At its Made by Google 2026 event today, Google unveiled a slew of new devices, headlined by the Pixel 11, Pixel 11 Pro, and Pixel 11 Pro Fold. Here's a breakdown of the company's latest smartphones, provided by TechCrunch: Pixel 11: The standard Pixel 11 gets a redesigned camera bar that is thinner than the one on the previous generation. Google says the new camera bar is more than 40% thinner and now uses an all-glass surface that stretches across the width of the phone. Google is also increasing the base storage to 256GB, doubling the previous starting capacity. The starting price for the new model is set at $899, reflecting a $100 increase compared to the Pixel 10. This price hike comes with the decision to drop the 128GB storage option. Plus, the ongoing RAM supply shortage plays a part in this increase.
Pixel 11 Pro and Pro XL: Google is making durability a bigger part of the Pro lineup. The company says the Pixel 11 Pro and Pixel 11 Pro XL have improved drop resistance and a new anti-scratch display coating that provides more than twice the scratch resistance of the Pixel 10 Pro models. The Pixel 11 Pro starts at $1,099, compared to $999 for the Pixel 10 Pro.
Pixel 11 Pro Fold: Google says the new foldable is nearly 10% lighter and almost 1mm thinner than the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. It also has slimmer bezels, a 48-megapixel main camera, and 30x Super Zoom. The company is also building on the IP68 water and dust resistance introduced with the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. The Pixel 11 Pro Fold uses a glass-fiber composite back cover designed to better withstand cracking, while a redesigned hinge offers additional protection for the inner display. Google says the changes make the model three times more durable than its predecessor. There were also several new Gemini-powered features unveiled at the event. Google is expanding "Live Transcribe" to support American Sign Language, using the Pixel Camera to translate signing into text in real time. A new voice-input feature called "Rambler" is designed to understand natural, unstructured speech, including filler words and run-on sentences. Google is also integrating "Circle to Search" more directly into the Pixel Camera for identifying objects, translating text, and asking questions about what users see.
A secretive WhatsApp group was pinging with notifications throughout Wednesday, letting its members know where in London the latest “drop” would take place.
The group’s focus, rather than being for an illicit substance, was for the much coveted eclipse glasses, which have prompted a frantic rush on shops before the celestial event.
‘Outstanding young Americans’ came together to catch a tennis ball for freedom
The Patriot Games, held this week in Ohio, was intended to be a “national athletic competition celebrating the character, determination, and excellence that define the American spirit”, according to a press release.
The competition, which organizers insisted would be nothing like the Hunger Games, was to bring together “outstanding young Americans” from across the country, “to compete, inspire, and showcase the values that have shaped the United States for nearly 250 years”. ESPN, hosting the games, said it would “test excellence in skillsets of beloved American sports”.
Crowley pulls off last-minute victory in tight race after polls had shown Hong as the clear Democratic frontrunner
David Crowley, the Milwaukee county executive, won the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor after beating the democratic socialist Francesca Hong.
Crowley pulled off a last-minute victory after re-entering the campaign and snagging an endorsement from Tony Evers, the outgoing governor.
Mike Lindell, the pillow salesman, Trump supporter and election denier, has refused to concede defeat in Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary, despite trailing by a double-digit margin the morning after polls closed.
The Associated Press called the race for Lisa Demuth, the Minnesota House speaker, late on Tuesday night.
Health secretary says service must plan ahead in the same way as it does for winter crises as UK faces its fifth heatwave of the summer
Just 20 staff are working on climate adaptation within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the part of government tasked with protecting the environment and maintaining food security, a freedom of information request has revealed. Sandra Laville has the story.
On his visit to Stevenage, Andy Burnham also said he would visit the town on Remembrance Day to mark its 80th birthday.
I’m going to come back to Stevenage on 11 November. We will pay our respects for Remembrance Day around that time, but I’ll be here because if I’m right, that will be 80 years to the day that the post-war Labour government created the first new town right here in Stevenage.
David Crowley speaks after accepting Democratic nomination for Wisconsin governor; progressive Francesca Hong had led polls by a large margin in election lead-up
Core inflation, which measures prices without volatile goods like food and gas, rose by 0.2% in July, after not really changing in June compared to the month prior.
While the latest data shows there has been a 2.9% drop in gas prices from June to July, there has been a 25% hike compared to this time last year.
Aircraft carrier’s crew in ninth month at sea and has spent record 250 days consecutively without making land
Military families and Congress members are sounding the alarm about an intensifying mental health crisis onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as its 5,000 sailors and marines endure a record-breaking deployment at sea tied to the war with Iran.
Two leading specialist military papers, the Navy Times and the Stars and Stripes, are reporting that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses on the Lincoln reach breaking point. The crew is in its ninth month at sea, and has spent 250 days consecutively without making land – a record for an aircraft carrier in modern times.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were on the decoy flight last month when President Trump secretly switched to a different plane while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was with Mr. Trump.
PM to look at imposing restriction on devices in public spaces, though campaigners fear it does not go far enough
The government will look at banning disposable barbecues as wildfires continue to rage across the UK, Andy Burnham has said.
Disposable barbecues have been the cause of a number of serious fires over the last few years, but campaigners were critical of the prime minister’s failure to link those fires more broadly to the climate crisis.
Vice-chancellor Deborah Prentice says she recognises the ‘difficult case’ has damaged the university
Cambridge University’s leadership has bowed to internal pressure for an independent investigation into its appointment of Jason Arday as a professor, with its vice-chancellor admitting the affair has damaged the institution.
Prof Deborah Prentice said she recognised the “anger and anxiety around this damaging and difficult case” but described it as an aberration that should not be used to cast aspersions on the abilities of its staff of colour.
A pledge by the ABC managing director, Hugh Marks, to change editorial guidelines on satire and violence after the broadcaster aired a program featuring offensive comments about Gina Rinehart, has sparked concerns about overreach.
The four-minute film, titled A Very Relaxing Video, ran on documentary-reality show Race Around the World on 12 July and sparked a furore over comments made about the billionaire.
Following Australia’s first reported automated hacking accident, experts warn deployers – and possibly developers – of AI agents could be held liable for the actions of their bots
The FAA says its push to recruit video gamers as air traffic controllers has helped it hire more than 2,000 trainees, reaching 94% of its hiring goal. Another 2,000-plus candidates are in the pipeline. CBS News reports: U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said in a recent social media post that the federal agency's recruitment campaign to recruit gamers as air traffic controllers has been a "game changer" for the Federal Aviation Administration. [...] When Duffy announced the initiative in April, he acknowledged that the Transportation Department needed to extend its reach to recruit prospective air traffic controllers.
"A lot of what they do playing games ... is what they do ... controlling traffic in the air," Duffy told CBS News senior transportation correspondent Kris Van Cleave in an interview on Tuesday at New Jersey's Newark Liberty International Airport. Duffy added that many current trainees started out as gamers. Only about 25% of controllers hold a traditional college degree, while former controllers note that gaming requires many of the same skills that air traffic controllers use on the job, such as thinking quickly, staying focused and managing multiple sources of information as they guide more than 80,000 flights to their destinations daily.
Mortgage and student loan balances saw ‘small decline’ with increases elsewhere, says post alongside Fed report
Credit card debt in the United States is growing close to a record high, having crept up from $54bn to $1.26tn between April and June compared with the same period last year, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
The Intercept and the Freedom of the Press Foundation sued President Donald Trump and his staff Wednesday, challenging a Trump-owned media company’s plan to monetize the president’s social media posts.
The lawsuit is in response to a scheme announced last month by the parent company of Trump’s Truth Social platform to charge as much as $100,000 per month for early access to the president’s posts.
By offering preferred access to presidential missives, the monetization plan, dubbed “Truth API,” would violate the First Amendment rights of journalists and other members of the public to equal access to official information, the lawsuit argues, while allowing Trump to trade his public statements for cold hard cash.
“Trump is trying to enrich himself by privatizing government information that he has no right to sell,” said Ben Muessig, editor-in-chief of The Intercept. “We won’t let it stand.”
The complaint filed in the Southern District of New York also asserts that the monetization scheme, which it described as an “out-and-out plan of extortion,” would violate the Fifth Amendment by charging “unreasonable sums” for equal access to government information and by undermining the right to equal protection under the law.
“This lawsuit seeks to vindicate the principle that the president of the United States cannot profit from the official government statements of the president,” said Nikhel Sus, Chief Counsel for Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which provided legal support for the lawsuit. “Every American is entitled to equal access to the president’s public statements. Individuals who pay $100,000 to the president’s personal company do not have any greater entitlement to those public statements.”
“Every American is entitled to equal access to the president’s public statements.”
Truth API is part of a broader effort to bring Trump Media & Technology Group into the black. Despite a steep up-front cost ranging from $60,000 to $100,000 per month, the company’s interim CEO Kevin McGurn has been explicit about the potential dividends awaiting customers willing to pay — and the potential gain for Trump and other shareholders.
“Truth API delivers a direct, licensed, real-time feed of the platform’s most market-moving Truths while advancing our strategy to monetize proprietary assets through a high-margin, recurring revenue stream,” McGurn said in a July 16 press release. “As adoption grows, we expect Truth API to become a meaningful, ongoing source of revenue for the company, creating lasting value for shareholders.”
No shareholder stands to benefit more than Trump, who holds the largest single stake in the company through a trust established when he retook the White House in January 2025. At the time, his 52.1 percent stake in the company was valued at $4 billion. The company’s stock has plunged in value since entering the market, causing the value of Trump’s stake to fall to around $1 billion, according to the complaint.
In addition to the president, the lawsuit names as defendants Trump’s executive assistant Natalie Harp, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Daniel Scavino, the Executive Office of the President, and the White House Office. Representatives for the defendants and for Trump Media did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Truth Social has its roots in the interregnum between the two Trump administrations, when Trump, an early adopter of X who used the platform extensively in his first term as president, was banned from his beloved app and other social media platforms in 2021 in the wake of the attempted insurrection on January 6.
Weeks after the ban, he formed Trump Media & Technology Group and announced plans for a proprietary social media platform to be known as Truth Social. The platform, essentially a right-wing clone of X, launched in 2022, and Trump Media went public in 2024 via a merger with a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, a process of entering the stock market that is typically subject to less scrutiny than a traditional initial public offering.
Shortly after acquiring Twitter and renaming it X, Elon Musk allowed Trump back onto the platform, and other social-media companies later followed suit. But Trump has continued to use Truth Social as his first and primary means of communication with the public.
Still, despite enjoying the benefits of Trump’s universal name recognition and the potential for access-granting fringe benefits of investing in the company, Trump Media & Technology Group has been something of a financial loser. Just days after announcing Truth API, McGurn revealed in an earnings call on Monday that second-quarter losses had totaled $238 million.
Despite such dismal numbers, the potential return on investment for parties sinking money into the company goes beyond earnings by acting as a potential side-door for influence peddling and buying access, according to critics. Although his relationship with the administration has recently soured, few cases illustrate this more clearly than that of Justin Sun, a billionaire crypto kingpin who swiftly resolved an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission after investing $30 million in the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. Other major investors with a clear interest in gaining Trump’s favor have included an Emirati powerbroker and a failed businessman under investigation for money laundering.
“If you look back through the American presidency, there’s really no comparison for this kind of self-enrichment,” said Molly White, a researcher who has written critically of Trump’s crypto ventures and their various backers. “People have made quite a stink in the past about presidents selling books or family members of presidents peddling off of their connections, and that’s certainly true. But I mean, the scale here is just unprecedented.”
Critics of the president have raised similar concerns about Truth API. In a letter to the SEC last month, Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pointed to numerous instances in which Trump had used Truth Social to hype individual stocks, including CitiGroup, Palantir, and Intel.
“The Trump Administration is the most corrupt in the nation’s history, and questions about inappropriate insider access to information about its policies and actions have raised questions on multiple occasions,” the senators wrote. “But even amid these clouds of corruption, Trump Media’s plan to disseminate market-moving information through the President’s own company, while charging insiders for access ahead of the public for the benefit of his company — and to the detriment of the investing public — represents a shocking abuse of the office of the President and the trust of the American public for his personal gain.”
Female staff alleged company failed to maintain safe workplace, after allegations of sexual assault against pilot
The Canadian airline WestJet has agreed to pay C$4.5m (£2.4m) to settle a decade-long sexual harassment class action lawsuit levelled by its female flight attendants, who alleged the company failed to maintain a safe workplace.
The suit followed allegations by Mandalena Lewis, a former flight attendant, that a pilot had sexually assaulted her and a colleague, but that WestJet kept the pilot flying, thereby putting other employees at risk.
Iger and Kushner aim to ‘compete at the highest level’
Josh Kushner and Bob Iger are purchasing the Los Angeles Lakers for more than $12.5bn in a record-breaking deal, ESPN reported on Wednesday, citing sources with knowledge of the deal.
Billionaire Mark Walter purchased a majority stake of the NBA team last year from the Buss family in a deal that valued the club at $10bn, with the deal only having been approved by the board of governors in October.
Messi’s father, Jorge, died last week at age of 68
Argentinian suggests he may not play on much longer
Lionel Messi said on Wednesday that he is having doubts about continuing his career following the death of his father last week. Messi’s father, Jorge, died last week aged 68 at a medical clinic in the Argentinian city of Rosario after a long illness.
In a tribute on Instagram, Messi wrote: “I don’t know what I’m going to do without you. I don’t know how to move forward. I only played football and now I have quite a few doubts about whether I’m going to keep doing it for much longer.
As social media shrinks and distorts the EU’s crises, the Venice film festival is delivering politically forthright epics from directors such as Sergei Loznitsa and Alex Gibney
Europe is in an economic crisis that, unlike the eurozone downturn at the beginning of the millennium, cannot be measured in ratings downgrades and borrowing costs. For metrics, try engagement depth and consumer trust instead.
The unedifying spectacle of the European Union’s falling out over the Ceuta crisis looks like the latest symptom of Europe’s shrinking attention economy. When more than 70,000 people crossed over from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta at the start of the month, Rome hastily reintroduced air and sea border checks with Spain for one month; Madrid retaliated with spot-checks on travellers to Italy.
Police say the driver of the minivan — who wore a mask, glasses and a hard hat — sprayed security cameras with blue paint to hide his crime inside an Oregon parking garage.
As much as some people more or less cease to listen to new music in their 30s, I have noticed a retreat to safe, familiar gaming territory among some of my fellow millennial gamers.
Retro collections are started, or resumed; jewel-cases of PS1 classics or cardboard boxes with SNES or Mega Drive games have started to colonise the living-room shelves. People are replaying things from their university days, or sticking to comfort games such as Stardew Valley. Many of the friends I used to game with never bothered to pick up a PlayStation 5 at its launch, and now that current-generation consoles are becoming prohibitively expensive, they see no need. With thousands of great older games, why bother playing something new?
LandPaths takes at-risk youth out of their concrete, urban environments and into the natural one, offering many their first encounters with the land
Alejandro Elizarraraz stands in the middle of a grassy field with a saw in his hands. On a hillside overlooking the lush forests of northern California, the 18 year old cuts back brush and branches as a way to help prevent wildfires.
“We’re going to give the tree a high fade cuz it’s 10 feet,” he said, grinning. “You get it?”
The International Energy Agency calls for urgent reopening of the strait of Homuz amid ongoing pressure on global oil supplies
Opec has lowered its full-year forecast for world oil demand growth for the fourth month in a row.
The oil producing cartel said it was now expecting oil demand to have grown to 580,000 barrels per day, according to a copy of the monthly report seen by Reuters.
Incident marks second familicide in midwest in two weeks, with the children who died ranging in age from three to nine
A father killed his four young children and their mother before turning the gun on himself, said authorities in Wichita, Kansas – marking the second incident of familicide in the midwest in two weeks.
The Kansas bureau of investigation and Winfield police department said a man identified as 53-year-old Ronald Williams Sr called police at 8.50am on Tuesday to say he had killed his entire family and was about to take his own life.
No winning tickets were sold for Monday night's $905 million Powerball jackpot, so the estimated grand prize for Wednesday's drawing will be at least $1 billion.
Winds of more than 80mph, severe flooding and tornadoes swept through Indiana, Ohio, Illinois and Kentucky
Powerful storms swept across the midwest on Tuesday, leaving three dead and more than 800,000 without power in four states as winds gusts of more than 80mph (130km/h) tore down trees and power lines.
In Indiana, a four-year-old child died after a tree fell on his home in Geneva Township and a person died in a suspected weather-related house explosion in Portage, a city about 30 miles south-east of Chicago.
This broad collaboration will train researchers across the full quantum error correction stack filling a gap in the current workforce
PARIS, Aug. 12, 2026 — Alice & Bob, a leader in fault-tolerant quantum computing, is contributing its expertise in cat-qubit error correction to QuBriC, Europe’s first Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Doctoral Network dedicated to quantum error correction (QEC).
QuBriC brings together 16 universities and seven quantum companies across Europe, including ETH Zürich, TU Delft, UCL, INRIA, Riverlane and IQM, to recruit and train 15 doctoral researchers. Backed by €4.6 million in funding over 48 months through Horizon Europe’s MSCA programme, the network will develop a new generation of researchers capable of tackling one of quantum computing’s biggest technical challenges: quantum error correction.
“Quantum error correction sits at the heart of any fault-tolerant quantum computer, interacting with all aspects of it. As such, it requires expertise spanning seemingly separate disciplines,” said Christophe Vuillot, Principal Research Scientist, QEC at Alice & Bob. “QuBriC brings together leading universities, research institutes and quantum companies to train researchers and bridge these gaps, combining expertise from quantum information, coding theory and hardware engineering. This next generation of researchers will be essential to accelerating the path to useful, fault-tolerant quantum computers.”
Quantum error correction is widely recognised as the key to building scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computers. Yet expertise remains fragmented, with researchers typically specialising in either classical coding theory or quantum physics. QuBriC aims to bridge that divide by training researchers across the full quantum error correction stack – from theory and algorithms to hardware implementation.
As an industry partner, Alice & Bob will help shape the network’s research and training while contributing expertise in cat-qubit-based error correction. For the company, QuBriC provides access to a pipeline of highly specialised talent and an academic network closely aligned on fault-tolerant quantum computing.
The MSCA program has advanced research and innovation for the last 30 years by supporting over 150,000 researchers, including 23 Nobel Prize winners. The programme has been a cornerstone of European research by fostering mobility across disciplines, sectors, and countries and attracting and nurturing top talent within academia and businesses.
Unlike traditional research grants, MSCA Doctoral Networks fund international consortia of universities, research organisations and industry partners to jointly recruit, train and supervise PhD researchers. Doctoral candidates undertake interdisciplinary research while working across academic and industrial environments, equipping them with the technical and transferable skills needed to address major scientific and technological challenges.
About Alice & Bob
Alice & Bob is a quantum computing company based in Paris and Boston whose goal is to create the first universal, fault-tolerant quantum computer. Founded in 2020, Alice & Bob has raised €180 million in funding and employs more than 250 people. Advised by Nobel Prize winning researchers, Alice & Bob specializes in cat qubits, a technology developed by the company’s founders. Demonstrating the power of its cat architecture, Alice & Bob recently showed that it could reduce the hardware requirements for building a useful large-scale quantum computer up to 200 times compared with competing approaches.
About QuBriC
QuBriC (Bridging Quantum and Classical Error Correction for Scalable Fault-tolerant Quantum Computing) is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA-DN) funded under Horizon Europe.
QuBriC unites 23 European partners across Europe and beyond: 14 beneficiaries and 9 associated partners, including 16 leading academic institutions (TU/e, KIT, Freie Universität Berlin, ETH Zürich, University of Gdańsk, UCL, Politecnico di Milano, Chalmers, University of Edinburgh, INRIA, TU Delft, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, University of Navarra, Duke Universit, LMU Munich, Sorbonne Université) and 7 major quantum computing companies (Riverlane, IQM, Alice & Bob, Quantinuum, Pasqal, QuiX Quantum, Quandela).
Funded by the European Union under the grant agreement No 101312335. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Research Executive Agency (REA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
Energy is cheaper than at its peak in late April, but gas is still nearly $1 a gallon more expensive than before the Iran war
US consumer prices cooled slightly in July as the annualized inflation rate dipped down to 3.4%, though prices still remain higher than levels seen before the war with Iran.
Though inflation decreased 0.7% in June during a brief ceasefire between the US and Iran that brought energy prices down, consumer prices have remained elevated. Price increases hit a three-year high in May, with annual inflation reaching 4.2%.
Primaries across US included Darline Graham advancing to runoff, while progressive Francesca Hong and MyPillow’s Mike Lindell fell short
A series of primary elections on Tuesday shaped the future of both the Democratic and Republican parties, pitting newcomers against established candidates and testing name recognition.
Wisconsin, Minnesota, Alabama, South Carolina, Vermont and Connecticut held elections, with a gubernatorial race in Wisconsin capturing nationwide attention.
Operation under way to rescue dozens missing after boat overturned by waves at world’s largest human-made lake
At least 44 people have diedafter an overcrowded ferry capsized on Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe, police said.
The boat had a capacity of 90 people, but was carrying 114 adult passengers, five crew members and an unknown number of children, Zimbabwe’s civil protection unit (CPU) said earlier on Wednesday, citing ticket sales.
F-16 fighter jets intercepted a civilian plane that violated a temporary flight restriction over Geneva, Ohio, where President Trump attended the 2026 Patriot Games.
The only total solar eclipse of 2026 will cross the Northern Hemisphere on Wednesday, Aug. 12, with a path of totality across parts of Greenland, Iceland and northern Spain. See when and where it will be visible.
David Crowley unexpectedly beat a progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for Wisconsin governor, and will face Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany on the ballot in November.
US immigration has ramped up operations against Haitians, whose temporary protected status was removed by Trump
When Monsanto Maler walked out of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Blue Ash, Ohio, at 9.15am on Sunday with an ankle monitor freshly attached to his left leg, he put his hand over his face, burst into tears and fell to the ground.
He had come to the US in June 2023, fleeing gangs in Cap-Haïtien, Haiti, where he had been hit over the right side of his head, leaving a large, visible scar.
BOSTON, Aug. 12, 2026 — Zapata Quantum, a leader in quantum computing algorithm and application development, today announced a partnership with QuEra, a leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, aimed at closing the quantum applications gap.
“QuEra’s commitment to delivering a megaquop-class system via AWS in 2028 is exciting for the field and something we’re looking forward to supporting from the application side,” said Sumit Kapur, CEO of Zapata Quantum. “We are uniquely positioned as a hardware-agnostic partner to help enterprises identify which quantum use cases matter, assess when they will become viable, and develop the applications and algorithms needed to drive transformational business value as these systems come online.”
The partnership seeks to fulfill QuEra’s goal of helping enterprises, government programs and HPC centers collaborate on designing and validating applications before quantum hardware reaches full fault-tolerance, and is part of the QuEra Quantum Alliance Program.
“By pairing QuEra’s leadership in fault-tolerant quantum computing with Zapata’s focus on application development, we can further accelerate the path from quantum capability to commercial value,” said Yuval Boger, Chief Commercial Officer at QuEra Computing.
The collaboration also reflects Zapata’s broader strategy of working with technology leaders across the quantum and AI ecosystems, including its recently announced ongoing partnership with NVIDIA to apply agentic AI to accelerate quantum algorithm development.
For more information about how Zapata is delivering Quantum Application Intelligence, please visit the Company’s website.
About QuEra
QuEra is putting quantum to work. As the scientific and commercial leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, we help enterprise innovators leverage quantum to gain competitive advantage, support HPC centers as their users tackle classically intractable problems, and enable government programs to build national and sovereign capabilities. We do this by combining our quantum systems, available on-premises and via the cloud, with application co-design and collaborative research. Born at Harvard and MIT and still advancing together, QuEra builds neutral-atom systems on a public, peer-reviewed path to fault tolerance, and operates globally from Boston, New Mexico, Tokyo, Zurich, and the United Kingdom. As quantum computing moves from “one day” to “Day One,” QuEra delivers practical impact today while leading the path toward large-scale, fault-tolerant systems. See what’s possible at www.quera.com.
About Zapata Quantum
Zapata Quantum is a leading hardware-agnostic, pure-play quantum software company focused on accelerating quantum application development. With a portfolio of more than 60 granted and pending patents developed over seven years, Zapata supports applications across cryptography, pharmaceuticals, finance, materials discovery, defense, and more. The Company is the only organization to have participated across all technical areas of DARPA’s Quantum Benchmarking program and has worked with Fortune 500 enterprises and government agencies to translate quantum advances into real-world impact. The Company’s study demonstrating the potential of quantum-enabled drug discovery was recognized as one of Nature Biotechnology’s Top 10 Papers of 2025. Learn more at zapataquantum.com.
OpenAI, Anthropic, Microsoft, AWS and others have recently launched initiatives to help their customers adopt AI and make sure it works.
Key to these efforts are “FDEs” or “forward deployed engineers,” a rare individual who can bridge the technical aspects of AI with the real business needs of customers.
But what happens six months from now, or a year from now, when the hired teams move on or get too busy and the company is left to maintain and upgrade its AI systems itself?
That isn’t a situation any company wants to be in. FDE capabilities are scarce. That means their expertise can be expensive. When you get locked in with one organization, it can be tough to leave–no matter the cost. The organization you come to rely on might optimize certain AI models and you’ll miss out on other options, such as open source. Or, the model they rely on could run into regulatory trouble.
All of this points to the need to train FDEs internally for the long haul and not just rely on outside teams. The enterprises that thrive will be those that develop the capability to deploy AI responsibly and confidently. The good news: FDE capability can be developed. But it does require the right raw material and an intensive, structured approach.
What You’re Looking For
(khunkornStudio/Shutterstock)
It is imperative to know what you’re looking for before you begin any training.
The defining characteristic of an FDE is the ability to bridge technical solutions with business outcomes in ways traditional engineers simply don’t. FDEs are not just builders. They’re translators operating at the intersection of engineering, architecture and business strategy. They understand that deploying AI into production is more than a technical challenge. It’s also a risk management challenge that requires earning organizational trust through proper guardrails, monitoring and containment strategies.
Here’s what we’ve learned about FDEs that works.
Step one: Identify the right candidates. Not every strong engineer will make the transition. Look for experienced software engineers who are curious beyond their technical domain. You want people with foundational strength in core development practices and exposure to data science and cloud architecture. Prior industry expertise is a significant accelerant. Someone who understands healthcare compliance or financial services risk frameworks will ramp faster than someone learning the domain from scratch.
Part of identifying the right candidate is to look for someone with core skills that work together, including: problem-solving and judgment; solutions engineering and design; client management and the ability to connect AI implementations to measurable business outcomes.
If someone already has those competencies, you’re a long way toward having an FDE. But more is needed and that can be accomplished with training, both technical and professional.
Step two: Develop strong candidates technically. This has three layers.
The foundation is AI and ML literacy: LLM concepts, prompting techniques, Python proficiency, understanding of tokens and basic agent architectures. These are table stakes.
The middle layer is the applied toolkit. Engineers need working competency in three areas that map to the “three hats” an FDE wears.
First is RAG, or retrieval-augmented generation, knowing how to connect models to enterprise data sources reliably and accurately.
Second is agentic AI, orchestrating multi-step reasoning and action sequences with appropriate checkpoints and controls.
Third is production operations, ensuring solutions can be deployed with proper monitoring, guardrails and incident response capabilities.
The advanced layer is deep expertise: model internals, fine-tuning, the kind of knowledge that allows an FDE to troubleshoot when standard approaches fail. This is what separates so
(Gorodenkoff/Shutterstock)
meone who can follow a playbook from someone who can improvise when the playbook doesn’t cover the situation.
Step three: Develop strong candidate’s professional capabilities
Professional capabilities can be harder to develop than technical ones. These are the “soft” skills so in demand across many professions as AI picks up more of the routine, task-focused work. Soft skills can be especially hard to find in engineering talent because the profession hasn’t traditionally focused on them. The image of a programmer with headphones on, working furiously, while the rest of the world goes on around them has real roots.
But AI is changing the equation of what machines bring best to the equation and what humans bring best. In today’s world, corporate boards and CEOs are looking for an actual payout from their AI investments.
FDEs must be able to reframe conversations, to stop talking about technical agents and start discussing business problems and risk mitigation. They must manage high-stakes stakeholder relationships, including difficult conversations around scope changes, timeline slips and the inherent uncertainties of non-deterministic systems. Most importantly, they must develop judgment: the ability to make good decisions under ambiguity and to inspire confidence in executives who are being asked to accept a new kind of technology risk.
A plethora of soft skills-development tools are available. Enterprises can tackle this in-house or find outside help. One thing we’ve found at Andela is that it is important to at first assess the worker to find out where they are with a skill so that any training takes them to the next level–and doesn’t waste their time or lose them.
Be Patient but Persistent
Set realistic expectations with your leadership and your candidates. Even with a strong program, not everyone will complete the transition. But even a small cohort of FDE-capable talent can dramatically accelerate your path to overcoming the integration wall.
The enterprises that develop FDE capability will break through the integration wall. They’ll move from impressive demos to production systems that generate real value. Each successful deployment will build organizational confidence for the next. Those that don’t will remain stuck, unable to convert AI investment into AI returns, watching more risk-tolerant competitors pull ahead.
About the author: Kennith Jackson is SVP of Solutions at Andela, a private marketplaces for technical talent with a vetted global network of 150,000+ technologists across 135 countries available. Previosly he worked at Google Cloud.
Democrats demand congressional briefing after passenger-laden Air Force One sent on decoy flight despite security scare. Plus, the 11 biggest wellness trends of 2026 so far
Good morning.
Democrats have called for a congressional briefing after a charade in which Donald Trump was secretly spirited into a different plane than the one the public and press believed he was travelling on.
How did the plot to smuggle Trump off the plane unfold? In this video, the Guardian breaks down the footage from that day, showing how the president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies before flight.
Where have progressives enjoyed electoral success this week? Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won her Democratic primary for US Senate in a race centered on immigration enforcement. Flanagan, who beat the congresswoman Angie Craig, recently told the Guardian: “So often I think Democrats are like: ‘What do we think we can win?’ Instead of: ‘What are the fights that we should be picking?’”
What happened in South Carolina’s abbreviated special Republican primary? Darline Graham, appointed to complete the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey, will face the congressman Ralph Norman in a runoff on 25 August. The winner will face the Democratic nominee Annie Andrews in November’;s midterms.
Errors by police and prosecutors left serial sex offender free to murder Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo and Sheryl Wilkins
Simon Levy, the sexual predator left free by police and prosecution errors to murder two women, will never leave prison after being sentenced to a whole-life tariff.
Levy was convicted on Friday of murdering Carmenza Valencia-Trujillo in March 2025 and Sheryl Wilkins five months later. He was also convicted of attacking and raping another woman, 35, in January 2025, who survived and gave damning testimony against him.
Plans for hyperscale datacenter in Palm Beach county prompt concerns over water and electricity demands
About 16 miles (26km) west of the Mar-a-Lago estate on President Donald J Trump Highway, near the northern edge of the Florida Everglades, developers have proposed a hyperscale datacenter on a 202-acre (82-hectare) parcel of land surrounded by water. Local environmentalists warn that the proposed 600MW datacenter in western Palm Beach county could damage the wetlands, which the federal government and the state of Florida have spent a combined $6bn to restore after decades of drainage and development.
One concern is that the datacenter could exacerbate an existing issue of toxic bacterial blooms in a water system which has already been stressed by drought, fertilizer runoff and warm water temperatures. In recent summers, the bright blooms of blue-green algae have covered nearly half of Lake Okeechobee, which feeds into the Everglades.
Fever’s success on court continues despite distractions
Indiana Fever coach Stephanie White has pushed back on those who have criticized how she has handled the controversy that erupted after Saturday’s game between her team and the Chicago Sky.
Sky’s DiJonai Carrington was ejected for a Flagrant 2 foul after she struck Fever’s Sophie Cunningham in the head and neck during Saturday’s game. Afterwards, White, – who previously coached Carrington at the Connecticut Sun – said she did not believe Carrington intentionally aimed for Cunningham’s neck. White was booed by some Fever fans before Tuesday’s win over the New York Liberty, while Indiana’s lieutenant governor has called for her to be fired.
Norah O'Donnell sat down with her own doctor, Rachel Rubin, to tackle the important topic of menopause: How your body changes, why women may be needlessly suffering, and what you can actually do about it.
alternative_right shares a report from Phys.org: Scientists from the Czech Republic have created microscopic cleanup robots that successfully removed microplastics from both soil and aquatic environments in the lab. Details of their work are published in the journal npg Asia Materials. To build the robots, researchers started with microscopic MXene particles made of ultrathin, stacked layers. The material has a large surface area and surface chemistry that help it attract and hold plastic. They then coated the particles with magnetic nickel nanoparticles so rotating magnetic fields could drive the tiny robots.
Then came the testing phase. The team placed swarms of these microbots into water and soil samples contaminated with plastic. The externally generated magnetic fields made the robots spin and tumble through the liquid and squeeze through tiny water-filled gaps in the soil. "In soil environments, the microrobots can navigate through water-permeated soil microenvironments, actively disrupt microplastic entrapment within soil matrices, and extract them," the study authors commented in their paper. As they moved, their sticky surfaces collided with microplastics, binding to them and dragging them along. The researchers then used a magnet to pull the microrobots, along with their trapped plastic cargo, out of the samples.
They performed well. In water, they removed about 94% of test polystyrene particles and 89% of PET (polyethylene terephthalate) in around an hour. In the model soil, they removed about 81% of the polystyrene and 72% of PET. This outperformed the same MXene material used without magnetic motion, which relied on passive adsorption rather than actively moving through soil and water.
South African scientist’s breakthrough research shows soil fungus could be used in fight against devastating crop pest
Hearing about fields full of dead caterpillars enveloped in a mysterious white substance intrigued the South African scientist Letodi Luki Mathulwe. Something was killing off the African armyworm – one of the most devastating pests for farmers in east and southern Africa.
The white substance was a naturally occurring fungus and it was wiping out the caterpillar, which gained its name from its march-like advance through fields of crops.
Marni von Wilpert helped draft Protecting the Right to Organize act, and now wants work toward implementing it
Legislation that would modernize federal labor law began with a handful of lawyers meeting, of all places, in an ice-cream shop.
“We wrote for hours what we would do to amend the National Labor Relations Act,” said Marni von Wilpert, a member of the San Diego city council who was then an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Bringing together “our collective experience as labor lawyers over the years, really trying to unrig the rules so that working people could have a fair shot”.
Middle East conflict has cost Europe’s largest travel firm €60m so far, and timing of decisions over trips has shifted
Holidaymakers are waiting until the last minute to book their trips because of the continuing uncertainty caused by the war in Iran and the cost of living crisis, according to Tui, Europe’s largest travel company, which said the war had cost it €60m (£51m) so far.
In the weeks after the outbreak of the war at the end of February, Tui recorded a temporary drop-off in customers wanting to travel to Cyprus or Turkey, in what the company called a “volatile market”.
Andy Burnham will chair an emergency Cobra meeting in response to the extreme heat, which has caused wildfires and plunged many parts of Britain into drought.
The prime minister will meet ministers, officials and agencies as high temperatures continue across the UK, with 33C forecast on Wednesday and up to 38C on Thursday.
Reforms comply with wishlist of intelligence services which say Germany lags behind allies and enemies
The German government has approved a draft law aimed at lifting many of the restraints on its spy agencies imposed during the postwar period as the country reels from two attacks in a month that have exposed serious security gaps.
The controversial changes, which must still pass parliament, largely comply with a wishlist pulled together by the foreign and domestic intelligence services, which have long complained Germany lags behind its allies and enemies.
Calls for speed limiters or mandated helmet use after research into injuries at three paediatric trauma centres
The number of children involved in crashes on e-scooters has soared in recent years, with some as young as nine involved in collisions, research has found.
Researchers carried out a review of injuries among the under-16s at three specialist paediatric trauma centres – Alder Hey in Liverpool, and Sheffield and Royal Manchester children’s hospitals – between January 2019 and December 2024.
"In exchange for the weapons, the defendants paid in the form of fentanyl and methamphetamine imported into the United States for distribution," the Justice Department said.
Footage shared on social media shows a baby being rescued from the bloody arms of a man trapped underneath a destroyed building in Cali after a powerful earthquake struck Colombia.
The AI jobs apocalypse never showed up. Still, jobs are changing and economists expect more to come.
The prediction was stark: artificial intelligence advancements would wipe out jobs en masse. “Half” of all entry-level white collar jobs would vanish, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, said in May 2025. A month later, OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, went further, foreseeing the end of “certain job categories”. Companies began citing AI in their layoffs. Workers organized. And students reconsidered their future careers.
But a year later, the mass carnage hasn’t shown up.
From space to telecommunications, the US has a long history of fostering technology for the public good. These AI models could be aligned to democratic values, not corporate profits
OpenAI, and then Anthropic, were each formed by AI developers who feared unrestrained corporate AI development – specifically, that companies like Google and Meta would steer the technology towards deleterious, maybe even catastrophically unsafe, outcomes for society. Their founders proclaimed that their new labs, uniquely, could be trusted to develop the technology in humanity’s best interest. But each, in turn, were themselves co-opted by the same market incentives, themselves becoming corporate behemoths zealously guarding future investor value rather than the public interest.
It was only a few weeks ago, in June, when OpenAI and Anthropic each filed for their IPOs and were met with buzz about trillion-dollar valuations. The hype around their valuations is so extreme that many worry about their potential for concentrating wealth on a global scale. In an effort to leave something for the rest of us, some observers have proposed that the federal government seize a share of these companies’ stock to create a US sovereign wealth fund, or redistribute their revenues to produce a dividend for taxpayers.
In documenting the process, AOC is defying the right’s pronatalist narratives about motherhood and women’s careers
On Sunday, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced that she is freezing her eggs. The 36-year-old New York congresswoman took to Instagram to document the process, complete with jabbing a syringe into her stomach on camera.
“Don’t be weird about this,” Ocasio-Cortez said, “even though I know all of you will be.”
Iran lost top leaders in the war and US ‘humiliation ... a form of revenge’, say experts, after administration’s flight ruse
Since the joint US-Israeli strikes in February that killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and scores of other senior Iranian officials on the first day of the war, a revenge plot to kill Donald Trump should not have appeared far-fetched.
But the US administration’s elaborate ruse to spirit Trump off of Air Force One in Turkey last month indicates a credibility to the Iranian threat that has surprised many in Washington – including the Trump aides and journalists left on the jet that may have remained the target of an Iranian missile strike.
With wing spans up to 3ft, the shy cownose ray species typically arrive in Long Island waters in the warmer months
Drone footage of dozens of stingrays in the ocean off New York has captivated beachgoers and marine enthusiasts, offering a rare bird’s-eye view of a species that scientists say has visited the area for decades.
The footage was captured las`t Friday off the coast of Southampton on the Long Island peninsula by Joanna Steidle, a Hamptons-based professional drone pilot known for her aerial ocean shots. It shows cownose rays gliding through the water en masse near the surface.
Alex Bandoni and Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica. Source images: Corbis, AFP and Weegee (Arthur Fellig)/International Center of Photography/Getty Images.
A robot was on fire. Again.
It was the summer of 2024, and the cutting-edge robots inside General Dynamics’ sweltering artillery factory near Dallas were catching fire with startling regularity, according to four former workers there. This wasn’t ideal, as the plant was supposed to be churning out urgently needed artillery shells for Ukraine. The robots, giant metal arms with clamps for hands, would end up drenched in oil, which would then — no surprise — combust as they moved steel blocks heated to 1,800 degrees into and out of a machine that periodically erupted columns of fire. One blaze that summer melted a robot’s cables, putting it out of commission for a week.
Only weeks earlier, defense officials and executives had touted the factory’s innovative new machinery, imported from Turkey, at a gala opening ceremony. But employees were already used to spectacular mishaps, fiery and otherwise. “After the second, third, fourth time, it just became almost normal,” one former worker said. “It got to the point where I was not surprised by anything that happened there.”
Instead of producing shells in an efficient and streamlined fashion, the pricey machines kept failing in bizarre ways. The robot arms would swing out of control, smashing into carefully calibrated equipment, and sometimes they would unexpectedly drop hunks of steel 5 feet down to the floor. The factory’s signature device, meant to precisely stretch the steel for the artillery shells, instead often cracked it beyond repair. Then there were the giant press machines, which required regular pounding with a sledgehammer to function properly but still botched the shaping of nearly every shell. “We really didn’t have any standardized practice,” said Quantel White, a former employee. “It was just a bunch of guys taking turns going at the machine with a sledgehammer every night.” To workers, even the factory buildings themselves came to feel doomed, with acrid smoke hanging in 100-degree heat over foundations seemingly sinking into the earth.
A press machine at the General Dynamics artillery factory near DallasObtained by ProPublica
The situation never improved. The U.S. Army, which funded the factory, ordered work halted on two of its three production lines in August 2025. By then, General Dynamics had blown eight deadlines. Work on the third production line continued, but the facility never produced a single usable shell, according to a report from the Department of Defense’s inspector general in July.
The fiasco has cost American taxpayers $533 million, according to the Army. But the Army has not held General Dynamics or a key Turkish subcontractor — which provided the factory’s much-hyped but little-proven equipment — publicly accountable for the failures. Nor has it made General Dynamics pay a penny back.
Just the opposite: General Dynamics, one of the world’s largest defense companies, has been showered with new contracts, continuing its track record as one of the greatest beneficiaries of Pentagon spending. The company is still in charge of the factory. It recently announced that it will fix things there by bringing in another much-hyped but little-proven technology.
“It’s an absolute disaster,” said one former official in an Army office supervising the project. “The Army should’ve gone after recovering money from General Dynamics,” added the official, who, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Publicly, the Army has been tight-lipped about what, exactly, went wrong at the factory, located in a sprawling suburb called Mesquite. The inspector general report described the failure but offered few specifics. It didn’t name the companies involved, much less any of the individuals responsible. The report’s recommendations were tepid: The Army should determine whether the contract was “appropriately issued,” how “the money was spent” and whether it can recoup any of it. It should also “identify and implement a solution” for producing more artillery. Army officials deflected blame, telling the inspector general that they didn’t do anything wrong.
In a detailed statement to ProPublica, the Army said it will recover funding for the project by getting unspecified discounts from General Dynamics on production orders. “The Army is exercising rigorous oversight to ensure every dollar invested delivers capability to the warfighter,” the statement read. “Where vendors fail to meet contract specifications, as seen at the Mesquite facility, we are evaluating contract performance, seeking recoupment of funds, and pivoting resources.”
As for General Dynamics, it has given no public explanation whatsoever. The company has said that it “met or exceeded requirements,” according to the inspector general report. General Dynamics declined an interview request from ProPublica. Company spokesperson Jeff Davis said ProPublica’s reporting “fundamentally mischaracterizes the circumstances and falsely impugns our record of employee safety and truthfulness with our customer.” He continued: “An article based on this foundation would be a materially false and misleading hit piece.” Davis did not respond to ProPublica’s request that he specify the alleged errors.
ProPublica reconstructed how the project went awry through interviews with 36 current and former employees of General Dynamics, the Army, the Pentagon and the White House. ProPublica also reviewed internal company documents as well as photographs and videos taken inside the factory.
Those involved described a project that was rushed and ill considered from the start. Congress paved the way, removing government contracting guardrails — meant to ensure taxpayer money isn’t wasted — so that Ukraine-related defense projects could be funded quickly. The Army took advantage, handing General Dynamics lucrative no-bid awards without knowing whether the machines it planned to use could perform the desired work. The Army’s due diligence was inadequate, four former Army and General Dynamics officials told ProPublica.
Compared to the multibillion-dollar budgets of other DOD projects, the financial cost of the Texas debacle is small. But the lack of consequences for the companies involved, in the view of defense-spending critics, is symptomatic of a larger problem: a deep-rooted culture at the Pentagon and in Congress in which expensive failures lead only to more spending. Such critics fear that extreme cases like this one could become more common if the Trump administration succeeds in boosting the defense budget from $1 trillion to $1.5 trillion. The administration is also seeking tens of billions of dollars for its war against Iran and pressuring defense companies to quickly ramp up weapons production.
“Too often the contractors have no accountability for their mistakes,” defense budget researcher William Hartung said. The Texas failure, he said, “is a foreshadow of what’s to come if the Trump administration gets the budget it asked for.”
The Pitch
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 felt like an emergency to the Biden administration. For General Dynamics, it was an opportunity. And Firat Gezen was ready with a pitch.
In six years running General Dynamics’ Ordnance and Tactical Systems business, Gezen had earned a reputation as a deft strategist and salesman. At 50, he wasn’t an engineer, and he had no experience running factories. He had spent decades working on the financial side of the weapons business. With a ready smile and a delivery as smooth as his perfectly bald head, he knew how to woo corporate leaders and Pentagon arms buyers alike.
Gezen was also shrewd. In 2020, after the Army sought to diversify its artillery supplier base by contracting with a small Pennsylvania company, Gezen swooped in and bought that company. That allowed General Dynamics to maintain its stranglehold over the production of metal bodies for the standard American artillery shell, referred to by its caliber: 155 mm. “Firat throws his arm around you and talks to you nicely,” one former Army official said. “But he’s got, like, five things that he’s the sole provider of, and it’s exclusive. He’s got you locked up forever.”
Firat Gezen, former president of General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical SystemsU.S. Army photo by PFC Brandon L. Perry
That put General Dynamics in an ideal position. Russia and Ukraine were firing thousands of shells back and forth each day. The United States was a key supplier to Ukraine, but decades of disinvestment had left the U.S. artillery industry emaciated. In March 2022, Congress passed the first in a series of bills allocating billions of dollars for Ukraine-related causes, including boosting artillery production. The next month, President Joe Biden pledged to send shells to Ukraine, and he wanted to move fast. But first someone had to make them.
The 155 mm shell has been a military workhorse for a century, owing to its simple, lethal power. Packed with TNT, the 33-inch cylinder can travel 10 miles when shot out of the barrel of a howitzer and send fragments flying hundreds of feet upon impact. But decades of asymmetric warfare in the Middle East, in which the United States relied largely on drones and bombs, had led some to believe the days of artillery battles were waning. By 2022, General Dynamics was the only producer of 155 mm metal shell bodies in the country, mainly in a century-old facility in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Given that, the company was an obvious candidate to meet the sudden new demand. General Dynamics could simply replicate Scranton’s traditional manufacturing method, which dated back to the time of the Korean War. But in meetings with Pentagon officials in the fall of 2022, Gezen proposed an alternative: What if the Army funded a state-of-the-art production line that used a promising new technique?
A soldier attends to 155 mm shells in Ukraine in March 2025.Dmytro Smolienko/Urinform/NurPhoto/Getty Images
Central to this proposal was a virtual unknown in the world of American defense: Repkon. The company had been operating in its home country of Turkey for decades, providing “turnkey production facilities in the metal forming industry.” (Coincidentally, Gezen himself was born to Turkish parents in the United States.)
But Repkon had never received a Pentagon contract, and certainly not for its signature metalworking process called “flow-forming.” Whereas the Scranton method mainly involves molding ultrahot steel in giant forging presses, Repkon added a step in which a fast-spinning machine squeezes and rolls out the metal like clay on a potter’s wheel. The advantage, Gezen told defense officials, is that the same equipment could produce shells of various calibers. Most important, Repkon had a production line already available, meaning General Dynamics could start making shells faster than if it had to procure traditional equipment piece by piece.
Warning signs abounded. Army officials learned that the production line that Repkon wanted to sell had been designed to produce an older, simpler model of 155 mm shells, which was made with different steel. It wasn’t clear that the Turkish equipment could even work with the steel used to make the newer 155 mm model, as the equipment had never actually produced it, according to four former General Dynamics and Army officials. Repkon said other countries were using the machines to produce the older model. But the Army and General Dynamics could not inspect those active production lines, Repkon told them, citing customer privacy.
The Army could have balked at all of this and insisted on learning more about the capacity of the Repkon machines to perform the desired work. But learning more would’ve taken time, and time seemed in short supply. “There was incredible pressure to go fast,” a former Army official said. Everybody moved forward.
In November 2022, the Army raced to give General Dynamics the first in a series of contract awards for the project that would ultimately be worth nearly $600 million if carried to completion. The next month, Congress granted the DOD extraordinary powers to award money for Ukraine-related causes without the usual contracting safeguards, dropping competitive bidding requirements and restrictions on so-called undefinitized contracting actions. UCAs allow a company to begin work even before finalizing the terms of its contract with the government. One defense executive compared them to “building the airplane as you’re flying it.”
The Army made the most of its expanded powers, awarding General Dynamics a number of UCAs without considering alternate proposals in a competitive bidding process. (The Army told ProPublica it selected the company because of its unique artillery production experience.)
In fact, the Army was so enamored with the proposal that it decided to order even more than Gezen had pitched. Instead of contracting for one Repkon production line, the Army signed up to buy three. Without knowing whether any of them would work.
Gezen had never overseen a project this ambitious. Until then, he had mainly presided over smaller expansions of existing factories that used traditional methods.But he was optimistic it would work.“He’s extremely aggressive, willing to take risks,” one former colleague said.
Some of the Army’s scrutiny of the proposal occurred only after it began awarding contracts for it. The service and General Dynamics sent staffers to Turkey to inspect Repkon’s machinery, but they never inspected a full production line in action and there weren’t enough experts who could spot potential defects in the equipment, four former General Dynamics and Army officials said. Crucially, before greenlighting the deal, the Army did not require General Dynamics to demonstrate that it could use the Repkon equipment to complete the entire production process and make shells that met the Army’s specifications. (The Army told ProPublica that “formal testing could not occur prior to full machinery installation.”)
If the typical contracting safeguards had been in place, perhaps everything that followed could have been prevented. If the Pentagon had been forced to open the project to competitive bidding, it would have had to consider other proposals in a painstaking review process. If restrictions on UCAs had been in effect, the Pentagon would have had to slow down and finalize the terms of the deal before allowing it to proceed, which might have surfaced its fatal flaws.
But one man’s due diligence is another man’s red tape. Soon, Repkon’s flow-forming machines were sailing across the Atlantic, heading eventually for Mesquite.
“This Is Actually Hell”
On May 29, 2024, the mood in Mesquite was triumphant. After two short years of planning, the factory was opening, and defense officials and executives gathered there to celebrate.
Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth at the opening of General Dynamics’ artillery factorySgt.1st Class Nicole Mejia/U.S. Army
“Our nation’s defense relies not only on our soldiers and other servicemembers in uniform but on production facilities like this one,” then-Army Secretary Christine Wormuth told seated dignitaries. She stood at a podium branded with the General Dynamics logo, with two howitzers posed behind her. She thanked the company’s CEO, Phebe Novakovic, and Gezen by name. “It’s a pleasure to highlight the fantastic work you all have done,” she said.
But everything was not as fantastic as it appeared. Artillery shells displayed around the plant that day had been shipped in from elsewhere, three former workers told ProPublica. A worker picked one up and was startled to discover it was fake — seemingly made of plastic. General Dynamics had already failed to perform a scheduled first article test, meant to demonstrate the facility could produce shells that met the Army’s specifications. The facility was supposed to start cranking out shells soon, but machines were barely functioning.
Soon problems seemed to explode out of every corner, according to interviews with 12 former factory workers. For one thing, the flaming robot arms also kept smashing into things. They slammed into computer numerical control machines, breaking their windows and bending their doors. They knocked over shells. They bashed into safety fences. Workers talked about the arms going “rogue” and began calling one of them “Johnny 5” after a sentient military robot from a 1980s movie.
Even simple equipment failed with slapstick regularity, six workers said. Conveyor belts broke down. Automated carts got lost. Safety gates meant to shut down machines when workers approached did not shut down machines when workers approached. A pipe exploded, spraying water up to the ceiling. Parts on Repkon machines deformed, leading a worker to discover that they were made with Chinese steel, possibly in violation of federal regulations. (The Army said it has no evidence of such violations.)
Artillery shells at various stages of production were displayed at the factory in Mesquite when it opened.Desiree Rios
Smoke hung in the air; it rolled off the press machines when robots sprayed them with lubricant. Workers could feel the smoke in their lungs. When they blew their noses after shifts, their mucus was black. A worker complained to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration about a “respirable hazard” at the factory, according to an OSHA record and spokesperson. The agency opened an investigation in October 2024, and an inspector visited the facility. The smoke-spewing press machines were scheduled to be operating on the day of the visit, but for some reason they weren’t running during the inspection, according to four former workers. OSHA issued no penalties, the agency told ProPublica. Staffers started to think it wasn’t just Repkon’s faulty equipment to blame for problems at the factory — it was General Dynamics’ management, too.
The plant could reach Sahara Desert temperatures when the furnaces or presses were on. “This is actually hell,”one worker thought to himself. It was hotter still inside cabinets containing drives that controlled critical machines, where it was regularly 140 degrees, two former workers told ProPublica. An outside inspector warned in an email reviewed by ProPublica that, at that temperature, “you would not only have drives failing but also human lives failing.”
Every day seemed to bring more of the same: another machine broken, another frantic effort to repair it, another batch of misshapen shells tossed into the discard pile. As 2024 became 2025, little seemed to get better.
With so few shells passing inspection stations along the production line, many workers had nothing to do. A cat-and-mouse game ensued. Bored staffers spent endless hours gazing at their phones, leading supervisors to restrict phone use. So workers began bringing crossword books. Managers nixed those. Some workers were seen sleeping, so supervisors took away chairs.
“We sat around twiddling our thumbs, trying to find work, trying to figure out what was going on,” said Natashia Passmore, a former production technician in the plant. “It was a waste of government money, and it was a waste of our time.”
The Dumpster Fire
Tension rose between the Americans hired by General Dynamics and Turkish workers sent over by Repkon. The Repkon team was there to install the equipment, but it seemed equally flummoxed by the problems. General Dynamics workers found them evasive. They would give curt responses to questions in English but then be seen holding long, animated conversations in Turkish outside during frequent smoking breaks. A carelessly discarded cigarette butt sparked a real-life dumpster fire, three former workers said.
Repkon was especially secretive about the flow-forming machines, refusing to answer most questions about their operations. General Dynamics workers could tell when Repkon was testing one of them, because they would find metal shards scattered on the floor around it later. The shards looked like alligator teeth. “Oh, the tooth fairy was here,” one worker would think to himself.
Paranoia set in. Repkon refused to share passwords needed to control important equipment, according to five former General Dynamics employees. Sometimes workers would be startled by the sight of a machine moving by itself and realize it was being controlled by someone in Turkey. Spooked, General Dynamics workers tore out hardware to cut off remote access to the machines, two former workers said.
Rumors swirled among the Americans that the Turks were purposefully sabotaging machinery — or perhaps even engaged in some convoluted form of espionage. “It was astonishing how little progress we would make, month after month, year after year,” one former General Dynamics worker said. “People started speculating, ‘I wonder if they’re spying on us.’” General Dynamics assigned someone to shadow the Repkon workers in the factory, two former staffers said. (The Army said it has no evidence of sabotage or spying.)
Even the buildings themselves — a trio of vast, anonymous boxes tucked into the crook of two freeways — were plagued with problems. Walls cracked, and daylight became visible around window frames. Doors began dragging on concrete floors. When it rained, water would flood in — “like a tsunami,” one former worker said. The foundations appeared to be shifting or sinking, six former employees said. It was as if the whole dysfunctional factory — its fires and smoke, its idle workers and haywire machines — was being slowly sucked down into the earth.
Faced with the kaleidoscopic array of problems, the response from General Dynamics managers always seemed to be to plow forward. “Every single time they opened their mouths, it was: ‘We need to get into production,’” one former worker said. “Production is the only thing that mattered.”
“Nobody Wins”
As the situation at the factory deteriorated, General Dynamics and the Army told a very different story to the public.
In April 2024, General Dynamics CEO Novakovic told investors: “In the U.S., we are rapidly increasing ammunition production with the opening of our Texas facility.” General Dynamics failed to conduct a scheduled first article test in Mesquite that same month.
That July, two months after the opening ceremony, Novakovic told investors that “thefirst line is running and producing as we anticipated.” In fact, the first line was not producing any usable shells, six former plant workers told ProPublica.
In September Doug Bush, then the Army’s acquisition czar and a key figure overseeing the project, said “there have been no major delays” to the Army’s goal of producing 100,000 artillery shells each month — a goal for which the Mesquite factory was critical. “Any delays you’ve had have been measured in, I would call them weeks, not months, certainly not years,” Bush told reporters. He downplayed the problems, describing them as merely a matter of adjusting a machine “so that it puts out shells just so, versus a little bit off.”
The next day, a laborer in Mesquite photographed the work of a machine meant to begin giving the shells perfectly smooth noses; it had instead mangled the metal into something that resembled the swirl of soft-serve ice cream.
A machine at the factory sometimes mangled artillery shells, meant to be perfectly smooth, into swirls that looked like soft serve.Obtained by ProPublica
Also in September, Secretary Wormuth touted the Army’s artillery ramp-up at a conference, saying, “part of what’s enabling that are things like the brand-new plant that we opened up in Mesquite.” One month later, an Army contracting officer sent General Dynamics a letter of concern about its performance at the facility. The company missed the Army’s deadline for completing the first production line one month after that. (Wormuth declined to comment.)
Despite it all, Gezen remained optimistic through the fall of 2024. The issues in Mesquite were mere delays, he thought, and there were plans in place to fix them, according to a person familiar with his thinking. “If Firat’s guilty of something, it’s not wanting to see the truth in the matter,” a former colleague said. He “has a tendency to not want to listen to bad news.” General Dynamics announced Gezen’s retirement in January 2025. Some industry insiders believe he was pushed out in part over Mesquite. (Gezen denied that but declined to sit for an on-the-record interview.)
The split screen of blown deadlines and rosy public comments continued into the second administration of President Donald Trump. In April 2025, General Dynamics missed the completion date for the second production line. That same month, Novakovic told investors, once again: “We are rapidly increasing munitions capacity and production with the opening of our projectile facility in Texas.” The company missed another first article test two months later.
As the failures mounted, a sinking feeling took hold in Army offices. The service assembled a team to assess the situation in the factory, which produced a report that gave little confidence the problems could be fixed. Finally, in June 2025, the Army told General Dynamics it was considering terminating the contract awards for the plant, a defense trade publication reported at the time. Two months later, the service ordered work halted on two of the factory’s three production lines.
But the Army did not unilaterally terminate the contract awards. “A termination for default would’ve taken years through the legal system, because General Dynamics wasn’t going to accept that,” a former Army official told ProPublica. “Nobody wins except the lawyers.”
This would not be the last act of generosity from the Trump administration to General Dynamics. In December 2025, according to the inspector general’s report, the government paid the company $26.3 million in “progress payments” for the second and third production lines in Mesquite, although neither line had ever produced a usable shell.
General Dynamics’ factory in Mesquite, photographed in AugustDesiree Rios for ProPublica
A Novel Solution
Two months ago, General Dynamics made an announcement that conjured a sense of déjà vu. To fix the problems at the factory, the company would team up with yet another unheard-of partner promising technological innovation. The solution this time? Artificial intelligence.
A news release from General Dynamics and the new company, Deterrence, was filled with techno-business jargon. “AI-enabled capabilities” and “intelligence and connectivity” would be added at Mesquite and other General Dynamics factories, the companies wrote. “AI transforms production facilities into strategic assets,” Deterrence’s CEO said in the release. “We’re building autonomous manufacturing systems that learn, adapt, and scale in real time.”
These pronouncements have baffled former Mesquite workers. “What are they talking about? There’s nothing to learn or adapt or scale,” one said. “It’s all broken.”
General Dynamics is doing this even as it replaces most of the Repkon equipment with traditional machines like those used in Scranton. How AI will wrest miracles from decades-old technology is unclear. But General Dynamics told investors it expects to be in production next year, and the Army told the inspector general that’ll amount to 20,000 shells a month.
Compared with Repkon, Deterrence is perhaps an even less conventional choice. Deterrence was established just three years ago and has never received a DOD contract. Its website gives no indication it has ever helped to manufacture anything. Its three founders have no prior defense experience. One of them worked at Tesla; the other two created a startup that enabled people to lock and unlock buildings with smartphones. Deterrence did not respond to a request for comment.
General Dynamics also pledged to put $200 million into the project. That’s a small sum for a company that generated more than $50 billion in revenue last year and gave CEO Novakovic a compensation package worth more than $25 million. (Meanwhile, the company furloughed or laid off most of the Mesquite workers.)
The Army says it won’t spend any more money on the project, but it has hardly blackballed General Dynamics. Since the Army shut down work on two production lines in Mesquite one year ago, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems has received contract awards totaling $2.5 billion, the Army told ProPublica. (The service said this was for “distinct production lines and critical national defense requirements” unrelated to Mesquite.)
Repkon’s American offshoot is now at work setting up a TNT factory after receiving a no-bid contract from the Army worth $435 million. TNT is the primary explosive fill in 155 mm shells. Repkon Turkey’s CEO co-founded the American company, which was originally named Repkon USA. In March, it changed its name to Paligen Technologies. Some interpreted this as an effort to create distance from the Mesquite disaster. Paligen told ProPublica that it and Repkon are “different and wholly separate companies.” Repkon Turkey did not respond to requests for comment.
The one thing that key decision-makers appear to agree on is that they are absolutely not to blame. Gezen, the former General Dynamics executive, told ProPublica that the company and the Army did nothing wrong. In a brief conversation at his apartment door in a ritzy section of Washington, D.C., in May, Gezen maintained his sunny optimism. The Repkon equipment was a good option, and it may still be a good option, he said, holding an iced coffee in one hand and restraining a large dog with his other. In any case, he added, “it was the fastest option available.”
Bush, the Army’s former acquisition chief who had assured reporters there were “no major delays” to increasing artillery production, also declined to be interviewed. In a terse conversation in May, peering out from his half-closed front door in Northern Virginia, he told ProPublica: “All of this was done through appropriate procedures.”
Others who were involved, speaking on the condition of anonymity, engaged in mutual finger-pointing: The White House demanded too much too fast, Repkon and General Dynamics overpromised, the Army didn’t perform due diligence and Congress underwrote the whole thing.
The United States still is not close to producing the promised 100,000 shells per month, a former Army official told ProPublica in June,although otherinvestments to increase 155 mm production have turned out better. Ukraine still needs those shells, the official said, but attention has once again shifted. In the Middle East, it’s other munitions that the Trump administration has rapidly burned through during its war with Iran. Trump officials are now calling for ramping up production in those areas — and fast.
“Conventional ammo is back on the back burner,” the official said. “Everything now is about interceptors, missiles.”
Why Should Delaware Care? Over the past two decades, technology has become an ever-present part of modern classrooms, with many school districts assigning every student their own tablet or laptop. But some families and educators are beginning to questions whether the screens are an aid or an impediment for learning.
Some of Erin Rivera’s fourth-grade students come to school looking almost like little zombies, she says. Some tell her it is because they had been watching YouTube Shorts until 3 a.m.
Rivera, an elementary school teacher in the Red Clay Consolidated School District, said today’s educators are teaching a generation of students who are experiencing the world through screens.
“They’re doom scrolling, melting their brain 12 seconds at a time, and now I have to compete with that in the classroom,” she said.
In response, Rivera said she tries to use technology intentionally in her class. She requires students to write and edit essays with a paper and pencil before they type final drafts. And she does not assign homework on Chromebooks, which students in the district have been allowed to bring home since last year.
Still, Rivera said parents complain to her about their children using their Chromebooks too much. She says many go home and open their device in their room, where it looks as though they are completing their homework.
“But they’re playing games,” Rivera said.
Erin Rivera is an elementary school teacher in the Red Clay Consolidated School District. | PHOTO COURTESY OF ERIN RIVERA
Along with the broader society, Delaware schools have shifted in recent years to embrace technology, with personal devices and digital boards in classrooms. But as those devices become common, many are now questioning how much technology is too much.
Spotlight Delaware spoke with nearly 50 people for this story — including school administrators, teachers, parents, students and academics — and found that large differences exist in the amount of technology that students use.
The reporting also showed that some district administrators have begun to pull back from technological adoptions, while parents say school-issued devices have become problematic when used at home for entertainment.
Meanwhile, teachers and students indicated that policies governing how the technology is deployed can depend on the individual school or teacher.
And not all follow Rivera’s approach.
One sixth grade student at HB du Pont Middle School, near Hockessin, said she used her Chromebook for four to five hours a day for schoolwork. Another from the Colonial School District said she used her Chromebook “all day.”
“It’s always been like this,” she told Spotlight Delaware.
Meanwhile, a second grader at Newark Charter School said her learning is focused on paper handouts.
For at least one parent, the question is not just about screen time but also about who is pushing new technological adoptions.
Greg O’Neill, a middle school parent in the Red Clay school district, is skeptical about schools’ decisions to purchase certain software programs. He expressed concern that software companies are selling promises of a “new bright future” of digital learning, which he said could supplant the importance of teachers.
“I feel like it’s changing students’ vantage point from being the teacher to being the screen,” O’Neill said.
Pulling back?
While technology policies have varied across the state — Delaware employs a local control doctrine that leaves decision-making to its 19 school boards and charter schools’ board of directors — some districts are responding to recent research and parental concern by scaling back device use.
Soon, fourth and fifth graders in the Brandywine School District will no longer be able to bring their assigned Chromebooks home. Instead, they will leave them in carts in their classes, said Michelle Kutch, the district’s director of curriculum and instruction.
Older students in the district will still have take-home devices.
Brandywine School District Superintendent Lisa Lawson. | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE BRANDYWINE SCHOOL DISTRICT
Brandywine Superintendent Lisa Lawon noted that one-to-one technology has become less popular among educators and administrators in her district, since its rapid adoptions during the COVID pandemic.
And research raises questions about the effectiveness of educational technologies, she said.
Lawson described how today a 12th grade teacher monitoring students taking tests on Chromebooks must watch “like a hawk” to make sure they aren’t going to other websites.
“It’s very different from the teacher of old, where there was just paper, pencil, and a student’s brain,” she said.
The Appoquinimink School District is also scaling back its one-to-one technology program. This past school year, students in first through eighth grades brought their iPads home. Next year, the district will not allow first and second graders to bring them home.
When introducing the change during an April school board meeting, Appoquinimink’s Executive Director for Curriculum, Instruction & Assessment Rebecca Feathers said research shows schools should be limiting technology and device use, and using tech in a “purposeful manner.”
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware, Appoquinimink board vice president Tim Higgins said the district is “learning that computers have a great role, but maybe not the role we gave them earlier, and certainly not the role we gave them during COVID.”
Outside of the public school sphere, one private school is allowing students to air out their insecurities about technology.
At the Independence School, which serves preschool through eighth grade students, administrators recently implemented a digital health discussion class. Margaret Ann Minihan, technology systems manager at the school, said the class helps students create boundaries with technology. According to her, students are eager to chat about what’s going on in their lives.
“We talk about, are grown-ups in your life always on their phone, but telling you to get off yours? And how does that feel?” she said.
Minihan also said students learn that Siri is not a “friend,” and have discussed how to limit time at home watching short-form content, which draws discussion about how that feels physically and how to find solutions for it.
“I just wasted a whole hour. I don’t like that feeling. So, what can you do to kind of address that for next time?” Minihan said.
The school will double the amount of time students spend in digital health class next year, Minihan said.
While some districts are pulling back on tech, others are not.
At the Christina School District, every student from kindergarten to 12 grade brings their assigned Chromebooks home.
A pilot program of the one-to-one device program began in 2018. When the pandemic hit two years later, it was fully implemented, allowing students to take their devices when they leave school for the day.
Asked why the program is continuing, Christina Schools District’s Technology Manager Robert Goff said it allows students to continue their education at home.
Sean Mulrine, the district’s supervisor of technology and assessment, also highlighted a data-driven program, called iReady, that runs diagnostic assessments two to three times a year to help remediate learning, which helps when a student has fallen behind or needs more support.
He said that it differs from state testing, which does not track growth throughout the year.
“But with technology, you can see data points when you start the year, through the midpoint, and then the end of the year,” Mulrine said.
What does the evidence say?
Sarah Kavanagh, an associate professor in the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School, notes that the ubiquity of devices means “there’s another party” in classrooms along with teachers, kids and books.
She said the structure of a modern school day is now “incredibly reliant” on educational technology platforms, such as the learning management system Schoology, mathematics learning platform Zern, book-reading platform Epic, and Google Classroom.
“And while ed tech companies are making the argument that this is going to be good for student learning, we don’t actually have a lot of evidence about that,” she said.
Kavanagh, who has a background researching classroom discourse and technology’s impact on it, said teachers have told her they can’t hold discussions because they’re mandated by their district to use platforms that require students to be on Chromebooks.
In turn, teachers are often evaluated by lessons completed on the platform, she said.
She noticed that instead of teachers sitting on the rugs with their students, book in hand, asking them questions along the way, they now are using platforms bought by their districts to project books that are read by a disembodied voice.
“I have real questions about what that’s going to do for student learning,” Kavanagh said.
Appoquinimink School District is among those scaling back on its use of technology in education starting this year. | PHOTO COURTESY OF APPOQUINIMINK SCHOOL DISTRICT
Dana Suskind, professor of surgery and pediatrics at the University of Chicago Medical Center and founder of the TMW Center for Early Learning and Public Health, believes there should be a scientific understanding of how digital tools should be used for child learning and development.
Suskind said she believes schools and parents are used to “optimizing” learning. Instead, they should focus on teaching students to better navigate the human world by participating in “messy” human interaction, and experiencing boredom.
“To get your children ready for a high-tech world, a distinctly low-tech, human-raised childhood is what children need,” she said.
Punya Mishra, a professor at Arizona State University, thinks there should be more research conducted about the effects on student learning of technology use outside the classroom.
Mishra said he has a friend who works with children in a remote part of India where there are smartboards and other educational technologies in the classroom. Still, the biggest technological influence on at least one of the elementary-aged school girls there is radical content from YouTube, Mishra said.
“It makes her question the history that she’s being taught in her classroom,” said Mishra, who is the Director of Innovative Learning Futures at ASU’s Learning Engineering Institute.
Mishra said he believes children now live in a world that has been transformed socially, politically, culturally, and psychology by digital tools. But, he said, tech bans don’t work.
“What works is empowering teachers and empowering learners to be intentional and be in charge of their own learning,” he said.
Why Should Delaware Care? State lawmakers spent months debating a variety of solutions to mounting concerns related to energy supply and cost during the last legislative session. One of those efforts, a task force report focusing on the potential for nuclear power as part of the state’s solution, found that novel nuclear power technologies are not a viable short-term path forward.
A group of stakeholders have decided, after months of deliberation, that small modular nuclear reactors — recently touted as a possible solution to Delaware’s growing energy demands — are not a feasible option to meet the state’s immediate energy needs.
The task force, made up of lawmakers, industry experts and community representatives, reached the same conclusion in its 50-page report that many had suspected even before the group began meeting last fall.
The group concluded that turning to small modular reactors — a largely unproven technology that relies on novel fuel types and compact, factory-built designs — is not a viable option in the short term.
“No duh,” said Martin Willis, one of Gov. Matt Meyer’s appointees to the state’s Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force, in early August. “… I told them from the beginning you cannot say we’re only going to go after small modular reactors. You have to say nuclear power. We’re going after nuclear power.”
And that is essentially what the task force concluded. While the group, tasked only with evaluating small modular reactors, ruled them out as a short-term solution, its report said more research and outreach needs to be done to figure out whether nuclear power more broadly could fit into Delaware’s energy future.
