SCROLL NEWS / DISCOVERY
Search headlines
Find the stories shaping the conversation.
Results for " fun " 9,229 found 🔀 AI-powered Shuffle
Exclusive | ‘The Boss Wants This Money’: Inside Trump’s Unprecedented Fundraising Operation
Meredith O’Rourke, nicknamed ‘princess of darkness,’ carries out the president’s desire to wring hundreds of millions from companies for his projects.
Satya Nadella confirms major quality update for Windows 11 with focus on fundamentals
Satya Nadella confirms Microsoft is investing in Windows 11's quality and fundamentals, promising more fixes after a rough 2025 for the OS.
[AIDS 2026] Health Policy Watch: Adjusting to a post-PEPFAR world
Many African PEPFAR-funded countries had developed sustainability plans to integrate HIV services into primary healthcare to be phased in over five years.
El Paso advocacy groups expand fund to deliver shelter, health care for migrants in Juárez
Humanitarian groups in the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez region announced an expansion of aid for migrants and asylum seekers in Ciudad Juárez, citing growing needs as asylum access narrows and deportations accelerate
Visalia's Rawhide Music Festival Bringing Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Live Entertainment
Join the Rawhide Music Festival on October 24 and 25 for two days of live music and community fun at Valley Strong Ballpark.
Elon Musk pledges up to $120 million for midterm elections
At the end of June, Republican fundraising committees already had $277 million
Immigrant Business Owners Preparing to Sue NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani Over Supermarket Plan
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani‘s plan to open taxpayer-funded supermarkets is angering some immigrant business owners. The New York Post reported on Tuesday, July 28, that the Multicultural Busine...
Connecting research to policy on Capitol Hill
MIT students and postdocs traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. Senate and House of Representatives staffers. Over two days, they met with over 60 offices from 32 states, advocating for policies ranging from NSF funding to AI safety.
Workshop teaches entrepreneurs to prepare finances before seeking bank funding
The Tennessee Small Business Development Center and the Holston Business Development Center hosted the first of a three-part workshop series Thursday, helping a
Trump’s Nominee to Oversee VOA, Sarah B. Rogers, Suggests Return of Journalists on Leave
The statement by the nominee, Sarah B. Rogers, signaled a stark reversal of the president’s earlier efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups.
Experience the Science of Speed on the North Shore
I actually had fun driving in Pittsburgh today thanks to science. The Daniel G. and Carole L. Kamin Science Center’s new immersive experience allows
How a Houston contractor is using her business to open doors for single moms in the trades
Sandra Lopez built a successful contracting company while creating opportunities for single mothers and people new to the trades. Now, a LiftFund loan is helping her grow even more.
Leopold Aschenbrenner and the Wall Street lesson every genius learns
Leopold Aschenbrenner's hedge fund collapse shows how even brilliant investors can get crushed when markets turn.
Sen Darline Graham drops campaign video on heels of brother's funeral services amid tight primary timeline
Sen. Darline Graham, the sister of the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, dropped a campaign video as she runs for U.S. Senate with President Donald Trump's endorsement.
White House Calls for Science Funding Shake-Up
A new OSTP report recommends channeling funding to researchers with big ideas, not elite universities.
Senate Panel Advances Science of Reading, Dyslexia Bills with Bipartisan Support
A bill that would require states to only use the science of reading in classrooms in order to qualify for a multi-million dollar funding grant passed with bipartisan support from a committee of federa...
Raleigh's bilingual science celebration returns Saturday
Free museum event features experiments, Latin American dance, NASA demos and family fun for all ages.
Entertainment: Hot Times, Cool Beer and a Dog Day
There's lots of summer fun in Milwaukee this week.
Situational Awareness keeps Anthropic stake in portfolio sale to Citadel
Ken Griffin's fund bought a majority of Leopold Aschenbrenner's public equities book, but none of the firm's private holdings.
The Entertainment Community Fund Reveals 2026 Alex Dubé Scholarship Recipients
The Entertainment Community Fund has revealed the five recipients of the 2026 Alex Dubé Scholarship Program. These one-time awards of up to $10,000 per recipient are distributed annually to dancers enrolled in accredited graduate degree programs.
