These days, millions of Americans ask chatbots about everything under the sun 鈥� and politics is no different. Candidates are starting to realize they need to position themselves in ways that make sure they鈥檙e included in those answers.

A research project done by a progressive political group called Run For Something has created an AI tool called 聽鈥� short for campaign insight 鈥� that works to help campaigns understand what is and isn鈥檛 being said about them in chats.

鈥淲e were trying to figure out just what ChatGPT is saying about our 400-odd endorsed candidates last year,鈥� said Jordan Haines, the chief technology officer for Run For Something.

鈥淲hen folks ask who’s the most progressive candidate running for school board, or they ask about a particular race, are they getting back information from ChatGPT? It turned into a whole thing as we realized the scope of the answers and how much volatility and noise in that there is.鈥�

Different AI chatbots will provide different answers and utilize different sources. What they found was, in some cases, legitimate candidates in big, statewide races weren鈥檛 even registering.

鈥淐hatbots are often doing real-time web search,鈥� Haines said. 鈥淲hen you ask a question, they’re going and searching the web and then putting together an answer for you. And so your race needs to show up as an actual race, and then you need to show up as a candidate.鈥�

That鈥檚 important because chatbots can be really opinionated.

鈥淐hatbots are surprisingly willing to make recommendations to folks on who to vote for, to rank candidates, to differentiate candidates in a race based on issues,鈥� said Haines, making it important to understand how the AI tools gathered the information behind those answers.

鈥淭he optimizing for AI answers is a superset of the things that you need to do to optimize for traditional search,鈥� he explained.

鈥淭hese chatbots are doing traditional search. You have to show up in the traditional search results. But then the content you have in those places really matters because these chatbots are trying to put together a cohesive narrative around your campaign or what’s happening in the race.鈥�

That means campaigns are starting to realize they need to tailor some of the information they post on their websites in better ways.

One example of that, he said, is FAQ type content and policy positions that used to be brief blurbs are now getting far more detailed.

That language then finds its way into the answers being provided by chatbots, which is important to know since news articles behind a paywall might show up high in a traditional Google web search, but are rarely included in answers from chatbots. Local news articles are also more likely to be referenced than a national news source is.

Haines also found you can ask the same questions in different languages and get different answers.

鈥淭here is a big difference,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he sources are different. The answers are different when we translate them and translate them back.

Figuring out why is something he鈥檚 still working on. But the importance of this work has been made clear by the different campaigns utilizing this particular tool.

鈥淲hen they go and knock doors,鈥� Haines explained, 鈥渋t used to be that voters were asking about something they saw go viral on social recently. Like, 鈥楧id you see this? Is it true?鈥� Now they’re saying 鈥楥hatGPT said this about our community or said this about your candidacy. Is that true?鈥�

鈥淪o these campaigns are looking for a way to get ahead of those questions by using Campsight to monitor what ChatGPT and Google AI are saying,鈥� he added.

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A pair of studies is shining more light on how kids are using AI, what they鈥檙e finding with it and how much their parents might be in the dark on it all.

鈥淯sing AI is nearly universal among tweens and teens in America,鈥� said Geoffrey Fowler, the head of public engagement for the Youth AI Safety Institute at Common Sense Media. 鈥淚t’s hard to overstate how much AI has become a part of their lives. They’re using it for school. They’re using it for fun. They’re using it to communicate, and they’re using it to talk about things that, frankly, we would rather have them talking to adults and trusted humans about.鈥�

He said that includes topics like their bodies, their relationships and other problems they might be facing on a day-to-day basis.

鈥淲e know that is a dangerous path for kids to go down with AI systems, with chatbots, because they’re not human and they are not, frankly, designed well enough at this point to really be able to answer some of those questions appropriately,鈥� Fowler said.

One of his group’s finds growing dependency on AI among teens, with those who might be struggling in school turning to AI for help. He also said kids who report feeling lonelier tend to use AI more frequently for social and emotional support.

鈥淲e can’t necessarily say that AI is making kids feel lonelier, but we can say that the lonelier kids are turning to AI,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淭hat’s disturbing because we know that those kids might need more human support, and they’re much better served by friends and parents and counselors and teachers than by a bot.鈥�

A found that AI is lowering the barrier to sexually explicit material among teens and tweens.

In fact, it found almost half teens said they鈥檝e seen sexually explicit material they believed was AI-generated. In most cases, that exposure was not something they were seeking either. Within that group coming across the explicit material, a quarter of them said it involved either themselves or someone they knew.

鈥淭his is just a new super powerful form of it that we have to be extra aware of because it can have real lasting damage on communities and on kids’ relationships,鈥� Fowler said.

鈥淢any adults, myself included, assume that when you hear the term deepfakes, that’s a problem for celebrities and politicians,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut the real takeaway here is that this is also a part of the lives of teenagers. So much so that many of them say they’re fearful it’s going to happen to them, and they’re even changing some of their behavior online to try to keep it from happening to them.鈥�

But a common theme in both reports is that parents aren鈥檛 talking about AI with their kids. The July report found only 20% of teens have talked about AI-generated sexual content with a trusted adult. The other report, released in June, found more than 40% of kids aren鈥檛 having conversations about AI safety with either parents or teachers.

