Latest news with #DavidClark
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Rep. David Clark joins growing race for Georgia lieutenant governor
The Brief Rep. David Clark of Buford announces bid for Georgia lieutenant governor. Clark joins Republican Sens. Blake Tillery, John Kennedy, and Steve Gooch in the race. Democrat Sen. Josh McLaurin is the only candidate from his party so far. ATLANTA - State Rep. David Clark of Buford announced his candidacy earlier this week, releasing an online campaign ad highlighting his service as a military veteran in Afghanistan and his experience in the state Capitol. What they're saying In the ad, Clark says he has been "tested in combat and in the Capitol" and lists his priorities as cutting taxes, addressing illegal immigration, and focusing on transgender issues. "As your battle-tested conservative candidate for Lieutenant Governor, I will eliminate the state income tax, protect our daughters by keeping men out of girls' bathrooms and locker rooms, stand with law enforcement to crush violent crime, and partner with President Trump to stop the criminal invasion by illegal gang members into Georgia," Clark said. He's planning a statewide tour later this month. What we know Clark's entry into the race comes just one day after State Sen. Blake Tillery announced his bid. They join Republican State Sens. John Kennedy and Steve Gooch in the contest for the GOP nomination. 2026 Georgia election races to watch | List of candidates On the Democratic side, State Sen. Josh McLaurin of Sandy Springs is the only declared candidate so far. What's next The lieutenant governor's seat is open as current officeholder Burt Jones runs for governor.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
2 more Republicans join Georgia's competitive race for lieutenant governor
ATLANTA (AP) — Two more Republicans joined the growing list of candidates vying to become lieutenant governor in next year's election. Georgia state Sen. Blake Tillery, a Republican, launched his campaign Monday and state Rep. David Clark of Buford in the greater Atlanta metro area announced his candidacy Tuesday. Tillery, a real estate attorney, was first elected in 2016 and became the Senate Appropriations Committee chair in 2020. This year, he championed bills that would allow lawsuits against anyone who implements sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and cut public funding for gender-affirming care for transgender adults. Tillery opened his campaign Monday with a statewide tour across seven cities that will end in his hometown of Vidalia. Joined by his wife and two sons at Georgia's Capitol in Atlanta, Tillery said of his family, 'they're the reason why I'm running.' 'I believe that we should continue to focus on items that matter to Georgians, and I want my kids to be raised in a Georgia just like I was, one that believes in faith in God and puts Georgia values first,' Tillery said, adding he's the candidate with 'a record for results.' Tillery touted his work 'advancing conservative causes' on social issues, immigration and taxes. He vowed to eliminate Georgia's state income tax and supports continuing the crackdown on illegal immigration and crime. Before joining the Senate, Tillery was chair of the Toombs County Commission. Clark, a military veteran, promised in a video to be 'a warrior" who will defend Georgia's "families, values and freedom.' He said he stood for anti-abortion policies, gun rights and religious liberty as a legislator. He also promised to eliminate the state income tax, among other conservative priorities. Clark was removed from the House chamber in 2021 by the former Republican House speaker for violating the chamber's COVID-19 testing policy. 'I've stood up to members of the radical left and to members of our own party who wouldn't fight for what's right," Clark said. Tillery and Clark will face Republican Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, who called himself a 'die-hard MAGA supporter,' and John Kennedy, the top-ranking Republican in Georgia's state Senate and Macon lawyer who helped Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia's business community pass limits on lawsuits and civil verdicts. Democrat state Sen. Josh McLaurin, a vocal critic of Republican policies in the state legislature, is also running, and State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming, is considering a run. Georgia's lieutenant governor presides over Senate sessions, but senators decide how much power the official has. When senators agree, lieutenant governors can be influential. Burt Jones, the current Republican lieutenant governor, is running for governor next year with President Donald Trump's endorsement. —- Associated Press reporter Jeff Amy contributed to this report from Atlanta.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Politics
- Washington Post
2 more Republicans join Georgia's competitive race for lieutenant governor
ATLANTA — Two more Republicans joined the growing list of candidates vying to become lieutenant governor in next year's election. Georgia state Sen. Blake Tillery, a Republican, launched his campaign Monday and state Rep. David Clark of Buford in the greater Atlanta metro area announced his candidacy Tuesday. Tillery, a real estate attorney, was first elected in 2016 and became the Senate Appropriations Committee chair in 2020. This year, he championed bills that would allow lawsuits against anyone who implements sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and cut public funding for gender-affirming care for transgender adults.
