On Wednesday, US Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.), Marsha Blackburn (R.-Tenn.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Thom Tillis (R-NC) introduced the Nurture Originals, Foster Art, and Keep Entertainment Safe (NO FAKES) Act of 2024. The bipartisan legislation, up for consideration in the US Senate, aims to protect individuals from unauthorized AI-generated replicas of their voice or likeness. The NO FAKES Act would create legal recourse for people whose digital representations are created without consent. It would hold both individuals and companies liable for producing, hosting, or sharing these unauthorized digital replicas, including those created by generative AI. Due to generative AI technology that has become mainstream in the past two years, creating audio or image media fakes of people has become fairly trivial, with easy photorealistic video replicas likely next to arrive. [...]

According to Statcounter, Linux use hit another all-time high in July. For July 2024, the statistics website is showing Linux at 4.45%, climbing almost a half a percentage point from June's 4.05% high.

The following is an announcement from DigitalNC:

Anyone who has done any research with historic newspapers in North Carolina should send a thank you to the State Archives of North Carolina. Through the Archives’ decades-long efforts, newspapers from across the state have been painstakingly gathered and microfilmed, making copies available to researchers all over the world. The majority of the hundreds of thousands of microfilmed newspapers on our site were filmed by State Archives staff over the years. 

We are working with the State Archives over the next year to bring thousands of pages of newspapers dating from the early 19th century through the early 20th century to DigitalNC. For the most part, these won’t be available anywhere else online. Many are new titles for DigitalNC. Each month we’ll post a batch of around 20 titles. Note that for most of these papers, there will only be a handful of issues. 

This first month includes all of the issues in the entire group that were identified as Black newspapers. In addition, you’ll find papers from the white community from Elizabeth City, Jackson, Moyock, Murfreesboro, Potecasi, and Rich Square – Currituck, Hertford, Northampton, and Pasquotank Counties. We are excited about adding these to our site, and look forward to some truly hard-to-find additions!

Black Newspapers

• The Carolina Times (Durham, N.C.) – two rare issues from 1946
• The Colored Industrial (Lincolnton, N.C.)* – issues from 1901, 1903
• The Metrolinian (Charlotte, N.C.)* – issues from 1971
• The Queen City Gazette (Charlotte, N.C.)* – one issue from 1964
• The Raleigh Independent (Raleigh, N.C.)* – one issue from 1920
• The Weekly Journal (Charlotte, N.C.)* – one issue from 1978
• Wilmington Journal [1945-1994] (Wilmington, N.C.)* – issues from 1952
• The Wilmington Herald [1894] (Wilmington, N.C.)* – one issue from 1894

White Papers from Currituck, Hertford, Northampton, and Pasquotank Counties

• The Daily Dixit (Elizabeth City, N.C.)* – one issue from 1887
• Daily Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1905-06-21 issue
• The Weekly Economist (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1877-05-02 and 1877-05-16 issues
• Elizabeth City High School Student Newspaper* – issues from 1918
• The Elizabeth-City Gazette, and Public Advertiser (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1807-07-31, 1807-08-13, 1807-08-20, and 1807-12-31 issues
• The Elizabeth-City Star and North-Carolina Eastern Intelligencer (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1825-04-30 and 1908-04-15 issues
• The Great Issue (Elizabeth City, N.C.)* – issues from 1905
• The Independent (Elizabeth City, N.C.) – 1911-02-09, 1913-09-25, 1913-10-09, 1916-09-28 issues
• Murfreesboro Index (Murfreesboro, N.C.) – 1903-10-23 and 1903-11-06 issues
• Northampton Progress (Jackson, N.C.)* – issues from 1919, 1920
• The Picayune (Moyock, N.C.)* – issues from 1923-1925
• Roanoke Patron (Potecasi, N.C.) – 1886-04-01, 1887-03-15, 1891-09-17 issues
• The Northampton County Times-News (Rich Square and Jackson, N.C.) – 1927-11-03 issue

* – Titles new to DigitalNC

The following is a press release issued by the Arizona State Library,:

As part of a two-year National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP) grant, the State of Arizona Research Library (StARL), a branch of the Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records in collaboration with the University of Arizona Libraries (UAL) have completed the digitization of 50 historical newspapers published in Arizona. The NDNP is a grant funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities in partnership with the Library of Congress.
With the input of an advisory board, the 50 historical newspapers—which focus on a variety of social and economic areas of Arizona’s history—are now available to the public for free on Chronicling America.  
 
This grant cycle has seen the inclusion of publications from several Arizona cities for the first time. Jerome and Willcox will now be represented in Chronicling America with the addition of several years of The Jerome Chronicle, Arizona Mining News, Sulphur Valley News, Arizona Range News, and more. Newspapers from communities that have been historically underrepresented are also highlighted. 
 
Spanish-language publications such as Justicia, El Machete, and additional years of El Tucsonense are available online. Las Dos Repúblicas, Arizona’s first known Spanish-language newspaper from 1877, is also included. 
 
