately, and ensuring alignment with TCFD and GHG Protocol expectations.
2. Full climate risk assessment with scenario analysis. After the initial filing, we can conduct a comprehensive climate risk assessment that includes scenario analysis and quantitative evaluation of transition and physical risks. These insights allow us to help you produce a complete, CARB-ready report once the final rulemaking is complete.

By acting now, companies can demonstrate transparency, manage compliance risk, and position themselves for a smoother transition when CARB’s final regulations take effect.

To learn more about our CARB disclosure support services or to begin preparing your SB 253 or SB 261 report, please visit Antea Group’s Sustainability Homepage.

In Summary 

CARB’s extended rulemaking schedule reflects an effort to develop thoughtful and practical regulations. However, the reporting requirements under SB 253 and SB 261 are still on schedule. Companies that act now to collect data and organize governance will be best prepared once the final rules are adopted.

The rulemaking may take longer, but the time to prepare is now.

Further Reading / Sources

• CARB to Propose California’s Climate Risk Disclosure Rules (ESG Dive)
• Companies Must Prepare Even Though CARB Regulations Are Not Final (K&L Gates)
• CARB Delays Rulemaking Timeline for Climate Regulations (Yahoo News)
• CARB Program Overview
• Hurry Up and Wait: CARB Pushes Initial Rulemaking on SB 253 and SB 261 Until Q1 2026
• Unanswered Questions Remain Following Recent CARB Updates on California Climate Reporting 

In 2023-24 a Georgia-focused funding collaborative of family foundations awarded a two-year, $200,000 Drawdown Georgia Climate Solutions & Equity Grant to Gwinnett Housing Corporation (GHC), Georgia Hispanic Construction Association (GHCA) and Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA). The funders and grantees recently met for a for a follow-up visit in Atlanta.

The visit offered the three grantee partners an opportunity to reflect on the successes and lessons learned. The goal of their project was to expand access to healthy, affordable, and low-emission housing for vulnerable, BIPOC, low-income, and low-wealth community members in Gwinnett County.

They focused on identifying opportunities to engage with and provide educational resources, energy efficiency information, and funding opportunities to residents in Georgia House District 98 (HD 98), the most diverse and under-resourced part of Gwinnett County. HD 98 is 87% BIPOC with over 50% of residents identifying as immigrants. Their low incomes and low earning potential coupled with proximity to traffic, lack of alternative transportation, and linguistic isolation further compound the issue.

Grant Year One

The first year of the grant was heavily focused on reviewing data collected as part of a previous Justice40 Capacity Building Fund award, with heavy outreach for stakeholder engagement.

Extensive housing analysis already collected on HD 98 identified priority energy and housing interventions. The Drawdown Grant allowed the grantees to take the next step: leveraging the existing data to identify and braid funds from utilities, tax credits, block grants, and other sources to amplify federal funds and create two shovel-ready pilot programs.

While weatherization of homes at scale was a top priority of the program to help residents reduce their utility bills, the grantees also recognized that lack of funding was just one of several barriers. Workforce constraints and lack of training and certification were also prohibitive for minority business enterprise participation in bidding for contracts to weatherize homes. Training and resources for contractors were needed. The GHCA took the lead on this part of the grant, seeking to create access to weatherization and build energy efficiency training and clean energy minority job pipelines. Many of the contractors targeted for the training live and work in Gwinnett County.

Resident engagement was a key part of Year One. Canvassers were paid to conduct door to door outreach to homeowners and renters in HD 98 to measure the residents’ awareness and interest in various energy efficiency practices and funding opportunities. Multiple convenings were also held with residents to solicit their input as a community and to allow them to exercise their rights as decision makers.

Grant Year Two

In Year Two, GHC took the information gathered from residents in Year One and engaged with investor-owned utilities, electric cooperatives, philanthropists, state and county decision makers, banks and lenders, and other nonprofits–all necessary to best understand how to braid funding streams to best help the residents where they needed it the most.

SEEA provided technical assistance to GHC, GHCA, and municipal stakeholders seeking to apply for federal investments and additional grants, and they began engaging with outside funders.