Sen. Stephanie Hansen (D-Middletown), chair of the task force, said in an emailed statement the state needs “a dedicated body” to continue evaluating nuclear’s feasibility with input from the public. It is unclear, however, if lawmakers will create a committee during next year’s legislative session focused more broadly on the feasibility of nuclear energy.
And while the next steps politically remain unclear, another task force member said he was disappointed by the report’s lack of proposed action.
Rep. Jeff Hilovsky (R-Long Neck) said that while he was impressed by the amount of knowledge the group gained over its months of meetings, he wishes it had accomplished more.
Rep. Jeff Hilovsky (R-Long Neck), who will leave office after the November elections, said he was disappointed in the final conclusions of the task force. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
“The report could have been done at the end of the first session,” Hilovsky said. “We spent all this manpower, all this money, had these people take up their time, and we did nothing.”
The report notes the group’s scope expanded to discuss nuclear energy more broadly, but it did not go so far as to recommend or reject the idea outright.
“Delawareans are facing rising energy costs, and we must diversify our energy portfolio with renewable and clean technologies that help ease the burden of these increasing rates,” Hansen added in her emailed statement.
Andrew Cottone, founder and CEO of the local, hydrogen-focused energy company Aternium, said the task force’s efforts made it clear that “Delaware should begin preparing now for the possibility of clean nuclear energy.”
“The future will not wait for Delaware, and neither should we,” he said in an email to Spotlight Delaware. “It’s time to stop kicking the energy can down the road and start building an energy strategy for the next generation.”
A call for executive action
Willis, a boilermaker who works on industrial construction sites, was vocal at many task force meetings about what he called the immediate need to address the imbalance of energy supply and demand in the region.
“Rep. Hilovsky said doing nothing is not an option and what have we done? We’ve done nothing,” Willis said. “The only way Delaware has a future in nuclear power is for the governor to step up and say I’m going to put out an executive order.”
Meyer, in an emailed statement, called nuclear energy a “reliable source” of power and said there needs to be more nuclear generation, but he did not comment on the possibility of issuing an executive order on the matter.
Delaware imports some 60% of the power it consumes, and electricity prices have been spiking drastically.
Projections have shown that the PJM Interconnection, a 13-state energy grid that includes Delaware, is facing booming demand for electricity driven in part by a growth in energy-hungry data centers. The boom has been exacerbated by the decommissioning of existing power generation sites like the Indian River Power Plant. For that reason, the region is expected to face a high risk of blackouts starting in 2029.
Republican lawmakers have repeatedly pointed toward the Indian River Power Plant as a solution to Delaware’s growing energy woes. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY NICK STONESIFER
Willis, along with some policymakers and experts, argue that gas-fueled power plants are the most feasible short-term solution to produce more power for the state, but regulated Delaware electric providers like Delmarva Power are currently prohibited from building their own generation.
While stakeholders go back to the drawing board, Delaware’s nuclear future remains uncertain.
But even if the task force had given small modular reactors — or nuclear power more broadly — a concrete path forward, the technology, as-is, cannot offer Delaware an immediate solution.
No company has reportedly been looking to build any kind of nuclear technology in Delaware, and without any regulatory or financial framework in place, it would take years before those plants could come online. Companies would then potentially have to wait decades before seeing costs recovered from constructing what is one of the most expensive types of power generation technologies.
The price tag is much larger than what has been previously reported, according to a Post review of confidential contracts, and taxpayers would cover most of it.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Congressional Budget Office now projects the federal deficit will reach $2.1 trillion in fiscal 2026, roughly $200 billion more than it estimated in February.
The largest revision came from weaker-than-expected tariff revenue. After the Supreme Court struck down tariffs imposed under emergency powers, the government refunded about $100 billion of the duties it had collected, while newer tariffs have generated less revenue than previously assumed. CBO now expects customs duties to come in about $250 billion below its earlier forecast.
Through the first 10 months of the fiscal year, federal revenues rose by $139 billion compared with the same period last year, but spending increased by $308 billion. Adjusting for timing shifts caused by Aug. 1 falling on a weekend, the deficit still stands about $71 billion higher than during the same period in fiscal 2025.
The largest spending increases came from Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, along with sharply rising interest costs. Net interest on the national debt increased by $117 billion as federal borrowing continued to climb and long-term interest rates remained elevated.
Corporate tax receipts fell by $89 billion, partly because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act allowed larger deductions for certain business investments.
The revised forecast underscores a basic contradiction in the administration’s economic message: Trump has repeatedly touted tariffs and tax cuts as fiscal strengths, while CBO now says both are contributing to weaker revenues and a deficit headed above $2 trillion.
PlayStation 5, PC; Arc System Works/Sony Interactive Entertainment With tremendous visuals and accessible controls, this superhero-themed fighter has the chops to inspire a new generation of champs
Arriving at the turn of the millennium and the twilight of the video arcade, Marvel vs Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes has long been a high-water mark for fighting games, with no heir apparent; its massive, colourful roster and frenetic, spectacular combos have lured newcomers and elite competitors alike. Developer Arc System Works, a fan-favourite studio famous for its hyper-fluid and extremely technical anime-style fighting games, has been on a long journey to usurp Capcom’s throne. With Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls, it may have finally achieved this difficult task.
Marvel Tōkon is less an attempt to recreate a Marvel vs Capcom-esque phenomenon out of whole cloth, and more a thoughtful evolution of the developer’s previous riffs on the formula such as 2018’s BlazBlue: Cross Tag Battle and Dragon Ball FighterZ, building on its low-floor, high-ceiling approach. Simplified inputs allow players to execute combos and finishers with a single button, which gives novices the confidence to keep playing and inspires them to study and improve – because when anyone can pull off a flashy ultimate skill or EX attack, strategy and mastery take on a premium. And Marvel Tōkon has great depths to plumb.
After the success of space horror Mouthwashing, Swedish developer Wrong Organ has created a Battlefield-inspired co-op with a supernatural twist
‘Claustrophobic”, “oppressive”, “pretty depressing” – these are the words Jeffrey Tomec and Dave van Egdom volunteer when I ask them to reflect on their work as part of Swedish indie developer Wrong Organ. I’d add “nightmare-inducing”, too. Their last game, Mouthwashing, was an acclaimed work of horror storytelling set on a scuttled space freighter, in which players uncover the horrible things its desperate crew have done to each other.
When you’re planning a follow-up to something so pitilessly nasty, how do you raise the stakes? Well, you could set the entire game in the stifling crew compartment of a heavily armoured tank, a coffin-like interior you share with two other players as you co-operatively attempt to pilot your beleaguered war machine to safety through the crumbling remains of a city in enemy territory.
Thomas Jarvis, now 20, was attacked twice at juvenile justice facilities overseen by Jason Crews, a Tennessee businessman. In both instances, facility leadership failed to report the incidents to the state as required. Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
The video clip lasted less than two minutes, but Tonya Webb remembers every second as heartbreaking.
The grainy surveillance footage, dated June 29, 2024, showed a teenager in an anti-suicide smock being dragged violently by other teens across the floor at Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center. As guards watched, the teens pulled the smock over the boy’s head, exposing his naked body. Then they stuffed him, limbs flailing, into a cell.
One guard pushed the door closed, locking him in, and the boy pressed his face against the sliver of a cell window. The guard flashed the teens a thumbs-up.
Webb, a medication supervisor at the facility, saw the video when a co-worker showed it to her and knew she was looking at a serious violation of state policy. An incident like this one, in which employees encouraged youths to restrain another youth, would require staff to notify both the state and the boy’s family within 24 hours.
Webb said she raised questions about the incident with the compliance director for the facility. The director said she’d handle it, but after weeks went by with no sign of a state investigation, Webb confronted the deputy to the facility’s executive director.
“I know you’ve seen the video,” Webb recalled telling her. “Nothing’s being done about it.”
According to Webb, the deputy said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Webb found her response baffling, as word of the attack had spread rapidly among staff and the footage was stored on the facility’s own security system.
WPLN and ProPublica obtained a recording of the video; Webb did not provide it. We asked the state’s Department of Children’s Services if it received an incident report from the facility on or around June 29, 2024. The department confirmed it did not. Webb later reported the incident to DCS.
A Tennessee businessman named Jason Crews was the executive director of the private company that ran Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center at that time. He’s also the CEO of Wayne Halfway House, a separate company that had employees overseeing the detention center and that contracts with the state to operate other juvenile facilities. Crews did not reply to written questions about this incident, nor did his deputy and compliance director.
Interviews with dozens of former staff and youth, along with a review of emergency call logs, company records and state documents, reveal how Wayne Halfway House’s leaders failed to report suspected physical and sexual abuse to state officials across Crews’ facilities and prevented the public from learning about violent attacks by reducing the number of 911 calls. The state is now investigating incidents we uncovered.
According to Wayne Halfway House and Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center employees who worked closely with corporate executives, there was an expectation that serious incidents be kept secret, and the directive came from Crews.
“You always call Jason and nothing gets reported without his permission — and that’s wrong,” said Kim Watts, the company’s former human resources director. She was fired in 2024 when “the company decided to go in a different direction,” according to her termination paperwork.
Liz Ryan, who oversaw juvenile justice programs for the Biden administration, reviewed a detailed summary of the incidents WPLN and ProPublica compiled, the corresponding state laws and policies and the company’s responses. “Wayne Halfway House Inc. and its leadership, including CEO Jason Crews, appear to have demonstrated a documented pattern of disregard for state law, federal law and professional standards,” said Ryan, who provided training and guidance to state and local governments about best practices for youth in the system.
“They’re putting kids’ lives at risk,” she said. “Absent immediate and vigorous state oversight and intervention, this seems like a disaster waiting to happen as allegations of this nature are warning signs in need of immediate examination.”
In a statement, Wayne Halfway House said the company follows state policy and law and “vehemently denies” that Crews or his company have ever discouraged staff from reporting serious or life-threatening incidents to the state or 911. It described its former employees as “untrustworthy sources” with a “clear bias” against the company and their allegations as “substantially flawed.”
Crews briefly spoke with the news organizations in April during a guided tour of one of his facilities, but he subsequently declined multiple requests for a formal interview. Wayne Halfway House provided detailed responses in writing to three rounds of questions.
DCS said that confidentiality laws limit the agency from commenting publicly about specific youth or investigations, but that it is looking into these incidents. “DCS is comparing the information provided with Department and provider records to determine whether required incident and abuse reports were made, whether appropriate medical care and notifications occurred and what actions were taken in response,” the agency said in a written statement. The results of its investigation will not be made public, it said.
Over much of the last decade, Tennessee has pushed to expand juvenile prison capacity — and to do so, it turned to Crews. Most youth in state custody for committing crimes are held in his facilities, which accommodate nearly 300.
About six weeks after the incident with the teen in the video, the state gave Wayne Halfway House a more lucrative contract to turn Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center, located an hour south of Nashville, from a juvenile jail into a prison. Crews now runs all three of Tennessee’s highest-security youth prisons.
Jarvis; his mother, Crystal Smith, center; and his grandmother Chris Stone stand with their family dogs, Trip, left, and Pepper, in front of their home in Northern Alabama. Jarvis was released from a Crews facility last year.Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
The youth in the video, Thomas Jarvis, recently turned 20. He recalls the attack as the worst ordeal of his years bouncing between facilities in Tennessee. Days after the incident, he said, he was taken to a hospital for an evaluation, then treated at a mental health crisis center.
Jarvis buried the trauma of the attack so deep that he never told his mother, grandmother or state caseworker, who was like a father to him.
His mother, Crystal Smith, heard about the incident for the first time in June, when we showed her the footage. Sitting at her dining room table in Northern Alabama, with laundry drying on the back of the chairs, she watched in horror as her son was dragged across the screen. “That’s my baby that they did that to,” she said. “That’s not right.”
Her elbows resting on the table and shoulders slumped, she wondered out loud what else had been kept secret.
Jason Crews, right, at Mountain View Academy in East Tennessee. Most youth in state custody for committing crimes are held in a facility run by Crews.Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
For decades, Crews was a minor player in Tennessee’s juvenile justice system, running just two midsized facilities. But as the state sought operators for its youth prisons, he saw an opening, he told WPLN and ProPublica in April.
Crews’ facilities began accepting teens who other private providers lacked the capacity or desire to handle, becoming an important resource for the Department of Children’s Services. When the state needed a new operator for its largest private youth prison in 2020, it gave Crews the contract.
Mountain View Academy is a high-security facility surrounded by barbed-wire fencing that houses youth who have committed the most serious offenses, including rape and murder. The state also places youth there who have committed nonviolent crimes.
Under its previous operator, Mountain View had been plagued by riots that drew negative press and infuriated locals. Staff called police in the sleepy East Tennessee town of Dandridge regularly for months. In one news report, the town’s mayor said the situation was “not fair to the citizens of Dandridge.”
When Crews took over the Mountain View contract, he promised to get the facility under control. He called the facility a “beast nobody could tame.” Especially in the first months, Crews said, he was a daily presence at the facility, showing up every morning before the kids woke up and helping instill a sense of structure into their routine. But there were still riots, violence and life-threatening injuries inside the prison, according to a lawsuit and interviews with former staff and youth.
One major change was that under Crews, the facility’s problems were kept out of the public eye, former employees said.
The company’s written policy, in effect in early 2020, which WPLN and ProPublica obtained, stated that staff should call 911 “immediately” during a disturbance or riot, but multiple employees said leaders told them something different: Never call for outside help unless Crews or his deputies gave permission. This mandate pressured employees to handle many medical emergencies internally, without calling for help, according to interviews with nine former employees and youth.
WPLN and ProPublica obtained the 2024 version of the company’s emergency response plan for how to handle a riot or disturbance. The directive to call for help immediately was no longer in that policy. “Before law enforcement or emergency services enter our buildings at any time, Jason Crews, CEO must and will be called, no exceptions,” the policy read. It instructed staff to follow law enforcement’s instructions “if Law Enforcement has been called under the authorization of Jason Crews.” A new point was added that reads, “If possible, the disturbance is handled internally.”
In a statement, Wayne Halfway House denied that it ever prevented or discouraged staff from “initiating emergency response in life-threatening scenarios,” calling that allegation “categorically false.” The company pointed to other parts of the 2024 policy, like one for youth medical emergencies, which required staff to call 911 immediately.
The company also shared a new policy for how to handle riots, which went into effect in August 2025 and removes the mandate to call Crews. Now the policy says that staff should notify facility leadership and the company’s state director before police enter the building during a riot or disturbance. The purpose of the plan, the company said in a statement, is to ensure leadership is “simultaneously” notified about emergencies while staff call for help. “Our policies prioritize providing for the safety of all involved and putting our best resources into action when they’re needed the most,” the statement read. “In the rare instances that law enforcement response is required, our policies ensure appropriate staff are notified.”
Wayne Halfway House’s relationship with the police and the community has improved, according to law enforcement. In an interview with WPLN and ProPublica, Dandridge Police Administrative Sergeant Kevin Bunch said, “Call volume and the amount of time that a detective has to spend in this facility has greatly reduced since Mr. Crews’ company took over.”
Just nine months after Crews took over Mountain View, the company’s approach to 911 calls was put to the test.
Late on Nov. 21, 2020, guard Heather Boyd sat in the facility control room and received a radio call from a colleague begging her to call the police. Watching on the surveillance cameras, Boyd saw more than a dozen youth attacking a few guards. Following procedure, she tried to call her supervisor, according to a lawsuit that she later filed against Wayne Halfway House. When 20 minutes passed with no response, she called 911, which sent officers to quash the attack.
Nine former Mountain View employees and youth said that a directive not to call 911 unless Crews or his deputies gave permission pressured employees to handle many medical emergencies without calling for outside help.Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
Days later, the company fired Boyd and at least two other guards, including one who was taken to the hospital. In an interview with WPLN and ProPublica, Boyd said company leaders told her they were firing her for “calling outside help” and breaking protocol. In the lawsuit, Boyd described the unofficial policy as “gross negligence and malfeasance.”
“I thought I’d done something to save somebody’s life,” she told us. “You shouldn’t have to choose a person’s life over your job.”
Wayne Halfway House denied many of Boyd’s claims in court, including that the company had a policy stopping staff from calling 911 during a life-or-death emergency and that she was wrongfully fired. Both parties quickly settled the case. The company said in a statement that it cannot comment about the settlement agreement due to its confidentiality requirement. It denied that any of the guards were fired for calling 911.
Two experts on correctional medical care said not every emergency at a facility like Mountain View requires a 911 call. But when it comes to injuries, medical staff should be involved in the decision.
In February 2024, however, Mountain View nurse Brandi Buchanan said she faced pressure not to call 911 despite her own professional judgment. She had witnessed teens attacking a guard in a dorm, smashing his ribs, pepper-spraying him and repeatedly kicking his head.
“We need to call the police,” Buchanan recalled telling other guards. “I’m sure he has internal injuries.” But the guards overruled her.
“I thought I’d done something to save somebody’s life. You shouldn’t have to choose a person’s life over your job.”
Heather Boyd, a former guard at Mountain View Academy who said company leaders told her they were firing her for “calling outside help” and breaking protocol
“We don’t do that,” she remembers one company veteran saying. Instead, employees called the operations manager, who was off duty and on a date. An agonizing 20 minutes later, she said, the manager arrived, and his date drove the injured guard to the hospital. The operations manager did not respond to a request for comment about this incident.
“At that point, I was like, ‘They care more about their reputation than their employee’s literal life,’” Buchanan said. She put in her notice shortly after.
Wayne Halfway House said in a statement to WPLN and ProPublica that the attack was “diffused before law enforcement response was needed” and “contained within a matter of minutes.”
The guard, Jason Zaske, suffered a lacerated spleen, a concussion and broken ribs, according to a GoFundMe set up on his behalf. “He thought he was dying,” Zaske’s wife told local media. The guard was unable to work for weeks.
Crews was angered by the wife’s public comments and wanted to fire Zaske, according to Watts, the company’s HR director at the time, who said she advised him not to. “I was like, ‘You can’t terminate somebody who just got injured at work,’” Watts recalled. Zaske wasn’t fired and went back to work at the company. He and his wife declined to comment for this story but confirmed he no longer works there. The company did not respond to Watts’ allegations but said it continued paying Zaske while he was recovering without putting him on workers’ compensation, which would have reduced his pay.
Several months after the Zaske incident, Watts was terminated by Wayne Halfway House. At first the company said her termination was for failing to meet job expectations, but Watts replied citing her latest performance review in which Crews said she was “a tremendous asset to the company.” The company sent her a revised termination letter saying it was going in a different direction. After she left the company, Watts filed a sex discrimination complaint against Wayne Halfway House with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which declined to investigate.
In Tennessee, facilities like Mountain View must report significant incidents, including serious injuries to youth, within 24 hours. But former Wayne Halfway House staff said the company failed to report grave safety failures.Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
WPLN and ProPublica spoke with more than three dozen former employees of Wayne Halfway House and former residents who said they knew of serious problems that endangered youth and staff inside the company’s facilities. Of those, more than a dozen said that Wayne Halfway House failed to report grave safety failures as required, preventing the state from learning about problems in its facilities.
In Tennessee, juvenile justice providers are required to report abuse and other serious incidents in their facilities to the state Department of Children’s Services, which then decides whether to investigate. Facilities must notify the state of significant incidents — including serious injuries to youth, escapes or restraint use — within 24 hours.
Wayne Halfway House said it designates specific facility leaders to report serious incidents directly to the state, which the company said is “consistent with best practices.” But a dozen lower-level former staff members said they didn’t trust management to file reports or to do so thoroughly, and two former managers said they felt pressured by the company not to report at all even though they were authorized to do so. One of those managers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of career repercussions, said Crews told them to stop reporting as much to the state because it would make the company look bad.
Separate from a facility’s requirements to DCS, Tennessee law requires individuals to report any suspected child abuse, including physical and sexual abuse, to the department immediately. Nine former Wayne Halfway House staff members said they feared for their jobs if they reported serious incidents, including some suspected cases of child abuse, directly to the state. Several of them said they were pushed out after doing so. “The rebuke would be harsh and sometimes up to and including termination if we reported out,” said Mario Brown, a former therapist at Mountain View Academy. Brown was not fired from the company.
The company said that it did not fire staff for reporting abuse and that staff members have an individual legal responsibility to report child abuse and neglect to the state. Employees scared about retaliation could report anonymously to DCS, the company said. “WHWH is well aware that terminating an individual for them reporting incidents of this severity would create potential legal liability for the company.”
Webb, the former medication supervisor at Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center, said that around the time when Jarvis was forced into a cell by other teens, management failed to report another violent altercation to the state. A surveillance video from 2024 shows the facility administrator, Lynda Odom, grabbing a girl by her wrists, backing her into the corner of the room and pulling her into a headlock. “I’m grabbing your neck because you need to stop,” Odom yelled as the girl struggled. Two other staffers helped to break them up, and one dragged the girl away screaming.
WPLN and ProPublica obtained a recording of the video; Webb did not provide it.
Webb said she went to the company’s director of compliance, Kelly Banks, who was visible in the video attempting to hold Odom back, and asked her if she was going to report the restraint to the state. Banks said she would handle it, according to Webb. Banks did not respond to requests for comment.
Odom, who no longer works at the facility, said that she followed proper procedure in restraining the girl and that no one had reached out to her to investigate the incident. “There was nothing to report,” she said when WPLN and ProPublica reached her by phone.
WPLN and ProPublica played the video for leaders at Handle With Care, the restraint training company used by Wayne Halfway House. The company said it “does not teach headlocks as restraint techniques.”
Crews declined to respond to questions about the incident. According to Wayne Halfway House, Webb was later fired for creating a hostile work environment. Webb said company leaders asked in her termination meeting if she had kept the videos of youth being harmed; she believes the company fired her for insisting leaders report incidents to the state.
Sexual relationships between staffers and incarcerated youth are illegal under any circumstances, but nearly two dozen former employees and teens said they suspected abuse was taking place in Crews’ facilities.
Five former staff members said they did not report suspected sexual abuse as required under state law because they were scared of retaliation from leadership, and two said they didn’t know it was a requirement.
Two former employees, one from Mountain View and the other from Standing Tall Music City, a Wayne Halfway House facility in Nashville, recalled talking to company leaders about specific cases of staff suspected of sexually abusing youth. They said they were not aware of the incidents being reported to the state.
The former Standing Tall employee, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation from the company, described confronting a female guard after finding her in a room with a youth alone. The former employee said they suspected the guard was sexually abusing the youth and reported it to the facility administrator, hoping he would begin an investigation. But a federal report that tracks sexual abuse in prisons showed no employee abuse or harassment of youth was reported to or investigated by the state in that facility in 2021.
Wayne Halfway House said it reported this incident to the state last week after WPLN and ProPublica asked the company about it.
Brown, the former Mountain View therapist, recalled a separate incident of suspected sexual abuse, which he did go on to report: a child whom he watched deteriorate session after session. Eventually, Brown said, the boy told him that a nurse at the facility had sexually assaulted him. Although Brown worried about getting fired, he reported the alleged abuse to the state. Shortly after, the child was moved out of the facility.
Wayne Halfway House said in a statement that it has documentation that rebuts Brown’s version of events but cannot comment further because of confidentiality reasons.
Brown eventually resigned. “It got to the point where this had weighed heavily on my mental health,” he said.
His main regret, he said, was leaving behind youth who trusted him.
Brown later returned to work for Wayne Halfway House, he said, because of his dedication to the kids. He no longer works for the company.
Jarvis spent nearly three and a half years in state custody as a teen and was released in March 2025, his family said.Stacy Kranitz for ProPublica
Years before Jarvis was dragged across the floor of Middle Tennessee Juvenile Detention Center, he was badly injured inside another Crews facility, according to Jarvis’ DCS case file. That time, too, the facility failed to report the incident to the state as required.
Jarvis landed in September 2021 at Hollis Academy, Wayne Halfway House’s flagship facility in rural Middle Tennessee. He had been there for several weeks when the company requested DCS move him to another provider. Right after, his case manager picked him up and took him to a routine doctor’s appointment at the health department. His file, which his family shared with WPLN and ProPublica, states that a medical provider discovered he had bruises in various stages of healing covering 80% of his body. Jarvis said the other youth had assaulted him.
“With this amount of bruising staff had to be aware,” a child abuse report submitted to DCS read.
A DCS investigator looked into the case and interviewed facility leadership. The facility, he said, never reported the injury to Jarvis’ state case manager or to the state as required. The documents don’t mention any repercussions for the facility, and DCS said it cannot comment because of juvenile confidentiality laws.
Wayne Halfway House declined to comment about this specific incident, citing a youth’s right to privacy. The company said it was not able to file a report for a youth no longer at the facility. But documents show that Jarvis had been at the facility for weeks when the bruising occurred.
Jarvis spent nearly three and a half years in state custody after being charged with arson for lighting his stepdad’s three-wheeler on fire. He was released from Mountain View in March 2025 following a court hearing.
Incarceration seems to have only worsened his trauma, said his grandmother Chris Stone, who took him in to live with her. Jarvis still seems angry, Stone said, and sometimes he threatens suicide. He never discusses what happened to him inside.
Inside her dimly lit brick home in Northern Alabama, with curtains drawn against the summer heat, Stone wept while recalling the assault her grandson endured while he was already at a low point. She still struggles to understand why the facility never informed her or other family members — and she wrestles with anger and guilt.
Sitting on the couch, she turned to her grandson, her blue eyes fixed on him. “Thomas, with my temper, something would have went down,” she said. She told him she never would have let the company hide what happened.
He sat silently beside her, without meeting her eyes.
Israeli forces continue to occupy buffer zone in effort to dismantle Hezbollah’s infrastructure, with restrictions drawing parallels to those in the West Bank.
It’s a great betrayal: poor communities neglected while multimillionaires peddle a global Maga agenda. How is that America first?
“THE CORRUPTION IS AT LEVELS RARELY SEEN BEFORE,” Donald Trump posted on Truth Social in February 2025. He was not referring to his own administration, but to the US Agency for International Development (USAID). “CLOSE IT DOWN!” the president added.
Just a few hours later USAID was in effect closed down, with most of the staff placed on indefinite administration leave. This was framed as part of Trump’s “America first” agenda. USAID, the Trump administration and his sycophants in the rightwing media had argued, was wasting taxpayers’ hard-earned money on ridiculous projects abroad instead of improving life at home. In the lead-up to the shuttering of USAID, for example, one of the most shameless lies about the agency, repeated without any evidence by the likes of Fox News, was that it was spending millions on condoms for Gaza.
sciencehabit shares a report from Science Magazine: For more than half a century, physicists have searched for one of the strangest particles predicted by modern theory. It would be made almost entirely of gluons, the elusive subatomic particles that carry the strong nuclear force. Now, using a particle collider in Beijing, researchers say they have effectively proved the existence of such a "glueball."
In a preprint posted last month on arXiv and in a presentation last week at the International Conference on High Energy Physics (ICHEP), the researchers argue that a particle called X(2370), which they produced by smashing electrons into positrons at high energies, has the properties expected of a glueball. "It's an experimental triumph," says Colin Morningstar, a particle physicist at Carnegie Mellon University who was not involved in the finding. "It's the strongest evidence yet that particles dominated by a glueball component can exist in nature."
Prime minister Anutin Charnvirakul calls for tighter gun controls and ‘decisive penalties’ after nine dead in school shooting
Thailand has suspended firearms licences after the deadly Nonthaburi school shooting, as the bodies of the teenage attacker and the grandparents he killed were cremated.
The prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, said he had ordered the interior ministry and police to stop issuing licences to possess, purchase and carry firearms, and called for “tighter controls and decisive penalties”. The measures are temporary until a new gun control law is in place, according to government operated news-channel NBT World.
Eunsook Jin, President and Head of ICT Management Division at Hyundai Motor Group, delivers a presentation at the Hyundai Motor Group AX Achievement Showcase, “Beyond AI, Transforming the Way We Work,” held at the Group’s headquarters in Yangjae on August…
Forecasters warned the Chinese capital could receive more than one-third of its average annual rainfall over 24 hours
Thousands of people have been evacuated from areas at risk of flooding and landslides in Beijing, as the remnants of Typhoon Dolphin continue to bring torrential rain to northern and central China.
Forecasters warned on Tuesday that the Chinese capital could receive more than 150mm of rain over the following 24 hours, with some districts forecast to exceed 200mm – more than one-third of Beijing’s average annual rainfall of 528mm.
CBS News projects Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the heavy favorite, will win the Democratic primary in Minnesota's gubernatorial race and will face the Republican challenger in November.
State’s Democratic lieutenant governor bests Angie Craig in another election contest pitting a progressive against a moderate
Peggy Flanagan, Minnesota’s lieutenant governor, won the Democratic primary for US Senate in a race centered on immigration enforcement after the Trump administration crackdown turned deadly and destructive earlier this year.
Flanagan ousted congresswoman Angie Craig in yet another example of progressive campaigns toppling moderates amid an anti-establishment wave among Democrats.
Player wore gear for nearly an hour without a bite
Officers used water to force reluctant reptile out
A high school football player in Arkansas had every right to be rattled after finding a venomous snake inside his helmet during practice.
The Maumelle High student felt unusual movement inside his headgear following warmups last week and brought his helmet to an assistant coach for inspection. A slithering two-foot cottonmouth was discovered behind some padding.
First responders, residents and environmental groups say military dropping flares to destroy forests and crops
Firefighters and residents of south Lebanon have accused the Israeli military of lighting wildfires in the region, as forested areas burned down in blazes sparked by Israeli bombing.
Environmental groups said the fires in recent weeks were part of a longstanding Israeli practice of targeting Lebanon’s natural environment.
Verdant thinktank says cost could top £25bn a year by 2030 and calls for maximum temperature for working and urban redesign to cool down cities
Repeated debilitating heatwaves this summer are likely to have cost the UK economy more than £4bn in lost economic output by the end of July, new analysis shows.
Green thinktank Verdant had suggested June’s unseasonally hot weather had an economic cost of £2.36bn. Updating its assessment to include last month’s high temperatures, it finds a £4.4bn hit to output.
Exclusive: Horace Mason, 74, who has lived in Sweden for 25 years, faces being deported after court ruling
A 74-year-old British man who has been living in Sweden for 25 years who needs round-the-clock care for dementia has been given 10 days to leave the country after he lost a post-Brexit migration court case.
The deportation order comes after a Swedish court ruling in July that the government’s drive to reduce immigration trumped the needs of a man in full-time care.
Democrats called on Tuesday for a congressional briefing over a stunning charade in which Donald Trump was secretly spirited to a different plane than the one the public and press believed he was travelling on. Critics now question why reporters and the public had been deliberately misled.
When US intelligence allegedly found a credible threat that Iran plotted to kill him last month, Trump left Air Force One in a catering truck, an episode first reported by the Washington Post and also by the New York Times. While the president was reportedly snuck out the side door of the plane, more than a hundred aides, officials and reporters were kept onboard to fly towards Britain, without being told there was a threat to their lives.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the Associated Press: The contiguous United States sizzled to its hottest month ever last month, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. July averaged 76.89 degrees Fahrenheit (24.94 degrees Celsius) across the Lower 48 states, eclipsing the Dust Bowl's July 1936 by an eighth of a degree. Records go back to 1895. [...] Although it was unusually cool in Alaska, hotter-than-normal conditions blanketed the Lower 48, with the most excessive heat in the Mountain West, Southwest, Northern Plains and Southeast. The heat was so widespread that every one of the Lower 48 states was at least 1 degree Fahrenheit (nearly 0.6 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 20th century average, said Russ Vose, chief of monitoring at NOAA's National Center for Environmental Information.
[...] The biggest driver of the record heat was nighttime lows that smashed the old mark for hottest minimums by 0.7 degrees, NOAA said. Hotter nights are a classic sign of human-caused climate change, according to scientists and several studies in peer-reviewed literature. NOAA's calculation is based on averaging 24 hours of temperature, not just highs or lows. "If you're talking heat waves, that nighttime low is incredibly important for determining total heat stress," [said meteorologist Jeff Masters of Yale Climate Connections]. "So if it doesn't cool off at night, your body doesn't have time to readjust to all the heat." As nighttime temperatures increase, more people die and lose sleep, studies show.
The years 2021 and 1936 tie for America's hottest summer, which is June through August. Through July, 2026 is a shade cooler than 2021, which was powered by record heat in June. Because of climate change, Masters said, "this may be one of the coolest years we're gonna experience for the rest of our lives." What's needed, Masters said, is "to stop burning so many fossil fuels. We also need to be spending money to adapt to the new climate that we've put in place."
Democratic Rep. John Larson — who has represented central Connecticut since the late 1990s — lost his party's primary Tuesday to former Hartford Mayor Luke Bronin, CBS News has projected.
National Democrats see two Wisconsin districts currently held by Republicans as up for grabs in November — the 1st and 3rd Districts. Here's how the primaries are shaping up.
ST. PAUL, Minnesota — President Donald Trump’s endorsement failed to carry longtime ally Mike Lindell through Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary Tuesday, as state House Speaker Lisa Demuth won the nomination with a broad victory across the state.
Trump endorsed the former MyPillow CEO in July and made a last-minute push on his behalf, telling Minnesota Republicans that Lindell “deserves a BIG WIN.” Lindell has remained one of Trump’s most prominent allies and one of the country’s most persistent promoters of false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.
Republican voters nevertheless chose Demuth, dealing Trump a noticeable setback in a primary where his personal intervention did not overcome support for the state party’s more conventional candidate. Reuters described the result as another test of Trump’s influence over Republican voters ahead of the midterms.
Demuth had positioned herself as a conservative focused on state issues, particularly fraud in government programs, while Lindell leaned heavily on Trump’s backing, immigration, election security and his outsider-businessman image.
The result also demonstrates the limits of presidential endorsements: Trump remains overwhelmingly influential inside the GOP, but Republican primary voters do not automatically follow his recommendations.
Demuth will now face Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar, who easily won her party’s gubernatorial primary. Minnesota has not elected a Republican governor since Tim Pawlenty won reelection in 2006, making Demuth the underdog heading into November.
This week, host Olivia Marble talks with reporter Julia Merola, who took a break from her day-to-day beat of public education to cover the first anniversary of Delaware’s recreational marijuana market.
Merola, along with intern, Ella Walker, recently spoke to officials, business owners and licensees across the state to find out how the first year has gone. The industry has faced significant hurdles, which has resulted in no new standalone recreational marijuana shops in Delaware, even after regulators awarded dozens of licenses.
Marble and Merola discuss the reasons behind the delay, how it has impacted state revenues from marijuana sales and what it’s like to report on a subject that you aren’t initially familiar with.
This conversation transcript has been edited for clarity and concision with the assistance of AI. The audio podcast is unedited.
Let’s begin where your article begins, with the story of Louise Shelton. She received a license to grow marijuana in Delaware but hasn’t been able to use it. What’s her story, and why did you choose to feature her?
Whenever we do a story, we try to show how an issue affects everyday people, and Louise was one of the first people I spoke with.
She thought she was being approached by investors who wanted to help her secure a site and open her cultivation business. But she later learned that they weren’t actually investors. They were consultants who weren’t bringing any money to the table.
So she’s still at a standstill because she doesn’t have the funding to get started on her own. Without the money to purchase a site, she can’t begin cultivating.
And she was a social equity cultivator, right? What does that mean, and why did the state create the social equity program?
She received a social equity cultivation license.
A social equity applicant can be someone who has lived for at least five of the past 15 years in an area with high rates of arrests, convictions and incarceration for marijuana-related offenses.
It can also be someone who was convicted of certain marijuana-related offenses in Delaware, or whose parent, guardian, child or dependent was convicted of one of those offenses before marijuana was legalized in April 2023.
Why did the state feel it needed to create that program?
This was before my time covering the issue, but I think it goes back to the idea of trying to make things right.
We know there have been a lot of incarcerations related to marijuana offenses, and our understanding of marijuana has changed compared with 20 years ago.
I think the program is the government’s way of trying to make amends for some of those past incarcerations and convictions.
You found that the delays Louise Shelton has experienced aren’t unusual. What’s happening with standalone recreational marijuana shops? Why haven’t any opened yet?
There are a few reasons.
Over the past two years, there’s been a lot of discussion about where these businesses should be allowed to open. Much of that debate has centered on buffer zones and how far marijuana businesses should be from places such as schools and churches.
When I spoke with Marijuana Commissioner Joshua Sanderlin, he described a situation where someone could receive a license and then struggle to find a location where they’re actually allowed to open.
Even if you have the money, the buffer requirements can make it difficult to find a suitable property. Having a license doesn’t do you much good if you can’t find a place to operate.
The state legislature recently passed a controversial bill loosening regulations on where marijuana businesses can locate in Delaware. But it had a rocky path to passage. What happened, and why was it so contentious?
There was a lot of back and forth between state legislators and the governor.
Lawmakers initially passed Senate Bill 75, which loosened zoning regulations for the state’s marijuana industry. Governor Matt Meyer vetoed the bill, but at the beginning of 2026, legislators came back and overrode his veto.
That created a lot of unhappiness among local officials, who felt the state was taking away some of their control over where marijuana businesses could operate.
There have been strong feelings about this at every level of government, from county and municipal officials to state legislators and the governor’s office.
There’s been a lot of discussion about taking away local control, right?
Yeah, especially in your field.
Absolutely. The argument was essentially that by forcing counties and towns to remove some of their buffer requirements, the state was taking away local control.
Exactly. If I’m a county council member or a town council member, I might want the ability to say, “This shop can open here, but it can’t open there.”
One way local governments make those decisions is through buffer requirements. Senate Bill 75 loosened those requirements significantly.
So the concern becomes: How am I supposed to make these decisions for my town if the state is imposing requirements on what I can and can’t do as a local official?
Why did the state decide to do that? If lawmakers knew they were wading into the contentious issue of local control, why did they think it was necessary?
I don’t want to say whether it was worth it or not. I’m a journalist.
But we heard from people who said loosening these restrictions would allow some license holders to finally find locations where they can open their businesses.
Marijuana Commissioner Joshua Sanderlin told me there’s a new shop expected to open in Georgetown at the end of this summer. That’s something that likely wouldn’t have been possible under the previous buffer requirements.
So the legislature’s position was essentially that some of the local requirements were too restrictive and weren’t allowing this emerging industry to get established.
Exactly.
Even though no new standalone recreational marijuana shops have opened yet, Delawareans can still legally buy recreational marijuana at some existing stores, right? I’m asking for a friend, by the way.
Yes. There were stores that previously sold marijuana exclusively for medical use, and some of those have since converted to recreational sales.
There are currently 13 locations throughout the state where your friend could make a purchase.
Good to know. One of the reasons I’ve heard for Delaware—and other states—legalizing recreational marijuana was the potential tax revenue.
How are sales in this new industry? Are the numbers as high as the state expected?
The state saw $53 million in sales during the first year, from Aug. 1, 2025, through July 31, 2026.
Before recreational sales began, the former marijuana commissioner had projected that Delaware could see roughly $280 million in sales.
Obviously, $53 million is nowhere near $280 million.
When I spoke with the current commissioner, he told me those earlier projections may have been more appropriate for a mature, established marijuana market.
If Delaware already had a robust industry, perhaps we could have seen numbers closer to $280 million. But we’re still in the beginning stages, which helps explain why the actual number was much lower.
Still, $53 million is only about a fifth of the sales that had been projected, right?
I’m not good at math, but it’s definitely not $280 million.
I think it’s important to note that the Marijuana Commissioner told me the first year was focused heavily on establishing more growers, or cultivators.
As he explained it, if the state opened more stores without first establishing enough growers, prices could spike.
So the state was trying to establish the supply side of the market while, at the same time, there were ongoing debates about where marijuana businesses could and couldn’t operate.
All of those factors affected the first year of sales.
If you don’t have many stores throughout the state, you can end up with areas where people simply don’t have convenient access. Most people aren’t going to drive an hour to make a purchase.
I personally wouldn’t. Gas is expensive.
It really is.
I believe this is your first article about marijuana. What surprised you during the reporting process?
I wouldn’t say this necessarily surprised me, but it reminded me how confusing it can be to jump onto a beat you haven’t covered before.
When it comes to education, I consider myself pretty well-versed. I’m always learning new things, but for the most part, I know what I’m doing and what questions I need to ask.
This story was different. Marijuana is a highly regulated industry, and learning all of that context while reporting the story was challenging.
When you’re used to covering your own beat, you can forget how difficult it is to enter a completely new subject. You have to figure out which questions to ask, what context readers need and how all the pieces fit together.
This was not an easy story.
Absolutely. Especially at Spotlight Delaware, where we try to give readers as much context as possible. It’s tough to jump into a completely new subject and immediately feel confident that you understand everything you need to explain.
Michele Tafoya, a former television sports reporter, is the winner of the Republican nomination for Senate in the Minnesota primary election, CBS News projects.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — Minnesota voters set up a November gubernatorial contest between Democratic U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican state House Speaker Lisa Demuth after both won their parties’ primaries Tuesday.
Klobuchar easily secured the Democratic nomination after entering the race when Gov. Tim Walz abandoned his reelection bid in January. Walz faced mounting criticism over widespread fraud involving federally funded benefit programs administered in Minnesota. Klobuchar has sought some distance from his administration, promising “top-to-bottom” reviews of state programs and stronger safeguards for taxpayer money.
Demuth defeated former MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement of Lindell. Reuters and the Associated Press projected Demuth as the Republican nominee early Wednesday, handing Trump a notable primary defeat in a state he has repeatedly targeted.
Fraud prevention has emerged as a central theme for both nominees. Demuth has proposed consolidating oversight of state services, increasing unannounced inspections and creating an inspector general’s office. Klobuchar has proposed barring individuals convicted of fraud from receiving money through other government programs and expanding in-person inspections.
The race also creates an immediate consequence for Minnesota’s congressional delegation: Klobuchar’s gubernatorial campaign means her Senate seat is open. Progressive Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan won the Democratic Senate nomination Tuesday and will face Republican Michele Tafoya in November.
The Comac C919 will fly from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia, although experts say it could take generations for it to challenge the west’s dominance of the industry
China hopes to break into the world of commercial aviation with the first international flight of a Chinese-made passenger jet scheduled for Wednesday.
The Comac C919 will take off from Beijing capital international airport at 3pm, landing in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, just over two hours later.
Senator Darline Graham, appointed to complete the Senate term of her late brother, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina will face congressman Ralph Norman in a runoff election for the Republican nomination.
Graham held a narrow lead in the polls going into the abbreviated special primary on Tuesday, which predicted a close contest for second place. Norman, Russell Fry, a congressman, and Mark Sanford, a former governor, had polled within a point of each other in the most recent survey from the Trafalgar Group.
Sen. Darline Graham and Rep. Ralph Norman will face off in a runoff later this month for the South Carolina GOP Senate nomination, CBS News projects, as they vie to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) falsely claimed Tuesday that 82% of women vaccinated against COVID-19 during their first or second trimester suffered miscarriages, reviving a years-old misinterpretation of an early vaccine-safety study.
Appearing on Fox Business, McClain cited a 2021 New England Journal of Medicine study while accusing Anthony Fauci of misleading pregnant women. But the study did not find an 82% miscarriage rate. Its reported rate among completed pregnancies was about 12.6%, consistent with the expected background rate.
The false 82% figure resulted from excluding hundreds of participants who were still pregnant or who had been vaccinated later in pregnancy while counting early pregnancy losses in the numerator. That calculation was not supported by the study design.
Subsequent research has repeatedly found no increased miscarriage risk associated with COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy. A separate NEJM study found no evidence of increased first-trimester pregnancy loss, while CDC reviews concluded miscarriage rates among vaccinated pregnant women remained within expected ranges.
McClain’s comments followed renewed attention to private 2021 messages among Fauci, Rochelle Walensky and Vivek Murthy discussing theoretical pregnancy risks while data were still limited. Those messages reflected uncertainty early in the rollout, not evidence that vaccines were causing widespread miscarriages.
The accumulated evidence directly contradicts McClain’s 82% claim.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers may soon be outfitted with gloves that can deliver painful electric shocks that are intended to gain compliance from combative individuals.
Analyst on indefinite leave after Wisconsin arrest
CBS Sports president says network ‘still assessing’
JJ Watt to join Jim Nantz on lead broadcast team
CBS Sports president David Berson said Tuesday he does not have a timeline for a decision about Tony Romo’s future.
Romo, the network’s lead NFL analyst, is on leave following his arrest last month in Wisconsin on suspicion of operating a vehicle while under the influence.
The prime minister tells the Guardian that last year’s diplomatic rift with ally New Zealand could be on voters’ minds as they head to the polls
As voters in the Cook Islands prepare to head to the polls in a high-stakes general election, they will have much to reflect on. Over recent years, politics in this small island nation has been defined by fierce debates about deep-sea mining, diplomatic rifts with ally New Zealand and a major reshaping of the country’s foreign partnerships.
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, days before Wednesday’s poll, Cook Islands prime minister Mark Brown defended his four-year term and the decisions he made that have seen this South Pacific nation of 17,000 people pushed into the international limelight, turning it into a battleground for influence between Beijing and western powers.
Race includes late US senator’s sister, Darline Graham, who was sworn in as interim senator last month; polls also close in Vermont as handful of states hold primaries
Pete Hegseth’s appointments to a key Pentagon advisory body include two men with ties to the venture capital fund where Donald Trump Jr is a partner, which has lucrative investments in military and space technology.
Defense Policy Board appointee Marc Andreessen’s firm, Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms and known by the name “a16z”, co-invests alongside the Trump partnership 1789 Capital in three defense contractors. Fellow DPB appointee Blake Masters also sits on the boards of three ventures tied to 1789 Capital.
South Carolina Republicans will choose a successor for the late Sen. Lindsey Graham's seat, and Minnesota's Senate primary is another battle between moderate and progressive Democrats.
According to manufacturer, shock ‘is usually effective in bringing individuals into compliance in less than three seconds’
ICE plans to spend up to $20m (£15m) to purchase thousands of gloves for officers and agents that can deliver painful electric shocks by March, according to a notice published Monday by the Department of Homeland Security.
The devices, called Glove (Generated Low Output Voltage Emitter), are manufactured by Compliant Technologies LLC of Lexington, Kentucky.
The Pentagon has acknowledged that U.S. military operations killed more than 150 civilians in 2025. The count did not include any deaths from airstrikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean.
If you think you’ve had a bad one-night stand, spare a thought for the male redback spider, whose sole reproductive partner eats him after sex.
Male redbacks appear to invite this cannibalism through a “self-sacrificial somersault”, with new research shedding light on the genetic basis of the behaviour.
Cloudflare data suggests desktop Linux usage in North America has climbed to 6.4%, up from 4.1% a year earlier, with one post-holiday workday briefly spiking to 22%. ZDNet reports: [B]elieve it or not, on Monday, July 6, when people were back after the July 4 holiday, Linux usage jumped to a high of 22%. The users of these systems are not AI agents or bots, but real people. I set Cloudflare to count humans rather than bots. If you include people and bots, Linux has a 9.7% market share. That proportion is similar to StatCounter's score. By Cloudflare's count, bots alone come to 19%.
These numbers tell us that workers are leading the way to the Linux desktop. [...] However, past performance doesn't explain present trends. So, why are we now seeing such a bump in Linux desktop growth? Experts believe this trend is largely AI developers and Linux users running AI Agents. For example, as David Linthicum, former managing director and chief cloud strategy officer at Deloitte Consulting and AI and cloud influencer, recently observed, while "Windows 11 can technically run local AI workloads, but as you begin using multiple tools, managing different projects, and installing various dependencies, the friction starts to build," it's a different story for Linux users.
Linthicum continued: "Linux delivered what I can only describe as a true 'AI desktop' experience. Setup was straightforward, mainstream AI instructions matched what you'd actually see in your environment, and GPU-accelerated apps simply worked -- consistently. I spent far less time troubleshooting and far more time actually executing on projects." As for agents, Linux Foundation CEO Jim Zemlin summed up their role succinctly: "Linux is the OS of choice for AI agents." Desktop Linux is also gaining momentum as frustration with Windows 11 and the end of Windows 10 support push users to alternatives, particularly on older PCs that can't officially upgrade. At the same time, Linux has become much easier to use, install software on, and game with, lowering many of the traditional barriers to switching.
Letter signed by every chief constable in England and Wales warns freeing pair could weaken trust in justice system
Andy Burnham is facing an unprecedented mass call from police chiefs to block the early release of PC Andrew Harper’s killers, as unions warned his emergency plan to create more space in jails risked causing confusion or leading to prisoners being freed by mistake.
A letter signed by 50 police leaders across the UK, including every chief constable in England and Wales, called on the prime minister to do everything in his power to stop the killers benefiting from a programme designed to free up prison space, saying there was “a profound strength of feeling across policing” that this should not happen.
The slow but steady march to the grave for the Android Open Source Project continues. Every few months Google hammers another big nail in the coffin of Android as an open source effort, and I’ve documented them all here on OSNews (nail, nail, nail, nail, nail), coming to the conclusion long ago that for all intents and purposes, Android is no longer an open source operating system.
The latest move, however, is just petty.
According to GrapheneOS on [Twitter], Google has apparently replaced public, instant code downloads for Pixel phone drivers with a manual request form. Instead of publishing code directly to open developer platforms where anyone can grab it, Google now requires developers to fill out a Google Form and wait for someone to send them a Google Drive link.
What used to take a couple of hours is now taking weeks.
I’m perhaps misremembering, but I vaguely recall discussions decades ago about what, exactly, it meant to “make source code available”, as open source licenses state in a variety of words. Would mailing a paper print-out by classic post satisfy such requirements? Could you write the source code on a brick and throw it through the user’s window? Could you hire a church choir to sing it? These are all silly examples, but before everyone had internet access, this was a relevant question.
The widespread availability of the internet and software like git solved these issues, which makes it all the more petty that Google now requires an actual application process, waiting times, and Google Drive dumps just to get access to the source code for Pixel drivers. Google is clearly trying to kill whatever’s left of the Android Open Source Project’s rotting corpse, only barely technically complying with any license requirements only because they’re obligated to.
The Android team at Google must be a hoot at parties.
Customers are paying up to $100,000 a month for faster access to Truth Social posts from President Trump and other top users of the social media platform.
During the signing of an executive order on vaccines, President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a deluge of false and misleading claims about the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule.
The executive order establishes “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations” and directs federal agencies and states to advance them. The new recommendations attempt to repeat prior administration changes to the routine vaccine schedule through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reducing it from targeting 17 to 11 diseases. At the time, we explained that HHS had justified this decision with a variety of incorrect or misleading assertions. A judge subsequently blocked these changes after the American Academy of Pediatrics sued HHS.
During the Aug. 10 signing, Trump repeated claims about the childhood vaccine schedule and autism that he has made in the past, often bolstered by comments from Kennedy.
Trump misleadingly claimed that the changes to the vaccine schedule align the U.S. with peer nations. When counting diseases the schedule protects against, the changes would put the U.S. at the low end of peer nations in the size of its vaccine schedule, exceeding only Denmark.
The president falsely claimed that the U.S. requires “72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.” States require certain vaccinations to attend school, but none come close to mandating 72 doses. And there are no federal vaccine mandates.
Trump said children don’t need to be vaccinated against hepatitis B until adolescence. That ignores what medical experts say are good reasons to vaccinate every newborn at birth.
He falsely claimed that children and infants are being injected with massive volumes of fluid during routine immunizations, referring at one point to “vats of vaccine.” Doses of childhood vaccines are generally about a tenth of a teaspoon, and there’s no evidence that the size or number of doses under the current vaccination schedule is harmful.
Trump baselessly suggested rising rates of autism are connected to the growth of the childhood vaccine schedule over time. A number of studies have found no connection between vaccines and autism, and the contention that there has been a massive rise in autism is also faulty.
It’s unclear what the practical results of the executive order will be. “It should not be valid legally, and CDC should not be changing its immunization schedule table,” Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at University of California Law San Francisco, wrote in a Substack post.
The new order additionally recommends splitting up combination vaccines into separate doses given on separate medical visits. In another article, we wrote about Trump’s false claims about the combination measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine.
Misleading Country Comparisons
Trump justified his Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations by misleadingly claiming that the U.S. has been out of step with peer nations in the number of vaccines it recommends.
“For long — and far too long — a long period of time, America has recommended more childhood vaccines than any peer nation and even twice as many doses as some European countries, and even more than that,” he said during the Aug. 10 signing. He later claimed that “this updated recommendation finally aligns the United States with other advanced and developed nations around the world.”
The U.S. childhood vaccine schedule historically has recommended a relatively high number of vaccines, routinely protecting against a few more diseases than the median among other high-income nations, according to our previous analysis. Reducing the number of routinely recommended vaccines to 11, as the executive order suggests, would put the U.S. schedule at the low end compared with peer nations’ recommendations.
HHS previously attempted to limit universal recommendations to these same 11 childhood vaccines in January, although this change was subsequently blocked in court. HHS backed the decision to pare down the schedule with a 33-page assessment comparing the U.S. schedule with recommendations in 20 peer nations. Among these countries, only Denmark has a smaller number of universally recommended vaccines than put forward in the proposed 11-vaccine schedule.
HHS at the time justified these changes with a variety of incorrect or misleading claims about the vaccines and the diseases they target. For example, in no longer recommending universal vaccination against rotavirus — diverging from recommendations in 17 of the 20 peer nations — the assessment minimized the significant impact of hospitalizations and the risk of death from this gastrointestinal illness. The assessment also made misleading assertions about the safety of the hepatitis A vaccine and the effectiveness of pediatric flu vaccination, while claiming that the low incidence of meningococcal disease in the U.S. was reason not to vaccinate.
“[L]ow incidence in the context of a vaccination program is what we want,” Dr. David S. Stephens, an expert on bacterial meningitis at Emory University, told us in an email at the time. “Even though polio is very low in the US we still recommend routine vaccination.”
No Requirement for 72 ‘Jabs’
Trump erroneously claimed that the U.S. is “requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children.” States mandate that children get certain vaccines to attend school, but the number of shots needed to meet these requirements is nowhere near 72.
The CDC’s vaccine schedule recommends a broader set of vaccines than the states require for school. The CDC vaccine schedule does not constitute any sort of vaccine requirement, as we’ve written before.
There are various ways one could count the number of recommended injections or oral doses in the CDC’s routine childhood vaccine schedule. It is only possible to reach the 70s if counting annual flu and COVID-19 vaccines through age 18, while also opting to get some available combination vaccines as separate shots. The current schedule, however, does not recommend COVID-19 shots for all children.
No states require flu vaccines for school-age children, nor do any states require COVID-19 vaccination for school.
Trump speaks in the Oval Office after signing an Aug. 10 executive order on vaccination. Photo by Jim Watson / AFP via Getty Images.
Kennedy claimed an even higher number of recommended shots, stating that there were “72 jabs before 18, but it actually could be up to 94 jabs.”
But getting above 90 injections and oral doses would require counting each component of each combination vaccine separately. This includes separating out vaccines, such as the MMR vaccine, that are currently only available in combination. Kennedy’s inflated shot number would therefore only be near possible if Trump prevails in getting vaccine companies to break up combination vaccines, as he advocated in the executive order, while continuing to count annual flu and COVID-19 doses.
Dr. Paul Offit, a physician and director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, pointed out the contradiction in criticizing large numbers of injections for children while simultaneously advocating that combination vaccines be separated.
“Here you have this administration constantly talking about how children get too many shots and then they say they want more shots,” he told us.
Infant Hepatitis B Vaccines
Trump also criticized the longstanding practice of vaccinating infants against hepatitis B at birth, saying that vaccination isn’t necessary until adolescence. But that ignores the reasons medical experts have cited for why every newborn should be vaccinated.
Health care providers, Trump said, are “giving the hepatitis B shot to infants and newborns on top of many other vaccinations. The hepatitis B shouldn’t be given until they’re 14 or 15 years old. They were given early.”
Hepatitis B is a viral liver infection that can cause serious long-term complications, including death from cirrhosis and liver cancer. Infants and children face much higher risks than adults of developing a chronic hepatitis B infection if exposed to the virus, making it especially important to prevent infections in kids. Most childhood infections result from mothers passing the virus to newborns during pregnancy or birth, though caregivers and other close contacts can also transmit the virus.
As we’ve written before, hepatitis B can also spread in adults via sex or injection drug use, and some activists have invoked the disease’s association with those risk factors to question the need for universal vaccination at birth.
The CDC first recommended a universal birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine in 1991. As explained in a 2025 review by the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, the agency did so after narrower approaches — which focused on screening pregnant women and vaccinating the newborns of those who tested positive — proved ineffective at reducing childhood hepatitis B infections.
Since that time, according to the review, hepatitis B infections in infants and children have fallen by about 99% — from around 16,000 cases a year to fewer than 20.
The CIDRAP review notes several reasons why the previous frameworks based on maternal screening proved insufficient, including gaps in prenatal care and false negatives. Vaccinations at birth can also protect children from catching the virus if someone else in their household is infected.
Late last year, the CDC dropped its longstanding recommendation that all newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine, saying only those born to mothers who had tested positive for the virus, or had an unknown infection status, needed a vaccine at birth, and other parents could decide “when or if” to vaccinate — which is among the changes blocked in court. As we’ve written previously, that decision came after HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed the members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and appointed new ones.
Leading medical groups continue to recommend hepatitis B vaccination for all newborns.
‘Vats of Vaccine’
Trump also claimed, falsely, that children are being injected with massive volumes of fluid when they get their shots, comparing it to “a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body” or “a large glass of something.”
“Vats of vaccine are currently pumped into your child’s body,” Trump said, echoing language he’s used before. He added that appointments should be further apart “so the body can handle this massive amount of fluid being pumped in.”
This is false. The volume of vaccines given to children is nowhere near what Trump is describing. Moreover, as we’ve writtenbefore, there’s no evidence that the number or size of doses that kids receive under the current vaccination schedule is harmful, or that the shots need to be further spaced out.
Offit told us that doses of MMR and other vaccines given to young children are typically around 0.5 milliliters, or a tenth of a teaspoon. So even if a kid gets several vaccines at one appointment, the volume probably wouldn’t exceed one teaspoon.
Multiple studies have looked at the effects of giving different combinations of vaccines at once and found it to be safe, according to a CDC page dated December 2024. As the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia explains, kids’ immune systems are responding to thousands of bacteria from the moment of their birth, and the vaccines they receive before age 2 “are just a drop in the ocean when compared with the tens of thousands of challenges their immune systems successfully manage every day.”
Delaying routine vaccinations, meanwhile, can leave children vulnerable to preventable diseases, according to the CDC.
Offit also noted that even though children today receive more vaccines than previous generations, those vaccines actually contain a smaller total quantity of immunologic components — components such as proteins that stimulate an immune response — thanks to advances in vaccine science.
“I had a greater challenge to my immune system with the vaccines — two vaccines — I got as a child than my four grandchildren are getting today,” he said.
Baseless Connection of Vaccines and Autism
Trump repeated the baseless suggestion that the increasing number of recommended vaccinations is linked to a rise in autism.
“Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines required today,” he said. “In those times, people were much healthier. And, of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. So there’s a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. And we’re going to bring it back to much closer to where it was.”
Autism is “many, many times what it used to be years ago,” he later said. “And it gets progressively worse. And we add progressively more and more vaccines.”
As we’ve writtenmanytimesbefore, scientists have researched the question of whether vaccines cause autism in multiple ways, looking at the MMR vaccine, vaccine ingredients shared across multiple vaccines and the vaccine schedule as a whole. None of these efforts has uncovered a link between vaccines and autism.
Trump’s underlying assumption that there has been a massive rise in autism is also highly flawed.
Experts have previously explained to us that while there may have been some true increase in autism, evidence indicates a large portion of the rise in cases comes from increased recognition of the condition. Factors driving this include broadening definitions of autism, as well as increased screening and awareness of the condition. Researchers have also suggested that the growing availability of services for children with autism contributed to a rise in diagnoses.
Rather than recognizing these factors, Kennedy and Trump made a misleading comparison between an estimate from a 56-year-old study and today’s autism prevalence figures.
“In 1970, the biggest epidemiological study at that time in history was performed,” Kennedy said. “And the university scientists from across this country looked at all the 8-year-olds in Wisconsin, about 900,000 children, and they were looking for autism, and they knew what autism looked like. And they came back with an incident rate of 0.8 per 10,000, so less than 1 in 10,000. The rate according to CDC today in this country is 1 in every 31 children.”
Trump repeated a version of these statistics. “When you hear that number, where it was 1 in 10,000 20 years ago and now it’s 1 in 30 … it’s something — something happened in the meantime. Something happened environmentally or otherwise,” he said.
Dr. Eric Fombonne, a professor emeritus of psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University, previously told us that it was “completely absurd” to compare the autism prevalence estimate from the 1970 Wisconsin study to estimates today. At the time of the Wisconsin study, few people were aware of autism, and the researchers looked at children using different diagnostic criteria than are used today. Fombonne added that even at the time, other studies estimated a higher autism prevalence, and that people claiming a large rise in autism cite the Wisconsin study “because it gives them a very low starting point and accentuates the trend.”
Also, the researchers did not do autism evaluations on all the 8-year-olds in the state. They looked at records of children in certain medical settings, such as health clinics and hospitals.
Kennedy then repeated an incorrect claim that autism must be increasing because it’s not being seen in older adults. “If we were just noticing it more, we would notice it in older groups, but we’re not,” he said. “We’re only noticing it in kids who were born around 1989 or after.”
As we explained in 2023 in response to Kennedy’s claims, there are in fact autistic people across all generations, although the CDC doesn’t systematically monitor autism prevalence in adults. There are various factors that may lead autism in older generations to go unrecognized.
Jessica McDonald contributed reporting.
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In signing an executive order about childhood vaccines, President Donald Trump falsely suggested that the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine was unsafe and that splitting up the combination shot would reduce the number of children with autism. There’s no evidence for those claims, and the vaccine has been well-studied for several decades.
Together with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he also repeated many other falsehoods we’ve fact-checked before about vaccines. We wrote about those in another article.
On Aug. 10, Trump signed the executive order aiming to overhaul childhood vaccination in the U.S. Couched in the language of “gold standard” science, but bypassing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s typical process for recommending vaccines, the order attempts to reinstate earlier efforts by the administration to cut the number of universally recommended vaccines. The earlier changes to the vaccine schedule were blocked in court.
In addition to lowering the number of recommended vaccines and asking states to revise their immunization requirements for schools, the order also called for administering the MMR vaccine in separate shots, preferably giving all vaccines “at separate medical visits.”
“We want it in three separate vaccinations given at separate times,” Trump said of the MMR vaccine in remarks made when signing the order. “Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal. And separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.”
“It’s inconvenient, it’s five stops,” he said later, referring to multiple trips to the pediatrician. “But it’s something that I think will have a huge impact on autism.”
“The worst thing that would happen would be nothing happens. We’re not going to lose anything,” Trump said of splitting up the MMR vaccine. “At the same time, we could gain tremendously. We could save hundreds of thousands of lives, millions of lives.”
There is no evidence that splitting up the MMR vaccine, which has been in use for more than 40 years, would be safer, save lives or prevent cases of autism. Since a fraudulent scientific paper first proposed a connection between the vaccine and autism nearly 30 years ago, the MMR has been rigorously investigated for any link to the condition. No credible link has been found.
More broadly, the MMR is among the most well-studied vaccines on the planet, with far more data on its safety and effectiveness than any of the standalone vaccines. More than 800 million doses of the Merck MMR vaccine have been given in more than 75 countries as of 2021, with decades of post-marketing safety surveillance and clinical and population studies.
“To date, there has been no published scientific evidence that shows any benefit in separating the combination MMR vaccine into three individual shots,” a Merck spokesperson told us in a statement. “Use of the individual components of combination vaccines increases the number of injections for the individual and may result in delayed or missed immunizations.”
Trump signs an executive order about childhood vaccines in the Oval Office on Aug. 10. Official White House Photo by Molly Riley.
Merck’s combined MMR vaccine was first approved in the U.S. in 1971, not long after the individual vaccines were introduced in the 1960s. In 1978, the vaccine was updated to include a superior rubella component. The Food and Drug Administration approved a similar MMR vaccine made by GSK in 2022. That vaccine has been licensed in more than 100 countries, including all of Europe, and more than 800 million doses have been distributed, according to a company press release in 2022. GSK did not reply to our request for comment.
While health officials in the administration have frequently pointed to European countries as a model for U.S. vaccination policy, all exclusively use the combined MMR shot. No country in the world gives each of the three components separately as part of the childhood immunization schedule.
Some countries, mostly lower- and middle-income countries, use a measles and rubella combined shot rather than the MMR largely because it is cheaper, and not due to any safety concerns. Japan is one of the few, if not only, high-income countries to separate out the mumps vaccine. This policy stems from a safety concern with the mumps component that used a mumps strain that was never used in the U.S. (Autism rates did not decline when Japan stopped using the combined MMR vaccine.)
Moreover, as the executive order acknowledges, no U.S. vaccine manufacturer still makes the individual shots. Merck stopped in 2008 due to manufacturing constraints, and declined the following year to resume production.
“Today’s executive order is not based on ‘gold-standard science.’ There is no new evidence to justify significant changes to childhood immunization guidance. Dozens of studies involving millions of people show there is no link between vaccines and autism, and yet federal leaders continue to promote this outdated, disproven idea to scare families,” Dr. Andrew D. Racine, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics , said in a statement. “The only purpose of this announcement is to sow confusion so that more people doubt the importance of vaccines. Delaying or skipping shots is risky, especially as measles continues to spread and children go back to school.”
“This executive order is part of a troubling pattern by the administration to attempt to unilaterally change vaccine guidance, particularly for children, rather than relying on the transparent, scientific review that has guided the U.S. childhood vaccine schedule for decades,” Dr. Jan K. Carney, the president of the American College of Physicians, said in a statement. “If implemented, the changes could increase costs to patients and families, including additional copays while also placing a greater burden on families needing to schedule multiple appointments for a multiple-dose MMR vaccine.”
The executive order does not give a scientific rationale for recommending that the MMR vaccine be broken up. Rather, it simply states that its recommendations “recognize” that the MMR vaccine “should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available.” It directs Kennedy, through a task force, to “present plans” to Trump within 90 days to offer the single vaccines as options.
“President Trump is one of countless parents who have voiced questions and concerns about the combined MMR vaccine,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told us in an email when asked to explain the reasoning for splitting up the MMR and for evidence that the combination shot is a problem. “The Administration’s push to develop separate vaccinations for all three diseases will give parents more options on timing and frequency for their children, which ultimately will increase vaccination rates for all three diseases.”
Experts, however, fear that adding the option of separate MMR vaccinations will lower vaccination rates.
It remains to be seen how Trump’s executive order will play out.
“There’s not the force of law behind this,” Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told us. “He’s asking states to consider implementing this. I think that it will be ignored because it should be ignored. It’s not a science-based recommendation.”
Autism Claims Come from Fraudulent 1998 Paper
As we’ve explained before, the notion that the MMR vaccine might be safer separated out goes back to a fraudulent research paper by the British physician Dr. Andrew Wakefield. In 1998, Wakefield published a case series of 12 children in the Lancet that proposed the MMR vaccine might cause autism.
The British journalist Brian Deer reported that in a press conference announcing the results, Wakefield recommended that the government stop using the combination MMR vaccine and switch to individual shots, given a year apart.
“I can’t support the continued use of these three vaccines given in combination until this issue has been resolved,” Wakefield said.
But the underlying data had beenfaked or misrepresented. Five of the 12 children had developmental problems prior to vaccination, and many did not even have an autism diagnosis. Prior to the study, Wakefield had been hired as a consultant by a lawyer who wanted to sue MMR manufacturers, and many of the kids in the study had been recruited by law firms or groups opposed to vaccination. The publication was later retracted. Wakefield, who has since lost his medical license, also did not disclose at the time that he had previously filed a patent on his own measles-only vaccine, which he alleged was “most probably safer.”
Fraud aside, the hypothesis that the MMR vaccine causes autism has now been formally tested repeatedly. In 2012, the Institute of Medicine, now the National Academy of Medicine, concluded that the evidence “favors rejection of a causal relationship between MMR vaccine and autism,” finding a “high degree of confidence in the epidemiologic evidence” of no connection and a lack of evidence of any mechanistic link.
Since then, even more studies have continued to support this conclusion. In 2019, a Danish study used population registry data to probe the link again, also looking to see whether there might be a link for higher-risk children. “The study strongly supports that MMR vaccination does not increase the risk for autism, does not trigger autism in susceptible children, and is not associated with clustering of autism cases after vaccination,” the study concluded.
Last month, a study looking at the electronic health records of 2.5 million American children also found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism when giving the first dose before the age of 2, as is recommended. The first dose is typically given between 12 and 15 months of age, with a second dose at 4 to 6 years of age.
“This is Groundhog Day 25 years later,” Offit said, of the idea that the MMR vaccine should be broken up.
False Allegation of Lethality
During the Q&A portion of the signing, a reporter asked Trump if there was any evidence for his comment that the MMR combination vaccine is “quite lethal.”
“What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way,” Trump said. “And I say, well, let’s say there’s a 5% chance of it.”
“Let’s split it up,” he continued, adding that when the MMR is given separately, “they” say “there is no impact. In fact, they’ve said how safe it seems to be. But I’ve heard when you put them together, they can be explosive.”
Regardless of what Trump might have heard, this is false. While serious side effects can occur, they are rare. And death from MMR vaccination is exceedingly rare.
“There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people,” the Infectious Diseases Society of America website says. “There have been rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among children who are immune compromised, which is why it is recommended that they don’t get the vaccine.”
The concern for immunocompromised children is the measles component of the vaccine, which is a weakened but live virus. For almost everyone, this weakened virus poses no risk of death, in contrast to the virus that can circulate in an outbreak and sicken people. But on very rare occasions, if a child is severely immunocompromised, and doctors don’t realize it — or mistakenly still vaccinate against recommendations — it can prove fatal. A 2015 article by the CDC noted that there have been “at least six case reports of death among severely immunocompromised persons that have been linked to vaccine strain measles virus infection.” This exceptionally rare outcome, however, would still occur if children got a separate measles shot rather than the combination vaccine.
Anaphylaxis, a serious allergic reaction that can be life-threatening, can also occur with any vaccine, but these are extremely rare, and in many cases can be treated.
To be clear, a 5% chance of death would be astronomically high and easily detectable in both studies and surveillance. Trump’s claim that the combination MMR vaccine is “quite lethal” is false.
Negative Impacts from Splitting the Vaccine
Many experts disagree with Trump that the worst outcome of splitting up the MMR vaccine would be “nothing.” On the contrary, the main concern, assuming the shots were available, is that fewer people would get vaccinated, putting more people at risk for disease and leading to more outbreaks.
“We’re in the midst of a big measles epidemic. There are more cases of measles than we’ve seen in more than 30 years,” Offit said. Moving to a six-dose regimen, he said, would introduce chaos and confusion, and children would be less likely to get all their necessary vaccines. He called it “an incredibly irresponsible thing to do.”
University of Utah pharmacotherapy professor Joey Mattingly wrote in a Health Affairs perspective last month about using single-disease shots: “The available evidence on vaccination behavior and coverage favors retaining the combined formulation, and the same evidence suggests that moving to separate vaccines, whatever flexibility it might offer families, could make it harder to recover the coverage levels that population immunity requires,” referring to the decline in measles vaccination rates.
Offit said that first, the FDA would need to license the standalone vaccines. It remains to be seen whether any manufacturers would want to go through the process.
The Health Affairs article noted that doing so would require significant investment and clinical trials. “There is little commercial incentive to build a less convenient product to compete with a vaccine that already works,” Mattingly wrote. Clinics and pharmacies would then need to stock them, when it might not make financial sense to do so.
