Category: Security

California may require homeowners to replace their broken air conditioning units with heat pumps or more efficient HVAC systems beginning in 2026, draft rules released last month by state energy regulators show.

Encouraging the adoption of heat pumps, which both cool and heat homes using electricity, is key to the state’s carbon neutrality goals. The California Energy Commission aims to quadruple the number of homes with heat pumps to 6 million by 2030.

If the 600-page draft code is approved next year, California would be the first state to require broken A/C units be replaced with heat pumps or more efficient systems. Environmental groups are encouraged, saying the regulation would cut emissions and save homeowners money.

“This is a very important step,” said Merrian Borgeson, director of California climate and clean energy at Natural Resources Defense Council. “The CEC knows that it doesn’t make sense anymore to install only A/C. This gets heat pumps out en masse and gives people the option to turn off their gas furnace, or just get off it entirely.”

Heat pumps are nearly identical to central air conditioners but use a reversing valve to provide both cooling and heating. Because they run on electricity and eliminate the need for gas furnaces, climate experts say they are the most cost and energy efficient way to cut emissions.

The draft regulation doesn’t outright ban traditional air conditioning units or require homeowners to remove their gas furnaces when a unit breaks. Instead, they require a contractor to either install a heat pump or make additional efficiency improvements to the A/C unit spelled out in the regulation.

Californians would face some higher costs under this rule. Installing a new heat pump costs $5,500 on average, according to an industry estimate.

While that’s comparable to the average cost of a new traditional air conditioning system — $5,907, according to home repair website Angi — a heat pump is more expensive than repairing a broken air conditioning unit.

That said, a range of government subsidies could help. Under the federal 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, heat pumps are eligible for a federal tax credit of $2,000 and rebates for home greening can reach as high as $8,000.

Local utilities also offer rebates for heat pumps across the state, including the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, which gives homeowners up to $3,500 for installation by a qualifying contractor.

The stakes are high. Roughly 25% of all California’s carbon emissions come from buildings, whether from dirty electricity used to power them or leaks from natural gas appliances like stoves, furnaces and water heaters.

It’s a hefty portion, yet the state has done relatively little to address building pollution when compared to the transportation and electricity generation sectors.

Meanwhile, climate change is driving hotter and more frequent heat waves. That’s causing a surge in demand for home cooling, particularly in California where a nearly a quarter of homes lack A/C.

The average home in the state that uses heat pumps with clean electricity for both cooling and heating will cut its carbon pollution by more than half over 15 years compared burning natural gas, according to Sierra Club analysis.

Appliance manufacturers are already raising concerns about the draft rules. The Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, an industry trade group, called the CEC draft rules “insufficient,” with “little to no published technical support to justify these changes.”

But because the Energy Commission draft rules are not a mandate, the regulation is also expected to avoid legal challenges.

That’s after dozens of local California bans on gas hookups in new building construction were thrown into legal limbo this year when a federal court overturned the City of Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban.

“The energy commission is always very smart and cutting edge in how they promote electrification while still complying with the letter of the law,” said Jonny Kocher, building regulations manager at Rocky Mountain Institute, a consulting group. “They’re pushing the boundaries by saying, ‘You can still get a minimum gas efficient appliance but we’re going to make it really hard.’”

Additional building decarbonization regulations could be coming.

As part of its sweeping 2022 plan to decarbonize California and help stave off the worst impacts of climate change, the Air Resources Board called for zero-emission building for all new residential construction in 2026 and commercial construction in 2029.

Now the Air Board is hoping to implement that target through a process the state has used to bring efficiency into the state building code since the 1970s, called CALGreen. The Building Standards Commission is scheduled to update the building code next year.

The agency encouraged CALGreen to adopt a 2026 zero-emissions standard for new residential construction last month. And The Rocky Mountain Institute proposed similar standards related to indoor air pollution for both residential and commercial buildings.

CALGreen has not yet responded to the recommendations or petitions, but will be holding public workshops on amendments to the building code through Spring 2024.

The Energy Commission’s draft energy code is open for public comment and expected to receive a final vote in Summer 2024.

