Merge pull request #163 from eye-on-surveillance/AI/preprocessing-par…

…ameters;-prompt

adjusted preprocessing parameters; modified prompt

packages/backend/src/cache/faiss_index_general.dvc

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 outs:
-- md5: 9ae45b0c0a22cdadc7dc62da5b53847f.dir
-  size: 90514481
+- md5: 3878f1ecec272cc887ded3697602a653.dir
+  size: 89147118
   nfiles: 2
   hash: md5
   path: faiss_index_general

packages/backend/src/cache/faiss_index_in_depth.dvc

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 outs:
-- md5: 148714197a364fa8c9c5b7b5ee6800d1.dir
-  size: 90514481
+- md5: f3f1f964db26296ca3f600c2c092bea8.dir
+  size: 89147118
   nfiles: 2
   hash: md5
   path: faiss_index_in_depth

packages/backend/src/news_directory/Cantrell administration should boost transparency on 388 million in federal funds BGR says.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+    "messages": [
+        {
+            "page_content": "Skip to main content\nHomes\nCalendar\nStore\nPublic Notices\nE-Edition\nNewsletters\nSubscribe for $1\nCantrell administration should boost transparency on $388 million in federal funds, BGR says\nBY MATT SLEDGE | Staff writer\nDec 18, 2022\n4 min to read\n1 of 8\nMayor LaToya Cantrell answers questions during the Community Budget Meeting at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSophia Germer\nFacebook\nTwitter\nEmail\nPrint\nCopy article link\nSave\nWhen the New Orleans City Council passed a massive, $262 million amendment to the 2023 budget in the waning hours before a Dec. 1 deadline, local activists were surprised.\nThere\u2019d been no formal notice that Mayor LaToya Cantrell and the council had hammered out a deal to tap hundreds of millions of dollars in federal pandemic relief funds and other money, said Maxwell Ciardullo, the spokesperson for the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center.\n\u201cEveryone was totally caught off guard,\u201d Ciardullo said.\nNow, organizers are preparing for another debate early next year over how to use the rest of the city\u2019s one-time funds.\nWhen that happens, the Cantrell administration should open the curtain on how it is spending American Rescue Plan Act funds and a huge general fund balance, the Bureau of Governmental Research said in a report this week.\nThat report faults the administration for a lack of transparency thus far. But it also notes that there is time for a course correction given the huge sums yet to be spent.\nA growing surplus\nWhen the pandemic walloped the city\u2019s tourism industry in 2020, the Cantrell administration prepared for a downturn in sales and hotel taxes for years to come. The city planned employee furloughs in 2021 that would save $26 million, plus another $92 million in general budget cuts, according to the BGR report.\nHowever, in March 2021, the U.S. Congress passed into law the American Rescue Plan Act, which was designed to provide a lifeline to local governments. Suddenly, New Orleans was in line to receive $388 million in federal funds in two installments.\nThe federal law placed some limits on how local governments could spend the money. The city plugged $187 million from the first installment into the police and fire departments, freeing up general fund dollars that would have been spent there as the city saw fit.\nThat didn\u2019t violate federal law. But the fact that the city only explained how it was using the money on the front end in an online dashboard, the Bureau of Governmental Research said, \u201cdoes not provide the public with the information necessary to understand ARPA\u2019s real impact on funding for other departments or the city\u2019s finances.\"\nMayor LaToya Cantrell answers questions during the Community Budget Meeting at Lakeview Christian Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Aug. 18, 2022. (Photo by Sophia Germer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSophia Germer\nIn addition to the federal aid, another factor bulked up the city\u2019s bank account. Hundreds of unfilled positions, many in the New Orleans Police Department, contributed to a huge balance of leftover funds at the end of 2021. In total, the city spent $532 million in 2021, $100 million short of its trimmed-down budget.\nThe BGR report found that even without the federal funds, last year the city would have been able to meet all of its expenses while generating a $25 million surplus. In effect, the federal relief dollars helped grow the city's fund balance.\nThe Cantrell administration has portrayed its conservative budgeting as a prudent response to the uncertainty of the pandemic. Even after Congress passed ARPA it warned of budget shortfalls lasting into 2025. It has also said that the savings have allowed it to sock money into a much-needed rainy-day fund. Yet the drop in spending coincided with widespread complaints about the quality of municipal services.\nRebecca Mowbray, the president and CEO of BGR, said the group didn\u2019t try to determine how the two factors were related.\n\u201cOur task here really was just to follow the money and see where it went. We didn\u2019t so much make judgments about how they were spending it,\u201d she said.\nSpending the pot\nThis summer, the federal government sent the city its second, $194 million block of pandemic relief funds. Heading into the November budget season, Cantrell held a series of town halls.