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Part of the reason so many lottery winners and heirs blow their windfalls shortly after getting rich is that they never learned the skills to manage, guard and grow that kind of money. The other reason is that they never had to sweat, sacrifice and risk to grow the fortunes that fell in their laps.

Grant Cardone: Passive Income Is the Key To Building Wealth — Here’s My No. 1 Tip
Find Out: How To Get Cash Back on Your Everyday Purchases

But self-made millionaires know just how hard it is to build riches worth seven figures — and they’re in no rush to return to where they started. Toiling your way to wealth tends to breed financial discipline, which means passing on things that you might want and can afford. That’s how you turn a small fortune into a large one.

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A Millionaire Guards His Wealth After Almost Losing It All

Brian Crane is the founder and CEO of Spread Great Ideas, a multi-million dollar fund that invests capital “and sweat equity” into digital businesses and e-commerce brands. He’s helped launch four multi-million-dollar companies, including Archives.com, which Ancestry.com acquired for $100 million three years after its launch.

His hard work paid off, and he’s now a self-made millionaire — but you wouldn’t know it by looking at his lifestyle.

“I learned the hard way very early in my entrepreneurship journey that splurging without the correct checks and balances can make one a pauper,” said Crane. “When I sold my first company in my late 20s, I made some foolish investment decisions that brought me close to bankruptcy. I am lucky that I learned fast.”

Here are the things he doesn’t splurge on to ensure he doesn’t repeat his early career mistakes and risk all that he’s worked so hard to build.

Check Out: 7 Things the Middle Class Spends Money on That Hurts Their Chances of Being Rich

Designer Luxury Brands

Movie, music and sports stars are infamous for squandering their fortunes on shiny things and status symbols that social media influencers peddle without mentioning that they’re depreciating assets.

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Crane wants nothing to do with any of it. His favorite status symbol is one you can’t wear, drive or fly — a bulging bank account.

“With truckloads of money, you may be enticed to buy the flashiest, trendiest stuff, whether apparel or cars,” he said. “Know and understand the importance of quality and cost. Remember that when you put depreciation costs into effect, the luxury brands can punch a hole in your pocket, which you could have used to buy quality apparel from a cheaper store. Extravagance may look good to the eyes, but you can do better by putting the same money into more appropriate investments.”

Mansions

The ultimate status symbol is an opulent house tricked out with premium décor and pricey tech. But giant houses come with giant bills — and they can be very hard to sell once the nouveau riche realize they’re in over their heads.

“Most millionaires invest in luxury houses, only to find a way to flip them at a higher cost or rent it away and make some side money from the asset,” said Crane. “There is no point in splurging on huge houses if you are never going to use the eleventh bedroom or bathroom. The truly rich people become rich not by splurging but by investing in profitable, money-making assets that give them favorable returns over time.”

Ultra-Luxe Leisure and Entertainment

The recklessly rich all share a proclivity for two things that advertise their wealth. The first is stuff — high-end designer bags, apparel and accessories, fast cars, fancy houses and the rest, like the kind that Crane described.

The second is the good life, which you can watch influencers living and faking all day long on social media.

“Eating from gold-plated cutlery may look good on Instagram, but splurging to maintain your appearance and leisurely activities can waste resources,” said Crane. “High-end entertainment, like going on costly offshore vacations, eating from the choicest restaurants or splurging on private jet travel, may look good in magazines, but the rags-to-riches millionaire always keeps a check on what he puts money on.”

He concluded, “In today’s world, where you can have the same experiences for a lot less, wasting money on these fleeting moments must be avoided.”

Another Avoids Little Luxuries That Add Up Over Time

Jared Bauman has nearly 20 years of experience in business management and digital marketing. His company, 201 Creative, counts corporations like Disney and Universal among its clients, and Bauman — who has started and sold several businesses — is an in-demand speaker.

He’s also a millionaire, and, like Crane, he shuns flashy advertisements of personal wealth. “Luxury cars and watches are fleeting status symbols I avoid,” he said.

But saying no to the obvious, big-ticket extravagance is the easy part. The true test of his financial discipline is in day-to-day life, when it comes time to say no to the affordable splurges that bleed you slowly over time.