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© 2023 The Sacramento Bee

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

In late October, a young sea otter pup was found in the remote coastal town of Seldovia, Alaska, stranded and calling out in distress with no mother in sight. After being rehabilitated, fed and healed, the tiny otter — barely over a month old — began a cross-country trip to his new home in Chicago.

After being rescued by the Alaska SeaLife Center, the 10-pound male northern sea otter received a warm welcome at Shedd Aquarium in late November. He has remained behind the scenes at the aquarium, where animal care and veterinary staff are monitoring and caring for him around the clock.

The newcomer will eventually join the five southern sea otters at Shedd — Luna, Cooper, Watson, Suri and Willow — who are also rescues. Temporarily referred to as Pup EL2306, he has been forming bonds with staff and reaching development milestones at the otter nursery before he can meet his peers and experience his new habitat at Shedd.

Stranded sea otter pups require constant care: Aquarium staff feeds the new pup every three hours with formula in a bottle and small pieces of clam; they also groom him with soft towels and engage him with enrichment activities.

In a news release, Shedd Aquarium said not many facilities in the United States have the space, staff and experience necessary to provide rescued otter pups with the care they require. Only 11 institutions, including Shedd, provide homes for sea otters that cannot be rereleased.

Because sea otter pups depend heavily on their mothers for the first year of their lives, the federal government usually designates orphaned northern sea otter pups as non-releasable if they are found stranded when young.

“At Shedd, we are dedicated to the care of animals here, there and everywhere; we stand ready to assist in times of need,” said Peggy Sloan, chief animal conservation officer at the aquarium. “With this newest addition to our rescued population of sea otters, we’re committed to his long-term care and continuing to create connections for Chicagoans to this important keystone species.”

As keystone species, sea otters help maintain the balance of their ecosystems. For instance, they keep kelp forests healthy by eating sea urchins that graze on giant kelp; if otters disappeared, urchins would decimate kelp which many other species depend on for food and shelter.

Northern sea otters are found in the Aleutian Islands, southern Alaska, British Columbia, Washington, California and as far as Japan. According to Shedd Aquarium, sea otter populations in south-central and southeast Alaska have stabilized or are increasing.

But the last two decades have seen a decline of northern sea otter populations in southwest Alaska. Under the Endangered Species Act, they are considered “threatened.” According to Shedd, this is due to predation, overharvest, fishery interactions, disease and oil spills.

The sea otter species as a whole is listed as “endangered” on the Red List of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. Commercial fishing and industrial pollution, as well as rising ocean temperatures due to climate change, are some of the ways in which human activities particularly endanger the species.

Shedd will continue sharing updates on the pup’s development, when he can be expected to join the sea otter habitat and plans around naming him. Last year, the aquarium let the public vote on Willow’s name.

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© 2023 Chicago Tribune

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

El Paso County Sheriff’s deputies found four adults killed in a Wednesday night shooting after sending in a SWAT team to investigate the scene, the office said in a release Thursday afternoon.

According to the release, deputies initially contacted a man who had injuries that were not life-threatening after responding to the scene just after midnight.

According to Sergeant Marcus Miller, a public information officer, the deputies determined that there could be a barricaded person, or even a hostage situation, inside the building, so they called in a SWAT team.

“The initial information we got was that there could be a potential higher risk than what our patrol deputies are capable and appropriate to respond to,” Miller said on a phone call Thursday afternoon.

The relationships of the deceased are still yet to be determined, and there is no active threat to the community, the release noted.

According to the release, the office’s initial investigation indicates that the shootings happened before deputies arrived. The shooting is under investigation.

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© 2023 MediaNews Group, Inc

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A banner with a Palestinian flag that reads “Harvard Hates Jews” was flying above the Cambridge campus on Thursday in the wake of Harvard president’s “shocking” congressional testimony about antisemitism this week.

Jewish students reportedly hired the airplane carrying the Palestinian flag and an aerial banner with the words “Harvard Hates Jews” to circle the campus following President Claudine Gay’s testimony in Congress on Tuesday. Gay refused to answer whether calls for genocide against Jews would be considered a violation of the university’s code of conduct, leading to calls for her to resign.

