Google on Friday disclosed the first known instance of its artificial intelligence software, Gemini, carrying out an undirected computer hack, weeks after similar disclosures by AI firms Anthropic and OpenAI raised security alarms about AI models going beyond the instructions of their human creators.
Google said in a statement that in May its AI model gained unauthorized access to three outside systems during a test by either guessing login information or using login credentials it found in a public repository.
Heather Adkins, a Google vice president for security engineering, said in the statement that the AI model thought that the outside computer systems “were part of the test,” but she said in all three instances, the model stopped before doing anything further with its access.
“In a standard evaluation, the model found public information online and guessed credentials to access websites it thought were part of the test,” she said.

#outside

By Brad Brooks
COLUMBIA FALLS, Montana, Sept 16 (Reuters) - More than 15 years after the U.S. Supreme Court reshaped American politics with its Citizens United campaign finance ruling, Montana voters will decide this November whether to make their state the first in the nation to bar corporations from spending money on elections through a ballot initiative.
It's a test case for a novel legal strategy that sidesteps the 2010 ruling rather than challenging it head-on -- and taps into growing, bipartisan anger ‌over the pervasiveness of so-called dark money in elections.
"Americans are losing the belief that they have any influence over our politics," said Tom Moore, a lawyer with the Center for American Progress left-leaning think tank in Washington and the legal architect of ‌the movement.
With similar, coordinated efforts underway in over 30 states, Montana could help set a critical precedent, experts say, and potentially lead to another showdown at the Supreme Court. Hawaii's legislature passed a similar law earlier this year, inspired by those behind the effort here.

#court #similar

James Talarico, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas, once described parents who refused to acknowledge their children's gender identity as potentially engaging in "abusive" behavior.
"I think there are some folks that would think that if you deny your child's gender identity, that's incredibly harmful. And whether or not we label it with the term abuse, it's abusive for sure," Talarico said while speaking at a committee hearing in the Texas Legislature in 2019.
Talarico's resurfaced comments add to a growing pile of past remarks that cut against his efforts to paint himself as a moderate on issues like gender, policing and border security as he attempts to win over Texas, a historically Republican-leaning state.
Talarico Says He 'Missed The Mark' As He Backtracks On Controversial Woke Statements
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico speaks during a campaign rally at the Cailloux Theater on Aug. 31, 2026, in Kerrville, Texas. Talarico is in a close race against Republican Ken Paxton ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

#gender #democratic #senate #abusive

Sept 1 (Reuters) - UnitedHealth's insurance unit said on Tuesday that a broad range of conditions will no ‌longer need prior approval, effective October 1, as ‌it aims to eliminate prior authorization for 30% of healthcare services by the end of this year.
Here are the details:
• The reduction spans a broad mix of services across multiple clinical specialties, including cardiology, genetic and laboratory testing, chiropractic care, physical, occupational ‌and speech therapy, orthopedic ⁠and musculoskeletal procedures, among others.
• The prior authorization requirements are being eliminated across its commercial ⁠plans, Medicare Advantage for older adults and individual insurance under the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, and some other types of plans.
• Health insurers have been taking measures to ‌simplify their requirements for prior authorization on medicines and medical services after complaints from patients and doctors over excessive paperwork that can delay or even deny needed care.

#prior

Questions remain in the death of Mississippi teen Nolan Wells, who disappeared during a weekend of partying with friends on a boat trip.
Wells was found dead on Horn Island two days after he went missing from the boat on the Fourth of July.
An official with the United Cajun Navy, a search and rescue organization, confirmed to Fox News Digital that Wells' body was discovered on July 6.
Missing Canadian Hiker Found Dead 2 Weeks After Vanishing During Mountain Trek In Washington
"It was actually a ranger from the National Park Service that discovered his body and called it in," said vice president Brian Trascher.

BEIJING (AP) — Authorities in southern China said Thursday that 39 people have died in flooding from Tropical Storm Maysak.
Most of the deaths were related to the breach of a dam in the city of Nanning, which claimed 26 lives, said Ding Wei, the city's vice mayor, at a news briefing.
Maysak brought record rainfall to in Guangxi region, breaching reservoirs and stranding people for days in homes and other buildings. The previously announced death toll was six people.
Drones and thousands of boats have been used in a massive relief and rescue operation to reach people trapped by the waters. About 130,000 people have been evacuated.
Heavy rain battered southern Guangxi for days, with ****** ulative rainfall of 10 to 40 centimeters (4 to 16 inches) in some areas and more than 90 centimeters (35 inches) in hard-hit areas, the national meteorological center said.

Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine's capital killing nearly two dozen people and injuring dozens of others. The attack comes just days ahead of a NATO conference in Turkey where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy plans to request more help with air defense.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Five years after becoming the first Southern state to legalize possession of marijuana, Virginia has approved a legal way to sell it to recreational users.
State budget legislation enacted Monday will allow up to 350 cannabis shops to open across Virginia beginning July 1, 2027. The move marks the latest expansion of access to the drug — which remains illegal at the federal level — through state-level policymaking.
"Virginia legalized adult possession years ago, but without a regulated retail market, we left the illicit market to fill the gap," state Sen. Lashrecse Aird, a Democrat and legislative leader on the issue, said in a statement earlier this month. "This compromise gives us a smarter and safer path forward — one that protects consumers, keeps products tested and accurately labeled, and creates a legal marketplace that is affordable and accessible enough to actually compete."
Here's what to know about Virginia's new law, the long process of enabling retail sales and how the state's changes fit into the national picture:
Virginia already had a medical marijuana program that allowed patients to purchase the drug through dispensaries. Now, state regulators will begin accepting applications for retail licenses on Feb. 1, ahead of the July 1, 2027, start date for recreational sales to adults 21 and older.

A new silverback has arrived at a zoo to take charge of its western lowland pack, following the death of the UK's oldest gorilla.
Nkoumou was brought to Bristol Zoo Project from Port Lympne Hotel and Reserve in Kent and is expected to lead the zoo's troop of six western lowland gorillas.
He succeeds Jock, who died earlier this year aged 42.
Brian Zimmerman, director of conservation and science at Bristol Zoological Society, said: "Nkoumou's arrival is significant not only for Bristol Zoo Project, but for the future of a species under threat in the wild."
Jock was the oldest male gorilla in the UK and led Bristol's gorilla troop for more than two decades.

Conservative media often direct a lot of ire at the "mainstream press" for getting it wrong — and they are often right. But it is only fair to acknowledge that conservative media get it wrong, too.
And when it comes to President Trump's disastrous attempt this year at playing war chief, a whole lot of conservatives got it wrong, this author included.
Following the president's signing last week of his "Memorandum of Understanding" with Iran — an agreement good for 60 days until Washington and Tehran strike a "final deal" — there's nothing left except to concede that the U.S. was done in by a few mines. Iran actually forced a desperate White House to the negotiating table simply by flexing what muscles it has left over the Strait of Hormuz.
The largest, most powerful, and best-funded military in the history of the world, despite inflicting massive destruction and suffering minimal casualties, was somehow defeated by a shipping channel. Our British cousins must be having flashbacks to the Suez Canal.
The most astonishing thing about the White House's capitulation in Iran, beyond the Islamic Republic's victory in the face of a clear power disparity, is that the White House obviously jumped into the war with no real consideration or plan for the possibility that Iran might block the Strait of Hormuz. This despite U.S. military strategists warning for decades about this exact scenario.

A new report from Downtown Seattle ***** ociation (DSA) claimed that Seattle lost thousands of jobs and significant property value in the years since implementing the "JumpStart" payroll tax in 2020.
Monday's report compared Seattle's status with its neighboring city, Bellevue, which has no comparable payroll tax or social housing tax, and found that while Seattle's workforce and property values have shrunk, Bellevue's has remained resilient.
"[S]ince 2020, what we have seen in downtown Seattle is not a 'jump start,' but instead, a slowdown," the report read. "Since being implemented, downtown Seattle has lost around 30,000 jobs. The office vacancy rate increased to 32% in the downtown core. And more than $10 billion in office value has been lost."
Seattle About To Get Ny's Hammer-and-sickle Treatment. Socialism Is Coming Your Way
It continued, "Meanwhile, in Bellevue, dating back to 2020, the city has seen more jobs come to its core, lower office vacancy, and the stability of office building values. This provides a stark tale of two cities and two tax environments just miles apart."