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☆ Opinion: How to fight back against the ‘anti-woke’ movement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Opinion Khalil Gibran Muhammad | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

Several states across the country have imposed bans on books, K-12 educational curricula and diversity programs in recent months. And even where statewide bans are not in place, restrictive measures are being enacted by local school boards. The mere mention of structural racism or gender discrimination or sexuality can potentially cost educators and librarians their jobs. The beginnings of this national movement to defend the freedom to learn is rekindling relationships between college students and civil rights activists and inspiring new ones between college faculty and K-12 teachers and librarians. With such formidable alliances among students, teachers, organizers and academics being forged in communities across the country, we finally have an answer to reverse the swelling tide of injustice and authoritarianism.

☆ Officials Look to Tracking System to Help Prevent Baby-Formula Crises
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-08 | by ( Kristina Peterson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A nationwide baby-formula shortage had some desperate parents driving hours in search of supplies. Dr. Steven Abrams, a pediatrician at the University of Texas at Austin, explained what parents should and shouldn’t do amid the crisis. Photo illustration: Laura KammermannIn a bid to help prevent another infant-formula crisis, U.S. health officials are expected to vote next month on a change designed to better warn of any uptick in bacterial infections in babies. The action would add infections from cronobacter, the bacteria that sickened four babies and fueled last year’s shortage, to a list of roughly 120 nationally notifiable diseases. Federal officials believe that designation will more quickly alert them to possible outbreaks and gather more information, including genetic data, to help them better understand and prevent the infections.

Federal worker safety inspections have alleged poor maintenance or a lack of safety training at some Tyson plants where ammonia leaks injured workers. CNN interviewed eleven current or former Tyson workers across three different plants who experienced ammonia leaks. !”A safety sign hangs on a fence at a Tyson plant in Hope, Arkansas, in March 2023. Still, some Tyson workers who lived through ammonia leaks said they wished more had been done to protect them. That means that the data doesn’t necessarily cover Tyson plants or other meat facilities that hold smaller amounts of ammonia.

☆ Crypto mining in Texas could be costing energy customers an extra $69 per year on their electrical bills
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Texas has become home to crypto mining companies due to the state's cheap electricity. When considering the more than 26 million customers on Texas' Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, that's an extra $69 per annual bill. Crypto mining companies needed to move elsewhere, and some rural counties in Texas welcomed these companies. "Texans have continued to experience high electric bills due to a number of factors," an ERCOT spokesperson told Insider. The spokesperson cited weather and fuel prices as the main reasons for increased electric bills.

☆ Scientists say they made a mind-reading AI that can turn brain scans into a readout of your thoughts
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( Marianne Guenot | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Scientists say they trained AI to recreate a story from a brain scan. The AI was able to read their brainwaves and recreate the story accurately, per a study. The AI was able to accurately predict what the story was about by reading only the participant's brainwaves, per the study. The story doesn't come out exactly like it was told An annotated diagram shows how the AI can read brainwaves and generate a story. The technique can't break into private thoughtsScientists used this brain scanner to collect brainwaves to feed to the AI.

☆ Cuba fuel shortages spark fistfights, queues and holiday cutbacks
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Patrick Oppmann | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

Havana, Cuba CNN —As the gas lines grow longer, tempers in Cuba are growing shorter. Since mid-April, Cuba has been beset with its most dire fuel shortages in years, prompting comparisons to the severe disruptions Cubans suffered after the fall of the Soviet Union. Lines stretch for blocks even at gas stations where there has been no fuel for days. Taxi drivers wait in line to fill fuel at a petrol station in Havana. “How can we go to May Day when we have to be in a line for gas,” she said.

Supreme Court justices are under renewed scrutiny due to recently uncovered financial dealings. That's a question that the Romans asked over 2,000 years ago," Doron Kalir, a professor at Cleveland-Marshall College of Law and an expert in legal ethics, told Insider. But parties arguing before the Supreme Court cannot challenge justices for a lack of recusal like people can in lower courts. There is an official Code of Conduct for Federal Judges, but it applies to all federal judges except the Supreme Court justices, simply because that's what the Supreme Court decided, according to Kalir. "That's what the Supreme Court decided, and they're supreme," Kalir told Insider.

