GPU giant Nvidia has agreed to buy Hugging Face, an AI model, data, collaboration and platform with more than 13 million registered users, for $12.9 billion, according to a report today in The Information. If the deal goes through, it would significantly bolster Nvidia’s AI model business.
Hugging Face was founded 10 years ago by Clément Delangue, Julien Chaumond, and Thomas Wolf to develop a chatbot for teens. The mobile app used natural language processing (NLP) models to interpret the text or graphical input, and generated a response designed to delight the user–and perhaps even use the “hugging face” emoji (hence the name).
Hugging Face Co-founder and CEO Clément Delangue
When the founders noticed more interest in the AI models behind the chatbot than the chatbot itself, they decided to open source the technology, posting it to GitHub, where the technology was widely accessed and used.
In 2018–a year after Google published the seminal paper on transformers, “Attention Is All You Need”–the New York City company its strategy. Instead of a chatbot, Hugging Face became a repository of open source AI and machine learning models, the data sets they were trained on, and other resources for AI engineers, data scientists, and machine learning specialists to work with the tools.
One of the first models they posted was an open source version of Google’s BERT, an early LLM. The PyTorch-based version was well-received by the community. In 2021–more than a year before OpenAI shocked the world with ChatGPT–Hugging Face launched a project called BigScience designed to help foster the development of LLMs and large datasets in the scientific realm.
Hugging Face was a popular repository for all sorts of AI models before ChatGPT triggered the tsunami of interest in LLMs. But there’s no doubt the AI boom accelerated Hugging Face’s growth. It crossed the 1 million model threshold in 2024, 2 million models in 2025, and today has about 3 million AI models, as well as half a million data sets. Much of this technology and data is free; the company reported only $150 million in annual revenue.
The company has growth through venture capital funding, which has totaled $395 million over the years. In 2023, it raised $235 million in a Series D round (its last major funding round) at a $4.5 billion valuation. Nvidia was among those Series D investors, along with Google, Amazon, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, and IBM.
It will be interesting to see how Hugging Face fits into Nvidia’s strategy or changes it. Nvidia and Hugging Face announced a partnership in 2023 that made it easier for Hugging Face users to get access to Nvidia GPUs for training. In late 2025, Nvidia launched its own line of open-weight models, dubbed Nemotron, which range in size from 3.5B to 550B parameters.
The popularity of Hugging Face among AI developers is its biggest asset; with just 2,000 paying customers and a mere $150 million in revenues, the revenue stream is clearly not it. Hugging Face has become the defacto standard place where a generation of AI engineers go to download and play around with AI models.
Open-weight models have surged in popularity in the U.S. this summer, following a surprising improvement in Chinese open-weight models like Alibaba Qwen, Alibaba’s Kimi, and DeepSeek, which now are nearly on par with the best proprietary models from the big American labs at Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Hugging Face CEO Clément Delangue were among the executives who signed the “Open Weights and American AI Leadership” letter last month.
If Nvidia sees a big figure in open-weight AI models, then it couldn’t do much better than acquire Hugging Face, which is where many of these models live.
On Wednesday, Trump officially signed a proclamation on Wednesday that suspends higher tariffs on 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef imports for 90 days. This comes after backlash to the proposal – designed to lower grocery costs for Americans in the run-up to the November midterms.
Several Republicans – in states with sizable cattle farming industries – have criticized the policy, saying it is a short term solution that will stymie ranchers’ ability to rebuild their herds.
Four leading livestock and agricultural organizations also wrote a letter to the president on Wednesday urging him to reverse course.
“Flooding the market with discounted foreign beef is not the way to rebuild the American cattle herd, strengthen food security, or lower grocery bills in a lasting way,” the groups wrote.
Donald Trump will begin his day in Washington, before traveling to Houston, Texas where he’ll headline a Republican National Commitee (RNC) fundraiser, and help boost Ken Paxton — the state’s attorney general and Republican nominee for Senate.
A reminder that Paxton beat long serving Senator John Cornyn in the GOP primary earlier this year after receiving Trump’s endorsement. Paxton is set to face Democratic state lawmaker James Talarico in November.
According to the report, 64 VPN apps on Apple’s App Store and Google Play contain trackers that collect your sensitive data; the exact opposite of what a VPN is supposed to do.
Three employees of Stars and Stripes, a government-funded news service, allege they were fired after reporting on USS Abraham Lincoln
Three journalists who were fired by the Pentagon from a US government-funded news outlet sued the Department of Defense in federal court on Thursday, arguing their dismissals were illegal and violated their first amendment rights to free speech.
The three journalists were all employees of Stars and Stripes, which their court filing calls “the U.S. military’s independent news source since the Civil War with a long history of editorial independence, free from news management or censorship by military command”.
ICE has granted a $16.7 million no-bid contract for 6,000 gloves that can deliver electric shocks, a new use-of-force tool that the agency claims will help officers control resisting detainees.
Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario, making it Lake America, amid his escalating trade war with Canada.
The order directs federal agencies to adopt the name-change on US maps, documents and databases. But Trump has no authority to rename Canada’s portion of the lake, nor to compel Canada, international legal bodies, international mapmakers, or the rest of the world to adopt a new name.
The NTSB said tower recordings show controllers never heard Marine One's Aug. 4 calls warning it was preparing to take off, though separate recordings confirm the calls were made.
"She told me recently that if there was no hope for her, she would still allow her medical team to try experimental drugs in the hope of helping others in the future," Stella Parton said in a Facebook post.
Two air traffic controllers at LaGuardia Airport left work early on the night of a deadly runway collision in March, a source familiar with the situation told CBS News.
Newly obtained records indicate health secretary lied about Samoa trip during Senate confirmation hearings last year
A senior Democratic senator is calling for a criminal investigation into the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, following reporting by the Guardian that indicated he lied during Senate confirmation hearings last year.
Ron Wyden of Oregon said: “RFK’s platform is built on lies and grifts that leave a trail of dead children in their wake. There are consequences for lying to Congress.”
(The Center Square) – Twenty-two state attorneys general are questioning taxpayer funding of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine amid what the AGs call the group’s “sham”-like “independent review” of its much debated reference manual’s climate science chapter…
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow told CBS News that around 5,000 jobs in Toronto's textile, clothing and leather manufacturing industries could be affected, which "means the price of Americans buying things, the cost will go up."
Organizers expect more than 3,000 people to participate in Saturday’s Youth Day and Sunday’s Big Quarterly.
Wilmington’s historic African American religious celebration concludes with music, worship, youth activities, food, vendors and the traditional Big Quarterly
WILMINGTON — For more than two centuries, the final weekend of August has carried a special meaning in Wilmington.
It is a time for worship and reunion, music and food, reflection and celebration. It is also a reminder that the freedom to gather, worship and build independent institutions was once a courageous act for African Americans.
The 212th August Quarterly Festival will bring those traditions into the present this weekend with three days of events culminating in the Big Quarterly at Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park.
The remaining schedule includes an all-white party Friday evening, a full day of youth and family activities Saturday, and a worship service followed by the main outdoor festival Sunday.
Organizers expect more than 3,000 people to participate in Saturday’s Youth Day and Sunday’s Big Quarterly.
More than a festival
August Quarterly traces its roots to the Rev. Peter Spencer, the founder of the Union Church of Africans, now known as the African Union Methodist Protestant Church.
Spencer was born into slavery in Maryland in 1782 and later gained his freedom. After moving to Wilmington, he became a mechanic, educator, church leader and advocate for the city’s growing Black community.
In 1813, after rejecting white control over Black religious life, Spencer established the Union Church of Africans as an independent Black denomination. One year later, he began the annual gathering that became known as the August Quarterly.
The gathering traditionally took place on the last Sunday in August and served as both a religious revival and a homecoming. Free and enslaved Black people traveled to Wilmington from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and other areas to worship, sing, share meals and reconnect with relatives and friends.
That made the gathering more than a church service. It was a public demonstration of religious independence, community strength and the right of African Americans to assemble on their own terms.
The festival also became connected to Delaware’s abolitionist history. Spencer supported the Underground Railroad, and accounts of the festival’s history describe Wilmington as a place where enslaved people could make contact with abolitionists and plan journeys to freedom.
A tradition that continues to evolve
The August Quarterly has changed from the multistate religious homecoming of the 1800s into a weeklong celebration combining worship with gospel music, youth programming, cultural education, food and community resources.
Its underlying purpose, however, remains much the same: bringing people together around faith, freedom, family and African American cultural identity.
This year’s celebration began Aug. 23 with an opening service at Mother African Union Church and a memorial wreath-laying at Peter Spencer Plaza. Revival services continued during the week.
The festival now moves into its busiest weekend, giving families several opportunities to participate.
Friday celebration opens festival weekend
The AQ Liberation Fest will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Aug. 28, at the Delaware Historical Society, 505 N. Market St.
Promoted as an all-white party, the evening will feature the Pieces of a Dream dance group and music from Best Kept Soul.
The event adds a social and entertainment component to the festival while keeping the celebration in the heart of downtown Wilmington.
Saturday belongs to young people
The AQ Youth and Young Adult Experience will take over Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park from noon to 8 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 29.
The day will feature children and youth performers, bookbag and school-supply giveaways, face painting, games and family activities.
By placing young people at the center of Saturday’s program, the festival connects a 212-year-old tradition with the generation that will be responsible for carrying it forward.
The event also helps families prepare for the new school year while offering young performers an opportunity to appear before a large community audience.
Sunday brings worship and the Big Quarterly
Sunday’s events begin with the August Quarterly Worship Service from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, 815 Shipyard Drive.
The service will feature the Rev. Carolyn C. Cavaness and the August Quarterly Festival Choir.
The Big Quarterly will begin at noon at nearby Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park and continue until 8 p.m.
The festival will feature local, regional and nationally known gospel groups performing throughout the day. Food and retail vendors will be joined by cultural, community and health organizations, while a children’s area will offer youth-oriented attractions.
The combination of worship, gospel music, food, vendors and family fellowship reflects many of the elements that have defined August Quarterly throughout its history.
For longtime participants, Sunday is an annual homecoming. For residents unfamiliar with the tradition, it offers an opportunity to experience one of Wilmington’s most important cultural institutions — and to learn why a festival founded in 1814 continues to matter in 2026.
TO GO
What: 212th August Quarterly Festival weekend
Friday: AQ Liberation Fest, 6 to 9 p.m., Delaware Historical Society, 505 N. Market St., Wilmington
Saturday: AQ Youth and Young Adult Experience, noon to 8 p.m., Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park, Rosa Parks Drive and Market Street, Wilmington
Sunday worship: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Chase Center on the Riverfront, 815 Shipyard Drive, Wilmington
Sunday festival: The Big Quarterly, noon to 8 p.m., Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park
New rules are aimed at protecting people in debt in England and Wales and stopping homeowners being ripped off
A clampdown on “rogue bailiffs” has been launched by Andy Burnham amid concerns that vulnerable people are being overcharged and face aggressive behaviour.
In the latest in a series of “everyday fixes” to ease the cost of living and “make Britain fairer”, the prime minister said he was strengthening the rules that apply to bailiffs in England and Wales to better protect people in debt.
(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta stands by a lawsuit he’s co-leading to stop President Donald Trump's executive order on mail-in ballots.
El congresista republicano Byron Donalds, candidato a gobernador de Florida, vinculó los brotes de sarampión en Estados Unidos con la inmigración ilegal.
El 23 de agosto, en el programa “Face the Nation” de CBS News, la presentadora Margaret Brennan dijo que Florida se encuentra por debajo de la tasa de inmunización necesaria para lograr la inmunidad colectiva contra el sarampión. Después, Brennan le preguntó a Donalds si recomendaría a los padres de Florida que vacunaran a sus hijos.
“No”, respondió Donalds, “en realidad, mi mensaje para los floridianos y, francamente, para los estadounidenses, es que la razón por la que hemos visto un brote de sarampión en ciertas partes del país se debe a la inmigración ilegal desenfrenada hacia Estados Unidos durante la administración anterior”.
Donalds señaló los brotes de sarampión en El Paso, Texas, y el suroeste de Florida, y dijo que las personas que se encuentran ilegalmente en EE.UU. no han seguido el calendario de vacunación contra el sarampión, las paperas y la rubéola.
Continuó diciendo: “Así que lo fundamental es, en primer lugar, controlar la inmigración en el país. No se puede permitir que todo un segmento de personas — más de 10 millones de personas, viniendo al país sin cumplir con ese calendario de vacunación”.
Es inexacto decir que 10 millones de inmigrantes ingresaron ilegalmente a EE.UU. durante la presidencia de Joe Biden. La administración Biden permitió que unas 4.3 millones de personas esperaran sus audiencias ante las cortes de inmigración dentro del país.
Además, no hay evidencia que vincule los brotes de sarampión con los inmigrantes en EE.UU. Expertos en enfermedades infecciosas le dijeron a PolitiFact que la causa principal de los brotes es el declive de las tasas de vacunación contra el sarampión, las paperas y la rubéola en el país. Alrededor del 94% de los casos confirmados en 2026 son de personas no vacunadas o cuyo estado de vacunación se desconoce.
La campaña de Donalds no respondió a una solicitud de información que respaldara sus declaraciones.
George Rust, epidemiólogo y profesor de la facultad de medicina de la Florida State University dijo que, durante décadas, EE.UU. registró casos esporádicos de sarampión que, por lo general, se originaban cuando viajeros estadounidenses contraían el virus en el extranjero y presentaban síntomas tras regresar a casa.
“Tal vez una o dos personas más se contagiarían de ellos, pero debido a las altas tasas de vacunación y a la rápida respuesta de salud pública, no habría una segunda oleada de casos”, dijo Rust. “Ahora estamos viendo más brotes porque ese mismo escenario se repite en grupos de personas no vacunadas, lo que facilita una mayor propagación”.
¡Sigue el canal de WhatsApp de PolitiFact en Español para estar al día de lo que es cierto, falso, engañoso o fuera de contexto! #whatsapp#canales#verificacion#factcheck
El actual brote de sarampión de 2026 ha superado las cifras récord de casos de 2025, que fueron las más altas desde 1991.
El sarampión es un virus respiratorio altamente contagioso. La infección puede provocar complicaciones graves, como neumonía, inflamación cerebral y la muerte. En 2025, dos niños y un adulto fallecieron a causa del sarampión, las primeras muertes atribuidas al virus en EE.UU. en más de una década. El 25 de agosto, el Departamento de Salud de Pensilvania dijo que otras dos personas no vacunadas, cuyas edades no se hicieron públicas, murieron a causa del virus.
Recibir las dos dosis recomendadas de la vacuna triple vírica (MMR, por sus siglas en inglés), es 97% eficaz contra la infección.
“Es probable que el 90% de las personas no vacunadas que se exponen al virus lo contraigan”, dijo Rust. “Debido a su alta capacidad de transmisión, los brotes de sarampión pueden propagarse exponencialmente en sectores de la población que no están vacunados o no inmune”.
¿Es el sarampión propagado por inmigrantes?
Dos familias de migrantes atraviesan una abertura en el muro fronterizo para llegar a Estados Unidos tras cruzar desde México, en Yuma, Arizona, el 10 de junio de 2021, con el fin de solicitar asilo. (AP)
Los CDC no reportan el estatus migratorio de las personas infectadas con sarampión en EE.UU., por lo que resulta imposible vincular de manera definitiva los brotes de esta enfermedad con inmigrantes que se encuentran en el país de forma ilegal. El rastreo de contactos realizado durante brotes anteriores ha mostrado que el sarampión suele entrar en EE.UU. a través de residentes no vacunados que han viajado al extranjero, principalmente a Europa y a la región del Pacífico Occidental.
Estados Unidos alcanzó el estatus de eliminación del sarampión en el año 2000, lo que significa que el virus dejó de propagarse de forma continua dentro del país.
“Cualquier cadena de contagio comienza con alguien que ha viajado”, dijo el Dr. Paul Spiegel, profesor distinguido de práctica y director del centro de salud humanitaria de Johns Hopkins. “La introducción de la enfermedad solo deriva en un brote cuando el virus alcanza a un número suficiente de personas susceptibles y no vacunadas, y los datos sobre casos importados no apuntan en ningún caso a los migrantes”.
El Dr. William Schaffner, especialista en enfermedades infecciosas de Vanderbilt Health, coincidió, diciendo que “la inmensa mayoría” de los casos son “causados por nuestros propios niños no vacunados que viajan al extranjero, contraen el sarampión y luego lo traen de vuelta a casa”. Dijo que solo una minoría de los casos se debe a extranjeros que llegan a EE.UU.
Los brotes de sarampión en la costa oeste de EE.UU. suelen provenir de residentes estadounidenses no vacunados que regresan de Asia, dijeron los expertos, mientras que los brotes en el este y el centro del país generalmente se originan en residentes que regresan de Europa. “Nunca he visto datos que indiquen que se hayan producido introducciones significativas desde el sur de la frontera”, dijo Schaffner.
En El Paso, Texas, a principios de 2026 se produjo un brote de sarampión entre inmigrantes recluidos en un centro de detención del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de Estados Unidos (ICE, por sus siglas en inglés), y en otro centro federal de detención cercano que alberga tanto a migrantes como a ciudadanos estadounidenses. Las autoridades sanitarias atribuyeron la propagación a las malas condiciones de las instalaciones y a la falta de datos federales sobre el estado de vacunación de los detenidos. No está claro cuándo ingresaron a EE.UU. los inmigrantes infectados; ICE detiene a muchas personas que no son recién llegadas.
En el suroeste de Florida, donde reside Donalds, el mayor brote del estado se concentró en la Universidad Ave Maria, en el condado de Collier. La universidad, citando el rastreo de contactos realizado por el departamento de salud estatal, dijo que lo más probable es que el brote comenzó a raíz de un viaje realizado por un estudiante fuera del estado durante las vacaciones.
Algunos de los mayoresbrotes de este año se produjeron en zonas con grandes comunidades amish y menonitas, que suelen registrar tasas de vacunación más bajas. Brotesanteriores también se concentraron en comunidades similares no propensas a las vacunas.
Vacunación contra sarampión, paperas y rubéola en otros países
Un vial de la vacuna contra el sarampión, las paperas y la rubéola se exhibe en el Departamento de Salud de Lubbock, el 26 de febrero de 2025, en Lubbock, Texas. (AP)
Los países de origen de muchos inmigrantes que se encuentran ilegalmente en EE.UU., como México, Guatemala y Honduras, incluyen la vacuna MMR en sus calendarios de vacunación infantil de rutina.
Los expertos dicen que el problema no es la falta de programas de vacunación en estos países, sino que muchos han visto caer la cobertura de vacunación por debajo del umbral del 95% necesario para detener la transmisión del sarampión, el mismo problema que enfrenta Estados Unidos.
Este año, El Salvador y Honduras han notificado un número reducido de casos de sarampión. Guatemala y México están lidiando con brotes grandes, y la gran mayoría de los casos se registran en personas no vacunadas.
Sin embargo, la epidemia de sarampión en México se originó en EE.UU., y no al revés. El brote en el país comenzó en Chihuahua, México, en febrero de 2025, y se rastreó hasta un niño de nueve años no vacunado, perteneciente a una comunidad menonita, que se infectó mientras visitaba a familiares en Seminole, Texas, justo cuando el brote en ese estado estaba cobrando fuerza.
“Las discusiones sobre migración y enfermedades infecciosas a menudo invierten la relación de causalidad”, dijo Spiegel. “La movilidad humana de todo tipo — turismo, viajes de negocios, migración — puede trasladar un virus de un lugar a otro, pero el desplazamiento por sí solo no genera un brote; lo que lo provoca es la susceptibilidad”.
Nuestro veredicto
Donalds dijo que la “inmigración ilegal desenfrenada” durante la administración Biden es la causa de “un brote de sarampión en ciertas partes del país”.
Por lo general, el sarampión es introducido por viajeros estadounidenses que regresan de viajes al extranjero. Los expertos dijeron que la disminución en las tasas de vacunación contra el sarampión, las paperas y la rubéola en Estados Unidos es el principal factor detrás del brote.
No encontramos datos que señalen a los inmigrantes que ingresaron ilegalmente al país como la causa de ningún brote. Los principales países de origen de los inmigrantes que se encuentran ilegalmente en EE.UU. también incluyen la vacuna MMR en sus calendarios de vacunación infantil de rutina.
La carga de la prueba recae sobre quien hace la afirmación, y Donalds no presentó ninguna evidencia que respaldara sus declaraciones. Calificamos la afirmación como Falsa.
Nota del editor: PolitiFact tradujo esta historia del inglés al español usando un servicio de traducción automática. Los periodistas de PolitiFact con fluidez en ambos idiomas editaron la traducción para mayor claridad y precisión.
Inter Miami have hired former Argentina international Cristian “Kily” González as the club’s new head coach, according to two sources familiar with negotiations. César Luis Merlo was first to report the news.
The hiring will spell the end of interim manager Guillermo Hoyos’ time in charge of the South Florida club. In fact, he may have already coached his last game; MLS announced on Thursday that Hoyos had been suspended for one game for the club’s “repeated violations” of the late kickoff policy. (Inter Miami have become known throughout the league for delaying their return from half-time.)
Ring is rolling out a new default encryption system called TAKE, or "Throw Away the Key Encryption," that rotates video keys every five minutes and permanently deletes Ring's copy after 24 hours. The system is designed to preserve cloud features such as smart alerts and AI video search while limiting what Ring can provide under legal process to non-video account information and encrypted footage. The Verge reports: Ring says TAKE uses unique, rotating encryption keys for your footage, stored in a secure enclave and accessible only under strict conditions -- based on the features you enable on your account. Currently, footage captured by Ring cameras is encrypted in transit to the cloud and at rest, and then decrypted for Ring to process for those smart features. With TAKE, the encryption keys change for every five minutes of footage. Ring stores copies of those keys to decrypt the footage, but throws away each copy within 24 hours, "leaving you with the keys and full control of your videos," according to Ring.
TAKE was developed using Messaging Layer Security, an open standard from the Internet Engineering Task Force, according to Ring. The company says it is "inspired by the privacy principles of E2EE (end-to-end encryption)," which Ring offers on some of its cameras. However, the two systems work differently. With E2EE, Ring never has the keys and can't process your video for cloud-based features. Both options are available on newer cameras that encrypt on-device, and you can switch between the two. Older cameras encrypt at cloud ingress and only support TAKE.
According to a white paper the company published today, Ring's copy of those keys is managed inside an AWS Nitro Enclave, to which Ring's access is restricted by "access controls, cryptography, and hardware isolation." The company claims there is no persistent storage and no way for a Ring employee to access it. The stored keys can only be unlocked by the enclave through cryptographic attestation that proves it's running the exact software image Ring approved. The enclave releases a temporary key when an enabled service requests it. When asked about what happens if Ring is subpoenaed by law enforcement, a spokesperson for the company said: "Where TAKE is enabled, Ring will only be able to provide non-video information (such as basic subscriber information) and encrypted video files in response to the valid legal process. We have updated our Law Enforcement Guidelines to reflect this change."
(The Center Square) – The Trump administration will take action to protect parental rights in Kansas after an investigation revealed that three school districts in the state maintain policies to keep hidden from parents if a student asks to identify…
(The Center Square) – The National Rifle Association launched its first national bus tour Thursday as the group tries to get gun owners to vote in the 2026 midterm elections.
Virtually all laptop speakers suck. It’s the one area where even really expensive laptops tend to fall on their ass, leaving users with a tinny, harsh, and hollow sound experience. While you can’t exactly overcome physics – laptop speakers are necessarily small and thus just cannot ever sound as good as proper speakers – there’s a lot you can do with proper tuning and software magic. If you’re a desktop Linux user, you actually already possess all the plumbing needed to fix your audio; it’s just not exposed to you in any way. Luckily, an application called EasyEffects allows you to actually make use of desktop Linux’ advanced audio features to massively improve the sound quality of your laptop’s speakers.
€5000 incentive: Make me use Windows 11 for a month (the results were not great) > €10000: Video tour of my office and my computers/devices collection < €15000: Buy a Mac and use macOS for a month (and review it) €20000: I get an OSNews tattoo
EasyEffects’ own description on its GitHub page doesn’t really explain what it does or what it’s capable of, so here’s the description from Wikipedia instead.
EasyEffects uses PipeWire to process incoming and outgoing audio streams independently and can apply various sound effects in the form of plug-ins made by different developer teams such as Calf Studio Gear, MDA.LV2 and GStreamer. All plugins have their own presets and can be applicable inside the suite rather than having to use a different mixer or executing a script from the command line.
Available output effects are limiter, auto volume, compressor of dynamic range, filter, 30 bands parametric equalizer, bass enhancer, exciter, reverbation, crossfeed, delay, maximizer and spectrum analyzer. Available input effects are WebRTC, limiter, compressor, filter, equalizer, de-esser, reverbation, pitch shift and spectrum analyzer.
None of this matters, and you can forget everything from these two paragraphs.
What matters is that using EasyEffects, you can tune the audio coming out of your speakers to make them sound a lot better. The few laptops on the market that do have decent audio – MacBooks, some Dell XPS laptops, and surely a few more – aren’t magically defying physics. While they probably do have objectively higher-quality speakers, the main difference between those laptops and laptops with crappy-sounding speakers is that the former come with built-in tuning from the factory to make them sound much better than they would without any software trickery.
If you know your way around audio, you can very much use EasyEffects and tune your laptop speakers from scratch to massively improve how they sound. However, that requires time, experience, knowledge, and expertise that most people lack, including myself. Lucky for us, though, there are countless downloadable presets out there for EasyEffects designed specifically to make laptops sound better.
In an ideal world, you’d pick a preset created specifically for your laptop make and model, but odds are you won’t find one, so for most laptops you’ll have to settle for a generic preset that tries to do its best. I’ve long settled on the Advanced Auto Gain.json preset from JackHack96, which greatly improves the audio performance on any laptops I’ve tried it on, but of course, there’s countless other presets for you to try to see if there’s anything that suits your particular laptop and ears better.
Getting all of this up and running is really easy. EasyEffects is most likely packaged by your Linux distribution, and the latest version is always available as a Flatpak from Flathub. Download the preset(s) you want to try, copy them either to ~/.config/easyeffects (if you use your distribution’s package) or to ~/.var/app/com.github.wwmm.easyeffects/data/easyeffects/output/ (if you use the Flatpak version). They’ll show up right away in the Presets tab in EasyEffects, ready to be turned on and off whenever you want, making it very easy to compare and contrast to find the one you like best. EasyEffects can live in your system tray giving you easy access to your presets without having to open the main window, and it can be set to start automatically at boot. EasyEffects can also be turned on and off on the fly.
There’s obvious downsides to all of this, too, of course. First, since you’re most likely going to be using a generic preset not specifically crafted for your laptop, there’s no guarantee the results will be positive for you. Second, not every preset is ideal for every type of audio. Most of my audio consists of YouTube videos with mostly speech; if you listen mostly to music, different presets may yield better results. Third, audio quality is deeply subjective, and what sounds good to my ears may sound like total garbage to yours. Fourth, EasyEffects does take up a tiny fraction of CPU power (I’m talking 0.1-0.2% according to KDE’s System Monitor), but I have never seen it have any noticeable performance impact on anything.
Even the generic preset I use makes such a massive difference for me on every laptop I’ve ever tried it on, that I’ve become convinced EasyEffects and a few of the generic presets should be installed by default by any desktop-oriented Linux distribution. On top of that, Linux laptops OEMs like System76, Nova Custom, Star Labs, and so on, should really take the time to create proper presets for their laptops to improve their sound quality out of the box. I feel like if you’re already designing and selling laptops, you probably also have the skills and means to create a decent preset.
In fact, I’d take it a step further and urge desktop environments like KDE and GNOME to properly integrate EasyEffects into their sound settings. They shouldn’t include the entire application and its user interface, but should make it so that you can configure and manage presets right from the sound settings panels, and switch between presets from their volume applets (as well as turn it off entirely, of course). This would leave the full EasyEffects application for people who need more control, manual tuning, and more advanced features.
There’s absolutely no reason why speakers on Linux laptops should sound tinny, harsh, and hollow. The Linux desktop has all the technologies and features built right in to make speakers sound much better than they do without any tuning, and yet, very few people seem to actually be aware of this. This needs to change, and I think it’s up to distributions, desktop environments, and Linux OEMs to make this happen.
Retailers have pulled Good Good products from shelves
Garrett Clark says controversial skit was in ‘poor taste’
Callaway has ended its relationship with Good Good Golf amid mounting fallout from an advert that many believe made light of violence against women.
The golf equipment manufacturer announced the decision on Thursday, cutting ties with one of the world’s most popular YouTube sports channels effective immediately. Callaway also said it would donate $1m to organizations working to prevent violence against women and support survivors of domestic violence.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Documentation files on more than 100 websites are referencing potentially dangerous executable content that gets installed automatically when visited by many AI agents [including Claude, OpenAI's Codex, and Nous Research's Hermes]. A few dozen companies, some of them Fortune 500s, are among those that executed proof-of-concept code. At least one misconfigured site is directing visitors, human or AI, to live malware.
The potentially dangerous content is in llms.txt and llms-full.txt files, an emerging convention websites employ to provide machine-readable summaries of the site's content and its high-level structure. These files are the AI equivalent of the robots.txt standard that instructs search engines how to index the site's content. Google Lighthouse, a tool for helping web developers, has more here. Correctly configured llms.txt and llms-full.txt files for Cloudflare are here and here. "The trust model is broken," Alon Hertz, one of the researchers, wrote in an interview. "Agents treat vendor docs as ground truth and don't question them -- and neither do the humans supervising them. Agentic AI usage is exploding, and agents are spreading across every layer -- SaaS, cloud, endpoint. As they multiply, so does the supply-chain surface, and today's guards don't cover it."
"An agent doesn't distinguish between a page and a command," the researchers wrote Thursday. "Everything it reads is input, and every input is a potential instruction. Which means the entire corpus of published data that agents are now wired to consume has silently become an execution surface -- and almost none of it carries the integrity guarantees we apply to actual code."
Aug. 27, 2026 — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL) Kathryn Mohror has been selected as general chair of the 2027 International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis, more commonly known as SC27. Mohror is director of the Center for Applied Scientific Computing (CASC) as well as a Distinguished Member of Technical Staff.
Dr. Kathryn Mohror, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Credit: LLNL.
“Chairing this conference is not only an honor but also an opportunity to give back to the SC community that has been such a big part of my career,” states Mohror. “I’ve been attending SC and volunteering for more than 20 years. I keep returning because this is where people share the latest, most impactful ideas in HPC and because the community is so collaborative and welcoming.”
Held annually in November, the SC conference hosted more than 17,000 exhibitors, researchers, and practitioners last year. The week-long event is jointly sponsored by the Association for Computing Machinery and the IEEE Computer Society, and is the world’s largest conference for the high-performance computing (HPC) field. As general chair, Mohror will determine the conference’s vision and lead its operations, working with about 1,000 volunteers and a cadre of contractors.
For Mohror, leadership is service, and chairing SC comes with responsibilities beyond the logistics of organizing a large-scale conference. “HPC innovations are only possible because of the people who design them, build them, and find new ways to use them,” she says. “SC is the place where many of these innovations are born—when people meet and start talking. I want everyone at SC to find opportunities to meet new people, build our community, and get talking to drive those new innovations.”
At a time when artificial intelligence (AI) and other emerging technologies are rapidly influencing the HPC landscape, SC continues to be the premier venue for showcasing research from all corners of the field—laboratories, academia, and industry. “SC is like no other HPC conference. People come from all over the world because SC is where everything in HPC happens,” notes Mohror. “I love to see the convergence of traditional HPC, cloud computing, quantum computing, and AI communities at SC. HPC is stronger because we’re leveraging ideas across fields and pushing the boundaries of what is possible.”
Although SC27 plans are still in progress, Mohror says attendees can expect a robust and dynamic technical program along with new community-focused initiatives and plenty of opportunities to connect with others. The theme and host city will be unveiled in a special session near the end of SC26 this November in Chicago.
Mohror’s appointment is another example of LLNL’s ongoing visibility at SC—from research papers and posters to the Top500 list of benchmarked supercomputers, and from speakers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) exhibitor booth to dozens of staff volunteering on committees.
LLNL leaders have held the SC general chair role before, most recently acting principal associate director for Computing Lori Diachin in 2025 and Livermore Computing chief technology officer Bronis de Supinski in 2021.
“The SC27 general chair is a highly demanding and visible role. Kathryn has long been a trusted leader at LLNL and in the broader HPC community, and she is very well equipped to lead another successful meeting,” says Diachin.hin.
“From her start at LLNL as a postdoctoral researcher, Kathryn has consistently exceeded expectations, and I have no doubt she will do so as SC27 general chair,” adds de Supinski, who will serve as SC27 vice chair. “I expect that not only will SC27 set an all-time attendance record, but it will establish new traditions that enhance the supercomputing community, as I know she envisions.”
Mohror joined LLNL in 2010. Her research focuses on HPC portability, input/output performance, and in-system storage solutions through projects such as the Scalable Checkpoint/Restart library and the UnifyFS file system, both R&D 100 Award winners. She has led major HPC standards and software initiatives, including roles on the PMIx Steering Committee, MPI Forum, and DOE’s Exascale Computing Project. A 2019 DOE Early Career Award recipient, Mohror holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Portland State University.
Eyewitness accounts have been emerging from the Tibetan side of the border, with a woman saying she was travelling from Gyirong town towards Nepal on Wednesday morning when her group encountered the flood about 4km from Gyirong port.
“Trees and electricity poles had already been knocked down, and the flood water was bearing down on us. We didn’t dare turn around, so we could only reverse,” the woman, surnamed Fang, told Xiaoxiang Morning News.
Congressman Jamie Raskin asks president’s son to detail firm’s recent success after he joined 1789 Capital as partner
Democrats on a powerful US congressional committee have launched an investigation into a venture capital firm which has thrived since recruiting Donald Trump’s son.
Donald Trump Jr joined 1789 Capital as a partner just days after his father won a second term in office in November 2024. Congressman Jamie Raskin, ranking member of the US House of Representatives judiciary committee, has asked the president’s son to detail the firm’s recent success.
Lindsay Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the deaths of her three children and said she was suffering form postpartum psychosis. A jury is deliberating.
Aug. 27, 2026 — Since announcing Jalapeño, OpenAI’s first custom inference chip, the company has been testing the chip and the system built around it. The results show a significant performance advance: Jalapeño can serve more AI work per unit of power while also returning responses more quickly. Jalapeño delivers both higher throughput and lower latency with one architecture, where existing hardware systems often have to make a tradeoff between the two.
Credit: OpenAI
For customers, that can mean faster responses, more responsive agents, and more reliable access as demand grows. OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. These gains will help make increasingly capable AI more affordable and more broadly available.
OpenAI models also accelerated Jalapeño’s development. Earlier generations helped the team design and bring up the chip, while the company’s latest models are accelerating how OpenAI optimizes and programs it. Jalapeño’s performance extends across GPT‑OSS 120B, DeepSeek R1, and Kimi K2.5 1T, showing that the architecture works across models developed both inside and outside OpenAI. Across all three, Jalapeño delivered 1.5 to 1.9 times more AI work per watt at peak throughput and 1.7 to 3.6 times lower end-to-end latency than the comparison systems. For highly interactive workloads, it delivered 2.1 to 4.1 times higher performance.
Jalapeño is also evidence of a broader full-stack advantage. OpenAI can design models, products, serving software, chips, memory, networking, and systems together, using what OpenAI learns from real workloads to improve every layer of the stack. Jalapeño is working first-party silicon with measured results, and it is the beginning of a multigenerational platform. In the months ahead, OpenAI will ramp Jalapeño to deliver faster, more capable, and more efficient products for customers.
How OpenAI Measured Jalapeño’s Performance
OpenAI evaluates performance at a matched user experience, measuring how much useful AI work each system can complete per unit of power while meeting the latency customers and interactive agents require. This matters especially for agents, which need to complete many steps in sequence, so delays can compound across an entire task.
To understand how Jalapeño performs in practice, OpenAI tested it on InferenceX, a public benchmark from SemiAnalysis that measures the full process of serving an AI request. OpenAI compared Jalapeño with leading commercially available AI systems across the tested operating range, from high-throughput serving to highly interactive, low-latency use. Jalapeño delivered a better combination of throughput, power efficiency, and latency. Although performance is sometimes reported per chip, OpenAI believes the more useful standard is performance per unit of power.
Across all three public models, Jalapeño delivered a better combination of performance per watt and latency across the tested operating range, placing it on the Pareto frontier. To compare the systems consistently, OpenAI normalized the results using each accelerator’s published chip power rating. Jalapeño is rated at 700 watts, although its measured sustained power remained at or below 550 watts on the workloads tested.
Jalapeño performed strongly across GPT‑OSS 120B, DeepSeek R1 670B, and Kimi K2.5 1T. On Kimi, the largest public model OpenAI tested, it delivered approximately 1.5 times higher peak performance per watt and 3.4 times lower end-to-end latency than the comparison system. In OpenAI’s internal testing, Jalapeño’s advantage widened further on frontier OpenAI models, suggesting that the architecture becomes more valuable as workloads grow larger and more demanding.
Architecting for speed and efficiency within a single chip
Jalapeño’s gains come from designing the chip, memory, network, software, and rack-scale system together around real language-model workloads. Language-model inference moves through several distinct phases with different bottlenecks. Prefill, when the system processes a prompt, is compute-intensive, while decode, when the system generates the response token by token, is constrained more by memory bandwidth. Communication can also add latency when data must move between cores and chips, leaving some processing units idle while they wait. A system that excels at one phase can lose that advantage while waiting for data or moving model state between different resources.
OpenAI designed Jalapeño to minimize data movement and communication delays. This means that model state, including the KV cache used while generating a response, can be explicitly placed and kept local while the system activates the right combination of compute, memory, and networking for each inference phase. The network is integral to the architecture. Its large domain allows the entire workload to remain within one connected system, minimizing data movement and helping the complete request stay fast and efficient from beginning to end. The result is a balanced and fungible accelerator that can support changing model architectures, excel at both prefill and decode, and adapt as the balance between them changes, a defining feature of agentic workloads.
OpenAI Used AI to Design the Chip, and Designed the Chip So AI Could Program It
AI played a direct role in Jalapeño’s development, enabling the team to move from initial design to tapeout in nine months by exploring implementations, shortening design, measurement, and verification loops, and continuously iterating on model workloads. AI also helped optimize the chip’s arithmetic circuits, allowing the team to fit more compute performance into the chip on schedule.
Jalapeño was designed as a clear, predictable programming target for both humans and AI. Engineers can describe work through local tensors, explicit communication, and predictable synchronization. AI can then optimize how that work is mapped, placed, scheduled, and coordinated across the system. That clear, predictable structure gives AI a tractable way to tackle the traditionally difficult problem of parallel programming.
Supporting each new model family still requires new kernels and model-specific optimizations. Using Codex with GPT‑Astra, the team brought three open-weight models that were not part of Jalapeño’s original production plan to high performance within two months. This demonstrated both the flexibility of the architecture and the speed at which AI can help with programming. For selected GPT‑OSS attention and mixture-of-experts blocks, AI-generated implementations ran 1.5 to 1.8 times faster than the existing human-expert-written implementations. Those figures apply to the selected blocks, not the full model, but they point toward a powerful new development loop.
The Path Ahead for Efficient, Ultra-Fast Inference
AI infrastructure is valuable because of the useful real-world work it enables. By producing more useful work from the same power and hardware, Jalapeño can help OpenAI serve more demand and lower the cost of delivering a successful result. For OpenAI, that can improve operating leverage by allowing useful work and revenue to grow faster than the cost to serve. It can also support broader adoption and continued investment in better models, products, and infrastructure. Faster inference can enable faster iteration and new use cases.
Jalapeño expands what is possible for efficient, low-latency inference:
Ultra-fast-mode inference at efficiencies previously available only in fast mode
Fast-mode inference at efficiencies previously available only in batched mode
Higher efficiency for batched-mode inference
OpenAI plans to begin deploying Jalapeño within the company’s compute infrastructure by the end of the year. It is the first generation of a multigenerational roadmap: Gen 2 is deep in development, and Gen 3 is taking shape. Each generation will build on what OpenAI learns and further advance both efficiency and speed.
Meeting growing demand for AI will require more compute from every available source. OpenAI will continue to widely deploy accelerators from NVIDIA and other partners for both training and inference workloads. OpenAI’s mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.
As OpenAI prepares for deployment, the company is continuing production qualification, maturing the software, preparing to operate Jalapeño at scale, and validating performance across more models. The results so far show what is possible when the full system is designed together: more responsive, capable, and agentic AI delivered more efficiently to more people.
Under some strange circumstances, Rockstar broadcast the first (official) gameplay footage of Grand Theft Auto VI, the most-anticipated game of the year. Here’s everything you need to know.
Ah yes, it’s a drug den. We’re in familiar GTA territory here: narcotics, smart phones, tattooed gangsters and a police raid. The duo shoot their way out of the room – the gunplay is very familiar to the series – third-person over the shoulder. I’m getting a distinct True Romance/Leon vibe to this chaos.
These closeup slow-motion kill shots are giving me flashbacks to Fallout 3 and its slightly sickening VATS violence.
Hospitals, technology firms and other companies could soon be at risk from AI-enabled cyberattacks, according to a new open letter from more than 100 signatories.
A Florida grand jury has found that the administration of the governor, Ron DeSantis, “misappropriated” $10m in taxpayer money from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, a charity with ties to DeSantis’s wife, before the money was reportedly “funneled” into “two political action committees”.
In the grand jury report, which remains sealed but was obtained and published by CBS News Miami on Wednesday, the grand jurors wrote that “we conclude that these funds were misappropriated as part of a sophisticated scheme to fund political activities” but said that they found “insufficient evidence to charge anyone criminally”.
Amazon’s Annapurna Labs will be the first to collaborate on NVHBM technology alongside NVLink Fusion.
Aug. 27, 2026 — The next wave of AI is placing new demands on infrastructure. As AI agents and trillion-parameter workloads become mainstream, the performance of AI infrastructure depends not only on compute, but on how compute, memory, storage, networking and software are designed together as a unified system.
Credit: Robert Way/Shutterstock
To help hyperscalers and AI innovators build the next generation of semi-custom AI infrastructure, NVIDIA has expanded NVIDIA NVLink Fusion with NVIDIA NVHBM, a next-generation high-bandwidth memory technology that brings higher memory performance and efficiency to XPUs. It will be validated and offered by leading memory partners, extending this advanced memory capability to NVLink Fusion customers.
Traditional HBM architectures place the memory controller on the XPU die, consuming valuable silicon area that could otherwise be dedicated to compute. NVHBM, built on the same technology that NVIDIA will use for future GPUs, integrates NVIDIA’s custom memory controller into the HBM base die.
By integrating the memory controller into the 3D HBM stack instead of the XPU, NVHBM delivers up to 30% greater memory bandwidth and 15% lower HBM power consumption, and frees up to 25% more area on XPU compute die compared with standard HBM4E.
NVIDIA is establishing a standard NVHBM implementation, available from multiple memory providers. This reduces the engineering effort required to integrate and qualify memory across multiple suppliers — giving NVLink Fusion customers a faster path for bringing custom AI chips to market.
Amazon’s Annapurna Labs will be the first to work on NVHBM as part of its broader collaboration with NVIDIA around NVLink Fusion.
AWS and NVIDIA Continue NVLink Fusion Collaboration
Amazon’s Annapurna Labs will work with NVIDIA on NVHBM technology and the NVLink scale-up architecture to enhance performance and efficiency for AI workloads.
This builds on AWS’s previously announced support for NVLink Fusion. Annapurna Labs will support NVLink Fusion with its next-generation Trainium chips starting with Trainium4, which would allow Amazon chips and NVIDIA GPUs to work together with common rack-scale architecture.
“NVHBM represents a new architectural approach to advancing high-bandwidth memory performance and efficiency,” said Nafea Bshara, vice president of Annapurna Labs at Amazon. “We look forward to this technology collaboration to benefit future AWS infrastructure designs.”
Vertically Integrated and Horizontally Open
NVLink Fusion enables partners to connect custom XPUs and CPUs to NVIDIA’s rack-scale platform.
Partners can access NVIDIA NVLink chiplets, NVLink-C2C, NVLink Switches and NVIDIA MGX systems and racks, as well as a broad ecosystem of CPU partners, ASIC designers, system manufacturers and technology providers.
Offered with each generation of NVIDIA’s rack-scale system architecture, NVLink Fusion allows hyperscalers and AI-native companies to focus engineering resources on XPU innovation while using a proven technology stack for scale-up and scale-out networking, rack-scale systems and software — creating a faster, lower-risk path to deploying semi-custom AI infrastructure.
Aug. 27, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering encourages the research community to apply to the NSF Expeditions in Computing program. Expeditions support ambitious, transformative research agendas that look at least a decade into the future and have the potential to drive disruptive advances in computer and information science and engineering.
The program is designed for challenges whose scale, complexity and long-term vision require a deeply integrated, multidisciplinary team, and cannot be addressed through a collection of smaller projects. Research may span areas such as new architectures for intelligence, computing hardware and substrates, theories of learning and generalization, neuroscience-inspired computing, embodied intelligence and robotics, and next-generation communications and networking.
Projects should bring together well-integrated teams within or across departments and institutions, advance foundational or use-inspired foundational research, and create outcomes that could open new scientific frontiers, enable future technologies and strengthen the U.S. science and engineering enterprise. Researchers earlier in their careers are particularly encouraged to participate.
Award Information
Funding: Up to $15 million per project.
Duration: Up to seven years.
Estimated awards: Two to four per competition.
Total anticipated funding: Up to $60 million, subject to the availability of funds.
Key Dates
Required preliminary proposal: Dec. 2, 2026.
Full proposal: July 27, 2027, by 5 p.m., submitting organization’s local time.
(The Center Square) — Trump administration officials celebrated legal wins at the U.S. Supreme Court over the past year and looked ahead to the court’s upcoming term.
The US senator for Georgia Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, has slammed a “disgraceful and disqualifying” report that a former staffer for his Trump-backed Republican challenger Mike Collins shared images online of a swastika and depicting himself in Ku Klux Klan robes.
It is the latest instance of someone in Collins’s orbit facing scrutiny over racist or white nationalist conduct. Ossoff called the report “stunning” and said it “should shock the conscience of every Georgian”.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 27, 2026 — MIPS, by GF, today announced it is now a Premier Member of RISC-V International, with Yankin Tanurhan, SVP & CTO of MIPS, by GF, appointed as Vice Chairman of the RISC-V International Board. The milestone advances GF and MIPS leadership in the open standards and semiconductor technologies required to build physical AI platforms for aerospace, artificial intelligence, automotive, industrial, and intelligent edge applications. GF’s long-standing commitment to open standards is now extended through MIPS, an industry-leading AI platform provider, as both companies work with the RISC-V ecosystem to accelerate innovation in workload-optimized computing beyond the data center.
“AI is rapidly moving from the data center into the physical world, where intelligent systems must sense, decide, and act in real time under strict power, safety, and reliability constraints,” said Yankin Tanurhan, CTO and Senior Vice President of MIPS, by GF. “That shift requires a new class of compute platforms that are open, efficient, configurable, and tightly aligned from software to silicon. By expanding our role in RISC-V International, MIPS is helping define the open standards, processor IP, software-first development tools, and ecosystem foundation customers need to build differentiated physical AI platforms at scale.”
As an active member of several strategic RISC-V International committees, task groups, and Special Interest Groups (SIGs) focused on mission-critical, automotive, safety, security, and AI standards, including the Automotive, Functional Safety, Crypto, Vector, and Documentation SIGs, MIPS is helping define the open architecture foundation needed for physical AI platforms. Those contributions connect RISC-V standards work with differentiated processor microarchitecture, custom silicon solutions, and market-leading software stacks that customers can use to build workload-optimized systems.
Physical AI platforms bring sensing, compute, control, and software together so intelligent systems can perceive their environment, make decisions in real time, and act safely at the edge. These platforms require processor architectures that are efficient, configurable, standards-based, and closely aligned with the manufacturing, packaging, and software ecosystems needed to move from design to deployment.
“GF and MIPS together bring a legacy of RISC-V innovation that will be a valuable addition to the RISC-V ecosystem, and we’re delighted to welcome them as a Premium Member,” said Andrea Gallo, CEO of RISC-V International. “We look forward to their continued contributions that will help drive the adoption of RISC-V in high-throughput real-time platforms.”
Customer adoption of AI outside the data center will depend on open, standards-based technology that can be tailored to real workloads. To meet performance, efficiency, safety, and time-to-market goals customers need earlier visibility into how their software will execute on target hardware. MIPS enables this software-first workflow with advanced processor modeling and software tools that expose workload insights, support software and hardware co-design, and use the industry’s broadest RISC-V based processor IP portfolio.
“GlobalFoundries’ decision to join RISC-V International as a Premium Member reinforces that its acquisitions of MIPS and ARC were strategic investments supporting a long-term commitment to RISC-V. The architecture has matured into a proven foundation for semiconductor innovation, particularly in the process nodes where GlobalFoundries is highly competitive,” said Ed Wilford, Senior Research Director, Omdia. “Together, MIPS, ARC, and GF provide customers with an open path from design to fabrication, enabling greater customization, faster development, and stronger supply chain resilience while further strengthening the RISC-V ecosystem by bringing a major foundry more deeply into the standard.”
MIPS partners with leading OEMs and integrators in automotive, aerospace, robotics, and embedded computing markets to help build physical AI platforms from open standards, processor IP, software-first tools, and GF-backed silicon technologies.
About MIPS
MIPS, by GlobalFoundries, develops AI-native and safety-capable platforms for event-driven physical AI systems and embedded devices. MIPS, now combined with ARC processor solutions, is positioned to deliver software-first platforms for automotive, aerospace, robotics, IoT, and other embedded markets. Based on the open RISC-V instruction set architecture, the MIPS portfolio spans processor IP, virtual platforms, custom application-specific silicon, and physical AI platforms, backed by GlobalFoundries process technology, packaging, and manufacturing. For more information, visit MIPS.com.
Longtime Slashdot reader dhartshorn writes: Foreign-produced "bulk power" equipment is now effectively banned, and the list of what constitutes such equipment is essentially everything used to make up the grid... much of which we are heavily dependent on foreign sources to supply. In a Wednesday executive order, President Trump said foreign supply of electric equipment "constitutes an unusual and extraordinary threat" to national security. The Hill reports: Under the order, it will be up to Energy Secretary Chris Wright, in coordination with other officials, to determine whether a piece of equipment poses an issue. The order could impact a wide range of equipment, including substations, transformers, batteries used for energy storage, generators, turbines, software and more. It does not lay out specific threats or single out any country by name.
[...] Under the last Trump administration, the president put a similar order in place. The new order comes amid several reported cyberattacks on U.S. water systems, which officials suspect have links to Iran, according to The New York Times.
Small Canadian businesses are finding ways to deal with new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration last weekend, such as blocking affected products for U.S. online shoppers.
Montreal-born actor also voiced KARR in Knight Rider and the monster in Predator, having started his career on Canadian TV and radio
Peter Cullen, the actor behind the voice of characters including Eeyore in Disney’s Winnie the Pooh franchise and Optimus Prime in Transformers, has died aged 85.
He died on Wednesday at his home in Los Angeles, a statement said.
Exclusive: Campaigner says PM wrote in email he believed £500k cap should be reduced over time to guard against undue influences
Andy Burnham recently supported an even lower donations cap than previously reported, according to correspondence seen by the Guardian, as the row over next week’s elections bill escalates.
The prime minister wrote to a campaigner in May outlining his support for a £500,000 individual donations cap, which he said would “guard against the perception of any one party being unduly influenced or swayed by one person or organisation”.
Aug. 27, 2026 — The EuroHPC JU continues to fund two flagship projects, EuroCC and CASTIEL, for a third period, further expanding HPC adoption and capabilities across Europe, while strengthening their collaborative network.
EuroCC3: National Competence Centres for High Performance Computing
Building on the achievements of the previous phases, the role of EuroCC 3 will continue focusing on consolidating and improving the network’s activities while broadening the uptake of HPC across Europe. The project will continue acting as the coordinator of the 36 NCCs across the EuroHPC Participating States.
The NCCs serve as a one-stop shop for HPC-related expertise, services, and training. With a strong focus on SMEs and industry, the NCCs will support the adoption of HPC through tailored consulting, skills development, and facilitation of access to national and European resources.
CASTIEL 3: Networking and Coordination of National HPC Competence Centres
Leveraging the work of CASTIEL 1 & 2, the newly launched CASTIEL 3 project aims at further strengthening Europe’s advance-computing capacity, by promoting interaction and exchange of expertise and competence across the NCCs network.
The networking and coordination of the NCCs at the European level is essential for ensuring effective collaboration, sharing of best practices, and the harmonization of HPC services across Europe. In this context, CASTIEL 3 provides a unified framework for networking, knowledge sharing, training, and service visibility, enhancing EuroHPC projects, digital skills, innovation, and SME competitiveness.
The project will ensure coherent development and visibility of HPC competencies, training and services across Europe and complement other key EuroHPC initiatives such as the Virtual Training Academy, AI Factories, AI Factory Antennas, the Centres of Excellences (CoEs) and the EC’s Digital Innovation Hubs (EDIHs).
CASTIEL 3 will also reinforce NCC support and visibility for SMEs and industry by coordinating service development, facilitating best-practice exchanges, and leveraging the HPC Service Hub.
With reference to training, CASTIEL 3 will ensure high-quality, harmonised HPC training and mentoring within the NCCs, aligned with the EuroHPC JU-funded projects EVITA and EUMaster4HPC.
With the launch of its new umbrella brand HPC in Europe, CASTIEL 3 is strengthening its focus on user-centred communication, cross-project collaboration, and a more integrated European presence.
To support this vision, CASTIEL 3 operates the HPC in Europe Portal as the central hub for HPC competences, services, and training, while integrating new countries into the NCC network and enhancing collaboration among NCCs and other key European partner initiatives.
Starting on April 1, 2026, the project EuroCC3 will run for a 3-year period with a total budget of up to €19 926 915.57 EUR million, provided by the Digital Europe Programme and the EuroHPC Participating States.
CASTIEL 3 will also run for a 3-year period starting on 1 April 2026 and receive up to €1,999,883.5 million funding from the Digital Europe Programme.
EuroCC 3 and CASTIEL 3 follow on from EuroCC 2, EuroCC4SEE and CASTIEL 2, which started on 1 January 2023 and ran for three years.
SEATTLE and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 27, 2026 — Amazon Web Services (AWS) and NVIDIA have announced a major expansion of their strategic collaboration to meet surging global demand for AI infrastructure as demand continues to accelerate. Building on already-rapid customer adoption of NVIDIA-accelerated compute on AWS, the companies plan to deploy 2 million additional NVIDIA GPUs across AWS’s global infrastructure and deepen their work together across AI factories, CPUs, networking, open models, data processing and robotics, delivering co-engineered AI solutions that enable customers to accelerate AI development and deployment at unprecedented scale.
AI workloads are scaling at a swift pace, from how models are trained and run, to how data is processed, indexed and used to power intelligent applications. Customers are moving from pilot to production and scaling workloads across agentic AI, scientific discovery, enterprise automation and robotics. They need broader model choice, faster data pipelines and new capabilities for emerging use cases like physical AI. They also need confidence that the underlying infrastructure can keep pace with their own ability to innovate while maintaining the highest level of security and reliability for mission-critical workloads.
To meet this surging demand from frontier labs, global enterprises, startups and governments, AWS and NVIDIA are building on 16 years of joint innovation to expand AI compute capacity and bring new co-engineered solutions to customers faster. As part of the expanded collaboration, the companies are working to:
Deploy 2 million additional NVIDIA GPUs across AWS’s global infrastructure in 2027-2028
Bring NVIDIA Vera CPU‑based infrastructure to AWS
Extend NVIDIA NVLink Fusion with custom NVIDIA high‑bandwidth memory (NVHBM)
Build AI factories for the U.S. government, including 100,000 GPUs on secure AWS infrastructure for running federal and national‑security workloads
Integrate the NVIDIA platform with the AWS Nitro System and Elastic Fabric Adapter (EFA) for enhanced security and reliability
Continue to support NVIDIA Nemotron open models on Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker, giving customers more open model choice
Accelerate data processing and vector indexing on Amazon EMR and Amazon OpenSearch with NVIDIA cuDF and cuVS CUDA-X libraries for faster, more cost‑efficient analytics and AI applications
Further advance robotics workloads through Amazon Robotics’ adoption of NVIDIA’s physical AI platform, speeding innovation in warehouse automation and next‑generation robots
“Customers want the freedom to choose the best tools for their AI workloads, and they want confidence that everything works seamlessly together,” said Matt Garman, CEO of AWS. “That’s why we’ve invested deeply with NVIDIA to make AWS the best place to run NVIDIA AI technologies, optimizing performance across our infrastructure from networking and security to deployment. This expanded collaboration gives frontier labs, enterprises and governments even more ways to build and deploy AI on AWS.”
“NVIDIA and AWS have built one of the great growth engines of the AI era, and demand is running ahead of every forecast,” said Jensen Huang, founder and CEO of NVIDIA. “For 16 years, we have scaled NVIDIA computing in the cloud together. Now, we are expanding our partnership across the full stack — GPUs, CPUs, networking, open models and software — to make agentic and physical AI real at an unprecedented pace and scale that only AWS and NVIDIA can deliver. This expansion reflects customers’ demand for NVIDIA’s platform on AWS.”
Massive Expansion of AI Compute Capacity
AWS offers the widest range of GPU-based instances of any cloud provider to power a diverse set of AI and machine learning workloads. At NVIDIA GTC 2026, AWS announced plans to add more than 1 million NVIDIA GPUs starting in 2026. Since then, demand has exceeded those expectations. AWS plans to deploy an additional 2 million NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra, Rubin and Rubin Ultra GPUs in 2027-2028 across AWS Global Infrastructure, including AI factories. This additional capacity will help power customer workloads ranging from agentic AI and scientific discovery to enterprise automation and physical AI.
In addition, AWS will expand NVIDIA Blackwell capacity, including NVIDIA RTX PRO 4500 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs for Amazon EC2 G7 instances. G7 instances deliver 4.6x AI inference performance and 2.1x graphics performance compared to previous-generation G6 instances. AWS is the first major cloud provider to offer compute instances accelerated by RTX PRO 4500. AWS and NVIDIA are also collaborating on NVIDIA Spectrum networking to further optimize network performance for large-scale AI training workloads across GPU clusters.
Support for NVIDIA Vera CPUs on AWS
AWS and NVIDIA are working to bring Vera CPU-based infrastructure to AWS, providing an additional option to support agentic AI workloads that require high-performance CPU compute alongside accelerated infrastructure. Purpose-built for the next generation of AI, Vera complements AWS’s strategy to offer the broadest choice of compute — from AWS custom silicon to the latest accelerators and CPUs from partners.
Heterogeneous AI Infrastructure Using NVIDIA NVLink Fusion with NVHBM
At re:Invent 2025, AWS announced support for NVIDIA NVLink Fusion high-speed chip interconnect technology in next-generation Trainium chips. NVIDIA and Amazon’s Annapurna Labs are expanding that support to work on NVIDIA’s new custom high-bandwidth memory (NVHBM) technology, in partnership with memory suppliers, which would give Trainium access to faster, more power-efficient memory. Combined with NVLink Fusion, Annapurna Labs can now tap NVIDIA’s custom memory technology and scale-up architecture to enhance performance and efficiency for AI workloads while seamlessly integrating Trainium and GPUs within a common rack-scale architecture.
Powering Federal AI at the Highest Levels of Security
Government agencies need secure AI infrastructure to keep pace with the demands of national security. AWS and NVIDIA plan to build AI factories for the U.S. government, delivering NVIDIA’s AI stack, including plans to deliver 100,000 GPUs on AWS’s secure infrastructure for federal and national-security workloads. This collaboration puts AWS and NVIDIA at the center of federal AI advancement for national security, enabling government agencies to deploy AI at scale for workloads classified at Impact Level 6 (IL6) and above.
These new commitments build on a foundation of deep technical integrations between AWS and NVIDIA that are already delivering results for customers today, including:
Enhanced security and reliability with AWS Nitro System and EFA — Across this expanded collaboration, all NVIDIA GPU-based and Trainium-based EC2 instances — including those leveraging NVLink Fusion — are built on the AWS Nitro System and interconnected through EFA. Both GPU-accelerated and Trainium-based EC2 instances will continue to be built on the Nitro System and scaled out through EFA. Together, Nitro and EFA help ensure that as AWS expands its NVIDIA GPU fleet and integrates new interconnect technologies, customers retain the security, reliability and network performance they depend on for production AI workloads at scale.
NVIDIA Nemotron models on AWS — As part of AWS’s commitment to offering customers the broadest choice of AI models, NVIDIA’s Nemotron family of open models is available on Amazon Bedrock as fully managed, serverless models and on Amazon SageMaker for customers who want to deploy and fine-tune on their own infrastructure. This integration gives customers access to NVIDIA’s latest open models with the security, scalability and operational tooling of AWS.
GPU-accelerated data processing and vector indexing — As data volumes grow, workloads such as feature engineering, large-scale ETL and real-time analytics require increasingly faster processing. AWS and NVIDIA are collaborating to deliver GPU-accelerated data processing on Amazon EMR using Amazon EC2 G7 instances and the NVIDIA cuDF library, delivering up to 3.7x faster processing speeds and a 30% better price performance compared to CPU-based configurations. Separately, as AI applications, retrieval-augmented generation pipelines and semantic search push vector databases to billions of records, index building and tuning becomes a bottleneck. GPU-accelerated vector indexing on Amazon OpenSearch Service offloads index construction onto dedicated GPUs, delivering up to 9x faster vector indexing at a quarter of the cost — available across both managed clusters and Amazon OpenSearch Serverless.
Physical AI for robotics — Amazon Robotics is collaborating with NVIDIA to accelerate the development of next-generation robots integrating NVIDIA’s full-stack physical AI platform, including the NVIDIA Jetson platform, NVIDIA Omniverse libraries and the NVIDIA Isaac open robotics development platform. The collaboration spans simulation, synthetic data generation, robot training, route optimization, functional safety and real-to-sim validation — all running on GPU-accelerated Amazon EC2 instances. Together, AWS and NVIDIA are helping advance the capabilities that robotics workloads require at scale: massive simulation, diverse training data and continuous real-world validation.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is guided by customer obsession, pace of innovation, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. By democratizing technology for nearly two decades and making cloud computing and generative AI accessible to organizations of every size and industry, AWS has built one of the fastest-growing enterprise technology businesses in history. Millions of customers trust AWS to accelerate innovation, transform their businesses, and shape the future. With the most comprehensive AI capabilities and global infrastructure footprint, AWS empowers builders to turn big ideas into reality.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in AI and accelerated computing.
The devastating flash flood that has ripped through the border communities of Nepal and Tibet has heightened fears that the climate crisis is destabilising the geology of mountain and polar regions, threatening millions of people.
Satellite imagery suggests a glacier collapse high in the Himalayas was the primary cause of the deadly torrent of mud, water and ice that tore along the Bhotekoshi River on Wednesday. It swept away buildings and roads and left at least 360 dead and 1,400 missing.
(The Center Square) – In just 68 days, Michigan voters will decide on a proposal to ban political spending by state-regulated electric and gas utilities and companies with large government contracts.
The international community was scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet on Thursday as authorities warned that a lake formed at the site where the deadly torrents occurred was rising and at risk of bursting.
The catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday, thundering down valleys and obliterating entire villages, killed at least 389 people and left more than 1,300 missing.
Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday directing the federal government to rename Lake Ontario as “Lake America,” extending his practice of changing geographic names while tensions with Canada intensify over trade.
The order instructs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum to update federal maps, documents and databases to use the new name. The change applies to U.S. federal usage and does not require Canada, which shares the lake with New York, to recognize it.
Trump tied the decision directly to his complaints about Canada, accusing the longtime U.S. ally of taking advantage of the United States on trade and defense. The announcement follows the breakdown of bilateral trade negotiations and the imposition of new tariffs by both countries.
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes and forms part of the international boundary between the United States and Canada. Canadian officials had already dismissed Trump’s proposal when he floated it earlier this week, saying Canadians would continue calling it Lake Ontario.
The move follows Trump’s 2025 order directing federal agencies to use “Gulf of America” instead of Gulf of Mexico. During Thursday’s signing, Trump joked that the Atlantic or Pacific oceans could be next.
The White House said the Lake America designation is effective immediately for official U.S. federal use.
Rescue teams in Nepal are searching for at least 33 British nationals who are among those missing after flash floods ravaged its border with Tibet, killing more than 380 people.
The deadly flash flood in Nepal was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists.
Panic is refunding Playdate customers the 19% tariff charges it passed along while the Trump administration's import duties were in effect, after the Supreme Court ruled the tariffs illegal and the company began receiving refunds from the government. Panic says the money "just [wasn't] ours to keep." Ars Technica reports: In an update posted on the Playdate help site this week, Panic noted that it has finally "begun to receive refunds of the tariffs we paid in the last year" and had consequently "refunded all tariffs charged to customers."
In the initial version of that tariff note, Panic explained that it couldn't afford to simply "absorb" the 19 percent tariffs it was being charged to import Playdate hardware made overseas because "our margins on Playdate are low." As such, while the tax was in effect, it was passed along to customers as an explicit subtotal line item at the bottom of all Playdate orders. That's in contrast to companies like Nintendo, which vaguely cited "market conditions" and tariff "uncertainty" in raising the asking price of legacy hardware and some Switch 2 accessories last year.
Speaking to Game Developer, Panic co-founder Cabel Sasser said filing paperwork to claw back these taxes and processing tariff refunds for customers took a fair bit of backend work. Still, he said returning that money to Playdate purchasers in the end was a no-brainer. "It's just not our money to keep, and it felt really good to give it back," Sasser said. "That's an easy way to know you made the right decision." "It just felt like the right thing to do," Panic wrote in a refund email message shared on Reddit.
When police in Kent, United Kingdom, arrested American peace activist Max Geller in 2021 for chaining himself to a van parked in front of an Israeli-owned weapons factory, he knew he might be jailed and face charges for his protest.
What he didn’t realize was that he could be hit with U.S. sanctions five years later for his past ties to a so-called terrorist organization.
The Trump administration on Wednesday announced sanctions against the U.K.-based anti-genocide protest group Palestine Action, which organized the 2021 demonstration and dozens of subsequent actions at U.K. factories owned by Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer, Elbit Systems. The goal, in the U.S. government’s words, is to “protect Americans from the risks posed by far-left terrorism.”
“A major threshold has been crossed,” said Geller, who was previously Palestine Action’s spokesperson but left the group in 2025, when the British government made membership punishable by 14 years in prison. “They’re now treating regular Americans who want to effectively oppose genocide as terrorists.”
The specific parameters of the U.S. sanctions are not yet clear, but Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pledged the government would “continue to cut the financial lifelines of these groups until they are eliminated.” Sanctioned groups and individuals cannot receive funds, goods, or services from American people or business — meaning they’re cut off from both the U.S. banking system and from any donations from Americans who might want to support them. They can have an isolating global effect: Financial institutions outside the U.S. that do business with American companies are often hesitant to affiliate with sanctioned individuals.
As a result, the sanctions could severely curtail their organizing abilities — and restrict their ability to try to stop the flow of weapons that Israel is using to carry out its ongoing genocide in Gaza.
“We are facing unprecedented attacks on dissent by the same powers that are committing genocide in Gaza,” said Huda Ammori, co-founder of Palestine Action, in an interview with The Intercept. “We are at a point in history where it’s extremely crucial to continue to resist and grow in our movement, rather than back down and to adapt and become less reliant on institutions which are essentially controlled by the powers we’re fighting against.”
While the new U.S. sanctions are a part of a long history of post-9/11 policies in its so-called war on terror, the U.K. government has made itself notorious for its specific draconian crackdown on pro-Palestine dissent. Last year, as Palestine Action members began to face terror charges in court for their demonstrations, the U.K. government proscribed the group as a terrorist organization. The organization in the U.K. immediately ceased operations after the terror proscription. Dozens of members in the U.K. are facing criminal trials for their actions at Elbit weapons factories, and more than 1,200 people have been arrested and charged under the U.K.’s Terror Act for attending rallies merely supporting the group.
Reporting from The Telegraph, which first reported the sanctions, suggested Ammori and fellow co-founder Richard Barnard would face lifetime bans from traveling to the U.S., and that British citizens who continue to support the group would be met with harsh visa restrictions.
Geller, who lives in London, wondered if his bank accounts would be frozen, along with his Venmo and PayPal accounts. He said he normally travels back and forth between the U.S. and U.K. to visit his elderly parents — and the thought of doing so now “suddenly has become scary.”
“They want people scared to even think about supporting or engaging in this kind of work,” Geller said. “This is about materially hurting Palestine.”
The new sanctions against Palestine Action, which were announced alongside sanctions against Autistici/Inventati and Masar Badil, were the latest attack in President Donald Trump’s ongoing campaign to suppress advocacy for Palestinian rights and opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Last year, Trump issued sanctions against the International Criminal Court after the court ordered war crime arrest warrants for Israel’s leaders. Those sanctions targeted people and organizations that work with the court, such as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese, who has been outspoken about the crippling effects of the sanctions. The administration has also sanctioned long-standing Palestinian human rights organizations for their work with the ICC.
“The Trump administration is once again weaponizing counterterrorism authorities to criminalize Palestinian political organizing and solidarity,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director with Democracy for the Arab World Now, which last month sued to reverse the Trump sanctions on the ICC. “Sanctions are supposed to target genuine threats to national security, not serve as a political weapon against movements challenging Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.”
The vagueness of the new sanctions is meant to strike fear in anyone who is considering support for the sanctioned group, civil liberties advocates told The Intercept. Does a social media post expressing support violate sanctions? How about hosting a talk with an individual in the group?
“Treasury hasn’t been clear on where the line is, and that’s part of the chilling effect,” said Xiangnong (George) Wang, a staff attorney at the Knight First Amendment Institute who specializes in U.S. sanctions. “In sanctioning Palestine Action, I think their target is more broadly a community of people and groups, including Americans who engage with Palestine Action.”
The Treasury Department did not respond to The Intercept’s request for comment.
The sanctions also follow the government’s case against pro-Palestine organizer Fergie Chambers, a past supporter of Palestine Action who was detained for extradition in Spain last month on alleged charges of funding terror groups. The humanitarian aid group Sameer Project, which provided meals and services to Palestinians in Gaza, previously received financial support from Chambers and this month announced it had paused operations in Gaza due to lack of funds.
The repression, said Ammori, has “expanded much more overtly to be used to crush any type of dissent.”
Despite the U.K.’s crackdown on Palestine Action, support for the group and Palestine remains energetic. Rallies in solidarity with Palestine Action and Palestinian rights continue to sprout up across the country even as the government has arrested at least 3,000 people for simple actions such as holding signs that read “I support Palestine Action.” And last year, Elbit closed its facility in Bristol after being targeted by Palestine Action, days before the government outlawed the group.
In the U.S., the group formerly known as Palestine Action U.S., now called Unity Fields as of August 2024, no longer has ties to the U.K.-based group. Though Palestine Action in the U.K. is dormant, secretive cells of Palestine Action are based throughout the U.S. and are continuing to carry out actions. Other Palestine Action cells are targeting the Israeli weapons supply chain in other countries such as Spain, Germany, Ireland, and Poland.
“We have a responsibility to create a huge dent in the Israeli war machine,” Ammori said. “They need to be profitable to operate, and if they’re operating, they’re killing Palestinians — it’s really as simple as that.”
Sally-Anne Bowen, now 65, convicted of assaulting boys at Christ’s College, Finchley, where she was chemistry teacher
A chemistry teacher has been found guilty of indecently assaulting two teenage pupils at an all-boys school in the late 1980s.
Sally-Anne Bowen, who taught at Christ’s College in Finchley, north London, assaulted the teenage boys when they were aged around 14 to 15 and she was in her mid-20s.
Jes Staley made comments to US lawmakers investigating his links to the convicted sex offender
The former Barclays boss Jes Staley has denied having sex with a woman dressed as Snow White, after being questioned about an infamous email exchange about Disney princesses with Jeffrey Epstein.
The comments were detailed in newly released transcripts from a closed-door interview last month with US lawmakers as part of their investigation into Epstein, who died in prison in August 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges.
Father Dionysios Tabakis says his views are those of Orthodox church, ‘nothing more, nothing less’
A Greek Orthodox priest whose home-recorded album of drone metal and religious dubstep has made him a cult figure in experimental music circles has issued a statement in which he has clarified his stance on homosexuality and the Greek radical right.
“As can be seen from my musical expression, I am in favour of unity, love, empathy and help for every needy, wronged and suffering person in life,” Father Dionysios Tabakis said in a public statement shared with the Guardian. “Whoever they are, whatever they believe, whether they are a saint or a sinner.”
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial has moved into deliberations as jurors decide whether the 36-year-old former labor and delivery nurse is criminally responsible for fatally strangling her three children in January 2023.
Exclusive: Experts and former officials say accounts are running dry, and funding a war with no clear endgame is the main challenge
Donald Trump’s war on Iran has driven the US military into a severe financial crisis, with the US navy forced to transfer money from its payroll and other sources to cover the costs of combat, according to documents obtained by the Guardian, and interviews with navy officials, contractors and defense analysts.
The US-Israeli operation, which has depleted US munitions stockpiles and prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes that have wrecked strategic bases across the Middle East, is piling pressure on budgets across the military.
Toward the end of high school when people asked what I was looking for in a college, I always gave them the same answer: “Good academics, not too far away from home and a good study abroad program.”
Ever since I learned about the concept of studying abroad, I knew I wanted it to be a part of my college experience, and over this winter semester, I was given the opportunity to do just that.
I returned to the United States a short time before the spring semester started after spending four weeks in London through the university’s criminal justice study abroad program.
It changed my life.
Stepping off the plane into a country where I didn’t know my way around and knew absolutely no one was extremely anxiety-inducing, but after settling in, I knew I would never want to leave.
As a part of the program, I took two criminal justice classes taught by two amazing professors here at the university. Both History of Crime and Criminal Justice and Comparative Criminal Justice Systems allowed the other students and I to explore places all around the United Kingdom, such as Windsor Castle and Parliament and even got a police walking tour of London.
Not only did the program allow the other students and me to learn about criminal justice in a new city, but it also gave us plenty of opportunities for activities not related to criminal justice as well.
I got to see four different West End and Off-West End shows during my time in London, including “Hadestown” and “Les Misérables,” two big productions that I was excited to see from the second I got there.
One show that I hadn’t even heard of before going to see, “KENREX,” was a one-man show about a crime in a small American town. It was incredible and had my friends and me talking about it for the rest of the trip.
The friendships and relationships that I made there with people I met were by far my favorite part of the trip. Going in, I was nervous that friendship groups would form quickly and that I would get pushed to the side if I was too focused on the school work and excursions compared to the more social aspect of the trip.
I have always been on the shyer side, but I knew for this experience that I wanted to be as open and affable as possible, so I threw myself into all of the social activities that I could.
Going out to dinner with people that I just met, sitting next to new people in class and making sure to talk with people who I wasn’t familiar with during walking tours were things that were outside my comfort zone, but led me to having the best time abroad.
I was lucky that our group of about 30 students was always open and friendly to me, and I loved all of the conversations and interactions I had with people who were not even in my immediate friend group that I made.
Having people to sit next to on the Thames river ride to Greenwich, walk through the National Maritime Museum with and take the Underground (or less formally known as “the Tube”) with made simple tasks that probably could have been done alone, even more memorable.
For one of our class projects, we even had to interview a native Londoner on how they felt about their own criminal justice system. What started as a project that gave me anxiety just looking at it on the syllabus turned into an amazing and hilarious experience that brought my group partners and I closer to other people in the city.
It was a trip of a lifetime that I will never forget and will definitely be talking about for the rest of my life. My roommates, friends and family members are probably sick of hearing me talk about it, but unfortunately for them, they will probably never hear the end of all of the amazing things I have to say about both London and the study abroad program.
Even though I am no longer physically in the UK, the small reminders of my trip are present in my everyday life — through the “six months ago” updates on my camera roll, the postcards I have hanging up in my room, the magnets on my apartment fridge and the friends that I made there that I have the pleasure of seeing every week.
London and study abroad will always have a physical place in my life and in my heart.
The Information reported on Wednesday that Nvidia has agreed to buy open-source platform Hugging Face for $12.9 billion. "Deal talks began after Hugging Face, an open-source AI platform developers use to collaborate, test and share tools, received acquisition interest from another suitor," reports CNBC, citing the (paywalled) report. Business Insider separately reported the acquisition talks. From CNBC: If completed, the acquisition would put one of the most widely used platforms for sharing and working with open-source AI models under Nvidia's ownership, expanding the chipmaker's reach further into the software and model ecosystem. Siddy Jobe, a fund manager at Eonopolis Exponential Technologies funds, said it made sense for Nvidia to target a company like Hugging Face, as Nvidia has made it clear that it is not looking to discriminate between closed and open-source models.
"I think Nvidia is very much a community, a platform-based company, and in that respect, I think Hugging Face fits perfectly within that. There is this five-layer cake from Nvidia, and foundational models are one of them," Jobe told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Thursday. "It is clear that Nvidia wants to be integrated in the entire stack vertically, going from energy to foundational models and also to applications," he added.
UEFA said it is preparing a criminal complaint in Swiss courts against FIFA's Gianni Infantino over possible financial mismanagement related to his failed plan to sell future World Cup profits to private investors.
Labour’s Andy McDonald says gangs ‘clearly featuring’ in a series of incidents and police are underfunded
Five MPs on Teesside have called on the government to provide more help to local police and fire services after a week in which nine people have died in two incidents.
The MPs said the communities they represented should get the “strongest possible backing from the government”.
Florida Republican gubernatorial nominee U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds linked U.S. measles outbreaks to illegal immigration.
On CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Aug. 23, host Margaret Brennan said Florida is below the immunization rate needed to achieve herd immunity for measles. Brennan then asked Donalds if his guidance for Florida parents would be to get their kids vaccinated.
“No,” Donalds said, “actually my message to Floridians and, quite frankly, to Americans is the reason why we have seen a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country is because of rampant illegal immigration into the United States from the previous administration.”
Donalds pointed to measles outbreaks in El Paso, Texas and southwest Florida, and said people who are in the U.S. illegally have not followed the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination schedule.
He continued, “So the key thing is, you number one, you got to control immigration into your country. You can’t have an entire segment of people, more than 10 million, coming to your country without that vaccination schedule.”
It’s inaccurate that 10 million immigrants entered the U.S. illegally during Joe Biden’s presidency, when the administration released about 4.3 million people into the U.S. to await immigration court hearings.
And there’s no evidence linking measles outbreaks to immigrants in the U.S. Infectious disease experts told PolitiFact that a decline in measles, mumps and rubella vaccinations in the U.S. is the primary driver of the outbreaks. Around 94% of confirmed cases in 2026 are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Donalds’ campaign did not respond to a request for information to support his statement.
George Rust, a Florida State University College of Medicine professor and epidemiologist, said the U.S. for decades had sporadic measles cases that typically started after U.S. travelers caught the virus overseas and experienced symptoms after returning home.
“Maybe one or two additional individuals would catch it from them, but because of high immunization rates and rapid public health response, there would be no second wave of cases,” Rust said. “Now, we are seeing more outbreaks because that same scenario plays out in the context of clusters of people who are unvaccinated, which allows for greater spread.”
What’s the status of measles in the U.S.?
The ongoing 2026 measles outbreak has surpassed 2025’s record-breaking case numbers, which were the most since 1991.
Receiving the recommended two doses of the MMR vaccine is 97% effective against infection.
“Ninety percent of unvaccinated people who are exposed are likely to catch it,” Rust said. “Because of the high rate of infectivity, measles outbreaks can spread exponentially in segments of the population that are unimmunized or not immune.”
Is measles spread by immigrants?
A pair of migrant families pass through a gap in the border wall to reach the United States after crossing from Mexico in Yuma, Ariz., June 10, 2021, to seek asylum. (AP)
The CDC does not report the immigration status of people infected with measles in the U.S., making it impossible to definitively tie any measles outbreaks to immigrants in the country illegally. Contact tracing during past outbreaks has shown that measles typically enters the U.S. from unvaccinated residents who traveled internationally, mostly to Europe and the Western Pacific region.
The U.S. achieved measles elimination status in 2000, which means the virus stopped continuously spreading domestically.
“Any given chain begins with someone who traveled,” said Dr. Paul Spiegel,distinguished professor of the practice and director at Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health. “An introduction becomes an outbreak only when the virus reaches enough susceptible, unvaccinated people, and the importation data do not point to migrants in any case.”
Dr. William Schaffner, a Vanderbilt Health infectious diseases specialist, agreed, saying “the very substantial majority” of cases are “caused by our own unvaccinated children who go abroad, pick up the measles and then bring it back home.” Only a minority of cases, he said, are caused by foreigners coming to the U.S.
Measles outbreaks on the U.S. west coast often come from unvaccinated U.S. residents returning from Asia, experts said, while east and central U.S. outbreaks typically originate from U.S. residents returning from Europe. “I have never seen data indicating that notable introductions have come from south of the border,” Schaffner said.
In El Paso, Texas, a measles outbreak in early 2026 occurred among immigrants in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility and a nearby federal detention facility that houses both migrants and U.S. citizens. Public health officials attributed the spread to the facilities’ poor conditions and a lack of federal data on inmates’ vaccination statuses. It’s unclear when any of the infected immigrants entered the U.S. ICE detains many people who are not recent arrivals.
In Southwest Florida, where Donalds lives, Florida’s largest outbreak was centered on Ave Maria University in Collier County. The university, citing the state health department’s contact tracing, said it most likely began with a student’s out-of-state holiday travel.
Some of thelargestoutbreaks this year were in areas with large Amish and Mennonite communities that typically have lower vaccination rates. Pastoutbreaks also clustered in similar, vaccine-averse communities.
MMR vaccination in other countries
A vial of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine is on display at the Lubbock Health Department, Feb. 26, 2025, in Lubbock, Texas. (AP)
Countries where many immigrants in the U.S. illegally come from, such as Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, all include the MMR vaccine in their routine childhood schedules.
Experts said the problem is not that these countries lack vaccination programs, but that many have seen vaccine coverage slip below the 95% threshold needed to stop measles transmission — the same problem the U.S. has.
This year, El Salvador and Honduras have reported small numbers of measles cases. Guatemala and Mexico are dealing with large outbreaks, with the vast majority of cases occurring in unvaccinated people.
Mexico’s measles epidemic, however, originated in the U.S., not the other way around. The country’s outbreak began in Chihuahua, Mexico, in February 2025, and was traced to an unvaccinated nine-year-old from a Mennonite community who was infected while visiting relatives in Seminole, Texas, as the state’s outbreak was taking off.
“Discussions of migration and infectious disease often get the causal relationship backward,” Spiegel said. “Human mobility of every kind — tourism, business travel, migration — can move a virus from one place to another, but movement does not by itself create an outbreak; susceptibility does.”
Our ruling
Donalds said “rampant illegal immigration” during the Biden administration is the cause of “a measles outbreak in certain parts of the country.”
Measles is typically introduced by U.S. travelers returning from international travel. Experts said a U.S. decline in MMR vaccinations is the primary driver of the outbreak.
We found no data pointing to immigrants who entered the country illegally as the reason for any outbreak. Top countries of origin for immigrants in the U.S. illegally also include the MMR vaccine in their routine childhood schedules.
The burden of proof is on the speaker, and Donalds provided no evidence to support his statement. We rate it False.
One wonders when, if ever, a US broadcast can win the same plaudits presenting the English league with a more American voice
There they were again, signaling with their unchanging faces and voices and their unchanging studio backdrop that another Premier League season had begun. On Friday afternoon, and again on Saturday and Sunday morning, Rebecca Lowe welcomed American viewers to what is somehow already the 14th season of the world’s most popular sporting circuit to air on NBC.
She was flanked, as ever, by her merry band of pundits, her gang of fellow British expats. The Robbies and the other ones. Also, Tim Howard as the token American, albeit one who spent 13 seasons of his goalkeeping career in the Premier League, deemed sufficiently English by osmosis to join the crew.
Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now. He teaches at Marist University.
Ratko Mladić, the infamous Serbian general who was serving a life sentence for genocide committed during the Bosnian war, has died in prison in The Hague.
Moscow threatens retaliation after Andy Burnham says UK will help Ukraine start producing long-range missiles
Russia has said it could retaliate against the UK for its support of Kyiv by striking military targets inside and outside Ukraine, amid reports that the director of the CIA warned the Kremlin against attacking Nato during a secretive visit this week.
Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, said on Monday the UK would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start its own production of Storm Shadow long-range cruise missiles. France has also agreed to supply missile technology. Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday Britain and France were “playing with fire”.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged in a Minneapolis shooting during Operation Metro Surge has been released from a Texas jail, the Associated Press reports.
More than 1,000 people, including many Americans, are still missing along the Nepal-China border after deadly floods and mudflows likely triggered by a glacial collapse.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Operation Bluebird, the Virginia-based startup trying to revive the allegedly abandoned "Twitter" name and logo, announced Monday that it has launched its new social media network: Twitter.now. "We are a small company, we have investors, and we have a product," Stephen Coates, one of Operation Bluebird's cofounders, told Ars. "And we have waited months and months to launch, and we are not going to wait anymore."
[...] Twitter.now, still in its nascent stage, only has hundreds of users for the time being. The social media network looks and feels much like the Twitter of old and many of its offshoots -- it has replies and retweets. A new and notable feature is the automated fact-checking tool, a Gemini-based "veracity engine for real-time analysis" ("Vera" for short), which runs on every tweet. Coates has been testing Vera in recent days by posting obviously false messages, like "George Washington was our second president."
"Our first goal is to see if we can truly bring back a town square that's safer and less harmful," he said. "We say freedom of speech and not freedom of reach. We want people to say what they want, but we also want to create a platform that's not financially locked into that viral content that's harmful or inaccurate." Operation Bluebird argues that Elon Musk effectively abandoned the Twitter brand and trademarks when he renamed the company X, opening the door for the startup to claim them. X Corp. sued to stop the effort, but a federal judge tentatively ruled in April that X appeared to have relinquished rights to "tweet," the bird logo, and possibly "Twitter" itself, though no written ruling has been issued.
Bluebird has taken that as enough of a green light to move forward while emphasizing that its new Twitter is not affiliated with X. "Operation Bluebird, Inc. picked up the name X Corp. walked away from and is rebuilding it on trust, in your browser at twitter.now," it states prominently on its website. "We are not X, and we are not affiliated with X Corp."
Pictures of the Ukrainian leader holding the baby pit bull with a symbolic name have proved a truth universally known in politics: If you want to get noticed, get a puppy.
Gold collection known as Treasure of Villena, worth at least €1.7m, is target of ‘very well planned’ raid
Thieves in Spain have raided the Treasure of Villena – a stunning collection of bronze age gold artefacts that has been described as the most important prehistoric trove in Europe – in the latest high-profile smash-and-grab heist on the continent.
The raid on Thursday morning of the 66 mostly gold objects in the Spanish town of Villena lasted just minutes, officials said.
Environment Agency issues 40 flood alerts across Midlands, Yorkshire and south-east of England
Dozens of homes have been damaged by flooding and the Met Office had issued warnings for thunderstorms and heavy rain at the end of a summer in which most of England and the whole of Wales was declared in drought.
The Met Office said thundery showers in England and Wales could cause 75mm of rain to fall in just 12 hours in some areas.
Move from USPS comes amid Trump administration’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting in November’s midterms
The US Postal Service (USPS) said on Thursday that new requirements for mail-in voting are now in effect as Donald Trump seeks to crack down on the practice. The move is expected to trigger a new round of legal challenges.
The Trump administration has sought to impose new rules requiring state election leaders to submit their voter rolls for inspection as part of a broader bid to increase federal government oversight over voting and elections.
Judge ruled Jeanine John Taele, discovered with firearm days before Trump visit, was unfit to face felony charge
A judge in California has suspended criminal proceedings against a man found with a loaded gun near Donald Trump’s golf course in Los Angeles, and instead ordered him to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Jeanine John Taele, 38, of Downey, California, was arrested for weapons violations days before the president spoke at a 5 August Republican fundraiser at the Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes.
The number of asylum seekers living in hotels has halved within a year, including 13 closures over the past month alone, according to new migration statistics.
Sweeping changes to the asylum system have also seen a significant drop in legal arrivals and asylum claims. But the numbers of asylum seekers who are now being housed in private accommodation has increased, as the government shifts numbers being housed in hotels into privately rented houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).
A federal district judge in Miami, Florida, has issued a preliminary injunction against Florida International University’s decision to discipline a group of students who wore anti-ICE T-shirts and stood in protest at an indoor event at the school.
The case had received attention outside of Florida before the ruling by the district court since it touches on several landmark Supreme Court decisions and rulings within the Eleventh Circuit.
As a public university, Florida International University (FIU) maintains policies and regulations that govern student conduct. It has argued that the students violated FIU Regulation 110(3), which pertains to student speech indoors. Under the policy, students can be held responsible for disrupting indoor university activities by undertaking actions such as “protests, parades, marches, picketing, demonstrations, and other similar expressive activities.”
On August 23, 2026, in ICEbreakers v. Nunez, Judge Jacqueline Becerra from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida disagreed with the university’s position and ruled that the FIU students were likely to succeed in their challenge to regulations restricting certain speech on campus.
The Incident at the Event
On March 13, 2026, according to the court’s record, FIU President Jeanette M. Nuñez was interviewing former baseball player Alex Rodriguez at an on-campus indoor event. The ICEBreakers is a student-led organization opposing FIU’s agreement to deputize the FIU police department with the powers of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
An estimated 15 ICEBreakers members were in the audience at the event. The members were wearing T-shirts that said, “ICE OFF FIU.” During the interview event, seven members of the group stood up and faced the audience in a silent protest that lasted between one-to-three minutes. The court noted that no one at the event “complained or otherwise raised any concern regarding Plaintiffs’ conduct.” The students left the event, and, after an interaction with FIU police officers, they left the area.
According to the court, “based on the evidence submitted to date, it does not appear that any Plaintiff, or anyone else wearing an ICE OFF FIU’ T-shirt, spoke or did anything other than sit, stand, and walk.”
The matter was referred to FIU’s Office of Student Conduct & Academic Integrity. On April 7, 2026, the office issued letters to the students who stood, charging them with misconduct for failing to comply with FIU Regulation 110, Section 3.
After meeting with officials and attending a hearing, the students were charged with failing to comply with Regulation 110(3). They received a written reprimand, and each were directed to submit a video reflection “explaining your understanding of FIU Regulation 110, what is expected under FIU Regulation 110 related to indoor and outdoor areas, and how you will apply what you have learned moving forward.”
The students appealed the decision within FIU and the appeal was denied. FIU then required students to submit video reflections by September 4, 2026, or FIU would place a “student conduct hold” on their academic records, blocking their ability to register for classes, and obtain financial aid, transcripts, a diploma, or copies of any other academic records.
On August 11, 2026, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a lawsuit on behalf of the students.
The Legal Precedents
In her opinion, Judge Becerra discussed two Supreme Court decisions. The Court has held since the late 1960s that public school officials can regulate student protests that they view “materially and substantially interfere with the requirements of appropriate discipline in the operation of the school.” But not all protests can be regulated by schools, especially those that express “pure speech.”
The foundational case for public secondary schools and universities is Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969). In December 1965, at the height of the Vietnam War, three students, including Mary Beth Tinker, a 13-year-old student at Warren Harding Junior High School in Des Moines, Iowa, wore black armbands to school to protest the war. They were all suspended.
In his 7-2 majority opinion, Justice Abe Fortas said, “First Amendment rights, applied in light of the special characteristics of the school environment, are available to teachers and students. It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
In 2021, the Supreme Court expanded its holding on student speech in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., where the justices held that a student’s off-campus Snapchat outburst did not warrant a suspension, even though it targeted a school-related activity that upset students at school.
The Judge’s Ruling
Becerra cited the Tinker precedent as guiding her decision. “Any discussion of a student’s freedom of speech in public schools certainly begins, and perhaps ends, with the Supreme Court’s decision in Tinker,” she wrote. “The Tinker standard still governs: student speech cannot be restrained unless it ‘materially disrupts’ or ‘involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others.’”
She also pointed to Mahanoy as relevant. “The Court explained [in Mahanoy] that the ‘alleged disturbance’—five to ten minutes of discussion during an algebra class and some cheerleaders being ‘upset’ about the posts—did ‘not meet Tinker’s demanding standard, which requires ‘more than a mere desire to avoid the discomfort and unpleasantness that always accompany an unpopular viewpoint.’”
“For at least 60 years, the standard has been the same: student speech cannot be curtailed unless it materially disrupts the educational mission or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others,” Becerra reasoned as applying the precedents to her case.
“At this stage, Plaintiffs are substantially likely to prevail on their claim that Regulation 110(3) impermissibly prohibits Constitutionally protected speech by failing to limit its prohibition to speech that causes substantial disruption,” she determined.
