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License Plate Readers Expand Across Colorado, Raising Privacy Concerns
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CBS Colorado, Approved, State

License Plate Readers Expand Across Colorado, Raising Privacy Concerns

By: Shaun Boyd | CBS Colorado Police across Colorado say they make communities safer, but privacy experts have a different opinion about license plate readers. While license plate readers have been around for decades, the cameras now capture, not just license plates, but vast troves of information. That information is fed into a national database, where it can be combined with other surveillance to develop detailed travel patterns of millions of people as they go to a political rally, or an abortion clinic, a house of worship, or a gay bar. The cameras are so prolific that it's difficult to avoid them in many cities. Boulder software engineer Will Freeman is the first to begin mapping them. A year ago, he didn't even know what license plate readers looked like, let alone w...
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Budget cuts and bots: Denver shortens 311 hours and expands AI usage in city services
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kdvr.com, Approved, Local

Budget cuts and bots: Denver shortens 311 hours and expands AI usage in city services

By: Jacob Factor | Fox31 DENVER (KDVR) — Facing major budget shortfalls, Denver is cutting back hours and staff for its call center that assists residents with city services and looking to leverage an artificial intelligence chatbot to pick up the slack. Denver in Mayor Mike Johnston’s proposed 2026 budget is looking to cut more than $1 million from the 311 City Services budget, most of which comes from cutting vacant call center agents positions in the Technology-Services-Department-run office. One employed call center agent was also among the cuts. The city and county’s X page on Monday announced the new hours for the 311 phone line: 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday. This is a reduction of two hours each day, as it was previously open until 7 p.m. ...
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China Hails TikTok Deal as ‘Win-Win’ While U.S. Pushes for Control
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Asia Financial, Approved, National

China Hails TikTok Deal as ‘Win-Win’ While U.S. Pushes for Control

By Jim Pollard with Reuters | Asia Financial Chinese shareholders’ stake will be cut to below 20%, while Andreessen, Silver Lake and Oracle look set to be key players in the new firm running TikTok in the US China has hailed the agreement reached with US trade officials on the operations of TikTok in the United States as a “win-win” deal. The framework agreement achieved in Madrid on Monday will see the US operations of the popular short-video app switch to local owners because of a law passed last year by Congress, which deemed Chinese ownership of TikTok a national security risk and that parent company Bytedance must divest its holding or face a ban. The deal is expected to see Bytedance and Chinese shareholders’ stake reduced to below 20%, while tech giant Oracle, venture ca...
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Parents push back: A town unites to give kids a phone-free childhood
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TIME, Approved, National

Parents push back: A town unites to give kids a phone-free childhood

By Charlotte Alter | TIME Molly Moscatiello, age 7, started riding her bike to first grade last year. There’s a crosswalk with no crossing guard, “and I had to look both ways like five times,” she says, two grown-up teeth peeking through the gap in the front of her smile. Sometimes her parents’ friends would drive past and ask if Molly needed a ride, but she’d always wave them off. “I felt a little nervous at first,” she says. “But then after a while I felt comfortable by myself.” Soon, other kids began asking to ride their bikes to school. By the end of first grade, Molly was leading a small cohort of five or six, riding to school together in Little Silver, N.J. Twenty years ago, this would be as unremarkable as kids eating ice cream or playing soccer. But these days, when only...
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After decades of clashes, Trump secures Armenia–Azerbaijan peace deal
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Daily Wire, Approved, National

After decades of clashes, Trump secures Armenia–Azerbaijan peace deal

By Zach Jewell | Daily Wire "… today's great achievement is yet another testimony to your global leadership and your legacy as a statesman and a peacemaker on the world stage." President Donald Trump oversaw the signing of a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, securing a deal that was unsuccessfully sought by the European Union, Russia, and the Biden administration. Trump met with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev privately in the Oval Office before they all appeared for a press conference and signed the peace declaration. “The countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel, and diplomatic relations and respect each other’s sovereignty and territori...
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