San Francisco for about two weeks of each February is a panoramic sight: the Peak blossom of the magnolia trees of the Golden Gate ParkOne of an important collections of Magnolia in America.

The over 200 trees are positioned within the San Francisco Botanical Garden And in the meanwhile, pink, ivory and magenta are starting in saucer -shaped explosions. Other silver buds, velvety and soft deer antlers, are for walking. The peak blossom should last until the tip of next week (February twenty second). The flower might be continued by mid -March if the weather stays cool and cop at.

The Magnolia were originally planted by the primary director of the garden, Edward Walther, a German immigrant who had a passion for the species. When the rare cup and saucer-Magnolienbaum of the garden-typically within the Himalayas bloomed-in 1940, it was the primary of its kind within the United States and pulled admiring crowds from everywhere in the bay.

“Magnolia are a really beautiful and charismatic tree. It is difficult not to fall in love with them, ”says Ryan Guillou, director of collections and nature conservation for the Gardens of the Golden Gate Park. “We are lucky enough to have a climate that is mild compared to most United States, where we can grow so many different types.”

Some of the garden of the garden come for greater than a century and reach as much as 80 feet. They come from all parts of the world, from the mountains of Asia to the forests from Central America to endangered Chiapas, Mexico. Only 4 or five gardens on the planet have this guy, Magnolia Sharpii, of their collection.

While the Magnolias Blossoming is a protected sign of spring, while you visit the garden, concentrate to other seasonal miracles.

The Delorean Can speak, Goldie Wilson has an expanded role and Doc Brown's background story might be unveiled on stage this month within the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco.

“Back to the Future” made two sequels after the large success of the unique film in 1985, nevertheless it goes back to his roots and can tell the unique history in his debut of the musical in Bay Area again.

The creators of the film, Bob Gale and Robert Zemeckis, have teamed as much as create the musical, which was officially opened in London in 2021 and has been seen by greater than 800,000 people around the globe since then.

The Adelphi Theater Box Office Records broke in London and won the perfect latest musical Olivier Award before it was made to Broadway in 2023, where it won a Broadway World Award for the perfect latest musical.

Gale sat down with the Bay Area News Group to share his thoughts concerning the creation of a musical that sometimes rejects the unique script, probably the most common response he received from the hard “Back to the Future” fans, and Like a author to pass to the Shadow of a Blockbuster film franchise, which is now 40 years old.

Q: Bob, “Back to the Future”, was published in 1985, has an evaluation of 95% for Rotten tomatoes, was described by the New York Times as the most effective movies of all time and is inappropriately a cultural test stone. Why did it take so long for a musical “back to the future” to be?

Storm: Well, we worked seriously in 2006. It was crazy because we thought that was a slam dunk.

When we tried to make the film, no one knew what he was. The script was rejected 42 times before it was finally done. You are used to it once you perform original screenplays.

With this musical we thought: “You should stand around the block to do this.” But no, because we’ve stipulated that Robert Zemeckis and I (the unique fellow artists) have to be involved. And Alan Silvestri, who wrote the rating, and Glen Ballard, six times Grammy winners, have to jot down the music. Then we might meet with producers who said: “What do you think you can do that? You have never done a musical. '

Maybe, maybe because we made a film that created a billion dollar franchise.

Q: After all, they found the producer Colin Ingram, who helps them do this. Why did you start the musical in the United Kingdom?

Storm: It turns out that Great Britain is the most successful territory for “back to the longer term” per capita. For decades in the United States, ABC or CBS would run “the magician of OZ” after Thanksgiving. It was a family tradition.

In England, at Boxing Day, the day after Christmas, one of the TV networks always ran “back to the longer term”. So we had an audience that was completely prepared for it. You knew it inside and outside.

Q: Do you write the script, have you remained true to the original film?

Storm: We had seen shows that had tried to be a copy of the film's carbon. Our attitude was: “If people need to see the film, they’ll see the film.” We wanted to keep the spirit from it and we will tell the story of the first film again, but we wanted to go on the stages that we couldn't do in a film. And don't try to do things on stage that we knew we couldn't.

