Open Newswire

A leading scholar of Black social movements in the South talks with Facing South about the central role of labor, lessons from our past, and how to confront escalating attacks on history itself.

Zarina Blankenbaker’s promotion to provost Sept. 1 is the latest move to give Tarrant County College presidents multiple leadership roles.

La carrera de un robot humanoide que supera en velocidad la mítica marca de Usain Bolt abre una reflexión que va mucho más allá de la tecnología: ¿qué ocurre cuando el ser humano empieza a medir su propia vida con los mismos parámetros que una máquina?

Mayor Jerry Dyer will co-sponsor a councilmember’s push to prohibit data centers in Fresno, his office announced Wednesday, a day before the city council takes up the measure. The statement puts Dyer alongside northeast Fresno City Councilmember Nick Richardson, whose resolution directs staff to write a 10-year citywide ban into the city’s Development Code.  Dyer […] The post Mayor Dyer joins councilmember’s push to ban data centers in Fresno appeared first on Fresnoland.

"If we wait until an older adult's home has been stolen to ask how they should be protected, we have already waited too long." The post Opinion: Deed Theft Is a Wake-Up Call for Stronger Protections for Older Adults appeared first on City Limits.

Las autoridades estatales emprendieron esta semana acciones legales contra un empresario de Chula Vista, acusándolo de ofrecer servicios legales de manera inapropiada a inmigrantes indocumentados y de cobrarles miles de dólares en el proceso. Se trata de una de muchas situaciones que, según expertos, forman parte de un amplio campo minado de servicios deficientes y […]

A federal judge rejected an effort Wednesday to block two Arkansas news outlets from publishing details about an agreement regarding a West Memphis data center, in a case that alarmed free speech groups who say restricting publication would have undermined the First Amendment. U.S. District Judge Lee Rudofsky on Wednesday denied Entergy Arkansas’ request for […]

Before his July 16 speech to the nation on what he claimed was the illegitimacy of previous elections, President Donald Trump warned reporters, “Without free and fair elections, you don’t have a country.” Only a month earlier, June 12, the FBI raided the Cleveland offices of the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, a community group helping working class and Black residents to register to vote. The raid appeared aimed at investigating unspecified allegations of voter fraud, following efforts by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to collect voter records in six Ohio counties. Along with interviewing Ohio Organizing Collaborative employees, agents searched and took organizational laptops and electronic devices. “This is not normal business. I mean there’s no reason for over 100 agents to be knocking on the doors of everyday Ohioans,” Ohio Organizing Collaborative board member Prentiss Haney told the Statehouse News Bureau. “Demanding and accusing people of voter fraud as if it was a witch hunt and, and scaring them with the […] The post Rural Organizations Step Up to Protect the Ballot Box appeared first on Barn Raiser.

Напередодні влада Німеччини поклала відповідальність на Росію за спробу диверсії з використанням безпілотних літальних апаратів в аеропорту Лейпцига у серпні.

The commonwealth had more than 16,000 reported cases of Lyme disease in 2024, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

(The Center Square) - The San Diego Commission on Police Practices has recommended the San Diego Police Department stop motorists only in certain situations. CPP’s proposal prohibits stops based solely on minor equipment or administrative violations. The commission's plan is to limit stops to those based on observed conduct or evidence-based reasons. Minor equipment or administrative violations include lighting issues, window and view obstructions, body/exhaust modifications, and registration. SDPD acknowledged the situation after being contacted by The Center Square. “The San Diego Police Department has received Commission on Police Practices’ recommendations and will be carefully reviewing them,” Sgt. Saum Poorsaleh, the department's public information officer, told The Center Square via email. “We will continue working closely with the CPP and engaging in discussions throughout this 60-day review process.” CPP, which was created by voters in 2020 under Measure B, said it wants to ensure equal treatment, eliminate undue pressure on specific communities, and build public trust. Still, Steve Smith at Pasadena-based Pacific Research Institute sees all this as part of a broader trend toward using police oversight as a backdoor de-policing strategy. "There is an important difference between holding officers accountable for unlawful or improper conduct and telling officers not to engage in otherwise lawful police activity,” Smith said in an email to The Center Square. “San Diego’s commission is moving towards the latter by recommending restrictions on proactive stops because of disparities in who is stopped.” Smith added that Racial and Identity Profiling Act data can identify disparities, but a disparity by itself does not explain why it exists. “Police activity is not evenly distributed because crime and calls for service are not evenly distributed,” Smith continued. “The commission’s own earlier review found that about two-thirds of the stops it examined were part of focused proactive-enforcement strategies, including operations intended to take illegal guns and contraband off the streets.” According to Smith, “California learned the risks of de-policing the hard way after George Floyd” in 2020. California recorded 1,739 homicides in 2018. During the violence surge that followed Floyd’s death, homicides reached 2,361 in 2021. From 2020 through 2024, Smith said, California recorded thousands more homicide deaths than it would have if the 2018 level had simply continued. “Racial disparities also run in both directions,” said Smith, PRI’s senior fellow in urban studies. “Black Californians are disproportionately represented in criminal-justice contacts and incarceration, but they are also disproportionately represented among the victims of violent crime. An equity analysis that measures the first disparity while ignoring the second gives us only half the picture.” The impact on Black Californians was particularly severe, said Smith. “There were 433 Black homicide victims in 2018,” he explained. “That rose to 690 in 2021. By 2025 it had fallen to 372 — a 46% decline from the 2021 peak.” That decline did not happen by accident, Smith argued, pointing to better police work, improved community cooperation and modern technology. "Better police work, improved community cooperation and rapidly improving technology, from body cameras and license-plate readers to DNA and other investigative tools, have made it easier to identify violent offenders, solve crimes and get dangerous people off the street,” Smith said. “That remarkable improvement in Black public safety should be part of any discussion about reducing proactive policing.” While acknowledging that traffic stops alone did not cause the rise or fall in homicides, Smith cautioned local leadership against acting without looking at the bigger picture. “Before restricting a lawful crime suppression tool, San Diego's political and public safety leaders should determine what those stops accomplish and what effect eliminating them could have on the communities most affected by violent crime,” Smith said. “Equity cannot be measured only by who encounters the police. It also has to measure who is protected by them.”