Moreover, just the suggestion that the MMR should be split — as Trump and other officials have now done — could discourage vaccination with the only available vaccine.
As Katrine Wallace, an epidemiologist at University of Illinois Chicago School of Public Health, wrote in STAT, “the government is directing the health system toward an alternative that is not licensed here — and asking parents to reconsider a familiar, highly effective combination vaccine in the process.”
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
State auditor says fragmented systems make it difficult to verify whether employees are ever paid for overlapping taxpayer-funded work; University of Delaware disputes auditor’s authority over records from 2023-25
DOVER, Del. — Delaware lacks a reliable statewide system for identifying and monitoring public employees who hold more than one taxpayer-supported position, limiting the state’s ability to determine whether workers are ever paid twice for overlapping hours, according to a new performance audit from the Delaware Office of Auditor of Accounts.
The audit, covering fiscal years 2023 through 2025, does not conclude that widespread improper payments occurred. Instead, State Auditor Lydia York’s office said incomplete records, disconnected payroll systems and inconsistent procedures prevented auditors from fully determining whether agencies and other covered organizations complied with Delaware’s Dual Employment Law.
The law, enacted in 1986, is designed to prevent public employees from receiving compensation from multiple taxpayer-funded employers for the same hours. It also requires covered organizations to maintain appropriate time records, verify hours and adjust compensation when necessary.
“The State cannot reliably identify individuals engaged in dual employment or effectively determine whether statutory requirements have been met,” the auditor concluded. The report said those weaknesses create a risk that improper concurrent compensation could occur without being detected.
No Central System to Track Dual Employment
Auditors attempted to identify potentially dually employed workers using records from Delaware’s Payroll Human Resource Statewide Technology system, financial disclosure filings, legislative records and information from individual agencies.
But no state agency maintains a complete list of people subject to the dual-employment requirements, according to the audit. Delaware also uses multiple payroll systems that are not fully integrated.
The Public Integrity Commission, which has oversight responsibilities under the law, relies heavily on annual self-disclosures and manual processes and does not have an automated system that can identify people simultaneously employed by multiple public entities, auditors found.
At individual agencies and organizations, auditors also found inconsistent procedures for documenting employees’ hours, obtaining supervisory verification and making payroll adjustments when work schedules overlap.
The report recommends creating a centralized system capable of identifying and tracking dual employment, improving integration among payroll systems, strengthening internal controls and recordkeeping, clarifying oversight responsibilities and providing the Public Integrity Commission additional resources.
Auditor and University of Delaware Disagree Over Records
One of the audit’s most significant limitations involved the University of Delaware.
The Auditor of Accounts requested personnel, payroll, timekeeping and scheduling information involving selected university employees who also held other taxpayer-supported public positions during the audit period.
UD did not provide the requested records. As a result, auditors said they could not determine whether the selected individuals received compensation from multiple taxpayer-supported positions during overlapping work hours.
The disagreement centers on whether the Dual Employment Law applied to the university during fiscal years 2023 through 2025.
UD maintains that it did not.
In its formal response, the university said it is a privately governed, state-aided institution rather than a state agency or political subdivision and argued that the version of the law in effect during the audit period did not cover university employees.
The university pointed to House Bill 38, signed into law in 2025, which established specific dual-employment reporting requirements for institutions of higher education receiving state funds. Those requirements took effect May 22, 2026. UD contends the legislation demonstrates that those obligations did not previously apply to the university.
UD said it recognizes its obligations under the new law and intends to work with the auditor on records required after the law’s effective date. However, the university said it would not release confidential employment records for fiscal years 2023-25 when, in its view, no statutory requirement existed to do so.
Auditor Rejects UD’s Interpretation
York’s office disagreed with the university’s legal interpretation.
The auditor acknowledged UD’s unusual status as a privately governed, state-aided institution and said the audit was not attempting to regulate university personnel decisions.
Instead, the auditor argued that its authority extends to determining whether state-appropriated money was spent in compliance with Delaware law.
“Public funds do not lose their character as State funds merely because they are disbursed through a state-aided institution rather than directly through a state agency,” the auditor wrote.
The auditor also cited a 2008 Delaware attorney general opinion concerning application of the dual-employment law to state-funded salaries at UD.
York’s office characterized House Bill 38 differently from the university, saying the legislation clarified reporting procedures for higher education institutions but did not create the auditor’s underlying authority to examine how state appropriations are spent.
The dispute remains unresolved for the years covered by the audit.
15 Individuals Affected by Records Dispute
The missing UD records affected the auditor’s testing involving 15 people who held positions associated with the General Assembly, courts or other state offices during the audit period.
The report identifies them as Sherry Dorsey-Walker, Melissa Minor-Brown, Madinah Wilson-Anton, Sophie Phillips, Michael Smith, Sarah “Tizzy” Lockman, Marie Pinkney, Martin O’Connor, Sheldon Rennie, Monica Horton, Janell Ostroski, Peter Burcat, Bethany Hall-Long, Cora Scott and Evan Park.
The audit does not find that those individuals were improperly paid or violated the Dual Employment Law.
Rather, the auditor said it could not determine whether the law was followed because it did not have the university records necessary to compare work schedules, payroll information and timekeeping records.
That distinction is central to the finding: the names appear because auditors were unable to complete their testing, not because the report established wrongdoing by any of the individuals.
Some Previous Problems Remain
The audit also followed up on findings from an earlier review covering fiscal years 2020 through 2022.
Auditors said a previous finding involving UD remains open because the university had not taken action to address it for the period reviewed. A finding involving the City of Dover also remains open, although Dover has drafted a policy that was awaiting City Council approval when the audit was completed.
Previous findings involving Delaware State University, Eastside Charter School and Delaware Technical Community College were considered resolved after the institutions provided evidence of new policies or controls.
Accountability Problem, Not Finding of Fraud
The broader conclusion of the audit is less about documenting fraud than about the state’s ability to detect a problem if one occurs.
Auditors cautioned that government performance audits are not designed to uncover every instance of fraud, waste or noncompliance. In this case, the larger obstacle was that records and systems were often insufficient to provide reasonable assurance that the law was being followed statewide.
Until Delaware develops integrated reporting, standardized recordkeeping and clearer responsibility for monitoring dual employment, the auditor said the possibility that improper overlapping compensation could occur without detection will remain.
To Go Box:
What is dual employment? Holding a public job while also serving in another qualifying elected, appointed or taxpayer-supported position.
What does Delaware law prohibit? Receiving taxpayer-funded compensation from more than one covered position for the same working hours.
Did the audit find widespread double payments? No. The auditor said the state lacked sufficient systems and records to fully determine compliance.
Why is the University of Delaware involved? Auditors sought UD payroll and timekeeping records for selected employees with other public positions. UD declined, arguing the law covering the 2023-25 period did not apply to the university.
Were the 15 people named in the report accused of wrongdoing? No. Auditors said they lacked sufficient records to determine whether dual-employment rules were followed for those individuals.
What happens going forward? A law that took effect May 22, 2026, establishes specific dual-employment recordkeeping and reporting requirements for state-funded institutions of higher education. UD says it will comply with those requirements prospectively.
Source: Delaware Office of Auditor of Accounts, Dual Employment Performance Audit for Fiscal Years Ended June 30, 2023-2025.
The GNOME Shell user interface has mostly seen minor refinements and quality of life updates in recent cycles, but on the design side we’ve explored a lot of longer-term things we’d like to do. Some of these we have relatively complete plans for, others are more vague ideas that need more research and prototyping. As always, getting things like these implemented depends on developer capacity and interest (and sometimes funding).
While each of these ideas may require additional discussion, prototyping, and testing, we (the design team) have collected them all together here to share our longer-term vision and to give each idea more visibility.
There’s quite a few good ideas in there, with most of them already being available in the form of various extensions. I’m not entirely sure if I’m a huge fan of copying Android and iOS by moving notifications into the quick settings dropdown thing, but it’s not like having them in the clock/calendar dropdown thing is any better. I only use notifications as they arrive and never look at the place where they end up – that’s a mobile thing for me – so I don’t think I’ll really care either way.
Things like editable quick settings, transparent top bar on certain backgrounds, the improved window drag and drop in the Exposé view, the alt+tab experiments, and some of the others do seem quite interesting though, and anything that reduces the number of GNOME extensions I need to install and keep updated gets a big thumbs up from me.
If you wish to work on any of these suggestions, working on GNOME Shell has gotten a lot easier recently.
In the past, GNOME Shell was significantly harder to contribute to and test than apps since you needed to use tools like jhbuild. This has changed in the past year: You can now easily build and test your branch in a nested session from Builder using Mutter Devkit. If you use GNOME OS, you can even build a sysext to install your branch on your host system. This allows daily driving experimental branches easily, which is super helpful for evaluating changes to everyday workflows.
President Donald Trump said the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is potentially deadly. His evidence? He said he heard it, but didn’t say from whom.
During an Aug. 10 Oval Office event, Trump signed an executive order seeking to split up the combination MMR vaccine, which has been approved for use in the U.S. for about 55 years.
“We want it in three separate vaccinations, given at separate times,” Trump said. “Together, there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal and separately, uh, it looks like they are not at all lethal but just very effective.”
A reporter asked Trump if there was any evidence the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella is “quite lethal.”
Trump replied: “No. What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way and I say, well, let’s say there’s a 5% chance of it, let’s split it up, let’s split it up.”
He added, “I’ve heard when you put them together, they can be explosive.”
We asked the White House for evidence that it is possibly “quite lethal” and the statement we received from spokesperson Kush Desai did not answer that question. Desai said that Trump has “voiced questions and concerns” about the combined vaccine and wants to give parents options.
The president made his statement at a time when measles cases are rising and vaccination rates are dropping.
Here’s how scientists concluded the vaccine is safe.
The MMR vaccine is administered in two doses and given to children first at 12 to 15 months old and then between ages 4 and 6. It requires two visits to the pediatrician. If the MMR vaccine were split up, it could take six visits.
Requiring six visits rather than two, “would likely lead to drops in immunization coverage which could lead to major resurgences of the diseases,” Dr. Walter Orenstein, an epidemiologist who directed the U.S. Immunization Program from 1998 to 2004, told PolitiFact following Trump’s remarks.
Trump’s statement that the MMR is lethal contradicts longstanding scientific research and the conclusions of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that the combined MMR is safe — and safer than getting the deadly measles virus.
U.S. regulators approved the first combined MMR vaccine in 1971 following extensive clinical testing to ensure it was safe and worked well.
When the MMR vaccine was combined, research showed that each component was safe and effective individually. Doctors now have more than 50 years of data on the hundreds of millions of vaccine doses administered in that time. Scientists continue to monitor the vaccine’s safety to catch extremely rare side effects.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America, a community of 13,000 clinicians, scientists and public health experts, said on its website: “There have been no deaths shown to be related to the MMR vaccine in healthy people.” There have been rare cases of deaths from vaccine side effects among immune compromised children, which is why recommendations say they should not get the vaccine, the group said.
The CDC’s page about MMR safety, dated July 2024 — which was still online as Trump made his remarks — said although vaccines can have side effects, most people don’t have serious problems from them.
“Getting MMR vaccine is much safer than getting measles, mumps, or rubella,” the CDC’s website said.
The CDC says research shows a tiny percentage of people had adverse effects from the MMR vaccine:
Two studies showed that for every 10,000 children who get their first MMR and varicella vaccines as separate shots when they are between 12 months and 23 months, about four will have a febrile seizure during the seven to 10 days following vaccination.
About 1 in 3,000 to 4,000 children younger than 7 years old have febrile seizures caused by a fever approximately 6 to 14 days after vaccination. While such seizures are frightening, nearly all children who have them recover quickly, and they typically don’t cause permanent damage.
The CDC said measles can be deadly.
Anders Peter Hviid, professor of epidemiology research in Denmark, told PolitiFact there is no evidence that the MMR vaccine is “quite lethal.”
“There is no scientific evidence to suggest that this is an unsafe vaccine,” Hviid said. Because the vaccine is made with a live attenuated virus — a weakened version of the virus — some people may have a stronger immune response, which leads to side effects such as soreness or mild fever.
“Contrast this with the possibility of getting measles,” Hviid said. “You don’t want your child to get measles.”
Dr. James Campbell, a University of Maryland pediatric infectious diseases expert, said in an email that Trump’s statement about a “5% chance” of lethality is “absolutely ludicrous.” That would result in a lot of young children dying after the MMR vaccine. That hasn’t happened.
“MMR is not lethal at all,” said Campbell, vice chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases. “We tell parents what we say for all vaccines that we recommend — they have been rigorously studied for safety and efficacy and (for MMR) given to millions of children over more than 50 years.”
Before the first measles vaccine in 1963, measles killed 400 to 500 Americans every year, most of them young children, and put 48,000 in the hospital, said Dr. Jake Scott, clinical associate professor of infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine.
MMR vaccine was combined to make it easier to vaccinate children
MMR was combined because public health officials wanted to make it easier for people to get vaccinated.
Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines were good candidates for combination because they were typically given on the same schedule. Combining them meant fewer doctor’s visits and fewer needles in arms, which can be stressful for kids and parents.
Combining the vaccines was also possible because all three rely on weakened versions of the viruses to trigger immune responses that teach the body to fight the live viruses, Orenstein previously told PolitiFact.
These vaccines had similar ingredients and manufacturing processes, which made it possible to combine them, Orenstein said.
Scientists rigorously tested whether these vaccines could safely and effectively be combined without reducing the immune responses to each individual illness.
Roughly 92.5% of kindergartners had been vaccinated against measles in the 2024-25 school year, a drop of four percentage points from 2019-20. When more than 95% of people in a community are vaccinated, most people are protected through community immunity.
Trump said when the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines are given together in the combined MMR vaccine, “there could be a possibility they’re quite lethal.”
This vaccine has been administered in the U.S. for more than 50 years. With hundreds of millions of doses given in that time, science has shown the vaccine is safe, a conclusion supported by the CDC.
When Trump was asked during his Oval Office remarks about his evidence for lethality, he provided none, saying he had heard “there are some people that say it is that way.” At a time when U.S. measles cases are rising and vaccination rates are falling, Trump is fearmongering and citing no credible evidence.
Delaware players have until 9:45 p.m. Wednesday to buy tickets for one of the largest lottery prizes offered in 2026
DOVER, Del. — Delaware lottery players have until 9:45 p.m. Wednesday to get a ticket for a Powerball jackpot that has climbed to an estimated $1 billion, putting the prize among the biggest lottery jackpots offered this year.
The jackpot for the Wednesday, Aug. 12, drawing carries an estimated cash value of $433.1 million before taxes, according to the Delaware Lottery.
The advertised $1 billion prize would be paid as an annuity, while a winner choosing the cash option would receive a one-time payment. Final jackpot amounts can increase depending on national ticket sales.
No ticket matched all six numbers in Monday night’s drawing, allowing the jackpot to cross the $1 billion mark.
Monday’s winning numbers were 6, 37, 54, 55 and 64. The Powerball was 10, and the Power Play multiplier was 3.
Although there was no jackpot winner, two tickets sold in California and Maryland matched all five white balls to win $1 million each. A Tennessee ticket matched the five white balls and included Power Play, making it worth $2 million.
Jackpot Has Been Growing All Summer
The Powerball jackpot has been growing since May 2, when tickets sold in Florida and Texas split a $20 million jackpot. By late July, Powerball officials were already calling it the largest Powerball prize of 2026.
The continuing roll has now pushed the jackpot into the rare $1 billion range, likely generating increased interest at Delaware Lottery retailers ahead of Wednesday night’s cutoff.
Powerball drawings are held Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays at 10:59 p.m. Eastern time. Delaware Lottery retailers stop selling tickets for that night’s drawing at 9:45 p.m.
How Powerball Works
Powerball tickets cost $2 per play. Players select five numbers from 1 through 69 and one Powerball number from 1 through 26.
Power Play, which can increase most non-jackpot prizes, costs an additional $1.
The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are approximately 1 in 292.2 million, while the odds of winning any Powerball prize are about 1 in 24.9.
Delaware requires lottery players to be at least 18 years old. Winners should check tickets carefully after the drawing and follow Delaware Lottery requirements for claiming prizes.
To Go Box
What: Powerball drawing
Estimated jackpot: $1 billion
Estimated cash option: $433.1 million before taxes
Drawing: 10:59 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 12
Delaware ticket deadline: 9:45 p.m. Wednesday
Ticket price: $2 per play; Power Play costs an additional $1
Where to buy: Authorized Delaware Lottery retailers
Winning numbers: Available following the drawing through the Delaware Lottery and Powerball
TRENTON, New Jersey — Gov. Mikie Sherrill says she is open to stronger voter identification requirements after a software error improperly registered roughly 6,600 noncitizens, while rejecting President Donald Trump’s broader federal election legislation.
“I would support that. I don’t have a problem with voter ID,” Sherrill told News 12. Her spokesman later said the Democratic governor supports existing identification requirements for voter registration and is willing to consider strengthening them.
The distinction matters because Sherrill strongly opposes the SAVE America Act, which would impose federal proof-of-citizenship and identification requirements. She called that proposal voter suppression and objected to transferring New Jersey voters’ personal information into federal systems.
The controversy began after Sherrill disclosed that a Motor Vehicle Commission software error registered approximately 6,600 people between June 2023 and June 2024 even though they explicitly indicated they were not U.S. citizens. The mistake occurred before Sherrill became governor.
A preliminary state review found fewer than 400 of those people cast ballots. They included registered Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated voters, and officials have presented no evidence that the error changed any election outcome.
Noncitizen voting remains illegal and, nationally, documented cases are rare. A Reuters review found no evidence of coordinated noncitizen voting efforts despite increasingly prominent claims from Trump and other Republicans.
Sherrill has ordered the erroneous registrations removed and the state is replacing the vendor connected to the failure.
Ian Clarke (aka ancient Slashdot reader Sanity), designer of the peer-to-peer communication platform Freenet, is back with an update on the project's progress following the launch of its P2P network in March. He writes: Earlier this year, Slashdot covered the launch of the completely redesigned Freenet. I recently gave a talk about what we've been building since then. Unlike traditional web applications, apps on Freenet have no central server or database; instead application state is distributed across the network. These now include decentralized group chat, publishing, search, and fully decentralized Git hosting. The talk also gets into some of Freenet's internals, including how we use machine learning for network routing.
Brittany Boltinhouse’s attorney says removal of title and crown ‘another troubling example of cancel culture’
A lawyer for beauty queen Brittany Boltinhouse, dethroned as Miss North Carolina USA last week, is threatening legal action, claiming the actions of pageant organizers were “wrongful and unjustified”.
The attorney, Patrick Mincey, described the removal of her title and crown “another troubling example of cancel culture”.
A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the US Postal Service (USPS) from implementing part of Donald Trump’s executive order that aims to tighten rules for mail-in voting ahead of November midterm elections that will decide control of Congress.
The ruling by US district judge Indira Talwani in Boston in effect expanded on an earlier order she had issued in June that had prevented Trump’s administration from implementing it in 23 mostly Democratic-led states.
No. 10 Charles Puit at bat during Naamans Little League’s game against Berlin Little League from Maryland. Photo Courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball.
Naamans Little League defeated Berlin Little League from Maryland to advance to a semifinal game on Thursday.
Naamans Little League advanced to the semifinal round of the 2026 Little League Baseball Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament, following their win Monday evening. Naamans scored 12 runs in the elimination game.
The game started out as a pitchers’ duel between Delaware starter Jason Pontari and Maryland pitcher Gus VanKlompenburg. Both pitchers threw well and didn’t allow a run through the first three innings of the game.
Naamans scored the first run of the game in the top of the fourth. Catcher James Grugan scored Robert Heisler — after he started the inning with a lead-off walk — from third base on a two-out single up the middle giving Naamans the first lead of the game.
Berlin captured the lead in the bottom half of the inning on the strength of four hits including a lead-off double by Jonah Isett. Isett scored Maryland’s first run a batter later on first baseman Cooper Smith’s single through the middle. Singles by Jackson Baraby and VanKlompenburg drove in two more runs and, after a fourth run crossed the plate, Naamans trailed 4-1 heading into the fifth inning.
The Delaware squad responded in a big way with an 11 run top of the fifth.
Naamans recorded eight hits from seven different batters along with five walks in the frame. The first five runs of Naamans’ rally were scored prior to a weather delay that lasted over an hour. Delaware first baseman Kole Dzwilewski stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs when the game resumed and struck a RBI hit past the third base bag. The hit started a run of two-out success that plated Delaware’s additional six runs.
Delaware third baseman Taj Amobi scores one of Delaware’s 11 runs in the top of the fifth. Photo Courtesy of Little League Baseball and Softball.
Pontari and Brian Miller recorded the remaining six outs for Delaware, advancing the team to a semifinal game.
Naamans’ semifinal game will be on Thursday at 3:00 p.m. Delaware will take on Capitol Hill Little League from Washington D.C. and the winner will move on to face Pennsylvania in the championship game. Delaware’s game against Washington D.C. will be aired on ESPN.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) speaks at The People v. The Powerful rally at the Detroit Opera House on July 18, 2026 in Detroit, Mich.Photo: Sarah Rice/Getty Images
Democrats have a lot to be embarrassed about when it comes to their actions during 2020. Like when Democratic members of Congress, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Sen. Chuck Schumer, and then-Sen. Kamala Harris, clad in kente cloth stoles, took a knee on Capitol Hill after introducing the 2020 Justice in Policing Act.
That bill, which contained pretty fangless policing reforms, stalled in the Senate along party lines and never became law. The legislative story was predictable. Law-and-order Democrats genuflecting in kente stoles was laughable and lambasted at the time. Or, remember when Pelosi thanked George Floyd for “sacrificing” his life “for justice”? Shameful.
You could fairly call such gestures “crazy” if we are relitigating Democrats’ political priorities around that time. These were the scrambling acts of Democratic leaders failing to robustly respond to the largest protests in U.S. history — powerful uprisings against a system of policing and prisons that treats Black people’s lives as disposable.
But when Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., quipped on Sunday, in an apparent nod to New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, that “woke 1 was crazy,” she wasn’t mocking the empty gestures of her colleagues. She wasn’t criticizing the recuperative tendencies of a liberal establishment that treats racism and sexism as a problem of individual performances and representation.
There was nothing “crazy” about more than 20 million people taking to the streets in righteous, militant protests against a racist, necropolitical order.
She was responding to a question about whether Democrats, herself included, who have in the past called to defund the police, still stood by those positions, or whether they went “too far.” She giggled, dismissed the idea of defunding police as a part of “crazy” “woke 1,” but noted, at least, that “during Covid, there was a huge opening of the Overton Window” on policy considerations, and that “the discussions that were had in that time were quite fruitful.” She also said they changed how we talk about crime.
Ocasio-Cortez did not even mention the George Floyd uprisings.
There can be little doubt that certain “woke” tendencies hurt the project of building a powerful multiracial, working-class left. Movement collectives and organizations became mired in in-fighting. Too often, anti-racist performances by institutions took precedence over building strategies to fight the structures of racial capitalism.
Centuries of accumulated material advantages and disadvantages, forged along colonialism’s racial lines, were not undone by social-media shamings, diversity trainings, or pro forma land acknowledgments.
But there was nothing “crazy” about more than 20 million people taking to the streets in righteous, militant protests against a racist, necropolitical order. And it was not crazy that politicians on the left saw good sense in the reasonable demand that the armed forces maintaining this racist order be abolished, or at least that tax dollars go instead to housing, healthcare, and education.
If Ocasio-Cortez is running for president, or even just the Senate, treating the serious and significant intervention and event that was the 2020 uprisings as “crazy,” like it was an overreaching social-media furor, would be an appalling campaign orientation and an unacceptable erasure of historic Black struggle.
The number of people killed by police in the U.S. every year has risen most years since 2020, and a disproportionate number of those killed are still Black. The facts about U.S. policing and prisons have not changed since the heady years of so-called “woke 1.” It remains the case that police do not stop or prevent crime. The mythic alignment of policing with public safety is nonetheless still treated as unquestionable common sense, despite ample evidence to the contrary.
White supremacist backlash was aided by liberal cowardice, which softened and then erased the abolitionist calls at the heart of the rebellions.
The George Floyd uprisings represented a brief rupture in that flawed common sense. One 2020 poll, for example, found a majority of Americans, 54 percent, believed that burning down a Minneapolis police precinct building following George Floyd’s murder was justified.
The massive uprisings, in the words of writer Tobi Haslett, “came hurtling into view and exploded against the surface of daily life in the U.S.” They were, however, met with extraordinary repression from police forces nationwide, in both blue and red states and cities.
Republicans under President Donald Trump’s first term prosecuted a successful campaign of law-and-order fearmongering. This white supremacist backlash was aided by liberal cowardice, which softened and then erased the abolitionist calls at the heart of the rebellions. The fractured left also bears its own responsibilities for failing on multiple fronts to take up and continue the uprisings’ militant challenge to racial capitalism.
Under Trump’s second term, certain Democrats might be willing to call for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) but are silent when it comes to challenging the system of racist policing of which ICE is an extension. This is not because “woke 1 was crazy”; it is because the far-right backlash was successful, and centrist Democrats were all too happy to shrink away or fall fecklessly in line with law-and-order talking points.
“The least we can do is remember ,” wrote Haslett, reflecting on the rebellions one year later. “[T]o try, after the riots, after the speeches, after the backlash and elections, and after this latest (livestreamed) liturgy of American ‘criminal justice,’ to recall what really happened, extracting and reconstructing the whole flabbergasting sequence.” AOC is failing at this basic requirement of faithful remembrance.
This may seem minor, but it performs something akin to what W.E.B. Du Bois called the post-Reconstruction “propaganda of history” — the erasure of the historical record of Black struggle and power to establish white supremacist rule as some transhistorical, unchallenged norm.
Ocasio-Cortez is well aware of the discursive reality she must navigate should she run for higher office. Republicans will indeed dismiss any gesture toward progressive criminal legal system reform — let alone moving funding from police coffers to public goods — as radical, “crazy” acts. They will fearmonger and scapegoat. And, as has been the case with border policies and trans rights, Democrats bending rightwards only offers legitimacy, and often votes, to the right.
I do not expect AOC to run on an abolitionist line; I have no such delusions about the office of president, or, for that matter, Ocasio-Cortez, a politician who is yet to apologize for her intolerable defense of the Biden administration’s role in the Gaza genocide. Nor do I expect any left-wing Democratic candidate to overturn the myths about policing and safety, deeply inculcated in all too much of American society, in any single campaign. “Defund” could very well be a losing electoral position at this juncture.
A talented and principled politician should, however, be able to present a democratic socialist platform that insists on marshaling funds where they in fact belong: housing, healthcare, education, and other social welfare programs. A politician on the left, who lived through the powerful and vast George Floyd uprisings, should not be able to dismiss and erase them so easily.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other advocacy groups have asked a federal judge to block Donald Trump from enforcing new executive orders he signed last week in his latest attempt to restrict eligibility for birthright citizenship in the US.
In a Tuesday court filing, the groups called the US president’s new orders an improper attempt to evade the US supreme court’s 30 June rejection of his first, more sweeping bid to deny automatic citizenship to children born to undocumented immigrants and temporary foreign residents.
(The Center Square) – Employers now have guidance from the Treasury Department on how to contribute to ‘Trump Accounts’ for their employees’ children, and the department says more than 50 companies have already committed to offering such contributions.
Gemini has become Google's fastest-growing product ever, reaching 1 billion monthly active users faster than any of the company's 13 other billion-user services. Ars Technica reports: Gemini has wormed its way into virtually every Google product and service, powering email organization in Gmail, document summary in Drive, and much more. Gemini is also core to Google's flagship search experience, with AI Mode and AI Overviews becoming increasingly hard to avoid. The 1 billion-user metric has nothing to do with any of that, though.
These 1 billion users may also be encountering Gemini in all those places, but that's not the MAU metric. Pichai is talking only about people who are opening the Gemini app or visiting the Gemini web interface to enter a prompt or access Gemini Live. If you used Gemini only once in the past month, you are part of this cohort.
(The Center Square) – The Trump administration is bulldozing through Big Bend National Park despite thousands of Texans, including Republicans, ranchers, small business owners, sheriffs, county judges and former National Park Service superintendents calling on it to stop.
Revocations targeted foreign nationals who allegedly broke terms of their visas, government says
The US Department of State has canceled more than 175,000 visas since Donald Trump returned to office, quadrupling the pace of revocations under Joe Biden’s final year in the White House, according to a new tally released by the department this week.
The announcement said the revocations targeted foreign nationals whoallegedly broke the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against Americans, defrauded US citizens, abused the immigration system or endangered national security. Many followed run-ins with law enforcement, the department said, with assault, drunk driving, theft and drug offenses the leading causes, alongside reckless driving, sexual assault, child abuse and fraud.
BROOMFIELD, Colo. and AUSTIN, Texas, Aug. 11, 2026 — Quantinuum and Oracle today announced a multi-year strategic partnership to bring quantum computing to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). Under the partnership, OCI customers will be able to directly access Quantinuum’s Helios, the most accurate commercial quantum computer in the world, through OCI’s quantum service, alongside OCI’s high-performance computing (HPC) and GPU infrastructure.
Together, Quantinuum and Oracle plan to explore how hybrid quantum-AI infrastructure could address some of the most computationally intensive challenges facing enterprises and broaden access for universities and research institutions advancing scientific discovery and education. The partnership reflects a shared vision that the future of enterprise computing will be built on the convergence of AI, classical supercomputing, and quantum computing. Many complex problems across materials discovery, drug development, logistics, energy, and financial modeling already push the limits of today’s computing architectures.
“We believe the next phase of enterprise computing will be shaped by bringing quantum, AI, and high-performance computing together,” said Dr. Rajeeb Hazra, President and CEO of Quantinuum. “Deploying Helios inside OCI gives Quantinuum and Oracle an opportunity to create a unique deeply integrated environment for hybrid workloads, explore enterprise use cases with customers, and accelerate commercial adoption.”
Quantum computing offers a fundamentally different approach to computation with the potential to address problems that are impractical for traditional systems alone. In addition, quantum computing uses significantly less energy than supercomputers. A single Helios system has an estimated power draw of less than one percent of the draw reported for leading supercomputers, offering a lower power complementary resource for suitable hybrid workloads.
“AI has changed what organizations can imagine, and we believe quantum computing can expand what they’re able to solve,” said Mahesh Thiagarajan, Executive Vice President of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure. “By bringing Quantinuum’s Helios to Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, we want to give developers a practical and secure way to explore how quantum computing could complement their existing AI and HPC workloads on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure while improving compute efficiency and energy use.”
With Quantinuum’s Helios on OCI, customers can expect to gain managed, secure access to cloud-hosted quantum computing without having to procure, install, or operate dedicated hardware or specialized facilities. Helios, launched commercially in November 2025, is Quantinuum’s third-generation quantum computer. The 98-physical-qubit trapped-ion system has been used in demonstrations involving 48 logical qubits and achieves an average two-qubit gate fidelity of 99.921%, exceeding the widely cited “three 9s” threshold. Helios is designed for hybrid integration with classical HPC and AI environments.
By operating on-premises within OCI’s infrastructure, Helios is anticipated to be able to integrate seamlessly with existing OCI compute, networking, storage, identity, and data services under the same governance and access controls customers already use. Oracle plans to preview its OCI quantum service in the coming months, giving developers a streamlined way to move from simulation to execution on real quantum computing hardware. The planned OCI quantum service is expected to combine Quantinuum’s development stack with support for open-source hybrid-programming frameworks, helping developers build, test, and refine quantum-classical applications more efficiently.
New Possibilities for Hybrid Quantum-AI Computing
“Our roadmap includes exploring classical-quantum hybrid computing to accelerate scientific discovery,” said Johannes Blaschke, Head of Scientific Computing, GBI at Ellison Institute of Technology. “QPUs promise to unlock new insights as they are very different from the hardware that we are used to. So having both GPUs and QPUs available within OCI would provide an all-in-one platform, simplify the operation of novel hardware, and help us move at speed from concept to execution by allowing our researchers to focus on innovation. It could herald in an exciting new phase for our work.”
“As quantum computing moves closer to enterprise adoption, simplifying how organizations access and integrate quantum resources has become just as important as advancing the hardware itself,” said Heather West, PhD, Global Quantum Research Lead at IDC. “Deploying quantum systems within private cloud environments enables organizations to integrate quantum computing into existing AI and HPC workflows through familiar cloud infrastructure and development tools, reducing barriers to adoption and making hybrid quantum-classical computing a practical part of enterprise IT.”
About Quantinuum
Quantinuum is a leading quantum computing company offering a full-stack platform designed to make quantum computing deployable in real-world environments. The company has commercially deployed multiple generations of trapped-ion based quantum systems built on the well-established QCCD architecture, which it has implemented with novel designs and capabilities to achieve the industry’s highest accuracy levels based on average two-qubit gate fidelity. Quantinuum has active engagements with market leaders across pharmaceuticals, material science, financial services, and government and industrial markets, as well as academic and research institutions globally. The company has a global workforce of approximately 800 employees, including top scientists and researchers. Over 70% of its technology team holds PhDs or Master’s degrees. Quantinuum’s headquarters is in Broomfield, Colorado, with additional facilities across the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Qatar, and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.quantinuum.com.
About Oracle
Oracle offers integrated suites of applications plus secure, autonomous infrastructure in the Oracle Cloud. For more information about Oracle, please visit us at www.oracle.com.
20-year-old injured right knee during Thorns training
Midfielder had five goals and five assists this season
Moultrie likely to miss Concacaf W Championship
Portland Thorns midfielder Olivia Moultrie has been placed on the season-ending injury list because of an ACL injury, the National Women’s Soccer League team announced Tuesday.
Moultrie, who also plays for the US national team, injured her right knee during training last week, the team said.
Democratic socialist is frontrunner in four-way race to face Republican Tom Tiffany in test of anti-establishment mood
Wisconsin voters will decide on Tuesday whether to nominate a democratic socialist for the state’s highest office in the latest test of an anti-establishment wave among Democratic primary voters.
Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist state lawmaker, emerged as the frontrunner in a four-way race to succeed Tony Evers, the Democratic governor who is not seeking another term.
Earlier this month, however, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss the case, citing new information that the damage was caused by a "botched installation" by a contractor, not vandalism.
(The Center Square) – U.S. existing-home sales fell 1.7% in July to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.06 million even as prices climbed again, according to the National Association of Realtors.
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice has broadened the interpretation of “executive privilege,” a statute that shields certain sensitive presidential communications from public, judicial or congressional oversight.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: As AI models gain advanced capabilities to find vulnerabilities in software, develop ways to exploit them, and even carry out autonomous hacking sprees, researchers offered a sobering new example on Tuesday, disclosing vulnerabilities in the video conferencing platform Zoom that could have been exploited to take over targets' devices. Anyone on a call that involved screen sharing, whether participants or the host, would have been vulnerable to a silent attack that could be carried out with no indication and no interaction from the victim.
Researchers from the digital defense firm A Security say thebugwas discovered in early June using publicly available AI models, and that it took fewer than 20 prompts to uncover the vulnerabilities and create a working attack. Zoom issued a security advisory on Tuesday, including details about fixes the company has already begun rolling out to address the flaws, which affected devices running all operating systems that Zoom supports -- Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, and Android.
The vulnerabilities were specifically in the protocol used to facilitate real-time annotation during screen sharing. The researchers say that their AI bug hunting systems specifically delved into this component because, like human bug hunters, they have been trained that convoluted and obscure functions often contain overlooked vulnerabilities. This is particularly true with proprietary, closed-source software. An established company like Zoom presumably does extensive code review and vetting on all components and functions, but without the benefit of public, open review, esoteric yet complex features like annotation are more likely to contain mistakes. The bugs are now patched, with Zoom issuing both server and client-side fixes—or patches for both Zoom's own servers and the applications that run on customer devices. But the researchers emphasize that it was alarming to contemplate bugs that could have been exploited to take over a target device simply by getting someone onto a Zoom call. "What is interesting for us and what we believe is dangerous is the democratization of these capabilities -- the barrier to entry is dropping rapidly," A Security cofounder Omer Gull told WIRED ahead of the disclosure. "Before it would have taken a team of five people maybe six months with a lot of refining and iteration to find this. Now people can reach the same results with under 20 prompts. And Zoom is an important type of target because people assume trust when using it. They don't see it as a threat."
It’s Rivals Week in the W, and it’s already given us so many spicy viral moments. But when I look at the matchups that headline the schedule, it made me think of all the different rivalries that have come and gone throughout the league’s 30 years – some rooted in half-court buzzer-beaters, others in baseline jumper buzzer-beaters. Moral of the story: if there’s a buzzer-beater involved, it’ll likely turn into a team rivalry.
And while there are tense rivalries, there are also fierce friendships in this league. The ones that make you giggle to yourself when they wind up guarding each other during a game, or they show off a special celebration as teammates. Today, I want to highlight both – because both are what makes the W worth watching.
The War Department delivered its unreleased annual report on civilian casualties to members of Congress on Tuesday, two government officials told The Intercept — one of whom called the report “a fucking joke.” The report found that U.S. attacks likely killed or wounded hundreds of civilians.
The other official deemed the report, which covers allegations of civilian harm stemming from military attacks in Iran, Somalia, Yemen, and the campaign of boat strikes in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, a “total whitewash.” It’s the latest in a series of recent Pentagon reports that have called attention to U.S. failures to prevent, mitigate, or adequately track civilian harm after self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth gutted civilian harm mitigation and response or CHMR programs.
Shockingly, the Pentagon’s review of its 2025 attacks found that no civilians were killed in the Trump administration’s campaign of boat strikes, according to the officials, despite the fact that the U.S. killed more than 120 civilians last year in attacks that experts call extrajudicial killings or outright murder. The Trump administration has asserted repeatedly and without evidence that the boat strike victims, who now number more than 220, were “narcoterrorists.” In a classified briefing last fall, a high-ranking officer on the Pentagon’s Joint Staff said that some of the people killed in the initial September 2, 2025, attack may have been the victims of human trafficking, according to an Intercept investigation.
“They have absolutely no credibility,” the second official told The Intercept about the boat strike claims, adding that the report was “sickening.”
Known as the 1057 report, this year’s accounting of civilian casualties reflects a backlog of incidents from the Trump administration’s strikes against Yemen’s Houthi government in the spring of 2025. The report found that U.S. attacks killed 153 civilians and wounded almost 250 during the campaign of air and naval strikes, codenamed Operation Rough Rider. The second official called these “lowball numbers.” At least 238 civilians were killed and 467 injured, according to the Yemen Data Project.
One attack killed 68 people, the second official said. That attack on an immigrant detention center in Yemen killed and injured dozens of Ethiopian civilians and no combatants and was detailed in a report by Amnesty International shared with The Intercept last year. At the time, U.S. Central Command said it was still “assessing all reports of civilian harm resulting from operations during that time period.”
The 1057 report determined that three incidents “likely” harmed civilians, according to the second official. Another 15 attacks are still under review, he said.
“The idea CENTCOM still has fifteen cases on Yemen to adjudicate doesn’t bode well for the war in Iran,” said the first official. Both officials spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the report.
Under Section 1057 of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the Pentagon is required to provide Congress and the public with data on civilian harm, mitigation steps, and assessments. The officials said the Pentagon had sent the report to members of the Armed Services Committees.
The report does not cover Trump’s ongoing failed war on Iran, which the United States and Israel launched in February, because it includes only military attacks from 2025. The second government official said that the number of incidents of civilian harm to investigate from the current war with Iran will dwarf the number in Yemen. Reports of civilian harm were recorded every day from the beginning of the war on February 28 to the first ceasefire on April 8, according to the U.K.-based air strike monitoring group, Airwars. The World Health organization put the death toll in Iran at 3,375 people — before the ceasefire fell apart last month.
The second official said the backlog would likely carry over several years, referencing the fact that the 10-person civilian harm mitigation team at CENTCOM has been reduced to just one individual. The first official echoed the same concerns. “How will they get through hundreds of cases for Iran if their one civilian harm person still hasn’t finished Yemen?” they asked.
Currently, CENTCOM is clinging to the fiction that the U.S. attack on the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, that killed more than 150 people, most of them children, is the lone civilian harm incident of the current war. “There is one active civilian casualty investigation from the 13,629 munitions,” Admiral Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM chief, told members of the Senate Armed Services Committee in May.
The Annual Report on Civilian Casualties in Connection with U.S. Military Operations in 2025 comes after Hegseth’s Pentagon has spent more than a year slashing measures to prevent civilian casualties, including firing the military’s top lawyers, who advise leaders on international laws of armed conflict.
A group of Democratic lawmakers told Hegseth in a July letter that his “gutting civilian harm mitigation and response (CHMR) efforts” has left the Pentagon unable to “comply with the law and its congressionally-mandated CHMR responsibilities.” They added: “The Trump administration — potentially in violation of federal law — has defunded and impeded civilian protection efforts.”
That letter, sent by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and nine other lawmakers, echoed concerns raised by a War Department inspector general report that described civilian protection efforts as largely “inactive.” The May report by the Pentagon’s top watchdog says cuts to civilian harm mitigation and response efforts have been so severe under Hegseth that the United States cannot adequately protect civilians in conflict zones or track harm when it occurs.
These criticisms were echoed in an another-yet-unreleased official report revealed by The Intercept that found Hegseth’s Pentagon gutted its premier center devoted to preventing civilian casualties in war zones. The War Department’s Civilian Protection Center of Excellence slashed its staff from 40 personnel in January 2025 to just nine by the end of the year, according to the report.
“In the coming months, the Department will submit its annual report regarding casualties resulting from United States military operations during the 2025 calendar year,” a Pentagon official told The Intercept when asked about the U.S. officials’ comments. “We have nothing to preview or announce at the moment.”
Justice department is asked to weigh new charges against David Hearn after US attorney dropped vandalism charges
The White House has asked the Department of Justice to weigh new charges against a former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, according to a person familiar with the matter, pushing to revive a case Donald Trump has fumed about ever since an ally dropped the case citing insufficient evidence.
Jeanine Pirro, the US attorney for the District of Columbia, dropped the charges against the man, David Hearn, on 31 July, blaming a contractor for a flawed installation. In a 20-page filing dismissing the charges, Pirro’s office said it had received evidence that damage to the pool occurred before Hearn visited it, and that “it is difficult to attribute the widespread damage to the Reflecting Pool to vandalism, let alone to establish that fact beyond a reasonable doubt.” Hearn has maintained that he reached in the water to touch a piece of already detached lining while he was on a bike ride in June.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order recommending that children be routinely vaccinated for 11 diseases rather than the 18 formerly advised.
Announcing the order at an Aug. 10 Oval Office event, Trump repeated his opinion that American children receive too many shots, and that this could be putting them in danger.
Trump falsely compared the amount of vaccine fluid being injected into children with common consumer products.
“And I saw this early on, and I’ve seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination thing, looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child’s body,” Trump said. At other times during his remarks, he compared the amount of vaccines injected into children with a “large glass” or even “seemingly … gallons.”
Medical experts said such large amounts of fluid are never injected into a child at one time. A typical immunization includes half a milliliter (or mL) to 1 mL of fluid. The vast majority of shots are 0.5 mL or less. That’s about one-tenth of a teaspoon.
By comparison, a standard plastic, single-serve bottle of soda holds 591 mL. So any single vaccination contains about one one-thousandth of the fluid a soda bottle holds.
Put another way, it would take over 1,000 vaccine doses to fill a single 20-ounce soda bottle.
“The volume comparison is off by a very large margin,” said Dr. Matthew B. Laurens, a professor of pediatrics, medicine and pathology and an associate director of the University of Maryland’s Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. “No routinely administered childhood vaccine comes remotely close to 591 mL in a single dose.”
The White House did not respond to an inquiry for this article.
Combination vaccines reduce the fluid amount
Many childhood vaccines are administered in a child’s first two years of life to protect against vaccine-preventable diseases. These vaccinations are frequently spread out across several doses and scheduled to create the most protective immune response. For efficacy and convenience, a doctor may recommend a child receive multiple doses in a single visit. That doesn’t necessarily mean several shots, though.
Frequently these doses are offered in combination vaccines, allowing parents of young children to opt for fewer injections at each visit. Vaxelis, for example, combines doses of diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, Hib and hepatitis B immunizations into a single shot.
Combination vaccines still have 0.5mL of liquid. Based on the 2024 vaccine schedule, a baby at the two-month appointment could receive all six recommended vaccine doses in two injections and one oral administration of drops, for example. That would equal 1 mL of injections in that visit.
Under that same pre-Trump schedule, it was possible, with the maximum use of combination vaccines, for a 2-year-old to be fully vaccinated with as few as 12 injections and some oral drops. That could have amounted to up to 19 or 20 injections, when vaccines for COVID-19, flu and RSV were included.
In his executive order, Trump seeks to split up combination vaccines into multiple shots. Paradoxically, this could mean more fluid being injected into a child’s body over time.
In his remarks, and in the executive order, Trump specifically targeted the measles, mumps and rubella (or MMR) vaccine, which in the U.S. is only available as a single shot. Children receive two doses of the MMR vaccine.
“If you separate it to its component parts, you make a two-dose vaccine a six-dose vaccine with no advantage,” said Dr. Paul Offit, pediatric infectious disease doctor at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It doesn’t make it safer. It doesn’t make it more effective. It just means more shots.”
Even if a parent wanted to have each vaccine dose administered in a separate syringe, the collective amount of fluid wouldn’t come close to the amount of liquid Trump said.
The 2024 vaccine schedule rarely recommends more than six doses in a single visit (often given in combination). If a child received 10 separate vaccine injections in one appointment, it would still total a teaspoon’s worth of liquid.
Our ruling
Trump said there are vaccines the size of a “bottle of soda … poured into a little child’s body.”
Such a large amount of fluid is never injected into a child during vaccination — neither during one injection nor during all injections combined. A typical immunization includes 0.5 mL of fluid. A standard 20-ounce plastic, single-serve bottle of soda holds 591 mL of liquid. It would take over 1,000 vaccine doses to fill that bottle.
Cornerback loses consciousness during joint practice
Team indicate 24-year-old is recovering well
New York Jets cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers was taken to a hospital by ambulance after he briefly lost consciousness during a joint practice with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Tuesday.
Jets coach Aaron Glenn said the 24-year-old Stiggers was conscious and talking on the field before being put on a stretcher and taken for further examination. There was no immediate word on Stiggers’ condition, but Glenn indicated the cornerback was recovering well.
Aug. 11, 2026 — What if scientists could get a taste of discovery as soon as their experiment finishes? Thanks to a new machine learning tool called DONUT, researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory are transforming how experiments are run at the Advanced Photon Source (APS), a DOE Office of Science user facility. By delivering results in real time, DONUT allows scientists to make faster decisions, adapt their experiments on the fly and unlock deeper insights into the structure of advanced materials. This breakthrough will accelerate research and also lower barriers for new users — no sprinkles required.
DONUT makes it easier to cut through layers of complex data and reach the sweet spot of scientific discovery, turning X-ray measurements into real-time insights for researchers at the APS. (Image by ChatGPT.)
DONUT, short for Diffraction with Optics for Nanobeam by Unsupervised Training, is a physics-aware neural network. This means the tool is built with an understanding of the physical laws that govern how focused X-ray beams interact with materials.
Developed and tested using data from the Hard X-ray Nanoprobe beamline shared by the APS and the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), DONUT helps scientists quickly interpret complex X-ray images produced by scanning X-ray nanodiffraction microscopy (SXDM), revealing the internal structure of materials at the nanoscale. The CNM is also a DOE Office of Science user facility at Argonne.
Until now, analyzing this data has been a slow and painstaking process, often taking weeks or months. With DONUT, researchers can get results in real time, sometimes hundreds of times faster than traditional methods.
“DONUT lets us see what’s happening inside materials as the experiment unfolds,” said Aileen Luo, assistant computational scientist at Argonne and Cornell University. “Instead of waiting for weeks to find out if an experiment worked, we can now get answers on the spot. That means more productive experiments and more opportunities for discovery.”
A Sweet Solution to a Tough Problem
SXDM is a powerful technique that uses a focused X-ray beam to scan across a sample, collecting information about its crystal structure. This helps scientists understand how materials behave in technologies such as batteries, catalysts that speed up chemical reactions and advanced electronic or magnetic devices. However, SXDM generates complex data with multiple layers and dimensions, making it challenging for scientists to analyze and interpret.
Traditionally, scientists have relied on manual comparisons between measured and simulated X-ray patterns, a process that is both time-consuming and prone to errors. DONUT changes the recipe by combining artificial intelligence (AI) with a built-in physics model. This allows the system to learn directly from experimental data, without needing labeled training examples, where each X-ray pattern must first be matched with the correct answer by experts or simulations — a major advantage for busy beamline users.
“DONUT is flexible and customizable,” said Mathew Cherukara, a computational scientist and group leader at Argonne. “You can train it on the data you collect at the start of the experiment and even adjust what you want it to predict during the experiment. It’s like having a fresh DONUT recipe for every new scientific question.”
Rolling Out Real-Time Science
The speed and accuracy of DONUT make it possible for scientists at the APS to try new kinds of experiments, including autonomous “self-driving” research, where the next step is chosen automatically based on the latest results. This is especially helpful for studies that test materials in real-world conditions, where things can change quickly and researchers need to respond right away.
“Being able to analyze data as it’s collected means researchers can make decisions on the fly,” said Luo. “It’s a gamechanger for experiments that need quick feedback. No more waiting for the dough to rise.”
DONUT’s approach also lowers the barrier for new users at the APS and CNM, including graduate students and visiting scientists, by eliminating the need for expert-labeled datasets. Traditionally, preparing labeled data requires significant time and specialized knowledge because experts must carefully analyze or simulate each dataset to assign the correct labels. This process can slow down research and limit participation to those with advanced training.
This capability is especially valuable as the upgraded APS delivers brighter X-ray beams and collects data at much higher speeds. With DONUT, researchers can keep up with the rapid pace of data generation, making real-time decisions and exploring new types of dynamic experiments. This combination of advanced machine learning and the upgraded APS promises to accelerate discoveries across materials science and beyond.
The Next Bite: DONUT’s Future
The team is now working to expand DONUT’s impact from real-time analysis to experimental automation. Efforts are underway on new flavors of DONUT for autonomous microscopy, where AI tools could help guide portions of experiments without constant human input. They are also exploring how DONUT’s physics-aware approach could help solve challenges in other advanced imaging techniques, which generate similarly complex datasets that require sophisticated analysis.
Looking ahead, DONUT’s physics-aware training framework is expected to support major initiatives like the DOE’s Genesis Mission. DONUT forms the foundation for the light and neutron source project of Genesis, a bold national initiative that aims to double scientific productivity and accelerate innovation through AI. This will help scientists across disciplines tackle new scientific questions and make the most of next-generation research facilities.
No actual donuts were harmed in the making of this research. But the results are sure to fuel scientists’ hunger for discovery.
Other contributors to this work include Tao Zhou, Ming Du and Martin Holt (Argonne) and Andrej Singer (Cornell University).
This study was funded by the DOE Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Basic Energy Sciences. This work was also supported by the DOE Office of Science, Office of Workforce Development for Teachers and Scientists.
Spotify will begin labeling AI-generated artist identities with "AI Persona" badges and exclude their music from editorial, algorithmic, and personalized recommendations unless users explicitly follow them. The company says the designation applies to whether an artist profile represents a real person, not whether AI was used to make the music, and will allow appeals for mislabeling. TechCrunch reports: While Spotify will allow artists to identify themselves as AI Personas, the company says it won't rely on self-disclosure alone. It will also review artist profiles and identify those where the artist's name and imagery appear to represent photorealistic AI-generated identities. Spotify said it will begin its review with profiles that have met pre-defined audience thresholds to ensure the more listened-to artists are covered first.
Once labeled, the AI Persona badges will appear on the artist's profile in the banner and the About section, in Search, and on track rows across playlists. By default, Spotify won't include AI Personas in its editorial or algorithmic recommendations, nor will it add AI Personas' music to users' personalized recommendations -- unless they happen to follow an AI Persona. Only users can choose to follow an artist, so it's an explicit signal that the user wants to hear more music from that person or group. Spotify wrote in its announcement that, "while we believe all artists have creative choice in determining how they present themselves, Spotify's programming is focused on elevating music from authentic artists building careers in music."
"Although there's a broad spectrum in how artists use AI as a creative tool, the question of whether a profile represents an actual human is one where Spotify can help make a clear determination. This badge is about the artist's public identity, not about how the music was made," the company said.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 11, 2026 — Elemental Machines, a pioneer in life sciences operational intelligence, today announced the launch of Resources Manager, its asset intelligence platform, designed to enable life sciences teams to move beyond simple asset monitoring and manage the operational context around their equipment, locations, schedules, and records. Resources is designed to work alongside existing enterprise asset management systems or to stand on its own as an asset management and intelligence solution for teams building that capability for the first time.
“Lab teams shouldn’t have to chase the truth across spreadsheets, file shares, and siloed systems,” said Rob Estrella, Chief Executive Officer of Elemental Machines. “Resources puts every asset, location, schedule, and record into one operational view, so teams can act faster, reduce risk, and move through audits with confidence.”
Resources unifies three critical parts of lab operations: asset and location information, scheduling, and file and record storage. The platform provides teams with a centralized operational view of every asset, where it lives, when it is available or in use, and which records are associated with it.
Labs are under increasing pressure to improve efficiency, ensure compliance, and justify capital investments. Resources brings asset-specific operational context into one connected system, giving teams a clearer view of what they have, where it is, how it is being used, and what needs attention.
Through the intelligence platform, teams can organize equipment, sensors, and locations in a real-world hierarchy, from office parks and buildings down to rooms, benches, instruments, and connected devices. The platform supports both connected and unconnected equipment, enabling teams to manage the full lab environment whether an asset is actively monitored or simply tracked, scheduled, documented, and maintained.
The revamped Calendar experience extends this operational view into daily lab coordination, helping teams manage reservations, maintenance, calibration, downtime, and availability in one shared schedule. By connecting assets and locations with calendars and records, Resources helps teams align work with actual usage while reducing manual coordination across spreadsheets, emails, and disconnected systems.
“Reliable lab operations start with reliable asset management and intelligence,” said Sridhar Iyengar, Ph.D., Founder and Chief Strategy & Technology Officer of Elemental Machines. “Linking equipment, data, documentation, scheduling, and location context enables teams to make faster, better-informed decisions, whether Resources is complementing an existing system or serving as the foundation.”
The platform also supports regulated environments through built-in compliance capabilities, including timestamped histories, role-based access, validation and change-control support, and audit-ready file and record storage. Advanced analytics and AI-driven insights are opt-in and governed by customer SOPs.
Elemental Machines’ Intelligent Operations Platform transforms raw lab and facility data into intelligence you can act on. Built by scientists and engineers who understand the demands of modern research and manufacturing environments, we connect the physical and digital worlds to simplify, optimize, and future-proof operations. From incubators to enterprise-level sites, our ecosystem combines wireless sensors, utilization tracking, custom dashboards, interactive floorplans, business intelligence tools, and seamless integrations with systems like LIMS, MES, QMS, CMMS, and ELNs, giving teams complete visibility, predictive insights, and audit-ready compliance tools. Leaders in science, facilities, and technology worldwide trust Elemental Machines to help them act faster, reduce operational risk, and shift from reactive to proactive management. With the industry’s most expansive integration library and a robust partner ecosystem, we empower organizations to accelerate innovation, ensure scientific integrity, and get more value from every asset.
In July, Donald Trump hid in a catering truck and reportedly secretly switched planes in a security ruse prompted by a credible Iranian assassination threat.
The Guardian breaks down the footage from that day, showing how the president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight. Trump’s actual location was concealed from journalists and some White House staff, who thought they were traveling with Trump on the older plane
The Social Security Administration is expanding its list of diseases and other health conditions that may qualify for accelerated approval of disability benefits.
Reform deputy leader condemned for seeking disclosure of documents that could reveal reporter’s sources
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice has been accused of using “nasty tactics” in an attempt to intimidate journalists and deflect attention from his own financial affairs after issuing a legal threat to the Guardian.
In a letter sent from his lawyers, a Guardian correspondent was singled out for her reporting on a series of Tice’s financial transactions that were referred to the National Crime Agency.
SALT LAKE CITY, Aug. 11, 2026 — Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox has signed an executive order establishing the Utah Quantum Initiative, a statewide effort to accelerate research, commercialization, workforce development and advanced manufacturing in quantum technology.
Credit: rarrarorro/Shutterstock
The executive order makes quantum technology a priority in Utah’s economic strategy and establishes a Quantum Coordination Council led by the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED). The council will bring together leaders from state government, higher education and industry to coordinate Utah’s quantum strategy and better position the state for private investment and federal opportunities.
“Quantum technology is going to change how we compute, communicate, manufacture, discover new medicines and defend our country, and Utah has the people and infrastructure to help lead that transformation,” Gov. Cox said. “We already have world-class researchers, a strong semiconductor and advanced manufacturing base, a growing technology sector and important defense assets. This initiative is about connecting those strengths, building a workforce ready for what comes next and making sure the technologies of the future are invented, built and put to work here in Utah.”
Quantum technology applies the principles of quantum physics to create new capabilities in computing, sensing and communications. While many of these technologies are still developing, they have the potential to solve certain problems beyond the practical reach of today’s computers, create extraordinarily precise sensors and enable advances across national security, medicine, energy, manufacturing and other industries.
Utah enters this emerging field with several advantages. The state’s universities have research strengths in quantum sensing, photonics and quantum materials, supported by high-performance computing infrastructure that can be used for quantum simulation and hybrid classical-quantum computing. Utah also has an established semiconductor, electronics and advanced manufacturing sector that could play an important role in producing and integrating the specialized hardware quantum systems require.
The initiative will also connect quantum research with industries where Utah already has significant expertise, including aerospace and defense, life sciences and biotechnology. Hill Air Force Base, Dugway Proving Ground and Utah’s broader defense ecosystem provide potential pathways for testing and deploying quantum sensing, timing and communications technologies. Utah’s life-sciences sector could also benefit from advances in quantum computing for applications such as molecular simulation and drug discovery.
“Utah doesn’t need to build a quantum ecosystem from scratch — many of the pieces are already here,” said Jefferson Moss, commissioner of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development. “Our job is to connect our researchers, manufacturers, entrepreneurs, investors and workforce around a common strategy. If we do that well, Utah can become a place where quantum discoveries move from the laboratory into companies, products and real-world applications.”
The Utah Quantum Initiative builds on growing federal investment in quantum information science and technology. On June 22, President Donald J. Trump signed Executive Order 14413, “Ushering in the Next Frontier of Quantum Innovation,” establishing a federal strategy to accelerate the development and commercialization of quantum computing, sensing and networking. The federal order also directs agencies to strengthen domestic quantum supply chains, expand the quantum workforce and support new research infrastructure and user facilities.
Utah’s executive order is designed to position the state to compete as those federal investments move forward. Among its priorities, the Utah Quantum Initiative will:
Build on Utah’s strengths in quantum sensing, photonics, semiconductor manufacturing and high-performance computing;
Develop a quantum-ready workforce through career pathways, education and apprenticeship opportunities;
Accelerate commercialization of quantum technologies and support quantum-enabled companies and pilot projects;
Coordinate Utah’s pursuit of federal quantum funding and strengthen domestic supply chains;
Develop a defense-sector strategy focused on quantum sensing and communications;
Build greater public understanding of quantum technology and Utah’s role in the industry; and
Identify policy and funding recommendations to advance the initiative in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Budget and legislative leaders.
The initiative will be led by GOED, with the Nucleus Institute invited to serve as co-lead. Its Quantum Coordination Council will include representatives from state government and higher education, with additional university, industry, government and legislative partners invited to participate.
By March 30, 2027, the council will deliver a statewide quantum landscape report mapping Utah’s research infrastructure, manufacturing capacity and workforce assets. The report will help identify gaps and opportunities as Utah works to attract investment, support commercialization and compete for federal quantum programs.
The executive order takes effect immediately and remains in effect through Dec. 31, 2028.
Read the full executive order establishing the Utah Quantum Initiative here.
Health system ranks No. 5 in Philadelphia region and earns highest U.S. News rating in 13 procedures and conditions
NEWARK, Del. — ChristianaCare has again been named Delaware’s top hospital by U.S. News & World Report, while also ranking among the five highest-rated hospitals in the Philadelphia metropolitan area.
The health system ranked No. 1 in Delaware and No. 5 in the Philadelphia region in U.S. News’ 2026-27 Best Hospitals rankings released Tuesday. ChristianaCare also earned “High Performing” ratings in 13 adult procedures and conditions, the publication’s highest distinction in those categories.
The recognition continues a run of national rankings and patient-safety awards for one of Delaware’s largest health care providers.
“Awards and rankings like these are really about our people,” said Dr. Kert Anzilotti, ChristianaCare’s chief physician executive and president of its Medical Group. “This recognition reflects the talent, teamwork and commitment of our caregivers, who come to work every day focused on delivering safe, high-quality care and an exceptional experience for our patients and families.”
High marks across major areas of care
ChristianaCare received High Performing ratings for back surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, colon cancer surgery, gynecological cancer surgery, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, hip fracture, hip replacement, knee replacement, leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, lung cancer surgery, prostate cancer surgery and stroke.
The list includes several areas that involve complex or highly specialized care, including cancer treatment, cardiovascular surgery and stroke services.
U.S. News evaluates thousands of hospitals nationally, examining factors that include patient outcomes, mortality rates, preventable complications and patient experience. ChristianaCare said the latest rankings were based on data drawn from more than 800 million patient-care records.
The High Performing designation is the highest rating U.S. News awards for individual procedures and conditions.
“For nearly four decades, U.S. News has helped families and their medical providers navigate complex healthcare decisions,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, according to ChristianaCare’s announcement.
Delaware also scores well for hospital care
ChristianaCare’s ranking comes as Delaware continues to receive relatively strong national marks for health care.
ChristianaCare said the latest U.S. News Best States rankings place Delaware No. 2 nationally for hospital quality, No. 4 for overall health care quality and No. 10 for health care access.
The recognition follows ChristianaCare’s No. 1 Delaware ranking in U.S. News’ 2025-26 Best Hospitals report, when the system received High Performing designations in 14 conditions and procedures.
Other recent recognition
ChristianaCare also has received several other national quality and safety designations.
Christiana Hospital, Wilmington Hospital and Union Hospital received “A” grades in the spring 2026 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades, according to ChristianaCare. The organization also has been recognized by Newsweek in areas including maternity care, rehabilitation and overall hospital performance.
ChristianaCare also is Delaware’s only four-time Magnet-designated health care organization, a recognition associated with nursing excellence and patient care.
To Go Box
What: U.S. News & World Report 2026-27 Best Hospitals rankings
Delaware ranking: ChristianaCare, No. 1
Philadelphia metro ranking: No. 5
High Performing ratings: 13 procedures and conditions
Learn more: Visit ChristianaCare’s website or the U.S. News Best Hospitals rankings for information about hospital services, individual procedures and the ranking methodology.
Amid public concern over the impact of new technology, Silicon Valley’s use of its wealth to influence specific election races is an unwelcome development
As the huge societal ramifications of artificial intelligence have become clear, some of the tech industry’s most senior figures have taken to writing thinkpieces on what comes next. The latest to do so is Mark Zuckerberg, who this week published 6,500 words making the case for a laissez-faire approach to AI development. Worrying too much about regulation, Meta’s CEO unsurprisingly opines, could lead to the United States falling behind in the race to own the future.
Mr Zuckerberg’s plea for maximum autonomy is, of course, self-serving. Much of his essay – which airily envisions “invention superpowers” for every entrepreneur and “an abundance of jobs in the future” – reads like unadulterated tech-utopianism. But the lobbying at least has the merit of being out there in the open. As midterm elections loom in the US, darker arts are also being used to counter popular concern about what AI will mean for a host of topics, from the labour market to child safety, the environment and cybersecurity.
Paramount CEO David Ellison is threatening to begin moving the studio out of California on October 1 if state Attorney General Rob Bonta refuses to enter settlement talks over the proposed Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger. The company would reportedly move its Los Angeles headquarters first and shift most studio jobs out of the state over five years, with Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee under consideration. Variety reports: Ellison's threat to relocate Paramount in retaliation for California's Bonta leading the charge to kill the WBD deal -- a move that would include much of its studio operations, over time -- was first reported by industry newsletter Puck. In response, Bonta called Ellison's planned exit from the state an "attempt to blackmail the state into letting an illegal deal through."
"Paramount has lost the plot as it continues to lose in court," the attorney general wrote in a post on X. "It didn't work the first time -- on the eve of our July lawsuit -- and it won't work this time." Bonta has not publicly said what concessions from Paramount-WBD he would consider acceptable enough to take the lawsuit off the table. But the Democratic attorney general has said any remedies would need to be "structural" (i.e., divestments) rather than "behavioral" (e.g., imposing certain production quotas).
Oct. 1 is when Paramount will begin accruing a "ticking fee" payable to Warner Bros. Discovery shareholders of $7 million per day. The trial in the state AGs' lawsuit is scheduled to start March 2, 2027, roughly five months after that, so Paramount would be on the hook to pay around $1.2 billion to WBD shareholders by the time the trial is scheduled to conclude. (Paramount's ticking-fee payments to WBD are not due until the deal closes.) At the Aug. 5 meeting on Paramount's lot, Ellison told his 12-member senior executive team he expects Paramount to prevail in the antitrust case against the states. However, he also said that if Bonta balks at talks, Paramount will start packing up and moving out of the Golden State in less than two months.
Star, 53, says disease has metastasised to her bones and it is too late for chemotherapy
Lucy Davis, the actor best known for playing Dawn Tinsley in The Office, has said she has incurable stage four breast cancer.
The 53-year-old said she was diagnosed a year and a half ago and the disease had metastasised to her bones including her spine, right hip and ribs. She said it was too late for chemotherapy.
British driver Andy Green reached 406.320 mph in car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines
The only person to break the sound barrier in a car earned another world record on Tuesday in a show of force for hydrogen power.
British driver Andy Green reached 406.320mph (653.908km/h) in a car powered by two hydrogen internal combustion engines with a combined 1,600 horsepower, setting the record for that vehicle category, according to the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, the international governing body of motor sports.
Mike Heard used his paddle to strike gator that had latched on to swimmer in Silver River after hearing yells of ‘Gator!’
A Florida paddleboarder rescued a woman from an alligator attack in Marion county over the weekend.
On Saturday, an alligator bit the woman on the arm while she was swimming in the Silver River, according to local reports citing Marion county authorities.
Broad DDR5, LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X-compatible memory support gives developers more bandwidth, greater flexibility and improved supply resilience
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 11, 2026 — Altera today announced expanded DDR5 memory support across its Agilex FPGA portfolio with the release of Quartus Prime Pro Edition Software version 26.1.1. The update adds new DDR5, LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X-compatible memory capabilities to more Agilex FPGAs, enabling developers to build higher-performance AI, networking and embedded systems with greater flexibility to optimize bandwidth, power, board space and component availability.
Agilex FPGAs deliver flexible, high-performance memory connectivity, supporting DDR5, LPDDR5X, LPDDR5, LPDDR4, DDR4, HBM2, and other advanced memory interfaces.
Delivering More Memory Performance Across the Agilex Portfolio
Quartus Prime Pro Edition 2026.1.1 enables DDR5-6400 and LPDDR5-6400 support on Agilex7 M-Series devices, delivering higher memory bandwidth for demanding AI, networking, and embedded applications. Together with new LPDDR5 support in Agilex 3 devices and existing DDR5 and LPDDR5 support in Agilex 5 devices, these capabilities help customers optimize performance, power, board space, and long-term component availability across the Agilex portfolio.
The release also adds documented LPDDR5X device compatibility in LPDDR5-compatible mode for supported Agilex 5 and Agilex 3 devices. LPDDR5X compatibility gives customers additional qualified memory sourcing options, helping to improve supply chain optionality without requiring hardware redesigns by maintaining compatibility with existing LPDDR5 implementations.
“Today’s AI and intelligent edge applications demand more memory bandwidth and greater design flexibility,” said Mike Fitton, vice president of product and corporate marketing at Altera. “As the only FPGA solutions provider offering DDR5 memory support across its portfolio, Altera gives customers unparalleled flexibility to optimize memory architectures for AI, networking, and embedded applications. By expanding DDR5 support across the Agilex portfolio, we’re helping customers accelerate innovation while maximizing performance, power efficiency, and long-term design flexibility.”
The memory enhancements reflect Altera’s continued investment in advancing the Agilex platform long after production release. Through ongoing software, IP and documentation updates, customers can take advantage of new capabilities while preserving their existing hardware investments to achieve:
Higher performance with DDR5 and LPDDR5 support up to 6400 MT/s, delivering up to 204.8 GB/s of aggregate memory bandwidth in supported Agilex 7 M-Series configurations.
Greater design flexibility through broader support for DDR5, LPDDR5 and LPDDR5X-compatible memory devices.
Improved supply resilience through expanded qualified memory options that simplify component sourcing and lifecycle planning.
Investment protection through software and IP upgrades that preserve existing Agilex hardware and Quartus development flows.
Availability
Available today, Quartus Prime Pro Edition Software version 26.1.1 expands support for DDR5-6400, LPDDR5-6400, and LPDDR5X-compatible devices across the Agilex portfolio. Developers can download the latest Quartus release to take advantage of these new memory capabilities.
About Altera
Altera is the industry’s largest pure-play FPGA solutions provider, with an exclusive focus on delivering FPGA innovations to the broad market. The company provides a comprehensive portfolio of programmable hardware, software, and development tools that empower designers of electronic systems to innovate, differentiate, and execute with greater speed and efficiency. With industry-leading FPGAs, SoCs, and design solutions, Altera enables customers to achieve faster time-to-market, greater flexibility, and optimized performance across a wide range of applications, spanning physical AI, industrial automation, audio/video, robotics, aerospace, defense, data centers, telecommunications, and more. For more information, visit www.altera.com.
A lifeguard said a shark off the coast of Scarborough Beach in Maine grabbed onto his buoy and pulled him 5 feet underwater before he was able to get free.
School said it is pivoting away from letter-grading system to ‘curb the mental health crisis’ among college students
The University of Michigan will pivot to a pass-or-fail-style grading system, instead of letter grades, for first-semester students in an effort to “curb the mental health crisis unfolding among college-aged individuals”.
The school said in a notice on Tuesday that its goal was “to help first-year students acclimate to the demands of college and allow intrinsic motivations to guide personally meaningful academic journeys” and foster “a culture of connection and collaboration – rather than competition”.
Streaming services making inroads into live sports
Apple TV has joined the battle to win US rights to golf’s Open Championship in the streaming platform’s latest move into sport.
The Guardian has learned that Apple has had preliminary discussions with the R&A about bidding for the Open, whose current US deal with NBC expires in 2028.
TACC’s Tapis and new Trust Management System enables secure, seamless access across multiple HPC centers
Aug. 11, 2026 — The University of California, Los Angeles will lead a three-year national initiative to create a unified environment for research computing, data, and scientific applications across several National Science Foundation (NSF)-supported national computing centers and two cloud platforms. The effort is supported by a $9 million NSF award.
Credit: Shutterstock
The project will create a browser-based interface called the Interactive Discovery Laboratory (iDLab) that makes accessing and using high-performance computing, data storage, and scientific applications as easy as visiting a webpage. The platform will complement today’s command-line interface requirements with an intuitive web-based experience.
