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Elias: Pause AI’s development until its regulation is assured

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

Not long ago, the artificial intelligence (AI) bot ChatGPT sent me a copy as a “courtesy” of my abbreviated biography, which it had written.Related ArticlesLocal Opinion | Elias: Judge-shopping a harmful American practice that should stop Local Opinion | Elias: Solution to some of California’s housing problems at hand Local Opinion | Milpitas mayor cites housing, economic growth as priorities in speech Local Opinion | Elias: California insurance chief mustn’t cave in to industry he regulates Local Opinion | Elias: Newsom should appeal decision to free Manson Family member ChatGPT, developed by the San Francisco firm OpenAI, was wrong on my birth date and birthplace. It listed the wrong college as my alma mater. I had not won a single award it said I did, but it ignored those I actually won. Yet it got enough facts right to assure this was no mere phishing expedition but a version of the new real th...

Kristof: Why U.S., allies should be giving Ukraine even more support

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

VILNIUS, Lithuania — Many Americans and Europeans flatter themselves by seeing the war in Ukraine through a false prism.Too often, we think we have sacrificed for the Ukrainians. We pat ourselves on the back for providing expensive weapons and paying higher heating bills to help Ukrainians win their freedom — and we wish they’d get on with it.In fact, what’s clear here in the Baltic countries is that it’s the other way around: The Ukrainians are sacrificing for us. They’re the ones doing us a favor, by degrading the Russian military and reducing the risk of a war in Europe that would cost the lives of our troops.“We have by our support for Ukraine defended ourselves,” said Egils Levits, who concluded his term as Latvia’s president this month. He used his last full interview before leaving office to argue that the West should provide Ukraine with more weapons to ensure that it recovers all its territory, including Crimea — so that Vladimir Putin’s aggression is thoroughly discredited...

Ferrari Challenge brings exotic cars to Sonoma Raceway

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

Sonoma Raceway will be up and running on Saturday, July 22 as the Ferrari Challenge comes to town.The IMSA-sanctioned event will feature over 50 drivers competing in two races plus an additional 30 special race cars taking on the track for spectators to enjoy.All proceeds from the event will go to Speedway Children’s Charities Sonoma, the charitable arm of Sonoma Raceway that provides financial grants to local non-profit organizations.Ferraris will be on track from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., and fans will be treated to a pre-race grid walk and plenty of fanfare before the start of the two races, plus post-race podium celebrations as well.Related ArticlesEntertainment | A heat wave will cook your electric car battery, if you let it Entertainment | Four artists ‘Take Time’ at Montalvo Arts Center Entertainment | Campbell Cool Car Club members show off rides on July 23 Entertainment | Me & My Car: ’65 Alfa Romeo in East Bay ge...

Miwok homeland site in Marin County returned to tribe after 150 years

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

More than 150 years after the last settlement on Coast Miwok land in Marin faded away, the county’s Indigenous Native American tribe is getting 26 acres of its homeland back in Nicasio.All the cards — and money — aligned this month to allow for what is called a “rematriation” of Coast Miwok land.“It’s coming home,” said tribal elder Joe Sanchez, whose ancestors on the maternal side are listed in the Nicasio census from the 1870s. “It’s coming back to our land.”Huukuiko, Inc., the nonprofit arm of the Coast Miwok Tribal Council of Marin, closed the $1.3 million deal to buy the land on July 3. The purchase amount was collected in about two months in a whirlwind, 11th-hour fundraising campaign that drew in more than 85 individual and family foundation donors, said Nancy Binzen, a consultant with the tribe.RELATED: Bruce family gets deed back to California beach land stolen from Black entrepreneurs in 1920s“They say it takes a village to raise a child,” said Binzen, a Woodacre resident....

About all those drug price TV commercials — Congress has noticed, too

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

By Arthur Allen | KFF Health NewsIn recent months ominous ads about prescription drugs have flooded the TV airwaves. Perhaps by design, it’s not always clear who’s sponsoring the ads or why.Or, for that matter, why now?The short answer is that Congress is paying attention. House and Senate members from both parties have launched at least nine bills, parts of which may be packaged together this fall, that take aim at pharmacy benefit managers, companies that channel prescription drugs to patients. Here’s a primer to help you decipher what’s happening.What are pharmacy benefit managers? Known as PBMs, these companies were created in the 1960s to help employers and insurers select and purchase medications for their health plans.The industry mushroomed as prescription drug spending grew about 200-fold between 1967 and 2021. In addition to negotiating discounts with manufacturers, the PBMs set payment terms for the pharmacies that buy and dispense the drugs to patients. In effect, they a...

