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For Makenzie Gilkison, spelling is such a struggle that a word like rhinoceros might come out as “rineanswsaurs” or sarcastic as “srkastik.” The 14-year-old from suburban Indianapolis can sound out words, but her dyslexia makes the process so draining that she often struggles with comprehension. “I just assumed I was stupid,” she recalled of her early grade school years. But assistive technology powered by artificial intelligence has helped her keep up with classmates. Last year, Makenzie was named to the National Junior Honor Society. She credits a customized AI-powered chatbot, a word prediction program and other tools that can read for her. “I would have just probably given up if I didn’t have them,” she said. Artificial intelligence holds the promise of helping countless other students with a range of visual, speech, language and hearing impairments to that come easily to others. Schools everywhere have been wrestling with , but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities. Getting the latest technology into the hands of students with disabilities is a priority for the U.S. Education Department, which has told schools they whether students need tools like text-to-speech and alternative communication devices. New rules from the Department of Justice also will require schools and other government entities to make apps and to those with disabilities. There is concern about how to ensure students using it — including those with disabilities — are still learning. Students can use artificial intelligence to summarize jumbled thoughts into an outline, summarize complicated passages, or even translate Shakespeare into common English. And computer-generated voices that can read passages for visually impaired and dyslexic students are becoming less robotic and more natural. “I’m seeing that a lot of students are kind of exploring on their own, almost feeling like they’ve found a cheat code in a video game,” said Alexis Reid, an educational therapist in the Boston area who works with students with learning disabilities. But in her view, it is far from : “We’re meeting students where they are.” Ben Snyder, a 14-year-old freshman from Larchmont, New York, who was recently diagnosed with a learning disability, has been increasingly using AI to help with homework. “Sometimes in math, my teachers will explain a problem to me, but it just makes absolutely no sense,” he said. “So if I plug that problem into AI, it’ll give me multiple different ways of explaining how to do that.” He likes a program called Question AI. Earlier in the day, he asked the program to help him write an outline for a book report — a task he completed in 15 minutes that otherwise would have taken him an hour and a half because of his struggles with writing and organization. But he does think using AI to write the whole report crosses a line. “That’s just cheating,” Ben said. Schools have been trying to balance the technology’s benefits against the risk that it will do too much. If a special education plan sets reading growth as a goal, the student needs to improve that skill. AI can’t do it for them, said Mary Lawson, general counsel at the Council of the Great City Schools. But the technology can help level the playing field for students with disabilities, said Paul Sanft, director of a Minnesota-based center where families can try out different assistive technology tools and borrow devices. “There are definitely going to be people who use some of these tools in nefarious ways. That’s always going to happen,” Sanft said. “But I don’t think that’s the biggest concern with people with disabilities, who are just trying to do something that they couldn’t do before.” Another risk is that AI will track students into less rigorous courses of study. And, because it is so good at , AI might be able to figure out a student has a disability. Having that disclosed by AI and not the student or their family could create ethical dilemmas, said Luis Pérez, the disability and digital inclusion lead at CAST, formerly the Center for Applied Specialized Technology. Schools are using the technology to help students who struggle academically, even if they do not qualify for special education services. In Iowa, a new law requires students deemed not proficient — about a quarter of them — to get an individualized reading plan. As part of that effort, the state’s education department spent $3 million on an AI-driven personalized tutoring program. When students struggle, a digital avatar intervenes. More AI tools are coming soon. The U.S. National Science Foundation is funding AI research and development. One firm is developing tools to help children with speech and language difficulties. Called the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education, it is headquartered at the University of Buffalo, which did pioneering work on handwriting recognition that helped the U.S. Postal Service save hundreds of millions of dollars by automating processing. “We are able to solve the postal application with very high accuracy. When it comes to children’s handwriting, we fail very badly,” said Venu