Also on today’s menu:
Education Freedom Accounts Prove Popular
Modern Slavery On The Rise
IoT Represents Security Threats
Sixty-year-old Don Bolduc, a Laconia native who rose from serving as a special police officer in the Lake City to commander of special operations in Africa, managed to defeat New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse in the Republican primary for the United States Senate, 46,343-45,073, according to NHPR.
While Morse was the pick of mainstream Republicans and had the endorsement of Governor Chris Sununu — who had considered a run for the seat but decided to stay in New Hampshire — Bolduc campaigned on a contempt for the political establishment and endorsement of former President Donald Trump’s false claims of a “stolen” 2020 election. Bolduc also had described the pandemic lockdowns as “tyranny.”
Bolduc and Morse led a field of 11 Republican candidates, including longshot candidate Tejasinha Sivalingam of Ashland.
With Morse conceding the race, Bolduc now will face incumbent Democratic Senator and former New Hampshire governor Maggie Hassan in the general election. Hassan easily defeated Democratic challengers Paul J. Krautmann and John Riggieri for the nomination.
Sununu, meanwhile, easily won the Republican nomination over his challengers, with Karen Testerman of Franklin as his closest rival. He received 101,011 votes to 12,594 for Testerman.
Education Freedom Accounts Prove Popular
Despite ongoing legal challenges to New Hampshire’s Education Freedom Account program, it is proving to be popular, with the number of enrolled students doubling in the past year. In addition to providing school choice, the program’s per-student cost to taxpayers is less than the per-pupil cost at a traditional public school.
The voucher-like program provides state money to moderate- and low-income families to pay expenses, including supplies, tutors, home education programs, and private school tuition. Opponents complain that the money is being siphoned from public schools that already are struggling amidst declining student enrollment, and object to taxpayer money potentially going to parochial schools.
Data from the Department of Education show that 3,025 students are now enrolled in the program. About 30 percent of them left public school during the pandemic. The rest were already in home education or private school, or not yet of school age or living in New Hampshire prior to enrolling in the program.
While the cost of EFA program is substantially more than lawmakers envisioned when passing the bill, because of the number students taking part, that cost will be offset by the reduction in state funds going to public schools because of the decreased enrollment there. The per-pupil cost for public schools in New Hampshire is $21,842.89, but most of that is borne by local taxpayers. The state provides an average of $3,786.66 per student in “adequacy aid”, plus additional money for low-income students, those needing special education, and English-language learners. The EFA program provides $3,400 per student with potential additional aid ranging from $600 to $1,800.
Right now, the state is providing a “hold-harmless” amount to public schools to give them time to adjust to decreased state aid, but that aid will be phased out in the coming years, and that is what has school administrators worried.
Modern Slavery On The Rise
Global Estimates of Modern Slavery, published by the International Labour Organization, International Organization for Migration, and the international human rights group Walk Free, revealed that, last year, some 50 million people were living in modern slavery: 28 million in forced labor and 22 million in forced marriages. Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world, and cuts across ethnic, cultural, and religious lines, according to the report. More than half of all forced labor and a quarter of all forced marriages occur in upper-middle-income or high-income countries.
Eighty-six per cent of forced labour cases are in the private sector, with forced commercial sexual exploitation representing 23 per cent, with almost four out of five victims being females. However, state-imposed forced labour accounts for 14 per cent, with nearly one in eight, or 3.3 million, being children.
Last year, an estimated 22 million people were living in forced marriage, representing a 6.6 million increase over 2016 global estimates. The true incidence of forced marriage is likely far greater than estimates capture, since they are based on a narrow definition that excludes some child marriages — a minor cannot legally consent to marry.
IoT Represents Security Threat
Wearable health monitors, smart toasters, and air quality sensors that connect to the web and cater to our needs are examples of the Internet of Things (IoT). In the business world, that includes videoconferencing devices, large smart screens, and controlled utilities such as smart thermostats, all of which can disrupt workflow if attacked by cyber hackers.
The security threats that users face when using IoT devices in retail are inadequately protected, according to Forbes. More than 84 percent of retail organizations use IoT devices but fewer than 50 percent have taken solid security measures against cyber-attacks.
IoT devices can be used to track customers’ movements and purchase histories, which means that hackers could potentially gain access to that data. Customers also could be at risk of being scammed when using payment platforms such as Apple Pay, when fake apps steal personal information or websites trick customers into entering their credit card details. The code that runs the device is a combination of several closed- and open-source projects, presenting the threat of exposing clients’ sensitive and personal information to cyber fraud, according to Natali Tshuva, the chief executive officer and cofounder of Sternum, an IoT security, observation, and analytics company.
Café Chatter
On ‘Facing Felonies’: Yes, he had “better watch [his] language,” or he shall soon fall out a window … or off a boat. Happens a lot these days in the former Soviet Union.
—David Haggith
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