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Nearly 6 in 10 young women get health and wellness information from influencers

57% of women ages 18 to 29 say they ever get health and wellness information from influencers.

Jul 20 • 10:24 AM EDT • Health • ssrs.com

Shaky political "science": breakdown of the peer review process

[This article is the latest in our “Shaky Political Science” series. In our 38 page report, “Shaky political ‘science’ misses mark on ranked choice voting,” released in December 2025, we examined over 40 studies focused on ranked choice voting (RCV). Many of these studies suffered from puzzling research methodologies, poorly constructed surveys, unrealistic simulated elections, cherry picked data and faulty analyses that often were contradicted by results from real-world elections (a link to our full paper is here). Here are links to the first four articles in our series: the first one summarizing the overall results of our report; the second one analyzed a study co-authored by University of Minnesota academic Larry Jacobs, which was one of the most error-prone of all the research we reviewed in our report; a third article showing an admirable example of two political scientists holding two other political scientists accountable for their flawed, sloppy research; and a fourth article that analyzed seven studies sponsored by New America’s political reform program that deployed flawed methodology based on “simulated” elections instead of real-world elections, which when combined with some basic misunderstandings of RCV, produced odd and misleading results]. In this fifth article in our “Shaky Political Science” series, we examine two flawed studies on the impact of RCV on voter turnout authored by San Francisco State University professor Jason McDaniel. McDaniel’s research in these two papers stands out for its puzzling methodology, inadequate and cherry-picked data, and faulty analyses that not only misunderstands ranked choice voting but reflects a basic misunderstanding of politics in general. The first of the McDaniel studies actually passed through a peer review process and then was subsequently published by the Journal of Urban Affairs, despite its obvious errors. It is perplexing that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the errors and send it back to McDaniel for a rewrite or outright rejection. This calls into question the credibility of the peer review process itself. The peer review process is supposed to represent the intellectual pinnacle of the profession – a way for academics to certify the quality of each other’s work, and to act as a check against sloppy research. In the case of the McDaniel study, the peer review process failed. Yet his flawed study has been cited dozens of times by other political scientists in their own flawed works — an unvirtuous circle of academic research. Here is the first Jason McDaniel study that we analyzed: “Writing the Rules to Rank the Candidates: Examining the Impact of Instant-Runoff Voting on Racial Group Turnout in San Francisco Mayoral Elections,” by Jason McDaniel, 2016, Journal of Urban Affairs. This study covered San Francisco’s use of ranked choice voting (RCV) in mayoral elections, purporting to show that RCV reduces voter turnout overall, increases voter errors, and has a negative impact on “marginal populations,” i.e. racial minorities, mainly as the result of the alleged complexity of RCV asking voters to rank candidates and having to be familiar with multiple candidates and related dynamics. McDaniel reached these conclusions by examining five San Francisco mayoral elections taking place in odd years (i.e. where there are no federal or state races on the ballot) from 1995 to 2011, comparing three earlier non-RCV races (in 1995, 1999 and 2003) with the later two RCV races (in 2007 and 2011). Only two RCV races were studied, and as McDaniel acknowledged, only the contest in 2011 was “competitive” (that contest in 2007 was the first mayoral election using RCV, and incumbent mayor Gavin Newsom won easily in the first round of counting, earning 74% of first choices and far ahead of the second place candidate who had just 6.3% of first choices). Yet even the allegedly competitive contest in 2011was won by an incumbent with a landslide margin of nearly 20 points. No other elections were studied by McDaniel, even though San Francisco elects 17 other offices besides mayor with RCV, including the 11 seats on the Board of Supervisors (the name for the city council) in even years, and six other citywide offices in odd years. Previous academic research has found that competitive elections can stimulate greater voter involvement and higher turnout. For unexplained reasons, this study ignored at least 34 other RCV races between the years 2004 to 2011, many of which were very competitive and had high voter turnout. Instead, McDaniel’s analysis based its conclusions on data from only a single, marginally-competitive mayor’s race using RCV. These 2007 and 2011 mayoral elections were the only two RCV elections that McDaniel used as the sole basis for his small data set to determine the impact of RCV on voter turnout. Despite having no meaningful data to inform his study, McDaniel nonetheless concluded that RCV lowered turnout when compared to the previous three mayoral non-RCV elections using two-round runoffs. Then, using the same inadequate database of San Francisco elections, McDaniel also found that “Instant-runoff voting is associated with a significant decline in Black voter turnout and White voter turnout…On average, Black voter turnout decreases by 18 points and White voter turnout decreases by 16 points …” But how could he credibly arrive at that conclusion when his study was based on voter turnout in two RCV contests that were not even remotely competitive? Beyond that, McDaniel tacitly admits that the key determining factor driving Black voter turnout was not RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable Black candidate. McDaniel wrote, “Black voter turnout was about 17 percentage points higher for the two elections that featured an African American candidate compared to the three elections that did not” — but one of those three elections did not use RCV. The same dynamic was present for White voter turnout, in which higher turnout was not correlated with RCV vs non-RCV elections, but the presence of a viable White candidate. Beyond that, McDaniel’s voter turnout results, whether correlated with the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections, showed no clear patterns. In his Figure 1, he shows low Asian voter turnout in the non-RCV elections in 1999 and 2003 when there was no viable Asian candidate running, but in the 2007 mayoral election using RCV, there is still no viable Asian candidate, yet Asian turnout increases dramatically. For Latinos, voter turnout is virtually the same in 1999 (no viable Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2003 (leading Latino candidate, non-RCV elections), 2007 (no viable Latino candidate, RCV elections) and 2011 (leading Latino candidate, RCV elections). Meanwhile White voter turnout increased dramatically from a low in the 2007 mayoral election, in which the leading candidate was a white incumbent, to the 2011 election in which there were no leading white candidates that finished any higher than sixth place with 5.6% of the vote. Clearly other factors were determining voter turnout than either the race of the candidates or RCV vs non-RCV elections. Despite these inconsistent findings, McDaniel boldly marches forth to render conclusions about the impact of RCV on different groups of racial voters, even though his conclusions are not remotely supported by his data. This looks like the worst kind of “data cherry picking” to cover up a puzzling conclusion based on a poor data set involving only two RCV elections, neither of which were remotely competitive. McDaniel’s cherry picking didn’t stop there. In calculating voter turnout for the three non-RCV mayoral elections in 1995, 1999 and 2003, he failed to mention that in each of these years there was a two-round runoff election, with a first round election in November in which no candidate garnered a winning majority of the vote, followed by the decisive runoff in December. So there were two non-RCV elections in each election year. But McDaniel only decided to include one of the two elections in his data set, apparently the December runoff in each year (which had higher turnout in two out of the three mayor’s races, and lower turnout in the third). So he ignored the November 1995 election, the November 1999 election when turnout was only 45 percent, and the November 2003 election when turnout was only 45.7 percent. This is flawed methodology based on blatant cherry picking, since McDaniel simply omitted three elections worth of data that did not fit within his frame. His study should never have made it through a peer review process, and it is an embarrassment to political science that not only was it approved for publication, but it has been uncritically cited by dozens of other political scientists. Share A “study” without wider context or credible data Lacking a data set that included even a single competitive RCV mayoral race, McDaniel declared that RCV lowered voter turnout in 2011, when turnout was 42.5 percent. But he also ignored -- or did not realize -- that voter turnout in mayoral elections during 2011 had sharply declined in all big cities, including far more steeply in nearby Los Angeles and other cities. In fact, San Francisco’s election in 2011 had the second highest turnout of any mayoral election in the nation’s 22 largest cities from 2008-2011. Was 2011 just a particularly low turnout year all across the country, perhaps because the country was still reeling from the aftermath of the housing market collapse in 2008-2010? McDaniel ignored this factor and did not search for alternative explanations beyond his flawed thesis. Furthermore, while McDaniel suggested that RCV leads to more “overvotes” – which is an invalidated ballot in which a voter, in either a non-RCV or RCV race, makes a mistake and selects two candidates for a single choice – he failed to address that in the June 2012 US Senate primary contest, which used the typical “one-choice” plurality method and did not use RCV, there was more than five times as many overvotes in San Francisco and Oakland than in the RCV mayoral elections in those cities. Additionally, turnout had been significantly higher and more representative in RCV elections for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors races -- that McDaniel didn’t even bother to study -- as compared to previous “delayed two-round runoffs” for those offices, often higher by as much as 40% in the RCV races. Perhaps the most surprising irony was that an earlier study co-authored by McDaniel (Overvoting and the Equality of Voice under Instant-Runoff Voting in San Francisco by Francis Neely and Jason McDaniel, 2015, California Journal of Politics and Policy) found that overvotes are often more common in lower-income precincts, but that the pattern of overvoting is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. Wrote Neely and McDaniel: “[Overvote] errors appear to be a function of complexity in general and not IRV per se…. the pattern of overvoting is similar in both IRV and non-IRV contests…Even among votes cast in a top-of-the-ticket race like U.S. Senate, overvoting occurs in an uneven fashion” (IRV, or ‘instant runoff voting,’ is another name for ranked choice voting in single-winner contests). So McDaniel not only contradicted his own conclusion in his earlier study with Neely, but the earlier study had been an important corrective for one of the most frequently made mistakes made by anti-RCV political scientists – a continual failure to provide crucial context by pairing a comparative analysis of real world RCV elections with an analysis of real world plurality or other electoral methods. Unfortunately McDaniel’s earlier study does not get cited much by other researchers, and McDaniel did not even cite it in his own flawed study analyzed above. Incredibly, McDaniel cherrypicked McDaniel, even as his flawed study has been cited dozens of times. Despite being a textbook example of poor political “science,” featuring both inadequate as well as cherrypicked data, the shelf life of McDaniel’s study has been extended endlessly by other political scientists and media outlets who have cited it uncritically. Equally troubling, the Journal of Urban Affairs put this paper through its peer review process and published it despite its numerous flaws. McDaniel gets it wrong, Part II Not content with producing one shoddy, confused paper, McDaniel produced another one a few years later, here is the link: Electoral Rules and Voter Turnout in Mayoral Elections: An Analysis of Ranked-Choice Voting by Jason McDaniel. San Francisco State Univ. (McDaniel, 2019). In this paper, McDaniel extended his previous flawed research focused on San Francisco, about voter turnout and voter impact, to multiple RCV cities through the 2018 elections. In his data set he included San Francisco, Minneapolis, St Paul, Oakland, Berkeley, San Leandro and Santa Fe. He then compared their turnout in mayoral elections to non-RCV cities, and to mayoral elections in those cities held before first RCV usage, and concluded “a significant decrease in voter turnout of approximately 3–5 percentage points in RCV cities after the implementation of RCV.” But he replicated many of the same mistakes as his first study presented above. While in this study McDaniel attempted to distinguish between various factors, such as odd year vs. even year elections, competitive races vs. noncompetitive, contests with open seats and other factors, the analysis is superficial and inadequate. He attempts to incorporate so many often-conflicting variables that his conclusions are once again unsupported by the actual data, and ultimately unconvincing (this second study never underwent a peer review process). For example, McDaniel declared that for RCV cities “in elections that are more competitive than average (margin of victory less than 20%), there is no significant RCV effect on voter turnout.” Yet McDaniel is a professor in a city, San Francisco, in which the 2018 special election using RCV to fill a mayoral vacancy was exceedingly close, decided by a margin of only one percentage point, and resulted in the second highest turnout in San Francisco history for a mayoral election. Illustrating the complexity involved in assessing the critical factors in turnout, that special election was held on the same election day as federal and state offices, which tends to boost turnout. Yet more voters participated in that RCV mayoral election than voted on the same day in the non-RCV primary for governor in which former San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom was running. Even more puzzling, in this study McDaniel inaccurately cited his own previous study from 2015 with Neely. McDaniel wrote, “Neely and McDaniel (2015) examine individual ballot image files within a natural experiment, and find higher rates of ballot errors in RCV elections compared to non-RCV elections” (emphasis added). However, we quoted from that 2015 study several paragraphs above, and in actual fact Neely and McDaniel actually concluded the opposite -- that the pattern of overvoting – which is the most common form of ballot error – is similar in both RCV and non-RCV contests. McDaniel also ignored the fact that in Bay Area RCV elections held in even years – at the same time as federal and state elections, when turnout is highest -- the “undervote” (that is, the dropoff in ballots cast for governor or mayor) has declined, which contradicts his thesis that the act of ranking ballots in RCV elections is too complex and presents a barrier for certain demographics of voters. To his credit, McDaniel actually acknowledged another contradiction in his own paper, which found a negative RCV turnout effect in some odd-year elections but not others, admitting that “may present a challenge to the theory that increased complexity [from RCV] will have a marginal negative effect on voter turnout.” But he tried to wallpaper over that contradiction by blaming it on an unlikely source -- bad election administration. McDaniels wrote, “This would suggest that the negative impact of RCV on voter participation may be alleviated by high quality election administration,” without presenting any data or even anecdotes to support such an unfounded theory. While competent election administration of any election, whether RCV or non-RCV, is crucially important, there is no credible research that supports the far-fetched notion that the quality of election administration has much of an impact on voter turnout in US elections, whether using RCV or otherwise. Upgrade to a $5 subscription The unvirtuous circle of academic research It is puzzling how McDaniel’s first study could have survived the peer review process for the Journal of Urban Affairs. The mistakes in McDaniel’s first study above should have been obvious to anyone with a basic understanding of ranked choice voting as well as elections in general, and elections in San Francisco specifically. It undermines faith in the credibility of the peer review process to think that a jury of peer political scientists did not catch the egregious errors and reject McDaniel’s sloppy research and paper. And it remains a black mark on political science that this thoroughly discredited study has been cited dozens of times by other researchers. Indeed, in our research paper it became apparent that many political scientists cite each other’s flawed research to pad their list of citations and to legitimize their own flawed research, creating an unvirtuous circle of political science. More broadly, McDaniel’s voter turnout studies, like other studies evaluating RCV’s impact on turnout, lacked a recognition that no credible opinion or research can claim that RCV increases voter turnout merely because so many voters are excited to vote for their favorite candidates instead of “lesser evil” candidates without worrying about spoilers. Instead, with respect to turnout, the advantage of RCV has always been that, in most places where it has been used, it has eliminated a pre-November primary or post-November runoff, which usually saw about half the turnout of the November general election. This is especially true during even years when there are state and federal elections on the ballot which substantially drive turnout more than local contests. Any study that does not adequately account for this non-November primary/runoff vs November general election dynamic, or odd year vs even year election factors, is simply not credible. Both of McDaniel’s studies largely failed on those grounds. Steven Hill and Paul Haughey Share Upgrade to a $5 subscription Thanks for reading DemocracySOS…your digital portal for the pro-democracy movement. Subscribe for only $5 per month to receive full benefits and to support our work. Subscribe

