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☆ Exclusive: DOJ civil rights leader says she was a victim of abuse in extraordinary statement
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-01 | by ( Hannah Rabinowitz | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —The leader of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, Kristen Clarke, said in an extraordinary personal statement shared with CNN that she was a victim of years-long domestic abuse and chose not to disclose an expunged arrest record from that period during the Senate confirmation process. “Nearly 2 decades ago, I was subjected to years-long abuse and domestic violence at the hands of my ex-husband,” Clarke wrote in the statement on Wednesday. “This was a terrorizing and traumatizing period that I have sought to put behind me to promote my personal health, healing and well-being. “When given the option to speak about such traumatic incidents in my life, I have chosen not to,” Clarke wrote. Clarke said she has brought her “personal experience and perspective of being a survivor of domestic violence” to her work.

Persons: Kristen Clarke, “, ” Clarke, Republican Sen, Tom Cotton, Clarke, ” Sen, Mike Lee, ”, CNN’s Devan Cole Organizations: CNN, Justice, Republican, The Daily, Utah Republican Locations: Utah

☆ Dude, you’re not getting a Dell. So why is its stock soaring?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —It’s not a good time to be selling PCs — Dell has been grappling with sinking demand for the past few years. But its stock still shot up 20% in after-hours trading after the company excited investors about the tech industry’s favorite buzzwords: artificial intelligence. Dell revenue declined 11% in the fourth quarter. Still, the Texas-based firm noted demand for powerful servers to run AI workloads surged in the last three months. Dell Technologies shares, which reached a record high close to cap Thursday’s trading session, rose almost 20% in after-hours trading.

Persons: New York CNN — It’s, Dell, workloads, “ We’ve, Jeff Clarke, Gartner, ” Clarke, CNN’s Krystal Hur Organizations: New, New York CNN, Dell, Dell Technologies, Nvidia Locations: New York, Texas

NEW YORK (AP) — Pornographic deepfake images of Taylor Swift are circulating online, making the singer the most famous victim of a scourge that tech platforms and anti-abuse groups have struggled to fix. Sexually explicit and abusive fake images of Swift began circulating widely this week on the social media platform X. The deepfake-detecting group Reality Defender said it tracked a deluge of nonconsensual pornographic material depicting Swift, particularly on X. Some images also made their way to Meta-owned Facebook and other social media platforms. “The images may be fake, but their impacts are very real," Morelle said in a statement.

Persons: Taylor Swift, Swift, ”, Mason Allen, Brittany Spanos, Spanos, Douglas Baldridge, Gwyneth Paltrow’s, X, Elon Musk, “, Meta, Swift didn’t, Allen, OpenAI's DALL, OpenAI, Satya Nadella, Lester Holt, ” Nadella, Midjourney, who've, Yvette D, Clarke, New York who's, ” Clarke, Joe Morelle, Morelle Organizations: Twitter, DeepTrace, Hollywood, South, Rolling Stone, New York University, DJ, Associated Press, Elon, Microsoft, NBC Nightly, U.S, U.S . Rep, New, New York Democrat Locations: Meta, New York

☆ Birdlike footprints from Triassic mystery animals precede earliest bird fossils by 60 million years
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-29 | by ( Mindy Weisberger | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

The footprints, found at several sites in southern Africa, were recently identified as the oldest birdlike tracks ever found, preceding the earliest known skeletal fossils of avians by about 60 million years. Some called the tracks birdlike, but others weren’t so sure. Ellenberger may have muddied the waters by assigning many differently shaped tracks to the ichnogenus, “and not all of them are birdlike,” Abrahams said. They could belong to other reptiles or cousins of dinosaurs that evolved birdlike feet,” Clarke said. During a trip to Maphutseng, a fossil locale in Lesotho, the team found a number of birdlike tracks from the Triassic Period.

Persons: “, ”, Miengah Abrahams, Abrahams, Paul Ellenberger, Ellenberger, ” Abrahams, Julia Clarke, ” Clarke, there’s, Morphotype, paravians, —, ” Mindy Weisberger Organizations: CNN, University of Cape, University of Texas, Scientific Locations: Africa, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Austin, archosauria, Maphutseng, Lesotho

(AP) — The U.S. Justice Department launched an investigation Wednesday into alleged civil rights violations by police in a majority Black Mississippi city, stepping in following accusations that officers used excessive force and arrested people without justification. Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke, who leads the Justice Department's civil rights division, announced the investigation at a news conference. The area also has a storied place in civil rights history. It also follows the June arrest of Jill Collen Jefferson, the president of JULIAN, the civil rights organization that filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of residents. If the Justice Department concludes that police officers committed the alleged civil rights violations, it could bring a lawsuit seeking court-ordered changes to the department.

