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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/seattles-queer-community-is-furious-after-gay-bars-were-raided-over-the-weekend
| 2024-01-31T23:52:05Z
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The dueling contests surrounding the Nevada Republican's nominating process has led to voter confusion. And with it, an outcome many in the state saw as inevitable: Trump is the de facto winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
The dueling contests surrounding the Nevada Republican's nominating process has led to voter confusion. And with it, an outcome many in the state saw as inevitable: Trump is the de facto winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.mtpr.org/2024-01-31/nevadas-gop-nominating-process-is-confusing-and-already-yielded-a-likely-winner
| 2024-01-31T23:52:06Z
|
The dueling contests surrounding the Nevada Republican's nominating process has led to voter confusion. And with it, an outcome many in the state saw as inevitable: Trump is the de facto winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
The dueling contests surrounding the Nevada Republican's nominating process has led to voter confusion. And with it, an outcome many in the state saw as inevitable: Trump is the de facto winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.kvpr.org/2024-01-31/nevadas-gop-nominating-process-is-confusing-and-already-yielded-a-likely-winner
| 2024-01-31T23:52:06Z
|
Boeing released its 2023 earnings Wednesday, but the company's CEO spent most of a call with investors talking about safety and quality.
Boeing is facing big questions about quality control after a door plug panel blew off one of its 737 Max 9 jets in midair earlier this month.
"We are not issuing financial outlook for 2024 today. Now is not the time for that," chief executive Dave Calhoun said during an earnings call.
Instead, Calhoun focused much of the call seeking to reassure analysts — and the flying public — that the plane maker is taking the incident seriously.
"We will simply focus on every next airplane, and ensuring we meet all the standards that we have, all the standards that our regulator has and that our customers demand," he said.
Calhoun did not offer any information about the cause of the incident on January 5th, which is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. No one was seriously injured, but the incident touched off another crisis for Boeing. The troubled plane maker was still working to rebuild public trust after 346 people died in two 737 Max 8 jets that crashed in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing said Wednesday it lost $30 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. That's a better performance than the final quarter of 2022, when the company lost more than $600 million. Overall, Boeing lost $2.2 billion last year — its best result in 5 years.
But any improvement in the company's financials has been overshadowed by the latest safety incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration is allowing Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to fly again after an inspection and maintenance. Calhoun said airlines have now returned 129 Max 9 planes to service, out of a total of 171 that were grounded by the FAA.
Earlier this week, Boeing formally withdrew its request for an exemption from federal safety rules in order to speed up certification of its new Boeing Max 7 jet to start flying. The company had been hoping to begin delivering those smaller planes to airlines this year, despite a design flaw with the Max's engine de-icing system that could be potentially catastrophic.
Boeing wanted to use the same workaround that's already in use on its Max 8 and Max 9 jets. Now the company says it will focus on a permanent engineering fix instead.
Calhoun told analysts on Wednesday that process is expected to take about nine months, likely pushing certification of the Max 7 back into 2025.
The FAA has also taken the unusual step of ordering production caps at Boeing's factories. Calhoun said the company will continue producing 737s at the rate of 38 per month until the FAA agrees to lift that limit. And Calhoun told analysts that slowing down production at the behest of regulators would help the company fix problems in its factory and supply chain.
"I'm sort of glad they called out a pause. That's an excuse to take our time, and do it right," Calhoun said. "This is what we do, and how we get better."
But some longtime observers are skeptical that Boeing management is ready to confront the true scale of the problem.
"I'm sure they're hoping for a quick fix," said Peter Lemme, a former Boeing engineer who's now an aviation consultant. "But this is like a cancer in the system. And how far has it infiltrated, and what are you gonna do to eradicate it? I think it's going to take years for Boeing to really get back to where they should be on quality and manufacturing."
The NTSB is expected to release preliminary findings from its investigations of the Alaska Airlines incident in the coming days.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kalw.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/boeing-declines-to-give-a-financial-outlook-as-it-focuses-on-quality-and-safety
| 2024-01-31T23:52:06Z
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Justice Dongban-Mensem Constitutes Tribunal For Surulere 1, Federal Constituency Bye-Election
Latest News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The President of the Court of Appeal, Justice Monica Dongban-Mensem, has constituted the National and State Houses of Assembly Election Petition Tribunal to hear and determine petitions that may arise from the conduct of Surulere 1 Federal Constituency Bye-Election for 2024.
The election is scheduled to be held on Feb 3, 2024.
The Surulere Federal Constituency I seat became vacant due to the resignation of the former occupant, Femi Gbajabiamila, who after winning, was appointed by President Bola Tinubu as his Chief of Staff.
A statement issued by the Secretary of the By-Election Tribunal, Ibrahim Mahmud Usman to notify the public says the tribunal was constituted according to the powers conferred on the President, Court of Appeal by the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) and the Electoral Act, 2022.
The statement also revealed that “the Chief Judge of Lagos State, Hon. Justice Kazeem Alogba has granted the use of the Rosaline Omotosho Court House, Ikeja, Lagos State for the use of the Tribunal”.
“For any enquiry, the Public is hereby advised to contact the Registry/Secretariat of the Tribunal at the above-mentioned address”.
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Short URL: https://www.africanexaminer.com/?p=93617
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/justice-dongban-mensem-constitutes-tribunal-for-surulere-1-federal-constituency-bye-election/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:05Z
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Powell: Federal Reserve is on track to cut rates, though not likely for months
WASHINGTON (AP) — Interest rate cuts are coming. Just not yet.
The Federal Reserve delivered that message Wednesday, first in a policy statement and then in a news conference at which Chair Jerome Powell reinforced it.
The Fed did signal that it’s nearing a long-awaited shift toward cutting rates, evidence that its officials have grown confident that they’re close to fully taming inflation. No longer does its policy statement say it’s still considering further rate hikes.
Yet the officials made clear that the first rate cut is likely months away. Their statement said they don’t think it would be time to cut rates “until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably” to their 2% target.
Investors and some economists had been holding out the possibility that the Fed might cut as early as its next meeting in March. That now appears off the table.
“I don’t think it’s likely that the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting” to start cutting rates, Powell said at his news conference.
The central bank kept its key rate unchanged at about 5.4%, a 22-year high. But the changes to its statement — compared with its last meeting in December — show that it has moved toward considering rate reductions while still maintaining flexibility.
“There is nothing in Powell’s remarks or the statement that leads us to worry about the basic story of ‘good news’ cuts starting soon enough,” Krishna Guha, an economics analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI, said in a note to clients.
In December, the Fed’s policymakers had indicated that they expected to carry out three quarter-point rate cuts in 2024. Yet they have since said little about when those cuts might begin, and some senior officials stressed that the Fed will proceed cautiously.
On Wednesday, Powell said the Fed doesn’t need to see significant changes in the inflation data for it to cut rates. It just needs to see the inflation slowdown continue. Prices have increased at just a 2% annual rate in the past six months, according to the Fed’s preferred measure.
“It’s not that we’re looking for better data — it’s just that we’re looking for a continuation of the good data that we’ve been getting,” he said. “We just need to see more.”
The central bank’s message Wednesday — that it’s edging closer to cutting rates but not planning to do so anytime soon — disappointed traders on Wall Street. Losses in the stock market accelerated after Powell’s news conference began.
The change in the Fed’s stance comes as the economy is showing surprising durability after a series of 11 rate hikes helped drastically slow inflation, which had hit a four-decade high 18 months ago. Growth remains healthy: In the final three months of last year, the economy expanded at a 3.3% annual rate, the government said last week.
The Fed is assessing inflation and the economy at a time when the intensifying presidential campaign is pivoting in no small part on voters’ perceptions of President Joe Biden’s economic stewardship. Republicans in Congress have attacked Biden over the high inflation that gripped the nation beginning in 2021 as the economy emerged from recession. But the latest economic data — ranging from steady consumer spending to solid job growth to the slowdown in inflation — has been bolstering consumer confidence.
At his news conference, Powell said the Fed welcomes signs of economic strength.
“We want to see strong growth and a strong labor market,” the Fed chair said. “We’re looking for inflation to come down, as it has been coming down for the last six months.”
Most economists have said they expect the Fed to start cutting its benchmark rate in May or June. Rate cuts would eventually lead to lower borrowing costs for America’s consumers and businesses, including for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards.
A year ago, many analysts were predicting that widespread layoffs and sharply higher unemployment would be needed to cool the economy and curb inflation. Yet job growth has been steady. The unemployment rate, at 3.7%, isn’t far above a half-century low.
Labor costs are easing, too. On Wednesday, the government reported that pay and benefits for America’s workers, which accelerated in 2022, grew in the final three months of 2023 at the slowest pace in 2 1/2 years. That slowdown reduces pressure on companies to raise prices to cover higher labor costs.
The Fed appears on the verge of achieving a rare “soft landing,” in which it manages to conquer high inflation without causing a recession. Should the pace of economic growth strengthen, though, it could complicate the challenge for the Fed.
Powell said that faster growth could potentially cause inflation to stall at a rate above 2%, which could complicate the Fed’s timetable for rate cuts. For now, with the economy performing well, he said, the Fed doesn’t need to rush to reduce borrowing costs.
“If we saw an unexpected weakening in the labor market, that would certainly weigh on cutting sooner,” Powell said.
Asked whether he thought the Fed has already achieved a soft landing, Powell suggested it would be premature to say so.
“We have a ways to go,” he said. “Core inflation is still well above target on a 12-month basis. Certainly, I’m encouraged and we’re encouraged by the progress, but we’re not declaring victory at this point. We think we have a ways to go.”
Some cracks in the job market have begun to emerge and, if they worsen, could spur the Fed to cut rates quickly. For several months, most of the nation’s job growth has occurred in just a few sectors — health care, government and hotels, restaurants and entertainment. Any weakening in those areas of the economy could threaten hiring and the overall expansion.
A report Tuesday showed that the number of workers who quit in December reached its lowest level in three years. That suggested that fewer Americans are being recruited for new, higher-paying jobs or are willing to search for and take new positions. Though quits remain at a level consistent with a solid job market, they have fallen about one-third from their peak in mid-2022.
Still, the U.S. economy is outdoing its counterparts overseas. During the October-December quarter, the 20 countries that share the euro currency barely avoided a recession, posting essentially no growth.
Still, as in the United States, unemployment is very low in the euro area, and inflation has slowed to a 2.9% annual rate. Though the European Central Bank could cut rates as soon as April, many economists think that might not happen until June.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/kstp-news/top-news/powell-federal-reserve-is-on-track-to-cut-rates-though-not-likely-for-months/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:09Z
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Kentucky House committee passes bill requiring moment of silence in schools
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — The Kentucky House overwhelmingly passed a bill on Wednesday instructing public schools to set aside time for a moment of silence at the start of each school day.
The measure easily cleared the House on a 79-17 vote and moves on to the Senate. Republicans have supermajorities in both chambers.
Under the bill, the moment of silence would last one to two minutes at the start of the first class each day in public schools across the Bluegrass State. Students would decide how to use that time, and school personnel would be prohibited from instructing them on their silent reflection. Parents would be notified of the policy and encouraged to offer guidance to their children on how to spend that time.
Every student would be expected to remain seated and silent during that time.
During the House debate, Democratic Rep. Tina Bojanowski said she sees the bill as “a way to push prayer into public schools,” adding that it raises constitutional concerns.
Public schools were barred from leading students in classroom prayer following a U.S. Supreme Court ruling decades ago that said it violated a First Amendment clause forbidding the establishment of a government religion.
Another critic of the bill, Democratic Rep. Josie Raymond, said: “This is something that belongs in the home realm for families to discuss with their children.”
In praising the bill, Republican Rep. Tom Smith said what has been lacking in schools is taking the “time to thank God for our day. And I think that’s what’s going to watch over our education and our kids.”
The bill’s lead sponsor is Republican Rep. Daniel Fister.
___
The legislation is House Bill 96.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/kentucky-house-committee-passes-bill-requiring-moment-of-silence-in-schools/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:09Z
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Blend even the hardest ingredients in no time
With 50% more power* to crush any ingredient, Philips 5000 Series Hand Blender is the perfect choice for great and even results. Enjoy creamy soups to silky sauces while exploring new ways to prepare your food! See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend even the hardest ingredients in no time
With 50% more power* to crush any ingredient, Philips 5000 Series Hand Blender is the perfect choice for great and even results. Enjoy creamy soups to silky sauces while exploring new ways to prepare your food! See all benefits
Blend even the hardest ingredients in no time
With 50% more power* to crush any ingredient, Philips 5000 Series Hand Blender is the perfect choice for great and even results. Enjoy creamy soups to silky sauces while exploring new ways to prepare your food! See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend even the hardest ingredients in no time
With 50% more power* to crush any ingredient, Philips 5000 Series Hand Blender is the perfect choice for great and even results. Enjoy creamy soups to silky sauces while exploring new ways to prepare your food! See all benefits
Blend even the hardest ingredients with our strongest hand blender ever. Enjoy everything from homemade nut milk to frozen fruit smoothies in no time.
Patented technology combines our strongest motor with a uniquely shaped blade unit and splash guard for optimal food movement, easy cleaning, and no mess. Fast and smooth results everytime.
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XL chopper for the whole family. You can mince meat, chop onions and herbs, crushes nuts and more. Due to large capacity of 0.7 L you can create everything, from chunky salsas to chopped salads.
Adjust your speed while blending for better control thanks to the intuitive speed trigger. Start slow to avoid splashing, then gradually press harder to steadily increase power.
A one-touch button releases the blending bar with one hand. So you can change attachments without putting down the blender or making a mess on the counter.
Our new speed indicator lets you prepare all your favorite foods with ease and precision.
Don't worry about splashing. Thanks to ProMix Technology, our special blade guard stops splashes, large and small. The wave shape at the bottom of the blending bar traps less food on the blade for easy cleanup.
Attach the whisk accessory for fluffy whipped cream, silky mayonnaise, perfect pancake batter or create your favorite dressing salads.
Cleanup couldn't be easier. Due to the ProMix Technology you can release the blending bar and rinse clean under running water.
Make the most of limited cupboard space. Our hand blender and attachments are designed for efficient storage.
|
https://www.philips.sa/en/c-p/HR2684_00/5000-series-hand-blender
| 2024-01-31T23:52:08Z
|
Senate Republicans demanded that President Biden's national security funding package for Ukraine be tied to policy changes to address the crisis at the southwest border. But now that negotiators say they are ready to release details of a bipartisan plan to reduce the surge of migrants at the border, Republican divisions could scuttle the plan.
Months of negotiations between the Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration officials are now threatened by politics. Former President Trump, the GOP's likely 2024 presidential nominee, has been publicly slamming the deal and urging lawmakers to oppose it.
Negotiators started the week promising to release a bill in the coming days. But by Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to signal he's ready to move on, and focus on getting money to two key U.S. allies at war.
"It's time for us to move something, hopefully including the border agreement, but we need to get help to Israel and Ukraine, quickly," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
McConnell has consistently argued that divided government is the moment to extract demands on border policy from Democrats.
Pressed about what voters would think of GOP lawmakers who sink a bill because Trump directed them to, McConnell sidestepped the question. "I still favor trying to make law when you can" and said what the bipartisan group is working on is better than current immigration law, adding, "you're asking me, a question I can't answer right now, which is the fate of it."
Senators already know key details
The top Democratic negotiator working on a border plan, Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has signaled for days that the deal is basically done, but getting sign off from the GOP to move ahead is the hold up.
"We have a bipartisan agreement to help address the crisis at the border. Republicans have been desperate for that. Why would they walk away from it?"
Senate Republicans huddled at their weekly lunch on Wednesday to discuss next steps, but the consensus coming out of the meeting was that lawmakers want to see the details.
But after weeks of negotiations, the key provisions have already been explained to lawmakers from both parties.
The bill includes several tools to address the border, including: giving the president the ability to shutdown the border if the numbers of migrants attempting to enter the U.S. climbs above a certain threshold, adjusting the rules for who qualifies for asylum and allowing migrants authorization to work while awaiting adjudication of their asylum claim.
Extended negotiations opened space for critics
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort is "an uphill climb" because as the talks have continued, some members have impressions about what the proposal will do and "there are certain people who will never change their mind."
Tillis has said a border plan needs to get the majority of Senate Republicans in order to move ahead. But Trump injecting himself into the process has caused many lawmakers to refrain from backing the framework, making it tougher to meet that test.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Jim Lankford is crafting the plan along with Murphy and Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Lankford spent time on Sunday talk shows swatting down leaks about the plan that conservative media outlets are painting as a green light for 5,000 additional migrants a day.
Texas Republican Sen, John Cornyn, who was an early advocate of linking money for Ukraine to changes to the Biden administration's policies, said people need time to see an official piece of legislation.
"People are talking about what they think is in it, and what they've heard is in it, what's not in it,' Cornyn told reporters. "I think the first thing we need to do is see where the conference is based on the text rather than just based on rumors and hearsay."
Tillis called Wednesday's meeting "a good discussion." But added, "I would ask those same members who are calling for time to read it, but not judge something they haven't read."
Others who came out against the bill already are already dismissing the proposals.
"I think this is a bad bill," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., told reporters. "And the simplest reason is it doesn't solve the problem."
Cruz blamed Senate Democrats for crafting a bill that "allows Joe Biden to continue the open borders," despite the months of bipartisan negotiations that have taken place. President Biden endorsed the proposal and said last week if Congress passes it he would immediately shutdown the border.
Some optimisim remains
Murphy remained optimistic on Wednesday that the deal would survive and come to the floor for a vote, possibly as soon as this week.
He said a "sizable, important group of Republican senators" are making a good faith effort to get something done on the border, and suggested that others are making disingenuous arguments about needing to see the full text.
"This is not a detailed study of the issue. This is a question as to whether they are going to put Trump before solving the problem," Murphy said.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/senate-gop-split-threatens-bipartisan-border-deal-as-trump-looms-large
| 2024-01-31T23:52:11Z
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NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.mtpr.org/2024-01-31/seattles-queer-community-is-furious-after-gay-bars-were-raided-over-the-weekend
| 2024-01-31T23:52:12Z
|
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
NPR's Ari Shapiro talks to Vivian McCall, reporter for The Stranger, about recent raids in Seattle's gay bars. Members of the city's LGBTQ-plus community are looking for answers.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.kvpr.org/2024-01-31/seattles-queer-community-is-furious-after-gay-bars-were-raided-over-the-weekend
| 2024-01-31T23:52:12Z
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Jorge Rubiano arrived alone in Chicago, but his pain and trauma came with him.
For months, he tried to find steady work. For months, he's been sleeping in a crowded temporary shelter, worrying about his wife and mother back in Colombia. Are they safe? Did I make the right decision?
He recalls a frightening phone call with his wife in Colombia, cut short when the bus she was riding on was being robbed.
Rubiano, 43, is also haunted by memories of his harrowing journey to Chicago, during which he says he was kidnapped for a month, before escaping.
He left his country, he says, over a land dispute in which the government threatened his life.
"I'm still in between two dangers," Rubiano says in Spanish. "If I return it's very possible they kill me, and if I stay I don't know what can happen here."
More than 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since August of 2022 — most of them from South and Central America. They are fleeing the collapse of their economies, a lack of food and jobs, and violence back home.
Many came here on a bus from Texas, sent by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who said Chicago — and other so-called sanctuary cities that embrace immigrants — would provide much-needed relief "to our small, overrun border towns."
The buses haven't stopped since.
Migrants fleeing hardship, danger, fear and loss
Interviews with more than 30 people reveal the emotional toll migrants face, and the efforts of individuals and organizations that are trying to fill the gaps of a frayed mental health system.
Some of those efforts are catching the attention of leaders in other big U.S. cities also coping with large influxes of newly-arrived migrants.
For many, their journeys here were terrifying. A young girl who fell into a river, her pregnant mother struggling to hold her small hand, so the current wouldn't whisk her away. Women who were forced to have sex with gang members to get from country to country. People who walked over the dead in the jungle, or are wracked with guilt over the sick and injured left behind.
Their stories have unfolded across Chicago: in the quiet space of a therapist's office, at an informal healing circle in the back of a store, with a nurse at a folding table propped up outside a police station.
But for many migrants, taking care of their mental health might not be a priority.
"They're in survival mode," says Sharon Davila, a school-based social worker who has screened migrant families. "They need their basic needs met. The number one thing is they're looking for jobs."
Just getting in front of a therapist or a social worker can be extremely difficult for even the most savvy and persistent. With a shortage of mental health workers, wait lists for an appointment can be months long.
Layer on being new to this country, speaking a different language, and having no health insurance. Getting help can seem impossible.
Therapist Susie Moya worries about a mental health crisis brewing for many migrants.
"Right now it's on the back burner," says Moya, who has worked with migrants on Chicago's Lower West Side. "But I'm thinking a year from now when these families are settled in. Who is going to be providing that support?"
Informal support, with a side of soup
It's a Monday night in the back room of an insurance agency on the Southwest Side. About 20 migrants have arranged their chairs in a circle. Each person takes a turn describing how they feel on a scale of one to 10, as social worker Veronica Sanchez gently encourages them to share why.
Warm homemade chicken soup and arepas await them for dinner.
A woman says her husband got deported, and she's heartbroken that she left her children behind. A man says he worked several days that week, but never got paid. Another says he is grateful to God for bringing him to America, but he misses his mom, dad and brothers.
Finding work and reuniting with family is important, Sanchez tells them. But right now she's concerned about their mental health.
"Maybe we have answers. Maybe we don't. But when you open up a safe space where you can share your sorrows... you don't feel so alone," Sanchez says in Spanish.
Sanchez understands the migrants' desperation. She comes from a long line of pottery makers in Mexico. Sanchez was just four years old when her father left to work in Cicero, a suburb outside Chicago. She didn't see her father for almost seven years, until they were reunited as a family in Cicero.
Those memories fuel her work with the healing circle. "When I was talking to them, it really came from the heart," Sanchez says. "I was seeing the migrants' faces, that they were so scared."
Informal support groups like this one have popped up around Chicago in shelters, storefronts, churches and schools, led by volunteers or mental health professionals.
Many of these support groups don't last long. Volunteers get burned out. Migrants prioritize other needs. Or the city moves them from place to place.
The costs of ignoring loss and trauma
Some volunteers and mental health providers emphasize that not every migrant might be experiencing severe trauma.
But for many, trauma can have lasting impact. Trauma can change the wiring in a person's brain and make someone more vulnerable to depression and anxiety.
Daily or ongoing stressors can add up to what Chicago psychologist Laura Pappa calls "little t trauma" — like not feeling welcomed right away.
"A lot of people come here seeking the American dream and they realize that that's not there," says Pappa, who came to the U.S. from Argentina as a teen. "A lot of people were not expecting that, how hard it is on this side. I've had a lot of parents who've come alone and ask themselves, was it worth it?"
It can be hard to persuade migrants to seek help, however. There's a stigma about the need for mental health care in many immigrant communities, particularly among Latino men, Pappa says.
But, she adds, the stigma is easing as talking about emotions becomes more common.
Training the front-line workers in shelters
One effort to provide faster help involves training hundreds of peoplewho don't have a medical background, but work in city-run shelters. These front-line workers, such as case managers and shelter supervisors, are learning to lead support groups called Café y Comunidad charlas — coffee and community talks.
The initiative is led by the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, the University of Chicago's Crown Family School, and Lurie Children's Center for Childhood Resilience.
The idea is to help migrants feel less isolated and try to prevent the most extreme outcomes, such as suicide.
"We have to help people the minute they arrive," explainsAimee Hilado, an assistant professor at UC's Crown School and chair of the coalition. "That's actually going to promote healing down the line."
Case manager Albert Ayala has led a charla in the ballroom of a downtown shelter. He recalls moments of joy, such as when a woman said she was searching for love — and hands shot up hoping to catch her attention.
Ayala says he's watched migrants who arrive scared and shy blossom after attending a charla.
"We try to tell them we're no different from you," says Ayala, who is Mexican American. "Your dream is possible."
Leaders in Philadelphia and San Jose have reached out asking how to replicate the effort, Hilado says.
Outside his shelter, Rubiano, the migrant from Colombia, says he hasn't attended one of these support groups. He says he tries to keep busy working on his English skills. And he recently found a full-time job in a supermarket.
He longs for his family, and for the chance to bring them here — once there is a stable life he can offer them.
WBEZ is part of the Mental Health Parity Collaborative, a group of newsrooms covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. The Collaborative's partners include The Carter Center, the Center for Public Integrity and newsrooms in select states across the country.
WBEZ's Manuel Martinez contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 WBEZ
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https://www.kalw.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/for-chicagos-new-migrants-informal-support-groups-help-ease-the-pain-and-trauma
| 2024-01-31T23:52:12Z
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Minister Dele Alake Worried About Kidnapped School Children In Ekiti
Featured, Latest News, News, News Across Nigeria, News From The State Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dr Dele Alake, has condemned the kidnapping of some school children and the killing of traditional rulers in Ekiti.
The minister condemned the act in a statement he signed on Tuesday in Abuja.
Recall that about six pupils, three teachers and the school bus driver of a private school in Emure-Ekiti were abducted while returning to Eporo-Ekiti on Monday.
Alake also condemned the killing of two traditional rulers in Ekiti, who were reportedly killed while returning from a security meeting in Irele-Ekiti by suspected kidnappers.
They were said to be in a vehicle being driven by one of their colleagues, the Alara of Ikole Ekiti when they were attacked by gunmen along a community in Ikole Local Government Area of Ekiti on Monday.
“I received with deep sadness, the report of Monday’s killing of two traditional rulers in Ekiti, the Onimojo of Imojo- Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Samuel Olusola and the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti, Oba David Babatunde Ogunsola.
“These two traditional rulers, according to media reports, were gruesomely murdered by their assailants while returning from a security meeting.
“The tragic incident, again, speaks to the challenges of insecurity in our country, which the President Bola Tinubu-led administration is working very hard to surmount,” he said.
Alake urged security agencies to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous crime and ensure they faced the full wrath of the law.
“I call on the Police high command and the Department of State Security Service to rescue the primary school pupils from Emure-Ekiti.”
He commiserates with the governor of Ekiti, Abiodun Oyebanji, the government and people of Ekiti, especially the families and subjects of the traditional rulers.
NAN recalls that the governor had described the incident as callous and unacceptable in a statement, and said that security agencies in the state were already on the trail of the abductors to ensure their safe return.
He said that security is being beefed up across the state to take criminals from their hideouts.
Support African Examiner’s Free Journalism. By making a little donation, you are ensuring this site is free for all; you are also helping us to stay afloat and fulfill obligations to our reporters and other service providers: Thank you for your supports.
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Short URL: https://www.africanexaminer.com/?p=93610
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/minister-dele-alake-worried-about-kidnapped-school-children-in-ekiti/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:13Z
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Earthquakes raise alert for Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano. But any eruption is unlikely to threaten homes
HONOLULU (AP) — A surge of earthquakes at Kilauea’s summit prompted scientists to raise the alert level for the Hawaiian volcano on Wednesday. But any eruption is unlikely to threaten homes.
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said it detected 25 to 30 small earthquakes per hour since 3 a.m. at the southern part of the volcano’s caldera. This spot is inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park and far from homes.
Magnitudes ranged from less than 1 to 3.4. Several quakes were large enough to be felt by observatory staff in the field.
The observatory raised its alert level to “watch,” signifying that Kilauea was showing heightened or escalating unrest. This level indicates there is an increased chance the volcano will erupt, though it is unclear when.
Previously, the designator for Kilauea was “advisory,” meaning the volcano was showing signs of elevated unrest above a known background level.
Kilauea is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. It last erupted in September, spewing lava inside the summit caldera for nearly a week. It also erupted in June.
In 2018, lava burst out of cracks on Kilauea’s eastern flank in its lower East Rift Zone and destroyed more than 700 homes.
The observatory said there has been no unusual activity in the middle and lower sections of the East Rift Zone.
Kilauea’s much larger neighbor, Mauna Loa, erupted in 2022 for the first time in four decades.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/earthquakes-raise-alert-for-hawaiis-kilauea-volcano-but-any-eruption-is-unlikely-to-threaten-homes/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:15Z
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https://www.philips.sa/en/c-p/HR2684_00/5000-series-hand-blender/support
| 2024-01-31T23:52:15Z
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Kentucky juvenile facilities have issues with force, staffing, report says
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s juvenile justice system has lingering problems with the use of force and isolation techniques and has done little to implement a 2017 state audit’s suggestions for improvement, according to a report released Wednesday.
The new report from Kentucky Auditor Allison Ball says the state’s juvenile detention centers lack clear policies concerning the use of isolation cells, Tasers and pepper spray, and have significant staffing problems. It also found that Department of Juvenile Justice staffers were using pepper spray at a rate nearly 74 times higher than it is used in adult federal prisons.
A federal lawsuit filed earlier this month alleges that two teen girls were kept in isolation cells for weeks in unsanitary conditions at a youth facility in Adair County in 2022. That same year, the detention center was the site of a riot that began when a juvenile assaulted a staff member. Another federal lawsuit was filed this week by a woman who said that as a 17-year-old, she spent a month in an isolation cell at the Adair facility in 2022.
