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During a 48-hour period from June 7 to 8, developer Charles Jones's Google Cloud account registered $11,089.77 in charges - most related to the use of Gemini image-generation models. Yet Jones, a solo developer who runs programmatic SEO and insurance sites, told The Register that he doesn't have any workflow that generates AI images. Google suspended his account anyway. A suspension notification sent to Jones on June 7 justified the decision by stating his account "was engaged in abusive activity consistent with hijacked resources." "The root cause was attributed to a compromised firebase-adminsdk service account key," said Jones, who provided The Register with documentation of his exchanges with Google Cloud support. The notification advised Jones to report his concerns if he believed the account was compromised by a third party. He did so and took the steps required by Google to have his account reinstated. He disabled the service account and revoked the key. But the Google Cloud billing team has repeatedly refused to forgive the charges. As we reported previously, complaints about charges arising from fraudulent API key usage among Google Cloud customers are not uncommon. In February, a developer based in Vietnam claimed that a Google Cloud API key compromise had resulted in more than $82,000 in charges over 48 hours. A similar report claiming more than $10,000 in fraudulent charges surfaced a month later on Reddit. Regardless of where the fault lies – insecure practices by developers or insecure Google infrastructure – Google may choose to hold developers liable for unauthorized charges, even if the credit-card issuing bank has reversed the charge as fraudulent. At the same time, Google still hasn't publicly released a mechanism to cap Google Cloud spending. The company introduced Spend Caps for certain services as a private preview but hasn't made the service generally available. Other cost-limiting measures, like API-specific usage limits "aren't designed to act as a project-wide spending cap." Similarly, Budget Alerts "don't automatically prevent the use or billing of your services when the budget amount or threshold rules are met or exceeded." Google provides a workaround by allowing Budget Alert notifications to disable cloud billing, but warns that doing so means "resources might be irretrievably deleted." In March, Google introduced project spend caps for the Gemini API as an experimental feature, but at the same time the company said that spend caps have a 10 minute delay and customers are responsible for spending during that period – so the company's definition of cap is rather flexible. What's more, Google said its system "now automatically upgrades you to the next [usage] tier as your usage grows and your payment history matures." And higher tiers raise spending caps. This all means it can still be a challenge for Google Cloud customers to avoid unbounded financial obligations in the event of an account or API key compromise. Escaping that responsibility requires engaging with Google customer service in an opaque appeals process in which the company isn't required to demonstrate customer negligence or an audit trail. "Here's a question I can't get answered, and I think it's central to the whole pattern," Jones said. "Google's Trust & Safety was quick to alert me that a service account key was compromised — but I have been given no route, anywhere, to see HOW or WHERE that key was actually exposed. There is no trace, no log path, no forensic detail offered." Jones said he was the only person who had access to the VM where the compromised key resided and he insists that he followed the company's recommended security practices. "So how does a single-access VM produce a leaked service account key — and why is the burden on me to prove I secured something Google itself can't (or won't) show me how I failed to secure? Google is invoking its Shared Responsibility Model to deny the refund, but that model assumes a customer security failure Google has never demonstrated." The Register twice asked Google why it would deny a refund and what evidence it has that supports that decision. We've not heard back. ®

⚡ Quick Take

• In season two of X-Men ’97, fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation might recognize these voices for three new characters as being from the Final Frontier.

Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation might recognize three specific voices for new characters in X-Men ’97 season two. One of them they already revealed in the season one finale, but the other two are brand new to the series. It’s clear that the producers of X-Men ’97 are big Star Trek fans. And hey, we can’t blame them. We love Star Trek that much too. None of these Trek stars is a stranger to voice acting in animated projects, however. Here’s which Star Trek: TNG cast members have joined the X-Men ’97 world, and who they are playing:

Gates McFadden as Mother Askani/Rachel Summers Paramount Television/Marvel Television

In the first episode, “Days of Past Future,” Cyclops and Jean Grey follow the leader of Clan Askani, Mother Askani, in the year. This powerful mutant comes to life thanks to Gates McFadden, who played Dr. Beverly Crusher on Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the series, Mother Askani is the (much) older version of Rachel Summers. She’s the future daughter of Scott Summers and Jean Grey, who pulls her parents into the future to raise her brother Nathan.

