David Lidsky's Blog, page 378

MomTok tried to make Neom look like paradise, and it backfired spectacularly

A series of day-in-the-life vlogs from mom influencers on TikTok tried to paint Saudi Arabia’s mega project as a desert paradise. The internet had other opinions.

Promotion for Neom, the upwards of $500 billion, 10,000-square-mile region under construction in Saudi Arabia, has always been a little off. There are the videos touting Neom’s 105-mile-long city, The Line; and the reality-defying renderings showing off a litany of luxury spaces including the golf resort Gidori. Now, though, it seems like Neom’s marketing team might be using a tried-and-true tactic to sell the special economic zone as the world’s next great city: MomTok.

Mortgage rates drop to lowest level since early 2023 after rate cut

The rate fell to 6.09% from 6.20% last week.

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. edged closer to 6% this week to its lowest level since early February 2023.

Retire like a pro by doing these 5 things

Retirement is about emotional needs as well as financial.

If you find it hard to plan for retirement, here is a little secret: It is hard for everyone—even the world’s foremost experts on the topic.

Harris is quickly gaining on Trump when it comes to the economy. Here’s why

While voters have said they trusted Trump over Biden on the economy, a new poll finds Harris has quickly closed the gap—and that undecided voters prefer her policies.

Given that the stickiest moments from last week’s presidential debate seem to be Donald Trump’s false claim that Haitian immigrants are eating cats in Ohio, and Taylor Swift’s post-debate endorsement of Kamala Harris, it may come as a surprise that what voters are most concerned about in choosing their next president is still, as usual, the economy.

Something big is happening in the housing market: What Fed rate cuts will actually do

Now that the Fed rate cutting is officially here, what does it mean for the U.S. housing market?

Want more housing market stories from Lance Lambert’s  ResiClub  in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter.

Reddit threads are blowing up on TikTok and Instagram

Reddit screenshots are flooding TikTok and Instagram. It’s giving Reddit some incredible visibility, though bringing users back to its platform may prove more difficult.

Millions view Reddit content daily. The issue for Reddit? Many of them are seeing it on other platforms.

Want a new job? Get some ‘green skills,’ stat

A new report from LinkedIn shows a demand for climate-change-related skills that far outpaces supply.

If you have green skills, you’re more likely to get a job. A new report from LinkedIn backs that up, finding that the global hiring rate for workers with skills that can directly fight climate change is 54.6% greater than the overall hiring rate.

‘Immigration reform has to happen’: Star chef José Andrés gets real about the politics of the moment

At the Fast Company Innovation Festival on Wednesday, the world-class restaurateur said immigration benefits blue and red states alike. And it shouldn’t be political.

“I’m not going to cook for you,” world-class chef and multiple-Michelin-star restaurateur José Andrés said as he took the stage at the 10th annual Fast Company Innovation Festival. “Don’t get too excited.”

DOJ files $100M lawsuit against ship owner in Baltimore Key Bridge collapse

The lawsuit filed in Maryland provides the most detailed account yet of the cascading series of failures on the Dali that left its pilots and crew helpless in the face of looming disaster.

The owner and manager of the cargo ship that caused the deadly Baltimore bridge collapse recklessly cut corners and ignored known electrical problems on the vessel, the Justice Department alleged Wednesday in a lawsuit seeking to recover more than $100 million that the government spent to clear the underwater debris and reopen the city’s port.

Prison inmates earn high school diplomas via tablets—lowering the likelihood of recidivism

Using a tablet behind bars isn’t like scrolling on an iPad at home.

A top supplier of digital devices in U.S. prisons is launching a new program to help incarcerated individuals earn a high school diploma by using the company’s tablets.

Advocates say the expansion in virtual education is promising, especially since many inmates lack basic literacy skills. But some advocates have said there are limits to what that prison technology can accomplish.

The company ViaPath, which sells secure devices and telecommunications services for use in the criminal justice system, has announced that inmates across the country will soon be able to enroll in virtual classes through a partnership with Promising People, an education technology company, and American High School, a private online school based in South Florida that will grant the diplomas.

The asynchronous classes will be available for free on ViaPath’s tablets, 700,000 of which the company says are already in use in nearly 2,000 prisons and jails.

“If you get a high school diploma, you get a secondary education along with some trades and skills. The likelihood of you recidivating back into our prisons are very small,” said Tony Lowden, chief social impact officer for ViaPath. “We believe there’s an opportunity to help men and women come home differently.”

A meta-analysis by the RAND Corporation found that education significantly reduces recidivism, suggesting that every $1 invested in education in prisons could save $4-$5 on reincarceration costs.

Lowden said the high school diploma program will offer a more comprehensive education than existing GED courses and provide inmates with greater earning potential once they’re released. The company said it will also offer career and technical education through virtual reality headsets.

ViaPath maintains that its tablets are free for inmates to use and that it won’t charge for the educational programming. Still, prison telecoms is a lucrative industry, with state and local governments signing multimillion-dollar contracts for phone services, tablets, and apps that inmates can use to call loved ones, stream music or read e-books—for a fee. Charges for those services can rack up quickly for incarcerated individuals who make just 25 cents an hour, if that, according to the Prison Policy Initiative.

After being incarcerated for 11 years in Florida, Ryan Moser knows the conveniences of prison tablets—and the shortcomings.

“There’s a lot of advantages to the tablet. You can study whenever you want,” said Moser, who’s now a freelance journalist and communications consultant.

But using a tablet behind bars isn’t like scrolling on an iPad at home, Moser said. The devices are generally charged or updated at a central kiosk inside the prison, and access can be inconsistent and unpredictable—and is ultimately up to correctional officers.

“I remember it taking four days to get my tablet charged,” Moser said. “If you were a discipline problem or if you were someone that gave them attitude, they might keep [your tablet] for a week, two weeks.”

Keri Watson heads the Florida Prison Education Project at the University of Central Florida, which offers college-level courses inside prisons. She has questions about the delivery of virtual instruction behind bars but said she’s heartened by efforts to improve access.

“The more programs in as many modalities as possible, the better,” Watson said.

Digital infrastructure has helped prisons continue offering programming at times when volunteers can’t get inside, such as through the COVID-19 pandemic or during a security lockdown.

During the pandemic, Watson said her staff had to shift their in-person classes to virtual instruction through tablets provided by a different company. She said it was a difficult transition.

“The technology was not there,” she said. “So until it can be more like the technology that can be offered to non-incarcerated students, I’m not sure it’s feasible.”

The devices’ functions are limited for security purposes by design. Lowden, the ViaPath official, told the Associated Press that the company’s tablets will not carry note-taking apps due to security risks like inmates communicating covertly.

Still, advocates say inmates desperately need more access to education to prepare them for their release. According to the most recent annual report for Florida’s state prison system, 1,339 inmates earned a GED in 2022, less than 2% of the state’s incarcerated population of more than 80,000 people.

“While participation in educational programming remains optional, overall inmate participation in these programs continues to rise,” the Florida Department of Corrections said in a statement to the AP. “The Department has focused its resources on programming that addresses functional literacy and vocational training.”

In his years as a GED tutor at a state prison near the Florida Everglades, Moser saw the impact that a basic education could have on his fellow inmates.

“I remember seeing the looks on guys’ faces,” Moser said. “Getting into education and accomplishing something there was one of the proudest moments for some of these guys in their life.”

Moser said the virtual high school diploma program could help meet the basic educational needs of inmates and let them sidestep waiting lists for in-person classes. But just like on the outside, he said there’s “no substitute” for incarcerated students being able to sit in a real classroom and learn from a qualified teacher.

—Kate Payne, Associated Press/Report for America