US NEWS – Transportation Security Administration at Denver International Airport is using a new technology that allows travelers to keep their hands at their side when screened at security checkpoints. The Colorado Sun reports airport CEO Kim Day says the Denver airport is the first in the country to pilot the technology. The new scanner…
RT – London’s Metropolitan Police have begun testing facial recognition technology on the capital’s Christmas shoppers, in a move that was attacked by a civil liberties campaigner as an “authoritarian surveillance tool.” The trial – which is set to take place over December 17-18 in Soho, Piccadilly Circus, and Leicester Square – is the seventh…
FOX – Congresswoman-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez hasn’t yet started her new job, but she’s already taking a break. The Democratic Socialist said Monday that she’s taking time a week off for “self-care” after feeling burned out and lamented that her political activity changed her lifestyle. “I am starting a week of self-care where I am taking…
PRESS HERALD – Parents engaged in battle with a West Virginia school system that for decades allowed Bible classes in elementary and middle schools won a round in a federal appeals court this week, setting the stage for a renewed legal tussle. The ruling means that the case will be sent back to a district…
LAKE EXPO – The Freedom From Religion Foundation is demanding Camden County remove two images from the county courthouse. In a letter dated Nov. 9, 2018, the Wisconsin-based group has requested Camden County remove two religious displays from the Camden County Courthouse in recognition that they “represent an unconstitutional government endorsement of religion.” According to…
PNJ – Pensacola Mayor Grover Robinson has changed his position on the Bayview Park cross lawsuit since coming into office, he said at a press conference Monday morning. During his campaign for Pensacola mayor, Robinson said he would find an alternative solution to the Bayview Park cross lawsuit by finding a private person or a…
CNBC – Two benchmark U.S. stock indexes are careening toward a historically bad December. Both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 are on pace for their worst December performance since 1931, when stocks were battered during the Great Depression. The Dow and S&P 500 are down 7.8 percent and 7.6 percent this…
COLLEGE FIX – Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, are developing a tool that uses artificial intelligence to identify “hate speech” on social media, a program that researchers hope will out-perform human beings in identifying bigoted comments on Twitter, Reddit and other online platforms. Scientists at Berkeley’s D-Lab “are working in cooperation with the…
SUN – Muslim Amazon workers fear they will be fired from a Minneapolis distribution centre for taking prayer breaks. Because of strict packing quotas, set at 240 boxes an hour, practising Muslims are struggling to pray five times a day at the giant retailer’s Shakopee fulfillment centre, say employees. Amazon denied the claims and insisted…
SF GATE – Describing the robot as a “hero” and a “legend,” UC Berkeley students expressed their grief on Facebook as news of a fallen KiwiBot reached the campus community. About 2 p.m. Friday, a KiwiBot — one of the more than 100 robots that deliver food throughout the campus and city — caught fire…