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Wisconsin AD McIntosh to take new position at Big Ten
Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh is set to become the Big Ten’s chief strategy officer, reporting directly to Tony Petitti. Exact responsibilities are TBD.
Wisconsin AD McIntosh to take new position at Big Ten
Wisconsin AD Chris McIntosh is set to become the Big Ten’s chief strategy officer, reporting directly to Tony Petitti. Exact responsibilities are TBD.
Nearly 7K compete in Covenant Health Knoxville Marathon weekend, marking largest turnout in over 20 years
California Republicans caught between Trump loyalty and winning swing districts
California Republicans embrace Trump at their convention while candidates in competitive races keep him at arm's length to win over voters.
BGHS students earn multiple honors at science competitions - Sent-trib
Bowling Green High School students demonstrated their scientific knowledge, teamwork, and problem-solving skills at two regional science competitions held on March 14, earning multiple top finishes and one student advancing to the state level.
Donald Trump's Incompetence Is Costing Him the Country: Commentary
Donald Trump has led us to chaos — war with Iran, spiking gas prices, unstable markets — that may lose him the Republican party and the nation.
How the Mall of Louisiana survived the retail apocalypse — and how it can continue to stay afloat
Since 1997, the Mall of Louisiana has served as Baton Rouge’s go-to shopping center, surviving a period when many malls suffered from financial pressures and competition with online shopping.
3 big questions for Tennessee quarterback battle after spring practice
Josh Heupel spoke in the future tense about the Tennessee quarterback competition. He needs to see more development. Here are factors to consider.
Peloton’s Latest Leader Thinks He Can Coach It Back to Health
The fitness company has fallen to a small fraction of its value at its pandemic peak, but Peter Stern says Peloton is headed in the right direction.
Peloton’s Latest Leader Thinks He Can Coach It Back to Health
The fitness company has fallen to a small fraction of its value at its pandemic peak, but Peter Stern says Peloton is headed in the right direction.
UK’s Reeves to Set Out Plans to Help Business With Energy Bills
The UK government will set out plans to boost the competitiveness of businesses at a time of rising energy bills, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves said, while warning against heavy government borrowing.
Local youth science fair winners to compete in Canada-wide fair next month
Hundreds of Grade 5-12 students gathered at the Olympic Oval on Saturday for the final day of the Calgary Youth Science Fair, which named 17 finalists, who will compete in the national fair next month...
UBS Raises Petco Health and Wellness Company, Inc. (WOOF) Target Amid Growth Strategy
Petco Health & Wellness Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF) is one of the best cheap penny stocks to buy that aren’t scams. On March 16, UBS raised its price target on Petco Health & Wellness Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:WOOF) to $4.00 from $3.50, while keeping a Neutral rating. The positive stance underscores the research firm’s confidence about the […]
Nearly 100 Colorado businesses have left or scaled back operations since 2019, report finds
A new report from the Colorado Chamber Foundation suggests the state’s weakening competitiveness is driving businesses out of state. Companies are blaming factors like increasing regulations and cost of living for why they’re choosing to...
UCLA players embracing competitive spring practices
A sense of competition has pervaded the Bruins’ first handful of spring practices this year.
If You Visit JoJo’s Diner, Bring Your Appetite
By Stefan Yablonski Q: When did you open? A: We opened Oct. 1. Q: Did you have a previous business? A: This is my first business ever. Q: So why did you start this? A: I was cooking for people my entire life and I decided I’m just going to try it on my own. And here we are! Q: How’s business been? A: It’s been good. Kind of slow over the winter, but starting to pick up now that the weather is getting better. We have high hopes for spring. We were really hopping over the weekend when it was much nicer out. Q: What’s your best dish? A: Our junkyard plates are our huge specialty. It’s a huge messy plate of goodness. We also have breakfast sandwiches, waffles, smashburgers and more. Q: Do you own this building? A: We lease from Chuck Burger. He’s our landlord. He has been super helpful. He provided all the equipment. I didn’t have to. Q: You’re a breakfast spot? A: We do breakfast and lunch all day. It’s kind of our thing. We are open 7-3 every day except Tuesdays. Q: How big is your staff? A: Currently it’s one other person. It’s just been me on the front end and someone in the kitchen or vice versa. Q: It’s all to go? A: Everything comes out ‘to go’ — served in to-go containers. You can eat inside or you can take it with you. We don’t have to provide extra staff for waitresses and dishwashers and all that. Q: Do you have any business background? A: I did the small business program at the college. But that’s about it. We’re new, but we’re still building. We hope to grow and stay here for a long time.
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
Gulf Coast Sports and Entertainment Network to air 15 Biloxi Shuckers games starting tonight
Brewers' Double-A affiliate competes in Southern League
XChat to launch on iPhone and iPad
Can this X-affiliated chat app compete with WhatsApp and Signal?