“Overpriced coffee shops are an indulgence I skip,” said Bauman. “At the end of the day, I steer clear of anything that depletes my savings without providing real, lasting personal value. The habits that got me here keep me grounded while still enjoying the important things.”

More From GOBankingRates

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: I’m a Self-Made Millionaire: 4 Things To Stop Buying That Are a Waste of Money

By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Bassam Masoud and Dan Williams

DOHA/GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Palestinian gunmen kept up attacks against Israeli forces on Sunday in the Gaza Strip’s two main cities, weeks after they were overrun by troops and tanks, in a sign Hamas still maintains some control ahead of any potential truce.

Nearly four months into the war triggered by the Palestinian Islamist group’s deadly cross-border rampage in Israel, there was persistent fighting in Gaza City in the north of the densely populated enclave, and in Khan Younis to the south.

At the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said 17 of Hamas’ 24 combat battalions had been dismantled. The rest, he said, were mostly in the southern Gaza Strip – including Rafah, on the enclave’s Egyptian border.

“We’ll take care of them, too,” he said, according to a statement from his office. Hamas does not publish its losses.

The prospect of a push into Rafah has piled pressure on the hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have fled their homes elsewhere and are sheltering there. It also worries Cairo, which has said it will not admit any influx of Palestinian refugees in what it describes a bid to prevent any permanent dispossession.

An Israeli official told Reuters, however, that the military would coordinate with Egypt, and seek ways of evacuating most of the displaced people northward, ahead of any Rafah ground sweep.

Palestinians reported Israeli tank shelling and air strikes there, including one that killed two girls in a house.

As mourners bade farewell to the dead children, a relative, Mohammed Kaloub, said the air strike hit a room full of women and children in Rafah’s al-Salam neighborhood.

“There is no safe place in Gaza, from the wire fence to the wire fence (borders from north to south), there is no safe place,” he told Reuters.

Palestinian health officials said eight people were killed in separate Israeli air strikes on Deir Al-Balah areas in the central Gaza Strip. Deir Al-Balah is the second city in the enclave where Israel has not yet deployed tanks.

After conducting partial pullouts from Gaza City in the past few weeks that enabled some residents to return and pick through the rubble, Israeli forces have been mounting incursions. Netanyahu described these on Sunday as “mopping-up operations”.

Before dawn on Sunday, air strikes destroyed several multi-storey buildings, including an Egyptian-funded housing project, residents said. The military said it killed seven Hamas gunmen in northern Gaza and seized weaponry. Israel’s Army Radio said troops in the area were trying to penetrate two Hamas bunkers, a mission it said could take two weeks amid clashes at the sites.

“Gaza City is being wiped out,” one resident who asked not to be named told Reuters. “The (Israeli) pull-out was a ruse.”

‘NEUTRALISING’ TUNNELS

In Khan Younis, overnight Israeli shelling killed three Palestinians, medics said. Residents reported street fighting raging in western and southern areas of the city, where Israel said a soldier was killed in a Palestinian attack on Saturday.

Troops in Khan Younis seized a Hamas compound and killed several gunmen, the military said. Netanyahu said Israeli forces in the city were “neutralising” Hamas tunnels that run throughout Gaza, enabling gunmen to hole up and launch ambushes.

“This demands more time yet,” he told his ministers.

Gaza health authorities, who do not differentiate between militants and civilians in their tallies, said on Sunday more than 27,300 Palestinians have been confirmed killed since the war began. They say that 70% of those killed have been women and children. Thousands more are feared lost amid the ruins.

Israel says it has killed some 10,000 gunmen in its campaign to annihilate Hamas after the Oct. 7 attack by the group, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction. In the rampage, 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.

More than 130 hostages are still in Gaza, and their possible release by Hamas is among issues under discussion in Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated negotiations, that are backed by the United States, to secure a truce.

Hamas has demanded an end to the war. Israel rules that out but is open to a temporary truce.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi hosted French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne in a meeting on Sunday that Sisi’s office said emphasized Egypt’s collaborative efforts to establish a ceasefire and deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.

(Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha and Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Tala Ramadan in DubaiEditing by Frances Kerry)

February is here, and the funny signs just keep on rolling in. So let’s take a moment and enjoy the best of the week, courtesy of r/funnysigns:

1.“Is anyone curious about what ‘more’ is?”

