We’ve all seen a car blowing a stop sign at a busy intersection with vulnerable pedestrians. 

The start up Stop for Kids hopes to change that, using cameras backed by artificial intelligence. 

Company founders Kamran and Kiyan Barelli said driver behavior changes when police officers monitor stop signs and write tickets, so their cameras catch offenders as if a cop is there 24/7. 

“When the police was hiding to monitor the stop signs people, after a few tickets, everybody would stop. But within hours, when they left the scene it would go back to normal,” Kamran Barelli said of a study they conducted. 

Stop for kids currently has an agreement with one town for five cameras. They have conducted traffic studies for four other municipalities in an effort to expand. 

They are sponsored by the municipality to run plates through the DMV and issue a citation. Just like any other ticket, drivers can dispute it and ultimately pay the city if they’re at fault. 

“Our model is actually built in a way that it’s 100% funded by offenders,” Kamran said.  “And I think that’s fair to taxpayers, the community, because those who choose not to obey the law should be the one responsible to pay for this safety initiative.”

Municipalities can choose between three levels of enforcement: 

• police strict – everybody has to come to a complete stop before the stop sign 
• strict – everybody comes to a complete stop but some people might go a little bit beyond the line
• lenient – allows for a rolling stop 

The company’s founders said their process is unbiased and respects privacy. 

“We do not take into consideration the make, the vehicle make, model, color. We don’t take into consideration the license plate,” Kamran Barelli said. “In fact, if there are any people in the scene, you know walking or inside the car, they’re all blurred out. So we strictly use the bounding box to classify.”

At one intersection, only three out of 100 cars stopped when they first installed a camera. A year later, it went to 90 out of 100. They have the video evidence to prove people stop when they know they’re being watched. 

​​”People are being aware, they are learning to obey back again after they either received a violation or a warning letter,” Kiyan Barelli said. “We were approached by other municipalities in the area saying how this has changed the behavior of drivers in nearby areas, thinking there’s also a camera there or there’s also a program that we were running, which we were not.” 

Humans are constantly enhancing the technology to make it more accurate. They also check for false positives. The Barellis hope their idea will spread around the world, making local communities safer for everyone. 

[JACK AYLMER]

TENSIONS CONTINUE TO RISE IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA FOLLOWING A RECENT CLASH BETWEEN THE PHILIPPINE NAVY AND CHINA’S COAST GUARD. DURING THE INCIDENT, CHINESE PERSONNEL, WIELDING MACHETES AND SPEARS, INJURED FILIPINO NAVY PERSONNEL AND DAMAGED TWO OF THEIR BOATS.

THE PHILIPPINES NOW VOWING TO FIGHT BACK IF THE CHINESE TRY ANYTHING LIKE IT AGAIN.

MANILA IS DEMANDING ABOUT $1 MILLION FROM CHINA FOR DAMAGES AND THE RETURN OF SEIZED MILITARY EQUIPMENT AFTER A FILIPINO OFFICER LOST HIS THUMB IN THE INCIDENT. PHILIPPINE OFFICIALS REPORTED THAT AT LEAST EIGHT CHINESE SHIPS ATTACKED WHILE THEY WERE DELIVERING SUPPLIES TO THEIR FORCES AT THE SECOND THOMAS SHOAL OUTPOST.

BOTH NATIONS BLAME EACH OTHER FOR PROVOKING THE CLASH, WITH CHINA ASSERTING THAT THE FILIPINO VESSELS ENTERED ITS TERRITORIAL WATERS WITHOUT PERMISSION.

PHILIPPINES MILITARY CHIEF  GENERAL ROMEO BRAWNER JR. TOLD A CHINESE DELEGATION TUESDAY THAT HIS FORCES WILL DEFEND THEMSELVES WITH “THE SAME LEVEL OF FORCE” IF ASSAULTED AGAIN.

MANILA ANNOUNCED THAT BOTH SIDES AGREED TO DE-ESCALATE TENSIONS WHILE MAINTAINING THEIR STANCES, MAKING PROGRESS ON MANAGING MARITIME SITUATIONS BUT SAID SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES REMAIN.