The auditor’s review was requested last year by state lawmakers.
“The state of the Department of Juvenile Justice has been a concern across the Commonwealth and a legislative priority over the past several years,” Ball said in a statement Wednesday.
Ball blamed Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration for “disorganization across facilities, and as a result, the unacceptably poor treatment of Kentucky youth.” Beshear earlier this month criticized a Kentucky House budget proposal for lacking funding for new female-only juvenile justice centers.
The auditor’s report, labeled a “performance assessment,” found that the Juvenile Justice department’s “practices for isolation are inconsistently defined, applied and in conflict with nationally-recognized best practices.” The department’s use of force policies are also “poorly deployed and defined,” it said.
The report said the findings from the 2017 audit have largely not been addressed, including concerns of overuse of solitary confinement, low medical care standards and the poor quality of the policy manual.
Beshear initiated a new state policy for juvenile offenders last year that places male juveniles charged with serious crimes in a high-security facility. The policy replaced a decades-old regional system that put juveniles in facilities based on where they live.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/kentucky-juvenile-facilities-have-issues-with-force-staffing-report-says/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:15Z
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PlayStation State of Play January 2024: Everything Announced
From Death Stranding 2: On the Beach to a deep dive on Rise of the Ronin, here's everything that happened.
PlayStation hosted its first State of Play event of 2024 today, and we got over 40 minutes of updates on games coming to PS5. This included extended looks at Stellar Blade and Rise of the Ronin, as well as some surprises like Death Stranding 2: On the Beach and Sonic x Shadow Generations. Here's everything that happened at the January 2024 State of Play.
Death Stranding 2 Is Officially Titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
Kojima Productions shared a traditionally lengthy trailer for Death Stranding 2, which is now officially titled Death Stranding 2: On the Beach. Norman Reedus' Sam Porter Bridges returns, and it appears he's facing off against a new group called Drawbridge. There was a lengthy sequence with a potential villain using a chainsaw-guitar-hybrid weapon that shoots lightning, and that's just one of the crazy things that happened in this trailer. DS2 will star Reedus, Lea Seydoux, Elle Fanning, Shioli Kutsuna, Troy Baker, and more.
Hideo Kojima Is Making a New Action Espionage Game
After the Death Stranding 2 trailer, Kojima confirmed his studio is working on a new IP for PlayStation. It's an action espionage game, and like many of Kojima Productions' projects, it will attempt to blur the line between video game and film. We don't have a title for this project yet.
Deep Dive on Team Ninja's Rise of the Ronin
Rise of the Ronin is out on March 22, and Team Ninja gave us the best look we've seen so far at the upcoming action game. We got a look at the hub world of Yokohama, 1-on-1 sword combat with a parry system, and a lot more.
Until Dawn Remaster Coming to PS5 and PC This Year
The rumored Until Dawn remaster is real, and it's coming to PlayStation 5 and PC later in 2024. We got a look at the remaster's enhanced graphics, and learned that developer Ballistic Moon is handling the project.
Stellar Blade Deep Dive, Release Date Announced
We got a deep dive on Stellar Blade, the action game coming from developer Shift Up and publisher Sony Interactive Entertainment. We learned that the game is coming on April 26, 2024. The game takes place on an apocalyptic Earth where a mysterious enemy has forced humans to flee to a colony. The main character Eve and her two companions, Adam and Lily, work to destroy mech-like enemies as well as hostile survivors. Eve will use guns and swords in stylish action combat.
Capcom Shares Another Dragon's Dogma 2 Trailer
Dragon's Dogma 2 is also out on March 22, and Capcom showed up to share another look at the long-awaited sequel.
Sonic x Shadow Generations Announced
SEGA revealed Sonic x Shadow Generations, which is an enhanced remaster of Sonic Generations with new content featuring Shadow the Hedgehog. The teaser trailer showed the same levels we saw in the original Sonic Generations from 2011, as well as new levels where Shadow takes the lead. It's coming to PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC in Autumn 2024.
Silent Hill: The Short Message Is Dropping Later Today
Konami showed up to the State of Play to reveal Silent Hill: The Short Message, a free-to-play Silent Hill spin-off that will be available to play later today. Konami also shared a new trailer for the Silent Hill 2 remake project, but no release date or window was given.
Judas Gets a Brand New Trailer
Judas is the next game from Ken Levine, the creator of BioShock, and it definitely resembles his original work. A full trailer for Judas was shown at today's State of Play, and it looks like a colorful, dystopian game with first-person combat.
V Rising is Coming to PlayStation 5 in 2024
V Rising is an isometric action game with some Diablo vibes. We got a full trailer during the State of Play, and learned that it's coming to PlayStation 5 in 2024. The fantasy survival game originally launched in early access on PC in 2022.
Dave the Diver Is Coming to PlayStation
Dave the Diver was a surprise hit in 2023, and today we learned the game is coming to PlayStation this April. Plus, we learned that Godzilla is coming to Dave the Diver in May 2024.
Zenless Zone Zero Is In Development for PlayStation 5
Zenless Zone Zero is Hoyoverse's newest game, and today we learned it's in development for PlayStation 5.
Metro Awakening VR Trailer
Metro Awakening VR brings the longrunning series to virtual reality later this year. Awakening is set before the events of Metro 2033, and it will put players in the shoes of a doctor searching the metro tunnels to find his wife.
Legendary Tales Revealed for PlayStation VR 2
Legendary Tales is a new PS VR2 game coming from Urban Wolf Games. The first-person gameplay includes combat with magic, swords, hammers, bow and arrow, and more in a fantasy environment.
New Foamstars Trailer Ahead of Next Week's Launch
Foamstars is out on PlayStation Plus next week, and Square Enix shared a new trailer showing off new characters coming to the competitive foam shooter.
Helldivers 2 Trailer
The State of Play kicked off with a brief look at Helldivers 2. We got a look at the game's multiplayer shooter action ahead of its launch on February 8.
Logan Plant is IGN's Database Manager, Playlist Editor, occasional news writer, and frequent Super Ninfriendo on Nintendo Voice Chat. Find him on Twitter @LoganJPlant.
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https://in.ign.com/helldivers-ii/201398/news/playstation-state-of-play-january-2024-everything-announced
| 2024-01-31T23:52:17Z
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Scientists have found that spiderwebs can be used to capture environmental DNA, which reflects the animal population of an area. The technique may help track the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Scientists have found that spiderwebs can be used to capture environmental DNA, which reflects the animal population of an area. The technique may help track the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/spiderwebs-could-offer-a-snapshot-of-an-ecosystem-study-shows
| 2024-01-31T23:52:17Z
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JP Morgan on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement and Powell's presser on Wedensday, analysts at the bank are still confident June will be the first rate cut:
- We are sticking with our call for a first cut in June
But there's a but!
- But after Powell’s remarks it’s not hard to see a configuration of employment and inflation data that gets the Committee cutting by May
The dates to watch:
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https://www.forexlive.com/centralbank/jp-morgan-forecast-the-first-fomc-rate-cut-in-june-but-are-wavering-on-perhaps-may-20240131/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:18Z
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Senate Republicans demanded that President Biden's national security funding package for Ukraine be tied to policy changes to address the crisis at the southwest border. But now that negotiators say they are ready to release details of a bipartisan plan to reduce the surge of migrants at the border, Republican divisions could scuttle the plan.
Months of negotiations between the Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration officials are now threatened by politics. Former President Trump, the GOP's likely 2024 presidential nominee, has been publicly slamming the deal and urging lawmakers to oppose it.
Negotiators started the week promising to release a bill in the coming days. But by Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to signal he's ready to move on, and focus on getting money to two key U.S. allies at war.
"It's time for us to move something, hopefully including the border agreement, but we need to get help to Israel and Ukraine, quickly," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
McConnell has consistently argued that divided government is the moment to extract demands on border policy from Democrats.
Pressed about what voters would think of GOP lawmakers who sink a bill because Trump directed them to, McConnell sidestepped the question. "I still favor trying to make law when you can" and said what the bipartisan group is working on is better than current immigration law, adding, "you're asking me, a question I can't answer right now, which is the fate of it."
Senators already know key details
The top Democratic negotiator working on a border plan, Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has signaled for days that the deal is basically done, but getting sign off from the GOP to move ahead is the hold up.
"We have a bipartisan agreement to help address the crisis at the border. Republicans have been desperate for that. Why would they walk away from it?"
Senate Republicans huddled at their weekly lunch on Wednesday to discuss next steps, but the consensus coming out of the meeting was that lawmakers want to see the details.
But after weeks of negotiations, the key provisions have already been explained to lawmakers from both parties.
The bill includes several tools to address the border, including: giving the president the ability to shutdown the border if the numbers of migrants attempting to enter the U.S. climbs above a certain threshold, adjusting the rules for who qualifies for asylum and allowing migrants authorization to work while awaiting adjudication of their asylum claim.
Extended negotiations opened space for critics
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort is "an uphill climb" because as the talks have continued, some members have impressions about what the proposal will do and "there are certain people who will never change their mind."
Tillis has said a border plan needs to get the majority of Senate Republicans in order to move ahead. But Trump injecting himself into the process has caused many lawmakers to refrain from backing the framework, making it tougher to meet that test.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Jim Lankford is crafting the plan along with Murphy and Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Lankford spent time on Sunday talk shows swatting down leaks about the plan that conservative media outlets are painting as a green light for 5,000 additional migrants a day.
Texas Republican Sen, John Cornyn, who was an early advocate of linking money for Ukraine to changes to the Biden administration's policies, said people need time to see an official piece of legislation.
"People are talking about what they think is in it, and what they've heard is in it, what's not in it,' Cornyn told reporters. "I think the first thing we need to do is see where the conference is based on the text rather than just based on rumors and hearsay."
Tillis called Wednesday's meeting "a good discussion." But added, "I would ask those same members who are calling for time to read it, but not judge something they haven't read."
Others who came out against the bill already are already dismissing the proposals.
"I think this is a bad bill," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., told reporters. "And the simplest reason is it doesn't solve the problem."
Cruz blamed Senate Democrats for crafting a bill that "allows Joe Biden to continue the open borders," despite the months of bipartisan negotiations that have taken place. President Biden endorsed the proposal and said last week if Congress passes it he would immediately shutdown the border.
Some optimisim remains
Murphy remained optimistic on Wednesday that the deal would survive and come to the floor for a vote, possibly as soon as this week.
He said a "sizable, important group of Republican senators" are making a good faith effort to get something done on the border, and suggested that others are making disingenuous arguments about needing to see the full text.
"This is not a detailed study of the issue. This is a question as to whether they are going to put Trump before solving the problem," Murphy said.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.mtpr.org/2024-01-31/senate-gop-split-threatens-bipartisan-border-deal-as-trump-looms-large
| 2024-01-31T23:52:18Z
|
Senate Republicans demanded that President Biden's national security funding package for Ukraine be tied to policy changes to address the crisis at the southwest border. But now that negotiators say they are ready to release details of a bipartisan plan to reduce the surge of migrants at the border, Republican divisions could scuttle the plan.
Months of negotiations between the Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration officials are now threatened by politics. Former President Trump, the GOP's likely 2024 presidential nominee, has been publicly slamming the deal and urging lawmakers to oppose it.
Negotiators started the week promising to release a bill in the coming days. But by Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to signal he's ready to move on, and focus on getting money to two key U.S. allies at war.
"It's time for us to move something, hopefully including the border agreement, but we need to get help to Israel and Ukraine, quickly," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
McConnell has consistently argued that divided government is the moment to extract demands on border policy from Democrats.
Pressed about what voters would think of GOP lawmakers who sink a bill because Trump directed them to, McConnell sidestepped the question. "I still favor trying to make law when you can" and said what the bipartisan group is working on is better than current immigration law, adding, "you're asking me, a question I can't answer right now, which is the fate of it."
Senators already know key details
The top Democratic negotiator working on a border plan, Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has signaled for days that the deal is basically done, but getting sign off from the GOP to move ahead is the hold up.
"We have a bipartisan agreement to help address the crisis at the border. Republicans have been desperate for that. Why would they walk away from it?"
Senate Republicans huddled at their weekly lunch on Wednesday to discuss next steps, but the consensus coming out of the meeting was that lawmakers want to see the details.
But after weeks of negotiations, the key provisions have already been explained to lawmakers from both parties.
The bill includes several tools to address the border, including: giving the president the ability to shutdown the border if the numbers of migrants attempting to enter the U.S. climbs above a certain threshold, adjusting the rules for who qualifies for asylum and allowing migrants authorization to work while awaiting adjudication of their asylum claim.
Extended negotiations opened space for critics
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort is "an uphill climb" because as the talks have continued, some members have impressions about what the proposal will do and "there are certain people who will never change their mind."
Tillis has said a border plan needs to get the majority of Senate Republicans in order to move ahead. But Trump injecting himself into the process has caused many lawmakers to refrain from backing the framework, making it tougher to meet that test.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Jim Lankford is crafting the plan along with Murphy and Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Lankford spent time on Sunday talk shows swatting down leaks about the plan that conservative media outlets are painting as a green light for 5,000 additional migrants a day.
Texas Republican Sen, John Cornyn, who was an early advocate of linking money for Ukraine to changes to the Biden administration's policies, said people need time to see an official piece of legislation.
"People are talking about what they think is in it, and what they've heard is in it, what's not in it,' Cornyn told reporters. "I think the first thing we need to do is see where the conference is based on the text rather than just based on rumors and hearsay."
Tillis called Wednesday's meeting "a good discussion." But added, "I would ask those same members who are calling for time to read it, but not judge something they haven't read."
Others who came out against the bill already are already dismissing the proposals.
"I think this is a bad bill," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., told reporters. "And the simplest reason is it doesn't solve the problem."
Cruz blamed Senate Democrats for crafting a bill that "allows Joe Biden to continue the open borders," despite the months of bipartisan negotiations that have taken place. President Biden endorsed the proposal and said last week if Congress passes it he would immediately shutdown the border.
Some optimisim remains
Murphy remained optimistic on Wednesday that the deal would survive and come to the floor for a vote, possibly as soon as this week.
He said a "sizable, important group of Republican senators" are making a good faith effort to get something done on the border, and suggested that others are making disingenuous arguments about needing to see the full text.
"This is not a detailed study of the issue. This is a question as to whether they are going to put Trump before solving the problem," Murphy said.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
|
https://www.kalw.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/senate-gop-split-threatens-bipartisan-border-deal-as-trump-looms-large
| 2024-01-31T23:52:19Z
|
Scientists have found that spiderwebs can be used to capture environmental DNA, which reflects the animal population of an area. The technique may help track the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Scientists have found that spiderwebs can be used to capture environmental DNA, which reflects the animal population of an area. The technique may help track the biodiversity of an ecosystem.
Copyright 2024 NPR
|
https://www.kvpr.org/2024-01-31/spiderwebs-could-offer-a-snapshot-of-an-ecosystem-study-shows
| 2024-01-31T23:52:19Z
|
Nigerians Slam Tinubu Over Insecurity In Country
Featured, Latest News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The recent wave of insecurity in the country has sparked agitations from Nigerians in social media.
The African Examiner writes that a few days ago, two monarchs in Ekiti were kidnapped. Also, in the same Ekiti State, school children and teachers were also abducted. This is aside from the other abductions that have happened in other places in the country.
Aside from the issue of kidnapping, there is the economic issue of the naira falling on a free fall and this has led to an increase in the price of goods and services.
It appears that the pandemic of kidnapping has intensified recently and the Tinubu led government is yet to find a solution to the issue. Some netizens are taking to their X accounts slamming the president who is on a private visit to France. The African Examiner gathers some of their thoughts below:
@atiku writes: “Tinubu is playing fiddle while Nigeria is drowning in the ocean of insecurity. To imagine that the Commander-in-Chief is on a so-called private visit while kidnappers kill a nursing mother and grandmother in Abuja for failing to pay N90m ransom and two monarchs in Ekiti, among other regular tragedies besetting Nigerians. If the shoes are too big for Emilokan, he should step aside. Nigeria does not need another Tourist-in-Chief. The country needs 24/7 leadership to confront the pervasive insecurity and collapsing economy. –AA.”
@DemolaRewaju writes: “The “let Tinubu have it if my candidate can’t” political sentiment of 2023 is part of why we’re here: some people knew what they were doing, and some of them are still doing it. Holding Tinubu to account is the clear line of action for now. But they only need to whistle “anti-Fulani” and some people on this app will remove focus from Tinubu and start looking for something else.”
@ulxma writes: “Tinubu was announced as president and the entire country felt like it was thrown into mourning. The streets were quiet and the air felt empty. No celebration, no hope, only dread. Too weak and broken for even a public outcry. Our mortician had arrived. The people knew.”
@DemolaRewaju writes: “We’ll be here jointly fighting for our lives under Tinubu and someone will say “PDP should have dashed Obi the ticket” and focus is immediately lost: suffer no dey tire una??”
@Abdul-Aziz writes: “President Tinubu has ran out of ideas, he should honorably resign because, you can’t give what you don’t have!”
@Wizarab10 writes: “By the time Tinubu finishes with us, we will be envying Zimbabwe.”
@Israel writes: “The myth that “Tinubu built Lagos” was always a lie that is now obvious. Lagos was a colony by itself while the entire North and entire South were protectorates- Lagos always had an advantage. Even now, Lagos runs by the energies of multiple enterprises, not its politics.”
@DemolaRewaju writes: “In the hearts of some people, this renewed shege of a Tinubu presidency is a small price to pay, so long as the Fulani man did not emerge after Buhari. Those ones only have themselves also to blame at this point, not only Tinubu’s 36%.”
@Solomon_Buchi writes: “Some of you voted Tinubu because you didn’t want an Igbo man to rule Nigeria, and I’m sure that Tinubu exchanges £1 to 200 Naira for y’all. So cute.”
@Waspapping writes: “The state of electricity in Nigeria has degraded significantly under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, but due to the prevalent economic challenges, people are too preoccupied to notice the lack of power supply in their homes.”
Support African Examiner’s Free Journalism. By making a little donation, you are ensuring this site is free for all; you are also helping us to stay afloat and fulfill obligations to our reporters and other service providers: Thank you for your supports.
Send donations to:
AFRICAN EXAMINER, 1016408743, UBA
AFRICAN EXAMINER, 2028842299, First Bank
AFRICAN EXAMINER, 1012873398, Zenith Bank
For Enquiries send text to: +234.809.111.3268, +1.443.904.1239
Related Posts
Short URL: https://www.africanexaminer.com/?p=93633
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/nigerians-slam-tinubu-over-insecurity-in-country/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:20Z
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Georgia district attorney prosecuting Trump has been subpoenaed over claims of improper relationship
ATLANTA (AP) — Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and a special prosecutor she hired for the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump have been issued subpoenas by a defense attorney who has alleged Willis and the prosecutor had an inappropriate romantic relationship.
Lawyer Ashleigh Merchant, who represents Trump co-defendant Michael Roman, filed a motion Jan. 8 seeking to dismiss the indictment and to remove Willis and special prosecutor Nathan Wade from the case.
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, who’s presiding over the election case, has ordered Willis’ team to respond by Friday to the motion and to remove Willis from the prosecution. He has set a hearing on the matter for Feb. 15. Merchant confirmed that she has subpoenaed both Willis and Wade to testify at that hearing.
Merchant’s law firm also filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing Willis’ office of failing to comply with the Georgia Open Records Act, saying they “appear to be intentionally withholding information” that she has requested. Merchant had to repeatedly file certain requests after they were prematurely closed and she was incorrectly told certain records did not exist, the lawsuit says.
Willis spokesperson Jeff DiSantis declined to comment on the subpoenas, but disputed Merchant’s open records claims.
“We’ve provided her with the information she’s entitled to,” he said, adding that some of the records are still being compiled. He provided a letter that the office sent to Merchant last week providing an update on the status of requests she’d made, as well as screenshots showing that Merchant had accessed some records.
The lawsuit says that despite sending that letter, the district attorney’s office “failed nonetheless to provide most of the requested documents.”
Neither Willis nor Wade has publicly addressed the allegations of an inappropriate relationship. Willis’ office has repeatedly said a response to Roman’s motion will come in a court filing.
Willis, an elected Democrat, hired Wade in November 2021 to help with her investigation into efforts to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia. Since a Fulton County grand jury in August returned an indictment against Trump and 18 others, Wade has led the team of lawyers Willis assembled to prosecute the case.
Trump has seized on the allegations as he campaigns for the Republican nomination for president, trying to use them to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the case against him. Four co-defendants have already pleaded guilty in the case after reaching plea deals with prosecutors. Trump and the others who remain have pleaded not guilty.
Roman is a former Trump campaign staffer and one-time White House aide. Trump and co-defendant Robert Cheeley, a Georgia lawyer, have joined Roman’s motion.
Roman’s filing alleges that Willis had paid Wade large sums for his work and then improperly benefited when Wade paid for the pair to go on trips, creating a conflict of interest. It also questioned Wade’s qualifications for the job.
No proof of the alleged relationship was included in the motion. Willis spoke out during a church service nearly a week later and defended Wade’s qualifications, but did not address the allegations of a relationship.
In a court filing seeking to avoid sitting for a deposition in Wade’s divorce case, Willis accused Wade’s wife of trying to obstruct the election case. In a filing in response, Wade’s wife included credit card statements that showed Wade had bought plane tickets for Willis to travel with him to San Francisco and Miami.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/georgia-district-attorney-prosecuting-trump-has-been-subpoenaed-over-claims-of-improper-relationship/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:21Z
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Massachusetts turns recreational plex into shelter for homeless families, including migrants
BOSTON (AP) — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey and Boston Mayor Michelle Wu toured a recreational complex Wednesday hours ahead of its planned opening as a temporary shelter site for families experiencing homelessness, including migrants.
Healey said about 75 individuals were expected to arrive at the Cass Recreational Complex, located in the city’s Roxbury neighborhood, before the end of the day. The complex can provide temporary shelter for up to 400 people, or about 100-125 families, as the state continues to grapple with an influx of homeless migrants.
“We’re here today because we really don’t have a choice,” she said. “Families continue to come into this country, continue to come to Massachusetts, and we have over the last several months opened up locations throughout the state.”
There are currently three larger state-operated overflow family shelter sites. The location in Roxbury, one of the city’s traditionally Black neighborhoods, will be the fourth.
The others are located in Revere (150 rooms), Quincy (57 rooms) and Cambridge, which can accommodate 200 people or about 57 families.
There are also smaller emergency shelter sites in about 90 communities.
Those using the overflow sites are among 656 families currently on a wait list hoping to get into the state’s emergency family shelter program. Healey last year capped the number of people in the shelter program at 7,500 and created the wait list.
Healey and Wu, both Democrats. have called on the Biden administration for more help in dealing with the influx of migrants.
Boston isn’t alone, Wu said.
“I hear from mayors all around the country on a regular basis. I just had two conversations in the last couple of days around the stresses and the challenges that this crisis of migrant families needing services and shelter and homes are presenting at every level of government,” she said.
“The federal machinery needs a lot of fixing,” she added. ”It needs action and it has needed that for decades.”
Healey said the Roxbury site is temporary and families will be out before June. She said programs that were scheduled to take place at the center will be moved to other nearby locations and that renovations will be made to the complex. She also said the state will rely on local businesses to provide some of the services needed to run the shelter site.
“I am grateful to the community of Roxbury,” Healey said.
People in the neighborhood had mixed reactions to the new shelter.
Clifton A. Braithwaite, 56, a city council candidate and community activist, said he’s concerned about seniors and others who rely on programs at the center as a place to meet and exercise.
“I don’t know if the plan they have is going to work either for the immigrants or Boston citizens,” he said. “But one thing I know, to close a functional building down for three months that services the people of this community is a tragedy, because where are they going to go?”
Audra White, 41, who lives around the corner from the recreational complex, said she was troubled when she returned from a vacation in September and saw homeless migrants and their children sleeping on the floor at Logan International Airport.
“Logan airport is not an appropriate place to have people living in hallways,” she said. “At the Cass, there are showers, there are bathrooms. People can actually wash,” she said, referring to the Cass Recreational Complex.
“If the options are Logan or the Cass, I think the Cass is the better option,” she said.
In Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced the city will again extend its 60-day limit on shelter stays for asylum seekers, just days ahead of a deadline that could have evicted nearly 2,000 migrants.
Johnson said Monday the idea is to give people more time to resettle and find work. The policy change adds 30 to 60 more days for roughly 14,000 migrants already living in the city’s 28 shelters, which include warehouses and park district buildings.
As many as 800 asylum seekers have lived temporarily at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, sleeping on the floor and on cots at a shuttle bus center. Some stay there for weeks at a time while they await beds at one of the city’s 28 shelters or can make other arrangements. Chicago’s daily migrant dashboard showed 128 living at O’Hare as of Wednesday.
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Associated Press reporter Sophia Tareen contributed to this report from Chicago.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/massachusetts-turns-recreational-plex-into-shelter-for-homeless-families-including-migrants/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:22Z
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Helldivers II
Feb. 1, 2024
Helldivers 2 - Official Report for Duty Trailer | State of Play 2024
Helldivers drops on PS5 and PC on February 8 and to celebrate the launch here's one final gameplay trailer showcasing mechs, aliens, and space diving.
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| 2024-01-31T23:52:23Z
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Updated January 31, 2024 at 5:33 PM ET
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but signaled that rates could fall in the coming months if inflation continues to cool.
Policy makers have kept their benchmark interest rate between 5.25% and 5.5% — the highest in over two decades — since July.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday that interest rates are unlikely to go any higher, and that he and his colleagues are beginning to contemplate cutting rates.
"If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year," Powell said.
He cautioned, however, that the economy remains unpredictable and said the central bank would proceed cautiously.
"The economic outlook is uncertain and we remain highly attentive to inflation risks," Powell said.
The Fed has been pleasantly surprised by the rapid drop in inflation in recent months. Core prices in December — which exclude food and energy prices — were up just 2.9% from a year ago, according to the Fed's preferred inflation yardstick. That's a smaller increase than the 3.2% core inflation rate that Fed officials had projected in December.
If that positive trend continues, the Fed may be able to start cutting interest rates as early as this spring. First, though, Powell said he and his colleagues will need to see additional evidence that inflation is easing.
And he sounded doubtful about a rate cut at the Fed's next meeting in March as many investors in Wall Street had hoped for.
"Based on the meeting today, I would tell you that I don't think it's likely the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting," Powell said. "But that's to be seen."
The comments disappointed investors, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 317 points.
Investors are still hopeful about a rate cut by the following Fed meeting in May, with markets putting the likelihood of that at better than 90%.
Good omens in the economy
Both the economy and the job market have performed better than expected over the last year, despite the highest interest rates since 2001. The nation's gross domestic product grew 3.1% in 2023, while employers added 2.7 million jobs
Unemployment has been under 4%for nearly two years. And average wages in December were up 4.1% from a year ago.
While that strong economy is welcome news for businesses and workers, it also raises the risk of reigniting inflation. As a result, Fed policymakers say they'll be cautious not to cut interest rates prematurely.
"We have history on this," Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic told the Rotary Club of Atlanta this month. "In the '70s, the Fed started removing accommodation too soon. Inflation spiked back up. Then we had to tighten. Inflation came down. Then we removed it again. Inflation went back up. And by the time we were done with that, all Americans could think about was inflation."
The Fed is determined not to repeat that '70s show. At the same time, waiting too long to cut interest rates risks slowing the economy more than necessary to bring inflation under control.
A report from the Labor Department Wednesday showed employers' cost for labor rose more slowly than expected in the final months of last year. Labor costs increased just 0.9% in the fourth quarter. That's a smaller increase than the previous quarter, suggesting labor costs are putting less upward pressure on prices.
Fed officials promised to keep an eye on upcoming economic data and adjust accordingly.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/the-federal-reserve-holds-interest-rates-steady-but-signals-rate-cuts-may-be-coming
| 2024-01-31T23:52:23Z
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New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.mtpr.org/2024-01-31/u-s-students-are-starting-to-catch-up-in-school-unless-theyre-from-a-poor-area
| 2024-01-31T23:52:25Z
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Top tech CEOs were being grilled in Washington by lawmakers, who said the companies have failed to protect children from being subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation on their websites.
The executives include Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, X's Linda Yaccarino and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, among others.
The social media apps have "given predators powerful new tools to exploit children," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the kickoff of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He noted that the powerful apps "have changed the way we live, work and play."
The hearing is one of several over the past year as pressure builds for federal regulators to do more to hold tech companies accountable for children's safety online. Lawmakers have spoken out, have written letters to the CEOs and are pushing five separate bills that cover social media and child safety.
States have also targeted the social media companies. Last year, 13 states passed laws to protect kids on social media, and more states are expected to do the same.
"You have blood on your hands," Sen. Lindsey Graham tells Zuckerberg
Of the companies testifying on Wednesday, Meta has especially come under fire for allegedly creating a toxic environment for children. In October, a group of more than 40 states sued the company for allegedly designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive.
Separately, New Mexico's attorney general filed another suit against Meta, alleging it fails to remove child sexual abuse material from its platforms and also makes it easy for adults to solicit minors.
