Veronica Fraley, a U.S. discus thrower at the Paris Olympics, was having financial trouble back home. Flavor Flav and Alexis Ohanian helped pay off her rent for the year.

Legislation from State Sen. Scott Wiener would introduce standards for product safety testing and liability.

SB 1047 would require AI firms to share their safety plans with the attorney general upon request and face penalties if catastrophic events happen.

Lawmakers agree to shelve the California Journalism Preservation Act, which aimed to revive the struggling news business by forcing Google to pay for news content it distributes.

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.

After clearing many hurdles in the state Legislature, Sen. Scott Wiener's bill to require developers to put safeguards around their advanced AI models is one step closer to becoming law.

Big Tech titans such as Elon Musk and Reid Hoffman are divided between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump but all too united in their selfish aims. We need a new model.

California lawmakers want to strengthen protections against digitally altered media ahead of the Nov. 5 election, but questions about enforcement linger.

Bloomberg's Parmy Olson delivers a buzzy, timely biography of AI's promoters, but what are they promoting?

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

Geopolitical tensions and technological constraints make the chip industry more complex to navigate. A groundbreaking engineer talks about it future.

If Gov. Newsom vetoes SB 1047, the forces of anti-regulation — AI companies — will have little incentive to work on alternatives.

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.

Weeks after California announced a $250 million public-private partnership with Google to fund local news outlets and develop AI, many aspects of the deal remain uncertain.

As artificial intelligence and cloud storage hoover up more and more space on the nation's computer servers, real estate developers are racing to build new data centers or convert existing buildings to data uses.

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

Two bills newly signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom outlaw the possession and distribution of sexually charged images of minors even when they're created with computers, not cameras.

AB 2839 aimed to label AI-generated content in political ads as "manipulated." A federal judge says the law violates the 1st Amendment.

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

A divided FTC adopted a powerful rule that requires companies to make it just as easy to cancel a subscription as it is to sign up for one.

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.

It turns out that rising out of bed to a round of applause from a red alarm clock called Alarmo might just lead to stronger sleep habits.

…Quarterback Robert Griffin III was closer to running all-out sprints Tuesday, but the big test remains over the next month when he adds cutting to his rehab.

…The Redskins signed receiver Donte Stallworth, as expected after a good two-day showing by the veteran wideout. The question is, can Stallworth make the final roster? It depends on how many receivers they keep, but the first four appear set: Pierre Garcon, Josh Morgan, Leonard Hankerson and Santana Moss. Aldrick Robinson’s speed, and the couple big plays he made last season, make him the leader at the fifth receiver spot. But Stallworth would provide insurance if one of the starters got hurt. The only drawback is that he does not play special teams. So it could be that, even if he makes the roster, he’d be inactive until a health issue arises.

Scientists advance Parkinson’s disease biomarker research one sniff at a time.

In neonatal mice, the neurotransmitter serotonin mobilizes immune cells that promote tolerance to antigens.

A new algorithm detects when immunotherapies create surges of T cell responses in melanoma patients.

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.

Scientists discovered a mechanoreceptor that triggers the distinctive shake-off behavior observed in mice when they become wet.

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.

Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund played equal parts in redefining the hierarchy of European soccer. But Bayern Munich won't let its rival play on a level field back in Germany.

How rare was Jordan Zimmermann’s complete game shutout in Friday’s 1-0 win over the Reds? It was just the eighth for the Nats since moving to D.C. in 2005 and was the first complete-game one-hit shutout. Here are the Nats pitchers who have pitched complete-game shutouts.

The Nationals let another game slip away on Saturday afternoon and suddenly a frustrating first two months to the 2013 season is looking a lot worse.

(The Center Square) — A legislative task force "to study the dissolution or absorption of fiscally distressed municipalities" set the tone in its first meeting with a vote to change its name.

$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.

Jennifer Lopez wants D.C. to know she's still "Jenny From the Block," seeing as the multitasking superstar mentioned growing up in the Bronx within the first three minutes of her interview onstage Wednesday at the Cable Show taking place at the Washington Convention Center.

A federal judge weighing Amtrak's bid to seize the historic Washington Union Station wondered whether those plans are consistent with Congress's intent under a 1981 law that requires the station to be managed with "maximum reliance" on the private sector, given the railroad service's desire to have sole domain over the property.

California will ticket a driver for violating the rules of the road, but for driverless vehicles, there is reportedly no mechanism to ticket the person responsible because of a loophole in some jurisdictions.

Left-wing activists may have fueled the movement to change the name of Washington’s NFL franchise. However, an indigenous organization known as the Native American Guardian’s Association is trying to resurrect its former moniker and make Washington’s football team the “Redskins” again. Now known as the Commanders, the team changed its name in 2020 to appease a fanatical mob of social justice warriors and white guilt apologists who claimed the name and logo were racist.