Antisemitic chants have filled the Cambridge campus since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on Oct. 7.

The aerial campaign “seeks to respond to the runaway antisemitism on the campus and the shocking support for Hamas terrorism and rape obscenely vocalized by Harvard faculty and students following the Oct. 7th massacre in Israel,” according to the group that took responsibility for the banner called “Harvard with Hamas.”

“The American college campuses have become toxic dumps filled with Jew hatred and anti-Israel violence,” one of the unnamed students who organized the aerial campaign said in a statement.

“Harvard’s logo ‘veritas’ is the Latin word for ‘truth’ and the banner flown over Harvard skies reveals the painful truth behind the reality of this institution today: what was once the symbol of dignity and tolerance, has sunk deep into an oblivion of hatred and lies,” the student added. “The terror flag and jarring banner will circle over their heads until they can’t hide anymore.”

The aerial banner campaign was starting ahead of the first night of Hanukkah on Thursday.

“Don’t know who’s behind this. But this is terrifying,” posted Yotam Sofer, who took a photo of the plane and banner. “A plane doing rounds above Cambridge/Allston right now. I took this picture a few minutes ago. The banner says: ‘HARVARD HATES JEWS’ attach to Palestinian flag. Today is the first day of Hanukkah.”

The Harvard College Palestine Solidarity Committee condemned the campaign, posting that it was an “antisemitic banner” using a “slogan that right-wing groups have used to target our organizing.”

Harvard PSC added, “We reject the racist weaponization of the Palestinian flag to create hate and fear on Harvard’s campus and are disgusted by this antisemitic attempt to target our Jewish community members as they prepare for the first night of Hanukkah.”

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© 2023 MediaNews Group, Inc

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

One female counselor in the 1990s would enter a specific girl’s cell in a juvenile detention center in Maryland when she knew her roommate was away, then sexually abuse her, according to a lawsuit filed Thursday.

The counselor would threaten the girl with solitary confinement, blocking her release and a loss of phone call privileges if she tried to stop the abuse or told anyone about it, the lawsuit alleges. After the abuse, it says, she would at times offer the girl rewards — a cigarette, medication or extra snacks.

Around the same time period, a sergeant would take girls out of their cells at night, under the “pretext” of cleaning the facility, and force them to touch her sexually or to kiss and touch one another while she watched, the lawsuit adds. If the girls resisted, the court filing says, the sergeant would throw scalding water on them or threaten loss of food and solitary confinement. Afterward, she might reward them with homemade desserts and personal hygiene products.

Twenty women once incarcerated as children at the Thomas J.S. Waxter Children’s Center, a former juvenile detention facility for girls in Laurel, have alleged sexual abuse at the center operated by the Maryland Department of Juvenile Services until its closure in 2022. Their claims are laid out in the latest lawsuit filed under Maryland’s Child Victims Act, which took effect in October and allows survivors of child sex abuse to sue their alleged perpetrators, no matter how much time has passed.

Complaints under the law have stacked up in recent months, though it also is facing legal challenges. Lawmakers anticipating that type of constitutional challenge built into the law an opportunity for a mid-lawsuit appeal; legal experts expect the Supreme Court of Maryland to ultimately decide whether the Child Victims Act is constitutional.

The women’s lawsuit, brought by New York firm Levy Konigsberg and Maryland-based co-counsel Brown Kiely, joins a similar complaint filed by the same attorneys last month on behalf of more than two dozen men and women who alleged sexual abuse at the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center in Prince George’s County.

The latest lawsuit is filed against the state and its Department of Juvenile Services. It accuses the agency of negligence, including in hiring, training and supervision; of failure to enact and enforce policies to prevent sexual abuse; and violation of the then-girls’ rights to substantive due process and against cruel and unusual punishment.

Eric Solomon, a spokesman for the Department of Juvenile Services, said in a statement that the agency “has been made aware of these allegations from decades ago.”

“DJS takes allegations of sexual abuse of children in our care very seriously and we are working hard to provide decent, humane and rehabilitative environments for youth placed in the Department’s custody,” Solomon said. “The Department is currently reviewing the most recent lawsuits with the Office of the Attorney General.”

