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  • About 40 people dead and 115 injured in fire at Swiss Alpine bar during New Year’s celebration

    Axel Clavier felt like he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments before he’d been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other revelers.The 16-year-old from Paris escaped the inferno, which broke out after midnight Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. But about 40 other partygoers died, including one of Clavier’s friends, falling victim to one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland’s history.The blaze also injured about 115 people, most of them seriously, as it ripped through the crowded Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, police said.Clavier told The Associated Press that “two or three” of his friends remained missing hours after the disaster.Fire’s cause remains under investigationValais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference that work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the community is “devastated.”Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased.Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire.“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.She later said the number of people who were in the bar is “unknown,” and its maximum capacity will be part of the investigation.“For the time being, we don’t have any suspects,” she added, when asked if anyone had been arrested over the fire. “An investigation has been opened, not against anyone, but to better understand the circumstances of this dramatic fire.”An evening of celebration turns tragicClavier, the Parisian teenager, said he didn’t see the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with burning sparklers. He lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card while fleeing, but “I am still alive and it’s just stuff.”“I’m still in shock,” he added.Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.Crans-Montana is less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Sierre, where 28 people, including many children, were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.Resort town sits in the heart of the AlpsIn a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid accidents that could further strain athe area’s lready overwhelmed medical resources.With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February. The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in office, said many emergency staff had been “confronted by scenes of indescribable violence and distress.”“This Thursday must be the time of prayer, unity and dignity,” he said. “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help.”___Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

    CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland —

    Axel Clavier felt like he was suffocating inside the Swiss Alpine bar where moments before he’d been ringing in the new year with friends and dozens of other revelers.

    The 16-year-old from Paris escaped the inferno, which broke out after midnight Thursday, by forcing a window open with a table. But about 40 other partygoers died, including one of Clavier’s friends, falling victim to one of the worst tragedies in Switzerland’s history.

    The blaze also injured about 115 people, most of them seriously, as it ripped through the crowded Le Constellation bar at the ski resort of Crans-Montana, police said.

    Clavier told The Associated Press that “two or three” of his friends remained missing hours after the disaster.

    Fire’s cause remains under investigation

    Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference that work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families, adding that the community is “devastated.”

    Authorities did not immediately have an exact count of the deceased.

    Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire.

    “At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

    She later said the number of people who were in the bar is “unknown,” and its maximum capacity will be part of the investigation.

    “For the time being, we don’t have any suspects,” she added, when asked if anyone had been arrested over the fire. “An investigation has been opened, not against anyone, but to better understand the circumstances of this dramatic fire.”

    An evening of celebration turns tragic

    Clavier, the Parisian teenager, said he didn’t see the fire start, but did see waitresses arrive with Champagne bottles with burning sparklers. He lost his jacket, shoes, phone and bank card while fleeing, but “I am still alive and it’s just stuff.”

    “I’m still in shock,” he added.

    Two women told French broadcaster BFMTV they were inside when they saw a male bartender lifting a female bartender on his shoulders as she held a lit candle in a bottle. The flames spread, collapsing the wooden ceiling, they told the broadcaster.

    One of the women described a crowd surge as people frantically tried to escape from a basement nightclub up a narrow flight of stairs and through a narrow door.

    Another witness speaking to BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.

    “This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Reynard, head of the regional government of the Valais Canton.

    Crans-Montana is less than 5 kilometers (3 miles) from Sierre, where 28 people, including many children, were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.

    Resort town sits in the heart of the Alps

    In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid accidents that could further strain athe area’s lready overwhelmed medical resources.

    With high-altitude ski runs rising around 3,000 meters (nearly 9,850 feet) in the heart of the Valais region’s snowy peaks and pine forests, Crans-Montana is one of the top venues on the World Cup circuit. The resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers, including Lindsey Vonn, for their final events before the Milan-Cortina Olympics in February. The town’s Crans-sur-Sierre golf club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course.

    Swiss President Guy Parmelin, speaking on his first day in office, said many emergency staff had been “confronted by scenes of indescribable violence and distress.”

    “This Thursday must be the time of prayer, unity and dignity,” he said. “Switzerland is a strong country not because it is sheltered from drama, but because it knows how to face them with courage and a spirit of mutual help.”

    ___

    Dazio reported from Berlin and Leicester reported from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Graham Dunbar in Geneva contributed to this report.

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  • Dozens presumed dead, about 100 injured in fire at Swiss Alps bar during New Year’s celebration

    Dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured, most of them seriously, following a fire at a bar in a Swiss Alps resort town during a New Year’s celebration, police said Thursday.“Several tens of people” were killed at the bar, Le Constellation, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference.Work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families but “that will take time and for the time being it is premature to give you a more precise figure,” Gisler said, adding that the community is “devastated.”Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.“At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.An evening of celebration turns tragicOfficials called the blaze an “embrasement généralisé,” a firefighting term describing how a blaze can trigger the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently and cause what English-speaking firefighters would call a flashover or a backdraft.“This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Rénard, head of the regional government.The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Rénard said.Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene to assist victims, including some from different countries, officials said.Swiss President Guy Parmelin said in a social media post that the government’s “thoughts go to the victims, to the injured and their relatives, to whom it addresses its sincere condolences.”Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office as president as the seven members of Switzerland’s government take turns holding the presidency for one year. Out of respect for the families of the victims, he delayed a traditional New Year address to the nation meant to be broadcast Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.Resort town sits in the heart of the AlpsIn a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.With high-altitude ski runs at around 1.86 miles in the heart of the Swiss Alps, Crans-Montana is one of the winter sports centers of Switzerland’s ski-crazy Valais region, also home to Zermatt, Verbier and other resorts nestled in the snowy peaks and pine forests drawing winter sports enthusiasts from across the planet. The resort is one of the top race venues on the World Cup circuit in Alpine skiing and will host the next world championships over two weeks in February 2027.In four weeks’ time, the resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers for their last events before going to the Milan Cortina Olympics, which open Feb. 6.Crans-Montana also is a premium venue in international golf. The Crans-sur-Sierre club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course with stunning mountains views. Le Constellation bar is about 273 yards down the street from the golf club.Crans-Montana is less than 3 miles from Sierre, Switzerland, where 28 people including many children were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

    CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland —

    Dozens of people are presumed dead and about 100 injured, most of them seriously, following a fire at a bar in a Swiss Alps resort town during a New Year’s celebration, police said Thursday.

    “Several tens of people” were killed at the bar, Le Constellation, Valais Canton police commander Frédéric Gisler said during a news conference.

    Work is underway to identify the victims and inform their families but “that will take time and for the time being it is premature to give you a more precise figure,” Gisler said, adding that the community is “devastated.”

    Beatrice Pilloud, Valais Canton attorney general, said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire. Experts have not yet been able to go inside the wreckage.

    “At no moment is there a question of any kind of attack,” Pilloud said.

    An evening of celebration turns tragic

    Officials called the blaze an “embrasement généralisé,” a firefighting term describing how a blaze can trigger the release of combustible gases that can then ignite violently and cause what English-speaking firefighters would call a flashover or a backdraft.

    “This evening should have been a moment of celebration and coming together, but it turned into a nightmare,” said Mathias Rénard, head of the regional government.