Govindaraju, the director of the institute. He sees it as an area that needs more work, along with speech-to-text technology, which isn’t as good at understanding children’s voices, particularly if there is a speech impediment. Sorting through the sheer number of programs developed by can be a time-consuming challenge for schools. Richard Culatta, CEO of the International Society for Technology in Education, said the nonprofit launched an effort this fall to make it easier for districts to vet what they are buying and ensure it is accessible. Makenzie wishes some of the tools were easier to use. Sometimes a feature will inexplicably be turned off, and she will be without it for a week while the tech team investigates. The challenges can be so cumbersome that some students resist the technology entirely. But Makenzie’s mother, Nadine Gilkison, who works as a technology integration supervisor at Franklin Township Community School Corporation in Indiana, said she sees more promise than downside. In September, her district rolled out chatbots to help special education students in high school. She said teachers, who sometimes struggled to provide students the help they needed, became emotional when they heard about the program. Until now, students were reliant on someone to help them, unable to move ahead on their own. “Now we don’t need to wait anymore,” she said. ___ This story corrects that Pérez works for CAST, formerly the Center for Applied Specialized Technology, not the Center for Accessible Technology. The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s for working with philanthropies, a of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Heather Hollingsworth, The Associated PressPrairie premiers urge action on security amid Trump's tariff threats
Technology park project on trackThousands of people took to the streets in Georgia on Monday for the 12th consecutive day of protests against the government's decision to shelve European Union accession talks after disputed elections. Demanding a fresh vote and a return to European integration, protesters gathered outside parliament in the capital, Tbilisi, as the political crisis that roiled the Caucasian nation showed no signs of abating. The country's pro-Western opposition and the president rejected the ruling Georgian Dream party's claimed victory in October 26 parliamentary polls and tens of thousands had demonstrated against alleged electoral fraud. Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze's shock decision on November 28 that EU-candidate Tbilisi would suspend accession talks triggered a fresh wave of protests, which were met with a tough police response. Critics accuse Georgian Dream of creeping authoritarianism and of steering the country back towards Russia. Police have fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse previous demonstrations and arrested more than 400 people since the second wave of unrest began. The crackdown has triggered outrage at home and mounting international condemnation. On Monday, Britain denounced the violence by Georgian authorities and announced it was halting all aid to the Tbilisi government. The "shocking scenes of violence towards protestors and journalists by the Georgian authorities are unacceptable and must stop," Britain's top diplomat David Lammy said. The United States, France and Germany are among other Western countries to have voiced indignation at the handling of the protests. Many of those detained reported physical abuse, according to the Social Justice Center NGO, which provides legal counselling to those affected. The country's rights ombudsman has accused authorities of "torture". But the government has refused to back down. Luka, 24, an NGO worker who joined the protest with a group of friends, said it was "unacceptable" for a government that "grabbed power through fraudulent elections" to halt Georgia's path towards the EU. "They have no right to take away our freedoms they have no right to dictate Georgia's foreign policy, and they have no right to be in this building," he said pointing towards parliament. Some demonstrators on Monday loudly blew horns and whistles, while others held a banner reading "Less Russia is more freedom". During the day, the city finished setting up a giant Christmas tree on the pavement outside parliament, removing photos of individuals reportedly beaten by police and protest fliers hung on the tree's metallic framework the precious day. Many demonstrators resented the installation, now fully covered in twigs and silver decorations, seeing it as an attempt from authorities to show it was business as usual in the city. "It's really disrespectful, because people are here to protest, and there's no Christmas for us," said Keso, an 18-year-old student wrapped in a EU flag. "We will win because we are here for freedom, and slaves never win," she added. Kobakhidze has labelled the protesters as "violent groups" controlled by a "liberal fascist" opposition, a term often used by the Kremlin in Russia to target its political opponents. On Monday, he praised the police, repeating claims authorities have averted an attempted revolution, and