'iPhone Ultra' Will Solve Two Key Problems
Apple reportedly plans to unveil a foldable iPhone in September, and the device will supposedly solve two problems with foldable smartphones. In case you missed it, a leaker on Chinese social media platform Weibo recently claimed that the foldable iPhone will be named "iPhone Ultra". According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the device will have improved screen quality and overall durability compared to competing foldables.
“AI polls” are fake polls
A few weeks after Donald Trump’s second presidential win, I took the train up from London (where I was living at the time) to Oxford to attend a conference on polls and forecasts of the 2024 election. Most of the attendees were pollsters or academics, but I also watched presentations from Aaru and Electric Twin, two companies that do what is interchangeably called synthetic sampling, silicon sampling, or synthetic audiences. Stripped of startup jargon, that means they use large language models (LLMs) to simulate responses to public opinion polls by having AI agents take on the role of survey respondents. I had already heard of Aaru thanks to some articles with eye-catching headlines like “No people, no problem: AI chatbots predict elections better than humans” in the months leading up to Election Day. The founders were making some big, some might even say far-fetched claims, such as: “within two years, we will simulate the entire globe — from the way crops are grown in Ukraine to how that impacts production of oil in Iraq, trade through the strait of Malacca, and elections for the mayor of Baltimore.” When Semafor asked Aaru’s cofounders — Cameron Fink and Ned Koh — about my boss, they said “we respect all those who came before us.” Nate (as he so often does) shared his thoughts on Twitter: Fink and Koh were relatively good-natured about this back-and-forth when we spoke at Oxford. They even offered to mail me one of the t-shirts featuring Nate’s quote they apparently had made. I never took them up on the offer, which I now somewhat regret. These synthetic sampling companies fell off my radar for a while, but they do still exist. In fact, Aaru recently received a $1 billion valuation. Is what they’re doing anywhere close to the most important frontier in AI development? Not by a longshot, especially when Anthropic just developed a model so adept at exploiting software vulnerabilities that it’s only being released to 40 companies. Still, silicon sampling is increasingly finding its way into public polling. Axios reported in March that “a majority of people trust their own doctors and nurses” based on findings from Aaru — without mentioning that the “people” in that sentence were actually LLMs. Around the same time, the Public Sentiment Institute “boosted” their online sample of 373 real survey respondents with 114 AI agents.1 (Spoiler alert: even the co-founder of Electric Twin doesn’t think that’s a particularly defensible approach.) Polling companies like Qualtrics and Ipsos are also developing synthetic data panels. So, what should we make of these … “polls”? Let’s get one thing out of the way: whatever they are, they’re not polls in the way that term is usually defined. Subscribe You can’t replace polls with AI On one hand, using LLMs to essentially make up fake survey respondents sort of sounds like the dumbest idea ever, one that will at best imperfectly replicate real polls while introducing all sorts of biases. On the other hand, with LLMs improving at a remarkable, perhaps even alarming rate, maybe that means I’m a dinosaur at the ripe old age of 24 because I still want to rely on polls that talk to actual people. I’m not going to argue that synthetic samples are completely useless. In fact, as I’ll return to later, there is evidence that some techniques can replicate topline survey results quickly and cheaply. But the marketing from certain companies can be slightly optimistic. “No traditional poll will exist by the time the next general election occurs,” said Fink in 2024. We’re just 206 days away from the midterms, and based on the fact that I still have to collect a bunch of polls every day, I’d say he should have run that prediction by a sample of AI agents before the interview.2 To see why synthetic samples can’t replace polls, here’s a quick primer on how they work. The simplest version of these models involves taking a LLM (like ChatGPT or Claude), giving it a demographic profile (e.g., a white, college-educated woman who lives in Utah and makes $70k a year), and then asking it to respond to a survey question. You repeat that process a few thousand times using different demographic profiles and end up with a sample of synthetic survey responses. The actual models used by private companies are more sophisticated than this, usually because they incorporate more hypothesized demographic characteristics for each agent and provide them with extra information. Aaru, for example, feeds agents a diet of news and information they’d be likely to consume, while Electric Twin incorporates their customers’ proprietary data about the audience they’re trying to replicate. The way Ben Warner, the co-founder of Electric Twin, explained it to me was “we have a large amount of data on […] for instance, 5,000 people. Can we make an accurate prediction of how they would respond to another question?” Still, it should be obvious why synthetic samples can’t replace polls. Polling is fundamentally a data collection process. We might use surveys to make predictions by feeding them into election forecasts, but the main purpose of a poll isn’t prediction, it’s gathering new data about what people think and how they feel. Silicon sampling, on the other hand, produces no new