Michael Dorn as Baal Paramount Television/Marvel Television

In the third episode, “The Rise of Apocalypse Part I,” we meet En Sabah Nur’s adoptive father, the warrior Baal. Appropriately enough, someone known for playing a similar role in Star Trek, Michael Dorn, voices this fearsome, barbaric fighter. He instills Apocalypse’s “survival of the fittest” philosophy into him. Famously, Dorn portrayed the Klingon warrior and Starfleet officer Worf in seven seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Not to mention four seasons of Deep Space Nine, five Star Trek films, and one season of Star Trek: Picard. Also, his IMDb for animated projects is quite long. You can hear his distinctive voice in shows like Invincible, Justice League, and many others.

John de Lancie as Pharaoh Rama-Tut (Kang) Paramount Television/Marvel Television

Finally, voicing the evil time-traveling Pharaoh from the far future, Rama-Tut is John de Lancie, the man behind the omnipotent Q in the Star Trek franchise. Q debuted in the very first episode of TNG, “Encounter at Farpoint,” and returned each season. Of course, Marvel fans know that Rama-Tut is a variant of Kang the Conqueror. With his futuristic technology, Rama-Tut is like a god to the ancient Egyptians he conquers. So it’s fitting that someone famous for playing a godlike being should portray him as well.

RELATED ARTICLE

All 7 Seasons of STAR TREK: TNG, Ranked

Will we see other Star Trek: The Next Generation cast in future episodes? It might be fun to get Patrick Stewart to pop up, given his strong X-Men franchise connections as Professor X. But now that all these old friends are in a recording booth, how about an animated Star Trek: TNG season 8? We’re sure all of the main actors would jump at the chance. We’re just putting that out into the universe. In the meantime, season two of X-Men ’97 drops new episodes every Wednesday on Disney+.

The post X-MEN ’97 Season 2 Brings in Several STAR TREK: TNG Actors appeared first on Nerdist.

True Anomaly and Rocket Lab are performing Top Gun-style satellite fly-bys for the US military.

Well, we don’t have to play the will-he-or-won’t-he game about President Donald Trump’s attendance at the World Cup round of 16 in Seattle, where the United States will face off against Belgium. It turns out that both Trump and Vice President JD Vance are too chickenshit to travel to the terrifying no-go zone of Seattle to watch the game. It’s kind of weird that the White House isn’…

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A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Trump slump continues with dismal jobs report Few jobs, high prices: the GOP’s midterms message. The right is still pissed about that birthright citizenship decision Apparently, obeying the Constitution is a “betrayal.” Fox News’ lies exposed by weak…

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A cartoon by Jack Ohman. Related | Trump fails miserably to throw America a birthday party…