    The injured were so numerous that the intensive care unit and operating theater at the regional hospital quickly hit full capacity, Rénard said.

    Helicopters and ambulances rushed to the scene to assist victims, including some from different countries, officials said.

    Swiss President Guy Parmelin said in a social media post that the government’s “thoughts go to the victims, to the injured and their relatives, to whom it addresses its sincere condolences.”

    Thursday was Parmelin’s first day in office as president as the seven members of Switzerland’s government take turns holding the presidency for one year. Out of respect for the families of the victims, he delayed a traditional New Year address to the nation meant to be broadcast Thursday afternoon, Swiss broadcasters SRF and RTS reported.

    A witness who spoke to French broadcaster BFMTV described people smashing windows to escape the blaze, some gravely injured, and panicked parents rushing to the scene in cars to see whether their children were trapped inside. The young man said he saw about 20 people scrambling to get out of the smoke and flames and likened what he saw to a horror movie as he watched from across the street.

    Resort town sits in the heart of the Alps

    In a region busy with tourists skiing on the slopes, the authorities have called on the local population to show caution in the coming days to avoid any accidents that could require medical resources that are already overwhelmed.

    With high-altitude ski runs at around 1.86 miles in the heart of the Swiss Alps, Crans-Montana is one of the winter sports centers of Switzerland’s ski-crazy Valais region, also home to Zermatt, Verbier and other resorts nestled in the snowy peaks and pine forests drawing winter sports enthusiasts from across the planet. The resort is one of the top race venues on the World Cup circuit in Alpine skiing and will host the next world championships over two weeks in February 2027.

    In four weeks’ time, the resort will host the best men’s and women’s downhill racers for their last events before going to the Milan Cortina Olympics, which open Feb. 6.

    Crans-Montana also is a premium venue in international golf. The Crans-sur-Sierre club stages the European Masters each August on a picturesque course with stunning mountains views. Le Constellation bar is about 273 yards down the street from the golf club.

    Crans-Montana is less than 3 miles from Sierre, Switzerland, where 28 people including many children were killed when a bus from Belgium crashed inside a Swiss tunnel in 2012.

    The Swiss blaze on Thursday came 25 years after an inferno in the Dutch fishing town of Volendam on New Year’s Eve, which killed 14 people and injured more than 200 as they celebrated in a cafe.

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  • Business jet crashes at North Carolina airport; deaths reported

    Deaths have been reported after a business jet crashed while attempting to land at a regional airport in North Carolina, according to a local sheriff.“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. Campbell did not elaborate on how many people were killed.Video above: Crash scene at Statesville Regional Airport in North CarolinaThe jet crashed while attempting to make a landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found that FAA records show the plane that crashed was a Cessna 550 Citation, a smaller jet often used by businesses. This Citation was built in 1981 and last certified for flight in March of this year.Flight plans show the plane was bound for Sarasota, Florida, and had three additional flights planned for Thursday. From Sarasota, the plane had planned to fly to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening.Flight tracking data reviewed by the National Investigative Unit shows the jet departed Statesville Regional at approximately 10:06 am. The jet reached its highest altitude — approximately 2,000 feet — less than two minutes after departure and about a mile from the airport, and then it began to descend.It continued descending and at approximately 11 miles from the airport, the plane turned back and made an attempt to fly directly back to the airport. The final recorded data point, about nine minutes after takeoff, shows the plane less than a half-mile from the airport near the Lakewood Golf Club about 800 feet of altitude and approximately 109 mph. On its website, the airport says it provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams. The airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, is currently closed. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    STATESVILLE, N.C. —

    Deaths have been reported after a business jet crashed while attempting to land at a regional airport in North Carolina, according to a local sheriff.

    “I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. Campbell did not elaborate on how many people were killed.

    Video above: Crash scene at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina

    The jet crashed while attempting to make a landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

    The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found that FAA records show the plane that crashed was a Cessna 550 Citation, a smaller jet often used by businesses. This Citation was built in 1981 and last certified for flight in March of this year.

    Flight plans show the plane was bound for Sarasota, Florida, and had three additional flights planned for Thursday. From Sarasota, the plane had planned to fly to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening.

    Flight tracking data reviewed by the National Investigative Unit shows the jet departed Statesville Regional at approximately 10:06 am. The jet reached its highest altitude — approximately 2,000 feet — less than two minutes after departure and about a mile from the airport, and then it began to descend.

    It continued descending and at approximately 11 miles from the airport, the plane turned back and made an attempt to fly directly back to the airport. The final recorded data point, about nine minutes after takeoff, shows the plane less than a half-mile from the airport near the Lakewood Golf Club about 800 feet of altitude and approximately 109 mph.

    On its website, the airport says it provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams. The airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, is currently closed.

    This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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  • Iconic Stahl House, a Midcentury Modern stunner, up for sale

    For decades, the Stahl House in the Hollywood Hills has been a rarity — a globally known icon of Midcentury Modernism and Los Angeles glamour, still in the hands of the family who commissioned it in 1960. But now it’s for sale.

    The asking price is $25 million, which might seem a startling figure for a two-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home on a snug lot. But that figure might not surprise lovers of modernist architecture who know it as Case Study House #22.

    It was designed for the Stahl family by architect Pierre Koenig, captured on black-and-white film by photographer Julius Shulman and has been admired worldwide ever since.

    The Architect’s Newspaper called it “one of the world’s most famous buildings.” Los Angeles magazine called Shulman’s image “perhaps the most famous picture ever taken of Los Angeles.”

    “There are no comps for the Stahl house. It’s incomparable,” said William Baker, architecture director for the real estate firm the Agency Beverly Hills. The home was included in the company’s fall catalog Nov. 12.

    By Friday afternoon, Baker said, he had received hundreds of inquiring calls. In considering offers, Baker said, the family is open to individuals or institutions — “someone who’s going to understand it, honor the house and the story about it.”

    The Stahls purchased the lot in 1954 for $13,500 and enlisted Koenig to design the house after other architects were daunted by the slope of the lot. Koenig’s solution was a cantilevered L-shaped structure with walls of steel and glass, a pool and a free-standing stone-faced fireplace between the living and dining areas.

    The second bedroom can only be accessed through the primary bedroom — “an efficient use of space” for a family of five, Baker said. The Stahl family has said the home cost $37,500 to build.

    Shortly after the home’s completion, photographer Julius Shulman made a black-and-white photograph that became emblematic of the era. It shows the home at night, with two young women sitting inside in a cantilevered corner, its floor-to-ceiling windows revealing the lights of the L.A. Basin glittering in the background.

    To bring up the lights, Shulman later told Los Angeles magazine, he used a seven-minute exposure. The resulting image, along with others Shulman made of the house, is now owned by the Getty Research Institute.

    In years since, the home has served as a filming location for many TV and film productions, including the 1968 pilot episode of “Columbo” and the movies “Galaxy Quest” (1999) and “Nurse Betty” (2000).

