Minneapolis - St. Paul Metro

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.one/post/23389770

Believe it or not, Ojibwe also have a story about Paul Bunyan. He came to the area known as Red Lake and tried his de-forestation BS, but Nanaboozhoo - The Greatest Ojibwe who ever lived - obviously wasn't having none of that. They got into a fight that lasted 3 days, and finally our hero picked up a giant walleye and slapped the outlander silly with it. Paul got knocked on his ass in a mud puddle, so hard it left an imprint of his buttcheeks there in the wet ground...thats why the lake is shaped the way it is and why we were able to keep our forest. You'll never hear this story in a book, but that's basically how I heard it from my father when I was young - after coming home from kindergarten in bemidj (pauls favorite town, mwahaha!) and talking about him. That's the story behind the Paul/Babe & Nanaboozhoo statues in that town. This used to be a sign at the rez line, I remember the chimooks didn't like it and kept cutting it down. But the story lives on, and now you know . . . #native #nativeamerican #indigenous #nativepride #nature #art #nativeamericans #natives #love #firstnations #nativeart #nativeculture #nativebeauty #nativeamericanart #nativeamericanpride #culture #indigenouspeople #indigenousart #photography #aboriginal #navajo #handmade #indigenouspride #americanindian #nativeamericanculture #nativemade #indigenouswomen #nativeamerica #fashion #nativeamericanhistorymonth

https://archive.is/XSF3G

The court ruling said Johnson had failed to properly establish residency in the Roseville-area district within six months of the November election. Johnson owns a home in Little Canada, but he had rented an apartment inside the district’s borders. He had said his family was searching for a permanent house.

The Metropolitan Council approved several changes to simplify and lower public transportation fares, slated to start Jan. 1, 2025.

Approved on Nov. 13, the changes include reducing the cost of all-day and seven-day transit passes and allowing Metro Mobility-certified riders to ride for one cent through June 30, 2025.

Non-express buses and the light rail’s full-priced fares will be $2 all day, every day, instead of the fare raising to $2.50 during rush hour. Seniors, Medicare recipients and youth can ride the light rail and non-express buses for $1.

Metro Transit’s seven-day passes will be lowered from $24 to $20. The All-Day passes will cost $2 to $4 compared to $4 to $5 on weekdays and $4 on weekends.

The fare changes come as Metro Transit prepares for its first systemwide upgrade of fare collection equipment in 20 years. The upgrade will eventually allow riders to purchase fares by tapping their mobile phones or credit cards.

“Making transit easier to use is key to growing ridership, and we believe simplifying fares will help do just that,” said Metro Transit General Manager Lesley Kandaras in a press release. “These changes also support our belief that cost should not be a barrier for those who want or need access to our services.”

With the changes in fares, more than 926,000 more rides are expected to come as a result, according to a Metro Transit press release.

University of Minnesota transportation professor Yingling Fan said decreasing fare costs may increase ridership, but removing as many barriers as possible is important.

“Certainly lowering the cost is great, but sometimes there are people out there who need the public transportation most, that even if you lower the cost, there are still barriers to access that particular public transportation mode,” Fan said.

In 2019, Metro Transit ridership had over 250,000 weekday rides, but a year later, ridership decreased to about 60,000 rides. While ridership has gradually climbed to a little more than 150,000 rides as of October 2024, it is still far below pre-pandemic levels.

Second-year University student James Theim said decreasing the fare price will obligate more people to use the transit.

“It's so easy to just walk on without any fares or without paying for it, ride it a couple stops and get off,” Theim said. “It's just so easy to get a free ride, which, some people might need it, but I think it's easy enough, and lowering the fares would also help get more people to pay the fares and more people to ride it also.”

Theim said improving safety by increasing officers on the light rail is another way to increase ridership.

“I think I did hear that they were going to increase like having officers on the light rail, which I think will help make people feel a lot more at ease and not worry about any type of danger,” Theim said.

Fan said she applauds these new changes but would like to see more in the future to remove all barriers.

“It's really unfortunate that the ridership level for Twin Cities public transportation has (not) recovered back to the pre-COVID level,” Fan said. “I think that it's very important that multiple approaches are being used, and I think this fair adjustment is an important step.”