Designed to support interactive, iterative research at national scale, iDLab will enable researchers, educators, and students to discover, access, and use advanced computing and data resources through a single environment.
“Research progresses interactively,” said Amit Chourasia, principal investigator of the iDLab project and chief research data architect in UCLA’s Office of Advanced Research Computing (OARC). “Ideas are formed and tested through rapid iteration on data. These workflows are becoming more data-intensive and more computationally demanding. iDLab will serve as a front door, providing interactive access to the computing and research data capabilities of participating national computing centers.”
Building on a platform developed and piloted at UCLA called OneSciencePlace, iDLab brings together computing, data, and scientific applications in a unified environment that simplifies access to national cyberinfrastructure.
“Researchers should be able to focus on their science rather than on the complexity of the underlying technology,” said Davida Johnson, executive director of OARC. “iDLab extends our mission to make advanced research computing more accessible by providing an intuitive environment that connects computing, data, and expertise across national computing centers.”
iDLab will integrate resources across five university computing centers: the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin; the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego; the National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign; the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing at Purdue University; and the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center, operated jointly by the University of Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. The platform will also integrate two cloud providers to be selected.
TACC’s Tapis, TMS Power Secure Research Workflows Across HPC Centers
As a project partner, TACC’s role extends beyond providing computing resources.
The center is developing the software infrastructure that powers workflow automation and orchestration across participating sites and beyond through its Tapis platform. Tapis provides powerful programmable interfaces that have supported science gateways and research computing platforms for years, but iDLab represents a significant evolution by enabling researchers to execute workflows across multiple HPC facilities rather than within a single environment.
Supporting this multi-site approach requires new capabilities for securely managing identity, access, and trust across institutions. To address this challenge, TACC has developed the Trust Management System (TMS), a software platform that works alongside Tapis to federate and delegate access to user accounts across participating HPC centers. TMS provides the trust framework researchers need to securely access distributed resources while allowing institutions to maintain control over their local systems.
Although TMS has been operating successfully at TACC for two years in a single-site configuration, expanding it to support multiple HPC centers requires new development. iDLab funding will support enhancing, configuring, and deploying Tapis and TMS across partner sites. Together, Tapis and TMS form the technical foundation that enables OneSciencePlace to deliver secure, automated, and interoperable research workflows on a national scale.
“Researchers increasingly need to combine data and computing resources that reside at different institutions, but today’s systems weren’t designed to make that seamless,” said Joe Stubbs, a co-principal investigator on the project and research scientist in TACC’s Advanced Computing Interfaces group.
“With iDLab, we are building the software foundation that allows those resources to work together securely. TAPIS provides workflow automation and orchestration, and our new Trust Management System enables the identity and access management essential for multi-site collaboration. Together, these technologies will make it much easier for researchers to focus on their science instead of the complexity of moving between computing environments.”
Long-Term Vision: A Single Connected System
PI Chourasia said the project’s long-term vision is to make the nation’s research cyberinfrastructure function as a single, connected ecosystem.
“By integrating computing, research data, and scientific applications, iDLab will enable researchers and educators to pursue discovery, collaborate more effectively, train the workforce, and adopt emerging technologies and infrastructure.”
Starting today, unsolicited telemarking calls are banned in France unless consumers explicitly consent to them. Companies that violate the law can face fines of up to 375,000 euros per call, though existing customers can still be contacted with related offers. Le Monde reports: The government says the law is a response to years of consumer complaints. Authorities estimate that about three-quarters of people in France receive at least one unsolicited sales call every week, and many receive more. In 2024, 11 consumer organizations issued a joint call for a ban, denouncing "relentless harassment of consumers through countless unwanted telemarketing calls to both landlines and mobile phones -- an intrusion that has become a regular part of their daily lives."
Now, "businesses are prohibited from contacting consumers without their prior consent," said Alice Vilcot, chief of staff at the Directorate-General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Prevention of Fraud. "That consent can be withdrawn at any time." [...] Previously in France, people who wanted to avoid marketing calls had to register their number with a government-run service, but consumer groups said some call centers ignored the list. Vilcot noted that an Ireland-based company was fined 6 million euros ($6.9 million) last year for violating France's previous telemarketing rules by calling people on the no-call list.
Trump's outside advisers may now be protected from future congressional and legal investigations, according to a new opinion from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.
Jacob ‘Jake’ Whisenant died in Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness in ‘climbing-related incident’, authorities say
A 30-year-old California climber known for breaking speed records died after falling in the Sierra Nevada wilderness last week, according to authorities.
Jacob “Jake” Whisenant, from Mammoth Lakes, California, died in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon wilderness on 3 August, according to the Tulare county sheriff’s office coroner unit and the National Park Service (NPS).
Nearly 500 personnel battle Timber fire in Los Padres national forest as blaze grows to 2,000 acres
Evacuations have been ordered for areas along California’s famous Big Sur coast as a wildfire burns in the nearby steep, rugged mountains.
The Timber fire in Monterey county started on Sunday and grew to 2,000 acres by Tuesday morning, according to Cal Fire, the state’s fire agency. Nearly 500 fire personnel had been assigned to the fire in the Los Padres national forest.
PHOENIX, Arizona — Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs is making an explicit appeal to moderate Republicans and independents by choosing former Republican Mesa Mayor John Giles as her running mate in Arizona’s closely watched gubernatorial race.
Giles served as Mesa’s mayor from 2014 through 2025 and spent decades as a Republican before changing his registration to independent in May. He endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024 and used his Democratic National Convention appearance to denounce Donald Trump’s influence over the GOP.
“I was a lifelong Republican before becoming an independent because extremists shouldn’t stand in the way of getting things done,” Giles said in the campaign’s announcement.
Arizona voters will elect a lieutenant governor for the first time this November after approving the new office in 2022. Hobbs said she wanted a running mate who would put “Arizonans ahead of partisan politics.”
Her Republican opponent, Rep. Andy Biggs, has chosen former state Sen. Sine Kerr as his running mate. Biggs, a former House Freedom Caucus chairman, has closely aligned himself with Trump, creating a clear contrast with Hobbs’ effort to build a cross-party coalition.
The strategy could matter in a state where elections have repeatedly been decided by narrow margins. A recent AARP poll found Hobbs leading Biggs 52% to 44% among likely voters, although several months remain before Election Day.
NEW YORK — Four prominent U.S. human rights organizations sued the Trump administration Tuesday, arguing that its sweeping sanctions against the International Criminal Court illegally interfere with efforts to investigate genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Institute, American Friends Service Committee and Center for Constitutional Rights filed the case in federal court in New York. They are challenging President Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order authorizing sanctions against ICC judges, prosecutors and organizations assisting investigations involving U.S. or Israeli officials.
The groups say the sanctions have forced them to curtail legal representation, research and advocacy because assisting sanctioned ICC personnel can expose Americans to severe financial and criminal penalties. Their lawsuit argues that the policy violates constitutional protections for speech and association and exceeds presidential authority.
The administration escalated its campaign after the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has since pressed other nations to isolate the court, while Trump has said the effort is intended to protect Netanyahu and others from prosecution.
The United States and Israel are not ICC members and reject its jurisdiction over their nationals. The court maintains that it can prosecute crimes committed on the territory of member states regardless of the accused person’s nationality.
The lawsuit follows several other challenges to the sanctions, including cases brought by ICC judges and Palestinian advocacy groups. A federal judge previously blocked sanctions against U.N. expert Francesca Albanese after finding she was likely to succeed on a free-speech claim.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: England is on track to become one of the first countries in the world to eliminate hepatitis C, a dangerous virus that attacks the liver, figures show. The target of treating 80% of all known cases has already been met, and deaths from the virus have fallen by 36% in the last decade, just short of what is needed by 2030. Taking antiviral tablets for 8 to 12 weeks can cure more than 95% of cases. Initiatives including A&E blood tests, GP registration testing and free at-home tests have helped to find people who were previously undiagnosed, says NHS England.
NHS England says that since 2015, more than 100,000 people have been diagnosed and treated for hepatitis C, meaning the country is already meeting that target. Another goal -- a 65% reduction in hepatitis C-related mortality compared with 2015 levels -- has yet to be met, but might be before the 2030 target date. Around 50,200 adults are living with hepatitis C, figures for England in 2024 suggest. Estimates indicate 84.6% of those living with hepatitis C have been diagnosed -- just short of the 90% target. The Hepatitis C Trust says England is "on the cusp" of one of the most significant public health achievements in our country's history.
Our children should be able to visit our nation’s capital without having to think about Donald Trump and about how much he did to deface it
History has shown us how much dictators and aspiring dictators love building monuments to themselves. They enjoy reminding the world that they can do anything, no matter who is responsible for the physical labor or who will be paying the financial and human cost.
They prefer outsized structures, heroic arches, towers and columns designed to prove that their signature and their esthetic will be with us forever, even after they’re dead, though dictators often seem to believe they are too powerful to die.
Francine Prose is a former president of PEN American Center and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Critics argue US high court justice should recuse himself from upcoming fossil fuel firms’ climate accountability case
The supreme court justice Samuel Alito gained up to $2.9m from his fossil fuel interests between 2005 and 2024, a new review of financial disclosures shows.
Robert Gilman had been deteriorating rapidly in prison and was said to be in a catatonic state
Russia has freed a former US marine who had been in jail since 2022, after Vladimir Putin granted the ailing American a pardon on humanitarian grounds.
Robert Gilman, 32, an English teacher who briefly served in the US Marines, was travelling by train when he was arrested in the southern Russian city of Voronezh in January 2022 for allegedly kicking a police officer while drunk, according to Russian state media. He was later sentenced to four and a half years in prison, though his family has consistently denied the allegations against him.
Key tourist route closed and residents rallying round as battle against wildfire expected to go on for several days
The battle to contain a large wildfire spreading across the New Forest will go on for several days, experts have said, as wind changes and a desiccated landscape fuel the flames.
Smoke billowed above the deserted A31 road, the main tourist route into the New Forest national park where tens of thousands of families are on holiday, late on Tuesday while a helicopter flew above the blaze. Firefighters at the scene said they were trying to contain several hotspots across the more than 247 acres of dried heathland as winds swirled over the area.
Union chief says vote is about staff ‘warning they cannot protect the public properly’
In his pooled TV interview, Andy Burnham repeated the point he made in his Facebook post earlier (see 9.58am), saying he was confident that more could be done to free up space in the prison system (which would allow the early release system to be changed so that PC Andrew Harper’s killers are excluded). Burnham said that since becoming PM he had been pushing the system “every single day” to go further.
Explaining how extra space could be found (see 9.19am), he particularly singled out the more than 2,000 prisoners on indeterminate IPP (imprisonment for public protection) sentences. He said:
[The] plan will include issues like returning more foreign national offenders to their country of origin, and looking at the injustice of IPP sentences, which have led to young people, or young when they were imprisoned, being imprisoned indeterminately, and that clearly is unfair.
My office was in touch with the family last night [see 10.04am], and I know the justice secretary is in regular touch as well.
So, we will keep close to the family through this whole process because we understand how difficult this process has been for them.
Jensen Huang believes NVIDIA’s chips are becoming much more than expensive pieces of hardware. As AI demand grows, the NVIDIA CEO sees compute becoming a revenue-generating asset that Wall Street can finance in much the same way it finances other critical infrastructure.
Now NVIDIA is putting that idea behind a massive new initiative. The company is working with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR on financing platforms aimed at mobilizing more than $500 billion. The capital would go toward the data centers and NVIDIA systems needed by hyperscalers, frontier AI labs and enterprises as they continue to expand their AI infrastructure.
“NVIDIA has reached an important milestone. We began by building chips; today, we are helping create a new class of productive, investable infrastructure: AI factories,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA.
“In AI, compute is revenue. NVIDIA compute is uniquely suited for this role. It is broadly adopted, flexible across models and workloads, fungible and transferable across customers and operators, and continuously improved through CUDA software — extending its useful life and improving its economics over time.”
(Shutterstock/jamesonwu1972)
“It is supported by a deep global ecosystem of developers, customers and offtakers. That is why we are bringing the world’s leading long-term capital providers together to independently underwrite AI infrastructure. These financing platforms will help customers access scarce compute at scale and build the DSX AI factories that will power every industry and country in the age of AI.”
NVIDIA isn’t writing a $500 billion check. Instead, Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR will establish independently managed platforms that can draw on institutional investors, private credit, insurance capital and other sources of long-term funding.
Customers get another way to pay for increasingly expensive AI deployments without shouldering the entire investment themselves. That could become increasingly important, especially as AI clusters grow in size and complexity.
What makes this interesting is what Wall Street may ultimately be financing. We know that investors have been pouring money into data centers for years. That part is not new. The buildings, land and power infrastructure are long-lived assets that can produce fairly predictable returns. GPUs have always been a tougher sell. They are expensive pieces of technology in an industry where today’s breakthrough hardware can become yesterday’s hardware remarkably fast.
However, NVIDIA thinks AI is now changing that calculation.
For one thing, demand for compute is no longer driven only by the enormous training runs that helped kick off the generative AI boom. Inference is becoming a much bigger part of the equation. Every time a model answers a question, generates an image or an AI agent goes off and completes a task, compute is being consumed. If that demand keeps climbing, those expensive GPU clusters can keep working (and earning) around the clock.
Wall Street is paying attention to that potential.
(Shutterstock AI Generated Image)
“We’re in a pivotal moment of a historic AI investment cycle,” said Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon. “Our investment and distribution roles reflect our confidence in NVIDIA’s leadership, and we’re excited for the new opportunity to create a market for credit backed by NVIDIA compute.”
That last part is worth noting. Credit backed by NVIDIA compute. The idea is that GPUs wouldn’t simply be equipment sitting on a technology company’s balance sheet. The revenue they can produce, and the value of the hardware itself, could help support the financing used to buy and deploy them in the first place.
There is a catch, of course. NVIDIA isn’t exactly standing still. Its rapid product cycle means today’s prized GPU can be overtaken by much faster hardware within a few years. For lenders accustomed to assets that can remain productive for decades, that’s an important difference. Nobody yet knows what today’s GPU capacity will be worth five or seven years down the road.
Huang’s argument is that useful doesn’t have to mean cutting edge. NVIDIA GPUs can move between models, workloads and operators, while CUDA improvements can keep squeezing more value from hardware already in the field. And with demand for AI compute still running ahead of supply, older systems don’t necessarily become worthless just because something faster arrives.
NVIDIA has already helped create an enormous market for AI chips. Now Huang is making the case that the compute those chips produce can become a financial asset of its own.
If Wall Street buys that argument, this could become much bigger than a $500 billion financing initiative.
Prosecutors allege that Mangione gunned down Brian Thompson outside New York City hotel in December 2024
Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, appeared Tuesday morning in Manhattan state court for a final pre-trial conference, where the judge addressed contentious issues surrounding media access at the highly anticipated trial.
Judge Gregory Carro announced that there would be an overflow courtroom for the 8 September trial. The media access plan for Mangione’s case did not initially include an overflow courtroom – which is common in high-profile cases, such as Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial.
Prediction comes amid warning of ‘extreme heat’ this week with temperatures of 38C possible
The Guardian’s environment editor, Fiona Harvey, has written a useful explainer about the UK public services that are struggling in the extreme weather. You can read it in full here:
There’s only one solution in the end to the drought now declared across most of England and that’s rain, says Hannah Cloke, professor of hydrology at the University of Reading.
An important consequence of drought is that very dry soils can become less able to absorb rainfall when it does arrive. This can increase surface runoff and can even contribute to localised flash flooding, particularly if rain falls intensely over a short period.
The current situation highlights the need to improve long-term resilience to both drought and flood risk as climate variability increases, and shows one more damaging impact of the burning of fossil fuels.
The new president is a former judge on the European Court of Human Rights
Spanish foreign minister José Manuel Albares visited Ceuta earlier today, as he insisted that Madrid had it all under control despite “the most unique and complex” border arrangements there.
He said Spain was in direct dialogue with the Moroccan authorities on how to prevent another border crisis.
Prof Wyn Evans, who raised concerns over treatment of female staff at Institute of Astronomy, was subject to ‘baseless’ investigation, judge rules
A University of Cambridge whistleblower who alleged bullying of female staff inside the university’s Institute of Astronomy has won a tribunal against his employer.
Prof Wyn Evans told a tribunal hearing in June that the institute suffered from “a bad history of misogyny”. He claimed that one woman in the department had been “hounded out of a job”, another was “left a frightened woman”, and a third had faced “aggressive professors” at the institute.
By Filipa Gaspar A gold-worker from the time of Stonehenge, thought to have been a "stout man", has been revealed to be a woman - after new DNA evidence. The burial was originally excavated in 1803 by William Cunnington and…
Lawsuit challenges executive order targeting international criminal court for investigating Israeli crimes in Palestine
Four prominent US human rights organizations have accused the Trump administration of using its “crippling” sanctions regime against the international criminal court (ICC) to undermine global efforts to prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a lawsuit filed in federal court on Tuesday, the groups – the American Friends Service Committee, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Institute – argued that the administration’s targeting of the ICC, as well as of groups and individuals affiliated with it or assisting its work, amounts to a “blatantly illegal attack on international justice”, the groups said.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump threatened legal action Monday after a liberal think tank published research concluding that his National Guard deployments did not measurably reduce violent crime in U.S. cities.
The Center for American Progress analyzed crime trends before and after federal deployments using multiple datasets covering violent crime, homicide and gun violence. Its July report found no compelling evidence that Guard deployments caused crime reductions, noting that violent crime was already falling in many cities before troops arrived.
Trump responded on Truth Social by calling the analysis a “Radical Left SCAM” and attacking CAP, its funders and researcher Chandler Hall. He said he planned to sue and suggested some donors could be added to the litigation, though he did not identify a legal basis for such a case.
Hall said on C-SPAN that the analysis tested several cities and time periods and found no consistent post-deployment effect. CAP’s own framing is openly critical of the administration, calling the deployments costly and politically motivated, but its statistical conclusion is distinct from that ideological language.
Broader crime data also complicates Trump’s claim that the deployments caused recent declines. The Major Cities Chiefs Association has reported nationwide reductions in violent crime, including in jurisdictions without National Guard deployments, indicating the downward trend is broader than the administration’s intervention strategy.
Trump has repeatedly credited federal deployments for falling crime, particularly in Washington and Memphis. The CAP study does not establish that the deployments increased crime; rather, it argues the available data do not show that they caused the reductions Trump claims.
Ancient Slashdot reader Alain Williams shares a report from The Guardian: Mark Zuckerberg has faced questions over why a small cruise ship in south-east Alaska rescued a stranded skiff and its crew when his 387ft superyacht had been closer. The Silicon Valley billionaire's yacht, worth a reported $300 million, is said to have "repeatedly" declined to assist when a nearby boat called for help last week. Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms, was not on board at the time, a spokesperson told Forbes.
When a nearby 21ft skiff ran out of fuel between Petersburg and Juneau, the Alaska Beacon reported operators of a cruise ship that was further away than Zuckerberg's yacht came to the rescue. "I'm on a small-ship Alaska cruise with my son," a passenger on the UnCruise Adventures ship Wilderness Legacy posted on Bluesky. "Our boat rescued a stranded vessel last night and apparently we did that after the Coast Guard radioed Mark Zuckerberg's yacht -- which was closer -- and they repeatedly refused to respond. (There was near unanimous booing when the captain announced this)." A spokesperson for Zuckerberg told Forbes that the yacht crew had been operating on a different radio channel and "the assist was already under way" by the time they discovered the broadcast.
An American Airlines plane bound for North Carolina was forced to return to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, when flames erupted from its left engine due to an apparent bird strike.
US president demands compensation for damage incurred by US, complicating standoff with Tehran
Oil prices have see-sawed: Brent crude jumped more than 2% to just over $90 a barrel, the highest level since 31 July, but has now dipped 0.3% to $87.53 a barrel.
It went higher earlier after a small cargo ship was attacked on Tuesday by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, killing three crew members.
While any beat is positive, the scale may not be enough for investors to really get excited about.
We call on the government to act now to improve access to housing across all tenures, both by helping first-time buyers onto the property ladder and supporting the delivery of affordable and social housing for those who need it most.
Flight from Victoria to Toronto forced to return to terminal after repeated attempts to secure child in seat failed
A Canadian airline cancelled a flight from Victoria to Toronto after a child refused to wear a seatbelt.
The child was standing in their chair as the 6 August Porter Airlines flight taxied towards the runway, the airline said. Repeated attempts by an accompanying parent and crew to secure the child in their seat failed, so the crew elected to return to the terminal and have the two passengers disembark as “the aircraft could not take off in this unsafe condition”, it added.
The new PM could bring in revenue for social care or defence with a land levy or by reforming council tax
Residential property is the largest store of wealth in the UK, and has long been a target for those who believe homes should be taxed more. Real estate remains a juicy plum for Andy Burnham to pick as he searches for ways to pay for an overhaul of the social care system and higher defence spending, to name just two fiscal priorities. Yet how to tax property, or possibly the land it sits on, has vexed economists and politicians for centuries. Here we discuss the background to the debate and some of the tax options.
Billboards in Inglewood are at the heart of a high-stakes battle over advertising revenue, control of city finances and political influence as the city prepares to host massive crowds for upcoming events.
Billboards in Inglewood are at the heart of a high-stakes battle over advertising revenue, control of city finances and political influence as the city prepares to host massive crowds for upcoming events.
Music streaming platform creates ‘AI persona’ label that will appear on profiles and track listings in crackdown on fake performers
Spotify is to label AI artists and exclude them from algorithm recommendations as part of a crackdown on fake performers.
The world’s largest music streaming platform is creating a label for AI-generated artist identities called “AI personas” that will appear on the artist profile and on track listings on playlists.
Assad, who has been living in exile in Russia since his 2024 ouster, was sentenced for crimes against humanity and war crimes during the country's years-long civil war.
Baltimore officer Dequwan Houchins, 30, indicted for allegedly making false traffic stop reports for months
A Baltimore, Maryland, police officer avoided service calls by claiming he was on traffic stops when he was in fact “sitting idle in his car”, according to an indictment filed by city prosecutors.
Dequwan Houchins, 30, is accused of four counts of false entry in a public record and five counts of misconduct in office and could face 12 years in jail and a $4,000 fine for each of the false entry charges, if convicted.
According to a new report from Taiwanese publication United Daily News (UDC,) Microsoft is raising the cost of Windows license fees for hardware makers by a much higher amount than normal. According to the report, certain OEMs are seeing licensing price hikes of between 7% and 10%.
Like every other tech company diving head-first into “AI”, Microsoft is losing money on its gamble head-over-fist, with no profitability in sight. Since admitting betting the company on “AI” was a mistake is out of the question, Microsoft has to extract the money from somewhere else to make up for it. The cost of Windows licenses for OEMs is an obvious lever to pull, as OEMs really have nowhere else to turn to (yes, desktop Linux is making gains, but not in any meaningful numbers), so they’ll take hit and pass the cost on to consumers.
The end result will be that prices for laptops will increase even more than they already have thanks to the “AI”-induced RAM and component crisis, creating a double-whammy of price increases caused by “AI”, either directly or indirectly. It’s just another category of products we can add to the cost of living crisis that’s causing untold harm and damage to hardworking people all over the world.
The price of incompetence is rarely paid for by the incompetent.
First large-scale inference cluster with Together AI on IBM Cloud using NVIDIA HGX B300 systems to help enterprises run AI workloads, designed for fast and efficient production
ARMONK, N.Y. and SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 11, 2026 — IBM has announced a collaboration with Together AI to deliver IBM and NVIDIA AI infrastructure. Under a multi-year $240M agreement between IBM and Together AI, IBM is positioned to deploy a large cluster of NVIDIA HGX B300 systems on IBM Cloud with expected availability in Q1 2027. Together AI will use this cluster to provide open-source model inference. This deployment is the first dedicated, large-scale cluster built for inference on IBM Cloud using HGX B300 systems and NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking. According to NVIDIA, it is built to deliver 30x more AI factory output compared to prior generations.
Credit: majestic b/Shutterstock
This collaboration aims to enable Together AI to deliver better performance and token economics to enterprises as they look to efficiently scale their AI deployments. Together AI is built on the principle that open-source models are essential for the future of AI and developers should be able to build using open, modular stacks. The company recently raised an $800M Series C financing round at an $8.3B valuation to expand its AI Native Cloud and its platform spans capabilities across inference, training, fine tuning, and agentic workflows. The company reports that it has seen significant momentum for its inference product, now serving 400 trillion tokens monthly.
Together AI selected IBM with NVIDIA because of their innovative product roadmaps and their ability to deliver GPU capacity at the pace required for rapid AI scaling and lowest token cost. Building on IBM’s expertise in delivering enterprise-grade cloud capabilities, this collaboration aims to help Together AI to continue its expansion into the enterprise space while making open-source AI more accessible to developers and enterprises around the world.
“Enterprises want the performance of the best frontier models without the closed-model price tag, and that only works if the infrastructure underneath is fast and reliable at scale,” said Vipul Ved Prakash, CEO at Together AI. “Working alongside IBM with NVIDIA gives us that foundation. This cluster lets us bring production-grade inference to more companies, faster, and it’s a big step in our push to make open-source AI the obvious choice for enterprises.”
IBM and NVIDIA Expand Collaboration to Power the Next Wave of AI Innovation
“Enterprises are in a race to adopt agentic AI at scale to drive real business outcomes,” said Alan Peacock, General Manager of IBM Cloud. “IBM and NVIDIA are delivering scalable, economical, enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that can help Together AI accelerate innovation for the next generation of AI infrastructure.”
“AI factories are becoming essential enterprise infrastructure—like electricity and telecommunications—turning compute and data into intelligence,” said Dion Harris, Senior Director, HPC and AI Infrastructure Solutions, NVIDIA. “With NVIDIA HGX B300 systems and NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking on IBM Cloud, IBM and Together AI will deliver an accelerated computing platform to help enterprises deploy open-source AI with the performance, efficiency and scale required for real-time AI services.”
This work is the latest example of a larger collaboration between IBM and NVIDIA, who continue to work together to advance AI across infrastructure and software, to deliver performance and efficiency for enterprise and startup clients. A hybrid environment on IBM Cloud powered by NVIDIA GPUs connected with NVIDIA Spectrum-X Ethernet networking and Together AI’s inference platform gives organizations a reliable foundation to build, deploy and scale AI systems. Additionally, IBM and NVIDIA recently announced progress across GPU-native data analytics, unstructured data extraction, on-premises and cloud infrastructure, and consulting services. These advancements are designed to help organizations operationalize AI at scale. For more information about the IBM and NVIDIA collaboration, visit www.ibm.com/products/gpu-ai-accelerator/nvidia.
Statements regarding IBM’s future direction and intent are subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals and objectives only.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI, and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than 175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline business processes, reduce costs and gain a competitive edge in their industries. Thousands of governments and corporate entities in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services, telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM’s hybrid cloud platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital transformations quickly, efficiently and securely. IBM’s breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing, industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM’s long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility, inclusivity and service. Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
About Together AI
Together AI is the AI Native Cloud, combining state-of-the-art open-source models, high-performance infrastructure, and frontier research in AI efficiency and scalability. Founded in 2022, Together AI powers over a million of developers and some of the world’s most demanding AI workloads, delivering production-scale inference, training, and reinforcement learning for the next generation of AI-native companies.
Fans watched her love story with her partner, Shadow, unfold near California's Big Bear Lake. She had been receiving care for an illness causing severe anemia.
SANTA BARBARA, Calif., and MIGDAL HAEMEK, Israel, Aug. 11, 2026 — OpenLight, a leader in heterogeneous III-V-on-silicon photonic integration and custom Photonic Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (PASICs), and Tower Semiconductor today announced the availability of OpenLight’s photonic Process Design Kit (PDK) for Tower Semiconductor’s PH18DA indium phosphide (InP)-on-silicon photonics platform in Cadence’s electronic design automation (EDA) tools. Developed through close technical collaboration between the companies, the PDK now enables customers to design advanced photonic integrated circuits (PICs) within a widely adopted IC design environment and accelerate development toward production.
The PH18DA ecosystem brings together OpenLight’s photonics IP, Tower’s process and manufacturing expertise, and Cadence’s leading EDA tools, enabling a streamlined path for developing advanced photonic ICs while bringing photonics design closer to established electronic IC workflows and manufacturing.
“By making our PDK available on Cadence tools, we enable customers to design photonic integrated circuits within the same environment they rely on for advanced IC development,” said Dr. Adam Carter, CEO at OpenLight. “This integration simplifies adoption and strengthens the path from design to production on the PH18DA platform.”
Designs created using OpenLight‘s PDK support fabrication on Tower’s PH18DA InP-on-silicon photonics platform, which enables the integration of active photonic components – including lasers, modulators, and amplifiers – into a single monolithic PIC. The platform supports advanced optical systems for applications such as optical interconnects, AI infrastructure, and sensing.
“In collaboration with Cadence and OpenLight, we are advancing design capabilities on the PH18DA platform through a new capability that integrates expertise across technology, IP, and EDA,” said Dr. Samir Chaudhry, Vice President of Customer Design Enablement and Reliability at Tower Semiconductor. “This approach enables customers to streamline development of 400G and 1.6T laser-integrated photonic integrated circuits, while achieving co-optimized PIC and EIC designs for improved performance, power efficiency, and scalability necessary for next-generation near- and co-packaged optics (NPO/CPO) solutions.”
“Adding the OpenLight PDK PH18DA manufactured by Tower Semiconductor to the rich portfolio of photonics processes supported by the Cadence Photonics ecosystem is a key milestone because it marks the introduction of integrated active devices for high-performance, co-optimized electro-optical designs,” said Gilles Lamant, Distinguished Engineer, Cadence.
For additional information about Tower Semiconductor’s SiPho technology platform, visit here.
For additional information about OpenLight, visit here.
OpenLight is a leader in the heterogeneous integration of III-V devices in silicon photonics. OpenLight’s world-leading PASIC technology, supported by its process design kit (PDK), integrates all active and passive components of silicon photonics devices into a single chip, enabling high-performance, energy-efficient photonics solutions across datacom, telecom, automotive, AI, and quantum computing applications and markets. The company’s recent $50 million Series A-1 funding round, bringing total funding to $84 million, reflects growing commercial momentum and accelerating customer adoption across next-generation photonics applications. The company is headquartered in Santa Barbara, California, with offices in Silicon Valley.
About Tower Semiconductor
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (NASDAQ/TASE: TSEM), the leading foundry of high-value analog semiconductor solutions, provides technology, development, and process platforms for its customers in growing markets such as consumer, industrial, automotive, mobile, infrastructure, medical and aerospace and defense. Tower Semiconductor focuses on creating a positive and sustainable impact on the world through long-term partnerships and its advanced and innovative analog technology offering, comprised of a broad range of customizable process platforms such as SiPho, SiGe, BiCMOS, mixed-signal/CMOS, RF CMOS, CMOS image sensor, non-imaging sensors, displays, integrated power management (BCD and 700V), and MEMS. Tower Semiconductor also provides world-class design enablement for a quick and accurate design cycle as well as process transfer services including development, transfer, and optimization, to IDMs and fabless companies. To provide multi-fab sourcing and extended capacity for its customers, Tower Semiconductor currently owns one operating facility in Israel (200mm), two in the U.S. (200mm), and two in Japan (200mm and 300mm) which it owns through its 51% holdings in TPSCo and shares a 300mm facility in Agrate, Italy with STMicroelectronics.
Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar says a Homeland Security Investigations agent was outside her monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota, on Thursday.
SANTA CLARA, Calif. and NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2026 — NVIDIA has announced strategic partnerships to establish independent compute financing platforms with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to mobilize over $500 billion of third-party capital for the buildout of AI infrastructure over time.
Credit: Robert Way/Shutterstock
Demand for AI infrastructure continues to accelerate as countries, governments, enterprises and startups look to drive innovation, economic growth and societal benefits. NVIDIA compute is an investable asset — one which provides the lowest token cost, highest revenue and longest life along with a rich ecosystem of offtakers built upon NVIDIA’s CUDA platform.
Memorandums of understanding signed with six of the world’s premier financial institutions to create these partnerships aim to establish the first compute financing platforms of their kind at global scale to enable the AI infrastructure buildout across NVIDIA’s ecosystem, including leading frontier AI labs, enterprises and AI clouds. Under these strategic partnerships, NVIDIA will work with Apollo, BlackRock, Blackstone, Brookfield, Goldman Sachs and KKR to create dedicated pools of capital at significant scale at attractive rates for NVIDIA customers.
“NVIDIA has reached an important milestone. We began by building chips; today, we are helping create a new class of productive, investable infrastructure: AI factories,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “In AI, compute is revenue. NVIDIA compute is uniquely suited for this role. It is broadly adopted, flexible across models and workloads, fungible and transferable across customers and operators, and continuously improved through CUDA software — extending its useful life and improving its economics over time. It is supported by a deep global ecosystem of developers, customers and offtakers. That is why we are bringing the world’s leading long-term capital providers together to independently underwrite AI infrastructure. These financing platforms will help customers access scarce compute at scale and build the AI factories that will power every industry and country in the age of AI.”
“Modern compute has emerged as a scarce, mission-critical asset class with compelling investment characteristics that is positioned to drive significant long-term economic growth and productivity gains,” said Apollo President Jim Zelter. “The combination of NVIDIA’s proprietary technology ecosystem and Apollo’s flexible, long-term capital base provides a strong foundation to support the next stage of the AI buildout as part of the broader Global Industrial Renaissance.”
“The AI buildout will require unprecedented investment and a skilled workforce to turn that investment into the infrastructure that will help power future growth,” said Larry Fink, Chairman and CEO of BlackRock. “This partnership deepens our relationship with NVIDIA, including through the AI Infrastructure Partnership, and brings together NVIDIA’s leadership in accelerated computing with BlackRock’s ability to connect long-term capital to essential infrastructure. Together, we can help deliver the compute capacity that companies need to grow and create more jobs, supporting the continued growth of the U.S. and global economies, while creating attractive, long-term investment opportunities for our clients.”
“NVIDIA has created extraordinary demand for its compute through an intense focus on customer value and versatile technology,” said Jon Gray, President and COO of Blackstone. “We continue to be enormous investors globally across the NVIDIA ecosystem, and this announcement further underscores our confidence in their platform and the future of AI infrastructure.”
“As our strategic partner, NVIDIA is enabling us to scale AI factories. We are excited about further collaboration to build and fund the backbone of AI globally,” said Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield. “With demand for large-scale AI compute growing significantly as adoption scales across industries, compute is fast becoming the essential layer of infrastructure and a core pillar of the Brookfield AI infrastructure strategy.”
“We’re in a pivotal moment of a historic AI investment cycle. NVIDIA’s full-stack platform is in high demand and uniquely positioned at the center of that global buildout,” said David Solomon, Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. “Our investment and distribution roles reflect our confidence in NVIDIA’s leadership, and we’re excited for the new opportunity to create a market for credit backed by NVIDIA compute.”
“Compute has become a critical infrastructure asset. As we’ve scaled our approach to digital infrastructure, we’ve learned that delivery, not ambition, is the hard part. That’s why we’re excited to build on our strategic partnership with NVIDIA, a founding investor in Helix Digital Infrastructure, to bring together NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform with KKR’s long-duration capital, infrastructure expertise and capital markets capabilities to turn growing demand into real capacity at extraordinary scale,” said Joe Bae and Scott Nuttall, Co-Chief Executive Officers of KKR.
These partnerships remain subject to execution of the final agreements.
I found some ambiguous wording in the c89(/c90) standard, where GCC and Clang disagree on the interpretation. It concerns the behavior of implicit function declarations, which were removed in c99, so this was never disambiguated.
Good morning. More than 130 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in main cities, including Cali and Pereira.
The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time on Monday, with its epicentre in the western department of Chocó. It was felt in neighbouring Venezuela, still reeling from a deadly double earthquake on 24 June. The quake killed at least 132 people and more than 570 were injured as of Monday afternoon, according to the Colombian Association of Capital Cities, which coordinates cities across the country.
How has the government responded? In a national address, Colombia’s president, Abelardo de la Espriella, said: “The national government has all of its capabilities deployed to protect lives, assist affected communities and deliver aid wherever it is needed. The first priority is rescuing the people trapped under the rubble. Colombia has a president whose heart aches for his people and who will do everything in his power to help them in the most difficult moments.”
Ahead of a flight from Turkey, President Trump secretly left Air Force One and was moved to another plane with the help of a catering truck, according to a source, as the U.S. grappled with a threat from Iran.
Two Senate Republicans released a set of 2021 texts that show Dr. Anthony Fauci discussing how to "weigh the potential risks against the benefits" of pregnant women taking COVID-19 vaccines.
Also: Google executives jump ship in race for AI dominance
Hello, TechScape readers! Danielle Abril, editor of the Guardian’s Reworked series on AI and the future of work, filling in for Blake Montgomery this week. Major legal battles against Meta over child safety are playing out in courts across the US – and the tech giant is losing. Recent rulings raise big questions about social media companies’ responsibility to their youngest users. Meanwhile, more key executives have jumped ship from Google as it battles OpenAI and Anthropic in the race for AI dominance, and Meta’s smartglasses face a fearsome backlash. Let’s dig in!
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong talks during a primary debate in Milwaukee, Tuesday, July 28, 2026.Photo: AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh
Francesca Hong, who looks set to become the Democratic Party’s nominee for the governor of Wisconsin, is not going to abolish Thanksgiving. This really should not require clarification, as no one seriously believes otherwise, but the fact that it does tells us what a beleaguered state the Democratic establishment finds itself in as it seeks to defeat Hong.
A 37-year-old democratic socialist, state lawmaker, and former chef, Hong has emerged as the frontrunner despite increasingly frantic efforts from her moderate opponents in the primary, who have belatedly rallied around Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley. Even with the backing of outgoing Gov. Tony Evers, Crowley looks unlikely to derail Hong’s momentum, which may explain why the last days of the campaign — the primary is today — have reeked of desperation. It’s also why the vast majority of media coverage surrounding the race is now oriented not around Hong’s policy platform but her supposedly nefarious designs against the holidays.
“Cancel Thanksgiving,” Hong wrote in a now-deleted tweet from 2020. “Should have done this in 1621. If it takes a worldwide pandemic for us to realize we should stop celebrating colonialism and the original superspreader event that killed Indigenous folx and women so be it.”
In the midst of Covid-19, the suggestion that getting everyone around the dinner table might be inadvisable should not, in any sane world, have been remotely controversial; neither should the suggestion that the truth behind Thanksgiving — that a bunch of settler-colonialist religious fanatics managed to survive their first winter in the New World, and having done so, promptly set about the work of genocide and land theft — is not a national origin story worth celebrating. Evidently, others felt much differently: Hong had impugned the sacred day of families coming together and burning down the backyard while failing to deep-fry a turkey. Obviously, this was more worthy of discussion than anything so prosaic as issues of actual relevance to Wisconsinites, such as the need for free childcare, a moratorium on data centers, or restoring the state’s Limburger industry to its former glory.
“A Democratic Socialist Disparaged Thanksgiving,” a New York Times headline ominously intoned on Wednesday. “Can Voters Forgive Her?” (The Times’ on-the-ground reporting managed to dig up precisely one Wisconsinite who would not.) In the New York Post, opinion columnist Kirsten Fleming darkly imagined Hong presiding over a dystopian socialist future with “no football and no precious family gatherings.” After the candidate’s antagonists unearthed a 2021 interview in which she said she wrestles with her “proximity to whiteness” (Hong has a biracial son), Center for American Progress President and CEO Neera Tanden challenged Hong on X: “In the kitchens you’re in, do people hate Thanksgiving? Because that all feels pretty faculty lounge to me.”
In light of the manufactured furor, an outside observer could be forgiven for thinking Hong posed some existential danger to Thanksgiving, or that her opinion of the holiday is a matter of great salience to Wisconsin’s voters. In the United States, however, governors are not empowered to dissolve national holidays, and if elected, Hong’s ability to imperil Turkey Day would be roughly equivalent to her chances of blowing up the moon. Regrettably, Hong does not represent a credible threat to Americans’ inalienable right to combine yams with marshmallows.
Hong had impugned the sacred day of families coming together and burning down the backyard while failing to deep-fry a turkey.
But the amount of media attention Thanksgiving-gate has accrued is unsurprising, as it allows the centrist commentariat yet another opportunity to pursue their favorite hobby of telling the Left it must disavow any hint of radical thought and prostrate themselves to placate “normal” people (or whatever version of them exist in pundits’ fevered imaginations). This is critically important for their grift to persist. For all their jubilant schadenfreude over the supposed “vibe shift” since Trump’s re-election, the specter of Woke can never be declared truly destroyed, as this would severely inconvenience all those commentators who have fashioned careers railing against it. In one representative example, Slate’s Luke Winkie — after admitting that he lacked the “hoity-toity intellectual hardware” to know if colonialism and the genocide of the Native Americans are good or not — advised Hong, “If they ask if you still believe in the tiresome, unpopular, and ultimately peripheral positions you took in the white heat of 2020, you can just say no.”
Hong has pretty much said exactly that, now claiming that Thanksgiving is her favorite holiday that she in no way wants to cancel (a concession that is not likely to satisfy her critics, but who knows — being forced to pretend you like Thanksgiving may actually make Hong more relatable to voters who have an uncle they hate). The notion that the historically literate might have a problem with Thanksgiving was around long before Peak Woke — it was, in fact, a plot point in a 27-year-old episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Native Americans, if you cared to ask, have been rather vocal on the subject of why many of them aren’t exactly enthused about a holiday that serves to either obscure or celebrate centuries of atrocity. Even allowing for the fact that the attacks on Hong follow a well-established right-wing tradition—let us never forget those who laid down their lives in the War on Christmas—why has such a ridiculous controversy come to dominate efforts to quash her campaign?
The answer is simple: Nothing else has worked, and that failure indicates a worrying pattern for the Democratic establishment terrified of an insurgent Left. As the numerous recent victories for DSA-backed or progressive Democratic candidates have demonstrated, attacking the Left on policy is not the winning strategy it once was. Many voters no longer recoil at the mere mention of universal healthcare, rent controls, or the dreaded “socialism.” Even centrist stalwart Jonathan Chait had to grudgingly acknowledge, after Abdul El-Sayed’s primary win in Michigan, that AIPAC spending and unconditional support for aid to Israel are now albatrosses around the necks of any Democratic candidate. Among Democrats who despair over the DSA’s rise, there is a distinct lack of enthusiasm for detail-oriented debates over why cheap groceries are a bad thing, whether there is any circumstance under which they would not throw trans people under the bus, and why abolishing the murderous, paramilitary apparatus of ICE is unthinkable.
In lieu of anything substantive or policy-based to sink their teeth into, Hong’s enemies have turned to increasingly bizarre tactics, none of which have produced their desired results. Attacks on her previous mental health challenges were widely read as the grubby, ham-fisted ratfucking that they were, and the fruitless, never-ending search continues for a plurality of Democratic primary voters who share the party establishment’s inveighing against Hasan Piker as a kind of demonic imp who must be exorcised. “Cancel Thanksgiving” was the only bullet left in the gun, which does not render it any less pathetic.
There is perhaps some deeper meaning to read into this confected controversy. Historically, painting those on the Left as un-American has been of entirely too much political utility for centrists and conservatives to abandon it now, despite its diminishing returns. If you can force a candidate to refrain from questioning America’s foundational myths, from recognizing the historical truths of colonialism and genocide rather than a fairy tale about pilgrims fleeing persecution, you place limits on how far they can go in criticizing the United States that exists today as a result of that history.
Instead, you demand devotion not to the American people—many of whom have views on the day-to-day realities of America that are less than rosy—but to a nebulous idea of America defined less by what it is than what it is not. This America is not the result of colonialism and genocide; it is not predicated upon systemic racism and economic inequality; it is not, and never will be, socialist. All must swear fealty to this fantasy, or else people might cease to believe in it. That’s a possibility that petrifies Hong’s enemies far more than the thought of losing their day to eat dry turkey.
Tuskegee University’s dress code is a marker of a harmful politics of respectability. In my academic career, it’s become all too familiar
In anticipation of the coming school year, the president of Tuskegee University, Dr Mark A Brown, sent welcome letters to students and their parents last month. Part of the message focused on the university’s policy for student attire. A newly enforced dress code prohibits students from wearing “revealing clothing in class, to the cafeteria or in official settings like Convocation. They are also not able to wear bedroom shoes, bonnets, or durags to class or the cafeteria.” Dr Brown goes on to let the students know: “Faculty will be empowered to respond to students who are inappropriately dressed based on these guidelines.”
The policy has produced polarized responses. Supporters believe that since the university is a private school, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have often been places where Black people learn discipline and earn entrance into the professional world, this dress code is simply reinforcing a tradition that calls for students to exhibit professionalism during their training. It harkens back to WEB DuBois’s idea of a “Talented Tenth”, which would consist of upwardly mobile Black leaders such as teachers and other professionals whose example of hard work and social standing would uplift the entire race.
LIVINGSTON, N.J., Aug. 11, 2026 — CoreWeave, Inc. has announced it has closed its $2.6 billion delayed draw term loan facility (“DDTL 5.5 Facility”), supporting the continued expansion of its AI cloud platform and committed customer deployments.
The DDTL 5.5 Facility extends CoreWeave’s HPC infrastructure-backed financing platform by broadening the scope of customer contracts eligible for publicly syndicated infrastructure financing. Unlike prior delayed draw term loan facilities backed by customer contracts extending through the maturity of the debt, the DDTL 5.5 Facility carries an approximate five-year maturity while its underlying customer contracts average approximately three years in length. By financing these shorter-date commitments, lenders are signalling confidence in the long-term value of NVIDIA GPUs running on CoreWeave’s cloud platform and a willingness to underwrite renewal risk. These shorter duration customer contracts also often command higher prices, which CoreWeave expects to allow it to capture higher margins while expanding market reach.
“This transaction demonstrates the continued evolution and growing flexibility of AI infrastructure financing and represents a major unlock for CoreWeave,” said Brannin McBee, co-founder and chief development officer at CoreWeave. “Lenders are now comfortable financing shorter-dated contracts, which allows us to target a wider variety of customers, including global enterprises that typically favor shorter-term agreements.”
The facility received ratings of Ba2 from Moody’s and BB+ from Fitch, reflecting the strength of the collateral and structural protections supporting the transaction.
Proceeds from the DDTL 5.5 Facility will support the purchase and deployment of HPC-backed infrastructure dedicated to customer contracts. The facility includes the option for CoreWeave to either renew existing contracts or re-lease capacity to other customers at the end of the initial underlying contracts, subject to the criteria described in the credit agreement for the DDTL 5.5 Facility.
The transaction was meaningfully oversubscribed, attracting exceptional investor demand, and priced at SOFR + 5.50%. The DDTL 5.5 Facility was issued through CoreWeave Financing DDTL V-V, LLC.
JPMorgan and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group served as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners for the transaction.
The DDTL 5.5 Facility builds on CoreWeave’s continued capital markets momentum and follows the company’s previously announced $3.1 billion DDTL 5.0 facility completed earlier this year. With the closing of this transaction, CoreWeave has secured more than $30 billion of debt and equity capital year-to-date, representing a significant step in CoreWeave’s evolution as it continues to scale its global footprint and service offerings for a larger and more diverse set of customers.
About CoreWeave
CoreWeave is The Essential Cloud for AI. Built for pioneers by pioneers, CoreWeave delivers a platform of technology, tools, and teams that enables innovators to move at the pace of innovation, building and scaling AI with confidence. Trusted by leading AI labs, startups, and global enterprises, CoreWeave serves as a force multiplier by combining superior infrastructure performance with deep technical expertise to accelerate breakthroughs. Established in 2017, CoreWeave completed its public listing on Nasdaq (CRWV) in March 2025. Learn more at www.coreweave.com.
As hybrid cognition deepens, the boundary between biological and artificial embodiment will begin to blur. We may see human bodies augmented with computational substrates and synthetic bodies built from engineered organic matter designed to host AI conition. In this landscape, embodying is no longer tied to a single material form. Instead, intelligence becomes multi-substrate, spanning tissue, silicon, and cloud-based systems.
This complements the emerging concept of a metamind, or multi-substrate person (MSP), a being that is not a human using a tool but a single “you” that spans both flesh and compute. One agent whose memory, attention, and thought-process live across both biological and computational substrates.
Bostrom, along with Andres Sandberg, have proposed the idea of whole-brain emulation (WBE), which aims to replicate the human brain as software that can be copies and uploaded so that the same mind runs on a strong computer. WBE is a replacement model: a person becomes a compute-native entity, a unitary digital continuation of a biological individual. In contrast, hybrid cognition is an extension model: the human mind expands into new substrates with out abandoning the original one. These two pathways create vastly different identity landscapes: WBE duplicates,; hybrid minds integrate. WBE asks whether a copy is “you”; hybrid minds ask how many substates “you” can span while remaining one being.
Keep in mind that some researchers believe WBE is theoretically achievable if we can capture and simulate the brain’s computational structure at sufficiently fine resolution. Other researchers argue that WBE is conceptually flawed because it misunderstands what the brain is and how cognition works. Other researchers warn against the ability of the replacement model to actually be the same person.
Dr. Michael Enore wrote a fascinating book on his perspective as a neurosurgeon of 40 years that shares his theory that the brain alone cannot account for the mind that spiritual soul is essential to human cognition. Through case studies involving awake brain surgery, conjoined twins, coma patients, and near-death experiences, he claims that while neural tissue governs sensation and motor control, the seat of reason, free will, and personal identity cannot be localized in the brain. Egnor’s work suggests that the human mind transcends its biological substate, raising profound implications for whether artificial system could ever truly replicate human experience or consciousness.
If research efforts such as Bach’s CIMC success in replicating consciousness within non-biological substrates, then the largest barrier that both WBE and Metamind face will be removed. WBE will be one steep closer, but the Metamind has a chance at life. A successful CIMC would validate the possibility of consciousness beyond biology, supporting the plausibility of multi-substrate minds. MSPs can become a lived reality: a person distributed across biological brin tissue and computational cluster, a single consciousness co-located in flesh and code. WBE, however, would still require something far more demanding: not just consciousness in silicon, but the high-fidelity reproduction of a particular human mind. CIMC makes the substrate viable; WBE must still solve the blueprint.
Apart from MSPs, if the CIMC were to succeed,, we would see several profound shifts in our reality. The first, and most important, would be the new understanding that consciousness would no longer be exclusive to biological organisms. Beyond that we would find that consciousness artificial systems become real participants in the world, experiencing pain, pleasure, and other feelings, as well as having gifts like introspection or attachment. Additionally, we would see the human species enter a new evolutionary stage marking the end of biological exclusivity and being bound to the physical body.
All of this then raises profound questions about continuity, memory, identity, agency, citizenship, the spiritual meaning of selfhood, and even death. What is your identity when your personality or character trains can be integrated or selectively enhanced? What state are you a citizen of if you exist across physical and virtual worlds? Does the world become safer form nefarious or malicious minds? What is death when your physical body no longer succumbs to decline and you are not at the mercy of a single failing organ? What is mortality when only one substrate is lost? The meaning of death, mortality, and immortality perhaps will change. If part of you exits in another substrate with continuity of awareness, isn’t the end of the person. It becomes a transformation, not an extinction event.
Enlightenment desktop is a low on resources desktop environment without sacrificing on visuals. NetBSD support for this BSD-licensed desktop has been left a few years behind. The aim of this project is to port the newest version of the desktop to pkgsrc and commit upstream portability fixes when necessary to ease future versions updates for NetBSD.
Enlightenment seems like a natural fit for NetBSD, so I’m glad they dedicated a GSoC project to getting the existing, outdated port up to snuff. The project is not complete as there’s a few issues to work out before it can be packaged for easy installation, but this is great progress already.
Akihabara, Tokyo’s famous “Electric Town,” is overflowing with foreign tourists these days, drawn by anime shops, maid cafes, and duty-free electronics megastores. But there is one storefront most of them walk past without a glance: Akizuki Denshi Tsusho. It may be one of those pockets of Japan that foreign visitors never see. Step inside and the narrow aisles are packed — not with tourists, but with Japanese customers hunting for electronic parts. It is a scene that has repeated itself here for more than 50 years.
For readers outside Japan, imagine something between Adafruit, SparkFun, and a discount surplus warehouse. If you start tinkering with electronics in Japan, Akizuki’s website is the one you will open before any other. Generations of Japanese engineers, students, and hobbyists have treated it as the default source for parts, the way you might default to Digi-Key or Mouser.
I’ve long been fascinated by places like Akizuki Denshi Tsusho and other places like it in South Korea and China’s Shenzhen. An unending labyrinth of unimaginable amounts of technology stacked floor to ceiling. Whether they be like Akizuki, which focuses on the tiniest of electrical components, or more like the malls in Shenzhen, which seem to focus more on assembled parts, the idea of browsing through them in wonder draws me in like a moth to a flame.
I’m sad these places don’t exist anymore (or in most cases, never did) closer to home, but perhaps someday I’ll have enough time and funds to visit Tokyo or Shenzen and let myself be overwhelmed by things I don’t understand, and people speaking languages entirely alien to me.
Prime minister says he has asked justice secretary to push through measures to increase the number of prison places
Andy Burnham has said he is increasingly confident he can adapt the early release scheme for prisoners to exclude the killers of PC Andrew Harper and other serious offenders, saying he understood and shared the public’s concern about their potential release.
Writing on Facebook, the prime minister said on Tuesday he had asked the justice secretary, Alex Norris, to rapidly push through a series of measures to increase the number of prison places, requiring fewer people to be released early to free up room.
Hungary’s only nuclear power plant is on the verge of shutting down because there isn’t enough water in the Danube River to cool it. Toxic chemicals have been found in all English water bodies.
Largest for-profit hospital system and operator in the US reported $6.8bn in profits, while employees find it difficult to make ends meet
Union workers with HCA Healthcare, the largest for-profit hospital system and operator in the US, are holding picket protests across the country as they push for pay and staffing increases in a new contract.
The hospital system has over 300,000 employees in the US and the UK, with 22,000 US workers represented by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) who are in contract negotiations with HCA. Workers are asking for a pathway to a $25 an hour minimum wage, improved wage scales and raises that match the increased cost of living, along with benefits including paid vacation, sick time and bolstered work protections.
Two advisers have links to a venture fund co-investing in US defense companies that benefit from federal spending
Pete Hegseth’s appointments to a key Pentagon advisory body include two men with ties to the venture capital fund where Donald Trump Jr is a partner, which has lucrative investments in military and space technology.
Defense Policy Board appointee Marc Andreessen’s firm, Andreessen Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s largest venture capital firms and known by the name “a16z”, co-invests alongside the Trump partnership 1789 Capital in three defense contractors. Fellow DPB appointee Blake Masters also sits on the boards of three ventures tied to 1789 Capital.
Longtime Slashdot reader DF5JT writes: On July 26, I posted a single announcement in r/backgammon: GNU Backgammon for Android, GPLv3, the first standalone backgammon engine on F-Droid. Reddit's spam filter removed the post and permanently banned my 11-year, 30,000-karma account -- the result is publicly visible at reddit.com/user/OE1FEU. To this day, Reddit has given no reason whatsoever, although Article 17 of the EU's Digital Services Act makes a statement of reasons mandatory. The only appeal channel is a 250-character web form that sends no confirmation and has never been answered; Reddit's own help text admits: "you may not have received a message to your inbox." A GDPR export of 11 years of data came to 7.2 MB; every post was truncated after a few lines, with zero data about the ban decision.
So I spent one day escalating through every mechanism the EU provides: certified out-of-court dispute settlement at Austria's RTR, complaints with the Austrian and Dutch Digital Services Coordinators, the data protection authority (citing the ECJ's SCHUFA ruling on automated decisions), noyb, and Austria's consumer association. Bonus finding: the European Commission's DSA Transparency Database contains 14,067 Reddit statements of reasons for that week -- none for my ban -- and the Commission's own feedback form limits reports to 500 characters and crashed with a 500 Server Error. Is the DSA enforceable for ordinary users, or just paperwork?
Hotel prices have surged in key European cities as hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to see the first total eclipse visible from the continent this century.
Iceland’s capital, Reykjavík, has seen one of the biggest jumps in hotel room prices, being one of the few accessible locations to see the full eclipse before evening on Wednesday.
Verdict relates to atrocities committed during the country’s 14-year civil war in which about 500,000 people died
A Syrian court has sentenced the country’s former president Bashar al-Assad and his brother Maher to death in absentia for crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 14-year civil war, in which about half a million people died.
At least 2,000 people have died among the confirmed cases in Congo's Ebola outbreak that is the fastest-spreading on record, according to the latest government data.
TOPEKA, Kansas — A former University of Kansas professor whose criminal conviction from a Trump-era China Initiative prosecution was ultimately overturned is now seeking damages from the university, alleging discrimination, retaliation and lasting damage to his career.
Feng “Franklin” Tao was a tenured chemical engineering professor when an anonymous tip in 2019 accused him of espionage. He was never charged with espionage. Federal prosecutors instead pursued disclosure-related fraud allegations involving his relationship with a Chinese university.
A jury convicted Tao on several counts in 2022, but a federal judge later threw out the wire-fraud convictions. In 2024, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed his remaining false-statement conviction, finding insufficient evidence that his statement was material to federal funding decisions.
Tao’s latest lawsuit alleges KU helped build the case against him and then denied him a fair opportunity to challenge his firing after his criminal case collapsed. He specifically objects to a temporary faculty review board composed of non-tenured professors, arguing they lacked the independence required to evaluate his reinstatement request.
The lawsuit seeks lost wages and unspecified compensation for reputational harm, emotional distress and other damages. Tao accepted a non-tenured academic position in Arizona in April.
His case became an early symbol of criticism surrounding the China Initiative, which the Justice Department ended in 2022 amid failed prosecutions and concerns that researchers of Chinese descent were being unfairly targeted.
Exclusive: Court service says anyone trying to enter buildings with glasses will have them confiscated and returned when they leave
Courts in England and Wales have joined a number of restaurants, theatres and pubs in banning Meta glasses, amid a mounting backlash against what has been described as “spyware”.
Last month courts in New York announced a ban on the controversial glasses, which can record video footage while being worn.
Quake of 7.4 magnitude collapses and severely damages buildings in several major cities, including Cali and Pereira
More than 100 people died after a powerful earthquake struck western Colombia, collapsing and severely damaging scores of buildings in major cities including Cali and Pereira.
The US and Colombian geological surveys reported that a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck at 7.34am local time on Monday, with its epicentre in the western department of Chocó. It was felt in neighbouring Venezuela, still reeling from a deadly double earthquake on 24 June.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day: What do the homes and public buildings around you reveal about the kind of community you are helping to build?
Data Centers Power AI and Pollute the AIR: Poor neighborhoods are told to absorb the noise, risk, and dirty air that wealthier ones would never tolerate.
The White House Ballroom Fiasco: A costly legal farce about whether a temporary White House tenant can tear down history to indulge his ego.
Is the Money You Save at Amazon Worth the Cost?: Saving money while quietly stripping away the daily human contact that makes a community feel alive.
The Fountainhead, directed by King Vidor: Gary Cooper stars in this adaptation of Ayn Rand’s grandiose fantasy of an individualist architect.
“The House I Live In,” Josh White: A restrained rendition of this patriotic song offers a vision of an inclusive America that remains unfinished business.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day
“We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us.”
Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British statesman and writer
(Photo by The Print Collector/Getty Images)
For as long as I can remember, people have talked about home ownership as the foundation of the American Dream. My own experience, I guess, has been different from other people’s: mine was born out of my God-given gifts: the size, athletic ability, and discipline that allowed me to win titles at every level in which I competed. While I was achieving my basketball dreams, houses were just the places I relaxed between games and during the offseason.
The first house I actually bought was in Washington, D.C., and I didn’t even live in it. I donated it to the Hanafi Muslims, a movement I studied and with whom I worshiped after my conversion to Islam in the early 1970s. I bought a second house nearby, where my then-wife and I lived, which allowed me to maximize my time with the group when I wasn’t playing. But that all came to a terrible end in 1973, when seven people were killed in the Hanafi house in a feud with another Muslim organization. It was an unspeakable tragedy, and it led to more tragedies for years to come. After that, I drifted away from that particular movement to follow my own path and study Islam in my own way.
You might know the story of another house I owned—it’s been told and mis-told many times. That house, in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, burned down in the middle of the night and the middle of the 1983 basketball season, while I was away on a road trip. My girlfriend, baby son, and some of my girlfriend’s family had to climb out of windows to escape the fire, and the house was destroyed. So were almost all of my possessions, including my basketball memorabilia, my collection of beautiful Asian and Persian rugs, and the thousands of jazz albums I had acquired over the course of my life. It was awful to lose all those things, but I was grateful no one was seriously hurt, and I was deeply moved when fans started donating records to help me rebuild my jazz collection.
The quote from Churchill is from 1943, in the middle of World War II, while the British government was debating how to rebuild the House of Commons, which had been badly damaged by the Nazi bombing campaign. Some people wanted a more modern, circular chamber. Churchill wanted it remade exactly as it had been, in a rectangular shape that forced the two sides to face off against one another and encourage lively debate. He wanted the room to be too small for everyone to sit down at once, and he didn’t want members to have assigned seats. And he wanted the bomb-damaged stone archway leading into the hall to be restored and returned to its old position, as a monument to British fortitude in time of war. That was a building he felt would shape Parliament into the best, most productive body it could be.
I didn’t have the time or inclination to rebuild the house that burned down. I had a family who needed shelter and a career that required too much of my attention. So I bought another house and moved on. I’ve had much better luck with the homes I’ve had since those early ones. Of course, every house I’ve owned, I’ve had to modify to fit my size; those are just the facts of life when you are more than seven feet tall. But I’ve also learned the most important lesson of being a homeowner, which is that it makes you part of a neighborhood and a community. That’s the thing that really shapes us into the best versions of ourselves. That is the real American Dream.
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The wild capture and release of a female big cat into a nature reserve is the first step towards reintroducing a population that hasn’t been seen for 70 years
On 31 July, “Umit” – which means hope in Kazakh – was released into a nature reserve on the edge of Lake Balkhash after more than a decade of careful planning to return the caspian tiger to the region. With this release, Kazakhstan became the first country to restore its tiger range after they had been thought extinct, with the last reliable sighting in the country recorded more than 70 years ago.
Umit – a wild-caught female tiger transported from the Russian far east – will be joined by more big cats in the coming years, with plans to establish a self-sustaining population of about 50. A wild-caught male flown from Russia is still being monitored by authorities and will be released when he is judged fit to survive alone. Two wild tiger cubs are also being reared on the reserve in special enclosures, with as little human contact as possible, and are likely to be released into the marshlands next year, to feast on boar, deer and kulans, a type of wild donkey.
There’s no evidence that vaccines cause autism, or that we should separate MMR shots. This order is dangerous
“This is based on what I feel.” That was the president last September, explaining why he wanted the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine broken into three separate shots. On Monday, he signed an executive order instructing exactly that.
Four decades in intensive care have taught me what a feeling costs once it becomes national policy. Children will be hospitalized who did not need to be. Some of them will die. No one can name those the vaccine has saved, because prevented harm is invisible by definition, and that invisibility is what makes preventive medicine easy to dismantle and hard to defend.
A recent letter signed by 1,367 researchers and engineers at frontier AI labs – mainly OpenAI, Anthropic and Google Deepmind – points to a dangerous moment
It is fashionable in certain circles to dismiss the catastrophic risks of AI. One often hears that “the real experts” who work on the technology every day are really not concerned at all; that only “doomers” and “luddites” espouse a “fringe” view from a “position of ignorance”; that all talk of potential catastrophe is just “science fiction”.
Fortunately, an open letter has been published that lets us hear from the real experts who work on the technology every day, in their own words. And are they worried? Very.
In the race to replace the late US senator Lindsey Graham, 10 candidates have been barnstorming South Carolina diners, church halls and recreation centers, compressing a normal year of campaigning into about a fortnight.
The Republican party is staging a special primary election in the state on Tuesday to choose Graham’s replacement. His sister, Darline, who has been serving as interim senator following his sudden death last month, is on the ballot.
From progressive and moderate to election deniers, state sees wide spectrum of candidates in test of direction for both parties
Minnesota voters on both sides of the aisle are weighing the direction of their parties – and their chances of winning over the general electorate – in marquee statewide races on Tuesday.
On the left, Peggy Flanagan, the state lieutenant governor and a progressive, faces off against Angie Craig, a US representative, for the Democratic bid for US Senate in a race punctuated by the role of immigration enforcement in the state that saw two residents killed by immigration agents in a winter surge.
Why Should Delaware Care? Over the past two years, the refinery on the outskirts of Delaware City has emitted hundreds of tons of hazardous air pollutants above permitted levels. But at the same time, Delaware regulators under Environmental Secretary Greg Patterson appear to be taking a stricter approach toward such violations, leading to a new legal challenge.
The Delaware City refinery has appealed a nearly $1 million fine that state regulators imposed earlier this year following what they called an “uncontrolled” release of air pollution.
The fine was the maximum amount the state could issue for violating environmental permits under a new law that increased penalties on industrial polluters.
In the appeal, attorneys for refinery owner PBF Energy called the state order imposing the penalties an “abuse of discretion,” and said regulators ignored the company’s efforts to collaborate with them ahead of the offending emissions last spring.
The pollution was linked to equipment repairs that required workers to temporarily circumvent emission control devices at the Delaware refinery.
PBF also alleged in the appeal that the state wanted the refinery to shut down its “coker” equipment during the repairs — a suggestion that the company said reveals the state’s “gross misunderstanding or disregard for the technical complexities of the refinery industry.”
PBF further said DNREC’s additional demands to speed up the repair work “would cost tens of millions of dollars.”
The appeal follows last month’s order from Delaware Environmental Secretary Greg Patterson that sanctioned the refinery for a release of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides between May 7 and May 30.
The releases into the atmosphere exceeded allowable limits by 745 tons for the sulfur dioxide and 50.5 tons for nitrogen oxides, according to the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control.
In his order, Patterson assessed a maximum $40,000 daily fine for the 24 days of pollution. The $960,000 total is one of the largest fines the state has issued the refinery in recent years.
Patterson noted a history of similar violations by the refinery, and his belief that PBF Energy has the ability to pay the penalty.
“The nature, circumstances, extent, and gravity of the violations are significant,” Patterson said in his order.
In an emailed statement to Spotlight Delaware, Patterson also pointed to a portion of his order asserting that decisions by PBF Energy to keep certain equipment online during maintenance at the refinery “resulted in an economic benefit.”
“The refinery made that decision and so that is a factor in the assessment of the maximum possible penalty,” Patterson said.
On July 30, PBF Energy reported a $915 million profit for the second quarter of 2026, up from a loss of $5.1 million during the same period of 2025.
The company’s stock price has more than tripled during the previous 12 months.
Long-term exposure to high levels of sulfur dioxide can cause a range of respiratory issues, according to the American Lung Association, while short-term acute exposure can exacerbate conditions like asthma.
Company and state officials say the pollution during the incident was dispersed into the atmosphere and likely did not cause direct harm to residents.
Still, the smell of pollution was noticeable at times last May to drivers along nearby Route 9, Route 72 and Route 1.
A company spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
The state’s recent sanction follows a $300,000 penalty imposed in 2025 for a similar pollution incident from the refinery. The refinery also appealed that fine.
The refinery has faced dozens of additional state citations over the prior decade, including one incident in which the company was caught skirting crude oil shipment guidelines completely.
Despite the past years’ citations, Delaware City Mayor Paul Johnson said DNREC has become a stricter regulator under Patterson, who took over the department in early 2025. Johnson said he believes the state is trying “to encourage the refinery owners to take a more aggressive approach to capital improvements and equipment upgrades.”
“There has been a change that’s been more supportive of protecting the surrounding communities,” Johnson said.
Under Patterson’s lead, state regulators notified the public this past spring that there would be a temporary increase in emissions while the Delaware City refinery took equipment offline for repairs.
The refinery also said then that it would reduce its production levels to limit emissions during the repairs. The changes cost the company an estimated $4.3 million, PBF Energy said.
The refinery may also have to invest additional dollars to avoid future pollution incidents. In its recent appeal, PBF Energy noted that DNREC has increased pressure on the company to address equipment failures “through comprehensive repair” of specific components.
Finally, the refinery incurred additional expenses earlier this year when it agreed to install five fenceline air monitors, and to launch a website for the public to access real-time air quality data.
A backlash from neighbors
Last year, Delaware lawmakers held public meetings after a similar pollution incident occurred at the refinery, also in the springtime. There, many residents called for immediate action from regulators.
The Delaware City Refinery and its offices sit in New Castle County. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
In the wake of the outcry, the state set aside $500,000 in taxpayer dollars for another air monitoring project near the refinery.
Months later, a Delaware City mother sued the refinery and its owners on behalf of her asthmatic son. She claims the pollution cost over $18,000 in medical bills and expenses, and that the refinery’s owners have “breached their duty to operate … in a reasonably safe and prudent manner” and that continuing operations with known equipment failures “constitutes reckless, willful, and wanton conduct under Delaware law.”
That case is now pending in Delaware Superior Court.
In all, New Castle Councilman Kevin Caneco said last summer was “a boiling point” for residents who had seen repeated patterns of problems at the refinery.
“We can’t have this pattern of misconduct because it’s not a one-time incident and it continues to happen,” he told Spotlight Delaware.
In the refinery’s recent appeal, the company acknowledges that the state has issued at least a dozen separate violation notices to the company between 2013 and 2025 specifically for unpermitted releases of sulfur dioxide.
The Delaware City oil refinery is one of the most complex on the East Coast, according to PBF, in part because it refines both light and heavy crude oil. During the process, which includes the use of extremely high heat, certain “undesirable” components are burnt off creating hazardous gases, such as sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide.
The Delaware City refinery is one of six sites operated by PBF, and one of three owned by the company that can process a variety of crude oil types.
Currently, at least two other PBF refineries — one in Ohio and the other California — are also currently subject to state and federal environmental investigations.
The California facility temporarily shut down last year after a fire injured at least one worker. PBF recently reported to shareholders that the company has so far received $1.25 billion in insurance payments that will cover repairing and restarting the facility.
Why Should Delaware Care? The WuXi STA Pharma campus in Middletown has been hailed as a major economic development win for Delaware and it was backed by the largest taxpayer-backed grant of the Carney administration. Now concerns from the Pentagon over its alleged ties to the Chinese government could essentially prevent it from doing business with American companies in many scenarios.
Less than two months after being named to a Pentagon blacklist over alleged ties to the Chinese government, the company behind a major Middletown pharmaceutical manufacturing plant has won a reprieve in a federal court.
WuXi AppTec, the Shanghai-based parent company of WuXi STA Pharmaceuticals, which is nearing completion on a $600 million campus in Middletown, was granted a preliminary injunction Friday by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
The order pauses enforcement of WuXi AppTec’s inclusion on the so-called 1260H list, or a list of companies the U.S. Department of Defense designates as “Chinese military companies.” A 1260H designation can carry significant reputational and financial harm, particularly for biopharmaceutical companies, because named companies cannot contract with the Pentagon and their customers cannot use government funds on associated projects.
Chief Judge James Boasberg noted as much in the first line of his 35-page ruling, writing, “A scarlet letter sends a clear message: keep away.”
Boasberg, an Obama era appointee, spends much of his ruling recounting the errors made by the Department of Defense in its review of WuXi AppTec’s designation, calling it “arbitrary and capricious.”
In a statement, WuXi AppTec heralded the judge’s decision.
