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Elon Musk Doubles Down on Mars Dreams and Details What’s Next for SpaceX’s Starship – Singularity Hub

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Elon Musk has long been open about his dreams of using SpaceX to spread humanitys presence further into the solar system. And last weekend, he gave an updated outline of his vision for how the companys rockets could enable the colonization of Mars.

The serial entrepreneur has been clear for a number of years that the main motivation for founding SpaceX was to make humans a multiplanetary species. For a long time, that seemed like the kind of aspirational goal one might set to inspire and motivate engineers rather than one with a realistic chance of coming to fruition.

But following the successful launch of the companys mammoth Starship vehicle last month, the idea is beginning to look less far-fetched. And in a speech at the companys facilities in South Texas, Musk explained how he envisions using Starship to deliver millions of tons of cargo to Mars over the next couple of decades to create a self-sustaining civilization.

Starship is the first design of a rocket that is actually capable of making life multiplanetary, Musk said. No rocket before this has had the potential to extend life to another planet.

In a slightly rambling opening to the speech, Musk explained that making humans multiplanetary could be an essential insurance policy in case anything catastrophic happens to Earth. The red planet is the most obvious choice, he said, as its neither too close nor too far from Earth and has many of the raw ingredients required to support a functioning settlement.

But he estimates it will require us to deliver several million tons of cargo to the surface to get that civilization up and running. Starship is central to those plans, and Musk outlined the companys roadmap for the massive rocket over the coming years.

Key to the vision is making the vehicle entirely reusable. That means the first hurdle is proving SpaceX can land and reuse both the Super Heavy first stage rocket and the Starship spacecraft itself. The second of those challenges will be tougher, as the vehicle must survive reentry to the atmospherein the most recent test, it broke up on its way back to Earth.

Musk says they plan to demonstrate the ability to land and reuse the Super Heavy booster this year, which he thinks has an 80 to 90 percent chance of success. Assuming they can get Starship to survive the extreme heat of reentry, they are also going to attempt landing the vehicle on a mock launch pad out at sea in 2024, with the aim of being able to land and reuse it by next year.

Proving the rocket works and is reusable is just the very first step in Musks Mars ambitions though. To achieve his goal of delivering a million people to the red planet in the next 20 years, SpaceX will have to massively ramp up its production and launch capabilities.

The company is currently building a second launch tower at its base in South Texas and is also planning to build two more at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Musk said the Texas sites would be mostly used for test launches and development work, with the Florida ones being the main hub for launches once Starship begins commercial operations.

SpaceX plans to build six Starships this year, according to Musk, but it is also building what he called a giant factory that will enable it to massively ramp up production of the spacecraft. The long-term goal is to produce multiple Starships a day. Thats crucial, according to Musk, because Starships initially wont return from Mars and will instead be used as raw materials to construct structures on the surface.

The company also plans to continue development of Starship, boosting its carrying capacity from around 100 tons today to 200 tons in the future and enabling it to complete multiple launches in a day. SpaceX also hopes to demonstrate ship-to-ship refueling in orbit next year. It will be necessary to replenish the fuel used up by Starship on launch so it has a full tank as it sets off for Mars.

Those missions will depart when the orbits of Earth and Mars bring them close together, an alignment that only happens every 26 months. As such, Musk envisions entire armadas of Starships setting off together whenever these windows arrive.

SpaceX has done some early work on what needs to happen once Starships arrive at the red planet. Theyve identified promising landing sites and the infrastructure that will need setting up, including power generation, ice-mining facilities, propellant factories, and communication networks. But Musk admits theyve yet to start development of any of these.

One glaring omission in the talk was any detail on whos going to be paying for all of this. While the goal of making humankind multiplanetary is a noble one, its far from clear how the endeavor would make money for those who put up the funds to make it possible.

Musk estimates that the cost of each launch could eventually fall to just $2 to $3 million. And he noted that profits from the companys Starlink satellites and Falcon 9 launch vehicle are currently paying for Starships development. But those revenue streams are unlikely to cover the thousands of launches a year required to make his Mars dreams a reality.

Still, the very fact that the questions these days are more about economics than technical feasibility is testament to the rapid progress SpaceX has made. The dream of becoming a multiplanetary species may not be science fiction for much longer.

Image Credit: SpaceX

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Elon Musk Doubles Down on Mars Dreams and Details What's Next for SpaceX's Starship - Singularity Hub

Notus robotics team is headed to 2024 FIRST Championship – KTVB.com

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Notus Jr/Sr High School robotics team of five students is headed to the 2024 FIRST Championship in Houston, Texas.

BOISE, Idaho A small robotics team from Notus Jr/Sr High School is living the classic underdog story after they qualified to compete at a world championship.

The team of five students will be heading to Houston, Texas to participate in the 2024 FIRST Championship. On Friday, KTVB spoke to the team advisor, Nick Forbes, who said this is the first year the program was introduced to the Notus. But that hasn't stopped them.

In March of 2024,team 9726 received the Rookie of the Year All-Star Award after competing in Boise. A few days later, they were invited to compete on the world stage.

According to the FIRST website, with every new season the game changes, and students will need to build a robot to achieve the goal. This year's game is called 'CRESCENDO.'

While FIRST's rules recommend a team should consist of 10 students, team 9726 won with half that. But, a student told KTVB it hasn't been without some challenges.