Q: What kind of things differ on stage?

Storm: The terrorist hunt cannot do that on stage. It would be stupid to try it. We didn't do it. We came up with the fact that DOC collapsed from radiation poisoning by dealing with plutonium. Marty has to jump into the Delorean to get to a hospital to save his life. It is exactly the same dramatic concept, but we don't have a car hunt.

The other thing I am proud of that I can see the film, see the time exhibition. So Doc says: “Would you prefer to see the signing of the declaration of independence?” We cut a side dish on July 4, 1776. In the musical I was inspired by the TV show “Night Rider” in which the car speaks. This is how the Delorean speaks. Everything is voice -activated, but it only reacts to Doc's voice, which is why Marty can't start the car. Instead of seeing it, you hear it.

These are things that we have done to make sure that it still felt like a stage show and nobody thinks: “This is only a mediocre version of the film.” No, it needs to be something special for the stage.

Q: What are some other differences to the musical?

Storm: Doc has a song in Act 2 with the title “For the Dreamers” and you learn a lot about who is Doc. And it looks much warmer than the character in the film because we have time for it.

Goldie Wilson – When we made the film, he was a throw away, but people loved him in the film. We expanded the part and gave it a song and brought it back in Act 2.

Q: What kind of feedback do you hear from fans of the film?

Storm: I meet people who say: “I'm afraid to see him because I like the film a lot, and I'm afraid that this show would spoil my childhood.” Then they say: “I used to be fallacious, they really captured the spirit of the film and I had an exquisite time.”

We won't ruin your childhood. It will be great.

Q: How much fun did you have reproduced the 80s for this musical?

Storm: It was a lot of fun. We made a bus bench with a video rental advertisement. The costumes, when I saw the opening number for the first time, was I like WoW, did we really look that way in the 80s? Yes, we did it. And the volume has appeared a little.

Q: In the film they had the chance to predict and look back in 30 years, they were pretty accurate! Hoverboards, telephones that can be used to record videos or pay for things, drones and tablets – how did you know that this was possible?

Storm: Some of the things were easy to predict. And it is much easier to make these predictions when it comes to a comedy. Because they are not so serious.

We don't have these pizza hydrators. I have never heard of someone who works on it.

Q: If you make a film like “Back to the Future” that can follow you for the remainder of your profession, is it difficult to do something else because you recognize the usual you may have set for yourself?

Storm: The dream of each author is to jot down something that you simply hope that he has a life beyond your individual.

I actually have individuals who come to me and say: “That brought me closer to my parents. I never asked her how you met. '

I met a woman a few weeks ago who said: “I became a scientist because I fell in love with Doc Brown.”

John Mayer said: “I picked up the guitar because of the Johnny B. Goode scene in the future.”

You don't know how a film can affect people. These anecdotal stories let my head explode. I wish I had made a few other films afterwards? Yes. But will I be unhappy that I include “back to the future” for the remainder of my life? Hell No. I thank God on daily basis for it. And I thank Michael J. Fox that he said to seven in IT. If he hadn't done that, I don't know if it had happened.

Details: “Back to the longer term: The Musical” will play from February 12 to March 9 in the Orpheum Theater 1192 Market St. in San Francisco in Broadwaysf's Orpheum Theater. Broadwaysf.com.

Originally published: February 5, 2025 at 5:36 a.m.

The investment firm's representative met the synthetic intelligence startup's CEO at a bank in San Francisco's Chinatown last June and expected to receive a press release directly from the bank showing how much the startup, chatbot company GameOn, owed on his had accounts.

The investment company had invested $5.7 million in GameOn in 2021. The representative – a board member of Game On – received the statement, which showed a healthy balance of $13.4 million.

But based on allegations in a federal fraud lawsuit against GameOn CEO and co-founder Alexander Beckman and his wife Valerie Lau Beckman, not all the things was because it seemed. At the start the bank balance was $25.93. Ms. Beckman went to the bank, emailed the fake statement to a bank teller and asked the clerk to place it within the envelope so her husband could pick it up, the indictment says.

