Category Archives: WPTF News

March Madness selection panel will have to juggle thanks to SEC overload in bracket

March Madness selection panel will have to juggle thanks to SEC overload in bracket

The NCAA selection committee will have some juggling to do before the bracket comes out Sunday to keep March Madness from looking like an extension of the Southeastern Conference’s regular season. With the league in line to place between 12 and 14 teams in the tournament, some long-held guidelines drawn to help set the matchups will have to give way. Conference rivals could face each other as early as the second round or the Sweet 16. The SEC has been led by Auburn, with Alabama, Tennessee and Florida close behind. The newly expanded conference, along with the Big Ten and Big 12, will gobble up nearly half of this year’s 68 spots in the tournament.… Continue Reading

US inflation cooled last month, though trade war threatens to lift prices

US inflation cooled last month, though trade war threatens to lift prices

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation slowed last month for the first time since September even as additional tariffs on steel and aluminum kicked in Wednesday that could send prices higher. The consumer price index increased 2.8% in February from a year ago, Wednesday’s report from the Labor Department showed, down from 3% the previous month. Core prices, which exclude the volatile food and energy categories, rose 3.1% from a year earlier, down from 3.3% in January. The core figure is the lowest in nearly four years. The declines were larger than economists expected, according to a survey by data provider FactSet.… Continue Reading

Schools use AI to monitor kids, hoping to prevent violence. Our investigation found security risks

Schools use AI to monitor kids, hoping to prevent violence. Our investigation found security risks

Schools are turning to AI-powered surveillance technology to monitor students on school-issued devices like laptops and tablets. The goal is to keep children safe, especially amid a mental health crisis and the threat of school shootings. Machine-learning algorithms flag suspected problems like bullying, self-harm or suicide and then alert school officials. But these tools raise serious questions about privacy and security. When The Seattle Times and The Associated Press partnered to investigate school surveillance, reporters inadvertently received access to almost 3,500 unredacted student documents through a records request. The documents were stored without a password or firewall, and anyone with the link could read them.… Continue Reading

US resumes military aid and intelligence sharing as Ukraine says it is open to a 30-day ceasefire

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The Trump administration says it will immediately lift its suspension of military aid to Ukraine and intelligence sharing with Kyiv. The announcement came Tuesday, a week after the measures were imposed to push Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to enter talks to end the war with invading Russian forces. In a joint statement released following a lengthy day of talks between Ukraine and the United States in Saudi Arabia, Ukraine also said it was open to a 30-day ceasefire in the war with Russia, subject to Kremlin agreement. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz both said the discussions in Jeddah had been positive.… Continue Reading

Trump halts doubling of tariffs on Canadian metals, after Ontario suspends electricity price hikes

Trump halts doubling of tariffs on Canadian metals, after Ontario suspends electricity price hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will double his planned tariffs on steel and aluminum from 25% to 50% for Canada. He’s escalating a trade war with the United States’ northern neighbor and standing unmoved by recent stock market turmoil and rising recession risks. Trump said on social media that the increase of the tariffs set to take effect on Wednesday is a response to the price hikes that the provincial government of Ontario put on electricity sold to the United States. That prompted Ontario on Tuesday to back down on its planned surcharges on electricity sold to the United States.… Continue Reading

Republicans are marching ahead with a government funding bill despite Democratic opposition

Republicans are marching ahead with a government funding bill despite Democratic opposition

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson says lawmakers “have to keep the government in operation” as Republicans face a critical test of their unity. A spending bill that would avoid a partial government shutdown and keep federal agencies funded through September is coming up for a vote. Vice President JD Vance visited Capitol Hill to rally support. Johnson is teeing up the bill for a vote as soon as Tuesday despite the lack of buy-in from Democrats, essentially daring them to vote against it and risk a shutdown that would begin Saturday if lawmakers fail to act. Some Senate Democrats are waiting on the House vote before taking their stand. President Donald Trump tells Republicans to “remain UNITED.”… Continue Reading

Stocks’ sell-off worsens as Wall Street wonders how much pain Trump will accept for the economy

Stocks’ sell-off worsens as Wall Street wonders how much pain Trump will accept for the economy

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street’s sell-off is worsening. The S&P 500 fell 2.2% Monday as worries build about how much pain President Donald Trump is willing to endure on the economy in order to get what he wants. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 530 points, and the Nasdaq composite sank 3.6%. The losses follow the worst week for U.S. stocks since September on concerns that on-and-off-again tariffs will either hurt the economy directly or create enough uncertainty to freeze it. Elon Musk’s Tesla fell to one of the market’s sharpest losses, as did airlines and other companies that need U.S. shoppers feeling confident enough to spend.… Continue Reading

A cargo ship hits a tanker and they catch fire off England, with one crew member missing

A cargo ship hits a tanker and they catch fire off England, with one crew member missing

LONDON (AP) — A cargo ship hit a tanker carrying jet fuel for the U.S. military off England, setting both vessels on fire and sending fuel pouring into the North Sea. The cargo ship’s owner says one crew member is still missing hours later. A local lawmaker earlier said all 37 aboard both ships were safe, with one hospitalized. Greenpeace U.K. says it is too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from Monday’s collision, which took place in a busy fishing ground and close to major seabird colonies.… Continue Reading

EPA froze ‘green bank’ funds worth billions, climate group suit says

EPA froze ‘green bank’ funds worth billions, climate group suit says

WASHINGTON (AP) — A nonprofit that was awarded nearly $7 billion by the Biden administration to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects has sued the Environmental Protection Agency, accusing it of improperly freezing its account. Climate United Fund, a coalition of three nonprofit groups, demanded access to a Citibank account it received through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a program created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and more commonly known as the green bank. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has accused the Biden administration and fund recipients of misconduct and waste. Climate United said those allegations have no merit. Without access to their account, Climate United said it’s hard to issue loans or even pay staff.… Continue Reading

Elon Musk claims X being targeted in ‘massive cyberattack’ as service goes down

Elon Musk claims X being targeted in ‘massive cyberattack’ as service goes down

Hours after a series of outages that left X unavailable to thousands of users, Elon Musk is claiming that the social media platform is being targeted in a “massive cyberattack.” Musk said on a post Monday that the attacker is either a large, coordinated group or a country. Complaints about outages spiked Monday at 6 a.m. Eastern and again at 10 a.m, with more than 40,000 users reporting no access to the platform, according to the tracking website Downdetector.com. A sustained outage appeared to begin just after noon Eastern.… Continue Reading

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