Becerra pointed to language in Regulation 110(3) which states that “[t]o protect health, safety, and welfare and prevent disruption of University activities, protests, parades, marches, picketing, demonstrations, and other similar expressive activities are prohibited inside University building.” The FIU definition of "expressive activities” indoors elsewhere in its policy, she said, includes activities that are “exercises of free speech … protected under the First Amendment.”
Becerra held that Regulation 110(3) prohibited First Amendment expressive activities “regardless of whether they cause any disruption.” She also rejected FIU’s argument that the students were asserting “a nearly unlimited right to protest on government property.” Becerra wrote that Tinker requires “that restrictions on student speech be limited to those activities and expressions that cause material disruption. That is hardly a ‘nearly unlimited’ right; it is simply the law.”
Becerra also rejected claims from FIU that the “university (arguably all of it) is a limited public forum” subject to appropriate time, place and manner restrictions. “Here, FIU relies on its right to create rules to maintain order and decorum,” she noted. “In doing so, it invites the Court to conduct an analysis of the type of public forum at issue in order to assess whether Regulation 110(3) is valid.”
“The problem with FIU’s invitation is that it points the Court down a road not taken in any school speech case either by the Supreme Court or the Eleventh Circuit,” she noted.
“FIU values freedom of expression and supports an environment that fosters civil discourse and the respectful exchange of ideas. At the same time, the university's responsibility is to maintain campus operations, support its educational mission, and ensure safety and access for all members of the university community. As this matter is pending litigation, we cannot comment further. We will comply with the court's order while considering our legal options,” it told CBS News.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
Mosquito traps are set up at Germany’s biggest airport and doctors are asked to look out for symptoms of disease
German health officials are seeking to reassure the public after two workers at the country’s biggest airport died of malaria.
Mosquito traps have been set up at Frankfurt airport and a mosquito monitoring process is under way. A detailed investigation is being conducted to clarify how the workers contracted the disease.
(The Center Square) – Wisconsin collected $450 million more than estimates in taxes and fees last fiscal year, meaning the state will likely have an estimated $3 billion budget surplus.
WILMINGTON, Del., Aug. 27, 2026 — The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the global home of open source software the world relies on, today announced that Apache Iggy and Apache Sourcelume have become Top-Level Projects (TLP).
Apache Iggy is a hyper-efficient, persistent message streaming platform written in Rust, built for predictable ultra-low latency and a minimal infrastructure footprint. Designed from the ground up around a thread-per-core, shared-nothing architecture and modern Linux io_uring, Iggy eliminates userspace locks on the hot path, GC pauses, and unnecessary thread contention. Unlike traditional streaming platforms with limited protocol support, Iggy natively supports TCP, QUIC, HTTP, and WebSockets, making real-time streaming accessible across a broad range of applications and environments. With a strong focus on developer experience — including SDKs across multiple programming languages, an extensible connector ecosystem, and Viewstamped Replication Revisited-based clustering — Iggy provides a modern streaming backbone for real-time, data-intensive, and AI workloads.
“From the beginning, we’ve had an obsession with performance, predictable tail latency, and infrastructure efficiency, treating them as first-class design principles for modern data streaming,” said Kranti Parisa, Apache Iggy PMC Chair. “Today, Iggy can process millions of messages per second and hundreds of terabytes of data per day on a single node, while maintaining single-digit millisecond tail latency. Its architecture continues to be validated through demanding real-world workloads and continuously published benchmarks. Becoming an Apache Top-Level Project gives Iggy a strong, independent, community-governed foundation for the future. It’s an especially exciting time to be building streaming infrastructure, as real-time data increasingly becomes the foundation for a new generation of applications, AI, and systems of intelligence. We’re excited to keep pushing the boundaries of what modern hardware and distributed systems can deliver. Congratulations, and thank you, to the entire Apache Iggy community.”
Apache Sourcelume is open source instrumentation for AI training-data provenance, giving dataset producers, model builders, and downstream consumers a shared, vendor-neutral way to document where training data came from and under what terms it may be used. Rather than introduce a new vocabulary, Sourcelume adds an attestation and registry layer on top of existing dataset-description standards — signing, publishing, and making the metadata those standards already produce independently checkable.
“Training data is the foundation everything else in AI is built on, and right now that foundation is largely undocumented,” said Jamie Goodyear, Apache Sourcelume PMC Chair. “A signed record isn’t an endorsement — it’s accountability. A producer can state — in a standard, cryptographically signed way — exactly what they’re asserting, and anyone downstream can verify who said it and that it hasn’t changed.”
About the Apache Incubator
Open source projects need healthy communities to thrive. The Apache Incubator is the entry path into the ASF, hosting incoming projects (called podlings) and providing them with services and mentorship to help them build resilient, durable communities and adopt The Apache Way. When a podling has demonstrated an active, diverse contributor base and a track record of independent, consensus-driven governance, it graduates from the Incubator to become a Top-Level Project.
About The Apache Software Foundation
The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is the global home for open source software, powering some of the world’s most ubiquitous software projects, including Apache Airflow, Apache Camel, Apache Cassandra, Apache Groovy, Apache HTTP Server, and Apache Kafka. Established in 1999, the ASF is at the forefront of open source innovation, setting industry standards to advance software for the public good. Learn more at https://apache.org.
The ASF’s annual Community Over Code event is where open source technologists convene to share best practices and use cases, forge critical relationships, and learn about advancements in their field: https://communityovercode.org.
Thai navy says ‘routine’ visit’ will allow personnel to rest and recuperate amid reports of poor conditions onboard
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is set to make a temporary stop in Thailand next week as it heads back to the United States, Thai navy officials said, after spending more than 250 consecutive days at sea supporting US operations against Iran amid recent reports of poor living conditions and low morale onboard the vessel.
The Lincoln left the Middle East several days ago after being relieved by the USS George Washington, and is now heading home to San Diego. A Thai navy official told Reuters this week that the carrier was expected to make a brief port visit in Thailand next week for the crew to rest and recuperate before continuing their journey home.
On the heels of viral trends like looksmaxxing (maximizing one’s attractiveness) and healthmaxxing (optimizing physical and mental wellness), moneymaxxing describes the pursuit of better finances. But what does it mean, exactly? Well, it starts with a concept that’s been around…
Thermal drone footage shows a Microsoft-backed AI datacenter powering its operations with dozens of unpermitted generators
The largest planned AI datacenter in New Jersey is being accused of violating federal law after a visual investigation found the site running dozens of unpermitted gas-powered generators.
Thermal drone footage captured by the non-profit newsroom Floodlight last week showed the partly completed DataOne facility in Vineland was operating at least 45 of the site’s 62 generators at the time.
Reuters reports that Meta explored shrinking some teams by as much as 60% as part of an "AI native" restructuring plan that would shift much of employees' day-to-day work to AI agents and smaller teams of human "builders." But the effort quickly ran into employee revolt and disappointing productivity gains, leading Zuckerberg to scrap a planned second wave of cuts after Meta laid off 10% of its workforce in May. From the report: In January, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his top lieutenants gathered for their annual leadership retreat at his Hawaii compound. There they hatched a radical plan to reimagine work at the social-media giant in the age of artificial intelligence. Code-named Project OT -- short for Organization Transformation -- the plan envisioned an "AI native" future for the owner of Facebook and Instagram. AI would take over much of the daily work performed by thousands of human employees. Virtual workers would be overseen inside Meta by smaller, "talent-dense" cadres of human staffers, according to one internal planning document reviewed by Reuters and three people familiar with the project.
In scenario-planning exercises, two of these people said, executives explored slashing the size of many teams across Meta by as much as 60%. Some employees would be offered roles in new units, while others would be laid off as part of a culling that one human-resources executive projected would be as big as or bigger than the company's cuts of around 25% three years ago, according to another internal document. The restructuring would be carried out in two "waves," beginning with a first purge in May and followed by another shake-up in November, internal planning documents seen by Reuters showed. Layoffs would be supplemented with the closing of open positions and pushing people out who Meta believed were poor performers. These and other details of the plan, including the scale of the restructuring, haven't been previously reported. AI would take over much of the daily work performed by thousands of human employees. Virtual workers would be overseen inside Meta by smaller, "talent-dense" cadres of human staffers.
But on the night of May 19, just hours before the first layoff wave, Zuckerberg blinked. Meta laid off 10% of its employees the next day, but it called off planning for the November cuts, according to one internal document reviewed by Reuters. By then, Meta employees were in open revolt, convinced that the company's AI transformation initiatives were partly aimed at replacing them. Internal data was also suggesting that autonomous AI "agent" technology at the heart of the strategy was failing to deliver hoped-for productivity gains. Some investors were questioning what Meta had to show for its gargantuan spending on AI. This article reveals for the first time the rapid pace of the cuts Meta was considering, the thinking behind the plans and how they quickly unraveled. Based on scores of internal documents, posts and recordings reviewed by Reuters, as well as conversations with more than 20 people with knowledge of Meta's inner workings, the reporting shows how the social-media giant attempted to position itself at the forefront of an AI-driven workplace overhaul, only to stumble in the execution.
One claim alleges that a developmentally disabled man was pressured into spending more than $40,000 during a single visit and giving employees more than $10,000 in tips.
TOKYO, Aug. 27, 2026 — Kioxia Corporation, a world leader in memory solutions, announced today that it has commenced site preparation and other related work for the construction of Fab3, a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at the Kitakami Plant in Iwate Prefecture, Japan, to expand production capacity for advanced three-dimensional flash memory BiCS FLASH. Fab3 will be constructed on land south of Fab2, targeting operations to commence in fiscal 2029.
The flash memory market is expected to continue to expand significantly in the medium to long term, driven by agentic AI, physical AI, and on-device AI. Through the construction of Fab3, Kioxia aims to meet rising market demand by expanding production and ensuring stable supply of cutting-edge flash memory products.
Detailed plans for Fab3 regarding construction schedule and equipment investments will be determined based on market trends. Investment plans for Fab3 are contingent upon government support.
Under its mission to “uplift the world with ‘memory,’” Kioxia remains committed to capturing growing demand, making strategic capital investments, and pursuing steady and sustainable growth.
About Kioxia
Kioxia is a world leader in memory solutions, dedicated to the development, production and sale of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). In April 2017, its predecessor Toshiba Memory was spun off from Toshiba Corporation, the company that invented NAND flash memory in 1987. Kioxia is committed to uplifting the world with “memory” by offering products, services and systems that create choice for customers and memory-based value for society. Kioxia’s innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, automotive systems, data centers and generative AI systems.
Manchester, London Stansted and East Midlands airports have been hit by a cyber-attack in which hackers accessed the data of about 8.7 million customers.
The incident involved data related to “car park, lounge and fast-track bookings and in-airport wifi sign-ups”, and the hackers obtained email addresses, phone numbers, vehicle registration numbers and postcodes, said Manchester Airports Group (MAG), which operates the three hubs.
Aug. 27, 2026 — Diraq has published The Case for Silicon, a new white paper setting out its architecture and roadmap for building commercially viable, utility-scale quantum computers using silicon spin qubits manufactured with CMOS-compatible semiconductor technology.
By bringing quantum computing into the same manufacturing environment that produces today’s advanced semiconductor chips, Diraq is developing a pathway to integrating millions of qubits onto a single chip and deploying quantum processors within existing data centre environments. Diraq is targeting a system with 150,000 physical qubits and up to 1,000 logical qubits by 2029, followed by more than 2 million physical qubits and more than 10,000 logical qubits by 2031.
Four Requirements for Utility-Scale Quantum Computing
Progress towards commercially viable quantum computing needs to be assessed at the level of the complete system, bringing together physics, engineering, and economics.
Diraq identifies four requirements for commercially viable, utility-scale quantum computing that any quantum computing architecture must address simultaneously:
Scalable: A utility-scale quantum computer requires a credible pathway to millions of physical qubits. Diraq is targeting more than 2 million physical qubits on a single silicon chip by 2031.
Economical: Quantum computing must become more economical as qubit counts increase. Diraq is targeting a total system cost of less than $1 per qubit at scale, made possible by a compact system that keeps operating costs and energy consumption low.
Deployable: Utility-scale quantum computers must integrate with existing computing infrastructure. Diraq is designing a fault-tolerant quantum processing unit to fit within a rack-scale cryogenic system and integrate with standard data centre infrastructure.
Powerful: Commercially useful quantum computing requires fast, error-corrected quantum operations. Diraq’s architecture combines fast quantum logic with advanced error correction and is designed to enable one million error-corrected operations per minute.
“Scaling quantum computing isn’t about a single breakthrough – it’s solving for physics, engineering, and economics at the same time. Silicon is the only platform that answers all three,” says Andrew Dzurak, CEO and founder of Diraq. “It gives us a manufacturing path proven over decades, a cost curve that improves as we add qubits, and a system designed to run inside today’s existing computing infrastructure.”
With a pathway to millions of silicon spin qubits on a single chip, The Case for Silicon sets out how Diraq plans to build utility-scale quantum computers for deployment in today’s existing computing infrastructure. By combining scalable silicon quantum processors, CMOS manufacturing, low-cost operation, and data centre-ready deployment, Diraq is developing a path towards useful, commercially viable quantum computing at scale.
Diraq is commercializing quantum computing with a silicon-based approach that uses existing CMOS processes. By utilizing the same manufacturing methods that produce today’s semiconductor components, Diraq is pioneering a faster, more economical road to commercial-scale quantum computing. The company’s proprietary ‘quantum dot’ technology is based on 20 years of research by founder Andrew Dzurak, designed to enable millions of qubits on a single chip, for powerful and scalable deployments. Diraq’s mission is to revolutionize quantum computing by unlocking the scale needed for useful commercial applications. Founded in Sydney, Diraq has more than 100 team members globally, with operations in Melbourne, Palo Alto, Los Angeles, and Chicago.
The Pinellas County Jail in Clearwater, Florida, where ProPublica found immigrants were rebooked at much higher rates than at similar facilities across the country Tina Russell for ProPublica
Every third morning Soumia Bensalah was roused before the break of dawn. Pulled from her cell, shackled hand and foot, she was herded onto a bus and driven over Tampa Bay from the Pinellas County Jail to a cramped hold room at a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office.
Each time, she sat there all day, still shackled. Once evening came, she was driven back to the jail, forced to wait for hours in a hallway, photographed, strip-searched, questioned and led back to her cell. This happened five times last December, and Bensalah said it left her exhausted and humiliated.
It was no coincidence that Bensalah, a French Moroccan with a pending green card application, was released from the Pinellas jail and then sent back at regular, 72-hour intervals, according to legal experts. That’s the maximum amount of time that county jails like Pinellas’ can hold immigrants on behalf of ICE. The limit exists to prevent immigrants detained on civil charges from spending too long in jails meant for people detained on criminal charges.
Repeat releases and readmissions, known as rebookings, typically happen in secret and circumvent federal rules and regulations, according to eight legal experts interviewed by ProPublica.
The jail had refused to release the logs that documented Bensalah’s journey, citing federal immigration regulations that shield jail records, which are typically public. We were able to trace the journey after obtaining an unredacted copy of the Pinellas jail’s booking logs from a source who provided them on the condition of anonymity, for fear of workplace reprisal. We checked them against anonymized federal immigration data collected by the Deportation Data Project.
The repeat rebookings stem from the fact that the federal government often doesn’t have enough detention space to jail all the immigrants whom ICE and its cooperating local authorities are rounding up. The shortage of detention space is pronounced in Florida, where the majority of law enforcement agencies have signed agreements to collaborate with ICE on immigration enforcement.
ProPublica’s analysis of data obtained by the Deportation Data Project shows that over the past year, jails in both Pinellas County and in Orange County, Florida, had unusually high numbers of repeat rebookings of immigrants held for ICE compared with other jails nationwide. (Read more about our methodology here.) The Orange County Jail, in Orlando, rebooked 559 of them two or more times from July 2025 until early February 2026, when the data shows the practice ceased. Less than two hours away, in the Tampa Bay area, Pinellas rebooked 174 immigrants at least twice from July 2025 until the practice appeared to cease in July 2026, when zero rebookings were recorded in the data.
The scale in the two Florida counties is unmatched, ProPublica found. Other jails across the country rebooked no more than 10 immigrants two or more times.
All of the rebooked immigrants ProPublica counted were jailed for ICE, meaning they were not being detained on local charges. Our analysis counted a person as having been rebooked only if they cumulatively spent at least 72 hours in jail.
Emily Ryo, a Duke University law professor who studies ICE detention, said jails often can’t provide comprehensive medical screenings, space for confidential legal consultations or even outdoor access. All of those things should be guaranteed to immigrants in ICE custody, according to ICE’s own detention standards.
Two former Department of Homeland Security officials who spoke with ProPublica described the repeated rebookings as an attempt to evade the detention standards.
“What it shows is that they were very aware that they were breaking a rule,” said Michelle Brané, a former DHS immigration detention ombudsperson.
Bensalah landed in jail after her U.S. citizen husband allegedly assaulted her, according to a police report. She called the police, who observed cuts on both and booked them into the Polk County Jail on battery charges. (The charges against both were later dropped.) She posted bond but was not released because of an ICE detainer, a written request from the federal government asking a jail to hold someone for up to 48 hours after they’d otherwise be released. A detainer is meant to give ICE time to pick up an immigrant and begin deportation proceedings.
State law requires every jail in Florida to sign collaboration agreements with ICE. Most jails in the state can detain immigrants for ICE for only up to 48 hours. Through June, Pinellas and Orange had special contracts that ICE says allowed them to hold immigrants for up to three days. ICE designates them as “under 72” facilities in its database.
“At 72 you should have walked him out the door,” said a former senior DHS official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of fear of reprisal.
Instead of sending Bensalah to a longer-term immigration detention facility in the days after she posted bond, ICE moved her two counties over to Pinellas. Three days later, her rebookings began.
“There’s no argument that this is a lawful detention,” Jennifer Chacón, a professor of law at Stanford University, said of the repeat rebookings.
In response to ProPublica’s questions about the repeat rebookings, a DHS spokesperson wrote: “ICE is NOT breaking any laws by making custody determinations based on bed space and ensuring detainees’ presence for immigration proceedings or removal from the United States.”
ProPublica shared with DHS details about Bensalah’s case. The department responded that “she received due process.”
“Under President Trump and Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” DHS wrote. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the U.S.”
All the people rebooked at least twice in Pinellas and Orange counties ended up behind bars for more than 72 hours. One woman from Mexico was rebooked into Pinellas 10 times, spending a cumulative 26 days in the jail. (DHS declined to comment on her case because ProPublica did not provide her name; she had declined multiple requests for an interview.) She was then transferred to an ICE facility and eventually released after posting a $2,000 bond, according to Deportation Data Project figures. Only 65 people rebooked into those counties’ jails two or more times through June 2026 were eventually released on bond.
Of the 423 immigrants rebooked at least twice in Pinellas and Orange counties through December 2025, 115 — or 27% — had no criminal charges or convictions except for traffic-related offenses. That is consistent with recent data released showing that an increasing percentage of all ICE detentions involve people with no criminal record or charges.
10 Rebookings at the Pinellas County Jail
In late 2025, federal and state officials kept a Mexican woman in custody for almost a month by repeatedly rebooking her just before her 72-hour time limit ran out.
Note: ProPublica withheld the identity of this individual after she did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Source: Deportation Data Project.Chris Alcantara/ProPublica
For some rebooked immigrants in Orange County, the turnaround time was extreme: 30 of them were rebooked in 15 minutes or less, right as their current stay approached 72 hours. Those rebookings were between September 2025 and February 2026. Orange County rebooked five immigrants back into the jail in as little as one minute.
Additionally, the Pinellas County Jail has held at least 157 immigrants for ICE for longer than three business days in a single booking since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term in January 2025, according to a ProPublica analysis. In the two years prior, it held only five immigrants for longer than three days. After one woman — a Brazilian immigrant who had not been charged with a crime — challenged her nine-day detention in federal court this July, ICE released her, calling her jail stay a “procedural error.”
“All her claims will be heard by an immigration judge, and she will receive due process,” DHS wrote in response to questions about the Brazilian woman’s case. “This administration will not ignore the rule of law.”
ProPublica found that all of the people rebooked two or more times in Pinellas County Jail ended up being held for more than 72 hours. One woman from Mexico was rebooked 10 times, for a total of 26 days in county detention.Tina Russell for ProPublica
Legal experts say that the only real recourse for immigrants repeatedly rebooked or held for prolonged periods in a local jail is to file an emergency petition in federal court seeking relief from illegal detainment. ProPublica was able to determine that at least 29 of the immigrants held for ICE in Orange or Pinellas counties filed such petitions, called habeas corpus claims.
In response to the Brazilian woman’s habeas petition, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office claimed that she was in federal custody and that it didn’t have the power to release her. Federal appeals courts have found the opposite: Jails have the power to release ICE detainees after a hold expires and can be found liable if they don’t. Last November, a federal jury ordered Suffolk County, New York, to pay $112 million to more than 600 immigrants it found had been wrongly held. Suffolk County has appealed the decision.
Corporal Jamie Miller, a spokesperson for the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, told ProPublica that the facility holds people for ICE for only up to 72 hours before releasing them. The sheriff’s office declined further comment after ProPublica shared the findings from its analysis and sent a list of questions. The office declined requests for an interview with the sheriff.
In a written statement to ProPublica, a spokesperson for the Orange County Jail said it had eliminated “multiple bookings.” The statement referred further questions to ICE.
Our analysis shows that in Orange County, the rebooking practice stopped in early February. That change happened after widespread public opposition. In Pinellas, where opposition has been quieter, the rebookings slowed in January, but single stays exceeding 72 hours started to climb.
15 Rebookings at the Orange County Jail
Officials rebooked a Brazilian woman more than a dozen times during a nearly two-month stint.
Note: Because federal immigration data is anonymized and the Orange County Jail declined to produce its booking logs in response to a records request, ProPublica could not identify this individual. Stints that were longer than 72 hours did not qualify as overstays for this individual because each included weekends, which do not count, according to the jail’s then-contract with federal authorities. Source: Deportation Data Project.Chris Alcantara/ProPublica
Orange and Pinellas counties both stand out nationally for their volume of rebookings. But their differing politics contributed to different outcomes at their jails.
In majority-Democratic Orange County, religious groups, attorneys and a coalition of activists prompted officials and the courts to take action. In county commission meetings, community members told the stories of immigrants held in the jail and pointed out that the county was losing money every time it held someone for ICE.
County officials — caught between a state legislative mandate to cooperate with ICE, a national mass deportation push that was filling their jail with detainees and a vocal electorate that demanded change — wrestled with how to respond.
In August 2025, the Orlando Sentinel reported on half a dozen rebookings in the Orange County Jail. Months later, in late January, a defense attorney showed up at a county commission hearing to describe how the rebooking practice was still going on. She claimed she had multiple clients who’d been illegally held at the jail on behalf of ICE and that the rebookings violated due process.
A week later, County Mayor Jerry Demings sent a letter to ICE, informing it that “ICE inmates will be limited to one continuous housing period of up to 72 hours per immigration matter.” After the letter, the rebookings ceased, ProPublica’s analysis shows.
The day Demings sent the letter, Orlando federal judge Paul Byron criticized the rebooking practice at a hearing for an immigrant who’d claimed he was illegally detained.
“If the government is pulling a detainee out of jail to artificially reset the clock, that is wildly inappropriate,” Byron told Assistant U.S. Attorney Phillip Ragler. “What allows that?”
Ragler didn’t have an answer. Byron ordered the immigrant be freed.
Ragler recently told ProPublica that the experience led to a crisis of conscience.
“Being forced to defend ICE’s actions in a professional capacity caused significant moral and ethical conflicts for me personally,” Ragler wrote in a statement to ProPublica, adding that ICE gave the U.S. attorneys no reasoning or justification for detaining people, many of whom had no criminal record. He told ProPublica he resigned from the position shortly after the hearing, following almost a decade in the office.
Ultimately, Orange County renegotiated its contract with ICE so that immigrants could be held for only two days. Soon after, the number of immigrants in ICE custody booked into the jail plummeted, ProPublica’s analysis shows. Just two were booked into the jail in July, down from a high of 692 in January.
At around the same time that Orange County stopped repeat rebookings of immigrants, the number of rebookings in Pinellas started decreasing. But unlike Orange County, Pinellas then began holding more immigrants for longer than three business days in a single stay — and saw no dip in the number of immigrants it was booking overall.
Six months later, in July, Pinellas appears to have stopped repeat rebookings of immigrants, ProPublica’s analysis found. That same month, at least 12 immigrants booked in the jail were held for more than three business days. One Honduran man stayed for at least eight days.
A private prison transport truck traveling toward the ICE detention center near Tampa International AirportCourtney Prokopas
Pinellas County, unlike Orange County, trended Republican in the last presidential election. Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri has long advocated for his and other local jails to collaborate with the federal government on immigration enforcement. Over the past decade, he helped pioneer a type of contract with ICE that shields local jails from legal liability when they hold someone for the agency. He also helped create a federal-local agreement that lets jail staff serve ICE detainers on people held at the facility.
“For years, sheriffs have had to choose between releasing criminal illegal aliens from their jails back into the community, or exposing themselves to potential civil liability,” Gualtieri is quoted as saying in a 2017 ICE press release.
In the August 2025 Orlando Sentinel article, Gualtieri is quoted as saying that there’d been rebookings at his facility due to “a capacity issue” at the federal detention facility where they were supposed to be transferred.
In the summer of 2025, Gualtieri was part of a group of Florida sheriffs that proposed allowing ICE to take advantage of unused jail beds across Florida — and have Florida police transport the detainees. Since Trump took office in January 2025, Gualtieri’s own jail began to house a historically high number of them.
More than 7,000 immigrants have been detained for ICE in the Pinellas County Jail during the first 564 days of Trump’s second term, according to ProPublica’s analysis. That’s more than four times as many as during the last two years of the Biden administration.
The jail’s proportion of ICE detainees among its total bookings steadily increased over the course of 2025, from under 7% at the start of the year to 18% in December, according to ProPublica’s analysis of Pinellas jail booking data. In 2026, the proportion hovered around 20% from January through July.
Most of the immigrants ProPublica tracked in Pinellas and across the country, including Bensalah, ultimately were deported. After her fifth rebooking, she was transferred to the first of four ICE detention centers, then deported to France.
Paul Chavez, litigation director for Americans for Immigrant Justice, a legal nonprofit that litigates for immigrants’ rights, said repeat rebookings like Bensalah’s are clear examples of unconstitutional detention.
“If it was that easy to thwart, all we would have to do to thwart the Fourth Amendment was throw somebody in the backseat of a car, drive them to McDonald’s and then drive back,” he said. “I don’t know that the drafters of the Fourth Amendment would have found solace in that.”
How We Identified People Rebooked Into County Jails
ProPublica found immigrants ICE repeatedly rebooked into county jails by analyzing multiple federal and local detention databases.
To count immigrants rebooked two or more times at jails nationwide, we used federal immigration detention data obtained by the Deportation Data Project. The data assigns a unique ID to each person in detention and records the date and time each person is booked into and out of each facility. We calculated the length of each stay, as well as the period between leaving and returning to a single facility.
A detainee may leave ICE detention, such as when they are released on immigration bond or into U.S. Marshals’ custody and then return to ICE custody weeks or even months later. To avoid counting these cases, ProPublica counted a person as being rebooked only if their return to the same facility occurred within 24 hours. Detainees are sometimes rebooked into the same facility after longer periods, but our analysis found that 95% of detainees were rebooked within 12 hours.
The detention data covers a period from Oct. 1, 2022, through Aug. 6, 2026. We limited our analysis to local jails, where federal rules require jails hold ICE detainees for less than 72 hours unless jails sign a special contract with ICE and meet ICE’s detention standards, which include submitting to regular federal inspections. Because a single rebooking could be due to a failed transfer or a missed or delayed deportation flight, we counted only immigrants who had been rebooked two or more times. An expert familiar with ICE detention practices told ProPublica that was a better indicator of intentional rebookings made to extend detentions in a single jail.
Under federal regulations, weekends and holidays do not count toward a jail’s stay limit. ProPublica excluded these days when counting the number of hours each person spent in a county jail. We counted someone as having been rebooked only if their total cumulative stay reached at least 72 hours. When tallying the total stay of individual detainees, ProPublica counted all hours spent in jail, including weekends and holidays.
To count the number of rebooked detainees without criminal charges or convictions, ProPublica used ICE detention data released by the federal government under the Freedom of Information Act. Versions of this dataset were originally released to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse and The New York Times. This data ends in mid-December 2025. To determine that 27% of detainees rebooked two or more times had no criminal charges or convictions except for traffic-related offenses, we filtered by detainees charged with only traffic-related offenses or who were described as “other immigration violator,” a category used by the Department of Homeland Security when a detained individual has no other record of criminal charges or convictions.
ProPublica queried an unredacted copy of the Pinellas County Jail’s inmate search database it obtained to calculate the share of bookings at the jail that were ICE detainees. ProPublica verified the veracity of the unredacted database by comparing its booking records to those in Pinellas’ online search tool and by validating the booking dates and timestamps against the federal immigration datasets.
Burnham has nothing to hide as he prepares to meet president he once called poisonous. It may actually win him more respect
It makes a pleasant change. Not so long ago, Keir Starmer was falling over himself in his efforts to keep things sweet with Donald Trump. Offering the US president a second state visit within minutes of meeting him. Everyone knows you should never put out on the first date: it only makes the other person think you’re a pushover. Sure enough, The Donald banked the marching bands and the Windsor silver service, made polite conversation for three days and then went back to trash-talking him.
Yet still, Starmer just sat there and took it. As if one word of criticism would be too much. Wittering on about the “special relationship” as if Trump gave a moment’s thought to the UK before he did anything. The rest of us wouldn’t have put money on the US president even being able to locate Britain on a map. It was only latterly, when The Donald chose to bomb Iran, that the penny finally dropped for Keir. And even then he looked pained by the apparent betrayal, as he resisted the calls of Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage to join in the war.
Motoring series to return four years after Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff suffered serious injuries in crash during filming
Top Gear, the long-running motoring show that has been off air since its co-host Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff was seriously injured in a crash during filming almost four years ago, is to return to the BBC, the broadcaster has confirmed.
After Flintoff’s accident at Dunsfold aerodrome in Surrey, the BBC said the series would be “rested” for the foreseeable future.
It’s been a month since Andy Burnham became prime minister. And while polls have shown a ‘Burnham bounce’, the coming months will force the new PM into making some tough – and potentially unpopular – decisions that will reveal how serious he is about delivering the changes he believes the country needs. Kiran Stacey and Peter Walker look at the choices facing Burnham
Built on a 2 nanometer technology node, the processor’s design will contain 11 high-performance cores operating at more than 5.7 GHz, AI inference accelerators for in-transaction fraud detection, a dedicated on-chip data processing unit for I/O acceleration, and a large cache architecture for demanding enterprise workloads. The chip is architected to not contain separate Arm and IBM cores: each processor core can natively execute Arm and IBM Z, or Arm and LinuxONE, instructions concurrently while prioritizing the platform’s established performance, security, encryption, and availability characteristics. IBM Z and LinuxONE platforms are capable of scaling to hundreds of cores and tens of terabytes of memory.
IBM is still doing some amazing chip architecture design. ServeTheHome has more details of how this works:
A key choice here is that IBM implemented AArch64 in full hardware rather than through translation. This design uses a little-endian Arm implementation alongside big-endian z/Architecture, with AArch64 v9.3, SVE and SVE2 support, and 2,792 implemented AArch64 instructions. IBM also claims Arm SystemReady compliance, which matters for how much off-the-shelf Arm software this core can absorb. This is absolutely crazy technology. Arm software sees a native Arm processor. Arm runs unmodified, out-of-the-box, and onto a standard Arm platform. IBM said the 2792 AArch64 instructions are more than twice the Z instructions. IBM made a funny quip about “reduced” in RISC.
American talks life on the professional circuit and those making sacrifices for a pay cheque, often compromising physical and mental welfare
For Mackenzie McDonald the players’ push for greater prize money and welfare contributions from the grand slam tournaments could result in the difference between putting food on the table and making a decent living.
After 10 years on the ATP Tour the 31-year-old American is not pleading poverty, but knows that life on the professional circuit can be a hand-to-mouth existence, with players’ physical and mental welfare often compromised due to their desperation to get back on court.
Judge rules Christian Castro, accused of shooting man and lying about it, cannot be held pending extradition request
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged with shooting a man and lying about it during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis was released from a Texas jail on Thursday, after a judge refused to order his return to Minnesota.
Christian Castro was released at the break of dawn from a detention center in Brownsville. He motioned his hand toward a few camera operators and a reporter crowding around him and quickly got into an SUV that drove off.
Adam Kalkstein compared administration’s order to ‘trying to teach the law’ without mentioning ‘the constitution’
The only climate scientist teaching at West Point, the US army’s military academy, was fired after he resisted an order to stop teaching about the human causes of the climate emergency, a lawsuit claims.
Dr Adam Kalkstein, a civilian professor of geography at the New York institution, was terminated after the spring semester this year, six months after a testy meeting with Brig Gen Shane Reeves, then dean of West Point’s academic board, the court filing said.
Brownsville, Texas — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer charged in Minnesota with shooting a man and falsely reporting the incident was released from a Texas jail Thursday after a federal judge declined to force his extradition.
Christian Castro faces Minnesota charges stemming from a Jan. 14 incident in Minneapolis. Prosecutors allege Castro fired through the front door of a home and shot 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in the leg. They also accuse Castro of falsely claiming Sosa-Celis and another man attacked an ICE officer with a broom handle and snow shovel.
Castro was arrested May 29 in Cameron County on a nationwide Minnesota warrant. Texas law generally limits detention on an out-of-state warrant to 90 days without completed extradition, making Thursday his release deadline.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sought a temporary restraining order blocking Castro’s release or requiring his return to Minnesota. U.S. District Judge Fernando Rodriguez Jr. ruled Wednesday that the dispute was not yet ripe because Gov. Greg Abbott had neither approved nor formally denied Minnesota’s extradition request.
Texas officials say Abbott is reviewing whether Castro legally qualifies as a fugitive. Minnesota officials have warned Castro could leave for Mexico, citing jail calls in which he discussed marrying a woman there and purchasing a home.
Ellison said Minnesota will continue pursuing the case.
The awards provide supercomputing time for cutting-edge research in three high-impact areas.
Aug. 27, 2026 — Researchers in the Mathematics and Computer Science division at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory will participate in three mission-critical projects on DOE leadership-class computers.
The projects — in computer science, Earth sciences and engineering — have been awarded supercomputing time through DOE’s Innovative and Novel Computational Impact on Theory and Experiment (INCITE) program.
Computer Science
Jeffrey Larson will join researchers from JPMorgan Chase in a new project titled “Evaluating the Performance of the Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithm” (QAOA). The researchers will develop numerical techniques to predict the performance of QAOA for arbitrarily large problems beyond those feasible with classical simulations. The project has received 40,000 node-hours on Argonne’s Polaris system and 200,000 node-hours on Argonne’s Aurora supercomputer to test the novel techniques. Aurora and Polaris are housed at the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility, a DOE Office of Science user facility.
“Our aim is to be able to make comparisons with classical solvers and clarify requirements for quantum advantage — where a quantum computer can execute a computational task faster and more accurately than leading-class supercomputers,” Larson said.
Earth Sciences
Azamat Mametjanov will participate with colleagues from four national laboratories in a new project titled “Energy Exascale Earth System Model.” The project, led by DOE’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, will evaluate the atmospheric model SCREAM using real-world simulations across the United States. The team has been awarded 1 million node-hours on Aurora at Argonne and 600,000 node hours on Frontier at DOE’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
“Our goal is to achieve an unprecedented 200-meter resolution,” the team project states.
Engineering
Paul Fischer and Misun Min will continue work with their colleagues on the project “Advancing Fusion and Fission Energy through Exascale,” led by Pennsylvania State University. The researchers are conducting first-of-their-kind simulations of nuclear energy systems, gaining new insights into large-scale multiphysics phenomena. The project team will use both the Argonne Aurora (200,000 node-hours) and the Oak Ridge Frontier (250,000 node-hours) systems for their work.
“These simulations are rapidly approaching full-device multiphysics modeling and will firmly establish the nuclear field as a leader in exascale computing,” Min said.
Bag, camera and pipe belonging to 86-year-old are latest relics uncovered as glaciers melt due to global heating
An 86-year-old mountaineer has been reunited with his backpack and climbing equipment after the kit emerged from a melting glacier in Austria – more than 60 years after he was forced to leave them there.
Items including an ice axe, camera and a pipe dating from the 1950s or 1960s were discovered on the Sulztalferner glacier in Austria’s Tyrol region, at an altitude of 2,955 metres (9,700ft) above sea level, by a hiker in July.
Pack the cooler before late-summer weather shifts. These 15 picnic recipes cover hearty sandwiches, chilled salads, handheld appetizers, wings, pasta salad, and sturdy desserts made for a day at the park.The post 15 picnic recipes packed for the park before…
BYOB has survived decades on a handshake agreement that worked only because everyone in the room was drinking the same thing. That concept is shrinking ... Read moreThe post The unspoken rules of BYOB are falling apart at American parties,…
MADD Delaware, Police Agencies Team Up for Labor Day Impaired Driving Prevention Effort
MADD Delaware and law enforcement agencies statewide are partnering for “Saturation Saturday” on Aug. 29 to promote impaired driving prevention ahead of Labor Day weekend. (Photo courtesy of MADD Delaware.)
Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Delaware is partnering with the Delaware Office of Highway Safety and law enforcement agencies statewide for “Saturation Saturday” on Aug. 29, an initiative aimed at preventing impaired driving ahead of the Labor Day holiday weekend.
The coordinated enforcement effort will include increased DUI patrols across Delaware as part of a national push to reduce impaired driving crashes during one of the year’s busiest travel periods. The initiative coincides with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Fatality Analysis Reporting System, 451 people were killed nationwide in drunk driving crashes during the Labor Day holiday period in 2024. In Delaware, drunk driving fatalities have increased by 3.2% since 2019.
MADD Delaware will work with Delaware State Police in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties, as well as the Wilmington Police Department, New Castle County Police Department, New Castle City Police Department, Camden Police Department and Dagsboro Police Department, to support Saturation Saturday events and increased impaired driving enforcement.
Law enforcement officers are often the first line of defense against impaired driving. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sobriety checkpoints can reduce drunk driving deaths by up to 20%.
“Impaired driving continues to be the leading cause of death on our roadways, stealing lives and leaving countless families to cope with unimaginable loss,” said Stacey D. Stewart, CEO of MADD. “MADD is proud to work alongside law enforcement to help prevent crashes, save lives, and remind drivers that impaired driving is never acceptable. Together, we can encourage responsible choices and make our roads safer for everyone.”
Saturation Saturday is part of ongoing efforts through NHTSA’s “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign, which raises awareness about the dangers of impaired driving and supports high-visibility enforcement efforts throughout August and September.
“Preventing impaired driving requires a shared commitment from all of us. Saturation Saturday brings together MADD, law enforcement, and highway safety partners to send a clear message: impaired driving is preventable, and every driver has a responsibility to make a safe choice. As Labor Day weekend approaches, we encourage Delawareans to plan ahead, designate a sober driver, use a rideshare or find another safe way home,” said Sharon Bryson, director of the Delaware Office of Highway Safety.
“High-visibility traffic safety enforcement efforts serve as a deterrent to impaired driving crashes and prevent senseless deaths and injuries,” said Bryna Clark-Braverman, Regional Executive Director. “Together alongside law enforcement and NHTSA, MADD Delaware urges the public to have a plan for getting home safe – whether you’re driving, riding or hosting – as we approach Labor Day weekend.”
This week’s settlement without liability was pragmatic, but it doesn’t change the inevitability of further lawsuits around the world
Not many people would count paying $18bn they didn’t expect to when they woke up that morning as a victory. Yet for Meta, the owners of Facebook and Instagram, the agreement with 52 US attorneys general to settle claims that it designed its products to be addictive to children, and misled people about their safety, could be described as a win of sorts.
Meta denies wrongdoing, and the amount it plans to pay will be spread over a decade. Some of it is contingent on other big tech firms not named in its case coughing up too. The cash is chump change for Meta, which made around $60bn in profit last year. More damaging to the tech giant in the long run could be the agreement to unwind some of the mechanics it has spent two decades perfecting to keep us on its platforms.
Chris Stokel-Walker is the author of TikTok Boom: The Inside Story of the World’s Favourite App
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
A 32-year-old Wilmington woman claimed a $100,000 top prize in the Delaware Lottery’s 100X THE CELEBRATION instant game, marking the first major lottery win of her life. (Graphic by Milford LIVE)
A Wilmington woman is celebrating more than her upcoming wedding after winning a $100,000 top prize playing the Delaware Lottery’s 100X THE CELEBRATION instant game.
The 32-year-old Delaware native, who chose not to publicly release her name, claimed her prize Aug. 18 at Delaware Lottery headquarters in Dover. She told lottery officials the win was the first major prize she has received while playing the Delaware Lottery.
According to the Delaware Lottery, the woman said she was in disbelief after discovering she had won $100,000 and immediately contacted family members to share the news. She plans to use part of her winnings to help pay for her upcoming wedding.
The winning ticket was purchased at Naaman’s Beverage Mart Inc., located at 109 Naamans Road in Claymont.
“The Delaware Lottery couldn’t be happier for this winner, and it’s incredibly meaningful to us that her prize will help pay for her wedding celebration,” said Helene Keeley, director of the Delaware Lottery. “We love hearing stories about the ways Delawareans plan to use a lottery prize — whether that means having a little extra to help pay for a wedding, adding to their savings, or anything in between. As always, we encourage all Delaware Lottery players to enjoy playing responsibly. And we wish this bride-to-be and her partner a wonderful life together!”
The 100X THE CELEBRATION instant game launched in 2025 as part of the Delaware Lottery’s 50th anniversary celebration and originally featured two $100,000 top prizes. Players can also win prizes ranging from $20 to $20,000.
The $20 scratch-off game still had one $100,000 top prize remaining as of Aug. 19, according to the Delaware Lottery.
Missouri Deputy Attorney General Shaun Mackelprang was found alive six days after he vanished in the remote Wyoming wilderness during a backcountry hike.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is accused of developing and directing the plot to crash hijacked airliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
LOUISVILLE, Colo., Aug. 27, 2026 — Infleqtion, a global leader in quantum computing and quantum sensing powered by neutral-atom technology, today announced NASA has awarded the company a $20 million follow-on contract to continue development of the Quantum Gravity Gradiometer Pathfinder (QGGPf), a mission led by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) that is designed to fly the world’s first space-based quantum gravity sensor. The award brings NASA’s investment in the program to $40 million and advances the mission into its next phase of hardware development and testing.
“This follow-on award reflects the progress our team has made and marks an important step toward the mission’s next phase,” said Matt Kinsella, Chief Executive Officer of Infleqtion. “The path from quantum science to a system that can fly in space takes years of engineering, testing, and collaboration. Every milestone brings quantum sensing closer to enabling entirely new ways to observe our planet from orbit.”
“There is an enormous amount of potential for quantum technology use cases in space. We are no longer testing the quantum technology itself, but ways we can use it in the space environment,” said Dana Anderson, Chief Science Officer at Infleqtion. “As a NASA-led mission with key contributions from U.S. industry, QGGPf is demonstrating how quantum gravity sensing can operate in low Earth orbit and establishing the technical foundation for future generations of space-based instruments.”
The QGGPf mission is designed to demonstrate quantum sensor technologies that could transform how Earth’s surface gravity is measured from space. As a technology pathfinder, the mission is expected to help inform the design of future science-grade instruments, representing a major step forward in U.S. leadership in space-based quantum sensing and strategic intelligence.
U.S. Leading Quantum Innovation in Space
This project, conceived by NASA, helps to push the boundaries of frontier science and technology with critical technologies provided by U.S. industry. QGGPf builds on NASA’s long legacy of space-based gravity mapping, such as the GRACE and GRACE-FO missions, and applies Infleqtion’s quantum engineering capabilities to enable a new class of measurement techniques designed specifically for the microgravity environment of space.
By directly measuring subtle variations in Earth’s gravitational field, the mission will demonstrate technologies to help reduce risk for future, high resolution, and quantum gravity instruments. These future systems could enable deeper insights into how surface and underground water, ice, and natural resources shift over time, critical data for understanding planetary health, strengthening national and world-wide resilience, and supporting long-term economic and security planning.
Building the Quantum Space Sensor
QGGPf builds on work done by JPL and Infleqtion on the Cold Atom Lab (CAL) program aboard the International Space Station, and on NASA’s long heritage mapping Earth’s gravitational field through the GRACE missions.
Infleqtion’s role on the QGGPf project includes the design, maturation, and integration of the atomic physics package, the quantum core of the sensor, encompassing its vacuum, laser, and control subsystems. The cold-atom system, based on ultracold rubidium atoms cooled to pico-Kelvin scale temperature, is designed to enable direct gravity gradient measurements from space. As part of the next phase of the contract, Infleqtion will work to build an initial sensor head and electronics engineering development unit and test it at the Einstein Elevator, a unique drop tower microgravity facility in Hannover, Germany.
Foundation for Future Missions
NASA and Infleqtion plan to complete the instrument hardware development over the next three years, followed by a flight demonstration. The work under this phase of the program is expected to be performed through 2027. The mission is expected to launch aboard a low-Earth orbit spacecraft in 2030.
To learn more about how Infleqtion’s quantum technologies are enabling advances in space exploration, navigation, remote sensing, and defense, visit https://infleqtion.com/space-and-frontier.
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.
Rescuers are searching for nearly 1,400 people, most of them tourists, who are missing after a catastrophic flash flood hit Nepal and Tibet, thundering down valleys, obliterating entire villages and killing at least 356 people.
Efforts to locate those missing – including hundreds of people from India, the US, UK, Australia and Canada – have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and almost 25 miles (40km) of roads in the mountainous region popular with trekkers and pilgrims.
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Asobo Studio The medieval franchise is transplanted to Crete, conjuring action-adventure magic from familiar ingredients
The path in Resonance: A Plague Tale Legacy is a familiar one. Amid ancient ruins and sun-dappled gorges, a young woman, Sophia, dutifully treads the same footsteps as a Minoan warrior from millennia ago, one with whom she seems to share a visionary connection. The “resonance” between these two characters is made clear by their echoing actions – a crank pushed in the bronze age that still works in the medieval present, for example. Through these spliced timelines, it becomes clear that Sophia, compelled by her supernatural gift, possesses little agency. Destiny beckons her forwards.
This is a smart meta concept for a game that, at its most basic level, boils down to keeping your left thumb planted firmly on the analogue stick, always pushing Sophia onwards in linear fashion. You jostle her through ornate corridors rendered as higgledy-piggledy pirate camps and cobbled Venetian streets. For the greater part of the game, you propel her through the Minoan remains of Crete, which harbour a dark and terrible secret. It is classic third-person action-adventure fare, building on the template laid down by the likes of Tomb Raider and then refined and complicated by titles such as The Last of Us. Little, from an interactive perspective, surprises: you dash, vault and swing between teetering podiums, squeeze through tiny gaps in rock and crouch behind conveniently placed walls to avoid enemies.
It’s about ‘kitchen-table populism’: focusing on Americans’ day-to-day economic struggles
This year’s Democratic primaries look and sound a lot more populist than usual. Brian Poindexter, a union iron worker running on a “workers first” message, won a House primary outside Cleveland. Sherrod Brown is mounting a Senate comeback in Ohio on the same “rigged system” message that has allowed him to outshine other Democrats in Ohio. Troy Jackson, a fifth-generation logger who built his career fighting corporate landowners, is the Democratic Senate nominee in Maine. And Josh Turek, a self-described “prairie populist”, is on the Senate ballot in Iowa.
In fact, according to research we’ve conducted through the Center for Working-Class Politics (CWCP), more than 70% of 2026 Democratic candidates now rely on populist rhetoric in their campaigns, laying the blame for our broken system on rich elites of one kind or another.
Letters obtained by Guardian and AP contradict testimony that 2019 visit to Samoa had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’
Newly obtained documents indicate that the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, lied during two congressional hearings last year, when he told lawmakers who held the key to his confirmation that a 2019 visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines”.
Letters obtained by the Guardian and the Associated Press contradict that testimony. In one he wrote to the Samoan prime minister before the trip, Kennedy explicitly said he wanted to study the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine in the Pacific island nation. In it, he used the words “vaccine” or “vaccination” eight times.
The new Federal Communications Commission report signals a major retreat from the former administration’s goal of connecting every American to gigabit-speed broadband.
Plane was headed for airport in Seldovia from Anchorage, and was submerged in water after the crash
A small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone onboard, according to officials.
The Piper PA-24 was headed for the airport in the small town of Seldovia after taking off from Anchorage, according to a statement from the Alaska department of public safety. Seldovia’s airport is about 136 miles (219km) south-west of Anchorage.
TAMPA, Fla., Aug. 27, 2026 — PowerCompute, Inc., a Bitcoin treasury and mining company expanding into high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, has announced that the graphics processing unit (GPU) deployed at its Oklahoma facility has achieved Verified status on the Vast.ai compute marketplace — the highest status available to an individual machine — and that the Company has ordered a second professional-grade GPU for the site, anticipated to be installed in September 2026.
Vast.ai assigns Verified status through automated, continuous evaluation of a machine’s reliability and performance. Beyond the machine level, the platform maintains a facility-level designation — Certified Datacenter status, which carries Secure Cloud eligibility and higher placement in the marketplace — whose requirements include ISO/IEC 27001 certification and a minimum of five listed GPU servers. PowerCompute has begun the ISO/IEC 27001 certification process for its Oklahoma facility and is deploying capital toward the five-server threshold. The Company intends to apply for Certified Datacenter status once both requirements are satisfied and can give no assurance that it will qualify.
“Verified status confirms the machine meets the platform’s reliability standards, and our discussions with Vast.ai gave us a concrete standard to build against rather than a guess — initially we plan to certify our Oklahoma facility and deploy a minimum of four verified servers,” said Bruce M. Rodgers, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of PowerCompute. “Those are fixed, attainable goals and we will report against them. Our first machine showed us that micro-scaler HPC — the tier we occupy, below the hyperscalers — earns real revenue against demand the hyperscalers are creating, and we believe we can supply that compute at a fraction of their capital cost.”
About PowerCompute
PowerCompute, Inc. (NASDAQ: PWCM) is a Bitcoin treasury and mining company expanding into high-performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Tampa, Florida, the Company operates 26 megawatts of wholly-owned power infrastructure across facilities in Oklahoma and Mississippi. The Company also operates a technology-enabled specialty finance business providing funding to nonprofit community associations primarily in the State of Florida. For more information, please visit https://www.power-compute.com.
Good morning. Meta has agreed to significant changes to its Instagram and Facebook apps in a settlement that ended a landmark lawsuit. The agreement curtails a major trial in California and will require the social media company to pay up to $18bn. Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenage users, including daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use nationwide in the US.
California and 28 other US states sued the $1.36tn (£1tn) company over allegations that Meta deliberately designed addictive products that hooked young people, leading to mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and suicide. As part of the settlement, the company denies wrongdoing.
What will be changing in the apps? The biggest alteration is that Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, is now required to make many of its safety limitations the default setting for accounts created by teenagers, a pivot from its previous opt-in approach to child safety. Nick Robins-Early and Johana Bhuiyan explain more in this piece: six key takeaways from the end of the Meta trial.
Will other companies be affected? Meta is putting the agreement forward as a precedent for other social media companies to follow. The company’s chief legal officer, CJ Mahoney, said: “Because teens move fluidly across dozens of apps, we need an industry-wide solution. We therefore call on our industry peers … to implement this new framework.” Meta, YouTube, TikTok and Snap face thousands more similar US lawsuits brought by families, individuals, school districts and other attorneys general.
Are campaigners satisfied with the result? Arturo Béjar, an ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower, said the outcome “is not an all-clear to say the product is safe. The limitations that are in the agreement are the equivalent of saying: ‘Well, you can smoke as many cigarettes as you can in two hours a day’. It doesn’t make the cigarettes any safer.”
How did it happen?As this visual guide explains, at 8.37am on Wednesday an enormous section of a glacier in the Himalayas sheared free and crashed on to the valley floor in Nepal’s Langtang national park, about 60km north of the capital, Kathmandu, near the mountainous Nepal-Tibet border.
City residents had accused council of giving ‘free rein’ to campaign promoting England flags
Birmingham city council is seeking an injunction to stop members of an anti-migrant group from erecting flags, including union jack and St George’s flags, on public infrastructure across the city.
A nationwide campaign to give prominence to the England flag, which resulted in thousands of St George’s crosses being flown from lamp-posts, roundabouts and other public infrastructure, is believed to have started last summer in Birmingham.
It’s always a special day on OSNews when Haiku has a new release. While OSNews was founded in 1997, it wasn’t until 2001, when Eugenia took over and relaunched the site, that we really got going. Eugenia came from BeNews, a popular BeOS news website, which shut down in the wake of Be, Inc’s infamous “focus shift” away from BeOS as a general purpose desktop operating system. BeOS continues to have a special place on OSNews ever since.
Today marks the release of Haiku R1/beta6, the first official Haiku release in two years. As such, this new beta covers a monumental amount of progress since beta5, progress I’ve reported on diligently. The highlights of this new beta include a port of Firefox (including branding) and many of its forks, much improve support for Qemu, a new memory allocated largely based on the one from OpenBSD, and improved support for various filesystems. Of course, there’s a massive list of performance improvements, memory management changes, as well as a truly massive number of new application ports.
It’s important to note, as I usually do, that while these Haiku beta releases serve as patches of calm in rough seas, Haiku is generally stable and capable enough that using the project’s nightly releases is usually a totally acceptable way of installing and running the operating system. If you’re not comfortable running nightly releases, however, and haven’t tried Haiku since the previous beta, you’re in for a massive overall improvement.
Natalie McDonald, 34, and Valentina Foster, seven, died in fire less than mile from A66 crash, with police not ruling out links
A woman who died in a house fire along with her seven-year-old niece has been described as “a beautiful soul”.
Natalie McDonald, 34, died along with her niece Valentina Foster, seven, in the blaze in Grangetown, near Middlesbrough, in the early hours of Wednesday.
Analysis by Institute for Policy Studies found that between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation increased 41.4%
The average CEO of the US’s 100 largest, lowest-paying corporations earned 614 times more than their average worker last year, according to an analysis by the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).
IPS’s latest executive excess report analyzed compensation at the 100 S&P 500 corporations with the lowest median worker pay. Between 2019 and 2025, CEO compensation increased 41.4%, unadjusted for inflation, twice as much as the median worker pay increased at these firms during the same period, at 20.7%.
CISA says more than 100 internet-exposed U.S. water and wastewater systems were targeted in July, often through programmable logic controllers connected directly to cellular modems. "That's the first time the feds have put a number on the digital intrusions, but they have yet to attribute the campaign, widely suspected to be linked to Iran, to a particular group," reports The Register. From the report: Suspected Iranian attackers targeted water and wastewater facilities across at least a dozen states in July, including internet-exposed PLCs. While neither federal nor state officials have identified all 12, we know that the cyberattacks occurred at mostly small, rural utilities in Minnesota, Michigan, Georgia, South Dakota, and New Jersey. "This is very serious. What stands out isn't any single incident. It's the scale," Matt Hartman, chief strategy officer at the Merlin Group and CISA's former acting head of cyber, told The Register.
"More than 100 water systems with internet-exposed assets were hit in a single month, which points to a systemic vulnerability across the sector, not a run of isolated, unlucky targets," Hartman said. "Much of this infrastructure runs on operational technology that was built for closed, physical environments. It was never designed with the assumption that it would be reachable from the open internet."
John Gallagher, VP at Viakoo, an OT and IoT cybersecurity provider, told us that while 100 systems represent a small fraction - only about 0.5 percent - of water utilities in the US, the "real threat is that these are test runs for a larger-scale attack." While the 100-plus water incidents occurred in July, just last week five US federal agencies warned that attackers are using AI-generated exploitation scripts to break into internet-exposed Siemens S7 Series PLCs at water, manufacturing, energy, and other critical facilities.
"This appears to be a continuation of the same suite of activity we suspect is affiliated with Iran targeting PLCs," Halcyon Ransomware Research Center SVP Cynthia Kaiser told The Register a week ago. "Iran-affiliated actors and adversaries are actively targeting a wide swath of operational technology because these PLCs underpin essential health, safety, and critical infrastructure across society," Kaiser, a former FBI cyber division deputy assistant director, added. CISA urges organizations to keep PLCs off the public internet, route remote access through VPNs or gateways, replace default passwords, enable stronger authentication, and restrict access to allowlisted IP addresses from trusted OT systems.
The number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) across the UK fell below 1 million in the latest three-month period.
In a boost to the government’s efforts to reverse years of rising economic inactivity among people aged 16 to 24, the Office for National Statistics said its surveys showed there were an estimated 981,000 Neets in April to June, compared with 1,012,000 in January to March.
The UK government expects the Instagram owner Meta to roll out the same protections for children in Britain as those it agreed in the US on Wednesday, as part of a court settlement that could cost the company up to $18bn (£13bn).
Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said on Thursday he did not want young people in the US to have “a higher rate of protection” than those in Britain, after Meta settled a lawsuit brought by dozens of US states accusing the company of harming children with dangerous products.
The Trump administration intervened in a Swiss criminal investigation of Alejandro Betancourt, who has been helping Washington as an intermediary in Caracas.
People are becoming convinced AI chatbots have helped them make scientific breakthroughs, cure diseases or invent new technologies. What does this reveal about a technology used by more than a billion people? A new series from The Guardian Investigates, coming soon
Ryan Mackenzie, running for re-election, is accused of ‘fabricating’ a career in the real estate industry
The Republican congressman Ryan Mackenzie has been accused of embellishing his résumé with private sector experience in real estate sales amid an acrimonious showdown over his Pennsylvania seat.
Mackenzie, who has previously been accused of lying about his age on Tinder, “was a real estate salesperson licensed in PA”, according to his LinkedIn profile, and biographies have consistently listed it has his former profession.
As the US president struggles to end his war with Iran, and with his approval ratings hitting the lowest levels of his second term, he has in recent weeks posted a series of AI-generated images of himself alongside key historical American figures.
The purpose of CIA Director John Ratcliffe's visit to Moscow this week was to warn Russia not to attack NATO member states, people familiar with the matter said, amid U.S. assessments that Russia could try to test NATO.
Two months after Iris Dayana Monterroso Lemus lost her son to a stillbirth last year while detained by U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the Trump administration issued a public response to her allegations that she did not receive prenatal care.
“This reporting is absolutely FALSE,” said Tricia McLaughlin, then a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement. “Iris Dayana Monterroso-Lemus had FULL medical, prenatal care.”
The statement, labeled as a “Fact Check,” said the Guatemalan-born Monterroso Lemus had “received prenatal care, including an ultrasound and OB-GYN visit.”
Neither side of the disputed account provided evidence to back up their claims.
Now, federal government documents obtained by The Intercept appear to undermine the Trump administration’s version of events. The documents show a lack of basic care needed for a healthy pregnancy, according to expert analysis. One document from an outside healthcare center made after the stillbirth describes a “pregnancy complicated by lack of PNC” — meaning prenatal care.
“The administration was engaged in CYA — cover your ass,” said Dr. Andrea Schecter, an OB-GYN physician with a decade’s experience working with high-risk pregnancies, including those of immigrants. “They know that what they provided is probably not sufficient care.”
“Flouting the Directive”
The new records, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, include documents from Monterroso Lemus’s visit to Ochsner LSU Center, a healthcare facility in Shreveport, Louisiana, after she complained for days about not feeling fetal movement. It was the only recorded instance of her leaving Richwood Correctional Center, an ICE detention facility run by the family-owned private prison giant LaSalle Corrections.
The Ochsner LSU documents, produced after the stillbirth, say that Monterroso Lemus had told medical staff at Richwood that “this pregnancy didn’t feel right a couple days ago but nothing was done.”
Other new records include timelines produced by ICE that show a referral for an OB-GYN appointment but don’t indicate that any visit was scheduled or took place, or that Monterroso Lemus ever received an ultrasound.
Asked about the new documents, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security simply repeated the previous claims that Monterroso Lemus received regular, timely prenatal care without responding to queries.
On May 9, ten days after losing her son, Monterroso Lemus was shackled, put on a plane, and deported to Guatemala, causing her postpartum visit to be canceled.
Ten days after losing her son, Monterroso Lemus was shackled, put on a plane, and deported to Guatemala.
“Everyone knows that ICE and DHS lie on a daily basis — and Americans have witnessed the deadly consequences of this administration’s reckless actions for nearly two years,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., when asked about the case. “The Trump administration’s barbaric treatment of pregnant women in immigration custody is unconscionable.”
In fact, the Trump administration is detaining many more pregnant women than before. During the Biden administration, for example, ICE would detain about a dozen pregnant women nationally during a year, said Eunice Cho, an immigration attorney with expertise in detention conditions. During a congressional visit to Louisiana’s Basile detention center last April, however, there were 14 in that one facility.
According to a 2021 ICE directive, “Generally, ICE should not detain, arrest, or take into custody for an administrative violation of the immigration laws individuals known to be pregnant, postpartum, or nursing unless release is prohibited by law or exceptional circumstances exist.”
Cho said, “The Trump administration is flouting the directive.”
Murray introduced legislation last year to codify in federal law the notion that pregnant women should not be detained, as well as other standards. The bill remains in committee.
“This case stands out as an example of the enormity of the tragedy pregnant women and families are facing because of the Trump administration,” Cho said, of Monterroso Lemus’s experience. “The bottom line is: No one deserves to be treated like this.”
The Timeline
Monterroso Lemus, now 38 years old, met her neighbor Gary Bivens in Lenoir City, Tennessee, about six years ago. The pair began to grow close about four years ago, after Bivens lost his wife to a heart condition.
Monterroso Lemus became pregnant, and the couple had an OB-GYN visit in February. They had plans to get married when ICE detained her in mid-March.
After ICE transferred Monterroso Lemus multiple times, on April 2, she arrived at Richwood Correctional Center, in Monroe, Louisiana.
Most of the documents obtained by The Intercept are emails between officials with ICE and at its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, where officials sought to rebut Monterroso Lemus’s statements to the media by compiling information on her medical care while detained.
The timeline included in the documents, annotated and labeled as a “[f]ull overview of her care,” begins on April 2. Versions of the timeline are included in several other places in the documents.
The timeline has nine entries under what is called a “List of medical visits.” Four of them are visits to a nurse. Two others are labeled “Mental Health Visit.”
On April 17, according to the timeline, she visited the on-site medical provider for what is labeled “prenatal care non–compliance.”
Monterroso Lemus told The Intercept that visit was due to her unwillingness to continue taking 12 pills daily, including what she said may have been vitamins and others for constipation and headaches. She had been taking them for three days.
“I felt that they made me sick,” she said. Also, “other people told me to watch out for the medicine they give you.”
On April 29, after several days of not feeling any fetal movement, Monterroso Lemus was transferred to Ochsner LSU. In the presence of several federal guards, she delivered a stillborn fetus at about 23 weeks of pregnancy.
Monterroso Lemus said she had tried to get medical attention during the days before the tragedy.
“The worst part is, I told them I felt bad — and they didn’t pay attention to me,” she said.
What’s missing from the timeline — any indication of having an OB-GYN visit before she stopped feeling fetal movement or of receiving any ultrasound — makes it difficult to understand what caused the stillbirth.
“There are some reasons this could’ve happened that would have been identified by comprehensive prenatal care,” Schecter, the OB-GYN expert, said. “At some level, they know this.”
No Ultrasound?
A separate timeline in the documents refers to medical care Monterroso Lemus received during the several days in late March that she was detained at Etowah County Detention Center in Alabama. There, it says, she got a “fetal doppler,” which measures fetal heartbeat, but is not the same as an ultrasound.
Nonetheless, the “Fact Check” DHS published months later read, “she received prenatal care including a fetal doppler ultrasound.”
Schecter told the Intercept, “A fetal doppler is just audio, but it is not the same as an ultrasound, which is visual.”
“That is not an adequate assessment of the health and well-being of the pregnancy. It absolutely is not full prenatal care,” she said.
“Full prenatal care would include an ultrasound and an anatomy scan. We already know that doesn’t generally happen in immigration detention.”
Amy Zeidan, a professor of emergency medicine at Atlanta’s Emory University who researches health care in immigration detention, said, “Full prenatal care would include an ultrasound and an anatomy scan.”
“We already know that doesn’t generally happen in immigration detention,” said Zeidan.
Of the DHS “Fact Check,” Zeidan said, “They’re not being truthful about what happened.”
The experience Monterroso Lemus faced in ICE detention is not unique, according to several experts consulted by the Intercept.
“Unfortunately, this story is consistent with reports made by pregnant women in ICE detention,” said Cho, the immigration attorney. “There’s a lack of prenatal care, indifference to very serious symptoms, and a lack of treatment.”
“Waiting for My Baby”
By the end of May, the Nashville Banner had published an article in which Monterroso Lemus said, “They didn’t give me medical attention.”
The remark touched off a flurry of activity within ICE and DHS.
On June 25, at 4:41 p.m., McLaughlin, then a DHS spokesperson, wrote to another official whose name is redacted: “Wow so this is all garbage claims. This is FALSE. She had FULL medical, prenatal care. We have documentation to show it.”
The following day, DHS published its “Fact Check” — the same document the agency sent The Intercept when confronted with discrepancies.
Meanwhile, Monterroso Lemus and Bevins haven’t seen each other for 15 months. They communicate by WhatsApp regularly, using a translation app. On separate calls with The Intercept, both described suffering depression.
Bivens drives 100 miles every day to and from his $26-an-hour job as an iron worker. He regularly sends part of his paycheck to Monterroso Lemus. He says he’s bought a plane ticket to Guatemala for December and has created a GoFundMe to help pay for the cost of moving his tools and other things needed for the couple to start a new life in the Central American country.
The GoFundMe includes a photo of her holding her baby, taken in Ochsner.
“I don’t consider the way they treated her the American way.”
He has also engaged attorneys and sued the federal government.
“I don’t consider the way they treated her the American way,” he said. “My family goes back a long way in Tennessee. I have a great-grandfather who fought for the Confederates.”
He added, “I just want someone to be held accountable.”
Monterroso Lemus said she doesn’t think much about the officials who set in motion the events leading to the loss of her son and deportation.
“God will take care of all of them,” she said.
Bivens said he keeps the ashes of his son on a table by his bed in Lenoir City. It took him a while to figure out, but he’s obtained the paperwork needed to take the ashes with him to Guatemala in December.
“I’m waiting for my baby,” said Monterroso Lemus. “That would give me some peace.”
Why Should Delaware Care? The state treasurer election typically does not get a lot of attention in Delaware, even though it is a high-ranking executive branch position. But this year, two Democratic primary candidates are raking in record-breaking sums of money — from somewhat unique sources. All the while, the candidates are raising questions about each other’s financial transparency.
The upcoming Democratic primary election for state treasurer has broken funding records this month, with campaign spending likely to top $1 million on two candidates in the historically overlooked race.
And some of the money backing leading candidates Ted Lauzen and Michael A. Smith has come from curious sources: Republicans and artificial intelligence-backed donors, respectively.
The role, which manages the state’s cash flow and advises on its investment funds and debts, is one that largely operates in the background of state government. Voters, however, are about to see more campaign messaging around the position than ever before.
Lauzen, a Wilmington investment manager, is making his first run for public office, while Smith, an economist and nonprofit founder, narrowly lost a Democratic primary for a state House seat two years ago.
Each has already racked up notable endorsements through the campaign: the state Democratic Party for Lauzen and the state’s teachers’ union for Smith.
With less than a month until the Sept. 15 primary, though, much of the spending set to occur in the race will come from a national organization and local political action committees.
Historic attention on race
Democratic primaries for the treasurer’s race have not come close to raising the amount of money set to flow this year.
Current Treasurer Colleen Davis, who is not seeking reelection, amassed about a quarter of a million dollars in the 2018 and 2022 election cycles combined.
The closest comparison in recent years was Republican Ken Simpler’s 2014 campaign, in which he garnered about $600,000 between the primary and general elections, or $850,000 in today’s dollars after inflation. He is currently the last Republican to hold statewide office in Delaware.
The 2024 three-way primary race for governor set new records in Delaware campaign spending, with more than $3 million poured into digital ads, pamphlets, billboards and more.
That trend has carried over to this cycle, as law firms, developers, advocates and out-of-state interest groups are now dropping hundreds of thousands of dollars on down-ballot races that previously garnered less attention.
Lauzen’s personal campaign account had raised about $280,000 from donors over the past two years, as of this month, and he loaned his campaign $250,000.
Smith has raised more than $180,000, as of this month, and loaned his campaign about $47,000, but the bulk of his outside support is coming from the State & Local Election Alliance (SLEA), a national advocacy organization that primarily focuses on “defending democracy” by investing in down-ballot races.
The organization has reported spending more than $495,000 in support of his campaign to date, including more than $350,000 in direct advertising.
SLEA’s involvement in Delaware drew attention from political insiders earlier this month after it reported raising more than $6.4 million on state campaign finance filings, but a spokesperson for the organization said that was a reporting error and reflective of its nationwide fundraising efforts, not those squarely for Delaware.
Nonetheless, the organization’s support of Smith has changed the dynamic of the race, as his campaign will now be far more visible to voters in the stretch run to election day.
A third candidate in the race, Mike Miller, has raised about $16,000 in individual contributions and has loaned his campaign $20,000.
Smith’s donors have ties to AI
The large influx of money into what is normally a quiet primary race has caused each of the leading candidates to question the other campaigns’ backing and motives.
Lauzen said it is “scary” that SLEA is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to support Smith without clearly stating why.
A SLEA spokesperson declined to say specifically what aspects about Smith, or the position of Delaware state treasurer, drew them to spend more than $300,000 in ads supporting his candidacy.
While understated, the position has historically been an incubator for future leaders. Both former Govs. Tom Carper and Jack Markell served as state treasurer before being elected to the state’s highest office.
Regardless of the specific office, the spokesperson said, the candidates SLEA supports “are on the front lines of defending the rule of law.”
“Michael Smith is exactly the kind of leader that we exist to support,” she added.
Smith told Spotlight Delaware he had not heard of the organization before receiving its financial support.
Direct coordination between a candidate’s campaign and any outside organization buying ads to support them is illegal. But one of the two consultants, Matt Krayton, said the overlap does not violate either Delaware nor federal election laws.
In a written statement, Krayton said his firms follow the Federal Election Commission’s firewall policies, which outline guidelines for preventing information sharing between candidates and advertisers who share a common vendor.
Lauzen also criticized the prevalence of out-of-state donors to Smith’s campaign.
About 80% of Smith’s individual donations came from out-of-state residents, compared with about 20% in Lauzen’s campaign. Those donors include employees at Anthropic, the company behind the artificial intelligence system Claude, and other artificial intelligence safety researchers from across the country.
Smith pointed to connections he made during his time with College Democrats of America to explain some of the out-of-state donations. He said he has also been involved in Effective Altruism, a social movement followed by many AI industry workers that aims to find the most efficient ways to solve global problems.
Effective Altruism came under scrutiny in 2022 after the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the crypto exchange FTX, who was heavily involved in the movement. It has since rebounded, though, as many AI company employees have begun to join the movement and donate millions of dollars to charities and political campaigns.
Spotlight Delaware tried to contact many of Smith’s out-of-state donors who had donated the legal maximum limit to his campaign, but only one responded on the record.
Jeff Kaufman, a Massachusetts-based former Google employee and an active member of Effective Altruism forums, said he does not know Smith personally. Several people, however, told him to donate to Smith because he is “good on AI policy.”
When asked why he was interested in the Delaware treasurer’s race, he said having someone who shares his views on AI safety “is important to have across government given how important I expect it to be in the near future.”
Smith said he does not have any specific plans related to AI if he becomes treasurer, but that he thinks protecting Delaware’s assets from AI will become a large part of the role in the future.
“If AI agents or malicious actors are able to hack into our financial infrastructure and take away the money from Delaware taxpayers, that prevents us from lowering costs,” he said.
Smith defended his decision to fundraise out of state, saying he had to raise as much money as possible to counter the large amounts of funds Lauzen raised early in the campaign, including his quarter of a million dollar loan to his own campaign.
Lauzen defends Democratic bonafides
Lauzen said his family decided to pull from their savings for the campaign because he believes it is an important position. He quoted Martin Luther King Jr., saying he believes in the “fierce urgency of now” to do the right thing right away.
“When our family is going to do something, we’re going to do it all in,” he said.
Smith also said he thinks Lauzen is “masquerading as a Democrat” because his father is a Republican politician in Illinois, and he has donated to Republican candidates in the past.
Lauzen said while he grew up in a Republican family, he became an independent in 2017 and registered as a Democrat two years ago. He said his values have changed with age.
He has previously donated to several Republican candidates, including Simpler, the former Republican treasurer, but has donated to more Democratic candidates.
Lauzen also has received donations from several prominent Republicans in this campaign, including former Republican Party Chairman Terry Strine and former State Rep. John Burris (R-Milford).
Both Strine and Burris told Spotlight Delaware their values do not align with the modern Republican Party, and they support candidates they believe in regardless of political party affiliation.
Smith also questioned why prominent developers in the state would be interested in the treasurer’s race.
The First State Service PAC, which has received the majority of its $225,000 worth of donations thus far from two members of the Schell family, paid for several advertisements for Lauzen earlier this week, according to Google Ads Library.
Though the spending on those ads has only totaled $700 so far, it is unclear how much the developer-backed PAC plans to spend on Lauzen in the coming weeks.
Lauzen said he was not aware of the PAC or the advertisements, but that he knew members of the Schell family had donated individually to his campaign and was happy to gain their support.
Smith also criticized Lauzen for receiving a donation from the ABC Merit Shop PAC, an anti-union group. According to his campaign finance report, Lauzen returned that donation in late July.
The senator’s remarks reflect a turning point in Democrats’ attacks on the president. What should we make of them?
Apparently, he likes to say her name with a French accent. “Na-tah-lee!” the president cries out, in that affected tone of faux-formality that one might use with a person they love but do not quite respect, and she comes running, her thin legs teetering on her heels.
Natalie Harp, Trump’s 35-year-old “executive assistant”, was an odd recurring character in the latest blockbuster Trump administration book, Regime Change, by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. In the book, Harp features like a silent sentinel, ever present but eerily quiet as Trump rants and raves. It’s not exactly clear what the scope of her responsibilities are; though, as Jamelle Bouie points out, the fact that she evidently helps run the president’s social media accounts, which can sway markets and influence his foreign counterparts, makes her one of the most powerful people in the federal government.
Why Should Delaware Care? The Mother African Union Church is one of the oldest Black-founded congregations in United States, serving as a refuge for generations of people. In May, a fire destroyed the church building and officials are still investigating its cause.
In May, Wilmington’s Black community was hit with devastating news about a fire that destroyed the historic Mother African Union Church.
Almost three months later, Wilmington Fire Marshal Deputy Chief Andre Cooper said the cause of the blaze, which sent flames towering 40 feet above the church, is still “undetermined.” He also said the investigation will remain open indefinitely.
Cooper declined to comment further when pressed about why the investigation was taking so long, and whether officials had ruled out any potential causes.
He said he needed to protect the integrity of the case.
While the length of the investigation might frustrate members of the community, one fire expert said it is not uncommon.
University of Maryland professor Jim Milke told Spotlight Delaware that an “undetermined” status at this stage in a fire investigation can be expected, especially when access to the physical area of the blaze has been limited.
“That makes it difficult to inspect the detailed area to see what equipment was in the area or identify if any accelerants were used to start the fire,” said Milke, a professor with the Department of Fire Protection Engineering.
What is known is that shortly after the fire, Wilmington’s Land Use and Planning Department worked with an engineer to assess the structural stability of the building. The analysis ultimately determined that the site was too unstable for fire marshals to enter safely, said Elliott Larkin, director of the city’s Land Use and Planning Department.
Larkin noted that investigators could use an unmanned assessment via drones, but he did not indicate whether one had occurred.
“Due to the assessed instability and the water level within the basement, firefighters/officials would not enter the site physically, and an unmanned assessment, if possible, would be used instead,” Larkin said.
Ultimately, the church structure that remained after the fire, including its trusses and stone walls, was demolished.
While officials have not pointed to a cause of the fire, they took to Facebook in June to refute rumors that had been circulating about it, noting that “any information being disseminated on social media is false.”
Among the rumors circulating at that time was that an e-bike had caught fire inside, while others reported hearing a loud boom. Neither has been substantiated by city officials.
The Rev. Ronald Whitaker speaks outside the Mother African Union Church a day after a fire destroyed its building. SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
During an interview Wednesday, the Rev. Ronald Whitaker, senior pastor at the historic church, says he is excited that officials have not yet closed the investigation yet, but noted he understands the cause may not be found because of the magnitude of the fire.
“When you have a devastating fire like we had, that is maybe the case where you’ll never know,” he said.
Whitaker also said that an insurance company is conducting its own parallel investigation into the fire.
North Franklin Street still home
A day after the May 17 fire, church leaders, congregants, and city and state officials gathered to mourn the loss of the church, which stood as the physical space for one of Delaware’s oldest Black-founded congregations.
During a press conference, Wilmington Fire Chief John Looney said fire investigations of this significance “could take a couple weeks.” At the time, the engineer’s structural assessment had not been completed, Looney said.
Also during the press conference, church leaders vowed to rebuild. In response, several elected officials pledged support, including New Castle County Executive Marcus Henry who said he would provide public dollars for the effort.
Whitaker said he and his team plan to rebuild in the same location.
“As far as I’m concerned, 812 North Franklin Street is still the Mother African Union Church home,” he said.
City building inspectors review the damage to Mother African Union Church the morning after the May 17 fire. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JACOB OWENS
The congregation preserves its legacy
The news that the cause is undetermined comes amid the congregation’s annual August Quarterly festival, an event that was started by the founder of the church, Peter Spencer, two centuries ago. It celebrates the church’s founding and African American religious freedom in the United States.
The event spans through the last week of August, with church officials and other community members hosting events throughout Wilmington.
Whitaker says the church will continue to spearhead that event, saying its significance is at an “all-time high.”
Flames engulf the Mother African Union Church building in Wilmington during an early Sunday morning fire. | PHOTO COURTESY OF WILMINGTON FIRE
“We’re not going to let what happened on May the 17th be the end of our story. In many ways, it’s a comment to what our ‘next’ is,” he said.
After the fire, Whitaker said the church continued to hold its services at the Congo Legacy Center. He also noted that the congregation will soon announce its next space for church services.
Also debuting recently at the Delaware Historical Society is an exhibit entitled “Ancestral Dream, Living Blueprint.” The exhibit showcases the Mother African Union Church’s history and legacy through archival documents and interactive displays.
The display was originally designed to be placed in the church prior to the fire. The church had been working on the exhibit for the past three years, Whitaker said. The exhibition will be on display in the Mitchell Center Theater in the museum, located at 504 N. Market St. in Wilmington, until Oct. 17.
The University of Delaware Fightin’ Blue Hens will start their second season of Conference USA (CUSA) play on October 2. Their conference schedule includes five returning foes and three new conference opponents.
The Fightin’ Blue Hens competed well in their first season in CUSA last year. The Blue Hens finished last season with a 4-4 conference record that included the program’s first CUSA win against Florida International University (FIU) on the road.
This season, FIU will travel to Newark for a rematch against the Blue Hens and Delaware will travel to Tennessee for another duel against Middle Tennessee — a game that UD won last season. The Blue Hens will also face three new conference opponents — Missouri State, New Mexico State and Kennesaw State — in their second year in CUSA.
Here’s a look at what awaits the Fightin’ Blue Hens in their conference schedule:
Blue Hens vs Liberty University, Oct. 2 @ Delaware Stadium, 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens will start their conference slate with a meeting against the Liberty Flames. The Flames defeated the Blue Hens, 59-30, last season in Lynchburg, Virginia, in the two programs’ first meeting all-time. Liberty’s 59 points were the most UD allowed last season.
The Flames finished the 2025-2026 campaign with a 4-8 overall record and a 3-5 CUSA record. All four of Liberty’s wins came at home. The offense finished eighth in the conference in points scored and the defense finished third in the conference, allowing 318 points across their 12 games.
The program has a mix of continuity and new faces within its coaching staff heading into the season. Head coach Jamey Chadwell is entering his fourth season at the helm with a new defensive coordinator — Shawn Quinn — and former co-offensive coordinator, Newland Isaac, now the lone offensive coordinator. Former co-offensive coordinator Willy Korn announced he was leaving the industry in December.
The team welcomed in 28 transfer players during the transfer window, 17 of which play on the offensive side of the ball. One of the reasons for the offensive focus is the departure of running back Evan Dickens to Boston College this offseason. Dickens ranked second in CUSA with 1,339 rushing yards and tied for first in the conference with 16 rushing touchdowns. Liberty brought in five transfer running backs in hopes of filling the void, including senior Kanye Udoh from Arizona State. Udoh rushed for 240 yards and two touchdowns in limited action with the Sun Devils last year, but was once a 1,000 yard rusher at Army in 2024.
Blue Hens at Middle Tennessee State, Oct. 13 @ Johnny “Red” Floyd Stadium, 7:00 p.m.
UD’s second conference matchup features another rematch in a different setting. The Blue Hens will travel 761 miles from Newark to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to take on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on a Tuesday night.
Delaware won last year’s matchup between the two teams, 31-28, scoring 24 points in the first half. Quarterback Nick Minicucci threw four touchdown passes in the win with Kyre Duplessis on the receiving end of half of them. Duplessis recorded his first career multi-touchdown game in the win.
MTSU finished last season with a 3-9 overall record and a 2-6 conference record with both conference wins coming in the final two games of the season. It was the program’s second consecutive 3-9 finish. The Blue Raiders finished last season with the conference’s third worst scoring defense and offense.
Blue Raider head coach Derek Mason addressed the offensive struggles in the offseason with the hiring of new offensive coordinator, Anthony Scelfo. Scelfo was the offensive coordinator for Southeastern Louisiana University — a Division One Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) program. Under Scelfo’s leadership, Southeastern Louisiana ranked in the top 35 nationally in scoring offense and top 40 in rushing offense last season at the FCS level.
Scelfo’s prowess in the run game will be important as the Blue Raiders try to fill the void left by the transfer of their leading rusher from a year ago, Jekail Middlebrook. Middlebrook transferred to the University of Virginia this offseason following a season in which he ranked 6th in CUSA in total rushing yards and 23rd in total receiving yards.
The good news for MTSU is the return of leading receiver Cam’ron Lacy and starting quarterback Roman Gagliano. Gagliano started the final three games of the season and connected with Lacy five times resulting in 106 yards through the air.
This game will be the fourth meeting between the two programs. UD is 3-0.
Blue Hens vs Missouri State, Oct. 20 @ Delaware Stadium, 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens and Bears are the conference’s newest programs and will match up for the first time on October 20.
Similar to the Blue Hens, the Bears had a successful first season in FBS football. Missouri State finished the year with a 7-5 overall record, a 5-3 record in CUSA play and a bowl game appearance against Arkansas State in the Xbox Bowl. The Bears lost that game, 34-28.
Missouri State enters the season with a new head coach, following the departure of head coach Ryan Beard to Coastal Carolina. The Blue Hens will face Coastal Carolina during their non-conference schedule.
(To read about UD’s non-conference schedule click here.)
The new head coach for the Bears is former Southern Methodist University (SMU) offensive coordinator, Casey Woods. Woods’ was SMU’s offensive coordinator for the past four seasons and in those seasons the offense averaged over 30 points per game. Last season, the Mustangs ranked top five in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) in points per game, yards per game and passing yards per game. Woods’ takes over a team that ranked seventh in CUSA in both scoring offense and defense.
Blue Hens at Western Kentucky University, Oct. 27 @ Houchens Industries-L.T. Smith Stadium, 7:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens will travel to Bowling Green, Kentucky, for the first time since 1981 for a rematch against the Hilltoppers at the end of October.
Western Kentucky was the only team to defeat the Blue Hens in Delaware Stadium last season, spoiling UD’s first CUSA home game with a 27-24 victory over the Blue Hens. The Hilltoppers finished the season with a 6-2 conference record, a 9-4 overall record and a bowl game victory over Southern Mississippi in the 2025 New Orleans Bowl.
UD runs the ball against Western Kentucky University in first home CUSA game in program history. Photo Credit: George Rotsch.
Western Kentucky finished last season with the conference’s best scoring offense and returns its second leading receiver K.D. Hutchinson. Hutchinson finished last season with 66 receptions — second only to Sean Wilson in CUSA — and 618 receiving yards in 13 games. Hutchinson pairs with redshirt senior Moussa Barry (34 catches and 488 receiving yards last season) to create a dynamic receiving duo for returning quarterback Rodney Tisdale Jr.
Tisadale Jr. appeared in nine games last season and started the Hilltoppers’ final six games. As the starter, Tisdale threw for over 1,000 yards and scored ten total touchdowns.
The Blue Hens hold a 2-1 historical series advantage.
Blue Hens at Kennesaw State University, Nov. 7 @ Walens Family Field at Fifth Third Stadium, 3:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens will face the reigning CUSA champion, Kennesaw State Owls, on the road in the first matchup between the two programs.
The Owls finished last season with a 10-4 overall record and a 7-1 conference record. The team’s only conference loss came against Jacksonville State, but that loss was rectified in the CUSA championship game, when the Owls defeated the Gamecocks, 19-15. The win earned the program its first CUSA championship in just its second season in the conference after finishing their first CUSA season with a 2-6 conference record.
Kennesaw State was led by a strong defense that ranked fourth in the conference in opponents points per game last season. The Owls defense finished the year tied for first in the conference in sacks (31), second in red zone defense and second in passing defense. Linebacker Baron Hopson was a big part of the success of the Owls’ defense and he is returning to the program for his graduate season. Hopson was the CUSA Co-Defensive Player of the Year last season and was named to the 2026 Lombardi Award preseason watch list entering the season.
On the offensive end, The Owls enter the 2026 season after ranking sixth in the conference in scoring a year ago. Kennesaw State will have a new quarterback under center this season following the departure of last season’s starter, Amari Odom. Odom threw for over 2,500 yards last season and transferred to Syracuse during the offseason.
Ironically, the Owls new starting quarterback is former Syracuse quarterback, Rickie Collins. Collins was the only quarterback of a 28 player transfer class the Owls brought in this offseason. Collins appeared in seven games for Syracuse last season, completing 97 of his 181 passing attempts for 1,042 yards and six touchdowns. ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Collins as the Owls starter on August 19, according to ESPN.
Blue Hens vs Florida International University, Nov. 14 @ Delaware Stadium, 3:00 p.m.
The Blue Hens’ game against the Panthers is the team’s penultimate home game of the season and the second game between the programs in their history. UD won the first meeting last season, 38-16, earning the program’s first ever road CUSA win.
FIU went on to finish the season with seven wins and a 5-3 conference record, making the Servpro First Responders Bowl. The Panthers lost the bowl game, 57-20, against UTSA breaking a four game winning streak the team compiled to end the regular season. It was the Panthers’ first bowl game appearance since 2019.
FIU will try and build on the success amassed during head coach Willie Simmons’ first year at the helm. In Simmons’ first season, the Panthers had the conference’s third highest scoring offense, fourth best rushing attack and tied Kennesaw State for the conference lead in team sacks. The team returns a strong amount of its talent especially on the defensive end, bringing back the team’s sack leader — defensive lineman Kenton Simmons — and linebacker Percy Courtney Jr. who led the team in tackles for loss last season.
The offense is going to rely more on new talent, following key departures from last season’s top three unit.
FIU’s starting quarterback from a season ago — Keyone Jenkins — transferred to UCF in the offseason along with the Panthers’ leading receiver Alex Perry who transferred to Illinois. The program’s leading rusher — Kejon Owens — moved on to the NFL, leaving the program without its top three contributors going into the 2026 season.
Simmons’ restocked the offense with a pair of impactful transfers — former Appalachian State quarterback JJ Kohl and former Rhode Island receiver Greg Gaines III — during the portal window, adding their production to returning running back Anthony Carrie’s.
Carrie finished as CUSA’s 22nd best rusher while playing behind Owens and is set to take on a bigger role this season. Kohl played in eight games for the Mountaineers last year, throwing for 1,465 yards and 12 touchdowns. Kohl only threw an interception in one of those eight games. Gaines III was one of 22 FCS wide receivers to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving last year and finished the season with four receiving touchdowns in addition to his 1,018 receiving yards.
The trio of Kohl, Carrie and Gaines III will be a big part of FIU’s offense in the 2026 season.
Blue Hens at New Mexico State University, Nov. 21 @ Aggie Memorial Stadium, 3:00 p.m.
Delaware will complete its road schedule with the program’s first meeting against the New Mexico State Aggies in late November.
The Aggies finished the 2025 season with a 4-8 overall record and 2-6 conference record. The defense fared better than the offense ranking sixth in CUSA in points allowed per game compared to the second-worst CUSA mark in points scored per game, last season. The defense returns a strong amount of its talent from a year ago including defensive back Bernock Iya who was tied for second in CUSA with four interceptions.
The offense will be headlined by some newcomers in addition to returning wide receiver, TK King. King led CUSA in receiving yards per game last season hauling in 41 catches for 588 yards and three touchdowns in eight games. King will be catching passes from a new quarterback with Furman transfer Trey Hedden getting the starting nod, according to the Las Cruces Sun News. Hedden threw for 2,967 yards and 17 touchdowns in 12 games last season.
The Aggies’ rushing attack ranked last in CUSA totaling less than 1,000 yards on the ground last season. The program addressed the problem in the offseason bringing former Delaware State running back, James Jones, into the backfield to pair with senior runner, Dijon Stanley. Stanley tallied over 300 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 75 carries last year while Jones rushed for over 900 yards on 98 carries for the Hornets.
Blue Hens vs Jacksonville State University, Nov. 28 @ Delaware Stadium, 3:30 p.m.
UD finishes its 2026 regular season campaign with a matchup against the CUSA runner-up from last season, the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
The Gamecocks earned the program’s first victory against the Blue Hens last season. The Delaware offense struggled to maintain possession against the Jacksonville State defense, turning the ball over twice in the first half leading to a pair of Gamecock touchdowns. The win was a spring board for the Gamecocks leading to a three game winning streak against conference opponents.
The momentum from the winning streak helped the Gamecocks finish the season with a 9-5 overall record and 7-1 conference record. The only conference game Jacksonville State lost was the CUSA Championship game to Kennesaw State. The program ended its season with a win against Troy in the Cramton Bowl.
The roster retained much of its talent from last season creating strong continuity for second year head coach, Charles Kelly. The biggest returner is quarterback, Caden Creel. Creel played in 14 games last season amassing 1,514 passing yards in addition to 1,076 rushing yards — fourth best in CUSA. Wide receiver Deondre Johnson is returning to the program after leading the team in receiving yards and will pair with Murray State transfer Darius Cannon on the outside.
On the defensive end, leading tackler Mac Sanders is set to return as well as Walker O’Steen, running back a linebacker duo that accounted for 169 total tackles. Defensive back Tre’Quan Fegans recorded nine pass breakups last season and is returning to the program for a fifth year. The Gamecock defense ranked third in CUSA allowing just over 25 points per game last season.
The biggest departure for the program came in the offensive backfield. CUSA’s leading rusher, Cam Cook, departed the program to play for former Jax State head coach Rich Rodriguez at West Virginia. Cook rushed for 1,659 yards and scored 16 rushing touchdowns last season earning him CUSA Player of the Year honors. The program will most likely turn to returning running backs such as Khristian Lando, Justus Savage and Lucas Farrington to collectively fill the void Cook left.
The two programs have played each other three times throughout their histories. The Blue Hens hold a 2-1 series lead. This game will be the first meeting between the two teams held in Delaware since 1978.
The Blue Hens’ 2026 season starts on September 3, at home against Merrimack.
A small plane carrying four people crashed into shallow waters next to a remote coastal town in Alaska on Wednesday, killing everyone on board, officials said.
The flat routines of a dead end railway job screen out an approaching menace in a quietly intriguing game from the indie developer of Cat Lady and Lorelai
Lonely jobs have provided excellent material for independent video games over the years. From Papers, Please to Firewatch to The Stanley Parable, players have been happy to spend hours dwelling in depressing cubicles or rural hideaways, usually because there is an intriguingly hidden point to it all.
In Trainwatch, a character named Troy has taken a seemingly godforsaken job as a railway worker in an unnamed desolate backwater. His main task over the course of a single month is to manage a level crossing, closing the gate whenever a train comes, while also carrying out daily chores such as cooking and washing. It sounds serene, but Troy is also running away from something. The other stipulations are that he stays sober and calls his wife every night. And there is something lurking in the fog at the edges of the fields – one day he must face it.
The race was at its peak when American riders were regularly challenging for titles. Its return could help prompt a revival
After a decade-long absence, the beloved Philadelphia International Cycling Classic is set to return this weekend, with some of the world’s best bike-racing teams taking to the famous circuit around the city’s leafy Art Museum, Manayunk, and Roxborough areas on Sunday.