2.“Brilliant!”

3.“I’ll have the soup and salad, please.”

4.“Everything happens for a reason…”

5.“I really like this sign.”

6.“You are the solution to my problems.”

7.“That car is a beast!”

8.“The most useful sign.”

9.“Words (pics) to live by.”

10.“Take care of the beer like a baby.”

11.“Great advice.”

12.“Is that a sign or a philosophical statement?”

13.“Funny bar sign.”

14.“Always use the stairs.”

15.“His bark is bigger than his bite.”

16.“Don’t wet the dry.”

17.“You really should.”

18.“Obvious sign?”

19.“This sign is so right.”

Don’t miss last week’s funniest signs:

18 Funny Signs This Week That Made Me Laugh More Than Any Male Comedian I’ve Ever Paid To See

New York City will soon launch a $53 million pilot program to hand out pre-paid credit cards to migrant families housed in hotels, according to a report.

The New York Post, citing city records, reported that 500 migrant families at the Roosevelt Hotel will receive pre-paid cards to help them buy food. The program is intended to replace the current food service provided there, the Post reported.

“Not only will this provide families with the ability to purchase fresh food for their culturally relevant diets and the baby supplies of their choosing, but the pilot program is expected to save New York City more than $600,000 per month, or more than $7.2 million annually,” a spokesperson for New York City Mayor Eric Adams told the paper in a statement.

City Hall did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ILLEGAL MIGRANT FLIPS MIDDLE FINGERS AFTER BEING CHARGED WITH ATTACKING NYPD IN TIMES SQUARE

The pre-paid cards may only be used at bodegas, grocery stores, supermarkets and convenience stores. Migrants eligible for the program must sign an affidavit stating they will only spend the funds on food and baby supplies, or else they would lose access to the funds, the report said.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

The amount available to each migrant family depends on their size and how much income they are receiving, according to the contract reviewed by the Post. A family of four might be provided nearly $1,000 each month, or $35 per day for food, the Post reported. The cards are replenished every 28 days.

New Jersey company Mobility Capital Finance has partnered with the city to run the program.

NEW YORK REPUBLICAN CALLS ON HOCHUL, ADAMS TO DENOUNCE BIDEN’S BORDER POLICY AMID MIGRANT CRISIS IN BIG APPLE

“MoCaFi looks forward to partnering with New York City to disburse funds for asylum seekers to purchase fresh, hot food,” MoCaFi CEO and founder Wole Coaxum told the Post. “MoCaFi’s goal is to expand access to financial resources for individuals excluded from banking, such as asylum seekers, while helping the local economy.”

City officials said that if the pilot program is a success with the initial 500 migrant families, it will be expanded to all migrant families staying in hotels, which is 15,000 currently.

More than 150,000 migrants have arrived in New York City since 2022, overwhelming city resources as officials have struggled to find housing for them. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has bused asylum-seekers to New York and other cities in an effort to assist them in traveling to sanctuary jurisdictions and also highlight the crisis that border communities face on a daily basis.

NYPD IMPOUNDS 80 UNLICENSED MIGRANT MOPEDS FROM OUTSIDE ROOSEVELT AND WATSON HOTEL SHELTERS

Mayor Adams has decried the arrivals as a humanitarian crisis and said that providing food and housing for the migrants will cost the city about $12 billion over three years.

In October, the mayor traveled to Latin America on a tour to dissuade potential migrants in Mexico, Colombia and Ecuador from attempting to come to the city, saying the city is “at capacity.”

CLICK TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Critics, however, have said that New York City’s sanctuary policies and handouts to migrants will only encourage more immigration.

“If I were promoting an event and wanted to attract the biggest possible crowd without worrying about losing money, I’d make admission free and give everyone complimentary pizza and beer,” Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs, a Tennessee Republican and former WWE wrestler, posted on X, commenting on the New York Post report. “That’s kinda immigration policy right now.”

Original article source: New York City to hand out $53 million in pre-paid credit cards to migrant families: report

A few months ago, we learned that if you eat food that’s been sitting out too long, it could lead to serious health complications. And, in rare cases, it could cause death. It is a phenomenon that some medical experts refer to as “Fried Rice Syndrome”:

Now people across the internet are pointing out another important aspect to keep in mind: Even if you don’t leave your rice out at room temperature for very long, simply keeping it in your fridge for more than a day can be harmful.

