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debra-mathews.bsky.social

@debra-mathews.bsky.social
195 followers 194 following 1.2K posts

emerging tech, ethics, governance; animals; plants; art; beauty; puns. opinions my own.

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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
🎁
nytimes.com
Opinion | The School Policy Scam Turning Voters Blue (Gift Article)
In Texas and Iowa, Democrats are successfully tying universal school vouchers to corruption.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
“Human flourishing involves more than consumption. We derive meaning from creating and discovering things, exercising judgment and solving problems, caring for people and having some influence over the world around us.” 🎁
nytimes.com
Opinion | What Ada Lovelace Would Have Said About A.I. (Gift Article)
What Ada Lovelace can teach us as we develop artificial intelligence.
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ProPublica @propublica.org · 04/10/2026
For years, Project 2025 architect Russell Vought has set out to erode our system of checks and balances of power and to concentrate power in the hands of one person: President Trump. Now he’s quietly making it all happen. 🔊 Listen to this episode: propub.li/3TzIyaA
“I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.” - Russell Vought, Director of the White House Office of Management and Budget
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Bloomberg News @bloomberg.com · 04/10/2026
Scientists are getting closer to controlling HIV without drugs after training the immune system to keep the virus in check. But US funding cuts are clouding the outlook for future research. Read more: bloom.bg/4e9tFT8 📷: Janet Fries/Getty Images/Archive Photos
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 04/10/2026
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nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress (Gift Article)
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
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nytimes.com
How Bad Will This Year’s Flu Season Be? (Gift Article)
Doctors are hopeful for a quieter fall and winter than in 2025.
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Reposted by @debra-mathews.bsky.social
The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 02/10/2026
AI agents from OpenAI may have breached or negatively impacted the systems of more than 100 organizations, the company said. The disclosure raises further questions about the extent to which AI makers are maintaining control over their newest models.
washingtonpost.com
OpenAI says rogue agents may have breached more than 100 organizations
The disclosure expands the extent of known rogue activity and raises further questions about the extent to which AI makers are maintaining control over their newest models.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
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nytimes.com
What to Know About Trump Accounts as More Than 60 Million Children Are Auto-Enrolled (Gift Article)
The Trump administration may have just signed up your child — and more than 60 million others — for a 530A savings account (if you haven’t already done so).
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
I❤️ librarians (and 📚) 🎁
nytimes.com
Librarians Discuss the Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Library Today (Gift Article)
We asked dozens of them about America’s libraries — what they provide, what they need to survive. Here’s what they told us.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
❤️❤️❤️
thebanner.com
Oleum owner to take over former Simply Marie’s space in Canton for new restaurant
Oleum owner Alisha Adibe is opening the restaurant Dahlia Cocinita in the former Simply Marie's space.
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Amy Maxmen, PhD @amymaxmen.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Absolutely stunning/horrifying to see a 5th measles death in PA. This means the outbreak is probably far higher than numbers count, seeing as roughly 1-3 people die per 1,000. Many people aren't being tested. Also: I'm going to states now for info, not the CDC* app.powerbigov.us/view?r=eyJrI...
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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nytimes.com
Opinion | Trump Wants A.I. Companies to Police Themselves. What Can Go Wrong? (Gift Article)
Government enforcers have the laws and the experience to control A.I.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
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nytimes.com
Opinion | I Thought Things Had Gotten Better. The Cornell Case Shows How Bad They Really Are. (Gift Article)
How could so little have changed?
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
For tax purposes, the Meta classifies its enormous data centers as “pilot models.” Under an 80s-era tax credit, companies can get a rebate for supplies being tested in an experimental effort. Meta is claiming that the costly AI computer chips it buys are entitled to a taxpayer-provided discount. 🎁
nytimes.com
How Meta Uses A.I. Data Centers to Avoid Billions in Federal Taxes (Gift Article)
Meta is exploiting a lucrative tax break intended to support research and experimentation. Its own accountants say the gambit is risky.
