By RUSS BYNUM and AARON MORRISON (Associated Press)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The pastor of a church near the site of the racist fatal shooting of three Black people in Florida told congregants Sunday to follow Jesus Christ’s example and keep their sadness from turning to rage.

Jacksonville’s mayor wept. Others at the service focused on Florida’s political rhetoric and said it has fueled such racist attacks.

The shooting traumatized an historically Black neighborhood in Jacksonville Saturday as thousands visited Washington, D.C., to attend the Rev. Al Sharpton’s 60th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic “I Have A Dream” speech.

The latest in a long history of American racist killings was at the forefront of Sunday services at St. Paul AME Church, about 3 miles from the crime scene.

“Our hearts are broken,” the Rev. Willie Barnes told about 100 congregants Sunday morning. “If any of you are like me, I’m fighting trying to not be angry.”

Attorney General Merrick Garland said Sunday that the Justice Department was “investigating this attack as a hate crime and an act of racially motivated violent extremism.“

“No person in this country should have to live in fear of hate-fueled violence and no family should have to grieve the loss of a loved one to bigotry and hate,” he said.

Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan cried as she addressed the congregation.

“It feels some days like we’re going backward,” she said.

“I’ve heard some people say that some of the rhetoric that we hear doesn’t really represent what’s in people’s hearts, it’s just the game. It’s just the political game,” Deegan said. “Those three people who lost their lives, that’s not a game. “

The choir sang “Amazing Grace” before ministers said prayers for the victims’ families and the broader community. From the pews, congregants with heads bowed answered with “amen.”

A masked white man carried out the shooting with at least one weapon bearing a swastika inside a Dollar General store, leaving two men and one woman dead.

The shooting happened just before 2 p.m. within a mile of Edward Waters University, a small, historically Black university. In addition to carrying a firearm painted with a symbol of Germany’s Nazi regime of the 1930s and 1940s, the shooter issued racist statements before the shooting. He killed himself at the scene.

“He hated Black people,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said.

At the St. Paul AME Church service, elected officials said racist attacks like Saturday’s have been encouraged by political rhetoric targeting “wokeness” and policies from the Republican-led state government headed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, including one taking aim at the teaching of Black history in Florida.

“We must be clear, it was not just racially motivated, it was racist violence that has been perpetuated by rhetoric and policies designed to attack Black people, period,” said state Rep. Angie Nixon, a Jacksonville Democrat and one of several elected officials to speak during the church service.

“We cannot sit idly by as our history is being erased, as our lives are being devalued, as wokeness is being attacked,” Nixon said. “Because let’s be clear — that is red meat to a base of voters.”

The gunman, who was in his 20s, wore a bullet-resistant vest and used a Glock handgun and an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. He acted alone and there was no evidence that he was part of a group, Waters said.

Officials said the shooter wrote statements to federal law enforcement and the media that contained evidence suggesting that the attack was intended to mark the fifth anniversary of the murder of two people during a video game tournament in Jacksonville by a shooter who also killed himself.

Officials did not immediately release the names of the victims or the gunman on Saturday. Local media identified a man believed to be the shooter but his identity was not independently confirmed by The Associated Press by early Sunday.

Edward Waters University said in a statement that a security officer had seen the man near the school’s library and asked for identification. When the man refused, he was asked to leave and returned to his car. He was spotted putting on the bullet-resistant vest and a mask before leaving the grounds, although it was not known whether he had planned an attack at the university.

“I can’t tell you what his mindset was while he was there, but he did go there,” the sheriff said.

Professor David Jamison, who teaches history at Edward Waters, attended St. Paul AME Church on Sunday morning with four students from the university. The Rev. Barnes acknowledged them from the pulpit.

“These young men, they were withing feet of their lives being taken,” Barnes told the congregation. “And we’re grateful God spared their lives.”

The four students declined to speak with reporters after church. The pastor didn’t elaborate on what happened to them, and Jamison said he didn’t know details.

“They’re overwhelmed,” the professor said, “and thankful to be alive.”

Shortly before the attack, the gunman sent his father a text message telling him to check his computer, where he found his writings. The family notified 911, but the shooting had already begun, Waters said.

“This is a community that has suffered again and again. So many times this is where we end up,” Mayor Deegan said.

Rudolph McKissick, a national board member of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network, Baptist bishop, and senior pastor of the Bethel Church in Jacksonville, was in Jacksonville on Saturday when the shooting occurred in the historically Black New Town neighborhood

“Nobody is having honest, candid conversations about the presence of racism,” McKissick said.

DeSantis, who spoke with the sheriff by phone from Iowa while campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination, called the shooter a “scumbag.”

“This guy killed himself rather than face the music and accept responsibility for his actions. He took the coward’s way out,” DeSantis said.

McKissick, the Jacksonville pastor, was one of those saying that DeSantis’ politics were contributing to racial tensions in Florida.

“This divide exists because of the ongoing disenfranchisement of Black people and a governor, who is really propelling himself forward through bigoted, racially motivated, misogynistic, xenophobic actions to throw red meat to a Republican base,” McKissick said.

