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Broncos select tight end in 2027 NFL mock draft
The Broncos land Oregon tight end Jamari Johnson in this 2027 NFL mock draft.
BP Puts Its North Sea Drilling Business Up for Sale
The plans are part of the energy giant’s efforts to streamline operations, but BP has deep roots in the region.
Triangle positioned to benefit as AI investments surge
The Triangle region's technology workforce and research universities position it to capitalize as U.S. AI investment accelerates despite broader economic slowdown.
New York Will Regret Going Into the Grocery Business
The market, as I have noted before, is a small miracle. All these people come together — sellers, buyers, go-betweens — with different preferences, needs and resources, and they manage to come up with a price. The market clears, and everyone is better off.
BP puts North Sea business up for sale
The decision follows a review of BP's operations and is set to end 60 years of production in the region by the oil giant.
Ashurst Perkins Coie Sets Up as Alternative Business Structure
The newly-merged firm has become the largest in the U.K. to obtain regulatory approvals that allow external investment, non-lawyer owners, and the provision of other professional services.
Hydrogen-powered shipping could deliver $284 billion in annual health benefits
Researchers modeled how replacing conventional global shipping fuels with hydrogen could change PM2.5 and ozone pollution, premature mortality, and monetized health benefits. Under complete transition, the model estimated 129,458 fewer premature deaths and US$284 billion in annual monetized health benefits, although some regions experienced increased pollution from hydrogen production or altered ozone chemistry.
Sonoma County updates health advisory due to poor air quality caused by the Woodside Fire
8:15 P.M. UPDATE: Conditions are changing quickly and the air quality conditions have evolved to "hazardous" and "very unhealthy" levels. The Sonoma County Health Officer today issued the following health advisory: Areas of Sonoma County may experience "very unhealthy" or "hazardous" air quality caused by the wildfire event along the coast near Timber Cove and Salt Point State Park. People may experience adverse health effects from the smoke over Sonoma County and across the region. Below are some things you can do when the air quality is poor.
'We're committed to this region' | New hospital expands Margaret Mary Health in rural Indiana
In a time when rural hospitals often struggle to keep doors open, Margaret Mary Health celebrated the opening of a $125 million facility in Batesville Thursday.
Scientists uncover how muscles preserve their repair cells
Researchers discovered an unexpected role for TRF2 in preserving muscle stem cell identity, offering new insights into muscle regeneration and muscular dystrophy.
Natural Grocers® Named 2026 Sustainability Retailer of the Year by Produce Business
Industry recognition highlights the company's longstanding commitment to organic agriculture, regenerative practices and sustainable retail operations LAKEWOOD, Colo., July 31, 2026 /PRNewswire/...
Farmers step up during health crises
Cyclospora outbreak shows the power of self-regulation
Gov. Greg Abbott wants to change Democrat control of Harris County
Fifteen of the 25 Texas House seats in the county are Democrat strongholds.
Texas economy booms as businesses, residents flee high-tax states
FOX Business correspondent Lauren Simonetti reports on how Texas' business-friendly environment and low regulations are attracting major companies on ‘Mornings with Maria.’
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
Equity and Engagement Partners with University of Illinois to Host Mental Health First Aid Training
Dr. Regina Parnell Clinical Service Manager within the Equity and Engagement Department teamed up this week with the University of Illinois Office of the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs to host two day long Mental Health First Aid sessions.
AHA heart failure registry making a major impact after 20 years
The registry has collected more than 1.6 million patient records from more than 800 hospitals. "We can do even better," one cardiologist said. "We have to treat heart failure with everything we've got."
Barcelona renew interest in Hoffenheim attacker Fisnik Asllani
Kicker confirms a report originating in Catalan sports newspaper Sport regarding FC Barcelona’s interest in Hoffenheim attacker Fisnik Asllani. Apparently, the Blaugrana are once again considering T...
U.S. states are all over the map on how to regulate AI therapy chatbots
Six states have split four ways on regulating AI therapy chatbots. The same product can be legal in one place and criminally exposed in another
Which Microsoft businesses are growing and shrinking, according to obscure table in regulatory filing
Overall, for the fiscal year ended June 30, Microsoft's revenue increased 18%, or $50.1 billion, to $331.8 billion. Here is what a table buried in the 10-K shows about the real drivers of the business.
