Bobby Fischer inspired millions to play chess, then decided to stop playing

CECIL ROSNER

SPECIAL TO THE GLOBE AND MAIL

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 5, 2022

Fifty years ago this week, Bobby Fischer was crowned world chess champion. He arrived more than an hour late for his own ceremony.

It seemed to sum up the enigma that was Fischer, the bad boy of American chess who both inspired and enraged chess fans everywhere. The first American world champion in a century, he defeated Boris Spassky of the Soviet Union in a legendary Cold War match in Iceland.

I was a student at the time, working in Europe for the summer, and lucky enough to attend four games of the historic match.

Fischer came home to a hero’s welcome, making appearances on the Johnny Carson show and on the covers of Sports Illustrated and Life magazines. His inventive play and success at the board inspired a whole new generation of people to take up the game.

But Fischer had a reputation for being difficult and petulant. When he was handed his gold medal at the world championship ceremony, he inspected the prize and said: “It doesn’t have a name on it.”

Fischer slowly descended into seclusion and paranoia, refusing to defend his title or make public appearances. He played just one more serious match in his life.

Bobby Fischer died in 2008 at the age of 64, having lived one year for every square on the chessboard.

Bobby Fischer v. Ruben Shocron, Mar del Plata, 1959

HANDOUT

Bobby as White has just won a piece, but his Rook is pinned and looks lost. What does he do?

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25 years later: Deep Blue vs Kasparov
by ChessBase

9/3/2022 – Last week BBC Four brought together a group of personalities that, 25 years ago, were part of the epic struggle between the reigning World Champion and a million-dollar computer built by IBM. The broadcast reunited the chess masters and AI pioneers who went into battle at the time, to test the limits of human and artificial intelligence. You can listen to the 42-minute discussion and read experts.

Deep Blue v Kasparov


BBC Four, the British free-to-air television channel, hosted the discussion as part of their Reunion series. The battle of man vs machine took place in New York, 25 years ago. IBM had proposed a six-game match, which was held in a hushed room while a packed audience watched it broadcast on large screens a few floors below. Every move was streamed online, threatening to crash a fledgling Internet.

Over the tense nine days, the mood turned from anticipation to suspicion to bewilderment. Not only would the world of chess never be the same again, but the balance of power between humans and computers seemed to have shifted irrevocably. Was it the dawning of a new age?

In the BBC Four broadcast Kirsty Wark reunites the chess masters and AI pioneers who went into battle to test the limits of human and artificial intelligence:Frederic Friedel, advisor to Garry Kasparov;
Malcolm Pein, Kasparov team member and IBM consultant;
Murray Campbell, co-creator of Deep Blue;
Joel Benjamin, IBM’s official grandmaster consultant;
Maurice Ashley, Grandmaster, author and commentator, who covered the big match;
Steven Levy, Editor at Large at Wired Magazine, who scooped the front cover for Newsweek.

The producer of the A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4 was Ruth Abrahams, the series Producer David Prest. You can follow the entire 42-minute discussion here:



Here are some excerpts from the discussion:

Kirsty Wark: The match was held on the 35th floor of a skyscraper in New York. It was one of those landmark challenges in the spirit of the famous Touring Test of 1950 – humanity's last chance to prove itself before computers outstripped us forever. Deep Blue was housed in twin black cabinets weighing 1.4 tonnes and evaluating 200 million chest positions per second.

Murray Campbell [computer scientist at IBM, and co-creator of Deep Blue] when did you first become interested in chess?

Murray Campbell: I was a chess player from quite a young age and was looking for what to study in college. I discovered a computer that could play chess. That inspired me to go into computer science. Deep Thought was created by a group of graduate students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. It was sort of a fun project, something that we did for a lark.

KW: Frederick Friedel [co-founder of ChessBase], how did you meet Garry Kasparov?

Frederic Friedel: It was in 1985 when he came to Hamburg. I had written him a fan letter and he said he wanted to meet me. We sat together every evening for a whole week. I told him what a computer can do, and he would tell me what a computer should do for chess. We designed a plan, one that changed chess completely.

