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Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
International Festival of Arts & Ideas weathers management shakeup by diving deeper into community
This has been a year of change for New Haven's International Festival of Arts & Ideas, resulting in a burst of fresh energy at the decades-old summertime institution. This year's festival is already in full swing through June 28. Shelley Quiala, the festival's executive director for the past four years, announced in August 2024 that she was stepping down so she could take care of her mother in Minnesota. Quiala is staying with the festival in the role of senior artistic and development strategist to smooth the transition to new leadership. For now, longtime board member Rev. Kevin Ewing has stepped in as interim executive director. Melissa Huber, who has been with the festival in various roles since 2003, has assumed a managing director role. 'We are using our collective knowledge of how the festival goes together,' Huber said, to strengthen the festival during the transition. The festival also experienced a tragic loss. Denise Santisteban, who had been with the event since the beginning and was the curator of the Ideas programming as well as tours and storytelling, passed away in April. Ewing said the festival is honoring her memory by basing this year's programming on events she had outlined or already had in place. The International Festival of Arts & Ideas began in 1996 with a goal of not just bringing major performers, thinkers and artists from around the world to New Haven but to do it at a time of year when the city most needed not just the entertainment and enlightenment that the festival would provide but tourists who would eat and shop in the city. The festival was deliberately planned for the barren weeks in June after college students left and before the summer concert and festival season kicked in. Over time, the International Festival of Arts & Ideas expanded its footprint in New Haven,. A dozen years ago, a series of neighborhood festivals were created and scheduled for the weeks leading up to the main downtown festival. Local artists had always been a part of the programming, but instead of being relegated mainly to free concerts on New Haven Green, they started being incorporated into other events. If certain artists became available outside of June, the festival could accommodate them by hosting events at other times of year. 'One of the shifts for the artists was to now have local participation in more ways, including as opening artists,' Huber said. To Ewing, the increased community focus helps with perception problem. 'There was this impression that the festival was for the elites, the Yalies, the East Rockers … but anyone can participate,' he said. In some years, a sizeable percentage of the program was arranged years in advance due to commissioned works, longterm development of projects or established relationships with some artists or companies. This year, Ewing and Huber said the only event planned well in advance was A Broken Umbrella Theatre's production of 'Family Business: (A)Pizza Play,' running June 13-28, which uses original research and interviews about the development of pizza restaurants by immigrant families in New Haven to create the dramatic story of the fictional Carbonizatto family. Huber noted that the festival's legacy and its importance to the New Haven arts community leads to some unexpected connections. This year's keynote speaker is playwright Martyna Majok, whose Broadway drama 'Cost of Living' won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2018. Majok is a graduate of the Yale School of Drama. While she was a student, she worked at Arts & Ideas. Huber added that Majok was recently commissioned to write a new musical based on the classic Ray Bradbury novel 'Farenheit 451,' which the festival has designated as its Big Read title this year and has also based events around in previous years. 'It's a nice nod to previous festival programming,' Huber said. There's an extra impetus, and obstacle, to pushing ahead with a cutting edge, envelope pushing arts festival in 2025, Ewing said. 'The energy we're running off this year is resistance,' he said, citing the current politicization of the arts community, changes in federal funding for the arts, increased scrutiny of artistic content and other issues. Arts & Ideas is one of numerous Connecticut arts organizations that had grant money from the National Endowment for the Arts — in this case $65,000 — rescinded after it had already been awarded. It is 30 years since Arts & Ideas was conceived in part due to the New Haven's successful hosting of the Special Olympics World Games in 1995. Huber said the financial setback has only strengthened the impetus and opportunity to foster partnerships with sponsors and other organizations. 