All posts tagged: push

Union to push for letting schools rejoin councils

Union to push for letting schools rejoin councils

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles A headteachers’ union is set to campaign for academies to be allowed to return to local authority oversight, warning schools are waiting “years” to be moved to new trusts. A motion to the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) this weekend will call for a change to the law that prevents academies from becoming community schools again. It comes after the National Education Union passed a motion calling for the same change. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said last year it was something she was “open to considering”, but the proposal was not included in the government’s schools bill. Bridget Phillipson Paul Whiteman, the union’s general secretary, told Schools Week the “concept of schools having the power of movement when they’re not being served properly is a strong concept”. The motion warns that every year, schools across the country “find themselves in the position that ‘nobody wants them’”. They were often in areas of significant disadvantage and were deemed as needing to be re-brokered to …

Harvey Weinstein’s Attorneys Push For Mistrial As Accuser Testifies

Harvey Weinstein’s Attorneys Push For Mistrial As Accuser Testifies

Published by skeptic

Harvey Weinstein’s defense team continued to push for a mistrial Wednesday as the former mogul faces rape and criminal sexual charges in Manhattan for a second time.  Thus far, all three motions for a mistrial have been denied by Judge Curtis Farber.  Miriam Haley, a former production assistant on Project Runway and one of the complaining witnesses in the case, has been on the stand Tuesday and Wednesday. The latest call for a mistrial came Wednesday afternoon as Haley, who alleges that Weinstein forced oral sex on her, testified about why she continued to stay in communication with the former mogul after the alleged incident, saying, “I had no idea there were other people.”  Arthur Aidala, Weinstein’s defense attorney, called for that statement to be stricken from the record and moved for a mistrial saying she had “contaminated the whole jury.” Farber struck the statement but denied the mistrial, as Haley is expected to testify to seeing the Weinstein exposé in media reports in 2017 and the other accusers involved in those reports, as part …

Inside DOGE’s AI Push at the Department of Veterans Affairs

Inside DOGE’s AI Push at the Department of Veterans Affairs

Published by skeptic

“DOGE’s actions at the VA are putting veterans’ lives at risk,” representative Gerald Connolly, ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, tells WIRED. Veterans, he adds, risk being “stripped of the care they need and deserve because [President Donald] Trump and Elon have turned the VA over to lackeys who do not know the first thing about what it means to serve your country.” VA employees have expressed concern about the changes the DOGE staffers have already started to make to the agency. “These people have zero clue what they are working on,” a VA employee tells WIRED. The VA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did Volpert, Roussos, Fulcher, Rehling, or Koval. Lavingia’s past work, however, appears to have informed his present outlook at the VA, especially when it comes to AI. In a blog post on his personal website from October 2024, Lavingia discussed how Gumroad, which laid off most of its employees in 2015, had achieved financial stability: “replacing every manual process with an automated one, by pushing …

The Push by Ashley Audrain

The Push by Ashley Audrain

Published by skeptic

In her debut novel “The Push,” Ashley Audrain delivers a chilling psychological thriller that peels back the veneer of maternal bliss to expose the raw, often terrifying underbelly of motherhood. This is not a cozy bedtime read—it’s a visceral exploration of what happens when a mother’s worst fears about her child might actually be true. Or are they? The novel centers on Blythe Connor, a woman determined to break the cycle of troubled motherhood that plagued both her mother Cecilia and grandmother Etta. When her daughter Violet is born, Blythe’s hopes for maternal connection quickly dissolve into a disturbing suspicion that something is fundamentally wrong with her child. Is Violet truly disturbed, or is Blythe projecting her own traumatic lineage onto an innocent child? This central question propels the narrative with relentless tension, forcing readers to constantly reassess their assumptions. The Architecture of Anxiety: Structure and Style Audrain constructs her narrative with architectural precision, befitting a story where the protagonist’s husband Fox is, ironically, an architect. The short, fragmented chapters mirror Blythe’s increasingly fragmented mental …

Politics Home | Welfare Cuts Will Push 250,000 People Into Poverty, Says Government Impact Assessment

Politics Home | Welfare Cuts Will Push 250,000 People Into Poverty, Says Government Impact Assessment

Published by Sam

3 min read26 March Labour’s welfare reforms will see an additional 250,000 people – including 50,000 children – pushed into relative poverty, government analysis has found. Published on Wednesday alongside Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ Spring Statement, the Department for Work and Pensions assessment looks at how benefits cuts being introduced by the government will affect those impacted. It forecasts that by 2029/30, 3.2m families will suffer an average financial loss of £1,720 a year. For example, people who are no longer eligible for the Personal Independent Payments as a result of the changes will lose £4,500 on average, according to the assessment. The government argues that major reform of the welfare system is needed because the amount of money paid out in the form of benefits is not sustainable. Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said last week that the changes would “help people stay in work” and “get back to work more quickly”.  However, the government impact assessment published today will likely only fuel the concerns of Labour MPs who believe welfare cuts go too far.  Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Labour MP …

