The United States lowered El Salvador’s travel advisory to Level 2 after protests from the Congressional El Salvador Caucus. The United States had previously refused to lower the country’s travel designation from Level 3, “Reconsider Travel,” the second-highest rating possible, despite the transformation of the country’s crime situation. Over the past decade, the country had […]

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) reflected on last week’s bruising electoral defeats in which Republicans flipped four seats, giving them a 53-seat majority in the Senate, emphasizing Democrats must do a thorough autopsy to understand “the things we did wrong.”  “We have to understand the things we did wrong and we must change,” Schumer […]

The Capitals don’t have many decisions to make this summer. When NHL free agency opens on July 5 the two key players they have headed to the open market are center Mike Ribeiro and winger Matt Hendricks.

YouTube said more people are watching live events like Coachella and short form videos on TV sets. Sports, including the NFL, are also boosting viewership.

As Netflix continues to invest more in games, it is expanding its titles based on its popular reality shows including 'Too Hot to Handle' and 'Selling Sunset.'

A new poll shows that California voters are increasingly moving to social media, such as TikTok, for election information.

California lawmakers are trying to get ahead of AI in the workplace, but are already playing catchup

Santa Clara chipmaker Nvidia has ridden the AI revolution to briefly vault over Microsoft and Apple and become the world's most valuable company.

Many news outlets are already dealing with declining revenue from digital ads and subscriptions. Now, their business models are poised to be disrupted again by AI.

Long Beach's digital rights platform consists of data privacy notices for about 20 unique city-deployed technologies that collect personally identifiable information.

The 'de-extinction' company Colossal and the conservation group Re:wild found common ground in the potential of genetic technology to rescue today's disappearing creatures.

Without clear policies explaining how campaigns are using AI, voters must develop digital literacy skills to recognize malicious use of the technology.

Given the crush of bad news on our changing climate, choosing a 'green' career just might be a matter of survival.

'Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter' explores what went wrong under the entrepreneur's ownership of the social media platform.

X, formerly known as Twitter, is closing its headquarters in San Francisco and moving some of its San Francisco employees to San José and Palo Alto. The departure is another blow to a city that has been buffeted by high-profile business departures.

To improve survival for esophageal cancer patients, researchers are using artificial intelligence to improve screening for the disease.

Californians can now securely add their digital driver's license or state ID to the Apple Wallet app on their iPhone and Apple Watch, the company announced Thursday.

X, formerly Twitter, released a formal global transparency report Wednesday for the first time since Musk took over the social media platform.

Solar, wind, hydrogen and other renewable technologies are likely to become cheaper and available at a rapid clip, creating huge business and political opportunities.

The Supreme Court refuses to shield Uber and Lyft from California state labor lawsuits that seek back pay for tens of thousands of drivers.

Fisker Inc. will wind down operations under a bankruptcy plan approved Friday that should allow owners to drive their cars for years. But it will not pay anything to shareholders wiped out investing in the defunct Southern California electric-vehicle maker.

The world's richest man once said Donald Trump's character didn't 'reflect well' on the U.S. Now Elon Musk is touring the country, and spending big, to put Trump and other Republicans in power.

E-commerce giant Amazon joins Google and other tech companies in investing in nuclear power they plan to use in the race to build new AI-powered products.

Turmoil at 23andMe, and a lawsuit alleging that GEDmatch shares data with Facebook, highlights how far your genetic information could travel without your consent.

The former California congressman, consummate Donald Trump lackey and Trump Media chief executive is being accused of mismanagement and cronyism.

A survey shows that most Americans have seen a deepfake in recent months, and most worry about AI-generated misinformation influencing elections.

Optical density can be affected by sample conditions, the state of the measuring vessel, and instrument configuration.

Modern, intuitive, and reliable thermal cyclers excel at optimizing sequencing, cloning, and genotyping throughput.

Alexander Fleming’s 1928 discovery of a mold with antibacterial properties was only the first serendipitous event on the long road to penicillin as a life-saving drug.