Federal tariff refund portal offers relief for small businesses hit by import costs
Businesses across the U.S. may be in line for a significant financial boost after federal agencies launched an online system allowing importers to apply for tariff refunds.
PREVIEW: Gears of War: E-Day's 'Horde Siege' is the most fun I've *ever* had in the entire history of the Gears franchise
Last week I had the opportunity to go hands on with Gears of War: E-Day and its new "Horde Siege" mode, which is far more chaotic, bombastic, and cinematic than I expected.
Get a LOTT out of Summer at the WET Science Center in Downtown Olympia
Visit the LOTT Clean Water Alliance WET Science Center or wade in the stream at East Bay Public Plaza with fun August activities for kids.
Dem senator swipes credit for bill he opposed amid heated reelection bid: 'Disturbing pattern'
Jon Ossoff touted Georgia military construction wins at Fort Benning and Fort Stewart despite voting against the bill that funded those improvements.
The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
The US ‘golden age’ science strategy: what Europeans need to know
The US has unveiled what officials claim is the most radical overhaul of the public R&D system in a generation, which if implemented could have significant implications for transatlantic research collaboration. Science: A New Golden Age derides universities as “legacy institutions” and instead wants to prioritise funding on technological challenges, new research labs and funding that follows individual scientists, rather than being linked to their institutions. “Too much of our research enterprise has come to serve itself rather than the scientists within it,” writes Michael Kratsios, director of the White House’s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), the only named author of the report. “Federal funding agencies should support a broader range of performers.” But some critics argue that the strategy is a smokescreen, using genuine problems in academia as an excuse to further weaken US universities, which US vice-president JD Vance has labelled “the enemy..”Even as it talks of a “golden age” for science, the White House has proposed halving the 2027 budget of the US National Science Foundation (NSF), and has put forward double-digit cuts for other funding bodies, such as the National Institutes for Health. It asked for similarly steep savings in 2026, but Congress stopped them going through. Science: A New Golden Age says success will be measured by the extent to which scientists are “free” to pursue the most “vital questions,,” painting academia as currently hidebound by bureaucracy, sluggishness and consensual conservatism. And yet the Trump administration is simultaneously planning new rules that will hand political appointees unprecedented powers to screen and cancel grants. The report has pretentions to be the successor to Science: The Endless Frontier, the seminal 1945 document in which presidential science advisor Vannevar Bush set out the case for post-war government funding of basic research, helping to spur the creation of funders such as the NSF. Even the title page font is the same. But it remains unclear if the latest report will leave anything like as lasting a legacy.Here, Science|Business explains some of the biggest proposed changes in Science: A New Golden Age, and how Europeans think it might change the landscape of their biggest science partner.Universities under fireA key target of the report are US universities, which it repeatedly suggests are outmoded as research institutions. It criticises the NSF for channelling resources “overwhelmingly to a single type of performer, the university-based, principal investigator-led research group..” Universities “extract” money from researchers’ grants to support “growing administrative bloat,” alongside legitimate uses. The Trump administration has been trying to cut the overhead costs in federal research grants that flow to universities. Instead, new institutions are being built. In May, the NSF announced it would spend $1.5 billion on two new so-called X-Labs, focused on scientific instrumentation and quantum systems. The idea is that they fill a niche in the landscape, tackling problems that are too big for a university lab, but too early stage for private start-up funding. Parallel with Europe?This shift to new research organisations parallels moves in Europe to set up new innovation agencies, such as Germany’s Sprind, the UK’s Advanced Research and Invention Agency, and the EU’s European Innovation Council. The Dutch and French governments are looking to set up their own entities too. There’s now an emerging consensus, evident in a number of new strategies, that public R&D needs to be shaken up, Charles McIvor, an economist at the OECD, has written in response to Kratsios’s plans. “What stands out for me across these strategies [in the US, Germany, South Korea and Japan] is that governments are realising that the old ways of delivering STI [science, technology and innovation] programming no longer works,” he said in a LinkedIn post. Metascience wins?The document is, at least on the face of it, also a big win for some policy thinkers in the US who want far more experimentation with new forms of research grant and institution.It name-checks a litany of new public R&D ideas, from focused research organisations and advance market commitments to “golden tickets,” which allow grant reviewers the power to hand applicants money without requiring the consensus of other review panellists.Related articlesEuropean researchers sound the alarm that Trump rule changes will