Associated Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
2 more Republicans join Georgia's competitive race for lieutenant governor
ATLANTA (AP) — Two more Republicans joined the growing list of candidates vying to become lieutenant governor in next year's election. Georgia state Sen. Blake Tillery, a Republican, launched his campaign Monday and state Rep. David Clark of Buford in the greater Atlanta metro area announced his candidacy Tuesday. Tillery, a real estate attorney, was first elected in 2016 and became the Senate Appropriations Committee chair in 2020. This year, he championed bills that would allow lawsuits against anyone who implements sanctuary policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities and cut public funding for gender-affirming care for transgender adults. Tillery opened his campaign Monday with a statewide tour across seven cities that will end in his hometown of Vidalia. Joined by his wife and two sons at Georgia's Capitol in Atlanta, Tillery said of his family, 'they're the reason why I'm running.' 'I believe that we should continue to focus on items that matter to Georgians, and I want my kids to be raised in a Georgia just like I was, one that believes in faith in God and puts Georgia values first,' Tillery said, adding he's the candidate with 'a record for results.' Tillery touted his work 'advancing conservative causes' on social issues, immigration and taxes. He vowed to eliminate Georgia's state income tax and supports continuing the crackdown on illegal immigration and crime. Before joining the Senate, Tillery was chair of the Toombs County Commission. Clark, a military veteran, promised in a video to be 'a warrior' who will defend Georgia's 'families, values and freedom.' He said he stood for anti-abortion policies, gun rights and religious liberty as a legislator. He also promised to eliminate the state income tax, among other conservative priorities. Clark was removed from the House chamber in 2021 by the former Republican House speaker for violating the chamber's COVID-19 testing policy. 'I've stood up to members of the radical left and to members of our own party who wouldn't fight for what's right,' Clark said. Tillery and Clark will face Republican Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, who called himself a 'die-hard MAGA supporter,' and John Kennedy, the top-ranking Republican in Georgia's state Senate and Macon lawyer who helped Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia's business community pass limits on lawsuits and civil verdicts. Democrat state Sen. Josh McLaurin, a vocal critic of Republican policies in the state legislature, is also running, and State Sen. Greg Dolezal, a Republican from Cumming, is considering a run. Georgia's lieutenant governor presides over Senate sessions, but senators decide how much power the official has. When senators agree, lieutenant governors can be influential. Burt Jones, the current Republican lieutenant governor, is running for governor next year with President Donald Trump's endorsement. —- Associated Press reporter Jeff Amy contributed to this report from Atlanta.
The Verge
24-07-2025
- The Verge
watchOS 26 preview: a subtler take on AI
Apple just launched the watchOS 26 public beta, which means everyone can now try the latest software heading to the Apple Watch this fall. That includes new Apple Intelligence features, such as Workout Buddy, new messaging features, the Wrist Flick gesture, and more. I've been using the developer beta and have some thoughts to share. Apple Intelligence doesn't arrive on watchOS 26 with a bang. So, why bring it to the watch now, and why this particular set of features? David Clark, Apple's senior director of software engineering for watchOS, told me it was a matter of highlighting the Apple Watch's 'core competencies': fitness and staying connected. AI fitness features are all the rage. Fitness tracking generates a mountain of data, and contextualizing it into digestible insights is a Herculean task — a task AI is supposedly good at. Even so, while watching the Workout Buddy sizzle reel during the WWDC keynote, I morphed into Tina from Bob's Burgers. In it, you see a woman run through a neighborhood as an AI-generated voice reads out her pace and other stats. Minutes after the keynote ended, my phone buzzed with texts. They all asked the same question: how much am I going to hate this Workout Buddy? After using it, I'd venture: not that much, actually. Workout Buddy is more subtle than the sizzle reel implied. 