By DAVID KLEPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Kremlin is turning to unwitting Americans and commercial public relations firms in Russia to spread disinformation about the U.S. presidential race, top intelligence officials said Monday, detailing the latest efforts by America’s adversaries to shape public opinion ahead of the 2024 election.

The warning comes after a tumultuous few weeks in U.S. politics that have prompted Russia, Iran and China to revise their propaganda playbook rapidly. What hasn’t changed, intelligence officials said, is their determination to seed the internet with false and incendiary claims about American democracy to undermine faith in the election.

“The American public should know that content that they read online — especially on social media — could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” said an official from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the office of the director.

Russia continues to pose the greatest threat when it comes to election disinformation, authorities said, while there are indications that Iran is expanding its efforts and China is proceeding cautiously when it comes to 2024.

Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms located within Russia as both a way to outsource the work of creating campaigns and as a way to hide their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters.

Two such firms were the subject of new U.S. sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.

The disinformation can focus on the candidates or voting, or on issues that are already the subject of debates in the U.S., such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.

The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origin. People are far more likely to trust and repost information that they believe is coming from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic U.S. news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.

“Foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand, and getting Americans to do it,” said the official, who spoke alongside officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security.

In one measure of the threat, officials tracking foreign disinformation say they have issued twice the number of warnings to political candidates, government leaders, election offices and others targeted by foreign groups so far in the 2024 election cycle than they did in the 2022 cycle.

Officials won’t disclose how many warnings were issued, or who received them, but said the significant uptick reflects heightened interest in the presidential race by America’s adversaries as well as improved efforts by the government to identify and warn of such threats.

The warnings are given so the targets can take steps to protect themselves and set the record straight if necessary.

Russia and other countries are also quickly pivoting to exploit some of the recent developments in the presidential race, including the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump as well as President Joe Biden’s decision to drop out of the race in favor of Vice President Kamala Harris.

Following the attack on Trump, for instance, Russian disinformation agencies quickly amplified claims that Democratic rhetoric led to the shooting, or even baseless conspiracy theories suggesting that Biden or the Ukrainian government orchestrated the attempt.

“These pro-Russian voices sought to tie the assassination attempt with Russia’s continuing war against Ukraine,” concluded the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Research Lab, which tracks Russian disinformation.

Intelligence officials have in the past determined that Russian propaganda appeared designed to support Trump, and officials said Monday they have not changed that assessment.

Eroding support for Ukraine remains a top objective of Russian disinformation, and Trump has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin in the past and is seen as less supportive of NATO.

While China mounted a sprawling disinformation campaign before Taiwan’s recent election, the nation has shown much more caution when it comes to the U.S. Beijing may use disinformation to target congressional races or other down-ballot contests in which a candidate has voiced strong opinions on China. But China isn’t expected to try to influence the presidential race, the officials said Monday.

Iran, however, has taken a more aggressive posture. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said earlier this month that the Iranian government has covertly supported American protests over Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. Groups linked to Iran have posed as online activists, encouraged protests and have provided financial support to some protest groups, Haines said.

Iran opposes candidates likely to increase tension with Tehran, officials said. That description fits Trump, whose administration ended a nuclear deal with Iran, reimposed sanctions and ordered the killing of a top Iranian general.

The Third Street/Kellogg Bridge in downtown St. Paul is closed to traffic for three years as a new span is built.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter and other elected officials marked the occasion with a press conference Monday, to highlight the work that went into getting the project started.

“As we get underway with this three year project, I do have one other thing to say — downtown St. Paul remains open for business. I encourage you to explore a new route into downtown and support our local businesses,” Carter said.

Also on hand were federal, state and local officials including U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, U.S. Rep. Betty McCollum, state Sen. Sandy Pappas, state Rep. Maria Isa Perez-Vega and Rena Moran, a Ramsey County commissioner.

“It’s a bridge that binds … It’s appropriate for what it’s going to do (which is) connecting all of St. Paul, and I am so excited to be here,” McCollum said.