hit cooperationFocused research organisations: what are they, and how do you set them up? NIH turmoil risks reciprocal EU-US access to health research funding In addition, every federal research funding agency should set up a metascience unit, the strategy says, “with authority to run controlled experiments on review and funding mechanisms.” The UK has already set one up, the strategy points out. This mirrors recommendations to the European Commission. In 2024, a report led by former Portuguese science minister Manuel Heitor also advised the EU to set up an “experimental unit” to test out new methods of funding research. So far, however, Brussels hasn’t put forward any plans to do so. Bypass universitiesBut there’s a worry that the Trump administration is using the metascience movement to justify an overhaul of public R&D that punishes universities, which it sees as centres of political resistance. Last year, it threatened to cut Harvard University’s federal funding unless it hired and admitted a “critical mass” of new faculty and students to create “viewpoint diversity” across campus. It’s also attempted to strip academics of funding for working on politically forbidden areas, like LGBTIQ people’s health.The new strategy appears to be a “move to bypass the power of universities full stop and allow funders and political bureaucracies to handpick the projects and people who will execute them,” said Jean-Claude Burgelman, a former senior official in the Commission’s research directorate, on LinkedIn.The EU’s science counsellor in Washington, Florent Bernard, wrote that the plans risk diverting public research funding so that it “solely serves private interests.” “Who, if not independent universities, will do research that demonstrates the impact of tobacco on lung cancer or the role of human activities in our current climate crisis?” he wrote.Should we take it seriously?“I would view the overall document as a bad faith argument,” said Cole Donovan, director of science policy at the campaigning group Stand Up for Science, and a former OSTP official. “I don’t see the project itself as something that can be isolated from the broader attack on the system.” He thinks the argument that academia has become dysfunctional and in need of radical reform is being deployed as part of a “PR argument” to legitimate moves against US scientists. The strategy presents ideas like metascience units as new, whereas there were moves to set them up at the NSF during the previous administration of Joe Biden, Donovan said. The other caveat here is that the OSTP has limited power to carry out any of these recommendations. While Kratsios has issued a memo to research agencies telling them to implement the recommendations in the report, he doesn’t have direct budgetary control. “As a former OSTPer myself, this does not seem like a document that is realistic,” said Donovan.
Inflammation may trigger persistent 'out-of-body' experiences, emerging research hints
Researchers are investigating whether immune dysfunction can help explain dissociative disorders.
iPhone 18 Pro: Twelve Changes Coming to Apple's Next Flagship
We're less than two months out from the launch of Apple's premium next-generation smartphone lineup, and while we're not expecting a dramatic change in terms of functionality, there are still several enhancements rumored to be coming to the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth noting is that Apple is reportedly planning a major change to its iPhone release cycle this year, adopting a two-phase rollout starting with the iPhone 18 series.
5 Citadel campus recruits on breaking in and getting ahead
Business Insider talked to five summer interns and campus hires from Citadel and Citadel Securities about how they made an impact at the hedge fund early.
The Lumbee Tribe of N.C. wants better healthcare, but plans to fund it are in limbo
Robeson County, N.C., where most of the Lumbee Tribe's citizens live, ranks as one of the worst counties in the U.S. for health. The tribe can access the Indian Health Service now, but it's not likely to be sufficient to improve the health of the community.
Science grants opened my world. Proposed cuts would cut students off at knees
I was my family's first college grad. Federal science funding grants were my ticket. Cuts would rob Buckeye State, Ohio University professor writes.
Funding gap delays NJ’s new mental health crisis centers
Crisis hotline calls have tripled, and advocates decry dependence on emergency rooms by people with nowhere else to go
Black business owners in Greater Cleveland want access to capital
Funding remains the biggest barrier for Greater Cleveland Black businesses, the Presidents Council, the local Black chamber of commerce, says
Mad about Science: Batoids » Sandpoint Reader
By Brenden BobbyReader Columnist At the library’s Citizen Science events, which take place twice a month at the Waterlife Discovery Center on Lakeshore Drive, I love to ask a fun question of guests that...
North Dakota launches new round of Rural Health Transformation funding opportunities | Health and Human Services North Dakota
North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) is launching a new wave of funding opportunities totaling approximately $50.5 million through the North Dakota Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP), with several applications now open and additional opportunities to be released over the coming days. Together, they represent another major step in implementing the state's nearly $200 million in Year 1 Rural Health Transformation Program funding to strengthen rural healthcare.