Transcript:

Smithfield agrees to pay $2 million to resolve child labor allegations at Minnesota meat plant

An investigation by the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry found that the Smithfield Packaged Meats subsidiary employed at least 11 children at its plant in St. James ages 14 to 17 from April 2021 through April 2024, the agency said. Three of them began working for the company when they were 14, it said. Smithfield let nine of them work after allowable hours and had all 11 perform potentially dangerous work, the agency alleged.

Smithfield Foods, one of the nation's largest meat processors, has agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations

Associated Press

By Steve Karnowski and Josh Funk

Updated 11:27 AM PST, November 14, 2024

votelabor.org

Labor Party (US)

Roll up your sleeves and get started

Saw some cool graffiti and thought it would be good to play some geoguessr with. I have no experience with picking good spots, so might be too hard, but hopefully not

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/19533880

"OutFront has worked with people from 20 states, including states like Texas and Missouri, along the Interstate 35 corridor and southeast states Florida, Tennessee and Georgia, Rohn said.

Minnesota’s relatively strong job market and economy are a draw for those seeking access to care"

Due to confounding factors, I can only say this is probably a good statement for those arriving with some savings, or had the time to find a job before the move. I have not had this level of luck myself, but this is the first city I've ever lived in where I have felt a desire to set down roots.*

"A November attack on two trans women at a light rail station in downtown Minneapolis, with cheers from onlookers, deterred a few people Charley spoke with who had been considering a move to Minnesota. He said it was hard on many members of the Twin Cities Transplant group. 

“To me, (bystanders cheering) was the most devastating part,” Charley said.

A place to call home

Housing is a considerable obstacle for many transplants — the housing crisis in the Twin Cities affects everybody, but the absence of a dedicated LGBTQ+ shelter is a risk for anyone relocating without guaranteed access to housing, Charley said. 

“And you can’t sleep in your car,” Charley said. “I talked to a transplant last year who was talking about doing anything to get out of Texas and mentioned in February living in a car.”

Charley said the “Catch-22” of finding a job without a local address is another challenge because employers might eliminate out-of-state applicants. To secure an apartment, one needs a job and proof of income, he said."

I don't know for sure if I am the actual person this interviewee said they had spoken to, but I may be since every description fits, and am willing to share and answer and questions you may have down in the comments.

To start off with what was mentioned in the article:

• There actually are dedicated services for unhoused younger transpeople (the oldest age that is included by any of the groups is 25).

• I have been living in my vehicle at various areas around the MN metro since bailing on Texas becoming a decent place July 4th weekend 2023 (more detail im the comments)

• I have had 0 interactions with anyone here that made me feel LESS safe due to my identity or presentation. And after learning some terrifying lessons on some things to not do, I haven't had any interactions at all overnight with the exception of 1 police check up every 1-2 months for the last year...(notes and qualifying stuff in comments)

If you are wondering If Minneapolis, or Minnesota overall, is worth the move, then I would say yes to anyone with a well laid plan and a small savings for comfort.

And you're saftey is at risk because you live in the worst areas, I can say 1.5 years of car life in MN has without a doubt been way better for my mental, physical, and spiritual help than 1.5 years back in texas under even a million dollar roof(frankly because I'd be hanging from it one way or another long before the year mark)

Minnesota restaurants are grappling with how to adapt to a new state law that will ban them from adding fees to customers' checks.

Why it matters: The so-called junk fees law begins Jan. 1 and prevents businesses from tacking on all kinds of charges at the end of a transaction.

The one most people will quickly notice is at restaurants, where adding a 3%-5% health and wellness fee has become common in the Twin Cities.

The new law allows restaurants to add an automatic gratuity, but it must be clearly labeled and go to the wait staff. It also allows taxes, shipping and delivery charges to be added.

State of play: California this year became the first state to ban junk fees, but Gov. Gavin Newsom exempted restaurants at the 11th hour. That means Minnesota will be the first state to ban restaurant fees.

DFL backers say the measure provides price transparency and allows consumers to make informed decisions by seeing the total cost of a good or service upfront.