Past shootings targeting Black Americans include one at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket in 2022 and a historic African Methodist Episcopal church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.

The Buffalo shooting, which killed 10 people, stands apart as one of the deadliest targeted attacks on Black people by a lone white gunman in U.S. history. The shooter was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Jacksonville shooting came a day before the 63rd anniversary of the city’s notorious “Ax Handle Saturday,” when 200 Ku Klux Klan members attacked Black protesters conducting a peaceful sit-in against Jim Crow laws banning them from white-owned stores and restaurants.

The police stood by until a Black street gang arrived to fight the Klansmen, who were armed with bats and ax handles. Only Black people were arrested.

___

AP writers John Raoux in Jacksonville, Terry Spencer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Trisha Ahmed in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Mike Balsamo in Washington contributed to this report.

A rainy, windy week is in the cards for Hampton Roads, between one weather system that triggered a hazardous weather outlook and the fallout of a tropical storm forecasted for later in the week.

The National Weather Service at Wakefield issued a hazardous weather outlook, starting Sunday and continuing through the week. Thunderstorms and heavy rainfall may lead to localized flooding in central and southeast Virginia.

By Thursday night and into Friday, Hampton Roads residents could see rain and brisk wind from Tropical Storm Idalia, which was producing heavy rainfall across the eastern Yucatan Peninsula and western Cuba.

The storm is forecast to strengthen and could become a hurricane over the eastern Gulf of Mexico, hitting Florida by the middle of the week. Heavy rainfall is likely to spread into the Southeast U.S. by late this week.

“We probably will see some showers from that, and we’re also looking at some breezy conditions,” said Allison Mitchell, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Wakefield.

Those “breezy conditions” on Thursday and Friday look like winds at 30 to 35 miles per hour, Mitchell said, not tropical storm force wind speeds.

It’s too early to say with certainty what Tropical Storm Idalia will bring to Hampton Roads.

“The forecast is going to evolve over the week as we get more details,” Mitchell said.

Cianna Morales, 757-957-1304, [email protected]

Oliver Anthony, the man behind this week’s fast-rising, chart-topping hit “Rich Men North of Richmond,” released the second installment of his “It’s a pleasure to meet you” videos, this time talking about the way his song has been co-opted by conservatives and weaponized politically.

On Wednesday, when eight Republican presidential candidates faced off at the first primary debate, the question that kicked off the night was, “Why is (‘Rich Men North of Richmond’) striking such a nerve in this country right now?”

In the 10-minute YouTube address, the Farmville, Virginia, songwriter said he hasn’t liked watching “people wrap politics up in this,” and that he’s disappointed and aggravated that the conservative media have tried to identify with him, “like I’m one of them.”

In Anthony’s first “It’s a pleasure to meet you” videos, he described himself as in the middle, politically.

“It was funny seeing it in the presidential debate, because it’s like, I wrote that song about those people,” he said. “That song has nothing to do with Joe Biden. You know, it’s a lot bigger than Joe Biden. That song is written about the people on that stage and a lot more, not just them, but definitely them.”

Anthony continued that it was nearly impossible to articulate his political ideology and beliefs in three minutes, and that he hates to see his song being used politically.

“I see the right trying to characterize me as one of their own, and I see the left trying to discredit me, I guess in retaliation. That s— got to stop,” he said.

“I don’t know that I’ve seen anything get such a positive response from such a diverse group of people. And I think that terrifies the people that I sing about in that song.”

The Virginia songwriter got choked up as the 10-minute address went on, and he said he wanted to touch on comments he’s heard from the left as well.

“I do feel compelled to address something: I do need to address the left … because they’re sending a message out that the initial song is an attack against the poor,” he said.

Anthony was addressing a verse about the “obese milking welfare” by using tax money to buy Fudge Rounds. Anthony said the lyric references a news article he read this summer that said adolescent kids in Richmond, Virginia, who normally get cafeteria lunch at school were missing meals over the summer because their parents couldn’t afford to feed them; the article indicated that a significant portion of the food bought with welfare support was junk food.

“And that’s not the fault of those people. Welfare only makes up a small percentage of our budget,” Anthony said.

“At some point, I will dissect all my lyrics of all my songs if that’s what I need to do,” he said. “It’s like it’s driving people crazy to see the unity that’s come from this, from all walks. This isn’t a Republican and Democrat thing.”

Two weeks ago Anthony posted a lengthy Facebook post that he declined an $8 million offer, much to the shock from the industry. The post didn’t provide more details about the source of the offer.

“People in the music industry give me blank stares when I brush off 8 million dollar offers. I don’t want 6 tour buses, 15 tractor trailers and a jet. I don’t want to play stadium shows, I don’t want to be in the spotlight. I wrote the music I wrote because I was suffering with mental health and depression,” he wrote. “These songs have connected with millions of people on such a deep level because they’re being sung by someone feeling the words in the very moment they were being sung. No editing, no agent, no bull—. Just some idiot and his guitar. The style of music that we should have never gotten away from in the first place.”

