Homelessness in the United States has surged to levels unseen since the Great Depression. However, existing methods for monitoring it, such as point-in-time (PIT) counts, have limitations in terms of frequency, consistency, and spatial detail. This study proposes a new approach using publicly available, crowdsourced data, specifically 311 Service Calls and street-level imagery, to track and forecast homeless tent trends in San Francisco. Our predictive model captures fine-grained daily and neighborhood-level variations, uncovering patterns that traditional counts often overlook, such as rapid fluctuations during the COVID-19 pandemic and spatial shifts in tent locations over time. By providing more timely, localized, and cost-effective information, this approach serves as a valuable tool for guiding policy responses and evaluating interventions aimed at reducing unsheltered homelessness.

Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Two decades ago, the fire marshal in Glendale, Arizona, was concerned that the elevators in a new stadium wouldn't be large enough to accommodate a 7-foot stretcher held flat. Tilting a stretcher to make it fit in the cab, the marshal worried, might jeopardize the treatment of a patient with a back injury. Maybe our elevators should be bigger, he thought. The marshal put this idea to the International Code Council, the organization that governs the construction of American buildings. After minor feedback and minimal research (the marshal measured three stretchers in the Phoenix area), the suggestion was incorporated into the ICC's model code.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The Justice Department is improving language access to its programs to help people with limited English proficiency better report crimes. The Interior Department is providing technical assistance to Native American tribes to help them apply for grants. The Energy Department is helping low-income households access programs to weatherize their homes and save energy.

The Transform Technology Summits start October 13th with Low-Code/No Code: Enabling Enterprise Agility. This week, a piece from The Makeup uncovered biases in U.S. mortgage-approval algorithms that lead lenders to turn down people of color more often than white applicants. A decisioning model called Classic FICO didn't consider everyday payments -- like on-time rent and utility checks, among others -- and instead rewarded traditional credit, to which Black, Native American, Asian, and Latino Americans have less access than white Americans. The findings aren't revelatory: back in 2018, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley found that mortgage lenders charge higher interest rates to these borrowers compared to white borrowers with comparable credit scores. But they do point to the challenges in regulating companies that riskily embrace AI for decision-making, particularly in industries with the potential to inflict real-world harms.

The trucking industry scored a victory this week when Republican lawmakers effectively blocked Obama administration safety rules aimed at keeping tired truckers off the highway. The American Trucking Assns. is pledging to come back next month, when Republicans will control the White House and Congress, and try to block state laws that require additional rest breaks for truckers beyond what federal rules require. The group says there should be one uniform national rule on work hours for interstate truckers and that the extra breaks aren't necessary for safety. The trucking industry's latest triumph has caused concern among safety advocates that it may signal the start of a broad rollback of transportation safety regulations once there's no longer a Democratic president to check the tendency of Republican lawmakers to side with industry. "Unfortunately, it's going to be an open season on safety in this coming Congress," said Jim Hall, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board during the Clinton administration.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the broad reach of insider trading laws, ruling that family and friends of corporate insiders can be prosecuted for profiting on secret stock tips even if they don't pay money or other compensation for the information. The unanimous decision affirmed the conviction of a Chicago man who made $1.5 million in stock profits by trading on confidential tips that originated from his brother-in-law, an investment banker in California. The justices rejected claims of defense lawyers who argued that there was no crime because no money exchanged hands between the insider and the stock trader. Instead, the court said exchanges within a family are like gifts and have value, even if no dollars are paid. The decision, the high court's first on insider trading in nearly two decades, is a major victory for federal prosecutors who have sought to bring insider-trading charges against a wider network of people who profit from confidential tips, including those who are not insiders themselves or have not paid to obtain the valuable information.

Boeing Co. will acquire floating-drone maker Liquid Robotics, the aerospace giant said Tuesday. Based in Sunnyvale, Liquid Robotics developed the Wave Glider, a surfboard-shaped drone that floats on the ocean surface and collects data, propelling itself for up to a year using wave and solar power. In 2014, Liquid Robotics formed a partnership with Boeing to develop a military version of the Wave Glider called SHARC -- the Sensor Hosting Autonomous Remote Craft -- that combines Liquid Robotics' platform with Boeing's sensor technology. Boeing said it sees the SHARC as a way to connect intelligence-gathering efforts between underwater vehicles, aircraft and satellites. Liquid Robotics' headquarters will remain in Sunnyvale, though the company will be part of Boeing's autonomous systems unit, which is based in St. Louis.

A graduate student has been charged with murder in the fatal stabbing of beloved USC neuroscience professor, Bosco Tjan on campus Friday. David Jonathan Brown, 28, of Los Angeles is expected to be arraigned Tuesday in downtown Los Angeles, according to the L.A. County district attorney's office. If he is convicted, Brown faces up to 26 years to life in prison. Prosecutors allege that Brown used a knife when he attacked and stabbed Tjan in the chest at 4:30 p.m. Friday in his office in the Seeley G. Mudd Building on campus. Brown was immediately taken into custody.

Many data set resources have been published on DSC, both big and little data. Some associated with our data science apprenticeship. A list can be found here. Below is a repository published on Github, originally posted here. Quora: Where can I find large datasets open to the public?