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MeetingTV has sued Palo Alto Networks after its newly acquired Koi Security threat-intelligence biz published a blog that linked the video conferencing and webinar startup to a Chinese corporate espionage operation. The legal complaint filed against Koi Security, its researchers, and Palo Alto Networks alleges that Koi used an LLM to generate the threat report, the AI system hallucinated findings about MeetingTV, and the security shop then published those as facts in a December 30 blog. It accuses Koi of “reckless publication of an AI-driven cybersecurity report that falsely accused Plaintiff MeetingTV Inc. of criminal conduct including operating core infrastructure for a well-funded Chinese criminal organization running a large-scale malware and corporate espionage campaign,” according to court documents [PDF]. “The false attributions were the direct product of Koi’s unsupervised reliance on their proprietary ‘Wings’ analytical platform, which generated erroneous correlations between the Plaintiff’s business and an alleged cybercriminal actor they called DarkSpectre,” the lawsuit continues. A Palo Alto Networks spokesperson told The Register that the company “is aware of the lawsuit brought by MeetingTV Inc. regarding a threat research report published by Koi Security prior to the acquisition,” but declined to answer our specific questions about MeetingTV’s allegations and the Koi blog. “We believe Koi’s cybersecurity research reflects its commitment to identifying and exposing threats to users and enterprises, and we expect that this dispute will be resolved through the appropriate legal process,” the spokesperson said. Koi’s blog, which has since been silently edited to remove references to MeetingTV’s product called Zoomcorder, originally labeled the meeting recording service as a “public-facing front” for a Chinese criminal operation and said it lent “credibility to the infrastructure while serving as a monetization channel” - allegations MeetingTV disputes in its lawsuit. The blog also claimed the operation was behind a 2.2-million-user campaign stealing corporate meeting intelligence. As a result of the report, MeetingTV says, security companies and service providers around the globe blocked MeetingTV’s domains and services, labeling it as malware and command-and-control infrastructure. The startup’s founder and CEO, longtime entrepreneur Michael Robertson, told us the blocks are the only way he found out about the Koi report in the first place. According to Robertson, Koi did not reach out to MeetingTV prior to publishing its threat report. “Even after publishing they never contacted us,” he told The Register. “I was contacting the security companies one by one asking them to unlock us. Most never respond in any fashion, but one finally did respond and told us he was blocking us because of the Koi report and he gave us the url.” Robertson says he’s still struggling, as providers including Verizon and Palo Alto Networks, which completed its Koi acquisition in April, continue to block his startup. “If people on the internet are blocked from reaching your company, then that's a death sentence,” he said. “Plus all the LLMs now say we're working with Chinese cyber criminals. How will that ever get removed?” After the acquisition closed, Robertson emailed Palo Alto CEO Nikesh Arora directly and asked him to take action. “Now your company owns Koi and is continuing to publish and rely on the false report,” the email said. “Our domain and Google subdomains are blocked and labeled as malware and command and control by your company and others around the world … Take down the false report which is defaming us and in its place put a full retraction. Remove our domains from your own blacklist and help get them removed from others who are blocking us because of the Koi report.” A mysterious extension The December blog linked Zoomcorder to the Zoom Stealer campaign, which it attributed to the Chinese threat actor DarkSpectre, via a browser extension identified as "Twitter X Video Downloader." According to Robertson and the lawsuit, however, this extension doesn’t exist – and Koi “refused to supply information” about the software when MeetingTV requested it. “Koi’s single-actor theory rested on a fabricated technical ‘pivot’ – a single piece of software they repeatedly identified as the ‘Twitter X Video Downloader’ extension,” the lawsuit alleges. “This alleged extension was described as the critical bridge connecting the Zoom Stealer campaign (defined entirely by Plaintiff’s infrastructure) to ShadyPanda, core DarkSpectre infrastructure.” Robertson said he believes Koi used an LLM to generate the threat report, and it hallucinated findings about MeetingTV’s Zoomcorder product that the security shop published as facts. “They admit to using AI for their analysis,” Robertson said. “Maybe a human made it all up? Maybe it was AI? What's clear is that if the software doesn't exist, then even the most rudimentary analysis is impossible to do, yet they labeled our urls, services, and software as criminals.” The bigger picture in all of this, according to Robertson, is that we know AI systems hallucinate. Their findings should not be accepted as fact without any human review. “We're on the doorstep of an era where AI will be used to make critical life-altering decisions on people's lives: Did you pay your taxes, what your credit rating should be, will you get admitted to the University, do you qualify for the home loan, should you be on the no-fly list, etc.,” Robertson said. “Will these be made without human oversight? Will people have due process – see the accusations against them, present their own evidence, have a neutral arbiter? None of that happened in our case,” he continued. “They just declared us criminals and published it to the world.”®

A proposal for 52 homes at 1098 38th Ave. could be constructed by May 2028. (Tyler Maldonado — Santa Cruz Local file)

CAPITOLA >> A proposal for 52 below-market-rate homes beside the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line in Capitola is expected to break ground in November after its developer secured funding earlier this year. 

The property at 1098 38th Ave. is the former site of a convalescent home that has sat empty for years. Foster City-based nonprofit developer MidPen Housing Corp. is behind the project that was first put forward in 2022.