Some people are even sharing how reheated, leftover rice has landed them in the hospital with food poisoning.

BuzzFeed found one expert who experienced this firsthand — and her story went viral. Dr. Lauren DeDecker is a resident physician in internal medicine who got so ill from rice she had to be transported to a hospital via helicopter.

She told BuzzFeed that while visiting the Himalayas, she ordered a “traditional sweet rice dish from Nepal.” However, after a few hours, she became violently ill. “The following day I was too dehydrated and weak to leave. I had to be helicoptered to the nearest bigger town to get IV fluids,” she shared.

Luckily, Dr. DeDecker was fine after she received medical care. “Before I left, I asked how had they prepared my dinner. They told me openly that the rice dish had been made in a large pot that morning, had been out at room temperature all day, then reheated and served that night for dinner. So, it hadn’t been refrigerated. While I can’t know for certain that it was the B. Cereus food poisoning — or Fried Rice Syndrome — based on what I ate and that history, it’s very likely that that’s what it was,” she explained. You can listen to her story about it on TikTok here.

Dr. DeDecker said the safest recommendation is to put any rice that you’re not going to consume immediately in the fridge within one to two hours of cooking (but one hour is safer). The most important thing to note, however, is that you should only reheat rice ONCE. “Let’s say you have leftovers. You would not want to take some of that rice, reheat it, not finish it, put it back in the fridge, and then reheat that same portion of rice again.”

Reheating rice more than once, according to Dr. DeDecker, increases the risk that you could get B. Cereus because you’re increasing the time that it’s not properly cooled or heated. “Bacteria is ubiquitous in the environment, it’s not rare, but it’s not going to be in all rice and green products. You’re not going to know if it is in the rice or not because it’s microscopic. And this goes for white, fried rice, any rice,” she explained.

However, many people on TikTok are saying this phenomenon isn’t real because they’ve reheated rice a million times and it has never happened to them…but Dr. DeDecker said it is very real. “The bacteria is not going to be in every single vat or package of rice. It also takes a certain amount of bacteria to make you sick. When cooked rice is out at room temperature for too long, the bacteria and the spores can multiply and increase in number and so the load can get high enough to make you ill,” she added.

So, let’s go over Dr. DeDecker’s safest practices so that we can do our best to prevent this illness from happening in our own lives: “To prevent getting sick, serve rice as soon as it has been cooked. Then, put the leftover rice in the fridge within one hour of cooking it. Keep the rice in the fridge no longer than one day. Do not reheat the same portion of rice more than once. Rice should be stored below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.”

You can read more about how to prevent Bacillus cereus here.

Outspoken finance personality Dave Ramsey kicked up a fiery debate on TikTok recently when he described a caller to his show as “dumber than crap” for paying too much in child care.

“Are they going to Harvard?” he asked, aghast at the astronomical costs. “They’re not even in school and you’re already paying $25,000 a head?”

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Altogether, the caller, Dave from Philadelphia, pays a total of $80,000 a year for his kids’ daycare and to hire a nanny in the summer, admitting, “it is a pretty fancy daycare.”

“There’s cheaper routes,” said co-host Jade Warshaw. “You can downgrade.”

However, viewers watching a short clip of the original interview from last year, posted on TikTok in January, were unconvinced, calling Ramsey “out of touch.”

Here’s why younger parents believe older generations are likely unaware of the rapidly escalating costs of child care.

Child-care payments have surged

Child-care payments have surged 32% since pre-pandemic levels, reports the Bank of America Institute.

As of September 2023, the average household spent over $700 a month on child care, but this figure can vary widely depending on where the family lives. In New York City, for instance, sending an infant to daycare full-time could cost as much as $2,854, according to child-care platform Care.com.

To keep up with the rising costs, some parents are taking up additional jobs and side hustles, while others have left the workforce entirely. A 2023 report by ReadyNation even says the country’s child care “crisis” costs the economy $122 billion in lost earnings, productivity and revenue every year.

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In this context, Ramsey’s caller doesn’t seem unreasonable. “Dave owes this guy an apology,” says one commenter.

