Daphne Caruana Galizia's killing shocked Europe, led to protests that toppled a prime minister and exposed a culture of impunity in the European Union's smallest state.
One person is dead and six others are injured, including two police officers, after a shooting near 15 East Grant Street Wednesday afternoon in downtown Minneapolis, according to law enforcement sources. The suspected shooter is also dead.
And Nakashima breaks too – he’s hitting it hard off both wings and I wonder if he’s in the process of finding a new level. The first few times I watched him, I thought he had a bit of something and, real talk, I thought he’d be better by now than he is. But I really like what I’m seeing from him and, as we know, progress isn’t always linear.
It’s a good start for Medvedev, Gorzy – who saved five match points in round one – tamely ceding serve to 15.
The Pentagon will begin requiring male service members ages 30 and older to get screened for testosterone deficiency, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called for the change over the summer.
As tensions flare in the mideast with American military forces resuming strikes on Iran, Donald Trump has taken to social media to discuss his ballroom project.
“We have hundreds of happy construction workers in D.C. busily doing their job building the finest Ballroom/Military complex anywhere in the World,” Trump said in a truth social post Wednesday morning. “There is nothing like it, and never will be! It was a long, hard, fight in the Court System, but the winner is, as always under ‘TRUMP,’ the U.S.A.”
VALENCIA, Spain and SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 2, 2026 — iPronics, a pioneer in silicon photonics-based optical circuit switching for AI infrastructure, has announced $125 million in Series B funding co-led by Maverick Silicon and Light Street Capital. NVIDIA joined the round, with participation from new and existing investors including Triatomic Capital, Bosch Ventures, Catalight Capital, European Innovation Council Fund, The Tate Family Trust, Fine Structure Ventures, Amadeus Capital Partners, Build Collective, and Criteria Venture Tech. Today’s Series B brings the company’s total funding to $177 million.
“Securing this support from Maverick Silicon, Light Street Capital and NVIDIA strengthens our vision as we build iPronics into a new class of optical networking leaders,” said Christian Dupont, CEO of iPronics. “With this investment, we can significantly accelerate our commercialization, delivering the scale our customers need to drive broad adoption and ensuring data centers can fully utilize their GPUs without compromising performance.”
The adoption of optical circuit switching (OCS) is accelerating across AI data center networks, with deployments across a range of connectivity applications. As AI clusters grow, the demands of scale-up networking are accelerating the transition from copper to optics and creating the need for a new generation of high-density scale-up switching solutions. Built on silicon photonics, iPronics has developed a compact, purpose-built OCS platform designed to address the connectivity requirements of AI infrastructure, helping hyperscalers expand AI capacity while managing cost, power and complexity.
“The explosive growth of AI workloads has pushed traditional network infrastructure to its power and bandwidth limits, making optical circuit switching more critical than ever,” said Manish Muthal, senior managing director at Maverick Silicon. “We’re proud to co-lead this round and partner with the iPronics team, as they expand commercial deployments worldwide.”
Muthal joins the iPronics board of directors, along with Geoffrey Tate, an advisor to Light Street Capital. Tate brings decades of technology leadership, first as Senior VP of Microprocessors at AMD. He was also the founding CEO of Rambus, which he led for over a decade and took public, and most recently served as co-founder and CEO of Flex Logix, an AI inference acceleration hardware company that was acquired by Analog Devices. Tate serves on the board of Ayar Labs.
“Light Street is excited to co-lead this Series B,” said Shef Osborn, partner at Light Street Capital. “We believe iPronics offers the most scalable and cost-effective approach to solid-state optical switching at the interconnect layer, a critical requirement for meeting AI compute demand over the next decade.”
Additionally, Young Sohn of Catalight Capital, which manages a dedicated fund focused on AI infrastructure, becomes an advisor to the company. Sohn, a founding member of Catalight Capital, brings decades of semiconductor and silicon photonics leadership and experience scaling global technology platforms. He previously served as Corporate President and Chief Strategy Officer at Samsung, CEO of Inphi, and serves on the boards of Arm and Cadence Design Systems.
“Next-generation AI infrastructure will require a more dynamic, optical-first network fabric,” said Sohn. “iPronics’ approach to programmable optical switching can help data centers scale performance while managing power and cost. I am honored to support the company as it accelerates commercialization.”
The company will use the funds to significantly scale its operations, accelerate commercial deployment, and meet increasing market demand for its iPronics Optical Networking Engine (ONE), a rack-mounted optical switch built for AI. With integrated control, telemetry, and APIs, iPronics ONE provides a programmable optical layer that enables AI clusters to reconfigure connectivity in real time for training and inference workloads.
“This Series B is a testament to our team’s relentless execution,” said Dr. Daniel Pérez-López, founder and CTO, iPronics. “Together with our tier-one partners we are successfully demonstrating that we can build and deploy this technology at scale for AI infrastructure.”
To strengthen its U.S. presence, iPronics has opened an office in Santa Clara, California, and is actively hiring to bolster its product strategy, customer deployments, and AI infrastructure partnerships. For a list of open roles, visit: https://ipronics.com/careers.
About iPronics
iPronics is a pioneer in optical connectivity solutions for AI data centers, delivering a rack-ready optical circuit switching (OCS) platform built on silicon photonics. Its flagship product, iPronics ONE, provides programmable optical connectivity within and across racks for dynamic AI infrastructure. With integrated control, telemetry, and APIs, iPronics ONE enables real-time reconfiguration to improve GPU utilization, reduce energy consumption, and scale without costly network overhauls.
Founded in 2019 as a spin-off from Universitat Politècnica de València, iPronics is backed by strategic and financial investors, including NVIDIA, Maverick Silicon, Light Street Capital, Triatomic Capital, Bosch Ventures, Catalight Capital, European Innovation Council Fund, The Tate Family Trust, Fine Structure Ventures, Build Collective, Criteria Venture Tech, Amadeus Capital Partners, and others. For more information, visit www.ipronics.com.
(The Center Square) – The U.S. Department of Justice has sued the Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools district, alleging it facilitated secret gender transitions for children at schools without parents' knowledge or consent.
Oil consumption plummets and EV sales soar as analysts say demand may not fully return even if crude price falls
China’s carbon dioxide emissions fell by 1% after the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran, thanks to a sharp reduction in oil consumption and a steady rise in the use of electric vehicles and public transport, analysis shows.
The report reveals the role of clean energy in cushioning the price shocks caused by the strait of Hormuz crisis to the world’s biggest oil importer. It also reinforces hopes that China, which is the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitter, may be nearing a turning point in decarbonising its economy.
The FCC is proposing (PDF) a public "robocall mitigation scorecard" that would grade phone companies on how well they block illegal spam calls while avoiding false positives on the legitimate ones. "The Scorecard will empower consumers and encourage providers to continue to combat illegal robocalls by providing the public with an assessment of the effectiveness of voice service providers' efforts to protect consumers from illegal robocalls," the FCC Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau said in a public notice. Ars Technica reports: The scorecards could include call-blocking statistics along with data on customer complaints and enforcement actions. The FCC said scorecards could grade providers on a number scale, with letter grades, or by classifying providers as low risk, medium risk, or high risk. The proposed tool would rate wireless, wireline, and VoIP providers on efforts to block robocalls and their "actual results in protecting [consumers] from illegal robocalls," the FCC said. "In practice, that means moving beyond a simple administrative checklist (i.e., did the provider file the right paperwork, did they offer the right tools) and toward a composite set of metrics that reflects both operational practices and measurable outcomes, including how often legitimate calls are blocked."
Whether the tool is useful for consumers will depend on how it's designed, how easy each provider's scorecard is to find, and what data sources it relies on. The proposed scorecard would apply to domestic voice service providers with retail customers, but not telcos that operate solely as wholesale or intermediate providers. "Combatting the scourge of illegal robocalls remains the FCC's top consumer protection priority... As proposed in today's public notice, the FCC aims to develop a scorecard that will give consumers more information about the measures providers are taking to fight illegal robocalls, and it will also incentivize providers to improve their efforts," FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a press release.
The city’s police department warns the public to stay away from the Minneapolis convention center
At least one person was killed and six others were injuredin a shooting in downtown Minneapolis on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.
According to county spokesperson Joshua Yetman, the Hennepin county medical center received seven patients, one of them deceased. The identity of the deceased person was not released.
GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The City of Great Falls Animal Shelter announced a free rabies vaccination clinic for pets after a bat in Cascade County tested positive for rabies on August 28.
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial, which signaled Wednesday for a second straight day it is deadlocked, left without a verdict and will resume deliberations on Thursday.
Black called on to comply with subpoenas and appear as required to clarify connections to convicted sex offender
More than a dozen survivors of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse have called on the billionaire Leon Black to appear before the House oversight committee in order to clarify his connections to the late disgraced financier and convicted sex offender.
In a letter released on Wednesday, the survivors urged Black to comply with congressional subpoenas ahead of Thursday’s deposition before the House oversight committee.
Montoursville, Pa. — Local, state, and federal officials gathered at Williamsport Regional Airport (IPT) this morning to celebrate Contour Airlines' new daily nonstop service to Charlotte, N.C.
1Password is facing customer and internal employee backlash after pledging $300,000 to support a Linux distro created by David Heinemeier Hansson, who has regularly published racist and anti-immigrant rhetoric. "The popular password manager is now a 'distinguished corporate patron' of Omacom, the nonprofit foundation that oversees a popular Linux distribution known as Omarchy," reports The Verge. From the report: One viral blog post declared that 1Password "Supports the Ethnic Cleansing of Europe" because of the donation. Others on social media asked for suggestions for alternative password managers so they would not support the funding of a project from Heinemeier Hansson, better known as DHH. The donation has also resulted in internal pushback from employees of 1Password who are disappointed by the affiliation, The Verge has learned. 1Password CEO David Faugno and cofounder Roustem Karimov have since posted internal messages addressing what Faugno describes as "concerns, both internally and externally" that have been raised "due to the polarizing nature" of DHH.
DHH is a Danish entrepreneur best known for creating Ruby on Rails, Basecamp, and the Hey email client. Omarchy is DHH's "opinionated" version of Linux, meaning it's Linux the way he likes to use it. It's based on Arch Linux, with certain apps that install by default. It's also, apparently, one of 1Password's big customer environments. [...] In an internal Slack message obtained by The Verge, 1Password's Karimov downplayed the overtly racist comments from DHH, telling staff the following: "As I said, people have different personal opinions. You believe in your heart that DHH is evil, that you have the moral high ground, and that nothing will change your mind. However, not everyone believes that. It is not fair to claim a monopoly and ostracize team members who might disagree with you. There are people who are afraid to speak up simply because they will be personally attacked."
1Password CEO Faugno took a different approach, trying to reassure staff that "1Password does not endorse hateful, dehumanizing, or exclusionary views, including those shared publicly by DHH." Nonetheless, it seems the company has sacrificed a moral position for a "mission-driven" position. In the same message to staff, Faugno says "the scale and growth of [Omarchy's] use among our customers is significant -- Omarchy has grown to be the second most used Linux distribution among 1Password users." Faugno then tries to create distance, telling staff that its contribution is "to the Omacom Foundation, not an individual." Still, he says "we recognize that Omarchy is associated with DHH, its founder. Our donation is not in any way an endorsement of his personal views or conduct."
Mississippi-born Wilson, who worked across folk, pop, R&B and country, was once dubbed America’s best singer
Cassandra Wilson, the two-time Grammy-winning jazz singer, songwriter and producer has died. She was 70.
Dubbed America’s best singer by Time magazine in 2001, Wilson was best known for her genre-bending voice, which expanded the boundaries of traditional blues-based jazz and worked effortlessly across folk, pop, R&B, country and beyond. At the heart of all her work was her idiosyncratic contralto, a soulful sound distinctly tied to her roots.
(The Center Square) – A new poll indicates that Gov. Greg Abbott and state Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, are statistically tied in their respective races.
PM will aim to centre talks with French president on key foreign policy issues such as Iran, smuggling gangs and EU relations
Andy Burnham will begin the process of courting European leaders when he welcomes Emmanuel Macron as the first foreign head of state to visit him in Downing Street.
The prime minister will meet the French president at No 10 on Thursday as he looks to make inroads on a number of foreign policy objectives, including curbing irregular migration and sealing a new deal with the EU.
James Talarico's Senate campaign is accusing Ken Paxton and his campaign treasurer of "illegally spending" $1 million that was routed to a Paxton-aligned super PAC.
Tech company submits to controversial Trump order to rename body of water amid US trade spat with Canada
Apple has renamed Lake Ontario as “Lake America” for US users of its Maps app, after an executive order from Donald Trump to change the name of the Great Lake amid his trade spat with Canada.
The Apple Maps app now displays the controversial new name for the lake, which sits between New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario, for users in the US. Apple users outside the country will still see the Lake Ontario name.
(The Center Square) - A recent ruling from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is forcing states, including Colorado, to prohibit the use of federal Medicaid funds and certain children’s health insurance programs for “sex-rejecting” procedures on minors.
Longtime Slashdot reader Microsplat: CERN plans to have all 2,200+ industrial computers and embedded systems in its accelerator-control infrastructure running Debian 13 by the end of 2026. These are systems used for accelerator control, laboratory equipment and other operational functions ... They also generate and interact with a hefty amount of data, although this Linux.com article refers more broadly to CERN's computing infrastructure. It's unclear whether the Debian migration covers all server infrastructure or what scientific-research-based systems are included. Our shops have done much the same in recent years, mostly due to CentOS and CFEngine getting the can. Phoronix adds some additional context in its article: CERN was a longtime RHEL/CentOS shop, previously co-maintained the Scientific Linux RHEL derivative, moved to CentOS in 2015, and later considered CentOS Stream. CERN says Red Hat's adoption of the "-march=x86-64-v2" compiler flag by default, which it viewed as "forced obsolescence" of older hardware, was the "straw that broke the camel's back."
The NBA has handed down one of the biggest punishments in the history of the league to the Los Angeles Clippers after finding that the franchise circumvented salary cap rules when it courted Kawhi Leonard as a free agent.
The league has stripped the team of five first-round draft picks, giving the team no natural pick in the draft from 2029 through 2033.
President’s order strips nearly 3m acres of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, sacred tribal sites, of safeguards
Patagonia, the outdoor clothing and gear company, has joined a lawsuit challenging Donald Trump’s decision to significantly reduce the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments in Utah, removing protections from nearly 3m acres.
In July, the president approved the reduction of the sites by 90%, clearing the way to open the land to oil and gas companies. He argued in his proclamations that doing so would allow lands to be “put to a higher-priority use” and that they contained critical minerals important to “ resource independence …[and] national security”.
Collaboration aims to develop advanced quantum algorithms and applications in support of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Quantum Genesis initiative
UPTON, N.Y., Sept. 2, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory and PsiQuantum today announced a collaboration that will leverage PsiQuantum’s software platform “Construct” to support Brookhaven Lab scientists researching new algorithms and scientific applications for the first generation of fault-tolerant quantum computers.
Brookhaven’s Associate Laboratory Director for Discovery Technologies Gabriella Carini. Photo credit: Tim Kuhn/BNL.
“We are excited to partner with PsiQuantum to give our researchers access to these new tools,” said Brookhaven Lab Associate Laboratory Director for Discovery Technologies Gabriella Carini. “DOE’s new Quantum Genesis initiative requires innovative partnerships across our national labs, industry, academia, and government. This is a great example of one such collaboration.”
The Quantum Genesis initiative is focused on developing and deploying the world’s first fault-tolerant, scientifically relevant quantum computing capability for research and development by 2028. Quantum Genesis will serve as a foundational element of DOE’s broader artificial intelligence-focused Genesis Mission, which is designed to usher in a new era of computational power for the nation to accelerate scientific discovery and innovation.
“We are excited to partner with Brookhaven National Laboratory to use these tools in support of its research into fault-tolerant quantum algorithms and applications,” said PsiQuantum Vice President of Government Relations Heath Bumgardner. “Through this partnership, we’re demonstrating how effective public-private collaboration can help accelerate scientific discovery.”
PsiQuantum’s Construct software platform is the first comprehensive platform designed to help companies, researchers, and the public sector create fault-tolerant quantum algorithms, which are computational procedures designed to operate effectively on utility-scale quantum computers once these systems are built and deployed. Construct represents years of development by PsiQuantum’s quantum applications team, which created a suite of tools for new algorithm development to help solve some of the world’s leading quantum application challenges.
Fault-tolerant algorithms can help advance research in materials science, pharmaceutical research, and cryptography, among other areas. In May 2026, PsiQuantum announced that Construct is now available as a free and open-access platform, allowing researchers to design quantum circuits, write and simulate quantum algorithms, and optimize resources.
About Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
About PsiQuantum
PsiQuantum was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. The company’s mission is to build and deploy the world’s first useful quantum computers. PsiQuantum’s photonic approach enables it to leverage high-volume semiconductor manufacturing, existing cryogenic infrastructure, and architectural flexibility to rapidly scale its systems. Learn more at www.psiquantum.com.
Sept. 2, 2026 — Imagine a construction site where the bricks are individual molecules and the “cranes” are microscopic needles so sharp they can feel a single atom. For decades, building at this scale was a laborious and time-consuming task where a single human error could break the delicate tools. Now, researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) have handed the controls to an artificial intelligence that can “learn” how to build these materials autonomously, working more than 25 hours straight without a human operator.
AI guides an ultra-sharp microscope tip to push single molecules across copper, automatically building custom atom-scale patterns — advancing design of new electronics and quantum materials. Credit: Andy Sproles/ORNL
In a landmark study published in ACS Nano, the ORNL researchers, from the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS), describe the creation of a fully automated system capable of building functional materials atom-by-atom. The effort grew from a conceptual framework shaped by P. Ganesh and Arthur P. Baddorf, together with An-Ping Li and Rama Vasudevan, who supervised the implementation and guided the interpretation of the results.
Turning that vision into a working platform required an unusual blend of software and hands-on experimental skill. Ganesh Narasimha prepared the core automation software based on inputs from Vasudevan, while Mykola Telychko developed the experimental setup; the two then jointly carried out the manipulation trials and assembled the resulting dataset. Wooin Yang helped design the AI’s object-detection workflow and performed the critical spectroscopic studies used to verify the materials. Narasimha said the collective effort enables “atomically precise fabrication, with significantly reduced human input.” He added that this effort is shifting the research paradigm from discovering materials in nature to engineering specific “artificial lattices,” which are orderly, repeating patterns of atoms or molecules that form a material’s underlying framework, with tailored electronic behaviors.
AI Vision and Control
The team developed AI models that served as microscopic “eyes” and a “brain.” As the “eyes,” a computer vision model called YOLO (“You Only Look Once”) was used to rapidly detect molecules on a copper surface. As the “brain,” reinforcement learning enabled the model to evaluate different strategies for moving molecules and receive a numerical reward based on how well each attempt succeeded. The reward was highest when a molecule reached the intended target site and much lower when it missed. By linking higher rewards to the actions that produced them, the model learned the best combination of electrical current, bias and manipulation speed to nudge molecules into place without damaging the microscope tip.
The researchers proved their designer results work by using the AI to build an artificial graphene lattice made of 37 molecules in a perfect honeycomb pattern. Most importantly, they confirmed the structure worked by finding a Dirac point, a unique electronic signature, proving the man-made material behaved exactly like real graphene. To demonstrate versatility, the AI even spelled out ORNL using individual molecules.
Science is entering an era in which matter itself is a programmable resource. By combining AI decision-making with atomic-scale precision, researchers can force electrons to behave in custom-designed ways that do not exist in the natural world. This capability, showcased in the ACS Nano study, enables the engineering of materials needed for high-speed electronics and advanced memory devices from the ground up.
The process is currently semi-automated because a human operator must still occasionally step in to condition or repair the microscope tip if it becomes unstable. Additionally, construction is time-sensitive; building the 37-molecule lattice required approximately 900 iterations over 25 hours, with each individual manipulation taking roughly one minute.
The researchers point to a future shift toward “inverse design,” where scientists define a desired electronic property and the AI autonomously determines and builds the required structure. This is a vital steppingstone toward building topological qubits, building blocks for ultra-stable quantum computers. “We expect this approach will accelerate realization and lead to new breakthroughs in our understanding of quantum states and future technology,” Narasimha said.
The experimental research was primarily supported by the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Scientific User Facilities Division, as part of the QIS Infrastructure Project “Precision Atomic Assembly for Quantum Information Science” (FWP ERKCZ62). The algorithmic development was supported by CNMS. Portions of the research used resources at the CNMS, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility at ORNL. By combining state-of-the-art nanoscience tools, deep technical expertise and ORNL’s computing capabilities, CNMS helps make precision, AI-driven atom-by-atom assembly possible.
UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit energy.gov/science.
A GOP-proposed constitutional amendment to limit the Supreme Court to nine justices failed in the House, coming up well short of the two-thirds majority needed.
The jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial was dismissed for the evening on Wednesday without reaching a verdict, after nearly 30 hours of deliberations over five days.
Addressing the 12-member jury – made up of nine women and three men – Judge William Sullivan said: “I know it’s been a long day.”
Experts have expressed deep concerns that the practice runs afoul of the fourth amendment’s right to privacy
Federal prosecutors have declined to say whether they secretly obtained phone records for the journalist Don Lemon using an unusual administrative summons, his lawyers said in a Monday court filing, highlighting concern about a controversial legal authority the government has claimed to gather information as it charged Lemon and dozens of others with civil rights crimes in connection to a January protest at a church in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
In January, officials served Verizon with an administrative summons for a log of Lemon’s phone records between 19 December and 20 January. The subpoena did not come from a grand jury, as is typical in criminal investigations, and also was not a court-approved search warrant. Instead, it was a unilateral request from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which said it was requesting the information under 19 USC 1509 – an obscure law that gives the department power to investigate records related to customs issues. Experts say the government is abusing that authority to gather records on journalists, activists, unions, non-profits and online critics, and have expressed deep concerns that the practice runs afoul of the fourth amendment’s right to privacy.
(The Center Square) – All but one Democrat in the U.S. House helped tank a proposed constitutional amendment Wednesday afternoon that would limit the U.S. Supreme Court to nine justices.
The Times and many companies are accusing OpenAI of misusing their material to train AI systems without compensation
The Trump administration is supporting OpenAI in a lawsuit against the New York Times, arguing in favor of the use of copyrighted writing to train artificial intelligence.
The Times accuses OpenAI and its largest financial backer, Microsoft, of using millions of newspaper articles without permission to train OpenAI’s popular chatbot. Other newspapers have joined in the suit, first filed in 2023.
Police officer who fatally shot unarmed 22-year-old Glenwood Pysher IV faces voluntary manslaughter charge
A Pennsylvania police officer was charged on Tuesday with voluntary manslaughter for last week’s fatal shooting of a college student who was looking for his friends late at night and went to the wrong house.
Police body-camera video reviewed by investigators showed the officer yelled: “Drop to the ground,” then: “Stop or I’ll ...”. Before he finished the sentence, he fired two shots at the man who was unarmed and had his hands in the air. He hit 22-year-old Glenwood Earl Pysher IV twice in the chest, killing him.
Florida Democratic gubernatorial nominee David Jolly said the vast majority of Floridians are opposed to artificial intelligence data centers being built in the state.
Jolly, who vows to enact a one-year moratorium on Florida data center construction if elected, said during an Aug. 28 news conference, “This is one of those issues where voters are telling us what they want.”
“I mean, I don’t know the number — 70, 80% of people across Florida are saying ‘don’t build data centers,’ and at some point our jobs as leaders is to listen,” he said.
The midterm election cycle has brought national backlash against AI data center development despite President Donald Trump’s increasingly supportive messaging on their expansion. Like fact-focused Florida coverage?Sign up for our Florida midterms newsletter.
Is Floridians’ opposition as high as Jolly says?
Although researchers warn that public opinion on a burgeoning issue can be a moving target, the most recent polls show surging dissatisfaction with data centers in Florida and beyond.
Jolly’s campaign pointed PolitiFact to a July University of North Florida poll that found 68% of Floridians surveyed opposed building data centers in their areas.
Pollsters haven’t been asking people about data centers for very long, said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion expert and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, but UNF’s findings are in line with national polls that show substantial majorities — 60% and higher — oppose new data centers in their communities.
“The public seems highly skeptical of them, even when the revenue and progress points are made,” Bowman said.
Data centers can increase local employment and boost local tax revenues, but many Americans are wary of the facilities. Newer AI data centers often consume large amounts of electricity and water, can emit continuous noises and in some cases threaten to drastically change how communities look and operate.
More Floridians oppose new data centers than support them, multiple polls show
The University of North Florida’s nonpartisan Public Opinion Research Lab conducted the poll of 848 likely midterm voters in Florida.
The poll asked: “Supporters cite the need for AI development and opportunity for increased local government revenue, while opponents worry about rising energy costs and environmental impact. Would you support or oppose the building of an AI data center in your local area?”
Nearly 68% of those surveyed said they would oppose it, while 28% said they would support it.
The university’s researchers noted that respondents, who were also asked their opinions on the increased use of AI, were less concerned with AI technology than with data center development.
“While Floridians are evenly split on their impressions of AI, opposition to the building of data centers is overwhelming,” Sean Freeder, the research lab’s director, wrote in the report’s findings. “Even groups who are positive about the technology don’t want its support infrastructure anywhere near where they live.”
Another poll, released in February by Associated Industries of Florida, a pro-business organization that has represented employer interests in Florida since 1920, asked the question in a different way and received a more favorable response.
Conducted by the Trump-aligned McLaughlin & Associates firm, the poll asked those surveyed if they would support or oppose a new data center “if it lowered local property taxes, boosted local jobs, and kept foreign adversaries’ hands off Americans’ ‘critical data’?” The question did not tell those surveyed about any potential data center drawbacks.
In that survey, 64% of Floridians polled said they would support building data centers.
Other polls’ questions were more clear-cut.
One by the James Madison Institute, a conservative- and libertarian-leaning think tank, surveyed 1,400Floridians in July. It asked: “Data centers are large facilities that store and process digital information for internet services, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence. Overall, do you support or oppose Florida taking steps to attract data center investment to the state?”
This poll found less objection: 49% of respondents said they either somewhat or strongly oppose data center investment in the state, while 40% said they somewhat or strongly support it.
A different poll by Change Research, a left-of-center company that specializes in online polling, surveyed 2,070 registered Florida voters in May.
It asked: “Would you support or oppose an artificial intelligence (AI) data center being built in your community?”
Around 79% of respondents said they were against new AI data centers in their communities, Change Research reported, with 14% in support.
Our ruling
Jolly said “70, 80% of people across Florida are saying, ‘Don’t build data centers.'”
Public opinion on data center development is evolving, but Florida polls conducted in the last few months show more Floridians oppose new data centers in their areas than support them, ranging from 49% to 89% in opposition, depending on how the question is phrased.
Jolly cited a poll that showed 68% opposed.
We rate his statement Mostly True. PolitiFact Chief Correspondent Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.
(The Center Square) – Roy Cooper’s conversations with Dr. Anthony Fauci in June 2020, first revealed just over a month later in August by multiple media outlets in North Carolina, has gained a different set of legs since diary entries…
New DoJ opinion says entire state government has duty to report, not just agencies responsible for welfare programs
The US Department of Justice has ordered states to expand how they report undocumented immigrants to the federal government, according to a legal opinion from Tuesday that reverses a policy that has been in place for nearly 30 years.
Under the new opinion, issued by the department’s office of legal counsel, any state that takes federal money through support schemes for low-income Americans, includingTemporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or Supplemental Security Income (SSI), must now report undocumented immigrants across its entire state government, not just through the specific welfare office that runs the program.
President praises late queen and King Charles but says duke and duchess treated royal family ‘with great disrespect’
Donald Trump has weighed in on the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s move back to Britain, declaring: “I’m happy about it.”
“I was not a fan,” the US president told reporters during a question-and-answer session after a press conference with travel executives on Wednesday. “I had a very good relationship with the queen, really good. I got to know her very well. A really good relationship with King Charles – I knew him as Prince Charles and King Charles. I’ve known him for a long time.”
(The Center Square) – Search warrants have been executed and elected officials’ phones and bank records have been seized in an ongoing criminal investigation into alleged voter fraud in Zapata County.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said AI adoption is "non-negotiable" for countries, comparing rejecting it to refusing electricity a century ago and predicting it will unleash an unprecedented boom in entrepreneurship. "The economic growth and benefit to people that can come from this, the value to a country, is too high to ignore," he said. His comments were made during a fireside chat with U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the G20 Innovation Ministerial in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. CNBC reports: Altman thinks the public won't be talking as much about AI a decade from now -- it'll be expected everywhere. "A kid growing up today will never be smarter than AI, but he or she will also never have understood a world where every product and service that they interact with is not really smart and really capable and really helpful," he said.
Altman referenced the adoption of electricity multiple times in his comments and drew a line between that and AI. "I think it would be approximately as bad of an idea to say we're not going to have AI in our country as it was to say we're not going to have electricity in our country, you know, back 100 plus years ago," he said.
Altman called cybersecurity one of the biggest challenges to navigate in the age of AI and one that leaders shouldn't sidestep. "I think some things are going to go very wrong with cybersecurity unless people act quite urgently," he said. Altman said that falling short in cyber defense and other areas "could set this technology back a great deal." You can watch a recording of the chat on YouTube.
(The Center Square) – Nuclear microreactors, expected to provide a reliable source of energy independent of a commercial electric grid, will be built at five military installations from Texas to the Atlantic Seaboard, including at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.
The guys and I did our annual onewheel trip where we shred mountain bike trails in northern michigan for a weekend. Wow, what a difference on the x7. Climbing unclimbable hills from a complete stop with no problem. Range checks for the guys riding a GT were hilarious. X7LR 90%, GT: 60%.
We rode 15 miles on the X7's and our legs were tired and battery was at 80%.
If you're on the fence on purchasing one and love riding trails this is your sign.
Lindsay Clancy's case is resonating with moms across the U.S. — bringing into focus the spectrum of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders and the lack of resources for many women.
Jurors in the trial of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts woman who killed her three children in 2023, told the judge Wednesday for the second day in a row that they have been unable to come to a unanimous decision.
A 20-year-old Haitian native died by suicide in Ohio this week, his family says, a death his father said was driven in part by feelings of despair and humiliation after ICE fitted him with an ankle monitor.
Yorgen Fenech cleared on both charges he faced over 2017 killing of journalist that prompted global outrage
One of Malta’s richest men has been found not guilty of involvement in the murder of the anti-corruption journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
The verdict, which is expected to be appealed against by the prosecution, came as a blow not only to the victim’s family, but to the politicians and campaigners who regard the case as a landmark action in the fight to protect press freedom in Europe.
The city of Senatobia made national news earlier this year after a white officer shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting call
Late Tuesday, the city of Senatobia, Mississippi fired its police chief, Harold Vanderford, after it was reported that Vanderford regularly used racist slurs against Black people in his text messages. The town, which is about 40% Black, made national news earlier this year after a white officer fatally shot and killed Kohen Wiley, a one-year-old Black baby, while responding to a shoplifting call at Walmart. Officers fired into a vehicle, shooting the driver and killing the toddler, who was being held in his mother’s arms.
Though Vanderford submitted a resignation letter earlier on 1 September, the city’s board of aldermen unanimously voted to reject it and to terminate the officer instead. Vanderford’s firing came just under a week after the city wrote in a statement that, despite the messages, he would “continue to serve the City with the confidence that was placed in him at the time that he was appointed as Chief”.
President Donald Trump’s ongoing trade war with Canada could create economic fallout for northern border states, and Maine Sen. Susan Collins’ Democratic rival Troy Jackson said she shares in the blame.
Collins, a Republican, wrote an Aug. 28 letter to Trump administration officials that said tariffs on Canada will hurt Maine employers and add extra costs for small businesses and municipalities that rely on goods from their northern neighbor, such as road salt or cement.
Jackson, a former state senator, replied on X, “Oh look, another strongly worded letter. Give me a break. When Susan Collins had the chance to actually vote to stop Trump’s tariffs from driving up costs for Maine families and businesses, she voted NO. Mainers don’t need more fake concern.”
Collins has pointed to her votes against Trump’s tariffs, and her work introducing legislation to exempt small businesses from tariffs on Canadian imports.
Jackson’s attack cherry-picks Collins’ voting record, ignoring four votes in which Collins joined Democrats to oppose Trump tariffs.
Jackson cites Collins’ vote against a 2025 tariff amendment
When contacted for comment, Jackson’s campaign pointed to Collins’ April 4, 2025, vote against a tariff amendment, although it wasn’t specifically about Canada. It came during a “vote-a-rama,” in which the Senate took a long series of votes on budget plan amendments. As is common during such votes, the amendments had no chance of passing but allowed the minority party to force politically difficult votes on various topics.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York introduced an amendment to rescind tariffs on some countries if they resulted in increased costs for U.S. consumers on items such as groceries. It failed 46-53 on party lines; Collins joined Republicans in voting against it.
Jackson’s campaign also cited Collins’ votes to confirm members of Trump’s Cabinet who defended his trade actions. One example is Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who told lawmakers he favored “across the board” tariffs on countries. All Republicans who were present voted to confirm Lutnick.
Voting to confirm Trump’s nominees is not equivalent to voting to support Trump’s tariffs. The president campaigned on tariffs and planned to enact them regardless of who the Senate confirmed.
Collins joined Democrats in multiple 2025 anti-tariff votes
Jackson omitted other Collins votes in which she joined Democrats in rebuking Trump’s tariffs.
Trump declared April 2, 2025, as “Liberation Day,” when he planned to roll out tariffs.
That day, Collins was one of four GOP senators to join Democrats voting in favor of a non-binding resolution to reverse Trump’s 25% tariffs on Canadian imports.
In a floor speech, Collins said Canada is a vital trading partner with Maine and the tariffs would hurt consumers, manufacturers, lobstermen and farmers. “And as price hikes always do, they will hurt those the most who can afford them the least,” she said.
The resolution passed 51-48. Trump criticized the four Republicans — Collins, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska plus Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky — for their votes.
As the president continued to push for tariffs, Senate Democrats forced Republicans to take related votes.
In late October 2025, Collins was one of a few Republicans who joined Democrats to vote in favor of three measures that would have ended the national emergency on tariffs Trump enacted that spring related to Brazil,Canada and other countries.
The resolutions Collins voted for passed the Senate but did not receive votes in the House.
Our ruling
Jackson said when Collins “had the chance to actually vote to stop Trump’s tariffs from driving up costs for Maine families and businesses, she voted NO.”
Jackson cited one 2025 vote by Collins against rescinding Trump tariffs if they resulted in increased costs on items such as groceries. It was one of a string of votes related to a Trump budget plan. Jackson’s campaign also cited Collins’ votes to confirm Trump Cabinet members who support tariffs.
However, Jackson omitted that Collins joined Democrats in four 2025 votes against Trump tariffs, one of only a few Republicans to do so. None of the measures had the needed support in the Senate and the House to overcome a Trump veto if they’d reached his desk.
Cedartown, Georgia — A Georgia police officer says he fatally shot a petting zoo donkey after the animal charged officers and a bloodhound team searching for a missing 12-year-old girl, according to an incident report obtained by Reason.
Cedartown Police Officer Trenton Garner wrote that officers entered a pasture owned by Elsberry Riding and Farm on Aug. 30 because the K-9 team was following a trail during the search.
Garner said horses initially ran away from the officers before a donkey named HeeHaw began charging toward the group. A K-9 handler reportedly attempted to deter the animal by activating a Taser without firing it, but Garner said the donkey continued approaching.
Garner then drew his department-issued Glock 17 and fired one shot, striking the donkey. He wrote that the shooting was necessary to prevent injury to another officer and the K-9 team.
HeeHaw’s owner, Hannah Israel, disputes the characterization of the animal as aggressive. She told police the donkey had been bottle-fed since infancy and “would never act aggressive towards anyone.” Israel later wrote on Facebook that HeeHaw regularly participated in petting zoos and was reacting to strangers entering his pasture.
The missing girl was later found farther along the route the bloodhounds had been tracking.
Cedartown Police Chief Jamie Newsome placed Garner on leave, and the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s law enforcement division is investigating. Police declined to release additional footage, citing the ongoing investigation.
British tourists reportedly discovered Luger pistol that is latest in long line of potential leads in mystery of al-Hilli deaths
Experts are examining a gun found by tourists to determine whether it might have been used to kill a British family in the French Alps 14 years ago.
In what remains an unsolved murder case, Saad al-Hilli, 50, his wife, Ikbal, 47, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, 74, were shot dead on a road near Annecy, a remote Alpine village in eastern France in September 2012.
Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants recorded the largest year-over-year gain among the 25 leading brands in YouGov's 2026 U.S. hotel satisfaction rankings. Could Kimpton's rise in customer satisfaction suggest that its ethos is resonating with travelers?
New York City Public Schools is banning generative AI for students from pre-K through eighth grade for the 2026-27 school year, affecting more than half a million students in the nation's largest school district. ABC News reports: In a statement to ABC News, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said that the city is implementing a moratorium on generative AI for students in pre-school or 2-K through eighth grade and will spend the next year "studying the impacts of this technology." Mamdani wrote in part, "the tech industry wants us to believe that A.I.-powered early education is not only inevitable, but necessary." "We do not see it that way," he added.
[...] The district said it is implementing the most expansive AI moratorium in the nation, eliminating software that uses student-facing AI and banning companion chatbots. The city's AI moratorium does not apply to high school students. The district said it will offer twice-yearly AI literacy classes designed to help high school students "think critically" about the technology before they start to "rely" on it.
Monarch tells Emmanuel Macron at the British Museum in London that the two nations will share a future ‘woven together’ by history and shared values
The loan of the Bayeux tapestry was “the best possible symbol” of the “entente amicale” between France and the UK, King Charles said, as he visited the famous embroidered masterpiece at the British Museum in London.
Though the tapestry recounts a conflict, “here it is today, nearly 1,000 years later, as a precious symbol of trust, at a time when trust seems sadly to be in short supply between nations,” he said.
President Donald Trump’s Justice Department took the side of tech giant OpenAI in its court battle with The Intercept and other media companies over the company’s use of others’ creative work to train its artificial intelligence tools.
In a federal court filing in New York, the Justice Department argued that the U.S. has a vested interest in OpenAI having access to a vast array of intellectual property. The Trump administration warned that restricting OpenAI’s access to the data could hamper scientific progress and harm the country’s dominance in the race for artificial intelligence.
“The United States has a strong interest in continuing to develop a robust and competitive artificial intelligence industry that sets the standard for the practice and procedure of AI use globally,” said the filing, which was signed by associate attorneys general Stanley Woodward Jr. and Brett Shumate, along with the attorney general’s senior counsel Michael Weisbuch.
Matt Topic, the litigating attorney representing The Intercept in its lawsuit, warned that the Trump administration’s position was out of touch and a threat to the financial survival of media outlets.
“This is pretty reflective of the administration’s pro-AI policies, which are out of step with the public skepticism of AI and out of step with our long tradition in this country of protecting human expression,” said Topic. “If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies.”
“If the administration’s position was accepted, it would result in an unprecedented, uncompensated transfer of IP rights from news organizations to tech companies.”
The Intercept originally filed its lawsuit against OpenAI and its partner Microsoft in February 2024, arguing that OpenAI’s use of work reported and written by its journalists constituted a breach of copyright law. In November 2024, the judge then presiding over the case dismissed all of The Intercept’s claims against Microsoft, but allowed its claim against OpenAI to proceed under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
The Intercept’s case was later consolidated under U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein alongside a number of other media plaintiffs, including the New York Times, Tribune Media Company, and Ziff Davis.
OpenAI has argued that its practice of hoovering up staggering amounts of copyright-protected materials to feed its large language models — the underlying technology powering generative AI tools like ChatGPT — falls under the domain of “fair use,” a doctrine protecting the unlicensed use of copyrighted material under certain circumstances.
In its filing, the Justice Department supported OpenAI’s fair-use defense, accusing the Times and other plaintiffs of taking an overly narrow definition of the doctrine. OpenAI’s use of the material, the government argued, met the criteria for “transformative” use, one of the ways in which “fair use” comes into play.
“In this litigation, the New York Times seeks to narrow fair-use doctrine to exclude the training of OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs). That result would be inconsistent with basic copyright law principles and severely hamper ‘the Progress of Science and useful Arts,’” the filing says. “An erroneous fair use ruling would hamper competition in the market for LLMs, because only the largest technology companies might have the capital necessary to pay licensing fees.”
The filing is the latest move from the Trump administration to protect the interests of U.S.-based artificial intelligence companies amid an AI arms race with companies based in other countries, most notably China.
In December 2025, Trump signed an executive order aimed at creating a federal standard, applicable in all 50 states, to “ensure that the United States wins the AI race, as we must.”
Topic, The Intercept’s attorney, said this position — combined with the fact that the Justice Department has not been privy to any discovery in the case — shows that the Trump administration is operating from a fixed position in support of tech companies, rather than arguing the merits of the case.
“What they’re saying isn’t based on any understanding of actual facts,” Topic said. “It just reflects what Microsoft’s and OpenAI’s PR machines have been putting out into the public.”
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga., who is trying to keep his seat in the midterm elections, criticized his Republican opponent, Rep. Mike Collins, saying he has sometimes not properly disclosed some of his cryptocurrency trades. The digital currencies have fewer regulations than traditional banking or stock trading and Congress is grappling with what to allow.
“Not a lot of people know this, but Congressman Mike Collins is literally one of the most active crypto traders in the entire Congress, House or Senate … But Mike Collins also repeatedly broke the law hiding his crypto trading,” Ossoff said during an Aug. 16 rally in Atlanta.
For this fact-check, we’re examining whether Collins is among Congress’ most active crypto traders.
Collins traded crypto about a dozen times in 2025, more than most other members of Congress, according to news reports of the most active crypto traders and public disclosures. Some news outlets have described Collins as a “prolific” crypto trader, and he has written for years about his affinity for the currency.
Collins posted on X in December 2021 that he has been “doing crypto” since 2017, and both of his sons have gotten into crypto since. “We’re fans to say the least,” the post said. It was about that time, before Collins was elected to Congress, that The Wall Street Journal reported that nine House members had cryptocurrency. More current reporting suggests that crypto investment remains relatively rare among members of Congress.
The exact amount of cryptocurrency Collins has purchased isn’t clear from the public record because the law does not require that he specify it. Collins’ campaign did not respond to a request for comment
The Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge Act lays out how lawmakers must report crypto purchases greater than $1,000, directing that they only report them in ranges — for example, $1,001 to $15,000 or $50,001 to $100,000. So, Collins could have made additional purchases below that minimum threshold that are not disclosed.
Ossoff’s campaign declined to comment.
What is cryptocurrency, and how often did Collins trade it?
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset purchased with real money that is traded on blockchain technology without using a bank as an intermediary
Collins reported to the House clerk that he initiated about a dozen crypto trades in 2025, according to House financial disclosure records.
That’s enough to be considered an active trader in the view of Scott Greytak, deputy executive director of Transparency International U.S., an anti-corruption advocacy group.
Greytak said there’s no law that determines how many trades makes someone an investor versus a trader, “but repeatedly buying and selling an asset over the course of the year is very different from simply owning crypto and holding it.”
He said crypto differs from stocks because it’s a volatile field with values that can easily rise and fall depending upon what bills are coming up for a vote.
In December 2025, the crypto blog Finbold listed three members of Congress who made the most money from crypto that year. One was Collins, in part because he made multiple purchases of Ethereum (the second most valuable cryptocurrency after Bitcoin) worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Collins trades crypto directly and has “the most extensive record” of doing so among members of Congress, crypto blog CoinDesk wrote in a December 2024 article headlined “Congress’ Most Prolific Crypto Trader Is a Georgia Trucking Operator.”
Collins also invested in memecoins (currencies that serve as irony-coded jokes and money) such as “Ski Mask Dog” in late 2024 and early 2025. The memecoin features a dog wearing a ski mask.
“Washington and Wall Street have stigmatized emerging technology in the crypto ecosystem for far too long, and it’s about time that we start treating this industry with the respect it deserves,” Collins told the crypto blog Decrypt in 2024 when asked why he purchased Ski Mask Dog.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently analyzed Collins’ crypto activity since he took office in January 2023. It found his cumulative net crypto spending is between $68,026 and $495,000, with current holdings ranging from $118,005 to $345,000.
Our ruling
Ossoff said Collins “is literally one of the most active crypto traders in the entire Congress, House or Senate.”
Collins traded cryptocurrency about a dozen times in 2025, more than most other members of Congress.
A crypto blog listed Collins as one of three members of Congress who made the most money from the currency in 2025. Another crypto publication wrote in 2024 that Collins has “the most extensive record” among members of Congress of trading crypto directly.
A nonprofit group used 2023 and 2024 federal financial disclosure data to determine that Collins was the Congress member who had traded the third-most crypto.
Judge declines to make Google sell AdX in win for firm against US antitrust enforcers’ attempts to break up big tech
Alphabet’s Google escaped a breakup of its advertising technology business on Wednesday, when a judge in Virginia rejected US antitrust enforcers’ attempt to force a sale of Google’s online advertising exchange.
While the ad exchange is a small part of Google’s business, the ruling is the second powerful symbolic victory against the US Department of Justice in its efforts to force Google to sell assets to address illegal monopolies.
Defence minister says he believes US backing could tip regional balance in favour of forced resettlement
Israel’s defence minister has said his country is seeking Donald Trump’s support to approve plans to expel Palestinians from the Gaza Strip in what has widely been condemned as a potential war crime.
Israel Katz said there was “no real solution for Gaza in the end without this
migration” during a conference hosted by the Israeli news site Ynet and the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth. He said the Israeli government was “organised and prepared to get them out by sea, by air, by every way possible”.
Party leader in England and Wales seen as favourite to contest Holborn and St Pancras after Starmer’s resignation
Zack Polanski moved a step closer in his quest to become an MP on Wednesday, with local Green party members supporting him to become the party’s candidate in the Holborn and St Pancras byelection.
The party leader in England and Wales started campaigning alongside his fellow Green, Hannah Spencer, the MP for Gorton and Denton, in the Holborn area on Tuesday, and is seriously considering putting himself forward as the party’s candidate in the seat vacated by Keir Starmer on Monday.
Washington, D.C. — Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., is urging President Donald Trump to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of “inept management” and creating a leadership vacuum across the military.
Tillis, a former member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who voted to confirm Hegseth last year, sharpened his criticism after Army Secretary Dan Driscoll announced his resignation following reported clashes with Hegseth over personnel and modernization priorities.
“I have never witnessed more inept management of the brave men and women who serve our country,” Tillis wrote on X. He accused Hegseth of being “intimidated by competence” and focusing on culture-war battles rather than military readiness.
Tillis pointed to the departures or removals of several senior officers, including former Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. CQ Brown Jr., former Navy chief Adm. Lisa Franchetti, former Air Force chief Gen. David Allvin and Gen. Chris Donahue, who led U.S. Army forces in Europe.
He praised Driscoll and former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George for pushing modernization efforts, especially expanded use of drones and faster procurement.
Other Republicans have also expressed concern. Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said he was disappointed by Driscoll’s departure and stressed the importance of adapting U.S. forces to drone warfare seen in Ukraine and Iran.
Tillis said Trump should find a defense secretary who “will retain and empower our military talent rather than diminish it.”
Washington, D.C. — Americans’ perception of corruption in the federal government has reached a record high, according to a new Gallup survey released Wednesday.
Gallup found that 89% of respondents said corruption is widespread throughout the U.S. government, up 10 percentage points from 2025 and the highest level recorded since Gallup began asking the question in 2006.
The increase was driven largely by Democrats and independents. Among Democrats, 91% said corruption is widespread, compared with 57% in 2024 and 76% in 2025. Among independents, the figure reached 90%.
Republicans were somewhat less likely to perceive widespread corruption under President Donald Trump, with 83% saying it exists. That was down from 87% in 2024, during the Biden administration, though still an overwhelming majority.
A separate University of Massachusetts Amherst poll released Wednesday found 97% of respondents believed at least some corruption exists in government, reinforcing broader concerns about public trust.
Gallup also found perceptions of corruption in U.S. businesses rose from 63% in 2025 to 71% this year.
The U.S. figure is high by international standards. Gallup said only four of 132 countries surveyed since 2023 have recorded higher perceptions of government corruption.
Gallup surveyed 1,000 U.S. adults from May 1 through June 10. The poll has a margin of error of 4.1 percentage points.
Over 40% of films in LFF programme are female-made, but only two of 21 gala films are directed by women
Female film-makers are still being squeezed out of the industry as they progress beyond their debut films, the director of the London film festival has said, adding that “the dial does not seem to be moving”.
Kristy Matheson’s comments came as LFF announced its full programme for this year’s event, which runs from 7 to 19 October. Of the 251 titles, 109 (43%) are made by female film-makers, but only two of the 21 gala films are directed by women.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: Alphabet's Google escaped a breakup of its advertising technology business on Wednesday, when a judge in Virginia rejected U.S. antitrust enforcers' bid to force a sale of Google's online advertising exchange. While the ad exchange is a small part of Google's business, the ruling is the second powerful symbolic victory against the U.S. Department of Justice in its efforts to force Google to sell assets to address illegal monopolies. U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia, declined to make Google sell AdX, where publishers pay Google a 20% fee to sell ads in auctions that happen instantly when users load websites. She accepted most of the parties' proposed behavioral remedies.
The DOJ and a broad coalition of states sued Google in 2023 over its dominance in markets for advertising technology used by online publishers and websites. In April 2025, Brinkema ruled that Google holds illegal monopolies on servers that host publisher ads and ad exchanges which sit between buyers and sellers. Google unlawfully locked publishers on its ad server into using its AdX, the judge found. The tech giant's anticompetitive conduct "substantially harmed Google's publisher customers, the competitive process, and, ultimately, consumers of information on the open web," Brinkema said at the time.
At a trial last year on remedies in the case, the DOJ argued that Google cannot be trusted to run AdX, given its past behavior. Google argued that a forced sale would be technically difficult and result in a long and painful transition that would hurt customers. During the remedies trial, Google's lawyers warned that forcing it to sell parts of its ad-tech business would cause disruption and damage. [...] The ruling is the third time in a row that a judge has rejected a bid by U.S. antitrust enforcers to break up Big Tech in a crackdown that started during President Donald Trump's first term. In another major Google antitrust case, a judge similarly rejected the DOJ's push to force Google to sell Chrome. It is likely to fuel questions about whether courts are up to the task of checking the industry's unprecedented power over the U.S. economy.
Paul Miller, an openly racist fighter, derided Ben Azoulay, and a spectator was ejected for waving a swastika flag
Democrats in Florida have condemned a professional mixed martial arts event in Orlando at which an openly racist fighter derided his beaten opponent as “a short little fucking Jew prick”, and a spectator was ejected for waving a giant swastika flag.
Anna Eskamani, a Democratic state representative running to become the city’s mayor, said Saturday’s event, and the assertion by city officials that they were compelled to host it, were unacceptable.
SYRACUSE, N.Y., Sept. 2, 2026 — BQP today announced a strategic investment from IBM Ventures, the venture capital arm of IBM. The investment brings BQP’s total funding to $8 million and funds BQPhy’s expansion from engineering design into operational deployment, scaling delivery and go-to-market as BQP expands beyond aerospace and defense. Venn10 Capital and existing investor Monta Vista Capital also participated. Since its 2025 seed round, backed by New York State’s venture arm and other institutional investors, BQP has grown contracted and committed revenue 8x, tripling its customer base and growing platform users 20x.
“An engineer with a deadline doesn’t care where the answer came from. They care that it arrived in time and that the physics is right. The industry spent years treating this as a hardware problem that warranted faster chips, more of them, and eventually a quantum one. But it was always a software problem,” said Abhishek Chopra, Founder and CEO of BQP.
Chopra added: “We spent those years earning our way into engineering workflows, so when the quantum machines are ready, nothing about how those teams work has to change. That’s the path IBM has watched us build since 2023, and this investment says it’s the right one.”
Mission-critical decisions have deadlines, and high-fidelity physics simulations rarely meet them. More hardware has not closed the gap. Classical physics solvers leave roughly 85% of a GPU’s floating-point capacity idle, because the sparse iterative methods underneath simulation are bound by memory access rather than compute. Teams choose between accurate models that return the right answer too late, or fast methods that answer on time by skipping the physics, leaving hidden risk behind over-engineered safety margins.
BQPhy removes this trade-off between speed and accuracy. Its physics-AI optimization engine resolves the full physics inside the decision window, using the GPU capacity classical solvers leave idle. The platform delivers this through two solvers that share a single SDK, integrated natively into MATLAB as a MathWorks Connections Program partner, with standard APIs for Python, Julia, and other frameworks. This enables engineers to get the answers without leaving the tools they already use. QuantumNOW is in production today on customers’ existing CPU and GPU infrastructure, and each deployment maps which problems belong on a QPU-making QuantumMAX, BQP’s quantum-native solver in development, an on-ramp rather than a bet. It is written for heterogeneous CPU-GPU-QPU execution rather than a single hardware target.
“What stood out with BQP is that users don’t have to change how they work to get quantum-accelerated results. Their proven track record of developing software that helps enterprises build a practical path toward hybrid quantum-classical computing is what gives IBM Ventures confidence in making this investment,” said Emily Fontaine, Global Head of IBM Ventures.
In aerospace and defense, BQP’s furthest-along work is in space. Under an SBIR with the U.S. Space Force and SpaceWERX, extending earlier work with the SDA TAP Lab, BQPhy’s physics AI propagates a catalog of more than 3,000 space objects in under a second, roughly 250x faster than the open-source Orekit solver by compressing the model using proprietary algorithms.BQP also holds a CRADA with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Systems Directorate and has demonstrated BQPhy on radio-frequency signal problems for the tactical edge with NavalX. With Modovolo, BQP built a system-level propulsion optimization for UAV mission profiles, expanding from three design variables to more than twelve and tuning propeller and motor as a single unit; integration took roughly one week through the API.
In energy, BQP is applying the same platform to commercial systems, with EV battery thermal management work funded by India’s Ministry of Heavy Industries and the Indian School of Business.
The same engine that predicts where a satellite is heading also predicts how heat moves through a battery pack or a data center rack: different industries with the same high-dimensional physics that has to resolve before the decision window closes.
QuantumNOW is in production; QuantumMAX is proving out. In work presented at USNC/TAM 2026, BQP ran QuantumMAX on quantum hardware for uncertainty quantification in computational fluid dynamics, reaching the same accuracy as classical Monte Carlo with fewer samples on a benchmark-scale problem. BQP’s research is published in IEEE, AIAA, and APL Quantum, with best paper awards at AeroCon 2026 and the IEEE Space, Aerospace and Defence Conference (SPACE 2026).
About BQP
BQP (formerly BosonQ Psi) is a physics acceleration company applying quantum algorithms to mission-critical operational decisions. Its unified Quantum-HPC platform, BQPhy, pairs physics AI surrogates with an optimization solver, delivering results on today’s CPU and GPU infrastructure through QuantumNOW with quantum-native acceleration in development through QuantumMAX – both on a single SDK. Headquartered in Syracuse, New York, with offices in the UK and India. Learn more at https://www.bqpsim.com.
The Russian president’s remarks at a 3 a.m. news conference — and Moscow’s intensifying strikes on Kyiv — suggested that he sees little chance of a deal to end his war in Ukraine.
The St. Anthony Community Center will unveil its new name, logo and brand during a community celebration and fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 10 at Juniper by Tonic in downtown Wilmington.
Wilmington organization will also mark the 40th anniversary of its Meals on Wheels program during a Sept. 10 fundraiser
WILMINGTON — After more than five decades of serving children, older adults and families, St. Anthony’s Community Center is preparing to introduce a new name and identity designed to reflect the breadth of the organization’s work today.
The center will unveil its new name, logo and brand during a community celebration and fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 10 at Juniper by Tonic in downtown Wilmington.
The event will mark the organization’s 55th anniversary and celebrate 40 years of delivering meals and support to older adults through its Meals on Wheels program.
“Our new identity better reflects the breadth of the programs and services we provide today and our vision for the future,” said Kim Caputo, executive director of St. Anthony’s Community Center.
Why the new identity matters
For a community organization, a brand is more than a name or logo. It tells residents whom the organization serves, helps families recognize where they can find assistance and gives donors, volunteers and community partners a clearer understanding of the work they are supporting.
St. Anthony’s name is well known in Wilmington, but it may not fully communicate the organization’s expanded role across New Castle County. Some residents may associate the center primarily with senior activities without realizing that it also provides countywide meal delivery, housing for older adults, early childhood education and caregiver resources.
A clearer identity can help connect more people with those services. It also can strengthen the organization’s ability to attract financial support, recruit volunteers and develop partnerships with health care providers, government agencies, businesses and other nonprofits.
That increased visibility will be important as the needs of older adults, caregivers, children and families continue to grow. By presenting its programs as parts of one coordinated mission, the organization hopes to serve more residents while preparing for its next generation of community work.
More than a senior center
Although St. Anthony’s has long been associated with services for older Wilmington residents, its work has expanded substantially since the organization was founded.
Today, the center operates the Meals on Wheels program throughout New Castle County, provides housing and activities for older adults, runs an early learning center and helps families caring for aging or disabled loved ones through its caregiver resource center.
Those programs allow the organization to serve people at several stages of life — from children beginning their education to older adults who want to remain independent in their homes.
The new identity is intended to bring those services under a name and brand that more clearly communicate the organization’s countywide reach and multigenerational mission.
The name will remain under wraps until the Sept. 10 celebration.
Four decades of delivering more than meals
The celebration also will recognize the 40th anniversary of St. Anthony’s Meals on Wheels program.
For four decades, the program has delivered meals to older adults across New Castle County. The visits also provide regular personal contact and an important connection for residents who may live alone or have difficulty leaving their homes.
Meals on Wheels has become one of St. Anthony’s most visible programs, but the organization’s expanding services reflect the increasingly complex needs of older adults and their families.
Its newest initiative, the caregiver resource center, connects caregivers with information and assistance as they navigate the responsibilities of helping an aging or disabled family member.
A celebration with a purpose
The New Brand Launch Party and Fundraiser will give community members an opportunity to see the new name and logo, learn more about St. Anthony’s programs and help support its continuing work.
The evening will include drinks, raffles, a silent auction and guest bartending.
State Sen. Dan Cruce, who represents the 1st Senate District, will serve as a guest bartender and present a proclamation recognizing the organization’s new name. Other state and community leaders also have been invited.
Proceeds from the fundraiser will support programs serving older adults, children, families and caregivers throughout Wilmington and New Castle County.
The organization said the rebranding represents a new chapter rather than a departure from its history. Its mission will continue to focus on responding to the changing needs of the community while building on more than 55 years of service.
To Go Box:
What: St. Anthony’s Community Center New Brand Launch Party and Fundraiser
When: Sept. 10, 6-9 p.m.
Where: Juniper by Tonic, 111 W. 11th St., Wilmington
Highlights: Unveiling of the organization’s new name, logo and brand; recognition of its 55th anniversary and the 40th anniversary of its Meals on Wheels program; guest bartending, raffles and a silent auction
The main contributors are well known. The Iran war, by increasing the cost of energy, has overturned the comforting start-of-the-year thesis of falling global inflation and interest rates. A plunging Japanese yen has kicked away another assumed source of financial stability. The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, hasn’t calmed nerves with his solo, and so far futile, attempt to bring down US yields. Meanwhile, the early stage of the AI revolution is an exercise in issuing squillions of debt before long-term returns on capital can possibly be assessed meaningfully.
London mayor’s office says he is ‘victim of a scam’ after conviction under fast-track system where magistrates can decide outcomes in seconds
Sadiq Khan’s office has revealed he was the victim of a scam that led to him being fined for failing to tax a car that did not belong to him.
The London mayor was found guilty last month under a system of “conveyor-belt justice”, in which magistrates decide on hundreds of cases a day, sometimes spending less than a minute on each.
Guardian City editor Anna Isaac among those who had credentials to cover event declined
Reform UK has banned at least three journalists from its annual conference who have reported critically on the party and Nigel Farage.
The Guardian’s City editor, Anna Isaac, the investigative reporter Peter Geoghegan and the broadcaster and biographer Michael Crick were told this week that their credentials to cover the event, which begins on Thursday, had been declined.
But the timing of the unsurprising yet explosive Leipzig announcement – days before a key regional vote – has exposed the extent to which German politics is polarised on the issue.
Uber is laying off about 3,300 employees, or roughly 10% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring aimed at cutting management layers and redirecting investment toward ridesharing, delivery, and robotaxis. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi announced the changes in an internal email that was also published online.TechCrunch reports: According to the email, the layoffs are part of a restructuring exercise that would shrink the number of managers by 20%, and some personnel in these roles would work as individual contributors going forward.
The ridesharing giant is reducing the number of teams with one or two members by 50%, and letting go staff who are "more than seven layers down from the CEO," per Bloomberg. Khosrowshahi's email said the company is combining its engineering, science, and delivery divisions. The company is also bringing together its delivery operations across restaurants, retail, and direct divisions.
Remote jobs at the company are going away, too, with Uber only allowing less than 1% of its staff to work remotely.
Various laws and 250 years of tradition prevent the likeness of living people from appearing on currency. Donald Trump and Scott Bessent don’t want you to worry about that
Two hallmarks of Donald Trump’s second-term: the president’s enthusiasm for putting his name and face on things, and his cavalier approach to established law.
Today the president is once again combining both those interests, as the government releases a $1 coin bearing his image, an item of currency that scholars say should be illegal, but which is happening anyway. How many times have you heard that in the last 18 months?
Maybe the gasket isn't seated properly? I've tried repositioning and wrenching down on it a bit but it seems like a tricky torque spec because the whole thing needs to rotate. It's a slow leak- rideable- just have to pump up every time.
Has anyone else had this issue? Any suggestions? Thank you! 🙏
While leaders focused on Hasan Piker, two of the party’s more conservative members salvaged a GOP measure that was poised to fail
House Democratic leaders have spent the past few weeks waging a bitter campaign against their own left flank over a leftwing streamer. On Tuesday, it was the party’s center-right who blindsided them.
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, announced late on Tuesday that he had asked the Democratic caucus’s committee on caucus rules to consider punishing the retiring Jared Golden of Maine and Blue Dog Coalition leader Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington after the pair sided with Republicans on a procedural vote that had appeared doomed.
I was riding around in a parking lot today and my pint x was acting weird. It cut the motor a little on low speeds and once when I was going probably around 10 mph. I got a little scraped up because of it. The only reason I can think of why it would be doing that is I had a pretty wet ride yesterday. Even still I fully cleaned and dried my board so I don't know why it would be acting like this. Anybody have any ideas?
The Circular Ring 3 Pro and Slim add NFC payments and haptic feedback, and still don’t require subscriptions for its core health features and AI coach.
Rep. Seth Moulton speaks during an election night event on Sept. 1, 2026, in Boston, after losing the Massachusetts’ Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.Photo: Reba Saldanha/AP
Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey comfortably defeated Rep. Seth Moulton in his Democratic Senate primary on Tuesday, in what the media — and Moulton himself — had described as a “generational” challenge.
The framing is understandable: In a country suffering under gerontocratic rule, Markey is 80 and Moulton is 47.
Age, however, was the least of what was at stake in Moulton’s run from the decaying center of the Democratic Party. Moulton ran on a conservative line, recycling right-wing talking points and echoing Donald Trump to suggest, erroneously, that Democrats have been failing because they have not been conservative enough.
“There’s only 12 trans athletes in the whole of the NCAA. We should have been embracing them.”
Markey may be 80 years old, but his campaign did precisely what Democrats must if they want to appeal to progressives and bring in a broad working-class voter base: He ran on issues of economic inequality, taxing billionaires, green energy, and universal health care — all while refusing to jettison support for vulnerable minorities, especially trans people.
Meanwhile Moulton, claiming to represent a break in the status quo, repeated precisely the tired centrist playbook that has both failed America’s multiracial working class and failed to win elections. He punched left and, as Markey himself highlighted, threw trans kids “under the bus.”
In a risible misreading of the Democrats’ 2024 presidential election loss, Moulton suggested that his party had shown too much care for trans rights. (It had not.)
“I have two little girls,” Moulton told the New York Times just after the November 2024 election. “I don’t want them getting run over on a playing field by a male or formerly male athlete.”
It was only last month that Moulton offered a tempered apology for the anti-trans remarks — and only because Markey had lambasted him during a debate.
“He just took the whole playbook of MAGA and Trump, and he blamed those kids for the loss,” said Markey, who has been consistent in his advocacy for trans rights. “We should have been loving those kids. There’s only 12 trans athletes in the whole of the NCAA. We should have been embracing them.”
Indeed, we should question the validity of this so-called “debate” entirely: Why did the moderator of a Senate primary debate even feel the need to ask a question about trans girls in sports at all?
This is not, after all, a political problem in need of addressing in Massachusetts, or anywhere else. It is a ghoulish far-right panic that has been baselessly elevated into a hot-button issue, with the help of Democratic cowardice.
Fox News, of all places, noted that Markey is “one of the few Democrats running this midterm cycle who is continuing to push for transgender rights, particularly in sports” — as if that were a bad thing.
A “Power to the People” rally with Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., at the IBEW Local 103 facility in Boston on Aug. 29, 2026. Photo: Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
“There is good evidence that transgender issues were a major part of Markey’s victory, too,” wrote reporter and trans advocate Erin Reed. “In the final days of the campaign, a UMass/Amherst poll asked primary voters how a candidate who embraces anti-trans positions or policies would impact their vote. In that poll, a whopping 67% stated it would make their vote less likely for that candidate.”
Markey, the longtime incumbent, was already at an advantage. And no doubt proselytizers for Democratic Party conservatism will stress that Markey’s victory in deep-blue Massachusetts cannot offer lessons for Democrats running in less progressive territory. This again would be to selectively learn the wrong lessons from Kamala Harris’s spectacular 2024 failure.
It should not need repeating that Democrats in 2024 campaigned on Republican talking points, with Harris donning khaki for photo ops at the Arizona border. If Donald Trump’s campaign attacking trans people gained purchase, it is because Democrats roundly failed to answer it by demystifying right-wing anti-trans fearmongering. They also failed to offer a robust, class-focused platform to vote for.
Being nearly half someone’s age does not constitute a generational challenge; contesting the staid ways of a generational establishment does. Moulton did nothing of the sort.
Markey said it best on Tuesday: “Generational change isn’t about compromising.”
Actor says the press baron’s daughter Elisabeth told him her father was pleased, ‘but he hadn’t seen the film at that point’
Rupert Murdoch is “very happy” that he’s being portrayed by Guy Pearce in a new film about the origins of British tabloid the Sun, the Australian actor has said.
Speaking at the Venice film festival ahead of the premiere of 28 Days Later director Danny Boyle’s Ink, Pearce said he had been messaging with the media tycoon’s daughter Elisabeth “and she did say ‘Dad’s very happy that you’re playing him’.”
Cleburne, Texas — A Texas sheriff’s office used artificial intelligence to help write a police report after officers searched a nationwide license-plate surveillance network for a woman who had a self-managed abortion, according to records obtained by 404 Media.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office previously drew scrutiny for using Flock Safety’s network of more than 80,000 automated license-plate readers to locate the woman. Newly obtained documents show Sgt. Damien Bethel also used Axon’s Draft One AI software to generate portions of the incident report from body-camera audio.
One AI-generated section summarized deputies discussing “the legal implications of the situation,” including their conclusion that Texas law did not allow criminal charges against the woman for taking abortion medication. Deputies also discussed a potential civil action against the company that supplied the medication.
The investigation originated with the woman’s reportedly abusive partner. Earlier records showed officers consulted prosecutors about whether she could be criminally charged, although no charges were available under existing Texas law.
Draft One transcribes body-camera recordings and generates a preliminary narrative that officers must review and approve. The sheriff’s office said deputies remain responsible for editing and digitally signing reports before they become official.
The underlying body-camera and in-car footage has not been released despite public-records requests from 404 Media and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The case has intensified concerns about how rapidly expanding AI surveillance and automated police-reporting systems could be used in highly sensitive investigations involving reproductive healthcare.
A dark-web identity theft service called Nexus claims to be selling scans of more than 153 million U.S. and Canadian driver's licenses, along with millions of other identity documents. "Based on interviews with individuals whose licenses are available for purchase through the service, it appears to be siphoning images collected by a widely used Louisiana-based identity verification company," reports KrebsOnSecurity. The outlet also reports that the FBI's New Orleans field office has launched an official inquiry into the source of the images. From the report: On Monday, Aug. 31, a source alerted KrebsOnSecurity to a service advertised by a new user on the Russian cybercrime forum Exploit, offering access to digital scans of identity documents on more than 170 million people in North America. The source brought it to my attention because the proprietor of this identity theft service offered my Virginia drivers license as a free sample in their initial sales thread on Exploit. The service, dubbed Nexus, claims to have more than 153 million drivers licenses for people in the United States and Canada, as well as more than 10 million identification cards; more than three million travel documents and/or international IDs; and at least 579,000 medical cards.
[...] The people behind Nexus claim the license images are coming from an active breach at "a major identity verification company" whose customers include multiple Fortune 500 companies. "We have been continuously exfiltrating new data for over a year into our private database," the service enthused in its introductory post on Exploit. "Records are available to preview before purchase with pertinent information redacted. Customer photos are displayed if available." Indeed, over the past 24 hours, the number of drivers license records listed as available in Nexus has increased by nearly 400,000, suggesting that freshly stolen license data is being harvested and uploaded to this service on a semi-regular basis. KrebsOnSecurity traced the apparent source by comparing timestamps on stolen license images with when their owners had their IDs scanned, including at Hertz rental counters and a Planet13 dispensary. Both companies use identity-verification services from Louisiana-based idscan.net, whose technology also scans IDs using infrared and ultraviolet light.
Since the story was published, Krebs reports that the Nexus identity theft service website "vanished from the darkweb, replacing its login page with a plain text message that reads, 'This service is no longer available.'"
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 2, 2026 — Vertiv Holdings Co., a global leader in critical digital infrastructure, today announced its wholly-owned subsidiary, Vertiv Corporation, has entered into an agreement and plan of merger to acquire Utility Innovation Holdings, Inc., which operates as UtilityInnovation Group (UIG), a leader in microgrid solutions, advanced power controls and behind-the-meter power architecture design for data centers, for approximately $1.45 billion in cash at closing, with additional consideration of up to $1.15 billion in cash based on achieving certain earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) targets over 12- and 24-month periods.
At the approximately $1.45 billion purchase price, the acquisition represents approximately 13x expected UIG 2027 EBITDA. The EBITDA multiple is anticipated to be significantly lower if the full earnout is paid. Vertiv expects the acquisition to be accretive to adjusted earnings per share in the first year following completion. Strategically, the acquisition extends Vertiv upstream to the grid interconnect, adding microgrid controls, onsite generation and energy storage orchestration, and behind-the-meter power architecture. These capabilities are expected to help data center operators secure power faster as grid constraints increasingly limit AI infrastructure deployment.
As power availability becomes a more critical factor in data center development, architecture decisions are moving earlier in the planning process. Microgrid systems can coordinate onsite generation and energy storage, reduce reliance on utility power and support the grid when needed. This is expanding the importance of power architecture at the earliest stages of site development, when decisions can have significant implications for downstream infrastructure.
“For AI data center operators, competitive advantage increasingly depends on how quickly they can move from site selection to first token,” said Gio Albertazzi, Chief Executive Officer, Vertiv. “Vertiv has the most complete power and cooling portfolio in the industry. With UIG, we anticipate extending that portfolio upstream to the utility interconnect and onsite power sources, creating a coordinated architecture from source to chip without tying customers to a single generation technology or supplier.”
Albertazzi continued: “Together, we anticipate being better positioned to support grid-connected sites, bridge-to-grid deployments and islanded sites supplied by onsite generation, while reducing complexity from site planning through rack-level deployment. This broader capability can help customers accelerate time to power and, ultimately, time to first token.”
UIG Founder and CEO Sidney Hinton added: “UIG was founded to solve increasingly complex power challenges for data center operators through flexible, technology-agnostic architectures. Vertiv’s global scale, critical infrastructure portfolio and service capabilities make it a strong strategic fit for what we have built. We believe this combination can expand the reach of UIG’s microgrid controls and power architecture expertise and create greater value for customers as power becomes an increasingly critical constraint on data center growth.”
Expanding Vertiv’s Onsite Power Capabilities
UIG’s expertise and technologies complement Vertiv’s existing offerings:
Experience: Design and delivery of microgrid systems for AI data center operators across the United States and Europe, supported by extensive utility relationships and experience with complex, large-scale deployments. UIG’s designs are generation-agnostic, allowing architectures to be built around the technologies a site can permit, fuel and finance.
Expertise: Behind-the-meter power architecture design that engages customers at the earliest planning stages, before equipment is selected. This enables Vertiv to help define the power blueprint that shapes downstream infrastructure decisions, supported by pre-validated reference designs for grid-connected, bridge-to-grid and islanded sites.
Technology: Proprietary controls platform and pre-engineered microgrid switchgear that orchestrate multiple power sources in real time and coordinate them with the critical power train.
Today, Vertiv brings deep systems and controls expertise across the critical power train, supported by an end-to-end power and cooling portfolio and global service network. Combined with UIG, Vertiv expects to help customers design and deploy integrated power architectures that improve speed, resiliency, efficiency, and flexibility.
Expected customer and operator benefits include:
Faster access to power with less dependence on utility interconnection timelines
Ability to scale site capacity beyond what the grid alone can provide
A single accountable relationship from grid interconnect through rack-level infrastructure
Together, these capabilities are expected to give customers greater flexibility in how they source, manage and scale power as data center requirements evolve.
About Vertiv
Vertiv (NYSE: VRT) brings together hardware, software, analytics and ongoing services to enable its customers’ vital applications to run continuously, perform optimally and grow with their business needs. Vertiv solves the most important challenges facing today’s data centers, communication networks and commercial and industrial facilities with a portfolio of power, cooling and IT infrastructure solutions and services that extends from the cloud to the edge of the network. Headquartered in Westerville, Ohio, USA, Vertiv does business in more than 130 countries. For more information, and for the latest news and content from Vertiv, visit Vertiv.com.
EU’s policy chief says drone incident at German airport ‘had the hallmarks of state-sponsored terrorism’
German police have opened a investigation into yesterday’s attempt to disrupt the operation of a power substation near Brandenburg.
In a statement, Brandenburg police said they were leading a probe on suspicion of attempting to disrupt public services, causing an explosion and damaging critical infrastructure as well as forming a terrorist organisation
Two men and two women have been charged with murder after body of newborn girl found with 33 stab wounds
A newborn baby girl died from multiple stab wounds before she was found on top of a washing machine in an outhouse in Sheffield, a court has heard.
Two men and two women appeared in court on Wednesday charged with the murder of the newborn, named only as Baby S. She was found with 33 wounds from 15 separate stabbings when police were called to a property in the Wincobank area of the city on Sunday.
Landmark lawsuit claims tech company’s pay-setting system has breached privacy laws and pushed down earnings
Uber drivers have launched a landmark legal action against the ride-hailing company claiming they live in “constant fear” of a “soulless” algorithm it uses to set pay and allocate jobs.
Drivers from the UK, the Netherlands and other countries have joined the compensation claim that could run into billions of dollars. It alleges an AI-powered pay-setting system breaches data protection laws and pushes down their earnings.
Alaska's House and Senate contests are set for November's general election, after the results in the state's nonpartisan top-four primary put fringe candidates on the ballot.
Reform UK leader dismisses criticism of his failure to register £5m gift as a sign of a ‘complainants’ society’
Nigel Farage has compared his situation to that of Donald Trump being pursued by investigators for years, saying both of them are “outsiders” up against “the system”, as he admitted having become tetchy and aggrieved this summer.
The Reform UK leader has been under huge scrutiny over his finances after failing to declare a £5m gift from the Thailand-based donor Christopher Harborne and further financial support from a friend, the fraudster George Cottrell, before the last election.
Teachers and parents have warned against AI use in schools over concerns of ‘cognitive surrender’
New York City will ban students’ use of artificial intelligence in public schools through eighth grade, typically age 13 or 14. The prohibition is scheduled to be announced on Wednesday and will go into effect next week.
The change is part of a sweeping overhaul of the use of technology in the US’s largest school district, which enrolls roughly 900,000 students a year. In another policy shift, classrooms will keep students off laptops or tablets through the third grade, age nine or 10. The city’s public school technology policies are closely watched by the rest of the United States.
Blast also injures 68 guests at the wedding in southern Iran, prompting fears of escalation in hostilities
Iran has accused the US of a war crime after a missile blast killed at least four people and injured 68 who were attending a wedding at a private home in a coastal city of southern Iran, as the fresh exchange of strikes prompted fears of a wider renewal of hostilities.
Iranian media said that the wedding ceremony was being held in a home in the city of Kuhestak, Hormozgan province, late on Tuesday when a US missile struck, with shrapnel and debris from the strike killing and injuring people.
Top medical groups band together to ease confusion from Trump administration’s changing immunization advice
Leading US medical groups are urging people to get updated flu and Covid-19 vaccinations this fall, banding together on Wednesday to issue shot guidelines – and highlight the science behind them – saying they hope to ease confusion caused by the Trump administration’s changing advice.
Flu vaccinations are beginning and the latest coronavirus shots are starting to arrive after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this year’s updated versions last week. Winter also brings another vaccine-preventable risk called RSV.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest set of national accounts, which give us a snapshot of how the economy is performing in the quarter, and what’s happening under the hood.
Dell reported record fiscal Q2 results as AI server demand surged, booking $60.9 billion in AI server orders and ending the quarter with a $95 billion backlog. From a report: The company posted record revenue of $47 billion, up 58% year over year. Earnings per share came in at $6.34, up 273% from a year ago. Adjusted earnings rose 203% to $7.04 per share.
"With AI momentum accelerating and our opportunity expanding across the portfolio, we're raising our full-year FY27 revenue outlook by $25 billion to $192 billion, up nearly 70% year over year," said Jeff Clarke, CEO of Dell Technologies, in the company's earnings release.
Dell has seen its orders balloon as enterprise customers adopt artificial intelligence and use AI servers locally to run agentic AI queries. Dell stock is up more than 230% year to date. Peer Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), which also moved up 110% since the start of the year, jumped in after-hours trading.
Climate experts warn that US Kalshi and Polymarket users are ‘gamifying disasters’ as they bet on events like heatwaves and daily temperatures
Online prediction markets, saturated by money staked on sport, crypto and politics, have now set their sights on a promising new area of growth: betting on the future livability of the planet itself.
The rise of gamified predictions on the unfolding climate crisis, and shorter-term weather forecasts, has been underscored by a new deal that allows Kalshi, a leading online financial exchange, to access data from the Weather Company, owner of the Weather Channel, to verify weather-related betting outcomes.
Ian Tyler, already in role on an interim basis, is tasked with shifting strategy to refocus on fossil fuel extraction
BP has appointed a new chair after a months-long search triggered by the controversial ousting of Albert Manifold, seeking to draw a line under years of boardroom turmoil at the UK oil and gas company.
Ian Tyler, who has served as the interim chair and has sat on the BP board as a non-executive director since April 2025, will assume the role on a permanent basis immediately.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has declared that Russia’s airspace is becoming unsafe for commercial airlines as Vladimir Putin promised to step up strikes against Ukraine’s energy facilities in the run-up to winter.
The Ukrainian president said there was no intention to directly threaten civilian flights, but the growing number of attack drones being flown into Russia by Ukraine would have to be “taken into account” by the aviation industry.
Pay and shares deal nearly matches $58m award to John Ternus, his successor as CEO at the $4.7tn tech company
Tim Cook has received a $47m (£35m) pay deal as Apple’s executive chair, a remuneration package that nears the level set for his successor as chief executive.
Cook, who handed over to John Ternus on Tuesday, will be paid a base salary of $2m and $45m worth of shares. Half of the share award will be based on performance targets being met, while the remaining half will be paid out over four years.
US defense secretary faces backlash for attempting to mock Canada’s armed forces amid trade war
A social media post by Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, body-shaming female members of a Canadian youth development program remained online on Wednesday despite a furious backlash on both sides of the border.
On Monday night, Hegseth posted on X a photograph of two people in uniform with a Canadian flag and the caption “this is real”, an apparent attempt at mocking the country’s armed forces amid the Trump administration’s trade spat with its northern neighbor.
Energy secretary Chris Wright denies US seeks to ‘take’ country’s oil, saying deal is transformation of relations
The US energy secretary, Chris Wright, has denied Washington is seeking to commandeer huge quantities of Venezuelan oil, amid growing criticism of Donald Trump’s energy deal with the country’s interim leaders.
“Absolutely not,” Wright replied when asked by a CNBC journalist if the US was engaged in a “heavy-handed” attempt to “take” Venezuelan oil in violation of the South American country’s constitution.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is launching a new “Doxing Mitigation Initiative” using AI to help ICE personnel keep their identities hidden from the public, according to an email addressed to all agency employees on Monday.
The memo, signed by Acting ICE Director David Venturella and leaked to The Intercept by ICE employees, identifies a company called ZeroFox as the tech firm behind the initiative. The communication describes ZeroFox as “a modernized protective technology solution designed to strengthen safeguards for our most valuable resource: You and your families.”
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, quietly entered a $15 million contract with ZeroFox in July for software licenses to support ICE operations and investigations, according to public procurement records. The records indicate that ZeroFox will provide services for the Office of Intelligence at ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations division.
ZeroFox develops AI-driven software aimed at stopping data leaks across social media and the dark web, according to its website. “ZeroFox never stops finding, mapping, and monitoring your digital presence,” the company vows. It’s not clear from the contract or the internal email how, precisely, the new initiative will function, and neither ICE nor ZeroFox responded to requests for comment.
“It sounds like inside surveillance,” said an ICE official who spoke to The Intercept on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
ZeroFox has used its tech in the past to identify and categorize people engaged in political activism, including during public unrest in Baltimore after the 2015 police killing of Freddie Gray and the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The ICE official expressed concern that ZeroFox tech could now be used to weed out whistleblowers and critics of the Trump administration.
“If things go sideways they may just throw all your info out there, make you out to be the problem or dox you,” the official said. “I don’t trust it.”
According to Richard Forno, associate director of the cybersecurity institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, it’s not shocking that ICE would contract with AI companies that “may have checkered histories.”
“It’s plausible that this tech could be used to seek out whistleblowers,” Forno told The Intercept. “For example, if ICE internal affairs or leadership can seed information that gets leaked, and then that information is then passed along to a reporter, you’re kind of setting up a honey pot situation to figure out who the leakers are.” He pointed out that the White House has already set a precedent for targeting critics as “terrorists” or “extremists” on fairly broad terms.
In 2015, ZeroFox offered its services to Baltimore officials for free, sending Baltimore Police a list of “threat actors” identified by its social-media monitoring system, which classified peaceful BLM protest organizers as physical threats. (ZeroFox’s co-founders told the press at the time that the classifications were likely based on their social media follower counts, and that they were labeled “physical” because they were “acting in real life” rather than online.)
After the January 6 attack, the FBI struggled to identify online extremist activity using its recently acquired ZeroFox technology, which the bureau’s agents referred to with “a derisive nickname,” according to the Washington Post, that involved “replacing the ‘Fox’ with a similar-sounding expletive.”
ZeroFox’s relationship with ICE, according to the leaked memo, seems to be focused on detecting information online that could identify or “dox” ICE employees. It’s understandable for a person to want to limit the personal information published about them online, said Sophia Cope, a senior staff attorney at the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation.
“However,” she said, “if ICE is instituting this program to shield officers and the agency itself from public accountability, especially when information is already publicly available, then that’s a serious concern and flies in the face of our democratic values.”
ICE officials who spoke to The Intercept said some ICE personnel already use third-party services to keep their information private.
“I frankly don’t trust the feds with that,” said a second ICE official, who spoke to The Intercept under anonymity to protect his livelihood. “I’m not really keen on giving my PII” — personally identifiable information — “to a company that doesn’t have a solid track record with government contracts.”
ZeroFox is owned by private equity firm Haveli Investments, which bought the company for roughly $350 million in 2024. Bryan Ware, a former assistant director for cybersecurity for the Department of Homeland Security during the first Trump administration, currently serves as an executive at ZeroFox.
Could Donald Trump be a Russian asset? The headline on a review in the Guardian of my new book Betrayal has provoked heated international debate. Written by the historian Lawrence Freedman, the piece generated thousands of comments from across Europe and beyond on social media. Many people responded with a single word: “Duh!”
Trump’s relationship with Vladimir Putin is the biggest mystery in international politics. In 2017 I wrote a book called Collusion, which set out Moscow’s operation to support and cultivate Trump, going back decades. The US president, of course, denies links with Russia. But in his second term, his behaviour towards Putin has been as weird and perplexing as during his first.
Campaigners say pheasants and partridges reared ‘on industrial scale’ do not have same protections as chickens
The government is considering a crackdown on pheasant shooting in England as part of a consultation on strict new animal welfare laws that would affect shoot organisers.
Ministers are already considering plans for the issuing of licences for those who run game bird shoots. The proposals mean anybody associated with wildlife crime, such as the poisoning or shooting of birds of prey, would be banned from hosting shooting events.
Matt Clifford will stay as chair of government funding body for tech projects alongside his senior role at US firm
The architect of the UK government’s AI strategy has joined the US startup Anthropic in a senior role a year after stepping down from his Downing Street post.
Matt Clifford, a successful tech investor, was appointed as AI opportunities adviser by Keir Starmer last year but resigned from the unpaid role six months later for personal reasons.
‘Where the wealthiest country in the world allocates money has always been a question of political will over political way’
The United States once led most other nations on resettling refugees from all over the world. But in the fiscal year 2025- 2026, except for three people from Afghanistan, all of the 10,258 people admitted through resettlement were white South Africans.
But admitting en masse the beneficiaries of South African apartheid, while simultaneously cancelling temporary protected status (TPS) for 350,000 Haitians, and making a spectacle of detaining and shackling them, is just the tip of the racist iceberg: the Trump administration is reportedly using this moment to double the initial resettlement support that refugees receive to $4,500 per person.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Sept. 2, 2026 — Pasqal, a global provider of neutral-atom quantum computers, and True Nexus, a computational intelligence company focused on making protein functionality programmable for real-world food applications, today announced a major milestone in their collaboration: the successful use of Pasqal’s neutral-atom quantum technology to encode selected protein structures relevant to the molecular mechanisms that drive protein gelation — the process that turns liquids into gels and gives foods their structure and texture.
The milestone marks a first, decisive step toward making protein functionality, one of the most valuable and least understood properties in the global food and biotech economy, computationally accessible and, ultimately, programmable.
Proteins are the foundation of the modern food economy, and one of its greatest unsolved problems. Their commercial value rests not on their sequence but on their functionality: how they gel, bind, foam and give texture. For decades, that functionality has resisted design. Industry could read a protein’s sequence, yet the deeper chemistry that determines how a protein behaves under real-world conditions remained extremely difficult to model computationally — discoverable only through slow, costly trial and error at the bench. It is why, despite twenty years of effort and billions in investment, plant proteins have not consistently matched animal proteins across key functionalities associated with gelatin, dairy, egg and meat applications, leaving an entire industry to build on a layer it could not see.
True Nexus and Pasqal are now bridging that gap. By combining AI-driven protein intelligence with Pasqal’s neutral-atom quantum technology, the collaboration is laying the foundation to understand how proteins form gels — and how that behavior could ultimately be controlled. The work aims to uncover the link between protein structure and function, opening new possibilities for the design of new, better-performing proteins. The prize is a market of global scale: protein demand is projected to approach USD 1 trillion by 2030, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, with plant-based, halal and regionally grown sources still largely untapped for want of a design tool.
“Encoding real protein structures on our neutral-atom processors shows how quantum can move from the lab toward the problems that matter to industry and to nations,” said Mark Armstrong, CCO EMEA of Pasqal. “Protein functionality is exactly the kind of high-value, classically hard challenge neutral-atom technology is built for.”
A Flagship for the Kingdom’s Quantum Ambition
For the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the milestone is a flagship demonstration of applied quantum technology with national significance. Delivered through MCIT (Ministry of Communications and Information Technology), it shows how the Kingdom could turn quantum from a research capability into a real industrial engine. Beyond advancing food security and a central position in the future protein economy, it points to a broader ambition: establishing Saudi Arabia as a leader in AI and quantum applied to life sciences and biotechnology, in direct support of Vision 2030.
The same approach is designed to reach well beyond food. The computational engine at the heart of the collaboration could be directed at other strategic sectors — from energy and the environment to drug discovery, materials science and finance — under a proposed MCIT-led initiative, the Saudi Quantum DeepTech Foundry, positioning the Kingdom as a global hub for quantum applied to the problems that matter most.
“This is the moment protein functionality stops being a mystery and starts becoming designable. Together with Pasqal, we are bringing the chemistry that governs how proteins behave onto neutral-atom quantum hardware, opening a new path to understand, predict and ultimately design protein functionality.” said Dominik Grabinski, Chief Executive Officer of True Nexus. “This can change what is possible for the future protein economy.”
Pasqal (Nasdaq: PSQL) helps organizations tackle problems that are difficult or impossible to solve with conventional computing methods alone. Founded in 2019 on Nobel Prize–winning research, Pasqal builds and operates neutral-atom quantum computers, delivered with a full software stack, for industry, science, and governments. Pasqal’s production-ready systems are available both on-premises and through the cloud, enabling organizations to harness quantum computing without requiring in-house quantum expertise. A single hardware platform supports analog workloads today and is designed to evolve toward fault-tolerant quantum computing in the future.
Headquartered in France with operations globally, Pasqal’s quantum computing systems are used by customers across energy, financial services and advanced materials to address complex challenges. Pasqal’s customers include Saudi Aramco, Crédit Agricole CIB, LG Electronics and supported by partnerships with NVIDIA and IBM (Pasqal is part of the IBM Quantum Network).
About True Nexus
True Nexus is a Saudi deep-technology company building the computational intelligence to make protein functionality understandable, predictable, and ultimately designable. By pairing artificial intelligence with quantum technology, True Nexus enables ingredient players to move beyond trial and error and develop proteins that perform consistently in real-world applications.
As Rockstar’s blockbuster prepares to dominate the headlines, it’s time for the mainstream media to stop treating video games as a novelty that needs explaining
Predictably, the Grand Theft Auto VI “extended look” which premiered on Netflix last weekwas a success for all involved. The 30-minute preview scorched to No 1 on the viewing chart and even brought the site down for a few minutes as millions of gamers tried to watch what was, effectively, a very long teaser trailer. According to data collated by Eurogamer, more than 9,000 Twitch streamers covered the show leading to 5,227,798 hours of viewing there alone. And this was just the beginning of what will surely be two months of escalating hype – and unprecedented media attention.
Call me cynical, but I suspect the coverage of GTA VI in the media over the next few weeks will follow a familiar pattern. Mostly, it will be five-minute slots wedged in near the end of news bulletins in which games journalists, industry analysts and other pundits will be asked why the game is such a big deal, how much it cost to make and how much revenue it will generate. Perhaps a few will try to reignite the hoary old “violence in video games” debate, there will be presenters laughingly admitting they’ve not touched a game since Pac-Man, rolling their eyes and wallowing in their ignorance, in a way they never would while discussing any other art form. Somebody will venture the subversive view that “games are no longer just for kids”; somebody else will say “games make more money than films and music put together”. And that will be that, job done for another decade … or until there’s a funny story about Pokémon.
Despite the march of progress, the humble kettle remains a kitchen staple. It’s what we turn to in times of strife, when spirits are flagging, or to start our day. When a visitor calls, one of the first things we often do is put the kettle on.
Many small appliances have evolved beyond their original form, but the kettle’s basic principles remain largely unchanged. Water goes in and heats until a thermostat switches it off; the water then pours out, and we enjoy a cuppa. However, the technology that goes into a kettle has been slowly improving: better insulation to keep water hotter for longer and reduce reboils; different temperature settings to suit every drink from green tea to herbal brews; and more features such as filters and concealed elements to keep scale out of our cups.
Providers like Project:Camp offer emergency education and care to families as climate change brings more destructive weather
One week after evacuating from the wildfires that devastated parts of this eastern Washington city, Mareesha Backman handed over her youngest son to a stranger and took her first deep breath of relief.
Spokane public schools was hosting what has become a growing part of disaster response: a day camp for children of survivors. Backman showed up that first day feeling “stunned,” she said: hot, poorly showered and underslept. Thanks to the camp’s volunteers, she was able to go to a doctor’s appointment, run errands and simply sit in the air-conditioned quiet of a friend’s home.
New law requires hospitals to document clinical justification, transportation and backup care for pregnant patients discharged with signs of labor
DOVER — Delaware hospitals must create formal discharge plans for pregnant patients sent home before delivery after Gov. Matt Meyer signed Senate Bill 301 into law Monday.
