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Feds given deadline to disconnect vulnerable software

Feds given deadline to disconnect vulnerable software

Federal agencies have less than 24 hours to disconnect Ivanti VPN appliances due to the risk of malicious exploitation caused by multiple software flaws.  On Wednesday, U.S. cybersecurity agency CISA blasted out an updated emergency directive ordering U.S. government agencies to act “as soon as possible and no later than 11:59 PM on Friday February 2, 2024.” Agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice, must disconnect all Ivanti VPN appliances because hackers may exploit the vulnerabilities and compromise agency information systems.  “The vulnerabilities in these products pose significant, unacceptable risks to the security of the federal civilian enterprise. As America’s cyber defense agency and the operational lead for federal civilian cybersecurity, we must take urgent action to reduce risks to the federal systems upon which Americans depend,” said CISA Director Jen Easterly. “Even as federal agencies take urgent action in response to this Directive, we know that these risks extend to every organization and sector using these products. We strongly urge all organizations to adopt the actions outlined in this Directive.” CHINESE HACKERS PREPARING TO ‘WREAK HAVOC’ ON AMERICAN CITIZENS, COMMUNITIES, FBI DIRECTOR WARNS CISA’s emergency directive comes on the heels of FBI Director Christopher Wray’s warning that China-backed hackers are looking to “wreak havoc” on U.S. communities.  “There has been far too little public focus on the fact that PRC [People’s Republic of China] hackers are targeting our critical infrastructure – our water treatment plants, our electrical grid, our oil and natural gas pipelines, our transportation systems. And the risk that poses to every American requires our attention now,” Wray told lawmakers Wednesday at a hearing on Capitol Hill.   CHINESE HACKERS OUTNUMBER FBI CYBER PERSONNEL ‘BY AT LEAST 50 TO 1,’ WRAY TESTIFIES  “China’s hackers are positioning on American infrastructure in preparation to wreak havoc and cause real-world harm to American citizens and communities, if and when China decides the time has come to strike,” he added.  The FBI recently shut down an effort by Chinese hackers to infiltrate hundreds of routers to target critical infrastructure.  The hackers, known as “Volt Typhoon,” used privately owned SOHO routers infected with the “KV Botnet” malware to conceal the Chinese origin of hacking activities targeting U.S. and other foreign victims, according to the Justice Department.  “The Justice Department has disrupted a PRC-backed hacking group that attempted to target America’s critical infrastructure utilizing a botnet,” Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement Wednesday. “The United States will continue to dismantle malicious cyber operations – including those sponsored by foreign governments – that undermine the security of the American people.” Fox News Digital’s Greg Norman contributed to this report. 