Health Privacy Legislation Advances in the Senate
CDT supports stronger privacy protections for consumer health data that falls outside of HIPAA. We’ve consistently called for privacy protections that move away from outdated notice and consent regimes and instead embrace limitations around corporate data practices that limit data collection, retention, sharing, and use of data that is necessary for the products and services […]
Insurance companies propose higher rates on CT health plans
The public will have a chance to weigh in on insurance companies' proposals to raise rates on 2027 state-regulated health plans.
WPBL secures media rights deal with ESPN and Scripps Sports Network for inaugural season
The Women's Pro Baseball League has secured a media rights deal with ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network to air regular-season and postseason games in its inaugural campaign, the league announced ahead of its debut on Saturday.
WPBL secures media rights deal with ESPN and Scripps Sports Network
The Women’s Pro Baseball League has secured a media rights deal with ESPN and the Scripps Sports Network to air regular-season and postseason games in its inaugural campaign.
See first photos of Jacob Tremblay's teen 'Unabomber' in Netflix movie
Jacob Tremblay might not be the first guy you think of to play the Unabomber, a disheveled, middle-aged killer who baffled authorities for years before being caught.
Jonathan Taylor Thomas reunites with 'Home Improvement' cast in rare photo
It may not be a reboot, but the cast of "Home Improvement" is getting the gang back together.
Arkansas soccer picked second in SEC coaches' poll
The Razorbacks won the SEC regular-season title last year and advanced to the NCAA Tournament second round.
Brooklyn Nets Streaming Shifts From Gotham to DAZN
Brooklyn Nets fans will soon have a new way to stream local games. YES Network and MSG Networks are moving from the Gotham Sports App to DAZN, marking another major shift in the changing regional sports media landscape.
Phishing Alert: 'Business Registry' Email Scam » CBIA
State officials this week warned businesses about a malicious email that claims to be from the "Connecticut Business Registry."
Gov. Greg Abbott cleared the way for the hemp industry in 2019. Now businesses are being pushed out
Texas will ban hemp products containing certain intoxicating cannabinoids starting July 31, and local businesses are feeling the strain — and even closing.
Cricket & archery well placed for Commonwealths spot
Cricket, archery and shooting are among the sports well placed to regain their spot at the Commonwealth Games in India in 2030.
Preeclampsia rates in minority communities shed light on the social roots of maternal health disparities
Disproportionate rates of preeclampsia – a potentially dangerous pregnancy complication – in immigrant populations reflect the physical toll of social and economic insecurities.
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.
Cuts to state, federal assistance and rising costs rock Oregon hospitals
Oregon hospitals lost $450 million in 2025 and $1.25 billion from 2022 to 2025, according to a report released July 29.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
Colorado’s 72-hour social media warrant law takes effect Aug. 12
A law requiring social media platforms to respond to search warrants within 72 hours goes into effect on Aug. 12. Senate Bill 011 also requires platforms to create a staffed hotline for Colorado law enforcement agencies to contact regarding pending search warrants. The bill is a pared-down version of last year’s Senate Bill 086, which […]
What to do this weekend: Reggae at Riverview, Science of Speed and Lawrenceville Art Crawl
Buckle up and it's off to the races at the Kamin Science Center's new "Science of Speed" exhibit, check original works at the Lawrenceville Art Crawl or chill at the Reggae at Riverview concert — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
'Every reason to believe next season will be a struggle'
Eddie Howe has lost key players Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon already this summer while Arsenal are trying to sign their captain Bruno Guimaraes. There is obviously a level of frustration from Howe at the direction the club are going in their summer recruitment, though the coach was aware of the necessity for the club to sell players this summer. Earlier this year, Howe had decided to remain at St James' Park regardless of the inevitably about selling players.
Inside the lobbying fight threatening Congress’ college sports overhaul
Congress’ yearslong attempt to regulate college athletics has yet to cross the finish line amid contentious battles over media rights, antitrust concerns, student pay and more.
Video: Liberali scores screamer in Como friendly, explains Milan snub
Italian talent Mattia Liberali scored a stunning goal in a Como friendly against Villarreal last night and explained why he picked Cesc Fabregas’ side over a return to Milan: ‘Since the very first...
Hawley recognizes The Daily News as historic business
BATAVIA — Recognizing 148 years of local news coverage, Assemblyman Steve Hawley, R–Batavia, presented a proclamation Wednesday formally inducting The Daily News into a statewide registry of historic businesses.
August 8th 'Women in Sports Night' to include a pregame Panel Discussion at the Pub at the Park
The Official Site of Minor League Baseball web site includes features, news, rosters, statistics, schedules, teams, live game radio broadcasts, and video clips.
