In the News
Delays in sending unemployment checks to scores of jobless workers shows just how far the states and federal government have fallen behind in updating decades-old technology, experts say, and they need to upgrade quickly to better serve the public.
The situation has become especially acute as old government computer systems buckle under the weight of record unemployment claims and a massive shift in state and federal employees working from home during the coronavirus crisis, technology leaders told a congressional panel on Wednesday.
Scores of academics and prominent figures, including several Nobel laureates from Massachusetts, have signed an open letter calling for consideration of human challenge trials of coronavirus vaccines, saying such trials might be able to speed up development of the shots desperately needed to stop the pandemic.
SALEM — It was held outside the hospital, not inside, and during a lull in the COVID-19 pandemic, not at its height.
But a meeting between Congressman Seth Moulton and a group of doctors and nurses at North Shore Medical Center on Wednesday provided a glimpse of what has gone on inside the walls of the hospital since the arrival of the pandemic in March.
It’s a given that Google and Amazon are listening to you, even when their devices are “off.” But what about your refrigerator? Or toaster?
Would that be enough to make people mind their language in the kitchen?
And imagine if those devices were watching you, too. It introduces a whole new level of paranoia to toasting a slice of bread.
To address the proliferation of eyes and ears in new devices, Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton has introduced bipartisan legislation to give people a clearer view of their household technology.
PEORIA, Ariz. - A Peoria family hopes their son’s suicide in the Navy leads to some good for all men and women in uniform.
A bill now in Congress, the Brandon Act, looks to give service members more options for mental health.
Brandon Caserta wanted nothing more than to be a Navy SEAL, but unfortunately, a broken leg derailed his dream, and following a transfer in the Navy, things got much worse.
“He was bullied and hazed from the moment he got in that command. I think he was targeted because he did not make it through the SEAL program," said his mother Teri Caserta.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper never received a briefing about alleged Russian practices against U.S. troops in Afghanistan that included the term “bounty,” he told Congress on Thursday.
Esper said so in an answer to a carefully worded question from Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, who appeared to be aware about how to cue Esper, potentially from the lawmaker’s own awareness of the still-secret underlying intelligence about the Russian allegations.
“To the best of my recollection, I have not received a briefing that included the word ‘bounty,’ ” Esper said.
Harvard and MIT are now backed by Northeastern and other colleges from around the country to continue to push against the federal government’s effort to expel foreign students if their school is only offering online courses.
The colleges briefly started a hearing Thursday that will continue at more length 10 a.m. Friday in federal court in Boston.
WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper has ordered an investigation into leaks of both classified and unclassified material to media, he told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a Thursday hearing.
The secretary brought up what he called an aggressive effort to pursue leaks after a series of what he called “bad leaks” in the fall.
A bill that’s intended to keep dangerous drivers off the road and prevent horrific car crashes — like the New Hampshire wreck last year in which seven people died — moved forward on Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton’s legislation for all RMVs in the country to be immediately alerted whenever a driver has an infraction was included in the Moving Forward Act, which the House of Representatives passed 233-188.
House Democrats expect to address the intelligence showing Russia offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops — as well as President Trump’s handling of the issue — when they consider the annual defense policy bill Wednesday.