That lawsuit came after a Facebook whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in November. Based on data he collected while working at Facebook, he said he found that 24% of teens had received unwanted sexual advances. And when harmful posts are reported, he said, only 2% are taken down.
During Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laid into Zuckerberg.
"Mr. Zuckerberg," Graham began, "you have blood on your hands. You have a product that's killing people."
The packed audience, which included parents, survivors and child advocates, erupted in applause.
Zuckerberg has testified several times before members of the Senate, and he voluntarily agreed to speak again on Wednesday. In his opening statement, he said, "Keeping young people safe online has been a challenge since the internet began."
"No matter how much we invest or how effective our tools are, there's always more to learn and more improvements to make," Zuckerberg added.
Internal emails show Zuckerberg declined to hire staff to protect children online
In the lead-up to Wednesday's hearing, Meta rolled out new tools geared toward protecting kids online. Those include barring children under age 18 from seeing posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The company says it has around 40,000 people working on safety and security issues.
But just hours before the hearing began, lawmakers released 90 pages of internal emails that showed Meta has refused to fully commit to improving child safety on its platforms. At one point in 2021, the emails show, Zuckerberg declined a proposal to hire 45 new staff members dedicated to children's well-being.
The emails show top executives at Meta discussing budget and head count, as well as the fact that if they didn't address the issue they'd face increased regulatory risk and external criticism.
"This work & narrative has of course become a more critical focal point for policymakers, regulators et al in recent weeks — this is not likely to diminish going forward," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs wrote in a 2021 email to Zuckerberg.
The internal emails were produced in response to a letter that Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent to Meta in November.
Five federal bills introduced
Of the other executives to testify, TikTok's Chew has also appeared before Congresslast year, but this is the first time lawmakers have grilled X's Yaccarino and the two other CEOs: Snap's Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron. Chew volunteered to speak on Wednesday, but Yaccarino, Spiegel and Citron agreed only after being subpoenaed.
Snap has come out as the sole social media company to throw its support behind the Kids Online Safety Act, which is one of the bills that lawmakers are hoping to bring to the Senate floor this year. If passed, it would hold tech companies accountable for feeding teens toxic content.
"Many of the largest and most successful internet companies today were born here in the United States of America, and we must lead not only in technical innovation but also in smart regulation," Snap's Spiegel said in his opening remarks on Wednesday.
Throughout the hearing, several of the senators tried to get the tech CEOs to agree to back legislation. All of the executives said more had to be done and they agree with regulation, but besides Spiegel, none said they'd fully back one of the bills.
At one point Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., tried to get the CEOs to support legislation he and several other senators introduced, the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act.
"Is there any one of you willing to say now that you support this bill?" Coons asked the CEOs.
After the question didn't elicit a response, he followed up with: "Mr. Chairman, let the record reflect a yawning silence from the leaders of the social media platforms."
Child safety groups and parents joined lawmakers for several press conferences on Wednesday. They echoed the senators' demands that more has to be done to protect kids online.
"Parents used to worry about where their kids were at 10 p.m.," said Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. "These days, they may be physically present, but we don't know who they're spending time with online and what they're being exposed to every day."
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kalw.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/you-have-blood-on-your-hands-senator-tells-mark-zuckerberg-for-failing-kids-online
| 2024-01-31T23:52:25Z
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Donald Trump has yet to officially clinch the Republican presidential nomination, but he's already begun to tease about a running mate. The NPR Politics Podcast dives into who might be on his list.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Donald Trump has yet to officially clinch the Republican presidential nomination, but he's already begun to tease about a running mate. The NPR Politics Podcast dives into who might be on his list.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvpr.org/2024-01-31/trump-says-vp-pick-wont-impact-the-race-so-whats-he-looking-for-in-a-running-mate
| 2024-01-31T23:52:25Z
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House tees up vote to enhance child tax credit, revive tax breaks for businesses
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House looked to accomplish something unusual Wednesday in passing with broad, bipartisan support a roughly $79 billion tax cut package that would enhance the child tax credit and boost three tax breaks for business, a combination that gives lawmakers on both sides of the political aisle coveted policy wins.
Prospects for the measure becoming law are uncertain with the Senate still having to take it up, but for a House that has struggled to get bills of consequence over the finish line, the tax legislation could represent a rare breakthrough. Debate and a final vote on the measure are scheduled for the evening.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., threw his support behind the bill on Wednesday morning. He spent part of the previous day meeting with GOP lawmakers who were concerned about particular features of the bill, namely the expanded child tax credit. Some were also unhappy that it fails to address the $10,000 cap on the total amount of property taxes or state or local taxes that consumers can deduct on their federal returns. Raising the cap is a top priority of lawmakers from members of the New York congressional delegation.
Johnson committed to moving a bill that addresses the cap, but there is no bill text yet and legislation would have to move through the House Rules Committee, which leaves the timing very much in flux. Athina Lawson, a spokeswoman for Johnson, said the speaker and the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., agreed to work with members to “find a path forward.”
Johnson called the tax cut bill on the House floor important, bipartisan legislation that would revive “conservative pro-growth tax reform.” He also said that it would bring an early end to a “wasteful COVID-era program” that has been plagued with fraud. Moving up the deadline for claiming the employee retention tax credit is expected to largely offset the cost of the tax cuts in the legislation.
Johnson also emphasized the importance of the bill moving through the House Ways and Means Committee before coming to the full House for a vote, saying it was a good example of how Congress is supposed to work.
House Republicans were anxious to restore full, immediate deductions that businesses can take for the purchase of new equipment and machinery, and for domestic research and development expenses. They argue such investments grow the economy and incentivize American companies to keep their manufacturing facilities and operations in the United States. The bill also provides businesses more flexibility in determining how much borrowing can be deducted.
“Each of these policies will help American businesses grow, create jobs and sharpen their competitive advantage against China,” Smith said as debate began on the House floor.
Democrats focused on boosting the child tax credit. The tax credit is $2,000 per child, but not all of that is refundable. The bill would incrementally raise the amount of the credit available as a refund, increasing it to $1,800 for 2023 tax returns, $1,900 for the following year and $2,000 for 2025 tax returns. The bill also adjusts the topline credit amount to temporarily grow at the rate of inflation.
Households benefitting as a result of the changes in the child tax credit would see an average tax cut of $680 in the first year, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center.
Democrats pushed to restore the more generous tax credit they passed in 2021 in President Joe Biden’s first year in office with payments occurring on a monthly basis. The credit was $3,600 annually for children under age 6 and $3,000 for children ages 6 to 17. But most lawmakers were willing to take what gains they could get through the compromise bill.
“You know I’ve been told that a half a loaf is better than none,” said Rep. Danny Davis, D-Ill. “This isn’t even half a loaf, but I’m going to vote for it because our families and businesses need help.”
“What’s in front of us tonight is pretty simple,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass. “Sixteen million children will benefit from the improvement to the child tax credit. That’s a fact.”
But for some Democrats, it wasn’t enough.
“This bill provides billions of dollars in tax relief for the wealthy, pennies for the poor,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn. “Big corporations are richer than ever. There is no even split.”
And for some Republicans, it was too much. The chief critics of the expanded child tax credit likened it to “welfare.”
“What is a refundable tax credit. It’s welfare by a different name. We’re going to give cash payments, checks, to people who don’t even pay taxes,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
Rep. Drew Ferguson, R-Ga., chafed at that characterization, saying “we all believe on this side of the aisle that you should work in order to receive federal benefits. That is something that this bill does.”
The bill keeps a threshold of a household having $2,500 in income to be eligible for refundable child tax credit payments.
The bill also would enhance a tax credit for the construction or rehabilitation of rental housing targeted to lower-income households, adding an estimated 200,000 housing units around the country. And it would ensure victims of certain natural disasters and the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment don’t get hit with a big tax bill for payments they received as compensation for their losses.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/house-tees-up-vote-to-enhance-child-tax-credit-revive-tax-breaks-for-businesses/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:27Z
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Michigan school shooter’s mom was worried he might do ‘something dumb,’ friend says
PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Hours before a 2021 mass school shooting in Michigan, the mother of a teenager who killed four students said she was worried that he was “going to do something dumb,” a man who had a close relationship with her testified Wednesday.
Brian Meloche said Jennifer Crumbley explained to him that she had to go to Oxford High School after a teacher discovered a violent drawing on Ethan Crumbley’s math assignment the morning of the tragedy.
“Something with Ethan. (She) was worried he was going to do something dumb,” Meloche said.
Meloche, who was having an extramarital affair with Jennifer Crumbley at the time, said he knew through social media posts that the parents had recently purchased a gun for the boy.
“I asked where the firearm was. … If something was going to occur it would produce immediate irreparable damage,” Meloche testified.
Meloche spoke on the fifth day of trial in the involuntary manslaughter case against Jennifer Crumbley. She and husband James Crumbley are accused of ignoring their son’s mental health needs and making a gun accessible at home. Four students were killed Nov. 30, 2021, and more were wounded.
A meeting between school staff and the Crumbleys before the shooting has been a focal point in the case.
The parents were presented with a disturbing drawing their son had scrawled on an assignment. It depicted a gun and bullet and the lines, “The thoughts won’t stop. Help me. The world is dead. My life is useless.”
The school recommended that the couple get him help as soon as possible, but they declined to take him home, saying they needed to return to work, a counselor has testified. Their son stayed in school and later pulled a handgun from his backpack to fire at students.
The Crumbleys are the first parents in the U.S. to be charged in a mass school shooting committed by their child.
Meloche and Jennifer Crumbley repeatedly exchanged messages until her arrest four days later. Pages of their communications were shared with the jury.
Jennifer Crumbley told Meloche she was angry at the school for not checking her son’s backpack for a gun. She claimed the gun had been properly secured at home. She also said she didn’t know how her son’s “brain snapped.”
Her new priorities, according to a message: “Staying out of jail and not going into a financial hole.”
Long before trial, Judge Cheryl Matthews barred prosecutors from disclosing the affair. Jennifer Crumbley dropped her opposition during a lively exchange among attorneys on both sides of the case.
“Her life is more important than her dignity,” Jennifer Crumbley’s attorney, Shannon Smith, said. “She had an affair. Lots of people have affairs. Doesn’t mean you know your kid’s a school shooter. Doesn’t mean you know your child is going to kill people.”
Earlier Wednesday, the jury heard more of the prosecution’s effort to portray Jennifer Crumbley as a cold, thoughtless parent whose gross negligence contributed to the deaths.
Hours after the shooting, she said her son was “going to have to suffer” as a result of what happened, an investigator testified.
“I found that odd,” said Detective Lt. Sam Marzban of the Oakland County sheriff’s office. “She was referring to someone who was her son.”
Marzban was in charge of getting a warrant to search the Crumbley home and collect their phones.
“I told her that there were several dead kids and kids shot in the school. It was on the national news. Even the president had addressed it,” Marzban testified.
Jennifer Crumbley seemed “irritated and frustrated,” he said, especially about giving up her phone.
He said investigators were interested in the phones after seeing text messages from the parents on their son’s phone.
“Ethan don’t do it,” Jennifer Crumbley, 45, wrote about an hour after the shooting started.
Smith said last week that Jennifer Crumbley was referring to her son possibly killing himself.
Seventeen-year-old Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 at the time of the shooting, is serving a life sentence. James Crumbley, 47, faces trial on involuntary manslaughter charges in March.
The jury also learned how the parents, possessing more than $6,000, were captured by police. Roughly 13 hours after charges were announced, they were found on a mattress at an acquaintance’s Detroit art studio, roughly 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of their home.
A sharp-eyed coffee roaster in the building said he spotted their car in the parking lot and called 911.
Smith insists the parents were not on the run. She has said they couldn’t stay at home because they had received threats and that they had planned to voluntarily appear in court.
___
Follow Ed White at https://twitter.com/edwritez
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/michigan-school-shooters-mom-was-worried-he-might-do-something-dumb-friend-says/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:28Z
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NNPC Limited Woos South Korean Investors for Gas Projects
Business News, Featured, Latest News Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPC Ltd) has held talks with a South Korean consortium led by Daewoo E & C on the development of gas projects in Nigeria.
The Group Chief Executive Officer of NNPC Ltd, Mr Mele Kyari, led the company’s team to the discussions which were held in Seoul, South Korea, yesterday.
The talks were aimed at deepening NNPC Ltd.’s drive to tap into the nation’s vast gas resources to be a supplier of clean and affordable energy to the global market.
South Korea is a major destination for Liquefied Natural Gas exports and the consortium, in collaboration with the Korean Export-Import bank, has expressed interest in advancing discussions on investing in greenfield and other gas development opportunities.
The talks will pave way for the execution of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that will unlock strategic foreign direct investment in line with the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration’s policy of making Nigeria a prime destination for global investors.
Kyari has also congratulated Temile Development Company, an indigenous player in the gas sector, on the commissioning of its 23,000 cubic meters ultra-modern Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) Carrier in Ulsan, South Korea, today.
According to the GCEO, the vessel named, Alfred Temile 10, represents a significant stride towards deepening the utilization of gas in-country and growing gas revenues.
“It is great that Temile Development Company is able to complete the construction of the 23kt LPG vessel. This will go a long way in improving access to LPG in the domestic market and provide cleaner fuel in our country. Nigeria’s objective is to ensure that everyone has access to clean energy and particularly walk away from bio-mass as a source of energy. We know this is good and that is why we will continue to support it.
He disclosed that NNPC Ltd, alongside its partner West Africa Gas Ltd (WAGL), was building its own vessels which will boost LPG supply in Nigeria with a view to saturating the market.
Olufemi O. Soneye
Chief Corporate Communications Officer
NNPC Ltd. Abuja
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/nnpc-limited-woos-south-korean-investors-for-gas-projects/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:27Z
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News of the incident — which drew comparisons to the beheading videos posted online by the Islamic State militants at the height of their prominence nearly a decade ago — came as the CEOs of Meta, TikTok and other social media companies were testifying in front of federal lawmakers frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress on child safety online. YouTube, which is owned by Google, did not attend the hearing despite its status as one of the most popular platforms among teens.
The disturbing video from Pennsylvania follows other horrific clips that have been broadcast on social media in recent years, including domestic mass shootings livestreamed from Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Buffalo, New York — as well as carnages filmed abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the German city of Halle.
Middletown Township Police Capt. Pete Feeney said the video in Pennsylvania was posted at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and online for about five hours, a time lag that raises questions about whether social media platforms are delivering on moderation practices that might be needed more than ever amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and an extremely contentious presidential election in the U.S.
“It’s another example of the blatant failure of these companies to protect us,” said Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Social Media at the nonprofit advocacy organization Issue One. “We can’t trust them to grade their own homework.”
A spokesperson for YouTube said the company removed the video, deleted Mohn’s channel and was tracking and removing any re-uploads that might pop up. The video-sharing site says it uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human moderators to monitor its platform, but did not respond to questions about how the video was caught or why it wasn't done sooner.
Major social media companies moderate content with the help of powerful automated systems, which can often catch prohibited content before a human can. But that technology can sometimes fall short when a video is violent and graphic in a way that is new or unusual, as it was in this case, said Brian Fishman, co-founder of the trust and safety technology startup Cinder.
That’s when human moderators are “really, really critical,” he said. “AI is improving, but it’s not there yet.”
Roughly 40 minutes after midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, a group set up by tech companies to prevent these types of videos from spreading online, said it alerted its members about the video. GIFCT allows the platform with the original footage to submit a “hash” — a digital fingerprint corresponding to a video — and notifies nearly two dozen other member companies so they can restrict it from their platforms.
But by Wednesday morning, the video had already spread to X, where a graphic clip of Mohn holding his father’s head remained on the platform for at least seven hours and received 20,000 views. The company, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.
Experts in radicalization say that social media and the internet have lowered the barrier to entry for people to explore extremist groups and ideologies, allowing any person who may be predisposed to violence to find a community that reinforces those ideas.
In the video posted after the killing, Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal employee, espoused a variety of conspiracy theories and ranted against the government.
Most social platforms have policies to remove violent and extremist content. But they can’t catch everything, and the emergence of many newer, less closely moderated sites has allowed more hateful ideas to fester unchecked, said Michael Jensen, senior researcher at the University of Maryland-based Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START.
Despite the obstacles, social media companies need to be more vigilant about regulating violent content, said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The reality is that social media has become a front line in extremism and terrorism,” Ware said. “That’s going to require more serious and committed efforts to push back.”
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the media advocacy group Free Press, said among the tech reforms she would like to see are more transparency about what kinds of employees are being impacted by layoffs, and more investment in trust and safety workers.
Google, which owns YouTube, this month laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistance and engineering teams. Last year, the company said it cut 12,000 workers "across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," without offering additional detail.
___
AP journalists Beatrice Dupuy and Mike Balsamo in New York, and Mike Catalini in Levittown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
___
The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/a-beheading-video-was-on-youtube-for-hours-raising-questions-about-why-it-wasnt-taken-down-sooner/RTJIOQCS4VGIDH7JLXL7SZWYP4/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:28Z
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Hideo Kojima Action Espionage Project
Feb. 1, 2024
Physint - Kojima Productions Announcement| State of Play 2024
Hideo Kojima joined Herman Hulst to announce a brand new Action Espionage project which will be both a new game and movie in partnership with Sony. Kojima will be revisiting the genre that made him famous with the Metal Gear franchise nearly 40 years ago.
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https://in.ign.com/hideo-kojima-action-espionage-project/201424/video/physint-kojima-productions-announcement-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:52:29Z
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Northrop Grumman delivers EW equipment to Turkey
Northrop Grumman has announced that they have completed delivery on a number of Electronic Warfare (EW) contracts to Turkish high technology defence electronics company, Aselsan. Northrop Grumman made the announcement in a 2 December 2011 company statement.
This sees the completion of three separate contract between Northrop Grumman and Aselsan. In total the company delivered a Combat Electromagnetic Environment Simulator (CEESIM) system, a Signal Measurement System (SMS), and a Pulseman Portable CEESIM Simulator to Aselsan's Radar, Electronic Warfare and Intelligence Systems Division.
According to Northrop Grumman, the equipment will be used to support various electronic warfare (EW)-related programmes within Turkey, including work Aselsan does on ground-based, naval, fixed and rotary-wing platforms.
CEESIM generates complex dynamic electromagnetic environments that allow users to test and evaluate the performance of advanced electronic warfare systems including radar warning receivers, electronic countermeasure systems and signal intelligence systems. It is fully reprogrammable and is able to simulate EW/radar signals and communication signals.
The Signal Measurement System provides real-time RF measurement and analysis of threat emitters and corresponding system-under-test jammer responses for hardware-in-the-loop, installed system, and open-air training range applications.
According to the company, the CEESIM and SMS systems were delivered in early spring 2011, followed by the delivery of the portable version of CEESIM in September, bringing to seven the total installed base of RF simulators in Turkey.
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https://www.shephardmedia.com/news/digital-battlespace/northrop-grumman-delivers-ew-equipment-turkey/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:28Z
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Donald Trump has yet to officially clinch the Republican presidential nomination, but he's already begun to tease about a running mate. The NPR Politics Podcast dives into who might be on his list.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Donald Trump has yet to officially clinch the Republican presidential nomination, but he's already begun to tease about a running mate. The NPR Politics Podcast dives into who might be on his list.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/trump-says-vp-pick-wont-impact-the-race-so-whats-he-looking-for-in-a-running-mate
| 2024-01-31T23:52:29Z
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Top tech CEOs were being grilled in Washington by lawmakers, who said the companies have failed to protect children from being subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation on their websites.
The executives include Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, X's Linda Yaccarino and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, among others.
The social media apps have "given predators powerful new tools to exploit children," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the kickoff of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He noted that the powerful apps "have changed the way we live, work and play."
The hearing is one of several over the past year as pressure builds for federal regulators to do more to hold tech companies accountable for children's safety online. Lawmakers have spoken out, have written letters to the CEOs and are pushing five separate bills that cover social media and child safety.
States have also targeted the social media companies. Last year, 13 states passed laws to protect kids on social media, and more states are expected to do the same.
"You have blood on your hands," Sen. Lindsey Graham tells Zuckerberg
Of the companies testifying on Wednesday, Meta has especially come under fire for allegedly creating a toxic environment for children. In October, a group of more than 40 states sued the company for allegedly designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive.
Separately, New Mexico's attorney general filed another suit against Meta, alleging it fails to remove child sexual abuse material from its platforms and also makes it easy for adults to solicit minors.
That lawsuit came after a Facebook whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in November. Based on data he collected while working at Facebook, he said he found that 24% of teens had received unwanted sexual advances. And when harmful posts are reported, he said, only 2% are taken down.
During Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laid into Zuckerberg.
"Mr. Zuckerberg," Graham began, "you have blood on your hands. You have a product that's killing people."
The packed audience, which included parents, survivors and child advocates, erupted in applause.
Zuckerberg has testified several times before members of the Senate, and he voluntarily agreed to speak again on Wednesday. In his opening statement, he said, "Keeping young people safe online has been a challenge since the internet began."
"No matter how much we invest or how effective our tools are, there's always more to learn and more improvements to make," Zuckerberg added.
Internal emails show Zuckerberg declined to hire staff to protect children online
In the lead-up to Wednesday's hearing, Meta rolled out new tools geared toward protecting kids online. Those include barring children under age 18 from seeing posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The company says it has around 40,000 people working on safety and security issues.
But just hours before the hearing began, lawmakers released 90 pages of internal emails that showed Meta has refused to fully commit to improving child safety on its platforms. At one point in 2021, the emails show, Zuckerberg declined a proposal to hire 45 new staff members dedicated to children's well-being.
The emails show top executives at Meta discussing budget and head count, as well as the fact that if they didn't address the issue they'd face increased regulatory risk and external criticism.
"This work & narrative has of course become a more critical focal point for policymakers, regulators et al in recent weeks — this is not likely to diminish going forward," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs wrote in a 2021 email to Zuckerberg.
The internal emails were produced in response to a letter that Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent to Meta in November.
Five federal bills introduced
Of the other executives to testify, TikTok's Chew has also appeared before Congresslast year, but this is the first time lawmakers have grilled X's Yaccarino and the two other CEOs: Snap's Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron. Chew volunteered to speak on Wednesday, but Yaccarino, Spiegel and Citron agreed only after being subpoenaed.
Snap has come out as the sole social media company to throw its support behind the Kids Online Safety Act, which is one of the bills that lawmakers are hoping to bring to the Senate floor this year. If passed, it would hold tech companies accountable for feeding teens toxic content.
"Many of the largest and most successful internet companies today were born here in the United States of America, and we must lead not only in technical innovation but also in smart regulation," Snap's Spiegel said in his opening remarks on Wednesday.
Throughout the hearing, several of the senators tried to get the tech CEOs to agree to back legislation. All of the executives said more had to be done and they agree with regulation, but besides Spiegel, none said they'd fully back one of the bills.
At one point Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., tried to get the CEOs to support legislation he and several other senators introduced, the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act.
"Is there any one of you willing to say now that you support this bill?" Coons asked the CEOs.
After the question didn't elicit a response, he followed up with: "Mr. Chairman, let the record reflect a yawning silence from the leaders of the social media platforms."
Child safety groups and parents joined lawmakers for several press conferences on Wednesday. They echoed the senators' demands that more has to be done to protect kids online.
"Parents used to worry about where their kids were at 10 p.m.," said Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. "These days, they may be physically present, but we don't know who they're spending time with online and what they're being exposed to every day."
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.mtpr.org/2024-01-31/you-have-blood-on-your-hands-senator-tells-mark-zuckerberg-for-failing-kids-online
| 2024-01-31T23:52:31Z
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New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvpr.org/2024-01-31/u-s-students-are-starting-to-catch-up-in-school-unless-theyre-from-a-poor-area
| 2024-01-31T23:52:31Z
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Meta, TikTok and other social media CEOs testify in heated Senate hearing on child exploitation
Sexual predators. Addictive features. Suicide and eating disorders. Unrealistic beauty standards. Bullying. These are just some of the issues young people are dealing with on social media — and children’s advocates and lawmakers say companies are not doing enough to protect them.
On Wednesday, the CEOs of Meta, TikTok, X and other social media companies went before the Senate Judiciary Committee to testify at a time when lawmakers and parents are growing increasingly concerned about the effects of social media on young people’s lives.
The hearing began with recorded testimony from kids and parents who said they or their children were exploited on social media. Throughout the hourslong event, parents who lost children to suicide silently held up pictures of their dead kids.
“They’re responsible for many of the dangers our children face online,” Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, who chairs the committee, said in opening remarks. “Their design choices, their failures to adequately invest in trust and safety, their constant pursuit of engagement and profit over basic safety have all put our kids and grandkids at risk.”
In a heated question and answer session with Mark Zuckerberg, Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley asked the Meta CEO if he has personally compensated any of the victims and their families for what they have been through.
“I don’t think so,” Zuckerberg replied.
“There’s families of victims here,” Hawley said. “Would you like to apologize to them?”
Zuckerberg stood, turned away from his microphone and the senators, and directly addressed the parents in the gallery.
“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered,” he said, adding that Meta continues to invest and work on “industrywide efforts” to protect children.
But time and time again, children’s advocates and parents have stressed that none of the companies are doing enough.
One of the parents who attended the hearing was Neveen Radwan, whose teenage daughter got sucked in to a “black hole of dangerous content” on TikTok and Instagram after she started looking at videos on healthy eating and exercise at the onset of the COVID lockdowns. She developed anorexia within a few months and nearly died, Radwan recalled.
“Nothing that was said today was different than what we expected,” Radwan said. “It was a lot of promises and a lot of, quite honestly, a lot of talk without them really saying anything. The apology that he made, while it was appreciated, it was a little bit too little, too late, of course.”
But Radwan, whose daughter is now 19 and in college, said she felt a “significant shift” in the energy as she sat through the hearing, listening to the senators grill the social media CEOs in tense exchanges.
“The energy in the room was, very, very palpable. Just by our presence there, I think it was very noticeable how our presence was affecting the senators,” she said.
Hawley continued to press Zuckerberg, asking if he’d take personal responsibility for the harms his company has caused. Zuckerberg stayed on message and repeated that Meta’s job is to “build industry-leading tools” and empower parents.
“To make money,” Hawley cut in.
South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham, the top Republican on the Judiciary panel, echoed Durbin’s sentiments and said he’s prepared to work with Democrats to solve the issue.
“After years of working on this issue with you and others, I’ve come to conclude the following: Social media companies as they’re currently designed and operate are dangerous products,” Graham said.
The executives touted existing safety tools on their platforms and the work they’ve done with nonprofits and law enforcement to protect minors.
Snapchat broke ranks ahead of the hearing and is backing a federal bill that would create a legal liability for apps and social platforms that recommend harmful content to minors. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel reiterated the company’s support on Wednesday and asked the industry to back the bill.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the company is vigilant about enforcing its policy barring children under 13 from using the app. CEO Linda Yaccarino said X, formerly Twitter, doesn’t cater to children.
“We do not have a line of business dedicated to children,” Yaccarino said. She said the company will also support Stop CSAM Act, a federal bill that makes it easier for victims of child exploitation to sue tech companies.
Yet child health advocates say social media companies have failed repeatedly to protect minors.
Profits should not be the primary concern when companies are faced with safety and privacy decisions, said Zamaan Qureshi, co-chair of Design It For Us, a youth-led coalition advocating for safer social media. “These companies have had opportunities to do this before they failed to do that. So independent regulation needs to step in.”
Republican and Democratic senators came together in a rare show of agreement throughout the hearing, though it’s not yet clear if this will be enough to pass legislation such as the Kids Online Safety Act, proposed in 2022 by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee.
“There is pretty clearly a bipartisan consensus that the status quo isn’t working,” said New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez, a Democrat. “When it comes to how these companies have failed to prioritize the safety of children, there’s clearly a sense of frustration on both sides of the aisle.”
Meta is being sued by dozens of states that say it deliberately designs features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms. New Mexico filed a separate lawsuit saying the company has failed to protect them from online predators.
New internal emails between Meta executives released by Blumenthal’s office show Nick Clegg, the company’s president of global affairs, and others asking Zuckerberg to hire more people to strengthen “wellbeing across the company” as concerns grew about effects on youth mental health.
“From a policy perspective, this work has become increasingly urgent over recent months. Politicians in the U.S., U.K., E.U. and Australia are publicly and privately expressing concerns about the impact of our products on young people’s mental health,” Clegg wrote in an August 2021 email.
The emails released by Blumenthal’s office don’t appear to include a response, if there was any, from Zuckerberg. In September 2021, The Wall Street Journal released the Facebook Files, its report based on internal documents from whistleblower Frances Haugen, who later testified before the Senate. Clegg followed up on the August email in November with a scaled-down proposal but it does not appear that anything was approved.
“I’ve spoken to many of the parents at the hearing. The harm their children experienced, all that loss of innocent life, is eminently preventable. When Mark says ‘Our job is building the best tools we can,’ that is just not true,” said Arturo Béjar, a former engineering director at the social media giant known for his expertise in curbing online harassment who recently testified before Congress about child safety on Meta’s platforms. “They know how much harm teens are experiencing, yet they won’t commit to reducing it, and most importantly to be transparent about it. They have the infrastructure to do it, the research, the people, it is a matter of prioritization.”
