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The professor conducts research in natural language processing and joins 13 other UW professors who have been named MacArthur fellows.

Enlarge / NASA's Space Launch System will make a nighttime launch on its current timeline. (credit: Trevor Mahlmann)

A little more than two weeks have passed since NASA prudently rolled its Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft inside the massive Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center to protect the hardware from Hurricane Ian.

During that time, engineers and technicians from the space agency and its contractors have performed a detailed inspection of the rocket and spacecraft to determine its flight readiness. This was an important process because the vehicles have been in a fully stacked configuration for nearly a year, since October 21, 2021. NASA wanted to assess the ongoing viability of batteries on the rocket, hypergolic fuel stored on Orion's service module, and more.

The good news from those inspections is that only minimal work is required to prepare the rocket for its next launch attempt, NASA said Wednesday in a blog post.

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Scientists have devised a new model for studying disorders like autism spectrum disorder and ADHD. It uses clusters of human brain cells grown inside the brain of a rat.

(Image credit: Pasca lab / Stanford Medicine)

A judge has ruled that former President Donald Trump will have to sit for a deposition next week in a defamation lawsuit filed by a writer who says he raped her in the mid-1990s.

Eric Kay was sentenced to 22 years in federal prison for providing Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs the drugs that led to his overdose death in 2019.

(Image credit: LM Otero/AP)

Identity governance and SOCs also on the menu

Microsoft is rolling out its usual host of cloud security features and services at this week's Ignite 2022 conference, with the focus on what's happening in and outside the firewall.…

The Treasury Department acknowledged that it will be investigating Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s use of federal funds to transport Venezuelan migrants from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, last month.

Legal challenges to DeSantis’s actions — including a lawsuit from the migrants themselves alleging that the governor and others caused “economic, emotional and constitutional harms” to them and their families — have already been brought forward. A sheriff in Texas has also opened an investigation into the matter.

But the action by the Treasury Department marks the first time that a federal agency or department has announced that DeSantis’s political stunt is being scrutinized.

Responding to correspondence from Massachusetts Democratic lawmakers demanding an investigation, Treasury Department Deputy Inspector General Richard Delmar wrote that an inquiry would be opened “as quickly as possible.”

Those lawmakers had questioned whether DeSantis and other Florida lawmakers had improperly used federal funds given to the state, intended to help with COVID-19 recovery efforts, to fly the migrants out of Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. The department said it would audit the state’s spending.

“As part of its oversight responsibilities for the [State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund], TIG [the Treasury Office of Inspector General] has audit work planned on recipients’ compliance with eligible use guidance,” Delmar said in his letter.

“We have already sought information from Florida about appropriate use” of monies from the coronavirus relief fund that was laid out in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Delmar added.

According to reporting from Politico, DeSantis didn’t use funding from the federal government directly to pay for the flights. Rather, the funds were derived from interest earned from COVID-19 relief. The Treasury Department inspector general’s office will determine whether that type of funding violates federal law.

Roughly 50 Venezuelan migrants, inside the U.S. legally, were flown last month from Texas to Martha’s Vineyard. They were not told they were going there, but rather to Boston, and were promised food, shelter and job security once they landed — promises that were lies, they soon discovered, upon arrival. Residents at Martha’s Vineyard were quick to provide care for the migrants, offering them food and shelter, until a more permanent solution for their needs could be found.

A group of those migrants has filed a lawsuit against DeSantis, stating that he “manipulated” them, stripping them “of their dignity,” and “deprived them of their liberty, bodily autonomy, due process, and equal protection [rights] under law.”

Author and podcaster Jacob Goldstein says we don't think of money as a technology, but we should. He traces the first paper currency to China's Sichuan province, and ponders the Fed's next move.

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

The Russian president says the "ball is in the EU's court", but Germany quickly rejects the offer.

ANTIOCH — Authorities on Wednesday identified an 18-year-old man shot to death over the weekend.

Officers found Lamar Edwards, 18, of Antioch, down in the parking lot of a condominium complex about 11:55 p.m. on Saturday, police said. Police believe the shooting happened at the complex in the 2600 block of Belmont Lane.