Parenting and career influencer Paige Turner reacted to Ramsey’s video in her own TikTok video.

“It never ceases to amaze me how out of touch some people are with the lived experiences of parents here in the United States,” Turner says.“Dave is supposed to be an expert in his field so you would think he would know that child care is the number one rising cost for families here in our country.”

Turner goes as far as saying Ramsey shouldn’t be giving financial advice if he doesn’t recognize this key piece of the current financial reality for many Americans. She believes the government needs to step in and help subsidize the cost.

Read more: Unlocking financial prosperity: Jeff Bezos shares the path to prime earnings through hassle-free real estate investment — don’t miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your financial future

Subsidized child care could be the answer

American child care costs are substantially higher than the rest of the developed world.

Net child care costs are about 32% of the average wage in the U.S., while countries that belong to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average out closer to 11%, according to the latest data.

Canada is working toward lowering child-care costs to CA$10 ($7.44) a day, while in some parts of Europe early child care is free.

The 2021 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) directed nearly $40 billion to child care centers across the U.S., but that program ended in September 2023. Experts warned the country was headed for a “child care cliff” and recommended another subsidy program to ease the burden on parents and the economy.

There may be other options

While many Americans must make the difficult choice between expensive daycare centers or unpaid labor at home, there may be a few other options that parents can look into as well.

Some employers may include child care subsidies as part of their benefits package, or offer discounted on-site daycare centers. They could also offer a flexible spending account (FSA) to help cover services like preschool, daycare and before or after school programs.

Depending on your income, you could be eligible for certain tax credits as well. The child and dependent care tax credit helps parents cover care for children under 13 while they work, or look for work. You could also qualify for the child tax credit even if you haven’t paid for care services.

Or, consider reaching out to people in your community. You can talk to other parents about sharing a nanny or starting a child care co-op, in which parents take turns watching each other’s children.

What to read next

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.

Former President Trump revealed his criteria for a running mate on Sunday, but he told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that he won’t announce a vice presidential pick “for a little while.”

Trump made the comments in an interview with Bartiromo that aired on “Sunday Morning Futures.” He said the most important factor is to ensure his running mate would be able to step up and handle the presidency in the case of an emergency.

“What criteria are you using to identify who your running mate is?” Bartiromo asked.

“Always, it’s got to be who is going to be a good president. Obviously, you always have to think that because in case of emergency. Things happen, right? No matter who you are, things happen. That’s got to be No. 1,” Trump said.

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“Who is your running mate?” Bartiromo said.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

“Well, I have a lot of good people. I have a lot of good ideas,” he added, saying he “talks to everybody.”

VOTERS SHARE TOP RUNNING MATE CHOICES FOR TRUMP IF ELECTED: ‘IT HAS TO BE SOMEONE YOUNGER’

“You know, I called [South Carolina Sen.] Tim Scott and people like Tim Scott, and I said you’re a much better candidate for me than you are for yourself,” Trump said. “When I watched him, he was fine. He was good, but he was very low-key.”

“I watched him in the last week, defending me and sticking up for me and fighting for me. I said, ‘Man, you’re a much better person for me than you are for yourself,'” he continued.

Trump went on to praise South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem as well, noting that she said publicly that she would never run against him “because I could never beat him.”

TRUMP ASKS SUPREME COURT TO KEEP NAME ON COLORADO BALLOT

Trump denied reports that his campaign reached out to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to explore a potential ticket with him early on in the campaign season. Trump said the interaction “never happened.”

Original article source: Trump reveals criteria for running mate; name-drops 2 top Republicans

SAN FRANCISCO – A San Francisco swimmer is in the hospital after he was badly beaten by carjackers Friday morning.

San Francisco police said he was attacked by two unknown suspects after he parked his car at Hyde and Beach Streets. Police and paramedics responded just before 6:00 on Friday morning, and found the victim injured. He was taken to the hospital.

The victim was identified by family and friends as Andrew Cotter, a well-known swimmer at the South End Rowing Club who frequently volunteers at the club.

Members at the Club received an email notifying them of the attack, which read, one of their members was “”badly beaten after parking his car… and he was robbed and his car was stolen.”