Malcolm Pein: In 1993 I was commercializing the sale of this chess database that Frederic referred to. All of a sudden we became so much more powerful, we could learn at a much faster rate. In a sense, computers enabled us to completely democratize chess...

KW: Frederick Friedel, how did you and Kasparov prepare for the match?

FF: I didn't dare to tell him you must play an Open Spanish and things like that. I just said think about it please, isn't it better not to play anti-computer chess because you're not very good at it.

Maurice Ashley: [commentator at the Deep Blue-Kasparov match] We were all consistent with the same idea: Garry is too good for this computer. We were all confident that he was simply going to dominate this machine. It did not rise to the level of the greatest entity playing chess on the planet.

Joel Benjamin: [grandmaster, part of the Deep Blue team] I was obviously not happy about losing the first game, but I felt that Kasparov was going to get overconfident, especially because in general he's a very confident person he thinks he can solve any kind of problem.

BBC4: On the fourth of May, following his win the previous day, Kasparov was feeling in control. Then came the shock: Kasparov lost game two he resigned in the middle of what he considered a hopeless situation, instead of fighting for a draw. It represented a steep change in the way that computers played chess. This was not a computer type game, this was real chess. Deep Blue's sudden strategic play was gnawing away at Kasparov's mind.

FF: The mood after that second game was just pure devastation. We didn't know what had happened, and just moaned and groaned the entire evening. Then the next morning I had a conversation with Malcolm and with ChessBase, and they revealed to me that in the final position Garry could have drawn. I showed it Yury Dokhoian, Garry's second, and now came the question: who's going to tell Garry? Yuri said "okay I'll tell him." We were walking down the street, and he went to Garry and started to explain in Russian. Garry was petrified.

JB: The move that really frightened Kasparov was a bug [in the first game]. That was the thing it wasn't supposed to do. So it's very bizarre that the computer freaking out actually helped us.

FF: Garry became very nervous about game two. He wanted printouts so that you can check whether they cheated or not. IBM said no. He was psyching himself out. Suddenly there was a lot of animosity. Garry expected a rematch – he'd won the first one in 1996, and lost the second one in 1997. He expected a new match, but they refused. The mood changed dramatically.

MA: The audience's mood after game six: stunned, shocked. I think those of us who had this the sense of the invincibility of Kasparov, suddenly it seemed like something had happened, not just to him but really to humanity itself. The terminator had arrived.

MC: I'd been building to the moment for decades, and it was somewhat tempered by the fact that I had been accused of cheating, and it took 20 years for him to apologize and admit that there had been no cheating.

KW: Frederic Friedel, what was your sense of the role of computers in chess after Deep Blue?

FF: Garry didn't believe that he'd been beaten by a stronger entity than himself, but he knew that's going to come. Immediately after this we started discussing what can we do about it. One of his ideas was "Advanced Chess", which is a human and a computer playing against a human and a computer. This would make the system stronger than the human or the computer alone.

MC: I remember shortly afterwards the match a former US champion came to me he said "I'm giving up chess, it's finished now, with Deep Blue having defeated Garry. I said, "well a Ferrari is faster than Linford Christie, that doesn't mean that athletics is gone. All computers are really doing are enhancing our understanding of the game.

Steven Levy: [American journalist, NYT, Newsweek, etc] This is all the history of AI. Every time a computer does something that people say you're not going to get from an AI computer, they go on to the next thing. To me, the story wasn't about chess, it was a story about AI and our relationship to our overlord to be.

FF: I spent two and a half weeks in the Plaza Hotel with Garry. We had breakfast, lunch and dinner together. I went through all the high moments and especially the devastating moments. If you ask me would you like to do it again, I would say probably no. It was very taxing...

