More broadband money poised to flow into Pa. as Trump admin agrees to restore grant program; Spotlight PA, July 28, 2026

Charlotte Keith, Spotlight PA; More broadband money poised to flow into Pa. as Trump admin agrees to restore grant program

"A broadband grant program that the Trump administration abruptly canceled last year can be restored without language that allowed race to be used as a factor in awarding funding, a federal judge has ruled.

In a case challenging the program’s termination, U.S. District Judge John Bates agreed with federal officials that the underlying law is unconstitutional, because it allowed grants to be awarded based on “explicit racial classification.” But he also said the program was “perfectly capable” of functioning without this element.

“Common sense,” Bates wrote, “dictates that Congress would prefer to have a version of the Digital Equity Act without the racial criterion than to have no law at all.”

The decision clears the way for the grant program, which aims to address barriers that keep people from being able to access the internet, to move ahead. Questions remain, however, about how much of the $2.75 billion originally allocated will be restored, and what the latest version of the program will look like.

Pennsylvania was in line to receive more than $35 million before the grants were canceled.

Breaking down barriers

Congress passed the Digital Equity Act in 2021 as part of the sweeping, bipartisan infrastructure package that also included billions of dollars to build out high-speed internet networks.

Even where broadband is available, however, many people cannot afford to pay for it, or they lack the necessary skills or devices to use it, advocates say.

The Digital Equity Act aimed to address these barriers by providing funding for digital skills classes and affordable devices, and helping people access online services. The grants were intended to benefit groups that have historically faced challenges accessing the internet, including racial and ethnic minorities, older adults, low-income households, residents of rural areas, and veterans."

Jayson Conner, 48, and Jeffrey Newman, 58, Die; Gave Thousands of Backpacks to Those in Need; The New York Times, July 11, 2026

 Clay Risen, The New York Times ; Jayson Conner, 48, and Jeffrey Newman, 58, Die; Gave Thousands of Backpacks to Those in Need

The couple, who died within a few days of each other, provided needed supplies, like socks and wet wipes, to people living on New York City’s streets.

"Jayson Conner and Jeffrey Newman, a couple who spent years walking the streets of New York and handing out tens of thousands of backpacks filled with supplies — toiletries, socks, notebooks — to people in need, died within days of each other...

Once a week, a few dozen people would gather at a rental space in Queens, and Mr. Conner and Mr. Newman would lead them in organizing items into more than 100 backpacks that were loaded onto a moving van.

They would then drive the van to Manhattan, and, over the next several days, the volunteers would fan out, backpacks slung over their shoulders. Mr. Conner and Mr. Newman trained the volunteers on the best way to approach and engage with people who might be experiencing extreme physical or emotional pain — or might just want to talk to a friendly face.

“It was fascinating to see how well they managed to communicate with people on the streets,” Kristina Kashtanova, who began volunteering with them in 2020, said in an interview. “They taught me how to be a better human and how to talk to people who were so different from me.”

Giving away the backpacks was initially a side project of their nonprofit, Together Helping Others, which provided a range of social services. In moving from place to place, they discovered, unhoused people often lacked something as simple as a container to hold their belongings. What people in that situation needed, the two men figured, was sturdy backpacks."

Residents pack Monroeville council chambers in response to controversy over Pride Month display at library; Trib Live, July 7, 2026

 Patrick Varine, Trib Live; Residents pack Monroeville council chambers in response to controversy over Pride Month display at library

"Members of the Monroeville community spoke at Tuesday night’s council meeting with passion on both sides of a decision to remove a Pride Month book display from the children’s section of the Monroeville Public Library.

“Not every collection will appeal to all people, but we remain committed to providing the public with materials that reflect their experiences,” library board President Kelly Meredith said.

Meredith was referring to a special section of LGBTQ-themed books put up during Pride Month in June. Meredith said several members of Monroeville council who objected to the display directed Monroeville Municipal Manager Alex Graziani to have the display removed a few days before the end of the month. Councilmen Bill Krut and Bob Williams also spoke out against the display at the library’s June 22 board meeting."

