Latest news with #Weinberg
Yahoo
6 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Reaction from Boulder attack
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. (KREX) – What was scheduled to be a peaceful event turned deadly. Colorado Rep. Ron Weinberg states, 'My thoughts are mainly with the family and the victims at this point.' WesternSlopeNow spoke with Weinberg, saying as a proud American of Jewish heritage, he is at a loss for words. 'I'm completely dumbfounded how somebody with it's been in the country, overextended, a visa, so on and so forth, can even have the mental state to throw alcohol on people and light them on fire,' Weinberg explains. On Sunday, 45-year-old Mohammed Sabry Soliman committed an anti-semitic terror attack at Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, leaving 12 pro-Israel marchers injured. A spectator in the area states, 'As a woman who was on the ground, bleeding out like. And then there are two other women whose calves were burned from the fire. So, I just ran over to stay with them.' Weinberg states, 'President Trump just coming out and saying he's going to prosecute federal charges. But an absolute tragic, tragic event.' Soliman is charged with a federal hate crime in addition to facing state charges for attempted murder in the state. The president responded to Sunday's attack in a tweet by blaming the Biden Administration, stating, in part, 'He came in through Biden's ridiculous open border policy, which has hurt our country so badly…' Politicians from Colorado to the White House are all responding to the attack. Sen. Michael Bennet states, 'Yesterday, the people in Boulder, Colorado, were savagely attacked by a terrorist while they were expressing their First Amendment rights. That should never happen in this country.' Karoline Levitt, the White House press secretary, states, 'It is unacceptable to this president and this White House and rest assured to all Jewish Americans across our great country.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Can't find a place to watch WNBA? Strapping Sacramento looks to change that
The WNBA regular season is underway, with several games already in the books. Strapping Sacramento, a local gift shop with locations in midtown and Oak Park, will host a free watch party Sunday for the Golden State Valkyries as they take on the Minnesota Lynx. Tip-off is at 5:30 p.m. The event will be held at Strapping's Ice Blocks site at 1715 R St., Suite 150, behind Philz Coffee. Snacks will be available for purchase, and attendees are encouraged to bring chairs due to limited seating. Strapping, owned by Sacramento resident Susan Stewart, has operated for eight years, according Darcy Weinberg, Stewart's partner and Strapping's public relations manager. The couple first tested the idea of a watch party during the Valkyries' inaugural game, an 84-67 loss to the Los Angeles Sparks on May 16. 'We're definitely fans of women's professional sports, and the Valkyries are a big deal for us in Northern California,' Weinberg said. 'A lot of our customers have asked, 'Can you guys do some watch parties?' Because it's hard to find places in Sacramento that will put women's pro sports on TV. Unfortunately, that's still the case.' Both Stewart and Weinberg are lifelong athletes — Stewart a former professional golfer, and Weinberg a rower. 'That's where the love for sports came from, and for women's sports,' Weinberg said. The Golden State Valkyries are among the WNBA's newest expansion teams, founded in 2023, and play at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Additional WNBA expansion teams in Portland, Oregon, and Toronto are slated to debut in 2026. The Valkyries are owned by Joe Lacob, Peter Guber, and the NBA's Golden State Warriors, who reportedly paid a $50 million expansion fee, according to Yahoo Sports.. As the name suggests, Valkyries are female warriors. Natalie Nakase, the first Asian American head coach in WNBA history, leads the team. The Valkyries also drafted the league's first Asian American player, Kaitlyn Chen of UConn, who was later cut before the regular season began. Key players include Kayla Thornton, Janelle Salaun, Tiffany Hayes, Veronica Burton, Julie Vanloo, and Monique Billings—who scored the franchise's first points. The team currently holds a 2-2 record. They earned their first win May 21, narrowly defeating the Washington Mystics 76-74 in front of a sold-out crowd. Burton led with 22 points, nine rebounds and five assists; Thornton added 18 points. Thornton leads the team in scoring and rebounds, averaging 12.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. Burton averages 4.3 assists and leads the league in steals with three per game; Thornton follows with 2.8. Sacramento was once home to the Monarchs, one of the WNBA's founding teams in 1997. The team included league legends Ruthie Bolton, Yolanda Griffith, and Ticha Penicheiro. The Monarchs won the 2005 WNBA championship and reached the finals again in 2006 before losing to the Detroit Shock. The team folded in 2009 after the Maloof family ceased operations. Relocation attempts to Oakland failed. Weinberg said community members look to Stewart to create inclusive, welcoming events. 'We are a queer-owned business, so we're very tight with the LGBTQ community,' Weinberg said. 'Susan has been a leader in the community for years. People look to her for stuff like this. So we bought the WNBA League Pass.' The events are open to anyone interested in women's sports or in exploring the space. Strapping's events are family-friendly, Weinberg said. 'Many of our families have kids and want a place where they can bring them and not be at a crazy bar,' she said. 'They want to watch the games without exposing their kids to that kind of environment.' 'We don't want to turn anyone away,' she added. Weinberg said they 'most likely' will host watch parties for every game, although for now, they are planning month by month. The next event is scheduled for June 9. Strapping began as a clothing line designed for women seeking masculine styles, Weinberg said. When that concept didn't gain traction, Stewart shifted to retail, opening a gift store featuring playful items and upscale gifts, such as kitchenware. Strapping has since expanded to include multiple locations — on Broadway in Oak Park, at L and 18th streets in midtown, and at the Ice Blocks location for events. 'We have to charge for certain events,' Weinberg said. 'We're having a comedy night that will be super fun, headlined by Melissa McGillicuddy.' Upcoming events include an ice cream social June 4 at Licked, also owned by Stewart, located at 3400 Broadway; the 'Date My Friend' singles mixer on June 7; and another Valkyries watch party June 9. For more information, visit or follow their social media pages for updates on free and ticketed events.