    “This home has been the center of our lives for decades, but as we’ve gotten older, it has become increasingly challenging to care for it with the attention and energy it so richly deserves,” the Stahl family announced on its website. Bruce and Shari Stahl, the surviving children of original owners Buck and Carlotta Stahl, added, “[O]ur tour program will continue unchanged for the time being, and we will provide ample notice before any adjustments are made.”

    For the last 17 years, the house has been open for tours, most recently on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, starting at $60 per adult during the day, $90 in the evening, with advance booking required and tight limits on photography. However, the Stahl website indicates all tours are sold out through the end of February.

    The real estate listing notes that the home is “a protected landmark and the only Case Study House with original family ownership.”

    In nominating it for the National Register of Historic Places in 2009, Amanda Stewart of the Los Angeles Conservancy called it “perhaps the most iconic house constructed in the Case Study House Program.” That program, sponsored by John Entenza’s Arts & Architecture magazine from 1945 to 1966, yielded 25 completed homes, today considered top exemplars of Midcentury home design.

    “There’s not a lot of these Case Study houses left. I think there are 19 now,” Baker said. (Baker also said he had recently handled the sale of Case Study House #10 in Pasadena to a buyer who lost a home in January’s Pacific Palisades fire.)

    The Stahl home stands on Woods Drive just north of West Hollywood’s city limit, about a quarter of a mile from Chateau Marmont.

    Many architecturally important Southern California Modern homes have landed in the hands of institutions, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House (1921), owned by the city of Los Angeles; the Schindler House (1922), owned by the Friends of the Schindler House and operated by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture; and the Eames House (1949), owned by the nonprofit Eames Foundation. The Sheats-Goldstein Residence, designed by John Lautner in 1961-63 and renovated by Lautner in the 1990s, has been promised by owner James Goldstein to the L.A. County Museum of Art.

    Christopher Reynolds

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  • What to know about the CDC’s baseless new guidance on autism

    The rewriting of a page on the CDC’s website to assert the false claim that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrecking the credibility of an agency they’ve long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence.

    Many scientists and public health officials fear that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, which now baselessly claims that health authorities previously ignored evidence of a vaccine-autism link, foreshadows a larger, dangerous attack on childhood vaccination.

    “This isn’t over,” said Helen Tager-Flusberg, a professor emerita of psychology and brain science at Boston University. She noted that Kennedy hired several longtime anti-vaccine activists and researchers to review vaccine safety at the CDC. Their study is due soon, she said.

    “They’re massaging the data, and the outcome is going to be, ‘We will show you that vaccines do cause autism,’” said Tager-Flusberg, who leads an advocacy group of more than 320 autism scientists concerned about Kennedy’s actions.

    Kennedy’s handpicked vaccine advisory committee is set to meet next month to discuss whether to abandon recommendations that babies receive a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within hours of birth and make other changes to the CDC-approved vaccination schedule. Kennedy has claimed — falsely, scientists say — that vaccine ingredients cause conditions like asthma and peanut allergies, in addition to autism.

    The revised CDC webpage will be used to support efforts to ditch most childhood vaccines, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Vaccine. “It will be cited as evidence, even though it’s completely invented,” she said.

    The website was altered by HHS, according to one CDC official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The CDC’s developmental disability group was not asked for input on the website changes, said Abigail Tighe, executive director of the National Public Health Coalition, a group that includes current and former staffers at the CDC and HHS.

    Scientists ridiculed the site’s declaration that studies “have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” While upward of 25 large studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism, it is scientifically impossible to prove a negative, said David Mandell, director of the Center for Autism Research at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

    The webpage’s new statement that “studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities” apparently refers to work by vaccine opponent David Geier and his father, Mark, who died in March, Mandell said. Their research has been widely repudiated and even ridiculed. David Geier is one of the outside experts Kennedy hired to review safety data at the CDC.

    Asked for evidence that scientists had suppressed studies showing a link, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon pointed to older reports, some of which called for more study of a possible link. Asked for a specific study showing a link, Nixon did not respond.

    Expert reaction

    Infectious disease experts, pediatricians, and public health officials condemned the alteration of the CDC website. Although Kennedy has made no secret of his disdain for established science, the change came as a gut punch because the CDC has always dealt in unbiased scientific information, they said.

    Kennedy and his “nihilistic Dark Age compatriots have transformed the CDC into an organ of anti-vaccine propaganda,” said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.

    “On the one hand, it’s not surprising,” said Sean O’Leary, a professor of pediatrics and infectious disease at the University of Colorado. “On the other hand, it’s an inflection point, where they are clearly using the CDC as an apparatus to spread lies.”

    “The CDC website has been lobotomized,” Atul Gawande, an author and a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, told KFF Health News.

    CDC “is now a zombie organization,” said Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC. The agency has lost about a third of its staff this year. Entire divisions have been gutted and its leadership fired or forced to resign.

    Kennedy has been “going from evidence-based decision-making to decision-based evidence making,” Daniel Jernigan, former director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said at a news briefing Nov. 19. With Kennedy and his team, terminology including “radical transparency” and “gold-standard science” has been “turned on its head,” he said.

    Cassidy goes quiet

    The new webpage seemed to openly taunt Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Cassidy cast the tie-breaking vote in committee for Kennedy’s confirmation after saying he had secured an agreement that the longtime anti-vaccine activist wouldn’t make significant changes to the CDC’s vaccine policy once in office.

    The agreement included a promise, he said, that the CDC would not remove statements on its website stating that vaccines do not cause autism.

    The new autism page is still headed with the statement “Vaccines do not cause Autism,” but with an asterisk linked to a notice that the phrase was retained on the site only “due to an agreement” with Cassidy. The rest of the page contradicts the header.

    “What Kennedy has done to the CDC’s website and to the American people makes Sen. Cassidy into a total and absolute fool,” said Mark Rosenberg, a former CDC official and assistant surgeon general.

    On Nov. 19 at the Capitol, before the edits were made to the CDC website, Cassidy answered several unrelated questions from reporters but ended the conversation when he was asked about the possibility Kennedy’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices might recommend against a newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.

    “I got to go in,” he said, before walking into a hearing room without responding.

    Cassidy has expressed dismay about the vaccine advisory committee’s actions but has avoided criticizing Kennedy directly or acknowledging that the secretary has breached commitments he made before his confirmation vote. Cassidy has said Kennedy also promised to maintain the childhood immunization schedule before being confirmed.

    The senator criticized the CDC website edits in a Nov. 20 post on X, although he did not mention Kennedy.

    “What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism,” he said in the post. “Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”

    Leading autism research and support groups, including the Autism Science Foundation, the Autism Society of America, and the Autism Self Advocacy Network, issued statements condemning the website.

    “The CDC’s web page used to be about how vaccines do not cause autism. Yesterday, they changed it,” ASAN said in a statement. “It says that there is some proof that vaccines might cause autism. It says that people in charge of public health have been ignoring this proof. These are lies.”

    What the research shows

    Parents often notice symptoms of autism in a child’s second year, which happens to follow multiple vaccinations. “That is the natural history of autism symptoms,” said Tager-Flusberg. “But in their minds, they had the perfect child who suddenly has been taken from them, and they are looking for an external reason.”

    When speculation about a link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine or vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal surfaced around 2000, “scientists didn’t dismiss them out of hand,” said Tager-Flusberg, who has researched autism since the 1970s. “We were shocked, and we felt the important thing to do was to figure out how to quickly investigate.”

