Microsoft's turned Windows into a cesspool, but it wants to do better
kettle When it comes to making decisions that piss off your user base, no one knows how to do it like Microsoft. …
Kamala Harris might run again. Here’s why she shouldn’t.
Survey Says is a weekly series rounding up the most important polling trends or data points you need to know about, plus a vibe check on a trend that’s driving politics or culture. Third time’s a charm, right? Kamala Harris seems to think so. The former vice president is feeding into speculation that she will mount a third campaign for the presidency, recently telling an audience in…
Drop on the deck and flop like a fish
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FIFA could make billions from the world cup. Host cities will get little in return.
by Dylan McGuinness, Houston Chronicle, for ProPublica When Texas dedicated $22 million to host the 2017 Super Bowl between the New England Patriots and the Atlanta Falcons, state officials expected a return on their investment. But a state analysis after the Patriots’ thrilling comeback win said it was “impossible” to tell if Texas taxpayers broke even on their investments.
‘This is fine’ creator says AI startup stole his art
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In Harvard study, AI offered more accurate diagnoses than emergency room doctors
Minnesota passes the nation’s first ban on ‘nudification’ apps
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It’s a bunker … it’s a bribe … it’s Trump’s ballroom
After yet another assassination attempt against him, you’d think that President Donald Trump might want to discuss things like national security or gun violence. But nope! We’re dealing with a toddler president who wants his big, special ballroom, damnit! Here are some of our favorite cartoons making fun of how absolutely ridiculous—and expensive—Trump’s fun little project truly is.
TechCrunch Mobility: How do you issue a ticket to a robotaxi?
An urgent care treated her allergic reaction. An ER monitored her—for $6,700.
By Andrew Jones for KFF Silvana Toska was playing in a grass field with her daughters late last fall when she felt a sting on her ankle. The family had come to listen for barred and great horned owls as the sun set on a large park near their Davidson, North Carolina, home. It was “just like a mosquito bite, nothing major, and I just scratched it,” said Toska…
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‘Get Up Offa That Thing’ and celebrate ‘Godfather of Soul’ James Brown
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Santa Cruz County budget to dip into reserves to weather financial challenges caused by federal funding changes
Officials plan to use nearly $43 million from Santa Cruz County’s general fund reserves and departmental trust funds to help keep safety-net services available and avoid employee layoffs. The first of several county budget hearings is scheduled for Tuesday.
The post Santa Cruz County budget to dip into reserves to weather financial challenges caused by federal funding changes appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Ryan Coonerty says Santa Cruz residents are concerned about quality-of-life issues, not so much with his political positions
Ryan Coonerty is no stranger to campaigning, having served as a Santa Cruz city councilmember, mayor and county supervisor over the past two decades. He said that although many of the issues the community faces aren’t new, they have evolved. There’s a “broad frustration” that quality-of-life issues aren’t being addressed with more urgency, he said, with a heightened anxiety about the current job market a newer concern among the electorate.
“It’s everything from traffic to encampments to beautification to proposed developments that are out of scale and will impact adjacent neighborhoods,” he said. “I’m hearing at the doors that people love Santa Cruz, they love living here, and they’re also frustrated by these issues where they want to see more progress.”
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Coonerty said that his platform and the issues he’s most concerned about haven’t changed much since he first announced his bid for mayor, but said balancing issues is always a challenge.
“There are 30 issues at any given time that the city needs to figure out how to respond to,” he said, naming road maintenance and pushing back against proposed offshore oil drilling as examples of both basic and complex problems. “I don’t know that we’ve added to the variety of issues, but I feel like I’m getting a more nuanced view of these issues from my conversations with community members.”
On job creation, given its emergence as a major community worry, Coonerty said he wants to ensure businesses currently operating can continue to do so. That means meeting with them to understand their needs, whether it’s a facade makeover, a parklet or another amenity. He also wants to ensure that the city pitches Santa Cruz as a place with talented people and a good quality of life.
“There’s no better way to connect to a community than to open a brick-and-mortar store and get to know your neighbors,” he said. “You can bring your skills and business acumen to a community and get an economic benefit, but also community benefit.”
Coonerty said that the issues cited by opponents — namely his support for automated license-plate readers and his advisor role for San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, now running a campaign for governor that has received sizable donations from tech moguls – don’t come up at all when walking neighborhoods and talking to residents. He said his work with Mahan has “nothing to do with technology,” and that his position on automated license-plate readers is the same as the current city council’s.
“If there’s a way to [use automated license-plate readers] that doesn’t have the concerns with the current administration’s abuse of civil liberties, then we should explore those,” he said. However, he added that he’s not in a rush to do so, especially during a Trump administration.
His opponents point out that Coonerty also has received donations from real estate agents and developers as well as consulting fees from development firms such as Lawlor Land Use. But he said that doesn’t change his stance on development in Santa Cruz. He also said he wouldn’t do any consulting for local projects should he win the mayorship. He said he would also make sure any work he undertakes complies with conflict-of-interest laws. He added that about 90% of his contributions are from locals, regardless of what industry they work in.
“I have made clear that I believe that there are good projects that benefit the community, provide needed housing or revenue that are real pain points for the community,” he said. “I’m also completely prepared to fight against bad projects.”
