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Carvana plans to open Denver car vending machine ‘in the new year’ despite bankruptcy worries – Denver 7 Colorado News
Artificial Intelligence in Medicine | IBM
Artificial intelligence in medicine is the use of machine learning models to search medical data and uncover insights to help improve health outcomes and patient experiences. Thanks to recent advances in computer science and informatics, artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming an integral part of modern healthcare. AI algorithms and other applications powered by AI are being used to support medical professionals in clinical settings and in ongoing research.
Currently, the most common roles for AI in medical settings are clinical decision support and imaging analysis. Clinical decision support tools help providers make decisions about treatments, medications, mental health and other patient needs by providing them with quick access to information or research that's relevant to their patient. In medical imaging, AI tools are being used to analyze CT scans, x-rays, MRIs and other images for lesions or other findings that a human radiologist might miss.
The challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic created for many health systems also led many healthcare organizations around the world to start field-testing new AI-supported technologies, such as algorithms designed to help monitor patients and AI-powered tools to screen COVID-19 patients.
The research and results of these tests are still being gathered, and the overall standards for the use AI in medicine are still being defined. Yet opportunities for AI to benefit clinicians, researchers and the patients they serve are steadily increasing. At this point, there is little doubt that AI will become a core part of the digital health systems that shape and support modern medicine.
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The Wild Future of Artificial Intelligence – The Atlantic
- The Wild Future of Artificial Intelligence  The Atlantic
- Why tech insiders are so excited about ChatGPT, a chatbot that answers questions and writes essays  CNBC
- The artificial intelligence revolution in compliance isn't coming. It happened yesterday.  The FCPA Blog
- What is ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence text bot that went viral?  ABC News
- ChatGPT and Lensa: Why Everyone Is Playing With Artificial Intelligence  The Wall Street Journal
- View Full Coverage on Google News
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The Increased Spending On Defense Will Propel The AI in Military Market Size To More Than $11 Billion By 2026 As Per The Business Research Company’s…
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Effective abolition of child labour (DECLARATION)
Children enjoy the same human rights accorded to all people. But, lacking the knowledge, experience or physical development of adults and the power to defend their own interests in an adult world, children also have distinct rights to protection by virtue of their age. One of these is protection from economic exploitation and from work that is dangerous to the health and morals of children or which hampers the child's development.
The principle of the effective abolition of child labour means ensuring that every girl and boy has the opportunity to develop physically and mentally to her or his full potential. Its aim is to stop all work by children that jeopardises their education and development. This does not mean stopping all work performed by children. International labour standards allow the distinction to be made between what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable forms of work for children at different ages and stages of development.
The principle extends from formal employment to the informal economy where, indeed, the bulk of the unacceptable forms of child labour are to be found. It covers family-based enterprises, agricultural undertakings, domestic service and unpaid work carried out under various customary arrangements whereby children work in return for their keep.
To achieve the effective abolition of child labour, governments should fix and enforce a minimum age or ages at which children can enter into different kinds of work. Within limits, these ages may vary according to national social and economic circumstances. The general minimum age for admission to employment should not be less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling and never be less than 15 years. But developing countries may make certain exceptions to this, and a minimum age of 14 years may be applied where the economy and educational facilities are insufficiently developed. Sometimes, light work may be performed by children two years younger than the general minimum age.
Types of work now dubbed "the worst forms of child labour" are however totally unacceptable for all children under the age of 18 years, and their abolition is a matter for urgent and immediate action. These forms include such inhumane practices as slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and other forms of forced labour; prostitution and pornography; forced recruitment of children for military purposes; and the use of children for illicit activities such as the trafficking of drugs. Forms of dangerous work that can harm the health, safety or morals of children & subject to national determination, by government in consultation with workers' and employers' organisations.
In any effective strategy to abolish child labour, provision of relevant and accessible basic education is central. But education must be embedded in a whole range of other measures, aiming at combating the many factors, such as poverty, lack of awareness of children's rights and inadequate systems of social protection, that give rise to child labour and allow it to persist.