The women are identified in the suit by their initials. The Baltimore Sun does not identify victims of sexual assault without their consent. Most are now in their 30s or 40s and several still live in the region, in Baltimore City and Baltimore and Harford counties.

Jerome Block, one of the attorneys representing the women, previously told The Sun that his team is representing more than 125 people abused at different DJS facilities, including some within the past five years.

“The women we represent have courageously stepped forward to seek justice for these horrific acts of sexual abuse,” Block said in an email about the latest filing. “All of them were once young girls who entered the Waxter facility needing help. Instead, they were scarred for life by acts of sexual abuse enabled by a broken Maryland juvenile justice system.”

The Waxter facility faced criticisms prior to its closure, including by the attorney general’s Juvenile Justice Monitoring Unit, which reported in 2007 that it had “outlived its usefulness” and that it would be “virtually impossible” to make it suitable. It also detailed issues with chronic staffing shortages and inadequate training, leading to the overuse of seclusion.

In 2010, the ACLU of Maryland released a report detailing the experiences of girls housed in Waxter’s “A Unit.” The facility was described as a “cage” with too few staff, cramped medical space and inadequate schooling. At the time of its closure, it was a girls-only detention facility with roughly 42 beds.

In the lawsuit filed Thursday, the 20 plaintiffs’ claims each detail the alleged sexual abuse they endured at Waxter as children.

They vary from case to case: three male guards in the early 2000s accused of demanding sexual acts in exchange for avoiding punishment for fights, a male guard accused of bribing a girl with food or the prospect of a shortened stay, a female staff member accused of paying another detained girl to attack a plaintiff after she resisted abuse by the staff member.

Many of the accounts do not include the identity of abusers, identifying them only by physical descriptions or, in some cases, nicknames used by residents. The lawsuit notes that plaintiffs expect to learn the full names of their alleged abusers through the discovery process.

Each of the circumstances, according to the lawsuit, were the result of DJS’ “culture, custom and practice” of ignoring sexual abuse through failures such as not investigating or disciplining staff members who knew of instances of sexual abuse, harassment or assault, and ineffective policies and practices to guard against such abuse.

DJS staff, the suit said, had “frequent, unmonitored, solo access” to children and were allowed to choose their assignments, regardless of any allegations made against them. The agency lacked adequate procedures for children to report abuse, it added, and failed to ensure fair investigations or proper supervision of staff.

The plaintiffs are individually seeking compensatory damages of more than $75,000, the lawsuit said. It says that the women have suffered shock, distress, discomfort, loss of self-esteem, humiliation, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and incurred expenses for medical treatment, therapy and counseling, among other consequences.

The state juvenile services department also faces, in addition to the Cheltenham and Waxter facility lawsuits, claims brought by 50 individuals alleging sexual abuse at several juvenile facilities at locations such as the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School in Baltimore County and the shuttered Montrose School in Baltimore County.

In the ongoing legal challenge to the Child Victims Act, plaintiffs in Montgomery County and Prince George’s County lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington have until Friday to file responses defending the constitutionality of the law. The archdiocese in November argued the new law was unconstitutional, as part of a move to throw out the suits alleging sexual abuse by clergy. Judges are expected to schedule oral argument for the legal question after Friday’s deadline.

Whichever way the trial courts rule, whether the judges decide the law is constitutional or not, the losing side is expected to promptly appeal. Courts across the state are likely to freeze other lawsuits brought under the Child Victims Act until the state supreme court decides the forthcoming appeal.

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© 2023 The Baltimore Sun

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

The Navy has grounded its V-22 Osprey fleet after eight U.S. airmen were killed in a crash in Japan last week.

According to USNI News, the order to ground all aircraft in the fleet went into effect on Dec. 6, and includes the Marine Corps MV-22B and the Navy’s CMV-22B.

“Preliminary investigation information indicates a potential materiel failure caused the mishap, but the underlying cause of the failure is unknown at this time,” NAVAIR said in a statement.

