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Tag: Government regulations

  • Money rolls in on US election bets after judge clears way, but appeal looms

    Money rolls in on US election bets after judge clears way, but appeal looms

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    ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — People began betting Thursday on which political party would win control of Congress in the November elections after a judge’s ruling allowing the wagers — the only ones to be legally approved by a U.S. jurisdiction.

    New York startup company Kalshi began taking what amounts to bets on the outcome of the November congressional elections after a judge refused to block them from doing so.

    The ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Jia Cobb in Washington enabled the company, at least temporarily, to offer prediction contracts across the country— essentially yes-or-no bets — on which party will win control of the Senate and the House in November.

    “The Kalshi community just made history, and I know we are only getting started,” said Tarek Mansour, a co-founder of the company. “Now is finally the time to allow these markets to show the world just how powerful they are at providing signal amidst the noise, and giving us more truth about what the future holds.”

    It was not clear whether the company intends to offer bets beyond the ones posted Thursday for congressional races, including potentially taking bets on the presidential race.

    It also was not immediately clear whether sports books or online casinos would seek to offer similar political bets in light of the ruling.

    Prices on Kalshi’s so-called predictive contracts varied throughout the early afternoon. As of mid-afternoon, a bet on the Republicans to win control of the Senate was priced at 76 cents; a $100 bet would pay $129. A bet on the Democrats to win control of the House was priced at 63 cents, with a $100 bet paying out $154.

    It was not clear how long such betting might last; the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which last year prohibited the company from offering them, said it would appeal the ruling as quickly as possible.

    Better Markets, a nonprofit organization that says it advocates for the public interest in financial markets, called the development “a dangerous move that opens the floodgates to unprecedented gambling on U.S. elections, eroding public trust in both markets and democracy.”

    Contrasting his client with foreign companies who take bets from American customers on U.S. elections without U.S. government approval, Roth said Kalshi is trying to do things the right way, under government regulation.

    “It invested significantly in these markets,” he said during Thursday’s hearing. “They spent millions of dollars. It would be perverse if all that investment went up in smoke.”

    But Raagnee Beri, an attorney for the commission, said allowing such bets could invite malicious activities designed to influence the outcome of elections and undermine already fragile public confidence in the voting process.

    “These contracts would give market participants a $100 million incentive to influence the market on the election,” she said. “There is a very severe public interest threat.”

    She used the analogy of someone who has taken an investment position in corn commodities.

    “Somebody puts out misinformation about a drought, that a drought is coming,” she said. “That could move the market on the price of corn. The same thing could happen here. The commission is not required to suffer the flood before building a dam.”

    Thursday’s ruling will not be the last word on the case. The commission said it will appeal on an emergency basis to a Washington D.C. circuit court, and asked the judge to stay her ruling for 24 hours. But the judge declined, leaving no prohibition in place on the company offering election bets, at least in the very near term.

    The company already offers yes-no positions on political topics including whether a government shutdown will happen this year, whether a new Supreme Court justice will be confirmed this year, and whether President Joe Biden’s approval rating will be above or below a certain level by the end of the year.

    The Kalshi bets are technically not the first to be offered legally on U.S. elections. West Virginia permitted such bets for one hour in April 2020 before reversing itself and canceling those betting markets, deciding it had not done the proper research beforehand.

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    Follow Wayne Parry on X at www.twitter.com/WayneParryAC

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  • Clearview AI fined $33.7 million by Dutch data protection watchdog over ‘illegal database’ of faces

    Clearview AI fined $33.7 million by Dutch data protection watchdog over ‘illegal database’ of faces

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    THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The Dutch data protection watchdog on Tuesday issued facial recognition startup Clearview AI with a fine of 30.5 million euros ($33.7 million) over its creation of what the agency called an “illegal database” of billion of photos of faces.

    The Netherlands’ Data Protection Agency, or DPA, also warned Dutch companies that using Clearview’s services is also banned.

    The data agency said that New York-based Clearview “has not objected to this decision and is therefore unable to appeal against the fine.”

    But in a statement emailed to The Associated Press, Clearview’s chief legal officer, Jack Mulcaire, said that the decision is “unlawful, devoid of due process and is unenforceable.”

    The Dutch agency said that building the database and insufficiently informing people whose images appear in the database amounted to serious breaches of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, or GDPR.

    “Facial recognition is a highly intrusive technology, that you cannot simply unleash on anyone in the world,” DPA chairman Aleid Wolfsen said in a statement.

    “If there is a photo of you on the Internet — and doesn’t that apply to all of us? — then you can end up in the database of Clearview and be tracked. This is not a doom scenario from a scary film. Nor is it something that could only be done in China,” he said.

    DPA said that if Clearview doesn’t halt the breaches of the regulation, it faces noncompliance penalties of up to 5.1 million euros ($5.6 million) on top of the fine.

    Mulcaire said in his statement that Clearview doesn’t fall under EU data protection regulations.

    “Clearview AI does not have a place of business in the Netherlands or the EU, it does not have any customers in the Netherlands or the EU, and does not undertake any activities that would otherwise mean it is subject to the GDPR,” he said.

    In June, Clearview reached a settlement in an Illinois lawsuit alleging its massive photographic collection of faces violated the subjects’ privacy rights, a deal that attorneys estimate could be worth more than $50 million. Clearview didn’t admit any liability as part of the settlement agreement.

    The case in Illinois consolidated lawsuits from around the U.S. filed against Clearview, which pulled photos from social media and elsewhere on the internet to create a database that it sold to businesses, individuals and government entities.

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  • Town officials shut down a boy’s ice cream stand. Fundraisers and death threats followed

    Town officials shut down a boy’s ice cream stand. Fundraisers and death threats followed

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    NORWOOD, Mass. (AP) — Bored and looking for something to do this summer, Danny Doherty hatched a plan to raise money for his brother’s hockey team by selling homemade ice cream.

    But a few days after setting up a stand and serving up vanilla, shaved chocolate and fluffernutter to about 20 people, Danny’s family received a letter from the Norwood Board of Health ordering it shut down. Town officials had received a complaint and said that the 12-year-old’s scheme violated the Massachusetts Food Code, a state regulation.

    In this Saturday, Aug. 3, 2024 photo provided by Nancy Doherty, Ben Doherty, of Braintree, Mass., left, and his cousin Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., right, sit at a homemade ice cream stand near Danny’s home in Norwood. (Nancy Doherty via AP)

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    Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., stands for a photograph Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in front of his home in Norwood, while holding a letter from the Town of Norwood Board of Health advising his family that they may not sell homemade ice cream at an ice cream stand near their home. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

    “I was surprised and upset,” he said of the letter that came Aug. 5. “I don’t understand because there are so many lemonade stands and they don’t get shut down.”

    Danny’s mom, Nancy Doherty, who had encouraged her son to start the stand as long as he donated half of the proceeds to charity, also was taken aback.

    “Somebody complained. That was the most disappointing part for us was that somebody thought it necessary to complain about a child’s stand,” she said. “It seemed a little, you know, crazy if you ask me.”

    Rather than give up, Danny decided to give away the ice cream and accept donations for the Boston Bear Cubs, a team featuring players with physical and developmental disabilities — including his brother, who is autistic.

    That’s when the neighborhood fundraiser blew up and became the talk of Norwood, a suburban town about an hour from Boston.

    The first day they gave away the ice cream, supplies ran out in 10 minutes and $1,000 was raised. Then, word began to spread about the fundraiser and Danny’s clash with the town. Local media ran stories about the stand, prompting scores of local businesses to hold their own fundraisers for the hockey team.

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    In this Saturday, Aug. 10, 2024 photo provided by Meghan Doherty, Ben Doherty, 12, of Braintree, Mass., left, stands with his cousin Danny Doherty, 12, of Norwood, Mass., right, near a table for donations to the Boston Bear Cubs hockey team, in Norwood. (Meghan Doherty via AP)

    Among them was Furlong’s Candies, which teamed up with Boston radio station WWBX-FM to hold a fundraiser in their parking lot. They raised $3,600 on a day when lines stretched out the door.

    “Danny was trying to do a good thing for his brother’s team — and it’s not just a regular hockey team,” Nancy Thrasher, the store’s co-owner said. “They need a lot more equipment … We were like this is a perfect situation for us to get involved in.”

    Thrasher said she understood why the stand had to be shut down but she still felt bad.

    “My heart broke for the kid. He was just trying to do good for his brother’s team,” she said.

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    Nancy Thrasher, co-owner of Furlong’s Candies & Ice Cream, stands near ice cream and toppings at the store, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, in Norwood, Mass. (AP Photo/Michael Casey)

    Town officials, meanwhile, said they received hate mail and death threats over the dispute, which they suggested has been badly mischaracterized in the media.

    They argued the family had sold their homemade ice cream before and even promoted it on social media. The letter, officials said, was only sent after the town received several complaints and unsuccessfully tried to contact the family — something the Doherty’s dispute.

    “We had to deal with staff who were upset that they were being threatened. People had gone online and found their addresses simply for sending a letter after having reached out to somebody and said, look, there’s a violation here,” said Tony Mazzucco, Norwood’s town manager. It’s the “first time in recent memory” that the town has shut down an ice cream stand, he said, adding that Massachusetts law allows for things like lemonade stands and bakes sales but not homemade ice cream.