Jul 20 • 9:29 AM EDT • Science • democracysos.substack.com

Science can serve dark as well as light

I’m not sure how many of you are watching “Star City,” Apple TV’s spin-off of its “For All Mankind” program (2019-present), but it’s one of the better sci-fi series I’ve seen in a while, with an impressively dark political message. (Some light spoilers below.) For the uninitiated, “For All Mankind” presented a slightly tweaked history of the U.S. space program in which it was the USSR that landed on the Moon first in 1969, and shortly thereafter put a woman cosmonaut on the lunar surface. This sparks an ongoing space race that, in the original series, yields a lot of benefits for humanity. President Nixon’s insistence on a female astronaut corps to compete with the Soviets boosts the feminist movement of the 1970s and the ERA passes. New fuels generated for the space program create clean and cheap energy around Earth. There are also some darker changes — the USSR is thriving well into the 2000s, there are terrorist counter-technology movements around the globe, laborers on Mars work in nightmarish conditions and organize strikes and riots, etc. the @smotus report is a reader-supported publication. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. Subscribe That show offers glimpses into the subtle ways this Earth is different. Teddy Kennedy never went to Chappaquidick because he was racing back to Washington to deal with the space program crisis; he gets elected President in 1972. John Lennon survives his early 1980s shooting but Pope John Paul II does not. The Apple Newton succeeded. Pretty much the whole of season 4 is a setup for an Al Gore joke. Again, mostly, the vision that “For All Mankind” presents is a positive one, with technology advancing many human interests. “Star City” goes in a very different direction. This spin-off show is about the same set of events but from the Soviet perspective. As we meet them, the team of scientists and cosmonauts responsible for the lunar landing are still basking in their hero status, but their program is embedded deep in the Soviet security state of the late 1960s. Everyone’s apartment is bugged. Whole teams of clerical staff spend their days transcribing recordings of people’s lives. People in the program, including respected cosmonauts, are regularly arrested. An incredibly menacing Colonel Lyudmilla Raskova (Anna Maxwell Martin) forces confessions and tortures and kills, expressing little more than annoyance in the process. Meanwhile, the space program’s highly respected Chief Designer (Rhys Ifans) has a vision for the program that he knows the government will not approve. He insists that they need to think past the Moon to focus on colonizing the solar system, starting with Venus. (This is a rough parallel to the Americans’ pivot to Mars in the original show.) He essentially builds a secret space program within the space program, calculating that the government will embrace the mission after it has succeeded. (As an aside, I’m not sure why the Venus obsession, as a successful mission can’t produce the biggest public relations payoff: a cosmonaut standing on the surface holding the Soviet flag. Anyone standing on Venus would be immediately crushed by the 92-bar atmosphere and then cremated in the 900°F temperatures. But in a country with no free press perhaps the visual payoff was less valued.) But the overall vision is that the technological advances have only amplified the most fearsome aspects of the Soviet system. The state is paranoid (but not incorrect) about American spies and does monstrous things to protect its secrets. People are terrified to trust each other. Classic banality-of-evil figures order people to harm those they care about; those people comply rather than get shot. Others are forced into criminal behavior to protect loved ones. We’re reminded all the time these days of what happens when a government despises science. It manifests in the defunding of schools, the elevation of fossil fuels as the rest of the world pivots to solar, outbreaks of measles and diarrhea, etc. But “Star City” offers a vision of a bad government that likes science. It’s not encouraging. It’s not yet clear if there will be a season two of this show. But I strongly recommend season one. It’s both thoughtful and gripping. Share