New England Patriots Over/Under Win Total: Will N.E. Regress In 2026?
Check out the 2026 O/U win total for the Patriots, who won 14 games and won the AFC last season.
5 bold predictions for the 2026 BYU football season
Expectations for the Cougars haven’t been this high in years — but that’s what a 23-4 record since the start of 2024 will do for your program. Perhaps Kalani Sitake’s crew finally gets over the hump this fall to earn a College Football Playoff bid, or maybe BYU will suffer a similar regression to that of Big 12 foes Baylor or Colorado last season. A year ago, I took a stab at guessing what the Cougars would accomplish in 2025, offering five bold predictions which you can read here.
N.Y. lawmakers renew push for updated sex offender registry
An operation in Syracuse found that 85 registered sex offenders were not complying with requirements.
Health officials warn of another measles exposure at Gresham urgent care
Oregon health officials warn of possible measles exposure at Legacy GoHealth Urgent Care in Gresham on July 26, 3:05 to 7:09 p.m. Anyone there should contact a provider and check MMR status.
Senators still working with SEC, Big Ten on issues involved in college sports bill
Senate negotiators are working to resolve thorny differences with leaders of the Southeastern and Big Ten Conferences over revisions to a bill designed to regulate college sports that sponsors want a vote on before the chamber goes on summer break next...
Elizabeth Hurley talks meeting Miley Cyrus amid dating Billy Ray Cyrus
Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus are two peas in a country pod.
George Clooney, wife Amal evacuate French home amid wildfires
George and Amal Clooney are standing by their French community after evacuating their home as wildfires spread across parts of Europe.
Duchess Meghan reveals Prince Harry's sweet advice for 'hard days'
If Prince Harry has taught Duchess Meghan anything over the years, it's how to look on the bright side.
Sandra Oh reveals 'privilege' she had in leaving 'Grey's Anatomy'
Even 12 years later, "Grey's Anatomy" fans are still not over Dr. Cristina Yang's exit.
Original 'Chicago Fire' star Joe Miñoso reportedly exits in Season 15
One of "Chicago Fire's" original first responders will bow out in Season 15, according to Deadline.
St. George Regional Hospital’s Legacy Display highlights over 100 years of health care history and impact
St. George Regional Hospital visitors can now explore a new permanent artifact display that showcases over a century of local medical history.
FTC sues Hims & Hers, alleging it shared people's health data with Meta and Snap
Telehealth platform disclosed users' "most private" health info and locked consumers into subscriptions, regulators allege.
Federal appeals court hears Maine test case on regulating super PACs
The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision that struck down limits on independent political spending does not need to be overturned to rein in Big Money in politics, Neal Katyal argued before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston on Wednesday in defense of Maine’s 2024 referendum regulating political spending.
Scientists Discovered ‘Zombies’ With ‘Immortal’ Body Parts. This Could Redefine What We Think Life Is.
A “gray zone” form of living could help scientists answer long-held questions about regeneration, aging, and how tissues survive under tough conditions.
Roundup: Composite expansion / Oil surges / Steady rates prevail
Carencro investment: NPK Access Solutions LLC will invest $40 million to expand its manufacturing facility in Carencro, increasing production capacity by about 50% and adding a new composite matting product line. The project will create 38 new direct jobs, retain 124 existing positions and support an estimated 109 total new jobs in the Acadiana Region, […]
Opinion: Data disruptions put powerful maternal and child health tool at risk | Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
The consequences of disruptions to the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System are falling heaviest on already-vulnerable populations.
Side entertainment, shows, contests add to Umatilla County Fair experience
HERMISTON — The Umatilla County Fair offers a variety of auxiliary entertainment Aug. 12-15 on its expansive outdoor grounds at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston. Doug […]
Side entertainment, shows, contests add to Umatilla County Fair experience
HERMISTON — The Umatilla County Fair offers a variety of auxiliary entertainment Aug. 12-15 on its expansive outdoor grounds at the Eastern Oregon Trade and Event Center in Hermiston. Doug […]
Packers to face Vikings' throwback look again in Week 1
As was the case to end the 2025 regular season, the Vikings will be wearing their throwback uniforms in Week 1 against the Packers.
Abbott Reappoints Ten Judges To Texas Business Court
Governor Greg Abbott reappointed all ten judges of the Texas Business Court Divisions to new two-year terms beginning September 1, 2026.