data. It’s simply a model: you input LLM training data, demographic prompts, and a bunch of other information, and it spits out a prediction for what a poll would say. We love models here, but models aren’t polls. That difference is an important philosophical sticking point for most pollsters I talk to. “I think politics should stay away from [synthetic sampling], because we’re trying to […] represent the voice of the people,” said Natalie Jackson, a vice president at GQR Insights. Democratic pollster John Hagner told me: “I think I’m just incredibly skeptical of this idea. I don’t think it’s research. At that point, you’re asking the machine to tell you what you already believe.” Hagner has seen some presentations of early synthetic sampling experiments, but so far, “if it’s being used in a campaign, people are keeping it incredibly quiet.”3 But Eli, I hear you saying, aren’t polls themselves increasingly governed by modeling decisions? Indeed they are: pollsters’ choices on which sampling method to use, how to define their likely voter models, and how to weight their samples can and do lead to dramatic differences in the results they publish. Aaru even referenced these limitations in the methodology statement included with that maternal mortality “poll” — although I’m using the term “methodology statement” loosely here, because it doesn’t really explain how the model works at all. We can ignore the (frankly preposterous) implication that synthetic sampling isn’t subject to a separate set of biases. The important point is that there’s still a meaningful difference between using weighting and other statistical techniques on actual polling data and using a model to predict what a poll would say. The latter is far closer to election forecasts or techniques like MRP — potentially useful models, but not a replacement for polls.4 To be fair, other synthetic sampling companies are perfectly happy with the distinction between polls and models. Warner compared polling and synthetic sampling to different tools in a toolbox. “The mistake I think we make is we think that these new tools should either work in exactly the same way or somehow replace these old tools,” he said. “Rather than thinking of it as, okay, so we’ve always had the hammer, we’ve always had the screwdriver, now we’ve got a saw. But don’t use a saw to try [to] do the job of a hammer.” A quick comment from Nate Eli didn’t ask me for a comment — rather rude of him, don’t you think? But since I’m editing this story, I figured I’d add a few quick thoughts rather than putting words in his mouth. Beyond the frequently misleading marketing, what bothers me about the AI “poll” hype is that as AI tools make statistical inference cheaper and/or better (note that these are not synonyms) that actually increases the comparative value of collecting original data. You might be able to train a model to make a reasonable estimate of what some hard-to-reach poll respondent would say — say, a young Black man who voted for Trump. (Such a person checks a number of boxes for a voter who is usually hard to reach in surveys.) Indeed, this is closely related to what models like the Silver Bulletin forecast already do. They essentially smooth out the kinks in noisy survey data by making inferences based on past voting patterns or national polls or surveys of other states. But you don’t actually know what these voters think unless you’re reaching them directly. If there’s a shift in opinion among this subgroup, you’re not going to detect it. So if I were running a campaign, I’d invest more in going the extra mile to find a representative sample of those voters. And then I’d hire some smart quants — or Claude? — to figure out the implications for campaign strategy based on proprietary data that my competitors didn’t have access to. -Nate Silver Are these models any good? If synthetic surveys are just a new type of model, the next obvious question is whether the models are at least accurate. The answer very much depends on who you ask. On one end of the spectrum, you have the maximalist argument that synthetic sampling is more accurate than actual polls. “It’s an incredibly challenging problem to go to someone and say ‘hey, we’re going to be more accurate at predicting human behavior than you, even when you talk to your customers directly’,” Koh recently told CNBC. In his view, synthetic sampling isn’t a saw to polling’s hammer, it’s “magic.” There’s certainly evidence that synthetic samples can replicate certain survey toplines. But if Aaru does have any examples of their approach outperforming the polls, they’re keeping those to themselves.5 Aaru’s 2024 election model, for example, had Kamala Harris leading in Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin on November 4th. And although they’ve since taken down their forecast page, they gave Harris a 50.5 percent chance of winning the race on November 2nd.6 After the election, Fink told Semafor he was happy enough with those results because they were “within margin of error,” a term that is completely meaningless when applied to a “sample” of AI agents. And of course, Aaru says their models have improved since 2024, so supposedly now they’d be more accurate than the polls? Still, their stronger argument is on cost: “We are significantly faster and cheaper than traditional polling, and still more accurate,” said Fink. The first two claims are undeniably true, but the third brings us to the opposite end of the spectrum. Both Jackson and Hagner are skeptical that these models are reliable for anything beyond replicating common survey toplines. “I just […] don’t think the machines are what we want when we’re looking for nuanced views. My example on this is people in Arizona and Nevada