Box deepens partnership with Microsoft and turns its attention to AI and machine learning – TechCrunch

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When I spoke to Box CEO Aaron Levie last year at the Boxworks customer conference, I had to ask the obligatory machine learning question. Surely Box was of sufficient size with enough data running through its systems to take advantage of machine learning. All he would say was they were thinking about it.

Today, the company announced a deepening relationship with Microsoft in which Box will take advantage of Redmonds pure go-to-market clout, its data centers (via Box Zones) and, yes, its AI and machine learning algorithms.

And with that we could start to see Box turning its attention to the next content management transformation. Using machine learning, the company can not only automate metadata creation, a task humans are notoriously bad at, it could then take advantage of that metadata to add intelligence across the entire platform.

What does Microsoft get out of this deal? Well, it gets a significant cloud partner in Box and a partnership that works for both companies in spite of the fact that they continue to compete with one another on several levels. For us its a great partnership, recognizing Azure leadership and bringing solutions customers are asking for, Julia White, corporate vice president at Microsoft said.

That last point is key. In fact, its something that customers are demanding, says Box SVP of Platform and Chief Strategy Officer, Jeetu Patel.You start with the customer and work backwards, he says. They want to use Box and they want to work in Azure.

When Box decided to go after the enterprise in 2009, it had a seismic impact on the content management market, dragging the entire industry into the cloud era. The cloud has reached a level of maturity by now, and the next great transformative technology is sweeping over us in the form of AI and machine learning and Box clearly understands this, according to Patel.

In the next five years, the way people engage and interact with content will be completely different than the last 25 years with new ways to engage and extract meaning [from content], and we have a pretty shared commitment [with Microsoft] in how that will change, Patel told TechCrunch.

That said, its unlikely the company will rely solely on Microsofts algorithms, says Patel. Being able to use Azure machine learning is a pretty big incentive [for this partnership] based on the investment [Microsoft has made] there, but we will keep our options open. We want to be the most open cloud content management platform in the world. We will go wherever the innovation goes, he added.

For now, that is taking advantage of Microsofts technology, and while todays partnership is significant for both companies, it is a relationship that could only be born in the cloud where interoperability is an imperative.

As CEO, Aaron Levie wrote in a blog post announcing the partnership, The days of closed IT architectures and data lock-in are over This deal is proof of that.

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Box deepens partnership with Microsoft and turns its attention to AI and machine learning - TechCrunch

AI Augmentation: The Real Future of Artificial Intelligence – Forbes

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While artificial intelligence continues to drive completely autonomous technologies, its real value ... [+] comes in enhancing the capabilities of the people that use it.

I love Grammarly, the writing correction software from Grammarly, Inc. As a writer, it has proved invaluable to me time and time again, popping up quietly to say that I forgot a comma, got a bit too verbose on a sentence, or have used too many adverbs. I even sprung for the professional version.

Besides endorsing it, I bring Grammarly up for another reason. It is the face of augmentative AI. It is AI because it uses some very sophisticated (and likely recursive) algorithms to determine when grammar is being used improperly or even to provide recommendations for what may be a better way to phrase things. It is augmentative because, rather than completely replacing the need for a writer, it instead is intended to nudge the author in a particular direction, to give them a certain degree of editorial expertise so that they can publish with more confidence or reduce the workload on a copy editor.

This may sound like it eliminates the need for a copy editor, but even thats not really the case. Truth is, many copy editors also use Grammarly, and prefer that their writers do so well, because they usually prefer the much more subtle task of improving well wrought prose, rather than the tedious and maddening task of correcting grammatical and spelling errors.

As a journalist I use Ciscos Webex a great deal. Their most recent products have introduced something that Ive found to be invaluable - the ability to transcribe audio in real time. Once again, this natural language processing (NLP) capability, long the holy grail of AI, is simply there. It has turned what was once a tedious day long operation into a comparatively short editing session (no NLP is 100% accurate), meaning that I can spend more time gathering the news than having to transcribe it.

Word Cloud with NLP related tags

These examples may seem to be a far cry from the popular vision of AI as a job stealer - from autonomous cars and trucks to systems that will eliminate creatives and decision makers - but they are actually pretty indicative of where Artificial Intelligence is going. Ive written before about Adobe Photoshops Select Subject feature, which uses a fairly sophisticated AI to select that part of an image that looks like its the focus of the shot. This is an operation that can be done by hand, but it is slow, tedious and error prone. With it, Photoshop will select what I would have most of the time, and the rest can then be added relatively easily.

Whats evident from these examples is that this kind of augmentative AI can be used to do those parts of a task or operation that were high cost for very little value add otherwise. Grammarly doesnt change my voice significantly as a writer. Auto-transcription takes a task that would likely take me several hours to do manually and reduces it to seconds so that I can focus on the content. Photoshops Select Subject eliminates the need for very painstaking selection of an image. It can be argued in all three cases, that this does eliminate the need for a human being to do these tasks, but lets face it - these are tasks that nobody would prefer to do unless they really had no choice.

These kinds of instances do not flash artificial intelligence at first blush. When Microsoft Powerpoint suggests alternatives visualizations to the boring old bullet points slide, the effect is to change behavior by giving a nudge. The program is saying This looks like a pyramid, or a timeline, or a set of bucket categorizations. Why dont you use this kind of presentation?

Over time, youll notice that certain presentations float to the top more often than others, because you tend to choose them more often, though occasionally, the AI mixes things up, because it realizes through analysing your history with the app that you may be going overboard with that particular layout and should try others for variety. Grammarly (and related services such as Textio) follow grammatical rules, but use these products for a while, and youll find that the systems begin making larger and more complex recommendations that begin to match your own writing style.

You see this behavior increasingly in social media platforms, especially in longer form business messaging such as Linked-In where the recommendation engine will often provide recommended completion content that can be sentence length or longer. Yes, you are saving time, but the AI is also training you even as you train it, putting forth recommendations that sound more professional and that, by extension, teach you to prefer that form of rhetoric, to be more aware of certain grammatical constructions without necessarily knowing exactly what those constructions are.

It is this subtle interplay between human and machine agency that makes AI augmentation so noteworthy. Until comparatively recently, this capability didnt exist in the same way. When people developed applications, they created capabilities - modules - that added functionality, but that functionality was generally bounded. Auto-saving a word processing document, for instance, is not AI; it is using a simple algorithm to determine when changes were made, then providing a save call after certain activity (such as typing) stops for a specific period of time.

Word Cloud with NLP related tags

However, work with an intelligent word processor long enough and several things will begin to configure to better accommodate your writing style. Word and grammatical recommendations will begin to reflect your specific usage. Soft grammatical rules will be suppressed if you continue to ignore them, the application making the reasonable assumption that you are deliberately ignoring them when pointed out.

Ironically, this can also mean that if someone else uses your particular trained word processing application, they will likely get frustrated because the recommendations being made do not fit with their writing style, not because they are programmed to follow a given standard, but because they have been trained to facilitate your style instead.

Training is the process of providing input data into machine learning in order to establish the ... [+] parameters from subsequence categorization.

In effect, the use of augmented AI personalizes that AI - the AI becomes a friend and confidant, not just a tool. This isnt some magical, mystical computer science property. Human beings are social creatures, and when we are lonely we tend to anthropomorphize even inanimate objects around us so that we have someone to talk to. Tom Hanks, in one of his best roles to date (Cast Away), made this obvious in his humanizing of a volleyball as Wilson, an example of what TVtropes.com calls Companion Cubes, named for a similar anthropomorphized object from the Portal game franchise. Augmented AIs are examples of such companion cubes, ones that increasingly are capable of conversation and remembered history ( Hey, Siri, do you remember that beach ball in that movie we watched about a cast away who talked to it?, I think the balls name was Wilson. Why do you ask?)

Remembered history is actually a pretty good description for how most augmented AIs work. Typically, most AIs are trained to pick up anomalous behavior from a specific model, weighing both the type and weight of that anomaly and adjusting the model accordingly. In lexical analysis this includes the presence of new words or phrases and the absence of previously existing words or phrases (which are in turn kept in some form of index). A factory-reset AI will likely change fairly significantly as a user interacts with it, but over time, the model will more closely represent the optimal state for the user.

In some cases, the model itself is also somewhat self-aware, and will deliberately mutate the weightings based upon certain parameters to mix things up a bit. News filters, for instance, will normally gravitate towards a state where certain topics predominate (news about artificial intelligence or sports balls for instance, based upon a users selections), but every so often, a filter will pick up something thats three or four hops away along a topic selection graph, in order to keep the filter from being too narrow.

This, of course, also highlights one of the biggest dangers of augmenting AIs. Such filters will create an intrinsic, self selected bias in the information that gets through. If your personal bias tends to favor a certain political ideology, you get more stories (or recommendations) that favor that bias, and fewer that counter it. This can create a bubble in which what you see reinforces what you believe, while counter examples just never get through the filters. Because this affect is invisible, it may not even be obvious that it is happening, but it is one reason why periodically any AI should nudge itself out of its calculated presets.

Just as a sound mixer can be used to adjust the input weights of various audio signals, so too does ... [+] machine learning set the weights of various model parameters.

The other issue that besets augmented AIs is in the initial design of model. One of the best analogs to the way that most machine learning in particular works is to imagine a sound mixer with several dozen (or several thousand) dials that automatically adjusts themselves to determine the weights of various inputs. In an ideal world, each dial is hooked up to a variable that is independent of other variables (changing one variable doesnt effect any other variable). In reality, its not unusual for some variables to be somewhat (or even heavily) correlated, which means that if one variable changes, it causes other variables to change automatically, though not necessarily in completely known ways.