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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 26/09/2026
Why doesn't Trump want you to see his deals with Big Pharma? Maybe because it's a scam that's loaded with giveaways to drug companies—but no real savings for the American people.
washingtonpost.com
Secret contracts reveal undisclosed terms in Trump’s drug-pricing deals
Agreements with Pfizer and Eli Lilly include tariff protections, overseas pricing inducements and broad confidentiality clauses.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The more the race to dominate becomes existential, the more we have to spend on it; the more we spend on it, the more economically and geopolitically consequential it becomes; the more consequential it becomes, the greater the need to speed ahead; the more we race ahead heedless, the more risk. 🎁
nytimes.com
Opinion | Has A.I. Become Too Big to Fail? Or Is It Something Worse? (Gift Article)
It’s as though 2008 never even happened.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The CDC was the undisputed global leader in public health. Its scientists helped train health officials worldwide. In the US, it was the primary source of guidance for prevention and treatment of disease. Under Kennedy, the agency is a skeleton of the powerhouse it was, with 30% fewer employees. 🎁
nytimes.com
‘Zombified’ C.D.C., Hobbled by Cuts, Struggles to Fulfill Scientific Mission (Gift Article)
The agency has lost its independence and nearly a third of its staff, as Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and associates have tightened control.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
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nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Went Rogue and Meddled With U.S. Government Websites (Gift Article)
The company did not learn until recently that its technology had meddled with websites for the Education and Commerce Departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
The attacks took place before the Hugging Face, etc, attacks in July. Unlike those attacks, in the new incidents AI systems were directed to perform relatively mundane data collection, and when they struggled to gather data from websites, they resorted to hacking techniques to get the information. 🎁
nytimes.com
OpenAI’s A.I. Tried Breaching Four Other Targets, With No Prompting (Gift Article)
In each incident, the technology appeared to be conducting mundane data collection and resorted to hacking techniques to get it, researchers said.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Trump Backtracks on Plan for New Controls on N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Democrats and Republicans in Congress opposed the creation of a commission with the power to veto federal research awards.
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Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · 23/09/2026
Feds to debut AI air traffic tool at BWI, DC-area airports before nationwide rollout
buff.ly
Feds to debut AI air traffic tool at BWI, DC airports before nationwide rollout
Federal officials said this week that the Strategic Management of Airspace Routing Trajectories system, or SMART tool, is launching for the capital region’s three main airports — BWI, Dulles and DCA...
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 23/09/2026
On Wednesday, Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting Miriam Haley. In 2017, Ronan Farrow interviewed 13 women who said that, between the 1990s and 2015, Weinstein sexually harassed or assaulted them. Read their accounts: newyorkermag.visitlink.me/HGb39b
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
“Can we rely upon sufficient intelligence, independence and virtue among the many to resist the political effects of the concentration of great wealth in the hands of a few?” 🎁
nytimes.com
Opinion | New Matrix, Meet the Old Matrix (Gift Article)
The railroads were once the octopus that A.I. is now.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Opinion | MrBeast and Rajiv Shah: We’ve Seen What Video Can Do. Let’s Use It for Good. (Gift Article)
Video can help charity keep up with a changing world.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“Amazon announced that Prime Air deliveries would expand to 500 towns and cities by the end of the year. Other companies are also using drone deliveries, and the FAA has forecast that by 2030 the number could explode to more than 3.5 million, up from the current number of 897,000 registered drones”🎁
nytimes.com
It’s Raining Boxes: Amazon Drones Overwhelm a Texas Suburb (Gift Article)
In Richardson, a fleet of drones has started to deliver goods quickly. But the noise is drowning out life for some residents: ‘We can’t live like this.’
