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  • Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles and singer of ‘Take It to the Limit,’ dies at 77

    Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles and singer of ‘Take It to the Limit,’ dies at 77

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    NEW YORK — Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles who added high harmonies to such favorites as “Take It Easy” and “The Best of My Love” and stepped out front for the waltz-time ballad “Take It to the Limit,” has died, the band said Thursday.

    Meisner died Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement. He was 77.

    The bassist had endured numerous afflictions in recent years and personal tragedy in 2016 when his wife, Lana Rae Meisner, accidentally shot herself and died. Meanwhile, Randy Meisner had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had severe issues with alcohol, according to court records and comments made during a 2015 hearing in which a judge ordered Meisner to receive constant medical care.

    Called “the sweetest man in the music business” by former bandmate Don Felder, the baby-faced Meisner joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon in the early 1970s to form a quintessential Los Angeles band and one of the most popular acts in history.

    “Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band,” the Eagles’ statement said. “His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.’”

    The band said funeral plans were pending.

    Evolving from country rock to hard rock, the Eagles turned out a run of hit singles and albums over the next decade, starting with “Take It Easy” and continuing with “Desperado,” “Hotel California” and “Life In the Fast Lane” among others. Although chastised by many critics as slick and superficial, the Eagles released two of the most popular albums of all time, “Hotel California” and “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975),” which with sales at 38 million the Recording Industry Association of America ranked with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as the No. 1 seller.

    Led by singer-songwriters Henley and Frey, the Eagles were initially branded as “mellow” and “easy listening.” But by their third album, the 1974 release “On the Border,” they had added a rock guitarist, Felder, and were turning away from country and bluegrass.

    Leadon, an old-fashioned bluegrass picker, was unhappy with the new sound and left after the 1975 album “One of These Nights.” (He was replaced by another rock guitarist, Joe Walsh.) Meisner stayed on through the 1976 release of “Hotel California,” the band’s most acclaimed record, but was gone soon after. His departure, ironically, was touched off by the song he cowrote and was best known for, “Take It to the Limit.”

    A shy Nebraskan torn between fame and family life, Meisner had been ill and homesick during the “Hotel California” tour (his first marriage was breaking up) and was reluctant to have the spotlight for “Take It to the Limit,” a showcase for his nasally tenor. His objections during a Knoxville, Tennessee, concert in the summer of 1977 so angered Frey that the two argued backstage and Meisner left soon after. His replacement, Timothy B. Schmit, remained with the group over the following decades, along with Henley, Walsh and Frey, who died in 2016.

    As a solo artist, Meisner never approached the success of the Eagles, but did have hits with “Hearts On Fire” and “Deep Inside My Heart” and played on records by Walsh, James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg among others. Meanwhile, the Eagles ended a 14-year hiatus in 1994 and toured with Schmit even though Meisner had played on all but one of their earlier studio albums. He did join group members past and present in 1998 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed “Take It Easy” and “Hotel California.” For a decade, he was part of World Classic Rockers, a touring act that at various times included Donovan, Spencer Davis and Denny Laine.

    Meisner was married twice, the first time when he was still in his teens, and had three kids.

    The son of sharecroppers and grandson of a classical violinist, Meisner was playing in local bands as a teenager and by the end of the 1960s had moved to California and joined a country rock group, Poco, along with Richie Furay and Jimmy Messina. But he would remember being angered that Furay wouldn’t let him listen to the studio mix of their first album and left the group before it came out: His successor was Timothy B. Schmit.

    Meisner backed Ricky Nelson, played on Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” album and befriended Henley and Frey when all were performing in Linda Ronstadt’s band. With Ronstadt’s blessing, they formed the Eagles, were signed up by David Geffen for his Asylum Records label and released their self-titled debut album in 1972.

    Frey and Henley sang lead most of the time, but Meisner was the key behind “Take It the Limit.” It appeared on the “One of These Nights” album from 1975 and became a top 5 single, a weary, plaintive song later covered by Etta James and as a duet by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

    Meisner’s falsetto voice was so distinctive it became a defining part not only of the Eagles but the entire California sound.

    Meisner’s “high harmonies are instantly recognizable and cherished by Eagles fans around the world,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said in a statement.

    In a pair of 2015 episodes of the parody series “Documentary Now!” about a faux-Eagles band, Bill Hader’s mustachioed, ultra-high-voiced character is clearly inspired by Meisner.

    “The purpose of the whole Eagles thing to me was that combination and the chemistry that made all the harmonies just sound perfect,” Meisner told the music web site www.lobstergottalent.com in 2015. “The funny thing is after we made those albums I never listened to them and it is only when someone comes over or I am at somebody’s house and it gets played in the background that is when I’ll tell myself, ‘Damn, these records are good.’”

    ____

    AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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  • Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles and singer of ‘Take It to the Limit,’ dies at 77

    Randy Meisner, founding member of the Eagles and singer of ‘Take It to the Limit,’ dies at 77

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    NEW YORK — Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles who added high harmonies to such favorites as “Take It Easy” and “The Best of My Love” and stepped out front for the waltz-time ballad “Take It to the Limit,” has died, the band said Thursday.

    Meisner died Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement. He was 77.

    The bassist had endured numerous afflictions in recent years and personal tragedy in 2016 when his wife, Lana Rae Meisner, accidentally shot herself and died. Meanwhile, Randy Meisner had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and had severe issues with alcohol, according to court records and comments made during a 2015 hearing in which a judge ordered Meisner to receive constant medical care.

    Called “the sweetest man in the music business” by former bandmate Don Felder, the baby-faced Meisner joined Don Henley, Glenn Frey and Bernie Leadon in the early 1970s to form a quintessential Los Angeles band and one of the most popular acts in history.

    “Randy was an integral part of the Eagles and instrumental in the early success of the band,” the Eagles’ statement said. “His vocal range was astonishing, as is evident on his signature ballad, ‘Take It to the Limit.’”

    The band said funeral plans were pending.

    Evolving from country rock to hard rock, the Eagles turned out a run of hit singles and albums over the next decade, starting with “Take It Easy” and continuing with “Desperado,” “Hotel California” and “Life In the Fast Lane” among others. Although chastised by many critics as slick and superficial, the Eagles released two of the most popular albums of all time, “Hotel California” and “Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975),” which with sales at 38 million the Recording Industry Association of America ranked with Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” as the No. 1 seller.

    Led by singer-songwriters Henley and Frey, the Eagles were initially branded as “mellow” and “easy listening.” But by their third album, the 1974 release “On the Border,” they had added a rock guitarist, Felder, and were turning away from country and bluegrass.

    Leadon, an old-fashioned bluegrass picker, was unhappy with the new sound and left after the 1975 album “One of These Nights.” (He was replaced by another rock guitarist, Joe Walsh.) Meisner stayed on through the 1976 release of “Hotel California,” the band’s most acclaimed record, but was gone soon after. His departure, ironically, was touched off by the song he cowrote and was best known for, “Take It to the Limit.”

    A shy Nebraskan torn between fame and family life, Meisner had been ill and homesick during the “Hotel California” tour (his first marriage was breaking up) and was reluctant to have the spotlight for “Take It to the Limit,” a showcase for his nasally tenor. His objections during a Knoxville, Tennessee, concert in the summer of 1977 so angered Frey that the two argued backstage and Meisner left soon after. His replacement, Timothy B. Schmit, remained with the group over the following decades, along with Henley, Walsh and Frey, who died in 2016.

    As a solo artist, Meisner never approached the success of the Eagles, but did have hits with “Hearts On Fire” and “Deep Inside My Heart” and played on records by Walsh, James Taylor and Dan Fogelberg among others. Meanwhile, the Eagles ended a 14-year hiatus in 1994 and toured with Schmit even though Meisner had played on all but one of their earlier studio albums. He did join group members past and present in 1998 when they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed “Take It Easy” and “Hotel California.” For a decade, he was part of World Classic Rockers, a touring act that at various times included Donovan, Spencer Davis and Denny Laine.

    Meisner was married twice, the first time when he was still in his teens, and had three kids.

    The son of sharecroppers and grandson of a classical violinist, Meisner was playing in local bands as a teenager and by the end of the 1960s had moved to California and joined a country rock group, Poco, along with Richie Furay and Jimmy Messina. But he would remember being angered that Furay wouldn’t let him listen to the studio mix of their first album and left the group before it came out: His successor was Timothy B. Schmit.

    Meisner backed Ricky Nelson, played on Taylor’s “Sweet Baby James” album and befriended Henley and Frey when all were performing in Linda Ronstadt’s band. With Ronstadt’s blessing, they formed the Eagles, were signed up by David Geffen for his Asylum Records label and released their self-titled debut album in 1972.

    Frey and Henley sang lead most of the time, but Meisner was the key behind “Take It the Limit.” It appeared on the “One of These Nights” album from 1975 and became a top 5 single, a weary, plaintive song later covered by Etta James and as a duet by Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.