For instance, age and political affiliation might not, at first glance be obviously correlated, but as it turns out, there are subtle (and not completely linear) correlations that do tend to show up when a large enough sample of the population is taken. In a purely linear model (the domain primarily of high school linear algebra) the variables usually are completely independent, but in real life, the coupling between variables can become chaotic and non-linear unpredictably, and one of the big challenges that data scientist face is determining whether the model in question is linear within the domain being considered.

Every AI has some kind of model that determines the variables (columns) that are adjusted as learning takes place. If there are too few variables, the model may not match that well. If there are too many, the curves being delineated may be too restrictive, and if specific variables are correlated in some manner, then small variations in input can explode and create noise in the signal. This means that few models are perfect (and the ones that are perfect are too simple to be useful), and sometimes the best you can do is to keep false positives and negatives below a certain threshold.

Deep learning AIs are similar, but they essentially have the ability to determine the variables (or axes) that are most orthogonal to one another. However, this comes at a significant cost - it may be far from obvious how to interpret those variables. This explainability problem is one of the most vexing facing the field of AI, because if you dont know what a variable actually means, you cant conclusively prove that the model actually works.

Sometimes the patterns that emerge in augmented AI are not the ones we think they are.

A conversation at an Artificial Intelligence Meetup in Seattle illustrated this problem graphically. In one particular deep analysis of various patients at a given hospital, a deep learning model emerged from analysis that seemed to perfectly predict from a persons medical record if that patient had cancer. The analysts examining the (OCR-scanned) data were ecstatic, thinking theyd found a foolproof model for cancer detection, when one of the nurses working on the study pointed out to them that every cancer patients paper records had a written on one corner of the form to let the nurses quickly see who had cancer and who didnt. The AI had picked this up in the analysis, and not surprisingly it accurately predicated that if the was in that corner, the patient was sure to have cancer. Once this factor was eliminated, the accuracy rate of the model dropped considerably. (Thanks to Reza Rassool, CTO of RealNetworks, for this particular story).

Augmentation is likely to be, for some time to come, the way that most people will directly interact with artificial intelligence systems. The effects will be subtle - steadily improving the quality of the digital products that people produce, reducing the number of errors that show up, and reducing the overall time to create intellectual works - art, writing, coding, and so forth. At the same time, they raise intriguing ethical questions, such as if an AI is used to create new content, to what extent is that augmenting technology actually responsible for whats created?

It also raises serious questions about simulcra in the digital world. Daz Studio, a freemium 3D rendering and rigging software product, has recently included an upgrade that analyses portraits and generates 3D models and materials using facial recognition software. While the results are still (mostly) in the uncanny valley territory, such a tool makes it possible to create photographs and animations that can look surprisingly realistic and in many cases close enough to a person to be indistinguishable. If you think about actors, models, business people, political figures and others, you can see where these kinds of technologies can be used for political mischief.

This means that augmentation AI is also likely to be the next front of an ethical battleground, as laws, social conventions and ethics begin to catch up with the technology.

There is no question that artificial intelligence is rewriting the rules, for good and bad, and augmentation, the kind of AI that is here today and is becoming increasingly difficult to discern from human-directed software, is a proving ground for how the human/computer divide asserts itself. Pay attention to this space.

#AIAugmentation #machineLearning #deepLearning #creativity #AIethics #theCagleReport

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AI Augmentation: The Real Future of Artificial Intelligence - Forbes

Reducing bias in AI-based financial services – Brookings Institution

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Artificial intelligence (AI) presents an opportunity to transform how we allocate credit and risk, and to create fairer, more inclusive systems. AIs ability to avoid the traditional credit reporting and scoring system that helps perpetuate existing bias makes it a rare, if not unique, opportunity to alter the status quo. However, AI can easily go in the other direction to exacerbate existing bias, creating cycles that reinforce biased credit allocation while making discrimination in lending even harder to find. Will we unlock the positive, worsen the negative, or maintain the status quo by embracing new technology?

This paper proposes a framework to evaluate the impact of AI in consumer lending. The goal is to incorporate new data and harness AI to expand credit to consumers who need it on better terms than are currently provided. It builds on our existing systems dual goals of pricing financial services based on the true risk the individual consumer poses while aiming to prevent discrimination (e.g., race, gender, DNA, marital status, etc.). This paper also provides a set of potential trade-offs for policymakers, industry and consumer advocates, technologists, and regulators to debate the tensions inherent in protecting against discrimination in a risk-based pricing system layered on top of a society with centuries of institutional discrimination.

AI is frequently discussed and ill defined. Within the world of finance, AI represents three distinct concepts: big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence itself. Each of these has recently become feasible with advances in data generation, collection, usage, computing power, and programing. Advances in data generation are staggering: 90% of the worlds data today were generated in the past two years, IBM boldly stated. To set parameters of this discussion, below I briefly define each key term with respect to lending.

Big data fosters the inclusion of new and large-scale information not generally present in existing financial models. In consumer credit, for example, new information beyond the typical credit-reporting/credit-scoring model is often referred to by the most common credit-scoring system, FICO. This can include data points, such as payment of rent and utility bills, and personal habits, such as whether you shop at Target or Whole Foods and own a Mac or a PC, and social media data.

Machine learning (ML) occurs when computers optimize data (standard and/or big data) based on relationships they find without the traditional, more prescriptive algorithm. ML can determine new relationships that a person would never think to test: Does the type of yogurt you eat correlate with your likelihood of paying back a loan? Whether these relationships have casual properties or are only proxies for other correlated factors are critical questions in determining the legality and ethics of using ML. However, they are not relevant to the machine in solving the equation.

What constitutes true AI is still being debated, but for purposes of understanding its impact on the allocation of credit and risk, lets use the term AI to mean the inclusion of big data, machine learning, and the next step when ML becomes AI. One bank executive helpfully defined AI by contrasting it with the status quo: Theres a significant difference between AI, which to me denotes machine learning and machines moving forward on their own, versus auto-decisioning, which is using data within the context of a managed decision algorithm.

Americas current legal and regulatory structure to protect against discrimination and enforce fair lending is not well equipped to handle AI. The foundation is a set of laws from the 1960s and 1970s (Equal Credit Opportunity Act of 1974, Truth in Lending Act of 1968, Fair Housing Act of 1968, etc.) that were based on a time with almost the exact opposite problems we face today: not enough sources of standardized information to base decisions and too little credit being made available. Those conditions allowed rampant discrimination by loan officers who could simply deny people because they didnt look credit worthy.

Today, we face an overabundance of poor-quality credit (high interest rates, fees, abusive debt traps) and concerns over the usage of too many sources of data that can hide as proxies for illegal discrimination. The law makes it illegal to use gender to determine credit eligibility or pricing, but countless proxies for gender exist from the type of deodorant you buy to the movies you watch.

Americas current legal and regulatory structure to protect against discrimination and enforce fair lending is not well equipped to handle AI.

The key concept used to police discrimination is that of disparate impact. For a deep dive into how disparate impact works with AI, you can read my previous work on this topic. For this article, it is important to know that disparate impact is defined by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as when: A creditor employs facially neutral policies or practices that have an adverse effect or impact on a member of a protected class unless it meets a legitimate business need that cannot reasonably be achieved by means that are less disparate in their impact.

The second half of the definition provides lenders the ability to use metrics that may have correlations with protected class elements so long as it meets a legitimate business need,andthere are no other ways to meet that interest that have less disparate impact. A set of existing metrics, including income, credit scores (FICO), and data used by the credit reporting bureaus, has been deemed acceptable despite having substantial correlation with race, gender, and other protected classes.

For example, consider how deeply correlated existing FICO credit scores are with race. To start, it is telling how little data is made publicly available on how these scores vary by race. The credit bureau Experian is eager to publicize one of its versions of FICO scores by peoples age, income, and even what state or city they live in, but not by race. However, federal law requires lenders to collect data on race for home mortgage applications, so we do have access to some data. As shown in the figure below, the differences are stark.

Among people trying to buy a home, generally a wealthier and older subset of Americans, white homebuyers have an average credit score 57 points higher than Black homebuyers and 33 points higher than Hispanic homebuyers. The distribution of credit scores is also sharply unequal: More than 1 in 5 Black individuals have FICOs below 620, as do 1 in 9 among the Hispanic community, while the same is true for only 1 out of every 19 white people. Higher credit scores allow borrowers to access different types of loans and at lower interest rates. One suspects the gaps are even broader beyond those trying to buy a home.

If FICO were invented today, would it satisfy a disparate impact test? The conclusion of Rice and Swesnik in their law review article was clear: Our current credit-scoring systems have a disparate impact on people and communities of color. The question is mute because not only is FICO grandfathered, but it has also become one of the most important factors used by the financial ecosystem. I have described FICO as the out of tune oboe to which the rest of the financial orchestra tunes.

New data and algorithms are not grandfathered and are subject to the disparate impact test. The result is a double standard whereby new technology is often held to a higher standard to prevent bias than existing methods. This has the effect of tilting the field against new data and methodologies, reinforcing the existing system.

Explainability is another core tenant of our existing fair lending system that may work against AI adoption. Lenders are required to tell consumers why they were denied. Explaining the rationale provides a paper trail to hold lenders accountable should they be engaging in discrimination. It also provides the consumer with information to allow them to correct their behavior and improve their chances for credit. However, an AIs method to make decisions may lack explainability. As Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard described the problem: Depending on what algorithms are used, it is possible that no one, including the algorithms creators, can easily explain why the model generated the results that it did. To move forward and unlock AIs potential, we need a new conceptual framework.

To start, imagine a trade-off between accuracy (represented on the y-axis) and bias (represented on the x-axis). The first key insight is that the current system exists at the intersection of the axes we are trading off: the graphs origin. Any potential change needs to be considered against the status-quonot an ideal world of no bias nor complete accuracy. This forces policymakers to consider whether the adoption of a new system that contains bias, but less than that in the current system, is an advance. It may be difficult to embrace an inherently biased framework, but it is important to acknowledge that the status quo is already highly biased. Thus, rejecting new technology because it contains some level of bias does not mean we are protecting the system against bias. To the contrary, it may mean that we are allowing a more biased system to perpetuate.