“I am shocked that this happened,” said club member Christian Einfeldt.

Joyce Shanahan, another swimmer at the club, arrived just after the attack. “I was walking in from the museum parking and I just saw a bunch of police cars,” she said. “I didn’t think much of it until I heard what happened.”

“He was trying to hold his face together,” she added.

Other club members came to his aid.

“It’s really a tragedy because he’s a great volunteer for the south end rowing club, he’s very kind, he never has a bad word for anyone and he’s one of the fastest swimmers in the south end rowing club, which really says a lot,” said Einfeldt.

Swimmers at both the South End Rowing Club and the Dolphin Club often arrive in the early morning hours for a swim.

“We start out with blinkers when we swim because it’s dark,” said Shanahan. “I’m hoping the police will take this seriously and do a little patrolling.”

The Club announced they would be hosting a public safety meeting with police for their members in the near future.

Andrew’s father, Tom Cotter, told KTVU that Andrew is going to be okay, but he would be needing surgery for injuries to his face.

In the meantime, the swimming community has started a GoFundMe to help Andrew cover medical expenses in his recovery.

“Andrew, if you’re seeing this, I hope you get well soon. We miss you and we really love you,” said Einfeldt.

SFPD said no arrests have been made at this time. Anyone with information is asked to call the SFPD Tip Line at 1-415-575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD. You may remain anonymous.

Bald eagle dad Shadow has been anxiously waiting for his turn to tend to eggs in a snow-covered nest in California, a nonprofit said.

When Shadow finally got his moment, he was greeted with a big surprise: There were now three eggs, Friends of Big Bear Valley executive director Sandy Steers said in a Facebook post.

Jackie laid her third egg before 6 p.m. Feb. 1 in Big Bear. But she spent the entire night incubating the eggs as snow piled onto the nest and covered her wings, a video shows.

“No matter how many times Jackie got covered with snow during the storm, she simply stood up, shook it off, rolled her eggs and settled back down to incubate them,” Steers said in the post.

Shadow had been spotted nearby, but the nonprofit said Jackie wasn’t ready to give up her turn tending to the eggs.

However, by the next afternoon Jackie flew off, and “within seconds” Shadow landed on a branch near the nest, the video shows.

He curiously approached the eggs and tried to settle over them, but he had to keep readjusting so they would all fit under his brood patch, the video shows.

Eventually he lowered down successfully.

Jackie laid her first egg Jan. 25, and her second egg followed three days later, McClatchy News previously reported.

Hundreds of people commented their excitement for the eagles on the Facebook post.

“So cute how he was navigating the three to position over and rocking so proud back and forth like ‘I’ve got three eggs here!!!’” one person commented.

“What a privilege to be part of this incredible story,” another person wrote.

Eagles lost two eggs in 2023

Last year, Jackie and Shadow weren’t so lucky. They abandoned their nest with two unhatched eggs, McClatchy News previously reported.

Jackie laid her first egg of 2023 on Jan. 11, then her second one three days later in the middle of a storm.

The two protected the eggs from predators, cold weather and snow. But the eggs never hatched and eventually became a snack for a hungry raven.

The bald eagles have been successful in the past, though. In 2022, one of their two eggs hatched and was named Spirit, according to the nonprofit.

The baby eagle was believed to be a female by the nonprofit and fledged that year.

Big Bear Lake is about 95 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

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JERUSALEM (AP) — He’s viewed by some Palestinians as their Nelson Mandela, and he’s a prime candidate to become their president in the future. He’s also the highest-profile prisoner held by Israel.

Now Marwan Barghouti‘s freedom is at stake in cease-fire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. Hamas leaders demanded Friday that Israel release Barghouti, a leader of the militant group’s main political rival, as part of any deal to end the fighting in Gaza.

The demand brings new attention to Barghouti, who plays a central role in Palestinian politics even after spending more than two decades behind bars. His release could lay the groundwork for his eventual election to national office.

Hamas’ gambit to free him appears to be an attempt to rally public support for the militant group as well as a recognition of his status as a uniquely unifying Palestinian figure.

“Hamas wants to show to the Palestinian people that they are not a closed movement. They represent part of the Palestinian social community. They are trying to seem responsible,” said Qadoura Fares, who heads the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoner Affairs in the occupied West Bank and has long been involved in negotiations over prisoner releases.