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ENZO BIOCHEM INC Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations (form 10-Q) – Marketscreener.com
Bitcoin Hits One-Month High Ahead of US Inflation Data – CoinDesk
- Bitcoin Hits One-Month High Ahead of US Inflation Data  CoinDesk
- Bitcoin rises to highest level in more than a month after lighter-than-expected inflation reading  CNBC
- Bitcoin sees CPI volatility as lower inflation sends BTC price to $18KÂ Â Cointelegraph
- Bitcoin Prices Rally To 1-Month High After Inflation Report Helps Soothe Fed Concerns  Forbes
- Dissipating Inflation Could Be Key Catalyst for Bitcoin Prices  ETF Trends
- View Full Coverage on Google News
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Bitcoin Hits One-Month High Ahead of US Inflation Data - CoinDesk
Crypto Price Today: Bitcoin marches towards $18K; Solana and Ethereum gain up to 6% – Economic Times
Empowerment – Wikipedia
Autonomy and self-determination in people and communities
Empowerment is the degree of autonomy and self-determination in people and in communities. This enables them to represent their interests in a responsible and self-determined way, acting on their own authority. It is the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights. Empowerment as action refers both to the process of self-empowerment and to professional support of people, which enables them to overcome their sense of powerlessness and lack of influence, and to recognize and use their resources.
As a term, empowerment originates from American community psychology and is associated with the social scientist Julian Rappaport (1981).[1] However, the roots of empowerment theory extend further into history and are linked to Marxist sociological theory. These sociological ideas have continued to be developed and refined through Neo-Marxist Theory (also known as Critical Theory).[2]
In social work, empowerment forms a practical approach of resource-oriented intervention. In the field of citizenship education and democratic education, empowerment is seen[by whom?] as a tool to increase the responsibility of the citizen. Empowerment is a key concept in the discourse on promoting civic engagement. Empowerment as a concept, which is characterized by a move away from a deficit-oriented towards a more strength-oriented perception, can increasingly be found in management concepts, as well as in the areas of continuing education and self-help.[citation needed]
Robert Adams points to the limitations of any single definition of 'empowerment', and the danger that academic or specialist definitions might take away the word and the connected practices from the very people they are supposed to belong to.[3] Still, he offers a minimal definition of the term: 'Empowerment: the capacity of individuals, groups and/or communities to take control of their circumstances, exercise power and achieve their own goals, and the process by which, individually and collectively, they are able to help themselves and others to maximize the quality of their lives.'[4]
One definition for the term is "an intentional, ongoing process centered in the local community, involving mutual respect, critical reflection, caring, and group participation, through which people lacking an equal share of resources gain greater access to and control over those resources".[5][6]
Rappaport's (1984) definition includes: "Empowerment is viewed as a process: the mechanism by which people, organizations, and communities gain mastery over their lives."[7]
Sociological empowerment often addresses members of groups that social discrimination processes have excluded from decision-making processes through for example discrimination based on disability, race, ethnicity, religion, or gender. Empowerment as a methodology is also associated with feminism.
Empowerment is the process of obtaining basic opportunities for marginalized people, either directly by those people, or through the help of non-marginalized others who share their own access to these opportunities. It also includes actively thwarting attempts to deny those opportunities. Empowerment also includes encouraging, and developing the skills for, self-sufficiency, with a focus on eliminating the future need for charity or welfare in the individuals of the group. This process can be difficult to start and to implement effectively.
One empowerment strategy is to assist marginalized people to create their own nonprofit organization, using the rationale that only the marginalized people, themselves, can know what their own people need most, and that control of the organization by outsiders can actually help to further entrench marginalization. Charitable organizations lead from outside of the community, for example, can disempower the community by entrenching a dependence charity or welfare. A nonprofit organization can target strategies that cause structural changes, reducing the need for ongoing dependence. Red Cross, for example, can focus on improving the health of indigenous people, but does not have authority in its charter to install water-delivery and purification systems, even though the lack of such a system profoundly, directly and negatively impacts health. A nonprofit composed of the indigenous people, however, could ensure their own organization does have such authority and could set their own agendas, make their own plans, seek the needed resources, do as much of the work as they can, and take responsibility and credit for the success of their projects (or the consequences, should they fail).