SENATOR DECLAN O’SCANLON, ASSEMBLYWOMAN VICTORIA FLYNN, AND ASSEMBLYMAN GERRY SCHARFENBERGER ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT AMIDST RESIDENTS’ ESCALATING HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN KEYPORT:
SENATOR DECLAN O’SCANLON, ASSEMBLYWOMAN VICTORIA FLYNN, AND ASSEMBLYMAN GERRY SCHARFENBERGER ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT AMIDST RESIDENTS’ ESCALATING HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONCERNS IN KEYPORT: July 29, 2026 “As concerns continue to grow regarding the reported “cancer cluster” in the Borough of Keyport, we want every resident to know that their health and well-being remain our[...]
Pet Sounds, Weird Al, Clint Black in entertainment lineup for Oregon State Fair
The music lineup has some changed after The Beach Boys canceled, but the celebration of the 1966 release of their album "Pet Sounds" will go on.
Is there any benefit to restarting your phone regularly?
While security benefits are minimal, restarting your phone can certainly improve its performance. But how often should you do it? It depends on who you ask.
Joe Exotic looks to sell music catalog to cover court fees
"Tiger King" Joe Maldonado is looking to sell his entire music catalog for $50,000 as a way to pay court fees.
Business journalism studies took her to the White House | UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media
The story by UNC Hussman alumni Brennan Doherty ’19 and video by John Roberts ’16 (M.A.) was originally published on unc.edu. This story is part of a four-part series on Carolina alumni working in Washington, D.C. Soon after her 2015 graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill, Megan Cassella was an intern for the Reuters news agency, eagerly awaiting and prepping for a special assignment. “Every now and then they needed an intern to run over to the White House last minute,” Cassella said. “You have to send your information the night before, so I started proactively sending my information to the White House every single night to be able to go the next day if they ever needed an intern.” Since then, she’s made many return trips to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in a career that’s included roles at Reuters, Politico, Barron’s and now CNBC, where she works as an on-air Washington correspondent. A longtime newswriter, Cassella made the move to TV in 2024, appearing on broadcasts multiple times daily to report on the biggest political and business stories. But the keys to doing a good job — knowing how to research, asking insightful questions, building relationships and explaining complex topics to a broad audience — remain the same. Did you know: Outside of the state of North Carolina, the Washington region is home to the largest concentration of Tar Heel alumni in the country. Cassella’s time as a Tar Heel was crucial in sharpening those skills, both in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media and through roles at student-run publications like The Daily Tar Heel. She excelled in Carolina’s business journalism program with former professor Chris Roush, which led to an internship at The Charlotte Observer and helped Cassella find her journalistic niche. A data journalism course with Associate Professor Ryan Thornburg taught her how to find stories in numbers, and former professor Paul O’Connor’s reporting class took Cassella to the North Carolina Capitol weekly, where she gained invaluable experience interviewing politicians. “Those hands-on experiences that Carolina gave me really kept my interest and have really benefited me since I’ve been up here in D.C.,” said Cassella. “I have UNC to thank for the fact that I even went into business journalism in the first place.” Megan Cassella ’15 “You’ve got to thrive on adrenaline in this job. You’ve got to do well with last-minute changes, with running by the seat of your pants.” Megan Cassella ’15 ‘There’s nothing else like it’ In recent months, Cassella has reported live from the G7 Summit in Geneva, covered the latest developments in the U.S.-Iran war and followed changes to trade policy, including tariffs. “Anything in this realm that influences Wall Street, I’ll be covering,” Cassella said. Her working hours are long and variable. After waking up, Cassella immediately checks her phone to see what news broke overnight. By 8:15 a.m., she usually learns which newscasts she’ll be on, and then she heads to the newsroom, White House or wherever her assignment is. “We want you in the 9 a.m. show and the 11, and then the 3 o’clock show wants you, too,” Cassella said, referring to a hypothetical day. If Cassella gets an exclusive or major news breaks, she might be told, “We want that on TV right now.” Within five minutes, she’d be expected to get to the camera, figure out what to say and deliver the news to a live audience. “It’s exciting. It’s nerve-wracking,” Cassella said. “But there’s nothing else like it.” A well-rounded education Cassella grew up in Maryland, the youngest of four kids. Her oldest brother, Brian Cassella ’05, attended Carolina, became a photojournalist and recently won a Pulitzer Prize. She remembers visiting campus as a young child and loving it. “I just always wanted to go,” she said, and that desire grew when she, like her brother, gravitated toward journalism. But it wasn’t just the journalism school that drew Cassella to Carolina. “It was also the whole liberal arts curriculum,” she