An internal city review of Newport News City Council members’ expenses led to an overhaul in policy after four elected officials were found to have used city-issued credit cards for inappropriate charges.

Members were required to pay back charges that violated state code and the city’s travel policy, including airline travel to a basketball game and meals. The city revoked the credit cards for all council members except for the mayor, and switched to purchase cards, or P-cards, in July. Afterward, some Newport News council members claimed they were not given specific enough instructions on what expenses are allowed.

Newport News isn’t the only Hampton Roads city that issued credit cards to council members. The Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press reviewed the travel, meal and credit card policies of five other Hampton Roads cities to find out what checks they have in place to prevent misuse of taxpayer money.

Hampton and Portsmouth provide credit cards for council members. Chesapeake does for two members. Norfolk and Virginia Beach do not provide credit cards. Most city policies include guidelines stating expenses are allowed only for city business and that personal expenses, traffic or parking violations, gifts, alcohol or other non-city matters are not allowed.

Regulating how council members or staff spend taxpayer dollars is a struggle for most local governments, according to Frank Shafroth, who has worked for the National League of Cities, National Governors’ Association and most recently as director of the Center for State and Local Leadership at George Mason University. He said it’s often difficult for localities to “draw really fine lines” when determining whether using city funds is appropriate.

Expenses for business trips and meals are two of the areas most ripe for abuse, Shafroth said. But he said he was “pretty impressed ” with the cities’ travel policies.

Travel expenses

Portsmouth City Council members are issued credit cards for travel expenses (along with “limited miscellaneous” expenses for the mayor). Cards are kept in the finance department and checked out beforehand.

Council members are not allowed to expense travel in Hampton Roads. But allowable expenses include annual attendance at Virginia Municipal League and National League of Cities meetings, as well as conferences, educational and training courses, and other city-related business. The Portsmouth city manager submits quarterly reports about the council’s travel expenditures to the entire City Council for review.

City Clerk Debra White said when council members travel, they must submit a voucher detailing all aspects of the trip. All receipts must be turned in and validated by her and the finance department.

“If a receipt is lost or misplaced, the council member must sign a statement,” she said in an email. “This very rarely has to happen.”

In Hampton, council members have city-issued credit cards, and each new member has an orientation with the finance department to review policies. Credit card use is restricted to acquiring goods and services and providing payment for travel-related expenses to conduct city business. City policy states “excessive costs, circuitous routing, delays, or luxury accommodations unnecessary or unjustified in the performance of assigned travel are not considered examples of prudent behavior.”

“Council members’ expenses are collected, along with documentation, by the City Council staff,” said city spokesperson Robin McCormick. “They are the first review and are well-trained on the policies. They catch any mistakes and reject any expenses that are not allowed.

“The finance staff also reviews all credit card statements from staff and from City Council. They will question any submission that has missing documentation or does not appear meet the policy.”

In Chesapeake, only Mayor Rick West and council member Robert Ike have cards issued in their names. Those are kept locked in a file until travel, where they can use them for meals, parking fees or a room security deposit that must be paid upfront, though members normally pay upfront and get reimbursed, according to City Clerk Sandy Madison. A travel request must be submitted two weeks before departure. Reimbursement requests must be submitted within 10 days of returning.

According to Chesapeake spokesperson Heath Covey, the use of city-issued credit cards by members of the City Council is reviewed each month within the Office of the City Clerk.

Neither Norfolk nor Virginia Beach issue credit cards to council members. Instead, the cities have travel policies that cover members and city staff.

In Norfolk, travelers are not allowed to make their own travel plans or approve their own vouchers, according to the 14-page travel policy. Chris Jones, a spokesperson for Norfolk, said in an email that the department of finance and the city auditor’s office periodically review travel-related reimbursements and charges for compliance. Any non-compliance identified is subsequently addressed.

Additionally, Jones noted the city clerk’s office is responsible for working with City Council members to book city-related travel on their behalf. All payment documents require multiple approvals in the city’s financial system. Furthermore, Jones said council members are made aware of the policy before they travel. The city clerk also verifies that all necessary receipts and documentation are sent to the finance department for approval and/or reimbursement.

“The city manager considers this to be a sufficient internal control, and the city clerk concurs,” he said.

The Virginia Beach City Council travel policy outlines eligible travel expenses as: reimbursement for all regular and special council meetings, hearings and workshops, and for attendance at meetings or events “necessary to the conduct of the office of the council member within a defined local travel area.” If council members want to be reimbursed for an expense, they notify the city clerk, who reaches out to the finance department to follow the steps required for reimbursement.

Shafroth said he’s heard of cases in which officials would arrange vacations around what were supposed to be business trips to skirt around the issue of using taxpayer dollars for personal use, which he described as “the biggest area of potential abuse.”

Some situations, however, are more complicated.  For example, he said there could be a situation when an official travels to a city for business purposes before learning the only hotel rooms available exceed the guidelines within the travel policy.