"It was entirely made from duct tape, zip ties, and just things that we had to find around," Ezekiel said. "There were sometimes things that we had to improvise through 3-D printings and other things. We're very proud of the work we've done."

He said their robot mainly plays defense, utilizing a wall, which helped them secure a spot at worlds.

The world championships in Houston kicks off on April 16.

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Stratasys to test 3D printed material on Moon – Aerospace Manufacturing

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Stratasys has announced that it will provide 3D printed materials for an upcoming lunar mission to test their performance on the surface of the Moon.

The experiments are part of Aegis Aerospace, Inc.s first Space Science & Technology Evaluation Facility mission (SSTEF-1). SSTEF is a commercial space testing service, developed by Aegis Aerospace in Houston, Texas under NASAs Tipping Point programme, to provide R&D services on the lunar surface. The SSTEF-1 project focuses on technology development for space infrastructure and capabilities for the Moon and near-earth space. The Stratasys experiments are sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

In this Moon mission, Stratasys will provide 3D printed samples that will be brought to the lunar surface by an unmanned lander in a carrier structure 3D printed by Stratasys. Three materials will be the focus of two different experiments led by Northrop Grumman.

The first experiment assesses the performance of a sample coupon part made with Stratasys Antero 800NA FDM filament filled with tungsten. Antero 800NA is a high-performance PEKK-based thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties, chemical resistance, and low outgassing characteristics. Adding tungsten is intended to provide shielding against harmful radiation such as gamma rays or x-rays.

The second passive experiment is designed to see how 3D printed materials perform in space. It will include Antero 840CN03 FDM filament, which features ESD properties for use with electronics and was used on the Orion spacecraft. The experiment will also include a new ESD photopolymer manufactured by Stratasys partner Henkel for use with Stratasys Origin One 3D printers and designed for high-heat environments. This experiment will subject coupon samples of the 3D printed materials to Moon dust, low pressure that can lead to outgassing, and the rapid temperature swings that result from virtually no atmosphere on the Moon.

Additive manufacturing is an important technology for space missions where every ounce of weight matters and high performance is essential, said chief industrial business officer, Rich Garrity. This set of experiments will help us understand how to fully leverage 3D printing to keep people and equipment safe as we travel to the Moon and beyond.

Parts will be brought to the lunar surface by an unmanned lander in a Stratasys 3D printed carrier structure made from ULTEM 9085 thermoplastic, which is a material also commonly used in commercial aircraft interiors.

Stratasys is a leader in the global shift to additive manufacturing with innovative 3D printing solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, consumer products and healthcare. Through smart and connected 3D printers, polymer materials, a software ecosystem, and parts on demand, Stratasys solutions deliver competitive advantages at every stage in the product value chain. The worlds leading organisations turn to Stratasys to transform product design, bring agility to manufacturing and supply chains, and improve patient care.

http://www.stratasys.com

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Stratasys to test 3D printed material on Moon - Aerospace Manufacturing

U.S. Supreme Court to hear Texas and Florida cases about free speech and social media platforms – Texas Standard

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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments today in two cases related to some of the worlds biggest social media platforms.

Considered by many to be two of the hottest free speech cases of the internet age, one case is from Texas, the other from Florida. And though there are slight differences between the two state laws being challenged here, the cases appear to center on a central question: do social media companies have the right to independently decide what content appears on their platforms, amplifying or removing content as they see fit?

The social media companies say their First Amendment free speech rights are being violated with the Texas and Florida laws. The states say those social media companies arent entitled to First Amendment free speech protection. And it may come down to whether a majority of the court sees social media as more like a newspaper or more like a telephone company.

Charles Rocky Rhodes, a professor of law at South Texas College of Law in Houston, said both of these laws are on hold and have not yet gone into effect because of pending court cases.

They were a response to some of the social media platforms de-platforming Donald Trump and other politicians in the wake of the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, Rhodes said. And there was a concern from Texas and from Florida that [these politicians] were being targeted because of their conservative beliefs.

And so the idea of both of these laws was to try to keep social media platforms from banning individuals or discriminating against individuals based on the viewpoints of their speech. And it also placed some very onerous burdens on social media companies with respect to disclosure requirements of their terms and their policies with respect to data management and content, and the use policies that they would be using.

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The plaintiff in the case is NetChoice, an industry association that includes most of the big platforms we all think of Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), YouTube, etc.

Theyre making the play that when they are deciding which messages to amplify and which messages that they want to remove from their platform, that they are acting as the modern editor of a newspaper, and there are good precedent for the United States Supreme Court saying that a state cant tell a newspaper what to print, Rhodes said.

Theyre arguing that the same principle applies to them, that they are allowed to make editorial decisions on their private platform. And this is something that people have to keep in mind that the social media companies, as big and important as they are, are not the government. They are actually privately-owned.

Texas and Florida, however, say these companies are acting as a common carrier and therefore do not have a claim to free speech.

Theyre trying to say that social media companies are a modern equivalent of what used to be a very familiar idea of the common carrier, that they dont have the ability to discriminate with respect to their service. They have to accept everyone, Rhodes said. And the social media companies come back and say, well, common carriers were different because they never engaged in their own expressive activities.