said. “Even though I always wanted to be a journalist, I got to college, and I sort of felt I had to think about other things. I had to explore my options and see if that’s what I really wanted.” Did you know: In April UNC-Chapel Hill opened its Carolina in the Capital office in Washington. She combined her journalism schooling with a global studies major and a history minor. That broad range of academic experiences in Chapel Hill molded her, preparing Cassella for a career that’s taken her to the highest levels of political journalism and inside the Oval Office. “When you sit back and remember you’re actually sitting inside the White House and asking questions of the president, it’s a cool feeling,” Cassella said. “No matter who is in office, no matter what administration or party, it’s a privilege to be there.” Megan Cassella on… Being a Tar Heel in Washington: I run into Tar Heels all the time. My husband’s a Tar Heel. We actually met here in Washington, not at Carolina, even though we were the same class. Probably most of our friends are still Tar Heels. Even up here in D.C., we all get together for games and March Madness. And through work, there’s Tar Heels all over the place. It’s often used as a connection. Favorite Franklin Street spot: When we go back, our first stop is always IP3. That’s more my husband’s doing than mine. In college, I was a huge Spanky’s fan. Felt like it was a classic spot. May it rest in peace. Advice to journalism students: Reps, reps, reps! Nothing beats the experience you’ll gain by simply starting to do the work — asking the questions, reporting and writing the stories, doing the TV hits. When you can, go places in person. Talk to more people than you think you’ll need. Read as much as you can, from different sources and on different topics. If you’re not sure how to start your story, that usually means you need more reporting. When you’re not sure, ask.
Gina Hinojosa closes gap on Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in new poll
A new poll shows Democrat Gina Hinojosa within 3 points of Gov. Greg Abbott, while the Texas AG race between Middleton and Johnson sits at 1 point.
Zombie sea cucumbers and the future of tissue engineering | Investors Lab
It's pretty cool, but not exactly news, that lizards can regrow their tails and starfish can regenerate arms. However, the lost or discarded body parts typically decay and die within a few days or weeks. Not so for those of at least one kind of sea cucumber. Researchers have found that detached tissue from these marine invertebrates can remain alive independently for years. Their findings could have a real impact on how we understand tissue culture, regeneration and aging in medical science. Saugat Bolakhe takes us beneath the surface for SN.
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.
YES Network, MSG Networks to exit Gotham app for DAZN streaming service
The regional sports networks that air games for local New York and New Jersey teams, including MLB's Yankees and NHL's Rangers, will have a new streaming home.
Prince William County Zoning Process for Home-Based Businesses Encourages Entrepreneurial Community
Apply for your Home Employment Certificate Approval today. Learn about home-based business zoning regulations and get your application approved fast.
Leland Stein and David Malan continue Regent Theatre’s legacy of entertainment
Over the past century, the Regent Theatre has hosted thousands of movies, music, comedy, and vaudeville acts. For the past 25 years, Leland Stein, the Regent’s director of programming and community relations, has been the man responsible for choosing what Arlington audiences enjoy. Stein has booked popular movie singalongs (including “The Sound of Music”); renowned musicians, ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Johnny Winter, as well as beloved cover bands, including The Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra (Sept. 26), the Regent’s unofficial “house band” and an annual Tom Petty night (Oct. 24); comedians including Paula Poundstone, Margaret Cho, and Bengali comedian Anirban Dasgupta
The week in politics (July 29, 2026)
On Wednesday's show: We discuss the latest developments in politics in our weekly roundup. And we reflect on the role the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee had on Houston and the city’s desegregation more than 50 years ago.
Nike was once China's sneaker king. Here's why its sales have fallen 30%
China was once Nike's fastest-growing region but the company has lost relevance among young consumers and ceded market share to smaller, domestic brands.
Madjo already compared to Belgium's Lukaku
Aston Villa are still awaiting the outcome of their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) as they try to register Brian Madjo, who joined from Metz for £10m in January and does not turn 18 until January next year. Under-18s cannot complete international transfers, but Villa have argued Madjo was born in London and should be exempt, despite having three caps for Luxembourg. Fifa does allow some exemptions for minor players to make moves, including if a 16 or 17-year-old transfers within the European Union - something the UK is no longer part of.
Catch an orange 'Buck Moon' rise tonight before a month of solar and lunar eclipses
July's full moon will be at its best on the night of July 29. It's the last regular full moon before a total solar eclipse and partial lunar eclipse in August.