The three-story project is expected to break ground in November and could finish in spring 2028. It is set to include four studios, 21 one-bedroom homes, 14 two-bedroom homes and 13 three-bedroom homes. Eligible renters must earn 60% of area median income or less, according to state-set income limits.

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About half of the homes are expected to be filled from the Housing Authority of the County of Santa Cruz’s waitlist for recipients of a Housing Choice Voucher, formerly called Section 8. The remaining units could be filled from a lottery and waitlist administered by MidPen Housing, but no interest list has yet been established. 

In May, the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee awarded the project roughly $34 million in tax credits, an essential source of funding for low income housing development. The project is now fully funded, said MidPen Housing Senior Vice President Joanna Carman.

See more housing projects and updates on Santa Cruz Local’s housing tracker. 

Nonprofit developer MidPen Housing has secured financing for 52 units of affordable housing at 1098 38th Ave. in Capitola. (Naomi Friedland — Santa Cruz Local file)

Questions or comments? Email info@santacruzlocal.org. Santa Cruz Local is supported by members, major donors, sponsors and grants for the general support of our newsroom. Our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of donor support. Learn more about Santa Cruz Local and how we are funded.

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The post Capitola affordable housing advances, construction expected by November appeared first on Santa Cruz Local.

⚡ Quick Take

• During a publicity event for the live-action MOANA, actor Dwayne Johnson mentioned talks of a third animated movie.

With its live-action adaptation of the 2016 movie on the way, Disney undoubtedly has Moana on the mind. At a promotional press conference for the movie, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who has played Maui in both the animated and live-action versions, mentioned discussions of a third animated Moana movie coming.

Walt Disney Animation Studio

When Johnson answered regarding the third movie, he seemed keen to pivot back to the upcoming live-action film.

“Yes, we have talked about ‘Moana 3,’ yes. But first, live-action ‘Moana,’ we’ll let that come out first.”

While Johnson reprised his role in the live-action version, Auliʻi Cravalho, Moana’s original voice actress, took a step back from the project. In an interview with TheWrap, she said, “It feels really important to me to pass the baton to the next young woman of Pacific Island descent.” However, she did still serve as an executive producer on the project.

Disney

That next young woman was Catherine Laga’aia, a Samoan Australian actress who beat 32,000 other contenders to the role. While she may be Moana in live-action, Variety expects Auliʻi Cravalho to return for the next animated installment.

Both the first and second animated movies were success stories for Disney, with Moana 2 grossing over $1 billion at the box office. Critic reviews put the movie squarely at 61%, but many fans overwhelmingly disagreed with an average audience rating of 85%. That and the sheer revenue it produced are a testament to the place the characters hold in the hearts of audiences.

After Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the first film’s score, stepped down for the second movie, it is uncertain who will take that helm for a third.

Many of the details about the third movie are unclear—all we know is that it exists—but the one sure thing is that the world is not done with Moana yet.

The post Dwayne Johnson Says MOANA 3 Discussions Are Happening appeared first on Nerdist.

Nine months of late nights, countless repairs and more than 100 hours spent testing an underwater robot in a swimming pool paid off in a big way for a team of Santa Cruz County high school students.

Hephaestus Robotics, a 21-member team representing eight county high schools, captured first place in the Ranger Class at the 2026 MATE ROV World Championship on June 27 in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada, earning the program’s first world title after finishing third in each of the past two years.

The victory came against 47 high school teams from 13 countries competing in the Ranger division, one of several classes at the international competition, which featured 86 teams from 16 countries.

Among the team members was Pajaro Valley High School student Raul Lopez, who said the experience changed the way he thinks about engineering and teamwork.

“This experience taught me how to work within a big team made of smaller teams, an experience I hope to contribute to building a MATE ROV college team at CSUMB,” said Lopez, who will attend Cal State Monterey Bay this fall to study mechatronics.

The team qualified for the world championship by winning the MATE Monterey Bay Regional ROV Competition in April.

At the three-day world championship, students operated a remotely operated underwater vehicle in facilities designed to simulate real ocean conditions, including a 1.7 million-liter flume tank and a wave basin.