Structural alignments to design functional RNAs
Nature Computational Science - A new method designs RNA sequences by learning from alignments of structurally similar molecules, producing aptamers and ribozymes that are experimentally validated.
Tributes, and Politics Too, at Lindsey Graham’s Funeral in South Carolina
A gathering of South Carolina’s political elite paid tribute to the late senator’s career against a backdrop of a highly competitive race to replace him.
The Clippers remain adamant that they did not funnel …
The Clippers remain adamant that they did not funnel …
WATCH: Sen. Lindsey Graham returns home for South Carolina funeral
The Trump administration could shut US scientists out of the next Nobel-worthy discovery
The new proposal would restrict international collaboration and give political appointees the ability to decide the most important research to fund, and the power to pull the plug at any time, for any reason.
One Of The Best Lego Sets Ever Made Is On Sale For Under $50
The Lego Game Boy is a masterpiece and so much fun to build
NC budget funded a legislator's gated community, but the money could be taken back
The N.C. Senate has passed a bill that would take back a budget allocation for state Rep. Joe Pike's neighborhood in Harnett County.
CTSI gets more than $29 million in new funding
The Clinical & Translational Science Institute at URochester received the research dollars from the National Institutes of Health.
With Blanche Nomination at Stake, Payouts to Trump Allies Continue
A seven-figure settlement is announced two days before a scheduled Senate committee vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general.
Blanche nomination in peril as key GOP senator rails on DOJ over controversial fund
Todd Blanche’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general is hanging in the balance with a key GOP senator saying the Justice Department has not done enough to assure him a controversial $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund won’t move forward.
Protect science & innovation from political interference
Scientific research is already facing setbacks as this administration tries to gain leverage over independent scientists. Now, President Donald Trump and his allies have proposed a rule to put their political appointees in charge of federal grant funding. This weaponization of research funding will slow down or stop research we depend on. Tell your senators to stop this proposed rule now!
Here’s how an under-the-radar court decision could bolster Oklahoma’s political parties
Outside groups and self-funded candidates have dominated recent Oklahoma elections, but that could soon change.
Governor Meyer Announces Funding to Establish Four New School-Based Health Centers in Sussex County
The Delaware Department of Health and Social Services today announced awards to establish four new school-based health centers in Sussex County through the state's Rural Health Transformation Program.
In Oregon, big grocery, retail companies have highest number of employees on Medicaid
Multi-billion-dollar grocers and retailers such as Walmart and Amazon were among the most listed employers on Oregonians’ applications for publicly-funded health insurance last year, according to a Capital Chronicle analysis of Oregon Health Authority data.
Get in the game: Delta, DraftKings bring sports fandom to new heights
Delta and DraftKings are bringing a new kind of sports experience onboard: SkyPicks, a free-to-play sports knowledge contest built for fans who want to do more than just watch. SkyMiles Members (ages 21 and up) can make sports prediction picks and play to win Delta gift cards – no betting, deposit functionality, buy-in, miles or financial risk involved. It’s one more way Delta is becoming the home for sports fandom in the sky.
Daily multivitamin may help older adults stay independent
Taking a daily multivitamin may help older adults preserve the strength and stamina needed for everyday activities. After three years, users reported better functional health than those taking a placebo, although the preliminary findings still require peer review.
Healthcare costs are surging. Taxing billionaires will help Californians keep their coverage
Funding cuts have put a healthcare crisis on California's doorstep. With a one-time tax on billionaires, Californians will see relief, a nurse argues.