    Mazzucco also said there was a “legitimate health concern” since homemade ice cream can be contaminated with listeria monocytogenes or other bacteria.

    Danny’s situation is not altogether unusual. Youth elsewhere have also seen their lemonade stands or pop-up bake sales shuttered — often for failing to have a business or health permit. Several states have responded by moving to lessen restrictions on such ventures.

    Nancy Doherty said it was “distressing” to hear the town employees had received threats. She said the family had never sold ice cream before but acknowledged that Danny created an Instagram account to promote the stand.

    “I’m not upset with the town for responding to a complaint,” she said. “I’m shocked someone complained. This was a tiny operation. Us serving 20 friends, family and neighbors isn’t a public health action. That is someone complaining to be a complainer.”

    For Danny, all the attention has been a little unnerving. “There were so many people and then they started chanting my name,” he said of the fundraiser at Furlong’s. “I didn’t like it, so I ran away. All the attention was on me and I didn’t like it.”

    In the end, about $20,000 was raised for the hockey team — more than the amount the club spends in an entire year. The infusion of funds should ensure the club will be on “sound financial footing” for the next decade or more.

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    Lori Talanian, right, director of corporate partnerships at Ira Cars, hugs John Quill, center, director and coach of the Boston Bear Cubs hockey team, Wednesday, Aug. 21, 2024, after her company presented the team with a donation of $3,900, at the Doherty family home, in Norwood, Mass. (AP Photo/Rodrique Ngowi)

    “The community response has overwhelmed us,” said John Quill, the director and coach of the Boston Bear Cubs, as he accepted a check from an auto group at the Dohertys’ house.

    “There are a lot of good people out there,” Quill added. “Danny inspired a whole lot of people to do good and to be kind and to help us out.”

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  • Mexico’s electoral agency gives govrerning coalition 73% of seats in Congress, with 60% of votes

    Mexico’s electoral agency gives govrerning coalition 73% of seats in Congress, with 60% of votes

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    MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s electoral institute voted Friday to give the governing Morena party and its allies about 73% of seats in the lower house of Congress, though the coalition won less than 60% of the votes in the June 2 elections.

    The ruling, which can be challenged in court, would give the governing coalition the two-thirds majority it needs for the Chamber of Deputies to approve changes in Mexico’s constitution. If the ruling stands, Morena and it allies would have about 364 seats in the 500-seat body.

    Critics said that would give Morena more power in Congress than it won at the voting booth.

    The dispute involves a law that assigns some seats in Congress on the basis of proportional representation. That was designed to give smaller parties some seats in Congress, based on their national vote percentage, even if they couldn’t win individual congressional district races.

    But the law also stipulates that the proportional seats can’t be used to give any party a majority in Congress.

    Morena apparently got around that by “lending” some of its winning congressional district candidates to two allied smaller parties. The smaller parties aren’t subject to the no-majority rule, but they vote in lockstep with Morena.

    The institute’s governing council voted that proportional representation rules apply only to parties individually and without taking into account the effect that might have on a majority coalition.

    While it is unlikely Morena and its allies will be given a two-thirds majority in the Senate, whose approval is also needed for constitutional changes, the coalition will probably be just a couple of seats short in that body and could feasibly win the needed votes from a smaller party.

    The issue is important because outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador — and his successor, fellow Morena member Claudia Sheinbaum — have vowed to use the two-thirds majority to pursue 20 constitutional changes, including making all judges run for election.

    Critics say electing judges would undermine the independence of the judiciary branch in favor of even greater control for the governing party.

    The proposal has spurred criticism from investors and financial institutions and the U.S. ambassador to Mexico in recent days.

    On Tuesday, Morgan Stanley downgraded its recommendation for investing in Mexico, saying the changes would “increase risk.” In an analysis report, Citibanamex warned that passage of the proposal could end in the “cancellation of liberal democracy.”

    On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar said the proposed changes pose a “risk” to Mexico’s democracy and that they threaten “the historic commercial relationship” between the two countries.

    In addition, the federal courts have been mostly shut down by a strike by court employees that began Monday to protest the judicial proposal. Judges and magistrates joined the walkout Wednesday.

    Among other constitutional proposals, Morena is pushing a change that would essentially do away with all of Mexico’s independent oversight and regulatory bodies. The party claims they are a waste of money, and says oversight responsibilities should be given to government departments instead, essentially allowing them to police themselves.

    López Obrador has tried to push through his pet infrastructure projects, mostly railways and oil refineries, without oversight, regulation or environmental impact statements, but he has frequently faced court challenges. Changing the constitution would sweep those obstacles away.

    López Obrador leaves office Sept. 30, but Sheinbaum — who won the June 2 election to become Mexico’s first female president — has vowed to continue all of his policies.

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  • Fire sparks Georgia nuclear plant alert, but officials say no safety threat as reactors unaffected

    Fire sparks Georgia nuclear plant alert, but officials say no safety threat as reactors unaffected

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    WAYNESBORO, Ga. (AP) — Georgia’s largest nuclear plant declared an emergency alert Tuesday after an electrical transformer caught fire.

    The fire, described as small by Georgia Power Co. spokesperson John Kraft, broke out about noon and could have threatened the electrical supply to the heating and cooling system for the control room of one of the complex’s two older nuclear reactors, Vogtle Unit 2.

    The fire was put out by plant employees, Georgia Power officials said, and the alert ended just after 2:30 p.m. The cause of the fire hasn’t yet been determined, Kraft said.

    Dave Gasperson, a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission spokesperson, said the fire was contained and did not affect any of the plant’s operating systems, and a backup power system remained available for the heating and cooling system. Gasperson said the commission’s onsite inspector monitored the situation and the commission, a federal agency which oversees nuclear power plants, is determining whether additional follow-up inspections are needed.

    Officials said the fire caused no injuries and didn’t threaten the safety or health of employees or members of the public. All four of the nuclear reactors onsite continued to produce electricity at full power, Kraft said.

    An alert is the second-least serious category of emergency out of four categories designated by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, an agency that oversees nuclear power plants. That category could reduce a plant’s level of safety but isn’t supposed to affect the public. The plant returned to normal operations after terminating the alert.

    Georgia Power said workers are coordinating recovery with federal, state and local officials. Georgia Power owns the plant along with partners Oglethorpe Power Corp., Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia and Dalton city utilities. It supplies electricity to almost all Georgians, as well as some utilities in Florida and Alabama.

    The two older nuclear reactors were completed in 1987 and 1989. If they lose primary electricity from the outside grid, as well as backup electricity from a diesel generator, the reactors can overheat and melt down. A diesel generator was never needed Tuesday, Kraft said.

    Vogtle’s two newer nuclear reactors are designed to avoid a meltdown from a power loss. Those reactors were completed this year and are the first new reactors built from scratch in the United States in decades. They cost the owners $31 billion, finishing seven years late and $17 billion over budget. Add in $3.7 billion that original contractor Westinghouse paid Vogtle owners to walk away from construction, and the total nears $35 billion.

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  • Boeing names its next CEO while posting a quarterly loss of more than $1.4 billion

    Boeing names its next CEO while posting a quarterly loss of more than $1.4 billion

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    Boeing named an aerospace industry veteran with a background in mechanical engineering as its next chief executive Wednesday, looking to open a new chapter at a company rocked by legal, regulatory and production problems and mounting financial repercussions.

    Robert “Kelly” Ortberg, a former CEO at aerospace manufacturer Rockwell Collins, will succeed David Calhoun as CEO and president effective Aug. 8, the company said. Calhoun said in March that he would retire at the end of the year, and analysts generally praised the quicker transition.

    “There is much work to be done, and I’m looking forward to getting started,” Ortberg said in a statement issued by Boeing.

    Boeing announced its new CEO as it reported a loss of more than $1.4 billion on falling revenue during the second quarter. The loss was wider and the company’s revenue lower than Wall Street’s dismal expectations, as both Boeing’s commercial-airplanes business and defense unit lost money.

    The disappointing results came at a tumultuous time for Boeing, which is the subject of multiple investigations into its safety culture and manufacturing quality.

    The American aerospace giant agreed to plead guilty this month to a federal fraud charge in connection with its 737 Max jetliner and two crashes that killed 346 people. The Federal Aviation Administration increased its oversight of the company and limited the number of planes it could produce after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines Max flying at an altitude of 16,000 feet. No one was seriously hurt, but the frightening incident and subsequent scrutiny have damaged Boeing’s reputation.

    Boeing Chairman Steven Mollenkopf said Ortberg was chosen after a “thorough and extensive search process” and “has the right skills and experience to lead Boeing in its next chapter.” Ortberg has earned a reputation for running complex engineering and manufacturing companies, Mollenkopf said.

    Calhoun, who said he wasn’t involved in the hiring decision, is expected to serve as a special adviser to Boeing’s board of directors until next March. He suggested that Ortberg would support Boeing’s current executives instead of bringing in his own team.

    “I don’t think he’s coming in with a notion to want to change a lot of folks,” Calhoun said on a call with analysts. “He knows full well we’re in recovery mode, and he knows full well that we’ve got to complete the recovery mode and we’ve got to get this thing stable and move forward.”

    Ortberg plans to be based in Seattle, according to a person familiar with the decision who was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly. That would put him in closer contact with Boeing factories that produce several of its planes, notably the 737 Max.