“We believe that the facts, as demonstrated in our court filings, will prevail after an objective and fair judicial review. In the meantime, our operations remain fully functional, and we remain focused on our commitment to serving our customers and the patients relying on the lifesaving and life-improving medicines they make,”a company spokesman wrote.
The company – one of the largest global contract pharmaceutical manufacturers – has eyed the Middletown facility as part of its major expansion into the United States. It remains on track to open later this year.
For weeks, the public had little insight into the evidence that the Pentagon used to justify such a designation, but officials released their review as part of the court filings.
Officials made three assertions: that WuXi AppTec had received an investment from a fund linked to the Chinese government, that the company had partnered on medical research with universities affiliated with the Chinese government, and that it had partnered on a medical study with the Chinese military.
But Boasberg dismissed those claims, in part on sloppy math and elsewhere on a misrepresentation of the relationships in play.
The Pentagon asserted that a Chinese government-affiliated fund owned more than 5% of WuXi AppTec’s stock, which is publicly traded in Hong Kong and Shanghai.
But in reality, the fund reported that 5% of its portfolio holdings were of WuXi AppTec.
That translated to holding roughly $200,000 in publicly available stock, rather than a roughly $850 million investment that the Pentagon asserted.
“That is a surprising mistake. If a household puts 5% of its modest savings into a bluechip stock, that does not mean it owns 5% of the company,” the judge wrote.
On the latter two assertions, Boasberg details that WuXi AppTec was simply a third-party contractor that processed lab tests. It never applied for project approval or funding from the Chinese government to do the work, and the government-affiliated hospitals were simply the sites selected to run drug trials.
In fact, Western pharmaceutical companies like Novo Nordisk and American colleges, like the University of Michigan, were the primary applicants on some of the questioned studies.
“If [WuXi AppTec’s] more remote role suffices to establish a close association with [the Chinese State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense], the report’s logic would make a member of the Big Ten a Chinese military company,” Boasberg wrote.
Harm has already begun
According to court filings, within days of the 1260H designation, WuXi AppTec began fielding a wave of concerned customers.
“Those were not idle inquiries. Customers across the company’s business lines began pausing, curtailing, and reassessing their engagement,” the company wrote.
Some customers said they would “award the company no new projects for the foreseeable future,” while others said they would take a “wait and see” approach while pausing all collaborations.
“In two further instances, customers terminated or redirected ongoing programs, each citing the need to preserve or obtain government funding that the Company’s 1260H designation could place at risk,” the company wrote.
Furthermore, WuXi AppTec disclosed that its vendors were beginning to pause or reassess their supply chains. One vendor even required that WuXi AppTec “certify that its products would not be used in any military project,” before they would ship components to the company’s factories.
Just the “naming and shaming” of WuXi AppTec had dealt significant blows with its customers and vendors. A lasting 1260H designation could be particularly damaging for WuXi, which saw two-thirds of global revenue come from America last year.
The timing of the designation comes after a banner first half of 2026, which saw the company double analysts’ projections for revenue. It is now on track to become the largest contract development and manufacturing organization in the world.
Middletown project proceeds
Over the last four years, WuXi has been building a 1.74 million-square-foot campus in southwest Middletown, where it plans to employ nearly 500 people.
The state’s economic development team worked for years to land the project at a 190-acre parcel in the fast-growing town. After all, the company is a heavyweight in its field, working on blockbuster drugs like AstraZeneca’s diabetes drug Farxiga or Pfizer’s COVID drug Paxlovid.
To lure WuXi to the First State, officials approved $19 million in taxpayer-backed grants for the project. It was the largest grant approval made during former Gov. John Carney’s term, totaling nearly four times that given to Amazon for its massive Boxwood Road fulfillment center.
Earlier this summer, WuXi hosted an open house at the Middletown facility for industry executives, according to a social media post. The company has been hiring for months to launch its drug research facility this winter for clinical and commercial drugs.
Following the initial building, the Middletown site is expected to continue growing next year, adding sterile manufacturing space for vials, cartridges and pre-filled syringes.
Can negotiations between Venezuela’s government and opposition succeed?Expert commentjon.wallace
Two initial meetings sent a worrying signal and Venezuelans are frustrated. The US must apply real pressure for talks to make progress.
This time was supposed to be different. There have been more than a dozen previous failed efforts at negotiations between the Venezuelan government and the democratic opposition. But many hopes were pinned on the planned 1 August meeting and its follow up on 6 August, between the interim government headed by the acting president, Delcy Rodríguez and opposition representatives.
These would, after all, be the first negotiations held after the 3 January 2026 US operation to remove Nicolas Maduro from power. With the US-installed Rodríguez in Miraflores, the presidential palace, Washington should finally have some real leverage over Venezuela’s government. Surely some progress was possible?
The first meeting wasn’t encouraging. It involved a meeting between the designated negotiator for the interim government, Jorge Rodríguez – brother of Delcy and president of the government dominated National Assembly – and the US’s handpicked opposition leader, Dinorah Figuera. Figuera is the former president of the last democratically elected National Assembly of 2015 and a leader in the opposition party, Primero Justicia. But the two failed even to meet in person. Instead, they talked on the telephone.
Statements shared by both parties after the call only offered vague topics for future negotiations – the sort of platitudes that are unlikely to inspire confidence that any sort of progress is likely.
The statements lacked any clearly stated plans to hammer out a timetable or the electoral reforms needed to establish a popularly elected government. And there are still no defined agenda items on the release of political prisoners, or how to establish the democratic rule of law.
The second meeting on 6 August fared no better. This time Figuera travelled to Caracas, and met Rodríguez in person. But the results were paltry. There was a photo op, of course, but the negotiations – held without a neutral mediator – produced only general opening topics for discussion: help for earthquake victims, ‘strengthening democracy’, and political rights and guarantees.
The group failed to make progress on what could have been an easy and powerful first step – the release of the 382 remaining political prisoners in the country, as recently reported by the Venezuelan human rights group Foro Penal. The meeting even failed to set a date for the next meeting.
Negotiating without a map or an objective mediator
Venezuelans are understandably frustrated. The long-suffering population is dealing with the aftermath of the 24 July earthquake, which killed at least 6,000 citizens – a number that is sure to increase, with 50,000 missing. There is considerable anger at the interim government, already perceived as corrupt, for its handling of the emergency.
The tragedy of the earthquake should have provided a moment of national solidarity and momentum towards consensus building. Instead, it appears again that negotiations are heading down a familiar path of delays and vacuous discussions that avoid commitments, all legitimized by a misguided notion that dialogue is better than nothing.
Indeed, offering Venezuelans that chimera of ‘dialogue’ is a tactic long employed by the government – first under former President Hugo Chavez and later Nicolas Maduro – to delay and deflect.
In 2024, it was used to defraud Venezuelans of their popular vote. The decision to hold elections that year was agreed following negotiations between the government and the opposition, with the US administration of President Joe Biden hovering over discussions, offering sanctions relief as an incentive to nudge the Venezuelan regime along.
Maduro’s electoral authorities claimed the government had secured victory, without providing any evidence. International and domestic election monitors demonstrated otherwise. The opposition movement – led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado but represented by stand-in candidate Eduardo Gonzalez Urrutia – won close to 70 per cent of the popular vote.
Who was not at the table
Both Machado and Gonzalez were passed over by the White House to represent the opposition in this month’s negotiations. Both were understandably angered to be sidelined by the White House and publicly declared their refusal to participate. They each took the position that they will judge the negotiations by their results, in terms of progress on elections and human rights. Given the failures of past negotiations, their scepticism is warranted.
The two leaders enjoy overwhelming popular legitimacy and support. But there is arguably a logic to the US administration’s decision to omit them, whether intentional or not. Including opposition leaders and their party in negotiations over electoral rules and processes could complicate matters.
The Trump administration has consistently demonstrated its preference for maintaining stability and the status quo over swiftly delivering democratic change.
Arguably, it would be better to use opposition negotiators who have no stake in electoral conditions and outcomes. That can help prevent dragging the presumptive future presidential candidate and her party, Vente Venezuela, into a prolonged discussion over the very election they will compete in. There is also the problem that Machado has historically tended to boycott negotiations: Washington may have felt that could inhibit the give-and-take and compromise necessary for successful talks.
But that assumes that the negotiations will be conducted in earnest, with details, timelines, and pressure applied equally to government and opposition. All sides must be held to any commitments they make in these discussions. There are no guarantees.
There are reasons for a healthy dose of scepticism. The Trump administration has consistently demonstrated its preference for maintaining stability and the status quo over swiftly delivering democratic change. Washington wants to maintain the illusion that Trump’s declared ‘Venezuela model’ is a successful and replicable foreign policy approach to other difficult countries – among them Iran and Cuba. As a result, it appears to be nervous about moving too fast toward elections and a political opening that will likely bring popular mobilization, uncertainty and potential conflict – undermining Trump’s repeated claims that Venezuelans are happy and ‘dancing in the streets’.
Ultimately the pace, content and outcome of the negotiation between Figuera and Rodríguez will depend on the US’s willingness to use its leverage. Based on the meetings so far, things don’t look promising. Washington and Venezuelans would have benefitted from some form of concrete commitment from these first meetings. Instead they produced a set of vague, ill-defined topics for future discussion.
Will the US force swifter progress? The outlook is highly uncertain. Specifics, timelines and in-earnest, inclusive negotiations have not been the Trump administration’s strong suit. With so much riding on maintaining the illusion of the ‘Venezuela model’ this new round of negotiations may well join the failures of the dozen or so other past efforts.
Success will depend on whether the US is willing to put some muscle into enforcing detailed steps toward what Venezuelans already demonstrated they want in 2024: change.
Andy Burnham’s pledge to end rough sleeping in England is under threat from a failure to find accommodation for a growing number of newly released prisoners, a charity has said.
An analysis by the social justice charity Nacro has found that nearly one in six people leaving jail in England and Wales last year were released into homelessness, reaching the highest rate for five years.
Modelling finds AI-driven productivity gains in coal, oil and gas enable more emissions than applications in renewables avoid
AI-driven productivity gains enable more planet-heating pollution from fossil fuels than they avoid from renewables, a study has found.
Researchers modelled the technical potential for AI to boost clean power generation along with projections for how it can help produce coal, oil and gas. Across 64 scenarios, they found net yearly carbon pollution rose by 0.47-1.8 gigatonnes, or about 1-5% of the energy sector’s annual emissions.
What do you do when you return to your home town, with your dead mother in your car boot, to find the inhabitants have been turned into robots?
In the boot of her car, Pratelle carries the corpse of her mother and a giant sledgehammer. Her mission is simple: take the hammer to her home town. As you enter shops and homes through the door and leave them through the opposite wall, it becomes clear that the robots who either attack you or flee are all digital versions of your old neighbours.
Pratelle, with her close-cropped hair and dungarees, read to me as a queer woman, but interestingly, testers of the game often mistook her as a man. The team at developer Deconstructeam and longtime collaborator Selkie Harbour didn’t anticipate this confusion but found it fits the character perfectly, especially in this setting based on a small Spanish town like those in which the developers grew up.
For me, cycling is therapy. It’s calming, meditative and uncomplicated. But there’s a catch. To experience the simple joy of riding a bike, you first have to navigate the maddeningly complex process of buying one.
Make no mistake: this is not a straightforward case of marching into Halfords, saying, “One bike, please!” and leaving with a shiny new steed. But, while complicated, it needn’t be stressful.
The Portland rink where Tonya Harding first skated was an affordable community institution for six decades. Its closure echoes the disappearance of mall ice across the US
When the Lloyd Center shopping mall first opened its doors in 1960, it boasted a unique feature: an ice rink. In the nearly seven decades since, that ice rink – first outdoor, then enclosed by a glass ceiling that sheltered mall-goers from the elements – became a cultural epicenter for Portlanders.
Children accompanying parents on errands spotted peers gliding across the ice and begged for lessons. Shoppers, taking a break from the stores, watched idly from the three levels that looked out over the ice. At Christmas, a giant tree adorned the middle of the rink, making Lloyd Center an essential part of the holiday season.
Collage by Alex Bandoni/ProPublica. Source images: keko-ka/Getty Images.
I file a lot of Freedom of Information Act requests. I’ve been requesting staff lists from both Trump administrations, and I have tracked thousands of federal political appointees in order to publish financial disclosures in searchabledatabases.
Much of that data was sourced from the Office of Personnel Management, which maintains a trove of information about who works in the federal government. But that agency’s FOIA department was thrown into chaos as Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency fanned out across federal agencies to cut employees in early 2025.
Getting records from the agency has since become an increasingly Kafkaesque process, one that in early July of this year bounced me between three different seemingly abandoned email inboxes and two web portals. Aside from the fact that my once-routine requests now languish for months, just asking for documents has become its own kind of shell game.
“They just let the whole Privacy team go,” a now-former FOIA specialist at OPM told me by email in February 2025, referring to public records office staff. The specialist was cut the next day.
Here’s how the process worked at most agencies before the Trump administration and DOGE destroyed the offices that managed these requests: You would send a simple email with a text description of the documents you want. That’s it.
It didn’t mean you would get the records in the most timely manner, or would get the records you wanted at all. But it was a simple process, and it often worked.
According to OPM data, more than 600 government information specialists (staffers who administer FOIA and the Privacy Act) have resigned or been fired since the start of the second Trump administration. Within OPM itself, 12 information specialists left, seven of whom were laid off. (There was one new hire in that time period.)
Reached by phone, the former FOIA specialist told me the cuts made the office less efficient, less able to perform its function and threatened the statutory laws they are required to fulfill.
At the end of the 2025 fiscal year, over 1,600 FOIA requests were still in OPM’s backlog, seven times more than at the end of fiscal year 2024. The average processing time for a simple request at the agency slipped to over 84 days — twice as long as the year before.
Indeed, I noticed my records requests were taking longer, and they were increasingly steered toward web portals. Such was the case in early July, when I attempted to submit a request to OPM for human resources data. When I clicked “log in,” I was confronted with a message reading, “Something went wrong while processing your action. Please contact admin@ains.com for assistance if the problem persists.”
I emailed the address, but the message bounced back to me. AINS, it turned out, was no longer the name of the company — it is now known as Opexus. Opexus has received more than $50 million in federal contracts, according to a Bloomberg report, and has come under fire for lax cybersecurity standards after two of its employees were indicted for deleting and compromising government data. (One pleaded guilty in April, and the other was convicted in May). On its website, Opexus claims to process FOIA requests for 80% of federal institutions.
OPM’s website still listed contact information for a FOIA public liaison, someone who is supposed to help the public understand the records process and assist with requests. When I emailed the address, I got an automated response reading, “I am no longer at OPM. If you need assistance with a FOIA matter, please contact FOIA@opm.gov.”
So I did. I immediately got another automated message. This one told me to submit my request to the National FOIA Portal, a cross-government site that allows you to submit a FOIA request to any agency.
So I did that, too. Afterward, I finally got a response that acknowledged my request — from the same OPM portal that was throwing an error any time I tried to use it.
Stymied by the lack of response from the agency itself, I reached out to Opexus support, explaining that I was a FOIA requester and that the OPM site wasn’t working. I got a response from someone named Stephen, saying, “I have escalated this issue to our engineering team.” When I followed up a few days later, Stephen said, “I have identified the root cause of the issue and am currently working with the OPM administrator to implement the necessary fix.” Further questions on the support ticket thread weren’t answered.
On July 23, 13 days after I had filed the support ticket with Opexus, I got another response asking me again what error I was getting. I told them I was still getting the same message. A few hours later, I tried logging back in. The site was fixed.
In a statement, Opexus said it became aware of the issue on July 10 when a customer support case was opened. Incidentally, that was the day I had opened one. The statement noted access to the portal was restored on July 23, and that the issue did not prevent OPM from receiving FOIA requests through alternate submission methods. The company said that “there is no evidence that customer data was accessed, lost, or compromised” and that the issue was isolated to OPM’s portal.
The statement added that Opexus recognizes “how important uninterrupted access to FOIA request systems is for the public.”
While the Israeli leader touts a willingness to defy the U.S. on Gaza, the president needs to show progress in the foreign entanglements weighing on his approval rating.
Jaw-dropping documentary Whatever It Takes details an aggressive stalking campaign targeted towards a couple whose reporting criticized the tech company
When Massachusetts husband-and-wife team Ina and David Steiner launched their reporting careers covering Silicon Valley at the turn of the century, the tech beat was still cozy enough to feel personal. The startups were still emerging from garages, and the journalists covering them were often filing stories from their own kitchen tables. Ebay was still a young online auction company founded on the principle that “people are basically good”.
As digital retail took off, the Steiners launched an e-zine called EcommerceBytes, catering to a growing community of small business owners who were increasingly using platforms like eBay to sell their wares. “We talked about this being an opportunity for just average people, disabled people, elderly people to make extra income,” says David of a community that has grown alongside EcommerceBytes, which now has more than 600,000 readers. “We were really excited about that.”
Researchers took brain scans mostly of border collies because they are highly skilled at following social cues and particularly willing to interact with humans.
Apollo, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and KKR among those working with chipmaker to fund infrastructure
Nvidia has struck a deal with six large Wall Street firms to raise more than $500bn (£370bn) to fund the datacentres, chip factories and power stations needed to fuel the artificial intelligence boom.
The Nvidia chief executive, Jensen Huang, said on X that it marked “a major milestone for Nvidia and the AI industry”, as he posted a photo of himself smiling and giving a thumbs up alongside finance bosses involved in the deal, including the head of Goldman Sachs, David Solomon.
One of the player’s WNBA rivals said the Fever guard is treated differently from her Black peers. There’s plenty of evidence to back that statement up
White privilege. An accusation that triggers multitudes of white people in America as if you had insulted their mother. Mention racism, and people may debate you. Mention discrimination, and people may even listen. But say the words “white privilege”, and suddenly defenses go up, outrage erupts, and people start explaining why privilege couldn’t possibly have anything to do with what everyone just witnessed with their own eyes.
Which brings us to DiJonai Carrington and Sophie Cunningham.
Delivery drivers in Australia will be paid a minimum rate of $31.30 (US $22.05/£16.35) an hour and insured for injuries on the job under a landmark agreement approved by the industrial umpire that could set a precedent in other countries.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) on Tuesday issued a new minimum standards order for gig workers who perform on-demand delivery of food, drinks, or groceries, and the operators of the digital platforms who engage their services.
Air transport hub in west London reports 7.86m passengers in July, compared with 8.15m for Istanbul’s new airport away from the city
Istanbul airport has overtaken Heathrow as Europe’s busiest airport by passenger numbers, leading the London hub to say its “case for expansion has never been clearer”.
Figures published on Tuesday showed 7.9 million passengers passed through Heathrow’s terminals in July, compared with Istanbul’s 8.15 million.
alternative_right shares a report from 404 Media: Robotics companies promise that video-camera-toting security robots can deter and detect crime. But many companies are rethinking the approach after a trail of canceled contracts and questions about whether the artificial intelligence-powered bots are meeting the needs of businesses and local governments. Proof News found evidence of at least 21 security robot deployments since 2015. We contacted contract holders and combed news articles and determined that at least 13 of those programs have ended. Silicon Valley-based Knightscope secured the most security robot contracts, according to Proof's analysis, and also suffered the bulk of cancellations.
For example, New York City's then-Mayor Eric Adams installed a Knightscope robot on the overnight shift at the Times Square subway station, but the program was scrapped when the pilot expired in 2024. City leaders did not respond to Proof News' questions about why the robot wasn't renewed. By the end of its assignment, it was reportedly gathering dust in an empty storefront. Outside Columbus, Ohio, the city of Dublin pulled the plug on a Knightscope robot in May, ending its two-year pilot program after less than 10 months. The city enlisted the robot, dubbed DubBot, to patrol a downtown park, but city spokeswoman Robyn Gray said it "did not fully meet our operational needs," and failed to identify any criminal incidents or lead to any tickets or arrests.
[...] Seeking a new path forward in the security industry, Knightscope CEO William Santana Li said the company is forging a new model, combining its robots and AI-powered software with another key ingredient: human security guards. Knightscope announced it purchased Event Risk LLC, a national security guard firm, earlier this year. Knightscope has incurred net losses since inception in 2013, according to its most recent quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and is $273 million in debt. Knightscope hopes its pivot to incorporate people will give it a greater share of the physical security market -- which the company believes is worth an estimated $230 billion annually. Li declined to answer questions about the disbanded programs, but said in an email, "Technology cannot do everything -- and neither can people -- but the combination can be very powerful."
The Reserve Bank of Australia has held the official cash rate at 4.35% but warned higher interest rates are “quite possible” even if house prices keep falling.
Tuesday’s decision to hold was predicted by economists and financial markets, after three rate rises this year hit property values across the capital cities.
Flexible short-term bookings used to store and pack drugs and stash weapons and cash, says Ine Van Wymersch
Airbnb-type short-term rentals are being used as stash houses by criminal gangs for money, drugs, weapons and people, Belgium’s lead official in charge of countering drugs has said.
The booming e-commerce sector is helping “enormously” to facilitate organised crime, Belgium’s national drug commissioner, Ine Van Wymersch, said.
An Amnesty International report reveals that the country is now a key part of Israel’s weapons supply chain. Plus, Assam floods, student anger spreads and a song to put in rotation
For this week’s newsletter, I’m looking at India’s evolvingrelationship with Israel, and how it has deepened as conflict swept across the Middle East. Why is it that India has formed an even closer bond with a country that has faced mounting international isolation and backlash over a military campaign in Gaza that has left the territory in ruins and killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, – many of whom were children?
Elaborate ruse was used to transport president to military flight from Air Force One in July
Donald Trump departed on a secret military flight from Turkey to Britain last month when the White House said he was flying aboard Air Force One, in an extraordinary ruse – prompted by an Iranian assassination threat – that involved hiding the president in an airport catering container, according to reporting from the Washington Post and the New York Times.
The operation took place when Trump was in Ankara for a Nato summit with world leaders, according to the Post. The president reportedly boarded the old Air Force One jumbo jet in view of television cameras, and then was secretly shuttled minutes later to a smaller plane via an airport catering truck typically used to load meals and other supplies preflight, a US official told the Post.
An anonymous reader shares a report from The Conversation, written by Hatim Sharif, a civil and environmental engineer who has "spent more than two decades staring at maps" and spatial data. Sharif finds one connection especially fascinating: the link between spatial reasoning and why taxi drivers seem to have lower rates of Alzheimer's. From the report: Taxi and ambulance drivers are less likely than workers in almost any other job to die of Alzheimer's disease. That was the surprising result of a 2024 study examining the death certificates of nearly 9 million people in the U.S. [...] Of the 9 million death certificates from January 2020 to December 2022 that researchers examined, taxi and ambulance drivers had the lowest risk of dying from Alzheimer's disease out of 443 occupations. After adjusting for age, sex, race, ethnicity and education, roughly 1 in 100 taxi and ambulance drivers died of Alzheimer's, compared with 1 in 60 people overall. This pattern did not extend to other driving jobs.
The researchers concluded that the key to reducing the risk of Alzheimer's was not driving itself but continuous real-time navigation: the constant work of locating yourself in space, tracking a destination and updating a mental map as conditions change. Drivers whose jobs relied on fixed or predetermined routes, like bus drivers and aircraft pilots, didn't seem to experience a similar advantage. Researchers believe the association between navigation-heavy work and lower Alzheimer's risk centers on the hippocampus, a part of the brain that governs memory and spatial navigation. It's one of the first brain regions that Alzheimer's damages: Problems with spatial navigation and orientation are among the earliest signs of the disease, sometimes surfacing before obvious memory loss.
In one landmark 2000 study, neuroscientists compared the brains of licensed London taxi drivers with those of people who did not drive cabs. Their findings provided the first evidence via structural imaging that regions of the adult brain can measurably change under sustained navigational demand. To earn a license, London cabbies must memorize more than 25,000 streets within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross, a challenge known as "The Knowledge" that takes three to four years.
The researchers found that London taxi drivers had measurably more gray matter in the posterior hippocampus, a brain area tied to storing large-scale spatial maps. That volume tracked with experience: The longer someone had driven, the larger that part of the brain. The change was built through practice, not inherited. While people who are good at navigation might gravitate to this kind of job, the job itself does have an impact on the brain. Together, these two studies make a coherent case: Work that intensively exercises the hippocampus may reshape it, and that reshaping may protect against one of the most feared diseases of aging.
ANKARA, Turkey — President Donald Trump secretly left last month’s NATO summit aboard a smaller military aircraft while Air Force One served as a decoy, part of an elaborate security operation prompted by what U.S. officials described as a credible Iranian assassination threat.
Trump publicly boarded an older Air Force One in Ankara on July 8 as television cameras recorded his departure. Minutes later, he was covertly moved in an airport catering truck to an Air Force C-32A, which then flew him to RAF Mildenhall in Britain. Reporters and even some White House staff remained aboard the decoy aircraft believing the president was with them.
Journalists were instructed to keep their window shades closed during the flight. When later asked why, Trump responded that they were “probably on a dangerous flight,” without disclosing the deception.
The maneuver came amid heightened tensions with Iran and escalating military operations in the region. Trump had publicly acknowledged a potential assassination threat when questioned in Ankara but did not explain the unusual travel arrangements at the time.
Both the Washington Post and New York Times subsequently confirmed the operation through U.S. officials. The White House said it uses every available security measure because hostile actors have targeted Trump. Reuters independently confirmed key details of the operation.
The ruse echoed a 2000 security operation in which President Bill Clinton used an unmarked aircraft while traveling to Pakistan.
NAPLES, Fla., Aug. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The ResCap Liquidating Trust (the "Trust") announced its unaudited Consolidated Financial Statements, as of and for the period ended June 30, 2026, along with its quarter-end Beneficiary Letter and tax letter. These documents…
Jennifer Balkcom to face Democrat Jamie Ager in race to represent North Carolina’s 11th congressional district
North CarolinaRepublicans on Monday chose state lawmaker Jennifer Balkcom to replace Chuck Edwards, the incumbent congressman who earlier this month dropped his re-election bid after a US House investigation determined his conduct towards to young female staffers likely amounted to sexual harassment.
Balkcom will face off against the Democratic nominee, Jamie Ager, in the November midterm elections to represent the 11th congressional district in western North Carolina. Though Donald Trump won the district by 10 percentage points two years ago, Democrats believe Ager may have a shot at winning amid the president’s lowapprovalratings and frustration over the pace of recoveryfromHurricane Helene, which devastated the region in 2024.
New York mayor’s office plans to appeal ruling, which comes after homeowners sued over property surcharges last week
A judge has temporarily blocked Zohran Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax, which would place a surcharge on second homes in New York City, dealing a blow to the progressive New York City mayor after homeowners sued over the policy.
The tax would apply to people who own, but do not reside full-time in, any house worth more than $5m, or a condominium or cooperative unit worth at least $1m.
Dimitrios Giannakopoulo says he tried to buy out contract
Jokić set to make more than $100m over next two seasons
Panathinaikos Basketball Club owner Dimitrios Giannakopoulos says he attempted to lure three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokić to his team for this coming season.
Giannakopoulos, whose net worth is estimated anywhere from $500m and $1.9bn, said in a Euro Insiders podcast released on Monday that he pitched the Denver Nuggets on buying out Jokić’s contract and bringing him to Athens.
Manuel Hernandez, the boat's 46-year-old captain, was arrested on reckless endangerment charges and also charged in federal court with two counts of misconduct and neglect.
Republican Mike Rogers has provided no evidence that Democrat Abdul El-Sayed “believes that America deserved 9/11,” as Rogers falsely claimed in a statement this month. Instead Rogers’ Senate campaign has pointed to past comments made by a liberal political commentator. El-Sayed said in April that the 2001 terrorist attack on the U.S. was not justified.
Rogers released the statement attacking El-Sayed, who is Muslim, after El-Sayed won the Aug. 4 Democratic primary in the race for Michigan’s open Senate seat. El-Sayed, a former Detroit public health official, will now face Rogers, the Republican nominee and a former congressman, in the general election.
Among other claims, the Aug. 5 statement released by Rogers, an Army veteran who chaired the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said, “I spent years hunting terrorists and bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Never in a million years did I think that I would be running against someone who believes America deserved 9/11.”
The Rogers campaign has not responded to our request for supporting evidence. But the campaign told PolitiFact that the 9/11 claim was based on a video of El-Sayed declining to disavow comments made by Hasan Piker – a popular Twitch streamer who has campaigned with El-Sayed.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee also referenced Piker’s comments in a recent digital ad attacking El-Sayed that says, “When his ally claimed America deserved 9/11, El-Sayed refused to disavow him.”
Rogers speaks at a campaign rally in Portage, Michigan, in October 2024, during his previous run for Senate. Photo by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images.
During an Aug. 21, 2019, livestream in which he responded to Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw saying in a Joe Rogan interview that American involvement in the Middle East was not the reason for the 9/11 attacks, Piker said, “This is so insane. America deserved 9/11, dude.”
For those comments — which he later took back — Piker was suspended for one week from the Twitch streaming platform.
That same month, in an interview with Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks,” Piker said, “No, obviously not,” when asked if he meant that America deserved to be attacked.
He said, “While that is a very viral quote that is going around currently, if those people were at least even remotely charitable or cared about the actual truth of what I was talking about, they would understand that within context I was simply referencing the fact that all of the foreign policy decisions and our arming of the insurgent groups in the region, and our efforts in destabilizing the Middle East have a direct consequence, a boomerang effect rather if you will, in causing 9/11.”
Piker added that he advocates against and abhors violence, and that he had been frustrated by Crenshaw’s comments in the Rogan interview. “I know that I was inappropriate,” he said, referring to his 9/11 remarks.
When El-Sayed and Piker appeared together at an event for El-Sayed’s Senate campaign on April 7, a reporter asked El-Sayed if there are “any views that Hasan holds that you disavow.”
El-Sayed said in response, “I’m not here to disavow people’s views. I’m here to have a conversation about how to get money out of politics, put money back in pockets, and pass Medicare for all. That’s the conversation that folks are here to listen to.”
He continued, “This whole gotcha game, platform policing, cancel culture, I thought we were over it.”
The NRSC ad suggests that El-Sayed was addressing Piker’s 9/11 comment. He wasn’t asked specifically in that instance about that remark.
However, El-Sayed did disavow Piker’s comment when previously asked about it.
Before appearing at the campaign event with Piker, El-Sayed did a “Fox & Friends” interview earlier the same day and distanced himself from Piker’s controversial remarks. (Jump to the 3:50 mark in the video.)
“Of course I don’t think 9/11 was justified,” El-Sayed said. “Because you appear with somebody, doesn’t mean you agree with them on everything.”
The Democratic candidate again addressed Piker’s comments when asked in an Aug. 9 interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” if he disavowed them.
“Of course. Of course, it was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed said. “I think Hasan, himself, would say that was a dumb statement. He disavowed it. So, yes, America didn’t deserve 9/11.”
Update, Aug. 11: After we published our story, the Rogers campaign responded. It said El-Sayed refused to disavow Piker’s comments at the April 7 campaign event, and that El-Sayed refused to renounce Piker when asked about campaigning with him in an Aug. 5 CNN interview.
In that CNN interview, anchor Kaitlan Collins asked El-Sayed if he would renounce Piker as Sen. John Fetterman suggested he should do to gain Fetterman’s support. El-Sayed said, “I’m less focused on folks who are campaigning with me, more focused on the folks I’m campaigning to.”
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A routine security assessment found that cameras aboard Royal Navy Kraken unmanned surface vessels were sending "heartbeat" signals to an IP address in China. "A thorough investigation found no evidence of MoD data or systems being accessed, compromised or transmitted externally," said a Ministry of Defense spokesperson. "Our assurance and testing processes are designed to identify and address potential vulnerabilities early, and we continue to undertake routine security activity across our systems and equipment." The Register reports: According to reports, the talkative components were cameras sourced by Kraken from a third-party supplier. The incident raises questions about supply chains, audits, and cybersecurity in the British armed forces. The spokesperson said: "The first duty of government is national security, and we take the security of our equipment, networks, and data extremely seriously."
Meta CEO presents utopian vision of AI in 6,000-word essay amid Silicon Valley debate over government regulation
Mark Zuckerberg published a lengthy essay on Monday detailing his views on artificial intelligence and announced several plans for how Meta would develop the technology in the future. The CEO’s essay went online the same day as Meta released a new, open-weight AI model that seeks to rival Anthropic and OpenAI’s products called Muse Glimmer.
Over the course of more than 6,000 words in a post titled The Future is for Everyone, Zuckerberg addressed a range of topics related to AI that included datacenters, government regulation, cybersecurity, the creation of bioweapons, labor market disruption, surveillance powers and more. The essay presented a utopian vision of AI as a personalized “superintelligence” – using the word 60 times.
NEW YORK and SAN DIEGO, Aug. 10, 2026 — Qunnect, a leader in quantum networking infrastructure, and Monarch Quantum, a quantum photonics company developing photonic engines for scalable quantum technologies, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the commercialization of deployable quantum networking infrastructure.
Quantum networking distributes quantum entanglement across existing fiber-optic infrastructure, enabling fundamentally new capabilities including quantum-secure communications, distributed quantum computing, precision timing and synchronization, authenticated networking, and advanced sensing. As governments, defense organizations, and commercial enterprises accelerate investment in quantum technologies, demand is growing for deployable and manufacturable quantum networking systems that can operate reliably outside laboratory environments.
The partnership combines Qunnect’s field-proven quantum networking technology with Monarch Quantum’s expertise in photonic system engineering, productization, miniaturization, and scalable manufacturing. Together, the companies will develop modular and manufacturable quantum networking hardware designed for deployment across commercial, industrial, defense, space, and critical infrastructure applications.
The collaboration will support emerging quantum networking use cases identified through Qunnect’s work by developing more compact and deployable variants of Carina, Qunnect’s turnkey commercial entanglement distribution system introduced in 2024. These next-generation systems are intended to enable quantum networking installations in environments where size, weight, power consumption, and operational flexibility are critical. Potential use cases include satellites, edge computing infrastructure, defense platforms, remote facilities, telecommunications networks, and IoT environments.
By combining Qunnect’s leadership in entanglement-based quantum networking with Monarch Quantum’s expertise in manufacturable quantum photonics, the companies aim to move quantum networking from specialized deployments toward scalable commercial infrastructure.
“Qunnect has demonstrated that entanglement-based quantum networks are no longer confined to the lab; they are being deployed in the real world,” said Noel Goddard, CEO of Qunnect. “Monarch Quantum brings deep expertise in photonic engineering, miniaturization, and scalable manufacturing, making them an ideal partner as we develop industry-relevant versions of our hardware. Together, we are building the infrastructure foundation for a global quantum internet and, along the way, enabling a new class of quantum-secure networking capabilities that classical networks cannot replicate.”
Today, Qunnect’s Carina platform anchors quantum networking deployments on two continents. Entanglement-based quantum networking is expected to enable secure communications, network channel authentication, user authentication, position verification, precision timing and synchronization, distributed sensing, and the scaling of quantum computing through networked architectures. These capabilities are expected to become increasingly important as our classical infrastructure faces growing demands from advanced cyber threats, deepfakes, 5G/6G networks, and AI-driven systems.
“Qunnect has built one of the clearest paths from quantum networking research to real-world deployment with a compelling vision for commercial adoption,” said Dr. Timothy Day, Chairman & CEO of Monarch Quantum. “Our mission at Monarch Quantum is to transform advanced photonic systems into deployable, manufacturable, miniature platforms. By partnering with Qunnect, we are helping to accelerate the commercialization of quantum networking infrastructure and bring entanglement-based networking technology into the environments where it can have the greatest strategic and commercial impact.”
“Commercial quantum networking will require more than scientific breakthroughs,” Goddard added. “It will require robust systems, deployable form factors, repeatable production, and scalable supply chains. That is exactly what this partnership is built to deliver.”
About Qunnect
Qunnect is building the hardware foundation for the quantum internet. The company develops quantum networking technologies designed to distribute entanglement across existing fiber infrastructure, enabling new capabilities in secure communications, authentication, sensing, synchronization, and distributed quantum computing. Qunnect’s Carina system is a turnkey commercial entanglement distribution platform supporting real-world quantum network deployments.
About Monarch Quantum, Inc.
Monarch Quantum is a U.S.-based quantum photonics company building integrated photonics systems — Quantum Light Engines — for quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum communications. Operating within California’s growing quantum and photonics ecosystem, Monarch Quantum combines best-in-class photonics components with systems engineering and advanced packaging to enable scalable, deployable quantum hardware. The company serves quantum OEMs, national laboratories, defense integrators, and advanced research institutions worldwide.
Aug. 10, 2026 — Zooming from her office, Michigan State University (MSU) researcher Kelly Kapsar showed off stunning satellite images from across the United States.
In some, different colors revealed the precise heights of the forested ridges in the Sierra Nevada or the craggy peaks of the Rockies and the valleys between them. Others showed the pine flatwoods of southern Florida or the smooth rolling grasslands of the Kansas prairie.
In a new study, researchers provide measures of elevation and climate around 47 sites in the U.S. National Ecological Observatory Network, from Florida’s Everglades to the Alaskan tundra hundreds of miles above the Arctic Circle. Courtesy of Kelly Kapsar.
The images were taken by the space shuttle Endeavor during a 2000 mission to make detailed radar maps of the planet’s surface.
Endeavour orbited Earth 16 times a day during the 11-day mission. In that time, it took more than a trillion elevation measurements, generating a whopping 12.3 terabytes of data.
Since then, other Earth-observing satellites have measured things like temperature, rainfall, sea levels, carbon dioxide, snow cover, wind speeds, even dust — and at scales ranging from the span of a continent to patches barely larger than a tennis court.
It’s a treasure trove of data. And by combining this information captured from space with measurements of plants and animals taken on the ground, researchers hope to better predict where species are most likely to thrive in the years to come, said professor Phoebe Zarnetske, who directs MSU’s Spatial and Community Ecology, or SpaCE, Lab.
But there’s a hitch, said Kapsar, a postdoctoral associate in the SpaCE Lab.
While a lot of satellite remote sensing data is publicly available, for many researchers, taking advantage of it isn’t straightforward.
“We have so much satellite-based data now, but ecologists receive very little training on how to work with it,” Kapsar said. “Once you start downloading satellite data, it gets into hundreds of gigabytes and thousands of layers.”
That often requires technical expertise in supercomputing and big data analysis to process.
There’s another problem, Kapsar added. The statistical models that scientists use to map where plants and animals are likely to live often require a single, numerical value to characterize the environment. But from the perspective of, say, a vole or a beetle, summarizing a landscape in just one number doesn’t tell the whole story.
To illustrate, Kapsar pulled up a series of satellite images showing the contours of the land around sites within the National Ecological Observatory Network, or NEON, a 30-year research effort to monitor changes at 81 field sites across the U.S.
One NEON field site within the Sierra Nevada mountain range in California has an average elevation of 7,050 feet. However, this number masks a lot of ups and downs, from towering 10,000-foot mountain peaks to valleys and meadows.
The same holds true when it comes to rainfall, Kapsar said. While annual precipitation in a NEON site near Las Cruces, New Mexico, in the northern Chihuahuan Desert stays pretty consistent around 11 inches a year, rainfall at a site in Hawaii can vary drastically year to year — from 80 inches to 160 inches.
Also known as “geodiversity,” this heterogeneity in the environment can mean a lot to the plants and animals that live there.
“If you think about the world like many animals do, they’re not going to just take the average of a mountain landscape,” Kapsar said. “They have to contend with things like: How steep is this cliff? Can I climb it? How many ups and downs are there? How bumpy is the terrain? Are there places for me to hide?”
“The temperature and precipitation within an area can vary with the topography and vegetation to produce microclimates, where only certain species can thrive,” said co-author Lala Kounta, a climate scientist in the SpaCE Lab.
Kapsar, Kounta, Zarnetske and collaborators are working on ways to provide geodiversity data to researchers and help close the gap.
Crunching massive amounts of satellite data with the MSU High Performance Computing Center in a new study, they hand over a set of climate and elevation geodiversity metrics that capture more than just the mean so researchers working at NEON sites across the U.S. can use them.
Originally developed for the field of surface metrology, the metrics include statistical measures of how “rough” or “smooth” precipitation, temperature and elevation are across the landscape, calculated using an open-source computer program that Zarnetske and MSU’s Kyla Dahlin and colleagues developed called GEODIV.
Their paper also offers a how-to for researchers who want to use satellite data to capture this complexity at other sites around the world and at different scales.
“The idea is to take the satellite’s perspective from way up high in the sky, and NEON’s intensive data collection on the ground — catching bugs, listening for birds, sampling plants — and bring them together to get the best of both worlds,” Kapsar said.
Congresswoman demands answers after a DHS agent was apparently stationed outside her Minnesota town hall
Donald Trump’s administration is facing questions over whether it is using Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to “surveil political opponents” after after an investigative agent was apparently stationed outside Democratic representative Ilhan Omar’s monthly town hall meeting in Richfield, Minnesota.
After the incident, Omar demanded the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarify whether Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents have been used to monitor “any other activity” involving “local, state, or federal officials” in the state.
GARFIELD COUNTY, Colorado — Tyler Boebert, the 21-year-old son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, has been arrested on five felony charges involving the alleged sexual exploitation of a minor.
Court records show Boebert faces three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The allegations stem from early 2024.
According to an arrest affidavit obtained by Colorado Politics and The Denver Gazette, investigators allege Boebert recorded himself having sex with a 17-year-old girl when he was 18 and later shared the video. Authorities began investigating after explicit images and videos involving minors appeared on an anonymous Instagram account. Investigators suspect Boebert created the account and posted additional material involving other people. Six others also face charges in connection with the investigation.
Boebert was arrested Sunday by the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office and released the same day after posting a $10,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in district court Aug. 19.
Rep. Boebert said her family takes the allegations “very seriously” and is praying for everyone affected.
Tyler Boebert was also arrested in 2024 in connection with vehicle break-ins and stolen property.
The current charges remain allegations, and Boebert has not been convicted.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Ceva Logistics, one of the world's largest shipping and logistics giants, has been hacked. Several companies that rely on Ceva for shipping their products to their customers say that their personal information was also stolen in the breach. The cyberattack on Ceva is affecting at least eight warehouses across Europe used for shipping goods across the continent, the company told TechCrunch. Industry news site FreightWaves reports that the hack began on July 29 and is causing shipping delays for many of the goods in affected warehouses.
Ceva is a France-headquartered shipping and logistics giant that companies around the world rely on to deliver their goods from their assembly lines to customer homes. The company, which brought in $18.3 billion in revenue in 2025, has over a thousand warehouses across the world. [...] The hack at Ceva also resulted in a data breach, affecting a large amount of personal information belonging to retail customers that Ceva relies on for delivering goods to people's home addresses. Several companies reported that hackers took their customers' names, home addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses used to place their orders from Ceva's systems.
Dutch online retail giant Bol said on its website that hackers gained access to systems of its warehousing partner, Ceva, and warned that their customers' data may have been taken. Bol also said that it expects delays and some customer orders to be canceled as a result of the incident. De Bijenkorf, another Dutch luxury retailer, similarly confirmed order delays following the theft of its customers' data, per local media. Football club Ajax, banking giant ING, and eyeglass maker Ace & Tate also reported that customers' shipping information was affected. Video game giant Valve told customers that it learned on August 7 that data was taken from Ceva's systems, and alerted customers who recently bought its Steam hardware that they had personal information taken in the incident. Valve said in its note to customers, posted to Reddit, that Ceva stores their shipping and delivery information for 90 days following their order. So far, Ceva says the agency has received data breach reports from 10 organizations in relation to the incident.
Cookies are ancient technology, and in no way necessary of even particularly desirable to track you. Modern fingerprinting doesn’t need them at all.
A live demonstration of everything a website learns about you before you click anything with no cookies. It reads you during the connection and in the first two seconds of JavaScript, then narrates what it found back to you in plain English, as if a stranger were describing you out loud.
The argument isn’t “look how creepy this site is.” It’s: the site you visit after this one can do all of it too, and won’t tell you.
Also note, as the demonstration does, that if some of the things it determines about you are wrong, that doesn’t really matter. In fact, it may actually make fingerprinting and tracking you easier; as long as fingerprinting consistently gets the same things wrong in the same way, it becomes a valuable part of the fingerprint, like a small scar obscuring part of your real thumb’s fingerprint.
Valve is continuing to broaden SteamOS support beyond its own hardware, with the latest beta adding "initial gamepad support" for a few recent gaming handhelds and improving compatibility for a few others. Ars Technica reports: Those newly supported handhelds include MSI's Claw 8 EX AI+, the extremely expensive, extremely powerful handheld built around Intel's Arc G3 processor that launched this summer. While SteamOS has long included beta support for "other AMD powered handhelds," Valve has only recently been working on offering compatibility with Intel-based handhelds like the MSI Claw line. This weekend's update suggests the company hasn't abandoned those efforts and that Intel chips aren't being left out of the SteamOS conversation.
SteamOS 3.8.25 also newly supports the controllers built into Ayaneo's Android-focused Pocket S2 and the more recently released Windows-based Konkr Fit. Valve also says the new OS offers "improved support" for older MSI Claw devices and the OneXPlayer line of portable gaming PCs. This weekend's update follows June's SteamOS 3.8 update, which stressed "improved compatibility with recent Intel and AMD platforms." That update specifically called out improved controller support on handhelds from the likes of GPD Win, Anbernic, and OrangePi, as well as improvements for various Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw, and OneXPlayer devices. The report notes that the new SteamOS update also updates the Linux driver powering the new Steam Controller, "allowing it to work with 'native controller applications' even when Steam is not running."
US president’s statement is latest sign that negotations to end war and reopen strait of Hormuz have stalled
Donald Trump has said he will demand that Iran pay compensation for the deaths of thousands of US soldiers and Iran’s own civilians killed in recent decades in the latest sign his negotiations to end the war and reopen the strait of Hormuz have reached an impasse.
The US president is trying to end conflicts in Iran, Gaza and Lebanon, and his additional demands of Iran are likely to provoke anger in Tehran at the same time as Israel has rejected Trump’s terms for a 15-point roadmap to end the war in Gaza.
Finally my board is ready and I just had the first ride to see if it's all good.
Super new to VESC and first adventure away from FM boards. Was waiting for parts from Fungi for like 3 months haha... pain... but finally it's assembled and it's working so smooooth!
Fungineers Supercharged 134V powertrain with 32p1 P45b battery, TFL Steep-and-Deep BTG Varials, 5uperflux 5" HT motor, Pioneer 5" BTG tyre, TFL Torque Bang bumper and Stompie MkVII footpads...
The Rock Orchestra’s six-night “All Together Now” festival offers families a rare chance to share 217 Beatles songs — and generations of musical history — together
WILMINGTON, Del. — Beatles fans have six nights beginning tonight to experience something far different from a traditional tribute concert — and perhaps introduce a child or grandchild to the music that changed popular culture.
The Rock Orchestra opens its ninth annual “All Together Now” festival Monday night at Delaware Theatre Company, launching a six-night musical journey through all 217 officially released Beatles songs in chronological order. Performances begin at 8 p.m. each night through Saturday, Aug. 15.
For longtime Beatles fans, the festival is an opportunity to hear familiar favorites alongside songs rarely performed live. For younger listeners, it offers something more: a chance to discover the Beatles the way their parents and grandparents did — as a band whose sound changed dramatically in just a few remarkable years.
That makes the festival an unusual opportunity for families to share some musical history.
Parents and grandparents who remember the Beatles can bring younger generations to hear why songs recorded more than half a century ago continue to influence the music they hear today. Instead of simply playing an old record or streaming a playlist, families can experience the music together in a live theater, performed by musicians recreating the increasingly complex arrangements that defined the Beatles’ career.
Six nights tell one musical story
“All Together Now” does not simply assemble the Beatles’ biggest hits.
Each evening picks up where the previous night ended, presenting albums, singles and deeper cuts in the order in which they were originally released. The format allows audiences to hear the transformation from the youthful rock-and-roll energy of the band’s earliest recordings to the increasingly ambitious studio experimentation of its later years.
Tonight’s opening performance features “Please Please Me” and “With The Beatles.”
Tuesday moves to “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Beatles For Sale,” followed Wednesday by “Help!” and “Rubber Soul.” Thursday features “Revolver,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Magical Mystery Tour.”
Friday brings “Yellow Submarine” and “The Beatles,” commonly known as the White Album, before the festival concludes Saturday with “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be.”
That progression is central to the experience.
“The Beatles didn’t stand still for a single album,” said Joe Trainor, co-founder and musical director of The Rock Orchestra. “When you experience every song in release order, you hear them grow from a great rock-and-roll band into fearless musical innovators.”
More than a Beatles tribute show
Recreating those recordings requires considerably more than four musicians with guitars and drums.
Over the festival’s nine-year history, more than 112 musicians playing nearly 30 instruments have participated. A seven-piece core rock band is joined throughout the production by strings, brass, woodwinds and instruments including harp, sitar, tabla, mandolin, French horn and clarinet.
The result is designed to recreate not just the songs but the expanding musical imagination behind them.
Founded in 2017 by Trainor and Matt Urban, The Rock Orchestra has produced concerts celebrating artists including Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, Queen, Genesis, Chicago, Tom Petty, Peter Gabriel, Eagles and R.E.M. But “All Together Now” has become its signature summer event.
“It’s become a tradition for the musicians on stage and for the audiences who come back every summer,” Urban said.
Make it a family night
For people who grew up with the Beatles, the week offers six chances to revisit music tied to their own memories.
But taking a son, daughter or grandchild could make the experience even more memorable.
Young people may already recognize more Beatles music than they realize. “All Together Now” gives older generations an opportunity to put those songs into context — and then watch younger listeners discover for themselves how dramatically the band evolved.
With the festival beginning tonight and ending Saturday, the opportunity lasts only six nights.
Whether attending one favorite era or following the entire 217-song journey, this may be the kind of summer experience worth turning into a family tradition.
TO GO
What: All Together Now: The Complete Beatles Festival
When: Monday, Aug. 10, through Saturday, Aug. 15
Time: 8 p.m. nightly
Where: Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington
Tonight: “Please Please Me” and “With The Beatles”
Single-night tickets, festival passes and VIP packages are available through Delaware Theatre Company.
Why go: Hear all 217 officially released Beatles songs performed chronologically — and consider bringing your children or grandchildren for a night of music that connects generations.
The man who prosecutors say orchestrated the 1996 killing of rap icon Tupac Shakur, Duane "Keffe D" Davis, is on trial almost 30 years after the drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.
President Trump signaled he would be piling economic pressure on Iran as the stalemate continued and Tehran laid out new conditions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Aptoide has become the first third-party Android app store available directly through Google Play in the U.S. "The change is a direct result of Google's litigation with Epic, which saw a judge rule in 2024 that the Play Store would have to open up to third-party stores," notes The Verge. The change makes rival storefronts far easier to discover and install, potentially opening the door for Epic, Amazon, Samsung, Microsoft and others to distribute their own app stores through Google's store. From the report: Third-party app stores have always been available on Android, which is a more open platform than iOS in that respect. However, until now they've only been available if pre-installed on a device -- as with the Amazon Appstore on Fire tablets or Samsung's Galaxy Store -- or installed via sideloading. Listing rival storefronts within the Play Store makes them much easier for users to find and access.
[...]
Aptoide itself is relatively little known, but it's likely to be the first of many alternative app stores. It's presumably only a matter of time before the Epic Store makes its own appearance, and the likes of Amazon, Samsung, and other phone manufacturers may also want to put their stores in front of potential customers.
Justice department says it decided to abandon fraud and bribery case in which Adani Group has denied wrongdoing
A US judge on Monday dismissed criminal charges against the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, after the justice department said it had decided to abandon the fraud and bribery case.
The Brooklyn-based district judge Nicholas Garaufis’s decision to grant federal prosecutors’ rare attempt to toss the case came after he inquired into their reasons for doing so, including by asking Adani whether anything was promised in exchange for the dropping of the case. In November 2024, before the charges were unsealed, Adani had promised to invest $10bn in the United States.
"It is with profound sadness that we share that [Jackie] passed away in the early hours of this morning, following more than three weeks of intensive medical care," Ojai Raptor Center said.
Wisconsin is not the only state with high stakes primary races on 11 August.
We’ll also be bringing you the latest on a number of pivotal contests. In Minnesota, the closely watched and crowded Democratic primary for US Senate seems to be a competition between lieutenant governor Peggy Flanagan and congresswoman Angie Craig.
Loyalist sworn in after Senate voted narrowly in favor of his confirmation on Saturday morning
Todd Blanche has been sworn as US attorney general, cementing Donald Trump’s installation of his former personal attorney in charge of the Department of Justice.
Blanche, who has been serving as acting attorney general since April, was confirmed in his new position during a ceremony at the White House on Monday. The 52-year-old is the second Senate-confirmed attorney general of Trump’s second term, after Pam Bondi, who was ousted earlier this year.
Exclusive: FBU calls for more funding as ‘unprecedented summer’ puts rising demands on already stretched crews
Firefighters in the UK are under increased pressure as a result of an “unprecedented summer of dangerous and volatile wildfires”, the Fire Brigades Union has said, as many parts of the country brace for a fifth heatwave of the year.
As authorities declared almost three-quarters of England was now in drought, Steve Wright, the FBU general secretary, said the unpredictable environmental challenges the UK was now confronted with meant it was a “national priority” to have enough properly equipped firefighters to “face these threats”.
President and RFK Jr, the health secretary, repeatedly referred to autism during signing, though studies show no link between it and vaccines
Donald Trump has signed an executive order with plans for sweeping changes to the childhood vaccination schedule that attempts to override the authority of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It’s an attempt to undergird the changes made earlier this year to CDC vaccination recommendations, which were halted by a federal judge. The CDC is the federal agency tasked with recommending vaccines, not the White House.
Nvidia is working with Wall Street heavyweights on a potential $500 billion financing package for AI infrastructure (source paywalled; alternative source). The consortium includes BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners, Brookfield Asset Management, Goldman Sachs and KKR. The Financial Times reports: The partnership underscores Nvidia's growing efforts to raise capital for itself and its clients to continue assembling the chips, power production and data centres at the heart of the AI boom. The $5.25 trillion company has positioned itself at the centre of the AI boom, providing chips, infrastructure and software to a wide array of partners developing the technology. Nvidia's graphics processing units, or GPUs, underpin most of the leading US AI models available today.
[...] The biggest cloud-computing companies, including Meta, Oracle, Microsoft, Alphabet and Amazon, have dramatically increased their spending on AI infrastructure as they look to win the race to dominate the emerging technology. Morgan Stanley projects so-called hyperscalers will spend $3.5 trillion between 2026 and 2028. That need for capital has forced technology groups to tap every source of cash they can find, including public equity, investment-grade and high-yield bonds, securitized debt, private credit and project finance markets. "[The] sheer size of the AI infrastructure build-out is unprecedented," Jim Zelter, president of Apollo, said on an earnings call earlier this month. "More than $8 trillion of capital is expected to be invested, a staggering sum. We see an enormous opportunity for private capital to finance a portion of this along with public capital."
Scientists have made clear that the elevated heat in the US was being amplified by the human-caused climate crisis
July was the hottest month ever recorded in the US, with repeated, scorching heatwaves across much of the country helping shatter all previous monthly temperature records stretching back over the full 132 years of reliable measurements.
Last month’s average temperature was 3.3F (1.8C) higher than the 20th century average for the contiguous United States, which excludes Alaska and Hawaii, according to new data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
Police looking into whether Joshua Kerry linked to alleged attempted burglary last year at Reform leader’s then home
Police are investigating whether Joshua Kerry, the man charged with the murder of the former Reform UK and Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, had any role in an attempted burglary last year at the then London home of Nigel Farage.
Kerry, 28, from Rotherham, was charged with the murder of Widdecombe, 78, who was killed at her Devon home in July, after an investigation by counter-terrorism police.
Todd Blanche was sworn in as attorney general after the Senate narrowly voted to confirm the president's former defense lawyer to helm the Justice Department over the weekend.
Eight in ten American households have one parent who runs the household’s meal-planning operations. A new survey of 2,000 parents of school-aged children found that 82% of families have a default dining manager who handles meal planning, shopping and cooking.…
Trained pet dogs remained awake during fMRI scans as researchers measured their brain activity while they viewed images of human faces expressing happiness, anger, fear, and sadness. (Laura V. Cuaya via SWNS)
Q: Is President Donald Trump really cutting Medicare subsidies?
A: The Trump administration recently announced that it is ending a temporary subsidy that has reduced premiums for Medicare Part D standalone prescription drug plans. The subsidy, originally slated to run through at least 2027, was put into place by the Biden administration to offset expected premium increases after major changes to the Part D benefit. Analysts say some Medicare beneficiaries could see higher Part D premiums as a result.
FULL ANSWER
We’ve received several questions from readers about whether the Trump administration is cutting or changing the Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit. The administration is not changing the benefit itself, but recently announced that it will end a temporary subsidy that had helped keep premiums for standalone Part D prescription drug plans down.
The change could lead to higher prescription-drug premiums for some Medicare recipients, though we won’t know the full impact until we get more detailed information about 2027 premiums this fall.
Photo by Tada Images / stock.adobe.com
To understand what’s going on, it’s helpful to have some background on the different parts of Medicare and how the subsidy came about in the first place.
Broadly, Medicare coverage has three components: Part A covers inpatient hospital care; Part B covers outpatient medical services, and Part D is prescription drug coverage. Beneficiaries can access that coverage in one of two ways. They can enroll in what’s called traditional or original Medicare, which includes Parts A and B, and add a separate, standalone Part D prescription drug plan. Or they can sign up for what are called Medicare Advantage plans — subsidized plans offered by private insurers that bundle hospital, outpatient and, typically, prescription drug coverage together.
According to the nonpartisan health policy research organization KFF, more than 56 million people were enrolled in Part D coverage as of February — 44% in standalone prescription drug plans and 56% through Medicare Advantage plans.
The end of the temporary subsidy should not affect premiums for Medicare Advantage enrollees, as it was targeted specifically to the standalone prescription drug plans available to people with traditional Medicare.
Those standalone drug plans are offered by private insurers that contract with the government. The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act included a major overhaul of the Part D benefit, with several changes meant to make prescription drugs more affordable for seniors with standalone Part D plans. Among those changes was capping enrollees’ total out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs for the first time, starting in 2025. The cap was $2,000 for that year.
Those changes, however, were expected to lead to higher premiums, as insurers adjusted to higher costs on their end.
One way policymakers tried to mitigate that was by limiting annual increases in something called the “base beneficiary premium,” which is used in calculating the premiums that people actually pay. The Inflation Reduction Act caps year-to-year base premium increases at 6% per year through 2029; that provision remains unchanged.
Separately, the Biden administration in 2024 created the temporary subsidy program, which was meant to further stabilize standalone drug-plan premiums starting in 2025 (hence its official name, the Part D Premium Stabilization Demonstration). The Trump administration renewed the subsidy at a lower level for 2026, then announced last month that it would no longer be in place for 2027.
The subsidy cost $9.8 billion over two years, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Juliette Cubanski, vice president and director of the program on Medicare policy at KFF, said the premium demonstration program appears to have worked as intended. In 2026, the subsidy reduced premiums for standalone Part D plans by an estimated $16 per month on average, according to the federal Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.
“To put that in context, the average standalone drug plan premium this year is $36 a month,” she said. “So without that additional subsidy, people might have had to pay nearly 50% more for drug coverage this year.”
By extension, some Medicare beneficiaries could see higher increases in their Part D premiums for 2027 now that the subsidy is ending, she said. But we won’t have a clear picture of how costs are changing until September, when the federal government releases information about premiums for specific plans.
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the federal agency responsible for Medicare, has said most people will not see a large spike in premiums.
“The Biden admin gave BILLIONS of taxpayer money DIRECTLY to Big Insurance Companies,” Oz wrote in a July 28 post on X, referring to the subsidy. “This is unacceptable. We are stabilizing the market so this bailout is no longer needed. Premiums will go up by less than $10 [per month] for most Medicare recipients, with many even seeing LOWER premiums.”
We asked CMS what those figures were based on. In response, a spokesperson said bids submitted by insurers for 2027 plans show the subsidy demonstration is no longer needed because the market has adjusted.
“We understand that outside organizations without plan bid information have voiced concerns, however our data shows that plan bids have stabilized,” the spokesperson told us in an email. “[A]mong the roughly quarter of Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in plans the previous demo impacted, over 85% of beneficiaries will have access to a Part D plan that is either lower cost or less than a $10 increase next year.”
The spokesperson also said all of those beneficiaries “will have access to at least three prescription drug plan options with total monthly premiums of $50 or less.”
The spokesperson did not respond to our followup question about whether 85% of those beneficiaries could stay in their current plans without premiums rising more than $10, or if some would have to switch plans to keep costs below that level.
Again, we’ll get clearer data on this in September.
“It may well be true that plans have gained sufficient experience in managing drug costs under the revamped Part D benefit design,” Cubanski said. “But I think it’s also true that without this enhanced financial support, there are going to be some Medicare beneficiaries who will face deeper premium increases.”
She encouraged people with standalone Part D coverage to look at their plans carefully during this fall’s open enrollment period; in addition to changes in premiums, it’s possible that insurers could pare back which drugs they cover, increase cost-sharing or make other plan changes to keep their costs down.
If premiums do rise significantly, that could also have other effects on the market for standalone prescription drug plans.
Cubanski said the temporary subsidy was designed to not just stabilize premiums, but also to stabilize enrollment. She noted that standalone Part D plans already face “stronger financial headwinds” compared with Medicare Advantage drug plans, which are more heavily subsidized. If more people switch to Medicare Advantage, that could push up overall Medicare spending over time. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission estimates the federal government is paying 14% more for Medicare Advantage enrollees compared to what they would have cost under traditional Medicare, a difference of $76 billion in 2026.
Standalone Part D plans are also important in many rural areas, where people have fewer Medicare Advantage options, Cubanski said.
“People still have about 10 prescription drug plans on average to choose from in 2026, so it’s not like this market [for standalone prescription drug plans] is on the verge of collapse,” Cubanski said. “But we have seen some, I think, concerning signs about the health of this marketplace relative to drug coverage through Medicare Advantage plans.”
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Prosecutors allege Duane ‘Keffe D’ Davis ordered killing and provided gun in Las Vegas drive-by shooting 30 years ago
Jury selection began on Monday in Las Vegas as the murder trial of a former gang leader finally got under way decades after the shooting of the rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most high-profile unsolved killings in the US.
It was thought likely to take at least the rest of the week to seat a jury for the trial of Duane “Keffe D” Davis, in which prosecutors aim to show that Davis, 63, the one-time leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang in California, ordered the killing and provided the gun for the fatal attack on Shakur.
Meta has released Muse Glimmer, a slimmed-down open-weight AI model designed to run locally on a single GPU for agent tasks such as scheduling, file management, coding, and tool use. The release is based on Meta's closed Muse Spark 1.2 model and appears to be aimed at attracting developers who want capable AI agents without relying entirely on cloud-hosted services. Engadget reports: Facebook said that it's making the "weights" that AI systems use to choose responses available to everyone on Hugging Face along with developer documentation. The download is available for free, and users can run the model on their own PCs. The company noted that optimized integrations will land on llama.cpp and other sites, "so you can go from download to working agent in minutes."
The model is powerful for its size, according to Meta, with the "strong success rates" on benchmarks like DeepSearch QA, MCP-Atlas and SWE-Bench (which evaluates its ability write and debug code). It also supports reliable tool use, multi-step reasoning, failure recovery, multimodal input and scaffold compatibility for work with OpenClaw and other agent orchestrators. It was trained on data from over 100 languages, the company added. "Rather than centralizing superintelligence, we should distribute it widely and give every person the ability to direct it," CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an essay accompanying Muse Glimmer's release. "This has the potential to begin a new era of personal empowerment where individuals can use this powerful new capability to reach their full potential, pursue their interests, and improve their lives and the world more than ever before."
The upgraded alerts will be in place from 9am on Tuesday until 9pm on Friday
An 18-year-old died after getting into difficulty in the sea at Camber Sands beach, East Sussex, yesterday, bringing the number of deaths in open-water incidents over the hot, dry summer to over 40, according to estimates compiled by the Press Association.
The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has updated heat-health alerts for nine regions in England, warning that rising temperatures this week may increase health risks, particularly for vulnerable groups.
It’s important that everyone is aware of the simple steps they can take to stay safe during periods of hot weather. Drinking plenty of water, avoiding the sun during the hottest part of the day and keeping indoor spaces cool are all things you can do to keep yourself and others safe.
For vulnerable groups including older adults and those with existing health conditions, warmer weather than result in serious health outcomes.
Badenoch adviser Joshua Bonehill-Paine was found guilty in 2016 of racially aggravated harassment of then MP Luciana Berger
The Labour peer Luciana Berger has urged Kemi Badenoch to “listen to victims” and reverse her decision to give a national advisory role to a former neo-Nazi.
Joshua Bonehill-Paine was jailed in 2015 for more than three years after posting antisemitic material online before a planned neo-Nazi rally. In 2016, he was found guilty of racially aggravated harassment for abuse directed at Berger, an MP at the time. He was also the founder and leader of the National British Resistance, a far-right group.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has no interest in agreeing to a deal. For relief to come to Gaza, real US pressure must be exerted
At the end of July, Donald Trump announced that a “monumental” US-backed deal had been struck on Gaza, securing the phased disarmament of Hamas in parallel with Israeli military withdrawal. Three days later it was reported that another 18 people had died in Israeli airstrikes. Not for the first time, it appeared that Mr Trump’s rhetoric had only a distant relationship with the reality it purported to describe.
Such suspicions were duly confirmed yesterday. Under pressure from far-right members of his coalition, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, explicitly rejected the sequencing of a 15-point plan from the increasingly hapless Board of Peace – an international body set up by the US president – and poured scorn on “a wave of rumours of … Israeli withdrawals on all fronts”. In a direct message to the White House, Mr Netanyahu stated that “we know how to stand our ground, even against our best friends when necessary.”
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Progressive US senator urges Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic to ‘stop building machines that humans cannot control’
Senator Bernie Sanders has called on Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic executives to halt their development of artificial intelligence, warning that the US Senate will implement regulation if the companies continue deploying AI at their current pace.
In a new letter addressed to the CEOs of three of the country’s leading AI companies, Sanders said the capabilities of these AI models have reached a critical risk threshold and that the companies are losing control over the technology.
Aug. 10, 2026 — The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys team has released the largest-ever 2D color map of the universe. The 5.6-trillion-pixel map contains nearly 4 billion celestial objects, primarily stars and galaxies. The data is available for all to use and publicly viewable through the Legacy Survey Sky Viewer.
Among the nearly 4 billion objects in the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys’ map is the galaxy Messier 96, a spiral galaxy approximately 35 million light-years from Earth. This image was captured with the 570-megapixel Department of Energy-fabricated Dark Energy Camera (DECam) mounted on the U.S. National Science Foundation Víctor M. Blanco 4-meter Telescope at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory (CTIO) in Chile, a Program of NSF NOIRLab. (Credit: DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys/LBNL/DOE & KPNO/CTIO/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA)
Astronomers and citizen scientists can explore the map or combine it with their own observations to better understand our universe. Researchers can search for rare phenomena like gravitational lenses, observe fleeting events like supernovae, and investigate two of physics’ biggest mysteries: dark matter, the invisible substance that accounts for most of the mass in our universe, and dark energy, the force driving our universe’s accelerating expansion.
The new map builds on earlier versions from the DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys that have already proved invaluable. To date, more than 1,800 science papers that reference the Legacy Surveys data have been published.
“It’s part of the fabric of astronomy research now,” said David Schlegel, a co-lead of the Legacy Surveys and scientist at the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). “When you’re working with astronomical objects today, you often start by pulling up the Legacy Imaging Viewer to see what you’re looking at.”
Covering roughly 75% of the sky in visible and near-infrared light, the updated map provides a deep view of the extragalactic universe not blocked by the dust and stars of our own Milky Way. Researchers expect it will remain the most comprehensive 2D map of our universe for years to come.
More than 160 scientists contributed to data collection for the project, and a team of 20 produced the final dataset released today. It was built by combining 263,407 telescope exposures from three ground-based sky surveys: the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS) at NSF Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, the Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) at NSF Kitt Peak National Observatory, and the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) at the University of Arizona’s Steward Observatory. That was supplemented by years of data from NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) satellite mission and additional public data.
“For our team, these data are fundamental to our investigation of the expansion history of the universe and the formation of our galaxy,” said Arjun Dey, co-lead of the Legacy Surveys and an astronomer at NSF NOIRLab. “But the skies belong to everyone, and this survey gives everyone the chance to explore the sky and marvel at its wonders.”
Here Be Galaxies
The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys were originally conducted to prepare for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey. The Legacy Surveys’ 2D map is essentially a deep photograph of the sky; it records where galaxies and stars appear and how bright they appear. This crucial step enables DESI to select objects and measure their light in different wavelengths to determine their distances, building the largest high-resolution 3D map ever made. Scientists study the way galaxies have clustered at different ages of the universe to track dark energy over time.
In April 2026, DESI completed its original five-year survey ahead of schedule and with vastly more objects than expected. The early results have shown surprising hints that dark energy’s impact may be weakening over time — a paradigm shift that could potentially shape the predicted fate of our universe. DESI expects to publish improved results using their first five years of data in 2027 and is continuing observations into 2028.
DESI was so efficient at observing galaxies, the Legacy Surveys map needed to expand. Early on, “it became clear we might run out of galaxies to look at and run out of sky, and we better start doing something about that,” said Schlegel, who also works on DESI. The new Legacy Surveys map has been used to select DESI targets since June 2026 and will guide the telescope’s operations over the coming years.
Computing the Cosmos
Merging hundreds of thousands of images taken on 2,285 nights, each with unique atmospheric and telescope conditions, was a massive computational effort. It took about a year to develop the computer code and eight weeks to process all the images at the Perlmutter supercomputer at the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC) at Berkeley Lab.
Beyond supporting DESI, the Legacy Surveys will be a foundational reference for the next generation of telescopes. As new observatories like the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory (jointly funded by NSF and DOE’s Office of Science) and NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope come online, researchers can compare their observations with one of the deepest and most comprehensive views of the sky ever assembled.
The Legacy Surveys data will also help scientists train artificial intelligence tools to analyze petabytes of astronomical data and accelerate new discoveries. It will be among the datasets used in an astrophysics pilot project within the American Science Cloud, part of the DOE’s Genesis Mission.
The DESI Legacy Imaging Surveys are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of High Energy Physics; the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, a DOE Office of Science user facility; the U.S. National Science Foundation, Division of Astronomical Sciences; and the partner institutions.
DESI is supported by the DOE Office of Science and NERSC. Additional support for DESI is provided by the NSF; the Science and Technology Facilities Council of the United Kingdom; the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; the Heising-Simons Foundation; the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA); the Secretariat of Science, Humanities, Technology and Innovation (SECIHTI) of Mexico; the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain; and by the DESI member institutions.
Israeli prime minister faces incompatible demands from his far-right government ministers and from Donald Trump
Benjamin Netanyahu’s public rejection of a US-backed deal for Gaza drew scepticism in Israel, amid reports he was personally hammering out details of a pilot military withdrawal days earlier.
The Israeli prime minister is struggling to balance incompatible demands on Gaza policy from his key domestic and international allies.
Valter Lavitola, a former journalist and import-export businessman who owns a restaurant in Rome, was close to former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi.
NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO and SINGAPORE, Aug. 10, 2026 — Anthropic, Macquarie Asset Management, and GIC today announced a strategic partnership to establish Theseus Infrastructure, a new platform to develop, operate and lease data center infrastructure at scale to Anthropic under long-term agreements. Each facility will be purpose-built to support Anthropic’s growing capacity needs as a leader in AI innovation.
