Corporations and other organizations hire PR services to tout various announcements, as per above. Yours truly was not aware that academics now do it until:
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/leading-quantum-scientist-prineha-narang-appointed-to-named-professorship-at-ucla-301525459.html. [Screenshot below]
Anyway, welcome Prof. Prineha Narang.
Source: https://www.khon2.com/local-news/snow-on-mauna-kea-bi-winter-weather-advisory/; https://www.bigislandvideonews.com/2022/04/17/a-white-easter-sunday-on-hawai%CA%BBi-island/.
We watch new weekly claims for unemployment insurance in California as an indicator of the state of the labor market and the economy. New claims have been creeping up in the past few weeks after falling into the pre-pandemic range. We'll keep an eye on it and hope it's a blip and not the beginning of something.
As always, the latest new claims data are at https://www.dol.gov/ui/data.pdf.
Nobel Prize winning UC-Berkeley faculty member Jennifer Doudna - known for her work on the CRISPR gene editing process - spoke about that process, her institute at Berkeley, and a company she started. She noted that there is testing going on for a cure through gene editing of sickle cell disease. Indeed, it has already been done. Currently, it costs on the order of $2 million but she described work which she hopes will bring down the cost to something like $100,000. Her presentation and subsequent Q&A runs from minute 6:20 for a little over an hour. Blog readers will find that presentation of special interest.
The concluding session featured a group of student entrepreneurs - most from UCLA - describing their activities.
You can see the video at the link below:
Or direct to:
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| Screenshot from YouTube video. |
USC has filed a lawsuit in hopes of temporarily banning two YouTubers from campus after they disrupted a Holocaust lecture to make a prank video on March 29. Students stormed out of the classroom following the incident in Mark Taper Hall, and Los Angeles Police Department officers arrested two of the suspects at gunpoint, according to the lawsuit. The university cited dangerous and reckless conduct targeting students and faculty while taking over lectures as the main reason for the suit. USC is asking for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction that would prevent the defendants from entering all campuses, medical centers, residences and all other university properties in the county, according to the suit. The university is also asking for compensatory damages, attorneys’ fees and other compensation for the cost of the lawsuit.
The defendants, Earnest Kanevsky, who goes by Eric Kanevsky on his YouTube channel, and Yuoguo Bai, have filmed several prank videos on the University Park Campus and disrupted classes beginning in 2021, according to the lawsuit. At least two videos of Kanevsky interrupting other classes in Taper Hall seem to have been deleted, including one named in the lawsuit where he dressed up as a character from “Squid Game” and another included in a “FUNNIEST PRANKS OF 2021″ recap video. The suit also states that, in the class, Bai pretended to be a student, while Kanevsky walked in later dressed in all black with a silver briefcase, pretending to be a Russian Mafia member attempting to take money from Bai. Kanevksy then asked if anyone named Hugo Boss was in the room, leading Bai to say that he was Boss, according to the suit.
A voice on Kanevsky’s phone yelled expletives at Bai, further interrupting the lecture and causing students to panic, the suit stated. Students began fleeing the classroom in fear when Kanevsky moved to the front of the classroom and told Bai that his father owed him $50,000, according to the suit. The class’s professor, Benjamin Ratskoff, said in the suit that he was worried during the prank by the defendants’ references to Hugo Boss, a Nazi supporter and fashion designer. In an email to students previously obtained by Annenberg Media, Ratskoff said that he is in touch with the university about ensuring a similar disturbance doesn’t happen again.
“While it appears that the event was a part of some kind of prank, the intrusion naturally created panic, as lectures on the Holocaust, antisemitism, and racism have previously been targets for harassment and violence,” Ratskoff previously wrote in an email to Annenberg Media. “I myself made the split-second decision that it was better to follow those fleeing students rather than to wait and see if this was indeed a prank.”
Source: https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2022/04/07/usc-files-lawsuit-against-youtube-prank-personalities/.
I should note that this story was covered in the LA Times and other media outlets. It's hard to imagine that DA George Gascón, LA City Attorney Mike Feuer, and LA Police Chief Michel Moore (or at least their staffs) are unaware of what happened at USC. LA Mayor Eric Garcetti's State of the City address last Thursday was devoted to public safety. Just saying...
From the LA Times: The California Highway Patrol identified the gunman they say opened fire on officers on the 405 Freeway on Thursday morning before he was shot. Officers spotted Michael Northcott, 37, standing by a red Ford Mustang parked on the right side of the shoulder of the southbound freeway north of Skirball Center Drive about 2:45 a.m., according to authorities. The vehicle’s airbags were deployed.
When the CHP officers stopped behind him, Northcott reached into the Mustang and pointed a handgun at the officers and started to shoot, according to the CHP. Police shot back at him and hit him several times, the CHP said. Once police were able to determine that the situation was safe for them to approach, they gave medical aid to the suspect until paramedics arrived. Northcott was then transported to a hospital. His condition remains unknown.
None of the officers were injured during the shooting, but their vehicle was struck by gunfire, according to authorities. The 405 was closed for several hours as CHP investigators combed the scene for evidence. Traffic on the freeway snarled for miles as the Sepulveda Pass was closed for most of the morning commute on Thursday. All lanes were reopened around 12:30 p.m., according to CHP’s Southern Division.
A freeway shooting shut down the San Diego (405) Freeway in the Sepulveda Pass during Thursday morning's rush hour. The southbound lanes are completely shut down at Skirball Center Drive as of 8 a.m., and only one northbound lane has been reopened, said California Highway Patrol Officer Chris Maldonado. Fox 11 News is reporting that the CHP got into some type of altercation with the driver of a red Mustang, and shots were fired. Traffic is being diverted off the freeway at Sepulveda. Drivers are being advised to avoid the area, or try alternate routes such as the Ventura (101) Freeway. However, the hours-long closure has backed up rush hour traffic all over the westside.
Source: https://patch.com/california/santamonica/s/i7n3z/shooting-shuts-down-405-freeway-at-sepulveda-pass.