    Meisner’s falsetto voice was so distinctive it became a defining part not only of the Eagles but the entire California sound.

    Meisner’s “high harmonies are instantly recognizable and cherished by Eagles fans around the world,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said in a statement.

    In a pair of 2015 episodes of the parody series “Documentary Now!” about a faux-Eagles band, Bill Hader’s mustachioed, ultra-high-voiced character is clearly inspired by Meisner.

    “The purpose of the whole Eagles thing to me was that combination and the chemistry that made all the harmonies just sound perfect,” Meisner told the music web site www.lobstergottalent.com in 2015. “The funny thing is after we made those albums I never listened to them and it is only when someone comes over or I am at somebody’s house and it gets played in the background that is when I’ll tell myself, ‘Damn, these records are good.’”

    ____

    AP Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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  • Mounting job vacancies push state and local governments into a wage war for workers

    Mounting job vacancies push state and local governments into a wage war for workers

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    FULTON, Mo. — At the entrance to Missouri prisons, large signs plead for help: “NOW HIRING” … “GREAT PAY & BENEFITS.”

    No experience is necessary. Anyone 18 and older can apply. Long hours are guaranteed.

    Though the assertion of “great pay” for prison guards would have seemed dubious in the past, a series of state pay raises prompted by widespread vacancies has finally made a difference. The Missouri Department of Corrections set a record for new applicants last month.

    “After we got our raise, we started seeing people come out of the woodwork, people that hadn’t worked in a while,” said Maj. Albin Narvaez, chief of custody at the Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center, where new prisoners are housed and evaluated.

    Public employers across the U.S. have faced similar struggles to fill jobs, leading to one of the largest surges in state government pay raises in 15 years. Many cities, counties and school districts also are hiking wages to try to retain and attract workers amid aggressive competition from private sector employers.

    The wage war comes as governments and taxpayers feel the consequences of empty positions.

    In Kansas City, Missouri, a shortage of 911 operators doubled the average hold times for people calling in emergencies. In one Florida county, some schoolchildren frequently arrived late as a lack of bus drivers delayed routes. In Arkansas, abused and neglected kids remained longer in foster care because of a caseworker shortage. In various cities and states, vacancies on road crews meant cracks and potholes took longer to fix than many motorists might like.

    “A lot of the jobs we’re talking about are hard jobs,” said Leslie Scott Parker, executive director of the National Association of State Personnel Executives.

    Lingering vacancies “eventually affects service to the public or response times to needs,” she added.

    Workforce shortages worsened across all sorts of jobs due to a wave of retirements and resignations that began during the pandemic. Many businesses, from restaurants to hospitals, responded nimbly with higher wages and incentives to attract employees. But governments by nature are slower to act, requiring pay raises to go through a legislative process that can take months to complete — and then can take months more to kick in.

    Meanwhile, vacancies mounted.

    In Georgia, state employee turnover hit a high of 25% in 2022. Thousands of workers left the Department of Corrections, pushing its vacancy rate to around 50%. The state began a series of pay raises. This year, all state employees and teachers got at least a $2,000 raise, with corrections officers getting $4,000 and state troopers $6,000.

    The Georgia Department of Corrections used an ad agency to bolster recruitment and held an average of 125 job fairs a month. It’s starting to pay off. In the first week of July, the department received 318 correctional officer applications — nearly double the weekly norm, said department Public Affairs Director Joan Heath.

    Almost 1 in 4 positions — more than 2,500 jobs — were empty in the Missouri Department of Corrections late last year, which was twice the pre-pandemic vacancy rate in 2019.

    Missouri gave state workers a 7.5% pay raise in 2022. This spring, Gov. Mike Parson signed an emergency spending bill with an additional 8.7% raise, plus an extra $2 an hour for people working evening and night shifts at prisons, mental health facilities and other institutions. The vacancy rate for entry level corrections officers now is declining, and the average number of applications for all state positions is up 18% since the start of last year.

    At the Fulton prison, where staff shortages have led to a standard 52-hour work week, newly hired employees can earn around $60,000 annually — an amount roughly equal to the state’s median household income. The prison also is proposing to provide free child care to correctional officers willing to work nights.

    If prison staffing is too low, “it can get dangerous” for both inmates and guards, Narvaez said.

    Public safety concerns also have arisen in Kansas City, where a country music fan attacked before a concert last month waited four minutes for a 911 call to be answered and an hour for an ambulance to arrive. About one-quarter of 911 call center positions are vacant — “a huge factor” in the longer wait times to answer calls, said Tamara Bazzle, assistant manager of the communications unit for the Kansas City Police Department.

    In Biddeford, Maine, a 15-person roster of 911 dispatchers dipped to just eight employees in July as people quit a “pressure cooker job” for less stress or better pay elsewhere, Police Chief JoAnne Fisk said. The city is now offering fully certified dispatchers $41 an hour to help plug the gaps on a part-time basis — $10 an hour more than comparable new workers normally would earn.

    This month, Biddeford also launched a $2,000 bonus for city employees who refer others who get jobs. That comes a year after Biddeford adopted a four-day work week with paid lunch periods to try to make jobs more appealing, said City Manager Jim Bennett.

    To attract workers, other governments have dropped college degree requirements and spiced up drab job descriptions.

    Nationally, the turnover rate in state and local governments is twice the average of the previous two decades, according federal labor statistics.

    Uncompetitive wages were the most common reason for leaving cited in exit interviews, according to a survey of 249 state and local government human resource managers conducted by MissionSquare Research Institute, a Washington, D.C. -based nonprofit. The hardest positions to fill included police and corrections officers, doctors, nurses, engineers and jobs requiring commercial driver’s licenses.

    Along Florida’s east coast, the Brevard County transit system and school district have been competing for bus drivers. On days when drivers are lacking, the transit system has cut the frequency of bus stops on some routes. The school system, meanwhile, has asked some bus drivers to run a second route after dropping children off at school, often resulting in the second busload arriving late.

    Since 2022, the county has twice raised bus driver wages to a current rate of $17.47 an hour. The school board recently countered with a $5 increase to a minimum $20 an hour for the upcoming school year. The goal is to hire enough drivers to regularly get kids to class on time, said school system communications director Russell Bruhn.

    In Arkansas, the goal is to get foster kids into permanent homes in less than a year. But during the first three months of this year, the state met that target for just 32% of foster children — well below the national standard of over 40%. More than one-fifth of the roughly 1,400 positions in the Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services are vacant.

    Many new employees leave in less than two years because of heavy caseloads and the “very difficult, emotionally tolling work,” Mischa Martin, the Department of Human Services’ deputy secretary of youth and families, told lawmakers last month.

    “If we had a knowledgeable, experienced workforce,” she said, “they would be able to work cases in a better way to get kids home quicker.”

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  • Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix

    Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix

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    WASHINGTON — The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram to deliver content to users have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies published Thursday suggest addressing these challenges is not as simple as tweaking the platforms’ software.

    The four research papers, published in Science and Nature, also reveal the extent of political echo chambers on Facebook, where conservatives and liberals rely on divergent sources of information, interact with opposing groups and consume distinctly different amounts of misinformation.

    Algorithms are the automated systems that social media platforms use to suggest content for users by making assumptions based on the groups, friends, topics and headlines a user has clicked on in the past. While they excel at keeping users engaged, algorithms have been criticized for amplifying misinformation and ideological content that has worsened the country’s political divisions.

    Proposals to regulate these systems are among the most discussed ideas for addressing social media’s role in spreading misinformation and encouraging polarization. But when the researchers changed the algorithms for some users during the 2020 election, they saw little difference.

    “We find that algorithms are extremely influential in people’s on-platform experiences and there is significant ideological segregation in political news exposure,” said Talia Jomini Stroud, director of the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the leaders of the studies. “We also find that popular proposals to change social media algorithms did not sway political attitudes.”

    While political differences are a function of any healthy democracy, polarization occurs when those differences begin to pull citizens apart from each other and the societal bonds they share. It can undermine faith in democratic institutions and the free press.

    Significant division can undermine confidence in democracy or democratic institutions and lead to “affective polarization,” when citizens begin to view each other more as enemies than legitimate opposition. It’s a situation that can lead to violence, as it did when supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    To conduct the analysis, researchers obtained unprecedented access to Facebook and Instagram data from the 2020 election through a collaboration with Meta, the platforms’ owners. The researchers say Meta exerted no control over their findings.

    When they replaced the algorithm with a simple chronological listing of posts from friends — an option Facebook recently made available to users — it had no measurable impact on polarization. When they turned off Facebook’s reshare option, which allows users to quickly share viral posts, users saw significantly less news from untrustworthy sources and less political news overall, but there were no significant changes to their political attitudes.

    Likewise, reducing the content that Facebook users get from accounts with the same ideological alignment had no significant effect on polarization, susceptibility to misinformation or extremist views.