Georgia considers requiring cash bail for a wider array of crimes

Georgia considers requiring cash bail for a wider array of crimes

Georgia, once a self-proclaimed leader in criminal justice reform, is sliding a little further toward its old lock-’em-up ways. State senators voted 30-17 on Thursday to require cash bail for 30 additional crimes, including 18 that are always or often misdemeanors, leaving Senate Bill 63 only one House vote from passage. The measure also seeks to limit charitable bail funds or even individuals from bailing multiple people out of jail, reserving that ability only to those who meet legal requirements to be bail bond companies. ZERO CASH BAIL TO BLAME FOR ‘BRAZEN’ SMASH AND GRAB ROBBERIES IN LA, POLICE UNION SAYS The move could strand poor defendants in jail when accused of crimes for which they’re unlikely to ever go to prison. It could also aggravate overcrowding in Georgia’s county lockups. It erodes changes that passed nearly unanimously in 2018 under Republican Gov. Nathan Deal that allowed judges to release most people accused of misdemeanors without bail. It’s part of a push by Republicans nationwide to increase reliance on cash bail, even as some Democratic-led jurisdictions end cash bail entirely or dramatically restrict its use. That split was exemplified last year when a court upheld Illinois’ plan to abolish cash bail, while voters in Wisconsin approved an amendment to the constitution letting judges consider someone’s past convictions for violent crimes before setting bail. Republican Sen. Randy Robertson of Cataula, a longtime sheriff’s deputy and former state president of the Fraternal Order of Police, said Thursday that the measure is about “making our communities safer.” He’s argued in pushing the bill since last year that victims feel the justice system doesn’t care about them when suspects are released without cash bail. But Roy Copeland, a Valdosta lawyer who served on Deal’s Criminal Justice Reform Council, said the measure will cause people accused of misdemeanors to lose their jobs, homes and custody of their children when they get stuck in jail and can’t afford bail. “You’re literally taking food out of the mouths of children and adults,” Copeland said. It’s not the first time Republicans lengthened the list of crimes in Georgia where the accused is required to post cash or property bail. That list, already at 24, would be expanded further. Bail would be required for a second or later misdemeanor offense of reckless driving or criminal trespass, as well as for any misdemeanor battery. People would also be required to post bail for failing to appear in court for a traffic ticket if it’s their second or later offense. The maximum penalty for failing to appear for a traffic ticket is three days in jail. That’s also how long authorities have to bring someone before a judge after they’re arrested on a warrant for failing to appear. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp has said he wants more restrictive bail conditions. With state lawmakers, but not Kemp, facing voters this year, it could be a sign that Republicans intend to bash their Democratic opponents as soft on crime as they did in 2022. Kemp has also backed other anti-crime proposals, including longer sentences for some criminals. Some Republican supporters of Deal’s push say it’s not a betrayal of those years worth of efforts, noting that a Deal-backed provision requiring judges to take account of a person’s ability to pay in setting bail remains in law. “So much of what criminal justice reform was about was trying not to do a one-size-fits-all for every person,” said Sen. Brian Strickland, a McDonough Republican. “This preserves the discretion.” But Sen. Josh McLaurin, an Atlanta Democrat, rejected the idea that judges would set ultralow bail amounts, or that bonding companies would be willing to take that business. “When we says as a matter of law that jail is where we want people to be, and we create structural incentives for people to end up there, then those funnels are going to funnel people there,” McLaurin said. Several Democrats suggested the move to restrict bail funds is related to ongoing prosecutions of protesters against the police and fire training center that Atlanta is building. Those protesters deride the project as “Cop City.” Among 61 indictments that Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr won against protesters in September were charges against three people who operated a bail fund. The Bail Project, a fund which says it has bailed more than 1,500 Georgians out of jail since 2019, questioned the decision to limit groups and people who don’t meet the requirements to be bondsmen to bailing out only three people a year in any city or county. “This is like placing restrictions on a food pantry while claiming to solve hunger,” spokesperson Lizzie Tribone said in a statement.

Nebraska Gov. Pillen’s rejection of federal child food funding sparks legislative action

Nebraska Gov. Pillen’s rejection of federal child food funding sparks legislative action