shrugged off the continuing demonstrations as unsubstantial. "Four political parties and more than ten of the wealthiest NGOs... collectively they cannot attract even 5,000 participants," he told a televised cabinet briefing. The interior ministry said five more people were held in the Black Sea city of Batumi Monday, in connection with a protest there on December 3. They included a university dean who was part of a group that attempted to hang a banner at the educational institution -- but was confronted by another lecturer, leading to a confrontation. The arrested face up to two years behind bars on charges of gang violence. Police have previously raided opposition party offices, and on Saturday dozens of unidentified masked men brutally assaulted opposition figures and journalists near the protest venue. Critics of Georgian Dream are enraged by what they call its betrayal of the country's bid for EU membership, enshrined in the constitution and supported by around 80 percent of the population. The party, in power for more than a decade, has advanced controversial legislation in recent years, targeting civil society and independent media and curbing LGBTQ rights. Brussels has warned that such policies are incompatible with EU membership, while domestic detractors accuse the government of copying Russia's playbook.Bears interim coach Thomas Brown insists he's focused on task at hand and not what his future holds
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1. James: Percival Everett, Doubleday, $28 2. The City and Its Uncertain Walls: Haruki Murakami, Knopf, $35 3. Intermezzo: Sally Rooney, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $29 4. The Grey Wolf: Louise Penny, Minotaur Books, $30 5. Small Things Like These: Claire Keegan, Grove Press, $20 6. The God of the Woods: Liz Moore, Riverhead Books, $30 7. The Women: Kristin Hannah, St. Martin’s Press, $30 8. Tell Me Everything: Elizabeth Strout, Random House, $30 9. Time of the Child: Niall Williams, Bloomsbury Publishing, $28.99 10. Playground: Richard Powers, W. W. Norton & Company, $29.99 11. The Wedding People: Alison Espach, Henry Holt and Co., $28.99 12. Water, Water — Poems: Billy Collins, Random House, $27 13. All Fours: Miranda July, Riverhead Books, $29 14. The Songbird & the Heart of Stone: Carissa Broadbent, Bramble, $29.99 15. The Life Impossible: Matt Haig, Viking, $30 1. The Serviceberry — Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World: Robin Wall Kimmerer, John Burgoyne (Illus.), Scribner, $20 2. The Message: Ta-Nehisi Coates, One World, $30 3. Be Ready When the Luck Happens — A Memoir: Ina Garten, Crown, $34 4. Cher — The Memoir, Part One: Cher, Dey Street Books, $36 5. Revenge of the Tipping Point — Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering: Malcolm Gladwell, Little, Brown and Company, $32 6. Patriot — A Memoir: Alexei Navalny, Knopf, $35 7. Nexus — A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI Yuval Noah Harari, Random House, $35 8. What I Ate in One Year: (and related thoughts), Debut: Stanley Tucci, Gallery Books, $35 9. Half Baked Harvest Quick & Cozy: Tieghan Gerard, Clarkson Potter, $32.99 10. The Demon of Unrest — A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War: Erik Larson, Crown, $35 11. What the Chicken Knows — A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird: Sy Montgomery, Atria Books, $22.99 12. The Creative Act: A Way of Being: Rick Rubin, Penguin Press, $32 13. Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions, Debut: John Grisham, Jim McCloskey, Doubleday, $30 14. Vanishing Treasures — A Bestiary of Extraordinary Endangered Creatures: Katherine Rundell, Doubleday, $26 15. Into the Uncut Grass: Trevor Noah, Sabina Hahn (Illus.), One World, $26 The Indie Bestseller list includes the sales week ending last week, based on reporting from hundreds of independents across the United States, including the Hudson Valley. For the Indie bookstore nearest you, visit indiebound.org.A 34-year-old female pitcher has broken through baseball’s gender barrier by signing with an independent men’s league team, becoming the first woman to play Canadian pro baseball. “The Toronto Maple Leafs are honoured to announce the signing of Ayami Sato, one of the best pitchers in the world, who will make history as the first woman to play professional baseball in Canada! ” the Maple Leafs announced on social media. Sato will take the mound for Toronto when the new Intercounty Baseball League (IBL) season kicks off in May. The right-hander will try to improve on the 17-25 record the Maple Leafs finished with earlier this year. Sato previously led Japan to five Women’s Baseball World Cup titles between 2010 and 2018 and is arguably the top female pitcher on the planet. She led Japan’s Women’s Baseball League in strikeouts in three of its last four seasons before operations were suspended in 2021, according to the CBC. Sato called signing with the Maple Leafs “a dream come true.” She’ll join a roster that includes former professional players from the U.S as well as top-tier athletes from the Dominican Republic and Venezuela. The terms of Sato’s contract were not reported.