    Boeing was founded in Seattle but moved to Chicago in 2001 and then, to be closer to government officials and regulators, the headquarters moved to the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., in 2022.

    Ortberg emerged as a leading candidate only recently. Others who were reportedly considered for the job included Patrick Shanahan, a former Boeing executive and now CEO of its most important supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, and another longtime Boeing executive, Stephanie Pope, who recently took over the commercial airplanes division.

    Ortberg led Rockwell Collins from 2013 to 2018. The company, which developed electronics and other equipment for commercial and military planes, then merged with United Technologies and wound up as part of RTX, formerly known as Raytheon. He retired from RTX in 2021.

    Richard Aboulafia, a longtime aerospace analyst and consultant and recently a harsh critic of the company, said the hire is great news for Boeing.

    “He is a deeply respected leader in the aerospace industry, and brings more hope for a better future than the company has enjoyed in decades,” Aboulafia said.

    Ortberg, who has a background in both commercial and defense aerospace, “was probably on a relatively short list of people that are qualified to take on this challenge,” Jeff Windau, an analyst for financial advising company Edward Jones, said.

    The new CEO’s first task, Windau said, will be working with the FAA to help Boeing reach its goal of increasing production of Max jets.

    The company waived the mandatory retirement age of 65 for Ortberg, a spokesperson said. Boeing did the same for Calhoun days after he turned 64 in 2021.

    Like Calhoun, who took over as CEO in the wake of the two Max crashes, Ortberg inherits the leadership of a company facing ongoing crises and criticism from inside and outside the company.

    Boeing, based in Arlington, Virginia, is pushing back against whistleblower allegations of manufacturing shortcuts that crimp on safety. It is dealing with supply-chain problems that are hindering production, which it hopes to fix in part by re-acquiring Spirit AeroSystems, a key contractor. It faces a threatened strike this fall by its largest union, the International Association of Machinists.

    The company is still trying to persuade regulators to approve two new models of the Max and a bigger version of its two-aisle 777 jetliner. And it faces a multi-billion-dollar decision on when to design a new single-aisle plane to replace the Max.

    Its reputation took another hit recently when thruster failures and helium leaks on Boeing’s new Starliner capsule prompted NASA and Boeing to keep two astronauts at the International Space Station until engineers finish working on the problems.

    The quarterly earnings reported Wednesday reflected the scope of Boeing’s challenges. The reported loss of $1.44 billion for the second quarter compared with a loss of $149 million a year earlier. Since the start of 2019, Boeing has lost more than $25 billion.

    Excluding special items, the second-quarter loss worked out to $2.90 per share. Analysts expected a loss of $1.90 per share, according to a FactSet survey.

    Revenue dropped 15%, to $16.87 billion, falling short of Wall Street’s average forecast of $17.35 billion. The commercial airplanes division had an operating loss of $715 million, and revenue plunged 32% as Boeing delivered fewer passenger jets to airlines — 92 planes, compared with 136 a year earlier.

    The FAA limited Boeing’s production of Max jetliners shortly after the Alaska Airlines incident, but Boeing hasn’t even hit the FAA limits as it seeks to fix its manufacturing process. The company said Wednesday that it is sticking with its plans to boost production of the Max to 38 per month by year end.

    Boeing took a charge of $244 million to cover a fine it agreed to pay as part of its plea deal with the Justice Department in connection with development of the Max. A federal judge in Texas will soon consider whether to approve the agreement, which also calls for the appointment of an independent compliance monitor and for Boeing to invest at least $455 million “in its compliance, quality, and safety programs.”

    Many families of the people who died in the two Max crashes, which took place off the coast of Indonesia in 2018 and in Ethiopia less than five months later, oppose the deal and plan to ask the judge to reject it.

    Boeing’s defense and space unit lost $913 million because of $1 billion in setbacks to four fixed-price government contracts, including a deal to build two new Air Force One presidential jets. The smaller services business earned $870 million.

    Boeing shares rose 4% in afternoon trading.

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  • Museums closed Native American exhibits 6 months ago. Tribes are still waiting to get items back

    Museums closed Native American exhibits 6 months ago. Tribes are still waiting to get items back

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    NEW YORK — Tucked within the expansive Native American halls of the American Museum of Natural History is a diminutive wooden doll that holds a sacred place among the tribes whose territories once included Manhattan.

    For more than six months now, the ceremonial Ohtas, or Doll Being, has been hidden from view after the museum and others nationally took dramatic steps to board up or paper over exhibits in response to new federal rules requiring institutions to return sacred or culturally significant items to tribes — or at least to obtain consent to display or study them.

    The doll, also called Nahneetis, is just one of some 1,800 items museum officials say they’re reviewing as they work to comply with the requirements while also eyeing a broader overhaul of the more than half-century-old exhibits.

    But some tribal leaders remain skeptical, saying museums have not acted swiftly enough. The new rules, after all, were prompted by years of complaints from tribes that hundreds of thousands of items that should have been returned under the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990 still remain in museum custody.

    “If things move slowly, then address that,” said Joe Baker, a Manhattan resident and member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians, descendants of the Lenape peoples European traders encountered more than 400 years ago. “The collections, they’re part of our story, part of our family. We need them home. We need them close.”

    Sean Decatur, the New York museum’s president, promised tribes will hear from officials soon. He said staff these past few months have been reexamining the displayed objects in order to begin contacting tribal communities.

    The museum also plans to open a small exhibit in the fall incorporating Native American voices and explaining the history of the closed halls, why changes are being made and what the future holds, he said.

    Museum officials envision a total overhaul of the closed Eastern Woodlands and Great Plains halls — akin to the five-year, $19 million renovation of its Northwest Coast Hall, completed in 2022 in close collaboration with tribes, Decatur added.

    “The ultimate aim is to make sure we’re getting the stories right,” he said.

    Lance Gumbs, vice chairman of the Shinnecock Indian Nation, a federally recognized tribe in New York’s Hamptons, said he worries about the loss of representation of local tribes in public institutions, with exhibit closures likely stretching into years.

    The American Museum of Natural History, he noted, is one of New York’s major tourism draws and also a mainstay for generations of area students learning about the region’s tribes.

    He suggests museums use replicas made by Native peoples so that sensitive cultural items aren’t physically on display.

    “I don’t think tribes want to have our history written out of museums,” Gumbs said. “There’s got to be a better way than using artifacts that literally were stolen out of gravesites.”

    Gordon Yellowman, who heads the department of language and culture for the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes, said museums should look to create more digital and virtual exhibits.

    He said the tribes, in Oklahoma, will be seeking from the New York museum a sketchbook by the Cheyenne warrior Little Finger Nail that contains his drawings and illustrations from battle.

    The book, which is in storage and not on display, was plucked from his body after he and other tribe members were killed by U.S. soldiers in Nebraska in 1879.

    “These drawings weren’t just made because they were beautiful,” Yellowman said. “They were made to show the actual history of the Cheyenne and Arapaho people.”

    Institutions elsewhere are taking other approaches.

    In Chicago, the Field Museum has established a Center for Repatriation after covering up several cases in its halls dedicated to ancient America and the peoples of the coastal Northwest and Arctic.

    The museum has also since returned four items back to tribes, with another three pending, through efforts that were underway before the new regulations, according to spokesperson Bridgette Russell.

    At the Cleveland Museum in Ohio, a case displaying artifacts from the Tlingit people in Alaska has been reopened after their leadership gave consent, according to Todd Mesek, the museum’s spokesperson. But two other displays remain covered up, with one containing funerary objects from the ancient Southwest to be redone with a different topic and materials.

    And at Harvard, the Peabody Museum’s North American Indian hall reopened in February after about 15% of its roughly 350 items were removed from displays, university spokesperson Nicole Rura said.

    Chuck Hoskin, chief of the Cherokee Nation, said he believes many institutions now understand they can no longer treat Indigenous items as “museum curiosities” from “peoples that no longer exist.”

    The leader of the tribe in Oklahoma said he visited the Peabody this year after the university reached out about returning hair clippings collected in the early 1930s from hundreds of Indigenous children, including Cherokees, forced to assimilate in the notorious Indian boarding schools.

    “The fact that we’re in a position to sit down with Harvard and have a really meaningful conversation, that’s progress for the country,” he said.

    As for Baker, he wants the Ohtas returned to its tribe. He said the ceremonial doll should never have been on display, especially arranged as it was among wooden bowls, spoons and other everyday items.

    Museum officials say discussions with tribal representatives began in 2021 and will continue, even though the doll technically does not fall under federal regulations because it’s associated with a tribe outside the U.S., the Munsee-Delaware Nation in Ontario.

    “It has a spirit. It’s a living being,” Baker said. “So if you think about it being hung on a wall all these years in a static case, suffocating for lack of air, it’s just horrific, really.”

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    Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.

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  • Here’s a look at some of the false claims made during Biden and Trump’s first debate

    Here’s a look at some of the false claims made during Biden and Trump’s first debate

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    President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump traded barbs and a variety of false and misleading information as they faced off in their first debate of the 2024 election.

    Trump falsely represented the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol as a relatively small number of people who were ushered in by police and misstated the strength of the economy during his administration.