Chevron is the largest foreign oil operator in Venezuela. The deal will expand its footprint at a time of political and economic uncertainty for Venezuela.

TAMPA — There’s no question Ron DeSantis has been one of the consequential governors in the United States during his nearly eight-year run in Tallahassee. Tuesday night, he made sure everyone knew that — and attempted to ensure Republican leadership in Florida will maintain his policies and political philosophy when he’s term limited out of […]

El humor gráfico, con casi tres siglos a cuestas, es hoy un arte expresivo y comunicador de primer orden, que MUNDIARIO trae a su página home de la mano de Manuel Arriaga.

Shortsleeve and Oliver pitched themselves as the "only unified ticket in the Republican gubernatorial primary," but Oliver on Tuesday night spoke about aligning with Minogue as as part of the GOP's larger quest in the general election cycle.

Aflat în vizită la Londra, președintele Emmanuel Macron, a vizitat împreună cu Regele Charles la British Museum Tapiseria Bayeux, împrumutată de Franța Marii Britanii și care va putea fi vizitată de public începând cu 10 septembrie. Tapiseria, care datează din secolul XI, înfățișează bătălia de la Hastings din 1066, în urma căreia invadatorii francofoni din Normandia au cucerit Anglia.

乌克兰官员表示，俄罗斯星期三(9月2日)发动的空袭造成乌克兰中部城市第聂伯罗(Dnipro)2人死亡、8人受伤。与此同时，基辅已连续第七天遭受袭击。

Суд присяжных на Мальте оправдал местного бизнесмена Йоргена Фенека, которого обвиняли в организации убийства местной журналистки Дафны Каруаны Галиции в 2017 году.

Soran Xatirî li Studyoya Dengê Amerîka pêzanîn herî nû derbarê êrîş, girjî û daxuyaniyên berpirsên Amerîkayê derbarê Îranê de radigihîne.