\nIn some settings, Cantrell didn't typically distinguish between sources of funds and the timing of City Council votes. But administration officials also stated that the city would allocate general funds through the ordinary budget process before turning to the federal dollars.\nInstead, the Cantrell administration and the City Council passed the last-minute amendments to the mayor\u2019s proposed budget that caught organizers off-guard. Those amendments allocated $124 million in ARPA funds and $151 million in fund balance dollars, according to BGR.\n\u201cUltimately, they went ahead and passed everything all at once, not really giving citizens the opportunity to know the details,\u201d said Susie Dudis, a BGR research analyst.\nIn a statement, a city spokesperson pushed back at the idea that there wasn\u2019t advance notice, pointing to the town halls and budget hearings. John Lawson, the spokesperson, said the amendment included priorities that had emerged as consensus priorities, like fighting crime and blight.\n\u201cThe first set of appropriations invested in projects and initiatives in response to what we heard from the public as core/vital basic needs,\u201d said Lawson.\nGilbert Monta\u00f1o, bottom center, chief administrative officer for New Orleans, talks about the details of Mayor LaToya Cantrell's 2023 operating budget to the New Orleans City Council on Tuesday, October 25, 2022 at City Hall. (Photo by Chris Granger | The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)\nSTAFF PHOTO BY CHRIS GRANGER\nThe budget amendment, unlike previous appropriations, sends the federal relief funds to specific departments rather than flowing it through police and fire. But even with that added level of detail, BGR\u2019s report faulted the administration for falling short on transparency.\nA $5 million outlay for \u201cunhoused populations,\u201d for example, was described in an internal memo as going to a \u201cfull-time staff member and consulting team to develop a comprehensive program to support unhoused populations in the city.\u201d\nThe BGR, Dudis said, is \u201choping we will see more of the actual plan details... their time frame, what are the objectives, what is the population of people being served. That, we don\u2019t have at this point.\u201d\nMoney in the bank\nDistrict A Council member Joe Giarrusso, the chair of the City Council budget committee, agreed with the Cantrell administration that the budget amendments reflected a broad consensus. But he also agreed with BGR that the city and council could have done a better job of communicating how they planned to allocate ARPA funds.\nThe issues raised in the BGR report, he said, pointed to the larger problem of compressing complex budget discussions into November. He favors expanding budget season to include October.\nGiarrusso said he expects to hold hearings on how to spend the remainder of one-time dollars from ARPA and the fund balance in January and February. That amounts to about $70 million in federal dollars plus at least as many fund-balance dollars, he\u2019s said previously.\nCiardullo and other activists are pushing for the city to spend the money on a wide variety of needs. His group\u2019s priority is up to $90 million to tackle what he called \u201ca tremendous shortage of affordable rental housing.\u201d\nGiarrusso said that under a new approach he is pioneering next year, there will also be quarterly hearings on how the city is spending its money. The Cantrell administration said that it will also be expanding an online dashboard in early 2023 to include spending outcomes and the use of fund balance dollars.\nEmail Matt Sledge at [email protected].\nFacebook\nTwitter\nEmail\nPrint\nCopy article link\nSave\nThis Day in History\nSponsored by Connatix\nRecommended for you\nRecommended by\nSECTIONS\nHOME\nNEWS\nOPINION\nSPORTS\nENTERTAINMENT/LIFE\nNEWSLETTERS\nGAMES\nSERVICES\nCLASSIFIEDS\nSEARCH\nSUBSCRIBE | GROUPS\nDIGITAL ADVERTISING\nHELP/CONTACT US\nRSS FEEDS\nMEDIA KIT\nEEDITION\nCAREERS\nTEACHER'S LINK\nREVIEWING THE RECORD\nOUR SITES\nOBITUARIES\nJOBS\nCELEBRATIONS\nNIE\nCLASSIFIEDS\nHOMES\nPETS\nARCHIVES\nSTORE\nCONTACT INFORMATION\nnola.com\n840 St. Charles Avenue\nNew Orleans, LA 70130\nPhone: 504-529-0522\n\nNews Tips:\[email protected]\nOther questions:\[email protected]\nNeed help?\nReport a delivery issue\nCreate a temporary stop\nSign up for recurring payments\nPay your bill\nUpdate your billing info\n\n\u00a9 Copyright 2023 NOLA.com 840 St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA  | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy\nPowered by BLOX Content Management System from BLOX Digital.\nThis website stores data such as cookies to enable essential website functionality, marketing, personalization and analytics. By remaining on this website you indicate your consent. See updated terms and conditions.\n ",
+            "url": "https://www.nola.com/news/politics/cantrell-administration-should-boost-transparency-on-388-million-in-federal-funds-bgr-says/article_6b591a1a-7d7c-11ed-b58f-0371d99e2538.html",
+            "title": "Cantrell administration should boost transparency on 388 million in federal funds BGR says"
+        }
+    ]
+}

