Latest news with #Looney
The Irish Sun
2 days ago
- Sport
- The Irish Sun
‘It's total disrespect' – Cork dual star vents at Camogie Association & LGFA over latest ‘avoidable' fixture clash
HANNAH LOONEY believes Cork's dual trio are being looked upon as 'a nuisance' as they prepare to tackle another fixtures clash. Looney, Aoife Healy and Libby Coppinger are members of the Rebels' camogie and football panels — both of whom are in Championship action on Saturday afternoon. 2 Looney is an All-Ireland winner in both codes 2 She was speaking as SuperValu launched a limited edition Pride-themed tote bag, priced at €3, with all profits going to 'Belong To', the national LGBTQ+ youth organisation The camogie side will be expected to take a step closer to a third All-Ireland in a row by seeing off Clare at SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh. A must-win fixture awaits the footballers, who make the 250km journey to Castlebar to take on Mayo. An All-Ireland winner in both codes, Looney is no stranger to such dilemmas. And she hopes they become a thing of the past when the integration of the GAA, LGFA and Camogie Association — which has been optimistically targeted for 2027 — is complete. Read More On GAA The 28-year-old said: 'I'm grateful to be from Cork and to be a part of two set-ups that encourage us to play, because they appreciate our value and want us involved in both. 'But you'd hope maybe when integration comes along and you have one fixtures committee that this can be resolved. "I used to have a bit of sympathy for the associations because of the split-season and there's a lot of games to get through. 'But it's total disrespect and you just don't feel valued at all.' Most read in GAA Football With Looney acknowledging that the meeting with Mayo is 'do or die', she and Healy will lend their efforts to the football cause this weekend. Coppinger is set to be on camogie duty. Looney said: 'When I first started playing dual almost ten years ago now, it kind of felt like in general from society and from the organisations that we were a lot more valued and a lot more respected. 'Just in time for Father's Day' - Dublin GAA legends welcome the birth of precious baby daughter 'Whereas now it feels like it's more a nuisance to everyone, which is really disappointing when we're still trying so hard to keep it alive down in Cork. 'There are three weekends for the LGFA fixtures. This clash was so avoidable. But here we are again. 'What more can we do to just totally eradicate the dual player? It's frustrating for us as players.' HANNAH LOONEY was speaking as SuperValu launched a limited edition Pride-themed tote bag, priced at €3, with all profits going to 'Belong To', the national LGBTQ+ youth organisation.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Proposal to enforce more accurate movie start times stalls in CT legislature
After making headlines as far away as London for a proposal to regulate movie start times, Connecticut lawmakers have decided not to pursue the plan. At least for now. A bill that would have required movie theaters to publish more accurate start times — or include a notice stating the picture would begin after 10 or more minutes of trailers and advertisements — was amended Wednesday, and now calls only for a study of the issue to be undertaken. The amended bill received a favorable vote from the Senate. The legislation, Senate Bill 797, attracted global attention earlier this year after it was put forward by Senate President Pro Tem Martin M. Looney, D-New Haven. Looney said the idea came at the behest of multiple constituents. 'I have received complaints from constituents who note that they incurred additional baby-sitting costs, or were late for a dinner reservation and had to wait a half hour for a table,' Looney said in written testimony on the bill. He also mentioned 'the case of a couple who went to see the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, [and] were subjected to a string of trailers for violent/horror films in which they had no interest.' The original bill would have fined theaters up to $500 for failing to post accurate notices about start times. Quickly, however, the theater industry in Connecticut pushed back on the idea. Business owners argued that advertisers would pull their business if they knew people were not going to arrive in time to sit through their ads, cutting into the theater's bottom line. About one-third of the state's theaters have closed since the pandemic, according to Connecticut Association of Theatre Owners. The unusual subject of legislation appeared in news coverage across the country, as well as abroad. In February the bill — and Looney himself — became the butt of several jokes on the NPR comedy show 'Wait Wait… Don't Tell Me!' Some Connecticut lawmakers questioned the concept and why it was worthy of the legislature's attention. 'I hear a lot of concerns, a lot of ideas, but this was never one,' said state Sen. Paul Cicarella, R-North Haven. 'So this is a new one for me.' Speaking from the Senate floor Wednesday, Looney rejected the notion that the bill was taking away time from more important issues. He also pointed out the amended bill would create a working group to study larger issues affecting the theater industry. 'The purpose of the original bill has already been accomplished because of the publicity that the issue has been given,' he said. In addition to start times, the working group will review policies to support 'family entertainment venues' in Connecticut, including through the use of tax credits. The group will file a report by Jan. 1, 2026. The Senate voted 27 to 9 to pass the amended measure, with all of the opposition coming from Republicans. The bill now heads to the House for further consideration. John Moritz is a reporter for The Connecticut Mirror ( Copyright 2025 © The Connecticut Mirror. This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Movie theater start time bill stalls in Connecticut legislature
