Sorted by date Results 501 - 525 of 3204
The Biden administration says that it has secured voluntary commitments to "manage the risks" posed by AI. The companies named in the press release include Amazon, Anthropic, Google, Inflection, Meta, Microsoft, and OpenAI. "Today, these seven leading AI companies are committing to: Ensuring Products are Safe Before Introducing Them to the Public." People like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey have said that artificial intelligence poses an existential risk to mankind. Frequently the...
In a closed session last Tuesday and this coming Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council will discuss two offers from developers who want to replace the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium with ten stories of luxury condominiums. The 3000 seat auditorium is part of Santa Monica history, but has been closed since 2003. The move is a desperate measure to right the City financially, by loping off a piece of its Civic Center. Santa Monica wasn't in great shape financially prior to the...
In a very flowery email written by Jerry Yang, Chair of the Stanford University Board of Trustees, the University accused Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne of misconduct in 12 research papers apparently written years ago. The email also announced Appointment of Richard Saller as Interim President. Stanford (which is my alma mater), has been involved in a number of scandals in recent years. Crypto wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried grew up as a faculty brat there. Recently...
Wilshire Blvd is blocked in a Westbound direction, at 2321 Wilshire Blvd. Santa Monica. There are at least 3 Santa Monica Police vehicles present. It seems to involve a homeless resident, though it was uncertain how....
The Santa Monica Civic Auditorium was built in 1958 and holds about 3000 people. The City closed it permanently in 2002, stating that it was too small and acoustically challenged to serve as a concert venue any longer. One local resident says that in a closed session, the Santa Monica City Council could sell it off to developers in a desperate attempt to close a budget shortfall. Tricia Crane, Chair of the Northeast Neighbors Association, believes the potential sale is a...
There is a report on Twitter that the LAPD are searching for a missing girl South of the Santa Monica pier. "Critical missing child in Santa Monica. 13yo girl last seen walking SB from the Santa Monica Pier. Wearing a white top with blue jeans. Also wearing a blue bathing suit underneath." says the Tweet, from @downtownlascanner. The account monitors police scanners and is ordinarily reliable....
Santa Monica City Councilman Phil Brock was apparently assaulted by a homeless man on the Third Street Promenade Sunday, 7/16 around 3 pm PST. "Phil and Cathy were walking on the Promenade," posted one source on social media, referring to Phil's partner, Cathy. "As they approached John Alle's building, a vagrant was tearing down a sign that said "Get the needles out of our parks and Promenade". It had a QR code for people to sign a petition circulated by The Santa Monica...
There are reports Sunday evening (Monday morning in Ukraine), that the Kerch bridge connecting Crimea so Southern Russia has once again been attacked by Ukrainian missiles. "One span of the #Kerch #Bridge collapsed, another one came off its support. Bridge support damaged," read one such report. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian deputy defense minister said that East of Kharkiv, the "situation is difficult," with positions changing hands several times in one day. The news comes amidst...
7/5/23: Tenants of Victor's Cleaning and Tailoring, Santa Monica Rubber Stamp, Crisp Imaging, Tibetan Arts and Santa Monica Guitar this week received notice that they must be out by August 15th, 2023. The one hundred year old structure is about to be demolished and replaced by density. Four stories of pack and stack apartments will replace the 1920's era, one story building with parking in back. Downtown Santa Monica has pretty much turned over and into block apartments which...
7/5/23: When asked by a reporter, Hunter Biden vehemently denied that he had anything to do with the Cocaine found at the White House. https://nypost.com/2023/07/07/post-irresponsible-for-asking-about-cocaine-in-white-house/ Mainstream media will ignore it. But cocaine was found in the White House Library Tuesday, where Hunter had been using his laptop. So put two and two together, folks. Hunter was kicked out of the military over his cocaine use. The White House tried to...
A series of civil disturbances in France began on 27 June 2023 following the killing of Nahel Merzouk by a police officer. In Nanterre, residents started a protest outside the police headquarters on 27 June, which later escalated into rioting as demonstrators set cars alight, destroyed bus stops, and shot fireworks at police. In Viry-Châtillon, a town just south of Paris with residents who are frequently violent towards police, a group of Moslem youths set a bus ablaze. These...
Santa Monica Police report that they have arrested a man who had a knife fight with one or two other men. In the course of that fight, a dog was injured. The dog was taken to a veterinarian, where the animal is said to be in good condition. "A suspect is in police custody following an altercation this evening on Colorado Avenue near 4th Street," the SMDP posted to Facebook. "The fight between two subjects (possibly 3) resulted in minor injuries to the suspect under arrest as...
Santa Monica residents and neighbors gathered on the lawn to celebrate the 247th anniversary of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. It was the first time since the Covid emergency began in March 2020, that the City sponsored the annual gathering. Attendees were treated to fireworks, music and a show, but brought their own food. Several hundred people attended, including this photographer. IMG 1) Many people like the ones above brought their own food and had picnics on Corsai...