While a lot of the couple's fraudulent behavior alleged by federal prosecutors took the shape of allegedly fraudulent financial reports and stolen identities, the incident on the bank was an area move that appeared to work – at first – they are saying within the indictment filed Tuesday.

The investor's representative “believed the statement was genuine and shared images of it with other members of GameOn's board,” the indictment says.

That afternoon last June was the culmination of a years-long fraud by the pair that cost investors and the corporate greater than $60 million. The Beckmans used a few of it to purchase homes, luxury cars and jewellery and to pay for personal schools. Mr. Beckman's children were present, the indictment in U.S. District Court in San Francisco said.

The pair were arrested on Thursday, the US Department of Justice said. A lawyer for Mr. Beckman didn’t reply to requests for comment. Ms. Beckman couldn’t be reached.

GameOn, an organization founded in San Francisco in 2014, served customers including American skilled sports teams, leagues and associations, in addition to well-known fashion and retail brands, the indictment says. Its product was an AI chatbot designed to interact with its customers' fans, customers, and consumers. The indictment doesn’t reveal which teams and leagues were customers.

However, the Los Angeles Chargers National Football League team in 2020 announced that it might use GameOn's chatbot. Posts by GameOn on the social media platform X And Partnerships are referenced in company press releases with the New York Yankees Major League Baseball team, the NFL teams Las Vegas Raiders and Jacksonville Jaguars, the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association, the Las Vegas Aces and Chicago Sky of the Women's National Basketball Association, British soccer titan Arsenal and the mixed -Martial Arts Professional Fighters League. GameOn press releases also claimed partnerships with luxury brands Valentino and Armani.

GameOn customers should not accused of any wrongdoing.

The indictment describes an organization always on the point of failure because the Beckmans allegedly solicited and received investments through false financial documents that dramatically overstated the corporate's sales, profits and bank balances.

“GameOn relied on new investor money to operate, depleted its funds, received overdraft notices from banks, defaulted on payments from certain customers, and often found itself on the verge of not having enough money in the bank to operate and make payroll “Create,” the statement says.

The investment firm whose representative went to the bank that day was one in every of 4 such firms – two in San Francisco, two in New York – that were allegedly defrauded by the Beckmans. The other two alleged fraud victims were people from Northern California.

The company – identified within the indictment as “Investor 1” – received an email from Ms. Beckman in April 2021 with a spreadsheet showing $4 million in sales and $1.9 million in profits for it Month showed, but sales for the whole yr never exceeded $1 million, the indictment says. Three days later, the investment firm GameOn transferred $2.5 million, the indictment says.

The following month, Ms. Beckman sent the corporate a spreadsheet from Mr. Beckman showing that GameOn had nearly $9 million at two banks, when in point of fact the corporate had a negative balance at one in every of the banks and $2,350 at the opposite. had dollars. After Ms. Beckman followed up in September with allegedly inflated sales and profit figures, the investment company transferred one other $3.2 million, the indictment says.

Similar transactions followed the identical pattern: GameOn claimed to an investor that it had revenue of $72.4 million and profit of $56.8 million from January to September 2023, while the corporate made less for the whole yr than $1 million in profits, the indictment says.

To spread false information to investors, Beckman created fake email addresses for real GameOn employees: a contractor, a consultant and a part-time chief financial officer, the indictment says. He can be said to have “prepared two GameOn audit reports using the names, signatures and trademarks of reputable accounting firms,” the indictment says.

The couple used $4.2 million in ill-gotten gains to purchase a property in San Francisco – in upscale Presidio Heights, based on court documents – and invested one other $360,000 in investor money in one other home in the town, they are saying within the indictment. Hundreds of 1000’s each went to the private school, a social club where the Beckmans married in November 2023, and greater than $100,000 went to paying personal property taxes, the indictment says.

Tech website VentureBeat reported in July 2024 that Beckman resigned from GameOn earlier this month, days after an investigation by the startup's board revealed that there was only 37 cents in a checking account that ought to have held $11 million.

The Beckmans, who were each granted $1 million bail on Thursday, based on court records, face years in prison if convicted.