As shown in the figure above, the bottom left corner (quadrant III) is one where AI results in a system that is more discriminatory and less predictive. Regulation and commercial incentives should work together against this outcome. It may be difficult to imagine incorporating new technology that reduces accuracy, but it is not inconceivable, particularly given the incentives in industry to prioritize decision-making and loan generation speed over actual loan performance (as in the subprime mortgage crisis). Another potential occurrence of policy moving in this direction is the introduction of inaccurate data that may confuse an AI into thinking it has increased accuracy when it has not. The existing credit reporting system is rife with errors: 1 out of every 5 people may have material error on their credit report. New errors occur frequentlyconsider the recent mistake by one student loan servicer that incorrectly reported 4.8 million Americans as being late on paying their student loans when in fact in the government had suspended payments as part of COVID-19 relief.

The data used in the real world are not as pure as those model testing. Market incentives alone are not enough to produce perfect accuracy; they can even promote inaccuracy given the cost of correcting data and demand for speed and quantity. As one study from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis found, Credit score has not acted as a predictor of either true risk of default of subprime mortgage loans or of the subprime mortgage crisis. Whatever the cause, regulators, industry, and consumer advocates ought to be aligned against the adoption of AI that moves in this direction.

The top right (quadrant I) represents incorporation of AI that increases accuracy and reduces bias. At first glance, this should be a win-win. Industry allocates credit in a more accurate manner, increasing efficiency. Consumers enjoy increased credit availability on more accurate terms and with less bias than the existing status quo. This optimistic scenario is quite possible given that a significant source of existing bias in lending stems from the information used. As the Bank Policy Institute pointed out in its in discussion draft of the promises of AI: This increased accuracy will benefit borrowers who currently face obstacles obtaining low-cost bank credit under conventional underwriting approaches.

One prominent example of a win-win system is the use of cash-flow underwriting. This new form of underwriting uses an applicants actual bank balance over some time frame (often one year) as opposed to current FICO based model which relies heavily on seeing whether a person had credit in the past and if so, whether they were ever in delinquency or default. Preliminary analysis by FinReg Labs shows this underwriting system outperforms traditional FICO on its own, and when combined with FICO is even more predictive.

Cash-flow analysis does have some level of bias as income and wealth are correlated with race, gender, and other protected classes. However, because income and wealth are acceptable existing factors, the current fair-lending system should have little problem allowing a smarter use of that information. Ironically, this new technology meets the test because it uses data that is already grandfathered.

That is not the case for other AI advancements. New AI may increase credit access on more affordable terms than what the current system provides and still not be allowable. Just because AI has produced a system that is less discriminatory does not mean it passes fair lending rules. There is no legal standard that allows for illegal discrimination in lending because it is less biased than prior discriminatory practices. As a 2016 Treasury Department study concluded, Data-driven algorithms may expedite credit assessments and reduce costs, they also carry the risk of disparate impact in credit outcomes and the potential for fair lending violations.

For example, consider an AI that is able, with a good degree of accuracy, to detect a decline in a persons health, say through spending patterns (doctors co-pays), internet searches (cancer treatment), and joining new Facebook groups (living with cancer). Medical problems are a strong indicator of future financial distress. Do we want a society where if you get sick, or if a computer algorithm thinks you are ill, that your terms of credit decrease? That may be a less biased system than we currently have, and not one that policymakers and the public would support. Of all sudden what seems like a win-win may not actually be one that is so desirable.

AI that increases accuracy but introduces more bias gets a lot of attention, deservedly so. This scenario represented in the top left (quadrant II) of this framework can range from the introduction of data that are clear proxies for protected classes (watch Lifetime or BET on TV) to information or techniques that, on a first glance, do not seem biased but actually are. There are strong reasons to believe that AI will naturally find proxies for race, given that there are large income and wealth gaps between races. As Daniel Schwartz put it in his article on AI and proxy discrimination: Unintentional proxy discrimination by AIs is virtually inevitable whenever the law seeks to prohibit discrimination on the basis of traits containing predictive information that cannot be captured more directly within the model by non-suspect data.

Proxy discrimination by AI is even more concerning because the machines are likely to uncover proxies that people had not previously considered.

Proxy discrimination by AI is even more concerning because the machines are likely to uncover proxies that people had not previously considered. Think about the potential to use whether or not a person uses a Mac or PC, a factor that is both correlated to race and whether people pay back loans, even controlling for race.

Duke Professor Manju Puri and co-authors were able to build a model using non-standard data that found substantial predictive power in whether a loan was repaid through whether that persons email address contained their name. Initially, that may seem like a non-discriminatory variable within a persons control. However, economists Marianne Bertrand and Sendhil Mullainathan have shown African Americans with names heavily associated with their race face substantial discrimination compared to using race-blind identification. Hence, it is quite possible that there is a disparate impact in using what seems like an innocuous variable such as whether your name is part of your email address.

The question for policymakers is how much to prioritize accuracy at a cost of bias against protected classes. As a matter of principle, I would argue that our starting point is a heavily biased system, and we should not tolerate the introduction of increased bias. There is a slippery slope argument of whether an AI produced substantial increases in accuracy with the introduction of only slightly more bias. Afterall, our current system does a surprisingly poor job of allocating many basic credits and tolerates a substantially large amount of bias.

Industry is likely to advocate for inclusion of this type of AI while consumer advocates are likely to oppose its introduction. Current law is inconsistent in its application. Certain groups of people are afforded strong anti-discrimination protection against certain financial products. But again, this varies across financial product. Take gender for example. It is blatantly illegal under fair lending laws to use gender or any proxy for gender in allocating credit. However, gender is a permitted use for price difference for auto insurance in most states. In fact, for brand new drivers, gender may be the single biggest factor used in determining price absent any driving record. America lacks a uniform set of rules on what constitutes discrimination and what types of attributes cannot be discriminated against. Lack of uniformity is compounded by the division of responsibility between federal and state governments and, within government, between the regulatory and judicial system for detecting and punishing crime.

The final set of trade-offs involve increases in fairness but reductions in accuracy (quadrant IV in the bottom right). An example includes an AI with the ability to use information about a persons human genome to determine their risk of cancer. This type of genetic profiling would improve accuracy in pricing types of insurance but violates norms of fairness. In this instance, policymakers decided that the use of that information is not acceptable and have made it illegal. Returning to the role of gender, some states have restricted the use of gender in car insurance. California most recently joined the list of states no longer allowing gender, which means that pricing will be more fair but possibly less accurate.

Industry pressures would tend to fight against these types of restrictions and press for greater accuracy. Societal norms of fairness may demand trade-offs that diminish accuracy to protect against bias. These trade-offs are best handled by policymakers before the widespread introduction of this information such as the case with genetic data. Restricting the use of this information, however, does not make the problem go away. To the contrary, AIs ability to uncover hidden proxies for that data may exacerbate problems where society attempts to restrict data usage on the grounds of equity concerns. Problems that appear solved by prohibitions then simply migrate into the algorithmic world where they reappear.

The underlying takeaway for this quadrant is one in which social movements that expand protection and reduce discrimination are likely to become more difficult as AIs find workarounds. As long as there are substantial differences in observed outcomes, machines will uncover differing outcomes using new sets of variables that may contain new information or may simply be statistically effective proxies for protected classes.

The status quo is not something society should uphold as nirvana. Our current financial system suffers not only from centuries of bias, but also from systems that are themselves not nearly as predictive as often claimed. The data explosion coupled with the significant growth in ML and AI offers tremendous opportunity to rectify substantial problems in the current system. Existing anti-discrimination frameworks are ill-suited to this opportunity. Refusing to hold new technology to a higher standard than the status quo results in an unstated deference to the already-biased current system. However, simply opening the flood gates under the rules of can you do better than today opens up a Pandoras box of new problems.

The status quo is not something society should uphold as nirvana. Our current financial system suffers not only from centuries of bias, but also from systems that are themselves not nearly as predictive as often claimed.

Americas fractured regulatory system, with differing roles and responsibilities across financial products and levels of government, only serves to make difficult problems even harder. With lacking uniform rules and coherent frameworks, technological adoption will likely be slower among existing entities setting up even greater opportunities for new entrants. A broader conversation regarding how much bias we are willing to tolerate for the sake of improvement over the status quo would benefit all parties. That requires the creation of more political space for sides to engage in a difficult and honest conversation. The current political moment in time is ill-suited for that conversation, but I suspect that AI advancements will not be willing to wait until America is more ready to confront these problems.

The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars.

Microsoft provides support to The Brookings InstitutionsArtificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology (AIET) Initiative, and Apple, Facebook, and IBM provide general, unrestricted support to the Institution. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions in this report are not influenced by any donation. Brookings recognizes that the value it provides is in its absolute commitment to quality, independence, and impact. Activities supported by its donors reflect this commitment.

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Reducing bias in AI-based financial services - Brookings Institution

Red Clay to review decision ending AI du Pont season – The News Journal

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Red Clay Consolidated School District will review a decision by the A.I. du Pont High School principal to ban the boys basketball team from participating in the upcoming DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament. 2/23/17 Damian Giletto/The News Journal

Gerald Wilmore, whose son Jaison Wilmore is a senior on the A.I. du Pont High School basketball team, asks questions Thursday about the incident at Delaware Military Academy on Feb. 16 that lead to a decision to pull the team from participating in the upcoming DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )Buy Photo

Red Clay Consolidated School District will reviewa decision by the A.I. du Pont High School principal to ban the boys basketball team from participating in the upcoming DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.