Béjar said the emails and Zuckerberg’s testimony show that Meta and its CEO “do not care about the harm teens experience” on their platforms.
“Nick Clegg writes about profound gaps with addiction, self-harm, bullying and harassment to Mark. Mark did not respond, and those gaps are unaddressed today. Clegg asked for 84 engineers of 30,000,” Béjar said. “Children are not his priority.”
___
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/meta-tiktok-and-other-social-media-ceos-testify-in-heated-senate-hearing-on-child-exploitation/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:33Z
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Parents arrested in case of social media model charged with killing boyfriend
MIAMI (AP) — The parents of a social media model charged with fatally stabbing her live-in boyfriend in South Florida have been arrested in Texas on charges related to the case, jail records show.
Deborah Lyn Clenney, 57, and Kim Dewayne Clenney, 60, were taken into custody Tuesday in Austin, Texas, on an out-of-state warrant, according to the records. A Miami-Dade circuit judge had signed arrest warrants for the couple last week, charging them each with a felony count of unauthorized access to a computer.
Their daughter, 27-year-old Courtney Clenney, faces the same new charge. Jail records show she’s been held without bond on a second-degree murder charge since August 2022.
Clenney, who had used the name Courtney Tailor on such platforms as Instagram and OnlyFans, fatally stabbed Christian Obumseli at the couple’s Miami apartment in April 2022 as the culmination of a “tempestuous and combative relationship” that began in November 2020, prosecutors said previously.
Clenney has acknowledged killing Obumseli but said she was acting in self-defense. Her attorney, Frank Prieto, previously said that Obumseli was regularly abusive.
Clenney previously told investigators that Obumseli had pushed her and thrown her to the floor, which prompted her to grab a knife and throw it at Obumseli from about 10 feet (3 meters) away. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Obumseli said his wound could not have been caused by a knife thrown from that distance.
Clenney was arrested in Hawaii several days after the stabbing, but investigators believe she gave Obumseli’s computer to her parents some time between the killing and her arrest. According to the arrest warrants, detectives recovered text messages where the parents discuss trying to gain access to the computer.
Jail records didn’t list attorneys for Clenney’s parents, and her attorney didn’t respond to new messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/parents-arrested-in-case-of-social-media-model-charged-with-killing-boyfriend/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:34Z
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Their daughter, 27-year-old Courtney Clenney, faces the same new charge. Jail records show she's been held without bond on a second-degree murder charge since August 2022.
Clenney, who had used the name Courtney Tailor on such platforms as Instagram and OnlyFans, fatally stabbed Christian Obumseli at the couple’s Miami apartment in April 2022 as the culmination of a “tempestuous and combative relationship” that began in November 2020, prosecutors said previously.
Clenney has acknowledged killing Obumseli but said she was acting in self-defense. Her attorney, Frank Prieto, previously said that Obumseli was regularly abusive.
Clenney previously told investigators that Obumseli had pushed her and thrown her to the floor, which prompted her to grab a knife and throw it at Obumseli from about 10 feet (3 meters) away. The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Obumseli said his wound could not have been caused by a knife thrown from that distance.
Clenney was arrested in Hawaii several days after the stabbing, but investigators believe she gave Obumseli's computer to her parents some time between the killing and her arrest. According to the arrest warrants, detectives recovered text messages where the parents discuss trying to gain access to the computer.
Jail records didn't list attorneys for Clenney's parents, and her attorney didn't respond to new messages seeking comment from The Associated Press.
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https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/parents-arrested-in-case-of-social-media-model-charged-with-killing-boyfriend/HNH6C7WEQJBCDDKM6IYWO53OF4/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:34Z
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Judas, BioShock Creator Ken Levine's Latest Game, Gets New Trailer - State of Play 2024
We learn more about Ghost Story Games' new narrative-driven shooter.
We already knew that Judas, a first-person sci-fi action game from BioShock creator Ken Levine, was in development. And today, we got a new trailer, containing what I would call some serious BioShock vibes.
As one of a handful of announcements from today's January 2024 State of Play, Ghost Story Games showed off a new look. We didn't get a release date, but the footage says it's "currently in development for PS5." It's also slated to release on PC and Xbox Series X/S.
Ghost Story Games' parent company, Take-Two Interactive, announced last February that the game planned to be released before the end of March 2025.
Judas was reported to be in "development hell" before its official unveiling. Ghost Story Games shared a first true look at Judas a few months after that report during the 2022 Game Awards.
"We founded Ghost Story Games to build upon the legacy of System Shock 2, BioShock, and BioShock Infinite," Levine wrote in a press release following the game's official unveiling. "With Judas, we've created an entirely new world and set of characters while exploring different approaches to single-player, narrative first-person shooters."
The official press release reads:
The “Who is Judas” trailer offers a deeper look at the game’s setting aboard the Mayflower, a spacefaring city whose citizens are trained to tear each other apart for even the most minor infractions, and where machines control every aspect of business, art, and government. You, as Judas, are the driver of every event in a mysterious story with a new cast of characters to get to know - and to change - in a world where every decision you make affects how the story unfolds.
It goes on to say that the "leaders tried to turn you into something you're not: a model citizen" and that you "sparked a devastating revolution to tears it all down."
Elsewhere, today's stream featuring new details on Death Stranding 2, the reveal of a new action espionage game by Hideo Kojima, and the release of Silent Hill: The Short Message. For more, check out everything announced at Sony's first State of Play of 2024.
Alex Stedman is IGN's Senior News Editor
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https://in.ign.com/judas/201410/news/judas-bioshock-creator-ken-levines-latest-game-gets-new-trailer-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:52:35Z
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New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
New reports show a big academic recovery after schools reopened. But not for all students. Stanford professor Sean Reardon tells NPR's Mary Louise Kelly how the pandemic worsened education inequality.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/u-s-students-are-starting-to-catch-up-in-school-unless-theyre-from-a-poor-area
| 2024-01-31T23:52:35Z
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Re-run Election: Conduct Unbiased Polls In Enugu, IPAC Tasks INEC
Latest News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – Ahead of the forthcoming re-run elections in Enugu state, the Inter-Party Advisory Council, IPAC, Enugu chapter has urged the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to ensure credible conduct of the polls, waring against favouring any political party.
The organization made the call Monday Enugu via it’s a communique issued after her Expanded and Extraordinary meeting held at the IPAC Secretariat in Enugu.
It also called on the electoral bod to ensure that approved obervers are allowed to vet the credibility of the election.
Aside the call for an unbiased conduct of the elections, IPAC, equally urged security agencies to provide adequate security during and after the re-run elections.
State Chairman of IPAC, Hon. Edwin Alor, who read the six point communique jointly signed by the 16 members who are the chairmen of different political parties in the state and past chairmen of the Council, hailed the state governor, Dr. Peter Mbah over improved security and urged the Council to maintain the existing zoning arrangement.
The comminique noted that the Council set up a three-man committee to reconcile various interests in IPAC before the re-run elections.
In his welcome address earlier, the chairman, told the members that meeting was convened to put heads together to chart way forward and streghten IPAC in Enugu.
“This meeting is a crucial one which is envisioned at putting heads together with a view to charting a course of action towards strengthening of IPAC as well as promotion of democracy and good governance in our state.
Reacting to the chairman’s address, former IPAC chairman and a goverirship Candidate in the state during the 2023 general eletion, Barr. John Nwobodo, had urged IPAC to ensure that INEC conducted credible election. “If IPAC speak with one voice, INEC will do well at conducting credible elections.”
Nwobodo said though IPAC has played a key role in deepening democracy in the state, the relationship between it and INEC has not been wonderful, saying “it is still a work in progress
He frowned at the high cost of the political parties nomination forms for election. Stressing that IPAC has a role to play in reducing the cost of such fee, pointing out that as it stands, no civil servant can afford such huge amount to obtain parties normination forms.
As key stakehlders in the electoral process, he posited, IPAC in the state must promote zoning arrangement which has being a key factor in peace sustainability.
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Short URL: https://www.africanexaminer.com/?p=93631
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/re-run-election-conduct-unbiased-polls-in-enugu-ipac-tasks-inec/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:34Z
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Broadway star Hinton Battle, who played the original Scarecrow at the 1978 "The Wiz", has died at 67. He was a three-time Tony Award winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
Broadway star Hinton Battle, who played the original Scarecrow at the 1978 "The Wiz", has died at 67. He was a three-time Tony Award winner.
Copyright 2024 NPR
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https://www.kvpr.org/arts-culture/2024-01-31/broadway-legend-hinton-battle-who-originally-played-scarecrow-in-the-wiz-has-died
| 2024-01-31T23:52:37Z
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Stock market today: Wall Street falls as Big Tech slumps and hope for a March rate cut fades
NEW YORK (AP) — Big Tech stocks burned by the downside of high expectations triggered a sharp slide for Wall Street Wednesday. The market’s losses worsened after the Federal Reserve indicated it likely won’t cut interest rates in March, as many traders had hoped.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.6% for its worst day since September. It veered between more modest and sharper losses through a shaky afternoon as traders delayed bets for when the Fed would begin easing its main interest rate from its highest level since 2001.
The slide for Big Tech stocks dragged the Nasdaq composite to a market-leading loss of 2.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has less of an emphasis on tech, fell a more modest 0.8%, or 317 points.
Alphabet was one of the heaviest weights on the market, and it fell 7.5% despite reporting stronger profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Underneath the surface, analysts pointed to some concerning trends in how much Google’s parent company is earning from advertising.
The bigger challenge, though, may have been the high expectations the company faces after how much its stock soared last year. Other Big Tech stocks that also accounted for a disproportionate chunk of the S&P 500’s rally to a record likewise struggled Wednesday in the face of high expectations.
Microsoft fell 2.7% even though it delivered stronger profit and revenue than expected. One analyst, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities, even called its quarterly report “a masterpiece that should be hung in the Louvre.”
Tesla, another member of the group of stocks nicknamed the “Magnificent Seven,” fell 2.2%. A judge in Delaware ruled a day earlier that its CEO, Elon Musk, is not entitled to the landmark compensation package earlier awarded to him.
The Magnificent Seven were responsible for the majority of the S&P 500’s return last year, and three more members are scheduled to report their latest quarter results on Thursday: Amazon, Apple and Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Expectations are high for them, too.
Besides the Magnificent Seven, stocks have rallied to records because of hopes that a cooldown in inflation will convince the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates several times this year. Such cuts would relax the pressure on the economy and encourage investors to pay higher prices for stocks.
But the Fed on Wednesday left its main interest rate steady and made clear it “does not expect it will be appropriate” to cut rates “until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward” its goal of 2%.
“We’re not declaring victory at all,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said. He said it’s unlikely the Fed will get to that level of comfort by its next meeting in March.
“It’s probably not the most likely case,” he said, which sent stocks skidding late in trading.
But Powell also said Fed officials already have some confidence that day will arrive. They just need to see more months of data confirming that inflation is heading sustainably lower. “We have confidence,” he said. “It has been increasing, but we want to get greater confidence.”
Powell acknowledged the difficult position the Fed is in, with dangers arising from both acting too quickly and too late, even though “overall it’s a good picture” for the economy at the moment. Cutting rates too soon could ignite inflationary pressures, while acting too late would mean unnecessary pain for the economy and job market.
“Given how strong the economy has been, the Fed probably figures it can err on the side of cutting later and slower than what the market is pricing,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at Annex Wealth Management.
Treasury yields in the bond market swung up and down following the Fed’s announcement. They had been lower earlier following a couple softer-than-expected reports on the economy.
One report said that growth in pay and benefits for U.S. workers was slower in the final three months of 2023 than economists expected. While all workers would like bigger raises, the cooler-than-expected data could further calm what was one of the Fed’s big fears: that too-big pay gains would trigger a vicious cycle that ends up keeping inflation high.
A separate report from the ADP Research Institute also suggested hiring by non-government employers was softer in January than economists expected. The Fed and Wall Street are hoping that the job market cools by just the right amount, enough to keep a lid on inflation but not so much that it causes a recession. A more comprehensive jobs report from the U.S. government will arrive Friday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.92% from 4.04% late Tuesday. In October, it was above 5% and at its highest level since 2007.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 79.32 points to 4,845.65. The Dow dropped 317.07 to 38,150.30, and the Nasdaq slumped 345.89 to 15,164.01.
In stock markets abroad, indexes slumped sharply again in China amid continued worries about a weak economic recovery and troubles for the country’s heavily indebted property developers.
Stocks were mixed elsewhere in Asia and down modestly in Europe.
___
AP Writer Zimo Zhong contributed.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/stock-market-today-wall-street-falls-as-big-tech-slumps-and-hope-for-a-march-rate-cut-fades/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:39Z
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Peru gives in to protesters in Machu Picchu and rescinds ticket sales contract with private firm
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peru's government on Wednesday backtracked on plans to outsource the sale of entry tickets to Machu Picchu to a private company, a week after protesters blocked access to the country's most famous tourist attraction and rail service to the area was suspended.
Despite the resolution, the streets, hotels and restaurants around the site remained almost deserted.
Eleven days after the government announced the change in the ticketing system, which had been in the hands of a state entity for 15 years, the executive relented and terminated the contract questioned by the local tourism sector.
Peru's Minister of Culture Leslie Urteaga, who had alleged irregularities and a loss of $1.8 million for tickets not reported by state offices, finally agreed to the protesters’ request after meeting with the regional president of Cusco and the mayor of the Machu Picchu district.
The authorities committed to moving ticket sales to an online platform managed by the national government and rescinded the contract with Joinnus, the virtual ticket sales firm owned by one of the wealthiest economic groups in Peru who had taken over the service in mid January.
Rail service to the area — which had been suspended on Friday — promptly resumed, but visitor arrivals were still slowed to a trickle.
“This seems like the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, you hardly see any people,” said Roger Monzón, an employee at the Inkas Land hotel in the Machu Picchu district, an 18-room building currently housing only two tourists from Portugal.
The few tourists who persisted in visiting the Inca site during the weeklong demonstration, most of them young, had to navigate a longer and more difficult road. They would drive 210 kilometers (130 miles) from Cusco to a hydroelectric plant from where they would walk two hours to reach the Machu Picchu district, where they rested. Then they had to walk to the stone citadel for another 2 1/2 hours.
Four countries — the United States, Germany, France and Brazil — had advised their citizens to be cautious if they were planning to visit Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site since 1983, citing the potential lack of water and other essentials resulting from transport disruptions.
Tourism is the main economic activity in Cusco, with more than 200,000 people having direct jobs in the sector. In times before the protests, up to 4,500 visitors entered Machu Picchu every day.
There are no official figures on potential losses during the first week of protests, but some tourism unions estimate the damage at about $4.7 million.
“The losses include all sectors that are directly linked to tourism such as tourist agencies, hotels, restaurants, tour guides, but also markets, taxi drivers and peasant communities,” said Elena González, president of the Association of Cusco Tourism Agencies.
___
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
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https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/machu-picchu-tourism-suffering-week-190033085.html
| 2024-01-31T23:52:39Z
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Ruling moves University of Idaho closer toward controversial bid to acquire University of Phoenix
The University of Idaho said Wednesday it would move forward with its planned acquisition of the for-profit University of Phoenix for nearly $700 million after a judge dismissed the state attorney general’s lawsuit alleging the deal was done in violation of an open meetings law.
Attorney General Raúl Labrador failed to prove the Board of Regents violated Idaho’s Open Meetings Law when considering the transaction, an Idaho judge ruled Tuesday in dismissing Labrador’s lawsuit.
The university hailed the decision as a victory for both the board’s executive session practices and for access to higher education in Idaho. The lawsuit has been one of the biggest impediments to closing the deal.
“We look forward to completing our affiliation with the University of Phoenix in the coming months and bringing this unique opportunity to the citizens of Idaho,” said a statement from university spokesperson Jodi Walker. “Higher education has never been more important than now as we work to meet the workforce needs of our state.”
The deal is the latest attempt by troubled for-profit schools to cleanse their reputations after investigations into deceptive practices and face less regulation as nonprofits, said David Halperin, a Washington, D.C., attorney and longtime critic of the for-profit college industry.
“Why Idaho wants to buy is a little harder to understand,” he said.
During a meeting open to the public last year, the board unanimously voted to approve the creation of a not-for-profit entity that will acquire the operations of the University of Phoenix. In other, closed-door discussions, the board “reasonably believed” it was in competition with one or more public agencies in other states to acquire the University of Phoenix, which allowed for an executive session, District Judge Jason Scott’s ruling said.
The ruling “will lead to far less government transparency and accountability,” Labrador said in a statement Wednesday. “That is bad for Idaho citizens, and it defies the entire purpose of the law. We are looking closely at all appellate options to ensure Idaho’s Open Meetings Law remains a bulwark for openness and government accountability.”
Labrador complained the board kept details of the deal secret until the last moment and decided to purchase the University of Phoenix despite fines for deceptive and unfair practices.
The University of Phoenix was among the for-profit schools involved in a 2022 settlement to cancel federal student debt for former students who applied for debt cancellation because of alleged misconduct by the schools.
In 2019, the University of Phoenix reached a record $191 million settlement to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that the institution used deceptive advertisements that falsely touted its relationships and job opportunities with companies such as AT&T, Microsoft and the American Red Cross.
The University of Idaho has hailed the deal as expanding educational access to adult learners who seek online programs: “University of Phoenix serves primarily working adults. U of I will remain Idaho’s land-grant, residential university serving primarily traditional learners.”
The two will retain a separate operational structure. Each will have its own president and leadership team, the University of Idaho said.
Representatives for the University of Phoenix didn’t immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.
A deputy attorney general advising the board had approved the executive sessions as compliant with Idaho’s Open Meeting Law, the judge’s ruling noted.
State Board President Linda Clark said they will seek payment of legal fees by the attorney general’s office.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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| 2024-01-31T23:52:40Z
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Legendary Tales
Feb. 1, 2024
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| 2024-01-31T23:52:41Z
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The university hailed the decision as a victory for both the board's executive session practices and for access to higher education in Idaho. The lawsuit has been one of the biggest impediments to closing the deal.
“We look forward to completing our affiliation with the University of Phoenix in the coming months and bringing this unique opportunity to the citizens of Idaho,” said a statement from university spokesperson Jodi Walker. “Higher education has never been more important than now as we work to meet the workforce needs of our state.”
The deal is the latest attempt by troubled for-profit schools to cleanse their reputations after investigations into deceptive practices and face less regulation as nonprofits, said David Halperin, a Washington, D.C., attorney and longtime critic of the for-profit college industry.
“Why Idaho wants to buy is a little harder to understand,” he said.
During a meeting open to the public last year, the board unanimously voted to approve the creation of a not-for-profit entity that will acquire the operations of the University of Phoenix. In other, closed-door discussions, the board “reasonably believed” it was in competition with one or more public agencies in other states to acquire the University of Phoenix, which allowed for an executive session, District Judge Jason Scott's ruling said.
The ruling “will lead to far less government transparency and accountability,” Labrador said in a statement Wednesday. "That is bad for Idaho citizens, and it defies the entire purpose of the law. We are looking closely at all appellate options to ensure Idaho’s Open Meetings Law remains a bulwark for openness and government accountability.”
Labrador complained the board kept details of the deal secret until the last moment and decided to purchase the University of Phoenix despite fines for deceptive and unfair practices.
The University of Phoenix was among the for-profit schools involved in a 2022 settlement to cancel federal student debt for former students who applied for debt cancellation because of alleged misconduct by the schools.
In 2019, the University of Phoenix reached a record $191 million settlement to resolve Federal Trade Commission charges that the institution used deceptive advertisements that falsely touted its relationships and job opportunities with companies such as AT&T, Microsoft and the American Red Cross.
The University of Idaho has hailed the deal as expanding educational access to adult learners who seek online programs: “University of Phoenix serves primarily working adults. U of I will remain Idaho’s land-grant, residential university serving primarily traditional learners.”
The two will retain a separate operational structure. Each will have its own president and leadership team, the University of Idaho said.
Representatives for the University of Phoenix didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment Wednesday.
A deputy attorney general advising the board had approved the executive sessions as compliant with Idaho’s Open Meeting Law, the judge's ruling noted.
State Board President Linda Clark said they will seek payment of legal fees by the attorney general's office.
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https://www.springfieldnewssun.com/nation-world/ruling-moves-university-of-idaho-closer-toward-controversial-bid-to-acquire-university-of-phoenix/HSHGG74C2BDIHEWZFCALNIAUZQ/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:41Z
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Top tech CEOs were being grilled in Washington by lawmakers, who said the companies have failed to protect children from being subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation on their websites.
The executives include Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, X's Linda Yaccarino and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, among others.
The social media apps have "given predators powerful new tools to exploit children," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the kickoff of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He noted that the powerful apps "have changed the way we live, work and play."
The hearing is one of several over the past year as pressure builds for federal regulators to do more to hold tech companies accountable for children's safety online. Lawmakers have spoken out, have written letters to the CEOs and are pushing five separate bills that cover social media and child safety.
States have also targeted the social media companies. Last year, 13 states passed laws to protect kids on social media, and more states are expected to do the same.
"You have blood on your hands," Sen. Lindsey Graham tells Zuckerberg
Of the companies testifying on Wednesday, Meta has especially come under fire for allegedly creating a toxic environment for children. In October, a group of more than 40 states sued the company for allegedly designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive.
Separately, New Mexico's attorney general filed another suit against Meta, alleging it fails to remove child sexual abuse material from its platforms and also makes it easy for adults to solicit minors.
That lawsuit came after a Facebook whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in November. Based on data he collected while working at Facebook, he said he found that 24% of teens had received unwanted sexual advances. And when harmful posts are reported, he said, only 2% are taken down.
During Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laid into Zuckerberg.
"Mr. Zuckerberg," Graham began, "you have blood on your hands. You have a product that's killing people."
The packed audience, which included parents, survivors and child advocates, erupted in applause.
Zuckerberg has testified several times before members of the Senate, and he voluntarily agreed to speak again on Wednesday. In his opening statement, he said, "Keeping young people safe online has been a challenge since the internet began."
"No matter how much we invest or how effective our tools are, there's always more to learn and more improvements to make," Zuckerberg added.
Internal emails show Zuckerberg declined to hire staff to protect children online
In the lead-up to Wednesday's hearing, Meta rolled out new tools geared toward protecting kids online. Those include barring children under age 18 from seeing posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The company says it has around 40,000 people working on safety and security issues.
But just hours before the hearing began, lawmakers released 90 pages of internal emails that showed Meta has refused to fully commit to improving child safety on its platforms. At one point in 2021, the emails show, Zuckerberg declined a proposal to hire 45 new staff members dedicated to children's well-being.
The emails show top executives at Meta discussing budget and head count, as well as the fact that if they didn't address the issue they'd face increased regulatory risk and external criticism.
"This work & narrative has of course become a more critical focal point for policymakers, regulators et al in recent weeks — this is not likely to diminish going forward," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs wrote in a 2021 email to Zuckerberg.
The internal emails were produced in response to a letter that Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent to Meta in November.
Five federal bills introduced
Of the other executives to testify, TikTok's Chew has also appeared before Congresslast year, but this is the first time lawmakers have grilled X's Yaccarino and the two other CEOs: Snap's Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron. Chew volunteered to speak on Wednesday, but Yaccarino, Spiegel and Citron agreed only after being subpoenaed.
Snap has come out as the sole social media company to throw its support behind the Kids Online Safety Act, which is one of the bills that lawmakers are hoping to bring to the Senate floor this year. If passed, it would hold tech companies accountable for feeding teens toxic content.
"Many of the largest and most successful internet companies today were born here in the United States of America, and we must lead not only in technical innovation but also in smart regulation," Snap's Spiegel said in his opening remarks on Wednesday.
Throughout the hearing, several of the senators tried to get the tech CEOs to agree to back legislation. All of the executives said more had to be done and they agree with regulation, but besides Spiegel, none said they'd fully back one of the bills.
At one point Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., tried to get the CEOs to support legislation he and several other senators introduced, the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act.
"Is there any one of you willing to say now that you support this bill?" Coons asked the CEOs.
After the question didn't elicit a response, he followed up with: "Mr. Chairman, let the record reflect a yawning silence from the leaders of the social media platforms."
Child safety groups and parents joined lawmakers for several press conferences on Wednesday. They echoed the senators' demands that more has to be done to protect kids online.
"Parents used to worry about where their kids were at 10 p.m.," said Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. "These days, they may be physically present, but we don't know who they're spending time with online and what they're being exposed to every day."
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvcrnews.org/2024-01-31/you-have-blood-on-your-hands-senator-tells-mark-zuckerberg-for-failing-kids-online
| 2024-01-31T23:52:41Z
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Senate Summons Service Chiefs Over Rising Killings, Kidnappings
Featured, Latest News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The Senate has summoned service chiefs over the spate of insecurity in the country.
This was a unanimous call by the lawmakers after an emergency session on the first legislative day of the year.
The Senate had gone into the executive session after the leader, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele raised a motion on behalf of the Senators on the security situation in the country.
After about two hours behind closed doors, the Senate then reconvened and resolved to invite the service chiefs next week, over the spate of insecurity in the country.
The service chiefs are the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), General Christopher Musa; Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt-General Taoreed Lagbaja; Chief of Air Staff (CAS), Air Marshal Hassan Abubakar, and Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla.
The Senate also adjourned plenary to February 6 to allow lawmakers to participate in Saturday’s by-elections.
From the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja to Mangu in Plateau State as well as other parts of the country, kidnappings and killings have been recorded of late with the latest in the dastard act of criminals being the murder of two traditional rulers in Ekiti State — the Onimojo of Imojo-Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Olusola; and the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti, Oba David Ogunsola. The two monarchs were killed when they were returning from a meeting in Irele-Ekiti on Monday.
Opposition voices like Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi have called on the President Bola Tinubu administration to stem the tide of the ugly incidents while the Presidency continues to insist that the President is on top of the situation.
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/senate-summons-service-chiefs-over-rising-killings-kidnappings/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:42Z
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MIAMI — A federal judge has dismissed the Walt Disney Company's lawsuit against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Disney sued after DeSantis and state lawmakers removed its self-governing status in 2023.
Backed by Republican lawmakers, DeSantis dissolved a special district near Orlando that for more than fifty years had governed Walt Disney World. He acted after Disney's CEO opposed a law limiting how sex orientation and gender identity can be discussed in the schools. The Parental Rights in Education Act was labeled "Don't Say Gay" by opponents.
At DeSantis' request, Florida's GOP-controlled legislature created a new special district, the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District, controlled by the Republican Governor's appointees. Disney sued in federal court, saying DeSantis was retaliating against the company, punishing it for exercising its First Amendment right to freedom of speech. Disney also canceled plans for a $1 billion campus in Florida.
In a 17-page order, U.S. District Judge Allen Winsor dismissed the case, saying Disney lacks standing to sue the governor. The judge also said while Disney could sue the new DeSantis-appointed board, it hadn't shown evidence that actions by the new board had harmed the company. In addition, Winsor said the law prohibits plaintiffs from bringing a free speech challenge to constitutionally enacted laws.
A DeSantis spokesman hailed the decision saying, "the Corporate Kingdom is over. The days of Disney controlling its own government and being placed above the law are long gone. Disney is still just one of many corporations in the state and they do not have a right to their own special government."
Disney says it will "press forward with its case." In a statement after the ruling, a company spokesperson said, "If left unchallenged, this would set a dangerous precedent and give license to states to weaponize their official powers to punish the expression of political viewpoints they disagree with."
Disney and the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District board are also embroiled in lawsuits in state court.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/a-federal-judge-dismisses-disneys-lawsuit-against-florida-gov-ron-desantis
| 2024-01-31T23:52:44Z
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US says it disrupted a China cyber threat, but warns hackers could still wreak havoc for Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Wednesday they disrupted a state-backed Chinese effort to plant malware that could be used to damage civilian infrastructure, as the head of the FBI warned that Beijing is positioning itself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the United States and China ever go to war.
The operation, announced just before FBI Director Chris Wray addressed House lawmakers, disrupted a botnet of hundreds of U.S.-based small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies that had been hijacked by the Chinese hackers to cover their tracks as they sowed the malware. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems across the United States.
Speaking before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Wray said there’s been far too little public focus on a cyber threat that affects “every American.”
“China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray said.
Jen Easterly, the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, voiced a similar sentiment at the hearing.
“This is a world where a major crisis halfway across the planet could well endanger the lives of Americans here at home through the disruption of our pipelines, the severing of our telecommunications, the pollution of our water facilities, the crippling of our transportation modes — all to ensure that they can incite societal panic and chaos and to deter our ability” to marshal a sufficient response, she said.
The comments align with assessments from outside cybersecurity firms including Microsoft, which said in May that state-backed Chinese hackers had been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.
At least a portion of that operation, attributed to a group of hackers known as Volt Typhoon, has now been disrupted after FBI and Justice Department officials obtained search-and-seizure orders in Houston federal court in December. U.S. officials did not characterize the disruption’s impact, and court documents unsealed Wednesday say the disrupted botnet was just “one form of infrastructure used by Volt Typhoon to obfuscate their activity.” The hackers have infiltrated targets through multiple avenues, including cloud and internet providers, disguising themselves as normal traffic.