In this symposium, an expert panel will discuss how sequencing and omics technologies enable unprecedented exploration of health and disease, from genetic disorders to cancer. 

Scientists are reimagining the food system, turning to fungal fermentation as a sustainable method for transforming food byproducts into tasty treats.

Bone marrow stem cells defy typical aging, and it may be because they express the right proteins.

Why are Washingtonians using the Empower ride-sharing app?

Washington, D.C., is on track to follow several states in implementing California's electric vehicle mandate to eliminate the sale of new gas-powered vehicles by 2035.

Serving up four home runs and losing 15-0 in Cincinnati was an inauspicious Nationals debut for veteran Dan Haren. Four weeks later against the same Reds, Haren found himself in a pitcher-friendly park, aided by the force of a powerhouse team gathering momentum.

A judge ordered Cowboys for Trump co-founder Couy Griffin to leave his Otero County commissioner post effective immediately.

A former top aide to the mayor of Washington D.C. sexually harassed a female employee, according to an internal probe.

$12 million -- That's the whopping number of dollars Oprah Winfrey handed over to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the museum announced Tuesday, according to the Washington Post. Winfrey's name will adorn a 350-seat theater in the new museum, which is slated to open in 2015 on the National Mall. She already donated $1 million to the project in 2007 and has served on the museum's advisory council since 2004.

An alliance of top automakers urged President Joe Biden to reconsider rules that would prop up electric vehicles at the expense of gas-powered ones.

An Alaska Airlines flight was forced to return to Portland, Oregon, on Friday, after a window on the Boeing blew off midflight.

The first thing any reader needs to know is that the vast, vast majority of Native Americans were never offended by the Washington Redskins' mascot or logo. Certainly, there are offensive ways of representing Native Americans in sports and in other areas — Chief Wahoo comes to mind, as do mocking versions of native dances and rituals. But the Redskins did not engage in those, and people noticed.

After former team owner Daniel Snyder sold the Washington Commanders, many people foolishly hoped that the new ownership group would entertain the idea of returning the longtime Redskins name to the franchise. This wishful thinking was egged on after a group known as the Native American Guardian’s Association created a petition that has nearly 131,000 signatures to bring back the glorious Redskins moniker.

A horned "devil comet" barreling toward Earth is set to explode in the coming days.

The Biden administration announced a $162 million investment in microchip technology on Thursday in an attempt to boost domestic production of computer chips.

Small settlements scattered throughout the region show signs of trade, fortification.

It wasn't about power plays. It wasn't about missed calls. In the end, it was all about blown chances and missed opportunities.

Microsoft is once again trying to get Chrome users to share their browser data with its Edge browser on Windows.

The post Microsoft Edge Has a New Trick to Get Data From Chrome Users on Windows appeared first on Thurrott.com.

The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham

Welcome to hell week: Somehow, it's here. The 2024 election is tomorrow. If you haven't mailed yours in yet, do it today. Better yet, drop your ballot in a ballot box. Please do not drop any incendiary devices in ballot boxes. Tell your friends to vote. Tell your enemies to vote. Vote like your life depends on it. Vote like someone else's life depends on it. Then, take a nap or something. 

Scene setting: Wind and weather are turbulent today. Everything is astir. 

⚠️The next storm system will move into western WA Monday into Tuesday, bringing gusty winds, lowland rain, mountain snow, & high surf to the region. Details are highlighted below!

— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 3, 2024

To make everything worse: The sun is dead. It isn't coming back until spring. Say goodbye to long days. Go to an antique store and buy a lamp. I went to the Antique Mall of West Seattle this weekend and bought myself one. It's saving me. We all deserve soft, buttery warm light this winter. 

Starting tonight, the sun will set in the 4 pm hour every night until Jan. 25.

Seattle area vampires, rejoice! ????

