Archives for August 2021

LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (AP) — Drone pilots beware.

Authorities at one of the nation’s top nuclear weapons laboratories issued a warning Monday that airspace over Los Alamos National Laboratory is off limits.

The birthplace of the atomic bomb, Los Alamos lab reported that recent unauthorized drone flights have been detected in restricted airspace in the area.

Officials said if you fly a drone over the lab, you likely will lose it.

“We can detect and track a UAS (unmanned aircraft system), and if it poses a threat, we have the ability to disrupt control of the system, seize or exercise control, confiscate or use reasonable force to disable, damage or destroy the UAS,” said Unica Viramontes, senior director of lab security.

The lab would not release any specifics about how the system works, citing security protocols. They also would not say how many unauthorized flights have occurred in recent months.

Lab officials also warned of the potential for “collateral interceptions” of normal commercial or hobbyist drone flights, saying pilots should stay well outside the lab’s restricted airspace and the additional no-drone zone designated by the Federal Aviation Administration.

According to the FAA, drones are prohibited from flying over sites designated as national security sensitive facilities. Aside from military bases and other Department of Defense sites, restrictions are in place for national landmarks and certain critical infrastructure such as nuclear power plants.

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PHOENIX (AP) — The delivery of a report on the 2020 vote count to Arizona state Senate Republicans was delayed yet again Monday after the Donald Trump supporter hired to lead the effort and several others involved contracted COVID-19 “and are quite sick,” the Senate GOP leader said.

Republican Senate President Karen Fann said she still expects to receive a portion of the report Monday. She did not give a date for delivery of the full draft.

It’s the latest delay for the unprecedented partisan review, which has so far taken more than double the 60 days it was originally supposed to take.

The report was commissioned by Senate Republicans and funded mostly by Trump allies promoting his unsupported election fraud narrative. It will not immediately be made public. Rather, two senior Republican senators will review it along with their lawyers and advisers to decide whether the findings are supported by evidence.

Fann said anything lacking sufficient backing will be removed.

“We want to see their proof, their documentation, everything to make sure that the report that goes out is fully accurate,” he said.

Cyber Ninjas, the small cybersecurity consultant with no election experience that Fann hired to run the review, was originally supposed to deliver its findings in May but has pushed back the timeline several times.

Election experts have been highly critical of the review, which Fann launched late last year as Trump and his allies hunted unsuccessfully for reasons to block the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory on Jan. 6.

Election experts say Cyber Ninjas and its subcontracts are biased and incompetent, and they’re using bizarre, ever-changing procedures that could not produce reliable results. Cyber Ninjas owner Doug Logan has spread false conspiracy theories about the election, and his review has been funded almost entirely by Trump allies active in the “stop the steal” movement.

“Real audits, legitimate audits are done under a time frame,” Jennifer Morrell, an expert in post-election auditing and a consultant to elections officials, said Monday. “There is a defined start time and stop time. They’re done publicly.”

None of that is the case for the Maricopa County review, Morrell said.

Fann released few details about the COVID-19 outbreak among the team leading her review but indicated the symptoms are not mild.

“The team expected to have the full draft ready for the Senate today, but unfortunately Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan and two other members of the five-person audit team have tested positive for COVID-19 and are quite sick,” she said in a statement.

A spokesman for Logan, Rod Thomson, declined to comment.

Fann said she will meet Wednesday to review the initial portions of the Cyber Ninjas report along with Republican Sen. Warren Petersen, the Judiciary Committee chairman; Ken Bennett, a former Republican secretary of state who was Fann’s liaison to the auditors before being locked out; and Randy Pullen, a former Arizona Republican Party chairman who also was a liaison. Four lawyers also will be involved, she said.

The team will meet again when the rest of the report is ready, she said, and the findings will be publicly presented to the Judiciary Committee, which includes Republicans and Democrats.

Meanwhile, senior Democrats on the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee again demanded Logan turn over a wide range of documents related to the audit. An attorney for Logan, Jack Wilenchick, sent 336 pages of documents, much of which had been publicly released. Most of the committee’s demands were overbroad or covered by attorney-client and legislative privilege, Wilenchik wrote on Aug. 9.

“If your company, which purports to be acting in a lawful manner pursuing the public interest, continues to obstruct the Committee’s investigation, the Committee will be forced to consider other steps to obtain compliance,” U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney of New York and Jamie Raskin of Maryland wrote to Logan on Monday.

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NEW YORK (AP) — This time, Barry Manilow didn’t make it through the rain.

Unlike the Grammy-winning recording artist’s 1980 hit, “I Made It Through Rain,” the superstar-laden “Homecoming Concert” in New York City’s Central Park was canceled because of dangerous weather as Hurricane Henri approached the Northeast on Saturday.

Manilow began performing “Can’t Smile Without You,” as part of a medley of his hits when the announcement interrupted his performance, ordering concert goers to immediately leave the park and seek shelter. The singer continued on, not realizing at first what was happening.

