Voters across Chicago will line up to fill out their ballots on Nov. 5, 2024 in the presidential election. For many, voting is a chance to participate in local and national politics and elect representatives that share their values. Voters must choose how they want to vote and how to combat misinformation during elections. “I…
An Irish woman behind a string of Hallmark films says it is a dream come true to be producing the feelgood movies on set in West Cork — and using local talent.The US production company is currently shooting in Skibbereen, Baltimore and Ballydehob. Everyone from local extras to art designers have come together for the project, sparking hopes for more collaborations in the years ahead. While details of the actors and movie title have yet to be announced, Dublin-based producer Edwina Forkin from Zanzibar films said filming was going well. Filming is expected to be completed by the end of next week.The project, which is being undertaken in collaboration with Cartel Entertainment in the US, has been described as a romantic comedy similar to PS I Love You. It follows the romantic story of a woman who falls in love with a local man after travelling to Ireland with her mother.It is understood the leading female actors are from the US. An Irish actor has been cast as the movie’s coveted love interest.“We’re hoping this could be one of many in West Cork,” Ms Forkin said. Edwina Forkin: ‘We had been wanting to film in Cork for such a long time and now it’s finally happening.’“We had been wanting to film in Cork for such a long time and now it’s finally happening. West Cork Film Studios have been great. The staff there are really accommodating. There is so much talent in West Cork. We are trying to have as many West Cork locals on board as possible.” Ms Forkin said the response from the community had been really positive.“It’s really wholesome entertainment. Everyone knows Hallmark which is great because people realise it’s not going to be this gory slasher movie or anything like that. All the scenes are going to show West Cork in a really nice light.” The film producer, who is from Blackrock in Dublin, said she grew up watching Hallmark movies.“Hallmark movies are very family orientated. I knew the brand very well and enjoyed the aspirational storylines and beautiful lighting. They are films you can watch with your mum or your granny so I always enjoyed them. “My mum was delighted when I got my first Hallmark movie because she always loved their films. After she passed I got so many more. It was like she was throwing them at me from above.” Well-known Hallmark productions filmed in Ireland include As Luck Would Have It and Christmas at Castle Hart. However, this will be the first film of its kind to be shot in West Cork.The crew at West Cork Film Studios, from left, Caroline Keoghane, Lynsey O’Leary, Colyne Laverriere, Eoghan Horgan, Edwina Forkin, Alan Forkin, Caroll O’Reilly, Brian Forkin, Grace Sexton, John Norton, Stephen O’Hanlon and Liam Neville. “I have already done four films this year. Last year, I did seven. A lot of these are Christmas films so we always have decorations in storage that are ready to go. A lot of the time the scenes shot in Ireland will be made to resemble another country. “For example, a lot of the filming for the movie A Norwegian Christmas was done in Ireland. We managed to make Norway in Blackrock. We shot in Bergen for a few days to set the scenes. It’s a hybrid approach we have adopted for many of the films. It’s a machine so you have to have everything turned around really quickly. It’s really important that you don’t drop the ball.” She hopes Ireland can attract more film productions in the years ahead.“A lot of the previous Hallmark films were filmed in Canada. Now, they have their sights set on Europe, which is really exciting. The combination of tax breaks and beautiful scenery have made Ireland a very attractive place to film in.”
The importance of good protocol and instrument design for clinical outcome assessments
Many factors contribute to the success of a clinical trial. These can vary depending on the phase, therapeutic area and indication. However, the bedrock of a successful clinical trial is a well-designed protocol with reliable and valid measurements of biomedical and health-related outcomes. A well-written protocol ensures that good quality data is collected. More specifically, clinical trial data must be of sufficient quality to enable meaningful comparison, have adequate scientific rigor and satisfy regulatory standards. Put simply, a clinical trial is only as good as its data.
Clinical trials data fall into two main categories: biomarkers and clinical outcome assessments (COA). Biomarkers measure characteristics, for example, blood pressure that indicates biological or pathologic processes or responses to intervention. COAs describe or reflect how an individual feels, functions, or survives. Although generally more subjective in nature, COA can and should be subject to scientific rigor and the application of science can make for a better patient experience and improved data quality.