Jul 20 • 8:04 AM EDT • Science • smotus.substack.com

Some dinosaurs could rise like giants until they grew too big

Two elephant-sized South American sauropods were unusually well built for standing on their hind legs. Digital tests showed that their robust femurs handled the enormous forces better than those of larger species, especially while the dinosaurs were young. The upright pose may have helped them reach treetops, frighten predators, or impress potential mates.

Jul 20 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com

I Tried a Sensory Float Pod to Quiet My Mind—and It Was One of the Best Things I’ve Done For Myself in Years

After a four-day solo darkness retreat helped quiet my anxiety, I began seeking other wellness practices. Here’s what I learned.

Jul 20 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • travelandleisure.com

Champions Of Potomac River Mussels Summon A ‘Science Barge’

The Potomac Riverkeeper Network has expanded its mussel-growing operation on the Potomac River with what the group is calling a “science barge.” The 80-foot-by-30-foot vessel serves as a floating platform for specially designed cages used to raise mussels. A pair of “floating upwellers” holds up to 4,000 mussels at any one time in the river […]

Jul 20 • 7:34 AM EDT • Science • thebaynet.com

Have you gotten health advice from TikTok or Instagram? This is for you.

Well Informed, from PolitiFact, aims to help readers separate credible medical evidence from misinformation

Jul 20 • 7:30 AM EDT • Health • poynter.org

Kaneka pitches “mitoceuticals” as mechanism-led mitochondrial health supplements

Cellular health is becoming increasingly important as industry and science reveal that health systems are interconnected. The mitochondria are especially central in this understanding, as it addresses healthy aging, healthspan, and lifestage demands. Nutrition Insight speaks with Kaneka Corporation and Kaneka Ubiquinol’s consultant to learn about how nutrition is evolving on an industry and consumer level. “Over the past decade, we’ve seen nutrition evolve from addressing nutrient deficiencies to supporting specific conditions and now toward supporting healthspan — the health and well-being across life stages,” says Tsuyoshi Takakuwa, head of Marketing and Sales Team (APAC), Supplemental Nutrition Business Division at Kaneka Corporation.

Jul 20 • 4:36 AM EDT • Health • nutritioninsight.com

Let’s Fight About Art So We Can Talk About Politics

Philosopher Hannah Arendt Saw Cultural Disagreement as a Path to Bridging Deeper Divisions

Jul 20 • 3:01 AM EDT • Politics • zocalopublicsquare.org

Colorado Commission prioritizes feelings over science

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted Thursday and prioritized feelings over science-based management. Meanwhile, Rancher X is the beneficiary of those feelings-driven decisions. Well played, Governor. The newest appointees to the CPW Commission are just the parting gift you had in mind for rural Colorado. The Commission voted Thursday 6-5 to reject CPW staff […]

Jul 20 • 2:45 AM EDT • Science • coloradopolitics.com

Colorado Commission prioritizes feelings over science

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission voted Thursday and prioritized feelings over science-based management. Meanwhile, Rancher X is the beneficiary of those feelings-driven decisions. Well played, Governor. The newest appointees to the CPW Commission are just the parting gift you had in mind for rural Colorado. The Commission voted Thursday 6-5 to reject CPW staff […]

Jul 20 • 2:45 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com

Stephen Colbert breaks social media silence after end of 'Late Show'

Stephen Colbert has been laying low since he bid farewell to "The Late Show" in May. But two months later, he has returned to Instagram to share a sweet message

Jul 19 • 9:45 PM EDT • Entertainment • centraloregondaily.com

Fox may have already lost its World Cup breakout star in Zlatan Ibrahimović

Zlatan Ibrahimović appeared to bid farewell to Fox Sports after the 2026 FIFA World Cup final, suggesting his time in the network’s studio was a one-tournament experiment. “You made it easy for me. I hope, America, you enjoyed it as much as I did, and this is also my farewell to the studio,” Ibrahimović said…

Jul 19 • 8:42 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

🎥 Bad loser? World Cup star completely loses the plot

Well, what on earth happened there? Shortly after the final whistle of the World Cup final, which Spain had won 1–0 after extra time, some pretty wild scenes unfolded on the pitch.During a mass con...

Jul 19 • 6:28 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Prediction markets Swell to 27% of sports bets during World Cup

Kalshi, the biggest player, has repeatedly broken its own trading records during the World Cup.

Jul 19 • 4:55 PM EDT • Sports • fortune.com

The Air India First Class Lounge Delhi Is Delightful... What A Treat!

The first class section of the Air India Maharaja Lounge Delhi is incredible, and the airline knocked it out of the park. Well done!

Jul 19 • 3:15 PM EDT • Technology • onemileatatime.com

Recycling Laptops And IMacs Makes PC Building Fun And Affordable Again

Building a PC used to be a fun adventure — what’s the latest, what’s the greatest, what can I afford? Well, that last question seems to have taken over and sucked all the fun out …

Jul 19 • 1:00 PM EDT • Technology • hackaday.com

The supercars and super sports cars utilizing electric power, hybrid technology, as well as gasoline

In recent years, there's been a move toward electric power for supercars and super sports cars, or at least a lot of talk of that.

Jul 19 • 12:34 PM EDT • Sports • abc7.com

10 Ways To Preserve Your DVDs And Blu-Rays For Years To Come

The end of disc-based media may be nearing, but your collection still holds a place in your heart and home. Keep it working well for years to come.

Jul 19 • 12:02 PM EDT • Technology • bgr.com

Wood County Youth Business Fair held in Mineral Wells

Youth business fair highlights real-world skills for young entrepreneurs.

Jul 19 • 11:45 AM EDT • Business • wtap.com

Andy Burnham will be bolder but stick to Labour manifesto, Lucy Powell says

Burnham will replace Sir Keir Starmer as prime minister on Monday, following a meeting with King Charles III.

Jul 19 • 6:29 AM EDT • Politics • bbc.com

Harry Kane on World Cup future with England

Harry Kane reflects on England's successes and failures at the 2026 World Cup as well as his future with the national team.

Jul 18 • 10:42 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Lite Waite: How attending Boys State taught me that politics is a contact sport

by Bob Waite So how does one get pulled into politics? That was the gist of my recent Ipswich Museum talk. My earliest political memory comes from the old Shatswell School playground. This would have been in 1956. In those days, Ipswich tilted heavily Republican. John Dolan was our state rep, championing issues like wetland […]

Jul 18 • 10:09 PM EDT • Politics • thelocalnews.news

What Does the Protect College Sports Act Mean to the Current Status and Virginia Tech?

Congress is poised to update the legal foundations of the NCAA and collegiate sports with the Cruz-Cantwell “Protect College Sports” Act. If and when it passes it means big changes.

Jul 18 • 12:43 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

For Singer Judy Collins, A 'Farewell Tour' Doesn't Necessarily Mean 'Goodbye'

Despite the way her 50-city tour is being promoted, the singer admitted, “I’m always working, because I love to work, and it makes me feel happy.”

Jul 18 • 8:00 AM EDT • Entertainment • huffpost.com

Science news this week: Gold tongues discovered in tombs, sugar found in space, a new monkey identified in the Congolian rainforest, and ancient impact crater 'geoguessed' by an amateur astronomer

July 18, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend

Jul 18 • 7:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com

Honeywell Technologies completes first acquisition after spin-offs for $1.8B

The automation company bought a business based in a world capital.

