Civil Reads: May 18 — Killer Robots and a Near Mid-Air Collision

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Reading time: 3 minutes.

Civil Beat staff and readers followed some interesting events and issues this week:

  • — Last week saw the election of a new president in India, the world’s second most populous country. People in the U.S. may have been watching news developments closer to home — the fires near San Diego, for instance — but this explainer is a great way to catch up to the momentous developments overseas. — Vox

  • — This first-person account of a passenger on a United Airlines flight from Hawaii to California has sparked a federal investigation into the plane’s near collision with a US Airways jet over the middle of the Pacific. It’s a must-read, especially for those of us who journey back and forth across the deep blue sea. — Medium

  • — Kauai native Eric Shinseki has been the secretary of the Veterans Administration for the past five years. Now his agency is in hot water for “poor care and deceptive record-keeping at VA clinics in at least six states, including a particularly troubling situation in Phoenix where whistleblowers have alleged that long waits for medical appointments may have caused the deaths of at least 40 veterans, and that a ‘secret list’ of waiting times was destroyed to cover up the alleged negligence.” This profile of the man who is now in the hot seat takes off from there. — International Business Times

  • — The leaked internal document regarding digital innovation at The New York Times is essential reading for anyone interested in journalism, marketing and technology. — Nieman Journalism Lab

  • — Drones are yesterday’s news, according to this intriguing piece in Foreign Affairs magazine, which reports that the Pentagon already has armed robots of the “Terminator” genre. — Foreign Affairs

  • — A very deep dive into why the former First Lady and Secretary of State may or may not ever run for president. Hint: Blame it on the media. — Politico

Civil Beat had a full slate of stories on local issues this week too. Catch up here in case you missed them:

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