Nearly a million Florida condo owners face a very important deadline at the tip of the yr. Then a law was passed in 2022 requires most owners associations in Florida File inspection reports for his or her buildings and collect money from owners to fund any needed repairs.

Condominium owners report that there are latest rules for condominiums Drive up fees and result in outrageous assessments.

The media picked up on the outrage. News article about condo owners “New building safety regulations put them in financial turmoil“and how”Bills cripple homeowners” Let readers imagine that Florida lawmakers have imposed an enormous tax on the elderly and people on fixed incomes.

This is misleading at best.

As research director on the University of Florida Bergstrom Real Estate CenterI suggest that it is crucial to place emotions aside and see what these laws are attempting to attain.

Safety inspections

The state condominium law of 2022, generally known as SB-4Dand its sequel in 2023, SB-154establish three primary requirements: licensed inspections, reporting and disclosure, and reserve funds.

Importantly, these laws aren’t tax laws that directly increase housing costs for condo owners.

However, with demands for more inspections, transparency and financing of repairs, many homeowners are facing costs well above the amounts paid previously. These latest expenses are simply more reflective of the true cost of living in an oceanfront condo.

Under the law, all buildings occupied before 1992 must complete a milestone inspection by December 31, 2024. This is an inspection of the structural integrity of the constructing by an architect or engineer.

The requirement also applies to buildings which can be no less than 25 years old and positioned inside 3 miles of the coast.

If a possible structural problem is identified through the milestone inspection, testing is required to find out whether structural repairs are needed. If that is the case, owners can have to fund these repairs without the power to waive them by vote.

If no damage is found, the association must report and publish the outcomes. This completes the request.

Prior to SB-4D, outside milestone inspections weren’t required Miami-Dade And Broward Counties. They are actually mandatory nationwide and should be reported to local authorities, all homeowners and the general public for buyer information.

Sufficient savings for repairs

The latest regulations also require constructing societies to plan and accumulate sufficient reserves to cover the prices of maintaining and replacing often worn parts of buildings akin to roofs, elevators and balconies.

History shows that most owners associations struggle to save lots of enough for repairs and maintenance to maintain their properties protected and in top condition.

“Florida has…more associations that are considered weak [in terms of funded reserves] than any other state,” Will Simons, head of Florida and Southeast Operations at Association reservesthat conducts reserve studies for condominium and community associations, told a colleague as a part of a research article.

The Champlain Towers South condominium that collapsed within the Miami suburb of Surfside in June 2021 98 people killedis just an example. Simons' company conducted a reserve study of the condominium just months before the collapse and located that the association was significantly underfunded.

The club lasted approx $706,000 in reserves As of January 2021, Association Reserves advisable that the Association construct a reserve of nearly $10.3 million to fund needed repairs. This implies that the Surfside condo association only had 6.9% of the cash it needed.

True cost of living by the ocean

More than 16,000 condominium associations, representing over 900,000 of Florida's 1.5 million condominiums, are currently affected by the brand new laws because these units are over 30 years old.

Properties which were adequately maintained and have adequate reserves for future structural repairs will only face increased disclosure of inspection reports and continued reserve funding.

Many residents, especially retired seniors, have difficulty adjusting to financing needs. In response: Gov. Ron DeSantis hints at some type of relief for owners who experience financial difficulties consequently of those regulations.

The frustration is comprehensible as current residents are being asked to concurrently fund 30 years of past disrepair while setting aside savings for the following 30 years. However, policymakers are merely setting guidelines that condo owners must have set themselves. Properties subject to significant financial shocks from SB-4D are, by definition, inadequately maintained or underfinanced.

It is very important to separate the intent of those laws from possible overreaction or fraud by condominium associations, which is an ongoing problem. House Bill 1021The law, which got here into force in June 2024, focuses on the governance of associations to administer supervision of this kind.

Concrete structures, roofs, windows and elevators near the ocean have a limited lifespan. These items should be repaired or replaced to make sure the protection of residents. The latest regulations make the actual costs of a condominium transparent for owners and buyers.

Charlene Stepney still thinks a couple of French-speaking woman who got here to her salon years ago, brought along by a person who spoke on her behalf and watched her closely during her hair appointment.

“Because I was speaking French and it was weird, I started asking her questions,” Stepney said Thursday evening at her business, the Stepney Institute of Esthetics & Wellness in Homewood. “I asked her: Was that her husband? and she said, “No, it wasn't.” Then I asked her, was she safe? And she didn’t answer.”

Stepney said she believed the girl was a victim of human trafficking but didn't know easy methods to help her on the time.