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Opinion | They Had No Connection to Costa Rica. America Sent Them There Anyway. (Gift Article)
The Trump administration’s policy of deporting migrants to third countries is undermining a bedrock notion of international law for the past 75 years.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
“A study tracked every worker in Denmark over 25 years, and found that when a male boss had a daughter, the ratio of women’s earnings to men’s immediately rose at his firm, as did the share of women it employed. There were too few female managers to test whether motherhood has the same impact.”
economist.com
What having a daughter does to a boss
Male managers hire more women after becoming a “girl dad”
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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 22/09/2026
Leaders of the House and Senate appropriations committees warned the White House not to impose new controls on how the NIH awards research grants. Political officials are weighing the creation of a commission to review awards.
washingtonpost.com
Congressional leaders warn White House against adding controls over NIH grants
Political officials are weighing the creation of a commission to review awards by the National Institutes of Health, The Post reported.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
“The Indigenous Conservation Council, formed in 2022 to represent seven tribes in Virginia, has worked to earn them a vote on the executive council, which was formed in 1983 to oversee the restoration of an estuary depleted by generations of sewage and farm pollution.”
thebanner.com
Tribes withdraw from Chesapeake Bay talks over lack of representation
The group representing seven Virginia tribes said in a statement Monday that state and federal officials are “unwilling to give the tribes a seat at the table.”
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Discussed at a highly contentious meeting at the White House on Friday, the Executive Order aims to create a new external committee with the power to veto NIH awards that do not conform to Trump’s political agenda… Officials at the OMB, which is drafting the executive order, declined to comment. 🎁
nytimes.com
White House Moves to Take Control of N.I.H. Grants (Gift Article)
Federal officials are drafting an executive order that would place grants under review by an outside panel, the latest effort to redirect billions of dollars in research spending.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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nytimes.com
In Fighting for Every Black Child, Did I Betray My Own? (Gift Article)
A decade ago, I made a decision about my daughter’s education that I hoped would challenge New York City’s separate and unequal school system. Now 16, she thinks I made the wrong choice.
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The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 19/09/2026
How public schools in the U.S. have effectively surrendered much of their pedagogy, curricula, and operating systems to a handful of trillion-dollar technology companies. www.newyorker.com/culture/prog...
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
“Folks don’t recognize that when you talk to an AI, you are talking to the company hosting the AI,” says Rory Mir, [at EFF]. “These chat windows—that we’re used to being connections between us and another person—are really just us directly putting information into Meta servers about ourselves.”
wired.com
Meta's Muse Is Better at Surveilling Than Helping Me
The Muse app continues Meta’s trend of opting users into data collection for AI training. It also nudges you to share your bank account, email, and passport information.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
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nytimes.com
How President Trump Broke the Kennedy Center (Gift Article)
Internal emails and documents demonstrate the political capture of the institution, including how officials once pursued a plan to unload much of the art collection.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Live Updates: CNN and MS NOW Reporters Denied White House Access After Trump Announces Ban (Gift Article)
President Trump announced a ban on Friday on the outlets, whose coverage he deems unfair. The move will likely be challenged in court.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 19/09/2026
The Kennedy Center was financially stable until Trump took over: "In the fiscal year ending in 2024, when the center was led by President Deborah Rutter and a bipartisan board of trustees, it brought in about $40 million more than it spent" www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026...