in 2024 who voted for Trump and voted for expanding abortion in their states on ballot initiatives,” said Jackson. Hagner identified another issue. Maybe the synthetic respondents, like sycophantic LLMs, are inhuman in one important way: they’re too nice. “The reports that have come through at the meetings that I’ve been at are that the early experiments on this, they cannot get respondents to be as racist or sexist or, frankly, as negative as human respondents,” he said. Academic research mostly agrees on this point. While there are some papers that show promising results when using LLMs to replicate polling data, most show that LLMs suffer from various quirks like producing too few “don’t know” responses and can seriously overpredict the favorability of politicians like Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. They also seem to struggle with too little variation between demographic subgroups, so the difference in predicted opinion between Democrats and Republicans, for example, is too small. When I asked Warner about these studies, his response to these papers was that just because academics can’t get synthetic sampling to work doesn’t mean that the technique doesn’t work in general. “Actually, the argument is, okay, yours does not [work]. That does not mean […] for this complex set of machinery, which uses a lot of investment, a lot of time, a lot of money, you can’t get it to work.” Cards on the table, I’m somewhat sympathetic to this argument because academics aren’t exactly great at making election forecasts. Usually, the people with skin in the game are the most accurate. Warner’s argument is that the approach Electric Twin takes — which includes, for example, making multiple predictions for each synthetic respondent using different models and prompts and subsequently averaging those to get a final prediction in a sort of ensemble forecast — produces better results than the simpler academic models. Warner shared a comparison between his method and the method from a recent academic paper with me, and Electric Twin was indeed able to get more accurate replication. But even still, he acknowledged that synthetic sampling “is not a crystal ball.” “If you asked me, do I think using other data sources will be more accurate than asking somebody who they will vote for, I would probably say no. But if you asked me ‘would your system be useful for our turnout modeling today?’ I would say yes.” For better or worse, it looks like the method is already getting more popular in the market research world. Most of the clients Aaru touts these days are businesses like EY and McDonald’s. And AI will probably begin to pop up in other parts of the political polling process. Pollsters are already using it to code open-ended survey responses, and some firms, like YouGov, are testing using LLMs to ask survey respondents questions. More worryingly, one danger to actual polls is that AI agents can be used to infiltrate online surveys. Most online polls use various checks to prevent that from happening, but there’s conflicting evidence on how effective those filters are and how prevalent AI agents currently are in online panels. If those agents ever become impossible to detect, it might spell the end of online polling, but the solution isn’t to replace all of your respondents with ChatGPT. Silver Bulletin is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe 1 That particular poll obviously doesn’t meet Silver Bulletin standards for aggregation. But we exclude all Public Sentiment Institute polls from our averages because we classify them as an amateur polling firm. 2 You could argue that Fink meant the next presidential election, but (a) I’m also confident we’ll still have real polls in 2028 and (b) in that case he should have asked an LLM to define “general election.” 3 Quick caveat: that’s reporting from a Democratic pollster. It’s possible that Republicans are more willing to use AI in political campaigns. 4 Indeed, Silver Bulletin does not include “polls” produced by MRP in our forecasts or averages, and we think it’s extremely misleading when their practitioners describe them in a way that suggests original data had been collected among a large number of states or Congressional districts. 5 A recent report from Aaru and EY did show two examples of a synthetic estimate being closer than a survey to a real-world benchmark — but I’d take those findings with a grain of salt because the report reads more like an ad and didn’t involve any sort of prediction being made ahead of time. 6 For comparison, our odds for Harris on the same day were 48.2 percent.
Alaska business plan competition awards Native entrepreneurs tackling rural service gaps
Alaska Growth Capital’s Alaska Marketplace competition awarded Indigenous entrepreneurs up to $20,000 to grow businesses addressing service gaps across rural Alaska.
St. Mary’s County Students Earn Top Honors At Prince George’s Regional Science Fair, Advance To International Competition
St. Mary’s County students earned three Grand Awards at the Prince George’s Regional Science Fair, with one student advancing to international competition.
Prep talk: Arcadia Invitational is set for Saturday at Arcadia High
Olympian Quincy Wilson leads the athletes scheduled to compete at the Arcadia Invitational in the night portion at 5 p.m.
Arsenal vs. Bournemouth: Mikel Arteta focuses on the here and now in Premier League tititle chase
Despite recent eliminations from both domestic cup competitions, Arsenal remain atop the Premier League with room to spare
Americans are eating up the meat industry's health claims
Consumer appetites for protein are fueling record meat sales, raising experts’ concerns about the risk of heart disease and other illnesses.