“So you’re in this moral dilemma. Do you need to go someplace else that’s within the guidelines?” Shafroth said. “It’s 3 o’clock in the morning, are you going to be able to find a place?  Are you going to be accused of violating the guidelines? So what happens is it really depends heavily on each individual, demonstrating that she or he is judicious and careful not to abuse guidelines.”

Meals

Shafroth said meals are an area in which there can be “significant abuse.” He said “the average person should know” what is an acceptable amount to charge to the city. If someone orders three alcoholic drinks, a steak and desserts, it’s “clearly outside the bounds.” However, he noted staff members who advise government leadership may be reluctant to call out misuse of taxpayer dollars for fear of retaliation.

“I had a couple of bosses who really came down hard on you,” Shafroth said. “And even though you were doing the right thing, and they were proposing to do the wrong thing, you could get fired.”

Hampton Roads cities vary when it comes to what a council member can expense for a meal. The maximum amount Portsmouth reimburses for food is $20 per meal unless receipts are provided and covering meals for local travel is discouraged. All meals must be for official business. Chesapeake uses the standard IRS per diem rate for meal coverage according to the Virginia Per Diem Calculator. That rate ranges from $59 to $64 a day in Hampton Roads.

Norfolk does not allow meal reimbursement on trips of less than 12 hours or do not require an overnight stay. During out-of-town travel, Norfolk staff may be reimbursed for two meals a day during travel days, while three meals on days at the destination may be reimbursed.

Shafroth said receipts should be provided for the use of taxpayer dollars.

“I think as long as you’re showing the receipt, because then if it gets back, and it was dinner for two, it was $200,” Shafroth said. “That’s going to raise questions in anybody’s mind. That’s not reasonable, right? So you bring the receipt and then someone in the city or the county, or the state can say, ‘$200, for dinner for two, and the taxpayers are going to cover that? And do we have a really good explanation for why that’s justifiable?’”

Hampton may revoke credit cards if they are used for personal or unauthorized reasons, alcoholic beverages, used by another individual, or if the user fails to provide required receipts. Card revocation may also subject the cardholder to disciplinary action.

Those who violate Norfolk’s policy may be barred from traveling for the city or disciplined. Failure to meet Chesapeake’s policy is considered “unsatisfactory work performance” and can lead to disciplinary action.

Newport News changes

Following the credit card review in Newport News, the city is taking action to ensure more accountability.

The mayor is the only council member to retain a credit card, as the other six council members were required to switch to P-cards.

The primary difference between a P-card and a credit card is that charges to a P-card must be paid in full each month while credit cards allow cardholders to make partial payments and carry a revolving balance, according to city spokesperson Sarah Bowman.

“As it is not the City’s practice to carry a revolving balance, but rather pay credit card charges in full each month, transitioning all City cardholders to P-cards promotes uniformity, enhances reporting capabilities, and reduces the administrative burden of maintaining separate charge card programs with no negative financial impacts,” she wrote in an email.

Since the switch, two council members said they did not need a P-card. Four council members, Tina Vick, Pat Woodbury, Cleon Long and Curtis Bethany, have P-cards. According to Bowman, both P-cards and credit cards can be used for small purchases.

The council is also considering creating an official policy handbook to guide council behavior — including allowable credit card usage — and to codify roles and responsibilities.

Staff writers Stacy Parker, Natalie Anderson, and Ian Munro contributed to this report. 

Josh Janney, [email protected]

PORTSMOUTH — Since taking over as interim assessor in March, Janey Culpepper says her office slashed $41.2 million from the overall value for this year’s real estate assessments in the city.

The reduction followed a months-long review of assessments conducted by Culpepper’s predecessor, Patrick Dorris, with whom the City Council parted ways earlier this year. Culpepper previously said her office spotted inaccuracies with those assessments with the tools used and the values determined, and that she’s since worked to make adjustments.

Culpepper told City Council earlier this year that her office shaved off more than $182 million in overall residential real estate assessment value since she took over. She told The Virginian-Pilot this week that the overall reduced figure of $41 million, including residential and commercial value, was offset by the assessment of larger properties, such as the casino — meaning some value was added as other values were being reduced in the adjustments.

Since adjustments were ongoing during fiscal budget discussions, City Council enacted a one-time 5-cent real estate tax credit as a way to grant tax relief without permanently changing the tax rate, which is $1.30 per $100 of assessed value.

Even with the adjustments, however, the final land book value is on par with what was estimated in tax revenue in the fiscal budget. The total land book value, which includes final figures for citywide real property information, shows the total value for fiscal year 2024 is $9.9 billion, which represents a 13.2% increase from the previous fiscal year, according to Culpepper. That results in $124.3 million of tax revenue — about the same amount estimated in the adopted fiscal 2024 budget.

Additional changes have been filed for the land book as of Aug. 15, resulting in an additional $78,643 in revenue, according to Culpepper.

Overall, Culpepper said her office made adjustments to 81 neighborhoods across the city.