    The latest on the Biden-Trump debate

    • The debate was a critical moment in Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s presidential rematch to make their cases before a national television audience.
    • Take a look at the facts around false and misleading claims frequently made by the two candidates.
    • Both candidates wasted no time sparring over policy during their 90-minute faceoff. These are the takeaways.

    Biden, who tends to lean more on exaggerations and embellishments rather than outright lies, misrepresented the cost of insulin and overstated what Trump said about using disinfectant to address COVID. Here’s a look at the false and misleading claims on Thursday night by the two candidates.

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    JAN. 6

    TRUMP: “They talk about a relatively small number of people that went to the Capitol and in many cases were ushered in by the police.”

    THE FACTS: That’s false. The attack on the U.S. Capitol was the deadliest assault on the seat of American power in over 200 years. As thoroughly documented by video, photographs and people who were there, thousands of people descended on Capitol Hill in what became a brutal scene of hand-to-hand combat with police.

    In an internal memo on March 7, 2023, U.S. Capitol Police Chief J. Thomas Manger said that the allegation that “our officers helped the rioters and acted as ‘tour guides’” is “outrageous and false.” A Capitol Police spokesperson confirmed the memo’s authenticity to The Associated Press. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot. More than 850 people have pleaded guilty to crimes, and 200 others have been convicted at trial.

    ___

    TRUMP, on then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s actions on Jan. 6: “Because I offered her 10,000 soldiers or National Guard and she turned them down.”

    THE FACTS: Pelosi did not direct the National Guard. Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

    The Capitol Police Board makes the decision on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol. The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

    The House Sergeant at Arms reported to Pelosi and the Senate Sergeant at Arms reported to McConnell. There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand. Drew Hammill, a then-spokesperson for Pelosi, said after the insurrection that Pelosi was never informed of such a request.

    ___

    TAXES AND REGULATIONS

    TRUMP, on Biden: “He wants to raise your taxes by four times.”

    THE FACTS: That’s not accurate.

    Trump has used that line at rallies, but it has no basis in fact. Biden actually wants to prevent tax increases on anyone making less than $400,000, which is the vast majority of taxpayers.

    More importantly, Biden’s budget proposal does not increase taxes as much as Trump claims, though the increases are focused on corporations and the wealthy. Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for individuals are set to expire after 2025, because they were not fully funded when they became law.

    ___

    TRUMP, referring to Jan. 6, 2021, the day a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol in an effort to stop the certification of Biden’s victory: “On January 6th we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever on January 6th.”

    THE FACTS: The current federal income tax was only instituted in 1913, and tax rates have fluctuated significantly in the decades since. Rates were lower in the 1920s, just prior to the Great Depression. Trump did cut taxes during his time in the White House, but the rates weren’t the lowest in history.

    Government regulations have also ebbed and flowed in the country’s history, but there’s been an overall increase in regulations as the country modernized and its population grew. There are now many more regulations covering the environment, employment, financial transactions and other aspects of daily life. While Trump slashed some regulations, he didn’t take the country back to the less regulated days of its past.

    ___

    INSULIN

    BIDEN: “It’s $15 for an insulin shot, as opposed to $400.”

    THE FACTS: No, that’s not exactly right. Out-of-pocket insulin costs for older Americans on Medicare were capped at $35 in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that President Joe Biden signed into law. The cap took effect last year, when many drugmakers announced they would lower the price of the drug to $35 for most users on private insurance. But Biden regularly overstates that many people used to pay up to $400 monthly. People with diabetes who have Medicare or private insurance paid about $450 yearly prior to the law, a Department of Health and Human Services study released in December 2022 found.

    ___

    CLIMATE CHANGE

    TRUMP, touting his environmental record, said that “during my four years, I had the best environmental numbers ever” and that he supports “immaculate” air and water.

    THE FACTS: That’s far from the whole story. During his presidency, Trump rolled back some provisions of the Clean Water Act, eased regulations on coal, oil and gas companies and pulled the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord. When wildfires struck California in 2020, Trump dismissed the scientific consensus that climate change had played a role. Trump also dismissed scientists’ warnings about climate change and routinely proposed deep cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency. Those reductions were blocked by Democratic and Republican lawmakers.

    ___

    ABORTION

    TRUMP: “The problem they have is they’re radical because they will take the life of a child in the eighth month, the ninth month, and even after birth, after birth.”

    THE FACTS: Trump inaccurately referred to abortions after birth. Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.

    Abortion rights advocates say terms like this and “late-term abortions” attempt to stigmatize abortions later in pregnancy. Abortions later in pregnancy are exceedingly rare. In 2020, less than 1% of abortions in the United States were performed at or after 21 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

    Abortions later in pregnancy also are usually the result of serious complications, such as fetal anomalies, that put the life of the woman or fetus at risk, medical experts say. In most cases, these are also wanted pregnancies, experts say.

    ___

    RUSSIA

    TRUMP on Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in Russia: “He should have had him out a long time ago, but Putin’s probably asking for billions and billions of dollars because this guy pays it every time.”

    THE FACTS: Trump is wrong to say that Biden pays any sort of fee “every time” to secure the release of hostages and wrongfully detained Americans. There’s also zero evidence that Putin is asking for any money in order to free Gershkovich. Just like in the Trump administration, the deals during the Biden administration that have brought home hostages and detainees involved prisoner swaps — not money transfers.

    Trump’s reference to money appeared to be about the 2023 deal in which the U.S. secured the release of five detained Americans in Iran after billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets were transferred from banks in South Korea to Qatar. The U.S. has said that that the money would be held in restricted accounts and will only be able to be used for humanitarian goods, such as medicine and food.

    ___

    COVID-19

    BIDEN: Trump told Americans to “inject bleach” into their arms to treat COVID-19.

    THE FACTS: That’s overstating it. Rather, Trump asked whether it would be possible to inject disinfectant into the lungs.

    “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute,” he said at an April 2020 press conference. “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me. So, we’ll see, but the whole concept of the light, the way it kills it in one minute. That’s pretty powerful.”

    ___

    SUPER PREDATORS

    TRUMP: “What he’s done to the Black population is horrible, including the fact that for 10 years he called them ‘super predators.’ … We can’t forget that – super predators … And they’ve taken great offense at it.”

    THE FACTS: This oft-repeated claim by Trump dating back to the 2020 campaign is untrue. It was Hillary Clinton, then the first lady, who used the term “super predator” to advocate for the 1994 crime bill that Biden co-authored more than thirty years ago. Biden did warn of “predators” in a floor speech in support of his bill.

    ___

    MIGRANTS

    TRUMP, referring to Biden: “He’s the one that killed people with a bad border and flooding hundreds of thousands of people dying and also killing our citizens when they come in.”

    THE FACTS: A mass influx of migrants coming into the U.S. illegally across the southern border has led to a number of false and misleading claims by Trump. For example, he regularly claims other countries are emptying their prisons and mental institutions to send to the U.S. There is no evidence to support that.

    Trump has also argued the influx of immigrants is causing a crime surge in the U.S., although statistics actually show violent crime is on the way down.

    There have been recent high-profile and heinous crimes allegedly committed by people in the country illegally. But FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants, either along the U.S.-Mexico border or in cities seeing the greatest influx of migrants, like New York. Studies have found that people living in the country illegally are less likely than native-born Americans to have been arrested for violent, drug and property crimes. For more than a century, critics of immigration have sought to link new arrivals to crime. In 1931, the Wickersham Commission did not find any evidence supporting a connection between immigration and increased crime, and many studies since then have reached similar conclusions.

    Texas is the only state that tracks crimes by immigration status. A 2020 study published by the National Academy of Sciences found “considerably lower felony arrest rates” among people in the United States illegally than legal immigrants or native-born.

    Some crime is expected given the large population of immigrants. There were an estimated 10.5 million people in the country illegally in 2021, according to the latest estimate by Pew Research Center, a figure that has almost certainly risen with large influxes at the border. In 2022, the Census Bureau estimated the foreign-born population at 46.2 million, or nearly 14% of the total, with most states seeing double-digit percentage increases in the last dozen years.

    ___

    CHARLOTTESVILLE

    BIDEN, referring to Trump after the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017: “The one who said I think they’re fine people on both sides.”

    THE FACTS: Trump did use those words to describe attendees of the deadly rally, which was planned by white nationalists. But as Trump supporters have pointed out, he also said that day that he wasn’t talking about the neo-Nazis and white nationalists in attendance.

    “You had some very bad people in that group,” Trump said during a news conference a few days after the rally, “But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.”

    He then added that he wasn’t talking about “the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally.” Instead, he said, the press had been unfair in its treatment of protesters who were there to innocently and legally protest the removal of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

    The gathering planned by white nationalists shocked the nation when it exploded into chaos: violent brawling in the streets, racist and antisemitic chants, smoke bombs, and finally, a car speeding into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.

    ___

    ECONOMY

    TRUMP: We had the greatest economy in history.”

    THE FACTS: That’s not accurate. First of all, the pandemic triggered a massive recession during his presidency. The government borrowed $3.1 trillion in 2020 to stabilize the economy. Trump had the ignominy of leaving the White House with fewer jobs than when he entered.

    But even if you take out issues caused by the pandemic, economic growth averaged 2.67% during Trump’s first three years. That’s pretty solid. But it’s nowhere near the 4% averaged during Bill Clinton’s two terms from 1993 to 2001, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. In fact, growth has been stronger so far under Biden than under Trump.