'We're gonna make it,' Ewing said. The International Festival of Arts & Ideas is already in the midst of its main multi-week run of performances, talks, concerts, tours, food events and more. All the locations are in downtown New Haven. Here are some highlights: 'Copenhagen': A presentation of Michael Frayn's play based on an historic meeting between the famed physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941. In 1998, the same year the play had its world premiere in London, Arts & Ideas arranged for the original cast to perform it at the festival. May 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Yale Schwarzman Center. Free. An Evening with Monique Martin: The New York artist, producer and activist will be interviewed onstage while she is in town to receive Arts & Idea's 2025 Visionary Leadership Award. June 11 at 6:30 p.m. at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School. $75. Martyna Majok: The Pulitzer winning playwright and Yale School of Drama graduate delivers the festival's keynote address on June 14 at 2:15 p.m. in the Humanities Quadrangle on York Street. Free; reservations required. 'Family Business: (A)Pizza Play': A new theater piece by New Haven's A Broken Umbrella Theatre, whose previous associations with the festival include the premiere of another original work based on New Haven history, 'Freewheelers' in 2013. June 13-28 with performances on Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. plus a Thursday performance on June 26 at 8 p.m. $44.86-$52.42. Traces: An interactive exhibit of photos by Bill Graustein. June 14 and 15 from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. at the Connecticut Center for Arts & Technology (ConnCAT) in New Haven's Science Park neighborhood. Free. Theater as Resistance: Godfrey L. Simmons Jr., leader of Hartford's HartBeat Ensemble and a frequent actor in shows at Hartford Stage, joins Dexter Singleton of New Haven's Collective Consciousness Theatre and playwright Majok in this discussion of theater and social change. June 14 at 1 p.m. Free. Minty Fresh Circus: This Black circus troupe conceived by producer Monique Martin uses circus routines to inform about African American history and culture. June 14 at 8 p.m. and June 15 at 2 p.m. at the Yale University Theater. $68.89. New Haven Hip Hop Conference — Visions of Truth: The seventh annual gathering of hip-hop scholars, performers and others. June 19 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Neighborhood Music School on Audubon Street. Free. Jacques Pépin: The renowned chef and cookbook author shares stories from his life and kitchen. June 19 at 5 p.m. at the Yale University Theater. $84.32. Autumn Peltier: The First Nation member (Anishinaabe and Wikwemikong) and Canadian environmental activist speaks about the need for clean water. June 21 at 4 p.m. at the Humanities Quadrangle. Free; reservations required. City of Floating Sounds: A two-part night-long collaboration among the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, Yale's Schwarzman Center and Arts & Ideas on June 21. The event begins with a 6 p.m. guided walking tour that involves recorded sounds by composer Huang Ruo that will grow in clarity and intensity as the walkers approach New Haven Green for a live 7 p.m. concert. Free. Sons of Mystro: A free show on New Haven Green from the eclectic Black violin ensemble that plays everything from pop to hip-hop to jazz and yes, classical. DJ Kasey Cortez opens the night of free music at 5:45 p.m.; Sons of Mystro goes on at 6:30 p.m. Free. Mireya Ramos: The Latin vocalist performs her concert act 'Guerrera,' a tribute to strong women, on June 24 at 8 p.m. at the Yale University Theater. $68.89. Squonk: The experimental musical entertainers perform their latest concert, 'Brouhaha,' featuring their signature instrument the Squonkcordion. Free on New Haven Green with performances June 26 at 5 p.m., June 27 at 1, 3 and 5 p.m. and June 28 at noon and 2 p.m. Hang Him to the Scales and Christine Tassanet et les Imposteurs: A double bill of free bands on New Haven Green on June 26. Hang Him to the Scales, which goes on first at 6 p.m., is an Asian shoegaze act based in Brooklyn while Christine Tassanet et les Imposteurs, performing at 7 p.m., are purveyors of the jazz genre manouche. Joshua Redman: The great jazz saxophonist and his quartet perform June 26 at 8 p.m. at the Yale University Theater. $68.69. Seny Tatchol Camara and Sol and the Tribu: The final night of free concerts on New Haven Green features West African drummer and dancer Seny Tatchoil Camara at 6 p.m. and the Cuban rhythms of Sol and the Tribu at 7 p.m. Free. The festival also features film screenings, storytelling shows, walking tours of everything from local LGBTQ+ history to a botanical garden and the oyster industry in Fair Haven, food events such as 'Black Table: Afro-Culinary Futurism,' panel discussions on such topics as 'Making Memories: Neurons, Quantum Computing and Art' and special events that tie in to Juneteenth celebrations as well as the iconic New Haven community Freddy Fixer Parade and New Haven Caribbean Heritage Festival. The full calendar of events for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas is available at