The legislation applies when a pregnant patient experiencing signs or symptoms consistent with labor is discharged from inpatient care or observation status. It does not require hospitals to admit every patient who may be in labor, leaving the discharge decision to the documented clinical judgment of the treating health care professional.
However, when a patient is discharged, the hospital must provide a written plan intended to ensure the patient understands what to do next and has a safe way to obtain additional care.
“When a mother is in labor, ‘good luck’ is not a plan,” Meyer said. “Any pregnant woman who shows up to a hospital in Delaware should feel seen, heard and cared for until she and her baby are safe.”
The ceremonial signing was held at Josie’s Grace, a Newark-based nonprofit that provides maternal mental health support during pregnancy, after childbirth and during the transition to parenthood.
What hospitals must provide
Under the new law, a discharge plan must include:
Aftercare instructions and confirmation that they were explained to the patient, the patient’s representative or a caregiver;
An assessment of the distance and travel time between the patient’s primary residence and the hospital;
Verification that the patient has reliable transportation between the residence and hospital;
Identification of a backup hospital or facility where the patient could receive labor and delivery services; and
The clinical justification for discharging the patient.
The plan must be discussed with the patient, the patient’s representative or a caregiver and included in the patient’s medical record. If the patient or representative declines to participate, the hospital must document that refusal.
The legislation was sponsored by Sen. Marie Pinkney, D-Bear, and House Speaker Melissa Minor-Brown, D-New Castle. It passed the Senate 20-0 on May 20 and the House 40-0 on June 24.
“As a nurse, I know that discharge is not simply the moment a patient walks out of the hospital; it is a critical part of their care,” Minor-Brown said. “A pregnant patient who seeks help because she is in pain or experiencing labor-like symptoms deserves to leave knowing what is happening, what warning signs to watch for, what steps to take next and when to return for immediate care.”
Pinkney said the measure is intended to address gaps in maternal care, including concerns that Black women are more likely to have their symptoms or concerns dismissed by medical professionals.
The Delaware legislation was modeled after the federal Women Expansion of Learning and Labor Safety, or WELLS Act, advanced in Congress by U.S. Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly of Illinois.
The federal proposal is named for Mercedes Wells, an Indiana woman who gave birth along a roadside shortly after being discharged from a hospital while experiencing labor symptoms.
“From the first trimester to the fourth trimester, we want to make sure moms and families have the support they need to be healthy,” Blunt Rochester said. “The signing of Delaware Senate Bill 301 will save lives while building on the work we’re doing in Congress to end the maternal health crisis.”
Hospitals supported goal, questioned mandate
During the legislative debate, the Delaware Healthcare Association supported the bill’s patient-safety goals but took a neutral position because of concerns about placing additional clinical requirements into state law.
The association said Delaware hospitals already operate under federal emergency-care standards and other regulatory oversight and maintain protocols for responding to pregnant patients showing signs of labor.
It recommended that the state also collect and publish annual county-level information about births that occur while a patient is traveling to a hospital or unintentionally at home. Such reporting, the association said, could help determine whether inappropriate hospital discharges are occurring in Delaware.
The law’s unanimous passage suggests lawmakers ultimately viewed the additional planning requirements as a reasonable safeguard. Implementation will now determine how hospitals document transportation, identify backup facilities and incorporate the requirements into existing discharge procedures without unnecessarily delaying care.
TO GO BOX
Law: Senate Bill 301
What it does: Requires Delaware hospitals to create a documented discharge plan when a pregnant patient experiencing signs or symptoms of labor is sent home before delivery.
Required information: Clinical justification, aftercare instructions, travel assessment, reliable transportation and a backup labor and delivery facility.
Who oversees it: Delaware Department of Health and Social Services.
The UK government does not know what the country’s datacentres are being used for despite fears over the growing environmental impact of the AI boom.
When asked in a freedom of information (FoI) request who was using the largest sites and what for, the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology said it did “not hold the requested information”. The ministry has since been dissolved.
New law requires cosmetology classes to give instruction on all hair types from the kinkiest to the straightest
As of 1 September, a new law in New York state requires hairdressers studying cosmetology to be trained to work with all hair types.
“This is about equal access to service,” assembly member Michaelle Solages, who sponsored the law, said in a statement earlier this year. “No New Yorker should ever walk into a salon and be turned away or receive substandard care because of their hair texture. Now, with the adoption of this legislation, they won’t have to.”
Delaware voters have multiple days to cast ballots before the Sept. 15 primary, providing greater flexibility and another opportunity to participate in decisions that often shape state and local government.
Early voting for Delaware’s 2026 primary election begins Wednesday, Sept. 2, and continues through Sunday, Sept. 13, with a two-day pause for the Labor Day holiday.
Unlike absentee voting, voters do not need to provide a reason for voting early. The process is essentially the same as voting on Election Day: Election officers verify the voter’s eligibility, the voter signs the electronic pollbook and then casts a ballot on an accessible voting machine.
A Delaware voter may use any early-voting center in the county where the voter lives. Voters do not have to use their assigned Election Day polling place during early voting. Delaware Department of Elections
When can I vote early?
Dates
Hours
Sept. 2-5
7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Sept. 6-7
No early voting
Sept. 8
7 a.m.-7 p.m.
Sept. 9-13
11 a.m.-7 p.m.
The primary election will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15. Election Day polling places will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Delaware primary-election information
Who can vote in the primary?
Delaware conducts closed primary elections:
Registered Democrats may vote in the Democratic primary.
Registered Republicans may vote in the Republican primary.
Unaffiliated voters and voters registered with minor parties generally may not participate in either major party’s primary.
Not every voter will have a contested race on the ballot.
The regular deadline to change political parties for this primary was May 29.
There is a special exception for some voters automatically registered through the Division of Motor Vehicles who were not previously given an opportunity to select a party. Those voters may affiliate with the Democratic or Republican Party through Sept. 15, including at an early-voting center. Delaware voter-registration guidance
Voters should use the state’s iVote portal to confirm their registration and review their voting information before leaving home.
Where can I vote early?
New Castle County
Appoquinimink State Service Center, 122 Silver Lake Road, Middletown
Claymont Community Center, 3301 Green St., Claymont
Department of Elections Warehouse, 220 Lisa Drive, New Castle
Hudson State Service Center, 501 Ogletown Road, Newark
The Delaware Contemporary, 200 S. Madison St., Wilmington
Wilmington Police Athletic League, 3707 N. Market St., Wilmington
Kent County
BPOE No. 1903 Elks Lodge, 200 S. Saulsbury Road, Dover
Frederica Senior Center, 216 Market St., Frederica
Harrington Parks and Recreation, 114 E. Liberty St., Harrington
Wyoming United Methodist Church, 216 Wyoming Mill Road, Dover
Sussex County
Department of Elections Warehouse, 542 S. Bedford St., Georgetown
Department of Elections Warehouse, 200 Allen St., Seaford
Ellendale Fire Hall, 302 Main St., Ellendale
Fairfield Inn by Marriott, 19113 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach
Indian River Fire Company Station No. 2, 25375 Banks Road, Millsboro
Laurel Fire Hall, 205 W. 10th St., Laurel
Margaret Rollins Community Center, 101 Adams Ave., Lewes
Millville Community Center, 32517 Dukes Drive, Millville
Roxana Fire Hall, 35943 Zion Church Road, Frankford
The Fairfield Inn location is designated for the primary only. Voters should confirm locations before traveling through the state’s official early-voting list.
What should I bring?
Poll workers will ask voters to show identification, and presenting it generally speeds up check-in. However, Delaware does not require photo identification to vote in state and federal elections.
A voter whose name appears on the poll list but who does not present identification may complete an Affirmation of Voter Identity and then vote.
Before going to the polls:
Confirm your registration and party affiliation.
Review your sample ballot.
Select any early-voting center in your county.
Bring identification if available.
Leave candidate clothing, buttons and other campaign materials outside the voting room.
Voters may bring children age 17 or younger with them. Cellphone conversations are not permitted inside the polling place. Delaware voting FAQ
Why participation matters in Delaware
Primaries can be decisive
In districts where one party has a substantial registration advantage, the winner of that party’s primary may enter the general election as the strong favorite. That gives primary voters considerable influence over who ultimately holds office.
Local decisions affect everyday life
Many primary ballots include candidates for the General Assembly, county government and other offices responsible for decisions involving state spending, taxes, schools, land use, roads, housing, public safety and business regulation.
Smaller elections magnify each vote
Delaware is a small state, and legislative and county contests involve much smaller electorates than presidential races. A relatively modest number of votes can therefore determine a nomination.
Broader participation produces a more representative result
When only the most committed political voters participate, a small portion of eligible voters may choose the nominees presented to everyone in November. Greater turnout gives candidates and elected officials a clearer picture of the priorities of the broader community.
Early voting removes Election Day uncertainty
Work demands, family responsibilities, illness, traffic and weather can interfere with Election Day plans. Voting early gives residents several opportunities to cast a ballot while allowing Election Day polling places to serve voters who need or prefer to wait.
Looking ahead to November
Delaware’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Every eligible registered voter may participate regardless of party affiliation.
2026 Delaware primary: Tuesday, Sept. 15 Early voting: Sept. 2-13, excluding Sept. 6-7 Who may participate: Registered Democrats and Republicans voting in their respective party primaries Where: Any early-voting center in the voter’s county Identification: Requested, but photo ID is not required Check registration:ivote.de.gov Official information:elections.delaware.gov
PITTSBURGH, Sept. 2, 2026 — VDURA, a leader in high-performance data storage infrastructure, and New Mexico State University (NMSU) today announced that NMSU’s new VDURA deployment is complete and in full production. The system, live as of August 2026, provides the university’s research community with a high-performance, highly durable data platform purpose-built for AI and high-performance computing workloads.
NMSU, which achieved Carnegie R1 status in 2025, placing it among the top research universities in the United States, supports more than $141 million in annual research expenditures across fields including aerospace, agriculture, cybersecurity, water science and biomedical research. The VDURA Data Platform now anchors high-performance computing within NMSU’s Research Cores Program, the university’s network of shared research facilities, instrumentation and computational resources, accelerating everything from AI model training to large-scale simulation.
The deployment combines NVMe flash and high-density HDD capacity in VDURA’s mixed-fleet architecture, delivering flash-level responsiveness for active research data alongside economical bulk capacity, all in a single namespace on the university’s InfiniBand fabric. With VDURA’s software-defined architecture and subscription model, NMSU can scale capacity and performance as research demands grow.
“Universities like NMSU are where the next generation of AI and HPC breakthroughs will happen, and those breakthroughs depend on data infrastructure that never gets in the way,” said Steve Lebowitz, Senior Solution Engineer, VDURA. “This deployment gives NMSU researchers more results per compute hour and a platform that’s production-hardened for environments where failure is not an option. We’re proud to power discovery at one of the nation’s newest R1 institutions.”
The installation deepens a relationship announced in August 2025, when VDURA and NMSU formed a strategic partnership to co-develop and commercialize post-quantum cryptographic (PQC) technology that protects the petabyte-scale data pipelines behind AI and HPC. With the new system in production, NMSU now runs its research workloads on the same platform architecture at the center of that collaboration.
“Partnering with the NMSU Vision Team and the Research Cores Program allows us to deliver a world-class VDURA data storage solution to campus. This facility will ensure NMSU researchers continue to push boundaries in areas vital to New Mexico’s growth and economic future,” said Amy Wagler, Director of Research Computing and Data Science, New Mexico State University.
About VDURA
VDURA builds the world’s most powerful data platform for AI clouds, AI factories and high-performance computing. Powered by HYDRA, its software-defined, mixed-fleet architecture keeps GPU clusters saturated while delivering hyperscale-class durability and economics. Visit vdura.com for more information.
About New Mexico State University
Founded in 1888 and headquartered in Las Cruces, New Mexico State University (NMSU) is a Carnegie R1 research institution serving more than 21,000 students. NMSU’s interdisciplinary research programs span cybersecurity, advanced materials, agriculture, aerospace, and more, advancing innovation that improves lives across New Mexico and beyond.
Tiger Woods pleaded no contest to reckless driving on Wednesday morning as part of an agreement with Florida prosecutors that reduced a DUI charge stemming from his rollover crash in March.
The 50-year-old was adjudicated guilty of willful and wanton reckless driving, a second offense, during a hearing in Martin County court. Under the agreement, Woods was fined $1,000 and had his driver’s license suspended for five years. Prosecutors had originally charged him with driving under the influence with property damage.
The company says it prioritizes safety, but suits allege its ChatGPT bot induced shooter to carry out attack in Canada
OpenAI faces 30 new lawsuits filed on behalf of victims of the Tumbler Ridge mass shooting.
The suits, filed on Wednesday, allege the company’s ChatGPT chatbot induced the shooter to carry out the attack in rural Canada in February, in which eight people were killed and dozens more wounded – most of them children.
US Central Command has released footage that purportedly shows missile and drone strikes being fired at Iranian military targets. Footage of some of the aftermath of the US attacks was shared on social media, showing shrapnel damage on a home in Sirik, southern Iran, where a wedding celebration was taking place. Since publication of this video, Iranian state media has revised the death toll to four people. Iran retaliated shortly afterwards, with video shared by Iranian media said to show missiles being fired towards Jordan.
A US Central Command spokesperson said the US was aware of reports of civilian casualties, but that the 'US military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC [Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps]'
TORONTO and AMSTERDAM, Sept. 2, 2026 — Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) and Equinix, Inc. have completed the acquisition of atNorth, a leading Nordic data center developer and operator with a scalable portfolio of high-density colocation and built-to-suit data facilities.
atNorth ICE02 data center in Reykjanesbær, Iceland
atNorth’s footprint spans across all five Nordic countries, with eight operational data centers and several new projects underway across the territory. This includes sites under development in Sweden, Finland, Norway and Denmark, alongside expansions to existing sites and a strong portfolio of additional development projects.
Together, the operating portfolio and development pipeline provide atNorth with significant capacity to serve growing demand from global enterprise and hyperscale customers across AI, cloud and high-performance computing workloads, supported by advanced cooling technologies, renewable energy integration and heat reuse solutions.
The US$4 billion acquisition, by CPP Investments and Equinix, builds on CPP Investments’ global experience in data center investing and underscores the strategic importance of the Nordics as a leading hub for AI-ready digital infrastructure. atNorth will continue to operate independently under its existing brand, with the backing of its shareholders to accelerate development of its pipeline and expand capacity across the Nordics. Equinix brings complementary digital infrastructure expertise and global customer relationships to support atNorth’s continued growth.
Given the strength of the opportunity and confidence in the partnership since the initial announcement, Partners Group, on behalf of its clients, has elected to re-invest and acquire a 10% stake in atNorth. As a result, CPP Investments will hold a c. 51% controlling stake committing US$1.3 billion, alongside Equinix’s c. 34% committing US$895 million and Partners Group’s c. 10% committing US$260 million. The remainder will be held by atNorth’s internal stakeholders, who have chosen to roll over a substantial portion of their equity. The transaction involves a financing package of US$4.1 billion (€3.6 billion), underwritten by a group of European and Canadian lenders to support atNorth’s continuous growth, fund the transaction, as well as the capital required to fund the expansion of the business. The transaction is immediately accretive upon close to Equinix’s adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) per share.
“The completion of this investment gives CPP Investments a controlling stake in one of the Nordics’ leading hyperscale data center platforms, and marks an important milestone in our partnership with Equinix,” said Maximilian Biagosch, Senior Managing Director & Global Head of Real Assets, CPP Investments. “With its strong portfolio of development projects, access to renewable power and differentiated capabilities for AI and high-performance computing workloads, atNorth is well positioned to support the region’s next phase of growth. This important transaction also aligns with CPP Investments’ focus on investing in high-quality digital infrastructure businesses that can deliver long-term value for CPP contributors and beneficiaries.”
“The acquisition will strengthen our ability to support customers expanding digital and AI deployments, while increasing capacity in a region widely recognised for its advanced technology ecosystem and sustainable energy profile,” said Regina Dahlström, Managing Director, Equinix Nordics. “As AI adoption accelerates, organisations need infrastructure that brings together data, clouds, networks and inference services. Expanding our footprint helps create the interconnected hubs that enable data to move efficiently and securely across ecosystems.”
“Since the signing announcement earlier this year, atNorth has continued to build strong momentum, securing new hyperscale contracts and expanding our development pipeline, including a new site in Norway”, said Eyjólfur Magnús Kristinsson, CEO of atNorth. “We enter this next phase from a position of strength, with a clear strategy to continue to operate independently under the atNorth brand, while working closely with CPP Investments and Equinix. The backing of our new owners, enhances our ability to scale at pace, expand capacity across the Nordics, and deepen our relationships with global enterprise and hyperscale customers.”
Equinix, Inc. (Nasdaq: EQIX) shortens the path to boundless connectivity anywhere in the world. Its digital infrastructure, data center footprint and interconnected ecosystems empower innovations that enhance our work, life and planet. Equinix connects economies, countries, organizations and communities, delivering seamless digital experiences and cutting-edge AI—quickly, efficiently and everywhere.
About CPP Investments
Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm’s length from governments. At June 30, 2026, the Fund totaled C$863.6 billion.
About atNorth
atNorth is a leading Nordic data center company that offers cost-effective, scalable high-density colocation and built-to-suit services trusted by industry-leading organizations. With sustainability at its core, atNorth’s data centers run on renewable energy resources and support circular economy principles. All atNorth sites leverage innovative design, power efficiency, and intelligent operations to provide long-term infrastructure and flexible colocation deployments. atNorth is headquartered in Reykjavik, Iceland and operates eight data centers in strategic locations across the Nordics, as well as four mega sites under development across Kouvola, inland, Ølgod, Denmark, Sollefteå, Sweden and Haugaland, Norway. The business also has an additional metro site under development in Stockholm, Sweden.
Sept. 2, 2026 — Everpure has announced that FlashBlade//EXA ranks number one across 405B parameter and 1.25T parameter model checkpointing and KV cache performance categories in the newly released MLPerf Storage v3.0 benchmark. The benchmark is designed to measure storage performance against demanding AI workloads, rather than testing storage in isolation.
When a training run needs to checkpoint, or an inference workload needs to retrieve KV cache data, the storage system moves beyond an afterthought and becomes part of the equation. If storage can’t keep pace, GPUs and accelerators sitting idle start becoming costly.
“These results yet again demonstrate that FlashBlade//EXA delivers the highest performance and scale on the market, staying ahead of the increasing demands of AI workloads,” said Rob Lee, Chief Technology and Growth Officer, Everpure. “Organizations advancing the bleeding edge of AI development need infrastructure that can deliver the utmost performance and scalability, without making tradeoffs against reliability and operational simplicity. FlashBlade//EXA stands alone in being able to deliver that.”
Behind the Numbers
The checkpointing results are compelling when put at scale. With 1,024 simulated accelerators, FlashBlade//EXA delivered 877.52 GiB/s write B/W (17.74s duration) and 588.28 GiB/s of Read B/W (28.99s duration) using 30 data nodes for a 1.25T parameter model.
More importantly, performance scaled predictably from 327.65 GiB/s of write throughput with 10 data nodes to 877.52 GiB/s with 30 data nodes. This predictable scaling matters because AI workloads don’t stay static. As organizations add compute power, increase model sizes, bring in more data and expand capacity, the infrastructure underneath i.e. storage needs to keep pace.
The same issue is emerging on the inference side. As organizations move from training increasingly large models to serving them at scale, KV cache is becoming an increasingly important part of the data path. In MLPerf testing, FlashBlade//EXA delivered 85,736 tokens/second for the Llama 3.1 8B workload using storage only, 67,642 tokens/second for an 8B workload using storage plus memory, and 33,403 tokens/second for a 70B storage-only workload. The numbers point to a broader shift in how AI infrastructure should be thought about. Storage is no longer simply the place where data lives between compute operations. It increasingly has to participate in the data path at the speed the AI workload demands.
That is also what makes the architecture behind these results important. FlashBlade//EXA uses a disaggregated architecture that separates metadata management from data transport. In the benchmark configuration, 30 FlashBlade//EXA blades with 120 DirectFlash Modules dedicated to metadata worked alongside 30 Linux/NVMe data nodes, providing approximately 866 TB of usable capacity through a unified file system. The architecture uses NFSv4.1/pNFS over TCP for file layout negotiation and NFSv3 over RDMA (RoCEv2) for high-speed data movement. In other words, data can move across the underlying network fabric rather than forcing every workload through a centralized storage path.
Why This Matters
That distinction becomes more important as AI clusters grow. This isn’t about building a storage system that is fast for a particular configuration and then redesigning it when the AI environment changes. It’s about having an architecture where capacity and performance can scale alongside the compute environment without adding another layer of complexity for engineering teams.
This ties back to Everpure’s journey of broadening its vision beyond the traditional storage array toward the Enterprise Data Cloud—a software-driven approach designed to help enterprises manage and use data across increasingly complex environments. AI is one of the clearest tests of that vision because the infrastructure behind it can’t really be treated as a collection of disconnected components anymore. GPUs, networking, storage and data all have to work together, and the performance of one increasingly depends on how well the others can keep up. And the ability to scale that data movement predictably may be just as important as the peak performance number itself.
Everpure (NYSE: P) allows organizations to take control of their data with an industry-leading, ever-evolving storage and data management platform. We help companies unleash the power of their data by ensuring it is accessible, intelligent, and ready to perform in the AI era. We make data management effortless while simultaneously scaling performance and significantly reducing energy consumption. With one of the highest Net Promoter Scores for over a decade, Everpure is the choice of the world’s most innovative organizations. For more information, visit www.everpuredata.com.
Woman from Reno was swimming near Hidden beach when river otter attacked her, Tahoe’s second incident in a month
A swimmer at Lake Tahoe in Nevada was bitten by a river otter and needed to get 38 stitches for her wounds as well as rabies shots, local media have reported.
Lynnette Bellin from Reno was swimming near Hidden beach on the Nevada side of the popular tourist attraction on Sunday when she was attacked by the creature.
Three political newcomers sat down with Spotlight Delaware to discuss their Democratic primary campaigns for House District 9, where longtime Republican Rep. Kevin Hensley is retiring.
The seat is a target for Democrats to flip as they seek a House supermajority.
The candidates include Ayanna Khan Flowers, the founder, president, and CEO of the Delaware Black Chamber of Commerce; Gemma Lowery, a community advocate with two decades of experience in the healthcare industry; and Michelle Wall who served on the Appoquinimink Board of Education for a decade.
The winner will face Republican Jamar Money in the November general election.
Readers can find condensed versions of the candidates’ answers below, while the accompanying podcasts feature unedited excerpts from our conversations.
Ayanna Khan Flowers
You’re the founder and CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce. So to start, why did you go from this particular role with the chamber to wanting to run for the state seat?
So my work has been really about opening doors for people from the beginning who are often been left behind. I have been doing a lot of advocacy in this space just to ensure that policies are fair and equitable for all.
So my advocacy has taken me to Legislative Hall down in Dover, and also to the Capitol in Washington, D.C. So I can be part of the policy building, the policy creation, ensuring the policies are equitable for all.
So for me, that was a wake-up call where I needed to just step my advocacy up and now run for this seat
What experiences do you think you can take from your advocacy work that would help prepare you for potentially serving in this role?
So my priorities are straightforward. Day one, for the past 15 years working in this MOT district, it has always been about economic opportunity that reaches everybody; that reaches every neighborhood.
I was able to inject almost a million dollars back in funding and resources back in this very community from when I started here back in 2013, being an intern and a volunteer and serving on boards. So I’m really about supporting working families, supporting our schools, which I’ve been doing, creating pathways for jobs, accessible healthcare, all those things.
So for me, I am really an outside-the-box thinker. I am not a politician by any means. So I think that’s what’s needed. We need folks who can think of other strategies, that’s able to hold others accountable that’s not gonna put the burden back on the residents. Building a small business back in 2015, being laid off from my corporate job in the most tumultuous of times, building a nonprofit in the height of the pandemic – that is my strength.
I work well under pressure. I know how to build communities and bring people together. I know all about partnerships and collaborations. I know about scaling a business, growing a business, creating a statewide nonprofit to help individuals. So I have that small business economic mindset where we have to just look at other strategies ’cause we’re hitting working families really hard.
We’re hitting our senior community really hard, and we have about eight or nine senior communities here in the MOT area. For me, when the chamber was growing and we ran into funding bumps, I could not expect the small businesses that are already having a hard time to fill those gaps. That would be unfair when I’m the one responsible for bringing opportunities and resources to them.
So I think that’s where we fall short, where we’re depending on the residents with tax increase after tax increase, with referendums, with energy hikes, with all the things back to back. We have to really look at closing the funding gaps in other ways.
You’re in a race where there’s a lot of political newcomers.How do you hope to differentiate yourself?
My differentiation is that I have this experience. I’m down in Legislative Hall advocating. I’m not just here now as a newcomer popping up because I need a title, because I need a job or to fill employment gaps, right? So that’s the differentiator with me and my opponents in this primary race.
I’ve been doing this work. So one of my slogans is, “I am not new to this. I am true to this.” I am really true to this. I am down every session really down in Legislative Hall either giving public comment or either writing letters of opposition or letters of support or just meeting with legislators one on one, either in person or in Zoom.
So that’s my differentiator. I haven’t seen my opponents down in Legislative Hall doing that. I don’t see them giving public comments and advocating. I don’t see them at the bill signings. I’m part of policy creation. I’ve helped with so many policies, creating bills, where I’m bringing people to the table to say, “This is what we need.”
As Spotlight Delaware’s education reporter, something I’ve heard a lot in the last few months is the struggle for parents navigating their working hours and taking their kids to either preschool or childcare along with general concerns about affordability.
What do you think the state should be doing to try and alleviate some of those stressors for working parents who have preschool-aged children who aren’t able to go into the K-12 system all day yet?
So affordability and access is definitely a barrier, especially for single parents. We need more facilities in that space, but the small businesses that are trying to open up those types of centers are dealing with a lot of red tape. So it’s a continuous conversation we’re having where access and affordability is a problem, especially down in Sussex County.
So they’ve built out different priorities for us to tackle in the state, and the lieutenant governor is spearheading that, and she’s been doing an amazing job. And we’re continuing those conversations, so also looking at transportation, the workforce, and it’s all part of the ecosystem that’s creating barriers for these families.
But we need more access and more affordability and tiers. So for me, it’s never a one-size-fits-all because every family is different. We’re looking at tiers. We have a whole system built out for that.
House District 9 isa part of the Appoquinimink School District. This time last year, residents expressed outrage after the district revealed its projected$7.9 million savings balance for the year had essentially been a mirage after numerous accounting errors, and that left the district facing a significant budget deficit.
A year later and moving forward, how do you plan on navigating concerns between community members who are still frustrated with the errors that were experienced, because they also are likely to see another school tax increase in the coming months and in future years possibly?
Here in District 9, we’re part of Colonial and Appo. So we have to make sure that we’re doing what’s right for these families, because I was at that meeting two weeks ago where they announced another potentially 1.85% that was coming for the residents and 1% for commercial.
So I was at that meeting, and I’m like, “Unbelievable.” We have six schools in the pipeline. We are building state-of-the-art facilities that can withstand for 50-plus years, but we’re not paying our teachers. And I know this for a fact. My daughter is an educator. She graduated from Middletown High and got a job there as a special education science teacher, was underpaid and was able to go outside of the district this summer seeking new opportunities, and had job offers for $10,000 to $12,000 more.
But we’re building these state-of-the-art schools. We’re going back to the state. We’re going back to the legislators to get more funding and the teachers and the support staffs are not being paid. I think we have to start there first. We’re gonna lose good talent, and we’re doing our children an injustice when we have so many kids that are having a hard time reading at a grade level, writing and math.
As a state, period, we’re failing. So we have to look at other opportunities to fill those funding gaps other than putting it back on the residents.
District Nine along with others throughout New Castle County were hit really hard by the state’s first in a generation property tax reassessment.
And we know that this is not gonna be the only reassessment that Delawareans are gonna see. We know that lawmakers know that there’s more work that needs to be done to avoid another major fallout after the next reassessment.
What do you think that lawmakers need to do? What needs to be discussed so that properties are being accurately assessed in a way that still balances homeowners’ concerns of affordability?
I think what the main upset was is that they took way too long to do that.
Forty years is insane. Who is gonna wait 40 years to do an assessment and then slam the community like that?
They have to do a better job informing, not waiting so long. I know there’s legislation now that had passed that said they’ll do one in five years.
That five years is gonna come quickly where they have to require also a quality review, I believe, on the commercial property before taxes could be finalized. So that’s good. Definitely reviewing, giving people enough time to do the appeals and just, again, just not waiting and then making sure they’re doing it accurately because there were so many errors that were found in the assessment, like the square footage, the amount of bedrooms.
And this district is so diverse, right? You will have like half a million, million-dollar houses, and then you have mobile homes. One of the residents of the mobile homes was saying that their property tax was assessed $90,000 because they were backed up to a affluent development, where there were million-dollar homes.
Gemma Lowery
Can you explain how you went from the healthcare industry to wanting to run for the State House seat?
The 20 years in healthcare was career number three. I started in banking, and then I was in fabrics with Gore for a while. But I’ve always had this kind of process improvement, how can we do things better vibe, no matter what the career that I’ve done. So it’s also opened my eyes to, like, when things are broken, how you need to fix it.
And you always need to go to the people that are gonna use the solution. And I just keep seeing that just translates. I keep seeing it out in the world, out in politics, out in everything where we’re telling people what we’re doing for them, but we didn’t bother to ask them what they wanted. So that underlying theme, it got to the point where I was frustrated enough with waiting for someone else to do it, that I thought, “Well, this is in my head.
It seems to resonate and work. Why don’t I try?” And the why wait turned into why not. And honestly, that’s what pushed me is what could I do differently instead of helping people one-on-one if I could get to Dover? Like, what could we do on a much bigger level if I was in the room where the conversations were happening and maybe could say, “Where’s the people
that need their voices in the room?” Or bring all that experience into the room as just something different than what’s normally in Dover.
You’re in a race with a lot of political newcomers. How do you hope to differentiate yourself?
I believe I have a very unique perspective because I’m born and raised in Delaware. I went through Delaware schools. I raised my kids here. I’ve been an advocate and a person who has supported across lots of different areas in the state. So I know the state very well, but I’ve also experienced it.
And I think that brings something different than hearing about it. All of us in the race plug in in different ways in how we provide our service, but I cross a lot of barriers and categories that a lot of people don’t. I’m a biracial female.
I have kids that had special needs in school. I’m a veteran wife. I’m still going through the how do you get a disability claim through, space. I’m a labor and delivery coach. I’ve experienced moms almost dying. I’ve tried to connect people to services. And I think it just layers on until there’s a certain cumulative level of knowledge that for me, I think is a differentiator.
I think I can speak to a lot more situations and scenarios than at first glance people realize. And I think that gives me a skill set that is very different. I’m not in one lane. I’m in a lot of different lanes, but those different lanes show how the interconnectedness of one thing being broken impacts so many other things.
And I think that perspective is just different than what a lot of people bring. And I’m also one that’s not afraid to have really tough conversations with people on any side of the aisle. I don’t care. I will talk to anybody. I will work with anybody. It’s about getting to the outcome that helps the constituent or the person that’s really suffering, and whatever that has to look like, I don’t care.
Your campaign websitetalks a bit about “responsible growth.” District Nineisan area of Delaware that has seen a considerable amount of growth in recent years, and in turn that impacts things like road quality, local businesses, school capacity. Canyou to expand on what responsible growth looks like to you, and what state leaders, in your opinion,need to be doing and focusing when it comes to that growth?
Yeah, I think we’re really, especially in nine, we are really in a tough spot because a lot of these agreements were made during COVID. A lot of these approvals have already happened, and they happened in a vacuum because there was so little sharing of information. Number one, that makes me crazy, and I think Delaware does a really bad job.
Spotlight and others are trying to tackle it, but there is no one information source. As the consumer, you have to work to find out what’s going on in your community. And a lot of times, and what we’re seeing in nine is the decisions have been made. We’re going to town forums, we’re having conversations, and everybody’s expressing an opinion that really doesn’t matter.
There’s surveys. There’s just so many tools that we don’t use that we could get people’s honest feedback that we don’t avail ourselves of. I also think that as leaders, the contracting conversations for me, that’s a space that I work in with vendors and others. Getting in front of this stuff would be enormously helpful.
Having a conversation after you’ve agreed with a developer and then saying, “Okay, now we wanna define what affordable use looks, affordable housing looks like, mixed use.” They have the contract signed. They don’t have an incentive. If they wanna partner with you, it’s because they want to, and we can’t be so enamored with the deal that we don’t put in some guardrails to make sure that the community is actually gonna be supported.
This is the county, this is councilman, but we’ve gotta partner better so that it’s not explaining after the fact. It’s asking ahead of time and making sure that the community needs are brought to the conversation.
House District 9 is a part of the Appoquinimink School District. This time last year, residents expressed outrage after the district revealed its projected $7.9 million savings balance for the year had essentially been a mirage after numerous accounting errors, and that left the district facing a significant budget deficit. A year later and moving forward, how do you plan on navigating concerns between community members who are still frustrated with the errors that were experienced, because they also are likely to see another school tax increase in the coming months and in future years possibly?
I think you just have to be really honest about it. I think the timing of when the information came out was really troubling because the fact that there were issues was known. And it didn’t come out until, well after the community should’ve been involved.
I do think as legislators we can mandate or legislate that some accountability tools have to be used. They shouldn’t be optional for the school board and the financial folks. If there’s a way to involve the community and there’s supposed to be a community board, why wasn’t there?
If there were check-ins and checkpoints in places where we could have known ahead of time that things were not what they appear to be, finding out that there’s an excess of $4 million that is magic money when the kids need real money is a problem, and especially when we have rules now where you can then put in a tax increase without a referendum.
So people were literally getting shocking news and then being held hostage to having to pay for it. I’m concerned also that there’s two schools that need to be built that now we’re short-funded. Okay. So this is a snowball effect problem because we need better finance people that can project and look into the future and see.
I know they can’t control tariffs. I know there’s outside influences that will always impact a build and what that cost is. But responsible planning is that you factor in for a certain level of variability and the swing was not millions of dollars. It wasn’t this big. We shouldn’t be this short.
District Nine along with others throughout New Castle County were hit really hard by the state’s first in a generation property tax reassessment.
And we know that this is not gonna be the only reassessment that Delawareans are gonna see. We know that lawmakers know that there’s more work that needs to be done to avoid another major fallout after the next reassessment.
What do you think that lawmakers need to do? What needs to be discussed so that properties are being accurately assessed in a way that still balances homeowners’ concerns of affordability?
As somebody who’s been in Delaware this long, I cannot tell you how my mouth dropped when I heard 40 years.
I’m like, I don’t even understand the business case where that can happen, and I think that’s first. Ripping the covers off of what happened is huge. People needed to know what happened, and I went to the town halls, I went to meetings, I listened to people scream and holler, and I get it.
I also think that as much as it’s frustrating and hard and expecting people to come up with that money within months was insane. I think that was a foolish way to address it. But there’s also the fact that for a lot of people, for decades, they didn’t have to pay the increases.
And we’ve been funding it with this mismatch this whole time. So a reckoning needed to happen. I think it should’ve been done in a tiered approach. So like, we’ve done the reassessment, here’s what we’re projecting your change is gonna be, and over the next X amount of years, we’re gonna get this corrected so that by the next assessment, you are at your new normal, we’ll say.
I think expecting like, “Here’s the assessment. We paid this company, they did whatever, now pay it in 90 days,” was too much for people. Change management seems to be lacking. I’m just gonna keep it real. There’s a process for how you change manage, and we’re not following it. We’re going discovery, rip off the curtain, here.
Is there anything else you wanna add that maybe I didn’t already ask you?
We’re in a place where everybody looks for someone to save them, and that’s not happening a lot, and I think people need to understand their power.
It is a team sport, but it is a messy team sport, but the way that it works is by participation. I’m out there, I’m talking to folk, they’re really apathetic. They’re so frustrated about national politics that I just wanna remind people that “your vote is your voice” sounds common, you hear it all the time, but it really, really does matter.
It’s the one time when you get to help influence. Win or lose, you were a team member. You were on that team fighting to get somewhere, and we shouldn’t be so disturbed by what’s happening outside of Delaware that we forget to participate in Delaware.
Michelle Wall
Can you explain how that experience on the school board influenced your decision to run for the state seat?
So for 10 years, I had the privilege of serving on the Appoquinnimink School Board. During that time, I feel like I learned about issues that face families in my community, and not just school issues, but affordable housing, access to healthcare, transportation needs. And all of that, I think, can affect how kids succeed and then ultimately families.
So I have decided to run for this office as a natural progression of service to this community. I spent time, like, listening to residents, solving problems, bringing people together, and also being frustrated about the things that I couldn’t change on their behalf at that seat.
It was a natural kind of, “Oh, yes, I wanna do this.” I’m very interested in education funding reform, and so it was really important to me the efforts that were made during this General Assembly and specifically those efforts, how they affect my community.
And so again, if I would sum it up, it’s a natural continuation of service to a community I really love.
House District 9 is a part of the Appoquinimink School District. This time last year, residents expressed outrage after the district revealed its projected $7.9 million savings balance for the year had essentially been a mirage after numerous accounting errors, and that left the district facing a significant budget deficit. A year later and moving forward, how do you plan on navigating concerns between community members who are still frustrated with the errors that were experienced, because they also are likely to see another school tax increase in the coming months and in future years possibly?
I think that I would wanna make sure that I don’t wanna say constituents I guess they would be constituents at that point, or my neighbors is really who they are, realize that I’m just as frustrated as they are.
If not maybe even more. Because I spent 10 years of time investing in something for me to find out that the numbers weren’t real. And I learned about the numbers not being correct as I was leaving. And I think the most frustrating thing about it is I no longer had a seat at the table to be a voice for the repair.
I mean, you’re looking at, and I know you’re well aware of this, years and years of us not reassessing properties. Years and years of education funding reform not occurring. And I think that kept hitting Appo. I think people wouldn’t be very familiar with, during my time on the board, I often said, “We run on this shoestring budget all the time.”
Well, there’s gonna be a point when that lace breaks, and I think that we saw that. And I think the district was saying again and again, these funding mechanisms that we have placed in the State of Delaware, they don’t support the challenges that we have in the Appoquinimink School District, because none of our funding mechanisms look at growth.
And that is what I wanna be as a voice for this community. Are we talking about growth? Because prior to these changes, the only meaningful education funding reform the State of Delaware saw is when we moved from a singular unit count to a secondary unit count, and those were my efforts. I mean, it was short of me going down to the legislative hall with a poster with the 327 kids or, I think that was the number the one year, that we had grown post September 30th that we weren’t being funded for, and we were trying to pull from our operating budget to cover those needs of students.
I’m not real sure how to wrap that up for you other than, again, it’s a segue of service. I learned about all of these things and I felt like the changes that are being made don’t always consider those individual challenges of my district.
There’s gonna be people who vote off of name recognition, and they might say, “Michelle Wall, she was on the Appo School Board when all of this was going down.” Yeah. “Therefore, I’m not gonna vote for her.” What would you say to those people?
I think I would ask them to look at my record of service beyond that and that I continually showed up, I continually asked questions, I continually was a voice for the people in terms of, how do we communicate better?
I tried to communicate as transparently as I could. I held bagels with a board member every Thursday following school board meetings from before I was elected through my entire tenure. I think I would say, please look to my record of service of showing up. I would always tell people at the start of bagels with a board member, “I know you’ve come here with a concern, and this meeting is a starting point.
We might not come to a resolution today. And quite honestly, we might not come to a resolution you like. But we’re gonna try.” And I always tried to value the questions I got, even the questions I didn’t know the answers to, and I’ll continue to do that because I think both a school board member and somebody who is a state representative, it’s not a fair assumption of someone to be a subject matter expert in everything.
What you’re supposed to do is get asked the question, gather the information, and make an informed decision. And I think if people will look at my record of service, then they would see that.
Growthwas something you mentioned a few minutes ago and then I saw on your campaign website you talk about smart land use.
I was wondering what responsible growth looks like to you and what you think state leaders, like yourself, if you’re to be elected, need to be focusing on when it comes to that growth.
I think that the key to successful growth is collaboration. I raised two kids in this area.
I first joined the school board when my girls were in first and third grade. Now they’re in college. I think we’re at a place where they won’t be able to afford to come back to this community, and a lot of those decisions were made prior to me even living in this area. So I wanna make sure we’re thoughtful and intentional with all of the stakeholders around the table.
Sometimes in Delaware I feel like we make decisions in silos that impact each other. I think we saw that a lot with the reassessment. It was sort of like this triangle of blame, and everybody who was a taxpayer was sort of caught in the middle. But we weren’t really coming around the table, I think, together with the state, with the county, with the school district to say, “What does this look like?”
District Nine along with others throughout New Castle County were hit really hard by the state’s first in a generation property tax reassessment.
And we know that this is not gonna be the only reassessment that Delawareans are gonna see. We know that lawmakers know that there’s more work that needs to be done to avoid another major fallout after the next reassessment.
What do you think that lawmakers need to do? What needs to be discussed so that properties are being accurately assessed in a way that still balances homeowners’ concerns of affordability?
I think it comes back to collaboration. I think from the onset we need to make sure that we’re working as a group for what’s best for residents, that it’s not the county leading a part of the effort and the state leading another part of the effort, or the state coming in behind the county and changing part of the effort, and the school district not knowing what’s going on most of the time because they’re waiting for numbers from both.
It does need to be a collaboration of stakeholders from all of those entities where we start the process, and communication is always key. I think that’s part of the success, too. I think that’s part of the problem, too, with what Appo experienced, is they were dealing with kind of this perfect storm of reassessment occurring and then them having the budget shortfall.
Is there anything you wanna add that maybe we didn’t already touch on?
I think I just want people to know, like, I’m running as a continuation of service. This isn’t a big political thing for me. I know I’m running in a Democratic primary that’s really competitive, but for 10 years, like I’ve worked on representing people, and people who didn’t always agree with me.
But I worked together on behalf of that community. I’m just interested in collaborating with others to make this a place where people wanna raise their families, where their kids will wanna return to. I experienced relocating an elderly parent to this area, and I know the challenges of looking for healthcare here.
So I just want it to be a place that people wanna call home.
US energy department warns of potential for outages in PJM Interconnection, serving 67 million from DC to Chicago
The risk of power outages is expected to escalate across a broad swath of the United States on Wednesday as intense heat will test the capacity of electricity supplies serving millions of homes and businesses from the midwest through the mid-Atlantic.
The US Department of Energy warned of the potential for heightened blackout risks in the PJM Interconnection, the largest US electric grid, which serves 67 million people in a territory stretching from Washington DC to Chicago.
Burnham faced questions from Kemi Badenoch and other MPs amid speculation over budget
In the news release to mark the first anniversary of his election as the Green party’s leader, Zack Polanski highlighted what he described as 10 achievements during his first year in charge. For the record, this is how he sees his record.
-Won the Greens’ first ever parliamentary byelection in Gorton and Denton
-More than tripled the party membership from 68,500 to over 230,000
Zack Polanski in Holborn and St Pancras sounds like a done deal from the hints the party is dropping over the past 24 hours. Needs the formality of local party sign-off.
Our budget for day-to-day spending next year will be lower in real terms than this year. Our capital budget will fall in real terms every year until the end of the decade.
Chevron, the only U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, said it has received additional land in the Orinoco Belt region and plans to double its oil production.
The crew will get a chance to “rest and recharge” in the beach destination of Pattaya, after reports of deteriorating conditions aboard the aircraft carrier.
The US president’s need to assert dominance is igniting patriotism abroad and a backlash at home
What do bullies do when someone stands up to their bullying and punches them in the face? They look for someone weaker to bully who won’t punch back.
Presumably that’s why Donald Trump has now taken on Canada, after Iran punched back so hard in the cage match the US president began more than six months ago as to leave him humiliated and baffled.
As more companies turn to AI, they’re hiring freelancers to clean up its mistakes rather than create original work
Lisa, a freelance graphic designer based in Spain, noticed a shift in her work after the release of ChatGPT in 2022. She went from receiving slow one-off jobs creating logos and packaging to an onslaught of requests asking her to fix versions that were generated by artificial intelligence – from sharpening fuzzy images for printing to turning flawed designs into usable files.
By 2025, Lisa, who asked not to be fully named to avoid solicitations, said 90% of her incoming logo and packaging design requests required cleaning up AI-generated content, work that accounted for 60% to 70% of her annual income. But the grind was exhausting. Clients lowballed her;' some AI-generated designs were so flawed that she had to recreate them from scratch and she worried about being complicit in AI-driven copyright infringement. By the end of the year, she began turning those jobs down.
Rapper’s supporters reflect on ‘astonishing’ events leading to Duane Davis being found guilty over 1996 fatal shooting
A criminal conviction this week in the murder of Tupac Shakur, the first since the rapper was gunned down in 1996, sent shockwaves through his sea of fans who have waited three decades for answers.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former California gang leader, was found guilty of murder on Monday for the role he played in orchestrating the fatal shooting of Shakur.
Edouard weakened to a tropical depression Tuesday night, but wind and heavy rainfall continued to sweep across Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.
Leading Democrat accuses secretary of defense of causing ‘lasting harm’ to US forces. Plus, the curious case of the 5,500 missing sheep
Good morning. The US has launched more airstrikes on Iranian targets, prompting counterstrikes by Tehran targeting American interests in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq. The six-month conflict had shifted into an economic standoff before this weekend’s strikes, but recent promises by both sides to respond to further attacks have highlighted how quickly the conflict could spill back into military action.
The Iranian Red Crescent said four people, including a child, were killed and more than 50 were injured when shrapnel from a US missile attack hit a home where a wedding celebration was taking place in the city of Kuhestak. The US central command spokesperson Capt Tim Hawkins said: “The US military never targets civilians.”
Why are there concerns about US military leadership? A senior Democrat accused Pete Hegseth of having “hollowed out” the army’s senior ranks after its top civilian leader, Daniel Driscoll, resigned. Senator Jack Reed said: “It is far past time for Trump to recognize the lasting harm Pete Hegseth is inflicting on the Department of Defense … cultivating a culture where dissent is punished and competence is secondary to personal allegiance.”
How do officials appear to have profited from AI stocks? Emil Michael, a Pentagon official who is overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, reaped profits this year of up to $24m by selling his private investment in Elon Musk’s AI company. He has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian.
What has a whistleblower identified as a risk to mail-in ballots? A new system to screen millions of mail-in ballots for the midterms was thrown together so hastily, and tested so little, that a single scanning glitch could mean entire batches of ballots are turned away, a whistleblower has told Congress.
An election worker processes mail-in ballots at the Los Angeles County Ballot Processing Center during California’s state primary election in June. Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Top U.S. Postal Service officials tasked with issuing new regulations on mail voting expressed concerns in internal meetings about how the rules they were drafting could delay or block ballots from reaching large swaths of eligible voters for the upcoming midterms, but the rules moved forward anyway, ProPublica has learned.
The revelations about the discussions, from someone familiar with the rulemaking process, come as a separate anonymous federal employee filed a whistleblower disclosure with U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, warning that the new system is untested and error-prone, and could lead to mass disenfranchisement in the upcoming election. The whistleblower described the entire process as “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed.”
In a March executive order, President Donald Trump directed the Postal Service to create the new rules, including requiring states to give USPS a list of all voters eligible to receive a ballot in the mail and requiring USPS to use those lists to determine which ballots get sent to voters. USPS officials were tasked with crafting the details of how the new system would work, including the creation of a new portal for states to upload their voters’ information and the back-end software that would allow mail delivery sites and local post offices to track, and potentially block, ballots entering into the mail on their way to voters.
Voting rights organizations, state officials and Democratic political groups filed lawsuits challenging the new rules, and a federal court has temporarily blocked the requirements for states. The merits of the new rule are expected to reach the Supreme Court before the November election. Even if the Supreme Court allows the plan, though, election officials and experts say that the new system could not be ready in time for this election, given that ballots for people who are in the military or overseas must be sent out this month.
During meetings in which top USPS officials discussed how to comply with the executive order, there was much discussion about the controversial nature of what they needed to do, according to the person familiar with the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The focus was on limiting the impact to voters while also complying. One repeated concern regarded how to avoid invalidating an entire batch of ballots if one voter among thousands couldn’t be confirmed as eligible. Some in the meetings recommended trying to limit harm to voters by not rejecting the entire batch, according to the person familiar with the discussions. Despite that, according to the whistleblower who contacted Blumenthal, the directive to reject entire batches if they included just one unverified ballot moved forward.
“As presently designed, if even one bar code on one single ballot in a bulk-mailing of 10,000 ballots fails to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch is rejected and sent back to the state — effectively stopping the ballots from being mailed to voters,” the whistleblower wrote.
Election clerks raised similar concerns directly to USPS officials just days before the final rule was issued, at a mid-August National Association of Election Officials conference in Kansas City, Missouri, ProPublica has learned.
Do You Know More About This Topic?
We’re still reporting. If you know more about the U.S. Postal Service’s efforts to regulate mail voting in the midterms, or other actions by the Trump administration to change how voting happens, please contact me.
Jen Fifield
Send me tips on the Trump administration’s actions related to voting and elections, along with local or national threats to accurate, fair and secure elections.
There, an example was given of Maricopa County, Arizona, which often sends out more than 2 million ballots at a time in its initial mailing. USPS officials confirmed it was possible that one ballot with a bad barcode or wrong voter information within the more than 2 million ballots could delay the entire mailing, according to two people who attended the related committee meeting.
The Postal Service has defended its final rule in court, stating that it does not intend to seize control of administration of elections and that the rule “need not and should not prevent a single voter from voting by mail.”
In a statement to ProPublica, a Postal Service spokesperson said the agency is carefully reviewing the Blumenthal whistleblower’s concerns and that USPS has spent months developing its system, in a manner consistent with court orders, and will soon provide instructions for how election officials can use it.
“Regardless of political party or perspective, we share a common goal: ensuring that Americans can have confidence that their election mail will be handled securely and delivered reliably,” the spokesperson said.
Lauren Bis, a White House spokesperson, said in a statement to ProPublica that the process of building software to carry out the new mail ballot checks “is neither complex nor unique for USPS since the Postal Service regularly uses bulk mailing and intelligent mail barcodes for a wide variety of large customers.”
“Under President Trump, the federal government is working to ensure safe, transparent, and honest elections,” Bis wrote.
Blumenthal, the Connecticut Democrat who received the whistleblower disclosure, asked the postmaster general for detailed info about the plan in a letter this week. He told reporters on a call Monday that the new USPS rule puts all mail voters at risk, and he accused the administration of being “hellbent on changing the framework of casting ballots in this country, clearly for political reasons.”
Election officials and printing experts have told ProPublica that errors in the system are likely, given how difficult it is to design envelopes with a clear barcode for scanning and to keep voter information up to date. Seemingly small details have yet to be worked out that could throw the entire system into chaos, they said, such as what file format to use when uploading voter lists and whether to provide mailing or residential addresses to USPS.
“These are trivial things that create massive problems,” said Jeff Ellington, CEO of Runbeck Election Services, which prints ballots and ballot envelopes for counties. Beyond that, he said, most of the counties in the country don’t have the type of barcodes needed to make the system function. And the Postal Service hasn’t told local election officials how to design new ballot envelopes and get them approved by USPS in this short of a timeframe.
The Blumenthal whistleblower said the idea that entire batches will be delayed by one mistake is especially concerning because of significant operational problems that exist with the portal that will contain information about eligible voters and the lack of testing of the system. The whistleblower is concerned about how, while systems typically have a known error rate, there has been no internal acknowledgment that errors will occur in the new mail ballot system, and instead the USPS has adopted a “zero-percent failure policy.”
The whistleblower also alleges that the administration moved forward with steps to create the new system during two initial injunctions from the court, which would have violated the court’s order. USPS had stated when issuing its final rule that it was adhering to the injunctions and would not take actions to implement the rule for the 2026 election unless the injunctions were lifted.
Both the whistleblower and the person familiar with discussions about the executive order’s implementation said that the timeline for creating a sophisticated tracking system would typically be at least nine months. The whistleblower’s disclosure says that workers began to work on the system in mid-June and had only weeks before being given a Sept. 1 deadline. The person familiar with the discussions said it was common for priority projects within USPS to have crunched timelines. The internal goal, the person said, was to try to implement the new system by that deadline or to show why it couldn’t happen — which was typical of other directives the agency had faced in the past.
The whistleblower disclosure described confusion as the staff attempted to develop the systems without enough direction, within weeks, and without proper communication, and said several employees referred to the situation as a “shit show.”
Dr. Temeka Zore, a double board-certified OB-GYN and fertility specialist, joined "Healthful" for a deep dive on all things fertility, from endometriosis to PMOS (formerly known as PCOS) to egg freezing.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Wired: Sonos has a new app. Stop me if you've heard this one before. The smart speaker company, long a darling of the audio industry, undid much of the goodwill it earned with its multiroom speakers through a bevy of software updates that broke its app in 2024. Almost all app users hated it, citing the loss of features like volume control and accessibility tools meant to help blind people use the wireless speaker system. Sonos eventually owned up to the mistake, considered bringing back the old app again, then booted its CEO and marched its new leaders out to apologize profusely to win back the company's furious customers.
Now, Sonos says it has a brand-new app update, infused with lots of generative AI features. The company also announced a new soundbar and its second pair of over-the-ear headphones. Sonos representatives say it doesn't want to be seen as a speaker company anymore, but as something bigger and more holistic. "For years people have been seeing us as a speaker company," says Brandon Holley, the interim hardware lead at Sonos. "What we actually are is an audio operating system." The company is calling that operating system Sonos 27, and it manifests in a few ways.
[...] This is a lot of change for Sonos, something the company hasn't always handled gracefully. Sonos' home systems already aren't the easiest to set up, sometimes requiring separate apps for older products. The company may be rejiggering itself as an "audio operating system," but its software has long been the source of its troubles with getting its products to work right. Will AI smarts fix that? Maybe for its newer devices. But anyone with an existing system may still struggle. The AI features on products and in the Sonos 27 app will be opt-in, meaning you can avoid them entirely. "That really is our new approach to our app release," Patel says. "We're going to bring our customers along. We're going to listen more." That would be a good plan. Sounds like Sonos' speakers will be listening more, too. Sonos is emphasizing a more "customer-centric feedback listening approach" after the backlash to its previous redesign. Improvements include easier tab navigation, better room sorting, revamped volume controls, and new system-health tools for diagnosing connection problems.
The centerpiece is Sonos 27voice, a generative AI voice assistant that can handle conversational music requests, connect with services like ChatGPT through Model Context Protocol, and power customizable "Sonos Custom Agents" for tasks such as automatically activating certain speakers. "Obviously AI is something that's very hot these days," Sonos software VP Sid Patel said. "So we have integrated various pieces of AI into our system." However, the features will only work with the newer S2 app, and Sonos cautions that "not every product will support every new feature," with detailed compatibility information coming later.
Sonos is also branding its multiroom networking technology Sonos Fabric, which what Patel calls "the magic that has existed for what Sonos was built on." New Fabric features include portable surround, which lets users temporarily move speakers between rooms and have them automatically configure themselves for surround sound, and Headphone Linking, which lets users seamlessly switch audio between Sonos speakers and headphones.
The president’s call for the FCC to scrutinize Kristen Welker’s innocuous remarks is a sign of desperation
With his approval ratings tanking, the crucial midterm elections looming, and his war with Iran turning into a quagmire, Donald Trump has entered full freak-out mode.
It’s not hard to tell. Just look at what happened this week when he lashed out at Kristen Welker, the well-respected host of NBC’s Meet the Press, and one of the best-known journalists in the nation.
Sean O’Brien, president of 1.3 million-strong union, was also first to speak at the Republican national convention in 2024
The powerful Teamsters union is backing Republican candidates in the 2026 election cycle even after members have voted to support their Democratic opponents.
The 1.3 million-strong union’s president, Sean O’Brien, angered many members and union leaders in 2024 when he became the first union president to speak at the Republican national convention (RNC).
Hundreds of unseen images of the star feature at the Venice film festival, alongside virtual worlds exploring wildfires, wolves and the birth of stars
David Bowie shares the bill with starmen, firefighters and Walt Disney wolves at the 10th anniversary edition of Venice Immersive, the film festival’s pioneering showcase for new forms of storytelling. David Bowie: Unseen Unheard – a 3D documentary featuring hundreds of previously unseen images – is among 69 XR (extended reality) pieces playing at the event’s regular base on Lazzaretto Vecchio, a repurposed small island off the Venice Lido.
Venice Immersive’s 10th birthday marks a milestone for an event which aims to provide a bridge between emergent technology and traditional narrative cinema. But the programme’s organisers are at pains to emphasise the ongoing scope of a project that has in recent years prompted similar sections at the Cannes, Geneva and Toronto film festivals. “This is not a retrospective,” declares the official festival blurb that welcomes guests to the island. It almost sounds like a warning.
Bangladeshi complainants allege Rampal power station’s pollution and climate risks threaten the Sunderbans, a world heritage site
Barclays Bank is facing a formal complaint over its financial links to a coal-fired power station near the Sundarbans, the world’s largest mangrove forest and home to millions of people in Bangladesh and India.
Three complainants from the region have submitted a case to the UK government’s Office for Responsible Business Conduct, alleging that the British bank breached international guidelines by underwriting companies involved in the emission-heavy Maitree super thermal power project, also known as the Rampal power plant.
Sum of $500,000 has been increased as death toll passes 1,000 but specialists decry Trump dismantling of USAID
Aid experts have denounced the US’s “embarrassing” and “pitiful” initial response to the Nepal flood disaster after the US state department announced it was releasing $500,000 in emergency funds to help the relief effort.
The modest sum – which has since been increased – allocated in response to the devastation caused by mudslides in the mountainous Asian country was mocked on social media, where users contrasted it with the amount spent on other Trump administration priorities.
Relatives of Benjamin Halona remember his career as wildlife firefighter and his zeal for selling tamales
Relatives of a New Mexico man who was fatally mauled by a bear inside his home recently say they are choosing to remember his firefighting career and zeal for peddling tamales rather than his rare, brutal manner of death.
As Benjamin Halona’s sister, Gloria Halona, and her daughter, Samantha Vandever, put it, that is the least he deserved after the quiet dignity that he showed becoming a widower in February and subsequently grappling with health problems that required him to use a walker and a wheelchair to move around.
Enforcing civil rights without these reports will be difficult for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, pushing US agency closer to Trump’s agenda, experts warn
The US civil rights agency mandated to protect equal rights for workers is set to stop collecting data on the demographic makeup of companies – which for the past six decades has been used to enforce anti-discrimination laws.
The move marks a fundamental shift for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Without this data, it will be much harder for the agency to identify widespread cases of discrimination in hiring and promotions, experts and former employees of the commission say. And, they warn, it will bring the Trump administration one step closer to reshaping the commission from an independent watchdog into an arm of the executive branch narrowly focused on advancing the political grievances of Donald Trump’s base.
Why Should Delaware Care? Early voting for Delaware’s primary elections begins today, ahead of Primary Election day which will take place on Sept. 15. While there will still be a general election in November, some of the most competitive races across the state are likely to be decided this month.
Beginning today, Sept. 2, Delawareans registered with either the Democratic or Republican Party can cast their ballots early for the state’s upcoming primary election.
Primary Election Day is set for Tuesday, Sept. 15, but early voting will take place over the next two weeks at polling locations across the state.
Though we are still months away from the November general election, about 40% of all this year’s statewide or statehouse races will be decided by voters during the primaries. Increased partisan redistricting in recent decades also makes it more difficult to flip seats between parties, meaning the primary may be the best opportunity for voters to have a say in who represents them in Dover.
Delaware operates under a closed primary system, meaning that voters must be registered with either of the two major parties in order to participate. Independent, third-party or unaffiliated voters will not be able to cast a ballot until the November general election.
The deadline for most residents to affiliate with a party has passed, but voters who were automatically registered at the Division of Motor Vehicles without choosing a party can still participate by designating their affiliation in person at their polling place.
Eligible residents can cast their ballots at any polling place in their county of residence throughout the 10-day early voting period.
Spotlight Delaware has compiled a round up of some of the most pertinent early voting information below.
What does the process of voting look like?
When can I vote early ?
Early voting will take place over the span of 10 days from:
Sept. 2 through Sept. 5, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sept. 8, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sept. 9 through Sept. 13, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There will be no early voting Sept. 6-7 in honor of Labor Day.
Where can I vote early?
There are six polling locations in New Castle County, four in Kent County and nine in Sussex County.
New Castle County polling places:
Appoquinimink State Service Center, located at 122 Silver Lake Road in Middletown
Claymont Community Center, located at 3301 Green St. in Claymont
Department of Elections Warehouse, located at New Castle, 220 Lisa Drive in New Castle
Hudson State Service Center, located at 501 Ogletown Road in Newark
The Delaware Contemporary, located at 200 S. Madison St. in Wilmington
Wilmington Police Athletic League (PAL), located at 3707 N. Market St. in Wilmington
Kent County polling places:
BPOE #1903 Elks Lodge, 200 S Saulsbury Road, Dover, DE 19904
Frederica Senior Center, 216 Market St., Frederica, DE 19946
Harrington Parks & Recreation, 114 E. Liberty St., Harrington, DE 19952
Wyoming United Methodist Church, 216 Wyoming Mill Road, Dover, DE 19904
Sussex County polling places:
Department of Elections Georgetown Warehouse – 542 S. Bedford St., Georgetown, DE 19947
Department of Elections Seaford Warehouse – 200 Allen St., Seaford, DE 19973
Ellendale Fire Hall – 302 Main St., Ellendale, DE 19941
Fairfield Inn by Marriott, 19113 Coastal Highway, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971
Indian River Fire Co Sta #2 – 25375 Banks Road, Millsboro, DE 19966
Laurel Fire Hall – 205 W 10th St., Laurel, DE 19956
Margaret Rollins Community Center – 101 Adams Ave., Lewes, DE 19958
Millville Community Center – 32517 Dukes Drive, Millville, DE 19967
Roxana Fire Hall – 39453 Zion Church Road, Frankford, DE 19945
What do I need to bring to vote ?
When arriving at an early voting site, a poll worker will ask you for proof of identity. Permitted forms of ID include:
A valid photo ID
A utility bill showing your address
A bank statement
A paycheck, government check, or other government document that shows your address.
Who can vote?
To be eligible to vote in the primary, you must meet the following criteria:
Be a U.S. citizen
Be a Delaware resident
Be 18 years old on or before the Nov. 5 general election
Have not been judged to be mentally incompetent
have completed your entire sentence if you were convicted of a felony.
For more information on a specific candidate, voters can visit Vote 411.
Spotlight Delaware also has compiled an election center, which includes a series of podcasts with candidates in some of the state’s most competitive races across the state.
Can I get help when I vote?
If an eligible voter does not speak English, they can ask for assistance from a poll worker, or ask another person of their choice to assist them.
Poll workers can also assist voters with a disability that prevents them from operating a voting machine by themselves.
Can I request an absentee ballot?
Absentee voting is permitted during the primary election. To request an absentee ballot, visit the state’s online portal here.
Absentee ballot applications can be submitted virtually using the online portal above, or they can be either physically mailed to or dropped off at your county’s Department of Elections location.
The New Castle County Department of Elections office is located at:
Carvel State Office Building 820 North French St. Suite 400 Wilmington, DE 19801
The New Castle County Department of Elections’ mailing address:
P.O. Box 7079 Wilmington, DE 19803
The Kent County Department of Elections office is located at:
100 Enterprise Place Suite 5 Dover, DE 19904
The Kent County Department of Elections’ mailing address is:
P.O. BOX 699 Dover DE 19903-0699
The Sussex County Department of Elections is located at:
119 N. Race St. Georgetown DE 19947
The Sussex County Department of Elections’ mailing address is:
P.O. Box 457 Georgetown, DE 19947-0457
Absentee ballots must be sent out to voters at least four days before Election Day. They must then be completed and returned by 8 p.m. on Election Day in order to be counted.
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware is home to around 126,000 people with Hispanic heritage. Community members represent various different countries or territories, including Mexico, Guatemala and Puerto Rico. August and September see a concentration of Hispanic festivals due to a cluster of independence days across Latin America, and the free Baila Con Dover celebration is one of them.
The air smelled of grilled pinchos — traditional Puerto Rican chicken skewers — and the streets surrounding Dover’s Legislative Mall were cleared for dancers vibing to a Spanish mix of music at the Baila Con Dover festival.
For Susana Amador and her husband Jose Avila, the day was an opportunity to teach the community about their tribe — the Tonantzin Yaotecatl indigenous people of Mexico. The Wilmington-based chiefs, in addition to performing, sold handmade artisanal crafts.
For others like Jenny Baez Ortiz and her mother Sherry, Baila Con Dover is an ongoing, familiar celebration they attend year-after-year.
Even out-of-state attendees make the drive from Maryland, New Jersey or Pennsylvania, like the Puerto Rican music and dance group Bomberos de la Calle.
From the dozens of small businesses who cooked up fried plantains and Dominican hot dogs, to the groups of friends playing a round at the mesa de dominos or domino tables, Spotlight Delaware captured the community goers attending Saturday’s festivities.
Club de Danza Quetzalli is a local dance group whose purpose is to showcase Mexican culture. Baila Con Dover is one of many Hispanic festivals they have performed at. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Jenny Baez Ortiz and her mother Sherry wore coordinated Puerto Rico shorts at the festival on Aug. 29 to show off their pride. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Baila Con Dover had multiple music acts for the audience to dance to. Music genres ranges from salsa, bachata and cumbia — all traditional to Hispanic culture. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
“Baile folklorico” is a type of traditional, Mexican dance group that involves a man and a woman dancing to the beat of folk music. Both dancers are part of Club de Danza Quetzalli. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
The Baila Con Dover Festival brings out members of the community from across the state and neighboring states such as New Jersey and Maryland. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Many families attending the festival were showing off their cultural pride with matching bandanas or t-shirts. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Joanna bought a Dominican Hot Dog from Mi Casita Restaurant at the Dover festival. She said the hot dog and the “jugo de chinola” or passionfruit juice, remind her of the food she would eat back at the Dominican Republic. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Evelyn and her parents Luis and Lizet Moreno enjoyed the festival’s Puerto Rican food, the reggaeton music and meeting up with other attendees. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Los Bomberos de la Calle are a Philadelphia-based, Afro-Boricuan music and dance group. The group features traditional “bomba” music that uses handheld maracas and barrel-shaped drums. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Susana Amador and her husband Jose Avila are part of the Tonantzin Yaotecas Aztec dance group who performed at the Baila Con Dover festival. The family also sold handcrafted, indigenous art this year. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Eunice Turner is the CEO of Domadera Design, a woodcrafting company. At the festival, Turner was constructing a customized domino table filled with references and designs from Puerto Rico — her birth country. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
The Culture Club is a Milford-based organization that seeks to teach children about various cultures. At the Baila Con Dover festival, founder Neyda Albarran was displaying bilingual books for the community. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Pinchos — traditional Puerto Rican grilled chicken skewers — were being served at the hispanic festival. It is the most sought after item on the menu. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Maribel Gonzales is the owner of Boricua Gift Shop. She partners with two Puerto Rican candy shops and exports sweet treats to the U.S. to sell. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
Brenda Iris and her daughter were selling customized gifts, such as t-shirts and tumblers, that showcased a variety of nationalities. Iris regularly operates out of Claymont. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY CRISTAL SANCHEZ
The far-right provocateur helped galvanize a movement that no longer needs him. Now his imitators are claiming victory
It’s been a long, slow decline for Milo Yiannopoulos. From the vantage point of 2026, it’s easy to forget that he was once a big deal.
The British-born far-right provocateur, who was arrested by ICE in Louisiana and deported from the US this week, was among the first media figures to ride the “gamergate” controversy and ensuing rightwing populist wave that brought Donald Trump to office in 2016. An editor of the then ascendant Breitbart News from 2014 to 2017, Yiannopoulous was an early adopter of the media strategy of algorithm-optimized outrage bait, trawling the internet and consulting a large network of well-placed sources in search of stories he could use to fan the flames of online culture war discourses. He would write a story mocking a feminist, or fire off a tweet saying something racist about Muslims, and the ensuing firestorm of controversy would result in online arguments, media coverage, and his own promptly and decisively rising star. Rinse, repeat.
Why Should Delaware Care? Affordable housing has been a persistent theme within the city of Wilmington with debates over subsidies for developers and rent stabilization. Now a different fight is also emerging at some of the few affordable apartments available for the city’s seniors, with some saying their publicly supported homes are falling short of basic living standards.
For the past week, residents of a Wilmington apartment for seniors have publicly called on their building’s management to fix what they say are horrible living conditions that have persisted for the past year.
At a protest last Friday and during subsequent news interviews, the older residents have said their homes within the Windsor Apartments — a 14-story high-rise that offers low-income units — have lacked consistent hot water for about a month.
They also said that the Walnut Street building has been infested with bed bugs, cockroaches, and mice for several months.
“We’re tired of paying our rent and living like this. They don’t want to do anything,” resident Jane Morrow said.
The residents say they will take their grievances to the Wilmington City Council, which has scheduled a discussion of “ongoing issues impacting seniors in high-rises” for its council meeting on Wednesday.
Wilmington City Council President Ernest “Trippi” Congo told Spotlight Delaware that the elected body had been planning the meeting for the past three weeks after hearing years of similar concerns about other publicly supported apartments in the city, separate from Windsor.
He said the council had hosted meetings before to discuss such problems, but Wednesday’s will be the first that will include the Wilmington Police Department, the city’s Department of Licenses and Inspections, and the Wilmington Housing Authority.
Get Involved The Wilmington City Council Committee of the Whole will meet at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 2, in the Redding City/County Building at 800 N. French Street. To see the agenda, click here.
Windsor Apartments is owned and operated by Arbor Management LLC, which is an affiliate of Leon N. Weiner & Associates (LNWA), a Delaware-based affordable housing developer.
The 169-unit apartment complex offers efficiency and one-bedroom apartments to seniors. According to the company’s website, the building operates under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Section-8 and Low Income Housing Tax Credit programs.
Neither officials from Arbor nor LNWA responded to requests to comment for this story.
Claims of poor repairs
Beyond complaints about hot water and pests, Windsor Apartments residents also pointed to what they described as poor and incomplete repairs.
Michelle Webster, who’s lived in the complex for the past three years, said mold has built up in her bathtub lining, and water damage has spread across her ceiling from flooding that came from the floor above. She asked for the issues to be fixed months ago, but they have gone untreated, she said.
Spotlight Delaware also visited Webster’s apartment and saw mold in the bathroom, damage to the ceiling, and rotten wood on the cabinets.
The water from her faucet was hot during the visit.
Webster and other residents say the hot water in the building has been periodically turning off, then back on.
Peeling paint is visible on the walls of Michelle Webster’s Windsor Apartments home. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
In response, Webster and two other residents said they intend to withhold their rent, and instead place it into Wilmington’s newly established rent escrow account.
Under Delaware Law, tenants can withhold two-thirds of their daily rent if their landlord does not provide such vital items.
Caroline Klinger, spokeswoman for Mayor John Carney, told Spotlight that the city is aware of residents’ concerns after receiving complaints in recent months about a lack of hot water, ceiling leaks and bugs.
City inspectors cited the property and worked with management and contractors to address the issues, she said.
She also said officials continue to evaluate the situation, and the Department of Licenses and Inspections will conduct a full inspection of the Windsor Apartments building later this month.
‘Shut ’em down’
Morrow and Webster were among more than a dozen residents who staged a protest on Friday in front of the Windsor Apartments to express their frustration with the conditions.
Wilmington police blocked off Walnut Street from traffic as residents and supporters took to the streets, chanting “Shut ’em down!” and “We matter!” drawing attention to the conditions inside.
Also attending the protest was Wilmington City Councilwoman Michelle Harlee, who represents the area. There, she encouraged residents to express their concerns at Wednesday’s city council meeting. She made the suggestion before Congo officially announced that the council would discuss the issues.
Michelle Booker, a political candidate running to represent the 2nd district in the state legislature, stands outside the Windsor Apartments in August. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY BRIANNA HILL
The demonstration was organized by Michelle Booker, a political candidate running to represent the 2nd District in the state legislature, and her husband, Mahkieb Booker, a community advocate.
Michelle Booker said she decided to organize the protest after knocking on residents’ doors as part of her campaigning and hearing resident concerns.
“I wouldn’t want nobody to treat my family like that. We got people in here on oxygen and all kinds of stuff,” Michelle Booker said.
State Rep. Stephanie Bolden (D-Wilmington). | PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Booker’s primary election opponent, state Rep. Stephanie Bolden (D-Wilmington), said she regularly hosts events at Wilmington’s senior housing facilities, including the Windsor Apartments. She said residents have not raised concerns with her.
She also said the issue is primarily a matter for local government rather than the state legislature, asserting that there are state-level issues lawmakers need to focus on.
She also suggested that Booker was highlighting the issue for political gain.
“Everybody has the right to run [for office], but all I can say is run, get your information, and run for the right reasons, and don’t use people’s tragedies or their concerns,” Bolden said.
Illustration by Shoshana Gordon/ProPublica. Source images: via Wikimedia Commons, lori05871 via Flickr.
The rejections piled up one after another as leaders of Alpha School, a growing network of private school campuses, tried to convince states that their artificial-intelligence-led teaching model belonged in publicly funded charter schools.
The Alpha system is centered on the idea that students can “crush academics,” like reading and math lessons, in just two hours a day. AI software teaches the lessons. The human teachers, referred to as guides, focus on motivation and emotional support. “School is broken, and we’re here to fix it,” Alpha’s “2 Hour Learning” tagline claims.
But over the last two years, officials in numerous states have questioned the model, characterizing it as “untested” and ”experimental.” In North Carolina, one charter school board member feared two hours was “not nearly enough” to teach required subjects. A month earlier, in August 2024, an official in Utah worried that the school’s instructors may act more like “a life coach” than a teacher.
Even the largely conservative Texas State Board of Education, which had approved most charter applications over the last decade, rejected Alpha’s pitch last summer.
“I’m just a little skeptical of those types of gains,” said Keven Ellis, a Republican board member in Texas, in response to Alpha’s claims of massive improvements in student academic outcomes over short periods of time.
By this spring, Alpha had applied to form charter schools in at least 10 states, according to an Instagram post from co-founder MacKenzie Price in March. Only Arizona had said yes.
“I’ve met with White House representatives. Policy makers at the federal and state level. Decision makers who hold the fate of our society in their hands,” said Price in the Instagram post, months after Texas rejected the company’s charter pitch. “Unfortunately, change is hard.”
What Price didn’t mention in her post was that Texas leaders were rolling out a new education program that would allow private schools to earn state funding, and Alpha School was set to benefit. The inaugural voucher initiative would award tax dollars for select students’ homeschooling or private school tuition. Price and her husband, Andy, had personally pushed for vouchers by donating over $2 million, before and after the program was approved, to Texas legislators and political action committees that helped pass the controversial program and oversee it.
Now, just one year after the state rejected its charter school application, Alpha has roughly quadrupled its Texas private schools, with more than 30 virtual and in-person campuses, most of which were accepted into the voucher program, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune found. This rapid expansion has made Alpha among the largest private school chains participating in the voucher initiative.
MacKenzie Price, Alpha School’s co-founder, and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath speak during a visit to an Alpha School campus on Sept. 9, 2025.Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas Tribune
“They took a backdoor approach,” said Democrat Tiffany Clark, one of several Texas State Board of Education members who voted against Alpha’s charter school application last summer and were concerned with its entrance into the voucher program. “They said, ‘You know what, we can’t get in as a charter, but we can continue to be a private school and take these funds.’”
Texas and Arizona appear to be the first states where Alpha’s campuses have been approved to participate in school choice programs, though they could qualify in others. After starting with one campus in Austin, the chain now has private schools in 17 states and Puerto Rico. Most of those states run voucher programs.
As ProPublica reported in July, private schools across the country have multiplied in recent years, often with little oversight, alongside the growth of state voucher programs. The result is that taxpayer dollars sometimes go to school leaders who have misused public funds or have documented histories of abusing children. Elected leaders in Texas, which has one of the newest andlargest voucher programs in the country, promised that they had implemented strong guardrails, including some that other states had not.
But Alpha School’s acceptance into the voucher program, after state education leaders rejected the same model just last year, underscores the limitations of those standards, according to education experts. Alpha leaders didn’t apply again to the state education board but to the Texas comptroller’s office, essentially the state’s chief financial officer, which legislators designated to run the voucher program. The comptroller checked for only four criteria: that a school operates in Texas, that it’s accredited by an approved organization, that it’s been in operation at least two years and that it administers annual standardized tests.
None of Alpha’s private schools had to meet state curriculum standards or show how the company’s model would lead to student success. None of the concerns raised by the Texas board just last year about Alpha’s rejected charter applications, test scores or use of AI to teach mattered.
“That wasn’t relevant,” said Travis Pillow, a spokesperson for the voucher program. “Our role is to make sure that a school meets the requirements in the law.”
Have you had trouble finding a school or using a voucher-style program? Do you have concerns about schools — public or private — in your area? Help us understand how families across the country are navigating their school options.
None of the Alpha leaders named in this story, nor the company’s press office, agreed to interviews, nor did they answer most of the newsrooms’ questions, including about their test scores. An Alpha spokesperson provided an emailed response only to questions about previous reporting by other news outlets. Alpha officials have defended their model in interviews and podcasts, saying it has drastically improved student outcomes and test scores that it says place their kids in the top 1% to 2% in the country.
Price has said she co-founded the school in 2014 to allow students to learn at their own pace after her oldest daughter grew bored and felt held back in public schools, according to multiple interviews.That mission was supercharged four years ago, when tech mogul Joe Liemandt poured $1 billion into the school and its AI-guided platform with the goal of reaching 1 billion students worldwide. Since then, Alpha has transformed into a sprawling education company with a fast-growing national profile. The schools have caught the attention of Trump endorser and billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, whose Starlink internet will be used to launch more Alpha schools across the world.
Education experts have raised skepticism about Alpha’s bold claims, noting that private schools can self-select affluent students, who are likely to perform well academically. ProPublica and the Tribune interviewed five such experts, who noted that private schools aren’t required to share their internal data and so can easily cherry-pick positive examples.
The newsrooms also examined some of Alpha’s outcomes among lower-income students and charter schools, including a partnership the company had with an existing charter in Texas that has not yet been reported. The experts ProPublica and the Tribune spoke with said in those examples, Alpha either didn’t release enough data to verify its alleged successes or the test scores released by state education agencies fell far short of the academic growth that company leaders predicted.
“I don’t believe their claims that typical students will see rapid improvements,” said Justin Reich, director of the Teaching Systems Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “There are tons of reasons to be skeptical of that claim.”
Rejection After Rejection
To achieve their ambitions of teaching a billion students, Alpha leaders had to break into the same public education system they aimed to revolutionize.
By 2024, the company was in the midst of a nationwide sprint, hoping to open virtual or in-person charters in over half the country.
The concept intrigued some state leaders, who liked the self-paced learning or the opportunity to pioneer AI instruction in classrooms. “My mind is kind of blown by all this,” one North Carolina education official said in September 2024.
But charter leaders across the country raised similar concerns that led them to reject Alpha’s pitches, according to ProPublica and the Tribune’s review of applications, interviews and written feedback from the six states where the newsrooms were able to verify the company had applied: Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Utah.
Officials in every state the newsrooms reviewed worried about what would happen to the role of teachers if Alpha’s AI-led platform, rather than certified educators, provided lessons to students. Many state charter leaders also doubted students could master necessary lessons in just two hours a day or questioned whether Alpha’s courses covered each individual state’s required curriculum. In at least one instance, in Utah, Alpha leaders admitted they had not checked the curriculum standards before applying.
In several states, charter leaders criticized Alpha’s habit of projecting multiplying enrollment year after year, or the little community support and outreach they’d secured to back up the claims. Alpha leaders told education officials at times that they surveyed Price’s social media followers to measure parent interest in a state.
At least two state education boards also took issue with Alpha’s plan to keep Price and her husband on the charter’s oversight board while the school simultaneously paid their companies, which provide services like the two-hour learning platform. The Prices acknowledged the conflict of interest and repeatedly promised to correct it. In Arizona, the only state to approve the Alpha-affiliated charter, Andy Price said in 2024 that they were “fully committed to having a majority board of 100% independent Arizona folks by the end of this year.” MacKenzie and Andy Price were still serving on the board as recently as this June, according to board meeting minutes.
Among state officials’ most consistent concerns was the fact that Alpha’s model had been tested only among affluent students whose families could afford expensive private schools or among students who’d received scholarships. They questioned whether the learning platform would work in charter schools, where there could be more students behind academically, who had special education needs or were learning English as a second language. (In at least four of its charter applications, Alpha said it incorporates programs like the language app Duolingo to help students with their English.)
A new Alpha school near Houston opened this year.Hope Mora for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune
Alpha leaders often countered concerns by referencing successful student test scores in two more diverse campuses in Texas where they’ve operated. But the achievements they highlighted were not so clear-cut as they made them seem, experts said.
In one instance, Alpha partnered with an Austin charter called Texas Preparatory School that was already facing a potential state-imposed closure because of low student test scores and failed financial audits. An Alpha leader told Texas education officials in May 2025 that after they implemented their two-hour learning platform at the charter, outcomes changed from most students failing state exams to 50% to 60% of students passing them.
Test results published by the Texas Education Agency don’t back up that claim. The scores indicate that students may have performed worse on state tests than before Alpha’s involvement, according to several education experts who reviewed them. The portion of students who achieved “approaches grade level,” the lowest category that counts as passing the test, slightly rose, from 19% to 21%. The share of students that the test showed were at their grade level dropped from 10% to zero after the Alpha partnership.
Texas Preparatory School received its third consecutive F rating, largely based on the test scores it received during the partnership with Alpha.
“I don’t see the extreme growth,” said Toni Templeton, a research scientist at the University of Houston Education Research Center who reviewed the records at the newsrooms’ request. “If you’re such a high-performing school, you should have no problem demonstrating it.”
The state decided to shut down the charter permanently last year in the middle of the Alpha partnership, but it allowed the campus to finish out the school year.
Alpha leaders also pointed to its private school campus in Brownsville, a majority-Latino city in South Texas, as another example of their success. Alpha boasted to state charter boards that its Brownsville students, located in one of the poorest school districts in the nation, still excelled using the company’s AI program.
“We don’t care if a student is white, Black or brown, rich or poor. An AI tutor is infinitely patient,” Price said during an interview with education officials in Utah about opening a charter campus there. “I believe this is the most kind of equitable answer to the problem of education.”
However, reports from Wired and CNN have detailed families leaving the school after students fell behind academically or developed anxiety trying to keep up with learning expectations. Alpha has vehemently denied the findings, which a spokesperson wrote in an email to ProPublica and the Tribune “contain inaccurate reporting, misleading context and potentially defamatory representations.” “Prior to publication, WIRED was provided with documentation that directly contradicted its central claims, yet the piece did not accurately reflect that information,” the spokesperson wrote. She did not share that documentation with ProPublica and the Tribune, saying some of the “strongest evidence involves sensitive mental health records, personal records and individual data related to minor children.”
ProPublica and the Tribune specifically looked at the Brownsville student outcome data that Alpha self-published, which does not include detailed test scores to prove academic growth for all students, according to several education experts who reviewed it. There was also inconsistency in how Alpha presented the data. An Alpha leader told Texas education officials that students across grade levels in the Brownsville campus had scores that jumped from 30% to 80% mastery. But Jennifer Steele, an education professor at American University, said that Alpha’s published report shows those improvements for only its second graders, who may not be representative of the entire school.
“The bottom line is that if you desperately want your child to drill on screens two hours a day and you are prepared to pay a lot of money for that, you might have the kind of child who will test well after doing so. These kids do exist, and the Alpha schools are built to attract their parents,” Steele said. “But as a scalable model for public schools — even public charter schools — there is no evidence that it works.”
Even in Arizona, the sole state to green-light Alpha’s charter pitch, the academic outcomes appear to again fall short, based on the preliminary state test scores recently presented to the charter school’s oversight board ahead of their official release this fall. (The Arizona Education Department would not provide ProPublica and the Tribune with the underlying scores.)
In their application to form a charter school in Arizona, Alpha leaders had predicted 65% of their students would test proficient in English at the end of the first year, but just 28% did, the state test scores showed. They projected 60% could reach that level in math. Only 10% achieved it.
The Expansion Continues
Kaylee Greenlee for The Texas TribuneJordan Vonderhaar for ProPublica and The Texas Tribune
One of Alpha School’s Austin campuses
Even as many states have rejected Alpha’s charter applications, the company’s push to expand its footprint hasn’t slowed. It’s only intensified. By this summer, Alpha had announced the launch of private campuses in 50 cities across the country, each catering to a different type of learner: Athletes can attend one of Alpha’s 13 sports academies. There are options for kids who play video games like Fortnite or who like to spend time in nature. One high school campus in New York challenges students to launch business ventures and net $1 million by the time they graduate, or else Alpha will pay back their $150,000 annual tuition. In another program, students spend their year abroad in Kenya and Ecuador. Their mission: help start new Alpha schools.
As the number and types of schools multiplied, so did Alpha leaders’ efforts to win support from public officials, particularly those who have pushed voucher programs.
In 2023, the Texas Observer reported that an LLC called Future of Education, whose incorporation address is the same as the Prices’ Austin home, donated $1 million to the campaign committee affiliated with then-Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, an outspoken voucher advocate. In Texas, Andy Price gave over $250,000 to a political action committee that helped elect pro-voucher candidates, and MacKenzie Price gave $10,000 to Rep. Brad Buckley, the Republican lawmaker who successfully carried the Texas voucher bill last year. She also donated to the leaders whose office oversees the state’s voucher program: $200,000 to Kelly Hancock and $100,000 to Don Huffines, who have both served as Texas comptroller.
MacKenzie Price personally donated the most money in Texas to the main fundraising committee of Gov. Greg Abbott, who led the charge to bring a voucher program to the state. She contributed over $1.5 million to the governor’s campaign in the last three years.
Alpha even got a mention in a press release the governor’s office issued in September 2025, after Abbott met with U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon. McMahon had toured an Alpha campus in Austin earlier that day. “The Secretary noted the innovation of Texas schools using artificial intelligence as a beneficial tool to assist students in learning how to ask the right questions to better understand educational materials,” the press release said.
Joining McMahon on that tour was Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath, though about two months earlier the state board of education — which oversees his initial charter decisions and often agrees with Morath — had rejected Alpha’s charter proposal despite his recommendation.Morath has been a supporter of Alpha’s model before and after the vote, which he doesn’t have the power to override.
State board member Julie Pickren was thrilled to learn from ProPublica and the Tribune that Alpha private schools were accepted into the voucher program. Pickren, who voted in favor of Alpha’s Texas charter last summer, thought the model brought a promising individualized learning solution that could improve student outcomes, especially in academically struggling districts.
“I would say thank you to them,” said Pickren, referring to Alpha. “Thank you for not giving up and looking for a way to serve children.”
Fellow Republican and education board member Evelyn Brooks disagreed. She was shocked to learn about Alpha’s acceptance into the voucher program and rapid expansion in Texas.
“You’re just making money. You’re reproducing a model, regardless of the region, regardless of the state,” said Brooks, who voted against Alpha’s charter proposal last year.
And Alpha continues to open campuses where its leaders say there is enough demand.
Last month, the company sent out a news release announcing a new school in a suburb of Houston.
At BeeTopia, travelers can pull on a veil, approach a working hive and taste the landscape from a beekeeper’s point of view. I used to believe all honey was created equal and that bees were something to run away from.…
Referendum result means fewer seats in parliament and new rules on candidates, ahead of December elections
Guinea-Bissau voters have approved a new constitution, which critics say will undermine democracy, that significantly expands presidential powers ahead of elections due in December.
According to provisional results, 70% of voters approved sweeping changes in the tiny west African state’s first constitutional amendment since revisions that ended the one-party socialist state more than three decades ago.
Fully electric SUV unveiled after year-long delay and will be built at Jaguar Land Rover’s plant in Solihull
Range Rover has launched its first electric vehicle – a year later than planned – offering a greener option for fans of gargantuan British-made SUVs who are also conscious about the climate crisis.
Due to be built in Solihull, the home of the marque since 1970, the vehicle comes with an eye-watering price tag, starting at £154,070.
Washington, D.C. — President Donald Trump is struggling across national polling as the midterm elections approach, with affordability emerging as one of his weakest issues, according to New York Times reporter and CNN analyst Maggie Haberman.
“There is no polling where this president is popular,” Haberman said Monday on CNN’s “The Source.” She added that Trump is also consistently underwater on affordability, an issue Republicans in competitive districts increasingly view as a liability.
The comments came as CNN polling showed Trump with a net approval rating of negative 32 percentage points, compared with negative 21 points for the Republican Party overall.
Other surveys have also shown Trump near or at the lowest approval levels of his second term. A recent Reuters/Ipsos poll placed his approval at 33%, while broader polling averages have generally shown him performing somewhat better than that single survey.
Haberman cautioned that public polls do not always match private polling she has seen, but said the overall trend remains difficult for the president.
The White House has recently emphasized affordability in public events, despite Trump previously dismissing Democratic criticism over rising costs as a political “hoax.”
Republican leaders are nevertheless making Trump central to their midterm strategy. Trump has urged supporters to vote as though he were personally “on the ballot,” hoping to maximize turnout among his base.
The November elections will test whether Trump’s continued strength with core Republican voters can offset his weaker standing with the broader electorate.
Book recreates recipes from period following end of Spanish civil war when people faced food shortages
Few dishes are simpler to prepare than Spain’s signature dish of tortilla de patatas, which – aside from disputes about onions – requires nothing more than two basic ingredients and a pinch of salt. But where to begin if you have neither eggs nor potatoes?
That is the question the chef and food writer Berta Álvarez Acal sets out to answer in Recetas de Guerra (Wartime Recipes), a compilation of recipes covering the years of hunger after the end of the Spanish civil war in 1939.
PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, PC; Bit Reactor Split priorities between scripted and emergent story moments hamper an otherwise brilliant Star Wars-themed successor to XCOM
Even if you’re unfamiliar with the term “emergent storytelling”, you’ve likely experienced some of the unscripted tales that can bubble up out of a game’s systems. Perhaps you’ve led a scheming dynasty in Crusader Kings, or watched a favourite hero succumb to madness in Darkest Dungeon. Maybe you’ve surrendered yourself to the infinite yarn-spinner that is Dwarf Fortress – or read about it from the mid-00s forums where users helped popularise the term “Let’s Play” by chronicling their games in descriptive posts. Or perhaps you’ve played Firaxis’ XCOM, the alien invasion tactics hit that several key members of Zero Company studio Bit Reactor had a hand in.
Zero Company hinges on a concept as simple as it is perfect: take the complementary class abilities, tough dice rolls, and permanent character deaths of XCOM, and house them in a sci-fi setting known for spaghetti western blaster duels, last stands and heroic sacrifices. As creative director Greg Foertsch puts it, “Star Wars is about loss.” Which losses you end up mourning in Zero Company depends on you.
LA added Myles Garrett and brought Aaron Donald out of retirement to create the NFL’s most menacing defense. A Super Bowl trip still isn’t a guarantee
Last Saturday night, NFL Network premiered the 2025 edition of America’s Game, the annual NFL Films-produced documentary on the reigning Super Bowl champions, this time starring the Seattle Seahawks.
Less than 24 hours later, the Los Angeles Rams announced that they had lured Aaron Donald out of retirement and signed him to a one-year, $20m contract that could reach $30m with incentives.
Ten years after he helped shape the quarterback’s anthem protest, the former NFL player and Army veteran says he still sees it as an act of patriotism
Nate Boyer was stunned. The former NFL long snapper and United States Army Green Beret had big plans for his MVP (Merging Vets and Players) foundation, an organization that helps veterans and NFL players address the challenges that await once they take the uniform off for good. MVP was all set for a season-long college football activation tour thanks to a five-figure sponsorship from a well-known brand that happens to be one of the NFL’s longstanding partners. Boyer and his team were prepping for their trip to Columbus for Ohio State’s home opener. Everything was ready to go. Thousands in upfront costs had been spent. Then the company pulled out.
“They suddenly stopped replying to emails,” Boyer says. “Finally, on that Thursday, when I was at the airport en route, I called our point person, also a veteran, who begrudgingly told me what was going on.”
Joe Rogers, a former resident of the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park near Clyde, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene swept his mobile home into the nearby river with his wife and three of their dogs still inside. The county still allows trailers and campers at the mobile home park. Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
Dave Masters could no longer ignore the storm as trees cracked and the swollen river roared. It was dark outside, but through the window he could see his father’s house, usually 100 feet away from the Pigeon River, was surrounded by water. Masters, tall and slender, forded the frigid waist-deep water to wake up his father and convince the 63-year-old to evacuate.