But Culpepper said she needs more resources to review hundreds more parcels to capture an additional $40 to $60 million of value, which could mean more tax revenue for the city. In a July email exchange obtained by The Pilot, Culpepper laid out the concern to City Council members and Interim City Manager Mimi Terry, stating that the backlog was due to insufficient staffing and funding for her office.

Culpepper told The Virginian-Pilot this week that more than 500 parcels, mostly commercial, are still in need of review — some of which have building permits that date back as far as 2016. Though it’s hard to know how much revenue that could generate, Culpepper said it can range from several thousand to several hundred thousand dollars.

She also said it’s time to conduct audits out in the field, something she said is due every six years. Audits involve a review of property record cards in each neighborhood to compare it with what’s actually there.

Culpepper said the pandemic played a big role in the backlog but that “we need to go out and capture all of this.”

But Terry, reached by phone Thursday, told The Pilot she can’t gauge how concerning the potential uncaptured value is for the city since it doesn’t say much about how much tax revenue that amounts to, particularly because it’s unclear how many of those remaining parcels are tax-exempt. About 40% of the land inside the city limits is unable to be taxed, which includes places like the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.

The 2023-24 budget includes 11 authorized positions for the city assessor’s office — up one from the fiscal 2022 budget. Culpepper told The Pilot she currently has 10 positions filled but is working to hire two additional appraisers. Additional positions, however, would have to be authorized by City Council.

Terry stated in her email to Culpepper that the interim assessor had plenty of opportunities to request additional funding in the budget, including work sessions and a City Council retreat.

Terry and Culpepper are in interim positions that report to City Council. Members are looking for the the next permanent city manager, but no plans have been made to begin the same process for city assessor.

At a City Council meeting earlier this month, member De’Andre Barnes asked to begin the process of seeking a hiring firm for the appointment of a permanent city assessor, which Mayor Shannon Glover said would require further discussion and a closed session.

Barnes told The Pilot he’d like the Council to part ways with Culpepper and hire a permanent replacement, noting that she was the assessor while the Elizabeth Manor Golf and Country Club had its taxes abated for decades. Culpepper was promoted to city assessor in 2011 after working for the city for more than 20 years. She retired in 2017.

Vice Mayor Lisa Lucas-Burke told The Pilot it is the desire of City Council to have a permanent city assessor, but believes it’s best to focus on one hiring process at a time. She added that Culpepper knows she was brought back temporarily.

“But eventually, we do want to get permanent positions because interim forever and ever amen is never a good look for a city,” she said.

Lucas-Burke also said the backlog is a concern, but that it should be brought before City Council so it can better understand what’s needed in the office and how to move forward. She added that hiring staff has been an issue “in all fields.”

“(Now) that it is an issue on the table, whatever we can do as a council to help bring some resolve to it, we will certainly do, outside of sticking our hands into the day-to-day operation of city business,” she said.

Culpepper said she would like to stay on and see some things through, such as the implementation of a computer-assisted mass appraisal system that keeps property data and uses uniform valuations. Not having such a system in place was one reason cited for parting ways with Dorris, who previously said having it would have prevented the data errors spotted.

“I think she has the credentials and the track record and certainly the experience in being our assessor going forward,” council member Bill Moody, who led the votes in March to terminate Dorris and replace him with Culpepper, told The Pilot.

Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, [email protected]

My interest in artificial intelligence piqued after a colleague told me he was using it for research and writing. Before I used AI for my own work, I decided to test its authenticity with a question I could verify. I asked OpenAI’s ChatGPT about my own identity expecting a text version of a selfie. After a week of repeating the same question, the responses were confounding and concerning.

ChatGPT answered “who is Philip Shucet” by listing 15 distinct positions I supposedly held at one time or another. The positions included specific titles, job responsibilities and employment dates. But only three of the 15 jobs were accurate. The other 12 were fabrications; the positions were real, but I was never in any of them. The misinformation included jobs in two states I never lived in, as well as a congressional appointment to the Amtrak Review Board. How could AI be so wrong?

Although newsrooms, boardrooms and classrooms are buzzing with stories, AI is not new. The first chatbot, Eliza, was created in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum at MIT. Weizenbaum, who died in 2008, became skeptical of artificial intelligence, telling the New Age Journal in 1985, “The dependence on computers is merely the most recent, and the most extreme, example of how man relies on technology in order to escape the burden of acting as an independent agent.”

Was Weizenbaum sending a warning that technology might make us lazy?

In an interview about AI on a March segment of 60 Minutes, Brad Smith, president of Microsoft, told Leslie Stahl that a benefit of AI could be, “looking at forms to see if they’ve been filled out correctly.” But what if the form is a resume created by AI? Can AI check its own misinformation? What happens when an employment record is tainted with false information created by AI? Can job recruiters rely on AI queries? Can employers rely on recruiters who use AI? And who is accountable when someone is hired based on misinformation generated by a machine and not by a human?

In the same 60 Minutes segment, Ellie Pavlik, an assistant professor at Brown, told Stahl, “It (AI) doesn’t really understand what it is saying is wrong.” If AI doesn’t know when it is wrong, how can anyone rely on AI to be correct?