THIS INCIDENT IS PART OF THE BROADER MULTI-NATION DISPUTE OVER THE SOUTH CHINA SEA, INVOLVING VIETNAM, MALAYSIA, BRUNEI, TAIWAN, AND CHINA. THE U.S. HAS REITERATED ITS COMMITMENT TO DEFEND THE PHILIPPINES, ITS OLDEST TREATY ALLY IN ASIA.

WHILE THE U.S. HAS NO TERRITORIAL CLAIMS, IT HAS DEPLOYED WARSHIPS AND FIGHTER JETS TO ENSURE FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION AND REASSURE ALLIES LIKE JAPAN, WHICH HAS ITS OWN DISPUTES WITH CHINA IN THE EAST CHINA SEA.

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M JACK AYLMER.

FOR MORE OF OUR UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACT REPORTING, DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP OR VISIT US AT SAN – DOT – COM.

LAUREN TAYLOR

CALL THEM “MOM-FLUENCERS”… “SHARENTING CREATORS”… OR “FAMILY VLOGGERS” —

SOCIAL MEDIA INFLUENCERS MAKING MONEY THANKS TO VIDEOS FEATURING THEIR CHILDREN — ARE ON NOTICE IN THE STATE OF THE ILLINOIS.

BECAUSE THOSE PARENTS MUST NOW PAY THEIR KIDS FOR BEING IN THEIR VIDEOS — UNDER A NEW FIRST-OF-ITS-KIND LAW THAT WENT INTO EFFECT THIS WEEK.

UNDER THE AMENDMENT TO ILLINOIS’ CHILD LABOR LAW —  TITLED “MINORS FEATURED IN VLOGS” –

CHILDREN UNDER THE AGE OF 16 WILL RECEIVE 15-PERCENT OF AN INFLUENCER’S GROSS EARNINGS – IF THEY APPEAR IN AT LEAST 30-PERCENT OF COMPENSATED VIDEO CONTENT WITHIN A 30-DAY PERIOD.

THIS LAW CAME TO BE THANKS TO A TEENAGER WHO TESTIFIED FOR THE BILL –

SAYING SHE BECAME CONCERNED OVER KIDS PRIVACY BEING “EXPLOITED” BY PARENTS LOOKING TO MAKE MONEY ONLINE.

SHREYA NALLAMOUTHU | TEEN ADVOCATE FOR ILLINOIS LAW

“I saw clips of a family channel where they filmed a prank which ended with their daughter crying….and still upload that to YouTube because that kind of content rakes in more views and money even though the child probably did not want that on the internet.”

LAUREN TAYLOR

THE LAW CALLS FOR THE INFLUENCER TO KEEP RECORD OF THE CHILD’S WORK — AND DEPOSIT THE MONEY INTO A TRUST ACCOUNT FOR THE CHILD TO RECEIVE AT AGE 18.

IF THE INFLUENCER DOES NOT MAINTAIN THE RECORDS AS INDICATED – THE CHILD CAN TAKE LEGAL ACTION.

State Sen. David Koehler | D-IL

“The enforcement of this and this is why I think the simplicity of this is not with the state of Illinois. We have too much we cannot handle already. This is a right of legal action. When a child turns 18 they can look back and say my parents used me in videos all throughout my childhood and made lots of money but I have nothing. They have a right to take legal action and recover some of that.”

LAUREN TAYLOR

WASHINGTON STATE IS ONE OF SEVERAL DISCUSSING SIMILAR ACTS TO REGULATE PARENTING CONTENT –

INCLUDING ALLOWING KIDS TO REQUEST THE CONTENT BE TAKEN DOWN.

STATE REP. KRISTINE REEVES | D-WA

“Not all kids get that right or that choice to be included in these in these materials and quite frankly don’t always get the explanation of what it could mean for them the implications of it long-term.”