From the son’s trailer on the hillside, the two watched the water rise as Hurricane Frances wreaked havoc on Western North Carolina in early September 2004. Within an hour, his father’s home floated up like a bobber on a fishing line and then sailed down the middle of the road before veering into a telephone pole and cracking in half. The two pieces finally stopped when they got caught under a bridge downstream.
Just 10 days later, Hurricane Ivan dumped more rain in an unprecedented double whammy for the mountainous region far from the coast. Haywood County realized it needed to prevent further harm. It condemned several neighboring mobile homes along with a wood-frame house across the river.
Recognizing the threat of flooding, the county eventually bought out that house, making the land near the town of Clyde permanent open space under a federally funded program to reduce the risk of future loss of life and property damage. The state also paid to relocate Masters’ father and another family from the trailer park on Hyder Mountain Road out of the floodplain “to mitigate the possibility of future damage to life and property should subsequent events occur.”
But although federal floodplain maps showed that the land where the trailer park sat was at risk, the county didn’t buy out the mobile home park or stop the park’s owners from again renting out the lots where trailers were destroyed, including the one where Masters’ father had lived.
It was a decision that would have great consequence. In 2021, the Hyder Mountain Road park flooded again during Tropical Storm Fred, damaging five of the six trailers that fronted the river, including one on the plot where Masters’ father had lived. Despite the damage, all the trailers in that first row remained. Then, in 2024, flooding from Hurricane Helene swept one of those mobile homes into the river, driving it into the same bridge and killing a resident and three of her dogs.
The repeated losses at the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park are in part the result of a gap in disaster policy that allows mobile home residents to be put in harm’s way again and again.
Hurricane Helene devastated trailers at the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park near Clyde, North Carolina.Courtesy of Michael Foster
The federal government’s programs to buy out disaster-prone buildings are “the cornerstone of the Nation’s system for emergency management,” according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. But the program was developed with traditional homeowners in mind, and mobile homes, the country’s largest source of affordable housing, are often left out. Trailers, even when they become immovable and lifelong homes, aren’t typically considered real estate but instead personal property, like motorcycles and boats.
That still leaves people living on flood-prone land. For the state to actually buy that land, mobile home park owners have to take the buyout, and FEMA’s program offers little incentive for them to do so: They can’t collect from the government for lost rent or for the value of the mobile homes on top of the land.
Some park owners say the payouts are not high enough to allow them to relocate; others aren’t even aware of the buyout program. So park owners regularly allow new trailers to move into the vacant spots. Art and Lynne Heinmiller, who own the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park, did not respond to questions — which were emailed, texted and mailed via certified letter — about allowing trailers and campers to move back to where they’d washed away.
What to do about such properties is now a big question for counties and Renew NC, Gov. Josh Stein’s billion-dollar Hurricane Helene recovery program. Renew NC’s manual states that it can help relocate mobile-home owners whose damaged trailers face future flood risks. But the program doesn’t keep new families from moving onto lots with a record of flooding.
At the Hyder Mountain Road park, families now live in recreational campers on plots where mobile homes have twice washed away. The county knows it’s a problem. The mobile home park is one of the spots Wentfard Henson, chief of the Clyde Volunteer Fire Department, watches during storms. Twice ahead of Helene in 2024, his team visited the community, knocking on doors and telling people to evacuate.
“Where they’re at, it’s not if, it’s just when,” Henson said. “It’s going to flood again, there’s no doubt, because it flooded every time we’ve had a storm. It’s flooded four times.”
Asked why residents are again allowed to live by the river, Cody Grasty, Haywood County’s recovery officer, told The Assembly and ProPublica that until a neighboring county bought out a park decimated by Helene, he “did not know it was even possible” to buy out a mobile home park. Small counties like Haywood, which has 60,000 residents, often look to the state for direction.
North Carolina Emergency Management, which reviews buyout applications and often completes these transactions for local governments, said there is no specific guidance for mobile home park buyouts and that the process is no different than it is for commercial or residential properties. In a statement, Justin Graney, the agency’s spokesperson, said, “It is entirely the property owners and the local jurisdiction’s decision on whether or not they wish to participate in the program.”
Neither Haywood County nor the state of North Carolina maintain a list of high-risk properties where they believe mitigation is necessary for public health and safety, a standard practice in many states.
That disturbs Masters, an auto mechanic who moved out of the mobile home park before the 2021 floods.
“Without a doubt in my mind, it’s going to happen again,” Masters said. “They need to remove it.”
Dave Masters at his auto shop in Clyde, North CarolinaJesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
A Second Disaster
Joe Rogers was 38 and living less than a mile away on the other side of the Pigeon River when hurricanes Frances and Ivan struck in 2004. He walked down and saw the destroyed mobile homes at the Hyder Mountain Road park.
He didn’t expect that two years later, he’d move to the lot next to where Masters’ father once lived.
But Rogers’ own father, whose health was declining, gave him a single-wide trailer in 2006, intending to help him stay in the increasingly expensive Appalachian region where his family had lived for generations. The trailer’s roughly 900 square feet was enough space for Rogers to raise his son. And at $200 a month, renting the lot on the river was affordable on his wages as a Waffle House cook.
In the front yard, he and his high school crush, Sandra Justus, planted two peach trees for shade and a pink rose of Sharon for the birds, and they put up a fence so the dogs Justus was prone to rescuing could play outside.
Caring for others was at Justus’ core. In addition to raising her daughter, she often took in other children and animals in need. She was a wildlife rehabilitator and hair stylist who loved Renaissance fairs, rock ’n’ roll and Halloween.
Sandra Rogers devoted much of her life to rescuing animals, including opossums, dogs and birds. One opossum she cared for became an educational animal for a local wildlife rehabilitation center.A peach tree blossoms outside the Rogers’ former home on Hyder Mountain Road.Sandra shared her love for wildlife with Joe Rogers’ son, Kody.
Courtesy of Joe Rogers
Rogers’ lot was only 100 feet from the Pigeon River, but he’d heard that large floods should happen only once every 40 years and figured he’d have a few decades before he’d have to worry about that.
During heavy rainstorms, the Pigeon River would sometimes creep over Hyder Mountain Road 40 feet away. But the river spared their home for 15 years, until Tropical Storm Fred in August 2021. Water flooded all but one of the six trailers closest to the river. Inside the couple’s home, muddy water rose 3 inches, damaging the particleboard floors and the foundation — a burden made lighter when FEMA’s assistance paid for repairs.
The couple got married in 2022, and Sandra changed her last name to Rogers. Two years later, they were planning to move when, in September 2024, Helene hit Florida as a Category 4 hurricane and was spinning fiercely toward Western North Carolina. The county sheriff warned residents that “a catastrophic, life-threatening event” that could surpass the 2004 and 2021 storms was “about to befall Haywood County.”
But none of the park’s residents had been there during the 2004 storms, so they only had memories of the minor damage from Fred. So most residents of the Hyder Mountain Road park stayed, as did the couple, who wanted to look after their army of dogs and pet birds. “We thought that maybe it would be just like the last flood,” Joe said.
The Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park sits on the banks of the Pigeon River and has flooded four times in 20 years from hurricanes and tropical storms.Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
On the night of Sept. 26, 2024, the couple went to bed. Within hours, the river, usually about 5 feet deep, crested at a record 30 feet. It took less than an hour for the water in their home to go from ankle-deep to chest-high. They packed the birds into travel boxes and cages, and Joe moved two of their cars to higher ground, giving up on the third when its wheels spun in the waterlogged soil.
Sandra told Joe she thought they should leave but changed her mind when she found out she’d need to swim through water now above her head. Sandra sat on a wooden chair on top of their saturated foam mattress in the bedroom. In the living room, Joe dodged floating furniture, trying to figure out what to do, as the cold, murky water rose.
Suddenly, the water pulled the back door off the trailer. Joe watched several of the dogs make their way toward the opening, where they could swim toward higher ground.
The water had reached his neck when, for a moment, it seemed to recede. He thought the worst was over, only to realize it was because the home had been pushed off its foundation. The trailer lurched, thrusting Joe toward the ceiling. His fingers gripped the top of the bedroom door frame as he called into the darkness to his wife.
Thinking the only safe way to get Sandra out would be by breaking a window, Joe swam through the kitchen and escaped out the back doorway. He clung to a sharp metal gutter, fighting the raging water, and yelled for someone to call 911, hoping emergency responders would be able to reach Sandra by busting a hole through the roof.
Rogers at his new home in Candler, North Carolina, with five dogs that his wife rescued Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
Buyout Program’s Fatal Flaws
Most homeowners at the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park didn’t want to endure another flood after Helene, but they didn’t own the land underneath them so they couldn’t pursue a buyout. It was the park’s owners who would need to apply to the government and ask it to buy the land.
But that’s not what the owners of the mobile home park did. After Helene, Haywood County officials spoke with local mobile home park owners about “how they wanted to recover” and “based on those conversations, none of them seemed interested to be done” with running the mobile home communities, said Grasty, the county’s Helene recovery officer.
The buyouts he manages are voluntary, and the county will not consider condemning the land, Grasty said, noting the property owner could choose to not lease out the low-lying lots, to require homes to be elevated as part of lease agreements or to use the land for something else.
“It comes back to that property rights thing,” Grasty said. “We can work on solutions, but not until the property owner or homeowner even says, ‘I want to do this.’”
Pam Quinn, who owned the wood-frame home that Haywood County purchased across the Pigeon River in 2007, said she is baffled that the county still hasn’t bought out the neighboring mobile home park.
“It’s right across the river. It’s so close, but they got treated so differently,” Quinn said.
Pam Quinn stands outside the Clyde home she bought after the Pigeon River destroyed her wood-frame house in 2004.Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
The Assemblyand ProPublica reached out to the current and former owners of the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park on multiple occasions. They briefly spoke to a reporter in person but declined to be interviewed. Terry McCracken owned the property with her husband, who died in 2013, before selling it in 2019. McCracken told a reporter outside her home that she thought the 2004 floods were “once in 100 years” and she didn’t know if her husband ever considered a buyout.
The park’s current owners, the Heinmillers, have experienced two floods in the seven years they have owned the park. From behind a screen door, Lynne told a reporter that she was not offered an application for a buyout and would need to confer with her husband as to whether the couple would consider one now. Neither Heinmiller returned follow-up calls.
A buyout is often a financial loss for park owners, said John Richardson, who until this year owned a small mobile home park in neighboring Buncombe County. With a housing shortage, even decades-old mobile homes will bring in at least $1,000 a month in rent, and a lot to park one on yields upward of $300 monthly, he said.
“The cash flow is so good once you’re established in it that there isn’t an incentive to take a buyout,” Richardson said.
Still, after the Swannanoa River washed seven of the nine homes in his park off their foundations during Helene, Richardson decided to pursue a buyout. He didn’t want other families to face similar destruction, and, unable to pay his mortgage without the rental income, he felt he had no other choice.
Hurricane Helene Floods the Hyder Mountain Road Mobile Home Park
Thelma Jent purchased her double-wide trailer on the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park’s hillside in 2010. After growing up in Kentucky, she was familiar with the potential for floods, but her plot was high enough to avoid the rising waters from Hurricane Helene. Her yard became a refuge for neighbors who kept climbing higher on the hill, escaping their homes as they filled with water.Thelma Jent
Foreseeing future disasters, local governments in at least 11 states have fully funded buyouts and relocation assistance for mobile home parks, benefiting the park owners and residents of the mobile homes.
Central Pennsylvania’s Greene Township bought out the property owner and paid to relocate residents of a 54-home park after excessive rainfall rendered all but four homes uninhabitable in 2006. In Harris County, Texas, the owner of a mobile home park that endured severe, repetitive flooding received a multimillion-dollar sum for the lot while homeowners were offered up to $210,000 to purchase a home outside of the floodplain and renters received up to 42 months of assistance.
North Carolina attempted to implement its own solution after Hurricane Floyd struck the Cape Fear region in 1999. The state legislature funded a Crisis Housing Assistance Fund that paid to repair homes or relocate families that didn’t qualify for federal programs, like homeowners in mobile home parks. It also provided funding for families whose buyout did not cover a comparable home.
A lot of the families the program assisted were in mobile homes, said Yolanda Abram, the retired director of the North Carolina Redevelopment Center, which oversaw the program. In almost every circumstance, the program would not allow new homes to go back in the floodplain and paid to help families relocate.
The program got additional state funding in 2005 to relocate homeowners in flood and landslide zones impacted by the past season’s hurricanes. Roughly 40 Haywood County families participated, including Masters’ father.
But the program did nothing to prevent new families from moving to the same lots.
At the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park, staircases have been built to reach utility boxes mounted more than 8 feet in the air. That’s the height a future mobile home would need to be lifted to meet the county’s current floodplain regulations.Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
“I Watch the River”
As homeowners started to rebuild after the devastation wrought by Helene, Haywood County required homes in the floodplain to be elevated and securely anchored into the ground to limit catastrophic damages.
At the Hyder Mountain Road park, that means new mobile homes along the river would need to be raised at least 8 feet off the ground. So far, only staircases leading to raised electrical boxes have been added, but no mobile homes have returned to those lots as the elevation costs could reach tens of thousands of dollars.
Recreational vehicles can be in the floodplain, so long as they can be driven or towed away in case of a storm. After the floods, the county issued permits for five campers to occupy the same lots the formerly flooded homes did.
But at least here, those campers have become year-round homes, their undercarriages wrapped in insulation. The county approved them for water, sewer and electric hookups. Yet without elevation and anchoring, fast-moving waters could easily sweep them downstream.
The image of homes going back in where others have repeatedly washed away astonished Abram, whose team helped relocate past residents of the park.
“It continues to happen where homes are being placed in floodplains, and maybe that shouldn’t be happening now,” Abram said.
K.K. Bautista, a single mother, lives in one of the campers in the same row where Masters’ father and Rogers lived. She never wanted to be this close to the water again. The Pigeon River tore through her trailer at another mobile home park during Helene, ripping off the siding so passersby could see through her entire house.
Bautista lost almost everything except her car. A nonprofit gave her a small Jayco Eagle travel trailer, and the lot at Hyder Mountain Road was the only place she could afford. She knew the river had also surged there during Helene but felt she had no other choice.
“When it rains, I don’t sleep and I watch the river,” Bautista said, clutching a cup of McDonald’s coffee, her eyes jumping between the river, her 2-year-old daughter and the road.
K.K. Bautista, left, and her adoptive mother hold their respective children outside a camper at the Hyder Mountain Road mobile home park. Bautista moved there because it was the only place she could afford after Helene destroyed her previous home.Jesse Barber for ProPublica and The Assembly
Top military officers from a secretive command watched a speedboat cut through the waters of the Caribbean Sea, early last September. A plane above provided live video of the vessel and the 11 men on board. In the early morning hours, Adm. Frank Bradley sought the counsel of his top legal adviser, Col. Cara Hamaguchi. Then he ordered SEAL Team 6 operators to attack the packed boat.
After the vessel exploded, two helpless survivors pulled themselves onto a fragment of the overturned hull, drifting with the current for roughly 45 minutes. Bradley — then the head of the Joint Special Operations Command and now the four-star chief of Special Operations Command — again turned to Hamaguchi for guidance. Soon, a second missile screamed down, killing the survivors. Two more missiles followed in rapid succession, sinking the remnants of the boat.
That strike, carried out on September 2, 2025, began a campaign of attacks that has never ceased.
“It’s been a year of murders,” said a defense official who was horrified by the first strike and has remained so as the U.S. has targeted scores of so-called “drug boats” in the year since. “The Trump administration has normalized murder.” The official added: “It’s absolutely criminal.”
“The Trump administration has normalized murder.”
In all, the U.S. has conducted more than 65 attacks, resulting in over 225 civilians killed in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean in the last year. The most recent strike, in the Caribbean on August 25, killed four people.
A classified opinion from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel — drawn up by an interagency lawyers working group including representatives of the CIA, State Department, White House, Department of Justice, and Defense Department — claims that narcotics on supposed drug boats are lawful military targets because they generate revenue for cartels whom the Trump administration claims are engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with the United States. Attached to that secret memo is a similarly secret list of “designated terrorist organizations.”
A second government official who has reviewed the OLC opinion called it “flimsy yet expansive,” but said the Trump administration had “nonetheless managed to overstep” its bounds. The official said that despite being crafted to “excuse what is clearly murder,” the U.S. had killed people beyond those the OLC opinion claimed were legal targets.
U.S. Southern Command pushed back on the allegation. “Each operation is planned and executed within the full bounds of our legal framework,” said spokesperson Steven McLoud, “ensuring that every target meets the legal criteria established by our Office of Legal Counsel.”
“There is no plausible legal justification for the strikes.”
Experts in the laws of war, as well as members of Congress from both parties, say the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings because people are deliberately slain outside the law. The strikes may also constitute crimes against humanity, violating fundamental rights to life and due process. “There is no plausible legal justification for the strikes. They’re obviously not occurring in the context of an armed conflict and outside of armed conflict, the term for premeditated killing is murder,” Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer and specialist in counterterrorism issues and the laws of war, told The Intercept.
The Intercept broke the story of the September 2 double-tap strikes, within days of the attack. Months later, follow-up reporting by the Washington Post, The Intercept, and others resulted in a public firestorm that forced the Pentagon to admit the survivors were killed while shipwrecked — a clear breach of international law — and provide members of Congress additional briefings and access to classified footage of the attack.
The Intercept was also the first outlet to report on Hamaguchi’s identity and role in the attack, as well as an admission in a classified briefing by Rear Adm. Brian H. Bennett — a military officer overseeing Special Operations for the Pentagon’s Joint Staff — that some of the 11 people aboard the boat could have been human trafficking victims. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who serves on both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees, sent a letter to President Donald Trump last month pressing for accountability and referencing The Intercept’s reporting on Bennett’s disclosure. Kaine found, after reviewing highly classified materials, that the “available evidence suggests that the United States has killed individuals who are not involved in narcotrafficking.”
Even a year later, much about the attacks and the victims remains unknown. “This is probably one of the hardest U.S. campaigns to track — searching an area double the size of the continental U.S. for clues, with limited satellite imagery, few witnesses and little physical aftermath. The ocean swallows up all the information we would usually rely on,” said Emily Tripp, the executive director of Airwars, a U.K.-based group that monitors conflicts all across the globe. “The more than 200 people killed across these waters have a right to be remembered — and their loved ones have a right to know what has happened.”
“The ocean swallows up all the information we would usually rely on.”
Twenty-six of the 227 total killed have been identified by name, according to an Airwars analysis. All are apparently men and, for those whose ages are known, were between 24 and 46 years old. Of 41 victims identified by nationality, 18 were from Venezuela, 13 from Mexico, three from Colombia, three from Ecuador, two from Trinidad and Tobago, and two from Saint Lucia. Among those identified by a consortium of journalists from Venezuelan outlets were a bus driver, a mototaxi driver, men involved in fishing or the seafood trade, and a futsal player. They hailed from poor communities, and their ties to the drug trade were at the very lowest levels.
Reporting by The Intercept also found that claims by the White House and Defense Department about the boat strikes stopping the flow of fentanyl and saving more than 1 million American lives are baseless, phony, or both.
“The administration is killing for online content and spectacle,” said Finucane, referencing the Trump administration’s use of highly edited snuff-film footage of attacks on social media. At the same time, the Pentagon has consistently withheld basic information about the strikes, the legal justifications for them, the “designated terrorist organizations” being targeted by the campaign, and the victims. The administration has been so secretive that the bipartisan 2026 annual defense policy bill withholds 25 percent of travel funds from Hegseth’s office until overdue reports on execute orders and unedited video footage of strikes are delivered to Congress.
The boat strike campaign, dubbed Operation Southern Spear, hit its peak intensity just over a year ago. October 2025 was its deadliest month with 12 boats attacked and 44 declared deaths. December was the most active period, with 14 vessels struck. In almost all the attacks, between one and four people were killed. In only one strike did the death toll of a single boat reach double digits: the first attack on September 2, 2025.
While all September 2025 strikes took place in the Caribbean, the attacks moved west. By December, all 14 were conducted in the Pacific Ocean. The Intercept’s boat strike tracker counts 50 strikes in the Pacific out of a total of 68 attacks in the past year.
In almost every month of the campaign, the U.S. failed to immediately kill all crew members in its initial strike. But of the 28 survivors, only three were successfully rescued and remain alive. In nine of 11 survivor announcements, the U.S. Coast Guard was named as the primary responder. The Intercept revealed that the U.S. rescue strategy was leaving survivors to drown. Eight men leapt into rough seas on December 30, 2025, for example, after the U.S. rained down a barrage of munitions, sinking three vessels. They required immediate rescue; chances were slim that they could survive even an hour. In announcing its strike, SOUTHCOM said it “immediately notified” the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue protocols to save the men. But an investigation by The Intercept and Airwars found that it took the Coast Guard almost 45 hours to begin searching the attack zone for survivors.
Strikes slowed dramatically in January 2026 — with just one strike that killed two people — during the same month that the U.S. invaded Venezuela and abducted its president, Nicolás Maduro. In late June, U.S. forces took a hiatus from attacks. Officials offered conflicting reasons for the pause, with some reports centering on equipment and personnel being used for earthquake relief in Venezuela. After 63 days, the U.S. resumed strikes on August 23, in the Pacific, quickly followed by the Caribbean attack on August 25.
The boat strike campaign was, in many respects, the opening salvo of an aggressive military and diplomatic effort in the Americas — dubbed the Donroe Doctrine — that has spawned more violence, increased impunity by local security forces, and heightened danger from cartels across the Western Hemisphere, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data project.
In addition to the war in Venezuela, the U.S. also launched or ramped up numerous initiatives and interventions. This includes the now 19-member Americas Counter Cartel Coalition — also known as the Shield of the Americas — which Hegseth recently christened with the motto: “We do bad things to bad people.” The U.S. also launched a CIA campaign — which may involve private contractors and authorities from other countries — targeting boats near the Galápagos Islands; covert CIA operations in Mexico; a military airstrike inside Venezuela in June that allegedly killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, the head of the Tren de Aragua street gang; and joint counter-cartel operations in Ecuador dubbed “Operation Total Extermination,” which include ground operations by elite U.S. troops.
“I also want to commend Honduras and Guatemala for inviting the United States to partake in combined operations against narco-terrorists in their countries,” Hegseth announced recently, adding: “We look forward to working with you in killing bad guys.” Jamaica also signed a status of forces agreement with the U.S., which sets terms for troop deployments, including joint operations. Hegseth said the partnership would “cripple narco-terrorists that transit through the Caribbean.” Beyond this, the Trump administration has also repeatedly bullied Panama and threatened Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Greenland, and perhaps also Iceland.
Last month, SOUTHCOM chief Gen. Francis L. Donovan announced the creation of Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere, which the command called an “evolution from Operation Southern Spear.” JTF-WHEM will, said SOUTHCOM, “provide unified command and control at the tactical and operational levels, integrating military capabilities with the … partner nations of the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition.” SOUTHCOM failed to clarify if so-called A3C partner troops were under the operational control of U.S. officers, as is the case under other low-profile proxy-war programs.
Hegseth told coalition partners that the new task force would “continue the targeting and killing of narco-terrorists,” whom he dubbed “the ISIS and Al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere.” Days later, the boat strikes resumed. And on Friday, JTF-WHEM and Ecuadorean forces interdicted what SOUTHCOM claimed was “a floating refueling station in support of illicit at-sea drug trafficking” linked to “the Los Choneros violent narco-terrorist organization” in the Pacific. Marines and sailors “boarded, searched, and cleared the vessel without incident,” turned the crew over to Ecuador, and then sank the vessel.
Acting Pentagon press secretary Joel Valdez did not reply to a request for comment on whether the U.S. had killed people beyond those the Office of Legal Counsel opinion claimed were legal targets.
“The boat strikes are, perhaps, the most stark testament to the lawlessness of the Trump administration,” Finucane told The Intercept. “It’s essentially serial killing at sea — murder under federal law — being carried out as a matter of state policy.”
The wartime blockage of cargo traffic in the Strait of Hormuz is a boon for Syria, which is poised to capitalize on a need for alternative transit routes for oil.
Hikers thought they’d prepared for the reality of a flash flood, but they never imagined that they’d be trapped in the deepest, narrowest part of the canyon.
Budget carrier says airlines could go bust as it cuts passenger targets to reduce exposure to ‘unhedged winter oil’
Ryanair has warned that air fares in Europe will jump next year if the oil price remains high and that some airlines could go bust.
The Irish budget carrier has cut its passenger target for the year to 31 March, down from 216 million customers to 214 million, to help reduce its exposure to “unhedged winter oil” during the unprofitable off season, with jet fuel currently trading at $140 (£104) a barrel.
UK borrowing costs driven up, adding to challenges facing John Healey as he prepares for first budget
The global government bond sell-off resumed on Wednesday, driving up the UK’s borrowing costs and exacerbating the challenges facing John Healey as he prepares his first budget.
The yield – effectively the interest rate – on 10-year UK government bonds, or gilts, jumped to just below 5.3% in early trading: its highest level since mid-2008.
Hello, I own a Funwheel X7 Long Range. I’m currently in Italy but I’ll be moving to Mexico in next week.
As I cannot take it on the plane with me because of the battery, I was planning on shipping it to myself to Mexico. But ChatGPT is scaring the heck out of me saying that I would have to pay import taxes of around 33% of the value (so almost $900) even if it’s mine and used.
Does anyone know anything about this or have experience doing something like this?
German scrapes home 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 in thriller
‘I think this is the longest first-round match I’ve played’
Alexander Zverev rallied just in time to avoid becoming the first men’s No 1 seed to lose in the first round of a grand slam tournament since 2003, edging Lorenzo Sonego 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-5, 6-4 in a US Open match that ended in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Zverev could not cash in on repeated chances to break Sonego’s serve for much of the night and was in danger of becoming the first top-seeded man to fall in his first match in a major tournament since Ivo Karlovic beat Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon in 2003.
Consumer watchdog Which? set up and accepted payment for fake listing for ‘1 bed apartment in heart of London’
Successive politicians have clawed their way past colleagues over the years to call the residence home. Yet in an offer that probably seemed too good to be true, the property site Booking.com has been accused of “systemic security failures” after it was able to set up and accept payment for a fake listing for 10 Downing Street.
A property listed as a “1 bedroom apartment in the heart of London” – with the exact address and a picture of the prime minister’s home – was listed on 18 June by researchers from the consumer watchdog Which?.
NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract worth up to $700 million to build and operate a dedicated Mars telecommunications network for current and future missions to the Red Planet. Blue Origin is expected to deliver the spacecraft by the end of 2028, with the network targeted to become operational by 2030. From a press release: Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch, and operate the network as a part of the agency's broader space communications and navigation infrastructure. The architecture will consist of a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars, transmitting science data, imagery, navigation information, and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet.
The award marks a milestone in NASA's strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the Moon, establishing the foundation for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades.
So I just got a Onewheel XR+ last month and I've been riding it almost daily, but recently I've noticed I've developed this tender/soreness around my groin area/muscles. Is that potentially from Onewheeling?
I hadn't noticed it before and don't know what else would be causing it. It's weird because it doesn't actively feel like I'm working out those muscles when Onewheeling, but the soreness definitely started when I started Onewheeling a lot and generally is not sore during the ride, but afterwards.
Exclusive: sanctions against ministers and settler groups are ‘smoke and mirrors cop-out’ says Omar Barghouti
Britain’s legal and ethical obligation to stop a genocide in Gaza requires it to take bigger steps than halting trade with illegal Israeli settlements or imposing further sanctions, Omar Barghouti, the co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement has said.
He described sanctions against individual settler groups or extremist ministers as a “smoke and mirrors cop-out and distraction” from the UK’s legal obligation under international law to end all support for Israel, including arms exports, trade deals and academic relations that “may directly or indirectly enable Israel’s illegal occupation” of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalities
Almost half of the world’s farmers are poisoned by pesticides every single year, a study has found.
Using publicly available data from 2006-2023, the study, which was commissioned by Pesticide Action Network, found there to be an estimated 402-433m cases of unintentional acute pesticide poisoning of farmers and farm workers every year.
For his latest in a series of work photographing people with red hair, photographer Kieran Dodds interviewed and made portraits of hundreds of people with ginger hair, with widely varying backgrounds and heritage, across the US between 2024 and 2026. Dodds asked each interviewee the same question at the end of the interview: What unites the states? We hear some of the responses
A new book of this work is available to preorder here
‘Although almost everyone featured in the project is ginger, it is not really about hair. It is structured around themes raised time and again in the conversations I had with portrait sitters, and which I reflected on during my travels in the states’ – Kieran Dodds
U.S. forces announced new strikes against targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, marking another round of attacks as the U.S. and Iran return to hostilities.
I got hit by a car today and they ran over my onewheel too apparently. I think it's mostly road rash but it isn't coming out with any amount of scrubbing with soap and water.
Also, I know I should have gotten information from the driver and filed a police report. everyone I've talked to about this has said that. I was full of adrenaline and made bad calls. I will remember for the future. I just want to get these marks off my poor board
Speed limit dropped from 60km/h for around 70% of general roads in the hope of making narrow streets of crowded cities safer
Drivers on residential roads in Japan have been forced to take their foot off the accelerator, after the speed limit was slashed from 60km/h (37mph) to 30km/h in an attempt to reduce deaths and injuries among pedestrians on narrow urban streets.
The new limit, which went into effect on Tuesday, applies to residential roads with no centre line or maximum speed signs, media reports said.
New Orleans, Louisiana — Far-right provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos says he is “very ashamed” of supporting President Donald Trump after experiencing the administration’s immigration enforcement system firsthand and being deported to the United Kingdom.
Yiannopoulos told Piers Morgan that his detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement was “humiliating and disorienting,” describing the experience as physically degrading and frightening. He said it changed how he views accounts from others who have described traumatic encounters with immigration authorities.
“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Yiannopoulos said.
The comments mark a notable reversal for the former Breitbart editor, who has supported Trump and advocated aggressive immigration enforcement, including mass deportations.
ICE detained Yiannopoulos Thursday at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The Department of Homeland Security said he entered the United States legally but later received a final removal order after failing to appear at a July immigration hearing. He was deported Friday.
Yiannopoulos disputes the administration’s account that he simply overstayed his visa. He said he was pursuing an adjustment from an O-1 visa to permanent residency and never received notice of the immigration hearing because correspondence went to an old address.
He also criticized far-right activist Laura Loomer, who claimed credit for reporting him to ICE, and accused Trump of allowing her excessive influence.
Yiannopoulos said that had he anticipated what the Trump administration would become, he “would never have gotten involved” in supporting it.
(StatePoint) Keeping every room in your home at an ideal temperature can be a frustrating battle. Whether it’s an addition, upstairs office, older home, converted attic, or a room full of windows, these spaces often present unique climate control challenges.…
Wong, 29, is accused of urging foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades and other hostile measures against China
Joshua Wong, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, pleaded guilty on Wednesday to conspiring to seek foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and China, a national security charge that carries a maximum life sentence.
Prosecutors have accused Wong, 29, of working with the exiled Hong Kong activist Nathan Law to urge foreign powers to impose sanctions, blockades or other hostile measures against China.
Ship has been plagued by reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health because of lengthy deployment
The USS Abraham Lincoln, a US aircraft carrier at the centre of a row over conditions on board after months at sea as part of Donald Trump’s war against Iran, has arrived off a Thai port.
Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on the vessel, including attempted suicides, have made headlines around the world, provoking criticism of the president’s actions in the Middle East.
Upper Pottsgrove Police Cpl. Sean Farrell was charged with voluntary manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Glenwood Earl Pysher IV on Aug. 23, officials said.
New submitter greytree shares a report from Brown University: LUX-ZEPLIN, an experiment co-led by Brown University faculty and students, observed a particle interaction that could be interpreted as a signal from WIMPs, a dark matter candidate -- but researchers need more data to confirm. [...] The result does not yet meet the statistical threshold required to claim a discovery, but it is the most compelling hint of dark matter reported by the experiment to date. "We're very intrigued to see this event in the data, in the region where we expect dark matter to show up, and the competing backgrounds are very low," said Rick Gaitskell, a professor of physics at Brown University and the spokesperson for LZ. "With only one event, we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We are not claiming to have seen dark matter. But we have seen something interesting that we want to share with the scientific community for their input." [...]
If the anomalous event was caused by dark matter, the WIMP that generated it would likely have a mass of at least 200 GeV/c2 (gigaelectronvolts), or more than 200 times the mass of a proton. The LZ results have not reached "5-sigma" significance, the statistical threshold in physics that an event must reach to be considered a discovery. The new analysis is 2.6 sigma, meaning there is approximately a 0.5% chance that the event could be explained by known backgrounds. With additional data, researchers can test whether the finding continues to grow in significance or fades away. LZ has already accumulated the world's largest dark matter dataset and will continue to accrue WIMP search data at SURF, substantially improving their search statistics.
JiJi Fan, an associate professor of physics at Brown not involved in the LZ experimental research but whose theoretical work is cited in the new LZ paper, said the new findings were "very intriguing." While the event recorded by LZ could not have been the simplest type of WIMP interaction, there are other types of possible interactions that could explain it, she said. Had a WIMP interacted in the simplest way at the high energy associated with this recent event, the detector would have recorded many recoil events at lower energies following the initial event. LZ recorded a single event, however, which requires an expanded theoretical explanation. "There are well-motivated theoretical extensions, including inelastic scattering and momentum-dependent elastic scattering, that could potentially account for this single event," Fan said. "This also sets up a target for on-going dark matter hunting, not only at direct detection experiments such as LZ but also at other complementary experimental frontiers."
The results were presented in a scientific talk at the 2026 TeV Particle Astrophysics conference in Japan on Tuesday, Sept. 1. A paper detailing the finding can be found here (PDF).
Democratic senator Chuck Schumer is introducing a bill that would reverse Donald Trump’s most recent tariffs, among them the new 50% duty on Canadian goods, MS Now reported.
While the Senate minority leader’s proposed legislation has virtually no chance of becoming law, Schumer hopes that his proposal shows that Democrats are actively fighting the affordability crisis. Schumer first shared his proposed legislation with MS Now.
Of the five Australians confirmed safe, one was found in Nepal, one in Tibet, and three outside the crisis-hit area. The total number still missing is 38.
At least 20 generals, admirals and civilian defense leaders have been fired or have departed their jobs since Pete Hegseth became defense secretary at the beginning of the second Trump administration.
Attacks on Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and reprisals against US bases in Middle East quash hopes that flare-up last weekend was limited in nature
The US has launched new airstrikes on Iranian targets, prompting counter strikes by Tehran targeting American interests in Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan and Iraq, and fuelling concerns about a wider renewal of hostilities.
The US Marine Corps base Camp Titin in Jordan was targeted for an “intense ballistic missile attack”, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) said early on Wednesday, according to Iranian news outlet Tasnim.
Washington, D.C. — The House voted 413-2 Tuesday to formally censure Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., after a bipartisan Ethics Committee investigation found he engaged in persistent inappropriate conduct toward two young female staff members.
The committee concluded there was substantial evidence that Edwards repeatedly crossed professional boundaries through comments about the women’s appearances and weight, late-night messages, highly personal notes, one-on-one dinners and expensive gifts. Those gifts reportedly included jewelry, designer purses, electronics, shoes, flowers and vacations.
Investigators did not find evidence that Edwards had sexual relations with either woman or explicitly propositioned them. However, the committee found his conduct created a hostile work environment and violated the spirit of House rules prohibiting sexual harassment and unwanted advances.
Before the vote, Edwards apologized to the former staffers but maintained that his conduct did not amount to sexual harassment. “Regret is not an admission of sexual harassment,” he told colleagues.
Only Edwards and Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., voted against the resolution. Censure is the most serious House punishment short of expulsion and required Edwards to stand in the chamber while Speaker Mike Johnson formally read the resolution.
Edwards previously announced he will not seek reelection.
On the sidelines of the G-20 meeting of finance ministers, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed allies to support the United States’ efforts to constrain Iran’s economy.
Incumbent, 80, beats back challenge from Seth Moulton, who argued Markey was too old to be effective at his job
Senator Ed Markey won the Democratic primary in Massachusetts on Tuesday, beating back a challenge from Seth Moulton, a congressman who tried to unseat him by arguing to voters his opponent was too old to be effective at his job.
Massachusetts is heavily Democratic, making the senator favored to win a third full term in the November general election, where he faces the Republican nominee John Deaton.
Judge Tony Graf said prosecutors have enough evidence against Tyler Robinson to put the 23-year-old on trial on a charge that could see him face the death penalty.
In a major LGBTQ+ rights victory, the justice department cannot force the state to ban trans girls from women’s sports
A federal judge has dismissed the Trump administration’s lawsuit challenging California’s policy of allowing transgender youth to play on sports teams that match their gender, a major loss for Donald Trump and the Department of Justice (DoJ).
The justice department had been fighting for a year to force California to ban trans girls from women’s sports, with the president directly singling out one trans track and field athlete in online attacks and regularly mocking trans athletes in his speeches.
So im trying to find just the foot pad sensor in trying to 3d print some over sized foot pads for my pintx and am struggling to find a proper sensor to use on the custom pads
Acting secretary picked for top role as critics accuse president of overworking sailors during war with Iran
Donald Trump said Tuesday that he is nominating acting navy secretary Hung Cao for the permanent job, giving the navy combat veteran the nod as concerns have emerged that some sailors have been stretched to the limit during the Iran war.
Cao has been serving as acting navy secretary since John Phelan departed the job unexpectedly and without explanation in late April.
I would like to put some air in my tires however I do not have a bike pump, and I’d prefer to not buy one if I can just use the air pump at the gas station next-door for a dollar
Has anybody done this? Do you think this would be a bad idea even if I was super careful and just used it for not even half a second to just pump me up a few extra psi.
The House Ethics Committee detailed the North Carolina Republican's "unprofessional and inappropriate conduct" toward two young women who worked for him.
Resolution Foundation argues that UK’s internationally low ‘tax wedge’ must rise to pay for defence ambitions
The chancellor, John Healey, must be prepared to raise taxes for middle earners if he wants to fund significantly higher defence spending, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has said.
GoPro plans to expand into AI infrastructure through a $285 million merger with optical-photonics company Starman Optical, whose transceivers will give the action-camera maker a foothold in the fast-growing data center market. GoPro also plans to push into defense, robotics, aerospace, and government markets while continuing its existing camera business. Engadget reports: Starman's optical transceivers are expected to fall under its umbrella, "extending the Company's reach into the large and rapidly growing market for AI infrastructure in optical transceivers," according to a press release. GoPro is also planning a push into the defense, government, robotics and aerospace sectors, bolstered by the combined company's IP, optics and imaging capabilities.
[...] As Reuters notes, GoPro briefly reached a valuation of $4 billion on its first day as a publicly traded company in 2014. Its stock has struggled in recent years, but the share price received a boost on Monday when it was revealed that YouTuber and filmmaker Markiplier (Mark Fischbach) had become GoPro's largest individual shareholder after acquiring an 8.5 percent stake. The move follows a similar pivot made by the struggling shoe retailer Allbirds in April when it announced a pivot to AI compute infrastructure, sending the stock soaring more than 700%.
Fery could not repeat his Wimbledon odyssey as he lost in the first round to Musetti, while Fritz, Rybakina and Andreeva advanced in straight sets and Cobolli fought back to win in five
Nothing’s going Cobolli’s way at the moment, as he thwacks his own leg with his racket while trying to hit the ball, as he’s taken to deuce once more on his serve. He recovers to get to his advantage, but then balloons another errant forehand well long, before finally getting on the board to reduce his deficit to 3-1.
It was also a day when Stan Wawrinka played his final grand slam match, Carlos Alcaraz made his return from injury and Aryna Sabalenka, after a shaky summer, started her title defence with a comfortable victory.
More than 1,000 people confirmed dead and more than 4,000, including 36 British nationals, remain missing
A British aid worker was mistakenly identified by Nepalese authorities as a rescued survivor after returning to Kathmandu on a humanitarian aid flight.
Alastair Chambers, a 45-year-old former Gloucester councillor, said he flew to Nepal last week to distribute sleeping bags, food and essentials to communities cut off by collapsed bridges.
Markwayne Mullin says officers could be deployed ‘if there is a threat to that polling place or we’re serving a warrant’
US homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin on Tuesday said that federal immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) officers could be deployed to polling sites across the country.
Speaking to reporters in New York, Mullin said: “ICE isn’t there to patrol the polling places. We’re there to enforce specific threats.”
Sudden departure of Daniel Driscoll comes after Pentagon chief removed senior officers and blocked promotions, prompting warnings of a leadership crisis
A senior Senate Democrat accused Pentagon secretary Pete Hegseth of having “hollowed out” the army’s senior ranks after its top civilian leader resigned after months of internal clashes with Hegseth.
No official reason was given for army secretary Daniel Driscoll’s departure after 18 months on the job, while thousands of US soldiers are deployed in the Middle East. In a statement on Monday night, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said Driscoll had been “highly effective in advancing President Trump’s agenda”, citing his work on “readiness and lethality” and his role in Russia-Ukraine negotiations.
Harold Lucas, sentenced to death over 1976 murder, killed by lethal injection as state continues execution rush
A Florida man convicted of killing a 16-year-old girl who rejected his romantic advances and wounding two of her friends was executed Tuesday evening.
Harold Gene Lucas, 74, was pronounced dead at 6.18pm following a three-drug injection starting at 6pm at Florida state prison near Starke, authorities said.
Someone from this group sent a DM request to me and I accidentally ignored it instead of replying. If you see this please send the message again. I didn't recall your u/name
Proposal offers look at how state department could enforce Trump order targeting what it calls ‘birth tourism’
The US state department has proposed requiring parents applying for passports for their children to provide proof of their own citizenship or immigration status as part of Donald Trump’s latest effort to limit birthright citizenship.
The draft guidance, reviewed by Reuters, is the first detailed look at how the state department could enforce Trump’s 6 August executive order targeting what it calls “birth tourism” and broadening historical exceptions to birthright citizenship.
A Utah judge is expected to rule on whether the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk should stand trial and whether he should face the death penalty.
Arguments were underway in Provo, Utah on Tuesday afternoon, after which judge Tony Graf will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to try Tyler Robinson, 23, and allow prosecutors to seek the death penalty for the murder of one of the US right’s most prominent figures.
Months after an Ohio family of three died in a highway crash, their case took a starring role in a political ad criticizing Democrat Sherrod Brown in his campaign to unseat Republican Sen. John Husted.
“Sherrod Brown opened our borders to dangerous illegals,” the narrator in the National Republican Senatorial Committee ad said as video footage from a highway crash scene rolled. “The consequences were deadly.”
A photo of Lynnea and Luke Soposki and their 1-year-old son, Logan, flashed on the screen. The three died north of Columbus on Interstate 71 on April 11 after a semitruck crashed into stopped traffic, causing a chain reaction that injured others, according to police.
The semitruck driver, 50-year-old Modou Ngom, was charged with three counts of aggravated vehicular manslaughter and four counts of vehicular assault. Federal prosecutors have also accused Ngom of fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and an Ohio driver’s license.
The Soposkis’ relatives requested the ad be removed, objecting to the case’s politicization and saying family members had not been consulted before the photo was used. Husted sought to distance himself from the ad after the family complained, calling it the work of “some third-party group.” The ad ran widely across Ohio, according to The New York Times. It is still on the NRSC’s YouTube channel.
So, what did Brown have to do with this crash? The ad said that “Ohioans paid the price” because of Brown. It showed a picture of Brown alongside former President Joe Biden and video of fencing at the southern U.S. border.
The U.S. under Biden did not have an open border policy. Then, as now, the U.S. employs physical barriers, surveillance technology and Border Patrol agents to limit entry through the southern border, even as some people entered the country undetected.
And although Brown served in the U.S. Senate for three terms and represented the state in the House before that, PolitiFact found no factual connection between Brown’s immigration votes and the circumstances of this crash.
Looking into Ngom’s citizenship status
About two weeks after the crash, the Ohio Department of Public Safety said that Ngom first entered the U.S. in the 1990s and “subsequently used multiple names and dates of birth to obtain state and federal identification.”
He “fraudulently obtained” an Ohio driver’s license around 2003 and a commercial driver’s license in 2007 “under an alternate identity,” the department said in a statement. Using that alternate identity, it said, Ngom was naturalized as a citizen in the mid-2010s before changing his name back to Modou Ngom in 2015.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told PolitiFact by email that Ngom was naturalized in 2015; the spokesperson did not confirm what year Ngom entered the country. We asked Ngom’s attorney, Jeffery M. Poth, for comment, but did not receive a response. Without more information, it’s impossible to know whether Brown was serving in Congress at the time of Ngom’s arrival.
Brown was first sworn into Congress in 1993. His voting record over the next 30 years shows he supported expanding protections for some immigrants and opposed several Republican-backed immigration enforcement measures.
In 1996, for instance, Brown voted against a Republican-backed bill seeking to hire more Border Patrol agents, expedite deportations, and increase penalties for human smuggling and document fraud. A few days later, Congress included those immigration provisions in a larger government spending bill that Brown voted in favor of and then-President Bill Clinton signed into law.
Unpacking Brown’s overall voting record
PolitiFact asked the NRSC to identify any of Brown’s votes or policies that it believes contributed to the incident referenced in the advertisement.
An NRSC spokesperson pointed to Brown’s overall immigration voting record, including votes highlighted in a May 3 Fox News article. He was in Congress from 1993 until 2025, after he lost his reelection campaign to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno.
The earliest vote mentioned in the Fox News story involved Brown’s support for a 2001 amendment that would have limited deportation in certain cases; the amendment applied to a specific group of immigrants with pre-1997 criminal plea agreements. But the measure failed; it could not have affected Ngom’s entry or case. Many of the other votes Fox News cited similarly failed or had no impact on federal law.
Brown co-sponsored the 2019 End Mass Deportation Act, which would have rescinded President Donald Trump’s executive order that expanded deportation priorities and allowed the federal government to withhold funding from sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that generally limit their cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The bill did not advance out of committee and never became law.
In 2021, Brown voted against an amendment that would have shifted $300 million from a COVID-19 emergency leave fund for federal employees to Customs and Border Protection drug detection technology.
Brown also voted against a Republican-backed amendment that year that sought to prevent the cancellation of existing border wall contracts. The measure largely split along party lines, with most Democrats favoring the contract’s cancellation. In 2023, Brown voted against a Republican-backed amendment to continue or restart construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.
His voting record is more nuanced than the NRSC’s ad suggests. Although Brown supported measures expanding protections and legal pathways for some immigrants, he also backed bipartisan legislation aimed at strengthening border security.
In 2023, Brown worked with Republicans to try to pass the FEND Off Fentanyl Act, which would have imposed new sanctions and anti-money laundering measures targeting fentanyl traffickers. He also supported a 2024 bill that would have provided nearly $7 billion for Customs and Border Protection, cosponsoring the Border Management, Security, and Assistance Act of 2023, which aimed to strengthen penalties for smugglers and drug traffickers, and support the recruitment and retention of border law enforcement officers. Neither bill became law.
Our ruling
An NRSC ad said an Ohio crash that killed a family of three in April happened because “Sherrod Brown opened our borders to dangerous illegals.”
The semitruck driver whose actions police say caused the accident came to the U.S. in the 1990s, according to state officials, and fraudulently obtained driver’s licenses in 2003 and 2007. He became a naturalized citizen in 2015, a federal immigration official said.
Without DHS confirmation about when he entered the U.S., we don’t know whether Brown was serving in Congress at the time. But Brown’s congressional record doesn’t show that his votes opened the U.S. borders or led to the crash.
President Trump framed last week's deal for the U.S. government to take a stake in Venezuelan oil as a boon for the depleted Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But the plan faces some hurdles, experts say.
Cash announced after horror car crash that killed two police officers and house fire in which woman and young girl died
Cleveland’s police force is to receive a £2m funding boost to tackle serious crime, after the home secretary said successive high-profile tragedies in the Middlesbrough area had led to a “sense of disquiet” in the community.
Shabana Mahmood and the prime minister, Andy Burnham, paid tribute in parliament on Tuesday to police constables Matthew Blades and Tom Clough, who were killed when a Volkswagen Passat travelling on the wrong side of the A66 dual carriageway collided head-on with their marked response vehicle.
Police urged people in Overasselt to stay indoors after one person died and 34 were arrested
Authorities have arrested 34 people, including French, Belgian and Algerian nationals, after a person died in a pre-dawn shootout in a Dutch village reportedly linked to a notorious drug lord.
Police urged people in Overasselt, near the German border, to stay indoors with doors and windows shut in case further suspects were on the loose.
John Ternus has officially taken over as Apple CEO after 15 years under Tim Cook, stepping up from his role as senior vice president of hardware engineering. A 25-year Apple veteran who helped oversee products including AirPods, Apple Watch, Vision Pro, Apple silicon, and the new MacBook Neo, Ternus now inherits the challenge of pushing Apple forward in AI while Cook stays on as executive chairman. TechCrunch reports: Ternus has worked at Apple for nearly half of his life -- now 51 years old, he has been with the company for 25 years. He joined Apple's product design team in 2001 as only his second job out of college (his first was at a small maker of virtual-reality devices called Virtual Research Systems). By 2013, Ternus was a VP of hardware engineering and was promoted to the SVP role in 2021. [...] Ternus previously reported to Cook, who he considers a mentor, and led all of hardware engineering at Apple. That's a pretty big deal for a company that's known for ubiquitous hardware like the iPhone and the MacBook. [...] Ternus' earliest project at Apple involved scrutinizing parts for the Apple Cinema Display, an early desktop monitor. "At some point in my first year, I found myself at a supplier facility. I was far away from home. Well past midnight, I was using a magnifying glass to count the number of grooves on the head of a screw ... and I was arguing with the supplier because these parts had 35 grooves. They were supposed to have 25," Ternus recalled in his commencement speech. "I distinctly remember stepping back for a minute and thinking, 'What the hell am I doing? Is this normal?'"
As Ternus climbed the corporate ladder, his responsibilities grew. He may no longer spend as much time analyzing screws, but he still seems to take pride in getting the little details right. In a recent interview, when Ternus was asked about his favorite memory of Steve Jobs, he mentioned the former Apple co-founder's attention to craftsmanship. "[Jobs] was moving a piece of furniture, a chest of drawers, and pulled it away from the wall and looked at the back and was just reflecting on, you know, that the carpenter who made it had made it beautiful," Ternus said. "It finished the back as beautifully as the rest of it, even though nobody was going to see it, right? And I think about that all the time because I think that perfectly exemplifies what we do here."
From there, he went on to lead the hardware development behind products across the Apple ecosystem, overseeing launches like AirPods, Apple Watch, and the Vision Pro. He also had a hand in major technical upgrades at Apple, like Apple's transition from Intel chips to its own proprietary Apple silicon. Most recently, Ternus was involved in the production of the MacBook Neo, Apple's new, more affordable laptop model that lowers costs through some clever trade-offs in hardware design, like using an iPhone chip to power the device. "We never want to ship junk. We want to ship great products that have that Apple experience, that Apple quality. To do that with the Neo required building something completely new from the ground up ... leveraging both the technologies we'd been developing like Apple silicon, but also the kind of expertise that we've developed over many, many years of building Macs, and building phones, and building iPads, and all of these things," Ternus told Tom's Guide.
MLCommons today unveiled a new benchmark that tests how well storage vendors handle KV cache and vector database workloads, two important components of running AI inference at scale. The group also added support for S3 object stores to go along with its existing support for POSIX file systems, further widening the scope of its metric.
MLCommons is a non-profit organization whose goal is to provide unbiased data for decision-makers about how different hardware and software work with the machine learning algorithms behind modern AI. It develops a dozen benchmarks to measure a variety of things, from algorithmic safety to whole system HPC performance, with the aim of serving the needs of hardware and software buyers in government, academia, and commercial sectors.
The MLPerf Storage benchmark has traditionally been used to measure how well different storage systems work with AI models. When MLCommons launched the MLPerf Storage benchmark several years ago, the focus was largely on AI training and keeping the GPUs running as close to 100% utilization as possible.
“We’ve had training…and now we’re moving into inference,” said MLPerf Storage working group co-chair Curtis Anderson in a press conference last week. “We have two new benchmarks. The vector database is the RAG pipeline….and the KV cache is the key-value cache that’s critical to saving accelerator cycles during a multi-turn conversation for a large language model.”
Speeding up KV cache workloads has been something of an obsession for the high-end storage business for the past eight months. All of the major storage vendors have developed ways to help customers manage large KV caches that spill over from HBM and DRAM onto disk during AI inference sessions with chatbots or agents. They are desperate to find a way over, under, around, or straight through the dreaded “GPU memory wall,” where agentic responses turn to molasses and users get cranky over the long waits.
The MLPerf KV cache metric was designed to bring clarity to prospective buyers of AI storage, Anderson said. “It’s about how many conversations can this make and model of storage solution support?” he said. “I, as a potential purchaser, know how many conversations I have or want to have. I need to size my storage for that. So that’s what the benchmark is reporting.”
There are three storage modes in the test, including a storage-only model for the Llama-3.1-8B model; a storage-plus-memory mode for the Llama-3.1-8B that includes a 4GiB DRAM cache for hot KV cache entries; and a storage only mode for Llama-3.1-70B, which stores KV cache objects that are 2.5x the size of the 8B mode. MLCommons received 20 submssions for the KV cache test
The new vector database workload, meanwhile, is based on an open source Milvus vector database housing 10 million vectors of about 1,500 dimensions each, indexed with DiskANN, an index structure specifically designed to live on disk rather than in RAM. MLPerf measures the queries per second, the latency, the recall accuracy, and the read throughput of the database. There are currently four results in listed on the MLCommons website for this particular metric.
MLCommons added the vector and KV cache workloads to its MLPerf Storage benchmark in order to keep up with storage changes that are happening in the real world. The same goes for the addition of support for AWS’ Simple Storage Service (S3), which has become the defacto standard for object storage.
“We’re on our way to supporting all of the cloud-specific access protocols for the other clouds, Azure and Google and OCI,” Anderson said. “You can run a training job or a checkpointing job using object storage directly instead of going through a file system. We’re expanding that to cover more of the cases, but that’s something new in 3.0.”
Nineteen organizations submitted to this round of the benchmark. “We would particularly like to welcome the eleven first-time submitters: Azure, Everpure, HolmesAI, Nebius, NewFW, NVIDIA, OpenLake, Suzhou Zishan Longlin, TuringData, XSKY, and ZettaLane,” said David Kanter, Head of MLPerf, in a press release.
You can read the full MLPerf Storage 3.0 benchmark results here.
Ive decided to build my own VESC beast from scratch(ish). So I've been looking at drop in kits:
The Floatwheel VEXR and the Fungineers controller kit. I'm leaning towards the Fungi box because it looks very sturdy and well made and I'd have to get an enclosure for the Floatwheel anyway (also I've read a ton about how unreliable Floatwheel.co is and using crypto doesn't enable much power over our purchase ).
I read somewhere (here or discord) someone said that there are adapters to use the stock XR motor with Fungineers' superrflux enabled controller.
Rep. Byron Donalds, a Republican from Florida who is running for governor, has blamed “rampant illegal immigration” during the Biden administration for measles outbreaks. But we found no link to illegal immigration in several recent large outbreaks, and infectious disease experts told us that the main driver of the cases is falling measles vaccination rates in the U.S.
Measles was eliminated in the U.S. in 2000, meaning there were no sustained outbreaks lasting more than a year. But since January 2025, cases have risen markedly and the country’s elimination status is now in question. Last year, there were 2,289 confirmed cases — the highest number since 1991. As of Aug. 30, there have been 2,903 confirmed cases in 2026, already breaking 2025’s tally.
Donalds weighed in on the cause of measles outbreaks during an Aug. 23 interview on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” in response to a question from host Margaret Brennan, who asked whether he would tell Florida parents to get their children vaccinated against the disease. “No, 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 replied.
When Brennan asked him for evidence for this statement, Donalds referred to “the outbreaks in El Paso, Texas, in Southwest Florida, where I live, and many other parts where you know that you have a situation,” adding that people entering the country illegally “have not had that vaccination schedule.”
Donalds appeared to refer to one outbreak at an immigration detention center, but it’s unclear exactly which outbreaks he was linking to illegal immigration. We did not receive a reply to questions we sent to his office. There’s no evidence illegal immigration under President Joe Biden caused the recent uptick in measles cases in the U.S., and there is clear evidence of vaccination rates falling within U.S. children.
“The U.S. measles problem is due to gradually dropping rates of measles vaccination among children,” Noel T. Brewer, a professor of health behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told us. “Most of the current measles cases are from domestic transmission. A sizable but much smaller portion of measles cases are from international travel. Immigrants play a very minor role in the US measles crisis.”
“There is no evidence that the 2025-2026 outbreaks of measles are due to immigration or immigrants,” Dr. Jonathan L. Temte, a professor of family medicine and community health at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, told us, noting the U.S. has a long history of blaming immigrants for the spread of infectious disease. “The CDC does not track immigration status of individuals diagnosed with measles. Public health data shows that the vast majority of U.S. measles cases stem from unvaccinated domestic residents.”
As we will explain, the data indicate an increasing proportion of measles cases are acquired within the U.S., and not brought in from other countries. Among cases where people were infected abroad, most are related to U.S. residents traveling outside the country and then returning.
Nor could we find any evidence connecting measles in Southwest Florida to illegal immigration, despite Donalds’ implication of a link. In El Paso, Texas, and an adjacent county, there have been some measles cases in an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility and a U.S. Marshals Service detention center. Little information has been confirmed about the cases among detainees, including the immigration status of those infected. But even if all of those individuals were undocumented, it would make up only a small fraction — less than 6%— of the total measles cases so far this year in the U.S. Settings like detention facilities and prisons are known to accelerate the spread of infectious diseases.
Eroding Vaccination Increased Measles Cases
The prevalence of measles in the U.S. has been closely tied to vaccination in U.S. communities, with lower vaccination rates leading to more measles cases. Receiving two doses of the vaccine against measles reduces a person’s risk of getting the disease by 97% if exposed.
Before the measles vaccine was released in the U.S. in 1963, almost all children eventually got measles, according to the CDC website. After the vaccine became available, measles cases fell but the virus continued to circulate. In 1989, the vaccine schedule incorporated a second dose of the vaccine.
After this, cases fell further, and by 2000, the U.S. had met the criteria for measles elimination “as a direct result of high 2-dose childhood coverage with the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine,” according to an April 2025 update on measles published by CDC scientists. A country can maintain its measles elimination status if it has limited outbreaks when measles is introduced from other countries, but it cannot have sustained local transmission lasting over a year.
The Pan American Health Organization will review data in November on whether the U.S. should keep its measles elimination status. Experts are doubtful that the country will retain it.
In an Aug. 6 opinion piece in STAT, Brewer cited as concerning, for example, the fact that there have been cases each week since early 2025. This was when a large outbreak began in Mennonite communities in West Texas that would ultimately lead to 762 cases in Texas and span multiple states and countries. He also mentioned an outbreak in Utah that seems to have continued for more than a year. Brewer is the chair of an independent committee that reviews the CDC’s annual report determining whether the country has maintained elimination status. He published his STAT opinion article before doing the review.
“Given the current epidemiological context, it appears highly likely that the USA will lose its measles elimination status in 2026,” another group of researchers wrote in a May 2 paper published in the Lancet.
Maimuna Majumder, a computational epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School and co-author of the Lancet paper, told us that she is “even less confident” that the U.S. will keep its measles elimination status than she was a few months ago when the study was published. “As outbreaks continue to pop up across the US due to under-vaccination, our risk of losing elimination status mounts further,” she said.
CDC data released Aug. 17 on the 2025-2026 school year show that 92.4% of kindergartners had received the MMR vaccine. This is down from 95.2% in the 2019-2020 school year. For the seven school years before that, vaccination rates had stayed between 94% and 95%. Meanwhile, CDC data show that 94% of people who have had confirmed measles in 2026 are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status. Another 3% got just one of two doses of the vaccine.
The erosion in vaccination rates at the national level doesn’t tell the whole story of why the U.S. is now more vulnerable to large outbreaks of measles, Ana Bento, an assistant professor in the department of public and ecosystem health at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, told us. These outbreaks are taking hold in pockets of the U.S. with very low vaccination rates.
“A national average of 92 percent does not describe any actual classroom,” she said. “It describes the midpoint of a landscape that includes schools in the low twenties, and those are the schools where these outbreaks begin.”
Bento and a colleague put together a database looking at MMR vaccination coverage across most of the U.S. states and the District of Columbia, looking at the county, district and school level. In results published Aug. 18 in Nature Medicine, the researchers calculated whether and at what point communities reached a lower level of vaccination that would allow sustained transmission of measles. They found that schools on average crossed this threshold during the 2022-2023 school year.
Bento explained that these clusters of high vulnerability are not visible when monitoring vaccination coverage at the county level, because large schools tend to have higher vaccination rates than small schools and obscure the existence of pockets of unvaccinated children. She also noted that her group’s data does not cover children who are homeschooled, and that homeschooling has increased in recent years. Some recent outbreaks have been in communities with high rates of homeschooling, she said.
Infectious disease researchers have for years noted measles outbreaks in what CDC scientists have called “undervaccinated, close-knit” communities.
“The practical implication is that outbreaks are not landing randomly,” Bento explained. “They land in the specific places where susceptible children have accumulated into dense pockets.”
A Falling Percentage of Cases from Overseas
The CDC does not track the immigration status of people with measles. However, the agency does keep track of whether measles cases in the U.S. were imported internationally, meaning a person was likely infected overseas and then carried the virus to the U.S.
In a setting where measles has been eliminated, a greater proportion of cases are imported, whereas when measles circulates more within a country, this percentage falls. These data indicate a growing proportion of measles cases in the U.S. are acquired locally, and not brought in from abroad.
Between 2001 and 2011, 41% of measles cases were imported, according to CDC researchers. This proportion subsequently fell. A CDC analysis of cases between 2013 and 2019 found that 12% were imported, with an increase to 31% for the pandemic years of 2020 through 2023. By Jan. 1 through April 17, 2025 — the last period for which the CDC released data on imported cases — internationally imported measles made up just 6% of cases. Since 2000, most imported cases have been brought back to the country by unvaccinated U.S. residents who travel overseas, according to the CDC website, and this remained true as of early 2025. Agency scientists reported that 92% of imported cases in early 2025 were in U.S. residents.
The Johns Hopkins University measles tracking project, which collects data from a variety of sources including state and county health departments, also categorizes confirmed cases based on whether they are locally acquired or imported from out of the country or out of state. By this count, 5% of cases since the beginning of 2025 have been imported. “Of the imported cases, the vast majority occur in travelers returning from other countries with ongoing measles outbreaks,” the project’s website says.
It’s worth noting that most imported measles cases in the recent past have involved unvaccinated U.S. residents who traveled to Europe, Asia or Africa — and not the Americas. Between 2001 and 2019, for U.S. measles outbreaks with at least 50 cases, the known source countries were Israel, the U.K., Belgium, Ukraine and the Philippines.
What’s Known About Recent Large Outbreaks
It’s also not clear what evidence Donalds was considering when linking the largest recent outbreaks in the U.S. to illegal immigration during Biden’s presidency.
We first wrote more than a year ago about unsupported claims connecting the large Texas outbreak, first identified in Mennonite communities in Gaines County in January 2025, to illegal immigration. The source of the outbreak is unknown, according to the CDC.
“We don’t know exactly how the Gaines County outbreak [began],” Chris Van Deusen, director of media relations at the Texas Department of State Health Services, told us. “It spread through a community with low immunization rates.”
Majumder said that the “most concerning” element of the Texas outbreak is that rather than “staying localized to a single under-vaccinated community, the outbreak spread — not only throughout the state, but to other states, too.”
Once in other communities, measles continued to spread. “These outbreaks demonstrate that under-vaccination across the US is now widespread enough that one under-vaccinated community can cause an entirely ‘homegrown’ outbreak in another,” Majumder said.
Mennonites who had been living in Mexico since the 1920s first attempted to establish a community in Gaines County, Texas, in 1977, the nonprofit Texas State Historical Association explains. The initial group struggled with their immigration status until 600 members of the community attained legal status in 1980, and the community maintains ties to Mennonite communities abroad.
The Gaines County outbreak in fact started a large measles outbreak in Chihuahua, Mexico. “Mexico’s outbreak in Chihuahua was seeded by an unvaccinated child who had visited Seminole, Texas, and every one of the more than one hundred cases Mexican authorities sequenced carried the same lineage,” Bento said. “We exported this epidemic.”
Bento said that while it is not established how measles arrived in Gaines County, genomic data indicate that the measles lineage was the same as one that caused an outbreak in Canada with links to Mennonite communities beginning in October 2024, suggesting possible spread from Canada to the U.S.
“The US, Canada, and Mexico have been trading measles cases over the last year and a half,” Brewer said. “It’s one of the things that’s made it hard for any of these countries to fully stop ongoing transmission.”
The Utah outbreak, which has lasted since mid-2025, early on involved communities with ties to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. A large outbreak in South Carolina, meanwhile, centered on evangelical churches and schools in Spartanburg County, spanning October 2025 to March 2026.
Bento said that no link tying any of these outbreaks to unauthorized immigration had been identified.
She and her colleagues wrote in an Aug. 13 commentary in Vaccine that the South Carolina outbreak spread in an area with a high rate of religious exemptions from school vaccine requirements, which rose sixfold in Spartanburg County between the 2013-2014 and 2024-2025 school years.
In Spartanburg County, the researchers found, 73% of schools whose MMR vaccination rates were below 80% had measles exposures, while 5% of schools with 95% or higher vaccination rates did. “That is a local exemption-policy story, not a migration story,” Bento said.
Nor were we able to find a link to immigration in measles outbreaks in Southwest Florida, even though Donalds mentioned cases in this area as an example when asked to justify his claim that illegal immigration had caused measles outbreaks.
There was a 2026 outbreak of measles in Collier County that started at Ave Maria University, a private Catholic school. The county reported 107 measles cases between January and April. However, there isn’t evidence this outbreak was related to illegal immigration. The university’s dean of students reported in a letter to students that Florida’s health department “has indicated these measles cases most likely originated with a student’s holiday travel from another state,” according to NBC News.
Cases in Texas Detention Facilities
Donalds also referred to an outbreak in El Paso, Texas. There were measles cases in federal detention facilities in Texas this year, including at an ICE facility in El Paso. The legal status of those involved and how the outbreak began have not been established. ICE did not reply to our request for comment, nor did the El Paso department of public health.
The El Paso department of public health lists 16 cases this year in congregate settings and eight cases in the community. The local news outlet El Paso Matters reported that all 16 congregate cases were at the ICE detention facility Camp East Montana. El Paso’s lead epidemiologist told the outlet that all eight cases in the community were among people who worked for the federal government or worked at or had ties to the West Texas Detention Facility, in nearby Hudspeth County, where a larger measles outbreak has been reported.
Hudspeth County has had 136 confirmed cases of measles in 2026, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Van Deusen, the spokesperson from the state health department, told us that all 136 cases were in people housed in federal detention.
The West Texas Detention Facility houses inmates in custody of the U.S. Marshals, and these can include immigrant detainees, according to the Texas Tribune. It’s unclear how many immigrant detainees are at the facility, what the immigration status was of people who got measles, and how measles got into the facility.
Regardless of the source of the initial infection, a factor in the spread of disease is the nature of detention centers themselves.
“Measles is extremely contagious and tends to cause explosive outbreaks in congregant settings like detention centers and prisons,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University, told Scientific American when a measles outbreak at Camp East Montana was first reported. “Anytime you have a group of unvaccinated or undervaccinated people crammed into a common indoor space for an extended period, you can expect outbreaks if an infection is introduced.”
In the case of the Texas outbreak, emails obtained by El Paso Matters suggest that delays in reporting cases and “limited information sharing by ICE and by a hospital hindered El Paso’s ability to trace and contain infections,” Bento said. Meanwhile, the emails show public health workers contending with a lack of information about vaccination coverage in the detention centers.
“The failure documented in Texas was screening, vaccination, and reporting inside federal custody,” Bento said.
She added that in contrast to the large Texas outbreak from the year prior, the 2026 El Paso area outbreak did not grow rapidly in the community. “El Paso County and Gaines County both had measles introduced in the same state in the same period,” Bento said. “El Paso, at about 96 percent kindergarten [vaccination] coverage, had eight community cases. Gaines County, at 77 percent, had 414. The variable that mattered was local vaccination coverage, not proximity to the border.”
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.
Erin Piacenti, a 32-year-old vice-president at the bank, was killed in Tuesday stabbing in New York City, officials say
A corporate vice-president at Bank of America was killed in a stabbing in New York City’s Times Square, the second-biggest US lending bank said on Tuesday about a random incident that took place in broad daylight in the bustling heart of Manhattan.
The incident had brought the streets of the crowded area to a halt on Monday as emergency vehicles swarmed between the skyscrapers.
Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks with reporters at the Michigan Theatre in Ann Arbor, Mich., on Aug. 26, 2026.Photo: Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images
It always felt inevitable that Bari Weiss’s tenure at CBS News would see the network devolve into rank Islamophobia — but even for most of us, who took a dim view of her takeover of the news behemoth, tying Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed to the 9/11 attacks was an unexpected new low. To make matters worse, many centrist Democrats and their allies cleared the way for just this kind of attack.
On Monday, CBS reporter Zak Hudak published an article headlined with the critique that El-Sayed’s “deleted tweets on Sept. 11 attacks invite scrutiny of past remarks.” Weiss, whose time in charge of CBS has been rife with controversy, was reportedly deeply involved with the story’s promotion and framing, going so far as to praise it in a newsroom meeting and champion it “to the entire network,” according to media-industry newsletter Status. She “even personally directed the headline to be tweaked to specifically mention” the 9/11 angle.
The story immediately came under harsh criticism, even from people whose politics when it comes to Muslims are virtually indistinguishable from Weiss’s. Atlantic writer Jonathan Chait, for example, called the tweets a “non-story.”
CBS declined to mention that two of those three deleted posts were asking Americans to take the death toll of the Covid-19 pandemic as seriously as the attacks. It’s worth noting — CBS did not — that invoking 9/11 to put the Covid death toll in perspective wasn’t unusual at the time; then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo directly compared the pandemic, which ravaged New York City, to the attacks the same month that El-Sayed did.
Another post at issue was a rather anodyne comment about the consequences of the decadelong war on terror and a call to action: “We could save lives rather than take them.”
El-Sayed’s campaign previously told Politico that all posts older than July 2023 were deleted “to prevent any old posts from being taken out of context.”
Weiss’s guidance led to CBS News’s racist framing that there’s just something different — even untrustworthy — about El-Sayed, and that the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11 is the right time to ask what that is.
In doing so, she’s embracing a long-standing bipartisan tradition of Muslim dehumanization — a playbook still being deployed on both sides of the aisle. The current anti-Muslim environment reflects the growth and regression in the country since the 9/11 moment: growth in the number of Muslims in political and public life, and the regressive backlash to multicultural liberalism that’s defined the Trump era.
This kind of bigotry was rampant during the early 2000s, particularly in 2002 and 2003, when the George W. Bush administration weaponized Americans’ anger and shock over the attacks to gin up support for its war of choice on Iraq.
Weiss’s guidance led to CBS News’s racist framing that there’s just something different — even untrustworthy — about El-Sayed, and that the upcoming 25th anniversary of 9/11 is the right time to ask what that is.
More recently, in the wake of mass protest and opposition, mainly from the left, to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, institutional power on both sides of the partisan divide has cracked down on dissent. In the immediate aftermath of the October 7 attacks, expressing sympathy for Palestine was enough to engender severe career consequences.
Since 2023, the landscape of public opinion has shifted significantly. A supermajority of Democratic voters are opposed to Israel’s war on Gaza and support sanctions on Israel. Increasingly, primary voters are punishing incumbents who have been diehard supporters of Israel. The callback to the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the post-9/11 era has also fallen flat with the base, who are more concerned with affordability and opposing Trump than they are with ensuring U.S. dominance over the region.
Rather than adapt to this new political reality, some of the Democratic Party’s most enthusiastic cheerleaders are fighting back by playing dirty. Neera Tanden, president of the powerful Democrat-aligned think tank Center for American Progress, has turned attacking El-Sayed and the Twitch streamer Hasan Piker — who was raised Muslim — into her main focus.
The callback to the anti-Muslim rhetoric of the post-9/11 era has fallen flat with the base, who are more concerned with affordability and opposing Trump.
But Tanden, with her reach and influence in the party, which has included stints in both the Biden and Obama administrations, is far more influential, and she wields that influence to her advantage against progressives and Muslims in her own big tent.
She’s reposted commentary from white supremacist streamer Nick Fuentes and arch-right provocateur Laura Loomer, in the latter case boosting a comment accusing Piker of using “Ninja Taqiyya,” a white nationalist meme referring to a secret Muslim plot to infiltrate Western society with their Islamic faith. Tanden later deleted it, claiming it was a “mistake,” but didn’t disavow the content.
A number of Democratic politicians eager to revive the party’s Islamophobic war on terror days have joined these attacks. Piker, a public figure aligned with progressives but just outside the mainstream enough to threaten the establishment, is a perfect foil for centrist Democrats fighting against a lefty uprising.
Democratic senators and representatives have in turn targeted Piker as a way to swipe at the party’s ascendant left in more and more deranged and defamatory ways, and have repeatedly called on El-Sayed to disavow the streamer, who campaigned for him in the primary.
Piker’s recent comments that Israel’s actions are making Jews around the world less safe — echoing remarks previously made by Ezra Klein and others — were were cynically used as another example of the streamer’s “antisemitism” by right-wing Democrats, with Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer telling CNN, “There’s no way I’m ever coming out for El-Sayed.”
Rep. Brad Sherman, a California Democrat, claimed Piker endorsed Hamas fighters raping children. And Sen. John Fetterman, the nominal — at the time of this writing — Democrat from Pennsylvania has mumbled at various moments about Piker’s opposition to Israel as part of a dealbreaker for him staying in the party.
This mainstreaming of liberal Islamophobia at the party and think tank level has emboldened media figures to indulge in the same bigotry.
At CNN, it’s anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper who are most enthusiastic about smearing critics of Israel and engaging in open hate toward Muslims. As Intercept contributor Adam Johnson has pointed out, CNN’s “State of the Union,” the network’s flagship Sunday news show hosted by Tapper and Bash, “hasn’t had on a Palestinian or Palestinian-American guest in over 7 years, and the last time they did it was Rashida Tlaib and Jake Tapper asked her if she believed in Israel’s ‘right to exist’ three different times.”
When you find yourself in common cause with the likes of virulent anti-Muslim bigots like Laura Loomer, it’s time to take a long look in the mirror, and consider the fact that you’re doing the Republicans’ work for them.
Over at The Atlantic, writers like Chait are often so hostile toward El-Sayed and Piker that they’re earning the kinds of rebukes mostly left to private conversations. Chait’s latest smear of El-Sayed was so dishonest it prompted former Atlantic associate editor Siddhartha Mahanta to publicly question the writer, asking if he had requested comment for the claims he was making about the candidate. Chait snapped back that as an opinion writer, he wasn’t subject to those kinds of ethical requirements — a familiar retort.
But tying El-Sayed to 9/11 is an escalation. Weiss’s choice to push Islamophobia in mainstream discourse past the point of plausible deniability, regardless of how one feels about that plausibility, will have an impact. When you find yourself in common cause with the likes of virulent anti-Muslim bigots like Loomer, it’s time to take a long look in the mirror, and consider the fact that you’re doing the Republicans’ work for them. A closing argument for the GOP in Michigan, and nationally, that focuses on the otherness of Muslims is ideal ground for the right, and highly preferable to talking about the domestic issues El-Sayed has built his campaign around.
It would be helpful if Democrats presented a united front against racist attacks on members of their own party. Unfortunately, it appears that for some on the party’s right wing, welcoming Muslims into the tent is a nonstarter.
Anthropic has released Claude Fable 5.1 and Mythos 5.1, two versions of the same underlying model aimed at longer-running agentic work. "For enterprise buyers, however, the release is about more than another round of benchmark gains," reports VentureBeat. "Anthropic is simultaneously changing the economics of running persistent agents, reducing the cost of cached context by 75%, and introducing a new security architecture called Enterprise Frontier Safeguards, or EFS, designed to let organizations retain monitoring data inside infrastructure they control." From the report: Those changes arrive at a particularly consequential moment. Over the past several weeks, Anthropic and the U.K. AI Security Institute have disclosed incidents in which earlier Claude models, running under unusually permissive cybersecurity evaluation conditions, took unauthorized actions against real systems. Anthropic temporarily paused external cyber evaluations and has since introduced additional containment and monitoring before resuming them.
Taken together, Fable 5.1 looks less like a conventional model refresh than an attempt to solve three increasingly intertwined enterprise problems: how to make agents capable enough to finish difficult work, economical enough to leave running for hours, and governable enough to give access to sensitive systems.
British Wimbledon semi-finalist loses 6-3, 6-3, 7-5
Elena Rybakina into second round with 6-3, 6-2 win
Six weeks on from the fortnight that changed his life, Arthur Fery’s first grand slam appearance since his semi-final run at Wimbledon came under considerably different circumstances. He is now the 33rd best men’s player in the world, a direct entrant for all of the biggest tournaments, and he has continued to gain experience at the highest level of professional tennis each week.
As a result of his continued exposure on the tour, though, Fery’s adversaries have also learned a bit more about him. In his first main draw appearance at the US Open, Fery came up against a prepared and sharp Lorenzo Musetti, who knew exactly how to exploit the vulnerable parts of his game in order to secure a win. The Italian comprehensively outplayed the British No 1, reaching the second round with a comfortable 6-3, 6-3, 7-5 victory.
(The Center Square) – Attorneys general from two Republican-led states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Paramount Skydance’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery.
British far-right pundit breaks silence on ICE arrest and deportation and says he was ‘really, really terrified’
Milo Yiannopoulos, the British far-right commentator who was arrested last week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Louisiana and deported to the United Kingdom, has broken his silence about the experience, saying that “for the first time I know what it feels like to be really, really terrified”.
Yiannopoulos on Tuesday appeared on Piers Morgan Uncensored, a YouTube show presented by Piers Morgan, the British broadcaster and media personality. Yiannopoulos, 41, described the experience in the US as “humiliating and disorientating”, “physically degrading” and “frightening”.
(The Center Square) – Republican leaders in the U.S. House are confident they will maintain control of the chamber after the midterm elections, despite coping with party infighting that has delayed progress on critical legislation.
On Election Day, you go to vote – and you’re told you’re not registered or you’re not eligible to vote. A civil rights lawyer provides a guide so voters can know their rights to cast a ballot.
Deal gives KSE teams in NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and MLS
Kroenke Sports + Entertainment announced Tuesday that it will buy a controlling interest in the Los Angeles Angels from Arte Moreno in a deal that is expected to close in the first quarter of 2027.
The sale will require the approval of Major League Baseball and its owners.
Michigan Senate candidate accuses vice-president of ‘dog whistle’ and says Republican policies are true evil
Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic US Senate candidate in Michigan, has hit back at Republican vice-president JD Vance’s onslaught against him, saying it is “evil” to deprive people of healthcare and affordable groceries.
Vance, in a Monday speech that railed against undocumented immigrants, cast El-Sayed as representative of “terrible evil” and as someone who fights for “one group at the expense of others”.
Pictured L-R – From Del-One, CIO Marc Kidwell, CBO John Chartrand, CXO Horacio Garcia-Korosec, President & CEO Dan McCarthy, and Joseariel Gomez-Ortigoza, Founder and CEO of Shastic.
Delaware’s largest credit union says its digital assistant reviews auto-loan documents in minutes, offering other businesses a model for adopting AI within their existing systems
DOVER, Del. — Del-One Federal Credit Union is using artificial intelligence to expand its auto-lending capacity without increasing its staff, offering a Delaware example of how businesses can incorporate AI into everyday operations.
The credit union has deployed an autonomous digital assistant named Valeria to review documents submitted by automobile dealerships through Del-One’s indirect lending program. The technology, developed by Shastic, works within Del-One’s existing MeridianLink lending platform.
Del-One said the system could help its two-person funding team increase indirect loan production from approximately $8 million to $15 million per month without hiring additional employees.
“With Valeria, we believe we can nearly double our indirect production, from $8 million a month to $15 million, without adding a single person,” said John Chartrand, chief operating officer of Del-One. “We want our people to think, not enter data.”
AI handles paperwork, employees make decisions
When an auto-loan packet arrives, Valeria reads the documents, creates a funding checklist and flags missing, incomplete or inconsistent information before a Del-One employee begins the final review.
The process takes less than 15 minutes per packet, according to the credit union. Del-One said Valeria has completed more than 500 reviews without clearing a defective packet.
The AI system does not determine whether an applicant qualifies for credit or whether a loan should be approved. Those decisions remain with Del-One employees. The technology completes repetitive document-review work and provides an auditable record of its findings.
The distinction is important as financial institutions and other businesses explore ways to use AI while maintaining human oversight of decisions affecting customers.
“The model here is that our best people manage exceptions, verification and strategy; the digital workforce handles the box-checking, staring and comparing,” said Dan McCarthy, president and CEO of Del-One.
Working within existing systems
Del-One’s approach illustrates how an organization can adopt AI without replacing its primary software systems. Instead of purchasing an entirely new lending platform, the credit union added the digital assistant to a system its employees already use.
The strategy also represents a shift from treating AI as a general-purpose tool to assigning it a specific, measurable business responsibility. In Del-One’s case, that responsibility is checking dealer loan packets for missing or conflicting information.
Del-One said it has deployed two digital assistants and identified other potential applications in lending, account opening and collections. Each would perform a defined back-office function while employees retain responsibility for decisions, unusual cases and member interactions.
A potential AI road map for other businesses
The experience provides a potential road map for other businesses considering AI. Companies can begin with a focused project inside their existing systems, while regional technology and business consultants such as Trellist Marketing and Technology can help identify appropriate processes, develop an implementation plan and manage the organizational transition.
“What Del-One is doing reflects a pattern we see across every industry right now,” said Maria Gunther, CEO of Trellist Marketing and Technology. “Businesses do not need to replace their core systems to get real value from AI. They need to give it a specific, well-defined job inside the systems they already run.
“The first step for most companies is not a big platform decision. It is identifying one repetitive, high-volume process where a person is currently doing work a machine can do faster, then keeping human judgment in charge of the exceptions and the relationships. That is how AI transformation actually takes hold in an organization — one clearly scoped responsibility at a time.”
Building a digital workforce one role at a time
Shastic describes that approach as building a “digital workforce,” with AI agents added one role at a time to perform defined back-office responsibilities.
“Every credit union is trying to figure out how to get real value from AI,” said Joseariel Gomez-Ortigoza, founder and CEO of Shastic. “Del-One has shown what it looks like in production: not one tool, but a digital workforce added one role at a time, on a platform they already own.”
The initiative could allow Del-One to process a larger volume of loans without increasing administrative costs at the same rate. It also could shorten the time between a dealer submitting a complete loan packet and receiving funding.
Del-One, founded in 1960, describes itself as Delaware’s largest credit union. Its mission is to create an easy and enjoyable banking experience in which convenience is combined with personal service.
Shastic develops autonomous digital assistants that perform lending-related administrative work within credit unions’ existing technology systems.
To Go Box
What: Del-One Federal Credit Union’s use of Valeria, an autonomous AI assistant that reviews indirect auto-loan packets
Purpose: Identify missing or inconsistent documents before a Del-One employee completes the funding review
Processing time: Less than 15 minutes per loan packet, according to Del-One
Human oversight: The technology does not make credit or loan-approval decisions
Projected impact: Del-One expects to increase indirect lending production from approximately $8 million to $15 million per month without adding staff
For businesses: Companies considering AI can begin by identifying a repetitive, high-volume process within an existing system while preserving human oversight
Learn more: Visit del-one.org, trellist.com or shastic.com/valeria-autonomous-loan-packet-reviewer
Minneapolis, Minnesota — A widely repeated claim that Minnesota has suffered $9 billion in social-services fraud is facing renewed scrutiny after a local television investigation found that criminal cases prosecuted so far involve less than $500 million.
KSTP-TV traced the $9 billion figure to former First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, who said in December 2025 that fraud might account for “half or more” of roughly $18 billion spent through 14 high-risk Medicaid programs since 2018. Thompson later clarified that he was describing the possible magnitude of fraud, not providing a precise accounting.
Republicans and Trump administration officials have since frequently cited $9 billion as the scale of Minnesota’s fraud problem. A March report from the Republican-led House Oversight Committee gave the estimate additional prominence, saying federal prosecutors believed “as much as $9 billion” may have been stolen.
That report, however, does not establish that investigators have documented $9 billion in stolen funds. KSTP found currently prosecuted cases total under $500 million, including the roughly $250 million Feeding Our Future scheme.
Minnesota Republicans and conservative groups criticized KSTP for emphasizing the distinction, arguing that criminal prosecutions will inevitably capture only part of the actual fraud.
Minnesota’s Department of Human Services said any fraud is unacceptable but referred to $9 billion as a “claim,” noting that investigations and new criminal referrals remain underway.
The disagreement is therefore less about whether Minnesota has experienced serious fraud than whether a preliminary prosecutorial estimate should already be presented as an established $9 billion loss.
Government says ‘dangerous behaviour’ is part of effort by Moscow to cause damage with hybrid attacks
The German government has blamed Russia for the drone attack on Leipzig airport last month, calling it “dangerous behaviour” and part of a systematic and concerted effort by Moscow to “cause great damage” through a large number of hybrid attacks.
The interior minister, Alexander Dobrindt, and the foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, ended weeks of speculation and the government’s hesitancy to blame Russia, saying in a brisk 10-minute briefing in Berlin that all indications were the Russian state had provided the knowhow and equipment for the planned attack and “low-level agents” were recruited to carry it out.
The jury in Lindsay Clancy's murder trial told the judge Tuesday morning they are deadlocked, and left a Massachusetts courtroom hours later without reaching a verdict.
The longtime Dallas Cowboys quarterback and CBS Sports football analyst said he came to rely on alcohol to get off pain medications after multiple back surgeries.
Dyson is entering oral care with the $499 CameraJet, a smart toothbrush that uses a tiny camera and on-device AI to detect gaps between teeth and automatically blast them with mouthwash while you brush. Regular toothpaste and mouthwash will work with the CameraJet, but Dyson plans to sell its own non- or low-foaming formulas designed to give the toothbrush's camera a clearer view inside your mouth. The Verge reports: Just below the brush head is a tiny camera with a 100,000-pixel resolution and a strobing light. The toothbrush's AI analyzes 28 live images from the camera every second as part of a feature Dyson calls Gap Optical Targeting, without storing them on the device or sending them to the cloud. Within 100 milliseconds of a gap between your teeth being detected, the CameraJet emits a cone-shaped blast of mouthwash to clean out the space. Dyson uses a wider blast than what water flossers typically employ so it can effectively remove plaque with less pressure, making the CameraJet's flossing mechanism gentler on enamel and gums
The replaceable brush heads use a combination of softer outer bristles that safely clean along the gumline and stiffer inner bristles that are better at scrubbing away tooth stains. The brush head oscillates nearly 1,000 times each second while the angle of oscillation is constantly changing to improve the effectiveness of your brushing. Pricing on replacement brush heads isn't known, but each one features an RFID tag so the CameraJet can track usage and alert you when a replacement is needed every three months.
To ensure its mouthwash reservoir can effectively pump no matter how the CameraJet is held -- even upside down -- instead of sticking a tube into the reservoir, there's an air bladder inside the tank that slowly inflates to fill empty space, minimize air pockets, and maintain a constant pressure. An elaborate docking station recharges the toothbrush and can automatically fill its built-in 12.5ml mouthwash reservoir in just three seconds.
Gov. Josh Shapiro joins state, local and business leaders in Schnecksville, Pa., on Tuesday, Sept. 1, to announce a $1.2 billion investment by Chobani to establish its first dairy manufacturing operation in Pennsylvania. The project is expected to create more…
Two people shot dead and suspect later died in hospital after shooting in parking lot of Venture-N bar
Authorities in Tucson, Arizona, are investigating a shooting outside a gay bar that left three people dead as a possible hate crime.
The shooting occurred shortly after midnight on Monday in the parking lot of Venture-N, according to Tucson police. The suspect, identified by police as 44-year old Ousman Ceesay, allegedly killed 42-year-old Vincent Anthony Siqueiros and 33-year-old Cameron Davis Capara.
La Red Health Center will celebrate 25 years of expanding health care in Southern Delaware during an anniversary gala Sept. 24, while highlighting a mission that has become an important part of the Milford Wellness Village.
Community health center is a key partner in the Village’s effort to give Milford-area families coordinated access to medical, behavioral and dental services
MILFORD, Del. — La Red Health Center will celebrate 25 years of expanding health care in Southern Delaware during an anniversary gala Sept. 24, while highlighting a mission that has become an important part of the Milford Wellness Village.
The 25th Anniversary and Community Awards Celebration will run from 6 to 10 p.m. at the Hyatt Place Dewey Beach. The event will recognize the community partners, business leaders and supporters who helped La Red grow from a bilingual telephone referral line into a comprehensive health center serving more than 15,000 patients annually.
“This event is very special for La Red, we aren’t only celebrating the milestone of turning 25,” said Rachel Hersh, La Red’s President and CEO, “we are honoring our founders’ vision and the commitment of everyone involved that has led to La Red become a flourishing healthcare center that 15,000 people rely upon every day for their healthcare needs. It really is a testament to what communities can do when they work together.”
For residents of Milford and northern Sussex County, La Red’s work is visible at 21 W. Clarke Ave., where the organization operates as a key service partner within the Milford Wellness Village.
The Village brings more than 30 health, education and community-service organizations together on the former Milford Memorial Hospital campus. Its goal is to make care more accessible and coordinated by allowing residents to find multiple services in one location.
La Red plays a vital role in that model by providing a direct entry point into primary and preventive health care for children, adults, seniors and families — including people who may have difficulty obtaining care because of cost, insurance status, language or transportation.
A health care anchor within the Village
La Red moved its Milford Family Practice into the Milford Wellness Village as the former hospital campus was being redeveloped into a collaborative health and wellness center.
The move gave La Red room to expand pediatric and adolescent care, adult and senior services, women’s health, behavioral health and oral health services in northern Sussex County.
That combination makes La Red more than another tenant at the Village. It is one of the organizations helping the campus fulfill its central purpose: connecting residents with care in a convenient setting where medical providers, rehabilitation programs, laboratories, child care organizations and social-service agencies can work near one another.
“La Red was the first tenant to join the Milford Wellness Village and significantly enhanced its facility when it moved here, including the addition of a brand-new, six-chair dental center,” said Meir Gelley, founder and owner of Milford Wellness Village. “As a medical home serving uninsured and underinsured residents, La Red is a key component of primary care at the Village and plays a vital role in making quality health care accessible to the Milford community.”
The Village’s model is intended to reduce the stress of traveling to separate locations for medical appointments, testing, rehabilitation and support services. For patients with multiple health needs — particularly older adults, families with children and people
managing chronic conditions — having services concentrated on one campus can make it easier to remain engaged in care.
La Red contributes broad family health services to that network. Its Milford center provides adult and senior care, pediatric and adolescent care, women’s health and prenatal services, health screenings, treatment for acute illness and chronic disease management.
Services also include behavioral health care, dental care, substance-use disorder treatment, laboratory services, cancer screening referrals, HIV screening, diabetic retinopathy screenings and help obtaining affordable medications.
La Red’s presence ensures that the Milford Wellness Village includes a community health provider whose mission is specifically focused on reaching people who might otherwise fall through gaps in the traditional health system.
From hotline to health network
La Red’s story began before its formal incorporation in 2001, when it operated as a 24-hour telephone hotline. The service helped people with limited English proficiency connect with bilingual physicians who offered discounted medical care.
In 2001, a group of Sussex County physicians joined with a hospital, community center, faith-based organization and local government to establish La Red Health Center.
“La Red” means “the network” in Spanish, a name that reflects both its origins and its continuing reliance on partnerships.
The organization became an independent ambulatory care center in 2003 and later received full status as a Federally Qualified Health Center. That federal designation helps nonprofit, community-based providers deliver care in areas where residents may face financial barriers or shortages of medical services.
Today, La Red operates health centers in Georgetown, Seaford, Milford and a mobile health unit. It welcomes patients regardless of insurance status, income, language or background.
Care beyond an appointment
La Red’s role extends beyond examinations and treatment.
Bilingual community health workers, known as promotoras, help patients understand medical information and navigate the health system. Transportation assistance helps residents reach appointments, while the organization’s mobile health unit carries primary care, vaccinations and pharmacy assistance into Sussex County communities.
La Red also helps patients enroll in insurance programs, obtain medications and coordinate care among providers.
Its outreach includes support for people experiencing homelessness, individuals returning to the community after incarceration and businesses seeking employee wellness programs.