The Citizen
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Citizen
Paul Weinberg: A history in black and white photography
'Between the Cracks', a retrospective exhibition of Paul Weinberg's work, is currently on show at the Wits Art Museum. Photographer Paul Weinberg's career stretches across almost five decades. Weinberg was a founding member of Afrapix and South, two collective agencies that gained local and international recognition for their uncompromising role in documenting apartheid and the popular resistance against it. In his early career as a photojournalist, Weinberg worked on the 'frontline' of history, capturing pivotal moments in South Africa's struggle. Throughout his career, Weinberg has sought to go beyond the headlines, engaging in in-depth storytelling. His work has taken him on extensive journeys, from urban landscapes to remote rural settings and everything in between. Here we bring you a selection of highlights from the exhibition. Pictures courtesy of Paul Weinberg and Peffers Fine Art Young activists burn a car after a funeral, Duduza, 1985. Picture: Paul Weinberg May Day protest outside, Khotso House, Johannesburg, 1985. Picture: Paul Weinberg Art in the Park, Pietermaritzburg, 1986. Picture: Paul Weinberg Shembe followers performing the 'Scotch dance' during the July festival, Durban, 2002. Picture: Paul Weinberg City Centre, Pietermaritzburg, 1986. Picture: Paul Weinberg Catching the 'quickie', a ferry that transports people in the harbour, Durban, South Africa, March 1996. Picture: Paul Weinberg Zion Church baptism, Nyaka Island, Mozambique, 1999. Picture: Paul Weinberg Street musicians, Central Johannesburg, 1981. Picture: Paul Weinberg Dance performance with street youth, Harare, Zimbabwe, 1996. Picture: Paul Weinberg P.W. Botha takes the salute at a military parade. He is shown here with his close supporter General Magnus Malan, minister of Defense, on his left. Voortrekker Monument, Pretoria, 1980. Picture: Paul Weinberg Military display, Rand Easter Show, Johannesburg, 1985. Picture: Paul Weinberg PICTURES: EFF march to Kleinfontein
Business Insider
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Legaltech unicorn Harvey has agreed to spend $150 million on Azure over two years, an internal memo shows
Legaltech startup Harvey has agreed to a two-year, $150 million commitment to use Azure cloud services, according to an internal email seen by Business Insider. Jay Parikh, who leads Microsoft's new CoreAI unit, included the deal in an internal memo, writing that his unit "announced expanded partnership with Harvey Al with a 2-year $150M MACC and $3.5M unified expansion." Parikh joined Microsoft in October to lead a new engineering group responsible for building its artificial-intelligence tools. Microsoft declined to comment, and Harvey declined to comment on the agreement. MACC, or Microsoft Azure Consumption Commitment, is an agreement customers make to spend a specific amount on Azure for a period of time, often for a discount. Harvey, which builds chatbots and agents tailored for legal and professional services, is scaling up and entering the enterprise market. It's adding legal teams at Comcast and Verizon as clients, while developing bespoke workflow software for large law firm customers. It has raised more than $500 million from investors, including Sequoia Capital, Kleiner Perkins, and OpenAI Startup Fund, a Harvey spokesperson told BI. Harvey has closely partnered with Microsoft since at least early 2024. That year, the company deployed its platform on Microsoft Azure, followed by a Word plug-in designed for lawyers. It also introduced a SharePoint integration, allowing users to securely access files from their Microsoft storage system through Harvey's apps. For years, Harvey, founded in 2022, ran its platform on OpenAI models, primarily because they're hosted in Microsoft's data centers, Harvey CEO Winston Weinberg told BI last month. Law firms handle highly sensitive information and trusted Microsoft to keep it safe, Weinberg said. "Law firms refused to use anything that wasn't through Azure," Weinberg said. That's now changing, he said, as vendors like Anthropic build the features enterprises require. Last week, Harvey expanded its use of foundation models to Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. Still, Harvey's $150 million Azure deal signals it's not backing away from Microsoft anytime soon. The company's growing cloud footprint suggests that, while other partners are gaining traction with the legaltech start, Azure remains integral to Harvey's growth for now.