The intrigue: Restaurant owners told Axios they are faced with this question: Do they eat the lost revenue or increase menu prices during the dead of winter, when dining slows in Minnesota?

Restaurateur David Fhima (Maison Margaux, Fhima's and Mother Dough Bakery) said he hasn't decided what to do. He uses a 5% fee to help pay for employees' health insurance, which he said is set to rise 40% this year.

What they're saying: Fhima agrees with banning hidden fees, but said they're labeled on restaurant menus ahead of time, unlike, for example, fees for hotel resorts or concert tickets.

Kim Bartmann (Barbette, Pat's Tap, Book Club and others) said she was the local first restaurant operator to offer health care to employees back in 1993. Her costs have risen at least 10% a year, she said, but more like 20%-30% most years.

She's planning to raise menu prices.

Larkin Hoffman attorney Matthew Bergeron, who advises operators, said he expects most restaurants to do the same, but many of them will communicate to customers that the increased prices are to cover benefits for their employees.

Friction point: Big questions remain about catering and banquets. Typically, customers sign a contract that includes several fees, but operators don't know if they can add those to the bill afterward — even though they were agreed on up front, said Angie Whitcomb, CEO of Hospitality Minnesota.

Whitcomb said her organization is going to be asking for changes to the Minnesota law once the Legislative session begins Jan. 14.

What we're watching: How customers perceive menu price hikes at restaurants that have removed fees.

A $15 cheeseburger will still cost $15, but the menu won't say it's $14.25.

For years, the University of Minnesota Athletic Department allowed coaches to interfere with athletes’ medical treatment, and retaliated against medical and training staff who raised concerns about their lack of independence, according to allegations made by the university’s former director of athletic medicine in a 2018 letter.

Moira Novak, who oversaw the athletic department’s trainers and team physicians for nearly 20 years, repeatedly brought her concerns to athletic department administrators and the medical director. A pair of coaches had been allowed to handpick the head athletic trainers for their sports, bypassing Novak’s authority as the hiring manager and violating rules around medical staff independence.

In college sports, medical staff and athletic trainers are supposed to maintain independence from coaches, working in the best interest of the athlete — not the team’s performance.

Some trainers and strength coaches used dangerous techniques outside their scope of practice — including invasive, painful massages — and gave athletes inaccurate medical and nutritional advice outside their expertise, Novak wrote in a March 2018 letter to the University of Minnesota Board of Regents, which was first reported on last week by Bloomberg.

After Novak spent months escalating her concerns, she learned that her employment contract would not be renewed.

“I believe my dismissal was motivated by my advocacy for student-athlete health and safety,” Novak wrote in the letter.

Novak’s dismissal occurred during the tenure of Athletic Director Mark Coyle, and some of the staff she raised concerns about six years ago are still employed by the university.

Jake Ricker, a spokesman for the University of Minnesota, said in a statement to the Reformer that the university has investigated all of the claims and that some are “demonstrably false.”

“Claims related to care for the physical wellbeing of student-athletes are simply not true,” Ricker wrote. Privacy laws prevent the university from sharing information about individual students and employees, Ricker said.

Novak’s 2018 letter to the Regents arrived as the athletic department was rebuilding from a series of scandals in 2016.

That year, Coyle took over the department after his predecessor Norwood Teague resigned amid accusations that he sexually harassed employees. The university fired longtime wrestling coach J Robinson after he failed to report illegal drug use by his team. A woman accused several University of Minnesota football players of rape; four were expelled, and the university settled with the woman for $500,000. And basketball player Reggie Lynch was also expelled following multiple sexual assault allegations.

University investigated claims of coach interference, bogus advice, dangerous workouts

In her letter, Novak said that two head coaches — former basketball coach Richard Pitino and football coach P.J. Fleck — were allowed to handpick the head athletic trainers for their respective sports, bypassing her authority as the hiring manager. NCAA “best practices” recommend that hiring decisions for training and medical staff be made primarily by administrators with health care expertise, and that athletic departments should avoid conflicts of interest that could adversely affect athletes.

Some coaches pressured medical staff to share protected information about athletes, such as their mental health issues, Novak wrote. Others interfered with medical staff decisions; on one occasion, a coach played a medically disqualified player during an away game where an athletic trainer was not present.

