Friday, November 22, 2019

Florida man arrested for punching little league umpire in the face

A  22-year-old man in Florida was arrested for allegedly slugging an  umpire in the face at his nephew’s little league baseball game. He  disagreed with one of the ump’s calls and confronted him after the game  to complain, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.  Things escalated, with the man raising his voice and the umpire asking  him to leave the ballpark, according to an arrest affidavit. Instead of  leaving, the hothead began raging, telling the ump that he would “kick his ass.” He then punched the ump in the face, cutting the man’s lip and breaking one of his teeth, police said. “This  is completely inexcusable — assaulting a little league official while  he’s officiating at a game where children are supposed to be having fun,  and learning sportsmanlike behavior,” said Sheriff Grady Judd. The  man was charged with one count of felony battery of a sports official  and released on a $1,000 bond. (WFLA)

Teen breaks legs after police chase leads to jump from airport terminal roof

Authorities  say a teenager broke both his legs after leaping from an Oklahoma City  airport terminal roof while being chased by officers. An Oklahoma City  police statement says the 16-year-old male was exiting a  Houston-to-Oklahoma City flight at Will Rogers World Airport when police  approached with a felony burglary warrant. Police say he slipped out a  side door on the jet bridge, ran across the terminal apron and climbed  to the terminal roof in a bid to avoid capture. As officers continued  their pursuit across the roof, police say, the teen jumped to the apron  below, breaking both legs. He was taken to an Oklahoma City hospital for  treatment. (Fox 25)

Another  ransomware attack has struck the state of Louisiana, forcing the  government to shut off Web services and websites for a majority of its  agencies in an effort to quarantine the infection 

The  attack was the second prominent attack of 2019, after nearly half a  dozen Louisiana school districts were struck by a coordinated ransomware  attack this summer. Numerous large state agencies were affected by  Monday’s attack and subsequent shutdown — including the Office of the  Governor, the Office of Motor Vehicles and the Louisiana State  Legislature, among others. The communication director for the Division  of Administration, said that “most” state services had been  affected by the attack, and that they would be restored in order of  priority. The service interruption was due to OTS’ aggressive response  to prevent additional infection of state servers and not due to the  attempted ransomware attack. The incident is being invested by the  Louisiana State Police and “several federal agencies” are investigating the attack. (GovTech)

Elementary school child hospitalized after group of teens storms school bus to attack children in Georgia

Police  said that a grade school child was hospitalized in Georgia after a  group of teens mobbed a school bus to attack children. The attack  happened earlier this week just a mile away from the Snapfinger  Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia. Parents of students  received a message of the attack from four older students. More than one  grade school student was attacked, but only one was hurt enough to be  taken to the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta hospital. Police later  arrested four students for the assault. One was an 18-year-old  non-student, another was a high school student, and two were middle  school students. School officials released a statement to the media: “The  safety and well-being of our students is our top priority. On Nov. 18,  an incident occurred on a school bus on Hollyhock Terrace involving  Snapfinger Elementary students. Two middle school students, one high  school student, and an 18-year-old non-student attacked elementary  students, which resulted in one elementary student being transported to  Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA),” the statement read. “DeKalb  County School District Police responded immediately, investigated and  obtained warrants for the high school student and the 18-year-old  non-student,” the statement continued. “Two middle schools students were arrested and taken to Juvenile Intake.” (WSB TV)

Where salaries are growing fastest

Want  a raise? Try Texas. Smaller towns in the oil-rich state are seeing the  fastest pay growth in the U.S., according to data from the Commerce  Department. Midland, for instance, which is a base for shale production,  saw its per capita personal income reach $122,000 last year after  growing 17.4%, surpassing San Francisco and Boston. Overall, however,  metropolitan areas grew their income faster than rural and small towns  for a fifth straight year. (Commerce Department)

Macy’s hit by data breach

Macy’s  has been hit by a data breach that may have exposed customers’ names,  addresses and payment-card numbers to hackers. The retailer has already  notified a “small number” of online shoppers, whose data was  stolen in October. Macy’s is the latest target in a string of breaches  affecting companies. The cost of data breaches has risen by 12% over the  past five years, according to IBM Security. (Bloomberg)