☆ A.I. Is Getting Better at Mind-Reading
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Oliver Whang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On Monday, scientists from the University of Texas, Austin, made another step in that direction. In a study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, the researchers described an A.I. But the new language decoder is one of the first to not rely on implants. “This isn’t just a language stimulus,” said Alexander Huth, a neuroscientist at the university who helped lead the research. “We’re getting at meaning, something about the idea of what’s happening.

☆ Scientists develop A.I. system focused on turning peoples' thoughts into text
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

The researchers trained their semantic decoder on dozens of hours of brain activity data from participants, collected in an fMRI scanner. Scientists have developed a noninvasive AI system focused on translating a person's brain activity into a stream of text, according to a peer-reviewed study published Monday in the journal Nature Neuroscience . PH.D. STUDENT JERRY TANG PREPARES TO COLLECT BRAIN ACTIVITY DATA IN THE BIOMEDICAL IMAGING CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN. Once the AI system is trained, it can generate a stream of text when the participant is listening to or imagines telling a new story. According to a news release, the trained system produces text that closely or precisely matches the intended meaning of the participant's original words around half of the time.

Washington CNN —The Supreme Court agreed Monday to reconsider long held precedent and decide whether to significantly scale back on the power of federal agencies in a case that can impact everything from how the government addresses everything from climate change to public health to immigration. Conservative justices have long sought to rein in regulatory authority, arguing that Washington has too much control over American businesses and individual lives. The justices have been incrementally diminishing federal power but the new case would allow them to take a much broader stride. Clement argued that the agency exceeded its authority and needed direct and clear congressional authorization to make the demand. The regulation was put in place to combat overfishing of the fisheries off the coasts of the US.

☆ This Supreme Court is slow to issue rulings — glacially slow
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-30 | by ( Lawrence Hurley | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 19: The Supreme Court of the United States, on Wednesday, April 19, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)WASHINGTON — Back in 1923, the Supreme Court had issued 157 rulings by May 1 in a term that started the previous fall. Nevertheless, the slow pace at which rulings have been issued this term has started to attract scrutiny from court watchers. In both 2022 and 2021, the court had decided 25 cases by May 1, according to Feldman. Court experts differed on whether the crunch would have any impact on how the court actually decides cases.

☆ Courtney Dauwalter: The fun-fuelled ultra-marathon star defying science
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-29 | by ( Matt Foster | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Most people’s idea of fun wouldn’t involve running for hours on end through brutal, undulating terrain – but ultra-marathon sensation Courtney Dauwalter is no ordinary person. Dauwalter, a four-time ‘Ultra Running Magazine Ultrarunner of the year,’ holds multiple course records for the obscenely long races around the US and abroad. Pizza and pints"There is no right or wrong path to completing a 100 or 200-mile race," says Dauwalter. Joe Amon/Denver Post/Denver PostTrue to character, Dauwalter has a positive and novel method of coping with the unexpected visions. “For me, training, racing and exploring what’s possible with these ultra-races, the really long trail ones, is fun,” Dauwalter says.

☆ The attorney featured in the painting that shows Clarence Thomas at one of the undisclosed vacations just published an article arguing that the Supreme Court justice did not have to report the trips
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Lloyd Lee | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Earlier this month, ProPublica reported on Justice Clarence Thomas's undisclosed luxury trips. Mark Paoletta, a partner at Schaeer Jaffe and close friend of Thomas, wrote in the right-leaning National Review article published Thursday arguing that Thomas had "acted properly and consistent with the rules" of financial disclosures for Supreme Court Justices. But the attorney is also featured in a painting that was commissioned by Crow and depicts Thomas vacationing at the luxury resort that is central to the renewed scrutiny of Thomas' financial disclosure forms. Sharif Tarabay, the artist of the painting, told ProPublica that the piece depicts a moment at Topridge from about five years ago. But that is immaterial to the conclusion that Justice Thomas had no obligation to disclose these innocuous trips," Paoletta wrote.