— Seattle Weather Blog (@KSeattleWeather) November 3, 2024

Iowaaaaat? Cross your fingers and hold your breath for this next part. The poll by respected pollster and possible soothsayer Ann Selzer commissioned by the Des Moines Register/Mediacom shows Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump 47% to 44% in Iowa. The state has voted staunchly red and resolutely for Trump. Back in June, Trump led President Joe Biden (before he decided he should lay down and take a nap instead of running for re-election) by 18 points. Even as recently as September, Trump led Harris in Iowa by 4 points. Apparently, the tables are turning and women are the ones doing the spinning. Particularly, older and independent women voters. Abortion is soooo on the ballot and Iowan women are not taking their futures lightly. If this poll is right, Harris wouldn't just win Iowa, she'd win it in a landslide. 

Trump says "actually, no:" Famous fact-lover Donald Trump says the Iowa poll is wrong and we are all mistaken. According to Trump, the truly accurate poll is the one from Emerson College that shows him up 53% to Harris' 43%. 

Someone who will not get to see if the Iowa poll is accurate: Music legend Quincy Jones died on Sunday. He was 91. 

Don't look a gift poll in the mouth: The knock-on-wood-worthy polling isn't just for national politics. In local news, a Northwest Progressive Institute poll found that in the Seattle City Council Position 8 race, Alexis Mercedes Rink leads incumbent Tanya Woo 52% to 28%. Remember how U2 slipped its album "Songs of Innocence" into everyone's iTunes libraries back in 2014? That's basically how it feels having the council-selected Woo, who knows nothing about anything, in a position of power. Seems as though Seattle is rejecting Woo the same way everyone rejected "Songs of Innocence"—moving her straight to the trash where we hopefully will never have to listen to her again. 

Not worried about the election? Must be nice. But, also maybe you should be. Gov. Jay Inslee clearly is. He signed a letter activating the National Guard in the event of civil unrest after the election.

Washington State Gov. Jay Inslee is activating the state's National Guard, directing personnel to make preparations in case they need to respond to “civil unrest” related to the election. pic.twitter.com/26JGFkv03a

— Mike Baker (@ByMikeBaker) November 2, 2024

Bad news for Peanut: Tragedy struck the squirrelly saga of Peanut, the social media sensation plucked from his owner's care last week by the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Apparently, after removing Peanut, the DEC then euthanized him to "test for rabies." The squirrel who often donned tiny cowboy hats will only do so now from heaven. Rest easy, Peanut. 

Roaming police: City officials mysteriously placed Tacoma's police chief on a brief administrative leave back in September. Now, we know why. Chief Avery Moore was gabbing too much while on vacation. Moore racked up a $1,082 bill on his city-issued cellphone while he was in Sweden. Most of the charges appear to be international usage charges, but I like to imagine Moore couldn't stop gossiping on the phone while touring fjords. 

Work stoppage for NYT tech guild: The "over 600 software engineers, product managers, data analysts, and designers" keeping the New York Times website up and running went on strike at 12:01 this morning, in the latest attempt to win a union contract with the media company. The work stoppage comes at a pivotal time for the NYT; Election Day coverage on the ~newspaper of record~ requires a lot of tech. Maybe this squeeze will give these workers the contract they're asking for. In the meantime, don't cross the digital picket line. No Wordle. No Connections. Just solidarity. 

Have you seen this prayer wheel? Capitol Hill Himalayan restaurant Annapurna needs helping finding the handmade Tibetan prayer wheel that normally sits outside its front entrance. Someone nabbed the prayer wheel last week. Last time a business's prayer wheel went missing, someone found it in Lake Washington. 

WA GOP's sexist, racist, anti-LGBTQ text campaign: In Washington's 14th legislative district, the texts are getting out of hand. The Spanish texts spread lies about Latina Democratic candidates, saying they "support chemical castration of children at school," they want to "eliminate the Spanish language," and they "hate your family, they hate God, and they hate the truth." Washington GOP chair Jim Walsh confirmed the organization footed the bill for these texts. The Democrats are pissed and believe these texts are defamatory and broke campaign finance laws. They'll be taking legal action.  