LAUREN TAYLOR

WITH MORE STATES LIKE MARYLAND AND CALIFORNIA CONSIDERING CONSIDERING SIMILAR LAWS — THE TEEN ADVOCATE IS HOPING ILLINOIS WILL BE THE FIRST OF MANY TO HELP PROTECT KIDS’ PRIVACY ON SOCIAL MEDIA.

SHREYA NALLAMOUTHU | TEEN ADVOCATE FOR ILLINOIS LAW

“I hope to see Illinois become a trendsetter law and I am glad we have been able to show other states regulating this industry and technology is possible. So I definitely hope to see more states doing stuff like this in the future.”

[karah rucker]

DID YOU KNOW THAT HAVING A SINGLE CONVERSATION WITH AI LIKE CHATGPT CAN USE AS MUCH ENERGY AS 25 GOOGLE SEARCHES? IT DRAWS A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF ENERGY FROM THE GRID — WHICH ULTIMATELY HAS A HUGE IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND AS AI TECHNOLOGY CONTINUES TO EVOLVE, SO DOES ITS ENERGY DEMAND. BUT RESEARCHERS AT UC SANTA CRUZ ARE PAVING THE WAY TO CHANGE THAT.

JASON ESHRAGHIAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSC
“AI is pretty damn expensive, and we don’t seem to be hitting any walls. There are estimates that ChatGPT costs something like 700,000 bucks a day just to serve all the many requests, all the many users.”

[karah rucker]

THAT’S JASON ESHRAGHIAN – AN ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING AT UCSC. HE’S LEADING THE RESEARCH ON EFFORTS TO MAKE THIS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MORE SUSTAINABLE.  

JASON ESHRAGHIAN

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSC

“We can just go straight to the language model, see what is the pain point, what is the bottleneck? What is the most expensive operation in that? and that’s matrix multiplication.”

[karah rucker]

HIS TEAM DEVELOPED A GROUNDBREAKING APPROACH TO AI PROCESSING. THEY’VE ELIMINATED THE ENERGY-INTENSIVE MATRIX MULTIPLICATION COMMON IN AI MODELS.

JASON ESHRAGHIAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSC
“So imagine you just have a huge list of numbers and, you know, maybe those numbers represent words or sentences or entire textbooks.”

“Imagine you take one of those numbers, and that number has to interact with every single other number that is available to. Then you hop to the next number, and that number has to interact with every other number available to you. When I say interact, I’m saying you have to do some mathematical process every process costs energy. ”

[karah rucker]

BY ELIMINATING THESE LABOR-INTENSIVE CALCULATIONS — THE TEAM MANAGED TO RUN A BILLION-PARAMETER AI MODEL — COMPARABLE TO META’S LLAMA 2 CHATBOT — ON JUST 13 WATTS. THAT’S ROUGHLY THE ENERGY USED BY A SINGLE LIGHT BULB.

THINK ABOUT THIS: WE’VE GONE FROM ROOM-SIZED COMPUTERS TO POWERFUL SMARTPHONES THAT FIT IN OUR POCKETS. SIMILARLY, TODAY’S AI MODELS COULD SOON EVOLVE TO RUN COMPLEX CALCULATIONS ON MINIMAL ENERGY.

JASON ESHRAGHIAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSC
“Every word has some relationship with every other word, and so calculating that is expensive. Meanwhile, humans and brains don’t really do that, right? Like you’re, you’re parsing everything I’m saying word by word. As I say it, it’s not like I have a whole sentence ready and I push it at you. We’re doing things sequentially over time. and by using time in this computation, that’s one of the key approaches that we took to reducing the energy burden of language models.”

[karah rucker]

INSPIRED BY A STUDY FROM MICROSOFT, THE UC SANTA CRUZ TEAM DESIGNED CUSTOM HARDWARE TO OPTIMIZE THESE ENERGY-EFFICIENT OPERATIONS. THEIR PROTOTYPE OPERATES 25% FASTER AND USES TEN TIMES LESS MEMORY THAN STANDARD AI MODELS.