The process of which enables individuals/groups to fully access personal or collective power, authority and influence, and to employ that strength when engaging with other people, institutions or society. In other words, "Empowerment is not giving people power, people already have plenty of power, in the wealth of their knowledge and motivation, to do their jobs magnificently. We define empowerment as letting this power out."[8] It encourages people to gain the skills and knowledge that will allow them to overcome obstacles in life or work environment and ultimately, help them develop within themselves or in the society.
To empower a female "...sounds as though we are dismissing or ignoring males, but the truth is, both genders desperately need to be equally empowered."[9] Empowerment occurs through improvement of conditions, standards, events, and a global perspective of life.
Before there can be the finding that a particular group requires empowerment and that therefore their self-esteem needs to be consolidated on the basis of awareness of their strengths, there needs to be a deficit diagnosis usually carried out by experts assessing the problems of this group. The fundamental asymmetry of the relationship between experts and clients is usually not questioned by empowerment processes. It also needs to be regarded critically, in how far the empowerment approach is really applicable to all patients/clients. It is particularly questionable whether [mentally ill] people in acute crisis situations are in a position to make their own decisions. According to Albert Lenz, people behave primarily regressive in acute crisis situations and tend to leave the responsibility to professionals.[10] It must be assumed, therefore, that the implementation of the empowerment concept requires a minimum level of communication and reflectivity of the persons involved.
In social work, empowerment offers an approach that allows social workers to increase the capacity for self-help of their clients. For example, this allows clients not to be seen as passive, helpless 'victims' to be rescued but instead as a self-empowered person fighting abuse/ oppression; a fight, in which the social worker takes the position of a facilitator, instead of the position of a 'rescuer'.[11]
Marginalized people who lack self-sufficiency become, at a minimum, dependent on charity, or welfare. They lose their self-confidence because they cannot be fully self-supporting. The opportunities denied them also deprive them of the pride of accomplishment which others, who have those opportunities, can develop for themselves. This in turn can lead to psychological, social and even mental health problems. "Marginalized" here refers to the overt or covert trends within societies whereby those perceived as lacking desirable traits or deviating from the group norms tend to be excluded by wider society and ostracized as undesirables.
As a concept, and model of practice, empowerment is also used in health promotion research and practice. The key principle is for individuals to gain increased control over factors that influence their health status.[12]
To empower individuals and to obtain more equity in health, it is also important to address health-related behaviors.[13]
Studies suggest that health promotion interventions aiming at empowering adolescents should enable active learning activities, use visualizing tools to facilitate self-reflection, and allow the adolescents to influence intervention activities.[14]
According to Robert Adams, there is a long tradition in the UK and the USA respectively to advance forms of self-help that have developed and contributed to more recent concepts of empowerment. For example, the free enterprise economic theories of Milton Friedman embraced self-help as a respectable contributor to the economy. Both the Republicans in the US and the Conservative government of Margaret Thatcher built on these theories. 'At the same time, the mutual aid aspects of the concept of self-help retained some currency with socialists and democrats.'[15]
In economic development, the empowerment approach focuses on mobilizing the self-help efforts of the poor, rather than providing them with social welfare. Economic empowerment is also the empowering of previously disadvantaged sections of the population, for example, in many previously colonized African countries.[16]
The World Pensions Council (WPC) has argued that large institutional investors such as pension funds and endowments are exercising a greater influence on the process of adding and replacing corporate directors as they are themselves steered to do so by their own board members (pension trustees).
