The post Distraction Attraction appeared first on The Santa Barbara Independent.

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, Calif. (KEYT) – Two men were arrested on Tuesday of this week in connection with a scam targeting an elderly resident.

On Feb. 24, around 11:30 a.m., deputies responded to a call about a suspected scam and were told by an elderly woman that the evening prior, Monday, Feb. 23, she withdrew $25,000 in cash and handed it to a courier she believed was a Deputy U.S. Marshal stated the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office in a press release Thursday.

The woman was contacted again on Tuesday and the caller demanded that the woman give an additional $25,000 claiming that the elderly woman's Social Security number and other identifying information had been compromised detailed the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

The scammers told the woman that they were trying to prevent any additional exposure of her private information and implied that she faced "adverse consequences" if they were not paid noted the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

When two men, a 21-year-old Tracy man and a 21-year-old man from Sacramento, arrived to collect the second payment, deputies arrested and booked the duo for multiple felonies including false personation, attempted grand theft, attempted financial elder abuse, and conspiracy to commit a crime explained the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

Bail for each man was set at $50,000 added the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office.

The Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office states that no government agency will request payment in cash, cryptocurrency, or gift cards and will not send couriers to collect payments.

Anyone who receives similar calls is urged to hang up immediately and report the incident to local law enforcement.

The post Pair of scammers arrested trying to pick up money after targeting local elderly resident appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Por Pablo Antonio Garcia Escorihuela, CNN en Español

En la fiesta del segundo título en importancia de Europa, ya está servida la mesa.

La Europa League tiene a sus 16 clasificados para los octavos de final, en donde hay clubes con un historial interesante y donde la proporción de participantes está más repartida que en su hermana mayor, la Champions League.

Al Porto, el Braga, el Midjtyland, el Real Betis, el Olympique Lyon, el Aston Villa, el Friburgo y la Roma se unieron este jueves al Genk, Ferencvaros, Panathinaikos, Celta de Vigo, Stuttgart, Nottingham Forest, Bologna y Lille para completar de esta forma el cuadro de participantes de los octavos de final, que comenzarán el 12 de marzo y se cerrarán el 19 de marzo con los partidos de ida y vuelta, respectivamente.

La distribución por países dejó a España (Betis y Celta), Francia (Lyon y Lille), Italia (Roma y Bologna), Portugal (Porto y Braga), Alemania (Stuttgart y Friburgo) e Inglaterra (Aston Villa y Nottingham Forest) con dos participantes en la ronda. Por su parte, Grecia (Panathinaikos), Hungría (Ferencvaros), Midtjylland (Dinamarca) y Bélgica (Genk) tienen un participante cada uno.

Aston Villa —por su presente en la Premier League de Inglaterra y por ser el segundo preclasificado— y los españoles Betis y Celta de Vigo son los equipos que lucen como rivales más fuertes de cara a la ronda de los 16 mejores del torneo.

No se puede descartar a dos clásicos europeos, como la Roma, que también está jugando a buen nivel en la Serie A, y el Porto, venido a menos en el campeonato local, pero que aseguró su cupo en la ronda de octavos de forma directa.

Los 16 equipos ahora enfilan sus baterías y ponen un solo objetivo en la mira: llegar a Estambul, donde se jugará la final de la competición en esta temporada, en el Besiktas Stadium el miércoles 20 de mayo.

The-CNN-Wire
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The post La Europa League define a sus clasificados para los octavos de final appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

Santa Barbara A.I. Think Tank Helps Non-Profits Use A.I. for Good

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—Coastal Intelligence Founder Mike Wald is teaching non profits creative ways to use A.I.

“If you're curious. Person. Oh, this is a playground right now. This is like the best time to be alive,” said Wald.

Non profit leaders eagerly joined a free briefing at the Community Environmental County Hub on State Street Thursday morning.

“We took away, you know, the idea of the AI Council, AI policies, A.I. Data limitations,” said Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation Programs Director Eric Shiflett.

The session was designed to help local nonprofits integrate practical A.I. tools into their operations to increase efficiency, reduce administrative burden, and expand mission impact. 

Rich Sander says SBACT adopted A.I. into their nonprofit model early on.

“It's everything from analyzing data, helping onboard employees, helping look at all of our, documents because we're all nonprofit and making sure that they're legally compliant and are compliant and things that,” said SBACT Executive Director Rich Sander.

Much of the conversation revolved around reframing the way we look at A.I. as a helpful tool, not a replacement for human innovation.

“A lot of the nonprofits that we're working with are stressed at capacity, need funding, need more people power. And I can help with all of that,” said Sander.

“They already know how to do good with A.I. Does it have a force multiplier? They let them do more without additional funding, and without having to hire more staff, so they can actually invest the people that they have and use this new technology to advance their messaging and really expand that. What I like to call the ripple effect,” said Mike Wald.

Though A.I. is rapidly changing, many non profit leaders have high hopes for the future.

“What I always tell myself is AI is the worst that it's going to be today. So tomorrow it's just going to keep getting better,” said Rich Sander.

Coastal Intelligence is hosting a 2-day hands-on workshop where participants will receive customized A.I. coaching aligned with their mission. 

The workshop runs through Friday. 

The post Santa Barbara A.I. Think Tank Helps Non-Profits Use A.I. for Good appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) — Coastal Intelligence Founder, Mike Wald, is teaching non-profits creative ways to use A.I.

“If you're a curious person. Oh, this is a playground right now. This is like the best time to be alive,” said Wald.

Non-profit leaders eagerly joined a free briefing at the Community Environmental County Hub on State Street Thursday morning.

“We took away, you know, the idea of the A.I. council, A.I. policies, A.I. data limitations,” said Santa Barbara Bowl Foundation Programs Director, Eric Shiflett.

The session was designed to help local non-profits integrate practical A.I. tools into their operations to increase efficiency, reduce administrative burden, and expand mission impact. 

Rich Sander says SBACT adopted A.I. into their non-profit model early on.

“It's everything from analyzing data, helping onboard employees, helping look at all of our, documents because we're all non-profit and making sure that they're legally compliant and are compliant and things that,” said SBACT Executive Director Rich Sander.

Much of the conversation revolved around reframing the way we look at A.I. as a helpful tool, not a replacement for human innovation.

“A lot of the non-profits that we're working with are stressed at capacity, need funding, need more people power. And I can help with all of that,” said Sander.

“They already know how to do good with A.I. Does it have a force multiplier? They let them do more without additional funding, and without having to hire more staff, so they can actually invest the people that they have and use this new technology to advance their messaging and really expand that. What I like to call the ripple effect,” said Mike Wald.

Though A.I. is rapidly changing, many non-profit leaders have high hopes for the future.

“What I always tell myself is A.I. is the worst that it's going to be today. So tomorrow it's just going to keep getting better,” said Rich Sander.

Coastal Intelligence is hosting a 2-day hands-on workshop where participants will receive customized A.I. coaching aligned with their mission. 

The workshop runs through Friday. 

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The post Santa Barbara A.I. Think Tank Helps Non-Profits Use A.I. for Good appeared first on News Channel 3-12.