The review was announced Thursday following a rally at the Greenville school by parents and supporters opposed toPrincipal KevinPalladinetti's decision to end the teams season.Palladinetti made the decision on Tuesdaybased on an incident following the Tigers 58-46 loss at the Delaware Military Academy on Feb. 16.

A group of about 20, which included parents of players, at least three Wilmington City Council members, New Castle County District 10 Councilman Jea Street and other supporters, assembled in the parking lot outside the school at 10 a.m. Thursday. After speaking with reporters for 35 minutes, the group was invited into a classroom by Red Clay spokesperson Pati Nash.

The group demanded to speak to Palladinetti, who arrived 20 minutes later and gave his timeline of events and the reasoning behind his decision.

Several parents of A.I. du Pont players have alleged that racial slurs were spoken by DMA players, fans and students during the game. But Palladinetti said A.I. boys basketball coach Tom Tabb, Assistant Principal Damon Saunders (both of whom are black)and the other A.I. assistant coaches did not report hearing any racial slurs.

DMA's commandant, Anthony Pullella, responds to accusations his students used provoked an incident between A.I. players and fans and DMA fans during a basketball game last week. JOHN J. JANKOWSKI JR./SPECIAL TO THE NEWS JOURNAL

DMA Commandant Anthony Pullella was at the game and said he did not hear any racial comments. Michael Ryan, the athletic director, said DMA officials conducted their own investigation, questioning parents, players, coaches and fans. He said no evidence was uncovered about any racial comment being used.

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There were no, absolutely zero reasons for us to discipline our kids," Ryan said, "or therewasabsolutely no issues brought up that our kids were in the wrong in any way."

Ryan said no official footage of the incident existsbecause a video camera that was recording the game turned off during the fourth quarter.

When asked whether a conversation about race should occur to ease tensions between predominantly white DMA and A.I. du Pont, which is 34 percent white, Pullella said, We dont think [the incident] had anything to do with race at all.

A.I. du Pont High School Principal Kevin Palladinetti tries to answer questions from parents and political leaders Thursday about an incident after the team's 58-46 loss at Delaware Military Academy on Feb. 16.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

Palladinetti said he was in his office at 6:45 p.m. Feb. 16 when a person attending the game at DMA called him. The person said, Kevin, youre going to need to be over here. Something is happening with your team, Palladinetti said.

Palladinetti texted Saunders, who was at the game. Saunders called the principal at about 7:30.

His response to me was, Its bad. Its a bad situation right now, Palladinetti said. And I said, OK.

Palladinetti said he spoke with Tabb and Ryan that night, but no decision was made regarding the teams season at that time.

Tabb said his team expected to defeat DMA easily. The Tigers came into the game with an 11-7 record, while DMA was 6-11.

We were playing a team that we thought we were better than, that we knew we were better than, Tabb said. The kids said, 'We should be able to score 100 against them.' So we were a little cocky going into the game.

But the Seahawks upset A.I. 58-46. Game officials called the majority of the fouls against the Tigers, as DMA shot 35 free throws and A.I. shot only 10.

The ball didnt bounce our way during the game, Tabb said. [The players] got frustrated. I could see embarrassment setting in.

POLITICS: Delaware Senate control on the line

With 40 seconds left, an A.I. player was given a technical foul. At that point, Tabb said he told the players on the bench to skip the customary postgame handshake line. Instead, the coach told the team he would shake hands with the DMA team, and the players were to remain behind him and follow him off the court as a group.

I thought I was doing what was right, in the best interests of the kids at that moment, Tabb said. When the game was over, a player started to walk and then sprinted, which caused a chain reaction where the other players followed, the coaches followed, parents followed, some DMA parents followed.

Luis Ortega tries to ask A.I. du Pont High School Principal Kevin Palladinetti about why his son, who is on the boys basketball team, with be kept from participating in the upcoming DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

Officials from both schools said the A.I. players ran toward a stairwell leading to thesecond level of the gymnasium, whereDMA students and fans had been watching the game.

The entire team takes off, makes a beeline for our mezzanine, Pullella said.

Pullella said he and two DMA parents blocked the groups access to the mezzanine.On the stairwell landing, it was pandemonium, Pullella said.

Meanwhile, Pullella said another teacher directed DMA students out of the mezzanine through an emergency door. DMA athletic director Ryan took an elevator to the second floor and joined Pullella and the parents. Pullella said the confrontation ended a couple of minutes later when approximately 10 Delaware State Police and New Castle County Police officers arrived.

In a statement, state police Master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale said police responded at 6:46 p.m.

It was learned that members of the A.I. du Pont mens basketball team attempted to run up toward the student body of DMA following the game, Hale said. They were prevented from doing so by staff members. The situation was quickly brought under control. No fights. No injuries. No charges. That is all the information I have.

Later that night, Palladinetti said he decided to forfeit A.I.s final regular-season game, a home game against Smyrna scheduled for Tuesday. But he held off on making a decision about the teams state tournament participation. Palladinetti met with Tabb at the school at 7 a.m. Friday.

When the game ended, and its important to know that this is the part that I care about, the entire team vacated the court, Palladinetti said. There is a player who many are reporting was the first to lead the charge off the court. And that happened within about three seconds of the buzzer sounding. Mr. Saunders attempted to stop one player from leaving the court. He was able to shimmy past Mr. Saunders, and then the rest of the team just followed suit and bolted into the hallway, then stairwell, to ultimately get upstairs.

When I heard that both Coach Tabb and Mr. Saunders had a plan in place to try to quell any tensions that were brewing on the court, and for our team to vacate in that manner, without an assistant coach, without anybody walking them off, to run in the manner in which they did, it created alarm; it created panic.

Their actions then sparked a significant event, in my opinion, Palladinetti added. I would have thought that a team in the 19th game of the season would have been a little more disciplined, would have respected the coachs request to stay put. Had they not run off the court in the manner in which they did, we wouldnt be having this conversation today.

A.I. du Pont High School basketball coach Tom Tabb recalls the events from his team's 58-46 loss at Delaware Military Academy on Feb. 16.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

School was not in session on Friday or Monday. Palladinetti met with the team on Tuesday, when he said players were encouraged to complete written statements. He said only one prepared a statement.

After meeting with the team, Palladinetti decided to cancel the rest of the season. He acknowledged that statements have been received from players, fansand parents following his decision. Parents cited the A.I. du Pont code of student conduct, which they said requires administrators to hold a conference with students and their parents before taking any disciplinary action.

To make the decision to cancel senior night and any game without an appropriate investigation you were supposed to call a conference with the students and the parents, said Jennifer Field, mother of A.I. player Jude Gulotti. There were a lot of different angles that were seen. We were all over that place, and a lot of things happened that you dont know about. I think it was inappropriate to make any decision.

Jennifer Field, whose son is on the A.I. du Pont High School basketball team, asks administrative officials about why her son won't be participating in the upcoming DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

Gerald Wilmore, father of player Jason Wilmore, criticized Tabb for not talking with the team since the incident. Devon Hynson, executive director of Education Voices Inc., a student advocacy organization, said mistakes were made on all sides.

I just think its completely racist, Hynson said, addressing Tabb and Palladinetti. Because I think its been made very clear that you didnt follow the [student] code of conduct. Were all here because we all make mistakes. What were saying is, [the players] made a mistake, you guys made a mistake. Reinstate the boys back on the team. At the end of the day, I think that you owe them that.

Tommie Neubauer, executive director of the Delaware Interscholastic Athletic Association, said a committee will meet at 9 a.m. Friday to determine the seedings and pairings for the DIAA Boys Basketball Tournament.

The tournament is scheduled to begin Wednesday with eight games, all starting at 7 p.m. Neubauer said A.I. du Pont officials need to let DIAA know whether the school will participate or not by 9 a.m. Friday.

Its not like we are keeping them out, Neubauer said. Right now, were going to seed the full tournament as is. Its an A.I. du Pont High School/Red Clay School District question right now.

A.I. du Pont was 8-1 midway through the season, but, counting the forfeit loss to Smyrna, lost eight of its last 11 games to finish the regular season at 11-9. Still, the Tigers are expected to have earned enough points to qualify for the 24-team tournament.

Midway through the contentious, 50-minute classroom meeting with Palladinetti, New Castle County Councilman Street erupted, threatening legal action if the principals decision is not overturned.

If yall think youre going to get away with this without a legal battle, you are sadly mistaken, Street said. You do what you want to do, and Im going to tell you what I have to do. Because by any legal means necessary, and Im asking the City Council members present right now, that we know full well that this was provoked in a racial manner. Im asking you if this is not overturned, for the city to file an injunction in Chancery Court prohibiting the state from going forward with the tournament until such time as this is resolved in a fair and appropriate manner.

New Castle County Councilman Jea Street demands further investigation into the events following A.I. du Pont High School's 58-46 loss at Delaware Military Academy on Feb. 16.(Photo: Jennifer Corbett, The News Journal )

Street then left the room to applause, as Wilmington City Council President Hanifa Shabazz and council members VaShun Turner and Ernest Trippi Congo II signaled their support for his statement.

Tabb, who said he toldPalladinetti before this incident that he would be stepping down after 10 years as the Tigers coach, said he was disappointed that the players didnt follow his instructions.

I know Im the fall guy, Tabb said. I get thrown under the bus for this, and Im cool with that. Im perfectly fine with that.

Palladinetti said the decision has consumed my life since Feb. 16.

It pains me to think that a decision I made has brought us to this arena today, the principal said. Ive lost sleep over this, as I know many of you have. Its not something that has been taken lightly, and its not something that has just been dismissed at any point.

Contact Brad Myers at bmyers@delawareonline.com, or on Twitter @BradMyersTNJ. Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this story misspelled the name of Master Cpl. Jeffrey Hale.