As technology has evolved and become more present in our daily lives, the ability for technology to improve clinical research has grown. At Clario, we see these benefits every day across our clinical trial management platform. The collection of COA electronically (eCOA) has been a game changer in clinical research. eCOA has facilitated decentralization of trials and hybrid clinical models by making data available to sites and monitors in real time and enhancing the ability to get information from patients in diverse environments. We can integrate this information better and with less effort because of the increased data quality and the ability for validation or adjudication. Electronic data collection allows for custom programmability, date and time stamping, prevention of data omissions and restrictions of data entry to prevent retroactive or forward completion or the review of previously recorded data. As a result, eCOA datasets are more reliable, accurate, and complete as compared to paper COA.
eCOA designs include alerts and compliance triggers to make sure we’re collecting the data that we need.On the backend, we can benchmark the data received from patients with metadata or data from connected devices, creating a robust assessment of the clinical outcomes.The availability of modern technology, including smartphones and tablets in the home, has enabled electronic patient reported outcomes (ePRO) to provide patients with greater flexibility and input in their participation in clinical trials. Clinical trials now routinely offer participants the option of using their own smartphone to enter study data (a method called BYOD—or bring your own device).
It’s easy to get excited about the promise of technology in clinical trials.If you had told us 20 years ago that there was a way to avoid the hundreds of hours and massive room for error introduced by the manual data entry process that would have been cause for celebration.
Tracking Central Massachusetts tourist locations’ decisions and challenges – and how they handled them over the last three decades – is an exercise in business strategy. How do you get people to keep coming to your attraction?
More than 3.5 million guests visited New England Sports Center in Marlborough; Wachusett Mountain Ski Area in Princeton; indoor water park Great Wolf Lodge New England in Fitchburg; and Worcester’s Polar Park and DCU Center in 2023, according to the Worcester Business Journal 2024 Book of Lists.
So, what has made these destinations draw crowds over the past 35 years?
And what’s ahead?
Unique operations
Standout superstars Wachusett Mountain, DCU Center, and New England Sports Center have survived the pandemic, industry challenges, and destination trends through a common focus, according to Monique Joseph, president of Discover Central Massachusetts.
“These three have shown exceptional ability to innovate while staying true to their core strengths,” Joseph said. “Their forward-thinking approach has not only helped them navigate challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic but has also allowed them to thrive in a competitive market. By remaining deeply connected to their communities and continuously enhancing their offerings, these destinations have managed to retain and even grow their appeal.”
This is true even when you have a formidable enemy in Mother Nature.
Mountain mama
Jeff Crowley’s late father Ralph Crowley Sr. began leasing the ski mountain in the 1960s. Each year, Crowley said, the destination initiates a $2-million capital expenditure program.
Photo I Courtesy of Wachusett Mountain Ski Area
Jeff Crowley, president of Wachusett Mountain Ski Area
Run by Jeff and his siblings, Carolyn (Crowley) Stimpson and David Crowley, Wachusett Mountain has 27 trails, eight ski lifts, and 100 percent snowmaking ability – it also has climate change as a constantly evolving problem.
“Climate change is why we are having so many rain events – 23 last year,” said Jeff Crowley, president of Wachusett Mountain. “It makes it hard to get psyched up to go ski. But it’s a good experience in some respects. People can have a great experience, as they have the mountain to themselves.”
So, it’s not so much the need to have snow to operate the ski mountain anymore that’s the problem, says Crowley, it’s a perception among some that natural snow is needed to ski.
In fact, he says, man-made snow is better for skiing and lasts longer.
“We’re spending (a) half-million dollars this year on fan-type snowmaking units to enable us to get the place open on a timely basis,” said Crowley, with the technology becoming more energy efficient and better for the environment.
“It’s more dense and less apt to melt,” Crowley said of man-made snow. “Natural snow is beautiful, but doesn’t last as long.”
