Tag: Government

Controversial Prosecutor Hired to Handle Police Killing Case

The man hired to prosecute the officers charged in the fatal beating of Ronald Greene in 2019 has a controversial resume which raises questions of who he’s really fighting for. Despite the controversy surrounding Greene’s death and the call for police reform, the prosecutor told The Associated Press this isn’t another Black Lives Matter moment. […]

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A glimpse inside Intel

Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger gave an optimistic account of U.S. semiconductor manufacturing on Friday, telling an MIT audience that the ongoing expansion of his firm’s production capacity would bolster the company over the long term while giving the U.S. more economic and industrial security. “Everything digital runs on semiconductors,” Gelsinger said. “There is no digital […]

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3 Questions: The Iraq invasion, 20 years later

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the United States-led invasion of Iraq. Code-named “Operation Iraqi Freedom” by the George W. Bush administration, the goal was to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, topple Saddam Hussein, and remake Iraq into a democracy. Two decades later, U.S. troops are still on Iraqi soil and that nation is ravaged […]

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TikTok: Weapon of Destruction or Distraction

Fess up. You’ve mindlessly swiped through short-form TikTok videos at some point. You’ve seen the bathroom-mirror dances, midriff shirts and scanty shorts, death defying skateboard tricks, silly pet tricks, and every wannabe creator. Mindless fun or alarmingly addictive? Unlike other social media platforms TikTok is different for two reasons.  First, its powerful algorithm knows your […]

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Shanquella Robinson’s Family Demands Action in Letter to President Biden

(Left) Latavia McGee (Right) Shanquella RobinsonScreenshot: Facebook The family of Shanquella Robinson, a woman killed while on a trip in Mexico in November, are demanding that Mexican and US officials move as swiftly to resolve her case as they did in the recent Matamoros kidnapping. Their attorneys have written a letter to President Biden asking […]

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Tom Wolf PhD ’81 receives the 2023 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award

The MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (SHASS) has announced that former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf PhD ’81 has been recognized with the 2023 Robert A. Muh Alumni Award. The biennial Muh Alumni Award recognizes the tremendous achievements of MIT degree holders who are leaders in one of the Institute’s humanities, arts, or […]

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School district, borough mull budget shortfall as cuts loom

Administrators from the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District convened with the Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly for a work session Tuesday to present the district’s needs for the upcoming fiscal year. KPBSD, which is forecasting a $13.1 million budget deficit, has requested to be fully funded by the borough this fiscal year at around $54.8 million. […]

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MIT professor to Congress: “We are at an inflection point” with AI

Government should not “abdicate” its responsibilities and leave the future path of artificial intelligence solely to Big Tech, Aleksander Mądry, the Cadence Design Systems Professor of Computing at MIT and director of the MIT Center for Deployable Machine Learning, told a Congressional panel on Wednesday.  Rather, Mądry said, government should be asking questions about the […]

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Industry Knew About Gas Stoves’ Air Pollution Problems in Early 1970s

At the end of December 2022, when Americans were getting ready to spend hours indoors with family and friends — often in their kitchens, preparing holiday meals on the stovetop — a new study reignited a decades-old debate. The peer-reviewed research by the environmental think tank RMI (formerly Rocky Mountain Institute), the University of Sydney, and the […]

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DOJ Report: Here Are The Nasty Things Louisville’s Police Department Has Done

Photo: stockelements (Shutterstock) The Department of Justice released their findings from an investigation into the Louisville Metro Police Department and Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, per WDRB News. To no one’s surprise, they were found to have engaged in conduct that violates the constitutional rights of their residents and the federal law. CC Off English There’s […]

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Fiscal Justice Investing Is Changing the Municipal Bond Market

Government bonds have long been synonymous with public spirit. During World War I, Hollywood celebrities like Charlie Chaplin and Ethel Barrymore promoted “Liberty Bonds” to raise funds for U.S. military efforts. In the decades after the war, an irrepressible Wall Street salesman named Jim Lebenthal coined the phrase “Built By Bonds” to popularize buying local-government […]

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How debit cards helped Indonesia’s poor get more food

For many years, the Indonesian government’s food aid program sent bags of rice to villages, where local leaders were supposed to distribute them to poor residents every month. But starting about five years ago, Indonesia changed that. Instead of rice bags, the poor were sent debit cards to buy the equivalent amount of food at […]

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King Colonizer Can’t Find Anyone To Perform at His Upcoming Coronation And It’s Funny As Hell

King Charles III attends a reception to celebrate the second anniversary of The Reading Room at Clarence House on February 23, 2023 in London, England. Photo: Chris Jackson (Getty Images) The countdown to King Charles III’s coronation is on but it looks like one of the world’s most infamous colonizers can’t find anyone to play […]