UnitedHealthcare CEO killing sparks flood of ‘anti-elitist’ rage. Why?Manmohan Singh passes away: The Finance Minister who opened India’s doors to global economyGavin and Stacey's Christmas special became the most-watched show on Christmas Day with 12.5 million viewers. The final-ever episode returned last night, with viewers sharing their delight on social media after waiting five years for another episode. In 2019, fans were left hanging when they weren't told whether Smithy (played by James Corden) accepted Nessa's (played by Ruth Jones) proposal. It's no surprise that millions tuned in to watch the highly-anticipated conclusion. Other big hitters on Christmas Day were Wallace & Gromit and Vengeance Most Fowl, which saw 10 million people tune in, and EastEnders with 8.7 million people. Meanwhile, Gavin and Stacey fans were shocked when the Christmas special started with a wedding. However, it wasn't beween Nessa and Smithy as he was planning to marry Sonia, his girlfriend portrayed by Laura Aikman. In... (Image: bbc)
Emboldened by the view from the top of the NFC North, the Detroit Lions are out to eliminate nightmare holiday gatherings when the Chicago Bears come to town Thursday for a lunchtime division duel. The Lions (10-1) are streaking one direction, the Bears (4-7) the other in the first matchup of the season between teams on opposite ends of the division. Riding a nine-game winning streak, their longest since a 10-game streak during their first season in Detroit in 1934, the Lions are burdened by losses in their traditional Thanksgiving Day game the past seven seasons. Three of the defeats are courtesy of Chicago. The Bears and Lions get together for the 20th time on Thanksgiving -- the Bears have 11 wins -- this week in the first of two meetings between the teams in a 25-day span. Detroit goes to Soldier Field on Dec. 22. "I think there's two things," Campbell said of the Thanksgiving losing streak. "Number one -- Get a W. And it's a division win that's why this huge. Number two is because the players are going to get a couple of days off. So, they have family, friends in, it'd be nice to feel good about it when you're with everybody because it's just not real fun. It's not real fun to be around." Detroit (10-1) owns the best record in the NFC but the Lions aren't even assured of a division title. Minnesota sits one game behind them and Green Bay is two games back. The Bears (4-7) sit in last place and would likely need to run the table to have any chance of making the playoffs. The Lions have been dominant in all phases and haven't allowed a touchdown in the past 10 consecutive quarters. Detroit's offense ranks first in points per game (32.7) and second in total yardage (394.3) The Lions defense has not given up a touchdown in the last 10 quarters. Rookie placekicker Jake Bates has made all 16 of his field goal attempts, including four from 50-plus yards over the past three games. Chicago shows up in a foul mood. The Bears are saddled with a five-game losing streak and Chicago's defense has been destroyed for nearly 2,000 total yards in the last four games. The Bears failed to reach the 20-point mark four times in five outings since they last won a game. In their latest defeat, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams and the offense perked up but they lost to Minnesota in overtime, 30-27. "We have to play complementary football for us to be able to win these games," coach Matt Eberflus said. "The games we have won, we have done that. The games we have been close we've missed the mark a little bit. Over the course of the year, it's been one side or the other, this side or that side. In this league you have to be good on all sides to win. That's what we are searching for." Williams threw for 340 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. The wide receiver trio of DJ Moore, Keenan Allen and Romeo Odunze combined for 21 receptions and two touchdowns while tight end Cole Kmet caught seven passes. "What I've been impressed with is just how he has grown," Campbell said. "He has grown every game but these last two I really feel like he's taken off and what they're doing with him has been really good for him and he just looks very composed. He doesn't get frazzled, plays pretty fast, and he's an accurate passer, big arm, and he's got some guys that can get open for him." Detroit's banged-up secondary could be susceptible against the Bears' veteran receivers in their bid to pull off an upset on Thursday. The Lions put two defensive backs on injured reserve in the past week and top cornerback Carlton Davis isn't expected to play due to knee and thumb injuries. Detroit offensive tackle Taylor Decker (knee) and top returner Kalif Raymond (foot) are also expected to miss the game, though Campbell expressed optimism that running back David Montgomery (shoulder), formerly of the Bears, would play. Bears safety Elijah Hicks was listed as a DNP for Tuesday's walkthrough. --Field Level Media
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BHOPAL (India), Dec 5 — Just after midnight as poisonous plumes of smoke wafted through the Indian city of Bhopal four decades ago, Gas Devi was born, gasping for every breath. Her feeble cries were drowned out by the screams of men, women and children as they ran to escape the cloud of highly toxic gas leaking from the Union Carbide factory on the night of December 2, 1984. Some 3,500 people were killed in the immediate aftermath, and up to 25,000 are estimated to have died overall in the world’s deadliest industrial disaster. Forty years later, the horror continues to blight the lives of those like Devi — as well as countless others born with deformities since that fateful night. Devi, a daily wage labourer, has constant pain in her chest, one of her lungs is not developed fully and she keeps falling sick. “My life is a living hell,” Devi told AFP, speaking at her shanty in Bhopal, the capital of the central state of Madhya Pradesh. Even if she wanted, she cannot forget the night she was born. “My parents named me Gas,” she said, her eyes welling up. “I believe this name is a curse. I wish I had died that night”. Twenty-seven tonnes of methyl isocyanate (MIC), used in the production of pesticides, swept through the city of over two million people after one of