“I still feel to this day that I let them down,” Stepney said.

Estheticians like Stepney are prepared to see clients from a big selection of backgrounds and life experiences, which might include survivors of abuse. In 2019, the law made it mandatory for all licensed beauty professionals to receive training on easy methods to handle difficult conversations and recognize signs of domestic violence and sexual assault.

On Thursday, representatives from the Crisis Center for South Suburbia offered training and perspectives during a session on the Stepney Institute. It was one in every of the primary of many offered to salon professionals of their schools and workplaces throughout October, Domestic Violence Awareness Month. While the middle provides freed from charge Training Visiting salons and cosmetology schools like Stepney's all year long, Chris Alcorn Catena, director of support services for the Crisis Center, hopes to focus on resources for all cosmetologists within the South and Southwest suburbs who need to pursue further training requirement for license renewal.

“The reason it's so important to us is, quite honestly, because estheticians have a unique approach,” Alcorn Catena said. “A beautician is one of the few professionals who can touch you… My hairdresser will move the hair from the back of my neck. If there are bruises, they will see them.”

At Thursday's session on the Stepney Institute, the importance of addressing or responding to a client who’s showing signs of abuse was not lost on students. Crisis Center Community Education and Outreach Coordinator Tracy Curtis, herself a domestic violence survivor, delivered the training and emphasized the importance of providing support and resources for many who could also be in dangerous relationships.

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 41% of girls and 26% of men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.

“It’s our responsibility to help,” Curtis said during Thursday’s practice. “It really is, because it affects us all. I was the one victim where my friend said, ‘I don’t want to get involved.’ So I don’t want to make someone feel so uncomfortable that they don’t get involved because they need the support.”

Curtis said anyone unsure about easy methods to support someone experiencing domestic violence can contact the crisis center's 24/7 hotline at 708-429-7233.

After the two-hour training, Stepney Institute student Tymeeka Fairfax said she was excited to learn the training was mandatory for licensing and thought she could apply what she learned outside of her work in the sweetness industry. She said that as a volunteer mentor to young girls, she recognized the importance of talking about healthy relationships early on and that the training provided latest skills for initiating and leading conversations about intimate relationships.

“Before I came to this class, I had a session with a group of girls who were talking about dating, and the conversations were all about 'I love him and he loves me,'” Fairfax said. “And I asked: What is love? Love language is one thing that should be transparent because if you know how to love someone, you can kind of take into account, okay, this is abuse and this is love – differentiate the two.”

But the legal requirement to train beauty professionals in domestic violence is met with some resistance. Stepney said since the mandate went into effect, she has questioned why the state has put the majority-female industry in charge of responding to a predominantly male-driven problem.

“I still often wonder why we were chosen,” Stepney said. “How much help are we really going to be?” The thing that never really gets talked about is how a lot of us find ourselves in abusive situations.”

Stepney said she hopes that in the longer term, estheticians shall be given more tools to guard themselves while continuing to support their clients and colleagues.

“As time goes on, hopefully the conversations will stay current and allow us to do more training,” she said.

Originally published: October 10, 2024 at 11:22 am

Most school shootings don’t occur out of the blue – there are often warning signs.

A yr earlier, a 14-year-old boy was arrested for allegedly opened fire in his highschool math class in Winder, Georgia, on September 4, 2024 – two teachers and two students killed – authorities visited his house investigate several anonymous suggestions about online threats to commit a faculty shooting.

When they questioned the then 13-year-old boy, he denied making the threats. The father told police that there have been hunting rifles in the home, but that the boy had no “unsupervised access“ to arms.

The FBI said in a press release On the day of the shooting, there was “no reasonable cause for an arrest” and native law enforcement had “alerted local schools to continue to monitor the individual.”

The school’s teachers received special ID cards with panic buttons every week before the shooting. While authorities imagine the IDs made the shooting seem worse than it was, the motion got here too late to stop the killings.

In some ways, the story reflects dozens of comparable stories that we, a sociologist And psychologistwe have now collected lately in our efforts to Lives of mass shootersIt's a typical example of certainly one of the most important challenges schools face in stopping school shootings: recognizing and responding to the warning signs that college shooters almost all the time send out long before they open fire.

In Our database of mass shootings within the United States since 1966 – defined as incidents by which 4 or more victims were murdered with weapons in a public place and weren’t linked to underlying criminal activity comparable to gangs or drugs – there have now been 15 shootings at K-12 schools. The first took place in Stockton, Californiain 1989.