Snowmaking operations, along with the mountain’s webcams, were added by the Crowley family over the years. “We were webcam early adopters,” Crowley said. “It allowed people to go online and see ski conditions before heading out.”
Photo I Courtesy of the Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism
Wachusett Moutnain has shined through ups and downs over the years.
Mount Wachusett – which had its trails cut in 1937 as part of a government program – will have its oldest lift replaced by a high-speed, six-pack lift next year, offering nine-second spacing in between each carrier, with auto-closure and auto-locking mechanisms. “It has the same capacity as a high-speed quad that would be loaded every six seconds,” Crowley said.
Another investment Mount Wachusett is making this year is replacing its circa-1960s skier services building, a project in the final planning stages.
Investment and improvement decisions – such as new lifts and building renovations – can come from customer feedback; anonymous surveys with management; and social media comments. Some upgrades aren’t as apparent to visitors, such as new software systems and well-pump replacements, Crowley said.
COVID constraints
During the pandemic, Wachusett Mountain did its best to accommodate the state’s mandate that it cut its capacity in half. It worked to find ways to enable more people to visit the mountain and get out of the house. It sold 4-hour blocks and 8-hour blocks.
“Our high-speed lifts got them a lot of vertical time,” Crowley said.
The DCU Center, meanwhile, was highly impacted by COVID, said general manager Sandy Dunn of ASM Global, the venue management company that oversees the 14,000-seat arena and 50,000-square-foot convention center.
Photo I Courtesy of DCU Center
Sandy Dunn, DCU Center general manager
The venue – owned by the city of Worcester since it opened in 1982 – was far from empty during the pandemic, serving as a UMass Memorial Health Care field hospital in the spring of 2021 for patients with minor coronavirus cases, to free up hospital space.
Over the years, the DCU Center has significantly expanded its ability to consistently book acts, Dunn said. With more competition in the marketplace, a company with ASM Global’s reach is a distinct advantage. “Without a consortium, a venue would be adrift now, finding it difficult to compete. Our team has 300 facilities and is the largest in the world. You need that kind of power in the industry,” Dunn said. “Artists are drawn to a global industry.”
The sheer number of venues now is a challenge, Dunn said. “There are only so many artists coming into a venue of our size. Back in the 1980s? It was just the [Boston] Garden and us.” Now, MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Great Woods (now the Xfinity Center) and other venues are in the running as well.
But along with tougher competition came an opportunity, and the DCU Center jumped into the ring – or rather rink – with professional hockey.
IceCat magic
The DCU Center – known until 1997 (and still to many) as the Worcester Centrum – hosted the Worcester IceCats for more than a decade when the Springfield Indians American Hockey League franchise moved to the city in 1994 and stayed until the end of the 2004-2005 season. The advent of higher-level professional sports brought a new revenue opportunity, Dunn said.
The AHL Worcester Sharks took the baton from the IceCats and played there from 2006 to 2015, while the ECHL Worcester Railers have made the DCU Center home since 2017.
“Minor league hockey showed it could exist and thrive. Now over 20 years in Worcester, it’s made a difference on our calendar,” she said.
More space made a difference, as well.
Photo I Courtesy of Massachusetts Office of Travel & Tourism
DCU Center in Worcester
Construction was completed in 1997 on a convention center with 50,000 square feet of exhibit space. This meant that lawn-and-garden-type shows could now move from the arena and into the convention center, which freed up the arena for other shows, said Dunn.
“We used to have to say no to certain consumer and trade shows as we could not accommodate. When the convention center was built, it created new business for the city and economic spinoff where folks could eat, stay, come in early and go to the attraction,” Dunn said.
The city will be putting out a bid to replace the arena sound system. The last upgrade was about 30 years ago, Dunn said. All the arena seats were replaced in 2023 for $7 million, the third seat replacement project since the arena was constructed.
Not keeping opportunities on ice
Hockey has been advantageous to the DCU Center, and it’s a game New England Sports Center founder Larue Renfroe calls “addictive,” having coached it for more than 40 years.
