DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ U.S. unemployment system still plagued by delays 3 years after pandemic-era downturn
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-28 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +9 min

Patrick T. Fallon | Afp | Getty ImagesThese days the U.S. unemployment system is somewhat of an anomaly. At the pandemic-era nadir, just 52% got a "timely" first payment of unemployment insurance, for example. Unemployment claims spiked as businesses closed amid stay-at-home orders to contain the virus' spread. States get funding based on their administrative workload, like the volume of claims states are paying. That's especially true for one CARES Act program, Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.

☆ Exclusive: Biden to court wealthy donors as he preps 2024 campaign in coming weeks - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( Jarrett Renshaw | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Biden and the Democratic National Committee will host fundraisers in New York and Philadelphia next week that coincide with official presidential visits touting legislative successes. Then, the pace and volume of the fundraisers are expected to accelerate in March, the three sources said. Biden's campaign in 2020 was the first presidential candidate in history to raise over $1 billion, as he battled Republican Donald Trump. In 2020, the COVID pandemic forced Biden to stay off the campaign trail and raise money through virtual fundraisers. This time around, Biden will be forced to run a more traditional campaign that includes a mix of official presidential duties, campaign stops and fundraising events.

☆ Legislators call Biden's treatment of classified documents 'irresponsible'
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-22 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

After the FBI found more classified documents at the Wilmington, Delaware, home of President Joe Biden during a consensual search Friday, legislators said Sunday that Biden's actions were "unbelievable" and "irresponsible." The discovery was the fourth time since November that classified records or materials have been found at a private address of Biden's. Former President Donald Trump is under criminal investigation by another special counsel for taking hundreds of classified records and other government documents from the White House when he left office. Most Americans think both Biden and Trump have handled classified material inappropriately, according to a poll released Sunday by ABC News. "There is one important document that distinguishes former President Trump from President Biden — that's a warrant," Coons said.

☆ From writing malicious code to creating deepfakes, generative-AI tools like ChatGPT are being used for harmful purposes. Here's how founders and VCs are thinking about policing them.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-21 | by ( Stephanie Palazzolo | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

In the past few months, some have raved about the capabilities of generative AI tools like ChatGPT. Startups policing themselvesSome startups have taken it upon themselves to ensure their products aren't being used for the wrong purposes. In 2020, Resemble AI, a company that can generate voices using AI, released Resemblyzer, an open-source package that can verify speakers and detect fake speech. Despite their bad rap, the majority of deepfakes are used for marketing or entertainment, rather than malicious purposes, Riparbelli told Insider. But already, US government officials are collaborating with AI startups to form partnerships and fund research around these concerns, Ahmed told Insider.

President Joe Biden will visit parts of California on Thursday to view areas affected by severe storms and assess additional federal support needed for recovery efforts. The president will survey areas of Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties along the state’s central coast, where recent storms caused floods and landslides. Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, will travel with Biden, who will also meet with Gov. The declaration provides federal support for debris removal, emergency protective measures and individual assistance for homes that have been damaged by the storms. California was battered by a series of storms since late December, leaving at least 21 people dead, according to an NBC News tally.

“One of the worst things you can hear from your child is them screaming ‘I don’t want to die! Residents across the state are just beginning to understand the full extent of the damage, especially in marginalized communities, as they recover from the deluge. But instead of work, Naranjo and other farmworkers are faced with some 20,000 flooded farmland in Salinas, according to early estimates from the Monterey County Farm Bureau, a nonprofit association of farmers and ranchers. When asked if he would return to work soon, Naranjo answered: “I don’t know.”Cars driving through a flooded roadway in Planada, Calif., on Jan. 10. “In my head, I thought if it was that bad, someone would come tell us, but no one ever did.

