Latest news with #MattWalker
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
R.I. overspent on film tax credits in 2022. Lawmakers must correct $3.2M difference this year.
Initial estimates predict the third season of 'The Gilded Age,' taped in Newport in late 2024, spent nearly $27 million on filming in Rhode Island. Season 3, which debuts June 22 on HBO, would qualify for $8 million in state tax credits. Matt Walker and Taaissa Farmiga appear in the first episode of Season 3, above. (Photo by Karolina Wojtasik/HBO) From 'The Gilded Age' to 'Hocus Pocus 2,' Rhode Island has played a starring role in a growing number of TV shows, movies, commercials and theater productions. So many, in fact, that the state unintentionally approved more tax credits to production companies for local spending than available state funding for the incentive program. The unexpected $3.2 million shortfall, which dates back to credits from productions completed in 2022, was recently revealed in a May 28 memo from Gov. Dan McKee to state lawmakers. McKee suggested dipping into state coffers in the upcoming fiscal 2026 budget to cover the retroactive overrun. Not a welcome proposal as the Rhode Island General Assembly grapples with a projected $185 million deficit heading into the new fiscal year alongside potentially devastating federal funding cuts to major programs like Medicaid. But lawmakers may not have much choice — the 2005 law that created the motion picture tax credit program offers a three-year window for eligible productions to redeem approved credits, which are based on state taxes paid on workers' wages and local goods and services. This is the final year for companies to redeem credits they were awarded in 2022 — the year of the inadvertent overspend. 'The production companies followed the rules,' Brian Daniels, director of the Rhode Island Office of Management and Budget, told lawmakers during a presentation to the Senate Committee on Finance Tuesday night. 'They didn't do anything wrong. There's not a lot of discretion here.' The film incentive program is a perennial hot potato on Smith Hill; proponents insist that offering tax credits for up to 30% of local production costs boosts Rhode Island's economy, creating jobs and incentivizing people to visit (and spend more money) to see the places where their favorite shows and films were created. Naysayers question whether the unquantifiable 'indirect spend' from the program is actually enough to offset the initial upfront investment, also noting that more than half of jobs go to non-Rhode Island residents, as documented in multiple reports by the Rhode Island Office of Revenue Analysis. The revenue office in a July 2024 report reiterated its prior conclusions that the state loses money on the program, with 9 cents in net general revenues for every dollar spent on tax credits from 2019-2021, and $3.19 in total economic output. The findings suggest the program is less beneficial than a 2021 study commissioned by the Greater Newport Chamber of Commerce, which touted a 'multiplier effect' in which $1 invested in tax credits for locally filmed productions yielded $5.44 in economic activity for the state. Yet even Feinberg, the program's most stalwart defender, admits there are some problems with timing and accuracy of initial production cost projections. Feinberg helps market the Ocean State to production companies, relying on the tax credit program as a key incentive. He also gives first vetting to tax credit applications, sending an initial determination based on eligibility and projected local spending to the Rhode Island Division of Taxation. Lawmakers determine a maximum amount in each state budget plan for the program based on the preliminary estimates and introductory conversations— many of which never turn into actual productions eligible for state funding. But it is only after taping finishes and a thorough audit by state tax officials that credits are awarded — often years after the initial estimates upon which state budget calculations are made. Usually, the mismatch is not a problem. Costs, and therefore credit amounts, are almost always lower than initially estimated. Until now, when final audits show the state gave out $33.2 million in tax credits to eight productions that wrapped in 2022 — exceeding the $30 million funding cap for that year. In 2022, pent-up post-COVID demand converged with a rush to finish filming in anticipation of writers' and actors' union strikes that happened in 2023 to create what Steven Feinberg, executive director for the Rhode Island Film and Television office, called the 'perfect storm.' 'This was an anomaly,' Feinberg said, speaking to lawmakers Tuesday. 