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Exploring AI: Artificial intelligence's development and future potential

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

CHICAGO — President Joe Biden's recent executive order on artificial intelligence aims to maximize AI's benefits while also addressing risks.AI can have some great perks, like early illness detection. But it's not all good and there are some serious concerns about privacy, bias and job displacement that come with it.Artificial intelligence is a machine that can perform human tasks autonomously when trained on data.Data are the ingredients or puzzle pieces to describe and teach AI programs how to understand the human world. Algorithms are like formulas that provide the recipe to guide computer programs in processing and making sense of data, enabling them to perform a task.Cybersecurity expert Roman Eng is working on his Ph.D in Explainable AI."Now you can actually have the chatbot see, it can hear you and it can actually talk," Eng said. You've probably heard of Open AI's Chat GPT. Similar to a search engine, a chatbot allows you to type a prompt. Once the prompt is entered, the cha...

Tuesday's wet storm generated Chicago's heaviest rain in 5 weeks; mixed sun in its wake Wednesday and Thanksgiving

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Colder temperatures take hold Friday — we're tracking some possible snow SundayWGN WEATHER HEADLINESTHE LATEST ON THANKSGIVING WEATHER AND CHANCES FOR SOME SNOW THIS COMING SUNDAYAdditional forecast models have locked onto the chance for at least SOME snow here Sunday. Having multiple models supporting a forecast trend — such as the chance for some snow Sunday — lends confidence to the forecast. Current thinking DOESN'T suggest a MAJOR STORM, but this is worth continuing to monitor since we're in the very early stages of this forecast scenario and still days away from that potential for at least SOME SNOW. I'm posting a series of forecast maps off one of our key forecast models which illustrate current thinking on the Sunday system.Before any Sunday snow here, Wednesday and Thanksgiving, (Thursday) — as well as Friday anThis NWS GFS model MOISTURE TRANSPORT forecast lays out the moisture predicted through a fairly deep layer of the atmosphere at 6am CST this Sunday — moisture which ...

Israeli Cabinet OKs cease-fire with Hamas that includes release of some 50 hostages

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s Cabinet on Wednesday approved a temporary cease-fire with the Hamas militant group that is expected to bring the first halt in fighting in a devastating six-week war and win freedom for dozens of hostages held captive in the Gaza Strip, in exchange for the release of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.The deal calls for a four-day cease-fire, during which Israel will halt its military offensive in Gaza while Hamas frees “at least” 50 of the roughly 240 hostages it and other militants are holding, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said. The first hostages to be released are women and children.“The government of Israel is committed to bringing all of the hostages home. Tonight, the government approved the outline for the first stage of achieving this goal,” the office said in a statement. 31 ‘very sick’ babies evacuated from Gaza’s largest hospital, trauma patients remain A statement released by Qatar, which mediates with Hamas...

Kyle PD says two children safe, found in another county

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Two children were found safe and in another county on Tuesday after officials said they were previously missing, the Kyle Police Department said on social media.Both children were previously reported missing in Kyle."Thank you to everyone that helped share the information," Kyle PD said.

"Grateful to have found this resource': Austin pediatric clinic cares for uninsured children

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) --- There's a clinic in Austin taking on a huge challenge to help kids in need. Specifically it is helping uninsured children in Texas. 'Felt like I was in a desperate position'Yanaisa Martinez's children are among the thousands of children in Texas without health insurance. Through a translator, Martinez told KXAN she had nowhere to take them for a doctors visit. "I actually felt like I was in a desperate position because I didn't know where to take my son," the Spanish-speaking translator told us Martinez said. Martinez had nowhere to turn to until she found Lirios Pediatrics in South Austin.Simmons said they are booked for wellness checks until January. (Photo: KXAN)It's a non-profit, located at 4201 South Congress Avenue, that services uninsured children. "We are the only completely free clinic that exclusively serves uninsured children in the state of Texas," said Executive Director and Co-founder Monica Simmons. "If they have Medicaid, if they have MAP, if they ...