‘Straight out of Trumpland’: LGBTQ+ members fight for Pride after Essex library ban; The Guardian, June 14, 2026

 Geneva Abdul and Aamna Mohdin, The Guardian ; ‘Straight out of Trumpland’: LGBTQ+ members fight for Pride after Essex library ban

"Before Reform gained control of Essex county council in the May elections, Chris Taylor and members of the Rochford LGBTQ+ community already felt they were witnessing a growing tide of political rhetoric around identity.

But they were still shocked when the county’s new leadership moved to ban Pride events in 74 libraries, scaling back events of “any particular groups or themes”, a decision they said was “straight out of Trumpland”.

“It communicates the fact that we’re not welcome,” said Taylor, who recently launched a petition against the “Orwellian” ban on pride events in Essex libraries.

Reform councils across England, from Essex and Durham to Leicestershire and Kent, have imposed bans on flying the pride flag and holding pride events in public spaces, as well as, in some cases, defunding pride events previously sponsored by local authorities.

Essex county council said libraries were “safe spaces for everybody” and LGBTQ+ books and displays would continue, but added the promotion of library events aimed at specific groups was under review.

Reform councils have stopped flying Pride flags outside civic centres and county halls and restricted council flagpoles exclusively to union, national, county or armed forces flags at council buildings under its control."

Judge Blocks National Parks From Removing ‘Negative’ Signs; The New York Times, June 12, 2026

 Maxine Joselow, The New York Times; Judge Blocks National Parks From Removing ‘Negative’ Signs

"A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the National Park Service from removing or revising signs, films and other materials at national parks across the country to comply with a directive from President Trump.

The ruling pauses enforcement of an executive order that called for removing or covering up materials at national parks that “inappropriately disparage Americans” or cast the United States “in a negative light.”

The judge, Angel Kelley of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, also ordered the Park Service to restore within three weeks any exhibits that it had dismantled or altered...

Judge Kelley, who was nominated by President Joseph R. Biden Jr., sharply rebuked the Trump administration for taking down materials. “Not only does this undermine the integrity of the national parks; it sets a dangerous precedent of censorship and sanitization,” she wrote.

Judge Kelley began her 63-page ruling by listing examples of national parks that help educate visitors about difficult periods of American history, as well as contributions made by people of color, gay and transgender figures, women and other marginalized groups.

“From the echoes of abolition in John Brown’s Fort in Harpers Ferry, to the genesis of the modern L.G.B.T.Q.+ civil rights movement at the Stonewall National Monument, to the retreating ice of Glacier National Park in Alaska, the national parks preserve the multifaceted and multilayered history of our nation, including the good, the bad and the ugly,” she wrote."

'AI has no soul': Pope Leo expected to address AI's ethical challenges; USA TODAY, May 13, 2026

Marc Ramirez, USA TODAY ; 'AI has no soul': Pope Leo expected to address AI's ethical challenges

"Is thinking basically computing? Are humans just biological versions of machines – only less efficient than their AI counterparts?

The concept that people may develop such a mindset is a major concern for Catholic observers given the breakneck pace at which AI is developing.

“As soon as you start thinking of yourself as a machine, only not as good, then you’re just a commodity and have no other reason to live,” said John Cavadini, director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. “It’s a pathway to desolation.”

That’s why Cavadini and others are looking forward to the imminent release of Pope Leo XIV’s first major encyclical, expected to address the growing ethical and moral challenges of artificial intelligence.

The treatise will be Leo’s most authoritative document to date, as topical as it is symbolic: Though the Vatican has set no specific date, a May 15 release would come 135 years to the day that Pope Leo XIII, with whom the current pontiff shares his name, issued what is considered the first social encyclical of modern times, Rerum Novarum...

As the term implies, an encyclical is a "circular letter" designed to be shared among a community...

The overarching concern, Daly said, is whether AI will be leveraged to promote human flourishing or whether efficiency and productivity will become the focus, leaving patients behind...