ESHRAGHIAN BELIEVES THIS INNOVATION COULD TRANSFORM HOW WE USE AI, ENABLING COMPLEX ALGORITHMS TO RUN ON EVERYDAY DEVICES WITHOUT THE NEED FOR HEAVY INFRASTRUCTURE.

JASON ESHRAGHIAN
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING, UCSC
“Computer scientists are only limited by the hardware available to them. And so if the hardware is there, then people will push it towards, to the edge of its limit. So it would be able to do a hell of a lot more for the same computer as GPT-4 at that point.”

[karah rucker]

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M KARAH RUCKER.

FOR MORE OF OUR UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACT REPORTING, DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP OR VISIT US AT SAN – DOT – COM.

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

FOREIGN STUDENTS DUPED INTO ENROLLING AT A FAKE COLLEGE IN MICHIGAN – SET UP BY FEDERAL AGENTS WITH US IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT – CAN SUE THE U.S. GOVERNMENT – A THREE-JUDGE PANEL OF A FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULED.

ICE OFFICIALS CREATED THE FAKE SCHOOL IN 2015 AS AN UNDERCOVER OPERATION TO TARGET STUDENTS THEY SAID WERE ATTEMPTING TO ILLEGALLY EXTEND THEIR VISAS. THE PRETEND UNIVERSITY HAD A FAKE OFFICE AND WEBSITE — AND EVEN CREATED AN ADMISSIONS PROCESS THAT LOOKED LIKE ANY OTHER SCHOOL.

HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS – IN THE COUNTRY LEGALLY AND MOST OF THEM FROM INDIA – ENROLLED AT WHAT THEY BELIEVED TO BE “THE UNIVERSITY OF FARMINGTON” WITH THE HOPES OF STUDYING TECHNOLOGY AND SCIENCE.

STUDENTS FILED A LAWSUIT IN 2020 AFTER THE GOVERNMENT ARRESTED AND DEPORTED NEARLY 250 OF THEM. 

THE STUDENTS WERE IN THE COUNTRY LEGALLY ON F-1 STUDENT VISAS WHEN THEY ENROLLED.

ON TOP OF THAT – STUDENTS SAY THEY WERE SCAMMED OUT OF MORE THAN $11-THOUSAND DOLLARS IN TUITION MONEY.

ONE STUDENT NAMED -MR. RAVI- SAID HE CONTACTED THE UNIVERSITY IN THE FALL OF 2018 TO RECEIVE A CLASS SCHEDULE – ONLY TO ULTIMATELY NOT ATTEND ANY CLASSES OR COMPLETE ANY ASSIGNMENTS. THE STUDENT PAID THE FAKE UNIVERSITY $12,500.

THE DECISION STATES THE STUDENT “WAS UNAWARE THAT THE UNIVERSITY WAS NOT A UNIVERSITY AT ALL BUT HAD BEEN FORMED AND ADVERTISED TO OFFER EDUCATIONAL SERVICES FOR MONEY – THOUGH NOT ACTUALLY PROVIDE THEM – AS AN UNDERCOVER OPERATION OF THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) TO TARGET FRAUD INVOLVING STUDENT VISAS. THE GOVERNMENT’S OPERATION EVENTUALLY CAME TO LIGHT BUT THE GOVERNMENT NEITHER PROVIDED THE PAID-FOR EDUCATION NOR GAVE MR. RAVI HIS MONEY BACK.”

THE STUDENTS ARGUE THEY WERE FALSELY LED TO BELIEVE THE SCHOOL WAS REAL.

THE ICE WEBSITE EVEN INCLUDED IT ON ITS LIST OF SCHOOLS APPROVED BY THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS.

LAWYERS SAY THEY ENROLLED “UNDER THE UNDERSTANDING THAT THEY WOULD BE COMPLETING A FULL EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM, BUT THE CLASSES NEVER MATERIALIZED.”