(The Center Square) – At least one issue unites both candidates for governor: regulating Flock cameras and other automated license plate reading systems, or ALPRs. “Flock cameras are an intrusive invasion of privacy and they should be banned,” said State Treasurer Stacy Garrity in a statement on Tuesday. The GOP gubernatorial candidate’s announcement, first reported by the Washington Examiner on Monday, comes a few days after Gov. Josh Shapiro made his position on the technology clear. “I would welcome bipartisan legislation to ban these across the state,” Shapiro said in response to a question from The Center Square on Friday. “This is not something I support.” “This is not something in the public interest,” he continued. “I think law enforcement needs to have tools to keep communities safe. Flock cameras are not a tool that I support.” The issue has increasingly become front of mind for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in recent weeks. On Thursday, three different lawmakers serving in the state Senate announced plans to introduce legislation to regulate them. GOP state Sen. Dan Laughlin, who represents Erie County, said he plans to introduce legislation that would prohibit the use of Flock Safety cameras and substantially similar networked ALPR systems in the state, citing growing concerns that the technology could become a system of mass surveillance. “Some of these systems do much more than record what happens in a public place,” Laughlin said. “They automatically identify vehicles, catalog their movements and enter that information into a searchable network. That makes it possible to track and reconstruct where a person has traveled over time, even when that person has done nothing wrong.” State Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat representing parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties, said her bill would ban “knowingly accessing or using an automated surveillance system, or information obtained through such a system, for an unauthorized personal or otherwise unlawful purpose.” “This legislation would focus on the conduct of the individual user, rather than penalizing a law-enforcement agency or other organization for the independent misconduct of an employee or authorized user,” Boscola wrote in the co-sponsorship memo titled ‘Protecting Pennsylvanians from the Misuse of Automated Surveillance Systems.’ “Legitimate access undertaken for criminal investigations, public safety, missing-person cases, court-authorized purposes, or other lawful official duties would not be prohibited.” “Technology can make law enforcement more effective, but public confidence in these tools depends on ensuring that access carries meaningful responsibility,” she continued. Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano said his proposal would also restrict the use of ALPRs, but did argue that there are “legitimate circumstances in which this technology can assist law enforcement.” “Police looking for a stolen vehicle, an abducted child, a wanted fugitive, or a vehicle specifically connected to a criminal investigation should be able to use appropriate technology to protect the public,” Mastriano said. “But that is fundamentally different from continuously photographing and recording the movements of every motorist who happens to drive past a camera. Police should investigate people when there is a legitimate reason to suspect wrongdoing. Government should not surveil everyone in hopes of finding wrongdoing.” His proposal, Mastriano said, would “prohibit the routine, suspicionless collection and retention of motorists' movements through automated license plate surveillance,” adding that this prohibition would “apply to the technology and activity, not merely to one company or brand.” “Replacing Flock Safety with another vendor should not allow an agency to circumvent the law,” Mastriano said, pointing out that his legislation provides exceptions for when law enforcement has reasons to use this technology. On Tuesday, a pair of Democratic state Sens. Nick Pisciottano and Patty Kim, said they would introduce companion legislation to a bipartisan proposal in the House led by Representative Khan to “ensure personal data will not be inappropriately accessed, and sensitive, private data is only accessible to appropriate law enforcement conducting lawful investigations,” regarding Flock cameras and similar ALPRs. Last week, Access Harrisburg reported that there were at least six bills to limit these systems introduced in the state House. While Garrity announced her position on Monday, it was not the first time she was asked about this technology. On Friday, Garrity was asked about her thoughts on Flock cameras during an interview with TalkRadio 1210 WPHT. “So, tell me what they are,” she responded. After the host explained the technology, Garrity described the cameras as “another example of government overreach.” The Garrity campaign did not respond to requests for comments from The Center Square immediately following that interview, asking to clarify her position. On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Republican Party promoted Garrity’s position to “stop the flock.” “Flock cameras are everywhere. And Stacy Garrity wants to stop them,” the Pennsylvania Republican Party wrote on social media. “The widespread deployment of this technology creates a mass surveillance infrastructure that violates personal privacy, without a warrant.” “Garrity noted that the cameras are an "intrusive invasion of privacy" and should be banned in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” the state GOP continued. “The mass surveillance of the American people must end.” While the Pennsylvania Republican Party is touting Garrity’s position, there are a few members who have introduced legislation that would expand the use of Flock cameras and similar ALPRs, believing it can be a tool that can combat crime. “ALPRs are among the most effective tools available to law enforcement today. These systems capture computer-readable images of license plates and vehicles, allowing police officers to compare plate numbers against databases of stolen vehicles, wanted individuals, and other serious crimes,” the co-sponsorship memo reads for Senate Bill 933. That bill, introduced last year, has the support of seven Republican senators. They said their proposal would use this technology “on state-owned infrastructure across the Commonwealth for law enforcement purposes.” This proposal argues that “PennDOT’s refusal to permit the installation of ALPR systems in the rights-of-way of state-owned roads has left parts of our Commonwealth vulnerable to criminal activity, depriving law enforcement of crucial tools for crime prevention and investigation.” Shapiro, when discussing this technology on Friday, said that the Pennsylvania State Police does not use Flock cameras. “We do not allow flock cameras to be on any state property, and the PennDOT, Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, does not use them and does not allow it on their roadways,” Shapiro said. “Period.” The organization says it has been an effective tool for solving crime across the country. Flock Safety issued a 2025 Impact Census earlier this year that they said found that its technology “supported more than 1 million investigations, assisted in solving 20% of cleared cases, helped locate more than 10,000 missing persons, and contributed significantly to stolen vehicle recoveries across the country.” Franklin County, according to WHP, recently agreed to end its contract with the company, despite pushback from the county’s sheriff department. In Shapiro’s hometown, on Thursday, the Abington Township Board of Commissioners in Montgomery County voted on a contract to replace the police department's Flock Safety surveillance system, 6ABC reports, adding that the local police department says the “new system will put more limits on data sharing.” While both gubernatorial candidates in Pennsylvania have supported banning Flock cameras, the technology is also being debated in other states. In Florida, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters this week that these cameras were “out of control.” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, also recently ordered all state agencies to pause funding for Flock cameras as scrutiny over the AI-powered surveillance devices has mounted, Governing Magazine reports. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, sixteen states have laws that “expressly address” the use of the cameras.