By Andrew Rice
In local news, a new nonprofit in the high country is seeking to eliminate barriers for first responders to access mental health care and wellness services. According to the Watauga Democrat, The Responder Wellness Coalition of the High Country is founded and operated by Valerie Mailman and currently has a one person staff. Mailman said she hopes to partner with organizations to provide “culturally competent” mental health care to first responders to help them navigate the unique traumas experienced by those who work in emergency services. The coalition is hosting a meeting at 5:30 on February 21st at Perkinsville Church in Boone to learn about the nonprofit and how it will benefit the community.
In state news, the Wake County Public School System Superintendent announced that she will retire at the end of the school year. According to WRAL, Catty Moore announced her retirement Thursday morning after becoming a superintendent in 2018. Moore was the 10th superintendent in the school system’s 50-year tenure. At nearly 160,000 students, the school system is North Carolina’s largest and the 15th largest in the nation. Before taking the superintendent position, Moore was first a teacher in the school system beginning in 1988 at Enloe High School.
In national news, Google’s parent company, Alphabet, lost $100 billion in market value on Wednesday. According to NPR, Google’s new artificial intelligence technology produced a factual error in an ad demonstration. The ad was used to demonstrate the capabilities of its AI software, Bard, when it stated that the James Webb telescope took the very first pictures of “exoplanets” when it in fact did not. Ethics specialists pointed out that this is an example of the AI technology raising the risk of biased answers, increased plagiarism, and the spread of misinformation. CEO Sundar Pichai said Bard will be available exclusively to “trusted testers” before releasing the engine publicly in the coming weeks.
And now for a special weather report powered by Booneweather.com. Today is mostly cloudy with a high of 57 and a low of 39. Spotty rain is expected throughout the day. Stay dry!
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