A LAWYER REPRESENTING ONE OF THE STUDENTS WROTE A MEMO SAY APPROXIMATELY 600 STUDENTS LOST THEIR VISAS AND SOME WERE HELD IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTERS.

THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY HAS NOT RESPONDED TO THE DECISION.

FOR SAN, I’M LAUREN TAYLOR.

IF YOU WANT MORE UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACTS, DOWNLOAD THE SAN APP.

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

PANAMA IS TAKING DECISIVE ACTION TO ADDRESS MIGRATION CHALLENGES IN THE AMERICAS. NEWLY INAUGURATED PRESIDENT JOSÉ RAÚL MULINO HAS COMMITTED TO CURBING THE FLOW OF MIGRANTS THROUGH THE DARIÉN GAP, A PERILOUS JUNGLE CORRIDOR LINKING SOUTH AND CENTRAL AMERICA, IT’S BECOME A KEY ROUTE FOR HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS HEADING TO THE U.S.

IN A LANDMARK MOVE, MULINO’S ADMINISTRATION SIGNED A BILATERAL AGREEMENT WITH THE UNITED STATES.

PANAMA WILL INCREASE ITS BORDER SECURITY AND SHUT DOWN THE ROUTE. IN EXCHANGE, THE U.S. WILL FINANCE THE REPATRIATION OF MIGRANTS ENTERING PANAMA ILLEGALLY. AT HIS INAUGURATION MULINO SAID:

JOSÉ RAÚL MULINO
PRESIDENT, PANAMA
“I won’t allow Panama to be an open path for thousands of people who enter our country illegally, supported by an international organization related to drug trafficking and human trafficking.”

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

THE DARIÉN GAP IS NOTORIOUS FOR ITS DENSE JUNGLE AND LAWLESSNESS, MAKING IT A DANGEROUS YET POPULAR ROUTE FOR MIGRANTS. TO STRENGTHEN PANAMA’S ABILITY TO ENFORCE ITS IMMIGRATION LAWS, THE U.S. WILL PROVIDE LOGISTICAL AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, INCLUDING EQUIPPING AND TRAINING PANAMANIAN OFFICIALS.

FOR MIGRANTS SET TO BE REMOVED, THE US WILL COVER THE COST OF CHARTER OR COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS — THOUGH THE GOVERNMENT HAS NOT SHARED THE PRICE TAG FOR THESE TICKETS.

THE WHITE HOUSE SAYS ITS FOCUS IS ON REDUCING ILLEGAL CROSSINGS WHILE RESPECTING THE RIGHTS AND SAFETY OF INDIVIDUALS, ADDING:

WHITE HOUSE
“By returning such individuals to their country of origin, we will help deter irregular migration in the region and at our Southern border, and halt the enrichment of malign smuggling networks that prey on vulnerable migrants.”

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

MORE THAN 170,000 MIGRANTS CROSSED THE DARIEN GAP IN THE FIRST FIVE MONTHS OF THIS YEAR, ACCORDING TO PANAMA’S MIGRATION AGENCY. THIS FIGURE IS 2% HIGHER THAN THE NEARLY 167,000 WHO MADE THE SAME JOURNEY LAST YEAR, INDICATING THAT 2024 COULD ONCE AGAIN SET NEW RECORDS.

FOR STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS, I’M LAUREN TAYLOR.

FOR MORE OF OUR UNBIASED, STRAIGHT FACT REPORTING, DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP OR VISIT US AT SAN – DOT – COM.

[RYAN ROBERTSON]

CONCERNS OVER GAMBLING ADDICTION IN THE MILITARY ARE COMING BACK INTO THE SPOTLIGHT – AS AN ARMY VETERAN BATTLING WITH IT GETS READY TO RELEASE A BOOK ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCE.

FORMER ARMY STAFF SERGEANT DAVID YEAGER SAYS HIS ADDICTION STARTED ON A MILITARY BASE IN SOUTH KOREA – AT SLOT MACHINES RUN BY THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE – AND QUICKLY TURNED INTO WHAT HE CALLS AN OBSESSION.