'I've been doing this for 20 years, and this has never happened.' Feinberg also noted the earlier-than-expected completion of an 'Emmy-award winning,' show, referring to the second season of HBO's 'The Gilded Age.' The hit TV series concluded filming its second season in Newport in October 2022, receiving $7.5 million in state tax credits based on more than $28.4 million in local production costs, according to program information submitted to state budget analysts at the May Revenue and Caseload Estimating Conference. A third season of 'The Gilded Age' was taped in Newport in late 2024. Final production costs have not been submitted, but initial estimates predict a nearly $27 million spend, with a corresponding $8 million in tax credits. This was an anomaly. I've been doing this for 20 years, and this has never happened. – Steven Feinberg, executive director of the Rhode Island Film and Television Office, on exceeding the state's funding cap for motion picture tax credits in 2022 Of the $40 million set aside in 2023 for tax credits, $31 million remains, Daniels said. McKee's proposed $14 billion fiscal 2026 budget would authorize up to $20 million more for the program in 2026. Still, both Daniels and Feinberg acknowledged the need to address timing and accuracy of program awards. Feinberg said his office is working with the state taxation division to keep officials in the loop on potential changes to initial project estimates, while also considering how to tweak state regulations to better align budgets and awards. Feinberg did not immediately respond to requests for more information Wednesday. Senate Finance Chairman Lou DiPalma pointed out that if the overspend was uncovered after the legislative session ended on June 30, the consequences could have been worse. 'What would you do if we're not here?' DiPalma said during the hearing. 'Do you wait till January?' He continued, 'We're fortunate it hasn't manifested itself yet, but what we can do, we should do. What did we learn? We don't want this to happen again.' DiPalma's concern over reporting discrepancies did not preclude him from a more lighthearted request of Feinberg. 'I still want to meet Danny DeVito,' DiPalma said. 'When can that happen?' House Speaker K. Joseph Shekarchi and Senate President Valarie Lawson both remained noncommittal on the proposed funding adjustment in separate statements Wednesday. The additional money will be considered as part of budget deliberations, which are expected to be hammered out in the next few weeks ahead. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zencoder Launches Zen Agents: Industry-First Platform for Organization-Wide Custom Agents and Open-Source Marketplace
Breakthrough Technology Empowers Development Teams to Create, Share, and Leverage Specialized AI Tools That Accelerate Software Delivery SILICON VALLEY, Calif., May 9, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Zencoder announces the launch of Zen Agents, delivering two groundbreaking innovations that transform AI-assisted development: a platform enabling teams to create and share custom agents organization-wide, and an open-source marketplace for community-contributed agents. This breakthrough significantly expands Zencoder's ability to empower professional developers to ship better software faster through its deep integration with VS Code, JetBrains, and other industry-standard tools. Custom Agents with Organization-Wide Sharing Zen Agents solve real development challenges by letting teams: Eliminate redundant coding tasks: Create specialized agents with tailored instructions and toolsets for specific frameworks, codebases, or workflows. Standardize development practices: Admin-created agents can be deployed to every team member, ensuring consistent practices and standards Reduce Context-Switching Cost: Connect seamlessly to tools through native integrations & MCP to maintain developer focus. "Zen Agents create the perfect harmony between human creativity and targeted AI assistance," said Andrew Filev, CEO and Founder of Zencoder. "By enabling teams to craft agents with specific expertise and then deploy them organization-wide, we're helping developers achieve that elusive technical flow state where complex problems seem to solve themselves." Matt Walker, Co-founder and CTO of Simon Data, shares the real-world impact: "Zen Agents unlocked the next level of productivity for our teams. Through MCP integration with our Jira, Confluence, and GitHub tools, our custom agents automate not just coding but project management and documentation tasks as well. By sharing these specialized agents across teams, we've eliminated hours of context-switching and created an organization that benefits from our collective expertise. Zencoder delivers what modern engineering teams truly need – AI that understands our entire development ecosystem." Open-Source Agent Marketplace Complementing the organization-wide functionality, Zencoder introduces an industry-first open-source marketplace for AI agents: Community-Driven Library: A public GitHub repository under MIT License where developers can discover and share agent configurations Transparent Submissions: Streamlined process for contributing custom agents via pull requests, with expert review by Zencoder Web-Based Discovery Portal: Dedicated section on the Zencoder website for browsing the expanding agent ecosystem Unlike other AI coding platforms that limit sharing capabilities, ZenAgents creates a truly open ecosystem where teams can publish their specialized agents to the marketplace or discover ready-made agents from other contributors. This collaborative approach