Common carriers did sometimes transmit the speech of others, like a telegraph would be the old example, or telephone But they did not actually engage in their own expressive activities. And the social media companies are claiming that we do because we are trying to communicate messages. Were creating news feeds for individuals. Were trying to increase, of course, advertising streams that we are engaged in expressive activities in a way that your internet service provider or in a way that your telephone company is not.

As this case goes forward, Rhodes said the states arguments are rooted in political ideology.

The Texas law has a specific exemption for companies under 50 million users. So it wouldnt cover conservative sites like Parler, he said. The Florida law had exemptions for Disney and for Universal that were then taken out once Disney and Universal started criticizing Florida [political leaders]. A big part of the underlying motivation for these laws was the political concern that conservatives thought that their voices were being removed from the site and the marketplace of ideas.

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U.S. Supreme Court to hear Texas and Florida cases about free speech and social media platforms - Texas Standard

Why Online Free Speech Is Now Up to the Supreme Court – Bloomberg

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Conspiracy theories, election lies and Covid misinformation before the 2020 US presidential election led social media companies to implement rules policing online speech and suspending some users including former President Donald Trump. That practice, known as content moderation, will be put to the test after two Republican-led states, Florida and Texas, passed laws in 2021 to stop what they believed were policies censoring conservatives. The fate of those social media laws now rests with the US Supreme Court, which could fundamentally reshape how platforms handle speech online in the run-up to the 2024 election and beyond.

The central issue is whether the laws violate the free speech rights of social media platforms by limiting the companies editorial control. The laws apply to companies including Meta Platforms Inc.s Facebook, Alphabet Inc.s Google, X Corp. (formerly Twitter) and Reddit Inc. The justices will scrutinize provisions of the new laws that require the companies to carry content that violates their internal guidelines and to provide a rationale to users whose posts are taken down.

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Why Online Free Speech Is Now Up to the Supreme Court - Bloomberg

Supreme Court Will Decide What Free Speech Means on Social Media – Gizmodo

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The Supreme Court is hearing two cases on Monday that could set new precedents around free speech on social media platforms. The cases challenge two similar laws from Florida and Texas, respectively, which aim to reduce Silicon Valley censorship on social media, much like Elon Musk has done at X in the last year.

Twitter Verification is a Hot Mess

After four hours of opening arguments, Supreme Court Justices seemed unlikely to completely strike down Texas and Floridas laws, according to Bloomberg. Justice Clarence Thomas said social media companies were engaging in censorship. However, Chief Justice John Roberts questioned whether social media platforms are really a public square. If not, they wouldnt fall under the First Amendments protections.

At one point, the lawyer representing Texas shouted out, Sir, this is a Wendys. He was trying to prove a point about public squares and free speech, but it didnt make much sense.

The cases, Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, both label social media platforms as a digital public square and would give states a say in how content is moderated. Both laws are concerned with conservative voices being silenced on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and other social media platforms, potentially infringing on the First Amendment.

Silencing conservative views is un-American, its un-Texan and its about to be illegal, said Texas Governor Greg Abbott on X in 2021, announcing one of the laws the Supreme Court is debating on Monday.

If Big Tech censors enforce rules inconsistently, to discriminate in favor of the dominant Silicon Valley ideology, they will now be held accountable, said Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a 2021 press release, announcing his new law.

NetChoice, a coalition of techs biggest players, argues that these state laws infringe on a social media companys right to free speech. The cases have made their way to the United States highest court, and a decision could permanently change social media.

The laws could limit Facebooks ability to censor pro-Nazi content on its platform, for example. Social media companies have long been able to dictate what kind of content appears on their platform, but the topic has taken center stage in the last year. Musks X lost major advertisers following a rise in white supremacist content that appeared next to legacy brands, such as IBM and Apple.

NetChoice argues that social media networks are like newspapers, and they have a right to choose what appears on their pages, litigator Chris Marchese told The Verge. The New York Times is not required to let Donald Trump write an 0p-ed under the First Amendment, and NetChoice argues the same goes for social media.

NetChoices members include Google, Meta, TikTok, X, Amazon, Airbnb, and other Silicon Valley staples beyond social media platforms. The association was founded in 2001 to make the Internet safe for free enterprise and free expression.

Social and political issues have consumed technology companies in recent months. Googles new AI chatbot Gemini was accused of being racist against white people last week. In January, Mark Zuckerberg, sitting before Senate leaders, apologized to a room of parents who said Instagram contributed to their childrens suicides or exploitation.

Both of these laws were created shortly after Twitter, now X, banned Donald Trump in 2021. Since then, Musk has completely revamped the platform into a free speech absolutist site. Similar to Governors Abbot and DeSantis, Musk is also highly concerned with so-called liberal censorship on social media.

The Supreme Courts decision on these cases could have a meaningful impact on how controversy and discourse play out on social media. Congress has faced criticism for its limited role in regulating social media companies in the last two decades, but this decision could finally set some ground rules. Its unclear which way the Court will lean on these cases, as the issues have little precedent.

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Supreme Court Will Decide What Free Speech Means on Social Media - Gizmodo

Democratic operative admits to commissioning Biden AI robocall in New Hampshire – The Washington Post

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A longtime Democratic consultant working for a rival candidate admitted that he commissioned the artificial intelligence-generated robocall of President Biden that was sent to New Hampshire voters in January and triggered a state criminal investigation.