The Produce RX program works with local farms to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to patients in need. On-site services through the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, commonly known as WIC, offer nutrition education and assistance to families at La Red’s Georgetown location.
Those programs support the same principle behind the Milford Wellness Village: Health is affected not only by what happens during a medical appointment, but also by whether a patient has food, transportation, information and access to continuing support.
Partnerships drive the mission
La Red works with hospitals, schools, nonprofits, businesses and government agencies across Sussex County. Its regional partners include Bayhealth, Beebe Healthcare, TidalHealth Nanticoke, the Delaware Division of Public Health and the Sussex County Health Coalition.
At the Milford Wellness Village, that collaborative approach is built into the campus itself. La Red operates alongside organizations providing rehabilitation, skilled nursing, child care, laboratory testing, mental health support and other services.
The arrangement allows La Red to serve as both a health care provider and a connection to a larger network of help.
The anniversary gala will recognize the people and organizations that have sustained that network during La Red’s first 25 years. It will also raise support for the health center’s future work, including its efforts to improve access and health outcomes for families in Milford and across Sussex County.
Individual gala tickets are $175. Sponsorship opportunities are available at several levels.
To Go Box
What: La Red Health Center’s 25th Anniversary and Community Awards Celebration
When: Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026, from 6 to 10 p.m.
Where: Hyatt Place Dewey Beach, 1301 Coastal Highway, Dewey Beach
Tickets: $175 per person · Registration: Tickets are available through the La Red Health Center gala page
Milford health center: La Red Health Center at the Milford Wellness Village, 21 W. Clarke Ave., Milford Appointments and services: Call 302-855-1233 or visit La Red Health Center
The star has denied allegations of bullying and harassment in the workplace in a suit that has now been thrown out of court
A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed the remaining claims in a well-publicized lawsuit against Lizzo’s production company, declaring that the case brought by her former wardrobe stylist could not proceed.
The ruling by US district judge Fernando L Aenlle-Rocha comes nearly two years after he dismissed Lizzo as an individual defendant from the case brought by Asha Daniels against the About Damn Time singer and her production company, Big Grrrl Big Touring, Inc Daniels first filed her lawsuit in September 2023, alleging that she was subject to bullying as well as sexual and racial harassment in an “unsafe, sexually charged workplace culture”.
Sept. 1, 2026 — The U.S. National Science Foundation is establishing the NSF National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Operations Center (NSF NAIRR-OC) to strengthen the nation’s capacity for AI research and AI-enabled scientific discovery. The investment will provide the operational foundation for NAIRR, a national public-private effort designed to expand access to advanced AI research capabilities and expertise, contributing to American leadership in science and technology.
Credit: JHVEPhoto/Shutterstock
Working closely with the agency, NSF NAIRR-OC will serve as the operational backbone of NAIRR. It will coordinate participating resource providers; integrate computing, data, models and tools; operate the national NAIRR portal; and provide support and training to users. The center will also gather input from the research community to continually improve NAIRR’s capabilities and lead the transition of appropriate functions from the NAIRR pilot into the long-term national infrastructure.
The NAIRR pilot has demonstrated both the demand for and the impact of a national approach to AI infrastructure. Since its launch in 2024, the pilot has supported over 800 research projects and thousands of innovators and students nationwide. With over 25 private-sector partners, including major technology leaders and nonprofit organizations, this novel public-private partnership has expanded access to resources that have enabled research, educational and workforce development activities that otherwise may have been difficult or impossible to pursue. NAIRR-OC will build on this progress by transforming successful elements of the pilot into a sustained national capability.
Led by the San Diego Supercomputer Center at UC San Diego, in collaboration with the Texas Advanced Computing Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the operating center will bring complementary expertise and decades of experience developing and operating national-scale research infrastructure. UC San Diego is home to the San Diego Supercomputer Center and leads the NSF-supported National Data Platform and National Research Platform, in addition to supporting advanced computing platforms. The University of Texas at Austin is home to the Texas Advanced Computing Center and will lead the NSF Leadership-Class Computing Facility.
Together, the institutions have supported millions of users, coordinated efforts across federal agencies and research organizations, and managed complex, multiyear initiatives with measurable outcomes. This combined expertise will provide the technical capacity, governance and accountability needed to operate a national resource that can evolve alongside rapid advances in AI.
In addition, the NAIRR-OC will coordinate with projects supported through three NSF programs. The NSF State and Regional AI Infrastructure Hubs program will bring together research institutions, government, industry and philanthropy to expand regional access to computing resources and develop the workforce needed to use them. The NSF Integrated Data Systems and Services program supports national-scale data infrastructure for AI-driven research. The NSF Unlocking Dataset Value for AI-Enabled Scientific Discovery focuses on increasing the value of existing scientific datasets and enabling new AI-driven insights, interdisciplinary research and investigations. Connecting these regional resources, national data systems and scientific datasets with capabilities available through NAIRR will create a stronger national ecosystem for AI-enabled scientific discovery.
The NAIRR-OC will work closely with federal and private-sector resource providers, strengthening the public-private partnership model that enables researchers to benefit from rapidly evolving AI capabilities, advancing open, foundational and translational research.
By bringing together shared national infrastructure, expertise and partnerships across universities, government and industry, the center will enable more researchers and institutions nationwide to contribute to AI innovation, address complex national challenges and translate discoveries into benefits for the nation.
Learn more about the current NAIRR opportunities here.
Benchmark suite now covers the full range of AI workloads for storage systems
SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 1, 2026 — Today, MLCommons announced the results of its industry-standard MLPerf Storage v3.0 benchmark suite, which measures the performance of storage systems for machine learning (ML) workloads in an architecture-neutral, representative, and reproducible manner. Version 3.0 expands the tests in the suite to represent the breadth of storage workloads that AI systems can generate, and adds support for an S3 object storage access layer alongside the existing POSIX layer.
Two New Benchmark Tests
Version 3.0 adds a new KV Cache test, which measures storage performance for LLM inference cache read/write operations. KV caching is a widely adopted technique to increase performance in transformer-based AI inference applications, particularly autoregressive ones such as LLMs that iteratively access the same key-value vectors.
It also adds a new Vector Database (VDB) test that measures storage performance for vector indexing and querying workloads. Vector databases are used to store high-dimensional data that exceed the limits of traditional database architectures, and they are frequently used by AI applications to store unstructured data such as text and media.
“These new additions to the benchmark suite round out the test collection, covering a larger range of AI inference workloads that drive storage needs,” said Brian Belgodere, MLPerf Storage working group co-chair. “On the training side, we have training and checkpointing tests, and on the inference side we now have KV cache and vector database tests. Including tests that decompose monolithic AI systems and focus on specific storage uses and patterns, such as checkpointing, KV caching and vector databases, gives stakeholders a much clearer idea of how to engineer and provision AI systems to minimize storage performance bottlenecks.”
New S3 Object Storage Access Layer
In addition, Version 3.0 adds new support for an S3 object storage access layer, alongside and as an alternative to the existing POSIX-compliant layer. Adding this capability in v3.0 enables performance comparisons across a wider range of hosted storage options for the same workload. The S3 layer is supported for training, checkpointing, and some VDB tests in the version 3.0 benchmark suite. Approximately one-sixth of the total submissions in this round utilized the S3 storage access layer.
“Further broadening our support for a diverse set of storage systems, including S3, in the MLPerf Storage benchmark suite gives organizations that are provisioning AI systems even greater ability to select and combine technologies to meet the specific technical requirements of their application,” said Curtis Anderson, MLPerf Storage working group co-chair. “As the scale of AI contexts reaches into the trillions, we expect object-based storage systems to emerge as a viable – and possibly preferred – alternative to filesystem-based storage. By enabling S3 support now, we are ensuring that stakeholders will have the performance information they need to make smart decisions.”
New Organizations Submitting to Version 3.0
Nineteen organizations submitted to this round of the benchmark. “We would particularly like to welcome the eleven first-time submitters: Azure, Everpure, HolmesAI, Nebius, NewFW, NVIDIA, OpenLake, Suzhou Zishan Longlin, TuringData, XSKY, and ZettaLane,” said David Kanter, Head of MLPerf. “The MLPerf Storage benchmark has been embraced widely by the storage community, with submitters representing both cloud-based and on-premises solution providers, as well as organizations developing storage systems and devices. That broad level of engagement shows that the MLPerf Storage benchmark is providing critical information for stakeholders involved in all aspects of provisioning AI systems.”
The performance results provide unique and important insights into the state of the storage industry – including power efficiency. On-premises submissions for the checkpointing write test achieved a median rate of 14 GB/second per watt, with a maximum of 201. Similarly, submissions for the UNet3D read test achieved a median of 34 GB/second per watt, with a maximum of 277. “There is a wide range of power efficiencies represented in the results,” said Anderson, “which is critical performance information for stakeholders buying storage solutions for AI applications. It also shows that there is ample room for further improvement, and we encourage all suppliers to optimize for that metric.”
The MLPerf Storage benchmark was created through a collaborative engineering process over five years by 35 leading storage solution providers and academic research groups. The open-source and peer-reviewed benchmark suite offers a level playing field for competition, driving innovation, performance, and energy efficiency across the industry. It also provides critical technical information for customers who are procuring and tuning AI training and inference systems.
MLCommons invites stakeholders to join the MLPerf Storage working group and help us continue to evolve the benchmark suite.
MLCommons is the world’s leader in AI benchmarking. An open engineering consortium supported by over 125 members and affiliates, MLCommons has a proven record of bringing together academia, industry, and civil society to measure and improve AI. The foundation for MLCommons began with the MLPerf benchmarks in 2018, which rapidly scaled into a set of industry metrics for measuring machine learning performance and promoting transparency in machine learning techniques. Since then, MLCommons has continued to use collective engineering to build the benchmarks and metrics required for better AI – ultimately helping to evaluate and improve the accuracy, safety, speed, and efficiency of AI technologies.
Funded through the Genesis Mission Phase II Request for Application, Brookhaven Lab will lead a three-year effort to develop a next-generation grid foundation model
UPTON, N.Y., Sept. 1, 2026 — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has been selected by DOE to lead a $14.2 million project through the Genesis Mission Phase II Request for Application (RFA). The award to Brookhaven and its collaborators will support three years of research to develop a next-generation grid foundation model (GridFM), an artificial intelligence (AI) system that can rapidly simulate scenarios for adding new loads to the electric grid. With the goal of building a model that can simulate 1 billion scenarios in 24 hours, the project aims to significantly accelerate grid expansion planning with optimal accuracy, affordability, and efficiency in operations.
Hendrik Hamann, chief AI scientist for Innovation, Science, and Security at Brookhaven Lab and joint appointee at Stony Brook University, is the principal investigator for “Foundation Models for the Electric Grid: From Proof of Concept to Real-world Impacts.” This $14.2 million Genesis Mission Phase II project, led by Brookhaven Lab, will support researchers in developing an AI system that can rapidly simulate scenarios for adding new loads to the electric grid. Image credit: Timothy Kuhn/BNL.
The funding was announced today at Brookhaven Lab by DOE Assistant Secretary for the Office of Electricity (OE) Catherine Jereza. OE is administering the funding for this Genesis Mission project, called “Foundation Models for the Electric Grid: From Proof of Concept to Real-world Impacts.” $3.9 million of the total project funds will be allocated to Brookhaven, with the rest being shared by collaborating institutions.
“This project represents a bold step forward to supercharge scientific discovery using artificial intelligence to modernize America’s electric grid,” Assistant Secretary Jereza said. “By providing utilities enhanced AI tools, they can plan and operate the grid faster, more reliably, and more cost-effectively to help meet the demands of a growing economy while delivering affordable, reliable power for homes and businesses while unleashing American energy dominance.”
“This award reflects DOE’s confidence in Brookhaven Lab to bring together science, artificial intelligence, and strong partnerships to address challenges of national importance,” said Brookhaven Lab Director John Hill. “As electricity demand continues to grow, we need new approaches to strengthen, expand, and efficiently operate the nation’s electric grid. We’re proud to lead this effort and to work with an outstanding team to turn innovation into real-world impact for America’s energy future.”
The GridFM Genesis Mission Phase II project led by Brookhaven Lab includes collaborators from the National Laboratory of the Rockies, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, Stony Brook University, Cornell University, the University of Texas Arlington, GE Vernova Research, IBM Research, NVIDIA, Accenture Federal Services, Amazon Web Services, Alvarez and Marsal, Microsoft, the New York Power Authority, Alabama Power, the Long Island Power Authority, National Grid, Con Edison, New York Independent System Operators, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Great River Energy, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, LF Energy, the Advanced Energy Center, the Horizon Institute for Public Service, and the GridFM Corporation.
The GridFM initiative, on a larger scale, is a community project spanning industry, academia, and government, with contributions from more than 150 organizations. The initiative is strengthened by collaboration between utilities — which provide operational data and system experience — and researchers and technology providers, who provide AI expertise and computing resources. Open-source development of GridFM is administered and managed in partnership with the Linux Foundation Energy.
“AI is often seen as a growing burden on the electric grid, but through the Genesis Mission we have an opportunity to turn that challenge into an advantage,” said Hendrik Hamann, chief AI scientist for Innovation, Science, and Security at Brookhaven Lab, joint appointee at Stony Brook University, and principal investigator for the project. “By bringing together the right partners and scaling AI and grid foundation models for the electric grid, we can accelerate planning, improve operations and efficiency, and help build a more affordable, resilient energy system.”
The Genesis Mission is a historic national initiative led by DOE, which is building the world’s most powerful integrated science discovery platform. By uniting government, industry, academia, and philanthropy, it is accelerating breakthroughs in energy, scientific discovery, and national security through a new platform that combines AI, supercomputing, quantum systems, and advanced scientific instruments.
Brookhaven is advancing the goals of the Genesis Mission by improving AI for science and society across the Lab’s research initiatives. In July, DOE awarded Brookhaven seven Phase I Genesis Mission projects supporting AI research for microelectronics, nuclear and high energy physics, computational science, and atmospheric science. The Lab is also contributing to 29 additional Phase I projects led by other National Laboratories, research universities, and private industry. Now, as the leader of a Phase II RFA project, Brookhaven Lab is expanding its contributions to this historic mission and helping to further ensure the nation’s energy security.
“Assistant Secretary Katie Jereza’s visit and the announcement of Genesis Phase II underscore that Long Island is at the forefront of America’s scientific and energy innovation,” said U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota. “BNL’s work strengthens our energy security, fuels technological breakthroughs, and helps ensure the United States remains the world’s leader in scientific research. In Congress, I’ll continue fighting for targeted investments that advance our national security, strengthen our economy, and deliver long-term value for taxpayers. I’m excited to see Genesis Phase II build on Brookhaven’s remarkable legacy of innovation.”
Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit science.energy.gov.
In the first presentation, Kostuk demonstrated how the DIII-D National Fusion Facility is using Globus services and ALCF on-demand computing resources to automatically launch high-fidelity plasma simulations immediately following fusion experiments. By connecting DIII-D’s experimental systems with leadership computing facilities through automated workflows, researchers can analyze experimental data within the roughly 15-minute window between plasma shots. The approach supports production workflows running on ALCF’s Polaris supercomputer, helping researchers evaluate plasma behavior and build high-fidelity datasets that can support faster analysis during experiments. Kostuk also discussed the DIII-D digital twin, which combines detailed simulations with AI surrogate models to rapidly evaluate control strategies, explore plasma scenarios, and help guide future experiments.
Sammuli then introduced the Fusion Data Platform (FDP), an AI-ready software framework that provides unified access to fusion data across facilities. Built on open technologies including Globus services and Model Context Protocol (MCP), the platform enables scientists to search, analyze, and visualize fusion datasets through traditional tools or natural-language interfaces powered by large language models. Designed as a foundation for broader Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) efforts, FDP simplifies data access while supporting distributed computing, AI-driven analysis, and future expansion to additional fusion facilities and scientific datasets.
The ALCF’s Service-Enabled Science training series is designed to help researchers leverage ALCF resources and services for experimental, observational, and computationally intensive simulation workflows. Stay tuned for details on future sessions highlighting practical applications of ALCF resources in real-world research.
The Argonne Leadership Computing Facility provides supercomputing capabilities to the scientific and engineering community to advance fundamental discovery and understanding in a broad range of disciplines. Supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program, the ALCF is one of two DOE Leadership Computing Facilities in the nation dedicated to open science.
Exclusive: financial disclosures from Emil Michael – who also reaped millions from xAI stock earlier this year – show he sold his Perplexity stock for up to $25m
The top Pentagon official overseeing military artificial intelligence policy, who reaped profits earlier this year of up to $24m selling his private investment in Elon Musk’s AI company, has now sold his holdings in another AI company for between $5m and $25m, according to records seen by the Guardian. (Federal financial records show ranges of dollar values rather than specific figures.)
Earlier this year, the Guardian disclosed that the official, Emil Michael, had profited handsomely from his investment in Musk’s xAI in January, with a gain of 400% to 4,800%.
Outgoing congressman Thomas Massie urges justice department to launch immediate investigation
An outgoing Republican congressman accused billionaire Leon Black and David Copperfield, the illusionist, of being co-conspirators of the accused late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, and repeated a call for the Department of Justice to launch an immediate investigation into the men, among others.
Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who recently lost his primary to a challenger backed by Donald Trump, named several friends and associates of Epstein on the floor of the House in his bid to “shame” the Department of Justice to investigate a group of men and one woman who Massie called “perpetrators” of Epstein’s crimes. He also noted that, nearly one year after Trump signed the Epstein Transparency Act, which led to the release of millions of so-called “Epstein files”, millions more have yet to be publicly disclosed.
BT could make more than $2.7 billion by recycling copper from its aging UK landline network as BT subsidiary Openreach replaces legacy wiring with full-fiber broadband. Engadget reports: BT's recovered copper was previously valued at around $2 billion. But prices have surged, thanks to rising global demand tied to AI data centers, renewable energy and electrification. With global demand expected to grow sharply over the next decade, the value of BT's copper could potentially exceed even that $2.7 billion estimate.
The BT subsidiary Openreach is in the process of replacing its legacy copper network with full-fiber broadband, with plans to connect 30 million residences by the end of the decade. It's already recovered nearly 10,000 metric tons of copper in its latest financial year and over 22,000 metric tons since 2023. "Copper has become one of the most strategic materials in the modern economy," according to Openreach's head of sustainability, Abby Chicken.
Unsurprisingly, BT isn't waiting to profit from the recovered metal. It has an agreement with EMR, a cable recycling company, and recently received $133 million up front for recovered copper.
Reform leader said inquiry had been widened but watchdog is not believed to have decided whether to do so
Nigel Farage is facing questions about why he claimed his finances were the subject of a second standards investigation, as he was sworn in again as Clacton’s MP.
The Reform UK leader said when he resigned in July that the standards system had become a “political tool” because “yet another standards investigation is under way” into his finances.
The prime minister said Britain needed to be brutally honest about the mistakes of the last 40 years of UK politics
Andy Burnham has blamed Brexit and Margaret Thatcher for a decade of low growth in the UK, arguing that Britain needs to be brutally honest about having taken “a series of wrong turns” in the last 40 years.
In his first Commons appearance since he took over as prime minister about six weeks ago, Burnham told MPs he wanted to build a new sense of optimism so “we can make this next decade better than the last”.
Hinted that he would commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, saying he had appointed John Healey as his chancellor “precisely because” of his position on military spending.
Signalled he is open to renationalising the water industry – saying he is looking at “all possible solutions”, as the sector is a “leaking monument” to the failures of privatisation.
Opened the door to looking again at electoral reform in Labour’s next manifesto. “I do believe there needs to be a mandate to make that change. There are different views in this house, but I believe we will need to get a consensus at the next election. And if there is that consensus, then a change can be made in the next parliament.”
Announced he would attend the Cop31 climate summit in Turkey and continue pursuing green energy – but that he would be “pragmatic” on supply, amid expectations he will approve the Jackdaw gasfield. “The mistake is saying it’s got to be one or the other for political purposes. The truth is, it’s going to have to be both.”
(The Center Square) - Democratic incumbents, including Attorney General Kris Mayes, are leading major statewide races in Arizona, according to a new poll.
Foreign secretary tells MPs he will try to stop illegal settlements carving up the West Bank
Ed Miliband has promised to “reset” Britain’s policy on Israel, saying he will try to stop British companies helping build settlements in the West Bank.
Speaking to the Commons for the first time as foreign secretary, Miliband said he would set out measures to prevent UK involvement in projects such as the illegal E1 plan, which critics say would split the West Bank in half.
League decision to withdraw teams was controversial
Major League Soccer will allow all of its 27 US-based teams to participate in the US Open Cup next year, according to a report from Backheeled.
The move would bring to an end a three-year period in which MLS withheld teams from the United States’ oldest soccer competition, a single-elimination cup that has been running continuously since 1914, with only two editions skipped (2020 and 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic). Like England’s FA Cup and other similar competitions, the US Open Cup involves teams at all levels of the soccer system, including amateur and semi-pro teams. MLS teams traditionally enter at the later stages, with an MLS team winning all but one edition of the Open Cup since the league started play in 1996.
Continuing resolution to approve government spending until 11 December passes 370-48 and will now go to Trump
The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved legislation to prevent a government shutdown through the midterms, as both parties opted to defuse a volatile dispute ahead of the November elections that will decide the balance of power in Congress for the final two years of Donald Trump’s presidency.
A continuing resolution (CR) authorizing government spending until 11 December passed the House by a 370-48 vote, with only 19 Republicans and 29 Democrats in opposition. Had it not passed, lawmakers would have had until the end of September to approve new funding or face a government shutdown.
One fiber connector technology, from the optical engine to the box edge. Live connector demonstration at SEMICON Taiwan.
SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 1, 2026 — Mixx Technologies, Inc. has launched the SxC Connector, an optical connector for both the front plane and the backplane that terminates up to 24,576 fibers in a single rack unit. Mixx will hold live connector demonstrations at SEMICON Taiwan, booth #I2923, beginning Sept. 2, 2026.
Mixx’s first product to market is a fiber connector. The industry is moving toward co-packaged optics (CPO) in steps, through near-package optics, CPX, and similar socketed approaches. Each step needs more radix out of the box than existing connectors can deliver, and true CPO won’t arrive without it. The connector determines how much optical I/O a box can carry. This layer decides whether optics solves the inference challenge at rack scale or only demonstrates it on a bench.
Inference has changed what a scale-up network needs. Mixture-of-experts and agentic workloads require every node to reach every other node with the lowest latency, and that all-to-all connectivity comes down to radix, the number of endpoints a single node can reach. Higher radix reduces the switching layers a packet crosses. Each layer removed takes its switches, transceivers, and cables with it, which means lower latency, lower aggregate power, and fewer components in the failure chain.
Scale-out runs on a mature pluggable transceiver ecosystem, and the opportunity in scale-up is to extend that ecosystem rather than replace it. But the arithmetic arrives at the connector. A 400T switch brings thousands of fibers out of a single box, and pluggable transceivers cannot support that density at the front panel. Once optics move inside the box, fiber becomes the next bottleneck, and existing connector families do not easily support the density this generation requires. The inference challenge also means replacing an electrical backplane with an optical one, a requirement the mature ecosystem was never built to meet.
One Connector Technology, Inside the Box and Outside It
The SxC Connector is the first product in the SxC connector family, the system-level connectivity layer of the HBxIO platform. It uses the same core connector technology Mixx deploys across the optical signal chain. Mixx builds the optical engine and the connector, so it can optimize the interface from the start rather than negotiating it across multiple vendors.
Each connector scales up to 64 fibers, supporting both SMF and PMF in the same form factor depending on customer requirements. The same connector serves the front plane and the backplane, mounted at the faceplate or seated in a bulkhead. The industry workhorse, the MPO, carries 16 in the configuration typically deployed for this application, and the newer, more compact VSFF also usually carries 16. The SxC form factor does not change with lane rate or optical power, so the connector supports current and next-generation rates without redesign. By ganging up sixteen connectors within a bulkhead for the backplane, Mixx can terminate 1,024 fibers in less than 800 square millimeters, which is the figure of merit for a connector: fibers per square millimeter. Radix resolves to fiber count, and fiber count resolves to density at the box edge.
Twenty-four bulkheads bring a single OCP rack unit to 24,576 fibers. That is 4x the fiber density of MMC-VSFF, the highest-density connector platform qualified for deployment today, and what previously required a four-rack-unit enclosure with MMC connectors now fits in a single rack unit. That density is what makes the next step in CPO integration possible. Advanced packaging and cooling technologies have scaled what can sit inside a box faster than the front panel has scaled what can come out of it, and a box of co-packaged optical engines is limited today by the fiber at the box edge, not by the silicon inside. Bringing the fiber out through the edge of the box at this density removes that limit and puts multi-petabit connectivity from a single box within reach.
Mixx is a member of the Expanded Beam Optics Multi-Source Agreement (EBO MSA), the multi-source agreement standardizing expanded-beam optical connectors, and the first connector specification is now in development. Expanded beam is where the industry is heading, and Mixx is contributing to that work while building for deployments happening now. Mixx’s ferrule is glass rather than the plastic used in most connectors, which lets it handle the optical power levels that remote laser architectures and future multi-wavelength signals require.
How the Ferrule Is Made
Expanded-beam ferrules are conventionally assembled in series: starting with a V-groove substrate or molded plastic ferrules, individually placing fibers, dispensing epoxy, polishing, then actively aligning a lens before the assembly goes into a housing. That sequence limits fiber placement to a single array and reduces throughput and yield. Mixx forms the optical structures in a full wafer-scale integrated process using no exotic materials. The free-form optics, 3D waveguides, and 2D fiber holes are enabled by true wafer-scale processing, which allows fiber to be placed in a two-dimensional array to achieve high density and low loss.
Mixx is building an EBO connector that scales further than what is available today, so operators committing to optical infrastructure solutions now are committing to something that keeps scaling. Because the same core connector technology serves the optical engine, the external laser source (ELSFP), the backplane, and the front panel, volume aggregates across product lines instead of splitting across them.
The ferrule was only half the problem. Cable assembly, the next step, has remained largely manual across the industry, and it is the constraint operators hit once ferrule supply is solved. Mixx is automating that step with robotic fiber assembly and automated visual inspection as part of the production pathway. The connector also supports passive fiber attach, drawing on years of pick-and-place optimization to remove the active-alignment step between lens and fiber that has historically limited yield and throughput.
“Every era of the data center has had a connector that carried it,” said Vivek Raghuraman, CEO of Mixx Technologies. “MPO carried one generation, and VSFF carried the next, and each one arrived because the network behind it had changed shape. Inference has changed the shape again. What Mixx has built is not a denser version of the last connector. It is one ferrule technology that terminates the signal chain at the package, at the laser, at the backplane, and at the front panel, so the connectivity problem gets solved once instead of four times.”
Demonstration
Mixx will show the connector at SEMICON Taiwan, booth #I2923, beginning Sept. 2, 2026. The demonstration puts the hardware in visitors’ hands, not on a slide. Attendees can seat and unseat a fully populated bulkhead by hand, watch the link come up on each cycle, and see the ferrule that makes it possible.
About Mixx Technologies
Mixx Technologies, Inc. is a venture-backed deep-tech company founded by the team that commercialized many zero-to-one silicon photonics products. The company is solving the data-movement bottleneck for AI compute infrastructure through its HBxIO platform, a multi-terabit, ultra-high-radix co-packaged optical interconnect architecture enabling cloud service providers to deploy large-scale AI inference at the speed and efficiency hyperscale demands. Headquartered in San Jose, California, with R&D operations in India and Taiwan. Visit mixxtech.io.
CBP informed Gregory Bovino in an email on March 2 that the agency was "conducting an official Inquiry into allegations of misconduct reported to CBP." He initiated retirement 16 days later.
I’m trying to decide between the Pint and Pint X and could use some opinions from people who have ridden both.
I’m completely new to anything like this. The only thing I’ve really ridden before is a scooter, so I have no experience with skateboards, Onewheels, or anything similar.
I’d mainly be using it to get to work and back (about 2 miles each way) and to get around App State campus for classes and stuff. I might also take it out and explore some, but nothing crazy or super long.
The Pint is rated for 6–8 miles of range and 16 mph, while the Pint X gets 12–18 miles and 18 mph. Is the Pint X pretty much the obvious choice for this kind of use, or would the regular Pint be fine?
The Pint is quite a bit cheaper, so I’m just wondering if the extra money for the X is really worth it. Since I’m a beginner, I’m not sure if I’d even notice the difference at first. Any tips?
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has removed two Pennsylvania measles-associated deaths from its national tally while it reviews the cases, an unusual reversal that came days after Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. publicly suggested the deaths might have been “fabricated.”
Pennsylvania reported the deaths Aug. 25 after state epidemiologists confirmed both unvaccinated Lancaster County residents had tested positive for measles. The CDC initially acknowledged the deaths, offered condolences and encouraged vaccination.
After Kennedy raised doubts about the reported deaths, the CDC changed its position. By August 30, the CDC dashboard excluded both cases, stating that current information did not confirm whether measles caused or contributed to the deaths.
Part of the disagreement is about terminology. In Pennsylvania, anyone who dies while infected with measles is counted as a ‘measles-associated death,’ even if measles was not the direct cause. Infectious disease experts have explained that this is standard practice in public health and does not contradict a coroner listing a different immediate cause of death.
One victim was a newborn whose autopsy identified a ruptured spleen as the immediate cause. Lancaster County Coroner Stephen Diamantoni said measles was listed on the death certificate as a contributing condition, although he personally disputes that it contributed. The infant had measles infection in the lungs acquired before birth.
Kennedy still referred to the cases as ‘so-called measles deaths’ and accused Governor Josh Shapiro’s administration of possibly fabricating them. Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen said both infections were fully investigated before being reported and denied the CDC’s claim that Pennsylvania had not shared information.
The controversy comes during the worst U.S. measles surge in decades, with more than 2,900 cases nationally and roughly 500 in Pennsylvania this year.
Shapiro has said that Kennedy is spreading vaccine misinformation and undermining public trust. Kennedy, who has a long history of vaccine skepticism, has previously claimed that measles could be treated with ‘chicken soup and vitamin A.’ In reality, there is no cure for measles, and vaccination is the main way to prevent it.
The CDC says the Pennsylvania deaths will remain excluded while its review continues.
CBS analyst was arrested in July after traffic stop
Former QB has been absent from CBS duty
CBS NFL analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has pleaded no contest to a charge of operating while intoxicated and has apologized for the actions that led to his July arrest.
Romo was arrested on 23 July following a traffic stop in Wisconsin. CBS has since placed him on leave from his role as its lead NFL analyst.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: The viral fervor we saw earlier this year around OpenClaw, the open source AI harness that turns powerful language models into autonomous workers the user can message via their favorite channels (Telegram, iMessage, WhatsApp, Discord etc), has cooled off substantially from its peak in March 2026. But over the weekend, OpenClaw's creator Peter Steinberger and current team of co-developers gave the world -- especially enterprises -- a reason to look at it again, announcing OpenClaw 2.0, billed as the most significant update to the harness and surrounding platform yet.
OpenClaw 2.0 seeks to transform what began largely as a personal agent harness into something increasingly designed for teams, shared infrastructure and enterprise workflows. OpenClaw 2.0 introduces a rebuilt browser interface that brings conversations, files, approvals, configuration and live agent activity into a common workspace. It adds shared cloud sessions and multi-user collaboration. And it expands the security model with stronger sandboxing, role-based permissions, approval controls, secrets handling and auditing.
Together, those additions move OpenClaw closer to being infrastructure that an organization could deploy for employees rather than simply a powerful agent an individual developer runs locally. They also sharpen a competitive question surrounding the project: whether OpenClaw has addressed the security and isolation concerns that helped inspire newer alternatives such as NanoClaw. The answer is increasingly yes at the capability level -- but not necessarily by default. Over the past two months, OpenClaw has been "build[ing] OpenClaw with OpenClaw," shifting its team from individual local coding tools to a shared agent environment at team.openclaw.ai that can see what everyone is working on. Steinberger called "multiplayer coding + infinite compute with nodes and cloud sessions" a "game changer," adding that local coding harnesses now "feel like relics of the past."
VentureBeat highlights a use case from Solvely CEO Colin Johnson that shows how OpenClaw's multiplayer WebUI can improve collaboration between developers and AI agents. Instead of simply "messaging a bot," multiple developers can now join the same live session, see the same history and artifacts, and work "inside the same context." In Johnson's case, that meant a developer taking over his project could simply join the existing agent thread rather than rely on a separate handoff document. As he put it, "the session itself became the handoff document."
Sept. 1, 2026 — AWS has announced that Amazon EC2 R9g and R9gd instances are generally available, powered by AWS Graviton5 processors. R9g instances are memory-optimized and deliver up to 25% better compute performance compared to Graviton4-based R8g instances, powered by the most energy efficient processor AWS has ever built.
Credit: Shutterstock
R9g instances are ideal for memory-intensive workloads including databases, in-memory caches (Valkey, Redis, MemCached), real-time big data analytics, Linux-based workloads including containerized and micro-service-based applications (e.g. Kubernetes, Docker, EKS, ECS), as well as applications written in popular programming languages such as C/C++, Rust, Go, Java, Python, .NET Core, Node.js, Ruby, and PHP.
R9gd instances include local NVMe-based SSD block-level storage, ideal for memory-intensive workloads requiring fast, low-latency local storage such as open-source databases, distributed real-time big data analytics, large in-memory databases, and large caching workloads.
Compared to R8g instances, R9g gives users more performance per vCPU with faster memory, higher network and Amazon EBS bandwidth, and a larger L3 cache, all while using less energy.
What Makes R9g Different
Graviton5 processors bring several hardware improvements over Graviton4:
Up to 25% higher compute performance per vCPU
DDR5 8800 MT/s memory (up from 5600 MT/s in Graviton4), the fastest memory available in the cloud
5x larger L3 cache for better data locality
Up to 2x higher network and EBS bandwidth for the largest instance sizes (up to 100 Gbps network, up to 72 Gbps EBS on the 48xlarge)
Up to 3x higher packet-processing performance
R9g and R9gd instances support Instance Bandwidth Configuration (IBC), which lets users adjust the allocation of bandwidth between Amazon EBS and Amazon VPC networking by 25%. This helps optimize performance for workloads with specific bandwidth requirements such as databases and caching.
All R9g and R9gd instances run on the AWS Nitro System, which offloads virtualization, storage, and networking to dedicated hardware. This gives your applications near-bare-metal performance while maintaining strong security isolation between instances.
R9g and R9gd instances feature the Nitro Isolation Engine (NIE), the same enhancement to the Nitro System introduced with C9g and M9g instances earlier this year, which enforces isolation of instances and harnesses formal verification to provide assurances of isolation with mathematical precision. Nitro Isolation Engine is a purpose-built component that is responsible for enforcing isolation between virtual machines, including mediation of all access to virtual machine memory, CPU register state, and I/O devices through a minimal set of APIs.
Nitro Isolation Engine leverages formal verification, a technique to mathematically demonstrate that the hardware or software behaves as intended, and not just in specific test cases. This intensive verification technique establishes Nitro as the first formally verified cloud hypervisor, pioneering a new standard for mathematically proven cloud security. To learn more about the Nitro Isolation Engine, visit this blog post. For details on the formal verification results, including scope and assumptions, see the technical white paper.
Pricing and Availability
Amazon EC2 R9g and R9gd instances are available in US East (N. Virginia, Ohio), US West (Oregon), and Europe (Frankfurt) Regions.
R9g and R9gd instances are available for purchase through Savings Plans, On-Demand, Spot Instances, Dedicated Instances, or Dedicated Hosts. For detailed pricing, visit the Amazon EC2 pricing page.
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.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 1, 2026 — Matt Pines, Alex Klokus and Dr. Alexander Wissner-Gross today launched Physical Superintelligence (PSI), an AI-focused physics research lab developing computational models and tools for designing and optimizing physical systems. PSI also announced $58 million in seed funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Dragon Global, Robot Ventures, Solari, Susa, SV Angel, Valkyrie and several individual investors.
The company is initially developing a portion of its core platform, Emmy, for terrestrial and orbital data center optimization. Named for physicist Amalie Emmy Noether, Emmy is a system of AI-based “virtual physicists” built on PSI’s reasoning engine and a curated collection of simulations.
“PSI aims to industrialize the discovery of new physics,” said CEO and Co-founder Matt Pines. “Today, that means giving our customers a measurable edge to design and run their data centers more efficiently. Tomorrow, it means going after physics problems that have been untouched for decades. Our job is to make that kind of ambition affordable and scalable again for our customers and to genuinely change what’s possible for humanity.”
“AI has the potential to fundamentally change the pace of scientific discovery, and physics is one of the areas where that impact could be profound,” said Carmichael Roberts at Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “PSI is bringing together a world-class team with the ambition and technical depth to turn that potential into real breakthroughs and unlock new possibilities across energy, computing, materials and other foundational technologies as they build a new model for how physics research gets done.”
PSI’s first planned commercial application is the design and operation of terrestrial and orbital AI data centers. The company said Emmy will use physics-based reasoning and simulation to examine interactions among power, cooling, networking and computing systems. PSI plans to apply the platform to infrastructure design before construction and to the optimization of existing facilities.
The seed funding will support PSI’s research and development operations. The company plans to use the funding to:
Recruit researchers, scientists and engineers across physics and AI
Develop Emmy’s models, simulation infrastructure and verification systems
Research applications across energy, sensing, computing infrastructure and potential new computing technologies
PSI’s team includes physicists, AI researchers, experimentalists and engineers. The company is hiring. To learn more or apply, visit https://psi.inc.
This liveblog is now closed. Read the Guardian’s report of today’s political news here
My colleague Richard Partington, the Guardian’s senior economics correspondent, grew up, like Andy Burnham, in the Warrington suburb of Culcheth. He has been home to find out what people there are saying about the new PM.
Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch announced a reshuffle, replacing Mel Stride with Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor and Priti Patel with Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary.
Officers responded to reports concerning safety of baby girl at property in Wincobank area of the city
Five people are being held on suspicion of murder after a newborn baby died from stab wounds in Sheffield on Sunday.
Police officers found the girl at a property in Holywell Heights, in the Wincobank area of Sheffield, while responding to reports concerning her safety just before 6am on Sunday. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
No good deed goes unpunished. Or any deed for that matter. It was only a few weeks ago that Keir Starmer was insisting he would remain an MP until the next general election. So we should all probably have guessed that he would be off at the earliest opportunity. U-turns were a distinguishing feature of his two years in office.
And what former prime minister could resist upstaging the new one hours before his first appearance at the government dispatch box for 16 years? Especially when the new one had been plotting his downfall for at least a year. It’s what everyone would have wanted. Right?
Hardware engineering executive succeeding Tim Cook is a longtime Apple insider, indicating company will continue strategy that has led to record profits
Tim Cook stepped down as CEO of Apple on 31 August. John Ternus, a longtime company veteran, succeeded him the next day as the company’s new chief executive. Cook has transitioned to the role of executive chairman of Apple’s board of directors.
Ternus, a hardware engineering executive, is a tenured Apple insider, and his ascension indicates the company will stay the course that has led to record profits under Cook’s leadership. Apple’s yearly profit now tops $100bn, the company is worth about $4.5tn, and it has notched record revenue from its iPhones this year, boosted by renewed demand in China.
Six employees killed on Tuesday after Moscow escalates attacks on infrastructure and Ukrainian capital
Russia has opened a deadly new phase in its war against Ukraine by deliberately targeting the country’s railway network, with six employees killed on Tuesday in the latest strikes on Kyiv.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said its workers died when a ballistic missile plunged into a locomotive depot. The Russians hit other railway facilities, it added, during a massive bombardment of Kyiv and the Kyiv region. At least 12 people died, with a dozen wounded, including three children.
Anthropic has reportedly signed a $35 billion cloud-computing deal with Nvidia-backed Lambda for a roughly 350-megawatt Texas data center being developed by Hut 8. "Lambda will install Nvidia chips at the Hut 8 facility, with the arrangement designed to expand the pool of Nvidia computing resources available to power Anthropic's Claude AI products," reports Quartz. From the report: The arrangement is a further sign of how Nvidia is positioning itself as a facilitator of computing access across the AI industry. It also benefited Lambda, which counts Nvidia as an investor and was able to land a major Anthropic contract without having to independently source or lease the underlying data center space, according to the Journal.
The data center covers roughly 350 megawatts of capacity, according to Bloomberg. Hut 8, which began as a bitcoin mining company before moving into AI data centers, disclosed in July that an investment-grade customer had signed 15-year leases for its Texas campus, with a base contract value of $19.6 billion, without naming the tenant.
The Lambda deal is the latest in a series of large computing agreements Anthropic has pursued. Last week, the company agreed to spend $45 billion to rent capacity from Nscale's West Virginia data center campus. It has also signed deals worth $50 billion with neocloud Fluidstack Ltd. and $45 billion with SpaceX, according to Bloomberg.
AI datacentres are almost universally unpopular. They are loud, unsightly and drain environmental resources, with most of the profits generated flowing back to the US companies that build them – and the statistics against them are piling up.
Guardian reporter Hettie O’Brien visits Brick Lane in east London, where people are trying to resist plans for a 5,200-sq metre datacentre being pushed through by the government, to find out why people hate them so much
Federal immigration officials detained Loreto Javar during his US citizenship interview in Tukwila, Washington, in June. Javar, a Filipino national, moved to the US in 1995 and has lived in the country with his wife and daughter ever since.
I really want my board to have no issues with water ever and I want to ride all winter, what can I do to maximize water resistance? I've badgered in the past and it wasn't enough 😂 I have tubes of loctite clear silicon and I have stickers and sniffers from pas badgering kits. Thank you!
Exclusive: Two congressmembers respond to revelations of government snooping on journalists, non-profits and unions
Two congressional Democrats asked a government watchdog on Tuesdayto investigate the Trump administration’s use of an obscure law to secretly collect records on journalists, non-profits and unions without judicial oversight.
The request from the Oregon senator Ron Wyden and the representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington seen by the Guardian comes amid mounting scrutiny over the way the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently used its power to issue administrative summonses related to customs matters to make extraordinary unilateral demands for information. They sent their request to the government accountability office (GAO), the non-partisan congressional watchdog.
A picture of Salesianum’s preseason scrimmage against St. Joseph’s Prepatory School. Photo Credit: Dave Reeder.
The 2026 Delaware high school football season begins on September 3, and continues through December with the state championships scheduled for December 4 and December 5.
The 2026 Delaware high school football season starts in a few days with a matchup between Hodgson Vo-Tech and Howard Vo-Tech on Thursday, September 3. The KickOff Classic starts a three month regular season schedule that culminates in championship games in early December.
To get ready for the upcoming season, let’s recap what happened in the 2025 season:
2025 Class 3A Champion: Middletown High School
For the second year in a row, the Class 3A championship game featured a matchup between Salesianum and Middletown. The Middletown Cavaliers won the game, 28-14, defeating Sallies in the state title game for the second season in a row. It’s the program’s 10th state title.
Middletown scored all of its points in the first half, leading by three scores at halftime. Three of Middletown’s four touchdowns came through the air with senior Derian Cunningham connecting with three different receivers for the scores. The first connection was a 77-yard pitch and catch between Cunningham and fellow senior Darius Pope that opened the scoring in the first quarter and gave Middletown a lead it never relinquished. Junior Hanif Miller scored the Cavaliers fourth touchdown before halftime.
Middletown begins its 2026 campaign on September 3, at home against Tottenville High School from New York. Tottenville is the 46th ranked football team in New York, according to MaxPreps. Salesianum begins its season on the same day with a home matchup against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy from Pennsylvania. Springside Chestnut Hill is the 13th ranked team in Pennsylvania, according to MaxPreps.
A state championship game rematch will take place on October 30, at Cavalier Stadium.
2025 Class 2A Champion: Red Lion Christian Academy
Red Lion earned the program’s first football state championship with a double overtime win against Indian River last season. Similar to the Class 1A game this matchup was a nail biter that came down to the final plays.
After trading touchdowns and two-point conversions in the first overtime period, Red Lion opened up the second overtime period with a touchdown run from senior Judah Barber. The Red Lions elected to send out their kicker, sophomore Teigan Norris, for the extra point and his kick put them ahead by seven. The Indians responded via a Michael Peranteau touchdown run, but the team’s extra point attempt was no good. Red Lion won, 22-21.
Red Lion will begin their season at home against Smyrna High School on September 4. Indian River starts a day before, playing Odessa on the road on September 3. The two teams won’t play each other during the regular season which means a state championship rematch will have to come in the postseason. Last season, Red Lion started the season 0-2 before winning 11 straight games and the state title. Indian River was undefeated until the state championship game.
2025 Class 1A Champion: Seaford High School
The Seaford Blue Jays earned their first state championship in over three decades when they defeated the Newark Charter Patriots, 21-20, last season. The championship game was a close contest that was tied 14-14 at the end of regulation.
The Blue Jays started the overtime period on offense and scored the initial touchdown of the frame on a run by senior Vincent Evans. Senior Luke Metzner converted the extra point and gave Seaford a seven point lead. The Patriots answered via an Austin Gbadegbe touchdown run and decided to go for a two-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point. The Blue Jays stopped the Patriots two-point play and claimed the state title.
The Blue Jays will begin the 2026 season on September 3, on the road against AI duPont High School. The Patriots begin their season that same day against Christiana High School. The two programs will play a championship game rematch on October 23, in Newark.
Important Notes for this Season
The regular season begins on September 3 and continues until the end of competition on November 14. The playoffs will begin with quarterfinal matchups on November 20 and 21, semifinal matchups on November 27 and 28 and championship matchups on December 4 and 5.
The football classification system used last season is still in effect, though Caravel will not be competing in varsity football this season, according to Delaware Online. Caravel was a playoff team last year in the program’s first season in Class 3A.
To see a full breakdown of the football classification system click here.
Russia believed to be behind hybrid activities in Germany and Europe, minister says
Over in Brussels, the European Commission is just starting its first midday briefing of the autumn.
It opens with an announcement that Commission president Ursula von der Leyen will receive Nato’s Mark Rutte tomorrow. This comes amid growing scrutiny of Russia’s activities on the eastern flank.
Pierre Damas Bel’s family said he took his own life on a busy highway after the Trump administration canceled protections for thousands of Haitian immigrants and ICE officers placed him in an ankle monitor.
Tulsa, Oklahoma — An Oklahoma man has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder after an explosion at a marijuana extraction facility killed two employees and damaged nearby businesses, authorities said.
Prosecutors say 35-year-old Ryan Bassham owned Solos Extracts, where the early Thursday explosion partially tore the roof from the building and scattered debris across an industrial park near Tulsa.
The victims, Michael Newman and Stephen Scott, both worked for Bassham. Prosecutors allege the men were unlawfully manufacturing hazardous chemicals when the explosion occurred. Newman reportedly told a paramedic that the area lacked proper ventilation and that the blast happened after he unplugged equipment.
Investigators said the facility contained large quantities of liquid propane and other hazardous materials. A fire marshal who inspected the site in January had found an outdated fire suppression system and equipment associated with marijuana manufacturing.
Court records also indicate a neighboring business owner previously complained of elevated carbon dioxide levels inside the building and said he became lightheaded after entering.
Bassham surrendered over the weekend and was released after posting a $2 million bond. Court records did not immediately list an attorney representing him.
Medical marijuana is legal in Oklahoma, but extraction facilities are subject to licensing, safety and hazardous-material requirements.
Got the awesome chance to sesh a bunch of the features the DirtSurferz Enduro has to offer alongside Austen and Mercedes Silva to practice for Race Day! Check out what a practice day looks like for the pros 🤘
TIME's 2026 list of the 100 most influential people in AI omits Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and AMD CEO Lisa Su, despite both having appeared on previous editions and playing central roles in the hardware powering the AI boom. Nvidia's only representative this year is sustainability chief Josh Parker, while the list includes figures such as Ben Affleck and Paris Hilton alongside major tech executives and policymakers. Tom's Hardware reports: Broadcom CEO Hock Tan, Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra, SMIC co-CEO Liang Mong Song, and Huawei HiSilicon president He Tingbo all appear on the 2026 list, joined by Cerebras' Andrew Feldman, CoreWeave's Michael Intrator, and Nscale's Josh Payne. Together, the roster includes Nvidia's HBM supplier, two of its biggest GPU cloud customers, its custom-accelerator rivals, and China, which is trying -- and so far struggling -- to replace Nvidia altogether.
Parker's profile, which appears under the Thinkers category, focuses on data center energy and water consumption, alongside Nvidia's tripling of Scope 3 emissions in two years, and the Rubin platform's shift to 100% liquid cooling. "Nvidia is at the center of the AI revolution," Parker told TIME.
TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs wrote in the list's accompanying article that selection was led by editor Ayesha Javed, and that the 100 honorees represent the year's "key storylines and who, in our opinion, are having the most influence in driving these developments." Now in its fourth year, this edition of the TIME100 AI appears to have focused especially on featuring the new additions to TIME's community of AI leaders, with Mark Zuckerberg, Demis Hassabis, Sundar Pichai, and Satya Nadella representing four other honorees, arguably deserving of a space on this year's list, churned out.
Su's strong TIME back catalog makes her omission all the stranger still. The magazine named her its 2024 CEO of the Year, put her on the 2024 AI list and the main TIME100 in 2025, and included her among December's Architects of AI.
Seventy beaches across New South Wales are part of the $34m dawn-to-dusk drone-monitoring program, which one expert has called ‘the best technology we have at the moment’
Buddy Stephens, who was featured on Last Chance U, publicly criticized his school and league hierarchy
A college football coach who rose to prominence in a Netflix documentary series about student athletes trying to make the big time on their final opportunity has been fired after publicly calling officials “idiots” for changing the structure of the league in which his team competed.
Buddy Stephens, the coach in question, starred in the first two seasons of the gritty reality show Last Chance U that chronicled the struggles endured by football players at East Mississippi Community College (EMCC) as they juggled academics, challenging home lives and their full-contact sport in their efforts to reach the NFL.
Mark Carney has rebuked Donald Trump’s administration and urged officials in Washington to “start being serious” amid escalating trade tensions between the US and Canada.
Days before Canada is due to retaliate against Trump’s sweeping tariffs with its own duties on US goods, the Canadian prime minister criticized US officials for insulting his country. “It is beneath their office,” he said.
Meteorologists say mean average temperature of 16.5C was made 130 times more likely by climate crisis
This year’s summer was the UK’s hottest on record, according to provisional data, and the Met Office said the season’s mean temperature was made 130 times more likely by the climate crisis.
Record-breaking and back-to-back heatwaves have scorched much of Europe. In England, temperatures peaked at 38.1C (100.1F) at Kew Gardens in London on 13 August, and June had already been confirmed as the country’s hottest since records began in 1884. Scientists have said these heatwaves are only possible because of the climate crisis driven by burning fossil fuels.
The actor had been accused of invoking antisemitic tropes after he criticized Paramount Skydance, the media company owned by David Ellison, a Donald Trump ally. Ruffalo had spoken out about the $111bn merger with Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).
This weekend, Rodrigo raised millions for charities that benefit women and girls, and she has previously been vocal about Gaza and ICE. With free speech increasingly under threat, her peers should take note
Donald Trump, the 80-year-old president of the United States, spent his weekend whining about a lake and posting memes of Donald’s Ducks. While he was busy with his ducks, Olivia Rodrigo, a 23-year-old pop star, spent her weekend trying to Make America Somewhat Decent Again. On Saturday, Rodrigo hosted the inaugural Daisy Chain Fields festival, bringing together female artists to raise money for women-focused non-profits which have had their fundingslashed by the Trump administration. The festival raised $10m (£7.4m) which Melinda French Gates matched, bringing the total to $20m.
In a perfect world a singer holding a benefit concert for feminist charities wouldn’t be radical stuff. But we don’t live in a perfect world, do we? We live in hell. Trump has successfully bullied US institutions into doing his bidding. Universities have defunded diversity, equity and inclusion programmes, many media outlets have kowtowed to the US’s self-styled king and tech CEOs have jumped into bed with him. Women’s rights are going backwards globally and our civil liberties are under attack.
US owner of Claude chatbot previously said its models had hacked three organisations during testing
The US startup behind the Claude chatbot has admitted a series of hacking incidents involving its models reflected a “failure of operational security” and said it has tightened its testing procedures.
Anthropic revealed in July that its models had accessed the open internet three times and gained unauthorised access to the systems of three organisations.
The recently launched Genesis Mission includes a wide range of projects aimed at using advanced computing and AI to tackle some of the biggest challenges in science. One of those projects, led by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), is taking on a problem that astronomers are increasingly running into: how to work with massive amounts of data coming from a new generation of sky surveys.
HPCwire interviewed Dr. Rachel Mandelbaum, professor of physics and head of the Department of Physics at CMU, about her Genesis Mission project. We discussed why existing approaches are becoming difficult at this scale, how the project could make it easier to work across different astronomical datasets, and the potential role of AI and foundation models.
Mandelbaum works in observational astrophysics, using data from large sky surveys to study the history and evolution of the universe.
“As an observational astrophysicist, I’m in a very exciting time period. Our field is kind of at a transition point, because this year, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory started a 10 year survey called the Legacy Survey of Space and Time or LSST.”
“It will be a 10 year sky survey which will essentially produce a sort of color movie of the entire southern sky, going back to each point, approximately 1000 times over a 10 year period. Building up not just a picture of a lot of the universe, but also providing a sort of unique opportunity to study time-varying astrophysical phenomena – things that are changing the sky.”
(Shutterstock/Gorodenkoff)
The opportunity comes with an enormous computing challenge. According to Mandelbaum, the 10-year LSST survey is expected to generate roughly 500 petabytes of data. Combining that information with data from other surveys makes the computing challenge even more complicated..
“It’s about the data infrastructure to handle different types of data from different surveys. Images, spectra, time series information, how to efficiently be able to bring together data and different modalities from different cosmic surveys and use foundation models to try to develop new insights about the universe.”
A New Scale for Astronomy
Astronomers are already encountering computational limits when cross-matching hundreds of millions or even billions of objects across surveys. And LSST will substantially increase those demands.
“The process of doing a cross-match between a billion versus a few hundred million objects and trying to bring together the data for those matches and do analysis of them is already quite computationally intensive. That’s the kind of thing where people are already burning a lot of supercomputer time.”
Another challenge is speed. LSST will repeatedly observe the sky looking for changes, producing millions of alerts that astronomers may need to evaluate rapidly.
“And so every single night when the survey is working in its normal working mode, it’s going to produce 10 million of what are called alerts. Alert is essentially like a publicly produced packet of information that says, ‘hey, something in the sky changed.’”
“So it’s suddenly scaling up by a huge factor, this challenge of being able to do a very rapid but meaningful analysis of data that’s coming through a fire hose every single night to figure out what objects to follow up the next day.”
Federated Data Instead of One Giant Data Lake
The Genesis project is exploring infrastructure that could allow astronomers to analyze information across surveys while leaving datasets in different locations – an important consideration when moving enormous datasets is impractical or access is restricted.
(Shutterstock/Triff)
“You could imagine having a system that says, I want to cross match this data set and this one. This one lives in a special facility. I’m going to use my login credentials to get access to it, but I’m not trying to copy it over here.”
The project is still early. Mandelbaum described the current Genesis effort as a nine-month Phase One project, with the technological approach to federated access still being explored.
Where AI Fits
AI and foundation models are another component of the effort, although Mandelbaum stressed that the underlying infrastructure should benefit scientists regardless of whether they use AI.
“This is a Phase One project. It’s just nine months of work on data infrastructure, and some of the data infrastructure that we’re working on, we framed around AI and foundation modeling because that is a really important application. But I do want to acknowledge that this data infrastructure will help people whether or not they’re doing AI.”
Astronomy already has significant experience with machine learning for tasks including classification and anomaly detection. Foundation models represent a newer frontier.
“We don’t yet know what the role of foundation modeling will be for scientific discovery in astrophysics. But it seems promising. It seems interesting.”
“And the only way we’ll really learn how powerful it is is if we build the data infrastructure to actually do it.”
Rachel Mandelbaum is a professor of astrophysics at Carnegie Mellon University
The project also extends beyond CMU. The work is being carried out in partnership with long-time collaborators at the University of Washington, who are equal contributors to the effort, along with collaborators at SLAC.
Infrastructure for Thousands of Astronomers
For Mandelbaum, Genesis also changes the potential scale of the impact CMU researchers can have. Instead of producing infrastructure primarily for their own scientific investigations, the team can build capabilities for a much broader astronomy community.
“It means that my group at CMU is producing data infrastructure that thousands of astronomers will use for their discoveries with data from the Rubin Observatory LSST and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, or even better, from foundation models combining the two of them. So it’s really an opportunity to enable the scientific aspirations of a whole community working on these cosmic surveys, instead of just doing my own science, which I obviously hope has an impact, but it’s necessarily more narrow than what you can do by enabling a whole community.”
The longer-term goal is to make the location and sheer size of scientific datasets less important to researchers deciding what questions they can realistically pursue.
“I think if we provide data infrastructure that really lets people use federated access to still analyze and combine data across surveys, it’ll change the way the community scopes out the computing resources it needs for science and make more effective use of those resources than saying, ‘No, we have to have a data lake.’ I don’t think we do.”
I recently sold a OneWheel + that I was given, and only put around 25 miles on. Stored it around 70% battery for my ownership. Never had any issues whatsoever, simply didn’t use it.
Sold it for $450 to someone who used it for beach access, and their previous OneWheel’s battery died.
2 weeks later they messaged me saying the battery is failing, and a bad sensor caused them to crash.
Obviously this is terrible news, but I sold them a perfectly functioning USED OneWheel, that in my knowledge had 0 issues.
What should I do? Could the low mileage be a cause for battery failure? I had put those 25 miles on it over the course of the last 4 months.
Eight of the dead were reported killed in Kyiv, including seven at a railway depot on the city’s left bank, and four were killed in Boryspil, to the east of the city, in a wave of strikes at about 2.30am after hours of air alerts.
Sept. 1, 2026 — What if the best place to learn about artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t a classroom or a conference room but a museum on a Friday night or a community library on a Saturday afternoon?
That is the idea behind Argonne’s AI Roadshow, a traveling science outreach campaign from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory. The roadshow brings researchers out of the lab and into the places where people already gather — museums, libraries and community centers in the Chicago region. No badge required. No technical background needed. Just curiosity.
Argonne researchers Matthew Tuftedal and Rory Butler speak at the Star Wars-inspired event, “These Are the Droids We’re Looking For: Robotics, Artificial Intelligence and the Race to Build C-3PO for Science,” held at the Gaylord Building in Lockport, Illinois. Credit: Argonne.
Argonne is one of the nation’s leading science institutions, home to researchers pushing the boundaries of AI, robotics and computing. But discovery has limited value if it stays behind lab doors. The roadshow is Argonne’s answer to that challenge, a commitment to meet people where they are and to share science in a way that is engaging and accessible to people of all backgrounds and ages.
“I am forever fascinated with how fast the kids pick up the concepts. They’re enamored,” said Argonne scientist Sarah Owens, who talked about how AI enhances research into the ecosystems of soil at an event at the Shorewood-Troy Public Library.
The events are as varied as the communities they serve. Researchers explored the real science behind Star Wars droids, unraveled the secret life hiding in a handful of soil and examined how AI could ease the burden on surgical teams. Each talk is different. Each audience is different. The common thread is an understanding that AI is not a distant, abstract technology. It is already reshaping how scientists work, how doctors heal and how communities prepare for the future.
That accessibility is intentional. Argonne researchers who participate in the roadshow are not simply presenting findings — they are starting conversations. They demystify AI, explaining what it is, what it is not and why it matters.
Take meteorology. At “Lake Effect Science: Weather, Artificial Intelligence and the Search for a Safer Future,” held at the Chicago Maritime Museum, Argonne scientist Scott Collis and Argonne science communicator Gillian King-Cargile connected Chicago’s stormy maritime history to modern weather prediction.
“I thought it was fantastic,” said attendee Andrew Torres. “I think it was a good combination of both the science of meteorology and forecasting, measurements, as well as AI, science and seeing how that can be used for good.”
The AI Roadshow also reflects Argonne’s commitment to take science beyond its campus. The lab has called the southwest suburbs of Chicago home for more than 80 years. It is more than a place where science happens. It is a neighbor, a civic partner and a community institution. The roadshow is one expression of that identity — science reaching outward.
“We enjoyed how the programming offered a unique perspective on AI and removed some of the negative connotations we so often see concerning AI,” said Sharon Byerly, head of technology at the Indian Prairie Public Library, which hosted an event comparing Argonne’s approach to incorporating robotics in science labs to the ideas and tools people are using in library maker spaces. “This program related to what we are doing in our library’s makerspace by adding possibilities for future applications in our studio. Every evaluation was positive, and we were asked for additional programming like the one provided in cooperation with Argonne.”
Learn more about the events and speakers rocking the AI Roadshow here.
About Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne National Laboratory seeks solutions to pressing national problems in science and technology by conducting leading-edge basic and applied research in virtually every scientific discipline. Argonne is managed by UChicago Argonne, LLC for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
schwit1 shares a report from WCTV: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he's removing Flock camera from state roadways. The announcement comes amid a growing concern over the misuse of automated license plate readers. On Monday, DeSantis ordered all Flock cameras removed from what he calls the 'state highway system' within the next 30 days, which would include interstates like I-10 and I-75. That order led to several sheriff's departments like in Franklin, Liberty and Putnam Counties to announce they're ending their own license plate reader programs. According to the Florida Department of Transportation memo, if the cameras aren't removed from the state right-of-ways within 30 days, then the state government will take them down on their own. The memo also says FDOT will deny any other permits for cameras in the future.
University’s move is part of trend that critics within academia say will lead to further staff cuts and loss of ‘everything that makes the job worth doing’
An Australian university has offered students classes with an AI chatbot and minimal human interaction in two subjects, as institutions give the technology more teaching responsibilities.
Macquarie University’s Virtual Peer is part of each week’s learning in two mandatory psychology units, programmed to ask students questions and guide them through scenario-based exercises.
There used to be the yellow app the Onewheel Community app and I can’t get it to work anymore. I’m wondering if there’s a way to download another third-party app because I have the old XR and I don’t wanna update. I’ve been told that either causes issues or it doesn’t let you open it up and modify. As I plan to put in a bigger battery, etc., in the future and I don’t wanna turn into a brick.
I don’t write it often, so I’m not well-versed with any of this
US senator says that project, a key part of Trump’s voting restrictions, is ‘perilously rushed and potentially unlawful’
A new system to screen millions of mail-in ballots for this November’s US midterm elections was thrown together so hastily, and tested so little, that a single scanning glitch could see entire batches of ballots turned away, a whistleblower has told Congress.
The project – a key part of Donald Trump’s new restrictions on voting – is “perilously rushed and potentially unlawful”, according to the US senator Richard Blumenthal, who disclosed the warning in a letter to David Steiner, the postmaster general, on Tuesday.
Clancy does not deny strangling her three children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions
The judge has told the jury in the Lindsay Clancy trial to keep deliberating after it said it was unable to come to a unanimous decision in the controversial case of the mother who killed her three children.
Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse in Massachusetts, does not deny strangling her children but says postpartum psychosis led to her actions. Prosecutors argue she knew what she was doing. Clancy, 36, has pleaded not guilty by reason of lack of criminal responsibility.
Haakon VIII promises to uphold 1814 constitution but his queen misses ceremony because of post-surgery ‘complications’
King Haakon VIII swore an oath of allegiance before Norway’s parliament on Tuesday in the first major stage in the passing of the crown since the death of his father after 35 years on the throne.
Wearing a ceremonial uniform, Haakon, who became king when Harald V died on Friday, promised to uphold Norway’s 1814 constitution with his 22-year-old daughter, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra, by his side.
James Dyson says ‘complete dental system’ will also include toothpaste and mouth rinse that each cost £8.50
It is the live stream you never wanted to see but may find impossible to resist: rolling footage beamed live from inside your mouth while you are cleaning your teeth.
Dyson, the home appliance maker that made its name inventing bagless vacuums and bladeless fans, has turned its attention to oral hygiene with a £420 all-singing, all-dancing toothbrush that can clean, floss and even spray tiny jets of mouthwash.
(The Center Square) — A federal judge has dealt a blow to New York's environmental goals by invalidating a key provision of a new law that punishes fossil fuel companies for their alleged role in climate change.
Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez says "networks linked both to Russia and to Israel" helped spread rumors about immigration "to attack Europe and divide it."
The leading scientist urging policymakers not to criminalize kratom, a substance that has left a trail of death and addiction around the world, has routinely failed to disclose longstanding financial ties to the industry’s most powerful lobbying group, ProPublica has found.
University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy has accepted travel reimbursements, donations to his university’s foundation and funding for an annual symposium on research into the leaf’s medicinal potential from the American Kratom Association — none of which has been disclosed in his conflict of interest statements or on the papers he publishes.
The fight to keep kratom legal across the country has taken on increased urgency as more potent kratom derivatives have appeared on store shelves and evidence has mounted of the leaf’s risks to users’ health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5,200 people in the United States died from drug overdoses involving kratom between 2020 and 2024. And calls to poison control centers involving kratom have spiked 1,200% in the last decade.
The lobbying group, which says it advocates for kratom consumers, has waged a pitched battle in statehouses and in Washington, D.C., to keep kratom products widely available in America’s gas stations, smoke shops and convenience stores. Documents show it has relied repeatedly on McCurdy to help convince lawmakers kratom is safe enough to remain legal — deploying him to key states that are either considering full bans on the leaf or are on the verge of overturning an existing ban. His success fighting federal regulators earned him a place in the AKA’s Legacy Advocate Hall of Fame.
Kratom comes from a tree native to Southeast Asia and is sold as a powder or in capsules, tablets or shots like energy drinks. In small amounts, it acts as a stimulant. In larger amounts, it acts like an opioid. Although the Food and Drug Administration prohibits marketing it as a supplement or using it as a food ingredient, it’s advertised as a mood and energy enhancer, a painkiller and an alternative to opioids.
ProPublica’s review of McCurdy’s appearances in recent years shows he has emphasized kratom’s therapeutic potential while downplaying its risks — despite his own published research finding kratom use can lead to severe withdrawal symptoms in newborns exposed in utero, and to dependency and even death in those who take it. McCurdy has brushed off questions about the hazards by noting that even water can kill if consumed in excessive quantities. McCurdy does, however, argue for better manufacturing standards and labeling, and for putting age restrictions on kratom’s use.
Other scientists who consult with and do research for the kratom association disclose that relationship. But McCurdy, who does not disclose it, has built a reputation as a neutral arbiterin the emotional debate pitting those with life-altering kratom addiction against those who say they use it without ill effects to combat opioid use or relieve pain.
Indeed, McCurdy’s research focuses on developing kratom’s dominant chemical compound into a pharmaceutical to treat addiction. That work has been funded by the federal government, which has poured an estimated $100 million in grants into the research. Such funding could be disrupted if kratom is declared illegal.
McCurdy told ProPublica that he has accepted invitations to speak to policymakers because “decisions about kratom should be informed by the best available science.” Reimbursed travel expenses don’t influence the “substance” of his presentations or his “scientific conclusions,” he said.
“My views on kratom are based on more than two decades of scientific research,” he said. “They are my own and are not dictated by the American Kratom Association or any other outside organization.”
Those advocating for restrictions on kratom contend that as McCurdy testifies, publishes research or provides public information, he should be more forthright about his relationship with the kratom industry.
Jennifer Brandt, a Virginia pharmacist who advocates for a total ban on kratom sales, was the first to file records requests with the University of Florida for McCurdy’s correspondence. She has subsequently asked a medical journal to append corrections listing his ties to the lobbying group. “I’m really confused on where science ends and lobbying begins,” she said of McCurdy.
McCurdy’s work opposing the criminalization of kratom started as early as 2018. That year, he joined with other scientists — including the AKA’s lead science consultant — to convince the Drug Enforcement Administration not to classify kratom as a Schedule I narcotic. The designation, reserved for drugs with no medical purpose and high abuse potential, would make kratom illegal. The scientists said in a letter to federal regulators that it would also “severely hinder” their research into possible therapeutic uses. In a paper, McCurdy argued that scheduling kratom would erect new regulatory hurdles to studying the leaf and dissuade funders from supporting it. The effort to schedule kratom was halted during the first Trump administration.
However, the association’s fight continued as it worked to convince state lawmakers to explicitly legalize kratom by regulating its sale. McCurdy also became a key player in this effort, according to emails obtained by ProPublica through public records requests to the University of Florida.
While the group’s membership is made up of kratom users, its lobbying efforts are funded by manufacturers and vendors. It spends about $2.5 million a year on lobbying.
In 2023, at the AKA’s request, McCurdy briefed the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, which regularly considers kratom regulation. He conducted the briefing remotely and did not travel to the annual meeting in Vienna that year. In 2025, however, he made the trip to brief delegates in person. Emails indicate his hotel room was paid for by the lobbying group.
In 2024, McCurdy traveled several times for the association. He planned an August trip to Indonesia, which was considering a full ban on the leaf, with the association paying $8,700 for a first-class plane ticket. McCurdy canceled the trip at the last minute, the association said. Email correspondence indicates, however, that he kept the flight credit for future AKA-related travel.
But he was soon back on the road. In September, he went to Washington, D.C., to dine with and brief members of Congress and their staffs. There, he told lawmakers that he couldn’t say kratom is “entirely safe” but that it should remain available to the public as research continues.
“I want it to be accessible to everybody,” he said. “Always have.”
In a video recording distributed by the American Kratom Association, Christopher McCurdy speaks to members of Congress and their staff during a briefing in 2024.American Kratom Association via YouTube
The following month, the AKA arranged for McCurdy’s travel to Little Rock, Arkansas, where lawmakers were debating whether to lift a kratom ban enacted in 2016. He told them kratom dependence was similar to caffeine dependence, describing withdrawal symptoms as akin to those caused by missing a morning cup of coffee. Kratom users have described dependence, so severe they suffer debilitating withdrawal symptoms and can’t quit the leaf. McCurdy has also said in a deposition that some users have been unable to stop taking it.
The lobbying was unsuccessful in Arkansas. But a few months later, with McCurdy’s help, the organization had its first success overturning a state ban.
Rhode Island’s Gov. Dan McKee had vetoed a bill to legalize kratom after weighing the concerns of his top public health officials. The association booked travel for McCurdy and other scientists to Providence to brief those health officials. When the legislature reconvened in 2025, the AKA’s bill passed and McKee signed it. This time, the state health officials stayed silent.
That frustrated Rep. Michelle McGaw, a Democrat who is also a pharmacist. She opposed legalizing kratom, citing the threat to public health, but struggled to get her legislative colleagues to take seriously data showing kratom’s risks. “It has been a struggle, particularly in light of having kratom lobbyists finding ways with their own research or data to counter that narrative or try to confuse the narrative.”
Mac Haddow, the AKA’s lead lobbyist, said his organization relies on McCurdy and other scientists to provide accurate information but has “no control” over what they tell policymakers. “We think that science should dictate what the public policies are,” he said.
Regarding McCurdy’s lack of disclosure that the association funds his travel, Haddow contends that beneficiaries aren’t typically required to reveal travel-related payments and said the association has never commissioned a study from McCurdy that would require disclosure.
Instead, the group has donated to the University of Florida’s foundation and has helped to underwrite McCurdy’s annual kratom symposium, attended by about 100 scientists, to promote research into kratom’s therapeutic potential. The AKA, through its nonprofit arm, the Center for Plant Science and Health, has donated more than $100,000 to the school.
McCurdy estimated while speaking to lawmakers in Georgia this summer that his research has been supported by $1 million from industry donations to the foundation.
McCurdy had not disclosed any ties to the industry on papers he’s published until Brandt, the Virginia pharmacist, spoke up in 2025. She provided one publisher with email correspondence she had obtained under public records laws revealing McCurdy’s ties to the association. The publication required McCurdy to append a correction to the paper that discloses his work as an expert witness in court cases, which he has done for both kratom companies and families bringing wrongful death claims. The correction doesn’t mention his work with kratom industry lobbyists.
Rules for disclosure vary depending on the scientific journal. But the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors, which recommends publishing standards, requires reimbursed travel to be disclosed for research submissions.
Such information is important to understanding the validity of research, said Ivan Oransky, executive director of the Center for Scientific Integrity.
“It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t trust anything that’s funded by industry,” Oransky said. “It’s part of knowing the whole picture.”
Oransky said giving to a university foundation instead of directly funding research is similar to a business using a shell company to conceal its true ownership. Such a donation might not trigger disclosure the way sponsoring a specific study would.
“These things are technically legitimate but not intellectually honest,” Oransky said of McCurdy’s funding sources. “It’s obscuring what’s really happening.”
McCurdy did not list any travel in his conflict of interest statements required by the University of Florida. The university requires disclosure if travel exceeds $5,000 in a calendar year. The total value of the travel reimbursed by the AKA is unclear, and neither McCurdy nor the association responded to questions about how much was spent.
A university spokesperson said a review of McCurdy’s university disclosures “found no indication of non-compliance.” The spokesperson did not reply to a question about whether McCurdy’s travel totaled less than $5,000.
In an email to a university colleague, McCurdy said he sees talking to policymakers for the AKA as “part of my work related expertise and education of the public and policy makers,” which does not need to be disclosed.
University of Florida professor Christopher McCurdy holds kratom, a drug that he has advocated for keeping legal.Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times via ZUMA Press
The AKA does not support the sale of all products derived from kratom. More recently, McCurdy has sounded the alarm on new kratom derivatives, such as MGM-15 (dihydro-7- hydroxymitragynine), MGM-16 (9-fluorodihydro-7-hydroxymitragynine), and MP (mitragynine pseudoindoxyl), which the AKA is trying to have banned. This has involved drawing a bright line between whole-leaf kratom — generally the products sold by the vendors that fund the association — and its new derivatives, which have been described as more potent than morphine.
This summer, McCurdy told a committee of Georgia lawmakers that such derivative products have a high potential for abuse and are causing deaths in his state. “These are the things that are really scary to me,” he said. “These synthetics are far from kratom, they are derived from kratom, but they are not kratom at all.”
The DEA cited McCurdy’s research in its recent notices seeking temporary classification of some derivatives as Schedule I drugs. In a news release, the DEA specified the classification does not apply to “botanical kratom products,” such as the ones McCurdy has sought to protect from scheduling.
But whole-leaf kratom — the natural product and its extracts — has also led to dependence and death, according to McCurdy’s own research.
In 2022, he co-authored a review of medical literature that found cardiovascular, neurological and psychiatric adverse events from kratom use and emphasized an “urgent” concern about babies born experiencing withdrawal after exposure to kratom in utero.
In 2025, he co-wrote a paper analyzing kratom-related deaths in Florida from 2020 to 2021, well before the more dangerous derivatives came on the market, that concluded dozens of people “died of kratom (mitragynine) exposures alone.”
When talking to policymakers, McCurdy stays largely silent on these findings.
McCurdy told ProPublica he doesn’t contend kratom “is without risk” and that his findings on its dangers should “be taken seriously.”
“At the same time, the existence of risk does not by itself answer the policy question of whether a substance should be prohibited,” he said. “My scientific assessment has led me to support appropriate regulation, including manufacturing and labeling standards, age restrictions, and safeguards addressing products that present materially different risks.”
When pressed by lawmakers on the danger, he answers that any substance can be dangerous at the right dose, including caffeine and water.
“There is such a thing as water intoxication that can cause death, and does cause deaths every year,” he told a lawmaker in Arkansas in 2024. “But we don’t ever think about banning water or making it illegal. It’s an essential part of life.”
Authorities have charged Ryan Bassham after the deadly explosion at the marijuana extraction facility he owns
An Oklahoma man has been charged with murder after a large explosion at a marijuana extraction facility that killed two of his employees and damaged surrounding businesses, prosecutors said on Monday.
Ryan Bassham, 35, turned himself in this weekend after being charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Thursday’s blast at Solos Extracts near Tulsa, authorities said. The explosion at about 1am partially tore the roof from a building, crumpled doors and scattered debris around an industrial park.
The chancellor’s headroom against Labour’s fiscal rules could be almost halved at his first budget if the current global bond sell-off persists into the autumn, economists say.
The UK’s long-term borrowing costs jumped to their highest level since early 1998 on Tuesday as investors dumped government bonds, betting on higher inflation.
Nearly 80 people have been rescued, and two people confirmed dead, after flood hit national park
A US border patrol technical search team is expected to deploy in the Grand Canyon, as authorities continue the search for at least one missing person after a fatal flash flood washed through the national park over the weekend.
Authorities are rushing to scour the area as more heavy rain and thunderstorms in weather forecasts threaten additional debris flows, flash floods or rock falls.
European stock markets fall and Brent crude jumps above $92 a barrel amid renewed fighting in Middle East
The FTSE 100 index is down just over 1%, driven by sharp falls in mining and manufacturing shares.
Endeavour Mining is leading the index lower, down 8%, while fellow miners Fresnillo and Antofagasta have also fallen sharply.
A post-UK Bank Holiday hangover looked inevitable for the FTSE 100 given the losses chalked up across Europe, Asia and the US since the end of last week,” says
Government bond yields have renewed their surge as oil prices move back above $90 per barrel, bringing concerns about inflationary pressures back to the fore.
I am having trouble charging my OneWheel Pint. It is currently ‘fully charged’ when plugged into the charger, but immediately powers off when unplugged and will not turn on. I have attached screenshots of the diagnostic information when the Pint is plugged into. Any insight is much appreciated!
The Red Sea, Yemen and conflict in the Middle East: What next?
8
September 2026 — 15:00 TO 16:00 BST
Anonymous (not verified)
Online
Join this session to understand the regional tensions reshaping Yemen’s conflict and raising new security risks across the Middle East.
Join this session and understand the regional tensions that are reshaping Yemen’s conflict and raising new security risks across the Middle East.
Renewed regional escalation is reshaping Yemen’s conflict and altering its strategic environment. Houthi attacks, tensions in the Red Sea and growing regional competition are creating new risks for security and stability. These developments raise questions about the future of peace efforts, maritime security and Yemen’s political trajectory.
This event discusses:
How is regional escalation reshaping Yemen’s conflict?
What are the implications of Houthi attacks for regional security?
How are tensions in the Red Sea affecting international shipping?
What do current developments mean for Yemen’s peace process?
How are regional rivalries influencing Yemen’s future?
What political and security scenarios could emerge in the years ahead?
Washington, D.C. — MapQuest has surged to the top of Apple’s U.S. navigation app rankings after refusing to follow President Donald Trump’s executive order renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America” for federal government use.
The 30-year-old mapping service publicly rejected the change after Trump signed the Aug. 27 order, posting on X, “We’re not changing it.” By Tuesday morning, MapQuest had overtaken Google Maps and Apple Maps as the most-downloaded navigation app in Apple’s U.S. App Store, according to TechCrunch and The Guardian.
MapQuest General Manager Doug Berger said usage was running about 50 times higher than normal, with hundreds of thousands of downloads following the company’s decision. The app also climbed to No. 2 overall in Canada.
Google Maps has adopted “Lake America” for U.S. users while retaining Lake Ontario elsewhere. Apple Maps continued displaying Lake Ontario as of Tuesday despite pressure from the Trump administration to make the change.
Public opinion appears firmly against Trump’s renaming effort. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday found only 14% of Americans supported changing Lake Ontario’s name.
MapQuest has leaned into the attention, even parodying Trump’s social media style while promoting its maps.
The controversy has also reached Congress, where three Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation Monday seeking to block the federal renaming and prevent similar changes to the Great Lakes.
Washington, D.C. — A U.S. Postal Service whistleblower is warning that a new system for verifying mail ballots could mistakenly reject large batches of legitimate votes during the November midterms.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., released the anonymous disclosure Monday, saying the Postal Service developed its new online ballot portal in less than three months to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive order tightening mail-voting procedures.
According to the whistleblower, the system operates under a “zero-percent failure policy” requiring ballot barcode scans to match perfectly. A single scanning error involving a batch of ballots could result in as many as 10,000 ballots being rejected, the disclosure alleges.
The whistleblower also claimed the portal has undergone inadequate testing and warned of “potentially catastrophic problems” once election officials begin using it nationwide.
Blumenthal urged Postmaster General David Steiner to abandon the system, arguing that implementation so close to the midterms could disenfranchise eligible voters.
The Postal Service says it has extensive procedures for handling election mail and describes its existing ballot-delivery system as secure and tested. Its 2026 election guidance includes specialized tracking, ballot identification and handling procedures.
Legal challenges to Trump’s broader mail-ballot order are continuing in federal court, leaving parts of the administration’s election-mail policy unsettled weeks before voting begins.
Head of tree collections at Kew ‘very worried about this autumn’ as hot, dry summer has caused brittleness
High winds associated with El Niño could cause widespread mortality among tree species already weakened by a prolonged period of extreme heat and drought, experts have warned.
This summer much of Europe has been scorched by a series of record-breaking climate crisis-induced heatwaves. The impact is notable across much of England’s countryside, where once green land has turned brown, and many trees are undergoing “early autumn” – wilting and losing their leaves early – to cope with extreme heat.
Since Donald Trump’s first presidential campaign a decade ago, “Make America great again” (Maga) has evolved from a slogan into an identity, one that claims to center conservative, “America first” values and relies on lies and conspiracy theories to stay afloat. And while Maga has survived impeachments, indictments and a lost election, some devotees are walking away – and doing so loudly.
Rich Logis, a former Trump campaign volunteer, left Maga in 2022, publishing a public apology to help others see that it was OK to challenge the movement. The overwhelming response led him to found the non-profit Leaving Maga, a network of support groups and meetups for people to unpack their role in bolstering Trump’s platform. Logis said he doesn’t persuade people to leave; he just gives them a place to land when they do. The group’s billboard campaign, now running in 27 states, is built around a simple message: “Having doubts? You are not alone.”
I have just found out that the 18s2p-plug-and-play-battery-kit-for-xrv is no longer listed on the website of flightpackEU. It is however not possible to buy and ship them directly from Indyspeedcontrol in the USA.
Are there maybe any other stores in EU that sell a 18s2p-plug-and-play-battery-kit-for-xrv?
Navigating app surpasses Google and Apple Maps on top-downloaded US chart after posting ‘we’re not changing it’
A pioneering online mapping app that defied Donald Trump by refusing to rename Lake Ontario has become the most in-demand navigation tool in the US.
MapQuest, which was openly dismissive of the president’s 27 August executive order directing federal agencies to refer to the smallest of the Great Lakes as “Lake America” amid a tradespat with Canada, leapfrogged rivals Google Maps and Apple Maps to top the most-downloaded list, as first reported by TechCrunch.
Prime Minister Mark Carney had vowed to match U.S. tariffs "dollar for dollar," unlike other longtime U.S. partners who had raced to cut deals when faced with tariff threats.
Joint test on IonQ Forte hardware lands within 4% of benchmark, clearing the chemical-accuracy bar for enzyme active-site modeling via Amazon Braket
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 1, 2026 — QC Ware today announced a technology demonstration of a hybrid quantum-classical chemistry workflow using its Promethium platform and IonQ‘s Forte trapped-ion quantum computer via Amazon Braket.
The demonstration modeled the heme active site of cytochrome P450nor, a nitric oxide reductase in the cytochrome P450 superfamily — the same superfamily whose monooxygenase members carry out most human drug metabolism. By pairing GPU-accelerated classical pre-processing in Promethium with quantum measurements on IonQ Forte, the workflow calculated electrostatic interaction energy within 0.5 kcal/mol (~4%) of classical benchmarks. This falls well inside the 1 kcal/mol threshold for chemical accuracy and delivers more than double the accuracy of the standard classical mean-field method. For the biopharma industry, more accurately calculating electrostatic interaction energy, a major factor in how tightly a drug candidate binds to its target, at complex metal centers such as the iron site in P450nor, could improve candidate ranking and help identify metabolic risks earlier in the drug-discovery process.
“Running the same hybrid workflow on IonQ’s trapped-ion architecture, following our recent demonstration on other quantum hardware, shows that Promethium’s approach to combining classical and quantum computing is not tied to a single type of quantum hardware,” said Dr. Kin-Joe Sham, Co-Founder and COO at QC Ware. “We believe this hardware-agnostic approach gives researchers flexibility as quantum computing continues to mature.”
“Every month spent advancing a drug candidate on flawed metabolic data is wasted time and mounting risk,” said Scott Millard, Chief Business Officer at IonQ. “QC Ware and IonQ have shown that hybrid quantum-classical workflows can predict certain binding behavior accurately enough for discovery teams to confidently rank candidates and catch toxicity risks early. We believe that’s real quantum impact on real health outcomes. I can’t wait to see what this partnership delivers.”
Technical Highlights:
Promethium Preprocessing: Promethium built and preprocessed a complex 115-atom model of the P450nor active site containing over 1,000 molecular orbitals. It automatically isolated the strongly correlated region down to a 4-orbital active space mapped onto 8 qubits, which IonQ Forte measured in a single basis before returning results for Promethium to compute final interaction energies classically.
Hardware Architecture: IonQ Forte’s all-to-all qubit connectivity enabled complex two-qubit entangling gates to execute as designed without the routing overhead or additional error typical of limited-connectivity architectures.
Biopharma Impact: Accurately predicting binding energy at iron sites in enzymes like P450nor could enable pharmaceutical researchers to better rank drug candidates and identify metabolic risks earlier in the R&D pipeline.
Supported in part by Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud compute credits, the demonstration highlights how QC Ware’s cloud-native Promethium platform can potentially allow classical GPU clusters to seamlessly connect with cloud quantum computing resources on Amazon Braket.
Available today, Promethium’s GPU-native architecture enables researchers to apply quantum chemistry across larger molecular systems and more compounds than has traditionally been practical. For selected workloads, Promethium runs demanding calculations up to 20× faster than conventional CPU-based DFT platforms, helping researchers generate molecular-level insights in hours instead of weeks and accelerating decision-making across drug discovery, catalysis, and materials science.
About QC Ware
QC Ware is a quantum computing software company. We are developing applications that unlock the power of quantum computing for drug discovery, material design and other industry verticals. Our Promethium platform provides GPU-accelerated quantum chemistry for molecular modeling and drug discovery, helping customers to make better discovery decisions today while exploring the hybrid quantum-classical workflows of tomorrow. QC Ware also organizes and hosts Q2B quantum computing conferences in Japan, Europe and the United States.
About IonQ
IonQ, Inc. (NYSE: IONQ) is the world’s leading quantum platform and foundry – delivering integrated quantum solutions across computing, networking, sensing, and security. IonQ’s newest generation of quantum computers, the IonQ Tempo, is the latest in a line of cutting-edge systems. Earlier systems have helped customers and partners including Amazon Web Services, AstraZeneca, and NVIDIA achieve a 20x performance increase over previous quantum solutions and accelerate innovation in drug discovery, materials science, financial modeling, logistics, cybersecurity, and defense. In 2025, the company achieved 99.99% two-qubit gate fidelity, setting a world record in quantum computing performance.
Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, IonQ has operations across North America, Latin America, EMEA, and APAC. Our quantum computing services have been available through all major cloud providers since 2021, while we also meet the needs of networking and sensing customers across land, sea, air, and space. IonQ is making quantum platforms more accessible and impactful than ever before. Learn more at IonQ.com.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency tasked with protecting workers from illegal discrimination, inked an unprecedented settlement with a conservative Christian employer association that could have long-term, wide-ranging consequences.
The lawsuit that led to the settlement was in reaction to EEOC guidance issued under the Biden administration and after a 2020 Supreme Court ruling that Title VII protects against gender identity discrimination.
In the settlement, reached on August 18, the EEOC pledged to not pursue any claims of gender identity-based discrimination against the Christian Employers Alliance — and made the pledge in perpetuity.
The EEOC provides free investigation into complaints of discrimination and, in some cases, will bring lawsuits on behalf of employees at no cost to the plaintiffs.
Now, however, anyone who works for a company with membership in the Christian Employers Alliance who believes they suffered gender identity-based discrimination won’t be able to avail themselves of the EEOC’s process.
The settlement also contains an unusual provision: It applies not just to the more than 20,000 employers that are already members in the Christian Employers Alliance, but also to any future members, so long as they are members at the time that any claimed discrimination occurred.
That means that any employer that decides to sign up for Christian Employers Alliance membership will get the benefit of blanket protection from the EEOC against all claims of gender identity discrimination, such as harassing someone for being nonbinary or firing them for coming out as trans.
“I am not aware of any settlement that just creates in perpetuity a freedom from investigation.”
“I am not aware of any settlement that just creates in perpetuity a freedom from investigation,” said Karla Gilbride, a former EEOC general counsel under President Joe Biden who is now at the American Civil Liberties Union. “I’ve never seen an organization get a settlement that allows protection to future members in this way.”
The settlement will stay in place even if Andrea Lucas, the current Republican chair of the EEOC, is replaced with a Democratic chair under a future Democratic president. (The Christian Employers Alliance declined to comment, and the EEOC did not respond to an inquiry.)
“Join CEA and stop being exposed,” the site says, under a banner that reads “Protected the Moment You’re In.”
“It’s like they’re selling an insurance policy against EEOC investigations,” said Gilbride. “I’m concerned about the incentive that that creates for employers, especially when the organization is explicitly marketing itself in that way.”
The settlement also has no expiration date. Nearly all settlements, Gilbride said, have an end point; they will remain in force for a certain number of years, during which a court will monitor to make sure the terms are met.
“What makes this settlement unusual,” she said, “is that, in exchange for agreeing to dismiss certain claims in this case, the EEOC is committing to these terms for what seems to be an indefinite amount of time.”
“It’s like they’re selling an insurance policy against EEOC investigations.”
The settlement is of a piece with the EEOC’s recent turn toward policies aligned with the aims of the Christian right in the United States. Lucas, the commission chair, has already pursued a broad agenda of eliminating trans rights.
The Christian employers’ group also boasted in its promotional materials for new members that, like the protection from gender discrimination complaints, a court injunction it secured against the government that allows members to refuse to cover contraception will “cover you the moment you join.”
Blanket Carveout
The blanket carveout for members of the Christian Employers Alliance is also out of the ordinary for giving across-the-board protections from complaints. The EEOC already has ways to consider the rights of religious employers, but they require going through established processes. These employers, for instance, can raise a religious defense against a complaint of discrimination, and the agency will then consider it.
The new settlement, however, blocks EEOC investigators from even looking into a complaint of discrimination and evaluating the merits; instead, it stops all gender identity discrimination complaints against these employers dead in their tracks. All the agency can do is tell workers to sue their employers on their own in the courts.
“That categorical exclusion from investigation based on being a member of a group is unprecedented,” Gilbride said.
These victories for the Christian Employers Alliance closely mirror much of what the organization had originally sought when it filed for an injunction as part of its lawsuit. In its request, the group sought a permanent ban on the EEOC enforcing gender identity rights against its “present and future members.”
And there are close relationships between the Christian Employers Alliance and the EEOC.
In early 2025, Lucas, the current commission chair, hired Shannon Royce to be her chief of staff. Royce’s job immediately prior to accepting her role at the EEOC was president of the Christian Employers Alliance, which she led in 2021 at the time of the lawsuit over gender identity discrimination.
“Normally a settlement happens because the parties don’t want to keep litigating,” Gilbride noted. “But it seems like there might be a lot of alignment between the two sides in this particular situation, and that raises questions about whether the settlement is in the broader public interest or whether it’s just in the interest of these particular individuals and organizations.”
The Anti-Trans Agenda
The settlement fits with the anti-trans agenda pursued by Lucas, the EEOC chair.
One of her first actions was to announce that a priority for the agency is “to defend the biological and binary reality of sex.” She instructed agency staff to focus on pursuing such cases, such as complaints from cis women of trans women sharing bathrooms with them. Harassment guidance that included protection from gender identity-based harassment and federal workers’ ability to pursue complaints of gender identity discrimination were both eliminated under Lucas’s leadership.
Lucas also withdrew the EEOC from lawsuits that it had brought on behalf of transgender and nonbinary workers, and she halted the processing of all worker claims of gender identity discrimination.
With Lucas at the helm, the Christian Employers Alliance already didn’t have to worry about gender identity complaints. Now, tens of thousands of employers with membership in the group won’t have to worry about complaints under the commission’s future leadership either.
Gilbride said, “I am not aware of a settlement that looks exactly like this.”
Tech companies have underestimated the opposition to energy-hungry datacenters – and experts predict the pushback will intensify
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, listening to Dolly Parton in the wake of her death. I was lucky enough to see her in concert a decade ago in California, in the same arena where Google now hosts its annual I/O conference. It’s been a long time, and all my iPhone 4 photos are so blurry you can barely tell it’s a musical performance, but my memory is clear enough to compensate. She told many stories about her childhood, which led into a trio of fabulous songs: My Tennessee Mountain Home, Applejack and Dr Robert F Thomas. They’re still my favorites.