Among other allegations, Novak said that:

• A strength coach, who is still employed by the athletic department, routinely performed a non-evidence based technique called “activation” in which he massaged athletes’ bodies, causing athletes to cry and scream in pain and bruising. Some female athletes reported feeling pressured to submit to the treatment, and one reported bruises on the inside of her thigh after treatment, according to Novak.

• The same coach performed other techniques on athletes that were outside his scope of practice or were “just bogus,” Novak wrote. That coach recommended a student use a banned supplement to treat migraines; suggested male athletes avoid eating peanut butter because it “lowers testosterone”; advised against wearing sunscreen; sent emails telling athletes to ice their testicles; and advised male students when to masturbate to best enhance their athletic performance.

• The same coach had athletes run up and down the steps around the 3M Arena at Mariucci with snorkels in their mouths and clips on their noses to limit oxygen intake.

• One strength coach screamed at a nutrition student to give a football player sugar while the athlete was struggling with a workout; the head athletic trainer stepped in and found that the player’s blood glucose was elevated.

• One coach conspired with an athlete to withhold information about a concussion; that player later fainted while boarding a plane and had to be transported to a hospital.

After Novak outlined her concerns to the Board of Regents, the university hired an outside law firm to investigate the allegations.

That law firm tapped a consulting firm called U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health to compile a report on the University of Minnesota’s compliance with standards of care for athletes. The consulting firm is run by James Borchers, the Big Ten’s chief medical officer.

The consultants visited campus three times between June and September 2018 and conducted group interviews with “focus groups” — six athletes, six coaches, nine members of the athletic medicine and performance staff, and three athletic administrators, including Coyle. The report doesn’t describe how the athletes and staff in the focus groups were selected.

“Independent Medical Care is recognized as the standard of care that must be and is provided to and for the student athletes,” the consultants found.

Jason Stahl, a former University of Minnesota professor, said he was demoted after he raised concerns about the treatment of athletes, many of whom he taught.

Stahl detailed his experience in a Substack post in 2020, shortly after he resigned from his position at the university. He later founded the College Football Players Association, which is working towards the unionization of college football players. He’s also written critically of Coyle and football coach Fleck.

The U.S. Council for Athletes’ Health report is “the performance of an investigation,” Stahl said — not an actual investigation. He alleges a conflict of interest because the president and CEO of the council is also the Big Ten chief medical officer. He doesn’t claim to know the internal workings of the athletic department: “It’s like a black box,” Stahl said.

In 2021, WCCO reported that unnecessarily tough football practices injured several players, leading to medical retirements.

In 2023, Front Office Sports published an article detailing allegations of a toxic culture in the University of Minnesota football program based on interviews with former players and coaches. Players who earned enough “coins” from the “Fleck bank” — credits granted to players who participated in community service events — earned the right to get away with positive drug tests and other violations of team rules, according to Front Office Sports reporting.

Fleck called those allegations “baseless.”

The University of Minnesota has an athletic compliance office that reports to the university general counsel and regularly attends practices.

“The University’s Office of Internal Audit reviewed the football program specifically and found strong controls and compliance across the board,” Ricker said.

In recent years, the landscape of college athletics has been transformed, giving athletes more power than ever. College athletes can now legally profit off of their name, image and likeness, which has translated to a roundabout pay-for-play model in which the top athletes in the most popular sports can command six- and seven-figure deals, paid for by boosters and corporate sponsors.

Women’s and Olympic sports, which lag men’s basketball and football in TV viewership, attract only a fraction of the sponsorship money as men’s football and basketball.

A pending settlement in a lawsuit between college athletes and the NCAA would create revenue-sharing agreements between schools and athletes, giving athletes in revenue-generating a cut of the TV money their schools bring in, and ushering in another new era of college sports.

Minnesota’s capital city is getting a fiscal watchdog – In$ight St. Paul.

We are a nonpartisan, grassroots nonprofit – largely made up of St. Paul citizens and business owners concerned about the financial health of the city. We went public on Oct. 29 with a detailed report, based on extensive fact-finding, that found the city to be fiscally stressed.

