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Congress members warned of significant health data breach

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Members of the House and Senate were informed Wednesday that hackers may have gained access to their sensitive personal data in a breach of a Washington, D.C., health insurance marketplace. Employees of the lawmakers and their families were also affected.DC Health Link confirmed that data on an unspecified number of customers was affected and said it was notifying them and working with law enforcement. It said it was offering identity theft service to those affected and extending credit monitoring to all customers.The FBI said it was aware of the incident and was assisting the investigation.A broker on an online crime forum claimed to have records on 170,000 DC Health Link customers and was offering them for sale for an unspecified amount. The broker claimed they were stolen Monday. The broker did not immediately respond to questions posed by The Associated Press on an encrypted chat site. It was not possible to confirm the number claimed. Sample stolen data was po...

‘It’s about human capital’: Why more women and girls are needed in STEM

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

Women have historically been underrepresented in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields and in recent years, some tech giants have been taking steps to address the inequities.Girls Who Game (GwG) is an extracurricular program created to encourage young girls to develop their tech and leadership skills developed by Dell Technologies, Microsoft and Intel.“What we do across Canada and the U.S. is provide schools with the opportunity to really improve the digital literacy skills of young women. Because we know the stats — 50 per cent of women are in the workforce, and yet only 28 per cent are in STEM-related fields,” says Katina Papulkas, senior education strategist at Dell Technologies.At a Women’s Day celebration on Wednesday, students from 10 schools from grades three through eight who participated in the eight-week program showed off projects about how to make their schools more sustainable, created with the education edition of the video ga...

California to end Walgreens contract after abortion dispute

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Wednesday withdrew a $54 million contract with Walgreens after the pharmacy giant indicated it would not sell an abortion pill by mail in some conservative-led states.Newsom on Wednesday ordered state officials to not renew a contract with Walgreens to purchase specialty pharmacy prescription drugs for California’s prison health care system, including antivirual and antifungal drugs and medication used for congestive heart failure. Walgreens has gotten about $54 million from the contract, which expires April 30. Newsom’s office said the state will buy the drugs somewhere else. “California will not stand by as corporations cave to extremists and cut off critical access to reproductive care and freedom,” Newsom said in a news release. “California is on track to be the fourth largest economy in the world and we will leverage our market power to defend the right to choose.”A representative from Walgreens, based in the...

14-count indictment against 2 former Cook County assistant state's attorneys unsealed

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

COOK COUNTY, Ill. — Two former Cook County prosecutors face a combined 14-count indictment following a year-and-a-half investigation by a special prosecutor.Lawrence Oliver II was appointed to the position in July 2021 after a county prosecutor admitted to having a relationship with a key witness in a case. The now former assistant state's attorney Nick Trutenko, faces charges including perjury, obstruction of justice, violations of the local records act, and official misconduct, while another former assistant state's attorney, Andrew Horvet, faces charges of official misconduct.SEE ALSO: Jussie Smollett appeals jail sentence, claims double jeopardy rights violatedAlfredo Maldonado, the judge who ordered the special prosecutor, originally said in 2021 that there’s sufficient evidence that Trutenko committed perjury and others in the state’s attorney’s office may have covered for him.This all stems from Trutenko allegedly lying about his relationship with a key witness against Jackie...

Candlelight vigil honors victims killed in Bolingbrook home invasion

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. — A vigil is set to honor the family killed Sunday in a Bolingbrook home invasion.The vigil, taking place at DuPage Township Levy Center, will honor the memory of 40-year-old Cartez Daniel, 17-year-old Samiyah Shelton-Tillman and 9-year-old Sanai Daniels, who were fatally shot inside of their Bolingbrook home on Lee Lane. Previous: Accused Bolingbrook shooter pleads not guilty The vigil was scheduled to being at 5:30 p.m.