Another overlooked but important risk of AI, Daly said, is that technological advances tend to favor those already represented in such settings – in other words, those adept with new technology and who have electronic health records...

Hayes-Mota hopes the papal document can place the church, especially in the U.S., at the forefront of an emerging and urgent public conversation. The pope, he said, can play a leading role in fostering that conversation and ensuring it’s “anchored in moral values” and the fundamental questions AI is raising."

Trump Administration to Cut $600 Million in Health Funding From Four States; The New York Times, February 9, 2026

 Apoorva Mandavilli , The New York Times; Trump Administration to Cut $600 Million in Health Funding From Four States

The states, all led by Democrats, used the grants to support a wide variety of functions, including H.I.V. prevention and surveillance.

"The Trump administration plans to rescind $600 million in public health funds from four states led by Democrats because it finds the grants “inconsistent with agency priorities,” according to documents reviewed by The New York Times.

The programs slated to be cut are in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota. They include grants to state and local public health departments as well as to some nongovernmental organizations. A list of the cuts was shared with relevant congressional committees on Monday.

The funds are administered through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They include grants given to states for a variety of purposes, including hiring staffs, modernizing data systems and managing disease outbreaks. Some programs are aimed at the needs of specific communities.

Some of the cuts will be finalized this week and others over the coming weeks, totaling roughly $600 million. The figure was first reported by The New York Post."

Watering down Australia’s AI copyright laws would sacrifice writers’ livelihoods to ‘brogrammers’; The Guardian, August 11, 2025

 Tracey Spicer, The Guardian; Watering down Australia’s AI copyright laws would sacrifice writers’ livelihoods to ‘brogrammers’

"My latest book, which is about artificial intelligence discriminating against people from marginalised communities, was composed on an Apple Mac.

Whatever the form of recording the first rough draft of history, one thing remains the same: they are very human stories – stories that change the way we think about the world.

A society is the sum of the stories it tells. When stories, poems or books are “scraped”, what does this really mean?

The definition of scraping is to “drag or pull a hard or sharp implement across (a surface or object) so as to remove dirt or other matter”.

A long way from Brisbane or Bangladesh, in the rarefied climes of Silicon Valley, scrapers are removing our stories as if they are dirt.

These stories are fed into the machines of the great god: generative AI. But the outputs – their creations – are flatter, less human, more homogenised. ChatGPT tells tales set in metropolitan areas in the global north; of young, cishet men and people living without disability.

We lose the stories of lesser-known characters in remote parts of the world, eroding our understanding of the messy experience of being human.

Where will we find the stories of 64-year-old John from Traralgon, who died from asbestosis? Or seven-year-old Raha from Jaipur, whose future is a “choice” between marriage at the age of 12 and sexual exploitation?

OpenAI’s creations are not the “machines of loving grace” envisioned in the 1967 poem by Richard Brautigan, where he dreams of a “cybernetic meadow”.

Scraping is a venal money grab by oligarchs who are – incidentally – scrambling to protect their own intellectual property during an AI arms race.

The code behind ChatGPT is protected by copyright, which is considered to be a literary work. (I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.)

Meta has already stolen the work of thousands of Australian writers.

Now, our own Productivity Commission is considering weakening our Copyright Act to include an exemption for text and data mining, which may well put us out of business.

In its response, The Australia Institute uses the analogy of a car: “Imagine grabbing the keys for a rental car and just driving around for a while without paying to hire it or filling in any paperwork. Then imagine that instead of being prosecuted for breaking the law, the government changed the law to make driving around in a rental car legal.”

It’s more like taking a piece out of someone’s soul, chucking it into a machine and making it into something entirely different. Ugly. Inhuman.

The commission’s report seems to be an absurdist text. The argument for watering down copyright is that it will lead to more innovation. But the explicit purpose of the Copyright Act is to protect innovation, in the form of creative endeavour.

Our work is being devalued, dismissed and destroyed; our livelihoods demolished.

In this age of techno-capitalism, it appears the only worthwhile innovation is being built by the “brogrammers”.