Jul 18 • 6:45 AM EDT • Business • charlotteobserver.com

Weight-loss drugs may improve job prospects and dating odds for one group

A weight-loss specialist says GLP-1 results boost confidence in job interviews and dating, but the study found no clear improvement in well-being.

Jul 17 • 9:22 PM EDT • Health • foxnews.com

Bill Barnwell Makes Bold Claims on Minnesota Vikings Roster

From Justin Jefferson's staggering trade value to surprise inclusions like Donovan Jackson, discover why three cornerstone stars could command an unprecedented haul of future first-round draft picks.

Jul 17 • 8:48 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Wildfire Smoke Prompts Health Warnings

WASHINGTON — Scorching temperatures are contributing to wildfires that are erupting faster than usual this year in the United States and Canada while also prompting health warnings about air pollution. In the United States, some of the worst wildfires are burning this week in Colorado, California, Minnesota and other parts of the Upper Midwest. They … Continue reading "Wildfire Smoke Prompts Health Warnings"

Jul 17 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • thewellnews.com

Nix’s Numbers Stack Up Well Against Rest Of AFC West

Denver Broncos quarterback Bo Nix does surprisingly well when you compare his numbers to the rest of the division.

Jul 17 • 6:39 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Disco Elysium Studio Says Game About People Forced Into Impossible Situations Didn't Sell Well Enough To Prevent Layoffs

In a post on social media, ZA/UM wrote that it would lay off 32 developers two months after releasing Zero Parades: For Dead Spies

Jul 17 • 5:38 PM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com

Ranking Member Markey, Senator Hirono Reject Trump’s SBA Policy Proposal that Harms Underserved Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

Letter (PDF) (Washington, July 17) – Ranking Member Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) submitted a comment letter to the Small Business Administration (SBA) opposing a proposed rule change by Trump’s SBA to the 8(a) Business Development Program that would harm underserved small business owners and entrepreneurs. The 8(a) Business Development Program was created by Congress more than 50 years ago to level the playing field for small business owners and entrepreneurs who have faced discrimination in starting and operating their businesses. The SBA’s proposed change ignores the existence of historic discrimination that minority and underserved small businesses have faced and continue to face. In the letter, the lawmakers wrote, “SBA’s proposed rule ignores present-day barriers that entrepreneurs from minority and underserved communities face. Discrimination is not dead; minority entrepreneurs continue to face reduced access to contracting opportunities and capital, as well as racial threats and targeting, including unequal treatment, refusal by others to work with minority-owned firms, being called racial slurs, and bias in the workplace. These barriers lead to wide underutilization of, and less revenue for, minority-owned businesses compared to majority-owned businesses, as supported by decades of disparity studies. The proposed rule diminishes the history of systemic racial and ethnic discrimination in the United States by claiming that remedies for discrimination create discrimination in and of themselves.” The lawmakers continued, “The program has always been open to anyone who can prove they have experienced prejudice or cultural bias in education, employment, entrepreneurship, and other facets of our society. Nonetheless SBA has moved forward with the proposed rule. It lacks a reasoned basis, purporting that the federal government has discriminated against White Americans, but offering no substantive qualitative or quantitative data or research in support. If the examples provided in the proposed rule are the only basis for what constitutes discrimination to the agency, they are woefully insufficient. The final rule must provide strong evidence that there is discrimination against White individuals and show how the rule is narrowly tailored to address it. The record remains devoid of evidence of discrimination against White individuals on the basis of race.” Ranking Member Markey is fighting to protect federal programs that address historic discrimination against small business owners from minority and underserved communities, and for a small business agenda that ensures economic opportunity for all. In June, Ranking Member Markey released a statement condemning the SBA’s proposed changes to the 8(a) Business Development Program. Also in June, Ranking Markey released a new report highlighting Trump’s drastic reduction in federal contracting dollars awarded to American small businesses, including minority-owned small businesses. In February, Ranking Member Markey, alongside Senators Hirono and Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Representative Ayanna Pressley (MA-7), introduced the Strengthening Place-based Access, Resources, and Knowledge (SPARK) Act to spur entrepreneurship and increase access to capital and resources for underserved entrepreneurs nationwide. Ranking Member Markey previously held a field hearing in Roxbury, Massachusetts, to discuss how government and the private sector can come together to make entrepreneurship more accessible for underserved communities. Earlier in February, Ranking Member Markey secured funding with the Appropriations Committee for Small Business Development Centers, Women’s Business Centers, SCORE Chapters, and Veterans Business Outreach Centers and provisions to rein in the Administration’s attempts to eliminate programs that support women, veterans, and underserved entrepreneurs. In January, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to oppose rule changes that would gut protections against discriminatory lending practices that harm small businesses. In December 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to SBA Administrator Kelly Loeffler expressing significant concerns with the SBA’s overly burdensome request and unclear guidance for extensive financial documentation over the holidays, as a part of their sweeping attempts to dismantle the 8(a) Business Development Program. In July and December 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent letters to the SBA Administrator demanding answers about the Trump administration’s efforts to limit economic opportunity for American entrepreneurs, including immigrants. In May 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent a letter to the SBA Administrator rejecting President Trump’s FY 2026 budget proposal and calling on SBA to immediately release funding for the entrepreneurial development programs, which include programs like the Women’s Business Centers and the Veteran’s Business Development Centers that support underserved small business owners. In April 2025, Ranking Member Markey introduced the New Start Act of 2025 to establish a five-year pilot program providing grants to support entrepreneurial development training for currently or formerly incarcerated individuals. In February 2025, Ranking Member Markey sent letters to the SBA Administrator and Government Accountability Office (GAO) condemning President Trump’s war on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) policies and asking how the SBA intends to implement Trump’s anti-DEIA executive orders. ###

Jul 17 • 5:23 PM EDT • Business • sbc.senate.gov

Trump administration races to rebuild tariff wall knocked down by Supreme Court

The U.S. Treasury last year swelled with revenue from President Donald Trump’s double-digit taxes on imports from almost every country on earth. But the money dried up after the Supreme Court struck down the biggest and boldest of Trump’s tariffs in February. The question now is: Can the president’s trade team make good on its promise to replace the lost revenue?

Jul 17 • 5:23 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

Meet the billionaires behind $336M ‘explosion’ of money in California politics, per new report

San Francisco is no stranger to concentrated wealth shaping City Hall, and big-money spenders did well here during the last primary.

Jul 17 • 4:51 PM EDT • Politics • missionlocal.org

Meet the billionaires behind $336M ‘explosion’ of money in California politics, per new report

San Francisco is no stranger to concentrated wealth shaping City Hall, and big-money spenders did well here during the last primary.

Jul 17 • 4:51 PM EDT • Politics • missionlocal.org

30-30-30 rule popularizes healthy morning routine

The 30‑30‑30 rule is a catchy idea meant to promote weight loss and overall wellness. A Maryland doctor thinks it could benefit a lot of people.

Jul 17 • 3:22 PM EDT • Health • wtop.com

Michigan’s ‘money out of politics’ group confident in signature validity as it faces new challenge

Michigan’s Board of State Canvassers plan to take up the Michiganders for Money Out Of Politics petition next week, assessing both the sufficiency of its signatures collected over the last year, as well as a direct challenge to those signatures.

Jul 17 • 3:17 PM EDT • Politics • michiganadvance.com

Andy Burnham Calls for 'New Politics' in U.K. in First Speech as Labour Leader

"We must recognize that this generation of politicians, myself included, have failed to challenge a political culture and an economic model that simply doesn't work well enough for ordinary people."

Jul 17 • 2:01 PM EDT • Politics • time.com

Fed rate-hike voices swell before July decision, rates still seen on hold

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack on Friday added her voice to ​a small but growing chorus of policymakers arguing the Fed may need to raise short-term borrowing costs to deal ‌with persistently high inflation, setting up a charged debate at the central bank's July 28-29 meeting.

Jul 17 • 1:32 PM EDT • Business • reuters.com

Blanche’s Meeting With Epstein Survivors Did Not Go Well

Several survivors said they were let down by the encounter, but Blanche will still probably be confirmed as attorney general.

Jul 17 • 12:24 PM EDT • Politics • nymag.com

She Retired From Engineering at 58 and Turned Her Creative Hobby Into a Business. It’s Made Tens of Thousands of Dollars: ‘No Regrets.’

Anna Hudick's engineering experience serves her well as an entrepreneur.