San Francisco Chronicle
26-05-2025
- Sport
- San Francisco Chronicle
Warriors beat included Hawaii and Harvard, beats and Batman, Curry and coffee
The game had ended in Philadelphia but the fight hadn't yet begun in New York, perfect timing for the boxing fans who played this season for the Golden State Warriors. Gary Payton II purchased the pay-per-view — Gervonta 'Tank' Davis versus Lamont Roach Jr. for the WBA lightweight championship — and a team staffer linked it through a laptop to a television. The emptying visitors locker room in Wells Fargo Center was a spacious living room that Saturday night. A boxing scribe during my tenure in Las Vegas and forever a fan of the sweet, sweet science, I sat in front of an empty locker to watch beside Pat Spencer, Kevon Looney, Moses Moody, Trayce Jackson-Davis and Brandin Podziemski as Payton bolted for the bus. Draymond Green watched it on his phone while getting treatment in another nearby room. And what a fight — and season — it was. Covering the Warriors as the Chronicle's beat writer, an honor and privilege the last 17 months, means writing about games, practices, shootarounds, and documenting the life and times of their players and staff. With organic downtime along the way, it means traversing the NBA's other 27 markets by airplane, rideshare, train, subway and foot. Since training camp opened on the northernmost shores of Hawaii's Oahu in early October, I've earmarked anecdotes and memories through which I'll remember their 2024-25 season. The happenings informing Golden State's 48-34 record and trip to the Western Conference semifinals are archived on our website already. Training camp was at BYU-Hawaii in the scenic oceanside town of Laie, but I stayed in Honolulu's Waikiki, rented a car and made the 45-minute drive to (and from) practices. Along the way under the bluest skies beside the clearest water (I think) I'd ever seen, I'd wonder if I was in or on a postcard. Then, I'd get to the quaint, charming campus, wait for media availability and watch Buddy Hield shoot for an hour after seemingly every practice. Shootarounds and practices on the road usually conclude to the tune of music of artists local to the city whenever apropos, as ensured by assistant coach Khalid Robinson. Think Kendrick Lamar in Los Angeles, Meek Mill in Philadelphia, Drake in Toronto, Scarface in Houston, Young Dolph in Memphis, etc. Not sure there's a song that was played unknown to Green. Road practices brought me to the campuses of Georgetown, Harvard and UCLA — among other colleges and universities. As sacred and as historic as they were — a bronze statue of John Thompson sits inside Georgetown's basketball complex, named for him; Looney, a former Bruin, is memorialized inside UCLA's practice gym — I'm happy I matriculated Minnesota. Makes for playful banter with Golden State's other Big Ten alums: Green, Jackson-Davis, Spencer and Looney … though I still can't believe the Bruins belong to the Big Ten. A sandwich shop in downtown Denver — where the Warriors and Nuggets played Dec. 3 — featured a painting of Batman atop a toilet with a glass of wine, his pants half down revealing Superman boxers as his dog sat beneath the bathroom window by his feet. Out the window was the 'Bat-Signal' emblazoning the nighttime Gotham City sky. Apparently amused, I photographed it — perhaps foreshadowing (internally, anyway) Golden State's Batman motif. Speaking of which, can't forget about Jimmy Butler 's team debut in Chicago, where his personal speaker played Jay-Z's 'Song Cry' among other soothing songs in a victorious visitor's locker room. Butler's impact — on the court for the Warriors and with their collective confidence — was obvious from the onset of his arrival. After a victory over Houston, Golden State's final game before the All-Star Break, he told reporters the Warriors would go streaking. Then they won 11 of their next 12 games. Included in that batch of wins was a lengthy trip along the East Coast that featured stops in Orlando, Philadelphia, Charlotte and New York for games with the Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. Every arena in which the Warriors played — including Madison Square Garden for stretches — might as well have been Chase Center East. Stephen Curry, the People's Superstar, started and finished it to chants of 'MVP.' Swung by Butler's 'Bigface' coffee storefront during Golden State's five-day stay in Miami. Nestled in the city's design district, it's chic but cozy and the coffee is tasty. The Warriors practiced at Barry University the March afternoon before they played the Miami Heat. No hard feelings — about the breakup with Heat — for the dozens of students who waited outside for a glimpse of Butler. Now we wait another four-plus months for a glimpse of the 2025-26 iteration of the Warriors. Thanks for reading about 2024-25.