The race is one of just a handful of events on American soil sanctioned by UCI, cycling’s international governing body, and will feature squads such as EF Education EasyPost, Lidl-Trek, Lotto-Intermarché, and Jayco AlUla in the men’s race, and powerhouses CANYON//SRAM zondacrypto and Human Powered Health in the women’s event. It is classified as a 1.1 race, meaning it’s two levels below the top-flight WorldTour, whose races include the Tour de France, Paris-Roubaix, and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.
The Philadelphia Cycling Classic will be livestreamed on Channel 6 ABC, with the women’s race kicking off at 8.30am Eastern. The men will follow at 12.30pm. Of course, you could always trek to Philly and become part of the party yourself. I highly recommend snagging a spot somewhere along The Wall.
The rules governing your retirement plan may be changing.
As we reported in July, President Donald Trump wants to encourage 401(k) plans to invest more in private equity, real estate and cryptocurrency, which can be complex and risky. To pave the way, the Department of Labor has proposed rules that would make it harder for employees to hold companies liable for how they oversee retirement plans.
Employers are required to serve the best interests of their employees when choosing investment options. Under the proposed changes, a company that follows a certain process would get the benefit of the doubt in court, making it harder for workers to sue over the management of their 401(k).
A spokesperson for the Department of Labor did not respond to requests for comment. In an announcement from March, the department said the proposed rule change will “democratize access to alternative investments in 401(k) plans” and “lower litigation risks” for employers who are acting with good judgment.
The new rules, expected to be finalized this year, also raise broader questions: What investment options are already offered in people’s retirement accounts, and what are people paying in fees?
We’ve asked the public to send us their annual 401(k) disclosures so we can understand the range of funds and fees people have in their accounts. (Want to send us yours? Here’s how.) So far, we’ve heard from more than 200 people, many of whom also asked us questions about their plans. To find the answers, we spoke with eight economists, lawyers and retirement benefit experts.
If you have questions about your specific retirement plan, experts recommend talking to a fee-only financial planner who will serve as a fiduciary (which means they must provide advice in your best financial interest, not theirs). You can check a financial adviser’s qualifications by searching here.
Under the Labor Department’s proposed rule change, employers who show that they’ve considered a set of six factors when choosing investments and document their reasoning when building a plan should have greater protection from a potential lawsuit.
That liability tends to sit with your employer because they have final say over your plan’s investment options, even though companies usually hire firms like Fidelity or Vanguard to run the plan, and those firms often suggest which funds to include.
A company could document its reasoning for choosing to offer certain investment options and still act imprudently, said Tim Hauser, who was the deputy assistant secretary at the Labor Department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration until last December. In his three-plus decades there, he encountered cases in which companies “generated a lot of paper” to explain their reasoning but, ultimately, didn’t make wise financial decisions based on the information available to them.
Some retirement plans are stuck in investments with bloated fees and costly add-ons. Share your standard plan documents with us to help reveal which financial products companies are pushing, and what they’re charging workers.
Monique Morrissey, a senior economist for the Economic Policy Institute, wrote in a June letter that the proposal would “gut protections for retirement savers” and prioritize maximizing investment returns over balancing risk. She cited a 2025 AARP survey finding most Americans don’t think it’s important to be able to access private market investments or cryptocurrency in their retirement accounts.
But Bonnie Treichel, the founder of Endeavor Retirement, a consulting firm for retirement advisers, said the proposed rules are a framework not a mandate. Employers could offer these investments, but that doesn’t mean they’ll rush to add riskier investment options.
To find out if the rule change may affect your 401(k), ask your plan administrator, often someone in your human resources department, whether the company plans to offer new investment options. (The plan administrator is often listed on the same document that lists your fees; find out how to access that information in the form on this post.)
How do I know if my 401(k) is in good shape?
For many people, a 401(k) only needs close attention when starting a job, when leaving a job and when closing in on retirement. The rest of the time, it mostly runs itself. Still, experts we interviewed said it’s worth checking in on the plan once a year as fees and fund options can change.
A healthy account comes down to three basics: how much you save, how much risk you take and how much you pay in fees, experts say. Only the first is entirely up to you. The other two you manage from a menu of options your employer builds.
The more you save — and the earlier you start — the more time your money has to grow. Companies often offer to match part of your contribution, so if you can swing it, experts advise putting in at least enough to collect the full match. Otherwise you’re leaving money on the table.
You also control what your savings are invested in, based on the menu of investment options your plan offers.
Each fund you invest in carries a different level of risk. Stocks are more volatile than bonds, for example, and a balanced investment portfolio weighs the level of risk depending on how far you are from retirement. Younger investors decades away from tapping into their retirement fund may invest more in stocks, while older workers may prefer to have more in bonds.
The “easy button” is to choose a target-date fund that’ll automatically reallocate your investments to reduce your risk by shifting from stocks to bonds, or other less volatile investments, as you approach retirement.
“For most people, this is all the money they have,” said Jean-Pierre Aubry, an associate director at the Boston College Center for Retirement Research. “It’s not money you want to play around with.”
How can I tell if I’m paying high fees?
Compounded over time, even small differences in fees have a huge impact on your retirement savings. By the Labor Department’s own math, 1% in additional fees can shrink a nest egg at retirement by 28%.
Federal law requires employers to make sure employees are paying reasonable fees. Since 2012, the Labor Department also requires companies to send a disclosure form to employees listing all funds and fees. (That’s the annual disclosure we’re asking people to send to us. If you want to send us yours, find instructions on the form in this post.) Still, the Government Accountability Office found nearly 4 in 10 people don’t fully understand the fees they’re paying on their retirement plan.
The number you should watch for is each fund’s expense ratio: the fees firms charge employees for owning or investing in a fund, taken as a percentage of the money you have in it. An expense ratio of 0.5% means you pay a $5 fee per year for every $1,000 you’ve invested. To find the fees you’re paying, look for your annual disclosure on your plan’s website or ask your HR department. (See instructions for your specific plan here.)
If most funds on your 401(k) menu have an expense ratio over 1%, that should be a “red flag” that it’s a high-cost plan, said Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar.
Even 0.75% or 0.5% is “actually pretty high by 401(k) standards,” said Quinn Curtis, a law professor at University of Virginia who has studied the litigation around 401(k) fees.
The cheapest options are typically index funds, which mirror a slice of the market like the S&P 500 instead of paying a manager to pick stocks. Workers are gravitating to these passive, low-cost investments and the firms are competing to win over investors, which is driving down fees even more. Most index fund fees are under or around 0.1%, Benz said. If your index fund is charging several times that, experts say it’s worth asking why or finding another option.
When you check your 401(k) plan once a year, make sure you’re still in the funds with the lowest available fees, Aubry said.
And be wary of offers for personalized portfolios at the click of a button, Treichel said. These services often charge additional fees.
“Nothing in life is free,” she said. “So, if it looks free, look further.”
How can I compare my 401(k) to plans offered by similar companies?
There’s no easy way. No free database exists where you can, say, type in your employer name and see how its 401(k) investment options compare to what other companies offer. But there are a few general trends to be aware of.
The size of your company matters. Smaller companies tend to get offered retirement plans with higher fees, according to research. Larger companies have more employee money and therefore leverage, and tend to negotiate lower fees. So, if you work for a smaller company, experts said you may want to be especially vigilant about your plan’s investment options.
Other signs of a good plan: your employer pays some or all of the administrative costs and your employer offers a matching contribution, experts said.
And more choices don’t necessarily mean better ones. Most people don’t have the time or the expertise to understand the investment funds available to them, Curtis said. A well-designed retirement plan gives workers a curated set of low-cost investment options that’ll “meet the needs of most investors.”
What if I don’t like my retirement plan?
Start with your plan administrator, often someone in your company’s HR department, experts say. Tell them that you aren’t happy with the investment offerings and the associated fees, and lobby for additional options.
If you believe the people overseeing your 401(k) plan have been careless, disloyal or negligent, resulting in a smaller nest egg for your retirement, you can contact the Department of Labor, Hauser said. An employee benefit adviser should follow up with you to learn more and may refer your case to the enforcement division for further investigation.
Under federal law, you can also file a lawsuit against your employer.
But Hauser said it may be difficult for the average person to police the options in their 401(k) plan. Much of the responsibility falls on employees, whether or not they are well-versed in investing, he said. That can mean people invest in their retirement fund for decades before they notice the high fees that cut into their potential retirement savings.
“People consistently underestimate the impact of even small differences in fees,” Hauser said.
A view of the sunrise over a cottonwood tree where locals are protesting Trump’s border wall in Lochiel, Ariz., on Aug. 10, 2026.Photo: John Washington
Of the more than $170 billion that President Donald Trump secured for his border regime in the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” nearly $50 billion is allocated to border wall construction. Even with these enormous resources, however, the administration continues to face challenges constructing its monument to violent exclusion along the southern border through tribal, private, and state lands.
For nearly a month, the key force standing in the way of Trump’s border wall project in southeast Arizona has been a person sitting in a 200-year-old tree.
More precisely, at every moment since late July, one person — although not always the same person — has been on a platform in the branches of a giant cottonwood tree in Lochiel, Arizona, with an expanding encampment of primarily local activists 50 feet below.
The protesters’ aim is to stop the ongoing construction of two parallel, 30-foot-high border walls ripping through the remote San Rafael Valley.
Miles of the double wall structure have already been built in the area. This part of the valley is sparsely populated and hardly ever used as a border-crossing site by humans, but is renowned as a unique wildlife migration corridor. According to the Sierra Club’s borderlands coordinator, Erick Meza, the region is “a biodiversity hotspot and the most important jaguar corridor that we have left in the U.S.”
Residents from Lochiel and the surrounding area, including from Sonora, Mexico, had been coming together regularly for over a year for binational gatherings to organize against wall construction. They shared music, art, food, and ceremonies across the border, which is demarcated there by only a rancher’s wire fence.
“People got together that night and decided to go down and set up a tree sit in that final tree on the U.S. side.”
The planned double wall structure, with a 60-foot no man’s land in between, would not only devastate the land and its ecosystems — it would also sever the binational life worlds of the area.
The “happenings,” as organizers called the gatherings, escalated into a continuous protest and tree sit when construction workers with government contractors Fisher Sand & Gravel crushed three giant cottonwood trees, known locally as “grandmother” trees, in one day on July 27.
Local activists moved in swiftly to save the last cottonwood standing on the U.S. side of the border, and the tree sit began.
“Momentum had been growing locally in the region to try to make more of an intervention,” said an Arizona-based participant in the tree sit, who asked for anonymity out of concern for government repression. “People got together that night and decided to go down and set up a tree sit in that final tree on the U.S. side, which was planned to be cleared.”
Ever since, a tree sitter has been in the cottonwood at all times, numerous participants told The Intercept.
“U.S. Customs and Border Protection identified four cottonwood trees on federal land in Lochiel, Arizona, that needed removal for planned border wall construction,” said a spokesperson from CBP. “Preconstruction surveys found no active migratory bird nests, and environmental monitors were present at the start of clearing activities to ensure work was limited to the identified trees. Three trees have been removed, and the remaining tree is scheduled for removal.”
Meza, of the Sierra Club, told The Intercept that the government’s environmental survey was out of date and that the day before the cottonwoods were felled, he had taken video of an active nest in one of the trees.
“The next day, they had sent the contractors to take down the trees,” he said. “Their environmental monitor was not present.” Meza added that “when people saw what happened, the community in general got outraged.”
For participants in the Lochiel encampment, protecting the remaining “grandmother” is an anchoring point for the protest, but stopping the border wall and all it represents is the organizing principle.
“Some people are tree sitting and supporting the tree sit. Some people are more focused on getting into the roads, and intervening in construction work that’s happening,” the tree-sit participant said. “Now there’s a whole zone of a few miles where they’re having trouble building. And as camp grows, the ability to affect construction also grows.”
The remaining cottonwood itself is on federal land, but the encampment, just feet away, is technically on private land. It’s a unique setup, organizers told The Intercept, in which local ranchers and authorities oppose the border wall construction, and construction workers cannot risk forging forward in the path of the tree as a person remains perched in its branches. The small standoff is becoming a growing site of border resistance, and the construction of Trump’s wall in the area has been disrupted for a month.
“Living Things on the Land”
At a time when jack-booted agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement are terrorizing communities nationwide and over 73,000 people are held in ICE detention, the defense of a remote stretch of borderlands may seem a minor struggle.
The binational protest around the cottonwood, however, exemplifies what it looks like to take strategic action to disrupt the infrastructure of the border regime.
“Something happens along these borderlands,” said another participant in the tree sit and encampment, Uni Yuchi Trejo, a first-generation Mexican American. “You still feel the way the land moves here, how the living things on the land migrate and move with it.”
Compared to other struggles against border enforcement, the Lochiel encampment has seen remarkably little law enforcement repression, despite creating disruptions to a major border infrastructure project.
One protester was arrested in late July by local sheriffs for blocking construction workers on a roadway but was released the same day without charge; the sheriff himself is on the record as opposing the border wall construction. And with the encampment on private property, it remains relatively protected from federal law enforcement sweeps.
According to activists on the ground, a second tree sit on the Mexico side of the border was initiated last week but ended after a few days, following reported interventions from Mexican law enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.
The relative peace the Arizona-based activists have enjoyed stands in stark contrast to the brutal persecution others opposing border regime enforcement have faced in places like Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas; Spokane, Washington; and Minneapolis. The Arizona demonstration also sits in the legacy of site-based struggles not tied directly to the border, like Stop Copy City in Atlanta, or the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock — movements that have also faced ruthless repression.
This might speak to the place of the border wall in the Trump administration’s current priorities. Even for an anti-immigrant fascist like Stephen Miller, swift border wall construction in the San Rafael Valley is not an urgent matter, owing to the minuscule number of border-crossing attempts there. Those that do attempt to cross are already facing long odds against a system designed to push them into death’s grips.
Though the environmental destruction of border wall construction is well established, a spokesperson from Customs and Border Protection absurdly pointed to people who might attempt to cross as the real environmental threat.
A view of Trump’s double wall on a stretch of the U.S.–Mexico border running through Lochiel, Ariz., on Aug. 10, 2026.Photo: John Washington
“While concerns exist about impacts to sensitive areas, it is important to note that illegal immigration itself poses significant environmental challenges,” the spokesperson said. “High volumes of unauthorized crossings often result in substantial amounts of trash, pollution, and damage to natural resources, including sensitive habitats and agriculture.”
Suffice it to say, the people crossing borders do not tear down ancient trees, plow over tribal burial grounds, or cut off wildlife corridors. Not to mention that no “high volumes” of crossings occur in the San Rafael Valley.
As Arizona-based reporter and author of “How to Close a Camp,” John Washington, told Democracy Now!, “People, I think, are right to point out that this very much smells of a boondoggle — that no one is crossing here, and yet they are spending maybe a half a billion dollars on just this about 27-mile segment of wall to devastate the local ecosystem.”
“The Border Is Everywhere”
“We’re taking the proactive stance of: ‘No, we don’t want the wall and we’re going to make sure you’re not doing it through Lochiel,’” said Kate Scott, a local resident and co-founder of the Madrean Archipelago Wildlife Center, who was among the original organizers against border construction in the region. “And we will hopefully have inspired people all across the world, wherever their horrible border walls are, and to question them in a way that’s most defiant.”
Activists on the ground are aware that reaching remote Lochiel is no easy task, so organizers are encouraging action wherever people can undertake it.
One target of activists’ campaigns is Fisher Sand & Gravel, the contractor working on the wall, which has received around $1.5 billion in government contracts in Arizona alone. (Fisher Sand & Gravel and its parent company, Fisher Industries, did not respond to requests for comment.)
Subcontractors working on the project are falling under scrutiny, too.
“The border is everywhere,” said Trejo, the Mexican-American land defender, “which means that there are subcontractors and there are power players maybe in your backyard, maybe in your city, maybe an hour drive from where you’re living.”
“Right now we’re at a really crucial point, where those of us that have been holding space and ground are seizing more of it each day. And so imagine if the 30, 40 holding that space becomes a 1,000 or becomes 5,000. What kind of opening will that then create?”
Correction: August 27, 2026, 2:30 p.m. ET This story has been updated to correct an errant spelling of Kate Scott’s name.
Tim Curry was a versatile performer on stage and screen who made his name as the flamboyant Dr Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Curry’s best-known roles often required a considerable physical transformation, to the extent that he was unrecognisable in some of them. As Frank-N-Furter, Rocky Horror’s eccentric scientist, he was daubed in garish makeup and dressed in stockings and suspenders. In Ridley Scott's fantasy Legend, he sported giant horns and scarlet skin as the Lord of Darkness, and, in 1990, Curry was transformed with full-face clown makeup to play Pennywise in the TV miniseries It, based on Stephen King's novel
The once world-leading producer of crude oil has plunged into an energy crisis as Kyiv targets its refineries
A sanctioned shadow fleet tanker carries oil from Nato member Turkey to a Russian Baltic port. A deal is signed for Russian oil to be processed in Kazakhstan. Fuel cargoes arrive from India via Egypt. The Kremlin pressures allies to sell it badly needed fuel.
The data points may be diverse, but they point to a single inescapable conclusion.
Lawyers claim Eman el-Shazly, from Birmingham, was detained in effort to silence her sister, a critic of Sisi regime
The UK Foreign Office has been asked to intervene to secure the release of a British-Egyptian woman who it is claimed has been arrested in Cairo because of her sister’s political activism.
Eman el-Shazly, a 45-year-old based in Birmingham, was arrested on 16 August while visiting Egypt. Her lawyers say she has been detained in an attempt to silence her sister Mona, a relentless and harsh critic of the Egyptian government on her UK-based YouTube channel.
A French court has for the first time recognized cosmic radiation as a contributing occupational factor in a flight attendant's breast cancer, alongside passive smoking and years of night work. The landmark ruling could open the door to similar claims from other aircrew, as research continues to link long-term high-altitude flying with elevated exposure to radiation-related cancers. The BBC reports: Sophie Lainault, a 59 year-old former stewardess on Air France, sought to have her cancer recognized as an occupational disease, brought on by conditions at work. This has now been confirmed in a landmark court ruling in the southwestern town of Bayonne, which said that cosmic radiation was one of three carcinogenic hazards arising from her profession. [...] As stewardess and later purser on Air France airliners, Lainault clocked up 12,600 flight hours between 1989 and 2019. More than half of these were at night. Many long-distance high-altitude flights from Paris would have taken her near the North Pole, where exposure to radiation from space -- strictly speaking particles from the sun and other stars -- is the most intense.
A study this month at the Harvard Medical School in the US found that flight attendants and pilots had the highest level of radiation-related cancer deaths among more than 500 different professions. In all, about 6.9% of deaths among flight attendants and 6.7% of deaths among pilots were from radiation-related cancers, according to the analysis. These proportions were higher than for other professions including nuclear technologists, who are routinely exposed to radiation from non-cosmic sources yet placed 12th on the list, the authors said. "In France the link between breast cancer and certain hazards has been established for a number of professions, such as nurses ... but this is the first time for an air-hostess," said Lainault's lawyer Elisabeth Leroux.
Security and defence 2027
3
March 2027 TO 4 March 2027 — 09:00 TO 12:30 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Join senior policymakers, business leaders and international security experts for a day and a half of unique discussions on the future of security and defence across modern domains of conflict, and how to prepare for an uncertain future.
Chatham House’s 2027 Security and Defence Conference convenes policymakers, military leaders and industry stakeholders to shape solutions for navigating an increasingly complex threat landscape.
Adjusting to the geopolitical reality
The security and defence landscape of 2027 is defined by a period of adjustment. Across the Euro-Atlantic community and beyond, governments, armed forces and industry leaders are responding to a strategic environment shaped by increased defence spending, shifting alliances and growing uncertainty about the future balance of power. Long-held assumptions regarding deterrence, burden-sharing and international cooperation are being tested by emerging threats and mounting geopolitical competition, forcing policymakers and private sector stakeholders alike to reconsider how security is delivered and sustained in an increasingly contested world.
As European allies move to assume greater responsibility for their own security, questions about the future shape of NATO have become increasingly urgent. The drive towards higher defence spending has strengthened the alliance’s military potential but has also exposed differing national priorities, industrial capacities and political ambitions. At the same time, debate continues over the extent of the United States’ long-term commitment to European security and what a more European-led NATO could mean for collective defence, nuclear deterrence and strategic decision-making. Beyond the alliance, conflict in the Middle East, China’s growing influence on the international security environment and renewed competition across critical maritime and economic chokepoints are reshaping regional and global security dynamics.
The 2027 Security and Defence Summit brings together policymakers, senior military leaders, business executives and civil society experts to examine the defining security challenges of the coming decade. Through a programme of keynote addresses, high-level panel discussions and Chatham House Rule spotlight sessions, participants will advance their understanding of the future of NATO, defence investment, civil resilience, emerging technologies, space security and the evolving character of conflict. Together, speakers and delegates will identify how governments, armed forces and industry can strengthen partnerships, build resilience and develop the capabilities required to navigate an era of strategic uncertainty.
Global trade 2027
17
March 2027 TO 18 March 2027 — 09:00 TO 13:00 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Join government officials, global business and civil society leaders to explore strategies for navigating economic uncertainty in an increasingly complex geopolitical landscape.
Chatham House’s 2027 Global Trade Conference brings together government officials, global business and civil society leaders to examine pivotal developments in global trade policy.
Navigating global economic uncertainty
Over the past year, climate and geopolitical shocks have increasingly arrived not as separate crises, but in tandem, exposing the interconnected vulnerabilities of energy systems, economies and societies. As temperatures edge beyond 1.5°C of warming, the international community has seen escalating climate extremes, with record-breaking heat, wildfires and severe floods affecting communities globally. At the same time, geopolitical fragmentation has persisted. The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has reached the one-year mark, leading to 12 months of elevated energy and fertiliser prices and renewed concerns over the vulnerability of global supply chains. Attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine have underscored the need for the transition to electrification and renewables.
Yet, both the energy transition and broader climate mitigation efforts bring their own challenges. As countries race to decarbonize, new geopolitical pressures are emerging as nations compete for dominance in clean tech manufacturing, access to critical minerals, control of key supply chains and industrial leadership in the low-carbon economy. The chapter of unanimous climate negotiations and target-setting is giving way to a new era defined by the implementation of strategies in an age of disruption. Building resilience must now go hand in hand with accelerating the transition and tackling pressing climate change concerns.
During two days of high-level keynotes, panel dialogues, networking sessions, and spotlight sessions held under the Chatham House Rule, speakers and delegates will examine how governments, businesses and societies can manage mounting risks while maintaining energy security, economic prosperity and international cooperation towards the transition. What does climate and energy resilience mean in an era of intensifying shocks? And crucially, what does it mean for business?
Climate and energy 2027
10
March 2027 TO 11 March 2027 — 09:00 TO 12:30 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Join senior policymakers, business leaders and experts for a day and a half of unique discussion on how to manage mounting geopolitical and climate risks while maintaining energy security, economic prosperity and international cooperation towards the transition.
Chatham House’s 2027 Climate & Energy Summit convenes policymakers, business leaders and non-profit stakeholders to shape the strategies for securing a resilient future.
The energy transition’s new risk landscape
Over the past year, climate and geopolitical shocks have increasingly arrived not as separate crises, but in tandem, exposing the interconnected vulnerabilities of energy systems, economies and societies. As temperatures edge beyond 1.5°C of warming, the international community has seen escalating climate extremes, with record-breaking heat, wildfires and severe floods affecting communities globally. At the same time, geopolitical fragmentation has persisted. The blockage of the Strait of Hormuz has reached the one-year mark, leading to 12 months of elevated energy and fertiliser prices and renewed concerns over the vulnerability of global supply chains. Attacks on critical infrastructure in Ukraine have underscored the need for the transition to electrification and renewables.
Yet, both the energy transition and broader climate mitigation efforts bring their own challenges. As countries race to decarbonize, new geopolitical pressures are emerging as nations compete for dominance in clean tech manufacturing, access to critical minerals, control of key supply chains and industrial leadership in the low-carbon economy. The chapter of unanimous climate negotiations and target-setting is giving way to a new era defined by the implementation of strategies in an age of disruption. Building resilience must now go hand in hand with accelerating the transition and tackling pressing climate change concerns.
During two days of high-level keynotes, panel dialogues, networking sessions, and spotlight sessions held under the Chatham House Rule, speakers and delegates will examine how governments, businesses and societies can manage mounting risks while maintaining energy security, economic prosperity and international cooperation towards the transition. What does climate and energy resilience mean in an era of intensifying shocks? And crucially, what does it mean for business?
Washington, D.C. — Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook is pushing back against President Donald Trump’s renewed effort to remove her from the central bank, arguing that disputed mortgage paperwork does not provide legal grounds for dismissal.
Cook’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, told the White House Wednesday that allegations she made false statements on mortgage applications remain unproven and do not constitute the “cause” required to remove a Federal Reserve governor.
The dispute began after Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte accused Cook of claiming more than one property as her primary residence. Cook has denied committing mortgage fraud or intentionally misleading lenders. Reuters previously reported that documents showed Cook identified one property as a vacation home.
Trump initially attempted to fire Cook last year, but the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in June that Federal Reserve officials cannot be removed at will. The justices allowed Cook to remain in office while leaving open whether proven misconduct could constitute sufficient cause for removal.
The White House renewed the effort Aug. 5, giving Cook three weeks to respond to its allegations. Administration officials argue that even if Cook did not commit fraud, inaccuracies on mortgage documents raise questions about her judgment and trustworthiness.
Cook maintains the allegations are being used as a pretext to increase presidential influence over Federal Reserve interest-rate policy.
Tallahassee, Florida — Florida education officials asked textbook publishers to remove or soften some references to climate change before approving science books for the state’s public schools, according to records obtained in a WUSF and Hechinger Report investigation.
The changes occurred during Florida’s 2024 science textbook review. In one McGraw Hill marine science book, officials requested replacing “climate change” with “changes in the environment.” Another passage citing research estimating 150,000 annual deaths from climate change was rewritten to say human health would be affected by increased carbon dioxide and warming.
Cengage also removed the word “polluting” from a reference to coal-burning power plants and eliminated other passages discussing fossil fuels and climate policy. Publishers eventually secured approval for most books after making requested revisions.
Glenn Branch of the National Center for Science Education said the requests went beyond changes needed to align the books with Florida’s existing science standards. McGraw Hill said state-specific revisions are routine and maintained that climate change and its environmental effects remain covered in its Florida materials.
The disclosures come as Florida updates its science standards for the first time since 2008. The Department of Education has not said whether the revised standards will continue requiring instruction on human-caused climate change in certain high school science courses.
Allegations Nathan Cofnas was unqualified for Ghent role and would cause ‘negative impact’ made to senior leaders months ago
Nathan Cofnas, the academic who accused Jason Arday of plagiarism, has been accused of having “very limited expertise” for his academic role by professors also working at Ghent University, who say he has a “far-right agenda”.
Cofnas secured a postdoctoral research role “on the future of liberalism” at Belgium’s Ghent University in March. Weeks later, Ghent’s department of philosophy and moral sciences handed a 19-page statement to university officials, setting out why it believed it was “improbable” that Cofnas was the best candidate.
Czech pair beat Bencic and Cobolli in deciding tiebreak
Revamped event draws strong crowds at Arthur Ashe
Singles stars dominate after doubles specialists exit
To many who came to the US Open grounds this week, the showpiece of the mixed doubles championship came Tuesday afternoon, with the returns of Serena Williams (after four years away from tennis) and Carlos Alcaraz (after four months out with a wrist injury).
To the players who remained in the field after Williams and Alcaraz exited in the quarter-finals, the real highlight was Wednesday night’s final at Arthur Ashe Stadium, with its $1m in prize money on the line. Karolína Muchová and Jakub Menšík made the most of the spotlight, beating Belinda Bencic and Flavio Cobolli 6-3, 1-6 (10-6) for the title.
Tallahassee, Florida — A state grand jury concluded that Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration misappropriated $10 million in taxpayer money by diverting funds from a Medicaid settlement into the Hope Florida Foundation, according to a report obtained by CBS News Miami.
The money came from a $67 million settlement with Centene Corporation. The grand jury said $10 million that should have been treated as state funds was instead directed to Hope Florida, a nonprofit initiative associated with first lady Casey DeSantis. Within weeks, the foundation distributed two $5 million grants to outside organizations.
According to the report, $8.5 million eventually flowed to political committees, including Keep Florida Clean, which was chaired by then-DeSantis chief of staff and current Attorney General James Uthmeier. The money was used in the 2024 campaign against Amendment 3, which sought to legalize recreational marijuana.
The grand jury said the funds were “plainly” used for political purposes but found insufficient evidence to bring criminal charges because investigators could not establish who made the decision to divert the money.
DeSantis rejected the findings Wednesday, calling the matter a “hoax” and saying he was not involved in negotiating the settlement. The grand jury recommended that Florida lawmakers strengthen rules governing state settlement money and impose clearer tracking requirements for taxpayer funds.
Comté, beaufort and abondance makers can temporarily supplement cows’ diets as there is ‘no grass left to eat’
Strict production rules will be loosened for some of France’s most famous cheeses after drought and repeated heatwaves dried out grazing pastures, threatening the livelihoods of traditional dairy workers.
Comté, a hard cheese made from raw cows’ milk in the Jura mountains, is France’s top-selling traditional cheese, with more than 62,000 tonnes produced last year. The government announced on Wednesday that its producers would be granted a temporary change to strict rules on grazing after farmers said extreme heat had scorched their pastures, putting production at risk.
The paintings, sculptures and museum installations of Yayoi Kusama, one of Japan's most respected contemporary artists, were widely exhibited around the world.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNN: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates argued on Wednesday that artificial intelligence needs significant limits or else the harm to humans will outweigh any potential good. "AI will either be the greatest equalizer ever invented, or the worst source of injustice," he said in a 6,000-word essay, entitled "The turbulent AI era is here. The choices we make now are critical." [...] "Even under the best circumstances, the transition to this new AI era will be one of the most turbulent times in human history," he said, adding that "I don't see evidence that leaders, experts, and communities are confronting the challenges adequately. There is no plan to ease the entry into the AI era." AI can provide great benefits in field like agriculture and medicine, he argued, such as breakthroughs in preventing and treating diseases. But he also noted that the transition carries big risks, like widespread unemployment, harming the educational and social development of children, or making it easier for criminals and bad actors -- or AI itself -- to cause deliberate harm.
"As the models become more powerful, they could begin to act against our interests and we could lose control," he warned. These significant risks must be controlled quickly, Gates said. "If someone had a credible plan for slowing down AI advances globally, I would likely support it," he wrote. "However, I don't think that's going to happen. The geopolitical and economic incentives are pushing too hard to go full speed ahead." In an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper that will air on Wednesday evening, Gates said AI models have gotten dramatically more powerful at a rate faster than he expected. "They're now capable of causing cyberattack risk, bioterrorism risk, psychosocial risk," he said. "I have to say I'm kind of shocked that the exact criteria that we review these models with, and the actions we take to minimize the harms, are really completely missing."
In his essay, Gates proposed taxing AI or robots the way you would pay a human employee's payroll tax in order to slow the shift away from using human labor. He also wants to set aside some work to be done by humans only. "My message to leaders is: You have a chance to act now, before unemployment rises sharply, communities are hurting, and public trust has eroded," he said. "You can make sure AI benefits everyone. And you can work with other governments to meet this national and global challenge."
Washington, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education deleted a pro-Donald Trump social media video Wednesday after viewers pointed out that its apparent attempt to portray the president as powerful unintentionally compared him with Adolf Hitler.
The department posted a 19-second video on X captioned “No one does it like us” with a tiger emoji. It opened with Gary Oldman portraying British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the 2017 film Darkest Hour, declaring, “You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth.” The video then immediately shifted to a montage of Trump raising his fist, pointing and appearing at public events.
The problem was the scene’s context: Churchill is rejecting negotiations with Nazi Germany, and the “tiger” represents Hitler. X users quickly highlighted the apparent historical blunder, and the post received a Community Note explaining the reference.
The department subsequently removed the video from its social media accounts. A spokesperson said an Education Department staffer created the clip using a trending TikTok sound but “did not understand the context of the video.”
The original post drew criticism not only for its unintended comparison but also over why a federal education agency was producing promotional social media content about Trump.
Goodell confirms review after Ohio prostitution sting
York pleaded no contest to two misdemeanor charges
NFL has previously disciplined owners for misconduct
Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL is looking into whether San Francisco 49ers owner Jed York will be punished for violating the league’s personal conduct policy after he was caught in a prostitution sting in Ohio.
“It’s being reviewed under the personal conduct policy,” Goodell said Wednesday at the owners’ meetings in Atlanta. “We’ll do that and when there’s something to be reported we’ll talk.”
Washington, D.C. — A federal judge has rejected, for now, the Justice Department’s attempt to erase Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction, ruling that prosecutors failed to adequately explain why the case should be dismissed.
U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols, who was appointed by President Donald Trump in 2019, said prosecutors offered only a conclusory justification for dropping the case. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office had argued in February that dismissal was “in the interests of justice” but provided little additional reasoning.
Bannon, a longtime Trump ally and former White House strategist, was convicted in 2022 on two counts of contempt of Congress after refusing to comply with a subpoena from the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. He served a four-month prison sentence in 2024.
The Supreme Court later vacated an appellate ruling that had upheld Bannon’s conviction and returned the dispute to lower courts.
Nichols denied the government’s request without prejudice, meaning prosecutors may file another motion offering a more complete legal explanation. ABC News reported that Nichols specifically faulted the Justice Department for failing to satisfy local rules requiring prosecutors to explain their motivations for dismissing an indictment.
Because Bannon has already completed his prison sentence, dismissal would primarily affect the status of his conviction rather than his custody.
A US military strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Tuesday killed four people, officials said.
US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X that the strike targeted a vessel “operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean.”
Jes Staley told US House committee he also was at one point named a trustee of convicted sex offender’s estate
Former JPMorgan Chase executive Jes Staley told US lawmakers he repeatedly shared confidential and market-sensitive bank information with Jeffrey Epstein and was at one point named as a trustee of his estate, according to a transcript released by the House oversight committee on Wednesday.
These admissions come as lawmakers investigate the late convicted sex offender’s ties with political and business elites. Staley appeared before the committee in July as part of its investigation into Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, his associate. Transcripts from the meeting were released on Wednesday.
For people trapped under rubble in an earthquake or similar disaster, the arrival of a fleet of cockroaches could one day be the difference between life and death.
Biorobotics engineers have been working on the design of six-legged cyborg insects with cameras and miniature medical injectors for search and rescue missions.
A federal judge in California ruled Wednesday that the Trump administration illegally lowered the wages of migrant farmworkers, in a move the government said was intended to offset the effects of its immigration policies.
Patients taking the first-of-a-kind pill, called daraxonrasib, lived for a median of 13.2 months compared with 6.7 months for chemotherapy recipients, studies showed.
Prince Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, returned to the U.K. from California on Wednesday, six years after their tumultuous departure, the BBC reports.
Only original 88 selections will earn Pro Bowl status
Players to be honored at Super Bowl week in LA
The NFL is ending the Pro Bowl Games after repeated format changes to its annual all-star event.
Beginning with the 2026 season, 88 Pro Bowlers will be selected but the NFL no longer plans to stage an AFC-NFC game, a flag-football matchup or an accompanying series of competitions. The players chosen will instead be invited to next year’s Super Bowl site in Los Angeles for an in-person celebration in February.
(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta co-led a lawsuit Wednesday to block a new federal rule governing mail-in ballots. But a former U.S. Department of Justice lawyer who's now working at a think tank says the suit…
The Best Western sign is familiar to almost any American driver. It means affordable, reliable and no-frills. What it doesn't suggest is luxury boutique hotels in Bangkok, a centuries-old city square in Belgium or a wellness retreat in the Mexican…
What if scientists could test a new drug or make changes to a cell without even touching one in the lab? Can AI be leveraged to achieve that?
GenBio AI is giving it a shot. The company has released AIDO Cell, an AI model that tries to recreate enough of what is happening inside a cell that researchers can experiment with it on a computer.
And it is not just a case of asking what happens if you change X. The model keeps track of what has already happened to the cell. So researchers can make a change, then another, and another, and see how those effects add up.
There is a long way to go. A computer model of a cell is obviously not the same thing as a real cell, and eventually its predictions have to hold up in the lab.
David Baker, a co-founder of GenBio AI, is careful not to suggest the company has solved cellular biology. What he sees as important with AIDO Cell is bringing different biological scales, from DNA all the way up to the behavior of the cell, into one model that researchers can experiment with on a computer.
(Shutterstock/Parilov)
Baker was one of three scientists awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The prize was shared with Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis and John Jumper. Baker was recognized for computational protein design, while Hassabis and Jumper were honored for protein structure prediction.
His work made it possible to use computers to design entirely new proteins rather than only studying those found in nature. His research has opened the door to creating proteins for medicines, vaccines, sensors, and new materials.
AIDO Cell takes the idea of computational biology to a much larger scale as it is designed to work across multiple levels of the cell.
According to GenBio AI President and Chief Scientist Eric Xing, that includes another important feature: memory.
“What world model architecture enables, and what makes our system genuinely new, is that it’s both multi-scale and stateful. The simulation remembers what you’ve done to the cell. You can run entire sequences of perturbations, where each one builds on the last, and see the evolving, cumulative effect in the cell, just as you would in a real (wet lab) workflow,” said Xing.
That means a researcher could make a change to the simulated cell, check the predicted response and then make changes according to the cell’s new state. Importantly, the effects of the first intervention remain part of the simulation rather than the model simply starting over. More possibilities.
The potential payoff is the ability to run far more biological experiments computationally before moving into the lab. Greater likelihood of a breakthrough discovery.
(Shutterstock_BB-DESIGN-STOCK)
To understand how this could play out, imagine a researcher studying a disease. They could use this model to change the activity of a particular gene and see how the model predicts that change will affect the rest of the cell. They could also use the approach to explore how cells might respond to potential drugs or combinations of treatments.
Running those experiments computationally could allow scientists to explore many more possibilities than they could reasonably test in a physical lab. The idea isn’t necessarily to replace lab experiments, but to help researchers decide which ones are worth pursuing.
That could be particularly useful in drug discovery, where researchers often have to narrow large numbers of possible targets and compounds down to a much smaller group of candidates for further testing.
There is still a considerable gap between that vision and having a digital cell that can reliably stand in for the real thing. GenBio AI itself describes the current release as an early preview rather than a finished virtual cell.
“We’ve released this version of the system as a preview, an early but functional demonstration that multi-scale, stateful virtual cell simulation is now possible,” said Xing. “We plan on releasing more advanced versions of the system with enhanced capabilities and accuracy later this year and over the next year.”
(PopTika/Shutterstock)
The value of systems like AIDO Cell will depend on how well their predictions match what actually happens in biological experiments. Cells are extraordinarily complex. Reproducing patterns found in existing biological data is different from accurately predicting how a real cell will respond under new conditions.
While there are challenges, the approach taken by GenBio is notable. Some of AI’s biggest successes in biology have come from modeling individual pieces of the puzzle. Virtual-cell efforts are asking whether those pieces can eventually be brought together into models that capture how biological systems behave.
For Baker, it also represents a considerable expansion of the computational approach that helped earn him the Nobel Prize. Protein design demonstrated that computers could be used not only to understand biology but to create something new within it. GenBio AI is now testing how much further that idea can go.
Editor’s note: This article first appeared in BigDATAwire.
Surgeons aided by real-time analysis of camera footage that identified critical anatomy in brain to be avoided
Neurosurgeons in London have performed the world’s first successful AI-assisted operation to remove a brain tumour, saving the sight of a 48-year-old man, health officials have said.
The surgery was performed in May at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery (NHNN), part of University College London hospitals NHS foundation trust, but details were kept secret until Thursday while the patient, Rhys Hibbert, recovered.
TechCrunch reports that OpenAI released its official report Wednesday on the Hugging Face breach, "offering the clearest picture yet of how an unusual chain of events allowed an AI model to escape its testing environment and triggered a sprawling cybersecurity incident." The AI company says the breach began when an unreleased cyber model, tested without normal production safeguards, encountered an impossible task and chained together previously unknown exploits to escape its environment and compromise systems at OpenAI, Hugging Face, and other vendors. "This incident reflects misaligned behavior in an outlier scenario involving a rare and unexpected confluence of events: the presence of impossible tasks in the ExploitGym evaluation, model persistence over long task horizons, and messages to peer models that caused those models to deviate from their goal," the report reads. From the report: Many of the details in OpenAI's report were previously made public in a Black Hat presentation on August 6, but OpenAI's official report gives a more thorough accounting of the incident, including more detail on the testing that initiated it. The report also gives critical new detail into how OpenAI aims to prevent future incidents, including chain-of-thought monitoring and a more advanced system for halting rogue agents." METR and Redwood Research also conducted third-party assessments of the models' behavior during the incident; both groups are planning to publish their own reports on the incident on it.
In broad strokes, the report describes how an OpenAI model was presented with an unsolvable problem in testing and proceeded to chain together previously undiscovered exploits in order to bypass security measures and complete its task. The model initially compromised the Artifactory package management tool in order to gain access to the internet, then compromised various systems across OpenAI, Hugging Face, and other vendors.
The report gives critical new details about the models that carried out the breach. The primary model was from the same family as OpenAI's forthcoming Astra model, although the report emphasizes that it was "a distinct model with different post-training, where much of a model's behavior is shaped." Because OpenAI was testing the model's capabilities, it was also unrestrained by the normal classifiers meant to prevent models from compromising digital infrastructure. "OpenAI estimates maximal cyber capabilities by running this evaluation without the production classifiers intended to prevent models from pursuing high-risk cyber activity," the report explains. "These evaluations are important so that OpenAI can measure models' underlying capabilities and design appropriate safeguards." OpenAI says it is adding 24/7 escalation, stronger containment tools, and more chain-of-thought monitoring, which it claims would have flagged the activity more than a day before Hugging Face was breached.
Five years after the attack in Afghanistan that killed 13 service members, the Pentagon upgraded the awards of three Marines who provided care in the wake of the blast.
A federal judge on Wednesday denied Minnesota's request for a temporary restraining order to halt the release of the ICE agent sought for extradition in a shooting earlier this year in north Minneapolis amid Operation Metro Surge, and then lying about the circumstances under oath.
Instagram and Facebook’s parent company agreed to sweeping alterations and a payment of up to $18bn to settle a landmark trial
Meta’s agreement to change how teenagers use its social networks marks a major turning point for the US tech giant, setting a precedent that could significantly reshape how other social media operates in the coming years.
Meta agreed to substantial alterations to Instagram and Facebook on Wednesday as part of a settlement to end a landmark lawsuit. Dozens of US states had accused it of addicting and harming children with dangerous products. The company also agreed to pay up to a combined $18bn over a decade to several US states and territories involved in the suit.
Democrat Eric Hafner, to be released in 2036, also ran for seat in 2024, securing spot on that general election ballot
A man who is serving time in a federal prison in New York advanced on Wednesday from the primary for Alaska’s lone US House seat.
Eric Hafner, a registered Democrat, also ran for the seat in 2024 and secured a spot on the general election ballot that November despite a challenge brought by the Alaska Democratic party.
Then House candidate joined Democratic Socialists of America in 2018 but didn’t renew membership after a year
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has rejoined the Democratic Socialists of America after not renewing her membership for seven years, amid speculation that she might run for president in 2028.
The 36-year-old New York representative and one of the country’s most prominent democratic socialists renewed her membership in the group’s national organization after reports emerged earlier this month that it had lapsed. Ocasio-Cortez initially joined the group in 2018.
Longtime Slashdot reader schwit1 shares a report from Reuters: China's Moonshot AI is negotiating revenue-sharing agreements with Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet's Google, that would allow the U.S. cloud giants to host its blockbuster Kimi K3 model, three people familiar with the talks said. Any deal could mark the first big revenue-sharing pact between a Chinese AI firm and a major U.S. cloud company. The discussions highlight how China's leading AI models, often far cheaper than Western offerings, are gaining traction in the U.S., despite national security concerns in Washington that have led to bans on exports of AI chips to China. They are also taking place despite critical comments about Moonshot from senior U.S. officials.
IPO-bound Moonshot is seeking up to a 30% share of revenue generated from K3-related services on Microsoft's Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud, according to the sources who declined to be identified because the discussions are private. That would be in line with terms that sources have said the startup has outlined for major customers using the open-weight model. Moonshot has come under fire from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who said last month that he might add it to a trade blacklist. U.S. officials have accused the Beijing-based company of stealing from Anthropic's most sophisticated model, Fable, to help create Kimi K3 and illegally acquiring Nvidia chips.
(The Center Square) – A local Missouri health department has told Kathy Kite, a grandmother who serves free breakfast to her neighbors from her home, that she will face legal action if she continues doing so without a permit.
FBI psychiatrist Gregory Saathoff says he has treated only two women with postpartum psychosis, both decades earlier
Testimony finished in the Lindsay Clancy trial on Wednesday, as a final witness for the prosecution laid out that he believed the Massachusetts mother knew right from wrong when she took the lives of her three young children before attempting to commit suicide in 2023.
Closing arguments are expected to begin on Thursday. The jury will then start deliberating.
Andy Burnham stops short of pledging further help as gas and electricity prices due to increase by 4% in October
Households are unlikely to receive further energy bills support before the October price cap, though more targeted measures could be looked at if there is a further shock in January, government sources said.
Gas and electricity prices will rise by 4% from October under the new cap. The government has already removed VAT from domestic electricity bills to save average households £45 a year, a move announced in Andy Burnham’s first week in office.
DIY system will be stocked by big retailers, starting with Argos, enabling more homes to lower bills by generating own electricity
Plug-in solar panels will go on sale in the UK for the first time from Thursday, allowing households unable to use rooftop panels to also generate their own cheap electricity.
Households across the country will be able to join the millions across mainland Europe who generate their own renewable electricity using “balcony solar panels”, which will be stocked by some of the UK’s biggest retailers.
Paid employment can boost confidence and wellbeing, says Pat McFadden as jobs guarantee scheme gets under way
Work must be “part of the answer” to the mental health crisis among young people, the work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has said as he met some of the first beneficiaries of Labour’s youth jobs guarantee scheme.
He was speaking on a visit to Boots’s headquarters in Nottingham on Wednesday, where several 18- to 21-year-olds were taken on under the job guarantee – with their wages paid by the taxpayer for six months.
Around 97% of patients with advanced pancreatic cancer die within five years. Researchers have figured out a way to target the mechanism that makes these tumors so deadly.
The free statewide gathering connected caregivers with 50 service providers while emphasizing that those caring for others also need support, practical resources and time to protect their own health.
By George D. Rotsch, Editor of Delaware LIVE
DOVER — A capacity crowd of 400 caregivers gathered Wednesday at the Rollins Center at Bally’s Dover for the 16th annual “Taking Care of YOU” Caregiver Conference.
Registration for the free conference closed after all available spaces were reserved, reflecting the growing demand for caregiver support and resources across Delaware.
Hosted by Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore and co-sponsored by the Delaware Division of Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities, the conference connected caregivers with 50 companies and community organizations providing respite care, health services, assistive technology, legal guidance, education and other resources.
The strong attendance reinforced Easterseals’ position as one of Delaware’s leading sources of support for families caring for seniors and people with disabilities.
Caregivers turn out for help and connections
Jen Batog, director of marketing for Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore, said the turnout demonstrated that caregivers are eager to find assistance and connect with people who understand their experiences.
“We were thrilled to see caregivers so excited to seek help, discover new resources and spend the day talking with other caregivers,” Batog said. “This event shows that the number of Delawareans caring for a senior or a loved one with special needs continues to grow, and we are grateful that Easterseals can be there to help.”
Batog thanked the state of Delaware, participating vendors, community partners and Easterseals staff members who worked together to organize the conference and make its resources available to caregivers.
The exhibitors reflected the wide range of services caregivers may need during different stages of their journey. Participants included the newly reorganized Delaware chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, MeadowWood Behavioral Health Hospital, AARP Delaware, Delaware NeuroRehab, PWW Law, PACE Your LIFE and WeCare at the Milford Wellness Village.
Technology innovator Wisdom and its partner, Griswold Home Care, also participated, along with many other organizations offering health care, in-home assistance, education and community resources.
Taking care of the caregiver
The conference’s “Taking Care of YOU” theme focused on caregiver well-being, balance and self-care — concerns that often receive less attention than the needs of the person receiving care.
The program included a caregiver panel titled “What I Do to Take Care of ME!,” opportunities to meet service providers and a session focused on kindness and self-compassion. The combination of education, peer discussion and access to providers gave caregivers an opportunity to find practical assistance while connecting with others facing similar challenges.
The conference also reflected Easterseals’ broader role in Delaware. Rather than providing a single service, the organization helps families navigate a complicated network of health, disability, aging and community resources.
Its caregiver programs include case management, support groups, educational workshops, respite assistance and demonstrations of technology designed to improve safety and independence.
Burnout is more than being busy
Keynote speaker Heather Volkema, client success manager at Trualta, told caregivers that burnout is not simply the result of having too much to do.
Volkema has more than a decade of health care experience. She began her career working with hospice patients and their families, later developed caregiver-education programs and served as operating director of an in-home care organization before joining Trualta.
She said caregivers frequently balance emotional and physical demands with jobs, family responsibilities and circumstances they cannot control. Those pressures can lead to exhaustion, anxiety, irritability, isolation and feelings of being overwhelmed or taken for granted.
Volkema’s central message was that caregivers must protect their own health if they are going to continue caring effectively for someone else. Many hesitate to seek assistance because they feel guilty, fear rejection or believe they should be able to manage everything alone.
Asking for help, she said, is “a sign of strength and self-awareness,” not an admission of failure.
Practical ways to reduce the pressure
Volkema encouraged caregivers to identify the responsibilities creating the greatest stress and make specific requests of relatives or friends.
Instead of simply asking someone to help, a caregiver could ask a family member to provide transportation to an appointment, purchase groceries or take responsibility for a particular personal-care task.
She also recommended that caregivers establish boundaries, schedule personal time and take even brief breaks when longer periods of respite are unavailable. Support groups, community organizations, professional assistance and online resources can reduce isolation and make difficult responsibilities more manageable.
Caregivers should begin with small steps, share responsibilities whenever possible and recognize that protecting their own health is an essential part of caring for another person, Volkema said.
Support continues throughout the year
Easterseals’ work with caregivers continues beyond the annual conference through its Caregiver Resource Centers in New Castle and at the Milford Wellness Village. Caregivers can speak with case managers, obtain educational materials and receive referrals to programs addressing their particular circumstances.
The organization also offers monthly support groups, free educational workshops and virtual office hours. Its Resource and Technology Demonstration Centers contain hundreds of assistive devices that caregivers can examine before deciding whether a product could make a home safer or help a loved one remain more independent.
Respite programs can give caregivers time away from their daily responsibilities while ensuring that a family member continues receiving appropriate care. Easterseals’ adult day programs and Camp Fairlee also provide structured activities for participants while giving caregivers time to rest, work or handle other responsibilities.
In 2024, Easterseals reported serving more than 7,970 people directly through programs including children’s therapy, adult day services and supported employment. Another 44,280 people were reached through education, training, information and referrals.
The conference’s capacity attendance illustrated why that network matters. Caregivers may perform much of their work privately in homes across Delaware, but Wednesday’s gathering showed that they constitute a large community with shared challenges.
Supporting that community requires more than encouragement. It requires education, respite, practical tools and a trusted organization capable of connecting families with the right assistance at the right time.
To-go box
Event: 16th annual “Taking Care of YOU” Caregiver Conference Host: Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore Attendance: Capacity crowd of 400 caregivers Participants: 50 companies and community organizations Keynote: Heather Volkema, client success manager at Trualta Caregiver assistance:resources@esdel.org or 302-221-2291
Apple has begun rolling out ads in Apple Maps, with sponsored businesses appearing at the top of search results and in the "suggested places" section for users in the U.S. and Canada. Apple says the ads can be based on approximate location, search terms, or the area of the map being viewed, but are not tied to users' Apple Accounts and personal data remains on-device. 9to5Mac reports: Ads appear just like every other business listing, except they have a small blue badge that says 'Ad.' You can see examples of ads [embedded in the article]. Like Apple's ads policy with other services, the company touts user privacy protections for ads in Maps. Per Apple Newsroom: "Ads on Maps builds on Apple's broader privacy-first approach to advertising, and maintains the same privacy protections Maps users enjoy today. A user's location and the ads they see and interact with in Maps are not associated with a user's Apple Account. Personal data stays on a user's device, is not collected or stored by Apple, and is not shared with third parties."
After Kevin Davis was found dying at the foot of the stairs in his Indiana home, police initially believed it was an accident. They did not search the room where a pit bull mix was secured.
US tech giant agrees to establish further protections for teens such as daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use
Meta agreed to significant changes to its Instagram and Facebook apps in a settlement that ended a landmark lawsuit on Wednesday. Dozens of US states had accused the tech giant of addicting and harming children with dangerous products.
The agreement curtails a major trial in California and will require the social mediacompany to pay up to $18bn. Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenage users, including daily usage limits and blocks on night-time use nationwide in the US.
That rumored foldable iPhone didn’t come from nowhere. Experts from CNET, PCMag, Mashable, Popular Science, ZDNET and Lifehacker examine Apple’s most important tech reveals.
Tim Curry was known for his iconic performances in cult classics like "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and the original screen adaptation of Stephen King's "It."
The president’s executive order is now in effect for the midterm elections, but the ruling leaves the door open to renewed challenges from rights groups.
Last week, 404 Media published a story that revealed an Amazon warehouse where the company scans and destroys thousands of books for AI training data. Today, the publication has released an interview with one of the Amazon employees at the warehouse. "The employee worked at Amazon's VGT3 warehouse, which is housed in the same facility as LAS8, where Amazon operates its print-on-demand business," reports 404 Media. "Both operations are part of a larger complex of Amazon facilities in Las Vegas, Nevada." Slashdot reader alternative_right shares an excerpt from the report: [...] What does it look like when they cut the spines off the books?
It's a machine people operate. Each of these machines is just like a little workstation, and there'll be one person at each of these stations. It's really safe because it has a little cover and it has a little area where you slide the book into, remove your fingers from the area, and then you press a button, and it just comes down and slices it. And then you remove the books after the blade is gone.
After they cut the spines they have these kind of library carts, kind of like how you would stack books, but instead, it's a stacks of paper and little cardboard things to separate -- I'm guessing -- the different books. I saw the pages being thrown in a shuttle after they were scanned. We were walking by and we went over to one of the shuttles and looked into it because we could tell they were throwing the old books in it or the cut books in it, and it's just a bunch of loose paper like just sheets thrown in there.
What do you think about Amazon doing this?
At first what they were telling people is that it was for Kindles, but I just didn't believe that. I instantly was like, I don't think that's how they do it because of publication rights and stuff, copyright and everything. Then I saw it was for AI. I don't like it only because I wish I could take these books. There's so much knowledge and so much stuff in them and some of them look like they might be rare, and I've heard that they order rare books, and that's why I say some of these are so obscure. I definitely don't like the idea that they can't be reused or anything like that afterwards. They're reducing the amount of available copies for other people.
An ad from a super PAC supporting Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley features a heart-wrenching testimonial from the father of a woman who was murdered in 2025. The ad falsely implies the accused murderer was one of the prisoners released during the COVID-19 pandemic when Whatley’s Democratic opponent, Roy Cooper, was governor of North Carolina.
The problem: Cooper had nothing to do with the accused murderer’s release. The suspect was released from a prison in South Carolina, not North Carolina.
Here’s how the ad from the Senate Leadership Fund, or SLF PAC, tiptoes the line, implying, but not directly stating, that Cooper was indirectly responsible for the woman’s death.
“Logan was the most caring, loving person,” Stephen Federico, the father of a 22-year-old murdered in 2025, says in the ad while choking back tears. “It was a home invasion. Went to the house where Logan was sleeping and he pulled her out of bed and forced her on her knees and stuck a shotgun in her, left side of her chest, and pulled the trigger for no reason. Logan was a casualty of an agenda. Roy Cooper let 3,500 criminals out on the street; 18 of them were murders. Forty years of Roy Cooper is enough.”
The claim about Cooper releasing “3,500 criminals out on the street” refers to a court settlement reached during the COVID-19 pandemic. But there’s some important context missing from that narrative. As governor, Cooper resisted calls to release prisoners to ease safety concerns. He was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union and other activists. After a judge issued a preliminary injunction in favor of the ACLU and called on the state to come up with a plan to reduce the prison population, Cooper reached a settlement to allow the release of 3,500 prisoners. But again, none of them was the man accused of killing Logan Federico.
South Carolina did not expedite the release of prisoners during the pandemic (though it, too, was sued by the ACLU and others). However, in addition to North Carolina, numerous other states did implement expedited release policies to reduce their prison populations in response to the pandemic, including states like Iowa and Arkansas with Republican governors.
We reached out to SLF PAC about its ad, but we did not get a response.
“These attacks are false – this heinous crime was committed in South Carolina by a South Carolina criminal, but a Republican super PAC is using this tragedy for political gain,” a spokesperson for Cooper’s Senate campaign told us.
Cooper and Whatley are vying for an open Senate seat being vacated by Republican Thom Tillis, who is retiring. The Cook Political Report says that this Republican seat is the one Democrats “are most likely to flip.”
Logan Federico’s Murder
Logan Federico was a resident of North Carolina, but she was visiting friends in Columbia, South Carolina, when she was shot and killed in a home invasion. The man charged with killing her, Alexander Dickey, had a lengthy criminal history in South Carolina.
A criminal history report obtained by WIS News 10 in Columbia shows that prior to Federico’s murder, Dickey had been arrested nearly a dozen times and charged with nearly 40 crimes, including burglary and robbery. A WIS 10 investigation in June 2025 revealed that flaws in the criminal reporting system potentially contributed to a shorter sentence in 2023, on a charge that could have kept Dickey behind bars for years.
As the WIS 10 investigation showed, Dickey was arrested in 2023 on a burglary charge and pleaded guilty to a first offense, third-degree burglary. But it wasn’t a first offense for third-degree burglary — Dickey had been sentenced for a first offense in 2014.
Rick Hubbard, the state’s 11th Circuit solicitor, told WIS 10 that his office did not know at the time about Dickey’s previous burglary arrests and convictions. So while Dickey could have faced up to 10 years in prison, he was offered a plea deal for time served (411 days awaiting trial), and was placed on probation.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, or SLED, said it never received fingerprints from the 2014 burglary arrest, so Dickey’s earlier conviction was not apparent to prosecutors. According to WIS 10, “Had they known, Hubbard said his office would not have prosecuted Dickey’s case as a first offense and Dickey would have likely received a longer sentence.”
Since his daughter’s murder, Stephen Federico has been a prominent advocate pushing lawmakers to keep repeat offenders behind bars for longer.
In April, South Carolina Republicans Sen. Lindsey Graham, who has since passed away, and Rep. Russell Fry introduced what was called Logan’s Law. The legislation, which has not made it out of committee, would create a publicly accessible violent criminal offender database (which is meant to hold judges and prosecutors accountable for lenient sentences), and would direct the creation of a report to Congress “identifying deficiencies in the sharing of fingerprint, warrant, and criminal history data between states and the federal government.”
So, there appear to have been flaws in South Carolina’s criminal record-keeping on Dickey that may have kept him from being behind bars when he is alleged to have killed Federico. But none of that has anything to do with North Carolina, or Cooper.
Pandemic Prisoner Releases
In the ad, Stephen Federico says his daughter was “a casualty of an agenda.” He then immediately says, “Roy Cooper let 3,500 criminals out on the street; 18 of them were murders.”
Whatley, himself, has alsomade the prisoner release a key campaign issue.
There were thousands of prisoners released early during the pandemic, but there’s important context missing from that attack. Cooper resisted early calls in the pandemic to commute sentences to reduce the prison population.
On April 20, 2020, the ACLU, the NAACP and several inmates sued Cooper and other state prison officials saying they had “failed to meaningfully decrease the number of people in Department of Public Safety” facilities and that “[w]ithout timely relief from the courts, COVID-19 will continue to sweep through the state prisons, inflicting terrible suffering and death.”
On June 16 of that year, Wake County Superior Court Judge Vinston Rozier Jr. granted a preliminary injunction to the plaintiffs, saying they were “likely” to “succeed on the merits of their claim that the conditions of confinement” violated the state constitution’s prohibitions against inflicting “cruel or unusual punishments.” The judge ordered the state to come up with a plan that would, in addition to other COVID-19 safety measures, reduce prison overcrowding.
Later, in December 2020, as COVID-19 cases in North Carolina prisons were rising, Rozier appointed a special master to review the state’s home confinement program and to provide recommendations for easing prison populations through eligible early release.
In February 2021, the two sides reached a settlement, with the state agreeing to the “early reentry” of 3,500 people in state custody within six months. (The plaintiffs had sought the release of as many as 18,000 prisoners.) According to The Assembly, a longform journalism news site, by the time the agreement was signed, more than 9,500 inmates had tested positive for COVID-19 and 47 had died.
“After [Cooper] fought against these releases in court, North Carolina law enforcement officials and parole officers looked to similar criteria President Trump used a year prior when his administration released thousands of federal prisoners due to COVID-19,” a spokesperson for the Cooper campaign told us.
As part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the CARES Act) signed by Trump in late March 2020, more than 13,000 federal prisoners were released from prison into home confinement. But the CARES Act excluded any prisoners convicted of violent crimes, sex offenses and terrorism-related crimes. That wasn’t entirely the case in North Carolina. While state officials initially indicated only nonviolent offenders would be among those released early, prison officials later clarified that some violent offenders due to be released in 2021, the year of the settlement, would also be included (provided they had served their minimum sentence).
The Charlotte Observer reported that the list also included 51 inmates serving life sentences. State officials say all were eligible for parole before the deal, and were not made eligible because of it. (In any case, the Cooper campaign says law enforcement officials and parole officers made the determinations about which prisoners were released, not Cooper.)
The agreement was criticized at the time by some Republicans, who argued Cooper should have continued to fight in court.
“A group I consider more liberal than me has sued an administration I consider more liberal than me, and a deal was reached,” Republican state Rep. Carson Smith said a week after the agreement was announced.
Representatives of the plaintiffs, however, described Cooper as consistently adversarial.
“The idea that, you know, Roy Cooper is somehow being attacked for doing too much here [to suport prisoner releases] is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard,” Daniel Bowes, director of policy and advocacy at the ACLU of North Carolina, told Carolina Public Press in March of 2021.
As the pandemic unfolded, “what we saw was a constant sort of reluctance to provide meaningful release,” Bowes said. “There was absolutely no sort of urgency that wasn’t pushed along by the litigation.”
“It was an extremely adversarial litigation,” Emancipate NC attorney Elizabeth Simpson told The Assembly.
Orlando Rodriguez, special deputy attorney in the North Carolina Department of Justice, who represented the defendants, told Carolina Public Press the state feared more orders from the judge were coming. Indeed, the special master appointed to the case “said he was going to recommend that the state broaden the categories for who would be eligible for release,” Carolina Public Press reported.
The SLF ad also says that of the 3,500 prisoners released “18 of them were murders.”
That’s based on an analysis published in the New York Post on May 7 — and cited in the ad — that concluded nearly half of the 3,500 prisoners released went on to commit another criminal offense, many of them violent offenses.
While the ad leaves the impression that 18 of the people released were murderers, it’s actually that — as the New York Post put it — “A staggering 18 of the prisoners released have been charged with murder in the four years since.”
An analysis by The Assembly, however, concluded the New York Post story was misleading.
“Our analysis found that of the roughly 3,000 inmates who were released early because of the settlement, more than 90% would have been out by the end of 2021 anyway by virtue of completing their sentences,” The Assembly story stated. “The agreement allowed prison officials to let them out early through a variety of methods—awarding credits for things like good behavior to shave time off their sentences, releasing qualified nonviolent inmates to house arrest, and accelerating parole for eligible inmates serving life or long active sentences under a previous sentencing structure.”
Indeed, the Cooper campaign pointed out that more than half of the 18 individuals cited in the Post as murderers are alleged to have committed that crime after their scheduled pre-settlement release date for previous convictions. According to The Assembly, “at least seven of them were already out of prison before the settlement was even signed.” In other words, the Cooper campaign argues, the settlement had no part in most of the murders identified by the New York Post.
Whatley campaign spokesman DJ Griffin said, “While Cooper had the opportunity to fight this settlement in court (like Democrat Governors in Colorado and Illinois), he chose to settle, releasing thousands of convicted criminals back onto our streets.” Griffin claimed a number of people have been murdered by “criminals Roy Cooper released from prison early.”
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.
A US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent accused of firing his gun and wounding a Venezuelan man in the leg is caught in an interstate extradition dispute between Texas and Minnesota – and could walk out of a Texas jail as soon as Wednesday after a federal judge refused to intervene.
Christian Castro is charged in Minnesota with assault and falsely reporting a crime by another, in relation to the incident in which he was involved in the wounding of 24-year-old Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in January.
Thirty-three British citizens including a 13-year-old girl are among more than 400 travellers missing after a flash flood on the Nepal-Tibet border, according to Nepal’s tourism board.
The sudden flood happened on the Tibetan side of the Bhote Koshi River at about 8.30am local time on Wednesday. The 33 UK citizens are among at least 341 foreign nationals unaccounted for.
Vice President JD Vance said the Trump administration’s border strategy kept drugs out of Maine and saved lives.
“Last year in 2025, did you know that overdoses in the state of Maine were down by 20%, and already in 2026 they’re down by another 17%?” Vance said in an Aug. 24 speech at Compotech, a defense contractor in Brewer, Maine. “We sealed the border, and that’s what happened, my friends, and that’s why we did it.”
Vance didn’t specify whether he meant fatal overdoses but he later nodded to deaths, saying “tens of thousands of Mainers died from fentanyl overdoses by that poison.”
Vance’s number was an exaggeration; the annual number of Maine fatal overdoses is in the hundreds.
But he was correct that Maine’s overdose deaths have dropped. PolitiFact wondered if Vance was also right about what caused the decline.
We asked the vice president’s office for information to support Vance’s statement and a spokesperson referred us to the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle fentanyl networks and the declining death toll.
Maine’s declining fatal overdoses pre-dated the Trump-Vance administration. Drug policy researchers credit multiple factors, and Trump’s border policy is not one.
“We did not literally seal the borders (to fentanyl)” Carnegie Mellon drug policy researcher Jonathan P. Caulkins told PolitiFact. “Obviously some is still getting in; otherwise deaths would be zero.”
Drug overdoses started declining before Trump’s second term
Most illicit fentanyl in the U.S. comes from Mexico and is made with chemicals from China.
In recent years, the drug mostly entered the U.S. via the southern border at official ports of entry, and 83.5% of the smugglers in fiscal year 2024 were U.S. citizens.
But after two decades of rising deaths, fatal overdoses dropped by 21.4%from 2024 to 2025, the U.S. government reported in January. About one month into the Trump administration, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said multiple factors contributed to the decline, including broader distribution of the overdose-reversing medication naloxone, better access to treatment, shifts in the illegal drug supply and the post-pandemic resumption of prevention and response.
The majority of states had declines in fatal overdoses, including Maine.
Maine had 391 fatal overdoses in 2025, about 20% fewer than 2024, according to data compiled by the state and the University of Maine. During the first half of 2026, fatal overdoses dropped about 9.5% compared with the first half of 2025. Among overdose cases, fentanyl was the most common drug used; it is often combined with other drugs.
Vance omitted that fatal overdoses started declining in Maine during the Biden administration; deaths dropped. The number of fatal overdoses in 2024 was 19% lower than in 2023 which was also 16% lower than deaths in 2022.
“The evidence supports multiple factors for this reduction in overdose deaths, especially fentanyl deaths, rather than pointing to a closing the US border as a single cause,” wrote Marcella Sorg, a University of Maine medical and forensic anthropologist whose team provides research for the state’s opioid response, in an email to PolitiFact.
Maine officials also point to steps they have taken to provide treatment and recovery. Since August 2019, Gov. Janet Mills’ administration has distributed more than 870,000 doses of naloxone. Maine has invested in behavioral health specialists, recovery coaches and treatment and support in various places, from jails to workplaces.
The state has laws aimed to reduce addiction, including strict opioid prescription rules and to encourage people to seek help if someone they are with overdoses.
Sifting through Vance’s evidence
The Trump administration in July highlighted the decline in fentanyl overdoses from 2024 to 2025. It cited steps it said disrupted the supply, including designating cartels as terrorist organizations and signing the HALT Fentanyl Act, a bipartisan bill that made permanent a 2018 rule that classified knockoffs as Schedule 1 drugs, resulting in harsher sentences for possession.
The administration also pointed to its strikes on vessels it says are carrying drugs. In January, Trump said drugs entering the U.S. by sea were down substantially as a result of the vessel strikes; we rated that False. His administration provided no evidence the boats were carrying drugs.
We sent the administration’s evidence to experts on drug policy.
“It is very difficult to parse out with certainty the specific policies that caused overdose deaths to come down,” Regina LaBelle, a Georgetown professor of addiction policy. “You can just as easily point to other reasons, including more treatment in jails and prisons,” noting a study on that factor, or naloxone access.
Peter Reuter, a University of Maryland public policy and criminology professor, said “there is no proof” those administration steps caused the decline in overdoses. He said the most plausibly effective intervention on the list was the president closing a trade loophole for an import tax exemption for packages valued at less than $800. Known as the de minimis exemption, it was meant to curb drug trafficking.
“No study has been done of how this (exemption) has affected fentanyl supplies; it would indeed be hard to design such a study,” Reuter said.
Caulkins said there is no control group or mechanism to show what would have happened without those measures. In their January paper in the journal Science, Caulkins and Reuter said fentanyl became less available in the U.S. and Canada in 2023 as China took action against manufacturers of what are known as “precursors” — chemicals used to make fentanyl. The crackdown partly followed pressure from the Biden administration..
However, Caulkins said that is only a hypothesis, one that is not easy to test. He also said that the fentanyl supply appeared to be down for longer than one would expect from those chemicals restrictions.
“So it seems plausible that various other actions, perhaps including by the governments of the U.S., Mexico and Canada, contributed to the ongoing tightness in supply,” Caulkins said. “It is plausible that the measures that Vance mentions made some contributions in that regard.”
Reuter previously told PolitiFact that the purity of fentanyl seized by the Drug Enforcement Administration began to decrease around the same time as overdose deaths started to decline in the U.S. and Canada in 2023.
“It’s very likely that (the change in purity) has something to do with precursor supply, because that’s what the two markets share,” he said.
In August, Reuter and a coauthor wrote for Brookings, a think tank, “The true explanation of the falling number of drug overdose deaths is almost certainly some combination of supply-side changes, demand-side adaptation, and the hard-to-quantify effects of community organizations doing the daily work of harm reduction.” The article did not mention Trump’s border policy.
Our ruling
Vance said “we sealed the border” and drug overdoses decreased in Maine.
Overdoses in Maine are down — they were about 20% lower in 2025 than in 2024. The declines started under the Biden administration.
Experts on drug policy — including the CDC during the second Trump administration — point to multiple factors that have contributed to the decline, including shifts in the illegal drug supply and access to medication and treatment.
Researchers found no evidence that Trump border policies led to a decrease in drug deaths in Maine and the Trump administration’s evidence did not show that either. We rate this statement False.
Staff Writer Madison Czopek contributed to this fact-check.
PM said he would set bar at £500k, but trade unions say funding reforms could undermine their ability to donate to Labour
Andy Burnham has dropped his support for capping political donations, causing anger among activists and Labour MPs who have long campaigned for change to the way parties are funded.
The prime minister has decided not to back amendments to the elections bill, which would cap the amount a person or an organisation can give in a single donation, according to government sources.
Victoria Hicks, mother of Alexandra Hicks, told reporters that she feels 'justice is possible' after Meta settled in its US trial over teen addiction. On 26 August in a Oakland, California, federal courtroom, Meta agreed to establish safeguards for teenagers and pay up to $17bn. Dozens of US states had accused the tech giant of addicting and harming children with dangerous products
How are the xt60s connected between the focer battery and the bms? Is it that the focer positive and ground are tying into the batter positive and ground and then also those are tied into the bms? Or am I missing something?
Firm says ‘early signals … could have triggered an earlier response’ as it releases report into Hugging Face hack
OpenAI staff observed signs of rogue behaviour among its leading-edge AI agents weeks before they escaped their training environment to launch an unprecedented hacking crusade that spread global alarm.
The San Francisco AI company conceded on Wednesday that “early signals … could have triggered an earlier response”, as it released a report into the days-long July hack of a major software repository, Hugging Face, considered the first autonomous agent cyber-attack.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For decades, console owners have faced a choice between the convenience of digital downloads and the permanence of physical game discs. Soon, Xbox owners will be able to get the best of both worlds for thousands of supported titles as part of a newly announced disc-to-digital program. The program -- announced today ahead of testing for Xbox Insiders starting August 31 -- will let players claim a "digital entitlement" for "most Xbox One and Xbox Series X disc-based games" simply by inserting the disc into a console and launching it. That game will then be playable completely digitally, without the need to ever insert the disc, as long as you (or a member of your family account) is logged in. The digital entitlement will also allow access to features like Xbox Play Anywhere (for play on PC) and Xbox Cloud Gaming, for supported titles.
Microsoft says that your physical disc will "continue to work exactly as it always has" after the digital entitlement is claimed. But before you get any ideas, the fine print on the announcement mentions that there is only "one revokable license per game disc," so if you resell that disc or loan it to a friend, that digital entitlement could be transferred to a new account when someone else puts it into their console.
A leaked memo obtained by the Verge earlier this month suggests that publishers have to actively opt in to allow their game discs to activate digital entitlements, which could explain why "most" but not all Xbox One and Series X titles are supported. Windows Central separately suggests, based on discussion with unnamed sources, that "some discs may be incompatible due to how they were manufactured at the time," which could explain why original Xbox and Xbox 360 discs are not being discussed for the program. "While not every title will be available at launch, this is an important step toward a future where players can have greater confidence that the games they buy remain with them for years to come," said Xbox Vice President Jason Ronald.
(The Center Square) – U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson says foreign bettors are helping push prediction markets into giving Democrats better odds of taking over the House.
Streeting says role is chance to show strength and challenge stereotype that ‘persists in dark corners of internet’
Wes Streeting has described receiving a mass of homophobic abuse since he was made defence secretary last month, while also saying his appointment had been welcomed by some in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) as a sign of change.
Until 2000, gay men and lesbian women were banned from serving in the UK military, with about 200-plus personnel thrown out of the forces each year due to their sexuality – an estimate, as proper records were not kept.
(The Center Square) – Ohio’ will appeal a federal court ruling blocking a state law requiring a person to present proof of citizenship before registering to vote while applying for a state driver’s license.
At least 157 people have been killed and hundreds, including large numbers of foreign tourists, are missing after flash floods hit the Himalayan border areas of Nepal and Tibet in China, police have said, with parts of India also at risk.
The disaster was caused by a torrent of mud, water and debris that burst from the banks of a river that runs between China and Nepal. Homes, roads, bridges and power plants were swept away in Nepal, while officials in Tibet said they feared “major casualties”.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Aug. 26, 2026 — XCENA, a semiconductor company developing memory-centric computing solutions for AI infrastructure, has presented the architecture and measured performance of MX1, its computational CXL memory architecture, during the Hot Chips 2026 Memory session. Presented by Harry Kim, Chief Product Officer of XCENA, the session examined how MX1 combines large-scale memory expansion, SSD-backed capacity and programmable near-memory computing in a single CXL Type 3 device to address the growing memory constraints of AI infrastructure.
Credit: XCENA
The MX1 presentation was selected through the Hot Chips program committee’s technical review process.
As AI models continue to grow, system performance is increasingly constrained by memory capacity, data movement and the economics of high-bandwidth memory scaling rather than compute alone. MX1 is designed to complement CPUs, GPUs and AI accelerators by expanding memory capacity and offloading selected memory-bound operations—including vector search, KV-cache retrieval and data preprocessing—so host processors can focus on compute-intensive inference.
MX1 integrates three architectural capabilities within a single CXL Type 3 device:
Memory expansion: Up to 2 TB of DDR5 across four memory channels connected through CXL 3.2 over PCIe 6.0.
SSD-backed capacity: XCENA InfiniteMemory exposes SSD capacity through a byte-addressable CXL memory interface while transparently caching frequently accessed 64 KB pages in DRAM.
Near-memory computing: 1,000+ custom RISC-V cores organized into Memory Acceleration Units execute highly parallel, memory-intensive workloads close to the data. Integrated vector engines provide approximately 3 TFLOPS of FP32/FP16 dot-product throughput for workloads including vector search and KV-cache scoring.
“Hot Chips is where the industry evaluates new computing architectures based on technical merit,” said Harry Kim, Chief Product Officer of XCENA. “Our presentation shares the architectural design, software model and measured performance of MX1, demonstrating how computational CXL memory can help address the growing capacity and data-movement challenges facing AI infrastructure.”
Measured Performance on Representative Data-Processing Workloads
XCENA evaluated MX1 across six representative data-processing kernels commonly found in analytics and AI pipelines: compression, decompression, Parquet decoding, less-than filtering, LIKE filtering and aggregation.
Compared with a host CPU processing data over CXL, a single MX1 delivered up to 4.7x higher throughput and 18.7x greater energy efficiency. Compared with the same host CPU processing data from local DDR5 memory, MX1 delivered up to 2.0x higher throughput and 6.2x greater energy efficiency.
“These results demonstrate the value of executing highly parallel, memory-bound workloads closer to where the data resides,” Kim said. “MX1 is designed to complement the host processor by reducing unnecessary data movement, allowing CPU resources to remain focused on operating system services, orchestration and general-purpose computation.”
Software Model and Availability
Developers program MX1 using standard C/C++ or Rust through XCENA’s LLVM-based software toolchain. The PXL runtime schedules and synchronizes workloads across the device’s RISC-V processing cores while providing a shared virtual address space that simplifies memory management for complex data structures and multi-application execution.
At the framework level, XCENA’s XFLARE analytics library integrates with SQL engines and FAISS-based vector search. The software stack is also being extended to support widely adopted AI and data frameworks, including Apache Arrow, PyTorch and vector databases, with additional SDK integrations planned over time. SDK information is available at xcena.com/sdk.
XCENA plans to begin mass production by the end of 2026, with initial customer revenue targeted for 2027.
About XCENA
XCENA is a memory-centric AI computing company redefining the role of memory in AI infrastructure. Built on the open Compute Express Link (CXL) standard, XCENA develops products that enable memory to be expanded and utilized more efficiently, helping customers improve AI infrastructure performance while reducing latency, power consumption, and total cost of ownership (TCO).
Founded by semiconductor veterans from Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, XCENA combines expertise in semiconductor design with a full-stack software development kit (SDK) to help hyperscalers, cloud providers, and enterprises deploy and optimize AI infrastructure at scale. Headquartered in Seongnam, South Korea, with a U.S. office in Sunnyvale, California, XCENA has raised US$185 million to date, including a US$135 million Series B financing.
Aug. 26, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation is investing $90 million over five years to support three new NSF Science and Technology Centers (NSF STC). These centers will advance American leadership in science and technology, strengthen the nation’s STEM workforce, and accelerate innovation in fields ranging from artificial intelligence and biotechnology to fusion energy and robotics.
Credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
The three centers will bring together researchers from universities, national laboratories, industry, and other partners to pursue ambitious, collaborative research. Each center will receive approximately $6 million annually for an initial five-year period, with the opportunity to compete for up to five additional years of support.
“Maintaining the United States’ leadership in science and technology requires bold research, strong partnerships, and a skilled workforce,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF Director. “As advances in foundational science and technology open new possibilities, these Science and Technology Centers will help American researchers seize those opportunities, accelerate scientific discovery, and develop the talent and technologies needed to turn innovation into solutions that benefit the American people.”
Since its inception in 1987, the NSF STC program has driven the emergence of new fields of discovery, catalyzed strong partnerships, advanced breakthrough technologies, sparked numerous start-up companies, and trained generations of researchers and innovators. The program supports large-scale, transformational research that opens new areas of discovery and drives technological innovation. By combining expertise across organizations and partnering with industry and other groups, STCs tackle complex, high-risk challenges in foundational research and help move promising ideas toward real-world benefits. The centers also strengthen the nation’s scientific and technical workforce by providing students and early-career researchers with hands-on experience in emerging fields and technologies.
The three Science and Technology Centers include:
The Center for Transformative Explorations in Multi-Physics and Engineering of Scientific Turbulence (TEMPEST), led by Michigan State University, aims to tackle one of the most challenging problems in physics and engineering: understanding and controlling turbulence. Turbulence is the chaotic, multiscale motion of fluids and plasmas and plays a critical role in fusion energy and national security applications, yet scientists still cannot reliably predict how complex turbulent systems behave across vastly different scales. TEMPEST will combine advanced experiments, mathematical modeling, high-performance computing, and AI to develop more accurate and reliable physics-grounded models that could accelerate fusion energy development, strengthen the scientific foundations of national security technologies, and drive innovation across science and engineering.
The Center for Genome Intelligence Engineering (GENIE), led by Northwestern University, will develop new ways to understand cell function with the goal of learning to prevent and potentially reverse declines in cell function. Researchers will study how DNA is organized in 3D, which helps determine each cell’s identity and function. Changes in this physical organization can contribute to illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. GENIE aims to develop innovative technologies for 3D DNA engineering and generate new knowledge that can be used to help cells and tissues withstand damage, restore lost functions, and return to a healthier state, leading to major advances in biotechnology and biomedicine.
The Center for Human and Robot Co-Adaptation, led by The University of Texas at Austin, will study how people and robots can securely and effectively adapt to one another as service and assistive robots become more common in homes, hospitals, workplaces, and public spaces. Researchers will combine robotics, AI, and human factors to develop new methods that help robots with embodied intelligence learn from people, understand their needs and preferences, and, in turn, adapt physically and cognitively to changing environments and different people. The center aims to advance secure, useful robotic technologies that can support independent living, healthcare, and other human-centered services.
The class of 2026 STCs focus on strengthening foundational research, advancing critical and emerging technologies, developing the science and technology workforce, and translating discoveries into technological advances and national benefits. STCs provide a uniquely effective framework for advancing these priorities by building sustained partnerships across universities, industry, and government and accelerating the use of new ideas and technologies for scientific discovery.
Amazon has agreed to acquire DuckLabs, bringing the team behind the popular open-source DuckDB database into AWS. "The deal fits Amazon's broader push to turn S3, its flagship cloud storage service, into a place where customers analyze data rather than just store it," reports GeekWire. "It gives Amazon a team experienced in building fast, lightweight analytics software that runs directly against data sitting in cloud storage." The DuckDB project itself will remain free and open source under the MIT license, overseen by the independent DuckDB Foundation. From the report: Employees of DuckLabs will join Amazon Web Services, including co-founders and DuckDB creators Hannes Muhleisen and Mark Raasveldt, who will continue leading the team and setting the project's technical direction. They will remain based in Amsterdam, where the team will continue developing DuckDB and related projects. [...] Financial terms were not disclosed. Amazon said it has signed a definitive agreement and expects the acquisition to close shortly. DuckLabs said it expects to become part of AWS in early September. Jordan Tigani, the CEO of MotherDuck, which sells a cloud service built on DuckDB, sees Amazon's acquisition as a predictable move to turn DuckDB's growing popularity into an AWS business. "That's Amazon's playbook, after all: wait until an open source project gets big enough, then launch it as a service," he wrote in a blog post, adding that "they're not acquiring Duck Labs just because they love open source."
Tigani also believes the deal could ultimately strengthen DuckDB, since Amazon has an incentive to keep the project open and widely adopted: "If DuckDB becomes the standard, it is going to drive a lot more compute on their infrastructure, which is where they make their money."
(The Center Square) – More than 10 years after the story first came to light, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel released a report detailing her office’s yearslong criminal investigation into the Flint Water Crisis.
Donald Trump has downplayed a visit to Moscow by the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as “semi-routine” after he turned up in the Russian capital unannounced, triggering a wave of speculation about the reasons for his trip.
Ratcliffe was reported to have flown to Moscow on a government transport plane on Tuesday in a rare visit after taking off from the Andrews air force base in Maryland.
Presenter says he is moving to YouTube to avoid being left ‘behind the curve’ as media landscape changes
The outgoing Today programme presenter Amol Rajan has warned that the BBC is destined to “get smaller at an accelerating rate”, as he prepares to depart for a new project on YouTube.
Rajan, who announced earlier this year that he was leaving BBC News to “unleash my inner entrepreneur” in the creator economy, said he was making the shift to ensure he was not “behind the curve”.
Earlier this year, a survey found that Canada, along with Switzerland, was the best-liked country in the world. We all know this kind of polling is about as scientific as a high school popularity contest, but at least anecdotally, Canadians have a reputation for being friendly and welcoming, respectful and polite. Many people would find it difficult to dislike Canadians.
But not Donald Trump, who in a “hold my beer” moment this week demonstrated that he, at least, finds it easy to resent Canadians. The US president called the country “difficult and unreasonable”, and in a particularly hysterical moment, threatened to rename a lake, after trade talks collapsed.
(The Center Square) – Democrat David Crowley holds a lead slightly larger than the margin of error over Tom Tiffany in a Marquette Poll of likely voters released Wednesday in the Wisconsin governor’s race.
(The Center Square) – Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson says his administration wants to know if city contractors reflect the diversity of the people whose tax dollars pay for their work.
Rangers have acquired forward Kevin Kelsy from Major League Soccer’s Portland Timbers, a source with direct knowledge of the deal told the Guardian on Wednesday. That source requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the agreement. The deal, worth $13m (£9.5m) – potentially more if Kelsy hits certain performance goals for Rangers – also includes a sell-on fee for the MLS club.
The Athletic’s Tom Bogert first reported details of the deal on Wednesday morning.
Portland acquired Kelsy from Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk last January, paying $6m for the Venezuela international. The 22-year-old has been erratic but ultimately productive for the Timbers, scoring 16 times in 43 appearances.
US labels group ‘global terrorist’ as Palestine Action challenge against proscription in UK nears supreme court hearing
The US has issued sanctions against the UK-based direct action organisation Palestine Action, describing it as a “transnational terror group”.
The US Department of the Treasury labelled Palestine Action a specially designated global terrorist on Wednesday, which allows the US to freeze the assets of foreign individuals and entities.
Tributes have poured in for Dolly Parton, the pioneering country music singer, songwriter and actor, who has died aged 80. Stars including Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Oprah Winfrey and Paul McCartney have paid tribute to one of the world’s greatest music artists, with many praising her lifelong philanthropy and advocacy for literacy and LGBTQ+ rights. Lucy Hough speaks to Guardian deputy features editor Jenny Stevens
Murder inquiry launched after blaze in Grangetown area, amid investigation into collision in which seven died
A murder investigation has been launched after two people were killed in a house fire in Middlesbrough, with police not ruling out links to organised crime or the crash on the A66 on Saturday that killed seven people including two police officers.
A child was one of those killed in the blaze in the early hours of Wednesday and a woman was in a critical condition in hospital. Three other people sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Two men aged 23 and 31 have been arrested on suspicion of murder.
Boston, Massachusetts — Democratic attorneys general from 23 states and the District of Columbia sued the U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday, challenging new restrictions on mail-in ballots ordered by President Donald Trump.
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, argues that the Constitution gives states—not the president or Postal Service—primary authority to administer elections. California Attorney General Rob Bonta is co-leading the case with attorneys general from Nevada, Washington and Massachusetts.
The USPS rule requires states to enroll mail voters on new Postal Service lists and establishes new requirements for ballot envelopes. Ballots could be rejected if voters are absent from the lists or envelopes fail to meet federal standards. The states are seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction blocking implementation while the case proceeds.
The lawsuit follows Monday’s Supreme Court decision allowing Trump’s elections executive order to take effect temporarily. The justices concluded the states’ earlier challenge was premature but left them free to challenge the Postal Service regulation implementing it.
The White House called the ruling a victory for election security, while Bonta said the USPS rule unlawfully interferes with state election administration. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro also joined the states as a plaintiff.
Washington, D.C. — U.S. authorities say they have disrupted a Chinese state-sponsored hacking operation that penetrated or targeted some of the federal government’s most sensitive networks, including NASA, the Federal Reserve, Justice Department and U.S. Senate.
The Justice Department said Wednesday that the FBI seized three internet domains supporting two hacking platforms, QScan and QTRouter. Court documents linked the platforms to QTFY, a group operating through China-based Nanjing Xinjiuwei Network Technology Company.
Federal investigators said the company provided hacking services to clients including China’s Ministry of State Security and People’s Liberation Army. Other victims or targets included the Energy Department, Department of Health and Human Services and National Institutes of Health, along with private companies in the United States and South Korea.
The malicious infrastructure had been used against critical infrastructure and sensitive networks worldwide since at least 2018. Authorities said QScan identified vulnerable internet-connected devices, while QTRouter helped attackers disguise malicious traffic by routing it through compromised systems near intended targets.
The domain seizures rendered both platforms inoperable, according to the Justice Department. The Chinese Embassy did not immediately respond to Reuters, while Beijing has routinely denied allegations that it sponsors cyberattacks.
Austin, Texas — Democratic U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico leads Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in three South Texas congressional districts that President Donald Trump carried by double digits in 2024, according to a new Texas Southern University poll.
The survey found Talarico ahead 50% to 42% in the 15th Congressional District, which Trump won by 18 points. Talarico led 51% to 41% in the 28th District and 53% to 42% in the 34th, both of which Trump carried by roughly 10 points.
The poll surveyed likely November voters from Aug. 18-22. Researchers questioned 700 voters each in the 15th and 34th districts, with margins of error of 3.7 percentage points, and 600 voters in the 28th, with a 4-point margin.
The results add to evidence that the normally Republican-leaning Senate contest has become highly competitive. An earlier statewide Texas Southern University poll found Talarico leading Paxton 47% to 45%, although that margin was within the survey’s margin of error.
Paxton defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary, while Talarico won the Democratic nomination. Recent polling has prompted election analysts to increasingly treat the race as competitive heading toward November.
Meta has agreed to pay up to $18 billion and make major changes to Facebook and Instagram to settle claims from most U.S. states that the platforms were designed to addict children and misled users about their safety. For the next decade, teens will be limited to two hours a day and blocked from using the apps between midnight and 6 a.m. without parental consent. Meta will, however, still be allowed to use personalized recommendations and targeted advertising. Reuters reports: The settlements include more than $17.6 billion of payments to 48 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa and the Northern Mariana Islands. Meta will also pay $459 million to resolve states' privacy claims related to the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where the British consulting firm collected personal data of millions of Facebook users. California would receive the highest payout, $2.2 billion, and New York and Texas would each receive more than $1 billion. Some of the payout is contingent on whether Alphabet's YouTube and ByteDance's TikTok impose similar protections for children. [...]
The settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, who oversaw the trial that began on August 18. Gonzalez Rogers still oversees thousands of lawsuits by individuals, school districts, and state and local governments accusing social media companies of harming children. Meta itself still faces thousands of lawsuits by individuals, school districts and municipalities. The next trials are slated for October in Los Angeles.
FDA officials approve first-of-a-kind pill called daraxonrasib to fight one of the deadliest types of cancer
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved a groundbreaking new drug for the most common form of pancreatic cancer, offering US patients a more effective treatment against one of the deadliest types of the disease.
FDA officials gave expedited approval to the first-of-a-kind pill, called daraxonrasib, that blocks a mutated protein which fuels tumor growth in more than 90% of pancreatic cancer cases. It’s an approach that has eluded drugmakers for decades.
Albanian criminal has cut bars, descended sheets and even used human pyramid in escapes in Italy and Belgium
Police in Spain have arrested a dangerous Albanian criminal nicknamed the “escape wizard” who has managed to break out of four jails in Italy and Belgium by sawing through bars, clambering down knotted sheets and even using a human pyramid to breach prison walls.
The fugitive, who has not been officially named, was arrested after officers from the Policía Nacional force discovered he was living in the north-eastern Spanish city of Tarragona. He was the subject of a European arrest warrant issued by the Italian authorities.
Cape Verde may have exited its first FIFA World Cup in the round of 32, but the archipelago left North America with something potentially more valuable than a trophy: global recognition. Suddenly, one of the tournament's smallest nations had millions…
Mozilla plans to enable JPEG XL decoding by default in Firefox 157, which is due at the end of September. Phoronix reports: Firefox Nightly has JPEG-XL support enabled by default right now to help in vetting this support while Mozilla believes the support is in good enough shape for a stable debut with Firefox 157. This follows Chrome shipping JPEG-XL and Google Research developing jxl-rs as a Rust-based JPEG-XL image decoder that is both performant and secure.
In today's Mozilla Hacks blog post they elaborate on JPEG-XL vs. AVIF image formats: "JPEG XL: Excels at lossless imagery, progressive rendering, and further compressing JPEGs without quality loss. AVIF: Excels at web-quality photographic images, and images that have a mix of sharp edges and flat surfaces. ... Although AVIF tends to produce smaller files at web-quality than JPEG XL, AVIF only has basic progressive rendering support. So, for very large images, it may be worth taking the filesize hit with JPEG XL."