In May, two New York attorneys used ChatGPT to write a court brief. The brief cited misinformation from cases that didn’t exist. Schwartz told the judge that he “failed miserably” to do his own research to make sure the information was correct. The judge fined each attorney $5,000.

I asked ChatGPT about the consequences of giving out bad information. ChatGPT answered by saying that false information results in misrepresentation, confusion, legal concerns, emotional distress and erodes trust in AI. If ChatGPT understands the implications of false information, why does it continue to provide fabrications when a search engine could easily provide correct information? Because, as I know now, ChatGPT is not a search engine. I know because I asked.

ChatGPT says it is a “language model designed to understand and generate human-like text based on input.” ChatGPT says it doesn’t crawl the web or search the Internet. Instead, it “generates responses based on patterns and information it learned from the text it was trained on.”

If AI needs to be trained, then there’s a critical human element of accountability we can’t ignore. So I started training ChatGPT by correcting it each time it answered with false information. After a week of training, ChatGPT was still returning a mix of accurate and inaccurate information, sometimes repeating fabrications. I’m still sending back correct information, but I’m ready to bring this experiment to an end for now.

This wasn’t a test of ego, it was a test of reliability and trust. A 20% accuracy rate is a failing grade.

In 1976, Weizenbaum wrote, “No other organism, and certainly no computer, can be made to confront genuine human problems in human terms.” I’m not a luddite. But as technology continues to leap forward further and faster, let’s remember that we are in control of the information that defines us. We are the trainers.

Philip Shucet is a journalist. He previously held positions as the commissioner of VDOT, president and CEO of Hampton Roads Transit, and CEO of Elizabeth River Crossings. He has never held a congressional appointment.

Jordan Love threw a touchdown pass to Christian Watson in his third and final series of the game for host Green Bay as the Packers defeated Seattle 19-15 Saturday in the last preseason game for both teams.

It was Love’s last tune-up before he begins his first full season as the Packers’ starting quarterback following the trade of four-time MVP Aaron Rodgers to the New York Jets. Love completed 9 of 15 for 63 yards and had three carries for 21 yards against a Seattle defense consisting mostly of reserves.

Green Bay pulled ahead for good on Nate McCrary’s 1-yard touchdown run with 1:56 remaining. McCrary’s touchdown came four plays after a 52-yard completion from Alex McGough to rookie Jadakis Bonds from Hampton University.

Benny Sapp sealed the victory by picking off East Carolina product Holton Ahlers’ pass in the end zone with 13 seconds left.

Jets 32, Giants 24: Aaron Rodgers threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson to cap the second and final series of his preseason debut with the New York Jets, helping his new squad beat the New York Giants.

Playing in the preseason for the first time since 2018 when he was with Green Bay, the four-time NFL MVP came out throwing in the regular-season tuneup against the Giants’ backups. The Jets (2-2) were the visiting team at MetLife Stadium in the matchup of New York clubs.

Rodgers went 5 for 8 for 47 yards, including the perfectly placed pass to Wilson in the front left corner of the end zone. He was replaced by Zach Wilson on the next series.

Brandin Echols ended the Giants’ third offensive series by intercepting Tommy DeVito and returning it 67 yards for a touchdown.

DeVito, the third-stringer behind starter Daniel Jones and backup Tyrod Taylor, a Hampton native, redeemed himself for the pick-six two series later. DeVito and the Giants (1-2) converted four third-down plays on a 14-play, 81-yard drive that finished with Jashaun Corbin’s 1-yard TD run.

DeVito finished 19 of 29 for 210 yards, including a late 30-yard TD pass to David Sills.

Jaguars 31, Dolphins 18: Miami’s game at Jacksonville was stopped with 8:32 left in the fourth quarter after Dolphins receiver Daewood Davis took a hard hit and was carted off the field in an immobilized position.

Davis was taken to a hospital for evaluation, the Dolphins announced, adding that he was conscious and had movement in all his extremities.

Davis ran a slant route and was trying to catch a pass from James Blackman when he took a hard hit from Jacksonville’s Dequan Jackson, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness. The entire Miami bench emptied, and Jaguars players also came onto the field as Davis was face-down on the turf for several minutes.

It was the second straight week an exhibition game was ended early because of a scary injury; New England’s game at Green Bay on Aug. 19 was called off after Patriots cornerback Isaiah Bolden was carted off the field.

Trevor Lawrence played two series for the Jaguars (3-0), completing 8 of 10 passes for 92 yards. Tua Tagovailoa went 4 of 6 for 67 yards in his two series for the Dolphins (1-2).

Cowboys 31, Raiders 16: Will Grier had a hand in four touchdowns as host Dallas beat Las Vegas.

With star quarterback Dak Prescott calling the plays, Grier threw for 305 yards and two TDs and ran for 54 yards with two more scores in what might have been his final act with the Cowboys (1-2) after two seasons behind backup Cooper Rush.

A day earlier, the Cowboys appeared to fill Grier’s third-string role by acquiring Trey Lance in a trade with San Francisco.