    Trump did have the unemployment rate get as low as 3.5% before the pandemic. But again, the labor force participation rate for people 25 to 54 — the core of the U.S. working population — was higher under Clinton. The participation rate has also been higher under Biden than Trump.

    Trump also likes to talk about how low inflation was under him. Gasoline fell as low as $1.77 a gallon. But, of course, that price dip happened during pandemic lockdowns when few people were driving. The low prices were due to a global health crisis, not Trump’s policies.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    • Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
    • AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
    • Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.

    Similarly, average 30-year mortgage rates dipped to 2.65% during the pandemic. Those low rates were a byproduct of Federal Reserve efforts to prop up a weak economy, rather than the sign of strength that Trump now suggests it was.

    ___

    MILITARY DEATHS

    BIDEN: “The truth is, I’m the only president this century that doesn’t have any — this decade — any troops dying anywhere in the world like he did.”

    ”THE FACTS: At least 16 service members have been killed in hostile action since Biden took office in January 2021. On Aug. 26, 2021, 13 died during a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as U.S. troops withdrew from the country. An enemy drone killed three U.S. service members at a desert base in Jordan on Jan. 28 of this year.

    ___

    PRESIDENTIAL RECORD

    BIDEN: “159, or 58, don’t know an exact number, presidential historians, they’ve had meetings and they voted, who is the worst president in American history … They said he was the worst in all American history. That’s a fact. That’s not conjecture.”

    THE FACTS: That’s almost right, but not quite. The survey in question, a project from professors at the University of Houston and Coastal Carolina University, included 154 usable responses, from 525 respondents invited to participate.

    ___

    GEORGE FLOYD PROTESTS

    TRUMP, on Minneapolis protests after the killing of George Floyd: “If I didn’t bring in the National Guard, that city would have been destroyed.”

    THE FACTS: Trump didn’t call the National Guard into Minneapolis during the unrest following the death of George Floyd. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz deployed the National Guard to the city.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Elliot Spagat, Eric Tucker, Ali Swenson, Christina Cassidy, Amanda Seitz, Stephen Groves, David Klepper, Melissa Goldin and Hope Yen contributed to this report.

    ___

    Find AP Fact Checks here: https://apnews.com/APFactCheck.

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  • FCC pursues new rules for AI in political ads, but changes may not take effect before the election

    FCC pursues new rules for AI in political ads, but changes may not take effect before the election

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    NEW YORK (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission has advanced a proposal that would require political advertisers to disclose their use of artificial intelligence in broadcast television and radio ads, though it is unclear whether new regulations may be in place before the November presidential election.

    The proposed rules announced Thursday could add a layer of transparency in political campaigning that some tech watchdogs have called for to help inform voters about lifelike and misleading AI-generated media in ads.

    “There’s too much potential for AI to manipulate voices and images in political advertising to do nothing,” the agency’s chairwoman, Democrat Jessica Rosenworcel, said Thursday in a news release. “If a candidate or issue campaign used AI to create an ad, the public has a right to know.”

    But the FCC’s action is part of a federal turf war over the regulation of AI in politics. The move has faced pushback from the chairman of the Federal Election Commission, who previously accused the FCC of stepping on his own agency’s authority and has warned of a possible legal challenge.

    Political candidates and parties in the United States and around the world already have experimented with rapidly advancing generative AI tools, though some have voluntarily disclosed their use of the technology. Others have weaponized the technology to mislead voters.

    The FCC is proposing requiring broadcasters to ask political advertisers whether their content was created using AI tools, such as text-to-image creators or voice-cloning software. The agency also aims to require broadcasters to make an on-air announcement when AI-generated content is used in a political ad and include a notice disclosing the use of AI in their online political files.

    The commission acknowledges it would not have authority over streaming, leaving the growing political advertising industry on digital and streaming platforms unregulated at the federal level.

    After the commission’s 3-2 vote, the proposal will move into a 30-day public comment period, followed by a 15-day reply period. Commissioners are then expected to finalize and pass a rule. It is unclear whether there is time for it to go into effect before a presidential election that is just over three months away.

    Jonathan Uriarte, a spokesperson for Rosenworcel, said the chairwoman “intends to follow the regulatory process but she has been clear that the time to act is now.”

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    • Democracy: American democracy has overcome big stress tests since 2020. More challenges lie ahead in 2024.
    • AP’s Role: The Associated Press is the most trusted source of information on election night, with a history of accuracy dating to 1848. Learn more.
    • Stay informed. Keep your pulse on the news with breaking news email alerts. Sign up here.

    After Rosenworcel announced her proposed rule in May, FEC Chairman Sean Cooksey, a Republican, sent her a letter cautioning her against the move.

    “I am concerned that parts of your proposal would fall within the exclusive jurisdiction” of the FEC and would “directly conflict with existing law and regulations, and sow chaos among political campaigns for the upcoming election,” he wrote.

    If the FCC moves forward, it could create “irreconcilable conflicts” between the agencies that may end up in federal court, he said in the letter.

    A Republican commissioner at the FCC, Brendan Carr, has agreed with Cooksey and voted against the proposal. In a statement Thursday, Carr argued the move was illegal and problematic so close to a presidential election, with the regulations likely to take effect after early voting has already begun in many places.

    “Far from promoting transparency, the FCC’s proposed rules would mire voters in confusion, create a patchwork of inconsistent rules, and encourage monied, partisan interests to weaponize the law for electoral advantage,” Carr wrote.

    But the FEC’s vice chair, Democrat Ellen Weintraub, has supported the proposal, saying in a June letter to Rosenworcel that “no one agency currently has the jurisdiction or capacity to address every aspect of this large and complicated issue.”

    Cooksey said in a statement Thursday that the FCC should “abandon this misguided proposal.”

    “Every American should be disturbed that the Democrat-controlled FCC is pushing ahead with its radical plan to change the rules on political ads mere weeks before the general election,” he said. “Not only would these vague rules intrude on the Federal Election Commission’s jurisdiction, but they would sow chaos among political campaigns and confuse voters before they head to the polls.”

    The FCC maintains it has authority to regulate on the issue under the 1934 Communications Act and the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act.

    Robert Weissman, co-president of the advocacy group Public Citizen, said he supports the FCC’s proposed rule as the U.S. is “barreling toward elections which may be distorted, or even decided, by political deepfakes.”

    Rep. Joseph Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee, commended the FCC, saying in an emailed statement that “it is vital that our federal agencies work to ensure that voters are able to discern fact from fiction.”

    Congress has not passed laws directing the agencies on how they should regulate AI in politics. Some Republican senators have circulated legislation intending to block the Democratic-led FCC from issuing its new rules. Meanwhile, the FEC is considering its own petition on regulating deepfakes in political ads.

    In the absence of federal action, more than one-third of states have created their own laws regulating the use of AI in campaigns and elections, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

    In February, the FCC ruled that robocalls containing AI-generated voices are illegal, a step that empowered the commission to fine companies that use AI voices in their calls or block the service providers that carry them.

    ___

    The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • FDA OKs best-selling e-cigarette Vuse Alto, but only in tobacco flavor

    FDA OKs best-selling e-cigarette Vuse Alto, but only in tobacco flavor

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials on Thursday authorized sales of the best-selling e-cigarette in the U.S., Vuse Alto, allowing manufacturer Reynolds American to keep the vaping brand on the market for years to come.

    The Food and Drug Administration decision only applies to several tobacco-flavored versions of the reusable product, which takes cartridges filled with liquid nicotine. The FDA previously rejected Reynold’s application for its more popular menthol flavor, but the company is challenging that decision in court.

    Last month, the FDA granted competitor Njoy the first authorization for a menthol-flavored e-cigarette. The vaping brand, which is not a big seller, is controlled by tobacco giant Altria, which also sells Marlboro cigarettes.

    Thursday’s announcement is not an approval or endorsement, and the FDA reiterated that people who do not smoke should not use Vuse or any other e-cigarettes. The FDA determination indicates that smokers who switch completely to Vuse can reduce their exposure to deadly carcinogens and other chemicals found in traditional tobacco.

    “All tobacco products are harmful and potentially addictive,” the FDA said in a statement. “Those who do not use tobacco products, especially young people, should not start.”

    Like other tobacco companies, Reynolds makes most of its income from traditional cigarettes, including Camels and Newports.

    Vuse made up 40% of U.S. vaping sales in the past year, according to retail data from Nielsen. Most company sales are for menthol products, which remain available under a court order while Reynold’s challenges the FDA’s negative ruling.

    Juul Labs is now a distant second in the e-cigarettes market, accounting for less than a quarter of retail sales. The company was forced to drastically cut back its marketing and promotions following legal settlements with states, local governments and families that blamed the brand’s small, discreet e-cigarettes for hooking children on nicotine.

    The FDA is wrapping up a sweeping regulatory review intended to clean up the multibillion-dollar vaping industry after years of delays.

    Some brands like Vuse have been sold in the U.S. for years, awaiting FDA action on their scientific applications. The market also includes thousands of fruit- and candy-flavored products from China that are technically illegal but widely available in convenience stores and vape shops.

