San Diego, CA
Manny Machado ties Adrian Gonzalez on Padres all-time HR list as Friars beat Rays
![Manny Machado ties Adrian Gonzalez on Padres all-time HR list as Friars beat Rays Manny Machado ties Adrian Gonzalez on Padres all-time HR list as Friars beat Rays](https://media.nbcsandiego.com/2024/08/GettyImages-2169509600.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675)
Manny Machado started the season dealing with an elbow injury. Then he added a hip ailment and just didn’t look like himself.
Manny Machado is now healthy and looking like the future Hall of Famer we’ve come to know and love.
Machado had another monster night in Tampa, including a historic homer, in a 13-5 San Diego rout of the Rays to start a 3-game series on the Gulf Coast. In the 2nd inning, Manny detonated a 3-run homer to right-centerfield, his 161st dinger in a Padres uniform. The blast ties him with Eastlake High School alum Adrian Gonzalez for 2nd place on the franchise’s all-time HR list, just two behind Nate Colbert.
He added a pair of singles and had plenty of help from his fellow sluggers. David Peralta continued his renaissance with a 2-run homer in the 4th inning, a no-doubter that nearly reached the scoreboard beyond the right field seats at Tropicana Field. In the 7th inning, Xander Bogaerts hit a line shot that snuck over the left field wall for his 7th homer of the year.
Jackson Merrill and Jake Cronenworth chipped in with two hits each and Jurickson Profar showed off his supreme plate discipline, drawing four walks. It was one of the most complete offensive performances of the season for an offense that’s been among the game’s best over the last five months.
The Padres can win the series on Saturday afternoon with Randy Vasquez on the mound against Rays righty Shane Baz.
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San Diego, CA
San Diego Unified reviewing investigation into school superintendent
![San Diego Unified reviewing investigation into school superintendent San Diego Unified reviewing investigation into school superintendent](https://media.nbcsandiego.com/2024/08/San-Diego-Unified-reviewing-investigation-into-school-superintendent.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675)
The San Diego Unified School District board plans on meeting Friday afternoon to review the results of an investigation of the district’s superintendent.
The school leader is facing misconduct allegations from former female district employees, according to NBC 7’s media partners at the Voice of San Diego, which first reported back in May that the district hired an outside firm to look into allegations against Superintendent Lamont Jackson.
Since then, the district and the board have declined to comment or provide any more details, but the VOSD cites four sources with knowledge of the matter who say the results are in and that the district is currently reviewing them and plans on a closed-door session regarding the matter at 2 p.m. on Friday.
“The San Diego Unified School District Board of Education will meet in closed session at 2 p.m. today, Aug. 30, to discuss the findings of a third-party investigation into Superintendent Dr. Lamont Jackson,” the district said in an email sent out on Friday morning. “Board President Shana Hazan plans to make a statement in the auditorium following the closed session meeting.”
Jackson was hired two and a half years ago, after President Joe Biden tapped Jackson’s predecessor, Cindy Marten, as the U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education.
As of Thursday, the teacher’s union had no comment regarding the investigation.
In May, NBC 7 reported that the district hired a Los Angeles law firm to handle the internal investigation, but the school district would not say at that time what the investigation entailed. The Voice of San Diego later reported the internal investigation was focused on Superintendent Lamont Jackson.
NBC 7 contacted SDUSD in May, and a spokesperson said in an email that the “district is precluded from commenting on personnel matters.” The station also reported at that time that it reached out to all school board members and the district’s teachers’ union, but none commented on the investigation.
The contract from the law firm, Sanchez & Amador, LLP, states the district retained the firm April 10, 2024, for representation “in sensitive internal investigations” for a rate of up to $540 per hour. At a public school board meeting on April 30, 2024, the school board approved the contract for an anticipated cost of $100,000.
The contract says attorney Lupe Valencia will have primary responsibility for the investigation. According to the law firm’s website, Valencia “directed and/or oversaw hundreds of internal investigations arising from a variety of employment-related claims, including harassment, discrimination, whistleblower retaliation, code of conduct violations, and alleged fraudulent business practices…”
San Diego, CA
OpenAI and Anthropic agree to let U.S. AI Safety Institute test and evaluate new models
![OpenAI and Anthropic agree to let U.S. AI Safety Institute test and evaluate new models OpenAI and Anthropic agree to let U.S. AI Safety Institute test and evaluate new models](https://media.nbcsandiego.com/2024/08/108027297-1724953860505-gettyimages-2165348269-porzycki-openaise240808_npWS0.jpeg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675)
- The U.S. AI Safety Institute on Thursday announced it had come to a testing and evaluation agreement with OpenAI and Anthropic.
