Monthly Archives: May, 2021

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The mask dilemma for California

On Thursday, May 13, 2021, the CDC announced that people who have been vaccinated were no longer required to wear masks outside or in specific enclosed venues.

Even supposedly liberal California hasn’t changed in the year since George Floyd

At the first event of the day to mourn — well, fume — over the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, activist Paula Minor climbed up on the back of a flatbed truck across from L.A. City Hall on Tuesday morning and shouted the obvious. “Changes were promised. A lot of things were said. A lot of things began,” she said, prompting nods from a few dozen protesters blocking 1st Street. “But here in Los Angeles, city and county, change did not occur.” She’s right.

Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustments Aren’t Enough to Pay Higher Costs for Seniors

The Social Security Administration announced that the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA), which is an increase in social security benefits to counteract inflation, increased by 1.3% for 70 million American s on Social Security and Supplemental Security Income. The estimated average monthly benefit increased by $20 per month for 2021, reports CNBC. This increase, however, isn’t enough to account for the rising costs for seniors.

What’s behind the push for a fourth stimulus check

The IRS has issued some 165 million payments in the third round of direct stimulus aid, with another 1 million people this week in line to receive the $1,400 checks. But some lawmakers are pushing for a fourth round of stimulus aid that would effectively send recurring payments until the pandemic ends.

IRS unemployment tax refund: Taxpayers frustrated by tracking issues, slow pace of payments

Leave it to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to disappoint people twice in the same tax season. After waiting longer than usual to receive their refunds this year, many Americans who overpaid taxes on unemployment compensation in 2020 are now eagerly waiting for a second refund that the IRS said would begin to go out this month. With the month more than half over, the IRS is providing few updates.

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The AI Hype Index: AI gets booed in graduation season

It is one thing to say AI will change the world. It is another to expect the class of 2026 to applaud it. In fact, when former Google CEO Eric Schmidt told University of Arizona graduates that their task is to help shape AI, he was met with a resounding chorus of boos. “I can hear you,” he said, before conceding that fears about disappearing jobs and a broken future were “rational.”

This is not exactly the message one hopes to hear while sweating under a polyester gown and tallying student loan payments. Graduates have been jeering at AI pep talks at other commencements too, including ceremonies at the University of Central Florida and Middle Tennessee State University. Still, increasingly loud skepticism hasn’t stopped OpenAI from winning court cases, raising enormous sums of money, and launching new partnerships. And AI is even earning some unlikely cheerleaders: Reese Witherspoon has warned women to embrace it or be replaced by it.

 

New California Law Bars Law Enforcement From Interfering in State Elections

California law enforcement agencies are now barred from interfering...

Democrats Pledged Neutrality in California Race, Then Chose Sides

National Democrats are zeroing in on California’s 22nd Congressional...

Newsom’s unbalanced budget faces strong pushback for spending cuts. Will lawmakers back him?

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed state budget is drawing mounting...

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