鈥淚t’s hard to blame parents for this,鈥� Fowler said. 鈥淭hey feel that their kids are way ahead on this technology. They may well be, but the reality is, you don’t have to be an expert to have a conversation with your kid and to have an open door to talk about what you鈥檙e using.”

鈥淚 think adults have to catch up with kids in a big way about all the different things that AI can do, and all the different ways it’s becoming part of their lives,鈥� he added.

But he also said Big Tech can be doing more too. Fowler said Apple and Google could do more to get certain apps that help create deepfake, pornographic content, off their app stores. He also faulted social media companies for not doing enough to keep certain content from spreading within their platforms too.

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This case involves 22-year-old Antoine Coupland, a Canadian citizen who enrolled as a freshman at the school in January. But in denying his case, the NCAA cited his experience with a team in Croatia, as well as the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in the MLS Next Pro developmental league, where he was loaned out to Vancouver’s first team in Major League Soccer.

He played a total of 14 minutes and scored a goal in two games for Vancouver’s first team.

鈥淭hey’re trying to say he went pro, which he didn’t,鈥� said Tim Maloney, Coupland鈥檚 attorney in the matter, in an interview with 小萝莉影视.

He鈥檚 asking for a temporary and permanent injunction that would allow Coupland to play. A hearing on the matter is set for next week in Upper Marlboro.

鈥淭his is a young man who did what thousands of young soccer players do, which is he had youth training experience in the minor leagues, but never went pro,鈥� Maloney said.

Neither the NCAA nor the university would comment, though documents filed with the courts show Maryland officials arguing strenuously on Coupland鈥檚 behalf.

鈥淭he NCAA鈥檚 decision to deny Mr. Coupland鈥檚 reinstatement of eligibility is comprised of opinion-based characterizations that are contradicted by factual statements,鈥� university President Darryll Pines wrote in a five-page letter appealing the decision.

It鈥檚 part of the court record submitted by Maloney.

鈥淢r. Coupland鈥檚 case sits at the intersection of multiple evolving, and, at times, inconsistent areas of NCAA pre-enrollment legislation and eligibility certification practice,鈥� Pines added.

The MLS Player鈥檚 Association also wrote the NCAA, saying it wanted to help the organization in 鈥渁ccurately assessing鈥� Coupland鈥檚 eligibility status as it pertains to the contract he signed. It specifically pointed out Coupland did not receive the benefits or pay MLS first-team players get.

In the complaint, Coupland argues the NCAA was wrong to say he was given compensation beyond actual and necessary expenses, and that some of the numbers offered up by the NCAA as compensation he received, or expenses he incurred, were arbitrary and done in bad faith.

鈥淣CAA uses opaque average expenditure data and frequently changing criteria to make its 鈥榓ctual and necessary鈥� expenses,鈥� the lawsuit argues. 鈥淭his data and criteria are not transparent. They are published nowhere.鈥�

However, the lawsuit says the NCAA鈥檚 decision about Coupland is focused on the MLS games he played, and is a result of ongoing debates in the media and on Capitol Hill about professionalism in college sports.

Coupland鈥檚 lawyer says in the complaint the NCAA was looking to make 鈥渁 result-oriented decision,” and that NCAA staff “confirmed that NCAA senior leaders were focused on controlling the amateur narrative of intercollegiate athletics and permitting Antoine to compete might undermine that narrative.鈥�

鈥淪tudent-athletes routinely sign short-term professional agreements without forfeiting eligibility,鈥� said the complaint. 鈥淏ut the NCAA mistakenly believed Antoine signed the standard professional (MLS) agreement, not the short-term agreement.鈥�

It also points to other soccer players with appearances in England鈥檚 Premier League, as well as the growing list of basketball players who played professionally in Europe before going to college, and says if injunctive relief isn鈥檛 granted, it jeopardizes Coupland鈥檚 academic career.

鈥淵et the NCAA portrays Antoine鈥檚 signing of these agreements themselves as violations, or an intent to professionalize, when they are not,鈥� it argues.

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Six people are in custody and five more could soon be charged too, in connection with a series of retail robberies going back at least a year and a half in Prince George’s County, Maryland.

Prince George鈥檚 County police said that since February of 2025, the six are responsible for over $500,000 worth of stolen merchandise, much of which was later resold online or privately.

The six are identified as 30-year-old Daryl Michael Jackson of D.C., 25-year-old Cyan Rocke of Capitol Heights, Maryland, 37-year-old Marco Morgan of D.C., 31-year-old Tia Courtney of Capitol Heights, Maryland, 26-year-old Chyna Parker of Suitland, Maryland, and 22-year-old Quasaan Parker of Suitland, Maryland.

Rocke, Morgan and Jackson are facing federal charges for their crimes.

鈥淭his was their profession. This is what they do,鈥� said Prince George鈥檚 County Police Chief George Nader Tuesday. 鈥淭hey go out all day, every day, and steal from different merchants throughout the region, different states and they resell these items. Sometimes they take orders for these items.鈥�

He said the stores that were hit were located in Maryland, D.C., Virginia, Delaware and Pennsylvania, and the items stolen were wide-ranging.