GHCA deployed training and education modules and offered them to contractors seeking to secure federal contracts in clean energy and energy efficiency.

SEEA helped GHC develop a resource guide for Gwinnett County, with hopes to scale the program and offer it to other under-resourced Georgia communities that seek to match community priorities with federal funding opportunities for advancing healthy, affordable, and efficient housing.

This grant was funded by a collaborative of foundations with roots in Georgia. Funders for this project included: The Ray C. Anderson Foundation’s NextGen Committee, Sapelo Foundation, Kendeda Fund, R. Howard Dobbs, Jr. Foundation (Dobbs Fund), and The Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation.

About Gwinnett Housing Corporation

GHC is a private, non-profit 501(c)3 development organization with a focus on creating, rehabilitating, and operating quality affordable residential housing. GHC is experienced in every aspect of housing, from construction and rehabilitation of for sale affordable housing to low-income homebuyers, to maintenance and operations of affordable rental housing.

About Georgia Hispanic Construction Association

The Georgia Hispanic Construction Association (GHCA) is a 501(c)6 non-profit, membership-based organization established in 2012 to serve the needs of the growing Hispanic construction community in the State of Georgia. The GHCA provides education and business development resources to help small and medium-sized construction firms to build a stronger business foundation and to secure more and better business opportunities.

About Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance

The Southeast Energy Efficiency Alliance (SEEA), promotes efficient energy as a catalyst for economic growth, workforce development, and energy security across 12 southeastern states. We provide research, consultation and education, stakeholder facilitation, program management and financial services to a diverse set of stakeholders in the energy sector. We believe that all people in the Southeast should be able to live and work in healthy and resilient buildings, utilize clean and affordable transportation, and thrive in a robust and equitable economy.

Courbevoie, France & Pertuis, France, October 29^th, 2025 /3BL/ — Saint-Gobain Ceramics, a global leader in materials and solutions for sustainable industries, and Eurodia Industrie, a process engineering specialist in liquid purification technologies, today announced a strategic partnership to provide integrated solutions for the fast-growing Direct Lithium Extraction (DLE) market.

The collaboration combines Saint-Gobain Ceramics’ advanced lithium-selective adsorbent materials with Eurodia’s proprietary system engineering and process expertise, enabling an enhanced offering to DLE operators worldwide. The goal is to accelerate the commercial deployment of high-efficiency, sustainable lithium extraction systems proven at scale that minimize environmental impact and support the global electrification and energy transition.

“Combining Saint-Gobain Ceramics’ expertise in materials science with Eurodia’s process engineering creates a powerful offering for lithium producers,” said Othman Benjelloun-Touimi, CEO of Saint-Gobain Ceramics. “Together, we’re enabling the lithium industry to achieve sustainability and performance.”

Direct Lithium Extraction is a transformative approach to sourcing lithium from brines with greater selectivity, achieving over 90% Li⁺ recovery versus 43% recovery via evaporation methods^1,2. These systems have the potential to shorten processing time, reduce direct land use, and conserve aquifer water balance by reinjecting spent brine compared to conventional evaporation ponds². As global demand for lithium surges—driven by electric vehicles, stationary storage, and grid-scale batteries—scalable, low-impact extraction methods are critical.

“Partnering with Saint-Gobain Ceramics to deliver a tailored, complete turnkey DLE solution for lithium producers is a valuable opportunity for our clients, including those who have already placed their trust in us. Our combined expertise and experience will allow us to provide full guarantees of optimal operation for DLE and will therefore help the lithium industry to move faster towards a more sustainable future, with confidence and reliability,” said Mathieu Bailly, President of Eurodia.

Saint-Gobain Ceramics’ lithium adsorbents are the result of extensive R&D in ceramics and lithium-selective materials. Engineered for high capacity, selectivity, and durability, these adsorbents are optimized for repeated use in cyclic adsorption/desorption processes, a core mechanism in DLE operations.

Eurodia brings decades of experience in the design, optimization, and scaling of complex separation systems across industries such as food and beverages and those embracing the environmental and energy transition. Their approach enables customized DLE system design, tailored to specific brine chemistries and production goals.