    Since then, studies have clearly established that autism occurs as a result of genetics or fetal development. Although knowledge gaps persist, studies have shown that premature birth, older parents, viral infections, and the use of certain drugs during pregnancy — though not Tylenol, evidence so far indicates — are linked to increased autism risk.

    But other than the reams of data showing the health risks of smoking, there are few examples of science more definitive than the many worldwide studies that “have failed to demonstrate that vaccines cause autism,” said Bruce Gellin, former director of the National Vaccine Program Office.

    The edits to the CDC website and other actions by Kennedy’s HHS will shake confidence in vaccines and lead to more disease, said Jesse Goodman, a former FDA chief scientist and now a professor at Georgetown University.

    This opinion was echoed by Alison Singer, the mother of an autistic adult and a co-founder of the Autism Science Foundation. “If you’re a new mom and not aware of the last 30 years of research, you might say, ‘The government says we need to study whether vaccines cause autism. Maybe I’ll wait and not vaccinate until we know,’” she said.

    The CDC website misleads parents, puts children at risk, and draws resources away from promising leads, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “Kennedy thinks he’s helping children with autism, but he’s doing the opposite.”

    Many critics say their only hope is that cracks in President Donald Trump’s governing coalition could lead to a turn away from Kennedy, whose team has reportedly tangled with some White House officials as well as Republican senators. Polling has also shown that much of the American public distrusts Kennedy and does not consider him a health authority, and Trump’s own approval rating has sunk dramatically since he returned to the White House.

    But anti-vaccine activists applauded the revised CDC webpage. “Finally, the CDC is beginning to acknowledge the truth about this condition that affects millions,” Mary Holland, CEO of Children’s Health Defense, the advocacy group Kennedy founded and led before entering politics, told Fox News Digital. “The truth is there is no evidence, no science behind the claim vaccines do not cause autism.”

    Céline Gounder, Amanda Seitz and Amy Maxmen contributed to this report.

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  • CDC replaces website on vaccines and autism with false and misleading statements

    The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have altered their website on autism and vaccines, removing unequivocal statements that immunizations don’t cause the neurodevelopmental disorder and replacing them with inaccurate and misleading information about the links between the shots and autism.

    Until Wednesday, the CDC page, “Autism and Vaccines,” began: “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).”

    This was followed, in large font, by the blunt statement: “Vaccines do not cause autism.”

    The rest of the page summarized some of the CDC’s own studies into autism and vaccine ingredients, none of which found any causal links between the two.

    On Wednesday, the page was altered so that it now begins: “The claim ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

    The words “Vaccines do not cause autism” still appear near the top, but with an asterisk that leads to a note at the bottom.

    “The header ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website,” the site states.

    The chair of that committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), cast the deciding vote to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as Health and Human Services secretary, in exchange for Kennedy’s promise that he wouldn’t erode public confidence in vaccines.

    “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities,” HHS spokesman Andrew Dixon said in an email. “We are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science.”

    The news was met with outrage by scientists and advocates.

    “We are appalled to find that the content on the CDC webpage ‘Autism and Vaccines’ has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the nonprofit Autism Science Foundation said in a statement. “The CDC’s previous science and evidence-based website has been replaced with misinformation and now actually contradicts the best available science.”

    The current CDC page now says the rise in autism diagnoses correlates with an increase in the number of vaccines given to infants. Multiple researchers have argued that the rise in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses is better explained by an expanding diagnostic definition of the disorder, along with better monitoring and diagnosis for more children.

    Cassidy’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.

    Corinne Purtill

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  • South Africa investigates mystery of a plane that arrived with more than 150 Palestinians from Gaza

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.

    The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.

    It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.

    The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.

    “These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.

    Palestinians being ‘exploited’

    The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”

    It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.

    The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.

    South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.

    “Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.

    Shadowy operation

    The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.

    Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.

    Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.

    Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

    Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.

    South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.

    They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.

    Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.

    Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.

    “They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.

    South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.

    The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.

    Jerusalem-based organization

    An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.

    The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.

    Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.

    Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

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  • South Africa investigates mystery of a plane that arrived with more than 150 Palestinians from Gaza

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.“These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.Palestinians being ‘exploited’The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.“Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.Shadowy operationThe secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.“They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.Jerusalem-based organizationAn organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site. Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

    South Africa’s intelligence services are investigating who was behind a chartered plane that landed in Johannesburg with more than 150 Palestinians from war-ravaged Gaza who did not have proper travel documents and were held onboard on the tarmac for around 12 hours as a result, the country’s president said Friday.

    The plane landed Thursday morning at O.R. Tambo International Airport, but passengers were not allowed to disembark until late that night after immigration interviews with the Palestinians found they could not say where or how long they were staying in South Africa, South Africa’s border agency said.

    It said the Palestinians also did not have exit stamps or slips that would normally be issued by Israeli authorities to people leaving Gaza.

    The actions of South African authorities in initially refusing to allow the passengers off the plane provoked fierce criticism from non-governmental organizations, who said the 153 Palestinians — who included families with children and one woman who is nine months pregnant — were kept in dire conditions on the plane, which was extremely hot and had no food or water.

    South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said there was an investigation to uncover how the Palestinians came to South Africa via a stopover in Nairobi, Kenya.

    “These are people from Gaza who somehow mysteriously were put on a plane that passed by Nairobi and came here,” Ramaphosa said.

    Palestinians being ‘exploited’

    The Palestinian Embassy in South Africa said in a statement the flight was arranged by “an unregistered and misleading organization that exploited the tragic humanitarian conditions of our people in Gaza, deceived families, collected money from them, and facilitated their travel in an irregular and irresponsible manner. This entity later attempted to disown any responsibility once complications arose.”

    It didn’t name who chartered the flight, but an Israeli military official, speaking anonymously to discuss confidential information, said an organization called Al-Majd arranged the transport of about 150 Palestinians from Gaza to South Africa.

    The official said that Israel escorted buses organized by Al-Majd that brought Palestinians from a meeting point in the Gaza Strip to the Kerem Shalom crossing. Then buses from Al-Majd picked the Palestinians up and brought them to Ramon airport in Israel, where they were flown out of the country.

    South African authorities said 23 of the Palestinians had traveled onward to other countries, without naming those countries, but 130 remained and were allowed in after intervention from South Africa’s Ministry of Home Affairs and an offer by an NGO called Gift of the Givers to accommodate them.

    “Even though they do not have the necessary documents and papers, these are people from a strife-torn, a war-torn country, and out of compassion, out of empathy, we must receive them and be able to deal with the situation that they are facing,” Ramaphosa said.

    Shadowy operation

    The secretive nature of the flight raised fears among rights groups that it marked an attempt by the Israeli government to push Palestinians from Gaza.

    Israel’s foreign ministry referred questions to the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT), the Israeli authority responsible for implementing civilian policies in the Palestinian territories. It said the Palestinians on the charter plane left the Gaza Strip after it received approval from a third country to receive them as part of an Israeli government policy allowing Gaza residents to leave. It didn’t name the third country.

    Around 40,000 people have left Gaza since the start of the war under the policy.