US companies are pinching Australian content, using it to train their models, then selling it back to us. It’s an extractive industry: neocolonialism, writ large."

Trump Told Park Workers to Report Displays That ‘Disparage’ Americans. Here’s What They Flagged.; The New York Times, July 22, 2025

 Maxine Joselow and Lisa Friedman, The New York Times; Trump Told Park Workers to Report Displays That ‘Disparage’ Americans. Here’s What They Flagged.

[Kip Currier: Trump's order directing National Park Service (NPS) staff to flag historical signs that "inappropriately disparage Americans" is contemptible and reads like a dystopian plot point befitting Fahrenheit 451 or 1984. It's also contrary to the advancement of knowledge and rigorous historical inquiry.

As a lifelong aficionado of the stunning diversity of America's national parks, I also find this directive deeply offensive because it seeks to sanitize and censor the complexity of U.S history: solely to satisfy one American's monarchical sense of what is and is not "appropriate". That is inherently un-American.

Thank goodness, then, that a heroic superteam of librarians, historians, and others are mobilizing right now to safeguard records of American history from erasure and expurgation. Until the day that fulsome, tangled, sobering, uplifting historical record -- our individual and collective history and legacy -- can be restored, appreciated, and learned from in all of its imperfectness.]

[Excerpt]

"According to internal documents reviewed by The New York Times, employees of the National Park Service have flagged descriptions and displays at scores of parks and historic sites for review in connection with President Trump’s directive to remove or cover up materials that “inappropriately disparage Americans.”

In an executive order in March, the president instructed the Park Service to review plaques, films and other materials presented to visitors at 433 sites around the country, with the aim of ensuring they emphasize the “progress of the American people” and the “grandeur of the American landscape.”

Employees had until last week to flag materials that could be changed or deleted, and the Trump administration said it would remove all “inappropriate” content by Sept. 17, according to the internal agency documents. The public also has been asked to submit potential changes.

In response, a coalition of librarians, historians and others organized through the University of Minnesota has launched a campaign called “Save Our Signs.” It is asking the public to take photos of existing content at national parks and upload it. The group is using those images to build a public archive before any materials may be altered. So far, it has more than 800 submissions."

Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history; The Hill, July 1, 2025

 NATHANIEL WEIXEL  , The Hill; Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history 

"Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade. 

The tax and spending bill is projected to cost more than $3 trillion during that time, but it would be partially paid for with about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid."

Global South voices ‘marginalised in AI Ethics’; Gates Cambridge, June 27, 2025

  Gates Cambridge; Global South voices ‘marginalised in AI Ethics’

"A Gates Cambridge Scholar is first author of a paper how AI Ethics is sidelining Global South voices, reinforcing marginalisation.

The study, Distributive Epistemic Injustice in AI Ethics: A Co-productionist Account of Global North-South Politics in Knowledge Production, was published by the Association for Computing Machinery and is based on a study of nearly 6,000 AI Ethics publications between 1960 and 2024. Its first author is Abdullah Hasan Safir [2024 – pictured above], who is doing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Design. Other co-authors include Gates Cambridge Scholars Ramit Debnath[2018] and Kerry McInerney [2017].

The findings were recently presented at the ACM’s FAccT conference, considered one of the top AI Ethics conferences in the world. They show that experts from the Global North currently legitimise their expertise in AI Ethics through dynamic citational and collaborative practices in knowledge production within the field, including co-citation and institutional of AI Ethics."

Supreme Court decides whether to allow parents to shield children from LGBTQ books in school; Fox News, June 27, 2025

 Ashley Oliver , Fox News ; Supreme Court decides whether to allow parents to shield children from LGBTQ books in school

"The Supreme Court held Friday that a group of Maryland parents are entitled to opt their children out of school lessons that could violate their beliefs in a case centered on religious freedom. 

The justices decided 6-3 along ideological lines in Mahmoud v. Taylor that parents can exclude their children from a Maryland public school system's lessons that contain themes about homosexuality and transgenderism if they feel it conflicts with their religious faith."

