More heavy blows are landing at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to reports Tuesday that reveal a wave of high-level departures from the country's beleaguered health agency. The agency is also losing $11.4 billion in funding for responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, which was largely doled out to chronically underfunded state health departments.

This afternoon, the Associated Press reported that five high-level leaders are departing the agency, which was announced today during a senior staff meeting. The departures, which were described as retirements, follow three other high-level departures in recent weeks. Given that the CDC has two dozen centers and offices, the recent departures reflect a loss of about a third of the agency's top management.

The departures announced today include: Leslie Ann Dauphin, who oversees the Public Health Infrastructure Center, "which serves as the connection point between the agency and state, local, and territorial jurisdictions, tribes. and CDC's public health partners," according to the CDC. Karen Remley, who heads the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, is also departing, as is Sam Posner, who heads the Office of Science, which provides scientific expertise across the agency and publishes the agency's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Debra Lubar, who is the CDC's Chief Operating Officer and runs the Office of Policy, Performance and Evaluation, and Leandris Liburd, head of the Office of Health Equity, are also leaving.

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Netflix has announced that it's adding support for HDR10+ streaming, on top of the existing HDR10 and Dolby Vision formats that are already offered on the streaming service. HDR10+ should offer greater visual fidelity on a per-frame basis for Netflix's frequently dark original programming.

The company is enabling HDR10+ with the AV1 codec, the specification originally released in 2018 that's gradually become the standard for streaming 4K video without gobbling data. Netflix first adopted AV1 as a way to help customers save data while watching on their phone, but the compression tech works just as well for streaming large HDR files. Netflix is enabling HDR10+ on select popular titles now, and hopes to eventually offer all HDR content in the new format. Anyone with a Netflix Premium subscription and a device that supports both HDR10+ and AV1 (which includes most modern mobile phones and tablets) should be able to watch compatible content in HDR10+.

After 4K, high dynamic range (HDR) has come to define the look of modern TV and movies, particularly on streaming. HDR content makes clear the stark differences between the light and dark parts of an image. The under-exposed, muddy quality of modern streaming TV is frequently due to an expectation that audiences will be viewing on a device that supports HDR. Without it, you can't see anything. With it, you can pick up all the various shades of gray that have become the norm in prestige TV. 

Netflix first rolled out support for HDR in 2016 with the debut of Marco Polo, and in the years since, has made supporting Dolby Vision and HDR10, the most common HDR format, the norm on its service. If you've been watching Netflix on a display that already uses Dolby Vision, you likely won't notice a difference, but if you're TV only offers HDR10+, adding support for the format should make watching everything a little bit better.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/netflix-will-stream-shows-and-movies-in-hdr10-on-supported-devices-222134243.html?src=rss

A prominent journalist knew the US military would start bombing Houthi targets in Yemen two hours before it happened on March 15 because top Trump administration officials accidentally included the reporter on a Signal text chain in which they discussed the war plan.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic magazine, described the surprising leak of sensitive military information in an article today. The National Security Council confirmed that the messages were real and said it is investigating how Goldberg was added to a thread in which the war information was discussed.

"The world found out shortly before 2 p.m. eastern time on March 15 that the United States was bombing Houthi targets across Yemen," Goldberg wrote. "I, however, knew two hours before the first bombs exploded that the attack might be coming. The reason I knew this is that Pete Hegseth, the secretary of defense, had texted me the war plan at 11:44 a.m. The plan included precise information about weapons packages, targets, and timing."

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Due to staff reductions, retirements, and a federal hiring freeze, the National Weather Service has announced a series of suspensions involving weather balloon launches in recent weeks. The question is, will this significantly degrade forecasts in the United States and around the world?

On February 27, it was announced that balloon launches would be suspended entirely at Kotzebue, Alaska, due to staffing shortages. In early March, Albany, N.Y., and Gray, Maine, announced periodic disruptions in launches. Since March 7, it appears that Gray has not missed any balloon launches through Saturday. Albany, however, has missed 14 of them, all during the morning launch cycle (12z).