    Israel’s government had embraced a pledge by U.S. President Donald Trump to empty Gaza permanently of its more than 2 million Palestinians — a plan rights groups said would amount to ethnic cleansing. At the time, Trump said they would not be allowed to return.

    Trump has since backed away from this plan and brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the militant group Hamas that allows Palestinians to remain in Gaza.

    South African leader Ramaphosa said that it appeared the Palestinians who arrived in Johannesburg were being “flushed out” of Gaza, without elaborating. The comment followed allegations by two South African NGO representatives who claimed that Al-Majd was affiliated with Israel and working to remove Palestinians from Gaza.

    They offered no evidence for the claims and COGAT didn’t respond to a request for comment on those allegations.

    Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman, one of those to allege involvement by what he called “Israel’s front organizations,” said this was the second plane to arrive in South Africa in mysterious circumstances after one that landed with more than 170 Palestinians onboard on Oct. 28. The arrival of that flight was not announced by authorities.

    Sooliman said the passengers on the latest plane did not initially know where they were going and were given no food for the two days it took to travel to Johannesburg.

    “They were given nothing on the plane itself and this must be challenged and investigated,” Sooliman said.

    South Africa has long been a supporter of the Palestinian cause and a critic of Israel and has led the international pro-Palestinian movement by accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza in a highly contentious case at the United Nations’ top court. Israel denies committing genocide and has denounced South Africa as the “legal arm” of Hamas.

    The people that ended up in South Africa underlined the desperation of Palestinians following a two-year war that has killed more than 69,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, and reduced the territory to rubble. The ministry’s death toll does not distinguish between militants and civilians, but it says more than half of those killed were women and children. A fragile ceasefire is in place.

    Jerusalem-based organization

    An organization called Al-Majd Europe has previously been linked to facilitating travel for Palestinians out of Gaza. It describes itself on its website as a humanitarian organization founded in 2010 in Germany and based in Jerusalem that provides aid and rescue efforts to Muslim communities in conflict zones.

    The website does not list office phone numbers or its exact address. It states that Al-Majd Europe works with a variety of organizations including 15 international agencies, but no organizations are listed and a “will be announced soon” message was displayed in that section on Friday.

    Another message that appeared Friday on the website said people were impersonating it to request money or cryptocurrency “under the pretext of facilitating travel or humanitarian aid.” Al-Majd Europe didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email address given on its site.

    Imray reported from Cape Town, South Africa, and Frankel reported from Jerusalem. Michelle Gumede and Mogomotsi Magome contributed to this report.

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  • Alaska Airlines grounds flights across the nation due to IT outage

    Thousands of Americans hoping to get airborne found themselves stuck on the ground Thursday evening as Alaska Airlines experienced an IT outage that prevented any of its planes from taking off.

    “A temporary ground stop is in place,” the airline announced on social media at 4:20 p.m. “We apologize for the inconvenience. If you’re scheduled to fly tonight, please check your flight status before heading to the airport.”

    Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, where the carrier is based, reported 82 Alaska Airlines flight delays and 17 cancellations, according to Flight Aware. Los Angeles International Airport, meanwhile, reported eight Alaska Airlines flight delays and one cancellation.

    The outage marked the second time in recent months that IT issues prevented Alaska Airlines from flying. The airline grounded all flights for a three-hour period in July after a similar outage.

    As of 7 p.m. the outage remained in effect, and the airline said that it was actively working to restore operations. It did not provide any details on what was causing the tech problems.

    Customers have also reported problems with accessing the airline’s website and app.

    The airline flies to 40 destinations worldwide, including 37 states and 12 countries, according to its website.

    Clara Harter

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  • Piano teacher to children of Hollywood stars fled country as jury decided sex abuse case

    When jurors returned to a West L.A. courtroom to deliver their verdict in a child sex abuse case earlier this month, one key person was missing: the defendant.

    John Kaleel — a veteran piano teacher who has given lessons to the families of several Hollywood power players — faced allegations that he sexually abused one of his students in 2013.

    Kaleel, 69, pleaded no contest in 2016 to committing a lewd act with a teenage student, but later fought to have the plea overturned after realizing the felony conviction would be grounds for deportation to his native Australia. L.A. County prosecutors then retried him and, while the case was pending, he was released on his own recognizance.

    On Oct. 8 — the same day jurors in the Airport Courthouse found him guilty of five counts of sexual abuse — Kaleel slipped out of the country, according to a statement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department and court records.

    The Sheriff’s Department did not say where they believed Kaleel had fled to. Court records show prosecutors filed an application to seek an “Extradition/Fugitive Hardcopy Warrant,” but it contained no details about how he absconded and a spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined to answer questions.

    Kaleel’s attorney, Kate Hardie, said she last saw her client when she drove him home from court on Oct. 7, the day before the verdict was handed down, and has had no contact with him since. Kaleel has been a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. since the 1980s, according to Hardie. Attempts by The Times to contact Kaleel were unsuccessful.

    A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office declined to discuss what steps it would take to get Kaleel back in custody in Los Angeles. Hardie said her client faces at least a decade in state prison at sentencing.

    Hardie accused the district attorney’s office of carrying out a “vindictive prosecution” against Kaleel, who had already served a year in jail and spent time in a federal immigration detention center after his original plea deal.

    Kaleel taught private lessons for more than a quarter-century in L.A., and his clients included “Hollywood industry professionals and students who have pursued successful music careers,” according to his website. The web page boasted testimonials from the creators of critically acclaimed television series, including “Mad Men” and “Orange Is the New Black,” who praised his work with their children.

    Emmy-award winning animation director Genndy Tartakovsky, who created several famous cartoons, including “Dexter’s Laboratory” and “Samurai Jack,” also referred to Kaleel as a “gift,” according to the website.

    “I have never seen my three children become more inspired or enthusiastic for anything as much as they did for your piano classes,” Tartakovsky said, according to an earlier version of Kaleel’s business website.

    The testimonials disappeared from the website on Monday, after The Times began contacting representatives for those quoted.

    Spokespersons for Jenji Kohan, who created “Orange Is the New Black,” and Matthew Weiner, the writer behind “Mad Men,” both denied giving Kaleel any endorsements or the permission to post any comment on his website. A representative for Tartakovsky declined to comment. Court records show Tartakovsky’s wife and one of his children, a former student of Kaleel’s, testified on the teacher’s behalf at trial.

    “Mr. Kaleel has always maintained his innocence and that he took his initial plea bargain on the advice of counsel to avoid a harsher sentence should he lose at trial,” Hardie said. “He later learned of the immigration consequences when he was placed in an immigration custody facility for 8 [or] 9 months and faced removal proceedings.”

    Hardie argued her client was the victim of a “trial tax,” which references prosecutors often seeking to punish defendants more severely when they don’t take a plea. Hardie also said Sheriff’s Department detectives interviewed many of Kaleel’s students “and found no other student who complained of Kaleel being inappropriate.”

    The alleged victim in the case first contacted the Sheriff’s Department in 2015. The boy said he was 15 when Kaleel acted inappropriately by asking “to take measurements of [the victim’s] body parts, including his penis,” according to court records.