Jul 17 • 11:43 AM EDT • Business • entrepreneur.com

Former MTV Reality Star Lo Bosworth Knows Social Media Is a Powerful Tool for Building a Business, But Says 'It Is Eating Away at Our Brains'

Lo Bosworth shares the mindset and strategies she used to found Love Wellness, a company that is revolutionizing women’s health.

Jul 17 • 11:00 AM EDT • Business • entrepreneur.com

Even Microsoft couldn’t make Windows 11 work well on 8GB of RAM

RAMageddon claims another.

Jul 17 • 9:30 AM EDT • Technology • theverge.com

Win In Business By Showing Customers Why Your Product Is Better

A well-designed product gets you into the game. But winning in business means getting others to see your product's merit.

Jul 17 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • investors.com

Recap: Sporting KC falls 3-2 to rivals St. Louis

Sporting Kansas City (3-10-2, 11 pts.) fell to a late 3-2 defeat against rivals St. Louis City SC (5-6-4, 19 pts.) at Energizer Park on Thursday night. After falling behind by two goals, Sporting responded well with goals from Capita Capemba and Dejan Joveljic, only for a late penalty to

Jul 16 • 11:53 PM EDT • Sports • sportingkc.com

Sister Cities Celebrated 40 years at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center

Welll...The smokey air didn't stop a global celebration today.The decc was filled with culture... Food... And community tonight...As "Sister cities" hosted its first-ever dock and dine event.The nonprofit also celebrated

Jul 16 • 11:20 PM EDT • Entertainment • fox21online.com

Sports without politics is a fantasy and the World Cup proves it

From ancient Greece to Nazi Germany, sport and politics have long been intertwined. Nevertheless, we still imagine that international sport can be kept above the fray and serve as a neutral arena where nations compete on merit alone. In this article, diplomacy scholar Geoffrey Allen Pigman argues the 2026 FIFA World Cup shows this is a dangerous illusion. When international sport is left entirely to revenue-maximizing private bodies like FIFA, it doesn't escape politics, but rather surrenders to its worst expressions. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics fast approaching, the IOC must decide whether to learn that lesson or repeat the same mistakes. The largest and most lucrative FIFA World Cup ever draws toward its climactic conclusion amidst a swirl of controversy. Team members, staff, fans, and spectators have been denied their right to enter the United States to participate, and US President Donald Trump intervened with FIFA boss Gianni Infantino to overturn a referee’s call that Trump believed disadvantaged the US national team. It is a moment to step back and reflect on what the purposes of international sport mega-events like the World Cup, and international sport more broadly, are, and what they should be. Does international sport serve public purposes? Is there a public interest? Or is it primarily a private endeavor organized by commercial enterprises to entertain the global public (and generate profit in the process), which is occasionally used by governments and leaders for raisons d’etat? Central to the idea of sport is the principle of fair play, which in the international context demands that games be free from political interference. However, it is impossible to separate sport from politics, all claims to the contrary notwithstanding. The most positive political use of international sport through the millennia has been to facilitate diplomacy. The use of international sport for diplomatic objectives has existed since at least the time of the ancient Olympic Games, around which was instituted the custom of the Ekecheiria, or Olympic Truce, between participating states to facilitate fair competition and diplomatic achievements by ensuring that participants could travel safely to the Olympiad. In his seminal work On Diplomacy (1987), diplomacy scholar James Der Derian characterized the objectives of diplomacy as overcoming alienation and mediating estrangement between governments and between peoples. One increasingly important diplomatic tool in the technology-infused media environment over the past century has been public diplomacy, under which governments and non-state diplomatic actors (e.g. transnational corporations) communicate to global publics about their international policy objectives and to shape their global brand image. Political scientist Michał Kobierecki, in his important book Sports Diplomacy (2020), views sports diplomacy as falling broadly within the ambit of public diplomacy, as international sport intimately involves the participation of global publics as spectators and consumers of global media. Diplomacy scholar Stuart Murray and this author, in a 2013 article, distinguish between international sport used for diplomatic purposes and international sport-as-diplomacy, which encompasses the range of diplomacy that occurs as teams and competitors, spectators and fans, and government officials all converge for international sporting events like the Olympic Games and FIFA World Cup. Diplomacy scholar H.E. Chehabi, in a 2001 article on US-Iran sports diplomacy, describes the interaction between spectators and fans at international sporting events as “people-to-people diplomacy,” in which relationships develop independently of governments and their objectives. Diplomacy by the aforementioned definitions is often unsuccessful. Moreover, all too often the tools of diplomacy may be employed by governments and other actors to thwart or oppose the objectives of diplomacy as characterized by Der Derian. Governments routinely use the tools of public diplomacy to disseminate propaganda, spreading misinformation in the attempt to deceive global publics about their objectives and to create misleading impressions about their brand identity. Within sports diplomacy, the term “sportswashing” has been coined recently to describe how governments invest in and promote international sport to create positive global public impressions of their nations and, in doing so, to distract the global public from their deficient records in areas such as human rights and democratic governance. Murray, in his 2018 book Sports Diplomacy: Origins, Theory and Practice, introduces the concept of sports anti-diplomacy, wherein governments intentionally use international sport to advance aggressive and nationalistic objectives. Obvious historical examples include Hitler’s use of the 1936 Berlin Olympics to glorify his Third Reich and the 1969 El Salvador-Honduras football “war.” SUGGESTED READING The beautiful game made ugly By Emily Ryall FIFA argues that it is and seeks to be apolitical in its stewardship of international Association Football (soccer). FIFA policies governing bids to host the World Cup require uninhibited and non-discriminatory access for players, team staff, and spectators of all participating countries to host nations and venues. It became clear soon after Trump returned to power in the United States in January 2025 that Trump’s political intentions and objectives to limit non-US citizens from living and working in the United States and, in numerous cases, even visiting the country, would collide with FIFA’s host nation policies. Beginning soon after the start of the second Trump administration, US federal authorities imposed restrictions on entry to the United States of citizens of between 20 and 40 countries for any purpose, with only limited exceptions. Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began arresting non-US citizens in the United States, including persons with and without legal status, holding them in jails, concentration camps, and other detention facilities until they were deported to their home or third countries, where they faced substantive risks to their personal safety. FIFA boss Gianni Infantino, in an effort to ensure the most successful and lucrative World Cup in history, engaged diplomatically with President Trump in an attempt to facilitate entry to the US for World Cup participants. Infantino did all in his power to ingratiate himself with Trump, to the extent of creating a FIFA “Peace Prize,” which he awarded to Trump in December 2025 at a ceremony in the then Trump-controlled John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC, on the occasion of the World Cup draw. The prize was an ersatz consolation for someone who aspired in vain to win the rather more prestigious and well-known Nobel Peace Prize. And in the run-up to the World Cup, conditions became worse. In February 2026, Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched a war of aggression against Iran, illegal under international law, under the false pretence that Iran’s government was preparing to attack the United States and Israel. During the US aerial bombardment of Iran, US planes bombed Azadi Stadium, the facility where Iran’s national football team trained. As the 2026 FIFA World Cup began, it was clear that Infantino’s efforts had been for naught: the Trump administration would not adhere to FIFA policies governing access to World Cup host nations. World Cup referee Omar Artan, a citizen of Somalia, was denied a US visa to enter the United States to participate in the World Cup. Trump’s government only granted US visas to Iran’s football team ten days before they were scheduled to arrive for the tournament. Numerous members of the support staff for Iran’s team were denied US visas. Iran’s team, which had been scheduled to train in Arizona, was directed to shift its training site to Tijuana, Mexico, notwithstanding that all three of their group stage matches took place at US venues. The US Department of Homeland Security only permitted the Iranian team to enter the US on the day before each scheduled match and then to return to Mexico immediately after playing. Members of Iraq’s and Switzerland’s football teams were delayed for hours by US officials at the US border, and an Iraqi team photographer was refused entry. Spectators and fans from Haïti and Iran were denied entry to the United States altogether. A large number of fans from a range of countries had their applications for US visas rejected. There were multiple off-ramps through which participants could have avoided the negative consequences of Trump’s decisions for the 2026 World Cup. Once it was clear that the Trump government intended to violate the established expectations for World Cup hosts, FIFA could have shifted the matches scheduled to take place in the United States to Mexico and Canada. The three nations were already designated as co-hosts, and host cities and venues had been selected. Once it was clear that FIFA, governed by FIFA boss Gianni Infantino’s dependent and dysfunctional relationship with Trump, would never consider this option on its own, it fell to the national football federations to act. The national federations, particularly some combination of federations of the leading contenders (France, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Morocco, England, Germany, etc.), could have refused to participate under the US-imposed conditions or, at the least, demanded an ironclad agreement with the Trump government that FIFA policies on access would be respected. ___ International sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. ___ Why did neither FIFA nor the national football federations act to protect the interests of players, team staff, referees, fans, and spectators? In essence, the relentless engines of capitalism prevailed over norm observance, ethics, and fair play. The revenue interests of FIFA, sponsors, global media, and host cities won out. FIFA’s managers viewed hosting another World Cup principally in the United States as a veritable pot of gold for FIFA and its collaborators. FIFA has estimated its own revenue over the 2023-26 budget cycle, which includes the 2026 World Cup, at $13 billion, revised up from an initial projection of $11 billion, and 72% higher than the previous revenue cycle. Of that total, FIFA is estimated to have generated $8.9 billion from the Cup itself in revenue from TV rights ($3.92 billion), sponsorships ($2.69 billion), ticket sales ($3.1 billion), licensing rights, and other sources. A joint study by FIFA and the World Trade Organization estimates that the World Cup will contribute over $40 billion to global GDP, including nearly $14 billion in direct visitor spending in the three host countries (but principally in the United States, which hosted the lion’s share of the matches). The FIFA World Cup is now reportedly “the single most lucrative recurring commercial property in global sport.” And yet, notwithstanding the Trump government’s uses of the World Cup for sports anti-diplomacy, and the climate of anxiety that this created for participants and spectators, diplomacy that did not depend upon governments was able to thrive at the World Cup. Examples of successful people-to-people diplomacy were legion, as citizens of towns and cities across the States, as well as in Mexico and Canada, welcomed team members, their families and supporters, to training sites across North America. Fans of different teams joined together in person in stadiums for matches, at watch parties and bars, and at welcome events sponsored by host cities. The joy and camaraderie shared between the citizenry of Boston and Scotland’s “Tartan Army” of fans is but one example of how the “Beautiful Game” brings people together. Friendships forged across continents are likely to endure well beyond the Cup final. Even those achievements cannot be seen as unalloyed, however. As South African football fan Byron Pillay commented to Al Jazeera, “Football is called the Beautiful Game for a reason, for its ability to unite people. But it’s hard to believe in that magic with the politics and war rhetoric off the field of play, especially when one of the tournament hosts is central to that.” Ultimately, the experience of the 2026 FIFA World Cup illustrates that, as international sport is inextricably entangled with diplomacy of different sorts, for good or ill, it cannot be considered to be in the purely private realm and left to revenue-maximizing private actors. As long as there is the possibility of diplomatic progress in mediating estrangement between governments or between peoples, there is a broad and overarching public interest in international sport. Likewise, as it would be difficult to put on an international sport mega-event without international sporting organizations like FIFA and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), global media firms, and companies purchasing sponsorships, public and private interests in international sport must coexist, most likely somewhere on a shifting spectrum between partnership and rivalry or cross purposes. As the World Cup wraps up, the IOC needs to consider its lessons before the scheduled 2028 Los Angeles Olympics if they want to avoid a media-hyped Trump version of the 1936 Berlin Olympiad. The IOC and the National Olympic Committees need to set conditions on and make demands of Trump’s government with clearly articulated consequences for non-compliance, up to and including cancellation of the Games. Time is running out for the IOC, as unlike with the FIFA World Cup, there is no at-the-ready alternate venue for Los Angeles.