Algae blooms are at a record high this year, and they are causing a record high number of dead and dying aquatic mammals on California beaches. Experts are not sure why the bloom is thicker than it has been in fifty years; this years heavy rain and runoff of fertilizer is a good guess. But they are sure that 100's of marine mammals are beaching themselves. The Pacific Marine Mammal Center rescues, rehabilitates, and releases marine mammals once they are ready. Marine Mammal...
Jennifer Zheng, a usually reliable reporter, says that she has interviewed Shao Chao, a researcher and vice director of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He says that he was given 4 strains of coronavirus, that were developed specifically as bioweapons. His task was to determine which strains could infect the greatest number of species. He said that he and others, deliberately spread the coronaviruses during the 2019 games. Actually he was asked to "check the athletes'...
(June 27, DALLAS) – Good news for summer road trippers: the fireworks displays will be back this year, but the fireworks at the pump are behind us. Independence Day weekend this year will be much more affordable when it comes to fueling up, according to GasBuddy, the leading fuel savings platform saving North American drivers the most money on fuel. Gas prices this July 4 are projected to be over $1.30 per gallon less than they were in 2022, with the national average e...
Img 01) Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis address the crowd of people inside the Thelma Terry Building at Virgina Park in her opening remarks during the town hall meeting to address the Southern California fentanyl epidemic with Santa Monica Mayor and public health experts inside the Thelma Terry building on Wednesday June 21st 2023. IMG 02) Dr. Brian Hurley "Medical Director, substance abuse prevention and control Los Angeles County speaks about the increase of fentanyl deaths...
Santa Monica Pier 360 Beach Festival "celebrates the best of beach life with an awesome, FREE, all ages festival" June 24 and June 25th on the Beach just south of the Santa Monica Pier. "With ocean sports competitions, live music, food and drinks, interactive games, sampling by some of your favorite brands and so much more, Santa Monica Pier 360 offers a peek into iconic SoCal beach culture and brings together thousands of guests for a day of good vibes. Despite beach...
Events in Russia are moving almost too quickly to follow. Reuters is reporting that the Pirgozhin Wagner mutiny has taken Voronezh. This city is on the way to Moscow from the military town of Rostov, which Prigozhin secured Saturday morning. "Wagner PMC reports they have taken control of military objects around Voronezh and the Russian army there has chosen to side with 'the people.' They mean Wagner PMC," said a tweet from Igor Sushko and others. Voronezh is six hours by...
Leader of the Wagner Group Yevgeny Prigozhin today published a statement accusing the Russian Army of shelling a Wagner's encampment. Prigozhin added that he is moving his units to Moscow to "punish" the military, "restore justice." He urged the Russian defense ministry not trying to stop his units, and threatened to kill anyone who will try. Friendly fire accidents are common in warfare. The Vietnam war included many such incidents, where one US military unit attacked another...
Analysis: Debate at the OAS over the Nicaraguan dictatorship: Brazil confronts the group of countries that condemn the Ortega regime Despite the surprise that Brazil's decision to propose a wording that softens the declaration on the Nicaraguan dictatorship that will be issued next week by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS) generated in some countries, no one confronted the government. of Lula Da Silva this Friday in the Permanent Council that...
The Santa Monica Fire Department has responded to a "major gas leak" in an underground parking garage. The address is 720 Raymond Avenue, Santa Monica 90405. Southern California Gas Company is likely also on scene, since this involves their installation. This is breaking news as of 5:30 pm PST on Monday afternoon, 6/19/2023...
The US Coast Guard says it has 96 hours to rescue five people on a missing, overdue submarine that visited the wreck of the Titanic on Sunday, June 18th. The submersible had one crew member and 4 passengers, who paid about $250,000 each to visit the world's most famous wreck, to the West of Newfoundland Canada. "The purpose of the submersible was to study the wreck site," said Rear Adm. John Mauger, commander of the US First Coast Guard District. He said one could speculate...
In unrelated developments, Westfield Shopping Centers has announced it will ditch a mall in Downtown San Francisco. This, a week after Hilton Hotels successor said it was walking away from the City's largest hotel and its 4th largest hotel by room numbers, so that it won't have to make payments on a $725 million debt. Both companies cited San Francisco's abysmal security situation. Homeless people cover San Francisco like zombies, and no part of town is safe from crime. For...
Terminal 1 at LAX was evacuated by LAPD Friday night after work crews found a suspicious package. Home to Southwest Airlines, Terminal 1 was busy as we head into a three day weekend in early summer. This was breaking news on Friday night 6/16, at 10:30 pm PST. Details as they become available. KNX and Channel 7 have both reported that Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) is closed on the upper level, and traffic is barely moving through the lower level. Traffic is backed...