Persons: JACKSON, Kristen Clarke, Clarke, ” Clarke, Robert Clark, Todd Gee, Jill Collen Jefferson, JULIAN, Sam Dobbins, Dobbins, Jefferson, ___ Michael Goldberg Organizations: U.S . Justice Department, “, Mississippi Legislature, Southern, Southern District of, Lexington Police Department, Lexington Police, Lexington, Department, Associated Press, America Statehouse News Initiative, America Locations: Miss, Black Mississippi, Lexington, Jackson, Holmes County, Mississippi, U.S, Southern District, Southern District of Mississippi, Rankin County , Mississippi, @mikergoldberg

The new portals, equipped with high-speed cameras, will take hundreds of pictures of every passing locomotive and rail car. Unlike previous versions, these new inspection portals will be able to capture all sides of a train that passes through them with well-lit images. University of Delaware professor Allan Zarembski, who leads the Railroad Engineering and Safety Program there, said it's significant that Norfolk Southern is investing in so many of the portals. The Atlanta-based railroad didn't say how much it is investing in the technology it worked with Georgia Tech to develop. That crash put the spotlight on railroad safety nationwide and prompted calls for reforms.

Persons: carmen, Allan Zarembski, David Clarke, ” Clarke, “, Norfolk, We’re, John Fleps, Alan Shaw's Organizations: Norfolk Southern, Rail, University of Delaware, Railroad Engineering, Safety, CSX, University of Tennessee’s Center for Transportation Research, Georgia Tech Locations: OMAHA, Neb, Norfolk, Ohio, Leetonia , Ohio, East Palestine, Atlanta, Palestine

CNN —When Hamas militants broke through the Gaza fence in this month’s unprecedented attack on Israel, the kibbutz of Mefalsim – less than two miles from the border – was on the front lines. That precision, local Israeli security personnel say, was no accident: The fighters seemed to have known exactly where they were headed. CNN has reviewed documents that Israeli officials say were Hamas attack plans, which suggest that the group collected remarkably granular detail on its targets. Two local Israeli security personnel told CNN they independently saw photos of the plan, and it closely matched the Hamas fighters’ tactics during the attack. But like in Mefalsim, Hamas did not successfully attack Sa’ad – no one died, according to the first responders group.

Persons: CNN —, Mefalsim, ”, Yarden, –, “, ” Reskin, Matthew Levitt, Hamas, ” Levitt, who’s, Reskin, Eli Levi, Levi, ” Levi, Colin P, Clarke, ” Clarke, Israel, Sa’ad, ’, Ilia Yefimovich, Sarah Pollack, ” Pollack, Pollack Organizations: CNN, Hamas, Toting AK, intel, Israel, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, AK, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, ” CNN, Getty, Gaza Locations: Gaza, Israel, Mefalsim, Hamas, Sa’ad, Arad

Even by the standards of local jails, the Fulton County jail on Rice Street has a reputation for especially deplorable conditions for inmates. A look inside a cell at the Fulton County Jail in 2013. CNNBut the treatment that defendants receive when being booked and processed on criminal charges in Fulton County varies drastically, case by case. “It could be 15 minutes total to get them in and out.”A look inside a cell at the Fulton County Jail in 2013. The Fulton County Sheriff's Office said in a statement, "The manner and cause of death was listed as undetermined by the county medical examiner.

Persons: Donald Trump, Trump, “, ” Chris Timmons, Knowles Gallant Timmons, haven’t, ”, Fani Willis, Willis, Georgia’s, ‘ We’ve, –, Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat, ” Labat, We’ve, Defendants, it’s, ” Timmons, Scott McAfee, won’t, McAfee, Gerald Griggs, Griggs, ” Griggs, Kristen Clarke, LaShawn Thompson, ” Clarke, Thompson’s, Michael Harper, Lashawn Thompson, Harper, Labat Organizations: CNN, US Justice Department, United, Service, Fulton, Trump, Fulton County Sheriff, Georgia NAACP, Department, Jail, Sheriff's Locations: Fulton County, Fulton, Atlanta, United States, Georgia

☆ AI is supposed to make our jobs easier. These workers disagree
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-22 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

“In the next few years, the main impact of AI on work will be to help people do their jobs more efficiently,” Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates said in a blog post recently. Big Tech companies are now rushing to jump on the AI bandwagon, pledging significant investments into new AI-powered tools that promise to streamline work. News outlet CNET had to issue “substantial” corrections earlier this year after experimenting with using an AI tool to write stories. Others like Clarke, the publisher, have tried to combat the fallout from the rise of AI by relying on more AI. “You listen to these AI experts, they go on about how these things are going to do amazing breakthroughs in different fields,” Clarke said.