The U.S. has in the past few years become more aggressive in trying to disrupt and dismantle both criminal and state-backed cyber operations, with Wray warning Wednesday that Beijing-backed hackers aim to pilfer business secrets to advance the Chinese economy and steal personal information for foreign influence campaigns.
“They are doing all those things. They all feed up ultimately into their goal to supplant the U.S. as the world’s greatest superpower,” he said.
Complicating the threat is that state-backed hackers, especially Chinese and Russian, are good at adapting and finding new intrusion methods and avenues.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about such hackers hiding in U.S.-based infrastructure, and the end-of-life Cisco and NetGear routers exploited by Volt Typhoon were easy prey because they were no longer supported by their manufacturers with security updates. Because of the urgency, law enforcement officials said, U.S. cyber operators deleted the malware in those routers without notifying their owners directly — and added code to prevent re-infection.
A Justice Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the government said officials were determined to disrupt the Volt Typhoon operation as soon as possible because the hackers were using the botnet as a stepping stone to hide in U.S. internet traffic while burrowing into the networks of critical infrastructure, ready to maliciously exploit that access at a time of their choosing.
“The truth is that Chinese cyber actors have taken advantage of very basic flaws in our technology,” Easterly said. “We’ve made it easy on them.”
Cybersecurity veteran Amit Yoran, the CEO of Tenable, called Wray’s warning “an urgent call to action. Continuing to turn a blind eye to the risk sitting inside our critical infrastructure is the definition of negligence.”
Cybersecurity experts say major software providers too often sacrifice security for convenience, and that’s biting back.
On the eve of a June visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, state-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft cloud-based security in hacking the email of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials said allies were also affected by Volt Typhoon’s critical infrastructure hacking but, asked by reporters, would not discuss any countermeasures they might be taking.
China has repeatedly denounced the U.S. government’s hacking allegations as baseless. Beijing has accused the U.S. of “almost daily” and “huge amounts of intrusions against Chinese government, with Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, saying last year that “China is the biggest victim of cyber attacks.”
But Gen. Paul Nakasone, the outgoing commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, said “responsible cyber actors” do not target civilian infrastructure.
“There’s no reason for them to be in our water,” Nakasone said. “There’s no reason for them to be in our power.”
On Tuesday, testifying before the same committee, Leon Panetta, who served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the defense secretary in the Obama administration, said he believed that the Chinese agents had “planted malware within our own computer networks” and warned that the Chinese government would use artificial intelligence to spread disinformation.
The committee, chaired by Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, was established last year with a mandate of countering China, kicking off with a prime-time hearing. The Chinese government has lashed out at the committee, demanding that its members “discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality.”
____
Bajak reported from Boston.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://kstp.com/world/us-says-it-disrupted-a-china-cyber-threat-but-warns-hackers-could-still-wreak-havoc-for-americans/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:45Z
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Portland Trail Blazers’ head coach Chauncey Billups and Philadelphia 76ers guard Patrick Beverly received double technical fouls during the matchup between the two teams on Monday night. However, following a league review of the incident, the technical foul calls on both Billups and Beverly have been rescinded according the the NBAOfficial page on X.
The double technical fouls on Patrick Beverley (PHI) and Chauncey Billups (POR) at 1:33 of the 1st qtr on 1/29/24 have been rescinded upon league office review.
The technical foul would have been Billups’ third in a week if it had stood. Beverly already had six technical fouls on the season. His seventh technical foul this season would have resulted in a $3,000 fine if it had not been rescinded.
The incident occurred just a week after Billups was ejected following two quick technical fouls in the fourth quarter of the Blazers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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https://www.blazersedge.com/2024/1/31/24057343/chauncey-billups-technical-foul-portland-trail-blazers-philadelphia-76ers-sixers-nba-rescind-ruling
| 2024-01-31T23:52:45Z
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Joel Embiid will miss the Philadelphia 76ers' next game, a matchup on Thursday night against the Utah Jazz, as he navigates a worrisome knee injury, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Wojnarowski adds that Embiid will travel back to Philadelphia to undergo further testing on his left knee. The superstar missed two games due to soreness in the knee and looked much less mobile in his return in Philly's loss to the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. Jonathan Kuminga falling on Embiid's left knee in the fight for a loose ball left Embiid writhing in pain, ending his game after just under 30 minutes.
The 76ers have fallen to the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference after losing four consecutive games. Philly has a record of 3-9 in games without Joel Embiid, who has dealt with knee soreness and numerous other injuries this season. His absence in the matchup against Utah, the final stop of a five-game road trip, will be his 13th missed game of the 2023-24 campaign.
Per Sixers official:
Joel Embiid (left knee injury) is out for tomorrow night’s game vs. Utah. He will receive further evaluation over the next 24 hours. Updates will be provided as appropriate.
— Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) January 31, 2024
The 76ers have been without Tyrese Maxey for two straight games due to a left ankle sprain. Head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that Maxey is “close” and that he was hoping he would be able to return in the game against the Warriors. The return of the star guard will be needed even more as Embiid potentially misses multiple games again.
Joel Embiid is running out of allotted missed games under the new requirement of 65 games played for postseason awards. Not counting the upcoming matchup with the Jazz, the 76ers big man can only miss four more games with 35 left in the season. Should he qualify, he is in line to win the MVP award for the second straight year.
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https://clutchpoints.com/76ers-news-joel-embiid-ruled-out-vs-jazz-amid-knee-injury
| 2024-01-31T23:52:45Z
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News of the incident — which drew comparisons to the beheading videos posted online by the Islamic State militants at the height of their prominence nearly a decade ago — came as the CEOs of Meta, TikTok and other social media companies were testifying in front of federal lawmakers frustrated by what they see as a lack of progress on child safety online. YouTube, which is owned by Google, did not attend the hearing despite its status as one of the most popular platforms among teens.
The disturbing video from Pennsylvania follows other horrific clips that have been broadcast on social media in recent years, including domestic mass shootings livestreamed from Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; and Buffalo, New York — as well as carnages filmed abroad in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the German city of Halle.
Middletown Township Police Capt. Pete Feeney said the video in Pennsylvania was posted at about 10 p.m. Tuesday and online for about five hours, a time lag that raises questions about whether social media platforms are delivering on moderation practices that might be needed more than ever amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, and an extremely contentious presidential election in the U.S.
“It’s another example of the blatant failure of these companies to protect us,” said Alix Fraser, director of the Council for Responsible Social Media at the nonprofit advocacy organization Issue One. “We can’t trust them to grade their own homework.”
A spokesperson for YouTube said the company removed the video, deleted Mohn’s channel and was tracking and removing any re-uploads that might pop up. The video-sharing site says it uses a combination of artificial intelligence and human moderators to monitor its platform, but did not respond to questions about how the video was caught or why it wasn't done sooner.
Major social media companies moderate content with the help of powerful automated systems, which can often catch prohibited content before a human can. But that technology can sometimes fall short when a video is violent and graphic in a way that is new or unusual, as it was in this case, said Brian Fishman, co-founder of the trust and safety technology startup Cinder.
That’s when human moderators are “really, really critical,” he said. “AI is improving, but it’s not there yet.”
Roughly 40 minutes after midnight Eastern time on Wednesday, the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism, a group set up by tech companies to prevent these types of videos from spreading online, said it alerted its members about the video. GIFCT allows the platform with the original footage to submit a “hash” — a digital fingerprint corresponding to a video — and notifies nearly two dozen other member companies so they can restrict it from their platforms.
But by Wednesday morning, the video had already spread to X, where a graphic clip of Mohn holding his father’s head remained on the platform for at least seven hours and received 20,000 views. The company, formerly known as Twitter, did not respond to a request for comment.
Experts in radicalization say that social media and the internet have lowered the barrier to entry for people to explore extremist groups and ideologies, allowing any person who may be predisposed to violence to find a community that reinforces those ideas.
In the video posted after the killing, Mohn described his father as a 20-year federal employee, espoused a variety of conspiracy theories and ranted against the government.
Most social platforms have policies to remove violent and extremist content. But they can’t catch everything, and the emergence of many newer, less closely moderated sites has allowed more hateful ideas to fester unchecked, said Michael Jensen, senior researcher at the University of Maryland-based Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START.
Despite the obstacles, social media companies need to be more vigilant about regulating violent content, said Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
“The reality is that social media has become a front line in extremism and terrorism,” Ware said. “That’s going to require more serious and committed efforts to push back.”
Nora Benavidez, senior counsel at the media advocacy group Free Press, said among the tech reforms she would like to see are more transparency about what kinds of employees are being impacted by layoffs, and more investment in trust and safety workers.
Google, which owns YouTube, this month laid off hundreds of employees working on its hardware, voice assistance and engineering teams. Last year, the company said it cut 12,000 workers "across Alphabet, product areas, functions, levels and regions," without offering additional detail.
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AP journalists Beatrice Dupuy and Mike Balsamo in New York, and Mike Catalini in Levittown, Pennsylvania, contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP's democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/a-beheading-video-was-on-youtube-for-hours-raising-questions-about-why-it-wasnt-taken-down-sooner/RTJIOQCS4VGIDH7JLXL7SZWYP4/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:45Z
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Seanenrgy Provides Vessel to Demonstrate Hydrogen Power Retrofit
Greek dry bulk shipping company Seanergy Maritime will be providing a vessel to work as the test bed and demonstration vessel for a new European Union co-funded project to develop and demonstrate the safety and viability and accelerate the adoption of Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAFs) in waterborne transport. The project recently held its kickoff meeting as it began a four-year effort, 48 months, to develop the technologies to employ alternative fuels on existing vessels.
Seanenergy which is a pure-play Capesize shipowner highlights that it is the first Greek shipping company to be selected to participate in a pioneering project of this scope. The company, which operates a fleet of 16 Capesize and one Newcastlemax bulkers, will provide one of its existing, conventionally fueled vessels as the demonstration ship for the project.
The company’s bulker will be retrofitted to utilize hydrogen (H2) as its main energy source for electric power generation. According to the company, the system is also expected to cover a portion of the vessel's propulsion requirements and, therefore, to reduce reliance on conventional fuels.
The strategic partnership with the European Union and key industry stakeholders is another major achievement of our company towards our global ESG objectives,” said Stamatis Tsantanis, the company’s Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. “This prominent combination of world-renowned stakeholders consists of classification societies, engineering and industrial firms, the academic community, as well as the European Union. Our collaborative approach will actively contribute to the development of green solutions for the existing fleet, revealing solutions that have an immediate impact.”
Known as the SAFeCRAFT Project Consortium (Safe and Efficient Use of Sustainable Fuels in Maritime Transport Application), the initiative focuses on the utilization of alternative fuels. The project will focus on demonstrating four technologies, acting as SAF enablers for different types of ocean-going and short-sea shipping vessels, both newbuilding and retrofits. Among the areas they will work with are H2 (Dihydrogen), liquid hydrogen, compressed hydrogen, and ammonia and other liquid organic hydrogen carriers, all of which have the potential to become sustainable alternative fuels.
The project calls for physical demonstrations of the groundbreaking technology and its application to the existing maritime fleet. Seanergy reports it will oversee the feasibility study and retrofitting of the equipment aboard its vessel along with the other project partners.
The project includes a total of 11 partners including the classification and consulting companies American Bureau of Shipping and RINA Services. There are also engineering and industrial fuel companies as well as academic participation from the University of Strathclyde in Scotland, the University of Paras in Greece, and the Dresden University of Technology in Germany.
The consortium partners are co-funding the project with the European Union. It seeks to align with the goals of the “Horizon Europe” program and the FuelEU Maritime 2040 targets by demonstrating technologies to achieve a 26 percent reduction in CO2 emissions for an existing vessel.
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https://maritime-executive.com/article/seanenrgy-provides-vessel-to-demonstrate-hydrogen-power-retrofit
| 2024-01-31T23:52:45Z
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Taylor Swift + Super Bowl = conspiracy theories. The claims are baseless
The budding love story featuring music superstar Taylor Swift and Kansas City Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce took an unexpected turn into the world of political conspiracy theories this week after the team advanced to the Super Bowl.
Myriad baseless rumors emerged on social media — everything from claims that Swift has played a part in Pentagon psychological operations to the idea that she and her two-time Super Bowl champion boyfriend are key assets in a secret plot to help President Joe Biden get reelected in 2024. Another variant: That the Chiefs’ success was rigged as part of the plan for the game on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
Political and media figures on the right, including former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, political activist Laura Loomer and One America News Network host Alison Steinberg, have amplified the allegations.
The claims are ludicrous and may well reflect the fear on the right that someone as famous as Swift, whose landmark Eras Tour is the first tour to cross the billion-dollar mark, could indeed influence the presidential race should she urge her legion of fans in one direction.
Pop culture and politics have long been entwined. The entertainment industry has been a deep well of political contributions. And candidates often try to draft on the celebrity of stars to add to their own allure.
The potency of the impact is less clear. In Swift’s case, there is some proof that she can at minimum generate more voter registration.
In September, Swift posted a short message on her Instagram account encouraging her 272 million followers to register to vote. The post led to more than 35,000 registrations on the nonpartisan nonprofit Vote.org.
Swift’s massive fan base gives her a powerful voice. An SSRS poll conducted in October 2023 found that about 6 in 10 U.S. adults called themselves at least casual fans of the singer, with 8% saying they’re big fans. The poll also found that 8 in 10 U.S. adults said they had heard of her relationship with Kelce and the majority of those familiar with it considered it a real relationship, rather than a publicity stunt.
“Pop culture people identify with this stuff, they pay attention to it. And that’s what moves politics now. It’s attention and identity,” Joel Penney, an associate professor at Montclair State University whose research includes the intersection of politics and pop culture, said. Indeed, Donald Trump’s improbable march to the presidency in 2016 was propelled in part from the celebrity he gained as a reality television star.
But the false claims about Swift are of such an extreme nature that they will test the limits of how potent a conspiracy theory can be. Penney sees the recent deluge of posts aimed at Swift as an attempt to preemptively blunt her impact by discrediting her.
Penney said Swift’s influence could prove a difficult force to contend with, especially if she publicly supports Biden, as she did in the 2020 race.
The attacks on Swift could also galvanize young voters who want to rally around her.
“Young people are fighting their political battles through a language drawn from pop culture,” said Henry Jenkins, a professor at the University of Southern California who also studies politics and pop culture. “That’s what connects them. That’s what they’re engaged with.”
Both Swift and Kelce have made public statements about politics and other issues that put them at odds with the far-right.
Swift broke her long-standing refusal to discuss her political views in 2018 when she announced in an Instagram post that she would be voting for Tennessee’s Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen and Democratic House incumbent Rep. Jim Cooper. She also slammed then-U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the Republican candidate, citing Blackburn’s opposition to certain LGBTQ+ rights and her vote against the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act in 2013. Blackburn won election to the Senate.
In 2020, Swift endorsed Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview with V Magazine, noting that “under their leadership, I believe America has a chance to start the healing process it so desperately needs.”
Kelce faced criticism in September for appearing in an ad promoting the double dose of the flu and COVID-19 vaccines, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The ad was part of a partnership with Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that developed a vaccine in response to the pandemic and has since become a common mark for anti-vaccine activists and conspiracy theorists.
Pop culture figures and the industry that surround them have been enmeshed in political campaigns long before the duo some fans refer to as Swelce. Former President Bill Clinton first appeared on MTV during his 1992 campaign while he was still governor of Arkansas. Major stars including Johnny Cash, Mary Tyler Moore and Willie Nelson endorsed former President Jimmy Carter more than 40 years ago when he made his second run for the White House. Ronald Reagan got his start in politics after a career as an actor.
“That question of, does this stuff work in pop culture? It absolutely can,” Penney said. “And it does. And history has shown that.”
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/taylor-swift-super-bowl-conspiracy-theories-the-claims-are-baseless/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:46Z
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Metro Awakening Is a New VR Game Headed to PSVR2 - State of Play 2024
The Metro franchise is headed to VR.
Metro, the single-player first-person post-apocalyptic shooter based on the novels by Dmitry Glukhovsky, is headed to virtual reality headsets. Announced during the first State of Play of 2024, Metro Awakening is a new VR game that will arrive exclusively on the PlayStation VR2 in 2024.
In a new PS Blog Post, Metro Awakening is set before the events of 2010's Metro 2033. In Awakening, layers control Serdar, a doctor searching the metro tunnels to find his wife. Unlike other games in the Metro franchise, Awakening is developed by Vertigo Games
This is the most recent entry to be announced in 4A Games' first-person shooter franchise, spawning four games, with the most recent release, Metro Exodus, released in 2019. In our review of Metro Exodus, which we gave an 8.5 out of 10, we said, "Metro Exodus brings its survival horror to the surface without sacrificing any of the series’ signature tension."
The announcement is not entirely surprising as series author Dmitry Glukhovsky revealed in an Instagram post in late 2019 that 4A Games was developing another game in the series; at the same time, some alluded it would be a direct sequel to Exodus; the post merely teased the gaming series would continue and that Glukhovsky was involved in the project.
4A Games would later confirm in a blog post in 2020 that a new game in the Metro universe was being developed. While the developer initially announced it was looking to tackle a multiplayer-focused Metro game, it also tempered expectations that there was no 100% guarantee that the next Metro game would be multiplayer-only, let alone a Metro game that offered both single and multiplayer experiences "in the same package."
As for the PSVR 2, Sony's peripheral has been quiet since launching last year. We'll see if Metro Awakening is able to give the device a shot in the arm. In the meantime, here's everything else announced during today's State of Play presentation.
Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.
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https://in.ign.com/metro-3/201409/news/metro-awakening-is-a-new-vr-gaming-headed-to-psvr2-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:52:47Z
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Boeing released its 2023 earnings Wednesday, but the company's CEO spent most of a call with investors talking about safety and quality.
Boeing is facing big questions about quality control after a door plug panel blew off one of its 737 Max 9 jets in midair earlier this month.
"We are not issuing financial outlook for 2024 today. Now is not the time for that," chief executive Dave Calhoun said during an earnings call.
Instead, Calhoun focused much of the call seeking to reassure analysts — and the flying public — that the plane maker is taking the incident seriously.
"We will simply focus on every next airplane, and ensuring we meet all the standards that we have, all the standards that our regulator has and that our customers demand," he said.
Calhoun did not offer any information about the cause of the incident on January 5th, which is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. No one was seriously injured, but the incident touched off another crisis for Boeing. The troubled plane maker was still working to rebuild public trust after 346 people died in two 737 Max 8 jets that crashed in 2018 and 2019.
Boeing said Wednesday it lost $30 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. That's a better performance than the final quarter of 2022, when the company lost more than $600 million. Overall, Boeing lost $2.2 billion last year — its best result in 5 years.
But any improvement in the company's financials has been overshadowed by the latest safety incident.
The Federal Aviation Administration is allowing Boeing 737 Max 9 planes to fly again after an inspection and maintenance. Calhoun said airlines have now returned 129 Max 9 planes to service, out of a total of 171 that were grounded by the FAA.
Earlier this week, Boeing formally withdrew its request for an exemption from federal safety rules in order to speed up certification of its new Boeing Max 7 jet to start flying. The company had been hoping to begin delivering those smaller planes to airlines this year, despite a design flaw with the Max's engine de-icing system that could be potentially catastrophic.
Boeing wanted to use the same workaround that's already in use on its Max 8 and Max 9 jets. Now the company says it will focus on a permanent engineering fix instead.
Calhoun told analysts on Wednesday that process is expected to take about nine months, likely pushing certification of the Max 7 back into 2025.
The FAA has also taken the unusual step of ordering production caps at Boeing's factories. Calhoun said the company will continue producing 737s at the rate of 38 per month until the FAA agrees to lift that limit. And Calhoun told analysts that slowing down production at the behest of regulators would help the company fix problems in its factory and supply chain.
"I'm sort of glad they called out a pause. That's an excuse to take our time, and do it right," Calhoun said. "This is what we do, and how we get better."
But some longtime observers are skeptical that Boeing management is ready to confront the true scale of the problem.
"I'm sure they're hoping for a quick fix," said Peter Lemme, a former Boeing engineer who's now an aviation consultant. "But this is like a cancer in the system. And how far has it infiltrated, and what are you gonna do to eradicate it? I think it's going to take years for Boeing to really get back to where they should be on quality and manufacturing."
The NTSB is expected to release preliminary findings from its investigations of the Alaska Airlines incident in the coming days.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/boeing-declines-to-give-a-financial-outlook-as-it-focuses-on-quality-and-safety
| 2024-01-31T23:52:50Z
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Tinubu Condemns Ekiti Killings, Demands Rescue of Kidnapped School Children
Featured, Latest News, News Across Nigeria Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The president assured Nigerians that the nation’s security architecture is being robustly fortified for better and expected outcomes.
President Bola Tinubu has condemned the killing of two traditional rulers in Ekiti State, the Onimojo of Imojo-Ekiti, Oba Olatunde Samuel Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun-Ekiti, Oba David Babatunde Ogunsola.
A statement by presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, said Tinubu condemned the mindless and brutal bloodletting, and pledged that the perpetrators would not escape justice.
The president condoled with the families and subjects of the traditional rulers, Governor Biodun Oyebanji, and the people of Ekiti on the deeply agonising development.
In the same vein, Tinubu directed the immediate rescue of pupils and teachers of a private nursery and primary school in Emure Ekiti kidnapped around the Eporo-Ekiti area of the State.
He said security of life and property is the primary responsibility of the government, assuring Nigerians that the nation’s security architecture is being robustly fortified for better and expected outcomes.
NAN
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Short URL: https://www.africanexaminer.com/?p=93608
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/tinubu-condemns-ekiti-killings-demands-rescue-of-kidnapped-school-children/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:49Z
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The Portland Trail Blazers have been without second-year guard Shaedon Sharpe since January 11th after he suffered an injury in a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Blazers announced on X, formerly Twitter, that Sharpe was recently re-evaluated for his lower abdominal strain and will begin on-court activities.
Shaedon Sharpe Medical Update:
Sharpe was recently re-evaluated for a lower abdominal strain after exiting the Jan. 11 game at Oklahoma City. The re-evaluation indicated that Sharpe is making good progress and will begin ramping up with light on-court activities.
His status will be updated as appropriate.
Sharpe was initially given a two-week timeline to be re-evaluated on January 15. His progression seems in line with that initial timeline. The game against the Milwaukee Bucks, that Sharpe was initially listed as questionable for before later being ruled out, will mark his 11th straight missed game.
So far this season, Sharpe is averaging 15.9 points and 5.0 rebounds per game while appearing in 32 games for the Blazers.
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https://www.blazersedge.com/2024/1/31/24057509/shaedon-sharpe-latest-injury-news-portland-trail-blazers-return-stats-roster-2023-24
| 2024-01-31T23:52:51Z
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Actor Alec Baldwin has put in a not-guilty plea to the incident on the set of Rust that resulted in the death of Halyna Hutchins.
Baldwin could face a prison sentence of 18 months to three years if found guilty, Deadline reports. This is from his charge stemming from January 19 and the incident where a firearm went off during the Rust set. The actor had the firearm and fatally killed Hutchins on October 21, 2021.
Alec Baldwin pleads not guilty to involuntary manslaughter
Baldwin's lawyers, Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro, said, “We look forward to our day in court.”
Though the Boss Baby actor is free without bail, Judge T. Glenn Ellington put some conditions on him that he must follow.
The judge's statement reads, “Defendant is permitted to have contact with potential witnesses only in the capacity laid out herein: In connection with the Rust movie and other related and unrelated business matters: provided, however, that Defendant is not permitted to discuss the accident at issue, or the substance of his or the witness's potential testimony in this case. ‘Related business matters' is designed to capture promoting the movie and other similar activities. ‘Unrelated business matters' is designed to capture other business relationships between Baldwin and any of the witnesses. The Defendant is permitted to continue to utilize Matthew DelPiano as his agent. Discussion about the incident is permitted with the witness who are named as civil codefendents only so long as such conversations are held exclusively in the presence of attorneys for civil litigation purposes. The Defendant will not directly or indirectly solicit witnesses or members of the cast and crew to participate in the documentary with Moxie films or to obtain statements regarding safety on the Rust set outside of standard investigative procedures.”
Also, Alec Baldwin cannot drink or possess a firearm. Nor can he leave the U.S.
We'll see where it goes as more develops.
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https://clutchpoints.com/alec-baldwin-enters-plea-for-rust-involuntary-manslaughter-charges
| 2024-01-31T23:52:51Z
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So, if Musk isn’t worth the maximum $55.8 billion value of the package, how much is he worth? It’s a thorny question without an easy answer in the notoriously complex world of executive compensation.
McCormick's ruling bumped Musk out of the top spot on the Forbes list of wealthiest people. The magazine on Wednesday lopped $25 billion off his net worth, reducing it to $185.3 billion, putting him behind fashion and cosmetics magnate Bernard Arnault and family.
Critics have argued for years that CEO pay packages are exorbitant. The median compensation for a CEO of an S&P 500 company was valued at $14.8 million, according to the latest AP CEO pay survey for 2022 conducted with the executive compensation research firm Equilar. It would take the typical worker at one of those companies more than 185 years to earn what their chief executive reaped in just 12 months.
In 2018, Tesla estimated the value of Musk's compensation package at $2.28 billion, topping the previous highest package of $1.39 billion given to Blackstone's Steven Schwarzman 10 years earlier, according to Equilar. The value of Musk's package has grown as Tesla's stock price increased. By comparison, in 2022 the median worker at Tesla made $34,084.
Under Musk's pay plan, he received a chunk of stock options each time Tesla's market value rose by $50 billion. Ultimately, he would have the chance to buy nearly 304 million shares for $23.34 each. Tesla has met each of the performance hurdles since the package was awarded. Its stock is trading at roughly $191 compared with $21 at the start of 2018.
The judge determined that Tesla’s board lacked independence from Musk. His lawyers said the package needed to be rich to give Musk an incentive not to leave — a line of reasoning the judge shot down.
“Swept up by the rhetoric of ‘all upside,’ or perhaps starry eyed by Musk’s superstar appeal, the board never asked the $55.8 billion question: ‘Was the plan even necessary for Tesla to retain Musk and achieve its goals?’” McCormick wrote.
Musk's fans would argue that he shouldn't be paid like other CEOs because he isn't like other CEOs. He and Tesla are practically inseparable, so keeping him as CEO is key to the company's growth. He built the company from an idea to the most valuable automaker in the world, last year selling more electric vehicles than any other company. His star power gets free publicity, so the company spends little on advertising. And he has forced the rest of the auto industry to accelerate plans for electric vehicles to counter Tesla's phenomenal growth.
To figure out how much to pay their CEO, corporate boards often start by looking at how much their rivals are paying theirs: They need to pay enough to attract and keep the talent.
General Motors, for example, considers executive salaries at 3M, Boeing, Ford, IBM and other huge companies, and uses complex formulas to determine CEO compensation. For GM CEO Mary Barra, part of that depends on how GM’s stock return compares to its peers and how much progress the company makes on electric vehicles.
In 2022, Barra earned total compensation that GM valued at $29 million. That included $2.1 million in salary. Ford CEO Jim Farley's compensation was valued at $22 million that year.
Even though Tesla makes automobiles, investors often lump its stock in with Big Tech stocks. They’re the companies disrupting industries and people’s ways of life.
Plus, Musk is closely identified with Tesla the way Meta Platforms’ Mark Zuckerberg or Apple’s Tim Cook are with their companies. Pay packages at Big Tech companies are among the largest in the U.S.
Cook’s compensation was valued at $63.2 million for 2023, mainly due to stock awards valued at nearly $47 million. A year earlier, he earned total compensation valued at roughly $99 million.
In the nuanced world of executive compensation, these numbers don’t indicate how much a CEO actually takes home, they’re just an estimate of the compensation package's value. The final value may exceed or fall far below those figures because it is tied to stock.
Corporate law experts say any new compensation package for Musk will likely be challenged in court unless Tesla's board either resigns en masse or follows a meticulous process to protect shareholders by passing a substantially smaller package.
“This is just a mess for them,” said Charles Elson, a retired corporate law professor and founder of the corporate governance center at the University of Delaware. “They kowtowed to this apparent superstar with poor results.”
Elson, who has followed the court for more than three decades, said this is the first time he can remember a judge invalidating an executive compensation plan at a public company.
Lawyers for Musk and the directors had countered that the plan was fairly negotiated by a compensation committee whose members were independent, and that it was blessed by a shareholder vote.
Shareholders who approved Musk’s deal, Elson said, were unaware that Musk essentially was negotiating with himself. “If the shareholders were aware of that, they may well have not approved it.”
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/a-court-rejected-elon-musks-558b-pay-package-what-is-he-worth-to-tesla/CAOWWHLV7JHOPBNEPXVACCNQ6M/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:52Z
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Yemen's Houthi Rebels Claim "Direct Hit" on an "American" Ship
But early assessments suggest that the vessel was neither hit, nor American
Yemen's Houthi rebels have claimed an attack on another "American merchant ship" and asserted that the munitions "directly hit the vessel." The group made the claim after U.S. Central Command reported shooting down a Houthi antiship missile over the Red Sea.
