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Dean: Supreme Court has weakened U.S. patents, cue Congress

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

The Supreme Court has handed down momentous decisions over the past two decades on a variety of hot-button issues — from reproductive rights and affirmative action to campaign finance and the Affordable Care Act.But some of the most consequential rulings — for our physical well-being, our economic vitality, and even our national security — have flown under the radar.For years, the justices have steadily chipped away at long-standing intellectual property rights. By doing so, they’ve unintentionally stymied investment into critical industries, from medical diagnostics to artificial intelligence, that will determine our health, wealth, and security for much of the 21st century.Take, for instance, Mayo Collaborative Services v. Prometheus Laboratories. Prometheus Labs had sued the Mayo Clinic for violating a patent on a diagnostic test for gastrointestinal disease. The Supreme Court ruled in 2012 that the Mayo Clinic had, in fact, infringed Prometheus’ pat...

The ‘Future’ is now for Duran Duran on tour

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

John Taylor was sitting in a bar in some student union when he heard a song that changed his life. But before Taylor could digest the enormity of the tune, the Duran Duran bassist heard another song. It also changed his life.“I remember a Sex Pistols song coming on the jukebox, and then a Chic song coming on the jukebox,” Taylor told the Herald ahead of Duran Duran’s Wednesday TD Garden concert with Chic and Bastille. “I was like, ‘I love both of these songs, I love them equally, but I can’t tell anybody.’ ”Taylor laughs at the memory. Back in late ’70s punks and disco kids were like Jets and Sharks. Nobody could find an overlap between the two scenes and sounds. Well, nobody except Duran Duran.“Punk had generated this incredible energy, it had printed and pressed thousands of young, barely-able-to-play musicians who just wanted to be part of this movement,” Taylor said. “As it got broader it morphed into what we call new wave, and new wave had a beat.”On Duran Duran’s 1981 self-tit...

Editorials: Dems take risk in urging Trump trials be televised

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

More than three dozen House Democrats have signed a letter urging that the federal trials of former President Donald Trump be televised. The idea has merit, but these elected officials might be careful what they wish for.Earlier last month, nearly 40 Democrats in the lower chamber formally requested that the Judicial Conference, which serves as a policymaker for the federal judiciary, relax rules that currently forbid cameras in federal courtrooms and “explicitly authorize the broadcasting of court proceedings in the cases of United States of America v. Donald J. Trump.”The effort, led by Trumpaphobe Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., is couched in language emphasizing the importance of transparency and accessibility.“Given the historic nature of the charges brought forth in these cases, it is hard to imagine a more powerful circumstance for televised proceedings,” the letter stated. “If the public is to fully accept the outcome, it will be vitally important for it to witness, as directly ...

Dear Abby: Family vacation togetherness is too much

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

Dear Abby: I have been married to my husband for 23 years. We are both originally from Europe. He hasn’t seen his brother in 25 years, so we are planning to go on vacation near where his brother is currently living with his girlfriend. My husband will pay for them, as they can’t afford a trip, and they’ll be staying with us for two or three days.My dilemma: My husband expects us ALL to share a two-bedroom hotel suite. Abby, I do not know these people. I’m anxious about sharing a suite with people I have never met and with whom I do not share a common language.I have expressed my unease to my husband and asked if we could have two separate hotel rooms. He was very upset at my suggestion and said it will cost him more to arrange two rooms. He now wants to cancel the trip due to my “selfishness.” Am I being unreasonable? — Nervous in New YorkDear Nervous: Because your husband feels he cannot afford to pay for completely separate accommodations,...

Motorcyclist killed in rural East County semi gas truck crash

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

SAN DIEGO -- A motorcyclist attempting to pass a semi gas truck near the San Pasqual Valley area was killed in a crash Friday, authorities said.The collision occurred at 2:44 p.m. on San Pasqual Valley Road, Officer Robert Heims with the San Diego Police Department (SDPD) said in a news release.According to law enforcement, a 36-year-old man was riding a BMW R1250 motorcycle traveling westbound on San Pasqual Valley Road when he tried to pass a semi gas truck on a sharp turn. Hit-and-run in Costco parking lot leaves pedestrian in critical condition The motorcyclist lost control of his motorcycle, hitting a large rock and then colliding with the gas truck, per SDPD. He was pronounced dead at the scene.Police confirmed alcohol was not a factor in the crash.Anyone with information related to the above incident is encouraged to call the listedCommand handling the investigation or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.