鈥淐lothing stores, electronics, hardware stores,鈥� Nader said. 鈥淚t wasn’t limited to one retailer or another.鈥�

Earlier this year, the department created a special task force focused on retail theft. This isn鈥檛 the first arrest from that task force, but the chief said it ranks among the most significant.

鈥淥ne point I want to make clear, none of the individuals facing these charges are strangers to law enforcement. They have all had encounters with law enforcement in the past,鈥� Nader said. 鈥淭hese are individuals who have previously come to the attention of law enforcement, and their continued involvement in criminal activity demonstrates why investigations like this are so important.鈥�

The arrests were made at three different locations around the region, and Nader said police also recovered a handgun and a large amount of illegal drugs to include crack cocaine, PCP and fentanyl.

About $20,000 worth of stolen merchandise was also recovered.

Describing this as an organized enterprise is significant under a change in state law. It means police can also charge the suspects with crimes that happened in other jurisdictions, if they can prove the illegal activities were planned in Prince George鈥檚 County.

鈥淚’m hoping that this is taken very seriously,鈥� Nader said. 鈥淲e’re not going to tolerate it in the state, and we’re not going to tolerate it in Prince George’s County. We are watching, and we’re going to continue to investigate and hold people accountable that are involved in these organized retail thefts.鈥�

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The law, passed in the spring, assesses a $5,000 annual fee on the owners of liquor stores, tobacco stores, gun stores and consolidated storage businesses. In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs say the council dubbed it as a 鈥渦se and occupancy鈥� fee, but that it鈥檚 actually a tax, and that under state law, the county can鈥檛 assess that without state permission.

Other businesses can continue to pay the one-time fee of $370.

鈥淚t’s an illegal tax,鈥� said Tim Maloney, the lawyer representing the 50-plus businesses that are part of the lawsuit. 鈥淭he county has no authority to impose a special tax on liquor stores, or storage facilities, or gun ranges, or vape shops, any of those things.”

A spokesperson for County Executive Aisha Braveboy declined to comment. The law was never signed by her, but she told 小萝莉影视 shortly after the legislation passed that she wouldn鈥檛 veto it because of the supermajority that passed it.

鈥淲e always have to balance what we want and desire as a county with the practical realities of business,鈥� Braveboy said after the legislation passed but before it became law.

At the time, she said she wasn鈥檛 going to veto the bill, and knew that meant the county would have to defend it in court.

鈥淭he reality is it passed with a super majority of the council鈥檚 support,” she said.

鈥淚 think it’s profoundly unfair, and they’ve been singled out,鈥� Maloney said. 鈥淭here’s no question they’ve been denied equal protection because everybody else is going to pay a use and occupancy permit 鈥� on a one-time basis, and they’re being asked to pay an annual $5,000 fee. So that’s discrimination on its face.鈥�

The lawsuit argues that under state law, fees can only be used to defray regulatory costs, but that this annual fee, which will go up in coming years, will be used to fund a quality of life improvement fund in the county, putting it in violation of state taxing authority.

鈥淭he State has not authorized Prince George鈥檚 County to impose a tax or an impact fee upon alcoholic beverage stores, tobacco and electronic cigarette stores, stores that sell firearms, and self-storage facilities,鈥� the lawsuit said.

The argument for the bill was led by Council Chair Krystal Oriadha, who said that those businesses 鈥渉ave a particularly detrimental impact upon Prince George鈥檚 County鈥檚 quality of life.鈥�

The public hearing before the law was passed on a 9-2 vote got heated, as Oriadha and other members of the council pressed business owners on where they lived and how strong their ties to the community were.

The two votes against the measure came from at-large council member Jolene Ivey and Sydney Harrison, who represents the county鈥檚 9th District but won the primary for the other at-large seat next year. Both cited concerns about the legislation’s legality as the reason they voted against it.

鈥淚 don’t think this one’s a particularly close call,鈥� Maloney said. 鈥淓ven the county council staff, when they were passing it, pointed out that there were significant legal problems, and this had never been attempted anywhere else.鈥�

While it鈥檚 the county being sued, Braveboy鈥檚 office initially deferred comment to the council.

Council Chair Oriadha did not respond to a message from 小萝莉影视.

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Initially, the lake was closed for swimming after someone was attacked by a beaver that later tested positive for rabies. A second similar attack prompted the area around the lake to be closed off.

鈥淲e feel reasonably confident that the lake is safe. However, I think in this instance we need to corroborate that,鈥� said Joshua Tabora, a furbearer biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. 鈥淲e don’t have a prospective date for reopening, and we are beginning to talk about what benchmarks we need to hit in order to guarantee the safety of the public.”

Tabora said the department is in its “fact-finding phase” and they don’t have all the information needed to guarantee that there is no risk to public health and safety.

He said beavers are rarely, if ever, associated with the rabies virus, though their behaviors make it likely that one of the beavers involved in a recent attack gave the virus to the other.

鈥淏eavers aren’t what you’d think of as like your typical vector species, which would be something like a raccoon, a striped skunk, or a red fox,鈥� Tabora said.

鈥淧resumably, how this spillover case happened is that鈥ne of these infected beavers previously would have had an encounter with one of those primary vector species, like perhaps a raccoon because they share similar habitats.”

He said animals can spread the virus through salivary contact, so the nearly constant grooming that behaviors conduct on themselves and each other is the likely mode of transmission of the disease.