exponentially multiplies the value of custom agents while fostering a community that builds on collective expertise. "Our mission goes beyond building products—we're fostering a community where engineering knowledge multiplies," noted Filev. "The open-source marketplace means everyone benefits from specialized expertise, whether you're building microservices, working with machine learning pipelines, or optimizing legacy code." Use Cases That Deliver Measurable Results Zen Agents deliver concrete value for development teams through specialized AI assistants including: Framework Experts: Agents that deeply understand React, Django, Spring, or other frameworks, instantly recalling best practices and common patterns Testing Specialists: Focused agents that generate comprehensive test suites aligned with organization-specific testing approaches Refactoring Architects: Specialized tools that implement organization-specific refactoring patterns and practices Documentation Craftsmen: Agents that create standardized, high-quality documentation that follows team conventions These specialized agents leverage Zencoder's industry-leading integration capabilities: Visual MCP Tool Configuration: Intuitive interface for creating custom Model Context Protocol connections Pre-vetted Tool Library: Curated collection of productivity-enhancing MCP servers, including support for select third-party registries. End-to-End Pipeline Support: Connect agents to your entire development workflow with 20+ DevOps integrations Availability & Resources Zen Agents are available now as part of Zencoder's platform. For more information or to start a free trial, visit The Zen Agents open-source marketplace is accessible at under an MIT license, with initial contributions from Zencoder and a growing community of developers. Browse available agents and learn more about contributing at About Zencoder Zencoder, headquartered in Silicon Valley, delivers AI coding and testing agents that integrate directly into developers' existing workflows. Founded by Andrew Filev and driven by a global team of 50+ experienced engineers, Zencoder combines deep code understanding (Repo Grokking™) with iterative AI approaches (Agentic Repair) to help organizations ship impactful software products faster. Zencoder holds ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II certification as well as ISO 42001 for responsible AI management systems. Media Contact Ignacio Ramirez, Founder @ Switch PR, email: ignacio@ Phone: 415-517-6708 All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Zencoder is not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE Zencoder
Telegraph
27-03-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Schools reward pupils with iPads and bikes for turning up to lessons
Schools are giving pupils iPads and bicycles as a reward for turning up to lessons, a report has found. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found schoolchildren are receiving incentives including pizza parties, school trips and prize draws as headteachers try to tackle high absence rates. Earlier this month, it emerged pupils are missing an extra 4.7 million school days every term after the pandemic caused truancy rates to soar. A record number of pupils are missing more than half of lessons, Department for Education statistics revealed last week. The report, based on interviews with staff and pupils at nine secondary schools and survey responses from 600 secondary teachers, said schools that combined reward with sanctions had seen 'higher pupil engagement' with attendance policies as children felt motivated to attend. Incentives in schools for high attendance included prize draws – with rewards such as bikes and iPads – and pizza parties. In some schools, pupils who did not attend regularly were banned from attending the Year 11 prom or trips. The report advised headteachers to pursue 'individualised' approaches to improve attendance. This could include ensuring that attendance and behaviour policies 'prioritise encouragement and support over sanctions,' it added. The study suggests illness, mental health issues were partly to blame but some parents were choosing to take their children with them on holiday during term-time. Prioritise 'encouraging' Matt Walker, NFER senior research manager and co-author of the report, said: 'Attendance is strongly linked to educational outcomes, so it's concerning that absence rates remain high. 'The study responses suggest schools should consider prioritising encouraging and individualised approaches in addition to punitive sanctions.' Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'These findings echo what school leaders tell us about the severe limitations of parental fines in improving pupil attendance. 'Absence most often reflects issues beyond the school gate, like mental health challenges and poverty, and clearly identifying and being able to support families to address these issues is far more effective.' He added: 'If the link between absence and term-time holidays is to be broken, the only sustainable solution is government action to prevent travel firms unfairly hiking prices during school holidays.'