Jul 16 • 8:00 PM EDT • Politics • iai.tv

Doctors in Royal Oak perform world’s first single-port robotic heart surgery

Surgeons at Corewell Health in Metro Detroit have performed what the health system says is the world’s first documented single-port robotic mitral valve repair, a breakthrough they believe could help make heart surgery less invasive for some patients.

Jul 16 • 5:31 PM EDT • Health • clickondetroit.com

The Science of Aging Well

The goal is no longer just longevity, but the ability to thrive through the years we gain.

Jul 16 • 2:42 PM EDT • Science • news.emory.edu

$3B Motown sports project near Detroit airport is a scam, feds say

Developer Kenneth Bardwell is charged with blowing investor money on strippers, vehicles and luxury goods for himself, his wife and girlfriend.

Jul 16 • 1:30 PM EDT • Sports • detroitnews.com

Inside You42 Studios: Roswell's New Destination for Dining, Entertainment and Experiences

From chef-driven dining and live entertainment to immersive spaces, events, and creator studios, You42 Studios brings a new kind of destination to North Fulton.

Jul 16 • 10:50 AM EDT • Entertainment • appenmedia.com

Costa Layman Health Fair continues to thrive with its services

Sponsored by the College of Nursing, Augusta University colleges, departments, and community organization joined together to provide the 21st day of wellness to the workers of Costa Farms.

Jul 16 • 10:00 AM EDT • Health • jagwire.augusta.edu

How Sport Will Change on a Hotter Planet (We Might Have to Move the Olympics) | Climate & Energy for July 16

Plus: The Strait of Hormuz isn’t going back to normal, and the Chinese EV wave threatens Volkswagen’s vast, well-paid workforce

Jul 16 • 9:30 AM EDT • Business • wsj.com

One of the world’s most prominent hospitals is testing how AI can revolutionize health care

Mayo Clinic, one of the world’s most well-known hospital systems, is using AI in hopes of improving patient care and, ultimately, saving lives.

Jul 16 • 5:00 AM EDT • Health • cnn.com

Get to know: Arkansas '29 RB target Sadiq Goji

Little Rock Parkview 2029 running back Sadiq Goji, a Nigeria native, has adjusted well to the United States and found his favorite American meal.

Jul 16 • 3:00 AM EDT • Sports • wholehogsports.com

Houston Texans' Defensive Tone-Setter Earns Well-Deserved League Recognition

Jul 16 • 12:06 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Same Care, New Space: Triton Health and Wellness Building Opens

Located in Triton Center, the new heart of the UC San Diego campus, the Triton Health and Wellness Building expands and centralizes support for students, providing access to physical health, mental health and well-being resources.

Jul 15 • 8:00 PM EDT • Health • today.ucsd.edu

Chico City Council approves entertainment zones for downtown and Meriam Park

CHICO, Calif. - Chico City Council voted 6 to 0 to approve an ordinance creating entertainment zones in downtown Chico and Meriam Park.The ordinance, taking effect September 18, 2026, will allow customers to carry approved alcoholic beverages and walk around outside within those designated areas."I feel like the downtown could use all the help it could get right now," said Celeste Cramer, general manager of Downtown Chico Business Association. "In the other areas where they have been doing the entertainment zones and throughout California, it has increased their sales. They haven't seen an increase in violence, or tickets, or anything like that. It's a good thing to try out."Numerous other cities around California such as Redding, Sacramento and San Francisco have put their own entertainment zones into effect and have had success.Action News Now stopped by both designated locations and spoke with organizers and bar owners."I'm super excited, I think this is an opportunity for us," said Scott Baldwin, owner of Argus. "We can get a booth at the farmers market. You can order a cocktail from that booth and then we'll have it ready for you at the door as you walk through. Think of it as a picnic situation. You can grab some tacos, you can get a Kentucky Buck. You can sit down anywhere in the entertainment zone and enjoy Argus outside of Argus."Chico's Chamber of Commerce hosted community stakeholder meetings and community engagement sessions to tailor the ordinance to the city's needs as a university town and rural area.The ordinance will allow people 21 and older to walk around with open containers of alcohol within the entertainment zones as long as they have a wristband, stamp or another visible marker showing they're allowed to do so."To us it's more than an ordinance," said Jen Rothenwander, marketing manager at Meriam Park. "It's an opportunity to invest back into the community, and to continue to do what Chico does well – which is to create the spaces for people to stick around and gather, and shop and spend."The Meriam Park entertainment zone will be enclosed by Springfield Drive, Alcott Avenue, Notre Dame Boulevard and E. 20th Street.The Downtown Chico entertainment zone will span mostly from Highway 32 to Lost Park.Chico Chief of Police Billy Aldridge spoke with Redding Police and was informed they had zero problems with their entertainment zone.Chief Aldridge endorses the ordinance in Chico. freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: "actionnewsnow-com_blox_yup-rectangle-one", slotId: "actionnewsnow-com_blox_yup-rectangle-one", targeting: { "pos": "yup-rectangle-one" } });

Jul 15 • 7:37 PM EDT • Entertainment • actionnewsnow.com

The ’Gay’ Attacks on Lindsey Graham Are All About Politics

Was Lindsey Graham gay? As the author of a book about the history of gay Washington, D.C., it’s a question I’ve been asked frequently for years, and even more so since his sudden death last weekend. The South Carolina Republican’s lifelong confirmed bachelorhood, vocal intonation, and Southern dandy demeanor (if not sartorial choices) prompted many to conclude that he was, as they say in that part of the country, “light in his loafers.” Graham’s repeated attestations to the contrary had zero effect on those invested in the narrative that he was. Only about the matter of J. Edgar Hoover’s rumored cross-dressing (for which there is much circumstantial but no direct evidence) am I questioned more. Whenever I’ve been asked to speculate upon Graham’s sexuality—and speculate was all that I or anyone else could do—I always answered the question honestly. While my personal sense is that Graham was probably gay, as a journalist and a historian I cannot rely on my intuition to make factual assertions. (Gaydar hasn’t yet been scientifically perfected.) Given the absence of any known female or male romantic interests, Graham may very well have been a heterosexual unlucky in love. He might also have been asexual. Barring the highly unlikely postmortem emergence of a personal diary or some other unassailable evidence attesting to Graham’s innermost yearnings, we will never know the answer. As is depressingly the case these days when a public figure dies, a chorus of voices reveled in Graham’s passing, many of them making light of his presumed homosexuality.

