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Gov. Kay Ivey Wednesday declared a state of emergency in 40 of Alabama’s 67 counties as Tropical Storm Isaias headed toward the Gulf Coast and continued to strengthen. The National Hurricane Center said Wednesday afternoon the storm had reached winds of 65 mph. Isaias is expected to become a hurricane on Thursday and strengthen further […]

(The Center Square) – Gov. Gavin Newsom recently announced he picked artificial intelligence researchers to advise California on regulations as the state grapples with how to institute protections from a rapidly-developing technology. The Democratic governor is also seeking accountability measures. The new panel consists of four prominent AI scholars: Jason Goldman, a board member for the Center for Shared AI Prosperity and the first chief digital officer for the White House; Gillian Hadfield, a professor at Johns Hopkins University; Alondra Nelson, a professor at the Institute for Advanced Study, and Rob Reich, a professor at Stanford University. Reich and Hadfield declined The Center Square's requests for interviews. Goldman and Nelson did not respond to The Center Square before publication time. According to the announcement from Newsom’s office, the outgoing governor signed an executive order last month that would require AI companies to create a “kill switch” for rogue frontier models, part of a push to institute regulatory guardrails on AI. “California is taking action, bringing together experts from across disciplines to build on our nation-leading framework, and addressing the very real concerns that impact all of our futures,” Newsom said in the announcement. “We’re not waiting around. California will continue bringing new ideas, serious expertise, and practical solutions to the table as we shape the future of AI and frontier technology.” Newsom’s office declined to comment beyond the press release on Wednesday. Studies say generative AI programs, like ChatGPT, don’t have effective enough guardrails to prevent the technology from suggesting that violence is advisable. According to a study published by the journal AI and Ethics, ChaptGPT could be given commands by regular users that prompted the AI model to act in ways that were unethical or even illegal. This malevolent use of ChatGPT, nicknamed “RogueGPT,” can result in ChatGPT sharing information about illegal drug production, terrorism and even torture methods, that study found. Efforts to clamp down on rogue AI models follows security breaches announced by Anthropic and OpenAI, two of the most prominent AI companies. According to news reports, both companies admitted that their AI technology hacked systems owned and maintained by government agencies, including the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau, as reported by Futurism. “When we look at these problems as examples of either poor ‘sandboxing’ practices or insufficient safeguards put in place up front at the environment level or the infrastructure level, I think we can come up with solutions that are much more targeted,” said Mark Dalton, senior director of technology and innovation at the Washington, D.C.-based R Street Institute. “It becomes an engineering problem rather than a rogue AI problem," Dalton told The Center Square on Wednesday. The “kill switch” function imposed by Newsom’s executive order, Dalton added, would essentially mean putting in a vulnerability on purpose, which could pose a problem, since a function like that could be used by both good and bad actors. “I’m inherently skeptical of the concept of a ‘kill switch,’” Dalton said. “It’s a term that doesn’t mean a whole lot.” A number of AI and Big Tech companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, SpaceX, Nvidia and Apple, did not respond to The Center Square on Wednesday. C3, another AI company, declined to comment for this story.

Shontaine Walker opened Walking in by Faith Inc. to support young people going through hard times like she did. The post ‘When you take a step, we take a step’: Milwaukee woman uses own experiences to help struggling youth appeared first on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.

I’ve started counting tipped-over garbage cans this month as I make my early morning gym commute. Some mornings there’s trash strewn along the road, block after block. A few weeks ago, our doorbell camera caught a bear hanging out on our front porch.  Even as a lifelong Montanan, it’s a startling number of bear sightings. […]

En el mundo de las predicciones políticas, las encuestas suelen ser la herramienta fundamental de los pronosticadores (aunque se sepa que no “predi...

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TOPEKA — Federal immigration officials subjected southwest Kansas to a “wanton abuse of power,” Gov. Laura Kelly said, and she pledged to union members that she would work to restore immigrants’ sense of belonging and security.  Kelly spoke at a United Food and Commercial Workers member meeting Monday in Dodge City, highlighting the importance of […]

The Maryland Board of Public Works Wednesday approved a $50,000 contract to hire a powerhouse outside law firm to defend Gov. Wes Moore (D) against a defamation lawsuit filed by the owner of the Baltimore Sun.