According to Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree, the group targeted a vessel named Koi. There are several vessels of that name in international databases; only one of them, a Liberian-flagged container ship, is currently located near Yemen.
Saree's claim could not be immediately confirmed, and Houthi forces have made inaccurate assertions about their success rate in the past. One shipping intelligence source told TME that the claim does not appear to be true.
The vessel does not have any clear ties to the United States, though she is connected to the UK by virtue of her commercial manager, London-based Oceonix Services. Oceonix is also the manager of the Marlin Luanda, the product tanker that was hit by a Houthi missile and caught fire last week.
Western analysts and governments believe that Iran is closely involved in Houthi attacks, from target selection to the supply of missile components. While the Houthis' approach may be scattershot, Iranian operatives understand how to discern a ship's underlying commercial ties, according to Dr. Ian Ralby of IR Consilium.
"They've proven themselves over the years to be very competent in identifying a specific entity attached to a vessel and targeting that entity," said Ralby in congressional testimony earlier this week.
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https://maritime-executive.com/article/yemen-s-houthi-rebels-claim-direct-hit-on-an-american-ship
| 2024-01-31T23:52:52Z
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Traffic dispute in suburban Chicago erupts into gunfire, with 4 shot
DOLTON, Ill. (AP) — A traffic dispute in suburban Chicago erupted into gunfire Wednesday, with four people taken to hospitals after being shot, authorities said.
Saul Mazon told the Chicago Tribune said he was headed to a store when he saw several cars traveling quickly down a street, one car hit another, and the vehicles pulled into a parking lot where people got out and were yelling and arguing before he heard several shots.
Dolton Village Trustee Kiana Belcher said she was in the drive-thru lane at a Dunkin Donuts when people in two vehicles started shooting at each other.
“The people involved were taken to the hospital,” Belcher said.
Four patients, all adults suffering gunshot wounds, were taken to several hospitals, Dolton Fire Department Battalion Chief Jeremy Cole said.
The shooting happened around 10 a.m.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/traffic-dispute-in-suburban-chicago-erupts-into-gunfire-with-4-shot/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:52Z
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Metro Awakening VR
Feb. 1, 2024
Metro Awakening Announcement Trailer | State of Play 2024
Deep Silver announced the latest entry into the Metro series, Metro Awakening, a PS VR 2 title that returns to the post-apocalyptic Soviet world of Metro. Coming to PS VR 2 in 2024.
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https://in.ign.com/metro-awakening-vr/201420/video/metro-awakening-announcement-trailer-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:52:53Z
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Jorge Rubiano arrived alone in Chicago, but his pain and trauma came with him.
For months, he tried to find steady work. For months, he's been sleeping in a crowded temporary shelter, worrying about his wife and mother back in Colombia. Are they safe? Did I make the right decision?
He recalls a frightening phone call with his wife in Colombia, cut short when the bus she was riding on was being robbed.
Rubiano, 43, is also haunted by memories of his harrowing journey to Chicago, during which he says he was kidnapped for a month, before escaping.
He left his country, he says, over a land dispute in which the government threatened his life.
"I'm still in between two dangers," Rubiano says in Spanish. "If I return it's very possible they kill me, and if I stay I don't know what can happen here."
More than 30,000 migrants and asylum seekers have arrived in Chicago since August of 2022 — most of them from South and Central America. They are fleeing the collapse of their economies, a lack of food and jobs, and violence back home.
Many came here on a bus from Texas, sent by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who said Chicago — and other so-called sanctuary cities that embrace immigrants — would provide much-needed relief "to our small, overrun border towns."
The buses haven't stopped since.
Migrants fleeing hardship, danger, fear and loss
Interviews with more than 30 people reveal the emotional toll migrants face, and the efforts of individuals and organizations that are trying to fill the gaps of a frayed mental health system.
Some of those efforts are catching the attention of leaders in other big U.S. cities also coping with large influxes of newly-arrived migrants.
For many, their journeys here were terrifying. A young girl who fell into a river, her pregnant mother struggling to hold her small hand, so the current wouldn't whisk her away. Women who were forced to have sex with gang members to get from country to country. People who walked over the dead in the jungle, or are wracked with guilt over the sick and injured left behind.
Their stories have unfolded across Chicago: in the quiet space of a therapist's office, at an informal healing circle in the back of a store, with a nurse at a folding table propped up outside a police station.
But for many migrants, taking care of their mental health might not be a priority.
"They're in survival mode," says Sharon Davila, a school-based social worker who has screened migrant families. "They need their basic needs met. The number one thing is they're looking for jobs."
Just getting in front of a therapist or a social worker can be extremely difficult for even the most savvy and persistent. With a shortage of mental health workers, wait lists for an appointment can be months long.
Layer on being new to this country, speaking a different language, and having no health insurance. Getting help can seem impossible.
Therapist Susie Moya worries about a mental health crisis brewing for many migrants.
"Right now it's on the back burner," says Moya, who has worked with migrants on Chicago's Lower West Side. "But I'm thinking a year from now when these families are settled in. Who is going to be providing that support?"
Informal support, with a side of soup
It's a Monday night in the back room of an insurance agency on the Southwest Side. About 20 migrants have arranged their chairs in a circle. Each person takes a turn describing how they feel on a scale of one to 10, as social worker Veronica Sanchez gently encourages them to share why.
Warm homemade chicken soup and arepas await them for dinner.
A woman says her husband got deported, and she's heartbroken that she left her children behind. A man says he worked several days that week, but never got paid. Another says he is grateful to God for bringing him to America, but he misses his mom, dad and brothers.
Finding work and reuniting with family is important, Sanchez tells them. But right now she's concerned about their mental health.
"Maybe we have answers. Maybe we don't. But when you open up a safe space where you can share your sorrows... you don't feel so alone," Sanchez says in Spanish.
Sanchez understands the migrants' desperation. She comes from a long line of pottery makers in Mexico. Sanchez was just four years old when her father left to work in Cicero, a suburb outside Chicago. She didn't see her father for almost seven years, until they were reunited as a family in Cicero.
Those memories fuel her work with the healing circle. "When I was talking to them, it really came from the heart," Sanchez says. "I was seeing the migrants' faces, that they were so scared."
Informal support groups like this one have popped up around Chicago in shelters, storefronts, churches and schools, led by volunteers or mental health professionals.
Many of these support groups don't last long. Volunteers get burned out. Migrants prioritize other needs. Or the city moves them from place to place.
The costs of ignoring loss and trauma
Some volunteers and mental health providers emphasize that not every migrant might be experiencing severe trauma.
But for many, trauma can have lasting impact. Trauma can change the wiring in a person's brain and make someone more vulnerable to depression and anxiety.
Daily or ongoing stressors can add up to what Chicago psychologist Laura Pappa calls "little t trauma" — like not feeling welcomed right away.
"A lot of people come here seeking the American dream and they realize that that's not there," says Pappa, who came to the U.S. from Argentina as a teen. "A lot of people were not expecting that, how hard it is on this side. I've had a lot of parents who've come alone and ask themselves, was it worth it?"
It can be hard to persuade migrants to seek help, however. There's a stigma about the need for mental health care in many immigrant communities, particularly among Latino men, Pappa says.
But, she adds, the stigma is easing as talking about emotions becomes more common.
Training the front-line workers in shelters
One effort to provide faster help involves training hundreds of peoplewho don't have a medical background, but work in city-run shelters. These front-line workers, such as case managers and shelter supervisors, are learning to lead support groups called Café y Comunidad charlas — coffee and community talks.
The initiative is led by the Coalition for Immigrant Mental Health, the University of Chicago's Crown Family School, and Lurie Children's Center for Childhood Resilience.
The idea is to help migrants feel less isolated and try to prevent the most extreme outcomes, such as suicide.
"We have to help people the minute they arrive," explainsAimee Hilado, an assistant professor at UC's Crown School and chair of the coalition. "That's actually going to promote healing down the line."
Case manager Albert Ayala has led a charla in the ballroom of a downtown shelter. He recalls moments of joy, such as when a woman said she was searching for love — and hands shot up hoping to catch her attention.
Ayala says he's watched migrants who arrive scared and shy blossom after attending a charla.
"We try to tell them we're no different from you," says Ayala, who is Mexican American. "Your dream is possible."
Leaders in Philadelphia and San Jose have reached out asking how to replicate the effort, Hilado says.
Outside his shelter, Rubiano, the migrant from Colombia, says he hasn't attended one of these support groups. He says he tries to keep busy working on his English skills. And he recently found a full-time job in a supermarket.
He longs for his family, and for the chance to bring them here — once there is a stable life he can offer them.
WBEZ is part of the Mental Health Parity Collaborative, a group of newsrooms covering stories on mental health care access and inequities in the U.S. The Collaborative's partners include The Carter Center, the Center for Public Integrity and newsrooms in select states across the country.
WBEZ's Manuel Martinez contributed to this report.
Copyright 2024 WBEZ
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/for-chicagos-new-migrants-informal-support-groups-help-ease-the-pain-and-trauma
| 2024-01-31T23:52:56Z
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Tunisia, UN Agency Sign Deal To Boost Social Protection For Farmers
Africa, African News, Featured, Latest News, News Around Africa, World News Wednesday, January 31st, 2024(AFRICAN EXAMINER) – The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and Tunisia inked an agreement to improve social protection for Tunisia’s agricultural workers, the Tunisian Ministry of Social Affairs said.
The agreement was signed in Tunis by Tunisia’s Social Affairs Minister Malek Ezzahi and Mohamed Amrani, acting representative for FAO’s subregional office for North Africa.
The deal would launch action programs for social security benefits for farmers and fishers.
Ezzahi stressed the vital role of agricultural workers in the country’s economy and food security and said they need better working conditions. (Xinhua/NAN)
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https://www.africanexaminer.com/tunisia-un-agency-sign-deal-to-boost-social-protection-for-farmers/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:56Z
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The Houston Astros reportedly acquired Trey Cabbage, a versatile position player, from the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2 Houston. The Astros dealt right-handed pitcher Carlos Espinosa to the Angels as part of the trade, and designated right-handed pitcher Declan Cronin for assignment.
Cabbage isn't the kind of player that will steal headlines. He was a fairly well-regarded prospect with offensive potential, though. He played the majority of his games in 2023 at the Triple-A level, but did see 26 games with the Halos.
In 107 games with Triple-A Salt Lake, Cabbage slashed an impressive .306/.379/.596/.975 and hit 30 home runs, per Baseball Reference. He failed to replicate that success in his brief stint with the Angels, slashing .208/.232/.321/.553 across 56 at-bats. Nevertheless, Cabbage offers power from the left-side of the plate and can play in the outfield or first base.
His versatility and offensive potential make him an intriguing prospect. At 26 years old, Cabbage still could emerge as an everyday player at the big league level. But even if he turns into a fourth outfielder/backup infielder, Cabbage could still carve out a decent MLB career.
Astros' offseason
The Astros had a relatively quiet offseason prior to signing star reliever Josh Hader. Houston may look to make some other moves, but for the most part the Astros' roster appears to be set. They will continue to lean on their Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman-led core of players, with stars such as Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker also playing important roles.
And perhaps Trey Cabbage will receive an opportunity with the Astros during the 2024 season. This trade isn't one that will get Houston fans overly-excited, but has the potential to pay dividends not just in 2024, but for years to come.
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https://clutchpoints.com/astros-news-houston-angels-trade
| 2024-01-31T23:52:58Z
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Baldwin, the lead actor and a co-producer on the Western movie “Rust,” was pointing a gun at cinematographer Halyna Hutchins during a rehearsal outside Santa Fe in October 2021 when the gun went off, killing her and wounding director Joel Souza.
A grand jury in Santa Fe indicted Baldwin in January after prosecutors received a new analysis of that gun, renewing a charge that prosecutors originally filed and then dismissed in April 2023. Baldwin faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted.
Baldwin remains free pending trial under conditions that include not possessing firearms, consuming alcohol or leaving the country. Baldwin can have limited contact with witnesses when it comes to promoting “Rust,” which has not been released for public viewing. Baldwin is prohibited from asking members of the “Rust” cast or crew to participate in a related documentary film.
Baldwin has said he pulled back the hammer — but not the trigger — and the gun fired.
“Halyna and I had something profound in common, and that is that we both assumed the gun was empty ... other than those dummy rounds,” Baldwin told George Stephanopoulos in an interview broadcast in December 2021 on ABC News.
The grand jury indictment provides special prosecutors Kari Morrissey and Jason Lewis with two alternative standards for pursuing the felony charge against Baldwin.
One would be based on the negligent use of a firearm. A second alternative for prosecutors is to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Baldwin caused the death of Hutchins without due caution or “circumspection,” also defined as “an act committed with total disregard or indifference for the safety of others.”
An analysis of the gun conducted by Lucien and Michael Haag of Forensic Science Services in Arizona concluded that “the trigger had to be pulled or depressed sufficiently to release the fully cocked or retracted hammer of the evidence revolver.”
An earlier FBI report on the agency’s analysis of the revolver found that, as is common with firearms of that design, it could go off without pulling the trigger if force was applied to an uncocked hammer, such as by dropping the weapon. The gun eventually broke during testing.
Morrissey and Lewis dismissed the earlier charge after they were informed the gun might have been modified before the shooting and malfunctioned.
The grand jury heard from a “Rust” crew member who was a few feet (meters) from the fatal shooting and another who walked off the set before the shooting in protest of working conditions. Weapons forensics expert Michael Haag, a Mississippi-based movie armorer and a detective with the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office also testified.
“Rust” weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez-Reed also has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, with a jury trial scheduled to start Feb. 22. She has pleaded not guilty to that charge and a second charge of tampering with evidence in Hutchins’ death.
Gutierrez-Reed also was charged with carrying a gun into a downtown Santa Fe bar days before she was hired to work as the armorer on “Rust.” She has pleaded not guilty to that charge, too.
The fatal shooting of Hutchins resulted in a series of civil lawsuits, including wrongful death claims filed by members of Hutchins' family, centered on accusations that Baldwin and producers of "Rust" were lax with safety standards. Baldwin and other defendants have disputed those allegations.
"Rust" assistant director and safety coordinator David Halls pleaded no contest to unsafe handling of a firearm last March and received a suspended sentence of six months of probation. He agreed to cooperate in the investigation of the fatal shooting.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/alec-baldwin-pleads-not-guilty-to-involuntary-manslaughter-charge-in-fatal-film-set-shooting/QTJO4SVSUFBXXF6DHO4IV2WI34/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:58Z
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Hideo Kojima Is Returning to the Stealth Genre With an Action Espionage Game for PlayStation - State of Play 2024
Gear up.
Hideo Kojima is keeping busy! A new action espionage game from the famed creator of Metal Gear Solid is in the works, having been announced during today's State of Play stream.
Details are thin on the ground, but during the show Kojima said this project is a new intellectual property, and described it as a movie as well as a game. "Of course, it is an interactive game," Kojima said, "but it is also a movie at the same time."
Production is expected to begin "in earnest" at Kojima Productions after Death Stranding 2 and in partnership with Sony, so expect a release on PlayStation 5. During State of Play, Kojima said he was "confident" this new game "will be the culmination of my work", adding: "we hope to transcend the barriers between film and video games."
After turning to the camera to say "stay tuned", Kojima and PlayStation Studios boss Hermen Hulst walked off set, the camera pulling away out of the building to reveal a Columbia Pictures sign with the word 'Physint' below it.
It turns out Physint is the working title for this project. In a tweet, Kojima said it will be Kojima Productions' third new original IP since the studio's founding. "It is a completely new 'Action Espionage' for the next-generation," Kojima said. "It will be created using cutting-edge technology and the best talents from around the world, both from film and video games. Of course this is an interactive 'game', but the look, story, theme, cast, acting, fashion, sound, etc... are all at the next level of 'Digital Entertainment' that could be called a 'movie'."
The Kojima Productions Twitter / X account also commented, saying Physint will have "near life-like graphics. "With the full support of SIE, this new action espionage game will use cutting-edge technology and a stellar cast to deliver an experience like no other," reads the tweet. "Blurring the boundaries between film and games, offering near life-like graphics and a new take on interactive entertainment."
Kojima is familiar with the espionage and stealth genre, as many will know Kojima for his work in creating the Metal Gear franchise, a series known for laying the foundations for the stealth genre of video games.
This is one of a few projects Kojima and his studio are working on. Additional projects include Death Stranding 2 and OD. The latter is a new IP in collaboration with Xbox Game Studios, with actress Hunter Schafer and filmmaker Jordan Peele attached to the project. Kojima is also involved in A24's film adaption of the original Death Stranding, though no additional information has been shared.
Kojima's new game was revealed in a stream that also featured more info on Rise of the Ronin, Stellar Blade, as well as Kojima's own Death Stranding 2. You can find everything announced at today's State of Play right here.
Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.
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https://in.ign.com/news/201421/hideo-kojima-is-returning-to-the-stealth-genre-with-an-action-espionage-game-for-playstation-state-o
| 2024-01-31T23:52:59Z
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U.S. sportsbooks won’t take bets on possible Taylor Swift appearance at the Super Bowl
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Fans have been wondering for days whether Taylor Swift will make it to the Super Bowl next week to cheer on boyfriend Travis Kelce and the Kansas City Chiefs and, if so, how many times she’ll show up on TV during the game. They can speculate all they want, but they won’t be able to bet on it legally in the United States.
Those types of wagers can be made offshore with sportsbooks such as BetUS, which is based in Costa Rica, and potentially in the Canadian province of Ontario. BetMGM public relations manager John Ewing said he was waiting for word from Canadian authorities there if such bets will be OK.
But in the U.S., where betting laws vary from state to state, the general rule is that wagering is limited to what happens on the field. A handful of states allow bets to be placed on the color of Gatorade dumped on the winning coach — red or pink is this year’s plus-260 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook — but even that type of wager is not allowed in Las Vegas.
Las Vegas, the longtime epicenter of sports betting in the U.S., has some of the strictest rules regarding the kinds of wagers made.
Swift’s romance with Kelce became one of the prominent stories this NFL season and she has attended several Chiefs games, including their victory in the AFC championship game at Baltimore on Sunday, where she joined the team for its on-field celebration and greeted Kelce with a kiss. Since she’s performing in Japan the weekend of the Super Bowl, fans began wondering whether she’ll make it to Las Vegas to watch Kelce and Kansas City face the San Francisco 49ers.
It seems only natural they would be able to put money on it in Vegas.
As a matter of principle, though, Ewing said it makes sense not to allow bets on things apart from the on-field action, such as the length of the national anthem.
“We don’t want any subjectivity in a prop (bet),” Ewing said. “We want it to be either it won or it didn’t win or went over or went under, and that’s the concern for regulators as well. That’s why typically we stick to if it’s in the box score, it can be posted.”
Caesars Sportsbook assistant trading director Adam Pullen’s position is the more bets, the merrier.
“We’ve come a long way, but some stuff like we’re talking about here (about Swift) or betting on elections, there still might be a few years before we get to that point,” Pullen said. “But I like anything that drives action and gets people to bet. But we’re dependent on what the regulators in each particular state has to say.”
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/u-s-sportsbooks-wont-take-bets-on-possible-taylor-swift-appearance-at-the-super-bowl/
| 2024-01-31T23:52:59Z
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Senate Republicans demanded that President Biden's national security funding package for Ukraine be tied to policy changes to address the crisis at the southwest border. But now that negotiators say they are ready to release details of a bipartisan plan to reduce the surge of migrants at the border, Republican divisions could scuttle the plan.
Months of negotiations between the Republicans, Democrats and the Biden administration officials are now threatened by politics. Former President Trump, the GOP's likely 2024 presidential nominee, has been publicly slamming the deal and urging lawmakers to oppose it.
Negotiators started the week promising to release a bill in the coming days. But by Wednesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell appeared to signal he's ready to move on, and focus on getting money to two key U.S. allies at war.
"It's time for us to move something, hopefully including the border agreement, but we need to get help to Israel and Ukraine, quickly," McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters.
McConnell has consistently argued that divided government is the moment to extract demands on border policy from Democrats.
Pressed about what voters would think of GOP lawmakers who sink a bill because Trump directed them to, McConnell sidestepped the question. "I still favor trying to make law when you can" and said what the bipartisan group is working on is better than current immigration law, adding, "you're asking me, a question I can't answer right now, which is the fate of it."
Senators already know key details
The top Democratic negotiator working on a border plan, Chris Murphy, D-Conn., has signaled for days that the deal is basically done, but getting sign off from the GOP to move ahead is the hold up.
"We have a bipartisan agreement to help address the crisis at the border. Republicans have been desperate for that. Why would they walk away from it?"
Senate Republicans huddled at their weekly lunch on Wednesday to discuss next steps, but the consensus coming out of the meeting was that lawmakers want to see the details.
But after weeks of negotiations, the key provisions have already been explained to lawmakers from both parties.
The bill includes several tools to address the border, including: giving the president the ability to shutdown the border if the numbers of migrants attempting to enter the U.S. climbs above a certain threshold, adjusting the rules for who qualifies for asylum and allowing migrants authorization to work while awaiting adjudication of their asylum claim.
Extended negotiations opened space for critics
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said the effort is "an uphill climb" because as the talks have continued, some members have impressions about what the proposal will do and "there are certain people who will never change their mind."
Tillis has said a border plan needs to get the majority of Senate Republicans in order to move ahead. But Trump injecting himself into the process has caused many lawmakers to refrain from backing the framework, making it tougher to meet that test.
Oklahoma GOP Sen. Jim Lankford is crafting the plan along with Murphy and Independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Lankford spent time on Sunday talk shows swatting down leaks about the plan that conservative media outlets are painting as a green light for 5,000 additional migrants a day.
Texas Republican Sen, John Cornyn, who was an early advocate of linking money for Ukraine to changes to the Biden administration's policies, said people need time to see an official piece of legislation.
"People are talking about what they think is in it, and what they've heard is in it, what's not in it,' Cornyn told reporters. "I think the first thing we need to do is see where the conference is based on the text rather than just based on rumors and hearsay."
Tillis called Wednesday's meeting "a good discussion." But added, "I would ask those same members who are calling for time to read it, but not judge something they haven't read."
Others who came out against the bill already are already dismissing the proposals.
"I think this is a bad bill," Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., told reporters. "And the simplest reason is it doesn't solve the problem."
Cruz blamed Senate Democrats for crafting a bill that "allows Joe Biden to continue the open borders," despite the months of bipartisan negotiations that have taken place. President Biden endorsed the proposal and said last week if Congress passes it he would immediately shutdown the border.
Some optimisim remains
Murphy remained optimistic on Wednesday that the deal would survive and come to the floor for a vote, possibly as soon as this week.
He said a "sizable, important group of Republican senators" are making a good faith effort to get something done on the border, and suggested that others are making disingenuous arguments about needing to see the full text.
"This is not a detailed study of the issue. This is a question as to whether they are going to put Trump before solving the problem," Murphy said.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/senate-gop-split-threatens-bipartisan-border-deal-as-trump-looms-large
| 2024-01-31T23:53:02Z
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Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
Motor, blades, and tumbler designed to work together for perfect results so that you can have finest blends even from the recipes with ice cubes, nuts, and frozen fruits.
The ProBlend Plus motor creates a fast circulation of the ingredients for effortless blending
The ProBlend Plus blade crushes and blends the hardest ingredients into finest texture thanks to long, thick, and sharp 6 blades
The ProBlend Plus tumbler pushes the ingredients back to the circulation thanks to its ribs so that everything is evenly blended for smooth results.
Blend and go with the handy 700 ml tumbler. Make your daily smoothie, then pop on a leak-proof lid to take it with you. Or store it in the fridge for later. The tumbler is made with Tritan from Eastman, it is 100% BPA free, shatter-resistant, and dishwasher-safe.
Add stylish touch to your kitchen. Stainless steel design with a compact footprint and detachable parts for easy storage.
Enjoy a wide variety of homemade recipes; velvety smoothies, creamy shakes, and thick rich sauces.
Discover a world of delicious recipes! Explore our NutriU app for tasty drinks, soups, sauces and more plus tips and guidance for using your blender.
The press-and-twist tumbler eliminates buttons and dials. Blend effortlessly, all in one simple motion.
Rinse the detachable blades under the tap or pop them in the dishwasher for thorough cleaning.
All detachable parts are easy to rinse and dishwasher safe. Durable tumblers and cups made with Tritan from Eastman withstand daily wash cycles for long-lasting enjoyment.
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https://www.philips.sa/en/c-p/HR2765_00/5000-series-blender
| 2024-01-31T23:53:03Z
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While the majority of teams in the NBA are in the playoff picture in some capacity, one team that isn't is the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers are 14-33 on the season with a -8.4 point differential per game and are nine games back from the tenth seed, the final spot for a play-in birth. The Blazers have the quintessential look of a seller at the upcoming NBA trade deadline in a couple of weeks.
The Blazers may not be very good and are at the beginning of a full-fledged rebuild, but there are absolutely pieces on this team that contenders would want. The name of the game for the Blazers at this moment in time is to continue to add young talent and draft picks.
They already have a solid base of young players, including Anfernee Simons, Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, and Jabari Walker, among others. They also have three extra first-round picks at their disposal thanks to the Damian Lillard and subsequent Jrue Holiday trades. But this trade deadline offers them a chance to add more to that treasure chest. The best-case scenario for the Blazers would see them do exactly that. This is how they would do so, and what it means for Malcolm Brogdon and Jerami Grant.
They get a first-round pick for Malcolm Brogdon
The Boston Celtics shipped out a first-round pick to the Indiana Pacers when they traded for Malcolm Brogdon back in the summer of 2022. Indiana eventually used that pick on Belmont shooting guard Ben Sheppard. In the summer of 2023, the Los Angeles Clippers nearly traded the 30th overall pick to the Wizards as part of a three-team trade that fell through after the Clippers failed Brogdon's physical.
The Blazers should be able to get that kind of value for Brogdon from a contender who needs help in their backcourt. He has been as steady as ever, even on a bad Blazers team. Brogdon's averages on a per-game and per-36-minute basis have been about the same as they've been throughout his career. His 52.7% effective field goal percentage is solid as well and close to his career mark in that statistic (53.3%).
The Blazers don't have to trade Brogdon. He still has another year left on his two-year $45 million contract.
But the league has shown us before that his value is about the same as a late first-round pick, and a late first-round pick has more value to the rebuilding Blazers than a 31-year-old Malcolm Brogdon. Getting an additional first-round pick for him as part of the haul acquired for Damian Lillard would be great business for Portland.
Someone sends a godfather offer for Jerami Grant
Whether or not the Blazers re-signed Jerami Grant with Lillard in mind or not, they gave him a hefty extension regardless. He has lived up to it so far. He's averaging 21.3 points per game this season on a solid 52.7% effective field goal percentage and playing good defense on the other end too. He's just a flat-out good player.
Though Grant is about to turn 30, he still has plenty of value for the Blazers. Every rebuilding team needs a veteran to help steer the ship forward. They don't have a lot of proven wings, which isn't the case at guard where they have Anfernee Simons, Shaedon Sharpe, and the rookie Scoot Henderson.
It would probably require multiple first-round picks for the Blazers to part with Grant. It doesn't seem as if a contender can meet that asking price. It would be a surprise if Portland traded him. But, in a best-case scenario, if a team offered them multiple firsts and a promising young player, it would be pretty difficult for the Blazers to say no.
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https://clutchpoints.com/blazers-dream-scenario-2024-nba-trade-deadline
| 2024-01-31T23:53:04Z
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“I'm as red as they come. I'm as conservative as they come. Sometimes I have to do what's best for the people so, yes, that's why I invited him,” Conaway said in an interview with The Associated Press.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said earlier Wednesday that Biden would visit sometime in February. She said the White House and local officials were still hashing out timing for Biden's long-awaited trip.
The Feb. 3, 2023, derailment forced thousands of people from their homes near the Ohio-Pennsylvania border. Area residents still have lingering fears about potential health effects from the toxic chemicals that spilled in the crash and from the vinyl chloride that was released a few days after the crash to keep five tank cars from exploding.
The absence of a visit by Biden, who is campaigning for reelection in November, had become a subject of persistent questioning at the White House, as well as among residents in East Palestine. Some residents have said they felt forgotten as time marched by and as they watched Biden fly to the scenes of other disasters, such as the wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui and hurricanes in Florida.
East Palestine resident Joe Bethuy, a 36-year-old steelworker and a Republican, said he was disappointed in the Biden administration’s handling of the derailment and the president's delay in visiting, adding that all he had to do “was show up just for an hour or something.”
Bethuy and friend Jeremy Smith, who moved to East Palestine after the derailment, spoke to an Associated Press reporter inside Sprinklz on Top, a downtown diner.
“I don’t know what the point is really," Smith said of Biden's visit. “It’s kind of a year late.”
Several weeks after the derailment, former President Donald Trump visited East Palestine and criticized the federal response under Biden as a "betrayal." He also donated cleaning supplies and Trump-branded bottled water. Trump currently is the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination.
In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump criticized Biden for planning to visit “a year late, and only to develop some political credibility because EVERYTHING else he has done has been such a DISASTER. I know those great people, I was there when it counted, and his reception won’t be a warm one."