    Together, the findings suggest that Facebook users seek out content that aligns with their views and that the algorithms help by “making it easier for people to do what they’re inclined to do,” according to David Lazer, a Northeastern University professor who worked on all four papers.

    Eliminating the algorithm altogether drastically reduced the time users spent on either Facebook or Instagram while increasing their time on TikTok, YouTube or other sites, showing just how important these systems are to Meta in the increasingly crowded social media landscape.

    In response to the papers, Meta’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, said the findings showed “there is little evidence that key features of Meta’s platforms alone cause harmful ‘affective’ polarization or has any meaningful impact on key political attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.”

    Katie Harbath, Facebook’s former director of public policy, said they showed the need for greater research on social media and challenged assumptions about the role social media plays in American democracy. Harbath was not involved in the research.

    “People want a simple solution and what these studies show is that it’s not simple,” said Harbath, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the CEO of the tech and politics firm Anchor Change. “To me, it reinforces that when it comes to polarization, or people’s political beliefs, there’s a lot more that goes into this than social media.”

    One organization that’s been critical of Meta’s role in spreading misinformation about elections and voting called the research “limited’ and noted that it was only a snapshot taken in the midst of an election, and didn’t take into account the effects of years of social media misinformation.

    Free Press, a non-profit that advocates for civil rights in tech and media, called Meta’s use of the research ”calculated spin.”

    “Meta execs are seizing on limited research as evidence that they shouldn’t share blame for increasing political polarization and violence,” Nora Benavidez, the group’s senior counsel and director of digital justice and civil rights said in a statement. “Studies that Meta endorses, which look piecemeal at narrow time periods, shouldn’t serve as excuses for allowing lies to spread.”

    The four studies also revealed the extent of the ideological differences of Facebook users and the different ways that conservatives and liberals use the platform to get news and information about politics.

    Conservative Facebook users are more likely to consume content that has been labeled misinformation by fact-checkers. They also have more sources to choose from. The analysis found that among the websites included in political Facebook posts, far more cater to conservatives than liberals.

    Overall, 97% of the political news sources on Facebook identified by fact-checkers as having spread misinformation were more popular with conservatives than liberals.

    The authors of the papers acknowledged some limitations to their work. While they found that changing Facebook’s algorithms had little impact on polarization, they note that the study only covered a few months during the 2020 election, and therefore cannot assess the long-term impact that algorithms have had since their use began years ago.

    They also noted that most people get their news and information from a variety of sources — television, radio, the internet and word-of-mouth — and that those interactions could affect people’s opinions, too. Many in the United States blame the news media for worsening polarization.

    To complete their analyses, the researchers pored over data from millions of users of Facebook and Instagram and surveyed specific users who agreed to participate. All identifying information about specific users was stripped out for privacy reasons.

    Lazer, the Northeastern professor, said he was at first skeptical that Meta would give the researchers the access they needed, but was pleasantly surprised. He said the conditions imposed by the company were related to reasonable legal and privacy concerns. More studies from the collaboration will be released in coming months.

    “There is no study like this,” he said of the research published Thursday. “There’s been a lot of rhetoric about this, but in many ways the research has been quite limited.”

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  • ‘Jackass’ star Bam Margera to stand trial on assault charge in fight with brother, judge rules

    ‘Jackass’ star Bam Margera to stand trial on assault charge in fight with brother, judge rules

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    WEST CHESTER, Pa. — WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — “Jackass” star Bam Margera must stand trial on charges that he punched his brother during an altercation at their home near Philadelphia, a judge ruled Thursday while ordering him to get a drug and alcohol screening to remain free on bail.

    Margera, 43, has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges, which include simple assault and making terroristic threats. He has been free on $50,000 bail and said Thursday that he has been in drug and alcohol treatment this year and living with former Los Angeles Lakers star Lamar Odom.

    “I’m not trying to get him in trouble here. I just want him to get the help because I feel like this is our last chance,” Margera’s brother, Jess Margera, said in testifying about what he called two decades of troubling behavior by his brother, which he said escalated during a “frightening and unpredictable” two-week visit home in April.

    He said that Bam — upset on a Sunday morning after seeing a text that suggested he needed mental health treatment — struck him in the nose and ear and ruptured his eardrum. Jess Margera’s girlfriend called police after Bam kicked in her bedroom door, he said.

    “I don’t know what we’re doing here,” lawyer Michael van der Veen said. “This is a disagreement between two brothers on a Sunday morning over coffee.”

    He argued that the brothers often perform such antics for the cameras. The Chester County magistrate rejected the argument, noting that no cameras were rolling at the time.

    Prosecutors agreed to drop two of four counts of terroristic threats stemming from allegations that Bam Margera threatened to shoot various family members and left his brother a threatening note. Neither the brother nor prosecutors suggested that he had access to a gun.

    By the end of the hearing — which was delayed for several hours by Bam Margera’s delayed flight from California — both sides seemed most interested in ensuring that he remains in treatment.

    “We want to make sure you’re safe, secure and alive,” said Judge Albert Iacocca, who asked what had motivated him to go to treatment this year.

    “To see my son Phoenix, who’s 5,” Bam Margera said.

    Margera, who also starred in the MTV reality series “Viva La Bam,” wrote on social media after his arrest that the allegations “are not true,” and the brothers threatened to sue each other over the conflict.

    “I don’t care about the money,” Jess Barbera said Thursday. “My brother’s a good dude when he’s not messed up. I don’t think he would hurt a fly. It’s just when he’s been up for days, it’s scary.”

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  • Dozens of smuggled people found working in ‘horrible’ conditions at illegal California pot plant

    Dozens of smuggled people found working in ‘horrible’ conditions at illegal California pot plant

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    Authorities in California’s Central Valley say they’ve found dozens of people working and living in “horrible” conditions at an illegal marijuana plant

    In this photo released by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office is the scene where deputies located multiple people processing several hundreds of pounds of finished marijuana product in Merced, Calif., Wednesday, July 26, 2023. Dozens of people who apparently were smuggled into the United States were found working and living in “horrible” conditions at an illegal marijuana plant in California’s Central Valley, authorities announced Thursday. (Merced County Sheriff’s Office via AP)

    The Associated Press

    MERCED, Calif. — Dozens of people who apparently were smuggled into the United States were found working and living in “horrible” conditions at an illegal marijuana plant in California’s Central Valley, authorities said Thursday.

    Deputies served a search warrant Wednesday afternoon at a site on unincorporated land near the city of Merced and discovered the operation. Images posted online by the Merced County Sheriff’s Office showed trays, bags and boxes stuffed with what looked to be marijuana in a run-down interior space.

    “We literally have thousands of pounds of finished marijuana from an illegal grow and illegal source,” Sheriff Vern Warnke said in a video.

    Deputies found 60 people working there including men and women who were offered various unspecified resources, plus one juvenile, who was seen by child welfare authorities and released to a parent, the Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

    “Our investigators learned that these individuals arrived at the property several days prior with the promise that they would have a good-paying job and a place to stay,” the statement said.

    “Once there, they were forced to process marijuana while staying in horrible living conditions to pay back the individuals that brought them across the border,” it continued, without giving details on those conditions.

    “These folks are indentured, they owe money … they’re scared to death,” Warnke said.

    “It’s heart-wrenching. So we’re going to try and take care of these folks,” he added.

    Authorities didn’t disclose their countries of origin.

    Three goats and two dogs that were not being cared for adequately were also rescued, according to the statement.

    No arrests were made but investigators were “working tirelessly to find the individuals responsible,” the Sheriff’s Office said.

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  • The Angels say they won’t trade Shohei Ohtani. He celebrates with a 1-hitter, 2 homers

    The Angels say they won’t trade Shohei Ohtani. He celebrates with a 1-hitter, 2 homers

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    DETROIT — DETROIT (AP) — Shohei Ohtani looked his manager in the eye and in just a few words, left no doubt of his intentions.

    “I’ll finish it,” Los Angeles Angels manager Phil Nevin recalled Ohtani telling him after the eighth inning of what became his first complete game in Major League Baseball. “He wanted it. I could see it, too.”

    Ohtani polished off his one-hit shutout of the Detroit Tigers, then continued his extraordinary day in the second game of Thursday’s doubleheader, hitting two homers to increase his major league-leading total to 38. The two-way superstar became the first player in major league history to throw a shutout in one half a doubleheader and hit one homer — much less two — in the other.

    Hours before Ohtani delivered the message to his manager, the Angels delivered one of their own.

    The franchise, desperate to make the playoffs for the first time since 2014, made a win-now trade to bolster its pitching staff and confirmed that Ohtani will stay for the rest of the season before he becomes a free agent.

    “We’re going to roll the dice and see what happens,” Angels general manager Perry Minasian told reporters before Ohtani led Los Angeles to a 6-0 win over the Tigers in Game 1 of the doubleheader, just days before MLB’s trade deadline.