☆ Biden declares emergency for Alabama due to tornadoes
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] General view of Daryle and Shawna Littleton's property destroyed by a tornado in Prattville, Alabama, U.S., January 14, 2023. REUTERS/Evan GarciaJan 15 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Alabama on early Sunday after at least nine people died in tornadoes that destroyed homes and knocked out power to tens of thousands in the U.S. Southeast this week. Biden ordered federal aid to supplement regional recovery efforts in the areas affected by severe storms, straight-line winds and tornadoes on Jan. 12, a White House statement said. At least five tornadoes touched down in central Alabama on Thursday, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jessica Laws. Biden’s action makes federal funding available to affected individuals in the counties of Autauga and Dallas.

☆ Passengers' hats and belongings were sucked out of a plane after a door opened mid-flight, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-10 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

There were 25 passengers and six crew members on board the IrAero flight, the carrier said. Passengers lost some items as they were sucked out of the cabin, Magan Airport told the outlet. Not long after taking off from Magan Airport, the plane's rear entry ramp door slid open while the aircraft was at around 9,000 ft, per the news outlet. "Fortunately, the 25 people on board, including the crew, were unharmed," a report from Magan airport said, via the Independent. Representatives for IrAero and Magan airport did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

☆ Public Transit Goes Off the Rails With Fewer Riders, Dwindling Cash, Rising Crime
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Jimmy Vielkind | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Several of the nation’s largest urban mass-transit systems are at a crossroads, with ridership still depressed three years into the pandemic and federal aid running out. While offices have largely reopened and travel has resumed, many commuters are only coming in a few days a week. That shift has left subways, buses and commuter trains operating at well below capacity—particularly on Mondays and Fridays.

☆ Lawmakers Plan to Scrutinize Southwest Cancellations, Federal Airline Refund Policies
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-30 | by ( Katy Stech Ferek | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

WASHINGTON—Federal lawmakers have signaled that they will investigate the mass flight cancellations by Southwest Airlines Co., with some Democrats suggesting the Transportation Department should be more aggressive at protecting passengers. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D., Wash.), who leads the Senate’s committee on transportation issues, said in a statement this week that its members will look into what caused the cancellations and how consumers were affected.

☆ EPA is investigating Colorado for potentially discriminating against Hispanic residents with air pollution regulations
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +5 min

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency is investigating whether Colorado’s regulation of air pollution from industrial facilities discriminates against Hispanic residents and other racial minorities, according to a letter released Wednesday. Since then she’s pushed for community air monitoring and stronger protections, but it all feels too late. “We would have moved.”Advocates say the Suncor refinery too often malfunctions, spiking emissions. Nevertheless there are some signs the agency chose Colorado because it could prove a willing partner. Ian Coghill, an attorney with Earthjustice that is challenging the Suncor permit, says the push and pull between the EPA and state hasn’t yielded major improvements.

☆ Analysis: Southwest got billions of dollars in taxpayer aid. Why is its service still a mess?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-28 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Southwest Airlines received more than $7 billion from that program. However, analysts say, Southwest’s service meltdown is unrelated to the taxpayer assistance the airline received in 2020. Cancelled Southwest Airlines flights are seen on the flight schedules at LaGuardia Airport, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2022, in New York. In April 2020, airline passenger traffic plummeted 96% and stayed 60% below 2019 levels in 2020, according to the US Government Accountability Office. “The problems at Southwest Airlines over the last several days go beyond weather,” she said in a statement.

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of FTX, is escorted out of the Magistrate's Court in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, Dec. 19, 2022. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried signed extradition papers in the Bahamas and will return to the U.S. on Wednesday, a Bahamas prison official told NBC News. Bankman-Fried stands accused by federal law enforcement and financial regulators of perpetrating what the SEC called one of the largest and most "brazen" frauds in recent memory. Bankman-Fried was indicted in New York federal court on Dec. 9 and was arrested three days later by Bahamas law enforcement at the request of U.S. prosecutors. WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried defied the advice of lawyers

☆ Biden releases plan to reduce homelessness as numbers match pre-pandemic
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +4 min

Homelessness among veterans, for example, has plummeted as a result of federal leadership, and the country has also made inroads among youth, she said. The federal plan highlights racial and other disparities that have led to inequity in homelessness. The administration also announced a program to have federal agencies work with local officials to reduce unsheltered homelessness in select cities that have not yet been named. Homelessness has become a major political issue, especially in the nation’s biggest cities and on the West Coast. The local reports compiled into the national data showed the numbers rose some places and fell in others.