This could eventually put more pressure on the CEOs of publicly listed companies, as more than ever before, many [North American], UK and European Union pension trustees speak enthusiastically about flexing their fiduciary muscles for the UNs Sustainable Development Goals, and other ESG-centric investment practices [17]
Legal empowerment happens when marginalised people or groups use the legal mobilisation i.e., law, legal systems and justice mechanisms to improve or transform their social, political or economic situations. Legal empowerment approaches are interested in understanding how they can use the law to advance interests and priorities of the marginalised.[18]
According to 'Open society foundations' (an NGO) "Legal empowerment is about strengthening the capacity of all people to exercise their rights, either as individuals or as members of a community. Legal empowerment is about grass root justice, about ensuring that law is not confined to books or courtrooms, but rather is available and meaningful to ordinary people.[19]
Lorenzo Cotula in his book ' Legal Empowerment for Local Resource Control ' outlines the fact that legal tools for securing local resource rights are enshrined in legal system, does not necessarily mean that local resource users are in position to use them and benefit from them. The state legal system is constrained by a range of different factors from lack of resources to cultural issues. Among these factors economic, geographic, linguistic and other constraints on access to courts, lack of legal awareness as well as legal assistance tend to be recurrent problems.[20]
In many context, marginalised groups do not trust the legal system owing to the widespread manipulation that it has historically been subjected to by the more powerful. 'To what extent one knows the law, and make it work for themselves with 'para legal tools', is legal empowerment; assisted utilizing innovative approaches like legal literacy and awareness training, broadcasting legal information, conducting participatory legal discourses, supporting local resource user in negotiating with other agencies and stake holders and to strategies combining use of legal processes with advocacy along with media engagement, and socio legal mobilisation.[20]
Sometimes groups are marginalized by society at large, with governments participating in the process of marginalization. Equal opportunity laws which actively oppose such marginalization, are supposed to allow empowerment to occur. These laws made it illegal to restrict access to schools and public places based on race. They can also be seen as a symptom of minorities' and women's empowerment through lobbying.
Gender empowerment conventionally refers to the empowerment of women, which is a significant topic of discussion in regards to development and economics nowadays. It also points to approaches regarding other marginalized genders in a particular political or social context. This approach to empowerment is partly informed by feminism and employed legal empowerment by building on international human rights. Empowerment is one of the main procedural concerns when addressing human rights and development. The Human Development and Capabilities Approach, The Millennium Development Goals, and other credible approaches/goals point to empowerment and participation as a necessary step if a country is to overcome the obstacles associated with poverty and development.[21] The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 5) targets gender equality and women's empowerment for the global development agenda.[22]
According to Thomas A. Potterfield,[23] many organizational theorists and practitioners regard employee empowerment as one of the most important and popular management concepts of our time.
Ciulla discusses an inverse case: that of bogus empowerment.[24]
In the sphere of management and organizational theory, "empowerment" often refers loosely to processes for giving subordinates (or workers generally) greater discretion and resources: distributing control in order to better serve both customers and the interests of employing organizations. It also giving employees the authority to take initiatives, make their own decisions, find and execute solutions. Data from survey research using confirmatory factor analysis, empowerment can be captures through four dimensions, namely meaning, competence, self-determination, and impact; whereas some exploratory factor analysis identifies only three dimensions, namely meaning, competence, and influence (a conflation of self-determination and impact).
One account of the history of workplace empowerment in the United States recalls the clash of management styles in railroad construction in the American West in the mid-19th century, where "traditional" hierarchical East-Coast models of control encountered individualistic pioneer workers, strongly supplemented by methods of efficiency-oriented "worker responsibility" brought to the scene by Chinese laborers. In this case, empowerment at the level of work teams or brigades achieved a notable (but short-lived) demonstrated superiority. See the views of Robert L. Webb.
Since the 1980s and 1990s, empowerment has become a point of interest in management concepts and business administration. In this context, empowerment involves approaches that promise greater participation and integration to the employee in order to cope with their tasks as independently as possible and responsibly can. A strength-based approach known as "empowerment circle" has become an instrument of organizational development. Multidisciplinary empowerment teams aim for the development of quality circles to improve the organizational culture, strengthening the motivation and the skills of employees. The target of subjective job satisfaction of employees is pursued through flat hierarchies, participation in decisions, opening of creative effort, a positive, appreciative team culture, self-evaluation, taking responsibility (for results), more self-determination and constant further learning. The optimal use of existing potential and abilities can supposedly be better reached by satisfied and active workers. Here, knowledge management contributes significantly to implement employee participation as a guiding principle, for example through the creation of communities of practice.[25]
However, it is important to ensure that the individual employee has the skills to meet their allocated responsibilities and that the company's structure sets up the right incentives for employees to reward their taking responsibilities. Otherwise there is a danger of being overwhelmed or even becoming lethargic.[26]
Empowerment of employees requires a culture of trust in the organization and an appropriate information and communication system. The aim of these activities is to save control costs, that become redundant when employees act independently and in a self-motivated fashion. In the book Empowerment Takes More Than a Minute, the authors illustrate three keys that organizations can use to open the knowledge, experience, and motivation power that people already have.[8] The three keys that managers must use to empower their employees are:
According to Stewart, in order to guarantee a successful work environment, managers need to exercise the "right kind of authority" (p.6). To summarize, "empowerment is simply the effective use of a managers authority", and subsequently, it is a productive way to maximize all-around work efficiency.[27]
These keys are hard to put into place and it is a journey to achieve empowerment in the workplace. It is important to train employees and makes sure they have trust in what empowerment will bring to a company.[8]
The implementation of the concept of empowerment in management has also been criticized for failing to live up to its claims.[28]
Empowerment in the study of artificial intelligence is an information-theoretic quantity that measures the perceived capacity of an agent to influence its environment. Empowerment is an approach to modelling intrinsic motivation where advantageous actions are chosen by agent with just knowledge of the structure of the environment, rather than satisfying an externally imposed need as in homeostasis.