Steve Kramer, who worked for the long-shot Democratic presidential candidate Dean Phillips, said in a phone interview with The Washington Post that he sent out the AI-generated robocall telling voters to not vote to just under 5,000 people listed as most likely Democrats to vote in the New Hampshire primary, marking one of the first major uses of AI to disrupt the 2024 presidential election cycle.

The Phillips campaign paid Kramer roughly $250,000 to get Phillips, a third-term congressman from Minnesota challenging Biden, on the ballot in New York and Pennsylvania, according to federal campaign filings. Federal Communications Commission has issued him a subpoena for his involvement, Kramer said.

After the robocall, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a ruling that clarified generating a voice with AI for robocalls is illegal and swiftly issued a cease-and-desist letter to Kramer for originating illegal spoofed robocalls using an AI-generated voice in New Hampshire and issued a public notice to U.S.-based voice providers regarding blocking traffic related to the call.

The agency is working diligently including through all the tools available through its investigations to ensure that harmful misuse of AI technologies do not compromise the integrity of our communications networks, FCC spokesperson Will Wiquist said in a statement.

Kramer also shared details about how he created the robocall, confirming several details previously under speculation. He used software from the artificial intelligence voice cloning company Eleven Labs to create a deepfake voice of Biden in less than 30 minutes.

The calls, he added, were delivered by Voice Broadcasting, an entity associated with Life Co., which was at the center of the criminal investigation opened by New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella in early February into the Biden AI robocall. Kramer said the reason he created the robocall was to raise awareness about the dangers AI poses in political campaigns.

If anybody can do it, whats a person with real money, or an entity with real money, going to do? he said.

Kramers incident highlights the ease and accessibility by which AI-generated technology is making its way into the 2024 campaign cycle, allowing nearly anyone to use a wide array of tools to inject chaos and confusion into the voting process.

It also foreshadows a new challenge for state regulators, as increasingly advanced AI tools create new opportunities to interfere in elections across the world by creating fake audio recordings, photos and even videos of candidates, muddying the waters of reality.

The New Hampshire attorney generals investigation into the robocall remains active and ongoing, said Michael Garrity, a spokesman for the office.

Phillips and his campaign have condemned the robocalls. Katie Dolan, a spokeswoman for the Phillips campaign, said Kramers contract was finished before they became aware of his involvement in the robocall.

We are disgusted to learn that Mr. Kramer is behind this call, and we absolutely denounce his actions, she said. Kramers involvement was first reported by NBC News.

The robocall using an AI-generated voice that sounded like Biden targeted thousands of New Hampshire voters the weekend before the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, telling them their vote would not make a difference, according to investigators.

The call, which began with a catchphrase of Bidens, calling the election a bunch of malarkey, told voters: Its important that you save your vote for the November election. The call appeared to come from the number of the former New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan, who was helping an effort to get voters to write in Bidens name to show their support for the president, even though he wasnt on the ballot. Sullivan and others reported the call to the states attorney general.

In early February, Formella announced a criminal investigation into the matter, and sent the telecom company, Life Corp., a cease-and-desist letter ordering it to immediately stop violating the states laws against voter suppression in elections.

A multistate task force was also prepared for potential civil litigation against the company, and the FCC ordered Lingo Telecom to stop permitting illegal robocall traffic, after an industry consortium found that the Texas-based company carried the calls on its network.

Dont try it, Formella said in the February news conference. If you do, we will work together to investigate, we will work together with partners across the country to find you, and we will take any enforcement action available to us under the law. The consequences for your actions will be severe.

The robocall incident is also one of several episodes that underscore the need for better policies within technology companies to ensure their AI services are not used to distort elections, AI experts said.

In late January, ChatGPT creator OpenAI banned a developer from using its tools after the developer built a bot mimicking Phillips. His campaign had supported the bot, but after The Post reported on it, OpenAI deemed that it broke rules against use of its tech for campaigns.

Paul Barrett, deputy director of the New York University Stern Center for Business and Human Rights, said in an email that it is apparent how powerful AI deepfakes can be in disrupting elections. The new technology makes it far easier for nonexperts to generate highly persuasive content that is fraudulent and can potentially mislead people about when, how, or where to vote, he said.

This is also not the first time Kramer has used AI to spoof a politicians voice. Last year, he created an AI-generated robocall of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) asking nearly 300 likely Republican voters in South Carolina whom they would support if former president Donald Trump wasnt on the ballot.

Kramer, who said he plans to support Biden if he wins the Democratic nomination, said he hopes his actions have inspired regulators to take notice of AIs potential impact on the election.

Its here now, he said, referring to AI, and I did something about it.

Clara Ence Morse, Eva Dou, and Razzan Nakhlawi contributed to this report.

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Democratic operative admits to commissioning Biden AI robocall in New Hampshire - The Washington Post

care.ai, Virtua Health partner to expand the hybrid care providers’ virtual care offerings – Mobihealth News

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AI-powered care facility automation platform care.ai announced an enterprise-wide partnership with New Jersey-based not-for-profit hybrid care provider Virtua Health, where Virtua will leverage care.ai's virtual care offerings, including its Smart Care Facility Platform and Always-Aware ambient sensors.

care.ai's Smart Care Facility Platform includes a network of sensors spread through a care facility that monitors patients using AI, allowing the facility to collect real-time behavior data for clinical and operational insights.

The Florida-based company's AI-powered offerings will initially be utilized at Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, then eventually implemented in all of Virtua Health's acute care settings.