Damien Williams had a 24-yard touchdown run for the Raiders (2-1), who were playing a few hours after NFL rushing champion Josh Jacobs ended his contract stalemate by agreeing to a one-year deal. Las Vegas’ six-game preseason winning streak ended.

The starters sat for both teams, including quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo a week after his Las Vegas debut. Third-string Las Vegas QB Aidan O’Connell was 17 of 26 for 178 yards, and Kristian Wilkerson had 10 catches for 122 yards.

Buccaneers 26, Ravens 20: Baker Mayfield looked comfortable in his final tuneup as Tampa Bay’s new starting quarterback, throwing a touchdown pass while playing less than a quarter in a home win over Baltimore.

Mayfield was selected as the starter over third-year pro Kyle Trask earlier in the week and played two series. The No. 1 overall pick from the 2018 draft completed all six of his passes for 43 yards, including an 11-yard TD throw to Chris Godwin for the Bucs (2-1).

As expected, Lamar Jackson did not play for the Ravens. Josh Johnson started at quarterback for Baltimore (1-2) and played into the second quarter. He completed 6 of 9 for 95 yards and one TD before being replaced by Anthony Brown, who played most of the final three quarters and completed 12 of 21 passes for 171 yards and no TDs.

Trask played nearly the entire game for the second straight week. He completed 19 of 31 passes without an interception, finishing with 192 yards passing and a 6-yard TD to tight end David Wells.

Broncos 41, Rams 0: Undrafted rookie Jaleel McLaughlin scored his fourth touchdown of the preseason and tight end Albert Okwuegbunam caught seven passes for 109 yards and a TD in Denver.

Jarrett Stidham directed the Broncos (1-2) to scores on their first five drives as they built a 27-0 halftime lead. Stidham was 17 of 28 for 236 yards, one TD and no interceptions or sacks in his half of play.

Playing after halftime for the Broncos, former James Madison star Ben DiNucci completed 11 of 15 for 117 yards and a touchdown, and he ran four times for 22 yards.

Los Angeles (0-3) sat Matthew Stafford and several other starters for the entire preseason. The Broncos sat Russell Wilson and most of their starters, too.

McLaughlin capped Denver’s opening drive with a 1-yard TD run. That came one play after Rams defensive back Trey Tomlinson was disqualified for grabbing receiver Marvin Mims Jr.’s facemask and pulling him to the ground just inside the 1.

Brett Maher kicked field goals of 46 and 33 yards, Tony Jones Jr. scored from a yard out, and Stidham threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Albert Okwuegbunam.

Bills 24, Bears 21: Quarterback Josh Allen led a scoring drive to start the game, and backup quarterback Kyle Allen took over to finish Buffalo’s win in Chicago.

Buffalo’s starter went 5 of 7 for 49 yards on a 72-yard touchdown drive to start the game, then Kyle Allen took over at quarterback and was 18 of 34 for 162 yards with a touchdown in pursuit of the backup quarterback job.

The Bears had quarterback Justin Fields in the lineup for three drives, but he left after moving the ball to the 9-yard line on the third possession so rookie Tyson Bagent could finish the drive in his bid to win the Bears’ backup quarterback job.

Chicago’s Isaiah Ford, a former Virginia Tech wide receiver, blocked a punt.

Chiefs 33, Browns 32: Deshaun Watson led Cleveland on back-to-back touchdown drives before Kansas City’s backups overcame two pick-sixes from their quarterbacks and rallied for a home win.

Struggling kicker Cade York had given Cleveland the lead with a 40-yarder with 4:23 to go, but the Chiefs went the other way to set up Harrison Butker’s 44-yarder for the final margin. York had another field-goal attempt blocked in the final minute.

Watson played four series and was 5 of 10 for 92 yards with a TD pass. Former Virginia Cavalier Juan Thornhill and Caleb Biggers had the pick-sixes for the Browns.

Justyn Ross, Ihmir Smith-Marsette and La’Mical Perine had touchdown receptions for Kansas City.

Cleveland’s Jakeem Grant Sr., who had returned after tearing his Achilles tendon last summer, was carted off with what coach Kevin Stefanski called “a significant” knee injury while returning the opening kickoff.

Cardinals 18, Vikings 17: David Blough had a touchdown pass and a rushing score in a second-half rally by Arizona in Minnesota.

Zach McCloud had three of Arizona’s six sacks of Minnesota rookie Jaren Hall. Blough spent last season on the practice squad with the Vikings and was vying for a spot on an unsettled Cardinals depth chart. Kyler Murray is rehabbing from a torn ACL last season.

Hall, from Brigham Young, had his most efficient performance to date in his bid to make the team behind Kirk Cousins and Nick Mullens.

Friday

Lions 26, Panthers 17: Bryce Young completed 7 of 12 passes for 73 yards and a touchdown in his final tuneup before the regular season, though Carolina lost at home to Detroit.

The No. 1 pick in the draft looked sharp leading scoring drives on his only two possessions, the second culminating in his first TD pass — a 16-yard strike to veteran wide receiver Adam Thielen for a 10-0 lead. Young scrambled three times for 21 yards and two first downs.