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spectrum Launches 24/7 Channel Spectrum News Michigan
Spectrum News has launched Spectrum News Michigan. Spectrum News Michigan is available 24/7, and available to Spectrum TV customers across the state on channel 1. The channel features local headlines every thirty minutes, at the top and bottom of every hour, and hyperlocal weather forecasts every 10 minutes on the 1s. The new network will be led by executive producer Craig Huber, a Michigan native with more than three decades of journalism experience. "Michigan welcomes the launch of Spectrum News to our roster of state media," said Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks. "At a time when it can be difficult to differentiate fact from fiction, I am glad to see more space being created for journalists who are dedicated to providing hyperlocal coverage and encouraging informed engagement in communities across the state." 'People across Michigan, from big cities to our close-knit communities, want access to news that impacts their lives," said Senate Republican Leader Aric Nesbitt. "I'm pleased Spectrum News is stepping up with its trusted journalism to deliver the stories that matter most to Michiganders.' The new linear network features reporting from Michigan-based journalists as well as relevant stories from across the country. "From Metro Detroit to West Michigan and Up North, Spectrum News delivers meaningful journalism," said Huber. "As a native of the Mitten State, I know Spectrum News' community-focused storytelling will resonate with our audience." Huber began his journalism career in 1993. Also joining the network is journalist Brian Farber, who will report on the community in and around Grand Rapids, an area he has been covering since 1998. It is also available to Spectrum customers via the Spectrum News App on mobile, Xumo Stream Box, Roku and Apple TV.
Sky News AU
15-05-2025
- Business
- Sky News AU
Oil tycoon busted at lavish Utah mega-mansion, accused of working with Mexican cartels in $466 million scheme
A Utah oil magnate was arrested along with his wife in a dramatic raid on their opulent, 27,000-square-foot mansion after allegedly smuggling more than $300 million (AUD$466 million) worth of oil from Mexico to the US with the help of drug cartels, according to reports. James and Kelly Jensen were arrested on April 23 by US Marshals, who used battering rams to bust through the doors of the couple's $9.2 million mansion outside Salt Lake City, KSLTV reported. 'They were unwilling to come out,' Assistant US Attorney Michael Hess said of the family, which has deep political ties — Kelly's father, Gordon Walker, worked in the US Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Ronald Reagan, while her mother, Carlene Walker, was a Utah state senator, according to KVEO. Just days earlier on April 17, the Jensens were indicted on charges they conspired to buy and smuggle more than 2,800 shipments of stolen oil from Mexico into the US as part of an alleged scheme that began three years ago, according to the feds. The Jensens' company made payments for the crude oil to 'businesses in Mexico that operate only through the permission of Mexican criminal organizations,' according to the feds. The feds alleged the family used their ill-gotten gains to buy a new home and cars — and have moved to seize them. Their sons Zachary and Max were also allegedly in on it and were also indicted, though it is unclear if they were arrested at the mountainside mansion with their parents. The family owns and operates Arroyo Terminals, a Texas company that buys and sells crude oil at a property just miles from the US border in Rio Hondo. Arroyo Terminals was raided by federal agents on the same day the family was arrested, with employees being handcuffed and questioned about the business's practices. 'We don't know about that,' one employee told CBS 4 News after the raid. 'We're just in charge of unloading the trucks and loading the barges.' 'When it comes to the aspect of knowing where this oil's coming from or what company or what part of Mexico or anything like that, we were always out of the loop,' another work told Border Report. The Jensens were detained and taken to the Salt Lake City Jail, but despite prosecutors' fears of being a flight risk, were back home within days after their attorney, John Huber, agued they had deep roots in the community and weren't going anywhere. 