News in Columbia, MO

Student Life · Columbia, MO

After midterms’ ‘blue wave,’ trust community organizing, not our political system

Holle Ritter | Staff Illustrator This year’s midterm election was quite the victory for the Democratic party — Democrats regained control of both the House and the Senate. The election also made history, with several states electing numerous “firsts”: Alabama’s first openly transgender state lawmaker (Allison Montgomery), Arizona’s first Indian American congressperson (Amish Shah), Nebraska’s first Latina congressperson (Denise Powell), the nation’s first Black woman governor (Keisha Lance Bottoms), and the list goes on. States that have historically leaned red, such as Texas, which hasn’t had a Democrat governor in over 35 years, turned blue on election Tuesday. The internet has been flooded with memes celebrating the “blue wave,” taking it as a sign that America’s politics are swinging in a more progressive direction. It is understandable that people across the country are elated about a predominately blue Congress.

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Baraboo News Republic · california, MO

Nearby: california, MO

Dodgers want Tarik Skubal. Skubal wants the Dodgers. So why won't it happen?

The Los Angeles Dodgers shrug their shoulders hearing that the New York Mets have a meeting scheduled next week in California with prized free-agent starter Tarik Skubal.

Student Life · Meta, MO

Nearby: Meta, MO

Meta Muse: The not-so-cute cost of convenience

Dion Hines | Managing Forum Editor One fall morning, I opened Instagram to find a new feature, Meta’s Muse, a personal artificial intelligence agent. As an adorable round avatar waved at me from my phone, I was simultaneously charmed and unnerved. There has been intense coverage of all things new and alarming about AI: the rise of LLMs, sprawling data center construction, growing energy consumption, security breaches, and now the emergence of agentic AI, but despite my skepticism and mistrust, I found Muse quite cute. I was initially tempted to see what it could do. Meta’s Muse is promoted as an on-demand AI butler primed to handle the busy work that bogs us down. According to Meta, Muse is capable of ordering Amazon shipments, booking restaurant or travel reservations, and even making “suggestions unprompted” to anticipate users’ desires. This may sound appealing to those of us who are overworked, underpaid, and tempted by big tech’s guarantees of even greater convenience.