The partnership is already engaging with lithium project developers and technology integrators across multiple geographies, with pilot systems currently in design and deployment.

About Saint-Gobain Ceramics
Saint-Gobain Ceramics offers advanced ceramic and refractory materials to meet the toughest application requirements in a broad range of industrial markets, including glass, lithium extraction, semiconductors and many others.

Visit lithium-solutions-materials.com to learn more about Saint-Gobain’s Lithium Solutions business within Saint-Gobain Ceramics.

Saint-Gobain Ceramics is part of Saint-Gobain, the worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction. Saint-Gobain designs, manufactures, and distributes materials and services for the construction and industrial markets. Learn more about Saint-Gobain at www.saint-gobain.com.

Media Contact:
Peter Clark
Saint-Gobain Corporate Communications
Media@saint-gobain.com

About Eurodia Industrie
Founded in 1988, Eurodia is a French global specialist in industrial processes for purifying liquids to the highest quality, with the lowest energy cost and environmental impact. Eurodia designs and delivers turnkey process solutions for industries including dairy, wine & juices, lithium & electric-battery, and renewable chemicals. Known for its focus on process sustainability and expertise in the industrialization of DLE technology, Eurodia operates across Europe, the Americas, and Asia. Learn more at www.eurodia.com.

Press contact:

Magali Triano – Agence Bleu-Tomate – presse@bleu-tomate.fr – +33 6 20 70 11 09

References

1. Vera, María L., et al. “Environmental impact of direct lithium extraction from brines.” Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 4.3 (2023): 149-165.
2. McCartney, John. “Spent brine management for DLE processing plants in the lithium triangle of South America.” (2024)

KFC Foundation

The KFC Foundation is awarding $200,000 in grants to 20 community-based non-profit organization projects focused on expanding access to food and shelter. Kentucky Fried Wishes, one of the KFC Foundation’s community giving programs, invites non-profit organizations to apply for a grant to fund a project on their wish list. This year, the KFC Foundation will fund $650,000 in Kentucky Fried Wishes to 65 non-profits nationwide, with grants awarded based on different project categories throughout the year.

This cycle’s grant recipients span over 17 different states and support a variety of causes and communities, including:

Alexandra House, located in Blaine, MN, supports survivors of of domestic and sexual violence through education, advocacy, and shelter. With their Kentucky Fried Wishes grant, they will create Linus’ Pet Haven, allowing surviors experiencing homelessness to bring their pets into the emergency shelter.

Hope Center Indy, located in Indianapolis, IN, provides both immediate care and long-term solutions for those in need. Their grant will fund a renovation of the donation sorting room, improving food storage and expanding pantry services for local families.

The Joy Bus, located in Phoenix, AZ, delivers fresh meals and comfort to people with cancer. Their grant will purchase kitchen equipment that improves efficiency, expands recipe options, and increases the number of meals served.

Kentucky Fried Wishes, Cycle 3, grant recipients:

Alexandra House (Baline, MN)

America’s Second Harvest of the Big Bend (Tallahassee, FL)

Atlanta Mission (Atlanta, GA)

Big Sunday (Los Angeles, CA)

Bridge to Hope (Culter Bay, FL)

Children First CEO Kansas (Wichita, KS)

Columbia Center for Urban Agriculture (Columbia, MO)

Eastern Michigan University Foundation (Ypsilanti, MI)

Haven’s Harvest (New Haven, CT)

Hope Center Indy (Indianapolis, IN)

Joppy Mommas Farm (Dallas, TX)

KCEOC Community Action Partnership (Gray, KY)

Little J Ranch Farm Sanctuary (Cloudcroft, NM)

Lost Our Home Pet Rescue (Tempe, AZ)

Muscogee Nation (Okmulgee, OK)

Pet Helpers (Charleston, SC)

Ryan’s House for Youth (Couepville, WA)

Southern Alamance Family Empowerment (Graham, NC)

The Joy Bus (Phoenix, AZ)

The Prisoner’s Hope (Louisville, KY)

Kentucky Fried Wishes is just one way the KFC Foundation supports, empowers, and serves joy to KFC restaurant employees and communities. The KFC Foundation also provides programs focused on education, financial literacy, and hardship assistance for KFC restaurant employees, as well as a food donation program to fight hunger and food waste.

