https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/14/business/manufacturing-jobs-biden/index.html



New York
CNN
—
Last month, battery recycling company Redwood Materials broke ground on a $3.5 billion battery plant in South Carolina that is expected to create 1,500 new jobs.

The plant aims to eventually make enough battery components to power more than a million electric vehicles a year. Redwood Materials specifically cited the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, America’s biggest-ever climate investment, as a reason why it decided to build the facility.

This is just one example of a Republican state benefiting from the private investment boom set off by the IRA, a signature legislative achievement for President Joe Biden that every Republican in Congress voted against.

It’s part of a broader trend where red states have emerged as big winners from both the IRA and the CHIPS and Science Act, another signature Biden law that passed with some Republican support in 2022.

Most (51%) of the investments directly tied to incentives from the IRA and the CHIPS Act are flowing to Republican states, compared with 20% to blue states, according to a Fitch Ratings analysis shared exclusively with CNN. Fitch defined red states as those that voted for former President Donald Trump in 2020 by more than three percentage points.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/tech/fcc-scam-robocalls-ai-generated-voices/index.html

Washington
CNN
—
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it is immediately outlawing scam robocalls featuring fake, artificial intelligence-created voices, cracking down on so-called “deepfake” technology that experts say could undermine election security or supercharge fraud.

The unanimous FCC vote extends anti-robocall rules to cover unsolicited AI deepfake calls by recognizing those voices as “artificial” under a federal law governing telemarketing and robocalling.

The FCC’s move gives state attorneys general more legal tools to pursue illegal robocallers that use AI-generated voices to fool Americans, the FCC said.

“Bad actors are using AI-generated voices in unsolicited robocalls to extort vulnerable family members, imitate celebrities, and misinform voters,” said FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel in a statement. “We’re putting the fraudsters behind these robocalls on notice.”

The decision to interpret the 1991 Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) more broadly to include AI-generated voices comes weeks after a fake robocall that impersonated President Joe Biden targeted thousands of New Hampshire voters and urged them not to participate in the state’s primary.

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/08/business/line-skipping-clear-disney/index.html



New York
CNN
—
Cutting in front of someone who’s been waiting patiently in line used to be unethical, bad manners, taboo. Now, businesses are letting people pay for the privilege of skipping the line.

Across everything from ski lifts to dating apps, and fueled by relatively new technology, there’s been an explosion of options and services that let wealthier people pay to go first.

At the airport, travelers with a Clear membership — about $189 a year — are escorted to the front of TSA security lines by company “ambassadors” (as the people behind them in line grumble). Clear has rapidly grown to around 19 million members, and it plans to expand further into the hospitality, health care, financial services and online shopping industries.

Dating app Tinder offers a new $499-a-month membership with a “skip the line” feature that prioritizes a dater’s profile. Snowbird and other ski resorts, in a controversial change, allow visitors who pay extra to access expedited ski lifts. In December, Killington introduced a “Four-Day Fast Track” for $199 on top of its daily regular fee of about $165, and it sometimes sells out. Universal Studios theme park offers an unlimited “Express Pass” starting at $109.99 per person — on top of the admission price — which allows holders to skip the line right on the spot.

And, most troubling of all, during the pandemic, wealthy patients paid top dollar to jump to the front of the Covid-19 vaccine queue.