The Washington State GOP is sending out these texts in an increasingly Latino state senate district (14), per a source who sent these along.

(I speak French, not Spanish, so these translations are not my own).

Demographic data on the district here, which is held by 3… pic.twitter.com/ZLy0TCf3As

— Jake Lahut (@JakeLahut) November 2, 2024

Volcanic eruptions in Indonesia: Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki erupted at around midnight Monday. The hot ash shot as high as 6,500 feet into the air and hit several villages, burning down several houses, including a convent of Catholic nuns. Ten people are dead so far. 

South Africa's Steve Irwin died: Dingo Dinkelman, 44, was a wildlife content creator and a conservationist. Dinkelman died from a venomous snake bite after spending a month in an induced coma. 

Something to take your mind off the election: Make this chili. 

See someone? Say something! by Anonymous

good boy, Mitten Bakery ????

"Who's a good boy?" you petting your cute dog next to me. I asked "Oh me?". You said, "Well if I get two good boys out of it ya!" - I didn't get ur #!

Smokin Hot at Smoker Dad

I Saw U at the Sunset Tavern at the Smoker Dad release show. You were wearing a tight jean skirt, and you told me I had a timeless beauty. Same, girl.

Barrettes at Hop Vine 10.28

I stared, we waved! I looked up how to sign “ur super cute” but was too shy. I like your hair, sweater, how you cover your mouth when you laugh!

I saw u x2 @ SBP

UW & Fremont. You were tall & brunette w glasses. I’m shortish and brunette w glasses. You seemed interested, I’m shy. But I’m interested too

Party at Porter

We were both on the floor at the Porter Robinson show. You were in front of me, tall and blonde. Thanks for making an incredible show even more fun.

Bus 49 Connection

Tall guy in tan sweater, wearing a black mask, purple-haired girl hoping to meet again. We made eye contact a few times in cap hill and I was too shy to look at you. Kinda felt like I was in a kdrama—wanna be my Lee Min Ho?

Dieu en Mouvement

BV Lincoln SQ: 3:30, Sunday. You were exiting. Tall, dark, a beautiful print coat, thin glasses, I said I liked your outfit. You are art in motion.

Fellow Magnetic Fields Fans

We sat in the balcony turret the first night of 69 Love Songs. Thanks for singing along with me! Hope you got to come back for Papa was a Rodeo.

Is it a match? Leave a comment here or on our Instagram post to connect!

Did you see someone? Say something! Submit your own I Saw U message here and maybe we'll include it in the next roundup!

The Stranger's morning news round-up. by Nathalie Graham

One more for the blue: After a neck-in-neck race, Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez officially won re-election to the House in the 3rd Congressional District, beating out far-right challenger Joe Kent. Her win is another step forward for Democrats as they try to take back the House and retain a shred of power in the coming administration from hell. About two dozen races nation-wide still need to be decided.

Please spare us, H5N1: The Centers for Disease Control want more testing done for bird flu after blood tests on 115 of dairy workers showed 7% had bird flu antibodies, meaning they'd already contracted the disease at some point. Previously, we only confirmed 46 cases of bird flu jumping from cows to farmworkers. This new study suggests that bird flu has infected many more people than the confirmed cases. Experts say this indicates the H5N1 viruses are a greater threat than we realized. Great! Another flu just in time for the vaccine-doubters to take office. 

Wet weekend—and then week—ahead: Friday will likely be our last dry day for a while. Get your galoshes ready. The rain starts Saturday and it'll continue at least throughout the week.

I hope you like rain this weekend! ????️

It could be wet for the State H.S. football tournament games across the Puget Sound region. #pnw pic.twitter.com/JAvPx7hegV

— Jake Whittenberg (@jwhittenbergK5) November 8, 2024

That's nice: Boeing said it will pay the employees the money they lost while being furloughed during the machinists' strike that started in September. 