Experiments have shown that artificial agents acting to maximise their empowerment, in the absence of a defined goal, exhibit advantageous exploratory behaviour that, in a range of simulated environments, resembles intelligent behaviour in living things.[29]
Marshall McLuhan insisted that the development of electronic media would eventually weaken the hierarchical structures that underpin central governments, large corporation, academia and, more generally, rigid, linear-Cartesian forms of social organization.[30] From that perspective, new, electronic forms of awareness driven by information technology would empower citizen, employees and students by disseminating in near-real-time vast amounts of information once reserved to a small number of experts and specialists. Citizens would be bound to ask for substantially more say in the management of government affairs, production, consumption, and education [30]
World Pensions Council (WPC) economist Nicolas Firzli has argued that rapidly rising cultural tides, notably new forms of online engagement and increased demands for ESG-driven public policies and managerial decisions are transforming the way governments and corporation interact with citizen-consumers in the Age of Empowerment [17]
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Las Vegas health experts recommend the use of face coverings in crowded …
LAS VEGAS (KTNV) With the tripledemic of COVID, Flu, and RSV hitting the valley hard during this holiday season, Southern Nevada Health District is recommending the use of face coverings in crowded and indoor public spaces.
For Maggie Slomka before going into any grocery store, she makes it a top priority to wear a face covering.
"It makes me feel much safer when I wear the mask and I would like to see more people wearing a mask too, Slomka said.
With a surge in cases of COVID, the Flu, and respiratory syncytial virus across the valley she says her health is at stake. When she found out the CDC and Southern Nevada Health District are now recommending the use of face coverings in crowded spaces, she was relieved, but many like Steve Brase are not on the same page.
"I don't really care for it that much," said Brase.
He says if it is mandated, he will wear it, but hed rather not if he doesn't have to.
"I wore the mask for quite some time, got used to it, and now Im used to not wearing it, I rather not, that is just personal preference," said Brase.
He says they arent necessary and basic hygiene practices are enough. Dr. Domenic Martinello is the Chief Medical officer at MountainView Hospital, and he disagrees. He says face coverings can help prevent the spread of these tripledemic illnesses.
"Masks work by decreasing the amount of virus, both that come out of your mouth, and it spread to others and to an extent that which comes into your mouth and nose, said Dr. Martinello.
The CDC shows Clark County's community risk level has risen to medium, after being at a low for several weeks. Looking at other large metropolitan areas close to us, like Los Angeles, California, and the state of Oregon, the community risk level there is now highand local health officials are urging the use of masks. Dr. Martinello says with the relaxation of pandemic safety measures that once protected us from influenza and RSV, the surge was predicted.
"As we return to a more normal way of life, we have lots of people's immune systems that have not seen influenza or RSV in several years now and that makes us especially vulnerable," Martinello said.
Dr. Martinello says MountainView Hospital is still urging its staff to wear masks and will continue to do so, making Maggies trip to the store less nerve-wracking.
"I would definitely feel better if more people wore masks, especially in crowded places," said Slomka.
Click here for more information about SNHDs new COVID-19 test kit vending machines.