    Ohtani’s start was his best in the majors, a one-hitter with eight strikeouts on 111 pitches, including fastballs nearing 100 mph and wicked sliders and splitters that left the Tigers flailing.

    In Game 2, Ohtani returned to the designated hitter role. The left-handed hitter hit a two-run homer to left in the second inning and a line drive to right-center in the fourth.

    Ohtani became the second player since at least 1900 to throw a one-hit shutout or better and hit a home run on the same day, joining Philadelphia’s Rick Wise, who hit a two-run homer during his no-hitter against Cincinnati on June 23, 1971.

    It was just the latest display of why Ohtani could have landed a huge prospect haul in a trade, and why he’s expected to cash in on perhaps the world’s most lucrative contract in any sport this offseason.

    Some speculate the 29-year-old might make $500-600 million on the open market , but the recent developments don’t seem to affect his thinking.

    “From the beginning, my plan was to finish strong this season with the Angels,” Ohtani said through a translator after his gem on the mound. “I don’t think things are really going to change mentally.

    “But all the people talking about the trades, that’s going to be all gone. So I feel like I’m just focused on taking this team to the playoffs.”

    The Angels are, too.

    They’re motivated to get rid of their reputation for wasting the talents of MVPs Mike Trout and Ohtani. The Arte Moreno-owned ballclub has the majors’ longest streaks of consecutive losing seasons (seven) and consecutive non-playoff seasons (eight, tied with Detroit).

    The Angels plan to hold onto Ohtani for as long as they can.

    “I never went up to Shohei and said, ‘Hey, we’re not trading you,’” Minasian said. “Think I made it pretty clear the last time we talked, I think, that he wasn’t going anywhere.”

    The 2021 AL MVP leads the majors in homers and OPS at the plate and is among the leaders in opponent batting average and strikeouts on the mound.

    “He’s doing the impossible,” Tigers manager A.J. Hinch said. “We’re playing against a generational talent.”

    When Chad Wallach tracked down a popup in foul territory for the final out of the fifth, Ohtani went out of his way to pick up the catcher’s mask and hand it to him.

    He really can do it all.

    “I love Shohei Ohtani,” Minasian said. “He comes in, prepares, works, goes out and performs on a nightly basis. Obviously, does both (hitting and pitching). He’s a great teammate. He takes this really seriously. He eats it. He sleeps it.

    “He’s somebody that we would love to have going forward.”

    Aiming to bolster their chances of challenging for the AL West title or earning a wild card if they fall short in the division, the Angels acquired right-handers Lucas Giolito and Reynaldo López from the Chicago White Sox on Wednesday night. Giolito is expected to make his Angels debut Friday night against Toronto.

    “I think this is the first time in my six years that we’re buyers,” Ohtani said.

    The Angels also made another decision, designating 2021 All-Star slugger Jared Walsh for assignment. Walsh hit .119 with one homer and five RBIs in 28 games this season, coming off an injury-stunted 2022. He’s been struggling with headaches and insomnia this year.

    “Gone through some hard times, and he’s trying to find it back,” manager Phil Nevin said. “I know he’ll keep working. I hope he remains with us because I know when he gets on top of his game, we’re a better team with him.”

    ___

    AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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  • ‘Whale ballet’: Video shows 3 humpbacks jump in unison, a birthday surprise for man and daughters

    ‘Whale ballet’: Video shows 3 humpbacks jump in unison, a birthday surprise for man and daughters

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    A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday with his three daughters saw something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous: three whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison

    This still image from video provided by Robert Addie shows three humpback whales leaping from the water off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., on Monday, July 24, 2023. Robert Addie, celebrating his birthday on the ocean with his three daughters, captured video of the three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison. (Robert Addie via AP)

    The Associated Press

    PORSTMOUTH, N.H. — A New Hampshire man celebrating his birthday on the ocean with his three daughters captured video of something so rare that even marine scientists are jealous — three humpback whales leaping from the water in near perfect unison.

    “It was such an uplifting thing to see. Just incredible,” Robert Addie said.

    The Portsmouth man, now a home remodeler, spent decades on the water as a commercial fisherman in Massachusetts and Alaska. In that time, he said he’s seen thousands of whales.

    But he never witnessed anything like Monday’s whale encounter on a tuna fishing trip off Cape Cod. The excursion with his daughters was for his 59th birthday, as well as to celebrate his safe return from a humanitarian aid trip to Ukraine where he came under heavy artillery fire.

    During the fishing trip, he was trying to film some humpback whales about 300 yards (275 meters) from their boat and was having no luck, until he got what he called a “whale ballet.”

    “A triple breach is unheard of and a synchronized triple breach is even rarer,” he said. “It’s once in a lifetime. Just very fortunate. I feel God shined down on me to allow me to to capture that.”

    To add to the thrill, seconds after the three whales breached and twisted through the air, a juvenile whale did the same thing. Whale experts later told Addie that the aerial maneuvers may have been an attempt to remove parasites or aid digestion.

    He has another theory: “I have a feeling that maybe they were teaching or training” the younger whale.

    Those same experts also know how rare the spectacle was.

    “Even some of the whale experts that have reached out to me, they’re all jealous because they’ve never seen it,” Addie said.

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  • Suffocating heat wave in metro Phoenix starts easing after first major monsoon storm of the season

    Suffocating heat wave in metro Phoenix starts easing after first major monsoon storm of the season

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    The persistent heat wave that suffocated Phoenix for most of July was slightly easing on Thursday after the first major monsoon storm of the season kicked up dust and high winds and brought the first measurable rainfall in months

    ByANITA SNOW Associated Press

    A jet takes flight as heat ripples radiate from the runway, Tuesday, July 25, 2023 at Sky Harbor International Airport, in Phoenix. Phoenix this month shattered its record for consecutive days in which the temperature reached at least 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius), standing at 26 days and counting as of Tuesday. (AP Photo/Matt York)

    The Associated Press

    PHOENIX — The persistent heat wave that has suffocated Phoenix for most of July was slightly easing Thursday after the first major monsoon storm of the season kicked up dust and high winds and brought the first measurable rainfall in some areas since March.

    The Wednesday night storm, featuring high winds hitting over 60 mph (96.5 kph), ripped the roofs and awnings off numerous manufactured homes in Mesa. It even lifted the roof of a small one-story apartment building in that Phoenix suburb, pushing the overnight low below 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32.2 degrees Celsius) for the first time in 16 days.

    “The heat wave is not over yet,” said Tom Frieders, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. “It will continue to be hot, but we’re hoping that once we get beyond Saturday it will start to cool off.”

    The Wednesday night storm brought heavy dust, lightning and rainfall of 0.25 inches (0.63 cm) to 1 inch (2.54 cm) in some locations, according to the Maricopa County Flood Control District.

    No injuries were reported, but some people in that area temporarily lost power when utility poles were knocked down. Scores of trees were toppled across the region.

    Despite the storm, an excessive heat warning remained in effect for Phoenix through Saturday night. The high was forecast to hit 115 degrees Fahrenheit (46.1 degrees Celsius) on Thursday, and temperatures were expected to remain above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) at least through Sunday.

    By Monday, the high was forecast to fall to 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 degrees Celsius).

    In the meantime, isolated scattered thunderstorms are possible across south-central Arizona for the rest of this week, with brief, localized downpours and blowing dust that could reduce visibility.

    Possible hazards from thunderstorms are expected to increase over the weekend and into next week.

    Until then, the heat will remain extremely dangerous, Frieders said.

    Heat-associated deaths have continued to rise in recent weeks, with seven more confirmed in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, as of Saturday. That brought the county’s total confirmed for the year so far to 25.

    There were 425 confirmed heat-associated deaths in the county of nearly 4.5 million last year.

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  • Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix

    Deep dive into Meta’s algorithms shows that America’s political polarization has no easy fix

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    WASHINGTON — The powerful algorithms used by Facebook and Instagram to deliver content to users have increasingly been blamed for amplifying misinformation and political polarization. But a series of groundbreaking studies published Thursday suggest addressing these challenges is not as simple as tweaking the platforms’ software.

    The four research papers, published in Science and Nature, also reveal the extent of political echo chambers on Facebook, where conservatives and liberals rely on divergent sources of information, interact with opposing groups and consume distinctly different amounts of misinformation.

    Algorithms are the automated systems that social media platforms use to suggest content for users by making assumptions based on the groups, friends, topics and headlines a user has clicked on in the past. While they excel at keeping users engaged, algorithms have been criticized for amplifying misinformation and ideological content that has worsened the country’s political divisions.

    Proposals to regulate these systems are among the most discussed ideas for addressing social media’s role in spreading misinformation and encouraging polarization. But when the researchers changed the algorithms for some users during the 2020 election, they saw little difference.