“The growth of St. Paul’s tax base and population are lagging,” our report concluded. “Deferred maintenance of basic infrastructure, high and rising property and sales taxes and challenging crime and social issues create an environment that some people want to leave. Reversing these trends requires a sense of urgency by St. Paul’s elected officials.”

We found that the city’s sales tax of 9.875% is the highest in the state. As for property taxes, the city’s effective tax rate before adjusting for the property tax refund – 1.39% of estimated market value – is the highest for all of Minnesota’s 20 regions.

Hardest hit by high tax rates are those least able to afford them: renters, low-income and fixed-income property owners. State legislators consider a net property tax greater than 5% of taxable income to be extremely regressive; in St. Paul, 17.1% of homestead owners paid net property taxes of more than 5%, nearly twice the statewide average.

Many St. Paul voters share our concerns. In the Nov. 5 election, they were asked to decide whether the city should launch an early childhood program. This proposal, which favored lower income residents, addressed a worthy cause but carried a hefty price tag. Had voters approved the plan, it would have boosted the city’s annual property tax levy from $2 million in the first year to $20 million by the 10th year. Voters rejected the plan, by a 60-40 margin.

Prominent among our many concerns:

• Growth of the city’s workforce. St. Paul’s full-time equivalent staff rose nearly 10% to 3,209 as planned for 2025, from 2,924 in 2016. Yet among the state’s five largest cities, only St. Paul’s population declined since 2020. The city’s Parks and Recreation Department is proposing huge new facilities that will require more city staffing and services, while failing to prioritize the $100 million in deferred maintenance of its existing facilities. Meanwhile, the new facilities will carry their own maintenance and service costs that are currently unaccounted for.

• Tax-exempt property. The city’s property tax revenues have long been limited by its unusually large amount of tax-exempt properties, e.g. state government and college buildings. Currently, 18.7% of its more than $43 billion value of all property in the city is exempt vs. 11.3% in suburban Ramsey County. We urge St. Paul officials to revisit the Citizens League’s comprehensive study, commissioned by the city in 2017. This analysis cites successful efforts of other cities to seek payments in lieu of taxes from the owners of tax-exempt property such as universities and hospitals.

• Tax increment financing. This is a method used to attract economic development by estimating and tapping future property tax revenue generated by new projects to pay for the current cost of these projects. St. Paul is the state’s biggest TIF user. The city’s leaders should be more transparent in explaining and disclosing data about these projects before doing more of them.

• Fiscal disparities and local government aid. Both of these programs redistribute state and regional money to St. Paul. Our city has been the biggest winner from the fiscal disparities program, which is a metro area tax-base sharing program. Local government aid is a state program that directs state tax revenue to cities. St. Paul is also the biggest beneficiary of this program. The city also depends on support from taxpayers beyond the city in various other ways. It routinely seeks grants and bonding from the Legislature, which appears likely to be tight-fisted in the next session given the 67-67 Minnesota House of Representatives. The city also received significant pandemic aid from the federal government’s American Rescue Plan – assistance now dwindling. The political shift in Washington suggests that requests for future federal aid could come under new pressure.

The more city officials do to get their fiscal house in order, the better positioned the city will be to ask for financial help from taxpayers beyond St. Paul.

If you have questions or suggestions for our group, please email us at insight.St.Paul@gmail.com

The Minneapolis Downtown Council is kicking off a new plan to revitalize the city center, with goals to get more people and more energy into the city by 2035.

The 131-page plan published this week includes continued work on public safety, countering homelessness and filling office buildings that emptied during the pandemic. But it has flashier goals, too: a skating rink, a pedestrian-only Nicollet Avenue corridor and a Michelin-star restaurant.

“The plan is a starting point,” said Adam Duininck, president of the Minneapolis Downtown Council. “It’s a way to engage people on really big issues.”

It’s a vision for a downtown with more residents, more businesses and more tourism. The council shares that goal with city officials, who have been looking for ways to attract people to downtown since the pandemic sent workers home and emptied space in downtown’s skyways and offices.

Duininck said the Nicollet Avenue plan is high on the list. The recent corridor redesign, completed in 2017, turned the street into a bus-only road. Now, the downtown council is proposing a pedestrian-only mall, complete with green space and a dog park.

