Transit Authority Board Under Fire for Meeting

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When former Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority executive director Ann August left her post in October, transit board members said they held an emergency meeting to accept her resignation.  Transit advocates say she was clearly fired.  That distinction could mean the difference between a legal move by the board and something illegal.  The Jefferson County District Attorney’s office appears to be investigating.  We hear about it from Alabama Media Group columnist John Archibald and also hear about the Birmingham City Council, which canceled a meeting for lack of a quorum.

Photo by acnatta

 

In a first-of-its-kind decision, an AI company wins a copyright infringement lawsuit brought by authors

U.S. District Judge William Alsup's ruling this week, in a case brought by authors Andrea Bartz, Charles Graeber and Kirk Wallace Johnson last year, opens a potential pathway for AI companies to train their large language models on copyrighted works without authors' consent — but only if copies of the works were obtained legally.

RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over ‘vaccine safety’ issues

The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.

Senators question Trump plan to kill federal funds for PBS, NPR and some foreign aid

Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Appropriations Committee pushed back against the Trump administration's bid to rescind federal funding for public broadcasting and international aid programs.

Judge orders Trump administration to resume distributing money for EV chargers

Congress designated money for building new EV chargers, but the Trump administration put a freeze on those funds. A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering the program to resume.

Judge sees no reason to keep holding Abrego Garcia pending criminal trial

Despite the court order, if released from prison, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is likely to be immediately taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Expert panel picked by RFK Jr. will scrutinize the vaccine schedule for kids

The advisory committee makes recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the nation's vaccine schedule. Any changes could affect vaccinations for millions of children.

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