    “We find that algorithms are extremely influential in people’s on-platform experiences and there is significant ideological segregation in political news exposure,” said Talia Jomini Stroud, director of the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas at Austin and one of the leaders of the studies. “We also find that popular proposals to change social media algorithms did not sway political attitudes.”

    While political differences are a function of any healthy democracy, polarization occurs when those differences begin to pull citizens apart from each other and the societal bonds they share. It can undermine faith in democratic institutions and the free press.

    Significant division can undermine confidence in democracy or democratic institutions and lead to “affective polarization,” when citizens begin to view each other more as enemies than legitimate opposition. It’s a situation that can lead to violence, as it did when supporters of then-President Donald Trump attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

    To conduct the analysis, researchers obtained unprecedented access to Facebook and Instagram data from the 2020 election through a collaboration with Meta, the platforms’ owners. The researchers say Meta exerted no control over their findings.

    When they replaced the algorithm with a simple chronological listing of posts from friends — an option Facebook recently made available to users — it had no measurable impact on polarization. When they turned off Facebook’s reshare option, which allows users to quickly share viral posts, users saw significantly less news from untrustworthy sources and less political news overall, but there were no significant changes to their political attitudes.

    Likewise, reducing the content that Facebook users get from accounts with the same ideological alignment had no significant effect on polarization, susceptibility to misinformation or extremist views.

    Together, the findings suggest that Facebook users seek out content that aligns with their views and that the algorithms help by “making it easier for people to do what they’re inclined to do,” according to David Lazer, a Northeastern University professor who worked on all four papers.

    Eliminating the algorithm altogether drastically reduced the time users spent on either Facebook or Instagram while increasing their time on TikTok, YouTube or other sites, showing just how important these systems are to Meta in the increasingly crowded social media landscape.

    In response to the papers, Meta’s president for global affairs, Nick Clegg, said the findings showed “there is little evidence that key features of Meta’s platforms alone harmful ‘affective’ polarization or has any meaningful impact on key political attitudes, beliefs or behaviors.”

    Katie Harbath, Facebook’s former director of public policy, said they showed the need for greater research on social media and challenged assumptions about the role social media plays in American democracy. Harbath was not involved in the research.

    “People want a simple solution and what these studies show is that it’s not simple,” said Harbath, a fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center and the CEO of the tech and politics firm Anchor Change. “To me, it reinforces that when it comes to polarization, or people’s political beliefs, there’s a lot more that goes into this than social media.”

    The work also revealed the extent of the ideological differences of Facebook users and the different ways that conservatives and liberals use the platform to get news and information about politics.

    Conservative Facebook users are more likely to consume content that has been labeled misinformation by fact-checkers. They also have more sources to choose from. The analysis found that among the websites included in political Facebook posts, far more cater to conservatives than liberals.

    Overall, 97% of the political news sources on Facebook identified by fact-checkers as having spread misinformation were more popular with conservatives than liberals.

    The authors of the papers acknowledged some limitations to their work. While they found that changing Facebook’s algorithms had little impact on polarization, they note that the study only covered a few months during the 2020 election, and therefore cannot assess the long-term impact that algorithms have had since their use began years ago.

    They also noted that most people get their news and information from a variety of sources — television, radio, the internet and word-of-mouth — and that those interactions could affect people’s opinions, too. Many in the United States blame the news media for worsening polarization.

    To complete their analyses, the researchers pored over data from millions of users of Facebook and Instagram and surveyed specific users who agreed to participate. All identifying information about specific users was stripped out for privacy reasons.

    Lazer, the Northeastern professor, said he was at first skeptical that Meta would give the researchers the access they needed, but was pleasantly surprised. He said the conditions imposed by the company were related to reasonable legal and privacy concerns. More studies from the collaboration will be released in coming months.

    “There is no study like this,” he said of the research published Thursday. “There’s been a lot of rhetoric about this, but in many ways the research has been quite limited.”

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  • Alaska asks US Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine

    Alaska asks US Supreme Court to strike down the rejection of a proposed copper, gold mine

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    The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency’s rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region

    This Sept. 2011 aerial photo provided by the Environmental Protection Agency, shows the Bristol Bay watershed in Alaska. The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency’s rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region. (Joseph Ebersole/EPA via AP)

    The Associated Press

    ANCHORAGE, Alaska — The state of Alaska wants the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down a federal agency’s rejection of a proposed copper and gold mine in southwest Alaska’s Bristol Bay region.

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in January blocked the proposed Pebble Mine, citing concerns with potential impacts on a rich aquatic ecosystem that supports the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery. It was the 14th time in the roughly 50-year history of the federal Clean Water Act that the EPA flexed its powers to bar or restrict activities over their potential impacts on waters, including fisheries.

    Alaska Attorney General Treg Taylor in a statement Wednesday said having a case heard directly by the Supreme Court rather than first in the lower courts is “an extraordinary ask, but it’s appropriate given the extraordinary decision being challenged.”

    “The EPA’s order strikes at the heart of Alaska’s sovereignty, depriving the State of its power to regulate its lands and waters,” according to the court filing.

    An EPA spokesperson said the agency was reviewing Wednesday’s filing, the Anchorage Daily News reported.

    The EPA has said its decision would prohibit certain waters from being used as disposal sites for the discharge of material for the construction and operation of the proposed Pebble project. The decision also would prohibit future proposals to build or operate a mine to develop the deposit that would result in the same or greater level of impacts.

    Canada-based Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. owns the Pebble Limited Partnership, which is pursuing the mine. Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen in a statement said the company plans to support the state in its legal action and left open the possibility of pursuing separate litigation.

    In cases where states sue the federal government, they can bring complaints directly to the court, though only a few such cases are heard annually.

    A Virginia-based law firm known for championing conservative causes, Consovoy McCarthy, is representing the state in the lawsuit as Supreme Court counsel. The firm previously contracted with the state in a dispute with public employee unions.

    Alaska Native tribes and environmental groups have long pushed for the rejection of the mine.

    Alannah Hurley, executive director of the United Tribes of Bristol Bay, called the state’s filing a “slap in the face to Bristol Bay” and said tribes “will use every tool at our disposal to protect our waters, our salmon, and our people.”

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  • Nassar survivors sue Michigan State, saying it made ‘secret decisions’ about releasing documents

    Nassar survivors sue Michigan State, saying it made ‘secret decisions’ about releasing documents

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    EAST LANSING, Mich. — Women who were sexually assaulted by former Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar filed a lawsuit Thursday saying school officials made “secret decisions” about releasing documents in the case.

    The group of survivors and parents says the lawsuit seeks accountability — not money — from the university. They say the school refused to give the state attorney general’s office more than 6,000 documents for an investigation into how Nassar was allowed to get away with his behavior, and later wouldn’t turn over emails about the board of trustees’ decision-making. The school has said the documents are protected by attorney-client privilege.

    Nassar was sentenced in 2018 to 40 to 175 years in prison after he admitted to molesting some of the nation’s top gymnasts for years under the guise of medical treatment. He was accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of women and girls.

    Michigan State has been criticized for its handling of the Nassar investigation and its dealings with survivors in the aftermath of his arrest and conviction. The school has settled lawsuits filed by Nassar victims for $500 million.

    Mark Bullion, a spokesperson for Michigan State, said Thursday in an email that the school does not comment on pending litigation, and that the school has not seen or been served with the new lawsuit.

    The civil suit names the school and its elected trustee board, saying the decisions and “secret votes” by a public body skirted Michigan’s open meetings laws and the state Constitution, according to a news release.

    “We contend that board members made a behind-closed-doors secret decision not to release the records in blatant violation of the Open Meetings Act,” victims’ attorney Azzam Elder said in a release. “They followed that up with violations of the Freedom of Information Act when we requested emails that might show they discussed and made a closed-door decision on the matter in violation of law.”

    The suit wants the school to turn over emails and other communications about decisions trustees may have made out of the public eye, to have a court declare that Michigan State violated the Freedom of Information Act and to compel the university to comply with both FOIA and the Open Meetings Act going forward.

    Attorney General Dana Nessel has asked the school to release the more than 6,000 documents to help shine a light on what the school knew about the abuse. She ended her investigation in 2021 of the school’s handling of the Nassar case because the university refused to provide documents related to the scandal.

    “This is about who knew what, when at the university,” Nasar victim Melissa Brown Hudecz said prior to Thursday’s lawsuit filing. “We can’t heal as a community until we know that everyone who enabled a predator is accountable. By protecting the 6,000 secret documents and anyone named in them, the board is adding to survivors’ trauma with their lack of institutional accountability.”

    Earlier this month, Nassar was stabbed multiple times by another prisoner in his federal penitentiary cell in Florida. The prisoner said Nassar provoked the attack by making a lewd comment about wanting to see girls play in the Wimbledon women’s tennis match while they were watching the tournament on TV, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the attack or the ongoing investigation and did so on condition anonymity.