Originally published: January 24, 2025 at 4:08 pm PST

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT – Nearly 30 security screeners shouted, “At SFO we are union strong; Unequal pay is fucking wrong,” and received automotive horns as they protested for higher wages outside the Harvey Milk Terminal on Thursday.

Approximately 1,000 security controllers employed by Covenant Aviation Security and dealing at SFO are represented by the Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West. The protest was largely driven by worker retention and wage inequality, which staff say doesn’t sustain with the price of living in San Francisco and the Bay Area.

“I just hope they give us equal pay and make sure they treat us like human beings and not just another person that they can replace at any time,” said security controller Karina Rodriguez. “We want to be heard, we want to be seen, we want to make sure we’re here for the long haul, not just a few months.”

A 2022 law requires contractors to compensate their employees at levels comparable to TSA's directly employed staff to make sure overall pay equity.

Sanjay Garla, first vp of the union, said the law is meant to enhance retention by rewarding seniority with higher pay. But at SFO, Garla said TSA would give older and recent employees the identical amount of cash after which pay them the identical increased amount every time TSA renewed its contract with Covenant.

Garla said employees are owed no less than $12 million in back pay, but he said that figure is an estimate because he doesn't know the way the TSA calculates their wages and advantages.

Storage is a relentless problem. The job as a security inspector generally is a “really stressful job,” Garla said, and other people have moved on to jobs with higher pay and fewer stress. In turn, as airports have hired more people to fill vacancies, senior managers must spend more time training recent employees, and this lack of experience can result in dangerous items slipping past screening machines.

Joe Grandov, a security auditor at SFO, has worked for Covenant for nearly 12 years. He said contractor pay was higher than TSA worker pay, but contract staff didn’t receive other advantages comparable to retirement or pension. But when TSA employees' salaries became higher than contractors', it became harder to make ends meet, he said.

Grandov spoke about how working as a security inspector had grow to be “less and less attractive,” attributing this to lower pay and poor treatment from customers.

“We are dealing with people who are in a very unpleasant situation. People don’t like security, they don’t like being stopped,” Grandov said. “We're getting spit on by people, we're getting the stink eye from people, we're getting verbal abuse from people because they're late to make their planes and we're just trying to make sure they're safe.”

As the protest continued, the variety of employees in attendance fluctuated as staff joined the picket line once they took a break and left the picket line once they needed to return to work.

“SFO’s contract security officers are considered essential workers. Operations will continue without interruption,” TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said in an email to the Bay Area News Group.

San Francisco District 1 Supervisor Connie Chan appeared on the airport to indicate her support for the union. During her tenure, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed mandates setting health care expectations and a minimum wage for all San Francisco employees. She said she and the board would support the union's efforts and, if obligatory, make a request to the TSA and the federal government to honor the contract.

“San Francisco Bay Area is a really expensive area,” Chan said. “[As the cost of living continues to increase]all workers should earn a job. One job should be enough.”

Because of unequal pay, some staff say it's difficult to afford the things they need. Grandov said he and his brother take turns caring for his or her mother, who suffers from dementia, but although he’s working more hours than ever before, he said he remains to be not being compensated for on a regular basis he has worked .

“I'm 70. I should think about retirement, not think about where I can still earn a cent,” Grandov said.

In addition to her full-time job as a security inspector at SFO, Rodriguez said she also works part-time for 2 different home care firms to support herself and her clan, all of whom live together in a house in Burlingame. She said she was newly engaged and worked 10-hour shifts to afford the things she wanted for her wedding.

SFO is considered one of 21 airports within the U.S. that outsources its security screening to personal contractors through the Transportation Security Administration's Screening Partnership program.

SFO spokesman Doug Yakel said in an email that the airport granted the union a free speech permit to “provide a platform … to convey its message to the public” and “designate locations for this activity to ensure “That passengers can continue to move freely and reach the airport unhindered.”

Covenant officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hillary Ritter, a 36-year-old former San Francisco resident waiting for a ride from the airport on Thursday, filmed the protest in support of the cause with her phone.