How an 18-year-old's love of origami helped him win $100,000
Hikaru Kuribayashi used origami-inspired technology to win a $100,000 prize at the 2026 Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair in May.
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
IBBA® Announces the Results from the 2026 Annual Conference for Business Brokers
The International Business Brokers Association® (IBBA) presents key moments from the 2026 IBBA Annual Conference, held May 29–31 at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. The conference convened Business Brokers from the USA and Canada for two days of education, networking and professional development not found anywhere else. The keynote address, "Resilience and Embracing Change," was delivered by Olympic medalist Noelle Pikus Pace. Her presentation featured valuable perspectives to turn personal and pr
Strong quake hits Japan's production hub, disrupts business operations
A powerful earthquake centred on Kumamoto in southwestern Japan on Tuesday forced a growing number of manufacturers, retailers and service providers to suspend operations across the region, disrupting supply chains in one of the country's key production hubs.
Amber heat health alert: How are people and wildlife faring?
As another amber heat health alert is issued, what are the issues across the region?
Kavinsky, French DJ known for 'Drive' opening song, dies at 50
Kavinsky, the French DJ and electropop musician who performed at the Paris Olympics and gave the Ryan Gosling movie "Drive" its memorable opening credits track, has died. He was 50.
'Love, Simon' author Becky Albertalli announces new YA love story
Get ready for “Something Unpredictable” from the author of “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda.”
Folk singer Linda Perhacs, 82, has been missing for 8 months
Linda Perhacs, the psychedelic folk artist known for her rediscovered album "Parallelograms," has been missing for nearly eight months as her loved ones seek out answers.
'American Idol' announces 2027 return with Season 25 renewal
The search for the next "American Idol" is officially underway.
Jared Leto faces sexual misconduct allegations from more women
Jared Leto has been accused of behaving inappropriately with four women when they were in their teens, according to a new BBC report.
New York finalizes social media restrictions for kids
The regulations, which take effect in January, limit the use of algorithmic feeds and nighttime notifications.
European Union innovation needs regulatory science excellence centres
Nature Biomedical Engineering - Fit-for-purpose regulation of medical devices and medical artificial intelligence in Europe needs Centres of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation,...
South Florida pregnant woman with TPS concerned over health due to program's ending
Will Beyoncé and Lady Gaga Reunite for “Get Me Bodied” Remix?
Beyoncé registered a version of her song "Get Me Bodied" with Lady Gaga.
Oregon restaurant hit by construction and cyclospora outbreak sees business drop nearly 50%
This summer, the restaurant is facing a combination of challenges that has cut business by nearly half.
Santa Cruz County business filings: week of July 27
Businesses operating in Santa Cruz County must register with the county clerk. Lookout Santa Cruz reviews the public filings from local businesses to report on new businesses starting in the area. Here is what’s new in local business recently. New businesses
What are you building? Talking with founders and business leaders at the Seattle Tech Week kickoff event
The fourth annual Seattle Tech Week got off to a big start Monday, with panels and parties bringing together thousands of people from across the region and out of state. Organizers said the week features more than 250 events and drew more than 29,000 event registrations.
OBD Vintage Car Show announces entertainment and food
Organizers of the 13th annual OBD Williams-Fossett Vintage Car Show announced that “The Golden Gup” will be back to spin the old tunes for the show. Gup will be joined again this year by Mallory Haeberlin with her “Truckin’ Good Food” gourmet food truck, featuring family fare at reasonable prices.
44 states are aligned on one thing in their fight against prediction markets. It's about sports wagering
The letter is part of the commission’s public comment period for the first draft of its proposed rule on regulating prediction markets.
Abbott gathering real-world data on FDA-approved TriClip system
Abbott's TriClip system for tricuspid regurgitation is approved by the FDA and covered by Medicare. To learn more about its real-world performance, researchers will now track 1,000 patients for a total of five years.
Johansson on Maswanhise return, Torshavn challenge & transfer latest
Motherwell manager Alfred Johansson has been speaking to the media as his team get set to head to the Faroe Islands to face HB Torshavn with a 2-0 aggregate lead. Forward Tawanda Maswanhise is set to be involved in Thursday's game after suffering a jaw injury in pre-season, but will not start. Johansson has told his team to "eat barbed wire" in preparation for a battle against their hosts.
Elizabeth Hurley talks relationship with Billy Ray Cyrus and meeting Miley
Elizabeth Hurley and Billy Ray Cyrus are two peas in a country pod.