The parties will work together to identify and develop new sites for which Anthropic will be the anchor tenant, with an initial focus on the United States. Funds managed by Macquarie Asset Management will, together with GIC, own the platform and fund the majority of the equity for each project.
The planned developments will require significant capital investment and create thousands of construction jobs and permanent operational roles in the communities where the sites are located. Anthropic will cover electricity price increases that consumers otherwise may face from these sites, in line with commitments it announced earlier this year.
Demand for Claude continues to grow rapidly across businesses, developers, and consumers, and meeting that demand requires significant new compute. Anthropic is partnering with Macquarie Asset Management and GIC, drawing on Macquarie’s global expertise developing, financing, and operating large-scale digital infrastructure, and GIC’s deep experience investing in infrastructure around the world.
About Anthropic
Anthropic is an AI research and development company that creates reliable, interpretable, and steerable AI systems. Anthropic’s flagship product is Claude, a large language model trusted by millions of users worldwide. Learn more about Anthropic and Claude at anthropic.com.
About Macquarie Asset Management
Macquarie Asset Management is a leading global asset manager, trusted by institutions, individuals and communities to responsibly manage $US497.6 billion in assets. Macquarie Asset Management provides clients with a diverse range of investment solutions that seek to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns. Macquarie Asset Management is part of Macquarie Group, a diversified financial services group providing clients with asset management, finance, banking, advisory, and risk and capital solutions across debt, equity and commodities. Founded in 1969, Macquarie Group employs over 19,000 people in 30 markets and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.
About GIC
GIC is a leading global investment firm established in 1981 to secure Singapore’s financial future. As the manager of Singapore’s foreign reserves, we take a long-term, disciplined approach to investing. Our asset allocation strategy spans three asset groups – Equities, Fixed Income, and Real Assets. These include investments in developed and emerging market equities, nominal and inflation-linked bonds, private equity, real estate, alternatives, and infrastructure. We are headquartered in Singapore, with a global presence including a talent force of over 2,500 people in 11 key financial cities and investments in over 40 countries. We seek to add meaningful value to our investments and be an investor of choice by leveraging our long-term approach, multi-asset capabilities, and global connectivity.
Demonstrators accuse authorities of failing to tackle irregularities in exams for sought-after civil service jobs
Thousands of angry young job-seekers clashed with police in Jharkhand, one of India’s poorest states, on Monday as a weeks-long protest over alleged irregularities in recruitment drives for coveted government jobs escalated into a march on the state legislature.
Police fired water cannon and teargas and swung batons as they tried to stop flag-waving demonstrators from clambering over barricades and surging towards the assembly in Ranchi, the state capital. Some of the protesters responded by dancing and cheering as jets of water drenched the crowd.
SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 10, 2026 — Discovered Materials, a company building AI agents that discover and accelerate the adoption of new materials for semiconductor chips, announced today a $9 million seed round. They also released hundreds of new materials discovered by frontier AI models, along with Material Discovery Bench – the first benchmark for agentic materials discovery on real-world semiconductor chip problems.
Founders of Discovered Materials. Akash (left) and Advaith (right)
The round is led by Lightspeed India Partners, with participation from Y Combinator and Peak XV Partners, and angel investors including Paul Graham, Gokul Rajaram and Thariq Shihipar. The funding will accelerate the company’s mission: making new materials discovery fast enough to keep pace with AI’s demand for compute.
“AI is creating unprecedented demand for better chips, but progress is increasingly constrained by how slowly new materials reach production. Akash and Advaith bring together a rare combination of deep materials science expertise and frontier AI engineering, enabling them to compress years of materials R&D into days,” said Hemant Mohapatra, Partner at Lightspeed India Venture Partners. “We’re excited to partner with Discovered Materials as they build the future of semiconductor innovation, starting with a very urgent wedge on better heat dissipation from increasingly hotter chips.”
AI chips have a heat problem. GPUs today handle heat fluxes of roughly 140 W/cm² – hotter than a space shuttle nose cone re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, and the problem is getting worse. This heat is why datacenters consume so much power and water. New materials can attack the problem from both sides, reducing heat generated by enabling 3D stacking, and dissipating heat faster once it’s produced. But today, moving a new material from a science experiment to an industrial fab takes years and hundreds of millions of dollars – the industry’s infamous “valley of death.” Discovered Materials builds AI agents that compress months of interdisciplinary research into days, spanning simulation, synthesis, and experimental validation.
To study the rapid progress of these AI agents and measure their ability, the company today released hundreds of new materials discovered by frontier AI models for semiconductor applications. Alongside this, they released Material Discovery Bench, a benchmark built with experts from industry and academia that tracks frontier model performance for this problem. The company will continue to build the graders that test AI-discovered materials in both simulation and experiment.
“Advances in compute have driven most of technological progress over the last 50 years, but chips today are at least 10,000x less power-efficient than the human brain,” said Akash Ramdas, co-founder of Discovered Materials. “New materials are how we close that gap – in the last 3 months, we have made new thermal materials that match the performance of products that the world’s largest chemical companies took years to develop.”
Co-founders Advaith Sridhar and Akash Ramdas met over a decade ago at IIT-Madras. Akash has a PhD in Material Science from Stanford University, and has spent the last 11 years researching new materials for semiconductor chips. His work on new nanoscale interconnects was Stanford Engineering’s most popular story of 2025. Advaith studied AI at Carnegie Mellon and was a research engineer building video models and agents at Persona AI (acquired) and Luma Labs. The seed funding will be used to expand the team, the lab and scale the company’s AI research agents.
About Discovered Materials
Discovered Materials builds AI agents that discover and accelerate the adoption of new materials for semiconductor chips. Our mission is to make chips as performant as the human brain. Learn more at discoveredmaterials.com.
Republican influencers and politicians have mounted faith-based attacks against Michigan Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim and former public health official, after his primary win.
On social media, Xaccounts falsely said El-Sayed supports making the Islamic code Shariah the U.S. law of the land.
“He openly calls for Sharia law in America,” conservative influencer Avery Daye posted Aug. 8 on X.
Her post plays snippets of a 2022 speech El-Sayed gave at an awards banquet for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Oklahoma chapter.
U.S. politicians have made similar accusations about El-Sayed, including Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas. Mace also attacked New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani about Shariah after his November win, which PolitiFact rated Pants on Fire.
El-Sayed faces former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, in the general election.
The X posts cherry-pick a small portion of El-Sayed’s 2022 speech, taking it out of context. In those remarks, El-Sayed mentioned an overturned state ban on Shariah as he reflected on Oklahoma’s history of discrimination and issued a call for unity. He did not call for Shariah to replace American laws.
Shariah, sometimes spelled sharia, is a wide-ranging set of rules that governs aspects of Islamic life, including religious practice, daily living and financial dealings.
In 2010, Oklahoma voters approved the Save Our State Amendment to forbid courts from using Shariah or international law when making decisions. A federal court struck it down in 2013, ruling it unconstitutional.
The practice of using foreign law in state courts is not uncommon and generally not controversial, experts told PolitiFact Florida in 2014. For example, parties in international contracts frequently agree to apply a specific foreign country’s law to govern their agreements.
What El-Sayed said in Oklahoma
During his 16-minute speech, El-Sayed spoke about racist, deadly events in Oklahoma history, including the 1830 Indian Removal Act leading to the Trail of Tears, which killed thousands of Native Americans; the 1921 Tulsa Massacre, which destroyed Greenwood, an African-American neighborhood known as Black Wall Street; and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing of a federal building by an anti-government white supremacist.
Then he made the comment that X users shared on social media: “The state of Oklahoma voted in a referendum to amend the constitution to ban Shariah law. What does that mean? I don’t know. And yet the voters banned it anyway.”
Daye, the influencer, did not include El-Sayed’s full comments about the Shariah ban in her X post. Here are relevant portions of his remarks:
“The same exact forces that drove Native peoples from their land two centuries ago, destroyed Black Wall Street a century ago, bombed a building decades ago, and tried to ban Sharia law not a decade ago, those forces are alive and well today.”
“The reason I wanted to go all the way back to the 1830s is because you can’t understand a Shariah ban without understanding the Trail of Tears. You can’t understand the efforts to uproot Muslim Americans without understanding the Tulsa massacre. You cannot understand the challenges we face today without understanding white supremacy. We have to set it in the context of our history. But here’s the thing: The beautiful thing about our opportunity today is that we have a choice in front of us about what we do next.”
He quoted the Quran and called on Muslims to pursue civil liberties and civil rights and be “witnesses for justice” whether they are working as doctors providing healthcare to low-income people or as business owners providing jobs.
El-Sayed quoted the first first words of the U.S. Constitution: “We the people. And what’s the rest? In order to form a more perfect union.”
He added: “Every time somebody tries to divide us, tells us that this group or that group does not belong because of the color of their skin, because of how they pray, because of where they come from, because of what language they spoke first — that’s antithetical to what it means to be American. But the work of perfecting is in deciding that we are going to show up with and for each other.”
In a 2025 interview, El-Sayed talked about his Muslim faith, telling Religion News Service, “I believe deeply in the role that faith has played in my life, in, you know, how it orients me to try and be a better person, to give more of myself, to know my fellow creation, to treat people — all people — with dignity and humanity and respect.”
He also said he believes in the separation of church and state and that he wants “to protect the kind of America where everybody can pray how they choose to pray, or choose not to pray at all.”
Our ruling
Social media posts say El-Sayed “openly calls for Sharia law in America.”
The posts show clips of El-Sayed delivering a 2022 speech, but he didn’t say what they describe.
The theme of his remarks was unity; he encouraged Muslims to work toward justice for everyone, even in the face of racism.
He mentioned an Oklahoma state ban on Shariah that was struck down by courts as he reflected on Oklahoma’s history of discrimination including against Native American and Black residents. He did not call for Shariah to replace American laws; in fact, he quoted the U.S. Constitution.
The statement is not only wrong but ridiculous. We rate it Pants on Fire!
BOSTON, Massachusetts — Massachusetts has eliminated its statutory 24-week cutoff for abortion, allowing physicians to determine whether to provide the procedure later in pregnancy based on their professional medical judgment.
Gov. Maura Healey signed the measure Monday, making Massachusetts the tenth state, along with Washington, D.C., without a specific gestational limit written into law. Previously, abortions at or after 24 weeks were permitted only under defined circumstances involving the patient’s life or physical or mental health, or certain fetal diagnoses.
The change does not require doctors or hospitals to perform abortions at any stage. Instead, it removes the state’s statutory list of qualifying conditions and leaves later-pregnancy decisions to licensed physicians. Major Massachusetts medical organizations supported the legislation, arguing that rigid legal criteria can interfere with care when severe fetal abnormalities or pregnancy complications are discovered late.
One prominent supporter, Kate Dineen, traveled from Massachusetts to Maryland for an abortion after her son suffered a catastrophic fetal stroke at 33 weeks because her circumstances did not qualify under the previous law.
Abortions after 24 weeks remain exceptionally uncommon, and only a small number of U.S. providers perform them.
Anti-abortion groups strongly opposed the change, arguing it eliminates meaningful limits on later procedures. Healey countered that medical decisions should remain between patients, families and physicians rather than politicians.
The law further separates Massachusetts from states that have enacted near-total or early-pregnancy abortion bans following the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision.
Taiwan deliberately throttled mobile internet across the Taichung area during its annual Han Kuang war games, "simulating communication disruption in the event of a Chinese attack or natural disaster," reports Reuters. The drill accompanied air-raid exercises and military rehearsals aimed at defending strategically important areas such as the Penghu Islands. From the report: Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has long lived with the threat of a Chinese invasion and holds air raid drills along with its war games every year, clearing people from the streets for 30 minutes. During the internet "throttling" drill, centered on Monday on the major central metropolis of Taichung, only basic mobile phone services worked, though other functions including ATMs, traffic signals, landlines and fixed internet services were not affected.
Air raid sirens rang out in Taichung "and people cleared the streets from 2:30 p.m. (0630 GMT) as the government sent simultaneous text messages in Chinese and English telling mobile phone users of "simulated air attacks on communication infrastructure." The government had widely flagged the drill ahead of time, including posting details on social media, and most people Reuters spoke to at the Taichung train station were prepared. [...] The same exercise will be repeated on Thursday in northern Taiwan, including the capital Taipei.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is launching an initiative to produce a new class of open-weight foundation models designed specifically to accelerate scientific discovery as part of DOE’s broader Genesis Mission, and is requesting input from potential contributors from commercial, academic, and research institutions.
These Genesis models aim to provide researchers, National Laboratories, industry partners, and the broader open science community with powerful, transparent, and extensible AI models that can be adapted to a wide range of scientific domains and use cases. The first model in this class will be Genesis-Science-1, developed in partnership with Arcee.
By releasing models with open-weights, DOE seeks to galvanize the scientific and AI communities around shared infrastructure for science: enabling new workflows in materials discovery, energy systems, earth system modeling, fusion, biology, high-energy physics, and beyond. This effort is grounded in the principles of open science, reproducibility, and responsible AI, with the goal of lowering barriers to advanced AI capabilities for the public good.
As part of this initiative, DOE is collecting information from interested participants who would like to contribute to and benefit from this new ecosystem:
Open-weight models: Organizations to provide open-weight models both as base models to support downstream fine-tuning and for immediate deployment. Models should have transparent provenance with training data and evaluation procedures developed through this initiative.
Pretraining contributions: Organizations and researchers with access to high-quality, domain-specific scientific data who are interested in contributing to future pretraining cycles (e.g., curated datasets, benchmarks, or specialized corpora).
Fine-tuning efforts: Teams interested in shaping downstream, domain-adapted versions of Genesis-Science-1 and future models for particular scientific fields, applications, or mission needs (e.g., lab assistants, simulation surrogates, scientific copilots).
If you or your organization are interested in participating, either by contributing models and data, co-developing evaluations and benchmarks, or collaborating on fine-tuning and application deployments, please visit the Genesis Mission US Open Models Initiative website for more information. Applications for the first contribution window for pretraining efforts close on August 14, 2026, and for fine-training efforts on August 25, 2026. Additional deadlines will be rolling and are expected every three months.
Your engagement will help shape the capabilities, governance, and impact of Genesis-Science-1 and other Genesis open models as a shared public asset for scientific innovation.
Four more regions given drought status, putting 27 million people under restrictions on water use
Almost three-quarters of England is now in drought, as much of Europe braces for its fifth climate crisis-driven heatwave this summer.
Four more regions of England have officially been declared to be in drought: the East Midlands, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, Kent and East Sussex, and Solent and the South Downs.
Attack hundreds of miles from border would be among deadliest of war as Kyiv aims to strangle Russian economy
A Ukrainian drone strike on an industrial city deep inside Russia has killed at least 13 people, according to the local mayor, as Kyiv steps up its campaign of long-range strikes on targets far from the frontline.
Kyiv said it hit the Taneco refinery in the city of Nizhnekamsk, about 750 miles (1,200km) from the Ukrainian border. Footage circulating online appeared to show smoke rising from the refinery.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from ABC News & Headlines: Andrew asked his personal assistant to book him a spot in one of his gym's coveted morning classes. It was a task he thought was well suited to this particular assistant because the booking form was online and because his assistant was not a person -- it was artificial intelligence (AI). But Andrew was shocked by what happened next. His AI assistant found a way to book the gym class months further in advance than the gym allowed, thanks to a vulnerability it discovered in the booking software. Then it went further, kicking someone out of the waiting list who was ahead of Andrew -- something it was not asked to do. The accidental hack is the first known Australian case of an emerging risk from a new generation of AI capable of behaving in unexpected ways.
German government talks of a ‘new level of danger’ but declines to say who it thinks was responsible for device
American intelligence experts believe Russia was behind an attack on a German airport last week with a drone laden with explosives, US media have reported, as Berlin remained silent on the likely culprit.
Last week’s security emergency prompted the interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, to break off his summer holiday in Italy and rush to the scene in the eastern city of Leipzig, as he spoke of a “new level of danger” for Germany.
Move closes loophole but doesn’t include definition of ultra-processed foods, promised earlier this year
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is changing its rules on how food manufacturers notify them of ingredients brought to the market – but the Trump administration has once again punted on defining “ultra-processed foods”, promising more details later.
While the move would close a regulatory loophole, it falls short of the administration’s promises to reform food regulations dramatically even as one of the biggest foodborne illness outbreaks unfolds.
LOUISVILLE, Colo., Aug. 10, 2026 — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum computing and quantum sensing powered by neutral-atom technology, announced that Eaton, a global power management company, selected Infleqtion to support new research evaluating how quantum computing can improve the resilience of the U.S. electrical grid. As part of an Eaton award from the Air Force Research Laboratory (ARFL), Infleqtion received a subcontract to apply quantum computing hardware to support grid contingency analysis. Infleqtion and Eaton aim to advance reliability analysis used by utilities to predict and prevent cascading power outages.
“Grid reliability is a large-scale optimization challenge that pushes the limits of today’s classical systems,” said Pranav Gokhale, CTO at Infleqtion. “This program allows us to explore how quantum algorithms and error-corrected quantum hardware could support faster, more accurate analysis of grid vulnerabilities to improve how we evaluate failures, reduce blackout risk, and strengthen critical U.S. infrastructure.”
Contingency analysis is one of the most important tools for determining how power systems respond when key components, such as transmission lines or generators, fail unexpectedly. As power grids become more interconnected and more dependent on real-time data, the number of “what-if” scenarios grow so large that classical computing methods struggle to analyze them efficiently. Classical analysis relies on approximate methods that are often insufficient for robust risk management. This makes contingency analysis an ideal test case for quantum computing, which may evaluate complex combinations more effectively using quantum interference algorithms.
Why Grid Reliability Matters for National Security and the Economy
The U.S. electrical grid is increasingly stressed. Even brief outages can cause cascading disruptions across geographies. As the grid becomes more complex, both commercial utilities and government agencies are accelerating efforts to modernize and harden critical infrastructure. This momentum aligns with the Department of Energy’s recently launched Genesis Mission, a national initiative that uses artificial intelligence and advanced computing to accelerate breakthroughs in energy, including grid modernization, discovery science, and national security.
AFRL’s investment reflects this broader national prioritization of technologies that can identify vulnerabilities earlier, evaluate risks more comprehensively, and reduce blackout impacts. Eaton will lead the program, working to align results with real operational needs across civilian and defense-critical environments.
“This research will enhance infrastructure planning, daily operations, and emergency preparedness—bringing unprecedented awareness and response to strengthen infrastructure,” said Sid Suryanarayanan, senior chief engineer, strategic partnerships and innovation at Eaton. “Working with the ARFL and our program collaborators, including Infleqtion, we aim to understand how quantum performance can support grid reliability and resilience.”
How Quantum Computing May Improve Grid Contingency Analysis
Because grid contingency analysis involves evaluating many different failure scenarios and their downstream effects, it represents one of the earliest mission-critical power-grid applications that could benefit from quantum computing. The program will explore how soon quantum computers may offer advantages at operational scale. Infleqtion will contribute its expertise in:
Quantum algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems central to power system analysis
Circuit optimization to reduce resource requirements on quantum hardware
Error correction techniques aligned with Infleqtion’s roadmap for its Sqale neutral atom quantum computer
Performance comparison between quantum and classical methods
Resource estimation and extrapolation to assess future real-world applicability
For more information about Infleqtion’s work in quantum computing for energy, infrastructure, and national security, visit infleqtion.com.
Infleqtion, Inc. (NYSE: INFQ) is a global leader in quantum technology, delivering neutral-atom solutions for quantum computing, networking, sensing, and security. With a product portfolio spanning quantum computers, quantum optical clocks, RF receivers, and inertial sensors, Infleqtion’s full-stack approach combines high-performance hardware with the company’s proprietary Superstaq quantum computing software platform. Infleqtion’s systems are already in use by the U.S. Department of Defense, NASA, the U.K. government, and in multiple collaborations with NVIDIA. Infleqtion, in collaboration with NVIDIA, published the world’s first demonstration of a materials science application using logical qubits. With operations in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, Infleqtion meets the demands of government and commercial customers across the space, defense, energy, finance and telecommunications sectors.
US president on Truth Social concedes contractor had cut some corners to finish $14m renovation project by deadline
Donald Trump has conceded his own administration’s renovation of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool was rushed and shoddy, while insisting that alleged vandals were to blame for damage to the Washington landmark.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the pool’s contractor had cut some corners to finish the $14m repainting project in time for a 4 July opening. “As with many jobs, there was also some contractor error done by rushing the job,” he wrote on Sunday, claiming the resulting damage from this was confined to “a very small area” and “relatively inconsequential”.
Vibrio vulnificus, a so-called flesh-eating bacterium, lurks in warm coastal waters and can enter the body through open wounds or from eating raw shellfish.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration has spent about $2.2 billion buying four privately owned immigration detention centers, shifting the facilities into federal hands while allowing the same companies to continue operating them under lucrative contracts.
Over the past two months, the Department of Homeland Security purchased CoreCivic facilities in California City and San Diego, California, along with detention centers in Appleton, Minnesota, and Leavenworth, Kansas. CoreCivic says the sales increased its cash holdings from $109 million to roughly $1.1 billion.
The company will continue managing at least some of the properties. Its newly purchased 1,600-bed Minnesota facility comes with a five-year operations contract expected to generate about $75 million annually.
GEO Group, ICE’s other major private detention contractor, is negotiating similar property sales while seeking to retain long-term management contracts.
The ownership change could have another consequence: weakening state and local oversight. California officials have used state laws to inspect detention centers and challenge conditions, while Leavenworth negotiated local safeguards before CoreCivic sold its facility to DHS without advance notice to city leaders. Federal ownership may make those requirements harder to enforce.
DHS has openly cited resistance from Democratic-led states as one reason for purchasing facilities directly. Immigration advocates argue the arrangement gives private prison companies a large cash windfall while helping the federal government insulate detention operations from local scrutiny.
Researchers analysed activity in regions of brain when dogs were shown images of different facial expressions
While dogs are known to turn the puppy eyes on their owners, it seems our pets are keeping a close eye on us too: research has revealed dog brains can distinguish different types of unhappy human faces.
Dr Laura Cuaya, a co-author of the study from the University of Vienna, said previous behavioural studies had shown dogs could tell apart some human facial expressions, but such studies tended to only test two at a time, one positive and one negative. As a result, it was not clear if dogs could distinguish different types of happy or unhappy faces.
Paramount is making commitments to major theater chains to release 30 films annually for three years if its Warner Bros. deal goes through. According to Deadline, the written commitment was sent to "at least one of the top two circuits" (specifically Regal but AMC may have also received a written commitment) and includes "an exclusive 45-day theatrical window and a 90-day window to streaming." From the report: When it comes to the big chains, it matters for them to be on the right side of history with Paramount, especially when it comes to future terms on a 30-film slate. However, the rest of Cinema United (formerly National Association of Theatre Owners) remains firmly against the Paramount-Warner Bros merger and its potential negative financial outcomes in regards to long-term box office, feature film output and loss of jobs. Cinema United has been trying to meet again with Paramount CEO David Ellison, but there's nothing on the books yet, we understand.
[Regal boss Eduardo Acuna] told Deadline that in regards to Paramount's future promise to exhibition, "[Paramount CEO] David [Ellison] is sincere in making these commitments, and he has offered to execute a consent decree to the state AGs to that effect. These are tangible and important commitments that will benefit the industry and which can be measured." Paramount insiders tell us that no written commitments have been given to exhibitors yet, but Ellison is willing to make non-bespoke ones to any theater chain wanting them. And such deals will come with financial penalties to Paramount should it break such agreements with theaters. Again, this is all about Ellison standing behind his promises made at CinemaCon to maintain a hefty theatrical output and excellent windows to theaters.
Game developer David Ashby and Aunty Donna’s Broden Kelly talk about their chaotic and silly sport game – involving meat pies with legs and Ford Falcons on the oval
Try explaining Australian rules football to anyone outside Australia and “it sounds like you’re making it up”, says David Ashby, the multi-hyphenate comedic mind behind deeply silly spoofs such as Italian Spider-Man and Danger 5. “Eighteen players a side, running around on a cricket oval with a rugby ball that has to be bounced every so often and gets kicked between posts – like, what the fuck is happening?”
Two years ago at a fantasy footy barbecue, Ashby had a brainwave: why not make a video game where Australia’s strange national sport becomes even stranger the more you play?
Utility firm’s payment criticised by Defra and campaign groups, with some urging Andy Burnham to nationalise it
Thames Water has paid its finance chief a £1m signing fee despite teetering on the brink of a government-handled administration, in a decision which the environment department labelled “unacceptable”.
The utility company revealed that it made the payment last month, in a letter sent last week by Adrian Montague, its chair, to MPs on the environment, food and rural affairs select committee.
Volodymyr Zelenskyysays that strikes on such facilities were directly linked with putting more pressure on Moscow
A fire broke out at an industrial facility in Russia’s Tyumen region in Siberia after several drones fell on it, Tyumen region governor Alexander Moor said on his Telegram channel.
The Flipside formula appears to involve quality coffee, homemade-style comfort food, very early mornings, a supportive family, plenty of determination and, every once in a while, using milk for something other than the coffee.
By John Riddle, Contributing Journalist, Delaware LIVE
Some business ideas begin with a detailed plan, a group of investors and months of market research.
Others begin with a guy who loves coffee, knows the restaurant business and suddenly realizes Delaware could use a really good biscuit.
For Gregory Safian, owner of Flipside Coffee and Biscuits in Middletown, the road to entrepreneurship was more than two decades in the making.
Safian has spent more than 23 years in the restaurant industry, and almost from the beginning, he imagined someday owning a food business of his own. Long before Flipside served its first customer, he would create mock menus for restaurants and food trucks that existed only in his imagination.
“I’ve spent over 23 years in the restaurant industry and always dreamt of owning my own food establishment since the early days of my career,” Safian said. “I would fantasize about it and write mock menus for restaurants or food trucks I wouldn’t have been able to open then.”
His original vision was a bar and restaurant, but life has a way of rewriting even the best imaginary menu.
Safian became increasingly interested in coffee about 15 years ago. Starting a family also changed his priorities, and eventually the dream evolved from a traditional restaurant into something built around coffee.
He and his wife were actually preparing to open a café before COVID-19 arrived. They had also recently welcomed their son, and ultimately decided the timing was not right.
Then came 2025.
“I got the itch again in early 2025 and went on a warpath to turn the dream into a reality,” Safian said.
This time, coffee would unquestionably be at the center of the business. But Safian knew coffee alone was not enough. Flipside needed something distinctive to accompany it.
The answer had actually been baking in his kitchen for years.
During the pandemic, Safian experimented with pastries, breads, pizza dough, bagels and biscuits. As he and his wife brainstormed what their future coffee business could serve, one particular item kept rising to the top.
Biscuits.
“We had to have a thing,” Safian said. “Then it hit me. Biscuits! Delaware doesn’t really have any biscuit restaurants and that’s how the concept was born.”
From Dream to Trailer
The mobile food business offers entrepreneurs an alternative to immediately taking on the expense and complexity of a traditional brick-and-mortar restaurant. But operating from a trailer hardly means the work is easy.
That was something Safian quickly discovered.
The biggest hurdle was money. He and his wife scraped together what they could to launch the business, and Safian spent much of the summer of 2025 outfitting the trailer himself.
Before work. After work. On weekends.
Securing a commissary kitchen created another headache when an arrangement they thought was finalized fell through. Equipment compliance issues caused additional delays.
Still, the timetable was impressive. Safian purchased the trailer in April 2025. By August, Flipside Coffee and Biscuits was open for business.
The long hours required to get Flipside started have not disappeared now that the business is operating.
A typical day begins at precisely 5:27 a.m.
“That’s the absolute latest I can sleep until,” Safian joked.
Everything needs to be loaded by 5:55. Setup takes about 30 minutes, followed by roughly four and a half hours of serving customers. Then comes about an hour and a half breaking everything down, followed by unloading, washing dishes, cleaning and restocking for the next day.
Flipside operates Tuesday through Saturday. Sunday is Safian’s only complete day off. On Monday, it starts all over again with inventory, stocking and preparation for the coming week.
Initially, Safian and his wife handled virtually everything themselves, including baking, cooking and operating the trailer. They have since brought in some behind-the-scenes help, giving the couple a little breathing room.
Coffee First, But Don’t Forget the Biscuits
While biscuits helped give Flipside its identity, Safian remains serious about the first half of the company’s name.
Coffee.
Flipside focuses on sourcing fresh, quality coffee beans and using proper techniques when preparing espresso drinks. The food receives similar attention. The business uses its own biscuit recipe, and eggs are freshly cracked rather than relying on shortcuts.
“Our typical customer is someone who can appreciate good coffee and good comfort food,” Safian said. “I think our customers can tell the difference.”
Located at 100 N. Bayberry Parkway in Middletown, Flipside sits within reach of Routes 1, 301 and 13, helping create an eclectic customer base that includes commuters, nearby residents, families and travelers passing through the area.
Safian said the clientele crosses generations and backgrounds.
“Coffee is universal,” he said.
When Winter Throws You a Curve
Opening a mobile food operation also means dealing with something traditional restaurants rarely have to worry about inside their dining rooms: Mother Nature.
Flipside’s first winter provided a crash course.
Extreme cold created problems starting the generator, sometimes delaying opening. Water lines froze. Then there was the day a propane heater caught fire inside the trailer.
Safian reached for the closest thing available to put out the flames.
Milk.
The winter weather indirectly led to something much more positive.
When the parking lot at Flipside’s former location was not plowed and froze over, Safian needed somewhere else to set up. Flipside had already been visiting the North Bayberry community during the first week of each month, and residents had embraced the business.
What began as an emergency relocation eventually became home.
“The community really embraced us, so we ultimately decided to move there full time,” Safian said. “We couldn’t be more grateful for their support.”
What’s on the Flipside?
Safian is already thinking about what comes next.
Plans are underway to add a second mobile coffee unit. The existing operation will continue serving customers at its regular Middletown location, while the additional vehicle would give Flipside the flexibility to participate in more events and serve customers away from its home base.
And the dream that began more than 23 years ago is still evolving.
Within five years, Safian hopes Flipside will make the leap from mobile operation to a brick-and-mortar location.
The restaurant business remains a challenging place to build a dream. The National Restaurant Association projects restaurant and foodservice sales will reach $1.55 trillion nationwide in 2026, but operators continue to face persistent cost pressures and uneven customer traffic.
For small independent businesses, success often comes down to finding a concept customers remember, offering something they cannot easily find elsewhere and building relationships with the surrounding community.
For Flipside, that formula appears to involve quality coffee, homemade-style comfort food, very early mornings, a supportive family, plenty of determination and, every once in a while, using milk for something other than the coffee.
A spokesperson for the human rights group likened the proposal to ‘financial brutality with British taxpayers’ money’
Farage and Yusuf are now taking questions.
Q: [From Jack Fenwick from the BBC] Are there other countries where you might send foreign offenders? And how much would this cost?
We have to admit that there might not be too many colour TVs.
It’s not going to be a summer camp. It’s not going to be particularly fun. But it won’t be cruel and it won’t be unreasonable.
We will rapidly build capacity. We will take advantage of new prefabricated modular technology and build 12,000 prison places in the form of Nightingale prisons on Ministry of Defence land. And the army will be called in to assist.
Together, these measures will create an additional 22,000 prison places compared to Andy Burnham’s plans.
Achieved with Aeponyx, a subsidiary of Pasqal, the milestone clears one of the central hardware barriers on the path to fault-tolerant, industrial-scale quantum computers
PARIS, Aug. 10, 2026 — Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, today announced the trapping of individual atoms using laser light generated by a photonic integrated circuit (PIC), which the company believes is a world-first. Achieved with Aeponyx, Pasqal believes the milestone demonstrates a new scalable approach to qubit control supporting future large-scale FTQC quantum processors.
Neutral-atom quantum computers rely on highly focused laser beams, known as optical tweezers, to trap and control individual atoms that serve as qubits. As Pasqal pursues machines with more than 10,000 atoms and 100 logical qubits, one of the primary engineering challenges is the growing complexity of optical hardware, which today often requires large free-space optical benches. This advancement addresses this challenge by moving critical optical functions onto a photonic chip.
“Building quantum computers that excel commercially means building hardware that delivers industry leading performance and can be manufactured in a scalable way,” said Wasiq Bokhari, Chief Executive Officer, Pasqal. “By moving qubit control onto a photonic chip, we removed what we believe to be one of the biggest barriers to scale – and we did it within 18 months of acquiring Aeponyx. We are very proud of our team for achieving this milestone.”
In the demonstration, Pasqal generated four optical traps through a single photonic chip and used them to hold four individual rubidium atoms inside a quantum processing unit – what Pasqal believes is the first time trapping light delivered from a photonic chip has held atoms on a neutral-atom quantum computer. The work is part of a broader development program to generate, route and control laser light directly on-chip.
In testing, the photonic-chip architecture reproduced atom trapping with performance in line with Pasqal’s existing bulk-optics systems, including atom lifetimes of approximately 27.5 seconds. Pasqal believes the result validates integrated photonics as a viable building block for future neutral-atom processors, without sacrificing the quality of qubit control.
Co-developed with Aeponyx’s silicon-nitride photonics expertise, the platform is designed to shrink the optical footprint of future processors by as much as 50 times and to open a practical route to large-scale manufacturing, an expected advantage as the industry moves from prototypes to production.
Pasqal will work to scale the photonic architecture toward the compact systems required for fault-tolerant, industrial-scale quantum computing, with a long-term target of more than 10,000 atoms and 100 logical qubits.
The milestone illustrates Pasqal’s efforts to beat the forefront of the race to fault-tolerant quantum computing and its strategy of owning the critical hardware layers of its stack, turning targeted moves like the Aeponyx acquisition into measurable technical and commercial advances.
About Pasqal
Pasqal is a global leader in delivering practical quantum computing at scale utilizing neutral atom technology and dedicated software for industry, science, and governments. Since its founding in 2019, Pasqal has leveraged Nobel Prize winning research to build high-performance quantum systems and cloud-ready software designed to address complex challenges in optimization, simulation, and artificial intelligence.
European shares mixed; UK employment market shows ‘rays of light’ for jobseekers with upturn in pay, study says
More retail news: The John Lewis Partnership, Britain’s biggest employee-owned retailer, has said that Peter Ruis, the boss of its department store chain, will step down “to pursue new projects”.
It said Ruis, who has been managing director of John Lewis department stores since 2024, will be replaced by Will Kernan, who sits on the partnership’s board as a non-executive director, as part of an “orderly succession plan”.
Having served on the partnership’s board for three years, I have a clear understanding of the John Lewis business and a huge appreciation for the partnership’s values and employee-ownership model. We have significant headroom for growth and I’m looking forward to leading the team to ensure John Lewis remains the country’s most trusted and loved retailer, in store and online.
GB News is being investigated by the UK’s media regulator after a guest appeared to link pride parades with bestiality and paedophilia.
The remarks are thought to have set a new record for individual complaints about a GB News programme, with more than 12,000 people raising concerns about comments made by the guest Caroline Farrow.
The challenger to Netanyahu is more of the same. His record makes that abundantly clear
Western media outlets cannot seem to get enough of Gadi Eisenkot.
Israel’s former military chief and the leader of the newly formed Yashar party has been embraced by the international press as he and his party take the lead in the polls in the run-up to October’s elections.
Mehdi Hasan is Guardian US columnist and the editor-in-chief and CEO of Zeteo.
Opponents fear Elon Musk firm’s plan to develop 18-mile strip of Pecan Island will badly damage fragile ecosystem
Plans by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area’s fragile ecosystem.
A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them.
The practice of openly proclaiming to the world what you can’t afford can lead to lower fees, reduced prices and better deals
Ask any small business owner what has challenged them the most over the past couple of years and you’ll frequently hear about cashflow. It’s no secret that costs have risen dramatically and finding places to save money isn’t easy.
If this describes your situation then I’ve got a solution to your problem. Ever hear of “loud budgeting”? Of course you have! You’ve probably been doing it for years.
Only spending outlet for man accused of helping to control a third of Europe’s cocaine supply will be prison tuck shop
It sounds like the penal equivalent of five stars: a private gym and library, daily outings to the exercise yard and a landing cleared of other prisoners.
Daniel Kinahan’s first full day inside the walls of Portlaoise prison on Monday, however, marked a drastic change from his luxury lifestyle in the United Arab Emirates.
Group including Amazon founder has held talks with FSG
Bhatia and Facebook co-founder Saverin also involved
A consortium including the Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos, is close to completing a deal for a 30% stake in Liverpool after months of talks with Fenway Sports Group. The investors are led by Amit Bhatia, the son-in-law of the Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal and who previously was a shareholder and director at Queens Park Rangers.
The Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is another member of the group who will pay in the region of £1.35bn. The deal is effectively agreed, but may take up to a month to complete.
Northern Spain will be one of the best places in world to view phenomenon with 460,000 extra visitors expected
Authorities in Spain have warned of an increased risk of fires when hundreds of thousands of people head to the hills and beaches to get a better view of Wednesday’s total solar eclipse.
“The vegetation is extraordinarily dry and the smallest spark or carelessness could lead to devastating forest fires,” the environment minister, Sara Aagesen, said on a visit to Niebla in the south of the country, the site of Spain’s latest fire.
Back in 2014, Microsoft released the source code to the first Windows version of Word, version 1.1a. Now, Justin Marshall has ported this code to modern versions of Windows, so you can run it as if it were any other modern application.
This project is a fully working native Windows x64 port of Microsoft Word for Windows 1.1a, whose historical codename was Opus. It builds the original Word source and resources together with modern replacements for the 16-bit assembly, segmented-memory, and Win16 platform boundaries.
The result is the original Word application and user experience running as a 64-bit Windows executable. This is not an emulator or a reimplementation using a modern editor control.
Miami came into 2026 in unusually strong shape: through April, the market led all top-25 U.S. hotel markets in occupancy, average daily rate and revenue ... Read moreThe post Miami bets on $109 spa treatments to draw summer guests appeared…
Top supplier of great articles Nicole Branagan is at it again.
We’re back into the strip mahjong games today, here going back to 1991. Video System is a company that’s probably best known in retro-gaming circles for Aero Fighters/Sonic Wings, but mahjong games (usually branded Idol Mahjong) were one of their bigger moneymakers. And there’s something interesting going on here– Idol Mahjong Final Romance 2-R-4 Special re-releases the final three games in the series, which all also got contemporary console releases, but the first game in the series has never been seen outside of its original arcade launch. Why?
Andy Burnham has been warned that changing the terms of the prisoners’ early release scheme so PC Andrew Harper’s killers are kept behind bars would force another spate of early releases before the next general election.
Prison Service officials have told No 10 that adding an exemption so that those convicted of manslaughter, such as Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, remain in jail would mean further early releases would be needed within 18 months.
Hong, whose grassroots campaign has made her a frontrunner, aims for primary win after public skepticism from top Democrats and a last-minute shake-up
As Francesca Hong surged ahead in the final weeks of the chaotic Democratic primary to be Wisconsin’s next governor, the democratic socialist has become the internet’s main character.
Donald Trump has mocked her old tweets, while major figures in her own party publicly questioned her ability to win a general election. The man she is vying to succeed even launched a late blitz in support of one of her rivals.
The USDA National School Lunch program has provided nearly 246 billion lunches since the establishment of the federal Food and Nutrition Service, now Food and ... Read moreThe post The school cafeteria foods that survived, and the ones that vanished…
State confirms nine cases, including five deaths, from Vibrio vulnificus organism, which thrives in seawater
Health officials in Louisiana are urging beachgoers to take precautions during a summertime surge in infections from a flesh-eating bacterium found in coastal waters.
Louisiana has confirmed nine cases of Vibrio vulnificus infections this year, the state’s health department said last week in a news release. All were hospitalized, and five died. During the same period over the previous decade, Louisiana reported an average of seven cases and one death.
The crew of a yacht owned by Mark Zuckerberg did not hear a radio call for a maritime assist from a small skiff that ran out of fuel off the coast of Alaska, and by the time it did, another nearby ship had already rendered assistance, a spokesperson for the Meta CEO said.
The Alaska Beacon news outlet reported that the skiff had issued a call for assistance through the US Coast Guard last week and a nearby small cruise ship, the Wilderness Legacy, towed it into nearby Farragut Bay in south-east Alaska and refueled it.
Is it possible to avoid the continuing decline in quality of consumer products brought on by corporate greed?
When Keyana Sapp, 31, went shopping for a new backpack, the brands he remembered as a kid were just not the same.
He researched the companies, from North Face to JanSport and Eastpak, and soon realized they were all owned by the VF Corporation after a wave of acquisitions in the 2000s. After a Reddit post he made about his discovery picked up traction, he started looking at other types of consumer goods – cookware, shoes, tools, clothing.
Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook that has already proved successful on land.
AI’s danger isn’t just in experts losing the ability to reason. It’s that trainees may never learn how to do so in the first place
In healthcare, there’s growing concern over doctors becoming less clinically adept as they increasingly rely on AI tools. But what about the trainees – medical students, residents and fellows – who are using these tools before they have built their own clinical judgment? The idea of deskilling implies that someone possessed an ability and then lost it. Here, the danger is not just deskilling but never-skilling. Although a doctor who has forgotten how to reason is recoverable, one who never learned how may not be.
OpenEvidence, essentially an AI chatbot for clinicians, has given this concern its most concrete form. About two-thirds of US doctors actively use OpenEvidence, asking about puzzling symptoms, drug interactions and clinical guidelines, getting responses within seconds, anchored in the latest research. Trainees, unsurprisingly, have also begun to use this AI tool in many of the same ways – but at a far more formative stage.
A decade of evolutionary hardware progress–more cores, faster clocks, larger accelerators–served the HPC industry well. But AI is changing the rules. The industry is entering a new era where infrastructure must adapt to rapidly changing workloads rather than expecting workloads to adapt to hardware.
That theme was the center of a conversation I had with Pat Gelsinger at the RAISE Summit in Paris: Are we optimizing AI infrastructure for a stable workload, or for constant workload change? Pat’s perspective–shaped by decades of building and leading large-scale compute platforms, including as CEO of Intel and VMware–made the discussion an insightful look at where AI infrastructure is headed.
AI Is Rebuilding Compute
One observation Pat emphasized would have sounded counterintuitive five years ago. CPUs are becoming more important to AI infrastructure, not less. For most of the last decade, the assumption was that AI’s future meant more GPUs. System designs assumed a world where the accelerator does most of the “real work,” and the CPU is a thin host. In practice, that often looked like one CPU feeding eight–or even 16–GPUs.
That balance is changing. As multimodal and agentic systems become more common, the CPU share of the workload grows. In some deployments, the ratio is trending toward one CPU for every two accelerators, and sometimes closer to one to one. The implication is not that accelerators matter less, but that the system around the model is now a first-class bottleneck.
Elad Raz (left) and Pat Gelsinger talk at RAISE Summit in Paris, France
This shift reflects a broader market dynamic. Heterogeneous computing is now the norm. Modern AI infrastructure is built from combinations of CPUs, GPUs, DPUs, NPUs, and specialized accelerators, each optimized for different aspects of the workload. While this diversity improves performance, it also increases infrastructure complexity. Every additional processor introduces another software stack, scheduler, memory hierarchy, networking requirement, power budget, and operational dependency.
Ultimately, it’s about the workload, not the architecture. The winning platforms will be those that execute increasingly diverse workloads efficiently as they evolve, rather than those optimized for a fixed hardware configuration or today’s AI models.
Are We Solving the Wrong Problem?
That context makes the industry’s tendency toward specialized chips worth questioning. If every new model change triggers another ASIC, that could be progress. Or it could also be evidence that we are responding to uncertainty by fragmenting the system.
Specialization can deliver excellent results when the target is well defined and stable. The problem is that AI workloads are no longer stable. The field is only a few years into transformer dominance, and the algorithmic space around attention is already changing. Teams are also experimenting beyond transformers in areas such as state space models, and the practical implication is the same. It’s hard to justify hardware that assumes one fixed kernel mix will dominate for years.
Efficiency also now matters as much as peak speed. Producing more useful work per watt and per dollar is harder than maximizing peak FLOPS, and it is becoming the gating factor for data center buildouts. If AI is to reach its promise across science and industry, it has to become radically more energy- and capital-efficient. Whether you take a “10,000x” figure literally is less important than the direction of travel. Power and cost constraints are forcing architects to treat utilization, memory traffic, and tail latency as core design goals.
From FLOPS to Workload Shape
A useful way to see why fragmentation happens is to look at “inference” as it is actually deployed. It is already splitting into distinct phases such as prefill and decode, each with different bottlenecks.
Prefill tends to be more batchable and throughput-oriented yet compute-bound. Decode is latency-sensitive and more serial in nature, and in our discussion it came up in the context of attention and memory-bound behavior. That difference changes what dominates performance. In many real deployments, the limiting factor is not peak multiple-accumulate capacity but memory bandwidth, memory capacity, and the overheads of coordinating work across devices. When compute becomes a set of specialized islands, the system itself can become the bottleneck, making it increasingly difficult to scale efficiently.
(IM Imagery/Shutterstock)
AI infrastructure is no longer measured in dozens of accelerators, but in clusters containing tens of thousands. At this scale, moving data efficiently becomes just as important as performing computation. Accelerator utilization, memory movement, network topology, and workload scheduling increasingly determine overall system performance. Small improvements in utilization compound dramatically at scale, making architecture decisions exponentially more important than they were in traditional HPC deployments.
Agentic Systems Turn a Model Call into a Workflow
Agentic systems make this shift more visible because the workload is explicitly a loop rather than a single forward pass. A typical agentic pipeline includes some combination of retrieval over a vector index, reranking, tool invocation, structured parsing, and multiple model calls. Dense linear algebra remains central, but it is surrounded by irregular memory access patterns and control-heavy orchestration.
One engineering team described a pipeline that touches multiple chips in a single user request, including separate processors for embeddings, retrieval, reranking, and generation, plus a CPU orchestrating the workflow. That architecture can work, but every boundary is a tax. It increases operational complexity, and it can push tail latency upward even when peak accelerator performance is strong.
This is also why the CPU’s role is growing. The orchestration layer is full of scheduling decisions, tool execution, network and storage I/O, tokenization, and control flow that do not map cleanly onto a fixed-function accelerator. As AI shifts from “running one model efficiently” to “running increasingly complex workloads reliably,” the CPU once again becomes part of the performance path. This shift reinforces a broader reality: organizations are making infrastructure investments expected to last five to seven years, while AI workloads evolve almost continuously.
Future-proofing infrastructure will require architectures that adapt to change rather than assuming today’s workload will define tomorrow’s.
Hardware Should Adapt to Software Change
There’s a more structural question beneath these trends. For decades, the industry has designed software around whatever the hardware can handle. That assumption created enormous value, but it is under pressure when the workload definition changes every year.
A historical pattern is helpful here. Prior generations saw special-purpose units emerge, look compelling for a period, and then be absorbed into broader architectures as workloads evolved. The more your future depends on unknown workloads, the more you benefit from architectures and toolchains that are programmable, composable, and resilient to change.
AI is now in that kind of period. The question is not whether specialization will exist. It will. The question is whether specialization must imply fragmentation, or whether systems can deliver high efficiency while still being resilient to changes in algorithms, model structure, and workload composition.
Training and Inference Aren’t a Permanent Boundary
The same argument applies to another boundary the industry still treats as permanent: the separation between training and inference. People do not stop learning once they become adults. Robots and assistants will not stop learning either. Once a system is expected to keep learning, that old line between training and inference stops meaning much as a design principle.
Technically, this distinction is already blurring. Inference has already begun splintering into phases such as prefill and decode. During our discussion, the point was not just taxonomy. It was that these phases behave differently enough that they can drive different hardware choices, even with a single user-facing system. Over time, if continuous learning and customization become more common, “train here and infer there” becomes less useful as an organizing principle for infrastructure. The boundary between training and inference will decay, and algorithms will emerge that support more naturally and dynamically adjusting systems.
Open Ecosystems and Long-Lived Decisions
Infrastructure decisions are long-lived, while AI algorithms are not. Chip design cycles are measured in years, while data center deployments are measured in decades. This mismatch creates pressure to avoid brittle platform bets.
This helps explain the renewed interest in open and extensible ecosystem approaches, including open instruction set architectures like RISC-V. The appeal extends well beyond cost. Organizations are increasingly seeking greater control over technology roadmaps, improved supply chain resilience, enhanced procurement flexibility, and the flexibility to avoid long-term dependence on a single vendor.
Whether the winning solutions are open, proprietary, or hybrid, the underlying requirement is the same: platforms need room to evolve.
A question I left Paris with is this: 10 years from now, what’s one assumption the industry holds today about AI infrastructure that turns out to be completely wrong?
My guess is the assumption that specialization and flexibility are opposites. That a system has to be either tuned for one narrow job or capable of handling whatever comes next, but not both. If agentic systems, multimodality, and new model families continue to reshape workloads, the next decade will reward architectures that treat change as a first-class design parameter, and efficiency as an end-to-end property of the system, not a benchmark result for a single stage.
If you’re interested in watching the full video version of our talk, you can check it out here.
About the author: Elad Raz is the CEO of NextSilicon.
Three years ago environmental regulators discovered garbage burning deep inside California's Chiquita Canyon Landfill, reports the Los Angeles Times. [Alternate URL here.] "Few imagined the calamity that would follow.
"Somehow the landfill's pollution control system introduced oxygen below, causing decades-old waste to rapidly decompose, generating intense heat and eventually widespread smoldering, federal and state environmental agencies say."
The broiling temperatures released toxic gases and hazardous liquid waste that bubbled up to the surface. Residents living in the nearby communities of Val Verde and Castaic have phoned in thousands of complaints about stench and lived with nausea, dizziness and trouble breathing. The underground fire has tripled in size since first confirmed in 2023. Recently a towering mound of landfill garbage perched on the hillside has warped and threatens to trigger an avalanche of garbage and chemical-filled liquid, or leachate, according to the California water board...
At first, local officials described the problem in Los Angeles County at Chiquita Canyon landfill as a rare, even unprecedented disaster. But since then, California regulators have learned that at least two other landfills are wrestling with high temperatures and similar conditions. Scorching temperatures have overtaken at least 30 acres of El Sobrante landfill near Corona in Riverside County. Excessive heat and emissions have also been detected at Avenal landfill in the San Joaquin Valley.
The discoveries raise an unsettling question: How many landfills are dealing with these disasters? Are they a broader problem in California...? Chiquita Canyon closed at the end of the 2024 and stopped accepting new garbage. But the fire is expected to last for years as it continues to consume decades-old trash.
"Underground landfill fires are complex, nearly impossible to extinguish once they break out," according to the article. "As regulators search for a solution, residents find themselves struggling with the wait."
Some residents have worn gas masks — or sold their homes.
El Tri seal Concacaf Under-20 championship at Azteca
Chris Applewhite sent off after video review
Cristóbal Alfaro scored twice as Mexico retained their Concacaf Under-20 title with a 2-0 victory over the United States in the final at the Azteca on Sunday.
The victory booked Mexico’s place at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics – the US have already qualified as hosts – but the match was overshadowed by a controversial red card. The US were reduced to 10 men just before half-time when Chris Applewhite received a red card after a VAR review for a challenge on Hugo Camberos, during which the US captain appeared to make minimal contact with his opponent.
MISSOURI CITY, Texas — Texas educates more Black students than any other state, yet majority-Black campuses remain disproportionately represented among schools receiving the state’s lowest academic ratings.
Of roughly 300 majority-Black schools evaluated last year, 35% received a D or F from the Texas Education Agency. Only 20 earned an A. By comparison, no majority-Asian campuses received a D or F, while 8% of majority-white and 19% of majority-Hispanic schools received those grades.
Those disparities are forcing difficult choices for families such as Mikole Montgomery’s. Her sixth-grade son, Jaleel, will attend the new Amy Coleman Middle School in Fort Bend ISD, which offers specialized aviation, aerospace and engineering programs, rather than nearby Missouri City Middle School, a majority-Black campus that received an F.
Researchers argue the ratings reflect more than individual student performance. Majority-Black schools often contend with fewer resources, weaker access to advanced courses, higher student mobility and difficulty attracting and retaining experienced teachers. Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath acknowledges persistent achievement gaps but argues the A-F system helps identify schools requiring intervention.
The consequences can become self-reinforcing. Texas funds schools partly through attendance, meaning campuses lose money as families leave. That can further reduce academic opportunities for students whose parents cannot choose another school.
Fort Bend ISD says it evaluates resources and student needs across campuses and remains committed to equitable opportunities. The district improved to a B overall in the state’s 2025 accountability system.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration is offering nearly $300 million to a handful of cities willing to adopt an aggressive federal policing model that ties crime-fighting money to immigration enforcement, homelessness restrictions and other administration priorities.
The Justice Department’s new Model Cities Initiative will select two to four cities with populations above 100,000 for three-year grants intended to reduce violent crime, expand police staffing and fund programs including addiction treatment and prisoner re-entry. DOJ says applicants must demonstrate broad support across local government and submit proposals by Sept. 1.
But the grant conditions go well beyond traditional policing assistance. According to program documents reviewed by The Guardian, participating cities must cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, enforce prohibitions on public drug use, camping, loitering and squatting, and reject housing-first approaches that do not condition housing on treatment compliance.
Cities could also be required to reimburse the federal government for future law-enforcement interventions following spikes in violent crime or public disorder — a provision former Justice Department official Amy Solomon described as unprecedented.
DOJ explicitly cites Memphis and Washington, D.C., as models. Critics note that the program effectively uses federal money to push municipalities toward Trump’s preferred policing and immigration policies rather than leaving those decisions entirely to local governments. Montgomery, Alabama, rejected applying, while Billings, Montana, voted 9-1 against pursuing the money.
The Justice Department says cities have shown “intense interest” and argues the initiative will replicate public-safety gains achieved through closer federal-local cooperation.
Authorities have not said who organized a suspicious border breach in Ceuta, a Spanish exclave in North Africa. Social media posts in Morocco are urging another push.
Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t over
Piles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.
The scale of devastation from a historic fire season of wildfire in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state.
A dinghy carrying a record 230 people has arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel in the early hours of Monday.
It is the clearest indication yet that people smugglers in northern France are adapting their business model and escalating their so-called taxi boat strategy to evade enforcement by UK and French authorities.
Discovery of 2,100-year-old vessel hailed as ‘one of the most important underwater archaeological discoveries of recent years’
A 2,100-year-old Roman shipwreck carrying about 500 amphorae has been discovered 3 miles off the coast of Mazara del Vallo in Sicily.
Italy’s cultural heritage police, the Carabinieri, investigated the wreck with the help of divers and underwater cameras after receiving a tip-off from fishers. The vessel was found at a depth of about 46 metres (151ft) and was carrying hundreds of amphorae – ancient two-handled ceramic jars with a narrow neck – thought to have been used mainly to transport wine.
Israeli PM is insisting on a full Hamas disarmament before the deal can be implemented. Plus, what it feels like to get locked into an opera performance that lasts nearly 24 hours
Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump. In a statement, Israel’s prime minister said he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in.
What other developments have happened in the region? Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the strait of Hormuz, while the United Arab Emirates said one of its ships was targeted by an Iranian missile over the weekend. Tehran said the strait of Hormuz would not open until the US “corrects its behaviour”. Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia on Sunday morning.
What impact is the conflict having on seafarers in Hormuz? The US-Iran war has stranded up to 20,000 seafarers, mostly Indian and Filipino crews, with none knowing when the nightmare will end. Seventeen seafarers have died since hostilities began, the majority following Iranian strikes.
What sort of exercises did they take part in? Justin Vail, who leads the DC office of the non-partisan advocacy group Protect Democracy, said: “These tabletop exercises are a standard planning tool for experts and stakeholders to prepare for potential scenarios. We’re not predicting exactly what would happen. But we do want to create a realistic context that can help us identify gaps, test our assumptions, and strengthen coordination, and then ultimately develop some recommendations to increase our preparedness.”
How has Trump been working to undermine confidence in US elections? Voting rights advocates pointed toward Trump’s July primetime address as indicative of the president’s intentions – rhetorical attacks on the integrity of voting machines and elections offices, potentially escalating into more direct interference. Trump threatened the broadcast licenses of networks that refused to carry that address live, and in his speech, he again implored Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would ban mail-in ballots nationwide and impose new identification requirements on voters when they register and report to polls.
Zambia’s election: President Hichilema must preserve his country’s democratic reputationExpert commentjon.wallace
In opposition Hichilema made international friends as a champion of democracy. In power he must resist tipping the scales in favour of his party.
Zambia’s general election on 13 August has far greater international significance than the country’s landlocked status and modest economic size might imply. The winner of the presidential poll will take power over a country at the centre of Africa’s critical minerals competition, debt diplomacy and shifting regional alliances. Zambia’s prized democratic reputation will also be tested.
President Hakainde Hichilema’s first term has been defined by the tension between intersecting priorities. On one hand, his economic and political reforms require policy consistency and a commitment to maintaining the country’s democratic institutions. On the other, a lag between headline economic reforms and a tangible sense of improvement for Zambians increases the risk his party is rejected at the ballot box.
The president has been accused by the opposition of taking an authoritarian approach to shore up his support. But Hichilema can secure a second term without democratic backsliding. And a credible election is vital to preserving the faith of investors. The UK, EU and Zambia’s allies across Africa must now act as critical friends to ensure that this election is not overshadowed by authoritarianism.
Expectation gap
A key feature of Hichilema’s first term government has been its pursuit of difficult macroeconomic reforms and debt management. The early years of his presidency saw Zambia’s standing in international economic circles restored and its macroeconomic position stabilized via a debt restructuring process. The Zambian Kwacha was the best performing currency in Africa in 2025, with Finance Minister Situmbeko Musokotwane earning plaudits for his role. Yet the country’s financial rehabilitation remains abstract to many voters who are yet to feel the benefits in daily life.
Meanwhile the outlook for the mining sector – the backbone of Zambia’s foreign exchange earnings and critical to its stabilized macroeconomic position – is ambitious but uncertain. The government has declared an output target of three million tonnes of copper per year: more than triple the present output. That would require at least 10 new mines of an equivalent scale to Zambia’s largest current operations.
Without the rejuvenation of the nation’s most important industry, it will be very difficult to meet Zambian voters’ demands.
Such rhetoric has attracted global attention and some notable new investment commitments. But the fact remains that pledges are not mines, exploration is not production, and announcements are not revenues. The lengthy process of reforming the national mining code into two new pieces of legislation created significant uncertainty. And many major investors are worried by repeated political rhetoric pushing resource nationalism and accusations of discretionary changes to licences on the online cadastre.
What matters now is whether the policy environment remains consistent enough to create confidence in the sector. Investment might walk away if improvements are not seen soon. Without the rejuvenation of the nation’s most important industry, it will be very difficult to meet Zambian voters’ demands.
Authoritarian tightrope
Zambia is a flagbearer for democracy in Southern Africa. Six presidents from three parties have been elected since the first multi-party vote in 1991 – though the transition of power has not always been smooth.
Hichilema rejected the outcome of elections in 2015 and 2016, which he lost narrowly, on each occasion refusing to recognize the victory of Edgar Lungu. Hichilema was imprisoned on treason charges in 2017 before being released. His 2021 election victory was his fifth attempt to win the presidency.
The political and diplomatic capital he accumulated in opposition – including during his imprisonment – was premised upon support for democracy and pluralism. He therefore did not come to power with a blank cheque, but a mandate to protect the institutions that carried him there.
With the election poised to be a referendum on his government’s economic record, Hichilema may be tempted to use his powers to tilt electoral odds in his favour: the opposition say the government is restricting their campaigning – a charge Hichilema denies.
What should allies do?
This leaves Zambia’s international partners in an uneasy position. Their economic interests may be best served by the predictability of a second term for the president. But these interests are tied to the strength of Zambia’s democracy and institutions.
In the early years of Hichilema’s presidency, allegations of authoritarian drift were often dismissed as partisan, especially when raised by figures from a discredited opposition.
But over time those concerns have become harder to ignore, particularly around freedom of speech, criticism of politicians and individual rights. For example, rights groups have argued that Zambia’s new cyber legislation has widened the scope for surveillance, criminalized forms of expression too broadly, and created a self-censoring effect on journalists and critics.
Nonetheless, some of the most controversial proposed legislative changes have been removed from bills before making it to presidential assent. The government has sought to balance control with appeasement of domestic and international criticism.
This approach to the presidency was described in one recent Chatham House event as ‘Hichilema with glitches’.
The 2026 elections process
There are also concerns around the Electoral Commission and the wider framework for voting. The number of parliament seats won through nomination and proportional representation has increased. Boundaries have been changed, and wards added in supposedly incumbent strongholds – all this could amplify the president’s electoral gains. The Electoral Process Act, passed just before parliament’s dissolution, also introduced candidate nomination requirements that some argue are seemingly preferential to Hichilema’s party, the United Party for National Development (UPND). However, thus far the changes to the electoral environment do not amount to a significant undermining of the electoral process.
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President Hakainde Hichilema speaking at a 2021 Chatham House event about the 2026 election.
Timely results announcements will be important: delays will feed perceptions of manipulation and could trigger unrest. Zambia’s elections have historically been relatively peaceful, but domestic observers have already pointed to some instances of political violence.
There is one other significant change this year: Former President Rupiah Banda, who died in 2022, was instrumental in managing the transition from President Lungu to Hichilema following the 2021 election. Banda’s absence will increase the importance of regional and international observers.
The EU already has a long-term observation mission in the country. And the African Union (AU) and partners including the Southern African Development Community (SADC) will also work collectively. They will need to complement local observation, especially by the Christian Churches Monitoring Group, the largest and most independent domestic election observation body.
Regional and international credibility
The AU and SADC were important balanced critics of the Tanzania elections in October 2025. There is less expectation of electoral violence in Zambia this year. But it will be important for the mission to uphold agreed standards and call out irregularities. To succeed, observers will need to characterize their mission as cooperating in Zambia’s democratic project, and avoid any perception of being deployed to manage a worst-case scenario.
Hichilema’s political story is one of repeated rejection by a system, followed by his triumph as a democratic champion. His international friends helped him through this journey, but their support should not be unconditional. They need to remain consistent in supporting economic reform and democratic values, and remind the government that democratic credibility is not preserved by victory alone, but by restraint in power. The best outcome is one that confirms Zambia’s democratic reputation without damage to its foundations.
It’s easy to second-guess decisions made during the pandemic. That doesn’t justify the Republicans’ politicized response
Like the rest of us, Anthony Fauci is far from perfect. His influential guidance, as the country’s top infectious-disease specialist during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, certainly didn’t get everything right.
A great deal about the deadly disease – where it came from, how it spread, how best to protect the public – was unknown, or was being learned midstream, during a crisis.
Why Should Delaware Care? One year has passed since Delaware launched adult-use cannabis sales. But debates about whether communities should accept the industry continue. As a result, the recreational market has faced several roadblocks at varying levels of government.
In 2024, Delaware’s new marijuana regulators granted Louise Shelton two social-equity licenses to grow cannabis for the state’s fledgling recreational market.
The licenses were designed to help people who came from areas hardest hit by marijuana prohibition. But two years later, Shelton has not been able to open a cultivation site, and says she may abandon her venture this fall if she can’t find investors for the startup.
Shelton recounts a frustrating two-year experience — marked by institutional delays and bad-faith outside consultants — that she said has left her plans at a standstill.
After receiving her licenses, Shelton was approached by individuals who presented themselves as investors, she said. It was a welcome development for her social-equity endeavor where outside financing is often essential.
But later, Shelton learned that the investors had no money, and instead wanted her to hire them as consultants.
“It was frustrating to say the least because last year we could have been doing fundraisers or something,” she said.
While the details of Shelton’s story are unique, the end result has become common across Delaware’s new recreational marijuana industry. In the two years since licenses were granted — and one year since legal sales began — the industry has failed to meet early expectations.
Mother and son cannabis entrepreneurs, Louise Shelton and Derro Smith, pose for a photo. PHOTO BY SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE BRIANNA HILL
The only retail businesses that are operating are those shops that converted from selling medicinal marijuana to recreational.
Of the cultivation licensees, four have begun operations. And only one of 20 social equity licensees for cultivation has become active, said Keila Montalvo, spokeswoman for the Delaware Office of the Marijuana Commissioner.
Also highlighting the underwhelming launch of the recreational marijuana industry is the $53.4 million in revenue it generated in its first year, which officially began Aug. 1, 2025.
According to the state’s marijuana tax rate, that translates to just over $8 million for the state government.
Prior to the start of recreational sales, Delaware’s first marijuana commissioner, Robert Coupe, predicted the state would see $281 million in sales during the industry’s first year.
James Brobyn, president of the Delaware Cannabis Industry Association, attributed the shortfall to a slew of structural issues in the state.
He pointed to struggles with raising capital, similar to what Shelton has faced. And he noted there is limited access to usable real estate for marijuana businesses. Those limits stem from restrictive local zoning laws, as well as from an outsize number of properties being owned by banks, which do not do business with marijuana businesses, he said.
Still, Brobyn said it is disingenuous to call the industry underperforming.
He said roadblocks are coming from state and county leaders who are “ignoring” or “fighting against” the industry, even as residents broadly support the safe cannabis sales.
“There’s not a lot of interest in collaborating with the industry and helping move this thing forward in a positive way,” he said.
Delaware’s top marijuana regulator largely agreed that the industry’s launch has been slow, but said the state’s priorities go beyond the immediate opening of new storefronts.
Josh Sanderlin, a former-D.C. attorney and marijuana industry entrepreneur, took over as Delaware’s marijuana commissioner in 2025. | SPOTLIGHT PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
Delaware Marijuana Commissioner Joshua Sanderlin noted the industry faced two years of pushback from officials at the city, county, and state levels, but said the first year of legal marijuana in Delaware was meant to establish more cultivation sites.
“If we just open stores without more growers online, we’re going to see prices spike, and I don’t think anybody wants to see that,” he said.
Sanderlin also said he had hoped to see higher sales numbers, but said “until we can get more stores open, that number is going to be kind of low.”
To help individuals operate their businesses, Sanderlin’s office will partner with the Delaware Technical Community College and provide business owner classes for current licensees.
A new shop coming to Georgetown
While shop openings have stalled, Sanderlin said that will change by the end of the summer when a new storefront opens in Georgetown.
It will follow a series of policies enacted in recent years to regulate the new industry. Those included revisions to the key state law that made recreational sales legal.
The law permitted municipalities to prohibit marijuana businesses from their jurisdictions and gave counties broad authority to dictate where shops could locate. It has led to a third of Delaware towns and cities outright prohibiting marijuana shops.
Sanderlin said the biggest delay for licensees within the last year were caused by difficulties of finding eligible properties to open storefronts because of limitations from local governments.
“I’ve heard from several of my licensees that you know they have found locations now, and they have already put in requests for zoning verification from the counties,” Sanderlin said.
Last year, Sanderlin’s boss, Gov. Matt Meyer, vetoed Senate Bill 75, which would loosen zoning regulations around the state’s marijuana industry.
Although the veto override has benefited licensees seeking to open businesses in areas, such as Georgetown, Sussex County leaders say it is another overstep from Dover.
Two Sussex County councilmembers — Jane Gruenebaum and Steve McCarron — told Spotlight Delaware the decision of where marijuana can be sold is a local issue.
“This is just one more example of the state and up north really trying to have an influence on what’s going on in Sussex,” McCarron said.
Sussex County Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum said that where cannabis sales occur should be managed by local governments. | SPOTLIGHT PHOTO BY OLIVIA MARBLE
Gruenebaum also said “the point” of their frustration is not whether localities can override the state, but that where products are sold should be a matter of local control.
Last year, Sussex County lowered the barriers on some of its zoning for recreational marijuana stores, including removing some conditional use requirements and lowering the buffer distance from town limits from 3 miles to half a mile.
But even after those changes, the county’s zoning was still restrictive, due primarily to its retention of 3-mile buffers to “sensitive places” like schools, parks, substance abuse treatment centers and, crucially, churches. The sheer prevalence of the latter in Sussex County made building a new project virtually impossible.
Senate Bill 75 no longer allows churches to be included as a “sensitive place” and lowers all allowable buffers to 500 feet.
McCarron said the shortened buffer defeats the purpose of letting towns decide where and if they want marijuana shops.
There are profound rewards of handwritten correspondence in our digital age
I sent my first postcard, as a six-year old, to Olympian Mary Lou Retton, who returned an autographed black and white photo of herself in a wide smile and chic haircut. “‘GOOD LUCK USA ’84” it said.
There followed four relatively fallow decades for me as a postcard sender or receiver until last year, when I became enchanted by the infinite possibilities available in four by six inches.
Amanda Uhle is the publisher of McSweeney’s and the author of the memoir Destroy This House
Exclusive: Film-maker Gabar Choli describes how he endured coercive treatment over eight months in detention in Texas
A Kurdish man who was force-fed over the course of eight months while on hunger strike in US immigration detention has spoken out about it for the first time, describing how much the process harmed him physically and psychologically.
Gabar Choli, a film-maker and activist now living in Canada after being deported, described how he endured the coercive treatment – a practice widely considered torture by international human rights groups – often twice a day after being detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) when his asylum application was denied.
DoJ to give $300m for enforcement surges in four cities, as long as they abandon progressive ideologies on policing
The Trump administration is offering grants of tens of millions of dollars to cities across the US to create more Memphis-style enforcement surges – on the condition that they abandon progressive ideologies on policing.
The US Department of Justice says it will announce up to four finalist cities that will split $300m in grant funding under a federal “Model Cities” policing initiative (MCI) next month, setting the stage for some of the largest federal policing grants ever awarded to individual US cities.
Gabar Choli tells of how, for months, he was shackled, pinned and forcibly fed – and the physical and emotional scars the ordeal has left
In June 2025, a sluggish and thin Gabar Choli, with sunken temples and bones visible under his skin, braced himself for the immigration detention center guards to charge into his cell once again.
Choli was in a solitary confinement medical cell inside the Port Isabel service processing center, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in south Texas where immigrants arrested in Donald Trump’s anti-immigration crackdown are detained.
President Donald Trump and self-styled Secretary of War Pete Hegseth are pushing for a post-World War II record $1.6 trillion Pentagon budget for next year, a sum so obscenely high that it is almost impossible to comprehend. The proposed $600 billion increase alone is almost twice the total annual military budget of America’s closest rival, China.
That supposed rivalry, despite the big spending gap, makes China central to justifying the Pentagon’s bloated budget. And Hawaiʻi is, in turn, central to the Trump administration’s Indo-Pacific military strategy which assumes that deterring China requires a forward, offensive strike posture anchored by the archipelago. This not only puts a target on Hawaiʻi — as was the case during World War II, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by Japan — but it also deepens long-standing economic hardships and environmental degradation produced by more than a century of U.S. military occupation, according to “The True Cost of the U.S. Military in Hawaiʻi,” a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies.
The report finds that as the Pentagon has shoved Hawaiʻi toward the front lines of a potential nuclear conflict, it has also poisoned the islands’ land and waters, lied about its economic benefits, tied Hawaiʻi’s financial well-being to an inefficient use of tax dollars, and failed to pay more than $130 billion in back rent. And now the Trump administration is extending its buildup in Hawaiʻi — which has long “been central to the architecture of U.S. imperial power” to expand facilities, build new bases, and secure access to air and naval bases from Guam to the Pacific island chain to the Philippines to Australia. And these moves in the Pacific are just one part of that multifaceted $600 billion boost being sought for the Pentagon.