☆ Biden releasing nearly $36 billion to aid pensions of union workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-08 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden on Thursday is announcing the infusion of nearly $36 billion to shore up a financially troubled union pension plan, preventing severe cuts to the retirement incomes of more than 350,000 Teamster workers and retirees across the United States. Many union retirement plans have been under financial pressure because of underfunding and other issues. Biden traveled to Ohio in July to highlight the final rules for the pension relief program. The amount going to the Central States Pension Fund represents somewhere between one-third and one-half of the total estimated cost of the federal aid program. The retirement plan has participants in almost every state, with the largest concentration in the Midwest.

☆ Southwest to Resume Quarterly Dividend Payment After More Than Two Years
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Alison Sider | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Southwest will pay stockholders a dividend at the same rate it did before the pandemic. Southwest Airlines Co. is reinstating its quarterly dividend after more than two years as the airline says it is confident that the travel recovery will continue next year. Southwest suspended the payment early in the Covid-19 pandemic, when carriers were bleeding cash and weren’t sure when travelers would return. The government barred airlines from paying dividends or buying back shares under the terms of the $54 billion in federal aid it doled out to help avert mass layoffs in the industry. The restrictions expired this past fall.

☆ Southwest Airlines reinstates dividend after nearly three years as travel rebounds
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-07 | by ( Leslie Josephs | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Southwest Airlines is reinstating its quarterly dividend that it suspended at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the latest sign of the airline industry's recovery. The $54 billion in federal aid that airlines received to keep paying employees during the pandemic prohibited dividends and share buybacks, restrictions that lifted this fall. The 18-cent dividend will be paid after the market closes on Jan. 31., Southwest said in a filing Wednesday, ahead of an investor presentation. U.S. airlines have returned to profitability and CEOs been upbeat about continued travel demand, even while business leaders in other industries including banking and technology have warned about economic weakness. Southwest reiterated that it expects fourth-quarter revenue to be up as much as 17% over 2019, before the pandemic, a sign higher fares continue to drive airlines' recovery.

☆ Some U.S. air marshals plan to refuse deployment to U.S.-Mexico border
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( Ted Hesson | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Nov 30 (Reuters) - More than a dozen U.S. air marshals plan to refuse deployment to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a group representing them, a sign of challenges facing U.S. President Joe Biden's administration as it grapples with record migrant crossings. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) sought volunteers from the Federal Air Marshal Service to travel to the southwest border, but when fewer than 150 signed up in October, some were assigned, said Sonya LaBosco, executive director of the Air Marshal National Council. The air marshals are part of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), a DHS subagency, and ride on U.S. airlines to guard against security threats. A lawyer for the air marshal group wrote in a Nov. 4 letter to the agency that the deployments are illegal because they involve duties outside the scope of the job. A DHS spokesperson defended the deployments, saying that marshals have had previous assignments to assist hurricane relief and that some were temporarily deployed to the border in 2019.

☆ 'Battle-hardened' food banks and pantries are already struggling to cope even before the recession finally arrives
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-26 | by ( Stephanie Stacey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Families are turning to food banks and pantries for support, but many are struggling to meet demand. "Families and food banks are facing a perfect storm," says Stephanie Sullivan of Food Bank for the Heartland. Feeding America's most recent survey found that 60% of US food banks reported an increase in demand. It is one of just six US food banks to have such a facility, which it calls a "huge step" towards fighting food insecurity. After much hesitation, the woman finally paid her local food pantry a visit.

