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USA Today – no paywall: “…States’ libraries to lose as much as half their funding – The Institute for Museum and Library Services, a tiny, little known federal agency, provides grants to states, accounting for between 30% and 50% of state library budgets, according to the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies. For decades it …
CRS In Focus, IF13068, July 21, 2025. “Automated license plate readers (ALPRs) are camera systems that capture the license plate data of vehicles, along with related information. They are generally available in fixed and mobile formats. Fixed ALPR systems are mounted in specific locations, often using existing infrastructure such as light poles, traffic lights, buildings, …
“We updated our Supreme Connections database with newly released financial disclosures from eight Supreme Court justices on Friday, covering the 2024 calendar year. Supreme Connections is our database that makes it easy for anyone to browse justices’ financial disclosures and to search for connections to people and companies mentioned within them. This update includes disclosures …
“The corporations on our annual list of the world’s 500 largest companies combined to generate $41.7 trillion in revenue in 2024, up 1.8% from the previous year. Together, they employ 70.1 million people, and their revenue represents more than one-third of the world’s GDP. The Global 500 earned $2.98 trillion in profit in its second-most-profitable …
TREASURY INSPECTOR GENERAL for Tax Administration – Snapshot Report: IRS Workforce Reductions as of May 2025, July 18, 2025. Report Number: 2025-IE-R027. Snapshot Report: IRS Workforce Reductions as of May 2025 – “According to the IRS, 25,386 employees have separated or taken a DRP incentive, while 294 employees have been sent termination notices due to …
The Indicator: “On Monday, The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler announced that he had accepted a buyout and would leave the publication on July 31. Kessler has been the main author of The Fact Checker column since 2011 and serves as a member of the advisory board of the International Fact-Checking Network. He wrote that his …
The New York Times [no paywall]: “Lee Zeldin, the Environmental Protection Agency’s administrator, said the agency would rescind a 2009 declaration, which concluded that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a threat to public health and underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change. Speaking on a conservative podcast called “Ruthless,” Mr. Zeldin said the E.P.A. …
Washington Post [no paywall] Companies are rushing to embrace artificial intelligence to cut costs, increase efficiency and better understand this new technology. IBM has replaced a couple hundred human resources workers with AI applications. At Microsoft and Google, AI writes more than one-quarter of the code. Writers can now use AI as their personal assistant …
MIT Technology Review – no paywall: “Millions of images of passports, credit cards, birth certificates, and other documents containing personally identifiable information are likely included in one of the biggest open-source AI training sets, new research has found. Thousands of images—including identifiable faces—were found in a small subset of DataComp CommonPool, a major AI training …
Washington Post – no paywall – How to turn off AI in Google and DuckDuckGo web search results — plus a no-AI nuclear option: ” Let’s say that you’re worried about artificial intelligence turning us into mushy-brained monsters, draining resources from the planet, slurping all your data and human knowledge, preying on vulnerable minds, wiping …
“The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is launching DesignVision, the first artificial intelligence (AI)-based image search tool available to design patent examiners via the Patents End-to-End (PE2E) search suite. DesignVision is the latest step in the agency’s broader efforts to streamline and modernize examination and reduce application pendency. DesignVision is an AI-powered tool that …
Reddit/privacy: “You do not have to be famous or break any laws to end up under digital watch. New reports confirm that a US agency is expanding its contracts with private firms to quietly track internet activity. This includes what you post, what you like, what you share, and even how you express emotion. The …
