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Mathews: Yes, challenge book bans. But also get more people reading

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Ban this column! Please!It might seem strange to call for the cancellation of one’s own column. Who needs to squelch such a piece when newspaper audiences are declining already?But my request is no stranger than the effort to ban books that children might read in our schools and libraries.Surveys show children and teens are reader less than in decades past. The National Assessment of Educational Progress found the percentages of American 9- and 13-year-olds who read for fun are at their lowest levels since 1984. That’s no surprise, given all the hours kids that spend on their screens.Yet, this is the moment that culture warriors have chosen to launch book bans. They have targeted more than 2,500 titles, according to the American Library Association. Even more gobsmacking are the reasons the book ban supporters cite: preventing kids from learning about the most talked-about issues in our society — including identity, gender or sex.Of course, the true reasons for banning books go beyo...

Opinion: Children with summer birthdays face surprising health risks

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Both of us have kids with summer birthdays. That typically means parties organized around a few key themes: water activities, outdoor grilling and lots of ice cream. But children with summer birthdays share two other things in common: They are more likely to get the flu, and they are more likely to be diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.For a characteristic we don’t get to choose, our birthdays affect many important parts of our lives. Our research has shown that there are some surprising and important considerations families and health providers alike should address for kids whose birthdays happen to be in the summer.Take, for example, getting the flu. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say all children at least 6 months old should get the vaccine annually, and it typically becomes available in pediatrician’s offices at the end of August or early September. That means young children with September, October or November birthdays can easily get their f...

Brooks: AI brings fears that ‘human beings are soon going to be eclipsed’

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Recently I stumbled across an essay by Douglas Hofstadter that made me happy. Hofstadter is an eminent cognitive scientist and the author of books like “Gödel, Escher, Bach” and “I Am a Strange Loop.” The essay that pleased me so much, called “The Shallowness of Google Translate,” was published in The Atlantic in January of 2018.Back then, Hofstadter argued that AI translation tools might be really good at some pedestrian tasks, but they weren’t close to replicating the creative and subtle abilities of a human translator. “It’s all about ultrarapid processing of pieces of text, not about thinking or imagining or remembering or understanding. It doesn’t even know that words stand for things,” he wrote.The article made me happy because here was a scientist I greatly admire arguing for a point of view I’ve been coming to myself. Over the past few months, I’ve become an AI limitationist. That is, I believe that while AI will be an amazing tool for, say, tutoring children all around the ...

Irate sellers believe business negotiations should be private between agent and client

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Question: Selling our Bay Area home keeps getting interesting. We accepted a homebuyer’s offer on Tuesday. It was the most substantial offer among many. By Thursday, a buyer’s agent who also submitted an offer knocked on our door. In her company were her homebuying clients. We rejected their purchase offer with several others. They wanted to know why. Since Tuesday, our seller’s agent has shared our home’s sale price with local agents. The buyers and their agent on our doorstep were upset we accepted a lower offer.My husband was furious. After the doorstep confrontation, we called our agent’s supervising sales manager. This realty agency sales manager was unapologetic. The sales manager stated it is common to share pending sale prices, explaining that proclaiming the process helps active homebuyers and their agents write better offers. That is not our concern. Our business negotiations should stay private, especially during the four weeks of the escrow closing process.If the home sa...

Fairfax Co. considering weapons screening pilot program at some high schools

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Weapons detection screeners could be coming to some Fairfax County, Virginia, schools as part of a pilot program that may be paid for with unused funding from fiscal year 2023.At Thursday night’s board meeting, Chief Financial Officer Leigh Burden said $3 million of carried-over funding from the last fiscal year has been allocated for a safety and security screening pilot program. The security scanning technology, according to school board documents, would be installed at select high schools.According to Superintendent Michelle Reid, the county is exploring different technologies, and county staff members have visited surrounding jurisdictions that have implemented similar programs. In May, Prince William County’s school board approved a plan to place Evolv weapons detectors in all middle and high schools.School systems across the D.C. region have turned to screeners as part of their security initiatives. In Prince William County, Superintendent LaTanya McDade emphasized safety in t...

¿Cuál es el rol de David Beckham en el Inter de Miami?