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OIG Wants More Progress from CISA on Cyber Threat Information Sharing – HS Today – HSToday

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The Office of Inspector General (OIG) says the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) made limited progress improving the overall quality of threat information but has addressed basic information sharing requirements.

OIG recently published the findings of its evaluation of CISAs progress in meeting the Cybersecurity Act of 2015s requirements for 2019 and 2020. The Act requires the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish a capability and process for Federal entities to receive cyber threat information from non-Federal entities. The Act also requires Inspectors General from the Intelligence Community and appropriate agencies to submit a joint report to Congress every two years on Federal Government actions to share cyber threat information.

CISA created an Automated Indicator Sharing (AIS) capability in 2016 to enable the real-time exchange of unclassified cyber threat information and defensive measures to participants of the AIS community. According to OIG, in 2019 and 2020 CISA continued to leverage its AIS capability to share cyber threat information between the Federal Government and the private sector. During that time, CISA reportedly increased the number of Federal participants by more than 15 percent and increased the number of non-Federal participants by 13 percent. CISA asserted it increased the overall number of cyber threat indicators it shared and received by more than 162 percent, but it could not validate this number.

OIG determined that the quality of information shared with AIS participants was not always adequate to identify and mitigate cyber threats.

Cyber threat information must contain enough contextual information to help decision makers take necessary and appropriate actions. Examples of contextual information may include Internet Protocol addresses, domain names, hash files, uniform resource locators, or anomalies in the network traffic. Real-time access to the right information is critical for mitigating risks. For example, recent sharing of cyber threat indicators, including malware information, related to the 2021 SolarWinds Orion supply chain compromise led CISA and the Department of Defense Cyber National Mission Force to analyze these malware variants and trace their origins to prevent future cyber incidents.

However, according to the Federal and private sector entities the watchdog interviewed, most of the cyber threat indicators did not contain enough contextual information to help decision makers take action.

Stakeholders also stated that the cyber threat indicators contained false positives, which could mislead entities into believing threats were malicious, resulting in unnecessary upgrades or security protocols. Federal agency officials also noted that some participants had shared unconfirmed malware cyber threat indicator information, or low confidence threat information, that resulted in false positive alerting within security tools. Additionally, private sector feedback identified concerns with AIS customers experiencing false positives from the AIS Public Feed that were later identified as known good indicators. CISA responded to this by improving the AIS allow list to ensure that these types of known good indicators are not distributed via AIS to stakeholders. Federal stakeholders can filter out some of these lower confidence indicators while others may not have the expertise or intermediate tools to further refine relevant cyber threat indicators and defensive measures.

OIG has attributed the shortcomings to limited AIS functionality, inadequate staffing, and external factors challenges it previously reported on in its Cybersecurity Act evaluation for 2017 and 2018.

Following this most recent evaluation, OIG made four recommendations to CISA: improve information quality by increasing participants sharing of cyber information, complete AIS upgrades, conduct additional training and outreach, and hire the staff needed to improve the AIS programs operational effectiveness.

DHS concurred and reminded OIG that since the watchdogs fieldwork CISAs Cybersecurity Division launched its next generation version of AIS, AIS 2.0, which created the capability to apply a CISA opinion score to cyber threat indicators. This score provides an assessment of whether the information can be corroborated with other sources available to the entity submitting the opinion to AIS. AIS 2.0 addresses some of the weaknesses found in OIGs evaluation. In addition, DHS told OIG that during the past 18 months, CISAs Cybersecurity Division has added additional contractual resources to better support its efforts and is also assessing a longer-term approach to allocate resources to fully support the cyber risk mission area.

Read the full report at OIG

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Pirates raise average with runners in scoring position – MLB.com

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PITTSBURGH -- One of the Pirates biggest deficiencies this season has been their struggles with runners in scoring position. Theyve had their chances. Theyve missed their chances. Over the last couple days, the Pirates appear to have taken a small step forward.

The Pirates went 4-for-10 with runners in scoring position in their 9-5 loss to the Reds on Sunday at PNC Park and are 13-for-36 (.361) with runners in scoring position on this current homestand. The sample is all of a handful of games, but for Pittsburgh, this stretch is a much-needed deviation from a season-long trend.

"Really encouraging, said manager Derek Shelton. It's something that we're continuing to work on, and we're kind of seeing the benefits of that. I think it's really important, and our guys need to keep going. We had some run scoring opportunities and we capitalized on them and gave us a chance to be in games. That's really important."

Entering this homestand, the Pirates were hitting .209 across 803 at-bats with runners in scoring position, the worst mark in the league. At the conclusion of Sundays game, the Pirates have raised their batting average with runners in scoring position up to .216 on the season. Thats a far cry from their performance in San Francisco last weekend, when they went 3-for-28 with runners in scoring position against the Giants.

Baseballs streaky, and it seems like right now were kind of struggling with that, said Kevin Newman, who had two hits on Sunday. [Were] hoping that well keep grinding away at-bats and its going to turn here soon, get those big hits and get those runs in.

In the bottom of the first inning, Ben Gamel drove in the Pirates first run with a single to center field to plate Bryan Reynolds, and Rodolfo Castro followed it up with a double down the left-field line to score Michael Chavis. If not for a bit of bad luck, Pittsburgh may have put up a crooked number.

With the infield in and runners on second and third, Greg Allen pulled a line drive that appeared destined for left field. Reds shortstop Matt Reynolds lept and stole Allens potential hit, then doubled off Gamel at third base. If Reynolds didnt make the catch, Gamel wouldve waltzed home and Castro, the runner on second, likely wouldve scored.

The Pirates tacked on a couple more timely hits in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tucupita Marcano drove home a pair of runs in the sixth inning with a double, then advanced to third on right fielder Aristides Aquinos misplay. One batter later, Jason Delay singled home Marcano, giving the Pirates four hits with runners in scoring position.

Theres still work to be done on this front. Pittsburghs average in these situations remains the worst in the league. Still, the Pirates performance in key moments over the last week represents progress.

Cam Vieaux pitches well in return to PiratesVieauxs contract was selected about 30 minutes prior to game time, and the rookie pitched well in his return to the Major League level. In his first appearance with the Pirates since July 1, Vieaux didnt allow a run in 1 2/3 innings of relief and struck out two batters.

"He did a nice job, Shelton said. He came in and kind of put the fire out. He got Moustakas and then got the ground ball base hit. He finished the ninth. He did nice and was effective.

Vieauxs crisp outing was a continuation of the solid work he had done with Triple-A Indianapolis since being designated for assignment in mid-July.

On the surface, Vieauxs numbers during his latest stint with Triple-A Indianapolis merely look OK. In 14 1/3 innings, Vieaux posted a 4.40 ERA with 14 strikeouts. Those numbers dont jump off the page, but Vieauxs numbers were inflated by an outlier outing in which he allowed four earned runs and retired just two batters. Excluding that outing, Vieaux only allowed three earned runs across 13 2/3 innings (1.98 ERA).

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Pirates raise average with runners in scoring position - MLB.com

Jimmie Johnson Making Progress: NASCAR World Reacts – The Spun

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FORT WORTH, TEXAS - MARCH 19: Jimmie Johnson, driver of the #48 Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, prepares to drive during qualifying for the NTT IndyCar Series XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on March 19, 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Longtime NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson continues to make progress in the IndyCar world.

Johnson, a longtime NASCAR star, has been making progress in his IndyCar pursuit.

"My first IndyCarrace under the lights and I came home in P14," Johnson wrote.

NASCAR fans are impressed.

"Great job Jimmie!! Still making that progress. It's just gonna keep getting better from here," one fan tweeted.

"+7 from start. Inside top 20 in standings. Progress. Proud of you and your team," another fan wrote.

"I will forever be a fan, 21 years and counting. Watching you race is a privilege, I got to see you run NASCAR in person and hopefully someday I get to see you run Indy in person," one fan added.

It will be fun to watch Johnson moving forward.

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Jimmie Johnson Making Progress: NASCAR World Reacts - The Spun

Jameis Winston competes in 7-on-7, Saints hope he’ll progress to full team work this week – NOLA.com

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It had been a while since New Orleans Saints quarterback Jameis Winston took part in a competitive period of practice, but he got some extensive work in during a 7-on-7 period at Sundays practice in the Caesars Superdome.

Winston, whom the team has been bringing along slowly since he sprained his right foot in an August 8 practice, completed eight of his 10 attempts in the drill. He fired at least one touchdown in the red zone, to receiver DaiJean Dixon, but also threw an interception to linebacker Demario Davis.

He did not participate in full team drills Sunday, but coach Dennis Allen said he could play in those later in the week.

That was good, Allen said of Winstons participation. Obviously well go back and take a look at the tape, see what it looked like, but this is part of the natural progression.

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James Harden is Impressing Sixers Fans With Offseason Progress – Sports Illustrated

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James Harden hasnt felt one-hundred percent health-wise in quite some time. After suffering a hamstring injury during his 2021 playoff run as a member of the Brooklyn Nets, Harden went through a strange offseason going into the 2021-2022 NBA season.

For a player who has been relatively healthy throughout his successful career, Harden wasnt used to spending an offseason rehabbing an injury. Therefore, when he showed up for training camp going into his second season with the Nets, Hardens shape was being questioned.

Even throughout the 2021-2022 season, Harden dealt with a nagging hamstring. While he felt healthier after getting some time off following his trade to the Philadelphia 76ers, the process to get Harden going in Philly felt rushed and didnt pay off the way the team had hoped.

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Another second-round exit in the playoffs was in the cards for the Sixers. While Harden was expected to be the difference-maker for Philadelphia, the star guard wasnt the best version of himself in the postseason. Harden never used his hamstring issues as an excuse for poor performances with the Sixers, but he made it clear he looked forward to having a healthy offseason.