packages/backend/src/news_directory/Frequent outages could lead to big fines for entergy new orleans under new standards.json

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+{
+    "messages": [
+        {
+            "page_content": "HOME\nABOUT\nSUBSCRIBE\nDONATE\nELECTION 2023\nGOVT + POLITICS\nENVIRONMENT\nHEALTH\nCRIMINAL JUSTICE\nEDUCATION\nBUSINESS + LABOR\nGOVT + POLITICS\nWEATHER\nFrequent outages could lead to big fines for Entergy New Orleans under new standards\nBY: MICHAEL ISAAC STEIN, VERITE - FEBRUARY 18, 2023 10:00 AM\nEntergy\u2019s New Orleans Power Station. (Photo by Julie Dermansky)\nThe New Orleans City Council established a new set of reliability standards Thursday for Entergy New Orleans that could lead to fines up to $3.7 million per year if the number of annual blackouts exceeds those standards. The council is the regulator of Entergy New Orleans.\n\u201cEntergy New Orleans must meet our standards or owe the people of New Orleans, their customers, millions of dollars in fines,\u201d Councilwoman Helena Moreno said at a utility committee meeting this month. \u201cI believe we\u2019re one of the only regulators in the southern region that\u2019s set up these types of reliability standards.\u201d\nThe council hopes the new standards will finally allow it to collect a $1 million fine it imposed on Entergy in 2019 over frequent outages. The fine was levied after a council investigation found that the grid\u2019s reliability fell sharply shortly after the company cut millions of dollars from its budget to maintain it.\nEntergy challenged the fine in court, arguing it was unfair because the council hadn\u2019t established reliability standards. An Orleans Parish Civil District Court judge ruled in Entergy\u2019s favor in June.\nMoreno\u2019s chief of staff Andrew Tuozzolo told Verite that the council\u2019s plan was now to re-levy the $1 million fine, in the hopes that the new reliability standards will make it easier to defend in court.\nThe new standards only apply to \u201cfair-weather day\u201d outages, and exclude outages caused by major events like hurricanes. The council is currently conducting a separate process to create new rules and improvement plans for the grid\u2019s storm resilience.\nWhile hurricane-related outages are a well-known and deadly occurrence in New Orleans, the city has also struggled for years with frequent outages on sunny days. In fact, the process to pass these new rules began in 2017, when complaints grew about the number of blackouts happening on clear days, when the grid should have been operating normally.\nIn 2019, a council investigation found that Entergy failed in its responsibility to maintain an adequate grid. It found the city experienced 2,599 outages between June 1, 2016 and May 31, 2017 alone, the majority of which occurred on fair weather days. The report said the main cause of the outages were equipment failures in the local distribution grid \u2014 the poles and lines that run down every street and deliver electricity directly to buildings.\nThe investigation also found that the grid\u2019s reliability started to fall shortly after Entergy New Orleans made multi-million dollar cuts to investing in distribution system maintenance and improvement. That investigation led to the council\u2019s decision to fine Entergy $1 million.\nUnder the measure passed Thursday, Entergy will have three new reliability standards that could lead to the fine.\nThe first standard is how many fair weather outages New Orleans customers face each year. That\u2019s based on an industry standard called the system average interruption frequency index (SAIFI). The minimum SAIFI established by the council is 1.53 \u2014 meaning that a customer in New Orleans should experience, on average, 1.53 outages per year. The exact fine depends on how off that mark Entergy was in a given year, with a maximum penalty of $2.7 million.\nSUPPORT NEWS YOU TRUST.\nDONATE\nThe second standard is about the duration of fair weather outages every year, based on the system average interruption duration index (SAIDI). The maximum baseline SAIDI score for Entergy was set at 178.2, meaning New Orleans customers on average would experience 178.2 minutes \u2014 roughly three hours \u2014 of outages each year. Entergy could face an annual fine of $500,000 for failing to achieve that.