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Las Vegas health experts recommend the use of face coverings in crowded ...
Las Vegas liquor store CEO was drunk before fatal crash, troopers say
Kenny Lee killed in crash police say he caused in November 2021
LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The CEO of Lees Discount Liquor, who died in a fatal crash last year, was driving with a blood-alcohol level nearly three times the legal limit, documents the 8 News Now Investigators obtained said.
Kenny Lee was killed in the crash on Nov. 19, 2021, on U.S. 93 between Ely and West Wendover, near the Nevada-Utah border. Lee, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from his vehicle and died at the crash site, police said.
Toxicology results showed Lees blood-alcohol concentration was 0.218%, records showed. The legal limit is 0.08%.
Lee was driving a Dodge Caravan, which was carrying cases of alcohol, police said. The van crossed the centerline, hitting a Ford F-250, documents from Nevada State Police said.
Dispatchers received their first report about the crash at 10:25 a.m., records showed. The first trooper arrived at 11:18 a.m. Police said that section of U.S. 93 is relatively flat and straight and that the speed limit is 70 mph.
The driver of the second vehicle and his passenger were not impaired and were able to exit the truck after the crash, police said.
Police noted Lee drove from Las Vegas to West Wendover on Nov. 18. During the trip, Lee experienced a tire issue on the drive. On the morning of the crash, the issue had been resolved, police said.
A person who police interviewed said she spoke with Lee the morning of the crash and noted nothing out of the ordinary, documents said.
Lee was the CEO of Lees Discount Liquor, Nevadas largest liquor retailer, with 23 stores in Las Vegas, Reno, Mesquite, and West Wendover.
It is with very heavy hearts that we regretfully announce that Kenny Lee passed away in a vehicle accident yesterday, November 19, 2021, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement after the crash.
Lees death came less than three months after his father and founder of Las Vegas Lees Discount Liquor stores, Hae Un Lee, died at 79 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
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Las Vegas liquor store CEO was drunk before fatal crash, troopers say
Las Vegas Strip Casino May Not Close, Famed Attraction Still Doomed
When Hard Rock International agreed to pay $1 billion for Mirage back in December, rumors began to fly about what might happen to the property. An early artist rendering that showed a Guitar Hotel -- like the one the acquiring company owns in Florida -- on the property where the Mirage Volcano currently sits.
That hardly official or to-scale image got people talking about the fate of the iconic free attraction. Many assumed that its days are numbered, and Hard Rock later confirmed that the beloved erupting volcano which sits on the Las Vegas Strip would eventually be relegated to Las Vegas history, according to comments made by Hard Rock CEO James Allen at a licensing hearing.
Certainly the volcano is legendary, but as you saw in the renderings, the guitar-shaped hotel replaces the volcano, he said during the meeting which is a precursor to the deal with MGM closing.
In those same media stories, which TheStreet covered as well, it was widely reported that at some point, the main Mirage tower would be closed and "gutted." Now, Hard Rock is pushing back on those stories, saying that its plans for Mirage remain in flux.
Image source: Shutterstock
"Hard Rock International plans to close the Mirage, gut the entire three-wing hotel and casino, and spend billions to expand and upgrade the property beginning in late 2023 or 2024," the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported on Dec. 7.
That's almost certainly what will happen, but Hard Rock may have realized that putting an end date on the property, rather than saying it may remain open during construction, might stop guests from booking the property. Now, Allen has tried to walk back the idea that there is a clear plan to close Mirage.
"We do not have definitive plans to close the property at this time, but for full transparency, that could be an option a year and a half down the road," News 3 Las Vegas reported Allen saying.
Instead, Hard Rock's official take is that more plans will be revealed when the company takes ownership from MGM. That could happen as soon as this week and is expected to happen no later than the end of the year.
It would not be unprecedented for a resort casino to not close during a major renovation, In theory, Hard Rock could do the work in stages as Caesars Entertainment (CZR) - Get Free Reporthas been doing at its Bally's property. That's not actually likely here given the scale of the remodel planned, but it's not impossible.
Hard Rock did close one popular attraction at Mirage, Siegfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat has already been shut down permanently. The about-to-be-new owner has, however, given another popular offering "Beatles Love," Cirque du Soleil show a stay of execution.