Egyptian flooding: A pipe leak at the historic Egyptian Cinema on Capitol Hill shut down the 108-year-old theater for the "foreseeable future." Repairs will be expensive and take months. The universe does not want me or my people (progressives, art house movie lovers) to be happy this week. 

INBOX: The SIFF Cinema Egyptian is going to be closed for "the foreseeable future and the Fine Arts building leadership expect that it will take multiple months of building closure to assess, repair and reopen." Sad news especially during what is a big time of the year for film. pic.twitter.com/v2ItPx5Lpi

— Chase 'Hutch' Hutchinson (@EclecticHutch) November 7, 2024

Another hit while we're down: Don't forget, five light rail stops will close this weekend. Starting at 10 pm on Friday through 5 am Monday, Westlake, Symphony, Pioneer Square, International District/Chinatown, and Stadium stations will all be closed and inaccessible. Trains will run between Lynnwood and Capitol Hill and between Sodo and Angle Lake. Shuttle buses will be available to bridge gaps between open and closed stations. It’s all part of the crawling effort to connect Line 1 to the Eastside line.

Sign of the times: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale rocketed to the top of Amazon's bestsellers list this week.  

Racist texts: In the days after the election, Black and Brown people across the country received spammy, racist texts telling them they had "been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation" and that the senders' "executive slave catchers" would pick them up. State attorney generals say they will root out who sent these texts. A second Donald Trump term means the masks covering the depravity in America are well and truly off. Racists are emboldened. 

Nobody panic: Forty-three monkeys escaped from a medical lab in South Carolina. "There is almost no danger to the public," a local police chief said. No danger? Isn't this how Planet of the Apes started? 

Israeli soccer fans attacked in Amsterdam: Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv and Dutch's Ajax faced off in a Europa League soccer game Thursday. After the game, people attacked Israelis in hit-and-run scooter attacks. Five Israeli fans went to the hospital, but have since been released. Around 20 to 30 other Israelis sustained light injuries. Police arrested 63 people, and ten are still in custody. Context, as always, is important. In the days leading up to the match, social media videos showed Maccabi fans "chanting anti-Arab slurs, praising Israeli military attacks in Gaza, and yelling 'fuck the Arabs,'" according to CNN. Ajax won the game 5-0. 

And now, something from Ashley about the cops: 

Fill’er up: The King County Jail officially lifted misdemeanor booking restrictions for the Seattle Police Department (SPD) allowing officers to finally lock up all those pesky Target shoplifters and people who tried to use the bathroom at PCC one too many times and ended up trespassed. I wrote about how SPD Deputy Chief Eric Barden told officers in a department wide email Tuesday that they should book people into jail whenever a public safety interest existed and only show additional discretion when the department neared their misdemeanor bed limit of 135 people per day. Most people charged with misdemeanors spend less than a week in jail, so could be a lot of people cycling through, which King County Department of Public Defense Interim Director Matt Sanders said will ultimately make it harder for people to hold down jobs, maintain housing, and secure behavioral health treatment, ultimately undermining public safety in the city.

Did you hear about San Francisco's new mayor? He's a centrist Democrat and he's the heir to the Levi's fortune. Daniel Lurie won the ranked-choice voting election with 56.2% of the vote. Incumbent London Breed only received 43.8%. San Franciscans made clear they are sick of seeing poverty and being confronted with crimes of desperation. Unfortunately, as we know very well in Seattle, electing a centrist may hide the problems for a bit, but it will do nothing to fix them. 

A porn gorge: North Korean soldiers deployed in Russia have unrestricted internet access for the first time in their lives and they're using it to watch mountains of porn and jerk themselves silly. Boys will be boys! 

Need something to do tonight? The world is bleak. Why not laugh a little at an improv show? The improv theater I wrote about for my column is having a battle of the star signs show tonight followed by an open-to-all improv jam. I'll be performing on the Scorpio team even though I'm not a Scorpio (don't tell anyone). 

A song for your Friday: This just feels like the sound of my psyche right now.