The announcement comes approximately two months after the partners launched a pilot Virtual Nurse program in a medical-surgical unit that allows remote and bedside nurses to work in tandem.

Patients could also communicate with a nurse via a two-way optical camera, and their family members could participate in the calls remotely.

"Our focus is not just on integrating cutting-edge technologies but on enhancing the human aspects of healthcare. By swiftly adopting optical cameras and ambient sensors, we're poised to markedly enhance the patient and care team experience, ensuring a safer, more efficient, and empathically connected healthcare experience," Michael Capriotti, senior vice president of integration and strategic operations at Virtua Health, said in a statement.

THE LARGER TREND

In 2022, care.ai scored $27 million in funding led by multi-asset investment firm Crescent Cove Advisors.

Last year, the company announced it was partnering with Colorado-based remote patient monitoring company BioIntelliSense to integrate BioIntelliSense's BioButton wearablea product used for continuous vital-sign monitoring for 60 days that captures temperature, respiratory rate and heart rate at rest into its Smart Care Facility Platform.

care.ai also announced a partnership with the Texas Hospital Association to create statewide adoption of AI-powered patient monitoring and a partnership with patient engagement platform Get Well, which allows patients to connect with care teams via the interactive TV platform already present in patient rooms.

In June, care.ai announced it was partnering with multinational electronics company Samsung to integrate its Smart Care Facility Platform into the tech giant's displays for use by health systems, allowing for AI-powered patient monitoring.

Clinical care teams could also attend virtual visits over care.ai devices paired with Samsung's displays.

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care.ai, Virtua Health partner to expand the hybrid care providers' virtual care offerings - Mobihealth News

Starlink Mini Dish Coming Later This Year, Elon Musk Says – PCMag

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SpaceX CEO Elon Musk says a portable version of Starlink is set to arrive in the coming months.

Well be introducing the Starlink mini later this year, which can fit in a backpack, he said in a speech to SpaceX employees.

On Friday, SpaceX took to Twitter/X to post Musks speech, which provided an update on the companys businesses, including the progress in expanding Starlink, its satellite internet service.

Back in September, the FCC approved SpaceXs application to operate the Starlink mini dish, which is supposed to be the size of a MacBook. But the company had been quiet about the product until now.

No pricing, specs, or image were provided. But Musk said the model will be "pretty cool for anyone who wants a very portable Starlink.

In his speech, Musk also talked about the companys next-generation standard Starlink dish, which the company began inviting users to order in November. The hardware itself costs $599, the same price as the current second-generation dish. However, Musk signaled that the new Standard dish costs less for SpaceX to manufacture.

Weve now shipped our next-gen hardware. Thats version four of the user terminal. So that allows us to lower the cost of Starlink, he said.(Meanwhile, users have told PCMag the next-generation dish seems to excel at delivering more consistent higher download speeds and better upload rates.)

(Credit: SpaceX)

Previously, a single Starlink dish cost $3,000 to produce, but the company has been steadily driving down the manufacturing costs. This has involved opening a new Starlink factory in Texas, which Musk referred to in his speech.

The companys other major goal is to operate a cellular version of Starlink that can beam data to phones on the ground, giving a way for consumers to digitally communicate even in the most remote regions. On Thursday, SpaceX demonstrated that the technology works, successfully relaying text messages from a batch of newly launched Direct to Cell Starlink satellites to unmodified phones on the ground.

(Credit: SpaceX)

In his speech, Musk said the cellular Starlink system is designed to supply about 7Mbps per cell. And the cells are hundreds of square miles, kilometers in size. So its good for text messages, he said. You could technically do video if youre the only one, or if theres only a few people in that cell, like if youre in the middle of the Pacific.

The company plans on launching the cellular Starlink service through T-Mobile later this year to support text messages. Voice and data support are scheduled to arrive later in 2025. However, SpaceX is still waiting for FCC approval to operate the service commercially in the US.

As for the regular Starlink service, Musk said a major goal is to reduce the systems latency to under 20 milliseconds. To do so, the company is building more gateway stations connected to fiber networks on the ground. These ground stations can then beam the high-speed internet to Starlink satellites in orbit.

(Credit: SpaceX)

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Proviso Suburbs Are Regulating Unscheduled Buses As Migrant Crisis Enters Harsh Winter – Village Free Press |

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Migrants in tents outside of the 15th District Chicago Police station in the citys Austin community in October 2023. The city has since relocated the migrants, but now suburban officials are taking measures to regulate unscheduled buses that may be unsafely dropping the asylum-seekers off in municipalities. | File

Monday, January 15, 2024 || By Michael Romain || michael@wearejohnwilk.com

Suburbs across Proviso Township have recently enacted legislation to address the wave of buses carrying migrants to various points across the Chicago area and burdening resource-strapped municipalities.

The villages of Bellwood, Broadview, Hillside and Westchester are among the municipalities whose boards have voted on ordinances or whose mayors have issued executive orders since December designed to introduce fines, penalties and restrictions for buses illegally dropping off passengers.

The primary aim is to safeguard the health and safety of both residents and bus occupants, Hillside village officials explained in a statement posted to the villages website on Dec. 29.

The Village lacks the resources to adequately support these migrants, Hillside officials added. Collaborative efforts with Local, State, County, and regional authorities are underway to address these concerns.