“I’m proud of what they’re doing,” Ritter said. “I’m glad they’re standing up for themselves. They should be paid immediately.”

Originally published: January 9, 2025 at 4:18 pm PST

SAN FRANCISCO – Public health officials say a San Francisco child has tested suspected positive for H5N1 bird flu.

The San Francisco Department of Public Health said the kid, who experienced fever and symptoms of conjunctivitis, has now fully recovered and is at low risk to the general public.

“I would like to reassure everyone in our city that the risk to the general public is low and there is currently no evidence that the virus can be transmitted between people,” said Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Health.

The department's public health laboratory conducted the initial testing. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will conduct confirmatory testing.

Prior to the kid's positive test, the California Department of Public Health had reported 37 human cases of avian influenza as of December 23.

In all but one in all these cases, health authorities determined exposure to cattle. None of the cases required hospitalization.

Despite the limited impact on humans, the state declared a state of emergency last month to reply to outbreaks on its dairy farms.

Prior to the avian flu diagnosis, the kid initially tested positive for COVID-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus.

Possible symptoms of bird flu included eye redness, cough, fatigue, fever and headache.

An initial investigation has not clarified how the kid became infected with the virus and remains to be ongoing.

Health officials have warned residents to avoid contact with sick or dead birds and to avoid consuming raw milk or unpasteurized dairy products.

On top of the 49ers 40-34 loss to the Detroit Lions, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy re-injured his throwing elbow on Monday night.

Purdy said he “100 percent” desires to play in Sunday’s regular-season finale on the Arizona Cardinals (7-9). The 49ers (6-10) clinched last place within the NFC West courtesy of this sixth loss in seven games.

This 49ers’ home finale opened with a lot of what The Faithful restlessly sought this season: Purdy in MVP-caliber form; Deebo Samuel scoring a touchdown; George Kittle bulldozing defenders; first-round pick Ricky Pearsall making grabs on a breakout night (eight catches, 141 yards); and, Nick Bosa harassing the opposing quarterback.

Alas, the 49ers couldn’t keep pace with the Lions, nor rally past them like last matchup, after they overcame a 24-7 halftime deficit and won the NFC crown 34-31.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Originally Published: December 30, 2024 at 10:35 PM PST

SAN FRANCISCO — A former OpenAI researcher known for whistleblowing in regards to the blockbuster artificial intelligence company that faced a barrage of lawsuits over its business model has died, authorities confirmed this week.

Suchir Balaji, 26, was found dead in his Buchanan Street apartment on Nov. 26, San Francisco police and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner said. Police were called to the Lower Haight residence about 1 p.m. that day after receiving a call requesting officers to inquire about his welfare, a police spokesman said.

The coroner's office determined the way of death was suicide, and police officials said this week there was “no evidence of foul play at this time.”

The information he had was expected to play a key role in lawsuits against the San Francisco-based company.

Balaji's death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law in its development of ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has change into a money-making sensation, utilized by lots of of tens of millions of individuals on the used all around the world.

Its release in late 2022 sparked a flood of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists who claim the corporate illegally stole their copyrighted material to coach its program and boost its value to over $150 billion.

Mercury News and 7 sister news outlets are amongst several newspapers, including the New York Times, that sued OpenAI last 12 months.

In an interview with the New York Times On October 23, Balaji argued that OpenAI was harming corporations and entrepreneurs whose data was used to coach ChatGPT.

“If you believe what I believe, you just need to leave the company,” he told the outlet, adding that “this is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”

Balaji grew up in Cupertino before studying computer science at UC Berkeley. At the time, he believed within the potential advantages that artificial intelligence could offer society, including its ability to cure disease and stop aging, the Times reported. “I thought we could invent a scientist who could help solve these problems,” he told the newspaper.

But in 2022, two years after he joined OpenAI as a researcher, his prospects began to deteriorate. He was particularly concerned about his task to gather data from the Internet for the corporate's GPT-4 program, which analyzed text from nearly your entire Internet to coach its artificial intelligence program, the news outlet reported.

The practice, he told the Times, violates the country's “fair use” laws, which govern how people can use previously published works. He posted at the top of October an evaluation on his personal website argue this point.