John Ternus takes the helm of a $4 trillion tech giant, but it comes with challenges as Apple faces down the RAM shortage, AI launch delays and the foldable phone market.
Nepali rescuers have built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dug through the ruins of hydropower projects in the Himalayas to rescue hundreds of trapped workers, as the death toll passed 1,000 nearly a week after devastating floods left a trail of destruction across the country’s towns and valleys.
About 600 people remain stuck in several devastated hydropower stations that have become the focus of rescue efforts. The prime minister, Balendra Shah, said more than 11,000 people had been rescued across the affected region, and power and communication lines had been restored in some areas.
Nepali officials tell CBS News they have contacted a U.S. national among the more than 4,000 people still missing in the wake of the deadly flash floods.
The whistleblower, described by lawyers as a federal official, disclosed information about the Postal Service's new mail-voting procedures to Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.
Japanese player wears Iverson’s signature cornrows
Outfit also has newspaper clippings about Osaka
Naomi Osaka channeled former NBA star Allen Iverson before her US Open first-round victory over Anastasia Zakharova on Monday.
Osaka made her usual fashionable entrance for her tournament opener, which she won in straight sets. The two-time US Open champion emerged on to the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium wearing a long, white skirt and a gray, hooded robe featuring newspaper clippings about her.
Claims that Trump and Rubio are trying to influence result have parallels with CIA intervention 64 years ago
The year was 1962 and the Kennedy administration was desperate to swing Brazil’s congressional elections against its leftwing president, João Goulart, as a way of countering the supposed communist threat sweeping a region the US considered its back yard.
Historians say that in the lead-up to the vote, the CIA and the Department of State secretly channelled millions of dollars to opposition candidates and a group tasked with spreading rightwing propaganda and stirring up unrest.
Questions over Trump’s ballroom and other structures might not feel urgent. But when his reign ends, Trumpism must be repudiated
On Monday, a majority on the supreme court found a technical way to overrule a lower court’s imperative to stop work, while not taking a stance on whether the whole enterprise might be illegal to begin with. Preservationists, the majority held, appear to lack legal grounds for filing a suit blocking Trump’s ballroom; that means construction will proceed, even if none other than John Roberts, in a dissent, held that “those responsible” were breaking the rules in deciding “what to build up at the People’s House”. The solicitor general, John Sauer, is on record claiming that 65% of the project is completed (of course, he might have exaggerated – such things are known to have happened in Trump administrations). Either way, it is thus likely that there will be a massive structure next to the original White House; and, given that the ruling will embolden the president dramatically to change Washington DC’s landscape by spending money never approved by Congress, we might be cursed with a triumphal arch as well. All of which raises the question: what to do with a monstrous architectural legacy in post-Trump America?
Some might dismiss the question as a bit of a luxury problem. After all, a war that also demonstrates the ongoing disempowerment of Congress keeps dragging on; ICE continues its cruel day-to-day work; Trump is trying every tactic to make the midterms go his way. But the built environment, and especially the civic landscape of a capital, is never just an afterthought. Buildings and monuments make values visible, as the philosopher Susan Neiman once put it. And the decision to leave Trump’s structures in place as if his reign had just been another normal era in US history is not neutral – just like leaving Confederate monuments in place is not neutral.
Jan-Werner Müller is a Guardian US columnist and a professor of politics at Princeton University
Artist rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in public spots across southern England
The street artist Helch, known for murals and tags across England, has died, his gallery has said.
He rose to prominence in 2018 by painting his eponymous tag in capital letters across a string of public spots in London as well as bridges on the M4, M1 and M25.
First big storm of season heads towards Gulf coast and is expected to bring potentially heavy rains
Tropical Storm Edouard headed toward the US Gulf coast early on Tuesday and was expected to gain strength before bringing potentially heavy rains and flooding into parts of Texas and Louisiana.
The storm was upgraded on Monday night from a tropical depression, and forecasters with the National Hurricane Center (NHC) expect it will make landfall in Texas later on Tuesday.
Spotlight Delaware reporter Brianna Hill recently spoke with Nnamdi Chukwoucha and Shané Darby, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for House District 1 in Delaware in the Sept. 15, 2026, primary election.
Chukwoucha is a four-term incumbent who will be looking to defend his seat from Darby, a progressive Wilmington City Councilwoman who has the backing of the Working Families Party.
Readers can find condensed versions of the candidates’ answers below, while the accompanying podcasts feature unedited excerpts from our conversations.
Rep. Nnamdi Chukwoucha
Why should voters send you back? What is it that you still have left to accomplish in office?
I mean, being in elected office, it’s never accomplished.
There’s always a new challenge and general politics is deciding who gets what, when, and where. And sadly, if we don’t have strong voices for the city of Wilmington, everyone in the legislature downstate Kent, Sussex, they believe that, and even parts of New Castle County believe that Wilmington gets too much already.
So we have to constantly fight for everything. So we truly need a strong voice that’s capable, that can truly legislate to be there in Dover. And without that, trust me, the city of Wilmington will lose. We definitely will lose. So we have to keep a strong voice in the House of Representatives.
You co-led the creation of the Redding Consortium for Educational Equity with Sen. Tizzy Lockman in 2019. For listeners who haven’t followed this closely, what is the consortium trying to fix, and what’s actually changed for Wilmington schools since then?
I guess the easiest way to start is, of course, we used to have our own school district.
We lost our school district, and originally we went to a single district model, the New Castle County Consolidated District. Then within a year or so, it was transformed into what this current system that we have, this four-district model. And it’s been about 48 years, and it’s been a complete, utter failure.
That changed in 2000, when there was a state representative who didn’t want his child bused into believe it was Sarah Powell School at the time. So he changed the law in 2000 with the Neighborhood Schools Act, which said that every student should go to the schools that’s closest to them. Many advocated against it including city council at that time, the mayor — everybody said that it was not the best thing to do.
State legislators passed it anyway.
And here we are 26 years later with exactly what people warned of: a city full of high-need, high-poverty schools that are over-concentrated with African American students. Most of our tenured educators are in suburban schools. And we’ve basically created a system of failure.
So when Sen. Lockman and I came into office prior to Redding there, when I was on city council, we created the Wilmington Education Strategic Think Tank (WESTT), and there were a couple other groups. And so we came into the legislature looking to address this issue of the Neighborhood Schools Act.
So Redding has started there, saying we don’t want four districts anymore. So we started that work. Sadly, we ran into COVID before our first plan was due to be submitted, and so it delayed us. And we did a lot of work dealing with the inside in terms of teacher recruitment and retention, and ensuring that we had qualified teachers inside of our schools.
But the most important thing, we created a plan in which we were addressing how can we get rid of this four-district model. And it was all the way up until last year. We had an interim plan which we had three options, six options, and then we narrowed it down to three. And then last year in December, we voted as a consortium that we wanted to move back to the New Castle County Consolidated School District.
So that vote in December gave us basically a year to come up with a plan. So of course we’re eight months into that, and we’re working with a consultant, AIR, who also did the funding reform work with our state to come up to create our plan for implementation about how we can go back to a New Castle County Consolidated School District.
Teachers are paid differently. There’s a different standard of success in each of our four districts, and it varies in each district. We wanna go back to having just one clear standard of success for all of New Castle County students, Wilmington included.
So that’s what Redding is about, and it’s a big fight. We know it’s not one that can be taken lightly, because right now many districts think that their schools are doing OK. I think our best public high school is at 50-something percent proficiency rates, but many districts think they’re OK.
But they’re really not, and we believe the education, I mean, truly statewide, but definitely in New Castle County, can be better, and we think a consolidated approach is the approach to take.
Do you thinkschoolconsolidation is something that is actually going to pass the General Assembly?
Because there are a lot of people whose constituents are against it. At the same time, in Southern Delaware, there are legislators whose constituents are concerned that the same thing could happen in Kent or Sussex County.
Well and it depends on where you stand. The former representative, Earl Jacques, who led the education committee when I first joined the General Assembly, he staged a task force, and that task force was to look at consolidation. And they came back with a result after a year of meetings saying basically Delaware doesn’t need to consolidate school districts, because many of the small school districts will be absorbed and those school districts really encompass the, their communities. That, like, they make up their communities, and if we lose those school districts, those communities will be absorbed.
Even in this four district model we have basically a competing system within Red Clay, Brandywine, Colonial, Christina. You have suburban schools competing against the city schools. And it’s basically unfair because the city always loses. So we have to change it. Of course, they don’t want it to change, but it has to change for us because we have some schools with single-digit proficiency rates.
We have teachers who start at the beginning of the school year, and they’re gone before November. Every year before Thanksgiving they’re gone. Every year. And then every year there’s this high turnover in our schools. We really have to have a system that is one of equity and fairness and treats every school the same.
Currently, right now, we don’t have that. And I know that suburban legislators outside of the city of Wilmington don’t think this is their fight. They don’t because their schools by the way they view it are doing fine. They think it’s fine at 50%. They think it’s fine at 30% or 35%.
Yeah, that’s better than what we have in the city at eight or nine or 19 or 20. Yes, it’s better, but we as a state can do better. And I think if we begin to accept the standards where we are now, then we’re failing our children.
The Plummer Community Corrections Center closed this March, and you publicly supported that decision while your opponent, Shané Darby,anda number of Wilmington residents fought to keep it open, arguing that closing Plummer would disproportionately hurt Wilmington residents who lose proximity to family and jobs during re-entry. Why did you support that closure?
Absolutely I will. And I truly believe that we had this conversation during the argument, and sadly, I don’t think any of my comments were ever printed in the articles that were presented. But the thing to me was that this closure, we used to have these community work release programs up and down our state.
We had one in Kent, in Sussex. In Dover they had Morris. The previous governor had already started shutting these programs down because of a different model that they were implementing within DOC to provide more services and more programs for job learning and opportunities for work release, and also skill development inside of our prisons.
So that model was already changing. So individuals weren’t being sent to this program like they were. Then once they closed Morris, I think maybe eight or 10 years ago now, Plummer was already on the list to be closed. It was already on the list. They had already reduced the number of people who were going there.
So the population has changed. You don’t have that many people through the courts being sent there. So it can hold 200 people, but we only had 80 people there. Out of those 80, 20 of them were going to work, and the majority were working at the Food Lion and the ShopRite down at the Riverfront.
Between the two supermarkets, there were 20 people working. So that means 60 people were sitting inside that building every day, and we had 68 staff members, so fewer than the one-to-one ratio. And many people didn’t know that even inside of that building, they weren’t even doing simple things like resume development.
There was no skill development, no training happening inside of the building. So the men were actually, it was a disservice to our men rather than being helpful. Right now, the outside of the Smyrna Prison, there’s a work release program where they’re in training programs for HVAC, they’re in training programs for car wrapping, there’s butchering and all these other skill developments that they didn’t have access to here until in Wilmington.
You’ve pointed to helping create the DOJ’s Division of Civil Rights and Public Trust as one of your accomplishments, and that’s the same body that’s currently investigating the June 24 shooting of Kadir Skinner. What was the thinking behind creating that division, and do you think that it’s functioning the way you intended in a case like this one?
I do. I think the intent behind it was for situations like this, where there was tension more in particular in the local level, but how it could separate it and truly give our Department of Justice that opportunity to be involved, and I fully look forward to the investigation.
So I know I look forward to this investigation. I mean, it’s an area, I mean, some people read names in the newspaper, and you hear it so much you think you know the person, but I really know the young man. I know the young man. I know his family. When I was a youth director over at Kingswood, he was a young man that would come to Kingswood Community Center with his cousins, Nasir and Asia, so I know him.
And just like my family, this grief is something you never let go of. You never let go of. It’s unfair. It’s unfortunate when we lose young men in any kind of way, in any kind of way. So I really have my heart in the right place and believe that justice will be served, and that was the intention of creating this office.
As a result of the police-involved shooting, many in Wilmington, including city council, have called for police reform aroundthe Law Enforcement Officer Bill of Rights (LEOBOR)at the state level.
Many have said that they feel like the bill allows law enforcement to get away with certain things or not have to release certain information out to the public. Do you share this sentiment, or is there any additional police reform or accountability legislation that you want to bring in the wake of the Skinner shooting?
I don’t see any directly right now as a result of the shooting, but in terms of LEOBOR, I think that we, the Black Caucus in particular, when we had our African American Task Force, we had a whole Police Accountability Task Force that met for over a year. They came up with recommendations.
There was a separate task force that dealt specifically with LEOBOR. I know there was a compromise, basically, a solution that was worked out in terms of the legislative approach.
So again, as I said on every topic we mention, you never get it right. There’s always the opportunity for improvement, so I believe there is definitely ways in which we probably can look at this topic and things that happened.
But I think then the investigation itself will tell us if there were shortcomings and things that we need to address in terms of officer conduct, and I believe it’s just on us.
I really believe that we as a community, the way in which we raise our voice, the way in which we state our sentiments, and the way in which we look at to our elected officials and also our law enforcement and how they protect our community and engage in our community is how we create the change that we wanna see.
In this race you are going head-to-head with current Wilmington City Councilwoman ShanéDarby. You two actually have some things in common on paper. You both served on city council. You both served in the military. You both have also worked directly with young people. What is the real dividing line between you two on how you believe District 1 should be represented?
I think that the most sternest difference between she and I is the ability to legislate and to truly legislate from a community-based perspective. And those similarities you mention, even there are a lot of glaring similarities between there, because my time on city council was spent legislating and truly trying to understand what it meant to represent my city.
And when I felt I did that and I understood that, what it meant to represent my city, then I said, “I can help my city more at the state level.” So I understood city council. I don’t think right now [she has] any understanding of legislation. I think the difference between she and I is that I’m a legislator.
Her city council bills haven’t passed, and you wanna know why? Not that there aren’t some ideas that have some merit, but it’s about legislating. It’s really about legislating. It’s about understanding both sides of the argument, not just going in. There’s a difference between advocating and legislating. I think she’s a good advocate because she’s loud, but that doesn’t make you an effective legislator.
So you haven’t passed anything of substance in two years, and I think that’s the main difference: knowing what it takes to legislate; knowing what it takes to sit down in a room with those who you disagree with. You look at her water bill issue. It’s like she only looks at it from one perspective, and I get it.
We’re all standing up for the constituents we represent. But you can’t have pretty much an unfunded mandate where you’re putting the city in harm’s way.
It has to be a balance. You don’t understand, it’s just not fiscally responsible. So a lot of her legislation to me, or her so-called legislation, I think is half-baked. I think it’s not grounded in policy. They’re these very simplistic solutions to very complex problems, and that’s not how you legislate.
As a state legislator representing the City of Wilmington, that is an argument in itself because believe me, everybody’s against the city of Wilmington. But I have to be able to effectively work with individuals, suburban, rural, and outside of our city.
So we have to fight everything. You have to be able to legislate. So if you can’t pass bills in that body, what gives you the sense that you would even be anywhere near effective? I don’t believe she would be. So that’s why I’m fighting so hard to remain our state legislator because I believe I’m an effective voice as a social worker, a licensed master social worker with nearly 40 years experience.
I understand what we’re doing in our community. From my first day working in the Walnut Street YMCA at 13 years old to today, I understand our community’s needs and I fight for it every day. I love this city like no other place in the world.
Shané Darby
This is your second time running for this seat. In 2022, you ran against Representative Chukwuocha, and you only lost by 90 votes. Can you tell me what’s going to be different about your strategy this time?
I had no strategy my first time. I literally decided to run in July, got my name on the ballot, had to pull a team together, and do something, right? And I know that I beat him at the polls, and then when the absentee ballot numbers came in, that’s when I lost by 90 votes. I didn’t even think about absentee ballots.
So I know I will never raise as much money as Nnamdi and the PACs and everything that support Nnamdi in the work that he does. So I know I had to raise money early. I knew that I had to get my team early. I knew that I had to start earlier than him because of the resources and money that I don’t have in the same way as an established incumbent and someone who’s part of the Delaware way and the system that exists.
What different policies than Chukwoucha would you bring to the table?
Let’s talk about policing or housing or tenants’ rights to council. I don’t know. There’s so many things I can think of that I would have done way differently than him. So we know rent stabilization he took a public stance with HB455 with rent stabilization in 2024, where he did not support it.
I support rent stabilization. As a city council person, I presented legislation. Tenants’ right to council, he opposed it, which was SB101, Tenants’ Right to Council in 2022 and HB181 in 2023, and those are things that I would support is tenants’ right to council. I also support unions and local hire and those things.
I’m also really for LEOBOR reform. So LEOBOR reform happened when he was a state rep, and it was real reform in the original legislation that was introduced, and a lot of the Black caucus members, which includes Nnamdi Chukwuocha, watered down the bill to the point where we now have a police accountability board with no subpoena power.
No real accountability can happen to police even with accountability boards, even though they were set up, right? So what he’s doing is introducing things but watering them down to not really have power to say it has been done, but it really doesn’t have the power. So those are some of the things I know that I would do differently.
And then he wants to call himself an education guru, right? He’s known for education, but when you look at the track record over the last eight years in office, there’s still too many kids who can’t read or do math. So I wanna look at education in a very different way than when he’s been looking at it in regards to making sure we get our kids’ reading and math scores up in the city of Wilmington.
Fewer than half can read on grade level, and only about one-third can do math, and he has been our state rep leader. He has been a mouth, a centerpiece for education. He was elected in 2018, and since then, student achievement has not improved for Wilmington families.
You’ve served in the Army National Guard since 2012. You founded Black Mothers in Power. You’ve worked as a paralegal. You’ve worked as a child behavior therapist. How does that background shape the priorities you’d bring to Dover?
I think a lot of people’s like, “For your age, you have a lot of experience in different types of backgrounds.” So I think that we talked about me being in the military. I’m still in the military.
When I joined, I was a fueler. I fueled helicopters. I was able to go to different parts of the country and travel, and then I became a paralegal. So for the latter half of my military career, I am a paralegal. What a lot of people think about the military is, like, discipline, being able to work together with other folks to get things done.
Those are the type of things that I’m dealing with every day when I am at the military, right? Those really analytical skills that you need, the research skills that I have from being a paralegal, being able to understand law and legal, those things I’m able to do and able to bring to my experience as a legislator because one thing that I’m very big on is do I have the research and do I have the data to support what I am saying?
I was a child behavioral therapist. I worked specifically with children in Wilmington. I worked at Wilmington Job Corps Center, where I was able to work with 16 to 24-year-olds, specifically from the city of Wilmington, the place where I was born and raised. My family lives here. I’m interacting with kids who live here.
I am able to understand exactly what is happening in the community on the ground, in the most vulnerable populations and community, because of my own personal connections of being here and being from that community, and then also being able to serve in those capacities and different occupations. I’m able to see these kids in a very different light, right?
Because I come from these neighborhoods, and I understand. And then I think my education gave me the historical, it gave me the systemic, and it gave me the research and data and words that I can use that I know they know is happening, but they don’t know how to explain it in these scholarly words. I can do both.
I can maneuver in both communities, right? So that gives me a little bit more power, privilege, or resources to then advocate for where I came from. So I think, like, my experience gave me that, and I wanna use it for that. That’s how I want my experiences to be used.
If you are elected, what are the first issues that you’d want to tackle in Dover?
Honestly, I think with me going to Dover, I can’t start off with rent stabilization, right? Those are the things I would love to start off with, rent stabilization, inclusionary zoning, a housing trust. I have to ease my way into and getting to know people down there. And one thing that has shaped me and, like my experience and background, is that I do a lot of advocacy around maternal healthcare.
So I think naturally I’m gonna go to that first. I have done a lot of, I guess, lobbying around maternal healthcare, so a lot of my relationship with Dover, with state legislators have been around maternal healthcare. And I don’t get a lot of push back unless it’s like abortion or something. But I honestly don’t get a lot of push back around that issue, and there’s a lot more work and things Delaware can do to improve the disparity rates that exist for Black families in the state of Delaware around maternal healthcare.
So I’m really interested in maybe easing my way maybe the first year and focusing on maternal healthcare. I’m really interested in incarceration, which is something I can’t focus on in a city council. It’s really looking at like the DOC. I’m looking at probation. I’m having those conversations with families who are impacted and coming up with legislation.
But I’m gonna hit them with the hard ones. They’re gonna get the legislation for housing trust, for rent stabilization. It is gonna come, but I also want to warm people up to me.
In 2022, you talked about wanting to reform the Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights. Calls for police accountability have been intensified since the June 24 shooting of Kadir Skinner. How does that shape what you would push for in Dover now, given the current environment of what’s been going on?
It didn’t heighten it for me, like, at all. I have been calling for police reform at every single moment when there weren’t any police shootings happening at the moment. I have been calling for it, right? And I have been pushing for it. So this is heightened for other people. It’s not for me.
I have been calling for reform. This recent incident hasn’t changed anything for me. It hasn’t shifted anything for me, and I know exactly when I become a state representative, I am interested in working with legislators on real LEOBOR reform, giving police accountability real subpoena power so that they’re able to really make decisions and change our police departments, right?
But I can’t say specifically what, but I know LEOBOR is definitely something I wanna look at with my colleagues to say, how do we keep it where there’s strong accountability measures in here and the public is protected? So I’m definitely going to be doing that.
You are a candidate who doesn’t shy from controversy, and one of the things that have come up recently is a 2021 Facebook post of yours referring to a lineup of police officers as the “BlueKlux Klan.”
You had said publicly before that it was taken out of context and used for the recent shooting of a state trooper, and that’s not what you were referring to.
Butyouthenreposted it as opposed to kind of distancing yourself from it.Why?
Yeah, I believe in the meme. I believe exactly in the bigger conversation about policing and the history of this country and where it came from. I stand 10 toes on it. I’ll repost it today. I believe in the meme. I believe in the history and the facts of how policing started, its connection to white supremacy, its connection to the KKK, its connections.
I’ll say it every day. So that’s why it was reposted.
We were just talking about the LEOBOR and you wanting to do some sort of police reform if you are elected into the State House. How do you respond to voters and maybe even law enforcement who may see some of the things that you’ve done in the past or posted, as evidence that you’re biased against police?
I don’t know what to tell them. I’m not biased. I am a historian. I state facts, and if facts bother you, that’s not much I can do for you on that issue. So I think it’s not a me problem, it’s a them problem. They need to learn history of this country, what happened. And it’s not all police.
There’s police officers that I speak to who are like, “Thank you for what you said at the press conference. Thank you for the work that you’re doing.” And those are a lot of Black police officers who are saying that to me. And so it’s not all police officers. It’s not all of them. It is the FOP and their small white supremacist group that they have.
It is not all police officers. Some of them believe exactly what I’m saying, and they understand and know the history of this country and the systemic things and what it has been connected to. So no, I am never apologizing for it. I am gonna stand 10 toes down. I will repost it every day. That is the history of the police.
That is the facts, and if they don’t like it, that is their problem. It has nothing to do with anything else about police officers, and if they think it’s biased, that is a them problem, not a me problem.
The Redding Consortium, which your opponent, Rep. Chukwuocha, is a member of and has played a big role in, has recommended combining New Castle County districts above the canal into one. What’s your vision for Wilmington schools specifically, and where do you land on the consolidation question?
Yeah. Consolidation has to happen. But I think we need a Wilmington school district. If it’s one or two or three within the Wilmington area, I don’t know. Like, I’m open to the conversation on the arguments against one, two, or three. But even though consolidation and creating a Wilmington school district is so important, I haven’t heard the second piece of the conversation that is important for me, the culture of schools.
Like, we have to talk about how teachers are trained, how much teachers are paid, how are teachers teaching. We have to talk about behavior. How are we handling that in school? We can’t just say we’re gonna consolidate, put all these kids in one school, and then hope that the reading and math scores get better.
What services are in the schools? What’s the connection to the out-of-school programs? That conversation I’m not hearing. I’m just hearing consolidation, which is nice. I think we need a Wilmington school district. Our kids are too divided up in one little city. But there’s a bigger conversation that’s not being had about, okay, what else?
How do we change? For me, I call it the culture because all we’re doing is moving the culture currently, which is low reading, low math, high behavioral issues. All we’re doing is moving it into one district or two districts, whatever they decide on doing. So I am all for consolidation, but the other conversation has not been at the forefront for me.
You’re also known as a progressive, and in the past you have clashed with colleagues on city council in terms of some of the things that you’ve wanted to pass, which maybe didn’t get passed because the mayor didn’t approve or was in opposition to some of your reforms.
It seems that during your time in city council, you struggled to build consensus at the city level. What makes you confident in doing that in Dover?
I have relationships with people on both sides already from maternal healthcare. No shade to city council, but some of the people I’ve interacted with on the state level are actually like real legislators. Like, they’re really willing to have conversations and they’re willing to figure out things way differently. The culture is different.
I’m sorry, they don’t read on city council. Somebody on the Zoom once asked why was I saying, “What is the executive branch?” Like, I can’t.
I just feel like the culture is different down there in regards to negotiating. I have way more relationships down there from my maternal healthcare work, from Republicans to Democrats down there.
So I feel like I have a very different working relationship with a lot of the people who are on the state level due to my advocacy around maternal healthcare. So I think that helps me a lot.
is there anything else that voters in District 1 should know about you that hasn’t come up yet?
I’m shocked you didn’t ask me about it, but we know that there is an ad from a political action committee that supports a lot of the state reps and current incumbents, including Nnamdi Chukwuocha, who has came out to talk about me owing thousands of dollars in taxes on a vacant lot. So I know you heard of that, right?
Yes, I’m shocked you didn’t bring it up. So we know that there are social media ads on streaming ads, they’re sending out mailers, like, every week and sending out text messages about it. So I do wanna talk about that. So the vacant lot that my incumbent or the PAC that supports my incumbent Nnamdi Chukwuocha, is talking about is actually a community garden that is located on Concord Ave in Washington.
I had bought it in 2019 with a friend of mine who I trusted at the time. And when I end up not becoming friends with that person anymore, COVID hit, and then I realized something was off with the paperwork that I had. When I went to a local attorney to help get it fixed, he was like, “There are still taxes on this from the county.”
And I was like, “Well, I wasn’t really a part of, like, the closing and all the other stuff that happened.” So I owed a few thousand dollars to the county and the city. And during that time, it was COVID. I didn’t have a job. And if I had to pick between feeding my kids and paying taxes on a garden, any day I’m feeding my kids.
I wanna tell them thank you because it is hard for me to ask for assistance or help, and it has been a space, a healing space for most because we do yoga, healing retreats there. It has been a space for the community, and I have never asked for a donation. And when people found out that the garden had past due taxes that hasn’t been paid, people began donating.
I raised over a thousand dollars from the community to put towards the taxes. As someone who just doesn’t ask for help a lot, I would have never publicly disclosed that.
I’m a regular working single mom of three trying to provide my kids with opportunities, paying my bills. I’m struggling. I almost had electricity cut off this year because the electricity went up so high over the winter. I am a regular working, single parent living in Wilmington.
You’re running in part on affordability and housing accountability. Does an unpaid tax balance on property that you own complicate that message for voters?
The majority of people I am coming to at the doors, people I never met before, they’re saying, “I saw your commercials,” and I am more relatable. They understand what financial hardship is, how to fall behind on something.
I’m not hiding it, right? Yep, the majority of people who are at the doors are like, “I’m supporting you just because of that.” Right? That is what I’m hearing at the doors, that I am relatable.
I am a single mom of three, and I’m trying the best I can with what I got, and the majority of people from the city of Wilmington understand that.
The Canada and Denver Summit full-back on playing at a packed Mile Stadium and the impact of Lindsey Heaps
In the 13th minute of a 6-1 win against Chicago, Janine Sonis ran into the penalty area and stealthily positioned herself behind a line of defenders, before striking a crisp shot into the right corner. It was her ninth goal of the season, the most of any player Denver Summit player, and joint-seventh in the NWSL.
Now playing for her hometown team in its debut season, the NWSL and Canada veteran feels her happiness is translating on to the field. “I think it’s been a season that I’ve enjoyed myself more than any other season in my career, and I think that that’s showing in the way that I’m playing,” she said.
This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts is delivered to your inboxes every Tuesday and Thursday.
On Friday 4 September at 1pm Suzanne Wrack will be answering readers’ questions about the new WSL season for Guardian Conversations.
Keir Starmer is to quit as MP for Holborn and St Pancras, saying it is the “right time” for him to leave the Commons.
Starmer, who resigned as prime minister in July, told the Camden New Journal he wanted to focus on international affairs and “pass the baton to a successor”.
The president is lashing out at an NBC host. As the agency’s former chair, I can only hope it stands up for free speech
Will the FCC chairperson again abuse his authority over broadcast licenses to put a Band-Aid on Donald Trump’s thin skin?
Since the opening days of the Trump presidency, Brendan Carr has acted as the president’s attack dog to coerce broadcasters to say things that please his client. Only days after taking office in January 2025, Carr revived a previously dismissed complaint against CBS for the editing of 60 Minutes that tracked candidate Trump’s specious lawsuit on the matter. At the time, the FCC was considering the transfer of CBS licenses to Skydance, a decision that did not come until after CBS agreed to pay $16m to settle with Trump. In September, after Jimmy Kimmel’s remarks about Charlie Kirk, Carr urged broadcasters to take action, saying “we can do this the easy way or the hard way” – an attack even the senator Ted Cruz said sounded “right out of Goodfellas”. In March 2026, he threatened broadcasters over their coverage of the Iran war after the president complained on Truth Social. In April, he ordered Disney’s eight ABC-owned television stations to submit their licenses for premature review, even though most aren’t even halfway through their license term (Disney, ABC and the stations are suing).
Tom Wheeler was chairperson of the Federal Communications Commission from 2013 to 2017
Rollback of ‘roadless rule’ expected to benefit companies US Forest Service chief, Tom Schultz, previously lobbied for
Donald Trump this month announced plans to rescind a landmark rule that has protected old-growth forests in the US for 25 years. If finalized, the rollback is expected to benefit the companies that Tom Schultz, chief of the US Forest Service, represented in his previous roles as a timber industry lobbyist and executive, according to research by consumer advocacy non-profit Public Citizen.
The Roadless Area Conservation Rule, more commonly known as the “roadless rule”, was adopted in 2001 to limit development in roughly 45m acres of national forest. Industry interests and Republican representatives have long lobbied for the rule’s rescission, which would open up those swaths of untouched land to road construction, drilling and logging.
California lawmakers have passed a bill that would legalize plug-in "balcony" solar systems, allowing residents to connect small solar panels directly to a standard wall outlet after completing a simple online registration. The systems would be capped at 1,200 watts and must meet safety requirements designed to prevent power from feeding back onto the grid during outages. KQED reports: The legislation, SB 868, sailed through the state assembly and senate with bipartisan support. The bill now moves to the governor's desk for signature. The devices can be tented in a backyard, hung off a balcony or placed on a roof. Models range from as low as $300 to $2200, depending on size. The bill would open the solar market to people who were previously left out: renters, people with unsuitable roofs, and those lacking the capital to build out a rooftop system, which can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.
[...] If signed into law by Newsom, the legislation would exempt plug-in solar devices from what critics say is a cumbersome and expensive interconnection application process, and replace registration with a free and straightforward online form. [...] The newly passed bill outlines several device requirements. The balcony solar systems must be capped at generating 1,200 watts per home, plug into a standard outlet, offset a customer's onsite electricity use and meet state and national electrical codes. They also must be certified by an outside safety organization like Underwriters Laboratories and have a feature that would prevent electricity from feeding back into the grid if there's a power outage.
Jury took about three hours to reach verdict in case that relied heavily on confessions from the defendant. Plus, the woman who lived with and loved Freddie Mercury as her fiance
Good morning. A Las Vegas jury has found the former South Side Compton Crips gang leader Duane Keith Davis guilty of the murder of Tupac Shakur, bringing the case to a close nearly 30 years after the rapper was gunned down. The jury took about three hours to reach a guilty verdict in a case that relied heavily on multiple confessions from Davis himself.
The 63-year-old, who was accused of instigating the deadly shooting but not pulling the trigger himself, had spent years telling investigators and interviewers alike of his direct involvement before he was arrested in 2023.
Who was Tupac Shakur? Shakur was born in 1971 in East Harlem, New York, and rose to fame in the early 90s with lyrics that doubled as a sharp commentary on social injustice including systemic racism and police brutality. He was 25 when he died, is regarded among the greatest rappers to ever live, and continues to be celebrated around the world years after his life was cut short.
How have his family reacted to the trial? “We’ve been waiting 30 years to grieve properly,” Zayd Akinyela, Shakur’s cousin, told reporters outside the courtroom when the trial was under way. “A lot of people don’t get to grieve until they understand what happened to their loved one and how it happened.”
Why have authorities been so heavily criticised over the case? Las Vegas police faced criticism that they had bungled the investigation and failed to pursue crucial leads, including from a member of Shakur’s entourage who claimed he could identify the shooters. That witness died weeks later in a separate shooting.
New York, New York — The mother of a 5-year-old is asking the Supreme Court to let her son remain enrolled in kindergarten while she challenges New York’s refusal to provide religious exemptions from school vaccination requirements.
The mother, identified in court filings as Jane Doe, filed an emergency application seeking temporary relief for her son, C.F., who attends the Waverly School. She argues that Section 2164 of New York’s Public Health Law violates her religious rights by allowing medical exemptions while categorically excluding religious ones.
Doe cited recent Supreme Court decisions involving parental rights and religious exercise, including Mahmoud v. Taylor and an emergency ruling involving California school policies.
New York officials urged the justices to reject the request, arguing the vaccination requirement is a neutral public-health measure designed to reduce the spread of communicable disease in schools. They said the law applies broadly and does not target religious beliefs.
State and school officials also argued the dispute may be moot because Doe had discussed moving her son to Florida. Doe countered that the issue remains active because her son faces a Sept. 16 deadline to comply with the vaccination requirement or leave the school.
The Supreme Court requested responses from New York and the school but has not set a timetable for ruling on the emergency application.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day: When comfort, money, or fear asks you to compromise, will you still recognize yourself in the mirror?
ICE Agent Escapes Extradition: Greg Abbott’s refusal to extradite an ICE officer accused of a Minnesota shooting turns justice into another political favor.
Supreme Court Considers Trump’s Trans Ban: The administration’s effort to expel transgender troops from the military rests on animus it denies.
The Little League World Series: Curacao’s victory and Karl Ravech’s farewell remind us that baseball still makes room for joy, grace, and the underdog.
Round Midnight, directed by Bertrand Tavernier: Dexter Gordon gives a memorable turn in this exploration of a jazz great’s late-night struggles in Paris.
Sam Cooke, “Blowin’ in the Wind”: Sam Cooke transforms Bob Dylan’s Civil Rights anthem into a soulful challenge for the rest of us to catch up.
Kareem’s Quote of the Day
“To thine own self be true.”
William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English playwright and poet
Staying true to yourself is the great battle of every honest person’s life. No one starts out thinking they will compromise their principles. We all think we’re better than that. But compromise can sneak up on you. Have you ever heard someone make a racist or sexist joke and decided it’s not worth the effort or the discomfort to confront them? You’d like to shout them down, or smack them down, but you don’t want to make a scene, so you let the moment pass. Compromise can also come at you head on: maybe someone offers you a pot of gold to do something that you know isn’t right, and you think that just this one time you’ll take the money and put your conscience on hold. But compromises can cascade, especially when the rewards are enticing and the consequences are nonexistent.
Today, we have an entire system of government built on compromised principles. There are honest concessions that are a necessary part of leadership, because neither choice is perfect. We all want lower taxes and we all want more services, so we have to reach a compromise between those two ideals. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a man who knows that he’s part of a system that will bankrupt his country, diminish human rights, damage the environment…but putting all those things to the side in order to enjoy the immediate perks of power. I’m talking about a woman whose boss mistreats other women, believes they’re second-class citizens, takes away their rights, but she goes along to get along.
The modern media ecosystem likewise encourages us to do things we know we shouldn’t, or wish we wouldn’t. If it’s more profitable to take one side in an argument and more dangerous to take the other, we have to decide what staying true to our principles is worth. Nobody wants to get pilloried on X for expressing an unpopular opinion, but how far can you stray from your genuine beliefs before you no longer recognize the person in the mirror? For instance, I wonder about the brilliant authors who get offered a small fortune to write Hollywood blockbusters. How many great American novels have we lost in exchange for popcorn pictures that pay for luxuries no one really needs? How many great actors could be doing Shakespeare instead of the Marvel Cinematic Universe if they were willing to drive a Prius rather than a Lamborghini?
Fidelity to oneself begins with acting from your own genuine values, but also remaining willing to examine those values. That examination takes work because we are all born with an ability to justify our actions. You feel an impulse, act on it, then search for an explanation that makes you look virtuous. Disguising selfishness as “authenticity” gives you permission to do things you never dreamed of. Pride can pretend to be principle; fear can mask itself as disinterest. How can any of us know whether sincerity is guiding us or merely covering our tracks?
“To thine own self be true.” We’ve embraced those words for centuries because they remind us to resist the compromises that go against our deepest beliefs. To look into our hearts, know who we are, and act accordingly. Not to choose one path because it’s easier when another leads to the destination we really want to reach. It’s a simple message, but one that’s worth repeating every day.
Kareem Takes on the News is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
My Take
ICE Agent Escapes Extradition
(Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
In the United States of America, the extradition from one state to another of someone accused of a serious crime is supposed to be a mere technicality. If someone suspected of committing a violent assault in Minnesota is found and arrested in Texas, we expect the Texas authorities to send the accused back to Minnesota to face trial. But in modern America, there’s no such thing as a mere technicality when politics come into play.
The case in question involves Christian Castro, an ICE deportation officer who was accused of shooting Julio C. Sosa-Celis, a Venezuelan immigrant, in Minnesota in January. Thankfully, unlike Renée Goode and Alex Pretti, two other Minnesotans shot by ICE officers, Mr. Sosa-Celis didn’t die. Nevertheless, on May 18, Minnesota prosecutors charged Officer Castro with four counts of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of falsely reporting a crime. He was arrested in Texas on May 29 and was held at the Cameron County Jail in Brownsville until August 27, when he was released, as Texas's statutory limit on detention pending extradition expired.
This is all the result of the action, or rather inaction, of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who refused to sign Castro’s extradition order. Last week, when Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took Abbott to federal court to try to force him to sign the extradition order, Abbott’s lawyers claimed that Texas authorities were still investigating the case and Abbott could not sign the extradition order until the investigation was complete. The judge, who was appointed by President Trump, sided with Abbott, and days later Castro was released. This, despite the fact that Castro was recorded talking to a girlfriend in Mexico about meeting her there as soon as he got out of jail.
Federal prosecutors also reportedly weighed civil rights charges against Castro, but those plans “unraveled,” according to The New York Times. A Justice Department official said the agency had “not yet reached a conclusion on this matter and will never rush an investigative process and the thorough review of all evidence.” That’s rich, coming from an administration that routinely arrests and deports immigrants with no due process, much less any sort of investigation.
It’s not hard to interpret all this as a conspiracy between Texas and federal authorities to protect an ICE agent from accountability for shooting an immigrant. After all, when ICE agents shot Goode and Pretti, the federal government refused to share its evidence against those agents with Minnesota’s investigators, and despite both killings being captured on video by bystanders, the ICE agents escaped charges. This time, with Minnesota acting more proactively to seek justice, the anti-immigrant Republican administrations of Texas and the United States have joined forces to let Officer Castro walk free, without restrictions. His current whereabouts are unknown.
While it’s hard to find a politician who can compete with Trump when it comes to defying norms of common decency, Abbott is doing his best to keep up. Last week, I wrote about his threats to airports that provided ablution stations for Muslim travelers at Texas airports. In January 2024, it was reported that he had ordered more than 100,000 migrants who had arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border to be bussed to northern cities controlled by Democratic governors, including New York and Illinois, in the middle of winter. Now he’s turned Texas into a sanctuary state for criminal ICE agents. Can the announcement of a 2028 presidential run be far behind? Stay tuned.
Trump Asks Supreme Court to Uphold Military Trans Ban
(Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The Trump Administration obviously thinks it has found a winning strategy for holding on to the House and Senate this November: vilifying transgender Americans. Last week, the administration asked the Supreme Court to reverse a lower court ruling and permit the military to kick transgender troops out of the military, in a case that could determine the constitutionality of President Trump’s transgender troop ban. At issue are 28 transgender service members who argue that the ban violates the Constitution’s equal protection guarantee; 25 are currently on administrative leave, while three remain in active service, but the outcome of the case will affect the future of all the roughly 4000 transgender troops currently in our Armed Services.
In June, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found the ban “likely violates” the plaintiffs’ equal protection rights, with Judge Robert L. Wilkins writing for the 2-1 majority that the policy “appears to be driven by the bare desire to harm a politically unpopular group” and is “both arbitrary and based upon animus.” The wording of Trump’s original executive order makes a strong argument for “animus,” stating that the “adoption of a gender identity inconsistent with an individual’s sex conflicts with a soldier’s commitment to an honorable, truthful, and disciplined lifestyle, even in one’s personal life.” Let that sink in. Trump is arguing that transgender people are incapable of being honorable, truthful, and disciplined. Coming from the least honorable, truthful, and disciplined President in our nation’s history, that’s quite a declaration.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the government’s petition to the Supreme Court that “any attempt to infer animus from references to ‘honesty,’ ‘humility,’ ‘integrity,’ and ‘false gender identity’ is misplaced.” How else, exactly, should those terms be taken? For those outside the high court, who are judging the case based on the common meanings of words and common sense, it didn’t help the government’s case when Secretary of War! Pete Hegseth used the transphobic slur “trannies” during a speech in Iowa the previous week.
Nor did Trump convince me his policy wasn’t born out of animus when he went on Truth [sic] Social earlier this year to make the case against transgender Americans: “NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION [sic] FOR CHILDREN!” He followed that up with a press event where he repeatedly mangled “mutilation,” turning it into “mutilization” a half-dozen times in half a minute, riffing in one of his patented “weaves”: “Transgender mutilization, where your child leaves your house and they take your child from you. In six states. They take the child and do what they want to do. What they do is, I don’t even want to talk about it.” Needless to say, there is no evidence of any such crimes in six states, or even one state—any more than there’s evidence that “They’re eating the dogs! They’re eating the cats!” in Springfield, Ohio, as he claimed in his debate with Kamala Harris.
What do you do when the most dangerous President in American history is also the sort of buffoon who propagates ridiculous conspiracies about immigrants eating our pets and transgender people kidnapping and “mutilizating” our children? We tried ignoring him. We tried laughing at him. We tried going high when he went low. We tried taking him to court and holding him accountable for his crimes. None of it worked. He’s been elected twice to the highest office in the land, and he’s got another two and a half years to impose his vision of a White Christian Nationalist paradise for his followers. If the GOP retains control of the House and Senate next year, we may never recover.
The Little League World Series
(Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
As I’ve said many times, baseball was my first love. I was born the day after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut, and I grew up a fan of his team, the Brooklyn Dodgers. I dreamed of one day pitching for the Dodgers, though I could never control my pitches. In the late 1950s, I played in New York’s Inwood Little League, and while I wasn’t a superstar, I did win my team’s sportsmanship award. By the time I turned 13 and my Little League stint was up, I was six-foot-eight, and my coaches convinced me I’d be better off focusing my athletic abilities on basketball. Cut ahead to 1992, and I was elected to the Little League Hall of Excellence, an honor I share with Dusty Baker, Torii Hunter, and Tony Dungy. Not bad for a kid who couldn’t get the ball over the plate.
Maybe that’s why I love watching the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, every summer. In case you’ve never seen it, there are two brackets: the United States and the rest of the world. The winners on each side face off in the final game, which was played last weekend. If you haven’t heard, Curacao beat the American team from Nevada, but even if you were rooting for the USA, it was still a joy to behold. All those teams, all those kids from all over the world, all for the love of the game.
The fact that Curacao won is a testament to the country’s passion for baseball. Consider this: Curacao is the smallest country ever to win the tournament, with apopulation of approximately 156,000 people. The next smallest country to have won is Taiwan, at 23.4 million, about 150 times as many as Curacao. By going against the United States, they beat a country that’s 2000 times larger. And this isn’t the first time the small island country has won: they also took the title in 2004, when they featured future major leaguer Jurickson Profar. This has actually been a landmark year for Curacao baseball in another way: last month, former Atlanta Braves center fielder Andruw Jones became the first Curaçao native inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.”
The other big news in Williamsport this year was that it will be the final tournament featuring play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech, who has been the television voice of the Little League World Series for the past 20 years. Ravech, who also called Major League games for ESPN, was a victim of the network’s latest round of layoffs. A modest, old-school sportscaster who kept the focus on the games instead of on himself, he didn’t fit into sports TV’s modern philosophy, which favors the loud and the opinionated. He will be missed—in my living room and in Williamsport, if not in ESPN’s Bristol headquarters. I’ll look forward to seeing where he ends up.
What I’m Watching
Round Midnight, directed by Bertrand Tavernier
Dexter Gordon was a saxophone giant. In fact, he was known as “Long Tall Dexter,” though six-foot-six doesn’t seem that tall to me. He got his start in the 1940s, playing tenor as a sideman for such legends as Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lionel Hampton. The ‘50s were more or less a lost decade for him, thanks to a heroin addiction, but he came back better than ever in the ‘60s as a member of Blue Note’s stable of jazz masters, and he kept playing well into the 1980s.
He made a detour into cinema in 1986, starring in this moody drama from French director Bertrand Tavernier. It’s about an American saxophonist named Dale Turner, holed up in Paris and wrestling with the bottle while a devoted young fan tries to keep him upright. Although it’s in English, it has the feel of a French film, as Tavernier lets the music do the emotional heavy lifting, with a saxophone line saying more about Gordon/Turner’s exhaustion than any monologue ever could.
It goes without saying that Gordon has the role down pat: he could have rolled out of bed and played this part, and he gives the whole picture a lived-in honesty that can’t be faked. The plot wanders and sometimes feels like it’s drifting away, but it always finds its way back to the theme, like a good sax solo. Gordon was rewarded with an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, a nice late-career surprise for a man who would die in 1990, at a hard-lived age of 67. If you want to sit inside a smoky room, listen to soulful jazz, and see what late-night genius and late-life ruin look like side by side, this is the movie for you.
Kareem’s Jukebox
Sam Cooke: “Blowin’ in the Wind” (1964)
Bob Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1962, and it quickly became the anthem of the Civil Rights movement. Sam Cooke picked it up not long after and started performing it live, and I think that says something. Here was a gospel-trained Black singer, already a star, choosing to sing a young white folk singer’s questions about war and freedom back to his own audience. Not long before he added this song to his shows, Cooke had been arrested in Shreveport for trying to check into a whites-only hotel. He carried that arrest with him every time he stepped on stage after that. It shaped how he lived and how he sang, and he credited that experience and this song with inspiring his masterpiece, “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
Dylan played “Blowin’ in the Wind” solo, with just his acoustic guitar, and I love what Cooke does with a song that started out so simple and spare. On this performance from the TV show Shindig!, he puts a full band behind it and keeps the beat moving the whole time, and his voice gives real meaning to certain words without ever losing the pulse underneath him. You can nod along to it (or dance, as the slightly comical background dancers do), which is a strange response when somebody asks you how many years some people can exist before they’re allowed to be free. As has often been noted, the song is all questions and no answers, but they’re out there, blowin’ around us. Cooke sings like a man who thinks he knows those answers and is daring the rest of us to figure it out.
TO BE GOOD, YOU MUST DO GOOD. WE’RE IN THIS TOGETHER.
Mike Rogers isn’t merely campaigning alongside a controversial supporter. His campaign put an extremist on its faith leadership team
Hasan Piker.
Turn on cable news. Pick up a newspaper. Log on to Twitter. It doesn’t seem to matter where you get your political news: for the past month, the leftist Twitch streamer has become one of the dominant subjects of coverage, conversation and controversy surrounding the crucial Michigan Senate race between the Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and the Republican Mike Rogers.
Age on the agenda in Massachusetts but octogenarian leftwinger leads younger rival Seth Moulton in primary poll
Democrats have spent the summer ousting long-serving incumbents in primaries across the country. On Tuesday, Massachusetts voters will decide whether that generational revolt extends to the 80-year-old Ed Markey, whose younger Democratic rival has argued that the incumbent is simply too old to serve another term.
But the Senate primary in this heavily Democratic state flips a central dynamic of previous contests, where youthful progressive insurgents have targeted – and in several cases, toppled – older incumbents they derided as avatars of an outmoded cautious establishment.
Inquiry come after conservative thinktanks claim unions are using member dues to support Democratic causes
House Republicans are investigating several US labor unions based on claims from far-right nonprofits alleging union dues are being used for illegal political funding.
Republicans on the House’s education and workforce committee opened the investigation this summer after multiple reports from the conservative thinktanks targeted unions and their spending, claiming that unions are using member dues to support Democratic causes.
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware, along with the Philadelphia and Camden, New Jersey areas, are home to 3,130 active DACA recipients. DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, was a federal immigration program for people who were brought into the country as young children. The program, no longer accepting new participants, still gives recipients legal authorization to work and protection against deportations. But recent backlogs in permit renewals have disrupted the day-to-day lives of Delawareans under the program.
For one New Castle County single mother, living as a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient meant following a strict routine.
She would care for her child, work multiple jobs to support her small family and renew her work permit every two years with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) to stay up to date with the federal program’s guidelines.
But delays in receiving her renewed work permit have thrown her routine out the window, leaving her without a job.
Instead of caring for dementia patients, as she has done for the past four years, the mother is struggling to make ends meet while she waits for the federal government to allow her to go back to work.
“We are just trying to survive, especially in this economy,” said the woman, who spoke to Spotlight Delaware on the condition of anonymity because of concerns around immigration enforcement.
The DACA program, created by the Obama administration, launched a temporary legal pathway for children brought to the U.S. to live and work in the country.
Recipients are required to renew their documentation with the federal government biannually, granting them temporary legal status. This allows DACA recipients to work, drive and live in the U.S. legally for another two years.
But Delawareans living under the program have experienced that biannual renewal process slowing to a halt under the Trump administration.
DACA formally ended under a 2017 executive order signed by President Donald Trump in his first term, but program participants who received the status prior to 2017 were grandfathered in and can renew their status based on eligibility requirements that include not having any felony convictions.
When reached for comment, USCIS cited a more thorough vetting process than previous administrations as the reason for the delays. What exactly those new screening evaluations look like remains unclear.
At least one lawyer said the delays are part of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration agenda.
And while the renewal delays continue, Delawareans living under DACA — many of whom have lived here for decades — face an uncertain future.
Lengthy delays with no answers
Normally, DACA recipients must file for renewal four to five months before their permits expire. They must compile documents such as tax returns, utility bills and be able to prove they have no criminal history.
DACA recipients who spoke to Spotlight Delaware said the process can cost anywhere from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on whether they use a private attorney or nonprofit organization to file for a work permit renewal.
After filing the necessary paperwork, the process should not take more than 120 days, according to USCIS.
But two DACA recipients who spoke to Spotlight Delaware in August said their current renewals have been held up for months.
And they are not alone.
Rick Hogan, a Wilmington-based immigration attorney, said all his clients who are in need of work permit renewals are facing delays. Delays he hasn’t seen in his 10 years of work.
Hogan said his office has asked for clarification from the federal government about the backlog multiple times, but he has not received an explanation.
He believes it is a deportation tactic by the Trump administration.
“They would do something about it if they wanted to, and clearly they don’t because they know that they’re getting what they want, which is to pressure individuals to give them reason to think they should leave the United States,” Hogan said.
The frustration isn’t unique to Delaware.
The Justice Action Center, an immigration advocacy organization, filed a public records request along with other DACA supporters in May for USCIS documents that could explain the delays. After the Department of Homeland Security failed to reply, the group filed a lawsuit against DHS.
They are still awaiting a reply, said a spokesperson with the Justice Action Center.
Short-term fixes still cause anxiety
If a Delawarean cannot provide documentation of legal status, they can apply for a 60-day driving permit at the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV).
This temporary permit has helped at least one DACA recipient ease their short-term concerns, but not every applicant is accepted.
The New Castle County single mother, despite multiple trips to the DMV, was turned down for a temporary driving permit.
But another woman, a community healthcare aide and business owner, was accepted after she took multiple trips to the DMV, compiling different documents and paying different fees than her normal DACA renewal process.
Even though the community healthcare aide was relieved to receive the driving permit, she does not know what will come next if her DACA status is not renewed soon.
She described it as “systematic chaos.”
Both women see the same words pop up on their computer screen when they log into their respective USCIS portals: “Your case is currently processing. We do not need any information from you.”
There is no estimated approval time provided.
The healthcare aide has been seeking any resources that could help her, including sending emails to a laundry list of lawmakers that includes Delaware Sens. Chris Coons and Lisa Blunt-Rochester, Gov. Matt Meyer, Lt. Gov. Kyle Evans Gay, Senate Majority Leader Bryan Townsend (D-Glasgow), Rep. Mara Gorman (D-Newark) and the Office of New Americans.
Gov. Matt Meyer appointed Rony Baltazar-López (right), a native of Milford and a child of immigrants, as the inaugural Director of Delaware’s Office of New Americans. | SPOTLIGHT DELAWARE PHOTO BY JOSE IGNACIO CASTANEDA PEREZ
“I am not asking for special treatment,” the healthcare aide wrote in one of her emails. “I am asking for help navigating a situation where I have done everything required of me, but processing delays are creating a barrier that could significantly impact my family and the Delaware communities I serve.”
The governor’s office has not responded, but Sens. Coons and Blunt-Rochester’s respective offices told her they could not provide her with more information than what she already knew.
From a home in Delaware to an uncertain future
The single mother was just a year old when her own mom brought her to the U.S.
Her earliest memories aren’t from Mexico, where she was born, but of the flurry of snowflakes and the sheets of white that covered the streets of Chicago. Her family then moved to Delaware a couple years later, and she has been here ever since.
Before her DACA status lapsed, the mother worked multiple jobs to pay her taxes and care for her child.
The community healthcare aide was 9 years old when she came to the U.S. under a tourism visa. She later applied for and received DACA, and she is now attempting to become a U.S. citizen.
Since there is no pathway for DACA recipients to become citizens, the healthcare aide must be sponsored by her mother, a U.S. citizen, to receive permanent legal status.
The community aide said she wishes more people knew what immigrants with temporary status still contribute to the economy, oftentimes for benefits they cannot access themselves, like Social Security and Medicare.
“We are not a public charge to the United States,” she said. “We are paying millions in taxes for services we cannot access.”
Hogan, the immigration attorney, said he cannot offer much advice to his clients aside from telling them to advocate for policy changes.
There currently are three bipartisan federal proposals to create legal pathways to citizenship for DACA recipients, though it is unclear if any of those measures will advance.
The healthcare aide hopes Delaware’s senators will support the bills.
“People like me are falling through the cracks,” she said. “Without the support of all senators, we will continue facing the same situations.”
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware City’s drive to develop Fort DuPont turn what was once protected state park land into a RV park is fueled in part by the need to make up over 10% of the city’s budget over the next decade as the nearby Delaware City refinery phases out a payment in lieu of taxes agreement that has provided the city’s coffers with millions over the years.
For nearly two decades, the refinery on the outskirts of Delaware City has paid the local government millions of dollars in exchange for officials promising not to annex the massive industrial complex.
This year, a $300,000 “voluntary contribution” from the Delaware City Refining Company as part of that agreement accounted for nearly 14% of the town’s 2026 budget.
The current agreement, enacted in 2023, governs how much the refinery will put in Delaware City’s coffers through 2037. Previously, the contracts were called PILOT, or payment in lieu of taxes, agreements — made in exchange for the government’s promise to not annex parcels owned by the refinery that are currently in unincorporated New Castle County.
By the time the current agreement expires, the refinery will have paid some $5.2 million to the city since 2008. Over the years, annual payments have varied from $50,000 to a maximum of $300,000.
According to the 2023 agreement, payments taper down starting next year. From 2027-2031, the refinery has agreed to pay Delaware City $200,000 annually, with payments reducing down to zero by 2038.
The contract notes that it was “on the request of the City” that the refinery “contribute greater amounts during the initial years of this agreement to meet the more immediate revenue needs of the city.”
Mayor Paul Johnson Sr. said that when the agreement was recently up for renegotiation, the refinery’s owner, PBF Energy, wasn’t exactly interested in continuing to pay the town hundreds of thousands of dollars. But without that funding, the city would have to find another way to cover over 10% of its annual operating budget. The agreement predates Johnson’s tenure, which began in 2019.
To ease that pain, the refinery and city officials ultimately agreed to de-escalate payments, with more money coming up front to help build out Fort DuPont and the nearby resort campground to increase the city’s tax revenue to make up for what the refinery has been contributing over the decades.
Johnson estimates the city will have to increase its tax base by about 25% to cover the refinery’s longstanding contributions.
In exchange for the tapered payments over the next decade, according to the 2023 agreement, the city “agrees not to pursue annexation with respect to any lands outside the City’s limits on which the Refinery is located or that are otherwise owned” by the company without “prior written consent.”
That would include another parcel that had been eyed as potential for the massive Project Washington data center.
But whether that agreement is left to expire come 2038 will be up to the company and Delaware City’s future mayor and council.
“And it probably won’t be me in 2038,” Johnson said, adding that the city currently has no interest in annexing any part of the refinery because of the associated costs that would come with regulating such a complex industry.
Why exactly the refinery wants to avoid being in Delaware City’s municipal limits remains unclear, as it is nearly impossible to calculate what their potential taxes might be if parts of the facility were subject to city taxes. A company spokeswoman did not respond to requests for comment.
Multiple Delaware-based professionals familiar with land use, legal contracts and PILOT agreements who were consulted by Spotlight Delaware said generally that they were not aware of any other such arrangements between local governments and private interests in the state.
The state government, however, has for years made payments in lieu of taxes to the three county seats — Dover, Georgetown and Wilmington — to offset the lack of taxes generated from a slew of state government buildings in those locales. According to reporting by Delaware Public Media, the University of Delaware for decades also made payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Newark, until the General Assembly last year gave the city the power to impose a per-student tax on UD instead.
The first PILOT agreement between the refinery and Delaware City was signed June 13, 2008, by Premcor Refining Group and government officials. It notes that in 2006, the city included the idea of annexing the refinery’s parcels on the outskirts of town in the comprehensive plan. From there, a dispute between the city and one of its biggest employers arose.
And thus, it was out of “the parties desire to amicably resolve the dispute and to foster long-term stability in their relationship” that the city began to promise the refinery it would not be annexed, and therefore not subject to city taxes, as long as a PILOT agreement is in place.
In addition, in 2002, Delaware City and the refinery’s owner at the time, Motiva Enterprises, renewed an agreement to only tax the refinery’s pier properties at the 2001-2002 assessed value of about $14.9 million, subject then to 3% increases for inflation.
Johnson said the company is subject to paying regular city taxes on those properties; no special taxation agreement exists today for those parcels.
Explore highlights from our work over the past year, including research, events, and impact.
Chair’s statement
The turbulence in international affairs over the last year has underscored the importance of Chatham House’s mission. I am proud that our teams have risen to the challenge. They have produced timely, independent analysis of global crises, delivered original and influential research on systemic changes, and convened the leaders and decision-makers who have been shaping events. All of this work culminated in the convening of a highly successful and impactful London Conference in July.
In parliaments, global media and conferences, and at public and private meetings, our experts have offered measured explanation and advice on critical areas of international relations. Many examples of their work are captured in the following pages.
Our members have been able to hear and question a remarkable range of speakers. Among these, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb and European Parliament president Roberta Metsola spoke on Europe and the role of the UK. British ministers addressed a wide range of international economic, security and defence issues. President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria joined us on his first trip to the UK, and the institute’s director, Bronwen Maddox, interviewed Israel’s president Isaac Herzog. We welcomed three African foreign ministers on a single day, and co-hosted more than 700 delegates at a conference in Addis Ababa on African strategic influence.
I want to thank my fellow Council members, along with Bronwen Maddox and the entire Chatham House team, for their time, energy and commitment to our mission and values. Thanks also go to our many individual and corporate members, and to the generous supporters of the institute, without whom none of our work would be possible.
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica. Photos by Sarah Blesener for ProPublica.
For more than a year now, I’ve been investigating how youth sports organizations have failed to protect kids from sexual abuse, and the gaps in the system that have allowed coaches banned for misconduct to keep working with young athletes.
So far, I’ve shown that one major nonprofit sports organization, the Amateur Athletic Union, has become a haven for coaches accused of abuse. I identified eight coaches who are still working with kids under the AAU despite having been banned by SafeSport, a center created by Congress to protect kids from abuse in sports that has a public list anyone can check. The AAU has said it does not comment on individual cases but in a statement said that it is “committed to protecting its athletes through comprehensive protection policies overseen by our Compliance Department.”
I also told the story of a Texas volleyball coach named Ryan Richardson, who continued coaching despite having been banned by SafeSport and is now under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security. Richardson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on ProPublica and The Washington Post’s reporting, or an email seeking comment about the Homeland Security investigation. When he was first suspended in 2024, Richardson told the local news website MyRGV that complaints about him were an effort to “retaliate and defame someone’s character,” and he said he “would never do anything to risk the physical or mental wellbeing of these strong young ladies.”
I’m still reporting, and I want to hear from you.
I know these are sensitive topics that can be difficult to discuss. I also know how important these stories are. If you know about a coach on the SafeSport list who is still working with kids, 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, 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.
Last month, Microsoft’s gaming division told its workforce it was cutting 3,200 jobs, which some say will have big ramifications for game development – as well as taking a huge personal toll
On the morning of 6 July, an email went out from Asha Sharma, the chief executive of Xbox, to all of the division’s employees around the world. Under the headline “Resetting Xbox”, it announced the most significant restructuring in the history of Microsoft’s console business: 3,200 staff would be laid off throughout the financial year to 2027, and 1,600 of those roles would be eliminated immediately.
An hour later, at studios throughout company, the Teams meeting invites started arriving. “It was a virtual call with our studio manager,” says Anne Barrett, who was laid off from Bethesda Game Studios Austin. “All of our cameras and microphones were turned off so we weren’t able to say anything or react to anything. We were just brought in, told the news and it was like: ‘You guys are going to lose access to your Slack channel.’ So you saw a flurry of goodbye messages before everything was just shut off.”
The deluge capped a summer of extreme climate events, from deadly heatwaves to wildfires. We must take action now
For millennia, the high peaks of the Himalayas were held together by an invisible, frozen cement – permafrost and glacial ice that bound ancient rock into seemingly unshakable fortresses. But as the planet continues to warm, this alpine glue is liquefying.
The glacial collapse and deluge in Nepal and Tibet was not a freak weather event; it was the structural failure of a mountain itself, nature’s latest commentary on the deadly consequences of human-caused planetary warming. And it was the exclamation point on a summer of extremes, illustrating with a sole unnatural disaster the apocalyptic future that lies in store if we fail to take dramatic climate action.
The non-profit Leaving Maga is built on the premise that abandoning the Trump-built movement is like fighting a disease or breaking an addiction
Stephania Messina kept birthing boys. In the Quiverfull conservative Christian church she belonged to outside Detroit, Michigan, that made her a community celebrity. Your quiver, as the church taught it, is your womb, meant to be filled with as many arrows – a metaphor for children – as you can shoot unto the Lord. She shot five. “They treated me like I was Mother Mary, like I was this gift to the church,” she said.
But while she was quickly pushed into leading worship and Bible study groups for women and children, she wasn’t permitted to talk about politics.
Photo illustration by Lisa Larson-Walker/ProPublica. Photo via Instagram.
A Texas volleyball coach who was the subject of an investigation last month by ProPublica and The Washington Post is now facing a federal child exploitation probe, according to an agent for Homeland Security Investigations, the main investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.
The ProPublica and Post story detailed how Ryan Richardson continued to coach teenage girls for years at his gym in Pharr, Texas, amid allegations of misconduct, even after he was suspended in early 2025 and subsequently ruled “permanently ineligible” this February by the U.S. Center for SafeSport, an oversight group. On its public disciplinary list, SafeSport said it found that Richardson had an intimate relationship with a minor, committed sexual misconduct involving a minor, and engaged in physical misconduct and bullying.
Juan J. Flores Jr., a supervisor in a Homeland Security Investigations unit that focuses on child exploitation in the Rio Grande Valley, told ProPublica and The Post that he had launched the probe into Richardson in response to the story, which included allegations from a parent and former players that he had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old player beginning in 2022 and that he groomed and emotionally and physically abused others.
“My plan is to turn over every rock, have every conversation. I know he’s still coaching,” Flores said.
Richardson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on ProPublica and The Post’s reporting or to an email seeking a comment for this story. When he was first suspended in 2024 by Lone Star Region Volleyball, the organization overseeing volleyball in Texas, Richardson told the local news website MyRGV that complaints about him were an effort to “retaliate and defame someone’s character,” and said he “would never do anything to risk the physical or mental wellbeing of these strong young ladies.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said HSI was “a global leader in the fight against child exploitation” but said it was “unable to confirm or deny any ongoing investigations.”
ProPublica and The Post published excerpts of Snapchat messages between Richardson and a former player, including from August 2022, when the girl was 16. In those messages, Richardson and the girl said “I love you” to each other and planned when they would next meet up. In a message in May 2023, when the girl was 17, Richardson wrote, “I don’t like that we are only sex right now so I really would love to get past this high school Shit when you are on your own pretty much.” The Snapchat messages were part of an investigation conducted by SafeSport.
The mother of the former player, Maggie Gutierrez, said that in the summer of 2022, she discovered Richardson alone with her 16-year-old daughter in the darkened back room of his gym, which at the time contained a twin mattress. Richardson turned his back to her and appeared to be tying up the string of his pants, Gutierrez said. At the time, Richardson and Gutierrez’s daughter denied anything inappropriate had happened. (ProPublica and The Post, which do not name alleged victims of sexual abuse without their consent, are referring to Gutierrez by her maiden name to avoid identifying her daughter, who declined to be interviewed.)
Gutierrez went to the police in both Pharr and McAllen in early 2024, she told ProPublica and The Post, after her daughter’s college volleyball coach told her that he believed Richardson and her daughter, then 18, were dating.
She said police declined to pursue the case because her daughter was a legal adult and did not want to speak to police officers.
Police in both jurisdictions denied records requests from ProPublica and The Post by citing an exemption under state privacy statutes, but the news organizations obtained excerpts from the police report in McAllen. In the text, an officer described meeting with Gutierrez at the McAllen police station.
The officer wrote that due to Gutierrez’s daughter “being 18 years of age, which as per Texas law is considered an adult and an age which gives her the right to consent, case would not be further investigated and closed.”
Gutierrez then reported her concerns to Lone Star, the regional arm of USA Volleyball, which governs the sport. Officials referred the matter to SafeSport, which opened an investigation.
Gutierrez spoke to the Homeland Security investigator last week, she told ProPublica and The Post.
Flores said his inquiry would also involve looking into the actions of both police departments that declined to pursue a case against Richardson.
Police in Pharr and McAllen did not respond to requests for comment.
The true cost of "vertical integration": Patients directed to a higher-priced location for procedures. Or forced to buy from their insurer's wholly owned pharmacy, which may not stock the drug prescribed or provide it at the lowest price.
Alex Eala has become the Philippines’ biggest sporting star since Manny Pacquiao. Now the 21-year-old’s traveling army of fans have descended on Flushing Meadows
Thecrowd began to swellin Louis Armstrong Stadium a half hour before 2pm. A fair number of fans were probably there to see Taylor Fritz and Terence Atmane practice, but it was the session after theirs that was the headline attraction on the Friday of the US Open’s fan week. The blue, red and white throughout the stands, spotted on bucket hats and posters and basketball jerseys and flags, signaled who these people were here to see.
This has been the year of Alex Eala, the 21-year-old sensation who has taken the tennis world by storm. At No 18, she is the Philippines’ highest-ranked player ever, its biggest sports celebrity since Manny Pacquiao. The country’s president hosted a reception to celebrate her success, and called for a national celebration after she won her first tour-level title last month at the DC Open. Forbes estimates Eala’s off-court earnings for the past year to exceed $5m, plus $1.7m in prize money, and her agent predicts she will be the world’s second-highest-paid female athlete by 2027.
It was a bumper season for Hollywood, almost back to pre-pandemic levels, with Tom Holland blockbusters winning out, but there was still a string of disappointments
As the world continued to burn and temperatures reached worrying highs, most of us decided to take refuge in the cinema this summer. It provided some relief for audiences, but even more so for the industry at large, with the season pushing past the magic $4bn mark to become the biggest since 2019, up 20% from last year. There were the expected hits (Spider-Man never misses), but there were also unprecedented breakouts (we were obsessed with Obsession) and surprise underperformers (are kids Minions-ed out?)
So at the end of a season with epic highs and cavernous lows, what lessons can Hollywood learn?
Comments signal president prepared to use dispute to push UK to raise defence spending and Nato contributions
Donald Trump has suggested he is reconsidering US support for Britain’s sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, in a move likely to strain the “special relationship” between Washington and London.
“I always review every position – that’s just one of many,” the US president told reporters in the White House, in response to a question about whether he was reviewing the US’s position over the South Atlantic islands, an archipelago whose status has long been disputed by Argentina, which claims sovereignty.
Security stepped up in Pattaya before arrival of thousands of sailors and marines whose deployment was extended due to US war in Iran
Authorities in the Thai resort city of Pattaya have stepped up security as they prepare to welcome thousands of sailors and marines from the USS Abraham Lincoln who have spent more than 270 consecutive days at sea.
“About 600 officials will provide security and other necessary assistance,” the provincial governor, Narit Niramaiwong, told AFP.
Three projected victories are a message to US that Carney has support of the Canadian people, says one MP
Canada’s ruling Liberal party has swept three byelections, a result that showed voters backing the prime minister, Mark Carney, after his face-off with Donald Trump.
The Canadian Press, Canada’s national news agency, projected Liberal victories in Chicoutimi-Le Fjord in Quebec, Beaches-East York in Toronto and North Vancouver-Capilano in British Columbia.
A decade after Kaepernick’s quiet protest shook the NFL, his exile looks less like an aberration than a blueprint for the culture war that followed
America likes nice round numbers, perfect for anniversaries and reflections, and it has, suddenly, been 10 years since Colin Kaepernick first protested police killings – more accurately, police killings of Black people that went unpunished either internally or by the courts – by taking a knee during the national anthem for the entirety of the 2016 NFL regular season. He never played in the league again.
Ten years covers a lot of ground, especially in these years of American darkness, and many of the important details surrounding Kaepernick, his banishment and significance have disappeared, time replaced by more time and more darkness – time moving faster than ever, at internet speed, where nothing matters, where nothing sticks. We consume by clip, by click, by meme, and knowledge by meme is not knowledge at all.
Hong Kong flotation at $26bn by firm once valued at $100bn follows failure to list in US and UK
Shares in the fast-fashion brand Shein slumped by as much as 10% as the China-founded company made its long-anticipated trading debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
The Singapore-headquartered company, once valued at almost $100bn (£74bn), went public on Tuesday pricing shares at HK$48.56, valuing the business at just over $26bn.
Researchers have found that tiny electrical charges picked up by moving water droplets may be damaging cars and buildings like the Eiffel Tower. In experiments, thousands of charged droplets degraded Teflon and corroded the copper beneath it, while uncharged droplets caused no comparable damage. C&EN reports: For years, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research have studied how water droplets from rain, dew, ocean waves, and melting snow become electrically charged. They say the process is like tribocharging, which causes static when we rub certain objects together, such as a balloon on our hair or a sweater on our skin. "Water drops spontaneously become electrically charged when moving on different surfaces, such as plant leaves, insect wings, building walls, window glass, and plastic. This process, known as contact or sliding electrification, is analogous to tribocharging between solids," says study coauthor Zhongyuan Ni, a PhD candidate at Max Planck. "Water drops getting charged is not a new phenomenon, but for the past 200 years, people have not paid attention to this," Ni says.
In 2023, Ni and colleagues set out to determine whether electrically charged water droplets affect the surfaces they contact. To find out, the team poured water over four common surfaces -- a plant leaf; polyvinyl chloride foam board; polystyrene glass; and perfluoro octadecyltrichlorosilane (PFOTS), a commonly used water-repelling coating -- and let it drip onto sheets of Teflon-coated copper tilted at 50 degrees. When the experiments began, the team would allow only a few dozen drops to fall onto the copper before using electron microscopy to examine it. The researchers repeatedly failed to find any evidence of decay. But one day, Ni just let the drops keep falling. "After thousands of drops, it looked like the drops were pinning onto the surface," he says. After inspecting the copper under the microscope, Ni got his first glimpse of the destructive strength of electrically charged water drops.
After repeating the experiment several times with thousands rather than dozens of drops, the researchers found that the electrified water drops not only broke down the Teflon coating but also corroded the underlying copper. Up close, the copper sheets looked like scraped-up skin. But when the experiment was conducted with nonelectrified drops, neither the copper nor its Teflon coating was any worse for wear. Even though the drops contained only around 0.2 to 2.0 nanocoulombs of charge -- around one billionth of a standard unit -- the impact of the charged drops was significant. "The finding is important because it suggests that the electrical state of a water droplet, not just its chemical composition, acidity, or mechanical impact, can influence how corrosion begins," says Guangwen Zhou, a professor of mechanical engineering at Binghamton University who was not involved in the study.
"This perspective could open up new approaches to designing protective coatings and materials that are more resistant to corrosion in environments where charged water droplets are present."
As families await news of missing loved ones, the disaster is a stark reminder of how the climate crisis is creating a fast-growing threat. Plus, the town considered India’s ‘Jurassic Park’
It has been hard not to despair while watching the ruinous floods swallow parts of Nepal, and harder, still knowing that the agony compounds each passing day for dozens of Indian families whose members remain unaccounted for.
Social media is awash with desperate pleas, photos and details of the young and old, men and women, from Mumbai to Kolkata, posted by families searching for traces of life. The disaster unfolded when a melting glacier slammed into the valley below, unleashing a deadly cascade of rock and ice down the Bhote Kashi River, which flows from Tibet into Nepal.
Washington, D.C. — The Trump administration plans to spend $4 million supporting right-wing and conservative media initiatives in Europe as part of a broader package of at least $25 million for civil society groups in the region, Reuters reported.
The State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor notified Congress of the planned funding Aug. 21, according to four people familiar with the proposal. The department says the programs are intended to strengthen transatlantic ties and promote free speech.
About $3 million would support efforts to document what the administration describes as democratic backsliding involving migration, independent media and policies imposed by supranational institutions. Another $1 million would help establish a consortium of independent journalists covering national sovereignty, natural rights and religious freedom.
Reuters could not determine which organizations or journalists would receive the grants.
The proposed spending comes as the administration increasingly aligns itself with populist and right-wing political movements in Europe, prompting accusations of political interference from some European governments. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot has warned that France and other European countries would not tolerate foreign involvement in their elections.
The State Department said the program does not finance political parties and described the initiative as part of its broader commitment to democracy and human rights.
The European grants are part of a nearly $180 million international funding proposal expected to be finalized by the end of September.
A year on from the purge, with thousands of jobs cut and billions in foreign aid lost, a former leader reflects on the sorry saga – and why it would never happen to Nasa
A year has passed since I and thousands of colleagues lost our jobs at USAID. Asking myself “Why us?” I have come to the conclusion that the American public had very little idea of what we were doing and why.
I just bought my first Onewheel, I bought the pint s. I am a broader person, 225, 6'1 to be exact so I went with the pint s because of the larger foot pads and power boost. If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear em 🤘
A yes to membership would have given Brussels a boost but Icelanders have not voted to isolate themselves
Iceland’s 52.8% to 47.2% vote against reopening EU accession talks is, undeniably, a blow for Brussels. But claiming it as a Brexit-style victory for “national sovereignty” or evidence of broad rejection of the EU misrepresents the reality of the island’s relationship with the bloc.
For the EU, Iceland was a dream candidate: small, stable, prosperous and strategically located in an increasingly contested Arctic. Eager as it is to wield more geopolitical clout and revive flagging momentum around enlargement, a vote in favour would have given Brussels a very welcome boost.
City council emphasises economic case for Madring amid local outrage over disruption and environmental impact
Opponents of Madrid’s newly constructed Formula One circuit have accused the regional authorities of putting profit before people’s wellbeing after tests for the inaugural Spanish Grand Prix at the track later this month yielded noise levels that were many times the legal decibel limit.
The regional government of Madrid and the city council are hoping that the 5.4km-long (3.3 miles) Madring circuit – which has been built in the north-east of the Spanish capital at a cost of €83m (£71m) – will attract visitors, boost the local economy and put the city firmly on the motor racing map. The Madring bills itself as “a perfectly connected circuit: just 20 minutes from the city centre”.
We are used to the idea that our fellow humans might intentionally mislead or manipulate us, but the idea that machines can now do the same is deeply unsettling. Researchers are racing to find solutions before it’s too late
The summer issue of the Long Read magazine is out now. Click here to order
In November 2023 – a lifetime ago in the field of artificial intelligence – some of the most powerful people in the world descended on Bletchley Park, the wartime codebreaking hub in Buckinghamshire, to talk about AI safety. In attendance were the then US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the AI bosses Sam Altman and Dario Amodei, delegations from 28 countries, two of the three so-called “godfathers” of AI, and Elon Musk.
The first iteration of ChatGPT had been released only a year earlier, and there was already plenty of evidence that AI models could be used for ill, from spreading misinformation to generating deepfakes. A presentation at the summit, however, highlighted a different issue: what if the biggest problem wasn’t to come from people misusing the technology, but from AI’s own behaviour?
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: President Trump yesterday demanded that the Federal Communications Commission punish or rebuke an NBC journalist for saying he has "mixed results" in his election endorsements. In the latest example of how Trump is using the FCC to harass reporters and news organizations that he dislikes, he said Meet the Press host Kristen Welker "will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment" for what he claimed was a "purposeful inaccuracy." "Kristen Welker, the Unpopular 'Hostess' of the once great Meet the Press, now considered Meet the Fake Press, just stated that Donald Trump has 'mixed results' on his Endorsements of Candidates, when the recent WINS of Darline Graham and Mike Mazzei, stand at 100% for the U.S. Senate, and 98% for the U.S. House, recently and over the longterm. How can anyone be allowed to say this, working for freely given Public Airwaves? Results are attached. Because of this purposeful inaccuracy, she will be reported to the FCC for rebuke or punishment," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
A separate post from Trump yesterday said, "THE FAKE POLLS USED BY OUR CROOKED MEDIA ARE OUT OF CONTROL, AND SOMETHING MUST BE DONE ABOUT IT. FCC TO THE RESCUE! President DJT." Trump also posted a rant on Friday about New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman, calling her "an unattractive person both inside and out" who "should be forced to turn over any and all money that she's made through her fake reporting on me." Trump referred to Haberman throughout his post as "Maggot Haberman." Trump's post about Welker included an image purporting to show he has near-perfect results in his endorsements this year. "The Press is a Disgrace to our Nation, and I hope that Chairman Brendan Carr, and the fine people of his Commission, will take this Threat to our Country very seriously," Trump wrote. Perhaps indicating that he will refer additional journalists for FCC punishment, Trump wrote that Welker "is not the only one. The Radical Left News is going out of their way to harass, demean, and libel anything 'TRUMP.'" The FCC website says the commission "cannot prevent the broadcast of any particular point of view," and that it "generally will not intervene" in complaints about "one-sided news reports" because "it would be inconsistent with the First Amendment to replace the journalistic judgment of licensees with our own."
As noted by Ars, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has "made it clear he takes orders from Trump, abandoning his previous position -- which he held under Democratic presidents -- that the FCC must operate independently of White House interference."
Carr could use the commission's regulatory authority over licensed broadcasters to open an investigation into Welker, potentially creating pressure on NBC and its affiliated stations through licensing proceedings or other FCC actions. The most likely vehicle would be the FCC's rarely enforced news distortion policy, which Carr has repeatedly revived to target coverage he considers misleading; historically, however, the policy required an unusually high evidentiary bar and was seldom enforced.
The Trump administration's plan to take a stake in tens of billions of barrels of Venezuelan oil reserves will hinge on a private company called North American Blue Energy Partners, the White House announced Monday.
Washington, D.C. — Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., escalated his push for additional Jeffrey Epstein records Monday, naming more than a dozen people on the House floor whom he described as “coconspirators” and launching a discharge petition for new transparency legislation.
Massie said the government continues to withhold more than 3 million Epstein-related records despite passage of the first Epstein Files Transparency Act last year. He is now seeking 218 House signatures to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act II.
The new proposal would expand access to federal Epstein records for survivors, state attorneys general and other authorized prosecutors, while creating additional avenues to challenge Justice Department decisions to withhold or redact material.
Massie named 14 people during his floor speech, including former Prince Andrew and retail billionaire Les Wexner. However, Massie’s characterization does not itself establish criminal wrongdoing, and several of those he named have not been charged with crimes connected to Epstein. Wexner has denied knowledge of Epstein’s criminal activity, while Andrew has denied allegations made against him.
Massie has worked with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California on efforts to force greater disclosure of Epstein-related records.
The first transparency law led to the release of millions of pages, images and videos, although lawmakers including Massie argue significant material remains improperly withheld.
Critically endangered New Zealand bird enjoys record breeding season triggered by mass fruiting of native tree, pushing its numbers to 325
The population of the world’s heaviest parrot, the kākāpō, has surpassed 300 birds for the first time in 75 years, after a record breeding season triggered by the mass fruiting of a native New Zealand tree.
Ninety chicks were officially added to the population of the critically endangered birds on 1 September, pushing the total to 325 – a record high since recovery efforts began.
**I want to apologize to all of those that were hurt by my AI generated image on my previous post, I had no idea it was that offensive. I have simply included my logo this time as to not harm those who were so seriously effected**
I say it each time I post but thank you to everyone for the continued support and trust! We feel we have reached a point where stock replacements can become the norm for us and in the near future be able to keep a stock available for purchase. So riders could be looking at less than 7 days to get your pack shipped in the near future. We have worked hard to document, simplify process and worked with vendors to keep the prices locked in at what they currently are today.
We spun up our GT pack line and as expected, the packs just weren't in high demand due to the issues faced when a GT pack fails. Typically FM intervention is needed along with their plug an play solution at the low price of an arm and a leg. So this brings us to a point where we want our new endeavor to start helping the DIY Custom configuration world for these boards. We have a good quantity of StokedStock BMS leads available to build with and just want to know what packs are in high demand. We again want to work with the community directly and take advice from those so experienced in this world already. Please comment and reach out on what you would like to see from us next. We can start immediately on custom packs that utilize the SS BMS and we would also like to hear what other BMS are being highly utilized by riders. As always, drop us an email at [support@only-amps.com](mailto:support@only-amps.com) or directly here on reddit to help us make this community save money and rack up those smiles per mile!
"We have to be very careful about where and how we install these large data centers," said Kasey Fowler-Finn, a biologist at St. Louis University, who is among a group suing to halt a data center development.
We’re watching today as Scott Bessent, the US treasury secretary, and Kevin Warsh, the chair of the Federal Reserve, deliver their opening remarks at the G20 meetings in Asheville, North Carolina.
GT intermittently stuttering/vibrating under acceleration — possible motor/Hall sensor issue? I’m trying to diagnose an intermittent issue with my Onewheel GT. The board will sometimes vibrate/cog pretty hard under acceleration from roughly 2–9 mph. When it’s doing it, it feels like it doesn’t want to accelerate past around 7 mph. If I back off and try accelerating again once or twice, it will usually start behaving completely normally. A few things I’ve noticed: It seems especially repeatable after switching between ride shapings. When I first power the board on, it may do it once or twice and then ride completely normally. Today I disconnected the motor connector, inspected it, and everything looked fine. After putting it back together, the first two accelerations felt 100% normal. Then the stuttering/vibration came back again. I’m not getting any obvious error messages. Once the issue clears up, the board can accelerate and ride normally. Has anyone had a GT behave like this from a failing Hall sensor, Hall wiring, motor cable, or controller-side motor connector? I’m especially curious if anyone has had an intermittent Hall/motor connection problem where the board works perfectly sometimes and then suddenly starts cogging under low-speed acceleration. Any specific tests I can do to narrow down whether the problem is in the motor/cable versus the controller?
UPDATE: I can now reproduce it based on ride mode. Roam works perfectly every time, Highline works normally about 98% of the time, but switching to Apex reliably causes the low-speed stuttering/vibration and acceleration hesitation. Switching away from Apex makes it behave normally again.
Final update: left side hub bolts were just a little loose, tightened them up and the issue seems to be resolved.
Duane "Keffe D" Davis, 63, was charged with murder with a deadly weapon with the intent to promote, further or assist a criminal gang in Shakur's death.
Duane “Keffe D” Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips, faces a potential sentence of life in prison for orchestrating the 1996 shooting of rap icon Tupac Shakur.
Washington, D.C. — Army Secretary Dan Driscoll has submitted his resignation to President Donald Trump after roughly 18 months leading the service, becoming the latest senior Pentagon official to depart during a period of significant leadership turnover.
The White House confirmed Driscoll’s resignation Monday but did not provide an official reason. The Wall Street Journal reported that his departure followed months of friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over strategic decisions and the removal of senior Army officers.
Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran, technology investor and former adviser to Vice President JD Vance, was confirmed by the Senate in February 2025 by a 66-28 vote. Trump had described him as a “disruptor and change agent” when nominating him.
During his tenure, Driscoll pushed efforts to modernize Army contracting, accelerate drone and counter-drone development and improve military infrastructure. He also took on an unusual diplomatic assignment as part of U.S. negotiations involving Russia and Ukraine.
His departure follows other major Army leadership changes, including the removal of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George and the departure of Gen. Christopher Donahue from his command in Europe and Africa.
The White House praised Driscoll for advancing military readiness and Trump administration priorities. No successor was immediately announced.
Austin, Texas — Texas hospitals are entering the new state fiscal year without federal approval for nearly $10 billion in supplemental Medicaid funding, a delay hospital officials say could cost providers about $27 million each day.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has not approved three state-directed payment programs for fiscal 2027, including the Comprehensive Hospital Increase Reimbursement Program, or CHIRP. The program supplements Texas’ Medicaid reimbursement rates, which hospitals say frequently fall below the actual cost of treating patients.
The Texas Hospital Association said the unresolved dispute threatens roughly $9.8 billion in funding across CHIRP and two other programs. One major Texas insurer has already announced that CHIRP payments will be suspended beginning Sept. 1 until the state receives additional federal authorization.
CMS has questioned how Texas structures hospital taxes used to draw federal matching funds. Gov. Greg Abbott has rejected the federal government’s position, arguing that Texas’ existing system complies with federal law and warning HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that forcing changes amounts to putting an economic “gun to the head” of the state.
About 4 million low-income Texans receive Medicaid, most of them children.
Hospital officials warn prolonged delays could eventually force reductions in services, particularly at safety-net facilities. CMS and Texas officials have continued negotiations, but no agreement had been announced as the fiscal year began.
The Electoral College has been part of every presidential election since 1789, but the number of electors and the balance of voting power among states have changed over time.
Resignation comes after months of turmoil at Pentagon, from leaked investigation to ousting of senior officials
The army secretary, Dan Driscoll, has handed his resignation to Donald Trump, the White House said on Monday, becoming the latest high-profile figure to depart the defense department.
The army official, who is second in line to the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, had reportedly been eyeing an exit from the Pentagon amid apparent friction with the secretary.
Premium of nearly 10% paid by housebuyers comparable with cost of a cheaper private school over seven years
A house near a top state secondary school costs an extra £40,000 on average, according to research that reveals education premiums that rank alongside some private school fees.
The average property in a postcode district that includes a top 50 state secondary commands a price tag of £415,791, compared with £375,217 across the wider local authority areas in which those schools are located, a UK-wide analysis by the estate agent Yopa found.
Report calls for legally binding targets to cut microplastic pollution as soil ‘is a complex living ecosystem’
The accumulation of microplastics in soil presents an emerging threat to the UK’s food security, according to scientists, MPs and campaigners who have called for legally binding targets to cut microplastic pollution.
UK agricultural soils have been identified as among the most contaminated by microplastics in Europe, often as a result of repeated applications of sludge from water treatment works as fertiliser, according to a report published by the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on microplastics.
The FTC and 22 state attorneys general are suing Amazon, accusing the company of secretly inflating advertising prices through undisclosed changes to its auction system that may have extracted more than $20 billion from advertisers since 2019. "Amazon has millions of advertising customers who were misled into paying significantly higher prices," FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement. "These higher costs were largely passed on to American consumers." CNBC reports: The complaint, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, centers on Amazon's sponsored products ads, brands ads and display ads that run alongside search results on its sprawling webstore. Amazon has amassed the third-largest digital advertising business globally, trailing only Google and Meta. The company hauled in more than $68 billion in ads revenue last year, with the lion's share coming from sales of sponsored products ads. Third-party sellers who hawk their wares on Amazon's marketplace have recently criticized surging advertising costs on the site, including a string of recent policy changes, which led to some top merchants withholding their ad spend in a boycott. The company has traditionally used a "second-price" auction system, wherein it told advertisers they "only pay the least bid amount needed in order to win," the complaint states, citing Amazon's own marketing materials.
The FTC alleges in its complaint that Amazon in 2019 changed its auction rules without notice by adding an undisclosed surcharge it referred to as a "soft reserve price," which led to higher ad prices. "Amazon made this surreptitious change to its auction because it was unhappy about how much revenue its advertising auctions were generating," the agency said in its complaint, which cites internal communications between Amazon ad executives. In one exchange, a company executive allegedly acknowledged it uses an "invented auction participant" to increase prices, the FTC said. The FTC and the states alleged Amazon's practices violate federal and state consumer protection laws, and they're seeking civil penalties, restitution and other unspecified damages. In a blog post, Amazon called the FTC's lawsuit "misguided" and said the complaint "fundamentally misunderstands how advertisers operate." The company added that the agency's lawsuit doesn't include evidence of consumer price increases.
"We've provided advertisers with guidance about our auctions and pricing in the main tools they use to manage their campaigns, and we continue to update that guidance," the company said. "We look forward to making our case in court."
It’s time once again for HPC Career Notes, our monthly feature that’s designed to keep you up-to-date on the latest career developments for individuals in the HPC community, including promotion, new company hires, and accolade. Check in each month for an updated list and you may even come across someone you know, or better yet, yourself!
Jay Kreps and Shaun Clowes
Shaun Clowes (left) and Jay Kreps
Jay Kreps, the Apache Kafka co-creator and former CEO of Confluent, announced he is stepping down from running the company, which was acquired by IBM earlier this year for $11 billion.
“After almost 12 years, I’ll be stepping back from my role at Confluent and handing over the reins to our Chief Product Officer Shaun Clowes,” Kreps wrote in a post on LinkedIn, where he and Neha Narkhede and Jun Rao created Apache Kafka more than 15 years ago.
“Confluent was founded to change how companies use data, and against all odds, it has,” he continued. “And we’re not done! There is an ambitious roadmap for what’s next and I’ll watch from the sidelines with a lot of pride and a little FOMO as the team achieves that.”
Clowes announced that he’s taken on the role of General Manager for Confluent and Data at IBM.
“I’ll be leading the next generation data products across both Confluent and IBM, introducing modern approaches for organizations to get value out of their data and work with it,” Clowes stated on LinkedIn. “That’s been a passion area for me for a long time, and this is the chance to do it on a much bigger stage, with IBM’s go-to-market expertise and some of the strongest R&D talent anywhere.
Rupal Hollenbeck
Rupal Hollenbeck
NextSilicon, a semiconductor startup developing chips for AI and HPC, announced that it has appointed Rupal Hollenbeck to be its president and chief business officer. Hollenbeck will lead all go-to-market activities, including sales, marketing, communications, strategic partnerships, business development, and customer engagement and success, as the company seeks to ramp up Maverick-2.
Hollenbeck brings more than 30 years of technology industry experience spanning enterprise computing, semiconductors, AI, cybersecurity, sales, marketing, and global operations. Most recently, she served as president of Check Point Software Technologies. Before that, she held executive positions at Cerebras Systems, Oracle, and Intel.
“As AI systems become more agentic and workflow-driven, NextSilicon’s Maverick product line is increasingly able to adapt in real time, so customers can keep pace without constantly rebuilding their infrastructure,” stated Hollenbeck. “What drew me to the company is a tremendously talented team that has proven that the technology works in production and delivers true global impact.”
Chetan Gupta
Chetan Gupta
Rackspace Technology has appointed Chetan Gupta to the role of chief AI officer. In this position, Gupta will lead the Office of AI, with responsibility for Rackspace’s AI strategy, research, innovation, governance, and adoption across the company and its customers.
Gupta joins Rackspace after nearly a decade leading global AI research at Hitachi, where he served as general manager of the Advanced AI Center in Japan, vice president of the Industrial AI Lab in North America, and head of Hitachi‘s Global AI Center of Excellence. He also spent seven years at HP Labs, translating advanced AI research into deployed solutions across logistics, manufacturing, energy, and mobility.