    The FDA faced a self-imposed court deadline last month to wrap up its yearslong review of major vaping brands. Currently, Juul’s products remain under federal review, although FDA recently rescinded a 2022 order that would have forced the products off the market. That action never took effect because FDA regulators agreed to place it on hold following a legal challenge by Juul.

    The agency has rejected more than 26 million applications for products it received from vaping companies hoping to stay on the market. Only a handful of products from major manufacturers have been authorized to help smokers

    To win FDA authorization, companies generally must show that their e-cigarettes provide an overall health benefit for smokers, without significantly appealing to kids.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • OpenAI whistleblowers ask SEC to investigate the company’s non-disclosure agreements with employees

    OpenAI whistleblowers ask SEC to investigate the company’s non-disclosure agreements with employees

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    NEW YORK (AP) — OpenAI whistleblowers have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and asked the agency to investigate whether the ChatGPT maker illegally restricted workers from speaking out about the risks of its artificial intelligence technology.

    A letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler representing “one or more anonymous and confidential” whistleblowers asks the agency to swiftly and aggressively enforce its rules against non-disclosure agreements that discourage employees or investors from raising concerns with regulators.

    The July 1 letter references a formal whistleblower complaint recently filed with the SEC. The Washington Post was the first to report on the letter.

    U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley’s office shared a copy of the letter with The Associated Press, noting it was provided to his office by legally protected whistleblowers.

    “OpenAI’s policies and practices appear to cast a chilling effect on whistleblowers’ right to speak up and receive due compensation for their protected disclosures,” said Grassley, an Iowa Republican, in a written statement. “In order for the federal government to stay one step ahead of artificial intelligence, OpenAI’s nondisclosure agreements must change.”

    OpenAI said in a statement that its policies protect employees’ rights to make protected disclosures. The company also noted that it’s already made changes to remove “nondisparagement terms” that could punish departing employees if they criticize the company after they leave.

    SEC didn’t respond to a request for comment Monday and doesn’t typically comment on whether or not it is opening an investigation.

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  • OpenAI whistleblowers ask SEC to investigate the company’s non-disclosure agreements with employees

    OpenAI whistleblowers ask SEC to investigate the company’s non-disclosure agreements with employees

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    FILE – An OpenAI logo is shown on May 29, 2024, in Los Angeles. OpenAI whistleblowers have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and asked the agency to investigate whether the company illegally restricted workers from speaking out about the risks of its artificial intelligence technology.(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

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  • European Union says X’s blue checks are deceptive

    European Union says X’s blue checks are deceptive

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    LONDON — The European Union said Friday that blue checkmarks from Elon Musk’s X are deceptive and that the online platform falls short on transparency and accountability requirements, the first charges against a tech company since the bloc’s new social media regulations took effect.

    The European Commission outlined the preliminary findings from its investigation into X, formerly known as Twitter, under the 27-nation bloc’s Digital Services Act.

    The rulebook, also known as the DSA, is a sweeping set of regulations that requires platforms to take more responsibility for protecting their European users and cleaning up harmful or illegal content and products on their sites, under threat of hefty fines.

    Regulators took aim at X’s blue checks, saying they constitute “dark patterns” that are not in line with industry best practice and can be used by malicious actors to deceive users.

    Before Musk’s acquisition, the checkmarks mirrored verification badges common on social media and were largely reserved for celebrities, politicians and other influential accounts. After Musk bought the site in 2022, it started issuing them to anyone who paid $8 per month for one.

    “Since anyone can subscribe to obtain such a ‘verified” status’ it negatively affects users’ ability to make free and informed decisions about the authenticity of the accounts and the content they interact with,” the commission said.

    An email request for comment to X resulted in an automated response that said “Busy now, please check back later.” Its main spokesman reportedly left the company in June.

    “Back in the day, BlueChecks used to mean trustworthy sources of information,” European Commissioner Thierry Breton said in a statement. “Now with X, our preliminary view is that they deceive users and infringe the DSA.”

    The commission also charged X with failing to comply with ad transparency rules. Under the DSA platforms must publish a database of all digital advertisements that they’ve carried, with details such as who paid for them and the intended audience.

    But X’s ad database isn’t “searchable and reliable” and has “design features and access barriers” that make it “unfit for its transparency purpose,” the commission said. The database’s design in particular hinders researchers from looking into “emerging risks” from online ads, it said.

    The company also falls short when it comes to giving researchers access to public data, the commission said. The DSA imposes the provisions so that researchers can scrutinize how platforms work and how online risks evolve.

    But researchers can’t independently access data by scraping it from the site, while the process to request access from the company through an interface “appears to dissuade researchers” from carrying out their projects or gives them no choice but to pay high fees, it said.

    X now has a chance to respond to the accusations and make changes to comply, which would be legally binding. If the commission isn’t satisfied, it can levy penalties worth up to 6% of the company’s annual global revenue and order it to fix the problem.

    The findings are only a part of the investigation. Regulators are still looking into whether X is failing to do enough to curb the spread of illegal content — such as hate speech or incitement of terrorism — and the effectiveness of measures to combat “ information manipulation,” especially through its crowd-sourced Community Notes fact-checking feature.

    TikTok, e-commerce site AliExpress and Facebook and Instagram owner Meta Platforms are also facing ongoing DSA investigations.

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  • Fed’s Powell highlights slowing job market in signal that rate cuts may be nearing

    Fed’s Powell highlights slowing job market in signal that rate cuts may be nearing

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    WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve faces a cooling job market as well as persistently high prices, Chair Jerome Powell said in testimony Tuesday, a shift in emphasis away from the Fed’s single-minded fight against inflation of the past two years that suggests it is moving closer to cutting interest rates.

    The Fed has made “considerable progress” toward its goal of defeating the worst inflation spike in four decades, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee.

    “Inflation has eased notably” in the past two years, he added, though it still remains above the central bank’s 2% target.

    Powell pointedly noted that “elevated inflation is not the only risk we face.” Cutting rates “too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment,” he said.

    The Fed chair is addressing the Senate panel on the first of two days of semi-annual testimony to Congress. On Wednesday, he will testify to the House Financial Services Committee.

    From March 2022 to July 2023, the Fed raised its benchmark interest rate 11 times to a two-decade high of 5.3% to fight inflation, which peaked at 9.1% two years ago. Those hikes increased the cost of consumer borrowing by raising rates for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, among other forms of borrowing. The goal was to slow borrowing and spending and cool the economy.

    In the past, Powell and other Fed policymakers have repeatedly stressed that the economy’s strength and low unemployment rate meant they could be patient about cutting rates and wait to ensure that inflation was truly in check.

    But on Tuesday, Powell said the job market has “cooled while remaining strong.” And he added that the economy’s growth has moderated after a strong expansion in the second half of last year. Last week, the government reported that hiring remained solid in June, though the unemployment rate rose for a third straight month to 4.1%.

    Powell did not provide what Wall Street investors are watching for most closely: Any clear indication of the timing for when the Fed might make its first rate cut. But his testimony will likely harden investors’ and economists’ expectations that the first reduction will come at the central bank’s September meeting.

    “It doesn’t seem likely that the next policy move would be a rate increase,” Powell said in response to a question from Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat. “As we make more progress on inflation … we begin to loosen policy at the right moment.”

    Powell also told the senators that the Fed and other financial regulators will revamp a proposal from last year that would have significantly increased the amount of capital that banks would be required to hold to offset potential losses. The largest U.S. banks strenuously objected to the proposal. They argued that the stricter capital requirements would have forced them to reduce lending to consumers and businesses.

    U.S. financial institutions ran TV ads against the proposal, known as the “Basel III endgame,” which reflected the results of international talks on financial oversight that emerged from the 2007-2008 financial crisis. Powell said the three main financial regulators — the Fed, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency — were close to agreeing on a new proposal that would be subject to public comment.

    Last week, Powell said at a monetary policy conference in Portugal that there had been “quite a bit of progress on inflation,” something that Fed officials have said they need to see consistently before they would feel confident enough to cut rates. In May, year-over-year inflation fell to just 2.6%, according to the Fed’s preferred measure, not far above its 2% target and down sharply from a peak of 7.1% two years ago.

    On Thursday, the government will issue the latest reading of the better-known consumer price index. The CPI is expected to show a yearly increase of just 3.1% in June, down from 3.3% in May.

    Such signs of cooling inflation, along with evidence that the economy and job market are slowing, have intensified calls for the Fed to cut it benchmark rate. Several Democratic senators, including Sherrod Brown of Ohio, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, have written letters to Powell, urging him to start reducing rates.

    Investors have put the likelihood of a Fed rate cut in September at about 76%, according to CME FedWatch, up from just 50-50 a month ago.

    Powell’s comments last week and minutes from the Fed’s June meeting released last week have boosted that probability. The Fed chair noted that inflation resumed its slowdown after data for the first three months of this year had suggested that inflation might be picking up. And the minutes showed that most Fed officials believe the economy is cooling, which makes a rate cut more likely.

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  • GM to pay $146M in federal penalties over older vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions

    GM to pay $146M in federal penalties over older vehicles’ carbon dioxide emissions

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    WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards.

    The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday that certain GM vehicles from the 2012 through 2018 model years did not comply with federal fuel economy requirements.

    The fine comes after the Environmental Protection Agency said its testing showed the GM pickup trucks and SUVs emit 10% more carbon dioxide on average than GM’s initial compliance testing claimed.