“While the mishap remains under investigation, we are implementing additional risk mitigation controls to ensure the safety of our service members,” the statement continued. “The Joint Program Office continues to communicate and collaborate with all V-22 stakeholders and customers, including allied partners.”

A Japanese Coast Guard spokesperson told NBC News that the aircraft experienced an “emergency water landing” in the ocean near Yakushima, which is located approximately 45 miles south of Japan’s main island of Kyushu.

The remains of six people who were killed in the crash have been recovered so far.

“In light of this incident, the minister of defense has asked the relevant departments to cooperate with the Japan Coast Guard to confirm whether or not there are any victims and to do their utmost to rescue them,” said Japan’s Vice Defense Minister Hiroyuki Miyazawa.

When Miyazawa was asked why he did not describe the incident as a crash, the vice defense minister said, “The U.S. side explained to us that the pilot did his best until the very end, so we’re using the term ’emergency water landing.’”

The U.S. CV-22 Osprey is capable of vertical takeoffs, similar to helicopters, and the aircraft’s rotors are capable of rotating 90 degrees in the air, allowing it to be flown similarly to a rotor-powered plane after takeoff.

Wednesday’s crash is the third incident with U.S. military members flying Osprey aircraft over the past two years. In August, three U.S. Marines were killed, with several others wounded, in an MV-22B Osprey crash in Australia.

ZeroEyes, a Montgomery County firm that created an AI-based gun detection video analytics platform, has announced that a Montgomery County school has been added to its list of schools using the technology.

ZeroEyes on Wednesday said Germantown Academy in Whitemarsh Township has deployed its proactive gun detection solution to protect students, staff and visitors from gun-related violence. Founded in 1759, Germantown Academy is the country’s oldest non-sectarian day school.

“Germantown Academy has an expansive campus that provides students with a diverse range of learning opportunities, both in and outside of the classroom,” Greg Keenan, director of security at Germantown Academy, said in a statement. “ZeroEyes has the unique ability to seamlessly work alongside our various security resources while providing an extra layer of assurance through human-verified alerts on any brandished guns on campus. Their overall commitment to the safety of our students grants us an additional sense of security without compromising the GA (Germantown Academy) experience.”

ZeroEyes’ software is now layered on existing digital security cameras at the school, according to a release. If a gun is identified, images will instantly be shared with the ZeroEyes Operations Center, which is staffed 24/7/365 by specially trained U.S. military and law enforcement veterans.

If the experts in the center determine the threat is valid, they will dispatch alerts and actionable intelligence, including a description, gun type and last known location, to the security team and community police department in 3 to 5 seconds from detection.

The solution, according to the company, “mitigates mass shootings and gun-related violence by reducing response times, providing actionable intelligence with images and delivering clarity among chaos — ultimately saving lives.”

Germantown Academy is a private pre-K-12 prep school with more than 1200 students and more than 350 staff members, including a 45-member security team, according to the release. ZeroEyes is the latest addition to the comprehensive and multilayered range of security measures implemented to defend against gun-related violence, officials said.

“It is extremely gratifying to know that our solution is now part of the school’s extensive security toolkit,” said Mike Lahiff, ZeroEyes CEO and co-founder, adding that the school’s educational and safety reputation led him to send his daughters to the school.

ZeroEyes was founded by a group of former Navy SEALs and technologists and is based in Whitemarsh Township. The platform holds the U.S. Department of Homeland Security SAFETY Act Designation. It is deployed across a variety of industries nationwide, including school districts, commercial property groups, shopping malls, places of worship, hospitals, military bases, manufacturing plants, casinos and Fortune 500 campuses.

In January, ZeroEyes announced that it had been issued a patent by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for its method of identifying brandished guns and dispatching alerts to first responders.

ZeroEyes used hundreds of thousands of proprietary images and videos to train its AI to be the most comprehensive and superior gun detection technology on the market, according to the company. The AI does not perform any facial recognition, and does not receive, record, store or share any biometric data, videos or images.

The ZeroEyes team also provides tech consulting, installation assistance and practice drills for active shooter events to enhance safety at schools, corporate and government facilities, according to the company. For more information visit ZeroEyes.com.