Jul 15 • 7:30 PM EDT • Politics • thefp.com

Starmer says his political journey is over at his last question session as UK leader

Starmer, who leaves office next week, bid farewell to the boisterous weekly Prime Minister’s Questions sessions where he has traded barbs with opposition politicians and defended his government’s record.

Jul 15 • 6:04 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org

📸 Tuchel gets torn apart after England’s elimination 🥶

Coaching that didn’t pay off.He may well be having nightmares about it for a very long time. After England had opened the scoring against Argentina, Thomas Tuchel immediately chose to sit back and d...

Jul 15 • 5:23 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Tom Brady: This is how we can democratize health and wellness like never before

NFL legend and eMed chief wellness officer Tom Brady and eMed CEO Linda Yaccarino discuss eMed's mission on 'The Claman Countdown.'

Jul 15 • 5:07 PM EDT • Health • foxnews.com

Black Men's Wellness Day to prioritize health, celebrating strength and resilience

This weekend is about more than fitness for the Black Men's Wellness Day on Saturday. It's about saving lives and building healthier communities.

Jul 15 • 4:23 PM EDT • Health • wlwt.com

Essentia Health encourages parents to schedule well-child/teen visits during slow summer months

As families settle into summer routines, Essentia Health is encouraging parents to take advantage of the season’s added flexibility by scheduling well-child/teen visits before school, sports and activities pick back up.

Jul 15 • 11:32 AM EDT • Health • essentiahealth.org

Trump to address defense technology gathering as war has reduced weapon stocks

The summit in Pennsylvania also features defense and intelligence officials, as well as top business leaders in the field of technology

Jul 15 • 9:37 AM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com

Carson College of Business expands certificate offerings to build Washington’s workforce

The expanded Carson Pro portfolio includes a new supply chain management certificate and a partnership with Ziplines Education to offer certificates in artificial intelligence as well as high-demand business skills.

Jul 15 • 9:00 AM EDT • Business • news.wsu.edu

Why JPMorgan is 'the only business' that can 'weather any downturns'

JPMorgan (JPM), Citigroup (C), Bank of America (BAC), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Wells Fargo (WFC) all reported second quarter earnings results on Tuesday. Whalen Global Advisors chairman, Chris Whalen, shares his take on JPMorgan's record results and CEO Jamie Dimon's recent warning.

Jul 15 • 9:00 AM EDT • Business • finance.yahoo.com

Biden Will Release Memoir Just After the November Midterms

The former president announced that the book, “Promise Me, America,” will come out on Nov. 17, and will cover the tumultuous events of his presidency as well as his re-election bid.

Jul 15 • 8:19 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

Informed Decision-Making with Healthcare Analytics

In healthcare, the byproducts of past challenges — data assets and innovation—are helping us envision a future where clinicians are well equipped to predict health outcomes and make informed decisions.

Jul 15 • 6:10 AM EDT • Health • oracle.com

Opinion | Can Democrats Harness the Data Center Backlash?

David Wallace-Wells and Robinson Meyer discuss whether the gathering coalition of Americans against data centers could be the next Occupy Wall Street movement or Tea Party.

Jul 15 • 5:03 AM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com

14 entertaining things to do in the Wilmington area this weekend

We've got big touring bands, intimate listening room shows, a big new musical at Thalian Hall and a couple of fun film screenings as well.

Jul 15 • 5:01 AM EDT • Entertainment • starnewsonline.com

Minerals at the Negotiating Table: Resource Politics and Peace in Eastern DRC

The United States brokered a strategic partnership deal with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in December 2025, co-signing a DRC–Rwanda peace agreement on the same day. Whether a mediator with a strategic interest can also be neutral is a question the Washington Peace Accords have yet to answer. Critical minerals are no longer a backdrop to negotiations in eastern DRC but they are increasingly the point of concern. Yet understanding their role requires looking beyond the well-worn "conflict minerals" narrative and asking a harder question: whose resource interests are actually shaping the path to a negotiated settlement?

Jul 15 • 4:23 AM EDT • Politics • blog.prif.org

China grows at one of lowest rates on record; Thames Water has funds to survive to year end

Thames Water says it has £515m cash in the bank as its debts swell to £18.5bn

Jul 15 • 2:59 AM EDT • Business • theguardian.com

Tamron 12-20mm f/2.8 Review: A Whole New Direction

Tamron bring a fresh new look to its professional lenses. They may have brought fierce competition as well.

Jul 15 • 12:01 AM EDT • Technology • petapixel.com

Houston Rockets jersey history No. 21

During his time suiting up for the Rockets, Powell wore only jersey No. 21 and put up 4.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks per game.

Jul 14 • 9:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com

Olivia Wilde shares Sam Rockwell’s ingenious trick for nailing auditions

Sam Rockwell had a brilliant trick for acing auditions before he became a big star, and he revealed the secret to Olivia Wilde when they worked on on ‘Cowboys & Aliens.’

Jul 14 • 7:51 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com

Taylor Riggs: This is an economy that's open for business

'The Big Money Show' co-host Taylor Riggs reports on major banks like JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo delivering blowout profits in Q2, indicating a resilient economy and strong consumer spending.

Jul 14 • 6:08 PM EDT • Business • foxbusiness.com

Small Business Optimism Picks Up in June

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index rose 2.1 points in June to 97.4, nearing its 52-year average of 98.0. Expectations for better business conditions and real sales expectations improved substantially and primarily drove the rise in the Index. The Uncertainty Index fell 2 points from May to 89, remaining well above its historical average of

Jul 14 • 4:18 PM EDT • Business • oklahomafarmreport.com

Healthy Products Boost The Future And Economics Of Housing

Health and wellness are key considerations for homes, but it has to start with the products and raw materials.