Seven of those school shootings occurred within the last decade, including the second and third deadliest in history: Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022 (21 deaths) and Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018 (17 deaths). The deadliest in history occurred in December 2012, when 20 children and 6 adult employees were murdered at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

A complete of 138 people were killed within the attacks and a minimum of 177 were injured.

What we find out about mass shootings at schools

If the Columbine High School massacre took place in 1999 and was a turning point within the United StatesAt the time, it was the worst mass murder at a faculty within the country's history.

25 years later, it’s in fourth place.

Despite the Billions of dollars There has been no investment in class safety since Columbine, but school shootings have turn out to be more frequent and deadly. Aside from the mass shootings that make headlines, a gun goes off in an American school almost day-after-day.

Our research and dozens of interviews with school massacre perpetrators, survivors, and first responders suggest that a part of the issue lies with law enforcement and faculty officials. Influenced by myths and misinformation about Columbine, they still don't know enough about trends in class massacres to acknowledge the warning signs.

The majority of mass school shootings were committed by a lone perpetrator. Only two – Columbine and the 1998 school shooting Westside Middle School in JonesboroArkansas – carried out by two armed men.

The alternative of the term “gunmen” to explain the perpetrators is apt – all but certainly one of the mass school shootings recorded in our database were committed by men or boys. The average age of those involved within the attacks was 18 – the youngest was 11 and the oldest was 32. As minors, most school shooters used weapons borrowed or stolen from their parents, caregivers and other significant adults of their lives.

After every school shooting, people say, “We never thought something like this could happen in our community.” But school shootings most frequently occur in small suburban or rural communities like Winder, Georgia. There, the suspect is a 14-year-old student. This just isn’t surprising. Most school shooters have some connection to the varsity they attack. In our database, we found that 15 of the 17 school shooters were either current or former students.

For most perpetrators, the mass shooting is a final act. Most school shooters die within the attack. Of the 17 school shooters in our database, eight were arrested. The rest died on the scene, just about all by suicide – the one exception was the shooter at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, who was shot dead by police.

Preventing the following school shooting

Inspired by previous school shootings, some perpetrators seek fame and notoriety. However, most school shooting perpetrators are driven by desperation and general anger; over 80% of perpetrators of mass school shootings showed signs of crisis before the shooting, including depression, mood swings, agitation, isolation, problems with day by day tasks, and other noticeable behavioral changes.

Most importantly, over 90% of perpetrators communicated their plans to others upfront, preempting their attacks by leaving posts, messages or videos warning of their intentions. communicate their intention to cause harm as a final, desperate cry for help.

The key to stopping these tragedies is to listen to those warning signs and act immediately. Even if investigators don't have enough evidence to make an arrest, they’ll continually monitor students and help connect them with school- or community-based services or interventions, comparable to peer mentoring or mental health treatment. Simply criminalizing or punishing threats increases the danger of violence by exacerbating grievances against the varsity.

At the identical time, parents could be reminded Store weapons safelyAlmost all shootings by children and young people could be prevented by safely storing firearms and Responsibility for adult gun ownersWhen a gun is stored separate from its ammunition, locked and unloaded, it’s rather more difficult for somebody to quickly use it in a violent attack.

Parts of this text originally appeared in previous articles by the authors, first published on February 8, 2019 and May 25, 2022.

Algorithms are an integral part of recent life. People depend on algorithmic recommendations to look extensive catalogs and find one of the best movies, routes, information, products, people and investments. As humans train algorithms to make decisions—for instance, algorithms that make recommendations for e-commerce and social media sites—algorithms learn and codify human prejudices.

Algorithmic recommendations show a preference for popular selections and data that causes outrage, equivalent to: Partisan News. At a societal level, algorithmic biases perpetuate and reinforce structural racial biases in society Justice systemGender bias within the population Companies are hiringand wealth inequality in urban development.

Algorithmic bias may also be used to cut back human bias. Algorithms can reveal what’s hidden Structural prejudices in organizations. In a paper published within the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, my colleagues and I discovered that algorithmic bias will help people Be in a position to higher recognize and proper prejudices inside yourself.

The bias within the mirror

In nine experiments Begum Celikitutan, Romain Cadario And I Research participants rated Uber drivers or Airbnb listings based on their driving ability, trustworthiness, or likelihood that they might rent the listing. We gave participants relevant details, equivalent to the variety of trips they took, an outline of the property or a star rating. We also added irrelevant biased information: a photograph revealing the riders' age, gender, and attractiveness, or a reputation that suggested the hosts were white or black.