No known aspects “seem to support ChatGPT’s fair use of its training data,” Balaji wrote. “That being said, none of the arguments here are inherently specific to ChatGPT, and similar arguments could be made for many generative AI products in a variety of areas.”

Reached by this news agency, Balaji's mother requested privacy as she mourned her son's death.

In a letter filed in federal court on November 18, lawyers for the New York Times named Balaji as someone who had “unique and relevant documents” that will support their case against OpenAI. He was amongst not less than 12 people — a lot of them former or current OpenAI employees — the newspaper named in court filings ahead of the testimony as having material helpful to its case.

Generative artificial intelligence programs analyze huge amounts of information from the Internet and use them to answer user input or to create text, images or videos.

When OpenAI released its ChatGPT program in late 2022, it spurred an industry of corporations looking to write down essays, create art, and create computer code. Many of the world's most precious corporations today are in the sphere of artificial intelligence or produce the pc chips needed to run these programs. OpenAI's own value has almost doubled previously 12 months.

News outlets have argued that OpenAI and Microsoft — which does business with OpenAI and was also sued by The Mercury News — plagiarized and stole its articles, undermining their business models.

“Microsoft and OpenAI are simply taking over the work product of reporters, journalists, editors, copy editors and others who contribute to the work of local newspapers – all without regard to the efforts, let alone the legal rights, of those who create and publish them. “News that local communities rely on,” the newspaper’s lawsuit states.

OpenAI has strongly denied these claims and emphasized that every one of its work stays legal under fair use laws.

“We see tremendous potential for AI tools like ChatGPT to deepen publishers’ relationships with readers and improve the news experience,” the corporate said in filing the lawsuit.

Originally published: December 13, 2024 at 1:12 pm PST

Have you ever dreamed of living on the water or are you only a misanthrope who doesn't like being around people? Here's some big news for you: A tiny lighthouse in San Francisco Bay is on the lookout for two recent keepers.

“East Brother Light Station, Inc.“, a nonprofit corporation, is seeking applicants for Keepers of East Brother Light Station, an island in San Francisco Bay that is home to an intact lighthouse and fog beacon dating to 1874,” announced Tom Butt, director of the nonprofit organization, announced in an email in December. 4.

“The successful candidates will be a couple, one of whom must hold a Coast Guard Merchant Mariner Credential NMC boating license,” Mr Butt said. “They will operate the five-room inn, serving both dinner and breakfast, as well as providing ferry service for guests and all other duties from chef to maid. High-quality culinary experience and skills are critical qualifications.”

The job announcement comes as current lighthouse keepers Dre and Charity Elmore prepare to depart in March 2025. They will return to New York, where Charity previously ran a farmhouse and Dre gave tours of the Erie Canal.

The East Brother Light Station was in-built 1874 north of the present Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. It was home to many lighthouse keepers and their families who used a fog horn and a beaming Fresnel lens to forestall ship collisions. The U.S. Coast Guard automated the station in 1969 and, because of Butt and other preservationists, it reopened in 1980 as a captivating bed and breakfast where the general public can enjoy a novel vacation.

The role of lighthouse keepers has modified for the reason that nineteenth century. They ran the foghorn, polished the lights and washed sea foam from the windows, kicked dead fish that washed back into the water, and sometimes got drunk. Nowadays, attendants act as hotel professionals who know tips on how to cook gourmet meals, make beds and ensure tourists have a superb time. Their ranks over the a long time have included a retired Navy SEAL, a picket boat builder, a industrial fisherman and a flight attendant.

One of the youngest zookeepers, Desiree Heveroh, was stranded alone on the island without electricity for months in the course of the Corona crisis when an underwater power cable broke. She couldn't shower greater than once every week and preserved her own food since the freezers weren't working. Still, she made essentially the most of it, telling The Mercury News earlier this 12 months: “I planted a garden. I trained a raven. I had a little duckling. I learned a language. All the things you say you will do, I have done. I didn’t look at clocks or calendars and it was as lovely as it sounds.”