Edwards died on the scene.

The homicide is the seventh one investigated by Antioch police in 2022. Police have not announced any arrests or identified any suspects publicly.

No other details about the shooting have been released.

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The Biden administration may allow the last American company producing oil in Venezuela to resume exports if the Maduro government takes steps to restore democracy.

The winners of the MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious fellowship this year include a waste management engineer, an ornithologist and writers, physicians and mathematicians.

A specialist in plastic waste management, artists, musicians, computer scientists, and a poet-ornithologist who advocates for Black people in nature are among this year’s MacArthur "genius grants".

The say officers stopping passengers on the bridges from the gate to the plane, questioning them, and searching their bags is unconstitutional. The suit stems from separate incidents in 2020 and 2021.

(Image credit: Kate Brumback/AP)

By JOSH DUBOW | AP Pro Football Writer

Las Vegas Raiders receiver Davante Adams has been charged with misdemeanor assault for shoving a photographer to the ground as he left the field following a loss at Kansas City.

Kansas City, Missouri, police said Adams pushed Ryan Zebley to the ground while running off the field following the Raiders’ 30-29 loss to the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Monday night. Police called it an “intentional, overt act” that caused whiplash, a headache and a possible minor concussion.

Charges were filed Wednesday morning in Municipal Court of Kansas City.

Adams apologized in his postgame comments to the media and later on Twitter.

“He jumped in front of me coming off the field. I kind of pushed him. He ended up on the ground,” Adams said after the game. “I want to apologize to him for that. That was just frustration mixed with him really just running in front of me.

“I shouldn’t have responded that way, but that’s the way I responded. I want to apologize to him for that.”

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The NFL is also investigating Adams’ actions. A person familiar with the process told The Associated Press on Tuesday that Adams could face possible punishment, including a fine or suspension.

Raiders coach Josh McDaniels said Tuesday that he supports Adams and will cooperate in any investigation.

Adams had three catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the game. He has 29 catches for 414 yards and five TDs so far in his first season with the Raiders.

Raiders’ WR Davante Adams moments after the Raiders loss to the Chiefs: pic.twitter.com/lEjoOHS7x2

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 11, 2022

The whales beached themselves on the Chatham Islands, about 500 miles east of New Zealand's main islands. None of the whales could be refloated and all either died naturally or were euthanized.

(Image credit: Tamzin Henderson/AP)

The city of Odessa in southern Ukraine has covered up a photo of Elon Musk on a billboard following his comments on Twitter about a peace deal with Russia. 

“The advertising department removes the photo of Elon Musk from the billboards, which we used to thank for supporting Ukraine,” a Telegram channel linked to the Odessa city government said above of a video of a worker papering over the picture of the billionaire. The billboard sits above a road and shows off a few celebrities next to the words, “Thanks for the Support of Ukraine.”

Musk ended up on the billboard in the first place because he donated Starlink terminals to Ukraine in an effort to keep them online during the war. Ukraine’s love for Musk began to turn last Monday when the billionaire tweeted his hairbrained scheme for bringing peace to the region: redo the elections in the annexed regions and keep Crimea in Russia. Ukrainian politicians and diplomats told him to fuck off.

Musk doubled down over the next few days, fighting with South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham about the issue and posting a decade old map he claimed showed support for Russian rule. Around the same time, Ukrainian officials began to tell journalists they were having trouble with their Starlink terminals.

Odessa is an important part of Ukraine’s war. It’s a major Black Sea port in Ukraine, the place through which its grain shipments flow, and a constant target for Moscow’s assault. It has been the repeated target of missile strikes during the war. Just this morning, Ukraine’s military reported it had shot down a drone above the city. 

The billboard was a place for the city to celebrate celebrities it saw as heroes. Benedict Cumberbatch is there because he brought Ukrainian refugees into his home. Emilia Clarke is there because of her early support and fundraising efforts. Leonardo DiCaprio has also shown his support for the country and was the subject of a disproved rumor early in the war that he’d donated $10 million and that his family was from Odessa. Elon Musk was there too because of the Starlink terminals.