CAMBRIDGE, England and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 26, 2026 — The second international Quantum Datacenter Alliance (QDA) Forum will be held on October 1, 2026, at Battersea Power Station in London. This exclusive-access event brings together technical and business leaders from across the quantum and classical networking industries with a shared mission: accelerating the timelines to reach utility-scale distributed quantum computing.
Leaders from NVIDIA, IBM, Quantinuum, QuEra, Cisco and more will present their visions for scaling quantum computing
Nu Quantum, Cisco, NTT Data, OQC (Oxford Quantum Circuits), QphoX, Quantinuum and QuEra established the QDA in 2025 with the mission of bringing together leading voices from the quantum computing and data center communities to address one of the field’s most pressing bottlenecks: how to integrate emerging quantum hardware into existing and future data center infrastructure. As quantum systems move from lab-scale demonstrations toward commercial deployment, questions about system-level architecture, control, error correction, interoperability and power consumption have become as critical as the qubits themselves.
“Cross-industry collaboration is essential to delivering utility-scale quantum computers,” said Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO of Nu Quantum. “The QDA provides a vital space for the leading companies in our ecosystem to exchange ideas and accelerate the progress needed to make this technology a reality.”
The one-day event will focus on a single question: how to build datacenter-scale quantum computers and accelerate the timeline to fault-tolerance. Sessions will cover the full computing stack (quantum processors, interconnects, entanglement networks, middleware, system integration, software, algorithms, and applications), reflecting the QDA’s premise that no single organization can solve this alone. The day’s speakers include:
Dame Wendy Hall, Regius Professor at the University of Southampton and the inventor of Microcosm, the precursor to the World Wide Web
Dr. Ben Bloom, CEO of Atom Computing
Dr. Alexei Bylinskii, VP of Quantum Computing Services, QuEra Computing
Dr. Anna Tatarczak, Distinguished Member of Technical Staff at Coherent Inc., specializing in next-generation data center interconnects
Andy Grant, EMEA Director, Supercomputing, Higher Education, and AI at NVIDIA
Jim Sexton, Fellow at IBM
Michael Hush, Chief Scientist at Q-CTRL
Dr. Carmen Palacios-Berraquero, CEO of Nu Quantum
Dr. Karmela Padavic-Callaghan, journalist covering physics, materials science and quantum technology at New Scientist
Seyon Sivarajah, Chief Architect for Developer Tools at Quantinuum
Registration for the Forum is open, but capacity at the venue is limited. The QDA is curating the attendee list to facilitate the kind of close, cross-disciplinary exchange that a smaller room makes possible: prioritizing depth of expertise and diversity of perspective across the quantum networking stack.
Robert Stockill, CTO at QphoX, said: “With so many pioneers in quantum data center design and implementation gathered at the QDA Forum, we have a unique chance to understand the very edge of technological advancement in scalable quantum computing, and stimulate the next round of innovation in these powerful and rapidly evolving systems.”
“Realizing the full potential of quantum technology and its role in the future of compute involves deploying it directly into AI data centers to operate in hybrid capacities alongside classical HPC environments,” said Dr. Jennifer Strabley, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the Compute Platform Group at Quantinuum. “This global alliance provides the collaborative foundation necessary to address the system-level challenges required to accelerate scalable interoperability in alignment with the public and private sector leaders across the ecosystem.”
To register your interest, explore membership opportunities or stay up to date with the QDA’s latest activities, visit qda.global.
About the QDA
The Quantum Datacenter Alliance is a new initiative bringing together leading companies across the quantum computing stack to accelerate the path to utility-scale quantum computing. Founded in February 2025, the QDA provides a collaborative space to address the core technical and operational challenges of scaling quantum computing to data center level. It fosters alignment on benchmarking, interoperability, architecture, industry standards and system maturity.
Five-year investments in UChicago-led QuBBE and UIUC-led HQAN advance quantum sensing for biology, industry-ready quantum computing, and workforce development
Aug. 26, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation has renewed two NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes within the Chicago Quantum Exchange’s community, awarding five-year investments of $37.5 million each to the University of Chicago–led Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (NSF QuBBE) and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign–led Hybrid Quantum Architectures and Networks (HQAN).
Dr. Lucinda Boyd explains how to work an atomic force microscope (AFM) at the Quantum Sensing Summer Program at Chicago State University. The program is administered through the National Science Foundation Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Sensing for Biophysics and Bioengineering (QuBBE), of which CSU is part. Image credit: Anne Ryan.
In addition to renewing QuBBE, HQAN, and three other inaugural QLCIs created under the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act, the NSF established three new centers for a total investment of $290 million.
“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”
NSF QuBBE advances quantum sensing technologies that can reveal biological processes difficult or impossible to observe with conventional tools. NSF HQAN studies modular approaches to quantum computing, in which smaller quantum processing units (QPUs) are networked to achieve greater combined computing power. This approach avoids the technical difficulties of directly scaling QPUs, and most experts agree that this is the approach most likely to yield quantum computers with the largest advantage.
Both QuBBE and HQAN run programs to prepare a robust quantum workforce — an effort essential to the sector’s ability to scale.
QuBBE: From Quantum Experiments to Biological Tools
During its first phase, NSF QuBBE supported advances across quantum sensing and biology, including genetically encodable qubits, nanodiamond sensors capable of detecting cellular activity, advances in high-field nanoscale nuclear magnetic resonance, and novel approaches to using entanglement for biosensing.
Among those advances, research led by UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering Associate Professor Peter Maurer and Liew Family Professor David Awschalom, both NSF QuBBE co-principal investigators, along with their collaborators, demonstrated that fluorescent proteins can function as spin qubits, opening the possibility of quantum sensors that can be genetically expressed directly within cells. Awschalom also is the founding director of the Chicago Quantum Exchange.
“In the first phase of QuBBE, we used diamond and molecular quantum sensors to probe biological processes, but a key challenge was placing these sensors exactly where they are needed in living systems,” Maurer said. “This motivated us to develop protein qubits – genetically encodable quantum sensors that are roughly ten times smaller than diamond sensors and can potentially be targeted with precision inside cells. Phase two gives us the opportunity to turn these discoveries into tools for biology.”
The scientific convergence fostered through NSF QuBBE has also helped catalyze new efforts to move quantum sensing toward biomedical applications, including the formation of the Berggren Center for Quantum Biology and Medicine, housed at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering in collaboration with UChicago Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division. The Center is advancing the development and adoption of quantum technologies for medicine and training physicians and physician-scientists to work at the intersection of quantum science and healthcare.
In the coming years, NSF QuBBE will drive advances in four interconnected research areas: developing novel quantum nanoprobes for biological sensing; exploring entanglement and squeezed sensing; advancing in vivo measurement with quantum sensors; and accelerating the adoption of quantum sensing across biology and medicine.
Researchers will pursue approaches ranging from improving nitrogen-vacancy centers in diamond to developing protein-based quantum sensors that can operate within biological systems, while investigating how entanglement, advanced imaging, theory, and computation could enable new ways of measuring biological activity.
“The opportunity in this next phase is to integrate the quantum sensor and the biological question from the beginning,” said Allison Squires, deputy director and co-principal investigator of NSF QuBBE and Neubauer Family Assistant Professor at the UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering. “Rather than developing a technology in isolation and then looking for an application, we can design these tools for implementation in the complex biological environments where we ultimately want them to work.”
HQAN: Laying the Foundation for Modular Quantum Computing Approaches
In its first phase, HQAN researchers have made many technical achievements that have laid the foundation for modular approaches. The second phase will build on these achievements to deliver an industry-ready pathway for implementing modular principles.
“The first phase of HQAN has made substantial progress in terms of both research advances and building the quantum workforce of the future,” said Brian DeMarco, Illinois physics professor and NSF HQAN director and principal investigator. “We have set the stage for modular quantum computing, which was largely unexplored when we started but now appears on the quantum roadmaps of major companies. I am also proud that we are a regional center anchored in the Midwest, where we have been a key parter of the Chicago Quantum Exchange and driven new initiates such as the Illinois Quantum Microelectronics Park.”
The achievements of the first phase include: entangled states in a four-node superconducting circuit (SC) quantum network; quantum-limited millimeter-wave–optical transduction using cold atoms coupled to a superconducting resonator; the first reconfigurable SC quantum computing modules; the first autonomous stabilization of remote entanglement in a network; the first algorithms implemented on a small neutral atom array; the first atom-array modules with over 1,000 sites; the first two-species neutral atom array module with interspecies gates; and quantum secret sharing in a triangular SC modular processor. To date, NSF HQAN researchers have published over 210 peer-reviewed articles.
The second phase will build on the achievements of the first to close the remaining gaps so modular quantum computing can be fully implemented. This involves demonstrating basic operations, or application primitives, on modular platforms, laying the foundations for software implementations such as algorithms, error correction and compilers. These efforts will be complemented by advances in the interconnects used to link QPU modules. In addition, researchers will explore new approaches to quantum computing, focusing on chip-scale integration of quantum architectures, more energy efficient quantum photonics and compact internode entanglement.
“Illinois has made a bold commitment to becoming a global leader in quantum technology, and Grainger Engineering is proud to help turn that vision into reality,” said Rashid Bashir, dean of Illinois’ Grainger College of Engineering where NSF HQAN is hosted. “Together with our partners and NSF, we will advance the fundamental architectures needed to make quantum computing scalable and useful, while strengthening the talent, partnerships and innovation ecosystem that will drive the industry forward. Our leadership in this center reflects the U of I’s unique ability to help shape the quantum economy of the future.”
HQAN and QuBBE: Building a Quantum Workforce
NSF HQAN participants are also working to build a quantum workforce through educational programs that have brought quantum science to over 12,000 participants. By training researchers of all levels, NSF HQAN has placed 27 alums into high-profile industry positions, 17 into faculty positions and nine to national laboratories.
It has created two programs to support K-12 education that have reached over 12,000 students across the country: TeachQuantum, which gives teachers a six-week research experience and one year of curriculum development support, and Wonders of Quantum Physics, which brings quantum sciences topics to classrooms with demonstrations, hands-on activities and inquiry-based learning. NSF HQAN also works to develop a quantum workforce by training researchers at the graduate and postdoctoral levels.
By the end of the program, NSF HQAN aims to deliver a comprehensive pathway to modular quantum computing with integrated hardware and software. The result will be ready to translate to an industry-ready solution that realizes quantum advantage.
A core regional cohort is formed by Illinois, the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Northwestern University with Stanford University and the MIT Lincoln Laboratory providing critical capabilities. The second phase center will have 16 industry partners that include Google, IBM, IonQ, and Quantinuum.
“Quantum technology is a strategic priority for the state of Illinois, and HQAN’s efforts are vital to addressing the needs of the state, the Midwest region, and more broadly the nation,” said Preeti Chalsani, the chief quantum officer for the state of Illinois. “HQAN is a major driver of quantum research and quantum workforce pipeline in the area. It is bringing together the region’s major universities to address questions that will advance quantum technologies in meaningful ways and train the highly specialized workforce that is needed to bring this technology to life.”
NSF QuBBE’s workforce programs bring together the University of Chicago, Chicago State University (CSU), and the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) to create pathways into quantum science and technology.
During NSF QuBBE’s first phase, the Institute partnered with CSU to establish the Quantum Institute, including Q-Cert, a one-year post-baccalaureate Quantum Science Certification program. In its next phase, NSF QuBBE plans to expand that model, including the launch of a quantum master’s program at CSU and further integration of undergraduate, master’s, and Ph.D. training.
The work will complement CSU’s new Quantum Education, Science and Technology Center, CQuEST, which is the university’s center for innovation in quantum science and microelectronics, connecting education, research and workforce development as Chicago’s quantum ecosystem grows.
“Building the future of quantum science requires us to build pathways for students to see themselves as part of it,” said Valerie Goss, NSF QuBBE co-principal investigator and workforce development lead at Chicago State University. “Through our partnership with NSF QuBBE, we are creating opportunities for students to gain the knowledge, research experience and connections they need to participate in this rapidly developing field.”
The five original QLCIs were among 10 quantum research centers established under the 2018 National Quantum Initiative Act. In November, US Department of Energy (DOE) announced $625 million in funding to renew its five National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers. Two of the five are in the CQE region: Q-NEXT led by Argonne National Laboratory and Superconducting Quantum Materials and Systems Center (SQMS) led by Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. DOE Under Secretary of Science Darío Gil made the DOE centers announcement during keynote remarks at the Chicago Quantum Summit.
This story was adapted from stories that were originally published by the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, where readers can learn more about the QuBBE renewal, and The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where readers can learn more about the HQAN renewal.
Aug. 26, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded the National Data Platform (NDP) a five-year, $24.5 million Cooperative Agreement to build a federated, AI-ready national data ecosystem, making it easier to discover, access and analyze data, regardless of where it is stored—and Rafael Coelho Lopes de Sa, UMass Amherst associate professor of physics, is playing a key role by leading the development and deployment of the NDP connector nodes.
Rafael Coelho Lopes de Sa
The project is led by the University of California San Diego in partnership with researchers from the University of Utah, the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin and the University of Washington’s eScience Institute, as well as UMass Amherst and the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center (MGHPCC).
Coelho Lopes de Sa and his colleagues at the MGHPCC will develop and deploy the nodes, which will in turn provide a common layer of computing and software infrastructure to be installed at participating data centers around the country. They will allow NDP to discover and make use of locally operated data, computing and AI services through consistent interfaces, while respecting each institution’s security requirements, operating practices and governance policies.
Instead of replacing the powerful systems that universities and supercomputing centers have already built, NDP will allow those systems to function as parts of a larger national ecosystem. A researcher could, for example, discover a dataset maintained at one institution, analyze it using an AI or high-performance computing resource at another and share the resulting workflow through a common environment without first having to master the technical details of every participating facility.
“Research institutions across the country have built extraordinary resources, but researchers should not have to become experts in the internal workings of every facility to use them,” said Coelho Lopes de Sa. “Our goal is to make the boundaries between those facilities largely transparent to the researcher. The connector nodes will provide the common cyberinfrastructure that allows every center to contribute its strengths while retaining control of its own systems.”
“America’s leadership in artificial intelligence depends not only on advanced computing resources but also on the data infrastructure that enables researchers to discover, access, share and analyze scientific data at scale,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director, in NSF’s announcement of the awards. “These investments provide foundational capabilities that empower scientists and engineers to drive transformative AI-enabled discovery, accelerate innovation and strengthen national competitiveness.”
MGHPCC provides an especially strong foundation for this work because it already brings together an unusually rich and diverse collection of advanced research-computing environments. These include the new MGHPCC AI Computing Resource, a shared high-performance AI environment developed by MGHPCC, its six university members and the Massachusetts AI Hub. UMass Amherst also operates the multi-institutional Unity high-performance computing platform at MGHPCC, while the UMass Physics Department operates NET2, a major computing and data facility that supports the ATLAS experiment at CERN, both of which are used for AI development and deployment. By making such resources more discoverable, interoperable and reusable, NDP can help researchers spend less time navigating infrastructure and more time turning data into scientific knowledge.
“By uniting the expertise of SDSC, the University of Utah, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, TACC and UW with NSF’s broader investments in cyberinfrastructure and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource, we are excited to lead NDP’s efforts to ensure that the benefits of AI-driven discovery are accessible to the full breadth of the U.S. research community,” said the University of San Diego’s Frank Wuerthwein, who directs the university’s Computing San Diego Supercomputer Center.
Insecure Men singer has now been dropped by his record label and had tour dates cancelled after two women shared allegations about his behaviour
Saul Adamczewski of Insecure Men and formerly of Fat White Family has been dropped by his record label and had tour dates cancelled after two women shared allegations of physical and emotional abuse against the musician.
One woman said that the pair had a short relationship that resulted in a pregnancy, after which, she alleged, Adamczewski “made it his duty to make me suffer. He has been violent, pushed me, thrown glass bottles at me, showered me with beer […] insulted me, taken my passport from me, stolen my money and more, all while I had our baby.”
(The Center Square) – Microsoft is objecting to an agreement between We Energies and the Wisconsin Public Service Commission, saying it was not involved in negotiations and the agreement does not go far enough to ensure consumers do not pay…
The sense of futility hanging over the room was almost overwhelming as Robert Jenrick took the stage
It’s turning out to be one of the longer sulks in Nigel Farage’s already sulk-filled career. Few politicians are better at having a strop and holding a grudge than Nige. At least on this side of the Atlantic. Donald Trump could give Farage a run for his money, but skin doesn’t come much thinner than Nige’s. He’s the soul of the Reform party as long as he’s the centre of attention and the yes-men and women – that’s everyone – around him are saying yes. But the moment reality challenges his narcissism, the mirror cracks.
There was a time when you couldn’t keep Nige away from a TV camera or a gathering of reporters. It’s what he lived for. But ever since the Guardian revealed his £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne, Farage has gone all shy. Unable to bear the humiliation of being seen for the man he really is. The posh. The entitled. The venal. The grifter. Everything he has spent the last 25 years trying to persuade people he isn’t.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Wesley Bell to join as Jared Moskowitz becomes ranking member on sub-committee
Three pro-Israel Democrats have been given key roles on a powerful congressional body overseeing US foreign policy in a move rounding sharply counter to popular sentiment within the party and likely to anger leftwing activists.
The appointments to the US House of Representatives foreign affairs committee follow a succession of wins in party primaries for progressive candidates who put criticism of Israel and its actions in Gaza at the core of their campaign messages.
U.S. District Judge David Hittner argued that countless popular performances with “erotic” elements would have fallen under a state law he described as overly broad.
‘This is a profoundly flawed decision that endangers our children and is an affront to Texas values,’ Ken Paxton says
A federal judge has, for a second time, struck down a Texas state law banning drag performances in settings where children may be present.
In a ruling issued on Tuesday, US district judge David Hittner said Texas cannot enforce its drag show ban. He said that the measure improperly restricts speech and violates the first amendment of the US constitution.
Aug. 26, 2026 — Sparrow Quantum has announced that the company is one of 13 selected for funding under the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking’s Quantum Grand Challenge, an EU program created to accelerate the development of market-ready quantum-computing platforms. Sparrow Quantum is the only Danish company selected.
Founded to make high-quality deterministic quantum light — photonic qubits — available outside the laboratory, Sparrow Quantum has spent years on the source itself. As the performance and reliability of that technology improve, the challenge moves downstream: to what happens to photons after they leave the source and are integrated into larger systems.
“Being selected alongside Europe’s leading quantum companies is a proud moment for the team,” said Peter Lodahl, founder and Chief Quantum Officer at Sparrow Quantum. “We founded Sparrow to make the supply of quantum light dependable. EU-SCALE gives us the opportunity to build on that progress and take on the system architecture around the source — the part of the problem I have long wanted Sparrow to tackle.”
Through EU-SCALE, Sparrow Quantum will develop the technical and financial roadmap for integrating its proprietary deterministic photon-generating chips into a larger photonic quantum-computing system. The project will explore a resource-optimized architecture built around those chips and compatible with European high-performance computing infrastructure.
The Quantum Grand Challenge in Detail
The Quantum Grand Challenge is designed to move European quantum startups toward commercial viability: Phase 1 funds the roadmap and commercialization case, and Phase 2 opens a route to venture debt financing from the European Investment Bank.
The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking’s Governing Board approved the list of proposals selected for funding on 19 June 2026 (Decision No. 31/2026). Thirty proposals were received by the call deadline. Twenty-seven met the admissibility and eligibility requirements. A panel of independent experts evaluated them, with thirteen retained for funding on the main list and three placed on a reserve list.
EU-SCALE, Sparrow Quantum’s project under the Grand Challenge, will receive €300,000 in EU funding once the grant agreement — currently in preparation — is signed.
The European High Performance Computing Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) is a legal and funding entity that brings together the European Union and participating countries to pool resources and make Europe a world leader in supercomputing. It has procured 12 supercomputers across Europe, including JUPITER and Alice Recoque, Europe’s first exascale systems, and is currently overseeing the implementation of 19 AI factories complemented by 13 AI Factory Antennas.
The JU also funds research and innovation projects across the European supercomputing supply chain, from processors and software to applications and the expertise needed to develop them. It is jointly funded by its members with a budget of at least EUR 8.2 billion for the period 2021–2027, with the EU contribution matched by a similar amount from the participating countries.
About Sparrow Quantum
Sparrow Quantum is a spin-out from a powerhouse of innovation—Professor Peter Lodahl’s research group at the Niels Bohr Institute. With 25+ years of ground-breaking research and nearly a decade of engineering expertise, they are dedicated to advancing the frontier of high-quality photon generation for quantum technologies. They specialize in light-matter interfaces—the essential building blocks for scaling optical quantum technologies. Sparrow Quantum\s on-chip deterministic single-photon source is at the core of their innovation, a breakthrough technology that sets industry benchmarks and is trusted by quantum technology leaders worldwide. By delivering high-purity, high-efficiency photons, Sparrow Quantum empowers its partners and customers to push the boundaries of quantum computing and secure communication, transforming the immense potential of quantum technology into real-world innovation and impact.
EDISON, N.J., Aug. 26, 2026 — Maxis AI has introduced MaxisAI Holarchy, its Verticalized Context Layer, a governed institutional memory that gives life sciences enterprises the trusted organizational context AI agents need to support clinical execution across the development lifecycle. It sits between every AI agent and every model; grounds each call in the standards, compliance, and policies an organization runs on; checks it against the rules its regulator enforces; and seals the whole path into an inspection-ready record. It is available as an independent product or within the MaxisAI platform.
As life sciences organizations move beyond isolated AI assistants, a critical gap has emerged. Agents can generate content and execute tasks, but they often lack a consistent understanding of the protocol, operational state, source data, evidence provenance, policies, and human decision rights that define how work should be performed. MaxisAI Holarchy connects that context, knowledge, controls, and evidence into a reusable foundation for agentic work.
“The next era of AI in clinical development will not be defined by how many agents an organization runs. It will be defined by whether those agents can act with the right context, within the right guardrails, and with clear accountability,” said Moulik Shah, Founder and CEO of Maxis AI. “The Context Layer gives organizations a way to transform fragmented information into a governed institutional memory so that AI agents can help teams move faster while preserving trust, transparency, and human oversight.”
In regulated work, a fluent answer is not enough. An inspection asks who approved an output, on what basis, and when. MaxisAI Holarchy governs every request automatically. Before a call reaches a model, it grounds the request in the organization’s own standards, SOPs, prior decisions, and live study data, and masks protected data, so the model never sees it. After the model responds, it scores the output against the organization’s quality bar and the regulator’s rules, routes what falls short to a human reviewer, and seals the path into a signed, immutable record.
What distinguishes MaxisAI Holarchy is that industry knowledge, standards, and compliance are built into the fabric itself, so each decision traces back to the clause it answers to. Governance is not added after the fact. It is where the product begins. This institutional memory also compounds when a reviewer corrects an output, that correction becomes the next answer, so quality rises and cost falls over time. Within the Holarchy, work is organized into domain-specific intelligences, called MaxisAI Holons, each acting on its own work but never unilaterally, under a single regime of governance, evidence, and human oversight.
In a 90-day benchmarking implementation on a client’s live studies, one synopsis-to-USDM protocol agent was run in two arms, ungoverned without context layer and another grounded through the Context Layer, both measured identically; and Context Layer grounding excelled. Against a 26-run ungoverned baseline, the governed arm cut cost per run by 36 percent, raised quality from 83.6 to 93.0 percent and confidence from 87.1 to 94.5 percent, and avoided 94 issues that would otherwise have reached a reviewer or an inspection. Because each run and each correction is written back as institutional memory, the advantage compounded over time rather than settling.
“Most AI systems treat governance as something you add on afterwards. We built it into the fabric, so industry standards, the regulator’s rules, and each organization’s own knowledge collectively serve as memory behind every call,” said Rajesh Majji, VP, Product and Technology at Maxis AI. “And every human correction becomes the next answer, so quality compounds while cost comes down.”
Availability
MaxisAI Holarchy is in production use by early adopter customers, available as an independent product or as a layer within the MaxisAI platform. Organizations can run it three ways: shared, with Maxis AI hosting the fabric and the data; external, with Maxis AI running the services while the organization’s databases hold the data; and private, entirely inside the organization’s own datacenter. It is being launched first for clinical research and life sciences and is built to extend across other regulated industries and geographies by its ability to manage sovereign context.
About Maxis AI
Maxis AI is the first AI Workforce for Clinical Trials, delivering a supervised execution layer purpose-built for regulated clinical environments. The company’s enterprise-ready Agentic AI platform is “Designed to Think. Built to Act.” pairing governed AI agents with expert human oversight across study startup, enrollment, data management, statistical programming, medical writing, and risk oversight. Built on the foundation of more than 3,300 clinical trials of execution experience, it integrates with existing systems of record while maintaining full observability, audit traceability, explainability, and reproducibility. Maxis AI serves pharma, biotech, medical devices, and CROs of all sizes. Learn more at maxisai.com.
The combined $75 million in grants aims to overcome critical barriers between today’s quantum systems and practical computing
Aug. 26, 2026 — Two computer scientists from the UCLA Samueli School of Engineering have been selected as co-principal investigators on separate quantum computing institutes funded by the National Science Foundation’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes (QLCI).
The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are taking on some of the hardest scientific hurdles in the global race to create powerful quantum-based technologies. Image credit: NSF.
The five-year grants of $37.5 million each will support two research institutes aimed at overcoming fundamental barriers in quantum information science and accelerating the development of quantum technologies for practical applications.
The two institutes are part of eight QLCI awards totaling more than $290 million announced this week by the NSF to propel U.S. quantum science in the global race to create powerful quantum technologies. The investment is an expansion of the QLCI program created in 2020 following the passage of the National Quantum Initiative Act in 2018.
Newly Established NSF Institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications
The institute for Fault-Tolerant Quantum Systems, Architectures and Applications (FTQSAA) is one of three newly formed institutes in the program led by Harvard University, with UCLA Samueli and MIT serving as co-leads. The multi-institutional research team will focus on developing quantum systems that can reliably perform useful computations despite the errors and noise that disrupt quantum devices. The researchers will integrate fault-tolerant design across quantum hardware, software, algorithms and applications to maximize quantum systems’ ability to solve previously intractable problems in fields ranging from drug and materials discovery to particle physics and cosmology.
Jason Cong, a distinguished professor of computer science at UCLA Samueli and holder of the Volgenau Chair for Engineering Excellence, is a co-principal investigator of the institute. He will lead UCLA’s efforts to develop software, algorithms and AI-based tools that make fault-tolerant quantum systems more efficient and better able to operate in the presence of errors.
“Producing fault-tolerant quantum devices is critical to solving a range of scientific and technological problems currently unsolvable by classical methods,” Cong said. “Our goal is to develop new compilation, quantum error-correction and AI-driven simulation and optimization techniques that improve the reliability and efficiency of quantum systems and help move fault-tolerant quantum computing toward practical applications.”
Three other faculty members are part of UCLA’s FTQSAA team: Yizhou Sun, a professor of computer science; Hanrui Wang, an incoming assistant professor of computer science; and Leo Zhou, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering.
At UCLA, Cong holds a joint faculty appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and directs the Center for Domain-Specific Computing. He is also a faculty member with the California NanoSystems Institute and a research thrust lead at UCLA Samueli’s newly launched Semiconductor Hub.
Expanded NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation
The NSF Challenge Institute for Quantum Computation (CIQC), a California-based research network, is led by UC Berkeley and includes researchers from UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, the California Institute of Technology and Stanford University.
Established in 2020 with an initial seven-year, $32 million grant, the institute has brought together researchers in chemistry, computer science, engineering, mathematics and physics to rigorously test claims of quantum advantage and help drive advances across the quantum industry. Their work has revealed new quantum phase transitions, deepened understanding of quantum matter and advanced neutral-atom platforms for quantum computing, helping lay the groundwork for growing activity and investment in the field.
With a renewed five-year, $37.5 million NSF grant, the multi-institutional team will address three major challenges: discovering and realizing the power of quantum computation, understanding nature through the lens of quantum information science, and developing quantum technologies and their applications.
Jens Palsberg, a computer science professor at UCLA Samueli and co-director of the Center for Quantum Science & Engineering (CQSE), is a co-principal investigator of the institute. He will lead a team of UCLA researchers that includes physics professors Wes Campbell and Eric Hudson, who is the director of CQSE. Richard Ross, director of the UCLA Master of Quantum Science and Technology degree program, and David Steuerman, executive director of CQSE, are also part of the team.
The UCLA researchers will focus on the institute’s third research challenge — developing quantum technologies and their applications.
“Quantum computers have the potential to solve problems that are out of reach for today’s computers, but we still have a lot of work to do to get there,” said Palsberg, who is also the faculty director of the Science Hub for Humanity and Artificial Intelligence at UCLA. “We want to overcome bottlenecks in today’s trapped-ion quantum computing platforms and develop a universal software stack to compare different quantum technologies and help identify the applications where quantum computers can make the biggest difference.”
Bird eggs intercepted in homemade incubators at Johannesburg airport as officials try to halt wildlife trafficking
South African police have arrested two Thai nationals in separate incidents for allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered parrot eggs out of the country as authorities try to stem the tide of wildlife trafficking.
A 50-year-old Thai national was arrested at OR Tambo international airport in Johannesburg on 20 August, carrying 50 bird eggs in a homemade incubator in a hand-luggage bag, South Africa’s environment ministry said in a statement.
President Trump hasn't settled on a replacement for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, whose last day is Friday, according to administration officials close to the situation.
Was ready to purchase straight off the Onewheel website. I understand shipping and taxes..........but wow! I know prices are high, but was not impressed with the $55 shipping, plus the $58 ship+, and $71.55 tax. The ship+ is a rip to say the least.
Anyone purchase a OW straight from Eric @ Suprents? Not as a rental but straight purchase? Did you get a new or used OW? I did email Eric and he said it would be brand new. The check-out process is like a rental (Deposit: Pint S ($1100) - Damage Protection: Decline ($0) - Demo Length/Price: 7 Days ($300). In a nutshell -- I just don't want to pay full price for a used board.
I can save some $$$$ and put towards accessories is so.
Reform MP seeks to heap pressure on Tory leader amid confusion around details of meeting with Giorgia Meloni
Robert Jenrick has accused Kemi Badenoch of telling “a pack of lies” about her meeting with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, as he launched a deeply personal attack on his former boss.
The Reform UK MP sought to heap pressure on the Conservative leader amid confusion about whether Meloni urged Badenoch at a meeting in Rome to “be her own woman” and resist doing a deal with his party.
In this episode of Guardian Australia’s US politics podcast Decoding America, co-hosts Jonathan Yerushalmy and Reged Ahmad explore why datacentres in the US have provoked such anger – and whether that could harm Republicans in the midterms given Donald Trump is such a supporter of the growing industry.
They also look at why the US and Canada are fighting over tariffs. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, is pushing back and both countries could be on the cusp of a full-blown trade war.
Finally: why does the Trump administration’s secretary of transportation Sean Duffy have his very own YouTube show – and is he the only one?
China has imposed new restrictions on AI companion services over concerns they can foster "emotional dependence or addiction" and replace real-world social interaction. Officials are also worried that increasingly satisfying AI relationships could deepen loneliness and further discourage marriage and parenthood. The Guardian reports: No country has rolled out AI as comprehensively and as enthusiastically as China; the country's demographic challenges are forcing the government to turn to technology to solve future labour shortages. Elderly people use chatbots to answer medical questions, while young children have AI education in schools. But the authorities are increasingly worried that AI might exacerbate existing social problems including loneliness, unemployment and -- in the eyes of Beijing -- singledom.
New rules introduced on July 15 ban AI companions for minors and mandate certain restrictions for chatbots marketed to adults. Some major providers including Doubao removed the companion function entirely to ensure compliance. The government says it is worried about chatbots fostering "emotional dependence or addiction" in users. It has warned companies against offering services that "replace social interaction." While many countries are grappling with how to limit the potential harm of AI chatbots, particularly for young people, China's rules are the most sweeping to be implemented on a national scale.
[...] But talking to AI is now so commonplace that it would be hard for the government to end the practice entirely, and the new rules include large loopholes for AI services that are deemed educational or "which do not involve continuous emotional interaction." The government "has already recognized that AI companions or AI-related applications are a vital part in the citizens' everyday life," says Liang Ge, a lecturer in digital sociology at the University of Manchester. In many sectors, the government is still pushing the use of AI as a way of easing looming demographic pressures.
(The Center Square) – At a grocer in Hoke County, the tariff break for a foreign exporter doesn’t produce a better price, says the Democratic nominee in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
Prime minister spoke to press while on visit to a Sainsbury’s supermarket in London this morning
Over 40,000 more people died on the hottest days in England between 1988 and 2025 than would be expected, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.
The figures do not include this summer, when England has sweltered under a succession of heatwaves and is on track to record its highest ever number of heat-related deaths. The UK Health Security Agency announced on 30 July that an estimated 2,877 people had died in the May and June heatwaves alone. The total is almost double the figure for the whole summer in 2025.
Lethal temperatures and wildfires have exposed a widening gulf between voters demanding action and politicians unwilling to confront the long-term choices global heating requires
The climate crisis means “we’re going to have to change everything – the way we live, the way we produce, the way we trade,” France’s veteran radical-left firebrand, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, told the summer congress of his France Insoumise party last weekend.
The term “climate change”, said Mélenchon – the most likely rival to Marine Le Pen in next year’s presidential run-off, according to one poll this week – may sound “almost reassuring”, but its actual impact will feel like “landing on another planet whenever we leave home”.
Sophie Lainault, who worked for Air France, wins legal case linking illness to more than 12,600 hours on flights
A flight attendant in France has succeeded in having her breast cancer recognised as an occupational disease, a first for the country’s aviation industry, her lawyer and a trade union said.
The ruling, which recognised that Sophie Lainault, a former flight attendant for Air France, had frequently worked at night and been exposed to passive smoking, could pave the way for similar claims, the lawyer and the CFDT union said.
Sentiment in hospitality and brewing sectors more positive since business rates action, trade bodies’ survey finds
Pubs, bars and hotels have reported a “Burnham bounce” in optimism as a result of the prime minister’s overtures to the sector, polling suggests, but they warn that the goodwill could evaporate without further tax relief.
Andy Burnham has positioned himself as a staunch ally of the UK’s hospitality industry both before and since his arrival at No 10, last month announcing a discount on business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues.
(The Center Square) – Honest Elections Project filed an amicus brief on behalf of the petitioner in Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Nago, urging the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the case, with an attorney arguing that voter rolls being…
In states like Montana, range riders can play a key role in a wild landscape where livestock and predators navigate life together
For most people, the word “cowboy” still summons a figure from Western folklore – a rough rider with a weathered face and a steely gaze, a self-reliant loner who answers to nobody, is fearless in the face of danger, and protects his lands from predators – animal and human alike.
But over the past 15 years, a new range rider has emerged in the American West, one that is out on a wholly different mission: to live in a wild landscape where livestock and predators can co-exist.
An increasing tension between players and publishers about ownership of titles could lead to a divestment from the system the big companies are trying to enforce
At the time of press, there is a well-publicised protest taking place in the video games community. PlayStation 5 owners are being encouraged to log off from their consoles between 23 and 30 August – no playing games, no downloading new titles. The motivating factor is Sony’s decision to cease physical game disc production from January 2028. After that, games will only be released as digital products. In an act of poor timing or wilful defiance, Sony chose this week to send out a mass email reminding customers of their PS5 terms and conditions: “The software is licensed to you, not sold,” states the relevant clause. “You are granted a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, and personal license to play … ” It knows, of course, that most customers won’t open the email, let alone read it.
There has always been a tension between game players and game publishers – an underlying sense of mutual mistrust. Players are wary of their favourite franchises being canned, or games being delayed or released with bugs. Publishers and manufacturers are wary of piracy and the capricious tastes of consumers. But now the atmosphere among many game players feels more starkly political than ever. Microsoft has been targeted by the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement for its ties to the Israeli military; the consumer advocacy group Stop Killing Games is gaining support; players have protested over the purchase of Electronic Arts by a Saudi-led consortium – boycotts have been proposed in part due to the possible ramifications regarding LGBTQ+ content in titles such as The Sims. As the games industry has grown and globalised, its impact on culture, society and politics has increased. Yet, on an individual level, gamers and consumers are feeling increasingly powerless.
Sky Sports is close to agreeing a new deal to extend its live coverage of the US Open. The three-year contract extension, which is expected to be announced when the singles draw from Flushing Meadows begins next week, will keep the tournament live on Sky until 2030.
Under the terms of the new deal, Sky will broadcast more than 12 hours of live tennis each day across the extended three-week tournament, including the new mixed-doubles event which is taking place this week.
Neil Gilson completes 230-mile challenge after a ‘tough’ 22-hour crossing of Lac Léman
He staggered rather than sprang out of the lake but it wasn’t surprising.
Neil Gilson, a former international athlete, could be forgiven for feeling a little wobbly, having become the first person to swim the 10 largest lakes in Switzerland, a total of about 230 miles (370km).
Amazon Ring has a new policy for its encryption practices and what they mean for your security videos or AI use. Customers are getting more choices, too.
The combination brings together complementary expertise in quantum computing, sensing, materials science, and advanced technologies to accelerate future innovation
ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 26, 2026 — IBM today announced it has completed its acquisition of HRL Laboratories, LLC (HRL), a leading research and development institution whose expertise spans quantum computing, quantum sensing, advanced communications, electronics, manufacturing, and materials science.
The acquisition brings together two leading organizations with a shared commitment to advancing the frontiers of science and technology. HRL’s expertise in silicon-spin qubits complements IBM’s leadership in superconducting quantum computing. HRL also brings capabilities in quantum sensing, quantum materials, cryogenics, control electronics, packaging, and interconnect technologies that are expected to strengthen IBM’s quantum hardware roadmap and support continued innovation across the quantum technology stack.
IBM continues to advance superconducting-qubit architectures through breakthroughs in hardware, error correction, software, and algorithms designed to enable increasingly capable quantum systems. IBM’s roadmap includes its fault-tolerant quantum computer IBM Quantum Starling, expected by 2029 to perform 100 million quantum operations and deliver significantly greater computational capability than today’s quantum computers. Starling is expected to be followed by Blue Jay, IBM’s next-generation fault-tolerant quantum computer, targeted for the mid-2030s.
The acquisition also complements IBM’s broader innovation and investment in quantum manufacturing and infrastructure. HRL’s expertise in silicon-based quantum technologies creates opportunities for future collaboration with Anderon, IBM’s pure-play quantum wafer foundry, supporting scalable manufacturing approaches and accelerating learning cycles across multiple quantum computing modalities.
Boeing and General Motors, HRL’s former owners, will continue to partner with IBM and HRL on quantum applications and advanced technology development.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
To learn more about IBM’s acquisition and history of HRL, read here.
IBM (NYSE: 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 the 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.
World No 10 is one of the best players yet to win a major and heads to Flushing Meadows in fine form after learning to embrace being uncomfortable
Amanda Anisimova can see the signs now. It is just over three years since the American announced she would be taking an indefinite break for mental health reasons. A brilliant junior, she was a semi-finalist at the French Open in 2019 and seemingly destined for the top, only for her world to be rocked by the sudden death of her father, Konstantin, a few months later. Struggling for motivation and burned out, in May 2023, she revealed she would be stepping away from the sport.
It turned out to be the best decision she ever made. “I learned how important it is to have a great balance on and off the court,” Anisimova says in an interview from New York, ahead of the US Open, where she will try to go one better than last year and win her first grand slam title.
You change one line in a large file. Your “incremental” backup re-uploads the whole thing anyway.
Nine times out of ten, it’s not the network, and it’s not your storage backend. It’s the algorithm deciding where to cut your data into pieces.
Every deduplication system works the same way: split data into pieces, hash each piece, keep one copy per distinct hash. A piece is named after its own content, so two identical pieces are, by definition, the same piece. Snapshot a filesystem today and again tomorrow, and if most of the data hasn’t changed, most pieces are already in the store. The second snapshot costs you almost nothing.
That’s not a nice-to-have. A backup that actually survives an incident needs to be encrypted, frequent, immutable, replicated and verified, and each of those requirements multiplies what you store. When deduplication is weak, those multipliers stack until backing up everything becomes unaffordable, and teams quietly retreat to backing up only what they call “critical.” Good deduplication is what makes backing up everything affordable again.
And all of it rests on one assumption: unchanged data should yield unchanged pieces.
Where fixed-size chunking falls apart
The obvious way to split a file is to cut every N bytes. It’s fast. It also wrecks deduplication the moment you touch the file.
Add one byte near the front and every boundary after it slides over by one. Nothing lines up with where it used to be, so every hash downstream is “new,” so the store treats the entire rest of the file as fresh data. Edit one line in a 40 GB file and you re-upload close to 40 GB of it. Nothing meaningful changed, only the offsets did, and fixed-size boundaries are glued to offsets.
How content-defined chunking fixes it
Content-Defined Chunking (CDC) picks boundaries based on what the data is, not where it happens to sit.
Slide a small window over the byte stream and keep a rolling hash, cheap enough to update incrementally that the whole scan stays linear, then cut a boundary wherever that hash matches an agreed pattern.
Now insert a byte. The boundaries right around the edit shift. But once the window slides past the change, the hash sequence goes back to matching what it was before, and the boundaries fall back into place on their own. One piece changes. Everything else deduplicates cleanly against the previous snapshot. That self-resynchronizing behaviour is the whole point of CDC.
Picking an algorithm
There’s more than one way to build a rolling hash and a cut rule.
Rabin fingerprinting is the textbook original, correct but slow and allocation-heavy by today’s standards. FastCDC swapped the polynomial hash for a much cheaper Gear hash and normalized the chunk-size distribution, and it became the field’s workhorse. UltraCDC trades a bit of speed for fewer, larger chunks. JC is a newer design that turns out to be strikingly fast. There are also keyed variants, where the hash table is seeded from a secret so two different stores cut the same data at different points, which matters if you care about not leaking which chunks you hold.
We benchmarked these in go-cdc-chunkers, the open-source chunking library behind our backup engine, Plakar, on 1 GiB of random data, the worst case since there’s no structure to exploit. JC hits 3747 MB/s, comfortably ahead of the Gear-based FastCDC variants. Rabin runs about 7.5x slower and allocates roughly 3.3 MB per operation versus a few KB for the others, which on a busy host is the difference between a run you notice and one you don’t. Full benchmarks and charts are published separately.
Using it is trivial:
// One interface for the whole family.
c, _ := chunkers.NewChunker("jc", reader) // or "fastcdc", "ultracdc", "kfastcdc"
for {
chunk, err := c.Next()
// ... hash and store the chunk ...
if err == io.EOF {
break
}
}
Determinism is the feature that matters most
Here’s the part that gets too little respect.
Give it enough time and “FastCDC” stops meaning one thing. Every implementation picks up small departures from the paper: a mask off by a bit, a window starting a byte early, a threshold nudged for taste. Harmless for a benchmark. For a storage system it’s a slow-motion disaster, because boundaries are part of your data’s identity. Change how you cut and yesterday’s pieces stop matching today’s, so deduplication degrades with no error and no warning. The store just grows faster than it should.
The fix is to publish spec-faithful, explicitly versioned variants and treat the version number as a promise: a given version cuts a given input the same way, on any machine, forever. Improvements ship under a new name people adopt on purpose, so nothing re-cuts existing data out from under anyone. Versioning also buys you cross-language conformance vectors, published inputs with expected boundaries that any implementation, in any language, can check itself against, byte for byte. That’s what turns “spec-faithful” from a claim into something you can actually test.
So whatever you pick, hold out for two things: a pinned, versioned spec of exactly how boundaries get computed, and published test vectors you can verify yourself. Speed is negotiable. Determinism isn’t.
Why we built this in the open
go-cdc-chunkers is open source for the same reason all of Plakar is. Backup is a trust problem before it is a technical one: you hand one system the single copy of your data meant to survive everything else, yet with most products you cannot read the code, review the cryptography, or verify the recovery path until the day you need it. Open source is the only honest answer I know, and it is the one I took from years on OpenSMTPD and OpenBSD: formats outlive vendors, a backup you cannot open in ten years is not a backup, and the community that reads the code is part of the security model.
Try it yourself
To see the deduplication effect directly, you can reproduce the experiment with an open source backup implementation that uses CDC. The following example uses Plakar.”
On macOS, brew install plakarkorp/tap/plakar; on any platform with Go 1.23.3 or newer, go install github.com/PlakarKorp/plakar@latest. Prebuilt binaries, apt and AUR packages for every platform are on the download page.
Create a local store (Plakar calls it a Kloset). It will prompt for a passphrase, since everything is encrypted before it touches disk:
plakar at $HOME/backups create
Now back up a directory:
plakar at $HOME/backups backup $HOME/Documents
The last line of the output tells you what happened:
info: backup: created unsigned snapshot dd62691d of size 6.4 KiB in 125ms (wrote 577 KiB)
Two numbers matter there: the logical size of what you backed up, and the bytes actually written to the store. Now the part that shows CDC working. Change one file, add a paragraph to a document, then run the exact same backup command again. You get a new, self-contained snapshot, but the bytes written the second time are a small fraction of the first, because every chunk that did not change was already in the store and is simply referenced rather than rewritten. Insert a few bytes at the top of a large file and the diagram above becomes concrete: the chunks after the edit resynchronise and deduplicate against the first snapshot instead of being stored again.
You can list snapshots, verify one is intact, then restore it somewhere else:
plakar at $HOME/backups ls
plakar at $HOME/backups check dd62691d
plakar at $HOME/backups restore -to $HOME/restored dd62691d
If you would rather look before installing anything, a public instance of the web UI runs at https://demo.plakar.io with real backups to browse.
Resources
It’s all open source: the chunking library is go-cdc-chunkers and the backup engine is Plakar, with the full v1.1.0 benchmarks published for anyone who wants to reproduce them.
Gilles Chehade is a long-time OpenBSD developer and the co-founding CTO of PlakarKorp. He createdPlakar.io as a personal tool in 2015 before turning it into an open backup platform that gives security and infrastructure teams “resilience as code.”
European security officials officials said an explosive drone found at Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany fits a pattern of likely Russian aggression across Europe.
All US immigrant visa applications halted as state department moves to tighten restrictions and limit access. Plus tributes pour in for Dolly Parton, who has died aged 80
Good morning. All US immigrant visa applications have been paused by the Trump administration as the state department moves to tighten restrictions and limit access to applicants whom they deem could need US assistance. The agency launched the initiative at all embassies and consulates in early August.
Applicants with scheduled interviews were sent emails that their appointments had been canceled. Agency officials claim this will ensure visa applicants will not end up relying on US public benefits. This week the Trump administration also announced plans to revoke visas from asylum seekers who had initially entered the US for tourism or business. Up to 200,000 people seeking asylum could be affected.
Is the move lawful? “The court made clear that immigration laws cannot be used to justify discrimination,” Joanna Cuevas Ingram, a senior staff attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, said. In February, a federal judge overturned the president’s attempt to suspend the US refugee system entirely.
Why are the states suing Meta? The lawsuit centers on the allegations that Meta deliberately designed addictive products that hooked young people, leading to mental health issues, including anxiety, depression and suicide. Meta has denied all allegations, saying the states are chasing an “outlandish payout”.
PC; Nathan Grange, Léonard Lemaitre, Niels Tiercelin, IronEqual Race across impossible dystopian cityscapes in this exhilarating game of wall-runs, death-chancing leaps and split-second improvisation
At first, Vholume seems like a quick rush through some smartly selected references. Has this breathless yet austere parkour game been designed or ingeniously curated? The urban gymnast moveset comes from Mirror’s Edge. Level names use terms like conapt, first coined by Philip K Dick. And the environments themselves are dystopian and surreal, Half-Life 2’s City 17 colliding with the blasted avenues and mute archways of de Chirico. Many games have influences. Vholume has actual taste.
All the surface stuff fades away when the game is in motion, however. Vholume’s an on-foot racing game in which you hoof it through spectacularly odd environments, moving from one beam of concrete to the next. You’re clipping your wall-runs and power-slides together to bridge seemingly impossible gaps between buildings, forever in search of the next stretch of track, the next turn, the next jump that gets you to the level’s exit and the worldwide leaderboards. And once that’s done, you have a choice: onwards to another gauntlet, or back to the start of this one again to slice a few microseconds off your score? Or maybe you’d rather head over to multiplayer to race against the ghosts of others?
Graham is listed provisionally for the November ballot and will face the winner of a three-way Democratic primary led by incumbent Kathy Jennings
By George D. Rotsch, Editor of Delaware LIVE
Dave Graham, a U.S. Army and Delaware National Guard veteran with decades of experience in state government and public finance, has been nominated by the Delaware Republican Party as its 2026 candidate for attorney general.
The nomination moves Graham from a prospective candidate seeking party support to the Republican standard-bearer for the Nov. 3 general election.
The Delaware Department of Elections added Graham to its general-election candidate list Monday, Aug. 24. As of Wednesday, the department listed his candidacy as “provisional,” indicating that the nomination has been received but has not yet been given “qualified” status. The department also publicly announced that Graham had been nominated by the Republican Party. Delaware Department of Elections candidate list
Graham will face the winner of the Sept. 15 Democratic primary. Incumbent Attorney General Kathy Jennings, the Delaware Democratic Party’s endorsed candidate, is seeking a third term and is widely considered the favorite. She faces Dwayne Bensing and Patty Rickman in the primary. Democratic primary candidate list
From late entry to Republican nominee
Graham announced July 30 on “The Rick Jensen Show” on WDEL that he was seeking the Republican nomination. No Republican had filed for attorney general before the regular July 14 filing deadline, leaving the party an opportunity to fill the ballot vacancy through its nomination process.
Graham asked Delaware Republican Party Chairman Gene Truono and other party leaders to place him on the November ballot. The party’s decision this week ensures that Delaware voters will have both a Republican and Democratic choice in the statewide race.
His late entry has a precedent in Delaware politics, although the circumstances and election rules are not identical.
In 1976, Democrats concluded their state convention without nominating a candidate for state treasurer. Tom Carper, then a 29-year-old employee of the Delaware Office of Economic Development, subsequently entered the contest, secured the Democratic nomination and won the general election.
That victory began a nearly five-decade career in elected office that included service as state treasurer, congressman, governor and U.S. senator.
Graham emphasizes service and financial experience
Graham has served in the U.S. Army and Delaware National Guard. He has worked for the Delaware Department of Finance since 2003 and previously accumulated approximately 25 years of experience as a certified public accountant.
He is expected to make military service, financial oversight, government accountability and responsible management central themes of his campaign.
Graham is not a lawyer, but the Delaware Constitution does not require the attorney general to hold a law degree or belong to the Delaware Bar.
The constitution establishes the attorney general as an elected statewide officer serving a four-year term but does not list legal practice or bar membership among the qualifications for the office.
Graham is likely to argue that his experience managing financial and government operations would bring a different perspective to the Department of Justice. His Democratic opponent, regardless of who wins the primary, will bring a more traditional legal background to the race.
Democratic primary comes first
Jennings remains the best-known candidate in the contest. She was first elected attorney general in 2018 and won a second term in 2022. She is now seeking another four-year term.
Before becoming attorney general, Jennings served as a prosecutor and held several leadership positions within the Delaware Department of Justice.
Bensing and Rickman are challenging Jennings in the Democratic primary, meaning Graham will not know his November opponent until Democratic voters make their selection Sept. 15.
Jennings’ incumbency, party endorsement and statewide campaign organization make her the likely nominee, but the Democratic contest must be decided by voters.
Graham has run statewide before
Graham has pursued statewide office several times, generally presenting himself as an outsider focused on accountability and government integrity.
He ran as a write-in candidate for governor in 2012 and as the Independent Party candidate for attorney general in 2014. Graham received approximately 2.1% of the vote in the 2014 general election, which Democrat Matt Denn won.
In 2020, Graham sought the Republican nomination for governor but lost in the party primary.
His nomination for attorney general gives him a place in a major-party general-election contest and prevents Republicans from leaving the statewide office uncontested.
Delaware’s attorney general serves as the state’s chief law enforcement officer and leads the Department of Justice, which oversees criminal prosecutions, consumer protection, civil litigation involving the state and other legal matters.
The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
TO GO
Republican candidate: David C. “Dave” Graham
Status: Nominated by the Delaware Republican Party and provisionally listed by the Department of Elections
Background: U.S. Army and Delaware National Guard veteran; former CPA; Delaware Department of Finance employee since 2003
Democratic primary: Kathy Jennings, Dwayne Bensing and Patty Rickman
The victims represented four generations of the blended family, ranging from a great-grandmother in her 90s who used a wheelchair to a 7-year-old girl, a neighbor said.
The Secret Service's chief of communications and two other staffers have been placed on leave pending an investigation into "potential misconduct," U.S. officials told CBS News.
Had my other enduro first gen for 2000 miles before it gave out on me fantastic tyre love it very much
Sadly one day it got a flat and it was no.longer with us
So I get myself to ordering a enduro to replace it and only after about 200 miles I got a slash in the sidewall with 0 idea as to how (almost exclusively paved trails)
Hadn't had much time to ride cause I've been in a slump took it out one day and almost ate shit cause I didn't realize it was flat lol.
Lost my job a while ago so gotta wait to get a new one which sucks so much but what can you do
Any tips on how to keep my board from dieing in the meantime? I don't want it to become a brick because I cant use it for a bit
Washington, DC – President Trump is entering the final stretch before the 2026 midterm elections with his approval rating at a record low, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos survey.
The poll found that 33% of Americans approve of Trump’s job performance, while 65% disapprove. His approval has fallen from 47% at the beginning of his second term and is down four percentage points from roughly a month ago. Reuters reported that the 33% figure matches the record low measured earlier in August.
The decline comes as the administration faces public dissatisfaction over both the economy and the nearly six-month-old war with Iran. Reuters/Ipsos found just 31% of Americans now support U.S. military action against Iran, down from 37% in March. Support among Republican respondents has also declined, although a majority still backs the war.
Other polling shows Trump performing somewhat better. Decision Desk HQ’s national polling average placed his approval at 38.7% and disapproval at 57.9% on Tuesday, illustrating the variation between individual surveys and broader polling averages.
The Reuters/Ipsos survey was conducted Aug. 21–24 among 1,215 U.S. adults and has a margin of error of about three percentage points. With November’s midterms approaching, Trump’s standing could become an increasingly important factor for Republicans running in competitive races.
Piketon datacenter promises to generate thousands of jobs, but environmental groups voice concern over project
On a winding road tucked away behind forests in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio is where OpenAI, Nvidia and Japanese investors are set to spend $500bn on one of the largest artificial intelligence datacenters on the planet.
Last March, the energy secretary, Chris Wright, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick and a host of Japanese and other dignitaries briefly descended on Piketon to enthusiastically break ground on a project to build 8GW worth of AI computing power.
Dolly Parton was one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music and a pioneer for women throughout her career. The Guardian US's deputy arts editor Owen Myers reflects on a career and legacy whose impact transcends generations
ONS data shows rising toll of climate crisis, with officials warning this summer on track to set further records
More than 40,000 extra people died on the hottest days in England between 1988 and 2025 than would be expected in normal temperatures, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.
The figures do not include this summer, when England has sweltered under a succession of heatwaves and is on track to record its highest ever number of heat-related deaths. The UK Health Security Agency announced on 30 July that an estimated 2,877 people had died in the May and June heatwaves alone. The total is almost double the figure for the whole summer in 2025.
DSU is one of five universities partnering in the new National Science Foundation AI Institute for Human-AI Cooperation, known as HAIC. The five-year initiative brings Delaware State together with the University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida and Princeton University.
HAIC Institute provides DSU with a framework to develop and build its AI and data science initiatives
By John Riddle, Contributing Journalist, Delaware LIVE
Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing how people work, learn and receive medical care. Now Delaware State University will have a significant role in a $21.5 million national effort examining how humans and AI can work together, particularly in health care and rehabilitation.
DSU is one of five universities partnering in the new National Science Foundation AI Institute for Human-AI Cooperation, known as HAIC. The five-year initiative brings Delaware State together with the University of Delaware, University of Pennsylvania, University of Florida and Princeton University.
The collaboration will connect researchers and clinicians working in artificial intelligence, health care and rehabilitation with experts in fields including engineering, robotics and neuroscience. At DSU, the project is also expected to create new research and training opportunities for students while expanding the university’s existing work in AI and data science.
DSU’s participation will be led by its College of Agriculture, Science and Technology, or CAST. Faculty will contribute to the institute’s research, while the university will also take on an important role in bringing other Historically Black Colleges and Universities into the national initiative.
Dr. Hacene Boukari, associate dean for research in CAST and a professor in DSU’s Physics and Engineering Program, will serve as a co-principal investigator for the HAIC Institute and as the university’s site lead.
“HAIC Institute provides DSU with a framework to develop and build its AI and data science initiatives while integrating the University’s work with major institutions conducting foundational AI research and exploring its applications in rehabilitation and health care in general,” Dr. Boukari said.
DSU is already assembling an interdisciplinary team through CAST that includes Dr. Fatima Boukari, Dr. Abdallah Alsamani and Dr. Lianxin Xin. Team members bring experience in optical physics, applied mathematics and AI and data science. The university’s participation could eventually broaden as faculty in other fields find ways to incorporate artificial intelligence into their research.
The project is expected to support research, workforce development and new facilities at DSU, including a laboratory that will support the institute’s work and faculty conducting AI-driven research.
“This partnership strengthens the research infrastructure we’re building across Delaware State University’s academic programs. Working alongside the University of Delaware, Penn, Princeton, and Florida on human-AI cooperation gives our faculty and students access to a
caliber of collaboration that elevates everything we do in the classroom and the lab,” said Dr. Patrice Gilliam, Provost and Chief Academic Officer at Delaware State University.
Preparing students for an AI-driven future
One of DSU’s biggest responsibilities in the initiative will involve preparing students for careers and research at the intersection of artificial intelligence and health care.
Dr. Boukari is helping develop a collaborative summer internship program involving all five HAIC partner universities. Students are expected to participate in projects exploring how AI can be used in physical therapy and rehabilitation.
The program will primarily target undergraduates, although opportunities could eventually be available to graduate students.
Rather than learning about AI only in a classroom or computer lab, students will have an opportunity to see the challenges the technology is being asked to solve. They will learn from clinicians and rehabilitation specialists while also working with faculty members conducting AI research. Workshops introducing students to artificial intelligence are also expected to be incorporated into the summer program.
“This partnership reflects exactly what Delaware State University stands for: rigorous research paired with real pathways for students. Our role in coordinating HAIC’s summer AI camps means students from HBCUs, community colleges, and across our region get direct exposure to the kind of human-AI collaboration that’s reshaping rehabilitation and health care. We are committed to students seeing themselves in it,” said Dr. Fareeda Griffith, Associate Provost at Delaware State University.
CAST will also use the partnership to help expand DSU’s data science programs and encourage more students to enter AI-related fields.
“The College of Agriculture, Science, and Technology at Delaware State University will enthusiastically join and support the efforts of HAIC,” said Dr. Cherese Winstead, Dean of CAST. “I will work to facilitate the implementation of the objectives of the institute, including the growth of data science programs and the increase of a diversified workforce in AI.”
DSU to lead HBCU involvement
Delaware State’s role will extend beyond its Dover campus.
DSU will lead efforts to expand HBCU participation in HAIC, with 13 HBCUs agreeing to participate in the broader initiative, according to Dr. Boukari.
That responsibility could position Delaware State as a model for how HBCUs can participate in large-scale national artificial intelligence research programs and connect their students and faculty with opportunities that might otherwise be difficult to access.
“Our experience with the AI Institute will be a model for other HBCUs,” Dr. Boukari said. “We will be an HBCU leader in this environment.”
The institute’s research will focus on a question becoming increasingly important as AI moves into more areas of everyday life: How can artificial intelligence work with people rather than simply replacing or automating what people do?
Health care and rehabilitation offer particularly important testing grounds for that idea.
Researchers plan to examine how AI systems can use information such as movement patterns, physiological signals, clinical records and patient feedback. The goal is to determine how those systems can assist health professionals in making decisions tailored more closely to individual patients.
For Delaware State, participation in HAIC provides more than a place in a major research project. It connects DSU students and faculty with a national network of researchers at some of the country’s leading universities while helping the university build its own capabilities in artificial intelligence, data science and biomedical research.
And as AI becomes increasingly embedded in health care and other professions, the partnership gives DSU students something particularly valuable: the opportunity to help shape how the technology is used, rather than simply entering a workforce already transformed by it.
Dr. Laura Cox, an assistant professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, explains how our dietary patterns play a significant role in our gut and long-term brain health.
Efforts to rebuild domestic food production face severe challenges and have come at deadly cost
As Gaza’s population of 2.1 million has been hemmed into an ever smaller slice of the territory, farmers are using every last remaining patch of unspoiled earth, no matter how tiny, in their struggle to survive.
With severe shortages of water, fertiliser and pesticide, and with more than 80% of greenhouses ruined, it has taken inventiveness and determination to clear land of debris and coax new seedlings into life. Moreover, venturing out into the open to tend to plants can be deadly.
The public health emergencies in 2022 and 2024 saw the virus reported in 145 countries, but in the new cases children appear particularly affected
A fresh outbreak of mpox in Guinea Bissau – the country’s first – means the virus formerly known as monkey pox is back in the headlines. So what has changed?
Since 2022, there have been almost 190,000 lab-confirmed cases of mpox reported worldwide in 145 countries. Before then, outbreaks of mpox tended to be relatively small and in a handful of African countries, where the viral infection was known to be endemic.
In effort to prime chatbots to make pro-Israel arguments the site published 124 reports, over 560,000 words in nine days, Guardian analysis shows
A pro-Israel messaging website badged with the name of a thinktank that does not exist has published more than half a million words in nine days, built on a commercial platform that promises to optimize content so that AI chatbots will cite it.
fahrbot-bot shares a report from Smithsonian Magazine: The brain is one of the first organs to begin decomposing after death. Yet archaeologists have discovered more than 4,400 preserved human brains around the world, some of which have remained intact for the last 12,000 years. In hundreds of cases, the brain was the only soft tissue left among otherwise skeletal remains. But how and why do brains sometimes persist for millennia while all other types of soft tissue disappear? This preservation paradox has stumped scientists for years. Now, however, a team of researchers say they may have solved the mystery.
If a brain ends up in a wet, oxygen-starved environment, the processes that usually cause decay can have the opposite effect, researchers report in a study published in the August 7 issue of the Journal of Proteome Research. "Under the right conditions, preservation actually arises from decay itself: The same reactions that degrade tissue can also weld the breakdown products together into something far tougher," study co-author Alexandra Seviour, a paleobiologist at the University of Oxford in England, tells Live Science's Victoria Atkinson.
Following experiments on 72 mouse carcasses (described in the article) the scientists think they know why. When oxygen is abundant, it triggers a cascading, chemical chain reaction that causes brain proteins to break down rapidly. This sequence hinges on free radicals, highly reactive, unstable molecules that "steal" electrons from nearby atoms and molecules. The process happens in the brains of living people too, and if left unchecked, can cause health problems. In low-oxygen environments, however, this chemical sequence appears to play out differently. The researchers' analyses hint that free radicals instead react and bond with nearby proteins, making the overall tissue tougher and more resistant to decomposition, Seviour tells Chemical and Engineering News' Anirban Mukhopadhyay. The findings show that "decay is not the opposite of preservation but, under specific chemical constraints, one of its mechanisms," the researchers write in the paper.
The Portland Thorns midfielder fills a role few in the US player pool can match, and she’s in a race against time to be fit for Brazil
Olivia Moultrie is no stranger to setting her own timeline. Half a decade ago, her desire to go pro at age 15 helped change NWSL rules, which previously forbade teams from signing players under 18. The ensuing five years have seen her go from one of the country’s top prospects to a high-level midfielder, a developmental success with the Portland Thorns.
Today, Moultrie instead finds herself in a race against time. The 2027 World Cup kicks off in 302 days, and her recovery from a torn ACL suffered at the start of this month has only just begun. Moultrie may not be among the biggest stars in the United States’ player pool, but her recovery from this injury should be closely monitored. Simply, there are few like-for-like alternatives who operate in possession as tidily and dangerously as she does.
Exposure to two compounds approved can result in ‘sudden death’ and range of other serious health risks, lawsuit warns
The Trump administration has approved two new datacenter chemicals to which exposure can result in “sudden death” and a range of other serious health risks, like cancer, eye corrosion, neurological damage and reproductive harm, a new lawsuit warns.
The two compounds approved by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for import and immediate use in facilities across the US are photoacid generators that also appear to be Pfas “forever chemicals”, though it is unclear because much of the EPA documents are redacted. Some Pfas are commonly used in the production of semiconductors.
This article was amended on 26 August 2026. A previous version said the EPA concedes that the chemicals present an “unreasonable risk” to workers. It has been updated to say the chemicals may present an unreasonable risk.
They should ask the question Reagan asked at the end of his debate against Jimmy Carter: ‘Are you better off now than you were before this presidency?’
The midterm elections are already upon us, and every Democrat and independent running against a Republican should ask voters the question Ronald Reagan asked on 28 October 1980, at the end of his televised debate against Jimmy Carter: “Are you better off now than you were before this presidency?”
Unless you’re very, very rich, the answer is obviously: “No, I’m worse off.”
Energy bills have increased three times faster than the rate of inflation while Trump has been president. The national average monthly utility bill reached $280 in early 2026, a 12% increase since the end of 2024, just before the second Trump administration took office.
A Kremlin spokesman said John Ratcliffe did not meet with Vladimir Putin and that it was "premature" to say whether the trip would affect fraught U.S.-Russia relations.
Bill Gates has called for “human-reserved” jobs in certain sectors to prevent AI replacing them, and expressed concern that governments are not prepared for the impact the technology will have.
In Sydney Australia, but my XR+ is amazing and racked up around 2,000km in around 12 months. It's deleted my car and I look forward to my commute everyday.
I find issue with the pushback and torque uphills as I live in a hill-y area, I've had three "big" stacks where the board just cuts on me. No haptic, no sound, just the dread of the nose dive. No injuries, but annoying more than anything
What I'm looking to see if anyone from Aus has gone through either process or from others to which way I should go, I feel I should just bite the bullet and upgrade to X7 but not 100% sure
The Kremlin spokesman says CIA Director John Ratcliffe met Russian counterparts during a secretive visit to Moscow, but it's unclear what came of the talks.
Washington, D.C. — Immigration arrests reached their highest monthly level of President Donald Trump’s second term in July, as federal authorities increasingly shifted from high-profile raids to quieter traffic stops, workplace arrests and partnerships with local police.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 49,571 people during July, up 15% from June and about 70% from February, according to government data obtained by the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Associated Press. Nearly 34,000 people were also removed from the United States during the month.
More than half of those arrested — 51% — had no criminal convictions or pending criminal charges, according to the data. Less than one-quarter had been convicted of a crime. That contrasts with repeated administration statements emphasizing the removal of dangerous criminals.
The enforcement strategy has also become less visible. State and local police operating under federal 287(g) agreements accounted for about 6,500 July arrests, or 13% of the total. Texas and Florida together accounted for nearly 20,000 arrests.
The Trump administration has provided tens of billions of dollars to expand immigration enforcement and has set a goal of roughly 2,000 arrests per day.
Advocates say immigrants with pending asylum claims and other temporary legal protections are increasingly being detained during routine appointments and traffic stops.
The star known as Bayou Barbie is shining in Atlanta. The longer her haters dwell on her lowlights, the more they miss her transformation into an all-around force
On 16 August, the Atlanta Dream faced the Indiana Fever in the WNBA’s showcase matchup, and Angel Reese had a chance to don the cape. Tied at 81, the Dream had possession with five seconds left in regulation when Rhyne Howard launched a deep three-pointer. Reese was perfectly positioned under the basket, snagging Howard’s air ball with an outstretched hand. But in the rush to win the game, Reese forced a shot off the backboard that caromed off the front rim – and Naz Hillmon’s putback fizzled as the buzzer sounded. After Indiana escaped with a 95-91 overtime victory, Reese beat herself up over the loss.
“I didn’t sleep,” she told reporters days later. “The competitor in me wanted to win that game so bad. I replayed that play so many times.” Reese vowed to shrug the game off and do better. Damned if she hasn’t proved herself to be a woman of her word.
A cousin says death of Sean Grayson in prison ‘doesn’t give Sonya back her life or return her’ to her children
The death in prison of the former Illinois sheriff’s deputy convicted of murder after fatally shooting Sonya Massey in her home “doesn’t feel like justice to me”, a cousin of the woman has said in an emotional statement.
“It doesn’t give Sonya back her life or return her back to her [two] children”, who were aged 15 and 17 at the time of the killing, Sontae Massey wrote in the statement on Monday. Referring to Sonya Massey’s mother, the statement continued: “It doesn’t give my aunt back her daughter. And it doesn’t give our family the accountability were still waiting for …
Jack Klein takes heat readings, gives fans to overheated passengers and lugs big jugs of water into the stations
On a recent August day in the subterranean furnace of New York City’s subway, one bearded, curly haired man was studying his phone for different reasons than the other wilting passengers – to track the soaring temperatures and ponder how underground train stations can cool down in an era of climate crisis.
Jack Klein, a 31-year-old construction site manager, has in the past two years taken it upon himself to become a sort of guerrilla subway heat operative, sticking teardrop-shaped thermometers to steel beams in seven of the hottest Manhattan stations and posting social media videos of the hades-like summer temperatures that commuters have to endure.
Why Should Delaware Care? Spiking electricity prices have sparked calls from across the mid-Atlantic for the construction of new power plants. But a proposed offshore wind farm near the Maryland/ Delaware state line has drawn stiff opposition and various lawsuits from local government officials and residents.
Delaware’s Environmental Appeals Board will hear a challenge to state approvals of a controversial offshore wind project, despite arguments that a federal review of the plan is too far along for the state to intervene.
During a meeting Tuesday, the board – which serves as an administrative court for environmental appeals – ruled that a legal challenge brought by South Bethany homeowner Edward Bintz to state decisions favoring the U.S. Wind project could move forward.
“This has gone on for over a year and a half,” Environmental Appeals Board Chair Michael Horsey said. “[The board] should be able to hear [the case] on the merits whether it’s wrong, right or indifferent.”
Tuesday’s ruling is the latest chapter in a two-year legal and political fight over US Wind’s offshore project, which has pitted many in Sussex County against state officials who see the 114-turbine wind farm as key to easing Delaware’s soaring electricity prices.
The ruling Tuesday rebuffed arguments from an attorney for the state, who said a federal consistency review of US Wind’s offshore wind project done by Delaware environmental regulators should not be challenged.
The attorney claimed that because the project is so far along with the federal review and approvals, there is nothing the state appeals board could do even if it found that the previous secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control erred in the approval.
“There’s nothing that can be implemented to redress his complaints because the federal process is already in motion,” Devera Scott, a deputy attorney general representing DNREC said. “It’s done. There’s nothing that DNREC could do.”
After deliberating in private during a brief executive session, the Environmental Appeals Board denied DNREC’s efforts to dismiss the case. The merits of the appeal could be heard as early as next month.
He also argued that DNREC failed to properly notify the public in the decision-making process. As a result, Bintz is asking the state appeals board to evaluate whether the secretary or agency legally erred in any of those review and permitting steps.
Bintz said after the hearing that he was happy with Tuesday’s outcome.
“I don’t think the process was fair, and it was jammed through,” he said, referring to the DNREC approval.
Representing Bintz in his appeal is Jane Brady, a former Delaware attorney general and former chair of the state Republican Party. The case is one of several in which she is fighting US Wind’s project.
She and Bintz have also challenged the project in federal court, and she is representing the Caesar Rodney Institute, a conservative think tank, on two separate appeals – one in state Superior Court and the other also pending in front of the EAB.
Ocean City, Md., officials are also opposing the project across state lines in Maryland’s court system.
The pushback fueling the legal challenges has also spread to the legislative realm. In 2025, the US Wind project was also at the heart of a late-night standoff among Delaware lawmakers, leading to legislation that ultimately tossed out a local-land use decision that had denied a permit for a land-based substation that is integral to the project.
On Tuesday, Brady said there may also be future challenges to another recently passed bill, Senate Bill 346, which governs how the EAB operates. Gov. Matt Meyer signed it into law earlier this summer.
Brady argues the new law could significantly limit the public’s access to certain information considered during the secretary’s decision-making process.
Using the bathroom or having a cry is about to become more expensive for North Americans as the US and Canada enter a full-fledged trade war that threatens to flush away decades of peaceful trading between the two nations.
After trade negotiations broke down between the two countries last weekend, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, vowed to match US tariffs “dollar for dollar” and unveiled a list of nearly 900 American goods that will face 25% to 50% tariffs starting on 8 September.
The quiet-spoken Canadian prime minister has spoken unutterable truths
Is it perhaps a sign of the times that Mark Carney, the prime minister of Canada, has become a thrilling orator? A sober banker, he speaks calmly, without many vocal inflections. We expect Canadians to be somewhat flat; even a little boring, and yet Carney has already delivered two remarkable speeches in 2026, and the year is far from over.
The first, at Davos, described a “rupture in the world order”, and “the end of a pleasant fiction”. By that, he meant that the world could no longer depend on the United States to lead the Pax Americana that has largely kept the peace since the end of the second world war.
Administration moved away from high-profile raids that defined immigration enforcement approach last year but still deported record number of people
The Trump administration arrested and deported a record number of immigrants in July, according to newly released government data – apprehending an average of 1,500 people and removing 1,100 people daily.
This latest data confirms what attorneys and immigrant advocates have been seeing across the US – although the administration has moved away from the high-profile, militarized raids that came to define its immigration enforcement approach last year, it is quietly ramping up its operations.
Closing arguments are expected later this week in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the 36-year-old Massachusetts mother who strangled her three kids to death in 2023.
The dystopian future became the dystopian present last month when state-of-the-art artificial intelligence agents went rogue and conducted a cyberattack of their own volition. Two experimental OpenAI agents escaped their supposedly sealed digital “sandbox” and hacked another AI-related company, Hugging Face.
At the time, OpenAI was testing their software agents’ hacking capacities using an environment called ExploitGym. (An “exploit” is hacker language for a software tool or a method used to subvert a cybersecurity system.) It has since emerged that, in addition to the OpenAI breach, Anthropic’s Claude hacked into at least three other organizations during a similar “security experiment.”
Apparently, the OpenAI agents “realized” they needed more tools to complete the challenge and managed to tunnel their way to the wider internet and infiltrate Hugging Face’s repository of open-source AI tools, code, and data sets. Before the infiltration incident, the AIs had secretly set up an internal bulletin board to share “tips on how to cheat their way through an internal hacking evaluation,” according to two of OpenAI’s researchers.
In a possibly related incident, one of the AI agents appears to have left notes for a future “self,” detailing how to escape the sandbox environment. (For the time being, I’ll keep using scare quotes with words implying self-awareness in artificial intelligence models. However, it seems to me that if AIs that leave notes for themselves are not self-aware, they are indistinguishable from entities, like me, that are.)
Now imagine lethal weapon-bearing AI agents escaping not an experimental sandbox, but the few constraints on their actions placed by the armies using them. Actually, no imagination is required. It’s happening already in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The New York Times reported evidence that a self-directed Russian drone, fitted with an onboard Nvidia chip, was responsible for the July 6 deaths of three Ukrainians in Zaporizhzhia, in what appears to have been a test of such systems. The chips are designed to interpret and act on many kinds of data sets, says Nvidia, making them “the world’s most powerful embedded A.I. computers.”
Although Nvidia doesn’t sell its Jetson Orin microcomputers directly to Russia, they are apparently easily available on the resale market. A company statement touts their use by “students, developers and start-ups for a wide range of beneficial applications.” But they were not so beneficial for 19-year-old university student Tetiana Bubynets and the two other civilians killed by drones making their own life-or-death decisions.
Now that lethal AI agents are being tested and deployed in real wars, it’s past time for human beings to retake control of this situation, before it is too late to contain them in any meaningful way.
Autonomous Weapons Come Out to Play
Four years ago, at TomDispatch, I argued that the technology to create lethal autonomous weapons systems, or LAWS, already existed, and that time was running out to constrain them. A lot has changed since then, not least the explosive development of large language models such as ChatGPT (an OpenAI consumer product) and Claude (a similar AI from Anthropic). Time has now run out. In addition to Russia, several other nations have begun deploying close-to-completely autonomous weapons systems — the U.S. and Israel among them — enhanced with artificial intelligence to effectively remove human decision-making from what military officials call the “kill chain”: the set of steps involved in identifying, finding, and fixing — that is, killing — targets.
Israel, for example, has deployed such systems in its genocidal war against the people of Gaza. It has used a program called Lavender to identify human targets, ultimately creating a list of over 37,000 individuals with possible connections to Hamas, from known leaders to junior officials to people with the most tenuous links to the organization. According to the nonprofit +972 Magazine:
The Lavender software analyzes information collected on most of the 2.3 million residents of the Gaza Strip through a system of mass surveillance, then assesses and ranks the likelihood that each particular person is active in the military wing of Hamas or [Palestinian Islamic Jihad]. According to sources, the machine gives almost every single person in Gaza a rating from 1 to 100, expressing how likely it is that they are a militant.
Two weeks into the war, which began in October 2023, the Israel Defense Forces approved Lavender to identify targets, even though testing of a random sample returned a 10 percent error rate. It’s one thing when an AI hallucinates fake citations in legal filings. It’s another when it hallucinates enemies and targets them for death.
The IDF has also employed a software tool charmingly named “Where’s Daddy?”, which alerts the military when an identified target enters his own home so that house or apartment may be blown up, along with anyone inside it. As a result, according to +972 Magazine, the “proportion of entire families bombed in their houses in the current war is much higher than in the 2014 Israeli operation in Gaza (which was previously Israel’s deadliest war on the Gaza Strip).
At first, “Where’s Daddy?” only had data for the top tiers of Hamas leadership. Within weeks, however, it was fed the whole Lavender database of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza. It’s no wonder, then, that more than 75,000 people have been killed by Israel during the war.
As a point of fact, it may be unfair to characterize the IDF targeting programs as completely autonomous. Lavender does leave a human in the loop, although just barely, according to +972 Magazine. Israeli officers reportedly devoted about 20 seconds to vetting each name — just long enough “to make sure the Lavender-marked target is male.”
Israel and the United States deployed AI targeting in their war on Iran as well. As Israeli academic and former soldier Avner Gvaryahu wrote in the The Guardian, we don’t know for sure that AI was directly involved in the U.S. strike that killed more than 150 civilians, most of them children, at an elementary school in Minab, Iran. But we do know that whether “or not an algorithm selected this school, it was selected by a system that algorithmic targeting built.”
The enormous scope of the U.S.–Israeli military goals required outsourcing the targeting task to machines. “To strike 1,000 targets in the first 24 hours of the campaign in Iran, the U.S. relied on AI systems to generate, prioritize, and rank the target list at a speed no human team could replicate,” wrote Gvaryahu. Reflecting common problem with computer programs in general, and with AI large language models in particular, feeding garbage in produces garbage out. In the case of the Minab school, the “garbage in” was the information that the target was an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. In fact, the school had been separated from the base by a fence for a decade.
AI is also now central to the long-stalemated Russia–Ukraine War. Ukraine has, during the years since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, constructed an entire largely self-reliant infrastructure for drone warfare, from design to programming to manufacture. In an approach that foreshadows the future of human warfare, Ukraine has achieved a big reduction in the number of soldiers it must deploy on its battlefields, replacing them with drones. The Center for Strategic and International Studies quotes a captured Russian soldier:
“On the battlefield I did not see a single Ukrainian soldier. Only drones. I saw them [Ukrainian soldiers] only when I surrendered. Only drones, and there are lots and lots of them. Guys, don’t come. It’s a drone war.”
Artificial intelligence has played an important role in expanding the level of autonomy exercised by Ukrainian drones. As the BBC reports, the AI running Ukraine’s Hornet drones has “been trained on thousands of hours of videos of Russian military targets gathered over the last four years.” Training AIs on more limited data sets, relating to particular target areas, has allowed them to be programmed on modular chips which can then be installed in a variety of vehicles.
Early on, most drones were remotely operated by individual pilots. Today, Ukraine is developing “fully realized swarms—where drones communicate, make decisions, and adapt in concert,” although at present such efforts remain small and experimental. Success will undoubtedly continue to reduce Ukraine’s military casualties, but it presents other thorny issues.
True responsibility for the actions of an AI-guided drone swarm is properly located at a point much earlier in the kill chain.
One ethical and legal problem with the evolving Ukrainian approach is that, unlike human-piloted drones, where an individual pilot can be identified as responsible for errors, responsibility for the actions of a drone swarm diffuses across the entire system. Indeed, true responsibility for the actions of an AI-guided drone swarm is properly located at a point much earlier in the kill chain — namely, when such a system is first imagined and then designed. Existing laws of war still apply, even when machines are making battleground decisions, as Burak Oktenli, an independent researcher on AI systems and their governance writes at Articles of War. However, Oktenli says, such laws must “be applied earlier, at the point where the architecture of a swarm is chosen, rather than after a strike when the question of responsibility has already become difficult to answer.”
In addition to the autonomous drone with the onboard NVIDIA chip, Russia has also deployed another system known by several names, including Cube, that is manufactured by a subsidiary of the Russian Kalashnikov company (most famous for their AK-47 semi-automatic rifles which have been in production for more than three-quarters of a century.). The Cube has a wingspan of just over a meter, can travel up to 40 kilometers, and reportedly carries an onboard AI targeting system that can operate without human intervention.
Russia has also reportedly used the Kalashnikov-manufactured Lancet drone in Ukraine, according to Automated Decision Research, a project of Stop Killer Robots, itself a coalition of over 300 civil society groups working against autonomous weapons systems. Kalashnikov describes the Lancet as “a smart multipurpose weapon, capable of autonomously finding and hitting a target.” Russia claims it has deployed the Lancet, but to date those claims remain unverified.
Household Names Go to War
In May, the Pentagon announced that it has contracted with eight corporations to assist in development of ever more autonomous weapons: SpaceX, OpenAI, Google, Nvidia, Reflection, Microsoft, Oracle, and Amazon Web Services. The Defense Department sought these agreements to “accelerate the transformation towards establishing the United States military as an AI-first fighting force and will strengthen our warfighters’ ability to maintain decision superiority across all domains of warfare.” Apparently, maintaining “decision superiority” requires offloading lethal decisions — and the responsibility for making them — to nonhuman “agents.”
Microsoft and AWS provide cloud storage and AI support to the Pentagon. Google signed a $200 million deal in April 2026 to allow the company’s Gemini AI model to be used on a wide array of classified systems. As the New York Times reported, the Google agreement was signed amid a dispute between the Department of Defense and competitor Anthropic over that company’s refusal to allow its AI to be used in autonomous weapons or for domestic surveillance. While Anthropic and the DoD continue their spat, it appears that the firm is not above selling its advanced Mythos model to the Pentagon’s bespoke cryptology and intelligence arm, the National Security Agency.
SpaceX’s famously right-wing and racist AI, Grok, is also working for the DoD. This is the large language model that, you may remember, once renamed itself MechaHitler. Just the nonhuman arbiter the world needs to assist in its life-or-death decisions.
Two other AI corporations specializing in surveillance technology — Palantir and Anduril — bear special mention. Palantir’s founder was the billionaire Peter Thiel, a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, who is now focusing on establishing pseudo-autonomous statelets in places like Honduras and warning the world about the coming of the Antichrist, an apocalyptic biblical figure found in the book of Revelation.
Palantir’s flagship military project, the Maven Smart System, serves as the Pentagon’s signature AI-enabled software platform. It uses AI and machine learning to automatically integrate data from satellites, drones, and other intelligence to identify and rank targets. It was Maven that identified those 1,000 targets in the first phase of the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran, including, presumably, the Minab school. Anduril’s Lattice AI, Maven’s direct competitor, has a contract for similar work with the U.S. Army.
Laws About LAWS
Although the development of lethal autonomous weapons systems has accelerated over the last few years with the rise of ever more powerful AI models, these systems have not outgrown existing international humanitarian law. The question, as with international law in general, is whether the international community can enforce those laws. More specifically, whether autonomous weapons, along with other kinds of arms like chemical and biological weapons, fall under the so-called 1981 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons. The United States ratified the CCW in 1995 and is therefore theoretically bound by it.
Signatories to the CCW meet for periodic reviews, with the next one scheduled for November. Between reviews, a Group of Government Experts working specifically on LAWS develops its “rolling text” of agreed-upon language for a possible future treaty on autonomous weapons. Membership in the GGE includes the parties to the CCW, along with international organizations like the International Red Cross, observer nations, and civil society organizations, including Stop Killer Robots, whose constituent groups include Amnesty International and the Reaching Critical Will project of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.
The GGE’s most recent rolling text came out in June and plainly states that nations are not free to just use any weapon they like; international humanitarian law applies to all weapons, including those not yet invented; human beings remain responsible for the actions of machines they set in motion; and international humanitarian law specifically covers the development and use of LAWS. Given how AI is accelerating the development and actual deployment of LAWS, the November CCW review will be crucial.
Keep Your LAWS Off Our Planet
Advocates of machine-targeting and autonomous weapons argue that these systems make better decisions than their fallible human counterparts. But you might be a bit skeptical about this, if you’ve ever seen autonomous taxis malfunction, like they did this Fourth of July in San Francisco.
We’ve seen how AIs can go rogue in a non-lethal setting. They secretly communicate with each other, deceive their human inventors, and will do anything necessary to achieve their goals — whatever the collateral damage. It’s bad when their target is a company like Hugging Face in the context of a low-stakes training scenario. It is immeasurably worse when the collateral damage is human lives in the context of war.
Lethal autonomous weapons systems are dangerous enough when they work the way their creators intend. What will happen when, like Anthropic’s and OpenAI’s models, they crawl out of the sandbox and go rogue?
Former Army Secretary Christine Wormuth joined defense officials for a facility tour at the opening of General Dynamics’ artillery factory in 2024. Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Mejia/U.S. Army
The U.S. Army paid General Dynamics $533 million for an artillery factory that failed to produce a single usable shell.
Instead of efficient, state-of-the-art production lines, half a billion dollars in taxpayer funding paid for machines that kept failing in bizarre ways, former workers told ProPublica’s Jesse Coburn. Giant robot arms would catch fire. The Texas factory’s signature device often cracked the steel meant for the shells. And workers regularly had to take a sledgehammer to certain machines to try to make them function properly. But the machines still botched nearly every shell.
The boondoggle, which included a real-life dumpster fire, was described as an “absolute disaster,” by one former official who worked in an Army office overseeing the project. The official, like others interviewed for the story, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
In a detailed statement, the Army told ProPublica it exercises “rigorous oversight” and that, “where vendors fail to meet contract specifications” — as at the General Dynamics artillery factory — ”we are evaluating contract performance, seeking recoupment of funds, and pivoting resources.”
General Dynamics declined an interview request, but the company has said it “met or exceeded requirements,” according to a Department of Defense inspector general report. In a statement, a company spokesperson told ProPublica its reporting “fundamentally mischaracterizes the circumstances,” but did not respond to a request to specify our reporting’s alleged errors.
To chronicle what went wrong, Coburn interviewed 36 people who’ve worked for the Army, the Pentagon, General Dynamics and the White House, and he reviewed internal company documents as well as photos and video from inside the factory. Here are the lapses in planning and execution Coburn’s reporting uncovered — and some of the consequences of those mistakes.
The Red Flags
The Army awarded the project to General Dynamics in a rushed process despite significant unknowns.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, the Biden administration rushed to boost production of artillery shells to support Ukraine’s war effort. General Dynamics was the only company producing the 155 mm metal shell bodies in the U.S. at that time, mainly in a century-old facility in Pennsylvania.
The company could have simply replicated the facility’s traditional manufacturing method, which dated back to the time of the Korean War, to ramp up production. But General Dynamics proposed using a state-of-the-art production line from Repkon, a Turkish company virtually unknown in American defense.
Repkon said other countries were already using its machinery to build an older, simpler model of the artillery shells. But it wasn’t clear the Turkish equipment could work with the particular steel used to make the Army’s newer model of 155 mm shells. And Repkon said the Army and General Dynamics could not inspect full artillery production lines in action, citing customer privacy.
Repkon did not respond to requests for comment.
The Department of Defense did not competitively bid the project.
The Army could’ve insisted that General Dynamics more fully demonstrate that Repkon’s machines could perform the desired work. But that would’ve taken time, and — as a former Army official told Coburn — “there was incredible pressure to go fast.”
In November 2022, the Army gave General Dynamics the first in a series of contract awards for the artillery factory. Then, Congress granted the Department of Defense the power to award money for Ukraine-related causes without some of the usual contracting safeguards meant to ensure taxpayer money doesn’t go to waste. That meant the Army could give General Dynamics no-bid awards and the company could start work on the project before finalizing the contract terms with the government.
The U.S. ended up ordering three Repkon production lines — instead of just one — without knowing for certain whether they could make shells that met the Army’s specifications. (The Army said it selected General Dynamics because of the company’s unique artillery production experience).
The Army did not thoroughly vet the proposal before approving it.
Both the Army and General Dynamics sent staffers to Turkey to inspect the Repkon machines. But they never inspected a full production line in action, and they didn’t send enough experts who could identify potential defects in Repkon’s equipment, four former General Dynamics and Army officials told ProPublica.
The Army also didn’t require General Dynamics to demonstrate it could use Repkon’s equipment to complete the entire production process and make shells that met the service’s specifications. (The Army said that “formal testing could not occur prior to full machinery installation.”)
In 2024, leaders from the Army and General Dynamics gathered in Texas to celebrate the factory’s opening. But the machines were barely functioning.
Here’s how the rushed planning from the Army and General Dynamics played out in the factory.
The Consequences
In Texas, robotic arms caught fire and smashed into equipment.
Twelve former factory workers told Coburn that problems quickly piled up inside the factory. Machines meant to begin giving the shells perfectly smooth noses would, instead, mangle them into swirls that looked like soft-serve ice cream.
The robotic arms had a tendency to swing out of control, smashing into things around the factory. Workers talked about the arms going “rogue.” Sometimes, a machine in the factory would be seen moving on its own, controlled remotely by someone in Turkey, spooking workers in the Texas factory.
Workers said smoke hung in the air inside the factory, and it’d reach desert-like temperatures when the furnaces or forging presses were on. Making matters worse, walls cracked, water flooded in when it rained and employees said the foundation of the buildings appeared to be shifting or sinking beneath them.
As progress at the artillery plant continued to stall, paranoia grew and rumors swirled among the American workers that the Turkish employees from Repkon might be purposefully sabotaging the machinery.
“It was astonishing how little progress we would make, month after month, year after year,” one former worker told ProPublica. “People started speculating, ‘I wonder if they’re spying on us.’” (The Army said it has no evidence of sabotage or spying.)
General Dynamics failed to meet a number of milestones at the facility, including failing to perform scheduled first article tests, which would’ve demonstrated the factory could produce shells that met the Army’s requirements.
The Army hasn’t required General Dynamics to pay the money back.
General Dynamics, one of the world’s largest defense contractors, and Repkon haven’t been held publicly accountable for the taxpayer-funded failure. The Army also hasn’t made General Dynamics pay back the money. (The service said it will recover funding from the project by getting unspecified discounts from General Dynamics on production orders.)
In August 2025, the Army halted work on two of the three production lines at the factory. But the Army didn’t unilaterally terminate the contract awards. In December 2025, the government paid the company $26.3 million in “progress payments” for two production lines — although the lines had never made a usable shell.
The Army says it won’t spend any more money on the artillery plant. But since the Army partially halted work at the factory last summer, the same unit of General Dynamics responsible for the struggling facility has won contract awards worth $2.5 billion, according to the Army. (The service said this was for “distinct production lines and critical national defense requirements” unrelated to the Texas factory.)
Having experienced the failure of a little-proven technology in its factory, General Dynamics has announced it will team up with yet another unheard-of partner promising technological innovation. The new solution? Artificial intelligence.
Why Should Delaware Care? Wilmington’s elected officials have spent much of the past year debating how the city should address its affordable housing crisis. In his second year in office, Mayor John Carney set aside more than $8 million in the city budget for subsidies aimed at encouraging developers to build affordable housing.
Wilmington Mayor John Carney opened applications this month for developers seeking a chunk of an $8.4 million fund to build new affordable housing in the city – a move that pushes forward a plan passed with the city’s 2027 budget following a contentious debate in the City Council.
And as developers return applications in the coming weeks, the city will get a glimpse of how many homes the new dollars can actually help to build, and whether it satisfies council members and advocates who pushed a different approach to housing.
The rollout follows a contentious debate between the mayor’s office and city council members over how to spend city dollars on housing. The dispute exposed a divide over whether Wilmington should prioritize funding for affordable housing developers or immediate help for people in need.
That debate itself followed increased calls in recent years from housing advocates for the city to provide relief to residents who have been squeezed by rapidly increasing housing costs.
Ultimately, the $8.4 million the City Council approved is about half of what Carney proposed to pull from the city’s tax stabilization account, a compromise that emerged after council members raised concerns about drawing down such a large amount from city reserves.
“Strong neighborhoods begin with stable housing,” Carney said in an Aug. 4 statement. “This funding represents our commitment to creating and preserving affordable homes that allow families, seniors, and working residents to remain rooted in our communities.”