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Report: CHIPS Act just the first step in addressing threats to US leadership in advanced computing

When Liu He, a Chinese economist, politician, and “chip czar,” was tapped to lead the charge in a chipmaking arms race with the United States, his message lingered in the air, leaving behind a dewy glaze of tension: “For our country, technology is not just for growth… it is a matter of survival.” Once upon […]

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Biden to Visit Selma Bridge in Honor of Anniversary

US President Joe Biden, left, and Vice President Kamala Harris during a reception celebrating Black History Month in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, Feb. 27, 2023Photo: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg (Getty Images) The White House said this morning that President Joe Biden would travel to Selma, Ala., on Sunday […]

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Improving health outcomes by targeting climate and air pollution simultaneously

Climate policies are typically designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that result from human activities and drive climate change. The largest source of these emissions is the combustion of fossil fuels, which increases atmospheric concentrations of ozone, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and other air pollutants that pose public health risks. While climate policies may result […]

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Study: Carbon-neutral pavements are possible by 2050, but rapid policy and industry action are needed

Almost 2.8 million lane-miles, or about 4.6 million lane-kilometers, of the United States are paved. Roads and streets form the backbone of our built environment. They take us to work or school, take goods to their destinations, and much more. However, a new study by MIT Concrete Sustainability Hub (CSHub) researchers shows that the annual […]

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Biden Signed an Executive Order Combatting Inequality, Here’s What It Actually Does

President Joe Biden, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in WashingtonPhoto: Evan Vucci (AP) It’s been an emotionally charged Black History Month. Black Americans are still reeling from the Tyre Nichols’ video release at the end of last month, depicting five cops brutally beating 29-year-old Nichols to death. CC Off English And while the sentencing of the […]

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The Global Health Benefits of Going Net Zero

Fossil fuel combustion produces greenhouse gases that heat the planet, but it also emits air pollutants that harm human health. Fine particulate matter and ozone, for example, have been linked to fatal lung and heart issues. And a recent study published in GeoHealth adds to the growing body of research that shows that when countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, […]

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Mayoral candidates reiterate commitment to school funding

Four candidates vying to be the Kenai Peninsula Borough’s next mayor reiterated their commitment to fully funding the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District during a work session with board of education members Monday. Dave Carey, Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings, Zach Hamilton and Peter Micciche joined the KPBSD Board of Education members to talk about their priorities if […]

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Ruffridge bill would exempt veterinarians from opioid reporting program

A bill in the Alaska Legislature sponsored by Rep. Justin Ruffridge, R-Soldotna, would exempt Alaska veterinarians from having to participate in the state’s prescription drug monitoring program. That program, to which weekly reporting by providers became mandatory in 2017, monitors the prescription of Schedule II-IV controlled substances in Alaska with the goal of improving patient […]

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Carbon Technology Captures Billions in Funds

The following is an excerpt from GreenBiz Group’s 16th annual State of Green Business, which explores sustainable business trends to watch in 2023. Download the report here. After debuting 50 years ago, carbon tech — technologies that capture, store and use emitted carbon; reduce emissions from other sectors; or monitor physical assets containing stored carbon — was long considered […]

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Borough mayoral candidates participate in Tuesday forum

The four candidates vying to become the next mayor of the Kenai Peninsula Borough swapped views on peninsula issues during a forum held at the Soldotna Public Library on Jan. 24. Candidates Dave Carey, Linda Farnsworth-Hutchings, Zach Hamilton and Peter Micciche all attended the event. The forum was hosted by the Peninsula Clarion and KDLL […]

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Soldotna council interviews city manager candidates

The Soldotna City Council on Monday interviewed four candidates hoping to become the city’s next manager. Alan Lanning, Gregg Brelsford, Janette Bower and Elke Doom all fielded questions from council members during a special meeting, which all candidates attended via Zoom. The city announced last November that Soldotna City Manager Stephanie Queen will be stepping […]

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Why 1968 still matters

“The whole world is watching,” protestors famously chanted outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, as police beat them. That might not have been literally true, but it was close enough. The convention was the top-rated telecast for all of 1968 in the U.S., with 90 percent of U.S. households tuning in for an […]

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How to Fortify Your Cyber Strategy in the Wake of the T-Mobile Hack

We are one month into 2023, and another major cyberattack has occurred. This time 37 million T-Mobile customers were impacted by a “bad actor” who gained access to personal data, including names, addresses, emails, phone numbers, and more. The hack occurred in November, and T-Mobile hired an external cybersecurity team to investigate. The company now […]

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