The Independent
27-03-2025
- The Independent
Pupils rewarded with iPads, bikes and pizza parties for good attendance
Schools are offering rewards including iPads and bikes to children to boost attendance, a report has suggested. Pupils are being given incentives, such as pizza parties and school trips, and are being entered into prize draws to tackle absences, according to the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) report. School leaders should prioritise encouraging and 'individualised' approaches to increase attendance and create 'a sense of belonging', the NFER has said. This could include ensuring that attendance and behaviour policies 'prioritise encouragement and support over sanctions,' the paper said. It comes as recent Government figures revealed that the number of pupils classed as 'severely absent' in England reached a record high last year. Department for Education (DfE) data last week found that the number of unauthorised pupil absences from schools in England increased last year. The NFER study – which explores interviews with staff and pupils from nine secondary schools and survey responses from more than 600 secondary school teachers and leaders – found pupils in sanctions-led schools were more likely to perceive attendance policies as 'punitive and unfair'. It said schools that combined reward with sanctions had seen 'higher pupil engagement' with attendance policies as children felt motivated to attend. Incentives in schools for high attendance included prize draws – with rewards such as bikes and iPads – and pizza parties. In some schools, high attendance was a key criterion for being allowed to attend Year 11 prom or trips, the report said. Earlier this month, Pepe Di'Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said school had become 'optional' for some families since the Covid-19 pandemic and he suggested that the 'blunt instrument' of fines for unauthorised absences was not reversing the trend. The former Conservative government announced plans to raise fines for pupil absences in February last year, to boost attendance since the pandemic. In September, school absence fines in England rose from £60 to £80, and a parent who receives a second fine for the same child within a three-year period will now receive a £160 fine. The NFER study suggests that illness, mental health issues and term-time holidays were primary reasons for pupil absence in the participating schools. It has called on school leaders to work closely with parents to understand the barriers to attendance. This could include workshops and home visits. The NFER has also called on policymakers to increase funding for attendance and pastoral support to help schools. Matt Walker, NFER senior research manager and co-author of the report, said: 'Attendance is strongly linked to educational outcomes, so it's concerning that absence rates remain high. 'The study responses suggest schools should consider prioritising encouraging and individualised approaches in addition to punitive sanctions.' Mr Di'Iasio said: 'We agree that a one-size-fits-all approach is not the way forward, and school leaders must be free to tailor policies to the needs and characteristics of their cohort. 'Appropriate rewards and sanctions have their part to play, but individualised support that quickly identifies why a pupil is absent from school, and helps them to return to the classroom as soon as possible, can be hugely effective.' He added: 'There needs to be a strategic response from the government to the growing problem of pupil absence, and schools must be provided with the tools they need to tackle this.' Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, said: 'These findings echo what school leaders tell us about the severe limitations of parental fines in improving pupil attendance. 'Absence most often reflects issues beyond the school gate, like mental health challenges and poverty, and clearly identifying and being able to support families to address these issues is far more effective.' He added: 'If the link between absence and term-time holidays is to be broken, the only sustainable solution is government action to prevent travel firms unfairly hiking prices during school holidays.'
BBC News
24-02-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Warwickshire name Walker as batting coach
Warwickshire have appointed Matt Walker as batting coach ahead of the 2025 county 51-year-old stepped down as Kent head coach at the end of last season after eight years in charge, during which they won the T20 Blast and One-Day joins a new-look backroom team at Edgbaston with Ian Westwood now in charge following the departure of Mark Robinson."I am extremely excited to be working closely with Ian and all his support staff and also with the playing squad. They are an incredibly talented group," Walker told the Warwickshire have not lifted silverware since their County Championship and Bob Willis Trophy double in begin the new season on 4 April with a home Championship game against Sussex, but are still seeking a new performance director after Gavin Larsen returned to New said of Walker's appointment: "It's rare to have someone of his calibre available; he'll be a good fit for the club and our coaching team."He knows the County Championship circuit inside out and has great white-ball coaching pedigree in The Hundred and with England."