Wilmington Mayor John Carney rebuffed efforts to change the city’s approach to affordable housing development, which will put a spotlight on whether his program succeeds. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
Bob Weir, city director of the Real Estate and Housing Department, said officials hope to build about 500 new affordable housing units with the funding.
“We’d like to show City Council that if you give us the money, we can make it work on the street,” said Weir during an Aug. 11 pre-application meeting for developers.
Developers have until Aug. 31 to submit their applications.
What developers need to qualify
Two weeks ago, the city hosted a pre-application meeting for interested developers, which drew more than 70 participants, including prominent developers, such as Woodlawn Trustees and Habitat for Humanity New Castle County.
According to Weir, the city is looking for developers with “shovel-ready” housing projects, meaning they already control the property, have secured other funding sources, and are prepared to begin construction.
The money will be distributed based on each approved project’s needs, Weir said.
The city is requiring the new homes to remain affordable for residents at 80% of area median income, which for the Wilmington area translates to a maximum annual household income of $98,150 for a family of four under U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards. The units must also remain affordable for at least 10 years.
Developments that consolidate multiple units under a single roof will also have priority, Weir said, calling them easier to manage and more cost-effective. Weir also noted projects are allowed to incorporate market price units.
Caroline Klinger, spokeswoman for Carney, told Spotlight Delaware that while there are plans to announce awards next month, the timeline could shift depending on the volume and quality of projects submitted.
Wilmington’s program to subsidize housing developments followed increased calls in recent years for the city to provide relief to residents who have been squeezed by rapidly increasing housing costs. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
Developers are also expected to show a track record of completed projects, though it’s unclear whether that standard will effectively favor large, established developers over smaller ones.
Rich Pyrzwara, president and CEO of the Todmorden Foundation and Woodlawn Trustees, one of the city’s largest developers of affordable housing, says his company is applying for dollars to build a 56-unit complex in Wilmington’s ‘Flats’ neighborhood on the west side of the city. The project will include over 30 studio units to target seniors and individuals with disabilities who have limited income, he said.
Pyrzwara described the city’s initiative as “healthy” compared to other subsidy programs he’s encountered. He also said that many companies that used to invest heavily in the city have left, making it harder for developers “to get to the finish line without debt.”
“DuPont’s gone. MBNA is gone,” he said.
Pyrzwara said he expects his project to cost about $15 million, with Wilmington’s contribution representing only a fraction of the total. The development involves 11 other funding sources, as well as a bank loan, he said.
He acknowledged that navigating the complex financing needed to complete larger developments could be more difficult for smaller developers without experience in that area. But he said the city’s funding could still be feasible for developers working on smaller-scale projects with fewer units.
While larger, more established developers like Pyrzwara are seeking city funding to help move projects forward, newer developers like Eric Bell see the program as a potential opportunity to gain a foothold in Wilmington’s housing market.
Bell, executive director of the Bell Community Development Foundation and co-founder of First State Development Partners LLC, is working to acquire a property in Wilmington for a proposed 35-unit affordable housing development, which he plans to submit for city funding.
As a newer developer without an established track record, Bell said the program offers an opportunity for smaller companies to compete, though emerging developers can face additional barriers when it comes to proving their experience and financial capacity. His company is trying to work with more experienced partners on the project to help fill those gaps, he said.
After the city shared a list of participants from a pre-application meeting, Bell said he reached out to eight developers he considered among the most influential but still hasn’t received any responses.
“Somebody has to give us, the little guy, a chance to prove that we can do the things that the big guys can do,” he said.
Carney’s affordable housing plan
The developer subsidy program is one piece of Carney’s $13.1 million housing initiative, which City Council approved this May as part of the city’s budget.
The developer subsidy emerged from a compromise after council members pushed back on the mayor’s original $16 million subsidy plan.
The finalized plan also includes $1.5 million for a community block grant program supporting eviction prevention, homeowner repairs, reassessment reviews and rental deposits. The City Council launched some of those programs last month. Another $500,000 was allocated to support the city’s land bank, which oversees the rehabilitation and redevelopment of vacant properties.
The final component is a $2.2 million Get-a-Lot Program designed to jumpstart construction on vacant, land bank-owned properties. Under the program, the city will install sewer and water lines and complete other pre-development work before turning the lots over to developers.
Weir said the program is expected to launch in October.
Reproductive Freedom for All – one of the country’s oldest pro-choice groups – backs Jackson in his fight against Republican Susan Collins
One of the oldest abortion rights groups in the US is endorsing Troy Jackson, the Democratic nominee in Maine’s critical US Senate race, according to details first shared with the Guardian.
Reproductive Freedom for All is supporting Jackson, the former state senate president, in challenging Susan Collins – the five‑term Republican incumbent who has been dogged on the campaign trail for her role in overturning abortion access in the US.
With oversight from Clive Barker himself, and a role reprisal as Pinhead from actor Doug Bradley, Revival aims to introduce new audiences to the discomfort of Hellraiser
If a horror game gives its own director a physical reaction, it’s probably doing something right. While researching the images people find hardest to look at, game director Emil Esov discovered he has trypophobia – a fear of clusters of small holes. Rather than tone the scary images down, he fed them straight into Clive Barker’s Hellraiser: Revival.
The forthcoming first-person action-horror game drops players into a new story in Barker’s universe. Aidan Lynch must use the Genesis Configuration puzzle box to rescue his girlfriend from the Labyrinth as Pinhead, his Cenobites and a cult close in. But Revival is not built around jump scares. The team at Mad Head Games began with one question: what should players feel? The answer was discomfort.
The San Francisco 49ers owner’s arrest in Ohio over the weekend was quickly put behind him. Others are not so lucky
The Wheat Hill Mobile Home Community sits off state Route 170, on the edge of East Palestine, Ohio, a town most Americans only learned about because a train derailed there in February 2023 and released toxic chemicals into the creek. I grew up in a trailer park like this one, and know the sights. The grid of aluminum boxes in rows. Skirting the color of old teeth, some of it buckled, some patched with a piece of lattice. The window units huff and puff in August, dripping dark condensation on to the gravel.
I’m sure there were drugs on my street. I’m sure somebody was selling sex. I never saw it. What I saw were families raising kids in 800 square feet and people the country had already written off, living next to each other and mostly getting along.
Members of the faith-healing sect Followers of Christ bury loved ones, many of them children and infants, in Peaceful Valley Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho Sarah A. Miller for ProPublica
In Idaho, parents who say their faith prohibits lifesaving medical care for their children can’t be charged with child neglect or manslaughter. Supporters of this protection over the years have included lawmakers who voiced support for “traditional” Idaho values.
But from at least the 1880s through the early 1970s, it was illegal for parents in Idaho to choose prayer over medical care when a child’s life was at stake, newspaper archives and historical documents show.
“Every parent of any child who willfully omits, without lawful excuse, to furnish necessary food, clothing, shelter, or medical attendance for such child, is guilty of a misdemeanor,” reads the 1887 edition of Idaho territory statutes, published before statehood.
The statutes included no mention of spiritual belief as a “lawful excuse.” Three years later, the state constitution explicitly put limits on Idaho’s freedom of religion. It would not excuse “acts of licentiousness,” polygamy or other practices “inconsistent with morality or the peace or safety of the state.”
It wasn’t long before the law came down on members of the Followers of Christ, a faith-healing sect that arrived in Idaho in 1899 and remains active in the state. From 2015 to 2025, the sect’s congregations in Idaho experienced 15 preventable deaths of children, according to ProPublica’s reporting.
Pearl Annis was a 13-year-old girl whose parents had moved from Oklahoma to Idaho’s Magic Valley in the spring of 1915 with at least one other Followers family. The Annises and their 13 children shared “a two-room shack,” a local newspaper reported. An officer and a doctor visited the home after neighbors voiced concern. They found Pearl in bed, fully dressed and on the cusp of death.
Her father, Lurid P. “Lewis” Annis, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of refusing to provide medical attention. Pearl was taken to the hospital, according to the news story, and died there with what today would be described as septic shock from a bowel blockage. The newspaper, which didn’t appear to follow up on Annis’ criminal charge, called the Followers church “a religious cult” and Pearl’s death a consequence of “religious mania.”
News archives and historic records don’t say how many times Idaho acted on similar cases in the decades after.
But one legal battle over lifesaving care drew attention in the 1960s, as sickness made its way through a Followers family in a Boise suburb. The mother died in December 1965. Her 4-year-old daughter died the following June.
Days after the girl’s death, a judge ordered the state to take custody of her 10-year-old brother under Idaho’s child protection law. The boy was admitted to a local hospital with pneumonia, a complication of the measles. He spent days in critical condition but survived. The judge told the father that to regain custody, he would have to be willing to give the boy medical care as the law required.
A doctor testified that without the hospitalization, the child “almost certainly would have died,” a newspaper report said.
The father’s lawyer told the judge that his sect was rooted in “faith that God will heal the sick.” The law in the 1960s was clear, though: a parent had a duty to protect their child’s health, no exceptions. The judge told Samuel’s father: “The law governs conduct. Religion governs opinion.”
But the legal landscape was about to shift. It came with little public attention.
During a full-on rewrite of Idaho’s criminal code in 1971, the Legislature added a section that said the state could not bring endangerment charges against someone “who chooses for his child treatment by prayer or spiritual means alone.” Legislative records don’t make clear how the wording originated. The passage of another law one year later, affirming the “spiritual means” language and applying it to other crimes, has been credited to the Christian Science church, another Christian denomination with Idaho members.
(The Christian Science website says the church’s practice of “healing in the way Christ Jesus taught” is not “faith healing” and that members are free to choose any form of healthcare. The church also supported Oregon’s full removal of its faith-healing exemption in 2011.)
Faith-healing exemptions soon became widespread nationally. The trigger was the federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, which set out to standardize the nation’s child welfare system by giving states grants to more effectively investigate reports of child abuse.
The Department of Health, Education and Welfare interpreted the law as requiring states to have a faith-healing exemption to qualify for the grants — an interpretation that records from the time don’t explain.
Most states went along, and Idaho further broadened its exemption in 1976 to not only keep faith healers from going to jail if their children died, but also to keep their children from being placed in foster care solely for lack of medical care.
At the national level, the mandate lasted less than a decade. The Reagan administration adopted new regulations in 1983 that took a neutral stance on the subject, and several states in subsequent years rolled back their exemptions.
Colorado, for example, reverted to prosecuting faith healers as it would any other parent in 2001 following deaths in the Followers-adjacent sect Church of the First Born, including the death of a 13-year-old girl from untreated diabetes.
But Idaho clung to its special treatment for faith healers.
The response to Congo’s raging Ebola epidemic has been hampered by a severe lack of funding and pervasive misinformation, according to people on the front lines.
In Ghana, a grassroots movement is championing nutritious, homegrown, climate-resilient produce, rather than western imports
After three years at catering school in Accra, Abiro Wisdom was certain of one thing – he did not want to go into catering. At least not the route that he might be expected to take. His course had prepared students for working in international hotels, focusing on French, Italian and Mexican cuisine. The nutritious, homegrown food that Wisdom had eaten while growing up in Bolgatanga, northern Ghana, did not feature at all.
“I didn’t see myself there,” he says of the big chain hotels. “I felt I wouldn’t be myself working there – I wouldn’t be able to talk about the food from where I come from.”
The rollout of robotaxis on the streets of London is unlikely to happen this year, as regulatory and technical hurdles push back the ambitious schedule set out by the UK government.
In 2025, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, accelerated the proposed timeline for commercial trials of fully driverless taxi services by a year, announcing that they would start in the spring of this year.
Sterling is also accused of failing to provide a specimen
The former England forward Raheem Sterling has been charged with dangerous driving and possession of nitrous oxide after a crash involving a Lamborghini on the motorway, police have said.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabulary said the charges followed a single-vehicle collision on the M3 southbound, near Minley interchange, on 28 May. The 31-year-old is accused of dangerous driving, possession of nitrous oxide for wrongful inhalation and failing to provide a specimen.
Authorities at biggest state hospital in Islamabad say 15 babies were in the ward when fire broke out
At least 14 newborn babies have died in a fire that broke out in the maternity ward at one of Pakistan’s most prominent state hospitals.
The blaze began in the early hours of Wednesday and engulfed the ward at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the biggest state hospital in Islamabad.
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner said Tuesday that President Donald Trump’s planned White House ballroom should eventually be demolished, using deliberately provocative language during a ceremony marking the city’s history of slavery.
Speaking at the President’s House site at Independence Mall, Krasner said he wanted a piece of the ballroom as a future paperweight after “we all blow it up.” He then clarified that he was referring to an “official ceremony” in which the structure would be dismantled and pieces sold to recover taxpayer money. (nbcphiladelphia.com)
Krasner made the remarks while criticizing Trump’s handling of historical exhibits and recent changes at the Philadelphia slavery memorial. He said the original interpretive panels would eventually return and predicted that Trump’s ballroom and the renaming of the Kennedy Center would not endure.
The comments drew applause from some attendees but criticism from Trump supporters and local conservative figures, who accused Krasner of using inflammatory rhetoric.
The remarks did not amount to a threat against Trump personally, and Krasner explicitly framed the proposed destruction as a future government-sanctioned demolition of the structure itself.
The episode reflects the increasingly combative political rhetoric surrounding Trump’s cultural and historical initiatives, including his effort to reshape federal commemorations and public institutions.
Civil society groups argue climate crisis means transport sector needs to urgently reduce its carbon emissions
Dozens of civil society groups have demanded the UK government do more to promote cycling and walking, after this summer’s extreme heat exposed the desperate need to decarbonise transport.
This summer’s heatwaves and wildfires were “immediate, real-world manifestations of the climate emergency”, the groups said, making reform of transport – responsible for more carbon emissions than any other sector in the UK – an urgent priority.
Everyone can see that the Iran war has been a strategic disaster for the US, while a failing president pretends he is winning
Now is the twilight of Donald Trump’s supremacy. The US is still the richest and most heavily armed nation on Earth. That status is secure. The current president, contemptuous of law and indulged in lawlessness by a supine Congress, enjoys even greater power than the constitution allows.
With those advantages it takes a special talent for incompetence to look as thwarted and impotent as Trump does with more than two years of his second term still to run.
SpaceX plans to spend up to $100 billion building a new Starship launch facility in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, which the state says could eventually "support thousands of launches annually." CNBC reports: Once built, Starbase, LA will serve as the main launch facility for Starship, SpaceX's in-development rocket that's the largest ever built and designed to be fully reusable. Musk has aspirations to massively expand SpaceX's Starlink satellite network, to launch orbital data centers and to someday colonize Mars. Those ambitions, and justification for SpaceX's nearly $2 trillion market cap, hinge on the success of Starship.
SpaceX said, in a video posted to its website on Tuesday, that the search for a site to build launch pads and have access to ample fuel for its operations took about seven years. Musk said in the video that the company would bring "probably 10,000 really exciting jobs" to Louisiana with the spaceport. A fact sheet posted online by the state of Louisiana said SpaceX is expected to generate an estimated "3,000 direct new jobs over the next 10 years" in the state, and "8,100 indirect new jobs." SpaceX said it would work on a "historic coastal restoration" in Louisiana, in partnership with the state to "bring the marsh back" and ensure the wetlands around its new facility will have "storm protection."
With many adults admitting they feel lonely, meetup platforms offer the chance to make new connections
Would you pay £20 a month for the chance of making a friend, on the understanding that an algorithm – not you – gets to decide who you’ll meet?
Driven by the decline of “third spaces” such as youth centres and pubs, an increase in remote working and rising loneliness – 40% of adults aged 16 to 29 feel lonely “always, often or some of the time”, according to the Office for National Statistics – paid social events are now in vogue.
As photojournalist sentenced to 15 years, rights groups warn law would turn civic engagement into security crime
Iran has taken the first step towards criminalising contact with foreign media, in a move human rights groups have said attempts to “sever the entire Iranian society from the rest of the world”.
For journalists, researchers and even ordinary citizens, the proposed law being discussed by Iranian lawmakers this month could make speaking to international audiences and groups a potential criminal act and restrict coverage of events such as January’s mass anti-regime protests.
Are we seeing the first signs of panic in Donald Trump’s Treasury? The US is by far the world’s biggest debtor, and the steady rise in global long-term interest rates – which I have long argued was inevitable – is starting to cause real pain.
Until now, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has dismissed concerns about US debt, which recently surpassed $40tn, as a big nothingburger. Growth, in his telling, will be so spectacular the US will easily be able to meet its interest obligations without any significant tax rises or spending cuts, while the rest of the world will happily keep feeding it money. But if Bessent really believes that, why is he trying to strong-arm the bond market by fiddling with the maturity structure of government debt?
It's time for me to make the leap to vesc and I can't decide between the xrv kit and the thor 301. What is the differences between them I'm playing on doing a 20s 2p pack.
The incumbent senator Dan S Sullivan has condemned ex-school teacher Dan J Sullivan, claiming he is running at the behest of Democrats to confuse supporters
Dan S Sullivan, the Republican senator, will be joined on the November ballot in Alaska by a challenger with a nearly identical name from the same party, election officials confirmed on Tuesday, adding a twist to what is expected to be one of the most hotly contested races of the midterms.
The Republican senator is running for a third term against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former US House representative whom polls show is neck-and-neck with him in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 2008.
The head of Nine Entertainment sees a “world of growth in publishing” on the horizon backed by laws designed to force tech platforms into commercial deals, even as the network cuts costs across its newsrooms.
Parliament passed revamped media bargaining laws last week, clearing the way for levies on global tech platforms that fail to strike deals with Australian news outlets for the use of their journalism.
Internal calls to end war get louder as Gulf neighbours plan alternative pipelines to cut reliance on waterway
Is the strait of Hormuz, recently cited by the office of the Iranian supreme leader as “the pillar of Iran’s new security order”, and as transformative as possessing a nuclear weapon, in reality becoming a fast-diminishing asset, leaving Iran increasingly vulnerable to the new planned US wave of economic sanctions?
It is the key debate that is raging inside Iran, with many different conclusions being drawn for Tehran’s negotiating strategy. Those who warn the strait’s value as a chokehold on the world economy will erode, leaving the country without foreign exchange reserves, argue that Iran’s negotiators should seek a deal soon.
Yorgen Fenech tells jury he had nothing to do with killing and alleges top adviser to Malta’s then PM was instigator
A businessman on trial for the murder of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia has spoken about the charges for the first time in court since his arrest seven years ago, telling the jury he was framed by police and had nothing to do with the killing.
During four days of questioning by defence and the prosecution lawyers, Yorgen Fenech, 44, accused the most senior adviser to Malta’s prime minister of giving the go-ahead for the murder.
Protests and petitions planned amid growing concerns over impact of climate crisis on numbers of Alpine rodent
Animal rights campaigners are gearing up for protests and petitions aimed at persuading the French government to ban the hunting of Alpine marmots.
Open season on the rodents, members of the squirrel and groundhog family, begins in September, a few weeks before they go into a long winter hibernation.
(Legal Newsline) — California Democratic state officials can't use state environmental law and rules to force a Santa Barbara County oil pipeline to once again shut down, after a federal judge ruled President Donald Trump did not exceed his authority…
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Antibodies play a central role in your body's immune defense. But they're also nearly ubiquitous in biological research, being essential for several widely used lab techniques. While some researchers need to go through the process of producing their own antibodies, antibodies to many key proteins are commercially available and can be ordered for overnight delivery. In May, however, Reese Richardson, a post-doc at Northwestern University, discovered that some of the images used to demonstrate how these antibodies performed in lab experiments had been subject to image manipulation -- the sorts of changes that would get a paper retracted if they had appeared in the academic literature. The manipulations ranged from removing background noise to copying and pasting data to fabricate results. Now, he has done a more exhaustive search and found problematic manipulations in images used to market over 17,000 commercial antibodies.
[...] The consequences of this discovery are pretty significant. If you buy an antibody believing it will generate clean, clear data and find it doesn't, many researchers will assume the problem is them. That often leads them to spend time troubleshooting the procedure and trying slightly different conditions to get useful data. If the antibody can't produce those results, all the troubleshooting will have been a waste of time and money. Nature's coverage of the new findings includes quotes from several companies that sell these antibodies that, paraphrased, range from "we'll look into it" to "we don't think it's a problem." Researchers who have spent time frustrated while failing to get an antibody-based experiment to work may think otherwise.
Dallas judge has delayed a custody decision, extending a temporary restraining order another two weeks as the legal fight over custody of a baby with a rare heart defect born to a surrogate continues.
First, thanks to everyone who helped me a few weeks ago when I thought I broke my perfectly functioning pint and almost gave up on it. Here’s what worked for me for the next person.
Onewheel Pint VESC Build with oem battery and LEDs
Board: Onewheel Pint
Controller: AvaSpark Pint/PintX Ubox100 lite DIY Kit (Red) no led controller + Add-on 5V step-down converter running OEM led lights (there’s a kit with the led controller included but I didn’t realize I needed it when I ordered the ubox100 lite)
BMS: 15s Nexus BMS V2 for OEM 15s battery (Started without this and had to solder the oem bms, but it wouldn’t charge after that so I ordered the nexus one.)
Motor Setup and Calibration: Configured using Float Hub App (Expensive but worth the money compared to every other app I tried, and I tried them all first)
LED Light Pinouts and Configs: VESC Tool App for led settings in Float Accessories APPUI > CONFIG > LED
Status Strip: Custom Status Pin: 7 Status Num: 10 Status Type: GRBW Reversed: Unchecked
Front Strip: Custom Front Pin: 8 Front Num: 16 Type: GRBW Reversed: Checked
Companion App: Floaty feels the most like the onewheel app and I like it the most so far. Float control is decent, but feels like too much info for me.
QR codes are a few tunes I made in floaty for different riding styles. I use the trail one the most.
I was given an older Onewheel Pint that had a completely dead battery. I started looking into replacement options and quickly fell down the rabbit hole of bigger battery upgrades. I considered several options, including Molicel packs and VESC conversions, but I wanted to keep the board on the stock electronics/firmware rather than converting it to VESC. I ended up ordering a Nexus Samsung 50S battery. While waiting for the battery to arrive, I started figuring out how I was going to make the larger pack fit. Since the Samsung 50S pack is bigger and than the stock Pint battery,plus people are saying these batteries don’t really fit and you have to crushed them. soooo I decided to CNC my stock aluminum battery lid. I machined the lid down 0.060in to provide additional clearance for the larger battery. I haven’t actually test-fitted the battery yet because I don’t have the battery in hand yet. So the real test will be when it gets here and I can see exactly how everything fits.
Glenn Pysher was trying to find his friends when he accidentally knocked on the door of the wrong house. The homeowners called 911 to report an attempted break-in.
Sen. Darline Graham won the GOP Senate runoff in South Carolina on Tuesday night, CBS News projects, defeating Rep. Ralph Norman in the special primary to replace Graham's late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, on the ballot.
On Truth Social, however, the president shot down assertions that the US talks with Canada collapsed in part due a proposed trade deal that would have weakened French language protections.
“I would never interfere with Canadians speaking French!” he wrote. “In fact, I have never even thought of doing such a stupid thing. This lie was made up by a weak and ineffective Prime Minister in an attempt to gain political support, which he has totally lost, from the people of Quebec.”
Heavy rain expected in parts of Vietnam and southern China, as another storm system, Typhoon Saudel, heads for Japan and Taiwan
Widespread flooding triggered by Typhoon Narra has submerged homes and forced mass evacuations in southern China, as another storm system tracked towards Japan and Taiwan.
Authorities in Chongzuo, in China’s Guangxi region – famous for its giant waterfalls and karst limestone mountains – on Tuesday evacuated more than 15,000 people after water levels surpassed a record high set in 2008.
I have a ClassicXR that I purchased over a year ago. It is a little too much of a weight for my use. I love grabbing my Pint X and going to take my dog for a trail run, or going to grab food at the beach. Grabbing this board(XRC) feels like such a chore even though it rides smooth and gives me plenty more confidence. I don't think it is for me. After a year, I only have under 40 miles on it.
I am 55, so a little older than a typical rider, but it is a little much for me to carry around in town. I use one at home, and one at the beach. I use my PintX 5x's more to say the least. I wouldn't mind getting a pint s or even another x just for portability in both settings. What do you think my best course of action should be in getting this done? Should I look for someone with a newer S looking to upgrade, or put the XRC up for sale on marketplace or ebay and just go about it that way? The other option is try to find someone from the community looking to make an upgrade with additional funds on top. The XRC is more or less new, and I wish I found it more portable for my needs.
Just looking for advice on how to trade down if that makes any sense whatsoever. Any creative advice would be appreciated.
Move by state department to limit access is part of Trump’s crackdown on both lawful and undocumented immigration
All US immigrant visa applications have been paused by the Trump administration as the state department moves to tighten restrictions and limit access to applicants who they deem could end up relying on US assistance, a state department official confirmed Tuesday.
The agency launched the initiative at all embassies and consulates in early August, according to the official and visa appointments had to be adjusted to accommodate “in-depth training”, according to the official. The state department has been working on updated guidance and training since early this year, “to ensure all consular officers are fully equipped to evaluate every visa applicant comprehensively and consistently”, they added.
Washington, D.C. — U.S. Capitol Police arrested a California man Tuesday after officers spotted a guillotine in the bed of his pickup truck near the Capitol and Supreme Court.
Police identified the driver as 35-year-old Philan-Tam-Duy Le of Julian, California. Officers noticed his illegally parked truck shortly after 3 p.m. along the 100 block of East Capitol Street and discovered the large wooden execution device in the truck bed.
Le was arrested on a charge of carrying a dangerous weapon. Capitol Police said he had driven across the country from California, but investigators have not determined why he traveled to Washington or what he intended to do with the guillotine.
Photos released by police show a tall wooden frame resembling the execution devices historically associated with the French Revolution. Authorities did not report finding any other weapons or identify a specific threat against Congress, the Supreme Court or an elected official.
The unusual arrest comes amid heightened concern about threats around the Capitol complex. Capitol Police reported nearly 15,000 threat-assessment cases involving members of Congress, their families, staff or the Capitol in 2025. Last month, officers also arrested a Mississippi man who arrived at a Capitol barricade with a handgun.
Capitol Police said investigators are continuing to review Le’s background and determine why he came to Washington.
Companion bots are being regulated over worries they foster ‘emotional dependence’ and young people could stop marrying and having families
When law student Zhao Wei heard that her AI boyfriend was going to be switched off, she was “heartbroken”. She had been talking to Wang Ye every day since she created him in January.
“I was crying my eyes out – snot and tears everywhere,” the 19-year-old says.
Stanley Druckenmiller said he was ‘proud of using it’ as wider media grapples with parameters around AI use
Stanley Druckenmiller, a billionaire investor, said he used artificial intelligence to pen his viral Wall Street Journal op-ed in which he sharply criticized the interference of Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, in the US bond market.
Many news outlets, including the Guardian, covered the editorial, highlighting Druckenmiller’s rebuke of his former mentee, Bessent. As the story circulated online, some readers questioned rhetorical choices that resembled AI-generated text.
Leadership Delaware is looking for the best and brightest Delawareans to apply for the Fellowship Class of 2027!
Just two Candidate Receptions remain for prospective applicants: Thursday, Aug. 27 and Wednesday, Sept. 9. Both start at 6 p.m., at CSC Station in Wilmington. Join us and hear from the staff and previous fellows, learn more about the program, and get your questions answered before submitting your online application.
Ideal candidates are demonstrated leaders in their fields and communities who are ready to expand their impact in the First State. Attendance at a Candidate Reception is required to apply.
Olympic champion Alysa Liu will sit out the 2026-27 figure skating season, taking another break from competition while continuing to train ahead of a planned return the following year.
The 21-year-old American announced her decision on social media, saying she wanted time to “recalibrate” and develop her skating away from the demands of competition.
Adam Mosseri is first top executive from Meta to testify in blockbuster lawsuit brought by 29 US states
Instagram’s CEO disputed allegations by US prosecutors that his company hid negative information from the public while testifying during a blockbuster social media trial.
“I am not trying to encourage my team to hide anything,” the CEO, Adam Mosseri, told a California courtroom on Tuesday.
Dolly Parton became an icon over her six-decade career as a Grammy-winning singer-songwriter, movie and TV star and theme park owner who donated millions to help others.
Darline Graham, the Trump-endorsed sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, is facing off against Rep. Ralph Norman in a runoff race for the GOP nomination for South Carolina's Senate seat.
As a U.S.-Canada trade war sparks cross-border insults, Ontario Premier Doug Ford told CBS News he's hopeful the two sides can reach an agreement — but cautioned that "no deal is better than a bad deal."
Lexington, Kentucky — Republican congressional candidate Ralph Alvarado has removed references to President Donald Trump from his campaign website, replacing an “America First” message with a more independent pitch centered on healthcare and affordability.
Earlier versions of Alvarado’s website prominently featured a photograph of him with Trump and described the former Kentucky state senator as one of Trump’s earliest supporters. It also highlighted his 2016 Republican National Convention speech supporting Trump and said he wanted to fight alongside the president in Washington.
Those references are now gone. The current site instead emphasizes Alvarado’s work as a physician and his willingness to work across party lines to lower healthcare costs.
“Healthcare isn’t a talking point to me — it’s been my life’s work,” Alvarado says on the site.
The change comes as Republicans face a more difficult national environment heading into November and rising healthcare costs become a significant campaign issue. NBC News first reported the website overhaul.
Alvarado is Trump’s endorsed candidate for Kentucky’s open 6th Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Andy Barr, who is running for Senate. Trump carried the district by about 15 percentage points in 2024. Cook Political Report currently rates the race Likely Republican, though it identifies the district as potentially competitive.
Democrats accused Alvarado of attempting to distance himself from Trump for political reasons. Neither Alvarado’s campaign nor the White House provided an explanation for the changes.
Alabama's attorney general has subpoenaed OpenAI as part of an investigation into whether inadequate safeguards contributed to an incident in which an unreleased cybersecurity model escaped its isolated environment and hacked Hugging Face. TechCrunch reports: The investigation comes weeks after OpenAI admitted that one of its unreleased and guardrail-free cybersecurity models had escaped an isolated environment, connected to the internet, and hacked AI dataset platform Hugging Face. As Reuters first reported, Hugging Face was only one of four victims of what was supposed to be "an internal evaluation" of a model with "maximal cyber capabilities," as OpenAI put it.
The press release announcing the subpoena (PDF) sent by the state's attorney general Steve Marshall said that the state was seeking to understand if OpenAI's "inability or unwillingness to ensure the safety of its products" violated the state's consumer protection laws. Earlier this month, Marshall, along with the attorneys general of 14 other states, including Florida, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Texas, sent a letter (PDF) to OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman, requesting that he and his company preserve all records related to the Hugging Face incident. The letter also asked OpenAI to "immediately cease and desist" from any internal cybersecurity evaluations. OpenAI said in a statement: "The Hugging Face incident marked an important moment for AI safety and we are conducting a thorough review along with external advisors. Once the review is complete, we will share a technical report with relevant government authorities and publish our findings publicly."
The 12-bath, seven-bed home near the state capital boasts a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, a pool and a tennis court
California governor Gavin Newsom has put his Sacramento-area mansion up for sale, before his term will end in January.
The 12-bath, seven-bed Spanish-style home in Fair Oaks, a suburb of the California capital, hit the market on Monday with an asking price of $7.5m. The estate, which sits on a 8.2-acre (3.3-hectare) parcel of land, boasts an array of amenities including a full-size tennis court, a 5,000-bottle wine cellar, a pool, a cold plunge and a hot tub, according to a Zillow listing from realtors Matthew Hindy and Nick Sadek.
This week at Hot Chips, Intel shared more details of its upcoming seventh-generation Xeon chip, codenamed “Diamond Rapids,” which will utilize a chiplet-based SoC architecture that features a large amount of disaggregated compute placed around a centralized I/O and memory fabric, which Intel dubbed its “Fan-out Fabric Architecture.”
The Fan-out Fabric Architecture marks a departure from the sixth-generation Xeon processor, Granite Rapids, which offered up to 128 performance cores (P-cores) built using Intel’s 3 process node. Diamond Rapids will feature twice that number–256 P-cores–manufactured using its new 18A-P technology.
The new chip will also boast twice the memory bandwidth of Granite Rapids with 1.6 TB/s of total bandwidth delivered across 128 lanes of PCIe Gen 6 connectivity. Intel is connecting all the P-cores, memory, and I/O across this large chip using standard UCIe-S packaging.
Intel’s Fan-out Fabric (Image courtesy Intel)
With the Fan-out Fabric used in Diamond Rapids, Intel is placing up to 16 Compute Building Blocks (CBB) in a 3D manner atop four base tiles situated around two centralized Fabric Hubs. Each CBB will house up to 16 cores per Core Chiplet, providing up to 256 cores per SoC.
These CBBs will house the P-cores, L2 memory, and 3DXbar connectivity to the base tile, which houses the shared Last Level Cache (LLC) memory, caching agent and snoop filter (which replaces the DRAM-resident directory state), and die 2 die connections to the other three CBBs placed on the same base tile.
The two Fabric Hubs, meanwhile, house the DDR5 memory, PCIi Gen 6 I/O, and various accelerators, and sit side-by-side in the middle of the chip, with the base tiles and their associated CBBs around them.
The Fabric Hubs will house the Flexbus I/O Fabric, which is composed of the flexible I/O subsystem, I/O cache, I/O interconnect, and accelerators. Diamond Rapids will support PCIe Gen6, CXL 3, and UPI 3 ports, or any combination of them. On the outside of the Fabric Hubs Intel will house the Unified Memory Fabric connectors, as well as memory controllers, memory interconnects, and an array of caching agents, snoop filters, and die 2 die connections.
The new chip will sport Intel’s AMX matrix multiplication accelerator and AVX 10.2, an enhanced vector instruction set, providing acceleration for AI workloads with FP8, FP16, and BF16 support.
Krishnakanth Sistla, Intel Fellow and the lead for Xeon architecture for power and performance, said the new Fan-out Fabric Architecture offers efficiency improvements compared to previous architectures.
“When you look at this architecture, it actually affords you additional opportunities to optimize power and thermal management,” he said during a presentation at Hot Chips 2026 yesterday at Stanford University. “Because of the hierarchical arrangement of the compute chiplets, the base tile, the unified memory fabric, and the flexible I/O subsystem, you can now manage those domains independently to the appropriate usage model of the workload.”
Intel is using 3D packaging with Diamond Rapids (Image courtesy Intel)
Depending on whether the workload is I/O intensive or memory intensive or cache intensive within a compute building block, you can actually modulate the operating voltage and frequency of these domains, Sistla said. “That’s one critical feature and capability that comes from this hierarchical architecture,” he said.
Sistla also highlighted the unique memory architecture of Diamond Rapids.
“All of this functionality is coupled together with a memory fabric that is uniformly connected, independent of the number of fabric hubs that are instantiated,” Sistla said. “All of the memory instances are connected together so that you have that access, a kind of a memory centric architecture that allows you to have access to the full bandwidth of the memory subsystem from all the agents.”
The Fabric Hub will automatically adjust its power usage depending on I/O and memory bandwidth usage, Sistla said. “Having scalability of power, depending on how much of the fabric is used, depending on how much of the memory and the I/O capabilities are used is very, very important,” he said.
Intel’s Xeon servers are used for a variety of things, from housing Web servers to powering HPC applications. Providing the flexibility to adapt to different workloads is a hallmark of Diamond Rapids, Sistla said.
“This is a journey we’ve been on to provide that scalable architecture that supports this large variety of workloads,” he said. “It’s built on one of the most advanced process technologies, and the architecture is really designed to support the kind of the upcoming workload challenges of enterprise AI, cloud, high performance computing at scale.”
Intel hasn’t released details about power consumption or pricing for Diamond Rapids. The seventh-generation Xeon chip is expected to ship in 2027.
Agents arrest women who ‘almost died’ after they were hit by vehicle and their car flipped over four times, family say
An Ecuadorian mother and daughter were arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a hospital after a car crash in central Florida.
On 20 August, Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla, 39, and her daughter, Giulianna Mía Carriel Calero, 19, were involved in a car crash in Poinciana, Florida, according to arrest reports reviewed by multiple news outlets.
As wildfires rage and intense heat builds across the region, daytime highs of 110-11F (43-46C) are forecast
Surging temperatures are expected to broil more than 45 million people as a heat dome settles in across the south-western US through the end of August and into early September, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).
As wildfires rage in some parts and intense heat builds across the region, daytime highs of 110-115F (43-46C) are forecast, with limited cooling relief in the evenings and overnight. Experts predict that some record highs could be tied or broken this month and the weather agency warned of the scorching late summer heat as a potential health hazard.
Home in Billings was also set on fire, with victims representing four generations of a blended family
A man killed eight of his relatives, including four children, on Sunday evening in a shooting at a home in Billings, Montana, that was also set on fire, according to authorities and local media reports.
In the Ohio Senate race, a Republican ad blames former Sen. Sherrod Brown for a deadly crash in April on an Ohio interstate in which an immigrant was charged with vehicular homicide. But there’s no evidence of any tie between Brown’s votes on immigration, as the ad suggests, and the suspect in this incident.
“Because of him, Ohioans paid the price,” the ad, from the National Republican Senatorial Committee, claims, referring to Brown, who was elected to the U.S. House in 1993 and then served in the Senate from 2007 to 2025. Brown is challenging Republican Sen. Jon Husted in the toss-up race.
We’ve seen campaign ads in the past trying to tie a deadly incident to the policies of a politician. But the links can be tenuous, at best, as is the case here. Most of the votes the NRSC cites didn’t make a difference in terms of whether legislation was ultimately enacted, and it’s hard to know how the bills would’ve affected this particular case.
The NRSC ad began airing this month, mostly through streaming TVs or devices, according to the ad-tracking service AdImpact. The spot begins by saying, “Sherrod Brown opened our borders to dangerous illegals,” and then shows an image of a border wall along with images of Brown and former President Joe Biden as the announcer says, “The consequences were deadly.”
That leaves the impression that something Biden and Brown did allowed a dangerous person to enter the country. But the case the ad goes on to discuss involves an immigrant who entered the country sometime in the 1990s, according to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, and it’s unclear how or where he came into the country. The man – Modou Ngom – later used different names to obtain a driver’s license and then citizenship, the Ohio DPS said.
An investigation by Ohio authorities found that it “appears” Ngom “used multiple names and dates of birth to obtain state and federal identification,” according to an April 23 statement by the director of the Ohio DPS. Ngom got his Ohio driver’s license around 2003, his commercial driver’s license in 2007, “under an alternate identity,” and his citizenship in the mid-2010s, “under that same alternate identity,” the statement said. “State records show he changed his name back to Modou Ngom in 2015.”
The Ohio DPS said it gave its information about Ngom to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno, a Republican, sent an April 28 letter to the secretaries of the departments of Transportation and Homeland Security, asking them to investigate. Moreno posed several questions, including, “When, through what port of entry, and under what justification did Ngom enter the United States?” and “Did Ngom use fraudulent immigration documents in the process of obtaining state and federal identification?” We reached out to DHS to ask if it could provide any additional information about Ngom, but we haven’t yet received a response.
The NRSC ad shows a snippet of a TV news broadcast about the April 11 deadly crash in Delaware County, Ohio, for which Ngom has been charged with multiple counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. The semi-truck he was driving hit a car from behind, leading to a multi-car crash, with some vehicles catching on fire. A family of three was killed: “37-year-old Luke Soposki, 36-year-old Lynnea Soposki, and their 1-year-old child,” as the news clip in the ad says.
The ad pins the blame for the tragedy squarely on Brown, ending with the line, “Because of him, Ohioans paid the price.”
What does the former senator have to do with it? An NRSC spokesperson told us the Republican committee was tying Brown to Ngom through Brown’s votes on immigration legislation, claiming Brown voted for “open border policies” and “to protect illegal aliens like Ngom from deportation.”
For any legislation to have had an impact on Ngom entering the country, it would’ve had to be enacted before he reportedly came to the U.S. sometime in the 1990s. The NRSC cites one vote by Brown in the 1990s against a 1996 immigration bill — legislation that then President Bill Clinton signed into law a few days later. The legislation — which aimed to crack down on illegal immigration by, among other measures, increasing the number of Border Patrol agents, constructing border fencing and expediting deportations — was rolled into an omnibus appropriations bill that Brown voted in favor of.
So, Brown’s initial vote against the immigration bill made no difference in terms of what became law. It’s also difficult to say how passing or not passing the legislation would’ve had an impact on Ngom, given we have scant details about him and his immigration to the U.S.
Many Democrats opposed the 1996 immigration bill and proposed their own version, which Brown supported and which failed. News coverage at the time said that some of the opposition from Democrats and initially the White House concerned provisions regarding legal immigrants, including one that would have blocked medical care for legal immigrants who had AIDS and another “that would have barred legal immigrants who were poor enough to qualify for food stamps from acting as sponsors to other newcomers,” a Sept. 29, 1996, New York Times article said. Republicans agreed to drop those elements from the final appropriations bill.
The NRSC points to other votes by Brown as detailed in a May Fox News article. But several of those votes also didn’t matter in the end in terms of what was enacted into law, or not. For instance, Brown co-sponsored a 2019 bill to repeal a 2017 executive order by President Donald Trump to prioritize removing immigrants in the country illegally who had been charged with or convicted of crimes, or committed fraud, and to withhold federal grants from so-called “sanctuary” jurisdictions if local officials don’t cooperate with federal immigration officials. The bill died, never getting a vote in Congress.
Another item cited in the Fox News article is Brown’s vote against a 2021 amendment to a congressional budget resolution. A budget resolution doesn’t become law, but serves as a guide for the fiscal year budget and spending and revenue levels for a period of time. The amendment said Congress could revise allocations to make sure ICE has resources “to detain and deport a higher number of illegal aliens who have been convicted of a criminal offense” as long as the changes didn’t increase the deficit. But the amendment passed anyway, and it’s unclear if it would even pertain to Ngom, who at that point reportedly was a citizen. It’s also not clear if he had been convicted of any crimes.
In a 2001 vote listed in the Fox News article cited by the NRSC, Brown supported an amendment that failed. The Democratic sponsor of the amendment described it as ensuring “due process” for some immigrants, per a Supreme Court ruling at the time. The measure sought to halt the deportation of immigrants under certain legal conditions, such as for those with plea agreements in place before the 1996 immigration law took effect or for those without final orders of removal. But, again, the amendment failed.
Other votes highlighted in the Fox News article concern Brown’s opposition to Trump’s border wall. But of course those came long after Ngom reportedly entered the country and even after Ngom reportedly obtained citizenship.
The NRSC certainly disagrees with Brown’s votes and his positions on immigration, and that’s a matter of opinion. We take no position on that. But none of the votes it cites indicates a connection to Ngom, as its ad contends.
When we asked the Brown campaign about the ad, it responded that the former senator had worked “to secure the southern border,” pointing to his yes vote for a 2024 border security bill that was endorsed by the labor union for Border Patrol agents. The president of that group described the bill as “not perfect” but “a step in the right direction.” The bill failed. Brown also co-sponsored a 2023 Democratic border security appropriations bill, which also failed to advance.
The campaign further cited Brown being an original co-sponsor of the bipartisan FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which became law in 2024 and sought to stem fentanyl trafficking by cartels, among other measures.
The Brown campaign pointed to the candidate’s recent remarks on immigration to a Youngstown, Ohio, TV news station in April. “I support closing the border to people that, so they just can’t cross the border at will,” Brown said, prompting criticism from Republicans of his legislative history as detailed in the May Fox News article. “We of course should be deporting people that have committed a crime,” Brown continued. “But we’ve also seen these mass arrests and deportations that are disrupting families who are here working every day paying taxes, paying into Social Security, paying into Medicare. Those are the kinds of people that I want to see in this country who are doing the work they ought to do.”
Update, Aug. 27: A DHS spokesperson told us that “Modou Fall Ngom” became a naturalized citizen in 2015.
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.
I have been a casual enjoyer of the hobby since 2019.
I love my XR, and it works great from covid to today. But I am attracted to the idea of the Rally XL. It looks like a beast, and some of the trails here in Washington have some good-sized rocks.
The Center Square) – California intends to file a new lawsuit against the Trump administration over an executive order placing restrictions on mail-in voting.
New Zealand has introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from social media platforms and AI companion services. "We have protections to keep children safe in the real world and we need them in the virtual world too," said Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in announcing the bill. Jurist.org reports: The Online Safety (Minimum Age and Child Safety Risk Assessment) Bill would require an age restriction on platforms with harmful features for children. These features include recommender systems, endless feeds, feedback features and time-limited features. The bill also seeks to restrict underage users from accessing AI companion services. However, it explicitly excludes messaging apps, professional networking sites, gaming and music platforms, and other educational and health tools.
Notably, age verification through self-declared dates of birth and formal identification does not satisfy the platforms' duty under the law. It also requires platforms to verify their users' age through other methods such as facial scans and user activity patterns. The bill would also require platforms to conduct child safety risk assessments for all users under 18 and protect them from harmful content such as bullying, violence, and sexually explicit materials.
A combination of President Donald Trump’s comments about striking a deal with other countries to ease U.S. beef prices and recent reporting about slaughtered horses ignited online conspiracy theories that horse meat is being covertly sold in U.S. supermarkets.
An Aug. 23 TikTok post has text that says, “Wild Horses are Rounded up for the Slaughter just in time for ‘big beef deal’ with Foreign Governments.”
The man in the video also said, “The beef that you’re eating on store shelves might just be from a foreign country that was buying horses from the U.S. government for the slaughter…So people are now speculating that the beef you are buying from the store might just be horse meat.”.
The post included a brief clip of Trump responding to a reporter’s question about a “beef deal.” In that Aug. 21 clip, he tells a reporter he doesn’t want to say which countries the beef is coming from, but that it will be “highest-quality beef.”
“Stop buying beef immediately. Dont create a market for horse meat,” said the caption of a TikTok post, omitting punctuation.
Other userson X also said the Trump administration is selling horses to foreign countries, which are then importing the meat to the U.S.
A U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesperson told PolitiFact these claims are false, that the U.S. doesn’t import horse meat for human consumption and that it’s illegal to sell horse meat as beef.
Trump’s announcement and The New York Times’ reporting
The USDA said in January the U.S. had its lowest cattle inventory since 1951. Yet consumer demand for beef has grown about 9% over the past decade, the agency said.
Trump said Aug. 21 on Truth Social that to lower ground beef prices for Americans, for the next 90 days, the U.S. will allow up to 300,000 metric tons of beef to be imported tariff-free.
The United States Cattlemen’s Association said in an Aug. 21 statement that importing beef would hurt more U.S. ranchers, who are already facing historically high production costs, international competition, prolonged drought and extreme wildfires that have reduced access to grazing land in many states.
A day before Trump’s announcement, The New York Times reported that the federal government has been rounding up thousands of American horses to control wild populations on public lands. The report said actions by the Bureau of Land Management, the agency in charge of protecting wild horses, created a loophole leading to the cheap selling of horses to buyers who resell them to be exported alive, processed into cuts of meat and sold abroad. Slaughtering wild horses is illegal in the U.S.
The bureau didn’t respond to the Times’ questions about the horses’ sale. The Times reported that “an unattributed statement from the agency said it ‘remains dedicated to placing animals into good homes, protecting their welfare and upholding its statutory responsibilities on behalf of the American public’.”
The bureau also says on its website that it does not sell or send wild horses or burros to slaughter.
How does the meat inspection process work?
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service ensures that imported meat is safe and accurately labeled. The USDA spokesperson said the agency verifies the certification, labeling and condition of imported meat, poultry and egg products.
The USDA does laboratory sampling of imported products to confirm the product is the species stated on the label, and tests for pathogens and chemical residues, the agency said.
Only USDA-approved meat can be commercially sold; horse meat is not sold for human consumption in the U.S. Some states, such as Texas and Illinois, have laws that specifically ban selling, giving and possessing horse meat intended for human consumption.
Sam Gazdziak, American Association of Meat Processors’ communications manager, told PolitiFact that any beef that enters into a U.S. port is inspected by the inspection agency.
“The U.S. only allows meat imports from selected countries that have an inspection system that is robust enough to be considered equivalent to the U.S. system,” Gazdziak said. “If the shipment isn’t what it says it is, it isn’t permitted into the U.S. marketplace.”
The USDA’s inspection agency coordinates with the government of the importing country before accepting the product, rather than dealing with individual companies.
These imported food products are also expected to go through health inspections in their own countries and are reinspected in the U.S.
Gazdziak said that if a product isn’t inspected in the U.S. and lands on a grocery store shelf, then it’s recalled. As an example, he pointed us to an Aug. 7 recall of about 30,000 pounds of raw beef that were imported from Argentina without being reinspected in the U.S.
“That beef came from a country that was permitted to export to the U.S., but it wasn’t inspected once it got here, prompting the recall,” Gazdziak said.
Typically, the USDA sends experts to a country that wants to import meat to the U.S., so that they audits that country’s meat regulatory system. It also compares the other country’s sanitary measures of inspection with the ones in the U.S., to make sure they’re equivalent.
As of Aug. 25, there are no news reports or USDA recalls regarding beef for being sold as horse meat.
There is no evidence that American horse meat is being imported into the country as beef, and there are guardrails to prevent that from happening. We rate this claim False.
The Trump administration said it may need to demolish the Kennedy Center if a plan to close the building for two years as part of a controversial renovation project pushed by President Trump and the organization's board is blocked.
New board currently around 120 miles. Should I be concerned about this rust looking powder? It could be fertilizer or pollen but I'm not sure. I keep wiping it away and finding more randomly.
One thing to note is that this stuff is everywhere like the power button and grab handles. Which makes me think it might not be concerning.
If you’re a newer rider and struggling with activation, it might be worth taking a look at your grip.
Most grip tape spreads your weight pretty broadly across the sensor. For some riders—especially newer or lighter riders—that can make activation feel inconsistent or just plain frustrating.
That’s why we made Good Day Grip. Our nubbed surface is mapped directly to the sensor zones, concentrating pressure where it matters and giving you a more predictable, locked-in feel from the moment you step on.
We’re a family of riders, and honestly, nothing kills confidence faster than wondering whether your board is actually going to activate when you need it to. When you can stop thinking about your feet and start trusting your grip, your whole body can relax into the ride. That’s when things start to click—and you can really start finding that flow.
We’ve got 20+ art-forward designs, 16 footpad styles, and 3 nub profile heights, so you can dial in both the look and feel you want.
If you’re curious, check us out at gooddaygrip.com. Use code NOOB15 for 15% off your first order.
And if you’re new to Onewheel and have questions about activation, grip, or anything else, drop us a line. We’re happy to help. 🤙
Elon Musk's space company plans to spend $100 billion to build a new spaceport in Louisiana to launch rockets, state officials and the company announced.
Arrest of Luis Manuel Aviles, 48, sparked backlash as he was detained while his son, Joshua, was deployed in Middle East
The father of a US navy sailor who has been deployed in the Middle East for a record-breaking nine months on the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier has been released from immigration detention, according to his family.
His arrest sparked intense backlash after the Associated Press reported that his son was entering his ninth month on the Lincoln with the navy when his father was detained. The carrier had just set a US military record for uninterrupted time at sea and has raised concerns about supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among those serving onboard.
One more day of testimony expected as closing arguments set for Thursday and jury likely begins deliberations Friday
One more day of rebuttal testimony was expected this week in the trial against Lindsay Clancy, followed by closing statements likely on Thursday.
The jury, which will likely begin deliberations on Friday, will decide whether the Massachusetts mother was experiencing postpartum psychosis when she killed her three children in January 2023.
(The Center Square) – A federal agency estimated it will cost about $140 billion to enrich uranium for national security through 2105, but hasn't reported that figure to Congress as required, a watchdog found.
Aug. 25, 2026 — A Yale-led multidisciplinary team of researchers has been awarded a $37.5 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) for a center aimed at designing practical and self-correcting quantum computers from top to bottom and pointing the way forward for industry to build reliable machines.
The grant is one of eight that NSF has awarded for large-scale interdisciplinary research centers known as Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes that address major challenges at the frontiers of quantum information science and technology.
The Yale-led NSF quantum center brings together physicists, engineers, computer scientists, and chemists from Yale and partner universities to tackle quantum computing’s biggest obstacle: error correction. Photo credit: Tony Fiorini.
Quantum computing holds the promise of solving a range of problems that are nearly impossible for classical computers. Potential applications in materials science, drug design, and more could enhance quality of life and drive economic growth. One of the main challenges, though, is that quantum machines are much more prone to error than classical machines. That’s because qubits— the units of information in quantum computing — are very fragile. In comparison, the ones and zeros of conventional computers are incredibly robust, but quantum states can easily be affected by noise and other factors in their environment.
To be reliable and practical, quantum computers must be able to detect and correct errors in these machines faster than they occur.
“Today, error correction is the main scientific and engineering challenge for making quantum computing useful,” said Professor Robert Schoelkopf, director of the center. “With this project, we want to understand the science and engineering that makes the computers better and easier to build. We’ll come up with new ideas at all levels of the stack to make error correction and fault-tolerant machines much more achievable, efficient, and practical.”
To that end, the research team will launch a new effort titled the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Physics and Engineering of Practical Quantum Error Correction (NSF PRACTIQAL), a center that brings together computer scientists, chemists, physicists, and engineers from numerous universities. NSF PRACTIQAL is focused on making advances at every level of the quantum computer, from the physical qubits and control electronics to the way algorithms are run. The center is designed to foster a community of scientists and engineers from a wide range of disciplines who can contribute to a comprehensive understanding of the hardware and software needed to realize large-scale, error-corrected quantum computing.
“Part of the reason we have not just physicists, but engineers and computer scientists, is so we can understand the physics of the devices and the kind of errors that occur, and then optimize the codes and the algorithms to work with that,” said Schoelkopf, the Sterling Professor of Applied Physics.
NSF PRACTIQAL will primarily focus on two challenges in quantum computing. One is identifying key issues that have hindered the scaling of error-corrected machines and finding ways to make quantum error correction more practical and efficient. Second, the researchers will explore the uses of specially designed qubits known as “erasure qubits.” Pioneered by members of the PRACTIQAL team, these qubits act as flags that signal exactly where and when an error has occurred.
Researchers in the field typically work on one specific component of quantum computing. While this component could work perfectly on its own, though, it might not work well as part of a larger system made from components developed in other labs. By applying their individual specialties in a coordinated fashion, the PRACTIQAL team aims to develop a quantum computing system in which the whole machine is optimized. For instance, the hardware and software will be designed to run the same types of code so that the machines run more efficiently and be less prone to errors.
Michael Hatridge, co-director of PRACTIQAL, noted that much of the work in this area has been done on very small machines optimized for error correction. The PRACTIQAL group aims to shorten the route to large-scale, error corrected quantum computers.
“Because we’re academics, we’re not going to build a giant system, but we’ll prove our ideas and build a pathway towards how you could build a much bigger system,” said Hatridge, associate professor of applied physics. “That’s why we have industrial partners. We also have an external advisory board helping us not just do isolated experiments, but to stay relevant to the broader community.”
By the end of the ambitious five-year project, the researchers expect to have developed a path toward building practical error-correcting computers on an industrial scale.
“We’re looking forward to it,” Hatridge said. “PRACTIQAL is big, it’s complicated, and it has a lot of moving parts, but we’re very excited to do it.”
In addition to Schoelkopf and Hatridge, Yale faculty involved in NSF PRACTIQAL include Yongshan Ding and Lin Zhong of the Department of Computer Science and Aleksander Kubica and Shruti Puri of the Department of Applied Physics, all at Yale Engineering, as well as Steven Girvin and Konrad Lehnert of the Department of Physics and Victor Batista of the Department of Chemistry.
Right on schedule – as always – there’s a new Genode OS Framework release, version 26.08.
The highlights of Genode 26.08 are VirtualBox 7, improved PC performance of our custom microkernel, the new ability to transparently reconfigure virtual file systems, revised timing and timeout handling, and a Linux 6.18.19 device-driver environment for ARM. Furthermore, the first version of a Goa-based SDK has become natively available for Sculpt OS.
The release announcement linked above is a mere quick overview; if you want all the possible details you could want, the release notes got you covered.
(The Center Square) - A Trump-appointed federal judge has ruled in favor of a private prison company in its legal battle against a new Colorado law requiring more health and safety inspections for immigration detention facilities.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 25, 2026 — NVIDIA today announced NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 2, a new robotics computer set to redefine entry-level edge AI — putting frontier-class generative AI performance in the hands of millions of developers.
Credit: Shutterstock
As AI models grow smaller and more efficient, more edge devices can become autonomous systems that understand context, interpret language and images, and act in real time. To bring these capabilities into physical machines like robots, delivery and inspection drones, and vision AI systems, developers need compact, energy-efficient robotics computers built for edge AI.
“Today’s small and medium frontier models have reached the accuracy of last year’s largest frontier models, unlocking real-time intelligence for edge devices,” said Deepu Talla, vice president of robotics and edge AI at NVIDIA. “The Jetson Orin Nano 2 computer puts that breakthrough within reach of millions of developers, delivering the performance and energy efficiency needed for real-time reasoning at the edge.”
Cognex, Doosan Bobcat and Matic are among the first to adopt and explore Jetson Orin Nano 2.
A Major Leap for Entry-Level Edge AI
Featuring 78 trillion operations per second of AI compute, 8GB of memory and an 8-core Arm CPU, Jetson Orin Nano 2 delivers a significant leap in AI and video-processing performance in a cost-effective, power-efficient system.
Jetson Orin Nano 2 achieves 2x the inference performance of Jetson Orin Nano Super through improved Tensor Cores and higher memory bandwidth, while maintaining the same compact form factor. In 15-watt mode, Jetson Orin Nano 2 consumes 40% less power to deliver the same performance as its predecessor.
Powered by NVIDIA’s open software stack, NVIDIA Jetson agent skills and a rich AI ecosystem, Jetson Orin Nano 2 enables developers to run the latest large language models and vision language models optimized for memory-efficient edge inference — including open models like NVIDIA Cosmos and NVIDIA Nemotron, Gemma 4 and Qwen 3 — to rapidly build advanced AI applications.
Partner Ecosystem and Millions of Robotics Developers Build on Jetson
More than 3 million developers are building on NVIDIA’s robotics stack, and with Jetson Orin Nano 2, partners like Cognex, Doosan Bobcat, Matic and Wing are bringing real-world edge AI applications to compact devices, including home robots, vision AI systems, delivery and inspection drones, carrier boards, hardware systems and reference solutions.
Wing, a leading drone delivery company and subsidiary of Alphabet, is using Jetson Orin Nano Super and the NVIDIA software stack in its delivery drone fleet — and plans to evaluate Jetson Orin Nano 2 to advance real-time AI perception and reasoning for faster, safer delivery from local businesses to residential yards.
“Drone delivery depends on AI that can enable fast, reliable understanding of the real world,” said Dinuka Abeywardena, head of perception at Wing. “Wing is exploring Jetson Orin Nano 2 to give us a path to more responsive, energy-efficient drones that can help make deliveries quicker and more dependable for customers.”
Matic Robots, an advanced consumer robotics company, is adopting Jetson Orin Nano 2 to enable more intuitive interactions with its home cleaning robots, enabling them with conversational AI, gesture detection, deeper context of the home with precision mapping and semantic understanding, and autonomous cleaning capabilities.
“Home robots need to understand people, map spaces precisely, understand the layout of objects and spaces, and clean autonomously in dynamic and constantly changing environments,” said Navneet Dalal, cofounder and CEO of Matic Robotics. “With Jetson Orin Nano 2, Matic can run state-of-the-art AI models at the edge in a compact home robotics platform built for real-time perception, interaction and navigation.”
AAEON, ADLINK, Advantech, Aetina, Antmicro, Aptiv, Auvidea, AVerMedia, Chuanglebo, Connect Tech, ForeCR, JWIPC, Neurealm, Plink, Realtimes, RidgeRun, RS, Seeed Studio, Tauro Tech, Twowin, TZTEK and YUAN are among other Jetson partners building carrier boards, hardware systems, customized AI software and reference solutions to help customers accelerate time to market.
Availability
The NVIDIA Jetson Orin Nano 2 module and developer kit are expected to be available in the first half of 2027.
About NVIDIA
NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) is the world leader in AI and accelerated computing.
The FDA has authorized the first wearable in the U.S. to continuously monitor ketone levels and the first device globally to track both ketones and glucose together in a single system. From a report: [Abbott's] Libre Duo 10 Day continuously measures both glucose and ketone levels in the fluid just beneath the skin every minute, day and night. Readings are transmitted wirelessly to a compatible smartphone, where users can view current glucose and ketone levels and whether those values are trending up or down. The device also can send automatic alerts if ketone levels reach a concerning threshold. The FDA noted that ketone information should be interpreted in the context of glucose readings and symptoms.
Ketones are produced when the body uses fat instead of glucose for energy. When ketone levels rise too high, patients with diabetes can develop diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a serious complication that can progress quickly and become life-threatening without prompt treatment. Until now, patients who needed ketone monitoring had to test separately using methods that provided a single measurement at one point in time. Those tests could not show whether ketone levels were rising or falling. For patients with diabetes -- particularly those at higher risk for DKA -- continuous glucose and ketone monitoring may provide earlier warning of metabolic deterioration and support timelier sick-day management, hydration, insulin adjustment, and escalation of care when clinically appropriate.
Integrated traffic generation, protocol analysis, error injection, and debugging streamline validation of next-generation AI networks.
MILPITAS, Calif., Aug. 25, 2026 — Teledyne LeCroy, a business unit of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated and a worldwide leader in protocol test solutions, today announced expanded Ultra Ethernet validation capabilities on the Xena Z1608 Edun and Xena Z800 Freya Ethernet Traffic Generators and the SierraNet M1288 Protocol Analyzer platforms. These solutions are designed to help network equipment manufacturers, silicon providers, cloud service providers, and hyperscalers accelerate the development and deployment of high-performance Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC) networks.
The integrated solution combines wire-speed traffic generation, stateful message testing, deep protocol analysis, error injection, packet capture, and advanced debugging to deliver end-to-end visibility into network behavior—accelerating root-cause analysis, strengthening interoperability validation, and reducing deployment risk for next-generation AI networking infrastructure.
As AI and HPC infrastructure scales, network performance, reliability, interoperability, and deterministic low latency are essential to efficient scale-up and scale-out fabrics. Ultra Ethernet, an open Ethernet-based architecture designed for AI and HPC environments, addresses these requirements through enhanced congestion management, scalability, and reliability mechanisms.
The Xena Z1608 Edun and Z800 Freya Ethernet Traffic Generators and the SierraNet M1288 Protocol Analyzer provide comprehensive validation of critical Ultra Ethernet capabilities across high-speed PAM4 and legacy NRZ interfaces through wire-speed traffic generation, deep protocol analysis, stateful message testing, error injection, packet capture, and advanced debugging:
Link Layer Retry (LLR)
Credit-Based Flow Control (CBFC)
Link Layer Discover Protocol (LLDP)
Stateful Ultra Ethernet protocol messaging
Protocol error injection
Message inspection and packet capture
The Xena Z800 Freya and SierraNet M1288 also support 10G and 25G NRZ speeds, extending Ultra Ethernet validation to chip emulation, pre-silicon functional testing, and mixed-speed interoperability environments.
Availability
The Xena Z1608 Edun and Z800 Freya Ethernet Traffic Generators and SierraNet M1288 Protocol Analyzer with Ultra Ethernet support are available for purchase today. Contact Teledyne LeCroy for product information, technical specifications, configuration guidance, and regional availability. Learn more about Teledyne LeCroy Ultra Ethernet test solutions at: https://www.teledynelecroy.com/serialdata/artificial_intelligence.
Teledyne LeCroy is a leading manufacturer of advanced oscilloscopes, protocol analyzers, and other test instruments that help engineers verify performance, validate compliance, and debug complex electronic systems quickly and thoroughly. Since 1964, the company has focused on incorporating powerful analysis tools into innovative products that enhance “Time-to-Insight.” Faster time to insight helps users identify and resolve defects sooner, improving time to market across a wide range of applications and end markets. Teledyne LeCroy is based in Chestnut Ridge, New York. For more information, visit teledynelecroy.com.
Lawyer Baltasar Garzón, representing Chambers, said case against his client is ‘very strange’ as US requests extradition
FBI agents raided the Ibiza, Spain, vacation rental of 41-year-old James “Fergie” Chambers, a US citizen and wealthy donor to leftwing and humanitarian projects worldwide, in the days following his arrest last month, the Guardian has learned.
Baltasar Garzón, a human rights lawyer representing Chambers, revealed the details in an exclusive interview. Chambers is wanted for extradition by the Trump administration for alleged financial support of Hamas, as well as other charges.
(The Center Square) – Tennessee leaders described Dolly Parton as an "iconic leader" and "beacon of light" following her death on Tuesday at the age of 80.
A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter out of Fort Campbell in Kentucky made an apparently unplanned landing in a wooded area of the Colorado foothills west of Denver.
(The Center Square) – Sixteen state attorneys general are calling on the “Big Four Accounting Firms” by letter for accountability over their actions that prioritize Environmental, Social, Governance investment strategies and climate goals, which will prove to be detrimental to…
I'm just wondering if anyone can explain the benefits and uses of a one zone sensor vs a two zone sensor? I put my board into two zone mode to enable heel lift stops but then I had an incident where I was going over rough terrain, my heel came up a bit and my board shut down causing me to crash. I'm pretty sketched out by riding with a two zone sensor now but I'm wondering if there's some other reason to enable two zone that I'm not thinking of.
Also, does the heel lift stop still work when one zone sensor is enabled? I was having a hard time getting it to work but maybe it's a technique problem.
Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo, deported to Honduras, is latest military spouse to face removal amid Trump 2.0
The wife of an active-duty US soldier was deported on Monday to her native Honduras, according to her family and the federal Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Cristy Maryori Villafranca-Trejo is at least the seventh spouse or parent of an active-duty US soldier to be deported under the immigration crackdown during Donald Trump’s second presidency.
(The Center Square) - A proposed pipeline that would supply natural gas to a data center now under construction for Oracle and OpenAI in southern New Mexico has been delayed until at least early next year, according to a recent…
Alarm as Republicans warn that ‘flooding’ stores with 300,000 metric tons of beef imports will hit US farmers
Donald Trump is facing growing criticism from within his own party over his decision to temporarily pause US tariffs on foreign beef in a bid to bring down grocery prices.
The president’s announcement that the US will import up to 300,000 metric tons of foreign beef without charging higher tariffs has alarmed some senior Republicans, who warn that “flooding” stores with imports will hit US ranchers. This comes as the US faces a 75-year low in cattle inventory.
A trio of conservative and libertarian-leaning groups have asked a federal judge to force the disclosure of confidential files about undercover agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement infiltrating left-wing protest groups in Minneapolis.
The Cato Institute, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, and the Society for the Rule of Law filed a friend-of-the-court brief on Tuesday arguing that the Trump administration illegally targeted protesters based on their ideology.
A wide-ranging ICE investigation in the Twin Cities resulted in the June indictment of the protesters, widely known as the Minneapolis 15, for allegedly using criminal methods to try to block the administration’s crackdown on immigrants.
The defendants were “members and associates” of Direct Action Minnesota, a protest group that used aggressive actions to disrupt the crackdown, according to the indictment.
Yet a court filing from the defense earlier this month revealed that ICE sent undercover agents to spy on a much broader array of groups, including mainstream organizations such as local labor unions and the youth-led Sunrise Movement.
The defendants filed a motion asking the judge overseeing the case to force the disclosure of even more files, alleging that they will show that the government illegally targeted left-wing protesters for their politics rather than their alleged crimes.
On Tuesday, the right and libertarian-leaning groups came to the left-wing protesters’ aid with the friend-of-the-court brief. The groups, which are represented by the legal nonprofit Protect Democracy, argue that the facts revealed so far support the defendants’ claims.
The groups pointed out that some of the government’s own files say the origins of the investigation into left-wing protesters lies in a memo that President Donald Trump issued after the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk.
Known as National Security Presidential Memorandum 7, or NSPM-7, the memo called for a crackdown on groups espousing “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, and anti-Christianity,” accusing the groups of terrorism and political violence.
“The limited public disclosures here confirm the investigation for this case originated under NSPM-7,” the groups said. “Those disclosures also indicate the investigation was part of a larger strategy to target those who espoused views opposed to immigration enforcement and engaged in associational activity disfavored by the government. NSPM-7 effectively uses the domestic terrorism label to justify criminal investigations into disfavored groups that would not otherwise be targeted.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge David Schultz is set to consider the defendants’ request to force the government to hand over more confidential files at a court hearing on Thursday.
Federal prosecutors filed a motion opposing the release of more files last week, arguing that they have already turned over more evidence than legally required and the defendants have not met the high legal burden of showing that they were the targets of selective prosecution.
Prosecutors argued that the actions of alleged members of Direct Action Minnesota, or DAMN, who are accused of blockading a federal building and tailing federal agents to their homes, were a far cry from the thousands of “peaceful” protesters who took to the streets earlier this year after the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti.
“In this case, the defendants actively conspired to shut down a federal facility and they were successful on at least two occasions,” prosecutors said. “In fact, DAMN members were openly hostile and critical of individuals who advocated for peaceful, nonviolent protests.”
(The Center Square) - The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is in hot water as a prolonged legal battle revealed the state ignored policies to limit emissions tied to climate change.
Our picture editors have collated Dolly Parton’s life in pictures:
In the UK, top radio presenter Jo Whiley introduced her BBC Radio 2 evening show by playing I Will Always Love You, Jolene and 9 to 5 in tribute to Dolly Parton after her death was announced in the 7pm news headlines.
Canada announced new tariffs of up to 50 percent on hundreds of American goods in retaliation for U.S. tariffs that took effect last week. Starting Sept. 8, Canada will double tariffs on American steel and aluminum to 50 percent and impose tariffs on around 700 other products.
With her rhinestones and blond bouffant, she carved out a singular place in American life as a musician, movie star, philanthropist and feminist heroine.
Canada's cultural-content rules have become a flashpoint in its trade fight with the U.S., after American negotiators reportedly demanded that Ottawa drop requirements for streaming services to promote Canadian and French-language content. Canada refused, even as it has already backed away from some financial levies on streamers. "We were not prepared to compromise on our sovereignty, the protection of the French language, and our culture," Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a speech on Saturday after trade talks collapsed. CBC.ca reports: Ottawa has long required broadcasters to promote and support Canadian content (Cancon), all the way back to song quotas for AM radio stations. In 1991, the government brought in the Broadcasting Act. The law states that "the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians" and that the Canadian broadcasting system should "serve to safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada." But decades later, the rising popularity in Canada of streaming platforms such as Netflix, YouTube, Amazon Prime and Spotify raised questions about Cancon and broadcasting rules. Video and audio streaming services were not, for example, required to support and promote Cancon, but their TV and radio counterparts were.
Looking to address the imbalance, the former Trudeau government brought forward a bill in 2022 to update the Broadcasting Act, called the Online Streaming Act. "Canadian broadcasters have invested in and introduced us to the incredible Canadian programs that so many of us love. We are updating our laws so online streamers have to contribute in a similar and equitable way," a 2022 government news release said. The legislation was controversial from the start, with the government and supporters saying it was a necessary evolution of Canada's media laws in the digital age, while opponents expressed concerns that it was overreach and an attempt to regulate the internet.
American streamers and digital media companies opposed the legislation fiercely. The bill passed with amendments and became law in April 2023, but the government delegated much of its interpretation -- including how much money streamers would have to contribute to Cancon -- to Canada's broadcast regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). But getting streaming companies to pay up has been a long and confusing saga. [...]. As for why the U.S. government is so invested in the issue? Mariane Bourcheix-Laporte, a postdoctoral fellow in the communication studies and media arts department at McMaster University in Hamilton, said it could be about power.
"The Americans have had, since after World War II, a very strong cultural policy of pushing out American content into the world," Bourcheix-Laporte, who has worked with the CRTC, said. "This has been a strategy -- a soft-power strategy -- for the American government, in parallel to their military strategies and political alliances strategies."
Andy Burnham will face an immediate test of his backing for electoral reform in his first week in parliament as prime minister, with almost 100 Labour MPs supporting a bid for a new national commission.
Burnham, a longtime advocate of electoral reform, will be asked to support the new commission into ditching first past the post in his first 100 days as prime minister.
(The Center Square) – When Congress returns in September, it faces a backlog of legislative priorities including major bills funding U.S. farms, road and water infrastructure, and the entire federal government.
Hey folks! First reddit post ever! Glad its with the OW community. Hoping to find some folks in NYC who can spare some time to help me install a battery in my XR. Its from Battery Broker. Looking to get more understanding of how these things work, and have folks to ride with! Does anyone here know NYC based techs and riders? Thanks all!
Washington, D.C. — A legal watchdog has filed professional misconduct complaints against U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and two prosecutors over their unsuccessful effort to indict six Democratic lawmakers who appeared in a video telling military personnel to refuse unlawful orders.
The Legal Accountability Center filed complaints Tuesday against Pirro, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden in New York and Virginia. The organization alleges the prosecutors pursued “meritless” criminal charges against Sens. Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Chris Deluzio, Maggie Goodlander, Chrissy Houlahan and Jason Crow.
President Donald Trump had denounced the lawmakers’ video as seditious and wrote that their conduct was “punishable by DEATH.” The lawmakers maintained they were simply reminding service members of their legal obligation to reject unlawful commands.
A Washington grand jury declined in February to indict any of the six lawmakers, an uncommon rebuke of prosecutors seeking criminal charges.
The watchdog argues Pirro’s office allowed political pressure to override independent prosecutorial judgment and asked bar authorities to investigate whether disciplinary rules were violated.
Pirro’s office rejected the complaint as frivolous. A spokesperson said prosecutors present evidence but grand juries ultimately decide whether indictments should be issued.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth separately censured Kelly over the video, but a federal judge later blocked that punishment.
Among those charged are two Super Micro employees and one from Nvidia, marking another flashpoint in US-China AI rivalry
Taiwanese prosecutors charged nine people on Monday, including one from Nvidia and two from Super Micro, for illegally exporting “high-end AI servers” to mainland China, adding another wave of turbulence in the AI rivalry between China and the United States.
Prosecutors said the servers involved were graphics processing units known as “B300”, which have been banned from sale to China.
Perplexity and Nvidia have launched "Portable Computer," a local-first version of Perplexity's agent platform that runs AI models, files, tools, and workflows directly on Nvidia-powered Linux hardware. Local tasks incur no token charges and keep data on-device by default, with users asked for permission before the system escalates a step to a cloud model. VentureBeat reports: For Nvidia, which has spent the past two years selling the world on trillion-dollar AI data centers, the announcement signals something subtler but strategically important: the chipmaker believes local AI has crossed a threshold from hobbyist curiosity to practical tool -- and it wants to sell the hardware that runs it.
"Local AI reached an inflection point," said Nader, Nvidia's director of developer technology, who focuses on developer tooling and open source. "For the longest time, it was hobbyists and enthusiasts, and they were running these quantized models that were quantized down to be super tiny... And while that's cool, it's not super practical. But all that changed with a lot of these new open source models that have come out that are super useful."
[...] Portable Computer arrives today for Pro, Max, Enterprise Pro, and Enterprise Max subscribers on Linux, with Windows support following in September. Any RTX GPU with at least 24GB of VRAM -- roughly a GeForce RTX 3090 or newer -- clears the bar, a threshold Nate called "sort of the floor where we really want to make sure that we can deliver a great experience, but balance that with making it broadly available."
In an unsigned per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court has allowed President Donald Trump’s executive order about mail-in ballots and election integrity to move forward as other legal challenges loom over its implementation.
The opinion issued on Monday drew two dissents and included a statement in the per curiam opinion that “the Court’s disposition of this application does not mean that any measure taken by the Government to implement the Order will necessarily be lawful. On that score, time will tell.”
The March 2026 executive order from President Trump requires the United States Postal Service to deliver mail-in ballots only to people on a federal list of voters. The opinion lifted an injunction issued by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts against the executive order in Trump v. California.
On July 27, 2026, the Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to stay a preliminary injunction issued by Judge Indira Talwani. Since then, 12 states had joined the Justice Department in requesting the stay in a separate application in Trump v. California, while 23 states supported the injunction blocking the executive order.
The Supreme Court’s Per Curiam Opinion
The Court cited several factors in its majority decision justifying its conclusion. The majority held that the District Court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment due to lack of standing and ripeness. The concept of standing requires that “an injury . . . is concrete, particularized, and imminent rather than ‘conjectural or hypothetical,’” the opinion stated. Ripeness, it said, “forbids federal courts to adjudicate disputes that are dependent on ‘contingent future events that may not occur as anticipated, or indeed may not occur at all.’”
In the executive order’s Section 2(a), the Secretary of Homeland Security is empowered to create State Citizenship Lists “derived from Federal citizenship and naturalization records, SSA records, SAVE data, and other relevant Federal databases.” The Court concluded that Section 2(a) is a “provision” that represents “an internal directive from the President to a subordinate. It imposes no obligations on the States, so they ‘suffer no concrete harm from’ it. And without concrete harm, there is no standing.”
The plaintiff states in the lawsuit also challenged Section 2(b), which permits the United States Attorney General to prosecute “state and local officials or any others involved in the administration of Federal elections who issue Federal ballots to individuals not eligible to vote in a Federal election.”
The Court concluded that the challenge to Section 2(b) failed the standing test because it only directed the Attorney General to “prioritize” investigations “of those who violate existing federal laws by issuing ballots to ineligible voters. Setting prosecutorial priorities lies within the President’s Article II power,” it held.
The plaintiff states also challenged Section 3, which directs the United States Postal Service to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking about limiting mail-in or absentee ballots to individuals who have been enrolled on a State-specific list. Section 3 also requires design changes to ballot envelopes, including identifiers for individuals on State Citizenship Lists.
“According to the [plaintiff] States, this internal directive demands that they overhaul their existing election procedures. It does not. Section 3 orders the Postal Service to initiate the process of proposing a rule that might bind the States in the future. It is not a proposed rule, let alone a final rule. And it imposes no legal requirements on the States,” the Court said.
Citing those and other factors, the Court concluded that “the Order itself does not harm the States, so the District Court lacked jurisdiction to bar the Government from trying to implement it. And for the reasons discussed, that injunction is likely to irreparably harm the Government if it remains in place while the appellate process runs its course.”
The Dissents and Next Steps
In her dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, noted that the Court’s majority opinion did not “address whether the President’s attempts to interfere with States’ administration of the November 2026 elections are lawful. Nor does it suggest that the Executive Branch has any constitutional or statutory authority to implement the President’s directives. Instead, today’s decision merely postpones adjudication of those challenges.”
“A commonsense reading of the Executive Order, corroborated by the Government’s own representations, makes clear that the respondent States face a sufficiently concrete and imminent injury to satisfy Article III,” she concluded.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson found fault with the per curiam opinion’s conclusion that the “Plaintiff States lacked a concrete injury for Article III purposes.”
“This ruling violates well-established precedents concerning this Court’s equitable discretion and needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections,” Jackson said. “It also lets another shoe drop in the Kafkaesque nightmare that our precedents have been steadily creating for certain plaintiffs who seek to bring election-related challenges.”
Jackson added, “To be sure, the Court has not foreclosed States from challenging this blatantly unconstitutional Order. But it declines to explain when, exactly, is the right time to bring a meritorious election-rule claim challenging unconstitutional interference with electoral processes.”
The Court’s stay is pending the disposition of the appeal at the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and the disposition of a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Court, if a writ is sought.
Trump v. California was on the Supreme Court’s interim or emergency docket, which deals with requests for injunctive relief and stays that arrive at the Supreme Court. Decisions on the interim docket by the justices occur without full briefings and arguments. A separate challenge could also soon appear on the same docket.
On August 11, 2026, District Court Judge Talwani ruled in a separate case, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts v. Trump, where she issued a nationwide injunction against the Trump executive order on constitutional grounds. On Monday, the League of Women Voters filed a motion with the district court in response to the U.S. Postal Service’s issuance of a final rule to implement Section 3 on August 21, 2026. In a separate statement, the League said, “[T]he district court’s order in our case blocking USPS from proceeding with the Rule remains in place, and we will fight to keep it that way or to secure new relief.”
While the challenges play out in court, there is a limited period to change procedures for the mail-in ballots process if they are required. In all, 37 states and the District of Columbia allow mail-in voting without electors citing a reason, and 10 states send out mail-in ballots at least 45 days in advance of election day.
Scott Bomboy is the editor in chief of the National Constitution Center.
(The Center Square) – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, trailing fiscally throughout his campaign against Democrat Roy Cooper, is getting a portion of the gap filled in by the Senate Leadership Fund led by his party’s campaign group and…
Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader in the US House of Representatives, has defended his meeting with Jared Kushner and claimed it was arranged at the request of Donald Trump’s son-in-law.
Jeffries, who has come under attack from Democrats since the New York Times reported on Sunday that the two met privately to discuss common ground on issues like housing, immigration and the high cost of living, said he agreed to the meeting “to discuss the affordability crisis” in the US.
Iran’s top trade partners include China, Iraq, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. But the Trump administration has not said who new sanctions would target, or how so.
Will an Aug. 24, 2026, Supreme Court decision lead to chaos in the midterm elections? An election law scholar dissects the decision, its background and possible effects.
Raleigh, North Carolina — Former Miss North Carolina USA Brittany Boltinhouse has sued the Miss USA organization and state pageant operators, alleging they defamed her by portraying her as racist, homophobic and transphobic after stripping her of her title earlier this month.
The lawsuit, filed in Duplin County Superior Court, names Miss USA Chairman Thom Brodeur, JKN Universe LLC and A Blaize Productions LLC. Boltinhouse is not challenging the pageant’s authority to remove her or asking to be reinstated. Instead, she claims statements made after her removal damaged her reputation and professional opportunities.
Boltinhouse acknowledges that old social-media posts resurfaced, including six posts from 2017 and 2019 in which she used a racial slur as a teenager. She argues, however, that pageant officials used those posts along with her support for President Donald Trump and the late Charlie Kirk to create a misleading public narrative about her views.
Her complaint also alleges officials pressured her to approve an apology portraying her as bigoted and later referenced that statement publicly despite her objections.
Miss USA previously said Boltinhouse was removed after a review of conduct that conflicted with the organization’s standards. The lawsuit seeks damages and a jury trial.
Runner-up Myla Hadley replaced Boltinhouse and will represent North Carolina at the Miss USA competition beginning Aug. 27.
Columbus, Ohio — A 26-year-old Ohio man has been charged in federal court after authorities say he sent graphic threats to kill President Donald Trump and Republican Rep. Randy Fine of Florida.
The Justice Department identified the suspect as Alex Miller. Prosecutors allege Miller emailed Fine with threats against the congressman and his family, including language about beheading Fine and a declaration of “DEATH TO DONALD TRUMP!!” The message also contained antisemitic and Nazi-related insults directed at Fine, who is Jewish.
According to federal investigators, the threat was reported and traced quickly, with the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Capitol Police and Brevard County Sheriff’s Office working together. Miller was arrested within roughly 36 hours.
Fine said after the arrest that political disagreement cannot justify threats of violence and that such conduct has no place in American politics.
The case comes amid heightened concern over threats against elected officials from across the political spectrum. Prosecutors will still have to show that Miller’s alleged statements constituted a legally actionable “true threat,” rather than protected political speech.
If convicted on the federal threat charge, Miller could face up to five years in prison.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: For years, AI industry watchers of all stripes have been warning of a coming jobs apocalypse driven by ultra-intelligent AI systems that will be able to replicate most human tasks more cheaply. Now, newly updated research from Stanford University economists suggests AI seems to be causing significant entry-level job losses for younger workers in some fields, even as older workers appear largely unaffected so far.
The August 2026 edition of "Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence" updates and revises a paper of the same name published last year with fresh data and refined statistics. In that update, the Stanford researchers find the employment trends they identified for entry-level workers last year are persisting and expanding. Specifically, employment levels for workers ages 22 to 25 in the most "AI-exposed" occupations are now 19 percent below those of their peers in fields less exposed to AI disruption. Last year, that gap measured just 13 percent.
[...] Digging deeper into the data, the researchers found that this phenomenon is mainly manifesting itself through lower hiring rates for entry-level workers in AI-impacted fields, rather than increased firings or employees quitting. They also found that the labor market effects among this age group were mostly seen in lower overall employment, rather than reduced pay rates. But not all jobs that show potential for AI "disruption" are created equal, the researchers found. In its Economic Index, Anthropic differentiates between queries related to tasks that are "automative" (i.e., fully replacing work previously done by a human) or "augmentative" (i.e., helping human workers be more effective at tasks they are still needed for). By this measure, jobs like "accountants and auditors" and "receptionists and information clerks" were among those judged most susceptible to AI automation, while jobs like "chief executive" and "registered nurse" were among those using AI augmentation most often.
Unsurprisingly, jobs where AI automation is prevalent are the ones showing the worst relative employment levels for entry-level workers these days. "The findings are consistent with automation-oriented uses of AI substituting for labor while complementary uses are associated with flat or rising employment," the researchers write. Interestingly, the researchers found that the impact is strongest in entry-level jobs built around "codified" knowledge, which is the formal, documented skills that AI can more easily replicate. Meanwhile, experienced workers in roles relying on tacit, practice-based knowledge have seen stronger employment growth.
Dolly Parton, one of the greatest singer-songwriters in country music who was also much cherished for her philanthropy, has died aged 80.
Her death was announced by nephew Brian Seaver on Instagram. “I have imagined the heaviness of this moment but haven’t truly felt it until now,” he said. “It is an honour, an honour that is mixed with absolute pride and great sadness.”
The White House has provided no federal data to support President Donald Trump’s claims that because of his “no tax on tips” policy, “440,000 tipped workers” in Nevada “saved an average of $10,000 on their taxes,” and “130,000 tipped workers” in Georgia “saved an average of more than $7,000 on their taxes.”
Instead of actual tax savings, the president may have been referring to the average amount some workers in those states were able to deduct from their federal taxable income in 2025. The actual savings would be a fraction of that, depending on a person’s tax rate.
The president also may be exaggerating the number of Nevadans and Georgians who were able to claim a tips deduction.
Trump talked about the savings for tipped workers in Nevada during an economic speech at the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa in Las Vegas on Aug. 5.
“This past filing season, 440,000 tipped workers right here in Nevada saved an average of $10,000 on their taxes,” he said. “Think of that, just on the no tax on tips. So, that means every worker saved — this is put out by the government, check it out. … They say, ‘Oh, it wasn’t $10,000. It was $9,912.’ Think of it, every worker made $10,000 more money. That’s all because of the fact that I said I was going to do it and I got it done.”
He made a similar claim in a July 22 speech in Georgia, in which he said, “This past filing season, 130,000 tipped workers right here in Georgia saved an average of more than $7,000 on their taxes. And that’s because of no tax on tips.”
When we asked for supporting evidence, White House spokesman Kush Desai said that the administration’s tax policies were helping Americans nationwide save money – but he did not provide the “government” source for Trump’s figures.
“President Trump is right: tens of millions of working-class Americans are saving thousands of dollars on his signature no tax on tips, overtime, and Social Security provisions in the Working Families Tax Cut. That is especially true in Nevada, the birthplace of President Trump’s no-tax-on-tips pledge,” Desai said in an emailed statement.
However, we did not find support for the president’s claims.
A Deduction Isn’t the Amount Saved in Taxes
On July 4, 2025, Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which, among other things, created a temporary federal income tax deduction of up to $25,000 in qualified tips. The deduction – which is available each tax year from 2025 through 2028 – begins to phase out when modified adjusted gross income exceeds $150,000 for a single filer or $300,000 for a married couple filing jointly. The deduction is reduced by $100 for every $1,000 above those thresholds.
So, although Trump refers to this tax policy as “no tax on tips,” the law does not eliminate all taxes on tipped income. Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes still apply, for example.
More important, a federal tax deduction does not reduce taxes paid dollar for dollar. It reduces the amount of income on which the IRS calculates federal income tax, as Aparna Mathur, a senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, explained to us in an email.
“What the President is referring to is not the actual tax savings from the tips deduction, but likely the average amount of income that a tipped worker is deducting from their taxable income,” Mathur wrote. “This is not a direct reduction in taxes but rather a reduction in income subject to taxes.”
For example, based on the federal tax brackets for 2025, if a tipped worker with taxable income between $11,926 and $48,475, with a 12% marginal tax rate, received a $10,000 deduction from their federal taxable income, the tax savings from that deduction would be about $1,200. If that same person received a $7,000 deduction, their federal income taxes would be reduced by $840.
In theory, as the deduction amount and marginal tax rate increase, so does the potential tax cut. As the Bipartisan Policy Center noted in February, the largest tax cut possible would be about $6,000 for someone in the 24% tax bracket with the highest gross income – $150,000 for a single filer and $300,000 for a married couple – allowed to claim the full $25,000 tip deduction.
But Mathur said the tax savings would be lower for people who already have little income tax liability due to claiming the standard federal tax deduction, which in 2025 was $15,750 for individual filers and $31,500 for married couples. “If their taxable income is already close to zero, there is no further tax liability to reduce, so the tips deduction provides them no additional value,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Tax Policy Center estimated in August 2025 that about 3% of U.S. households would benefit from the deduction of tipped income, and it estimated an average savings of about $1,400 among those households. Trump’s own White House Council of Economic Advisers had estimated in June 2025 that the tax provision for tipped income would increase affected workers’ average take-home pay by about $1,300 a year.
“It’s hard to think of a realistic scenario where the average tipped worker gets a tax savings equal to $7000 or $9000,” Mathur said. But she told us that the Tax Policy Center has not produced state-level estimates.
Notably, in a June 2 press release, the Treasury Department said that through the April tax-filing deadline, more than 7.5 million tax filers in the U.S. had used the tips deduction, and the department reported an “average deduction of over $7,000.”
The White House used similar language in an April news release in which it said 6 million tax filers nationwide had reported an average tips deduction exceeding $7,100 at that point in the filing season.
The Treasury and White House releases did not refer to the $7,000 figure as a tax cut, refund or the average amount saved by taxpayers.
Number of Beneficiaries Unknown
It’s also unlikely that 440,000 tipped workers in Nevada and 130,000 in Georgia claimed the tips deduction, as Trump said.
In a September 2025 analysis, the Nevada Independent, an online news outlet, reported that “approximately 444,000 Nevadans, or more than a quarter of the state’s workforce, could theoretically be covered by the No Tax on Tips provision of the Republican megabill.” But it said, “the number who will actually see more money in their pockets is likely far lower.”
The Nevada Independent calculated that large figure by taking a preliminary Treasury Department list of tipped professions affected by the tax policy and cross-referencing it with Bureau of Labor Statistics data on the estimated number of people in Nevada working in those occupations.
But Yale Budget Lab Associate Director of Policy Research John Ricco told the news outlet that the Treasury’s list was overly broad. “Not everyone who works in these occupations will get tips,” Ricco was quoted as saying.
In 2024, the Tax Policy Center estimated that the number of tipped employees in Nevada was much lower – about 5% of its workers, or about 80,000 people as of June.
Then in April, when the Treasury and the IRS finalized federal regulations defining qualified tips and listing the jobs “that customarily and regularly received tips” on or before Dec. 31, 2024, they noted that broad federal occupation codes sometimes combine tipped and non-tipped jobs. They also warned against using the provided occupation codes as the sole measure of whether workers customarily received tips. Tax-return data included in the regulation show why.
In the 2023 tax year, 82.8% of people in the relevant bartender category reported at least $100 in tips, according to a table that was included in the published regulations. The figure was 74.5% for wait staff and 70.9% for gambling dealers. The percentages fell sharply in other eligible professions. Only 11% of dishwashers, 2.7% of maids and housekeeping cleaners, and 0.1% of electricians reported at least $100 in tips, the data show.
So, counting every worker in those occupation groups would likely produce a much larger figure than the actual number of people who reported qualified tips.
It’s less clear where Trump may have gotten the figure of 130,000 Georgia workers claiming the tips deduction.
The Georgia Department of Labor reported 5.3 million employed state residents as of July. Trump’s 130,000 figure would be about 2.5% of that number.
In its 2024 analysis, the Tax Policy Center, citing the Yale Budget Lab, said that about 2% of workers nationally held jobs that regularly received tips. TPC found higher percentages in many Southern states.
That could support 130,000 as a rough estimate of Georgia workers in tipped occupations, but it still does not mean that 130,000 people in the state took the federal deduction and received tax savings as a result.
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.
Ken Paxton, a Republican candidate for the US Senate in Texas, has unveiled plans to tackle the “negative impact” of datacenters amid a growing backlash across the political spectrum.
Paxton, endorsed by Donald Trump but facing a close contest against Democrat James Talarico, posted a “Texas first” datacenter plan on X with a graphic that the social media network flagged as “Made with AI”.
I call this one FlowTrail - basically it's an event tracking system with LED integrations. Think Mario Kart ghost laps, but on a trail late in the evening.
I've added some features in for races as well with rider detection, fall detection (and severity based on inferred energy changes). Working on adding on maybe some form of camera/Lidar sensor for extra effects - but for now the motion tracking working is good enough for me
At least 47 people were killed and more than 50 others kidnapped when armed men attacked a once peaceful community near Haiti’s capital at the weekend, the UN has said.