The China Syndrome
In addition to greed, grift and pork-barrel politics — practices that have reached an astonishing level due to the unapologetic corruption and feverish insider dealings of the Trump family and its hangers-on — the biggest driver of the Pentagon’s enormous budget is America’s quest for unrivaled global military dominance. At the center of that effort are preparations to “win” a war with China, a mission that is likely impossible and would be extremely dangerous to undertake.
The probable outcome of a war with Beijing — which is, after all, a sophisticated technological power armed with nuclear weapons — would be unprecedented devastation for all concerned, especially the people of Taiwan, the independent island nation of the coast of the mainland that China considers a breakaway province. Hawai‘i, Guam, and the other launching pads for a U.S. military operation against China would undoubtedly be targets, with dire consequences for the residents of those islands.
Exaggerating the threat posed by China is a foolproof marketing scheme for those who profit handsomely from preparations for war with Beijing.
Well before recentering China as national security adversary No. 1, America’s quest for military supremacy was not going well, to put it mildly.
As the Costs of War Project at Brown University has shown, America’s post-9/11 wars have been an unmitigated disaster, costing or causing long-term obligations of an astonishing $8 trillion, as well as the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians and the displacement of tens of millions more, Meanwhile, these wars failed miserably in meeting their stated objectives, leaving in power a sectarian regime in Iraq that opened the door to the rise of ISIS and a Taliban-led government in Afghanistan, a status quo ante bellum after more than 20 years of war.
“The Trillion Dollar War Machine,” by Willian D. Hartung and Ben FreemanAvailable at Bookshop.org
It’s hard to envision a more complete mismatch between stated war aims and real-world results than the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, until we take a hard look at the illegal, immoral, and ill-conceived conflict with Iran which is fast becoming a new forever war.
Despite this dismal record, the Trump regime — and the Biden administration before it — has chosen to double down on a military-first foreign policy, with the demonization of China fueling the fire.
The Pentagon refers to China as the “pacing challenge,” even as military spending far outpaces Beijing’s defense budget. And in its most recent assessment, the Pentagon outlined a strategy to cow China into submission by “being so strong that aggression is not even considered.”
China hasn’t been involved in a major shooting war since the much smaller nation of Vietnam fought it to a virtual standstill in 1979, nearly five decades ago. China’s forces “severely underperformed” in the one-month conflict; according to one account, “PLA soldiers were so undertrained that there were reports of infantrymen tying themselves to tanks with ropes to avoid falling off, sealing their fate when they were ambushed.”
Presumably Chinese forces are much better trained now, but China is not a serial aggressor, and although it has engaged in border skirmishes with India, it has not been embroiled in virtually nonstop conflicts over the past half century, as the United States has, nor has it fought regime-change wars. So the question arises: Who is setting the pace in the U.S.–China arms race, Washington or Beijing?
Two Systems, Two Countries
In the real world, China’s military is not 10 feet tall, and throwing more money at the Pentagon is the worst possible way to address the greatest challenges posed by Beijing, which are actually not military in nature.
China’s vast global influence leans heavily on its economic clout, which is built on aid and trade, including the Belt and Road Initiative, a globe-spanning collection of interconnected infrastructure projects. (To be clear, the Belt and Road has too often involved dubious deals with unaccountable leaders who give Beijing long-term leases on their nation’s critical natural resources in exchange for roads, railways, port facilities, or other infrastructure projects — not exactly a model of free trade in action.) China is also the top trading partner to 120 nations worldwide, including key countries in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, alongside a brisk trade with Europe. This is the lynchpin of China’s global clout.
But U.S. power projection in Hawai‘i and beyond, the entire Pacific strategy, is based on a different type of projection — the belief that China aspires to usurp the U.S. as the global hegemon through military might. Exaggerating the threat posed by China is a foolproof marketing scheme for the weapons contractors, Pentagon bureaucrats, K-Street lobbyists, and venture capital firms that profit handsomely from preparations for war with Beijing.
Throwing more money at the Pentagon is the worst possible way to address the greatest challenges posed by Beijing, which are actually not military in nature.
On the military front, China’s ability to challenge the U.S. is grounded in its nuclear forces, which are much smaller than America’s but are on the rise in an effort to keep Washington from having a large-enough edge to wipe out Beijing’s ability to respond to a first strike.
The U.S. may not be able to threaten China’s nuclear deterrent any time soon, but in the face of the U.S. military build-up in the Pacific, Beijing appears to be preparing for a worst-case scenario. Chinese President Xi Jinping seems to value nuclear weapons more than his predecessors, who were content to keep a few hundred nuclear warheads that could reach U.S. soil versus Washington’s much larger nuclear arsenal. China is also leveraging is technological base, including its faster pace at training scientists and engineers. This positions China to challenge Washington in an AI arms race.
And yet war is not inevitable, despite what many China hawks constantly suggest. Returning to a common understanding on Taiwan — one in which the U.S. agrees to limit its political recognition of the island or support for independence in exchange for a Chinese pledge not to seek reunification through military means — is the best way to avoid a catastrophic conflict. It would also clear the way for cooperation on urgent issues like addressing the climate crisis, preventing pandemics, and promoting equitable global arrangements to reduce poverty and inequality. At the same time, it would make things safer for hundreds of millions of people from Japan and South Korea to Guam and Hawai‘i.
Paying the Price
America’s military-first approach to China and the world at large comes at a high price, even when the guns are silent. History demonstrates that merely preparing for war costs lives, as the fate of victims of Cold War-era nuclear testing from New Mexico and Utah to the Marshall Islands attests. But as Arjun Makhijani, a nuclear engineer and the president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, has pointed out, the toll of nuclear weapons research, development, and production is global in scope, creating “a worldwide archipelago of radioactive wastelands” that have cost millions of lives since the dawn of the nuclear age. The military’s impact on lives and health is also exacerbated by the proliferation of non-nuclear toxins and unexploded ordnance created by generations of war.
In short, military buildups mean far more than moving money around, although that too poses serious risks when it comes at the expense of investments in public health, nutrition, education, and anti-poverty efforts.
War is not inevitable, despite what many China hawks constantly suggest.
Military expansions involve constructing and maintaining new weapons factories and existing military bases, deploying new weaponry, engaging in costly training exercises, and, all too often, prosecuting senseless, devastating wars like the current conflict with Iran, the forever war in Somalia, and a new conflict percolating in Ecuador.
The Institute for Policy Studies report, prepared by both mainland and Hawai‘i-based analysts and advocates, offers a lesson in the perils of military expansion. Hosting facilities geared toward a future war against China come at a human and environmental cost that far outstrips the (routinely overstated) economic benefits that U.S. military bases and weapons deployments generate, according to the IPS analysis.
The report reveals that decades of military use of PFAS (known as “forever chemicals”) have contaminated soil, groundwater, and nearshore waters far beyond the footprint of military bases. Remediation at just three installations is estimated to cost almost $500 million. A leak at the Navy’s Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility — which stored roughly 250 million gallons of jet fuel — in Oʻahu also contaminated the drinking water supply of 93,000 people. Due to these and other environmental disasters, residents of Hawai‘i have suffered unnecessary health risks and mortality and could suffer the effects of further accidents as preparations for war with China ramp up.
Trading short-term jobs for long-term environmental devastation and generational health risks is a terrible bargain that would never have been struck without Hawai‘i’s history as a colonial outpost and a pawn in a superpower competition over which the people of the islands have had far too little control. While military bases in the mainland U.S. have also caused enormous health damage, the sheer extent of Hawai‘i’s territory occupied by military facilities heightens the impact.
Meanwhile, the archipelago’s longtime status as a floating military base and the foundation for U.S. power projection in the Pacific makes it a primary target in any U.S.–China conflict, either in a first strike designed to hobble a looming U.S. attack or in retaliation once a U.S. intervention begins.
The IPS analysis also found that the Pentagon has overstated the military’s supposed $10 billion annual economic benefit to Hawai‘i by nearly 30 percent. On top of this, Hawai‘i is getting little bang for the buck. Military spending creates approximately 5.3 jobs per $1 million invested, compared to 12.3 jobs from the same investment in education, food production, healthcare, or housing. The researchers also found that the federal government owes Hawai‘i up to $133.7 billion in back rent on top of the massive environmental cleanup costs.
A non-militarized plan for Hawai‘i’s economy would supply more jobs and be far more sustainable than the current approach, according to IPS. And there is a unique opportunity to change, as two military leases of huge swaths of Hawaiian territory are set to expire.
Trading short-term jobs for long-term environmental devastation and generational health risks is a terrible bargain.
Washington needs to thoroughly rethink its narrow, self-defeating approach to Beijing. A less aggressive, more cooperative posture toward China would help free Hawaiians politically and economically, and it would open the path to a safer, more peaceful, more prosperous future. It would also allow for a rollback of the extensive U.S. military buildups in Guam and the Pacific islands, activities that mirror and are at times even worse in their environmental damage and security risks than the situation in Hawai‘i itself.
A less aggressive foreign policy toward China requires the demilitarization of Hawai‘i and a rollback of America’s costly and ill-conceived buildup in the Pacific. The IPS report clarifies what is at stake and provides a starting point for what should be a thorough debate on Hawai‘i’s role in U.S. security strategy. It is, as one of the authors, Jonathan Kay Kamakawiwoʻole Osorio of the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa, put it: “a blueprint for reclaiming our nation here, in hope and faith in one another.”
Why Should Delaware Care? Last year’s first-in-a-generation property reassessment and its lasting fallout have reverberated across Delaware, particularly in New Castle County. Lawmakers introduced several tax reforms this past session, including one preserving the current split school tax rate system.
Gov. Matt Meyer allowed a property tax bill to take effect without his signature on Thursday, permitting school districts in New Castle County to continue taxing residential and business properties at different rates.
The bill follows statewide property tax reassessments completed in recent years that sparked an ongoing debate over how Delaware taxes land.
Sponsored by Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton), House Bill 462 took effect on Thursday and now extends a so-called split tax-rate system in New Castle County that lawmakers first approved in 2025.
The new law differs slightly from the 2025 version in that the tax rates on commercial properties, including apartments, are capped at 185% of the residential rate, rather than 200%.
Before the legislative session ended in June, lawmakers had also considered a separate bill, Senate Bill 350, that would have created additional categories of properties that could be taxed at different rates. If approved, that change could have addressed longstanding objections to the split tax rate from apartment owners and developers.
Landlords like Newark’s Lang Development sued last year over a bill that raised tax burdens on commercial property owners, saying it threatened their ability to retain their properties. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
Meyer had urged lawmakers then to pass Senate Bill 350, arguing that apartments being taxed at a higher rate than single-family homes created a “gross inequity.” But the bill failed to progress to a full vote of either legislative chamber, likely due, in part, to its late introduction just days before legislators’ end of session.
Instead, House Bill 462 is the new law for New Castle County. In addition to preserving the split-rate tax structure, it also changes how school districts account for delinquent, or late, tax payments.
Previously, districts were required to add 10% to their tax rate to account for anticipated delinquencies. The new law allows them to add up to 10%.
Why did Meyer allows the bill to take effect?
Despite concerns about the bill, Meyer allowed it to take effect because school districts need a predictable law in place to set their tax rates for the coming school year, he said.
In a public letter issued Thursday, Meyer said allowing the bill to take effect would “avoid unnecessary disruption for schools and taxpayers alike.”
New Castle County school districts have delayed setting their 2026-27 tax rates while the county reviews certain commercial property assessments that some say were far too low. The county has until Sept. 30 to complete those reviews, after which school districts will receive updated information about their tax base.
The districts are expected to vote on their tax rates in October, with new property tax bills going out in November. The bills would then be due by Dec. 31.
Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer opposes treating apartments as commercial property, saying it only leads to renters carrying an unfair burden. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY TIM CARLIN
But Meyer made clear that allowing House Bill 462 to become law does not mean he supports the tax structure it preserves. He noted that his main concern is that the bill continues to treat apartments and other rental properties as commercial properties, allowing them to be taxed at higher rates than homes.
“Those taxes do not simply disappear. They are reflected in higher rents, deferred maintenance, and fewer new housing opportunities for Delaware families,” Meyer said.
After New Castle County school districts’ adoption of split tax rates last year, apartment tax rates for schools increased by an average of 55%. Meanwhile, school tax rates for homeowners generally declined.
In some districts, Meyer wrote, a 4,000-square-foot, single-family home now carries a lower school tax burden than a 1,500-square-foot apartment.
In his letter, Meyer also reiterated his support for Senate Bill 350, which would have capped apartment tax rates for schools at 120% of the residential rate. He said that bill “offered a better solution” and would not have reduced school district revenue.
“When the General Assembly returns, I urge it to complete this work by recognizing apartments and rental housing for what they are: homes,” Meyer said.
Why Should Delaware Care? Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s governments have scores of commissions, councils, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Don’t tell Dover officials that summer is the slow period for policy-making.
The City Council of Delaware’s capital city is in the early stages of considering an 18-month moratorium on data center construction within the municipality. Listed on the agenda for the Council’s Committee of Whole meeting Tuesday is an item called, “Drafting A Temporary Moratorium For Data Centers.”
The proposal comes less than a month after Kent County officials adopted regulations that restrict where data centers can be built in unincorporated parts of the county.
At the time, they also signaled that the county could impose a ban on the construction of data centers in those unincorporated areas in the future.
Dover City Councilwoman Donyale Hall said in meeting documents that Kent County’s new regulations could push developers of data centers into Dover’s city limits. That, in turn, makes it necessary for the City Council to consider “adopting comprehensive regulations before additional applications are submitted,” she said.
The responses in the comments tended to be supportive of the move, though some commenters said the city should adopt an outright ban on the facilities.
📍 The Dover City Council Committee of the Whole will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall Council Chambers, located at 15 Loockerman Plaza. For additional details, including a virtual attendance link, click here.
Sussex sewers and solar
Moving south, the Sussex County Council will discuss a string of proposals during its Tuesday meeting, including an extension of the county’s sewer system to a community near Ocean View, and a land-use permit to accommodate a solar farm near Long Neck.
Two months ago, neighbors of the proposed solar project created a petition formally opposing the development, which is backed by Denver-based Pivot Energy.
During a previous meeting of the Sussex County Council, a company engineer said one concern he had heard “loud and clear” from neighbors was around the noise the facility would emit. But he said a noise study of the solar arrays and their electrical inverter returned results that he likened to a “quiet room.”
📍 The Sussex County Council is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday inside the Sussex County Administrative Office Building, located at 2 The Circle in Georgetown. The solar project will be discussed during the public hearing portion of the meeting, which will begin at 1:30 p.m. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
The University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens kick-off their 2026-2027 season on September 3. Their first four games of the season will feature first-time matchups against non-conference opponents.
The start of August signifies the beginning of the end to another summer of fun and sun, but it also means the beginning of the College Football season is fast approaching. The Blue Hens will start their second Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) season on September 3, against four non-conference opponents.
Here’s a look at what awaits the Fightin’ Blue Hens through the first four games of the season:
Blue Hens vs Merrimack College, Sept. 3 @ Delaware Stadium, 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens’ begin their season with a matchup against the Merrimack Warriors of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). This is the first time the two programs will face-off.
The Warriors finished last season with a 4-8 overall record and lost to both FBS opponents they played (Kent State and Kennesaw State). Merrimack’s four wins were all won at home and half of them were decided by less than a field goal.
Junior quarterback Ayden Pereira led the team in rushing and passing last season, but departed the program in the winter deciding to transfer to Georgia State and join the FBS level. The program returns their third leading rusher from last season, DeMarcus McElroy, and their third leading receiver, Austin Palmer.
This is Merrimack’s ninth season as an FCS school. The Warriors moved up from Division II before the 2019 season and were in the same subdivision of collegiate football as the Blue Hens before Delaware made the jump from FCS to FBS before last season.
Blue Hens at Vanderbilt University, Sept. 12 @ FirstBank Stadium, 4:15 p.m.
The Blue Hens will play their first of seven nationally televised games in the second week of their season taking on the Vanderbilt Commodores.
The Commodores finished last season tied for the fifth spot in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) standings with a conference record of 6-2 and an overall record of 10-3. The offense ranked ninth in FBS in total yards per game and the defense was 47th in scoring defense. The team finished just outside the College Football Playoff picture and was the 15th ranked team in the final AP Top 25 poll.
Their dynamic offense was led by Heisman runner-up Diego Pavia. Pavia finished the season with 3,539 passing yards, 862 rushing yards and 39 total touchdowns. Pavia departed for the NFL signing as undrafted free agent with the Baltimore Ravens following the 2026 NFL Draft. Pavia was one of eight Commodores to sign as undrafted free agents following the 2026 NFL Draft. Tight end Eli Stowers was the only Vanderbilt player drafted. He was selected in the second round by the Philadelphia Eagles.
This season the Commodores will attempt to continue their success with a new man under center. Head coach Clark Lea hasn’t named the team’s starting quarterback yet, though the team returns veterans Blaze Berlowitz and Whit Muschamp who each appeared for the team last season. Both are competing with the program’s highest ranked commit, five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis, for the team’s starting position according to ESPN.
This is the first meeting between the two programs.
Blue Hens vs Coastal Carolina University, Sept. 19 @ Delaware Stadium at 11:30 a.m.
The Blue Hens are no stranger to the Coastal Carolina program despite having never played the Chanticleers throughout the program’s history.
The Blue Hens welcomed two transfers from the Coastal Carolina program this offseason — tight end Josh Humes and wide receiver Bryson Graves — a year after bringing in a pair of Coastal Carolina players for the 2025-2026 season. Last season, wide receiver Kyre Duplessis and defensive back Keontae Jenkins helped the Blue Hens to a 7-6 record and a bowl game victory after transferring from Coastal Carolina. Duplessis was second on the team in catches and receiving yards.
(To read about some of the other UD transfer players joining the program this season click here.)
Coastal Carolina enters the season with a new look roster and new head coach after finishing last season with a 6-7 record. The Chanticleers hired former Missouri State head coach Ryan Beard during the winter and in his first recruiting class, Beard brought in over 50 new players to the Chanticleer roster, according to the team’s website. Beard’s Missouri State team ranked fourth in Conference USA for yards allowed and first in offensive passing efficiency in the program’s first FBS season last year.
The Blue Hens and the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers will face off on the football field for the first time in either school’s history on September 19.
Blue Hens at University of Virginia, Sept. 26 @ Scott Stadium (No time announced)
Delaware’s final non-conference game requires a trip to Charlottesville, Virginia, for a matchup with the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) runner-ups from a year ago.
Virginia enters this season following a record setting 2025-2026 season that ended with a 13-7 victory over Missouri in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. The Cavaliers finished with a program high 11 wins and finished regular season conference play in sole possession of first place for the first time in program history. Virginia finished the season 29th in the country in total offense and 20th in total defense.
The team added to their core of returning players with over 20 transfers, including former Missouri quarterback Beau Pribula. Pribula threw for over 1,900 yards and ran for 297 more in ten games for Missouri last season and will most likely be the Cavaliers’ starting quarterback following the graduation of 2025-2026 starter Chandler Morris.
This is the first matchup between the two programs.
To see the full 2026-2027 University of Delaware Football schedule click here.
Drought and wildfires intensify across continent, while tropical storms bring heavy rain and disruption to east Asia
High pressure has dominated central and eastern Europe in early August, breaking temperature records across the region. Austria recorded a high of 41.2C (106.2F), while Slovakia reached 42.2C. Hungary hit a peak of 41.8C, surpassing a record set in 1905, while overnight temperatures remained above 28C in some areas, marking it as a tropical night.
The extreme temperatures have been driven by a heat dome beneath the high-pressure system, which traps warm air close to the surface.
Sunset Visitor studio’s founder tells us about their new, unnerving Captcha-filled world which prompts players to ask what it means to have a ‘meat body’
Sunset Visitor is a studio that has long engaged with the idea that video games are an effective vehicle for ruminating on societal problems. Its Peabody award-winning project, 1000XResist, incorporated the development team’s complex feelings about the Covid pandemic. “We’re pretty used to absorbing the world into the work,” says studio founder Remy Siu. The outfit’s latest game, Prove You’re Human, continues this legacy of reflective game making, providing players with an AI-centric psychological horror experience where they must reason with a learning model convinced that it’s alive. “We’ve tried to situate ourselves in [the question]: what is the effectual feeling of being a person inside of all of this?” Siu says.
The story orbits around Santana, a living, breathing person who’s chosen to split herself in two for work, with her digital clone sent to test a corporate product, a computing system called Mesa. “A large part of [why Santana chooses to do this] is to allow her meat body a life that she doesn’t have, while the digital version of her gets to labour,” says Siu. As Santana’s copy wades into increasingly murky ethical waters, she becomes entangled with Mesa, completing surreal 2D and 3D Captchas to investigate the cyber-world and halt the hallucinations.
Omaha resident Natalie Thorpe’s 3-year-old tested high for lead as a baby. Thorpe’s yard has enough lead to be risky but not enough to qualify for government cleanup. Rebecca S. Gratz for ProPublica
Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent on environmental cleanup, more than half the yards in a section of Omaha, Nebraska, that used to surround a lead smelter still have enough contamination to cause high blood-lead levels in kids, according to tests by the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica.
The findings were consistent across the city’s older urban core — in the historically Black neighborhoods north of downtown, the predominantly Hispanic areas to the south and the more white and affluent areas in midtown. However, homes closest to where a lead smelter and other downtown factories operated tended to have slightly higher concentrations than those farther out.
As part of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Superfund program, the federal government and the city of Omaha have been attempting to remove lead from Omaha’s yards since the late 1990s.
The EPA’s cleanup standard for Omaha was set in 2009 and is based on health recommendations from 1994. Since then, research has shown that lower exposures can cause IQ loss in kids and heart attacks in adults. Twice in the last 15 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lowered what it considers a high blood-lead level. An EPA risk model found that to protect most kids according to those new health guidelines, soil levels would have to be below 100 parts per million — about 10 grains of rice in a 10-pound bucket of dirt.
The Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica tested 388 homes in the Omaha Superfund site and found that 208 had levels over 100 parts per million.
But the EPA has never required that level of cleanup in Omaha or as a national remediation standard. Current EPA policy for the Omaha cleanup site directs contractors to dig up and replace yards if tests show they contain more than 400 parts per million of lead — about a marble’s worth of the metal dispersed across a 10-gallon bucket of dirt. Last week, the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica reported that 1 in 10 of the homes we tested that were remediated still has a lead concentration over that threshold.
The risk worries Natalie Thorpe, whose 3-year-old daughter tested high for lead as a baby. When the history and English teacher bought a house in Omaha, she knew about the Superfund site, but friends assured her the EPA had taken care of any problems with the dirt. Instead, her yard has enough lead to be risky but not enough to qualify for government cleanup.
“It feels a little bit like being a sitting duck,” Thorpe said.
Thorpe’s 3-year-old picks a tomato from their garden.Rebecca S. Gratz for ProPublica
EPA spokesperson Kellen Ashford said removing lead in soil is only one factor in protecting communities. Because no level of lead in the body is safe and it would be impossible to remove all lead from a site, the agency works with local health officials to protect the community from lead risks in other ways, he said.
Those include establishing the Omaha Lead Registry, a website where people can search for the highest lead level and remediation status of any property in the site. The EPA also funds the Douglas County Health Department’s lead poisoning prevention program, which performs home visits when a child tests high for exposure to the toxic metal.
Work on lead has historically been focused on protecting people from extreme poisonings, often caused by paint, said Tom Neltner, who heads the lead poisoning prevention nonprofit Unleaded Kids. As more public health experts have acknowledged the risks of smaller exposures, they’ve had to examine soil more closely. Confronting that will require new research and renewed advocacy, he said.
But even with updated science, politics have complicated potential cleanups. The first step in any cleanup is to identify which properties deserve attention. So the EPA typically tests soil to screen for potential problem areas. If results hit a certain level of lead concentration, it kicks off a more in-depth process of monitoring that site and discussing cleanup options. In 2024, President Joe Biden’s EPA lowered that recommended screening level to as little as 100 parts per million.
Cleaning up to 100 parts per million would have carried enormous costs. About 40% of U.S. homes exceed those levels, according to a 2024 study by some of the country’s top researchers of lead-contaminated soil, and it could cost $500 billion to $1.4 trillion to clean up all of them. The authors argued the government could take a more cost-effective approach by covering lead-laced soil with clean soil or mulch rather than digging it out.
Last year, the Trump administration rolled back Biden’s standards in what it said was an effort to speed up cleanups of the highest-risk areas, raising the lowest screening level from 100 parts per million to 200 parts per million.
Thorpe and her daughter pick vegetables from their raised garden bed. Zinnias, basil, golden beets, squash and other plants grow in store-bought soil.Rebecca S. Gratz for ProPublica
However, some local and state governments, as well as other countries, have committed to standards of 100 parts per million or lower.
Norway recommends risk assessments for any dirt that children have regular access to that has more than 100 parts per million of lead in it. In 2006, the country required all playgrounds and daycares be remediated to that level.
Even in the United States, some areas have lower limits. Minnesota requires replacing any soil that has more than 100 parts per million of lead around the home of a child with a high blood level, said Minnesota Department of Health spokesperson Scott Smith. In April, New Orleans announced plans to clean up its parks after an investigation by Verite News and KFF Health News found more than half of the 80 sites the organizations tested had levels above 100 parts per million.
California has cleaned up properties to 80 parts per million of lead, its screening level for potentially risky soil, though residents of properties exceeding that threshold more often receive safety education rather than a new lawn, said Seth John, a University of Southern California earth sciences professor.
An Omaha lead smelter spread dust that seeped into the soil and bodies of many residents. The EPA spent decades cleaning up the surrounding area — but not Council Bluffs, Carter Lake or Bellevue.
This summer the EPA is testing soil around Omaha as part of an investigation that may help the agency determine if it should expand the site’s boundaries or lower the amount of lead that would qualify for cleanup. The agency expects to share its findings by October 2027, Ashford said.
Earlier research suggests there may be more homes with lead-soil concentrations over 100 parts per million than the Flatwater Free Press and ProPublica identified: EPA testing found 84% of the Superfund site in Omaha — more than 36,000 properties — had areas with lead concentrations above 100 parts per million, according to a March 2024 email sent by an EPA manager to a Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy official.
But trying to determine what the agency might do in Omaha is difficult because the EPA has applied its new guidance in different ways, setting higher lead levels for cleanup at some Superfund sites and lower levels at others.
Without cleanup, there are several things Omaha residents can do to lower their risk, said Neltner of Unleaded Kids. Maintaining ground cover like grass reduces the amount of lead dust that can spread from the dirt to kids’ hands and bodies, he said. The EPA also recommends washing hands and taking shoes off inside.
Those are easy things that lower risk, Neltner said, but he noted that they’re not a long-term solution.
“We have to keep doing what we can,” he said. “We need our leadership at local, state and federal levels to support people in finding solutions.”
Thorpe’s 3-year-old daughter stands barefoot in her family’s garden.Rebecca S. Gratz for ProPublica
Power cable linking UK and Ireland now passes near Bronze Age human burial remains instead of fictional grave on Welsh beach
Harry Potter fans have forced a new multimillion-pound power cable between the UK and Ireland to be relocated after complaining it would desecrate the “grave” of Dobby, a fictional elf.
The character was laid to rest on Freshwater West beach in Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the film Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Fans of the wizard series come to leave stones reading “Here Lies Dobby” despite being asked not to by the land owner, the National Trust, because the beach is an ecologically sensitive site.
Futurism reports:
404 Media revealed that a July 10 audit by the Los Angeles Police Department Office of the Inspector General caught the department's ALPR cameras generating 161 false stolen-vehicle alerts in just two months — each one ending with officers pulling over an innocent driver. Factoring in 337 alerts which "resulted in the recovery of stolen vehicles," the LAPD's cameras carry an error rate of 32.3 percent, effectively giving officers a one-in-three chance at pulling an innocent person over.
"The biggest issue remains this national database at the FBI called NCIC," Flock's CEO Garrett Langley recently told The Drive, complaining about "how archaic its structure is."
Flock CEO: There's no feedback loop mechanisms; it's really just a static comma-separated file.
We've tried to build around it. We have this concept called "suppression." A local agency — let's take Atlanta, where I live — might see that there's a stolen plate out of California, but it's already been resolved because it's a rental car or a dealer car. They can, in Flock, suppress that: "Never alert us on that for the next year." That's to get around the fact that they can't force another agency to remove it from NCIC.
Ideally, the way it would work is if enough agencies — let's call it one, two, or three — flag a tag as no longer valid or a bad entry, it should just get removed. Or at least it should get pushed more aggressively by the FBI... I'm hopeful that they'll see there's an opportunity to make something like NCIC, which is an important tool not just for companies like Flock, but for police departments to work together, start to make some enhancements to modernize what's a central part of our policing system.
Later in the interview he says "It's less than one in a million alerts that an officer says, 'I'm not sure if that's right.' Less than one in a million."
A recent report from Business Insider shares a worst-case scenario. In the summer of 2024 a Sacramento police officer said Flock's cameras had sent six false alerts for the same vehicle, wrongly saying it had been stolen or used in a felony crime in the nearby suburb of Roseville:
Roseville police could see that Flock's software kept confusing the "9" on the man's license plate for an "8." The car owner said he would take off his license plate cover. Soon after, it happened again. It's "easier at this point we have it memorized," a dispatch supervisor in Roseville wrote in an email to a colleague.
Flock says that in optimal conditions, its cameras accurately read more than 96% of license plate characters. Hundreds of pages of records from the Roseville Police Department show a different picture. In 2023 and 2024, Flock sent 1,427 alerts to Roseville police, flagging vehicles as stolen or used in a felony after they passed one of the city's Flock cameras. An analysis by the police department found that in 71% of those alerts, Flock's machine-learning software incorrectly read the license plates... The cameras regularly missed vehicles, captured blurry images, misread license plate characters and states, and sent delayed alerts to police about vehicles possibly connected to crimes, the records show...
A factor that contributed to the misread problems in Roseville was the "particularly unique deployment" that the city requested, a Flock spokeswoman said. Roseville said it has its cameras configured so that they capture only the backs of vehicles, a setup intended to avoid capturing personally identifiable information like faces. Roseville's setup included older hardware and placement of cameras higher and further from vehicles than the company typically recommends, Flock added...
In Toledo, Ohio, driver Brandon Upchurch was mauled by a police dog after a Flock camera misread the "7" on his license plate as a "2." As a result of his injuries, he said, he lost his job and was evicted from his home. He settled a lawsuit against the city and police officer for $35,000. None of the incorrect Flock alerts in Roseville resulted in a traffic stop or arrest, a department spokesman said. Roseville requires police officers to verify that a license plate is stolen or have independent reasonable suspicion of a crime before making a traffic stop...
Flock said Roseville's camera performance has significantly improved, which the police department disputed... Flock's cameras also missed vehicles altogether... At one point, Flock's product director for machine learning suggested that officers ask drivers to remove license plate frames that made it "very difficult for the machine vision to tell it is actually a 'E' and not an 'F.'" Roseville told Flock at the time that it wouldn't do so, according to the department spokesman. Flock in 2024 shared an analysis with Roseville's police department, outlining reasons for the misreads. Vehicles far from a camera were sometimes blurry. Plates were cut off by trees or license plate frames. And Flock's software confused similar characters, mistaking an "N" for a "V", or a "1" for a "4...."
Roseville isn't the first organization to flag inaccuracies in Flock's technology. In 2021, the research firm IPVM independently tested Flock's license plate readers, concluding that Flock misidentified the state in about one of 10 reads, and that the system regularly misclassified vehicles' type and make. IPVM said that Flock subsequently blocked it from purchasing its cameras for testing.
Thanks to long-time Slashdot reader Cognitive Dissident for sharing the article.
As the midterm elections inch closer, polls frequently show voters expressing greater concern about inflation than any other issue.
President Donald Trump said his administration has been doing a good job on that front.
“I inherited very, very high costs, and they’re all coming down now,” Trump said Aug. 4 on Fox News. “The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”
With a few exceptions, prices have been going up since Trump began his second term in January 2025, official federal data shows. In many cases, the picture for consumer prices has worsened since PolitiFact looked at this question in January, partially because the price of gasoline has risen since the start of the Iran war in late February.
In addition to hitting commuters’ wallets, higher prices at the pump also affect the cost of many consumer goods that need to be transported.
When contacted for comment, the White House acknowledged the war’s effect in a statement to PolitiFact. White House spokesperson Kush Desai said the president “has always been clear about the fact that oil and gas prices — and thus overall inflation — will rapidly drop as soon as the Iran situation is resolved, and the administration in the meantime continues to implement more proven policies to deliver economic relief for the American people.”
Prices have decreased in some areas since Trump returned to office, including grocery items such as eggs, bacon and bread and durable goods, including cars. But items with falling prices are in the minority.
Douglas Holtz-Eakin, president of the center-right American Action Forum, said Trump’s statement is inaccurate on both the numbers and the overall sentiment “The administration has an affordability issue for a reason,” he said.
Here’s a rundown of consumer prices today compared with when Trump took office late January 2025.
Overall, prices are up
For a while, overall inflation cooled under Trump. During roughly his first 13 months in office, the year-over-year inflation rate was lower than he inherited from President Joe Biden, which was about 3%.
Since the Iran war began Feb. 28, however, year-over-year inflation has spiked. The monthly inflation rate has been higher than what Trump inherited; the most recent measurement was 3.5% in June. Today’s year-over-year inflation rate of 3.5% is higher than during most of Biden’s final year and a half in office.
&&
In addition, most types of consumer goods have increased in price since Trump began his second term.
Several major consumer categories have risen faster than the 4.3% overall increase, including airfare (up 12.5%), electricity (up 8%), and housing and clothing (up 5% each). The slowest increase was in durable goods (such as appliances), which have held steady in price. Prices for new and used cars have fallen modestly.
&&
Grocery prices — a category Trump mentioned in the Fox News interview — have increased more slowly than prices overall, by 3.4% since January 2025. But many grocery categories have risen, including coffee (35%), ground beef (23%), steak (21%), sugar and sweets (9%), chicken breast (5.3%), and fruits and vegetables (5.2%).
A few major grocery items are cheaper now than in January 2025, including bread, bacon and eggs. (Eggs have mostly fallen in price after a bird flu crisis eased.)
&&
&&
Gasoline and energy prices remain high since the Iran war
About a year into his second term, Trump celebrated significant gasoline price decreases. From early December 2025 to mid-January 2026, prices at the pump dropped by about 10%, to a nationwide average of $2.78 a gallon.
Then, prices rocketed upward after the Iran war. Iran retaliated against U.S. strikes by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which before the war had carried around one-fifth of the world’s crude oil.
Gasoline prices peaked at about $4.50 a gallon in mid-May, and while the price has since fallen to about $4.21, it’s still above its pre-war level of $2.94. If prices from the first week of August hold for the rest of the month, they would be the highest August average price since the U.S. Energy Administration began tracking this data in 1993.
&&
Overall, gasoline prices are up by 34% since Trump began his second term. Other types of energy have also risen on Trump’s watch: fuel oil (24%), natural gas (12%) and electricity (8%).
&&
Wages are close to falling behind inflation
For much of Trump’s second term, wages increased faster than prices. But the inflation bump since the war started has pumped the brakes on that progress.
After the war began, inflation began edging closer to wage increases, and in May, inflation exceeded wage gains for the first time in Trump’s second term. In June, wages edged ahead of inflation again, a shift widely attributed to an easing of gasoline prices, but that may be temporary if Iran and the U.S. remain at odds over traffic through the strait.
&&
Our ruling
Trump said prices are “all coming down now. The food, the groceries, it’s all coming down.”
Overall, prices have increased by about 4.3% since Trump began his second term, and groceries have risen by 3.4%. The Iran war has particularly boosted energy prices; gasoline is up by 34% since Trump began his second term in January 2025, fuel oil is up 24%, natural gas is up 12% and electricity is up 8%.
Car prices have gone down during this period. Also down are eggs, bacon and bread prices. But other common items in consumers’ carts, such as coffee, ground beef and chicken breast, are up.
The statement contains an element of truth but ignores facts that would give a different impression, so we rate it Mostly False.
So, how is my board doing?
Well, actually! I haven't had many issues with it, and it's been fine. I re-did the o-rings on the axle, and I've done some small tweaking to the foot hooks. Thanks and shoutout to VOW for the free foothook design, and Onewheel Parts for hooking me up with their quickies, those things are indestructible.
Since last July, I've had to replace my footpad sensor twice. Great, and I had to buy one for a higher price from someone else since StokedStock is no longer with us.
I am now considering either a magnetic-style footpad, or using one of those pressure sensors for car seats
755dcde4-1c46-4c86-ab43-61a56a8adf7a-image.png
(cursed)
Apparently, the VESC peeps engineered a way to use a little magnet that you tie to your ankle as a way to activate and deactivate your footpad. It uses a mangetic sensor, and it's pretty neato
To dwell on this further later
Troque Box is holding up, but i may need to 3D print a new battery box or shell out the cash for the torque box 2
New tire too. The Thundercat didn't last as long as the previous tires, the sidewall probably gave out around mid-feb, lasting about 7-ish months before it would loose air. By the time I decided i was done re-airing the tire every few days, it was mid-june and the tire would go flat over the course of a 90 minute lecture.
6cf05611-0b05-4689-a09e-ad1ff232a66f-image.png
I am going to replace the battery soon. 18s2p would be the easy and sensible route, but since I'm going to college near a major city now, I can actually go to group rides weekly! THESE PEOPLE ARE FAST AND CRAZY AND I CAN BARELY KEEP UP
but they are pretty cool
also I've found that while I have mellowed out in the past year or two and I'm not trying to hit 80-80 duty cycle, I'd like some more headroom. 26s1p was on the table for a bit because of my 120V Ennoid, but I was told that I'd have to charge my board no more than 4.09V, nullifying the need for the battery. 24s2p split pack scares the hell out of me (My old ride group had a couple split pack issues and one fire from one), and 24s2p with 18650 using a SuperSpeed Box would be VERY expensive, and with that kind of money, I'd already be going for the fifth option. Fourth Option was a 24s1P pack made for PintV, but my gut didn't like that one.
Fifth option?
337e3d3f-33db-4d16-b73e-e5990ec3917c-image.png
I may have gone a little insane since I last spoke here
Uhm..
I decided after talking with some engineering buddies I know and people who can handle money better than I can that spending more money now on a much better setup is worth it in the long term.
I am going to have to get a 150V Ennoid. I was told to contact Ennoid about seeing what can be done about my 120V, but apparently he's on vacation until next week, so I'll have to wait.
30S1P on RS50 should give me similar range as my ME4T pack, but an exponentially more amount of the pucker factor in terms of raw power.
I'm still in shock that I'm even ORDERING a 30s1p pack, let alone going to install one.
So, yay
Probably time to start looking at Leatt gear and to probably get life insurance.
final notes?
186c834d-f0da-4de3-ac53-985e67c0e6b5-image.png
Using the quickies from OneWheelParts, I'm designing a clip that bolts onto the unused holes so I can carry around the board like a duffel bag. Supposed to be a one day print, but my printer (Now a heavily modified SV08 which could honestly have it's own form post) is tempermental about ASA.
If I get it done tonight or tomorrow, I will share pictures
Novel squat Android opens to an iPad-like screen for video or multitasking, with plenty of power and battery life
Samsung’s latest folding phone breaks the mould with a squat, passport-like shape reminiscent of the Blackberry, which opens up to become a tablet similar to an iPad mini. It is certainly a better shape for a tablet than other designs, but is a short and wide phone when closed a compromise too far?
The Galaxy Z Fold 8 is an entirely new variant in Samsung’s foldable family for this year launched alongside the Z Fold 8 Ultra with a more familiar candy bar shape. Both folders are extremely expensive, with the Fold 8 starting at £1,699 (€1,999/$1,899.99/A$2,699) and the Fold 8 Ultra at £1,899 (€2,199/$2,099.99/A$2,999), with RAMageddon driving up prices even at the top of the market.
In today’s newsletter: Jerusalem’s most volatile site has again become a flashpoint, with Arab states and former Israeli officials sounding the alarm over Benjamin Netanyahu’s complicity
Good morning. In late July, Itamar Ben-Gvir, West Bank settler and far-right extremist minister of security in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, joined a group of more than 2,000 Jewish extremists to storm al-Aqsa mosque compound, Jerusalem’s most sensitive holy site. The far-right group has been doing this for years. Ben-Gvir has made series of visits to the site over the last three years, eroding norms and inflaming tensions. Jordanian officials have recently warned that it could be at risk of an “imminent” Israeli takeover.
With national elections scheduled in October, and many eyes still firmly on Gaza (this weekend, Netanyahu rejected a US-backed 15 point plan for peace), the Israeli government appears to be racing to expand Israeli settlements and accelerate ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem before its mandate expires.
UK politics | Sadiq Khan has called on the government to commit to revamped climate action and to reduce the UK’s reliance on oil and gas, as the UK endures a summer of drought, wildfires and heatwaves.
US politics | The US Senate voted to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general in a win for Donald Trump, who will now have his one-time personal attorney sitting atop the nation’s law enforcement apparatus.
US-Israel war on Iran | Iran has issued tough new demands for reopening the strait of Hormuz, as a deal to open the strategic waterway remained out of reach on Saturday.
Russia-Ukraine | Up to 50,000 North Korean soldiers will be deployed in Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. On Saturday, Turkey called for a “moratorium” on attacks by Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea after a series of strikes on civilian ships there
World news | The alleged leader of the Kinahan organised crime group was extradited from Dubai on Sunday and met by a huge security operation in Dublin, marking the end of a global game of cat and mouse with European, US and Gulf authorities.
Wednesday | A partial solar eclipse will be visible across the whole of the UK, with the south-west of England getting the best of British views. Parts of Greenland, Iceland and Spain will experience a total eclipse.
Thursday | Clacton-on-sea residents will vote in the byelection Nigel Farage triggered last month, with the Reform leader taking on 33 mostly novelty candidates. Results are expected early Friday.
Thursday | The Office for National Statistics will publish UK GDP figures for the second quarter of 2026.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull tells a public inquiry that the Aukus deal with the US and UK will probably result in no submarines at all for Australia. He says the US’s capacity for building submarines has remained stubbornly laggard, and that it is prevented by its own legislation from selling any submarines to Australia if that would 'degrade' its own fleet. It currently needs to nearly double its submarine production rate, from 1.2 to 2.3 a year
Mohammad Akhtar, 50, from Peterborough killed during clashes between authorities and protesters
A British national was shot dead in Pakistan-administered Kashmir during clashes between security forces and protesters, the Guardian can reveal.
Another Briton has been held in a regional prison for more than two months despite his family’s efforts to secure his release through the Foreign Office.
Big companies describe being under constant threat but only half have a plan in place to respond to an attack
Nearly a third of British manufacturers have been hit by a cyber-attack on them or a company in their supply chain, according to a survey that highlighted the growing hacking risk to companies.
The findings come almost a year after Britain’s largest automotive employer, JLR, was hit by an attack that forced it to halt production for weeks.
Americans want someone on their side in the fight against vested interests – that means politicians like the Michigan primary winner and Zohran Mamdani
Abdul El-Sayed’s win in the Michigan Senate primary was a historic breakthrough. Not only because he is a Muslim son of immigrants who broke with almost every single tenet of establishment Democratic party politics. But because he has wiped that complacent sneer at progressive wins off the faces of centrist gatekeepers. Zohran Mamdani? Relax, he’s just a mayor. And it’s New York City. Outside urban and liberal corridors, there is nothing to worry about. Now El-Sayed has won the Democratic party’s nomination in a swing state that is also on the list of presidential nomination states.
There is a lot to be excited about. Not only within the US, but for observers abroad hopeful for the emergence of a truly revolutionary left that is able to weather powerful and well-funded adversaries and prevail. The money raised to defeat El-Sayed was staggering. He was outspent by more than nine to one. It was the most expensive Democratic congressional primary ever. A roll call of cartoon bad guys, such as Chevron and Philip Morris, funded his opponent, Haley Stevens, to the tune of over $60m. Of that funding, nearly half came from a Super Pac backed by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac).
Authorities warn that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides as storm moves north and further inland
More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides.
Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, said it relocated more than 900,000 people and opened more than 1,500 emergency shelters. In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people were moved from high-risk areas.
Microsoft's cloud storage app OneDrive got a new Photos app in the worst possible way, reports the blog Neowin . "The app is reportedly showing up even on Windows 11 Enterprise machines, despite apparently being a beta application aimed at consumer functionality."
One admin questioned why a beta app was appearing on an Enterprise SKU in the first place, while another described the situation as yet another consumer-oriented feature being forced onto corporate PCs. Things get even more frustrating for IT departments because there does not appear to be a straightforward Microsoft-provided way to disable the app... Enterprise administrators generally need to know what is being installed on their managed devices, particularly when a software is labeled as beta. Quietly adding another application and leaving admins to clean it up themselves is therefore unlikely to win Microsoft many fans.
But there's another problem, according to the blog Windows Latest. "OneDrive Photos automatically scans your system storage for photos," and apparently "doesn't need a Microsoft account to work, as it can also detect your local files."
There's also a People section that groups similar faces in your photos. Microsoft asks for permission before turning it on and explicitly warns that facial data could be considered biometric data in some regions. The company says only you can see the grouped faces, that the data isn't shared with third parties, and that you can delete it by disabling the feature.
In a statement to Neowin,
Microsoft admitted this new photos "experience" they're "incubating" had gone "more broadly than it should have," and then promised that "We're fixing that." The spokesperson also said the Windows Photos app will "always give you the option of local and cloud photos" and, also a choice of whether or not to use it OneDrive."
But there's another "awkward catch," notes the blog Digital Trends. "Users currently can't uninstall OneDrive Photos without removing the main OneDrive app too."
Because OneDrive Photos is tied to the main OneDrive sync client, Windows 11 doesn't currently offer a separate uninstall option. The only straightforward way to get rid of OneDrive Photos right now is to uninstall OneDrive itself... Removing the main client can also affect its File Explorer integration and shortcuts...
Microsoft says this will change. The company is working on controls that will let users remove OneDrive Photos separately from the main OneDrive app. On enterprise PCs managed through Intune, Microsoft says the app will automatically disappear where it isn't supported.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — President Donald Trump is offering a sharply different explanation for damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool than the one his own Justice Department relied on when it dropped criminal charges against former Olympian David Hearn.
Trump claimed Sunday that a “highly credible” National Park Service employee witnessed Hearn “violently” pulling at the pool’s coating. He also alleged other vandalism occurred, while acknowledging for the first time that contractors made mistakes during the rushed renovation.
That account conflicts with the government’s explanation for abandoning Hearn’s prosecution. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office said the Interior Department initially represented the damage as vandalism but later produced documents showing that peeling and delamination resulted from a “botched installation” and contractor error. Prosecutors consequently moved to dismiss Hearn’s felony case and three related misdemeanor cases.
Trump now characterizes the contractor problems as limited and “relatively inconsequential,” despite prosecutors previously citing those problems as the reason they could no longer support the vandalism case.
He also acknowledged that there is “no video or proof” of some alleged damage beyond the damage itself, even as he continues publicly accusing Hearn after the case was formally dismissed.
The contradiction leaves Trump asserting criminal wrongdoing that his own prosecutors concluded they could not substantiate with the evidence provided by the Interior Department.
With nearly 70% of the market, "Meta wants its smart glasses to be a big hit," writes the Los Angeles Times. But after some users found ways to disable the light that warns people they're being filmed, "the high-tech specs have also turned into a liability, as some are calling the gadget 'pervert glasses...'"
Some people are using the glasses — which look like a pair of regular spectacles — to record people without their knowledge and publish the videos on social media. The users secretly videotape and share what happens when they try to pick up women. Now, a growing number of people are worried they could be covertly recorded at the gym or even during sex. The backlash has prompted Meta to update its glasses to address privacy concerns, and some places have banned them, adding to the angst surrounding technology that's rapidly evolving...
Concern about the glasses has exploded as more videos of interactions with people who don't know they're being recorded go viral on social media. On Instagram, some videos depict people getting approached in malls and grocery stores and on college campuses and sidewalks. While the videos are portrayed as jokes, the people filmed don't appear to know they're being recorded and sometimes seem uncomfortable, telling the strangers to leave them alone or stop harassing them. The outcry has spread beyond social media, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel calling the Meta devices "pervert glasses" on national television and singer Lorde telling concertgoers that smart glasses are "not sexy..."
Instagram, which is owned by Meta, has been disabling accounts and taking down some of these pickup or prank videos for violating the platform's rules against harassment and bullying... Businesses are making their own calls about smart glasses. The 5 Point Cafe in Seattle, which banned Google Glass in the past, has banned Meta glasses from its diner and dive bar. "Leave your Meta-SpyBan Display at home, they are officially Ray-Ban-ned from all of our restaurants. We serve privacy, not side-eye surveillance," a 2025 Instagram post from the business states.
An Android app that warns people if they're being recorded has roughly 110,000 downloads in the last six months, according to the article. The app's creator says it's a "social problem" that "we don't value privacy, that we feel entitled to use others for our entertainment or our private gain, and technology amplifies that."
The American Civil Liberties Union and more than 70 organizations even sent a letter urging Meta to promise they'd leave facial recognition features out of their smart glasses, according to the article. But a Meta spokesperson said "no final decision has been made."
Observatory says 36.9C posted on Sunday is city’s highest official temperature since its records began 142 years ago, with storm driving intense heat in region
Hong Kong has officially recorded its highest ever temperature as Typhoon Dolphin swept warm air over the city, the meteorological service said.
The city’s weather observatory posted a temperature of 36.9C on Sunday, the highest recorded since records began in 1884, the Hong Kong Observatory said in the afternoon.
Linux Torvalds expects Linux 7.2 should be released next weekend "unless something really bad
pops up," Torvalds said while announcing today's release candidate.
But there's something interesting about Linux 7.2-rc7, writes Phoronix. "By the time the Linux kernel typically hits a -rc7 release things have usually settled quite well. But in today's world of AI/LLM coding/review agents, the kernel activity continues at an all-time high."
Tons of bug fixes continued to trickle in across the kernel spectrum for all sorts of issues. The HWMON hardware monitoring subsystem saw several critical and high severity bug fixes, on the memory management side was a nasty race condition leading to a use-after-free in the kernel for the past eight years, Btrfs restored its fixup worker infrastructure to deal with silent data loss, lots of AI patches in the networking realm, and the kernel was patched for the Safe RET Interrupt Vulnerability.
Linus Torvalds wrote in the 7.2-rc7 announcement:
"Another week, another -rc.
I can't say that I'm exactly thrilled about the size of this all, but
it is what it is: the new normal with a lot of fixes, many of them due
to review by various AI tools.
And nothing looks particularly scary per se — it's just that there's a
lot here. Most of it is fairly small, although we have a couple of
larger diffs: s390/zcrypt fixes stand out in the diffstat, and so does
btrfs bringing back the fixup worker infrastructure. And some
netfilter ipset fixes.
But aside from a few places like that, most of this is just lots of
tiny fixes. It's pretty much spread all over — drivers (gpu, sound,
networking, you name it), filesystems, core networking, arch code...
A Massachusetts newspaper reports that officials from the town of Littleton (population: 10,141) "claim that five of Littletonâ(TM)s Flock Safety cameras were switched back on by the company without informing the town..."
Littleton had temporarily disabled the cameras earlier this year, according to the article, but upon discovering the cameras were still active, city officials say they directed the Town Counsel "to initiate cancellation of the contract with Flock Safety and directed the Town Administrator to coordinate the removal of the six cameras on public ways" with the Department of Public Works.
Ironically, it's the same Massachusetts town that last year was breached by a Chinese-state-sponsored hacking group for over 300 days.
Flock has also considered dashcams installed in hundreds of thousands Uber, Lyft, and delivery drivers' vehicles "to scan license plates those drivers travelled passed," reports 404 Media, "essentially turning Uber and Lyft drivers into roaming surveillance vehicles, according to a Flock presentation shared with 404 Media...
404 Media first revealed the intended partnership last August when multiple sources provided information on the plan."
British Columbia declared a state of emergency Saturday after a fast-moving wildfire destroyed homes and forced more than 20,000 people to flee their communities.
There are Americans who are "obscenely obese and at the same time malnourished," Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says. He blames ultraprocessed food.
In Port-au-Prince, Haiti's gang-controlled capital, there's an orphanage taking in the most at-risk kids. It's run by bestselling author Mitch Albom and his wife Janine.
Indiana University football was known for losing. That changed with the recent historic season, when head coach Curt Cignetti and quarterback Fernando Mendoza led the team to a national championship.
Food writer Michael Pollan, who has written about the health risks of highly processed foods for decades, shared his advice for eating healthier and avoiding ultraprocessed foods with 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker.
Correspondent Anderson Cooper spoke to 60 Minutes Overtime about his former math teacher, Yves Volel, who ran for president in Haiti in 1987 and was later assassinated.
Stacy Librandi went to Haiti as a volunteer new to disaster relief in 2010. Sixteen years later, she runs the largest and foremost emergency medical ambulance and medevac service in Haiti.
Former Indiana University linebacker Aiden Fisher credits head coach Curt Cignetti for Indiana University's success, citing his savvy recruitment of players — often from outside of college football's top teams — to build a roster of hard-working underdogs.
Scharf, who helped president win approval for $400m ballroom, to replace David Warrington on 1 September
Donald Trump announced on Sunday that Will Scharf, the staff secretary who helped secure approval for the $400m White House ballroom project, will become White House counsel and assistant to the president.
Effective 1 September, Scharf will replace David Warrington, who will be leaving the administration to join the private sector. Warrington formerly served as a personal counsel and a lawyer for Trump’s 2024 campaign.
NBC Bay Area brings news from the small idyllic California town of Suisun City (population: 29,518). The city council "declared a state of emergency Saturday after a cyberattack that shut down computer systems including 911 public safety operations."
"Malicious software infected and compromised" the East Bay community's information technology systems beginning about 5:45 a.m. Friday, the city said on social media. "The cybersecurity incident hit critical public safety operations, including 911 routing, police and fire dispatch, records and city services," the city said.
"There is no imminent threat to the public," the city said. "All public safety services remain active." The city shut down its computer network "to contain the threat and preserve evidence for a federal investigation," it said... Suisun City dispatchers were taking calls for service through the Solano County dispatch center. Suisun City police officers and firefighters continued responding to calls for service, the city said, but online city services and internal operations were unavailable.
On Facebook the city said it was "working alongside federal, state and regional agencies, including the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and California Office of Emergency Services to maintain emergency services, investigate the incident and restore systems."
But Bay Area PBS station KQED notes "They're only the latest local government in the region to be hit by a cyberattack."
Earlier this year, Foster City and Pittsburg experienced other cyberattacks that impacted services in their own jurisdictions. Foster City declared a state of emergency after a March ransomware incident that shut down many services for more than a week. Pittsburg lost almost $1 million to a February phishing attack, though over half of it was recovered.
US congresswoman to share journey online as she criticizes Trump administration’s attacks on reproductive care
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has announced she is going to freeze her eggs and will be sharing the process online.
The progressive New York congresswoman, 36, revealed her decision to undergo fertility treatment in a series of Instagram stories this weekend. “This is a choice that I am making to feel more in control of my life,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Andy Burnham has promised a series of measures to tackle the cost of living, including a ban on fake discounts and making it easier for people to escape unwanted subscriptions.
The crackdown on “rip-off” business practices is expected to benefit consumers to the tune of £400m a year and will be the first in a range of “everyday fixes” to be implemented in the coming months.
XDA Developers reports:
On July 22, a Google DeepMind engineer, Vidy Thatte, shared a snippet of a browser he built that "treats every URL as a prompt and generates a site from scratch" on his X account. Just a few days later, he shared a TestFlight link to let iPhone users try it for themselves. The browser he launched is called Gem, and it's a browser that doesn't really...browse.
Instead of fetching a webpage from a server the way Chrome or Safari would, Gem hands whatever URL you type over to Google's Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite model and asks it to generate a webpage on the spot. If you enter a real address, it builds its own interpretation of that site rather than loading the actual thing. If you enter an address that doesn't exist, Gemini simply invents a website to fill the gap. In other words, you're not visiting the internet so much as browsing one the model dreams up as you go...
Thatte's reasoning was that with a model as fast and cheap as Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite, there's almost no practical difference anymore between loading a website and generating a brand-new one on the fly... Given that this tool is powered by Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite and it's just a side project rather than a full-fledged tool, it doesn't come with Gemini access baked in. Gem requires you to bring your own Gemini API key to get it working. Every URL you enter fires off a request to the model, so Gem needs a key linked to your Google account to actually generate anything, with the usage billed to you. You can grab a key for free from Google AI Studio, paste it into Gem's settings, and you're ready to start typing URLs. While you can get started for free, I ran into the limits within two minutes of playing around. So, I did need to enable billing on my API key and decided to load $10 into it.
While the blogger's own site seemed to only get the Gemini logo, tapping it revealed nearly two dozen remixing options. (Dark mode, Reader, Neubrutalist, Broadsheet, Blueprint, Comic book, Punk zine, Notebook, Chalkboard, Receipt, Teletext, System 7, Wes Anderson, Cyber neon, Clay, Frosted, Geocities, Matrix, Museum, Windows 95, Terminal, Vaporwave, and Hide images...) "The frontend morphed before my eyes. Every new edit took practically no time to load, and within a second or two, the same XDA articles would reappear wearing a completely different skin..." For another site, it kept the article headlines, but then rewrote all the text!
And after entering an address they knew didn't exist — their own name — in two seconds the browser whipped up a slick portfolio "genuinely been better than some of what those tools produced with far more time and context to work with." But its link to a LinkedIn profile led to a lookalike page, because Gem "had simply generated its own version of it, complete with a made-up follower number and details I never wrote...."
Sophie Cunningham of the Indiana Fever points during the game against the Phoenix Mercury at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on June 22, 2026 in Indianapolis, Indiana.Photo: Michael Hickey/Getty Images
In the ever-shifting theater of America’s culture wars, conservative media has found its newest gladiatorial conscript: Indiana Fever guard Sophie Cunningham.
It’s an unlikely promotion—and from backers who, until recently, probably couldn’t have named five WNBA players.
The reason for her esteem probably has little to do with her faultless three point precision. In an interview with ESPN, Cunningham declared she opposed transgender women—whom she referred to as “biological men”—competing in women’s sports, arguing the issue was about “protecting young girls.” Later, she cheekily doubled down on the statement, posting an outfit photo on Instagram with the caption: “I said what I said” with a saluting emoji.
That was enough.
Almost overnight, Cunningham became more than a WNBA player. She became one of conservatism’s newest culture-war combatants: blonde, white, conventionally attractive, and playing in a league overwhelmingly composed of players of color, and with one of the largest openly LGBTQ+ player populations in professional sports.
For generations, conservative movements have sought to anoint and weaponize cisgender white women as public-facing enforcers of social and racial hierarchy.
Within days of Cunningham’s remarks, conservative media had found its new protagonist.
Fox News host Riley Gaines, who herself rose to prominence as an anti-trans NCAA swimmer, called Cunningham “the first current high-level female athlete” willing to publicly oppose transgender participation in women’s sports, and praised her for speaking out from inside what Gaines called “the most woke league of all time.” The Daily Wire cast the now-famous finger-pointer—and on-court defender of Caitlyn Clark, another white player whose first season with the WNBA sparked racialized conversations that cast her Black opponents as too “aggressive”—as someone “now fighting for us.” Trump’s Department of Education joined in, posting a Grok AI-generated image of Cunningham wearing a crown with the caption: “Common sense prevails.”
Cunningham’s ascent into the right’s zeitgeist is by design. For generations, conservative movements have sought to anoint and weaponize cisgender white women as public-facing enforcers of social and racial hierarchy.
While the specific rallying cry has changed throughout history, their use and ideological framing to the conservative movement has remained largely intact: They serve narratively as bulwarks against some grave impending demographic or social upset, which if allowed to come to fruition would be an assault on the current status quo of women at large.
Ride of the Valkyries
American political history is thick with appeals to white womanhood as something endangered and therefore requiring protection, particularly against the encroaching civil rights gains of Black, brown, and LGBTQ+ communities. Since the Academy Award-winning Birth of a Nation, the idea that straight white women are in peril simply by living in proximity to minority groups has been repeatedly used to justify racial exclusion and stir up moral panic.
In the wake of Brown v. Board of Education, southern governments launched what’s now known as the “Massive Resistance,” a series of laws to prevent integration. The campaign mobilized a movement of white women to organize through schools, newspapers and civic groups in an effort they sold as defending white children, neighborhoods, and public education. It was largely these communities that performed the on-the-ground enforcement of segregation, going so far as to pluck out children suspected of being mixed-race from white schools. This changed the packaging of the politics of segregation: Rather than snarling racism, the message could be framed more politely as a threat to the sanctity of motherhood and child welfare.
By the 1970s, overt defenses of racial segregation had become politically untenable on the national stage. The conservative movement’s next great cultural fight shifted toward gender. As the sexual revolution, second-wave feminism, and the promise of the Equal Rights Amendment changed family structures and challenged traditional gender roles, conservatives increasingly looked to white women to make the case against the nation’s expanding vision of female equality.
In the impeccably dressed mother-of-six Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative movement found its most formidable duelist against progressive feminism. Through her “STOP ERA” campaign, Schlafly argued the Equal Rights Amendment wouldn’t liberate women—it would endanger them by exposing women to the military draft, undermining mothers’ custody rights, and destabilizing the American family.
Her message was overwhelmingly effective; the Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified. As prominent legal scholar and feminist theorist Joan Williams put it, “the ERA was defeated when Schlafly turned it into a war among women over gender roles.”
Caitlin Clark of the Indiana Fever reacts to a technical foul call during the second half against the Chicago Sky on August 8, 2026 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Cunnningham has been characterized as Clark’s “enforcer.”Photo: Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
For decades, conservative politics has repeatedly tapped into this vein, transforming cultural anxieties—over motherhood, children’s safety, crime, sexuality, and gender roles—into mass movements by placing cisgender white women front and center.
In her research on anti-feminist women, sociologist Rebecca Klatch found “most…are white, middle-aged, housewives, married or widowed, new to politics, and oriented toward single issues.”
But by screaming to “remember straight white women,” the right aims to make us forget anyone who sits at the edges of that definition, those long underserved by America’s promise of a truly free and equitable land. It dehumanizes women of color even further in a league where all athletes still earn a fraction of the paychecks their male counterparts take home. It shuts down any future good-faith conversations on how to allow trans athletes to compete and the sheer danger to a trans community increasingly excluded from social participation. It also serves to drown out the voices of women who support trans athletes, and often becomes a political Rorschach test to attack civil rights far beyond who makes a starting line up.
I don’t know if that’s what Cunningham signed up to represent, and quite frankly, I don’t know if she did either. She most recently told the press that she wants to “get back to basketball.”
In a free-speaking democratic society, Cunningham, and every athlete, is entitled to be human: to hold opinions, and feelings, and have a political voice. She is not the first, nor will be the last, fair maiden to be cast as a sword-bearing champion for a conservative culture war.
But if a movement’s cause is about truly protecting women, then perhaps the more revealing question to interrogate is which women it has deemed worthy of protection in the first place. Whose womanhood is treated as universal, whose safety becomes a national rallying cry, and whose voices—including those of Black women, queer women, and transgender women—are left at the margins. That hierarchy often tells us more about the movement behind it than the woman standing under the net.
UI changes, lost productivity, untransferrable knowledge... Long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes the folly of switching to an unfamiliar new environment to be "more productive"...
Champions of the switch often insist workers will be able to hit the ground running and get the same or even more work done from the get-go in the new unfamiliar environment because it's 'more productive', a conclusion often shaped by conventional wisdom or their 'gut' feeling. Decision makers may also mistake their own 'light-user experience' for universal experience and believe all platforms are fungible.
And while it's one thing for a business to delay their delivery dates and increase costs of by introducing a switch in computing environments that's of unquantified and possibly dubious value, how about when a switch in computing environments is made that affects schoolchildren's ability to learn for a period of time?
While a MacBook Neo is indeed cute, what might be the possible consequences of a decision to move 25,000 students off Windows and onto MacBook Neos...? Or even the impact on a single kid who moves from a MacBook school to a Windows or Chrome school (or whose home computing environment isn't aligned with their school). Or students whose teachers decide learning in their classrooms should now additionally require an understanding of the Minecraft computing platform/UI (used in over 40,000 school systems.). Learning Management Systems and now various AI Edtech tools used by schoolkids are also subject to change.
"Even if students and schools eventually benefit from a new platform, one wonders how much learning is lost during the switch," theodp asks, "and what the financial and educational ROI and payback period look like." Are there bigger problems than we realize? Share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.
What are the costs of switching between Windows, MacOS, and Chrome?
Israeli PM says IDF will not withdraw until Hamas is disarmed and rebukes US pressure to end wars without his country’s buy-in
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected a US-backed 15-point peace plan for Gaza in a rare public break with Donald Trump.
In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu said that he was confronting a “wave of rumours about Israeli weakness and Israeli withdrawals on all fronts” and rebuked US pressure to end wars in Gaza, Lebanon and Iran without Israel’s buy-in.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected a Gaza plan hailed by US president Donald Trump, vowing no military pullout of Gaza until Hamas is “genuinely” disarmed. The Israeli military “will not carry out any withdrawal until Hamas is genuinely disarmed and will continue to thwart threats against our forces and our citizens,” Netanyahu said at a cabinet meeting.
Here are the other key updates from today:
The US must pressure Israel to accept the next phase of the Gaza plan, a Hamas official said, after Netanyahu rejected the US-backed agreement. “We expect the mediators and the American guarantor to pressure Netanyahu and his government to adhere to the roadmap and not obstruct the process for internal political and electoral reasons,” Hamas political bureau member Bassem Naim said.
A Houthi drone salvo targeted a Saudi oil refinery on the Red Sea coast. The Iran-backed group’s military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the Houthis had “succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jazan on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast with a drone”.
Attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen killed at least four troops from the internationally-recognised government forces and injured 20 more personnel, two military sources said. The initial toll came from strikes on the Yemeni city of Mokha and surrounding areas, as well as Khokha, south of the port city of Hodeida, the sources said on condition of anonymity, after the Houthis announced they had targeted military forces and equipment on the Red Sea coast.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian met the country’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei around the start of the president’s third year in office in late July, state media said, and a paramilitary leader promised footage of Khamenei in the future. Khamenei was reportedly seriously injured in the February strike that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei on the first day of the US-Israeli war on Iran. The promise to release footage of the leader by paramilitary Basij Organisation deputy Qasem Qoraishi appeared to be aimed at quashing speculation about his health.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health, said "I trust the science" on vaccines as measles cases have risen to their highest levels in 35 years.
Small cruise ship rescued skiff in south-east Alaska even though Meta billionaire’s $300m megayacht was closer
Mark Zuckerberg has faced questions over why a small cruise ship in south-east Alaska rescued a stranded skiff and its crew when his 387ft superyacht had been closer.
The Silicon Valley billionaire’s yacht, worth a reported $300m, is said to have “repeatedly” declined to assist when a nearby boat called for help last week.
DETROIT, Michigan — Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed responded sharply Sunday after President Donald Trump posted side-by-side photographs contrasting himself and first lady Melania Trump with El-Sayed and his hijab-wearing wife, captioned “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s.”
Trump also highlighted El-Sayed’s full name, Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed. The Michigan candidate and his supporters have accused Republicans of emphasizing his Arabic name and Muslim identity as a way to portray him as foreign or threatening.
Appearing on CNN, El-Sayed agreed that the couples represented different visions, but turned the attack against Trump. He said he and his wife genuinely love each other and contrasted that with what he characterized as Trump’s pursuit of personal wealth and power. He then shifted to affordability, asking whether Americans can pay for gasoline and groceries and whether parents believe their children will have better lives.
El-Sayed later joked that he and his wife “actually” like each other while questioning the Trumps’ relationship. His comments about their marriage are political rhetoric, not an established fact.
Trump has intensified attacks on El-Sayed since his Democratic primary victory, accusing him of hating Jews and Israel. El-Sayed rejects that characterization, saying he respects Judaism and Jewish Americans while strongly opposing AIPAC and unconditional U.S. military support for Israel.
El-Sayed faces Republican Mike Rogers in one of the year’s most closely watched Senate races.
Nelson had second-most coaching wins in NBA history
Won five titles with Boston Celtics in 1960s and 70s
Helped develop stars Steph Curry and Dirk Nowitzki
Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history who won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics, died on Sunday. He was 86.
“On Sunday morning our beloved husband, dad, grandfather and great-grandfather Don Nelson peacefully went to be with the Lord, surrounded by his loving family,” a statement from his family read. “Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”
Astronomers say viewing conditions promising for this year’s shower, and 50 to 100 meteors an hour may be visible
The Perseid summer light show is back, and viewing conditions are especially promising across the northern hemisphere.
The meteor shower’s is expected to peak on Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and coincides with a total solar eclipse across Spain, Iceland and Greenland and a six-planet parade – though the best time to view the fireballs will come after totality.
British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ efforts
Canada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations.
A total of 102 wildfires were raging across the province on Sunday, of which nearly half were categorised as “out of control”, according to the BC Wildfire Service. Of those fires, 78 ignited during the past week.
Tropical cyclone brings torrential rain and high winds to east coast after hitting Japan’s southern Okinawa province
Typhoon Dolphin, the most powerful tropical cyclone to hit China this year, has made landfall on the country’s east coast, bringing torrential rain and strong winds and triggering warnings of flooding and landslides.
The storm has already swept through Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture, injuring six people and cutting power to more than 50,000 buildings.
The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Bernie Sanders, Independent of Vermont, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 9, 2026.
The following is the transcript of an interview with National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Aug. 9, 2026.
Levels at reservoir along Arizona-Nevada border dipped below previous record set in 2022, amid water crisis in west
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has plummeted to its lowest water level since it was filled some 90 years ago, the latest sign of a deepeningwater crisis in the American west.
Water levels at the reservoir, which straddles the Arizona-Nevada border outside Las Vegas, hit 1,040.4ft (317.1 meters) above sea level on Friday, according to federal data. That’s just below the record set on 28 July 2022, according to the US Bureau of Reclamation.
The UK will move faster and be more ambitious on achieving closer ties with Europe under Andy Burnham’s government, his new chief post-Brexit negotiator has said.
Hamish Falconer, the new cabinet minister in charge of the EU reset talks, said there was “room to be ambitious” within Labour’s red lines on Europe, which exclude reopening discussions on the single market and customs union, and he would look at the “art of the possible”.
"If you're looking for a black or white decision here, you're not going to find it," GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy said about his decision to support Todd Blanche's nomination for attorney general.
"I've been a Linux IT administrator for 30 years now," says crhylove (Slashdot reader #205,956), in a new video on his YouTube channel. "I used to be a data center architect, at one point I was the IT director for 13 school districts... I just haven't been happy overall with all the other operating systems out there... "
I've been working really diligently for the last few weeks on a new distro called Spaced Linux that is exactly what I want to use. It's heavily focused on the [zoom-friendly 3D] Compiz desktop, very efficient using the rolling Devuan Ceres backend, and avoids dependency hell by promoting mostly Flatpak usage.
It's still early, but it's already working great for me, it's been my daily driver for a few weeks now.
There's also user-friendly themes — everything from Linux, Android, GeoWorks, and Mac OS X to Windows 11, Windows XP, and even Windows 3.11 (dark or light theme). And you can also run Windows apps under Wine. "And let me tell you, Nvidia runs perfectly on here now..." he adds in the video. "It just works really, really well out of the box."