The United States Coast Guard says it has recovered the remaining debris from the site of the Titan submersible that imploded four months ago while visiting the site of the RMS Titanic shipwreck.

Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, experienced a stroke during his trip to Mexico on Wednesday.

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

The Nobel Prize-winning discovery of microRNA has reshaped our understanding of gene regulation. Learn what these tiny molecules mean for cancer research.

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

Washington Capitals winger Devante Smith-Pelly is planning to sit out the traditional White House visit if his team wins the Stanley Cup.

I was excited to see Microsoft bring the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) back from the dead this past year: At Build 2024 back in May, it announced that it would continue investing in this 20-year-old technology, starting with support for Windows 11 theming that would arrive as part of .NET 9. In fact, I was so excited about this that I brought my .NETpad project back from the dead as well, and I spent much of the summer modernizing my Notepad clone with the new features. I wrote 24 articles documenting this work, but I was stymied by the half-assed nature of the improvements.

Microsoft released exactly one WPF update during the several months of .NET 9 development, and it never added any of the features I discovered were missing. And so as we headed into today's release of .NET 9, my excitement was somewhat diminished. My assumption was that we wouldn't see those missing features implemented until .NET 10, if ever.

Well, Microsoft just released .NET 9. As part of that release, it published updated documentation for WPF (and all the other .NET technologies). And to my surprise, there are some updates to WPF that address at least one of those missing features.

So let's take a look.

To add support for Windows 11 theming to a WPF project, you need to add a reference to the new Fluent theme resource dictionary in its App.xml file. It looks like so:

<Application.Resources>
    <ResourceDictionary>
      <ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
        <ResourceDictionary Source="pack://application:,,,/PresentationFramework.Fluent;component/Themes/Fluent.xaml" />
      </ResourceDictionary.MergedDictionaries>
    </ResourceDictionary>
</Application.Resources>

But with the shipping version of .NET 9, there's a second, more elegant way to add Windows 11 theming support. Now, you can access a new Application.ThemeMode property of a new styling API to toggle the app's theme mode between Light, Dark, System, and None. And that's fantastic, because it addresses one of those missing features: To date, .NETpad has adapted itself to the system theme (Light or Dark), but there was no way to let the user pick a theme mode. (For example, if the system was set to Dark and the user wanted the app to use Light mode.) With this change, I can implement that feature.

Fortunately, .NETpad is ready for this change, too: If you followed along with my work this past summer, you may remember that I implemented the user interface for switching the app theme into its settings interface, but left the UI hidden because it didn't do anything. But I always felt that Microsoft would need to implement this features, so I left the code in there. Granted, I didn't think it would happen this quickly.

The shipping version of .NET 9 also adds explicit support for the Windows 11 accent color (as configured by the user in the Settings app in Personalization > Accent color). As it is, .NETpa...

The post Modernizing .NETpad: .NET 9 Arrives with a Few (More) Small Improvements for WPF (Premium) appeared first on Thurrott.com.

Stop the Cuts to Child Care and Education  by Stranger Election Control Board

This crackpot initiative would repeal the state’s new capital gains tax and cut $2.2 billion for education, early learning services, and child care at a time when schools across the state face huge deficits. 

Aside from dramatically reducing funding for schools, passing this initiative would help restore Washington’s status as the state with the most unfair tax code for poor people, all in the service of helping our wealthiest residents dodge a tax that their accountants might mistake as a rounding error. 

The 2024 Bainbridge Island Film Festival runs from November 7-10. by Charles Mudede

If catastrophe strikes on Tuesday, and all you can see is four years of gloom and more gloom, then it might be the right time to take a ferry to Bainbridge for two reasons. One, the November-colored waters of Elliott Bay will match and maybe even soothe your mood. (One thing you can always depend on is the love misery has for company.) Two, there is a festival, Bainbridge Film Festival, which features a superb distraction, the comedy Micro Budget.  Directed by Morgan Evans, who has worked for The Onion, the film cannot be praised for originality but for getting the most out of a concept that really should have no gas left in it: The mockumentary.

The plot: An Iowan, Terry (Patrick Noth), decides to relocate to LA to make a movie that can only be, when completed, unspeakably bad. His wife is very pregnant, he doesn't have enough money, and the sun has never shined on his imagination. He hires actors who have many rungs to climb before they come anywhere close to the D List, and the production moves from one absurdity to the next. 

During the filming process, the pregnant wife suffers, the actors suffer, and the members of the production team work without disguising their contempt. All, including the cousin shooting the documentary, are caught in the fantasy of a madman who should have kept his desires in the lowest drawer of his office desk.

We have been there and seen all of that. And yet, Micro Budget, is actually funny and, once in a while, reaches a region that can be called brilliant (particularly in the moments when the director attempts to meet what he imagines to be the woke standards of Hollywood). The film also has a priceless cameo. One you will never expect in a million years.