The cast for that show currently has contracts through the end of 2023. Hard Rock, however, has said it has reached a deal with Cirque du Soleil to keep the long-running show at the resort for the long term, though terms of the deal have no been disclosed.
MGM will continue to run gaming operations at the property through its BetMGM brand.
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Las Vegas Strip Casino May Not Close, Famed Attraction Still Doomed
Mayor, Carrot Top to break ground at new Ronald McDonald House – Las Vegas Review-Journal
Mayor, Carrot Top to break ground at new Ronald McDonald House  Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Mayor, Carrot Top to break ground at new Ronald McDonald House - Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Welcome to L.A. TACOs daily news briefs, where we bring our loyal members, readers, and supporters the latest headlines about Los Angeles politics and culture. Stay informed and look closely.
A Neo-Nazi Black Metal concert called Rise of the Black Sun was reportedly held in East L.A., featuring band members with anti-Semitic shirts and band names like the Blue Eyed Devils. L.A. TACO received multiple reports of a truck fire that occurred in front of the venue located at 3612 E 1st Street in unincorporated East Los Angeles, allegedly started by anti-nazi local punks. L.A. County Fire confirmed to L.A. TACO they were called to put out a truck fire that occurred at approximately 10:07 PM. Street vending and social justice activist Edin A. Enamorado posted a video on his Instagram account where he confronted the performing bands, who backtracked on their racist ideologies in person, but later admitted to it via an Instagram comment. [Vishal P. Singh]
Russian hackers have reportedly released a 500GB cache of data stolen from LAUSD after the school district rejected demands in a ransomware attack. [TechCrunch]
Police took in an armed assault suspect in Long Beach on Sunday following an hours-long standoff and an officer-involved shooting in which no one was reportedly hit. [CBS]
Jaywalking has been decriminalized in California now that Governor Gavin Newsom has signed the Freedom to Walk Act. [OC Register]
A fire in the Venice canals reportedly destroyed one home that was under construction and damaged four others on Sunday. [CBS]
Rick Caruso has spent $62 million to Karen Basss $6 million since entering his campaign for mayor, an amount that is only rivaled by New Yorks Michael Bloomberg in the annals of American local politics. [LAT]
A street takeover in West Compton included someone throwing large fistfuls of cash into the crowd. [KTLA]
A 17-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl were taken into custody in Saturdays stabbing death of a 56-year-old man in Downtown. [NBC]
Former professional hockey player and Kings left wing Sean Avery allegedly threatened to damage the cars of a group of people, including teenagers, who parked on his street in the Hollywood Hills last week. [TMZ]
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Ukrainian court rules SS division’s symbols are not Nazi
Emblems linked to the SS Galicia Division, a notorious Nazi-aligned unit, are legal to use in the country
Ukraines supreme court has ruled that the symbols of the infamous 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, also known as the 1st Galician Division, are not Nazi and therefore not banned in the country.
The top court upheld an earlier ruling on the matter, ending a years-long legal battle over the controversial legacy of the notorious formation, comprised primarily of ethnic Ukrainians.
The ruling has been praised by the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, which operates under Ukraines cabinet of ministers, and has long claimed the units fighters were not actual Nazi collaborators, but merely freedom fighters.
In early 2020, a Kiev court ruled the Institutes assessment of the unit as a non-Nazi force to be illegal, but the decision was overruled by a higher tier tribunal later that year.
The Supreme Court has put to an end a long judicial battle initiated some five years ago, Vyacheslav Yakubenko, a lawyer representing the Institute, said in a Facebook post.
Technically, both Communist and Nazi paraphernalia have been outlawed in Ukraine since 2015. Meanwhile, Kiev has recognized multiple Ukrainian nationalist organizations and historical figures, including well-known Nazi collaborators, as national heroes.
Despite the formal ban on Nazi imagery, it has been routinely displayed by members of Ukraines military and assorted nationalist groups, apparently without repercussions.
The 1st Galician Division is best-known for committing war crimes against Polish civilians during WWII. The flags and patches of the division have been repeatedly displayed by Ukrainian nationalists and servicemen alike, even making it into official pictures released by Kiev.