The nature of the Frederick County park, with a creek that鈥檚 not very rapid and a lake that鈥檚 pretty isolate, along with the way beavers tend to live, lead Tabora to believe it鈥檚 likely those are the only two beavers to contract rabies.

鈥淚t’s entirely plausible that the two animals involved in the attacks are the only animals in the area,鈥� Tabora said. 鈥淲e’re doing a lot of follow-up surveys and on-the-ground work to confirm that is the case, and we’re trying to be as thorough as possible.”

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In Prince George鈥檚 County, Maryland, AI is being used to help students improve their storytelling skills. In Virginia’s Fairfax and Prince William counties, the technology is helping teachers with tasks ranging from lesson planning to other classroom duties.

But is it working?

Even as schools race to implement more AI tools, effective of their effectiveness remains limited. Researches said there is still relatively little high-quality research examining AI鈥檚 impact on K-12 education.

鈥淭here are a lot of tools being used in schools right now, and there’s just not a lot of evidence on how these tools are affecting students and teachers,鈥� said Lily Fesler, a senior researcher at the AI Hub for Education at Stanford University.

But some trends are beginning to emerge.

In some cases, AI appears to have a positive effect on K-12 student learning. Sometimes, it isn鈥檛. Fesler said outcomes often depend on how students are using the technology.

鈥淪everal studies have shown that giving students general purpose AI chatbots to study for an exam isn’t likely going to increase student exam scores and can actually decrease performance,鈥� Fesler said.

“Students often do better on tasks when they have access to those AI chatbots but then have trouble retaining that knowledge when those chatbots are taken away,” adding “What’s likely happening there is that students can be offloading some of the cognitive burden of the task onto the AI assistant, which can make studying feel easier, but also means that students aren’t retaining that knowledge.鈥�

Education-focused AI tools have shown more promising results, she said.

鈥淪tudents who use tutoring-specific AI assistants don’t show that same decline in test performance as students who use general-purpose AI chatbots,鈥� said Fesler.聽鈥淎nd AI tools can help students with things like more individualized feedback, feedback on writing assignments, which can also improve the quality of future essays that students write.鈥�

She said only about 20 high-quality research studies have examined these issues so far, making it difficult to draw firm conclusions. The rapid growth in AI programs and tools also creates challenges for school systems trying to determine which tools are most effective.

鈥淚 think the main thing for schools to be thinking about with student use is really how students are engaging with the tools and whether it’s encouraging students to be engaging more thoughtfully and deeply, and whether it’s giving more actionable feedback for students,鈥� Fesler said.

鈥淥r whether it’s really a tool for students to be offloading some of their thinking onto the AI chatbot.鈥�

When that happens, she said, students generally less likely to retain information.

AI’s impact on teachers

Like workers in many professions, teachers increasingly turning to AI to help with lesson planning and other job-related tasks.

Research suggests some tolls can improve classroom instruction, through findings remains limited and some concerns have emerged.

Fesler said some promising studies have examined AI assistants designed for online tutoring. Other tools can help teachers better understand student performance and allow educators to tailor instruction.

鈥淲hat a lot of teachers are doing with these tools is lesson planning, and there are studies showing that these AI tools can save teachers a lot of time in lesson planning,鈥� said Fesler.

Once they get the hang of it, teachers can upload instructional materials and ask AI tools to adapt lessons for specific classrooms. But the effectiveness of those plans can vary based on the subject matter, students and the teacher’s approach.

In some cases, researchers have found potential downsides.

鈥淲e also need to be a little cautious about this because another study found that teacher use of AI can also decrease student motivation in the classroom,鈥� warned Fesler.

More research will be needed to determine the most effective uses of AI in schools, she said.

鈥淎gain, this is conducted on very few studies, and 鈥� we鈥檙e still learning about this,鈥� Fesler added.

鈥淏ut I think there is kind of consistent findings that AI tools can save teachers a lot of time and can provide teachers with useful information about students in their classrooms.鈥�

Early research suggests the biggest lesson may not be whether AI is used, but how it is used. While many questions remain unanswered, studies indicate AI can provide meaningful support for students and teachers, even as educators continue to evaluate where the technology is most effective and where it may create new challenges.

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After the Commanders training camp wrapped up for the day Friday, about 100 active-duty members of all branches of the military gathered inside the bubble at Commanders Park for NFL Combine-style drills.

This was part of USAA鈥檚 Salute to Service campaign, and while not everyone knew it at the beginning, the winning team was getting two free tickets to a Commanders game later in the season.

After they finished stretching and warming up, the participants broke up into smaller groups and rotated around the field. Some ran the infamous 40-yard dash while another group ran the three-cone drill, which is all about switching direction in quick succession.

Another group did the broad jump, while the other two groups tried to see how far they could throw a ball after also running a gauntlet and catching a series of passes in quick succession.

鈥淭his is honestly very amazing,鈥� team leader and Air Force member Anthony Orezzoli said. 鈥淎 lot of these kids look like they could play on a college team.鈥�

Leading the drills was Armani Reeves, a former Ohio State football player who works as a trainer and leads these USAA sessions in every NFL city.

鈥淲e try to make it as real as possible,鈥� said Reeves. 鈥淲e want to make sure that they’re getting the full experience.”