Additional issues of the Arizona Gleam, The Buffalo, The Arizona Times, and other publications are expanding the representation of Black communities in Chronicling America. 
The grant project directors, Asa Espanto, Newspaper Librarian at StARL, and Mary Feeney, News Research Librarian at UAL, are conducting two community outreach events in August to highlight some of the recently digitized newspapers included in this grant cycle. 
 
Both events are free and open to the public: 
Thursday, August 8, 5 PM
Burton Barr Library, Phoenix, AZ
 
Tuesday, August 13, 5:30 PM 
Copper Queen Library, Bisbee, AZ
 
More information
Visit Chronicling America to view the Arizona historical newspapers.  
National Endowment for the Humanities grant highlights diversity, representation in digitized newspapers
 
Contacts
Asa Espanto, aespanto@azlibrary.gov  
Mary Feeney, mfeeney@arizona.edu
 
About the National Endowment for the Humanities
Created in 1965 as an independent federal agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities supports research and learning in history, literature, philosophy, and other areas of the humanities by funding selected, peer-reviewed proposals from around the nation. Additional information about the National Endowment for the Humanities and its grant programs is available at: www.neh.gov
 
About the Arizona State Library
A division of the Secretary of State, the State Library of Arizona provides trustworthy, reliable, and authoritative information and offers research assistance, online access, training, and meeting spaces. To learn more, visit www.azlibrary.gov
 
About the University of Arizona Libraries
Established in 1891, the University of Arizona Libraries are enterprising partners in advancing the University of Arizona’s priorities. We cultivate an environment that promotes inquiry, creative endeavor, scholarly communication, and lifelong learning. Our resources, services and expertise enrich the lives of Arizonans, and contribute to an expanding global academic community. For more information, visit lib.arizona.edu
 

The following is a press release issued by the North Carolina State University:

The following is a press release issued by the U.S. Natonal Archives and Records Administration:

The National Archives and Records Administration today announced the upcoming closure of three facilities and relocation of two offices. These changes will allow for the reallocation of more than $5 million in facility costs per year into digital transformation and other critical priorities to advance the agency’s mission.

“The federal government’s transition to electronic recordkeeping requires us to invest significantly in next-generation systems to support preserving, protecting, and sharing the increasingly born-digital records of the United States,” said Archivist of the United States Dr. Colleen Shogan. “The decision to close facilities was not made lightly. These changes will allow us to invest in digital transformation, expanding access, improving customer service, and increasing public engagement with the history of our nation.”

The following locations will be affected:

National Archives in New York City, NY 

The Alexander Hamilton U.S. Custom House facility will be open to researchers until Friday, August 16. Over the next several months, records held in New York will be transferred to National Archives locations in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Information about the destination of specific record series will be made available at www.archives.gov/nyc. These records will be available at the new locations and through digital service. Educational programs will continue to be supported by National Archives staff and from other locations.

Barack Obama Presidential Library Temporary Site at Hoffman Estates, IL 

The records and artifacts of the Barack Obama Presidential Library, which have been held temporarily at Hoffman Estates, will be permanently moved to College Park, MD, in late FY 2025. The center of operations for the Library will also shift to College Park, MD, beginning late next year. To learn more about this digital-first Presidential library, see www.obamalibrary.gov/about-us. 

Temporary Records Storage Facility in Fairfield, OH  

This facility is operated by the National Archives Dayton Federal Records Center (FRC) in Ohio. The records in the Fairfield facility are being relocated to other FRCs, including the Dayton FRC and Great Lakes storage facility during FY25. You can learn more about the FRC program at www.archives.gov/frc. 

Office of the Federal Register and Office of Government Information Services, Washington, DC 

The Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Office of Government Information Services (OGIS) currently located at the Government Publishing Office in Washington, DC, will be relocated in FY 2025. OFR will transition to the National Archives Building in Washington, DC. OGIS will utilize space at the National Archives in Washington, DC, and College Park, MD.  

Accessing databases for genealogical research has gotten a little easier,, thanks to the Norfolk Registry of Deeds new History Come Alive program.

The registry has recently dedicated bank of computers for free genealogical use to the public, dubbed the Genealogy Research and Resource Center.

“The Registry is excited to offer this research service. As we all know, interest in genealogy is growing by leaps and bounds. According to an ABC News report it is now ranked the second most popular hobby. Another survey indicated that approximately 4 out of 5 people want to explore their genealogical roots,” said Register William O’Donnell.

The Register noted that the genealogical workstations at the Registry contain the popular database Ancestry.com, American Ancestors, and the digital records from the Massachusetts Archives, with more to come.

“Besides this wealth of information, the Registry has more than 13 million land-related documents to explore dating back to 1793 when Norfolk County was created through an act of the legislature and signed into law by Governor John Hancock. These records include deeds, liens, foreclosures, mortgages, conveyances, trusts, and mortgage discharges.

