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White House completes $50 million revamp of high-security Situation Room

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

(CNN) — The White House Situation Room, the high-security complex beneath the West Wing where presidents watch history unfold and receive top-secret intelligence, has undergone a much-needed makeover for the first time in 15 years.The yearlong gut renovation saw the ground dug out five feet to remove concrete and cables, the walls stripped to the studs, and the entire room refitted with enhanced security and technology. The government’s bill came in slightly north of its $50 million budget, according to Marc Gustafson, the Situation Room’s director who joined the White House to oversee the project and its team of contractors who all required varying levels of security clearances to work on site.“The stonemason didn’t need top secret,” Gustafson said with a laugh, noting that the later phases of construction were more sensitive than the early groundwork.While the name suggests a singular enclosure, the Situation Room complex features three boardrooms of graduating size...

Judge denies Mark Meadows’ request to move his Georgia election subversion case to federal court

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

By KATE BRUMBACK (Associated Press)ATLANTA (AP) — A judge on Friday denied Mark Meadows’ request to move his Georgia election subversion case to federal court, ruling that the Trump White House chief of staff must fight the charges in state court instead.U.S. District Judge Steve Jones in Atlanta wrote in a 49-page ruling that Meadows “has not met even the ‘quite low’ threshold” to move his case to federal court, noting that the question was whether the actions at issue were related to his role as a federal official.“The evidence adduced at the hearing establishes that the actions at the heart of the State’s charges against Meadows were taken on behalf of the Trump campaign with an ultimate goal of affecting state election activities and procedures,” Jones wrote. “Meadows himself testified that working for the Trump campaign would be outside the scope of a White House Chief of Staff.”The ruling is a big early win for ...

Biden administration to invest $26M in airline safety technology to prevent close calls between planes

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

The Biden administration said Friday it will invest more money in aviation safety and consider requiring planes to be equipped with technology designed to prevent close calls around airports.The moves come after a string of close calls at airports around the country. Federal investigators have begun looking into seven such incidents since January, and those are only the most serious ones.The White House said it is investing $26 million in new safety measures, including automation to alert air traffic controllers about planes that are heading for the wrong runway. The money will also outfit more airports with radar systems that track the movement of planes on runways and taxiways.Separately, the Federal Aviation Administration asked an internal advisory panel of experts to make recommendations on how to require systems that would alert pilots if they are lined up to land on the wrong runway or a taxiway, or when the runway they have chosen is too short.Many new airline jets are equip...

Ticker: Wall Street closes its worst week in the last 3 with a quiet finish

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

Stocks drifted to a slightly higher close on Wall Street but still closed out their first losing week in the last three. The S&P 500 rose 0.1% Friday following three straight days of declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 75 points, and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.1%.Treasury yields held relatively steady, helping to keep trading quiet. Strong reports on the economy earlier in the week sent yields higher and raised worries the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer. High rates can slow inflation, but they hurt investment prices.X, formerly Twitter, sues California over content moderation lawElon Musk’s social media platform formerly known as Twitter has sued the state of California over a law requiring social media companies to publish their policies for removing offending material such as hate speech, misinformation and harassment.The first-of-its-kind legislation was signed into law a year ago by California Gov. Gavin Newsom. In a lawsuit filed Fri...

Injured Orioles closer Félix Bautista plays catch, but Brandon Hyde ‘wouldn’t put any stock into it’

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

Two weeks to the day after exiting the mound in the ninth inning with a right elbow injury, Orioles All-Star closer Félix Bautista played catch on the field before Friday night’s game at Fenway Park.It was the second time Bautista played catch since he was placed on the 15-day injured list Aug. 26 with an injury to his ulnar collateral ligament, a day after he left a strike away from closing out a victory against the Colorado Rockies. Bautista also threw earlier this week during the team’s series at the Los Angeles Angels, manager Brandon Hyde said, but Hyde suggested that the sessions don’t dramatically change Bautista’s outlook, saying Bautista playing catch is “not really” significant.“I wouldn’t put any emphasis, positive or negative,” Hyde said. “He was playing a little bit of catch. Just kind of see how he feels.“I wouldn’t put any stock into it.”After playing catch, Bautista walked, glove in ha...