In praise of popular science
As a kid, I was enthusiastically and unreservedly in favor of a manned space program. Our destiny lay in the stars, I figured. Get people out there. We need Star Trek here and now. As I got older, I became rather disenchanted with the idea. Humans are expensive, fragile, and inefficient as space cargo. We could flood the solar system with 100 robotic probes for the price of any single manned mission and get back just as useful data. Besides, it turns out space travel is dangerous. Tusk is a reader-supported publication. To support this work, please become a paid subscriber. Subscribe When it came to the recent Artemis II mission, my cynical side didn’t really see the point. Flying around the Moon and back is literally something we did before I was born, and I once owned a Members Only jacket. Apollo 8 circled the Moon ten times and returned to Earth safely the same month that “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” was released. What was the point of repeating a feat that far braver people once did with tin foil and slide rules? Yet I’ve surprised myself with how moving I’ve found the Artemis II mission to be. The photos have been stunning. The crew has been professional and engaging. There have been modest but important milestones — the farthest humans have travelled from Earth; the first woman, person of color, and non-American to leave low-Earth orbit; innovations in communication, and more. One thing that really stood out is that this is really NASA at its finest. Not that this is the most important mission they ever pulled off, but they did this in a competent way that celebrated the achievements and kept the crew and the science at the forefront of the project. This wasn’t some billionaire throwing celebrities or cars into orbit as a vanity project — this was a collective effort to send experts in to do a job and come home safely. We don’t see that sort of thing much these days. I’m guessing few people would describe many government agencies as inspiring, but this one counts for me. We’re living through a profoundly anti-science era, in which pathbreaking, lifesaving discoveries like mRNA vaccines are routinely downplayed or even vilified. As I’ve noted previously, this era is something like that of the Red Scare in the 1940s and 50s, in which “egghead” professors were portrayed as out of touch or even hostile to regular Americans. One of the things that helped break that spell was Sputnik — the Soviet communications satellite that demonstrated that the United States was falling behind in crucial scientific research and applications. Its launch triggered a new appreciation for American science and goaded the federal government into supporting research universities and labs. I’m not saying that Artemis is the equivalent of Sputnik, but it potentially reminds people that there’s some value to scientific endeavors and the human faces attached to them. Despite my love for the show “For All Mankind,” I’m far from convinced that there’s any real value to putting colonies on the Moon or Mars that would justify the capital investment and the massive health risks to the astronauts. But sending scientific good will ambassadors on a trip into space once in a while? Bring it. Share
Dems compete to carry on Nydia Velázquez's progressive fight
The top Democrats running to succeed Rep. Nydia Velázquez in the House are fundraising and building their campaigns.
How are North Bay alums doing in college sports?
Checking in on athletes competing at the next level around the U.S.
Ex-Bethesda Exec Says The Elder Scrolls 6 Maker Isn't Part Of Something 'Genuine' Or 'Authentic' At Microsoft
Pete Hines is retired but still had harsh words for Microsoft
Federal judge releases man after 2 immigration judges disobey order
A federal judge released a man from immigration detention on Thursday after two different immigration judges disobeyed his order in the same case. “At this point, the Court has granted Respondents two bites at the apple to prove detention of Petitioner was warranted,” wrote U.S. District Court Judge Gordon P. Gallagher. “It will not allow […]
Gov. Laura Kelly signs bills altering defendant competency process, child health care program
Gov. Laura Kelly announces the signing of more than 50 bills approved by the 2026 Kansas Legislature.
Pokémon Champions’ Most-Used Monsters Dominate First Tournament
The more things change the more they stay the same in competitive Pokémon
Pokemon Champions Review
Pokemon Champions brings competitive battling to the masses but fails to adequately explain all of its intricacies.
Personnel note: Eric Ludin tapped as Of Counsel for Shumaker's St. Pete office
Ludin is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Mediator, making him a commodity among other lawyers to resolve client disputes.
The sports stars, hip-hop artists, and celebrity magicians playing a role in pending Supreme Court petitions
During oral argument in January on an Idaho law barring transgender athletes from competing in girls’ and women’s sports, Justice Sonia Sotomayor briefly reflected on the spotlight that comes with […]
Boston 25 News
Spring sports season is here, and for millions of kids, that means teammates, competition, and time on the field, and the benefits can last a lifetime.
Lacrosse, Flag Football Set to Compete at Women In Sports Day in Baltimore
EMMITSBURG, Md. (April 10, 2026) – Mount St. Mary's host their inaugural Women In Sports Day at the Under Armour Stadium at the House in Baltimore. Women's lacrosse battles Canisius in a crucial Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) game, while flag football resumes play in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) with a contest against Saint Joseph's.
Maine group asks for changes in ballot language
The ballot question criticism is the latest twist in a controversial effort that began last fall when the group began gathering signatures to call for a public vote on the issue.
Petrofac Completes Business Sale to CBI
CB&I consummated the acquisition of Petrofac's Asset Solutions business, saving jobs for about 3,000 workers.
St. Petersburg Council advances $600M infrastructure bond proposal to Committee
Council took up the item without debate, reflecting desire to at least advance the conversation through the process despite likely debate.
Grizzlies offer chance for slumping Jazz to play different tune
The Utah Jazz have shown flashes of potential and competitiveness during its current 10-game losing streak. But the lows have outnumbered the highs heading into a showdown with the Memphis Grizzlies in Salt Lake City on Friday night.
When and why political leaders polarise rhetoric: Evidence from Twitter/X
Standard theories of electoral competition predict that politicians should converge toward the centre as elections approach. This column challenges this prediction, using 3.4 million tweets from 367 political leaders across 21 Western democracies. Rhetorical polarisation between populist and non-populist leaders rises sharply in the two quarters before an election and reverts to average levels once it is over. Both groups adopt a more emotionally direct communication style as elections near, but they increasingly talk about different topics. The findings suggest that social media turns electoral campaigns into an engine of political polarisation.
