Also on today’s menu:
Belanger Sentenced In Rochester Murder
Quantum Information Science Initiative
The Union Leader has published a story about its controversial former publisher, William Loeb, whose stepdaughter, Nackey Gallowhur Scagliotti, 76, says he repeatedly sexually molested her when she was 7 years old. She said the abuse took place after she went to live with her mother and her new stepfather in Reno, Nevada, in early 1953. Her mother, Nackey Scripps Gallowhur, was Loeb’s third wife and she became publisher of the New Hampshire daily newspaper after his death in 1981.
As publisher of the Union Leader from 1946 to 1981, Loeb used his arch-conservative editorials on national and state affairs to mercilessly attack his adversaries and promote morality, but he also was known to be loyal to friends and generous to the unfortunate, according to Joseph McQuaid, who served as Union Leader publisher after Nackey Loeb’s death. Scagliotti said she decided to come forward after the recent publication of McQuaid’s biography, “William Loeb and His Times. Provocative Publisher, Private Paradox.”
According to Scagliotti, Loeb also sexually abused his daughter, the late Edie Tomasko, in the mid-1960s, when she was 6. That abuse allegedly occurred at Loeb’s estate in Prides Crossing, Massachusetts, and at their ranch in Nevada.
McQuaid’s book included Loeb’s long history of extramarital infidelity. “As for his own family values, he had numerous affairs, was married three times, was twice charged (and once arrested) for adultery, and was disinherited by his mother. He had virtually no communication with his first-born daughter,” McQuaid wrote in the book.
Former New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner said, “There will be a big reaction to this, no doubt about it. Those who revere Loeb won’t believe it. Those who hate him will wonder why it’s taken so long for this to surface.”
Belanger Sentenced In Rochester Murder
Twenty-two-year-old Justin Belanger has received a sentence of 30 years to life in the killing of Billy Ahearn, a 24-year-old woman, on June 5, 2018. The victim was found on the sidewalk in Rochester with an apparent gunshot wound to her hip and ultimately died from her injury. An autopsy later ruled the death a homicide.
Belanger was charged with alternative counts of second-degree murder (knowingly and recklessly causing her death), and he was convicted during a jury trial on October 1, 2021.
The court imposed the prison sentence, with the possibility of sentence reductions should Belanger attain specified behavior and educational goals.
Quantum Information Science Initiative
Today, President Joe Biden Jr. plans to sign two presidential directives to advance national initiatives in quantum information science and mitigate the risks that quantum computers pose to America’s national and economic security.
Quantum computers are a fundamentally different kind of computer, with the ability to analyze information in ways that traditional computers cannot. There is concern that China, a leader in quantum computing, will be able to sort through data harvested from the internet to gain strategic advantages over other countries.
In announcing the United States’ initiatives, the White House said QIS has “shown the potential to drive innovations across the American economy, from energy to medicine, through advancements in computation, networking, and sensing. Breakthroughs in QIS are poised to generate entirely new industries, good-paying jobs, and economic opportunities for all Americans.”
The administration acknowledges, “Research shows that at some point in the not-too-distant future, when quantum computers reach a sufficient size and level of sophistication, they will be capable of breaking much of the cryptography that currently secures our digital communications on the Internet. To address this risk, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will publish new quantum-resistant cryptographic standards that can protect against these future attacks. However, the process to transition America’s most vulnerable IT systems to these new standards will take time, resources, and commitment. America must start the lengthy process of updating our IT infrastructure today to protect against this quantum computing threat tomorrow.”
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