Former Intel CEO Gelsinger joins religious-oriented tech firm Gloo for AI push 

Former Intel CEO Gelsinger joins religious-oriented tech firm Gloo for AI push 

Published by Sam

SAN FRANCISCO : Gloo, a Boulder, Colorado-based firm that offers technology tools to Christian churches and other faith groups, said on Monday that Pat Gelsinger is joining the firm as its head of technology and executive chairman, where he will help the group develop AI tools such as virtual assistants and chatbots. Gelsinger is the former CEO of both chipmaker Intel and Broadcom-owned VMware. Gelsinger left Intel last year after a clash with its board over his turnaround plans. Gelsinger’s job at Gloo will be his first operational role since leaving Intel. Gelsinger, a lifelong Christian who has helmed a group in the San Francisco Bay area working to expand church membership in the area for more than decade, previously served on Gloo’s board as non-executive chairman since 2018. Founded in 2013, Gloo last year raised $110 million in growth financing for an AI push. It is developing chatbots with a “safe search” option and answers grounded in the Christian Bible. Gelsinger will oversee Gloo’s product and engineering efforts. “Technology has the power to connect, uplift …

The levies push limits of presidential authority

The levies push limits of presidential authority

Published by Sam

U.S. President Donald Trump reacts as he speaks with members of the media on the South Lawn before boarding Marine One at the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., Feb. 28, 2025.  Nathan Howard | Reuters U.S. importers and their customers are about to experience the full force of President Donald Trump’s unprecedented use of emergency economic powers. At midnight Tuesday, 25% tariffs on imports from America’s top two trading partners, Canada and Mexico, went into effect, as did an additional 10% tariff on Chinese imports. Tariffs on Canadian energy, at a rate of 10%, also began at midnight Tuesday. It’s difficult to overstate how far-reaching the impact of these tariffs will be, or how quickly they will be felt. U.S. trade with Mexico, Canada and China in 2024 accounted for around 40% of America’s total commerce in goods around the world. And unlike traditional trade policy, these tariffs are designed to deliver a financial sting right away, trade experts told CNBC. “From a technical standpoint, the imposition of the tariffs is basically a light …

Lawmakers, faith groups push bill to prevent ICE raids on churches, sensitive locations

Lawmakers, faith groups push bill to prevent ICE raids on churches, sensitive locations

Published by skeptic

WASHINGTON (RNS) — Lawmakers and religious groups are speaking out in support of a bill that would largely protect immigrants from Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids within 1,000 feet of “sensitive locations” such as hospitals, schools and churches, adding to growing pushback against President Donald Trump’s announcement that he was ending a similar internal government policy. Rep. Jesús G. Garcia, an Illinois Democrat, reintroduced the Protecting Sensitive Locations Act on Saturday (Feb. 8), along with 13 Democratic co-sponsors, including Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Janice Schakowsky of Illinois and Jasmine Crockett of Texas. The bill would bar immigration enforcement actions at or near churches and an array of other locations — such as organizations that assist children or pregnant women, rape crisis centers, sites of funerals, weddings or other “public religious ceremonies,” Social Security offices and polling places — except “under exigent circumstances.” “No one — no child in the classroom, no mother in a hospital, no family at a place of worship — should live in fear that an immigration raid should shatter their …

Cross-party peers push Government for timeline for humanist marriages

Cross-party peers push Government for timeline for humanist marriages

Published by skeptic

Peers from across the political spectrum – Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat, and Crossbenchers – called on the Government to grant legal recognition to humanist marriages in England and Wales without further delay, and demanded a clear timeline for this reform. In a sign of frustration at the ongoing delay, this marked the third time in just four months that the House of Lords heard an oral question on the matter. Humanists UK welcomed the powerful interventions made by peers, but expressed its disappointment at the Government’s continued refusal to commit to long-overdue reform – despite having championed the measure for over a decade while in opposition. Labour peer Baroness Thornton, a member of the All-Party Parliamentary Humanist Group (APPHG), tabled the question. She asked the Government to set out its timetable for legal recognition of humanist weddings in England and Wales, and said that ‘the Minister has disappointed those who see this as a priority for the last eleven years, and have been asking the Government to take action’. Baroness Blackstone further pressed the Government …

New quantum clock uses entanglement to push science beyond existing limits

New quantum clock uses entanglement to push science beyond existing limits

Published by skeptic

Quantum technologies are reshaping the future of measurement and sensing, and advancements in quantum clocks are at the forefront. These devices, which measure time based on the natural oscillations of atoms, have reached levels of precision unimaginable just a decade ago. Recent breakthroughs highlight how quantum entanglement can push timekeeping beyond the standard quantum limit (SQL), opening doors to novel applications in science and technology. At the heart of quantum measurements lies a fundamental challenge: quantum projection noise (QPN). This noise creates inherent uncertainty when measuring multiple identical quantum sensors, limiting precision to the SQL. The SQL dictates that the uncertainty decreases proportionally to the square root of the number of sensors. However, quantum theory suggests a more precise boundary known as the Heisenberg limit (HL), where uncertainty scales inversely with the number of sensors. Achieving the HL requires using entangled or non-classical quantum states. Such entanglement has demonstrated benefits in areas ranging from fundamental physics to biology. By integrating entanglement into optical atomic clocks, researchers are moving closer to these precision limits. From left …