鈥淎nytime that you get to do you know things that you see guys on TV do, it’s always really cool just to kind of put yourself in the shoes,鈥� he added.

He acknowledged that at the end of the day, everyone was still competing with each other, and some of them were pretty athletic.

The winning team was a group of Marines that included Sgt. Jerard Walters, who is stationed at Quantico. His group won in part because of his 4.5 second 40-yard dash and his winning leap in the broad jump.

鈥淚 thought it was gonna be like 7-on-7,鈥� said Walters. 鈥淏ut obviously, I like these drills. They’re like the NFL Combine, so I love it.鈥�

鈥淭his was actually really fun,鈥� said Danielle Medrano, who was also part of the winning team. 鈥淚’m not a football person, actually, but this was a really fun thing, especially to do with my fellow Marines.鈥�

While the rivalries were friendly, it was also made clear that the goal was to just finish better than the Marines. That didn鈥檛 happen.

鈥淭he Marine Corps obviously is a tough branch, but all the other branches put in their own work,鈥� she said with a smile. 鈥淪o do we. But you know, Marine Corps on top.鈥�

鈥淪ick, sick experience,鈥� said Nicholas Carchietta, whose 46-yard toss was one of the longer ones in that competition. 鈥淲e’re all humbled that we won, and then you know, get to go to a Salute to Service game.鈥�

Medrano was surprised to win the tickets. Growing up in Texas, she said she was a Houston Texans fan by proximity, but could see herself becoming a Commanders fan.

鈥淚’m really grateful for the opportunity and the experience that I had today,鈥� she said.

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For nearly a decade, Soul Mega brewing has basically been a side project for Elliott Johnson, a Howard University graduate who lives in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood. But after coming out on top in a nationwide contest with other brewers like him, he鈥檚 confident his passion is going to pay off.

Johnson is this year鈥檚 winner of the Samuel Adams Brewing and Business Experienceship, giving him the chance to meet one-on-one with Boston Beer Company co-founder Jim Koch. The goal isn鈥檛 to learn how to brew beer 鈥� Johnson鈥檚 Metropolis IPA helped him win the competition 鈥� this is about turning his brew into a better business.

鈥淚t provides coaching and mentorship in various aspects of the business through procurement, supply chain, finance, marketing,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淲e get to go out to Boston for a week and spend time with the business advisors and the CEO, and we also get to do a collab beer with them as well.鈥�

Johnson鈥檚 degree from Howard University is in finance, so he was ready for some of the business aspects of the beer industry.

鈥淗onestly, like the thing I found was the hardest so far is understanding the supply chain economics 鈥� and kind of how to push and grow the brand throughout your immediate territory,鈥� he said.

Johnson said he hopes Samuel Adams can teach him about how to turn a small concept into a brand with fanfare and room for future growth.

“I mean, they’re pretty much the pioneers of craft beer,” he said.

Earlier this year Johnson quit his full-time job to go all in on making Soul Mega happen, so the timing of all of this, he said, is perfect.

鈥淭here’s a point in every small business or a budding brand’s trajectory where they hit a place where they’re experiencing things they hadn’t experienced before,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淪o, the coaching piece is really crucial for us because although yes, I think we make great beer, as far as learning how to scale the business and operate some of the corporate functions, that’d be really valuable for us for sure.鈥�

Right now, you can find Soul Mega in various stores around D.C., Maryland and Delaware. Getting into Virginia is next on his list.

Long term, he鈥檒l continue to contract brew out of D.C. Brau鈥檚 facility in Northeast D.C., where he makes about 300 cases a month, calling them 鈥済reat production partners.鈥�

Johnson is still putting together the plans to make his trip to Boston, but he said the collaboration beer with Sam Adams should be out in the first part of 2027. Eventually he鈥檇 like to be able to have his own facility and live up to the mantra that is Soul Mega.

鈥淪oul Mega really means really passion magnified,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淪o, it is a reminder and a statement to all others to pursue their passion and just follow their dreams.鈥�

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PerVista AI, based in Prince George’s County, is providing enhanced security at Northwest Stadium in Landover and at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, home of the Falcons.

The focus is less on what鈥檚 happening inside the stadium 鈥� that鈥檚 what metal detectors and magnetometers are for. PerVista is focused on potential threats outside the stadium.

鈥淭he goal there is to make sure we’re protecting tailgating experiences, making sure that the parking lots are clear and making sure that fan experiences are safe against the threat of firearms,鈥� PerVista AI CEO Vennard Wright said.

鈥淚f someone pulls out a gun, we do have a data set of firearms and we’re making a match frame by frame against that data set,鈥� he said.

鈥淏ut we don’t rely on artificial intelligence alone. We have a 24/7 operations center where, whenever a threat is detected, it goes into our operations center and a human actually verifies whether it is a firearm or not.鈥�

Wright said the goal is to enhance safety where thousands of fans might be gathered and their guard might be down, whether it鈥檚 because they鈥檙e socializing and tailgating with friends or because they鈥檙e walking to the stadium gates. Similar technology is used at Bowie State University, and in smaller venues, such as churches and local governments.

As threats evolve, PerVista鈥檚 goal is to be on the lookout, without it feeling like you鈥檙e being closely watched.