CNN reported in December that since April 2022, Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has sent more than 90,000 asylum-seeking migrants from Latin America to various Democratic-run sanctuary cities, including Chicago.

Border authorities encountered more than 225,000 migrants along the US-Mexico border in December alone, marking the highest monthly total recorded since 2000, according to preliminary Homeland Security statistics shared with CNN, the outlet reported.

In their various ordinances and executive orders, Proviso-area village officials explained that the legislation regulating unscheduled buses is time-sensitive due to the onset of the frigid winter weather.

Entities sending such charter buses know, or should know, that the passengers on such buses are likely to seek emergency shelter and other immediate services from the municipality upon or soon after arrival in the municipality, reads the ordinance the Westchester village board unanimously passed on Jan. 9.

Local police departments have been tasked with enforcing the new regulations. In a statement shared with WGN 9, Broadview Mayor Katrina Thompson said that any violation of her executive order by any bus company or bus driver, regardless of origin or destination, authorizes the seizure and impoundment of the bus by the Broadview Police Department as well as criminal charges to be filed against the company and driver.

Broadview Police Chief Thomas Mills said his department is requesting bus companies notify us five days in advance, adding that they need to know how many people are coming under the age of 18 (and) how many adults so we know how many are arriving in the Village of Broadview, WGN reported.

Mayor Thompson issued her executive order in December. The Broadview village board is poised to vote on a series of ordinances regulating unscheduled buses at a regular meeting on Jan. 16.

State opens migrant shelter

Earlier this month, Capitol News Illinois reported that another migrant shelter opened in Chicago on Jan. 10, the states latest step in dealing with an influx of more than 30,000 asylum seekers sent to Illinois from states on the southern U.S. Border since summer 2022.

The recently opened shelter is located in a former CVS in Chicagos Little Village neighborhood and is expected to host about 220 migrants. The shelter is part of a $160 million state spending plan for migrant assistance that Gov. JB Pritzker announced in November, Capitol News Illinois reported.

The new site is one of several that houses migrants, mostly from Venezuela, that have arrived in Chicago over the past year. Roughly 250 migrants are currently staying at OHare International Airport and another 280 people slept in city buses at a so-called landing zone facility in the South Loop.

Possible causes of the Venezuelan migrant crisis

Most of the migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States come from Venezuela. According to data from the Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela, roughly 8 million Venezuelans have fled their homes since the countrys economy collapsed in 2014. Most of those refugees have settled in about two dozen Caribbean and Latin America countries.

Critics of Venezuelas left-wing government have argued that the countrys economic collapse was due to corruption and economic mismanagement.

According to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations, a Washington, D.C. think tank, Venezuela is an example of a petrostate, where the government is highly dependent on fossil fuel income, power is concentrated, and corruption is widespread.

Petrostates are vulnerable to what economists call Dutch disease, in which a government develops an unhealthy dependence on natural resource exports to the detriment of other sectors.

When the price of oil plunged from more than $100 per barrel in 2014 to under $30 per barrel in early 2016, Venezuela entered an economic and political spiral, and despite rising prices since then, conditions remain bleak, the Council argued.

But other experts argue that the United States foreign policy also plays a critical role in the Latin American countrys collapse.

Last year, Juan Gonzlez, a reporter and senior fellow at the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago, told WBEZ that the influx of Venezuelan migrants to the United States is a relatively new phenomenon. Its only really happened in the last three or four years. But now Venezuelans have become the fastest growing group of the Latino community in the United States.

Gonzlez said that economic sanctions lodged by the United States against Venezuela constituted an economic war against the country. The sanctions have been under Presidents Obama, Trump and Biden, he said.

The result has been an almost complete economic collapse of the country. Besides perhaps war, it is difficult to think of a tool of foreign policy that today causes more economic and humanitarian destruction than economic sanctions, Gonzlez told WBEZ.

For instance, Citgo petroleum, a major petroleum company in this country, is a Venezuelan-owned company, he added. The Trump administration froze all the assets of Citgo. The company takes in about $24 billion in oil revenues in the United States. None of that money, though, can go to Venezuela, which is its owner.

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Proviso Suburbs Are Regulating Unscheduled Buses As Migrant Crisis Enters Harsh Winter - Village Free Press |

Conservative towns in liberal American states want to ban abortion – The Economist

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On December 10th about a dozen people file into a church in Seminole, Texas. Upbeat Christmas music plays softly over the speakers as people take their seats in wooden pews. But the pastor is not the main speaker. He hands the microphone to Mark Lee Dickson, an anti-abortion activist, and David Gallegos, a state senator for New Mexico. The two men explain how their plan to ban abortion in eastern New Mexico could deter women from neighbouring Texas from crossing state lines for the procedure. They are coming, says Mr Gallegos. The only way to stop death in my state is help from your state.

New Mexicos role in Americas abortion wars derives largely from its geography. Abortion in the state is legal throughout all stages of pregnancy. But New Mexico shares a border with Texas and Oklahoma, where the procedure is illegal, and touches Arizona and Utah, which have restrictions. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion research group, finds that abortions in New Mexico more than tripled between 2020 and 2023, the largest percentage increase of any state. Adrienne Mansanares, chief executive of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, reckons that more than 80% of patients at the groups clinic in Las Cruces, New Mexico, come from Texas.