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan called for Barghouti’s release as international mediators try to push Israel and Hamas toward an agreement after nearly four months of war.

Israel is seeking the release of more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza. Hamas is demanding an end to Israel’s devastating military offensive and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.

The war broke out Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters crossed into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and dragging 250 hostages back to Gaza. The Hamas attack triggered an Israeli ground and air campaign that has killed more than 27,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, and triggered a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Over 100 hostages were released during a weeklong truce in November. Israel estimates 136 hostages remain in captivity, though 20 have been pronounced dead. With protests calling for the hostages’ immediate release sweeping Israel, and fears that time is running out to bring them home safely, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach a deal.

For Palestinians, the plight of their imprisoned loved ones is deeply emotional. While Israel considers “security prisoners” to be terrorists, Palestinians widely see them as heroes battling Israeli occupation. Virtually every Palestinian has a friend, relative or acquaintance who has been imprisoned.

The Israeli human rights group HaMoked says Israel is currently holding nearly 9,000 security prisoners. Hamas seeks the release of all of them. But in his remarks Friday, Hamdan mentioned only two by name — Barghouti and Ahmad Saadat.

Saadat heads a small faction that killed an Israeli Cabinet minister in 2001 and is serving a 30-year sentence for allegedly participating in attacks.

Palestinians see the 64-year-old Barghouti, a member of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party, as a natural successor to the 88-year-old Abbas, who leads the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority, the self-ruled government that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

Abbas, whose forces in Gaza were overrun by Hamas in 2007, hopes to regain control of the territory after the war. But he is deeply unpopular because of corruption within the authority and because of his security coordination with the Israeli army.

Palestinians have not held elections since 2006, when Hamas won a parliamentary majority.

Fares, a Barghouti supporter, said that if Barghouti is released, he could become a consensus candidate in a round of new elections that Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions could rally behind. A wartime opinion poll published in December showed Barghouti to be the most popular politician among Palestinians, ahead of both Abbas and Hamas’ leader, Ismail Haniyeh.

Israelis see Barghouti as an arch-terrorist, and convincing Israel to free him will be an uphill battle.

Barghouti, a leader in the West Bank during the second Palestinian uprising in the early 2000s, is serving five life terms for his role in several deadly attacks. During that uprising, Palestinian militants carried out deadly suicide bombings and shooting attacks in Israel and the Palestinian territories, targeting buses, restaurants, hotels and Israelis driving in the West Bank, eliciting crushing Israeli military reprisals.

In 2002, Barghouti was arrested on multiple counts of murder. He did not offer a defense, refusing to recognize the court’s authority. Since then, he has repeatedly thrust himself into the spotlight.

In 2021, he registered his own list for parliamentary elections that were later called off. A few years earlier, he led more than 1,500 prisoners in a 40-day hunger strike to call for better treatment in the Israeli prison system. From jail, he has continued to call for a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — lands Israel seized in the 1967 war.

Barghouti was born in the West Bank village of Kobar in 1962. While studying history and politics at Bir Zeit University, he helped spearhead student protests against the Israeli occupation.

He emerged as an organizer in the first Palestinian uprising, which erupted in December 1987, but Israel eventually deported him to Jordan. He returned to the West Bank in the 1990s, as part of interim peace agreements that were meant to pave the way for a Palestinian state but got bogged down by the end of the decade when a second uprising erupted.

Barghouti was seen as political leader of the armed wing of Fatah at the time.

Israel has previously rejected calls to free him. It refused to include him in a 2011 exchange of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners for a single soldier held captive in Gaza by Hamas, said Fares, who was party to the negotiations. Yehya Sinwar, the current Hamas leader in Gaza and a mastermind of the Oct. 7 attack, was freed in that exchange.

The 2011 negotiations revolved around the release of a single hostage. With the lives of over 100 hostages now hanging in the balance, there is more pressure than ever on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners. That may make conditions ripe for a deal that could simultaneously win Barghouti’s release and bolster Hamas’ standing among Palestinians.

“Hamas is more strong and more clever than ever before,” Fares said. “They understand how necessary it is for the Palestinian people to have consensus.”