“It could serve as basically a park right out the front door of office spaces downtown,” Duininck said. “If we want to attract tenants, if we want people to lease down here, they want access to park space and green space. We could build that right as part of the main street.”

That would take work with Metro Transit, since buses would need to reroute off Nicollet – plus redesigning and building the pedestrian space.

Also on the list is a revamp of the skyways, which are owned by individual building owners in Minneapolis. The council says it’s looking to add better directions in the skyways, plus more regular hours.

Another lofty goal: an overhaul of the riverfront post office. It serves as a U.S. Postal Service distribution center, but the downtown council says it’s taking up valuable riverfront space with limited public access. The plan notes it could take “a literal act of Congress” to repurpose the building.

The plan also suggests converting commercial buildings to residential, as part of the downtown council’s goal to bring more than 40,000 residents to the city center.

Safety is part of the plan, too. Duininck said that includes supporting the city’s efforts to hire on more police, plus other safety measures like mental health services and outreach to the city’s homeless population.

“Everybody needs to feel like you belong downtown, that there's a place there for you as well. That means for our youth. That means for children and families. That means safety for visitors,” Duininck said.

Duininck said much of this work will happen in collaboration with the city. The council’s plan shares several goals with the city’s latest plan for downtown revitalization, published in October.

https://archive.is/3z0G0

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called on a group within the Minneapolis teachers union to cancel an event with a Palestinian activist and sharp critic of Israel. Frey said in a Twitter post on Tuesday night said that “students should be learning about love, not hate.”

The featured speaker is Taher Herzallah, a Columbia Heights Parks Commission member and Ph.D. student, who has been flagged by antisemitism watch groups like the Anti-Defamation League for incendiary statements on Israel and Jews.

Frey, who is Jewish, quoted from a widely-shared video in which Herzallah says “Anybody who has any relationship or any support or identifies themselves as a Jewish person or as a Christian Zionist, then we shall not be their friend. I will tell you that they are enemy number one.”

In an email to the Reformer, Herzallah said the clip is taken out of context and shared the video of his entire remarks from last year. He said he was referring to Zionists and later in the clip he praised Jewish youth for protesting the U.S.’s support for Israel.

Harzallah was opaque when asked if he supports a two-state solution and the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, writing, “I have no problem with the idea of a Jewish state. I have a problem with Israel’s existence if it is built on the ruins of my people.” He said his grandfather was forcibly expelled from his home by “Zionist terror groups” in 1948.

He wrote in his email that those who clipped that quote “seek to paint me as some rabid antisemite in order to assassinate my character and prevent me from accessing spaces of influence and power.”

Frey, in an interview, pushed back: “There was no misquote … This would be wrong if it were said about a different ethnicity and it should be wrong if it’s said about Jews.” (Frey emphasized that he supports a ceasefire and a two-state solution.)

The Anti-Defamation League reported that Herzallah said at an event in 2014 that “Israelis have to be bombed, they are a threat to the legit­i­macy of Pales­tine.” Herzallah, who has family in Gaza, said he doesn’t recall ever making a statement to such effect and said the group has spent years making defamatory statements about him.

Minneapolis Federation of Teachers President Marcia Howard said this morning that about five union members raised concerns to her about Herzallah speaking at the event and that they will be meeting with the event organizers today. She noted that the event is organized by MFT Educators for Palestine, which is an affinity group for members, and not the union’s leaders.

Howard, who called the members who raised concerns about the event “brave,” said it was up to members to listen to each other and find a solution together.

“Our union needs to, especially in this time, talk to each other and hear each other,” Howard said. “I could make a unilateral decision but it’s important for them to understand their joint power… I don’t run nothing but my mouth. My members run the union.”

Last year, the Minneapolis Federation of Teachers approved a resolution on the Israel-Hamas war that some members and parents condemned as “antisemitic and hostile.” The resolution said the union “categorically reject violence against all civilians whether Israeli or Palestinian” but also that “Israeli occupation and apartheid … lies at the root of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.” The resolution called on state legislators to repeal the law barring the state from entering into contracts with organizations that boycott Israel.