Renfroe also served as general contractor for NESC’s construction in 1994.
Photo | Courtesy of NESC
H. Larue Renfroe, founder of the New England Sports Center
The center began with four rinks for program teams, Renfroe said. “The facility helped to promote the game of hockey. It was just a 501(c) then, but we wanted to make money. To make money, you have to have ice.”
Tournaments continued, but it became harder and harder to get ice time, Renfroe said. “The business grew, and we had to add rink after rink, including smaller rinks for goalie training – all in response to demand.”
With a total of 10 rinks, including those added in 2004, 2010 and 2017, the center is the largest venue for hockey, figure skating, and public skating in North America. It has eight full-size rinks, one small, and one studio rink. A pro shop, two restaurants, and video arcade round out the offerings.
NESC hosts more than 50 hockey events annually, from all over North America. It is home to learn-to-play programs; development programs; and the Minuteman Flames and Lady Flames Minor Hockey Associations.
Demand drove the addition of each rink, Renfroe said, and the kind of programming, such as girls playing hockey.
But skaters and hockey players have to eat, too.
“We realized our original restaurant, which served breakfast and lunch, had a dinner menu that was the same as lunch and we needed more. We are a family destination. It constrained us, from a restaurant standpoint,” Renfroe said. New England Seafood opened at NESC in 2019.
Photo I Courtesy of NESC
NESC opened in 1994 with four ice rinks.
Reinventing itself
Now, said Jason Silbor, NESC general manager, with a great chef onboard, diners come in from outside – especially for New England Seafood’s chowder.
But with underutilized space, the facility wants to expand catering and events as another source of revenue. It’s a realm where there is definite potential.
NESC hosted a Marlborough Regional Chamber of Commerce dinner for 150 people in April. “We offer a nice venue, with about 40,000 to 50,000 square feet,” Renfroe said, with only about an eighth of that space used.
It’s now successfully bringing in another profit stream and another segment of the community that otherwise might not visit NESC.
Joseph, of Discover Central Massachusetts, called moves like DCU Center’s addition of the convention center; NESC’s branching into event hosting; and Wachusett Mountain’s strategic improvements wise and far-reaching.
“Each [organization] made significant strides in enhancing visitor experiences, adapting to changing consumer preferences, and investing in infrastructure to remain competitive,” she said.
All make the region socially vibrant and economically resilient.
It was a no brainer, Ben Zaitchik thought, standing outside in hiking shorts and a t-shirt. What else to wear on a day when the temperature was set to soar above 90 degrees? The air felt stuffy on this muggy afternoon in late August.
A professor and climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Zaitchik and his graduate assistant, Ali Eyni, prepared to ride bicycles on a 17-mile loop of the city, measuring maximum temperatures at the height of a blistering heat wave to record temperature variations between neighborhoods with little tree canopy and those with better tree cover and more green spaces.
Zaitchik hoped the data will help create more precise models applicable to other cities with similar urban features. He and a Hopkins colleague, Darryn Waugh, had carefully plotted the route, stitching together Baltimore’s greener neighborhoods and those that faced unique environmental challenges.
Waugh had also arranged to borrow a temperature-recording bike from Mike Alonzo, a professor at American University. It looked like a regular bike except for the pole-mounted temperature device attached to its rear. The “bike-mounted rapid response thermometer” is used to capture spatial temperature variations across neighborhoods, Zaitchik explained. “We are seeing significant differences in temperature between urban areas and vegetated park spaces.”
Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.
It was a no brainer, Ben Zaitchik thought, standing outside in hiking shorts and a t-shirt. What else to wear on a day when the temperature was set to soar above 90 degrees? The air felt stuffy on this muggy afternoon in late August.
A professor and climate scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Zaitchik and his graduate assistant, Ali Eyni, prepared to ride bicycles on a 17-mile loop of the city, measuring maximum temperatures at the height of a blistering heat wave to record temperature variations between neighborhoods with little tree canopy and those with better tree cover and more green spaces.