YEAGER IS NOT ALONE.

A 2021 STUDY OUT OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY FOUND ACTIVE-DUTY SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS WERE MORE THAN TWICE AS LIKELY TO SHOW SIGNS OF PROBLEM GAMBLING THAN CIVILIANS.

AND THE NATIONAL COUNCIL ON PROBLEM GAMBLING ESTIMATES ABOUT 56-THOUSAND SERVICE MEMBERS MEET THE CRITERIA FOR THE MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS OF GAMBLING DISORDER.

SLOT MACHINES WERE BANNED ON MILITARY BASES WITHIN THE UNITED STATES IN 19-51… AND THE ARMY AND AIR FORCE STARTED REMOVING THEM FROM OVERSEAS BASES IN THE 1970S.

BUT THEY WERE QUICKLY BROUGHT BACK TO BASES OVERSEAS AS A WAY TO HELP KEEP SERVICE MEMBERS FROM GETTING INTO TROUBLE OFF BASE. 

THE LATEST DATA FROM THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE SHOW AS OF 20-17 – THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE OPERATED MORE THAN THREE THOUSAND SLOT MACHINES ON U.S. MILITARY INSTALLATIONS…

IN A DOZEN FOREIGN COUNTRIES – WITH THE MAJORITY IN JAPAN, SOUTH KOREA, AND GERMANY… 

AND THOSE MACHINES PRODUCE MORE THAN 100 MILLION DOLLARS IN ANNUAL REVENUE.

THE V-A SAYS DIAGNOSES OF PATHOLOGICAL GAMBLING DISORDERS AMONG SERVICE MEMBERS AND VETERANS IS SKYROCKETING – WITH MORE PEOPLE DIAGNOSED IN THE FIRST *HALF* OF 2024… THAN *ALL* OF 2022.

THE V-A OPERATES TWO RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES FOR GAMBLING ADDICTION AND HAS PARTNERSHIPS WITH CIVILIAN FACILITIES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY.

SERVICE MEMBERS ARE ALSO NOW SCREENED FOR GAMBLING DISORDERS DURING THEIR YEARLY PHYSICAL – AFTER A PROVISION WAS SIGNED INTO THE NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT, OR N-D-A-A, BY THEN-PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP.

THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE ALSO SAID SERVICE MEMBERS WITH A GAMBLING PROBLEM WILL NOT BE PENALIZED FOR SEEKING TREATMENT AFTER THEY’RE SCREENED.

AND IN THE MOST RECENT N-D-A-A – DEMOCRATIC REP. PAUL TONKO OF NEW YORK FILED AN AMENDMENT TO STOP THE MILITARY FROM OPERATING SLOT MACHINES ON *ALL* BASES.

THE MEASURE DID *NOT* MAKE IT INTO THIS YEAR’S FINAL N-D-A-A, WHICH THE HOUSE RULES COMMITTEE WILL CONSIDER AT ITS MEETING NEXT THURSDAY 

YEAGER’S BOOK, “FALL IN: A VETERAN WITH GAMBLING ADDICTION” COMES OUT JULY 20-TH. 

[JACK AYLMER]

KILLING ONE OWL SPECIES TO SAVE ANOTHER.

IN AN EFFORT TO RESCUE THE SPOTTED OWL FROM EXTINCTION–

U.S. WILDLIFE OFFICIALS ARE PROPOSING A RADICAL SOLUTION.

KILLING ALMOST HALF-A-MILLION BARRED OWLS.

THE STRATEGY ANNOUNCED THIS WEEK IS DESIGNED TO PROP UP DECLINING SPOTTED OWL POPULATIONS IN OREGON, WASHINGTON STATE AND CALIFORNIA.

AROUND 450,000 BARRED OWLS WOULD REPORTEDLY BE SHOT OVER THE NEXT 30 YEARS.

THE REASON?