For this excellent experience, the keepers receive a modest salary and the possibility to inform an important story for the remaining of their lives. Butt explained more in his email: “The new goalkeepers will start in April 2025, which will allow two weeks of training time. Compensation is a function of business level, utilization and economics. Over the past two years, the average value for the couple has been $140,000 and rising. Compensation includes a health insurance plan and housing on the island.”

Interested parties must and should provide proof of a current Coast Guard NMC boat operator's license as a Merchant Mariner Apply using this online form. Find out more in regards to the lighthouse at https://ebls.org. Direct inquiries to EastBrotherLightStationJOBS@gmail.com.

Originally published: December 4, 2024 at 2:46 pm PST

Es war die dritte Niederlage der 49ers in dieser Saison durch einen Zusammenbruch im vierten Viertel, die anderen erlitten sie auch gegen NFC West-Gegner – bei den Los Angeles Rams in Woche 3 und zu Hause gegen die Arizona Cardinals am 6. Oktober.

Die Seahawks (5:5) beendeten eine Niederlagenserie von sechs Spielen gegen die 49ers, was zum großen Teil Smiths Heldentaten auf dem letzten Drive zu verdanken war. Smith absolvierte 7 von 8 Pässen für 54 Yards und schaffte zwei Snaps vor seinem Touchdown ein 16-Yard-Scramble. Smith überwand einen Sack von Leonard Floyd, während Nick Bosa mit einer neuen Hüft-/Schrägverletzung an der Seitenlinie blieb, die ihn im dritten Viertel zwang und ihn länger auf Eis legen könnte.

Als nächstes steht am Sonntag ein Besuch bei den Green Bay Packers an, die sich nach Ablauf der Zeit nach einem 20:19-Sieg in Chicago durch ein geblocktes Field Goal auf 7:3 verbesserten.

Ursprünglich veröffentlicht: 17. November 2024 um 18:45 Uhr PST

As a part of a deferred prosecution agreement, Cruise will even pay a $500,000 high-quality, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in an announcement Thursday.

“Today’s deferred prosecution agreement holds Cruise LLC and its employees accountable for their lack of candor in a federal compliance lawsuit,” said Cory LeGars, a special agent in command of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s inspector general. “Together with our law enforcement and prosecution partners, we will use our collective resources to pursue companies and individuals that intentionally circumvent the administration of federal regulations.”

The accident occurred on October 2, 2023 in San Francisco when a driverless cruise vehicle ran over a lady who was thrown into its path. The vehicle initially stopped; However, the detection system didn’t detect that there was a pedestrian underneath and attempted to stop, dragging the lady greater than 20 feet.

The pedestrian was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries and later agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with the corporate's parent company, General Motors Co.

Cruise filed a report with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as required by federal regulations, but omitted details concerning the towing, prosecutors said.

Company officials later provided video of the incident that showed the pulling.

On Thursday, the U.S. Attorney's Office charged Cruise with providing false information to NHTSA with the intent to hinder, hinder or influence the investigation of an accident involving considered one of her vehicles. The company resolved the costs through the deferred prosecution agreement and half-million-dollar high-quality.

The agreement requires Cruise to cooperate with investigations, implement a security compliance program and submit annual reports on implementation and remedial actions.

If the corporate doesn’t comply with the agreement, the U.S. Attorney's Office can pursue the case.

Prosecutors said they reached the agreement with Cruise based on various aspects, including the federal government's timely notification of an internal investigation and the corporate's offer of cooperation after informing the federal government that it was conducting an investigation initiated.

Cruise's cooperation included remedial measures akin to ensuring that employees identified as answerable for the falsified report were not employed by the corporate.

NHTSA had previously ordered the corporate to pay a $1.5 million high-quality for failing to properly report details of the crash and supply a corrective motion plan.

After the accident, government regulators revoked Cruise's permit for driverless testing. The company then phased out its autonomous vehicles nationwide. Chief Executive Officer Kyle Vogt resigned, nine executives were fired and a couple of quarter of the workforce was laid off.

Originally published: November 14, 2024 at 7:01 pm PST