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  • As e-bikes proliferate, so do deadly fires blamed on exploding lithium-ion batteries

    As e-bikes proliferate, so do deadly fires blamed on exploding lithium-ion batteries

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    NEW YORK — The explosion early on a June morning ignited a blaze that engulfed a New York City shop filled with motorized bicycles and their volatile lithium-ion batteries. Billowing smoke quickly killed four people asleep in apartments above the burning store.

    As the ubiquity of e-bikes has grown, so has the frequency of fires and deaths blamed on the batteries that power them — prompting a campaign to establish regulations on how the batteries are manufactured, sold, reconditioned, charged and stored.

    Consumer advocates and fire departments, particularly in New York City, are urging the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to establish mandatory safety standards and confiscate noncompliant imports when they arrive at the border or shipping ports, so unsafe e-bikes and poorly manufactured batteries don’t reach streets and endanger homes.

    These aren’t typical fires, said New York City Fire Commissioner Laura Kavanagh. The batteries don’t smolder; they explode.

    “The number of fire incidents has rapidly increased. Other cities across the country have begun seeing these issues as well, and municipalities that are not yet experiencing this phenomenon may be facing similar incidents in the future,” Kavanagh told the commission Thursday at a forum focused on e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries.

    “We have reached a point of crisis in New York City, with ion batteries now a top cause of fatal fires in New York,” she told commissioners.

    With some 65,000 e-bikes zipping through its streets — more than any other place in the U.S. — New York City is the epicenter of battery-related fires. There have been 100 such blazes so far this year, resulting in 13 deaths, already more than double the six fatalities last year.

    Nationally, there were more than 200 battery-related fires reported to the commission — an obvious undercount — from 39 states over the past two years, including 19 deaths blamed on so-called micromobility devices that include battery-powered scooters, bicycles and hoverboards.

    New York’s two U.S. senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, introduced legislation last month that would set mandatory safety standards for e-bikes and the batteries that power them.

    Because mandatory standards don’t exist, Schumer said, poorly made batteries have flooded the U.S., increasing the risk of fires.

    In many cases, authorities have been challenged to track the source of batteries from overseas sources, many of them bought online or from aftermarket dealers.

    Earlier this year, New York City urgently enacted a sweeping package of local laws intended to crack down on defective batteries, including a ban on the sale or rental of e-bikes and batteries that aren’t certified as meeting safety standards by an independent product testing lab.

    The new rules also outlaw tampering with batteries or selling refurbished batteries made with lithium-ion cells scavenged from used units.

    Meanwhile, New York City officials also announced they had received a $25 million federal grant for e-bike charging stations across the city, which fire marshals hope will reduce the risk of fires.

    “When they fail, they fail quite spectacularly,” Kavanagh said in interview last week. “Once one of these ignites, there is a huge volume of fire, often so much so that the person in their home can’t get out and the firefighters can’t get in to get them.”

    Such was the case in April when two siblings, a 7-year-old boy and his 19-year-old sister, died when a scooter battery ignited a fire in Queens.

    Because of the fire hazard, some residential buildings have banned e-bikes. Last summer, the New York City Housing Authority sought to prohibit tenants in all of its 335 developments from keeping or charging e-vehicles in their units, only to back down a few months later after protests from delivery workers.

    Use of motorized bicycles grew dramatically in the city during the COVID-19 pandemic as homebound people turned more to food delivery workers for meals and groceries.

    With the rash of fires, delivery workers like Lizandro Lopez say they are now more mindful about precautions.

    “As soon as the battery is charged, I disconnect it. You shouldn’t leave it charging for too long,” Lopez said in Spanish, “because if you leave it on there too long, that’s when you can cause a fire.”

    Los Deliveristas Unidos, which represents app-based delivery workers in the New York area, estimates that fewer than 10% of e-bikes sold in the city have been deemed safe by a third-party evaluator, such as UL Solutions, a product testing company that certifies safety compliance for a host of electrical products, including Christmas lights and televisions.

    E-bike batteries rely on the same chemistry to generate power as the lithium-ion batteries in cellphones, laptops and most electric vehicles — products that were initially prone to overheating.

    Tighter regulations, safety standards and compliance testing drastically reduced the risk of fires in such devices, according to Robert Slone, the senior vice president and chief scientist for UL Solutions.

    The same can happen with e-bike batteries, he said, if they are made to comply with established safety standards. One feature most of these batteries lack is the ability to automatically shut off while charging to prevent overheating.

    “We just need to make them safe, and there is a way to make them safe through testing and certification,” Slone said, “given the history that we’ve seen in terms of fires and injuries and unfortunately, deaths as well — not just in New York, but across the country and around the world.”

    In London, the fire brigade says lithium batteries are the city’s fastest growing fire risk, with one fire erupting about every two days. Last year, there were a total of 116 fires involving e-bikes and e-scooters. At least one death has been attributed this year to an overheated battery.

    In San Francisco, there have been at least 21 battery fires so far this year — compared with just 13 battery-related fires in 2017, according to an analysis by the San Francisco Chronicle.

    Last year, some 1.1 million e-bikes were imported into the U.S., according to the Light Electric Vehicle Association, an industry group. In 2021, more than 880,000 e-bikes came into the country — about double from the year before and triple the number in 2019.

    Many of the batteries now on the road are aftermarket products that are cheaply made and popular with delivery workers because of their lower prices.

    “But that product is so cheap because it hasn’t gone through those design and testing. … It doesn’t meet a standard, so that’s why they’re inexpensive,” said Matt Moore, the general and policy council for the PeopleForBikes Coalition, which will also take part in the forum. “Even if there was a regulation, there will still be the ability of foreign sellers and manufacturers to send these products into the United States.”

    ___

    Associated Press video journalist Ted Shaffrey and video producer Vanessa A. Alvarez contributed to this report.

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  • Stock market today: Wall Street rises as economy keeps growing and profits keep rising

    Stock market today: Wall Street rises as economy keeps growing and profits keep rising

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    NEW YORK — Stocks are rising Thursday following fatter-than-expected profit reports from big companies and the latest signals that the economy continues to defy predictions for a recession.

    The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher in morning trading after touching its highest level in nearly 16 months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 72 points, or 0.2%, at 35,592, as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and on track for a 14th straight gain. The Nasdaq composite, meanwhile, was leading the market with a gain of 0.9% following a strong profit report from Meta Platforms.

    Earnings rose more for Meta, which owns Instagram and WhatsApp in addition to Facebook, than analysts expected after its services attracted additional active members. Meta is one of Wall Street’s most influential stocks because of its massive size, and it rose 6.9%.

    McDonald’s was helping to prop up the Dow after it easily topped analysts’ forecasts for profits during the spring. Its sales grew worldwide, and its stock rose 1.9%.

    In the bond market, Treasury yields were rising after a wave of reports indicated the economy is in stronger shape than expected.

    One estimate said growth for the overall economy accelerated in the spring. That easily topped forecasts from economists, who were expecting a slowdown from the first three months of the year. That report also suggested a measure of inflation wasn’t as high from April through June as expected.

    Another report, meanwhile, said that fewer workers applied for jobless benefits last week. It’s the latest indication the job market remains remarkably solid, while another report said orders for long-lasting manufactured goods strengthened more than expected last month.

    All the data helped keep Wall Street ebullient amid hopes the economy can keep defying predictions for a recession despite much higher interest rates.

    The Federal Reserve on Wednesday raised its federal funds rate to its highest level in more than two decades in hopes of dragging inflation lower. High rates work by bluntly slowing the entire economy and hurting prices for stocks and other investments. After zooming higher from virtually zero early last year, the sudden shock higher in interest rates has had investors on a long watch for a potential recession.

    Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday, though, said any further increases in rates will depend on what reports say about the path of inflation and economy in the future. That bolstered hopes among traders that Wednesday’s increase may have been the final one of this cycle.

    Investors see higher interest rates as hurting technology and other high-growth stocks in particular, which is part of why Big Tech stocks were helping to lead the market on Thursday beyond Meta’s fat profit report.

    Hopes for a halt to rate hikes are raising bets that the Fed can pull off what’s called a “soft landing” for the economy, where high inflation can come down to the Fed’s target without causing a painful recession.

    Such hopes have helped launch stocks higher this year, but critics say the market may have gone too far, too fast. While inflation has come down from its peak last summer, it’s still high and the hardest part of the Fed’s task may still be ahead. A recession may still ultimately hit, they say.

    But on Thursday, at least, optimism seemed to rule markets.

    Stocks also climbed in Europe after the European Central Bank raised interest rates. The French CAC 40 jumped 2.1%, and Germany’s DAX returned 1.6%.

    Asian stock indexes were also mostly higher, led by a 1.4% rally for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng.

    In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.94% from 3.87% late Wednesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans.

    The two-year Treasury yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, rose to 4.91% from 4.85%.

