Afternoon headlines: A new bill to ban Flock cameras, and Trump appoints an AI czar

Our Take

When a wire-style roundup like Scripps News starts sandwiching "ban Flock cameras" between national AI policy headlines, you know the automated license plate reader fight has stopped being a local zoning-board issue and started being a national story. We don't have the bill text in hand, and we're not going to pretend we do — but the fact that lawmakers are introducing legislation specifically naming Flock Safety says the pushback from residents, civil liberties groups, and local officials is landing somewhere.

It's also worth sitting with the irony Scripps packaged in the same segment: the same administration era that's worried enough about AI to appoint a czar is overseeing a surveillance company whose entire pitch is AI-powered vehicle tracking stitched across thousands of towns with almost no federal guardrails. You can't have a serious conversation about AI oversight while ALPR networks keep expanding under the radar through quiet city council votes.

Credit to Scripps News for putting the bill on the radar, even in a quick-hit format. We'll be watching to see who actually introduces it, what it covers, and whether it has teeth. In the meantime, check our map to see if Flock has already moved into your area, and if you want to push back locally, our take-action page has the tools to start.