Their robot completed a series of tasks modeled after real marine science and offshore engineering work, including replacing a simulated environmental DNA sensor, recovering an anchor buoy and deploying an autonomous float capable of maintaining depth while collecting data.

Students also used professional sonar equipment to locate simulated marine debris.

“Rather than simply simulating operations within a controlled pool, our team rose to the challenge of performing real-world ocean protection,” said Santa Cruz High School student Elle Williams, who piloted the robot during the bonus mission. “We deployed a professional sonar tool on our ROV to scan for and identify ghost gear and debris in the Atlantic Ocean. That was amazing.”

The competition extends well beyond building a robot.

Teams operate as mock engineering companies, preparing technical reports, budgets, marketing materials and formal presentations that are judged by professionals from the marine technology industry.

Mission Director Sam Imahara of Kirby School said the championship reflected months of persistence.

“Competing on the world stage against so many talented teams was an unforgettable experience,” he said. “As the electronics lead, seeing our countless hours of late-night troubleshooting, complex wiring, and system integration culminate in a world title is wildly rewarding.”

Float Team Vice President Amber Williams of Pacific Collegiate School said the team’s success was especially satisfying after setbacks earlier in the season.

“These many months of continuously fixing issues and dedication led us to finally achieving the full 85 points, something only three out of 47 teams managed to do,” she said. “After watching the float fail at regionals, having everything come together at worlds felt incredible.”

The team includes students from Pacific Collegiate, Sequoia, Soquel, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Pajaro Valley, Sapphire and Kirby schools.

Tim Sylvester, founder of nonprofit X Academy and the team’s lead mentor, said the championship reflects the diversity of the students involved and the commitment they showed throughout the school year.

“Our team brought together students from across Santa Cruz County, including the children of Silicon Valley tech workers, doctors, carpenters, electricians, and farmworkers,” he said. “After nine months of hard work and more than 100 hours of practice in the pool, they truly earned this win.”

Hephaestus Robotics is part of the Santa Cruz County Office of Education’s X Academy Robotics Clubs, a partnership that gives students free, hands-on experience in engineering, computer science, entrepreneurship and project management.

Since the partnership began in 2023, X Academy mentors have worked with more than 200 students from 15 high schools through weekly robotics sessions in Santa Cruz and Watsonville.

Santa Cruz County Superintendent of Schools Faris Sabbah said the world championship highlights what students can accomplish when they have access to hands-on learning opportunities.

“This championship is the result of years of student leadership, mentorship, problem-solving, and persistence,” Sabbah said. “The Hephaestus Robotics Team has shown what is possible when students have access to rigorous, hands-on learning and a community of mentors who believe in them.”

For graduating Sequoia High School student Carlos Ortiz-Lopez, the lessons learned extend beyond robotics.

“Being a part of the Hephaestus Team taught me to be relentless and to not give up no matter what gets thrown your way,” he said. “I will use this to help me become an apprentice electrician with the IBEW.”

⚡ Quick Take

• Blue and Brown M&Ms will no longer be included in the company’s new artificial dye-free packs, starting in August.
• This comes in a wave of new food regulations affecting candy and snack brands.
• Until Mars finds a cost-efficient alternative, say goodbye to brown and blue.

If the blue or brown M&Ms were your favorite… start saying your goodbyes. As of August, new all-natural M&M packs will include only four of their iconic colors: red, green, yellow, and orange. In addition to two lost colors, Mars will stop using artificial dyes in M&Ms altogether.

Mars

Mars isn’t the first company to make the switch. With a controversial new Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative, artificial dyes have begun disappearing from food products. From Nestle and Hershey in candy to Simply NKD (Doritos/Cheetos without the red 40), this health-conscious push is changing the snacking game.

But why brown and blue, specifically? According to a Wall Street Journal interview with the company, red, orange, yellow, and green were easy to recreate naturally. From beets to turmeric, there is no shortage of those colors in the natural world. However, brown and blue created problems. Mars said the substitute they were considering, a teal-ish algae called spirulina, is too expensive to buy en masse. For brown, the company has always mixed blue, red, and yellow dyes, which also becomes expensive to do.

