Tag: City

COVID red zone violations caught on camera in New York City spark concern

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MIDWOOD, Brooklyn (WABC) — As officials push to lower the number of COVID-19 cases in New York City’s hot zones, enforcement concerns continue.

There have been several incidents of people blatantly not following the restrictions in those red zones – and there is fear about what this could mean as work continues to curb the infection rate.

Tuesday night in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, a crowd was spotted leaving what appeared to be a large indoor gathering.

Many people were seen on camera not wearing masks.

And on the same day that the mayor praised efforts to suppress the coronavirus, Eyewitness News found hundreds of young children being dismissed from a school.

They were herded onto buses Tuesday afternoon, some wearing masks, some not. All of them were attending Bais Yaacov School on 51st Street.

The building is inside the state’s red zone and should have been closed starting last week.

This

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In City Where China Welcomed the World, Xi Prepares for a Colder One

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When China first opened to overseas investors, the country was desperate for foreign technology to revive its growth. Now, as China faces rising global barriers, its leader, Xi Jinping, is urging greater domestic innovation.

Mr. Xi delivered this message on Wednesday while making an anniversary pilgrimage to the southern city of Shenzhen, which in 1980 was established as a “special economic zone” next to the global financial hub of Hong Kong. Shenzhen quickly became an incubator for “reform and opening up,” the strategy championed by the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping that paved the way for the country’s decades-long economic takeoff.

Forty years later, Mr. Xi said China still welcomed foreign investors, but he also said it must prepare for a less welcoming world. The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the rise of barriers to the free flow of goods and technology, Mr. Xi said, a theme that he has stressed recently.

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Smart City Market | Decrease in Prices of Connected Devices to Boost the Market Growth

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The smart city market size is poised to grow by USD 2118.14 billion during 2020-2024, progressing at a CAGR of almost 23% throughout the forecast period, according to the latest report by Technavio. The report offers an up-to-date analysis regarding the current market scenario, latest trends and drivers, and the overall market environment. The report also provides the market impact and new opportunities created due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Download a Free Sample of REPORT with COVID-19 Crisis and Recovery Analysis.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201013005915/en/

Technavio has announced its latest market research report titled Global Smart City Market 2020-2024 (Graphic: Business Wire)

IoT systems have revolutionized the connected network ecosystem over the last few years. Smart city infrastructure is based on an efficient and connected network system. The reduction in costs of IoT sensors and associated systems, and in the cost of broadband

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Chinese city launches cryptocurrency lottery, gives away digital coins to promote adoption

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The Chinese city of Shenzhen will become a testing ground for a new sovereign cryptocurrency with residents issued millions in the digital coin for free. 

As reported by the South China Morning Post, citizens have been able to enter a lottery to receive the digital funds, of which coins worth 10 million yuan ($1.47 million) will be awarded to promote their use in roughly 3,400 designated stores in the Luohu district. 

The 50,000 “red packets” will each contain roughly $30 in cryptocurrency. Chinese citizens living in Shenzhen have been able to apply via iShenzhen, a blockchain-based and government-operated network that backs the new sovereign asset. 

See also: IRS offers grants for software to trace privacy-focused cryptocurrency trades

Digital Renminbi, an official state app, can be used to create an e-wallet to store and exchange the cryptocurrency. The gift amounts can only be used until October 18 and cannot be transferred

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Mobile voting: New York City Councilman Ritchie Torres urges state to embrace new voting technology

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NEW YORK CITY (WABC) — A City Council member is urging New York to embrace new technology for voting in future elections.

Councilman Ritchie Torres was joined by Mobile Voting Project founder Bradley Tusk at a press conference Friday to call for the New York State Board of Election to enact mobile voting.

With less than three weeks until Election Day, it comes on the heels of a recent incident wherein the New York City Board of Elections mistakenly mailed out as many as 100,000 faulty ballots in Brooklyn alone and just weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration sought to gut the United States Postal Service to hamper mail-in ballot turnout.

Related: New York City erroneous ballot issue extends onto Long Island

Torres said studies show that the U.S. trails most developed countries in voter turnout.