    ___

    AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

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  • Biden announces an advanced cancer research initiative as part of the bipartisan ‘moonshot’ effort

    Biden announces an advanced cancer research initiative as part of the bipartisan ‘moonshot’ effort

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    WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration on Thursday announced the first cancer-focused initiative under its advanced health research agency, aiming to help doctors more easily distinguish between cancerous cells and healthy tissue during surgery and improve outcomes for patients.

    The administration’s Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health, or ARPA-H, is launching a Precision Surgical Interventions program, seeking ideas from the public and private sectors to explore how to dramatically improve cancer outcomes in the coming decades by developing better surgical interventions to treat the disease.

    ARPA-H is modeled after the military-focused DARPA, which spawned the internet and GPS. The administration hopes the new investment will yield tools that will help surgeons avoid healthy nerves and blood vessels, while ensuring they can remove all cancerous cells.

    ARPA-H, along with the administration’s “cancer moonshot,” is a key part of Biden’s “unity agenda” announced during his 2022 State of the Union address to bring Washington together on a bipartisan basis to combat cancer, improve veterans‘ health and make mental health more accessible.

    The initiative could markedly improve cancer treatments and make scientific breakthroughs that have as yet unknown applications, said Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology.

    “What’s true is that many cancer treatments still start with surgery,” she told The Associated Press in an interview. “So being really smart and attacking and developing new technology to make that first step better could really revolutionize how we are able to treat cancer for so many Americans.”

    Prabhakar, a former director of DARPA, said most federal research dollars are designed to go to university or government labs, while ARPA-H programs will search more broadly.

    “They are just dead focused on those goals, and whoever it takes to get there is who they’ll be trying to make sure they bring to the table,” she said. “What you’re looking for is the quality of the ideas and then the ability to really be bold and fearless and experimenting and then start prototyping in the real world.”

    The agency is hosting an event in Chicago in September for interested researchers with the aim of quickly identifying and approving projects.

    Prabhakar acknowledged that the ARPA-H model entails risks, but she said that even in failure most projects have significant payoffs.

    “The mission is to reach for things that aren’t that obvious or feasible today — and to do that, you have to take risks,” she said. “The process allows you to explore things that could have a bigger impact if they do work and very often what I have seen is that the overall program succeeds even though some of the individual pieces don’t succeed.”

    The Department of Veterans Affairs on Thursday is also announcing that veterans exposed to toxic burn pits during their service will be able to access breast cancer risk assessments and mammograms regardless of their age or if they are enrolled in VA healthcare. And on Tuesday, the department announced that it would study the relationship between deployed servicemembers’ toxic exposures and additional cancers.

    ARPA-H has also placed an open call for other research objectives, said Danielle Carnival, the director of the White House cancer moonshot, calling the agency’s work a “central pillar” of the administration’s plans to meet its goals of reducing mortality and improving outcomes from cancer.

    “I would expect some really great ideas and new projects to come out of that call,” she said.

    White House deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed said the ARPA-H announcement helps meet Biden’s efforts to show “that government can still work, both sides can come together, and we can get things done.”

    “Mental health, cancer, veterans, our efforts on fentanyl, are all priorities that affect everyone without regard to party,” Reed said.

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  • Sentencing is set for Arizona mother guilty of murder and child abuse in starvation of her son

    Sentencing is set for Arizona mother guilty of murder and child abuse in starvation of her son

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    An Arizona mother who pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse faces up to life in prison for the 2020 starvation death of her 6-year-old son who had been locked in a closet and denied food at their Flagstaff apartment

    FILE – This undated booking photo provided by the Flagstaff Police Department shows Elizabeth Archibeque. Archibeque, who has pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, July 27, 2023, for the starvation death of her 6-year-old son, who had been locked in a closet at their Flagstaff apartment and denied food. (Flagstaff Police Department via AP, File)

    The Associated Press

    FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — An Arizona mother who pleaded guilty to murder and child abuse is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday in the death of her 6-year-old son who was kept in a closet and denied food at their Flagstaff apartment.

    Elizabeth Archibeque faces a maximum penalty of up to life in prison without the possibility of parole for the March 2020 death of Deshaun Martinez when she goes before Coconino County Superior Court Judge Ted Reed.

    Archibeque was charged along with the boy’s father, Anthony Martinez, and grandmother, Ann Martinez, who have pleaded not guilty and are being tried separately on murder and child abuse charges.

    An autopsy determined Deshaun Martinez, who weighed just 18 pounds (8.1 kilograms), died of severe starvation. Authorities found him unresponsive after Ann Martinez called 911 on March 2, 2020, and said she thought her grandson was dead. The manner of death later was listed as homicide.

    The boy’s parents initially attributed their son’s malnourished state to a medical condition and to ingesting diet or caffeine pills. Eventually, they told police they kept him and his older brother in a closet for 16 hours a day and gave them little to eat. The brother survived.

    The boys’ confinement was punishment for stealing food while the parents slept, police said. Their two sisters were found healthy in the apartment where they all lived.

    Archibeque reached an agreement with prosecutors earlier this year to plead guilty in the case. The terms of the agreement state that she will not be eligible for probation, and if sentenced to life in prison, she will not be eligible for any kind of parole or work release.

    Prosecutors decided early on they wouldn’t pursue the death penalty.

    Lawyers for Ann Martinez are scheduled to appear at a case management conference Sept. 18 with her trial currently set to begin in January 2024. Anthony Martinez had been scheduled to go to trial earlier this year, but the trial date was vacated and has not been reset.

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  • Arizona teen Alicia Navarro missing for nearly 4 years shows up safe at Montana police station

    Arizona teen Alicia Navarro missing for nearly 4 years shows up safe at Montana police station

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    GLENDALE, Ariz. — An Arizona teenager who vanished without a trace nearly four years ago is safe after walking into a police station in Montana, authorities said Wednesday.

    Alicia Navarro, 18, of Glendale showed up alone this week in a small town about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from the Canadian border and identified herself, according to police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.

    Her disappearance sparked a massive search that included the FBI. Santiago said over the years, police had received thousands of tips.

    Her mother, Jessica Nunez, raised concerns that Navarro, who was diagnosed as high-functioning on the autism spectrum, may have been lured away by someone she met online.

    The name of the town wasn’t immediately disclosed but Montana is more than 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) from Arizona.

    “She is by all accounts safe, she is by all accounts healthy, and she is by all accounts happy,” police spokesman Jose Santiago said at a news conference.

    Investigators were trying to determine what happened to Navarro after her disappearance at age 14 in Sept. 15, 2019.

    Police said Navarro told them that she hadn’t been harmed.

    Police said she wasn’t being held and could come and go as she pleased. She does not face any criminal charges, they added.

    “She is not in any kind of trouble,” Santiago said.

    When she disappeared from her home, Navarro left a signed note that read: “I ran away. I will be back, I swear. I’m sorry.”

    Lt. Scott Waite said that Navarro had an “emotionally overwhelming” reunion with her mother and was “very apologetic (as) to what she has put her mother through.”

    Nunez confirmed that her daughter had been found but said she had no details.

    “I want to give glory to God for answering prayers and for this miracle,” she said in a Facebook post.

    “For everyone who has missing loved ones, I want you to use this case as an example,” she said. “Miracles do exist. Never lose hope and always fight.”

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  • Stock market today: Asian shares advance after the Federal Reserve raises interest rates

    Stock market today: Asian shares advance after the Federal Reserve raises interest rates

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    BANGKOK — Asian shares were mostly higher Thursday after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates to their highest level in more than two decades, just as Wall Street expected.

    Market attention turned to a decision later in the day by the European Central Bank and to whether Japan’s central bank might alter its longstanding ultra-lax monetary policy at a policy meeting that ends on Friday.

    The ECB is expected to follow the Fed’s example.

    “Today, all eyes will be on the ECB, where a 25 basis point hike is widely expected along with the door being left open for another hike in September,” ING Economics said in a commentary.

    A 0.25 percentage point hike would take the ECB’s benchmark rate to 4.25%.

    Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to 32,891.16 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 0.9% to 19,545.77.

    The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.3% to 3,213.20. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.7% to 7,455.90. South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.4% to 2,603.81.

    Bangkok’s SET rose 0.8% and Taiwan’s benchmark gained 0.5%.

    Stocks on Wall Street held steady Wednesday.

    The S&P 500 slipped less than 0.1% to 4,566.75, remaining near a 15-month high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2% to 35,520.12, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1%, to 14,127.29.

    The bond market moved more sharply, and Treasury yields fell after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said no decision had been made about whether to raise rates at its next meeting or beyond. That may have bolstered hopes among traders that Wednesday’s hike could be the last for a long time.

    Microsoft weighed on the market after falling 3.8% despite reporting better profit and revenue for the spring than expected.

    Helping to limit the market’s losses was Alphabet, which rose 5.6%. The parent company of Google and YouTube reported better profit and revenue for the spring than analysts expected.