Persons: hasn’t, Neil Clarke’s, Clarke, “, ” Clarke, “ It’s, ChatGPT, Bill Gates, it’s, Shakked, Neil Clarke, Lisa R, Clarke Mathias Cormann, ” Cormann, ’ Ivana Saula, Saula, ” Saula, ”, Gizmodo Organizations: CNN, Microsoft, Big Tech, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT’s Department of Economics, Clarkesworld Magazine, Organization for Economic Co, Development, “ Workers, International Association of Machinists, Aerospace Workers, ” Workers, CNET, Star Locations: Shakked Noy, MIT’s, newsrooms

☆ Dell to lay off 5% of its workforce
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Brian Fung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Dell plans to lay off roughly 5% of its workforce, the company said in a regulatory filing Monday, in the latest example of tech companies cutting costs in an uncertain economic climate. As of January 2022, Dell said it had 133,000 employees. “The steps we’ve taken to stay ahead of downturn impacts – which enabled several strong quarters in a row – are no longer enough. This marked the largest quarterly shipment decline since Gartner began tracking the PC market in the mid-90s. Dell, in particular, saw a 37% decline in PC vendor unit shipments during the final three months of 2022 compared to the year prior, according to Gartner.

☆ Feds settle with California city and sheriff's department over discriminatory rental housing program
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( Deon J. Hampton | Deon J. Hampton Is A National Reporter For Nbc News. | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

The U.S. Department of Justice has reached a first-of-its-kind agreement with a California city and sheriff's department over a "crime-free" rental housing program that led to Black people and Latinos being evicted from their homes based on allegations they had committed crimes. The consent decree announced this week requires Hesperia, California, and the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department to end the program. The sheriff's department released a statement saying it could not comment because the case has not been formally dismissed by a federal judge. In one instance, the Justice Department said, a Black woman called police repeatedly because she did not feel safe with her boyfriend at her home. The sheriff’s department then notified her landlord about the domestic disturbances and threatened the landlord with a misdemeanor for violating the crime-free ordinance.

The mother of a 20-month-old child who Georgia authorities believe is dead has been arrested and accused of murder, police said Monday. In October, Leilani Simon, 22, was named by Chatham County as the “prime suspect" in what police said was the disappearance and death of her son, Quinton Simon. Leilani Simon reported the toddler missing from his home in an unincorporated part of the county near Savannah on Oct. 5, police have said. The mother reported him missing at 9:39 a.m., he said. After Simon was named as the suspect, Hadley said there were no other suspects and no one else was being considered for criminal charges.

☆ Spotify is going to war with Apple after the App Store rejected its big new feature
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Oliver Darcy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN Business —Spotify is looking to give Apple a good bruising in the press. Here’s the backstory: Spotify (SPOT) simply refuses to fork over the whopping 30% cut of its business to Apple. That means that the company cannot sell audiobooks, a business it is trying to break into, inside its iOS app. iOS users who scroll through Spotify’s audiobooks library and tap on a selection are greeted with a message: “Want to listen? Spotify’s public war on Apple is part of a larger trend lately, with other Big Tech companies taking aim at the iPhone maker.

CNN —The British pound fell to a new record all-time low against the US dollar of $1.035 on Monday, plummeting more than 4%. The slide came as trading opened in Asia and Australia on Monday, extending a 2.6% dive from Friday — and spurring predictions the pound could plunge to parity with the US dollar in the coming months. The unprecedented currency slump follows British Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng’s announcement on Friday the United Kingdom would impose the biggest tax cuts in 50 years at the same time as boosting spending. Former Tory chancellor Lord Ken Clarke criticized the tax cuts on Sunday, saying it could lead to the collapse of the pound. The previous record low for the British pound against the US dollar was 37 years ago on February 25, 1985, when 1 pound was worth $1.054.

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