    Two years later, Kaleel convinced the boy that they should masturbate together while on a FaceTime call because that’s “what friends do,” records show. In September 2013, prosecutors alleged, Kaleel invited the boy over and they smoked marijuana together before having oral sex.

    A friend of the victim also testified at trial that Kaleel attempted to engage in sexual conduct with him, but that count was not charged, according to court records. Hardie said her client had no physical contact with that boy.

    After Kaleel struck a plea deal, he was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and served with a deportation order. He successfully challenged his removal at the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2019, according to his former immigration attorney, Mfon Anthony Ikon.

    Ikon said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security then abandoned its attempts to deport Kaleel.

    Representatives for ICE and DHS did not respond to a request for comment.

    In 2022, Kaleel convinced a judge to overturn his plea to the initial sex crimes charge on the grounds that he didn’t fully understand the impact it might have on his immigration status, records show.

    Dmitry Gorin, a former L.A. County prosecutor who has tried cases in the area for the last three decades, said it’s rare — but not unprecedented — for defendants to vanish on the eve of a verdict.

    “It’s an unusual situation,” he said. “But people’s conduct can be very unpredictable when they’re facing tremendous time in prison.”

    James Queally

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  • Mitt Romney’s sister-in-law dead after possible fall or jump from parking structure, authorities say

    The sister-in-law of former Utah Sen. Mitt Romney, Carrie Elizabeth Romney, was found dead near a Santa Clarita shopping mall on Friday.

    Her cause of death remains under investigation. Investigators are speculating, however, that the 64-year-old Valencia resident fell or jumped from a five-story parking structure, according to L.A. County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson Nicole Nishida.

    Homicide investigators responded to the 24000 block of Town Center Drive near the Valencia Town Center shopping mall around 9 p.m. Friday, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

    The L.A. County medical examiner is still running tests to confirm the cause of death, Nishida said.

    Romney’s cause of death was listed as deferred on the medical examiner’s website. It could take months for toxicology tests to be completed and information to be updated.

    Mitt Romney served as the governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee. He was elected U.S. senator from Utah in 2018 and left office at the end of his term in January.

    Carrie Elizabeth Romney appeared to be the wife of Mitt’s older brother, G. Scott Romney, an attorney who has supported Mitt on the campaign trail over the years.

    Clara Harter

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  • Rite Aid has closed its final doors after 63 years in business

    Rite Aid has closed its final doors after 63 years in business

    Updated: 10:47 AM PDT Oct 5, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    Rite Aid, once one of America’s biggest pharmacy chains, shuttered its remaining 89 stores this week after filing for bankruptcy in May for the second time in less than two years.”All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support,” the company said in a statement on its website.The company’s website, which has since removed all of its services, remains available for former customers to request pharmaceutical records or locate another nearby pharmacy to fulfill prescriptions.The full-service pharmacy first opened in 1962 and became well-known for its cult-favorite ice cream brand, Thrifty, which has since been sold due to the store’s bankruptcy. Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, largely because of competition from bigger chains and its debt pile, which topped $4 billion due to expensive legal battles for allegedly filling unlawful opioid prescriptions.Rite Aid emerged from that bankruptcy in September 2024, having slashed $2 billion in debt, securing $2.5 billion in funds to maintain operations and closing about 500 locations. In May, Rite Aid had about 1,250 remaining stores, cut by about half from its 2023 operations.The drugstore announced in May that it sold most of its US stores’ pharmacy services to rivals CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Albertsons and Kroger, which collectively claimed more than 1,000 locations.It’s a saving grace for former Rite Aid customers, who may have otherwise lost access to their nearest pharmacy. When drugstores permanently close, as has been the trend in recent years, patients often have to travel farther to get their medications, posing a larger risk to older adults.CVS announced in November 2021 that it would close 900 stores by 2024 after it had closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020. Former Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth had told the Wall Street Journal last year that about 25% of its stores aren’t profitable, and the company announced in October 2024 that it would close 1,200 stores.

    CNN —

    Rite Aid, once one of America’s biggest pharmacy chains, shuttered its remaining 89 stores this week after filing for bankruptcy in May for the second time in less than two years.

    “All Rite Aid stores have now closed. We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support,” the company said in a statement on its website.

    The company’s website, which has since removed all of its services, remains available for former customers to request pharmaceutical records or locate another nearby pharmacy to fulfill prescriptions.

    The full-service pharmacy first opened in 1962 and became well-known for its cult-favorite ice cream brand, Thrifty, which has since been sold due to the store’s bankruptcy. Rite Aid first filed for bankruptcy in October 2023, largely because of competition from bigger chains and its debt pile, which topped $4 billion due to expensive legal battles for allegedly filling unlawful opioid prescriptions.

    Rite Aid emerged from that bankruptcy in September 2024, having slashed $2 billion in debt, securing $2.5 billion in funds to maintain operations and closing about 500 locations. In May, Rite Aid had about 1,250 remaining stores, cut by about half from its 2023 operations.

    The drugstore announced in May that it sold most of its US stores’ pharmacy services to rivals CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens, Albertsons and Kroger, which collectively claimed more than 1,000 locations.

    It’s a saving grace for former Rite Aid customers, who may have otherwise lost access to their nearest pharmacy. When drugstores permanently close, as has been the trend in recent years, patients often have to travel farther to get their medications, posing a larger risk to older adults.

    CVS announced in November 2021 that it would close 900 stores by 2024 after it had closed 244 stores between 2018 and 2020. Former Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth had told the Wall Street Journal last year that about 25% of its stores aren’t profitable, and the company announced in October 2024 that it would close 1,200 stores.

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  • Searching and applying for after-school programs in DC is now at your fingertips – WTOP News

    Looking for after-school or weekend programs for your children in D.C.? A new website from the District aims to help you out.

    Looking for after-school or weekend programs for your children in D.C.? A new website from the District aims to help you out.

    “We’ve been constantly hearing families say that they don’t know where or how to access out of school time, meaning after school and summer programs for D.C.’s children and youth,” Shontia Lowe, executive director of the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Education’s Office for Out of School Time, said. “The problem was access and information.”

    She said a new website the District launched aims to fix that issue.

    The portal, called MOST-D.C., is a one-stop shop for finding after-school programs for kids.

    “So families can log into the portal and search for programs by ward, by location, by school, by program type, to determine what are the best programs to meet the needs of the students,” Lowe said.

    It’s offered in English and Spanish and they’re adding additional languages soon. There are more than 1,000 summer and after-school programs on the site now, and administrators will continue to add more.

    “Families may traditionally perhaps prioritize a program that’s close to their school, close to their work or close to their home. They don’t have to choose. They can see all of the above through the most.dc.gov portal,” she said.

    There are currently more than 6,500 parent accounts and more than 8,000 students linked to programs on the site. They hope that number will grow even more.

    Funding for the website was rolled out in Mayor Muriel Bowser’s most recent budget.

    “My hope is that MOST-D.C. becomes a household name in families, for families across the wards,” Lowe said. “Families have a plethora of programs to choose from.”

    Find the portal online here.

    Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.

    © 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.