Judge blocks Pentagon’s latest bid to limit press access
A federal judge tore into the Department of Defense on Thursday for attempting an end-run around his decision voiding parts of a restrictive press policy rolled out by Secretary Pete Hegseth last year, saying the Pentagon had flouted his ruling when it quickly implemented a tighter policy.
Kelly Ann Walker builds $300K war chest in crowded HD 74 GOP Primary
4 other candidates are competing for the GOP nod.
Healthy Petaluma’s Ben Spierings named to North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40
“The scale of need often far exceeds the capacity of local funders, and the idea of shifting the responsibility entirely to philanthropy is neither sustainable nor equitable.”
Treasury Wine Estates’ Elise Spangenberg named to North Bay Business Journal’s Forty Under 40
“Being part of a newer generation of leaders allows me to challenge legacy thinking, introduce modern people practices, and help organizations adapt in ways that keep them competitive and relevant.”
US Justice Department opens probe into NFL over anticompetitive practices
The US Justice Department is investigating the NFL amid concerns about broadcast sales to streamers.
The Science Behind the Pain of Losing a Beloved Pet
Earlier this year, one particular Reddit thread struck a nerve with dog owners across the country. The original poster reportedly lost their dog and asked their boss for a couple of days off to grieve...
Sources: DOJ opens antitrust investigation of NFL over TV deals
The Justice Department has begun an investigation into whether the NFL has violated anticompetitive practices with their television contracts that require consumers to pay subscription costs to watch some games, sources confirmed to ABC News.
A smarter way to build vaccines: Scientists harness AI to target emerging alphaviruses
A team of scientists at The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), led by Nikos Vasilakis, Ph.D., and Peter McCaffrey, MD, has developed a new computational pipeline that could dramatically accelerate ...
Pulaski County Sports & Entertainment Announces Inaugural Pulaski MTN-X Gravel Bike Race
Top Professional Cameron Jones to Compete Pulaski County, Virginia (April 9, 2026) – Pulaski County Sports & Entertainment today announced the first annual Pulaski MTN-X, a premier gravel cycling event set for Saturday, September 26, 2026, in Pulaski County, Virginia. Designed for riders of all skill levels—from beginners to elite competitors—the event will feature […]
Gen. David Petraeus: Iran could emerge from war ‘strategically strengthened’
John Peters, Eddie Speir, Ed Pope build up coffers to run for open CD 16 seat
Will any have what it takes to beat Sydney Gruters?
The MacBook Neo is the best thing to happen to Windows in years
There’s nothing quite like a bit of healthy competition
Philadelphia businesses can apply by April 23 to compete in the Business Summit and Expo Pitch Competition
Official website of the City of Philadelphia, includes information on municipal services, permits, licenses, and records for citizens and businesses.
Justice Department investigating the NFL over subscription fees, source says
The DOJ probe is focused on possible anti-competitive tactics, a person familiar with the investigation told NBC News.
Supporters object to trans sports referendum ballot language
The Secretary of State released draft language this week of how the initiative, which seeks to limit participation in school sports and use of spaces like bathrooms to sex assigned at birth, would appear on the November ballot.
A deal or a mirage? Trump’s Iran ceasefire collides with chaos on the ground
Less than three hours before President Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline for Iran to make a deal or face his apocalyptic warning of death and destruction, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, the country’s top two military officials, were summoned to the White House.
Exclusive | Justice Department Opens Investigation Into NFL
Government officials have raised questions about whether the league is engaging in anticompetitive tactics that harm consumers.
CB&I Completes Acquisition of Petrofac Asset Solutions Business
/PRNewswire/ -- CB&I today announced the completion of an asset sale agreement, previously announced on December 24, 2025, to acquire Petrofac's Asset...
Abortion Pill’s Safety Called into Question in Congressional Actions Based on Misleading Data — The Monitor
False claims about the safety of mifepristone are driving legislative and investigative action in Congress, even as major medical organizations and decades of clinical evidence support the drug’s safety. And competing interpretations of what censorship and free speech mean are impacting how health misinformation is moderated.
I tested three Windows laptops in the MacBook Neo’s price range — there’s no contest
It’s a bloodbath.
Judges keep knocking down weak DC gun cases brought by Jeanine Pirro’s office
The Trump White House touted its surge of National Guard members to Washington, DC, last summer as the way to put more dangerous perpetrators in the nation’s capital behind bars. But in nearly a dozen criminal cases since the surge began, people who were found to be carrying weapons and charged in federal court have walked free.
Banijay Entertainment Enters the Battleground with New Fitness-Fight Competition Format
Banijay Entertainment today announces it has acquired the global rights to Battleground, a high-octane, youth-skewing fitness competition format originating from Mumbai-based Rusk Media.