Novak Djokovic is headed to a fifth set against Laslo Djere at the US Open

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

NEW YORK (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Laslo Djere were heading to a fifth set in their third-round match at the U.S. Open.Djere took the first two sets 6-4, 6-4, before Djokovic began mounting a comeback and claimed the third and fourth 6-1, 6-1.The match began Friday night under the lights in Arthur Ashe Stadium and was more than three hours old by the time they were going to start the decisive set at nearly 1 a.m. on Saturday.The second-seeded Djokovic is a 23-time Grand Slam champion who won three of those titles at Flushing Meadows.Djere is seeded 32nd and was trying to make it to the fourth round at a major tournament for the first time.Both are from Serbia and have known each other for years. They have practiced together, competed as doubles partners on tour and been Davis Cup teammates.___AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/tennisThe Associated Press

AP photos of Kashmir’s mental health clinics show the invisible scars of decades of conflict

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — After consulting with several doctors in the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, Aayat Hameed was advised to seek help from a mental health expert for her bouts of unspecified anxiety, random palpitation attacks and occasional but strong suicidal thoughts. A psychiatrist diagnosed her with acute depression.On a recent hot summer day, Hameed was among scores of other patients visiting a mental health clinic in Srinagar, where she had been undergoing rounds of counselling along with prescription medication.“I realized seeing a psychiatrist or reaching out to someone you trust really helps to deal with suicidal thoughts and depression,” Hameed said. She’s already recovered about 40% over a course of her one-month treatment, the young student added.For over three decades, Kashmiris have been living through multiple crises. Violent armed insurrections, brutal counterinsurgency, unparalleled militarization and securitization, and unfulfilled demands for se...

Shooting at Louisiana high school football game kills 1 person and wounds another, police say

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

PORT ALLEN, La. (AP) — A shooting during halftime of a high school football game Friday night in Louisiana left one teen dead and a man wounded, police said.The shooting at Port Allen High School near Baton Rouge killed a 15-year-old boy, while a 28-year-old man suffered unknown injuries, West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Landon Groger said, according to a WAFB-TV report.A medical helicopter and an ambulance were dispatched to the scene to transport the victims to hospitals, police said.No arrests were made immediately after the shooting, Groger said.The shooting happened during halftime of a game between Port Allen and Brusly High School. The remainder of the game was canceled, WAFB reported. Port Allen is on the western shore of the Mississippi River across from Baton Rouge.The Associated Press

Family in central Mexico struggles to preserve the natural way of producing intense red dye

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

SAN FRANCISCO TEPEYACAC, Mexico (AP) — One family in central Mexico is struggling to preserve the production of cochineal dye, an intense, natural red pigment so prized that, after gold and silver, it was probably the most valuable thing the Spaniards found in Mexico after the 1521 conquest.For centuries, red clothing — along with purple — had been a sign of power and wealth because it was rare and expensive. An indigenous Mexican process deriving the pigment from insects gave the Spanish empire a new source of red dye.Some of Mexico’s most picturesque and imposing colonial cities, like Oaxaca, were essentially built on the wealth derived from cochineal dye, also called carmine, and known as “grana cochinilla” in Spanish. It was much prized by the Spanish nobility, and it would go on to dye, among other garments, the British empire’s ‘Redcoat’ military uniforms, before it began to be replaced by synthetic dyes in the 1800s.Obtaining the dye the old fashioned way is slow, tedious and...

Children hit hardest by the pandemic are now the big kids at school. Many still need reading help

Published Sun, 16 Feb 2025 16:23:22 GMT

They were the kids most disrupted by the pandemic, the ones who were still learning to write their names and tie their shoes when schools shut down in the spring of 2020. Now, they’re the big kids at elementary schools across the United States. Many still need profound help overcoming the effects of the pandemic. To catch up, schools have deployed a wide range of strategies. And among some incoming fourth-graders, there are encouraging signs of gains. But as this generation progresses, many will need extra reading support that schools are not as accustomed to providing for older students. Beyond third grade, fewer teachers each year know how to help students who are lacking key foundational reading skills, said Elizabeth Albro, an executive at the U.S. Department of Education’s independent research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences. “ Middle and high school teachers aren’t expecting to have to teach kids how to read,” Albro said. Nationally, students suffered deep learning se...