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FDA panel backs much-debated ALS drug in rare, 2nd review

By MATTHEW PERRONE

yesterday

This 2018 photo provided by Amylyx shows the company's co-founders Joshua Cohen, left, and Justin Klee in Cambridge, Mass. on Sept. 2, 2022. A closely watched experimental drug for Lou Gehrig’s disease is getting an unusual second look from U.S. regulators on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, amid intense pressure to approve the treatment for patients with the fatal illness. Patients and their families have rallied behind the drug from Amylyx Pharma, launching an aggressive lobbying campaign and enlisting members of Congress to push the Food and Drug Administration to grant approval.

 (Amylyx via AP, File)


WASHINGTON (AP) — A panel of federal health advisers voted Wednesday to recommend approval for an experimental drug to treat Lou Gehrig’s disease, a remarkable turnaround for the much-debated medication that was previously rejected by the same group earlier this year.

The Food and Drug Administration advisers voted 7-2 that data from Amylyx Pharma warranted approval, despite hours of debate about the strength and reliability of the company’s lone study. The FDA is not required to follow the group’s advice, but its positive recommendation suggests an approval is likely later this month.

The FDA has approved only two therapies for the disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, which destroys nerve cells needed for basic functions like walking, talking and swallowing.

ALS patients and their families have rallied behind Amylyx’s drug, launching an aggressive lobbying campaign and enlisting members of Congress to push the FDA to grant approval.

Despite a negative review published by FDA’s internal scientists ahead of the meeting, a majority of the outside panelists said Amylyx had presented enough evidence to suggest the drug is helping patients live longer. The same group of neurology experts narrowly voted against the drug in March, due to concerns about missing data and other issues in the company’s study.

“To deprive ALS patients of a drug that might work, it’s probably not something I would feel terribly comfortable with,” said Dr. Liana Apostolova of Indiana University’s School of Medicine, who voted for approval. “At the previous meeting it wasn’t that clear and it’s still questionable.”

Amylyx also appeared to benefit from an unusual exchange in which a company executive — at the FDA’s request — committed to pull the drug from the market if its benefits aren’t confirmed by a large, ongoing study.

“I’m somewhat assured that if an approval is issued it can be withdrawn in the future,” Apostolova noted.

Wednesday’s vote concluded a rare second meeting to review several new statistical analyses submitted by Amylyx in support of the treatment’s benefit in slowing disease and extending life.

The ALS drug review is being closely watched as an indicator of FDA’s flexibility in reviewing experimental medications for the terminally ill and its ability to withstand outside pressure.

Dr. Billy Dunn, FDA’s neurology review chief, opened the meeting by detailing the “concerns and limitations” with Amylyx’s data, while emphasizing the need for new treatment options.

“We are highly sensitive to the urgent need for the development of new treatments for ALS,” Dunn said.

Dunn also noted that a larger Amylyx study being conducted in the U.S. and Europe could provide “more definitive results” by 2024.

In a highly unusual move, Dunn suggested the agency might be more willing to approve the drug if Amylyx would commit to withdrawing its medication if the ongoing 600-patient trial fails to show a benefit. He then called on the company’s co-founders to publicly commit to that step, and Amylyx co-CEO Justin Klee said the company would voluntarily withdraw its drug in that scenario.

The FDA has the power to force companies to pull drugs from the market, though it’s generally faster if drugmakers voluntarily take that step. In cases where companies resist removal the regulatory process can drag on for years.

“I think the FDA — with all due respect — significantly understates the complexity and likelihood of their pulling the product from the market,” said Dr. Caleb Alexander of Johns Hopkins University, one of the two panelists who voted against the drug.

Amylyx conducted one small, mid-stage trial of its drug that showed some benefit in slowing the disease, but it was plagued by missing data and other problems, according to FDA reviewers.

“The final result — for a single study — is borderline and not very statistically persuasive,” FDA statistician Tristan Massie told panelists.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company says follow-up data gathered after the study concluded showed the drug extended life. Patients who continued taking the drug survived about 10 months longer than patients who never took the drug, according to a new company analysis.

Panelists favoring the drug cited that data, along with the drug’s mild side effects, to suggest there would be little downside for patients even if it doesn’t ultimately slow ALS.