Criminal records in cross-hairs

Lawmakers  in a number of states are pushing to wipe millions of people’s old  criminal records. Approximately 100 million Americans have criminal  records — a figure that likely skews labor markets, reduces the  employable population and hurts those who try to get their lives back on  track. California has moved to enact a clean-slate law that eventually  wipes the records of arrests and non-serious crimes, while states such  as Louisiana, New York, Illinois and Michigan are among those exploring  similar ideas. (The Economist)

How AI Could Change the Highly-Skilled Job Market

When  most people think of the connection between technology and jobs, they  think of robots and automation taking over relatively unskilled jobs  like factory work. But a new wave of developments in artificial  intelligence may have a greater effect on high-skilled jobs and  high-tech knowledge regions. That’s the key takeaway from a new study  that takes a close look at the potential of artificial intelligence to  automate tasks that until now have required human intelligence and  decision-making. The study bases its analysis on a set of “exposure scores,”  which essentially gauge the potential effects of AI on different jobs.  In fact, it uses AI to study AI, using machine learning to search all  U.S. patents to identify the capabilities of AI, and to connect that  data to jobs and tasks that could be taken over by AI technology—tasks  like certain medical diagnoses that doctors perform today. The study  found that while A.I. will likely affect a wide array of work and jobs,  its largest effects will be confined to a much smaller segment of jobs.  Overall, AI will, in some way, influence more than 95 percent of jobs.  As the study notes: 

• Fully  740 out of the 769 occupational descriptions analyzed contain a  capability pair match with AI patent language, meaning at least one or  more of its tasks could potentially be exposed to, complemented by, or  completed by AI.
• Less than a fifth (just under 18 percent) of U.S. jobs, 25 million or so, are threatened by high exposure to AI. 
• Roughly  a third (34 percent or 48 million jobs) face a medium level of  exposure; and a little fewer than half (48 percent or 67 million jobs)  face low or no exposure to AI.

(City Lab)

New housing development in Arizona won’t allow residents to bring cars

Culdesac  Tempe, a 1,000-person rental development that just broke ground, won’t  allow residents’ personal cars to be driven or parked on site. Instead,  the property will fill the extra space with retail, a food hall,  communal fire pits, plazas, green space, and other amenities. The  housing stock is well positioned for this car-free experiment. It sits  right next to a light rail that connects to downtown Tempe, the airport,  and Arizona State University. The developer was able to negotiate its  way out of the required parking spots (developments typically require  one parking spot per unit), by prioritizing a host of other  transportation options like scooters, bikes, and ride share programs.  It’s a big vision for a small slice of the city, but it might just be  the future of safer, more sustainable neighborhoods. (Curbed)

Verizon wants to make city wide sensors using their Fiber Network

Vehicle  counts, traffic slow-downs and other pieces of data central to traffic  management may one day be gleaned from a city’s fiber-optic  communications network. Verizon and technology company NEC have been  leading research into the concept of turning a fiber network into one  big sensor, picking up vibrations and offering insight into the size of  vehicles, their directions, speeds and more. The telecom’s fiber  infrastructure, coupled with optical sensor technology and artificial  intelligence software from NEC, has led to the kinds of traffic and  other insights generally derived from strategically placed sensors  trained to pick up this activity. The early “proof-of-concept”  research by Verizon suggests this data could be collected from any point  along the network. Other applications for the technology include:

• supplying data for gunshot detection systems or even about failures along the electrical grid,
• being  able to help electric companies who normally wait for customers to call  in when there’s an outage. Using the fiber technology, it could make it  easier to decipher if a transformer is out of service, due to the  slight buzzing sounds the devices emit,
• helping first responders detect and respond to auto accidents.

Verizon  is planning a longer term trial to be in place by the end of the year.  Verizon has hundreds of thousands of fiber communications deployed  across dozens of cities, and the company plans to install some 1,400  additional miles of fiber every month. (GovTech)

Friday Feels Good Like It Should With:

• Humane Society Day
• Random Acts of Kindness Friday (Friday of RAK Week)
• Substitute Educators Day (Friday of American Education Week)