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

(CNN Español) — David Beckham es la cara visible de la gestión que consiguió llevar a Lionel Messi al Inter de Miami. Beckham es uno de los copropietarios del club y puede considerarse la imagen del equipo por fuera de las canchas.El exfutbolista inglés, además de ser propietario, es el presidente de Operaciones de Fútbol del club.Así es el Inter de Miami: historia, títulos ganados, cómo juega y másAsí llegó Beckham al Inter de MiamiBeckham es propietario del Inter desde los inicios del equipo en la MLS en 2018, pero en 2021 junto a Jorge y José Mas, se hizo con el control total de las acciones de la institución, luego de que los tres se las compraran a Marcelo Claure y Masayoshi Son.En 2013, después de anunciar su retiro del fútbol, Beckham soñó por primera vez con traer un nuevo equipo a Miami, un proceso laborioso que finalmente se materializó en 2020, el año en que Inter Miami CF jugó su partido inaugural de Major League Soccer (MLS) contra LAFC.Sin duda, Beckham, quien te...

Police find toddler in SW Miami-Dade canal, pronounced dead at hospital

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Authorities found a 3-year-old boy in a canal overnight near a Southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood after he was reported missing.The toddler was rushed to Baptist Hospital in Homestead where he was then pronounced dead early Saturday morning. Police responded to the home in the area of Southwest 212th Street and the 11000 block after receiving reports of the missing child, where they later located him in the canal unresponsive and began performing CPR.An investigation was launched into how the boy ended up in the canal. Please check back on WSVN.com and 7News for more details on this developing story.

‘We are not prepared’: Disasters spread as climate change strikes

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

The floods, droughts, wildfires and extreme heat sweeping the globe are offering a dose of the climate future that scientists have warned about for decades — and all the ways the world is not ready.From a nearly depleted federal disaster fund to state insurance markets that are faltering under the weight of multiple catastrophes, extreme weather is testing the ability of even a rich nation like the United States to withstand the warming that has arrived faster than many scientists expected. So are the torrential rains flooding Northeastern states like Vermont, the shriveling Colorado River that has prompted a multistate brawl over dividing the water, the record temperatures that have raised worries about the stability of the electric grid, and the Canadian wildfire smoke that has repeatedly blanketed D.C. and other parts of the U.S. in recent weeks.Still ahead is the August-through-Septemb...

Georgia’s crackdown on queer rights contradicts its EU ambitions

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

TBILISI — Since Georgia applied for EU membership in 2022, its government has chased the country’s European dream in untraditional ways. The European Commission clearly lays out a dozen points for Georgia to fulfill EU membership candidate status. That apparently seemed too straightforward for the country’s ruling Georgian Dream party, so they have spiced things up.First, the government arrested an outspoken journalist critical of the administration. Then it tried to adopt a Russian-style law on “foreign agents.” National leaders, including Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili, criticized MEPs in the European Parliament and accused them of wanting to drag Georgia into Russia’s war on Ukraine. In recent months, it allowed resumption of direct flights to Russia. And in a blatant disregard for human rights, the government keeps Georgia’s emaciated ex-President Mikheil Saakashvili imprisoned, despite warnings that his mistreatment threatens the country’s EU dreams. Add to ...

Police searching for thief who abandoned baby from stolen pickup truck in Dorchester

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:26:44 GMT

Surveillance video shows the moment a truck was stolen with a baby inside while the family was right on the sidewalk in Dorchester Friday afternoon.Boston police also released an image of the person they say stole a pickup truck in on Geneva Avenue and Westville Street with a baby still inside and then abandoned the child in a car seat on the side of the road.Police said the video shows someone riding a bicycle before stealing the truck around 3 p.m. Friday. The family told police they had to pull over to tend to their 2-year-old.Officers responding to a reported kidnapping learned that a heavy-set, light-skinned Hispanic male with long hair and a beard who was last seen wearing a gray shirt with gray pants had just fled in a truck with an infant child inside, according to Boston police.Shocking surveillance video obtained by 7NEWS shows the person return to the area shortly after and leave the infant, who was still in the car seat, on the sidewalk. Within seconds, another person ca...