'They're active in their church. They're active in their community. They come from a stalwart Utah family,' Huber said. '[James'] in-laws have served in public service for decades and they don't want to throw that all out of the window.' Huber also disputed the feds' claim that the family refused to come easily during the raid. 'Mr. Jensen and Mrs. Jensen's story about that is very different,' Huber said, claiming the couple agreed to come out but that the feds busted down their door anyway. The family business was previously accused of buying stolen oil in 2011. In that case, James Jensen was sued by a Mexican government-owned oil company for allegedly traveling to Mexico to buy fuel from cartels. Jensen denied all wrongdoing and that case was dropped two years later. After their April arrest, the Jensens were ordered to forfeit all money they'd earned from the alleged scheme, along with new cars, a second home, their business, and bank accounts — all worth about $300 million, KSLTV reported. Both sons pleaded not guilty. All were also charged with money laundering spending conspiracy, and aiding and abetting smuggling goods into the US. They face up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted. Originally published as Oil tycoon busted at lavish Utah mega-mansion, accused of working with Mexican cartels in $466 million scheme
Business Mayor
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
AI power rankings upended: OpenAI, Google rise as Anthropic falls, Poe report finds
Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More Poe's latest usage report shows OpenAI and Google strengthening their positions in key AI categories while Anthropic loses ground and specialized reasoning capabilities emerge as a crucial competitive battleground. According to data released today by Poe, a platform offering access to more than 100 AI models, significant market share shifts occurred across all major AI categories between January and May 2025. The data, drawn from Poe subscribers, provides rare visibility into actual user preferences beyond industry benchmarks. 'As a universal gateway to 100+ AI models, Poe has a unique view of usage trends across the ecosystem,' said Nick Huber, Poe's AI Ecosystem Lead, in an exclusive interview with VentureBeat. 'The most surprising things happening right now are rapid innovation (3x the number of releases Jan-May 2025 vs. the same period in 2024), an increasingly diverse competitive landscape, and reasoning models are the clear success story of early 2025.' A chart from Poe showing AI model rankings across different categories as of May 2025. OpenAI's GPT-4o dominates in text generation with 35.8% usage share, while Google's Gemini-2.5-Pro leads in reasoning capabilities and Imagen3 in image generation. (Credit: Poe) In core text generation, OpenAI's GPT-4o maintained its commanding position with 35.8% of message share, while the company's newer GPT-4.1 family quickly captured 9.4% of usage within weeks of launch. Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro similarly achieved approximately 5% message share shortly after its introduction. These gains came largely at the expense of Anthropic's Claude models, which saw a 10% absolute decline in share during the reporting period. The report notes that Claude 3.7 Sonnet has now substantially replaced the earlier Claude 3.5 Sonnet in user preference, though the latter still maintains a notable 12% usage share. DeepSeek, which experienced viral growth earlier this year, has seen its momentum slow as competitors have released their own affordable, verbose reasoning models. DeepSeek R1's message share declined from a peak of 7% in mid-February to 3% by the end of April. Perhaps the most significant trend identified in the report is the dramatic growth in specialized reasoning models, which have expanded from approximately 2% to 10% of all text messages sent on Poe since the beginning of 2025. 'Reasoning models, even in the early days, have demonstrated a remarkable ability to handle complex tasks with increased precision,' Huber told VentureBeat. 'Early adopters are clearly finding value in this and are willing to take on the tradeoffs in cost and processing time for better outcomes.' In this high-growth segment, Gemini 2.5 Pro has quickly established itself as a leader, capturing approximately 31% of reasoning model usage within just six weeks of launch. It now leads the category, ahead of Claude's reasoning-specialized models. OpenAI continues to innovate rapidly in this space, releasing multiple reasoning models (o1-pro, o3-mini, o3-mini-high, o3, and o4-mini) in the first four months of 2025 alone. The report indicates that Poe users quickly adopt OpenAI's newest offerings, transitioning from older models like o1 to newer alternatives like o3. The report also noted the emergence of hybrid reasoning models, such as Gemini 2.5 