Business group opposes plan to replace MO income tax with sales tax
A top Missouri business group opposes a Republican plan to replace income tax with sales taxes, arguing the state is already competitive.
Jennifer Shepherd Named Dean of Gonzaga School of Engineering and Applied Science
Gonzaga University has named Jennifer Shepherd dean of its School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEAS), following a competitive national search. Shepherd brings to the role a long-standing commitment to the University and a leadership style shaped by nearly three decades of service, scholarship, and mission-centered collaboration.
Banijay Entertainment Acquires Global Rights to Indian Fitness Format ‘Battleground’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Banijay Entertainment has secured worldwide rights to “Battleground,” a fitness-driven competition format originated by Mumbai-based Rusk Media. The format fuses athletic competition, reality-style dr...
The Future of Colorado condo development
By Peter LiFari For nearly two decades, the story of condominium construction in Colorado has been mistold, misunderstood and misrepresented. This outcome reflects the cumulative effect of more than two decades of Colorado policy, beginning with the Construction Defect Action Reform Act of 2001 and evolving through subsequent legislative changes, that have reshaped the risk landscape governing […]
Do people really switch from iPhone to Android? Apple now wants Samsung's data to answer that
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XAI reorganizes its engineering team ahead of SpaceX IPO
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SGMC Health Honors Lane with Safe Care Award
SGMC Health recognized Peter Lane, a certified clinical perfusionist, with the Safe Care Award for his exceptional attention to detail, clinical expertise, and unwavering commitment to advocating for patients. During open‑heart surgery, clinical […]
Lebanon teacher seeks win for science, Heath Stadium
Brooklyn McElroy, a science teacher at Lebanon High School, is participating in the “America’s Favorite Teacher” competition for…
Insta360's Nifty New Selfie Screen for Phones Is Now Available Everywhere
Front-facing camera? No thanks!
If you aren’t losing weight with GLP-1 drugs, this may be one reason why
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Pokémon Champions launches to mixed reception, as performance woes and competitive changes turn some away
Pokémon Champions is out, and due to performance limitations and certain gameplay choices has some fans feeling dissapointed.
Brandi Gabbard launches St. Pete mayoral bid with focus on infrastructure, housing, energy and critique of Ken Welch
Gabbard used much of her own remarks to lay out her vision for the city.
Tractive’s new dog and cat trackers provide more health insights for your pets
Peace of mind for pet owners.
Advocates Remain Bullish About Turning the Waterfront Park Bowl Into an Entertainment Plaza
Peter Johnson and his fellow board members have persistently sought public and private support to transform the Bowl into a privately maintained public asset that’s filled with tiered lawns, a marketplace and live music.
UNE faculty, business executive board mentor high schoolers in regional workforce development challenge
Students from multiple high schools in southern Maine gathered on April 2 to compete at the University of New England in the Junior Achievement of Maine’s (JA Maine) Titan Challenge, and several teams were mentored by faculty in UNE's College of Business — including the winning team in the southern Maine region.
Pete Hegseth, Dan Caine holding press briefing after Trump agrees to 2-week ceasefire with Iran
How the Navy's retail business is working to pull off a turnaround
Sales have fallen at the Navy Exchange, the government-owned department store chain that provides tax-free products to enlisted servicemembers and veterans. Its stores are an important benefit to military families stationed across the world, and its profits directly improve the welfare of Navy sailors. The company is working to revamp its fleet of stores with a planned investment of around $100 million to better compete with major e-commerce players like Walmart and Amazon.
Roblox's Peter Yang says AI is coming for corporate life
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Georgia, Wisconsin Elections Show Declining Appetite for Republican Candidates
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Fifth Champions League spot secured for Premier League
The Premier League will have at least five teams in the Champions League next season after securing a European Performance Spot for the second straight year. The extra place was confirmed on Tuesday as Arsenal beat Sporting 1-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie. Uefa awards an additional place to the two leagues with the best overall performance across the three European competitions.
Birding is more than a hobby. It’s a public health tool
Notifications, deadlines, and a steady stream of information compete for our attention all day long., Birding offers a simple interruption to that pattern.
Club Corner: Business Professionals of America
The Business Professionals of America on NW Campus is more than just a club. Students also have the opportunity to explore possible future careers through competitive events. The BPA doesn’t hold regular weekly meetings. Instead, students typically meet individually with their faculty mentors as they prepare for regional, state and national competitions. “It is a lot of work,” said BPA adviser Jaye Simpson, an associate professor of accounting and department chair. “They’re working a couple hours every week, usually meeting with their mentor....