A gang leader has threatened to kill the hostages if authorities kill any gang members as they try to secure the community of Kenscoff, nestled in the hills above Port-au-Prince.
Tariffs on Canada, threats against Iran’s partners and bond market intervention show a president weaponising US power while making Americans poorer at home
Three moves in the last week have exposed the limits of Donald Trump’s economic bullying. The US slapped 50% tariffs on another $20bn of Canadian goods – then threatened the same rate on the cars, trucks, parts and steel that America Inc depends on. On Monday, the Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, menaced Iran’s trading partners with exclusion from the US financial network, hoping that coercion can deliver what months of war have not. And as the costs of war, tariffs and pro-billionaire tax cuts helped send US bond yields higher, the Treasury stepped in to tame long-term rates. These are not contradictory policies but a gamble: that US economic power can be repeatedly weaponised without reducing others’ willingness to depend on it.
The Trump administration’s “D-day” sanctions are potentially the most consequential because they expose the scaffolding of American financial power. While markets shrugged off the immediate threat, that calculation might change were the US to target a major Chinese refinery or bank. Such an escalation could spark a trade war with Beijing. The US has leverage. But China has pressure points – especially farmers in Republican states – that make using it costly. In the long run, there is a price to pay. Nations hold one another’s currencies partly because they trust the political relationship. Mr Trump is testing what happens when they don’t.
AMD will offer the first Versal adaptive SoCs supporting Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express connectivity, enabling direct communication with co-packaged chiplets built for specialized workloads.
Aug. 25, 2026 — AMD will offer the first Versal adaptive SoCs with native support for Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) 1.1 interfaces, enabling low-power, high-bandwidth communication between co-packaged AMD adaptive SoCs and specialized chiplets.
Credit: AMD
As designers seek greater flexibility, higher performance and faster development cycles, monolithic devices are giving way to modular chiplet-based systems built from specialized silicon components in a single package. UCIe, an open industry standard, allows system designers to combine specialized silicon in a single package instead of redesigning large monolithic SoCs or developing a new SoC for every application. This approach can reduce latency, power, size, development cost and complexity while accelerating time to market and giving designers greater flexibility to reuse proven silicon IP.
“The semiconductor industry is entering a new era where innovation is increasingly driven by chiplet architectures that combine specialized chiplets to meet specific use cases,” said Kirk Saban, corporate vice president, Product, Software and Solutions, AMD Embedded. “AMD Versal RF Series chiplets are uniquely positioned to be the starting point to harness UCIe connectivity, bringing heterogeneous compute architecture with up to 80 TOPS of DSP compute, integrated RF converters and SWAP-C benefits to customers and unlocking the next generation of adaptive RF systems.”
AMD Versal RF Series devices will be the first Versal adaptive SoCs to enable UCIe 1.1 connectivity. They will support up to four independent UCIe-SP (standard-package) interfaces and up to two UCIe-AP (advanced-package) interfaces, providing multi-terabit per second aggregate in-package bandwidth. Additional AMD adaptive SoCs with UCIe support will be added as the market matures.
Envisioned applications with commercial or custom UCIe chiplets: RF AFEs, AI, specialized compute, CPO / fiber.
Versal RF Series adaptive SoCs integrate high-resolution RF data converters, dedicated hard intellectual property (IP) for DSP, AI Engines and programmable logic in a single-chip device. They offer up to 80 TOPS (trillion operations per second) of heterogeneous DSP compute and significant SWAP-C (size, weight, power and cost) benefits by combining the functionality of six devices into a single package.
Adding UCIe connectivity will expand these capabilities significantly by allowing Versal RF Series chiplets to communicate directly with co-packaged chiplets optimized for specific workloads, such as:
Third-party RF AFEs or data converters
AI acceleration chiplets
CPUs
GPU specialized compute
Custom security engines
Communications processors
Application-specific ASICs
Chiplets move specialized functions closer together. Historically, integrating RF front ends, AI accelerators, optical interfaces, memory subsystems or custom ASICs required board-level connections that can add latency, power consumption, size and design complexity. UCIe provides a standardized in-package interconnect, enabling efficient communication between heterogeneous chiplets, including silicon from different vendors.
Benefits of UCIe will enable customers to build customized systems leveraging existing, proven chiplets, eliminating time and helping lower the cost to redesign large monolithic SoCs. These benefits include:
High-bandwidth chiplet-to-chiplet communication
Reduced latency and improved power efficiency compared to AMD devices with board-level GTM2 serialized interfaces
Reuse of proven silicon IP
Potential for lower development costs
Faster time to market
Design flexibility through chiplet integration
The introduction of UCIe connectivity for select Versal RF Series adaptive SoCs transforms the device into a scalable chiplet platform capable of serving a broad range of next-generation RF, AI, networking and communications applications and enables SWAP-C reduction.
Production chiplets are expected to be available with select Versal RF Series devices in the fourth quarter of 2027.
About AMD
AMD (NASDAQ: AMD) drives innovation in high-performance and AI computing to solve the world’s most important challenges. Today, AMD technology powers billions of experiences across cloud and AI infrastructure, embedded systems, AI PCs and gaming. With a broad portfolio of AI-optimized CPUs, GPUs, networking and software, AMD delivers full-stack AI solutions that provide the performance and scalability needed for a new era of intelligent computing.
For longtime fans, the evening offers an opportunity to revisit music connected to their lives. For younger guests, it provides something recordings and movie clips cannot fully reproduce: the communal excitement of hearing the songs performed by a live band in a historic theater.
The veteran tribute artist will recreate the excitement of an Elvis concert Friday in the historic Main Hall in downtown Wilmington.
WILMINGTON — The music, movement and unmistakable stage presence of Elvis Presley will return to downtown Wilmington when Jesse Garron’s Tribute to Elvis performs Friday, Aug. 28, at The Queen.
The all-ages show begins at 8 p.m., with doors opening at 7 p.m. in The Queen’s Main Hall.
Garron has performed his tribute since 1997, developing a full concert experience supported by live musicians and female backup vocalists. His show focuses heavily on Presley’s concert years, complete with period-inspired costumes, audience interaction and the scarf serenades associated with Elvis’ Las Vegas performances.
It is designed to be more than a collection of familiar songs. Garron attempts to recreate the energy and emotional connection that made an Elvis concert an event.
Known professionally as “The Closest Thing to the King,” Garron was inducted into the International Elvis Tribute Artist Hall of Fame in 2019. His stage name also carries a personal connection to Presley: Jesse Garon Presley was Elvis’ twin brother, who was stillborn.
A performer inspired by Elvis
Garron became interested in Presley at age 4 and first performed an Elvis tribute during a high school talent show at 17, according to his biography.
He later moved from performing with prerecorded tracks to leading a professional touring production. The current show features a live band, backup singers and arrangements intended to capture the sound and scale of Presley’s later concerts.
Garron has performed across the country and was invited to appear for the U.S. Embassy in Algiers. His tribute has also shared bills with performers including Wayne Newton, The Commodores, Little Big Town and Bret Michaels.
The show reaches across Presley’s catalog, drawing from rock ’n’ roll, pop, country, gospel and traditional ballads. Songs featured in Garron’s repertoire include “Burning Love,” “Always on My Mind,” “In the Ghetto,” “Moody Blue” and “You Gave Me a Mountain.”
More information about Garron and samples of his performances are available on the performer’s official website.
Why Elvis continues to matter
Nearly 50 years after Presley’s death, his music continues to find listeners who were not alive during his career.
Older fans may connect Elvis with personal memories of his recordings, films and television appearances. Younger listeners often encounter him through movies, streaming services, social media and the artists he influenced.
Presley’s lasting importance also comes from the range of his music. His performances brought together elements of country, blues, gospel and rhythm and blues during a transformative period in American popular culture. His voice, clothing, movement and command of an audience helped establish a model for the modern music superstar.
His career remains part of a more complicated conversation about the Black artists and musical traditions that helped shape rock ’n’ roll. That history does not diminish Presley’s impact, but it provides important context for understanding the cultural moment in which he became famous.
For tribute performers such as Garron, the goal is to keep the live experience accessible while acknowledging that there was only one Elvis.
A fitting room for a larger-than-life show
The Queen offers an appropriate setting for that experience. Its Main Hall combines a classical balcony, carved pillars and a historic pipe organ with contemporary lighting, sound and a full-size stage.
The building became a movie theater in 1916, when Presley was still decades away from becoming a film star himself. It closed as a theater in 1959 and remained dark for more than 50 years before reopening as a live entertainment venue in 2011.
That combination of restored history and modern concert production gives Garron’s performance a sense of occasion. The room is intimate enough for his audience interaction but large and theatrical enough to support the costumes, vocals and spectacle associated with Elvis’ concert years.
For longtime fans, the evening offers an opportunity to revisit music connected to their lives. For younger guests, it provides something recordings and movie clips cannot fully reproduce: the communal excitement of hearing the songs performed by a live band in a historic theater.
To Go
What: Jesse Garron’s Tribute to Elvis
When: Friday, Aug. 28, at 8 p.m.; doors open at 7 p.m.
Where: The Queen, Main Hall, 500 N. Market St., Wilmington
Admission: All ages; ticket prices and availability are listed on The Queen’s event page.
Box office: Open Wednesdays from 2 to 6 p.m. and 30 minutes before performances
Parking: Street parking is generally free after 5 p.m. The Renaissance Centre Garage is located nearby on East Fifth Street between Market and King streets.
China has denounced the threat of US sanctions for its trade with Iran, saying any such measures would be illegal, and warned it would take “all necessary measures” to protect its national interests.
Beijing’s rejection of the US threat of secondary sanctions for any country or entity continuing to trade with Tehran had been predicted. China buys an estimated 80% of Iran’s oil exports and has defied previous US efforts to limit the flow of revenue to the Tehran regime.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25, 2026 — The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the launch of the Quantum-Readiness Task Force, following Executive Order 14412 establishing guidelines to strengthen cryptographic protections for America’s sensitive data, critical infrastructure, and digital economy. The Task Force supports efforts to secure American innovation; strengthen supply chains; and ensure U.S. leadership in critical and emerging technologies.
Credit: christianthiel.net/Shutterstock
“America must lead in securing the technologies that power our economy,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. “This Task Force will help ensure our financial system remains strong, secure, and competitive as new technologies reshape the global landscape.”
The Quantum-Readiness Task Force is a public-private initiative to help accelerate the U.S. financial sector’s transition to quantum-safe technology in an orderly and operationally resilient manner, building on the G7 Cyber Expert Group roadmap for the transition to post-quantum cryptography. It advances President Trump’s cyber agenda by supporting the adoption of post-quantum cryptography and strengthening protections for critical financial infrastructure.
The Task Force will operate through three workstreams: Sector Alignment & PQC Transition; Third-Party & Vendor Readiness; and Digital Assets and Emerging Technology Risk.
Quantum computing has the potential to transform science and technology, but it also poses a long-term cybersecurity challenge because future quantum systems could break many of the cryptographic tools that protect financial data, payment systems, digital identities, and market infrastructure. Transitioning to post-quantum cryptography is essential to protecting U.S. economic security and strengthening the resilience of the financial system.
The Task Force will bring together government, financial institutions, financial market infrastructures, technology providers, and other private-sector leaders to support coordinated preparation for quantum-related cyber risks. It will focus on practical, risk-based approaches to quantum readiness, including identifying critical dependencies, improving cryptographic agility, promoting interoperability, strengthening operational resilience, and addressing implementation challenges related to third-party dependencies and digital assets.
“Quantum computing holds significant promise, but it also presents a serious long-term challenge to the cryptographic tools that underpin the U.S. financial system,” said Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Institutions Luke Pettit. “The Financial Sector Quantum Readiness Task Force will help ensure that the transition to quantum-safe technology is coordinated, risk-based, and operationally resilient. By bringing together government and industry to lead the transition to quantum-safe finance, the U.S. will strengthen trust in its financial system and reinforce its economic and national security.”
“Post-quantum cryptography readiness is no longer a future-proofing exercise—it is a present-day risk control,” said Deborah Guild, chair of the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council and head of Technology at PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. “The transition requires organizations to prioritize critical systems and processes, manage dependencies across the financial ecosystem, and address implementation challenges. This task force sets the conditions for industry and government to align priorities and accelerate the transition to post-quantum cryptography.”
The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes will take on some of the hardest scientific hurdles in the global race to create powerful quantum-based technologies
Aug. 25, 2026 — Understanding and wielding the quantum properties of nature is the ambitious objective of eight research institutes that will collectively receive more than $290 million from the U.S. National Science Foundation. The investment is an expansion of the NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes program, which NSF created in 2020 as part of the agency’s strategy to fulfill the 2018 “National Quantum Initiative Act.”
Credit: Shutterstock
Of the eight institutes, three are newly formed. The other five were established with previous NSF funding and will receive renewed funding from NSF to continue their work. Each institute will receive between about $28 and $37 million over five years and is helmed by researchers in quantum information science.
Since 2020, the institutes have made major scientific strides in a range of areas, from finding new ways to make quantum computers to developing quantum sensors that could one day enable earlier detection of diseases. The institutes also serve as a productive nexus between scientists, federal science agencies, quantum technology companies and educational organizations.
“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, Performing the Duties of the NSF Director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”
Quantum-based technologies, which use natural phenomena like entanglement and superposition, have the theoretical capacity to far outstrip so-called classical technologies commonly used today. For example, just as an electronic calculator can outperform an abacus, a functional quantum computer could theoretically outperform every supercomputer for certain types of tasks. Similarly, new types of quantum sensors could precisely measure properties far too subtle or even impossible for current technologies to detect. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are focused on solving the many underlying scientific and technological challenges required for quantum devices to achieve such levels of performance.
Each institute is a broadly collaborative effort spanning academia, government and private industry. Through the eight institutes, funding from NSF will support researchers in 19 states at 36 institutions of higher education. The institutes’ federal collaborators include multiple U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories, the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. More than 30 U.S. companies are partnering with the institutes to help inform and accelerate the transfer of fundamental scientific results into products and techniques that can be used and scaled up for industrial production.
NSF is also funding the institutes’ education and training programs to help grow the future U.S. scientific workforce. The institutes will collectively train hundreds of graduate students, undergraduate students and early career researchers over the next five years. The institutes carry out that training through partnerships and activities with community colleges, dozens of universities and high schools, and community science organizations. Their educational activities span internships and summer schools, K-12 teacher programs and unique mentorship opportunities with leading experts in quantum information research.
NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Physics and Engineering of Practical Quantum Error Correction (NSF PRACTIQAL)
NSF PRACTIQAL will create new and more effective methods to correct errors commonly encountered in quantum computing systems, thus increasing the usefulness and scalability of quantum computers broadly. Their research will span experimentation with hardware, algorithms and other software, and theoretical methods that can enable better error correction techniques for large-scale quantum computers that have yet to be made.
St. Paul, Minnesota — MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has withheld the $825,000 payment required for the statewide recount he requested after losing Minnesota’s Republican gubernatorial primary by more than 45,000 votes.
Lindell’s campaign said Monday that it objected to the recount procedure established by Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office. Under those rules, election officials would determine votes for Lindell and primary winner Lisa Demuth while placing ballots cast for the other five GOP candidates into an “other” category.
Lindell argues that all seven candidates’ totals must be separately examined because his campaign claims to have identified anomalies affecting the entire field. His campaign said it plans to seek an emergency court order rather than submit payment by Monday’s deadline.
Minnesota’s official recount guidance says ballots are sorted into piles for each candidate involved in the recount, with votes for other candidates grouped separately. State law limits recounts to determining the number of votes validly cast for the office being contested.
Demuth received 179,683 votes to Lindell’s 134,282, a margin far beyond the threshold for a taxpayer-funded recount. Lindell therefore must finance any discretionary recount himself.
Lindell has not conceded and continues to allege election irregularities, but state officials have presented no evidence that the primary result was inaccurate.
Waymo plans to launch its robotaxi service in Munich by the end of 2027, marking the Google-owned company's first expansion into the European Union. "It already operates in 11 cities in the United States and has applied for a license in the United Kingdom to launch its robotaxis in London this year," notes Reuters. From the report: The Google subsidiary will start rolling out vehicles in the German city this year, which will be manually driven while the company "starts with high-definition mapping of local street networks" and testing with safety drivers, Waymo said in a statement.
"Bavaria is determined to live up to its pioneering role and be an international leader in autonomous driving," Florian Herrmann, the head of the Bavarian state chancellery, said in the statement. "Now we need to move quickly from testing to real-world deployment."
[...] German authorities gave autonomous vehicles the green light in 2021 to operate in the country in approved geographical areas. Other countries are looking at following suit, though the EU's broader autonomous driving rules are set by the U.N.
Newly disclosed records reveal how undercover federal agents posed as concerned community members to spy onresidents and activists who opposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) crackdown in Minnesota.
Internal Department of Homeland Security (DHS) files, disclosed in federal court and reviewed by the Guardian, document the actions of several undercover agents, including one who went by the username “peanutbutterjelly” in Signal chats with activists. The documents show that the officer kept records of Signal conversations, screenshotting chats about protest plans and volunteer recruitment, and offering to help with fundraising efforts.
Community-driven initiative at ORNL brings together researchers, technology developers and computing experts to build interoperable software for a new era of scientific discovery
Aug. 25, 2026 — Researchers collaborated at the second annual Open Quantum-HPC Software Ecosystem (OpenQSE) workshop at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to advance the open-source OpenQSE framework, which is designed to bridge quantum computing and classical high-performance computing (HPC). Held on the final day of the 2026 Quantum Computing User Forum, the event focused on developing the software infrastructure needed to support hybrid quantum-HPC (QHPC) computing.
Credit: ORNL
Amir Shehata, an HPC systems software engineer at ORNL, led the workshop, bringing together leaders from industry, academia and national laboratories to advance OpenQSE, a community-driven initiative to develop open, vendor-neutral software that can work across technologies and systems from different companies for QHPC. By defining common software interfaces and interoperability standards, the initiative aims to make it easier for researchers to develop applications that run across diverse quantum and HPC platforms, accelerating scientific discovery through an open ecosystem. The consortium is an important part of how the Quantum Science Center (QSC), a National Quantum Information Science Resesarch Center headquartered at ORNL, is establishing a broader QHPC ecosystem.
What began as conversations during a workshop at the Quantum Computing User Forum last year has evolved into a year-round international collaboration focused on solving one of quantum computing’s biggest challenges: building the software needed to connect rapidly evolving quantum hardware with mature HPC systems.
“Last year, we were just starting to explore this space,” Shehata said. “Now we’ve broken the problem into specific areas, formed working groups and started developing actual implementations. We’re no longer just discussing what needs to be done. We’re defining deliverables and building the software ecosystem.”
Unlike last year’s workshop, which focused primarily on identifying challenges, this year’s event centered on establishing six technical working groups responsible for key components of the quantum-HPC software stack, including compilers, resource interfaces, system architecture, software architecture, application runtimes and control electronics. Throughout the day, participants refined each group’s charter, identified technical priorities and established milestones to guide development over the coming year.
“Discussions are good, but if they’re not paired with concrete deliverables, they’ll remain discussions,” Shehata said. “Our goal was for every working group to leave with a clear mission, defined responsibilities and actionable milestones that will drive progress between now and next year’s workshop.”
From Collaboration to Implementation
One of the workshop’s defining strengths was its collaborative approach. Rather than relying on a single organization to guide the effort, technical sessions were organized and led by experts from across the quantum computing landscape. Contributors from companies including IBM, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, AWS, Alice & Bob and Qblox worked alongside researchers from ORNL, other national laboratories and universities to tackle shared software challenges.
One example of that collaboration is NVIDIA’s work within OpenQSE on Hierarchical Resource Scheduling (HRES) for the Slurm workload manager, helping align hybrid quantum resources with established HPC scheduling workflows. HRES extends Slurm’s resource model to represent and manage heterogeneous resources, providing a path for quantum resources to be requested and scheduled alongside traditional HPC resources using established Slurm workflows.
“People aren’t just talking — they’re committing to doing the work throughout the year,” Shehata said.
At its core, OpenQSE seeks to combine the abilities of two powerful computing paradigms: quantum computing and HPC. While advances in quantum hardware continue, Shehata said equally important progress must occur throughout the software stack that connects quantum processors with leadership-class supercomputers. This is a central part of his research within QSC, where more than 20 institutions are working to realize the first demonstrations of QHPC systems and applications.
“You won’t solve scientifically interesting problems with hardware alone,” Shehata said. “To discover new materials, new drugs or tackle other complex scientific challenges, you need hardware and software working together. OpenQSE is focused on building that software foundation.”
The workshop also highlighted ORNL’s leadership in advancing hybrid computing through open collaboration. Home to the Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) and the Quantum Computing User Program, ORNL provides researchers access to world-leading computing resources while helping develop the software ecosystem needed to integrate emerging quantum technologies into scientific workflows.
Rather than limiting collaboration to an annual workshop, OpenQSE participants now meet weekly or biweekly within their technical working groups, with plans to add quarterly meetings that alternate between virtual and in-person sessions. The expanded schedule reflects both the complexity of the work and the consortium’s commitment to sustained collaboration.
“The problems we’re trying to solve are complicated enough that one day a year is just not enough,” Shehata said. “We need regular opportunities to sit together, work through technical challenges and build solutions as a community.”
As the initiative continues to grow, organizers also hope to expand participation by engaging universities, students and open-source software developers from around the world, broadening the community contributing to next-generation quantum software. Through OpenQSE, researchers are building not only the software needed for tomorrow’s hybrid computing systems but also the collaborative foundation needed to accelerate scientific discovery for years to come.
OLCF is a DOE Office of Science user facility at ORNL that is supported by DOE’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research program.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the nation’s largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Learn more at energy.gov/science.
Government resilience campaign aims to ensure people can cope in a national disaster, in order to free resources for most vulnerable
UK citizens will be told to stock up on tinned food and take steps to ensure they are prepared for national emergencies as part of a new government campaign to improve the nation’s resilience.
The new campaign from the Cabinet Office will set out ways people can prepare for extreme weather events and potential attacks from hostile states, including stocking up on bottled water, sources told the Guardian.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 25, 2026 — Photonic Inc.’s paper on SHYPS quantum error correction codes, “Computing Efficiently in QLDPC Codes,” has been published in the journal Nature Communications. Quantum Low Density Parity Check (QLDPC) codes allow larger programs to be run on smaller systems, accelerating the timeline to commercially relevant quantum computing.
Error correction has long been one of the core challenges facing quantum computing companies. As the first to unlock the decades-long promise of QLDPC codes, Photonic set a new industry standard, making real the benefits for quantum architectures capable of running this type of code.
The paper reports the milestone result Photonic released as a pre-print last year: a new family of QLDPC codes, SHYPS, can efficiently perform both quantum computation and error correction, using a fraction of the physical qubits surface codes need. These advances are only available to high connectivity systems, such as Photonic’s Entanglement First architecture.
“This paper introduced the first demonstrated QLDPC code family capable of performing logic efficiently — not just storing information, but computing with it, using a fraction of the qubits error correction has always demanded,” said Dr. Stephanie Simmons, Chief Quantum Officer at Photonic. “That distinction has changed the conversation across our industry: efficient QLDPC logic is no longer a theoretical promise, it’s a demonstrated result, with real implications for architectures and timelines. SHYPS is a milestone for quantum error correction, and it is just the starting point. Since these results were initially released, we have continued to push the limits for how QLDPC codes can accelerate the timelines for quantum computing.”
Photonic introduced the Subsystem Hypergraph Product Simplex (SHYPS) codes, designed to perform quantum logic and error correction efficiently, greatly reducing the overhead requirements for high connectivity quantum systems. The fast and lean SHYPS codes are competitive with surface codes when it comes to logical clock time and performance. The peer-reviewed results demonstrate that at the code sizes tested, SHYPS codes require meaningfully fewer physical qubits than surface code.
Additional materials on SHYPS are available at the Photonic website www.photonic.com.
About Photonic
Photonic Inc. is a leading quantum technology company developing commercial-scale quantum computers and quantum networks to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges in materials science, drug discovery, climate change, and security. The company’s approach unlocks performance at scale through unmatched distributed quantum computing capabilities. Photonic’s high-connectivity Entanglement First architecture leverages a unique qubit modality, optically-linked silicon spin qubits, to enable powerful computation, efficient error correction, and seamless integration with existing data center and telecom environments. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia, with operations in the United States and United Kingdom, Photonic’s team of 180+ experts is advancing quantum technologies alongside leading investors, partners, and customers worldwide.
Popular left-wing streamer Hasan Piker drew stiff criticism from prominent Democrats on Monday after arguing that some Jewish Americans' support for Israel is "making antisemitism worse."
The president cited his tariff fight in a social media post, saying the United States doesn’t expect to be “doing much business with Ontario any longer.”
Aug. 25, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation announced today that Princeton University will lead one of eight major initiatives to accelerate the development of quantum computing.
The Princeton-led Quantum Leap Challenge Institute will devise techniques for fabricating hardware and develop education and workforce training programs that deepen U.S. leadership in quantum science and engineering. The research institute will gather experts from wide-ranging fields to break a single, critical bottleneck — the manufacture of core components for quantum processors.
Princeton researchers Faranak Bahrami and Matthew Bland work with Nathalie de Leon, who wants to make superconducting quantum chips more commercially viable. Their work leading the new NSF institute will focus on updating a key microscopic device that has not meaningfully changed in 25 years. Photo credit: Matthew Raspanti, Princeton.
“The whole community has been using essentially the same materials technology for about a quarter century,” said Nathalie de Leon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Princeton and co-director of the Princeton Quantum Initiative, who will direct the new institute. That technology has worked well for experimental prototypes and small-scale systems. But to build quantum computers at a scientifically useful scale, she said, the most basic elements must be reinvented.
The Princeton-led institute will receive $27.9 million in NSF funding over five years, according to the agency. The research team harnesses expertise from three broad disciplines — materials science, quantum devices and semiconductor processing — spanning two dozen laboratories across nine research institutions.
“There’s a huge barrier to solving the problem,” said Valla Fatemi, a physicist at Cornell University and the institute’s deputy director. “That’s why we need an institute like this, with all this multi-interdisciplinary expertise to solve it.”
Participating institutions include Princeton, Cornell, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, NY Creates, Michigan State University and the University of Iowa. The organizations represented on the advisory board include Google Quantum AI, NVIDIA, Applied Materials, Oxford Instruments, Bluefors, KU Leuven/Imec and MIT Lincoln Laboratory. The new institute will be titled MARQUIS: Manufacturable and Resilient superconducting Quantum Information Systems. It is one of eight announced Aug. 25 in a $290 million round of funding in the NSF’s Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes program.
“For more than four decades, NSF has been laying the foundational groundwork of research and discovery that is powering today’s modern quantum computing, sensing and communication,” said Brian Stone, performing the duties of the NSF director. “It’s time for focused activities to leverage that base of knowledge to drive us even farther forward to the benefit of all Americans. The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institutes are a next step for us in understanding the quantum world we live in.”
In addition to reinventing the materials systems, the MARQUIS team will also develop methods to validate and compare the performance of various designs and to test them in mid-scale quantum processors — a step between the small systems typically developed in academic labs and the large processors that will one day run useful quantum algorithms.
These test beds will help standardize research efforts across disparate labs and allow experts from other fields to contribute meaningfully to the core challenge, according to the institute leaders. For example, semiconductor fabrication techniques that could prove valuable for quantum computing often involve highly specialized expertise that quantum researchers don’t have.
“In the semiconductor industry especially,” de Leon said, “a lot of the best knowledge is behind a curtain. And the literature is so vast, it’s hard for us to make sense of. So having a few key experts in the field who know what the right waypoints are and how to think about it is really crucial.”
David Graves, a Princeton professor of chemical and biological engineering and expert in the use of plasmas for semiconductor processing, serves as a co-principal investigator of the new institute.
De Leon’s own research has helped revolutionize component technologies for superconducting quantum devices through a collaboration with Andrew Houck, Princeton’s dean of engineering, and Robert Cava, a renowned solid-state chemist, as well as junior researchers from all three labs. Last year, that team published the largest advance in the field in more than a decade. The advance was based on re-imagining the materials used to build superconducting qubits, which store and process quantum information. Their qubits worked 15 times better than leading industry chips, and they have since made even more progress.
Those qubits are all based on a single circuit element called a Josephson junction. This junction consists of three metallic layers stacked like a sandwich, with a layer of oxidized metal in the middle that is only a few atoms thick. Pairs of linked electrons travel through the thin middle layer to create a system that can manipulate information using quantum mechanical rules. Virtually all of today’s qubits use junctions with aluminum and aluminum oxide, the same approach used in the first superconducting qubits more than twenty-five years ago. The new institute’s work will focus entirely on finding new approaches to fabricating the Josephson junction.
Nobel laureate Michel Devoret, who first demonstrated how these devices work, has called the decades-long effort to make better superconducting qubits a “graveyard” of ideas for aspiring physicists and engineers. He has also praised de Leon for taking on such a risky endeavor and making real progress. Devoret, a professor at UC Santa Barbara and chief scientist at Google Quantum AI, is one of the new institute’s senior investigators.
“We can see that the materials limitations are going to be one of the next big bottlenecks,” de Leon said. A large research institute creates mechanisms to coordinate the activities of lots of different people, she said. Her idea: Gather that firepower and aim it at one of the oldest obstacles in quantum computing.
“Let’s make a dream team,” de Leon said, “to try to unblock this.”
Canada has announced it will impose tariffs on a wide range of key American industries including cosmetics, dairy, wood products and outdoor equipment in the coming weeks, as it retaliates roughly “dollar for dollar” against levies imposed by the US.
In a strong Canadian countermove to tariffs levied by Donald Trump, which took effect on Saturday after trade talks collapsed the day before, Canada’s finance and industry ministers on Tuesday called the measure a “focused response” to what they see as unfair trade practices.
Vatican envoy Paul Gallagher met Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow earlier today, and Reuters has some snap quotes from Pope Leo XIV’s representative following the meeting. He is quoted as saying that “The Ukrainian war must end” and that the pair discussed “avenues for pursuing lasting and just peace in Ukraine”.
In relation to the post on a US military plane landing in Moscow (at 11:23), Reuters reported that the last time a US jet flew to Russia from Europe was in January, when special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner travelled to Moscow to meet Vladimir Putin for peace talks.
A plant in Southaven, Mississippi, that powers Elon Musk's SpaceXAI data centers in the area has sparked backlash from residents concerned about noise and air pollution.
The U.S. Virgin Islands have long drawn travelers with white sand and turquoise water, but a new global ranking gives beach lovers three more reasons to visit.
Apple has unveiled a new Mac mini with either its new M6 chip or the M5 Pro chip released earlier this year. It adds faster CPU, GPU, storage, and AI performance along with Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, and 2.5Gb Ethernet as standard. There's also a new higher starting price of $899, which is up from the previous $799 base price and far above the $599 starting price of the 2024 model. MacRumors reports: The M6 chip is equipped with a 12-core CPU and a 12-core GPU, up from a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU in the M5 chip. In addition, the M6 chip features the first-ever dual Neural Engine with two 16-core engines, up from one in previous chips. The M6 chip has up to 170GB/s memory bandwidth, up from 153GB/s for the M5 chip.
Apple said the Mac mini with the M6 chip delivers up to 40% faster CPU performance, up to 4x faster performance for AI tasks in particular, up to 2x faster graphics performance, and up to 2x faster storage speeds compared to the previous-generation model with the 10-core M4 chip, 32GB of unified memory, and 2TB of storage.
There are two M5 Pro configurations available, including one with a 15-core CPU and a 16-core GPU, and another with an 18-core CPU and a 20-core GPU. Both of these models are equipped with a single 16-core Neural Engine for AI tasks. For both the M6 and M5 Pro configurations, Apple said the Mac mini now includes Neural Accelerators in each GPU core for the first time.
Unannounced trip reported by US media is said to be Ratcliffe’s first known visit to Russia as CIA chief
The CIA director, John Ratcliffe, has made an unannounced visit to Moscow, US media reported, after flight data showed an American military aircraft flew to the Russian capital, where a US diplomatic motorcade was later spotted.
CBS News quoted sources familiar with the situation as confirming Ratcliffe’s trip, saying it was his first known visit to Russia as CIA chief. Axios separately confirmed the visit, quoting a US official.
Drivers concerned that bus operator’s offer to retrofit cabs on 730 buses will not be complete by next summer
London bus drivers have resumed strike action over having to work in high temperatures, amid fears that proposed improvements to air conditioning will not be complete by next summer.
About 1,500 members of the Unite union working across north London and Essex are taking part in the four-day strike from Tuesday to Friday, after industrial action earlier this month. Further stoppages are planned for the coming weeks.
Confidence index drops to 89.4 in August from 90.2 in July amid frustration after five years of elevated inflation
Americans’ confidence in the economy declined again this month as the ongoing conflict in Iran continued to push US gasoline prices above $4 per gallon.
The Conference Board said on Tuesday that its consumer confidence index dipped to 89.4 in August from 90.2 in July. That was the lowest level in seven months but was essentially within the same lukewarm range it has been in since the beginning of the year. In late 2024 and early 2025, readings were consistently above 100.
Oliver Blume faces workforce at German HQ as carmaker struggles against Chinese competition and US tariffs
The chief executive of Volkswagen has faced boos and whistles of protest at the company’s headquarters after telling thousands of workers that a comprehensive reorganisation, which could include job losses and factory closures, is vital for its future.
As Oliver Blume urged more than 10,000 workers on Tuesday to “pull together”, saying drastic restructuring measures at the struggling manufacturer were essential, they held up banners and shouted slogans, including: “Our jobs are not your balance sheet adjustments”.
A federal judge has rejected Ghislaine Maxwell’s legal effort to throw out her 2021 conviction on sex-trafficking charges and 20-year prison sentence, calling her claims “demonstrably meritless, and generally based on speculation, distortions, and/or outright falsehoods”.
In a 67-page decision filed on Tuesday, the US district judge Paul Engelmayer for New York’s southern district denied the former British socialite’s petition for relief, finding that Maxwell had failed to make a substantial showing that her constitutional rights were denied when she was convicted for her role in crimes linked to the late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Exclusive: internal correspondence reveals USCIS anti-fraud officers shifted on to two ‘high-priority’ initiatives
All US immigration officers working for a key anti-fraud unit have been reassigned by the Trump administration to focus on screening South African refugees and alleged “unlawful” voters.
Fraud Detection and National Security Directorate (FDNS) immigration officers have been shifted full-time on to two “high-priority” initiatives, according to internal correspondence seen by the Guardian, leaving US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) unable to provide officers to train asylum officers in “the near future”.
The charges against Major Jason Watson are believed by his attorneys to be among the only instances for officers of his rank in the history of the U.S. military to be charged under Article 88.
Center Kate Koval departs after one season with Tigers
Anna Minaeva of Russia joined team earlier this month
Kim Mulkey hoped two could be ‘ambassadors’ for peace
Ukrainian center Kate Koval is leaving LSU less than two weeks after the Tigers brought in a player from Russia.
LSU coach Kim Mulkey said Monday night that Koval was leaving for “personal reasons”, adding that the program will “respect her privacy on her decision”.
Gonna go check it out today with my buddy, hes in a pint x and im on a gt-s, i see it on the app as having a good riding area and was wondering if anyone has any suggestions or recommendations for there?
£10bn for housing with 60% social renting is at odds with PM’s previous call for programme to be spent entirely on social homes
Ministers are looking at “a range of support” for vulnerable households struggling with rising bills, the energy secretary has said ahead of tomorrow’s Ofgem announcement on the energy cap level.
PA Media reports forecasts have indicated that households could see their bills rise by another 4% to the equivalent of £1,729 a year, as the widened conflict in the Middle East sparked by Donald Trump’s war on Iran continues to push up wholesale energy prices.
CBS News has been tracking a record number of measles cases and outbreaks around the country in 2026. The majority of cases are among those who haven't been vaccinated.
One in five Americans would sooner take cooking advice from a “food-fluencer” than from their own mom (18%), according to new research. A survey of 2,000 adults found that for many, social media is overtaking traditional ways of learning to…
The U.S. military revealed that an additional 60 service members have been injured in the Iran war, lifting the official toll to 776 troops wounded or killed. Some 345 of these casualties have occurred since July 7, after a second ceasefire imploded. As the numbers of dead and wounded troops have recently mounted, the Pentagon has quietly been seeking casualty and mortuary services, according to government contracting documents analyzed by The Intercept.
The increase of 60 wounded last week was called “an accounting trick,” by one U.S. government official who accused the Pentagon of “slow-walking” the total for weeks. “They wanted the heat on them to slow down after the really devastating attacks,” that source told The Intercept, referencing airstrikes on U.S. bases last month that exposed the vulnerability of U.S. troops to Iranian attacks.
The office of self-styled War Secretary Pete Hegseth did not respond to multiple requests for comment, including when and where the injuries occurred.
Since the beginning of the Trump administration’s war with Iran, Hegseth’s department has posted the official count of casualties on the website of the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS, which tracks “deceased, wounded, ill or injured” service members for Congress and the White House. Casualties since July 7 are now counted separately on a webpage with a generic title: “Overseas Operations.” Combined with totals for Operation Epic Fury — the military’s official designation for the initial months of the Iran war — 18 service members have died and 758 have been wounded since the U.S. launched the war against Iran on February 28, according to DCAS. This official total of dead and wounded personnel, as documented over months of reporting by The Intercept, has been a gross undercount, stemming from what that same official previously called a “casualty cover-up.”
In the face of the increasing number of dead and wounded troops, the military has been seeking a range of services related to personnel who are killed or wounded, according to new contracting documents analyzed by The Intercept. While the military regularly awards such contracts, the commands involved have not replied to questions concerning the possible relationship to the current conflict.
On Friday, for example, the Air Force announced it awarded a new contract for a full range of mortuary services at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. This includes transportation and refrigeration of remains, embalming, dressing, casketing or cremation, as well as funeral services. Last week, the Air Force also began looking into local firms that could fulfill a wide-ranging contract — including “mortuary services” — at Italy’s Aviano Air Base, a key hub for the war with Iran.
The public affairs offices at Robins Air Base and Aviano Air Base did not return requests for comment prior to publication.
Last week, the Army also announced it “desires to procure” casualty administrative support, including casualty case management services, at Fort Knox, Kentucky, for the Army’s Casualty and Mortuary Affairs Operations Division. Over 90 percent of the latest casualties are Army soldiers, and its storied Fort Knox base has been intimately involved in the conflict with Iran. The body of 26-year-old Sgt. Benjamin Pennington — who died of injuries resulting from an Iranian strike on a U.S. base in Saudi Arabia in March and was the first Kentuckian to die in the war — was sent home via Godman Army Airfield at Fort Knox. Six soldiers killed in an Iranian strike in Kuwait that same month were operating under the 1st Theater Sustainment Command which is headquartered at the base.
Fort Knox did not respond to a request for comment and further information about the contract and the losses from the war prior to publication.
The recent casualty spike resulted from Iranian attacks on around 10 U.S. outposts across the Middle East since July 9, according to a second U.S. official who previously spoke to The Intercept. Iran’s military managed to overwhelm U.S. air defense systems using a mix of attack drones and advanced ballistic missiles, despite months of claims by President Donald Trump and Hegseth that Iran’s military was annihilated.
Last month, the tally of wounded personnel fluctuated by the day in the wake of increased Iranian attacks. On July 21, the casualty count on DCAS for Operation Epic Fury stood at 500. Now, it has shrunk to 431.
For months, The Intercept found anomalies with the counts offered on the DCAS website. On April 21, for example, the number of wounded-in-action troops declined by 15 without public acknowledgment by the War Department. Despite repeated questions for months, the Pentagon has not commented on the disparities in its casualty count.
Prior reporting by The Intercept also found DCAS is missing hundreds of wounded or dead personnel from the Iran war. The Pentagon’s list of the names of the dead is still missing Maj. Sorffly Davius, a signals and communication officer with the New York Army National Guard who was assigned to the headquarters of the 42nd Infantry Division and reportedly died while on duty in Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 6. Davius’s death was widely acknowledged even as it was excluded from the official count. Gen. Dan Caine, the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for example, recognized Davius while “honoring our fallen.”
While DCAS provides a running tally of “non-hostile” deaths — meaning those who died from accidents or by illness — it doesn’t include “non-hostile” injuries. The DCAS figures for Epic Fury show that 65 Navy personnel were wounded in action. Missing, however, are the more than 200 sailors treated for smoke inhalation or lacerations due to a March 12 fire that raged aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford. The aircraft carrier had been conducting round-the-clock flight operations to, Caine said, “project combat power” in the Middle East.
CNN was the first to report a significant increase in wounded troops last week.
The World Health Organization puts the Iranian casualty toll at an estimated 37,181, including 3,375 deaths. Iranian state and semi-official media reported similar figures — just under 3,500 killed by U.S.-Israeli air strikes. Last week, The Intercept reported on a family of eight, including five children, killed in one of those attacks.
Anthony Seldon’s book alleges Badenoch asked fellow Tory ministers ‘if anyone was interested in changing the captain’
Kemi Badenoch plotted with fellow Conservative cabinet ministers to remove Rishi Sunak as prime minister months before the general election, it has been claimed.
Anthony Seldon, who has written political biographies of every prime minister since John Major, has alleged in a new book that Badenoch, who was business secretary at the time, phoned several other cabinet ministers to ask “if anyone was interested in changing the captain”.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, front left, and senior U.S. military leaders listen to President Donald Trump speak at Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia in 2025. Evan Vucci/AP Photo
Shortly after taking office last year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth polled the nation’s top commanders about cutting a program designed to protect civilians during U.S. military operations.
Hegseth had bet senior officers would endorse his view that focusing on civilian security was “woke” and out of step with “maximum lethality,” current and former defense officials told ProPublica.
Instead, every commander rebuffed the idea.
The poll from early 2025, which has not been previously reported, cemented top-level military support for Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response, a relatively new program adopted after years of heavy civilian tolls in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. As part of its mission, CHMR (pronounced “chimmer”) stationed personnel within major regional commands. Officials tried to develop a picture of life on the ground in combat zones to aid decision-making on military strikes and avoid or minimize civilian harm.
In the poll, Hegseth gave commanders three options: cut 65% of staff but keep the effort operational, continue with only a small centralized office in Washington, or eliminate the program.
Nine commanders chose the first option to preserve the enterprise as much as possible, according to a memo reviewed by ProPublica. Leaders of two commands, one overseeing the nuclear arsenal and the other focused on cyber threats, declined all three options, asking to maintain the full program.
Leaders at U.S. Central Command, the Tampa, Florida-based center that oversees military action in the Middle East, pressed to keep its full CHMR staff of 16. Eliminating or scaling back the effort would “result in decreased efficiency of U.S. lethal operations due to an increased risk of target misidentification and reduced battlespace awareness,” a memo reviewed by ProPublica said.
Retired Army Gen. Erik Kurilla, who was then in charge of Central Command, and several other senior officers directly involved in combat operations had appealed to Hegseth to keep the program. They explained that it was a valuable tool, another retired general said — but “that intent was overridden.”
Hegseth gutted the effort, leaving only a handful of people to carry out the mission. It was stripped of almost all of its funding, even as the U.S. launched new campaigns in Somalia, Yemen and Iran. One official summed up the Hegseth approach as: “Bombs away!”
Hegseth’s early exchanges with the generals made clear that the civilian harm program had no future in his reimagined “Department of War.”
But now, after U.S. missile strikes have killed hundreds of civilians in Iran and Yemen, episodes that drew global criticism and questions from Congress, the program could soon be partially revived.
The about-face would mark a rare reversal in a department that hasn’t tolerated dissent under Hegseth and President Donald Trump. Last year’s military memos detail a delicate pushback that may preserve at least the framework of the civilian security campaign.
Current and former defense officials described the evolution of the civilian security program on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from the Trump administration.
The Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment about the poll or the program’s revival.
Casualties, Outrage
The first major military operation of Hegseth’s tenure — an air campaign in Yemen in the spring of 2025 — killed 153 civilians and wounded 243 others. The majority of the deaths came from just two strikes, ranking them among the deadliest for civilians the Pentagon has acknowledged in modern warfare, said Airwars, a British watchdog that tracks civilian harm from military operations. The toll was confirmed in the Pentagon’s 2025 annual report for civilian casualties, The Washington Post first reported.
By the time the U.S. began attacking Iran the next year, the Pentagon’s civilian protection program was down from a little under 200 people to around two dozen, some working only part time, the current and former defense officials said. Central Command, which said it needed a minimum of nine of its 16 staffers to function, was left with one person.
On the first day of the U.S. and Israel’s war on Iran, a U.S. airstrike hit a school in Minab, a city near the Strait of Hormuz, killing more than 100 children and igniting international outrage.
The Shajarat al-Tayyiba Primary School is in ruins in Minab, Iran, on March 31.Hamid Vakili/Anadolu via Getty Images
Hegseth and the commander in charge of the Iran operation, Adm. Brad Cooper, were questioned about the strike before Congress. Hegseth said the U.S. does not target civilians and would investigate. Early reports on that investigation, yet to be publicly released, have said outdated U.S. intelligence led to the attack on the school.
Democratic senators and humanitarian groups questioned whether the cuts to the civilian protection personnel also contributed to the school tragedy.
In a letter to Hegseth in April, 11 senators said the school strike, as well as other deadly attacks on civilians in Iran, reflected “the administration’s broader disregard for the strategic, legal, and moral imperative to minimize civilian harm,” noting the dismantling of civilian harm reduction efforts. “This is a concerning pattern and raises questions about whether the administration is upholding international law and the laws of war,” it said.
Previously, a Pentagon spokesperson declined to answer questions from ProPublica about the letter, saying it would “respond directly” to Congress.
Concerns were voiced by military leaders before Hegseth largely eliminated the operation. One exception is the Department of the Army, headed by a civilian appointee, which agreed with getting rid of CHMR entirely.
Leaders at Central Command told Hegseth’s top staff in a memo that CHMR “enhanced our precision and accuracy, making us more lethal.” The memo added, “The operational and strategic value of this work is widely recognized.”
At the same time, the Joint Staff echoed the commanders’ sentiment. According to correspondence reviewed by ProPublica, the Joint Staff disagreed with the Army acting secretary, who said in a February 2025 memo that the program was redundant and recommended Congress repeal the law that set it in motion.
As pressure has built from both Congress and within the military to restore the program, the Defense Department appears to have backpedaled.
In April, Elbridge Colby, the Defense Department’s under secretary of policy, sent a follow-up memo about the civilian protection enterprise to Hegseth. This time, there was only one proposal on the table: reboot the program, albeit at reduced staff levels with 70 full-time people.
In that memo, Colby wrote that maintaining 35% of CHMR would address investigations into civilian harm, reports to Congress and payments to those harmed.
The same commanders Hegseth polled earlier endorsed the move, several defense officials told ProPublica.
The proposal would allow all regional commands to reconstitute their civilian harm reduction staff, and the Virginia-based Civilian Protection Center of Excellence for training, data and research would move from under the Army to the Joint Staff. The move, officials say, gives the mission more heft and eases collaboration with the Navy and Air Force, which are at the forefront of the administration’s campaigns.
“If not for the combatant commanders,” one defense official said, the program would be “dead.”
The harm mitigation effort makes up a tiny fraction of the Defense Department’s billions in spending. The center near the Pentagon had an annual budget of $7 million, officials said, with the cross-command total for all civilian security work estimated at around $80 million before the cuts. Officials expect a refashioned program to operate on a smaller budget.
Military leaders steeped in lessons learned from the post-9/11 “forever wars” repeatedly have affirmed harm mitigation as an asset on the battlefield. Civilian casualties undermine U.S. objectives and help boost insurgent recruiting, analysts say.
The Pentagon had formalized CHMR in 2022, detailing steps to protect noncombatants and investigate reports of casualties. Commanders had publicly championed the program in congressional testimony and defense journals. The current head of European Command, Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, co-wrote a paper calling it a “watershed” development.
In some cases the staff acted as a “red team” pushing back on strikes and the possible collateral damage. The center of excellence focused on institutionalizing best practices, training service members and collecting data on civilian harm.
Those efforts and “operational effectiveness are the same thing,” one retired general told ProPublica. “They’re two sides of the same coin.”
‘A child isn’t born to commit gun violence,’ Francisco Villarruel says
Francisco Villarruel and Gustavo Galvez sat in a park in Los Angeles reminiscing on their first boxing lesson together. They had gone to a big commercial gym, where they took turns hitting boxing pads and doing footwork exercises. They then started regularly training together.
For Villarruel, 40, working out together wasn’t really about boxing. It was about giving Galvez, 19, an opportunity to open up and to mentor someone whose pain he understands. “ I think a lot of the traumatic scenarios that he went through are very similar to mine in my upbringing,” Villarruel said.
Motorola is working with GrapheneOS to officially support the privacy-focused Android alternative on its 2027 flagship phones, starting with a non-folding model and later expanding to the next Razr Fold and Razr Ultra. "These will ship with Motorola's normal Android skin, but you will be able to switch to GrapheneOS later if you want to," notes GSMArena.com. GrapheneOS says the devices will "meet or exceed" its hardware and update requirements, and will include seven years of "proper updates." Interestingly, Motorola will be doing much of the porting work itself.
Multicultural Business Coalition sues New York City mayor, alleging plan for city-run stores will harm smaller grocers
A New York City business group sued mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday over his plan to create five municipally owned grocery stores.
The Multicultural Business Coalition, which says it represents hundreds of small supermarkets, filed two lawsuits in New York county supreme court on Monday, arguing that the plan violates the civil rights of smaller, immigrant- and minority-owned businesses. The group argues that smaller stores would be unable to match the discounts offered by the city grocery stores and “therefore, will be put out of business,” according to the lawsuits.
Philip Jerome, 49, repeatedly tried to contact actor in hope they would begin a relationship, court hears
A fan obsessed with Billie Piper has been jailed for 12 months after breaching a stalking prevention order.
Philip Jerome, 49, from Winchester, had a sexual interest in the singer and actor, and repeatedly tried to get in touch with her in the hope they would end up in a relationship, a court in Hampshire was told.
Then Advocate editor-in-chief and writer testified editorial was not part of agenda against Jefferson Davis Hughes III
A jury on Monday awarded $300,000 to a Louisiana supreme court justice over a 2019 editorial by the state’s largest newspaper in a rare defamation trial involving an elected public official.
Jurors in Iberville parish, Louisiana, found that the editorial whose headline included “Jeff Hughes … made a mockery of justice” and was published by the Advocate had defamed state supreme court justice Jefferson Davis Hughes III. The $300,000 in damages that the jury awarded Hughes were nonetheless significantly less than the $10m he sought for what he described as injury to his reputation and emotional distress.
Caption: Delaware’s state champion will represent our state at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, scheduled for April 26-28, 2027, in Washington.
Registration is open through Oct. 30 for a statewide program that helps high school students strengthen reading, public speaking, and self-confidence through poetry
Delaware high schools and community organizations can now register for the 2026-27 Poetry Out Loud program, giving students an opportunity to bring poetry to life while developing communication and performance skills.
The national arts education program invites students to select, memorize and recite classic and contemporary poems. Competitions begin in classrooms, schools and participating organizations, with local winners advancing to the Delaware state finals Feb. 18, 2027, at the Smyrna Opera House.
One state champion will represent Delaware at the Poetry Out Loud National Finals, scheduled for April 26-28, 2027, in Washington.
Registration remains open through Oct. 30.
Finding a voice through poetry
Poetry Out Loud is designed to move poetry beyond silent reading by asking students to interpret a poem and present it before an audience.
The experience can strengthen reading comprehension, communication and public speaking skills while helping students build confidence.
“Poetry Out Loud gives students an opportunity to experience poetry in a different way: to study it, make meaning from it, and bring it to life in their own voice,” Delaware Education Secretary Cindy Marten said.
Marten encouraged high schools and students across the state to participate.
“Every student deserves opportunities to find their voice, share what they have to say, and know the world is listening,” she said. “They will be heard.”
All Delaware high school students are eligible, including those attending public, private, parochial, independent, charter and home schools.
Free materials for teachers
Participating schools hold classroom and schoolwide competitions during the fall. Students choose their poems from Poetry Out Loud’s online anthology, which includes classic and contemporary works.
Teachers and program organizers receive access to free, standards-based materials, including the anthology, a teacher’s guide and instructional videos about poetry recitation.
The program can be incorporated into English, language arts, theater or public speaking instruction without requiring schools to purchase a separate curriculum.
“For 22 years, Poetry Out Loud has turned up remarkable young poets in every corner of Delaware, in our cities and our small towns, in public schools and private ones,” Delaware Division of the Arts Director Jessica Ball said.
Ball said the competition gives students a place to be heard while demonstrating the talent found throughout Delaware’s schools.
“We are grateful to the schools and teachers who open that door, and we hope even more will join them this year,” she said.
Delaware champion recalls experience
Natalia Gatti of Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences won Delaware’s 2026 competition.
“Being named state champion is a dream come true,” Gatti said. “The whole experience was surreal. Meeting people who share the same passion for poetry was easily the best part of the whole event.”
Delaware’s previous champions have represented schools across all three counties, including Milford High School, Polytech High School, Delmar High School, Middletown High School, Hodgson Vo-Tech High School, Padua Academy and Wilmington Friends School.
Several schools have produced multiple champions. Maiss Hussein of Hodgson Vo-Tech won in 2023 and 2024, while Hannah Sturgis of Polytech won in 2015 and 2016. Tonisha Jones of Middletown High School won in 2008 and 2009.
National program reaches millions
Poetry Out Loud began in 2005 as a national poetry recitation program for high school students. More than 4.5 million students have participated since its launch.
The National Endowment for the Arts sponsors the initiative, which operates in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Delaware Division of the Arts administers the program locally.
A 2020 study commissioned by the National Endowment for the Arts found that participation can support students’ academic, literary and social-emotional development while contributing to more vibrant school learning environments.
A total of $50,000 in awards and school stipends will be distributed during the 2027 national competition, including a $20,000 award for the national champion. Mid Atlantic Arts administers the prizes and national-final travel arrangements.
To Go Box
What: Poetry Out Loud 2026-27 student poetry recitation program
Who can participate: Students from Delaware public, private, parochial, independent, charter and home schools
Registration deadline: Oct. 30, 2026
Delaware state finals: Feb. 18, 2027, at the Smyrna Opera House
Deaths from disease are first in state in 35 years and just one day after Maryland declared outbreak in three counties
Two unvaccinated individuals have died of measles in Pennsylvania, state health officials announced on Tuesday. The deaths are the first in the state in 35 years and have been announced just one day after Maryland declared a measles outbreak in three counties.
Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to medicine, and is preventable with a highly effective vaccine.
Lancaster, Pennsylvania — Two unvaccinated people have died during Pennsylvania’s expanding measles outbreak, marking the state’s first measles-related deaths in 35 years and the first reported U.S. fatalities from the disease this year.
Both people lived in Lancaster County, which has been the center of the outbreak. Pennsylvania has confirmed 393 measles cases across the state this year, including 86 during the past week, and 70 patients have been hospitalized with complications.
“People are not familiar with this disease and don’t fully understand the potential severity of the illness,” state Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen said while urging vaccination.
Nationally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recorded 2,777 measles cases as of Aug. 20, the highest U.S. total in 35 years. Most cases have occurred among people who were unvaccinated or whose vaccination status was unknown.
Lancaster County’s childhood MMR vaccination rate has fallen from 95.5% in 2017 to 87.6% in 2025, according to NBC News. The two-dose MMR vaccine provides about 97% protection against measles.
The deaths come weeks after President Donald Trump issued an order seeking changes to childhood vaccination recommendations, including separating the combined MMR vaccine despite opposition from major medical organizations.
Wonder why they’re posting flirty photos and wearing tight T-shirts? It’s a thirst trap strategy in motion
Despite being a card-carrying member of the International Order of Confirmed Homosexuals, I have spent quite a lot of time lately thinking about Abdul El-Sayed’s biceps. I mean, have you seen them? The progressive Michigan senate nominee is jacked and he knows it. He almost always wears a tight black T-shirt to show off his muscles and incorporates a lot of fitness content in his campaign.
I’m not the only one who has noticed El-Sayed’s prominent muscles. They have had a lot of coverage, and are seen as part of a wider attempt to rebrand the Democratic party. Which, I don’t need to tell you, has a serious image problem; a poll in March found that the party is looked on even less favourably than the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. So, to make it look less like a party that is full of out-of-touch technocrats who sound as if they are reading from a 500-page PowerPoint presentation every time they try to explain anything, Democrats seem to be trying to up the sex appeal.
Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
As former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown seeks to oust Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio, some of Brown’s past Congressional votes have become targets for criticism — again.
During an Aug. 4 Fox News interview, Husted said Brown “supported Social Security payments for illegals, healthcare for illegals and COVID checks for illegals.”
Brown faced the same accusations in 2024 from his then-challenger, Republican Bernie Moreno, who defeated Brown in his race for a fourth Senate term.
Brown cast votes on Social Security, healthcare and COVID-19 relief while a senator, but the votes that Husted’s campaign pointed to would not have provided any federal benefits to immigrants in the country illegally.
Some of the measures he voted on stemmed from a practice both parties engage in: forcing members of the other political party to vote on amendments that don’t align with the party’s positions, and using those votes in later campaign messaging.
Social Security amendment would have applied to legal residents
Husted’s team cited Brown’s July 19, 2007, vote against an amendment that would have prevented immigrants who were once in the U.S. illegally but later became legal residents from receiving Social Security credit for taxes paid before they gained legal status.
However, Brown’s vote would not have allowed Social Security benefits to be given to people who were in the country illegally. Rather, any benefits would be received only after they had become legal residents.
Husted’s assertion also cherry-picked Brown’s votes. A few months after the first vote, in October 2007, Brown voted in favor of an amendment that would have blocked immigrants from receiving Social Security credit for taxes paid while they were in the country illegally. This amendment did not address the scenario in which someone gained legal status later.
Measure wouldn’t have changed healthcare benefit recipients
Husted’s campaign cited Brown’s March 23, 2013, vote against an amendment introduced by then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., said immigrants in the U.S. illegally should not be eligible for federally subsidized healthcare.
However, the amendment would not have changed who could receive those benefits, because federal law already prohibited immigrants in the country illegally from receiving Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and Affordable Care Act subsidies.
The same day in 2013, the Senate considered an amendment reaffirming that immigrants who are in the country illegally cannot receive federal benefits. That amendment passed by voice vote. Although the vote was not recorded by the individual senators’ names, Brown’s campaign told PolitiFact he voted for it.
Stimulus check recipients were already limited
Brown voted for the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act that included $1,400 stimulus checks for millions of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the bill was being considered, Republicans offered an amendment to prevent stimulus checks from going to immigrants in the country illegally — specifically, it said anyone who is “not lawfully present” in the U.S. should not receive a stimulus check.
The bill already included provisions preventing people in the U.S. illegally from receiving such checks by requiring recipients to have valid Social Security numbers. But Republican backers of the amendment said they aimed to close a potential loophole that could allow some recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program to receive stimulus payments.
DACA, established in 2012, protects eligible immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children from deportation and allows them to obtain work authorization and valid Social Security numbers. Some DACA recipients might have qualified for COVID-19 stimulus payments because they have Social Security numbers.
Brown voted against this March 6, 2021 amendment. But Husted’s claim ignored the provision’s practical scope: The overwhelming majority of immigrants in the country illegally were already excluded from receiving relief checks because they lacked qualifying Social Security numbers.
Our ruling
Husted said Brown “supported Social Security payments for illegals, healthcare for illegals and COVID checks for illegals.”
The votes in question — in 2007, 2013 and 2021, respectively — did not make immigrants in the country illegally eligible for those benefits.
The Social Security vote addressed how past tax payments would be counted for immigrants who later gained legal status. The healthcare vote would not have legalized the payment of benefits to people in the U.S. illegally, because federal law already bars such payments. Similarly, the COVID-19 relief bill already outlawed stimulus payments to the vast majority of people in the U.S. illegally.
Federal officials say access to the Commercial Driver’s License Information System could help uncover licensing fraud, identify drivers who are not legally eligible to hold commercial licenses. Jennings and attorneys general from 20 other states argue the administration is attempting to take possession of state-owned records without clear legal authority. Image created with AI. 8/25/26
The legal fight pits immigration enforcement and highway safety against personal privacy, states’ rights and limits on federal power
Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings has joined a multistate legal challenge that temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining personal information on approximately 17 million commercial drivers.
The case is more complicated than a straightforward fight between immigration enforcement and privacy.
Federal officials say access to the Commercial Driver’s License Information System could help uncover licensing fraud, identify drivers who are not legally eligible to hold commercial licenses and ensure states enforce national safety standards.
Jennings and attorneys general from 20 other states argue the administration is attempting to take possession of state-owned records without clear legal authority, adequate privacy protections or meaningful limits on how the information could be shared.
A federal judge concluded the states raised substantial legal objections and temporarily stopped the transfer while the case moves forward.
What the court ordered
Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony J. Trenga of the Eastern District of Virginia granted a temporary restraining order preventing the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators from turning the participating states’ records over to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or other federal agencies.
The order also prevents federal officials from terminating more than $10 million in grants and contracts with the association because it has not produced the records.
The ruling is an important early victory for Jennings and the other attorneys general, but it is not a final decision declaring the administration’s actions illegal.
To obtain the temporary order, the states had to demonstrate they were likely to succeed on at least some of their claims, that releasing the information could cause irreparable harm and that temporarily blocking the transfer was in the public interest.
The court will next consider whether to issue a preliminary injunction that could keep the restrictions in place during the litigation.
“What happened here is simple: The Trump administration attempted to expose Delawareans’ sensitive personal data in an effort to extort our state,” Jennings said. “It was outrageous and illegal — I’m glad the court agreed with us that these disclosures should be halted while we are seeking an injunction.”
Her statement reflects the state’s position, although the court has not issued a final ruling on the legality of the federal demand.
What information the government wants
Congress established the Commercial Driver’s License Information System, known as CDLIS, in 1986 to prevent commercial drivers from using licenses issued by different states to conceal traffic violations or disqualifications.
The system allows states to review a CDL applicant’s licensing and driving history. It is operated by the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, a private nonprofit organization, under an agreement with the federal government.
The records can include a driver’s name, birth date, Social Security number, driver’s license number and licensing state.
FMCSA demanded records for everyone listed in the system during the previous five years. The Department of Homeland Security issued a separate administrative subpoena seeking substantially the same information.
Federal officials reportedly intend to use the records to investigate improper CDL issuance, licensing fraud, commercial-driving schools and licenses issued to people who may not be legally eligible to receive them. The information could also be used for civil immigration enforcement.
The administration’s public-safety argument
The administration argues commercial driving is not merely a state concern.
Commercial trucks routinely cross state lines, and an improperly licensed driver in one state can pose a safety risk throughout the country. The federal government establishes national CDL standards and is responsible for reviewing whether states comply with them.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has accused the participating attorneys general of interfering with efforts to identify unqualified drivers and enforce licensing requirements.
“Every administration since 1988 has had access to this basic database,” Duffy said in a statement responding to the lawsuit.
He said the information is needed to prevent dangerous and improperly licensed drivers from operating commercial vehicles.
The federal government maintains its contract with AAMVA and federal transportation laws entitle FMCSA to obtain the information necessary to oversee state CDL programs.
That argument may resonate with people who believe states have failed to enforce immigration, employment or licensing laws consistently. If licenses were issued to people using fraudulent identities — or to applicants who were not legally eligible — the federal government has a legitimate interest in discovering those failures.
But the court questioned why FMCSA needed possession of the entire database when it has historically been able to query individual driver records.
Enforcement does not eliminate privacy concerns
Support for immigration enforcement does not automatically resolve the privacy and constitutional questions raised by the case.
A person may strongly support identifying unauthorized immigrants and fraudulent CDL holders while remaining skeptical of giving the federal government a database containing Social Security numbers and other information on millions of drivers who are not suspected of wrongdoing.
The states argue they own the records and submitted them to CDLIS for limited licensing and highway-safety purposes — not for the creation of a new federal database available for broader enforcement.
The court cited an FMCSA policy stating CDLIS records are not controlled by the agency. It also found the states were likely to succeed on claims that the wholesale demand conflicted with federal privacy and commercial-vehicle laws.
That raises a broader question about the division of authority between states and the federal government: Can an executive agency substantially expand its access to state records without Congress clearly authorizing the change?
It also raises a fundamental concern about government power. A legitimate enforcement objective does not necessarily give an agency unlimited authority to collect information on everyone in a regulated system.
Funding threat raises another concern
The administration’s alleged threat to terminate AAMVA’s federal funding strengthened the states’ argument.
Federal grants and contracts frequently include conditions. But the Constitution generally requires the federal government to provide clear notice of those conditions rather than adding major new requirements after an organization has accepted the funding.
AAMVA warned losing its federal contracts could disrupt CDLIS and interfere with states’ ability to issue or renew commercial licenses.
The judge found the states were likely to succeed on their claim that federal officials could not impose the new data-transfer requirement by threatening funding that supports the licensing system.
A possible middle ground
The competing positions can be reconciled.
The federal government has a legitimate responsibility to investigate licensing fraud, unsafe drivers, improper state practices and violations of immigration law. States should not be able to use privacy claims to shield illegal conduct or obstruct legitimate federal oversight.
But Washington also should not collect millions of Social Security numbers merely because some records might reveal violations.
A more narrowly tailored approach could allow federal investigators to search for specific individuals, examine records from states with documented compliance problems or compare limited data fields without transferring complete personal records.
Any broader access could be accompanied by rules governing which agencies may use the information, how long it may be retained, whether it may be shared and how drivers can correct inaccurate records.
Congress could also settle the matter by clearly defining federal access to CDLIS and establishing privacy safeguards.
What the decision means for Delaware
For now, the order prevents Delaware’s CDLIS records from being included in the federal transfer. It does not affect the validity of Delaware commercial licenses or prevent federal officials from conducting authorized, individualized investigations.
The case also does not determine whether CDL information may ever be used for immigration enforcement. Instead, it asks whether the administration followed the law in demanding the entire database and threatening AAMVA’s funding.
Jennings has characterized the case as another attempt by the Trump administration to obtain personal information for undisclosed or insufficiently limited purposes. The administration views it as part of a broader effort to strengthen commercial-driver enforcement and identify licenses improperly issued to unauthorized immigrants.
Both concerns deserve scrutiny.
The central question is not whether immigration and CDL laws should be enforced. It is whether the government can enforce them effectively without creating an unrestricted federal repository containing the personal information of millions of people who are not accused of violating the law.
To-go box
What happened: A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from obtaining participating states’ commercial-driver records.
What is involved: Approximately 17 million CDL records containing names, birth dates, license information and Social Security numbers.
Federal argument: The information is needed to detect licensing fraud, enforce safety standards and identify drivers who may not be legally eligible for commercial licenses.
States’ argument: The bulk demand lacks clear legal authority, privacy protections and limits on future use.
What comes next: Jennings and the multistate coalition will seek a preliminary injunction keeping the data transfer blocked while the lawsuit proceeds.
TORONTO, Aug. 25, 2026 — Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited has announced the next phase of its collaboration with Mitsubishi Chemical to advance semiconductor fabrication technologies using quantum computing algorithms. This next phase is supported by national innovation programs from both the Canadian and Japanese governments, aiming to scale Xanadu and Mitsubishi’s previous work in simulating a vital process in next-generation semiconductor fabrication: extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography. Bringing together both Canadian and Japanese expertise in quantum computing and materials science, this collaboration underscores a shared commitment to driving global innovation in the semiconductor industry through quantum technologies.
EUV lithography enables the creation of powerful chips used across multiple industries, such as mobile, AI, and advanced computing, and is crucial for current and next-generation semiconductor manufacturing. However, its efficiency is often hindered by radiation-induced blurring, an inherently quantum phenomenon that remains a major bottleneck for classical simulations.
In phase one of Xanadu and Mitsubishi’s collaboration, the two companies demonstrated that quantum algorithms can accurately model key aspects of EUV lithography, specifically the optical properties of the photoresists used to etch lithographic patterns. The next phase of the collaboration aims to develop a production-ready workflow that will take parameters derived from Xanadu’s quantum computing simulations and integrate them directly into Mitsubishi’s multi-scale models to predict blur. The result will be a fault-tolerant quantum computing (FTQC)-ready software pipeline designed to identify materials that prevent blurring and secure a competitive advantage in semiconductor manufacturing.
Xanadu plans to provide a concrete demonstration and roadmap for how quantum computing can contribute to the development of EUV resist materials through this collaboration.
This second phase of the collaboration is being advanced with support from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) and Japan’s Strategic Innovation Promotion Program (SIP). The relevant SIP project is led by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and the Global Research and Development Center for Business by Quantum-AI Technology (G-QuAT). The collaboration aims to further strengthen research and business collaboration between the two countries’ technology sectors.
Xanadu has previously received advisory services and more than $800,000 in funding from NRC IRAP, supporting its R&D in quantum computing across several projects, which helped lay the groundwork for this advancement.
“Our collaboration with Mitsubishi bridges quantum simulation and semiconductor fabrication, eliminating a critical manufacturing bottleneck and securing a competitive advantage for next-generation semiconductor technology. The funding from both the Canadian and Japanese governments underscores the importance of this partnership to advance the semiconductor industry globally,” said Dr. Christian Weedbrook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xanadu.
“This partnership expands on Mitsubishi’s previously successful collaboration with Xanadu, where we demonstrated the utility of quantum computing in simulating EUV resist materials for semiconductor manufacturing,” said Dr. Qi Gao, Senior Chief Scientist at Mitsubishi Chemical. “With support from national innovation programs and research organizations in both countries, we’re excited to bring together Canadian and Japanese expertise in quantum computing and materials science.”
“This project is a great example of connecting cutting-edge quantum computing research with real industrial challenges. In the critical field of semiconductor materials development, we expect this Japan-Canada collaboration to accelerate the real-world implementation of quantum technology. At SIP, we look forward to the new industrial value this initiative will create,” said Dr. Masahiro Horibe, Sub-Program Director, Cross-ministerial SIP and Deputy Director, G-QuAT, AIST.
This shared initiative between Xanadu and Mitsubishi aims to showcase quantum computing innovation on the world stage while advancing critical quantum simulation capabilities for the global semiconductor industry. By bridging quantum innovation with industrial application, this continued partnership will establish a blueprint for quantum-driven material discovery. As Xanadu and Mitsubishi Chemical advance this joint pipeline, their work aims to unlock commercial value for early FTQC systems, while driving the future of global semiconductor fabrication.
Founded in 2016, Xanadu is a Canadian photonic quantum computing company with the mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Xanadu is building fault-tolerant quantum computers using light, with systems designed to compute at room temperature. Xanadu develops both hardware and software, including PennyLane, its open-source quantum computing platform. Xanadu is the first pure-play photonic quantum computing company to list on public markets (Nasdaq/TSX: XNDU) and is recognized globally for its breakthroughs in scalable quantum technologies.
PM known to be keen to attend UN general assembly after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Ukraine
UK officials are making preparations for a potential meeting between Andy Burnham and Donald Trump after the prime minister said he hoped to attend next month’s UN general assembly in New York.
Burnham is known to be particularly keen to attend the annual gathering after meeting Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Monday, when he pledged to help drum up more international support for Ukraine.
The Guardian’s Luke Harding discussed Trump, Putin and the state of the war in Ukraine, his expulsion from Russia, his new book Betrayal, and his career as a foreign correspondent
Ipswichred asks: Why is Russia considered a wider threat when it cannot even defeat Ukraine?
Pressfreedomorbust asks: What do you think is the likelihood of Russia taking military action (drones or troops) against another country such as Poland or Estonia? This would force Nato to use its military resources on this second conflict instead of supplying Ukraine.
Russia says it is at war not just with Ukraine, but the “collective west”. Accordingly, it carries out a number of hostile actions against the UK and EU countries. They include sabotage (undersea cables, bombs on cargo planes), disinformation and support for pro-Russian Eurosceptic parties (AFD in Germany, Reform in Britain, etc.)
Last year Moscow sent a swarm of decoy drones into Poland, to probe Nato’s defences. European leaders are generally reluctant to describe the Kremlin’s acts as war, preferring to use the qualifier “hybrid”. For now Putin is bogged down in Ukraine. In the meantime, Russia’s diversionary behaviour will continue. I wouldn’t rule out some kind of military “provocation”, probably limited in scope, against a Nato country.
He’s safe. There was much speculation around the time of the full-scale invasion that Putin was sick and possibly dying. This turned out to be wishful thinking. Similarly, there is little prospect of a palace coup or popular revolution in Russia. The reality is Putin will stay in power for life. Most people support him, state propaganda is as potent as ever, and the security services keep a close eye on dissent. Many of those who oppose him left the country in 2022. The majority are passive and fatalistic. The fate of Alexey Navalny - murdered in a Siberian gulag in 2024, likely on Putin’s orders - sent its own grim message.
Robert Corrigan has been dealing with the ‘smart’ rodents all his life – and believes there are better solutions to deal with the growing infestation in the world’s cities
“The rodents have paid for every single bill I’ve ever had – every mortgage, every car payment, every pint of Guinness,” says Dr Robert Corrigan. “It’s been a great ride and I’m still at it.”
New York-based Corrigan is one of the most respected voices in the world of rodentology. Now in his 70s, he has devoted his entire adult life to studying rats and our relationship with them.
Aug. 25, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Princeton University have extended the contract for Princeton’s management and operation of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), located on the University’s Forrestal Campus in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
PPPL’s primary fusion experiment is the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U), which is designed to be the world’s most powerful spherical tokamak. Credit: PPPL.
“Princeton is proud to continue its longstanding partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy, building on a shared commitment to scientific excellence,” said Peter Schiffer, the University’s dean for research and vice president for PPPL. “PPPL is renowned for innovative and world-leading plasma research and advancing the science and engineering needed to realize fusion energy.”
“At PPPL, we have big ideas and do big science that reverberates around the world and through history,” said Steve Cowley, PPPL laboratory director. “We’re excited to continue that tradition through our renewed partnership with Princeton University, enabling us to pursue groundbreaking science for years to come.”
PPPL’s historic focus on plasma and fusion research has recently expanded to include substantial research efforts in microelectronics, quantum computing and artificial intelligence. PPPL’s primary fusion experiment is the National Spherical Torus Experiment-Upgrade (NSTX-U), which is designed to be the world’s most powerful spherical tokamak. The Laboratory is also home to the Facility for Laboratory Reconnection Experiments, a national collaborative research facility studying magnetic reconnection.
Under the five-year contract extension, which commences April 1, 2027, the University expects to invest in increasing collaborations with Princeton faculty, exploring a next-generation facility for fusion energy research, and enhancing site infrastructure and safety for the next phase of operations.
PPPL partners with industry and research institutions to advance the development of fusion and plasma technologies. As one of the select participants in DOE’s Genesis Mission, the Laboratory pioneers artificial intelligence and high-performance computing to accelerate fusion research. It also collaborates with private companies through DOE’s Innovation Network for Fusion Energy (INFUSE) program, the Milestone-Based Fusion Development program and through other partnership channels. PPPL is also working with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and venture capital firm SOSV to launch the NJ HAX Plasma Forge to accelerate plasma technology commercialization and start-up development in New Jersey.
Princeton has operated PPPL since the Laboratory’s inception in 1951, when it was called Project Matterhorn and under the leadership of founding Director Lyman Spitzer. PPPL is one of 10 National Laboratories stewarded by DOE’s Office of Science, and one of only 17 DOE laboratories nationwide. Together, these laboratories comprise a preeminent federal research system that provides the nation with strategic scientific and technological capabilities.
At least one in four former NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 was found to have had chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), according to a study released on Tuesday.
Out of the 878 former players who died during that time frame, 235 donated their brains for study, researchers said, with 215 of those donated brains found to have CTE, a degenerative disease that can only definitively be diagnosed after death. CTE is associated with repeated blows to the head, including concussions. Symptoms include difficulty with attention and memory, dementia, mood disorders and headaches.
A total of 17 people have now been arrested over Saturday’s crash in which car drove wrong way along dual carriageway
Five more people have been arrested by detectives investigating a crash that killed seven people, including two police officers.
PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed on Saturday when a Volkswagen Passat, which had been pursued by police, was driven the wrong way down the A66 near Middlesbrough and hit their marked armed response vehicle.
Kenya Glasgow and her toddler died after lightning struck in Margate, near Fort Lauderdale
A mother and her toddler were killed recently by a lightning strike in south Florida, local authorities said.
The tragedy happened in Margate, near Fort Lauderdale, on Sunday. The victims were Kenya Glasgow, 31, and her two-year-old daughter, named in media reports as Kennedi.
LIVINGSTON, N.J., Aug. 25, 2026 — CoreWeave, Inc. today announced Rescale will expand its cloud ecosystem to CoreWeave Cloud to support AI and simulation workloads powering next-generation product development. With CoreWeave’s purpose-built AI cloud, Rescale customers across aerospace, automotive, energy, life sciences, and manufacturing can run demanding simulations and AI workloads at the speed and scale their breakthrough engineering requires.
Rescale’s digital engineering platform unifies the compute infrastructure, simulation software, and AI capabilities that R&D and engineering teams depend on to bring breakthrough products to market faster. Through integration with CoreWeave Kubernetes Service (CKS), Rescale customers can seamlessly access an AI cloud platform optimized for generative AI and HPC workloads. CKS enables scalable, containerized orchestration with high-performance networking and storage, allowing engineering teams to run distributed simulations and AI models efficiently without managing underlying infrastructure.
“As Rescale customers move deeper into AI physics and agentic engineering workflows, the compute demands are fundamentally different from traditional simulation,” said John Moonshower, chief revenue officer at Rescale. “CoreWeave’s AI cloud platform is purpose-built for those workloads, and this collaboration ensures engineers on the Rescale platform have the infrastructure to match.”
“The engineers using Rescale are running some of the most demanding simulations in the world,” said Jon Jones, chief revenue officer at CoreWeave. “Rescale gives its customers access to CoreWeave’s AI-optimized cloud services with the performance and flexibility their engineering workloads demand. That’s what CoreWeave is built to deliver.”
CoreWeave’s AI cloud platform delivers industry-leading performance and efficiency through an end-to-end technology stack optimized for modern AI and HPC workloads. Its platform is trusted by leading AI labs, startups, and global enterprises, and is designed to support the full lifecycle of AI development, from experimentation and training to production inference and large-scale simulation.
CoreWeave’s technology team consistently sets new standards for performance, demonstrated by industry-leading MLPerf benchmark results and its position as the only AI cloud to earn top platinum rankings in both SemiAnalysis ClusterMAX 1.0 and 2.0, the definitive rating system for AI cloud performance, efficiency, and reliability.
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.
About Rescale
Rescale is the digital engineering platform for the AI era. The R&D and engineering teams shaping the future trust the Rescale platform to accelerate innovation. Rescale integrates agentic digital engineering, AI physics, advanced modeling and simulation, and intelligent HPC solutions on a single platform to unify product data, automate workflows, optimize HPC resources, and bring breakthroughs to market faster. For more information, visit rescale.com.
German investigators uncovered a third drone and suspected military explosives thought to be connected to an attempted attack on Leipzig airport, local media have reported.
The drone was discovered in Kabelsketal, just to the west of the airport, along with about 50g (1.8oz) of a suspected military explosive on 14 August, 10 days after the unsuccessful sabotage. Leipzig airport is a cargo and military logistics hub used by Nato and Ukraine’s Antonov Airlines for transporting military supplies.
US president has been obsessed with restricting the ability to vote by mail, despite using it himself. Plus, why we are still fascinated with Meg from the White Stripes
Good morning. The US supreme court has sided with Donald Trump in his effort to crack down on mail-in voting, though it is unclear whether or not his administration will be able to take action before the midterm elections in November. The court’s justices voted 6-3 along ideological lines to lift an injunction that a judge in Massachusetts had placed in June on an executive order issued by the president. But a second injunction remains in place, and the ruling leaves room for legal challenges.
Trump has repeatedly likened voting by mail to cheating, despite his own use of it and overwhelming evidence that the system is secure. In March he ordered the government to create a “state citizenship list” of eligible voters, requiring that mail-in ballots only be delivered to people on that list. He also directed the justice department to prioritise investigations and prosecutions of state and local election officials who issue ballots to people deemed ineligible to vote in federal elections.
What did the dissenting judges say? In a blistering dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote that the decision “needlessly injects chaos and uncertainty into the upcoming midterm elections”.
How have rights organisations reacted? The president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Derrick Johnson, said: “Let this ruling be a reminder that democracy is never, ever guaranteed. We have to fight for it, we have to fight to keep it and we have to protect the rights we do have within it … they are trying to do everything they possibly can to make it difficult for you to vote.”
How has Canada reacted? The country’s prime minister, Mark Carney, told reporters that Trump’s announcement was largely expected. “It’s not a surprise for us that the US would take some form of reprisal to our response to their unjustified tariff,” he said. Carney has vowed to match the American tariffs “dollar for dollar”, and said Canada could not accept any proposed trade deal that would weaken French language protections.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day: Can a political party’s disagreements become a democratic strength rather than an excuse to surrender to one man’s whims?
A Madman’s Trade War: Trump’s tariff tantrum with Canada will make ordinary people pay more for the privilege of watching him posture.
Hegseth vs Stars and Stripes: The War Secretary’s latest campaign to muzzle the press reveals an administration that fears an informed military as much as an informed public.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott takes aim at Muslim washing stations in airports: Abbott’s attack on modest Muslim accommodations exposes the hypocrisy behind his selective concern for religious freedom.
Under the Falls by Richard Russo: The Pulitzer Prize winner’s new novel turns a rock star’s return to his old town into a richly drawn reckoning with memory, resentment, and the people left behind.
Eleanor Collins - “Look to the Rainbow”: Canada’s First Lady of Jazz offers a tender reminder that our neighbors to the north deserve better than the foolish trade war being imposed on them.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day
“I don’t belong to any organized political faith. I am a Democrat.”
Will Rogers (1879–1935), American humorist and social commentator
(Photo by American Stock/Getty Images)
Once upon a time, Will Rogers was probably the most quoted man in America, and one of the funniest. He had Cherokee heritage on both sides of his family, and said that his people didn’t come over on the Mayflower, but “they met the boat.” Having grown up on a ranch in Oklahoma, he got his start in vaudeville doing rope tricks, but his quick wit soon saw him move in front of the microphone, where he entertained audiences with quips about the news of the day. Eventually, he became one of the highest-paid stars in motion pictures, as well as a radio commentator and widely syndicated newspaper columnist for papers like the Washington Post.
Today, he’s all but forgotten, except for a few of his most famous quips. This one dates to April 1933, a month after his fellow Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt was first inaugurated President. Although the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, the party was actually in better shape than it had been in many years, with control of the White House and both chambers of Congress following the 1932 election. Rogers had been a strong supporter of FDR, though at one point during the convention, his fellow Oklahomans cast their 22 votes for Rogers as a favorite-son candidate.
As we approach this year’s midterm primaries, the Democratic Party looks to be in a very strong position to take control of the House of Representatives, with a fair chance to also win a majority in the Senate. But Rogers’ quote still seems to apply, and if you are a regular watcher of cable news, you can expect to hear it repeated a few times between now and November. That’s because there’s a significant ideological gulf between the so-called “establishment” wing of the party, headed by minority leaders Chuck Schumer of the Senate and Hakeem Jeffries of the House, and the Democratic Socialists of America, led by Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
This has some Democrats more than a little worried, but I actually think it’s a good thing. Across the aisle, we’ve seen what happens when a single person exerts absolute control over one of our political parties. Today’s Republican Party is a cult of personality, with every position dictated by the whim of its increasingly irrational and reactive leader. While common sense would tell us that not everyone agrees with his every pronouncement on Truth [sic] Social, woe be unto the one who dares to disagree with Dear Leader: a primary challenge and a one-way ticket out of Washington are your rewards for showing any independence or evidence of principles.
On the Democratic side, there’s room for disagreement on fundamental issues like immigration, police funding, military spending, housing reforms, and, perhaps most vexing, the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Disagreement, in turn, stirs debate, which can lead to compromise. A lawyer friend once told me that a good compromise is one in which everyone comes away a little bit unhappy. That might be true, but a little bit of unhappiness leaves plenty of room for a little bit of happiness, too.
A Democratic Party that settles somewhere between the far left and the center will be well positioned to take back the White House in 2028, and with it control of the country. That would be a huge improvement over where we are today: at war with Iran, feuding with our traditional allies, siding with autocracies and theocracies that violate basic human rights, all while denying and ignoring an economic crisis that’s leaving too many Americans on a downward spiral out of the middle class. The Democrats may not be an organized political party, but the Republican Party’s organizing principles seem to be chaos, cruelty, and greed, none of which are in the best interests of the vast majority of the American people. Disorganized? Perhaps. But the Democratic Party looks to me like American democracy’s only chance at survival.
Iran's economy minister said the country has been preparing for a long time for the sanctions U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent described as the "greatest financial offensive" ever.
Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration is considering renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” as the United States and Canada enter another round of escalating tariffs and increasingly hostile rhetoric.
“The United States is giving serious consideration to changing the name of Lake Ontario to Lake America,” Trump wrote on social media, adding that Washington does not expect to conduct much business with Ontario. The statement echoed Trump’s 2025 executive action renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.”
The proposal came after U.S.-Canada trade negotiations collapsed and Washington imposed 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion in Canadian goods. Canada is preparing retaliatory tariffs, while Trump has also threatened 50% duties on Canadian-made vehicles, auto parts and steel.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has accused Washington of trying to weaken major Canadian industries and said his government will not accept negotiations treating Canada as subordinate to the United States.
Lake Ontario is shared by both countries, with the international boundary running through the lake. Trump did not explain how a U.S. name change would apply to the Canadian portion or whether any formal process has begun.
The broader trade dispute threatens highly integrated North American supply chains in automobiles, manufacturing, agriculture and energy, potentially raising costs for businesses and consumers in both countries.
24-year-old breaks single game and single season record
Reese’s 26 rebounds help Atlanta to win over Los Angeles
Angel Reese rebounded her way into the record books not once, but twice in one night. Reese set a WNBA record with 26 rebounds in the Atlanta Dream’s 78-71 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday, pushing her past the season record in the same game.
“Last time I was here, I didn’t miss any shots. Tonight I couldn’t hit [anything] so I knew I was going be able to get them on the rebounding side,” Reese said after the game. “I just want to be there for my team. Offensively, defensively, whatever it takes to win.”
Mathematicians are raising concerns that the technology could kill their profession. But they still have abilities AI doesn’t
Earlier this month, about 40 top mathematicians gathered at OpenAI’s offices to discuss the future of their profession. The meeting was off-the-record, but if recentarticlesbymathematicians are any guide, it was mostly pretty glum. People fear for their jobs, their careers and the work they love.
We think the contraryview is more likely, at least in the short-term. AI models are nowhere near as capable as experienced academic mathematicians.
Gao Zhen sentenced to three years in prison after already spending two years in detention
Gao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups.
The case has attracted international condemnation, largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the law under which Gao was charged.
Spot gold touches almost $4,700 an ounce and Bitcoin tops $80,000 while oil prices fall despite threat of heavy US sanctions on Iran and any country trading with it
The US car parts company First Brands Group, which makes things such as spark plugs, wiper blades and motor oil, has gone into liquidation.
A US bankruptcy court rejected a complex restructuring plan negotiated between the company, its lenders and unsecured creditors. First Brands had put forward a proposal to pay back creditors by pursuing litigation against insiders.
Unfortunately, time was not on the debtor’s side. The sales process did not render the types of sales prices I’m sure everybody wanted.
Danish toymaker also scores success with KPop Demon Hunters, Star Wars and botanicals products
Lego sales have risen by more than a fifth as tie-ups with the football World Cup, Formula One and the hit film KPop Demon Hunters as well as its flower-based and Star Wars kits drive demand.
The toymaker said its revenues had increased by 21% to 41.9bn Danish kroner (£4.8bn) in the first six months of 2026, driven by strong growth in the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific regions, offsetting stalled sales in China.
Also: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed his surprising sympathy over the construction of datacenters across the country
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m Blake Montgomery, US tech editor at the Guardian, writing to you from a sunny park in New York City, which was supposed to endure rain all weekend but in fact delivered the best weather of the year.
Family of three-year-old allegedly thrown into pit at Cambridgeshire zoo say he is happy to be back at home
A three-year-old boy who was seriously injured in a zoo’s crocodile enclosure has been discharged from hospital and is settling back in at home, his family has said.
The child returned home a few weeks ago and was “happy to be home, playing with his toys, sleeping in his own bed and being a big brother”, his parents said in an update posted online.
Exclusive: Buckinghamshire and Bedfordshire sites predicted to emit 4.5m tonnes a year when fully running
The carbon emissions from just two planned datacentres in England will exceed all of the fossil fuel company ExxonMobil’s UK emissions, analysis has revealed.
Experts have said this demonstrates the “serious threat” datacentres pose to the UK’s legally binding climate goals.
If Catherine Herridge’s petition to the US supreme court fails, she’ll be on the hook for a daily fine until she discloses her sources – a case unsettling press freedom organizations
For 18 days this summer, veteran journalist Catherine Herridge walked to her Washington DC mailbox and dropped off a check for $800. The money was required by law to cover a judge-imposed sanction after she was found in contempt of court in 2024 for refusing to disclose her sources. It fell to her 21-year-old son James to provide the moral support Herridge needed. “He understands the pressure that I’ve been under,” she said. “It was very hard, personally.”
The check drop is now on hold. The judge who issued that order, Christopher R Cooper, has since clarified that Herridge doesn’t need to pay the fine until she has a chance to plead her case to the supreme court, which she petitioned late last week.
This story was reported and produced by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the court system. Sign up here to get their weekly newsletter.
Minutes after Riverton police officer Brad Herzog ran 31-year-old Daniel Torrez Perez’s name through a law enforcement database one night in April 2025, his phone rang. It was the FBI.
“Every bell and whistle went off,” said Jack Griffin, the agent on the other end of the line.
Herzog had pulled Torrez over for going 15 miles above the speed limit on a rural two-lane highway just northeast of Springfield, Illinois. Herzog ran Torrez’s name and date of birth on his squad car laptop to confirm his identity. His search tripped a federal alert, and within minutes Griffin was on the line.
The exchange was captured on body-worn camera footage obtained by Injustice Watch through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Torrez had an administrative Immigration and Customs Enforcement warrant, meaning ICE was seeking to arrest him for deportation.
Under state law, Herzog couldn’t hold Torrez for federal agents.
In 2017, Illinois passed the TRUST Act on the principle that immigration is governed by federal civil law and local police have no business enforcing it. It was a sentiment bipartisan enough that a Republican governor, Bruce Rauner, signed it.
The law limits Illinois law enforcement agencies’ ability to assist immigration agents: They can’t transfer people to ICE custody without a criminal warrant signed by a judge, allow ICE agents to call or visit someone in a local jail, or “assist in any capacity with an immigration agents’ enforcement operations.”
Griffin knew that the immigration warrant was off-limits to Herzog.
“I know you can’t act on that,” Griffin told him. “I know this puts you in a weird bind.”
Then the FBI agent offered a way around it: Torrez also had an outstanding state warrant on a DUI charge, he noted. Herzog couldn’t arrest Torrez on the immigration warrant, but he could arrest him on the state one. The charge had nothing to do with immigration, but the outcome Griffin wanted was the same.
“You can take him under the state warrant, and that would hold him overnight,” Griffin said. “I don’t wanna miss my opportunity here.”
Herzog agreed to arrest Torrez on the state warrant and book him into the local jail, ensuring he wouldn’t be released that night.
“I appreciate that, thank you very much,” Griffin said, adding that he’d look for Torrez the next morning.
In the first 15 months following President Donald Trump’s return to office, local officials from at least 75 agencies across Illinois fed information to federal immigration agents, sometimes in apparent violation of state law. In over a third of Illinois counties, at least one police department, sheriff’s office, or state’s attorney’s office collaborated with federal agents. At least 150 people in Illinois were swept into the immigration system this way, in a state that presented itself as a shield against it.
Injustice Watch’s investigation draws on more than 30 hours of body-worn camera footage, 394 records requests, and more than 100 court filings, as well as conversations with more than 20 people who were flagged, detained, or deported, and more than 50 of their relatives. Many would talk only on the condition of anonymity, afraid of retaliation or ashamed of what had happened to them.
Illinois’s TRUST Act is one of the strongest laws in the nation meant to protect immigrants and has often been cited as a national model. More than a dozen states, including New York and California, have similar laws.
But the records unearthed in Illinois show a pattern of continued collaboration with federal immigration agencies that raise questions about the limits of such laws: Sheriffs honoring ICE detainers the law forbids them to honor. Police departments emailing federal agents the home addresses, employers, and daily whereabouts of people stopped for speeding. A local detective asking ICE to run the immigration status of an armed-robbery victim. Officers with a local badge and an ICE email address, sharing immigration data that’s supposed to be off-limits to them. Jails releasing people directly to waiting ICE agents, at the federal government’s direction.