鈥淭he goal really is to make sure that we are protecting people without them feeling like their information is being at risk of privacy violations,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淪omething to emphasize is that we’re not looking for people; we’re looking for weapons. So we’re not retaining any of the images unless there is an actual incident.鈥�

Which means, if everyone is having fun and there鈥檚 no problem, there鈥檚 also no recording.

鈥淭he only time those are activated is when there is the assumption that there is a crime underway,鈥� Wright said. 鈥淪ame thing with our technology. If nothing is happening, our technology does nothing. The only time it kicks into play is when a gun is detected, and that’s when the workflow kicks off.鈥�

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Alongside the pier of Libbey鈥檚 Coastal Kitchen and Cocktails, right next to where the Bay Bridge makes landfall on Maryland’s Kent Island, stood six guys in a boat weighed down by more than 30 bags full of oyster shells. Next to them on the boat鈥檚 bottom was a bunch of concrete and fabric mixed together into a half-cylindrical object.

The day before National Oyster Day, seven more guys wearing wetsuits climbed into that water to help their favorite bivalve.

The goal was to build new oyster beds around the pilings left over from an old pier near Libbey鈥檚. It鈥檚 not because the restaurant is looking to source new appetizers 鈥� it鈥檚 just to help clean the bay.

鈥淲e were worried when people would bring the boat here and tie up, and then you know a freighter goes by and the boat starts doing this,鈥� said Walt Petrie, one of the owners of Libbey鈥檚, as he moved his hands up and down. 鈥淲e tore it out.鈥�

The leftover pilings still stand tough and now, there鈥檚 a special tool that can work to restore oyster habitats around those pilings. It鈥檚 called an oyster cuff and it was invented by Niels Lindquist, CEO of North Carolina-based Sandbar Oyster Company.

鈥淭hat was a combination of cloth, plant fiber cloths and then cement to harden it up,鈥� Lindquist said. 鈥淪o it’s proving to be very effective in attracting oyster larvae and then protecting them for the early stages of their growth and then just being basically a catalyst for oyster reef creation.鈥�

The cuffs installed at Libbey鈥檚 were taken to a hatchery in Cambridge first, where a million oyster larvae were planted on them, as well as on the 36 bags of shells also set up around the pilings.

Together, a team led by John Consoli of Kent Island wrapped six bags of shells around each piling, and then two of those cuffs were strapped around a piling.

鈥淚f you looked at cement pilings, concrete pilings, they have beautiful oyster communities growing on them. Then you can see a wood piling right next to it, and you won’t see many oysters at all,鈥� Lindquist said.

鈥淭he reason for that is those pilings are treated to be toxic to a large suite of marine organisms that basically degrade wood,” Lindquist added. “You don’t often see many oysters growing on them. We thought that we could basically put a cement-type material on that cuff on the piling and develop a nice community on that where the wood itself would not support a good community of oysters.鈥�

鈥淚n about a year or two or three, they’ll have a little mini oyster reef at six of these pilings,鈥� Consoli said.

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The team set out at low tide Tuesday, but even then, the jellyfish-infested water was a good 7-8 feet deep and the current running through there was still really strong. Those who were in the water used ropes, life preservers and a ladder to help stay anchored where they needed to be.

Then the six guys in the boat would hand the material to those who were in the water, working like a delicate assembly line to get them all in the water. In all, it took about 90 minutes. Not bad for a first-time installation of this material on Kent Island.

鈥淭he way I look at it is, there’s at least one new oyster in the water here,鈥� Consoli said. 鈥淎nd I’m hoping there’s 300,000 or 500,000.鈥�

鈥淥ne adult oyster filters 50 gallons of water a day,鈥� he added. 鈥淚 can’t imagine 500,000 or a million, what they can do.鈥�

Consoli has also grown his own oyster habitat in the water by his house, and most of the guys who were there with him were also doing the same. The hope is that the ease and effectiveness of this project will inspire others along the water to do the same thing.

鈥淗opefully 鈥� you’ll see a nice oyster community growing on the cuff,鈥� Lindquist said. 鈥淚n this part of the bay, there aren’t a lot of larvae in the water to recruit to any of the hard structures here. Hopefully, in the future, with more restoration efforts, there will be many more.鈥�

With the number of private piers and pylons all around the Chesapeake Bay, never mind the different waterfront restaurants and homes there, the volunteers who came together for this installation see this as a simple but potentially powerful way to help restore the bay.

鈥淚’m just thrilled because I just think it’ll set us up for success,鈥� Consoli said. 鈥淚 have like 80 people on Kent Island now who are growing oysters who weren’t growing oysters a year or two ago. Now they can even do this if they have the deep enough water. They can do piling cuffs, too. So I’m excited. I think it can only lead to positive things for the bay.鈥�

Consoli said the project at Libbey鈥檚 cost a few thousand dollars, and that included two four-foot-long cuffs around a total of six pilings, plus the bags of oysters. The oyster larvae was the most expensive part. The jellyfish swimming around were just a painful hassle.

鈥淚 got stung all over. My hands have been stung. They got into my gloves,鈥� Consoli said afterward. He wasn鈥檛 the only one.

鈥淓verybody got stung. It’s a badge of honor.鈥�

But it was clear that he, and everyone else who were in and on the water, believed it was worth it.