“The drug is not harmful — it seems like it has a benefit — there’s no safety signal here,” said Dean Follmann, a biostatistician with the National Institutes of Health.

Earlier Wednesday, more than 20 ALS researchers, patients and family members told the advisers they supported approval. The agency has also received more than 1,200 written comments, largely from ALS patient advocates.

“I’m asking you to approve it because I know it works. It’s extending my life and I want that for others,” said Greg Canter, who was diagnosed with ALS in 2018 and participated in Amylyx’s study. He credits the drug with improving his lung capacity and slowing his functional decline.

Amylyx’s medication comes as a powder that combines two older drugs: one prescription medication for liver disorders and a dietary supplement used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Hanging over the review is FDA’s controversial approval of the Alzheimer’s drug Aduhelm last year, which was reviewed by the same agency scientists and outside advisers.

In that case, the FDA disregarded the overwhelmingly negative vote by its outside advisers, three of whom resigned over the decision. The agency’s approval — which followed irregular meetings with drugmaker Biogen — is under investigation by Congress and federal inspectors.

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Follow Matthew Perrone on Twitter: @AP_FDAwriter

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Judge strikes down 1931 Michigan law criminalizing abortion


Abortion rights protesters attend a rally outside the state Capitol in Lansing, Mich., on June 24, 2022, following the United States Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Judge Elizabeth Gleicher, of the Court of Claims, on Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022, struck down Michigan's 1931 anti-abortion law, months after suspending it. Judge Gleicher said the law, long dormant before U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, violates the Michigan Constitution. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)


DETROIT (AP) — A judge on Wednesday struck down Michigan’s 1931 anti-abortion law, months after suspending it, the latest development over abortion rights in a state where the issue is being argued in courtrooms and, possibly, at the ballot box.

The law, which was long dormant before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, violates the Michigan Constitution, said Judge Elizabeth Gleicher.

“A law denying safe, routine medical care not only denies women of their ability to control their bodies and their lives — it denies them of their dignity,” Gleicher of the Court of Claims wrote. “Michigan’s Constitution forbids this violation of due process.”

The decision comes as the Michigan Supreme Court is considering whether to place a proposed amendment on the Nov. 8 ballot that would add abortion rights to the state constitution. A Friday deadline is looming.

Supporters submitted more than 700,000 signatures, easily clearing the threshold. But a tie vote by the Board of State Canvassers over spacing issues on the petition has kept it off the ballot so far.

In the case handled by Gleicher, the 1931 law makes it a crime to perform an abortion unless the mother’s life is in danger.

The judge said the law “compels motherhood” and prevents a woman from determining the “shape of her present and future life.”

The law “forces a pregnant woman to forgo her reproductive choices and to instead serve as `an involuntary vessel entitled to no more respect than other forms of collectively owned property,’” Gleicher wrote, quoting constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe.

The law was suspended in May with an injunction, following a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood of Michigan. Gleicher said her latest decision applies to all state and local prosecutors. An appeal by the Republican-controlled Legislature is possible.

“The House is reviewing the ruling,” spokesman Gideon D’Assandro said.

Gleicher acknowledged in July that she has been a regular donor to Planned Parenthood and gave $1,000 to the 2018 campaigns of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Attorney General Dana Nessel, both Democrats who support abortion rights.




But that support wasn’t a reason to pass the case to another judge, said Gleicher, who also serves as chief judge on the Michigan Court of Appeals.

“Judges are presumed to be unbiased and impartial,” she said.

In a separate lawsuit, Whitmer has repeatedly asked the state Supreme Court to bypass lower courts and settle the status of the 1931 law. The court hasn’t decided whether to intervene.

“With our rights still hanging by a thread, the Michigan Supreme Court needs to provide certainty,” the governor said Wednesday.

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EPA leader: Jackson needs ‘fair share’ of money to fix water
EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS

yesterday

1 of 7

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan discusses elements of a coordinated response of federal, state and city agencies, that he hopes will help deal with the city's long-standing water problems, during a Wednesday news briefing, Sept. 7, 2022, in Jackson, Miss. Regan met with both Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, and other officials to explore options. 

(AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)


JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that he wants Mississippi’s capital city to receive “its fair share” of federal money to repair a troubled water system that left homes and businesses without running water for several days.

Even with water flowing from taps and people again able to flush toilets this week, Jackson lacks safe drinking water. The city of 150,000 is in the sixth week of a boil-water advisory from the state health department because of concerns that low pressure could allow contaminants into the water.

EPA Administrator Michael Regan was in Jackson to meet with residents and state and local elected officials Wednesday. He touted the $1 trillion federal infrastructure law that President Joe Biden signed in November.

Mississippi is set to receive more than $4 billion from the law, with most of the money designated for highways and bridges, the White House said. The state’s allocation includes $429 million over five years to improve water systems.

“It’s our desire that the city of Jackson gets its fair share,” Regan said during a meeting with community leaders. “It’s our desire that the city of Jackson doesn’t have to live with what you all have lived with for far too long.”

Jackson’s main water-treatment plant malfunctioned in late August after torrential rain caused flooding along the Pearl River. The influx altered the quality of the raw water entering the plant from a reservoir. That slowed the treatment process, depleted supplies in water tanks and caused a dangerous drop in pressure.

But even before the rainfall, officials said some water pumps had failed and a treatment plant was using backup pumps. A rental pump was installed last week, and the system’s water pressure is back to normal.

Groups are distributing bottled water at drive-thru sites, and restaurants are bringing tanks of clean water from suburbs.

About 25% of Jackson’s residents live in poverty, and the city’s tax base has declined with a sharp decrease in population since 1980 — a change that happened along with mostly white flight that started about a decade after public schools began integrating in 1970.

Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson sat with Regan at the community meeting and toured Jackson’s main water plant with the administrator, Gov. Tate Reeves and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba. Other members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation also participated in meetings with them about short-term and long-term solutions for the city’s water problems.

“We do know that will require all of us working together to cut through the bureaucracy,” Regan said during a news conference at Jackson State University.

Thompson pointed out during the community meeting that Regan is from North Carolina, which also has a large Black population.

“He understands the challenges, especially (for) communities of color,” said Thompson, the only Black member of Mississippi’s congressional delegation. “Under this current administration, they have taken the fact that many of these communities have been underserved by its government and tried to right the ship.”

Jackson’s water system has been fragile for years, with officials warning that widespread loss of service was possible. A cold snap in 2021 froze pipes and some water treatment equipment, leaving tens of thousands of people without running water. Similar problems happened again early this year, on a smaller scale. The EPA also told Jackson months ago that its water system violates the federal Safe Drinking Water Act.

Record heat wave puts California in fossil fuel conundrum


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A man pushes a stroller near the AES power plant in Redondo Beach, Calif., Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. A record heat wave put California in a fossil fuel conundrum: The state has had to rely more heavily on natural gas to produce electricity and avoid power outages while Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration moves toward ending the use of oil and gas. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A record heat wave put California in a fossil fuel conundrum: The state has had to rely more heavily on natural gas to produce electricity and avoid power outages while Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration moves toward ending the use of oil and gas.

The heat wave that started more than a week ago has been hotter and longer than any other in the state, and it put unprecedented strain on power supplies. That prompted Newsom to plead with people to use less power to avoid rolling blackouts — a practice that involves cutting some people’s power to save energy so the lights can stay on for everyone else.

The effort worked, but meeting the state’s heightened energy demand also required activating generators fueled by natural gas, which is still a major part of the state’s power picture. The Democratic governor’s calls for conservation also drew criticism about new state policies governing electric vehicles and other measures that will only increase energy demand.

Newsom, speaking to reporters Wednesday, said the “pretty extreme” circumstances required the state to turn to more natural gas as a backup supply.

“We all want to accelerate the elimination of the gas, but it’s a sober reminder of reality,” he said.

Tuesday’s demand for 52,000 megawatts set a record, as triple-digit temperatures blanketed much of the state. Sacramento hit a record high of 116 degrees (47 degrees Celsius), and normally cooler places like San Francisco and San Diego also reached sizzling temperatures.