Organizers repeated over public address for concertgoers to “calmly move to the nearest exits and proceed to areas outside of the park.”

The five-hour concert, intended to celebrate New York City’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, was about halfway through when the weather became an issue. Heavy rain and lightning filled the sky.

As the crowd — estimated at more than 60,000 — began leaving the concert area, there was a moment of optimism that the show might resume once the weather cleared. But a few minutes later, another announcement said it was canceled as the downpour intensified.

Mayor Bill de Blasio later tweeted, “While it’s disappointing that tonight’s concert had to end early, the safety of everyone in attendance had to come first.”

The highly promoted mega-concert featured Bruce Springsteen, Paul Simon, Jennifer Hudson, Carlos Santana, LL Cool J and Andrea Bocelli among the performers.

Fans intent of seeing Springsteen, Simon, and The Killers — who had not yet hit the stage — expressed disappointment as they were leaving. One man could be overheard belligerently yelling that he paid to see Springsteen. The majority of tickets for the show were handed out for free, providing you could show proof of vaccination. But high-priced VIP tickets that ranged from $399 to around $5,000 were also sold. There was no word on whether there would be refunds.

While the headliners were not able to perform, the abruptly-ended show still provided some standout performances.

Jennifer Hudson, backed by the New York Philharmonic, performed a spine-tingling version of “Nessun Dorma” from the Italian opera “Turandot.” Equally impressive was that her performance followed Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli. Afterward, Hudson told Gayle King that the performance felt like “an out of body experience.”

The famed New York Philharmonic opened the show with many New York themed pieces, including George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue,” Leonard Bernstein’s “New York, New York,” and Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind.” The orchestra also backed Bocelli.

Earth, Wind & Fire was joined by Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds for a two-song set. And Santana with Wyclef Jean performed “Maria Maria,” before Rob Thomas reprised “Smooth,” and their new collaboration, “Move.”

The eclectic lineup also featured some “old school” hip hop with Melle Mel dusting off the Grandmaster Flash classic “The Message.” Busta Rhymes performed “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See.”

In one of the evening’s most spirited performances, a group of backup singers hummed the iconic opening of “Mama Said Knock You Out” as a lively LL Cool J wearing mint green sweats and yellow kicks emerged through them with a rousing version of the song that sent the crowd in hyperdrive. He was then joined by Rev. Run of Run DMC for a snippet of “It’s Tricky.”

Special guest speakers included Stephen Colbert, Gayle King, Clive Davis, and New York Sen. Chuck Schumer.

Schumer praised New York City’s resilience for coming back after hard times, citing the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Superstorm Sandy, the financial crisis, and now, COVID-19.

“After COVID, New York is bigger, better, and stronger than before,” he told the crowd.

He then thanked front-line workers, saying the city came back because of them.

Organized early in the summer, the concert was intended as a celebration of New York City overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. But on Saturday, the concert kicked off amid worries about the highly contagious delta variant of the virus.

Matt Schweikert, who came to the show from New Jersey, expressed concern about the uptick in cases, but wasn’t particularly worried about his health at the concert.

“They were great taking the proper precautions having you got through multiple checkpoints. I’m confident that everyone here is vaccinated. They’re sober too, so that’s great, and I think we’re headed in the right direction,” Schweikert said.

Native New Yorker Imani Duckette was “excited” to have the energy back in public.

“Everybody seems pretty safe, and I feel pretty comfortable,” Duckette said.

New York City over the past week has averaged just under 2,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, according to state statistics. That’s up from just under 200 cases per day in late June. Only about 54% of all city residents are fully vaccinated against the virus.

Before the concert on the grass, audience members were mainly socially distant. And while many were wearing masks, some ditched the face coverings as the concert progressed.

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CHICAGO (AP) — A Democratic senator said the U.S. Justice Department needs to look into whether the algorithm-powered police technologies it funds contribute to racial bias in law enforcement and lead to wrongful arrests.

Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat, was responding to an investigation by The Associated Press published Thursday about the possibility of bias in courtroom evidence produced by an algorithm-powered gunshot detection technology called ShotSpotter. The system, which can be funded by Justice Department grants, is used by law enforcement in more than 110 U.S. communities to detect gunfire and respond to crime scenes faster.

“While there continues to be a national debate on policing in America, it’s become increasingly clear that algorithms and technologies used during investigations, like ShotSpotter, can further racial biases and increase the potential for sending innocent people to prison,” Wyden said.

Chicago prosecutors relied on audio evidence picked up by ShotSpotter sensors to charge 65-year-old Michael Williams with murder last year for allegedly shooting a man inside his car. ShotSpotter has said their system has trouble identifying gunshots in enclosed spaces. Williams spent nearly a year in jail, until late last month a judge dismissed the case against him at the request of prosecutors, who said they had insufficient evidence.

“Fundamentally, these tools are outsourcing critical policing decisions, leaving the fate of people like Michael Williams to a computer,” Wyden said.