The Science Behind the AI Panic Is Shakier Than You Think
A column by Sascha Lobo Is AI making us dumb? So asked DER SPIEGEL on its cover a while ago. After a few weeks of recovery and a therapeutic intervention with the help of my AI, I feel able to respond. That’s a bit unfair, of course; the article itself is more nuanced than the loud cover, the image of a schoolkid with dull prompt questions, or the subtitle: “AI is conquering the schools, and educators fear a disaster.” The short answer to “Is AI making us dumb?” is: no. The long answer is more interesting, and even carries a preliminary glimmer of the spectacular. Unfortunately, it requires a detour into the sphere of artificial intelligence, into the mogul-field terrain of technology assessment, the attention economy, and the destructive virus of cultural pessimism. Along with narrowing the scope to AI’s effects on education and work rather than on intelligence. Because the honest version of the question would be: Does AI help us learn and work, or not? Generative AI, which set off the still-ongoing hype with ChatGPT, has only existed in relevant distribution since late 2022, early 2023. For a technology-driven transformation of people and society, that is extremely short. For that reason alone, research is still in its infancy. And technology assessment is not a fast discipline anyway. Prominent voices from Elizabeth Eisenstein to RAND to Tom Wheeler say we still cannot conclusively judge the consequences of the printing press. Its invention is a mere 580 years back, and some scholars would rather not circulate assessments that might have to be retracted in two or three hundred years. We’re Going Through Growing Pains A phenomenon that already caused upheaval in social media research makes serious assessment of AI’s consequences even harder: the “moving target” problem of LLM-ology, as the linguist Sean Trott called it in 2025. AI develops so quickly and so unpredictably that researchers often end up studying snapshots of the past. There are concepts, from morphological analysis to anticipatory governance, for keeping research, planning, and regulation halfway meaningful anyway. But even with those, universally valid statements are rare. DER SPIEGEL - The German View is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe We should therefore treat findings about the interplay between humans and AI as far more procedural and situational. Unfortunately, this challenge comes at the worst possible time. We are going through growing pains: AI’s everyday impact has grown very large very fast, and with it the longing for guidance. Annoyingly, the body of solid knowledge has not exploded along with it. Experts cannot be moved to broad consensus on even banal statements about AI. Sascha Lobo, born in 1975, is an author and strategy consultant focusing on the internet and digital technologies. Together with Jule Lobo, he explores the debates of the day in the podcast “Feel the News – Was Deutschland bewegt” (”What Moves Germany”). Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang says software developers are dying out. Bill Gates considers coders one of only three professions that will survive the AI tsunami. Top tech economists find virtually irrefutable arguments both for and against an AI bubble. The same naturally applies to the structurally youth-hostile debate over whether AI is good or bad for young people. The gap between the demand for insight and the supply of solid knowledge creates an orientation vacuum. This vacuum of AI cluelessness is filled, as the attention economy described by Georg Franck in 1998 would have it, with half-knowledge (funnily enough, often AI-generated), marketing, and self-marketing. After all, infinite money is at stake, along with academia’s best current shot at global fame. But this iridescent froth of interpretation operates more by the algorithmic principles of the digital public sphere than by seriously earned insight. That is why dramatized, fear-feeding claims about AI are so promising. It tempts parts of academia into distorted drivel, and parts of the media then sensationalize the published drivel once more. Was the Research Aimed at a Desired Result? How badly this can influence academia and public perception is demonstrated by one of the most-discussed studies on AI’s effects: “Your Brain on ChatGPT.” The MIT study by Nataliya Kosmyna also gets plenty of space in the SPIEGEL cover story. What was measured and interpreted: lower brain activity in people who write with AI assistance, compared to people who only google or write without any tools. As is common with preprints, the study has not yet been peer-reviewed, and it contains substantial weaknesses that experts have sharply criticized. The first round had 54 participants in three groups, the second only 18, who reportedly also came from MIT’s own orbit. There was no preregistration (committing in advance to what you want to find out with which data). In their analysis, Stanković et al. even discovered an opposite effect that the study does not further explain. Some measurement data has not (yet) been published. And the EEG analysis method used is considered too imprecise to support such far-reaching conclusions. The biggest criticism, though, is the suspicion of an activism-driven study. In an interview with Time, lead author Kosmyna said she published the study immediately, rather than after full peer review, because she feared politicians might otherwise decide to put ChatGPT in kindergartens. She considers that absolutely harmful. It is legitimate to hold such a view. It just seems unscientific to approach a study with it, and then to design the setup so that the chance of a fitting desired result remains as high as possible. Ideologies Collide It is not easy