Hacker News with Generative AI: Public Policy

The Movement to Redirect Billions of Taxpayer Dollars to Private Schools (propublica.org)
Private letters reveal the strategy behind the decadeslong quest — successful in 12 states and counting — by politicians, church officials and activists to make taxpayer-funded school vouchers available not just to the poor but to the wealthy.
'Mainlined into UK's veins': Labour announces public rollout of AI (theguardian.com)
Artificial intelligence will be “mainlined into the veins” of the nation, ministers have announced, with a multibillion-pound investment in the UK’s computing capacity despite widespread public fear about the technology’s effects.
Open letter to Mark Zuckerberg from the fact-checkers, nine years later (poynter.org)
As Meta announces end to U.S. fact-checking, program partners warn of a setback for accuracy online and potential global consequences
Finland's zero homeless strategy (2021) (oecdecoscope.blog)
Following a period when homelessness rose in many countries, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments across the OECD area to provide unprecedented public support – including to the homeless.
English-friendly Romanization system proposed for Japanese language (asahi.com)
The Agency for Cultural Affairs is soliciting public comments about its plans to change romanization rules of the Japanese language for the first time in about 70 years.
UK bans daytime TV ads for cereals, muffins and burgers (france24.com)
The UK government is banning daytime TV adverts for sugary foods like granola and muffins in its battle against child obesity, branding such popular items as junk food.
Taxpayers spend 22% more per patient to support Medicare Advantage (theconversation.com)
Medicare Advantage – the commercial alternative to traditional Medicare – is drawing down federal health care funds, costing taxpayers an extra 22% per enrollee to the tune of US$83 billion a year.
Launch HN: Parsagon (YC W21) – AI for public affairs and government relations (ycombinator.com)
Hi HN! I’m Sandy, and I’m excited to introduce Parsagon. Parsagon is using AI to automate workflows for government affairs professionals, starting with an AI search for public policy. Here's a demo: https://parsagon.io/explore-search
Save Standard Time (savestandardtime.com)
Permanent Standard Time is best for health, safety, sports, education, productivity, wages, en­vi­ron­ment, and civil liberties. Save Standard Time is a nonprofit, non­par­ti­san, donor-funded, volunteer-supported effort to preserve and extend the observation of longitudinally correct Standard Time.
What to Do About Conspiracy Theories? (taylorfrancis.com)
Increasingly social activists, journalists and policy makers have expressed concern over the proliferation of conspiracy theories in the public space.
US House Select Subcommittee 2-Year Review of Covid-19 Pandemic: Lessons Learned (house.gov)
The single most thorough review of the pandemic conducted to date
How Every Computer Is a Chinese Computer (cigionline.org)
You're listening to Policy Prompt. I'm Vass Bednar, and I'm joined by my co-host, Paul Sampson. He's the president of the Center for International Governance Innovation. Policy Prompt features long-form interviews where we go in-depth to find nuances in the conversation with leading global scholars, writers, policymakers, business leaders, and technologists who are all working at the intersection of technology, society, and public policy. Listen now wherever you find your podcasts.
3 Years After Allocating $5B for EV Chargers, 17 Stations Completed (nationalreview.com)
Mozilla becoming active in online advertising (mozilla.org)
As Mark shared in his blog, Mozilla is going to be more active in digital advertising. Our hypothesis is that we need to simultaneously work on public policy, standards, products and infrastructure.
Elon Musk Claims Subsidizing Starlink Would Have Saved Hurricane Helene Victims (techdirt.com)
I know I’ve argued that not every Elon Musk brain fart warrants its own news cycle, but this one is particularly gross given recent events.
Improving online advertising through product and infrastructure (mozilla.org)
As Mark shared in his blog, Mozilla is going to be more active in digital advertising. Our hypothesis is that we need to simultaneously work on public policy, standards, products and infrastructure.
Tobacco Free Hiring Practice (ycombinator.com)
No smoking in your own home, California city orders residents (thetimes.com)
America's High Drunk-Driving Limit (nytimes.com)
OECD provides unrestricted access to all content (oecd-ilibrary.org)
Violence against women and girls a national emergency, says policing report (shropshirestar.com)
Unconditional Cash Study: first findings available (openresearchlab.org)
OMB discount rate determines grandchildren value (vox.com)
Children's daily sugar consumption halved just a year after tax, study finds (theguardian.com)
7 Years, $700M Wasted: The Collapse of New York's Traffic Moonshot (wsj.com)
17 Years, $700M Wasted: The Collapse of NYC's Traffic Moonshot (wsj.com)
The Public Interest Internet (berjon.com)
A Right to Warn about Advanced Artificial Intelligence (righttowarn.ai)
Taxpayers need to know how heavy a toll they'll be paying for weight-loss drugs (suntimes.com)