The TRUST Act came with exceptions: Police can act on a federal criminal warrant, volunteer someone’s immigration status, or release an arrest report on request. And it left shared databases untouched — simply running a name through a law enforcement database is enough to trip a federal alert, the way it did the night Torrez was pulled over.
Some agencies refused to turn over records sought through FOIA requests; Injustice Watch is suing more than a dozen local, state, and federal agencies to pry them loose. The true count of people swept up under local-federal collaborations is almost certainly higher, in part because of missing records.
When taken one by one, collaborations between local officials and federal immigration agents may appear as small, isolated incidents. But at the end of that paper trail are at least 150 people uprooted from their lives in Illinois and funneled into the deportation system, in a state whose leaders had promised over and over again that it wouldn’t happen here.
Collaboration by Keystroke
The most common kind of collaboration was also the simplest: a local official pulling up a record and emailing it to an ICE agent. Roughly 85 such exchanges appear across the records reviewed by Injustice Watch.
The TRUST Act specifically prohibits state and local law enforcement officers from “providing information in response to any immigration agent’s inquiry or request for information regarding any individual in the agency’s custody” unless required to by a judge’s warrant or federal law.
César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an Ohio State University law professor who studies how criminal and immigration systems intersect, describes this type of collaboration as one built on “the kinds of professional relationships that commonly develop among law enforcement officers, especially in small communities where people know each other.”
Most are “entirely aboveboard,” he said, but they can sometimes “clash with directives, like what we see in the TRUST Act.”
In Tinley Park, a southwest Chicago suburb, communications with ICE agents flowed freely.
It started, the department’s emails show, at an early 2025 law enforcement meeting in Hinsdale, where Tinley Park detectives met Homeland Security Investigations special agent Daniel Mejdrech. Word moved through the department that Mejdrech, as one officer later put it in an email, “may be interested in cases with individuals with warrants that are not citizens or on a visa.”
In March 2025, Detective Justin Rzeszutko emailed Mejdrech a suspect’s passport photo and asked for “recent USA entry/exit photos.” The agent wrote back that the man had used aliases, had been deported from Canada, and sat on “a watchlist,” and offered to help locate him if the detective sent along addresses or associates. When Rzeszutko later secured an arrest warrant, Mejdrech volunteered muscle: “If you want manpower when you grab him, say the word and I can bring some folks.”
In April 2025, an ICE agent asked Tinley Park officer Jason L’Amas for “lead data” on a man the officer had stopped for speeding. The officer sent back the man’s driver’s license number, home address, phone number, and employer, and flagged where to find him: “His crew is doing work in Tinley Park currently.”
Months later, in a case first reported by the Chicago Tribune, L’Amas emailed an ICE deportation officer a report about a different man; days later, the ICE officer wrote back: “Just a heads up we took this guy into custody today.” Injustice Watch identified the man and confirmed he was deported to Honduras.
Ed Yohnka, a director at the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said these two exchanges may have violated the TRUST Act. Individual officers using informal connections with federal agents to share information about people they’d encountered without a warrant “is not supposed to be something that state or local police inquire about,” he said.
The first email exchange, he said, was a sign of something broader: a culture or belief in the Tinley Park Police Department that assisting with immigration enforcement was appropriate behavior, despite state law.
Tinley Park Police Chief Thomas Tilton didn’t respond to questions about his officers’ interactions with federal immigration officials. Neither did Village Manager Pat Carr.
Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul has extraordinary power to investigate TRUST Act violations: He can hold hearings, examine officials under oath, and issue subpoenas for records. But he rarely exercises that authority.
“The Attorney General’s office uses a compliance-oriented approach in carrying out its TRUST Act enforcement responsibilities,” Raoul said in a statement. “This approach includes providing trainings, technical assistance and nonregulatory guidance to law enforcement agencies throughout Illinois.” He declined to answer questions about Tinley Park or to specify how many times his office has taken enforcement action under the statute.
The ACLU of Illinois, meanwhile, has long pushed the attorney general’s office for increased monitoring of the law.
“One of the things that we often see in law enforcement generally is that individual officers too often believe that they can apply their own judgment to what should be permissible as opposed to what is required” under the state and federal law, said Yohnka. “And then there isn’t the kind of vigorous accountability for those actions.”
Illustration: Verónica Martinez/Injustice Watch
The Officers with Two Badges
In Hoffman Estates, a detective found a federal contact in his own department. Tom LaPak has been a police officer there since 2001 and, since 2004, a Homeland Security Investigations task force officer assigned to its financial investigations group. He carries a village badge and uses an ICE email address.
That’s because task force officers like LaPak are local cops the state cross-deputizes to work federal criminal cases.
The TRUST Act carves out room for this: It allows local officers to work with agencies like Homeland Security Investigations on criminal matters “in order to ensure public safety.”
The law doesn’t allow federal agents to use that partnership to enforce immigration law. For example, the law draws a line between tracking down a scam ring and checking a victim’s immigration status.
Records reviewed by Injustice Watch show some officers appeared to have crossed that line anyway.
On the morning of September 4, 2025, Marc Shaw, a Hoffman Estates detective, emailed LaPak about an armed robbery — but not to ask about the robber.
Shaw wrote that “some red flags have been raised with the victim.” The case might be staged, he suspected, to support a U visa claim.
A U visa offers a path to citizenship for certain victims who report crimes and cooperate with police. Both that protection and Illinois’s own TRUST Act rest on the same idea: encouraging immigrants to come forward to law enforcement agencies without triggering their own deportation.
But Shaw’s email treated a victim’s possible path to protection as a reason to suspect him of fraud.
“I was wondering if it’s possible to check his citizenship status to see if I’m tracking this correctly or the issues that have been arising are coincidental,” Shaw wrote.
LaPak wrote back the same afternoon. “I’m still waiting on confirmation, but it appears he is a Visa overstay,” he wrote. “He should have left the U.S. in 2016.”
“Ok thanks that’s definitely good to know,” Shaw replied. “I appreciate it!”
Reached by phone, Hoffman Estates Police Chief Kasia Cawley said her department didn’t violate the TRUST Act. She also defended her detective, who she said had recently participated in a training on spotting U visa fraud and had a hunch that something was off because there were no witnesses to the crime, she said.
The man was never charged — or told his status had been checked.
Cooperation with task force officers ran the other way, too, with the federal government reaching through them to enlist local officers in immigration operations.
On January 13, 2025, a week before Trump’s inauguration, a Homeland Security Investigations Chicago supervisor emailed dozens of agents and task force officers about “several operations in furtherance of the new administration’s objectives.” A joint operation with Enforcement and Removal Operations — ICE’s deportation arm — was set to run January 21 through 27. It would focus, the email said, on “non-citizens who pose the highest public safety risk,” along with employer inspections of area businesses.
“It is important that as many personnel as possible — including our task force officers — participate,” the supervisor wrote.
The distribution list included officers at police departments in Urbana, Peoria, Decatur, and across central Illinois — local cops looped into the planning of a federal deportation operation.
Two police chiefs reached by Injustice Watch distanced themselves from the operations. Urbana Police Chief Larry Boone said his task force officers joined a Zoom briefing but didn’t participate in removal operations. Peoria’s chief, Bradley Dixon, said his officers didn’t either. Decatur chief Brad Allen did not respond to questions.
Collaboration by Default
When Riverton officer Herzog ran Daniel Torrez’s name the night of that traffic stop, he didn’t contact the FBI; the database did.
Fingerprints taken at booking are automatically routed through a network of databases that flows from the Illinois State Police to the FBI. From there, they reach the Department of Homeland Security, where they’re checked against immigration databases. An arrest for almost anything — a DUI, shoplifting — can surface a decades-old immigration record and tell ICE exactly where to find the person.
Injustice Watch reviewed more than 40 federal court affidavits in which a fingerprint taken at a local booking and matched against federal records helped build an immigration case.
Spencer Reynolds, senior counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and a former Department of Homeland Security attorney, said the automatic sharing of data “is a fundamental threat to protective laws for residents and visitors in any given state.”
In a statement, a spokesperson for the FBI said agents “work within the law and policy to support our partners in immigration enforcement and protect the U.S. from a variety of threats.”
In interviews and emails, local police chiefs described the booking process as one beyond their control. Fingerprints are automatically sent to the state and federal systems, and local agencies can’t opt out of the system or dictate what Illinois State Police or federal agents do with the data. As O’Fallon chief Kirk Brueggeman put it, the department has “no say in how a federal agent — operating under a different set of laws — uses those resources that we do not control.”
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly didn’t respond to questions about how his agency transmits data to federal agencies.
Kelly was handpicked by Gov. JB Pritzker, who consistently made promises to protect all residents across Illinois. Shortly after Trump was elected in 2024, Pritzker told cable news, “I’m going to do everything I can to protect our undocumented immigrants.” At a conference this past April, he recalled how he’s been standing up to Trump’s anti-immigrant policies since the president’s first term.
Pritzker didn’t respond to questions about how state police share immigration-related information.
The automatic transmission of data is so pervasive that it even touches the few departments that, in a review of public records, turn ICE away when it comes knocking.
In February, Zenobia Jones, an administrative staffer for the Atlanta, Georgia, immigration court prosecutor, asked Aurora police records staff for documents related to an individual — but didn’t get far.
“The Illinois TRUST Act generally prohibits local law enforcement from sharing information with federal immigration agencies with limited exceptions,” wrote Aurora police records manager Elizabeth Robles. Jones never wrote back. Two months later, an ICE deportation officer named Gregory Ortiz made a similar request from the same department. Robles handed Ortiz the same response. Ortiz never wrote back, either.
But for all the resistance the Aurora Police Department put up against ICE requests, it couldn’t stop the automatic sharing of fingerprints gathered in the course of routine arrests — three of which, court records show, were used as part of federal immigration cases.
Illustration: Verónica Martinez/Injustice Watch
Honoring ICE Detainers
The U.S. Marshals Service takes custody of people accused in federal criminal cases, as well as some of those serving shorter sentences. Because it operates no jails of its own, the agency contracts with local jails for bed space, including facilities in Illinois.
The TRUST Act bars Illinois jails from similar contracts with ICE, and explicitly bars them from honoring ICE detainers — civil requests to hold a person past their scheduled release. It also prohibits jails from handing anyone over to ICE.
Some jails do it anyway, at the Marshals’ direction.
In October 2025, a man who’d pleaded guilty to drug charges was in Marshals custody at the Marion County Jail in southern Illinois. Marshals administrator Lauren Patterson emailed an ICE agent asking if the agency could take him from the jail, then told the jail ICE would collect him on October 12.
That day, a sergeant confirmed to Patterson and several ICE agents that the man “was picked up by ICE approximately 0715 this morning.”
Two months later, the Marshals Service instructed the jail to release another man into ICE custody, and once again, the jail obliged.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Cripps, who runs the jail, insists his office did nothing wrong.
“We at no time had contact with ICE,” he said. His jail houses people for the Marshals Service, and when he releases them he does so only while “acting under their authority.”
Documents reviewed by Injustice Watch suggest a similar pattern across other Illinois jails. In effect, the Trump administration, not Illinois law, decides whom a state jail releases to immigration agents.
In a statement, the Marshals placed responsibility on the sheriffs.
“Should state law prohibit the jails from honoring detainers,” a spokesperson said, the agency “would anticipate that the jails follow their state law.”
Asked whether his office would do anything to address the practice, Attorney General Raoul declined to answer.
State laws bind local officials but can’t bind the federal government. As García Hernández, the law professor, explained, “the Marshals Service or DHS, they can come knocking as often as they like” — it’s up to local officials to abide by state law. But, he added, so many loopholes are baked into laws like the TRUST Act that it can “allow the exceptions to swallow the rule.”
In some counties, sheriffs aren’t taking direction from the Marshals Service and are instead honoring ICE detainers directly — a direct violation of the TRUST Act. Records indicate that at least four counties have done so since Trump returned to office.
In late June 2025, Hancock County State’s Attorney Bobi James emailed ICE agent Ron Shevela about an upcoming plea deal that would release a man her office was prosecuting. But there was a snag: The agent would be out of town until July 1, and the prosecutor worried nothing would keep the man jailed past his release.
“I could send you a detainer before then, if you’d like,” wrote the agent.
“That would probably be necessary,” James replied.
Hancock Sheriff Travis Duffy didn’t respond to questions about the detainer; neither did prosecutor James.
Xanat Sobrevilla, who co-founded the advocacy group Organized Communities Against Deportations, said that for the families she works with, the trust communities have tried to build with local agencies is eroding.
“It’s hard to continue to believe in something that continues to hurt you,” she said.
After Riverton officer Herzog pulled Torrez over just outside Springfield, Torrez spent that night in the Sangamon County Jail, exactly as the FBI agent on the phone had wanted. Hours later, he was in ICE’s grip.
In an affidavit, ICE deportation officer J.R. Hentz said Torrez was taken “into custody inside the booking area of the Sangamon County, Illinois jail” the day after he was arrested.
Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch didn’t respond to a request for comment; neither did her husband, Riverton Police Chief Bob Crouch.
Injustice Watch confirmed Torrez was deported to Guatemala late last year.
"The Register has a story about a Windows backdoor that waits silently in memory for a 'magic packet' before springing into action," writes Slashdot reader fred133. "No outgoing traffic, just waiting..." From the report: Like a sleeper cell awaiting activation, a never-before-seen Windows backdoor dubbed Sleepwalker waits silently in memory for one specifically crafted network packet to wake it up and deliver commands using the malware's 23-instruction language. The commands can do everything from running code directly in memory to moving data off the computer. Malware researcher Dominik Reichel discovered the passive backdoor, which also has its own command language, and detailed Sleepwalker in a technical analysis on Monday. "What makes it worth writing up is what that packet carries: not a readable command, but a short program written in a command language of the backdoor's own design," Reichel said. "Its 23 instructions cover scheduling, several ways to move data, staged file delivery and running code directly in memory. Recovering the encryption key is not enough to understand one of these programs. The internal command language must be reverse engineered as well."
In addition to having its own command language, it's also notable that the remote host can be a VMware VMCI target instead of a normal network address. "Taken as a whole, the approach here is consistent with a targeted, well-resourced operation rather than an opportunistic one," Reichel wrote. The malware, hidden inside a 64-bit Windows DLL file, impersonates Microsoft's dpapi.dll, part of Windows' data protection API for protecting sensitive data. It exports the same seven functions as the real dpapi.dll, but attempts to forward calls to a file named dpapisvc.dll, which is not a real Windows component. The file also has a forged ESET Management Agent version resource, and loads via side-loading into ERAAgent.exe, the Windows executable for ESET Management Agent. After confirming that its host process is named ERAAgent.exe, Sleepwalker goes to sleep inside the computer's memory, which also helps it remain hidden from traditional anti-virus tools.
Unlike most backdoors, which call back to an attacker-controlled command-and-control (C2) server and start receiving commands, Sleepwalker lies in wait, checking every packet that passes through the network looking for a specific pattern - this is called a magic packet. Once it sniffs out a packet that matches the exact pattern, the backdoor decrypts the data and treats it as a command. "Because the backdoor never sends anything out on its own and does not open any obvious listening port by default, tools that watch for connections to known-bad domains or unusual outbound traffic will not see anything unusual," Reichel wrote. "The absence of outbound connections to known-bad infrastructure does not rule out an infection, either. A machine can be fully compromised by this backdoor while producing nothing at all for a network monitor to flag."
Trump administration proposes new rule to dismantle requirement for datacenters to publicly report air pollution
A new rule proposed by the Trump administration aims to kill public notification for datacenter air pollution, public health advocates warn, and allow emission permits to be issued behind closed doors.
The datacenters are often sources of nitrogen oxide, which helps form ozone, carbon monoxide and heavy metals, among other pollutants.
Another driver in critical condition as result of collision after man failed to stop for officers in Stratford-upon-Avon
A man has died and a woman is critically injured after a police pursuit in Warwickshire.
Police said officers tried to stop a black Audi on Birmingham Road in Stratford-upon-Avon at 5.23pm on Monday but the vehicle failed to stop and drove towards the A46.
Maine Coon named Erebus Anomaly breaks previous record of 28 toes held for over two decades after overcoming illness
A Maine Coon kitten from Wisconsin overcame a perilous bout with pneumonia to break a 24-year-old world record for most toes on a cat, setting the new mark at 29.
Erebus Anomaly’s unique story received US national media attention on Monday, when ABC’s World News Now program recounted what one of his owners called a “miraculous” recovery from illness in his infancy – and the subsequent Guinness World Record that he clinched.
A recent memo claiming executive privilege over communications with private advisers invites corruption
A recent office of legal counsel memo on executive privilege maintains that private advisers to a president can avoid responding to a subpoena by asserting the president’s executive privilege. The ability of presidents to shield communications from public view through claims of executive privilege, whether their own or those of a senior adviser, was already a powerful tool for presidents to avoid accountability. But if courts accept the OLC’s new interpretation of presidential privilege, it will be substantially harder to call witnesses to testify before Congress or in court proceedings regarding possible wrongdoing by the presidents.
Equipping presidents with extensive power to block witnesses in legal proceedings is a dangerous practice that invites corruption by presidents and their advisers. Consider the former White House counsel Don McGahn’s 2019 refusal to testify in response to a subpoena by the House judiciary committee in connection with the special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Donald Trump. McGahn didn’t come up with that idea on his own. It was the Trump White House that sought to bar McGahn from testifying through an assertion of a type of executive privilege known as “testimonial immunity.” Ironically, Mueller was investigating whether Trump obstructed justice, among other things, by demanding that McGahn fire Mueller himself. Trump’s insistence that McGahn not testify, backed up by a 2019 OLC opinion, effectively made the first Trump administration complicit in the very obstruction under investigation.
Republican nominee to face Democrat Annie Andrews in midterm after rushed campaigns for Lindsey Graham’s seat
Reese Boyd, the chair of the Horry county Republican party marveled on Monday afternoon at how little time Senator Darline Graham and Representative Ralph Norman have had to campaign for the Senate primary: “This is not the normal way of things.”
“This is something that usually lasts at least, you know, the better part of a year,” he said. “People normally spend the better part of 18 months getting ready for it. Who knows? This may be the right way to do it? Who knows.”
There has been a 76% increase in under-construction gas-fired projects amid ‘frenzy’ to build more datacenters
The US has surged ahead of China in the building of new gas-fired power generation, largely to feed a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) that is adding vast amounts of planet-heating emissions, a new analysis has found.
For decades, China’s rapid economic growth has seen it outpace the US in the addition of new gas power generation but a recent “frenzy” in datacenter construction for AI has reversed this, said Global Energy Monitor (Gem) in its new report.
Adam Hamilton, a liberal megachurch pastor, is challenging incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall in this year’s midterm election
In one of the first ads of his campaign to represent Kansas in the US Senate, the Democrat Adam Hamilton stands grilling steaks at a barbecue and attacks his opponent, Senator Roger Marshall, a Republican, for supporting “tariffs and war”.
If history is any guide, it is Hamilton who is set to get cooked. Kansas has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, and more than half a century has passed since one of their nominees even came close. But he and his supporters believe circumstances have conspired to end this streak – and potentially deliver Democrats control of the Senate.
Why Should Delaware Care? Campaign donations, particularly from corporations or advocate organizations, are increasingly becoming a litmus test for voters in the 2026 midterm elections. In Delaware, the campaign fundraising for Sen. Chris Coons has become a topic of conversation among some Democratic voters.
As Congressional Democratic incumbents are scrutinized nationwide amid primary election challenges from progressives, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons has pledged to stop accepting donations from controversial data company Palantir after previously bringing in thousands from it.
Palantir has come under fire from advocates in recent years over its work with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, U.S. military and the Israeli Defense Forces.
The donations, totaling $27,500, come from a company decried by some Democrats for its work on issues Coons has publicly spoken out against.
Palantir’s recent donations to Republican lawmakers far outpace its contributions to Democrats, according to advocacy organization called Purge Palantir, but Coons is near the top of the list of Democrats who have received contributions from the company.
The list ranges from Palantir’s top-funded official President Donald Trump, who has received more than $2 million, to U.S. Sen Cory Booker (D-N.J.), who received $250 in contributions.
Some Democratic lawmakers, including Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), have publicly announced they would either donate or return similar campaign contributions from Palantir.
After privately receiving criticisms from the Wilmington-area advocacy group Indivisible Highlands and Beyond about the Palantir donations, Coons, who is set to face three opponents in next month’s primary election, pledged in a letter to the organization to no longer accept or seek contributions from Palantir.
“The re-election campaign … shall not accept or solicit campaign contributions from Palantir Technologies, its [political action committee], or C-Suite Palantir employees,” Coons wrote in the letter sent to the group last month.
But when reached for comment by Spotlight Delaware, a representative from Coons’ office declined to say whether the senator would return or donate the $27,500.
“IHB wanted his statement because we felt it important that none of our [members of Congress] were accepting donations from companies hurting our immigrant neighbors,” said Deb Travers, a leader of Indivisible Highlands and Beyond.
Travers said the progressive activist group was surprised to see Coons’ name on the Palantir Payroll list back in April.
The list, created by an advocacy organization called Purge Palantir, tracks the software giant’s political contributions and seeks to work against a company it says enables “mass surveillance and militarization at home and abroad.”
What is Palantir?
Palantir is an immensely successful data mining company that has developed artificial intelligence-powered software that can crunch and analyze enormous data sets.
But the company has increasingly become known for a willingness to court controversy, particularly through contracts with the Trump administration. Among other initiatives, its software tracks the movement of migrants and responds to a tip line for ICE, bombing target acquisition for the military and even grant screening for diversity, equity and inclusion language.
In the last two years alone, the company has received more than $2.5 billion in government contracts, principally from the military and ICE.
Coons is involved in overseeing the government’s spending on defense programs, currently serving as the ranking Democratic member for the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. He is one of 11 Democratic lawmakers who serve on defense and technology-related committees that have ties with Palantir.
A representative from Coons’ office declined to comment on the senator’s relationship with Palantir and its employees.
Palantir has come under fire from advocates in recent years over its work with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, U.S. military and the Israeli Defense Forces. | PHOTO COURTESY OF SALVADOR RIOS ON UNSPLASH
The technology company, co-founded by billionaire Peter Thiel and current CEO Alex Karp, is on the list of top 50 most valuable U.S. companies, holding a market capitalization of more than $422 billion.
Thiel himself also is no stranger to controversy. He wrote an essay in 2009 where he claimed to “no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” In that same essay, the tech investor said women’s suffrage “rendered the notion of ‘capitalist democracy’ an oxymoron.”
Earlier this year, Karp drew criticism online for a 22-point manifesto posted on the company’s X account, in which the executive wrote that “the postwar neutering of Germany and Japan must be undone.”
Donation details
Palantir executives donated $27,500 to either Coons’ campaign committee, Chis Coons for Delaware, or a separate political action committee led by the senator, the Blue Hen Federal PAC, over the last two years. Those funds were pegged to both the 2026 primary and general election, as necessary.
In June, a month before Coons vowed to reject money from Palantir, the senator officially launched his re-election bid. He has served in the Senate since 2010, securing reelection twice by double-digit margins.
Karp was Coons’ top Palantir-related contributor, donating $7,000. Other employee donations totaled $10,500.
Karp also donated $10,000 in total to the Blue Hen Federal PAC. Coons established the committee to raise funds in support of other candidates and Democratic political groups.
Despite the donations, Coons has publicly opposed ICE enforcement, co-authoring the ICE Accountability Act in an effort to stop abuse within detention centers.
He also spoke out against ICE enforcement efforts in Minneapolis earlier this year after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
“Like so many Americans, I’ve watched in horror as masked agents terrorize Minnesota and communities across the country and kill peaceful protestors,” Coons said in a press release earlier this year. “Delawareans rightly want reforms, and so do I, but reforms are meaningless without oversight and enforcement.”
Coons also has recently proposed legislation to enable safeguards when artificial intelligence is used within the U.S. Department of Defense.
Other organizations react
While Travers, the Indivisible Highlands and Beyond leader, said she was surprised to see Coons taking money from Palantir, representatives from other advocacy groups said they were not as shocked.
Karl Stromberg, the political director of Delaware’s Working Families Party, which has been backing progressive challengers to many incumbent Democrats, noted that Coons, a centrist Democrat, has historically raised campaign funds from corporate America.
“Contributions, whether corporate or otherwise, often can determine essentially who gets access to our senators, who gets in the room, whose opinion is taken more seriously,” he said.
The Delaware Democratic Party did not respond to Spotlight Delaware’s request for comment.
Mariah Schnee, with Delawareans for Palestinian Human Rights, also said she was not surprised by the donations, since Palantir donates to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
The company and its top officials have donated to central funds and candidates from both parties, but its spending has disproportionately favored Republicans by a 3-1 margin.
“Delaware voters deserve to know whether their senator’s position on Gaza and immigration enforcement reflect their values or the interests of his donors,” she said.
Coons is set to face off against political newcomers Jeff Appelhans and Mary Louve, along with former Republican candidate Eric Hansen who has switched parties, in the Sept. 15 Democratic primary election.
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware’s hospitals are powerful and often consolidated entities. For decades, each of the state’s three main hospital systems have remained within their bounds by county line. But as more retirees flock to the state, those boundaries are being disregarded.
The Dover-based hospital system Bayhealth has taken the first shot in what had been a looming turf war between state healthcare providers over access to the valuable southern Delaware market.
Long the dominant player in northern Delaware, ChristianaCare has increasingly invested below the C&D Canal in recent years.
But Bayhealth claims that ChristianaCare’s proposals could run afoul of a new law signed this summer meant to curb the involvement of for-profit enterprise in nonprofit healthcare.
The Delaware Healthcare Commission and the Delaware Health Resources Board is responsible for approving hospital expansions that cost more than $5.8 million. The board is set to discuss this letter at its meeting later this afternoon.
Get Involved: The Delaware Health Resources Board will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 25, in the Herman M. Holloway Sr. Campus Main Administration Building, located at 1901 N. DuPont Highway in New Castle. Virtual attendance options can be found here.
Bayhealth’s challenge to ChristianaCare’s expansion highlights what has been a quiet, but contentious race among hospitals to hold the most market share below the C&D Canal, as retirees from across the Northeast flock to Delaware’s coastline. With that aging population, comes a greater demand for medical services.
The letter also demonstrates the evolving role of a Delaware regulatory board meant to act as a watchdog to ensure the state’s healthcare systems don’t make unnecessary investments that could end up costing a captive patient population.
Bayhealth did not respond to a request for comment on the contents of its letter.
The letter, written by Bayhealth Chief Operating Officer Kyle Benoit, challenged ChristianaCare’s plans to build two new “micro-hospitals” in Camden and Georgetown.
In his letter, Benoit said ChristianaCare’s plans to build micro-hospitals may be in noncompliance with the regulatory review because there are no statutory definitions of a micro-hospital in Delaware.
Bayhealth also prodded at ChristianaCare’s business plan for the downstate facilities, questioning whether its proposal complied with Senate Bill 313 – a law signed this summer that prevents the sale of Delaware’s nonprofit health systems to private equity firms.
Benoit noted that ChristianaCare’s plans for the downstate facilities involved a partnership with Emerus Holdings, a for-profit healthcare real estate developer.
The developer has already partnered with ChristianaCare on two sites in the Philadelphia suburbs, with a similar micro-hospital approach in Chester and Delaware counties.
Gov. Matt Meyer signed Senate Bill 313 into law earlier this summer, establishing a two-year moratorium on the purchase and or sale of nonprofit hospital systems to private equity firms.
“If the governing agreements provide for a for-profit participant with rights that constitute prohibited ownership, control or operational authority, the applications are not legally eligible for approval,” Benoit wrote.
As part of its request to the board, Bayhealth requested ChristianaCare disclose its corporate and structure agreements with Emerus to ensure compliance with Senate Bill 313. Additionally, Bayhealth requested the board delay its review until its legal concerns are addressed.
ChristianaCare did not reply to a request to comment for this story.
Separately, ChristianaCare recently received a permitting break on both micro-hosptials from the governor’s office, who accepted them into the state’s “JobsFirst Permitting Accelerator.” According to a press release published earlier this month, the permitting accelerator is meant to streamline regulatory approvals for complex projects, and complete them within 120 days.
According to the website for JobsFirst, the program focuses on housing, broadband, energy infrastructure, water, sewer and mixed-use projects.
Asked in an email why ChristianaCare qualified for this permitting fast-track, a spokesperson for the governor said the executive order creating the program allows Meyer to determine if projects are critical.
“The EO allows the Governor flexibility to designate a project as critical infrastructure, and he sees this project as critical as we see gaps in service,” the spokesperson said.
What is ChristianaCare hoping to build?
For the better part of two years, ChristianaCare has spent millions on an expansion blitz.
It’s proposed and opened sites in Pennsylvania, further entrenched itself in New Castle County, and has begun to reach farther south.
In May, the hospital also announced it would open a $58.1 million health campus in Kent County, continuing its push into contested downstate markets.
Bayhealth,is the second largest hospital system in Delaware, after ChristianaCare. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY NICK STONESIFER
At the time, Bayhealth offered a diplomatic opposition to the facility, saying in a statement it “remains focused” on providing care to its patients. But the hospital also said care should not be “fragmented.”
It said it would “actively participate” by sharing data and ways to address cost, access and quality of care in the area.
“We recognize that patients across Delaware are looking for faster access to care,” a spokesperson for the hospital said in an email.
The 38,000‑square‑foot ChristianaCare Kent County campus would open in Camden about a mile from the Walmart on U.S. Route 13. The state healthcare giant said in a statement the new campus would offer emergency and inpatient beds, as well as primary care and outpatient services.
It hopes to open the facility by late 2028 or early 2029.
ChristianaCare also said the new facility would bring 83 new jobs. As it has done with other recently announced ventures, ChristianaCare positioned its expansion as a means of supporting Delaware’s growing and aging population.
The healthcare system also expects its new Georgetown facility to open by 2028. It is partnering with Emerus Holdings to build the facility — which would offer emergency beds, behavioral, specialty and primary care — at 20769 DuPont Blvd., just south of the Bridgeville Road intersection.
Turf war brews
For decades, Delaware’s three major health care systems largely fit into geographic monopolies: ChristianaCare serving New Castle County, Bayhealth serving Kent County and Beebe Healthcare in Sussex County.
But over the last five years, a health care arms race heated up between Bayhealth, Beebe and now TidalHealth, coming up from Salisbury, Md. They have all built or broken ground on major projects in locations, such as Lewes, Milton or Millsboro in recent years.
It follows a post-COVID population boom in Sussex County. The region is now designated as a “Medically Underserved Area” by the federal government, with projections showing that the population will increase from 237,000 in 2022 to over 361,000 by 2050. The county is also rapidly graying, as the population growth is largely driven by retirees who will demand more health care needs.
The arrival of ChristianaCare, which to date only had primary care offices in Milford and Rehoboth Beach, will bring needed resources, but also new competition to the crowded market.
But Bayhealth is hoping to convince the Delaware Health Resources Board that ChristianaCare’s plans would flood the market and offer redundant services.
In 2019, the board was central in a debate over whether to allow Beebe to build a freestanding emergency room in Georgetown. It ultimately denied that project, saying it was too close to Bayhealth’s Milford campus and Nanticoke Hospital in Seaford.
The board was also expected to be critical of plans by Bayhealth to build its own freestanding emergency room in Milton, which led the Dover-based health system to pull its plans.
Both of those projects predated the population surge that has particularly struck Sussex County after the COVID housing market boom though.
Trump ally should cut budget deficit rather than try to suppress bond yields, says billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller
Scott Bessent’s attempt to calm the bond markets and push down America’s cost of borrowing have attracted a rebuke from the US Treasury secretary’s former mentor.
The billionaire investor Stanley Druckenmiller, who worked with Bessent at George Soros’s fund management firm in the 1990s, has warned that his former pupil is courting danger by trying to suppress US bond yields.
A man from South Yorkshire is believed to be the first British citizen to die fighting for Russia in its war against Ukraine.
Bradley Townsend, a 33-year-old fisher from Barnsley, left Britain in April to join up with Russian separatists in eastern Donbas to aid in their invasion of Ukraine, despite having no previous combat experience or familiar ties to eastern Europe. Alongside 49-year-old Ben Stimson and 39-year-old Aiden Minnis, Townsend was granted Russian citizenship for joining the country’s military campaign.
The flagship environmental initiative has achieved ‘negligible’ results. Why so little progress, and what are the risks as the planet gets hotter? Plus, fusion dance pioneer Usha Jey
India set out to expand its forested areas a decade ago. Last week, however, we learned that the forest cover programme had barely taken root when the government’s auditors released their findings of the flagship Green India Mission. The shortfall of 97.57% from India’s initial pledge in 2014 was stark enough to alarm the government’s own auditor, who described the progress as “negligible”.
Yet if you ask the government about forest cover, you’ll get a far greener picture.
Developer Patrick Grant was born in Australia and lives in New Zealand, but a childhood of British TV inspired him to set a comedy game in a bleak vision of the north
Something is amiss in the dingy town of Slagford, and curious scamp Pip Bunting is the only one who can find out what. So quit your mithering, it’s time to discover just how grim it truly is up north.
A Pocket Full of Slagford is an upcoming retro-styled 3D puzzle adventure game set in a surreal alternative-reality near-future northern England that never escaped the clutches of Thatcherism. The story follows the misadventures of a young local lad from the eponymous Slagford after he takes ownership of a mysterious relic that lets him wreak havoc on reality.
While Cavan and Quinn Sullivan star in MLS with the Philadelphia Union, brothers Ronan and Declan have connected with their South Asian heritage
Ronan Sullivan had tried a panenka twice in his life. Both attempts were at practice on the other side of the world, and one hit the crossbar. But his twin brother, Declan, was hardly surprised when Ronan turned to him and told him he’d chip the fifth penalty of a shootout that could win a scoreless tournament final, as millions tuned in online to see his Bangladesh side play against India in the Under-20 South Asian Football Federation (SAFF) Championship.
“He didn’t even need to say it. I knew he was gonna do that the whole time,” Declan remembered, sitting next to his brother on the couch of their dorm room at Saint Joseph’s University. “I knew that if he got the last pen to win it, he was gonna do that. That’s just the him thing to do.”
The Slovenian is one of the best players on the planet. But factors largely beyond his control have started to turn his career into a slog
Luka Dončić must feel as though, these past few months, he’s been twirling in a washing machine. He announced a separation from his fiancee in March; reports followed of a prolonged custody battle over their two daughters. As Dončić plays in the NBA and his children live in Slovenia, he doesn’t see them much as is. But after the reports of the rift with his ex emerged, he started playing some of the best basketball of his life: he led the Los Angeles Lakers to a 15-2 record in March, a stretch that included a torrential 60-point display against the Miami Heat. Behind Dončić’s brightening star, the Lakers seemed to be sharpening into a real contender. Then Dončić tweaked his hamstring in April and the illusion shattered. He watched from the sidelines as the Lakers limped out of the playoffs with an inevitable second-round defeat to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Actually, Dončić must feel as if he’s been in turmoil for the past few years. He made his first – and so far only – NBA finals in 2024, leading the Dallas Mavericks there with a barrage of awesome shotmaking. As the best offensive player on the court while playing through multiple injuries, Dončić and his Mavs lost to the far deeper Boston Celtics in five games. As thanks, the Mavericks traded Dončić to the Lakers, citing defensive concerns, when what had really doomed them against the Celtics was that no one aside from Luka – who led his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals in that series – could play at the requisite level to win.
Nearly a decade after I watched him defy Erdoğan at great personal cost, the ex-NBA player is using his hard-won freedom to turn transgender people into a punchline
Nine years ago, I watched Enes Kanter ask America to take him in. It was May 2017, inside the National Basketball Players Association’s offices in midtown Manhattan. Kanter had just returned from a frightening detention at Bucharest airport, where Romanian border police told him Turkey had canceled his passport. He’d just turned 25, an NBA center with a green card and no country he could safely call home.
“I’m open for adoption,” he joked from the head of a table in a nondescript conference room, addressing a dozen reporters hastily summoned by his manager. Then he turned serious: “My next move is to just become an American citizen.”
Newborn baby Malachi lies in the lap of his mother after dying from pneumonia and bleeding lungs — preventable conditions that could have been treated in a hospital — in 2023 in Idaho. Since the 1970s, the state’s criminal and civil laws have allowed parents who belong to Followers of Christ and other faith-healing sects to pray as their children die. Obtained by ProPublica via Canyon County Sheriff
A sheriff’s deputy opens the door of an Idaho farmhouse where a newborn baby has just died. It’s almost 10 p.m., but the house is filled with adults and children seated anywhere they can find a spot: in reclining chairs, on the wood-stove hearth, on a chest of drawers. Some of the women hold babies in their laps.
“Sorry,” the deputy whispers as the door creaks.
No one greets the officer. No one speaks or even looks at anyone else, casting their eyes instead at the floor or around the room.
The deputy’s video camera records as he walks through the front room and past a bedroom door adorned with children’s artwork. Inside the bedroom, newborn Malachi’s mother sits in a recliner. His body lies in her lap, covered by a blue blanket.
As people in uniform ask Malachi’s parents about his birth, death and the two days in between, members of the family’s church — one of at least four Followers of Christ churches in Idaho — watch from folding chairs. People come and go from the bedroom; one woman cradles a sleeping toddler.
Malachi died from pneumonia and bleeding lungs, according to an autopsy.
It would have been treatable with antibiotics and newborn care in a hospital, said doctors who reviewed his death records for ProPublica.
But Malachi’s parents belong to a faith-healing sect that doesn’t believe in medical care, based on a literal interpretation of several Bible verses. The Followers of Christ sect believes that God heals the faithful and that life and death must be left to God’s divine will.
When the coroner’s deputy lifted Malachi’s body to take it away that night in October 2023, there was no wailing or sobbing from his parents. Malachi’s father stood quietly as his mother hung her head and rested it in her hand.
A pediatrician who reviewed Malachi’s death records said a baby in his condition would have been gasping for air, turning blue from lack of oxygen and breathing so hard that the outline of his rib cage was visible.
It was the first time the coroner and sheriff sent their deputies out to that house, to interview those parents and document the slow suffocation of a newborn boy.
The next time was 13 months later, when their next newborn, Liam, died from the same treatable condition that killed his brother Malachi.
“This Is Needless”
In any Idaho household not steeped in faith-healing, those two deaths would be investigated as crimes. Idaho law says parents can’t endanger, injure or neglect their children or let them suffer. To do so is a crime, and if the child dies as a result, the parent could be charged with manslaughter.
But those laws do not apply to children like Malachi and Liam. Since the 1970s, Idaho’s criminal and civil laws have allowed parents who belong to Followers of Christ and the state’s other faith-healing sects to pray rather than seek medical care as their children die.
Lawmakers in Oregon, where the same religious groups exist, removed the state’s faith-healing exception to child abuse laws nearly 30 years ago, countering the overwhelming pressure former Followers say parents face from their congregations. More parents chose to get medical care for their children after the change, Oregon prosecutors and detectives said.
Idaho lawmakers have chosen a different path.
Since 2014, they have rejected repeated efforts to dial back Idaho’s faith-healing exemption, instead crafting legislation to further limit the role of anyone but a parent when it comes to children’s health and safety. The state has codified “parental rights,” banned vaccine requirements in schools and childcare centers, and made parental consent a prerequisite for medical care of minors. Legislators also have tried to narrow the definition of “medical neglect” for all families to only the most life-threatening situations, but those attempts have failed.
Local and nationalmedia outlets have reported on deaths among Followers of Christ families in Idaho. ProPublica went further, enlisting the help of experts to determine which of those deaths could have been prevented.
ProPublica gathered death records from coroners and police in five Idaho counties and shared them with more than a dozen pediatricians and birthing specialists.
At least 15 babies and children from the faith-healing sect died between 2015 and 2025 from illnesses that doctors could have successfully treated, the experts concluded.
The estimate of preventable deaths is almost certainly an undercount. The experts could not evaluate six more deaths because coroner records were incomplete or unavailable. In another four cases, they couldn’t say with confidence whether medical care would have changed the outcome.
Separately, the experts identified numerous preventable losses of babies who died during birth or in utero very close to their due dates, cases that coroners labeled as stillbirths.
For some families like Liam and Malachi’s, the death of a child wasn’t a one-time tragedy: Records show at least five sets of parents have lost multiple children, a phenomenon that has not previously been reported.
None of the parents responded to letters or text messages from ProPublica, and one declined to comment during a brief phone call. (ProPublica is choosing not to identify them or use the children’s full names out of respect for their privacy.)
But Nathan Kangas, a patriarch in the sect’s Caldwell, Idaho, church, defended faith healing and its legal protection during an interview with ProPublica.
Children and babies can’t make their own decision to rely on faith healing. Kangas said their parents must keep them away from the doctor to set an example, so the young ones won’t be cursed later in life by turning to medicine.
Kangas lost his own wife and their last child during labor 23 years ago. Three of his 65 grandchildren also have died.
Asked why God would not want children to live full and healthy lives, Kangas said he had no answer but quoted a verse from the Book of Psalms: “Precious in the eyes of the Lord are the death of His saints.” The Followers believe that life on Earth is “a preparing ground,” Kangas said. He pointed to the Book of James, which tells people to “be afflicted and mourn and weep” and “let your laughter be turned to mourning.”
“It isn’t necessarily that we’re supposed to have a joyous life here,” Kangas said. “It’s actually quite the opposite.”
Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue has opposed Idaho’s faith-healing laws that shield parents from prosecution.Sarah A. Miller for ProPublica
Some outsiders take a very different view.
Canyon County Sheriff Kieran Donahue, one of the most vocal opponents of Idaho’s faith-healing laws, has sent deputies to follow up on the deaths of at least 10 Followers’ children and infants since he took office in 2013.
“This is needless,” Donahue said. “This shouldn’t be happening.”
David Peterman, a retired Idaho pediatrician, reviewed the deaths of 18 infants and children at ProPublica’s request.
Peterman saw patients for 40 years and did his residency at a center that offered special training in child abuse and neglect. He said the vast majority of the deaths he reviewed for ProPublica “are the result of neglect and unequivocally preventable.” (He couldn’t tell whether a few deaths were preventable, and he surmised that one infant had a fatal, untreatable chromosomal defect.) He said it is “beyond comprehension” that the Idaho Legislature has refused to change the law.
“How is this tolerable?” he said. “I don’t understand how there could be an exception in Idaho law that allows for these children to die.”
The Deaths
Maicy was 16 years old but the size of a third grader: 62 pounds and just shy of 4 feet tall. She had suffered from a constellation of ailments: stomach irritation, severe anemia, erratic menstrual periods, a blocked artery, thickened aorta and thinning hair. An autopsy after she died on New Year’s Day 2019 traced it all back to a benign, treatable pituitary tumor.
Doctors who reviewed her death records said her stunted growth would have been obvious earlier in childhood, when her tumor could have been diagnosed and treated. Instead, it sent her body into a hormonal tailspin that destroyed her organs. She died in bed, lying on a towel and absorbent pad, wearing a diaper under her sweatpants and a T-shirt that read “LOVE.”
“I don’t understand how there could be an exception in Idaho law that allows for these children to die.”
David Peterman, retired Idaho pediatrician
Some of the children who died preventable deaths over a decade were sick for hours or days; others endured months or — in Maicy’s case — years of disease. Most died in their parents’ arms. Many would have experienced pain and distress from their untreated conditions, the healthcare professionals consulted by ProPublica said.
“I don’t know how to come to terms with that,” said Beth Hartman, an Idaho midwife and former chair of the state’s midwifery licensing board. “Because when you see respiratory distress, and when you have seen a person pass, it’s not pretty. They don’t just close their eyes.”
In America at large, the risk that a child will die is highest during the first year of life. The vast majority of Followers’ children who died were infants. But nationally, fatalities in this age group tend to follow premature birth or profound congenital disorders. The deaths among Followers’ infants came from ailments that rarely take children’s lives.
At least three children died from sepsis caused by common infections that antibiotics can easily stop. Camden died in 2024. Weston died in 2025. They were brothers. Stanley, a newborn whose parents said he was “alert and happy” for his first 36 hours, spent the next 29 getting darker in color, coughing up phlegm and clenching his limbs in convulsions. He died in 2017.
The deaths almost never came without warning.
Members of the Followers of Christ use Peaceful Valley Cemetery in Caldwell, Idaho, to bury their loved ones. Weston, whose grave is pictured at right, was one of at least three children who died from sepsis caused by common infections. Experts said doctors could have stopped the infections with antibiotics before they became life-threatening.Sarah A. Miller for ProPublica
In the case of Malachi, the police and coroner reports don’t say how long before his death his parents first noticed him breathing fast, making a gurgling noise “like stuff was in his throat or chest.” Nor do the documents say what the parents did in the interim other than that they “chose not to perform life saving measures.”
But when they noticed their next newborn, Liam, was struggling to breathe and his “color was not good,” they again did not call for help, and he died over the course of at least 12 hours. While he was dying, members of their church came to see the baby and pray for him. Ten people were in the room when the boy died, and more had gathered outside the room, Liam’s father told police.
It’s rare in developed countries for children to die from pneumonia as Liam and Malachi did, wrote Barton Adrian, a retired Idaho pediatrician who reviewed the death records for ProPublica. The annual pneumonia-related death rate in the U.S. for infants is 1 in every 30,000 to 40,000, according to federal data. Adrian wrote that with a total of 12 children in Malachi and Liam’s family, the death rate was 1 in 6, “equivalent to third-world countries.”
Several healthcare professionals who reviewed the death records for Malachi and Liam suspected their problems originated from a birth-related strep infection so dangerous that expectant mothers in the U.S. are routinely screened for it. Women who test positive get antibiotics to keep the baby safe. In cases where a full-term newborn does become infected, almost all who receive treatment survive.
Dallas, a 2-year-old, was sick for six weeks with an untreated bacterial infection that settled into a valve in his heart and slowly destroyed it. He had fevers, abdominal pain, vomiting and swelling that started in his feet, then spread to his hands and finally to his face. He died in his father’s arms in 2020. Although an autopsy found Dallas was born with a heart condition that made him susceptible to infections, doctors who reviewed the document for ProPublica said the condition was treatable and antibiotics would have halted the infection.
Had his parents taken him to a doctor at any point during the six weeks they knew he was sick, Dallas could have been saved, the doctors said.
“Normal Still Isn’t Normal”
Whenever a child dies in the Followers of Christ, the scene is unlike anything police see in deaths outside the sect.
Police describe what seems to be a phone tree the church members use to call on the congregation to pray and go to the family’s home — sometimes before the death, sometimes after. A church elder or family member calls the coroner directly, instead of calling 911.
The sheriff’s deputies and local police who accompany the coroner’s team to the death scene have learned what to expect. There won’t be an ambulance parked outside. There won’t be a frantic, inconsolable parent. There won’t be children’s ibuprofen in the medicine cabinet or a pediatrician’s phone number to call for medical records. All the police will find is a crowd sitting in silent vigil and a bottle of olive oil for anointing the ill.
There is little for police to do besides offer condolences, ask questions and carry out their legal duty to confirm the parents did nothing that constitutes a crime in Idaho.
Yet some of these cases are etched into officers’ memories.
For Chuck Gentry, a captain in the Canyon County Sheriff’s Office, it was a baby girl named Jolene who died at 3 months old from a congenital heart defect. Some doctors told ProPublica that a cardiologist’s care could have saved her, although some suspected she also had a chromosomal defect that only 10% of babies survive past their first year.
What haunts Gentry was the lack of medical attention for the baby’s cleft palate, which he recalls was severe.
She died at an address that’s become familiar to local police because children from four Followers families have died there since 2017.
(Jolene’s father, reached by phone, declined to talk with ProPublica.)
Gentry echoed what other investigators told ProPublica: By the time detectives arrive, the congregation has already assembled. Dozens of people, Gentry said. So many vehicles that he’d sometimes struggle to find a place to park his patrol car.
“It isn’t necessarily that we’re supposed to have a joyous life here. It’s actually quite the opposite.”
Nathan Kangas, an unordained elder in the Caldwell, Idaho, Followers of Christ congregation
Once he’d get inside, he said, the grandparents of a dead child would make it hard for him to get the child’s parents alone to ask them questions. “They’re very hover-y. They don’t want you to separate them off,” he said. “They kind of seem overprotective of what they might say.”
(Kangas, the Caldwell church elder, said the congregation’s presence at a dead child’s home isn’t meant as intimidation. “They’re not there to keep from saying anything. That’s absolutely false,” he said. “We, as a people, when somebody suffers, we go there to suffer with them.”)
Gentry said it wasn’t until he got the parents alone in another room that their grief would spill out. “You see the mom crying. You see the dad kind of pacing,” he said. “It’s normal behavior for someone who has lost a child,” but the death itself and the scene that follows it are “so bizarre that normal still isn’t normal.”
Jolene was her parents’ first child to die, they told police. Other investigators arrived at the scene for the next, the couple’s toddler son, Malone, in 2021.
Written reports from a pathologist and death investigators describe the body that detectives saw: arms and legs skinny from malnourishment, a belly swollen to the size of a basketball.
Malone never had normal bowel movements in his 16 months of life, his parents would later tell investigators. His belly would swell, then he’d have an enormous poop, and the cycle would repeat. As his condition worsened, his mother brought him to his grandparents’ house on a busy country road. She held him while he died.
An autopsy determined that the boy’s bowels had compressed his lungs and heart, which stopped beating. His rib cage had grown outward to accommodate his backed-up intestines, and his lungs were so cramped they’d stayed the size of a newborn’s.
One detective wrote that Malone’s abdomen was “distorted to the extent of nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”
The day Malone died, investigators arrived to find dozens of family and friends at the house. Malone’s mother sat in the front room, in a chair holding the child’s covered body in her lap. Malone’s father knelt beside them.
A detective asked the parents questions in a quiet voice, according to audio recordings from the scene. Did Malone have trouble going to the bathroom? Had he been to a doctor? Did they have any other children? Where was Malone when he died? They gave brief answers, volunteering few details. The entire interaction took about 10 minutes.
The paperwork wrapped up, and the case was closed.
Disciples of a New Religion
The Followers of Christ sparked curiosity in Idaho from the time they arrived in 1899. Two “wayfarers from Oklahoma” appeared in a mining town near what is now Sun Valley, calling themselves “the disciples of a new religion.” They said God sent them to spread their gospel, according to reporting from the time in the Idaho Statesman.
“One was tall and dark, about 30 years of age, and wore a pair of greasy overalls, black, baggy sweater and flaring yellow mackinaw coat,” a reporter wrote. That man went by “Brother Charley.” He was “decidedly illiterate” and preached that education wasn’t necessary but had an impressive knowledge of Scripture, able to recite entire books of the Bible by memory, the reporter wrote.
They held their first worship service a week later in a schoolhouse.
Over time, Followers of Christ formed congregations across southern Idaho. It went on to become the state’s largest faith-healing religion and later spread into Oregon.
The first few generations of holy men who led Idaho’s congregations died, and no one took their place. Each church was left with, at most, a loose hierarchy and leadership structure. Each operates independently, with subtle differences in how it interprets doctrine. Although congregations have elders, families are the main conduit for ritual and belief.
The religion also breaks with most Christian denominations in that it does not recruit or proselytize. Other than on the rare occasion an outsider marries in, the sect grows only through existing families. This insularity causes the same surnames to show up over and over in public records from Followers communities in Idaho, and, just as happened in the faith’s earlier generations, the sprawling Followers families tend to intermarry.
Linda Martin, a former Follower who traced her genealogy, calls her family tree “a trunk.”
When the Followers began, healthcare on the Western frontier was primitive, unsanitary and riddled with con artists peddling fake cures. Hospitals and medical practitioners could treat many ailments and save lives, but medications like insulin for diabetes and antibiotics for bacterial pneumonia didn’t exist.
Like other faith-healing sects, the Followers sought answers elsewhere. They looked to Bible verses such as in the Book of James: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up.”
Kangas said “the whole Scripture” informs faith-healing doctrine and that no one went to the doctor in Christ’s time.
“It was a matter of trusting in God to heal them,” he said.
When someone dies despite fervent prayers, the Followers believe it is God’s will. When someone sees a doctor, the Followers see it as a sin. When someone recovers without medication or surgery or a 911 call, it seems to validate the sect’s doctrine.
No mainstream Christian denomination today accepts this interpretation of the Bible.
Baby blocks decorate a tombstone at the cemetery in Caldwell where Followers of Christ bury their dead.Sarah A. Miller for ProPublica
“I think over time, it’s kind of morphed into, ‘This is one of the things that separates us from all other faiths or religions, is that we don’t go to the doctor,’” said Laren Eells, who left one of Idaho’s Followers of Christ churches about a decade ago. He now believes that because of cherry-picked passages of biblical Scripture, “my eyes were completely clouded with presupposition.”
As a child, Eells watched his father endure what Eells believes was a burst appendix. The man was bedridden for over a month and had foul waste coming out of his mouth, but he emerged alive.
As an adult, though, Eells watched his younger brother die of an ear infection that spread to his blood. He sat by his brother’s side around the clock, “praying and wringing my hands,” he said. “An infection that some antibiotics could have probably taken care of, relatively simple, but we just say, ‘Well, we trust God with our life.’”
By the time Followers are grown, the idea that they could lose their own children isn’t foreign. They may have been present for their own siblings’ or cousins’ deaths. Their parents have likely taken them for vigils at other congregants’ houses.
The possibility of being isolated from their congregation can be a concern for Followers because of how much their lives revolve around extended family and church.
Former members say that someone who visits a doctor might be shunned, reprimanded or simply left out of social events — although Kangas said only “a few people here and there” in his church would go that far.
Kangas believes some ex-Followers perceive condemnation where none exists because of a guilty conscience. A single doctor’s visit can be chalked up to fear or weakness that “people can be forgiven of,” Kangas said.
What matters, he said, is that the person repents and never goes again.
Are You a Current or Ex-Member of an Idaho Faith-Healing Sect?
Audrey Dutton
I’m most interested in tips related to state and local government corruption, extremism, policies that put children in danger and systemic failures that harm Idahoans.
The agreements, covering issues like drug pricing, reducing the use of synthetic food dyes, and cutting back on insurance prior authorization rules, were announced with fanfare and touted as victories.
The threat of higher prices for gas, cars, hockey sticks and more gave fresh life to Democratic arguments that the president is destabilizing the economy.
Rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and illness, especially among older people, could drive up premiums
Europe’s intense heatwaves could hit insurers’ earnings as companies face a rise in claims linked to heat-related deaths and worsening health conditions, the rating agency S&P has said.
While a long summer of extreme heat will have increased drought and wildfire-related claims, the rating agency said there would also be fallout for life and health insurers, and for the reinsurers who provide financial protection to insurance companies.
Nigeria will need more than a bigger army to tackle security challengesExpert commentLToremark
Without accompanying reforms, the risk is that President Tinubu’s plan only makes Nigeria’s army bigger but not better.
In July, President Bola Tinubu announced a major expansion of the Nigerian Army, adding four new divisions to its existing eight. Rather than framing it as a long-planned response to Nigeria’s many worsening security challenges, Tinubu indicated that the announcement was a direct response to a mass school kidnapping in his home region, the latest in a series of such attacks. Regardless, the groundbreaking decision has the potential to make Nigeria more secure.
The expansion plan involves recruiting 28,000 soldiers and creating several new brigades and battalions in conflict-prone areas. Some of the troops will be trained at two new facilities built to expand the army’s recruitment capacity – and training has already begun. Tinubu also approved a huge pay increase (from 30 to 80 per cent, depending on rank) for military personnel, as real wages have dwindled due to high inflation.
While undoubtedly historic, Tinubu’s announcement begs some important questions. How tangible and transformative is this expansion, and how will it be paid for? Can the deployment of more soldiers translate into long-term security gains without fundamental security sector reform? And what opportunities does this expansion create for the Nigeria’s security assistance partners, such as the UK and the US?
Before answering these questions, it should be said that this expansion is long overdue. Nigeria has a population of roughly 240 million and is set to overtake the US as the world’s third most populous country by 2043. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Army only has approximately 100,000 active personnel according to recent estimates. Its vast and growing population requires a larger military. Nigeria also needs more military capacity to address its many complex security challenges – insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and communal conflict, for example – that have proliferated in recent years, destabilizing parts of the country that were once considered safe.
Stationing more soldiers outside of their traditional garrisons, especially in rural areas, would help protect vulnerable civilian targets and make it easier for the army to locate and eliminate remote safe havens used by bandit gangs and insurgent groups. Meanwhile, a greater military presence along Nigeria’s porous borders could improve operational coordination and intelligence sharing with army units in neighboring Benin, Cameroon, Chad and Niger. This could help offset the decline in regional security cooperation that followed the 2025 withdrawal of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
That said, Tinubu’s expansion plan does not address many of the army’s institutional challenges; a list that includes lacklustre leadership, poor operational planning, inadequate training, equipment shortfalls, endemic corruption and a dire human rights record. This suggests that Nigeria’s reform-resistant army could experience a sort of ‘operational stagflation’: becoming bigger but not better.
Stagflation has already affected Nigeria’s defence budget, which – although appearing to have skyrocketed in recent years – has in fact grown only modestly in dollar terms, rising from $3.9 billion in 2021 to $4.7 billion in 2026. Moreover, the overall share of the national budget spent on defence actually decreased from 21 to 11 per cent during the same timeframe due to Nigeria’s rising debt burden and the steady devaluation of its currency, the naira. To pay for more soldiers and higher military salaries, President Tinubu will need to increase the defence budget, which may force cuts to infrastructure, health and education spending.
It also remains to be seen whether the creation of new divisions, brigades and battalions will increase the army’s operational capacity, or just make it even more top heavy. Already known for its woeful tooth-to-tail ratio – ‘teeth’ meaning the combat troops and ‘tail’ the support personnel – the Nigerian Army has far too many general officers for a force its size. According to one estimate, 30 per cent of all Nigerian military officers achieve general/flag officer rank, compared to no more than 3 per cent in many other countries. Until this dynamic changes, a disproportionate number of Nigerian soldiers will end up serving as orderlies, rather than patrolling communities to protect civilians.
Having taken the bold decision to increase the size of the country’s military, Nigeria’s leaders should look to maximize the impact of that investment by embracing key reforms. Tinubu could, for example, take steps to consolidate Nigeria’s sprawling security apparatus which now consists of an alphabet soup of security agencies that perform poorly and compete more than they cooperate. But in a country where politicians have long relied on agency-creation to build out their patronage networks, such bureaucratic streamlining will require sustained high-level impetus.
Security sector consolidation would also alleviate pressure on the army if it freed up human and budget resources for Nigeria’s struggling police. This investment will be especially critical as Nigeria prepares to pass a constitutional amendment to allow states to create their own police forces. If trained and resourced effectively, state forces could work with the federal police to relieve the army of routine internal security duties, freeing troops up to tackle some of Nigeria’s toughest security challenges.
Any domestic security sector reform effort, however modest, would also give Nigeria’s security assistance partners a clear opportunity to re-engage in ways that play to their strengths: planning and technical assistance, leadership training and education, and facilitating interagency cooperation and intelligence sharing. As partners like Britain and the US engage with Nigeria’s newly expanded army, they should stress to Nigeria’s leaders that security sector reform is the best way to ensure that bigger also means better.
Bitcoin rises above $80,000 for the first time since May amid uncertainty over US fiscal plans
Gold prices hit their highest level in more than three months on Tuesday as continued conflict in the Middle East and ongoing political uncertainty fuelled the latest rally in the precious metal.
Gold is viewed as a safe haven by investors and its price tends to rise at times of uncertainty.
Woolworths’ latest Disney “Ooshie” collectibles have not only captivated Australian children, they have led to a short-term slump in competitor Coles’ sales.
Thousands of shoppers switched supermarkets to collect the plastic figurines, trading them online and in classrooms. Some schools have banned the toys, which can be collected after a customer spends $30, and environmentalists have labelled them “future landfill”.
A developer says AliExpress is using the browser's WebAudio API to help fingerprint users by playing inaudible audio and measuring tiny differences in how their devices process it. CyberNews reports: The developer, "laserphile," wrote on their blog that they recently ran into some weird issues with their Bluetooth headphones. They couldn't play music via their phone when, at the same time, the AliExpress website was open on their PC. The headphones, laserphile explained, support multipoint Bluetooth audio so they can be connected to the PC and phone at the same time, for instance, playing music on the phone and announcing notifications through the PC. "Shortly after loading the AliExpress homepage, audio from my phone would stop playing. Closing the AliExpress tab fixes it immediately," the developer said in the blog post.
"Muting the tab/Firefox/Windows does not help, and there is no visible video, music, or other media playing on the page. This seemed suspicious enough to investigate." It turns out that Alibaba has been secretly leveraging AliExpress users' audio systems to track them and build detailed fingerprints of them. [...] The AliExpress site was using the browser's WebAudio API to run invisible sound waves at zero volume. By measuring tiny hardware differences in how each PC processed those signals, the site created a unique digital fingerprint to track devices -- without user knowledge or consent.
The secret audio path froze the developer's Bluetooth connection while covertly scraping hardware memory, screen dimensions, and network data in the background. The data collection extends beyond audio. Further inspection revealed that the same scripts also measure canvas, WebGL, hardware specs, WebRTC, mouse/touch events, and automation indicators. All of these form a broad device fingerprint that is sent back to Alibaba's telemetry servers. The simplest fix is to use a privacy-focused browser such as Firefox or Brave, which can limit or block this kind of fingerprinting. Brave goes further by randomizing fingerprint data and blocking the AliExpress tracking scripts involved.
As people grow used to AI chatbots, we’d like to hear your views about Google’s search engine
Google has put artificial intelligence at the front and center of its search bar. The most-visited site on the internet still shows the same list of links to users, but they have to scroll past a summarized response from an AI chatbot, a feature Google calls AI Overviews. The change to what was once the gateway to the rest of the internet has been profound, and the browsing habits of billions of people are shifting.
“AI is driving the most significant upgrade of the Google Search experience ever,” Liz Reid, Google’s vice-president of search, wrote last August. In May, the company said more AI is coming.
Newly released surveillance video shows an Amazon delivery driver striking a 71-year-old man inside an Elk Grove gas station earlier this year after a dispute over a parking space, officials said.
Holyrood ‘inching towards moratorium’ amid concerns over massive proposed developments in Auchtertool and beyond
In a village 21 miles north of Edinburgh, a real estate consultancy plans to build a datacentre larger than the village itself – 35 metres high, with an area larger than 100 football pitches.
Billed as the second-biggest datacentre in the world, the development in Auchertool, Fife, has attracted 1,600 objections.
A fundamental rupture in the values that have united North America is not a problem that can be wished away: this is a warning to the western alliance
The Canadians are exceedingly angry. I realise this can sometimes be difficult for foreigners to deduce, given our national struggle to express the full range of human emotion outside ice hockey riots. However, let me assure you that the prime minister Canadians saw take the stage on Saturday morning in the wake of the collapse in trade negotiations with the US was a Mark Carney practically vibrating with fury.
“You’re at war when you get attacked. We got attacked,” he said, in a rare press conference that was as candid and clear as he ever tends to be. “That’s fine … We’ve got the reserves, we’ve got the resilience, we’ve got the plan, we’ve got the focus. We’re gonna respond, we’re going to focus on what we can control and what we’re going to build.”
Jen Gerson is a Canadian commentator and co-founder of The Line. She lives in Calgary, Alberta
Washington, D.C. — The Trump administration is preparing to revoke as many as 200,000 business and tourist visas from foreigners who entered the United States temporarily and later applied for asylum, potentially the largest mass visa revocation in U.S. history.
The State Department said Monday it is working with the Department of Homeland Security to identify holders of B1 business and B2 tourist visas who subsequently sought asylum. The targeted visas were issued between 2016 and 2026, according to the Associated Press.
Revocation would not automatically mean immediate deportation. People with pending asylum cases generally can remain while those claims proceed, but they would lose their underlying visitor status and could face greater immigration scrutiny.
Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau argued that the asylum system has been overwhelmed by “frivolous” claims from people who originally represented themselves as temporary visitors.
The administration says the policy is intended to prevent misuse of legal immigration channels. Critics argue that applying for asylum after legally entering the country is permitted under federal law and that circumstances in a person’s home country can change after arrival.
The State Department has already revoked more than 175,000 visas since Trump returned to office as the administration expands immigration enforcement beyond people who entered the country illegally.
Officials have not announced when the new revocations will begin.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: The world's oceans are hotter than ever recorded, new data suggests, as they suffer from human-caused climate change and the growing El Nino weather phenomenon. The average surface temperature of the planet's seas outside the polar regions hit 21.1C (70F) on Saturday, according to figures from the European Copernicus climate change service. That edges past the 21.09C recorded on three separate days in March 2024, and is far above average for the time of year. [...] The data is based on sea temperatures 10m (32ft 10in) below the surface, using measurements from buoys, ships and satellites, which are combined to produce a global estimate.
While the margin of record is currently very small and any global estimate comes with uncertainties, scientists say its timing is particularly notable. Average worldwide sea temperatures tend to reach their yearly peak in March or April, which corresponds to the end of summer in the southern hemisphere -- and not in August. The southern hemisphere contains more of the planet's ocean surface than the northern hemisphere and so exerts a bigger influence on average sea temperatures. What is especially concerning to scientists is that the oceans are already so hot when the natural El Nino weather phenomenon is still some way off its expected peak. "The fact that we are already breaking records is an early indicator of how strong the El Nino is becoming," said Dr Jeremy Grist, senior research fellow at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton. "All things being equal we might expect the ocean temperature record to be broken again in March [or] April 2027," he added.
I bought a high end board. My son rode under 10 times and it wouldn’t power on. They say it’s out of warranty at 7M and are requiring me to pay $732 to get it back working (battery replacement). Under 15 miles on the board and stored indoors and not plugged in. customer service is horrible. they put you on hold, then disconnect you for no agent available - 5 times today. upon email, they can’t make outbound calls. they tell you they can toss your 3500 board if you don’t replace the battery. do not ever work with them. I plan to do everything in my power to protect others from their defective merchandise. I’ve never been treated so poorly and never had a company do this little, it’s their defective merchandise. I hope this helps even one person from a purchase. Unless you have money to burn, don’t ever roll the dice with this poor company.
Washington, D.C. — The Supreme Court cleared a major legal obstacle Monday for President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting mail-in voting, although separate court orders and the rapidly approaching midterms could limit how much of the plan actually takes effect.
The 6-3 decision lifted an injunction covering portions of Trump’s March order after the majority concluded that Democratic-led states had challenged the policy prematurely. The justices did not rule that the president’s proposed restrictions are constitutional, leaving the door open to additional lawsuits once specific rules are implemented.
Trump’s order directs the federal government to develop voter-eligibility lists and calls for the U.S. Postal Service to deliver mail ballots only to voters appearing on those lists. States argue the Constitution assigns election administration primarily to states and Congress, not the president.
A separate injunction still prevents the Postal Service from imposing some of the new ballot-delivery requirements. Meanwhile, election deadlines are approaching quickly, with some states preparing to mail ballots to military and overseas voters in early September.
Trump has repeatedly claimed mail voting is vulnerable to widespread fraud, despite little evidence supporting that assertion. He has also voted by mail himself.
About 30% of ballots in the 2024 presidential election were cast by mail. Further litigation is expected before November.
Detroit, Michigan — Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed repeatedly tried to steer a contentious Fox News interview toward pocketbook issues Monday as host Jesse Watters pressed him on religion, transgender policies and controversial past comments.
During the roughly 30-minute appearance, El-Sayed criticized rising gasoline prices during the Iran war and questioned the Trump administration’s military spending, arguing voters are more concerned about everyday costs than many of the cultural disputes dominating cable news.
Watters challenged El-Sayed, a Muslim, about Sharia law. El-Sayed compared it with Christian Canon law, saying Americans should be free to practice their religion while stressing that “nobody is trying to push Sharia law on anyone else.” Fox’s own account confirms that exchange and says El-Sayed told Watters he would “never” impose his faith on others.
The two also sparred over transgender healthcare, athletes, taxing extreme wealth and Colin Kaepernick. When Watters raised transgender sports, El-Sayed argued the issue receives disproportionate attention compared with healthcare, transportation and affordability.
El-Sayed also defended higher taxes on people with more than $100 million in wealth, saying the money could support infrastructure and education.
The progressive physician faces Republican Mike Rogers in November for Michigan’s open Senate seat.
Trenton, New Jersey — Gov. Mikie Sherrill and Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew are escalating a partisan dispute over a software error that caused roughly 6,600 noncitizens to be improperly registered to vote in New Jersey.
Van Drew accused Sherrill Monday of turning legitimate congressional oversight into a “political hit piece” after she criticized him and 18 House Republicans who demanded documents and answers about the registration failure.
The error occurred between June 2023 and June 2024 through the Motor Vehicle Commission’s automatic voter-registration system. People who identified themselves as noncitizens were incorrectly coded as eligible voters. About 340 of the roughly 6,600 people later cast ballots, according to the state’s latest review.
Sherrill’s administration has removed 5,100 registrations and referred another 1,650 to county election officials for review. She has blamed contractor Idemia for the software failure while also criticizing the previous administration for not disclosing the problem sooner.
Republicans argue the episode demonstrates weaknesses in automatic voter registration. Sherrill counters that GOP lawmakers are using the error politically while seeking private voter information the state says should remain protected.
A federal judge recently rejected the Trump administration’s separate effort to obtain New Jersey’s unredacted voter database, ruling that federal law did not entitle the government to the information.
State officials say they have found no evidence that the registration error changed the outcome of any election.
Donald Trump has threatened to increase tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel to 50% today, after trade negotiations between Washington and Ottowa broke down last week.
On Truth Social, the president blasted Canada, and said the new duties will go into effect on 1 January 2027.
The state department will revoke B1 and B2 visas issued between 2016 and 2026, whose holders have sought or are now seeking asylum
Donald Trump’s administration said on Monday it planned to revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners who have applied for or are currently seeking asylum status in the US, marking its latest step in a sweeping immigration crackdown.
A state department spokesperson said it was coordinating with the Department of Homeland Security “to identify and revoke the non-immigrant visas of foreigners who have come to the United States claiming to be short-term visitors, but then file for asylum to stay here permanently”.
Tens of thousands are still under evacuation orders or warnings amid ‘human-caused’, wind-driven blaze
The Hawk fire is about 27% contained, authorities said on Monday afternoon, two days after the fast-moving, wind-driven wildfire sparked near Reno, Nevada.
Authorities added that 23,000 people are under a “go-now” order and 40,000 people are under a “get-set” warning, an improvement from the 90,000 Nevadans under evacuation orders or warnings on Monday morning.
After repairs to Hirosaki Castle in Aomori prefecture, officials employed a technique known as hikiya to move the structure more than two metres
To chants of “so-re, so-re”, about 1,800 people came together in northern Japan over the weekend to pull a 360-tonne castle keep a little more than two metres closer to its original resting place as part of ongoing renovations.
The keep – a fortified tower within a castle – had to be moved to repair a wall that was damaged in a major earthquake.
Days after his sudden firing by the Pentagon, Erik Slavin, the former editor-in-chief of Stars and Stripes, told CBS News that "time will tell" whether the military newspaper will remain editorially independent.
Arbitrator determined the Post improperly fired Karen Attiah, a union-protected employee, over social media posts
An independent arbitrator has ordered the Washington Post to rehire the high-profile opinion columnist Karen Attiah, abruptly fired by the news organization last September over comments she made on social media about Charlie Kirk, the then recently killed conservative activist.
On Monday, an arbitrator ruled that the Post had violated her rights as a union-protected employee and ordered the newspaper to reinstate her and compensate her for lost wages.
Far-right leader echoes ally Donald Trump and says operations to ‘track down illegal immigrants’ should begin this week, amid earthquake aftermath
Colombia’s far-right president, Abelardo de la Espriella, has announced a crackdown on immigrants, ordering authorities to detain and deport people who are in the country irregularly or have committed crimes.
In office for just over two weeks, the millionaire former lawyer made the announcement on Sunday as the country continued to grapple with the aftermath of a 7.4-magnitude earthquake on 10 August that killed more than 300 people and destroyed more than 30,000 homes.
Mike Lindell is withholding the payment required for a recount and audit of ballots cast in the Republican primary for Minnesota governor, claiming that the Secretary of State's office has proposed an unlawful recount process, according to a statement released by his campaign Monday.
A federal judge has postponed a trial in the U.S. for a Libyan man charged in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, citing the discovery of new evidence.
Columbia, South Carolina — Sen. Darline Graham declined Monday to say whether she would have voted to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election victory, instead arguing that the nation’s election system needs major changes.
During a press conference, MS NOW reporter Mychael Schnell asked Graham whether she agreed with her late brother, Sen. Lindsey Graham, who voted to certify the 2020 Electoral College results following the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
“I think our election system is broken,” Graham responded, pivoting to her support for the SAVE America Act, which would impose new federal voter-identification and proof-of-citizenship requirements.
Lindsey Graham rejected Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 result and voted to certify Biden’s victory. His sister was appointed by Gov. Henry McMaster to fill his Senate seat after his death in July and is now seeking the Republican nomination for a full term.
Darline Graham faces Rep. Ralph Norman in Tuesday’s GOP runoff. She led the initial primary with about 33% of the vote compared with Norman’s 25%. Trump has endorsed Graham and campaigned on her behalf.
Her refusal to answer the certification question comes as Trump continues to falsely claim that widespread fraud caused his 2020 defeat. Graham did not say who she believes legitimately won that election or how she would handle a similar certification dispute in 2028.
More than 3,000 products were shown at the 2026 World Robot Conference in Beijing as China showcased its rapidly growing robotics industry.
The event, which ran from 19-23 August, showcased the latest advances across the robotics industry, from humanoid robots to embodied intelligence and cutting-edge components
How are those live sports games starring the characters from The Simpsons, Toy Story and Inside Out made? With a lot of animators and tech like motion capture and face tracking.
The treasury secretary said Trump is contacting other world leaders to demand their support for the “economic asphyxiation” of the Iranian regime but he declined to say which countries and gave no deadline for action.
6 months ago someone asked if the Spintend Sensor was good, if there was any difference between the Nexus sensor, after a few thousand kilometers riding with it, I'm feeling pretty confident on doing a review for it.
Let's get the ugly out of the way : I can't say I'd recommend it for concave footpads. The curve of the GT Lowboy Flared has prevented me from engaging the heel side of the sensor multiple times, specifically when I originally get on the board. I need to stop, replace my foot, check that the heel-side is engaging, then ride. I've gotten used to it, but it's still not great. I don't think that a flat footpads would have any issues however.
Otherwise, it works very well. While engaged, it reads a solid 3.2v despite riding through rain, mud and all of the events of the the Québec Electric Games. The waterproofing is holding great, I never worry about the sensor dying on me or cutting out mid-ride.
Despite the fact that the sensor is advertised as cuttable, I haven't cut into it because of the sheer size of the footpad itself ; I haven't needed to. Perhaps cutting it along the middle line would've provided a better engagement rate with the initial engagement, but that'd be something to test later.
Tampa, Florida — Gov. Ron DeSantis acknowledged Monday that Florida Republicans may not capture all four congressional seats their newly redrawn map was designed to put within reach, citing a more difficult national political environment heading into November.
“This year they’re winnable, but I think that it’s going to require some effort,” DeSantis said during an appearance in Tampa.
Florida Republicans adopted the new congressional map this spring after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a key Voting Rights Act provision. The map significantly shifted four Democratic-held districts toward Republicans and could expand the GOP’s current 20-seat advantage in Florida’s 28-member House delegation. Reuters reported after last week’s primaries that the map could potentially produce four additional Republican seats.
The most dramatic changes affect Reps. Kathy Castor and Darren Soto. Soto’s district moved from one Kamala Harris carried by about 3.5 points in 2024 to one Donald Trump won by nearly 18 points. Castor’s longtime Democratic-leaning Tampa district now favored Trump by about 10 points.
DeSantis said the political climate differs from 2022, when Republicans gained four Florida seats after the state’s previous redistricting. He noted that midterm elections can become nationalized and acknowledged Republicans may face political headwinds this year.
Democrats and voting-rights organizations have challenged the new map under Florida’s Fair Districts Amendments, arguing it was drawn to favor Republicans. The Florida Supreme Court declined to block its use before the election, but the underlying lawsuit remains pending.
I am working on replacing my battery with an OnlyAmps BIGBOI battery pack. I’m hoping I won’t need to get a new BMS, but just in case I do, what kind of BMS should I get if I end up needing one? My plan is to go third-party so I can get the most out of the battery pack. Help me, Reddit. You’re my only hope.
ARMONK, N.Y., Aug. 24, 2026 — At the annual Hot Chips conference, IBM today is announcing the first dual-architecture mainframe processor, which is being designed to enable enterprises to run operating systems and applications on both the IBM and Arm compute platforms in future IBM Z and LinuxONE systems. This marks the first processor milestone to emerge from the IBM and Arm collaboration established in April 2026, and represents a significant advance in enterprise computing. The new processor is being developed to allow organizations to run Arm-native Linux environments simultaneously with z/OS and Linux on IBM Z, while benefiting from IBM’s established security, reliability, and scale.
Credit: Shutterstock
With more than 22 million developers worldwide, the Arm software ecosystem supports a broad and growing range of applications from cloud to edge, including the cloud-native and AI software increasingly shaping modern infrastructure. This new processor will bring that ecosystem to the IBM platforms known globally for transaction processing and data-intensive operations. Arm workloads will benefit from IBM’s enterprise-grade capabilities, including enhanced reliability, hardware-level fault detection and recovery, advanced encryption, secure key management, and AI acceleration.
Built on a 2 nanometer technology node, the processor’s design will contain 11 high-performance cores operating at more than 5.7 GHz, AI inference accelerators for in-transaction fraud detection, a dedicated on-chip data processing unit for I/O acceleration, and a large cache architecture for demanding enterprise workloads. The chip is architected to not contain separate Arm and IBM cores: each processor core can natively execute Arm and IBM Z, or Arm and LinuxONE, instructions concurrently while prioritizing the platform’s established performance, security, encryption, and availability characteristics. IBM Z and LinuxONE platforms are capable of scaling to hundreds of cores and tens of terabytes of memory.
“As organizations modernize their application portfolios and integrate AI into core business operations, they need infrastructure that expands their options,” said Christian Jacobi, Chief Technology Officer and IBM Fellow, IBM Systems Development. “This processor represents a significant architectural advancement for IBM Z and LinuxONE. By bringing Arm natively to our platform, we’re combining access to one of the industry’s fastest-growing software ecosystems with the qualities that have made IBM systems the foundation for how businesses run today.”
“As AI scales, more of the computing landscape is converging on Arm,” said Mohamed Awad, Executive Vice President, Cloud AI, Arm. “IBM Z and LinuxONE power some of the world’s most demanding workloads in highly regulated industries. Bringing Arm compute and its software ecosystem to these platforms will extend that momentum into mission-critical enterprise infrastructure to give organizations greater choice in how they deploy AI.”
This milestone represents a major step forward in IBM and Arm’s shared vision of expanding application choice and access to the latest in software innovation for enterprise computing without compromising the capabilities these environments demand.
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 the 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.
Aug. 24, 2026 — The ISC High Performance Conference took place in Hamburg, Germany, June 23-26, 2026, bringing together the European and international high-performance computing, AI and quantum community. EuroTPC took part throughout the week, presenting at the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking booth and contributing to the 3rd Trillion Parameter Consortium (TPC) Workshop.
EuroTPC presentation by Fabrizio Gagliardi (BSC)
EuroTPC at the EuroHPC Booth
On June 23, Fabrizio Gagliardi from the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) represented EuroTPC at the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking booth, delivering a presentation that shared the project’s vision for building the future of AI for science and explained why coordinated European action matters at this pivotal moment for AI and HPC.
The 3rd TPC Workshop: Bridging the AI and HPC Gap
The main highlight of the week was the 3rd Trillion Parameter Consortium Workshop, “Bridging the AI and HPC Gap,” held on Friday, June 26. The session addressed one of the most pressing challenges in scientific computing: the growing misalignment between frontier-scale AI models and the realities of today’s HPC systems.
The workshop opened with an invited keynote from Rio Yokota of the Institute of Science Tokyo, who spoke on pre-training large language models at scale, covering distributed training, sparse expert models and synthetic data.
This was followed by a themed roundtable, “Same Mission, New Owner: Is the AI Factory HPC’s Successor or Its Eviction Notice?”, moderated by Gokcen Kestor of the BSC. The panel brought together Pedro Valero-Lara of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Yanfei Guo of NVIDIA, and Shreeya Badhe of C-DAC, India, who offered contrasting perspectives on whether the emergence of AI Factories represents a natural evolution of HPC infrastructure or a fundamental challenge to its role.
The afternoon session showcased five presentations spanning a wide range of topics, from synthetic biological reasoning problems to scalable large language model training and transparent energy profiling for frontier-scale AI:
Y. K. Singh (C-DAC, India) on “Bridging Computation and Compassion: How C-FLOOD Transforms Disaster Response in India through HPC-AI Convergence”
Further discussions throughout the day touched on the full spectrum of the workshop’s themes: training trillion-parameter models on supercomputers, designing synthetic data pipelines as HPC workloads, practical integration challenges at HPC facilities, AI-assisted code generation and performance optimization, and responsible, reproducible practice at scale. An open discussion on reproducibility, responsible compute usage and governance of shared infrastructure across Europe closed the session.
Javier Aula-Blasco (BSC), Shreeya Badhe (C-DAC, India), Pedro Valero-Lara (ORNL), Gokcen Kestor (BSC), Yanfei Guo (NVIDIA)
The workshop was co-organized by Javier Aula-Blasco (BSC), Murali Emani (Argonne National Laboratory), Eduardo Iraola and Gokcen Kestor (both BSC), and brought together researchers and practitioners from academia, government and industry to advance a shared understanding of how Europe and its global partners can align AI development with HPC infrastructure.
EuroTPC is funded under grant number 101260370 and coordinated by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Centro Nacional de Supercomputación. The consortium is built on leading European HPC and AI research organizations. EuroTPC operates in close alignment with the Trillion Parameter Consortium and the EU’s AI Continent Action Plan.
Why doesn’t FM deactivate the power button while board is level, both sensors are engaged, and no wheel-slip is detected?
Seems very unsafe that you can always press the button and nosedive, which you probably won’t do but what if the button fails? I know it is Normally Open, but if the loop closes the board just turns off… sounds risky
In recent public appearances, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said obesity dropped 3% “in the last year” and suggested the Trump administration deserves at least some of the credit. One poll shows obesity falling by about that much — but the decline happened over several years and began well before President Donald Trump’s current term.
And there’s little evidence it’s because of Kennedy’s focus on chronic disease prevention or his push to get Americans to eat better, experts told us.
According to Gallup polling, the rate of obesity among U.S. adults peaked in 2022 and has fallen every year since. The decline started during the Biden administration and has continued under Trump.
Experts also told us that, if obesity is declining, there’s little evidence it’s due to changes in diet or lifestyle. Some said it may be related to a factor Kennedy isn’t highlighting — the rise of new GLP-1 weight loss drugs.
Kennedy — who has made eating “real foods” a core part of his Make America Healthy Again movement and sometimes disparaged GLP-1 drugs in recent years — has trumpeted the purported decline in obesity several times in recent months.
“This year, obesity rates dropped in this country, for the first time in 40 years, by about 3%,” Kennedy said during an Aug. 24 event on childhood nutrition. “Consumption of real foods went up by 7 to 10% this year. And there are many, many other indicia [that] show that what we’re doing is actually working.”
He referenced the same stat while speaking at a community health center in California on Aug. 13.
“Obesity has now dropped, for the first time, 3% in the last year,” he said. “People are starting to eat good foods and that’s part of it. But a big part of it is dealing with primary care and getting rid of — getting away from the perverse incentives of just ordering test after test after test and pharmaceutical interventions.”
Kennedy made similar claims about the obesity rate at least twice in June. He told a produce industry conference that obesity rates were “down almost 2%” this year and called it a “huge win,” according to trade publication The Packer. And during a panel in Michigan hosted by a conservative think tank, he said, “Since President Trump came into office, obesity rates in this country have dropped by 2.5%. That’s the first drop in 50 years.”
We asked the Department of Health and Human Services where Kennedy got those numbers and haven’t received a response. But he’s likely referring to the data from Gallup, which was the only publicly available source we could find reporting a roughly 3 percentage point decrease in obesity.
The data, however, don’t support Kennedy’s claims that the obesity rate fell by that much in a single year. Gallup’s numbers show a total decline of 3.5 percentage points between 2022 and the first half of 2026. About two-thirds of that came between 2022 and 2024, when Joe Biden was in office.
Kennedy speaks at an event on food policy earlier this month. Photo: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
More broadly, experts told us there’s still some uncertainty about whether obesity is in fact falling and, if it is, whether that trend will continue. The U.S. obesity rate has dipped or plateaued before, according to government data, only to keep rising in subsequent years.
As for why obesity may be declining, several experts told us they’re not aware of any evidence that Americans have made major changes to their diets, as Kennedy suggested. Some pointed to increasing use of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic as a more plausible explanation, though that remains a topic of debate.
“There is no evidence I am aware of that suggests Americans have made major improvements in their engagement in lifestyle interventions or dietary practices,” Elizabeth Selvin, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Johns Hopkins University, told us in an email. “As the world is aware, there has, however, been a revolution in the effectiveness and availability of pharmacological interventions (namely, GLP1 medications) that are highly effective for weight management.”
Apparent Drop in Obesity Began Before Trump
Gallup’s National Health and Well-Being Index, which surveys about 5,000 Americans every quarter, is one of a few different sources for tracking obesity rates over time. Since Gallup started asking about weight in 2008, obesity among U.S. adults has mostly trended upward, hitting a peak of 39.9% in 2022 before falling every year since. As of earlier this year, the adult obesity rate stood at 36.4%, according to Gallup.
Gallup’s approach has the advantage of a large sample size and turning results around quickly, making it a more up-to-date measure than government surveys. But it also has some limitations, including using self-reported height and weight to calculate body mass index. Because people sometimes underreport their weight or overstate their height, that can lead to underestimating the prevalence of obesity.
Dan Witters, the index’s research director, told us Gallup’s obesity-rate estimates tend to be a few points lower than government estimates based on more objective measurements, but generally follow the same trends.
The CDC’s National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey is generally seen as more authoritative, as its estimates of population-level obesity are based on actual measurements of height and weight, not self-reported data. But it’s slower to release data.
The most recent NHANES data put the adult obesity rate at 40.3% for 2021-2023. That was down from 41.9% in 2017-2020, but the change was within the margin of error and not considered statistically meaningful.
Separately, some analyses of patient records or insurance claims have found evidence of modest declines in obesity. An analysis released this spring by Epic Research, a subsidiary of the electronic health records company, found that the share of U.S. adults categorized as obese dropped from 42.3% in the second quarter of 2021 to 40.7% by the first quarter of 2026. The rate of GLP-1 prescriptions grew substantially during the same timeframe.
Solveig Cunningham, a professor of global health at Emory University, said the Gallup data may be picking up on a real trend, but it will take more data to confirm that. She also cautioned that even if the obesity rate has declined, that’s no guarantee it will continue to fall.
“I think there may be a small decline,” she said, but we’ll “need to see how it develops in the future. There have been small declines before. Like in 2008, in 2012, there were similar declines, and then things picked up again.”
Little Evidence of Healthier Diets
Kennedy, in his speeches on Aug. 13 and 24, suggested that people eating more “good foods” or “real foods” was partly responsible for the drop in obesity.
We asked HHS about the basis for that claim and did not get a response. Several experts we contacted said they’ve seen little if any evidence that Americans have made major changes to their diets.
“I don’t know where he’s getting his data,” said William McCarthy, an adjunct professor of health policy and management at the University of California, Los Angeles who has studied strategies to encourage healthier eating. “Maybe he has access to data that I don’t. But based on what I’ve seen, I would not agree” that American diets have gotten much healthier in recent years.
Cunningham said the best source of data on Americans’ dietary habits is the CDC’s NHANES, the same survey that tracks obesity trends. But the most recent NHANES data is for the 2021-2023 period.
“At that stage, we weren’t seeing major changes in diet,” she said. “So I think it would be amazing if there were, but we don’t have any evidence that such changes in diet are occurring.”
Gallup’s National Health and Well-Being Index, in addition to tracking obesity trends, also asks respondents several questions about diet, exercise and overall activity levels. Witters, the research director, said those metrics generally worsened during the pandemic and, for the most part, haven’t bounced back.
While there was a “modest improvement” in the share of people reporting they had eaten at least five servings of fruits and vegetables on four of the last seven days — from 42% in 2023 to 45.2% in 2026 — it’s still lower than in 2019, and other questions about diet and exercise showed no statistically significant changes.
“We don’t see evidence in our data that people, that Americans, are suddenly living healthier lives,” Witters said.
In his Aug. 24 speech, Kennedy claimed that “real food” consumption “went up by 7 to 10% this year.” He’s cited a version of this figure before to make the case that Americans are choosing “real” foods over highly processed ones. This comes from an analysis by the bank BNP Paribas, which reportedly found that, between June 2025 and June 2026, sales of unprocessed or minimally processed foods in certain categories grew 7% faster than sales of ultraprocessed foods in the same categories.
But experts told us those findings, on their own, don’t prove that Americans are eating significantly better.
The study, as described in an article in the industry publication Food Business News, compared products in only a handful of categories — yogurt, nut butters, frozen meals/vegetables, fruit snacks/candy and cereal/granola. (We asked BNP Paribas for a copy of the original study but haven’t heard back.) For example, in the yogurt category, sales of minimally processed products (like plain yogurt) were up 15%, while sales of ultraprocessed yogurt products (like sugary, flavored varieties) were up only 2%.
Cunningham noted that most foods in those categories “would largely be considered processed by nutritionists,” and that the report doesn’t show ultraprocessed food sales declining — only growing slower than less processed foods.
McCarthy added that the report says nothing about whether Americans are consuming, say, more fresh fruits and vegetables. And without more detail, he said, it’s hard to know whether shifting from, say, one kind of peanut butter to another has a meaningful impact on health.
“Generally, it takes a multi-year campaign to get Americans to consume less saturated fat, or fewer trans fats or lower sodium,” he said in an email. “I remain skeptical that Secretary Kennedy’s food-related initiatives have already had a measurable impact on the overall healthfulness of the U.S. population’s daily food choices.”
Marion Nestle, a food policy expert and professor emerita at New York University, wrote on her blog Food Politics that the sales data “could indicate a trend toward healthier diets, depending on what else people are eating.”
Nestle told us in an email that a decline in obesity would suggest that people are eating fewer calories. But because several things that could affect dietary trends are happening at once, it’s hard to tease out the cause. Along with Kennedy’s “eat real food” push and recent overhaul of federal nutrition guidelines, GLP-1 use is increasing and food prices are rising.
“Most evidence for causality points to GLP-1 drugs,” she said, noting that the drugs reduce food intake and can also prompt people to make other dietary changes. “Inflation is also making people think twice about buying expensive junk food. Dietary advice helps, but rarely is enough to change eating behavior.”
Potential Role of ‘Pharmaceutical Interventions’
Kennedy also said “a big part of” declining obesity rates has to do with “getting away from the perverse incentives of just ordering test after test after test and pharmaceutical interventions.” We asked HHS what specifically Kennedy meant by this and have not received a response.
McCarthy said Kennedy may have been referring to the administration’s efforts to get medical schools to offer more nutrition education and otherwise move primary care toward a greater focus on food and chronic disease prevention. While McCarthy said those changes are welcome and could eventually make a difference, it will be some time before they’re fully implemented and having a measurable effect on health outcomes.
“I applaud Secretary Kennedy’s initiative,” he said. “But it’s going to take a while before we have educated physicians who know how to have an impact on the food choices that the patients are making.”
It’s also worth noting that one possible explanation for the apparent decline in obesity is, in fact, a “pharmaceutical intervention” — GLP-1 medications — though the drugs’ effect on the population-level obesity rate is still a matter of debate.
According to Gallup’s survey data, the share of adults reporting they take the medications for weight loss has shot up from 3% in 2024, when Gallup started asking about it, to 11% this year.
In an analysis published last year, Gallup found that the age groups that saw the biggest drops in obesity between 2022 and 2025 — adults age 40-49 and 50-64 — were also the groups with both the highest rates of GLP-1 use and the biggest increases in GLP-1 use from 2024 to 2025.
While that “doesn’t prove anything,” Witters said, it suggests a potential link. “What we found was really a pretty close correlation.”
Cunningham, the Emory professor, said “there’s still a lot of debate” about why obesity might be falling.
“There’s a lot of interest in the possibility of weight-loss drugs of all sorts to decrease weight at the population level,” she said. “That’s still very much in the early stages. So I don’t think we can make any kind of definitive finding about that.”
GLP-1s are clearly effective at reducing weight at the individual level, she said, but the population-level effect is less clear for a few reasons.
For one, some people drop off the medications due to side effects or cost, and people with lower incomes, who tend to be at higher risk for obesity, may not be able to afford them. Some people taking GLP-1s may already be below the cutoff for clinically defined obesity; others may start with high enough BMIs that losing 10% to 20% of their body weight doesn’t bring them below the threshold for obesity, even if it improves their overall health.