鈥淥ne thing we need to do is get the bay cleaned up,鈥� Petrie said. 鈥淭his would be a great if this works here and they can do it in other places. Just imagine how it helps to clean the bay.鈥�

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In a , researchers noticed differing patterns in brain activity as children were listening to words and trying to process what they were hearing.

鈥淚ndividuals with autism who have the most difficulty communicating and understanding speech, they have a higher level of neural noise,鈥� said Kevin Pelphrey, a University of Virginia School of Medicine professor and one of the study’s authors.

He compared neural noise to the static in a radio signal.

“If you’re trying to tune in and get a good sound coming through the speakers, if it’s kind of mistuned, then you have more noise,” Pelphrey said.

Individuals with autism have higher levels of that kind of background noise, Pelphrey said.

The new discovery will help researchers figure out better ways to treat the symptoms some children with autism experience.

“That’s exciting to us because for the first time, it’s kind of moving beyond simply describing autism, which you know is important, but really trying to understand what are the brain mechanisms involved in autism,” he said.

“That will lead to us being able to actually do something about the symptoms, in this case the difficulties in processing speech.”

Pelphrey said being able to measure the amount of neural noise inside someone’s brain provides more insight into how they process speech and allows for more personalized care and instruction.

鈥淭hat would allow learning to happen much faster, much better, more extensive, so much better outcome for the child,鈥� he said.

There鈥檚 an additional benefit.

鈥淲e suspect that this inability to process speech also leads to a great deal of anxiety,鈥� Pelphrey said.

鈥淵ou know, imagine kind of like being in a crowded room and you’re really trying to understand what somebody’s speaking 鈥� it increases your anxiety in general and decreases your understanding of what’s going on in the world, which then leads to a lot of anxiety.鈥�

This isn鈥檛 likely to lead to a cure, but hopefully it improves the social communication abilities of some people with autism. This study is ongoing, and he said one of the sites where the research is still happening is Children鈥檚 National Hospital. They鈥檙e also looking for more participants.

鈥淎nybody interested in participating, they should just feel free to reach out to us,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e’ve expanded both to younger children than we studied in this particular paper, but also to young adults.鈥�

鈥淲e’re even getting very interested in aging and autism and trying to understand healthy brain aging using these same methods. So pretty much study anyone that’s interested across all age ranges.鈥�

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The owner of a popular bagel shop on Maryland’s Kent Island isn’t minding the store right now. That鈥檚 because of his other job 鈥� with the Minnesota Vikings.

Andrew DePaola founded DePaola鈥檚 Bagel and Brunch about three and a half years ago in Stevensville.

DePaola is from northern Baltimore County, but said his time at Rutgers University taught him about good bagels.

鈥淛ust as a kid growing up, I loved bagels. I loved eating them right out of the bag,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd then going up to New Jersey, spending years up there, I think kind of refined my palate a little bit with sandwiches and cream cheeses and spreads and things of that such.鈥�

His experiences visiting family on Kent Island, which he now calls home, also taught him that good bagels and cream cheese were missing there.

鈥淢y wife and I would come back to Maryland in the offseason, visit her sister and her husband in Kent Island, and we’d go out, have a good time, wake up the next morning, and just be like, 鈥業 always wish there was a place to grab like a bagel sandwich,鈥欌�� DePaola said.

So he opened one.

When DePaola is not in town, his parents, who used to run a restaurant in Baltimore County, supervise the business.

鈥淗onestly, I saw an opportunity, and I was hoping it would do well,鈥� he said.

Occasionally, he鈥檒l bring samples to his teammates and coaches in Minnesota. Their feedback is helpful, he said, and sometimes it shows up on the menu.

鈥淐ouple ideas that actually come from some of the guys on the team, some players, some coaches, just throwing in their input, like, 鈥楬ey, you should really try this in one of your cream cheese spreads. Or I wonder if this would go good as a bagel,鈥欌�� DePaola said.

DePaola can also boast of being the only long snapper in NFL history to be picked for the Pro Bowl four seasons straight, according to the Vikings.

At this point, DePaola is less the baker and more the quality control guy. He credits an expert he hired as the one who really gets her hands in the dough. But business is going well enough that a second store is at least something he and his family are willing to think about.

鈥淚 don’t know if we’ll open up another one,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat would be great if we could figure that out. But if not, I’m having a great time with the one location.鈥�

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Advocates for the Harbor of Refuge Lighthouse say if they can鈥檛 find a new place to put it, it鈥檚 a matter of when and not if it will fall into the ocean.

The lighthouse sits right on the line where the Delaware Bay feeds into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Cape Henlopen in Lewes. Giant rocks were used to help form an underwater wall of sorts in the late 1800s and early 1900s to provide extra support for the 76-foot-tall structure.

鈥淭he breakwater upon which it sits is gradually sliding into a large scour hole about 140 feet deep, right at the end of the wall itself,鈥� said Ron Parks, the president of the Delaware River and Bay Lighthouse Foundation. 鈥淥ver time, obviously, we don’t know how quickly, but depending on how storms, hurricanes come up the coast, it could very easily jeopardize the structure.鈥�

The lighthouse is situated on a 40-foot-wide caisson that sits atop the wall of rocks. But the more those rocks keep moving underwater, the more likely that lighthouse is to eventually tip over.

