NOAA’s vast public weather data powers the local forecasts on your phone and TV – a private company alone couldn’t match it

Atmospheric scientists Christine Wiedinmyer and Kari Bowen, who is a former National Weather Service forecaster, explain NOAA’s central role in most U.S. weather forecasts. They underscore why the Trump/DOGE plan to eliminate these two critical agencies and replace them with one private company to provide comprehensive weather data in a reliable way that is also accessible to the entire public, is not a reasonable plan.

Subjects: Climate Change, Environmental Law, Government Resources

AI in Finance and Banking, February 17, 2025

This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Four highlights from this post: AI and Women’s Employment in Europe; Digital Innovations for Increasing Financial Inclusion: CBDC, Cryptocurrency, Embedded finance, Artificial Intelligence, WaaS, Fintech, Bigtech, and DeFi; 2025 Global Outlook for Banking and Financial Markets; and AI in Finance Summit New York, April 15-16, 2025.

Subjects: AI in Banking and Finance, Cryptocurrency, Economy, Financial System

Climate and DEI Deleted From Government Websites, Federal Workers Fired, Colleges Erase Programs, Law Firms Blackballed, Holocaust Erased, Science Research Curtailed

Since January 20, 2025 America has been catapulted into an unimaginable inflection point. Sabrina I. Pacifici chronicles ongoing seismic events that have upended America’s democracy, jeopardized our economy, financial system, national security, science and medical communities, and fractured our national identity, at home and around the world. This is a commentary, and a guide written by a law librarian and former federal employee who was the target of a similar purge by Trump in 2018, to what and who has been targeted and purged, an overview of the process used to do so, and a perspective on the impact of these sweeping, deeply damaging and likely illegal actions.

Subjects: Climate Change, Constitutional Law, CRS Reports, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Digital Archives, Economy, Education, Ethics, Financial System, Government Resources, Healthcare, Legal Research, Privacy, United States Law

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 15, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: How to Clear Your Personal Data From a Car; Federal workers say they increasingly distrust platforms like Facebook; Pairwise Authentication of Humans; Attacks on password managers increased drastically in 2024; and Judge blocks Musk’s DOGE from accessing Treasury materials.

Subjects: AI, Copyright, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Encryption, Legal Research, Social Media

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 8, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: Federal workers: Here’s how to lock down your communications; Why rebooting your phone daily is your best defense against zero-click hackers; EFF – Basics | Surveillance Self-Defense; Even the US government can fall victim to cryptojacking; and Federal immigration officials have extensive technology at their disposal.

Subjects: Communications, Cryptocurrency, Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, Legal Research, Privacy

Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, February 1, 2025

Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Five highlights from this week: UnitedHealth now says 190 million impacted by 2024 data breach; A Tumultuous Week for Federal Cybersecurity Efforts; TikTok took a huge scoop of American users’ data and stored it in China – DeepSeek makes TikTok’s security issues look like child’s play; CVS Is Turning Locked Shelves Into an Excuse to Make You Download Its App; and Backdoor found in two healthcare patient monitors, linked to IP in China.

Subjects: AI, Big Data, Cryptocurrency, Cybersecurity, Email Security, Healthcare, Privacy, Search Engines, Social Media

LLRX January 2025 Issue

Empowering Education: The Transformative Role of AI in Inclusive Learning – Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing every field it touches, and education is no exception. AI offers extraordinary opportunities to tailor learning by providing critical support through engaging educational tools, adaptive technologies, and personalized learning aids. While some schools are utilizing these tools, others are determined to …

Subjects: KM

AI in Finance and Banking, January 31, 2025

This semi-monthly column by Sabrina I. Pacifici highlights news, government documents, NGO/IGO papers, conferences, industry white papers and reports, academic papers and speeches, and central bank actions on the subject of AI’s fast paced impact on the banking and finance sectors. The chronological links provided are to the primary sources, and as available, indicate links to alternate free versions. Five highlights from this post: As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to shape industries worldwide, its role in banking has quietly evolved behind the scene; Research: How Gen AI Is Already Impacting the Labor Market; Governance of AI adoption in central bank; AI will have a major impact on labor markets. Here’s how the US can prepare; and How Artificial Intelligence Will Affect Asia’s Economies.

Subjects: AI in Banking and Finance

Empowering Education: The Transformative Role of AI in Inclusive Learning

Artificial Intelligence is revolutionizing every field it touches, and education is no exception. AI offers extraordinary opportunities to tailor learning by providing critical support through engaging educational tools, adaptive technologies, and personalized learning aids. While some schools are utilizing these tools, others are determined to maintain AI-free classrooms. By banning AI, schools would not only hinder these advancements but also exacerbate educational inequalities. As schools navigate AI adoption, Kyra Strick advocates the position that it is imperative to recognize the transformative potential of AI in fostering an inclusive and effective learning environment

Subjects: AI, Education

Fake papers are contaminating the world’s scientific literature, fueling a corrupt industry and slowing legitimate lifesaving medical research

Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialized the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research, undermining the literature that everyone from doctors to engineers rely on to make decisions about human live. To better understand the scope, ramifications and potential solutions of this metastasizing assault on science, Frederik Joelving, contributing editor at Retraction Watch, a website that reports on retractions of scientific papers and related topics, and two computer scientists at France’s Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier and Cyril Labbé , and Guillaume Cabanac, Université Grenoble Alpes who specialize in detecting bogus publications – spent six months investigating paper mills.

Subjects: AI, Education, Health, Healthcare, KM, Medical Research, Technology Trends