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NYC Kids Under 5 Will Still Have to Wear Masks in School When Mandate Lifts

New York Daily News reported:

If Mayor Adams lifts the mask mandate for city public school students and teachers this Monday as expected, kids under 5 who are too young to receive a vaccine will have to keep wearing their face coverings, according to comments Adams made earlier in the week.

When Adams originally announced last Sunday that he would end the city school mask mandate next week barring any unforeseen COVID-19 spikes, he didn’t specify that the change would only apply to kids over 5.

But in an interview the following day with Bloomberg TV, when Adams was asked if kids under 5 would have to keep wearing masks if the school mandate lifted, Adams said “yes, we have to. In daycare, in pre-k, in those areas where children are not vaccinated…we have to still take the precautions that are needed.”

Roughly 96,000 city students are enrolled in the city’s Pre-K and 3-K programs for 3- and 4-year-olds.

Top NYC Officials Call for Student COVID Vaccine Mandate by Next School Year

New York Post reported:

Just when you thought city vaccine mandate debates were waning.

A powerful pair of elected city officials — Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and City Comptroller Brad Lander — are calling on Mayor Eric Adams to require coronavirus vaccines for city school kids next year.

In a joint statement, Williams and Lander demanded “a requirement for full COVID vaccination for students to return to school next fall, as part of the City’s standard vaccination requirements.”

Adams, along with Gov. Kathy Hochul, have both previously signaled their support for a school vaccine mandate.

Vaccination Proof Repeal Doesn’t Stop Some Businesses From Keeping Tabs

Newsweek reported:

Several cities and counties across the U.S. are beginning to lift local COVID-19 precautions, but not all businesses are ready to follow suit.

Business owners contacted this week by Newsweek said they don’t know exactly when they will be ready to lift proof of vaccination requirements for their customers, largely due to the unpredictable nature of the coronavirus thus far.

While some areas no longer require customers to provide proof that they have been vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to enter indoor businesses, some of those businesses say they intend to keep their own precautions in place a while longer.

The Human Side of Data Science Can No Longer Be an Afterthought

Newsweek reported:

Data science increasingly shapes our world, from the news we read to who is selected for a job interview to how long someone is sentenced to prison.

As the amount of data we collect and analyze grows exponentially, we are beginning to see concerning consequences: algorithms that reinforce social biases, threats to our privacy, the spread of fake news and even the weaponization of disinformation for use in cyberwarfare.

Our approach to data science so far has treated social and ethical concerns as an afterthought. The “move fast and break things” mindset encourages people to tackle technical challenges first and then focus on the human impact and unintended consequences later (if at all).

Los Angeles County to Drop Indoor Mask Order Friday

Associated Press reported:

Los Angeles County residents will no longer be required to wear masks at restaurants, bars, gyms, shops and other businesses starting Friday as community spread of the coronavirus continues to decline, the county’s top health official said.

Data published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention puts California’s most populous county in the lowest level of virus transmission.

Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer said the milestone means she would issue a revised health order that aligns with new state guidelines unveiled Monday allowing vaccinated or unvaccinated people to choose to go without face coverings.

Business owners can choose to require masks for both customers and employees.

Mask Mandate Over in Vermont’s Largest City

Associated Press reported:

Vermont’s largest city has ended its indoor mask mandate after a drop in COVID-19 cases.

The mandate expired on Thursday.

Last month, the Burlington City Council voted not to renew the masking order. Businesses may choose to keep masking guidance.

State officials announced Thursday that Vermont is lifting its indoor masking guidance, including for schools, as of Mar. 14.

NFL Drops All COVID Restrictions

U.S. News & World Report reported:

The National Football League’s COVID protocols will be lifted immediately under a deal reached between the league and its players’ association.

The agreement makes the NFL one of the first major sports leagues to take such action, CBS News reported.

The NFL said it will no longer mandate testing, mask use, COVID-19 signage, isolation and room capacity limits.

Novak Djokovic Will Likely Be Able to Participate in French Open as France Lifts Vaccine Requirement

CBS Sports reported:

With France lifting protocols around COVID-19 vaccine passports, tennis star Novak Djokovic, who is not vaccinated, will now likely be able to compete in the French Open. Starting on Mar. 14, vaccine passports will not be required in France. The French Open, a tournament that Djokovic won in 2021, is scheduled to begin on May 22.

Djokovic has been vocal about his vaccine status, saying he would give up Grand Slam title chances before getting vaccinated. Despite his stance, he says he is not anti-vaccine.