    What Big Tech titans do matters more for Wall Street than other stocks because they have become so influential due to their massive size. Seven stocks alone accounted for most of the S&P 500’s returns through the first half of this year, largely on expectations that their explosive growth will continue. They’ll need to deliver big profits to justify those gains.

    Meta Platforms, another member of the “Magnificent Seven,” reported its results after trading closed for the day. Its stock has soared 148% so far this year, while Alphabet and Microsoft are both up more than 40%.

    Boeing, meanwhile, helped prop up the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has less of an emphasis on Big Tech than the S&P 500. The aircraft maker reported a smaller loss for the spring than analysts expected, and revenue topped expectations. Boeing’s stock rose 8.7%.

    In the bond market, the highlight was the Fed’s move to raise its federal funds rate to a range of 5.25% to 5.50% in hopes of wrestling down high inflation. That’s its highest level since 2001 and up from virtually zero early last year.

    Rate increases work to lower inflation by grinding down on the entire economy, raising the risk of a recession and hurting prices for investments. Ending them would encourage more borrowing and investment.

    The economy has so far defied predictions for a recession, largely because of a remarkably solid job market that has allowed U.S. households to keep spending. That has hopes rising that the Federal Reserve can pull off a “soft landing” for the economy where high inflation falls back to its target without a painful recession.

    The Fed’s Powell said Wednesday that rates will likely need to stay high for a while to drive inflation lower.

    “It’s really dependent so much on the data, and we just don’t have it yet,” Powell said.

    The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 3.86% from 3.89% late Tuesday. It helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans.

    In other trading Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained 60 cents to $79.38 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It fell 85 cents to $79.78 on Wednesday.

    Brent crude, the international standard, added 46 cents to $83.02 per barrel.

    The dollar fell to 140.09 Japanese yen from 140.25 yen. The euro rose to $1.1096 from $1.1087.

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  • Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn to pay $10M to end fight over claims of sexual misconduct

    Las Vegas casino mogul Steve Wynn to pay $10M to end fight over claims of sexual misconduct

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    LAS VEGAS — Casino mogul Steve Wynn’s long legal fight with Nevada gambling regulators over claims of workplace sexual misconduct is expected to end Thursday with a settlement calling for him to pay a $10 million fine and cut virtually all ties to the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas.

    The Nevada Gaming Commission was scheduled to meet in the state capital of Carson City and accept a deal in which the 81-year-old Wynn admits no wrongdoing.

    The seven-page agreement that Wynn signed July 17 with members of the investigatory Nevada Gaming Control Board said he was accused of “failure to exercise discretion and sound judgment to prevent incidents that have reflected negatively on the reputation of the gaming industry and the State of Nevada.”

    Wynn, who now lives in Florida, will not attend the hearing, his attorney Colby Williams said Wednesday. Williams declined to comment about the proceedings until they are complete.

    Under terms of the deal, Wynn will be allowed to maintain “passive ownership” of up to 5% of “a publicly traded corporation” registered with the Gaming Commission, but no “control, authority, advisory role or decision making power.” Violating the pact could lead to a finding of “unsuitability” for association with Nevada casinos and an additional fine, it said.

    “Unsuitability” would be extraordinary for a man widely credited with starting a boom that grew Las Vegas Strip properties from gambling halls with all-you-can-eat buffets and showrooms into huge destination resorts featuring celebrity-chef restaurants, massive gambling floors, nightclubs and huge stage productions.

    Wynn developed luxury properties including the Golden Nugget, Mirage, Treasure Island, Bellagio, Wynn and Encore in Las Vegas; Golden Nugget in Atlantic City, New Jersey; Beau Rivage in Biloxi, Mississippi; Wynn Macau in the Chinese gambling enclave; and Encore Boston Harbor in Massachusetts.

    He resigned after the Wall Street Journal published allegations by several women that he sexually harassed or assaulted them at his hotels. He divested company shares, quit the corporate board and resigned as finance chairman of the Republican National Committee.

    Wynn has consistently denied sexual misconduct allegations in multiple courts.

    In the Gaming Commission case, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled against him in March 2022, finding that a state judge in Las Vegas acted prematurely in late 2020 when she sided with Wynn’s lawyers and decided the state lacked authority to punish him.

    Wynn’s attorneys, including Donald Campbell, argued that the Gaming Control Board and its oversight panel, the Nevada Gaming Commission, no longer had legal jurisdiction over Wynn.

    State regulators launched their investigation after the allegations against Wynn emerged. The board said Wynn’s license had been placed on administrative hold and the commission moved in October 2019 to discipline or fine Wynn.

    At a December 2019 hearing, which Wynn did not attend, commissioners began considering a fine of up to $500,000 and a declaration that Wynn was unsuitable to renew ties to gambling in Nevada.

    Months earlier, the commission fined his former company, Wynn Resorts Ltd., a record $20 million for failing to investigate sexual misconduct claims made against Wynn.

    Massachusetts gambling regulators fined Wynn Resorts Ltd. another $35 million and new company chief executive Matthew Maddox $500,000 for failing to disclose while applying for a license for the Boston-area resort that there had been sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn.

    Wynn Resorts agreed in November 2019 to accept $20 million in damages from Wynn and $21 million more from insurance carriers on behalf of current and former employees of Wynn Resorts to settle shareholder lawsuits accusing company directors of failing to disclose misconduct allegations.

    The agreements included no admission of wrongdoing.

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  • California Gov. Gavin Newsom offers to help negotiate Hollywood strike

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom offers to help negotiate Hollywood strike

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    SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California Gov. Gavin Newsom has contacted all sides of the strikes that have hobbled Hollywood, his office said Wednesday, offering to help broker a deal to restart an industry that is crucial to keeping the state’s economy humming amid signs of weakness.

    So far, neither studio executives nor actors and writers have shown formal interest in bringing Newsom to the negotiating table, said Anthony York, Newsom’s senior adviser for communications. But York said both Newsom and senior members of his administration have been in touch with all sides as the two strikes stretch deeper into the summer blockbuster season.

    “It’s clear that the sides are still far apart, but he is deeply concerned about the impact a prolonged strike can have on the regional and state economy,” York said. He further noted “thousands of jobs depend directly or indirectly on Hollywood getting back to work,” including crew, staff and catering.

    The last time the writers went on strike more than a decade ago, the 100-day work stoppage cost the state’s economy an estimated $2 billion. The economic hit could be even bigger this time around now that actors have joined the picket lines. The strikes come after Newsom signed a state budget that included a more than $31 billion deficit in part because of a slowdown in the tech sector, another one of the state’s key industries.

    The writers have been on strike since May, and the actors joined them earlier this month. Both unions have concerns about how they will be paid in an age where fewer people are paying to go to the movies or watch cable TV in favor of streaming services. And they are worried how the rise of artificial intelligence will affect the creative process of how movies and TV shows are made and who is paid to make them.

    The Democratic governor first offered to help mediate a deal in May, shortly after the writers strike began, saying he was sympathetic to their concerns about streaming and artificial intelligence.

    Now in his final term in office, Newsom has worked hard to boost his national profile as he sets his sights on life after the governor’s office. He is widely considered a future presidential contender, though he has said he has no plans to run. Any role for Newsom to help end strikes halting one of the country’s most recognizable industries could bolster his status on the national stage.

    Labor actions have lit up California this summer, and it has become common for politicians and their allies to step in to broker deals. New Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, for example, helped negotiate an end to a strike by Los Angeles school staff. Acting Biden administration Labor Secretary Julie Su, a former California labor leader, helped reach an end to a contract dispute at Southern California ports.

    Asked about Newsom’s involvement, Bass spokesman Zach Seidl said in a statement that “this is a historic inflection point for our city. … We continue to engage with labor leaders, studio heads, elected leaders and other impacted parties to arrive at a fair and equitable solution.”

    York declined to say who Newsom has spoken with, either on the unions’ side or the studios. Representatives for the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers declined to comment.

    Hollywood isn’t just a major economic driver in California — it’s also a fundraising powerhouse for mostly Democratic candidates, including Newsom. In 2021, when Newsom was facing a recall election that could have removed him from office, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings donated $3 million to help defeat it. He has received smaller contributions from executives at Disney, Sony and Lionsgate. Prominent directors and producers like Stephen Spielberg and Chuck Lorre have also donated to his campaigns.

    Newsom’s relationships with some of Hollywood’s most powerful executives could potentially help him in any negotiations over the strikes as he continues to advocate for the causes of the workers. Newsom also has a connection to Hollywood through his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, who used to be an actor and is now a documentary director.

    Also this year, Newsom signed a law to extend tax credits for movie and television productions. The big change is that those tax credits will be refundable, meaning if a movie studio has credits that are worth more than what it owes in taxes, the state will pay the studio the difference in cash.

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Michael R. Blood contributed from Los Angeles.

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