The Biden administration defended its response right after the toxic freight train derailment, even as local leaders and members of Congress demanded that more be done. The White House said then that it had "mobilized a robust, multi-agency effort to support the people of East Palestine, Ohio," and it noted that officials from the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies were at the rural site within hours even though Biden didn't immediately visit.
Asked at the end of last week about a potential Biden visit to Ohio, Jean-Pierre said he would visit “when it is appropriate or helps ... the community for him to be there.”
“It doesn’t matter if it’s in a rural area, urban area, suburban area, red state, blue state, the president has always been there to ... assist and be there for the community,” Jean-Pierre added. “So, when it is helpful, he certainly will do that.”
Though the administration has defended its response, Biden has not declared a federal disaster in East Palestine, which remains a sticking point for residents. Such a declaration would unlock additional federal funding and assistance that people could apply for to help rebuild their lives.
But state and federal officials say a federal disaster declaration has not been issued because they are designed to help cover unmet needs no one is paying for after a disaster. In this case, there are not as many unmet needs in the government's eyes because Norfolk Southern is paying the bills and compensating residents for the damage to their homes and businesses.
Biden ordered federal agencies to hold Norfolk Southern accountable for the derailment and appointed an official from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to oversee East Palestine's recovery.
Norfolk Southern has estimated that it will cost the company more than $1.1 billion to remove all the hazardous chemicals, help the community and deal with lawsuits and related penalties. Insurance will likely cover much of that, but the total is expected to grow.
Reforms have been proposed in Congress but the bill calling for federal standards for trackside detectors that help spot mechanical problems, additional inspections by qualified workers and at least two people on every freight train crew has stalled. The railroads have lobbied against several of the provisions they believe aren't related to this crash, and many Republicans pushed to wait until after the final National Transportation Safety Board report on the derailment later this year.
“In the past, there have been times when Congress stood up against the railroad lobby and stepped up on railroad safety. They should do that now,'' Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a call with reporters Wednesday.
___
Associated Press writers Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., Patrick Orsagos in East Palestine, Ohio, and Matthew Daly in Washitngton contributed to this report.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/biden-accepts-mayors-invitation-to-visit-east-palestine-ohio-a-year-after-train-derailment/WQN6Z2K7TFGNVINBNZNBHP2D2U/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:04Z
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PS5 Exclusive Stellar Blade Gets New Trailer and a New Release Date - State of Play 2024
Flashy.
After missing its 2023 release window, developer Shift Up has shared a new trailer for its third-person action-adventure PlayStation 5 exclusive Stellar Blade, along with a new release date of April 26, 2024.
As part of today's January 2024 State of Play presentation, Stellar Blade's new trailer revealed impressive visuals alongside a ton of fast-paced slashy gameplay.
Stellar Blade was first announced all way back in 2019, then known under the codename Project Eve, and was initially announced for PS4, Xbox One, and PC. The game would then appear two years later at a September 2021 State of Play presentation, where it was presented as a PS5 exclusive. Roughly a year later, Shift Up would share another trailer and a blog post, revealing the game's official title and targeting a 2023 release window.
Shift Up previously revealed that Stellar Blade's story will focus on a young woman as she fights off strange alien monsters called NA:tives who have invaded Earth. Its most recent trailer from two years ago gave us a look at the in-game location Xion, which is described as the "last remaining city on Earth."
Check out everything announced during PlayStation State of Play January 2024 to find out more of what Sony has coming up.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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https://in.ign.com/project-eve/201399/news/ps5-exclusive-stellar-blade-gets-new-trailer-and-a-new-release-date-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:53:05Z
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US says it disrupted a China cyber threat, but warns hackers could still wreak havoc for Americans
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials said Wednesday they disrupted a state-backed Chinese effort to plant malware that could be used to damage civilian infrastructure, as the head of the FBI warned that Beijing is positioning itself to disrupt the daily lives of Americans if the United States and China ever go to war.
The operation, announced just before FBI Director Chris Wray addressed House lawmakers, disrupted a botnet of hundreds of U.S.-based small office and home routers owned by private citizens and companies that had been hijacked by the Chinese hackers to cover their tracks as they sowed the malware. Their ultimate targets included water treatment plants, the electrical grid and transportation systems across the United States.
Speaking before the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, Wray said there’s been far too little public focus on a cyber threat that affects “every American.”
“China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if or when China decides the time has come to strike,” Wray said.
Jen Easterly, the director of the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, voiced a similar sentiment at the hearing.
“This is a world where a major crisis halfway across the planet could well endanger the lives of Americans here at home through the disruption of our pipelines, the severing of our telecommunications, the pollution of our water facilities, the crippling of our transportation modes — all to ensure that they can incite societal panic and chaos and to deter our ability” to marshal a sufficient response, she said.
The comments align with assessments from outside cybersecurity firms including Microsoft, which said in May that state-backed Chinese hackers had been targeting U.S. critical infrastructure and could be laying the technical groundwork for the potential disruption of critical communications between the U.S. and Asia during future crises.
At least a portion of that operation, attributed to a group of hackers known as Volt Typhoon, has now been disrupted after FBI and Justice Department officials obtained search-and-seizure orders in Houston federal court in December. U.S. officials did not characterize the disruption’s impact, and court documents unsealed Wednesday say the disrupted botnet was just “one form of infrastructure used by Volt Typhoon to obfuscate their activity.” The hackers have infiltrated targets through multiple avenues, including cloud and internet providers, disguising themselves as normal traffic.
The U.S. has in the past few years become more aggressive in trying to disrupt and dismantle both criminal and state-backed cyber operations, with Wray warning Wednesday that Beijing-backed hackers aim to pilfer business secrets to advance the Chinese economy and steal personal information for foreign influence campaigns.
“They are doing all those things. They all feed up ultimately into their goal to supplant the U.S. as the world’s greatest superpower,” he said.
Complicating the threat is that state-backed hackers, especially Chinese and Russian, are good at adapting and finding new intrusion methods and avenues.
U.S. officials have long been concerned about such hackers hiding in U.S.-based infrastructure, and the end-of-life Cisco and NetGear routers exploited by Volt Typhoon were easy prey because they were no longer supported by their manufacturers with security updates. Because of the urgency, law enforcement officials said, U.S. cyber operators deleted the malware in those routers without notifying their owners directly — and added code to prevent re-infection.
A Justice Department official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the government said officials were determined to disrupt the Volt Typhoon operation as soon as possible because the hackers were using the botnet as a stepping stone to hide in U.S. internet traffic while burrowing into the networks of critical infrastructure, ready to maliciously exploit that access at a time of their choosing.
“The truth is that Chinese cyber actors have taken advantage of very basic flaws in our technology,” Easterly said. “We’ve made it easy on them.”
Cybersecurity veteran Amit Yoran, the CEO of Tenable, called Wray’s warning “an urgent call to action. Continuing to turn a blind eye to the risk sitting inside our critical infrastructure is the definition of negligence.”
Cybersecurity experts say major software providers too often sacrifice security for convenience, and that’s biting back.
On the eve of a June visit to China by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, state-backed Chinese hackers foiled Microsoft cloud-based security in hacking the email of officials at multiple U.S. agencies that deal with China.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials said allies were also affected by Volt Typhoon’s critical infrastructure hacking but, asked by reporters, would not discuss any countermeasures they might be taking.
China has repeatedly denounced the U.S. government’s hacking allegations as baseless. Beijing has accused the U.S. of “almost daily” and “huge amounts of intrusions against Chinese government, with Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, saying last year that “China is the biggest victim of cyber attacks.”
But Gen. Paul Nakasone, the outgoing commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency, said “responsible cyber actors” do not target civilian infrastructure.
“There’s no reason for them to be in our water,” Nakasone said. “There’s no reason for them to be in our power.”
On Tuesday, testifying before the same committee, Leon Panetta, who served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the defense secretary in the Obama administration, said he believed that the Chinese agents had “planted malware within our own computer networks” and warned that the Chinese government would use artificial intelligence to spread disinformation.
The committee, chaired by Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, was established last year with a mandate of countering China, kicking off with a prime-time hearing. The Chinese government has lashed out at the committee, demanding that its members “discard their ideological bias and zero-sum Cold War mentality.”
____
Bajak reported from Boston.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/news/us-and-world-news/us-says-it-disrupted-a-china-cyber-threat-but-warns-hackers-could-still-wreak-havoc-for-americans/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:05Z
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Headlines / Quote of the Week
Fri., Jan. 26, 2024
Tovo Runs for Mayor: Longtime City Council Member Kathie Tovo announced her campaign for mayor last week. Tovo served on Council for over a decade, first as an at-large member then representing Central Austin’s District 9. Should she win, her approach to housing would stand out on the dais: She takes a more conservative approach to land code changes, and prioritized squeezing as much affordable housing out of individual projects as possible. Read more online.
… And So Does Llanes Pulido: Community organizer Carmen Llanes Pulido is also running for mayor. Executive director of the nonprofit GAVA (Go Austin/Vamos Austin), where she has worked in different capacities for around 10 years, she opposes the HOME Initiative and has opposed prior efforts by Council to relax the Land Development Code. So far, Mayor Kirk Watson hasn’t formally announced his run, but earlier this month he told KXAN that he plans to.
Blues on the Green Canceled: Blues on the Green, the long-running free concert series at Zilker Park throughout the summer, is officially canceled for 2024 due to rising costs, Austin City Limits Radio announced last Wednesday. Blues on the Green has been an Austin institution for over three decades, drawing tens of thousands of Austinites to Zilker Park. Read more online.
Failing Uvalde: U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said last week that law enforcement agencies across the country should immediately prioritize active shooter training, following the release of a report about the handling of the 2022 Uvalde massacre. The Justice Department’s report found “cascading failures of leadership, decision-making, tactics, policy and training” led to the poor response, The Texas Tribune reported.
ATX <3 MovieMakers: Austin may be getting tougher for artists to afford, but it’s still come in at No. 4 on the prestigious MovieMaker magazine list of the Best Places to Live and Work as a Moviemaker. The mix of new studios, regular work, the recent massive hike in funding for the Texas Moving Image Industry Incentive Program, and a supportive film community were all cited. Read more online.
R.I.P. Howard Waldrop: A legend of science-fiction short stories and a beloved mentor to many writers in the Austin community and beyond, Howard Waldrop died of a stroke on Jan. 14, aged 77. Waldrop also played a pivotal role in the history of the Chronicle as the author of our very first cover story, an interview with The Rocky Horror Picture Show creator Richard O’Brien. Read more online.
Change of the Cap Metro Guards: Cap Metro plans to station unarmed security guards at major transit hubs for the first time due to a flood of complaints about safety, the transit agency said. Locations will include North Lamar Transit Center, South Congress Transit Center, Republic Square Park and the Tech Ridge Park and Ride. Cap Metro plans to contract the guards through a private firm, KUT reported.
Blocking the Puberty Blocker Bill: On Jan. 30, oral arguments begin at the Texas Supreme Court in the case against the state and Senate Bill 14, Texas' new ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for transgender minors. In an August decision, Travis County District Judge Maria Cantú Hexsel wrote that SB 14 "interferes with Texas families' private decisions and strips Texas parents … of the right to seek, direct, and provide medical care for their children."
Feeding Futures: The Central Texas Food Bank launched the first location of its Feeding Futures School Pantry Program at Creedmoor Elementary School in partnership with Del Valle ISD on Wednesday. The new program provides pantry staples after school, during weekend hours and on holidays including when school is not in session.
Hey, Don’t Forget Human Rights: Civil rights groups submitted a petition to the United Nations this week that accused Texas of human rights violations on Monday. The joint letter – a collaboration between Equality Texas, ACLU of Texas, and GLAAD – points to recently passed anti-LGBTQ+ laws, as well as statements and opinions issued by state officials. Read more online.
Changing Petition Process: For now, any citizen or group can get their suggested policy change on the city ballot by collecting 20,000 signatures. But the Charter Review Commission continues to discuss what changes they will recommend for the city’s petition process. They may recommend raising the threshold of required signatures to get a proposition on the ballot or switching to a percentage of registered voters as a requirement and changing the timing of elections, the Austin Monitor reported.
Multimillionaires Welcome: The Austin Monitor reported this week that the city has increased its limit on personal net wealth for individuals seeking to join the city’s procurement program, which aims to give preference for city contracts to businesses owned by women and/or minorities. The program’s cap on personal net wealth will increase to more than $2.2 million from the previous cap of $1.82 million.
City Leaders Apologize: As part of the terms of a lawsuit settlement, city leaders issued a public apology Tuesday for the past mishandling of sexual assault cases by the Austin Police Department. “We can all agree that the cases of the survivors were involved and were not handled appropriately,” interim Assistant City Manager Bruce Mills said, per KVUE’s report.
New Homeless Response Program: Downtown Austin Alliance will partner with Urban Alchemy, the nonprofit group that manages two downtown shelters, to launch the Homeless Engagement Assistance Response Team (HEART) program. The six-month pilot costing about $150,000 will start Feb. 1, with three-person teams reaching out to unhoused Austinites to address nonemergency issues, the Austin Monitor reports.
Razor Wire Gets Cut: In a dispute over razor wire at the border, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in favor of the federal government this week. In a blow to Gov. Greg Abbott and A.G. Ken Paxton, SCOTUS reversed a 5th Circuit ruling, The Dallas Morning News reported. Now, Border Patrol agents can go back to cutting razor wire the state put along the U.S.-Mexico border while the 5th Circuit considers the legality of it.
Big Medium Blaze: On Monday, Jan. 15, a fire damaged the South Congress art gallery Big Medium and an exterior wall, destroying a picture from their current exhibit, HodgeKerr’s No Kings But Us. Curators are also assessing the other works for damage. The gallery will be closed for at least two weeks, and is asking for donations to help cover the estimated $25,000 in costs. Read more online.
Quote of the Week
"No."
– Council Member Natasha Harper-Madison’s full public statement in response to the announcement of former APD Chief Art Acevedo’s hiring
Got something to say? The Chronicle welcomes opinion pieces on any topic from the community. Submit yours now at austinchronicle.com/opinion.
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https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2024-01-26/headlines-quote-of-the-week/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:05Z
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Updated January 31, 2024 at 5:33 PM ET
The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady on Wednesday but signaled that rates could fall in the coming months if inflation continues to cool.
Policy makers have kept their benchmark interest rate between 5.25% and 5.5% — the highest in over two decades — since July.
Fed chairman Jerome Powell told reporters Wednesday that interest rates are unlikely to go any higher, and that he and his colleagues are beginning to contemplate cutting rates.
"If the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year," Powell said.
He cautioned, however, that the economy remains unpredictable and said the central bank would proceed cautiously.
"The economic outlook is uncertain and we remain highly attentive to inflation risks," Powell said.
The Fed has been pleasantly surprised by the rapid drop in inflation in recent months. Core prices in December — which exclude food and energy prices — were up just 2.9% from a year ago, according to the Fed's preferred inflation yardstick. That's a smaller increase than the 3.2% core inflation rate that Fed officials had projected in December.
If that positive trend continues, the Fed may be able to start cutting interest rates as early as this spring. First, though, Powell said he and his colleagues will need to see additional evidence that inflation is easing.
And he sounded doubtful about a rate cut at the Fed's next meeting in March as many investors in Wall Street had hoped for.
"Based on the meeting today, I would tell you that I don't think it's likely the committee will reach a level of confidence by the time of the March meeting," Powell said. "But that's to be seen."
The comments disappointed investors, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbling 317 points.
Investors are still hopeful about a rate cut by the following Fed meeting in May, with markets putting the likelihood of that at better than 90%.
Good omens in the economy
Both the economy and the job market have performed better than expected over the last year, despite the highest interest rates since 2001. The nation's gross domestic product grew 3.1% in 2023, while employers added 2.7 million jobs
Unemployment has been under 4%for nearly two years. And average wages in December were up 4.1% from a year ago.
While that strong economy is welcome news for businesses and workers, it also raises the risk of reigniting inflation. As a result, Fed policymakers say they'll be cautious not to cut interest rates prematurely.
"We have history on this," Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic told the Rotary Club of Atlanta this month. "In the '70s, the Fed started removing accommodation too soon. Inflation spiked back up. Then we had to tighten. Inflation came down. Then we removed it again. Inflation went back up. And by the time we were done with that, all Americans could think about was inflation."
The Fed is determined not to repeat that '70s show. At the same time, waiting too long to cut interest rates risks slowing the economy more than necessary to bring inflation under control.
A report from the Labor Department Wednesday showed employers' cost for labor rose more slowly than expected in the final months of last year. Labor costs increased just 0.9% in the fourth quarter. That's a smaller increase than the previous quarter, suggesting labor costs are putting less upward pressure on prices.
Fed officials promised to keep an eye on upcoming economic data and adjust accordingly.
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/the-federal-reserve-holds-interest-rates-steady-but-signals-rate-cuts-may-be-coming
| 2024-01-31T23:53:08Z
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The California Golden Bears will head to the desert as they face the Arizona Wildcats on Thursday at the McKale Memorial Center. We're here to share our college basketball odds series, make a Cal-Arizona prediction, and pick while showing you how to watch.
Cal edged out the Stanford Cardinal 73-71 on Friday. Initially, they trailed 40-36 at halftime. But they battled back in the second half to make things interesting with less than a minute left to go. With 58 seconds left to go and Stanford leading 71-70, Jalen Celestine drew a foul and made both free-throw attempts. They got back and defense and played tough while making things difficult for Kanaan Carlyle, who missed a layup and had to foul Celestine, who made just one free throw. Then, Carlyle missed another layup, which gave the Golden Bears the win.
Jaylon Tyson led the Golden Bears with 14 points and six rebounds. Also, Fardaws Aimaq added 13 points and 12 rebounds. Keonte Kennedy added 11 points, while Jalen Cone had 10. Additionally, Grant Newell had 11 points off the bench. Cal won the game despite shooting 41 percent from the field and 23.8 percent from beyond the arc. Yet, they also had six steals, which helped force 12 turnovers.
Arizona is coming off an 87-78 road victory over the Oregon Ducks on Saturday. At first, they led 45-38 at halftime, and they maintained the lead to secure the win. Caleb Love led the way with 36 points. Moreover, Kylan Boswell added 14 points. Keshad Johnson had 12 points. Meanwhile, Oumar Ballo had 10 points and nine rebounds. The Wildcats finished with 49.1 percent shooting, including 52.6 percent from beyond the arc. Also, they won despite losing the board battle 32-29. But they also had seven steals, which helped cause 14 turnovers.
Arizona leads the head-to-head series 74-30. Amazingly, they have won 14 in a row in this series. The Wildcats defeated the Golden Bears 100-81 at Berkeley on December 29. Now, they will play host to the Golden Bears, who they are 39-11 against all-time.
Here are the college basketball odds, courtesy of FanDuel.
College Basketball Odds: Cal-Arizona Odds
California: +17.5 (-110)
Moneyline: +1200
Arizona: -17.5 (-110)
Moneyline: -3000
Over: 157.5 (-115)
Under: 157.5 (-105)
How to Watch Cal vs. Arizona
Time: 8:30 PM ET/5:30 PM PT
TV: Pac-12 Network
Stream: fuboTV (Click for free trial)
Why Cal Will Cover The Spread/Win
Cal comes into this game with a 10-9-1 mark against the spread. Also, they are 3-1 against the spread on the road. The Golden Bears are also 4-4-1 against the spread within their conference.
Tyson is their best player, as he comes in averaging 20.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. Additionally. he is shooting 48.8 percent, including 36.7 percent from the triples. Aimaq is averaging 15.3 points and 10.8 rebounds per game. Moreover, he is shooting 50 percent from the field, including 35.5 percent from the triples. Cone is averaging 14.2 points per game. Yet, he is only shooting 32.4 percent from the field, including 31.9 percent from beyond the arc. Kennedy is averaging 9.8 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. Likewise, he is also struggling to shoot, hitting 41.2 percent from the field, including 27.9 percent from the triples.
Cal will cover the spread if they can shoot the ball efficiently. Then, they need to close out and play good defense.
Why Arizona Will Cover The Spread/Win
Arizona is coming into this game with a 13-7 record against the spread. Additionally, they are also 8-2 against the spread at home. The Wildcats are also 4-5 against the spread against their conference.
Love is their best player. Currently, he is averaging 19.3 points per game while shooting 44.9 percent from the field. Pelle Larsson is their next-best player, averaging 12.8 points while shooting 54 percent from the field, including 45.7 percent from the three-point line. However, he only managed seven points in his last game and will look to do more in this one. Ballo is averaging 12.3 points and nine rebounds per game. Furthermore, he is shooting 58.7 percent from the field. Keshad Johnson has played well, averaging 11.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Likewise, he is shooting 55.4 percent from the field. Boswell has been solid, averaging 9.8 points per game while producing as a great fifth option for the Wildcats.
Arizona will cover the spread if their best players can continue to shoot the ball well and not make mistakes. Then, they need to play tough defense and not let Tyson hurt them with his shooting touch that can burn any team.
Final Cal-Arizona Prediction & Pick
The last time these teams met, the Wildcats went into Berkeley and stomped the Golden Bears. Now, they are at home and should continue to take care of business as they try to position themselves higher up the standings. Arizona will cover the spread in this one in front of their fans.
Click here for more betting news and predictions
Final Cal-Arizona Prediction & Pick: Arizona -17.5 (-110)
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https://clutchpoints.com/cal-vs-arizona-prediction-odds-pick-how-to-watch-mens-college-basketball-game-2-1-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:53:10Z
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| 2024-01-31T23:53:10Z
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Last fall, engineers at Nebraska’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility watched as an electric-powered pickup truck hurtled toward a guardrail installed on the facility’s testing ground on the edge of the local municipal airport. The nearly 4-ton (3.6 metric ton) 2022 Rivian R1T tore through the metal guardrail and hardly slowed until hitting a concrete barrier yards away on the other side.
“We knew it was going to be an extremely demanding test of the roadside safety system,” said Cody Stolle with the facility. “The system was not made to handle vehicles greater than 5,000 pounds.”
The university released the results of the crash test at a time when the rising popularity of electric vehicles has led transportation officials to sound the alarm over the weight disparity of the new battery-powered vehicles and lighter gas-powered ones. Last year, the National Transportation Safety Board expressed concern about the safety risks heavy electric vehicles pose if they collide with lighter vehicles.
Road safety officials and organizations say the electric vehicles themselves appear to offer superior protection to their occupants, even if they might prove dangerous to occupants of lighter vehicles. The Rivian truck tested in Nebraska showed almost no damage to the cab's interior after slamming into the concrete barrier, Stolle said. In response to the release of the test results Wednesday, Rivian Automotive Inc. noted that the truck used in the testing received a 2023 Top Safety Pick+ award, the highest tier award issued by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.
But the entire purpose of guardrails, found along tens of thousands of miles of roadway, is to help keep passenger vehicles from leaving the road, said Michael Brooks, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety. Guardrails are intended to keep cars from careening off the road at critical areas, such as over bridges and waterways, near the edges of cliffs and ravines and over rocky terrain, where injury and death in an off-the-road crash are much more likely.
“Guardrails are kind of a safety feature of last resort,” Brooks said. “I think what you're seeing here is the real concern with EVs — their weight. There are a lot of new vehicles in this larger-size range coming out in that 7,000-pound range. And that's a concern.”
The preliminary crash test sponsored by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Research and Development Center also involved a Tesla sedan crash, in which the sedan lifted the guardrail and passed under it. The tests showed the barrier system is likely to be overmatched by heavier electric vehicles, officials said.
The extra weight of electric vehicles comes from their outsized batteries needed to achieve a travel range of about 300 miles (480 kilometers) per charge.
“So far, we don’t see good vehicle-to-guardrail compatibility with electric vehicles,” Stolle said.
More testing, involving computer simulations and test crashes of more electric vehicles, is planned, he said, and will be needed to determine how to engineer roadside barriers that minimize the effects of crashes for both lighter gas-powered vehicles and heavier electric vehicles.
“Right now, electric vehicles are at or around 10% of new vehicles sold, so we have some time,” Stolle said. “But as EVs continue to be sold and become more popular, this will become a more prevalent problem. There is some urgency to address this."
The facility has seen this problem before. In the 1990s, as more people began buying light-weight pickups and sport utility vehicles, the Midwest Roadside Safety Facility found that the then-50-year-old guardrail system was proving inadequate to handle their extra weight. So, it went about redesigning guardrails to adapt.
“At the time, lightweight pickups made up 10-to-15% of the vehicle fleet,” Stolle said. “Now, more than 50% of vehicles on the road are pickups and SUVs.”
“So, here we are trying to do the same thing again: Adapt to the changing makeup of vehicles on the road.”
It's impossible to know what that change will look like, Stolle said.
"It could be concrete barriers. It could be something else,” he said. “The scope of what we have to change and update still remains to be determined.”
Philip Jones, executive director of the Alliance for Transportation Electrification, which supports the use of electric vehicles in North America, questioned why electric vehicles were singled out in the testing, noting that several large SUV models can weigh around 6,000 pounds.
“The EVs are not necessarily heavier,” Jones said. “I drive a Chevy Bolt, and it’s 3,700 pounds.”
But he acknowledged that, on the whole, the first generation of electric vehicles are heavier than their gas-powered counterparts. Successive generations are likely to be lighter, he said, as manufacturers work to make smaller batteries that carry more power.
The U.S. Federal Highway Administration declined to immediately comment on the Nebraska test results.
The concern over the weight of electric vehicles stretches beyond vehicle-to-vehicle crashes and compatibility with guardrails, Brooks said. The extra weight will affect everything from faster wear on residential streets and driveways to vehicle tires and infrastructure like parking garages.
“A lot of these parking structures were built to hold vehicles that weighed 2,000 to 4,000 pounds — not 10,000 pounds,” he said.
“What really needs to happen is more collaboration between transportation engineers and vehicle manufacturers,” Brooks said. “That's where you might see some real change.”
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Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/crash-tests-indicate-nations-guardrail-system-cant-handle-heavy-electric-vehicles/TVAUQL5FNRC4LNC5MYECLG3PDQ/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:10Z
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Wisconsin election officials urge state Supreme Court to reject Phillips’ effort to get on ballot
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips sued too late after being left off of Wisconsin’s primary ballot and the state Supreme Court should reject his lawsuit, the state elections commission and a special bipartisan panel said Wednesday.
Phillips last week asked the Wisconsin Supreme Court to order that his name be added to the primary ballot in the battleground state after he was excluded by the state’s top Democrats who only put President Joe Biden’s name on the April 2 primary ballot.
The bipartisan presidential selection committee that didn’t forward his name in time, as well as the Wisconsin Elections Commission, told the Supreme Court in a joint response on Wednesday that Phillips waited too long.
“Phillips did nothing until the eleventh hour,” they said in their response filed with the court.
Since Jan. 2, Phillips know that his name had not been included as a candidate, but he didn’t start a petition drive to get on the ballot as the law allows or file a lawsuit until Jan. 26, the filing noted.
The elections commission and presidential selection committee said that ballots must be mailed to military and overseas voters no later than Feb. 15 and to meet that deadline, county clerks need to begin drafting and distributing ballots “as soon as possible.”
They asked the court to reject Phillips’ lawsuit by Friday because after that “it will become increasingly difficult each day for the clerks to feasibly get the ballots ready, delivered, and mailed on time.”
The joint group said that Phillips’ arguments should be dismissed because he had a recourse to gather 8,000 signatures to get on the ballot but didn’t. They also argued that Phillips has no standing to bring the challenge because the presidential selection committee has the sole discretion to decide who gets on the ballot.
They further argued that because of that sole discretion given to the committee, the court has no role to play in deciding who it should have placed on the ballot.
Phillips, who represents neighboring Minnesota in Congress, is running a longshot bid to defeat Biden. He is the only Democrat in elected office who is challenging Biden.
In Phillips’ lawsuit, he argues that his request to be put on the ballot was illegally ignored by the Wisconsin Presidential Preference Selection Committee, which is comprised of Republican and Democratic leaders who bring forward names for the ballot, and the Wisconsin Election Commission.
Phillips argued that he met the test in Wisconsin law for gaining ballot access that says a candidate must be “generally advocated or recognized in the national news media.”
The committee put Biden, former President Donald Trump and five other Republican challengers, including four who have since ceased campaigning, on the ballot.
The Wisconsin Elections Commission traditionally just accepts the recommendations from party leaders that come forward through the presidential selection committee.
Phillips had no comment Wednesday on the response to his lawsuit.
“As we fight Trump’s attacks on democracy we must also be vigilant against efforts by people in our own Party to do the same,” Phillips said in a statement Monday. “Voters should choose the nominee of our Party without insiders trying to rig the process for Joe Biden.”
Biden easily won last week’s New Hampshire primary as a write-in candidate, with Phillips getting about 20% of the vote. Phillips has been certified to appear on the primary ballot in other states.
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/politics-news/wisconsin-election-officials-urge-state-supreme-court-to-reject-phillips-effort-to-get-on-ballot/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:11Z
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WILDWOOD, New Jersey (WPVI) -- A Wildwood woman's passion for helping others led to her creating a nonprofit while she was in high school.
She fundraised for athletic equipment so no one in her school had to miss out on playing a sport.
