Former MA police detective wins $4 million sex discrimination lawsuit
A jury has awarded more than $4 million to a former Massachusetts police detective who said in a lawsuit that she was subjected to demeaning and sexist comments at work and rebuked for speaking up about dangerous conduct by other officers during the search for a Boston Marathon bombing suspect.
The Middlesex Superior Court jury on Thursday awarded former Watertown detective Kathleen E. Donohue $3.36 million in back pay, future earnings and compensatory damages, as well as another $1 million in punitive damages, lawyers involved in the case told The Boston Globe.
“This verdict sends a broader message that work has to be done to make sure women in policing are treated with dignity and respect and equality,” said Donohue’s lead attorney, Ellen Zucker. “I hope this important moment will allow police departments to reflect on the way they do business, and change for the good of all of us.”
Doug Louison, a lawyer for the town, said the verdict disappointing and there will likely be an appeal.
“It does not reflect the professionalism and respect that exists for the women and men who work within the Watertown police department today,” he said.
Donohue, who joined the department in 1998 and became its first female detective in 2002, said in the discrimination suit filed in May 2019 that she was for years subjected to inappropriate and demeaning sexual comments.
Donohue, who was present when Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found hiding in a boat in a Watertown yard in April 2013, also said she was berated by superiors after she reported she was endangered by bullets fired by fellow officers.
A 2015 state inquiry found that some officers used poor weapons discipline and endangered others during the arrest.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ma-police-detective-wins-4-million-sex-discrimination-lawsuit
Missing California teen Trinity Backus left home without shoes, hasn’t been heard from since, family says
The family of missing California teenager Trinity Backus says she left home in her pajamas without shoes on Thursday, and they have not heard from her since.
The Nevada County Sheriff’s Office said in a Thursday Facebook post that the 16-year-old left a residence on the 18000 block of Kentucky Ravine Road in Nevada City, California, around 10:30 p.m. PT.
She was last seen wearing pajamas and a maroon robe.
Ashley Bjorklund, Backus’ aunt, said the 16-year-old “had no shoes on” and “was wearing socks pajama pants and a thin flannel [sic]” in a Thursday Facebook post.
KAYLEE JONES, WHO VANISHED NEARLY 5 MONTHS AGO IN GEORGIA, IS FOUND SAFE
Backus is described as 5 feet, 9 inches tall, weighing about 130 pounds. She has red hair and green eyes.
FLORIDA DEPUTIES SEARCHING FOR MOTHER, DAUGHTER LAST TRACKED IN NORTH CAROLINA
The sheriff’s office has received help from a number of local law enforcement offices, as well as the Nevada County Sheriff’s Search & Rescue, in its search for Backus.
On Thursday night, law enforcement officials deployed an airplane with infrared capabilities to conduct an aerial search for the teenager.
Authorities are asking anyone with information about her disappearance to contact 911 or the Nevada County Sheriff’s non-emergency dispatch center at 530-265-7880.
Takeoff fans mourn the late rapper’s death in service at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
Fans gathered Friday to remember slain rapper Takeoff, a member of the hip-hop trio Migos, in a rainy downtown Atlanta near where the 28-year-old grew up.
State Farm Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks, was hosting a memorial service to celebrate the rapper’s life and music, and a massive sign outside the arena was lit up with the rapper’s image.
Takeoff, born Kirsnick Khari Ball, was shot and killed earlier this month outside a Houston bowling alley. A woman and another man were also wounded in the shooting. No arrests have been made.
Jenifer Loving, 22, stood in line with her infant son, Mateo, for more than an hour before doors opened to fans. She said Takeoff’s death was heartbreaking because he was so young.
MIGOS RAPPER TAKEOFF KILLED IN HOUSTON SHOOTING, REP TELLS AP
Migos’ music represented the creativity and culture of the Black community, she said, and she worried the group would be too saddened to make new music — at least for a while.