Amazon to require some authors to disclose the use of AI material

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

After months of complaints from the Authors Guild and other groups, Amazon.com has started requiring writers who want to sell books through its e-book program to tell the company in advance that their work includes artificial intelligence material.The Authors Guild praised the new regulations, which were posted Wednesday, as a “welcome first step” toward deterring the proliferation of computer-generated books on the online retailer’s site. Many writers feared computer-generated books could crowd out traditional works and would be unfair to consumers who didn’t know they were buying AI content.In a statement posted on its website, the Guild expressed gratitude toward “the Amazon team for taking our concerns into account and enacting this important step toward ensuring transparency and accountability for AI-generated content.”A passage posted this week on Amazon’s content guideline page said, “We define AI-generated content as text, images, or translations created by an AI-based...

Haverhill man gets 8+ years in prison for identity fraud-based car theft scheme

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

The leader of a years-long conspiracy, a Haverhill man stole identities to purchase nearly 50 vehicles from dealerships across Massachusetts and several other states, gaining more than $2 million in cars and other merchandise.U.S. District Court Judge Patti B. Saris sentenced Alvin Rivera, 40, to 8 1/2 years in prison and ordered him to pay $389,141 in restitution to the identity theft victims he and his co-conspirators used to load up on the cars and merch.From October 2017 to September 2020, Rivera provided stolen identity information to co-conspirators to buy late-model vehicles at Bay State car dealerships. They also applied for 100% financing, according to the state’s U.S. Attorney’s Office.“In support of the applications, the co-conspirators provided stolen biographical information from real United States citizens, fraudulent Puerto Rico driver’s licenses and Social Security cards in those identities, as proof of identification,” a release from the office states. “The co-consp...

Hurricane Lee could hit Boston, NYC, but still too early to know for sure: meteorologists

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

While some models are forecasting Hurricane Lee to hit the East Coast next week, with Boston and New York City potentially taking the brunt of the impact, meteorologists say it’s still too early to know if and when the storm will arrive.The category 4 hurricane, capable of generating waves of up to 15 feet, charged through warm Atlantic waters on Friday and threatened to unleash heavy swells across the northeast Caribbean. It became the season’s first Category 5 storm before weakening slightly.Two models — the European and American — project Lee either hitting Boston directly, or scraping along the coast of Cape Cod before heading into the Canadian Maritimes. Heavy rains and a deadly storm surge would be present in both scenarios.But residents across Greater Boston and New England should not be alarmed, as of now, said Bryce Williams, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service’s Boston office.“I can tell you that we don’t know if it’s going to impact New England at this point. ...

Healey administration considered suspending right-to-shelter law but scrapped idea, housing advocate says

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

The Healey administration considered suspending the state’s decades old right-to-shelter law in the run up to an emergency declaration last month, but opted against it after taking into consideration the complicated legal concerns associated with such a move.Officials at the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities reached out to multiple providers to inform them of the plan to suspend the law, which requires the state to provide housing and services to homeless families, in the days before the emergency declaration.But the idea was ultimately scrapped after the administration realized it did not have the authority to suspend a 1983 law signed by then-Gov. Michael Dukakis.“We had heard before the announcement from state officials themselves that they were looking to suspend the right to shelter,” said Kelly Turley, associate director at the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, adding the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, not the governor’s of...

Major I-5 lane closures planned this weekend

Published Mon, 23 Dec 2024 19:01:38 GMT

SAN DIEGO — Several lanes of southbound Interstate 5 will be closed starting Friday night through the weekend, which could cause headaches for travelers in the downtown area.The closures are so that crews can make repairs to the bridge deck over SR-163.Officials are working to get the word out to the public about the closures due to the large traffic impact it is expected to have for drivers heading downtown or to San Diego International Airport.The closure will begin at 9 p.m. and run through Monday at 5 a.m. Southbound I-5 will close at eastbound I-8 and traffic will be diverted onto eastbound I-8. Drivers can then get to the airport by taking southbound state Route 163 and following signs for the airport.A stretch of I-5 between I-8 and SR-163 will have limited access via downtown on-ramps.Northbound I-5 will remain open throughout the weekend.Another closure is scheduled for northbound I-5 starting on Sept. 29. That closure will start at SR-15 and will also only have one lane av...