\nThe last standard could lead to fines up to $500,000 if Entergy fails to adequately improve the grid\u2019s worst performing feeders \u2014 a piece of equipment in the distribution system that has been blamed for outages in the past.\nThe council\u2019s ordinance notes that under the newly established fine schedule, Entergy\u2019s poor reliability in 2016 and 2017 \u2014 for which the council originally levied a $1 million fine \u2014 would have resulted in a fine of almost the exact same amount \u2014 $1,005,000.\nRepresentatives of the Alliance for Affordable Energy, which advocates on behalf of customers,  applauded the move. But they also said they believe the council should go farther and use these new standards as a starting point.\n\u201cWe\u2019re certainly supportive of having them in place, but we\u2019d like to note this is merely a first step,\u201d Alliance policy director Jesse George said at the utility meeting this month. \u201cWe encourage the council to continue making these standards more stringent over time.\u201d\nThe council\u2019s utility advisers noted that from 2013 through 2021, Entergy New Orleans would have only run afoul of the new standards in two years, 2016 and 2017.\n\u201cI think if you ask the average New Orleanian whether their electric service was reliable over the last five years they would probably say no,\u201d George said in a recent Facebook video.\nMoreno said during the committee meeting that because of pressure from the council, Entergy New Orleans had improved its reliability.\n\u201cTheir reliability is definitely not perfect, but it has improved due to insistence from the City Council,\u201d Moreno said. \u201cEntergy New Orleans has now increased its reliability performance to just above the national average. This is progress, but we are certainly far from done.\u201d\nEntergy did not respond to a request for comment.\nThis article first appeared on Verite and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.\nREPUBLISH\nOur stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of photos and graphics.\nMICHAEL ISAAC STEIN, VERITE\nBefore joining Verite, Michael Isaac Stein spent five years as an investigative reporter at The Lens, a nonprofit New Orleans news publication, covering local government, housing and labor issues. Before working at The Lens, Stein was a reporter for WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and freelanced for various national publications including The Intercept, The New Republic and Bloomberg\u2019s CityLab. He holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of Michigan\u2019s Ford School of Public Policy.\nMORE FROM AUTHOR\nRELATED NEWS\nEntergy threatens \u2018expensive litigation\u2019 over $1 million\u2026\nBY MICHAEL ISAAC STEIN, VERITE\nMay 13, 2023\nEntergy can recover $170 million in Ida costs from\u2026\nBY MICHAEL ISAAC STEIN, VERITE\nAugust 28, 2023\nSHINING A LIGHT ON THE BAYOU STATE\nDemocracy Toolkit //\nRegister to vote\n|\nFind your voting precinct\n|\nBecome an election worker\n|\nConduct a voter registration drive\n|\nContact your state and federal lawmakers\nABOUT US\nThe Louisiana Illuminator is an independent, nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization with a mission to cast light on how decisions in Baton Rouge are made and how they affect the lives of everyday Louisianians. Our in-depth investigations and news stories, news briefs and commentary help residents make sense of how state policies help or hurt them and their neighbors statewide.\nOur stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our web site.\nDEIJ Policy | Ethics Policy | Privacy Policy\n\u00a9 Louisiana Illuminator, 2023",
+            "url": "https://lailluminator.com/2023/02/18/frequent-outages-could-lead-to-big-fines-for-entergy-new-orleans-under-new-standards/",
+            "title": "Frequent outages could lead to big fines for entergy new orleans under new standards"
+        }
+    ]
+}