to separate genuine AI insights from studies that trivialize and weaken well-founded AI criticism. The same goes for the opposing, AI-enthusiastic narratives, because the pro-AI side works against it with billions in resources. Ideologies collide, fed by egos, PR strategies, moral posturing, and once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. Doomsday marketing makes the search even harder: AI companies can profit from warnings about the dangers of AI, whether through the notoriety of apocalypse narratives or because, in some target groups, danger translates into power. Some seemingly negative findings are therefore quite welcome in the AI industry. If you try to get at the findings presumably less influenced by interest groups, the picture in education seems relatively clear: AI can improve educational outcomes when the right AI is used the right way, namely pedagogically. Simply dumping an AI chatbot into a classroom, by contrast, accomplishes little. Huge surprise. But something else is also obvious: whether they are allowed to or not, kids use AI for school, which is why the controlled integration of AI tools into education is, in the medium term, entirely without alternative. In the world of work, the landscape of findings is more complex and requires more differentiation. A series of serious studies points to an AI effect that suits neither the alarmists, regulation fetishists, and AI opponents, nor the trillion-dollar corporations with their armada of paid scientists, PR professionals, and ecosystems: working with AI helps the inexperienced (at least for now) considerably more than it helps the pros, in certain fields of work, and provided they know how to use it correctly. Missing Domain Knowledge Among the experienced, the professionals, and the high flyers, by contrast, despite frequent time savings, partially negative effects and new problems are emerging. Take the jagged frontier problem: AI solves task A brilliantly and fails completely at task B, even though both look similar even to professionals. Or the verification-cost problem, in which AI’s greater productivity gets eaten up by the enormous effort of checking its output. Or the illusion of competence, because AI makes new domains seem easily penetrable, until you painfully discover that deep domain knowledge is missing. Taken as a whole, the effects of working with AI do lean positive. But the promise that AI works as a turbocharger for everyone and boosts practically everything simply refuses to materialize. The AI magic the world has been feeling since ChatGPT arrived in late 2022 has so far barely shown up in most companies’ numbers. The consulting firm McKinsey has coined a term for this, the “gen AI paradox,” and believes that work processes and corporate structures would have to be rebuilt quite fundamentally to realize AI’s benefits at scale. Reuters just reported that only 3.3 percent of Microsoft’s customers have subscribed to the AI package Copilot. That may be down to the product; in other areas we continue to see soaring successes and new AI triumphs. But after the first quarter of 2026, disillusionment is the word for all too many AI projects at traditional companies: because the promised revolution of AI agents has so far failed to arrive or been postponed, and because of the leveling effect that many of the studies cited here suggest. Against Inequality The societal effects, on the other hand, appear rather encouraging. Many previous technologies operated on the Matthew principle, named for the Gospel verse about giving to those who already have: they tended to reward the more competent and more privileged. AI, however, seems more often to have an equalizing effect once a threshold of access and education is crossed. Some anecdotal insights point in this direction, for example, how an unemployed man in Leipzig successfully defended himself in court in 2025 against fraud accusations from Germany’s federal employment agency — without a lawyer, armed only with ChatGPT. The AI made mistakes and cited invented court rulings, but in the end the man walked away unpunished. And a key capability of artificial intelligence is its capacity to learn: set up correctly and fed with data, it can keep getting better. It is a question of time, or more precisely of AI innovations and training data, until even free AI chatbots write better legal briefs than law graduates with perfect exam scores. Whether that will make anyone dumb is something the world’s press will surely inform us of in due time. Subscribe Leave a comment
Philips’ receives financial boost from $212M tariff refund
The Amsterdam-based manufacturer also highlighted the benefits of “disciplined cost management” and “productivity initiatives” that helped deliver over $150 million in savings for Q2.
How This Idaho Beauty Brand Built A National Business With $400
Derek Cooper and Krysta Morgan of Poppy and Pout have built a national beauty brand, without taking any external funding, and expert analysis says that might be wise.
St Pete Mayor drama; Florida fundraising totals
Political Connections airs each weeknight at 7 p.m. on Spectrum News.
Council caught off guard as mayor seeks funding from local business owners
WOAI NBC News Channel 4 San Antonio provides local news, weather forecasts, traffic updates, investigations, and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for San Antonio and nearby towns and communities in South Central Texas, including Windcrest, Uvalde, Universal City, Somerset, Seguin, Schertz, San Marcos, Sabinal, Poth, Poteet, Pleasanton, Pearsall, New Braunfels, Live Oak, Kerrville, Hondo, Helotes, Goliad, Fredericksburg, Floresville, Eagle Pass, Devine, Del Rio, Cuero, Crystal City, Converse, Cibolo, Castroville, Carrizo Springs, Boerne, Bandera.