Jul 14 • 3:49 PM EDT • Health • forbes.com

47 revelatory hours with Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced

To review this month’s supposed remake of 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, I must first correct the record. Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced isn’t a game about pirates (and assassins) in the 18th century Caribbean. Sure, sure, that’s what the trailers would have you believe. They’ve go their clips of Edward Kenway swinging his swords and steering his pirate ship into cannon-blasting combat against British frigates. Is Resynced truly a pirate game? Of the 47 hours I spent playing Resynced over the past few weeks, I will admit I spent maybe 44 (?) of them collecting plunder with Blackbeard, drinking rum with Anne Bonny and debating the pros and cons of the lawless pirate-run settlement Nassau with Benjamin Hornigold. I may in fact have spent dozens of hours sailing to remote islands, reading treasure maps, opening messages left in bottles, sinking the odd Man o’ War with a well-timed broadside, collecting sea shanties for my crew, befriending a pet monkey, and hunting whales. I am nevertheless neither so Gullible nor so Narrow-Minded as to call the magnificent Resynced a “pirate remake.” Oh no. Forget any reviews of Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced you may have read. Forget what you yourself may have played, if you’ve spent any time with the game since its launch. What Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced is really about I’m here to give you the scoop (spoilers for Resynced’s Animus menu lore, which many players are probably not going to see): Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, the new game whose development was led by Ubisoft Singapore, is set in the year 2096. It’s about a societal split, about revolution, about an old Assassin’s Creed adventure repurposed in the series’ distant future as propaganda or samizdat. It’s about the overheated future of 2096, essentially conquered by the series’ well-established nefarious Templar-run company Abstergo. (In this future, Abstergo is, among other things, remaking a 2013 pirate movie called Devils of the Caribbean, but this time in VR. The VR version will be backed by a marketing plan that involves AI influencers, a 10,000-avatar “metaverse premiere event” and that manufacturing of memes aimed at “50 million VR nodes.” See what I mean about Abstergo being evil?) Resynced is about a late 21st-century population mollified by the widespread use of Abstergo’s Animus devices which let people experience the lives of historical figures culled from “genetic memories.” It’s about an insurgent faction of Assassins. And it’s about a plan to wake the population into revolutionary fervor by showing them the memories of 18th century pirate Edward Kenway, who—as depicted in the original Black Flag and again in Resynced—gradually comes to an understanding about the Assassins of his day and their centuries old fight for freedom. Resynced is also about an AI developed within the late 21st-century Animus, called Ego. It has found a way to alter genetic memories, to create and show Animus users false ones. The game is about Ego’s efforts to tell the people experiencing Edward Kenway’s memories that Kenway was wrong, that fighting against order is folly, that we should crave a world where “compliance is rewarded with power.” Who are we in this game? We’re an unnamed Animus user in 2096 who experiences Kenway’s journey virtually. At four moments during Kenway’s exploits in the Caribbean our virtual jaunt can be interrupted for 10-15 minutes, as we explore Animus “rifts” where Ego explicitly tries to tell us how wrong Kenway was. None of this is what 2013’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag was about, of course. That was a different game, even if you also spent dozens of hours pirating as Kenway in that game, across missions and a map that’s been faithfully reintroduced and rebuilt for Resynced. The 2013 Black Flag was about you playing as an unnamed researcher newly hired in 2013 by Abstergo Entertainment, the video game development wing of the Templars’ evil-corp. In that game, you were assigned to use the Animus to dive into the genetic memories of Desmond Miles, a man who died in Assassin’s Creed III and who was descended from a long line of Assassins (and at least one Templar) whose adventures were featured across the prior AC games. In 2013’s Black Flag, your mission was to plumb the Edward Kenway experience for material that Abstergo could use in productions such as the motion picture Devils of the Caribbean, though the Templars had some ulterior motives for the assignment. Resynced is therefore not a remake of 2013’s Black Flag. It’s a sequel. It is a new game about a new exploration of Edward Kenway’s pirate/assassin journey, set 83 years after the framing sequences of the original game. Resynced provides a new narrative framework that, thanks to the concept of an AI that wants to alter historical memories, arrives with creative justification to tweak a now-classic 13-year old game. That makes Resynced, already a hot seller, a tantalizing hint of where Ubisoft could go with a line of Assassin’s Creed remakes. They could remake the first game, the Ezio games, even the recent ones set in ancient Egypt and Greece. And for each, they could not just modernize the graphics and controls but expand and alter their sequences of events to use them as reference points for a conflict set in the late 21st century, as rival factions try to weaponize historical memories. Game File is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, even when that work consists of ravings about Assassin’s Creed’s modern day plot, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe A story most players will probably miss If you didn’t know any of this, I’m not surprised. If you played the game and still didn’t catch it, I’m not a bit shocked. If Ubisoft has no plans to do more of this, I won’t fall down. Almost all of what I’ve described is optional and missable in Black Flag Resynced. I nearly missed it myself, as I planned for a breezy playthrough of an old Assassin’s Creed favorite. Instead, I found myself in a 40+ hour hunt for the “real” story, buried deeper in Resynced than any gold-filled chest. The story of 2096 is Resynced’s meta-story, told in two remote pockets of the game: 1) four optional playable “rifts” that players may find as they proceed through Resynced’s pirate fantasy , 2) in dozens of text files tucked three menus deep in the game’s barely-interactive Animus hub. Assassin’s Creed games have almost always had a meta-story about people in the 21st century (usually matching the game’s release year) and their connections to the main history portions you play. Those meta-stories have always been squeezed into the margins, though seldom as severely and as, uh, graphiaclly simple, as in recent games. Back in 2013, the modern-day exploits of you as an Abstergo Entertainment employee were prominent. They were portrayed via first-person portions that occasionally interrupted the third-person Kenway experience and could be explored for hours, complete with their own missions, side quests and puzzles. Resynced’s 2096 story—of Assassin “Watchers” vs. Abstergo/Tempar goons, of rogue AIs, of panicking scientists, of a woman wondering why her Animus-addicted husband is muttering about Mary Read (“What does he mean by Assassins?”), of a fight for the population’s hearts and minds via varying interpretations of Edward Kenway’s life choices—is mostly told through unlockable text files. The files are interesting. Offered via diary entries, intercepted chats and news reports, they present varied perspectives of a world in crisis. One set works as a narrative puzzle as it reveals the Rashomonic interpretations of a massacre, or was that a successful Assassin hit? Another favorite reveals the rising bitterness of a person who, through Edward Kenway’s journey, now shakes at the ignored evil around him. One surmises that Ubisoft is averse to putting the Assassin’s Creed’s meta-story in the way of more marketable pirate playgrounds and ninja/samurai epics. Instead, we get a better-than-nothing text-in-menus approach introduced in 2025’s Assassin’s Creed Shadows. In Shadows, players unlocked the meta-story text files largely via time-gated missions that called on the user to kill X number of enemy type Y, clear three enemy castles, re-win a three-phase fighting tournament, and other grinds. Time restrictions on accessing these missions and unlocking the files meant it could take players months to access the full story in-game. But even in the most hardcore Assassin’s Creed hangouts, the fanbase instead seemed to throw up their hands rather than grind to keep up. In Resynced, Ubisoft has shown some mercy, diminishing the amount of new text files that are tied to timed grinds. Now, most of the text-based 2096 lore are associated with “data file” collectibles that players can find in the world. That includes a batch of written entries that explain a historical link between the feudal Japan era in Shadows and the piracy adventures in Black Flag. Players who explore a lot will find dozens of data files, though the game does not appear to offer any in-game tracker for finding each one. You just need to keep looking for them. As of this writing, I have most of them, but not all. I can’t find any full guide for them online. And even Ubisoft’s optional $5 microtransaction that reveals lots of items in-game does not appear to reveal the locations of the text files (at least the official description omits them from its collectibles list). That’s not a huge bother, because tracking the data files down compelled me to re-explore the waves and islands of Black Flag. That was a thoroughly pleasant task to do for the first time in a dozen years. I expect many players, though, will be content to wait for the files to be reproduced in an online AC wiki somewhere, the easier to read on a web page. It may not seem enticing to play a video game in order to gradually unlock pages of text to read. Why not, you may ask, just read a book, where they put the pages in order? For one, they’ve not tucked this latest installment of Assassin’s Creed’s meta saga in a book. I also enjoy the unordered delivery, the dawning comprehension of a story about 2096’s desperate people and questionable tech, which I glimpsed first at its middle, then the end, then the front, then other moments in between1. I am also enamored with the idea of the Assassin’s Creed games I’ve previously played, including Black Flag, being repurposed for an information war. The ideas in Resynced’s meta-story, which builds off characters and ideas in Shadows’ chunks of text, are strong. The potential of where they could go with it is exciting. As for the pirate stuff? Looks great, controls pretty well, is fun to play and oh so speedy in terms of how much of a good time you can have with each sit-down. It never gets old to chase a new shanty page across a rooftop, bombard a fort with upgraded mortars or use a diving bell to explore sunken wrecks (hats off to the team at Ubisoft Barcelona that worked on the underwater portions in Resynced; that team is now facing layoffs, such is the misery of modern gaming and oft-troubled Ubisoft). New pirate missions in Resynced involving new ally characters are brief, dramatic and add more to Edward’s story, even if the gameplay perks they provide barely enhance the gameplay. A new denouement for high-class pirate Stede Bonnet is affecting; a new hunt for Blackbeard’s treasure is a welcome extra moment. A new epilogue to hunt down a pirate killer, on the other hand, over-complicates Kenway’s character. The ending credits remain my favorite of any game I’ve ever played. Black Flag provides great source material. The revisit is well-made and a great sign of what could be. It is offered in a different wrapper that hints at an opportunity for more interesting remakes to come, should Ubisoft choose to pursue such treasures—and as we brace to resist or comply with an Abstergo future. 1 The messages that Edward Kenway finds in bottles tell another out-of-order story, one about a man reckoning with the strange memories and voices he’s heard in his head since he was a boy. That tale was also in the 2013 game and develops into one of Black Flag’s most compelling character arcs. In Resynced, it has lost its climax, because the bottle story previously paid off in the halls of the first-person Abstergo Entertainment, which is exclusive to the older game. An altered resolution, written by the 2013 game’s lead writer is fine, doesn’t invalidate the 2013 version, but makes for an inferior final note.

Jul 14 • 3:17 PM EDT • Technology • gamefile.news

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