The union later passed a revised resolution, saying the original statement “harmed many Jewish members, students and families while causing unnecessary division.”

Education Minnesota, the state teachers union, declined to comment.

A Stanford misinformation expert has admitted he used artificial intelligence to draft a court document that contained multiple fake citations about AI.

Stanford’s Jeff Hancock submitted the document as an expert declaration in a case involving a new Minnesota law that makes it illegal to use AI to mislead voters prior to an election. Lawyers from the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute and the Upper Midwest Law Center, which are challenging the law on First Amendment grounds, noticed the fake citations several weeks ago and petitioned the judge to throw out the declaration.

Hancock billed the state of Minnesota $600 an hour for his services. The Attorney General’s Office said in a new filing that “Professor Hancock believes that the AI-hallucinated citations likely occurred when he was using ChatGPT-4o to assist with the drafting of the declaration,” and that he “did not intend to mislead the Court or counsel by including the AI-hallucinated citations in his declaration.”

The AG’s office also writes that it was not aware of the fake citations until the opposing lawyers filed their motion. The office has asked the judge to allow Hancock to re-submit his declaration with corrected citations.

In a separate filing, Hancock argues that using AI to draft documents is a widespread practice. He notes that generative AI tools are also being incorporated into programs like Microsoft Word and Gmail, and says that ChatGPT is “web-based and widely used by academics and students as a research and drafting tool.”

Earlier this year a New York court handling wills and estates ruled that lawyers have “an affirmative duty to disclose the use of artificial intelligence” in expert opinions and tossed out an expert’s declaration upon learning that he had used Microsoft’s Copilot to check the math in it.

In other cases, lawyers have been sanctioned by judges for submitting AI-generated briefings containing false citations.

Hancock says he used the software that powers ChatGPT, called GPT-4o, to survey the academic literature on deep fakes and also to draft much of the substance of his declaration. He describes how he prompted the program to generate paragraphs detailing various arguments about AI, and says the program likely misinterpreted notes he left for himself to add citations later.

“I did not mean for GPT-4o to insert a citation,” he writes, “but in the cut and paste from MS Word to GPT-4o, GPT-4o must have interpreted my note to myself as a command.”

Hancock is a leading national expert on misinformation and technology. In 2012 he gave a widely-viewed TED talk entitled “The future of lying,” and since the release of ChatGPT in 2022 he has published at least five papers on AI and communication, including “Working with AI to persuade” and “Generative AI are more truth-biased than humans.”

Hancock, who has served as an expert witness in at least a dozen other court cases, did not respond to questions about whether he used AI in any of those cases, the number of hours he has billed the AG’s office so far, or whether the AG’s office knew beforehand that he would be using AI to compose his declaration.

A representative for the AG’s office said they would not be commenting beyond the court filings.

Frank Bednarz, a lawyer with the Hamilton Lincoln Law Institute, said that “Ellison’s decision not to retract a report they’ve acknowledged contains fabrications seems problematic given the professional ethical obligation attorneys have to the court.”

We had a weird candidate for county commissioner. People on FB are bitching about their property taxes going up, and this spider-throwing lady is showing up in the comments to say that people should've voted for her.

Here's a news article about the spider throwing:

https://www.eplocalnews.org/2024/07/19/spider-toss-case-takes-new-turn/

And a news segment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYDUeI72Eik

She's so crazy even Republicans wouldn't endorse her:

Late last month, the 3rd Congressional District Republican Party withdrew their previous recommendation for Simonetti in the special election race, stating in a press release that Simonetti, who had not sought a recommendation for the Nov. 5 election, “does not reflect our values.”

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/22334414

Summary

Two transgender women, Dahlia and Jess, were attacked at a Minneapolis rail station, with onlookers cheering their assailants instead of helping.

After confronting a man yelling transphobic slurs, the situation escalated into a violent assault involving four or five others, leaving both women unconscious.

Advocates attribute the rise in anti-trans violence to emboldened transphobia fueled by misinformation and political rhetoric, including Donald Trump’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies.

The local trans community is responding with solidarity rallies, self-defense classes, and firearm training to prepare for a potential increase in attacks.

Police are investigating, but no arrests have been made.