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ed Miliband's net zero targets threatened by BP retreat
A massive hydrogen project at the heart of Ed Miliband's net zero plans risks being cancelled as BP retreats from green targets. The H2Teesside scheme, announced in 2021 by the company's then chief executive Bernard Looney, was designed to produce 'blue' hydrogen from natural gas, and then capture and store the carbon emissions. It had been slated to deliver more than 10pc of the 2030 target set by Mr Miliband, the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, for hydrogen production and was expected to come online by the late 2020s. But sources have warned that BP is now likely to scale back or even cancel the 1.2 gigawatt project as it struggles to secure enough customers to make the investment worthwhile. The FTSE 100 company is currently in talks with the Government about whether greater state support can be provided, with Mr Miliband's department viewing the scheme as a potentially important source of hydrogen for both industrial uses and power plants. On Friday, Ben Houchen, the Tees Valley mayor, said he was seeking urgent talks with BP about the 'highly concerning' potential setback. He said: 'Asking for increased government subsidy in this way is not a sound basis for an investment of such scale and BP must now be clear in setting out a coherent plan for the project. 'There remains a high level of interest for this site from alternative investors and we will continue to pursue all options.' The H2Teesside project is thought to have run into trouble because of doubts about the future of a nearby chemical facility run by Sabic, the Saudi-owned petrochemicals giant. The plant was expected to be an anchor customer, providing a steady source of demand. But a major upgrade of the facility, that would have made it capable of using hydrogen feedstock, was recently paused and Sabic is understood to be considering the site's closure. Against this backdrop, The Telegraph understands BP has been considering reducing the scope of H2Teesside by as much as 75pc or scrapping it altogether. A source said BP had warned the Government that the project was now unlikely to be viable unless the state agreed to support both the hydrogen factory and its customers. BP has already cancelled the other hydrogen scheme it had proposed in the area, HyGreen Teesside, which would have made 'green' hydrogen via electrolysis. A decision to scrap H2Teesside as well would represent a complete reversal of the company's pledge under Mr Looney to invest £2bn in regional hydrogen projects. Mr Looney travelled to Teesside to announce both schemes personally as part of his quest to reinvent BP as a net zero champion. It also means Mr Miliband may face a choice between allowing the project to collapse or promising even bigger subsidies at the expense of billpayers. Amid warnings that sky-high energy prices are killing British manufacturing, he has promised to 'revitalise our industrial communities' with almost £22bn of support for projects such as H2Teesside that will capture and store carbon dioxide emissions. Under current boss Murray Auchincloss, who took the reins after Mr Looney left over an undisclosed office relationship in September 2023, BP has been slashing investment in green energy projects. It follows pressure from Elliott Management, an activist investor, which accused the company of 'abysmal' cost discipline. One person briefed on the situation claimed that Elliott Management had signalled its opposition to the H2Teesside scheme in the past, although a source close to the investor denied that. Hydrogen has been hailed as a possible green 'superfuel' of the future, with investors touting its potential to replace other gases in heavy industry, fuel aircraft and heavy machinery, and be burned in power plants to generate electricity. However, experts have warned that formidable obstacles remained to making it commercially viable. On Friday, BP said it was 'focused on a few high-graded projects in hydrogen and carbon capture and storage'. The company has confirmed it is pressing ahead with the separate Net Zero Teesside Power scheme, which will see it build a flexible gas-fired power plant equipped with carbon capture technology. It is also participating, alongside other firms, in the Northern Endurance Partnership, a network that will transport CO2 captured from sites along the east coast out to storage wells under the North Sea. A BP spokesman said: 'We continue to work with [the] Government to progress H2Teesside.' A government spokesman said: 'We are delivering first-of-a-kind carbon capture and hydrogen projects in the UK, including in Teesside, supporting thousands of jobs, securing the future of heavy industry and tackling the climate crisis. 'H2Teesside could provide hydrogen to both industry and potential hydrogen-to-power projects that could be operational from 2030, and we are continuing to work with BP on the project.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
CT Senate votes for artificial intelligence safeguards while Gov. Lamont is still hesitant on bill