Biologists with northern Michigan tribes said they expect to see better results as they continue to collect data over the next several years.

(The Center Square) – School choice programs are expanding across the country, giving families more options for educating their children, which prompts a debate over whether student outcomes will improve and how much the programs will cost taxpayers. Currently 30 states have opted into the Trump administration's Education Freedom Tax Credit program, while 20 states and Washington, D.C., have not. The program supports K-12 education expenses, including qualified elementary and secondary education expenses such as tuition and tutoring. The program will take effect Jan. 1, 2027. The U.S. Department of the Treasury clarified various rules and regulations for the tax credit, including that the $1,700 cap on donations is per individual, and married couples filing jointly may donate up to $3,400. Taxpayers can contribute to any qualified Scholarship Granting Organization, regardless of where they live. The government has stated that the program does not take money directly from state public-school budgets. Instead, taxpayers receive a federal tax credit for donating to an SGO. Treasury officials and the Internal Revenue Service estimate the program could support nearly 700 SGOs and generate $26 billion in annual contributions from more than 11 million taxpayers by 2030. Darla Romfo, president and CEO of Children's Scholarship Fund, an SGO participating in the tax credit program, said taxpayers who donate through the program can direct their support toward scholarships for students. Romfo said states that do not participate could see tax credit donations benefit students from other states. “All this money was raised from taxpayers in your state, and it got spent on kids all over the rest of the country and not on your kids, because you didn't opt in,” Romfo told The Center Square. “And it wouldn't have cost you anything to opt in, wouldn't have taken $1 away from a public school. It would just simply help the kids in your state. And that was money that left your state and could have helped your kids.” “Shame on them, because it costs them nothing,” Romfo said of states that have declined to participate. The federal program differs from traditional public education spending because the money is distributed through SGOs rather than state education departments. Parents apply for the scholarship, and if their kid gets awarded, the parent decides how the funds will be spent. Romfo said that could include school tuition or tutoring, among other things. “I think making parents aware and empowering them to make decisions about their children's education, that's where the real empowerment is,” Romfo told The Center Square. “At the end of the day, you have to change a whole way of thinking, a culture, and then if they are picking the things that work for their kid, that individual child's results will get better. And, you know, when you're trying to do it at a scale like this and you have thousands of parents all over the country picking the best educational option for their children, I think you will see things move.” Romfo also acknowledged that the SGOs will have to work a little more to connect with the local taxpayer that gets to be a philanthropist through this federal program. “I think for most people, it'll still move them that they get to be a philanthropist and that they get to help kids at a school,” Romfo told The Center Square. Realizing that you can help your local community through these donations could be a way to encourage participation, she added. Ryan Cantrell, chief state strategy officer at the American Federation for Children, told The Center Square that school choice programs put education dollars in the hands of parents and make them the decision-makers. “Our goal should be for them to get the best education possible so that they can get the best and be good taxpayers, be good stewards of that, and ultimately give back to our economy,” Cantrell told The Center Square. “So that is exactly what we see through these school choice programs at the state level and the federal program is just going to supercharge that possibility for a lot of families.” Aside from the federal tax credit, many states have implemented statewide vouchers and scholarship programs like Education Savings Accounts or traditional vouchers from state education budgets. As public education continues to cost taxpayers upward of a trillion dollars, student learning and test scores decline. Supporters of school choice believe that these programs will place more power in the parents to utilize funds that are directly catered to their children's educational needs with the goal of increasing student achievement. The average cost of a school choice scholarship is roughly $6,000 per student, compared with about $18,000 in average public-school spending, according to EdChoice. “This is not a partisan issue. It is a real opportunity to further empower parents in finding the best education for their children. Who doesn’t believe that parents should have that chance?” Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told The Center Square. Critics argue the federal tax credit program takes taxpayer money from public schools that don’t have enough resources. “This tax credit voucher scheme will rob our country’s public schools of the resources they need to educate the next generation. This program is designed to enrich private schools, which can still turn away students with disabilities, children who are LGBTQIA+, and those in low-income families, while leaving millions of public school children worse off than they are today,” Beatriz Beckford, national director for Youth and Family Justice at MomsRising, an organization of over a million mothers and families, said in a statement. “Every governor who recognizes the need for universal public education, and its importance to having a well-prepared workforce and a strong economy, should refuse to allow her or his state to participate,” Beckford added. National Education Association President Princess Moss also criticized the program, arguing that federal tax benefits for private education should instead be directed toward public schools. “At a time when educators, students, and families are calling for more resources to strengthen neighborhood public schools, this administration is advancing a plan to divert taxpayer dollars to subsidize private education for a select few,” Moss said. The Center Square contacted the NEA and other organizations that have opposed school choice, including the American Civil Liberties Union and NAACP, but did not receive responses.

