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Andy Kranenburg, an orthopedic surgeon with two sons at the school, was one of several parents and grandparents who spoke in defense of free-play recess at Monday’s Medford School Board meeting.

Periods of unstructured physical activity play a crucial role in developing cognitive structure and increasing social and physical skills, Kranenburg said.

“Free play” has been taken away during some recess periods, said Julie Evans, the district’s director of elementary education, on Tuesday.

A Google spokesperson told TechCrunch that the barges are ‘an interactive space’ to teach people about its technology:

iPads were used this week during a presentation by Francis Maude, the Cabinet Office minister, on how the Government Digital Service could save the Government £2bn a year.

But after the presentation they were swiftly removed by No 10’s security staff to prevent Cabinet discussions being picked up, according to a report in the Mail on Sunday.

It is feared China, Russia, Iran and Pakistan have developed the ability to turn mobiles into microphones and turn them into transmitters even when they are turned off, using a Trojan computer virus.

Next month, the city plans to issue an RFP (request for proposals) “that would require fiber to be run to every residence, every business, and every government entity within the city limits of Los Angeles,” Los Angeles Information Technology Agency GM Steve Reneker told Ars today. The City Council this morning unanimously voted to move forward with drafting the RFP and will vote again in a few weeks to determine whether it’s ready for release, he said.

LA expects the fiber buildout to cost $3 billion to $5 billion, but the cost would be borne by the vendor. “The city is going into it and writing the agreement, basically saying, ‘we have no additional funding for this effort.’ We’re requiring the vendors that respond to pay for the city resources needed to expedite any permitting and inspection associated with laying their fiber,” Reneker said. “If they’re not willing to do that, our City Council may consider a general fund transfer to reimburse those departments, but we’re going in with the assumption that the vendor is going to absorb those up-front costs to make sure they can do their buildout in a timely fashion.”

The new fiber network would offer free Internet access of 2Mbps to 5Mbps (possibly subsidized by advertising) and paid tiers of up to a gigabit. The fiber network would also power Wi-Fi hotspots in public areas.

The winning bidder would not be required to offer landline phone service or television, but it’s likely that they would. “I would think that’s how they’ll justify the buildout, is being able to offer triple play [packages],” Reneker said.

Residential broadband in LA today typically ranges from 5Mbps to 50Mbps from the likes of AT&T, Time Warner, Verizon, Cox, and Charter. Gigabit speeds are available to businesses, but at a higher price than other communities, Reneker said. By expanding gigabit access and hopefully lowering the price, LA hopes to attract new entrepreneurs and keep existing businesses from leaving the city.

A review of medical records, police reports and a federal lawsuit show deputies with the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, police officers with the City of Deming and medical professionals at the Gila Regional Medical Center made some questionable decisions.

The incident began January 2, 2013 after David Eckert finished shopping at the Wal-Mart in Deming. According to a federal lawsuit, Eckert didn’t make a complete stop at a stop sign coming out of the parking lot and was immediately stopped by law enforcement.

Eckert’s attorney, Shannon Kennedy, said in an interview with KOB that after law enforcement asked him to step out of the vehicle, he appeared to be clenching his buttocks. Law enforcement thought that was probable cause to suspect that Eckert was hiding narcotics in his anal cavity. While officers detained Eckert, they secured a search warrant from a judge that allowed for an anal cavity search.

The lawsuit claims that Deming Police tried taking Eckert to an emergency room in Deming, but a doctor there refused to perform the anal cavity search citing it was “unethical.”

But physicians at the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City agreed to perform the procedure and a few hours later, Eckert was admitted.

What Happened

While there, Eckert was subjected to repeated and humiliating forced medical procedures. A review of Eckert’s medical records, which he released to KOB, and details in the lawsuit show the following happened:

1. Eckert’s abdominal area was x-rayed; no narcotics were found.

8. Doctors prepared Eckert for surgery, sedated him, and then performed a colonoscopy where a scope with a camera was inserted into Eckert’s anus, rectum, colon, and large intestines. No narcotics were found.

Throughout this ordeal, Eckert protested and never gave doctors at the Gila Regional Medical Center consent to perform any of these medical procedures.

“If the officers in Hidalgo County and the City of Deming are seeking warrants for anal cavity searches based on how they’re standing and the warrant allows doctors at the Gila Hospital of Horrors to go in and do enemas and colonoscopies without consent, then anyone can be seized and that’s why the public needs to know about this,” Kennedy said.

…

Think of it as automated police lineups for the YouTube generation.

While investigators manually scoured video to identify the suspected Boston Marathon bombers, smart-video surveillance would scan crime scene footage against tapes of known people, places and objects to derive names and possible whereabouts.

According to procurement papers, the FBI hopes to view demonstrations of motion picture pattern-matching in December. The bureau has invited contractors to submit written project proposals by Nov. 13. Up to 30 vendors with promising systems then will be invited to present at FBI Headquarters on Dec. 11.

“The FBI is currently undertaking a major issue study of video and digital image processing and video/digital image analytic capabilities to identify current capabilities, assess gaps, and develop a roadmap for the FBI’s future video analytics architecture,” stated an Oct. 30 contracting notice.

The desired connect-the-dots abilities include computing the degree of similarity among pedestrians, graffiti designs, buildings in the background of photos, and other recurring images in videos and stills.