Business Insider
13-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
What Harvey is doing to win the legal AI race it inadvertently started
Legal tech was long a space that investors ignored. Then came Harvey. In just three years, the company, which builds software for analyzing and drafting documents using legally tuned large language models, has drawn blue-chip law firms, Silicon Valley investors, and a stampede of rivals hoping to catch its momentum. Harvey has raised over half a billion dollars in capital, sending its valuation soaring to $3 billion. On a recent Monday afternoon at Harvey's Manhattan office, I met cofounder and chief executive Winston Weinberg in a polished conference room named for Atticus Finch, a beloved character from the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird." I mentioned that since I started covering legal tech a month ago, my inbox has been flooded with pitches from legal-tech startups eager to explain how they're not Harvey. Weinberg let out a soft chuckle. "I'll take that as a compliment, I guess." In recent years, more competition has been encroaching on Harvey's territory, and fast. Hebbia, a knowledge-search platform, has made a more focused push into the legal sector, and Legora, which offers an AI-powered workspace where lawyers can draft, edit, and collaborate, is gaining traction with Harvey's core clientele of Big Law firms. While legal tech was once the domain of ex-lawyers building tools for their peers, now it's attracting classically trained software engineers, eager to compete in a space without a staid market leader. Harvey may have cracked the market open, but now it faces the classic innovator's dilemma: the very proof of concept it offered to the legal world is fueling a growing list of competitors. The legal-tech land grab is on. The question is whether Harvey can maintain its first-mover advantage, or if it's simply cleared the path for the next breakout. Want in? Get in line. Part of what fueled Harvey's ascent is its go-to-market strategy. Early on, the company bet that winning over the country's most elite law firms would create a ripple effect across the industry. It gated access to the product using a waitlist, allowing it to tightly tailor the tool to pilot users. So far, its Big Law wager appears to be paying off. Weinberg said lawyers at eight of the 10 highest-grossing firms in the nation are now using Harvey. The company tells Business Insider it crossed $70 million in annual recurring revenue last quarter, putting it on pace to smash its goal of $100 million ARR for the year. "Once a subset of the market standardizes on a solution, it's kind of the solution," said Ilya Fushman, a venture capitalist who led Kleiner Perkins' investment in Harvey in 2023. Leaning forward in a high-back, caramel-colored leather chair, Weinberg seemed unfazed by the growing competition. Harvey's edge, he argued, lies in two places its rivals can't easily replicate: top-tier talent and a product strategy built on deep collaboration with its customers. The 260-person startup has lured dozens of trained lawyers off the gilded path to Big Law partnership, offering stock options and a shot at shaping the future of legal practice. To keep its edge, Harvey just made a key hire. Stripe veteran John Haddock has joined as chief business officer after a decade scaling one of Silicon Valley's most closely watched startups. Haddock told BI he spoke to dozens of Harvey customers before accepting an offer. His decision boiled down to their love of the product. He called it Weinberg's "No. 1 maniacal focus." "The best thing we can do is stay focused on: are we building stuff that lawyers really need and need every day?" he said. "Everything else takes care of itself." Harvey goes multi-model Harvey has been fighting the competition with one hand tied behind its back. Since its founding, the company has partnered closely with OpenAI to build custom models for lawyers. Its entire product ran on OpenAI's models. It's a limitation that Harvey's rivals have been quick to point out. They argue their products are superior because they can cherry-pick from the best of Anthropic, Meta, or Google, depending on the task. Now, Harvey wants to neutralize that criticism. The company tells BI it's going multi-model, starting with Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini. Weinberg said Harvey didn't avoid other models out of loyalty to OpenAI, but necessity. Until recently, most major law firms would only approve AI tools that ran through Microsoft Azure, which meant models like Claude and Gemini couldn't clear security reviews. Those constraints are falling away as vendors like Anthropic build the features enterprises demand and gain clout. The move may also suggest Harvey is adapting to a clientele that's perhaps more opinionated about which models power their tools, especially as rivals pitch flexibility as a selling point. Harvey's secret sauce In a market where model performance offers marginal gains, Harvey is betting that its true edge lies in how deeply the product molds to the client. "What I think is closer to a traditional moat," Weinberg said, "is we are very focused on customization, massively." The company partners directly with firms to build bespoke legal workflow software. With A&O Shearman, for example, Harvey helped develop a merger control tool that taps the firm's global antitrust bench. For another client focused on private equity, the company built out deal-specific workflows. Lawyers across those firms are using the tools, and the firms are selling that customized software to clients and other law firms, sharing a cut of the revenue with Harvey. If customization is the moat, the obvious question becomes: how does it scale? One investor in a Harvey competitor asked at what point the company becomes overrun with service requests and support tickets. The company's bet is that it can turn workflows from custom projects into reusable building blocks — a sort of Lego kit it can adapt for each new client. It's a bold strategy, but in a crowded field, Weinberg believes that winning won't come from better answers. It'll come from building a system that grows with the people asking the questions. "At the end of the day," he said, "what you want to do is build a solution that tracks the evolution of law over time."