☆ Everyone from the vet to the barber is hiking prices. And there’s no relief in sight
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-22 | by ( Alicia Wallace | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

And that’s exactly where inflation can get “sticky,” meaning once prices for services rise they tend to remain at those levels for some time. “When you have strong price pressures in the services sector, they’re likely to last longer,” Nicaj said. That’s the risk that you also take as a business raising prices, because you may lose clients.”To Ryczko, it’s a strategic balancing act. Courtesy Genora Boykins and Sharon Owens“I don’t know of any goods that we are utilizing that haven’t increased in cost,” Boykins said. “Even if it doesn’t necessarily turn around, at least you don’t want [prices] to continue to escalate month after month after month.”

☆ As Pandemic Aid Dries Up, Businesses Chase Covid Tax Credit
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-13 | by ( Ruth Simon | Richard Rubin | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A temporary tax break for small businesses has spawned a cottage industry of advisory firms tapping into federal pandemic aid, raising alarms at the Internal Revenue Service that some claims are going beyond what the law allows. The Paycheck Protection Program and other federal aid programs long ago shut their doors. But small businesses and nonprofits battered by Covid-19 can still use a lesser-known lifeline, the employee-retention tax credit, or ERC. Businesses can claim up to $26,000 per employee in refunds by amending payroll tax returns from 2020 and 2021.

☆ Developers aren't building enough affordable housing despite an unprecedented crisis. A top executive at $3.5 billion Nuveen explains the biggest hurdles, and how builders can tap into a steady source
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jennifer Streaks | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

So why aren't developers building more affordable housing? And more recently, the Biden Administration's 2023 budget includes a proposal for $25 billion for Grants for Affordable Housing Production. "Nuveen so far has $3.5 billion in assets under management and has 120 actual affordable housing properties across the country in 25 states," West says about the company's affordable housing portfolio. "Inflation has a direct, immediate effect on the cost of building affordable housing. Research shows that the shortage of affordable housing costs the American economy about $2 trillion a year in lower wages and productivity.

☆ Russia Airport Selling Packge With Secrutiy, Check-in — but No Flight
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Sophia Ankel | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Anapa Airport's "I Wanna Fly" program offers everything a flight does, except movement. Details of the package at Anapa Airport, called "I Wanna Fly," were published by independent Russian news outlet The Insider. Russia's Federal Air Transport Agency suspended all flights from the airport at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February. Anapa is near the border between Russia and Ukraine's Crimea peninsula, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014. The "I Wanna Fly" tour is similar to when different airlines started offering "flights to nowhere" during the COVID-19 pandemic, though these often did involve taking off.

☆ How Google's former CEO Eric Schmidt helped write AI laws in Washington without publicly disclosing investments in AI start-ups
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Eamon Javers | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +18 min

'Conflict of interest'Schmidt's investment was just the first of a handful of direct investments he would make in AI start-up companies during his tenure as chairman of the AI commission. Altogether, Schmidt and entities connected to him made more than 50 investments in AI companies while he was chairman of the federal commission on AI. To Poulson, Schmidt was simply given too much power over federal AI policy. The new entity would continue the work of the congressionally created federal commission, with many of the same goals and much of the same staff. More than a dozen staffers from the federal commission followed Schmidt to the new private sector project.

☆ Boeing 737 MAX Criminal Settlement Can Be Challenged, Judge Rules
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-23 | by ( Andrew Tangel | Dave Michaels | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Families of people who died in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes have rights as crime victims under federal law and may continue to challenge last year’s settlement that spared the company from prosecution, a federal judge in Texas found. Ruling in a challenge brought by the families, U.S. District Court Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, said they have standing to question the January 2021 agreement with the Justice Department because Boeing Co.’s conduct before the crashes led to the tragedy. Boeing said in the settlement that two of its former employees misled federal air-safety regulators about how the MAX’s automated flight-control system worked.

Search resuls for: "Federal AI"

25 mentions found