Zaitchik hoped the data will help create more precise models applicable to other cities with similar urban features. He and a Hopkins colleague, Darryn Waugh, had carefully plotted the route, stitching together Baltimore’s greener neighborhoods and those that faced unique environmental challenges.
Waugh had also arranged to borrow a temperature-recording bike from Mike Alonzo, a professor at American University. It looked like a regular bike except for the pole-mounted temperature device attached to its rear. The “bike-mounted rapid response thermometer” is used to capture spatial temperature variations across neighborhoods, Zaitchik explained. “We are seeing significant differences in temperature between urban areas and vegetated park spaces.”
Explore the latest news about what’s at stake for the climate during this election season.
It’s 2024, but the cultural climate feels like 1984, given book-banning, the reclassification of books and other methods of thought control nationwide.The British author George Orwell in his novel “1984” depicted the denial of objective fact, through censorship and other methods, as key indicators of a totalitarian state.His protagonist, the bureaucrat Winston Smith, spends his days manipulating archives, announcements and photographs to rid them of “unpersons” — people who have been erased from history by Big Brother, a dictatorial leader supported by an intense cult of personality manufactured by the party’s thought police.It appears the thought police are active in Montgomery County, Texas, and other places.Montgomery County, a suburban area near Houston, recently reclassified the book “Colonization and the Wampanoag Story” as fiction (and later reversed itself amid public pressure). The book about the Wampanoag nation that encountered the Mayflower, the 17th century ship that brought English colonists to the New World, is not fiction.
Montgomery County appears to want to shunt aside the troubled history of Indigenous Americans and European colonists.The erasure of historical fact, the repression of truth and the manipulation of thought portend a dark future for the U.S. if censorship impoverishes Americans, rendering them unable to wrestle with the unpleasant elements of American history.Craig Barner, Lincoln Square
SEND LETTERS TO: [email protected]. To be considered for publication, letters must include your full name, your neighborhood or hometown and a phone number for verification purposes. Letters should be a maximum of approximately 375 words.
Trump’s disturbing behaviorsLetter writer Bill Hartman of Barrington wrote about people questioning Donald Trump’s cognitive impairment, but funny, he doesn’t remember any letters being written about Joe Biden’s cognitive impairment, he said. All we heard and read for months were articles questioning Job Biden’s competency, but the difference here is that when Joe Biden himself realized — a sign of competency — that he might not be up to the task of being president again, he stepped back for the good of the country. It’s a concept Trump is completely unfamiliar with. As usual, it’s Trump putting himself, the narcissistic and arrogant megalomaniac, first. He has spoken of people eating pets in Ohio; he danced for 40 minutes at one of his rallies instead of taking questions; he has said children go to school, have surgery and return home that day as the opposite sex. Those are among a myriad of very strange and questionable behaviors. At least Biden was cognizant enough to know not to run. Trump is unable to see his inadequacies. If my father or grandfather uttered even one of the ideas Trump has spouted, I’d be terribly disturbed. The only difference is, my father or grandfather isn’t running to be the leader of the most powerful country in the world.Louise Bajorek, BurbankNo love for red-light camerasA reader said that Chicago needs more red-light cameras, and I wholeheartedly disagree. In my opinion, fewer cameras are needed for some simple reasons. One, a lot of people cannot afford the fines. And rear-end collisions have greatly increased at intersections where they are at. Lastly, contesting a ticket is nearly impossible.David Gordon, NorthbrookDolton mayor pulls a TrumpI read with great interest that Dolton mayor Tiffany Henyard has decided to pull a Donald Trump by announcing that she wants to have her “enemies” arrested.Steven Herr, West RidgeTackle West Side food insecurityThere is a serious problem with food insecurity on the West Side. This area needs grocery stores and fresh food options. There is an abundance of unhealthy fast-food restaurants everywhere you look. I spend most of my time working there. As a Chicago police officer, I witness how the correlation between resources and crime intersects. Neighborhoods without resources, jobs, stores and reliable transportation deal with upticks of crime.I remember reading an article last year, “Food Deserts Plague Chicago Neighborhoods. Could the City Run its Own Grocery Stores to Fill in the Gaps?” written by Mariah Rush and Michael Loria, that reported on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s plan to open a city-owned grocery store at the same location as a previous Aldi that closed down.