Weeks after Republican Gov. Jim Pillen announced Nebraska would not accept federal funds to feed children in need over the summer, an Omaha lawmaker is pushing her bill to require the state to accept the $18 million for children who might otherwise go hungry at times when schools are closed. Pillen’s rejection of the funding in December drew a firestorm of vocal condemnation when he defended his position by stating, “I don’t believe in welfare.” Omaha Sen. Jen Day presented her bill Thursday to the Legislature’s Health and Human Services Committee, seeking to reverse Pillen’s rejection. Even if the bill were to pass, the deadline for a state to declare participation this summer was Jan. 1, although the federal government has sometimes allowed exceptions in other programs, officials have said. US FEDERAL PROGRAM TO PROVIDE FOOD BENEFITS FOR NEARLY 21 MILLION CHILDREN THIS SUMMER The Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer for Children — or Summer EBT — program was widely employed as part of federal assistance made available during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then made permanent in 2022. It provides pre-loaded EBT cards to families whose children are eligible for free and reduced-price lunches at school; some 150,000 children in Nebraska were eligible in the 2022-2023 school year. Those families would receive $40 per eligible child per month over the summer. The cards can be used to buy groceries, similar to how SNAP benefits are used. Nebraska is among more than a dozen states — all with Republican governors — that have opted out of receiving the funding. Those states include neighboring Iowa, where Gov. Kim Reynolds criticized the federal food program as doing “nothing to promote nutrition at a time when childhood obesity has become an epidemic. FOOD BANKS STRUGGLE AS MORE PEOPLE FACE FOOD INSECURITY Day, a Democrat in the officially nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, has found a Republican ally in her effort: state Sen. Ray Aguilar of Grand Island. Aguilar has prioritized Day’s bill, giving it a good chance of being debated by the full Legislature this session. Aguilar said the issue has brought a flood of calls from constituents in his largely rural district asking that he support the program. Statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing a steady increase in food insecurity among Nebraska families could help explain that flood of calls, Day said. According to the statistics, 10.7% of Nebraska households were food insecure in 2017. That percentage rose to 12.1% five years later in 2022. It was 13.5% in 2023, Day said. “This places Nebraska above the national average and gives us the 11th highest food insecurity in the nation,” she said. “As many of you know, food is more expensive than ever, and it’s squeezing low-income Nebraska residents hardest.” Following the backlash to his rejection of the Summer EBT funding, Pillen released a statement that Nebraska would continue to help food-insecure children through the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals and snacks at various sites when school is not in session. Providing on-site services also allows providers to spot and report issues such as malnutrition, neglect and abuse in children, he said. 258 MILLION PEOPLE FACED ACUTE FOOD INSECURITY IN 2020, UN REPORTS But Day and other critics countered that not all families have access to the on-site programs — particularly in Nebraska’s vast rural stretches, where sites can be many miles away from a struggling family. Seventeen people — many of them representing food pantries and services — testified Thursday in favor of Day’s bill, and another 153 people sent in letters of support. No one testified in opposition, but four people sent in letters opposed to the bill. Thirty-five states, all five U.S. territories and four tribes have opted into the program this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and nearly 21 million children in the U.S. and its territories are expected to receive food benefits this summer through it.

South Carolina Senate passes open carry bill with addition of free gun training classes

South Carolina Senate passes open carry bill with addition of free gun training classes

A bill passed in the South Carolina Senate on Thursday would allow gun owners to carry their weapon in public without a concealed carry permit and would provide free firearms training. The bill was approved by a 28-15 vote after nearly two weeks of debate surrounding concerns from some lawmakers and law enforcement officials over the open carry aspect. The addition of free firearms training is what led to a compromise and ultimately ended the debate. The proposal now returns to the House, where representatives will need to agree to the Senate’s addition of the free firearms training, and other changes, in order for the bill to make it to Gov. Henry McMaster’s desk.  If signed into law, South Carolina will join 27 other states – including nearly every one in the Deep South – that allow open carry without a permit. MARYLAND BILL WOULD BAN GUN CARRY FOR OWNERS WITHOUT INSURANCE POLICY OF AT LEAST $300K The Senate’s amendments to the bill also include a required statewide advertising campaign to inform South Carolinians of the free concealed weapons permit training classes while also informing residents that guns can be carried openly by those over 18. The proposed bill does not change the fact that convicted felons cannot legally carry guns and also keeps places like hospitals, schools and the Statehouse gun-free zones. Gun owners would also not be allowed to carry in other businesses that have decided to ban weapons. The bill also includes new state penalties of at least five years when a felon is convicted of a crime using a gun, enhanced penalties for those convicted of carrying a gun in prohibited areas, and up to three additional years in prison for someone convicted of a gun crime who has not taken the concealed weapons permit class. Republican Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey said the bill probably would not have passed the Senate without the aforementioned changes, according to The Associated Press. Though he does not have a formal estimate on how much it will cost the state per year to host at least two free training classes per week in all 46 counties, he guessed it would be at least $4 million based on the number of concealed weapons permits issued in South Carolina each year. CALIFORNIA JUDGE BLOCKS GUN CONTROL LAW REQUIRING BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR AMMO PURCHASES Republican Sen. Shane Martin celebrated the bill passing in the chamber and said allowing open carry has been a goal of his since he was elected to his position in 2008. “I don’t think it’s going to cause as many problems as they think it’s going to because the one thing we have to remember is the criminals are always going to be carrying,” the senator from Spartanburg County said, adding that the bill wasn’t exactly what he wanted, but the compromises were needed for it to pass. Sen. Mia McLeod, an independent who often votes with Democrats, said she is concerned the bill will turn South Carolina into the “Wild, Wild West” with “no licenses, no training [and] inadequate background checks.” Law enforcement leaders have expressed worry over people carrying guns without training or experience, and the possibility of encountering armed people at a shooting scene and not being able to determine who is a threat and who is trying to help. The concerns from law enforcement are what initially caused many Republican lawmakers to question the bill. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Indiana lawmakers advance bill aiming to combat declining literacy rates among third graders