☆ Justice Clarence Thomas' troubles reveal a much larger accountability issue lurking in the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Erin Snodgrass | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is facing a wave of misconduct allegations in recent weeks. The Supreme Court did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the allegations. What was your initial reaction to Monday's Bloomberg report regarding the 2004 appeals case that Justice Thomas failed to recuse himself from? Associate Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. The point is that the issue should not be punishing Justice Thomas or punishing Justice Gorsuch.

☆ I left teaching and now make $450,000 in revenue a year covering up scars and stretch marks with tattoos. Here's how I built my lucrative business from scratch.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Natalie Rahhal | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Laura Lara, a paramedical tattoo artist, who lives in El Paso, Texas. In 2022, I made $457,000 in revenue working full-time for myself in the paramedical tattoo industry. There's also pigment camouflage, which is done when the stretch marks are flat, white, and over a year old. Some people think paramedical tattooing is just for women, but stretch marks don't discriminate. Paramedical tattooists are changing people's lives and that's the best part of itThe paramedical tattoo industry is growing and evolving.

[1/5] A Cuban tanker ship enters Havana's bay with a sign that reads in Spanish: "No more blockade", referring to the trade embargo on Cuba imposed by the U.S., Havana, Cuba, April 25, 2023. Venezuela's oil exports to Cuba so far this year have dropped to 55,000 barrels per day (bpd) from almost 80,000 in 2020. Cuba has also imported since November at least five cargoes from Russia, a long-time supplier, as well as fuel from Caribbean terminals and Europe, the data shows. Officials also blame U.S. sanctions, which complicate the financing and transport of fuel to Cuba, for the crisis. Venezuela's state oil company PDVSA and oil ministry, Pemex, and Mexico's foreign ministry did not reply to requests for comment.

☆ The cost of college room and board is rising even faster than tuition. It's driving students into even more debt.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Madison Hall | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

In many public universities, the cost of room and board has risen faster than the cost of tuition. Using the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine, Insider documented the reported tuition and room and board costs from ten public universities from 2012-2013 versus the 2022-2023 academic year. The data matches a trend that the College Board found, which noted that between 2009 and around 2014, the cost of room and board rose by more than 20 percent. Paying more for room and board leads to more debtAs students are forced to pay even more for room and board, they're often putting themselves into increasingly more debt. The sticker price of tuition, room, and board, however, isn't what it seems once interest is factored in.

☆ Upfront's Mark Suster has become the star of LA's booming startup scene. Not everyone is a fan.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Ben Bergman | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +29 min

"I have worked with more than 50 VCs and nobody comes close to what it is like to work with Mark Suster," said a founder backed by Suster. "Mark and the Upfront Summit helped put LA tech and investing on the map," said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks and WndrCo. Several years ago, a founder whose startup Suster invested in was in a conference room rehearsing their presentation for the Upfront Summit. If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse. "If you're going to put him on your board, you're letting the fox guard the henhouse."

☆ ChatGPT needs to 'drink' a water bottle's worth of fresh water for every 20 to 50 questions you ask, researchers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Will Gendron | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Training GPT-3 requires water to stave off the heat produced during the computational process. Every 20 to 50 questions, ChatGPT servers need to "drink" the equivalent of a 16.9 oz water bottle. While training GPT-3 in its data centers, Microsoft was estimated to have used 700,000 liters — or about 185,000 gallons — of fresh water. When asked about LaMDA's water usage, Google pointed to a November 2022 report that published 2021 data on the broad consumption of water across data centers. "While it is impossible to know the actual water footprint without detailed information from Google, our estimate shows that the total water footprint of training LaMDA is in the order of million liters," the researchers wrote.