This comes only 30 years after the public voted to replace the tan M&M (don’t ask me what Mars was thinking with that one) with blue. Candy-lovers were able to choose between blue, pink, and purple, and with a 54% vote, blue won.

The company hasn’t given up entirely. They are working to develop purple, brown, and blue dyes that work with their budget. The fortunate part is every M&M tastes the same (I don’t want to hear anybody negate that, it’s true), so despite a slightly less colorful variety, the signature chocolatey flavor isn’t going anywhere.

Artificial dye-free packs will begin rolling out in August. Until the company finds a good dye alternative for brown and blue, they will not appear in the new packages.

The post M&Ms Announces Discontinuation of Blue and Brown appeared first on Nerdist.

ph @rossa_di_sera_caffe

”Porque tratar de encajar si naciste para destacar”
(Perché cercare di integrarti se sei nato per distinguerti?)

The White House is supercharging its deportation efforts again, and the timing shouldn’t go unnoticed. According to The New York Times, daily immigration arrests have recently doubled as Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers put in seven-day workweeks to sweep the streets of people they’ve deemed deportable. Over 10,000 immigrants were reportedly detained within a five-day span…

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Selby's VC firm Copper Sky Capital is currently raising a $300 million second fund, according to a regulatory filing.

⚡ Quick Take

• Beau DeMayo, the fired showrunner and head writer of X-Men ’97, speaks out against Marvel and Disney.
• DeMayo accused working for Marvel of being “not a safe space.”
• He was initially let go because of a sexual misconduct investigation.

Two years ago, Marvel fired its X-Men ’97 showrunner, Beau DeMayo, for (at the time) unknown reasons. That began a whirlwind of controversy, as DeMayo claimed the company fired him unjustly, and Marvel/Disney eventually revealed there was a sexual misconduct investigation. Since then, DeMayo became very vocal on social media, and did not take the high road when speaking about Disney/Marvel. He also sued the company. In a new report from Vanity Fair, (via Deadline), which hit just as X-Men ’97 dropped its first episodes of season two, DeMayo fired back once more. And he doubled down on his claim that Marvel fired him for having an OnlyFans account. Here’s what he had to say:

It was cleared. It was like, ‘It is your personal life. As long as you’re not advertising the show on your OnlyFans, as long as you’re keeping it very separate from the content of the show, it’s outside of their purview. It’s been very traumatic. I thought I was in a safe space, and then quickly found out that I was not in a safe space. My therapist is well employed.

Marvel Television

In addition, DeMayo claims he received disparaging remarks from Marvel employees. He claims he heard things like “Oh, you don’t look like a showrunner, you don’t look like a writer. There was that vibe that I was the DEI hire, where, ‘Oh, they just got a gay Black guy because he checks all the marks and it’s X-Men.'” DeMayo had earlier worked on the forever-in-development Blade reboot. But claims that his experience with X-Men ’97 was worse. He added, “Some of those racist, sexist, homophobic vibes that I was getting before Blade became much more explicit.”

For those who have watched the first episodes of X-Men ’97 season two, you can still feel DeMayo’s fingerprints on the series. He is one of the credited writers of episode three, “The Rise of Apocalypse: Part I.” He also retains an executive producer credit. We’ll likely notice his absence more in season three, which he had no hand in at all. In the meantime, the legal back-and-forth continues. So this is likely not the last we’ve heard about this situation. X-Men ’97 season two is now streaming on Disney+.

The post X-MEN ’97’s Fired Showrunner Speaks Out as Season 2 Drops appeared first on Nerdist.

