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Don’t slow down AI innovation

Cell phones made my life easier. So did the internet. Artificial intelligence may enrich it even more. But lots of people are worried. “Stop AI or we’re all going to die!” shout protesters. It’s possible that AI will decide that we humans are in the way and imprison us or kill us. ...

State to install firewood quarantine starting Jan. 1

The problem with invasive species in Michigan has reached a point where the state is taking what it calls “the next step” to stem the spread: A quarantine on untreated firewood. Starting Jan. 1, such firewood cannot be brought in from outside Michigan under Act 189 of 1931 — The Insect Pest and Plant Disease Act, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Michigan Invasive Species Program announced Thursday. The quarantine will not apply to firewood that has been properly heat-treated and certified by MDARD, another state agriculture department or the ...

Almanac for Sept. 18, 2026

Today is Friday, Sept. 18, the 261st day of 2026. There are 104 days left in the year. Today in history: In 2020, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a towering champion of women’s rights who became the court’s second female justice, died at her home in Washington at age 87 of complications from pancreatic cancer. Also on this date: In 1793, President George Washington laid the cornerstone of the U.S. Capitol. In 1850, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act, which created a force of federal commissioners charged with returning escaped slaves to their owners. The act was ...

Almanac for Sept. 17, 2026

Today is Thursday, Sept. 17, the 260th day of 2026. There are 105 days left in the year. Today in history: In 1787, the Constitution of the United States was completed and signed by a majority of delegates attending the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Also on this date: In 1862, more than 3,600 men were killed in the Civil War Battle of Antietam in Maryland. In 1908, Lt. Thomas E. Selfridge of the U.S. Army Signal Corps became the first person to die in the crash of a powered aircraft, the Wright Flyer, at Fort Myer, Virginia, just outside Washington, D.C. The pilot, ...

Analysis: Trump administration has cut or frozen $177 billion in grants

The Trump administration has cut or frozen up to $177 billion in federal grants since the president took office for his second term, according to a tracking tool released Wednesday by a pro-democracy nonprofit and a group of researchers and scientists. The cuts affected all 50 states and the ...