Latest news with #SanLuisObispo
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Car flips into orchard off of Highway 101, slowing traffic
This is a developing story. Check back to for updates. To get breaking news alerts, click here A flipped vehicle off of Highway 101 brought traffic to a standstill outside of San Luis Obispo on Sunday afternoon. The California Highway Patrol responded to a small white SUV going off northbound Highway 101 just before the Higuera Street off-ramp and crashing into an orchard at 1:47 p.m., according to its traffic incident page. The SUV flipped on its way down and was 15 feet from the highway down the embankment, the CHP page said. It was unclear if there were any injuries resulting from the crash. Ambulances and a tow truck were en route as of 2:30 p.m., according to the CHP page. Heavy traffic resulted from the crash, backing up to the Mattie Road off-ramp in Shell Beach as of Sunday at 2:30 p.m., according to the Caltrans QuickMap.
TechCrunch
28-05-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Atomic Canyon wants to be ChatGPT for the nuclear industry
Tech companies are betting heavily that nuclear power can help deliver the electricity they need to realize their AI plans. But data centers need power tomorrow, and the nuclear industry isn't known for its speed. Trey Lauderdale thinks AI can give nuclear the speed that it needs. Lauderdale's obsession with nuclear started close to home. In San Luis Obispo, California, where he lives, he kept running into people who worked at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. 'They're like the coaches of our flag football team,' he said. In talking with them, he learned that nuclear power plants are swimming in documents. Diablo Canyon, near Lauderdale's home in San Luis Obispo, has around 2 billion pages worth, he said. Lauderdale, a serial healthcare entrepreneur, had a hunch that AI could help the nuclear industry tame its paper problem. Lauderdale founded Atomic Canyon a little over a year and a half ago, initially funding it with his own money. The startup uses AI to help engineers, maintenance technicians, and compliance officers find the documents they need. The startup landed a deal with Diablo Canyon in late 2024. Lauderdale said the deal led to inquiries from other nuclear power companies. 'That's when I knew, as an entrepreneur, we were at a point where we needed to raise a round of capital.' Atomic Canyon closed a $7 million seed round led by the Energy Impact Partners, the company exclusively told TechCrunch. Participating investors include Commonweal Ventures, Plug and Play Ventures, Tower Research Ventures, Wischoff Ventures, and previous angel investors. Techcrunch event Join us at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot for our leading AI industry event with speakers from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere. For a limited time, tickets are just $292 for an entire day of expert talks, workshops, and potent networking. Exhibit at TechCrunch Sessions: AI Secure your spot at TC Sessions: AI and show 1,200+ decision-makers what you've built — without the big spend. Available through May 9 or while tables last. Berkeley, CA | REGISTER NOW When Atomic Canyon first started, its AI engineers tested various models with underwhelming results. 'We quickly realized the AI hallucinates when it sees these nuclear words,' Lauderdale said. 'It hasn't seen enough examples of the acronyms.' But building a new AI model requires massive computing power. So Lauderdale talked his way into a meeting with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which conducts nuclear research and also happens to have the world's second fastest supercomputer. The lab was intrigued by the idea and awarded Atomic Canyon 20,000 GPU hours worth of compute. Atomic Canyon's models use sentence embedding, which is particularly suited to indexing documents. It tasks them with making a nuclear power plant's documents searchable using retrieval-augmented generation, or RAG. RAG uses large language models to create responses to queries, but it requires the LLMs to refer to specific documents in an effort to reduce hallucination. For now, Atomic Canyon is sticking to document search, in part because the stakes are lower. 'One of the reasons we're starting generative work around the titles of documents is because getting that wrong might cause someone a little frustration. It doesn't put anyone at risk at the plant,' Lauderdale said. Eventually, Lauderdale envisions Atomic Canyon's AI creating 'a first round draft' of documents, complete with references. 'You are always going to have a human in the loop here,' he said. Lauderdale didn't put a timeline on that effort, though. Search is 'the foundational layer,' he said. 'You have to nail the search.' Plus, given the number of documents in the nuclear industry, 'we have a long runway in search alone,' he said.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