鈥淭here are actually places where the rocks have fallen off the wall and down into the hole,鈥� Parks said.

It鈥檚 dangerous enough that members of the public can no longer tour the lighthouse anymore.

鈥淭here’s nothing we can do to prevent it because the (Army) Corps of Engineers maintains and is responsible for that rock wall,鈥� Parks said. 鈥淎ll we can do is maintain the lighthouse structure itself.鈥�

That maintenance costs thousands of dollars a year. Repairing the rock wall, Parks said, comes with an estimated cost of $90 million to $120 million. But for $4 million to $7 million, the lighthouse could be dismantled and transported onto land. He said boaters have made clear they don鈥檛 want to see it moved to land.

The problem is, after the city of Lewes recently said no to relocating the structure there, no one else seems willing to take it either.

鈥淚f there’s a threat to its existence, then the only way that we can guarantee its future is to put into place a plan and then execute it to guarantee that it will still stand,鈥� Parks said.

鈥淲e’re really at the mercy of the community to, in effect, help us come up with a place to so that it can have a permanent location,鈥� Parks said.

鈥淏ut if you’re going to restore it, you certainly want to be able to let the public have access to it as almost a museum for that kind of maritime heritage and history,鈥� he continued. 鈥淪o it would require parking or some kind of egress to it, and just like many of the other lighthouses that have been restored, there’s usually some sort of a keeper’s cottage where administration would happen or there’d be some sort of a gift shop.鈥�

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the lighthouse itself,鈥� he admitted.

As if the situation isn鈥檛 complex enough, the lighthouse is also still in operation. It鈥檚 a navigational beacon in the Delaware Bay waters, so the Coast Guard also has some say over its future.

鈥淭hey operate the light and the foghorn and the solar panels and the batteries that make it go,鈥� Parks said. 鈥淲e own the building, the structure itself. So we would have to come to some kind of a compromise whereby we would move it after they had erected some sort of a tower or replacement for the light itself.”

鈥淚t’s kind of a complicated situation and we knew that it was going to involve many players, many separate conversations going on simultaneously,鈥� he added. 鈥淏ut we have to start with just the vision, just the idea, and why it matters, in order to bring the community up to speed. Then we can hopefully draw together a coalition of individuals, organizations, administrations, perhaps within the city or the county government, and also the Delaware Historical Society.鈥�

Finding a way to preserve the Harbor of Refuge lighthouse, as difficult as that is, isn鈥檛 an insurmountable problem to solve, Parks said. But he knows there鈥檚 only so much time to come up with the right solution.

鈥淭he next big storm could certainly damage the wall even further,鈥� he explained. 鈥淚’m hesitant to suggest that kind of an immediate threat. But on the other hand, it’s irrefutable that the wave action from storms and the ongoing tidal motion has had the effect on the wall that the Corps of Engineers is reporting.”

鈥淚t’s not a matter of if, it’s just a matter of when,鈥� he said.

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More than 400 kids participating in summer camps put on by nonprofits throughout Maryland and the District met in Anacostia Park on Friday for a full day of field day fun.

There were about 100 volunteers spread across a giant field, overseeing campers from around a dozen different locations as they played soccer, inflatable sumo, football and tug of war. They also played with slime, did art projects and learned a few things about healthy living.

The 鈥渟ummer Olympics鈥� style of fun was a collaboration between So What Else and Mentoring Through Athletics. They do it every summer.

鈥淲e’re bringing kids back to the fun of outside. You won’t see any devices out here,鈥� said Ashley Montgomery, of Mentoring Through Athletics. 鈥淵ou’re going to see good old-fashioned fun. We have limbo. We have tug of war. We have slime making. We’re doing things that we did once as kids, and that our kids can actually experience it as well.鈥�

鈥淥ur camps are very 鈥� in some ways they’re basic,鈥� said Dave Silbert, of So What Else. 鈥淏ut in some ways they’re very holistic and well-rounded. All of our camps are free, so we have to meet kids where they are, and we have to build teamwork and build safety, fun.鈥�

鈥淭hen you kind of get up that pyramid into learning and education and skill building,鈥� he added.

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As the day goes on and the air gets hotter, collaboration and sportsmanship also become lessons that the leaders here hope to impart.

鈥淭he larger lesson that I would love for kids to see is one: you can make relationships with people that you never met,鈥� said Montgomery. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing wrong with being social again. I think it’s also great to be able to connect with people from other camps, compete and still have fun.鈥�

Some of the kids who were participating all made clear that the fun and activities were the best part of the day. There was as much laughter during inflatable sumo wrestling as there was in tug of war. The social aspects was also something cited by the kids.

The afternoon is spent with a big kickball tournament, and that鈥檚 where the competition can get fierce, and Silbert said the staff can sometimes play a part in that.

鈥淪o you’re able to take those examples and take those lessons each and every day with these kids because every day there’s a there’s a crying child or an upset,鈥� said Silbert. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an opportunity to teach them some adversity and teach them how to handle adversity.鈥�

鈥淲hether it’s as an athlete, whether it’s as a student, whether as a parent, whether as a child, you have to be able to overcome adversity,鈥� agreed Montgomery.

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