Women looking to make Senate history ‘intend to be quite bold’

WASHINGTON — When Sen. Laphonza Butler was sworn in to the Senate in October 2023, she joined a small — and lonely — club: being a Black woman in the United States Senate. And when her term concludes at the end of this year, she’s hoping her departure doesn’t create a void.

With Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester and Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks running for the open Senate seats in Delaware and Maryland, respectively, there’s a possibility that two Black women will serve in the Senate at the same time — a first in the more than two centuries since the U.S. Senate first convened in 1789. And in the Senate alone, there are currently more men named John or Jon than there have ever been Black women.

At a panel discussion Friday moderated by political commentator Angela Rye at the Congressional Black Caucus’ Annual Legislative Conference, Alsobrooks, Butler and Blunt Rochester spoke about the importance of having Black women in the Senate, and in politics.

“We are a part of this country. We helped build this country. We deserve to be in these places, in these spaces,” Blunt Rochester said.

—CQ-Roll Call

Detroit launches first of its kind quick response team to combat opioid overdoses

DETROIT — Detroit is launching a new, first-of-its-kind quick response team that will be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to follow up with suspected opioid overdose survivors after they receive treatment from the Detroit Fire Department.

The team, which was announced during a news conference Friday and will hit the streets Monday, will be operated by Face Addition Now, a Clinton Township-based nonprofit, and equipped with harm-reduction strategies and supplies that help keep people who use drugs alive and as healthy as possible.

They can also connect overdose survivors to substance use disorder treatment, housing services, food and clothing assistance, and employment assistance if the survivors are willing.

"We welcome this QRT initiative because it ensures that someone who overdoses doesn't just go to the emergency center, they actually get the treatment they need," Chief Public Health Officer Denise Fair Razo said. "They get the referrals to the wraparound services, and that's what we need for our community."

—The Detroit News

Why AI is better than humans at talking people out of their conspiracy theory beliefs

LOS ANGELES — Roughly half of Americans subscribe to to some sort of conspiracy theory, and their fellow humans haven't had much success coaxing them out of their rabbit holes. Perhaps they could learn a thing or two from an AI-powered chatbot.

In a series of experiments, the artificial chatbot was able to make more than a quarter of people feel uncertain about their most cherished conspiracy belief. The average conversation lasted less than 8½ minutes. The results were reported Thursday in the journal Science.

The failure of facts to convince people that we really did land on the moon, that Al Qaeda really was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, and that President Joe Biden really did win the 2020 election, among other things, has fueled anxiety about a post-truth era that favors personal beliefs over objective evidence.

"People who believe in conspiracy theories rarely, if ever, change their mind," said study leader Thomas Costello, a psychologist at American University who investigates political and social beliefs. "In some sense, it feels better to believe that there's a secret society controlling everything than believing that entropy and chaos rule."

—Los Angeles Times

Venezuela summons Spanish ambassador over 'dictatorship' comment

MADRID — Venezuela has ramped up its diplomatic response to "disturbing" remarks made about the country by Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles.

The Spanish ambassador was being summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Caracas on Friday, while Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil said his country's ambassador to Madrid was to be brought back for consultations.

On Thursday, Robles had referred to Venezuelans in exile at a book presentation in Madrid, saying that they had been forced to leave their country "precisely because of the dictatorship they are experiencing." Writing on Telegram, Gil described the Spanish minister's comments as "impertinent, disturbing and rude."

Diplomatic relations between Venezuela, ruled by the authoritarian President Nicolás Maduro for 11 years, and many Western countries deteriorated further after July's presidential election installed Maduro for another six-year term.

—dpa