☆ How Much Power Should the Courts Have?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Emily Bazelon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

Many of the new constitutions gave the high courts clear authority to safeguard the rights of minorities and the democratic system. Some of the courts vigorously wielded this power to set aside majoritarian decisions that appeared to undermine democracy over the longer run. “If courts abdicate their responsibility to protect democracy, they’re not doing their job,” says Dixon, a law professor at the University of South Wales in Australia. In the 1980s, as Israel’s Jewish population became more religious and traditional, secular Israeli law professors drafted provisions for a constitution, consulting with their American peers and Aharon Barak, an Israeli Supreme Court justice. “Over the last 20 years, the Israeli Supreme Court, while issuing valuable rulings on the rights of women, L.G.B.T.Q.

CNN —Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Friday extended a hold on a lower court ruling that would have imposed restrictions on access to an abortion drug, a temporary move meant to give the justices more time to consider the issue. The case is the most important abortion-related dispute to reach the high court since the justices overturned Roe v. Wade last term. Alito issued a so-called administrative stay on the ruling while the high court considers an emergency appeal filed by the Biden administration and a manufacturer of the drug, mifepristone. Alito issued the order because he has jurisdiction over the federal appeals court involved in the case. Prelogar, the solicitor general, argued in her filing to the Supreme Court that the FDA’s expert judgment should not be challenged.

☆ Inside the Online Market for Overseas Abortion Pills
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Allison Mccann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

A selection of abortion pill kits available online from overseas sellers. A chart of the estimated number of abortion pills provided outside the U.S. health care system from July through December 2022. For most patients, the cost of the service remains the most important factor in deciding where to get pills online. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum cost of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers. A chart showing the minimum, average and maximum delivery speeds of abortion pills from overseas providers: Aid Access, Las Libres and for-profit online sellers.

☆ 5 things the Supreme Court will take into account in medication abortion case
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

CNN —As the Supreme Court prepares for yet another controversial abortion case to come its way, the justices will pore over District Court Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk’s ruling last week to block the government’s approval of the key medication abortion drug at issue. “There are serious questions on whether the Supreme Court is willing to endorse the district’s court’s very broad approach to those questions,” he said. As he often does, Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote separately last June to explain his thinking in voting to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court might also take issue with the relief that Kacsmaryk ordered. None other than the liberals on the Supreme Court who dissented in Dobbs.

☆ Abortion pill alternative: The drug that could be used if Texas ban on mifepristone upheld
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( Annika Kim Constantino | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

A federal judge's ruling could take the abortion pill mifepristone off the market — but there is another medication that could provide an alternative for people seeking to terminate their pregnancies. Two states in reaction to that ruling already are stockpiling supplies of misoprostol, the drug that doctors typically prescribe with mifepristone to induce an abortion. That leaves misoprostol available as a safe and effective treatment for women who want to end their pregnancies. Some U.S. abortion providers are prepared to offer misoprostol as a stand-alone treatment, according to Jenny Ma, senior staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, a legal advocacy group that represents abortion providers worldwide. A study released in February by abortion researchers at the University of Texas in Austin found that misoprostol was 88% effective at causing an abortion.

☆ With Dueling Rulings, Abortion Pill Cases Appear Headed to the Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-08 | by ( Abbie Vansickle | Pam Belluck | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — The dramatic dueling rulings by two federal district judges on Friday about access to a widely used abortion pill set up a lower court conflict that legal experts say will almost certainly send the dispute to the Supreme Court. “It really turbocharges the imperative for the Supreme Court to step in and to do so sooner rather than later,” said Stephen I. Vladeck, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin. A federal judge in Texas issued a preliminary ruling on Friday invalidating the Food and Drug Administration’s 23-year-old approval of the abortion pill mifepristone, which could make it more difficult for patients across the country to access the medication. Less than an hour later, a federal judge in Washington State issued a ruling in another case that contradicted the Texas judge by ordering the F.D.A. The Texas judge, Matthew J. Kacsmaryk, an appointee of President Donald J. Trump, stayed his order for seven days to allow the F.D.A.

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