It's worth watching even if a catastrophe is averted on November 6.

The 2024 Bainbridge Island Film Festival runs from November 7-10.

Seattle's only news roundup. by Ashley Nerbovig

Ok weather to vote in! Should be a pretty nice day to stroll down to your nearest ballot box, with a high of 52 degrees and partly sunny, and a slight chance of rain after 2 p.m. 

So go vote! Don't let anything stop you. As Hannah said yesterday, you can still vote! I voted last year on the last possible day, and I hadn't registered yet at that point. I just jogged down to Lumen Field though and it was super easy to register, vote, and leave. Even if you're feeling left out because you're not in a swing state and the entirety of the country's future doesn't rest on your shoulders, the future of this state and city really does! Dropping some helpful links to make sure you have everything you need to make your voices heard. First, how to register to vote. Second, how to replace a lost ballot. Thirdly, ballot box locations. Finally, our handy cheat sheet for help filling out your ballot. 

Done your civic duty already? Well then sit back and enjoy the final hours of uncertainty at one of the many election night parties happening across the city tonight. The Stranger is throwing one at the Crocodile—it’s sold out, but we think it’s worth it to take your chances on standby tickets. There might be some no-shows, and we can squeeze you in. But if you don't wanna chance it, check out this list of parties you can attend from our sister publication Everout. Stranger reporters will be dotted around the city to bring you coverage of the election from various candidate election parties as well.

Speaking of voting: The Boeing machinists approved a contract last night ending their strike after 53 days, according to the Seattle Times. The latest contract, approved by 59% of membership, includes a 38% general wage increase over the next four years, which equates to 43% when you factor in raises on top of raises. The contract did not restore the pension that they lost in a contentious vote 10 years ago. Union president Jon Holden said the union should be proud of what they accomplished and that it was time to get back to building planes.

Alleged sex abuse in youth detention: An additional 176 people made allegations against Washington state for failing to protect them from sexual abuse while they were children at youth detention centers in the state, according to the Seattle Times. Combined with another lawsuit filed in September, that brings the total number of people claiming they were sexually abused in Washington's detention centers up to almost 400. Meanwhile, the Seattle Times Editorial Board continues to decry and complain about youth diversion programs meant to help kids avoid being sent into lock up.

Seattle Steel Pan Project Evicted: The Seattle Steel Pan Project, dedicated to teaching the art of steel plan music and performance, needs a new space to operate in after MLK FAME Community Center in the Central District evicted the group this week, according to an Instagram post from the project. In the post, the group accused MLK FAME of bowing to the demands of neighborhood "Karens" who complained about the groups weekly practice. I reached out to MLK FAME for a response, who did not immediately reply, but I'll update if they do. In the meantime, the project is asking everyone they know if they have any ideas where they can house their steel pan band. Their email address is steelpanproject@gmail.com. Here's a little taste of what they do:

Ok. Moving on. Let's talk about the presidential election: Let's be real, no one knows how this election will shake out. The polls are insanely tight in swing states. Dixville Notch, a tiny New Hampshire town that votes at midnight every year on Election Day, tallied up their six votes which resulted in a tie, with three votes for Vice President Kamala Harris, and three for former President Donald Trump. There is a very good chance we don't know the election result tonight, and maybe not for a couple days.

Battleground states prepare for certification fight: Given the resistance to certifying the vote in swing states in the last election cycle, many officials have already started to prepare to quash attempts by county officials to squabble over valid election results, according to Politico. Election officials fear if Trump loses, he won't just fade quietly into the night, and instead will mount another attempt to overturn election results.

Meanwhile, the two parties also are wrestling for control of congress. New York stands out as a battleground state for the House, as the congressional seats they lost in 2022 helped Republicans take the chamber back, according to Politico. Meanwhile in Texas, Democrats continue to try to take Senator Ted Cruz's seat, and while Cruz continues to lead, Representative Colin Allred is within spitting distance of him. But, it's wholly unpredictable who will control what in 2025.

But for some good news: One of my top five favorite creatures in the world continues to beat the odds. A cloned black-footed ferret mother in Virginia gave birth to two little baby ferrets in June, according to the Washington Post. Unclear why we're only hearing about it now. We should have rang the bells. If you don't know much about black-footed ferrets, you're really missing out. These little bandits scurry across our prairie lands, and has supposedly gone extinct twice, but they're resilient AF. Now with the cloning and the babies, we could continue to see this species soldier on. Ugh I love them so much, I've been obsessed with them ever since I lived in Montana. And I'm not a ferret girl, it's just they're little markings make them look like they have a tiny black Zorro mask across their smol faces. Here is a video of them being adorable:

I'm so excited about this cloning thing: Instead of a musical recommendation, another video about black footed ferrets.