Demand will only climb in the years ahead. By 2045, when the state is mandated to get all of its electricity from non-carbon or renewable sources, demand is expected to be as high as 78,000 megawatts due to more electric home appliances and cars on the road, according California Energy Commission estimates.

To meet that demand, both the government and major utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric are working to scale up renewable sources such as solar and wind power, as well as large-scale batteries that can store that power for use at night. The California Public Utilities Commission last year ordered utilities to procure enough additional power for 2.5 million homes by 2026.

Newsom just signed legislation aimed at keeping the state’s last nuclear plant open for five years beyond its planned 2025 closure, and he suggested Wednesday that the plant could run even longer if needed.

The sun is typically the state’s biggest power source during the day. But as the hot weather arrived, natural gas surpassed renewables for more time over the past week, according to the California Independent System Operator, which is responsible for managing and maintaining reliability on the state’s power grid.

Gas was the primary energy source all day on Tuesday — the expected peak of the brutal temperatures.

Meanwhile, on Monday the state for the first time turned on four gas-powered generators to add more supply, enough to power 120,000 homes. It planned to rely on some diesel-powered generators as well.

But some of the state’s fossil-fuel plants have their own reliability problems. Several power plants, including aging gas-fired ones along California’s coast, partially broke down or produced less energy than planned, according to the ISO.

Four of the plants, which suck up ocean water to cool down their equipment, were slated to close in 2020, but the state has continually extended their lives to help stabilize the power supply. They now plan to stay open until at least 2023, but they could last even longer under legislation Newsom signed in June.

If the state wants to keep the old coastal gas-powered plants online beyond 2023, it needs to give the companies that own them more certainty about the future so they can decide whether to spend money to maintain them, said Siva Gunda, vice chairman of the California Energy Commission, the state’s energy planning agency.

“Everything has to be moved forward at full throttle” with the “ambitious aim” that cleaner energy sources make up most of the state’s power reserves, he said.

The intensity of the heat wave only emphasizes the need for California to move away from fossil fuels as quickly as possible, he said.

The grid challenges also provided plenty of fodder for Newsom’s political critics, who have argued that Democrats’ policies to move away from oil and gas don’t add up.

The state recently adopted new regulations aimed at ending the sale of most new gas-powered cars in the state by 2035. But during the heat wave, officials also urged people not to charge cars or use other large appliances at night. The state has not banned car charging, but instead urged people to do so during the day.

“Gavin Newsom — You have to buy an electric car. Also Gavin Newsom — But you can’t charge it,” Republican state Sen. Melissa Melendez tweeted Tuesday evening after the state sent out an emergency wireless alert urging people to reduce power use.

Environmental groups say planning failures led California to rely on natural gas — and even ramp up its use — during the heat wave. The state needs to set clearer goals and benchmarks to meet its clean energy targets and ensure that fossil fuels aren’t used as a backup, said Ari Eisenstadt, campaign manager for Regenerate California, a campaign aimed at ending fossil fuel use in the state.

“Folks have been talking about natural gas as a bridge for decades,” he said. “And if it were truly a bridge, we would have crossed it by now.”

'Mystery' eggs found in loggerhead turtle nests in North Carolina

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Researchers in North Carolina said they are trying to determine the purpose of "mystery" eggs found in several loggerhead turtle nests.

The Cape Hatteras National Seashore Park Service said in an Instagram post that researchers found numerous so-called "spacer" eggs among the normal eggs in several loggerhead turtle nests along the North Carolina coast.

The spacer eggs are smaller than the turtles' normal eggs and bear an unusual shape. The eggs lack a yolk and do not hatch into baby turtles, researchers said.

Spacer eggs are common in leatherback turtle nests, but it is not common to find them in loggerhead nests, parks officials wrote.