"If they don't have the opportunity to be a part of something just because they don't have the financial means to do so, they're not going to see how awesome it is to succeed," said founder of The Stepback Foundation, Maddie McCracken.
Now at 22-years-old she continues The Stepback Foundation, encouraging others to take a step back from their situation, with the goal to create steps forward for the community.
"It's been amazing, not only in the school but the entire community. There have been so many kids in need. Maddie stepped in with the foundation and helped supply equipment and fees for certain things," said Wildwood High School basketball coach, Jim Clark.
Where it all started at Wildwood High School, the basketball teams gather on the court with gear from the foundation.
"Really inspiring the next group of kids to do the same thing for their community, even if it's not on this level. Definitely something that's going to trickle down for a long time," said Clark.
McCracken has expanded her support to other Cape May County schools as well.
With major events each year, money is raised to not only provide athletic equipment, but also become more of a community resource.
McCracken's passion for the foundation is something she carries with her at all times, only looking to take more steps forward for the mission.
"There are some days when I'm kind of taken back and I get emotional. It's a part of me, it's who I am. I love this, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life," said McCracken.
For more information on The Stepback Foundation, check out their website!
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https://6abc.com/basketball-nonprofit-hometown-hero-sports/14376145/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:13Z
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Roller derby is back in Great Falls and the community has an opportunity to join with the Electric City Roller Derby boot camp that will be starting up in February.
Casie “Slim” Steinert, long-time member of the original league, said joining the roller derby team was one of the best decisions she’s made: “You can put in what you want and get out what you want,” said Steinert. “The purpose of the boot camp is to give you an opportunity to get all those skating skills and learn all the things that you need to play safely. We don't let people do things that are going to get them hurt.”
The boot camp will be every Friday in February at the Wheels Of Thunder skating rink at 6pm; the rink is at 1609 12th Avenue North.
“It’s a rush, and I just feel like I have so much energy and I can't stop really, and I have so much adrenaline,” said Grant Demuth.
“It’s exhilarating,” said Roxanne Gray. “It is empowering, it lets you know that you can do things that you didn't think that you could do beforehand.”
Anyone and everyone is encouraged to attend the boot camp. They will teach you to skate, if you don’t know how.
“Anybody who is eighteen and over can join our league; we’re gender neutral, and we would love to have everybody come out,” Steinert said.
The members of the roller derby team said they are a very welcoming community of people who uplift and encourage one another every time they skate together and that’s it’s something everyone should be a part of.
“Just showing up with zero skate skills, I wasn't very fit at the time and just knowing that I was going to have to put in a lot of work to get where I needed to be,” Gray said. “I never felt like there wasn't a place for me. It was always very inclusive and empowering, and that's what's kept me coming back, is the people I skate with.”
“It’s also been like a way to express myself because I know people sometimes think that people who roller skate or rollerblade might be a little weird, which they aren’t really wrong,” said Demuth. “It’s been a way to express myself.”
There is a one-time fee of $60 that covers all five Fridays in February for the boot camp. For more information, click here.
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https://www.krtv.com/news/great-falls-news/coming-up-roller-derby-boot-camp
| 2024-01-31T23:53:13Z
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Top tech CEOs were being grilled in Washington by lawmakers, who said the companies have failed to protect children from being subjected to sexual abuse and exploitation on their websites.
The executives include Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, X's Linda Yaccarino and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew, among others.
The social media apps have "given predators powerful new tools to exploit children," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., at the kickoff of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Wednesday. He noted that the powerful apps "have changed the way we live, work and play."
The hearing is one of several over the past year as pressure builds for federal regulators to do more to hold tech companies accountable for children's safety online. Lawmakers have spoken out, have written letters to the CEOs and are pushing five separate bills that cover social media and child safety.
States have also targeted the social media companies. Last year, 13 states passed laws to protect kids on social media, and more states are expected to do the same.
"You have blood on your hands," Sen. Lindsey Graham tells Zuckerberg
Of the companies testifying on Wednesday, Meta has especially come under fire for allegedly creating a toxic environment for children. In October, a group of more than 40 states sued the company for allegedly designing Facebook and Instagram to be addictive.
Separately, New Mexico's attorney general filed another suit against Meta, alleging it fails to remove child sexual abuse material from its platforms and also makes it easy for adults to solicit minors.
That lawsuit came after a Facebook whistleblower, Arturo Bejar, testified before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee in November. Based on data he collected while working at Facebook, he said he found that 24% of teens had received unwanted sexual advances. And when harmful posts are reported, he said, only 2% are taken down.
During Wednesday's hearing, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., laid into Zuckerberg.
"Mr. Zuckerberg," Graham began, "you have blood on your hands. You have a product that's killing people."
The packed audience, which included parents, survivors and child advocates, erupted in applause.
Zuckerberg has testified several times before members of the Senate, and he voluntarily agreed to speak again on Wednesday. In his opening statement, he said, "Keeping young people safe online has been a challenge since the internet began."
"No matter how much we invest or how effective our tools are, there's always more to learn and more improvements to make," Zuckerberg added.
Internal emails show Zuckerberg declined to hire staff to protect children online
In the lead-up to Wednesday's hearing, Meta rolled out new tools geared toward protecting kids online. Those include barring children under age 18 from seeing posts about suicide, self-harm and eating disorders. The company says it has around 40,000 people working on safety and security issues.
But just hours before the hearing began, lawmakers released 90 pages of internal emails that showed Meta has refused to fully commit to improving child safety on its platforms. At one point in 2021, the emails show, Zuckerberg declined a proposal to hire 45 new staff members dedicated to children's well-being.
The emails show top executives at Meta discussing budget and head count, as well as the fact that if they didn't address the issue they'd face increased regulatory risk and external criticism.
"This work & narrative has of course become a more critical focal point for policymakers, regulators et al in recent weeks — this is not likely to diminish going forward," Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs wrote in a 2021 email to Zuckerberg.
The internal emails were produced in response to a letter that Senators Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., sent to Meta in November.
Five federal bills introduced
Of the other executives to testify, TikTok's Chew has also appeared before Congresslast year, but this is the first time lawmakers have grilled X's Yaccarino and the two other CEOs: Snap's Evan Spiegel and Discord's Jason Citron. Chew volunteered to speak on Wednesday, but Yaccarino, Spiegel and Citron agreed only after being subpoenaed.
Snap has come out as the sole social media company to throw its support behind the Kids Online Safety Act, which is one of the bills that lawmakers are hoping to bring to the Senate floor this year. If passed, it would hold tech companies accountable for feeding teens toxic content.
"Many of the largest and most successful internet companies today were born here in the United States of America, and we must lead not only in technical innovation but also in smart regulation," Snap's Spiegel said in his opening remarks on Wednesday.
Throughout the hearing, several of the senators tried to get the tech CEOs to agree to back legislation. All of the executives said more had to be done and they agree with regulation, but besides Spiegel, none said they'd fully back one of the bills.
At one point Senator Chris Coons, D-Del., tried to get the CEOs to support legislation he and several other senators introduced, the Platform Accountability and Transparency Act.
"Is there any one of you willing to say now that you support this bill?" Coons asked the CEOs.
After the question didn't elicit a response, he followed up with: "Mr. Chairman, let the record reflect a yawning silence from the leaders of the social media platforms."
Child safety groups and parents joined lawmakers for several press conferences on Wednesday. They echoed the senators' demands that more has to be done to protect kids online.
"Parents used to worry about where their kids were at 10 p.m.," said Imran Ahmed, CEO and founder of the nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate. "These days, they may be physically present, but we don't know who they're spending time with online and what they're being exposed to every day."
Copyright 2024 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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https://www.kvpr.org/npr-news/2024-01-31/you-have-blood-on-your-hands-senator-tells-mark-zuckerberg-for-failing-kids-online
| 2024-01-31T23:53:14Z
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Becoming a tough team doesn't happen overnight. However, the Boston Celtics are trying to demonstrate their resilient mentality during a difficult stretch of the 2023-24 season.
On Tuesday night, the Celtics were forced to put that sturdy mindset to the test against a stubborn Indiana Pacers team. Although Boston scored a season-high 81 points in the first half, it saw its 20-point lead disappear in the third quarter. Once Indiana retook the lead, the game turned into a true battle.
Thanks to some clutch defensive play from Celtics starters Derrick White and Jayson Tatum, Boston held on for the 129-124 win. Center Kristaps Porzingis commended his team's effort in the hard-fought victory versus the pesky Pacers, who had already beaten the C's twice this season.
“We just had to turn it up a notch,” Porzingis said. “And we have to stay high-energy and strong mentally on tough nights like this on back-to-backs. We might be tired but we have to put all that stuff and all those excuses to the side and just play hard and play to our level.”
Like Porzingis said, there are few excuses for the talented Celtics. They had all five of their starters finish top 10 in All-Star fan voting and have a real chance at sending at least three of their guys to the All-Star Game in Indianapolis. Even on the second leg of a back-to-back, the league-leading C's need to compete every night to fend off hungry teams eager to dethrone them.
“You always want to have a pretty game,” Porzingis said. “You want to hit the shots and boom-boom-boom everything's perfect. We're getting all defensive stops and rebounds, but it's especially tough against this team … But we responded, especially our second unit … This was a real full-team effort.”
Although Boston was crushed on the offensive glass, it never surrendered. And when the game became a one-possession contest with 1:04 left in the fourth quarter, the Celtics buckled down and got crucial stops when they needed to.
Jayson Tatum with the CLUTCH denial on Myles Turner 🚫pic.twitter.com/N1cZrKDvcO
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 31, 2024
Celtics' growth evident in close win vs. Pacers
Last season, this could've been a game Boston dropped after being up big—and Celtics star Jaylen Brown admitted it.
“In those moments of adversity, we've still found ways to win. I guess everybody wants us to be perfect over the course of 82 [games]. It's tough to do,” Brown shared. “I think we've taken our steps this year. Because I think a lot of those times, you know, we've blown leads and they've ended up in losses.”
So, what's changed for the Celtics during the 2023-24 campaign? According to Porzingis, Boston's toughness stems from head coach Joe Mazzulla and his ability to challenge his players.
“[Mazzulla] definitely challenges guys, and that's a great thing,” Porzingis revealed. “I think also you have to give credit to [Tatum], [Brown]. He can challenge those guys and if he can challenge those guys then he can challenge everybody else also. You have to give credit to JB and JT for being open to that. And that's a big part of what makes us a great team and we need that in the long run and the most important moments in the playoffs when some high-tension situations will come.”
While the playoffs will be the ultimate test of toughness, the Celtics have already been in some high-pressure situations. They came back from down 21 to avoid handing the Detroit Pistons their first win in over two months, they dazzled in overtime to defeat the Western Conference-leading Minnesota Timberwolves, and erased a 17-point deficit to triumph over the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday night.
JAYSON TATUM IS GOING OFF IN OT 🔥
He has scored 10 of 43 points in the extra frame as the Celtics lead by 5 with 49.8 remaining!pic.twitter.com/6JlZPdPYet
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 11, 2024
But, perhaps the most impressive example of Boston's resiliency is its NBA-best 10-1 record in games following a loss.
“For the most part, we've been a physically tough, mentally tough team. And I think it's important that we haven't skipped any steps,” Brown said. “It's a tough moment, guys are out at a tough part of the season mentally for everybody. I think we've been responding well.”
Of course, the Celtics haven't been perfect. They suffered an embarrassing collapse to the Charlotte Hornets early in the season and came up short in the clutch to the reigning champion Denver Nuggets in mid-January. As Brown said, no team is going to dominate all 82 games, so the Celtics still have work to do.
Jayson Tatum missed the go-ahead lay-up in the final minute 👀
Now it's Celtics ball, down 2, with 13.4 seconds to go 🍿pic.twitter.com/hYWbf26b9R
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 20, 2024
If you're Boston though, you have to like where you're at. The Celtics sit atop the Eastern Conference with a league-leading 37-11 record, which puts them 4.5 games ahead of the second-place Milwaukee Bucks.
Yet, for the C's to truly prove their mettle, they'll have to do it in the postseason. Per usual, it's championship or bust in Boston, but this pressure is nothing new for the 2023-24 Celtics.
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https://clutchpoints.com/celtics-news-kristaps-porzingis-jaylen-brown-spotlight-bostons-recent-resiliency
| 2024-01-31T23:53:16Z
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President Joe Biden, who is pushing for a deal alongside Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate, faces a daunting task in convincing Republicans to defy Trump's wishes and embrace the deal — especially in the midst of an election year.
Republican leaders, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, had looked to February as a potential deadline to approve another tranche of military aid for Ukraine. But the $110 billion national security package that congressional leaders say is essential to buttressing American allies around the globe, including Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, has been swept up in the fight over border policies.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian troops are running short of weapons, including air defenses and artillery to defend against Russia's ongoing attack. The Pentagon reported last week it is out of money for Ukraine.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer warned in a morning floor speech that “the survival of Ukraine is on the line.”
“The only way we’ll rise to the occasion is if both sides are serious about finding a bipartisan compromise,” he said, adding, “We have not concluded negotiations so we will keep going to get this done.”
Even if the Senate is able to finish the deal and pass it, resistance is strong in the House, where Trump, the likely Republican presidential nominee, holds significant sway over lawmakers. His opposition has left Republican leaders increasingly questioning whether the border legislation should be jettisoned from the package in a last-ditch effort to get the Ukraine funding through Congress.
“It's time for us to move something, hopefully including a border agreement, but we need to get help to Israel and to Ukraine quickly,” said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Johnson discussed the idea of splitting up parts of the national security package in a Tuesday meeting with the speakers of the parliaments of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, but did not commit to any course of action, according to a person familiar with the meeting who spoke anonymously about the private discussion.
The speaker has long been skeptical of sending economic assistance to Kyiv, though he has also said he wants to halt Russian President Vladimir Putin's advance in Europe. But a large portion of Johnson's conference in the House is more firmly against the aid.
Stoltenberg, the longest-serving chief in NATO's history, pleaded Wednesday for lawmakers to act. In a speech Wednesday at the Trump-aligned Heritage Foundation, he warned that Putin's ambitions don't just end with Ukraine. He said the Russian president is intent on “reestablishing Russia’s sphere of influence and shaping an alternative world order.”
As Russian forces and drone attacks pummel the region, the Ukrainians will face increasingly difficulty defending their cities and populations from incoming assaults.
Yet Republicans also want to cut portions of the package that would not go directly to Ukraine's defenses. Of the $61 billion in the package for Ukraine, a portion, about $16 billion, would go toward economic, security and operational assistance.
The U.S. economic aid has been keeping the Ukrainian government functioning, paying for public works and employees and the services they provide, but Republicans prefer the U.S. focus its spending on military hardware to win the war.
The economic assistance for Ukraine is expected to be trimmed back in the final supplemental package, according to a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it. The person said changes in the amount of humanitarian aid for Gaza, which was stripped from the package by House Republicans, are also being discussed.
Senate Republicans initially insisted on pairing border policy changes with Ukraine aid as part of a strategy to push the package through Congress. But so far, compromising on border policies has only made things more difficult.
Trump has seized on a key compromise in the bill that would expel migrants seeking asylum at the border once illegal crossings rise above 5,000 daily. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with the Teamsters union in Washington Wednesday, he called the bill "terrible," but denied his opposition had anything to do with presidential politics.
“If the bill’s not going to be a great bill and really solve the problem, I wouldn’t do it at all,” Trump said.
Johnson, who has consulted with Trump on border policy in recent weeks, also told fellow Republicans in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning that the provision is a “non-starter” in the House. While he has said he has not passed final judgement on the bill, he is poised to reject any compromise.
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an Arizona independent who has been central to Senate talks, said the group was close to releasing text but was still working through the intricacies of writing immigration law. She urged lawmakers to keep an open mind to the legislation.
Sinema called it “factually false” for conservatives to claim that the proposal would allow 5,000 migrants to enter the country daily. The expulsion authority would be one part of a new system that includes raising the initial standard to receive asylum protection and quickly processing asylum claims.
Migrants who apply for asylum at ports of entry would be put in a “removal authority program," in which their asylum case is decided within six months, Sinema said. And migrants who seek asylum in between ports of entry would be put into detention and removed within 10 to 15 days if they fail initial interviews, known as credible fear screenings.
“It ensures that the government both has the power and must close down the border during times when our system is overwhelmed, and it creates new structures to ensure that folks who do not qualify for asylum cannot enter the country and stay here,” she said. “It is a very robust package.”
Sinema said Johnson's team is familiar with the details of the bill.
Still, Johnson on Wednesday used his inaugural floor speech since becoming speaker to lay blame on Biden's handling of the border and rally Republicans to insist on hardline border measures, even though those policies have virtually no chance of passing the Senate.
“If we take a step back, if we consider the current catastrophe at the border, we can all see that our country is at a critical decision," he said.
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Associated Press writer Tara Copp contributed.
Credit: AP
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/deal-on-wartime-aid-and-border-security-stalls-in-congress-as-time-runs-short-to-bolster-ukraine/OY5VFATVPJD7PKYW4OEFIZMHIY/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:17Z
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Project EVE
Feb. 1, 2024
Stellar Blade - Overview Trailer | State of Play 2024
Shift Up introduces the world of Stellar Blade, where Eve, a member of the 7th Airborne Squad, must protect the post-apocalyptic Earth from the Naytiba, an alien race that drove most of humanity away to a colony in another world. Stellar Blade releases on PS5 sometime in 2024.
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https://in.ign.com/project-eve/201416/video/stellar-blade-overview-trailer-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:53:17Z
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Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
If you're eligible for VAT relief on medical devices, you can claim it on this product. The VAT amount will be deducted from the price shown above. Look for full details in your shopping basket.
Blend beyond the limits
Enrich your culinary canvas with Philips 5000 Series Blender. Enjoy finest blends even from the recipes with frozen fruits, ice cubes, and nuts. Sleek design for your kitchen counter. Detachable dishwasher-safe parts for easy cleaning. See all benefits
Blend and go with the handy 700 ml and 500 ml tumblers. Make your daily smoothie, then pop on a leak-proof lid to take it with you. Or store it in the fridge for later. The tumblers are made with Tritan from Eastman, it is 100% BPA free, shatter-resistant, and dishwasher-safe.
Motor, blades, and tumbler designed to work together for perfect results so that you can have finest blends even from the recipes with ice cubes, nuts, and frozen fruits.
The ProBlend Plus motor creates a fast circulation of the ingredients for effortless blending
Long, thick, and sharp 6 blades crush and blend the hardest ingredients into finest texture
Ribs in the tumblers push the ingredients back to the circulation so that your ingredients are evenly blended for smooth results.
Enjoy freshly ground coffee and spices at home with 300 ml small cup and flat blade. Use them instantly or pop on the lid to store for later. The cup is made with Tritan from Eastman, it is 100% BPA free, shatter-resistant, and dishwasher-safe.
Add stylish touch to your kitchen. Stainless steel design with a compact footprint and detachable parts for easy storage.
Enjoy a wide variety of homemade recipes; velvety smoothies, creamy shakes, thick rich sauces, and freshly ground coffee.
Discover a world of delicious recipes! Explore our HomeID app for tasty drinks, soups, sauces and more plus tips and guidance for using your blender.
The press-and-twist tumbler eliminates buttons and dials. Blend effortlessly, all in one simple motion.
Rinse the detachable blades under the tap or pop them in the dishwasher for thorough cleaning.
All detachable parts are easy to rinse and dishwasher safe. Durable tumblers and cups made with Tritan from Eastman withstand daily wash cycles for long-lasting enjoyment.
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https://www.philips.sa/en/c-p/HR2767_00/5000-series-blender
| 2024-01-31T23:53:16Z
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With scoring up less than 1% over last season, the NBA is not seeing cause for alarm
Joe Dumars went to a game a couple of weeks ago that came down to the very last shot, and he thought it was one of the best games of the season to this point. Final score: Denver 102, Boston 100.
It was a reminder that defense still can get played in the NBA.
Amid a flurry of big individual performances — Luka Doncic scoring 73, Joel Embiid scoring 70, Devin Booker and Karl-Anthony Towns each scoring 62 — in the last two weeks alone, Dumars said Wednesday that NBA officials aren’t alarmed by such numbers because the league’s scoring average is up only slightly compared to last season.
“It’s where the game is today,” said Dumars, the NBA’s executive vice president and head of basketball operations. “It’s the pace of the game. It’s the amount of 3s guys are shooting now. You’re going to have some offensive eruptions like that.”
There hadn’t been an instance since April 1978 of two players scoring at least 60 points in the same day. That is, until it happened twice last week: Embiid and Towns had their huge games on Jan. 22, Doncic and Booker put on their scoring shows on Jan. 26.
Having those events happen twice in the span of a few days is a statistical oddity, for certain. But the numbers show it’s not really much more than that.
Scoring leaguewide this season is up just 0.78% over last season entering Wednesday, from 114.7 points per game to 115.6 points per game. The jump was far bigger last season, when scoring rose 3.7% over the rate of 110.6 points per game that the league saw in 2021-22.
There have been more high-scoring games, but the averages suggest things also tend to balance out. Entering Wednesday, there had been 78 instances of teams scoring at least 135 points in a game this season — already the second most for a full season in league history and on pace to smash the record of 112, set last season. The previous mark was 74 games of 135 or more, done in 2019-20.
“We’re going to see offensive eruptions with this kind of pace and the amount of 3s people shoot,” Dumars said. “But there’s no push here at the league office from me or anyone else that we want to see a certain score. I left that Boston-Denver game saying, ‘wow, great game.’ That’s what fans want. Fans want to leave a game or watch a game and at the end say, ‘that was incredible.’ The score is secondary to that. Fans just want to see great games.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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https://www.kob.com/sports-stories/ap-basketball/with-scoring-up-less-than-1-over-last-season-the-nba-is-not-seeing-cause-for-alarm/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:17Z
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Laser strikes aimed at aircraft, including airline planes, surged 41% last year to a record high, according to federal officials.
The video above is about a laser pointer being aimed at ABC13's helicopter crew while flying above traffic in Houston, Texas.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday that it received 13,304 reports from pilots about laser strikes last year, erasing a record set in 2021.
"Aiming a laser at an aircraft is a serious safety hazard that puts everyone on the plane and on the ground at risk," FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a video posted by the agency.
The FAA said pilots have reported 313 injuries since the agency started keeping records in 2010.
Each of the last five months of 2023 surpassed the previous high month, November 2021. The full-year rise over 2022 numbers easily topped the 28% increase in reported incidents from 2016 to 2022.
Authorities blame the surge in attacks on factors including the widespread sale of inexpensive lasers in stores and online, stronger devices that can hit planes at higher altitudes, and the increased awareness among pilots to report incidents.
The FAA said it can fine violators $11,000 for each violation, up to $30,800, and federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies can file criminal charges.
Laser strikes at aircraft are most common during the first few hours after midnight, according to FAA data.
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https://6abc.com/laser-strikes-against-aircraft-surge-to-new-records-federal-aviation-administration/14376117/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:19Z
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In the video above, reporter James Rolin talks with Dylan Gillaspie, who has played soccer for several teams in Europe and now lives in Great Falls. He is working to create a non-profit foundation to help teach kids.
TRENDING:
In the video above, reporter James Rolin talks with Dylan Gillaspie, who has played soccer for several teams in Europe and now lives in Great Falls. He is working to create a non-profit foundation to help teach kids.
TRENDING:
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https://www.krtv.com/news/great-falls-news/great-falls-soccer-pro-aims-to-help-kids-learn-the-sport
| 2024-01-31T23:53:19Z
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The Los Angeles Chargers are on a mission to improve their 2023-24 showing. The Chargers hired former Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh as the team's next leader. Moreover, JJ Watt noted the significance of Harbaugh's move to bring in former Wolverines/Badgers strength coach Ben Herbert.
The Chargers look to ascend with Ben Herbert
JJ Watt went on the Pat McAfee Show to unveil Jim Harbaugh and the Chargers' dark-horse coaching staff move.
“One of the underrated moves about the Jim Harbaugh deal is the Chargers hiring Ben Herbert as their strength coach,” Watt said, per Pat McAfee.
Hebert served as a strength coach for the Michigan football program for six years before following Harbaugh to Los Angeles. Moreover, he spent 11 seasons as a member of the Wisconsin Badgers strength and conditioning staff, which included working with JJ Watt.
Watt further praised Herbert for his phenomenal influence on team culture and performance. The legendary defensive end noted Herbert as “a game-changer” whose personality and presence positively impact teams.
It seems the Chargers struck gold with their new staff member. Los Angeles needs all the help it can get to avenge its regular-season showing.
The Chargers finished the year at 5-12 and failed to make the NFL Playoffs. Thus, the team parted ways with head coach Brandon Staley and brought in Michigan football juggernaut Jim Harbaugh. Harbaugh is fresh off a national championship and looks to help LA climb the AFC West.
As the NFL offseason progresses, it will be interesting to see the other moves the team makes to strengthen its presence.
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https://clutchpoints.com/chargers-news-jj-watt-names-underrated-hire-by-jim-harbaugh-in-la
| 2024-01-31T23:53:22Z
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Fresh Look at PS5 Exclusive Rise of the Ronin Gameplay - State of Play 2024
Team Ninja's samurai action game gets one last look ahead of its March release.
Team Ninja's open-world samurai game, Rise of the Ronin, was a focal point of Sony's first PlayStation State of Play of 2024, during which the developer discussed in detail combat as well as exploration.
Rise of the Ronin was announced in September 2022 as a PlayStation 5 console exclusive from the studio behind Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty, Nioh, and Dead or Alive. The single-player game will tell the story of an untethered samurai who travels Japan in the late 19th century — a tumultuous time of civil war as the Edo period came to a close.
A March 22, 2024 release date was announced at The Game Awards in December 2023 alongside a trailer which promised a dramatic story and lots of sleak gameplay. Players can use katanas and firearms to overcome enemies, and parkour and gliders to traverse the world.
In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Fumihiko Yasuda, Game Producer and Director at Team Ninja, detailed Rise of the Ronin's reeform traversal options, combat mechanics, and the development of character relationships based on your actions. On player choice, Yasuda said: "At one point in the new trailer, we see the player choose to help a character named Igashichi fight a group of hostile guards. This choice to help establishes a bond between these characters, lets players get to know Igashichi more deeply, and unlocks other game features. You’ll be able to make these choices with additional characters, such as Ryoma Sakamoto highlighted in a previous trailer.
"Who you choose to develop a relationship with impacts how the story unfolds. However, there are no disadvantages to bonding with a character at the expense of another. Consider it even more variety for your next playthrough."
Apart from Rise of the Ronin, PlayStation also showed off Stellar Blade and a host of other games. Go here to check out everything announced at today's State of Play.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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https://in.ign.com/rise-of-the-ronin/201412/news/fresh-look-at-ps5-exclusive-rise-of-the-ronin-gameplay-state-of-play-2024
| 2024-01-31T23:53:23Z
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The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services activated its operations center and positioned personnel and equipment in areas most at risk from the weather.
Brian Ferguson, Cal OES deputy director of crisis communications, characterized the situation as "a significant threat to the safety of Californians” with concerns for impact over 10 to 14 days from the Oregon line to San Diego and from the coast up into the mountains.
“This really is a broad sweep of California that’s going to see threats over the coming week,” Ferguson said.
Much of the first storm’s heaviest rain and mountain snow was expected to arrive late Wednesday and overnight into Thursday.
“The main impact is going to be runoff from heavy rainfall that is probably going to result in flooding of some waterways,” said Robert Hart, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s western region.
Last winter, California was battered by numerous drought-busting atmospheric rivers that unleashed extensive flooding, big waves that hammered shoreline communities and extraordinary snowfall that crushed buildings. More than 20 people died.
The memory was in mind in Capitola, along Monterey Bay, as Joshua Whitby brought in sandbags and considered boarding up the restaurant Zelda's on the Beach, where he is kitchen manager.
“There's absolutely always a little bit of PTSD going on with this just because of how much damage we did take last year," Whitby said.
The second storm in the series has the potential to be much stronger, said Daniel Swain a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Models suggest it could intensify as it approaches the coast of California, a process called bombogenesis in which a spinning low-pressure system rapidly deepens, Swain said in an online briefing Tuesday. The process is popularly called a “cyclone bomb.”
That scenario would create the potential for a major windstorm for the San Francisco Bay Area and other parts of Northern California as well as heavy but brief rain, Swain said.
Southern California, meanwhile, would get less wind but potentially two to three times as much rain as the north because of a deep tap of Pacific moisture extending to the tropics, Swain said.
“This is well south of Hawaii, so not just a Pineapple Express,'" he said.
The new storms come halfway through a winter very different than a year ago.
Despite storms like a Jan. 22 deluge that spawned damaging flash floods in San Diego, the overall trend has been drier. The Sierra Nevada snowpack that normally supplies about 30% of California's water is only about half of its average to date, state officials said Tuesday.
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Nic Coury contributed to this report from Capitola, California.
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https://www.journal-news.com/nation-world/first-of-back-to-back-atmospheric-rivers-pushes-into-california-officials-urge-storm-preparations/QQUZEY4JENAQ3FWAEZEVAKANWI/
| 2024-01-31T23:53:23Z
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