the tanks storing the deadly chemical shattered its concrete casing. As the white cloud of MIC shrouded areas close to the factory, people started collapsing in the streets. Nathuram Soni, now 81, was among the first to rush out. “People were frothing from their mouths. Some had defecated, some were choking in their own vomit,” said Soni. A handkerchief tied over his nose, Soni used his pushcart to carry his wailing neighbours, many of them infants, to hospital. Unrelenting tragedy Rashida Bee, co-founder of the Chingari Trust charity that offers free treatment to children of gas-affected families, believes those who died were fortunate. “At least their misery ended,” she said. “The unfortunate are those who survived”. Her trust has seen more than 150 children being admitted this year alone with cerebral palsy, hearing and speech impairments and other disabilities. She blames the disorders on the accident and the contamination of the groundwater. Testing of groundwater near the site in the past revealed cancer- and birth defect-causing chemicals 50 times higher than what is accepted as safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency. “This tragedy is showing no signs of relenting,” said Rashida, 68, who has lost several members of her family to cancer since the accident. “The soil and water here are contaminated — that is why kids are still being born with deformities.” Union Carbide, which was acquired by the Michigan-based Dow Chemical Company in 2001, routinely dumped chemical waste years before the disaster, campaigners say. Large evaporation ponds outside the factory were filled with thousands of litres of liquid waste. Toxins penetrated the soil and the water supplying several neighbourhoods. Dow Chemical did not respond to AFP’s request for comment. Tasleem Bano, 48, is convinced of a link between the plant and congenital illnesses. Her son Mohammed Salman’s limbs were splayed when he was born. “His twin brother died in the womb. Salman survived but he could not speak a word till he was six years old,” she said, showing her son’s braces that help him to stand. “Doctors say he is like this because of the gas,” said Tasleem, who inhaled the fumes as a young girl living close to the factory. Salman, 12, could only respond with a toothy grin when asked his name. Like Salman, hundreds of children at the Chingari centre struggle to speak, walk or eat their meals. ‘Corporate massacre’ At the nearby Sambhavna Trust clinic, there is a steady queue of gas survivors seeking treatment. “Data very clearly shows that mortality in the exposed population compared to a matched controlled (population) is much higher,” said Satinath Sarangi, founder of Sambhavna. “In 2011, we’d taken stock through our registered cohorts and we found there was 28 percent more mortality among the gas exposed.” Sarangi, 70, said the MIC fumes damaged the immune system of affected populations and caused chromosomal aberrations, something corroborated by medical research. “Children of gas-exposed parents have much higher prevalence of congenital malformations.” In 1989 Union Carbide, in a partial out-of-court settlement with the Indian government, agreed to pay $470 million in compensation to the victims. But the victims themselves were not consulted in the negotiations, and received just $500 each. The current owners have refused to pay further compensation for the catastrophe that continues to unfold till this day. In 1991, Warren Anderson, Union Carbide chairman and chief executive at the time of the disaster, was charged in India with “culpable homicide not amounting to murder”. But he never stood trial. Anderson died aged 92 in a nursing home in Florida in 2014. A plea seeking compensation of 500,000 rupees ($5,920) from the Indian government for each victim diagnosed with cancer or kidney ailments is languishing in courts. Rachna Dhingra, a social activist from the Bhopal Group for Information and Action, said true justice still evades the survivors. “Until today, not a single individual has gone to jail — even for a day — for killing more than 25,000 people and injuring half a million people, and contaminating the soil and groundwater,” she said. “People in the city are continuing to fight because there is no legal mechanism to hold these corporations accountable worldwide. “Bhopal has taught corporations how to get away with murder.” — AFPU.S. stocks rose to records after data suggested the job market remains solid enough to keep the economy going, but not so strong that it raises immediate worries about inflation. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%, just enough top the all-time high set on Wednesday, as it closed a third straight winning week in what looks to be one of its best years since the 2000 dot-com bust. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.3%, while the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8% to set its own record. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Get updates and player profiles ahead of Friday's high school games, plus a recap Saturday with stories, photos, video Frequency: Seasonal Twice a weekPrairie premiers urge action on security amid Trump's tariff threats
China Peak will open for the season on Friday, following a storm that dropped plenty of fresh snow on the runs, ownership says. Saying it will be the best opening the ski resort will have had in a decade, Tim Cohee, president of the California Mountain Resort Company, said the storm is creating conditions rarely seen. “Rarely happens like this in my five decades of ski biz,” Cohee said in an email to GV Wire. Conditions Ripe for Friday Opening After hitting south of Lake Tahoe, California’s most recent storm put a bullseye on , Cohee said. They’ve added two feet of snow since Monday with heavy snows continuing when he responded at 11:45 a.m. While the system produced a relatively warm downpour, the storm still brought snow to elevations above 7,000 feet. anticipates a total of between 11 to 17 inches of daytime snow added Tuesday to the area above Shaver Lake. Another one to three inches of snow could be added Tuesday night. But beginning Wednesday, the skies should clear up. Skiers can expect mostly sunny conditions all weekend with highs near 38 degrees. Season passes for the park are on sale now.