AI infrastructure doesn't come cheap. To keep up, rent-a-GPU outfits such as CoreWeave and Lambda have had to borrow billions of dollars from venture capitalists and hedge funds to bankroll their datacenter build outs. So long as their revenues are greater than the interest payments on the loans, they have the potential to make a profit. Unfortunately for entrepreneurs looking to cash in on the AI hype, not everyone with a bright idea can tap into this kind of funding. But don’t worry, Nvidia is here to help. In a blog post published this week, the GPU giant floated the idea for a new program that promises to make it easier for emerging AI cloud providers to get the financing they need, although it's not clear that Nvidia itself will be providing the financing – it may only be brokering deals with third-party lenders. Regardless, the GPU provider is expecting a cut of the revenues in exchange. “Through the partnership, AI clouds will sell Nvidia-powered cloud services, with Nvidia earning both standard product revenue and a share of the cloud revenue on the supported capacity,” the company explained. “This structure accelerates adoption of Nvidia platforms among the high-growth, high-conviction AI native sector, and provides Nvidia with a recurring, usage-linked earnings stream.” In other words, Nvidia first brings in revenues based on how many of its products are deployed, and later, if the neocloud turns out to be successful, a share of the revenues its hardware generates. It could also provide a bit of insulation against a potential AI bust – if demand for new GPUs falls, Nvidia may still be able to earn a recurring revenue from the GPUs it's already sold, assuming customer demand remains high. Specifics on how this new business model will work in practice are rather thin. Nvidia declined to offer details beyond the contents of its blog post. However, the company has already signed up two customers, Sharon AI and Firmus, to put it to the test. Sharon AI is a sovereign AI cloud provider founded in 2024 based out of Australia, which is looking to deploy as many as 40,000 Grace Blackwell GB300 GPUs in the land down under. Meanwhile, Firmus plans to deploy as many as 170,000 Nvidia GPUs at a 360-megawatt facility in Batam, Indonesia, designed specifically to Nvidia’s DSX spec. ®

Watsonville Police shove a Mazda pickup off of Freedom Boulevard Monday morning following a two-vehicle crash. Just before 11am a green Ford Ranger and a white Mazda pickup were traveling north on Freedom Boulevard. On the 1600 block, the male driver of the Mazda reportedly attempted a sudden U-turn causing the Ford, with a male driver, to smash into its driver’s side, Watsonville Police said. The Mazda driver was temporarily trapped in his truck with minor injuries. (Tarmo Hannula/The Pajaronian)

Santa Cruz County’s cities and the county government should move more quickly to improve pedestrian safety by adopting formal Vision Zero action plans and taking a more proactive approach to maintaining sidewalks, crosswalks and traffic infrastructure, according to a new Santa Cruz County Civil Grand Jury report.

The report, titled ‘Walking in the County of Santa Cruz is Not for the Faint of Heart,’ concludes that while local governments have embraced the principles of Vision Zero—a strategy aimed at eliminating traffic deaths and serious injuries—they have yet to implement formal action plans with measurable goals and timelines.

The grand jury found that Santa Cruz County consistently ranks among California’s worst counties for pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries despite recent investments in transportation improvements.

“Pedestrian fatalities and serious injuries are a persistent public safety issue in the County of Santa Cruz,” the report states. “While the County and its cities have adopted modern transportation policies and safety frameworks, pedestrian safety outcomes remain poor relative to other California counties.”

The report cites Office of Traffic Safety data showing Santa Cruz County ranked among the top 20% of California counties for pedestrians killed or seriously injured in five of the seven years between 2017 and 2023. Watsonville fared even worse, ranking among the 10 worst California cities of comparable size in six of those seven years, including Number 1 in 2019.

The report says the county, Watsonville and Santa Cruz have all committed to pursuing Vision Zero through the Community Traffic Safety Coalition but have not adopted formal action plans.

According to the grand jury, doing so would establish measurable benchmarks, improve accountability and make local jurisdictions eligible for additional federal transportation grants.

The report also points to gaps in pedestrian infrastructure, including deteriorating sidewalks, faded crosswalk markings and incomplete sidewalk networks.

It cites the Highway 1 Whale Bridge as an example of successful infrastructure that still leaves pedestrians vulnerable because sidewalks disappear at one end, forcing people to navigate busy commercial driveways.

The grand jury also found that local governments rely largely on residents to report sidewalk hazards and faded pavement markings, and that many people are unaware of how to report those problems.

In addition, it says the cost of sidewalk repairs—which are typically the responsibility of adjacent property owners under California law—can discourage people from reporting hazards.