State senators voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night for a controversial bill seeking oversight of artificial intelligence, but Gov. Ned Lamont remains steadfast in avoiding slowing down one of the world's developing industries. After a day-long marathon at the state Capitol, Democrats reached a compromise with Republicans by watering down the measure in a successful bid for bipartisan support as the chamber voted 32-4 for the bill. Republican senators Tony Hwang of Fairfield, Ryan Fazio of Greenwich, Rob Sampson of Wolcott, and Eric Berthel of Watertown voted against the bill after a debate lasting 75 minutes. Lawmakers voted shortly before midnight Wednesday and then adjourned for the night. Democratic senators are seeking safeguards on AI for the first time in Connecticut history in a bill that generated both strong support and deep opposition. To show that the legislation is among the year's highest priorities, Senate Democrats named the measure as Senate Bill 2. Even with various sections removed from the bill, Lamont was not convinced. 'We have reviewed these changes, and the governor's position remains unchanged,' said Rob Blanchard, Lamont's chief spokesman. Senate President Pro Tempore Martin Looney, a New Haven Democrat, said lawmakers want to provide safeguards that would curb the excesses of artificial intelligence, including criminalizing the use of non-consensual, intimate images that impose a person's face on another body that is known as 'deep fake' pornography. 'We all know that the internet was really under-regulated when it first exploded into the world 30 years ago,' Looney told reporters Wednesday. 'We'd rather not see history repeat itself.' Artificial intelligence has the potential for 'both good and evil' in the same way as nuclear power, he said. 'The internet was severely underregulated in its earliest days, and we are paying the price to this day,' Looney said. But Lamont, a Greenwich entrepreneur who started his own company decades ago, continued to express strong concerns Wednesday by saying he does not want to stifle an emerging industry that can create jobs and future economic opportunities in Connecticut. He is concerned that the next generation of highly educated computer coders and their companies might avoid the Nutmeg State if there is too much regulation. 'Look, I'm really cautious about the bill,' Lamont told reporters Wednesday at the state Capitol in Hartford. 'I just worry about every state going out and doing their own thing – a patchwork quilt of regulations with Connecticut being probably stricter and broader than most. What that means in terms of AI development here. They'll get noticed. Programmers get noticed. Maybe you're at risk here. So I want to be very cautious about that.' Lamont added, 'I know about deep fakes. I also know that our consumer protection laws are really strong. So whatever you're trying to do, you do that with AI, it's just as illegal, and we're going to hold people accountable.' The legislature has another, separate bill on 'deep fake' pornography that could be passed if Lamont vetoes Senate Bill 2. Lamont said he would sign a bill that would update the 'revenge pornography' statutes that are already on the books that would include artificial intelligence. 'Yes is the answer to that question,' Lamont said. 'It's already illegal, but let's make it illegal again. … If you want to double down on deep fakes, I can double down on deep fakes.' Lamont also told business leaders in Hartford this week that he was concerned about any hindrances to the artificial intelligence business, saying that he wants to 'make sure that regulation doesn't strangle it.' In a late-night compromise designed to attract Republican votes, the bill was watered down by removing two sections covering 188 lines that would have allowed lawsuits against A.I. developers if 'the use of a high-risk artificial intelligence system resulted in algorithmic discrimination against one or more consumers.' But insiders said that the most important compromise for Democrats was not in attracting Republican votes but in trying to prevent Lamont from handing down a veto. Unlike the original bill, the updated version on Wednesday night called for creating a new unit in the state attorney general's data privacy office that would be known as the 'Connecticut Digital Oversight Squad' that 'would be responsible for working on data privacy and other emerging technology issues,' officials said. The changes were negotiated in a deal between Sen. James Maroney, a Milford Democrat who has become a nationally known leader on artificial intelligence, and the ranking Republican on the general law committee, Sen. Paul Cicarella of North Haven, and others. The Senate bill covers multiple issues, including creating an AI task force, forming a Connecticut technology advisory board, and updating the Technology Talent and Innovation Fund Advisory Committee, among others. The measure would 'establish various requirements concerning artificial intelligence systems and require the Department of Economic and Community Development to establish an artificial intelligence regulatory sandbox program,' according to a nonpartisan bill analysis. During the floor debate, Maroney said the three-level bill is designed to 'protect, promote, and empower.' 'How do we empower the state government to be more efficient in empowering A.I.?' Maroney asked. When there are layoffs in Connecticut in the future, state officials will ask employers to reveal how many jobs were lost because of artificial intelligence. Maroney said earlier that he is taking a 'pro-innovation approach' at a time when he said one out of three women are in jobs that are at risk of being automated by A.I. 'We're looking to promote the responsible use of A.I. – empowering state government to use A.I. responsibly,' Maroney told reporters. 