Detours

The bridge officially closed Monday with Kellogg Boulevard from Broadway Street to Mounds Boulevard being shut down.

The $91 million price tag for the new city-owned bridge will include $80 million in state bonds, $7 million in federal funds and $4 million in local funding.

Crews from St. Paul Public Works prepare the Kellogg Boulevard/3rd Street Bridge for replacement in St. Paul on Monday, July 29, 2024. The $91 million project will replace the bridge, deemed structurally deficient, that connects downtown St. Paul and the East Side. Now closed, the bridge will be removed in several parts, with replacement of the bridge expected to take three years. (Devanie Andre / Pioneer Press)

During construction, traffic will be detoured to East Seventh Street. Pedestrian and bike routes will be detoured north on Mounds Boulevard to East Seventh Street and south on Mounds Boulevard to Commercial Street and Fourth Street.

The Union Depot, which serves as a transit hub for Amtrak, interstate bus services and the Green Line light-rail corridor, will remain accessible from the Lowertown area.

Demolition is expected to begin this year, making room for a new foundation and substructure expected to be in place by the end of 2025. After that, beams and decks, and then railings and lighting, will be added into 2027. The new bridge is scheduled to come online by that summer, according to city officials.

Outdated structure

Approximately 10 years ago the project came about after city engineers dived deeper into the federal design standards for the bridge. They found that the bridge needed to be replaced due to cracks along the support beams and outdated design standards. After analyzing and comparing the bridge to updated standards, for crack repairs, the Third Street/Kellogg Bridge was deemed “structurally deficient” and “functionally obsolete.”

The new bridge will have two vehicle lanes going in both directions, taller concrete beams and bike and pedestrian trails on each side, which are protected by barriers.

Images of Lowertown, wild rice and a river, a smallmouth bass, an eagle and Dayton’s Bluff will be depicted on the custom railing for the bridge. On the pier columns, the Lakota symbol “Kapemni” — a symbol for intertwining and balance in the universe — will be etched into the concrete.

“This is going to be well-worth the wait, St. Paul … It’s going to be a game changer for anyone who drives or walks or bikes between the East Side and downtown St. Paul,” Klobuchar said.

For more information on the project, go to stpaul.gov.

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Noah Haggerty | (TNS) Los Angeles Times

Every clear night for the last three weeks, Bob Stephens has pointed his home telescope at the same two stars in hopes of witnessing one of the most violent events in the universe — a nova explosion a hundred thousand times brighter than the sun.

The eruption, which scientists say could happen any day now, has excited the interest of major observatories worldwide, and it promises to advance our understanding of turbulent binary star systems.

Yet for all the high-tech observational power that NASA and other scientific institutions can muster, astrophysicists are relying on countless amateur astronomers like Stephens to spot the explosion first.

The reason? It’s just too costly to keep their equipment focused on the same subject for months at a time.

“I think everyone will look at it while it happens, but sitting there just looking at it isn’t going to make it happen,” said Tom Meneghini, the director of telescope operations and executive director emeritus at the Mt. Wilson Observatory. “It’s like a watched pot,” he joked.

The star is so far away that it takes 3,000 years for its light to reach the Earth, meaning the explosion occurred before the last of the Egyptian pyramids were built. It will appear about as bright as the North Star for just a few days before fading into the darkness.

Once it’s spotted, some of the most advanced observatories on Earth and in space will join in watching, including NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

“A lot of people are eagerly waiting to spot the new jewel in the crown,” said Mansi Kasliwal, the Caltech astronomy professor who is planning to use the Palomar Observatory in northeast San Diego County to observe the event. The nova will erupt in the Corona Borealis, or Northern Crown, constellation.

T Coronae Borealis, also called the Blaze Star, is actually two stars — a hot, dense white dwarf, and a cooler red giant.

The dwarf star, which ran out of fuel long ago and collapsed to roughly the size of Earth, has been siphoning hydrogen gas from its larger neighbor for about a human lifetime.