    Valerie Bonk

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  • Fake QR codes posted on Redondo Beach parking meters to scam drivers, police say

    Fake QR codes posted on Redondo Beach parking meters to scam drivers, police say

    Someone affixed fraudulent QR codes to parking meters in popular areas of Redondo Beach in an attempt to scam residents and visitors, authorities warned.

    The QR codes — which direct people to a website that’s not affiliated with the city or its official parking meter system — were found on about 150 parking meters along the Esplanade and in the Riviera Village area, the Redondo Beach Police Department said Saturday in a news release. When users reached that website, poybyphone.online, they were prompted to enter their location and payment information.

    The stickers, all of which have since been removed, were placed next to labels for legitimate companies that allow people to make parking fee payments online by either scanning a QR code, downloading an app or visiting a website. The city contracts with two companies, ParkMobile and PayByPhone, to take those payments.

    Anyone who may have been defrauded by the fake QR codes, who received a parking citation after making a payment through the fraudulent website, or who has information about those responsible for the scam stickers is asked to contact the Redondo Beach Police Department at (310) 379-2477.

    The scam has precedent. QR codes directing users to the same fraudulent website were recently discovered on at least 51 parking meters in Ottawa, Canada, according to the Ottawa Citizen.

    And earlier this month, Alhambra police warned residents that someone was leaving fake parking tickets on vehicles that included a QR code directing to a website not affiliated with the city. Authorities warned people not scan the code, as it might install a virus on their phone.

    In fact, the practice is now so commonplace that it has a name: “quishing,” short for “QR code phishing,” according to the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. This brand of identity fraud scam typically sees criminals try to lure victims into providing personal or financial information by placing QR codes in high-traffic locations or sending them via email or text message. The codes direct unsuspecting users to fraudulent websites that often attempt to masquerade as sites affiliated with government agencies or banks, according to the USPIS. The information the scammers obtain can then be used to commit other crimes such as financial fraud.

    Alex Wigglesworth

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  • David DePape convicted of five state charges in hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

    David DePape convicted of five state charges in hammer attack on Nancy Pelosi’s husband

    David DePape, the conspiracy theorist who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul, with a hammer and plotted to interrogate the former House speaker on video, was convicted Friday of state charges related to the assault.

    A jury found DePape guilty of five felony counts in state court, according to several news outlets. The charges resulted from an attack that investigators described as the beginning of a planned “rampage” to go after high-profile targets, including actor Tom Hanks and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

    He was convicted of imprisonment, residential burglary, threatening a family member of a public official, attempting to sway a witness and aggravated kidnapping. The verdict comes seven months after he was found guilty of federal charges in the attack.

    DePape’s social media accounts, and interviews with friends and former co-workers, detail how he began to descend into baseless right-wing conspiracy theories. He wrote blog posts about several discredited conspiracy theories, including those popularly known as “Pizzagate” and “QAnon,” which posited large sexual abuse rings run by Hollywood and Democratic Party figures.

    San Francisco Assistant Dist. Atty. Phoebe Maffei argued during the trial that DePape targeted Nancy Pelosi because of her role as House speaker at the time, making her second in line for the presidency, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. She was not home during the break-in.

    “We haven’t seen anybody make a plan to break into the home of one of our national leaders, hold hostage and nearly kill that person’s spouse,” Maffei told jurors, according to the Chronicle. “Thankfully this is unusual. But it’s what happened.”

    In November, DePape was convicted in federal court of attempting to kidnap Nancy Pelosi and assaulting her husband. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison.

    Attorneys with the San Francisco public defender’s office, which represented DePape, successfully sought to have several charges against him dismissed in the state case, arguing that they were similar to those he had been convicted of in federal court.

    In response, San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Harry Dorfman tossed out the counts of attempted murder, elder abuse and assault with a deadly weapon. Defense attorneys argued that the state’s double jeopardy law prohibits defendants from being tried more than once on the same crime.

    In his closing arguments, Public Defender Adam Lipson argued that his client might be guilty of false imprisonment, residential burglary and attempting to sway a witness. But, he told jurors, DePape should not be convicted of aggravated kidnapping and threatening a family member of a public official, the Chronicle reported.

    Lipson reportedly argued that DePape’s threats were not specific to Pelosi’s role as House speaker, but rather to find and reach other targets.

    Conspiracy theories continued to play a role as the state trial came to a close this week.

    On Tuesday, Dorfman barred DePape’s former partner from the courtroom and second floor of the building, the Associated Press reported. The decision came after Gypsy Taub, a nudism activist, handed out fliers outside the courtroom with links to her website, which promotes a series of conspiracy theories.

    The day Dorfman kicked her out of the second floor, the address for Taub’s website was spotted on a wall and on a toilet paper dispenser in a women’s bathroom at the courthouse.

    Dorfman accused Taub of “trying to corruptly influence one or more jury members” and instructed bailiffs to escort her out.

    Salvador Hernandez

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | Join us in the rebrand for Bob “Clef” Schneider!

    Austin Pets Alive! | Join us in the rebrand for Bob “Clef” Schneider!

    You may have seen him on the website, you may have seen him on social media. You may have even seen him on the Fierce Whiskers
    “Take Me Home” bottle of whiskey!! But Clef keeps getting passed by and
    we all keep wondering, what do we do to get this boy in his adoptive
    home? Why not try something new? 🎶”I have seen the end of the world and it looks like this.” Change
    is comin’ and Clef is ready to reinvent himself! He’s taken to Bob
    Schneider’s music to help him through his soul-searching. No, he’s not
    stealing a famous musician’s identity –simply modeling himself after a
    popular Austinite we all know and love.

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  • MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million, with $137 million going to California nonprofits

    MacKenzie Scott donates $640 million, with $137 million going to California nonprofits

    When a nonprofit serving Los Angeles’ homeless and foster youth applied last year for a slice of billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s latest round of giving, the group hoped to get $1 million.

    Instead, the team at Youth Emerging Stronger learned this week it was one of almost 300 community groups nationwide to be awarded $2 million.

    “It doubled the amount that we were hoping for,” said Mark Supper, chief executive and president of Youth Emerging Stronger, adding, that they were “a bit dumbfounded by it, but we’re so happy.”

    Scott, who co-founded Amazon with her ex-husband, chief executive Jeff Bezos, donated $640 million to more than 350 community groups nationwide, more than doubling the amount she initially planned to give, according to Yield Giving, Scott’s website. Of that pot, $137 million went to 76 organizations that serve Californians. The majority received $2 million, but about 80 organizations received $1 million.

    Supper’s nonprofit was among the 25 Southern California groups that shared $47 million.

    “For us, it’s really a transformational kind of gift,” Supper said. “It allows us to really think long term in our strategies and our approaches.”

    The news of the massive donation is still only days old, and Supper said his team is still working on specific plans for how to use the money. But he said the group will definitely focus on expanding housing and mental health services for the vulnerable youth, ages 12 to 24, whom it serves.

    Supper said his nonprofit was notified recently that it was among the finalists from Scott’s open call — which got more than 6,000 applicants — for “community-led, community-focused organizations whose explicit purpose is to advance the voices and opportunities of individuals and families of meager or modest means, and groups who have met with discrimination and other systemic obstacles.”