I think this is a great idea. In fact, this location would be perfect for any grocery store because there is a building nearby with residents who do not have a local place to shop for fresh food or groceries. While the community waits for the results of this idea to come to fruition, we can take an idea from the gentleman who was interviewed in that article. Maurice Richmond is a manager of a locally owned nonprofit fresh market. Richmond uses his knowledge from working at Whole Foods to manage the store. He believes in providing food access, but says it is not easy. He believes in “providing low-cost, high-quality options for residents,” the reporters wrote.Although a city-run grocery store is a great idea, there are still several questions that need to be answered before a project like this can move forward. For example, who will operate the store? The article outlines that there must be a commitment of at least 10 years for it to be successful, so who will continue to fund the store? Finally, we must ensure that there is alignment in the community. We must take into consideration what the community needs. That is why some stores fail or close after two or three years. Look what happened to Whole Foods in Englewood. Whatever happens with the idea, the West Side of Chicago needs grocery stores!Jacqueline Trabanino, Garfield Park
High-powered lawyers representing Big Tech clients have co-hosted a series of blue-chip fundraisers for Kamala Harris’s campaign as the 2024 presidential election draws near – and antitrust watchdogs are crying foul.
Last Thursday, a group of “antitrust lawyers and economists for Harris” held a virtual fundraiser featuring an appearance by former US Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta. Ticket prices ranged as high as $6,600, according to a copy of an invitation obtained by The Post.
Notable co-hosts included Daniel Bitton, a partner at San Francisco-based law firm Axinn who is defending Google in the Biden-Harris DOJ’s lawsuit targeting its alleged monopoly over digital advertising
Other co-chairs included Renata Hesse, who once downplayed concerns about Google’s monopoly over online search; Edith Ramirez, a former Democratic FTC chair who once defended Google-owned YouTube in a class-action suit over kids’ privacy; and Ethan Glass, who has repped clients like JetBlue against US antitrust complaints.
Kamala Harris’s campaign surrogates has signaled she will take a friendlier stance toward businesses. ZUMAPRESS.com
“This is a confab of ‘Big Law’ lawyers who have been representing monopolists against the FTC and DOJ, and they are shamelessly trying to storm the castle after being locked out during the Biden years,” one Democrat who pays attention to antitrust issues told The Post.
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The Post reached out to the Harris campaign, Bitton, Hesse, Ramirez and Glass for comment but did not hear back.
Earlier this month, The Post reported on conflict-of-interest concerns that arose after several key members of Google’s legal team co-hosted an Oct. 18 fundraiser for Harris in Washington, DC – with tickets costing as much as $50,000.
Karen Dunn, a top litigator at white-shoe law firm Paul Weiss who infamously led Harris’s final debate prep against Trump on the same day that she delivered Google’s opening defense in the digital advertising trial, was listed as a co-chair.
Daniel Bitton is part of the team defending Google in the DOJ’s antitrust case targeting its digital advertising business. Axinn
Dunn’s colleagues Jeannie Rhee and Bill Isaacson also attended the event, which featured appearances by former US Attorney General Eric Holder, Uber general counsel and Harris’s brother-in-law Tony West and ex-acting Attorney General Sally Yates.
Just one day later, longtime Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky co-hosted a fundraiser alongside key Harris campaign surrogate and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by The Post.
In California, Newsom recently vetoed an AI safety bill that had been vigorously lobbied against by tech venture firm Andreessen Horowitz and trade groups representing Google and Meta. After initially opposing the bill, Amazon-backed AI firm Anthropic expressed tepid support for the bill after securing changes.