Vermont drops ‘AHEAD’ healthcare model; shifts to $195M rural health fund
Vermont is abandoning a federal health care reform program started last year because of changes in federal funding.
Opioid funds may save a closing Shasta County health hub
A vital Burney mental health center closes July 31, but officials hope opioid settlement funds can keep it open.
What Lindsey Graham’s funeral revealed about the world under Trump
Lindsey Graham worked his angles one last time, bringing the leaders of two of his life’s great causes — Israel and Ukraine — back before President Donald Trump.
Donald Trump and world leaders attend Lindsey Graham’s funeral
Donald Trump said Lindsey Graham was a force in politics at the late senator's funeral in DC.
Eagles, defensive tackle Jalen Carter agree to record $152M extension
The Philadelphia Eagles and Pro Bowl defensive tackle Jalen Carter agreed to a four-year, $152 million extension, Rosenhaus Sports said Tuesday.
‘He can touch everybody’: Roy Williams describes why America loves MJ
Roy Williams said he and Michael Jordan have remained close over the years.
NC lawmakers already proposing changes in power, cuts and funding in new budget
There’s a new budget bill — yes, already — that makes some changes in policy and funding in the 2026 state budget.
Bubble Science from Hands On! Discovery Center
Hands On! Discovery Center's John Krekelberg and Krissy Worth show us some fun experiments with bubble science! For more information visit www.VisitHandsOn.org.
Judge finds Vermont's federal grants can't be rescinded if political priorities shift
“This ruling is an important step toward protecting Vermont’s federal funding, now and in the future, from arbitrary termination based on the shifting priorities of the Trump Administration,” Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark wrote.
Exclusive | Immigrant-led business group votes to sue NYC over Mamdani's taxpayer-funded grocery stores, alleging unfair competition
The board of an immigrant led business group is preparing to sue New York City over its plan to open five subsidized grocery stores that will undercut existing food stores in the neighborhood, The...
Blanche nomination uncertain as key GOP senator says DOJ ‘radio silent’ on demand to spike controversial fund
The fate of Todd Blanche’s nomination to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general is up in the air, with a key GOP senator indicating Tuesday he has not yet received the assurances he needs to vote in support.
Sen. Lindsey Graham to be eulogized by Trump at funeral attended by Zelenskyy, Netanyahu
Live entertainment and sports are beneficiaries of AI, says Gabelli Funds' Chris Marangi
Chris Marangi, president and co-CIO of Value at Gabelli Funds, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the latest market trends, why he sees live entertainment and sports as beneficiaries of AI, and more.
Live entertainment and sports are beneficiaries of AI, says Gabelli Funds' Chris Marangi
Chris Marangi, president and co-CIO of Value at Gabelli Funds, joins 'The Exchange' to discuss the latest market trends, why he sees live entertainment and sports as beneficiaries of AI, and more.
House committee passes Foreign Funding Transparency Act to expose foreign donations to nonprofits
The Foreign Funding Transparency Act targets foreign nationals funneling money through tax-exempt organizations to political committees in the U.S.
Leaders gather in Washington to pay their final tributes to Lindsey Graham
Lawmakers, foreign leaders and President Trump are gathering Tuesday for the first of two days of funeral services for the late South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham.
This South Dakota race shows how wealthy candidates are changing American politics
The incumbent governor faces an unexpected challenge from a self-funded outsider.
Bracing for another Fauci hearing
Plus: Democrats take on Trump over IVF, and Trump's White House releases a new science funding blueprint.
South Carolina Republicans line up to run in special primary to replace late Sen. Lindsey Graham
WASHINGTON (AP) — The field of Republican candidates vying to replace the late Sen. Lindsey Graham on November ballots is nearly set, with at least 10 hopefuls filing their paperwork and launching into a two-week sprint toward the Aug. 11 special GOP primary. WATCH LIVE: Sen. Lindsey Graham remembered in funeral service at Washington National Cathedral It's been a jumbled and frenetic period during what would have otherwise been Graham's expected glide path toward a
Caps Care Year in Review: Capitals and MSE Foundation Raise More Than $1.8 Million for Charity During 2025-26 Season
Through fundraising and programming efforts, the Capitals, its players and Monumental Sports & Entertainment Foundation supported numerous organizations in an array of missions
Pistons teaching sports business aspects through Youth Council
The Pistons Youth Council will host its fourth annual Family Fun Day on Saturday, executing the lessons learned about the business side of sports.