The kicker came on Thursday afternoon when it was announced that all balloon launches would be suspended in Omaha, Neb., and Rapid City, S.D., due to staffing shortages. Additionally, the balloon launches in Aberdeen, S.D.; Grand Junction, Colo.; Green Bay, Wis.; Gaylord, Mich.; North Platte, Neb.; and Riverton, Wyo., would be reduced to once a day from twice a day.

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Plex is raising the price of its Plex Pass from $4.99 to $6.99 per month and gating a key feature behind the subscription. Starting April 29th, users who want to stream content from their media server outside their homes – and let other people access it for free – will need a Plex Pass subscription.

The price hike goes into effect on April 29th and will also bring its annual plan from $39.99 to $69.99. The lifetime plan will increase from $119.99 to $249.99. This change will affect new and existing subscribers, except those who already paid for a lifetime subscription. 

“The reality is that we need more resources to continue putting forth the best personal media experience,” Plex says, adding that these new changes “will help provide those resources.” If you decide not to purchase a Plex Pass, friends or family members will have to subscribe to the new $1.99 per month (or $19.99 / year) Remote Watch Pass to stream remotely.

While it’s pay-gating remote access, Plex is opening up another feature: the service will soon make it free to stream on a local network from its mobile app. Users will no longer have to purchase Plex Pass or pay a one-time activation fee to get rid of the one-minute playback limitation on Android and iOS. This change will go into effect when Plex publicly launches its revamped mobile experience, which it first announced last year. Plex is offering an extended Remote Watch Pass trial to people who have already paid the mobile activation fee. 

Plex has made some pretty big changes over the past year or so as it ramps up efforts to become a more “legit” streaming option. Along with new social features like “Discover Together” and public profiles, Plex has also launched a store to buy movies and TV shows. If you have your account set to public, Plex’s updated privacy policy notes that your watch history, reviews, and “other data” may be shared with “public and third parties for marketing purposes.”

Not satisfied with effectively buying a co-president role in Donald Trump’s administration, Elon Musk has turned his attention — and money — towards a key race in the swing state of Wisconsin. The billionaire’s America PAC is claiming to give $100 to registered voters who sign a petition against “activist judges.”

It’s not the first time Musk has promised money in exchange for signatures on petitions: he did the same thing leading up to the presidential election in November. It’s illegal to pay someone to vote or to register to vote, but Musk’s approach is meant to intentionally toe the line. Some election law experts say the tactic is legal because the offer doesn’t require a person actually vote; others say that requiring signatories be registered voters is what violates the law.

On April 1st Wisconsin voters will elect a new state Supreme Court justice, determining whether liberals will hold on to their 4-3 majority and rule on key issues like abortion, public sector unions, and gerrymandering. More than $76 million has been poured into the record breaking race already, with Musk-affiliated groups spending more than $14 million to try to elect conservative candidate Brad Schimel, who is trailing Dane County Judge Susan Crawford in the race. Liberal mega donors have also jumped in, with donations to the Wisconsin Democratic Party coming from individuals like Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman.

Musk and his America PAC have no way of confirming people who signed the petition actually voted — instead, they get voter contact information. Signing the petition requires people to share their first and last name, email, phone number, and mailing address, meaning the PAC can target voters in the weeks leading up to the election. The petition itself doesn’t mention Musk, Trump, or Schimel by name, but with a rolodex of registered voters in Wisconsin, the America PAC can urge those signatories to get out and vote for Musk (and Trump’s) favored candidate.

Despite Musk’s railing against “activist judges,” Schimel is a longtime, vocal Trump supporter, even dressing as him for Halloween last year. As The New York Times reported, Schimel has parroted Trump’s lies about “rigged” elections and campaigned with the president, injecting unabashedly partisan politics into a race for a nonpartisan seat.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court race is also personal for Musk outside of politics: Tesla is suing the state. In 2024, Wisconsin blocked Tesla from opening dealerships in the state, in line with a law that prohibits manufacturers from operating dealerships. In January Musk posted on X: “Very important to vote Republican for the Wisconsin Supreme Court to prevent voting fraud!” He referenced an election conspiracy theory about voting in his post.