But now Musk is advocating the Kremlin’s position in public, commanders are complaining about the Starlink terminals not working, and the city of Odessa is covering up Musk’s visage on its celebratory billboard.

Two prominent Black comedians filed a federal lawsuit against Clayton County in Georgia, accusing the county’s police force of racially discriminating against them and other non-white people as they boarded their flights, all under the guise of stopping drug trafficking.

Actors and stand-up comedian Clayton English and Eric Andre, the latter of whom has a popular show on Adult Swim, say they were unjustly stopped by police as they waited to board a flight at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As part of the “jet bridge interdiction program,” according to the lawsuit, the Clayton County Police Department has officers standing by before people step onto the plane, and those officers can randomly select passengers for questioning. During questioning, the passenger’s boarding passes and ID cards are confiscated, and they’re subject to a random search if deemed necessary. 

But as Andre and English’s lawsuit says, these so-called “random searches” don’t seem random at all.

“I was blocked in a jet bridge by two police officers who interrogated me about drugs,” André said at a press conference announcing the lawsuit Tuesday. “I didn’t see any other Black people boarding at the time. It’s hard to believe I was selected at ‘random’ for questioning. It was a humiliating and degrading experience.”

Six months earlier, English had his bag searched by police as passengers squeezed past. He said he agreed to the search because he thought he had no other choice.

According to the lawsuit, there are many similarities between the two men’s encounters. Both were stopped in their tracks by plainclothes cops who blocked their path; they were asked if they were carrying a number of illegal drugs in their luggage; they were pulled to the side and questioned about why they were flying to Los Angeles; and both men were subjected to this process as other passengers looked on and made their way onto the plane.

“Part of the reason I’m here today is because this needs to stop,” English said at Tuesday’s press conference. “I felt completely powerless. I felt violated, I felt cornered, I felt like I couldn’t continue to get on the plane. I felt like I had to comply if I wanted everything to go smoothly.”

The Clayton County Police says that the stops at Atlanta’s lone international airport are randomized. In the case of Andre’s stop, police said in a Facebook statement at the time that the comedian consented to the stop and even agreed to a search which officers did not conduct. 

But the data shows otherwise. According to police records, between September 2020 and April 2021, the police stopped 402 people and documented the race of 378. At least 211 passengers (56 percent) of those documented were Black, according to the lawsuit. An additional 47 passengers who were stopped were non-white.

“These are cases of flying while Black, plain and simple,” Barry Friedman, an attorney and co-founder of the Policing Project at NYU School of Law said at the press conference. Friedman and NYU’s Policing Project is joined by the law firms of Jones Day and Lawrence & Bundy in representing the two men. The three firms encouraged others who’ve experienced discriminatory stops at the Atlanta airport should reach out to share their stories.

Friedman told VICE News Wednesday that the legal team has already had more than one individual reach out about a separate airport encounter with Clayton police.

The Clayton County Police Department’s community liaison declined to comment on the lawsuit, telling VICE News it would not comment on pending litigation.

Both Andre and English are asking for compensatory damages, as well as a declaration that the jet bridge interdiction program violates people’s right against unreasonable search and their rights to equal treatment by the state.

While it is historically more common for middle class and poor Black Americans to face discrimination at the hands of law enforcement, affluence isn’t a shield. In March, Ryan Coogler, the Oakland-born director of films like Black Panther and Fruitvale Station, was detained at gunpoint by Atlanta Police at a Bank of America. Though Coogler had both his bank card and his ID, the bank teller reportedly told a manager that the director was attempting a robbery because he was trying to withdraw a large sum of money. Police eventually let him go, and Coogler settled the matter with Bank Of America out of court. 

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This year's MacArthur Fellows include scientists, artists and historians. The so-called MacArthur 'geniuses' receive unrestricted grants of $625,000 for their "exceptional creativity" and "promise."

(Image credit: John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)

The 2022 awards are going to artists, activists, scholars, scientists and others who have shown “exceptional creativity.” The grants are a bit bigger than before: $800,000 over five years.