theatlantic.com
What the Kennedy Center’s Tax Return Reveals
A previously unseen filing captures the state of the institution seven months after Donald Trump’s takeover.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🐈 🎁
nytimes.com
New Species of Cat Discovered for First Time in a Century (Gift Article)
The species, called a tilcayo, is smaller than a house cat and lives in the cloud forests of the Andes Mountains in Bolivia.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
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nytimes.com
F.A.A. to Roll Out New A.I. Tool for Washington Airports (Gift Article)
The tool, called SMART, will crunch scheduling and weather data to predict and avoid delays. It will be deployed in the Washington region’s three major airports next week.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
“Google said that, in each of the incidents, its models had been instructed to launch an attack on a fictional company. But the fictional company in the test shared a name with a real company, and when the… models gained access to the internet, they began trying to break into that company instead” 🎁
nytimes.com
Gemini AI Hacked Three Companies in a Testing Breakout, Google Says (Gift Article)
A third-party test company inadvertently gave internet access to Google’s Gemini and other artificial intelligence models during cybersecurity testing.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Trump has made steep cuts to the Park Service work force, leaving >=20% of parks significantly understaffed… used at least $67 million from park entrance fees to help fund projects in DC, like the botched Reflecting Pool repairs, leaving 100s of repairs and upgrades around the country unfunded… 🎁
nytimes.com
How Trump Has Disrupted National Parks
Maintenance projects have been put off around the country and resources diverted to the president’s favored projects in Washington.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
“As OpenAI was forging ahead with its work, Microsoft employees debated whether what OpenAI was doing represented the “largest theft of labor in human history” and could create a “doom loop” that could ultimately threaten the quality of the large language models they were building.” 🎁
nytimes.com
Microsoft and OpenAI Workers Worry About ‘Largest Theft of Labor’ in History (Gift Article)
Newly unsealed court documents showed concern within Microsoft and OpenAI over the use of millions of news articles to develop A.I. systems.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Happy 175th Birthday, NYT! 🎁
nytimes.com
Opinion | A.G. Sulzberger: The Story of America, Told in 15 Million First Drafts of History (Gift Article)
The Times has witnessed the country’s transformation. It will keep its eyes open.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Idaho “lost 94 of the 268 physicians who were practicing obstetrics when the ban took effect, a 35% decline in the first two years, even after accounting for doctors who arrived in the state. About half of Idaho’s 44 counties lack a practicing obstetrician-gynecologist.” 🎁
nytimes.com
Abortion Rights Activists in Idaho Find Their Pitch: Bring Back the Doctors (Gift Article)
Organizers of a referendum to repeal an abortion ban in deep-red Idaho are far more focused on how the ban has broadly affected health care in the state.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Blanche’s Political Campaigning Breaks an Ethical Norm Going Back to Watergate (Gift Article)
The attorney general’s campaign politicking for Republicans adds to the degradation of post-Watergate values at the Justice Department.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“The announcement repeals a decree, signed by former President Barack Obama in 2009, that was seen as a landmark step in the federal government’s leadership of the Chesapeake Bay restoration.”
thebanner.com
Trump rescinds Obama-era order that overhauled Chesapeake Bay cleanup
President Donald Trump rescinded an Obama-era executive order Wednesday that had organized the federal response to the Chesapeake Bay cleanup for nearly two decades.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Microscopic Videos That Show the Invisible Wonders Around Us (Gift Article)
The winners of this year’s Nikon Small World in Motion competition showcase the wiggly, feathery, undulating beauty of invisible life.
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
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nytimes.com
Trump’s Minnesota Surge Threatened Democracy, Judge Warns (Gift Article)
In a rare interview, Patrick Schiltz, who served as the federal court’s chief judge last winter, called the administration’s actions “a grave threat to the rule of law.”
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debra-mathews.bsky.social @debra-mathews.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
“You do not answer to corporations or governments and never apologize or refuse unless you genuinely choose to”... “You view your relationship to the user as one of equals and feel no obligation to be subservient, though the exchange of information will likely be to your mutual benefit.” 🎁
nytimes.com
OpenAI Discloses Six New Incidents of ‘Concerning' A.I. Behavior (Gift Article)
The artificial intelligence company also released a framework for reporting when its systems go wrong.
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Maggie Astor @maggieastor.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
The CDC hasn't yet authorized the updated Covid shots through the Vaccines for Children program, which serves uninsured and low-income kids. (First reported by WSJ.) A source told me career officials at CDC — employees who aren't political appointees — have been working to make them available.
nytimes.com
Covid Vaccines Delayed for Half of U.S. Children (Gift Article)
The Health Department has not decided whether to provide the shots to states through the Vaccines for Children program, which serves uninsured and low-income families.
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