“It’s just something that you can play anywhere, and everybody will just come out and come around and dance,” she said. “It’s how it brings people together. It’s how it makes the whole room just fill up with positivity.”
Eric Hood, an Atlanta firefighter, said he was shocked when he heard about Takeoff’s death because of the three members of Migos, he was considered the most laid back.
Migos’ music was an “escape” for many people, he said, and he was hopeful the event would leave his family and the rest of the group with lasting memories of him.
“I pray for them,” he said. “I hope they continue to be uplifting, positive, influential members in the society and keep pushing forward.”
MIGOS RAPPER TAKEOFF MOURNED BY CELEBRITIES: ‘IT’S ALL JUST TRAGIC’
Free tickets to the memorial service were available to Georgia residents, but State Farm Arena said well before Friday that the event had reached capacity and fans without tickets should not come downtown.
The venue did not release a program for the event.
The Grammy Award-nominated trio Migos also included Takeoff’s uncle Quavo and cousin Offset. All three were largely raised by Takeoff’s mother in an Atlanta suburb.
Migos broke out nearly a decade ago with the 2013 hit “Versace,” which hit even greater heights in popularity through a Drake remix.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said the day after the shooting that Takeoff was “well respected,” and there was “no reason to believe he was involved in anything criminal at the time.”
Migos’ record label, Quality Control, mourned Takeoff’s death in a statement posted on Instagram that attributed it to “senseless violence and a stray bullet.” Police have said nothing about the gunshot being stray.
Instead of flowers or gifts, his family has asked that people make donations to The Rocket Foundation, which was established in Takeoff’s honor and aims to prevent gun violence, according to its website.
Sight Tech Global 2022 agenda announced
The third annual Sight Tech Global conference, a virtual, free and highly accessible event on December 7 and 8 convenes some of the world’s top experts working on assistive tech, especially AI, for people who are blind or visually impaired. If you don’t follow this topic, maybe you should, because a lot of cutting-edge tech over the years — think OCR and NLP — was developed at the outset with blind people in mind, and went from there to more mainstream uses. Register today!
At this year’s event we have sessions with the creators of several new devices to assist with vision, and we’ll talk about the technology architecture decisions that went into balancing capability with cost and tapping existing platforms.
We’ll also take our first look at accessibility in VR, which is an area of huge concern because if/when VR takes off in the entertainment and business worlds, it’s vital that people without vision have access, as they do today on smart phones and computers thanks to screenreaders like JAWS, VoiceOver and NVDA.
Our third big slab of programming is about AI itself. There is no shortage of hype as far as AI’s capabilities, and it’s important to push back on that by discussing some serious limitations and deficits in the way today’s AI works for people with disabilities, not to mention humanity in general. At the same time, AI is arguably the best core tech ever for people without sight. Understanding AI is vital to the future of everyone with disabilities for all those reasons. Don’t forget to register today!
And before you browse this awesome agenda: For technologists, designers and product folks working on earthshaking assistive tech, we’re hosting a small, in-person event on December 9 featuring workshops on assistive tech, many run by the same luminaries on the agenda. Interested? Contact us.
Here’s the agenda. To see times and more, go to the Sight Tech Global agenda page.
The Dynamic Tactile Device: That “Holy Braille” for educations is near
Following up on last year’s discussion of the APH and Humanware collaboration to create an education-focused tactile display (see next session), Greg Stilson updates Sight Tech Global on the project’s progress and APH’s work toward an SDK for developers to build on the tactile display. Greg Stilson will also lead a breakout session for attendees who want to go deeper on the Dynamic Tactile Device.
Greg Stilson, Head of Global Innovation, APH
ModeratorDevin Coldewey, Writer & Photographer, TechCrunch
The DOT Pad: How the Bible and smartphone speaker tech inspired a breakthrough
For decades, engineers have worked toward a braille display that can render tactile images and multiline braille. DOT Pad may have cracked the code with an innovative approach to generating dynamic fields of braille pins actuated by smart integrations combined with existing technologies, like Apple’s VoiceOver. Eric Kim and Ki Sung will also lead a breakout session for attendees who want to learn more.