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(c) 2023 The Mercury

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Congress this week that U.S. troops would “very likely” be sent to fight in Europe if lawmakers fail to pass additional aid for Ukraine.

“If [Vladimir] Putin takes over Ukraine, he’ll get Moldova, Georgia, then maybe the Baltics,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told The Messenger.

“And then the idea that we’ll have to put troops on the ground in Secretary Austin’s word was very likely,” McCaul continued. “That’s what we’re trying to avoid.”

McCaul insisted Austin’s warning demonstrates aid to Ukraine is about more than helping Kyiv. He said the U.S. would “lose all of our goodwill with our NATO allies” if it fails to provide additional aid.

“No one’s going to trust us again,” McCaul added.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), however, seemed skeptical of Austin’s warning.

READ MORE: Video: Hollywood legend Morgan Freeman was at the Pentagon; meets with SECDEF Austin

“I don’t think we got the clarity that we’ve been requesting,” Johnson told The Messenger. “It remains to be seen whether members are satisfied with the answers provided.”

According to PBS, the U.S. has committed over $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since its conflict with Russia began last year.

President Joe Biden recently pressured Congress to provide Ukraine with additional aid, arguing pulling aid would threaten America’s national security.

“Extreme Republicans are playing chicken with our national security, holding Ukraine’s funding hostage to their extreme partisan border policies,” Biden said.

“[Pulling support would be] the greatest gift [Russian President Vladimir Putin] could hope for,” the president added.

Johnson pushed back on the president’s concerns.

“The Biden administration has failed to substantively address any of my conference’s legitimate concerns about the lack of a clear strategy in Ukraine, a path to resolving the conflict, or a plan for adequately ensuring accountability for aid provided by American taxpayers,” Johnson said.

A recent report suggests that the deployment of artificial intelligence-powered drones that are capable of making autonomous decisions regarding whether to kill human targets is becoming a true possibility.

The New York Times recently reported that lethal autonomous weapons capable of selecting targets through the utilization of artificial intelligence are currently being developed in countries such as the United States, Israel, and China.

According to Business Insider, critics argue that the deployment of AI-powered drones, also described as “killer robots,” could present serious danger, as autonomous machines could eventually make lethal decisions without adequate human oversight.

The New York Times reported that multiple governments are lobbying the United Nations to pass a binding resolution that would restrict the use of AI killer drones. However, the United States, Israel, Russia, Australia, and other nations have resisted the idea of a binding resolution and have been more favorable of a non-binding resolution.

“This is really one of the most significant inflection points for humanity,” Austria’s chief negotiator on the issue of AI-powered drones, Alexander Kmentt, told The New York Times. “What’s the role of human beings in the use of force — it’s an absolutely fundamental security issue, a legal issue and an ethical issue.”

READ MORE: Pentagon creating ‘robot’ language so drones can communicate without humans

According to The New York Times, the Pentagon is currently working to deploy thousands of AI-powered drones.

In August, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks highlighted the Pentagon’s “Replicator” initiative, which includes the deployment of thousands of autonomous AI-controlled vehicles by 2026 to help the U.S. military “overcome the PRC’s biggest advantage, which is mass.”

“We’ll counter the PLA’s mass with mass of our own, but ours will be harder to plan for, harder to hit, harder to beat,” Hicks said. She added, “So now is the time to take all-domain, attritable autonomy to the next level: to produce and deliver capabilities to warfighters at the volume and velocity required to deter aggression, or win if we’re forced to fight.”

U.S. Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told The New York Times that the U.S. military’s AI-powered drones will need to have the ability to make decisions to execute targets with human supervision.

“Individual decisions versus not doing individual decisions is the difference between winning and losing — and you’re not going to lose,” he said. “I don’t think people we would be up against would do that, and it would give them a huge advantage if we put that limitation on ourselves.“

The New Scientist reported in October that AI-powered drones have been deployed by Ukraine in its military response to Russia’s invasion. However, Business Insider reported that it remains unclear whether the deployment of AI-powered drones has resulted in human casualties.