News From Around the Web
#1 ChatGPT for Teens Isn’t Safe Enough, Common Sense Says - Ina Fried for Axios, Vikram M, Los Angeles Times, Futurism, Aaron Harme, and Social Good on X
Common Sense Media is urging OpenAI to keep teens off ChatGPT, saying its new teen experience poses an "Unacceptable Risk" after extensive testing found shortcomings in safeguards meant to protect younger users. OpenAI has made protecting younger users a central part of its effort to make ChatGPT safer, but the findings suggest some of those protections may give parents more confidence than they warrant. "We welcome rigorous independent evaluation, but we do not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice," an OpenAI spokesperson said...
#2 Bots Fighting Bots, Patient in the Middle - Tracy Beanz and Michelle Edwards for The HighWire, Gigi Bowman, Ian Wiseman, DO, BlackBetty, Owen Gregorian, Smart Science, and The Western Journal on X
As AI continues to invade every facet of daily life, the profit-driven health care industry in America has reached a strange place. Somewhere in the hidden machinery, choices are being made about everything that might be wrong with a patient and what those ailments should cost, and more and more, absolutely no doctor is involved in either half of those decisions. Instead, those decisions are being handled mechanically by two sets of algorithms. One set of rules works for the hospital and wants the patient’s bill to be higher. And the other works for the insurer and wants it lower. The patient, as usual, works for neither and is merely a pawn in a pricing game...#3 Texas AG Paxton Probes Fruit of the Loom, Hanes Over Potential Toxic Chemicals in Children’s Underwear - Reuters, Reuters Legal, Attorney General Ken Paxton, anti-insulted, CTV News, and Ticker & Thesis on X
The missing socks can wait. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking what else might be hiding in children's underwear. Paxton's office has opened an investigation into clothing brands Hanes and Fruit of the Loom over the potential presence of harmful chemicals in materials used for children's undergarments, according to an announcement Tuesday. The state has issued both companies Civil Investigative Demands, which allow investigators to seek information as they examine a matter...
#4 Sean Hannity Reveals He Was ‘Pressured’ to Push COVID Vaccine on His Audience - Sean James for Mediaite, KanekoaTheGreat, Derrick Evans, Monica Matthews on Air, Charles/Five Times August, and Bannon's WarRoom on X
Fox News anchor Sean Hannity said he was “pressured” to push Covid-19 vaccines on his viewers, even though he was uncomfortable doing so. The cable news star vented about how he was compelled to peddle vaccines during the Tuesday episode of his Hang Out podcast, where Hannity and Dr. Drew Pinsky talked about the pandemic — and their issues with how it was handled. “I was being pressured — pressured — to tell my audience to take the jab,” Hannity said. “And I’m like, ‘I’m not a doctor. I’m just not. I don’t know anything about your health, I don’t know anything about your preexisting conditions, your current condition, comorbidities you may have, and I don’t know anything about this shot.'”
#5 Voters Weigh Pros and Cons of Florida's Amendment 3 - Zitlali Solache for WPTV, Rep. Ryan Chamberlain, DKelly, Shawn Wattles, MemeKing/Paula Dockery, Mark/Sarasota Herald-Tribune, and Di_American! gparents fled Communism on X
As Florida voters prepare to decide Amendment 3 on Nov. 3, residents, elected officials and policy experts gathered in Palm Beach County to discuss how the proposed constitutional amendment could affect homeowners, local governments and public services. The discussion took place during WPTV's "Let's Hear It" community event and town hall at Palm Beach State College's Lake Worth Beach campus, where attendees asked questions and heard arguments from both supporters and opponents of the referendum. For many voters, the amendment could have significant financial implications. Supporters argue it would provide property tax relief for homeowners, while critics warn it could reduce funding for local services and shift key decisions to future lawmakers...
#6 Ex-Obama Spy Chief Prepped for Anti-Trump Trial by Biden-Era Special Counsel’s Team, New Records Reveal - Alec Schemmel for Fox News, Donald Stretemeyer, @realkjenkins, Thomas Morgan, The Ratio Show: The Working Man's Politics!, Sheilah/GRANDPAs FREE ADVICE, and Janice C. Castellanos on X
Former special counsel Jack Smith told lawmakers he had "never met" former CIA director and vocal Trump critic John Brennan when pressed about whether Brennan provided consultation or counsel during his tenure, but records just declassified by the White House reveal members of Smith's team met with Brennan while preparing the classified-documents case against President Donald Trump. The revelation about Brennan's meeting with special counsel Smith's team adds another wrinkle to Republicans' broader scrutiny of Smith's investigations into Trump, which has included claims of political bias, overreach, and other investigative missteps...
#7 US Issues Formal Complaint to Russia Over Response to Suspected Death Related to Plague Lab - Shannon K. Kingston and Chris Boccia for ABC News, Steve McCarron KOMO, Eyewitness News, Tom Hsiung, The Unbiased Update, Matthais, and Theresa Fallon on X
The U.S. issued a formal diplomatic complaint known as a démarche over the Russian government's response to the reported death of a lab worker from an anti-plague institute in Siberia, urging the country to increase transparency surrounding the incident, ABC News has learned. "We have officially requested additional information from the Russian government. We are also in official communication with other countries around the world to share information," a State Department spokesperson said...
#8 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Live Updates: Israel Marks 3 Years Since Oct. 7 Attack - NBC News, Maxwell Rene Thornton, CTV News/Brad, Donna Divine, and Linda Hill on X
Three years after 1,200 people were killed in a Hamas-led attack that also saw 251 taken hostage, Israelis are marking the anniversary of an event that traumatized the nation and reshaped the region. Memorials for the victims of the Oct. 7 attacks have been held at homes, roadsides, kibbutzim, and the Nova music festival site, where militants killed more than 360 people and took 44 hostages. The assault triggered Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, the killing of more than 74,000 Palestinians, famine, and widespread devastation. It has since spread into a wider regional conflict reaching Lebanon, Syria, and beyond, and fueled intense criticism of Israel around the world...#9 Why You Just Got a $90 Social Security Check — and Why 40 Million Seniors Didn’t - Megan Cerullo for CBS News, Deborah Kammerer, AL.com, The Workers Rights, MyNBC5, and The White House/Danny Crane on X
Millions of seniors are receiving $90 deposits from the Social Security Administration this week, prompting some to question the source of the money. The checks are tied to the Trump administration's announcement that it would send checks to about 20 million Medicare enrollees to lower healthcare costs. President Trump on Friday announced that the administration would send the money to some participants in the healthcare plan's Part B, which pays for doctor visits, outpatient care, and preventive screenings. About one-third of Medicare Part B's 62.9 million enrollees are eligible, with about 40 million not qualifying for the payments...#10 Nobel Prize in Chemistry Awarded to Kagan and Soai for Research Solving ‘Mirror Image’ Mystery - AP, The Nobel Prize, CNN, New York Post, and nature on X
Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules, a discovery that transformed modern medicine. Many molecules of life come in versions that look alike but aren’t exactly identical, like right and left hands. One mirror image of the chemical carvone smells like mint, for example, while the other has a whiff of caraway. When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists want to be choosy about which mirror image they’re getting. They want the version of a molecule that’ll treat a cold, not the kind that’ll make the sniffles worse...