    The EPA says the vehicles will remain on the road and cannot be repaired. The GM vehicles on average consume about 10% more fuel than the window sticker numbers say, but the company won’t be required to reduce the miles per gallon on the stickers, the EPA said.

    “Our investigation has achieved accountability and upholds an important program that’s reducing air pollution and protecting communities across the country,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said.

    GM said in a statement that it complied with all regulations in pollution and mileage certification of its vehicles. The company said it is not admitting to any wrongdoing nor that it failed to comply with the Clean Air Act.

    The problem stems from a change in testing procedures that the EPA put in place in 2016, GM spokesman Bill Grotz said.

    Owners don’t have to take any action because there is no defect in the vehicles, Grotz said.

    “We believe this voluntary action is the best course of action to resolve the outstanding issues with the federal government,” he said.

    The enforcement action involves about 4.6 million full-size pickups and SUVs and about 1.3 million midsize SUVs, the EPA said. The affected models include the Chevy Tahoe, Cadillac Escalade and Chevy Silverado. About 40 variations of GM vehicles are covered.

    GM will be forced to give up credits used to ensure that manufacturers’ greenhouse gas emissions are below the fleet standard for emissions that applies for that model year, the EPA said.

    Because GM agreed to address the excess emissions, EPA said it was not necessary to make a formal determination regarding the reasons for the excess emissions.

    But David Cooke, senior vehicles analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists, questioned how GM could not know that pollution exceeded initial test by more than 10% because the problem was so widespread on so many different vehicles. “You don’t just make a more than 10% rounding error,” he said.

    Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Transport Campaign for the environmental group Center for Biological Diversity, said the violations by GM “show why automakers can’t be trusted to protect our air and health, and why we need strong pollution rules. Supreme Court, take notice!”

    The Supreme Court last week rejected a 40-year-old legal doctrine known as Chevron, effectively reducing the power of the EPA and other executive branch agencies and shifting it to the courts. The doctrine has been the basis for upholding thousands of federal regulations but has long been a target of conservatives and business groups, who argue it grants too much power to the executive branch, or what some critics call the administrative state.

    In similar pollution cases in the past, automakers have been fined under the Clean Air Act for such violations, and the Justice Department normally gets involved, Cooke said. Hyundai and Kia, for instance, faced Justice Department action in a similar case.

    The Justice Department declined to comment.

    Cooke said it’s possible that GM owners could sue the company because they are getting lower gas mileage than advertised.

    In 2014, Hyundai and Kia entered into a settlement in which they had to pay a $100 million civil penalty to end a two year investigation into overstated gas mileage on window stickers of 1.2 million vehicles.

    The affiliated Korean automakers denied allegations that they violated the law. Hyundai blamed the inflated mileage on honest misinterpretation of the EPA’s complex rules governing testing.

    ___

    Krisher reported from Detroit.

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  • ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

    ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

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    MIAMI — As Florida’s ban on “lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a last hurrah — at least for now — with a cultivated meat-tasting party in Miami.

    California-based Upside Foods hosted dozens of guests Thursday evening at a rooftop reception in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

    “This is delicious meat,” Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti said. “And we just fundamentally believe that people should have a choice to choose what they want to put on their plate.”

    The U.S. approved the sale of what’s now being called “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultivated chicken.

    Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other states and federal lawmakers also are looking to restrict it, arguing the product could hurt farmers and pose a safety risk to the public.

    While Florida cattle ranchers joined Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never reached out to his company before passing the legislation.

    “It’s pretty clear to us that the governor and the government have been misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we’re asking for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”

    Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.

    Chef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultivated chicken for Thursday’s event, which invited members of the South Florida public to get their first, and possibly last, taste of cultivated meat before Florida’s ban begins Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle crema and beet sprouts.

    “When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks just like chicken, which was insane,” Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”

    Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultivated meat being a more ethical alternative.

    “The texture itself is a little bit different, but the taste was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Like way better than I was expecting.”

    Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed about the texture being different when eating a piece of meat by itself but said it just seemed like normal chicken when he ate the tostada.

    “There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, there’s no way you would ever know.”

    Besides the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultivated meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces is not coming from a lab but from a facility more closely resembling a brewery or a dairy processing plant.

    “We don’t have any confined animals,” Valeti said. “We just have healthy animal cells that are growing in cultivators.”

    The restrictions come despite cultivated meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in a meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but it hasn’t been available at any U.S. grocery stores. Companies have been working to bring down costs by scaling up production, but now they’re also trying to respond to bans with petitions and possible legal action.

    Sean Edgett, Upside Foods chief legal officer, said the company went through a yearslong process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said those federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.

    “We’re hopeful that if lawmakers can’t change their mind and turn things around back to an avenue of progress that the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.

    Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that only has been around for about a decade.

    State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

    “Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

    Valeti isn’t trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.

    “We want to have multiple choices that feed us,” Valeti said. “Some of those choices are conventional farming. Some of those choices are coming from plant-based foods. And cultivated meat is another solid choice.”

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  • ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

    ‘Lab-grown’ meat maker hosts Miami tasting party as Florida ban goes into effect

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    MIAMI — As Florida’s ban on “lab-grown” meat is set to go into effect next week, one manufacturer hosted a last hurrah — at least for now — with a cultivated meat-tasting party in Miami.

    California-based Upside Foods hosted dozens of guests Thursday evening at a rooftop reception in the city’s Wynwood neighborhood, known for its street art, breweries, nightclubs and trendy restaurants.

    “This is delicious meat,” Upside Foods CEO and founder Uma Valeti said. “And we just fundamentally believe that people should have a choice to choose what they want to put on their plate.”

    The U.S. approved the sale of what’s now being called “cell-cultivated” or “cell-cultured” meat for the first time in June 2023, allowing Upside Foods and another California company, Good Meat, to sell cultivated chicken.

    Earlier this year, Florida and Alabama banned the sale of cultivated meat and seafood, which is grown from animal cells. Other states and federal lawmakers also are looking to restrict it, arguing the product could hurt farmers and pose a safety risk to the public.

    While Florida cattle ranchers joined Gov. Ron DeSantis when he signed the ban into law in May, Valeti said Florida officials never reached out to his company before passing the legislation.

    “It’s pretty clear to us that the governor and the government have been misinformed,” Valeti said. “And all we’re asking for is a chance to have a direct conversation and say, ‘this is proven science, this is proven safety.’”

    Cultivated products are grown in steel tanks using cells from a living animal, a fertilized egg or a storage bank. The cells are fed with special blends of water, sugar, fats and vitamins. Once they’ve grown, they’re formed into cutlets, nuggets and other shapes.

    Chef Mika Leon, owner of Caja Caliente in Coral Gables, prepared the cultivated chicken for Thursday’s event, which invited members of the South Florida public to get their first, and possibly last, taste of cultivated meat before Florida’s ban begins Monday. Leon served chicken tostadas with avocado, chipotle crema and beet sprouts.

    “When you cook it, it sizzles and cooks just like chicken, which was insane,” Leon said. “And then when you go to eat it, it’s juicy.”

    Reception guest Alexa Arteaga said she could imagine cultivated meat being a more ethical alternative.

    “The texture itself is a little bit different, but the taste was really, really good,” Arteaga said. “Like way better than I was expecting.”

    Another guest, Skyler Myers, agreed about the texture being different when eating a piece of meat by itself but said it just seemed like normal chicken when he ate the tostada.

    “There’s no difference,” Myers said. “I mean, there’s no way you would ever know.”

    Besides the ethical issues surrounding the killing of animals, Valeti said cultivated meat avoids many of the health and environmental problems created by the meat industry, such as deforestation, pollution and the spread of disease. He also noted that the meat his company produces is not coming from a lab but from a facility more closely resembling a brewery or a dairy processing plant.

    “We don’t have any confined animals,” Valeti said. “We just have healthy animal cells that are growing in cultivators.”

    The restrictions come despite cultivated meat and seafood still being too expensive to reach the market in a meaningful way. Two high-end U.S. restaurants briefly added the products to their menus, but it hasn’t been available at any U.S. grocery stores. Companies have been working to bring down costs by scaling up production, but now they’re also trying to respond to bans with petitions and possible legal action.

    Sean Edgett, Upside Foods chief legal officer, said the company went through a yearslong process with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration before receiving approval. He said those federal regulations should supersede any state bans, which he believes are unconstitutional.

    “We’re hopeful that if lawmakers can’t change their mind and turn things around back to an avenue of progress that the courts will step in and make that clear,” Edgett said.

    Backers of the bans say they want to protect farmers and consumers from a product that only has been around for about a decade.

    State Sen. Jay Collins, a Republican who sponsored the Florida bill, noted the legislation doesn’t ban research, just the manufacturing and sale of cultivated meat. Collins said safety was his primary motivator, but he also wants to protect Florida agriculture.

    “Let’s not be in a rush to replace something,” Collins said earlier this year. “It’s a billion-dollar industry. We feed a ton of people across the country with our cattle, beef, pork, poultry and fish industries.”

    Valeti isn’t trying to replace any industry, just give people more options, he said.

    “We want to have multiple choices that feed us,” Valeti said. “Some of those choices are conventional farming. Some of those choices are coming from plant-based foods. And cultivated meat is another solid choice.”