According to data compiled by the United States Election Project, turnout in the 2016

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Even mildly elevated air pollution associated with increase in absences in Salt Lake City — ScienceDaily

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In Salt Lake City schools, absences rise when the air quality worsens, and it’s not just in times of high pollution or “red” air quality days — even days following lower levels of pollutions saw increased absences.

Research is still ongoing, and the evidence isn’t yet conclusive enough to draw a cause-and-effect relationship between air quality and children’s absences from school but the correlation, according to Daniel Mendoza, a research assistant professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and visiting assistant professor in the Department of City & Metropolitan Planning, merits further exploration. Mendoza and his colleagues published their results in Environmental Research Letters.

Air pollution is harmful for not only the health, but also the education and well-being of children in our community,” says study co-author Cheryl Pirozzi, assistant professor in the Division of Respiratory, Critical Care, and Occupational Pulmonary Medicine. “Even at relatively low levels that many

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Waymo Opens Robo-taxi Service To The Public In US City

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Waymo, the autonomous car unit of Google-parent Alphabet, opened its robo-taxi project to the general public in the US city of Phoenix on Thursday, becoming the first widely available driverless ride service.

Now that the project has shifted out of its test phase, anyone signed up through the Waymo One smartphone app can summon autonomous vehicles to travel throughout the Arizona city’s metro area, chief executive John Krafcik said.

“Members of the public service can now take friends and family along on their rides and share their experience with the world,” he added.

“We’ll start with those who are already a part of Waymo One and, over the next several weeks, welcome more people directly into the service through our app.”

The Waymo One app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play.

Waymo started testing a fully driverless ride service in Phoenix some three years ago with

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New York City Says It Can’t Afford Teachers’ Back Pay

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New York City can’t afford to pay a lump sum due its teachers because of the new coronavirus, city officials said Thursday, reflecting a fiscal crisis that has already led to budget cuts and service reductions.

The city teachers union, which puts the amount due this month at $900 million, called Thursday for immediate arbitration.

First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan sent the union a letter saying the budget impact of the pandemic was “debilitating and not yet fully known,” and the city couldn’t afford to pay a lump sum due to active and retired teachers scheduled for this month under a 2014 agreement.

“It is the City’s desire to avoid the necessity for layoffs, and to make a retroactive payment at this time would therefore be fiscally irresponsible,” Mr. Fuleihan’s letter said.

The dispute comes during a hectic and tense back-to-school season. In August, the union threatened to strike if

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Mercedes-Benz’s newest electric city bus uses solid-state batteries

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  • Mercedes-Benz’s latest articulated bus is the eCitaro G, and it is available with solid-state batteries.


    Mercedes-Benz

  • Unlike an electric car, which puts the battery pack down low, in the eCitaro G you’ll find them on the roof.


    Mercedes-Benz

  • The bus uses a pair of 125kW (168hp), 485Nm (358lb-ft) electric hub motors.


    Mercedes-Benz

  • Storage options for the eCitaro G bus.


    Mercedes-Benz

Lithium-ion battery technology has made impressive gains over the years. Today’s cells are cheaper than they’ve ever been, but lithium-ion still leaves a lot to be desired in terms of energy density compared to liquid hydrocarbon fuels. Which means that putting enough of them in a car to give it an acceptable range adds a lot of mass and volume. Which is where solid-state batteries come in.

In a traditional battery, a pair of electrodes are immersed in an electrolyte solution, and it’s this liquid electrolyte that allows ions to

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What a school day is like for Kansas City third graders

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Katherine Hendrix sits alone in her third grade classroom at J.A. Rogers Elementary School, speaking to a TV filled with her students’ faces.

“Good morning; you’re up early today,” she tells one boy as more boxes outlining students’ faces appear on the 65-inch-screen. She asks if he’s tired. A girl a few squares over eats yogurt.

Hendrix, 34, asks if one student found his iPad yet. He said no. He’s borrowing his brother’s Chromebook, but he can’t figure out how to access his homework. He gets his 9-year-old brother, who tells Hendrix he knows how to use the laptop, but then immediately struggles.

“What the heck?” he said. “I’m on the Google page thingy.”

Family members bustle in and out of the back of some frames. Another teacher’s voice echoes from a sibling’s computer in the background.

Three weeks into the new remote school year, Hendrix’s classroom and others

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