Ukraine denies the presence of neo-Nazi elements in the countrys armed forces, dismissing such assertions as well as the goal to denazify Ukraine proclaimed by Moscow as Russian propaganda.
Apart from those of the Galicia division, Ukrainian servicemen have also been spotted wearing patches of the notorious 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS, one of the worst Nazi penal units, the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, and assorted swastikas and other far-right hate symbols.
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California congressman apologizes to Jewish congregants for Nazi remark …
When it comes to defending former President Trump, theres no end of awful and obnoxious things his supporters will say and do.
Whether ignoring his admitted sexual predations (see Access Hollywood) or rioting at the Capitol to reverse the 2020 election (which Trump lost handily), there is apparently no bar too low for some of his slithering sycophants.
A particularly insidious trope is the invocation of Nazis and Nazi imagery, which is not only wildly off base, but gravely offensive to Holocaust survivors and their descendants. Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert have compared the FBI to Adolf Hitlers secret police, the Gestapo. Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar called agents brownshirts, a reference to Nazi storm troopers.
One offender this week did something most un-Trump like: He apologized, abjectly and unreservedly.
I regret my comments. I deeply am apologetic for those comments, Rep. Mike Garcia told Jewish congregants at a Yom Kippur service in his northern Los Angeles County district.
Later the Santa Clarita Republican added, The metaphor and the hyperbole was inexcusable. ... I do deeply regret the parallels that I made to the Third Reich.
Garcia, who is seeking reelection in one of the countrys hardest-fought congressional races, had likened the Biden administration to the Nazi regime during an August interview on a conservative podcast.
Referring to the FBI search for classified documents at Trumps Florida residence, Garcia accused the Biden administration and what he called the deep state of weaponizing federal agencies for political purposes.
This is literally tyranny of a majority right now that is acting more like a Third Reich than they are the United States. And this is very dangerous, Garcia said.
A cynic dont look at me would say his apology Tuesday night at Santa Claritas Temple Beth Ami, on the Jewish day of atonement, no less, was purely political.
However, there were no media cameras. His campaign gave reporters no advance notice, issued no news release afterward and even declined to respond when asked Thursday for comment.
Rabbi Mark Blazer, who introduced Garcia to the congregation, posted a video of the congressmans appearance on the temples Facebook page, but decided against seeking further publicity. I wanted the reaction and interaction to be genuine, he said, and not something that was scripted and planned.
Blazer said he had heard from congregants immediately after The Times published an account of Garcias remarks. He texted the congressman to express his unhappiness and heard back the same day. Garcia apologized, Blazer said, and stated, Im disappointed in myself. I shouldnt have done it.
The rabbi told Garcia he needed to do more than just apologize to Blazer.
He had to make the apology to our community, Blazer said. He had to specifically address the fact this is not acceptable, and not even acceptable with his track record of support for Israel, of support for the Jewish community.
There were about 200 worshipers present when Garcia stepped up Tuesday night to deliver his apology. It was the second he has issued, the congressman said, after saying he was sorry at a town hall last month at College of the Canyons.
I was very clear that I regret what I said. It was a foolish comment, Garcia told worshipers.
I dont take the experiences of the Holocaust and, obviously, what the Third Reich has done not only to our history, but the globes history, lightly, Garcia said. And so I am sorry. I do atone for the comment.
At one point, the congressman veered back into seeming fringe territory when he spoke of getting emotional in the heat of the moment, when I started seeing our government behave and our government protect itself rather than protecting Americans.
It was a reaction, he said of his Third Reich reference, it was a visceral reaction.
He did not elaborate. But just to be clear, the FBI was acting on a court-approved search warrant for Trumps Florida resort after months of fruitless negotiation between government officials and attorneys for the ex-president, who improperly carted off hundreds of pages of classified documents.
Still, give credit where due. Garcia owned up to his ludicrous and boneheaded remark, apologized, and did so in a way that suggested his humility and sincerity.
Next he should apologize for undermining democracy in one of his first acts as a congressman, by voting to block the results of the 2020 presidential election.
And he shouldnt wait until next Yom Kippur to do so.
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California congressman apologizes to Jewish congregants for Nazi remark ...