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  • Gassy cows and pigs will face a carbon tax in Denmark, a world first

    Gassy cows and pigs will face a carbon tax in Denmark, a world first

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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark — COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Denmark will tax livestock farmers for the greenhouse gases emitted by their cows, sheep and pigs from 2030, the first country to do so as it targets a major source of methane emissions, one of the most potent gases contributing to global warming.

    The aim is to reduce Danish greenhouse gas emissions by 70% from 1990 levels by 2030, said Taxation Minister Jeppe Bruus.

    As of 2030, Danish livestock farmers will be taxed 300 kroner ($43) per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2030. The tax will increase to 750 kroner ($108) by 2035. However, because of an income tax deduction of 60%, the actual cost per ton will start at 120 kroner ($17.3) and increase to 300 kroner by 2035.

    Although carbon dioxide typically gets more attention for its role in climate change, methane traps about 87 times more heat on a 20-year timescale, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

    Levels of methane, which is emitted from sources including landfills, oil and natural gas systems and livestock, have increased particularly quickly since 2020. Livestock account for about 32% of human-caused methane emissions, says the U.N. Environment Program.

    “We will take a big step closer in becoming climate neutral in 2045,” Bruus said, adding Denmark “will be the first country in the world to introduce a real CO2 tax on agriculture” and hoped other countries would follow suit.

    New Zealand had passed a similar law due to take effect in 2025. However, the legislation was removed from the statute book on Wednesday after hefty criticism from farmers and a change of government at the 2023 election from a center-left ruling bloc to a center-right one. New Zealand said it would exclude agriculture from its emissions trading scheme in favor of exploring other ways to reduce methane.

    Almost all of the methane from raising livestock, some 90%, comes from the way they digest, through fermentation, and is released as burps through their mouths. Cows make up most of this belched methane. Most of the remaining 10% of livestock methane comes off manure ponds on both pig and cattle operations.

    In Denmark, the deal was reached late Monday between the center-right government and representatives of farmers, the industry and unions, among others, and presented Tuesday.

    Denmark’s move comes after months of protests by farmers across Europe against climate change mitigation measures and regulations that they say are driving them to bankruptcy.

    The Danish Society for Nature Conservation, the largest nature conservation and environmental organization in Denmark, described the tax agreement as “a historic compromise.”

    “We have succeeded in landing a compromise on a CO2 tax, which lays the groundwork for a restructured food industry -– also on the other side of 2030,” its head Maria Reumert Gjerding said after the talks in which they took part.

    A typical Danish cow produces 6 metric tons (6.6 tons) of CO2 equivalent per year. Denmark, which is a large dairy and pork exporter, also will tax pigs although cows produce far higher emissions than pigs.

    The tax is to be approved in the 179-seat Folketing, or parliament, but the bill is expected to pass after the broad-based consensus.

    According to Statistic Denmark, there were as of June 30, 2022, 1,484,377 cows in the Scandinavian country, a slight drop compared to the previous year.

    ___

    Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment

    ___

    Associated Press writer Charlotte Graham-McLay in Wellington, New Zealand, contributed to this report.

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  • Running out of marijuana, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket get approval to ship pot to the islands

    Running out of marijuana, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket get approval to ship pot to the islands

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    MEREDITH, N.H. — Martha’s Vineyard was running out of pot, just as thousands of summer vacationers were starting to arrive.

    But on Thursday, Massachusetts regulators averted a cannabis drought by issuing an administrative order that will allow pot to be transported to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket islands for the first time.

    On Martha’s Vineyard, one dispensary temporarily closed in May after it ran out of marijuana and another said it would close by September.

    The Island Time dispensary had filed a lawsuit against the state Cannabis Control Commission. The other dispensary, Fine Fettle, was the sole grower of pot on the island and had provided all the pot for sale. But Fine Fettle had said the small grow operation was no longer economically feasible and was closing it down.

    There are more than 230 registered medical users and thousands more recreational ones on Martha’s Vineyard. The year-round population of 20,000 grows to more than 100,000 in the summer, as many wealthy people move into vacation homes.

    Although Massachusetts voters opted to legalize marijuana more than seven years ago, the state commission had previously not allowed transportation of pot to the islands. It had taken the position that transporting pot across the ocean — whether by boat or plane — risked running afoul of federal laws.

    So as to avoid any federal complications, the commission spells out in its administrative order that the route the pot must be transported to the islands must remain entirely within state territorial waters. That means that the marijuana won’t be able to be transported on the ferry but will instead need to be shipped on alternative, approved boats.

    Island Time owner Geoff Rose said he was nothing short of ecstatic.

    “I can’t wait to reopen. My staff is excited,” Rose said. “It’s all good.”

    He said he was still working through the details on delivery but hoped to have the doors to his dispensary reopened sometime next week.

    Adam Fine, a lawyer for Vicente, which is representing the dispensary, said they were ready to drop the lawsuit as soon as Island Time’s delivery boat was inspected, which he said was scheduled to happen on Friday.

    Three of the five commissioners visited Martha’s Vineyard last week to hear directly from affected residents.

    The commission’s acting chairperson, Ava Callender Concepcion, said Thursday she had heard from users on Martha’s Vineyard about how they might be forced to buy the drug from the black market.

    “I’ll only speak for myself. It wasn’t a matter of if, but how do we do it,” she said. “You never want to be putting consumers and patients in a place where they don’t have access to medicine.”

    She said the commission also didn’t want to see dispensaries shut down, especially with the busy summer season approaching.

    “That’s adverse to our whole mission and the way that we operate,” she said.

    She said the commission had reached out to federal authorities and no one voiced opposition to proceeding.

    The tension between conflicting state and federal regulations has played out across the country as states have legalized pot. California law, for example, expressly allows cannabis to be transported to stores on Catalina Island, while Hawaii last year dealt with its own difficulties transporting medical marijuana between islands by amending a law to allow it.

    Federal authorities have also been shifting their position. The Justice Department last month moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug, though still not a legal one for recreational use.

    Meanwhile, New Hampshire remains New England’s lone holdout against legalizing recreational marijuana.

    Legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in New Hampshire died on the House floor Thursday, although the effort got further in the state than it ever has before.

    Previously, the state House has passed multiple legalization bills only to have them blocked in the Senate. This year, both chambers passed bills, but the House declined a compromise on the chambers’ separate bills.

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  • Stock market today: Asian stocks are mixed ahead of this week’s Fed meeting

    Stock market today: Asian stocks are mixed ahead of this week’s Fed meeting

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    HONG KONG — Asian stocks were mixed on Tuesday in a busy week with several top-tier reports on U.S. inflation due along with a policy meeting of the Federal Reserve.

    U.S. futures and oil prices fell.

    In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up 0.1% at 39,092.32 as investors awaited the outcome of a meeting by the Bank of Japan. The central bank raised its benchmark interest rate in March to a range of 0 to 0.1% from minus 0.1%, in its first such increase in 17 years.

    Analysts said markets were leaning toward two rate hikes by the end of this year, with broad expectations of further rate increases as soon as July.

    Hong Kong’s Hang Seng sank 1.1% to 18,165.21, and the Shanghai Composite lost 0.9% to 3,023.46 after reopening from a public holiday. Markets remained cautious ahead of a report on inflation in China due out Wednesday.

    Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 1.4% to 7,748.30. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.3% higher to 2,709.87.

    On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 5,360.79, topping its all-time high set last week. The Nasdaq composite also set a record after rising 0.3% to 17,192.53, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2% to 38,868.04.

    Data on the economy have come in mixed recently, and traders are hoping for a slowdown that stops short of a recession and is just right in magnitude. A cooldown would put less upward pressure on inflation, which could encourage the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate from its most punishing level in more than two decades.

    But the numbers have been hard to parse, with Friday’s stronger-than-expected jobs report coming quickly on the heels of weaker-than-expected reports on U.S. manufacturing and other areas of the economy. Even within U.S. consumer spending, the heart of the economy, there is a sharp divide between lower-income households struggling to keep up with still-high inflation and higher-income households doing much better.

    Companies benefiting from the AI boom are continuing to report big growth almost regardless of what the economy and interest rates are doing.

    Nvidia, for example, is worth roughly $3 trillion and rose 0.7% Monday after reversing an early-morning loss. It was the first day of trading for the company since a 10-for-one stock split made its share price more affordable to investors, after it ballooned to more than $1,000 amid the AI frenzy.

    Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market ahead of reports later in the week that will show whether inflation improved last month at both the consumer and wholesale levels.

    On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its latest decision on interest rates. Virtually no one expects it to move its main interest rate then. But policy makers will be publishing their latest forecasts for where they see interest rates and the economy heading in the future.

    The last time Fed officials released such projections, in March, they indicated the typical member foresaw roughly three cuts to interest rates in 2024. That projection will almost certainly fall this time around. Traders on Wall Street are largely betting on just one or two cuts to rates in 2024, according to data from CME Group.

    In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.46% from 4.43% late Friday. The two-year yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, slipped to 4.88% from 4.89%.

    In other dealings, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave up 3 cents to $77.71 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

    Brent crude, the international standard, was down 14 cents to $81.49 per barrel.

    The U.S. dollar rose to 157.25 Japanese yen from 157.04 yen. The euro climbed to $1.0770 from $1.0766.

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