Viewpoint: FP10 should remain open, excellent and secure
Europe is right to worry about research security. Foreign interference is real. So is the misuse of sensitive knowledge. Universities working in sensitive areas such as AI, quantum, semiconductors and advanced materials cannot afford to ignore the geopolitical environment around them.But Europe is in danger of drawing the wrong conclusion, one that would increase, not reduce, its strategic vulnerabilities.If the EU applies an “EU preference” logic to the next Framework Programme for research and innovation (FP10), it will weaken one of its greatest strategic assets: a research system built on openness, excellence and international collaboration. In the name of security, Europe could end up advancing science more slowly, innovating less effectively and making itself less attractive to global talent and partners in advanced science and technology.That would be a serious mistake.The EU preference included in Article 10 of the proposed European Competitiveness Fund may make sense in some industrial or deployment contexts, but is far harder to justify when applied to collaborative research in advanced science and technology, where excellence and global connectivity are crucial. Research is not procurement. It does not thrive when isolated. It advances through access to the best ideas, the best people, the best facilities and the best data, wherever they are found. This is why FP10 should not simply absorb industrial policy logic by default. Doing so would risk importing instruments that are ill-suited to research and that ultimately increase vulnerability rather than resilience.For universities of science and technology, the issue is especially acute. These institutions sit at the frontier of knowledge and technology creation in the very fields Europe sees as critical for its future competitiveness and resilience. They know better than most that security risks are real. But they also know that openness and security are not opposites. In practice, they have to be made to work together. Research security is not about closing doors. It is about building resilience through collective responsibility, trust, proportionate safeguards and better governance. That is a fundamentally different approach from default restriction.The risks of non-collaborationThe real danger in the current debate is that Europe talks too much about the risks of collaboration and not enough about the risks of non-collaboration. Those risks are strategic too. Cut researchers off from international networks and Europe loses access to knowledge, data, infrastructures and talent. Slow down global collaboration in critical technologies and Europe slows down its own progress on cutting-edge science. Make participation rules unpredictable and Europe weakens its attractiveness to researchers and investors alike.In other words, over-restricting collaboration will create strategic vulnerabilities, particularly in advanced science and technologies.This point is often underestimated in policy discussions that frame openness mainly as a value to be defended. Europe’s scientific strength, technological development and long-term competitiveness depend on remaining connected to the best research ecosystems in the world. For a continent that wants to accelerate deep tech, strengthen industrial capacity and reduce strategic dependencies, weakening the excellence base would be self-defeating. That does not mean ignoring risk. Quite the opposite. Universities are already strengthening due diligence, internal governance, awareness-raising, screening procedures and compliance support. Across Europe, institutions are working to manage risks linked to foreign interference, sanctions, export controls and the misuse of research. The right response is not complacency. It is better risk management. But that means targeted, evidence-based and proportionate measures, not blunt top-down restrictions with wide spillover effects. In the daily reality of universities, openness and restriction often coexist. The real challenge is how to apply safeguards without sliding into securitisation that damages academic freedom, open science and international cooperation. Restrict partners, not nationsMore restrictive treatment of collaborators from European Economic Area members Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, or from Switzerland and the UK, is strategically very difficult to justify. These are deeply embedded partners in Europe’s research and innovation ecosystem. Beyond that, Europe should still resist default exclusion and instead rely on case-by-case assessment. The relevant question is not nationality in the abstract. It is the actual risk profile of a collaboration: the institution, the affiliations, the field, the knowledge involved, the intended use and the safeguards available. Screening should focus on institutions and affiliations rather than nationality alone. Related articlesParliament ‘misreads’ link between Horizon Europe and ECF, Commission official saysFrustration grows at governance gap in next Horizon EuropeIf EU preference logic is imported into research without careful calibration, the likely result is a chilling effect. Researchers may step back from legitimate and beneficial collaboration, even where risks are manageable. International partners may see Europe as less predictable. And Europe may end up undermining the very excellence base it needs to compete, scale up and lead in strategic technologies, thereby increasing its dependence on others.FP10 should do the opposite. It should remain open by default, with restrictions used only exceptionally, and then on the basis of clear evidence. It should integrate research security into open science and research integrity frameworks, not set them against each other. And it should recognise that academic freedom, scientific excellence and responsible international collaboration are not obstacles to Europe’s security, they are part of it. Europe needs stronger tools to protect itself. But it also needs the discipline to avoid measures that would weaken it and increase its strategic vulnerabilities in the process. In FP10, that means staying open, excellent and secure.Louise Drogoul is senior advisor for innovation and sustainability at the Cesaer university association.
Secretary Pete Hegseth’s Christian rhetoric at the Pentagon reignites praise and scrutiny
Global Politics Shifts Competitive Balance In China’s Aviation Markets
While international capacity for the Chinese market has rebounded, growth has been uneven.
Wheelchair basketball collegiate championships bring increased exposure and elite competition to McKale Center
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Bright ideas: Culver's Business Model Competition showcases student entrepreneurship
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Ferguson’s failure to fill WA campaign oversight panel spurs recall bid
Two of the commission’s five seats have been vacant for months. Leaving them open for that long violates state law, according to the recall petition.