“Today thanks to cutting-edge technology, we have taken genealogical research one step further. Our transcription program, the first of any Registry of Deeds in New England, has taken Registry documents written in hard-to-read cursive penmanship by quivers from 1793 to 1900 and transcribed them into clearly readable print,” O’Donnel said l.

This transcription project of over 4500,000 recorded legal land documents was part of the “History Comes Alive” Program.

“It is the Registry’s vision,” O’Donnell said , “that we will continue to take steps in building up our genealogy program including holding public seminars, publishing articles of note on social media, and adding to our database. After all, learning more about ourselves can just be a few clicks away.”

If you would like to use the free genealogy database, please drop by the Registry of Deeds located at 649 High Street, Dedham, or call 781-234-3305 to reserve a time.

The Bible, once a valued possession of a prominent Green Bay couple, has been part of a Kristine Ray's life for decades.

Now she is in the midst of moving from an island off the northern coast of Seattle to Southern California and hopes to return the Bible to the people she thinks could appreciate it most, the descendants of the Bible's original owner.

The original owners, according to an engraved name on the Bible's cover, were Michael and Mary Sutton, a prominent Green Bay couple who moved to the city after they were married shortly after the Civil War. Both Suttons were born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States when they were children, according to the obituaries for Michael Sutton and Mary Sutton. They settled in Upstate New York and were married there.

Mary Sutton died at age 77 in 1926 at the Green Bay home of one of her sons. She moved to the Utica area of New York from "County Claire, Ireland" when she was 2 years old, according to her obituary in a Green Bay newspaper. There is no County Claire, so the story likely meant County Clare.

Her husband died when he about about 70 years old in January 1916. His obituary describes him as a "survivor of war and a pioneer of the city." Michael Sutton immigrated from "County Connaught" in Ireland to the Utica area when he was 12, according to his obituary (Connaught is not a county in that country, but rather a province). He was a Civil War veteran who was wounded in battle, having fought in engagements including Bull Run and Antietam, according to his obituary.

After the war, the couple moved to Wisconsin, where they lived in Shawano, Oconto and Green Bay. Michael Sutton was credited as one of the founders of St. Patrick's congregation in Green Bay.

Ray can't say for sure exactly how her family came to posses the Bible. She believes that her father, a small business owner, took possession of the Bible when he was a winning bidder in an auction for the contents of a disused storage unit in northwestern Indiana. She thinks she was 4 or 5 years old at the time.

The Bible always resonated with her, Ray said.

"There was never a time when I remember this Bible not being around," she said. "Even as a I child I would be looking at it, and it was so old. It was really cool."

Not only the book was cool. There were scads of papers, pictures and other mementoes from the late 1800s and early 1900s, obviously once treasured by the Suttons, stuffed into the book. These things include a lock of hair tied together with a ribbon, a grade school graduation certificate, confirmation notices and more.

Ray was older when the significance of the Bible began to dawn on her. It wasn't that it was just old, it was that it represented someone and a family who obviously once treasured it. "I thought, 'Wow, this is a historical document,'" she said.

Even later, Ray started delving into her own family's history, taking a deep dive into Ancestry.com, and finding documents from her own ancestors, such as shipping manifest which included her grandmother who was fleeing World War II in Europe. She found pictures of other ancestors, she said.

"It was just really special," Ray said. "I wasn't expecting that that stuff would feel so important to me."

That's when the idea that the Bible could be special to the descendants of Michael and Mary Sutton, who had eight children, one who died in the Spanish-American War. The children are listed in the obituary as William of Minneapolis, Harry of Detroit, Thomas of Oshkosh, John of Oshkosh, Mrs. C. Van Dyke, Mrs. J.P. Parmentier, Matthew and Henry F. Sutton, all of Green Bay. Mary Sutton also had 15 grandchildren and one great-grandchild when she died.

Ray said she reached out to a number of Suttons via email through Ancestry.com. But she never heard back from any of them, and once again, she set the Bible aside and to the back of her mind.

Now, as she prepared for her move from Washington state to California, the Bible once again became an issue. She wondered what she should do with it; should she take it on the move? "It's not something you can really throw away," she said.

Anyone who might have information about a descendant of Mary Sutton may email Ray at hisstree@outlook.com.

23andMe co-founder and chief executive Anne Wojcicki made a non-binding proposal to the board to acquire all of the company's outstanding shares not already owned by her or her affiliates for $0.40 per share, a filing showed on Wednesday.

In April, Wojcicki notified the members of the board's special committee of her intention to make an offer for the genetic testing firm and take it private.

Wojcicki also had indicated that she was working with advisers and intended to begin speaking to potential partners and financing sources.

The proposal, which Wojcicki made on July 29, indicated that she continued to have discussions with potential equity financing sources, the filing showed.

The offer is conditioned upon approval of the company's special committee and there can be no assurance that the proposal will result in any definitive agreement, transaction or any other strategic alternative, the filing said.

In the proposal, Wojcicki again stated that she would not expect to support any alternative transaction.