The next Kentucky Fried Wishes grant cycle will open in early 2026 and focus on empowerment through education and training. Non-profit organizations seeking funding for a project within that scope can learn more and apply for a grant at kfcfoundation.org/wishes.

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AMSTERDAM, HONG KONG, OAKLAND, Calif., October 29, 2025 /3BL/ – Cascale has released version 3.11 of the Higg Materials Sustainability Index (Higg MSI), introducing new cotton datasets and expanded material categories for home furnishings. The update enhances data accuracy and supports more informed, science-based material choices across the consumer goods industry.

Part of Cascale’s Higg Index suite, the Higg MSI is the industry’s most widely used standardized framework for measuring material impacts – from raw material extraction through manufacturing and finishing. Updated twice yearly, the tool ensures users have access to the most credible, current data available. The Higg MSI is exclusively hosted on Worldly, the leading sustainability data and analytics platform.

“With this update, we’re advancing a more comprehensive, data-driven understanding of material impacts across sectors,” said Jeremy Lardeau, vice president of Higg Index at Cascale. “The improved cotton datasets address a long-standing data gap and represent the power of collective work to strengthen the industry’s access to credible, comparable information.”

New Materials Categories and Updated Datasets

To enhance accuracy and material diversity across the tool, the Higg MSI v3.11 introduces new materials categories that are especially relevant to home furnishing manufacturers, including mineral-based materials such as stoneware, natural stone, glass ceramic, porcelain, and container glass.

“Reliable data is the foundation of responsible sourcing,” said Scarlette Tapp, Scarlette Tapp, Executive Director, Sustainable Furnishings Council, where key assets were acquired by Cascale in September. “Continued evolution of the Higg MSI represents progress toward a stronger value chain for the home furnishings and wider consumer goods industry.”

MSI v3.11 also includes updated modeling for nylon and polyester and expanded data for cotton and leather. Its new cotton datasets were modeled according to Cascale’s industry-aligned Cotton LCA methodology, which was published in October 2024. The cotton methodology was the product of over three years of collaboration between Cascale and key industry stakeholders in order to:

• Define LCA Data Source requirements to reduce the dependence on costly full LCA reports and landscape existing data collection efforts.
• Define modeling approaches and clearly document what primary data is required, and what secondary datasets and assumptions are used in the LCA model.
• Define data use to facilitate better informed design, sourcing and sustainability decisions, and track field practice improvements over time.
• Consider metrics beyond LCA to complement the Higg MSI LCA data.

“Improving access to farm-level data supports hotspot analysis and can help key stakeholders, especially brand members, in their science-based reporting and evaluation of their selected materials,” said Miguel Gómez-Escolar Viejo, Head of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) at the Better Cotton Initiative. “Working with Cascale to increase data availability following an industry aligned methodology, particularly from smallholder contexts, strengthens collaboration with our brand partners.”

Updated Midpoints and Scores

Additionally, all midpoints and scores were changed to align with the updated LCA for Experts (formerly GaBi) database. Because background datasets such as raw materials and energy were updated, score changes of around ±10% can be expected.

Cascale members and Higg MSI users can learn more about the latest updates by visiting the Higg MSI Change Log.

ABOUT CASCALE

Cascale is the global nonprofit empowering collaboration to drive equitable and restorative business practices in the consumer goods industry. Formerly known as the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, Cascale owns and develops the Higg Index, which is exclusively available on Worldly, the most comprehensive sustainability data and insights platform. Cascale unites over 300 retailers, brands, manufacturers, governments, academics, and NGO/nonprofit affiliates around the globe through one singular vision: To catalyze impact at scale and give back more than we take to the planet and its people.