New Mexico has thus become a target for anti-abortion activists. Mr Dickson initially sought merely to limit abortion in cities and counties in Texas. But in 2021 the state passed SB8, which in effect banned the procedure, and a year later the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade. The emboldened activist now has his sights set on eastern New Mexico, which is home to plenty of conservative, rural communities that chafe against the states progressive government and permissive abortion laws. Its basically West West Texas, says Laura Wight, a member of Eastern New Mexico Rising, a rare progressive group in the region.

Several municipalities in New Mexico recently passed ordinances that endeavour to ban abortion despite state law. The states attorney-general sued them, and the case came before New Mexicos Supreme Court on December 13th. The ordinances have two goals. The first is to deter Texas women from seeking an abortion in New Mexico. Whole Womans Health, which runs abortion clinics, recently considered opening an office in Hobbs, just across the state line from Seminole, but decided on progressive Albuquerque instead. Hobbs is right in line for getting abortion clinics and weve been fighting that tooth and toenail, says Jan Auld, a Hobbs resident who attended the church meeting in Seminole.

Second, Mr Dickson and his supporters want the New Mexico ordinances to bolster their argument that a federal law on the books since 1873, known as the Comstock Act, already in effect blocks abortion nationwide. The Comstock Act is an ambiguous anti-vice law that prohibits the mailing of obscene or lewd materials, including things related to contraception and abortion. Some argue that it could be used to block the shipping of any tools used for abortion, making the procedure difficult to perform at all.

The law was only ever patchily enforced, explains Mary Ziegler, a legal historian at the University of California, Davis. It was this sort of weird relationship between government and social-movement activists, she adds. There were very few prosecutions even before Roe established a constitutional right to abortion in 1973. But the eastern New Mexico ordinances assert that Comstock is the supreme law of the land, thereby trumping any New Mexico law that protects abortion.

New Mexicos Supreme Court will probably disagree. During oral arguments the justices appeared loth to consider Comstock at all. They seem minded to rule that the new local laws violate state law: case closed. But the debate over Comstock will rage on. A federal judge in Texas recently ruled that the 150-year-old law plainly forecloses mail-order abortion, referring to the Food and Drug Administrations approval of mifepristone, a drug used to end a pregnancy. The Supreme Court will hear the case in 2024.

The question of whether, and how, Comstock is enforced will also loom over the 2024 presidential election. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank that has published detailed policy plans for a second Donald Trump term, contends that the next conservative administration should announce its intent to enforce federal law against providers and distributors of such pills.

David Cohen, a law professor at Drexel University, argues that, should he lose the election, in the lame-duck period before he leaves office President Joe Biden should consider pardoning anyone who may have violated the Comstock Act. The Biden administration is not going to enforce that law, Mr Dickson tells those gathered at the church. But another administration might.

Stay on top of American politics withChecks and Balance, our weekly subscriber-only newsletter, whichexamines the state of American democracy and the issues that matter to voters.

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Conservative towns in liberal American states want to ban abortion - The Economist

Anti-abortion media attacked a Texas woman seeking an emergency abortion, likening the procedure to eugenics – Media Matters for America

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Last week, a pregnant woman named Kate Cox, whose fetus has a lethal diagnosis, sued Texas to receive a medical exception to the states abortion bans. Though a lower state court granted Coxs request, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the states Supreme Court to intervene, and the higher court paused, and later revoked, the decision. Anti-abortion media responded to the lawsuit by demonizing all forms of abortion, with some claiming that terminating a pregnancy based on such a fatal diagnosis amounts to eugenics.

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Anti-abortion media attacked a Texas woman seeking an emergency abortion, likening the procedure to eugenics - Media Matters for America

Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts job with Tarleton State University | 37572379 – The Chronicle of Higher Education

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Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts

Tarleton State University seeks an experienced educator, researcher, and administrator to serve as Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts.

The Dean serves as the academic officer responsible for executive management of the college and its full range of programs and initiatives; exercises leadership responsibility in advising the college regarding administrative, curriculum, and budgetary matters; and provides a vision that contributes to achieving the goals of the institutional strategic plan: Tarleton Forward 2030. The ideal candidate will be a person who can articulate the importance of the collective disciplines of the college to outside stakeholders, and thinks creatively and energetically about the challenges of the changing demographics in higher education. The position reports to the Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs.

Institutional Profile

Tarleton State University is an energetic, comprehensive Carnegie R2 Doctoral University: High Research Activity, with the elective Community Engagement classification, and a new member of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. The Wall Street Journals latest rankings have Tarleton State fifth among U.S. schools highly recommended by their students and recent alumni.

Fall 2023 brought another all-time high enrollment, outpacing many institutions nationwide. A total of over 14,500 students is up over 10% from 2019, making Tarleton the fifth fastest-growing university in Texas.

The university offers 84 bachelors, 39 masters, and three doctoral degree options, with 10 additional research and health professional doctorates proposed for 20242028. For their majors, students choose from seven academic colleges Agriculture and Natural Sciences; Business; Education; Health Sciences; Liberal and Fine Arts; Science and Mathematics; and the Mayfield College of Engineering.

Tarleton State University is a proud member of The Texas A&M University System and serves students on the main campus in Stephenville, its growing Fort Worth campus, in Waco, and on the A&M-RELLIS campus in Bryan. True to Tarletons values of excellence, integrity, and respect, academic programs emphasize real-world learning and address regional, state, and national needs.