2 SLO County men arrested as drug bust turns up $178,000 in narcotics
Two San Luis Obispo County residents suspected of running a large-scale drug trafficking operation were arrested with nearly 12 pounds of illegal narcotics and three handguns last week. In a monthlong investigation by the Atascadero Police Department's Special Enforcement Team, detectives tracked drug trafficking activities in the North County to a house on the 3400 block of Spring Street in Paso Robles, the Police Department said in a news release. On May 20, detectives searched the home under a warrant with the help of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office and the Paso Robles Police Department, the news release said. Evidence discovered during the first search led investigators to a second location, a storage unit in the 3400 block of Park Street in Paso Robles, the release said. A second search warrant was obtained and executed at that location two days later on May 22. In the searches, detectives seized about $178,000 worth of drugs, including 16 grams of cocaine, 8.14 pounds of fentanyl, 12.2 ounces of methamphetamine, 1.2 pounds of heroin — close to 12 pounds of illegal narcotics, the release said. Three handguns — one of which was stolen — and two replica guns were also found. Two Paso Robles residents were arrested in connection with the drug trafficking operation, 35-year-old Edgar Diego Mendoza and 36-year-old Maria Alvarez Lemus. Mendoza, a former felon, was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail on multiple felony charges including conspiracy, possession of narcotics for sale, possession of methamphetamine for sale, possession of stolen property, drug enhancements and committing a felony while on bail or release. Lemus was booked only for possession of narcotics for sale and conspiracy. 'The Atascadero Police Department would like to extend its sincere appreciation to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office and the Paso Robles Police Department for their partnership and assistance,' the Police Department said in the news release. 'This collaborative effort led to the removal of nearly 12 pounds of dangerous narcotics from our community and the disruption of a major drug trafficking network.'
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Inmate with chronic health conditions dies at SLO County Jail
An inmate with chronic health conditions died at the San Luis Obispo County Jail on Sunday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Office said. During 'regular cell checks' on Sunday, staff discovered that San Luis Obispo resident Brent Perucca, 59, was 'in medical distress,' a Sheriff's Office news release said. 'Custody and nursing staff immediately attempted to render medical aid and CPR,' the release said. Perucca was pronounced dead by paramedics at 4:30 p.m. 'An autopsy was performed this morning and the results are pending,' the release said. 'No foul play is suspected.' The San Luis Obispo Police Department arrested Perucca on Friday at about 12:40 p.m. 'Prior to booking, he was taken to the hospital for medical clearance for chronic, long-term health issues,' the release said. 'Perucca was at the hospital for several hours and received extensive testing and examination.' He was booked into the San Luis Obispo County Jail at 6 p.m. on Friday. He had been detained at the jail more than 20 times before, police said. 'He was screened by medical staff at the jail and continued receiving treatment for his health issues,' the release said.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
A streak of light soared across the SLO County sky. What was it?
A 'dragon' lit up the night sky on the Central Coast on Saturday, but this one didn't breathe fire — it was the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft returning to Earth. The spacecraft soared over San Luis Obispo County at about 10:30 p.m. on Saturday, returning from the International Space Station with about 6,700 pounds of supplies, according to NASA. Paso Robles resident Lori Penner said the spacecraft arched over her house 'like a rainbow,' and the display was followed by two sonic booms. 'It was by far the coolest thing,' she told The Tribune. The SpaceX Dragon left the International Space Station on Friday, and it splashed into the ocean off the coast of California at 10:44 p.m. on Saturday, NASA said. The supplies carried by the craft included 'radiation shielding and detection materials, solar sails and reflective coatings, ceramic composites for reentry spacecraft studies and resins for potential use in heat shields,' NASA said in a news release. That equipment was exposed to space to 'improve knowledge of how these materials respond to ultraviolet radiation, atomic oxygen, charged particles, thermal cycling and other factors,' the release said. The trip was SpaceX's 32nd commercial resupply services mission at the International Space Station for NASA. Here's a look at videos of the capsule making its re-entry.