‘This Moment Is Critical.’ Whither Progressive Christians After Pope Francis?; The New York Times, April 24, 2025

  Elizabeth Dias and Ruth Graham, The New York Times; ‘This Moment Is Critical.’ Whither Progressive Christians After Pope Francis?

"For 12 years, Pope Francis was the most powerful Christian on the world stage, using his voice to elevate the poor and the marginalized.

Millions of progressive Christians in the United States, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, considered him to be a powerful counterweight to a rising conservative Christian power. He was the magnetic center for their values.

His death on Monday leaves behind a question gnawing inside their minds.

In a world without Pope Francis, where their values feel particularly vulnerable, where do they go from here?

“This moment is critical now,” Bishop Sean W. Rowe, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, said. “For those of us who want to embody the Sermon on the Mount, and the Beatitudes, and the love that Jesus showed in the world, this is now more important than ever.”

Pope Francis stood in contrast to a brand of Christianity that has increasing power in the United States. It is mixed with nationalism and, according to Bishop Rowe, is “not only fundamentally not Christian” but “also dangerous.”

“We have to begin to step up and communicate this message in ways that are winsome and compelling,” he added. “Politics are certainly co-opting Christian language and the Christian story. It is now ours to take that back.”...

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, went to Mass on Monday night with her husband, who is Catholic. After her sermon at the inauguration prayer service when she pleaded with Mr. Trump to have mercy, many Christians have turned to her as a moral pillar...

“Whatever happens in the rest of my lifetime or yours, some of us have to keep a candle burning. We can’t let this go,” she said. “Someday the pendulum will swing back.”"

Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church; Religion News, October 14, 2024

Yonat Shimron, Religion News; Sean Rowe wants to realign the Episcopal Church

"The Episcopal Church’s membership dropped just below 1.6 million in 2022, down 21% from 2013. Over the past two years the decline appears to be accelerating rather than slowing, occasioning headlines such as “Episcopal Withering on the Vine,” and “The Death of the Episcopal Church is Near.”

When casting for a new leader to replace Michael Curry, the denomination’s first Black presiding bishop, Episcopalians nominated Rowe on the first ballot. Rowe had been serving as bishop of Northwestern Pennsylvania, and under a novel partnership, he also served as provisional bishop of the Western New York diocese, a collaborative model now being tried in other places.

At the same General Conference in which Rowe was elected, he was tasked with developing a plan to save $3.5 million on staff over three years.

Rowe, who has a Ph.D. in organizational learning and leadership, has already talked about cutting back the church’s hierarchy and moving resources down the ladder to church ministries.

His first two weeks in office have been busy. First, Donald Trump was elected president. Rowe issued a letter saying the mission of the church — striving for justice and peace, and protecting the dignity of every human being — would continue.

Then, Archbishop Justin Welby, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, resigned over his handling of a child sex abuse scandal. The Episcopal Church is one of 42 autonomous churches that make up the worldwide Anglican Communion, with about 80 million members in 160 countries.

“Abuse in any form is horrific and abhorrent, and it grieves me that the church does not always live up to its ideal as a place where all of God’s children are safe,” Rowe said in a statement Tuesday. He also pledged to address any failures in safeguarding children in the Episcopal Church.

Rowe lives in Erie, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Carly, the executive director of the Cathedral of St. Paul. The couple have a 12-year-old daughter, Lauren. RNS spoke to Rowe, the youngest presiding bishop ever, about the challenges ahead. The interview was edited for length and clarity."

This might be the most important job in AI; Business Insider, July 21, 2024

Lakshmi Varanasi , Business Insider; This might be the most important job in AI

"Generative AI can hallucinate, spread misinformation, and reinforce biases against marginalized groups if it's not managed properly. Given that the technology relies on volumes of sensitive data, the potential for data breaches is also high. At worst, though, there's the danger that the more sophisticated it becomes, the less likely it is to align with human values.