WATCH LIVE: Sen. Lindsey Graham remembered in funeral service at Washington National Cathedral
Cyclosporiasis cases show ‘vulnerabilities’ in US food safety system, experts say
US states and federal government tracking cases as outbreak comes amid cuts to public health funding
Will Lazio Continue to Receive Funds From Polymarket?
While Polymarket no longer appears on the official Lazio website, an insider claims the agreement between the two parties remains in effect.Lazio & Polymarket Collaboration Turns Sour After Blacklisti...
GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham remembered in first day of funeral services
President Donald Trump will speak this afternoon at the funeral of the late GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham. Follow for live news updates.
Huck Institutes announces recipients of nine interdisciplinary seed grants
Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences has awarded nine research teams seed funding for 2026-27. These grants support high-impact, innovative research projects that align with the Huck’s strategic research priorities and have the potential to drive scientific breakthroughs and generate significant return on investment.
Health financing under pressure as civil society calls for urgent action
Ahead of the Seventy-ninth World Health Assembly, the WHO Civil Society Commission and partners highlighted the need for sustainable domestic health financing, stronger accountability, health equity, and meaningful civil society and youth engagement to advance universal health coverage amid global funding challenges.
Dollar General opens call for small business vendors
The discount retailer is inviting eligible businesses to explore potential partnership opportunities and access training and funding resources.
VERITAS project could change the way scientists secure AI
VERITAS is an NSF-funded project bringing AI security to research infrastructure, screening models and data for hidden risks.
Funding gap leaves NJ's new mental health crisis centers in limbo
NJ wants to open five mental health crisis centers, including two that are ready to operate. It needs $29 million more to do so.
Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP Sells 171,072 Shares of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation $FUN
Hawk Ridge Capital Management LP decreased its holdings in shares of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation (NYSE:FUN - Free Report) by 11.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owne
How Trump’s ‘America first’ administration could shut US scientists out of the next Nobel-worthy discovery
A proposed White House rule would give political appointees unprecedented control over scientific funding. One physicist, who helped discover the Higgs boson, explains how the rule would’ve stifled that breakthrough.
Lindsey Graham’s funeral ceremonies to begin with Netanyahu and Zelenskyy in attendance
Memorials for the Republican senator to start in US Capitol as Israeli and Ukrainian leaders are set to meet with Trump
The 99 Percent Funding Rule Every Founder Should Know Before Borrowing Money
Every funding approach has its purpose. The key is to find the approach that's best for what you need.
Donald Trump to deliver tribute during Lindsey Graham’s funeral service
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are scheduled to meet with the US president after attending Tuesday’s funeral
SummitTX Capital L.P. Takes $5.82 Million Position in Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. $LYV
SummitTX Capital L.P. bought a new stake in shares of Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:LYV - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund bought 38,148 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,818,000. Sever
Unlikely duo seeks ban on using campaign funds to fight sexual harassment claims
Reps. Ro Khanna (D-California) and Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) have teamed up on new legislation in response to a spate of scandals.
Sei Investments Co. Boosts Stock Position in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. $CZR
Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR - Free Report) by 9.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,141,411 shares of the company's stock after purchasin
Hsbc Holdings PLC Sells 567,987 Shares of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. $CZR
Hsbc Holdings PLC decreased its holdings in shares of Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:CZR - Free Report) by 90.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,555 shares of the company's stock after selling 567,987 sh
World-class Jodrell Bank is under threat and UK risks a physics brain drain
Funding crisis could lead to an exodus that would be a blow for British science and national growth
Pollen may exacerbate COPD symptoms | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Pollen exposure can further reduce lung function in people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to a new Harvard Chan School study.
National Youth Science Camp welcomes 2026 delegates to West Virginia
The 2026 National Youth Science Camp welcomes delegates from nearly 50 states and eight nations for three fully funded weeks of STEAM learning, diplomacy and outdoor adventure in West Virginia. The prestigious program has shaped young leaders for more than 60 years.