Opinion: No one can claim that their way is the only American way of life

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

“Liberty and Union, now and forever, one and inseparable!” so declared Sen. Daniel Webster in ending his famous 1830 reply in the U.S. Senate to South Carolina Senator Robert Hayne’s angry defense of slavery and of a state’s right to nullify federal law.Leading up to the Civil War in 1861, Southerners loved an America that they believed included a God-given right to enslave others. To question their way of life was to question everything about them. They hated it.Not happy with the outcome of the 1860 presidential election of Abraham Lincoln as president, the South rejected the Constitution, rebelled and seceded from the Union to protect their way of life. Lincoln and the North saw secession as dooming our democratic republic and its revolutionary ideals if states unhappy with an election outcome could simply leave the Union.The South’s beliefs were pernicious. The new vice-president of the Confederacy promptly announced: “Our new Government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea...

How one Republican senator’s hold on the Marine leader’s confirmation impacts California’s Camp Pendleton

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

A recent move by a Republican senator to hold up the confirmation of the Marines’ top leader not only impacts that office but a whole host of other officers and their families who, during the summer months, report to new commands at bases across the nation and overseas.At Camp Pendleton, for example, the top general to lead the Corps’ largest and most significant warfighting command, the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, is unable to take over his command of at least 48,000 Marines and their units.At present, the command — critical to the nation’s defense and presently focused on strategy and deterrence of aggression in the Indo-Pacific — is led by Lt. Gen. George Smith, who is set to retire in August. Lt. Gen. Michael Cederholm will replace him, but he cannot move himself or his family to Southern California because he also has not been confirmed by the U.S. Senate.In addition to Cederholm, the holdup in the U.S. Senate means other general officers and their families, are unable to m...

Former California police chief found guilty for role in Jan. 6 insurrection

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

Alan Hostetter, a former La Habra police chief-turned yoga instructor and activist who joined the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol while carrying a hatchet in his backpack, was convicted on Thursday, July 13 of taking part in the plot to stop the certification of President Joe Biden’s electoral victory.A federal judge in Washington D.C. rejected Hostetter’s conspiracy-focused claims that he was set up and entrapped by corrupt federal law enforcement due to his anti-COVID-19 and pro-Trump activism, instead ruling that the former local law enforcement leader was guilty of four counts, including conspiring to obstruct an official proceeding and entering a restricted area with a deadly or dangerous weapon.Regardless of Hostetter’s beliefs — which include his repeated contention that Trump actually won the 2020 election and that the breach of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was a “federal setup” — U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth told Hostetter that “belief that your actions are ultima...

Boxing champ Devin Haney arrested in Los Angeles on felony weapons charge

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

LOS ANGELES — Undisputed lightweight champion Devin Haney was arrested on a felony weapons charge Thursday in Los Angeles, according to police.Haney, 24, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon in a vehicle and released on $35,000 bond. An Aug. 3 municipal court date was set, online court records showed.Haney was in the back seat when police conducted a traffic stop, Bill Haney, the boxer’s father, trainer and manager, told ESPN.The elder Haney said the charge is “a misunderstanding that will be solved when Devin goes to court. It’s unfortunate that he was arrested with his armed licensed security, and I’m confident things are going to be worked out.”Haney retained his titles and improved to 30-0 in May with a unanimous decision over Vasiliy Lomachenko at 135 pounds in Las Vegas.Related ArticlesOther Sports | Frosty fun: 6 cool ways to beat the heat in the Bay Area this summer Other Sports | Bay Area water sports: 7 ways to get out on the water, even ...

JPMorgan Chase 2Q profits rose 67% with a boost from First Republic takeover

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 18:24:00 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. said second-quarter profits rose by 67% as the nation’s largest bank made more loans to customers and took advantage of higher interest rates and its recent acquisition of First Republic. JPMorgan said Friday that it earned $14.5 billion in the three months ended June 30, compared to a profit of of $8.65 billion in the same period a year earlier. On a per share basis, the bank earned $4.75 a share. Revenue rose to $42.4 billion from $31.6 billion a year ago. The results beat Wall Street forecasts, with analysts surveyed by FactSet expecting the bank to post a profit of $3.97 a share. JPMorgan has been one of the benefactors of the banking crisis that came after the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, Signature Bank and First Republic Bank. The bank saw billions of dollars of deposits flow into its vaults, mostly from well-to-do customers, and was able to buy First Republic Bank after it failed. In the deal, JPMorgan acquired 84 First Republ...