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Mastercard

By Sophie Hares, Contributor

After landing at Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, tourists can hop on a train to the city’s imposing Centraal Station and, from there, grab a tram to their hotel. A couple days later, after bouncing between the vibrant city’s highlights by foot, bike and a bit of public transport, they might board a train to Zaanse Schans to visit the iconic windmills that creak along the Zaan River. Later they can take another train to the lively university town of Utrecht for a concert before riding the rails back to Schiphol.

And they can do it all without ever changing money, wrangling with ticket machines or even downloading a local transit app.

That’s possible thanks to open loop technology for the country’s tap-in, tap-out system, which calculates distance-based travel charges. Travellers in the Netherlands (visitors and local commuters alike) simply tap their payment cards, smartphones or wearables to ride any of the country’s trains, trams or buses — even rental bikes.

The Netherlands, which is approximately the size of Maryland, is the first country in the world to launch nationwide contactless payments for public transportation. Partnering with Mastercard, it has built its OVpay system on open loop technology, which has the potential to help ease congestion in fast-growing cities worldwide. Today, at least 500,000 trips are made a day in the Netherlands using open loop, and London and New York use it for the majority of their overall transit.

Peter van Dijk, CEO of Translink, the company which rolled out the Netherland’s OVpay system together with all the public transportation operators in 2023, hopped on a call with the Mastercard Newsroom to share how it’s working out.

What was the motivation to add OVpay to your existing pre-loaded cards?

Van Dijk: The Netherlands is one of the few countries in the world [that] has for a long time had one payment method for all modalities — bus, tram, metro, train, boat, your bicycle, a lot of things.

We saw the developments around smartphones and contactless payments] and we said, hey, all our passengers are experiencing this. This type of payment is actually possible to pay for a cup of coffee easily. So why should we not introduce this payment method also in public transport? It was a very logical step for the operators and us to invest in open loop. 

What challenges did you face to integrate digital payments nationwide?

Van Dijk: There are a few hurdles, but the biggest one is that because we are in a cooperation, with nine operators and serving a whole country, we have a lot of stakeholders, especially the passenger. So we spent a lot of money and energy and time to create a common “customer journey” for open loop in public transport. And then we thought of all the services those passengers need and how to define them, a unified service concept.

Upgrading our infrastructure, because we have a relatively old infrastructure was also a big one. And I would say the third one is, is that TransLink is set up as the merchant of record, and not the operator. Normally they would say that the railway was the merchant, and now we are the merchant. So that was from an ecosystem point of view, that was a little bit of making sure that everybody understands how we collect money and pay it to the operators.

How has OVpay changed how people use public transport in the Netherlands?

Van Dijk: Nationwide, let’s say a quarter of journeys are now already done with open loop. It’s so easy for customers to use. We had a big event in Amsterdam called Sail in August, which is all kinds of tall ships in the harbor. Local people who are normally not taking public transport were advised to take public transport because it’s such a big event , and more than 50% of the travels were done with an open loop card during this event.

For tourists, they don’t have to buy cards, they don’t have to top up the cards. What we are doing with open loop is actually making it very easy for passengers to just get on board and travel.

Transforming cities

Beyond its bicycles and boats, Amsterdam sees half a million daily trips on its trains. Thanks to a tap-in, tap-out citywide system, travel is now easier than ever, helping people like 90-year-old Clarys to explore her favorite city.

What cost benefits have you seen so far?

Van Dijk: We thought also on the infrastructure side, we could save costs, because the technology we’re using is less complex than with the former card-based system. Because a passenger doesn’t have to buy a card, he can just use his bank card. In the Netherlands, you have to pay 7.50 Euros for an OV chip card, the current payment card, so it’s already 7.50 Euros that you don’t have to pay as a new passenger accessing the system like tourists.

What lessons could you share with other countries looking to go contactless?

Van Dijk: Start with the passenger, the passenger, the passenger. Make sure the customer journey is okay, and make sure that you have a service concept that is very much focused on a superb passenger experience. And if you do that, then you can probably be successful. Will you have challenges? Yes. Quality of service, technology, money, yes. Could be delays, could be other stakeholders. Everything is true. But my experience is that if your customer journey, your passenger service, is very good, then everybody will support the implementation.