Indiana lawmakers advance bill aiming to combat declining literacy rates among third graders

Indiana lawmakers have avowed to reverse the state’s long declining literacy rates with legislation targeting early elementary school years. Almost halfway through the legislative session, state Senators advanced a sweeping bill Thursday that could hold back thousands of third graders who do not pass the state’s reading exam. Republicans have balked at those who have labeled the measure a “retention bill,” saying students need the intervention now. “Retention is the absolute last resort if we’ve exhausted all other methods to help struggling readers,” the bill’s author, state Sen. Linda Rogers, told lawmakers. US SCHOOLS RACE TO CATCH UP ON READING AFTER COVID STALLS ACADEMIC PROGRESS The bill, which has the support of Gov. Eric Holcomb, Republicans who control the House chamber and the Indiana Department of Education, now advances to the House. Indiana’s proposal was partially inspired by the ” Mississippi miracle,” a term referring to the success of the Southern state in improving literacy scores over the last decade. The gains have been attributed in part to a third-grade retention policy, early intervention and the science of reading. On par with many states in the country, Indiana changed how reading is taught to elementary school children last year and implemented a phonetic strategy often referred to as the science of reading. GEORGIA GOV. KEMP PROPOSES $11.3M TO OVERHAUL LITERACY EDUCATION According to the Indiana Department of Education, about 18% of third graders did not pass Indiana’s reading test, IREAD-3, last year. Current Indiana policy is to keep these students from being promoted, but GOP lawmakers say exemptions are too widely applied. Department of Education data show more than 96% of students who did not pass the reading test were advanced to the fourth grade. Of the approximately 14,000 students who did not pass last year, only about 400 were retained in the third grade. The state has set a goal to have 95% of students pass IREAD-3 by 2027. Indiana’s literacy rates have been on the decline since the 2014-15 school year, with a six-point fall between the 2018-19 and 2020-21 school years. The bill approved by the Senate would require second-grade students to take the reading test – which is currently optional – as an early indicator of their progress. If they pass, students do not have to take it again in the third grade. The legislation outlines individual work to be completed with struggling students and summer schooling for students who do not pass. If a student does not pass in the third grade, they have the chance to attend summer school again and take the test one more time. If a student does not pass the test after three tries, they will be held back from the fourth grade. The state estimated that 6,350 more students would repeat third grade starting in the 2025-26 school year, according to the bill’s fiscal note. The bill does allow exemptions from retention including for some English language learners and students with disabilities. It also establishes reading assessments for students as young as kindergartners so parents and teachers know where they stand. Opponents, including many Democratic lawmakers who are in the minority in both chambers, say holding students back will strain the resources of schools if third-grade classes are forced to grow. Others say holding students back can have harmful social and emotional effects. A successful Democratic-authored amendment to the bill that passed Monday establishes an appeals process parents can take if they disagree with their child’s retention. MORE US SCHOOLS EMBRACE PHONICS LESSONS OVER TRADITIONAL ‘WHOLE LANGUAGE’ TEACHING Indiana’s largest teacher’s union, the Indiana State Teacher Association, has a neutral stance on the bill. Leaders have said they are in favor of the early intervention but wary of the retention piece. The Indiana School Board Association testified in support of the bill while the Indiana Parent Teacher Association testified against it. Improving the literacy skills of elementary school children has been a bipartisan priority for lawmakers, although Democrats want even earlier intervention in education. A bill filed by state Sen. Fady Qaddoura, a Democrat, sought to lower the mandatory age to send children to school from seven to five and expand a preschool voucher program. The proposal did not receive a committee hearing in the Republican-controlled legislature by Thursday’s deadline.