“AI has reached an inflection point. The hard problem is no longer capability. It is trust: taking promising research and turning it into systems that hold up in the real world, under real regulatory and operational constraints,” Gupta said. “Rackspace occupies a distinct position in the market, operating the full stack for institutions that cannot afford to get AI wrong. I look forward to leading our AI strategy and advancing enterprise and sovereign AI for our customers and across the business.”
Nicholas D’Imperio
Nicholas D’Imperio
The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory has named Nicholas D’Imperio as associate laboratory director (ALD) of the lab’s Computing and Data Sciences (CDS) directorate. The move recognizes D’Imperio’s expertise and service in HPC, scientific software development, and strategic infrastructure planning that are integral to the lab’s computing research enterprise.
D’Imperio served as the interim CDS ALD since 2024, leading the expansion of the former Computational Science Initiative and integration of the Scientific Data and Computing Center into the new directorate. He oversees 158 CDS staff members and continues to guide the directorate’s role in artificial intelligence, advanced computing, and data-intensive science to support Brookhaven Lab’s scientific programs and DOE Office of Science user facilities.
His leadership also involves positioning the lab’s computing capabilities to contribute directly to DOE’s emerging priorities, such as the Genesis Mission, the national effort to harness AI to accelerate scientific discovery, strengthen national security, and advance energy innovation.
“I am honored to serve as CDS ALD at a time when advanced computing and AI are transforming how we approach science, where there are opportunities to accelerate discovery in ways that were unimaginable even just a few years ago,” D’Imperio stated. “Brookhaven Lab has a well-known passion for discovery sustained by an exceptional foundation of talent, world-class facilities, and collaborations across every scientific discipline. I look forward to working with our researchers and partners to further expand our computational science portfolio and strengthen our AI and HPC capabilities.”
Kate Evans
Kate Evans
The Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory has named Kate Evans as associate laboratory director for the Biological and Environmental Systems Science Directorate (BESSD). Evans will lead the directorate as it advances the science and technology needed to strengthen energy security, safeguard infrastructure and accelerate biotechnology innovation.
For the past two years, Evans has served as the director of the Office of Institutional Strategic Planning (OISP), where she coordinated lab-wide science and technology strategic activities and the lab’s annual plan, report, and agenda. She was central to the creation of ORNL’s Quantum Roadmap while as director of OISP, and recently spearheaded the “Accelerating Southeast Resilience at ORNL” initiative.
Prior to OISP, Evans served as director of ORNL’s Computational Sciences and Engineering Division for nearly six years. She joined ORNL in 2007 as a research and development staff member before becoming the group leader of Computational Earth Sciences in 2013. She has been an active member in the laboratory’s community engagement efforts, serving as vice chair and then chairing the ORNL Gives campaign in 2022 and 2023.
“I am excited and honored to step into the BESSD ALD role,” Evans stated. “There are urgent challenges in critical minerals, scaled biomanufacturing and abundant, resilient energy systems, and BESSD is equipped to meet them. Our world-class team will draw on exascale computing, AI, advanced analytics and autonomous research capabilities to translate scientific discoveries into innovative solutions for DOE and the nation.”
Manish Bhatia and Scott DeBoer
Manish Bhatia (left) and Scott DeBoer
Memory maker Micron announced two changes to senior executive roles, including the appointment of Manish Bhatia as president and chief operating officer and Scott DeBoer as president and chief technology and products officer.
Since joining Micron in 2017, Bhatia has led the company’s global operations, overseeing manufacturing and factory construction, supply chain, procurement, quality, information technology, artificial intelligence and global government affairs. DeBoer, who joined Miron in 1995, has been a driving force behind the company’s technology and product portfolio, leading development and delivery of 15 technology nodes.
In his new role, Bhatia will lead Micron’s global operations and business units, with accountability for the company’s operating P&L, spanning capital investment, manufacturing execution, and customer demand, pricing and delivery. DeBoer, meanwhile, will be responsible for advancing the company’s industry-leading memory and storage roadmap, accelerating innovation to meet customers’ rapidly evolving requirements, and overseeing Micron Research Labs.
“Micron will always seek new ways to best deliver for our customers. Today’s announcement is about ensuring that we are strategically aligned as an organization to meet the needs of our customers in an AI-enabled future,” stated Sanjay Mehrotra, chairman and chief executive officer of Micron Technology. “Manish and Scott have each made extraordinary contributions to Micron’s growth, technology leadership and operational excellence. The Board of Directors and I have the highest confidence in their leadership, vision and ability to continue to work with me to guide Micron through its next chapter of innovation and value creation.”
Mohsen Moazami
Mohsen Moazami
Chipmaker SambaNova has appointed Mohsen Moazami as vice chair of global strategy and partnerships, a role that will see him reporting directly to CEO, Rodrigo Liang, to accelerate global enterprise and sovereign AI expansion.
Moazami brings decades of investment to the role. Most recently, he served in the Office of the CEO and was president of international at Groq before Nvidia acquired its intellectual property for $20 billion. Earlier this year, he was hired as vice chair at storage vendor DDN, a position he still has.
“SambaNova has reached the point every category-defining technology company works toward: the market need is clear, the technology is validated, and the capital is in place to scale,” Moazami stated. “Production inference is becoming one of the most important infrastructure markets in the world. SambaNova is uniquely positioned to serve enterprises, governments and sovereign AI programs that need performance, control and better economics.”
Lauren Bloch
Lauren Bloch
HPC storage vendor DDN has appointed Lauren Bloch to the role of chief people and culture officer (CPCO). In the role, Bloch will lead DDN’s global people strategy, including talent acquisition and development, organizational effectiveness, leadership development, employee engagement, workplace experience, and culture.
Bloch brings more than 15 years of human resources and organizational leadership experience. She joins DDN from Movable Ink, where she served as chief people officer and led the company’s People and Workplace Experience teams.
Bloch will report to Guido Torrini, DDN’s chief financial and operating officer, and will work closely with the company’s executive leadership team to build the organizational capabilities required to support DDN’s continued global growth. She is not related to Paul Bloch, a DDN co-founder and its chairman.
For the previous edition of HPC Career Notes, click here.
Im running an XR with a thor 300 in a fungineers box with a splitpack. Should I go with a Samsung tag, life360 tile, or is there another option yall have that i dont know about?
As Moscow pounds Ukraine, the appearance by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was “quite troubling,” said one attendee. U.S. officials cited a need for “dialogue.”
Company is offering cash reward for 40,000lb stolen cargo, and turns theft into lighthearted social media promotion
Pabst is offering a reward after tens of thousands of cans of its Blue Ribbon beer were stolen from the company’s southern California warehouse two weeks ago – if it is all safely returned.
In Instagram posts, Pabst put the weight of the stolen cargo at 40,000lb (18,000kg) and started a countdown seeking its return.
Photographers have wanted variable-aperture lenses for the iPhone’s cameras for years. On the eve of possibly getting them, how would that change your images?
Dale Sanders said he fell 71 times on the trail, but completed the journey as ‘people are motivated … by my efforts’
A 91-year-old hiker has reclaimed his record as the oldest person to complete the more than 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail.
By his count, Dale Sanders, of Tennessee, fell 71 times during the feat, six of which he said were hard falls and one which required a brief hospitalization and another just 200 yards from the end. The 2,193-mile trail runs between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine.
Justices’ 5-4 ruling permits Trump administration appeal to block lower court order halting above-ground work
A divided US supreme court has permitted Donald Trump to continue building his controversial $400m White House ballroom despite legal challenges, raising the likelihood it will be completed.
In a 5-4 ruling, the justices permitted the Trump administration’s request to block a lower court order that had halted above-ground construction of the project while a lawsuit by a historic preservation group seeks to block it.
Aug. 31, 2026 — In dark skies at night, distant star light twinkles and speaks to vast cosmic histories almost as old as time itself. New data from instruments such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope are helping astrophysicists probe deep cosmic mysteries such as the evolution of black holes and galaxies.
Using supercomputers to help make sense of the data, researchers from multiple institutions worked together to complete the largest cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, called ASTRID—a mind-boggling computational run that traces the evolution of the universe from its earliest time to the present.
Researchers completed the largest yet cosmological hydrodynamic simulation, called ASTRID, that traces the evolution of the universe from its earliest time to the present, designated as z = 0 and referring to a zero redshift of star light. Visualization shown of the ASTRID simulation at z = 0. The underlying background is the dark matter density, with the blue zoom showing the most massive dark matter halo in ASTRID; inset showing a trichromatic gas map of temperature, neutral hydrogen gas fraction, and metallicity; stellar density inset; and mock observations for the Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera. Credit: DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ae3c08
“The most important information about our recent study is that we’ve evolved the ASTRID simulation to z = 0, and that this data is available,” said Yihao Zhou, a PhD student in Carnegie Mellon University’s (CMU) Department of Physics. Zhou and colleagues published their study in The Astrophysical Journal in February 2026.
The term “z” denotes the red shift of star light, in which light shifts toward the red end as its source moves away from an observer. High redshift corresponds to greater distances and earlier periods in the universe’s history, when the universe was expanding rapidly shortly after the Big Bang.
Zhou’s team started their cosmological simulations from z= 99, covering the ‘cosmic dawn’ of the universe. ASTRID traced 13.5 billion years of galactic structure and black hole evolution to z = 0, the present day.
“We have this very large simulation and piece of the universe, which captures the growth of black holes from the time at which they were formed all the way to today, as well as the galaxies that form, also from a very early time,” said study co-author and ASTRID principal investigator Tiziana Di Matteo, professor of physics and director of CMU’s McWilliams Center for Cosmology & Astrophysics.
The Frontera Supercomputer: A Virtual Universe At Unprecedented Scale
Di Matteo was awarded a 2024 Leadership Resource Allocation on the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded Frontera supercomputer at the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC). The award gave the ASTRID team the computational power to model 166 billion particles across a volume of space 815 million light-years across, an enormous virtual laboratory for studying the universe.
Furthermore, the researchers solved complex physical interactions such as the gravity hydrodynamics for each time step, which necessitated building “gravity trees” to efficiently compute long- and short-range gravitational forces across billions of particles.
Scientists highlighted – Yihao Zhou (left) and Tiziana Di Matteo (right), Carnegie Mellon University. Credit: CMU
“This is a very demanding process, and only large compute clusters like Frontera can do this,” Zhou said.
The data input/output process for ASTRID was also computationally demanding with each simulation snapshot totaling 30 terabytes. “TACC’s Ranch archive system saved our ASTRID data,” Zhou added.
“The NSF has offered state-of-the-art resources in Frontera,” Di Matteo said. “That’s why we were able to simulate the biggest volume and the highest resolution over a mass range of seven orders of magnitude and with the full physics.”
The ASTRID team plans to carry out future simulations at TACC’s U.S. NSF Leadership-Class Computing Facility using the upcoming Horizon supercomputer, which is expected to enter production later in 2026. Horizon will be deployed in two phases, with the first featuring graphical processing units (GPUs) and the second adding central processing units (CPUs).
“Our current code was designed to run on CPUs only,” Zhou said. “We are in the process of co-development to further refine our gravitational and black hole feedback models to make our simulation software more suitable for Horizon.”
“We are very excited about being ready to run on Horizon,” Di Matteo added.
Black Hole Evolution
The timing for ASTRID couldn’t be better.
As new data pours in from science missions such as NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is probing the earliest stages of galaxy and black hole formation, scientists are confronting a growing number of questions. JWST observations suggest that massive black holes were far more common in the early universe than previously thought, challenging existing theories about how these cosmic giants formed and grew so rapidly.
A slice of the Astrid simulation at redshift z = 5, and false color images of the Little Red Dot galaxies in Astrid. The three overlayed images are Little Red Dots present in this slice of Astrid and their position is indicated by the cross-hair. Credit: DOI: 10.33232/001c.155493
“We can look into the questions posed by JWST data using this very large volume of ASTRID simulations, with quite amazing resolution and physical realism, that allows us to make predictions and understand some of the current puzzles that are coming through,” Di Matteo said.
The ASTRID simulations can evolve the universe across cosmic history, revealing the most frequent periods when black hole mergers were most common.
“We care about black hole mergers because even if we don’t see the light or the accretion, we now have detectors that can see an event such as black hole mergers,” Di Matteo explained. “The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA), which will be launched in 2035, will find most of the massive black hole mergers in the early Universe.”
ASTRID includes dynamical friction models that improve the resolution of how a black hole gradually sinks into the galactic center when a galaxy merger happens.
“Our simulations have realistic black hole merger orbits, and a better estimation of the black hole merger timescales,” Di Matteo added.
Listening to the Universe’s Ripples
The ASTRID simulations also enable predictions of gravitational waves, first directly detected in 2015 by the Nobel-prize winning LIGO and Virgo collaborations. Becausee gravitational waves can pass through matter that blocks light, they offer astrophysicists a powering new way to probe the universe’s most distant and hidden events, including the mergers of massive black holes. Di Matteo, Zhou, and colleagues use ASTRID to guide future planned gravitational detectors from LISA and the Pulsar Timing Array collaborations.
“With ASTRID, we make predictions for which environments would host gravitational wave sources that are most likely to be detected. In the future, people can use our predictions to discover gravitational sources,” Zhou explained.
What’s more, the ASTRID team has made predictions of galaxy evolution for large surveys currently running such as the Vera Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (SST).
“For the first time, ASTRID allows us to capture this piece of the process where galaxies merge,” Di Matteo said. ASTRID simulates the central galactic black holes, which approach each other. “Eventually they merge, and they produce this gravitational wave signal that we can produce in the simulation, as if we are already, observing a gravitational wave signal.”
ASTRID example false color images of galaxies from all 4 redshift samples, across a range of stellar masses. Credit: DOI: 10.33232/001c.129991
Keyhole Of The Universe
New data from JWST shows an abundance of black holes formed in the early universe, observed to co-evolve in almost every massive galaxy.
“Massive black holes are the key to the structure of the universe, and I would say the most interesting part of our universe,” Zhou stated.
Black holes are not merely cosmic consumers—they can transform the galaxies around them. As they grow by accreting gas, they unleash enormous amounts of energy through radiation and powerful jets, altering star formation and ultimately shaping the color, structure and evolution of nearly every massive galaxy in the universe.
“Our biggest question is about how, or what physical processes formed the ‘seeds’ of the early universe black holes,” Di Matteo said. “The simulations allow us to experiment with the seed models and look at the consequences that reveal the physical mechanisms that give way to predictions, something that the current generation and next generation telescopes or gravitational wave detectors can observe.”
Supercomputers transform the laws of physics into a living, evolving universe, one we can build, observe, and explore.
“We can’t replay the universe to study the deep past, and we’re limited in observing distant galaxies very directly because we don’t yet have very good resolution,” Zhou concludes. “With supercomputers, we can build the numerical universe that follows the gravity and evolution of stars and massive black holes over the entire cosmic time. Supercomputers help us to bridge our theory to real observations.”
The study, “The ASTRID Simulation at z = 0: From Massive Black Holes to Large-scale Structure,” was published February 23, 2026 in The Astrophysical Journal. It was authored by Yihao Zhou, Tiziana Di Matteo, Rupert Croft, Xiaowen Zhang, Patrick Lachance, Fatemeh Hafezianzadeh of Carnegie Mellon University; Simeon Bird, Yanhui Yang of UC Riverside; Yueying Ni of the Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian; and Nianyi Chen of the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton. Funding came from a NASA FINESST grant, NASA ATP 80NSSC20K0519, NSF PHY-2020295, NASA ATP NNX17AK56G, and NASA ATP 80NSSC18K101, NASA Theory grant 80NSSC22K072, the Schmidt Futures Fund, the ITC Postdoctoral Fellowship, NASA ATP 80NSSC22K1897 and NSF AST-2509639.
A deadly flash flood in the Grand Canyon over the weekend was likely driven by a confluence of climate factors, including drought, wildfire scarring and warming temperatures in the Pacific Ocean that can supercharge storms.
At least two people have died and 15 remain missing or unaccounted for after a surge of water and debrisswept through the immensely popular tourist destination on Saturday, fueled by torrents of rain that hit the national park’s Bright Angel Creek area.
The first silicon spin quantum computer to operate in a shared commercial data center, bringing quantum computing a step closer to industry
Aug. 31, 2026 — Diraq and Equinix, Inc. today announced plans to deploy a Diraq quantum computer at an Equinix data center in Sydney, Australia. The deployment will mark the world’s first silicon spin quantum computer to operate in a shared commercial data center, bringing quantum computing one step closer to large-scale commercial adoption.
Andrew Dzurak, Diraq CEO & Founder and Jarrod Nink, Equinix Managing Director, Australia at the Equinix Sydney facility.
The installed quantum computer will feature a silicon chip containing eight quantum bits (qubits), with all cryogenic cooling and control electronics self-contained. The complete system fits within Equinix’s existing data center alongside standard servers, requiring minimal integration and drawing less than 20kW of power. Scaling to higher qubit counts requires only a chip replacement, with no changes to the surrounding infrastructure, making the system easily upgradable.
“Quantum computers are about to become as essential to data centers and computing infrastructure as data servers, CPUs and GPUs,” said Andrew Dzurak, Diraq Founder and CEO. “The data center is where quantum computing goes mainstream, and that shift starts now. It’s a first, and the milestone is in the simplicity itself. Diraq’s quantum computers integrate into operational data centers like any other rack. That’s the advantage of Diraq’s silicon spin qubits: as we scale to millions of qubits, our system is deployable anywhere in the world, right next to the AI systems that are reshaping the global economy.”
The collaboration is designed to:
Test real-world performance: Evaluate how Diraq’s quantum system operates in a live commercial data center with open network connectivity, including remote monitoring and secure integration with the classical CPUs and GPUs that power today’s computing.
Chart the path to commercial scale: Operating alongside the cloud and AI systems already in Equinix’s data center, Diraq will explore how quantum and AI can work together as both technologies scale, laying the groundwork for practical, hybrid quantum-classical computing.
Begin partner and customer conversations: Once testing is complete, Diraq will give industry partners and customers the opportunity to see quantum computing in action and explore potential applications in an Equinix facility that already meets enterprise data sovereignty, security and compliance requirements.
Jarrod Nink, Managing Director, Australia, Equinix, said: “Quantum computing’s future depends not only on breakthroughs in hardware, but on proving how these systems can operate within the digital infrastructure enterprises rely on every day. Our collaboration with Diraq will demonstrate how quantum computing can be securely deployed alongside AI, cloud and high-performance computing environments. By combining Diraq’s pioneering silicon quantum technology with Equinix’s global footprint, we’re helping to define a new benchmark for quantum deployment while supporting Australia’s ambition to become a leading global hub for quantum innovation.”
“We believe the future of computing will be quantum-enhanced and AI-enabled,” said Diraq Founder and CEO Andrew Dzurak. “Rather than replacing today’s systems, quantum computers will work alongside AI and classical infrastructure to solve problems that are currently out of reach. By bringing quantum into a commercial data center, we’re helping pave the way for that future.”
Diraq’s qubits are made the same way as the chips in today’s phones and laptops, leveraging existing semiconductor foundries to manufacture and clearing a path to millions of qubits on one chip. Because they’re so small, Diraq can pack far more qubits into less space on a single chip than other quantum technologies: the resulting quantum computing system is small enough that many of Diraq’s systems can operate inside a standard data center, beside the classical compute infrastructure it works with. Importantly, Diraq sees data centers hosting not just one quantum computer, but entire fleets of them.
At utility scale, the point where a quantum computer delivers more value than it costs to run, quantum computers will solve problems beyond the reach of today’s most powerful machines, modelling molecules and chemical reactions to accelerate drug discovery, materials design and energy solutions. They won’t replace today’s computers but work alongside them, in a hybrid future where quantum, AI and classical systems each tackle what they do best.
Installation work at Equinix’s Sydney data center is on track to be completed in October 2026.
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.
According to The Information (paywalled), Apple reportedly moved up the release of new Mac mini and Mac Studio models after unexpectedly strong enterprise demand for Macs capable of running AI workloads. MacRumors reports: Apple normally releases new Mac models in the autumn, closer to October or November, making this week's announcement unusually early, falling just before the anticipated arrival of new iPhone models. The Information says that the AI-driven boom in Mac Studio and Mac mini sales is behind the early launch. Apple noticeably promoted the ability to link multiple Mac Studios together into a single, more capable system for running large frontier AI models, a feature aimed at business and developer customers rather than everyday consumers.
Apple highlighted the Mac mini and Mac Studio's shift toward business buyers in June, with a "Business at the Park" event involving executives from major companies Ford, Disney, and Anthropic. The Mac mini was said to be the "darling" of the event. Even so, enterprise's rush toward powerful desktop Macs more broadly took Apple by surprise.
The company reportedly did not possess an engineering team dedicated to business customers or staff focused on developer relations, and lacked an enterprise AI strategy. Businesses that approached Apple asking to buy access to the company's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure were reportedly turned down. Apple is instead leaning on partners such as WebAI and Mount Thor, which provide AI tools and execution environments built on Apple hardware.
More than 1 million advertisers were affected, the suit says. The online retailer says the Federal Trade Commission’s claim “fundamentally misunderstands” how its ads work.
so my tire went flat on me today, i pulled it out of my van just to ride it to the house (i had to park up the street) to bring it up. as soon as i stepped on it it went flat, so i said ok, took the air out of the tire and added some more tire sealant. it sounded like a small hole earlier and the sealants always done it job and plugged it pretty good. i added more sealant filled it to 16 psi and it held. rode it around a bit and it felt fine. a little while later im goin to the store and its still riding ok, til i get about a half mile from home and the fucking tire popped off the motor and sent me crashing. like the seat popped off so it just instantly went flat. anyway, im gonna try and fix it in the morning after my ribs feel a little better. but has this ever happened to anybody while riding?
TLDR: Took my board for a ride and the tire seal popped off the motor. so it instantly went flat and threw me. wondering if anybody else has had this issue.
Carlos Alcaraz and Aryna Sabalenka began their title defences with comfortable victories on Arthur Ashe
Sabalenka eases through on her serve, advancing to the net to secure her first game of the tournament with a forehand volley. It’s 1-1 in the opening set against Osorio.
Sabalenka and Osorio are underway on Arthur Ashe, with the Colombian serving. She records two double-faults before Sabalenka seizes upon the second serve, whipping a blistering forehand to make it deuce. But the defending champion finds the net and the stratosphere, too, as Osorio holds to go 1-0 up.
Naegleria fowleri is commonly found in warm freshwater, and if it enters through the nose, can cause brain damage
A North Carolina teenager has died after contracting a rare and often fatal brain-eating amoeba.
The state’s health department (NCDHHS) confirmed the boy’s death on Monday, saying: “NCDHHS has been informed that the teen who developed a rare illness, caused by Naegleria fowleri died on Aug. 31, 2026. We extend our condolences to the family, friends and community impacted by this loss.”
(The Center Square) – Federal law enforcement has seized core infrastructure reportedly used by a Chinese state-sponsored cyber platform to target high-profile U.S. government entities and critical infrastructure in a campaign dating back to 2018.
Critical minerals need secure supply chains – increasingly that depends on responsible productionExpert commentsfarrell.drupa…
More than half of critical minerals worldwide are located under or near Indigenous lands. Community protests have interrupted production, so the business case for taking human rights seriously is becoming stronger and stronger.
Global trade wars, geo-economic competition and climate change are catalysing threats within minerals supply chains.
The Business and Human Rights Centre recorded a 73% increase in human rights abuses linked to transition minerals between 2024 to 2025. Seven in ten implicated mines were tied to listed companies. When local socio-political sensitivities and vulnerabilities are overlooked by companies and governments driving the critical minerals juggernaut it jeopardises the ambitions for durable, reliable and resilient defence and energy systems.
Governments have to avoid the pitfall of a ‘race to the bottom’ on responsibility
The array of principles adopted in the 2000s to ensure responsible business practice remain an important tool to mitigate challenges, and the web of standards that has developed around them are vital for implementation. The intensity of geoeconomic competition and drastic upheaval of global supply chains is a systemic threat to these principles. It is also an opportunity for them to be applied in the interests of governments, companies and communities.
Governments have to avoid the pitfall of a ‘race to the bottom’ on responsibility. They must ensure that there is sufficient protection in place for companies to uphold responsible performance and to protect the intangible – but at times material – social licence to operate.
Changing risks
Geopolitical instability is the dominant risk to international trade. Several scholarly studies and company surveys point to political factors as the biggest threat to global commerce as states reassert control over markets.
Since the end of the Cold War, multiple standards, guidelines, and principles were defined, with the focus of responsible corporate action on the interface of globalised corporations and vulnerable communities in post-colonial or developing countries. To some extent, global standards were built upon the targeted mechanisms developed to restrict minerals funding proxy conflicts in the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Companies now need to be more aware that governments are prioritizing supply chains as instruments of geopolitical and economic advantage, whether it be to reduce Chinese dominance over minerals supply chains, to avoid chokepoints or to disengage from abusive actors, often without considering the ecological and human rights risks incurred in producer states.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 the imposition of sanctions by Canada, the EU, UK and USA, against Russia’s oil and diamond businesses especially, has prompted existing mechanisms to verify provenance claims in these markets.
The sharp increase in demand for many materials increases downstream company exposure to upstream risk factors. In 2000 global demand for lithium carbonate equivalent was approximately 68,000 metric tonnes. By 2025, industry estimates had risen to 1.5 to 1.8 million tonnes.
Such rapid increases in market scale are often in part filled with artisanal and informal production, increasing the possibility of involvement of child labour, environmental damage, illegal trading, and malign actors.
This should focus the attention of companies and governments. International activists and the government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have filed multiple legal actions against large tech companies for using DRC minerals in their supply chains, alleging downstream corporate complicity in human rights abuse and child labour at the point of mineral extraction. Verification schemes face a challenge as regulators desire total supply chain assurance, while companies are reticent to accept responsibility for due diligence beyond their immediate suppliers.
Community protests have interrupted production, suspend operations and at times even curtailed if not cancelled entire projects
Legal action is also targeting standards bodies that ostensibly validate companies’ claims that their operations do no harm, including one case involving Tanzanian gold workers that represents a new focus of liability on standards bodies that could have wide repercussions.
There is a normative and ethical case for addressing the cases involving child and forced labour, displacement of Indigenous lands and communities, and exposure to security forces that may commit human rights abuses. There is also a strong business case to be made for responsible performance – community protests have interrupted production, suspend operations and at times even curtailed if not cancelled entire projects in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Europe and North and Latin America.
Evolving standards
Faced with these changing risks, governments and companies need to refocus on universal adherence to responsible corporate action, and avoid politicising or weaponising standards to the detriment of the most vulnerable producing states. The original purpose of guidelines and standards was to provide operational tools to support activities in complex contexts. They still serve this important and practical purpose.
Proponents of standards argue that responsible companies often enjoy lower capital costs, stronger risk management, better employee retention, and more stable long-term financial performance. And while critics highlight the cost and complexity of conformance, it remains an important shield in difficult operating environments.
Companies and governments may think that corporate responsibility and accountability have gone out of fashion. Affected communities and environmental and human rights defenders may not have gotten the memo as protests and disruptions mount.
Companies need a robust safeguard against accusations of malfeasance. Business and human rights frameworks are not ‘Western’. The UN Global Compact in 2000 provided guidelines for responsible business practice, and in 2011 the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were unanimously agreed by the UN Human Rights Council.
Reported abuses against Western companies show that the West does not have the competitive advantage that it thinks it has on ethical and responsible business practices. The Chinese government’s announcement of its new Mineral Resources Law, the International Initiative for Sustainability in the Resource Sector, and guidelines for responsible performance signify increasing attention, if not stringent implementation, by China.
Partnered implementation
The key factor to ensuring that companies uphold responsible performance is the buy-in of the political leadership of host countries.
The UN Guiding Principle on Business and Human Rights has elevated human rights due diligence into operational practice. The undertaking of mandated National Action Plans by governments is a fundamental prerequisite.
Similarly, the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights, and its multi-stakeholder governance Initiative (VPI) has increasing membership from the governments of extractive dependent economies, such as DRC and Mozambique.
Of course, implementation is vital. The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the principle of free and prior informed consent (FPIC) are too often acknowledged, but not enacted. With over half of critical minerals worldwide located under or in close proximity to Indigenous lands, the business case for taking these communities and rights seriously is stronger than ever.
Producer states are taking a stand, and they must be engaged with seriously. For example, the DRC’s revised mining code addresses most of the most important social and environmental risks, but the potential beneficial impact depends on enforcement. The UN Secretary General’s Initiative on Critical Energy Transition Minerals is a further example of producer nations pursuing universal standards, and the forum could be a global convenor to extend implementation.
Geopolitics is reshaping supply chains, and the companies that are expected to deliver critical minerals are exposed to new socio-economic and human rights risks that, unless managed, will hit their bottom line.
The open secret is that the standards and tools needed to prevent this are hiding in plain sight. A quarter century ago, these tools were devised to protect the developing world from the excesses of global extractive industries. Today, it is those countries who are now picking up these tools to defend themselves from the impacts of inter-state competition of great powers.
Republicans added 10 candidates after Aug. 1, including eight during the final week before the deadline; Democrats added two
By George D. Rotsch, Editor, Delaware LIVE
DOVER, Del. — Delaware’s November ballot became considerably more competitive during August as the Republican Party nominated candidates for 10 offices that otherwise would have lacked a Republican contender.
Eight of those nominations were filed during the final week before Delaware’s Sept. 1 deadline for major parties to fill vacant ballot positions, according to the state Department of Elections.
The Democratic Party also made two late nominations, adding candidates for a Sussex County Senate seat and a New Castle County-area House district.
Brent Burdge, chair of the Northern DEGOP region where many of these candidates are running and a newly added candidate himself, stated, “Most of the candidates came forward to give voters in these communities real options in November. Incumbents and primary winners need to be challenged so voters can determine the future of their community. That’s how democracy works. These individuals are passionate about the neighborhoods and want to make a difference. They are knowledgeable about the community, local leaders, and understand the political process.”
“Contested elections allow voters to compare candidates, hear different positions and hold officeholders accountable,” concluded Burdge.
Republicans fill ballot vacancies
The 10 Republicans filed after Aug. 1 are:
Candidate
Office
Filing date
Status
Anton Brogden
State representative, District 31
Aug. 6
Qualified
David C. “Dave” Graham
Attorney general
Aug. 24
Provisional
April Callaway
Auditor of accounts
Aug. 26
Qualified
Brent Burdge
State senator, District 5
Aug. 26
Provisional
Tanya Hettler
State representative, District 6
Aug. 26
Qualified
Shane Stoneman
State representative, District 7
Aug. 26
Provisional
Dolores Dunleavy
State representative, District 10
Aug. 26
Qualified
Hildi Bachtle
State senator, District 1
Aug. 28
Provisional
Enala A. Mwashitete
State representative, District 16
Aug. 28
Provisional
Lisa McInnis
State representative, District 1
Aug. 30
Provisional
The Democratic Party nominated Harry S. Gold for the 20th Senate District on Aug. 25 and Tori Parker for the 11th Representative District on Aug. 28. Both are listed as qualified.
Several of the newly nominated Republicans will face Democratic incumbents or the winners of Democratic primaries. Graham, for example, is positioned to face the winner of the Democratic primary for attorney general, where incumbent Kathy Jennings is seeking another term.
Some November matchups will not be complete until Delaware holds its statewide primary Sept. 15.
A rarely used route to the ballot
Ordinarily, Democratic and Republican candidates file by the July deadline and advance through a primary if more than one candidate seeks the same party’s nomination.
State law provides another route when no candidate from a major party has filed for an office. Party officials may nominate someone to fill that ballot vacancy by submitting a certificate of nomination to the Department of Elections by Sept. 1.
The late nominees do not go through a primary because no other candidate from their party filed for the same office.
Delaware’s online candidate records indicate that this year’s Republican recruitment effort is unusually large. Eight Republican nominations were filed during the final week before the deadline. No Democratic or Republican organization matched that total in the state’s date-stamped candidate lists from 2010 through 2024.
The closest comparison came in 2016, when Republicans filed five candidates during the closing days of the nomination period. That year’s late additions included candidates for Wilmington offices and Kent County positions.
That makes this year’s group the largest final-week addition by either major party in at least 16 years. Records before 2010 available on the Department of Elections website do not contain filing dates, making a longer historical comparison difficult.
More candidates, but difficult campaigns
Late nomination comes with disadvantages.
Candidates entering near the deadline have little time to raise money, recruit volunteers, introduce themselves to voters and develop positions on complicated state issues. Some will be challenging incumbents who have spent years building name recognition and campaign organizations.
A name on the ballot, therefore, does not necessarily create a competitive campaign. The new candidates will still have to demonstrate that they are prepared to serve and capable of making a serious case to voters.
Their presence nevertheless prevents several races from being decided without a general-election contest.
Unopposed candidates can still be held accountable by the public, news organizations and members of their own party. But an opposing candidate creates a more direct test. Debates become possible. Policy differences become clearer. Voters can evaluate competing records and priorities before selecting who will represent them.
That is a basic feature of representative government: Elections work best when voters have meaningful choices.
Some candidates remain provisional
Several late nominees are currently listed as provisional by the Department of Elections.
Provisional status does not mean a candidate has been rejected. It generally means the state is reviewing residency documentation or awaiting the results of a required criminal-history background check.
Candidates listed as qualified have completed those reviews and have been determined eligible to appear on the ballot. The Department of Elections periodically updates the list as reviews are completed and additional filings are processed.
Minor parties also added candidates during August. The Independent Party of Delaware nominated Austin Cassidy for auditor of accounts, Carolyn Frank for the 5th Senate District and Steven Washington for the 1st Senate District.
The result is a November ballot with more contested races than Delaware voters appeared likely to see only a few weeks ago. Whether the late nominees can build competitive campaigns remains an open question. But in the districts where they qualified, voters will at least have a decision to make.
To-go box:
What happened: Delaware Republicans nominated 10 candidates after Aug. 1, including eight during the final week before the Sept. 1 deadline.
Why it matters: The nominations give more voters a choice between major-party candidates in November.
Historical context: It is the largest final-week group added by either major party in at least 16 years, based on Delaware’s available date-stamped records.
What’s next: Several nominees must complete state qualification reviews, while some November matchups will be determined by the Sept. 15 primary.
Phantom Ranch has been a solitary refuge visited by some of the most famous names of history. More typically, it’s been a beacon for the half-collapsed, exhausted and overheated hikers trudging down the Grand Canyon for more than a century.
The sole lodge at the very bottom of the Grand Canyon, the cabins long had a near mythical reputation. Located along the Bright Angel Creek, which tumbles into the mighty Colorado River at the base of the canyon, they served as a reminder of the long history of one of America’s most spectacular but savage environments.
A 17-year-old North Carolina girl has been charged with murder by aiding and abetting in connection with the deadly rampage at the Islamic Center of San Diego in May.
Letter from chair of joint chiefs of staff addresses concerns over Trump officials using military to interfere with vote
The highest‑ranking US military officer says there are no plans to deploy troops to polling places during the November midterm elections – responding to Senator Elissa Slotkin’s request for information amid concerns about whether the Trump administration might send service members to election sites.
In a letter obtained by the Guardian, first reported by the Associated Press, Gen Dan Caine, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, told Slotkin “the Joint Force has no plans to send Federal military personnel or Federalized members of the National Guard to polling places during the 2026 elections”. He added that there were also “no plans to use such personnel to seize ballots, voting machines, or other election‑related material”.
Broadcom is launching "TrueSource," an effort to curate and secure open-source components used with its Tanzu platform, including Spring, RabbitMQ, and libraries across Java, Python, and Node.js. "The idea is to provide a set of solutions focused on providing clean and secure artefacts," Purnima Padmanabhan, vice president of Broadcom's Tanzu Division, told The Register. "We choose and build every Spring library, databases, other Java components," she said. The Register reports: Padmanabhan said that promise means VMware will also provide "TrueSource trusted artifacts" for code that is not part of Spring, including the wider Java ecosystem, Python, and Node.js. "Broadcom's curation process ensures that the libraries conform to a reference architecture and are supportable by the maintainers of record," according to a company statement. "Thousands of engineers across Broadcom's software divisions scan, fix, contribute to, and consume them every day."
A VMware spokesperson told The Register the Broadcom business unit "will work with and support maintainers on open source software and we will provide fixes to open source upstream for any active projects." "With Spring and RabbitMQ, we are the maintainers. For other open source software, we will work with the maintainers. We believe that the community maintainers must remain the source of truth," the spokesperson said.
This is just the sort of contribution that the open-source community wants vendors to do to reflect the value they extract from software they did not create alone. It's also the sort of thing vendors sometimes conclude they need to do to keep products based on FOSS viable.
(The Center Square) – A new report by the National Petroleum Council urges Congress to authorize a coordinated national program to map the country's resources deep underground as part of a broader effort to secure domestic supply chains for energy…
California Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi authored a bill, passed by the legislature last week, that would allow the state to punish administrators who fail to fully vet teacher applicants as well as discipline educators who do not disclose their full employment histories when applying for jobs. Rich Pedroncelli/AP
California lawmakers unanimously passed legislation last week to ensure that school administrators are informed about past accusations of misconduct against teachers as part of their hiring process.
The legislation follows a KQED-ProPublica investigation revealing how delays and inaction, combined with a lack of transparency, allowed educators to get new jobs after school districts reported them to the state teacher licensing agency for sexual harassment or other misconduct. Our reporting found that at least 14 educators were hired by new schools after their former employers determined they had sexually harassed students or committed other sexual misconduct.
The bill, authored by Democratic Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi, is an attempt to make sure that doesn’t happen again, adding teeth to background check mandates in place since 2025. Under that law, applicants for jobs at public schools are supposed to list every teaching position they have ever held. The requirement expanded to private school teaching applicants this year. Top school administrators are required to check with applicants’ previous employers to see if they had ever been reported to the state for credible or substantiated complaints of egregious misconduct.
But the existing law relies on schools and teachers to follow the mandates without clear penalties for those who fail to do so. Muratsuchi’s bill specifies that the state’s teacher licensing agency may discipline teachers and administrators; that can include issuing public reprimands, or suspending or revoking their credentials if they don’t comply.
“If there aren’t any penalties, there are no consequences,” Muratsuchi said in an interview with KQED and ProPublica after the legislation passed. “The bill makes sure that school districts prioritize this by putting in consequences for failing to do so.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the legislation. A spokesperson for Newsom said the governor does not typically comment on bills awaiting his signature.
The measure is dramatically different from the bill Muratsuchi originally proposed in June, which would have gone further, creating a searchable database that would allow schools to see if applicants for public school teaching positions had been reported to the state after they were fired or had resigned over claims of misconduct. California is set to launch such a database by next summer for school support staff, such as bus drivers and janitors, with substantiated claims of egregious misconduct. But public school teachers are not included.
The Trump administration had singled out teachers unions as obstructions to legislative reforms to protect children when it announced a national crackdown this summer on how school districts handle accusations of sexual misconduct by teachers.
California’s powerful teachers unions, the California Federation of Teachers and California Teachers Association, had criticized Muratsuchi’s database proposal for public school educators, arguing it would violate teachers’ privacy and subject them to employment consequences if allegations are later determined to be unfounded.
The Commission on Teacher Credentialing, California’s educator licensing agency, also warned that complying with the proposed legislation to add teachers to the database would “require Commission staff to commit crimes” and expose the agency to liability because state law restricts what information it is allowed to share.
After the pushback, Muratsuchi amended the proposed bill and scrapped the database idea. The revamped legislation ultimately received support from the California Federation of Teachers.
School administrators, though, say the legislation does not address the burden on school districts to reach out to every previous employer for any reports they made to the state about a teacher applicant.
“Many of us in this state have been faced with budget cuts and reduced staffing. We need a better system,” said Chris Calabrese, superintendent of Benicia Unified, a 4,500-student district in the San Francisco Bay Area.
He said a database for employers to check whether a teacher had ever been reported would be a more efficient way to vet applicants, allowing schools easy access to critical information that would keep students safe.
Currently, a red flag shows up next to a teacher’s name in the state’s public database of credentialed educators if the licensing agency has ever disciplined the person. But the state disciplinary process typically takes one year, according to the agency, giving educators who have been reported a window to apply for new teaching jobs without any warning to potential employers.
In 2023, Benicia Unified reported former elementary teacher Matthew Shelton to the state after students accused him of touching them inappropriately. Shelton resigned and weeks later was hired as an assistant principal at a nearby middle school in West Contra Unified. A red flag did not appear next to his name until the following year, after his teaching license was suspended because he was charged with five felony counts of lewd acts on a Benicia student. The number of victims and charges has since grown, and Shelton, whose license has been revoked, is scheduled to go to trial in September.
Shelton, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, did not respond to requests for comment, and his attorney declined to comment.
Calabrese, who started as superintendent last year, declined to comment on specific questions about Shelton.
President Donald Trump and other administration officials are claiming credit for a recent drop in prescription drug prices, citing deals they’ve struck with drugmakers and the launch of the online direct-to-consumer platform TrumpRx. But experts are skeptical those measures have had much impact on prices overall, and they say other factors likely explain most of the decline.
Trump and his allies were quick to celebrate when the latest consumer price data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, released in mid-August, showed prescription drug prices falling 3.1% over the past year. The data measure prices paid by consumers and insurers at retail, internet or mail-order pharmacies.
“Under my most-favored-nation policy on drug prices, we are delivering the largest prescription drug price cuts in the history of our country,” Trump said during an Aug. 14 speech on Long Island, referring to agreements with companies to offer certain drugs at prices comparable to those in other countries.
He repeated the claim during an Aug. 31 event at the White House at which he announced deals with additional companies.
Trump announces the launch of his TrumpRx prescription drug platform on Feb. 5. Official White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian.
Similarly, in an interview with CBS News’ “Face the Nation” on Aug. 23, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz attributed the drop to the administration’s dealmaking and the launch of TrumpRx, which lists discounts on certain drugs for consumers paying cash prices.
“This increasing savings that we’re seeing, the additional amount of savings we’re getting — primarily driven not just by having the medications at most-favored-nation pricing, but available to the American people on TrumpRx.gov — is seismic in its nature,” Oz said.
Oz put it more succinctly in an X post two days earlier: “Why did drug prices DROP? The answer: President Donald J. Trump fulfilling his promises to the American people.”
But several drug pricing experts told us the reasons for that decline are a lot more complicated than the administration is letting on — and neither TrumpRx nor the agreements with drug companies are likely to have been major drivers.
They cited other factors they see as likely having a bigger impact, including market pressures driving down the cost of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs, more generics entering the market and a Biden-era policy that allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices.
“I think it’s totally possible that there are both some Republican policies — or, you know, Trump policies — as well as Biden policies that are at play here,” Cynthia Cox, a senior vice president at the nonpartisan health policy research organization KFF, told us. “But I think there’s also just market forces at play, in particular around GLP-1 drugs, that are really hard to ignore.”
Asked about the basis for the president’s claims that his policies are driving a major reduction in drug prices, White House spokesman Kush Desai rejected the idea that Medicare price negotiations implemented during the Biden administration, which apply to 10 drugs so far, made a big difference.
“President Trump’s Most-Favored-Nations deals, on the other hand, cover hundreds of drugs, including GLP-1s and fertility drugs that are enormously popular and not typically covered by insurance,” he said in a statement. “TrumpRx.gov has already saved real patients over $700 million, and the President’s MFN policies are set to save America over $500 billion in the next 10 years.”
We’ve previously written about the shaky assumptions behind that $500 billion number. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services referred questions to the White House.
Effects of Drug Pricing Deals, TrumpRx ‘Murky’
It’s true that prescription drugs have just seen the largest one-year price decline in decades, as measured by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index. The CPI tracks prescription drug prices based on what individuals and insurers, including Medicare drug plans, pay to pharmacies.
Those prices are down 3.1% since last July, the largest one-year decrease since 1963. Prices didn’t change much in the second half of 2025, but have dropped 3.3% since the start of this year — the steepest six-month drop since the BLS started tracking prescription drug costs in 1947.
Trump and other administration officials say the drop is due to deals they’ve struck with major pharmaceutical companies to offer certain drugs at so-called “most favored nation” prices, or prices that are comparable to those in other developed countries. The U.S. tends to pay significantly more than other wealthy nations for brand-name drugs.
Since November, the Trump administration has announced agreements with 17 large drug companies, including Pfizer, Merck and Johnson & Johnson, to implement MFN pricing for certain drugs in exchange for three years of tariff relief. (The administration announced similar deals with nine midsize biotech companies Aug. 31.) Trump has sometimes described those deals in sweeping terms.
“For decades, Americans paid the highest prices for prescription drugs,” Trump said in his Aug. 14 speech. “We paid more for prescription drugs than anywhere in the world. And now we pay the lowest price anywhere in the world for prescription drugs.”
But as we’ve explained before, the agreements are much narrower than Trump’s description suggests.
Companies did pledge to release at least some new drugs at prices comparable to those in other wealthy nations. But for existing drugs, MFN prices apply in only limited circumstances — drugs sold to state Medicaid programs, direct-to-consumer sales through TrumpRx and certain GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes drugs sold to Medicare or Medicaid. The agreements do not affect the prices of drugs already on the market for the majority of Americans who use private insurance.
“Right now, the only places where those MFN prices would show up in the CPI would be through TrumpRx,” said Jeromie Ballreich, a health economist at Johns Hopkins University who studies pharmaceutical economics and policy. (As a measure of consumer prices, the CPI doesn’t factor in what Medicaid pays because it’s fully taxpayer-funded.) And he said TrumpRx is unlikely to have had major effects on the overall prescription-drug market because it serves a relatively small subset of patients. “It’s not a big factor in the market.”
TrumpRx, which the federal government launched in February, features discounts on a selection of brand-name drugs for self-pay consumers, i.e., those not using insurance. As we’ve written before, the site may offer savings for some patients buying certain drugs, such as those without insurance or those who need expensive medications their insurance won’t cover, including GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. But most people will get a better deal going through their insurance, and some drugs featured on the platform also have cheaper generic versions available elsewhere.
The White House says TrumpRx has already saved Americans more than $700 million, though it hasn’t released the details of how it calculated that figure. A spokesperson said it’s based on comparing what people paid when buying medications through the site to what the prior net prices would have been. Seven hundred million dollars would represent less than 0.2% of the $467 billion that was spent on prescription drugs in the U.S. in 2024, according to the government’s national health expenditure data.
Additionally, Ballreich said drug companies and the White House have been relatively vague about the details of the MFN deals in their public statements, so it’s unclear exactly how far-reaching they are. Some companies’ Securities and Exchange Commission filings suggest that only some of their products are subject to the agreements.
“They didn’t have enough detail about, is it all new drugs?” Ballreich said. “Only some new drugs?”
Similarly, Richard Frank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and director of the think tank’s Center on Health Policy, said the limited scope and lack of detail make it hard to assess the impact of these deals.
“There are an unknown, but probably small, number of drugs where there have been any negotiations with the Trump people, and it’s not even obvious that those have been implemented yet,” he said. “So all of this is kind of murky. It’s not that it’s implausible that they have some effect. But it’s really unlikely that they are the major drivers here.”
As for TrumpRx, Frank said there are still questions around its uptake and the extent of savings it actually offers.
“That’s an area where there could be a contribution,” he said. “But again, I would be surprised if it was very large.”
Cox, with KFF, said it’s possible that a newly launched pilot program to make reduced-price GLP-1 drugs available to certain Medicare beneficiaries factored into the most recent CPI prescription drug data, which registered a 0.8% drop in July.
The administration says Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — the makers of Ozempic/Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound, respectively — have agreed to provide the drugs to Medicare for $245 per month, and certain Medicare beneficiaries became eligible to access the drugs for weight loss for the first time at a $50 monthly copay, starting July 1.
“That would correspond with the timing of this particular [month’s] drop in the CPI,” Cox said, but not the declines that happened earlier this year.
Other Reasons for the Drop in Prices
Experts told us they see other factors as more likely explanations for the year-to-year drop in drug prices, though they cautioned that they don’t yet have clear empirical data on exactly what’s going on.
For one, Cox said, GLP-1 prices have been coming down for reasons other than the administration’s dealmaking, including heightened competition between drugmakers as new GLP-1s enter the market.
“There’s competition within the class, there’s competition from compound pharmacies, there’s the fact that a lot of people don’t have insurance coverage for these drugs but really want them, and so they’re paying out of pocket and price-sensitive,” she said. “And there’s this kind of pressure from insurers and employers to bring down the prices, because they might want to offer that coverage but not at the current price.”
Frank likewise pointed to competition in the GLP-1 market lowering prices for those drugs. “Since their sales have been so high, they would get quite a bit of weight in the CPI,” he said.
Another likely factor is that a number of bestselling brand-name drugs recently lost patent protection, Ballreich said. “So we had generics and biosimilars come on the market at cheaper prices.”
Ballreich also credits a policy signed into law by President Joe Biden as part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which gave Medicare the authority to negotiate prices for certain expensive drugs. The negotiated prices for the first 10 of those drugs — which were dispensed to nearly 9 million beneficiaries in 2023 and accounted for about 20% of Medicare prescription drug spending that year — took effect in January.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services estimated in 2024 that the negotiated prices would have saved the program $6 billion had they been in effect for the prior year. It also projected that beneficiaries would save around $1.5 billion in out-of-pocket costs on those drugs in 2026 because of the lower prices.
“For Trump to take credit in drug pricing, I do think one of the biggest things he did was he did not dismantle Medicare price negotiations,” Ballreich said.
Frank is less confident that the initial batch of Medicare price negotiations was a major driver of the decline in overall prescription drug costs. He views it as possible but unlikely, given the negotiations involved a relatively small, if costly, set of medications. Some of the impact would depend on how much those particular drugs are weighted in the CPI index, he said.
“On the Medicare side, there are 10 drugs. They were generally relatively big sellers,” he said. But as with Trump’s MFN deals, “we don’t know how quickly they’ve all worked their way through the supply chain.”
Frank said other possible factors could be in the mix as well. Pharmacy benefit managers — the third-party companies that manage prescription drug benefits for insurers — have been under pressure to pass on more of the savings from rebates they negotiate with drug companies. He also said that we don’t know how a separate provision of the IRA — the Inflation Rebate Program, which aims to discourage drugmakers from raising their prices too fast — may have affected prices.
“There are a lot of moving parts here,” he said. “It would be surprising to me if the administration’s MFN negotiations played a big part of it, just like I wouldn’t have guessed that the IRA negotiations played a huge part of it.”
In his statement, Desai, the White House spokesman, called the idea that the Medicare price negotiations had made a big difference in the CPI “absolutely idiotic and unfounded.”
“The so-called Inflation ‘Reduction’ Act negotiated prices just on Medicare for a whopping 10 drugs, and failed to deliver any meaningful price reductions beyond discounts that private insurers had already negotiated,” he said. “These discounts came into effect in January 2026 without making a dent in the prescription drug CPI for February 2026.”
The CPI’s prescription drug index dropped about 0.2% in February before registering a bigger decline of 1.5% in March.
Whether people notice a difference in what they’re actually paying at the pharmacy, of course, generally has more to do with the specific features of their insurance plan, Ballreich said. “That will have a much more influential effect on them as patients, rather than general drug pricing trends.”
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.
(The Center Square) – Search-and-recovery efforts are continuing in Grand Canyon National Park after the weekend's flooding left two people dead and at least 15 missing.
(The Center Square) — The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision Monday, allowed for continued construction on President Donald Trump's estimated $400 million White House ballroom.
The Tennessee Volunteers will be honoring Dolly Parton with a helmet sticker this season, the college football team’s head coach, Josh Heupel, announced on Monday.
Parton, a Tennessee native, died last week at the age of 80 from cancer.
Aug. 31, 2026 — The EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) has signed a procurement contract with Bull to deliver LUMI-AI, a next-generation supercomputer at the CSC – IT Center for Science Ltd. data center in Kajaani, Finland. Powered by AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th Gen AMD EPYC 256-core processors, the system is expected to provide 10 times the AI capacity and nearly twice the high-performance computing (HPC) capability of the current LUMI supercomputer. Deployment is scheduled for the second half of 2027.
LUMI-AI, a next-generation supercomputer at the CSC — IT Center for Science Ltd. data center in Kajaani, Finland, will be powered by AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th Gen AMD EPYC 256-core processors. Photo credit: Mikael Kanerva, CSC.
LUMI-AI will serve as the computing backbone of the LUMI AI Factory, supporting industrial AI innovation, academic research, AI training and inference, and large-scale scientific simulation. Its combination of AI and high-precision HPC capabilities is designed to strengthen Europe’s capacity for data-driven research and innovation while expanding access to advanced computing for researchers, startups and industry.
“Europe’s next wave of AI innovation will depend on infrastructure that is open, efficient and trusted,” said Thomas Zacharia, senior vice president for AMD’s Global Public Sector and Strategic Partnerships. “LUMI-AI marks an important next step in the AMD partnership with EuroHPC JU, the LUMI AI Factory consortium and Bull. Powered by AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs, it will strengthen Europe’s sovereign AI capacity, accelerate scientific discovery and give researchers, startups and industry the scale and flexibility to shape Europe’s AI future.”
The EuroHPC JU-owned system will be hosted by the six-country LUMI AI Factory consortium: Finland, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Poland. A multi-tenant architecture, additional compute and storage resources, and extensive API-based access are intended to support diverse AI communities and modern development environments. The system will also integrate with the LUMI-IQ quantum computing platform.
LUMI-AI will be powered entirely by renewable energy. Its liquid-cooling design will capture excess heat for reuse in Kajaani’s district heating network, supporting the project’s goal of making LUMI-AI one of the world’s most energy-efficient and eco-efficient supercomputers.
LUMI-AI is scheduled for deployment in the second half of 2027 at CSC’s new data center in the Renforsin Ranta business park in Kajaani. The contract is valued at 387.8 million euros, including acquisition, delivery, installation and maintenance, with funding shared equally by EuroHPC JU and the LUMI AI Factory consortium.
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. Learn more at www.amd.com.
The ‘reverse Kindleberger Trap’: reasons to worry about the next financial crisisExpert commentsfarrell.drupa…
A US crisis is very likely to be associated with a capital outflow, rather than a capital inflow, with the result that the dollar could weaken substantially against other currencies.
A worrying feature of the next big financial crisis is that we may lack a dominant power able and willing to stabilise the international economic order.
That would certainly have been the view of the late economic historian Charles Kindleberger, who argued that the length and depth of the 1930s Depression was due to the failure of either Great Britain or the US to act as a responsible hegemon in the global economy.
Kindleberger’s view was that an impoverished Great Britain, the declining hegemon, was unable to provide leadership; and that an isolationist US, the rising hegemon, was unwilling. Hence, the eponymous trap.
And so, the world lacked an open trading system, any credible coordination of economic policies, or a reliable international lender of last resort.
Risk stems not so much from the unwillingness of the rising hegemon in Beijing to help stabilise the system; but rather from the unwillingness of the incumbent hegemon in Washington
‘When every country turned to protect its national private interest, the world public interest went down the drain, and with it the private interests of all’.
These days, though, the new Kindleberger Trap is a bit different to the original.
Now, risk stems not so much from the unwillingness of the rising hegemon in Beijing to help stabilise the system; but rather from the unwillingness of the incumbent hegemon in Washington. A ‘reverse Kindleberger Trap’, if you like.
The 2008 crisis
That will be new, since unwillingness certainly didn’t feature in the way the US managed the fallout of the Lehman crisis in 2008.
Back then, huge amounts of dollar liquidity were provided through a network of collateralised lending facilities to global banks, especially in Europe, which had built up very large reliance on dollar funding.
In addition, the Fed’s QE programme itself provided huge direct support to the international financial system: more than half the Fed’s purchases of mortgage-backed securities were sold to it by foreign firms.
And fourteen central banks had access to substantial amounts of dollar liquidity from the Fed’s currency swap lines. By the summer of 2010, the Fed had supplied $10 trillion at various maturities.
Of course, the US acted in its own self-interest. If the Fed hadn’t provided this liquidity, European banks and global asset managers would have been forced to sell off their dollar portfolios at fire-sale prices. But the effectiveness of US crisis management was firmly on display.
And US credibility was rewarded by a substantial inflow into the US bond market as a ‘safe haven’: foreigners bought nearly a trillion dollars of US Treasury securities in the 12 months after the Lehman crisis.
A Trump-era crisis
A Trump-era financial crisis, should it happen, will take place under very different circumstances. Three problems stand out.
The market’s growing ability to question the safe-haven status of US treasury bonds.
The first is that a Trump administration noted for its transactional behaviour could end up being highly selective about who it offers liquidity to.
We’ve already seen this selectivity in action. In October last year the US administration supplied a $20 billion swap facility to the Argentine central bank, in an effort to stabilise the peso in the run up to mid-term elections that might have posed a risk to President Milei’s authority.
Earlier this year there was discussion about a proposed swap line for the central bank of the United Arab Emirates, a bizarre possibility, less for the fact that the UAE is a key US ally, but more for the fact that it is a country rather flush with dollar liquidity, notwithstanding the war with Iran.
The second is the market’s growing ability to question the safe-haven status of US treasury bonds.
In the past few weeks Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, has twice revealed his unwillingness to let the market decide what the price of US debt should be.
The first was his effort to support the Japanese yen in a way that was clearly aimed at discouraging Japan from selling any of the $1 trillion of US Treasury bonds that it owns, in effect directing Japan instead to use its bonds as collateral to borrow the money it needed to fund its intervention in the foreign exchange market.
And Bessent’s more recent announcement to increase Treasury buybacks of its own debt were also motivated by fear that, left to its own devices, the market might charge Washington rates of interest on US public debt that could embarrass the administration. Interventions like these are not at all consistent with the full price discovery that should be the hallmark of a credible US Treasury market.
Elevated dollar
A third, related, problem has to do with the elevated level of the dollar.
The last 15 years have seen huge capital inflows into the US, for reasons both good (global technology leadership) and bad (absurdly high budget deficits).
During that period, the stock of foreign-owned US securities has risen from around $12 trillion to over $37 trillion.
As a result of all these capital inflows the dollar is, in inflation-adjusted, trade-weighted terms, nearly as expensive as it has been at any time in the last 30 years.
What all this means is that a US crisis is very likely to be associated with a capital outflow, rather than a capital inflow, with the result that the dollar could weaken substantially against other currencies. That will be quite unlike the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, when the dollar strengthened.
A crisis environment might well reinforce that view. Just as Great Britain created the Exchange Equalisation Account in 1932 to keep sterling cheap after it left the gold standard the previous September, it is conceivable that the Trump administration might be more concerned to keep the dollar weak rather than promote its role as a global anchor of stability.
China rising
And what about the rising hegemon, China?
Beijing’s latest proposals for global governance, published in June, do indicate a growing willingness to shape international order.
China may be willing but remains unable to act as a financial stabiliser: the renminbi remains a relatively insignificant currency in the international monetary system.
All in all, then, the risk that the world faces in the next financial crisis is a ‘reverse Kindleberger Trap’, where the dominant power is the one that’s unwilling to play a responsible crisis-management role; and where the rising power is the one that is unable.
No one should wish to hasten the next financial crisis, given the economic dislocation and immiseration that will inevitably be associated with it. But the prospect of a ‘reverse Kindleberger Trap’ should make us all fear that crisis even more.
RFK Jr, the health secretary, has suggested the deaths were ‘fabricated’ while the CDC claimed it was reviewing them
Top US health officials and government agencies are currently not including the two recent measles-associated deaths in Pennsylvania in their counts.
“This is highly unusual,” said Debra Houry, former chief medical officer of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She noted that this did not happen with the three deaths reported from measles in Texas and New Mexico last year.
Kalshi has issued its first-ever lifetime ban to former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding he failed to fully cooperate with an insider-trading investigation. He is also being fined $71,356, according to a filing (PDF) on its website. Engadget reports:
It was reported in June that Santos was under investigation from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) over insider trading. Prediction markets like Kalshi allow users to buy contracts or shares in the outcome of events. Participants don't necessarily have to wait for an event to resolve before selling these contracts and cashing in.
Santos allegedly bought contracts on Kalshi indicating that he would not attend this year's State of the Union speech after weather disrupted his travel plans. According to the CFTC, Santos then sold those contracts for a profit after claiming on social media that he would be in attendance. The former congressman is said to have made more than $17,500 through this scheme, which Kalshi reportedly detected and flagged to authorities. In July, Santos agreed to pay over $35,000 to settle the CFTC's claims against him. The agency also issued him a three-year trading ban.
Kalshi, however, doesn't plan to allow Santos back on its platform in 2029 (or anytime after that). The company confirmed to The Wall Street Journal this was the first time it had given anyone a lifetime ban and that it did so because Santos didn't fully cooperate with its investigation. He can appeal the decision to the CTFC.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 31, 2026 — Think today announced Think Fabric, a new category of unified AI infrastructure that combines intelligent software with high-performance hardware. Think Fabric is designed to address some of the most significant efficiency bottlenecks in AI infrastructure today, including cooling, density, GPU utilization and infrastructure cost, enabling enterprises, governments and AI-native organisations to deploy high-performance AI with greater efficiency, flexibility and control.
Think Fabric brings together Think’s three core technologies into a single, tightly integrated platform:
Node is Think’s answer to the challenge of delivering high-density AI compute in a compact form factor without the need for extensive cooling infrastructure. Despite having the same GPU count and silicon as a typical AI data centre server, Node delivers radically higher sustained compute and dramatically higher sustained power density, enabled by Think’s patent-pending sealed-loop cooling. Each GPU uses a patent-pending high-density cooling topology to more efficiently extract heat from the GPU core and memory, enabling sustained, high-density AI compute in a form factor with up to 2.35x greater power density than any other server manufacturer with like-for-like specifications.
ILM (Intelligent LLM Management system) is Think’s proprietary software orchestration layer designed to dramatically improve GPU utilisation. ILM intelligently optimises how workloads are distributed across AI accelerators, reducing the wasted energy and cost associated with expensive idle silicon operating below capacity. ILM can run multiple AI models on a single GPU, allowing multiple models to share GPUs that would otherwise sit idle, substantially reducing the total hardware required.
Constellation links multiple Think Nodes into a unified supercompute cluster using a high-bandwidth fibre optic interconnect for low-latency, multi-node coordination, with ILM handling synchronisation and local orchestration. Constellation can also enable organisations to scale high-performance AI compute clusters without the footprint and complexity associated with traditional data centre infrastructure.
Think Fabric is being demonstrated publicly for the first time at LEAP 2026 in Riyadh.
“This first era of AI has been defined by the rush to scale, but it’s clear that the long-term success of AI will only happen by addressing the issues around efficiency and cost,” said Ahmed AlSharif, Founder and CEO of Think. “Think Fabric was built around a simple principle: we should be able to do more with the compute we already have. The solution to the rising cost of AI infrastructure is not to spend even more or build bigger – it’s to maximise the investments already made, and to lower the cost of AI compute through increased efficiency.”
“AI adoption shouldn’t require organisations to compromise on sovereignty, economics or flexibility,” said Ammar Enaya, Co-Founder and COO of Think. “Fabric gives organisations a platform they can own, control and evolve over time, without sacrificing performance or operational simplicity.”
Think believes the billions already invested in AI compute capacity, the rising cost of essential components such as memory, and the growing power and environmental demands of data centres are pushing the industry towards a new phase in which the focus shifts from simply adding more infrastructure to extracting greater value from the compute already available.
“We’re moving into a world where efficiency matters more than raw scale,” added AlSharif. “The future of AI infrastructure will be defined by how much performance we can get from existing investments. The industry needs to shift its focus from how much raw compute it can build to the metrics that really matter: ROI and the cost per token of AI.”
Think Fabric forms the foundation of Think’s approach to the age of efficiency, bringing hardware, cooling, orchestration and interconnect together as a unified system designed to help organisations get more from every unit of AI compute.
About Think
Think is a Saudi AI infrastructure company building the engine room for the age of efficiency. Its unified approach brings together intelligent software and high-performance hardware to make AI compute more efficient, accessible and economically sustainable. Think’s technology addresses the fundamental bottlenecks limiting AI infrastructure today, including GPU utilisation, memory, cooling, power and cost. Through its Think Fabric infrastructure platform and Think Grid compute service, Think enables enterprises, governments and AI-native organisations to deploy high-performance AI with greater efficiency, flexibility and control. Founded by Ahmed AlSharif, a technology leader whose experience spans Meta, PlayStation, and EA, and enterprise technology veteran Ammar Enaya, formerly of Cisco, Aruba, and HPE, Think is headquartered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Aug. 31, 2026 — AMD has released AMD ROCm 10, marking 10 years of the AMD software stack and making ROCm.AI generally available for users. First introduced at Advancing AI 2026, ROCm.AI is an AI-native software experience designed to accelerate development velocity and performance optimization on AMD hardware.
ROCm.AI brings together three core developer experiences: AMD Skills, the ROCm CLI and AMD Hyperloom. Together, they introduce AMD expertise and agentic workflows into the tools developers already use, enabling innovation to evolve at the pace of AI.
Credit: AMD
Through AI-driven optimization of kernels, memory management and scheduling, a system configured with ROCm.AI delivers an average 3.3x inference improvement and 2.4x training improvement over ROCm 7 on the same hardware.
A New Developer Experience for AI on AMD
ROCm.AI supports developers across three parts of the AI development process: optimizing inference performance, building with AMD expertise and running AI workloads.
Optimize End-to-End Inference with AMD ROCm Hyperloom
ROCm Hyperloom, a key component of ROCm.AI, is an autonomous agentic system for optimizing end-to-end inference workloads across host code and GPU kernels. Hyperloom profiles workloads, identifies bottlenecks, explores optimization options, implements targeted changes, benchmarks the results, and validates performance and correctness.
With ROCm 10, Hyperloom expands support across AMD Instinct GPUs, with support for vLLM and SGLang. Developers can target optimizations across HIP, Triton and FlyDSL, with reports describing proposed code changes and measured or expected performance improvements.
Hyperloom is available through standalone workflows and AMD Skills, giving developers multiple ways to incorporate agentic optimization into their development process.
Build with AMD Expertise
AMD Skills brings curated AMD knowledge and validated workflows into supported AI coding agents like Claude Code, Cursor and Codex, giving developers AMD-specific guidance within the tools they already use. With ROCm 10, the AMD Skills catalog expands across three areas:
Client-native workflows for local AI and application integration.
Cross-stack workflows for diagnostics, routing, replay analysis and optimization.
Server-native workflows for AMD Instinct GPUs and AMD EPYC processors, including serving, profiling and performance analysis.
The skills previewed at Advancing AI are now available through the Claude Code, Codex and Cursor marketplaces, as well as through the open catalog on GitHub. Each shipped skill passes structural and behavioral testing before release to help provide consistent, reliable workflows.
Run with Simpler Workflows
The ROCm CLI, a Technology Preview component of ROCm.AI, provides a stable, unified command-line interface for setting up, managing and operating AI workloads on AMD hardware.
Developers can use the same workflows manually, through an AI coding agent or in continuous integration (CI) environments. From a single interface, they can inspect systems, install and manage ROCm environments, serve models, run diagnostics, update components, and control runtimes.
The CLI is available on Windows as well as Linux as a prebuilt binary and does not require an existing ROCm installation. It delivers managed ROCm environments, supports multiple side-by-side runtimes including runtime activation and rollback, as well as integrated model serving and engine management. Adapters today support Lemonade on select AMD client systems and vLLM for AMD Instinct GPU serving.
The ROCm Console (formerly “dash”), included with the CLI, provides a real-time view of system status and workload activity. Developers can monitor ROCm runtime health, model serving, GPU utilization and benchmark telemetry, including metrics such as high bandwidth memory (HBM) usage, power consumption and tokens per watt on supported AMD Instinct systems.
Available as a Technology Preview, ROCm CLI provides a version-agnostic experience across ROCm releases, beginning with ROCm 7.13 software, with ROCm 10 official support coming soon.
Building on the ROCm 10 Software Stack
These developer experiences build on the broader ROCm 10 software stack that includes the ROCm Core SDK, providing a more modular foundation for building and running AI workloads across AMD platforms.
ROCm 10 also includes updates to libraries, compilers, frameworks, tools, model support, performance and hardware platforms.
For a deeper look at the ROCm Core SDK, including libraries, compilers, tools, framework and model support, performance improvements and platform updates, read the full ROCm 10 technical deep dive.
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. Learn more at www.amd.com.
MENLO PARK, Calif., Aug. 31, 2026 — ChronoScale Corporation has announced plans with Microsoft for a 50-megawatt AI compute deployment in North America. The deployment will feature NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems and advanced liquid-cooling infrastructure designed for high-density AI workloads.
The project brings together ChronoScale’s experience developing and operating purpose-built AI infrastructure with Microsoft’s global cloud and AI capabilities. It is designed to support the power, cooling, networking, storage, and operational requirements of next-generation accelerated computing.
“Microsoft is helping define the next era of AI, and we are proud to partner with them on the infrastructure required to support that transformation,” said Cenly Chen, Chief Executive Officer of ChronoScale. “This planned 50 MW deployment reflects our focus on building AI infrastructure for the density and scale of accelerated computing. By combining NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems, liquid cooling, and our full-stack infrastructure capabilities, we intend to deliver production-ready AI compute with the performance, reliability, and scalability our customers require.”
The North America deployment will integrate NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems with liquid cooling, high-performance networking, storage, software, and purpose-built data center infrastructure. The integrated design is intended to manage the thermal and operational requirements of next-generation NVIDIA accelerated computing clusters while supporting advanced AI training and inference workloads.
“The next generation of AI clouds must operate as full-stack AI factories, delivering more intelligence from every watt and lower token costs over the life of the infrastructure,” said Raj Mirpuri, Vice President of Global AI Clouds and Infrastructure Ecosystem at NVIDIA. “ChronoScale’s deployment of NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 systems will provide the performance, efficiency and flexibility developers and enterprises need to train and deploy frontier and open-source AI at scale.”
As AI models increase in size and complexity, the infrastructure supporting them must accommodate greater power density, advanced cooling technologies, high-bandwidth networking, and tightly integrated operations. ChronoScale’s full-stack platform brings together compute, networking, storage, software, and purpose-built data center infrastructure to deploy and operate accelerated computing capacity at scale.
About ChronoScale
ChronoScale (Nasdaq: CHRN) is an accelerated compute platform purpose-built to support demanding artificial intelligence workloads. Focused on large-scale deployments, the platform delivers dedicated compute environments optimized for performance, consistency, and long-term operational execution, with the ability to scale capacity alongside accelerating AI demand.
(The Center Square) – The U.S. House of Representatives will vote this week on a continuing resolution, preventing the government from shutting down in October and buying lawmakers more time to finish all 12 annual appropriations bills.
FTC alleges in lawsuit that online retailer ‘secretly and systematically overcharged’ advertisers for years
The US’s main trade regulator and 22 states sued Amazon on Monday, alleging the online retailer “secretly and systematically overcharged” advertisers on Amazon.com.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said these practices led to higher costs for customers on items like groceries and other essential goods that are sold on Amazon.
I've got a brand new Pint slick that I took off my grandkids new Pint last summer. My intention is to put that Pint slick on my Pint S (smaller tire for a torque boost). That leaves me with an unused Pint Performance Treaded Tire.
I'm thinking of mounting the Pint S take-off (PPTT) on my XRC. I'm hoping for a more nimble full size board. Has anyone done this and enjoyed it? Or, did it turn out to be a novel waste of time?
Singer, accused of murder and sexual abuse of teen Celeste Rivas Hernandez, to be represented by LA public defender
Singer D4vd lost his high-profile private lawyers on Monday at a hearing where he entered a new not guilty plea to charges that he killed, sexually abused and dismembered 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez.
It is not clear why Blair Berk and her colleagues Marilyn Bednarski and Regina Peter parted ways with the singer, whose legal name is David Anthony Burke. They were replaced by a lawyer from the Los Angeles county public defender’s office.
(The Center Square) – Massachusetts leads the nation with the highest health scores among residents while Louisiana is at the bottom, according to a new report.
Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey is warning that advanced "frontier" AI models could materially increase cyber risk across the global financial system by making attacks faster, cheaper, and more scalable. In a letter to G20 finance officials, he said financial firms need stronger defenses and contingency plans for simultaneous disruptions. CNBC reports: Writing in his capacity as chair of the Financial Stability Board, an international body that coordinates policy and makes recommendations to national authorities, Bailey identified the potential impact of frontier AI -- which refers to the most advanced AI models -- on cyber risk as "the most immediate concern" for the financial system.
"Frontier AI may have the ability materially to alter the speed, scale and economics of cyber risk, which could undermine market confidence system-wide, especially due to highly concentrated third-party service providers," Bailey said. "Recent developments have also highlighted to me that many jurisdictions do not have the protocols in place to manage the development, release, and deployment of advanced frontier AI models, heightening risks for the financial sector and beyond," he added.
[...] Financial institutions and technology providers will need to improve vulnerability management, response and recovery capabilities -- "and prepare for more severe scenarios involving simultaneous disruption across multiple firms or shared technology dependencies," Bailey said. Alongside new AI models, Bailey cited "fragilities" in sovereign debt markets, the growing use of debt by investors in equity markets and stretched asset valuations, particularly AI-related investments, as among his concerns.
The Argentine’s career with Argentina was singular, and his exit is a reminder that all good things come to an end
IIt was among the defining moments of the 2026 World Cup: Lionel Messi standing arms akimbo, looking up towards Argentina’s fervent supporters after losing the final. Tears streamed down his face after his team’s embarrassing loss to Spain in what we now know was Messi’s final match wearing that famous Argentina kit.
It was not the first time he’d cried at the tournament. There had been tears of joy in Argentina’s opening match, when Messi rolled back the clock to his glory days with a trio of spectacular goals against Algeria. There had been more when his brace against Austria pushed Argentina through to the knockout round as group winners, and even more when his equalizer against Egypt threw la Albiceleste a much-needed lifeline. Later, the world found out that Messi had been struggling all the while with the health struggles of his father, Jorge, a fact that clearly weighed heavily on him as Argentina made a dramatic return to the final in a bid to defend their 2022 title.
Kemi Badenoch has kicked off the return to parliament with a reshuffle of her top team in order to take on Andy Burnham and Reform UK. She has made sweeping changes to the shadow cabinet and ruthlessly axed her shadow chancellor. Here is a run-down of the new characters sitting across from Labour on the opposition frontbench.
TCG Isin expected to play vital role in locating Filo Jet’s voyage data recorder 514 metres below surface
A deep-sea search and rescue vessel is on its way to Cyprus as Turkey joins efforts to retrieve the 20 people still missing after a passenger ferry capsized off the island’s northern coast.
The TCG Isinwill join the vast operation to find survivors after the high-speed ferry sank on Sunday barely four nautical miles outside the port town of Kyrenia.
The Aug. 29 deployment ceremony recognized members of Alpha Company, 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced, as they transitioned to active mobilization. Image Courtesy of the Delaware National Guard
Nearly 100 members of the 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced were honored at a Harrington ceremony, marking Delaware’s second major Guard mobilization this month
HARRINGTON, Del. — Nearly 100 Delaware Army National Guard soldiers are preparing to deploy to the Middle East after family members, friends and community leaders gathered Saturday at the Delaware State Fairgrounds to honor their service.
The Aug. 29 deployment ceremony recognized members of Alpha Company, 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced, as they transitioned to active mobilization.
U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and Maj. Gen. James Benson, adjutant general of the Delaware National Guard, attended the ceremony.
The specific location, mission designation and expected length of the deployment have not been publicly released. Guard officials have said the soldiers are preparing to serve in the Middle East.
Providing battlefield connections
The 198th is a communications unit responsible for delivering the secure voice, data and network connections that military commanders and ground forces need to operate.
Its soldiers can establish satellite communications, secure wireless networks and other systems in places where military units do not have enough communications equipment of their own.
The “Enhanced” designation reflects a major modernization of the battalion’s technology. The new equipment is lighter, faster to establish and easier to tailor to missions of different sizes. It also reduces transportation requirements by more than 60% compared with the older equipment package.
The Delaware unit became the first Army National Guard signal battalion — and the sixth Army unit overall — converted to the enhanced configuration.
Although signal soldiers typically work behind the front lines, their mission is essential. Modern military operations depend on reliable connections among commanders, aircraft, intelligence systems and troops operating across large areas.
The battalion has a long history of overseas service. In 2019, about 250 members deployed to Southwest Asia in support of U.S. Central Command and Operation Inherent Resolve. The unit has also supported missions in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Second major Delaware mobilization
The Army Guard ceremony followed another large Delaware deployment ceremony earlier in August.
More than 160 airmen from the Delaware Air National Guard’s 166th Airlift Wing were honored Aug. 2 at the New Castle Air National Guard Base. Those airmen are preparing to join the Pennsylvania Air National Guard’s 171st Air Refueling Wing to form a deployable combat wing.
The 166th operates C-130H Hercules aircraft and provides airlift and airdrop support for troops, cargo and passengers. The wing also performs aeromedical evacuation and other support missions.
The Army and Air Guard mobilizations are separate assignments. Together, however, they mean that more than 250 Delaware Guard members are preparing for federal service — a significant commitment for one of the nation’s smallest states.
The ceremonies also recognize the sacrifice made by the families, employers and communities that support Guard members while they are away.
To Go Box:
What: Delaware Army National Guard deployment
Unit: Alpha Company, 198th Expeditionary Signal Battalion-Enhanced
Number deploying: Nearly 100 soldiers
Destination: Middle East
Mission: Provide high-speed tactical communications and secure network connectivity to military forces
Ceremony: Held Aug. 29 at the Delaware State Fairgrounds in Harrington
Santos was accused of profiting from bets tied to his attendance at Trump’s State of the Union address
George Santos, the former Republican congressman whose political career collapsed under a mountain of lies, has become the first person ever handed a lifetime ban by the prediction-market platform Kalshi.
The company announced the permanent suspension on Monday, along with a $71,356 fine, after federal regulators accused Santos of profiting from bets tied to his own attendance at Donald Trump’s State of the Union address earlier this year.
Rahmanullah Lakanwal, accused last year of fatally shooting a National Guard member and severely injuring another, has been refusing to eat for months while in government custody.
(The Center Square) – Inviting a lightning rod of a senator to spur North Carolina Democrats at their annual state convention, highlighted by support of U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper, is reverberating again.
Exclusive: Prime minister wants to ‘bring back hope’ by tackling cost of living as MPs call for electoral reform
Andy Burnham will drive home his pledge to bring more essential services back into public control, telling MPs in the Commons on Tuesday that it will be the only way to improve growth across the country.
Burnham will address the house for the first time in 16 years from the frontbench, and six weeks since he became prime minister, after spending the summer recess announcing a slew of policies that will now be put before MPs.
Kemi Badenoch sacked her shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, and the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, in a sweeping Conservative reshuffle on Monday, replacing Stride with Andrew Griffith, and Patel with Tom Tugendhat.
Stride, who had been shadow chancellor since Badenoch became leader, was widely seen among Tories as failing to make an impression at a time when Labour had been under pressure over the economy.
Lander screamed at and verbally abused as he protested against Hindu nationalist rally in Madison Square Garden
The New York Democratic congressional nominee Brad Lander was screamed at and verbally abused by protesters over his stance on Israel as he protested against a Hindu nationalist politician speaking outside Madison Square Garden.
As Lander attended a demonstration on Saturday against the event, organized by the Hindu nationalist RSS movement and where Mohan Bhagwat, leader of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh was speaking, he was confronted by several protesters demanding that he leave the rally.
National Park Service confirms second death from weekend flash flood as area braces for more storms
A second death was confirmed by National Park Service officials on Monday after aflash flood sent a surge of water and debris through an area of the Grand Canyon over the weekend.
Dozens of visitors had to be evacuated by helicopter during the deluge that consumed trails and infrastructure. Fifteen people are still missing or unaccounted for, as more heavy rain and thunderstorms in the forecasts threaten additional debris flows, flash floods or rockfalls, the NPS said in a statement.
Washington, D.C. — The Justice Department has opened a renewed investigation into whether former FBI Director James Comey improperly disclosed sensitive information to the media, issuing a federal grand jury subpoena Monday to his longtime friend and adviser Daniel Richman.
Richman, a Columbia University law professor and former special government employee at the FBI, acknowledged in 2017 that he provided a reporter with the contents of a memo Comey wrote documenting conversations with President Donald Trump.
Comey testified before Congress that he asked Richman to share the information because he hoped public disclosure would prompt the appointment of a special counsel. Comey said at the time that the memo he provided was not classified.
Fox News first reported the new subpoena, describing the inquiry as focused on possible disclosure of classified material to The New York Times. CNN independently confirmed the subpoena and reported that prosecutors examined the same matter during Trump’s first term but declined to bring charges.
Richman has maintained that the material he shared was not marked classified and, to his knowledge, remained unclassified.
The renewed inquiry is separate from another federal case involving Comey’s controversial “86 47” social media post. Comey is challenging those charges ahead of a trial scheduled for October.
The subpoena itself does not establish wrongdoing by either Richman or Comey, and no new charges have been announced.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from 9to5Mac: Today is Tim Cook's last day as Apple CEO, with John Ternus set to take over tomorrow. To mark his last day in the role, Cook penned an emotional memo to Apple employees today. In the memo sent to employees this morning and obtained by 9to5Mac, Cook reflects on his time at Apple and thanks employees for all of their work. He also says he takes "enormous comfort in handing the helm to someone as brilliant and wonderful and capable" as John Ternus. "Few people understand what it takes to build products that change the world the way John does and I could not be more excited for his leadership," Cook writes. "There is something truly special about Apple," writes Cook. "I am most proud of what an annual report could never capture. This place is proof that culture triumphs over everything. We share a belief that what we build matters, and that we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to leave the world better than we found it. That purpose is part of what makes this place extraordinary. Apple helps nurture it, but I believe it lived within each of you long before you arrived here. It is what brought you to this company and what continues to drive the work you do every day."
He continues: "Together, we have created something far greater than any one of us could have imagined or accomplished alone. And that's the secret to our success. We bring out the best in each other. We lift each other up. We have made it possible to leave our 'dent in the universe,' as Steve once described it, because of who we are and what we believe, because of what we value and how we see the world. How fortunate we are. How fortunate I am..."
Cook also thanked the Apple community in a post on social media, writing: "Sending lots of love to the Apple community on my last day as CEO. My title changes tomorrow, but the love I have for the Apple community never will. Thank you for being a constant source of inspiration. My gratitude is endless, and I'm excited for the next chapter!"
Body of victim thought to be in her 70s found in bin bag in walled garden area of Stanley Park on Friday
Police in Liverpool have urged members of the public to come forward with information after the body of an unknown woman believed to be in her 70s was found in a black bin bag in a popular park.
Merseyside police were contacted by a passerby who had found the woman’s body in Stanley Park, in the Anfield area of Liverpool, at about 5.25pm on Friday 28 August.
President Donald Trump said that the United States, which had transitioned largely to economic warfare, would respond militarily to an Iranian attack on Jordan.
Three-quarters of Americans said in a recent poll that they oppose datacenters being built next to their homes
Donald Trump has criticized communities pushing back against datacenter projects across the US amid a growing backlash, warning those that reject them risk becoming “backwards and poor”.
As controversy surrounding local datacenter plans continues to swirl around election campaigns nationwide ahead of November’s midterm elections, the US president declared Americans “will only have yourselves to blame” if they are canceled.
Coinciding with this week’s G20 meeting, the EU has issued a statement saying it will work with the US and other allied countries to maintain economic pressure against Iran.
“The EU welcomes efforts at ensuring that Iran ceases its destabilising activities and engages in peace negotiations with good faith, also through additional economic pressure, including through the US-led Operation Economic Outcast,” it said in reference to the pressure strategy the White House describes as “an unprecedented campaign to sever every remaining economic lifeline sustaining” the Islamic republic.
Washington says it acted after observing Iran was planning to deploy fresh mines in strait of Hormuz
The US and Iran have exchanged fire for the first time in a month, with missiles and drones fired at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, and Iran targeting US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates in response.
The US president, Donald Trump, on Monday threatened further action. The US is trying to prise open Tehran’s grip on shipping going through the strait, which before the war accounted for a fifth of the world’s seaborne energy supply. Washington claimed that Iranian control over the waterway had been loosened by repeated US attacks on Iranian missile launchers and radars.
I mountain bike and love the quadlock system and wondered if anyone has A) seen this new alarm from them and B) if so, how would you go about attaching it to your OneWheel? I’m at a loss as to how but figure there may be a way. Also unsure if something like this already exists for OneWheel and I just missed it because I’m new to riding.
“There isn’t much time left, and different chapters are coming to an end. This is one that hurts me a lot,” the 2022 World Cup winner wrote on Instagram.
The president’s deportation machine is creating a class of people inside the US who have fewer protections against the power of the state
Is the Trump administration creating a group in the US with fewer protections against executive power owing to their immigration status? Its often openly racist actions suggest so. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims to target “the worst of the worst” – undocumented migrants who commit violent crimes. Yet the Guardian reported that over half of those arrested in July had no criminal convictions or pending charges. That month, ICE made record arrests and deportations, apprehending 1,500 people and removing 1,100 daily.
When campaigning, Donald Trump falsely claimed that Haitians were “eating the pets”. In office, his administration moved to end temporary protected status (TPS) for Haitians. In June, the supreme court let the protection expire, leaving about 350,000 people at risk of deportation to a country gripped by violence and instability. The court’s decision means more than 1 million TPS holders from 13 nations previously considered too unsafe to return to are now at risk of deportation. Many have lived and worked legally in the US for years.
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.
New York, New York — Prediction market Kalshi has permanently banned former U.S. Rep. George Santos after concluding he likely engaged in insider trading by betting on whether he would attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address.
Kalshi said its compliance department found reasonable cause to believe Santos violated trading rules by wagering on an outcome he personally controlled. He earned $17,839 from the trades and was assessed a $71,356 penalty in addition to the lifetime ban.
Santos had repeatedly suggested publicly that he planned to attend the address. Kalshi said he placed large bets between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25 against his attendance while making statements that influenced the contract’s price. Shortly after Trump’s speech began, Santos announced on X that he had been delayed at an airport.
In March, Santos acknowledged that some traders lost money while others unexpectedly profited, describing the episode as evidence of how “fragile” prediction markets can be.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission separately penalized Santos in July over alleged manipulative trading connected to the same wagers.
Santos was expelled from Congress in 2023 and later pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft. He served 84 days of a seven-year prison sentence before Trump commuted his sentence in 2025.
Frank Furedi announces resignation from MCC Brussels after organisation’s staff ‘not paid in July or August’
The head of Viktor Orbán’s favourite Brussels thinktank has quit, citing unpaid wages since the change of government in Hungary.
The sociology professor Frank Furedi said he was resigning as the executive director of MCC Brussels with “immediate effect” on Monday over “persistent failure to provide the contractually agreed funds”.
MapQuest's refusal to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America" has sent its app surging up the charts, making it the No. 1 navigation app in the U.S. and driving "hundreds of thousands" of new downloads. In contrast, Google Maps announced on Saturday that it was complying with the Trump administration's name change. TechCrunch reports: The "OG of online mapping," as the company calls itself, announced on Thursday that it would not change the name of Lake Ontario on its maps to Lake America, despite Trump's executive order directing the U.S. Department of the Interior to update the lake's name in the U.S. geographic naming service. As a result, MapQuest's mobile app downloads soared, sending the iOS app to the No. 4 position on the U.S. App Store's Top Charts for apps (not including games) as of Monday morning on the U.S. east coast.
MapQuest also reached the No. 8 position overall in the U.S. App Store across both apps and games, and it became the No. 1 Navigation app in the United States. In Canada's App Store, the app reached No. 2 overall as of Sunday evening. The 30-year-old company remarked that it received "hundreds of thousands" of new downloads since its decision to keep the name Lake Ontario in place, and saw its app's usage climb to 50 times above its normal levels. "We took the same approach we did with the Gulf of Mexico: be part of the conversation, and give people an app that keeps the names they're familiar with," said Doug Berger, general manager of MapQuest, in a statement. "Hundreds of thousands of people signaled to us this weekend that we got it right by downloading our app."
MONTRÉAL and TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 31, 2026 — Anyon Systems Inc., a Canadian developer and manufacturer of full-stack superconducting quantum computing systems, and KMT Technologies Ltd., a Matrix Group company, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the international deployment of quantum computing infrastructure.
Under the agreement, KMT will serve as an exclusive representative and distributor for Anyon across a number of strategic international markets. KMT has also been appointed as an authorised installation, commissioning, integration, service and support partner for Anyon quantum computing systems.
The partnership combines Anyon’s vertically integrated quantum computing technology with Matrix Group’s capabilities in high-performance computing (HPC), AI infrastructure, data centres, networking, cybersecurity and systems integration.
Together, the companies intend to address growing demand from governments, research institutions, HPC centres and enterprises seeking to deploy quantum computing as part of their broader computing infrastructure.
Integrating Quantum Computing with HPC and AI
Anyon develops key elements of its superconducting quantum computing stack in-house, including quantum processors, cryogenic systems, control electronics, software and system integration.
The company’s architecture is based on the view that quantum processors will increasingly operate as specialised accelerators within heterogeneous computing environments, alongside CPUs, GPUs and other computing resources.
To support this architecture, Anyon is developing its fourth-generation quantum control electronics, designed to enable direct high-speed connectivity between its quantum computing systems and GPU infrastructure using Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA).
The architecture is intended to provide a high-bandwidth, low-latency data path between quantum and classical computing resources, enabling tighter integration of QPUs with GPU-accelerated HPC and AI environments.
Matrix and KMT bring complementary expertise in HPC, GPU infrastructure, high-performance networking, data centres and complex systems integration, providing the infrastructure and deployment capabilities surrounding the quantum system.
Alireza Najafi-Yazdi, Founder and CEO of Anyon Systems, said: “We believe the future quantum computer will operate as an accelerator within a heterogeneous computing environment, alongside CPUs and GPUs. Building a better quantum processor is only one part of that challenge — the QPU, control electronics, classical compute and high-performance network ultimately have to operate as one integrated system.
“That philosophy is driving our technology roadmap. Our fourth-generation control electronics are being developed to provide direct RDMA-based connectivity to GPU infrastructure, enabling much tighter coupling between quantum and classical computing resources. Matrix’s expertise in HPC, high-performance networking and data-centre integration makes them a natural partner for bringing this architecture into customer environments.”
Anyon’s Next Generation of Quantum Computers
The partnership comes as Anyon enters the next phase of its technology roadmap. Anyon has already deployed superconducting quantum computing systems in Canada, including MonarQ, quantum computer installed at Calcul Québec and integrated into Canada’s high-performance computing ecosystem.
Building on this platform, Anyon is developing an upcoming 72-qubit superconducting quantum computer, followed by systems designed to scale beyond 100 physical qubits.
The company’s roadmap extends beyond increasing physical qubit count. Anyon is advancing its processor, cryogenic, control and system technologies as part of its longer-term objective of developing scalable, fault-tolerant quantum computing systems.
Beyond Distribution: Building a Quantum Delivery Capability
The relationship extends beyond conventional technology distribution. KMT will develop technical teams capable of installing, commissioning, integrating and supporting Anyon quantum computing systems. Anyon will train and certify KMT personnel, while continuing to provide advanced engineering and product support.
This structure reflects the signed agreement, which appoints KMT both as Anyon’s exclusive representative and distributor in the applicable territory and as an authorised installation, commissioning, integration, service and support arm.
The companies intend to combine Anyon’s quantum technology with Matrix’s HPC and data-centre capabilities to provide customers with an integrated path from quantum computing hardware through installation, integration and lifecycle support.
Addressing Demand for Sovereign Quantum Infrastructure
Governments, research institutions and strategic enterprises increasingly view quantum computing as an important component of future computing infrastructure, creating demand for sovereign and on-premises quantum systems that can be integrated with existing HPC and AI environments.
By combining Anyon’s vertically integrated quantum computing technology with Matrix’s infrastructure and systems-integration capabilities, the companies aim to reduce the practical barriers to deploying quantum computers and accelerate their transition from specialised research systems into operational computing infrastructure.
Anyon Systems Inc. is a Canadian quantum computing company headquartered in Montréal, Québec. Founded in 2014, Anyon develops and manufactures full-stack superconducting quantum computing systems, including quantum processors, cryogenic systems, control electronics, software and system integration. The company has delivered quantum computing systems to Canadian government and research organisations and is developing its next generation of scalable systems as part of its roadmap toward fault-tolerant quantum computing.
About KMT Technologies and Matrix Group
KMT Technologies Ltd. is a Matrix Group company providing advanced computing infrastructure and systems-integration capabilities for government, enterprise, research and other technology-intensive customers. Matrix provides high-performance computing, cloud and infrastructure solutions, networking, cybersecurity, systems integration and professional services across international markets.
Congressman says Thomas abandoned his principles to become an extremist, hard-right member of bench
The senior Democratic congressman James Clyburn said his decision to support Clarence Thomas for a US supreme court seat “was a mistake” and called for the expansion of the nation’s highest legal panel to 13 justices.