After participants submitted their rankings, we showed them one in every of two rating summaries: one with their very own rankings and one with the rankings of an algorithm trained on their rankings. We informed participants in regards to the biases that will have influenced these rankings. For example, Airbnb guests are less more likely to rent from hosts with clearly African-American names. We then asked them to evaluate what impact the bias had on the rankings within the summaries.

Regardless of whether participants judged the biasing influence of race, age, gender, or attractiveness, they saw more bias within the rankings made by algorithms than they did. This algorithmic mirror effect held no matter whether participants judged the rankings made by real algorithms or whether we showed participants their very own rankings and deceptively told them that those rankings were made by an algorithm.

Participants saw more bias within the algorithms' decisions than in their very own decisions, even after we gave participants a money bonus if their biased judgments matched the judgments of one other participant who saw the identical decisions. The algorithmic mirror effect persevered even when participants belonged to the marginalized category – for instance, identifying as a lady or as Black.

Research participants were just as in a position to detect biases in algorithms trained on their very own decisions as they were in a position to detect biases in other people's decisions. Additionally, participants were more more likely to see the influence of racial bias in algorithms' decisions than in their very own decisions, but they were equally more likely to see the influence of defensible characteristics equivalent to star rankings on algorithms' decisions and on their very own decisions.

Biased blind spot

People see more of their biases in algorithms since the algorithms remove people's biases biased blind spots. It's easier to acknowledge biases in other people's decisions than in your personal because you utilize them different evidence to guage them.

When you examine your decisions for bias, search for evidence of conscious bias—whether you considered race, gender, age, status, or other unwarranted characteristics when making your decision. You overlook and excuse bias in your decisions since you lack access to it associative machinery This drives your intuitive judgments, where bias often comes into play. You could also be pondering, “When I hired her, I didn’t think about her race or gender. I hired her based on her performance alone.”

When you examine others' decisions for bias, you don't have access to the processes they used to make their decisions. So they examine their decisions for bias, where bias is apparent and harder to excuse. For example, you would possibly see that they only hired white men.

Algorithms eliminate the blind spot of bias since you see algorithms more like seeing other people than yourself. The decision-making processes of algorithms are a flight recordermuch like how other people's thoughts are inaccessible to you.

Participants in our study who were probably to have the bias blind spot were probably to see more bias in algorithms' decisions than in their very own decisions.

People also externalize bias in algorithms. It is less threatening to see bias in algorithms than to see bias in yourself, whilst algorithms are trained to make your decisions. People blame the algorithms. Algorithms are trained to make human decisions, yet people call reflected bias “algorithmic bias.”

corrective lens

Our experiments show that individuals are also more more likely to correct their biases after they are reflected in algorithms. In a final experiment, we gave participants the chance to correct the rankings they made. We showed each participant their very own rankings, which we attributed either to the participant or to an algorithm trained on their decisions.

Participants were more more likely to correct rankings when assigned to an algorithm because they believed the rankings were more biased. As a result, the ultimate corrected scores were less biased when assigned to an algorithm.

Algorithmic biases which have harmful effects are well documented. Our results show that algorithmic bias will be used positively. The first step towards correcting prejudices is to acknowledge its influence and direction. As mirrors that reveal our biases, algorithms can improve our decision-making.

By Sharyn Jackson, Star Tribune

LAS VEGAS — The commonest refrain you'll hear from anyone who's been to Las Vegas — besides “What happens there, stays there” — is that it's not what it was.

Vegas has evolved for the reason that very first pair of dice rolled like desert tumbleweed across a craps table. And it's consistently changing, a lot in order that it's virtually inconceivable for a Vegas experience to repeat itself.

Since my visit in February alone, I can count on two hands the variety of restaurants and bars which can be open, and a minimum of one iconic resort, Tropicana, has closed. Vegas is the Snapchat of travel destinations; As soon as you create a memory there, it disappears.

Here are some things you need to learn about the whole lot recent in Vegas.

The sphere

Recently, a glowing orb appeared within the Las Vegas skyline. Getting inside ought to be at the highest of your list.

The Sphere is an immersive concert arena with a 15,000 square foot LED screen. It opened last 12 months with a series of U2 live shows, with tickets costing hundreds of dollars. This weekend's Phish shows and next month's Dead & Co. residency are also highly wanted.

There's one other technique to experience the world's largest spherical structure and possibly the highest-resolution screen ever: purchase a Sphere Experience ticket, valued at $79 to $119. Once inside, you may interact with talking AI robots, grab a drink, and sit down within the theater to look at a visually stunning Darren Aronofsky film, Postcard From Earth. You'll feel the wind in your hair as you soar over mountains, go on safari, and hurtle into space. (Really, there may be a wind machine.)