Teddy Bridgewater played the entire first half and led four first half scoring drives for Detroit.

Titans 23, Patriots 7: Malik Willis shook off a rough start while throwing for 211 yards and two touchdowns for host Tennessee.

New England rested many of its starters and managed just 79 yards of offense. Tennessee had six sacks. Titans rookie quarterback Will Levis missed his second straight game with an injured left thigh.

Saturday, though, Titans coach Mike Vrabel said he didn’t think he had seen enough to choose either Levis or Willis as Ryan Tannehill’s backup for the Titans’ opener Sept. 10.

Chargers 23, 49ers 12: Brock Purdy ran for a 5-yard touchdown during a brief tune-up for the season opener for San Francisco before Los Angeles backups beat the host 49ers.

The teams took different approaches, with San Francisco playing Purdy and several other starters for two drives, while the Chargers used almost exclusively second- and third-string players.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Chris Buescher has become a NASCAR title contender in less than a month.

Buescher won the Cup Series regular-season finale at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday night, eliminating fan favorite Chase Elliott from playoff contention and sending Bubba Wallace into the postseason.

Buescher and teammate Brad Keselowski finished 1-2 for RFK Racing, the first such achievement for the team since 2014. It was Buescher’s third victory since late July, making him a championship favorite no one could have expected five weeks ago.

“We certainly got momentum on our side right now,” Buescher said.

Because Buescher had previously won this season, Wallace landed the 16th and final playoff spot on points.

“That was the most stress but also the most locked in I’ve ever been,” Wallace said. “Proud to be locked into the playoffs. We’ve gone through a lot of trials and tribulations. So proud of the effort we put in.”

Drivers had to regroup in the waning laps after Ryan Preece flipped about a dozen times and came to a halt in his mangled No. 41 Ford. The Stewart-Haas Racing driver was able to get out with help before emergency personnel put him on a gurney and into an ambulance for a quick trip to the infield care center. He was later transported to a hospital for further evaluation.

NASCAR provided no immediate update, but Preece tweeted about two hours afterward, “If you want to be a race car driver, you better be tough. … I’m coming back.”

Preece made contact with SHR teammate Chase Briscoe, and his car started flipping when he slid across the infield grass. The crash sent the race into overtime. Buescher was out front for the restart with two laps to go, and Keselowski stayed in line to keep them 1-2 at the checkered flag.

“Second is the first loser,” Keselowski quipped. “But you could have ended up in a ball of flames in (Turns) 3 and 4, too, and that would have been pretty dumb. … It would have been really difficult to pull a move off without probably wrecking both of us.”

Aric Almirola finished third in another Ford, followed by Elliott and defending series champion Joey Logano.

Seventeen drivers, most notably Wallace and Elliott, started the night with hopes of securing the final playoff spot.

Elliott had been facing an uphill battle for months. He missed six races after breaking his left leg in a snowboarding accident in early March and was suspended for another for intentionally wrecking Denny Hamlin in May. Those absences left NASCAR’s most popular driver trying to dig out of a hole all summer.

Elliott needed a victory that never came. He knew Daytona was a wild card, but he still managed to get to the front and lead two laps early. He was in the mix late but had little Chevrolet help around him.

“Yeah, it’s a bummer for sure,” said Elliott, who missed the playoffs for the first time in eight Cup seasons. “I appreciate everybody’s support through this season. Hasn’t been what I would want by any means. Certainly going to be some lessons taken from it, and I think we’ll be better for it on the other end.”

Martin Truex Jr. took the regular-season championship over Denny Hamlin, giving Truex an extra 15 playoff points. Truex and Hamlin were the only drivers vying for the regular-season title at Daytona.

The more notable race was for the final postseason spot. Seven of the drivers vying for the berth were eliminated in a 12-car melee a little past the midway point.

Ty Gibbs was one of those knocked out of contention. Christopher Bell was pushing Gibbs near the front of the field but got him sideways in Turn 4. Gibbs slammed into race leader Ryan Blaney, turning Blaney’s No. 12 Ford into the outside wall. Blaney hit so hard that at least two tires lifted off the ground.

“I feel like I got pushed in a bad spot,” Gibbs said.

At least nine others were collected in the crash, including Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Austin Dillon and Austin Cindric. NASCAR red-flagged the race for nearly 10 minutes to clean up the carnage.

“It stinks. A lot of cars got tore up. Not fun,” Blaney said.

Kurt Busch retires

Kurt Busch held back tears as he announced his Cup Series retirement Saturday at Daytona International Speedway. The 2004 series champion and 2017 Daytona 500 winner called it quits mostly because he’s been unable to shake lingering effects of a significant concussion that rocked stock car racing a year ago.

“My body is just having a battle with Father Time,” the 45-year-old Busch said.

Next

The Cup Series playoffs begin in South Carolina at Darlington Raceway next Sunday. William Byron won in May at the track, and Erik Jones won the postseason race there in 2022.