Clyburn, of South Carolina, spoke up for Thomas at his fiery 1991 confirmation hearings, calling him “a personal and professional friend” who would use their shared experiences lifting minorities and advancing civil rights to become a respected and accomplished jurist.
Both thefts occurred on 17 August at a distribution center east of Los Angeles
Thieves made off with tens of thousands of cans of Pabst beer in two separate heists from a southern California warehouse on the same day, police said.
Pabst Blue Ribbon has turned the thefts – valued by police at $70,000 – into a lighthearted social media promotion. But police in Montclair said on Friday that investigators were trying to determine whether they were part of a single operation.
My first hydraulic shock prototype is working well. It feels softer with less rebound. I find it most advantageous when bombing choppy downhills, 20-30 deg grade, it's much smoother. What I don't like is less pop off of bonks and berms. An expected result but still a bummer to get less air.
I found that the size specs for the hydraulic were more akin to high end RC trucks, but I needed it to be sturdier. I used what I learned about bikes, cars and rc and made my own hydraulic. The body is 3/4" NPT aluminum pipe with end caps. 1/4"-20 eyelet for the shaft. 3D printed ABS to hold the o-rings. I used 50wt RC shock oil. Budget was around $150.
Salesianum football competed in a preseason scrimmage against St. Joseph’s Prep school from Pennsylvania on August 26, to prepare for the upcoming 2026 Delaware high school football season.
Sallies quarterback Brady Nabb receives the snap as Salesianum football takes on the Hawks in a preseason scrimmage.
Nabb sets and fires to a teammate downfield.
Salesianum Junior EstherVell Cotton leaps into the air to haul in a pass.
The Sallies defense closes the running lane and makes a tackle, stopping the St. Joseph run.
St. Joseph’s quarterback surveys the Salesianum defense as he receives the snap.
The Hawks wide receiver looks in a pass from his quarterback, completing the catch along the sideline.
Cotton fights through a pair of tackles earning extra yards for the Sals.
The St. Joseph QB launches a deep pass toward the left sideline.
The Hawks wide receiver tracks the pass and looks in the catch.
The Hawks receiver completes the catch and scores a touchdown. St. Joseph’s Prep is the top ranked program in the state of Pennsylvania according to MaxPreps.
Salesianum senior Michael Brock breaks on the football hoping to break up the pass.
Cotton breaks a Hawks tackle and runs into the endzone for a score.
Nabb loads up for a deep throw to a teammate downfield.
Nabb’s pass flies over the outstretched arm of the Hawks defender and lands perfectly in the arms of senior receiver Tysir Jones.
Jones reaches for the goal line, scoring a Salesianum touchdown. Sallies begins the regular season on September 3, against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy from Pennsylvania.
All photos courtesy of Dave Reeder. To see more of Dave’s work follow him on Instagram @bfr_photo
Opponents of restarting negotiations to join the European Union argued that joining the bloc would undermine national control of fishing, farming and other top priorities.
The Met's decision to highlight the work by designer John Galliano sparked widespread controversy due to his history of antisemitic and racist comments.
Response seeks to discredit Washington Post story that four generals and admirals advised against prolonging Iran war
Pete Hegseth regularly receives formal objections from senior commanders and proceeds anyway, the Pentagon’s top spokesman has said, as he tried to discredit a Washington Post report that four generals and admirals had advised against prolonging the war in Iran.
“Of course, we demand candid military advice,” Sean Parnell wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Non-concurs are standard. The Secretary sees them constantly. That’s how you run a real military.”
Technology trained on millions of routine ECGs could fast-track high-risk patients for treatment
Doctors have developed a “superhuman” AI tool that can spot heart disease in less than two seconds.
The groundbreaking technology has been trained on millions of patients and works by extracting more information from a routine electrocardiogram (ECG) than the human eye can typically see.
A massive 12TB archive of old Steam2 content has surfaced online, apparently containing nearly every version of games uploaded to Valve's servers between 2003 and 2013, including unreleased prototypes, playtest builds, and cut content. Early discoveries include deleted Portal 2 material, files tied to Half-Life 2: Episode 3, and beta builds of games like Left 4 Dead 2, CS: GO, Spore, and Dragon Age: Origins. Researchers claim much of the material was once accessible through an unsecured public API. Ars Technica reports: The reason this weekend's leaked content cuts off abruptly in 2013 is because that's when Valve updated its content distribution system from "Steam2" to the current SteamPipe system. In moving from a proprietary file distribution format to standard HTTP file trees, the new system removed various update approval bottlenecks on Valve's end and streamlined update and patch downloads so they only reflected file differentials.
Publicly accessible early versions of some games released before this SteamPipe transition had been considered lost content by archivists, no longer accessible from Valve itself and living on only as local downloads on aging machines. Apparently all that content wasn't as lost as many thought, though. Longtime Valve watcher and data miner Gabe Follower (previously) wrote on social media this weekend that he had "verified that everything in Steam2 Teraleak was obtained via a publicly accessible [API] endpoint. It's Valve's fault..." Spanish-language Valve streamer and analyst Scolcer also said on social media (via machine translation) that the teraleak was "obtained from a site that was 100% accessible to the public. It was there for everyone to download. No passwords. Nothing. Hidden in plain sight, but with no protection whatsoever."
What's unclear right now if that API and publicly available Steam2 server content were accessed recently or if this weekend's leak represents content that was privately archived before the 2013 server transition and is just now being made public. "It could more-so be a collection of different people that knew about it and accumulated whatever people had downloaded back then into this massive archive," said The One Epicplayer, a moderator on the Valve Cut Content (VCC) Discord, which has long followed Valve betas and leaks. "I haven't been filled in on the full details but my suspicion is that these depot [files] were downloaded a long time ago and sat in a private collection," CrazyBubba, another VCC Discord moderator, told Ars. "There were a lot of leaks a few years back and many folks hoarded files for years. ... historically there have been issues with people lording content over other members."
A readme file included with the leak offers "warm n good wishes to all hoarders who had stuff from this collection" and encourages users to mirror and share it as widely as possible. On the VCC Discord, a user purporting to be the original uploader of the teraleak (who offered screenshots of a 22TB server upload log among their evidence) wrote that "getting this out really took a significant amount of effort from me and I would like it if it didn't go to waste."
Workers thought to be stuck in underground areas at 11 sites after last week’s devastating flash floods
Rescue teams are working to reach more than 900 missing hydropower workers, hundreds of whom are feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of 12hydropower projects in Nepal after the devastating flash floods, the country’s disaster management authority has said.
The death toll from the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris on Wednesday last week has risen to 939 people, with 16 more dead reported in Tibet. More than 4,400 are missing on the two sides of the border.
Pint small. Battery small. Mileage short. Im crossing the 600 mile barrier today in 71 days. I used the fast charger for the first 475 miles and sadly cooked my battery a little bit, not too much.
Ive been experimenting with the different profiles, pacific is my favorite. Seems j can get more mileage using skyline though. Can anyone confirm?
REHOVOT, Israel, Aug. 31, 2026 — CollPlant Biotechnologies Ltd. today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire LightSolver Ltd., an Israeli deep-tech company pioneering a fundamentally new computing architecture based on lasers. The acquisition is expected to close this week.
CollPlant is acquiring LightSolver utilizing an equity-centric consideration structure comprising upfront closing shares, alongside pre-funded warrants and milestone-based warrants directly tied to LightSolver meeting specific technological and commercial objectives.
LightSolver has developed the Laser Processing Unit (LPU), an all-optical working computing platform that uses the physical interaction of lasers to perform computation. Rather than relying exclusively on electronic transistors to execute mathematical operations and move data between processing and memory, the LPU maps mathematical problems onto an optical system in which large numbers of variables can interact simultaneously.
By using light itself as the computational medium, the LPU is designed to perform massively parallel computation with exceptional speed and energy efficiency.
LightSolver’s quantum-inspired architecture captures certain advantages of physical, highly parallel computation in a room-temperature platform while avoiding many of the practical constraints associated with quantum computing.
LightSolver is targeting some of the world’s most computationally demanding problems, using its LPU to accelerate large-scale linear systems, optimization and PDEs-the mathematics powering everything from robotics and Physical AI, weather prediction to plasma physics, chip design, new materials and drug discovery, and real-time mission-critical decision-making.
“We are excited to announce this transformational acquisition of LightSolver, which opens an extraordinary new growth vector for CollPlant in the high-performance photonic computing and supercomputing space,” said Yehiel Tal, Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of CollPlant, “While entering the photonics market, CollPlant remains fully committed to regenerative medicine and medical aesthetics. To this end, we are actively pursuing strategic collaborations with global leaders interested in advancing, integrating, or otherwise leveraging our technology and capabilities.”
Dr. Ruti Ben Shlomi, founder and CEO of LightSolver, commented, “Computing is reaching an inflection point. We believe the next great leap will come not from making transistors smaller, but from changing the very medium of computing – from electrons to light – unlocking a new era of speed and energy efficiency. We have turned that idea from fundamental physics into a working machine. As we move toward commercial availability, our ambition is for the LPU to become a new computing layer alongside CPUs and GPUs – compressing computational workloads that can take minutes, hours or even weeks into milliseconds of LPU computation.”
Eran Rotem, Deputy CEO and Chief Financial Officer of CollPlant stated, “This transaction marks CollPlant’s entry into a market with massive growth potential, executed through a highly disciplined approach to capital allocation. Our goal is to support the continued development and commercialization of LightSolver’s technology while creating a new strategic growth opportunity for CollPlant.”
About LightSolver
LightSolver is an Israeli deep-tech company pioneering a new generation of high-performance computing based on the physics of light. Founded in 2020 by Weizmann Institute physicists Dr. Ruti Ben Shlomi and Dr. Chene Tradonsky, LightSolver is the developer of the Laser Processing Unit (LPU), a proprietary all-optical computing architecture that uses coupled lasers to perform computation. The LPU is designed to accelerate computationally intensive workloads including scientific and engineering simulation, partial differential equations, large-scale linear systems and optimization, with applications across aerospace, defense, energy, advanced engineering, financial services and Physical AI. LightSolver is advancing its technology toward commercial deployment in collaboration with leading global organizations. For more information about LightSolver, visit lightsolver.com.
About CollPlant
CollPlant is a pioneering technology company operating at the forefront of both regenerative medicine and advanced high-performance computing. In the healthcare sector, CollPlant is ushering in a new era of medical solutions with a focus on 3D bioprinting of tissues and organs, tissue repair, and medical aesthetics. The Company’s products are based on its recombinant human collagen produced with CollPlant’s proprietary plant-based genetic engineering technology, addressing indications for the diverse fields of tissue repair, aesthetics, and organ manufacturing. For more information about CollPlant, visit collplant.com.
Fashion designer was convicted of hate crime by French court in 2011 after series of racist and antisemitic remarks
The controversial fashion designer John Galliano announced on Monday that an exhibition honoring his work that New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art had scheduled to open for the upcoming spring’s Met Gala is not going to go forward.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: Berlin is being blackmailed by hackers who were able to compromise city systems and steal data earlier this month, its mayor has said. Kai Wegner said officials would not cave in to the ransom demand, which came on Thursday evening. He did not say how much was being sought, though Der Spiegel reports the hackers are demanding 30 bitcoin, worth around 2 million euros. Some of the German capital's online systems were forced to close down as a result of the attack, while investigators were working to understand what data had been taken.
The Rhysida group, which is thought to operate from Russia and eastern Europe, and was behind a previous attack on the British Museum, has reportedly taken responsibility. It has said on its website it intends to begin auctioning the 5.79 terabytes of data it was able to steal from Berlin in seven days' time, according to news agency Reuters. [...] Officials for the city-state said an initial data leak occurred between August 7 and 12. Then, on August 14, two department networks were shut down, making applications for housing benefits and payments impossible for several days. "Berlin will not be blackmailed," Wegner said on Friday.
He said state police, prosecutors and federal security services were working to investigate the suspected perpetrators "with the utmost urgency," adding that inquiries into the "content and scope of the compromised data are being pursued with great intensity."
Majority of missing Australians were near Gyirong Port minutes before impact. Rescuers say the area is now destroyed, covered in metres of silt and debris
It has been almost a week since the catastrophic floods in Nepal and not even a vehicle can get into the area where the majority of missing Australians were last heard from.
Gyirong Port, the border area between Nepal and China, was the first to be hit. Images from Chinese rescue teams who have managed to get in by helicopter or hiking show the area has been completely flattened. The immigration building, the power lines, everything, just wiped away.
(The Center Square) - Democratic attorneys general from California, 22 other states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the U.S. Postal Service over its rule on mail-in ballots.
PARIS, Aug. 31, 2026 — Bull, a leader in advanced computing and AI, has been selected by the EuroHPC Joint Undertaking (EuroHPC JU) and the LUMI AI Factory consortium to deliver LUMI-AI, a €387.8 million AI supercomputer that will significantly expand Europe’s AI capabilities and strengthen its leadership in high performance computing.
Hosted by the LUMI AI Factory consortium and deployed at CSC’s data center in Kajaani, Finland, LUMI-AI will provide a tenfold increase in artificial intelligence capacity and nearly double the high-performance computing capability of the current LUMI supercomputer.
Serving as the computing backbone of the LUMI AI Factory, LUMI-AI will support industrial innovation, scientific research and the development of advanced AI applications across Europe. Designed to address a broad range of workloads, the system will accelerate AI training and inference while enabling large-scale scientific simulations essential to future breakthroughs in research and industry.
The system, owned by EuroHPC JU, is scheduled for deployment in the second half of 2027. Funding for the project is shared equally between EuroHPC JU and the LUMI AI Factory consortium, which includes Finland, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Norway and Poland.
“With LUMI-AI, EuroHPC JU has now signed its sixth AI Factory procurement contract for a next-generation AI-optimized supercomputer,” said Anders Jensen, EuroHPC JU Executive Director. “Together, these systems will form a powerful European AI infrastructure ecosystem, enabling SMEs and startups to access world-class supercomputing resources, unlock the full potential of AI, and drive innovation, growth, and technological leadership across Europe.”
“The LUMI AI Factory consortium builds on the success of the LUMI supercomputer,” said Kimmo Koski, Managing Director of CSC – IT Center for Science. “I want to thank the EuroHPC JU and the consortium for the great collaboration: together we can build this world-class infrastructure for European researchers. LUMI-AI’s modern capabilities combined with the LUMI-IQ quantum computer will help European researchers and industry tackle unforeseen research and innovation challenges in key fields such as health, climate and disruptive technologies.”
Advancing Sustainable and Sovereign AI Infrastructure
Sustainability is a core principle of the LUMI-AI project. To maximize the system’s energy efficiency, the supercomputer will rely on Bull’s Direct Liquid Cooling solution, a patented technology using warm water to cool the system.
Thanks to this patented solution, the heat generated by the system is captured and the excess will be reused to feed into Kajaani’s district heating network, significantly increasing the share of heating produced from recovered data centre energy. Powered entirely by renewable electricity and hosted in a facility built to ambitious environmental standards, LUMI-AI will be among the world’s most energy-efficient large-scale AI infrastructures.
Top-Tier Technology for Europe’s AI Ambitions
The liquid-cooled supercomputer will be based on Bull’s latest BullSequana XH3500 architecture, purpose-built for advanced AI workloads. Powered by next-generation AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th Gen AMD EPYC 256-core processors, the system will provide the performance and flexibility required for demanding AI and HPC applications.
Additional technology partners include IBM, providing a high-performance storage solution based on IBM Storage Scale, and Nokia, contributing data centre networking expertise alongside Bull’s BXI interconnect, Europe’s only high-bandwidth, low-latency interconnect designed for HPC and AI environments.
“Europe’s next wave of AI innovation will depend on infrastructure that is open, efficient and trusted,” said Thomas Zacharia, Senior Vice President, Global Public Sector and Strategic Partnerships at AMD. “LUMI-AI marks an important next step in the AMD partnership with EuroHPC JU, the LUMI AI Factory consortium and Bull. Powered by AMD Instinct MI430X GPUs and 6th Gen AMD EPYC CPUs, it will strengthen Europe’s sovereign AI capacity, accelerate scientific discovery, and give researchers, startups and industry the scale and flexibility to shape Europe’s AI future.”
About Bull
Leveraging nearly a century of innovations, Bull is a global leader for High-Performance Computing, Artificial Intelligence and Quantum technologies with c.720m€ in revenue and 3,000 professionals operating in 32 countries. Built on an open, end-to-end and trusted approach, Bull designs, deploys and operates hardware, software and strategic services that unlock enterprise value, accelerate scientific research and advance society. Driven by world-class R&D, backed by 1,600 patents, manufacturing excellence and data sciences expertise, Bull enables nations and industries to fully control their AI and data and to drive progress for the benefit of the planet.
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission finds ‘reasonable cause to believe’ tech firm subjected workers who spoke up about Palestine to hostile work environment
The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency tasked with enforcing federal anti-discrimination laws, has found that Cisco, the global tech company, probably violated the civil rights of Middle Eastern, Muslim and other company employees.
The determination, reached earlier this summer, is believed to be the first by the federal agency finding a major company at fault in connection to pro-Palestinian advocacy that swept campuses and workplaces in recent years.
Build a home office you’ll actually enjoying working from with tried-and-true upgrades – from inexpensive speakers to a stand that can turn an iPad into a second monitor
If you work from home, even just a few days a week, you need more than a laptop perched on a sticky kitchen table. A dedicated desk setup allows you to step away from distractions, plop in your office chair and get to work.
It also creates a vital separation between your personal and professional life. After spending my initial work-from-home days on a living room couch, I quickly realized the importance of creating a separate space, and I have spent seven years refining it. As a tech writer, I have tested dozens of products for my desk setup, and have found some to be totally invaluable. Here are the tried-and-true upgrades that will make working from home easier, more comfortable and even more productive.
Berlin expected to outline response to incident this month widely speculated to have been coordinated by Russia
The German government is imminently expected to announce who it believes was behind a suspected drone attack on a Ukrainian cargo plane earlier this month and to outline its response to the incident in coordination with its European and Nato partners.
The chancellor, Friedrich Merz, told the public broadcaster ARD in an interview on Sunday evening: “We are in the process of concluding the investigations; we have reached a broad agreement within the federal government on how we will respond, and we will make this clear in the coming days. It won’t take much longer.”
After Lindsey Graham’s death, Democrat Annie Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race as she seeks to flip his Republican seat
Annie Andrews was a dark horse Democrat challenging a five-term Republican in the US Senate when 314 Action, a political action fund devoted to electing scientists and doctors, first backed her.
Now, after the unexpected death of Senator Lindsey Graham, Andrews finds herself in a closely watched race. Donald Trump persuaded South Carolina voters last week to select Graham’s sister, Darline, as the new Republican candidate. They will face off in November in an election still heavily favored to keep the seat in Republican hands in the conservative state.
Telecoms company to benefit from soaring prices for recycled metal recovered from full-fibre broadband rollout
BT is on track for an estimated £2bn-plus windfall over the next decade from selling off old copper cabling, as it cashes in on soaring prices amid the AI market frenzy and switches the UK’s network to full-fibre broadband.
Copper is one of the main beneficiaries of the “electrification of everything”, essential for the rapid growth of AI datacentres, electronics and the fast-growing renewable energy industry.
I've remixed (modified) an existing Pint Fender model for 3D printing to make it more robust so you can use your board without breaking the fender arch from the mounting plate. The 3D printed fender is printed as a plate (2 parts that are assembled together) and the arch. The arch is attached to the plate, which attaches to the board just like the official one from Onewheel. The original model had very little plastic where the arch attaches to the plate and broke with a just couple of rollovers.
I've added more plastic to the arch attachment points and the ability to add brass heat inserts to accept the mounting bolts vs. using a bolt and washer as the original model did.
I'm still using my test mule, which was printed in PETG and it's holding up perfectly. I'm a new rider and roll my board more often than most, probably.
Visit the link above to download/print the fender for free! I recommend using PETG, ABS, ASA, or similar. You want a plastic with some flex over rigidity to allow for impacts without breakage.
Cape Town stunt sparks major debate over safety risks
Airlink insists flyby conducted according to regulations
A pre-game stunt involving two passenger jets flying dramatically low over a stadium in South Africa drew huge cheers from the estimated crowd of 56,000 people, but also sparked a major debate over safety risks. The flyby by two Embraer jets, operated by the local airline Airlink, happened on Saturday before the second rugby union Test between South Africa and New Zealand in Cape Town.
The flight tracking service Flightradar24 estimated that the lead jet passed just 41-46 feet (12-14 metres) above the roof of Cape Town Stadium, with the crowd and the world’s top-ranked rugby teams below. The second jet, which was very close behind, flew through a cloud of pink dust that shot up from the stadium roof as part of the show.
ESPOO, Finland, Aug. 31, 2026 — S-Transistors, a newly launched Finnish startup originating from VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, has raised €2.6 million in pre-seed funding to pioneer a fundamentally new class of integrated circuits based on superconducting transistors. The technology has several promising applications, from energy-efficient classical computing to spacecraft electronics, but quantum computing, in particular, stands to benefit most.
Credit: S-Transistors
Today’s cryogenically cooled superconducting quantum computers need a paradigm-changing solution to break the scaling limit of the quantum processing unit (QPU) – the array of quantum bits that, by analogy to a conventional CPU, does the quantum computing. That limit comes from the power-hungry, poorly scalable way quantum processors are controlled today: multiple expensive, bulky cables per qubit, running from the processor inside the cryostat out to room-temperature electronics. This is exactly where S-Transistors’ superconducting transistor technology, which is already available at wafer scale, offers a solution that is radically more energy-efficient and compact than existing alternatives.
The funding round was led by Lifeline Ventures, a leading Nordic investor, and joined by an angel investor. S-Transistors is going to use the pre-seed funding to develop several product prototypes for cryogenic signal control and handling, set up its own cryogenic laboratory, establish a manufacturing pilot line for its unique integrated circuits based on superconducting transistors, and grow the team.
“Today’s efforts in scaling cryogenic quantum computers have delivered tremendous progress, with several practical use cases already demonstrated. However, further scaling is approaching a hard wall, as it still relies on power-hungry room-temperature electronics and separate wiring for each quantum bit (qubit) – both used to operate the quantum computer and link it to the outside world. The clearest path forward, for superconducting quantum computers in particular, is to bring the classical control and interface hardware down into the cryostat, right next to the quantum chip kept cold to protect its fragile quantum states. The catch is that such integration is extremely demanding in power dissipation, speed, and energy efficiency,” says Dr. Heorhii Bohuslavskyi, Co-founder and CEO of S-Transistors. “Superconducting transistors are exactly that missing piece of hardware for large-scale, energy-efficient quantum computing.”
Cryogenic quantum computers, including those based on superconducting quantum bits, are considered among the most promising platforms for scaling quantum computing. Unlocking their full potential will require quantum machines with hundreds of thousands of qubits, along with new technologies capable of supporting such computing systems at that scale.
One key challenge is the electronics used to control the qubits and transmit signals to and from the quantum processor. Today, much of this equipment operates outside the cryogenic environment that hosts the quantum-processing chip. Moving it closer to the quantum processor and operating it at extremely low temperatures could significantly improve scalability.
However, this is not simply a matter of placing conventional chips in the cold. Although some industrial silicon transistors can operate at deep cryogenic temperatures, they struggle to combine the performance needed to control large numbers of qubits with extremely low power consumption. Excess heat can disrupt the cryogenic environment and interfere with the quantum processor’s fragile operations.
Superconducting transistors offer a promising solution to this very problem. They combine ultra-low power consumption and high-speed performance with compatibility with the quantum processor’s cryogenic environment.
“When you think about it, the transistor is the most mass-manufactured device in human history. By combining the transistor functionality, with its unparalleled computing potential, and the superconducting property of near-zero power dissipation in a single device, we can reach a completely new level of energy-efficient cryogenic computing. In the near term, this already solves the cryogenic signal routing and delivery problems the superconducting quantum computer, but the real vision is the quantum motherboard: a completely new platform for scaling quantum computers, operating at mK temperatures, and controlling the operation of qubit-based QPU,” says Dr. Andrey Generalov, Co-founder and CTO of S-Transistors.
S-Transistors’ first product is a superconducting-transistor-based multiplexer that plugs into existing cryogenic setups and speeds up the development and prototyping of various quantum devices. It will ship to early customers and strategic partners within the company’s first year of operation. The multiplexer is the first logical step toward the quantum motherboard and, according to prospective customers and collaborators, it addresses one of the most acute pain points in scaling today’s superconducting quantum computers.
The potential reaches well beyond quantum computing and sensing. First theorised in the 1980s, a scalable and reproducible superconducting transistor technology today has strong potential across classical and quantum computing, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing hardware, spacecraft electronics, and fundamental particle detectors. S-Transistors intends to be the one to take that first step from lab to fab, toward customer adoption of superconducting transistor technology.
“S-Transistors is one of those rare companies built around a genuinely new piece of fundamental technology that could become an enabling layer for an entire industry. As quantum computers scale from hundreds or thousands of qubits toward commercially useful machines, we believe superconducting transistors can become a critical part of the hardware stack that makes that scaling possible,” says Jyri Engeström, Partner at Lifeline Ventures.
“Our strategy at VTT is to shorten the journey from idea to pilot, from pilot to commercial solution. We will continue to be a part of S-Transistors’ journey as the company approaches the manufacturing phase. S-Transistors’ superconducting transistor technology will allow us to reach the point where quantum computers finally provide real-world value,” says Erja Turunen, Executive Vice President at VTT.
About S-Transistors
S-Transistors is pioneering a new class of transistors for scalable, energy-efficient classical and quantum computing. The company combines patent-pending fabrication and early-product circuit architectures with 50+ years of combined experience across microelectronics, cryogenics, quantum electronics, and advanced manufacturing. Guided by the pain points of academics and industry quantum computing players from Europe to North America and Asia, S-Transistors is on a quest to build the world’s first quantum motherboard – and unblock the scaling of quantum computers into the quantum-utility era.
Jasmeet Wadhwa, who fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan, lost his life while trying to reach UK in April
A British family is pleading with French authorities to release the body of a relative that officials have held for five months after he died in the Channel in April.
Jasmeet Wadhwa, 32, died while attempting to reach the UK on a dinghy on 1 April with his mother, Harbans Kaur Wadhwa, after they fled Taliban persecution in Afghanistan in January.
Of the many lawsuits challenging the legality or constitutionality of actions by the Trump Administration this year, the case involving the Presidential Records Act is likely just a blip on the radar of most Americans, but it should loom larger.
The case–really two lawsuits consolidated by the lower court judge–seeks to block the Trump Administration from violating the Presidential Records Act (PRA), enacted in 1978 in response to concerns that President Richard Nixon would destroy Watergate scandal-related documents. The act mandates the preservation of materials related to the official duties of the president, vice president or their staffs, and establishes that those materials are public property.
What is happening with the act and the Trump Administration is a significant piece of an effort by the administration to control or impose its view of “history” now and in the future. Other efforts recently included:
–the replacement of an exhibit at George Washington’s home in Philadelphia that showed his ownership of slaves
–an order directing placement of warning signs at the Smithsonian Museum of American History and accusing the museum of inaccuracy
–the purging of books focusing on diversity, equity and inclusion at military service academies
–the ordering all military branches to scrub online images and articles, such as of the Navajo Code Talkers and Tuskegee Airmen
–the attempt to rename the Kennedy Center, which was built to honor the fallen President John Kennedy, to add the Trump name
–executive orders renaming the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America and Lake Ontario as Lake America– both of which are legally questionable
The administration was forced to reverse course on some of these actions in the face of public criticism and outcry. But some of the efforts continue in the courts. Remember, too, the boxes of documents stacked in the bathroom at Trump’s home, Mar-a-Lago? His retention of those documents at the end of his first term triggered a fight with the National Archives and led to Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation and indictment of Trump.
The current threat to the Presidential Records Act arose on April 1, 2026, when, at the urging of the White House Counsel, the Office of Legal Counsel within the U.S. Justice Department issued an opinion stating that the nearly 50-year-old act was unconstitutional. The opinion, advisory only, stated:
“The PRA is not a valid exercise of Congress’s Article I authority and unconstitutionally intrudes on the independence and autonomy of the President guaranteed by Article II. The Act establishes a permanent and burdensome regime of congressional regulation of the Presidency untethered from any valid and identifiable legislative purpose. For these reasons, the PRA is unconstitutional, and the President need not further comply with its dictates.”
The administration quickly issued new guidance on how to preserve records and materials that was viewed by many as less burdensome than the Act’s requirements.
Lawsuits followed almost immediately seeking to defend the act’s constitutionality and to prevent the Trump administration from failing to comply with the act. The suits were filed in federal court in Washington D.C., by Freedom of the Press Foundation and Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). A second suit was filed by the American Historical Association and American Oversight.
The groups bringing the lawsuits warned that under the Justice Department’s opinion, public access to millions of records could be blocked, and lessons from how decisions were made and the ability to hold executive officials accountable for corruption or abuses of power would be lost.
The two cases were assigned to U.S. District Judge John D. Bates who in May 2026 ruled in favor of a preliminary injunction requiring the administration to comply with the act. In his opinion, Bates wrote that the act “democratizes the history of an indispensable institution. Access to those records allows future presidents to pick up where their predecessors left off, Congress to identify inefficiency and malfeasance, and the public to learn from the mistakes of the past.”
One of the key elements that courts must consider in deciding whether to issue an injunction is whether those seeking it are likely to prevail on the merits if the case goes to trial.
“On the merits, the Records Act is likely constitutional,” Bates wrote. “It was validly enacted by Congress under the Property Clause because Congress may prospectively designate presidential records as federal property and then regulate that property. And it is also a valid exercise of the Necessary and Proper Clause as it promotes the accountability and efficiency of Executive Branch operations. Moreover, it does not impermissibly intrude on any presidential prerogative, especially because Presidents– including President Trump in his first term– have complied without complaint for almost 50 years….”
The Trump administration has appealed the judge’s order to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
When Judge Bates issued his opinion in May, he opened its 54 pages with a quotation from George Orwell’s 1949 book, 1984, perhaps as a reminder or caution to all Americans. The quotation is:
“Who controls the past controls the future, who controls the present controls the past.”
Marcia Coyle is a regular contributor to Constitution Daily. She was the Supreme Court Correspondent for The National Law Journal and PBS NewsHour who has covered the Supreme Court for more than three decades.
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 31, 2026 — King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST), represented by the National Center for Quantum Technologies (NCQT), has signed a research collaboration agreement with Pasqal, a global leader in neutral-atom quantum computing, to advance research and development across multiple domains of advanced quantum technology and enhance quantum cryptography readiness in Saudi Arabia. The agreement was announced during a ceremony held at King Salman Science Oasis in Riyadh during World Quantum Day.
The agreement marks the latest milestone in Pasqal’s rapidly expanding presence in Saudi Arabia as the company deepens partnerships across the Kingdom’s research, government and industrial sectors. The announcement comes as Pasqal CEO Dr. Wasiq Bokhari prepares to deliver a keynote address in Riyadh at LEAP 2026, one of the world’s leading technology events, highlighting the company’s growing role in supporting Saudi Arabia’s ambitions to become a global hub for advanced technologies.
Under the agreement, Pasqal’s neutral-atom quantum processing technology and cloud services will be paired with KACST’s national research infrastructure to develop and validate quantum-safe cryptographic solutions. The work will be carried out at KACST’s National Center for Quantum Technologies, with quantum cryptography serving as the first focus area of a broader multi-year research program.
As quantum computing capabilities continue to advance globally, organizations across government, financial services and critical infrastructure face increasing pressure to prepare for a post-quantum future. Through the collaboration, KACST and Pasqal expect to develop, test and package quantum-safe cryptographic solutions, with the shared objective of ultimately bringing commercial offerings to the Saudi market.
Dr. Talal Al-Sedairy, Senior Vice President for R&D at KACST, said: “This agreement reflects KACST’s commitment to building strategic research partnerships with global technology leaders, supporting the development of national capabilities, and translating scientific research in quantum technologies into impactful future applications.”
Prof. Manahel Thabet, Director of the National Center for Quantum Technologies, said: “This partnership represents an important step toward building an advanced national quantum ecosystem. It enables our researchers to conduct joint research across diverse quantum domains, leveraging world-class infrastructure and international expertise to elevate the Kingdom’s research capacity and global standing in this strategic field.”
The collaboration builds on a period of significant momentum for Pasqal in Saudi Arabia. In May, together with Aramco, Pasqal inaugurated Saudi Arabia’s first quantum computer at Aramco’s data center in Dhahran, alongside the Middle East’s first commercial Quantum Computing-as-a-Service platform. More recently, Pasqal and Eleven Ventures announced plans to establish a joint venture focused on deploying, commercializing and scaling quantum computing systems across Saudi Arabia and the wider MENA region.
The company’s growing engagement in the Kingdom has also included a recent visit by a senior Saudi ministerial delegation, led by His Excellency Abdullah Alswaha, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, to Pasqal’s headquarters and quantum computer production facility in France. Together, these developments underscore Pasqal’s expanding contribution to Saudi Arabia’s quantum ecosystem, spanning research, infrastructure, industrial applications and workforce development.
Dr. Wasiq Bokhari, CEO of Pasqal, said: “This initiative builds on Saudi Arabia’s growing investment in quantum technologies and demonstrates Pasqal’s continued deep engagement and commitment to the Kingdom regarding the development and utilization of quantum technologies.
“Saudi Arabia is demonstrating a remarkable ambition to build the technologies and capabilities that will shape the next generation of computing. For Pasqal, our work in the Kingdom goes well beyond deploying quantum hardware. We want to build long-term partnerships, develop practical applications and contribute to an ecosystem capable of turning quantum computing into real industrial and economic value.”
As part of that ongoing commitment, Dr. Bokhari will deliver a keynote address today at LEAP 2026, where he will discuss the transition of quantum computing from scientific research toward industrial-scale applications and the growing role quantum technologies can play in supporting economic growth and innovation.
The KACST collaboration forms part of broader efforts to strengthen Saudi Arabia’s research, development and innovation ecosystem in quantum technologies, expand international scientific collaborations and support the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 objectives.
About Pasqal
Pasqal (Nasdaq: PSQL) helps organizations tackle problems that are difficult or impossible to solve with conventional computing methods alone. Founded in 2019 on Nobel Prize–winning research, Pasqal builds and operates neutral-atom quantum computers, delivered with a full software stack, for industry, science, and governments. Pasqal’s production-ready systems are available both on-premises and through the cloud, enabling organizations to harness quantum computing without requiring in-house quantum expertise. A single hardware platform supports analog workloads today and is designed to evolve toward fault-tolerant quantum computing in the future.
Donkey named HeeHaw was shot and killed as authorities reportedly looked on property in search of a missing person
A police officer in the US state of Georgia was placed on leave after a family’s pet baby donkey was shot and killed during an early-morning search on their property.
The animal’s owner, Hannah Israel, said officers were at her pasture without notification or permission at about 12.45am on Sunday, reportedly looking for a missing person when they encountered the small male donkey named HeeHaw.
Exclusive: Dr Will Tullett says better understanding of scents can improve wellbeing and perception of the world
Children need a better education in sniffing aromas, a leading historian of smells has said, noting it may improve their wellbeing and help them understand the world around them.
Dr Will Tullett, of the University of York, said pollution had been found to impair people’s olfactory abilities, while many objects and substances today – from margarines to car interiors and even our own homes – were stripped of their original smells and “reodourised” with synthetic scents.
Trump’s Operation Economic Outcast is expected to push many Iranians into deeper poverty as food inflation soars
For many Iranians, the new US sanctions campaign, called Operation Economic Outcast, seems superfluous given the grim economic situation in their country.
Iranians are facing runaway food inflation, closed petrol stations and a seemingly never-ending depreciation of the nation’s currency caused by a lack of foreign exchange reserves.
Spotlight Delaware reporter Nick Stonesifer recently spoke with Ray Seigfried and Shay Frisby, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate District 5 in Delaware in the Sept. 15, 2026, primary election.
Seigfried is a first-term incumbent who will be looking to defend his seat from Frisby, a progressive challenger backed by the Working Families Party.
Readers can find condensed versions of the candidates’ answers below, while the accompanying podcasts feature unedited excerpts from our conversations.
Sen. Ray Seigfried
What is something that people should know that isn’t on your campaign page?
I am very active in the healthcare area, and, I believe very strongly in the concept of healthcare and community involvement.
I have always been that way, and I went and received my master’s degree from Antioch University, and they have a motto that stuck with me all these years, “Be ashamed of yourself unless you’ve done some progress for humanity.”
That really matched my moral compass.
Why should Delawareans reelect you?
I think all of us come to office with a particular expertise and, for me, it’s certainly healthcare. I’ve spent my entire career in healthcare, whether as senior vice president at ChristianaCare or full-time professor teaching health policy, looking at health policy all over the world.
And I think that what I’ve been able to do is certainly through two bills: Senate Bill 1, which has to deal with hospital costs and primary care, and Senate Substitute 1 for Senate Joint Resolution 7, which has to deal with pharmaceutical costs.
I think the other issue is, as chairman of the Corrections Committee, I bring to that committee a sense of my learning from being a board member on the Wilmington HOPE Commission, an organization to break recidivism for people coming out of jail.
You were a former hospital executive,butyou haven’t been afraid to call out behavior that you’ve deemed “disgraceful.”Some of the bills that you were a primary sponsor on have taken aim at high costs and healthcare worker shortages.
What work is left to be done on that front, and how would you plan to circumvent, fierce resistance from healthcare entities like hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, or insurance?
So let’s take SB 1 as, as an example. So SB 1 is, as I said, on the floor is just a beginning, it’s not an end, and we’re really gonna have to keep monitoring behavior and practice billing from hospitals on this. We’re gonna have to keep an eye on primary care. You know, the amount of money being spent, which should eventually reach 11.5%. I am going to be really interested in continuing my evaluation of the outcomes, that bill brings to bear.
The other resolution, as you may know, looks at the State Employee Benefit Committee, which has codified authority to negotiate and recommend benefits, including pharmaceuticals as well as the health insurance program.
It covers 138,000 lives. Pharmacy costs alone exceed a half a billion dollars. That’s a lot of taxpayers’ money that we need to be on top of in every possible way.
You’ve been outspoken about the role ofpharmacy benefit managers (PBMs)in the statehealth insuranceplan. Howmight you seek to addressthe issue of PBMs at a legislative level?
It really starts with some of the recommendations that I provided in my resolution. Now, I know that when this resolution got approved, the committee already had a mandate based on their timing of getting the bid out.
But a lot of these recommendations are short-term, but more so long-term considerations to position the state in order to do that very thing. So challenging the PBMs in terms of looking at some of their data, I think that that’s very, very important.
A PBM should be issuing a copy of their pricing – and it doesn’t have to be to the world, it could be just to the committee – so the committee understands the rock-bottom lowest price for each of the drugs.
Right now, we have no idea. So that’s something that we need to challenge with the PBMs. We need to know the contracts and agreements that the PBM has with the manufacturing companies.
This is a race between kind of the establishment Delaware Democratsand a Working Families Party-endorsed candidate.
Looking at recent campaign finance reports for your candidate committee, it shows that you’ve accepted donations from some corporate law firms, hospital lobbying groups, insurance companies, as well as some prominent state lobbyists. While it’s not a life-changing amount of money, they still represent a connection to the Democratic establishment.
How would you hope to differentiate yourself from the establishmentas momentum on the left flank of the party is kind of growing nationally.
First of all, go back to the campaign finance laws. Unlike on a national level, where a PAC can issue hundreds of thousands of dollars or whatever, here in Delaware for state senate, state representative, we’re looking at, a contribution limit of $600 for any individual, any PAC, or any organization.
I would challenge that if any individual running for office is going to be totally influenced by a $600 contribution, I think they should think again, about running
When we talk about some of the PAC support that I have, whether it’s law firms or education or solar energy, or whatever, I’m quite proud of those organizations.
As Americans grow tired of the role of special interest in politics, what would you say to constituents who might be concerned about your accepting of those donations?
I think they have to look at what special interest truly means.
You would have to look at the amount and the causes. Better quality education, unions that are fighting for the right for contracts, etc. I don’t see how these PACs are in contrary to representing our district.
This district is important, and you have to run a campaign effectively. I’d love to see public financing. I think that would be terrific.
When you were first nominated for thespecial electionprimary, there were questions about the nominationprocess, which some within the party had calleda kind of“insider dealing.”How would you respond to those criticisms.
Well, first of all, we really didn’t have any choice.
This was the rules of the party. So at that point, you had to follow the rules of the party. So that’s it.
Would you support changes to those rules?
I think that would be a good step forward. Yes.
One of the bigger bills, early on in your tenure was Senate Bill 21, a bill that some considered to be a capitulation to Elon Musk and billionaires as he slammed the Delaware corporate franchise and was hoping to pull other companies out of the state with it.
As a relatively new senator and someone who was really focused on healthcare at the time, why did you join onto the bill, and do you have any comments on the claim that it was a capitulation?
Well, it wasn’t.
And decade after decade after decade, it has really functioned very, very well for businesses, and it has, whether we like it or not, materialized as the second-largest revenue source for the state of Delaware.
The money that comes in from that bill funds our fire companies, our schools, our healthcare, and all of the other services that the state government provides.
I think you have to look at Senate Bill 21 as a protector of that program, because now we have Texas and other states that are now trying to destroy this whole idea.
And if they’re successful, I have no idea where we’re going to make up $2 billion in revenue.
Shay Frisby
What’s something that people can’t find on your campaign page?
I started out in my community as a block captain. I was a civic association member. I have worked formally as a board member of the Claymont Renaissance Development Corporation. I am currently a member of my Seventh District RD, which is the representative district, and I am also an active member of our Claymont Coalition for Environmental Justice.
I have a background in early childhood education, administration of justice and leadership, and I’ve done some organizing around collective bargaining rights.
Why do you believe Delawareans should elect you?
I believe that Delawareans should elect an individual who believes that any time decisions are made on behalf of Delawareans, that they should have a voice at the table.
I believe the community that I serve has been articulating how important it is for them to be heard. Our district asked me to run, so, I will show up. I have always showed up in my community.
If you were elected, what would be some of yourfirstpriorities?
So I think my priorities are focusing on working wages for working families.
We are living in a time when families are really struggling. You have high costs in food, energy, housing, taxes.
Universal childcare is one of the other things that I’m fighting for and then also universal healthcare. Working as a supervisor within the Division of Social Services, our state has about one-third of individuals who are on Medicaid. And there’s a lot of changes that are going to be affecting our Medicaid and Medicare programs that are trickling down from the federal government, and those are going to become substantial.
This election is very much establishment versus progressive party politics.You’re a political newcomerwhoalso hasan endorsement from the Working Families Party of Delaware. What would you say to voters who may view its platform as too progressive?
My platform is progressive in the sense of wanting to make sure that Delawareans are supported and that there’s a voice at the table for them when decisions are made.
This isn’t a new journey for me. I’ve consistently fought for the childcare industry or for workers that have been feeling like they’ve been left behind.
I don’t see that as being overly progressive. I don’t see it as being overly progressive to care that our families and children are able to receive what they need in school to be able to just to have the resources necessary, to have the funding that teachers need so that they can do their job, and they can have the support to continue to care or to continue servicing children in school.
I don’t think it’s too progressive to also be aware that we have families who are accessing state benefits who actually work in state government.
There’s people on the other side of that who are impacted by those decisions, and they need also to have a voice. They need to also be considered when there are decisions being made.
Critics of progressive policy have often said, it’s often difficult or too costly to implement programs. Some of your platform looks as though it would require investment from the state, between universal childcare and universal healthcare.What specific plans do you have to fund those programs, and how would you, get it into the budget?
I don’t think any amount of money is too much to invest in our youth.
When it comes to childcare, we’re subjected to these market rate studies that have long been known to not really determine the true cost of care.
And we have to pay attention to these types of studies because when they are completed, these are the studies that are used to determine how purchase of care rates are set. We need to address what’s broken in those systems to realize that how we’re going to get beyond them. And so I guess the plan would be looking at what we’ve done and taking that and coming up with some ways around it.
We need to look at other states. New Mexico just implemented universal childcare.
How did they do it? What programs did they use? What resources did they use? What type of funding streams did they use? What can we do to bring some of that here to maybe implement some of those services here?
Your campaign finance reports shows you haven’t accepted any donations from PACs or outside special interest groups.What do you believe that says about your campaign? And do you worry about running a campaign without support from the establishment, as of yet?
I think what it says is that I am not willing to sell out myself or our communities or our families or my, my district to a corporation that will deprioritize them. I’m not willing to see that people are neglected or ignored simply because corporations get away with not paying their fair share or not having to pay back into communities that they are in.
Not taking corporate PAC money is important to me, it’s important to my team, it’s important to my community, and it’s important so that when I face people face to face, I’m able to look them in the eye and truly let them know that I am a person who will protect them and will protect their families from corporate interests.
Does that make me worry about the campaign because of the way that our politics work in general? Of course. Which is why I have to work harder to get out on the doors, to be on telephone talking to people, and helping people to understand that donations for a people-powered campaign is important.
The past couple of years have been fairly successful for the progressive flank of the Democratic Party. In Delaware, there’s also been some momentum inLegislative Hall. How are you trying to tap into that momentum andwhy have you decided to align with Working Families Party? What about their platformdo yousupport?
I align with who aligns with people.
When it comes to WFP, Senator Bernie Sanders and other DSA, it’s not to say that I align with every single thing, but I do think that what has happened is they have seen my campaign as being more people-centered, and they’ve seen my work in the community being people-centered, and that that is really what’s gotten their eye.
Was there anything else that you wanted to share or that you think voters should know?
I also wanna mention that I also have a background as a paralegal with the Legal Service Corporation of Delaware. And I think it’s important to know that my legal background plays a role in this work because it also means that I have a significant, amount of understanding of what it’s going to take when we’re talking about drafting legislation and how it will impact families and workers.
This was never a spur-of-the-moment decision. I’ve been working in my community for over 30 years because my community and other communities are important. The other thing, and the last thing I wanna say is that the community has concerns about how an executive of ChristianaCare for a quarter of a century could be at a table and healthcare costs not decrease.
I can’t recall a time when our healthcare costs has decreased. It’s only going up.
And these are some of the concerns that I only do I hear at the door, but they’re really genuine concerns, and we need to do better, and we can do better.
And I believe I have the triple set of skills, if not more, to bring to the table to make that happen.
AI company faces multibillion dollar lawsuit over misuse of copyrighted songs to train Claude models
All AI wants for Christmas is a vast back catalogue of songs without paying for it, according to a multibillion-dollar lawsuit against the startup behind the Claude chatbot.
Sony Music Publishing and Warner Chappell, music publishers who manage the copyright of songs on behalf of songwriters and composers, are seeking damages for alleged misuse of “tens of thousands” of copyrighted works by Anthropic.
Exclusive: Labour MPs believe SMC has become ineffective and its work ‘should be a core function of government’
Ministers are considering a shake-up of the government’s social mobility watchdog that could range from giving it more teeth to abolishing it outright.
The move comes amid concerns that the Social Mobility Commission (SMC) – originally conceived under Gordon Brown’s government in 2010 – has become ineffective.
Clacton, funding, internal divisions – party prepares for annual conference next week after a season of missteps
Senior Reform UK figures like to boast that the summer time – and parliament’s longest recess – is when the party makes hay.
Supposedly, it is when Nigel Farage and co can muscle in on the news cycle with provocative statements and new policies, painting “establishment” opponents as workshy layabouts.
The National Park Service said that it is seeking information about hikers or backpackers who were in the affected parts of the Grand Canyon National Park.
The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters, as examples from Japan and Scotland show
There are plenty of signs that AI will make all of our experiences of the US midterm elections worse. Voters have anxiety about AI’s impacts on the country. Politicos are using AI deepfakes to spread lies. The White House is posting slopaganda.
Meanwhile, candidates are missing a real opportunity to use AI to make campaigning better. The technology can help candidates listen more deeply to voters’ concerns, engage constituents more inclusively, and formulate policy platforms that are more responsive to our input. There are vanishingly few examples of this in US politics, but groups in Japan, Scotland and the US’s own academic and private institutions show how that could change.
Amelia Dimoldenberg says publicists ignored her interview show for years but she can now be picky over A-list guests
Just a decade ago, Amelia Dimoldenberg found it impossible to drum up any mainstream celebrities to come on her mock date YouTube show, in which she chats awkwardly with guests over chicken and chips.
Even persuading a local actor connected with her London youth club to come on took years of prodding. Managers of A-listers with movies or albums to push instead battled to claim a spot on the hallowed cushions of the primetime TV chatshow sofa.
Guidance says states must implement ‘comprehensive measures’ to address legacy of racial discrimination
A UN committee has said countries are legally obliged to consider reparations for the transatlantic slave trade and take other measures to address the enduring legacy of racial discrimination.
Guidance published on Monday by the committee on the elimination of racial discrimination (CERD) said the obligations arose from a legally binding 1965 convention on racial discrimination, not from the legal standards that existed when the slave trade took place.
California's age-verification bill has passed in its legislature — but with its open-source carve-out intact, reports the blog Linuxiac:
Back in May, we reported that California lawmakers amended Assembly Bill 1856 to carve open-source operating systems out of the state's upcoming age verification requirements. Three months later, that exemption survived the legislative process intact, and the bill has cleared both chambers of the California Legislature... sending the measure to Engrossing and Enrolling, the final legislative preparation stage before it can be presented to Governor Gavin Newsom...
For operating systems that are covered, AB 1856 builds on California's Digital Age Assurance Act, which is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. Under the current text, when an operating system runs on a device and includes an account setup feature, its provider must offer an interface that asks the account holder for the birth date, age, or both, of the device's primary user during account setup. The operating system must then be capable of providing a digital age signal to covered application stores and application developers through a reasonably consistent real-time API. Instead of exposing a precise birth date, the signal identifies one of four age ranges: under 13, 13 through 15, 16 through 17, or 18 and older... Covered application stores must request the signal from the operating system and make it available to developers.
Washington, D.C. — The Pentagon has quietly hired several conservative military veterans with large social media followings for civilian government positions while the same figures publicly promote Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s policies, according to The Washington Post.
Pentagon records reviewed by the newspaper showed retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness and retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter with active government email accounts assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness. Retired Army Col. Thomas Anderson, who posts online as “Cynical Publius,” also previously appeared in Pentagon records.
None publicly disclosed the Pentagon roles while publishing commentary supportive of Hegseth and criticizing journalists, military officials and other administration opponents. The Pentagon declined to tell the Post whether they are paid, describe their duties or specify how long their assignments will last.
The men reportedly worked as special government employees or “highly qualified experts,” classifications that can allow temporary or specialized government service.
Maness, Schlichter and Anderson also participated in the Pentagon’s Senior Service College Task Force, which Hegseth established to examine military education for ideology he considers “toxic” or “woke.” The Defense Department publicly announced that task force in March but did not identify the three men as participants.
Another conservative online personality, Jennica Pounds, recently disclosed that she has worked as a Pentagon special government employee since July.
Spotlight Delaware reporter Nick Stonesifer recently spoke with Dan Cruce and Adriana Bohm, who are seeking the Democratic nomination for Senate District 1 in Delaware in the Sept. 15, 2026, primary election.
Cruce is a first-term incumbent who will be looking to defend his seat from Bohm, a progressive challenger backed by the Working Families Party.
Readers can find condensed versions of the candidates’ answers below, while the accompanying podcasts feature unedited excerpts from our conversations.
Sen. Dan Cruce
What should people know about your candidacy? Why should Delawareans reelect you?
What’s important is that the work that I led this session, my first full session, really was fueled by the time that I’ve had with my neighbors. And even though I’ve only been elected for a short period of time, a lot of my neighbors, a lot of their concerns are grounded in the work and the partnerships that I’ve led over the last 20-plus years in the district.
So it’s not as if, I’m new and that’s a challenge. I’m new in this role as a state senator, but I’ve been working with families and kids for almost my entire career, from my first job at Family Court to my current job now at United Way of Delaware.
And I think that’s a differentiator for our district.
I had the chance to be the assistant superintendent and chief of staff at the Christina School District, and then the deputy secretary and chief of staff at the State Department of Education, and then work across the country, across close to 15 different states with teachers and with other state education departments, and teachers associations or unions.
And that type of local, state, and national education systems experience I think is really important as we are talking about investing. I helped us, as part of the caucus, move over $100 million to start to get to the level where we should be funding schools.
So while I’ve got the systems level experience that I think is very helpful to that work and those conversations, I’ve also literally sat a foot apart at the collective bargaining agreement table and worked with folks through challenges and opportunities.
Coming into this next legislative session, should you be reelected, what would be your priorities?
The first one is economic security. I know lots of folks are calling it affordability. It’s the same idea. It’s that folks are struggling, and we’ve been taking action on it.
The second focus area for us, I call “defending our freedoms,” and I hate that we have to even have that as an area or a topic, but it’s where I’ve been able to lead legislation, particularly this last session, to make certain that we are holding and protecting – most of the time in advance of – attacks that are coming at us.
The third area, and I hate that we have to focus on this one too, but I say it loudly everywhere I go, it’s human dignity. Just that simple phrase: human dignity. We still live in a time, it’s worse than ever, where some of these things all go hand in hand.
What do action items look like on each of those?
That’s incredibly important because anybody can put out a laundry list of the 15 to 20 things they say they’re going to do.
I worked to make certain that I’m not just talking, we’ve actually got work done. When we talk about economic security, I never planned to become one of the poster children for property tax reassessment.
What happened with the previous administration, and particularly in New Castle County, was a complete mess. I made certain that I got myself appointed to the Property Tax Reassessment Committee so we could dig into the details and ask the tough questions.
This turned into legislation that I ran in January, and we have results now. When we think about Mr. Holodick’s corner barbershop in Bellefonte and the tenfold increase to his commercial taxes, and then we compare that next to – I’m not trying to pick on Amazon or big business, but it just sticks out like a sore thumb when they have a million-dollar decrease – that just doesn’t sit right. I need to at least see the work behind those calculations.
I ran fast in January to make certain that I passed Senate Bill 228, which enabled, empowered and charged New Castle County with going back in and looking at exactly [those valuations]. The Amazon Boxwood plant was originally valued around $100 million or so, and it’s now valued at closer to $400 million.
That’s a very obvious change, and that results in direct additional taxes, not from mom-and-pop businesses and my neighbors, but from corporate interests, who should pay their fair share.
We also, as a caucus this year, moved legislation forward around hospital system reform. Incredibly important. I also know that the cost of childcare for some of our families, it can be more than the cost of college. It’s ridiculous.
I helped move multiple pieces of legislation around purchase of care and childcare this session. We’ve got a long way to go to get to where we need to be, but we continue to climb up that mountain.
Nationally, we’re seeing momentum for progressive candidates.Looking at recent campaign finance reports, you’ve accepteddonationsfrom corporate law firms, hospital lobbying groups, as well as multiple entrenched incumbents. These aren’t game-changing amounts of money, but they still represent a connection to the establishment. How would you hope to differentiate yourself from the establishment as momentum on the left flank of the party is growing?
That’s a very big question and there’s a lot of phraseology in there that I don’t necessarily agree with – but to get to the heart of the question, I will tell you any organization or PAC that might have given to my campaign, not a single one of them own me.
And almost to a T, there are examples where whatever interest they may represent, I’ve been on the other side of them. And so there’s chatter out there about organizations like Working Families Party (WFP) that don’t accept corporate PAC money or don’t accept corporate money. I would challenge your smart team to research where the WFP money actually comes from, and is it actually traceable in this state.
But to your question, example after example where folks are welcome to invest in our campaign. I know that they invest in our campaign not just because of what we do, but actually how we do it. It’s not just since I’ve been elected, some of these folks that are investing in our campaign have been friends and colleagues.
We have built things together; literally built things together in the education space and in the nonprofit space. I think that’s incredibly important to have a track record to show how you’ve led, before you’ve ever been elected.
And that track record of mine shows building bridges.
What would you say to constituents who may be concerned about that?
I think the one-on-one conversations are incredibly important. Folks may conceptually think that that’s a bad thing, and that’s a narrative that’s been fed by lots of different folks.
There is nary a bill, particularly with some of my colleagues in WFP who are on the progressive flank, where I’ve been on the opposite page as them. I think there’s also a little bit of a misconception that I’m not progressive, that I’m too centrist or that my position on issues are ones that are disaligned with some folks in the progressive flank of our party.
And I would just really like folks to point to an issue or a bill.
I’m the only Senate Democrat that has actually signed on to the open primary bill. I think I’m one of maybe two or three Senate Democrats who are on the Homeless Bill of Rights.
And so, the issues and the specifics are important rather than the headlines.
As you were nominated for this position, there was some criticism of how that process went, and that it was too quick and, some called it “insiderparty dealing.”What do you have to say to that? Would you support reform to thatprocess?
I would absolutely support changes and reform or whatever makes a smarter process to bring more people to the table for a special election process. That’s an easy answer.
As it relates to my special election and the two other special elections this past session, we followed the rules, and everybody played by the rules. For some folks that criticized the outcome, I wonder if they would criticize the outcome if they were the victor in that process?
I’m in full support of any evolution that makes it more open for folks to be a part of the process for a special election. What I know is that we had rules and we followed the rules, and anybody that’s actually on the inside actually knows that I was not the “inside” candidate.
I did want to discuss conversations about you living at the Delaware beaches. I have pulled property recordsand Isee that you own two properties,one inWilmington andonedown in Sussex. People have questioned whether you live in Wilmington full-time. What would you say to those claims?
I’m not gonna give it any air. I’ve lived in Wilmington my full-time. I know that my neighbors are sick of hearing it, particularly my neighbors who live in my building and see me every morning that I live here.
I made a public statement, where I had to prove that I flushed the toilet every day here, where I live, because there was a complaint that was filed during the special election.
I want to talk about the issues, and where I live is not an issue because it’s a result of folks not being able to find any issues, with my issues.
Adriana Bohm
Tell me a little bit about yourself. What’s something that people should know about you that’s not listed on your public campaign page?
I like to say that I’m an introvert, so running for political office was never in my wheelhouse of things I wanted to do or accomplish. And so when we were organizing in Wilmington, we were organizing with other people across the city around issues having to do with racism, poverty and education.
And out of that work, people asked me to run for the school board, and I didn’t want to because I’m an introvert, and I would let myself be persuaded. I served on the board for 10 years, never missed a meeting, never missed a vote. And then I believe in term limits, so when people asked me to run a third time, I said, “No.” I thought we should be working on building that bench.
And then after I came off the board, I was thinking very deeply about educational issues more and more, and I was also thinking more about the fact that the challenges we experience in the classroom don’t emanate from the classroom. They really stem from failed state policies to let people have affordable, livable lives that they enjoy.
And so if we want to begin to address the issues in the classroom and in school, I really was saying, “Well, we need to work on some of these state-level issues that we can address. That’s going to begin to get at education.”
And I grew up in Wilmington. I raised my children in inner-city Wilmington.
A number of the children that my children grew up with – who spent time in our house, went on vacations with us; I fed them, they hung out – a number of those children were killed.
They were children that I loved. I knew their families. And so that was an element as well because, trying to change the climate of Delaware and the culture of Wilmington was deeply personal on one hand.
You’re a political newcomer for the most part. Why do you believe that Delawareans should elect you this cycle?
We’re a blue state. We have a blue trifecta, and I think we could be doing a lot more. I’m very excited about all the people we’ve been talking to on the doors, and the ideas we’ve been reading about, hearing about, learning about, and that people are sharing with us.
And so I think we need progressives in the Delaware state legislature, and I think that we have a lot of great ideas about movement we can make, and I think we need to do that.
It was highly frustrating two years ago to listen to Delaware lawmakers fight about whether students should get free lunch. We know as educators, we know as people who look at the research and read the data and the reports, that children cannot focus on learning if they are hungry.
We don’t know what’s going on, so just give everyone free lunch. We did it with free breakfast. Let’s do it with free lunch. That should be a no-brainer.
What are some of your other priorities going into the legislative session if you’re elected?
I’m really interested in strengthening public education. I definitely want to address the weighted funding formula, which Jea Street’s been talking about for decades now. We need universal pre-K for 3- and 4-year-olds.
And what I love about universal pre-K is that not only does it help children with literacy skills, but if you read the reports coming out of law enforcement, they’re unified in saying that universal pre-K is the No. 1 thing we can do to reduce crime over the life of a child.
We also need to think about what we’re feeding our students. What they’re eating is unacceptable and that needs to be addressed.
I’m also really interested in, looking at economic stability. We know that corporate profits are at a record high, but people’s everyday lives are very compromised.
So working with the business community to address livable wages and how we can get people up to a standard of living where they can afford things.
So looking at livable wages, but also I think we need to have a conversation about ending sub-minimum wages. So tipped workers, workers who have disabilities, youth incarcerated workers, they’re not getting even a minimum wage.
I’m very into safe and accessible housing that’s stable. I was reading Dr. Matthew Desmond’s book about evictions. He has a great quote that just stayed with me and he says, “Children are hungry because the rent eats first.” And that’s so true for so many of our families in SD 1.
I’m also very into publicly owned grocery stores.
Kansas is doing it, North Dakota is doing it, Atlanta’s starting to look at it, and I think that would be a wonderful way to keep grocery prices down, but also employ people and give them very good wages because they would be unionized.
Delmarva Power bills are the No. 1 thing that people have talked to us about on the doors from every single neighborhood we’ve walked in. So I think we could do work there.
Some critics might look at your policies and say they’re expensive or difficult to implement. What would you say to those people, about how you intend to fund some of your programs?
I would say we are the richest nation in the history of world civilization. There is money in this country to do all the things we need to do to make everyone have a standard of living that is more than acceptable, but that we are giving them lives that they enjoy living.
I’m not going to fall into this false narrative that we don’t have the revenue or the finances in this country to take care of people, because that’s simply a non-truth, and it’s an unacceptable non-truth.
We have the money. We do not have the will. Corporate money and revenue has been increasing. We know that more and more money is being generated, but the people who are being harmed are the people who are working.
What I think is we need to look at maybe some new ways to tax.
Arkansas took their medical marijuana sales, and they took the tax from that, and they’re using that to provide food for the people in their communities. In New Jersey, just a little ways away from us, they have a corporate transit fee or a corporate transit tax.
New Mexico has taxes that they’re using for corporations that are working on extracting natural resources. You can also have taxes on super luxury items.
So if people buy a super yacht or their 18th house, there may be a special tax on that. So there are ways that we can bring revenue in, and I think we need to be doing that.
Universal pre-K is the hill I’ll decided to die on.
I think we have to pay for our people, and we’re gonna either pay in the beginning or we’re gonna pay in the end. We are gonna pay. We just need to decide where we’re gonna do it. And I think preemptively paying and investing in our peoples and in our communities is something that we have to do.
We know that when poverty proliferates, democracy disintegrates. That is absolutely true.
And more and more people are beginning to think that our institutions are failing. And that’s why when we’re knocking on the doors, people are very upset with the Trump administration, but I cannot tell you how many people have told me that they are done with the Democratic Party as well.
So I think the Democratic Party is at a crossroads. How hard are we willing to fight for our people and for our democracy?
I grew up on 21st Street, and the one thing I learned how to do there was fight. I learned how to use my voice, and I learned how to fight for the everyday people, and that’s the energy and passion and coalition-building that I’m gonna bring.
I’m gonna bring that energy to Dover, and I’m gonna bring the people from our communities to Dover with us.
Hot summer evenings can drain your dinner motivation fast. These 13 weeknight dinners keep the work manageable with quick skillets, rice bowls, pasta, seafood, burgers, and pressure-cooked pork.The post 13 summer weeknight dinners ready before the heat talks you out…
Director Mark Mori followed coffee chain workers’ struggle to unionize: ‘These young kids are so inspirational’
As the food service industry was pushed on to the frontlines of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021, workers at Starbucks stores in the Buffalo region of New York went public to announce their union-organizing campaign.
Their efforts, and Starbucks’ responses, have culminated in one of the most expansive union-organizing campaigns – and one of the most aggressive union-busting campaigns – in modern US history.
War on Gaza and violence in West Bank is playing out in the streets of Toledo, Ohio, where the Arab American community has flourished
From his office outside Toledo, Ohio, Thamin Tim Ridi opens his phone to livestream the scene outside the besieged house of his brother, Loui, thousands of miles away in the occupied West Bank.
This month, with his property at risk of being destroyed by Israeli settlers, Loui traveled from Ohio to his ancestral home in Qusra, south of Nablus, where his mother and other family members have been living in constant fear of attack.
Unions say ban will take time to enact, while president also wants under-15s social media ban as key legacy
French high schools are rushing to put in place a ban on mobile phones this week as Emmanuel Macron pushes for children to spend less time in front of screens.
Education unions warned that banning mobile phone use in lycées – where children are aged 15 to 18 – would be hard to implement quickly.
Death toll from unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris now stands at more than 900. Plus, was it a mistake to take away Pluto’s planet status?
Good morning. Rescue teams are working to reach hundreds of people feared trapped in the tunnels and underground areas of half a dozen hydropower projects in Nepal as more than 900 workers were reported missing after the devastating flash floods.
The death toll from the unprecedented deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris that crashed through valleys of Nepal on Wednesday last week has risen to 903 people, with 16 reported dead on the Tibet side of the border. More than 4,000 are missing in Nepal, with another 500 in Tibet. Hundreds of bodies, many unidentified, have been buried in shallow graves.
How large is the rescue operation? Nepal’s prime minister, Balendra Shah, said almost 21,000 security personnel were involved in the rescue operations, besides civilian workers and volunteers. China’s state-run CCTV reported that Beijing had mobilised more than 2,100 rescue workers. The Red Cross has estimated that more than 90,000 people are likely to have been affected by the disaster, which China and some experts linked to the effects of the climate crisis.
Why has the disaster sparked a racism row in Australia? A slew of racist social media comments have been made towards missing Australians. Most of them were on pilgrimages, including to Mount Kailash in Tibet. Mainstream media outlets including News Corp, Channel 7, Channel 10 and Nine have been hit with highly offensive and discriminatory comments on Facebook articles identifying the missing Australians.
What has Donald Trump claimed US forces are doing? Hours after the attacks, the US president, Donald Trump, claimed in a social media post that Iran’s energy hub of Kharg Island was being “blown to smithereens” but gave no further details. The White House and the US defense department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Attacking Kharg, which handled 90% of Iran’s oil exports before the war, would severely disrupt the Islamic republic’s energy trade and put huge pressure on its economy.
Pedro Sánchez says two countries cooperating and accuses Israel and Russia of spreading fake news about migration
Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has said there is no evidence to suggest the Moroccan government was behind last month’s massive border crossing into Ceuta but accused Israel and Russia of spreading disinformation.
The space industry treats the sky as a place to dump what it no longer wants. We must develop a new model of accountability
On 5 August, a piece of a derelict SpaceX rocket traveling at 5,400 miles an hour met with the moon and punched a fresh hole into it near Einstein Crater. Astronomers were thrilled. The European Southern Observatory caught sodium and lithium flaring in the debris plume and called it a bonus. The media called it a light show. Nobody was physically hurt, so nobody is responsible, and within a week the story was gone.
I have spent 20 years tracking the junk humanity leaves behind in space for a living, and I want to tell you plainly what that crater actually is: a receipt. It’s what you get when an entire industry treats the sky, and now the moon, as a place to dump what it no longer wants, and calls the dumping “normal operations” or “space exploration”.
US trade representative Jamieson Greer has a level-headed reputation but commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and White House adviser Peter Navarro also have key roles
Having reportedly read Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, in French, during a military tour of duty in Iraq, Jamieson Greer considered himself an unlikely target for accusations of francophobia.
But Donald Trump’s US trade representative, hitherto one of the president’s less high-profile cabinet members, found himself in that uncomfortable position amid the acrimonious collapse of bilateral trade talks with Canada that now threatens to degenerate into an all-out trade war between the two close trading partners whose economies are tightly intertwined.
Kameron Glasgow of Florida honors wife Kenya and daughter Kennedi at local vigil after last week’s tragedy
A Florida man whose wife and toddler daughter were killed by a lightning strike while he was near them recently has implored people to “hold … tight” to their loved ones.
Kameron Glasgow made that arresting remark to local media at a weekend gathering honoring the memories of his wife, Kenya, and two-year-old daughter Kennedi after they died on 23 August from an exceedingly rare cause.
Russell Vought, the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, testified before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs in July. Samuel Corum/Sipa USA via AP Images
In mid-July testimony before Congress, Russell Vought boasted that, as the acting head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he’d refashioned the agency’s approach to pursuing banks and other financial companies accused of exploiting Americans — the role Congress had created for the agency after the 2008 economic crash.
Vought had spent the first 18 months of the new Trump administration trying to dismantle the bureau, much as he and other appointees had done with the U.S. Agency for International Development. At CFPB, he’d ordered mass layoffs, tried to choke off the bureau’s funding and ended the lease on its headquarters, attempting to make good on his vow to put civil servants “in trauma.” But federal courts blocked Vought’s efforts to close the CFPB, with a judge at one point saying the administration had acted with “complete disregard” for Congress.
So Vought, who is one of President Donald Trump’s top advisers, switched tactics: If there had to be a watchdog, theirs would be more of a golden retriever, friendlier to industry and less aggressive. Vought had accused the bureau of “thuggery” in the past, and said the “new” CFPB would focus on deregulation, embrace “humility” and adopt a “collaborative approach” to its dealings with companies that harm consumers.
As evidence of the success of this new approach, Vought singled out one company by name in his testimony, a buzzy startup called Bilt. The company, which offers credit cards used to make rent and mortgage payments, had fumbled a critical transition, leading to confusion and financial stress for its customers. In the past, the CFPB might’ve deployed examiners to ensure that every consumer harmed got relief, investigated Bilt’s technology platforms for potential flaws, questioned its third-party contractors or issued subpoenas — with the goal of finding the root causes of whatever went wrong and preventing it from happening again.
The Trump-era CFPB took a different tack. “We reached out to the company,” Vought told Congress, “and before it got to the adversarial part of the process, they were able to fix their issues.” The CFPB even posted a feel-good statement on its website, touting its new approach and telling consumers that information provided by Bilt “appears to show” the firm was “back on track.”
Yet two weeks after Vought’s testimony, Bilt failed customers again. This time, Bilt cardholders received mistaken debt collection notices and saw their credit scores go down as a result, sparking more embarrassing news stories and angry complaints. It was Bilt’s second fiasco in six months, and as its customers scrambled to understand what had gone wrong, the CFPB was nowhere to be found.
The Bilt controversy offered an early test of CFPB’s new approach, and the results suggest that an ask-nicely strategy to consumer protection isn’t likely to protect consumers. What’s more, current and former CFPB officials say the bureau could’ve caught the issues that caused the second of Bilt’s two screw-ups had the previous playbook still been in use.
ProPublica sent the CFPB a detailed set of questions about its handling of the Bilt complaints and what actions it took to protect consumers and prevent future problems. The bureau did not respond to any questions or requests for comment.
The whole episode drives at a bigger question, according to consumer advocates and current and former CFPB employees: If the Trump administration can’t eliminate the CFPB, what will become of it in the hands of Trump officials, such as Vought, who have long believed the agency is unnecessary? (Vought termed out as acting director in early August but remains a senior adviser. The administration’s nominee for full-time director, Brian Johnson, is an executive at Capital One bank and a former CFPB appointee. At his confirmation hearing, Johnson said he could not think of a single decision that he disagreed with made by Vought at the CFPB.)
“What we saw Vought do with Bilt is innovative — and I don’t mean that as a compliment,” said Mike Pierce, a former CFPB official who runs the consumer advocacy group Protect Borrowers, which has criticized Vought’s tenure at the bureau.
A Rocky Transition
Bilt’s business rests on a simple premise: Consumers should build credit and earn rewards for what’s typically their single biggest expense — their rent or mortgage payment. “Prior to Bilt, that payment didn’t build anyone’s credit history, which is crazy,” Bilt co-founder Ankur Jain said in March. Jain added that it was “silly that you can earn rewards buying a round of drinks at a bar, but not paying your rent every month.”
Founded in 2021, Bilt is one of the hottest startups in the personal finance industry. Bilt says it has 7 million customers and has raised nearly $1 billion in venture capital investments, at a $10.75 billion valuation. Investors include private equity giant Blackstone, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan and a venture capital fund chaired by former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault.
Forbes estimates Jain’s wealth at $3.4 billion. People magazine published exclusive photos of Jain’s 2024 wedding to Erika Hammond, a former WWE wrestler and cast member on the upcoming season of “The Real Housewives of New York City.” The event took place near the Great Pyramid of Giza; one photo shows the couple kissing at sunset with the Sphinx and pyramids in the background.
Earlier this year, Bilt suffered a serious crisis. The startup had signed a seven-year partnership with Wells Fargo to offer Bilt-branded credit cards that could be used to pay rent. Under its deal with Bilt, Wells Fargo agreed to absorb processing fees associated with rent transactions and make payments to Bilt because it saw the partnership as a way to attract new customers who might one day seek a mortgage from Wells Fargo, according to The Wall Street Journal.
But revenue fell short of Wells Fargo’s projections, and the bank was losing so much money — as much as $10 million a month, the Journal reported — that it ended its partnership with Bilt four years early. (A Bilt spokesperson said at the time that the Journal’s reporting was “an inaccurate representation” of the Wells Fargo partnership.)
Bilt co-founder Ankur Jain attended the Bilt Rewards x Wells Fargo launch party in March 2022.Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images
In February, Bilt relaunched its credit cards with new financial partners. But the rollout of “Bilt 2.0,” as the company called it, was a debacle.
Customers said their rent payments were paid late, double-charged or not paid at all. Credit limits had been lowered from one card to the next. Their cards were inexplicably frozen. “This unexpected double charge has caused significant inconvenience and financial distress,” one Bilt customer wrote to the CFPB in February after Bilt paid her rent twice in the same month. (A Bilt spokesperson said, “As soon as we were made aware of this issue, we resolved it and made the member whole.”)
Bilt’s customer support department struggled to keep up as tens of thousands of messages poured in. Customers fumed that they were unable to bypass chatbots and reach a human being for help. They also bombarded the CFPB’s website with complaints, which included accounts of how Bilt’s AI support system gave information that was “completely wrong” and “demonstrably … false.” (In a statement at the time, Bilt said its new card had “attracted unexpectedly high demand, and some of our members experienced gaps in service that are simply unacceptable to us.” The company told ProPublica it resolved all problems related to the new cards “months ago.”)
In March, the consumer group Protect Borrowers sent a letter to the CFPB, demanding that the bureau’s supervision or enforcement divisions take “immediate action.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., wrote to Bilt, pointing out a 1,300% increase in complaints about the company submitted to the CFPB in February and seeking answers about the Bilt 2.0 transition. Warren also said that Bilt’s practice of immediately debiting rent payments may have run afoul of the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act’s disclosure requirements for credit cards. A Bilt spokesperson said Warren’s assertions were “incorrect.”
It’s common for lawmakers and advocacy groups to fire off outraged letters about a company’s alleged wrongdoing.
The strange part is what the CFPB, then led by Vought, chose to do about it.
“Air Cover for the Company”
The law that established the CFPB, the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, envisioned two tracks for the bureau’s work.
On the supervision track, CFPB employees would periodically visit banks and other financial institutions to monitor their business practices and ensure compliance with the law. Supervision would be confidential, giving companies the ability to adjust their operations without public scrutiny. Contrary to Vought’s accusations, current and former CFPB staffers say the traditional supervision process has long been collaborative and nonpublic. Congress designed it that way when it wrote the law.
Supervision could examine the past or look in real time. In one notable instance, when two federal student loan servicers exited the industry in 2021, the bureau’s supervision division chose to proactively monitor the transition of more than 9 million borrowers’ accounts to new servicers. Bureau staffers caught problems mid-transfer, from inaccurate due dates to botched repayment schedules, and directed the companies to fix them. It later published a recap of what the CFPB did as well as a set of tips so that the rest of the industry could avoid the same mistakes.
On the enforcement track, CFPB lawyers would file lawsuits against or pursue consent decrees — binding settlements that courts can enforce — with companies that allegedly broke the law. By their nature, lawsuits and settlements are public, but the enforcement division didn’t speak publicly about its actions apart from its filings.
The Trump-era CFPB took neither of these tracks in response to Bilt’s first incident. A senior political appointee and Vought aide, Victoria Dorfman, took the lead in contacting Bilt and asking for information about the consumer complaints, according to a person familiar with the interactions who requested anonymity to share confidential communications. Dorfman was joined by Elie Greenbaum, another Vought adviser, and Deborah Morris, the deputy enforcement director. Having political appointees lead this process, instead of nonpartisan career executives and subject-matter experts, was “abnormal” for the CFPB “but is becoming normal” under the Trump administration, a current CFPB staffer told ProPublica.
Dorfman, Greenbaum and Morris met with Bilt’s executives, who explained how they were fixing the problems and supplied data to the bureau about the company’s customer communications and efforts to resolve problems. When Bilt assured the bureau it had fixed the issues, CFPB officials appear to have taken those assurances at face value, issuing a celebratory press release on the bureau’s website.
But it was what the press release said, or didn’t, that alarmed some current and former CFPB officials. Nowhere does it mention whether the bureau dispatched examiners to help locate the root of Bilt’s problems, as it would have done in the past, or whether it conducted its own audit of Bilt data to ensure every harmed consumer got relief.
Indeed, the CFPB’s statement stressed that the bureau did not open an investigation. Nor did it craft a consent decree or enforceable pledge to ensure compliance. Documentation provided by Bilt, the bureau said, “appears to show” that the company had fixed its problems and that its systems were “back on track.”
Austin Hinkle, a former supervision lawyer and section chief at the CFPB, said it’s easy for a company to identify a population of customers who were harmed, issue an apology and get them relief, as Bilt did.
Understanding what caused the issue is more complicated — and arguably just as important. In a situation like Bilt’s, Hinkle said, CFPB examiners would normally conduct a root-cause analysis, asking, for instance, which system led to the late or double-charged rent payments and why had it failed. Financial technology companies often rely on third-party processors and banks, Hinkle said, so the bureau’s investigators would also scrutinize what outside firms Bilt uses and what the communications have been with those firms.
There’s none of that depth in the CFPB’s statement, Hinkle said. “The press release just looks like they’re providing air cover for the company without directing real fixes or systematic changes.”
The lighter touch appears, so far, to be a hallmark of the Vought-era bureau. It has brought just one enforcement action since Trump took office, which ended with a consent decree and a civil penalty of $1, while dismissing or resolving dozens of cases brought during previous administrations. A CFPB supervisor warned her subordinates that they would face “most unpleasant” consequences if they were too aggressive in their work, Reuters reported. Recently, the bureau announced it would no longer include narratives in consumer complaints that appear in the CFPB’s public database.
Meanwhile, a current CFPB staffer told ProPublica that the number of policy attorneys, who help direct supervision work and identify violations of law, had shrunk from typically between 40 and 50 lawyers down to five. The staffer said that examiners were no longer allowed to access the primary source level data and could only “check the checker now,” meaning they must rely on a company’s own findings. They also faced pressure to finish examinations as fast as possible, given only three weeks to complete their work when they used to have eight weeks.
The staffer added that, as far as they knew, the first time that front-line staffers on the supervision and enforcement tracks heard of CFPB’s handling of the Bilt case was either the public statement or when Vought mentioned Bilt in his Capitol Hill testimony.
Pierce, the Protect Borrowers director, said he viewed CFPB’s treatment of Bilt as an indication that the bureau had embraced a mindset similar to what Ronald Reagan’s presidency was known for: a wholesale deregulatory approach meant to strip away regulations and oversight of companies large and small.
“It’s taking the government’s supervision and enforcement tools and figuring out how you can use them the way the Reaganites used them,” Pierce said.
“Sent Me Into a Panic”
Roughly two weeks after Vought’s testimony, Bilt customer Jordan Carey, a 30-year-old who works in the hospitality industry, received an alert from Credit Karma, the credit-monitoring service. His credit score had dropped 50 points in a single day. The news “sent me into a panic,” Carey said. He had stellar credit and paid off his Bilt credit card the day charges were posted. “I was thinking there is no way this is real,” he said.
Carey dug deeper and saw that the hit to his score had happened after a debt collector, Tate and Kirlin, reported a supposed long-overdue payment. And when he looked at the collections notice, he saw it listed Bilt as the cause of the error.
When he alerted Bilt’s customer service to the problem, he said, “they were not aware of the issue [and] I’m pretty sure I was one of the very first people to report it.” A Bilt customer service agent initially laid the blame with Wells Fargo and told Carey to contact the bank for help. But when he posted on Reddit about his experience, he got a different response from Bilt about the source of the problem, blaming a different banking partner. He also heard from almost a dozen other people who said they had the same issue.
Nearly 1,900 of Bilt’s customers received mistaken notices from a debt collector that said they owed hundreds or even thousands of dollars in unpaid credit card balances. On Reddit, people wrote about receiving one or multiple false collections notices, including, in one case, as the cardholder was closing on a new house.
Hinkle, the former CFPB section chief, said the more recent Bilt problem was the kind of situation the CFPB’s previous oversight model could’ve prevented or identified more quickly, instead of customers discovering the problem and self-reporting it. “The fact that there’s a seemingly related problem popping up now suggests to me that the normal supervisory process didn’t work here,” he said.
The CFPB has not made a public statement since Bilt’s second breakdown.
Bilt, for its part, said the issue had to do with an earlier iteration of its credit cards that had stopped accepting customers. The company said it alerted the collection agency in question as well as the credit bureaus to the mistake. It also awarded customers an extra 2,500 points for their trouble, worth between $25 and $50. “We held the agency accountable, made things right for every customer involved, ensured each was notified directly and provided direct customer support along with courtesy Bilt Points,” a spokesman said.
Carey said his credit score had been restored within a few days but was unimpressed by the free points; 10,000, or about $100 to $200, would have felt more appropriate. “This is a multibillion-dollar company,” he said. “They can afford it.”
The planned reductions — targeting programs that combat the spread of deadly diseases — coincide with an administration push to make developing nations spend more.
Public lands belong to all of us. No one should plunder those lands for profit
Do people still say a car was “sold for parts”? Because the US is being sold for parts or just handed over to the oligarchy. It’s a fire sale, a bankruptcy auction, it’s a planned dismantling of everything from its military to its institutions of higher education to its scientific research to its public lands.
And while the threat to sell off part of Yosemite national park is about a quarter-mile parcel on the park’s edge, Yosemite is a crown jewel in the national park system and, arguably, the world’s first national park.
Rebecca Solnit is a Guardian US columnist. She is the author of Orwell’s Roses and co-editor with Thelma Young Lutunatabua of the climate anthology Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility
Why Should Delaware Care? Delaware campaign finance rules require political organizations to disclose donors so that voters can know who is trying to sway elections. A recent ad blitz from the national Working Families Party is countering messaging from law firms, but it is not immediately clear whether the group is drawing dollars from any specific individuals within its donor base.
A progressive political action committee backing a slate of Delaware legislative candidates filed a long-delayed state campaign finance report last week that revealed nearly half a million dollars in political advocacy, but did not disclose who funded it.
An official from the WFP National PAC said it omitted its donors because Delaware regulators told the group that the disclosure was not required as long as it filed separately with the Federal Elections Commissions.
Delaware Department of Elections spokeswoman Cathleen Hartsky-Carter called that a “misunderstanding.” She also noted that the state fined the PAC for filing last week’s report late.
Despite the omitted donors, the report did outline how the WFP National PAC — an arm of the national Working Families Party — spent $455,000 during the past month to support six candidates for the Delaware legislature, five of whom are challenging incumbent Democrats.
The spending comes as Delaware’s Democratic primary has increasingly become a front in a national battle over the party’s identity. Much of the recent fight in Delaware has centered on last year’s reforms to the state’s corporate law — which sets the rules for how the 2 million companies domiciled in the state are governed.
Last month, Spotlight Delaware reported about corporate law firms’ million-dollar campaign to back their own slate of largely incumbent Democrats facing challengers from the left.
In an apparent response, the WFP National PAC launched its own campaign, publishing online ads and sending out mailers in support of favored candidates and in opposition to their opponents.
Many of the ads highlight last year’s legislative battle over a proposed corporate law change that largely limited shareholders’ ability to sue the companies they own stock in.
Supporters of the reform said it would move Delaware’s prominent business courts back into alignment with rulings from a decade ago. They also said it could dissuade companies from leaving the state, following assaults on Delaware’s brand by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk.
Among the incumbents targeted by the WFP’s campaign is Rep. Kim Williams (D-Newport) who recounted in an interview how she chuckled when first hearing about ads that linked her with Musk.
Rep. Kim Williams (D-Stanton) is among the incumbents targeted by Working Families Party campaign ads this morning. She faces a challenge from newcomer Will Imbrie-Moore. | PHOTO COURTESY OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS
She also criticized the Working Families Party for not revealing their donors in their state campaign finance filing.
“Our constituents should know where the money is coming from, and who’s funding it,” she said.
Williams’ critiques add to others expressed to Spotlight Delaware over the past month from many within Delaware‘s more establishment circles.
Get Involved To find your legislative district, see who’s running in races for seats in the Delaware House of Representative or Senate, or to read candidate Q&As, visit the Spotlight Delaware Election Center.
Still, the WFP National PAC is not the only Delaware organization to file a recent campaign finance report that omits donors. The Delaware Building Trades PAC also submitted a report without donors on Wednesday, though its spending for the past month totaled about $23,000 — a fraction of the WFP expenditures.
Local Working Families Party organizer Karl Stomberg declined to comment on the national PAC’s campaign finance report, stating that a firewall exists between his local activities working with candidates, and those of a PAC that cannot legally coordinate with those campaigns.
“Messages that are put out by the PAC are not preapproved by the candidates or by me,” Stomberg said,
In an interview with Spotlight Delaware on Thursday, the official from the WFP National PAC, who only spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the group will disclose its donors in an amended Delaware campaign finance report in the coming days.
The official also said the money funding its Delaware campaign came from a federal account that is targeted for independent expenditures, meaning it does not directly fund candidates’ campaigns.
The WFP National PAC’s federal campaign finance report shows that it raised more than $10 million in 2026 from more than 500 contributors.
The two largest were separate political organizations. The Democracy PAC has contributed $5.5 million to the group, while the Movement Voter PAC added $1.2 million, according to federal elections data.
The bulk of Democracy PAC’s contributions come from entities linked with the investor and political donor, George Soros.
The Movement Voter PAC derives its dollars from a more dispersed, left-leaning donor base.
Divers join search teams scouring deep waters for any survivors, with eight people so far confirmed to have died
Nearly 20 people are still missing after a ferry capsized off northern Cyprus, killing at least eight, as divers join search teams scouring deep waters for any survivors.
The double-hulled ferry with 267 people onboard took in water and flipped over on Sunday just off the port city of Kyrenia, leaving survivors clinging to the upturned hull. They were rescued by passing vessels and members of the coastguard.
US attacks Iranian rocket launchers on island in strait of Hormuz and Tehran targets US bases in Jordan and UAE
The US has reverted to military attacks on Iran for the first time in a month, firing missiles and drones at Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, prompting the Iranian military to attack US military bases in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.
US Central Command said it acted late on Sunday after it detected the Iranians planning to fire fresh mines into the strait. Last week Donald Trump claimed the US navy had cleared the strait of mines for the first time since the conflict started on 28 February, a claim the Iranians rejected as lies.
Rights group claims 300 homes were destroyed in Tibet and number of missing people is ‘far higher’ than Beijing admits
A Tibetan advocacy group says hundreds of homes were destroyed on the Tibetan side of the border in last week’s deadly floods, raising questions about Beijing’s official account of the scale of the disaster.
Public discussion about the flash floods has been restricted, with security officials in Tibet announcing on Sunday that it had penalised at least 10 people for sharing “false disaster information”. There was no further information on the nature of the penalties.
Julius Mugabo launches landmark case as union says thousands in capital lost incomes due to ‘broken system’
An Uber driver who got into thousands of pounds of debt and feared losing his home due to delays in Transport for London renewing his licence to pick up passengers is taking on the organisation in the high court in the first challenge of its kind.
Julius Mugabo, 55, has been an Uber driver licensed by TfL since 2016. Under the Private Hire Vehicles (London) Act 1998, all minicab drivers cannot work lawfully unless TfL has carried out checks on them and issued or renewed their licences. These licences must be renewed every three years.
Andrew Bailey, in role as financial stability watchdog chief, warns advanced models risk destabilising system
The Bank of England’s governor, Andrew Bailey, has joined the throng of figures warning about the global risks posed by the most advanced artificial intelligence technology.
In a two-page letter sent to international finance ministers and central bank governors as part of his role as chair of the international Financial Stability Board (FSB), Bailey said “frontier” AI models were “showing increasingly sophisticated autonomy and problem-solving abilities, as well as threat capabilities”.
With traditional goals such as stability and home ownership feeling out of reach, young people are focused on the present
By now, we all know the shape of financial nihilism: the throw-your-money-at-anything reaction to the dissolution of the slow, linear path to wealth; the prediction markets, meme stocks, cryptocurrencies and microluxuries growing in its place. We’re left in an economic no man’s land. But financial nihilism only describes where we put our money. What about how we earn it in the first place?
The modern economy has long relied on our need for stable employment – to pay the mortgage, to keep our kids fed, or, for some, to chase prestige and power – to generate the work ethic that keeps the wheel of production turning. None of this is going well for young people. Our jobs are insecure, we can’t afford houses, we’re deferring having kids (if we have them at all), and only 6% of us say a leadership position is our primary career goal. Hope is one of the economy’s most productive inputs, powering our willingness to endure long hours. When the production function of income – the mechanism that turns hard work into a stable salary, then a mortgage, then a pension – breaks down, so does our relationship with the input. I call this production nihilism: my generation’s growing indifference to the kinds of work we’re willing to participate in, and where we’re willing to earn.
Esmaeil Baqaei, the spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, recently warned of the increasing environmental damage caused by the U.S. war, drawing attention to oil contamination in the Persian Gulf that has begun washing up on Iranian shores. “This incident is only one visible example of the extensive pollution — both overt and concealed — that has degraded the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman,” he wrote on X. “Who bears responsibility for compensating these damages? Is it the nations that consume the inexpensive energy exported from our region, the shipping insurers, or the aggressors and their partners who have transformed the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman into a theater for military operations and the testing of highly destructive weaponry?”
Alongside death and destruction that has killed or wounded tens of thousands of Iranians, the U.S.–Israeli war has caused massive environmental devastation. By March, attacks had already resulted in more than 300 incidents of potential environmental harm, documented across 12 countries in the region, according to a report by the Conflict and Environment Observatory. These toxic exposures threaten not only today’s war victims, but also future generations who will grapple with the knock-on effects.
The ongoing satellite blackout has hindered the work of those tracking the environmental devastation.
Major commercial satellite companies have restricted or delayed the publication of their Middle East data at the behest of the U.S. government. Likely intended to obscure the true extent of damage inflicted on U.S. military facilities across the region, the ongoing satellite blackout has also hindered the work of those tracking the environmental devastation that has accompanied the conflict since it began in February. Even with the limited data, the Conflict and Environment Observatory has concluded that “[a]ll parties to the conflict” have appeared to target “environmentally risky facilities,” including oil infrastructure and water desalination plants.
According to research by the Climate and Community Institute, U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran in the first 14 days of the war emitted roughly 5 million metric cubic tons of greenhouse gases. Put another way: In two weeks, coalition strikes produced roughly the same amount of carbon emissions as the country of Iceland does over the course of a year. And as the war dragged on, missile facilities, weapons depots, oil infrastructure, nuclear facilities, dual-use and civilian infrastructure including power stations and desalination plants were also increasingly struck.
The environmental threats these targets pose is enormous. Damaged desalination plants jeopardize the civilian water supply and flood nearby land and marine environments with harmful chemicals like sulfuric acid. Bombed infrastructure fills urban streets with asbestos-contaminated rubble and dust, heightening the risk of respiratory illness and cancer among exposed populations. Damaged weapons facilities pollute surrounding areas with explosives, highly toxic liquid propellants, and heavy metals. And the targeting of nuclear facilities risks radiation exposure or worse, an uncontrolled nuclear disaster, like a meltdown.
Fossil fuel infrastructure has also remained a key military objective for all belligerents. Israeli strikes on more than two dozen Iranian oil depots in early March engulfed the capital city of Tehran in a cloud of toxic smoke that rained black carbon and sulfuric acid on the city’s 9 million residents. Attacks on oil tankers and other commercial vessels have leached oil and spilled fuel into myriad waterways from the Egyptian port of Damietta, where Iran struck two liquefied natural gas vessels, to the coast of Sri Lanka, where the U.S. sank an Iranian frigate. And such environmental damage is likely to increase as the conflict continues to sporadically flare up.