BARRED OWLS FROM THE EAST HAVE TAKEN OVER MUCH OF THE WEST COAST HABITAT OF THE NORTHERN SPOTTED OWL AND CALIFORNIA SPOTTED OWL.

THE SMALLER BIRDS ARE UNABLE TO COMPETE WITH THE INVASION BECAUSE BARRED OWLS NEED LESS SPACE AND PRODUCE MORE OFFSPRING THAN SPOTTED OWLS DO.

PREVIOUS EFFORTS TO REPLENISH THE SPOTTED OWL POPULATION FOCUSED ON PROTECTING THEIR HABITAT BY FIGHTING DEFORESTATION BUT THE EXPANSION OF BARRED OWLS HAS INTRODUCED ANOTHER CHALLENGE.

THE IDEA OF KILLING ONE SPECIES TO SAVE ANOTHER– IS DIVIDING WILDLIFE EXPERTS.

PROPONENTS SAY IT’S NECESSARY BECAUSE BARRED OWLS “DON’T BELONG” ON THE WEST COAST AND THE OVERALL KILLINGS WOULD ELIMINATE LESS THAN 1 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL POPULATION.

OPPONENTS ARGUE THE MASS KILLING OF BARRED OWLS WILL BE AN EXTREME DETRIMENT TO ECOSYSTEMS AND COULD LEAD TO SPOTTED OWLS BEING MISTAKENLY SHOT.

THEY ALSO CHALLENGE THE ARGUMENT THAT BARRED OWLS DON’T BELONG ON THE WEST COAST. POINTING TO THEIR MIGRATION AS A NATURAL PHENOMENON.

WITH THE PROPOSAL NOW OUT IN THE PUBLIC – THERE’S A 30-DAY COMMENT PERIOD BEFORE A FINAL DECISION IS MADE BY THE U.S. FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.

IF APPROVED, THE HUNTING THAT WILL BE PERFORMED BY TRAINED SHOOTERS MAY BEGIN AS SOON AS NEXT SPRING.

FOR MORE STORIES LIKE THIS, DOWNLOAD THE STRAIGHT ARROW NEWS APP AND CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE: SAN.COM.

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

ONE PERSON IS DEAD AFTER EXCHANGING GUNFIRE WITH PARK RANGERS — AT YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK ON JULY 4TH.

THE CONFRONTATION OCCURRED IN THE CANYON VILLAGE AREA WHERE THE PERSON WAS REPORTEDLY MAKING THREATS.

A PARK RANGER INVOLVED IN THE INCIDENT WAS INJURED — AND IS CURRENTLY IN STABLE CONDITION AT A LOCAL HOSPITAL.

THE AREA AROUND CANYON LODGE HAS BEEN SEALED OFF AS LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTINUES TO INVESTIGATE.

THE F-B-I — IN COLLABORATION WITH NATIONAL PARK SERVICE SPECIAL AGENTS — IS LEADING THE INVESTIGATION.

PARK OFFICIALS HAVE CONFIRMED THAT THERE ARE NO ONGOING THREATS TO THE PUBLIC FOLLOWING THE INCIDENT.

[LAUREN TAYLOR]

NOW TO A MAJOR MERGER IN THE RETAIL INDUSTRY –

THE PARENT COMPANY OF LUXURY DEPARTMENT STORE ‘SAKS FIFTH AVENUE’ — IS BUYING COMPETITOR NEIMAN MARCUS

IN A DEAL WORTH $2.65 BILLION.

THE MERGER WILL CREATE A NEW COMPANY CALLED ‘SAKS GLOBAL’.

SAKS IS NOT ONLY ACQUIRING NEIMAN MARCUS STORES – BUT ALSO BERGDORF GOODMAN LOCATIONS AS WELL.

AMAZON HAS A MINORITY STAKE IN THE DEAL – AND WILL BE AIDING THE NEW COMPANY WHEN IT COMES TO TECHNOLOGY AND LOGISTICS.

AS PART OF THE AGREEMENT — THE STORES WILL CONTINUE TO OPERATE UNDER THEIR OWN BRAND NAMES.