In Chicago, where Williams was jailed, community members rallied in front of a police station on Thursday, demanding the city end its contract with ShotSpotter, a system they said “creates a dangerous situation where police treat everyone in the alert area as an armed threat.”

The Chicago Police Department on Friday defended the technology in response to calls to end the city’s ShotSpotter contract. Chicago is ShotSpotter’s largest customer.

“ShotSpotter has detected hundreds of shootings that would have otherwise gone unreported,” it said in a statement emailed to the AP, adding that the technology is just one of many tools the department relies on “to keep the public safe and ultimately save lives.”

It said real-time ShotSpotter alerts about gunshots mean officers respond faster and more consistently than when depending on someone to call 911 to report gunfire.

“The system gives police the opportunity to reassure communities that law enforcement is there to serve and protect them and helps to build bridges with residents who wish to remain anonymous,” the department said.

ShotSpotter uses a secret algorithm to analyze noises detected by sensors mounted on light poles and buildings. Employees at the company’s Incident Review Centers in Washington, D.C., and Newark, California, look at the wavelengths and listen to sounds that the computer deems possible gunshots to make a final determination before alerting police.

“The point is anything that ultimately gets produced as a gunshot has to have eyes and ears on it,” said CEO Ralph Clark in an interview. “Human eyes and ears, OK?”

Civil rights advocates say the human reviews can introduce bias.

Wyden said he and seven other Democratic lawmakers are still waiting for a Justice Department response to their April letter raising concerns about federal funds going to local law enforcement agencies to buy a variety of artificial intelligence technologies, including some that integrate gunshot detection data. In addition to Wyden, the letter was signed by Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Alex Padilla of California, Raphael Warnock of Georgia, and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, and U.S. Reps. Yvette Clarke of New York and Sheila Jackson Lee of Texas.

“These algorithms, which automate policing decisions, not only suffer from a lack of meaningful oversight regarding whether they actually improve public safety, but it is also likely they amplify biases against historically marginalized groups,” they wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The Justice Department did not respond to AP’s request for comment.

___

Mendoza reported from Newark, California.

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — General Motors said Friday it is recalling all Chevrolet Bolt electric vehicles sold worldwide to fix a battery problem that could cause fires.

The recall and others raise questions about lithium ion batteries, which now are used in nearly all electric vehicles. Ford, BMW and Hyundai all have recalled batteries recently.

President Joe Biden will need electric vehicles to reach a goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half 2030 as part of a broader effort to fight climate change.

The GM recall announced Friday adds about 73,000 Bolts from the 2019 through 2022 model years to a previous recall of 69,000 older Bolts.

GM said that in rare cases the batteries have two manufacturing defects that can cause fires.

The Detroit-based automaker said it will replace battery modules in all the vehicles. In older versions, all five modules will be replaced.

The latest recall will cost the company about $1 billion, bringing the total cost of the Bolt battery recalls to $1.8 billion.

GM said owners should limit charging to 90% of battery capacity. The Bolts, including a new SUV, also should be parked outdoors until the modules are replaced.

The original recall was blamed on a manufacturing defect at a South Korean factory run by LG Chemical Solution, GM’s battery supplier. But the company said an investigation showed that the defects are possible in batteries made at other sites. Most newer Bolt batteries are made at an LG plant in Holland, Michigan.

GM issued the first Bolt recall in November after getting reports of five of them catching fire. Two people suffered smoke inhalation and a house was set ablaze.

At first the company didn’t know what was causing the problem, but it determined that batteries that caught fire were near a full charge. It traced the fires to what it called a rare manufacturing defect in battery modules. It can cause a short in a cell, which can trigger a fire.

GM said it began investigating the newer Bolts after a 2019 model that was not included in the previous recall caught fire a few weeks ago in Chandler, Arizona. That raised concerns about newer Bolts.

That fire brought the total number of Bolt blazes to 10, company spokesman Dan Flores said.

GM says it is working with LG to increase battery production. The company says owners will be notified to take their cars to dealers as soon as replacement parts are ready.

Flores said he is not sure when that will be.

The company said it will not produce or sell any more Bolts until it is satisfied that problems have been worked out in LG batteries, Flores said.

“Our focus on safety and doing the right thing for our customers guides every decision we make at GM,” Doug Parks, GM product development chief, said in a statement.

Batteries with the new modules will come with an eight year, 100,000 mile (160 kilometer) warranty, the company said. GM will replace all five battery modules in 2017 to 2019 Bolts. Defective modules will be replaced in newer models.

GM said it will pursue reimbursement from the LG.

The Bolts are only a tiny fraction of GM’s overall U.S. sales, which run close to 3 million vehicles in a normal year. But they are the first of an ambitious rollout of electric models as GM tries to hit a goal of selling only electric passenger vehicles by 2035.

Other automakers are also announcing additional electric models worldwide to cut pollution and meet stricter government fuel economy standards.

Shares in General Motors Co. were down about 2% in extended trading following the recall announcement.

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