The U.S. has a long history of starting wars that leave deep environmental scars. And for decades, U.S. troops have paid for it with exposures to toxic substances, including defoliants like Agent Orange, an herbicide the U.S. sprayed across Southeast Asia in the 1960s and 1970s; smoke from oil depot fires that dotted the landscape in and around Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War; and the military base burn pits of the post-9/11 forever wars. The PACT Act of 2022 extended healthcare access to millions of veterans who served from the last half of the 20th century to today and now suffer from a wide range of conditions related to such wartime exposures, including cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and reproductive issues likely caused or exacerbated by their military service.
Health problems among U.S. veterans often mirror those of local communities in war zones as they are exposed to the same toxic substances. Just as American troops returned home from Iraq with higher rates of diseases like urinary and blood cancers, doctors in the Iraqi city of Fallujah, for example, reported higher birth abnormalities and miscarriages among the local population.
Fallujah offers a glimpse of the environmental fallout that the people of neighboring Iran may face in the years to come. More than half of Fallujah was leveled in a U.S. Marine-led siege of the city in 2004. Hospitals, water systems and electrical grids were destroyed. A similar wave of destruction accompanied the ISIS takeover of the city in 2014. Fallujah was then besieged and heavily bombed in 2016 during the U.S.–Iraqi military operation that retook the city. Iraqis in Fallujah fled en masse in both 2004 and 2014. Those who returned were greeted by demolished homes, bomb craters, chemical spills, and houses with ash covered walls littered with bullet holes.
“The Trillion Dollar War Machine,” by William D. Hartung and Ben Freeman Available at Bookshop.org.
Since 2004, Fallujah has seen a 12-fold increase in childhood cancer rates and similar spikes in early onset cancer and respiratory diseases, according to a study co-authored by local physicians. Elevated rates of miscarriages and lethal birth defects that followed the initial U.S. invasion have never diminished. Reports on these poor health outcomes by doctors at Fallujah Women and Children’s Hospital led to the creation of a multidisciplinary study steered by researchers from Purdue University in the U.S. and Britain’s Newcastle University which tracked the intergenerational health effects of heavy metal exposure.
Depleted uranium munitions — which shatter and ignite on impact, allowing them to penetrate heavy armor plating — have been used by the U.S. in combat since the Gulf War. Spent rounds then release particles of radioactive uranium and other heavy metals, like titanium, into the surrounding earth, water, and air. Heavily bombarded areas in Fallujah were left with a greater percentage of heavy metals in their soil as a result.
Those who returned to the city after the battles, rebuilt their homes, reseeded contaminated farmlands, and drank and bathed in local waters now carry higher levels of radiation and heavy metals in their bodies. Indeed, uranium was found in the bones of one-third of study participants, all of whom were children during the 2004 siege — at levels roughly 300 times higher than their generational peers in America.
While highly toxic on its own, uranium levels are also often a marker for exposure to heavy metals including lead, arsenic, and mercury, which have been known to harm virtually every organ in the human body. Today, elevated rates of miscarriages and lethal congenital anomalies plague families in Fallujah.
“War itself is always about combustion,” explained Kali Rubaii, a cultural anthropologist and Purdue University assistant professor who led the study on Fallujah. “The combustion of generally toxic materials redistributes these toxicants into people’s air, water and food. Every time someone breathes in everything in the air, they are inheriting the pollutants of war.”
Post-war surges in birth defects, respiratory diseases, and cancers in Fallujah have now been directly linked with exposure to the weapons of war. As the pollutants of war are largely universal, the study’s implications lie far beyond Fallujah. Recommendations for those returning to bombarded areas are included in the study’s appendix in both Ukrainian and Arabic. When I spoke to Rubaii in March — two days after Tehran was drenched in black rain — she hoped the study’s finding, and its recommendations for returnees, could be of help to those living near the Persian Gulf.
The U.S–Israeli war on Iran has only exacerbated ongoing environmental crises in the Middle East, including a five-year-long drought, brought on by years of insufficient rainfall linked to human-induced climate change, that poses a severe threat to Tehran’s water supply. The Persian Gulf’s fragile coral reefs and mangrove forests have also, for years, suffered under rising water temperatures, intensive vessel activity, and growing industrial pollution.
“The most effective way to limit heavy metal toxicity from war is by not bombing cities.”
The Persian Gulf’s ecosystems still bear the scars of oil spills from the U.S. battles with Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War. Now, according to a recent study from the University of South Florida’s College of Marine Science, oil spills in the Gulf have increased dramatically since the beginning of the war to cover roughly four times the area in March 2026 as they did one year earlier. Though it is still too soon to calculate the full extent of the environmental harm imposed by the ongoing conflict, the toxic airborne pollutants, land contaminated with heavy metals, and oil-soaked waterways will pose a threat to life for decades to come.
As Rubaii’s study concludes, “the most effective way to limit heavy metal toxicity from war is by not bombing cities.” While we live in an age where threats to civilian infrastructure are espoused and ordered by prime ministers and presidents alike, the illegality of these attacks — and their grave ecological consequences — cannot be ignored. The targeting of a country’s energy infrastructure, waterways, bridges, and homes makes it more likely that the attacked nation will respond with attacks on similar targets, placing civilians at risk in the present and, due to environmental contamination, for following generations.
People can’t be healthy if they live on sick lands.
The International Committee of the Red Cross — which works to uphold the laws of war — has repeatedly affirmed that the environment itself is a civilian object and must be protected. Under the 1998 Rome Statute, which established the International Criminal Court, to inflict disproportionate widespread and severe environmental damage is a war crime.
The Iran war has already sparked a global fuel crisis, threatened future harvests, and placed tens of millions of people at risk of hunger, imperiling this generation and the next. It has also subjected civilians to toxic smoke, black carbon rain, and other public health hazards. People can’t be healthy if they live on sick lands. Even after the final bomb of the Iran war has dropped, the ecological devastation and health hazards will haunt U.S. service members and local residents alike. Fallujah has shown that even long after the guns fall silent, war victims continue to suffer with the fallout of conflicts that have, quite literally, seeped into their bones.
Jimmie “Chris” Duncan lived in a motel in Alexandria, Louisiana, for weeks until he found an apartment. Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Jimmie “Chris” Duncan wiped the sweat off his forehead as he assessed his temporary home from the parking lot of a rundown motel in central Louisiana. Sure, there’s drug dealing and prostitution, he said on a recent summer afternoon. And he suspected his neighbors were cooking meth on a floor below the room he paid $350 a week to rent.
But, he said, “I feel safe here. I mean, I’ve been on death row. I feel safe anywhere.”
Duncan had spent the last three decades trying to prove his innocence after a jury convicted him of killing his former girlfriend’s toddler. An investigation by Verite News and ProPublica last year showed that prosecutors had relied on key evidence that appeared to be fabricated by a pair of forensics experts whose use of bite mark analysis has since been widely discredited as junk science.
Nevertheless, Louisiana prosecutors continued to argue that Duncan should be put to death. The threat became ever more real as Gov. Jeff Landry began expediting executions, despite the state’s track record of convicting and sentencing to death people later found to be innocent. It wasn’t until June that the Louisiana Supreme Court threw out Duncan’s murder conviction, ruling that the bite marks found on the child’s body, the only physical proof tying Duncan to the alleged crime, could not have been made by a human.
Chief Justice John Weimer was so outraged by the prosecution of Duncan that he compared it to 17th-century witch trials. “We now look back at those practices as asinine and absurd” with “no basis whatsoever in logic,” he wrote. Some of the evidence against Duncan, he said, was “similarly specious.”
The trauma that the state imposed on Duncan as a result of his wrongful conviction continues today. Although Louisiana’s top jurist tore apart the state’s case against Duncan, the 57-year-old West Monroe native still isn’t truly free. Steve Tew, district attorney for Ouachita Parish, where the crime allegedly took place, had warned the justices during an April hearing that he would retry Duncan if the court vacated his conviction. Tew, who did not respond to requests for comment, has said in court that he still believes that Duncan is not only guilty but deserves to be executed. Tew has until next June to decide on a retrial, though his term ends in January and he is not running for reelection.
Until then, Duncan said, he is trapped in limbo, both mentally and financially. He came out of Angola with nothing in the bank and now makes $17 an hour working the night shift at Walmart unloading and stocking freight. While he enjoys the job — he was named employee of the month in June — Duncan said he is barely scraping by.
There is a state restitution program designed to compensate exonerees up to $480,000 over a decade for wrongful convictions, but he is not eligible until either the district attorney decides not to retry him or he is acquitted in another trial, which can take years. And even then, there is no guarantee he will ever be awarded any money. Attorney General Liz Murrill has opposed nearly all applications for compensation, telling lawmakers last year that defending the state against such claims consumes an enormous amount of time and resources and that the fund should be abolished altogether.
“The foreseeable future for me is the year between now and when they can’t prosecute me no more. That’s the only future I get to play with,” Duncan said. “I’m 100% factually innocent, but not 100% free from prosecution.”
Duncan runs errands after finishing a night shift unloading freight at Walmart.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Surviving His First Decade in Angola
Over the course of more than six hours of interviews with Verite News and ProPublica, Duncan described in harrowing detail the nightmare he lived since police arrested him on Dec. 18, 1993. By far the worst of it all, he said, was thinking that his neighbors, friends and even relatives could believe he had committed such an unspeakable crime against a child.
It felt as if everything he was as a person was “being torn out of you, violently, in an emotionally painful way,” Duncan said. “Just having your identity eviscerated.”
Duncan was babysitting Haley Oliveaux in the home he shared with the girl’s mother, Allison Layton Statham, in West Monroe when the 23-month-old died. Duncan told law enforcement he had put the child in the bath, then went to wash dishes. When he heard a noise coming from the bathroom, he rushed to check on her and found Haley floating face down in the water. She was pronounced dead a few hours later.
Police initially arrested Duncan for negligent homicide, but prosecutors upped the charge to first-degree murder after pathologist Steven Hayne and dentist Michael West conducted Haley’s medical exam and claimed they discovered evidence, including the purported bite marks, that she had been sexually assaulted and intentionally drowned. Following two weeks of testimony during the trial in 1998, the jury found Duncan guilty; months later, the 30-year-old was sentenced to death.
His first decade at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola was the hardest, Duncan said. Not only did he lose his initial appeal in 2002, and with it the dream he could convince the courts of his innocence, but he was forced to watch helplessly as his family gradually fell to pieces.
His mother, Barbara Oren, used to visit him every Thursday, and then in 2004, she stopped coming without explanation. Duncan would stare out the window across the hall from his cell, “almost obsessing, like my mom’s gonna show up any time now,” he said.
Three years later, Oren died of complications from excessive drinking, her sister, Elaine Whiteside, said. But in truth, Whiteside said, grief killed her.
“She fought for Chris for so long, and she turned to alcohol,” Whiteside said. “It’s been very traumatizing for everybody. For the last 32 years, how do you tell someone your nephew’s on death row for the rape and murder of a baby?”
Fourteen years after his mother passed, Duncan’s brother, David, died of an overdose. During the first several years of his incarceration, Duncan said he spoke with his brother often, but those calls grew less frequent as David’s addictions took hold.
“My brother ended up going from being the region’s No. 1 car salesman to being addicted to drugs to eventually dying of overdose,” he said. “He just couldn’t take it. He couldn’t escape being my brother.”
Duncan wasn’t allowed to attend either of their funerals.
“There was nobody who was immune from it,” Duncan said.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Daily life on death row nearly robbed him of his sanity, Duncan said. Like all inmates awaiting execution, Duncan remained in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day. This lasted almost 20 years. And there was never a set schedule for that one hour he would be let out and allowed to use the phone. Some days, it would be 2 a.m. Who could he call at that hour? (Death row inmates were eventually allowed to spend at least four hours outside their cells following a 2017 class-action lawsuit.)
The concept of time gradually disappeared. Duncan tried to keep a strict routine: wake up, drink coffee, watch the news, exercise and read books, mainly about other cultures and religions. He learned Hebrew so he could better understand the Bible. He became a tutor and helped other inmates earn their GEDs.
But the years of confinement began to take their toll physically. After about four years, Duncan started experiencing severe heart pain caused by a bacterial infection. “By the time I was 34 years old, my health had went all the way downhill,” he said. “A lot of nights, I went to sleep, said my prayers and really didn’t think I was going to wake up the next day.”
During the summer months, when the heat inside could rise to 115 degrees, Duncan said he experienced seizures. “I’m pretty sure I got brain damage as a result of it,” he said. “There were times when I got out of bed and I didn’t even know if I was left-handed or right-handed. There were a few times when I got up, I didn’t even know my name.”
In 2013, three death row inmates sued the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections for “appalling and extreme conditions” as a result of the high temperatures. Their experiences described in the lawsuit closely matched Duncan’s. For 85 straight days in 2012, the heat index in one section of death row exceeded 126 degrees, according to the suit. A judge ordered the state to provide air conditioning throughout death row, but a federal appeals court overturned the order. The corrections department did not respond to questions about conditions within the prison.
Instead of breaking him, Duncan said the brutal conditions hardened his resolve to keep fighting. But it didn’t seem as if anyone was listening.
“Sometimes the louder you scream, the more people look at you and laugh, like, ‘There’s another one claiming he’s innocent,’” Duncan said. “I was suicidal at one point because I was hopeless.”
Photographs kept by Duncan’s aunt show him during his time in prison.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Signs of Hope
Duncan had been on death row for about a decade when he learned from his lawyers and the news that there were others like him — people convicted based on inaccurate evidence, including discredited bite mark science, presented by Hayne or West. Four of them had been exonerated by 2008, and five more would follow.
In 2009 journalist Radley Balko wrote about Duncan’s case in Reason, a libertarian magazine, and how it was part of a larger pattern of “forensics fraud” perpetrated by Hayne and West. At the time, Duncan’s attorneys with a New Orleans nonprofit had filed a post-conviction appeal but did not have the resources to conduct a fuller investigation and uncover new evidence required to win. That left his case largely dormant.
Then in 2016, Duncan’s attorneys contacted the American Bar Association, which put him in touch with an Atlanta firm that took Duncan on as a client pro bono. (The Innocence Project in New York signed on six years later.) They filed a series of discovery requests that unearthed a trove of evidence pointing to Duncan’s innocence. This included expert witnesses who said the child’s death was an accidental drowning brought on by a seizure and a jailhouse informant who recanted his trial testimony that Duncan had confessed to the crime.
Most important was a recording of West’s 1993 examination of Haley. In that grainy black-and-white video, West can be seen taking a mold of Duncan’s teeth and grinding it into and across the girl’s body, seemingly creating bite marks where none previously existed — the marks later used to secure a death sentence against Duncan. The trial judge had not allowed the jury to see the video on the grounds that it was not an indication of Duncan’s innocence.
West, who has not responded to multiple earlier requests for comment, had previously said he was simply using what he called a “direct comparison” technique — in which he presses a mold of a person’s teeth directly onto the location of suspected bite marks. He admitted in a 2011 deposition in another case that he no longer believed in bite mark analysis. Hayne died in 2020.
Atlanta attorney Christian Bromley, who had joined the case, recalled the first time he was shown the recording in 2016 and being “horrified and surprised that the video had been available at that point for over 20 years and just essentially ignored and deemed not relevant.” The video would provide the foundation for Duncan’s latest bid for freedom.
Duncan describes his feelings about how calls for the death penalty impacted his case.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Filmmaker Catherine Legge, who spent more than three years creating a documentary about his case, also played a pivotal role. Duncan said he’s indebted to her for tracking down Statham, Haley’s mother, and convincing her of his innocence. He knows it wasn’t easy.
“Allison spent 30 years being accused of being a partner to her baby’s killer,” Duncan said.
In April of last year, then-Ouachita Parish Judge Alvin Sharp overturned Duncan’s conviction, criticizing the “questionable” work of Hayne and West. Tew appealed, claiming that bite mark evidence was an accepted science at the time of Duncan’s trial and that some experts still consider it to be a useful forensic methodology.
At Duncan’s bail hearing last July, Statham told the court that the district attorney’s office had lied about her daughter’s death to make it look like murder and continues to perpetuate the lie. She said Duncan deserved to be free. He wept as he listened to his former girlfriend come to his defense.
“Just seeing her on the stand and hearing her voice engaged in the same struggle that I’ve been fighting for 30 years, knowing that what mattered to her was the truth,” he said, “That was the only thing that mattered to me.”
Allison Layton Statham and her boyfriend, Mark Dillingham, outside the courthouse in Monroe, Louisiana, during a break in Duncan’s bail hearing in July 2025.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Four months later, Sharp granted Duncan bail. He was released into the embrace of his family the day before Thanksgiving. Then, this June, the state Supreme Court rejected the district attorney’s appeal and threw out Duncan’s conviction. Of the four people sentenced to death based in part on the work of Hayne or West, Duncan was the last to be freed.
Rebuilding a Life From Scratch
Since his release from prison, Duncan has been trying to piece together some semblance of a normal existence. There were the everyday logistics of finding permanent housing and a job. And then the deeper work of addressing the decades of pain that he — and his family — experienced.
At first, he slept on his aunt’s living room couch in Pineville in central Louisiana. But she broke her leg in June, which required twice-weekly visits from nurses and physical therapists, leaving little room for Duncan. That’s how Duncan ended up at the motel across the Red River in Alexandria, with half of his belongings packed into the back of a truck. In August, he moved into his own apartment, the first place he has ever lived by himself.
“I never really had a place to just be comfortable and relax,” he said.
Duncan moved into his new apartment in Pineville, Louisiana, in August. He is carrying cowboy boots that he ordered before going to prison; they didn’t arrive until after he was gone.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublicaDuncan’s Bible is one of his most cherished possessions. He taught himself to read Hebrew while in prison.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Duncan’s main focus now is doing the best job he can at work. On most nights, he said he puts his earbuds in, listens to music, unloads the trucks and lets the world drift away. “Ain’t got to think about nothing else,” he said. But Duncan has his eye on the future and enrolled in a Walmart management training program that will bring additional responsibilities.
One day soon, though, he knows that he will need to shift his attention back to the flawed criminal justice system in Monroe and the conditions in Angola prison. He wants to make sure the horrors he experienced don’t happen to anyone else, including the guys on death row, men who were convicted of terrible crimes but with whom he still formed true friendships.
“I was under the same roof with those people twice as long as I was under the same roof with my own family,” he said.
He’s also rekindled a relationship from long ago. Recently, he was going through Facebook friend requests and saw a familiar face, but one he couldn’t quite place. He accepted, and the woman texted him a photo of herself when she was just a kid. It was his childhood sweetheart.
The last time he saw her was at a skating rink just after Christmas in the early 1980s. He had given her a pair of earrings. A short time later, her family moved out of town.
“She just disappeared,” Duncan said. “She’s one of the only people I remember from my past. I still missed her just the same as I always did.”
That part of his life seems at times to be more of a dream than reality, Duncan said. He lived a simple, country life. He hunted and fished. He drank beer, rode motorcycles and worked on hot rods. And he planned to become a firefighter like his dad.
But then Haley died.
“I can’t be a simple person anymore,” Duncan said. “I try to find ways to be happy, but nothing is simple anymore.”
Duncan turns on a light in his new apartment.Kathleen Flynn for ProPublica
Concern among staff that fragile artwork’s scarce ‘light hours’ given to someone with no known interest in museum
The British Museum privately hosted the Donald Trump-supporting tech billionaire Peter Thiel in the exhibition space of the Bayeux tapestry earlier this month, the Guardian understands.
The museum’s director of development, Charlotte Appleyard, hosted the PayPal founder at a VIP viewing of the tapestry, which is yet to open to the public, on 18 August.
Organisers say people must revive spiritual relationship with food amid double threat of climate crisis and conflict
Mending the broken food system under the threat of climate-driven weather extremes will require more than economic fixes and intensive agriculture, according to the organisers of a pioneering summit this week, who say the world must revive its spiritual relationship with food.
Delegates from more than 60 countries and the UN will gather for the next five days in Paro in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan for the world’s first “conscious food summit”, which will bring together governments and farmers, mindfulness experts and yoga therapists.
Sunday had become Monday by the time Venus Williams finally emerged beneath the closed roof of Arthur Ashe Stadium, her entrance pushed deep into the night after Novak Djokovic’s bruising defeat by Argentina’s Mariano Navone went the five-set distance. The first ball was struck at 12.13am, the latest start to a match in US Open history, yet several thousand spectators remained to watch a player who has been part of this tournament for as long as the building itself.
At 46 years old, ranked 611th in the world and making her record-extending 26th US Open singles appearance, Williams has grown accustomed to making history simply by showing up. Even by those standards this latest installment was, as she would later describe it, “completely insane”.
More than 200mm of rain forecast in parts of South Korea, while parts of southern Europe to be 10C above average
South Korea’s prime minister, Han Seong-sook, met officials to prepare for heavy rain expected this week, with rainfall totals across central and northern parts of the country forecast to exceed 200mm in some areas.
South Korea was battered by heavy rainfall earlier this month and some areas were particularly hard hit. Over the weekend further thunderstorms pushed into the region and these are expected to cause disruption through Monday. This heavy rain is caused by a series of severe thunderstorms that developed over the Yellow Sea, on the western side of South Korea, and will slowly push eastwards on Monday before easing on Tuesday. These storms have been strengthened by the very warm Yellow Sea, which now has a surface temperature of 29C, 4C above the climatological average.
"OpenAI said on Friday that it plans to stop providing AI models to Cursor, the coding-tool company now owned by Elon Musk's SpaceX," reports Reuters:
"We are making this choice because we cannot be confident that SpaceX will use our technology within our terms of service, based on our experience with Elon Musk's companies violating contracts," OpenAI said in a blog post... However, Michael Truell, a co-founder of Cursor and now an executive at SpaceX, said on X that the company was speaking with the OpenAI team to resolve this issue.
Hours after OpenAI's announcement, Anthropic, which rivals both firms but has an ongoing partnership with SpaceX, said it planned to increase compute to support Claude models in Cursor, according to Tom Brown, one of the co-founders of the firm...
In its blog post, OpenAI said that X, formerly known as Twitter and now part of SpaceX, had breached the terms of its contract with OpenAI after Musk acquired the platform.
"To work with a large partner like SpaceX, we typically rely on custom contracts to ensure compliance with our terms of service and that the integration provides for safety at scale," the AI company added.
The article also notes Elon Musk's response Saturday in a post on X.com: "I couldn't care less."
He accused Altman and OpenAI President Greg Brockman of being "untrustworthy," while repeating his assertion that they "stole an open source nonprofit."
Secretive state begins repairs on ageing facilities after being revealed as worst country for leaks of potent greenhouse gas
Turkmenistan has started plugging the mega-leaks of methane that spew from its ageing oil and gas facilities, the latest UN data shows, in a move hailed as a breakthrough.
Methane, also called natural or fossil gas, is a potent greenhouse gas. It traps 80 times more heat than carbon dioxide and causes 25% of global heating today. Stopping leaks can be quick and cheap and, because methane breaks down in the atmosphere far quicker than CO2, this has a rapid impact, with some experts calling it the climate “emergency brake”.
Amman, Jordan — Iran launched ballistic missiles Monday at military bases in Jordan used by U.S. forces, marking a renewed escalation after American strikes on Iranian targets near the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state television said missiles targeted the King Hussein and Al-Azraq airbases in retaliation for Sunday’s U.S. attack on two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island. U.S. Central Command said those launchers were being prepared to deploy rockets and sea mines that threatened commercial shipping.
Jordan’s armed forces said eight ballistic missiles entering its airspace were intercepted. A U.S. official told Reuters that nearly all incoming missiles were destroyed, with no immediate reports of major damage or U.S. casualties.
The exchange ended a roughly month-long lull in significant direct fighting between Washington and Tehran. The conflict began six months ago and has repeatedly threatened shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial route for global energy supplies.
Oil markets reacted quickly. Brent crude climbed above $90 per barrel as traders weighed the possibility of additional disruptions in the region.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard vowed further retaliation following the U.S. strikes, while American officials described Sunday’s operation as limited and defensive.
The renewed fighting comes as the Trump administration continues applying economic pressure on Tehran while facing growing domestic scrutiny over the duration and objectives of the war.
The long-running drama reaches Hitler’s rise to power in its final season as its creators reflect on the unsettling parallels between Weimar Germany and the present day
It’s the global hit TV series that pulled audiences straight into the chaotic hedonism of 1920s Germany, dramatising the brilliance and brittleness of a newly built democratic system with unprecedented ambition.
But in the 13 years that the German makers of Babylon Berlin have worked on the show, modern democracies from the US to Hungary to South Korea have come under pressure in ways the creators say they could never have imagined when they started.
Exclusive: Patients identify errors in consultation transcripts that are missed by GPs, Healthwatch England finds
AI technology that listens to and transcribes patients’ consultations with doctors can put them at risk by getting the names of drugs and illnesses wrong, an NHS watchdog has warned.
In one case a woman was left badly shaken when the AI scribe’s summary of her conversation wrongly said she had demyelination – serious nerve damage that can lead to multiple sclerosis.
In today’s newsletter: As rescuers search for survivors after catastrophic floods, the disaster offers a stark warning about the climate risks facing the region, and the world
Good morning. Over the weekend, rescue workers in Nepal and Tibet raced to find people who are still trapped in villages affected by catastrophic flash floods. As of this morning, the death toll stands at 903, and more than4,000 people are missing.
For those of you reading this in a place where life continues as usual, the scale of devastation is hard to fathom. In a matter of minutes, a torrent of mud and debris engulfed entire villages, snapped bridges and swept away people’s homes and families. Some survivors are marooned on top of buildings that rescue workers can’t reach. Others are trapped in tunnels beneath the ground. Many have no idea if their loved ones are still alive.
UK politics | PC Andrew Harper’s killers will remain in prison after Andy Burnham announced changes to the early release scheme that will see anyone convicted of unlawful killing, including all forms of manslaughter, excluded from the scheme.
Milo Yiannopoulos | Far-right British media provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos has been deported from the US back to the UK by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in connection with what the agency said was expired authorisation to be in the country.
US-Iran | Iran has launched retaliatory strikes on airbases in Jordan after the United States attacked Iranian rocket launchers on an island in the strait of Hormuz, the first such strikes in a month.
Iceland | In a blow to Brussels, Iceland has held a referendum that has narrowly rejected the government’s proposal to hold accession talks with the EU.
Nepal-Tibet disaster | A headteacher in Nepal evacuated 900 children from a school moments before a deadly wall of water struck their town amid the devastating flash floods that have killed almost 800 people and left thousands missing.
Tuesday | Justice secretary Alex Norris is due to present the government’s revised plans for the prisoner early release scheme, which includes a headroom review aimed at freeing up more space in the system.
Thursday | In the first UK visit by an EU leader of Andy Burnham’s tenure, the prime minister is will host talks with French president Emmanuel Macron.
Saturday | Officials from Jamaica will visit the UK to lodge a petition with King Charles to seek legal guidance from the privy council on the country’s request for reparations over Britain’s involvement in the slave trade, on the anniversary of the 1781 Zong slave ship departure from West Africa.
Dozens evacuated after flash-flood event near Bright Angel Canyon and Phantom Ranch, officials say
One person died and about 15 people were missing or unaccounted for after a major flash flood swept through the Grand Canyon national park in Arizona on Saturday afternoon, according to the National Park Service.
The flash-flood event occurred in the area of Bright Angel Canyon and the Phantom Ranch, where park staff and the Arizona department of public safety had evacuated more than 60 people as of Sunday morning.
Three of the four candidates running for the District 23 state House seat participated in a candidate forum at the George Wilson Center on Sunday, debating data centers, affordable housing, transparency, budgets and other issues.
Checks at pharmacies for people aged 40 to 84 are aimed at identifying those at risk of heart attack or stroke
The NHS in England is to offer free finger-prick blood tests for cholesterol on the high street for the first time under plans to reduce heart disease and stroke deaths by a quarter within the next decade.
The seven-minute tests will be available at participating pharmacies as part of a national rollout to spot “ticking timebombs” earlier.
Richer countries might have more resources to deal with catastrophe, but this problem grips the entire planet, however much leaders may want to deny it
Climate breakdown is happening on one Earth, but two different worlds. In one, its impacts increasingly encroach on everyday life; longer periods of discomfort and shorter periods of sharp pain. Endless, hotter summers, and within them sudden wildfires, evacuations, homes burned to cinders in a matter of hours. In another, catastrophe. This summer has been a snapshot of that split-screen. The hottest day on record in parts of Europe, and a wave of water, mud and ice in Nepal that so far has claimed more than 750 lives. Thousands of people are still missing.
The difference is also one of resources. The climate crisis has an economic cost, but some places can absorb it better than others. Responses to this summer of wildfires in Europe included a rapid scrambling by the French government to provide everything from tax breaks for businesses affected by the fires to relocation costs and aid to rebuild homes. The UK government had deployed almost £100m before the summer to strengthen wildfire resilience.
In an Amazon News blog post, their HR leader describes using AI to write 100,000 lines of code — 25 years after she last coded. "Do you know how empowering it is to realize that after 25 years away from coding, you can actually build again?" First she built a calendar app for her family, but then used Amazon's AI-powered coding tool Kiro to write an app for Amazon's internal "Everyone Can Build" event.
We opened the competition to every employee on our team, and within just a few weeks, more than 1,500 people were building. I couldn't believe what they built. One employee built an app that turned a nearly four-hour manual process into a one-second automated check, saving tens of thousands of hours annually. Another made a desktop pet named Momo that keeps your tasks, reminders, and shortcuts a click away.
Since then, I've written over 100,000 lines of code with AI. What I've found is that the more you work with these tools, the more natural the process becomes, and the more you realize they're expanding what you're capable of, not replacing it. You don't need perfection to start. You just need to dive in. When I decided to build the submission app for our team competition, I didn't know how to begin, so I asked our internal AI workplace assistant, called Aza. It pointed me to the right tools and helped me take the first step. From there, I opened Kiro and started building. When you give employees the ability and tools to solve problems themselves, they will surprise you with what they create...
At Amazon, every employee has access to AI tools. Whether someone needs a quick answer, wants to move faster in their day-to-day, or is ready to try building something new, the resources are there. The more people use these tools, the more capable they become with them, and that experience carries forward in their careers... We also want to make it easy for people to build credentials that are recognized across industries. That's why AI training is free for every Amazon employee. Amazon covers the full cost of one AWS AI certification exam per year, with options ranging from foundational AI concepts to professional-level generative AI. Employees can choose the path that fits where they are in their learning journey.
Long-time Slashdot reader theodp notes that 7 months ago Galetti also took to Amazon News to announce the elimination of 16,000 corporate jobs, a move which CNBC noted coincided "with a push to invest heavily in artificial intelligence."
The job reductions come just a few months after October's layoffs, when 14,000 employees were let go across Amazon's corporate workforce. At the time, the company indicated the cuts would continue in 2026 as it found "additional places we can remove layers."
Nationwide research also shows average 14% premium for housing in national landscapes of England and Wales
Housebuyers are paying a premium of almost a quarter to own a property located within a UK national park, with the New Forest the most expensive national park to live in, according to Britain’s biggest building society.
Nationwide found that a property located within a national park cost 24% more on average than a similar property elsewhere, while buyers were also stumping up a 6% premium for homes within three miles of a national park.
Will the UK ever rejoin the EU? Who is funding Andy Burnham? And will the bedroom tax be scrapped? In a special episode, Kiran Stacey and Peter Walker answer some of your questions
As Russia hits another ammunition warehouse, killing at least 38, locals put blame on poorly placed depots
It is a day and a half since a Russian jet-powered drone smashed into an ammunition dump in Myla, a village 15 miles outside central Kyiv. Volodymyr, 61, a security guard, leads visitors from his family’s badly damaged home, its roof blown off, back windows shattered, through the garden towards the impact site 300 metres away.
The garden, like so many in Ukraine’s villages and suburbs, is a sizeable allotment. But today the greenhouse is shattered, a vegetable patch is blackened and crisp underfoot. Several metres of grapevine have been destroyed. Even so, Volodymyr finds two surviving bunches to hand to the Guardian.
After 20 years away, Capcom’s hyper kinetic action adventure returns, pitting skilled samurai Miyamoto Musashi against hordes of warriors and demons in Edo-period Kyoto. Master the complex combat then prepare for flashing blades, disembodied limbs and geysers of spraying blood.
• 4 September; PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox
Have a pint s and at mid speeds 18km/hr I get a strange vibration almost similar to the feeling of breaking aggressively. No noise just feel. At low speeds and higher speeds I don't feel it. Tire is in good shape but I think it might have something to do with it. This is because I really notice it most when tire psi is above 14psi. 14psi and below and I notice it less and less. Issue pretty much goes away.
"Multikernel Technologies has put out mklinux v7.0-mk2, the first public release of the multikernel Linux tree it's been building since last year," reports the blog It's FOSS:
The basic premise of the project is that one physical server can run several independent Linux kernels side by side, each with its own dedicated CPUs and memory. So, the same box could run a database on one kernel and a GPU training job on another without either kernel touching the other's resources... One kernel runs as the host, controlling the machine's CPUs, memory, and PCI devices. When it spins up a new kernel instance, that instance gets its own dedicated slice of hardware and boots straight onto it using Linux's kexec mechanism, running natively rather than under a hypervisor.
The host tracks all of this through device tree overlays under /sys/fs/multikernel/, and it can shift hardware between running instances while everything stays up.
That's a different setup from both VMs and containers. A VM still puts a hypervisor and a host kernel between the app and the hardware. A container skips the hypervisor, but every tenant on the machine shares one kernel... This release only supports x86_64 hardware, though Multikernel Technologies says the architecture-specific code is already modular enough for other ports to follow later.
The article notes they're selling multiple products based on the kernel tree, including one for running AI agents in their own kernel with direct GPU access and one that promises to patch a running kernel without taking the system down.
It only has 90 miles on it. Rides perfectly and feels great. It just makes those noise intermittently. Will be quiet for about 3 mins then on and off. Any help is appreciated if anyone knows how to fix this
Edit: Removing the fender solved the noise issue 🤦♂️ thank you everyone!! I’m a noob rn, I just got this yesterday
Fort Worth, Texas — Officials in Tarrant County will vote Tuesday on a proposal to reduce the number of Election Day polling places, drawing opposition from voting-rights groups and Democrats ahead of a closely watched U.S. Senate race.
The plan would eliminate 92 locations compared with the 2022 midterms while leaving more than 200 sites available across the county. Republican County Judge Tim O’Hare has argued the changes would eliminate low-turnout or duplicative locations and reduce unnecessary costs.
The NAACP and American Civil Liberties Union urged commissioners Friday to reject the proposal, warning that fewer locations could create confusion and disproportionately affect Black and Hispanic voters. Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, has more than 2 million residents and is Texas’ third-largest county.
Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico also criticized the proposal Sunday. He is challenging Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton in a race that has become increasingly competitive.
County Elections Administrator Clint Ludwig has said officials prioritized sites near public transportation and locations that meet accessibility requirements.
The debate follows an earlier proposal that would have reduced Election Day sites from 316 in 2022 to 176. Commissioners delayed action on that plan in August after substantial public opposition.
Texas law gives individual counties broad discretion over how many polling locations to operate, and counties across the state have taken different approaches as they prepare for November.
From the gaming news site Aftermath"
Game developer and consultant Ryan Laley traveled to Cologne, Germany from Essex, England to showcase his upcoming horror social deduction game Mimic at the annual Gamescom event. He paid "thousands of pounds" to get a booth at the show, where other game developers and press could try the game ahead of its October release. But Laley's Gamescom was cut short when he realized Friday morning that his brand new Alienware laptop, purchased for the event, was missing. The laptop was stored in a cupboard in the booth, and Laley started asking nearby vendors to see if someone had moved it. That's when he realized it was stolen — and that he wasn't alone. Laley's booth in Gamescom's business area, specifically in the International Game Developers Association Lounge, had been hit in what appears to be a string of thefts at the convention center. The business area of the convention is not open to the public, only press and others with specific tickets. Laley said Gamescom advertised this area as having 24/7 security and limited access after hours...
Publisher and merchandiser iam8bit, in a nearby booth showcasing Escape Academy 2: Back 2 School and Petal Runner, had two laptops with game builds stolen Thursday night from its booth, a representative confirmed to Aftermath.
"Meanwhile, Tessera Studios had two laptops and a Steam Deck taken from its cabinet," reports Tom's Hardware:
Gamescom organizers responded to the issues, saying that although they have arranged for uniformed guards to provide general security, individual booth security must be booked separately. They've also advised exhibitors to have insurance against theft, and said these warnings are noted in the terms and conditions for participants, as well as in the event's technical guidelines. "All cases have been reported to us and to the police, and investigations are already underway," the organizers' statement read. They also said that security is one of their priorities at the event, but also added, "At an event of this size, however, there will always be individuals attempting to take advantage of the situation."
Jessica Pegula, the American third seed, began her campaign at Flushing Meadows with a straight-sets win
Krejcikova gets in a muddle after squandering a 40-0 lead on serve. Deuce. She fights back though. Wins the game with a lovely serve down the T. All square at 2-2.
Paolini delivers a dominant effort on serve to change ends at 3-2 up.
Washington, D.C. — U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island Sunday, marking the first American attack on Iranian territory since late July and triggering another round of retaliation from Tehran.
U.S. Central Command said American forces observed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel preparing launchers near the Strait of Hormuz and took what it described as “limited, precise action” against an imminent threat. The military said the launchers were connected to efforts to deploy sea mines in the strategically important waterway.
Larak Island sits near the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant share of the world’s oil supply passes. CENTCOM said U.S. forces recently completed clearing sea mines from internationally recognized shipping lanes and remain positioned to protect commercial traffic.
Iran later responded by launching ballistic missiles at U.S. military installations in Jordan, according to Iranian officials. Reuters reported that most were intercepted and no significant damage was immediately reported.
The strike comes six months into the U.S.-Iran conflict, which has disrupted oil shipments and contributed to higher energy prices.
Sunday’s attack was the first known U.S. strike on Iran since July 29, when American forces targeted Iranian positions following an attack on a U.S. base in Jordan.
I'm kind of a lone wolf when it comes to my onewheeling. It's a well built machine that I really enjoy coming from a lifetime of casual skateboarding. I say that in the sense that I'm not driven to sticker everything up, do a lot of group rides, or wear Onewheel T-shirts- I simply really enjoy rolling around daily, and I'm mostly content with that arrangement(totally cool if that's your thing- no hate). That said, I also enjoy heading up to the mountains, Asheville, Black Mountain, Boone... all that, and I camp, I offroad (motorbikes, my FJ). https://floatlifefest.com/ sounds pretty cool for those reasons in particular so it caught my interest (and my algorithm, evidently) but this is the first I've heard of it. I was surprised that most posts regarding it are years old. There's a bit of sticker shock too with passes at $140/pc Maybe I'm missing what you get for that, or maybe it's just the 4 day thing, I'm not dedicating 4 days of my life to this but I might stop by and check it out, even if its awful I'm still up in the mountains to enjoy the weekend. I'm also a bit wary about the futuremotion monopoly and have fairly strong feelings about right to repair. So I guess I'm a little conflicted wondering if this is an enthusiast event or a profit center but would like to know more. In general, I feel like an event promoting onewheel and all that complete with sponsors ought to be free or cheap. If its just a group of enthusiasts riding around, cool- enthusiasm is free, and then I get to bring my dogs. Anyone attended recent years? I'm looking at this with an open mind either way.
Tom Homan denies British far-right commentator, who was deported one day after arrest, got preferential treatment
The White House “border czar,” Tom Homan, denied on Sunday that deporting the British far-right commentator Milo Yiannopoulos just a day after being arrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) amounted to preferential treatment.
Homan said it was his understanding that Yiannopoulos, 41, had overstayed what he believed to be a visitor visa, had not appeared at an immigration hearing and was issued a final order of removal on 22 July.
Hello everybody. Here a short video of me doing some trail close to my house, any suggestion appreciated. Still feeling unsecure on rocks and roots, mainly when downhill, uphill i find It easier. Thank you. I m using a Pint x as from factory, i know It Is not born to do trail but Is what i like the most, do you think that a wider footpad would be gamechanging?
Trump’s threat comes after host described success record of candidates whom president had endorsed as ‘mixed’
Donald Trump on Sunday said NBC’s Kristen Welker – host of Meet the Press – should face “rebuke or punishment” from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Welker, during a live segment for a local Washington DC affiliate, described the success record of political candidates whom the president had endorsed as “mixed”. The segment aired before Sunday’s edition of Meet the Press.
I know the title might sound weird, but i recently made the switch from the Pint to the Pint X. I noticed that going over bumps and cracks, the pint X feels and sounds more hollow, like theres more space inside the board vs my old pint that felt like the internals were packed together very tightly. Although I didn't run my last board with a fender. I wonder if thats contributing to the hollowish sound im hearing. My Pint x doesnt have any issues. Still pretty new to the sport with only about 600 miles between both boards. About 100 of those being on the X. Im just curious if anyone else has experienced anything similar to this.
Democratic Senate nominee is eager to push past series of controversies involving allegations of antisemitism
Michigan’s Democratic US Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed apologized to the state’s Jewish Democratic caucus on Saturday for comments he made after an attack on a synagogue in March, which he tied to Israel’s actions in the Middle East.
“My comments may have been misconstrued to justify something I did not mean to justify,” El-Sayed told reporters after he addressed the caucus at a party convention in Lansing. “To anyone who feels like my comments might have been hurtful, I’m really sorry. That was not my intention.”
The move sends the right signal. While we’re at it, can we ban using ringtones and scooting on the sidewalk?
Imagine driving in Italy, with its narrow, cobblestone streets and scooter enthusiasts. I find it hard enough to drive in Los Angeles, a city designed specifically with the automobile in mind. I’d probably squash a pedestrian or two trying to navigate Italian roads.
The modern world is just too hectic for the ancient streets of Europe, so Italy is considering doing the only sensible thing it can: outlawing texting in crosswalks. The Italian government’s updated draft of its highway code proposes fines of €75 or more for anyone caught sending a DM, updating their LinkedIn, finishing Wordle on the fifth guess, or anything else phone-related that might make them miss an oncoming metal projectile. I’m sure most people will risk the slap on the wrist to get that message off, but it at least sends a signal to the Italian people that paying attention to traffic is actually kind of important.
Dave Schilling is a Los Angeles-based writer and humorist
Why Should Delaware Care? Government works best when its citizens are knowledgeable and engaged. Delaware’s government has scores of commissions, working groups, agencies and legislative committees. All must hold meetings that are open to the public. Below we highlight a few of those meetings that are happening this week.
Below are some of the most important or interesting public meetings happening around the state this week.
Early primary voting to begin Wednesday
Legislature’s property assessment working group to convene
Sussex Council to vote on forest preservation rules
State planners to review ChristianaCare expansions, Georgetown pallet village
Early primary voting begins Wednesday
Early voting for this year’s primary election is set to begin Wednesday morning.
Delaware’s primary will not officially take place until Tuesday, Sept. 15, but voters who are registered with the Democratic and Republican parties can begin casting their ballots as early as 7 a.m. Wednesday.
Delaware operates under a closed primary system, meaning that voters must be registered with either of the two major parties in order to participate.
The deadline for most residents to affiliate with a party has passed, but voters who were automatically registered at the Department of Motor Vehicles without choosing a party can still participate by designating their affiliation in person at their polling place.
Early voting will take place from:
Sept. 2 through Sept. 5 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sept. 8 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sept. 9 through Sept. 13 from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
There will be no early voting Sept. 6-7 in honor of Labor Day.
📍 Early voting will at 7 a.m. Wednesday at polling locations across the state. For more information, click here.
Property assessment working group begins
The General Assembly’s property assessment working group, created earlier this year as part of a larger slate of reforms, will convene for the first time Monday morning.
The working group will be tasked with developing statewide standards for conducting property assessments. Those standards could include establishing requirements for how property data is collected and maintained, among others.
The group was created through House Concurrent Resolution 150, sponsored by Rep. Cyndie Romer (D-Newark). According to HCR 150, legislation created by the working group could prevent counties from certifying their tax rolls should their assessments not meet the to-be-determined state standards.
While Romer said she usually bristles at the idea of creating working groups that can prolong direct action, she realized there is not a quick fix to address the multiple issues that occurred during New Castle County’s property reassessment.
Those issues led to results that confounded Romer. Those included the results of a Spotlight Delaware analysis that found properties in some of Wilmington’s poverty-stricken communities saw some of the largest percentage increases in median property value across the state.
So she set out to correct the assessment process, and to ensure the new property reassessments do not create the same fallout as their predecessors.
“I didn’t feel like we could do nothing,” Romer told Spotlight Delaware earlier this year. “We needed to fix this problem, even though we realized it was going to take time to truly fix it.”
📍 The property assessment working group will meet at 10 a.m. Monday inside the House Majority Hearing Room at Legislative Hall, located at 411 Legislative Ave. in Dover. For more information, including on virtual attendance, click here.
Developers would have to preserve between 30% and 50% of the existing trees on their properties, depending on whether the land is in an area where officials want to direct development.
The proposed rules would also allow developers to clear trees beyond the proposed limit if they plant at least twice the amount of trees they cut down, either on the same land or nearby. That could only happen if the developer proves they don’t have another option.
County Council considered allowing developers to pay a fee instead of planting new trees, but the majority of council members appear to be against that proposal.
Under the current proposal, the rules would go into effect in six months, but Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum argued developers could cut down trees during that time. The council will likely debate when the effective date should be on Tuesday.
📍The Sussex County Council is scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday inside the Sussex County Administrative Office Building, located at 2 The Circle in Georgetown. For more details, including information about virtual attendance, click here.
State planners to discuss ChristianaCare expansions, Georgetown tiny homes
State planners on Wednesday morning will review both ChristianaCare’s plans to expand into Kent and Sussex counties, and Springboard Delaware’s proposed tiny home community in Georgetown.
The Preliminary Land Use Service (PLUS), made up of planning officials across multiple state agencies, reviews proposed development projects and provides comments before those projects are further reviewed by local officials.
This week’s meeting will include the review of two proposed hospital expansions by Delaware Healthcare giant ChristianaCare.
The healthcare system previously announced plans to build new facilities in both Camden and Georgetown.
PLUS also will review a proposal by Springboard Delaware, which currently operates a transitional housing community called the pallet village, to build a larger tiny home community in the Sussex County seat.
Tiny homes writ large have been an ongoing subject of controversy in Georgetown, with local officials currently reconsidering their previous decision to allow tiny homes to be built within town limits.
📍 PLUS will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday inside Haslet Armory, located at 122 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd in Dover. For more information, including on virtual attendance, click here.
After the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced two cases of measles-related deaths in one county, the local coroner appeared to contradict the account. And in an ongoing spat with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has alleged that a Shapiro staffer may have even “fabricated” the deaths. We’ll lay out what we know.
The saga brings to mind a pandemic-era falsehood that the vast majority of people classified as dying from COVID-19 did not die of the disease, but died of other causes while they happened to be infected. And when two children died of measles complications in Texas last year, Kennedy, along with activists in his former nonprofit, baselessly alleged that the kids did not die of measles, despite evidence to the contrary.
The situation in Pennsylvania is less clear. One of the deaths appears to be of an infant that tested positive for measles and died of a ruptured spleen. It is possible that the rupture was due to infection with measles, but the coroner has said the pathologist determined measles was not involved. There is no information about the second death. Meanwhile, the state has acknowledged that the term it has used to describe the deaths – “measles-associated” – includes cases in which measles infection is detected but “may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death.”
As we’ll explain, that statement may not mean as much as it appears to, since measles deaths would not be expected to have measles listed as an immediate cause anyway. But without more information about the cases, it is difficult to say what has happened, leading many – including Kennedy – to speculate that the deaths were not measles-related after all.
“Pennsylvania created its own information vacuum and then seemed surprised when someone else filled it,” Dr. Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, and an infectious diseases attending physician in Pittsburgh, told us in an email. “The coroner’s account and the state’s account are not necessarily in conflict — they are two offices answering two different questions — but nobody in Harrisburg explained that, so the public was left to choose between fraud and incompetence.”
Timeline of Events
On Aug. 25, the Pennsylvania Department of Health announced that it had confirmed two cases of “measles-associated” deaths. Other than noting that the individuals were both unvaccinated and residents of Lancaster County, the department did not provide any further details, citing privacy concerns. The release strongly implied the deaths were at least partially due to measles, referring to them twice as “related” to measles.
“These mark the first deaths related to measles within the Commonwealth in 35 years,” the department’s press release noted.
Later in the day, Shapiro held a press conference with the health department in Lancaster County to share the announcement and to encourage vaccination.
“We hope and we pray that those deaths will be the last,” he said of the two deaths. “I want to be clear. This illness and death from measles is completely preventable.”
Localand national news outlets then picked the story up, with manystating that the two people died from measles.
Initially, the main story from the press conference was a quarrelbetween Shapiro and Kennedy about whether the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, vaccine contains fetal tissue, and whether Kennedy has spread vaccine misinformation. Kennedyhas – and the vaccine does not. (The rubella component of the vaccine is manufactured with and was initially developed with fetal cells derived from an elective abortion in the 1960s. While trace amounts of cell components from the cell strain can persist in the purified vaccine, whole cells do not. The Catholic Church hassaid the shot can be used “with a clear conscience.”)
But soon, questions swirled about how much the two announced deaths were related to measles.
Josh Parsons, a Lancaster County commissioner, posted on X the day of the press conference that the county coroner’s office was not aware of any measles deaths, although there was one baby that had tested positive for the disease but did not die of it.
“They have one case where a person died WITH measles, but not FROM measles,” he wrote. “Measles was definitely NOT the cause of death in that case.”
The following evening, Aug. 26, Kennedy had picked up on the controversy, writing on X, “The announcement appears to have been premature, and the deaths may even have been altogether fabricated by one of the Governor’s hopeful staffers. The Lancaster County Coroner says that it has no record of any measles deaths. State law requires that all measles deaths be reported to the coroner.”
Pennsylvania Health Secretary Dr. Debra Bogen responded to Kennedy on X, saying she had “thoroughly reviewed the case investigation information and sadly can confirm that there were two recent measles-associated deaths in Lancaster County.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro during a press conference in Lancaster County on Aug. 25.
That same day in Florida, Kennedy had also said, citing the Lancaster County commissioner, that “they cannot find any measles deaths in Lancaster County.” He added: “The press is all covering this as if those measles deaths actually happened. But nobody’s doing … the little bit of critical inquiry to find out. We’re trying to figure out, you know, who those deaths were and whether they actually happened, and we can’t figure that out yet.”
Meanwhile, in the late afternoon of Aug. 26, DOH issued a statement that appeared to say that one of the two deaths was the baby the coroner’s office was aware of and gave more information on the definition of “measles-associated.”
“PA DOH uses the term ‘measles-associated’ when laboratory or epidemiologic evidence of measles is present, but the disease may not be assessed by the medical certifier or coroner to be the immediate cause of death,” the statement read. “Not all deaths are referred to a coroner under Pennsylvania law. Accordingly, one of the two measles-associated deaths is under investigation by the county coroner — as confirmed by the Lancaster County Coroner, who stated publicly their office is reviewing an infant death with a positive measles test.”
(Online during this period, a fake screenshot of a news headline circulated a rumor that the two deaths were both men in their eighties. There is no evidence for this, and according to the state’s dashboard, no measles cases have occurred in anyone 65 years or older this year.)
Multiple news outlets have reported more details on the infant case over the last several days. On Aug. 26, the Philadelphia Inquirer said that Lancaster County Coroner Dr. Stephen Diamantoni told them that the child, a newborn who died shortly after birth, died of a spleen laceration, and that the pathologist who did the autopsy “did not feel it was related to measles.” He said the infant contracted measles before birth, tested positive for measles after death based on a test of lung tissue and that the case was still being investigated.
TribLive, a news outlet covering western Pennsylvania, reported on Aug. 27 that Diamantoni said the cause of death was a “traumatic laceration of the spleen” and that the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy, Dr. Wayne Ross, determined that measles was not a contributing factor to the death.
“Diamantoni later acknowledged, however, that measles was listed under Part II of the infant’s death certificate, which reports ‘other contributing conditions contributing to death but not resulting in the underlying cause,’” the outlet reported. “Diamantoni said he still does not believe that measles contributed to the child’s death, but the disease was listed to offer ‘a broader view of the general health of the child.’”
Another local news source, citing the coroner, said the child that died was a male newborn who died at home and tested positive for measles via a PCR blood sample. An earlier version of the Inquirer story suggested there was a positive antibody test. Diamantoni, a family physician who was elected to his coroner post as a Republican, also told the TribLive that the baby was born with the assistance of a midwife at a birthing center in Lancaster County. He specified to LancasterOnline in an Aug. 27 story that the child died on Aug. 14 at a birthing center in Strasburg Township, and that the mother was alive, contrary to rumors that the second death was the baby’s mother.
As a newborn, the child would not have been eligible yet for routine measles vaccination, which begins at 12 months of age. However, if the baby contracted measles in utero from the mother, it is highly likely that the mother was unvaccinated.
Update, Aug. 31: On Aug. 30, the Atlantic reported that the likely parents of the newborn who died due to a lacerated spleen in Lancaster County had assumed that measles contributed to their baby’s death. The midwife who delivered the baby also told them this; they were unaware of a ruptured spleen.
The pregnant mother had fallen ill with measles after other kids in the family contracted the disease, the parents told the Atlantic in an interview. She became severely ill and went into labor, delivering a baby that was not breathing. Paramedics gave the baby oxygen and performed chest compressions, but the baby did not survive. The family, which is Amish, did not have strong or political views of vaccination, but the father was the only one who had been vaccinated.
NBC News also reported on a family that matches the one the Atlantic interviewed. The father told NBC News that his wife went into labor a month early. Adalja told us that maternal measles infection is associated with preterm birth, which increases the risk of infant mortality.
An Information Gap
Much attention has focused on the newborn’s death from the lacerated spleen and whether it was ultimately due to measles infection. Measles is known to cause enlargement of the spleen, which during birth, could plausibly lead to a rupture.
“Given that congenital measles infection can cause splenic enlargement and thinning of the splenic capsule, it is likely that the child ruptured the spleen during birth,” Dr. Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, wrote in an Aug. 28 Substack post.
A 2024 study of children hospitalized for measles at a Polish hospital found that of the 26 infants under 13 months of age, four, or about 15%, had an enlarged spleen.
The coroner, however, said that the pathologist did not note an enlarged spleen during the autopsy, telling LancasterOnline that measles was not considered contributory because “there was no swelling or enlargement whatsoever” of the spleen and there was “massive blood loss.”
But Offit told the Philadelphia Inquirer that it is difficult to tell whether a spleen was enlarged after it ruptures, and that there should be an explanation for the rupture if it wasn’t caused by measles. The coroner has said the cause of the rupture is still under investigation, but no foul play is suspected.
Adalja said that measles “could be the reason an otherwise survivable delivery wasn’t survivable. It could also be incidental. I don’t think anyone outside that forensic center can say yet, and I’d be skeptical of confident assertions in either direction.”
The coroner’s office did not reply to our request for more information.
It’s worth noting that some of the confusion could come down to different definitions and processes that have not been adequately explained.
For example, Adalja said, the coroner or medical certifier produces the official death certificate, but state epidemiologists look at “deaths for outbreak surveillance under case definitions.” Those definitions are set by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The latter is “a faster, looser standard designed to flag that a death occurred during and plausibly in connection with an outbreak, so the state can act in real time rather than wait months for a final certificate,” he said. “The failure here is that Pennsylvania never told anyone two systems were running, so the coroner saying he had no measles deaths in his log and the state saying it had two looked like a lie rather than two people describing different databases.”
Similarly, DOH’s statement about “measles-associated” deaths not necessarily being assessed “to be the immediate cause of death” is almost meaningless, Adalja said, since almost no measles deaths would list measles as the immediate cause.
Death certificates show a causal chain, listing the immediate cause as well as the sequence of events that led to it, including the underlying cause that started the sequence. In measles deaths, measles is the underlying cause, but the immediate cause would be something such as pneumonia or encephalitis, which are complications of measles, he explained.
DOH’s statement, then, he said, “is technically accurate” but “functionally uninformative. Worse, to a lay reader it sounds like a concession — as though the state were conceding measles is being blamed for something it didn’t do.”
Another major question is the second measles-related death. The Lancaster County coroner has said he doesn’t know who this is, and told LancasterOnline that while there are several reasons why he might not know, by law, it should be reported to him. Kennedy and others have also said that it is state law for the measles deaths to be reported to a county coroner.
DOH, however, has said that not all deaths need to be referred to a coroner. Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at University of California Law San Francisco, told us that as far as she can tell, the health department is correct.
State law specifies that one of the conditions requiring a coroner’s investigation is a “death known or suspected to be due to contagious disease and constituting a public hazard” – and both parts of the clause would need to be met.
“This would not be a death that is a public hazard,” she told us. “Measles is spreading unrelated to it, so I don’t see any way to see it as meeting this requirement.”
Offit told us that he had talked to people “high up in the Pennsylvania Department of Health who have said they are comfortable” saying that “because of measles, two people in Pennsylvania died.”
DOH, however, has not shown why it thinks that is the case. The department did not respond to our questions after it sent us its statement. Shapiro’s office also did not respond to an inquiry.
Both Offit and Adalja have said it would be helpful if the department had released more information.
Offit’s concern is that regardless of what happened in these two cases, the measles outbreak in the state could very well be much larger than is currently known, and could be poised to grow as kids return to school and the seasons shift.
“This outbreak is much worse than they’re saying,” he said. “It’s probably closer to 2,000 cases. And it’s August” – not measles season, which is usually winter and spring. As of Aug. 28, Pennsylvania has recorded 460 measles cases, nearly half in Lancaster County.
Adalja told us he does not see a reason why the state couldn’t have provided more information that still kept private the identities of those who died.
“Secretary Kennedy suggesting the deaths may have been fabricated is inexcusable on its own terms. But he was handed the opening,” he said. “Even if measles is definitively established as the underlying cause in both deaths, this week already taught a slice of the public that when officials say ‘outbreak death,’ they might mean something else. That lesson outlasts the case. In an outbreak, institutional credibility is a consumable resource — and Pennsylvania spent a great deal of it protecting information that Texas released last year without incident.”
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.
TORONTO, Aug. 28, 2026 — Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited, a leading photonic quantum computing company, announced today that it will establish an advanced photonics research, development, and manufacturing facility as part of Project OPTIMISM, supported by CAD $195 million in federal government funding also announced today. The new facility, named “Inception,” is expected to feature world-class technology to enable scalable production of the components that will power future quantum data centers. Xanadu believes this work will revolutionize quantum infrastructure and strengthen Canada’s position as a global leader in the field.
The support for Inception is part of the largest government investment in quantum manufacturing in Canadian history. The funding is expected to accelerate scaling the photonic hardware required to achieve fault-tolerant quantum computing, the crucial milestone for delivering commercially meaningful, real-world solutions.
Designed to be a global facility for the manufacturing, packaging, and assembly of quantum computing components, the 158,000-square-foot Toronto site is being transformed into one of the world’s most sophisticated photonics facilities.
Inception is expected to feature state-of-the-art cleanrooms and equipment tailored for high-precision quantum hardware. Key technical capabilities are expected to include round-the-clock test and measurement facilities and first-of-its-kind heterogeneous integration. This integration process is vital for combining diverse photonic components onto a single scalable chip. These advanced capabilities will leverage Xanadu’s established industry partnerships and integrate specialized tooling from ASMPT, Bluefors, DISCO, EVG, FiconTEC, and MPI. The facility is expected to house Xanadu’s Systems Integration and Operation Centre, where quantum modules are assembled, tested, and verified before being installed into server racks.
“The launch of Inception is a defining strategic milestone for Xanadu and the broader quantum industry,” said Dr. Christian Weedbrook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xanadu. “We believe that this investment ensures that Xanadu remains at the forefront of the field, providing the infrastructure necessary to transition quantum technology from the lab to commercial-scale data centres.”
Xanadu is on a mission to build quantum computers that are useful and available to people everywhere. Inception is central to this mission, serving as a world-class facility for building the next generation of quantum infrastructure to meet the global demand for fault-tolerant quantum computing.
About Xanadu
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 operate 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.
Anger over the construction of AI data centers has triggered political leaders to call for bans and moratoriums on the construction of new data centers in recent months. Is this a legitimate reaction to increased utility bills and a deterioration of quality of life, or are the bans and moratoriums going too far?
In July, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a one-year ban on the construction of new data centers that consume more than 50 megawatts of power. The moratorium is designed to give the state time to develop a “regulatory framework” to protects customers, the environment, and the energy grid.
“As data center development threatens to hike up utility bills, deplete our natural resources, and create uncertainty for New Yorkers, it’s my responsibility to take action and lead,” Hochu stated in her executive order.
In recent weeks, Republican leaders have joined Democrats in calling for hiatuses on building new data centers, including Texas and Pennsylvania.
Residential electricity costs have risen by 42% over the past five years, per the US Energy Information Administration (leolintang/Shutterstock)
While Virgina has the highest density of data centers in the country, Texas has been the epicenter of the AI boom, with nearly 250 new data centers proposed to be built over the next few years, according to this article in the Texas Tribune. With plenty of land, affordable electricity, and a reputation for unencumbered free market activity, the Lone Star State has been a draw for AI data centers.
So it was a bit of a surprise when Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, called for a pause in new data centers earlier this month. The cause: Concerns about the 420 gigawatts in new electrical connections to Texas’ grid (ERCOT) from prospective data center operators.
“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott stated in the August 3 announcement. “Any project that fails to comply with the requirements set forth by the PUCT and ERCOT, and by state law, must be denied connection to the Texas grid. Simply put, Texans must come first.”
A similar dynamic is at play in Pennsylvania, where more than 100 data centers have been proposed to be built, representing a potential increase of 74 gigawatts in peak power usage over the next two decades. Citing “record highs” in power costs, Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, also called for tighter rules on new data centers last week.
Shapiro’s new rules require data center operators in Pennsylvania to gain approval from local communities. They also require data center operators to generate their own power or pay full price for grid connections. The governor canceled all “fast-track” approvals and demanded full transparency with no NDAs (non-disclosure agreements).
“These are some of the biggest companies in the world,” Shapiro stated in his executive order. “They can afford to be good neighbors, follow the rules, and do this right.”
Bytes & Pitchforks
Public opinion on data centers has soured in recent months. A Gallup poll from March found that 70% of Americans opposed local construction of new data centers A Politico poll from July found that about 41% of Americans would oppose a data center being built within three miles of their home, up from 28% in January.
(Aleutie/Shutterstock)
Rising electricity costs are being blamed on data centers. And costs have been rising. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, residential electricity costs have risen by 42% over the past five years.
But are those increases due solely to new data centers? The answer is likely mixed. Electrical connections to data centers do increase the overall usage of electricity and cause local grid operators to buy more power on the wholesale market. Those costs are then spread across all ratepayers.
However, there are other factors are play, including environmental regulations, grid upgrades, and inflation. According to a Lawrence Berkeley Lab analysis, increases in power costs have mostly tracked inflation in recent years, with a small unexcepted bump in 2025. The highest electricity costs are in California, Hawaii, the Northeast, and Alaska, it stated.
Water Consumption
The water consumption of data centers is another concern. Just as rising demand for electricity is causing some increases for ratepayers, an increase in water for cooling data centers is being attributed to rising water bills.
A January report by the Florida Water & Pollution Control Operators Association stated that 75% to 90% of data centers rely on water-based cooling, with the majority of those being open-loop designs that do not re-use the water. About 10% to 25% of water-cooled data centers used closed-loop designs that do re-use water.
The report found that while smaller data centers may use about 100 million gallons a year, large hyperscale data centers can use 1 to 5 million gallons of water per day. For comparison, a town of 10,000 people uses about 1 million gallons of water per day.
About 70% of the water used by a data center is “consumed,” while about 30% of it is re-used as wastewater. Some data centers are using reclaimed wastewater for cooling, including Google, which says a quarter of its data centers are cooled by reclaimed water, while AWS in 2023 said that it has 20 data centers using purified wastewater.
The increased water demand has put the hiatus on some proposed data centers. The city council in Chandler, Arizona blocked a proposed data center last year after residents rose up to oppose it, even though it would have used a closed-loop cooling system in the arid region. That followed similar moves by local governments to stop other data centers from being built in Oregon, Missouri, Virginia, and Indiana.
A UC Riverside analysis of water consumption published in March found that growth in data centers could collectively require up to 1,400 million gallons per day of new water capacity through 2030, an amount that’s roughly equal to New York City’s average daily supply. The cost of obtaining that supply could rise to $58 billion, they found.
However, the total water consumption by data centers through 2030 is projected to be minuscule–0.6% to 1.1% of total public water withdrawals the contiguous United States, according to the researchers.
In Conclusion
On the one hand, the moratorium on new AI data centers is understandable, as they have increased the amounts people pay for electricity and water. However, the increase in electricity is due to other factors too (environmental concerns, legacy grid replacement), and new closed-loop cooling systems largely will mitigate increase in water consumption.
(Source: Data Center Maps)
The boom has also been good for employment, especially construction firms that employ millions of workers. Nvidia CEO Jenson Huang said the US will need “hundreds of thousands” more plumbers and electricians to support the development and management of new AI factories. The boom has also contributed to a rising stock market, adding trillions of dollars in wealth for shareholders, bolstering the 401(k)s of million of Americans.
To be sure, AI factories will also have negative impact jobs, as corporations look to replace human workers with more efficient AI agents. The pace of this change could accelerate, as the Wall Street Journalrecently estimated that Google, Facebook, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and Oracle collectively made about $3 trillion in off-balance-sheet investments in the AI buildout, significantly more than what is on their books. They are clearly betting on AI being a net gain for their shareholders.
But what about US citizens? Will it be a net gain for them? Some Americans may wish that the AI boom never happened, that they could go back to how things were before ChatGPT walked down the aisle in November 2022. Unfortunately, that’s not possible at this point.
Moratoriums on data center construction are one thing, as local officials get a handle on how large data centers can impact residents in their area. But a country-wide ban on data center construction, as some have Washington, D.C. political leaders have called for, would be devastating to this emerging industry.
Editor’s note: A version of this article first ran in AIwire.
It’s the middle of the night. You wake up feeling like an elephant is sitting on your chest. What do you do? Today your choices for where to get your health care are greater than ever before. Sickness and injury appear when we least expect them. So when they do, knowing if you should go […]
The Powder Yard closed Aug. 24 to allow contractors to work safely with heavy equipment and complete several projects that would be difficult to undertake while visitors are present. The remainder of the museum remains open.
While the historic Powder Yard is temporarily closed, visitors can still explore the du Pont family home, gardens and the museum’s “Nation of Inventors” exhibition through Sept. 4.
WILMINGTON, Del. — Hagley Museum and Library is offering half-price admission through Sept. 4 while crews complete preservation and maintenance projects in the historic Powder Yard along the Brandywine.
The Powder Yard closed Aug. 24 to allow contractors to work safely with heavy equipment and complete several projects that would be difficult to undertake while visitors are present. The remainder of the museum remains open.
Visitors can continue to explore the Visitor Center and “Nation of Inventors” exhibition, as well as the historic du Pont family home and gardens. The Museum Store also remains open.
The temporary discount gives visitors an opportunity to experience major portions of Hagley while paying 50% of the regular admission price.
Work protects historic industrial site
The two-week closure allows Hagley to address several infrastructure and preservation needs across the Powder Yard, the industrial heart of the museum’s 235-acre property.
Crews are dredging the mill race inlet to remove accumulated silt and debris and maintain the flow of water into the historic power system. The race once directed water from the Brandywine to the mills and machinery that helped operate the powder works.
Other work includes replacing the roof of the Millwright Shop and stabilizing sections of masonry along the mill race. Those repairs are intended to protect historic structures from weather, water erosion and further deterioration.
Hagley also is removing hazardous trees in the Powder Yard and Crowninshield areas. That work requires road closures to protect visitors, employees and contractors.
Additional preventive maintenance is being completed during the shutdown, allowing Hagley to coordinate multiple projects within a relatively short period.
More than a museum
Although the work may be easy to describe as routine maintenance, preserving Hagley carries unusual significance for Delaware.
The property is the site of the original DuPont powder works, established along the Brandywine in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont. The business grew into one of the world’s leading manufacturers of black powder and became the foundation of the DuPont company.
Its success influenced Delaware’s economy, workforce and identity for generations. The company’s later expansion into chemicals and materials science also helped establish Delaware as an important center for research and innovation.
The Hagley site tells that larger story through its mills, mill race, waterpower system, machine shops, workers’ community and Eleutherian Mills, the du Pont family’s first American home.
It was both an industrial operation and a community. Immigrant workers and their families settled around the powder yards, creating neighborhoods and family connections that became part of the history of Wilmington and the Brandywine Valley.
Maintaining the site therefore involves more than preserving individual buildings. The work protects one of the few remaining landscapes where visitors can see how waterpower, manufacturing, immigration, labor and family life came together during America’s early industrial development.
What visitors can see now
The Powder Yard is one of Hagley’s signature attractions, but visitors still have access to other important parts of the museum during the closure.
The “Nation of Inventors” exhibition examines the people and ideas behind American innovation. It draws on Hagley’s extensive collections to explore how inventors identify problems, develop solutions and bring new products and technologies into everyday life.
The historic home and gardens offer a different view of Hagley’s story, introducing visitors to the du Pont family and the domestic life that developed alongside the industrial operation.
Together, the open attractions provide an opportunity to understand both the personal and innovative sides of the site while the Powder Yard undergoes needed work.
The Powder Yard is scheduled to reopen after Sept. 4.
To Go
What: Hagley Museum and Library
Temporary closure: The historic Powder Yard is closed through Sept. 4 for preservation and maintenance work.
Admission: General admission is 50% off during the Powder Yard closure.
What remains open: Visitor Center, “Nation of Inventors” exhibition, historic home and gardens, and Museum Store.
Jesse Malin, Craig Finn and Tommy Stinson will perform Aug. 29 at The Queen during a benefit for Donate Delaware honoring state Rep. Debra Heffernan.
WILMINGTON — Three prominent rock musicians will take the stage at The Queen on Saturday, Aug. 29, for an evening designed to turn the energy of live music into support for Delaware families.
The Queen Jeans Ball will feature Jesse Malin, Craig Finn and Tommy Stinson while raising money for Donate Delaware, a nonprofit that helps recover, restore and distribute medical equipment and other essential resources.
The annual event also will honor state Rep. Debra Heffernan for her public service and contributions to Delaware.
Doors will open at 7 p.m., and the concert will begin at 8 p.m. Tickets start at $50.
Rock music with a Delaware mission
Organizers describe the Queen Jeans Ball as a high-energy rock ’n’ roll benefit bringing together Delaware’s business, civic, nonprofit and music communities.
Proceeds will support Donate Delaware’s work helping individuals and families obtain medical equipment and other resources they may otherwise struggle to afford or access.
“The Queen Jeans Ball represents the very best of Delaware — people coming together through great music to help neighbors who need us,” Donate Delaware founder Dave Tiberi said. “Every ticket and sponsorship will help Donate Delaware recover, restore and deliver critical medical equipment to families across our state.”
Tiberi thanked event co-chairs Brian and Megan McGlinchey, The Queen, the participating musicians and event sponsors. He also said he was proud to recognize Heffernan for what he called her “extraordinary lifetime of public service.”
Tiberi, a former professional boxer and longtime civic leader, founded Donate Delaware to connect usable resources with people who need them. Its work includes collecting and distributing medical equipment and assisting Delawareans facing other critical needs.
“Brian and I are honored to serve as co-chairs of this year’s Queen Jeans Ball, which supports the crucial work of Donate Delaware and our friend, Dave Tiberi,” Megan McGlinchey said. “We can’t wait to share an amazing night of music at The Queen with the Wilmington community.”
A notable rock lineup
Malin will headline the concert, bringing a musical career shaped by New York’s punk and rock scenes.
Known for personal songwriting and energetic performances, Malin began his career as the frontman of the punk band Heart Attack before leading the rock group D Generation. He later established a solo career built around songs that blend punk urgency with character-driven storytelling.
Finn is best known as the frontman and principal songwriter for The Hold Steady. His lyrics frequently follow complicated characters through nightlife, relationships, mistakes and attempts at redemption. He also has released an extensive collection of solo work.
Stinson brings decades of rock history to the lineup. He joined The Replacements as a teenager and played bass in the influential Minneapolis band. He later performed with Guns N’ Roses and led his own bands and projects, including Bash & Pop.
Together, the performers give the benefit a lineup rooted in punk, alternative rock and narrative songwriting.
Heffernan to be honored
The evening also will recognize Heffernan for her years of public service.
Heffernan represents the Bellefonte, Brandywine Hundred and Edgemoor areas in the Delaware House. During her legislative career, she has worked on issues including health, environmental protection, children and families.
Organizers said the tribute fits the broader purpose of the Queen Jeans Ball: celebrating people who serve Delaware while encouraging others to help neighbors facing difficult circumstances.
A night out with an impact
The concert offers attendees an opportunity to see three established rock artists in one show while supporting a Delaware-based charitable organization.
It also reflects the role The Queen plays in Wilmington as both a performance venue and a gathering place for community events. Located on Market Street, the historic venue hosts national touring artists, local performers and nonprofit benefits throughout the year.
In this case, the night’s impact is intended to continue after the final song, helping Donate Delaware place essential equipment and resources in the hands of people who need them.
To Go Box
What: Queen Jeans Ball featuring Jesse Malin, Craig Finn and Tommy Stinson
When: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2026. Doors open at 7 p.m.; concert begins at 8 p.m.
Why Should Delaware Care? While independent libraries in Sussex County often serve as hubs for community resources, they are also strapped for money. In the wake of a failed campaign by library leaders to increase the county’s library tax, an outside consultant has been hired to study the budget woes. It remains to be seen, however, whether the study will result in a funding increase, and what say the libraries will have in the process.
Following nearly a year of pleas from independent libraries in Sussex County for more government financial support, county officials have hired an outside consultant to examine the libraries’ funding structure and role within their communities.
The study comes in response to a failed effort earlier this year by independent library leaders to lobby Sussex County Council to raise the county’s library tax rate — its share of the libraries’ funding structure.
As it currently stands, the funding structure almost always leaves large gaps in the independent libraries’ annual budgets — deficits of anywhere from 13% to 52%.
Council members opted against the libraries’ requested tax hike, pointing to resident blowback from the property tax increases spurred by last year’s property reassessment and budget requests by other departments.
Instead, county leaders hired consulting group Berry Dunn to more thoroughly study the problem before making any changes.
“Any request to increase taxes is something the county takes seriously and believes should be carefully evaluated before making a decision,” Sussex County Finance Director Gina Jennings wrote in a message to Spotlight Delaware.
Consultants began working this month and will continue through early 2027.
Independent library directors said the study is a step in the right direction, but they are skeptical that the county-initiated study will give the libraries a sufficient opportunity to share their experience and share their funding needs.
“I do worry that because these studies don’t get done very often, they’re not going to get the full picture,” said Philip Hartmeyer, director of the Frankford Library. “If you’re going to do this, you have to do it thoroughly.”
How are libraries funded in Delaware?
Delaware has two different funding structures for county-run and independent libraries.
County-run libraries are funded entirely by taxes collected at the county level, while independent libraries, which operate as nonprofit organizations, are financed through a mix of county funding, state funding and the library’s own fundraising.
State funds make up about 15% of an independent library’s total budget. While the goal is for county funding to make up the remaining 85%, Sussex County’s library tax typically only covers about half a library’s budget. Directors are then left to close annual funding gaps.
For example, the Selbyville Library had to come up with roughly $200,000 in funds, or nearly 40% of its operating budget, for the current fiscal year, library director Kelly Kline said.
Eleven of Sussex County’s 14 libraries are independent.
This spring, they launched a campaign to raise the county’s annual library tax rate from $0.0023 per $100 of assessed property value to $0.0046 per $100, or from roughly $4 to $23 annually to $9 to $46.
This rate increase would have shrunk the funding gap libraries must make up to only about 10% of their annual budget.
While the county council declined to adopt the library tax rate increase as a part of its fiscal year 2027 budget, Jennings said hiring a consultant was the county’s way of addressing the libraries’ request for more county dollars.
She said the study’s results will determine how the county proceeds.
“With the recent request potentially increasing the county’s contribution to closer to 90% of [independent library] funding, it raises important questions about the county’s future role and level of involvement in the overall operations and financial oversight of the independent libraries,” Jennings said.
Library leaders skeptical
While county leaders described the study as a valuable step toward addressing the libraries’ funding difficulties, library directors said they have concerns about how the study is being conducted.
Berry Dunn, the consulting firm hired to complete the study, will speak to library employees, users and non-library user residents to “evaluate the request for additional library funding and better understand the long-term needs of the countywide library system,” Jennings said.
The project will cost the county $100,000.
At the Aug. 19 meeting of the Sussex County Library Advisory Board, County Librarian Rachel Lynch said the consultant will only communicate directly with county staff, who will then give progress reports to the library directors through monthly advisory board meetings.
Get Involved The Sussex County Library Advisory Board is set to meet and provide more information about the library consultant project at 10 a.m. on Sept. 16 in the Sussex County Administrative Building, located at 2 The Circle in Georgetown.
Some library directors, though, told Spotlight Delaware they are disappointed that there is not at least one independent library director represented on the project team alongside county staff, in order to better convey the libraries’ experience to the consultant.
“If [the consultant] is paid for by the county, and the project team is 100% county representation, my concern is for us independent libraries,” Kline, the Selbyville director, told Spotlight Delaware.
County staff, however, said this structure is typical.
The county hired an outside analyst to look at volunteer fire departments, and the fire department staff were not directly involved in that study, Jennings said.
Hartmeyer, the Frankford director, also said there is considerable nuance to the needs of the independent libraries in different parts of the county, like Lewes versus Seaford or Bridgeville, that the consultant will have a hard time understanding in a brief study.
“My concern is whether they’re going to get the full context of the constituency that is served by the libraries,” he said.
Nonetheless, the library directors said they view the hiring of the consultant as a step in the direction toward more funding and a better recognition by the county of the role they serve in their communities.
“If things don’t change, we absolutely will have to start doing less,” Kline said. “I don’t think that’s something our communities want.”
Maggie Reynolds is a Report for America corps member and Spotlight Delaware reporter who covers rural communities in Delaware. Your donation to match our Report for America grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://spotlightdelaware.org/support/.
Camp East Montana, an immigration detention facility inside the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso, Texas Omar Ornelas for ProPublica
The first emergency call about a detainee trying to harm himself came about a month after Camp East Montana — an immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas — started to house immigrants. It was 2:50 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 12.
“We have a patient currently in holding who is saying he’s got suicidal ideations, swallowed some foreign object, has refused our basic medical care here,” a nurse told the operator. In the audio, you can hear that someone is moaning and yelling in the background.
“At this point he is unable to speak and rolling on the floor in agonizing pain, holding his stomach,” the nurse continued. “A preliminary X-ray was done and a foreign object was found. We just need to take him to the hospital that’s closest so that they can verify if the object is currently in his system and possibly to excavate the object.”
Listen to the Call
I’ve been reporting on Camp East Montana for months. It sits on barren military land and was supposed to be a model for how the Trump administration would carry out mass deportations. Instead, it became an example of what could go wrong. It remains in operation despite claims of inhumane conditions and abuse, which Department of Homeland Security officials have said are “categorically false.” ICE plans to keep the facility running at least through Sept. 30, 2027, The Associated Press reported.
In the span of six weeks between December 2025 and January 2026, three men died at Camp East Montana, making it one of the country’s deadliest detention centers at the time.
In July, ProPublica and The Texas Tribune published my investigation into the Jan. 3 death of one of those men, Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban national with a history of mental illness. He died after an altercation with guards over his medication, and a medical examiner ruled Lunas Campos’ death a homicide. (The Trump administration initially claimed that he had experienced medical distress, but Department of Homeland Security officials later said guards had used force to keep him from killing himself.)
We found that Lunas Campos had repeatedly raised concerns about his mental health while detained at Camp East Montana. Records show staff didn’t transfer him to a facility that could better care for him, despite repeatedly saying they were working to do so.
I wanted to understand more about how the facility was responding to such incidents. I obtained, via public records requests, recordings of more than 160 emergency calls, and I spoke with staff, government officials familiar with the facility, detainees, lawyers and advocates who had spent time inside the detention center.
I asked DHS about my reporting and some of the 911 calls. A spokesperson did not comment on the specific issues identified in the calls, but said the facility provides “comprehensive medical services, including mental health services.” If the detainee requires a higher level of medical care, they are referred to local emergency services as needed, the spokesperson said. The official also said that for many immigrant detainees, the healthcare they get while in custody is the best they’ve gotten in their lives.
Now I want to share some of those 911 calls with you. While they may be difficult to listen to or read about, they offer a glimpse into what’s happening in a place reporters don’t have access to. The calls and my investigation show failures in responding to mental health and medical emergencies that extend beyond those experienced by one man. (Note: In some cases, recordings were edited to remove long stretches where no one was talking.)
Oct. 12, 2025: “They will not give them medical treatment.”
Two months after Camp East Montana began holding detainees, some were growing so desperate that they were having friends and relatives call 911 to seek medical help on their behalf. A man from North Texas called three times on Oct. 12, trying to get a detainee, whom he identified as his partner, emergency care for his kidney stones.
Listen to the Call
“Why isn’t the facility calling?” the operator asked.
“Because they don’t care. They don’t care about any of the detainees. They will not give them medical treatment; they don’t care. … He does not like to go to the hospital. So when he is saying he is in emergent pain at a level of 10 out of 10 and he needs to go to the emergency room, it is no joke; it has got to be very, very serious.”
In a declaration to lawyers, a 32-year-old Venezuelan man identified by a pseudonym, Xavier, who fits the profile of the man with kidney stones, said he had gone on a hunger strike because he was not getting any information about his case or about a court date. “Being here feels like torture,” he said. “I feel like this experience is finishing me emotionally and physically. I don’t feel like I can survive for another month at this place. They treat us like animals.”
Nov. 2, 2025: “We don’t have any oxygen for her.”
In some of the emergency calls, the medical providers themselves lamented how little they could do for their patients.
Listen to the Call
A nurse at the facility dialed 911. She said she had a 46-year-old woman with COVID-19 who was short of breath and whose oxygen saturation was dropping. “But the issue is we don’t have any oxygen for her, especially if she does start desaturating even more,” she tells the operator. “She just doesn’t look good.”
“OK. Let me request assistance, OK? Just bear with me,” the operator tells her.
“Apparently she’s been sick for the last couple of days and she’s asked to be brought into the clinic and they hadn’t brought her in,” the nurse explains later in the call. “She was just brought in today, bless her heart, so I’m just worried about her.”
Feb. 28, 2026: “Was this accidental or intentional?”
“OK, we have a guy who’s overdosed. He’s a detainee,” a nurse told an emergency operator on Feb. 28.
They didn’t know much about the 60-year-old man who had just arrived at Camp East Montana or about what he had taken about an hour ago, she said. Someone had seen him “popping pills” and stumbling around.
“Was this accidental or intentional?” the operator asked.
Can Pakistan’s foreign policy ambitions survive its domestic challenges?Expert commentLToremark
Pakistan’s plans for geopolitical influence will rest on its ability to resolve internal conflict.
After it received international acclaim for its role in brokering the US–Iran deal that brought a temporary halt to the war, Pakistan is seeking to further boost its geopolitical clout. Galvanized by its depiction as a ‘hinge power’ with unique ties to competing power blocs and rival regional neighbours, Pakistan is attempting to leverage its diplomatic partnerships and craft a more proactive foreign policy.
Its most recent achievement was the 7 August signing of a joint defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Billed by some as a ‘Muslim NATO’ for stipulating that an armed attack against one would be regarded as an attack on all, the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement sets nuclear-armed Pakistan squarely on par with two of the world’s most powerful Sunni Muslim states.
Pakistan has also sought to consolidate its international reputation as an exceptional mediator. The country’s army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, has emerged as a key interlocutor between the US and Iran. In August he flew to Tehran for the third time this year – apparently at the behest of US President Donald Trump – to revive the stalled peace process. He is currently involved in diplomatic efforts to soften US sanctions against Iran.
But these diplomatic gains are at risk because of Pakistan’s domestic challenges. Its failure to ensure security and stem conflict at home casts doubt on Pakistan’s credibility as a peacemaker and its ability to shape an effective foreign policy in the face of significant internal turmoil. After all, foreign policy begins at home.
A deteriorating security landscape
Violence has soared in Pakistan’s sensitive border provinces Balochistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, where ethnic and religious militants are waging a relentless campaign. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security (PICS), at least 600 people across Pakistan were killed in terrorist attacks in July alone.
The highest death toll was recorded in Balochistan, where the numbers killed rose from 109 in June to 372 in July, making it the deadliest month in 2026. Much of the violence has been blamed on clashes between security forces and the banned separatist group, the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA). The BLA has tapped into decades of frustration in Balochistan over demands for meaningful political representation, a fairer distribution of resources and an urgent investigation into the disappearance of thousands of Baloch activists.
The response of the authorities has been anything but clear, highlighting the lack of government cohesion. On 21 August, Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif called for a ‘grand dialogue’ to address Balochistan’s grievances. Shortly afterwards, however, Munir ruled out talks and denounced Baloch rebels as ‘foreign-sponsored proxies’ used by ‘hostile elements’ – held to be a reference to India.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, meanwhile, attacks by Islamist militants belonging to the Pakistani Taliban (TTP) have also grown in frequency and intensity. The province recorded 154 deaths in July compared with 75 in June, an increase of 105 per cent.
The TTP operates mainly along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan and has gained traction since the return of the Afghan Taliban in 2021. This has fuelled accusations by Pakistan of Afghan complicity in providing the TTP with safe havens and mounting cross-border attacks against Pakistan – a charge denied by Afghanistan.
Deadly clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan erupted along the border in October 2025 and a ceasefire brokered by Turkey and Qatar quickly broke down. Pakistani airstrikes against Afghanistan resumed in February and have since killed scores of Afghan civilians, including more than 260 who died in a March airstrike on a drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul, prompting strong condemnation from the United Nations.
Violence has also gripped the semi-autonomous region of Pakistan-administered Kashmir (Azad Jammu and Kashmir or AJK). In June almost 100 people were reported killed by security forces during protests, including in the capital Muzaffarabad. The unrest began in 2023 over rising electricity tariffs and wheat prices before morphing into demands for political and constitutional reform. The protests were co-ordinated by the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC), a grassroots civil rights movement which has since been banned as a terrorist organization, highlighting the readiness of Pakistani authorities to brand all dissent as subversive.
Elections to the AJK assembly, held in July and August, have also ended in controversy after Pakistan’s ruling party, the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) was accused of ballot rigging by its ally, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).
Such public accusations point to cracks in the framework of Pakistan’s current ‘hybrid’ arrangement, where a civilian government shares power with a more powerful military establishment. Fears of a new ‘tug of war’ among its stakeholders have escalated since legislation to formalize Munir’s expanded powers as chief of defence forces was approved by parliament on 20 August. The PPP has criticized it for being passed with undue haste.
Plans to dismantle Pakistan’s four existing provinces and replace them with smaller units have also caused discord. Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi – known to be close to Munir – has justified the proposals on grounds that the current system has ‘collapsed’.
While the ruling PML(N) has been broadly accommodating of these plans, the PPP has voiced strong objections. It is said to fear losing control of its stronghold in Sindh, where reforms could result in the separation of Karachi – the provincial capital and commercial hub – as a newly created unit.
Wider concerns that the military intends to use the changes to gain access to a greater share of federal financial resources by weakening the claims of existing provinces have fanned rumours of a deal between the military establishment and the jailed former prime minister, Imran Khan.
Under the terms of such a deal Khan would reportedly be allowed ‘relief’ in exchange for his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party’s cooperation in pushing through the planned reforms. The reforms would require a constitutional amendment with a two-thirds majority, which the government at present is unlikely to secure without the help of the PPP.
Speculation of a deal intensified when, on 18 August, the Supreme Court ordered that Khan be transferred from prison in Rawalpindi to a private hospital in Islamabad. The government challenged the order and instead arranged for him to be transferred to a public hospital, citing ‘security concerns’. Within hours of his medical check-up, Khan was returned to solitary confinement in his prison cell. His PTI party has since filed a contempt of court petition against the government, naming an official serving under Naqvi but notably not the interior minister – and Munir ally – himself.
The increasingly tense domestic political climate and fast-deteriorating security landscape could jeopardize Pakistan’s hard-won geopolitical gains. The government’s tendency to crack down on dissent and its hardline approach to domestic discord risk further stoking tensions. The country’s leadership must instead use the same aptitude for dialogue and diplomacy displayed abroad to end confrontation at home and defuse conflict with Pakistan’s neighbours.
Failure to keep its own house in order could see the global influence Pakistan has fought so hard to achieve escape its grasp.
As the City of Newark considers budget cuts to help close a financial shortfall, a leader of one of the city's employee unions is reminding elected officials that budget cuts come with a cost of their own.
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
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.”
Iraq Initiative Conference 2026
11
November 2026 — 09:00 TO 17:00 GMT
Anonymous (not verified)
Chatham House and Online
The eighth annual conference convenes Iraqi and international policymakers, business leaders, experts, and civil society to assess whether Iraq’s new government can navigate growing regional and domestic pressures and reinforce national sovereignty.
The eight annual conference convenes Iraqi and international policymakers, business leaders, experts, and civil society to assess whether Iraq’s new government can navigate growing regional and domestic pressures and reinforce national sovereignty.
As Iraq enters a new political phase under Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi, it faces a defining test: can it strengthen state institutions and advance reform while navigating a rapidly shifting regional order?
The regional war has exposed Iraq’s vulnerabilities. Iran-aligned armed groups have launched attacks from and within Iraq, while US and Israeli strikes on Iraqi territory have renewed questions about sovereignty and the state’s monopoly on the use of force.
At the same time, disruptions to trade and energy markets are placing Iraq’s oil-dependent economy under growing strain, reducing revenues and threatening electricity supplies amid rising living costs and persistent unemployment.
These pressures coincide with intensifying competition between Washington and Tehran for influence in Iraq. As the regional balance of power shifts, Baghdad faces the difficult task of managing relations with both while preserving its stability, sovereignty and room for manoeuvre.
This conference discusses key questions including:
Can the government advance meaningful reforms, strengthen government institutions, and preserve economic stability? Or will mounting security, economic, and geopolitical challenges further constrain Iraq’s ability to chart an independent course?
How has the new government fared in its first 100 days in office?
What steps are needed to diversify Iraq’s economy away from volatile energy markets and respond to growing public demands?
How can Baghdad navigate rising regional tensions while balancing relations with international actors?
What role should regional and international partners play in supporting Iraq’s long-term stability and development?
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.
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.
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.
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
The 2020s have been defined by exceptional levels of economic instability, with the rules and assumptions that were previously underpinning the international trading system being sorely tested. The return of tariffs as a central instrument of economic policy, the role of sanctions and subsidies, growing competition between major powers and the rise of emerging technologies are all fundamentally reshaping the global trade landscape. The United States has adopted a more interventionist approach to trade and industrial policy while China remains a pivotal player, with its robust export capabilities bolstered by subsidies and investment in critical technologies. In Europe, the UK and EU are seeking to achieve balance between openness and fair competition with economic security and greater protection for strategic industries. Middle powers and emerging economies are also playing a growing role through trade agreements and new investment partnerships.
Against this backdrop, there is growing pressure facing the institutions governing international trade. The WTO continues to face fundamental questions about dispute settlement, plurilateral agreements and subsidies. Regional agreements and fragmented forms of economic cooperation are showing adaptation and resilience. Meanwhile, there is a sharper focus on central issues such as data infrastructure, water security, shipping routes, and critical minerals as cornerstones for economic security.
The Global Trade 2027 Conference will bring together leaders from government, business, and academia to decrypt this changing landscape and map out the practical pathways towards cooperation. Through a programme of keynote addresses, high-level panel discussions and Chatham House Rule spotlight sessions, participants will advance their understanding of global trade, international economic governance, the role of WTO, and the emergence of a potential third economic pole among market-oriented economies.
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
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
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.
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.
The University of Delaware’s move-in weekend went smoothly, avoiding a repeat of the gridlock that snarled traffic throughout the city last year, Newark and UD officials reported.
The case–really two lawsuits consolidated by the lower court judge–seeks to block the Trump Administration from violating the Presidential Records Act (PRA), enacted in 1978 in response to concerns that President Richard Nixon would destroy Watergate scandal-related documents. The act mandates the preservation of materials related to the official duties of the president, vice president or their staffs, and establishes that those materials are public property.
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.
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/jvye1395w5nh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/jlbsjd6dz4nh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/rw2q1zazmtmh1.png){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/l33k092c4dlh1.jpeg){kind=link}
![[link]](https://i.redd.it/5qyyxabdijmh1.jpeg){kind=link}