Joining NCAA Division I in July 2020 as the ninth full-time member of the Western Athletic Conference increases national recognition for student-athletes and academic programs, positioning Tarleton State as a frontrunner for anyone seeking a university education. Among numerous milestones, its storied rodeo program boasts eight national team titles and 29 individual CNFR (College National Finals Rodeo) champs, making it a top pick for many cowgirls and cowboys.

Tarleton Student Body

Over 50% of Tarleton State students are first generation with no family tradition of seeking a post-secondary degree. Others are legacy students following their parents, grandparents and even great-grandparents as proud defenders of the purple and white. Some graduate from the only high school in their rural county, and some transfer from large urban community college districts.

Tarleton State students are a diverse group (almost 40 percent report an ethnicity other than white) from all parts of Texas, 48 states, and 47 countries. Over 80% receive some form of financial assistance, and 37% are Pell Grant eligible. They love the university its people, its traditions, its commitment to student triumphs in and out of the classroom.

The university is fast approaching status as a Hispanic-Serving Institution with almost 23 percent of its student body identifying as Hispanic in fall 2023.

The Class of 2027 is over 2,700 students and represents the largest, and most well-prepared group of incoming students in the universitys 124 years proof that Tarleton State is quickly becoming one of the nations premier comprehensive public universities.

Financial Stability

Tarleton States comprehensive operating budget for fiscal 2022 was $276 million, giving the university sound financial footing. The universitys largest-ever comprehensive capital campaign recently met its $125 million target 18 months ahead of schedule. These campaign dollars will strengthen student success, enhance the academic experience, elevate Tarleton States institutional profile, and fortify the schools infrastructure. Tarleton State saw the second-highest percentage growth in funding in the A&M System (only behind A&M-College Station) as part of a record $1.19 billion appropriated to the System by the 88th Legislature. The university also received a $5 million exceptional item, reflecting its contributions to research and innovation in rural healthcare. Tarleton State annually generates an estimated $1.2 billion for North Central Texas and $2 billion in added income for the state. College of Liberal and Fine Arts

The College of Liberal and Fine Arts (COLFA) is dedicated to providing an academically challenging education through exemplary teaching, significant research and inspired creativity. Home to 298 faculty and 26 staff who serve over 1,500 undergraduate majors and over 250 graduate students, the college manages a budget of almost $10 million and consists of the School of Criminology, Criminal Justice and Public Administration, which houses the departments of Criminal Justice and Public Administration, and six additional academic departments: Communication Studies; English and Languages; Government, Legal Studies, and Philosophy; History, Geography and GIS; Performing Arts; and Visual Arts and Design. The college offers 22 baccalaureate and five masters degrees, as well as the PhD degree in criminal justice, and plans to seek system and state approval for a new PhD program in Public & Applied Humanities.

COLFA Points of Pride

Named for a distinguished Tarleton alumnus and chairman of the Texas A&M Board of Regents, the Clyde H. Wells Fine Arts Center opened in 1980, and is considered a crown jewel of Tarleton States Stephenville campus. The facility features a theater, an auditorium, two workshop theaters, band and choir rehearsal halls, music and art design labs, and an art gallery.

Criminal Justice Research: The college is home to four dedicated research institutes that are nationally recognized for specialized work that is addressing challenges and issues in the criminal justice system: The Institute for Criminal Justice Leadership and Public Policy; the Institute for Homeland Security, Cybercrime, and International Criminal Justice Studies; Institute for Predictive and Analytical Policing Science; and the Institute for Violence Against Women and Human Trafficking.

The Texas Folklore Society is the second oldest folklore organization continually functioning in the United States, after the American Folklore Society founded in 1888. Chartered in 1909, The Texas Folklore Society held its first meeting at the University of Texas in 1911. The society has stimulated the recording and study of Texas rich folk culture, has attracted both laymen and scholars, and has distributed its publications throughout the world.

Responsibilities of the Dean

Required Qualifications and Credentials

Preferred Qualifications

Emphasized commitment to student success demonstrated through impactful and transformative educational opportunities; Experience in launching and sustaining masters and doctoral programs; Accomplishments in building institutional capacity for research and creative scholarship. Procedures for Applying

All applications, nominations, and inquiries are invited. Applications should include the following components, as separate .pdf documents:

A detailed letter of interest addressing the responsibilities and qualifications outlined above; A full curriculum vitae with relevant administrative and scholarly accomplishments and responsibilities; A list of five professional references, including names, titles, organizations, phone numbers, and email addresses, noting the candidates relationship with each reference. References will not be contacted without prior knowledge and approval of candidates. Application packets only accepted online at: https://www.tarleton.edu/jobs/externalapplicants/

Apply directly to posting: Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts

The search will be conducted with a commitment to maintaining confidentiality for candidates until finalists are selected. Finalists will participate in on-campus interviews that may include a public presentation. A background check (including identity, degree verification, and criminal records scan) must be completed satisfactorily before any candidate can be offered this position.

Candidate materials received by January 15, 2024, will be given full consideration, although applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Tarleton State University provides equal opportunity to all employees, students, applicants for employment, and the public regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, age, genetic information or veteran status.

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Dean of the College of Liberal and Fine Arts job with Tarleton State University | 37572379 - The Chronicle of Higher Education