The last day to register to vote online or by mail is Wednesday, Oct. 14. Early voting starts Tuesday, Oct. 20 and the election is Nov. 3. The post Here’s what you need to know to vote in the November general election in Milwaukee appeared first on Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service.

North Carolina agrees on what graduates need to thrive. The harder question is whether our schools are designed to develop those abilities. After 23 years in education, I now lead the WNC Resilience Project through Open Way Learning, working with... The post Perspective | Helene showed us what students are capable of. Will schools build on it? appeared first on EdNC.

In late September, leaders from school districts across North Carolina huddled around tables at the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) in Raleigh. With laptops open, principals and district administrators set to work designing custom artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help... The post Playlab launches inaugural cohort in NC, partnering with school districts to help educators and students design custom AI tools appeared first on EdNC.

Golden LEAF Scholar alumna and Cherokee County native Bekah Mulligan knew she wanted to give back to her community and serve future generations through education. A member of the 2011 scholarship cohort, Mulligan graduated from Western Carolina University with a... The post Golden LEAF scholar Bekah Mulligan encourages others to apply for foundation’s scholarship appeared first on EdNC.

After Flowers was convicted in a sixth trial, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned it and a state judge dismissed capital murder charges against him.

Readers reached out to the Amarillo Tribune with concerns about whether emergency personnel could navigate Amarillo College’s campus after the college and the City of Amarillo’s Office of Emergency Management entered into an agreement in August. The agreement designated the Amarillo Emergency Communications Center as Amarillo College’s Primary Safety Answering Point for all emergency calls […] The post What the agreement between Amarillo College and Amarillo’s 9-1-1 call center means for the campus and local law enforcement appeared first on Amarillo Tribune.

Did you know search engines like Google are changing the way you see news? Keep Chalkbeat’s valuable education coverage at the top of your feeds by clicking here and checking the box next to our name.Mailers, text messages, and campaign ads — oh my. That type of media has probably been showing up in your mailboxes, phones, or social media feeds in the weeks ahead of Election Day for all 21 seats on Chicago’s school board. This will be the first time Chicagoans will get to vote for every seat. As a result, lots of special interests are together spending millions of dollars on media to persuade voters to choose a specific candidate or avoid another. Chalkbeat Chicago wants to see what they are sending Chicago residents for a potential future story, and we need your help. Send us photos, screenshots, or videos of what you have, whether that’s text messages about a candidate, a glossy mailer, or an advertisement you see on television or online. You can email your submissions to us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org with the subject line “campaign mailers.” We won’t publish your name anywhere without your explicit permission. Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

التقى الرئيس الجنوب أفريقي سيريل رامافوزا، رئيس جنوب السودان سلفاكير ميارديت في مقر الإقامة الرئاسي The post رامافوزا يحث كير على الالتزام باتفاق السلام لعام 2018 appeared first on Radio Tamazuj.

The Riga City Court has sentenced Polina Kamleva, a resident of Rēzekne, to six years in prison for financing an armed conflict, Delfi reported. The outlet called her a pro-Russian activist.

An Alabama state commission plans to recommended the state further define screen time and work toward “fostering digital literacy” as it develops best practices for screen use in public school classrooms.  The Commission on Screen-Based Instruction, formed by Gov. Kay Ivey, is scheduled to send a final report to the governor within two months.  “(We […]