Edith Ramirez is listed as a co-chair of a fundraiser for the Harris campaign last Thursday. Getty Images
The offensive is playing out as Big Tech firms weather an unprecedented wave of antitrust litigation.
Apple and Google are in the midst of historic Justice Department antitrust cases, while Amazon and Facebook are currently being sued by the Federal Trade Commission. AI leaders like chip supplier Nvidia and OpenAI also have the attention of regulators.
“It should be deeply concerning to anyone, Republican or Democrat, that cares about reining in Big Tech monopolies, that (Harris’s campaign) continues to do fundraisers with lawyers for Google and other Big Tech companies,” public affairs executive Garrett Ventry said.
Top regulators appointed by the Biden-Harris administration, including FTC Chair Lina Khan and SEC chair Gary Gensler, have faced sharp pushback from Silicon Valley bigwigs for leading a crackdown on prominent firms active in the artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency sectors.
Renata Hesse once downplayed concerns about Google’s monopoly over online search. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
In July, billionaire Reid Hoffman sparked outrage among progressives when he accused Khan of “waging war on American business” and openly calling on Harris to fire her if she is elected. Other Democratic advocates, including Mark Cuban, have called for Gensler to be forced out.
The backlash has contributed to a surprising shift in Silicon Valley support toward Trump – most notably in the form of Elon Musk, who recently declared himself “dark MAGA” and contributed millions to his campaign.
The Harris campaign has made clear efforts to reassure Silicon Valley, a longtime source of support and major donations for Democrats.
Key Harris surrogates like Cuban and West have made the case in public and behind closed doors that she would take a friendlier stance toward corporate interests if she is elected.
Karen Dunn (center) and other Google attorneys hosted a fundraiser for Kamala Harris earlier this month. REUTERS
Cuban, when asked by The Post if he had a sense of how a Harris administration would handle Big Tech antitrust matters, replied, “I don’t.”
Last week, the Washington Post reported that West and ex-Treasury official Brian Nelson have been telling groups of tech executives that they are in “listening mode” during private outreach meetings on Harris’s behalf.
Andreesen Horowitz co-founder Ben Horowitz, who previously expressed support for Trump, reversed course last month by pledging a “significant” donation to Harris. Horowitz said he “had several conversations with Vice President Harris and her team on their likely tech policies and am encouraged by my belief in her.”
Kamala Harris has yet to take a firm stance on how she’ll approach Big Tech antitrust matters. Getty Images
In September, Harris released an economic policy outline that provided arguably the most substantive look at the policies she would pursue in the office.
The 82-page document said a Harris administration would “encourage innovative technologies like AI and digital assets while protecting our consumers and investors” – but referenced the word “antitrust just one time.”
Some anti-monopoly watchdogs previously warned that corporate-friendly advisers in Harris’s orbit could lobby behind the scenes for leniency toward Google – potentially in the form of a “slap on the wrist settlement” rather than the full-fledged breakup sought by the feds.
In August, the DOJ won a historic victory after Judge Amit Mehta ruled that Google was a “monopolist” with an illegal stranglehold over the online search market. He is expected to decide on remedies by next summer – and the feds have floated a forced selloff of Google’s Android software or Chrome browser as potential fixes.
Meanwhile, closing arguments in the DOJ’s digital advertising antitrust case are expected to wrap up in November. Google boss Sundar Pichai has admitted that he expects the company to be entangled in antitrust litigation and appeals for “many years.”
Hunan University of Medicine in China has named its newly inaugurated research building in honor of esteemed Pakistani scientist, Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry. The announcement was made during a special event at the university. This state-of-the-art facility spans 13,000 square feet and will accommodate 17 full-time researchers, dedicated to fostering scientific collaboration between Pakistan…
Hunan University of Medicine in China has named its newly inaugurated research building in honor of esteemed Pakistani scientist, Professor Dr. Muhammad Iqbal Chaudhry. The announcement was made during a special event at the university. This state-of-the-art facility spans 13,000 square feet and will accommodate 17 full-time researchers, dedicated to fostering scientific collaboration between Pakistan…