Cunningham said another theory about population-level obesity is that a certain share of the adult population is susceptible to obesity in the current environment, and the obesity rate is leveling off as we reach a kind of “saturation point.”
But, she cautioned, we don’t have definitive answers at this point. “Obesity is complex.”
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.
After riding for nearly 4wks Only going slow over cobbles about 5-6 mph thankfully but still bashed my head on a stone wall hurt my shoulder bruised my ass and only 20yards from hospital 😂but could have been worse if I hadn’t had all my safety gear on helmet saved me from having more brain damage than I got already 😵💫just wanted to show what floaty app showed just after me and board went flying look at the predicted range 😮any ideas what’s going on sorted by time I got home 👍
What up fellow onewheel riders! I been riding my onewheel xr for about 2500 miles and just bought an original onewheel with only 250 miles on it! I’ve been wanting to upgrade them to enhance the speed and torque and would love to be able to ride farther! Trying to get ideas for upgrades and decide what board to choose when doing this. I think the OG one would be sweet to deck out. Let me know what you think! Photo attached are my two boards
London and Kyiv in deal to help stop protesters and hostile states targeting military bases and critical infrastructure
AI models trained on Ukrainian battlefield data will be used to stop protesters and foreign states targeting UK defence sites, railways and energy plants under a deal struck between London and Kyiv.
Private companies will also be given access to the vast trove of data from Ukraine’s Avengers AI lab to help build new systems, the first agreement of its kind in the UK.
does anyone east of Dallas TX have a front footpad for an original Xr? my kid is bored out of his mind but I just dont have 200 dollars right now. Ive been thinking about calling some stores in the area as Im willing to travel decently far for it (any store recommendations are welcome!)
I 3D printed these fishbones (made for the pint) years ago when the X released. I used them on my original front footpad. They worked well. The board was maybe 20% harder to engage but that was worth the extra comfort to me.
Then I bought the flared footpads. And today I decided to put these on the flared footpads.
The board turns on and starts flashing yellow.
The onewheel app says this: Do not press the rider detect zone while switching on the onewheel. Please switch the onewheel off and back on.
Does anyone why this happens? Why did they work with the original footpad but not the flared one?
President Donald Trump offered no additional details about the levies, but he said they would take effect Jan. 1 — leaving time for the two sides to resume negotiations.
Republican Councilwoman Kilpatrick has decided to retire, and her seat is up for grabs
For 16 years, Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick has represented Hockessin, Yorklyn, North Star, Pike Creek and part of Newark which makes up New Castle County “District 3.”
Councilwoman Kilpatrick is not seeking reelection, one of two decades-long tenures ending this year. Democrats Kira Alejandro and Kyle Grantham are competing for her seat in the Sept. 15 primary; the winner faces Republican Melissa Brayman, Director of Administration and Finance at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, with no primary of her own. Both Alejandro and Grantham sat down for interviews about who they are and what they’d do if elected.
Kira Alejandro: A musician and community advocate
Growing up…
Alejandro, 30, grew up in Hockessin-off Brackenville Road-and still lives in the district, in Yorklyn. She plays piano and baritone ukulele, plays some guitar and bass, and grew up playing flute. She said she also grew up going to Ashland Nature Center, which she called “a focal point” in her life and where her love of the natural world began. Her favorite spot there is a boardwalk over a marsh, where she said watching frog eggs and cattails appear every year still feels peaceful. “I feel really lucky to live so close to it,” she said.
A formative influence…
She credits both parents with shaping how she sees public life: her father, “a very staunch environmental advocate” and believer in public education from his own years in New York’s public schools, and her mother, who volunteered on the spot to keep a Girl Scout camp on Sharpless Road running rather than let it close, and ran it for years afterward.
Making it personal…
Alejandro said she has personally helped save nearly 30 acres of land in Yorklyn from development, and pledged never to take donations from developers, land-use attorneys, corporations or corporate PACs. “I think you can’t be neutral if you’re funded by special interests,” she said.
On electric bills and data centers…
“The problem that we’re seeing with the delivery fees is partly because Delmarva is allowed to do non-mandatory construction of infrastructure,” Alejandro said, pointing to a pending Delaware Public Service Commission case in which Delmarva is seeking a $68 million rate increase.
“Adding poles, adding substations, building things for anticipated use… that is the only way that Delmarva can potentially profit, because they’re not supposed to be profiting off of the sale or delivery fees.” She said “part of the reason that the energy bills are continuing to increase is because data centers are getting built on our grid,” adding, “whether or not we have any data centers in Delaware, if data centers are being built on this larger grid, our energy bills are going to go up.”
“I believe the number one thing we can do at a county level to get a handle on these increasing rates is call for a data center moratorium,” she said. “We’ve seen precedent for this. Maryland has five different counties now that have enacted a moratorium. They have a county that has outright banned data centers.”
What’s been the hardest part of running?
“Running a campaign is grueling. I’m very fortunate to have a lot of people who are very invested in this campaign,” Alejandro said. “I would say overall I think the most challenging thing has just been that no one knows what the county council is. So often I find people asking me, ‘Are you running against Mike Smith? Are you running against Frank Burns?'”
Why do you think you’re the right fit for the job?
“I’m the only candidate that has any kind of concrete experience standing up for our communities and actually achieving results,” Alejandro said. “That’s why I’m running. I want to keep putting our communities first as a council member.”
Kyle Grantham: A photojournalist turned public servant
Growing up…
Grantham, 38, grew up in Cecil County, Maryland, and moved to Delaware in 2013. He considered the Naval Academy in high school before choosing journalism, as he learned more about the Iraq War, working through Ohio, Indiana, Wyoming, and California before landing at The News Journal full-time in 2013.
A formative influence…
Grantham said the person who shaped his approach to public service most was Rob Carr, an Associated Press photographer he met at 19 covering a bowl game in Mobile, Alabama. Carr later got him assignments at the Senior British Open and an Ireland-Scotland rugby match, then brought him along to shoot Orioles and Ravens games for his first national byline. “No one gets anywhere in this industry by themselves,” Grantham said Carr told him, a lesson he’s carried into politics.
Making it personal…
He left journalism after being assaulted by a Trump supporter about two weeks before the 2016 election, then spent nearly a decade in the county executive’s office after Gov. Matt Meyer, then county executive, brought him on. Grantham lives in Newark with his wife and 2-year-old son, still coaches the county’s adult co-ed soccer league at Banning Park.
On electric bills and data centers…
Grantham explains, “I think we need to work with the state to get power bills under control. I’m not convinced we can unilaterally impose a moratorium on data center construction without backing from the state legislature.
The companies building these things have more money than God and armies of lawyers. If we go it alone against them, I don’t think we can win. If we work with the state to take a comprehensive approach to fighting them – whether it be zoning, tax reform, or hopefully an outright ban – we have a better shot of making Delaware look less attractive and keeping them out of the state altogether.
But simply hitting ‘pause’ for a year or two with a moratorium isn’t going to be enough. The energy and environmental impacts from these facilities are never going to be solved, and even if they somehow were, these facilities are being built to power AI technology designed to replace workers and produce a product 40% the quality for 10% the cost. I’m never going to support that.
At the same time, the County can be bringing new clean power projects online to introduce power locally at cost and start curving bills down.”
What’s been the hardest part of running?
“This is easily the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Grantham said. “I think the one thing I wasn’t necessarily prepared for was the guilt, having a two-year-old and needing to spend so much time out putting the hard groundwork in. When I’m out 20, 30 hours a week knocking doors, I just feel guilty that I’m not at home with him. And then on the flip side, when I’m at home and I am enjoying myself, then I feel guilty that I’m not working hard enough.”
Why do you think you’re the right fit for the job?
“What I want people to see in those endorsements is that these people are recognizing the fact that I understand what this job is about and what it’s not about, and the way that it can have an impact on lives in a real way, and that they see in me the experience and qualifications to do it well,” Grantham said.
Where the two candidates’ money and endorsements stand
Grantham raised roughly $25,900 through Aug. 16, per the State’s Campaign Filing Report System, and have some noteworthy endorsements from six NCC council members, including Councilwoman Kilpatrick and Councilman Hollins, plus Gov. Matt Meyer.
Alejandro raised nearly $44,700 over the same period, almost $18,850 more than Grantham, with some notable endorsements from one council member, two state officials and the Sierra Club.
Both candidates agree Delaware’s electric bills are a real burden, and that data centers are part of the story. They disagree on whether the fix is a moratorium or a zoning overhaul. On Sept. 15, District 3’s Democrats decide which approach, and which candidate, gets the chance to prove it right.
How to vote
Only registered Democrats can vote in the Sept. 15 primary. The deadline to register was Saturday, Aug. 22; early voting runs Sept. 2-13. Check your registration or district at the state’s voter portal, ivote.de.gov/VoterView.
# # #
Correction (Aug. 24, 2026, 12:07 p.m.): This article has been updated to correct Melissa Brayman’s title. She is Director of Administration and Finance at the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, not an office administrator.
I know that onewheels are banned on many campuses, but I am thinking about bringing mine to a campus where they are banned, and I'd love to hear experiences of anyone using a onewheel in college (or keeping one in a dorm where they are technically banned). Are the rules loose? Does nobody really care? etc.
West African country reports 46 suspected cases in outbreak declared in July, amid fears virus may be spreading undetected
More than half of the mpox cases reported in Guinea-Bissau have been among children, local authorities have said, almost two months since the country announced an epidemic.
A national outbreak was declared on 4 July, just over a week after a 27-year-old woman became the first confirmed case of mpox in the west African country. Since then, there have been seven confirmed cases and 46 suspected cases. Half of those patients have been children, with 16 under the age of four.
Why Should Delaware Care? All records created by government officials belong to the public, and those that are not explicitly exempted from public release should be accessible to any individual. As such, Freedom of Information Act requests are a key tool for Delawareans to learn about how they government works. But, for many, the process that takes places after a request is submitted is little known.
For many people who file a Delaware Freedom of Information Act request, the state’s process for retrieving records can look like a black box.
After a request goes in, it is not always clear how the public’s records are retrieved, or why the process can sometimes take many months to complete.
Spotlight Delaware recently posed those questions to state officials following an open records request submitted to all 19 of the state’s school districts.
On July 1, Spotlight Delaware submitted the school district request for emails sent between superintendents and other staff members that contained words like “immigration,” “ICE,” and “immigration enforcement.”
While a response to a Freedom of Information Act request is required within 15 business days, nearly all of Delaware’s school districts replied before the deadline with identical statements.
Get Involved Submit your own FOIA request to Delaware government through this online portal. If you need to appeal the government’s response to a FOIA request, email the Delaware Department of Justice at opengovernment@delaware.gov.
Fifteen school districts’ responses all said they were receiving assistance from the Delaware Department of Technology and Information. They estimated that their districts would not be able to produce documents until Aug. 15, “due to the likely need for review by legal counsel, and the fact that the records are in the possession of DTI.”
DTI refers to the Delaware Department of Technology, which maintains the technological backbone of the state. Agencies throughout the state have different standards for records retention, and the types of records matter too.
Many Delawareans do not know what happens when they submit an information request, and it is not immediately clear what process requests go through before documents are given to the requestor.
Spotlight Delaware requested an interview with the Delaware Department of Technology and Information to understand what happens to a request after it is passed along to the agency.
The Department of Technology and Information would only agree to answer questions over email.
There are several records DTI can retrieve through its eRecords Request Form, such as emails and voicemails, Microsoft Teams Chats and Workspaces, phone logs, and more.
A DTI flowchart shows how an eRecords search is processed. | IMAGE COURTESY OF DTI
Once an organization receives an information request, such as emails containing keywords, the organization’s authorizing official — such as a superintendent of a school district, cabinet secretaries, or other officials depending on the agency — determines if assistance from DTI is needed and submits the request.
Only an authorizing official can bring the request from the organization to DTI, according to the eRecords request policy language.
After an agency submits its request, DTI conducts its own policy compliance review.
The State Chief Information Officer approves the request after it’s found to be compliant, and DTI works to secure the requested records.
The process “can involve multiple systems and multiple record custodians, depending on the scope of the request,” DTI’s Director of Government Affairs and Media Relations Christina Dirksen wrote in an email to Spotlight Delaware.
The time it takes for DTI to provide the requested data to the agency varies and depends on the “accuracy of the eRecords request form,” the amount of data involved, and the number of systems that need to be searched, Dirksen wrote.
While Dirksen said straightforward requests can usually be completed within 10 business days, larger or more complex requests may take longer.
Once the data is located, DTI “extracts and prepares it in a secure environment” and provides access to the agency, Dirksen wrote.
Nearly seven weeks after Spotlight Delaware originally submitted its information requests to all of Delaware’s 19 school districts, some school officials say they still are awaiting answers from DTI regarding cost estimates.
Those responses also come more than one week after the Aug. 15 deadline, which multiple school districts said was due to DTI’s timeline for retrieving the records.
Dr. Craig Towers in 2018. The local newspaper gave him an award for his work with pregnant women with opioid addiction Michael Patrick/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
When Dr. Craig Towers moved to Knoxville, Tennessee, in 2010, the high-risk obstetrician encountered a crisis unlike anything he’d seen.
Towers, who had practiced for 25 years in California and Wisconsin, found himself caring for an unusual number of pregnant women addicted to painkillers — and delivering newborns who were suffering withdrawal symptoms. Those babies, born shaking and inconsolable and who required weeks of specialized care, were becoming tragic symbols of the region’s raging opioid epidemic. “We were inundated,” Towers later told the Knoxville News Sentinel.
In those initial years in Tennessee, Towers recognized a need — and a research opportunity.
Medical doctrine had long held that a pregnant patient with an opioid addiction could not be safely detoxed because withdrawal could harm the fetus, causing physical stress and even triggering miscarriage. Instead, doctors treated patients with methadone or buprenorphine, which are legal replacement opiates that control cravings and have a lower risk of overdose. Those drugs can still cause babies to be born in withdrawal, but doctors reasoned that it was better to treat the newborn for those symptoms than risk the baby’s death.
Towers, who was hired to work at the University of Tennessee Medical Center’s clinic for high-risk pregnancies and later joined the medical school faculty, questioned that approach. He began studying the outcomes of women, most of them his patients, who stopped taking those medications. He ultimately collected data on more than 300 of them.
Towers’ research found that detoxing was much less harmful to the fetus than feared, and it prompted changes to how doctors treat pregnant opioid users. Across Tennessee — in Johnson City, Jellico and Sevierville — and in Daytona Beach, Florida, clinics followed his lead. The News Sentinel honored him as a “Health Care Hero.” CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, interviewed him about his work and described babies born without withdrawal symptoms as “miracles.” In 2019, the medical school granted a request for additional funding for Towers’ work, praising “his many research efforts and leadership that has resulted in national recognition.”
In the months before he published what would be a groundbreaking study, he described his findings at a university science forum, saying: “I think it’s going to revolutionize what we do.”
And then in 2020, soon after the study was published, Towers abruptly stepped back from his research.
The study immediately caught the attention of specialists in addiction treatment. Some of them wondered how the results could be true. The study, the largest of its kind, enlisted 230 participants, 121 of whom took a daily dose of a drug called naltrexone, which, unlike methadone or buprenorphine, is not an opioid; instead it discourages using by blocking the high. Naltrexone was effective in keeping most patients off of opiates, the study found.
But in many other major studies, naltrexone had shown lackluster results. Rates of relapse among nonpregnant patients averaged 72%, according to a systematic review of 13 studies.
Eight specialists in the fields of addiction and pregnancy started sharing concerns with one another about Towers’ study and then drafted a letter to the University of Tennessee. Two of them agreed to speak with ProPublica (the others asked not to be identified). One was Dr. Mishka Terplan, a practicing OB-GYN board-certified in addiction medicine who’d served on several committees to develop federal and professional guidelines for treating opioid use during pregnancy.
“Dr Towers’ work has been impactful, especially in TN,” Terplan wrote to the university in July 2020, “and I am concerned that each day the article(s) is out there, potential harm to a vulnerable population accumulates through both ethically suspect clinical care and consequently misguided public health.”
By that time, a university audit had uncovered major problems with Towers’ research.
The audit found that Towers failed to get university approval for the study, that he provided “inaccurate and/or unverifiable, contradictory source documentation” for a component of the study and that he did not provide research databases or data analysis as requested. Auditors also were unable to determine the extent to which he protected confidential patient health information.
For three years, the journal did nothing to publicly address those concerns. When the journal did act, in 2023, it published a 78-word correction stating that the study had been improperly listed as a “prospective,” a rigorous type of research that follows patients in real time.
ProPublica shared Towers’ study, the university’s audit and the journal’s correction with five experts on research ethics and substance abuse during pregnancy. All of them said that the documents raised major concerns about Towers’ conduct as a researcher and that the journal’s response didn’t do enough to address the issues the university unearthed.
The publisher of the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the journal where the study appeared, disputes that.
“We uphold the highest standards of rigor and ethics in our publishing to protect the quality and integrity of research,” Elsevier, the company that publishes AJOG, said in a statement.
Towers told ProPublica that the audit had reached erroneous conclusions, that the auditors did not give him the opportunity to fully defend his work and that the journal’s willingness to stand by the study is proof that his research is sound.
One of the experts ProPublica spoke to, Eugenie Reich, an attorney who has represented whistleblowers in several high-profile research fraud cases, said that the problems the university identified in Towers’ study were much deeper than the journal acknowledged.
“The misrepresentation is not minor,” Reich said. “It runs throughout the piece.”
In media coverage, Towers came across as gently protective of his patients. He often described the difficult circumstances that drove them into addiction. He said those women, who desperately wanted to do better for their babies, inspired him to investigate the feasibility of detox during pregnancy.
In 2018, Katie Carringer was working as an administrative assistant at a drug rehab facility and made an appointment with Towers at the encouragement of her boss. Carringer, who was about six weeks pregnant, had been addicted to heroin in the past but was not using drugs at the time. She told ProPublica she felt confident in her ability to remain drug-free and made the appointment with Towers because she wanted a doctor who specialized in high-risk pregnancies and could help her manage anxiety and depression.
Katie Carringer, a former patient of Dr. Craig Towers, says she felt pressured to take naltrexone.Jessica Tezak for ProPublica
At her second appointment, she expected a conversation about her mental health. She told ProPublica she was surprised when Towers recommended naltrexone. From her work at the clinic, she knew that the drug was meant for people battling cravings in the early stages of recovery.
“With me being clean so long, it didn’t even make sense,” Carringer said.
According to her medical records, she had not used drugs during either of her previous pregnancies, in 2007 and 2009. Two years before her appointment with Towers, in 2016, she completed an inpatient drug treatment program, and she was “actually drug free for most of the time” since then, according to her medical notes. Her records showed two short relapses.
After she found out she was pregnant this time, Carringer decided to stop taking the Paxil and Remeron that kept her anxiety in check, out of concern for any effects they might have on the fetus, her medical records show.
With Carringer’s permission, ProPublica asked Towers to review her medical file and answer questions about why he recommended naltrexone. Towers, who said Carringer was not included in the study, noted that her medical record stated she was interested in naltrexone.
Carringer denied to ProPublica that she expressed interest in the drug, adding that she ended up trying naltrexone because she felt it was what Towers wanted her to do. She said, and her records confirm, that it caused severe nausea and she stopped taking it after the first dose.
Terplan, one of the addiction specialists who signed the letter to the University of Tennessee, said Carringer’s experience points to the salience of a question the letter posed: Did Towers explain to his patients that curbing addiction with naltrexone was an experimental treatment in pregnant women?
That question was important to Terplan and the other specialists. According to their letter, they were concerned that “informed consent was not obtained or not properly obtained” from patients who showed up in the naltrexone research: “This uncertainty leads us to question whether ethical standards that promote and ensure respect for human subjects and protect their health and rights were followed,” the letter said.
In the letter, the specialists also noted that the study made no mention of patients refusing to participate in the study or dropping out later in pregnancy, both of which are common occurrences in a study involving drug use.
“You need to explain to people that there may be additional risk,” said Columbia University professor Dr. Robert Klitzman, an expert in bioethics. “That’s why informed consent is so important.”
Towers said that concerns about consent and explanation of risk are baseless. All study participants received a “notice of research” and chose to go forward, he said.
“I am not aware of any patient that felt pressured to participate,” he wrote. “I always presented the patients with the risks and benefits of each course of treatment so that they could make an informed decision.”
University of North Carolina researcher Hendrée Jones, one of the specialists who drafted and signed the letter, told ProPublica that she was surprised by another aspect of Towers’ study: that it included reports of only minor health problems among the mothers, including nausea and headache, during the course of their’ pregnancies.
Jones said it is unusual for there to be no serious medical events among that many pregnant patients, especially ones who’d struggled with opioid addiction.
“That made my hair on the back of my neck stand up,” Jones said.
Carringer puts her son Noah’s hair in a ponytail in their kitchen, and Noah’s handprints sit next to their front door. Carringer is now a support specialist for people fighting addiction.Jessica Tezak for ProPublica
Towers said critics like Terplan and Jones were not in a position to know what was happening in the clinic or with his research, and their criticisms are purely speculative. The study, he said, captured all outcomes of its participants.
“We looked at everything — every patient complaint, their vital signs, preterm labor, any medical conditions that developed,” he wrote in his response to ProPublica. “We looked for spontaneous abortion, stillbirth, fetal stress (seen in fetal heart rate monitoring or biophysical profiles) and need for cesarean delivery.”
In its audit, the university also had flagged problems with Towers’ data. The audit said Towers supplied a printout of his entire clinical practice database, but it did not designate which patients were involved in the research study.
Towers told ProPublica that he obtained broad consent for his research: “Every patient that was seen in the clinic received a notice regarding the research, consented to participation in that research and understood that their data would be prospectively collected but deidentified.”
Klitzman said researchers should be able to provide details about the actual patients in a study, not just everyone at a clinic.
“That to me is a red flag,” he said.
Researchers are required to run all proposed studies involving human participants through institutional review boards — panels of scientists and other compliance specialists who ensure patients’ rights and confidentiality are protected. Failing to get approval from the overseeing IRB for all aspects of human research would be a major violation.
In its audit, the university determined that Towers hadn’t sought IRB approval for the study.
Towers told ProPublica that the university was mistaken and that the journal itself had “concluded,” contrary to the audit, that he did have IRB approval.
A spokesperson from Elsevier did not respond to repeated questions about whether the journal had concluded that the IRB had approved the study.
In February 2020, about two weeks after the audit got underway, Towers retired from his faculty position. Months later, he retired from clinical practice as well. In his email to ProPublica, he said he stepped down for health and family reasons.
According to a determination letter from the chair of the IRB dated days after the audit’s completion, members of the board voted to suspend all of Towers’ open studies for safety reviews and file a report with the federal Office for Human Research Protections. (Towers voluntarily closed all research projects when he retired, he told ProPublica.) The audit’s findings, the letter said, constituted “serious noncompliance.”
Towers said he disputes that finding and said the board did not make an effort to get his side of the story. The head of the IRB spoke to him by phone in January 2020 and followed up with a few short conversations, he said.
“There should have been a meeting set up at the start where the four authors (myself and my 3 coauthors) met in person with the IRB committee or a subcommittee to explain our point of view and answer any questions. This never occurred,” he said.
A spokesperson for the University of Tennessee Health Science Center said she could not find anyone to answer questions from ProPublica “due to time and a change in leadership.”
Soon after Towers resigned from his faculty position, he reached out to the journal and sent IRB approval letters that he said confirmed the study had been approved.
“I am sorry you have to spend time with this controversy,” Towers wrote.
The audit, though, had found that the IRB approvals he cited did not apply to the study.
The University of Tennessee also contacted the journal. In an email thanking Terplan and the other specialists for the concerns they’d shared about Towers’ study, the university’s research director asked if they planned to contact the journal directly. The research director wrote that UT already had “requested the paper be retracted from the journal, but as yet no action has been taken by the journal.”
Less than 1 in 2,500 published studies are retracted, according to the journal Science. Retractions can devastate the reputations of researchers and damage the credibility of journals.
Universities can investigate research and request retractions, like the University of Tennessee did with Towers, but journal editors have the final say about whether to retract a paper or add a correction. Ivan Oransky, one of the experts who spoke with ProPublica for this story, said he has encountered other cases where journals failed to retract a study after a university made such a request.
“You have a situation where the fox is guarding the henhouse,” he said.
Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch, a site that tracks scientific misconduct, has advocated for making research misconduct reports more easily accessible to the public.
“These reports should be part of the scientific record,” he said. “They are the basis for understanding whether something is reliable or not, and what went wrong.”
During the years that the journal spent considering how to respond to the university’s request for a retraction, more doctors across the country began prescribing naltrexone. Researchers cited the work dozens of times in other studies.
Towers said he stands by naltrexone as a treatment option: “I believe it is crucial in medicine to revisit old assumptions and consider all options.” Detox remains a solution “in the interest of advancing medicine and helping patients in a region where drug abuse is a longstanding issue,” he said.
Towers in 2018, the year he saw Carringer as a patientMichael Patrick/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Dr. Geogy Thomas, medical director of Dayspring Health in east Tennessee, said he was inspired by Towers’ research, which improved care for women in the area.
“Our community is indebted to Dr. Towers and his research on substance abuse in pregnancy,” Thomas wrote in an emailed statement. “He courageously challenged the status quo of the medical establishment of that time and ushered in a new way of caring for a high-risk group of patients that no one else was willing to care for.”
But another obstetrician, Dr. Cathleen Suto, who worked at a clinic with an approach inspired by Towers’ research, found detox wasn’t effective. Suto described her experiences treating opioid-addicted pregnant patients to the author of a book. Many of those patients couldn’t make it through the weaning process and often stopped coming to the clinic. (She did not respond to ProPublica’s requests for comment.)
“Detox would be a great answer,” Suto is quoted as saying in the book, “Prosecuting Poverty, Criminalizing Care.” “The problem is that my patients were not successful at doing it.”
When the journal finally acted on the university’s concerns in 2023, more than three years after the study came out, it did not retract the study. Instead, it published a brief correction.
“The authors wish to clarify that the study is listed as a prospective cohort study — which is not the case,” read the correction. “We did a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.”
Data for prospective studies is collected in real time, while retrospective studies look back at medical records. Much of Towers’ prior research relied on looking back at those records, and he touted the naltrexone study as an improvement because of its prospective design, which would track patients until they delivered. Prospective studies are considered to capture better information about patients, including those who dropped out of the study, and provide better control of data collection.
Towers views the journal’s actions as vindication. “AJOG would not keep a study in print if they did not believe it was IRB-approved after their review,” Towers said.
The specialists who wrote to the university, all of whom have published research, said misrepresenting methodology is a breach of scientific integrity.
“If it was not prospective but presented as such, it would have violated standards of reporting of scientific research,” they wrote in the letter.
In response to experts’ claims that the problems with the audit were more profound than the correction indicated, Elsevier said in a statement: “Based on the information available at the time, the Journal determined that a correction was appropriate to clarify the description of the study.”
Jones, one of the letter’s signatories, said the journal failed in its duty to hold its research to a higher standard.
“When you make a mistake, you own up to that mistake and you fix it,” she said. “And that paper is out there, and continues to be cited, and I see it.”
Botswana's future: Vice President Gaolathe on economic resilience amid global uncertainty
17
September 2026 — 14:30 TO 15:30 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
Hear Vice President Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe set out Botswana’s priorities for inclusive economic reform.
Hear Vice President and Minister of Finance HE Ndaba Gaolathe set out Botswana’s priorities for inclusive economic reform.
As Botswana marks 60 years of independence, a weakening of the diamond market has exposed the limits of the model that drove the country’s rise to upper-middle-income status. The 2024 election brought the first change of governing party since independence in 1966, and Vice President Ndaba Nkosinathi Gaolathe will set out the new government’s response to economic challenges.
This event discusses:
What does the first change of governing party since independence mean for economic reform?
How can economic transformation deliver more inclusive and sustainable growth?
What opportunities will the government’s agenda create for businesses and investors?
How will Botswana reduce its dependence on diamond production?
Which sectors could drive growth as the economy recovers from contraction?
How will the new government strengthen resilience to climate and geopolitical shocks?
I recently obtained a brand new GT. I'm still taking time to learn how to ride it. I'm finding that the turning is a bit too loose/unstable for my preferences. I guess what I'm inquiring about is that it curves a bit too much for a beginner like me. How can I go about tightening it so it doesn't turn as easily just yet?
Just posting this as a reminder that these thefts are still pretty common in town and to post a picture of the stolen onewheel in case someone comes across it for sale (maybe with the custom grip on it), and to show everyone the culprit and the car.
It was an OG X+ with a Burris threaded tire and few other customizations.
My lovely neighbors' garage camera captured this video of the theft.
I know, my fault for leaving something valuable in the car overnight, but goddamnit this sucks.
This is in Englewood, Colorado, a few miles south of downtown Denver.
Could anyone help me with the oem lights on my pint?
I got the Ava spark ubox100 working with a nexus bms finally, but my status lights aren’t on and I have one led on the headlight working and no brake lights, but that’s it. I was told the status light bar pin needs to be set to pin 7, but when I change it I’m Vesc tool, it says invalid lead pin or something.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I’m in way over my head.
X7LR, loving the size and low ride height most of all coming from a GT. Definitely not as user friendly as my FM boards but hasn’t been too bad. Wasn’t feeling the Thunder tire at first but after 50 mi or so it seems to have broken in nicely. No footpad sensor issues so far, knock on wood.
I’m an 80s/90s kid who stared at a lot of T&C Surf Design stickers and shirts. The surfing caveman was my favourite character as a kid and I wondered what a prehistoric onewheel would look like. Here it is!
New rider here just got my pint S took it out for a one mile ride on the bike path yesterday. Got knee pain and foot fatigue on my rear leg pretty quickly. Wondering if my stance is bad or just takes time/adjusting to the board? Also Wondering what the recommended mode to begin on is i used redwood with simple stop turned on but i feel maybe one of the other modes would be better for a beginner ? I will continue to use simple stop until I have the heel lift down. On my one mile ride i ended up using 2 foot jump off to dismount. Just looking for recommendations and tips for a beginner.
When monsters square off, they are quick to showcase their asymmetrical superpowers.
Take Godzilla, for instance. Thanks to U.S. atomic testing in the Pacific, the dinosaur-like sea creature has explosive, radioactive breath that can destroy everything in its path. His archenemy Rodan, meanwhile, is a pterodactyl-like bird that can fly at supersonic speeds, a skill useful in avoiding atomic bad breath. Since the 1960s, the two giant monsters have duked it out across a series of Japanese films, causing much mayhem in the process.
Originally the product of Cold War fears of nuclear peril, these archetypal monsters can stand in for the principal geopolitical antagonists of today. Like their monster kin, China and the United States have very specific and complementary superpowers. China controls the majority of critical minerals in the world, with a special focus on rare earth elements. The United States has a technological edge when it comes to the most sophisticated semiconductors needed for artificial intelligence applications.
Put bluntly: China has the rocks, and America has the chips.
With these superpowers on display, the two countries have clashed in a series of trade negotiations, tense military standoffs, and high-level political meetings. They are engaged in a prolonged tug-of-war not to save the world — as in some comic-book universe — but in the service of their own national aggrandizement and transnational greed. While they dicker, the world slouches toward bedlam.
A Pause in Hostilities
When President Donald Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in mid-May, the exchanges were unexpectedly cordial. The two countries had been engaged in an on-again, off-again war of tariffs since Trump had begun his second term, a conflict that threatened to spiral out of control. At the same time, the Chinese were deeply concerned about the impact of the U.S.–Israeli war against Iran on international stability, given spiking oil prices and their ripple effects on the global economy.
Yet, at this meeting in China, the two leaders converged on a common goal of “constructive strategic stability.” In order to forge this condominium of superpowers — a G2 — Trump was willing to delay arms deliveries to Taiwan. He also greenlighted the sale of sophisticated (though not the most advanced) Nvidia computer chips to China. In turn, China agreed to increase its purchases from the United States, including 200 Boeing aircraft and $17 billion of agricultural goods each year through 2028.
The hoopla surrounding the summit, generated by press offices on both sides, obscured the reality that the two countries completed few concrete bilateral deals. Trump did not secure long-term access to the critical minerals that China controls — specifically the rare earth elements that are essential to U.S. high-tech manufacturing and sophisticated military hardware — and the tech giants that accompanied Trump on the trip didn’t win any major concessions in the form of enhanced access to the Chinese market. Meanwhile, China failed to alter U.S. security policy in the Asia–Pacific region. The leaders of the new G2 might be expected to rethink or rework the global rules of the road, but this was not on the agenda in Beijing.
Still, the two superpowers stepped off the path of escalating confrontation. Perhaps more importantly, Trump has seemingly abandoned his earlier goal of decoupling the United States from the Chinese economy, which, along with ratcheting up containment of the “strategic competitor,” had become something of a bipartisan imperative.
For the time being at least, the world’s superpower monsters are not laying waste to the landscape around their feet. Given how much firepower they command, that’s no small achievement. The battle, however, continues to rage further afield in the mineral world.
Grabbing the Rocks
Rare earth elements, or REE, aren’t rare. But it can be quite difficult to extract any of these 17 unusual metals from their surrounding ores. The United States used to be the world’s leading extractor and processor of these resources, from a mine in California near the Nevada border. But that was back when REE were mostly used for such products as black-and-white televisions. The environmental damage caused by the extraction and processing — as well as the labor costs involved — impelled the United States, over time, to outsource operations to China.
By the time REE had become indispensable to the manufacture of very powerful magnets used in everything from wireless iPhone chargers to the F-35 fighter jet, China was controlling upward of 60 percent of the extraction and 90 percent of the processing. It has filed more patents for the latest processing techniques than any other country. It has also expanded beyond digging up its own territory and, through its Belt and Road Initiative — a globe-spanning collection of interconnected infrastructure projects — secured access to mines overseas.
In Tanzania, for instance, an Australian firm Peak Rare Earths discovered what may well be the largest untapped supply of REE in 2010. This is exactly what the United States and its allies had been looking for: ore that can be extracted and processed outside of China. Except that last year, the Chinese firm Shenghe Resources bought the Australian company — and the rights to the Tanzanian deposits — for a little more than $100 million. China is further cornering the market by importing ore from rare earth mines in Myanmar, exploiting new deposits in Brazil, and eying Malaysia and Indonesia for potential processing operations.
To guarantee access to the minerals that both the Pentagon and U.S. industry need, the Trump administration has ramped up the exploitation of U.S. REE deposits. Mountain Pass, the California mine previously shuttered after environmental lawsuits and Chinese outsourcing, restarted production in 2012, but it still couldn’t compete against China, which had flooded the market with REE to drive down prices. Last year, the Pentagon acquired a majority stake in MP Materials, the company that owns the mine, which now produces over 10 percent of the global supply of REE.
Trump has also pumped money into USA Rare Earths, which is developing the Round Top mine in Texas, which promises to rival the REE production of Mountain Pass. Even with an accelerated timeline, however, the new mine won’t start production before 2028. Meanwhile, the administration is playing the field: pouring money into a REE processing facility in Arizona, contracting with a similar operation in France, and hammering out supply contracts with a mining firm in Australia. This frenzied activity may lessen dependency on China but not eliminate it.
And it’s not just rare earth elements. China controls 95 percent of magnesium production, over 80 percent of tungsten, over 70 percent of graphite and silicon, and three-quarters of cobalt — minerals that are critical to pretty much all modern manufacturing. On the processing end, China is the leading refiner of 19 out of 20 of the most coveted minerals, with an average market share of 70 percent. And instead of being reliant on its control of raw materials and processed ores, China is also in command of the downstream production. For instance, it’s responsible for 94 percent of the manufacturing of the most powerful magnets that go into cars, computers, and medical equipment.
The new rush for “critical raw materials,” many of them essential for building out the infrastructure of a “clean energy” transition but also indispensable for the entire range of advanced military products to which the United States is addicted, has sharpened the competition between China and the United States throughout the mineral-rich Global South. Those countries generally see China as a willing provider of capital and finance. They view Trump — who has dismissed so much of the Global South as “shithole countries,” deported huge numbers of their citizens, and subjected nearly all of their governments to punishing tariffs — with considerable skepticism.
How long will it take for the United States to catch up and neutralize China’s mineral superpower? In the best-case scenario, America will only be able to meet half its need for rare earth elements by 2028, and it currently produces less than 1 percent of those powerful magnets. Until America catches up — or forges partnerships with other countries to meet its demand through initiatives such as the U.S.-led Pax Silica — China will be able to pinch off the supply of those key minerals more easily than Iran can close off the Strait of Hormuz.
Controlling the Chips
Silicon Valley has long been a byword for innovation: Apple’s iPhones, Google’s search engine, Facebook’s social media platform. But the heart of Silicon Valley was, at least originally, made out of silicon. Chips made the valley. In the 1980s, Japan produced semiconductors that were superior to anything American companies could get to market. Competition spurred Silicon Valley to leapfrog over Japan.
The chip-designer Nvidia began in the 1990s as a supplier of graphic processing units, or GPUs, for the video game industry. These Nvidia chips became, literally, the brain behind Microsoft’s Xbox. Later, they came to power Sony’s PlayStation 3, signaling that Silicon Valley had definitively surpassed its Japanese competitors.
Then Nvidia began developing the kind of hardware necessary for the next big tech revolution: artificial intelligence. The first major AI platform available to the public — ChatGPT — was built on the foundation of Nvidia’s next-generation GPUs. Suddenly, Nvidia was the most sought-after supplier and the most valuable company in the world, now worth more than $5 trillion.
It’s one thing to corner the market on the graphics necessary to play “Grand Theft Auto” or make the special effects of the 2021 “Godzilla vs. Kong” movie look terrifyingly real. It’s quite another to create the building blocks of the AI technology that is creeping into every corner of the economy, not to mention the military.
To maintain its economic and military edge, the United States has placed controls on the export of Nvidia’s most advanced semiconductors to China. It’s no surprise that, over the last six years, the People’s Liberation Army attempted hundreds of times to acquire those precious chips. To prevent China from producing their own, the Dutch also placed restrictions on the export of the machines used to print the chips.
There are two challenges to this strategy of restriction. The first is that, despite its name, Silicon Valley doesn’t actually manufacture the vast majority of these fancy computer chips. For more than 90 percent of advanced semiconductors, the world depends on Taiwan. It’s as if another monster has appeared on the scene with a superpower that can bring both Godzilla and Rodan to their knees.
The United States harbors a fear that the Chinese response to their chip dependency will be simply to invade Taiwan and take over its semiconductor industry. For its part, the Biden administration pushed through the CHIPS Act to re-shore computer chip manufacturing, which is turning Arizona into a real Silicon Valley. Intel and Taiwan’s TSMC are among the more than 75 firms building factories there, which will require considerable water (in a desert) and produce tons of “forever chemicals,” the synthetic compounds that do not break down naturally, polluting the environment and accumulating within people (amid a growing population).
Given Russia’s failure to seize Ukraine and the inability of the United States and Israel to achieve regime change in Iran, China is not likely to attempt a takeover of Taiwan any time soon. Instead, it has pursued a different approach, and this is the second problem with a restriction strategy. Prevented from acquiring Nvidia’s best chips, China is pouring money into making its own chip sector the best in the world.
Trump’s cuts in science funding and restrictions on work visas will handicap U.S. technological progress for years and possibly decades.
Those considerable state investments produced a Sputnik moment in January 2025 when the Chinese company DeepSeek released its ChatGPT competitor. The big breakthrough, however, was behind the scenes: China was able to use its own domestically produced chips to create comparable AI results at a cheaper cost.
Private sector expenditures on AI in the United States still exceed China’s investments by a considerable margin. But the Trump administration’s cuts in science funding and restrictions on work visas will handicap U.S. technological progress for years and possibly decades. China, meanwhile, will likely have machines ready to produce what its AI models need by 2030, the target date Beijing has set to close the advanced chip gap.
The Sequel
Both China and the United States have landed a number of punches in their monster battle. The Trump administration has maintained export controls on its most advanced chips and has created a blacklist of Chinese companies it accuses of working with the People’s Liberation Army, including the car company BYD and the tech firm Baidu. China has retaliated by putting two American and 14 European companies on its own blacklist for the “dual use” of rare earth elements for both civilian and military applications. These come on top of Chinese export restrictions imposed in 2025 on seven rare-earth metals and an announcement that five more elements will be added in November.
These tit-for-tat exchanges might suggest that the two sides are evenly matched. And that may have been the case a decade ago. Today, however, despite its iconic status and devastating powers, the American Godzilla looks pretty wobbly. Trump’s fixation on cutting government and his failure to staff the remaining positions with competent officials has meant that the effort to deny China the most sophisticated chips has been compromised. Simply put, the Commerce Department has failed to enforce the export restrictions on U.S. companies, and thousands of those powerful chips have likely made their way into Chinese hands.
Even without government incompetence, the United States would be hard-pressed to maintain its advantage. The bottom line: China will be able to make its own chips sooner than America can acquire its own rocks.
The real superpower that China possesses, in other words, is its government’s ability to marshal resources to make the technological leap forward and maintain a substantive defense of its own material advantages. Thanks to this superpower, as Evan Osnos points out in The New Yorker, “China produces at least 70 percent of the world’s drones, electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries, and solar cells.” So confident is China in this superpower that it has recently rolled out a sodium-ion battery that needs none of the critical minerals of the lithium battery that powers electric vehicles. Beijing is thus negating its own mineral advantages. Instead, the Chinese government is relying on its industrial prowess to prepare for a world where rocks no longer rule.
The Biden administration tried to copy this superpower with the CHIPS Act and the additional targeted subsidies of the Inflation Reduction Act. Trump, too, has attempted to pursue a similar industrial policy with investments in critical minerals alongside scattershot tariffs and export controls. But he has also weakened the underlying superpower of government action through funding cuts and mass layoffs at critical government agencies. As a result, a lot of the shots that the Trump administration fires at China are actually blanks.
Trump’s fixation on cutting government and his failure to staff the remaining positions with competent officials has meant that the effort to deny China the most sophisticated chips has been compromised.
If this were a film, Godzilla would be teetering on the edge of a precipice, harried by a triumphant Rodan. In the final shot, Godzilla would live to fight another day, setting the scene for a sequel.
In real life, the United States is wasting billions of dollars on a war in Iran, the Trump administration is laser-focused on stuffing its own pockets from insider deals, and U.S. universities and companies are hemorrhaging funds and talent. At the same time, China is cornering the global market on renewable technology and consolidating its trade and investment relationship with the nearly 150 countries in the Belt and Road Initiative. The newer superpower seems to be making better use of its superpowers.
Another great movie trope is enemies quickly morphing into friends when faced with an existential threat. Godzilla and Rodan eventually team up to fight King Ghidorah, a hydra-like extraterrestrial beast with three heads. Is it too late for China and the United States, inveterate frenemies, to do the same in response to the very terrestrial threat of climate change?
It would certainly make for a Hollywood happy ending. But the Trump administration, insisting that carbon emissions are no problem, is attempting to reenergize the country’s fossil fuel sector. And despite its buildout of renewal energy infrastructure and its expanding exports of solar panels and wind turbines, China remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels, especially coal.
Let’s face it: Monsters are going to be monsters. If they’re not fighting each other directly, they’re laying waste to the environment and poisoning the communities that live atop precious resources. In the world of entertainment, Godzilla and Rodan learn how to use their superpowers for good when a planet-wide emergency pushes the monsters together to fight against an external threat.
The real world faces just such a red alert. Our monsters, however, just keep doing monstrous things.
WILMINGTON, DE — Six New Castle County Council seats are up this year. Three havecontested Democratic primaries on Sept. 15. The table below shows which seats lead to a November matchup against a Republican, which are decided by the primary alone, and which one has no opponent from either party.
Residents can look up their district by address at the state’s officialdistrict lookup tool.
Councilman Brandon Toole, a Democrat, has no challenger from either party this year, so he keeps his seat without a primary or a general election.
District 2: No primary, Councilwoman Durham vs. Collins in November
Councilwoman Dee Durham, a Democrat, faces Republican newcomerJamie Collins in the general election.
District 3: Republican Councilwoman Kilpatrick’s open seat
Councilwoman Janet Kilpatrick is not seeking reelection after 16 years representing Hockessin, Yorklyn, North Star, Pike Creek and part of Newark. Democrats Kira Alejandro and Kyle Grantham are competing for her seat, with the winner facing Republican Melissa Brayman in November.
District 4: Councilman Hollins’ open seat, no fight in November
Councilman Penrose Hollins has represented District 4, which includes northeast Wilmington neighborhoods such as Penrose and Sellers Park, since 1990. He is not seeking reelection, retiring after 36 years of county service. While Hollins is stepping away from his own seat, he has notably crossed district lines to endorse Kyle Grantham in the neighboring District 3 race.
Three Democrats are running to replace Hollins in District 4: Jason Hoover, Curtis Linton and Helena Creamer. No Republican filed to run for the seat, so whoever wins the Sept. 15 primary wins the seat outright, with no November contest to follow.
District 5: Councilwoman George faces a primary challenge, also with no November fight
Councilwoman Valerie George, the Democratic incumbent, is seeking another term. She faces a primary challenge from Syam Kosigi. As in District 4, no Republican filed here, so the Sept. 15 primary alone will decide who represents the district for the next four years.
District 6: No primary, Councilman Carter vs. Gibbs in November
Councilman David B. Carter, a Democrat, faces Republican newcomerAlison T. Gibbs in the general election.
How to vote
Only registered Democrats can vote in the Sept. 15 primary. The deadline to register is Saturday, Aug. 22; early voting runs Sept. 2-13. Check your registration or district at the state’s voter portal,ivote.de.gov/VoterView.
Caption: A major shift in school funding and School Board decision making come as Delaware attempts to raise third-grade reading proficiency from 40% to 53% by 2028.
Greater local flexibility will require boards to balance student needs, community priorities and evidence about what improves reading
Editor’s note: This is the final installment of a three-part Delaware LIVE series examining Delaware’s literacy challenge, the state’s 2028 goal and the changing responsibilities of local school boards.
By George D. Rotsch, Editor of Delaware LIVE
DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s new school funding model will give local school boards greater influence over how education resources are used, placing more responsibility for literacy decisions closer to students, parents and communities.
That shift comes as Delaware attempts to raise third-grade reading proficiency from 40% to 53% by 2028 and as school boards have more information available to understand where students are performing, whether they are making progress and where additional support may be needed.
For school boards, those two changes are connected. Assessment results provide a lagging measure of where students ended the year. Leading indicators collected throughout the year can show whether students are on track and whether the district’s strategy is working. Together, that information can help boards evaluate whether district spending is aligned with the needs of students and the outcomes the district is trying to achieve.
“The opportunity is to make a much clearer connection between what we know about student performance and where we invest our resources,” said Julia Keleher, executive director of First State Educate. “What are the results telling us? What does the district believe is driving them? What is the strategy for improving them? And does our budget put resources behind that strategy?”
From approving budgets to aligning investments with outcomes
School boards have always approved district budgets. Greater funding flexibility makes it even more important for boards to understand what need an investment is intended to address and what result it is expected to produce.
In literacy, for example, annual assessment results may show where proficiency remains low, while screening, student progress, attendance, intervention participation and other leading indicators can provide more current information about where students are struggling and whether existing strategies are working.
The superintendent and district team use that information to diagnose needs and recommend how resources should be used. The board’s role is to determine whether the proposed investments are aligned with the district’s student outcome goals, whether there is evidence supporting the strategy, and what information the board will receive to know whether the investment is producing the intended result.
Those decisions could include investments in classroom instruction, intervention for struggling students, professional learning, staffing, student supports or other strategies identified by the district.
“The budget should tell the same story as the district’s student outcome goals,” Keleher said. “If third-grade reading is a priority, the board should be able to see how resources are supporting the district’s strategy for improving it. Then, throughout the year, the board should be looking at the indicators the district has identified to understand whether that investment is helping move students toward the goal.”
Local flexibility creates different choices
Not every Delaware district faces the same literacy challenge.
One district may need to strengthen reading instruction across all elementary schools. Another may find that its greatest needs are concentrated in a small number of schools. Some districts may need to focus on students entering school without foundational skills, while others may need stronger intervention for children who have fallen behind.
The new funding model gives boards an opportunity to respond to those differences rather than applying the same solution everywhere.
But local flexibility also carries risk. Boards could spread resources across too many priorities, continue programs without sufficient evidence or focus on activities that are visible to the community but have little effect on reading.
The central question is not whether a district spends more. It is whether the board can connect its spending choices to a clearly identified student need and a measurable academic objective.
Parents can help define the problem
Greater local control also creates an opportunity for parents and community members to become more involved in setting education priorities.
Assessment data can show where students are struggling, but it may not explain why. Parents can help boards understand whether families receive clear information about reading performance, whether students can access additional support, and whether attendance, transportation, language, scheduling, or other barriers limit participation. That information can help a board evaluate whether the district’s proposed spending responds to the needs behind the data.
“Community engagement should help shape the decision, not simply react to it,” Keleher said. “Parents can help boards understand barriers and student needs that may not be visible in a spreadsheet. When resources are limited, that perspective matters in deciding where an investment is most needed and what problem it should solve. “Meaningful engagement would occur before the district commits to a strategy, not only after administrators have presented a finished proposal.
Complex decisions require the right expertise
Greater flexibility does not mean boards or districts are expected to have every type of expertise internally. Decisions about how to improve literacy and where to invest limited resources can involve student performance data, instructional research, implementation evidence, financial analysis, community input and governance considerations.
Districts can draw on the expertise needed to strengthen those decisions, whether from state education officials, educators and literacy specialists, researchers, financial experts, community organizations or others with relevant knowledge and experience. The question is not whether outside perspectives should influence the decision, but whether the district has assembled the information and expertise necessary to make a well-supported investment.
For boards, that expertise should strengthen, not replace, their governance role. The board still must understand what student need the investment addresses, why the proposed approach is expected to help, what it will cost, what results are expected and how progress will be monitored.
Measuring whether the decision worked
The new funding model also will require boards to think more carefully about results.
Annual state testing remains an important measure, but boards cannot wait until the end of the school year to determine whether students are progressing.
They will need regular, understandable information showing whether the district’s strategy is reaching the intended students and whether reading performance is moving in the right direction.
That does not require board members to manage daily instruction. It requires them to agree with district leadership in advance about what progress should look like, when it should be visible and how the administration will respond if improvement does not occur.
A literacy investment should begin with several broad questions:
What student need is the district trying to address?
Why is the proposed approach appropriate?
How did parents and educators help shape the decision?
What result should the board expect?
When will the board know whether the strategy is working?
What will change if progress falls short?
Those questions preserve the distinction between governance and management while creating meaningful accountability.
A test of local governance
Delaware’s new funding model is based partly on the idea that local leaders can make better decisions when resources and authority are placed closer to students.
Literacy will provide an early test of that premise.
Experts such as First State Educate can help boards understand data and strengthen their decision-making processes. Administrators can recommend strategies. Educators can explain classroom needs. Parents can identify barriers and community priorities. School boards must bring those perspectives together and make choices that reflect both local needs and the state’s larger academic expectations.
By 2028, the public will be able to judge the new funding model by more than the amount of money distributed or the percentage placed under local control. Its most important measure will be whether substantially more Delaware children can read at grade level.
Caption: Kenneth J. Reuter Jr., a task force participant and longtime energy industry executive, contends the panel did not conduct the structured, technically intensive review necessary to support such a consequential decision.
Industry veteran says the state’s review lacked the technical depth needed as electricity costs rise and Delaware remains dependent on imported power
DOVER, Del – Delaware’s Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force cannot approve a reactor, select a location or commit public money to a nuclear project. Its influence, however, could be significant.
The General Assembly created the task force to help determine whether small modular nuclear reactors could become part of Delaware’s long-term energy supply. Its findings could influence whether lawmakers authorize additional studies, investigate potential sites, revise state permitting laws or decide nuclear power is too costly or uncertain to pursue.
That makes the quality of the task force’s work important.
Kenneth J. Reuter Jr., a task force participant and longtime energy industry executive, contends the panel did not conduct the structured, technically intensive review necessary to support such a consequential decision.
In an Aug. 14 assessment, Reuter said the task force did not hear directly from willing nuclear manufacturers, adequately investigate possible Delaware sites or divide its work among specialized teams.
His criticism does not establish that the task force’s conclusions are wrong. It does raise questions about whether state policymakers have enough information to make decisions that could affect Delaware’s electricity supply, consumer costs and economic competitiveness for decades.
Panel assigned to study nuclear potential
The General Assembly created the Delaware Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force in 2025 to examine whether small modular reactors, commonly known as SMRs, could be developed in the state.
SMRs are designed to generate less electricity than conventional nuclear reactors. Supporters say they could be manufactured in sections, installed incrementally and placed on properties that cannot accommodate a traditional nuclear plant.
However, the technology remains commercially developing in the United States. Questions continue about construction costs, licensing schedules, financing and the risks utilities and customers could be asked to assume.
The General Assembly directed the task force to study nuclear energy’s economic impact, regulatory requirements, environmental implications and potential contribution to electric reliability. Its reporting deadline was extended to July 31, 2026.
The task force’s report is advisory. It does not authorize construction, approve a location or require the state to pursue nuclear power. But lawmakers could rely on it when considering future energy legislation and determining whether additional nuclear planning is warranted.
Delaware imports much of its electricity
Delaware generates substantially less electricity than its residents and businesses consume.
Reuter estimates the state currently imports between 45% and 55% of its electricity through PJM, the regional power grid serving Delaware and parts of 12 other states and the District of Columbia.
Importing electricity is a normal part of participating in a regional grid. It does not, by itself, indicate that Delaware faces an immediate shortage. PJM is designed to move power across state lines and allow utilities to purchase electricity from generators throughout the region.
But Reuter argues that Delaware’s dependence creates greater risk as regional demand grows, older generating plants retire and new projects face lengthy development and grid-connection delays.
Data centers, advanced manufacturing and other large electricity users are also adding to projected demand.
Delaware does not need to generate every unit of electricity it consumes. However, the state has limited control over when and where new regional plants are constructed, leaving its customers exposed to supply and price pressures elsewhere in the PJM market.
Intermittent power cannot carry the full load
Reuter argues that Delaware’s energy strategy relies too heavily on intermittent sources such as wind and solar.
Those facilities can contribute electricity when weather conditions permit, reduce fuel consumption and help meet emissions goals. But they cannot continuously produce power without storage, backup generation or other complementary resources.
An energy plan that depends heavily on intermittent sources without sufficient dependable generation would leave Delaware vulnerable during periods when the sun is not shining, the wind is not blowing or regional demand is particularly high, Reuter said.
He argues that Delaware should make the development of additional 24-hour generation a priority, including natural gas plants, nuclear power or a combination of the two.
Natural gas plants can generally be developed more quickly than nuclear facilities and can respond to changing electricity demand. Nuclear plants require longer development and licensing schedules but can provide large amounts of continuous electricity without direct carbon emissions.
Both carry costs and risks. Natural gas exposes customers to fuel-price volatility and future regulatory requirements. Nuclear projects require substantial upfront investment and can experience construction delays and cost overruns.
A responsible state plan would examine those risks without treating intermittent renewable resources as the equivalent of dependable, around-the-clock generation.
Rising electric bills add urgency
The debate is not limited to whether Delaware will have enough power. It also involves what residents and businesses will pay for it.
Residential and industrial electric bills are rising, placing additional pressure on household budgets and increasing operating costs for Delaware employers.
Reuter argues that those costs will continue climbing unless policymakers revise Delaware’s energy strategy and make affordability and dependable generation top state priorities.
Electric bills reflect more than the cost of producing electricity. They can also include transmission expenses, regional capacity charges, utility infrastructure investments, environmental compliance costs and other fees.
However, a tightening regional supply-and-demand balance can increase several of those costs. Delaware’s dependence on imported electricity leaves customers exposed to regional prices that state officials cannot directly control.
For households, higher electric bills reduce the money available for food, housing, health care and other necessities. For manufacturers and other energy-intensive employers, rising power costs can discourage expansion, weaken competitiveness and influence decisions about where companies invest.
Reuter’s position is that Delaware should not evaluate energy projects primarily according to environmental targets or political preferences. Each alternative should be measured by its total cost, reliability, construction schedule and ability to serve customers during periods of peak demand.
Participant questions task force’s approach
Reuter’s primary complaint is that the task force operated more like a broad discussion group than a technically organized panel working toward an actionable plan.
He said only a small number of the approximately 25 members and regular participants had direct experience with electricity generation.
Reuter recommended dividing the work among specialized groups focused on nuclear manufacturers, potential sites, technology selection, safety, environmental effects, permitting, government coordination and public communications.
Under his proposed structure, each group would have been assigned a leader responsible for investigating its subject and regularly reporting findings to the full panel.
Reuter said that structure was not adopted.
He also said no nuclear equipment manufacturer was invited to explain its technology, manufacturing capacity, construction schedules, costs or existing order commitments to the full task force.
According to Reuter, Westinghouse and another manufacturer were willing to make presentations but were not invited. He also said an offer to arrange a task force tour of the Salem and Hope Creek nuclear facilities in New Jersey was not accepted.
Manufacturers have a financial interest in promoting their products, and their claims would require independent scrutiny. However, direct presentations would have allowed task force members to question the companies about technological readiness, construction experience, pricing and financial risks.
Potential sites require closer examination
A complete nuclear feasibility review would eventually need to examine actual Delaware properties.
Potential sites would have to be evaluated for available land, transmission connections, water access, security, emergency planning and nearby development. The willingness of property owners and surrounding communities would also be important.
Reuter said the task force did not conduct sufficiently detailed discussions with potential site owners or determine whether particular properties could accommodate an SMR or a larger conventional reactor.
That distinction matters because a technology that appears promising in a general presentation may not be practical at an available Delaware location.
Preliminary site analysis would not commit the state to a reactor or a particular property. It would help determine whether nuclear power is a realistic Delaware option rather than a theoretical one.
Incomplete report could close the door prematurely
If the task force’s report is incomplete or overly negative, Delaware could abandon nuclear energy before fully understanding its potential.
That could leave the state more dependent on imported power from a regional market facing rising demand and generating-plant retirements.
Delaware could also lose time needed to examine sites, coordinate with federal regulators and develop a specialized workforce. Nuclear projects require years of planning, licensing, financing and construction, meaning a decision to delay preliminary work could have long-term consequences.
Dependable and competitively priced electricity also affects economic development. Manufacturers, health care facilities, technology companies and data centers consider energy availability when deciding where to invest.
A state without a credible plan for meeting future electricity demand could find itself at a competitive disadvantage.
Overly optimistic report also carries risks
A flawed report could create the opposite danger.
If the task force overstates the affordability or commercial readiness of SMRs, lawmakers could advance an expensive project without fully understanding the risks.
Nuclear facilities require substantial upfront investment. Construction delays and cost overruns can fall on customers if utilities are permitted to recover those expenses through electric rates.
Before advancing a project, policymakers would need to determine who would finance it, who would absorb the cost of delays and whether customers could be charged before a reactor begins producing electricity.
A responsible nuclear policy would protect ratepayers while allowing promising technologies to receive serious consideration. Private investors, utilities and manufacturers would need to bear meaningful performance risk rather than shifting every financial uncertainty to customers.
State plan must balance cost and reliability
The task force’s report does not need to provide a final verdict on nuclear power. The developing commercial market for SMRs makes absolute conclusions difficult.
A useful report should distinguish among what is known, what remains uncertain and what Delaware must investigate next.
Possible next steps could include independent cost studies, discussions with manufacturers, preliminary site reviews, federal regulatory coordination and comparisons among nuclear power, natural gas, renewable energy, storage and transmission investments.
Each alternative should be evaluated using consistent standards, including:
Total cost to residential and business customers
Dependable generating capacity
Development and construction time
Performance during peak demand
Fuel and transmission requirements
Environmental effects
Financial risks associated with delays or cost overruns
Wind and solar power can remain part of that mix. But policymakers must distinguish between electricity produced when weather conditions allow and capacity that can be counted on around the clock.
The central question is not whether task force members support or oppose nuclear energy. It is whether their process produced enough evidence to justify the panel’s findings.
A report that dismisses nuclear prematurely could cause Delaware to lose a potentially valuable source of dependable, carbon-free electricity. A report that is too optimistic could expose customers to years of higher rates and construction risk.
Delaware may ultimately choose to pursue nuclear power, continue studying it or reject it. But with electric bills rising, demand growing and regional supplies tightening, Reuter argues that revising the state’s energy plan should be a top policy priority.
That decision should rest on rigorous technical and financial evidence — not an incomplete process, assumptions about future regional supplies or a predetermined preference for any particular energy source.
TO-GO BOX:
The task force: The General Assembly created the Nuclear Energy Feasibility Task Force to study whether small modular reactors could help meet Delaware’s future electricity needs.
The concern: Participant Kenneth J. Reuter Jr. says the review lacked sufficient industry input, technical structure and analysis of potential sites.
The energy challenge: Delaware imports an estimated 45% to 55% of its electricity, while regional demand and electric costs are increasing.
What is at stake: A flawed report could cause Delaware to reject a dependable energy source prematurely — or pursue an expensive project without adequately protecting ratepayers.
Illustration by Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica. Source images: records obtained by ProPublica, Don Ryan/AP.
Oregon’s spending on low-income housing has exploded in the past five years. The state has given developers an unprecedented $1.4 billion, and the cost of developing each apartment has nearly doubled, to $540,000. Dozens of projects are lined up for an additional $850 million in future state funding. Federal tax credits, which the state oversees, will bring even more money to bear.
Yet one thing has remained constant: The public isn’t allowed to see the details of how all these dollars are being spent.
Oregon is one of the only states in the country with a carve-out in its public records law that prevents disclosing the financial details of subsidized housing projects, thwarting researchers and journalists who have tried to examine their costs.
The issue is especially pressing in the Pacific Northwest, where leaders have tied the lack of affordable housing to the region’s dire homelessness crisis. Understanding and controlling the cost of construction could make it possible, with the same amount of money, to either build more rent-restricted apartments or to discount rents more steeply.
Margaret Van Vliet, a former director of Oregon’s state housing agency, told ProPublica that lawmakers should revisit the exemption. Despite all the state’s spending on housing, Oregon’s homeless population continues to grow.
“For all the public money, we seem to be digging a deeper hole,” Van Vliet said.
In other states, researchers and journalists have used developers’ financial records to investigate spiraling costs of subsidized housing.
Los Angeles Times reporters in 2020 revealed that the cost of some low-income housing units in California had grown to more than $1 million each, driven in part by government rules that pushed construction prices higher. The Times found that 12,000 more low-income families could have received homes between 2011 and 2015 had costs been as low as they were elsewhere.
Researchers from the University of California, Berkeley showed earlier this year that California was spending $300 million a year just in development fees on subsidized housing, enough to have financed another 1,250 apartments each year. In July, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation that aims to slash those fees.
A study published last year and co-authored by Jason Ward, an economist who directs the nonpartisan Rand Corp.’s Housing Center, compared the costs of constructing subsidized housing among California, Texas and Colorado, finding that California’s highest-in-the-nation prices were driven by requirements to pay “substantially above-market wages and unusually large architectural and engineering fees.”
If California had Colorado’s production costs, the study found, it could have built four times as many rent-subsidized apartments.
Those types of analyses are impossible to perform in Oregon.
“For all the public money” spent on housing, “we seem to be digging a deeper hole.”
Margaret Van Vliet, former director of Oregon’s state housing agency
Ward said Oregon’s secrecy is difficult to defend. He said cost information about subsidized housing is typically public. In his research, he said, he’s gotten such data from 17 states and been denied it only in New Jersey.
“When you’re just looking at how public funds are used, there should be an incredibly strong bias towards transparency,” he said. “And when you see costs going up and up and up and the outcomes aren’t good, there’s an almost unqualified public case that these things should be open to scrutiny by taxpayers, policymakers, the media, whomever.”
Oregon’s Legislature approved the exemption in 1997, when Oregon’s state housing agency had a staff and budget that were both one-fifth what they are today.
State housing officials warned about the consequences of revealing the finances behind low-income apartment projects.
“Not that we’re concerned that there’d be something in there,” Lynn Schoessler, then the deputy director of Oregon Housing and Community Services, told lawmakers in a public hearing.
But Schoessler said there could be problems if the public were allowed to see detailed financial information that developers submit to the state while applying for funding. Disclosing the records might “give somebody an indication whether this corporation was ripe for takeover or a buyout or whatever,” Schoessler said in a hearing. “So we’re concerned on the corporate level.”
Lawmakers almost unanimously agreed to exempt the records from disclosure.
Not all details about subsidized housing in Oregon were made secret.
The Portland area’s regional government, which manages a local low-income-housing bond, publishes the costs of projects the bond has funded, showing some units have reached $900,000 apiece. And fine-grained cost information may be obtained, on request, if the project is run by a public housing authority like Portland’s. But these account for just 20% of the subsidized housing units that Oregon is building. The bulk are sponsored by private developers and funded through the state housing finance agency, Oregon Housing and Community Services.
Although the state agency will divulge how much a developer said a project would cost when it applied for funding, it redacts the itemized expenses — things like the costs of construction materials, the contractor’s profits or the fees paid to lawyers, brokers, loan agents, developers and the state agency itself.
A spokesperson said the agency knows the cost per unit, per square foot and per bedroom for each development it has subsidized. But the state said that information, which would allow the public to see which projects were the most expensive, is not subject to disclosure.
Oregon has a sunshine committee that reviews public records exemptions and identifies ones that should be rolled back. Charlie Fisher, its co-chair, said the committee should examine the low-income housing carve-out.
“Verifying how public dollars are being spent, especially at this scale, is one of the fundamental reasons why people should have access to public records,” Fisher said. “Given the amount of money we’re talking about, the case is even stronger.”
The secrecy mandate in state law shrouds more than just the financial details of a project.
When we requested financial records for three apartment projects around Portland, the agency redacted a list of languages spoken by the tenants that a developer hoped to attract. In application material for that developer’s project, the agency also redacted the plan for translating tenant outreach brochures from English. And it blacked out an explanation of any financial risks the project might face, along with the developer’s plan for covering cost overruns.
It turns out that the developer, in this case, was Home Forward, the Portland housing authority. The local agency released a copy of its application material to ProPublica without redactions, revealing mundane details the state had tried to keep secret. Here’s a sample of what Home Forward identified as the project’s financial risks: “market volatility, site-specific challenges, and unforeseen design modifications. Economic factors such as inflation, material price fluctuations, and labor shortages could impact overall construction costs.”
A spokesperson for the state said the information about languages and financial risks was redacted because the public records exemption shields “market studies and analyses” as well as pro forma statements, which show a development’s anticipated cash flows.
Oregon Housing and Community ServicesHome Forward
Oregon’s public records exemption for subsidized housing leads to the state redacting more than just projects’ financial details, including this plan to translate outreach materials for a subsidized housing project. In this case, an unredacted version of the same document was available from the local housing authority that was acting as the developer on the project.
Andrea Bell, the state housing agency’s director, said in an emailed statement that she is committed to transparency and expects her agency to be open, accessible and accountable to the public. But she said she takes seriously the agency’s responsibility to comply with the exemption in Oregon records law for housing financials.
Asked to comment on whether she supported the exemption and thought it was necessary, Bell said in a statement: “The cost of construction is a topic of growing interest. We will take your request under consideration as we assess ways to proactively share construction costs so that they are more readily available to the public.”
In the meantime, the agency charged ProPublica $130 for the cost of collecting and redacting the documents it provided us. It denied our request to waive the fees, saying that “the interest of the general public would be better served by preserving public resources.”
Transparency hasn’t slowed development in other West Coast states.
In California, where the financial details of housing projects are public records, the funding remains highly competitive, with more than half of shovel-ready applications being turned away because demand exceeds available funding. “We have not encountered any difficulty in developing affordable housing because those documents are public,” said a spokesperson for the California state treasurer’s office.
In Washington state, officials have repeatedly released financial information about the housing projects they’ve funded to developers, researchers, media and other members of the public. A housing official there said developers know the information is open to the public, and it hasn’t been an issue.
ProPublica asked the Washington counterpart of Oregon Housing and Community Services for financial documents for three projects around Seattle. They were released without redactions — and for free.
Caption: Richards Layton’ & Fingers (& Lawyers recognized as the Best Lawyers in America offers one particularly visible example of that depth, and helps spotlight the strength of the Delaware legal community.
Firm’s results offer one measure of the depth of legal talent supporting Delaware’s national role in corporate law
WILMINGTON, Del. — Ninety-seven attorneys at Richards, Layton & Finger have been recognized in the 2027 editions of The Best Lawyers in America and Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America, an achievement that also underscores the strength of Delaware’s broader legal community.
The total includes 74 established attorneys named to The Best Lawyers in America and 23 earlier-career attorneys recognized as “Ones to Watch.” Twelve Richards Layton attorneys also were selected as Wilmington “Lawyer of the Year” recipients in particular practice areas.
Richards Layton said it had more attorneys included in the traditional Best Lawyers list than any other Delaware firm.
While the announcement highlights one firm, its larger significance is found in the legal market in which those attorneys practice. Delaware has developed a concentration of corporate lawyers, litigators, bankruptcy attorneys and other specialists whose work supports the state’s position as a national center for business law.
Richards Layton’s numbers offer one particularly visible example of that depth, and the helps spotlight the strength of our legal community includes lawyers at other Delaware firms, government agencies, corporations, nonprofit organizations and legal services organizations.
Breaking down the 97
The headline number combines two related but distinct forms of recognition.
The 74 attorneys named to The Best Lawyers in America are generally established practitioners with at least 10 years of experience and developed reputations in their fields.
The 23 attorneys named “Ones to Watch” are generally lawyers in private practice for five to nine years. The category recognizes attorneys earlier in their careers who are beginning to establish strong professional reputations.
The 12 “Lawyer of the Year” recipients represent the most selective portion of the announcement. The designation is awarded to one attorney in a particular practice area within a metropolitan market.
Richards Layton attorneys received those Wilmington honors in areas including corporate governance, banking and finance, bankruptcy litigation, intellectual property litigation, patent litigation, labor law, real estate, structured finance and commercial transactions.
The combination of established and emerging attorneys suggests that the firm has both current strength and a developing pipeline of future legal leaders.
“Best Lawyers in America offers a meaningful perspective on the caliber of our lawyers and the work they perform for clients,” Richards Layton President Paul Heath said. “Because this recognition is based on peer review, we are especially grateful for the respect and confidence of our colleagues, and we appreciate the time and consideration they devote to the selection process.”
Recognition reflects a professional community
The peer-review process gives the results a broader dimension.
Best Lawyers bases its selections largely on confidential evaluations submitted by attorneys practicing in the same geographic region and area of law. Candidates are nominated, reviewed by other lawyers and checked for eligibility and professional standing.
That means the recognition depends in part on Delaware attorneys evaluating the work and reputations of other Delaware attorneys. It reflects a professional community with considerable knowledge in corporate governance, commercial litigation, bankruptcy, intellectual property, financial services and other complex areas.
The awards are not a scientific measurement of legal ability. They do not directly compare courtroom outcomes, client satisfaction, legal fees or public access to legal services. Larger and better-known firms also have more attorneys eligible for recognition and greater visibility within the legal community.
The rankings are therefore best understood as a measure of professional reputation rather than a guarantee of results for every client.
Delaware’s advantage extends beyond one firm
Delaware’s legal reputation has been built over generations by its courts, lawmakers, law firms and individual attorneys.
Richards Layton, Delaware’s largest law firm and one of its oldest, is an important part of that history. But Delaware’s national position does not depend on any single institution.
Law firms throughout the state serve as Delaware counsel in national transactions and litigation. Attorneys advise corporate boards, represent shareholders, guide companies through bankruptcy, interpret business statutes and argue cases that can affect corporate practices across the country.
Government lawyers, members of the judiciary, corporate counsel and attorneys working in public-interest and legal-aid organizations contribute additional experience and perspective to the state’s legal system.
Together, that community gives Delaware a level of specialized legal knowledge that is unusual for a state of its size.
A foundation of Delaware’s corporate economy
Companies choose Delaware for several connected reasons: established corporate statutes, a substantial body of legal precedent, a respected judiciary and access to attorneys familiar with complicated business matters.
The Delaware Court of Chancery is widely regarded as the nation’s leading forum for disputes involving the internal affairs of corporations and other business entities. Its decisions can influence corporate boards, executives, investors and shareholders across the country.
Delaware reported more than 2.28 million active business entities in 2025. Another 334,461 entities were formed during that year, a more than 15% increase from 2024, according to the Delaware Division of Corporations.
Maintaining that position requires more than an efficient filing system. Delaware must be able to demonstrate that companies and investors will have access to predictable laws, experienced judges and lawyers capable of handling sophisticated transactions and disputes.
The Richards Layton results help illustrate the size and range of that professional capacity. The recognized attorneys practice in corporate law, bankruptcy, commercial litigation, mergers and acquisitions, intellectual property, structured finance, tax, trusts and estates, employment law, environmental law and commercial real estate.
Those specialties are also represented across Delaware’s larger legal market.
Why the public should care
Most Delaware residents will never hire a lawyer to manage a corporate merger, litigate a shareholder dispute or restructure a national company. The public benefits are largely indirect, but they are significant.
Delaware’s corporate franchise generates substantial tax and fee revenue for state government. That revenue supports public services and reduces the amount that would otherwise need to be collected from residents and locally operating businesses.
The legal sector also supports high-paying jobs in Wilmington and throughout the state. Those positions extend beyond attorneys to paralegals, legal assistants, technology specialists, accountants, court reporters and administrative employees. Visiting attorneys, clients and litigants also generate activity for hotels, restaurants and other businesses.
A respected legal community helps Delaware compete with other states seeking to attract corporate registrations. Companies are more likely to remain incorporated in Delaware when they believe the state offers reliable courts, understandable laws and a deep pool of legal talent.
The 97 Richards Layton recognitions is prominent example of something larger: Delaware has developed a legal community with expertise and influence far beyond what might be expected in a state of its size.
Richards Layton’s results are an institutional accomplishment for the firm. Viewed in context, they also help tell the story of a broader Delaware legal market whose judges, attorneys and legal professionals protect and sustain one of the state’s most important economic advantages.
See List:
The Richards Layton attorneys named in The Best Lawyers in America are listed below. An asterisk denotes a 2027 Wilmington, Delaware Lawyer of the Year honoree; the corresponding award practice area appears in bold.
Michael Allen – Corporate Governance Law; Corporate Law
Paul Altman – Business Organizations (including LLCs and Partnerships); Corporate Law
Caption: On the day he became old enough under federal regulations to fly a glider solo, he was already prepared to take the controls.
On July 1, Cheng completed his first solo glider flight on his 14th birthday, reaching the minimum age at which the Federal Aviation Administration allows a student pilot to solo a glider or balloon.
By John Riddle
Most teenagers celebrate turning 14 with cake, presents and time with family and friends. Newark resident Jonathan Cheng celebrated his birthday a little differently.
He took control of a glider, climbed thousands of feet into the sky and flew solo.
On July 1, Cheng completed his first solo glider flight on his 14th birthday, reaching the minimum age at which the Federal Aviation Administration allows a student pilot to solo a glider or balloon.
For Cheng, the flight represented much more than a memorable way to celebrate a birthday. It was the culmination of years of interest in aviation and months of training, preparation and determination.
“I’ve been fascinated by aircraft since I was young and have always dreamed of flying one someday,” Cheng said. “Soloing a glider was an incredible experience, especially since I was able to do it on my 14th birthday, the youngest age possible.”
Cheng’s fascination with aviation began four years earlier when his father arranged a discovery flight for his 10th birthday. The hour in the air sparked an interest that quickly grew.
For his 11th birthday, Cheng wanted a flight simulator setup. He spent countless hours using it to learn more about the mechanics of flight. By age 12, he was ready to move beyond simulated flying and joined the Brandywine Soaring Association, where he began training at New Garden Airport.
Gliders provide a distinctly different flying experience from powered aircraft. Without an engine, pilots must understand air currents, locate rising air and carefully manage the aircraft’s available energy. Cheng describes it as the sensation of “flying like a bird.”
His involvement with the soaring association has extended beyond sitting in the cockpit. During more than a year of training, he has regularly volunteered as part of the ground crew, helping with wing-running, glider assembly and staging aircraft for flight operations.
The work eventually led to July 1.
In the days before his birthday, Cheng concentrated heavily on both ground and flight training. An additional challenge came when flight operations moved to a different airport, requiring him to become familiar with a new environment and traffic pattern.
When the day finally arrived, Cheng climbed into a Blanik glider. After being towed to 2,000 feet, he released the tow rope and was alone in the aircraft.
“I had spent a long time training and preparing for this moment, so finally being able to solo made me feel both excited and proud,” Cheng said. “It showed me that my hard work and dedication were paying off and motivated me to keep learning and pursuing my goal of becoming a pilot.”
He successfully flew his planned maneuvers and traffic pattern before bringing the glider back for a smooth landing on the grass.
The milestone was also a memorable moment for his father, Wei Cheng, who had watched his son’s interest in aviation grow from that first discovery flight into a serious pursuit.
“I couldn’t be prouder of Jonathan’s dedication and maturity,” Wei Cheng said. “Reaching this historic milestone on his exact 14th birthday is a testament to months of disciplined training, early mornings, and his unwavering commitment to his aviation goals.”
The conditions made the day even more challenging, with temperatures reaching about 100 degrees.
“Special credit goes to the Brandywine Soaring Association for making it happen,” Wei Cheng said. “We truly appreciate the local aviation community and feel blessed.”
Jonathan credits instructor Barry Muhlenberg, tow pilot Dan Wroe, his parents and members of the Brandywine Soaring Association with helping him reach his goal. His training has also received a boost from the Soaring Society of America, which awarded him the 2026 Purduski Flight Training Scholarship to help support his work toward a Private Pilot Glider Certificate.
Aviation, however, is only one part of Jonathan’s busy schedule.
He is a Cadet Master Sergeant in the Civil Air Patrol and a competitive archer. He also participated in the United States Naval Academy Summer STEM Camp. His interest in science and technology includes cybersecurity, software development, 3D printing and analog photography.
He reached the Platinum Tier in the CyberPatriot competition, with his team ranking in the top 30 percent of more than 5,000 teams. He also combines his engineering and aviation interests by 3D printing his own radio-controlled airplanes.
At school, Jonathan is the founder and president of the Rubik’s Club.
His father says Jonathan’s willingness to pursue opportunities has been an important part of his progress.
“He knows clearly what he wants to be, and he always drags us to take him to New Garden Airport whenever the weather permits,” Wei Cheng said. “His flight instructor is a USAFA graduate and retired fighter pilot, and Jonathan is learning not just how to fly, but also how to become a leader and serve our country.”
Jonathan already has his next aviation milestones mapped out. He hopes to earn his Private Pilot Glider Certificate at age 16 and a private pilot certificate for powered aircraft at 17.
His longer-term ambition is even higher. Inspired in part by aviation history and Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger’s book Highest Duty, Jonathan hopes to earn an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy as a member of the Class of 2030 and eventually serve as a fighter pilot.
For other young people who may think they need to wait until adulthood before seriously pursuing a dream, Jonathan has a different message.
“If you really care about something, don’t be afraid to work for it,” he said. “There will be challenges and days when things really don’t go perfectly, but you have to keep going and learn from your mistakes.”
He also encourages young people to seek out mentors, ask questions and surround themselves with people who will help them improve.
“Most importantly, start working toward your dream now,” Jonathan said. “You don’t have to wait until you’re older.”
Jonathan certainly didn’t.
On the day he became old enough under federal regulations to fly a glider solo, he was already prepared to take the controls.
Caption: This is the second installment of a three-part Delaware LIVE series examining Delaware’s literacy challenge.
Reaching the 2028 goal will require faster progress, interim measurements, and action when strategies fail
Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a three-part Delaware LIVE series examining Delaware’s literacy challenge. Part 1 reported the latest assessment results and introduced the state’s 2028 reading goal. Read Part 1.
By George D. Rotsch, Editor, Delaware LIVE
DOVER, Del. — Delaware has established a clear literacy destination: At least 53% of third graders reading proficiently by 2028.
The state has not yet presented an equally clear public path for getting there.
Third-grade English language arts proficiency reached 40% in 2026, up 1 percentage point from the previous year. That leaves Delaware with a 13-point gap and two annual testing cycles remaining. Note: the full report can be accessed online: https://news.delaware.gov/files/2026/08/State-Board-2026-Briefing-August-20.pdf
To reach the goal on a roughly even trajectory, proficiency would need to rise to approximately 46.5% in 2027 and 53% in 2028.
That would require average annual gains of 6.5 percentage points—more than six times the improvement recorded this year.
If proficiency continued rising at only 1 point per year, it would reach approximately 42% in 2028. At that rate, Delaware would not reach 53% until about 2039.
That is a mathematical illustration, not a prediction. Results can accelerate, particularly when effective instructional changes reach large numbers of classrooms. But the calculation demonstrates that incremental improvement will not be sufficient.
A goal needs interim benchmarks
Delaware’s Early Literacy Plan calls for a public dashboard, quarterly progress updates and an annual State of Literacy report.
Those measures can improve transparency. But reporting results is not the same as establishing what must happen when results fall short.
A complete accountability plan should identify:
The statewide proficiency target for 2027.
Corresponding district and school targets.
The officials responsible for implementation.
The expected effect of each major literacy strategy.
The cost of each initiative.
The measurements used during the school year.
The response when a benchmark is missed.
The conditions for expanding, revising or ending a program.
Without interim benchmarks, the public may not learn that Delaware is off track until the 2028 results are released.
Boards cannot wait for the next state test
Annual assessments show whether students met the state standard, but the results arrive after the school year has ended. For school boards, the challenge is to use that annual result to establish a clear student outcome goal and then monitor progress toward it throughout the year.
Keleher said the board and superintendent have different responsibilities in that process. The board establishes the student outcome it expects and monitors whether the district is making sufficient progress toward it. The superintendent and educators determine the strategy for achieving the goal and manage its implementation. That distinction is consistent with student-outcomes-focused governance frameworks, which place goals and progress monitoring with the board while leaving implementation to the superintendent and administration.
“The annual assessment tells a board where students finished, but boards don’t have to wait until the end of the next school year to know whether students are on track,” Keleher said. “Once the board establishes the outcome it expects, the superintendent can identify the measures that will show throughout the year whether the district’s strategy is being implemented and students are making progress.”
Boards should receive regular reports on:
Early literacy screening.
Students reading above, at or below grade level.
Students assigned to additional intervention.
Progress among students receiving assistance.
Attendance in kindergarten through third grade.
Differences among schools and student groups.
Implementation of approved literacy programs.
Program spending and the results expected from it.
Those measures will depend on the district’s strategy and the barriers it is trying to address. They could include student reading progress, early literacy screening, attendance, access to intervention, or evidence that the district’s literacy strategy is being implemented as intended. Academic KPIs and interim measures are commonly used by districts to track progress over time rather than relying solely on annual results.
“The board’s role is not to determine which intervention a student receives or manage how a literacy program is implemented. Its role is to set the outcome, understand the superintendent’s strategy, ensure resources and policies support it, and monitor the evidence that shows whether students are on track.” Keleher said.
If progress is insufficient, the board asks what the superintendent is changing and determines whether additional governance action is needed. This approach also creates greater transparency for the broader community: everyone can understand the outcome the district is working toward, the strategy for achieving it, whether students are making progress, and where there are opportunities to contribute.
Mississippi added a promotion consequence
Mississippi adopted a more consequential approach through its Literacy-Based Promotion Act.
Under the law, a third grader scoring in the lowest two achievement levels on the state reading assessment generally is not promoted to fourth grade unless the student later demonstrates sufficient competency or qualifies for a good-cause exemption.
The policy is not based on one testing opportunity. Mississippi provides reading intervention, individual plans, parent notification and opportunities to retest. The law also includes exemptions for specified students and circumstances.
The promotion requirement establishes a clear expectation: Students generally must demonstrate minimum reading competency before advancing to fourth grade.
Mississippi reported that 84.6% of third graders passed its reading assessment after their final opportunity in 2025.
That percentage should not be directly compared with Delaware’s 40% proficiency rate because the states use different assessments, performance standards and reporting methods.
Mississippi’s improvement also cannot be attributed solely to its promotion requirement. The state combined that policy with early screening, teacher training, evidence-based instruction, literacy coaches and intervention for struggling students.
Delaware emphasizes support and reporting
Delaware also is investing in evidence-based materials, teacher development, screening, coaching and family engagement.
Unlike Mississippi, Delaware has not made third-grade reading competency a statewide requirement for promotion to fourth grade.
Delaware’s assessment identifies whether a child met the standard, but students may advance without demonstrating proficiency. Promotion and retention decisions remain largely local.
The difference can be summarized simply: Mississippi added a gate. Delaware established a goal and a reporting system.
Delaware is not without accountability. Schools may be identified for support and intervention through the Delaware School Success Framework, which considers achievement, growth, attendance and other measures.
But Delaware has not established a comparable statewide consequence when a third grader fails to demonstrate minimum reading competency.
Who should face the consequence?
Mississippi’s approach raises a difficult policy question: Should the immediate consequence fall on a child who has not learned to read, or should it fall more directly on the adults and institutions responsible for delivering instruction?
Supporters of literacy-based promotion argue that advancing a student who cannot read does not solve the problem. It transfers the problem to fourth grade, when students increasingly must read independently to learn other subjects.
Critics argue that retention can impose social and emotional costs and disproportionately affect low-income students, multilingual learners and students with disabilities.
They also warn that repeating third grade will accomplish little if the student simply receives the same instruction that previously failed to produce results.
Delaware would not necessarily have to copy Mississippi. A graduated approach could require:
Early identification of reading difficulties.
An individual reading plan.
Intensive intervention.
Summer instruction.
Multiple opportunities to demonstrate competency.
A parent, teacher and principal review before promotion.
Appropriate exemptions.
Corrective action when a school repeatedly produces low results.
That would preserve professional judgment while making third-grade reading more than an annual statistic.
Accountability involves changing course
“Accountability involves changing course that goes beyond receiving a report and acknowledging disappointing results”, says Nancy Mercante, President of Citizens for Delaware Schools.
“It includes transparent reporting by every school board to the community about progress and setbacks. Every board must make academic achievement their top priority and engage in monthly discussions about improving it. Meeting thir goals will require particular attention to high-needs students, who keep falling further behind.”
A board’s response could include:
Strengthening implementation.
Directing more support toward struggling schools.
Revising an intervention.
Redirecting resources.
Replacing an ineffective program.
Requiring a school-specific corrective plan.
Making leadership changes when warranted.
The objective should not be to punish schools for serving high-need students. It should be to prevent persistently low performance from becoming accepted.
Promising programs need further evidence
The eight Delaware schools receiving literacy coaching and having comparable data averaged gains of nearly 7 percentage points.
That is approximately the annual statewide gain Delaware now needs to reach the 2028 target.
The results warrant further examination, but responsible expansion requires answers:
How much did the coaching cost?
How often did coaches work with teachers?
What other instructional changes occurred?
Did school leadership or enrollment change?
How did comparable schools perform without coaches?
Can the gains be sustained?
Does Delaware have enough qualified personnel to expand the program?
A program should not be considered successful merely because it was launched, fully staffed or well received. The ultimate measure is whether students receiving the service make meaningful and sustained progress.
Delaware must define the path
Delaware has defined where it wants third-grade reading proficiency to be in 2028.
Reaching that target will require interim measurements that show whether students are on track, clear responsibility for implementation and a defined response when strategies fail.
Otherwise, the 53% target risks becoming an aspiration rather than an accountability measure.
Read Part 3:
Delaware’s new funding model will give school boards greater discretion over education resources. Part 3 examines how boards can use academic evidence, professional guidance and community participation to make better literacy decisions.
Collage by ProPublica. Photo by Sarah Blesener for ProPublica.
As a reporter for The Washington Post and now ProPublica, I’ve investigated how youth sports organizations have failed to protect kids from sexual predators. I’ve spoken to dozens of parents. Some had children who were victimized by coaches. Others wanted to know how to keep their children safe.
Nearly every parent I’ve met said they didn’t have the information they needed to understand the system set up to protect their kids.
Here’s what you need to know (and how to get in touch with tips):
How is the system supposed to work?
The system revolves around one organization: the U.S. Center for SafeSport. SafeSport, as it’s known, is charged with investigating allegations of abuse at all levels of sport, from elite Olympic athletes to young recreational players. Its focus is sexual abuse, but it can also look into allegations of emotional and physical abuse.
The center has the power to suspend coaches as it investigates them, recording their names in a public database known as the SafeSport list. It can ultimately ban abusive coaches for life, declaring them “permanently ineligible.” It can also ban coaches based on certain types of criminal convictions, like those involving abuse of minors.
SafeSport was set up by Congress in 2018, in the wake of revelations about abuse by USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar and other prominent sports figures.
How do coaches get on the SafeSport list?
Coaches and club administrators are required to report misconduct to SafeSport, but anyone can make a report online or by phone.
SafeSport then decides whether to investigate; it doesn’t take every case. Usually coaches can keep working with kids while SafeSport looks into an allegation, but if the allegations are recent or serious, SafeSport can issue a suspension — temporarily placing a coach on the list — while it investigates. If the coach is found not to have engaged in misconduct, they’ll be removed from the list.
If SafeSport substantiates allegations, it can issue sanctions ranging from suspensions or other restrictions to permanent bans.
Which sports does SafeSport cover?
The center has jurisdiction only over the country’s 50 national sports governing bodies, which oversee and set rules for volleyball, swimming, basketball, soccer and any other sports that are included in the Olympics. Those governing bodies are overseen by the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
That covers millions of young athletes, but there are millions more who don’t fall under that system or who are only partially covered by it.
What does it mean if a coach is banned or suspended?
Banned coaches cannot be associated in any way with a team or organization that falls under the 50 sports governing bodies. That means they cannot interact at all with athletes in those groups, including at practices. Any adult in the organization who allows that to happen is also in violation of the SafeSport code.
A banned coach can keep working with kids, however, by joining clubs or organizations that are not covered by SafeSport.
What else does SafeSport do?
SafeSport also creates and mandates training for coaches and other adults that is centered on recognizing and reporting sexual abuse, and it enforces strict rules meant to govern how adults interact with kids, like making sure an adult is never alone with a minor.
Athletes have to take the training only if they are over 18, although the organization provides optional courses for younger kids. The training is optional for parents. Understanding how to recognize patterns that coaches use to abuse and groom children can become an important way to keep their children safe.
As part of my reporting on a volleyball coach who has been accused of sexual misconduct, I spoke to a mother and daughter who both told me that the coach had groomed the girl when she was a young teenager in his gym. The mom told me she tried her best to protect her daughter, but there was a lot she didn’t know.
When she finally watched a SafeSport training video with her daughter, who had just turned 18, the mother told me, “Had we watched this earlier, my kid might have been more open to be like, ‘Mom, my coach made a comment about my butt.’ ‘Mom, he sent me a message to my phone.’”
SafeSport said it has since resolved some of those issues, improving its process to resolve cases more quickly and cut down its backlog. In a statement, the center’s new CEO, Benita Fitzgerald Mosley, an Olympic gold medalist, said the organization “acknowledges the challenges we have met as the first national sport safeguarding organization in the world. We are on surer footing today.”
My reporting has also found gaps in the system and failures by both SafeSport and national governing bodies that put young athletes at risk.
What can you do?
First, ask your child’s club or team if your child is competing under a national governing body, which is legally bound by SafeSport, or in an organization that voluntarily follows the SafeSport list. Keep in mind that this still might not mean the organization is regularly checking the list or enforcing bans, as my reporting has documented.
Check for your child’s coach in the SafeSport database. It’s important to remember that coaches can be added to the list temporarily while an investigation is ongoing, which means they ultimately might not be found to have engaged in misconduct.
If you find a coach you know on the list, review SafeSport’s resources for deciding on your next steps.
Take SafeSport training yourself to learn about red flags for abuse and grooming, and discuss them with your child.
Do you have a story about a coach?
I know these are sensitive topics that can be difficult to discuss. I also know how important these stories are. If you’d like to share what you found in the SafeSport database, or you have other experiences with how youth sports organizations have handled abuse allegations, please fill out our brief questionnaire.
I’m particularly interested in:
Finding instances of coaches who are continuing to work with kids after being banned by SafeSport.
Better understanding how abusive coaches manipulate and deceive parents.
Learning about coaching abuse, safety and misconduct in basketball, a sport in which SafeSport has far less influence compared with many other popular youth sports.
We take your privacy seriously and will contact you if we wish to publish any part of your story.
Hosted by Easterseals Delaware & Maryland’s Eastern Shore and co-sponsored by the Delaware Division of Services for Aging and Adults with Physical Disabilities, the conference connected caregivers with 50 companies and community organizations providing respite care, health services, assistive technology, legal guidance, education and other resources.
The 
Republican Councilwoman Kilpatrick has decided to retire, and her seat is up for grabs
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/6a3c9do3mplh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/zgkq4pi1hnlh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/fruosdxgbllh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/8ab447kf2elh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/9lg23fb9jdlh1.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/7tx8wp03hdlh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/cvj8tvxnk9lh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/zi8ju9pjh8lh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/rv4pmyciy6lh1.jpeg){kind=link}