Eric Ju Yoon Kim Co-Founder/CEO DOT
Ki Kwang Sung Co-Founder/CEO DOT
ModeratorDevin Coldewey Writer & Photographer TechCrunch
Virtual Reality and Inclusion: What does non-visual access to the metaverse mean?
People with disabilities and accessibility advocates are working to make sure the metaverse is accessible to everyone. This panel will delve into research on the challenges current virtual and augmented reality tools create for people who are blind or have low vision.The panelists will share their experiences using immersive technologies and explore how these tools can be used to enhance employment opportunities in hybrid and remote workplaces — but only if they are built with inclusion in mind.
Moderator Bill Curtis Davidson Co-Director, Partnership on Employment & Accessible Technology (PEAT)
Alexa Huth, Director Strategic Communications, PEAT
Brandon Keith Biggs, Software Engineer, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute and CEO XR Navigation
Aaron Gluck, PhD candidate in Human-Centered Computing, Clemson University
Inventing the “screenreader” for VR: Owlchemy Lab’s Cosmonious High
For developers of virtual reality games, there’s every reason to experiment with accessibility from the start, which is what the Owlchemy Labs team did with Cosmonious High, the 2022 release of a fun, first-person game situated in an inter-galactic high school that one reviewer said “has all the charm and cheek of a good Nickelodeon kids show.” And it reveals some of the earliest approaches to accessibility in VR.
Peter Galbraith, Accessibility Engineer II, Owlchemy Labs
Jazmin Cano, Accessibility Product Manager II, Owlchemy Labs
Moderator James Rath, Filmmaker, Accessibility Advocate and Gamer
Audio Description the Pixar Way
AI-driven, synthetic audio description may have a place in some forms of accessible video content, but the artistry of the entirely human-produced audio descriptions Pixar produces for its productions set a creative standard no AI will ever attain, and that’s all for the good. Meet members of the Pixar team behind excellence in audio descriptions.
Eric Pearson, Home Entertainment Supervisor, Pixar
Anna Capezzera, Director, Audio Description Operations, Deluxe
Laura Post, Voice Actress
Christina Stevens, Writing Manager, Deluxe
Moderator Tom Wlodkowski, Vice President, Accessibility, Comcast
Seeing AI and the New AI
Microsoft’s hugely popular Seeing AI is one of the apps that appears to do it all, from reading documents to recognizing people and things. Those services are enabled by Microsoft’s rapidly advancing cloud-based AI systems. How is Seeing AI advancing with those capabilities and what is the future for Seeing AI?
Saqib Shaikh, Co-founder of Seeing AI, Microsoft
Moderator Larry Goldberg, Accessibility Sensei & Technology Consultant
Accessibility Is AI’s Biggest Challenge: How Alexa aims to make it fairer for everyone
Smart home technology, like Alexa, has been one of the biggest boons in recent years for people who are blind, and for people with disabilities altogether. Voice technology and AI help empower people in many ways, but one obstacle stands in its way: making it equitable. In this session, learn from Amazon about how they’re approaching the challenge ahead.
Peter Korn, Director of Accessibility, Devices & Services, Amazon
Josh Miele, Principal Accessibility Researcher, Amazon
Caroline Desrosiers, Founder & CEO, Scribely
Hands on with Seleste
Rapid advances in phones, data networks and hardware miniaturization always seem to be converging on the concept of that super useful, affordable, unobtrusive assistive device. Seleste plans to launch later this year with a pair of tech-enabled glasses that mark an important waypoint on that journey.
Shubh Mittal, Founder, Seleste
Smit Patel, Co-Founder, Seleste
Moderator, Jennison Asuncion, Head of Accessibility Engineering Evangelism, LinkedIn
Hands on with ARx
Like Seleste, ARx is a recently released device designed to take advantage of the technology tech platforms that surround everyday life with a private, minimally visible, head-mounted device. Both the Seleste and ARx leaders will discuss what they’ve learned in the course of developing and testing their devices.