With great power, then, comes great responsibility, and companies that make money from generative AI must also ensure they regulate it.

That's where a chief ethics officer comes in...

Those who are successful in the role ideally have four areas of expertise, according to Mills. They should have a technical grasp over generative AI, experience building and deploying products, an understanding of the major laws and regulations around AI, and significant experience hiring and making decisions at an organization."

LeVar Burton Banned Books Week honorary chair discusses importance of access; American Libraries, October 2, 2023

Megan Bennett, American Libraries; LeVar Burton

Banned Books Week honorary chair discusses importance of access

"When asked about the impact libraries have had on his life and work, LeVar Burton answered simply and succinctly: “Better to ask what role sunlight and water plays in the life and work of flowers.”...

Burton is honorary chair of the American Library Association’s 2023 Banned Books Week (Oct. 1–7), the first actor to be chosen for the role. This year’s weeklong commemoration of intellectual freedom comes at a time of record-breaking book challenges and bans, mostly directed at books by or about people of color or the LGBTQ community...

What kinds of messages do you think are being sent to young people from marginalized communities when books that reflect them and their experiences are the ones disproportionately being challenged?

The message it sends is that you do not matter. This is the old way. In today’s world it is essential that we make room at the table for all voices, for all peoples, and points of view."

Libraries are reimagining what public safety and access to resources look like; Prism, May 5, 2022

Tamar Sarai, Prism ; Libraries are reimagining what public safety and access to resources look like

"“People think libraries have changed so much, but really, we’re still doing the same things,” Fewell said. “We are making sure people have access to information and resources… connecting people [with what] they need: food, wound care, connecting to the WiFi because the only device they have to access the internet is their phone… We’re providing resources to get people the next thing that they’re looking for, and I love it.”

As libraries and library staff begin embracing new ways to serve their patrons and in doing so, promote alternative conceptions of public safety, pushback has followed. Local police have decried the initiatives as eroding relationships with law enforcement, and other patrons have argued that their libraries are becoming less safe and that their own needs are being neglected as marginalized community members find themselves increasingly welcome into the library’s branches. However, while providing more social services and even connecting with currently incarcerated people might expand the work of libraries, staff engaging in these initiatives argue that the work is simply a fulfillment of the library’s long-standing purpose to provide information and foster community."

How To Make The Library More Inclusive; Sage Publishing via Library Journal, February 12, 2018

Karen Phillips,Sage Publishing via Library Journal; How To Make The Library More Inclusive

"In a new series that celebrates innovators in libraries across the U.S., I have the privilege of diving deeper into the work of a segment of the 2017 Movers & Shakers announced by Library Journal. This week, I had the opportunity to catch up with Cynthia Mari Orozco, a Librarian for Equitable Services at East Los Angeles College Library. Dedicated to making the library inviting for librarians and students of all backgrounds, Cynthia works to raise awareness of micro-aggressions in librarianship and library anxiety among students. Read her interview below to learn more about her efforts to make the library a space of refuge and community..."

In what ways can librarians help to reduce students’ library anxiety and make the library a welcoming place for the student?

Being kind, personable, and compassionate can go a long way. Before working in libraries, I spent years working in restaurants, and I think libraries can learn a lot about customer service and making patrons feel welcomed and appreciated. There are many small acts that go a long way. For example the 10/5 rule: whenever within 10 feet of a patron, make eye contact and smile; within five feet of a patron, eye contact, smile, and some sort of friendly greeting or gesture.

Librarians also need to understand their users, free from preconceived assumptions. Related to my first response, I was sheepishly telling some librarian colleagues that I didn’t know what “stacks” meant until I was in library school. I was relieved and slightly horrified to know that they had similar experiences! At the very least, you shouldn’t need to go to library school to know how to navigate a library’s physical and online spaces.

In 2014, you founded the LIS Microaggressions blog (LISM), a safe, anonymous space for users to submit descriptions of microaggressions expressed toward individuals from marginalized communities that occur within the library and information science field. Can you give us some examples of the microaggressions taking place in libraries?"