Overall, Coonerty thinks his experience speaks for itself, as well as his commitment to the community as someone who has started businesses, run nonprofits and volunteered.
“I love this community. I believe that with focus, we can improve our quality of life and create opportunities for everybody,” he said. “I think I have the skills, knowledge, experience and relationships to get the outcomes the community wants.”
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Our $1.29 billion county budget protects vital services today – but we have a tough road ahead
Santa Cruz County’s budget for 2026-27 safeguards core services and avoids layoffs, despite a historic fiscal squeeze, writes County Executive Officer Nicole Coburn, who is in her first year in the job. The $1.29 billion plan relies on $43 million in one-time funds, reducing county reserves to 10.4%, but keeping critical programs running. Without structural change, she writes, Santa Cruz County faces a projected $67 million deficit as soon as next year. The county is asking for millions from the state for help to overcome the shortfalls caused by federal cuts. This budget buys time, she writes, but the county will likely need to make hard choices in the future. The board of supervisors will meet for budget hearings in the coming weeks.
The post Our $1.29 billion county budget protects vital services today – but we have a tough road ahead appeared first on Lookout Santa Cruz.
Trump’s SEC Slammed the Door on Small Investors. They Built a New One.
This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Since President Donald Trump took office, the Securities and Exchange Commission has made it harder for small and activist investors to raise concerns through the government filing system known as EDGAR. Now they’re pushing back with their own alternative platform, which they call the Proxy Open Exchange—or POE.
Literary puns aside, the initiative is aimed at bringing greater transparency to an increasingly restricted space. In January, the SEC said it would no longer allow investors with less than $5 million in shares to use EDGAR to send communiqués called exempt solicitations to fellow shareholders. Such documents are often used to lay out an investor’s stance on a given issue, including climate action, board accountability, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
“We believe a free market requires communication,” said Andrew Behar, CEO of the shareholder advocacy group As You Sow, which spearheaded the new site. “If they’re going to take away EDGAR, we’re going to give them POE.”
The response has been swift. In less than a week, POE has 63 filings, with dozens more expected. EDGAR shows just 39 exempt solicitations so far in 2026.
The SEC declined to comment about POE, but has previously told Grist that limiting access to the system is an attempt to rein in the scope of government, ease burdensome regulation, and curtail the “large volume” of requests that often require prompt attention. “Over the years, companies have expressed concerns that this misuse has caused confusion among their investor base,” an SEC spokesperson said at the time. “Shareholders can continue to conduct exempt solicitations through other commonly used means, such as press releases, emails, websites, and social media, and electronic shareholder forums.”
Critics of the move see it as an attempt to silence irksome investors.
The workaround is not the only attempt at an alternative to the official platform. The nonprofit Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, for instance, recently started putting exempt solicitations and proxy memos it receives about issues relevant to its members on its website. Still, POE is the most robust effort yet to fill the gap the government created.
It is designed to mimic EDGAR, Behar said. It even relies on the same set of codes—known as central index keys—to identify individuals and companies making posts. Although As You Sow reviews submissions for basic errors, it doesn’t filter content, making POE, like EDGAR, open to all viewpoints.
“POE is a new and adventurous approach to try to set up a large public website that people of all persuasions can post their solicitations on,” said Tim Smith, senior policy advisor for the Interfaith Center, who applauded the idea. “It could be an investor that’s filing a resolution on climate. It could be a conservative investor who decides to push a resolution that’s challenging diversity, equity, or inclusion.”
Any filings are subject to the same anti-fraud legal provisions required by EDGAR, says Jill Fisch, a professor of business law at the University of Pennsylvania. “The postings have to be accurate, so that doesn’t change,” she said. What is new is that POE’s interface is much more user-friendly, she said, calling the government’s site “kind of old and glitchy.”
Not everyone, however, is embracing the system. According to Behar, one of the world’s largest proxy advisors—which helps its clients research shareholder proposals—won’t consider any information that’s not on the official platform. The company, ISS, declined an interview request and did not respond to written questions. Still, Fisch said the pool of potential users of the new system is vast.
“The great thing about these being public websites is that they’re available to mutual funds, to smaller institutions, to universities, and so forth,” she said. She’ll be curious to see data on who uses the site in the coming weeks and months. So far, though, “it’s way too early to tell.”
Fisch will also be watching how corporations respond. Some, like Exxon Mobil, which has often opposed shareholder advocacy, could see it as a threat (the company did not respond to an interview request) and start their own platforms. Or, perhaps, the existence of unregulated alternatives will encourage companies to ask the SEC to push people back to EDGAR, where everything will be in the same place.
Whatever the rationale, it would be relatively easy for the government to reverse course. “Any new administration or new SEC could change this in a moment,” said Smith. That, in many ways, would be an ideal outcome for Behar, who hopes that POE will be temporary.
“We do not want this to be a necessary platform into perpetuity,” he said. “This is hopefully short-lived. When the administration changes and the SEC returns to its core mission, we expect EDGAR to be restored because transparent information sharing is essential for the free market.”
More often, though, Fisch finds that platforms like POE are one-way streets. Even if EDGAR is loosened back up, she expects people to continue finding the alternatives useful. “Once investors figure out how cheap and easy and convenient it is to use the internet and social media to communicate, I don’t think they’re going to stop,” she said. “The cat’s out of the bag.”