Flash Preview and Qwen 3, which can dynamically adjust their reasoning level within conversations. However, these models currently represent only about 1% of reasoning model usage. Industry analysts suggest this shift toward specialized reasoning capabilities signals a maturing AI market where raw text generation is becoming commoditized, forcing providers to differentiate through higher-value capabilities that can command premium pricing. The image generation market appears increasingly competitive, with Google's Imagen 3 family steadily growing from approximately 10% to 30% share during 2025, now rivaling category leader Black Forest Labs' FLUX family of models, which collectively held about 35% share as of late April. OpenAI's GPT-Image-1, introduced to the API in late April, rapidly achieved 17% of image generation usage in just two weeks, mirroring its viral adoption in the ChatGPT app throughout March and early April. The report indicates that FLUX models maintained their overall plurality share in image generation on Poe, but experienced a moderate decline from approximately 45% to 35% during the reporting period. This three-way competition between Google, OpenAI, and Black Forest Labs marks a significant shift from early 2024, when Midjourney and Stable Diffusion variants dominated the space. The rapid improvement in image quality, adherence to prompts, and rendering speed has transformed this category into one of the most fiercely contested AI battlegrounds. Enterprise adoption of image generation has accelerated substantially in the past six months, according to supplementary industry data, with marketing departments and creative agencies increasingly integrating these tools into their production workflows. In video generation, Chinese lab Kuaishou's newly released Kling family of models has quickly disrupted the market, collectively capturing about 30% usage share. Most notably, Kling-2.0-Master attained 21% of all video generation on Poe by the end of April, just three weeks after its release. Google's Veo 2 maintained a strong position with approximately 20% share following its February launch, while category pioneer Runway saw its usage share decline substantially from about 60% to 20% throughout the reporting period. The speed of Kling's market penetration highlights how quickly the competitive landscape can shift in emerging AI categories, where established players may not maintain their early advantages as newcomers rapidly iterate and improve. Video generation remains the most computationally intensive consumer-facing AI application, with models requiring significant processing power to create even short clips. This has kept usage more limited than text or image generation, but rapidly falling costs and improving quality are expected to drive broader adoption through 2025. Early enterprise adopters include advertising agencies, social media content creators, and educational platforms that have begun integrating AI-generated video into their content strategies despite the technology's current limitations. ElevenLabs continues to lead the audio generation category, fulfilling approximately 80% of all subscribers' text-to-speech requests during the reporting period. However, the report highlights emerging competition from newcomers Cartesia, Unreal Speech, PlayAI, and Orpheus, which offer differentiated voice options, effects, and pricing models. This market dominance by a single player stands in stark contrast to the more fragmented competition in other AI categories. Industry experts attribute ElevenLabs' continued leadership to its early market entry, extensive voice library, and consistent quality improvements that have maintained a technical edge over competitors. Newer entrants are finding success by targeting specific market niches. Unreal Speech has gained traction with podcast producers and audiobook publishers by offering specialized voice actors and emotional range capabilities. Meanwhile, Cartesia has focused on multilingual voices with authentic accents, capturing interest from global enterprises and educational platforms. The audio AI market is projected to grow substantially through 2025 as text-to-speech capabilities approach human-like quality and find applications in customer service, accessibility solutions, and content creation. The relatively low computational requirements compared to video generation allow for wider deployment and experimentation. The dynamic nature of the AI model landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for businesses integrating these technologies. 'It can be challenging to keep up with the latest in AI and the pace is only gaining speed,' Huber told VentureBeat. 