Charles Leclerq, CEO, ARx Vision
Moderator, Lucy Greco, Electronic accessibility expert and consultant
What’s Next with StellarTrek
Where Seleste and ARx are newcomers to assistive devices, Humanware is a highly respected, established player whose new StellarTrek also takes powerful advantage of technology advances but also parts ways with the newcomers when it comes to technology architecture and form factors.
Louis-Philippe Massé, Vice President of Product Innovation and Technologies, Humanware
Peter Tucic, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Humanware
Moderator, Sam Proulx, Accessibility Evangelist, Fable
The Problems with AI
Despite the stunning advances in AI over the past decade, the so-called “deep learning” AI technology prevalent today has under-appreciated limitations and even poses societal dangers. Our speakers are world-renowned AI experts and AI “dissenters” who believe we need an AI that’s both more accountable and better able to produce common sense results.
David Ferrucci, Founder & CEO, Elemental Cognition
Gary Marcus, Founder and Executive Chairman, Robust AI
Moderator, Ned Desmond, Founder and Executive Producer, Sight Tech Global
Did Computer Vision AI Just Get Worse or Better?
The ability of assistive tech devices to recognize objects, faces and scenes is a type of AI called Computer Vision, which calls for building vast databases on images labeled by humans to train AI algorithms. A new technique called “one-shot learning” learns dramatically faster because the AI trains itself on images across the internet. No human supervision needed. Is that a good idea?
Danna Gurari, Asst. Professor, Founding Director, Image & Video Computing group, University of Colorado Boulder
Moderator, Cecily Morrison, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research Cambridge
What Waymo Learned at the DOT Inclusive Design Challenge
Waymo participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation Inclusive Design Challenge, and emerged with numerous accessibility lessons and features that will help Waymo’s autonomous rides offer people with disabilities better service. Waymo’s team is still processing all they learned.
Lauren Schwendimann, UX Design Lead & Manager, Waymo
Jeffrey Colon, Director of Access Technology, Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Moderator, Mike May, Chief Evangelist, Goodmaps
Don’t forget to register for this free, virtual event.
We’re grateful to current sponsors iSenpai, Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, Humanware, Microsoft, Ford, Fable, APH and Waymo. If you would like to sponsor the event, please contact us. All sponsorship revenues go to the nonprofit Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired, which has been serving the Silicon Valley community for 75 years.
Sight Tech Global 2022 agenda announced by David Riggs originally published on TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/11/sight-tech-global-2022-agenda-announced/
College basketball predictions: Gonzaga vs. Michigan State, Stanford vs. Wisconsin
Here is a look at a pair of Friday college basketball games between teams poised to make some noise in the NCAA Tournament.
Texas school board candidates win big by opposing critical race theory
Voters rejected critical race theory this week in Texas by electing more Republican candidates to the state’s board of education.
Two of those winners, L.J. Francis and Pat Hardy, appeared on “Fox & Friends First” Friday to discuss their victories after they campaigned against CRT.
“I think it’s absolutely clear that that is the reason why we were successful on Tuesday night. When I started my campaign, I went and I spoke with parents and I listened to the community,” Francis said.
“And one thing they were talking about is that they reject critical race theory,” he said, adding that the left’s so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” agenda is not in line with the “American dream.”
VICTORIOUS FLORIDA SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES THANKFUL FOR DESANTIS’ ENDORSEMENT: ‘HELPED TREMENDOUSLY’
Francis, a Jamaican immigrant, outlined what he believes should be conveyed to children.
“I showed everyone that it doesn’t matter where you’re from. It matters what you want to achieve and if you work hard, you can achieve these things, without this reliance on race,” he told Todd Piro.
Education in Texas became a hot-button issue in the past few years amid the debates over critical race theory, gender issues and the controversy over certain library books.
Hardy, a longtime social studies teacher, said that “control needs to be on the local level.”