"Even though the name spacer egg hints to a space filling function, the purpose of these eggs are still a mystery," parks officials wrote. "They might prevent sand from falling into the nest cavity, they may satisfy a predator that would otherwise eat viable eggs, or they may simply be a mistake in the egg-making process."

Ex-Puerto Rico legislator sentenced to nearly 5 years for kickback scheme


Former Puerto Rican House Rep. Nelson Del Valle Colon was sentenced to 57 months in jail on Wednesday for accepting semiweekly kickbacks from two of employees. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo


Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A judge on Wednesday sentenced a former Puerto Rico legislator to nearly five years in jail after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a bribery and kickback scheme involving two of his employees.

Along with being sentenced to 57 months in jail, Nelson Del Valle Colon, 56, of Dorado, Puerto Rico, was ordered to pay $190,000 in restitution, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Del Valle Colon, 56, pleaded guilty in late March to one count of federal program bribery.

The former Puerto Rico politician was first elected to represent the Ninth District in the U.S. territory's House of Representatives in 2004, a seat he held until 2008. He was then re-elected to the seat for a second term in 2016.

After taking office in 2017, Del Valle Colon hired Mildred Estrada-Rojas, who was under his employment during his first term in office, and her daughter, Nickolle Santos-Estrada, to work in his legislative office.

According to court documents, when Estrada-Rojas worked for Del Valle Colon during his first term her semiweekly salary amounted to less than $1,000. Immediately after she was hired as office director for Del Valle Colon, her government salary more than doubled to $2,300. Santos-Estrada's semiweekly salary was about $2,000.

Prosecutors said that in exchange for their positions and their inflated salaries, the mother and daughter each paid Del Valle Colon kickbacks worth between $500 and $1,300 on a semiweekly basis from the time of their hiring until July 2020.

Court documents state that Del Valle Colon received the kickbacks in envelopes delivered to his Old San Juan Capitol building offices and sometimes via a smartphone application called ATH Movil.

Estrada-Rojas, 55, and Santos-Estrada, 33, each also pleaded guilty to one count of federal program bribery the same day as Del Valle Colon, with the latter scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16 and the former on Sept. 28.

All three were originally indicted in August of 2020.

"The citizens of Puerto Rico were betrayed by legislator Del Valle Colon, an elected official who abused his position for personal gain, and who must be held accountable for violating one of the basic tenets of public trust, that is, serving his constituents with integrity and honesty," U.S. Attorney W. Stephen Muldrow of the District of Puerto Rico said in a statement after the charges were first revealed.

AMAZON UNION BUSTING
Amazon CEO says N.Y. union vote had 'very disturbing irregularities'

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Wednesday said the company's effort to overturn a union vote at its Staten Island warehouse is "going to take a long time to play out." File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Wednesday said the company's effort to overturn a union election at a New York warehouse would likely be a lengthy process.

Speaking at the Code Conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., Jassy claimed there were "very disturbing irregularities" in the vote that saw workers at Amazon's JFK8 warehouse on New York's Staten Island become the first unionized Amazon workers recognized by the National Labor Relations Board.

Last week, the NLRB denied Amazon's request to nullify the Amazon Labor Union, which was established more than a year ago, but Jassy on Wednesday indicated the company would likely take its challenge beyond the NLRB.

"I think that's going to take a long time to play out because I think it's unlikely the NLRB is going to [rule] against themselves," he said.

Amazon has until Sept. 16 to file objections to the NLRB hearing officer's report, which would be reviewed by another agency official.

The company can also challenge the NLRB's conduct in federal court.

During the vote in April 2,654 workers voted in favor of unionizing and while 2,131 voted against it. Another 67 ballots were challenged and 17 were voided.

About a week later, Amazon filed a grievance with the NLRB, listing 25 objections to the election, including alleged threats of violence which "chilled" anti-union turnout and accused union backers of "distributing marijuana" to workers in exchange for their votes.

Jassy on Wednesday noted that the New York vote was the only successful union effort within the company to date.

"I think it hasn't been a huge, broad union issue," he said.

He also said that Amazon warehouse employees would have to choose between "the compelling set of benefits they have today with us" or joining a union.

