Latest news with #Binion
Technical.ly
27-06-2025
- Business
- Technical.ly
Pittsburgh housing authority recruits AI to help with application backlogs
Pittsburgh's housing authority will begin using artificial intelligence to help its understaffed voucher department process thousands of applications from people in need of affordable housing. On Thursday, the Housing Authority of the City of Pittsburgh (HACP) board approved payment of $160,392 to Boodskapper Inc., a private artificial intelligence company known as The company offers several services to automate housing authority work, which include reviewing and verifying certification packages from current voucher holders. The effort will begin as a one-year pilot program. Addressing concerns from the board members and a public speaker about the role the AI would play, HACP Executive Director Caster Binion stressed, 'The AI will not be in charge, not making decisions.' 'This will be used for recertifications specifically,' he added. Recertifications refer to updates affecting existing voucher holders, such as household income level and number of family members. Households with vouchers pay 30% of their income toward rent and utilities, with the balance covered by the HACP. The authority's Housing Choice Voucher Program Director Lashawna Hammond told the board the 'AI would scan recertification packets with their income and then it shows us on the back end if the packet is completed. So it's not processing, it's just doing preliminary work.' Approval of the pilot comes after Binion signaled in a meeting last year with City Council the authority would experiment with AI and other efforts to improve the efficiency of the voucher program. In 2020, PublicSource reported that the housing authority planned to 'enhance the voucher program,' but those efforts were hampered due to staffing shortages, according to the authority's leadership. Since then, steps have been taken to train new staff, according to Binion, who along with the board's former chair pledged improvements in 2022. Board member Charlise Smith worried that the program might take on human tendencies to discriminate against certain types of people. A public commenter at the board meeting echoed Smith's concerns. 'We all agree that increased efficiency is needed within the HCV Program to address administrative delays that limits the use of HCVs,' said Megan Hammond, a housing justice advocate and executive director of the Fair Housing Partnership of Greater Pittsburgh. 'AI is dependent upon the humans who create the AI. As a result, AI is susceptible to the continuation and scaling of fair housing concerns,' Hammond said, noting that the National Fair Housing Alliance created a Responsible AI Symposium that includes a framework for auditing algorithmic bias in these programs. Hammond called for 'greater transparency about the role of the proposed including checks and balances for applicants and voucher recipients to dispute inaccurate information.' She pressed for monthly public reports from the authority on the status of the Housing Choice Voucher waiting list every month along with information on where the authority allocates funds. Concerns over the use of AI in public housing has also reached the federal level. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development released guidelines for housing authorities across the country on best practices and uses of this new technology in an attempt to enforce the Fair Housing Act and prevent discrimination in housing. LaShawna Hammond maintained the program is needed to help with the backlog of recertification applications that threaten to overwhelm her staff. She noted that the system will be used to improve processing time and reduce clerical and user errors. She said the system will be able to detect missing information in the application and how that would trigger an automatic response to the client, letting them know that their application is incomplete. She said her department has 13 housing specialists, each averaging a caseload of 500. She said they hired five new housing specialists to start June 30 but it would take some time to train the new hires and bring them up to speed.
Miami Herald
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Gambler from Florida bets $1.50 on slot — then hits jackpot at Las Vegas casino
A Florida gambler hit a jackpot at a Las Vegas casino with a small bet. Now the player is more than $18,000 richer. The guest sat at a Quick Hit Link slot machine at Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel, the casino said in a June 23 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The visitor bet $1.50, hit spin and watched as the symbols flashed across the screen until a jackpot message appeared. The gambler won $18,165.91. 'We've got another major winner at Binion's to share with you!' the casino said in the post. Another gambler won a big slot machine jackpot at the same casino earlier this month. This player from Hawaii bet 80 cents on a Regal Link slot and won more than $19,000, McClatchy News reported. Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel is in downtown Las Vegas, and it's part of the Fremont Street Experience.
Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
Gambler bets 88 cents on slot machine — then hits jackpot at Las Vegas casino
A gambler walked away from a Las Vegas casino with a jackpot prize after betting some change. The player sat at a Money Gong slot machine at the Durango Casino & Resort, the casino said in a May 11 post on X, formerly known as Twitter. The visitor bet 88 cents, hit spin and watched as the symbols flashed across the screen until a jackpot message appeared. 'Congrats to the lucky guest that just turned .88 into a $15,312.57 win on Money Gong,' the casino wrote on X. The Durango Casino & Resort is about a 10-mile drive southwest from the Las Vegas Strip. Other gamblers also have won big prizes at Vegas casinos recently. One player bet $25 on a Dragon Link slot machine at Binion's Gambling Hall & Hotel and won more than $16,000. Another gambler won more than $20,000 at Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall off a Pinball Double Gold slot game.
Yahoo
26-03-2025
- Yahoo
Milan woman arrested; accused of cashing counterfeit savings bonds
A woman from Milan is in the Scott County Jail after police say she cashed several counterfeit United States Savings Bonds at banks across the Quad Cities. According to the criminal complaints, the defendant, identified as Dannatta Binion, 37, knowingly cashed a counterfeit U.S. Savings Bond at TBK Bank on Jersey Ridge Road in Davenport on October 18, 2024. Binion cashed the counterfeit bond for a total of $2,073.60. The bond was returned as counterfeit to TBK Bank on December 10, 2024. Binion allegedly deposited four counterfeit United States Savings Bonds at TBK Bank on Kimberly Road in Davenport on October 28, 2024, for a total of $8,294.40 or $2,073.60 per bond. All four bonds were returned as counterfeit to TBK Bank on November 20-21, 2024. All the bonds were marked as issued on June 19, 1992, which is consistent with the dates on other counterfeit bond cases in the area. The bonds were made out to Binion with an address where she lived in 2016. That would have been impossible to have printed on the bonds in 1992. The complaint says Binion opened the checking account with TBK Bank the same day she began to cash and deposit the counterfeit bonds. She is accused of cashing similar counterfeit bonds at other TBK Bank locations in Bettendorf and Milan. Binion admitted in a post-Miranda interview to cashing and depositing the bonds. A warrant was issued for Binion's arrest on March 18, and she was arrested on March 25 on seven counts of felony forgery and two counts of felony second-degree theft. She is being held in the Scott County Jail on a combined secured and cash-only bond of $10,000 while she waits for an initial court appearance. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