Google Suspends All Ad Sales in Russia as Censorship Demands Grow

Reuters reported:

Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL.O) Google said on Thursday that it had stopped selling online advertising in Russia, a ban that covers search, YouTube and outside publishing partners.

The move by the world’s top seller of online ads by revenue follows similar pauses in Russia by Twitter Inc. (TWTR.N) and Snap Inc. (SNAP.N) after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Google earlier had banned Russian state-funded media from buying or selling ads through its technology. It also had invoked its sensitive events policy, which bars marketing that seeks to take advantage of the war, with an exception for protest or anti-war ads.

Google Has Been Putin’s Most Compliant U.S. Tech Censor. Will That Change With Ukraine?

Forbes reported:

The one U.S. tech company that’s partnered more than any other over the last 10 years with Vladimir Putin’s censorship machine is the one that adopted the early slogan “Don’t be evil” — Google and its YouTube unit.

Google has provided substantially more user data to the Russian government and censored far more content than Apple, Facebook, Microsoft or Twitter at the request of Kremlin departments.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last week, U.S. tech giants have stopped providing some services to Russians. Apple ceased product sales, Google cut Russians off from advertising revenues, and both removed Russian news outlet RT from their app stores, as did Microsoft.

Supreme Court Says Government Can Use State Secrets Privilege to Block Surveillance Evidence in FISA Case

CNN Politics reported:

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday said the federal government could invoke the state secrets privilege to protect evidence it said could harm national security, in a case brought by three Muslim men.

The men are seeking to sue the government for hiring a confidential informant to secretly engage in electronic surveillance and gather information about their community in violation of their religious rights.

While the government invoked the state secrets privilege, a lower court said that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act — a law aimed at electronic surveillance — displaced the state secrets privilege. In a 9-0 ruling, the Supreme Court disagreed.

“Although today’s ruling is technical, it’s likely to have ominous implications for the ability of those subjected to unlawful spying by government intelligence agencies to ever challenge that spying in court,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

After Clearing All Regulatory Hurdles, Microsoft Closes $20 Billion Nuance Deal

TechCrunch reported:

When Microsoft announced its intent to buy Nuance Communications last year for $20 billion, it marked a hard move into healthcare for the company. But the deal was not a slam dunk by any means in an increasingly tight regulatory environment. After finally clearing all the regulatory hurdles, however, the company announced today that the deal has closed.

In a video statement CEO Satya Nadella called Nuance a pioneer in enterprise artificial intelligence and said that he is looking forward to seeing what the two companies can accomplish together.

Microsoft and Nuance will move forward with one of the biggest acquisitions in the Nadella era, second only to the $26 billion LinkedIn deal in 2016. It’s worth noting that the company has a $69 billion deal pending to acquire Activision/Blizzard it announced in January, but that deal is still working its way through the approval process.

Microsoft Suspends ‘All New Sales of Products and Services in Russia’

Ars Technica reported:

Microsoft President and Vice-Chair Brad Smith announced today via blog post that Microsoft would be suspending “all new sales of Microsoft products and services in Russia” following the country’s “unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful” invasion of Ukraine. The company didn’t name specific products, but a blanket ban would include Windows and Office software, Surface and Xbox hardware, Azure cloud computing services, and consumer services like OneDrive and Xbox Game Pass.

Microsoft isn’t the first of the big tech companies to formally halt sales in Russia while the country’s invasion of Ukraine continues. Apple halted sales of its products there earlier this week, and Google suspended advertising in Russia yesterday. Multiple tech companies, including Microsoft, have also blocked, demonetized or deprioritized content from Russian state media outlets like RT and Sputnik.

Thousands of Nvidia Employee Passwords Leak Online as Hackers’ Ransom Deadline Looms

TechCrunch reported:

The ransomware group that claims to have taken a terabyte of data from chipmaking giant Nvidia is threatening to release the company’s “most closely-guarded secrets” today unless it meets the gang’s increasingly bizarre demands.

The Lapsus$ ransomware group, which first claimed responsibility for the data breach last week, has already started leaking data. According to data breach monitoring website Have I Been Pwned, the hackers stole the credentials of more than 71,000 Nvidia employees.

Several Nvidia email addresses known to TechCrunch all appeared compromised, according to our checks. The data includes email addresses and Windows password hashes, according to HIBP, “many of which were subsequently cracked and circulated within the hacking community.”