Originally published by Mastercard

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October 29, 2025 /3BL/ – Direct Relief today committed an initial $250,000 in financial support and offered up its entire medical inventory to health providers in the Caribbean in response to Hurricane Melissa.

The Category 5 storm is churning through the Caribbean, with Jamaica and Cuba bracing for impact. Melissa’s ongoing threats include more than two feet of rain, dangerous storm surge, and wind speeds of more than 150 miles per hour. The storm has already inundated areas of Haiti and the Dominican Republic with deadly flooding and landslides. 

Emergency Shipments En Route, Building on Long-Term Support

Direct Relief has extensive and long-lived partnerships in the Caribbean, with operational activity occurring on an ongoing basis, making the organization strongly positioned to scale up during disasters.

Over the past five years, Direct Relief has shipped more than 75 tons of medical aid to Jamaica, and recent shipments to the country included insulin and specialty respiratory medications.

Additional medical support is currently being prepared for shipment, including field medic packs to equip first responders with medical essentials and personal care products for displaced people.

Direct Relief has also invested in the country’s resilient power infrastructure, with $3 million in cash support going towards emergency preparedness projects to provide solar backup power for medical warehouses, generators to equip health centers on the island, and a primary healthcare mobile unit.

Medicines Currently Staged Throughout the Caribbean

Because hurricanes can cause extensive infrastructure damage to ports and roadways, leaving communities cut off for extended periods of time, Direct Relief operates an extensive hurricane preparedness program. The organization pre-positions caches of medicines and supplies in storm-prone communities, each containing enough medical aid to treat 3,000 people for one month, with the goal of equipping health providers on the ground until regional supply chains can be re-established.

There are currently six Direct Relief hurricane preparedness packs staged regionally for use in Hurricane Melissa-impacted areas: two in Haiti, two in the Dominican Republic, and two in Panama. Additional medical support staged in Panama with the Pan American Health Organization (the World Health Organization’s regional office in the Americas) is also ready for deployment if needed by regional health facilities.

Past Responses Build Trust, Strengthen Hurricane Melissa Efforts

Direct Relief has extensive experience responding to hurricanes in the region, including Hurricane Maria, which experienced widespread and long-lasting power outages long after the storm ended. The organization funneled more than $75 million in financial support and medical aid to strengthen Puerto Rico’s health system, and also provided resilient energy for much of the island’s critical healthcare infrastructure.  

The organization also maintains key relationships with regional partners, including the Office of Eastern Caribbean States, which represents 12 islands in the eastern Caribbean. Direct Relief is also coordinating with the Pan American Health Organization, which has coordinated shipments of medical aid into Cuba and other countries in the region.

Direct Relief is ready to respond as Melissa’s impacts, and the region’s medical needs after the storm, become clearer.

by Craig Wichner, Founder & Managing Partner, Farmland LP

Feeding the world in the decades ahead is one of humanity’s greatest challenges. By 2050, the global population is projected to reach nearly 10 billion people, requiring roughly 70% more calories than are produced today. Yet water supplies may fall 40% short of global needs by 2030, and nearly a quarter of the world’s arable land is already degraded. On our current path, the math doesn’t work.

Farmers everywhere are grappling with how to increase productivity while protecting their land and resources. At Farmland LP, we see artificial intelligence (AI) emerging as one of the most promising tools to help achieve both goals. But unlike many industries that rush to adopt the latest technology, agriculture has little margin for error.

Farmers get one shot per year to plant, grow, and harvest a crop. Our approach is to integrate AI where it solves clear problems today, while methodically building the data and systems that will support regenerative farming for decades to come.

This approach is not about chasing trends. It is about building a foundation for large-scale, sustainable agriculture that will empower our workforce, protect our soil, and produce healthy food at scale.

AI refers to systems that can learn from data, recognize patterns, and support decision-making. On farms, these capabilities are already visible in tools that integrate drones, smart sensors, and satellite imagery. AI-enabled platforms can…

Find out more about what AI can do for farmers and how it empowers people not replaces them in Craig’s full article and video here – https://greenmoney.com/farming-smarter-how-ai-can-help-farmers-regenerate-land-empower-workers-and-feed-the-future

 

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