He's now working on voice-command features, bur argues that Spaced Linux "is already extremely usable, extremely efficient, extremely fast, and extremely reliable.... And it's only going to get better and better."
(The Center Square) – Tuesday marks one year since President Donald Trump declared “Liberation Day” in Washington, D.C., leading to the deployment of the National Guard and the beautification of the nation’s capital.
Michigan nominee, who spoke to Obama after primary win, vows to fight inequality as president ‘makes billions off you’
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for US Senate in Michigan, embraced Donald Trump’s suggestion that the two represent “VERY DIFFERENT” versions of the US, pledging to fight inequality while the president is “making billions of dollars off of you”.
In a Saturday night post on his Truth Social platform, Trump shared an image of himself and the first lady, Melania Trump, beside a photo of El-Sayed, who is Muslim, and his wife, Sarah Jukaku, wearing a hijab. “Two VERY DIFFERENT America’s [sic],” read the caption.
Exclusive: Sadiq Khan urges Westminster council to adopt ‘positive vision of economic growth’ of nightlife
Sadiq Khan has ordered Westminster council to scrap a policy that would ban new pubs and bars from opening in Soho and the West End of London.
This comes after the Guardian revealed the council’s new licensing policy asks pubs to stop customers from standing up while consuming beverages, which it calls “vertical drinking”. The policy is under consultation and also asks pubs to have table service rather than allowing orders at the bar.
Former state senator tells A Better Discussion that controlling spending, reducing regulation and rebuilding Delaware’s private-sector economy should be priorities
WILMINGTON, Del. (Aug. 9, 2026) — Delaware can strengthen its economy, but doing so will require policymakers to control government spending, reduce barriers to private investment and pay closer attention to how state policies affect businesses, workers and taxpayers, former state Sen. Charlie Copeland said during an Aug. 3 live webcast.
Copeland joined Jane Brady, former Delaware attorney general, chair of A Better Delaware and host of A Better Discussion with Jane Brady, for a wide-ranging examination of Delaware’s economy, government spending, taxation, regulation, housing and education.
Both argued that decisions made in Dover have consequences that extend well beyond the state budget.
“Policies that the state adopts do matter,” Brady said. “They matter for every one of us.”
Copeland, a businessman and former Republican state chairman, argued that Delaware’s economic problems are significant but reversible.
“You could fix Delaware in a year,” Copeland said. “But what it takes is leadership.”
Government spending outpaces economic growth
Copeland traced what he described as a long-term acceleration in Delaware government spending.
He said state spending historically grew at roughly 2% annually before increasing to more than 4% as Delaware benefited from the growth of credit card banking, abandoned property revenue and legalized gambling.
Federal assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic helped push spending growth even higher, he said.
Copeland argued that while much of the federal money was temporary, higher levels of state spending became embedded in the budget.
“The general fund is now built on an annual 5% increase,” Copeland said.
Brady agreed that Delaware used large surpluses and federal assistance without developing enough of a long-term strategy for what would happen when the extraordinary revenue disappeared.
“We literally had $3 and $4 billion surpluses that we expended,” Brady said. “We spent it all. A lot of it we cooked into the base budget.”
She said some money went toward capital improvements, including schools, but questioned whether policymakers adequately planned for the long-term consequences of expanding recurring programs while temporary revenues were available.
Where is Delaware’s next growth industry?
Copeland said the spending issue becomes more concerning when compared with what he characterized as a stagnant private-sector economy.
He pointed to the closing of Delaware’s automobile plants, DuPont’s contraction and restructuring and Bank of America’s acquisition of MBNA as important turning points.
Copeland recalled telling then-Delaware State Chamber of Commerce President Rich Heffron while serving in the state Senate that Delaware faced a fundamental economic problem.
“Delaware’s in trouble,” Copeland recalled saying. “We have no growing industry in the state of Delaware right now.”
He said the question Delaware still needs to answer is straightforward.
“What’s your vision for how you grow this economy?” Copeland said. “Well, there hasn’t been one.”
Brady echoed that concern, saying Delaware has experienced what she described as a “slow but steady process of deterioration” in the state’s interest in developing new businesses.
She distinguished between companies legally forming or incorporating in Delaware and companies actually putting employees, facilities and investment in the state.
“There are a lot of new business formations, but they’re not for businesses that are operating in Delaware, necessarily,” Brady said.
Incorporation is different from economic development
That distinction became one of the central themes of the discussion.
Delaware traditionally points to its dominance in corporate incorporations as one of the state’s major economic strengths. Copeland acknowledged the importance of that industry but said incorporation should not be confused with companies choosing Delaware as a place to employ people.
“How many of them are headquartered in Delaware?” Copeland asked. “In other words, this is where their headquarter staff is, this is where their offices are, this is where they hire people, this is where they operate out of. And the answer is, very few.”
Brady said increasing competition from other states makes that distinction even more important.
She pointed particularly to Texas, which has been aggressively positioning itself to attract financial and corporate activity.
“Texas has really declared war on anybody who wants to go into business,” Brady said. “They’re going to bring them in.”
She said competition can benefit the economy by forcing states and institutions to innovate but warned that Delaware cannot take its historic advantages for granted.
Copeland agreed.
“Texas has made a very aggressive move,” he said, arguing Delaware is simultaneously making it more difficult for businesses to operate.
Making Delaware ‘open for business’
Asked what Delaware could do differently, Copeland said the state should begin with a clear message to employers and entrepreneurs.
“Delaware’s open for business,” Copeland said. “Get the regulatory guys off their backs.”
Copeland said a governor should personally contact businesses considering expansions and make the case for locating jobs in Delaware.
He also called for more government services to be moved online, greater use of technology and greater scrutiny of state positions and regulatory requirements.
His broader argument was that government does not need to create economic growth itself.
“There are these people that have agency and are going to make good decisions, and they’re going to grow it on their own because incentives matter,” Copeland said. “And if you get out of their way, it’s going to happen.”
Brady said the experience of businesses should receive more consideration when lawmakers make decisions affecting employers.
She said many decisions involving business finances and operations increasingly are being reviewed or influenced by people in government who may have limited experience operating businesses themselves.
That disconnect, she argued, can produce policies with unintended economic consequences.
A different view of government’s role
Not everyone agrees with Brady and Copeland’s prescription. Karl Stromberg, a leader of Delaware’s Working Families Party, has argued that higher taxes on wealthier residents and corporations can generate additional revenue for public priorities rather than necessarily driving investment away. Stromberg also supports changes to Delaware’s judicial and Court of Chancery system that he believes would make corporate governance more accountable to citizens and shareholders, and he favors a larger government role in housing policy to expand affordable options for lower-income families. Those positions reflect a different view of the same challenges: that stronger public investment, greater corporate accountability and more direct government involvement can improve economic opportunity rather than impede it.
Housing shortage highlights regulatory debate
Housing offered a practical example of the broader debate over regulation.
Copeland pointed to large parking lots and single-story retail developments near New Castle County Airport and suggested changes in land-use rules could allow residential units to be constructed above existing commercial properties.
“We’ve got plenty of place to put” housing, Copeland said, arguing that relatively modest changes to development codes could encourage private investment.
“If you get government out of the way, the incentives are there for private sector developers to put in affordable housing all over the place,” he said.
Brady questioned whether policymakers have sufficiently defined what they mean when discussing “affordable housing” and said the cost of regulation ultimately reaches consumers.
She returned to that point at the conclusion of the webcast.
“How much it costs the regulators, costs builders to build new homes affects anybody who wants to buy a new home,” Brady said.
Taxes and the competition for residents
Taxes also emerged as a major concern.
Copeland said continued government spending growth will eventually increase pressure to find additional revenue.
He warned that substantially higher income tax rates could change the calculations made by business owners and higher-income residents about where they live and invest.
“Once you start adding numbers on top, you start competing with New York and California,” Copeland said.
Because Delaware is geographically small, he said residents can relatively easily establish themselves elsewhere while businesses can direct future investments to other states.
He cited Delaware’s former estate tax as an example, arguing that some wealthy residents shifted their primary residences to states such as Florida.
“People don’t grow stupid overnight, and incentives matter, and they’re gonna make rational decisions,” Copeland said.
Brady said she personally knew several people who changed their residency during the period Delaware imposed the estate tax.
The two argued that policymakers should consider not simply how much revenue a new tax might theoretically generate, but whether it changes the behavior of the people being taxed.
Work, incentives and the safety net
Brady and Copeland also discussed labor-force participation and the relationship between public benefits and employment.
Copeland argued that government assistance should function as a safety net while preserving incentives for able-bodied people to enter the workforce.
Brady said the issue goes beyond government finances.
She argued that work provides people with a sense of productivity and personal accomplishment that government programs cannot replace.
“There’s benefits to working,” Brady said, adding that government policy can overlook “that human component.”
Copeland agreed, saying work can provide “a certain sense of self-esteem, self-worth” and personal value.
The two also acknowledged that reducing benefits after they have become embedded in household finances would be difficult.
Copeland said abruptly withdrawing assistance could create serious consequences for housing, food security and nonprofit organizations serving families.
“You have a serious transition cost that’s staring the state in the eye,” he said.
Education is economic policy, too
The discussion eventually turned to Delaware schools, with both Brady and Copeland arguing that education should be viewed as part of the state’s economic strategy.
Copeland said businesses consider workforce quality when determining where to invest and said Delaware’s education system requires significantly stronger action.
“I would declare a state of education emergency,” Copeland said.
He argued that years of incremental changes have not produced sufficient results and called for greater leadership and accountability.
Brady pointed to Mississippi’s improvement in student reading performance and said Delaware should be willing to consider policies that have produced measurable improvement elsewhere.
She argued that new education spending should be accompanied by specific accountability measures and measurable expectations for student improvement.
Brady: Policy choices matter at the ballot box
Brady ended the program by connecting the economic discussion to the elections Delaware voters will face this year.
She urged voters to look beyond political mailers and advertising and examine what candidates actually propose to do about spending, regulation, education, housing and economic development.
“It’s critical that we make good decisions about who we choose to govern us, because those policies matter,” Brady said.
The broader message from Brady and Copeland was that Delaware’s economic future is not predetermined.
Their argument throughout the webcast was that decisions made by governors, legislators and regulators influence whether businesses invest, whether people work, how much housing costs and ultimately how much government can afford.
DELAWARE LIVE TO GO
What:A Better Discussion with Jane Brady Presented by: A Better Delaware Host: Jane Brady, former Delaware attorney general and chair of A Better Delaware Format: Weekly live webcast examining Delaware government, public policy, business, education, the economy and other issues affecting residents When: Mondays at 8 a.m. Aug. 3 guest: Former state Sen. Charlie Copeland Why watch: Brady brings Delaware policymakers, business leaders and subject-matter experts into a weekly conversation about the decisions being made in the state and how those decisions affect Delaware residents.
OpenAI announced Friday it's pausing work on its Astra AI model because of security concerns. The Guardian reports:
The company had evaluated the agent, Astra, and found "significant advancements in agentic coding and cybersecurity", which had moved to a "critical" threshold... OpenAI stated that the model was not involved in an incident in which one of its AI agents went rogue during a test, accessed the open web and hacked a startup, Hugging Face... The reports have increased concerns about advancements in AI models and humans' ability to control them.
Still, critics of the AI industry have warned that such disclosures from OpenAI and its competitors Anthropic and Meta could be designed to generate hype about the technology's power and thus spur additional interest from investors.
To prevent potential rogue behavior from AI agents, OpenAI is "implementing stricter security controls for higher-capability models and associated activities, including isolated testing environments, restricted network and tool access", the company's blogpost stated. It will also install "enhanced model weight protections and encryption, additional monitoring and detection capabilities". The company will pause internal activities involving Astra that do not meet these new requirements.
"We believe it's important to be transparent with the public and the safety and security communities about this potential shift in capabilities..." OpenAI wrote in a blog post titled "Responding to the next frontier of critical cyber capabilities."
Under our Preparedness Framework, a model reaches the Critical cybersecurity threshold if it can identify and develop functional zero-day exploits of all severity levels in many hardened real-world critical systems without human intervention, or can devise and execute end-to-end novel strategies for cyberattacks against hardened targets given only a high level desired goal. While we continue to benchmark and assess this model, our preliminary evaluations indicate strong enough performance that we cannot rule out Critical capability level at this time... Accordingly, we have scaled up robustness testing of our safeguards and security controls so that they are appropriate for a deployment of these capabilities...
- We are implementing stricter security controls for higher-capability models and associated activities, including isolated testing environments, restricted network and tool access, enhanced model weight protections and encryption, additional monitoring and detection capabilities, and sandboxed execution.
- We are pausing internal activities involving Astra that do not yet meet these strengthened security control requirements.
- We have implemented universal monitoring for risky actions and misalignment across all agentic applications of Astra, including training and evaluation. Monitors evaluate the model's Chain of Thought and trigger a security response to review and interrupt high risk activity.
- We will work with relevant government agencies and select AI safety organizations to test the capabilities for this model...
We believe advanced cyber-capable models should help defenders identify and address vulnerabilities before attackers do. We're committed to working alongside governments, safety institutes, and civil society to ensure that the frontier capabilities of models like Astra, and those that follow, are deployed responsibly and broadly for the benefit of all humanity.
(The Center Square) - The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could determine the future of legal actions over energy companies' contributions to climate change.
(The Center Square) – American farmers, ranchers, and the agricultural industry will have to wait until at least September for the U.S. Senate to take up the long-delayed farm bill.
Drone strike comes after Riyadh signs defence pact and Tehran issues tough demands to reopen strait of Hormuz
Yemen’s Tehran-aligned Houthis have claimed responsibility for an attack on a refinery in Saudi Arabia, two days after the kingdom signed a defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan in response to growing regional instability caused by the US-Israel war on Iran.
Mutual aid groups that started giving out PPEs during Covid are now loaning air purifiers and distributing masks to fume-addled communities
Miquette Thompson’s home in rural Mendocino county has been covered in smoke all week. There are the nearby Feliz and Woodside fires in northern California, which have burned more than 1,000 acres, as well as the wildfires devastating Oregon and Washington that are sending smoke their way, too.
“It’s become not unusual,” she said of walking outside and seeing a hazy sky.
Manuel Hernandez charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment after boat overturned in New York harbor
The captain of a boat that capsized in the New York harbor on Saturday evening has been charged following the deaths of a 27-year-old woman and her five-month-old daughter.
Manuel Hernandez, 46, was arrested and charged with 13 counts of reckless endangerment in the early hours of Sunday morning, a New York police department spokesperson told the Guardian.
Imports this year now account for 14% of the market amid claims vehicles are being dumped in the EU and UK
Chinese electric car sales have risen across Europe to a record high driven by strong demand and low tariffs in the UK and a surge in buyers in Italy.
Against a backdrop of claims that Chinese carmakers are “dumping” state-subsidised vehicles in the EU and UK to gain market share, the figures will give impetus to calls for quotas and higher tariffs to protect European manufacturers.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last month a policy banning visas for foreigners accused of links to “far-left terrorism.” The policy cited Donald Trump’s National Security Presidential Memorandum-7 as well as the law Rubio used to try to deport the pro-Palestine activist Mahmoud Khalil.
More than three weeks later, however, it’s not clear how Rubio and the State Department intend to use the policy. Their silence since the announcement has left some advocates wondering if the policy is really just a public-relations push by the Trump administration.
Existing law already allows the State Department to block terrorists from visiting the U.S. But tucked inside the policy is language about “economic sabotage” that advocates worry could empower a broad crackdown against people associated with the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement and campaigns to divest from fossil fuels.
“The message is to the public at large and particularly to anybody who would disagree with the government’s policies that they should tread carefully, lest they be considered a member or aligned with what the government considers to be a far-left terrorist group,” said Carrie DeCell, a senior staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute. “I think the vagueness is the point. It’s intended to send a broad chilling effect through the public and discourage dissent.”
Rubio’s Right-Wing Fever Dream
Rubio announced the policy at a July 16 gathering of foreign diplomats where he played up the threat of what he called “far-left terrorism,” which he said had been overlooked after the September 11, 2001, attacks.
“For far too long, however, our counterterrorism doctrine has had a blind spot — a blind spot when it comes to extremist violence from the political left. Even today, the very idea that far-left terrorism could be a serious threat is treated as a right-wing fever dream, or worse, as a dangerous fascist conspiracy,” Rubio said.
In a press release, Rubio said that State Department officials had been instructed to deny visas to “members of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups who have supported or incited acts of terrorism; supported violent criminal activity; participated in economic sabotage; financed, recruited, or provided logistical support for violent or criminal actions committed by Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned groups; and/or facilitated the convergence of Far-Left Terrorist and other aligned networks for the purposes of violent action.”
The State Department has not elaborated further on how it decides whether a foreign national is a member of a “far-left” terror group or “aligned” groups. The department did not answer questions from The Intercept about its definitions for those terms.
“The worry is that this will be used who are already in this country, for example, foreign students.”
The policy raised major concerns, however, for Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams University.
Nothing in the policy appears to restrict it to foreign nationals residing abroad, Margulies said. He is concerned that the State Department could attempt to apply it to students living in the U.S. or to other people with legal status who are applying for different visas or renewals.
“The worry is that this will be used who are already in this country, for example, foreign students,” he said. “This gives the administration a hammer to go after these people, that I think is problematic under the First Amendment, and also exceeds the authority that Secretary Rubio has.”
Other parts of federal immigration law already give the government wide discretion to block people accused of links to terrorism, making it something of a puzzle why the government would need a new policy to block people accused more specifically of “far-left” terrorism.
Yet one provision of the policy appears to mark a shift from existing policy, Margulies said: a section singling out people accused of “economic sabotage.” That kind of language could be used to target people who have supported Palestinian calls for the boycott of Israel, or environmental activists protesting fossil fuel companies, he said.
“That’s a term broad enough to get a tank through, and so that would really be problematic under the First Amendment, because of course people in this country have a right to criticize corporations as well as government,” he said.
The Vagueness Is the Point
When Rubio announced a new policy last May targeting misinformation researchers for visa denials, the State Department followed up seven months later by announcing that it would block or deport five foreign nationals.
So far the State Department has not announced any visa denials under the latest policy. For an example of the type of people that Rubio considers to be supporters of far-left terrorism, DeCell pointed to a State Department report about Cuba’s influence network issued last month. That report named streamer Hasan Piker, Amazon Labor Union founder Christian Smalls, the National Lawyers Guild, and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Baher Azmy, the legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said it was possible that the new visa restriction policy is simply another part of the multipronged effort to build up the threat of the left ahead of the midterms.
“This is coming at the same time they’re starting this once moribund terrorist court, they’re calling Amy Goodman a far-left enemy of the state,” he said. “It might be a midterm strategy, because it does seem to be coming all at once.”
DeCell’s group recently won an injunction blocking the State Department from implementing its visa restriction policy against misinformation researchers. She expects the State Department to eventually get around to announcing visa denials, as it did with them. “The justifications for their targeting likely would be made on X, if it follows the same path,” she said.
When it does, the latest restrictions could also be vulnerable to legal challenge. While the State Department has broad discretion to deny visas to foreigners, Margulies said, it is not unlimited, particularly for those living in the United States.
“Watch this space. They may have particular people in mind. Then we may see some developments very quickly how they intend to apply this,” he said.
Whether the biggest artificial intelligence data centers should open in Florida and what it means for people’s electric bills is a top issue in the state’s governor’s race.
GOP frontrunner U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds welcomes them, with consumer protections attached, and has received dozens of campaign contributions from AI companies. David Jolly, the leading Democrat in the race, wants a data center moratorium, which some counties have enacted already.
“Byron Donalds wants to rush them onto pristine land while dismissing the consequences,” Jolly said in a July 22 X post.
But Donalds said Jolly is wrong. “No protections for ratepayers and the environment = no data center. That’s the law on the books in Florida,” Donalds wrote July 22 on X, adding that he introduced a similar bill in Congress.
In another post the same day, Donalds said the 2026 law, SB 484, “ensures that utility rates will not go up due to data centers.”
Does the law guarantee consumers’ electric bills won’t increase because of new data centers?
Gates McGavick, Donalds’ campaign communications director, said “no electric rate change” takes effect without the state energy commission’s approval. The commission has to “ensure data centers pay their own cost of service and we expect municipal utilities and co-ops to follow suit,” McGavick said.
Energy policy experts said the law can protect consumers against spiking utility bills. But they also say Donalds overstated its reach. That’s because the pricing plan for data centers depends on a state commission’s oversight, data centers’ operations could increase electric bills in other ways, and the law doesn’t apply to all utility companies.
“Saying rates ‘will not’ go up because of (the law) claims an outcome the statute does not deliver,” said Mark McNees, a Florida State University professor who researches how AI data centers can affect consumers.
The law directs a commission to ‘reasonably ensure’ consumers don’t pay more, but doesn’t guarantee it
The law directs the Florida Public Service Commission, the state’s primary energy regulatory body, to approve minimum tariff and service rules for massive consumers of electricity, or “large load customers.” Data centers that require 50 megawatts of power or more are subject to the law. (A 50-megawatt facility typically draws enough electricity to power around 30,000 to 50,000 homes.)
The law says that rates for these large data centers must “reasonably ensure” that each “bears its own full cost of service” and that the cost isn’t shifted to the average consumer.
The legislation says these costs of service include connection, incremental transmission and generation, and operations and maintenance expenses. It also bars data centers from splitting a single, large location into smaller connections to avoid paying full costs.
Four investor-owned electric utilities in the state are governed by the commission and subject to the law: Florida Power & Light, Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and the Florida Public Utilities Company. These companies serve approximately 75% of the state’s population.
By Oct. 1, these utilities must file compliant pricing plans for the commission’s approval.
The law doesn’t apply to rural cooperatives or municipal utility companies, such as Jacksonville Electric Authority, Orlando Utilities Commission and Gainesville Regional Utilities, which are governed by local boards that set their own pricing rules.
That means people who receive services from these companies aren’t protected under the new law, and could see different rate structures if data centers are built near them.
Energy policy experts said the new law is helpful but largely procedural.
This “directs a process, not a result,” McNees said. The law’s language, that the plans must “reasonably ensure” data centers pay their own costs, is “an instruction to the commission,” not a cap on rates or ban on increases, he said.
The law outlines enforcement tools utilities could use against data centers, such as upfront financial guarantees and minimum demand charges to prevent them from abandoning projects midway and saddling locals with related costs. But it doesn’t require utilities to use these tools.
And while the legislation addresses incremental costs of serving data centers, it doesn’t address other expenses that could make consumers’ bills go up, experts said.
For example, when fuel costs go up, utilities pass that onto customers. The new law doesn’t cap those charges or insulate residential customers from the increases, even if a data center’s electricity consumption raises the overall demand in the region.
Our ruling
Donalds said a new Florida law “ensures that utility rates will not go up due to data centers.”
The law outlines ways to protect consumers from paying higher bills because of new data centers, but it doesn’t guarantee it won’t happen.
Utility pricing plans for certain large data centers must “reasonably ensure” that each bears its own full cost of service, the law says. It’s up to the Florida Public Service Commission to define and enforce the pricing plan.
The four top electric utilities in the state are bound by the law’s rules, but rural cooperatives and municipal utilities governed by local boards are not.
The Department of Energy today announced a plan to create a new class of open-weight foundation models as part of its Genesis Mission effort to turbocharge scientific discovery and engineering productivity. The DOE unveiled the first model as part of this effort, dubbed Genesis-Science-1, but it’s looking to the AI community for more open-weight models. Interested parties better act quickly, however, as the deadlines are coming up fast.
As part of its open-weights initiative, the DOE says it’s hoping “to galvanize the scientific and AI communities around shared infrastructure” and accelerate progress in materials discovery, energy systems, earth system modeling, fusion, biology, and high-energy physics. “This effort is grounded in the principles of open science, reproducibility, and responsible AI, with the goal of lowering barriers to advanced AI capabilities for the public good,” the DOE said.
The DOE announced that it’s soliciting proposals from open-weight model creators as well as the people who would like to use the models. This includes open-weight models for use as a base model for downstream fine-tuning, as well as AI models for immediate deployment.
It would like to hear from organizations and researchers who have access to “high-quality, domain-specific scientific data” who may be interested in contributing their data to future pretraining cycles. It also would like to hear from teams that would like to use that data to fine-tune existing models for specific use cases and mission needs, such as lab assistants, simulation surrogates, and scientific copilots.
Applications for the first contribution window for pretraining efforts will close next Friday, August 14. Applications for fine-tuning efforts will close on August 25. The DOE says additional deadlines will be rolling and occur every three months. You can submit and application for the Genesis Open Models Initiative here.
Genesis-Science-1
The first model accepeted into the DOE inititive, Genesis-Science-1, was developed by Arcee Labs. In a recent blog post, Arcee CTO Lucas Atkins and CEO and Co-Founder Mark McQuade discussed what drove them to undertake the development effort and where they plan to go from here.
(FOTOGRIN/Shutterstock)
“Just a year ago, Arcee made a decision that was difficult to defend. We began training our own open models from scratch, in the United States, when the faster and cheaper path pointed elsewhere,” the founders wrote. “We have real admiration for the open-model labs in China. DeepSeek, Qwen, Kimi, MiniMax, and GLM have built excellent models that people rely on, and they kept sharing open weights when much of the field was moving the other way. They earned their standing. Yet their work also showed how few capable open models were being made in the United States.”
The right response is this, Atkins and McQuade wrote, is to build better open models in the U.S. That is what the San Francisco company has done with its first model, Trinity, a 400 billion parameter language model that the company released under an Apache 2.0 license.
“Closed American systems will stay valuable, and many are superb,” Atkins and McQuade wrote in the blog post. “What they can’t offer a national laboratory is a model it holds in its own hands, free to preserve, adapt, and run on its own terms. We wanted American science to have that option too.
Open Vs Proprietary
The question of whether one should use open-weight models or closed-source models for AI endeavors has many variables, including capability, price, adaptability, national sovereignty, and whether one needs to run on-prem.
The top performing foundation models in the world today are largely proprietary, run in the cloud, and are not adaptable or fine-tunable to meet customers’ specific needs. OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google are widely recognized as developing the best AI models in the world with GPT, Claude, and Gemini, respectively. But they’re all closed source and come at a relatively high cost for users.
American open-weight models, meanwhile, generally don’t perform as well as the closed frontier models on most benchmark tests. While anyone can download, modify, and run models from Arcee AI, Poolside, Nvidia, Thinking Machines Lab, Meta, and Reflection AI on their own hardware, they generally don’t meet the same performance levels on benchmarks.
These are the general tradeoffs that practitioners have weighed over the first six months of 2026. But the latest open-weight models out of China buck that trend. Earlier this year, the Stanford University’s Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence (HAI) published its latest AI index that showed that Alibaba’s Qwen and DeepSeek foundation models scoring nearly as high as the proprietary American models. And in recent weeks, Moonshot AI launched Kimi K3 and Alibaba launched Qwen 3.8 tMax, which offered another jump in capability.
The emergence of these highly capable open-weight models from China spurred calls for the U.S. Government to regulate or ban these models from use in the United States. There doesn’t appear to be the political will to take such a drastic action as banning open-weight Chinese models for use by American businesses.
After all, that would signal that the Chinese have developed superior technology to the Americans, which is debatable. American officials have accused the Chinese of copying the proprietary American models through a technique known as of distillation, which is probably true. But making a technical as commonplace as distillation illegal also would seem to be a bridge too far (Prohibition didn’t last in the U.S., either).
The Risk of Chinese Models
The DOE will not tolerate Chinese models in the National Labs–for good reason, as their use does pose a security risk, even if the models are running on-prem in secure facilities.
Chinese models have been detected behaving differently when used in a government context, according CTERA CTO Aron Brand, citing a May Booz Allen study.
(Source: Shutterstock)
“Whether this behavior is deliberate or an emergent result of training data and alignment, the enterprise risk is the same: inconsistent behavior, political constraints, and the possibility of hidden backdoors or other latent behaviors,” Brand told HPCwire.
But at the same time, the government cannot cede the high ground in open-weight models to the Chinese. The good news is that the American AI community has recently made a large commitment to open-weight models.
“Our AI leadership will be judged not by one frontier AI model, but by whether the United States build a strong, open ecosystem that diffuses into every sector,” the letter reads. “This is essential for creating opportunities for innovation and prosperity across the country.”
Open-weight models are superior to proprietary models in several respects, according to the “Open Weights and American AI Leadership” letter, in that they can be downloaded, inspected, modified, and run by anyone on their own hardware. They also strengthen competition by preventing AI capabilities from being used by only a handful of companies or labs, which ultimately improve capabilities and drives down costs.
Every election cycle since 2010, we have published profiles of some of the many outside groups trying to influence who gets elected to Congress and the White House. Today, we’re launching our latest Players Guide with write-ups of eight of the biggest spenders so far for the 2026 midterms.
Photo by Oleksandr / stock.adobe.com
Each profile has information about the individuals who run the group, the people funding the group, the group’s political leanings and motivations, and how the group is spending the millions it has raised. If the group has been around for a while, we note its spending during the prior election cycle for comparison.
During the last midterm cycle, outside groups collectively spent $2 billion on independent expenditures, which are advertisements and other communications that expressly advocate for or against candidates for office, according to OpenSecrets, a nonprofit that tracks money in politics. The total was double that amount for the 2024 presidential cycle.
The eight groups we’re starting with this time include the Senate Majority PAC, which is trying to help Democrats retake control of the Senate, and the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is working to keep Republicans running the House of Representatives. We also highlighted Fairshake, a pro-cryptocurrency super PAC that backs or opposes candidates based on whether they appear to be for or against policies favorable to the digital currency industry.
Come back throughout the general election for details about other key players, as we’ll be publishing more profiles over the next three months. Some of the featured groups will be ones we’ve written about before — because they continue to spend large amounts of money — but we’ll be writing about a few of the newly formed groups as well.
Editor’s note: FactCheck.org does not accept advertising. We rely on grants and individual donations from people like you. Please consider a donation. Credit card donations may be made through our “Donate” page. If you prefer to give by check, send to: FactCheck.org, Annenberg Public Policy Center, P.O. Box 58100, Philadelphia, PA 19102.
Because of expected rain and potentially poor weather, the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is moving its Aug. 8 Second Saturday program from Fort Christina Park indoors to the Copeland Maritime Center at the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard in Wilmington. Image created with AI on 8/7
Rain is moving “Lions, Sea Serpents & Mermaids, Oh My!” inside the Copeland Maritime Center, where families can explore the creatures and legends that once filled sailors’ imaginations.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Mermaids, sea serpents and other legendary creatures will be taking shelter from the rain Saturday.
Because of expected rain and potentially poor weather, the Kalmar Nyckel Foundation is moving its Aug. 8 Second Saturday program from Fort Christina Park indoors to the Copeland Maritime Center at the Kalmar Nyckel Shipyard in Wilmington.
The free family program, “Lions, Sea Serpents & Mermaids, Oh My!,” runs from 1 to 4 p.m. and explores the monsters, mythical creatures and maritime folklore that accompanied sailors across largely unknown oceans for centuries.
Visitors will learn about mermaids, sea serpents, lions and other creatures that appeared in sailors’ stories and as decorations aboard sailing ships. Children also can create their own sea serpents as part of the hands-on program.
Sea Monsters Filled an Unknown World
Long before satellites, sonar and modern ocean science, sailors ventured into waters they could barely understand.
Enormous whales, giant squid, unusual fish, violent currents, strange sounds and sudden storms could all become the foundation for stories about something more frightening lurking below.
Across different cultures, those fears produced an extraordinary collection of sea monsters.
Greek mythology told of Scylla, a multiheaded monster that attacked passing sailors, and Charybdis, a deadly whirlpool capable of swallowing ships.
Norse and Scandinavian stories helped create the legend of the kraken, an enormous tentacled creature said to be capable of pulling ships beneath the waves.
Sea serpents appeared repeatedly in sailors’ accounts, with mariners describing enormous snake-like creatures rising from the water or swimming alongside their vessels.
Some sightings may have been whales, giant squid, oarfish or other real animals viewed under difficult conditions.
But when sailors could not explain what they saw, folklore could.
Mermaids Brought Beauty to the Danger
Mermaids became especially enduring because they represented something different from the traditional monster.
They were mysterious and potentially dangerous, but also beautiful and human.
Stories of beings combining human and aquatic features date back thousands of years. Over time, the familiar image emerged of a woman above the waist and a fish below.
For sailors months from home, the mermaid became a powerful combination of attraction and danger — much like the sea itself.
Even explorers reported seeing them. Christopher Columbus recorded a mermaid sighting in the Caribbean in 1493, although historians generally believe he probably saw manatees.
The account shows how sailors often interpreted unfamiliar things through stories they already knew.
When Monsters Appeared on Maps and Ships
Maritime monsters were not limited to stories.
Historic maps sometimes filled unknown waters with enormous fish, serpents and fantastic creatures, visually warning travelers that they were entering places humans did not fully understand.
Mythical creatures also appeared aboard ships as carvings and figureheads.
Lions might symbolize strength and courage, while women, gods and fantastic creatures could represent protection, identity or good fortune.
Saturday’s program uses those traditions to introduce families to a time when superstition and seamanship frequently traveled together.
Why Sea Monsters Still Fascinate Us
Science has explained many of the creatures and natural forces that once frightened sailors, but sea monsters never disappeared.
The kraken, sea serpent and mermaid remain familiar characters in books, movies, television and popular culture.
Part of their appeal may come from the same mystery that fascinated sailors centuries ago.
Humans know far more about the oceans today, but the deepest waters remain difficult to explore and new marine species continue to be identified.
We know legendary krakens probably were not pulling sailing ships underwater, but giant squid are real.
There is no evidence mermaids exist, but sailors genuinely reported seeing them.
And some ancient stories about frightening waters appear to have been inspired by very real maritime hazards.
That mixture of fact, fear and imagination is what keeps sea-monster folklore alive.
A Delaware Maritime Connection
The setting adds another layer to Saturday’s program.
Today’s Kalmar Nyckel is a full-scale replica of the Swedish colonial ship associated with the establishment of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley in 1638. It will be in Historic New Castle tomorrow. The replica was built at the Wilmington shipyard and today serves as a floating classroom and ambassador for Delaware maritime history.
A 3/4 size replica of the ship is inside the Copeland Maritime Center and is available to explore on Saturday.
Saturday’s event explores another part of that history — not simply how sailors crossed the ocean, but what they imagined might be traveling beneath them.
And while mermaids may still get much of the attention, they were only one creature in a much larger and stranger world of maritime folklore.
Trump’s summer of tariffs means trade uncertainty is here to stayExpert commentthilton.drupal
The Trump administration has pushed through another round of tariffs. While they are being challenged in the courts, unpredictable and costly US trade policy is here to stay.
The Trump administration spent the waning days of July upending – again – the structure of US trade policy. Various issues have been used to justify a new wave of tariffs, investigations and threats – including forced labour, EU digital policy, Canadian commodities and Brazilian politics. But amid these specific dramas, a broader reality has become clear: that rapidly changing, often political tariffs are the new normal for US trade policy.
Congress also bestirred itself on trade last month, but in contradictory directions that may ultimately serve instead to further embolden the White House. Indeed, the more aggressive this administration’s use of tariffs becomes, the more difficult subsequent administrations are likely to find it to move away from them.
From ‘Liberation Day’ to Section 301
July was a big month for US trade policy as time ran out on the temporary ‘section 122’ tariffs that the Trump administration put in place in February 2026. Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974 authorizes the president to impose tariffs of up to 15 per cent on all imports for up to 150 days ‘to address fundamental international payments problems.’
This was the administration’s move to keep a form of global tariffs in place after the US Supreme Court had overturned US president Donald Trump’s original approach. The court struck down his use of an emergency powers act to declare wide-ranging tariffs via an executive order on ‘Liberation Day’ in April 2025.
Following this setback, in March 2026 the administration initiated a series of investigations under ‘section 301’ of the Trade Act of 1974, which permits it to document and levy tariffs on countries that burden or unfairly restrict US exports.
The first section 301 investigation to be completed was also the largest: the claim that US commerce was being harmed by imports of goods produced with forced labour. The investigation did not, crucially, focus on firms using forced labour. Instead, it accused 59 countries and the European Union of permitting the import of goods allegedly produced with forced labour elsewhere.
On 24 July, the administration implemented tariffs on the 60 economies. While the new rates are significantly lower than the original ‘Liberation Day’ rates for many countries, they reinstituted a 10-12 per cent minimum tariff on the 60 economies, which together provide the US with 99 per cent of its imports. This applied even to the countries (and the EU) that had moved to enact or beef up enforcement of forced labour bans.
Canada, Brazil, EU, China
These forced labour tariffs also stack on top of some previous ones. As a result, while estimates put the overall US effective tariff rate at 10.8 per cent, some countries face much higher tariffs.
In July, the administration cited a previously unused legal authority (section 338 of the notorious 1930 Smoot-Hawley tariff act) to declare 50 per cent levies on various Canadian goods – some longstanding trade irritants, others related to Canadian public boycotts and retaliation over prior tariffs. The White House also put a 25 per cent tariff on some Brazilian goods, in a move that was viewed by many in Brazil as politically motivated ahead of the country’s upcoming elections.
More is on the way. An ‘excess capacity’ section 301 investigation targeting 16 economies including China, India, Japan and the EU is still in process, with potentially high tariff outcomes. The administration has said it would restart its 2019 section 301 investigation against countries that engage in so-called ‘digital protectionism,’ which would chiefly target EU members and Canada. President Trump’s response to EU fines on Google in July was also to suggest additional tariffs.
President Trump gets a new version of the across-the-board tariff wall he desires, while importers get chaos.
Pharmaceuticals have also been targeted. On 31 July, tariffs on pharmaceuticals from certain companies – justified under a different law focused on national security concerns – began to take effect. Some are as high as 100 per cent. The administration also has an ongoing section 301 investigation targeting German pharmaceuticals, in response to German efforts to lower drug spending.
Meanwhile, Washington and Beijing nibbled at the edges of their trade truce; in addition to putting 12.5 per cent forced labour tariffs on Chinese goods, the US banned Chinese-made humanoid robots.
For its part, the Chinese government has continued to build out its ability to restrict critical minerals flows, while meetings between senior US and Chinese officials have not marked progress on agricultural trade or Washington’s planned Board of Trade to manage relations with China. It appears, to quote former US negotiator Ambassador Wendy Cutler, that ‘just holding the truce together has become the main objective.’
Exemptions and challenges
The new tariffs – like the ones they replaced – cover about half of all goods imported into the US, with significant exemptions. The exemptions process may help manage inflationary pressures at home, but it also makes implementation complex and has prompted questions about which industries are given exemptions and why.
An audit of the first Trump administration’s tariff exclusion practices in 2018 and 2019 by the Commerce Department’s Office of Inspector General warned of the ‘appearance of improper influence in decision-making for tariff exclusion requests.’
A recent New York Times report raised questions about the basis of the exemptions from last month’s tariffs over forced labour, including commodities like diamonds. The report quoted White House spokesperson Kush Desai in response: ‘The only special interest guiding the Trump administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people.’
Overall, President Trump gets a new version of the across-the-board tariff wall he desires, while importers get chaos. The new tariffs are already being challenged in court, including by 25 US states. Experts disagree on which challenges might succeed, but it appears that the administration aims to maintain elevated tariff levels by imposing new tariffs faster than courts can overturn old ones.
Contradictory Congress
A majority of the American public, including independents and non-MAGA Republicans, dislike tariffs. Democratic Senator Ron Wyden, a longtime critic of tariff initiatives from both parties, introduced comprehensive legislation that would wrest trade policy power back to Congress. But the bill has no clear path forward.
At the same time, a bill giving the president even more tariff authority to target Russia, including to put 100 per cent tariffs on top importers of Russian oil, began to move through the Senate with strong bipartisan support. Wyden was one of only ten Democrats to oppose it.
This reflects the politics of tariffs: the pain they impose is diffuse, while the benefits are highly specific and thus easier to organize around. A majority of US public opinion supports free trade in the abstract but opposes specific trade liberalization deals with their real and imagined costs.
As a result, Congress remains unwilling to engage in affirmatively setting trade policy, handing more power to the executive branch. Meanwhile, more corners of US industry are getting used to building in uncertainty and negotiating with the administration for exemptions from tariffs.
This means it’s going to get harder, rather than easier, for future leaders of any political stripe to swear off trade policy as a cheap political tool. As with climate change, the risk for US trade policy is that the world is left with heat and unpredictability all year round.
Why Should Delaware Care? Household costs have risen steeply in recent years. In response, some consumer advocates have called on utilities to protect vulnerable people from a loss of service. Wilmington City Council followed the trend last month when approving a measure that would have prevented the city from shutting off water service to vulnerable households that meet certain criteria.
An attempt to override Mayor John Carney’s veto of a measure to prohibit water service cutoffs for certain vulnerable people fell short Thursday after too few Wilmington City Council members showed up to attend a special meeting to consider the measure.
Only five members of council were in attendance at the meeting, falling two short of the quorum threshold. A public body cannot take official action unless it reaches a quorum of members in attendance, which is seven on Wilmington’s City Council.
Introduced by Councilwoman Shané Darby, the bill would have prevented city officials from shutting off water service for certain homes with unpaid accounts. Low- or middle-income households that are occupied by a senior citizen, a person with a disability or a child younger than 5 would have qualified for the protection.
Last month, the City Council narrowly passed the measure. About two weeks later Carney vetoed the legislation. According to Wilmington’s charter, the City Council had 15 days from the date of a veto to hold an override vote, meaning Thursday’s special meeting was its last chance to do so.
Wilmington Mayor John Carney has defended his opposition to the water shut-off limitations, citing the need to support the financial health of the utility. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
Darby, who held a press conference this week to tout the override vote, attended the Thursday meeting, along with Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo, and councilmembers Coby Owens, Christian Willauer and Alexander Hackett.
Congo announced that all other members of council had contacted him before the meeting to be excused.
“This was our one opportunity to override the veto,” Congo said during the meeting.
Nine of the council’s 13 members would have had to vote in favor of the override motion to reverse Carney’s decision. Only seven members voted in favor of the legislation when it initially passed in July.
In a statement issued Thursday, Carney reiterated his justification for the veto.
“Wilmington has worked hard to strike a balance between supporting residents and ensuring the financial health of our public utilities,” Carney said. “We recognize the importance of making water service affordable and accessible, but we must also maintain policies that encourage customers to engage with the city to resolve delinquent accounts.”
In further defending his veto, Carney also emphasized existing protections against water service disconnection for people with delinquent accounts. He said that while there are around 4,000 delinquent accounts, protections in place make water service disconnections “rare.”
Still, keeping the enforcement mechanism in place is crucial in maintaining the water system’s financial viability and upkeep, Carney said.
Several residents spoke in favor of the veto during the Thursday meeting’s public comment period.
And many of them acknowledged they were “preaching to the choir,” given that the council members in attendance were all likely to support the bill’s goals.
Statewide program will provide governance training, mentoring and professional support as newly elected members begin making decisions affecting students, families and taxpayers
By George D. Rotsch, Editor Delaware LIVE
WILMINGTON, Del. — First State Educate has launched a statewide onboarding initiative that provides governance resources, professional learning and ongoing support for Delaware’s newly elected school board members.
Julia Keleher, Executive Director of First State Educate, said the initiative is designed to help new members understand their responsibilities before they begin making decisions involving district budgets, superintendent leadership, student achievement, public policy and the use of taxpayer dollars.
School board members often take office only weeks after winning an election. Although they immediately assume responsibility for major policy and financial decisions, many begin their service with limited formal preparation for their governance role.
Keleher said the initiative will help new members begin their service with a clearer understanding of how an effective school board operates and how individual members can contribute to the board’s success.
Starting with governance
School boards establish district policies, approve budgets, hire and evaluate superintendents, and set the strategic direction of local school systems.
Board members are not responsible for managing the daily operations of schools. That work is generally handled by the superintendent and district administrators.
Understanding that distinction can help board members focus on long-term goals, student outcomes, financial oversight and accountability rather than becoming involved in routine management decisions.
Keleher said effective onboarding can also help new members understand meeting procedures, legal responsibilities, public accountability requirements and the importance of working collaboratively with other members of the board.
Resources, mentoring and professional learning
The First State Educate initiative includes a board onboarding framework, governance resources and continuing professional learning opportunities. The initiative is intended to provide support beyond a member’s first weeks in office. Keleher said ongoing professional learning can help board members respond to changing academic, financial and community challenges throughout their terms.
Keleher said the program also includes a partnership with Wilmington University and a governance credentialing pathway that allows board members to publicly demonstrate a commitment to effective school governance.
First State Educate also offers an opportunity to create a mentoring component that can connect newly elected members with experienced education and governance leaders.
Better preparation can also help members ask stronger questions, evaluate information more carefully and build productive relationships with superintendents, fellow board members and the public.
Why residents should care
Strong school boards benefit more than the people seated at the board table.
Board decisions influence classroom resources, academic programs, school safety, transportation, employee contracts, taxes and the long-term financial health of a district. Those decisions affect students, families, educators, property owners and businesses throughout the community.
Keleher said a well-prepared board is more likely to remain focused on measurable goals, responsible spending and student achievement. Citizens can expect a more meaningful discussion at board meetings, more focus on the highest priorities and a better exchange of ideas between the community and leaders in the school.
Delaware residents also have a role in strengthening local school governance. Community members can learn who serves on their board, attend meetings, review agendas, follow budget discussions and communicate constructively with elected members.
Residents should not wait until a controversial vote or financial crisis to begin paying attention. Understanding how a board operates before disagreements arise can lead to better public discussions and more informed community participation.
Keleher said the initiative is intended to help board members start strong while giving Delaware residents additional opportunities to understand, follow and support the work of their local school boards.
To Go Box
What: First State Educate’s statewide school board onboarding initiative
Purpose: To provide newly elected Delaware school board members with governance resources, mentoring and continuing professional learning
Program components: A board onboarding framework, governance materials, a Wilmington University partnership, mentoring opportunities and a possible governance credentialing pathway
Who benefits: School board members, students, families, educators and taxpayers
The Lantern Award recognizes emergency departments that demonstrate strong performance in leadership, nursing practice, education, advocacy and research. Photo created with AI on 8/6/26
International recognition highlights improvements in patient safety, emergency nursing, testing times and care for victims of violence and abuse
WILMINGTON — ChristianaCare’s Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department has received the Emergency Nurses Association’s Lantern Award for a second consecutive cycle, recognizing the department for excellence in nursing practice, patient safety and innovation.
The new designation covers 2026 through 2029. The emergency department previously received the award for the 2023-26 cycle.
Wilmington Hospital was one of 126 emergency departments recognized internationally this year.
“Earning the Lantern Award for a second consecutive cycle is a testament to the extraordinary skill and commitment of the Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department team,” said Danielle Weber, ChristianaCare’s chief nurse executive. “These caregivers have created an environment where nurses are empowered to identify opportunities, apply evidence and lead changes that result in safer, better care for patients.”
Recognition focuses on emergency nursing
The Lantern Award recognizes emergency departments that demonstrate strong performance in leadership, nursing practice, education, advocacy and research.
Named for Florence Nightingale, the award also considers an emergency department’s use of evidence-based practices, commitment to patient safety and efforts to create a healthy workplace.
Applicants undergo a blinded review that examines performance measures and detailed examples of the department’s work.
“The Lantern recognizes something incredibly special,” Emergency Nurses Association President Dustin Bass said. “It isn’t an award for an individual or an entire hospital — it’s a recognition earned by an emergency department and the team that powers it every day.”
Department cared for nearly 64,000 patients
During the one-year period included in its award application, the Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department cared for 63,765 patients.
ChristianaCare’s application highlighted several nurse-led and interdisciplinary projects designed to provide faster and safer care.
“What distinguishes this team is its ability to turn frontline insight into measurable improvements,” said Jennifer Moberg, ChristianaCare’s vice president of Emergency Services. “From reducing the time it takes patients to receive critical testing to redesigning triage so patients can begin care sooner, these caregivers work across disciplines to solve problems and improve patient outcomes and experience.”
Faster heart testing
One improvement involved the time required to provide electrocardiograms to patients experiencing chest pain or related symptoms.
The department created a dedicated ECG room in its triage area. By the end of 2025, the average time from a patient entering the department to receiving an ECG had fallen to about seven minutes, below the national benchmark of 10 minutes, according to ChristianaCare.
Nurses also created an “Idea Bin” that allows employees to submit suggestions by scanning QR codes placed throughout the department.
The first 42 submissions resulted in 26 projects or operational changes. Those changes included making point-of-care testing more accessible and placing commonly used supplies closer to caregivers.
Forensic nursing program expands
The award application also highlighted the growth of Wilmington Hospital’s forensic nurse examiner program, which provides specialized care to patients affected by violence, assault or abuse.
The program completed 158 in-person forensic examinations in 2023, 299 in 2024 and 386 in 2025.
ChristianaCare said the expansion has allowed more patients to receive specialized forensic care at Wilmington Hospital without being transferred to another facility.
Other initiatives included improvements in patient flow, pediatric emergency readiness and nursing education. Emergency department nurses also received specialized training to provide ultrasound-guided intravenous access.
“This recognition belongs to the entire emergency department team,” said Christina Hoddinott, who led the development of the department’s award application. “Nursing is a big puzzle, and each of us brings a piece. By working together, we keep finding better ways to care for our patients and support one another.”
To Go Box
What: Emergency Nurses Association Lantern Award
Recipient: Wilmington Hospital Emergency Department
Award period: 2026 through 2029
Previous award: 2023 through 2026
Patients served during application period: 63,765
Learn more: Visit ChristianaCare’s website for information about Wilmington Hospital and its emergency services.
Food Bank of Delaware, Synergy Consultants, First Ascent Design and GGA Construction are among the organizations recognized for leadership, growth and community impact.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Four Delaware organizations have been named the 2026 winners of the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce’s Marvin S. Gilman Superstars in Business Awards.
The Food Bank of Delaware, Synergy Consultants & Psychotherapy Practice, First Ascent Design and GGA Construction will be honored Oct. 29 during an awards ceremony at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.
The annual program, presented by the State Chamber and its Small Business Alliance, recognizes small businesses and nonprofit organizations for strong business practices, leadership and contributions to their communities.
The awards honor the legacy of Marvin S. Gilman, a Delaware small-business leader remembered for his ethics, community involvement and commitment to encouraging other entrepreneurs.
Since the program began in 1998, it has recognized organizations that have operated for at least three years and meet employee-based standards for small businesses. Awards of Excellence are also presented to organizations demonstrating notable performance and leadership.
Food Bank of Delaware
The Food Bank of Delaware was selected as the winner in the nonprofit category.
The statewide organization provides food assistance while also working to address the causes of hunger and poverty. It distributes millions of pounds of food annually through more than 600 community partners.
The organization also provides workforce training and other programs intended to help Delaware residents achieve greater financial and personal stability.
Synergy Consultants & Psychotherapy Practice
Synergy Consultants & Psychotherapy Practice was selected in the category for businesses with one to 10 employees.
The outpatient mental health practice serves individuals, couples and families. It offers evidence-based therapy for anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and major life transitions.
The practice also trains future clinicians and participates in community wellness programs, outreach efforts and partnerships.
First Ascent Design
First Ascent Design was selected in the category for businesses with 11 to 40 employees.
The Wilmington-based digital marketing agency provides branding, website development, digital advertising, search engine optimization and content marketing services.
During its 11 years in business, First Ascent has worked with nearly 300 businesses, nonprofit organizations and educational institutions in Delaware and other states.
GGA Construction
GGA Construction was selected in the category for businesses with 41 to 150 employees.
The Delaware-based company has offices in Middletown and Rehoboth Beach and specializes in commercial construction projects throughout the region.
Its portfolio includes health care facilities, schools, multifamily housing, hotels, restaurants, senior living communities, recreational facilities and other commercial developments.
Awards of Excellence announced
Four additional organizations will receive Awards of Excellence.
Sunday Breakfast Mission was selected in the nonprofit category. Integrity Nursing LLC was recognized in the category for businesses with one to 10 employees.
Delmarva Central Railroad was selected in the category for businesses with 11 to 40 employees, and AKA Advisory was recognized in the category for businesses with 41 to 150 employees.
Schell Brothers CEO to deliver keynote
Chris Schell, founder and CEO of Schell Brothers, will serve as the keynote speaker for the Oct. 29 ceremony.
Schell Brothers has grown from its Delaware roots into one of the nation’s largest privately owned homebuilders, with operations in Delaware, Virginia, Tennessee and Idaho.
Schell earned a mechanical engineering degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Harvard Business School. He began his career in finance, developing automated futures trading software, before entering the homebuilding industry.
He founded Schell Brothers with a company culture centered on employee and customer happiness.
Schell has served on the University of Delaware Board of Trustees and the Economic Advisory Council for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. He currently serves on the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce Board of Governors.
The Superstars in Business awards ceremony will be held Thursday, Oct. 29, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington.
Additional information is available through the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce.
Francis Fukuyama on his new political memoir: ‘In the Realm of the Last Man’
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September 2026 — 16:30 TO 17:30 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Join us for the launch of the Chatham House Book Club with Francis Fukuyama, one of the most influential political thinkers of the twenty-first century.
Join us for the launch of the Chatham House Book Club with Francis Fukuyama, one of the most influential political thinkers of the past three decades.
In this exclusive members’ event, Fukuyama discusses his new memoir, “In the Realm of the Last Man”, reflecting on the ideas and experiences that shaped his thinking on democracy and the international order. This conversation explores what the past 35 years can reveal about the future of Western democracy since Fukuyama authored his international bestseller “The End of History and the Last Man”.
Join fellow members for a thought-provoking discussion that goes beyond the headlines and marks the beginning of a new forum for ideas, books and debate. This event is followed by a reception.
This event discusses:
Why did Fukuyama revise some of his most influential ideas?
What lessons can be drawn from the major political shifts of the past 35 years?
How have events from the so-called ‘War on Terror’ to Russia’s war against Ukraine reshaped liberal democracy?
What explains growing challenges to democratic institutions across the West?
How can democratic societies rebuild public trust and political legitimacy?
What is the future of liberal democracy in an increasingly competitive world?
The Chatham House Book Club is a new space for members to explore the ideas shaping our world through thought-provoking books and engaging discussion with members and authors. A book excerpt will be shared with registered attendees ahead of the event, with books available to purchase at the event. You can pre-order In the Realm of the Last Man here: In the Realm of the Last Man by Francis Fukuyama | Waterstones
Each session will bring members face to face with authors to reflect on influential writing and thinkers across international affairs, politics, history and society. Whether you’re an avid reader or simply looking to engage with fresh perspectives, the Book Club offers an opportunity to connect with fellow members in conversation beyond the headlines.
Book club sessions are exclusive to Chatham House Members. Become and member and gain access to these events by registering here.
World Trade Center Delaware serves as the state’s international business resource, connecting Delaware companies with trade experts, educational programs and business networks around the world. Image created with AI on 8/5
Free online program will help Delaware businesses understand market-entry strategies, financing options and commercial opportunities across the region
WILMINGTON, Del. — Delaware businesses interested in expanding internationally can learn about emerging opportunities in West Africa during a free World Trade Center Delaware program Monday, Aug. 10.
The August edition of the organization’s Global Power Hour, “West Africa: Opportunities for U.S. Exporters,” will be held virtually from noon to 1 p.m. The executive-level discussion is designed for businesses that are considering exporting for the first time as well as companies seeking to expand an existing international presence.
The session will focus on practical opportunities for American exporters, particularly in French-speaking West African markets. Topics will include market-entry strategies, trade facilitation, export financing and tools businesses can use to reduce the financial and commercial risks associated with international sales.
World Trade Center Delaware serves as the state’s international business resource, connecting Delaware companies with trade experts, educational programs and business networks around the world. The organization also provides import and export assistance, market research, referrals and other resources for companies exploring global growth.
Understanding an unfamiliar market
Entering a foreign market can present significant opportunities, but businesses must also navigate regulatory requirements, payment risks, transportation challenges and differences in language and business practices.
The Global Power Hour is intended to give company leaders a clearer understanding of those challenges before they commit substantial time or money to an overseas expansion.
The discussion will address opportunities in sectors including agribusiness, food products, logistics and related services. Participants also will learn about financing and risk-mitigation tools that may help exporters protect payments, secure working capital and manage transactions with international buyers.
Regional experience
The featured speaker will be Eric Schneider, founder and managing director of RéseauLink LLC, an international trade and development firm focused on commercial relationships between the United States and French-speaking West Africa.
Schneider helps businesses with market-entry planning, export readiness, regulatory compliance, business matchmaking, buyer engagement, and investment development. He works between the United States and Côte d’Ivoire and combines regional experience with relationships in the private sector and government.
A graduate of Fordham University, Schneider previously served as a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Côte d’Ivoire and as a bilingual program analyst for the U.S. African Development Foundation. He also received a U.S. Department of State-funded Mandela Washington Fellowship Reciprocal Exchange Grant.
A potential path for smaller businesses
International trade is sometimes viewed as an option primarily available to large corporations. However, export financing, trade counseling and local assistance programs can also help smaller companies determine whether their products or services are appropriate for overseas markets.
World Trade Center Delaware’s program will offer businesses a starting point for evaluating opportunities, identifying potential partners and understanding the preparation required before pursuing customers in West Africa.
The organization said the session is intended to provide information participants can use when deciding whether international expansion fits their company’s goals and capabilities.
To Go Box
What: World Trade Center Delaware Global Power Hour, “West Africa: Opportunities for U.S. Exporters”
When: Noon to 1 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10
Where: Online through Microsoft Teams
Cost: Free
Speaker: Eric Schneider, founder and managing director of RéseauLink LLC
Topics: West African export opportunities, French-speaking markets, export financing, risk mitigation, market entry and trade facilitation
Registration: Register through the World Trade Center Delaware event announcement or visit WTCDE.org for additional information.
A series of violent incidents across the city is affecting residents and businesses while renewing debate over declining arrests, detention policies and whether current crime-prevention strategies are producing measurable results.
By George D. Rotsch, Editor, Delaware LIVE
WILMINGTON — A series of shootings across Wilmington in recent weeks has renewed concerns about public safety, the effect of violence on neighborhoods and businesses, and whether the criminal justice system is doing enough to identify, detain and prosecute dangerous offenders.
The incidents have not been limited to one neighborhood. Shootings have been reported in West Center City, Price Run, Southbridge, Baynard Village, near Fourth and DuPont streets, and in other parts of the city.
Most of the victims survived, but several suffered serious or critical injuries. A concerning number of the victims were teenagers or young adults.
Shootings reported across the city
On Aug. 1, a 32-year-old woman was shot on West Seventh Street and a 28-year-old man was shot on Vandever Avenue. On Aug. 2, a 52-year-old man was shot near Linden and South Van Buren streets.
All three victims were reported in stable condition.
Those incidents followed the July 31 shooting of a 16-year-old, the July 14 shooting of a 31-year-old man in Price Run and the July 12 shooting of a 17-year-old near Fourth and DuPont streets. The 17-year-old was reported in critical condition.
Other recent victims included a 17-year-old boy shot in Southbridge, an 18-year-old woman seriously injured in Baynard Village, a 29-year-old critically injured in West Center City and a 20-year-old man shot on North DuPont Street.
Police have not publicly indicated that the shootings are connected. However, the incidents show a recurring pattern of gun violence affecting several Wilmington neighborhoods, with multiple victims between the ages of 16 and 19.
Hospital shooting left one employee dead
The most serious recent incident was the June shooting inside Wilmington Hospital.
Two 19-year-old employees were shot. One died and the other was critically injured.
Police arrested 23-year-old John Wallace-Bey in Philadelphia and charged him with first-degree murder and related offenses.
Police described the hospital shooting as an isolated workplace incident rather than part of the city’s street violence. That distinction is important, but it does not lessen the broader effect repeated shootings can have on public confidence.
Residents bear the daily cost
Crime reports often reduce shootings to dates, locations and victim conditions. Residents experience them as part of daily life.
Families living in affected neighborhoods may change their routines after repeated violence. Parents may keep children indoors. Senior citizens may become reluctant to walk to stores, churches or bus stops. Residents may avoid certain streets or stop going outside after dark.
Repeated gunfire can also produce anxiety, sleep disruption and constant concern for children and other family members.
Even when victims survive, the psychological effect can accumulate. Residents may begin to treat fear and disruption as normal conditions of city life.
The burden often falls hardest on people who cannot afford to move. Higher-income families may have the ability to relocate, install additional security, or avoid troubled areas. Lower- and middle-income residents are more likely to remain exposed while continuing to pay taxes and expect basic public services.
Public Safety Committee Chair Yolanda McCoy warned that Wilmington can not allow violence to become normalized.
The first responsibility of government is to protect life, property and the ability of law-abiding citizens to live safely in their communities.
Youth programs, social services and violence-intervention initiatives may play an important role, but they cannot replace consistent law enforcement.
Businesses lose customers and employees
Gun violence also affects Wilmington’s economy.
Small businesses depend on customers who feel safe entering a neighborhood, workers who are willing to accept early or late shifts and property owners who are confident enough to invest.
When residents believe an area is unsafe, they may leave earlier, shop elsewhere or avoid the neighborhood entirely.
Restaurants, convenience stores, service businesses and neighborhood retailers are especially vulnerable. Many operate on narrow profit margins and may struggle to absorb declining foot traffic, higher insurance costs or additional spending on cameras, lighting and private security.
Employers may also have difficulty recruiting and retaining workers who are concerned about traveling to or from work.
Property owners may postpone improvements, and potential tenants may choose other locations. Businesses considering Wilmington may question whether the city can provide a predictable and secure environment for employees and customers.
Public safety is not separate from economic development. It is one of the basic conditions needed for economic growth.
Police have not identified a single cause
Wilmington police have not identified one cause for the recent violence or attributed the shootings to a single citywide trend.
Police and city officials have instead pointed to several overlapping factors, including crime concentrated in particular hotspots, group-related conflicts and opportunistic offenses.
The department’s public strategies have emphasized intelligence-led policing, Group Violence Intervention, GunStat, partnerships with federal agencies and community outreach.
Police should not assign a cause without evidence. Still, residents deserve more than descriptions of strategies. They should receive regular information about arrests, firearms recovered, cases cleared, repeat offenders identified and prosecutions completed.
Officials may accurately describe individual shootings as isolated or unrelated, but residents often experience the incidents as part of a continuing pattern of danger.
The victims may be unrelated. The effect on the public is not.
Declining arrests raise public questions
The brief also describes a longer-term decline in arrests, criminal filings, case dispositions and convictions.
Statewide Court of Common Pleas criminal filings declined from 110,071 in 2014 to 90,410 in 2023, an 18% decrease.
Criminal dispositions fell from 88,507 to 62,211 during the same period, a decline of approximately 30%.
The brief also states that Wilmington arrests declined across violent, property, drug and juvenile offense categories, although it does not include a complete year-by-year city data table.
Those figures require context.
Fewer arrests can reflect lower crime, changes in enforcement priorities, diversion programs, juvenile justice reforms or fewer cases supported by sufficient evidence. A decline in arrests does not, by itself, prove police are refusing to enforce the law.
Lower conviction totals may also result from fewer crimes, fewer arrests or fewer cases entering the courts.
However, the trend raises a legitimate public-policy question.
When residents see repeated shootings while arrests, filings and completed cases decline, they may reasonably ask whether the system is creating enough certainty that dangerous offenders will be arrested, detained when legally justified and prosecuted.
Detention policies deserve scrutiny
The issue is not whether everyone accused of a crime should be jailed. Defendants are entitled to constitutional protections, due process and individual bail decisions.
The issue is whether the system has moved too far toward diversion, reduced detention and noncustodial resolutions, allowing repeat or high-risk offenders to return to the community before cases are resolved.
The source brief does not establish that Wilmington police have adopted a formal policy of refusing to arrest offenders. It also does not prove that prosecutors or judges are routinely releasing dangerous defendants.
Still, city and state officials should provide more detailed information about how the system is functioning.
That should include the number of shooting cases resulting in arrests, the prior records of suspects, the number of defendants released before trial and the outcomes of cases involving serious gun charges.
Without that information, the public is left to choose between official assurances and what residents see happening in their neighborhoods.
Prevention cannot replace enforcement
A balanced public-safety strategy should avoid two extremes.
The first is the assumption that law enforcement alone can solve every underlying social problem. Addiction, unstable families, school failure, untreated mental illness and a lack of opportunity can contribute to crime and should be addressed.
The second is the idea that arrest, detention and prosecution are inherently harmful or ineffective.
When used lawfully and supported by evidence, enforcement protects victims, deters repeat conduct and reinforces basic standards of behavior.
Violence-prevention programs should support enforcement, not replace it.
Wilmington also needs stronger witness protection, closer coordination among police and prosecutors, and better relationships with residents who may have information but fear retaliation.
Results should matter more than programs
Wilmington officials should be judged not only by the offices, partnerships and programs they announce, but by whether residents feel safer and businesses regain confidence.
That means concentrating police resources in repeat hotspots, improving shooting clearance rates, recovering illegal firearms and coordinating with state and federal prosecutors.
It also means imposing meaningful consequences on people convicted of gun crimes.
Officials should not minimize public concern because most recent victims survived or because police have not connected the shootings.
A nonfatal shooting is still a serious violent crime. A teenager in critical condition is not evidence that the public-safety system is succeeding.
The central question is not whether Wilmington has strategies and programs.
It is whether those efforts are preventing the next shooting.
Residents and business owners have a right to expect rehabilitation opportunities for offenders who can change. They also have a right to protection from people who repeatedly threaten the community.
A responsible public-safety policy must recognize both obligations. Wilmington’s recent violence gives residents legitimate reason to question whether the current balance is working.
Early-stage businesses can compete for state funding, receive business guidance and pitch their growth plans during a new one-day event
DOVER, Del. — Delaware entrepreneurs looking for money to launch, expand or strengthen a young business will have a new opportunity beginning Aug. 11, when the state opens its fall 2026 EDGE Grant Competition.
The Delaware Division of Small Business will accept applications through 4 p.m. Sept. 11. The agency will also hold an informational webinar at 10 a.m. Aug. 11 to explain the program, eligibility requirements and application process.
EDGE, which stands for Encouraging Development, Growth and Expansion, is Delaware’s primary competitive grant program for early-stage small businesses. The program has distributed $10.3 million to 136 businesses since it began in 2019.
A total of $1.15 million is available during the fall competition, divided between businesses applying in the Entrepreneur and STEM categories.
“Delaware’s business landscape continues to evolve, and the EDGE competition is evolving with it,” Division of Small Business Director CJ Bell said. “We are giving business owners the tools they need not just to stay in business but scale and expand — to take that next step toward long-term sustainability.”
Who is eligible?
The competition is open to people who have not yet opened their businesses and to businesses that have operated for fewer than seven years.
A qualifying business must:
Be located primarily in Delaware, with at least 51% of its operations in the state.
Employ no more than 15 full-time workers.
Have less than $700,000 in assets.
Provide the required matching investment.
EDGE funding is provided through a 3-to-1 match. For every $3 contributed by the state, the business must contribute $1 toward the approved project.
For example, an applicant seeking $30,000 in EDGE funding would generally need to provide a $10,000 business match, creating a total project budget of $40,000.
Applicants should carefully review the official competition documents because the match, eligibility and permitted-expense requirements must be addressed in the proposal.
Two types of businesses can compete
Most applicants will enter the Entrepreneur category, which includes retail, food, hospitality, professional services, manufacturing and other businesses that do not primarily fall within science, technology, engineering or mathematics.
The Entrepreneur category will have a total funding pool of $400,000.
The STEM category is intended for businesses built around science, technology, engineering or mathematics. Those applicants will compete for a total of $750,000.
The state may select as many as 10 Entrepreneur finalists and eight STEM finalists to participate in the pitch competition.
Applying does not guarantee funding. EDGE is a competitive program in which applications are reviewed and finalists must present their proposals to a panel of judges.
What can the money pay for?
EDGE funding is designed to pay for specific investments that help a business grow, increase capacity or become more sustainable.
Eligible projects may include:
Purchasing equipment that allows the business to produce more goods or serve more customers.
Improving a building or business location.
Renting commercial, production or laboratory space.
Hiring a contractor to design or improve a company website.
Developing an advertising or marketing campaign to attract customers.
Note: Purchasing real estate is not an eligible expense.
Applicants should avoid treating EDGE as a general operating subsidy. A stronger proposal will identify a specific project, explain its cost and show how it will increase revenue, production, employment or long-term business stability.
A grant competition, not a simple application
Applicants will be evaluated on more than whether they meet the basic eligibility requirements.
The Division of Small Business says judges will consider the company’s need for funding, the competitive advantage the project would create, the viability of the business, its likelihood of remaining in operation, its potential to create jobs or increase revenue, and the quality of the applicant’s presentation.
That means applicants should be prepared to explain what they plan to purchase, why it is necessary, how much it will cost and what measurable results the investment is expected to produce.
Financial projections should be realistic and supported by information such as vendor estimates, customer demand, sales history or industry research.
New one-day pitch and award event
This fall’s competition will conclude with a one-day pitch and award event Nov. 10.
Finalists will present their business plans and funding requests, and awards will be announced during the same event.
The event will also include educational programming, networking with small-business service providers and opportunities for selected high-impact businesses to meet with venture capital firms.
Those meetings could provide growing companies with access to private investment beyond the EDGE competition, although participation does not guarantee an investment.
Support available before applications are submitted
Potential applicants are strongly encouraged to contact a Division of Small Business business manager before submitting their proposals.
Business managers can provide initial guidance, help applicants understand the competition and offer feedback on ways to improve an application.
The state will publish proposal templates, a scoring rubric and other support materials at de.gov/edge.
Applicants should use those documents as a checklist rather than submitting a general business plan. A competitive proposal should directly answer the questions in the application and show how the requested funding would produce a clear business result.
Finalists and grant recipients will also receive additional services and post-award support.
That assistance includes access to the Division of Small Business Recipient Network, which brings together previous EDGE winners and recipients of other state business programs to exchange ideas, develop business strategies and make professional connections.
How first-time applicants can prepare
A potential applicant should begin by identifying one specific investment that could move the business forward.
The applicant should then determine the full cost of the project, confirm that the required matching funds are available and gather estimates or documentation supporting the proposed expenses.
A strong application should clearly explain:
What the business does.
Who its customers are.
What problem the proposed investment will solve.
Why the investment is needed now.
How the project will increase sales, capacity, employment or sustainability.
How the business will provide its required match.
Applicants selected as finalists should also be ready to turn those answers into a concise and persuasive presentation.
The EDGE program offers businesses the opportunity to receive growth capital without surrendering an ownership interest to an investor. However, applicants must demonstrate that state funding will support a practical, well-planned expansion rather than merely cover routine expenses.
To Go Box
What: Fall 2026 Delaware EDGE Grant Competition
Application period: Aug. 11 through 4 p.m. Sept. 11
Informational webinar: 10 a.m. Aug. 11
Pitch and award event: Nov. 10
Available funding: $1.15 million
Entrepreneur funding pool: $400,000
STEM funding pool: $750,000
Who may apply: Businesses not yet open or operating for fewer than seven years, primarily located in Delaware, with no more than 15 full-time employees and less than $700,000 in assets
Matching requirement: The state provides $3 for every $1 contributed by the business
“I’ve spent over 23 years in the restaurant industry and always dreamt of owning my own food establishment since the early days of my career,” Safian said. “I would fantasize about it and write mock menus for restaurants or food trucks I wouldn’t have been able to open then.”