New resorts

Construction took 20 years, however the Fontainebleau finally opened its magnificent doors in December. The highest resort on the Strip shines in and out. With greater than 30 bars and restaurants, tons of public art, and world-class shopping, you might almost forget that it's a casino hotel at its core.

Across the road you may even find Resorts World Las Vegas. Opened in 2021, this collection of three Hilton brands under one roof—and a number of other intriguing restaurants, including an Asian food hall—still feels shiny and recent with a sprawling pool complex.

A 20-minute drive from the Strip, desert-chic Durango opened late last 12 months. The most important attraction is the midcentury-style casino floor, but there are also a handful of upscale restaurants and a nice dining room, in addition to a tasteful pool area.

The days of flashing neon tents, cavernous casinos and carpets smelling like stale cigarettes are a thing of the past. Las Vegas' newest resorts are clean, airy, and fresh and don't attempt to make you forget what time it’s. The Fontainebleau installed its casino in an atrium under 42-foot ceilings, bucking the convention that players would play longer if the space felt small and intimate.

At Durango, the casino is surrounded by floor-to-ceiling windows and indoor and outdoor dining areas. Flooding the slot machines with natural light may not sound particularly remarkable, but in Las Vegas it’s.

Mandalay Bay is updating its rooms and adding mini golf for adults only. Rio is currently undergoing a $350 million renovation; So far, the outside has been wrapped in programmable LED lighting and a food hall has been added. The volcano show on the front lawn of the Mirage will soon get replaced by a guitar-shaped tower to represent recent owner Hard Rock International.

In town center, the enduring sparkling facade of the Plaza Hotel & Casino was transformed last summer into the circular Carousel Bar, an outside cocktail lounge with tiki drinks and retro touches, in addition to outdoor video poker machines. The Plaza also unveiled a non-smoking and “social media friendly” gaming area.

The 2,500-square-foot zone features selfie-bait backdrops and, most significantly, a separate air filtration system. (The only completely smoke-free casino resort on the Strip is the Park MGM.)

Quite a lot of amenities

Millennials and Generation Z don’t spend as much time or money on the slot machines and tables. That doesn't mean they don't play; It just looks different, with more app-based options. Casinos are getting involved with mobile apps and sports betting.

Expect casino resorts to supply more varied amenities, from high-end bars and bowling alleys to increasingly elaborate pool complexes and classical music performances.

This 12 months's lineup for Fontainebleau's recent 3,800-seat theater is steeped in '90s nostalgia, with Third Eye Blind, Hootie & the Blowfish and the Smashing Pumpkins. Kylie Minogue is artist in residence on the Venetian; Blink-182 and Jodeci Play Vegas This Summer; and My Chemical Romance and Fall Out Boy are co-headlining the When We Were Young Festival in October. Of course, if Wayne Newton, Donny Osmond, Rod Stewart or Barry Manilow are more your thing, they'll all be within the residency too.

Check out certainly one of these recent venues reserved for A-listers. Blake Shelton just opened a honkytonk, Ole Red. Bruno Mars is behind the Pinky Ring cocktail lounge on the Bellagio. Shaq's Fantasy Lab, an “immersive art experience,” opened last fall courtesy of the basketball star. And Van Halen's Sammy Hagar will open poolside Sammy's Island on the Palms next month.

Fine dining

Buffets have been displaced from food halls around the globe. Resorts World's Famous Foods imports Michelin-awarded Ah Chun Shandong Dumpling from Hong Kong and Boon Tong Kee Hainanese chicken rice from Singapore. Get Korean fried chicken from Seoul Bird at Proper Eats Food Hall at Aria and mezcal cocktails from Ghost Donkey at Block 16 Food Hall at Cosmopolitan. Grab a vodka slice from Prince Street Pizza on the Eat Your Heart Out concourse in Durango. And at the brand new Sundry Food Hall, you may sample dhaba-style dishes, tacos, hand rolls and fried chicken from award-winning California chefs.

Snow and ice?

Yes, cold baths are all the trend in spas in all places. But I wasn't expecting a snow shower. The Lapis Spa in Fontainebleau encompasses a 14-degree water boiler in certainly one of several rooms designed with natural elements. The Qua Baths & Spa at Caesars features an arctic ice room.

There are actually numerous “ice bars” on the Strip where you may placed on a parka, snuggle up on a fur blanket and take photos on skis comprised of ice glasses. When summer temperatures reach triple digits in Las Vegas, I'll be there.

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