'We want to promote the use of AI in small businesses through our Connecticut Online AI Academy. … We want to make sure that children have those skills they are going to need to succeed in the world. A LinkedIn AI survey said two-thirds of businesses won't hire someone without generative AI skills.' Cicarella, the ranking member, said, 'The ability to create a graphic by just talking to your computer is absolutely mind-blowing. … It's quite amazing what it can do and help professions.' But getting the right answer will not happen, Cicarella said, 'if you don't know how to tell ChatGPT what you're looking for.' Concerning the deletion of sections 2 and 3 regarding lawsuits against businesses, he said, 'It does address the concerns of the business community.' Police departments, he said, should use artificial intelligence to blur out the faces of minors in hundreds of hours of body-cam footage that is requested in various cases. Currently, Cicarella said it takes many hours to blur the faces, but artificial intelligence could do the same thing in minutes. During the debate, Sen. Tony Hwang of Fairfield said he was voting against the measure because he is concerned that none of the surrounding states or any in New England had moved ahead with similar regulations. 'What could happen if we are wrong in this legislation?' Hwang asked on the Senate floor. 'Do you think companies that are in Greenwich, Danbury … Groton and New London may not just cross over that border and do their business there? … We don't need to be the first. We need to be the best. … I'm not willing to risk Connecticut businesses on a desire to be first in New England.' Maroney responded, 'This is not about being first. … What if we are right? What if we could go back to 2010 and put regulations on social media? We live in a world where the suicide rates have increased since 2010. What if we had put some broad guardrails back then? … We hear these arguments again and again when we want to protect consumers.' Senate majority leader Bob Duff, a Norwalk Democrat, said the country 'made a very big mistake when the internet became the internet' because there are currently not enough protections for privacy, suicide, and addictions. 'Businesses should not be scared of what we're trying to do,' Duff told his colleagues. 'We are protecting the residents of the state. … We need to take control of our own destiny here in the state of Connecticut. … That's why we need to put our arms around this. … We're going to let a few large companies take everybody's data. That's not what we want in the state.' Senate Republican leader Stephen Harding of Brookfield supported the measure as an improvement that is 'much more reasonable' than the original version, saying he still understands why some fellow Republican senators voted no. Concerns about artificial intelligence have a long history. In 2007, famed actor Paul Newman of Westport traveled to the state Capitol complex in Hartford and testified to the judiciary committee for a bill that would have prevented the unauthorized digital distortion of anyone's image and create 'a right of publicity' in the digital age. Newman was ahead of his time 18 years ago, and he told lawmakers that technology had improved so quickly that he feared that film clips from his performances could be digitally extracted for use in other films or commercials. Newman, a Hollywood giant, died in 2008 at the age of 83. The unauthorized use of images was not difficult to accomplish and could be done by 'the average guy in the basement,' Newman told The Courant in an interview after his testimony. The 2007 bill, which did not pass, would have prevented any distortion that would 'cause the individual to speak or appear to speak words that the person did not speak or place the individual or appear to place the individual in a place or circumstance in which the individual did not agree to be placed.' The current technology has gone far beyond the 1994 classic film 'Forrest Gump,' in which lead actor Tom Hanks' character appeared in scenes shot decades earlier, meeting with President Lyndon Johnson and appearing with former Beatle John Lennon on The Dick Cavett Show. But both Cavett and Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, gave permission for the latter scene, officials said. Last year, the state Senate passed an AI bill, but the measure never received a vote in the House before time ran out on the final day of the legislative session. After Lamont signaled publicly that he opposed the bill, the House never debated the issue last year because leaders said the debate would be a waste of time if the measure was facing a guaranteed veto. After more than four hours of debate in April 2024, the Senate voted 24-12 for the bill on strict partly lines as all Democrats were in favor and all Republicans were against. Some Republicans argued that the measure would be adding more regulations on small businesses. The 53-page bill last year would have expanded criminal laws to include 'deep fakes' as the measure established 'a new crime of unlawful dissemination of a synthetic intimate image' and prohibited anyone 'from distributing any deceptive media before an election or primary.' The measure last year would have required developers of artificial intelligence 'to use reasonable care to protect consumers from any known or reasonably foreseeable risks of algorithmic discrimination' based on factors like age, religion or ethnicity, according to a nonpartisan bill summary. Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@