"It's unclear what benefits they'll get. Whether they'll be as good as what they have now or not," he said.

THE NLRB RULED THIS A FALSE STATEMENT BY THE EMPLOYER

THEY CANNOT DENY BENEFITS ALREADY GIVEN (GRANDFATHERED)

Warehouse workers at Amazon facilities in North Carolina and Albany, N.Y., have organized with the goal of forming or joining a union and the Teamsters union has also sought to prioritize organizing Amazon workers.

Netflix settles 'Queen's Gambit' defamation lawsuit


Chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili, the inspiration behind the Netflix series, "The Queen's Gambit," has settled with the streaming service in her defamation lawsuit. 

Photo courtesy of the Dutch National Archives.



Sept. 7 (UPI) -- Netflix has settled a defamation lawsuit with the real-life chess champion behind the hit show, The Queen's Gambit, for what she called a "sexist and belittling" reference.

Court papers confirmed the streaming service's $5 million settlement with Russian chess champion Nona Gaprindashvili, according to The New York Times. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Gaprindashvili sued Netflix last year after she said she was defamed during one episode when a chess announcer inaccurately claimed she had "never faced men."

In the scene, with actress Anya Taylor-Joy playing Gaprindashvili, the announcer said, "The only unusual thing about her, really, is her sex, and even that's not unique in Russia. There's Nona Gaprindashvili, but she's the female world champion and has never faced men."

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Gaprindashvili, now 81, faced 59 male chess competitors by 1968, the year in which the series is set.

Gaprindashvili described the scene as a "devastating falsehood, undermining and degrading her accomplishments before an audience of many millions."

Netflix tried to have the lawsuit dismissed, arguing the streaming service was protected under the First Amendment, but a judge rejected the argument in January, saying fictional works are not immune from lawsuits if they defame real people.

"Netflix does not cite, and the Court is not aware, of any cases precluding defamation claims for the portrayal of real persons in otherwise fictional works," U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips wrote.

"The fact that the series was a fictional work does not insulate Netflix from liability for defamation if all the elements of defamation are otherwise present."

Netflix appealed the January ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit , but the case was dismissed Tuesday with the settlement.

"The parties are pleased that the matter has been resolved," said attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs, who represented Gaprindashvili.

A Netflix spokesperson also responded, saying, "We are pleased the matter has been resolved."

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South Carolina judge rules electric chair, firing squad executions unconstitutional

OLDE SPARKY

File Photo by Doug Smith/Florida Department of Corrections

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A South Carolina judge ruled that the state's attempts to execute inmates by firing squad or the electric chair are unconstitutional.

In a 39-page opinion, Fifth Circuit Judge Jocelyn Newman said that South Carolina's attempts to use firing squads and the electric chair would be counter to evolving standards of decency.

"In doing so, the General Assembly ignored advances in scientific research and evolving standards of humanity and decency," Newman said, arguing that executing death row inmates by firing squad or electric chair violates the state's constitution, which protects against cruel, corporal and unusual punishments.

South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster is likely to appeal the ruling, the State reported.

"There have been a lot of cases in the U.S. Supreme Court as well. It's been explained by the justices a number of times. The question is not the method but the procedure to get to the method," McMaster said.

"Our Legislature and others have done a good job in fashioning the best we can do for these sentences. I think that our South Carolina law is constitutional."

Last year, South Carolina's legislature passed a law adding the electric chair and the firing squad as execution methods, after prison officials said that have been unable to obtain chemicals to carry out an execution by lethal injection.

"Lethal injection is the least severe of the three statutorily authorized punishments, and the amended statute effectively revokes that lesser punishment," Newman said.

"When plaintiffs committed their crimes and received their death sentences, the default method of execution was lethal injection, which is according to the Supreme Court of the United States is believed to be the most humane [execution method] available."

Four inmates have challenged the state's execution methods, arguing that South Carolina has not done enough to get lethal injections. Since South Carolina started executing people by lethal injection in 1995, only three people have been executed by electrocution.