6-year-old girl dead, 4 others injured after semi-truck driver hits stopped car in Gary

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

GARY, Ind. — A six-year-old girl is dead and four others are injured after a semi-truck driver struck a car stopped on the Interstate early Wednesday morning in Northwest Indiana, according to police.The crash was reported around 1:30 a.m. about a mile and a half east of the Burr Street exit of Interstate 80/94. Man accused of stabbing his aunt to death in Gary The driver of the car, a 27-year-old woman, of Milwaukee, was stopped in the right lane when a semi-truck driver rear-ended the car, Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield said in a news release.Everyone in the car, two adults and three children, were taken to hospitals with life-threatening injuries, Fifield said. The six-year-old girl, who hasn't been identified, later died. Winfield police: Parents find 36-year-old daughter dead inside home; homicide investigation ongoing The driver of the semi-truck, a 49-year-old, of Wheeling, wasn't injured, Fifield said.The crash is still under investigation.

Six year old who allegedly shot teacher in Virginia will not face charges: report

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

(The Hill) - The six-year-old elementary school student in Virginia that is accused of shooting his teacher in January will not face charges, authorities told NBC on Wednesday.Howard Gwynn, Newport News Commonwealth’s Attorney, told NBC that his office does not believe there is a legal basis to charge a child in the crime, saying the “prospect that a 6-year-old can stand trial is problematic.”The news that the student would not be charged comes after he allegedly shot his first-grade teacher, Abigail Zwerner, while she was teaching at Richneck Elementary School. Police have characterized the shooting as “intentional.” Man accused of fatally stabbing high school student in L.A. taken into custody Zwerner was shot in the hand and chest and was released from the hospital after two weeks, according to the Associated Press.Gwynn said that his office was instead focusing on possibly charging others in connection with the shooting.“Our objective is not just to do something as quickly as...

Safety is 'number one priority,' AUS officials say after two planes nearly collided on runway last month

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – The City of Austin’s Airport Advisory Commission (AAC) met Wednesday to discuss several agenda items, including airport construction updates, as well as AUS staffing changes.The airport is currently over capacity, with passenger totals hitting forecasts five years ahead of schedule, officials said citing the need for "immediate projects" to increase capacity. FULL STORY: Passenger growth at Austin’s airport is hitting forecasts five years ahead of schedule The AAC briefly touched on the National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on a possible runway incursion in February.The NTSB initially tweeted about the incident Feb. 4 and said it involved a Southwest Airlines plane and a FedEx cargo plane.This rendering from the National Transportation Safety Board shows the flight paths of a Southwest plane in red and a FedEx cargo plane in purple when they came close to colliding Feb. 4, 2023. (NTSB Photo) Timeline shared of near-miss between 2 pla...

Passenger growth at Austin's airport is hitting forecasts five years ahead of schedule

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — "Explosive growth" at Austin's airport has led officials to reevaluate terminal designs and plans for additional capacity as the airport hits passenger forecasts years ahead of schedule."We have been reevaluating the design parameters... to accommodate the rapid growth, the almost explosive growth, that happened in 2022," Somer Shindler, the airport's chief development officer, said in a Wednesday meeting of the Airport Advisory Commission."The forecast that we had planned to see in 2028, we're actually hitting it this year, right now," Shindler said. "So that means, and you can all feel it when you fly through the airport, that all the processing units have already hit their capacity." With 21 million passengers, Austin airport had a blockbuster year in 2022 The airport saw record passenger totals last year, with more than 21 million passengers flying out of AUS. All 10 of the top 10 busiest months in airport history were recorded in 2022.Shindler said AUS officia...

Artificial Intelligence tools becoming 'unavoidable', lawmakers say

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 18:45:01 GMT

WASHINGTON (Nexstar)-- The Artificial Intelligence revolution is upon us. Emerging technologies, like chatbots, have become almost unavoidable in recent months.But is Washington ready for this new wave of technological advancement?South Carolina republican Nancy Mace opened Wednesday's committee hearing on the advances AI."While the potential applications of generative models are vast and impressive, there are also serious concerns about the ethical implications of their use," Mace said.Shortly after, Mace told lawmakers just moments later she did not write her speech."Every single word up until this sentence was generated entirely by ChatGPT," she said.Mace, along with Virginia democrat Gerry Connolly, said the popular chatbot, ChatGPT, is just one example of how AI tools are becoming unavoidable."We need to be looking at, sort of like a race to the moon, because if the Chinese dominate those areas, the future is theirs," Connolly said.Dr. Eric Schmidt is with the nonprofit Special...