Several videos have made their rounds on the net, displaying Harden getting in some critical offseason workouts. While videos of a professional basketball player working to improve his game in the offseason is typical, a pair of photos posted on social media on Friday left fans impressed with Harden.

Ever since his final season in Houston, Harden has received a lot of criticism for the shape he was in. While he continued to produce at a high level for the Rockets and the Nets many wondered if Hardens alleged poor conditioning would eventually catch up to him and cause his game to regress.

With his numbers down in the 2022 NBA Playoffs, many believed that Hardens best days were behind him. But it seems Harden is consistently working to change that narrative as his second run with the 76ers is on its way.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.

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Crews make progress on lightning-caused wildfires | Fires | nrtoday.com – NRToday.com

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IrelandUruguay, Eastern Republic ofUzbekistanVanuatuVenezuela, Bolivarian Republic ofViet Nam, Socialist Republic ofWallis and Futuna IslandsWestern SaharaYemenZambia, Republic ofZimbabwe

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Myles Jack Seeing Progress On Defense, ‘Just Have To Close Out On Those Third Downs’ – Steelers Depot

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That the Steelers defensive line room has talent is undeniable. Whether or not they can play at a consistently high level as a cohesive unit is what remains to be seen. But part of that is just putting all of the pieces together and giving them the team to form those necessary bonds that allow them to play as a collective rather than a collection of individuals.

There was a little bit of good and bad in last nights performance for newcomer Myles Jack, the veteran inside linebacker they signed as a free agent to a two-year, $16 million contract, who saw his second game of action in the defense, noting that the possession downs are what most needs work.

I think its good. Were getting them in third and longs, great opportunities. We just have to close out on those third downs, he told reporters after the game, via the teams website. I feel like were winning in the first and second downs. Its just those third down we have to get off the field. Thats something Im sure well work on, but at the end of the day, were bending and not breaking and giving up threes, so its not bad.

A former second-round draft pick of the team he played last night, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Jack was a salary cap casualty this offseason, so the Steelers pounced on him, ironically adding him to replace another Jaguars linebacker whom they acquired via trade a year ago in August, Joe Schobert, whom they released after the March signing.

He is being prepared to be the Steelers mack linebacker, including wearing the green dot, with Devin Bush and Robert Spillane ostensibly competing for playing time next to him. Bush continues to be the primary starter alongside him, but they have worked various combinationsincluding different linebackers as the dime linebackerin practice.

Outside of changes along the central interior, there is also Larry Ogunjobi as a newcomer on the defensive line, and Levi Wallace at cornerback. Ahkello Witherspoon is also entering his first full season with the team, now as a starter, and Damontae Kazee is another possible contributor in his first year with the Steelers.

Outside of on-field personnel, the unit is also reckoning with a changing of the guard at coordinator following Keith Butlers retirement, replaced with senior defensive assistant Teryl Austin. And Brian Flores was hired this offseason to a new senior defensive assistant post.

Of course, we havent seen much during the preseason from T.J. Watt (though he did have a sack), Minkah Fitzpatrick, and Heyward, their trio of All-Pros, so we certainly cant fully evaluate what this unit looks like without them out there. But getting off the field on third down is definitely an area in which there is room for improvement.

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Can Dallas afford the price tag of progress? It doesnt have another choice – The Dallas Morning News

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Dallas is on a long march toward equity, and a new study and a recent City Council discussion of a future $1 billion bond program illustrate just how long, arduous and expensive that trek will be.

According to a recent Southern Methodist University study, Dallas is dotted with 62 infrastructure deserts, areas that lack sidewalks, crosswalks, public transportation access or even connections to the citys water and wastewater systems. After reviewing nearly 800 neighborhoods based on the quality of infrastructure, the researchers concluded that low-income communities, many in southern Dallas, are up to four times more likely to have highly deficient infrastructure than their high-income counterparts in other parts of the city.

Reports such as this remind us that Dallas is in the midst of a reckoning after decades of neglect, disinvestment, racism and poor policy decisions in southern Dallas neighborhoods. Dallas is largely divided by race and wide gaps in income and opportunities that ultimately threaten the citys overall economic health and potential.

It is unacceptable that poverty, crime, educational opportunities, health and family income and wealth can be mapped by ZIP codes and race. Roughly 45% of the citys residents live in southern Dallas neighborhoods that make up only 15% of the citys tax base, a disparity that hurts all of the city.

Unless this changes, property tax burdens will remain significant and uneven, and city services will be further strained. Public safety investments will continue to consume larger portions of the city budget, effectively edging out other investments needed to rebuild underserved neighborhoods. Private businesses have a role to play in neighborhood revitalization. But so does the city through investment in the water mains, street lights and sidewalks that make a neighborhood more livable.

No single city budget or bond program will instantly undo these disparities, many of which have been pointed out in countless reports over decades. Progress, however, hasnt always been strategic, efficient or ample enough to uplift neglected neighborhoods to a level that they can better contribute to and share more fully in Dallas future.

The citys to-do list is long, and each operating budget and bond program must strategically provide infrastructure improvements, sustain growth and improve quality of life in underserved neighborhoods. During a recent bond discussion, council members wavered between concerns that the citys preliminary $1 billion bond proposal wont provide enough money for key priorities to whether a $1 billion price tag is too much debt.

The inescapable reality is that Dallas is in the spot that many homeowners face. Not replacing a bad roof or crumbling foundation may save money today, but ultimately it makes the home less livable and erodes its overall value. Dallas future requires significant resources to rebuild neighborhoods and make city government more efficient and responsive to residents. And no, this is not a choice. It is an imperative that requires the city to step up its game.

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Can Dallas afford the price tag of progress? It doesnt have another choice - The Dallas Morning News

Packers’ special teams still a work in progress – Packers Wire

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The Green Bay Packers special teams unit is still having issues.

In Fridays preseason game against the New Orleans Saints, Green Bay had 12 men on the field for a punt return during the third quarter. Then, on the following punt return, only 10 men were on the field.

These kinds of mental mistakes were a common occurrence for one of the worst special teams units in history last season when the 2021 Packers finished dead last in Rich Gosselins annual special teams rankings.

A dismal year led to the firing of Maurice Drayton after just one season. Green Bay replaced him with Rich Bisaccia, who is considered one of the best coordinators in the game, however, even Bisaccia is having trouble curing the Packers special teams woes.

Not having enough guys on the field is an easy fix, but it is also easily avoidable.

It is what it is, and thats something were well aware of, and well clean up, head coach Matt LaFleur said postgame.

Its an odd oversight from someone like Bisaccia, who is one to harp on the details. Hes one of the most vocal coaches at practice, who is not afraid to correct a player if something is not done exactly the way he wants. After all, hes a football savant with nearly 40 years of experience.

Bisaccia doesnt take credit for coining the term WE-fense when referring to special teams, but that is a mantra hes adopted from his years of coaching in college and the NFL. He views special teams as a collaborative effort that is only as good as the sum of its parts.

There was a point in college where there wasnt a lot of attention paid to special teams, and I was fortunate enough to be with a college coach that thought it should be an emphasis, Bisaccia said Thursday. It just became something that we could all do together. It wasnt just guys that played on offense or just guys that played on defense. It was something that we could all do together to help our team win. And its just kind of grown from that. Coach LaFleurs done a great job of making it part of our vernacular around here.

Its a fitting term that has certainly caught on around the building, but so far, it hasnt translated onto the field. Last weeks preseason opener against the San Francisco 49ers had its up and downs as Amari Rodgers returned a kickoff for 50 yards. Then, later in the game, kicker Gabe Brkic missed a chip shot from 32 yards.

The plan is to play more starters on special teams in 2022 if it means avoiding another disappointing year. However, that hasnt been the case in the preseason, as most of Green Bays starters are sitting. That includes veteran kicker Mason Crosby, who is rehabbing a knee injury.

The Packers will hope to have their veteran kicker and a healthy number of starters contributing on special teams to start the season. By then, not having the correct numbers of players on the field should be a thing of the past. Then again, more goes into fielding a successful special teams unit.

I think were a work in progress, said Bisaccia.

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Packers' special teams still a work in progress - Packers Wire

Progress of a Different Kind – National Catholic Register

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People, by and large, said eminent psychologist William James, become what they think of themselves.

I am not sure its worth it.

Zach, my 15-year-old son, and I were standing on the side porch that we had just completed. The project had originally started the previous fall, with the help of our neighbor, as we looked to add increased outdoor space for our home. Like most projects, this one had taken longer than expected, especially with a winter break in the middle. Midst an already frenetic schedule that included up to five sports seasons, fitting in porch construction and the finishing process had not been easy, and had certainly created its own level of stress.

Yet standing on the side porch with Zach, having finally taken care of the finishing touches, I had rationalized that despite all of the time, money and effort, the porch itself would ultimately be worth it in what it would provide. But Zach isnt afraid to voice his honest opinions, and he questioned whether this was the case.

Although my first inclination was to quickly counteract his negative thinking, I found myself pondering over this statement in the hours and days that followed. The reality was that the porch was finished, and it certainly didnt make sense to neglect the opportunities that it would provide us, for both leisurely and hosting purposes. But as I thought more about what he said, I started to consider more seriously the truth these words might hold.

We have a way of rationalizing away all sorts of negatives that come with progress. Take, for instance, the mobile/communication revolution that exists today. As has been widely documented, for all the advances that have occurred with the internet and smartphones, many negative effects have also surfaced over the last couple of decades, questioning how much real progress has been made. While it is understandable that humans will always naturally seek out advancements that bring about more resources, convenience and experiences, the challenge lies in just how we view the idea of progress itself. As with our extended porch area, progress is often seen in an external sort of way, as if saying that our lives will be improved by something that can be acquired or enhanced outside of ourselves (e.g., faster internet speed, larger homes, easier ways to communicate with people, etc.).