- The agreement allows the institute to “receive access to major new models from each company prior to and following their public release.”
- A number of AI developers and researchers have recently expressed concerns about safety and ethics in the increasingly for-profit AI industry.
OpenAI and Anthropic, two of the most richly valued artificial intelligence startups, have agreed to let the U.S. AI Safety Institute test their new models before releasing them to the public, following increased concerns in the industry about safety and ethics in AI.
The institute, housed within the Department of Commerce at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), said in a press release that it will get “access to major new models from each company prior to and following their public release.”
The group was established after the Biden-Harris administration issued the U.S. government’s first-ever executive order on artificial intelligence in October 2023, requiring new safety assessments, equity and civil rights guidance and research on AI’s impact on the labor market.
“We are happy to have reached an agreement with the US AI Safety Institute for pre-release testing of our future models,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in a post on X. OpenAI also confirmed to CNBC on Thursday that, in the past year, the company has doubled its number of weekly active users from late last year to 200 million. Axios was first to report on the number.
The news comes a day after reports surfaced that OpenAI is in talks to raise a funding round valuing the company at more than $100 billion. Thrive Capital is leading the round and will invest $1 billion, according to a source with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named because the details are confidential.
Anthropic, founded by ex-OpenAI research executives and employees, was most recently valued at $18.4 billion. Anthropic counts Amazon as a leading investor, while OpenAI is heavily backed by Microsoft.
The agreements between the government, OpenAI and Anthropic “will enable collaborative research on how to evaluate capabilities and safety risks, as well as methods to mitigate those risks,” according to Thursday’s release.
Jason Kwon, OpenAI’s chief strategy officer, told CNBC in a statement that, “We strongly support the U.S. AI Safety Institute’s mission and look forward to working together to inform safety best practices and standards for AI models.”
Jack Clark, co-founder of Anthropic, said the company’s “collaboration with the U.S. AI Safety Institute leverages their wide expertise to rigorously test our models before widespread deployment” and “strengthens our ability to identify and mitigate risks, advancing responsible AI development.”
A number of AI developers and researchers have expressed concerns about safety and ethics in the increasingly for-profit AI industry. Current and former OpenAI employees published an open letter on June 4, describing potential problems with the rapid advancements taking place in AI and a lack of oversight and whistleblower protections.
“AI companies have strong financial incentives to avoid effective oversight, and we do not believe bespoke structures of corporate governance are sufficient to change this,” they wrote. AI companies, they added, “currently have only weak obligations to share some of this information with governments, and none with civil society,” and they can not be “relied upon to share it voluntarily.”
Days after the letter was published, a source familiar to the mater confirmed to CNBC that the FTC and the Department of Justice were set to open antitrust investigations into OpenAI, Microsoft and Nvidia. FTC Chair Lina Khan has described her agency’s action as a “market inquiry into the investments and partnerships being formed between AI developers and major cloud service providers.”
On Wednesday, California lawmakers passed a hot-button AI safety bill, sending it to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk. Newsom, a Democrat, will decide to either veto the legislation or sign it into law by Sept. 30. The bill, which would make safety testing and other safeguards mandatory for AI models of a certain cost or computing power, has been contested by some tech companies for its potential to slow innovation.
WATCH: Google, OpenAI and others oppose California AI safety bill
San Diego, CA
Teens busted after strong-arm robbery in Ramona; ghost guns seized
![Teens busted after strong-arm robbery in Ramona; ghost guns seized Teens busted after strong-arm robbery in Ramona; ghost guns seized](https://media.nbcsandiego.com/2024/08/Ramona-Robbery.jpg?quality=85&strip=all&resize=1200%2C675)
Two teenagers were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of carrying out a violent commercial armed robbery in Ramona three weeks ago, authorities reported.
Deputies took Jahziel Hayes, 18, and a 16-year-old boy into custody without incident at a home in the 1700 block of San Vicente Road in Ramona at about 5 a.m., sheriff’s Sgt. Sean Gallagher said.
While searching the residence, the personnel found “items connected to the robbery” and seized two unserialized ghost guns, the sergeant said.
Hayes and the younger suspect, whose name was withheld because he is a minor, allegedly assaulted an employee at Stars gas station in the 1900 block of Main Street in Ramona and stole merchandise from the business about 3:30 a.m. Aug. 10.
The suspects were booked into San Diego Central Jail and juvenile hall, respectively, on charges of robbery, assault with a deadly weapon and possession of an illegal firearm, Gallagher said.
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