This stolen gas has accumulated in a disk around the dwarf like a hot, messy version of Saturn’s rings. Soon, the disk will grow so heavy that it will become violent and unwieldy, and inevitably, explode like a thermonuclear bomb.

Neither star is destroyed however, and the process repeats itself roughly every 80 years.

This time around, there’s an army of enthusiasts like Stephens ready to sound the alarm when the star goes nova.

Far from mere hobbyists, a number of these amateur observers have published their own scientific research. Stephens even built his own observatory as an addition to his house in Rancho Cucamonga.

“The city thinks it’s a sunroom,” Stephens said. After the inspector stopped by, he removed the screws securing the roof, allowing him to roll it off to reveal the clear sky to his telescope.

Every night, he turns on the telescope and spends more than an hour taking data, which he later posts to an online community of amateur astronomers who monitor the star almost nonstop.

Major observatories simply cannot keep such constant watch. Hundreds of scientists compete for time to look at a wide range of astronomical targets every night. For them, keeping these telescopes glued to the Blaze Star is a waste of valuable observation time.

Estimates on when the nova will occur vary, but most astrophysicists agree it will happen before the end of the year, and likely by the end of August.

Once it blows, there are a few alert systems set up to notify amateurs and professionals. Some observatories have even programmed their telescopes to autonomously ditch their current observation plan and look at the star when the notification comes in, Stephens said.

Major observatories also face another complication. Many of their telescopes are designed to look at the faintest and dimmest targets, but the Blaze Star nova will be anything but faint. Pointing these telescopes at the nova would overwhelm sensors, resulting in a washed-out, overexposed picture.

That’s why Palomar Observatory, Caltech’s research station in north San Diego County, isn’t using its iconic 16-foot-wide Hale telescope under its massive white dome. Instead, it’s using a much smaller telescope, called Gattini-IR, located in a small unsuspecting brick building about a quarter mile down the road.

Once the nova happens, Gattini-IR will go from observing the Blaze Star every couple nights to every couple hours.

Scientists say they still have a lot to learn about novas. For example, physicists are still unsure why some erupt every decade while others likely don’t for millennia.

Some researchers suspect that novas like the Blaze Star could be precursors to supernovas. These explosions — billions of times brighter than the sun — destroy the star, often leaving behind a black hole. Supernovas are also a useful tool for astronomers to measure distance.

Studying similar events has already led to discoveries, however.

Recently, scientists determined that novas tend to fling material into space at faster speeds than what would be predicted based on the intensity of the explosion.

“We want to understand the physics of novae, so having a nova that’s as close as T Coronae Borelias, which will hopefully be very well studied by all telescopes … we can get a very full picture,” said Caltech professor Kasliwal.

Some of that understanding will be due in part to amateur astronomers.

Thanks to the rapid development of telescopes, amateurs are working with technology that professionals didn’t have just 20 years ago, let alone 80, said Forrest Sims, an amateur astronomer from Apache Junction, Ariz., who is also observing the star every clear night.

And the amateurs can achieve better coverage than the big telescopes because “we typically have complete control over when and where we can point [our telescopes],” said Sims. “A professional may have to write a grant to get a half hour or two hours time on a big telescope.”

That allows them to collect a lot of data. And with hundreds in the community observing from around the world, they can achieve almost continuous coverage of the Blaze Star. Many, including Sims and Stephens, post their data to the American Assn. of Variable Star Observers website, allowing everyone to use the data.

Stephens remembers reading a journal article from a professional who managed to observe five asteroids over two years. “I thought, I could do that in a month,” Stephens said. He went on to publish a paper with 10 observations.

One professor was so shocked by the number Stephens was able to see that she reached out and agreed to fly to Puerto Rico for an asteroid conference just to meet him. They ended up working together — Stephens had the telescopes; she had the connections in the field.

Today, amateur astronomers’ work is getting so sophisticated, many in the field have a hard time calling them amateurs.

“We call ourselves ‘small telescope scientists,’ ” said Sims. “It sounds more fun, and in some respects, professionals — and not even grudgingly — will admit that the work we’re doing is often professional caliber.”

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