Watsonville was singled out for offering a loan program to help homeowners pay for sidewalk repairs, which the report suggests other jurisdictions consider.

The report also examines traffic enforcement, noting that Watsonville has one officer dedicated to traffic enforcement, while Santa Cruz has none. Both agencies focus much of their traffic enforcement on driving under the influence because of limited staffing.

The grand jury recommends that local officials periodically review crash data to ensure enforcement efforts strike an appropriate balance between DUI enforcement and speeding violations, another leading contributor to pedestrian deaths and serious injuries.

Among its recommendations for Watsonville, the grand jury urges the City Council to direct its Public Works and Police departments to work with the County Health Services Agency to develop and publish a Vision Zero action plan by June 1, 2027.

It also recommends expanding public outreach about reporting sidewalk hazards, adopting an annual review of sidewalks and faded pavement markings, and requiring the police chief to annually review pedestrian injury data to ensure enforcement priorities align with Vision Zero goals.

The report makes similar recommendations to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council, including developing Vision Zero action plans, increasing public education, proactively identifying sidewalk hazards and considering financial assistance programs for sidewalk repairs.

The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, the Watsonville City Council and the Santa Cruz City Council are required to respond to the grand jury’s findings and recommendations within 90 days.

A former Olympian was indicted Thursday on a felony charge in what President Donald Trump has called vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where a renovation project he launched has been riddled with problems. David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, was indicted on a single count of property destruction in Washington, D.C. court. District of Columbia U.S.

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The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved a revised $20.9 million budget for the Parks, Open Space and Cultural Services Department, restoring several services that had been slated for cuts while preserving most county funding for local arts organizations.

The spending plan comes one week after supervisors rejected an earlier proposal that would have eliminated the county’s contract with Arts Council Santa Cruz County and cut funding to the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History in half to help close a $590,000 budget shortfall.

Instead, the board directed staff to find other ways to balance the budget.

The adopted budget reduces county funding for both the Arts Council and the MAH by 15%—a cut of $25,500 and $23,100, respectively—instead of the deeper reductions previously proposed. The Parks Recreation Grant Program also was reduced by 25%, or $12,000.

The revised budget restores seven-day operations at the Simpkins Family Swim Center, maintains portable restroom service at county parks and funds extra-help park maintenance staff to address vegetation management and deferred maintenance.

To close the budget gap, county staff assembled a package of one-time funding and targeted spending reductions totaling $590,000.

The largest contributions include $100,000 each from the Measure K environment and parks allocations in Supervisorial Districts 1 and 2, $68,400 from the Department of Community Development and Infrastructure, and three separate $50,000 contributions from General Services, Risk Management and Measure Q funds. Additional savings came from reduced information technology costs and a deferred $15,000 equipment purchase by the Sheriff’s Office.

Deputy Parks Director Rebecca Hurley credited county departments for working together to avoid reductions in park operations and staffing.

“This has really been a spirit of collaboration amongst other county departments,” Hurley said, calling the effort to close the budget gap without cutting services “a really big collaborative effort.”

The revised budget also rejects a proposed pay-to-park pilot program that had been included in earlier budget discussions.

Last week’s proposal drew strong opposition from dozens of residents, artists and community leaders who urged supervisors to preserve funding for the Arts Council and MAH, arguing the organizations provide essential cultural and educational services throughout the county.

Jim Brown, executive director of Arts Council Santa Cruz County, thanked supervisors and county staff for finding an alternative but cautioned that the solution is temporary.

“We all know that today’s situation is a stop-gap,” Brown said. “With future budgets projected to be even tighter, I urge the county to look for dedicated solutions for the arts.”

Overall, the budget funds four divisions—Parks Operations, Cultural Services, Art in Public Places and County Service Area 11—with 57 full-time equivalent positions.

County staff warned that the budget relies heavily on one-time funding sources that will not be available in future years. Without long-term solutions, the department could face additional reductions to programs, operations and staffing during development of the 2027-28 budget.

The board also approved an updated fee schedule, effective July 1, increasing many park rental, pool and recreation fees to reflect inflation and rising operating costs.