Yet in taking this view of progress, we are at risk for falling into two particular traps. One is the idea that progress as we perceive it will necessarily lead to happier, healthier and more harmonious lives, and thus is ultimately worth the unfortunate side effects that might ensue from pursuing it. The second is foregoing opportunities for internal progress the kind that comes from a change in attitude or perspective that ultimately provides for a more contented, joyful outcome, no matter what changes (or not) happen around us.

William James was a well-known psychologist and philosopher born in the mid-1800s, who later became known as the Father of American Psychology. Toward the end of his career, he was asked to be the keynote speaker at the annual conference for the American Psychological Association, where upwards of 10,000 people were expected to be in attendance. He was asked to share the most important lesson learned from 50 years of psychology research. After all the introductions and accolades were announced, he finally walked on stage, introduced the topic, and then said the following:

People by and large become what they think of themselves.

Seconds later, he walked off the stage and left the conference.

As I have reflected more on this statement, and my conversation with Zach, I found myself particularly struck by the connections between the two. While it is certainly understandable that a family of 10 living in a smaller home (given modern standards) would seek to provide for more space, the broader question remains just what it means to be moving forward in this world. We certainly like to think of ourselves as people of progress, but if William James words are true, it should give us pause to consider just what kind of progress we think we are making.

All of us would like to think that as the world grows in connectivity, convenience and complexity, we are inevitably progressing as we should, or maybe just as we are programmed to do. Yet in taking this view, I worry that we are both failing to consider what true progress really looks like, and failing to consider the choices we still have in all of this. While it might be hard to turn our backs on a perceived advance or opportunity, and instead focus on changing our perspective toward a particular situation or ourselves, this might be the most important progress we can make. Just because we can do something doesnt mean that we should do something, unless it ultimately brings about greater health, harmony, happiness and ultimately holiness as God intends.

That day on the porch, I wanted to believe that all the effort and money was worth it. And maybe it will be. But it also may be that we could have been just as happy without the new addition, and instead have allocated our time and resources in a more important way. While second-guessing this decision lacks any utility, it does pose a consideration in going forward. For all of us in this age of advance, its worth considering what we think about ourselves as it pertains to true progress, and thus who we are becoming.

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Progress of a Different Kind - National Catholic Register

Richmond has made monumental progress on public transit. We must keep moving forward. – Greater Greater Washington

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GRTC Pulse Richmond BRT. Image by Richard Hankins

Even just a decade ago, the state of Richmonds transit was a sorry affair. The same city that constructed the worlds first electric streetcar system burned it to the ground 60 years later. Richmond then razed Black neighborhoods with interstate highways, and became a de-facto transit wasteland by the early 21st century.

In 2011, the policy think-tank Brookings Institute found that out of the top 100 metro areas, Richmond ranked 92nd for transit access, a dismal finding even in a country not known for its public transportation. Thanks to segregation, redlining, and other racist policies, many of Richmonds, carless, Black, and poor residents were dependent on a woefully inadequate transportation system well into the 21st century.

But then things started to shift by 2018. Richmond overhauled the Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC)s bus network, streamlining routes and connecting residents to employment centers with an emphasis on frequent service and equitable mobility. Concurrently, Richmond constructed the first bus rapid transit line in Central Virginia along the regions busiest corridor, Broad Street, thanks to a federal grant. As a result, ridership immediately increased 17%, and over 5 million people have ridden the Pulse since it opened for service just three and a half years ago.

Even COVID-19 couldnt stifle this momentum. The City of Richmond and GRTC just finished painting over four miles of the Pulses dedicated lanes red, aligning the route to international standards and increasing safety for riders, drivers, and pedestrians alike. Even more impressive is that ridership today is 10% higher than before the pandemic. This is an impressive anomaly, bucking national trends in the wake of the pandemic. To our north in DC, Metro ridership hovers at a dismal 30% of pre-pandemic levels while WMATAs bus service is at only 60%.

Perhaps most exciting of all, GRTC is leading a national trend in equitable access to transportation by piloting one of the countrys biggest zero-fare programs. That means riding the bus around RVA could stay completely free through at least June 2025 thanks to an $8 million grant from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. If Central Virginias localities and business leaders support the backdoor boost to riders wages with further funding, GRTC could stay fare-free permanently.

Finally, the establishment of the Central Virginia Transportation Authority in 2020 has created GRTCs first dedicated revenue stream and established a regional body to foster cooperation amongst localities. 2022 could be the most exciting year for transit since the great redesign of 2018 with a historic 20% increase in bus service in the works. Plus, the city has painted the Pulse lanes red from 3rd Street to I-195, thanks in part to a state grant.

Such progress has vastly improved the quality of life in Greater Richmond. However, these big wins should be seen as a down payment on the far-reaching, equitable system our region desperately needs.

Areas for growth

RVA Rapid Transits 2021 State of Transit Report identified 13 major corridors that stretch from Ashland to Brandermill and Mechanicsville to Short Pump that need bus service with 15-minute (or better) frequency. Midlothian Turnpike is the regions next top opportunity: from Johnston-Willis Hospital to Chesterfield Towne Center the corridor has tons of jobs but not a single bus route. Following the success of Chesterfield Countys first local bus route along Route 1 in 2020, its clear Richmonds southern neighbor needs more transit service.

Improving public transit directly impacts peoples lives, a matter that we at RVA Rapid Transit are addressing by canvassing riders at bus stops. We heard from one rider, Angie, who told us Im trying to start a new job at Amazon, and right now I cant get the shift that I need with my kids because the bus comes every hourIf the bus came every 30 minutes, it would change everything for me.

Another rider, Martin Hill, talked to us about the difficulties of balancing fatherhood and career via public transportation.

I have to drop my son off at daycare or school, then I got to try to make it to work on time, and its just hard, Hill said. If I have to be at work at 7 in the morning, I have to be at the bus [stop] by 5 in the morning.

Countless other Central Virginians face the same challenges Martin and Angie do to access better-paying jobs and a better quality of life for their families. With greater investment in public transit, we could change this and create a more equitable and sustainable Richmond region.

Currently, only 23% of our regions jobs are accessible by a frequent bus route, according to our report. With greater investments in service to these 13 corridors, we could connect our regions residents to an additional 203,776 jobs, equating to a monumental 248% increase in job access.

I also hope that you will keep Martin and Angie in mind when considering the impact of better transit. We have come so far recently in the pursuit of reliable, frequent, and expansive public transportation - and we must not stop now.

Studies have begun on the creation of a North-South BRT line. Henrico joined the board of GRTC this spring. Bus service expansions are being eyed across all three jurisdictions. GRTC has adopted an impressive plan to double (or even triple) the percentage of bus stops with shelters or benches.

Help us show support for these projects by not only emailing public comments to GRTC but also reaching out to your local representatives (Richmond City, Henrico, Chesterfield), who have an outsized voice in the direction and prioritization of transit in the Richmond region.

No matter your residency, I urge you to support public transit not only for the betterment of our region but also for riders like Martin and Angie, who rely on transit in supporting themselves and their families. We need to keep the momentum going.

RichardHankinsis the Program & Communications Manager for RVA Rapid Transit, where he advocates for public transportation across Greater Richmond. He has previously held three transit fellowships, including two for Transit Alliance Miami. He resides in the Westover Hills neighborhood in his hometown of Richmond, Va.

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Richmond has made monumental progress on public transit. We must keep moving forward. - Greater Greater Washington

US and European leaders discuss progress of Iran nuclear deal – The National

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The leaders of the US, Britain, France and Germany discussed efforts to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal on Sunday during a call mainly focused on Ukraine.

"In addition, they discussed ongoing negotiations over Irans nuclear programme, the need to strengthen support for partners in the Middle East region, and joint efforts to deter and constrain Irans destabilising regional activities," the White House said.

No further details were provided on the Middle Eastern portion of the discussion among US President Joe Biden, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

The EU and US last week said they were studying Iran's response to what the EU has called its "final" proposal to revive the deal, under which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions relief.

Failure in the nuclear negotiations could raise the risk of a regional war, with Israel threatening military action against Iran if diplomacy fails to prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapons capability.

Iran, which has long denied having such ambitions, has warned of a "crushing" response to any Israeli attack.

Russian contractors work at the Bushehr nuclear reactor site in 2007. The plant opened four years later. Bloomberg

In 2018, then-president Donald Trump reneged on the nuclear deal reached before he took office.

Mr Trump called it too soft on Iran and reimposed harsh US sanctions, spurring Tehran to begin breaching its limits on uranium enrichment.

Updated: August 21, 2022, 11:08 PM

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US and European leaders discuss progress of Iran nuclear deal - The National

2022 Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25: Works in Progress (40-31) – Die By The Blade

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The Top 25 Under 25 is a collaboration by members of the Die By The Blade community. It was a combination of staff writers and over 600 readers that ranked Buffalo Sabres players under the age of 25 as of August 1, 2022. Each participant used their own metric of current ability and production to rank each player.

Its so interesting to look at this years results compared to last years. We had a lot more responses, but the Sabres have also acquired a lot of seemingly solid prospects, too. Thats nowhere more evident than right here, where youll see two players who finished in last years top 25 and fell out this year.

Heres who is ranked #40 through #31.

Average Public Ranking: 38

Konecny bounced around a bit last year but spent the most team with HC Sparta Praha, where he put up seven points in 28 games. He also played for their U20 team and was loaned to both HC Bank Sokolov and HC Stadion Litomice, and skated in two games for Czechia at the cancelled World Juniors. He didnt make this summers roster.

Average Public Ranking: 37

Cederqvist is expected to make the jump to North America this year, after spending all of last season in the SHL. In 49 games last season with Djurgrdens IF, he put up 14 goals and 18 assists for 32 points. In four relegation games, he averaged a point-per-game.