'If you're a business already running AI at scale, investing in robust, provider-agnostic evaluation pipelines is critical because the model that's best this month may be second-best next month.' Read More S25 Musical Theater Jazz (MS/HS) - Elizabethtown News Enterprise This volatility in model preferences underscores the value of platforms like Poe that offer access to multiple models through a single interface, allowing users to compare outputs and adapt to the changing AI ecosystem. Industry analysts suggest that the growing importance of reasoning capabilities may signal a shift in how businesses evaluate and deploy AI models, with an increasing focus on precision and reliability for complex tasks rather than just speed or cost efficiency. As frontier labs continue to release more capable models at an accelerating pace, businesses face difficult decisions about when to standardize on specific platforms versus maintaining flexibility. Many enterprise AI leaders are adopting a portfolio approach, using different models for different tasks while maintaining the ability to switch providers as capabilities evolve. 'This is going to be an important space to watch, especially among frontier providers as it represents the best of what AI can currently accomplish,' Huber noted regarding reasoning models. The report indicates that multimedia capabilities are also becoming increasingly competitive, suggesting that text generation, long the primary focus of AI development, may be giving way to a more balanced ecosystem where image, video, and audio generation play equally important roles. Businesses that successfully navigate this complex landscape will likely be those that maintain evaluation frameworks focused on specific use cases rather than chasing the latest model releases, while simultaneously building technical infrastructure that allows for rapid adoption when meaningful improvements emerge. As AI models continue their game of musical chairs atop the rankings, one thing becomes clear: in today's market, the crown rarely stays on the same head for long — and companies betting their future on yesterday's AI champion may find themselves aligned with tomorrow's also-ran.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
iotaMotion Announces First Use of Robotic-Assisted Cochlear Implant Technology Outside the U.S. as Part of Clinical Investigation in Switzerland
ST. PAUL, Minn., May 14, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- iotaMotion, Inc., a leader in robotic-assisted systems for cochlear implant surgery, today announced the first use of the iotaSOFT® Insertion System outside of the United States. The technology is in use as a pre-market clinical investigation at University Hospital of Zurich, led by Professor Alexander Huber. The study, titled "Analysis of electrocochleographic signals during speed-controlled cochlear implant electrode array insertion in a non-randomized controlled trial," represents a significant milestone in iotaMotion's history and the broader cochlear implant market. The iotaSOFT Insertion System, which has been used in more than 750 cases in the United States, provides unprecedented control of the electrode array insertion, enabling the optimization of intracochlear recordings using real-time electrocochleography (ECochG). Professor Huber highlighted the significance of the collaboration: "Bringing this new robotic-assisted technology for cochlear implantation to University of Zurich was extremely important to our team. It will enable us to continue to advance cochlear implant care and explore techniques that have never been used clinically prior to this study." The study leverages robotic control of the array insertion to analyze the relationship between electrode insertion dynamics and cochlear function, as measured by ECochG signals. This approach may pave the way for future advancements in cochlear implant programming and hearing preservation strategies. "This represents a major milestone for iotaMotion as we expand outside of the United States with our technology," said Mike Lobinsky, President & CEO of iotaMotion. "The team in Zurich has been an exceptional partner, and we look forward to continuing our relationship." While currently under pre-market clinical investigation, wider availability of the iotaSOFT Insertion System is planned for 2026. About iotaMotion iotaMotion, Inc. is a medical technology company based in St. Paul, MN, dedicated to advancing cochlear implant surgery beyond human capability through robotic-assisted solutions. Its flagship technology, the iotaSOFT® Insertion System, is designed to provide a slow and consistent electrode array insertion that is designed to preserve delicate intracochlear structures. The system is commercially available in the United States and under clinical investigation in other global markets. For more information, visit or contact Wade Colburn, Vice President of Marketing and Clinical, at pr@ Logo - View original content: SOURCE iotaMotion, Inc. Sign in to access your portfolio