    “We’re just so pleased that they saw the value of our work,” Supper said. “It’s a critical age bracket that I think a lot of people don’t spend a lot of time on when we look at the unhoused issue.”

    Among the other Southern California awardees are the LGBTQ Center in Long Beach; Pacoima Beautiful, an environmental justice group in the San Fernando Valley; Reality Changers, a San Diego group working with first-generation college students; the California Native Vote Project, which advocates for Native American community; and Achievable Health, which provides healthcare to people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, according to Scott’s database of gifts.

    “We were just jumping up and down with joy when we heard this was happening,” said Carmen Ibarra, the chief executive of Achievable Health, based in Culver City.

    “It comes at just the right time,” she said, as the organization’s community health center is working on plans to expand to provide services to more people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who she said are “often underserved and overlooked in healthcare.”

    “We’re limited right now in terms of our capacity, mainly around space,” Ibarra said. “We will be expanding our services, expanding our site, expanding the staffing that we have to be able to serve more patients in the community. … This really is jumpstarting those efforts.”

    This round of donations follows many others from Scott, who has pledged to donate more than half of her wealth, which is estimated at about $32 billion, according to Forbes. Scott has typically given to organizations without an application process, but this time she worked with philanthropic group Lever for Change to analyze the thousands of applicants.

    “Grateful to Lever for Change and everyone on the evaluation and implementation teams for their roles in creating this pathway to support for people working to improve access to foundational resources in their communities,” Scott wrote on her website Tuesday. “They are vital agents of change.”

    Grace Toohey

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  • Austin Pets Alive! | APA! Offers Courtesy Listings for Rehoming

    Austin Pets Alive! | APA! Offers Courtesy Listings for Rehoming

    Going to a shelter should be and can be the last option for an animal whose family is having to make the tough decision to say goodbye to their furry family member.

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  • DeviantArt Embraces AI Art, Fucks Up Massively

    DeviantArt Embraces AI Art, Fucks Up Massively

    DeviantArt

    Image: DeviantArt

    DeviantArt is a website that has survived multiple generations of the internet because it does one thing and does it well: it lets artists upload and share their work. That’s it! So it’s both funny and more than a little tragic to see the site try something new last week, only for it to be the worst thing imaginable, implemented in the dumbest way possible.

    03:51

    Halo Infinite Winter Update’s New Multiplayer Maps

    Wednesday 4:38PM

    That thing was, of course, AI-generated art, something that sounds cool in theory but which in practice has been little else but a chance for tech goons and grifters to steal art, kid themselves into thinking they’re artists and/or deprive working artists of work.

    While popular with the kind of people who will talk to you unsolicited about how now is the best time to buy crypto, actual artists are generally horrified by the practice. So artists, the actual users and entire point of the site, were rightly upset last week when DeviantArt published a blog post that led with “Introducing DreamUp, an image-generation tool powered by your prompts that allows you to visualize most anything you can DreamUp!”

    That blog post, ostensibly an introduction to a service that lets users “create” their own AI art on DeviantArt, has to spend most of its time saying “actually it’s fine this isn’t terrible”, because it knew in advance a huge number of users would take one look at the legal and ethical complications involved and say “this is terrible!”

    But they went and did it anyway. And, after just one day in the open, were forced to make changes to it after artists protested at the ease with which AI art systems could so easily scrape their own works without accreditation or even their active consent. The most egregious example being that every single piece of art on the whole website had been flagged to be made available for AI systems to learn from, and that users were going to have to manually go into their accounts and opt out of every single image.

    G/O Media may get a commission

    Also contentious was the way in which prominent artists had to opt out of having their style stolen (people entering prompts into AI art use a bunch of keywords like “fantasy”, but also artist names to imitate their style), but to do so had to submit a form which would take days to process:

    While the bulk opt-out system was quickly changed (too late for many, since the damage would already have been done!), the entire thing as an idea still sucks (they can’t even guarantee it works!), and deep down DeviantArt know it, because they published an update which is still mostly about addressing user’s concerns which, you know, might suggest there are underlying issues with the whole point of the exercise, not just individual examples of its implementation.

    AI art is from the same grifting, de-humanising wheelhouse as crypto and NFTs, and you can see that at work in DeviantArt’s system, which isn’t here for the casual enjoyment of existing users, but as a way to make money. DreamUp allows for a certain number of free “prompts” before users are locked out…unless they’re paid DeviantArt members. And if you do decide to pay, what are you getting in return, aside from the satisfaction gained from undermining the very community you’re supposedly a part of? DeviantArt was kind enough to provide some examples of llamas:

    Image for article titled DeviantArt Embraces AI Art, Fucks Up Massively

    Image: DeviantArt

    These look like shit. Like something a bot account would have tried to sell me as an NFT in 2021. Throw this all straight in the bin.

    Luke Plunkett

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  • Parenting 101: 5 Tips for planning a perfect Disney vacation

    Parenting 101: 5 Tips for planning a perfect Disney vacation

    It’s the most magical place on earth, but for some it’s an overwhelming destination. The reality of modern day vacationing at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, is that it requires proper planning. I’ve decided to compile a list of what I feel are the top 5 planning tips to ensure that you get the most out of your Disney vacation.

    1. Research. Walt Disney world is very big, with 25 resorts, four theme parks, two water parks and a large outdoor shopping and dining complex. The first step to planning a Disney vacation is visiting the Walt Disney World website. Here you will find everything you need to plan a trip that suits your family. Check out the resorts, look over what each park has to offer, and read over the restaurant menus. Everything you need to know about Disney World can be found on their site.

    2. My Disney Experience. Once you’ve booked your trip, download the My Disney Experience app and create an account. This app is the most handy tool to have on hand when on Disney property. After linking your resort and tickets on the app, you will be able to book your dining reservations and fast passes. Explore the app so that you are familiar and comfortable with it by the time your trip arrives.

    3. Join Disney groups. If you, like most people, are on social media, join a Disney group or two. These groups are full of Disney fanatics who are more than happy to dish out advice and opinions on all things Disney. By joining a group, you can narrow down which restaurants you’d like to visit and which rides you should book fast passes for.

    4. Book those ADR’s and Fast passes. Advance Dining Reservations can be booked up to 180 days in advance. Many of the more popular restaurants do in fact fully book up within minutes of that booking window opening up (7am EST). Every guest is allotted three fast passes per day that can be booked 60 days in advance (if staying offsite it’s 30 days). Popular rides, such as Flight of Passage at the Animal Kingdom, can have wait times of over four hours, so you will be happy that you woke up early to book those fast passes!

    5. Down time. Schedule one day for down time. You will need a day to recharge your batteries. All Disney resorts offer a wide variety of activities throughout the day that are definitely worth checking out.

    Bonus Tip: go with the flow and have fun! Sometimes all our planning suddenly goes out the window and you need to improvise. Perhaps a ride goes down, or you underestimated travel time, or everyone is too tired to go along with the daily plans. Whatever comes up, remember that you are at the happiest place on earth, so go with the flow!

    Up next: Which Disney resort should I pick?

    Meredith is a Disney obsessed stay-at-home mom. When she’s not planning a trip, you’ll find her with her nose in a book. Follow her on Instagram.

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