She also argued that it is very important for local school boards to be aware of critical race theory and what’s being taught in public schools.
“I’ve been a warrior against critical race theory in our schools. I hear it from parents constantly. I get phone calls with very sad comments about what’s going on,” she said, stressing that she wants children to be taught from a young age about patriotism, “love of country” and to appreciate the sacrifices of American service members.
Ten Republican candidates won seats on the board Tuesday, compared to five Democrats.
DESANTIS-BACKED SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES ALL WIN IN FLORIDA: ENDORSEMENT ‘PUT US OVER THE EDGE’
The victories underscore the phenomenon of parents across the country paying closer attention to their local school boards by challenging progressive curricula and contesting books they deem to be inappropriate.
In Florida, candidates who ran on a similar platform and were backed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis were also victorious.
Cindy Spray, who won her race in Manatee County, and Jackie Rosario, who won her race in Indian River County, joined “Fox & Friends” Thursday to discuss the impact of the DeSantis endorsement and how it resonated with their constituents.
“The support I got from Governor DeSantis is what put us over the edge,” Spray told co-host Ainsley Earhardt. “His view of how we need to stay back to the basics of education aligned with what I had viewed. And of course, my grandchildren. You have kids in school, you want to make sure that we’re getting the education system that we’re actually expecting from the public schools back to the basics and… supporting parental rights.”
https://www.foxnews.com/media/texas-school-board-candidates-win-big-opposing-critical-race-theory
Cruz: Dems Did Well In Midterms Because They Engaged “Whacked-Out Lefty Nut Job” Base
Cruz: Dems Did Well In Midterms Because They Engaged “Whacked-Out Lefty Nut Job” Base
Authored by Steve Watson via Summit News,
Senator Ted Cruz has claimed that the reason Democrats did better than expected in the midterm elections is because for the past two years they have focused on engaging and exciting a “left wing nut-job” base of young voters.
Appearing on Hannity, Cruz stated “Here’s a lesson to take from last night. Look, why do the Democrats do better than expected? Because for two years they’ve governed as liberals. They’ve governed as whacked-out lefty nut jobs.”
“You know what that did?” Cruz continued, explaining “That excited their base, excited a bunch of young voters that came out in massive numbers because when you actually stand for something your base gets excited.”
“There’s a lesson for Republicans to learn,” the Senator declared, adding “when we have a majority next year, we damn better well act like it and use it, hold this administration to account.”
“We need to be happy warriors. If we do that, that leads to victory. If we don’t stand and fight, then we don’t win,” Cruz concluded.
Watch:
Did Democrats, some of them barely able to function and some of them even dead, manage to enagage the Tik-Tok voter?
I regret to inform you that John Fetterman makes TikToks. pic.twitter.com/9VaTuVSYiX
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 11, 2022
What happened?
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Tyler Durden
Fri, 11/11/2022 – 14:02
Joe Thomas rips Jim Irsay for hiring ‘drinking buddy’ Jeff Saturday as Colts head coach
Joe Thomas was aghast about the Jeff Saturday hire. Thomas, the presumed future Hall of Fame left tackle for the Cleveland Browns, eviscerated Colts owner Jim Irsay for naming Saturday as the team’s interim head coach. “When you hire your drinking buddy to be the head coach of an NFL football team, it is one…
https://nypost.com/2022/11/11/joe-thomas-rips-colts-owner-jim-irsay-over-jeff-saturday-hire/
‘I hesitate to walk my dog’: AOC says she fears her life is ‘in danger’
AOC said her fears “intensified when I was first brought into Congress in 2019.”
https://nypost.com/2022/11/11/aoc-says-she-fears-her-life-is-in-danger/
Some Republicans refuse to commit to a potential Trump bid for presidency after midterms
• The GOP blame game has begun
• Liz Cheney calls election results ‘clear victory for team normal’
• Meet the history-makers of the midterms
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/11/politics/trump-republicans-move-on-2024/index.html