Average Public Ranking: 36

Novikov appeared in 32 KHL games last season with Dynamo Moskva, accruing four points and six penalty minutes. He also skated in nine playoff games. Other than that, he skated in six games with MHK Dynamo Moskva - their junior team.

Average Public Ranking: 35

Neuchev had an impressing showing in the MHL (junior league) last season, putting up 67 points in just 61 games. His season included a 40-goal campaign and earned him a game in the KHL and five games in the VHL. Hes slated to return to juniors again this upcoming season.

Average Staff Ranking: 32Average Public Ranking: 40

Kozak still has some junior eligibility, so hell return to the WHLs Portland Winterhawks for another season as their captain this fall. Last year was his third full season with the team; he averaged over a point-per-game, with 69 points (32-37) in 66 regular season games. Check out this profile on Kozak from The Buffalo News.

Average Public Ranking: 32

Biro had an impressive campaign with the AHLs Rochester Americans last season. He played a strong, physical, offensive game, with 41 points (12-29) in just 48 regular-season games. He also made his NHL debut in one game. Biro signed a two-year deal with the Sabres earlier this summer with an AAV of $762,500.

Average Staff Ranking: 27Average Public Ranking: 39

Last season saw Costantini make the jump from juniors to the NCAA. He fared well in his freshman year, making the mark for 21 points in 35 games played. The 2020 fifth-round draft pick is set to return to Grand Forks for another collegiate season.

Last Years Ranking: 23Average Public Ranking: 31

After four seasons at Wisconsin, Weissbach made his AHL debut last season in 67 games with the Amerks. He had a fine season, with 37 points, but pales in comparison to other Rochester rookies like Quinn, Peterka and Biro. This is a contract year for him.

Average Public Ranking: 30

The first goalie on our list! Leinonens size is noteworthy, at 65 and 234 pounds. Theres a reason he was the first goalie taken in the 2022 draft and a reason the Sabres chose him so high. Last season, he appeared in 21 games with JYPs U20 team, putting up a .916 save percentage and 2.28 GAA. He also appeared in five games with Finlands U18 team.

Last Years Ranking: 17Average Staff Ranking: 28Average Public Ranking: 33

Laaksonen has fallen quite a bit in the Top 25 Under 25 standings, after finishing 17th last year. He appeared in 71 games with the Amerks this past season, accrued 34 points and 44 penalty minutes and is the only 2017 draft pick still in the Sabres organization who has yet to play in an NHL game.

Stay tuned for the rest of the list.

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2022 Buffalo Sabres Top 25 Under 25: Works in Progress (40-31) - Die By The Blade

Shelton will return, Bucs GM-progress not measured now in wins/losses – 93.7 The Fan

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PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) Pirates General Manager Ben Cherington said manager Derek Shelton is under contract for next season and he will return.The GM also said his coaching staff will be back as well.

I love working with Shelty and this staff, Cherington said Friday. They work their tails off every day. They care so much about getting this right, getting better. Outcomes are hard on them too, hard on everybody. He has been consistently open to feedback. Im so confident at the level of effort every day this staff puts in to get better.

Im looking forward to this group benefitting from the fruits of their labor because I believe they will as our roster matures and gets stronger.

In his third season, Shelton is 126-214, a .371 career winning percentage.

100 losses

A second straight 100 loss season is staring at the Pirates, Cherington doesnt believe that stat will accurately tell the tale of the improvement in the organization.

We made a decision to go down a path because we believe we need more talent, more players, Cherington said of rebuilding. We need to build a stronger base of players that can be here for a longer period of time. We believe thats the best chance we have to get to winning as quickly as possible and then sustain it.

Most of those decisions were made in a way that wouldnt help the team the next day at the Major League level. I acknowledge that and despite that I believe we are making progress at the Major League level. I believe the way we are playing baseball continues to improve.

I dont know what our record will be at the end of the year. I hope it shows progress, I believe it can. All of that is happening when the decision we are making arent helping the roster the next day.

I think we are at a moment in time that progress should not be measured entirely by wins and losses. That doesnt mean the games arent important, I do not think right now its the best way to measure.

We are getting closer to better outcomes.

We really do see progress and we will need more of it. Eventually the outcomes matter, but those get better because of more players, players maturing and that will happen.

Frustration

Cherington said its not that they arent frustrated by what is going on with the team, but it also motivates them to get better.

In baseball there is no single solution, Cherington said. No single move or shortcut that will get us from Point A to Point B. Its a lot of stuff that adds up over time and all of a sudden you are in a better spot and you are winning games.

You need a lot of good players. It takes some time to get a lot of good players. Then even after you have them, they have to go through a transition. Good young players dont always show up in the big leagues on day one and helping you win. It takes some time.

Too much youth

Cherington disagreed with the notion when presented in a question that they could have too many young players at one time in the majors.

No. because every one of them is getting benefit of their experience, Cherington said. Its a fact of life, thats what we need to do. Even if there are going to be some struggles, weve got to be willing to do that because sooner or later they will have to. We trying to pick the best spots.

I dont think we will ever be hesitant to give young players an opportunity here even if its a bunch at one time. Obviously as you get to a deeper, stronger roster and get to winning more games the complexion of the team looks different because its more mature. We think we are really getting benefit of this young group playing and well see more of that.

Its really valuable that weve had so many young position players have as many reps as theyve had at the Major League level and its only going to help some of them be stronger contributors sooner rather than later. Its part of the process. We are going to have to rely on young players. I think that represents progress.

On the pitching side, we are excited about the group of young pitchers we are accumulating and starting to get either at or close to the Major League level. Obviously, we still need to improve but we can see guys either taking steps forward in a rotation and becoming guys you can look at as part of a good rotation or other young starting pitchers who are getting experience and steps.

We are excited about the direction of our pitching. We understand it has to be better, but we are excited about the direction of it.

Hodgepodge of Nothingness

Cherington asked by the Post-Gazettes and 93.7 The Fans Jason Mackey about the Red Sox broadcasters comments on Tuesday including the one of the Bucs lineup being a hodgepodge of nothingness.

I was disappointed for our players that anybody would speak about a player in the Major Leagues or any professional player in that way, Cherington said. What our players said about it, I thought was completely appropriate. I will let that speak for itself.

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Shelton will return, Bucs GM-progress not measured now in wins/losses - 93.7 The Fan

Work in Progress Limits: Getting started with the Agile Marketing Navigator – MarTech

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We recently introduced you to theAgile Marketing Navigator, a flexible framework for navigating agile marketing for marketers, by marketers in the articleA new way to navigate agile marketing. The navigator has four major components: Collaborative Planning Workshop, Launch Cycle, Key Practices and Roles. Within these categories, there are several sub-pieces for implementation.

In recent articles we covered the Collaborative Planning Workshop and the Launch Cycle. Now were going to dive into the third of our6 Key Practices: Work in Progress.

Lets face it, marketers have a big problem theyre overloaded with too much work. A big consequence of too much work happening at once is getting a lot of work started, but nothing really finished.

In agile marketing, a primary goal is to deliver work rapidly so we can get feedback to inform future work. However, when marketers are spinning in a sea of content creation soup or email overload, work is often getting caught up somewhere in the internal workflow and not getting delivered as quickly as it should.

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Work in Progress (WIP) limits derive from the popular workflow framework Kanban and its a practice that helps teams understand optimal workflow.

Lets say that youre a content marketing team and youre visualizing your work in an agile tool such as Workfront or JIRA. The team notices that they could be more efficient at getting work from in progress to done and that limiting how much work is in progress at any given time may help them be a better-performing team.

To get started, the team should take a few weeks to track how much work they currently have in practice each day, coming up with an average. Heres a simple way to calculate the teams current WIP by jotting down whats on the teams board:

To calculate the teams current work in progress, add up the total in column 2 and divide by 14, which gives an average of 10. This means that the team averages 10 items in progress at any one time.

Now that the team understands their starting place, they can experiment by setting different WIP limits. Since they know that with 10 work items in progress at any given time they are not at optimal efficiency, they should agree to set a lower limit, such as eight, and experiment over the next few weeks by not allowing more than eight pieces of content to be in progress at once.

After that two-week period, the team should discuss how it went. Did they see any improvements in how much work got done? If yes, they may have found an optimal number. If they believe it is still too high, they can try another cycle with a lower number.

It may take several experiments to understand the teams WIP limit, and that number may change over time. The main point is that the team is empowered to set this themselves and to work together to improve their efficiency.

This isnt a beginners practice, so I recommend only trying this with teams that have been working in agile marketing together for six months or longer and have mastered the basics. This practice is more about refining and optimizing a relatively experienced agile marketing team to improve efficiency.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily MarTech. Staff authors are listed here.

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Work in Progress Limits: Getting started with the Agile Marketing Navigator - MarTech

Forward progress stopped on Castaic brush fire that threatened animal shelter – Los Angeles Times

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A brush fire in Castaic grew to at least 50 acres and threatened an animal shelter before forward progress was stopped Wednesday evening.

Crews on the Quail fire had reported a medium rate of spread, said Capt. Abraham Serrano of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.

The fire was reported in the 31000 block of Charlie Canyon Road, according to a tweet by the L.A. County Sheriffs Departments Santa Clarita Valley station. By 7 p.m., it was 50 acres, the Fire Department tweeted.

A second alarm was called on the blaze, which had threatened an L.A. County animal shelter in the area, Serrano said.

Forward progress on the blaze was stopped, all animals at the shelter were safe and no evacuations were needed, the sheriffs station reported at 7:23 p.m.

Michael Pittman, a county fire dispatch supervisor, did not have an acreage update around 7:30 p.m.

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Forward progress stopped on Castaic brush fire that threatened animal shelter - Los Angeles Times