Gophers guard Elijah Hawkins with highlight assists in 86-67 win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

New Gophers point guard Elijah Hawkins stacked two assists worthy of highlight reels in front of pro’s pro at Williams Arena on Tuesday.Hawkins weaved around Arkansas-Pine Bluff defenders to find Dawson Garica for an open dunk midway through the first half. Then on the next possession, the transfer from Howard perfectly timed an alley-oop lob to Josh Ola-Joseph for another slam.Timberwolves point guard Mike Conley Jr. watched that sequence unfold from a second-row seat at The Barn. Conley might a difficult one to impress after he and Greg Oden took Ohio State to the NCAA national championship game in 2007 before  starting a now-17-year NBA career.The Gophers (4-1) were an 18-point favorite and won by 19 in a 86-67 victory over Arkansas-Pine Bluff (3-3).Minnesota’s shooting went cold to start against Pine Bluff’s 3-2 zone defense in the second half, but a steal from Hawkins led to a one-man fast break lay-up to help end the lull.Hawkins, who battled foul trouble, had 10 points, four ...

Student arrested with gun in backpack at St. Paul high school

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

A 16-year-old found with a gun in his backpack was arrested at a St. Paul high school Tuesday.Officers responded to Central Senior High School just after noon when school security called to report they detained a student and found a handgun in his bag, said Sgt. Mike Ernster, a police spokesman.“Security officers explained that while interacting with the student he appeared to distance himself from his backpack as they spoke to him,” Ernster said. They investigated, found the gun and called for officers.The teen was taken to the Ramsey County Juvenile Detention Center and booked on suspicion of possession of a firearm by an ineligible person, with no serial number and on school property, Ernster said.“No one was in immediate danger,” Principal Cherise Ayers wrote in a letter to families. “… There are serious consequences for students who bring weapons to school. … I can’t stress enough for all members of our Central community to say somethin...

Panel picks 6 finalists for redesigned MN state flag — and none have loons

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

Members of a commission tasked with creating new symbols for the state of Minnesota on Tuesday selected six final designs for a new state flag, and five finalists for a new state seal.It’s another step toward the state replacing its symbols, which have long been criticized for their unmemorable design and depiction of white settlers displacing the area’s Native inhabitants.Minnesota’s State Emblems Redesign Commission whittled down the six final flag designs from more than 2,600 public submissions it received in October. They adopted finalists after about six hours of discussion Tuesday afternoon and moved on to state seal finalists.While the commission has more work to do, a few things appear certain at this point.One: barring a major overhaul, the new flag probably won’t feature any loons. While many submissions featured the iconic black-and-white state bird, none made it to the final picks, in part because it’s not found throughout Minnesota and was seen as insufficiently r...

Another St. Louis resident loses property via Recorder of Deeds Office

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

ST. LOUIS – For the second time, the You Paid For It team has found a case of a homeowner scammed out of their property with the help of the St. Louis Recorder of Deeds.Jay Brandon says he paid $15,000 for his house in north St. Louis, only to discover three days later that the ownership had been transferred to someone else through a quitclaim deed.“Well, I purchased this home back in February. I was coming by and I was checking on my property and I saw some people working on it,” Brandon said. “I was just like, dang, so I pulled up and I asked them what was going on, and they said they had been hired by the new owner to clean out the house.”Brandon turned to the St. Louis Recorder of Deeds, which approved the quitclaim deed and allowed the deal to go through.“They told me I had to obtain a police report first. So, I went and got the police report from there,” he said. “I came back, and they said that I needed to talk to the assessor, and the assessor sent me to the clerk, and the c...

Murder-suicide investigation in Cahokia Heights

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:40:00 GMT

CAHOKIA HEIGHTS, Ill. - Two families in Cahokia Heights are grieving following a domestic murder suicide.A spokesperson for the Cahokia Heights Police Department received a 911 call Tuesday around 1:30 p.m. about a car running off the road and into a tree line near Robert Price Road and Park Drive. When the police arrived, officers saw that one car had struck a tree. A man and woman were found inside the vehicle, suffering from gunshot wounds. Both were rushed to a hospital, but they later died from their injuries. Detective DeMarius Thomas said this is not the first time officers have received a call about the pair, identified as an estranged husband and wife. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking News SIGN UP NOW "From what I've learned looking at things, t...