'An important challenge to be considered when applying any technology, AI or otherwise, is how can real value be added to an experience?' explains Clark. He notes Apple Watch is already adept at tracking activities, but with Workout Buddy, the goal was to 'bring something that was less technical data' and more motivational. Workout Buddy begins every session with a pep talk and ends with a summary of what you just did. The middle of your workout is where the AI magic is supposed to happen. On a run, Clark says, Workout Buddy will note your pace whenever you hit a mile. You might also get a celebratory message if you hit your 100th mile of the year, and so on. Running lends itself to a chattier Workout Buddy. In a walk or a high-intensity interval training session, Clark says, you might not hear from Workout Buddy at all. In my walks, I only heard from Workout Buddy at the beginning and end of my workouts. The 'contextual bit' was that the AI told me of my progress toward closing my rings for the day, and whether I was making good progress compared to my average. It was much chattier during my runs, reading out my segment times, what music I listened to, or if I'd closed a ring. Workout Buddy doesn't feel like AI. (Though you need your watch to be paired to an Apple Intelligence-capable phone to use the feature.) It's not a chatbot. You can't ask questions about your data — or anything else for that matter — during a workout. Audio cues for stats aren't new, either. Plenty of fitness apps have been doing that for years. Technically, the AI-powered bits are twofold. Workout Buddy voices have been trained on Apple Fitness Plus trainers. (You can choose from three at the moment.) And it's pulling historical tidbits from your data and notifying you in real time. Most fitness apps tend to motivate you with historical data as badges within the app. It's not something that's typically delivered in real time as an audio cue. Because I haven't hit too many running milestones this year — my PRs are sadly nonexistent so far — I can't adequately say Workout Buddy helped me feel more motivated. Was it nice to hear I was on track to close my rings at the end of a workout? Sure. If you're a longtime runner like me, milestones aren't an everyday thing. But from past experience, I'd appreciate a Workout Buddy giving me an encouraging stat at mile 10 of a half-marathon. I wish you could customize Workout Buddy. It'd be cool to tweak the settings so I'd get 30 percent more motivation during a race or gain insights to take it slow during hot weather. Perhaps this is where Workout Buddy is headed. But for now, this feels like a more cautious implementation. It's a little clearer as to why Workout Buddy gets the marquee billing when you see the other ways Apple Intelligence shows up on the wrist. While it's on guardrails, it's more overtly AI than the rest of watchOS 26's Apple Intelligence features. A lot of the Apple Intelligence features you'll see on the Watch this year will be an extension of what's available on the phone. That includes Live Translations and Smart Actions (i.e., if you get texted your share of a bill, you can tap to send it via Apple Cash) in Messages. But there are other features that are more broadly AI-powered outside the Apple Intelligence nomenclature. One such feature is the improved Smart Stack. The Smart Stack was first introduced in watchOS 10, and is meant to surface the widgets you need at the right time. This year, you also get a small icon on your watchface prompting you toward a widget when you might need it. It sounds silly, but it's a clever tweak. According to Clark, the improved Smart Stack algorithm now incorporates multiple signals from apps. That includes Live Activity data, environmental cues (e.g., if you're in a remote location without LTE or Wi-Fi), or recently used apps. Smart Stack has always been hard to notice. The Uber widget popping up has generally been the Smart Stack use case I'm most aware of. But the other day, I was making dinner, and while setting a timer, I saw a prompt for the weather widget. Apparently, a giant flood warning was issued because of an impending torrential downpour. That led my spouse and me to swap our cars so their fancy sports car could sit in the garage. It's a small thing, but useful nonetheless. Double tap, or the pinchy pinch, is handy. But it might be dethroned by Wrist Flick, or the flippy flip. When you get a notification you don't want, you can just twist your wrist to dismiss it. It is hands-down my favorite addition to watchOS 26. 'The thing we wanted to accomplish with this was rounding out the story of 'I'm either going to take action or I'm going to decide that's not for me now,'' says Clark. 'There's a really nice symmetry to motioning away from what you're viewing to acknowledge 'I'm kind of done with that, I'm dismissing that.'' Wrist Flick has been super useful for me, a receiver of Too Many Notifications. It takes a second to remember to use it. But the combination of Double Tap and Wrist Flick has made me into a notification triage machine. I wonder why we haven't always had this as a default. I've been testing the developer betas, and a lot could change before the final version of watchOS 26 arrives this fall. But based on what I've seen in watchOS 26? 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