SAN FRANCISCO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Google’s parent company is halting operations and laying off staff in a number of cities where it once hoped to bring high-speed internet access by installing new fiber-optic networks.

The company also announced that Craig Barratt, a veteran tech executive who led the ambitious — and expensive — Google Fiber program, is stepping down as CEO of Access, the division of Google corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., that operates the 5-year-old program.

In a statement, Barratt said Google Fiber will continue to provide service in a handful of cities where it’s already operating, including Atlanta; Austin, Texas; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

But it will put further plans on hold in at least eight more metropolitan areas where it has held exploratory talks with local officials. Those include Dallas; Tampa and Jacksonville, Florida; Los Angeles; Oklahoma City; Phoenix; Portland, Oregon; and San Jose, California.

Barratt didn’t say how many jobs will be cut. His statement described the Access business as “solid,” but said it would make “changes to focus our business and product strategy” and incorporate new technology.

A recent report by tech news site The Information said the business was under pressure by Alphabet CEO Larry Page to cut costs after failing to meet financial goals, including a target of signing up 5 million subscribers.

Barratt said he’ll continue to serve as an adviser to Page.

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If you are scrolling around on Google maps today and need a little video game break – you can unleash Ms. Pac-Man on the streets of your city.

On Friday, the techies at Google decided to let you have some fun when you are searching through their endless trove of maps. Available on both desktop and mobile versions, you can play the popular 80’s video game Ms. Pac-Man over the map you see on your screen.

It’s doesn’t matter where you are looking, or if there is a mile-long line of traffic or not, as long as there are roads you can play!

Just click on the Ms. Pac-Man icon on mobile, or on the ‘Insert Coin‘ icon on the desktop version.

DALLAS (KRLD) – A new feature from Snapchat is creating all kinds of talk.

The new app feature is called Snap Map. It lets you share where you are with friends and followers. It uses a GPS signal to show where you are located and police say it could pose a major safety danger.

Andrew Rossow is a cyberspace and technology attorney with the Gregory M. Gantt Co. Law firm.

“There are some serious privacy concerns with this because people don’t understand that they are being tracked” says Rossow.

He says this can be especially dangerous for children. His advice for parents, “Be aware of the applications your children have on their phones and look at the settings that are available.”

Rossow also says, “It’s a cool feature. However, there just needs to be some sort of regulation and public awareness as to the potential consequences and dangers of this if this is taken out of context or even abused.”

BOSTON (AP) — Looking for any edge in an age-old rivalry, the Boston Red Sox got called out in a high-tech sign-stealing scheme they ran on the New York Yankees.

The first-place Red Sox admitted to Major League Baseball that they used an Apple Watch to relay signals from opposing catchers to Boston players, The New York Times reported Tuesday. Sign stealing has long been a part of the game, but employing electronic gadgets to do it is against the rules.

MLB is looking into allegations levied by the Yankees after a series between the teams last month in Boston. The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that Boston manager John Farrell, general Dave Dombrowski and other team executives were not aware of the operation, which had been going on for weeks.

Commissioner Rob Manfred, who was at Fenway Park on Tuesday night as part of a previously planned visit, said he wanted to get the matter resolved quickly. He didn’t comment about possible penalties.

“The only thing that I can tell you about repercussions is that to the extent that there was a violation on either side — and I’m not saying that there was — to the extent that there was a violation on either side, we are 100 percent comfortable that it is not an ongoing issue — that if it happened, it is no longer happening,” he said.

This isn’t the first time a successful Boston-area sports franchise has been accused of cheating in recent years.

New England Patriots star Tom Brady was suspended four games by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after the “Deflategate” investigation concluded the quarterback conspired to use illegally underinflated footballs in the 2015 AFC championship game. The Pats also were docked a first-round draft pick.

Years earlier, the five-time Super Bowl champions were caught videotaping signals being sent in by Jets coaches during a 2007 game — the Patriots lost a first-round pick in the 2008 draft and coach Bill Belichick was fined $500,000 in “Spygate.”

The Red Sox hold a narrow lead over the Yankees in the AL East race with a month left in the regular season. The teams don’t play again this season.

Farrell said he knew the rule.

“Electronic devices are not to be used in the dugout,” he said Tuesday before Boston hosted the Toronto Blue Jays. “But beyond that, the only thing I can say it’s a league matter at this point.”

Dombrowski said it was the first time a team he’d worked for had been formally accused of stealing signs.

“I’ve been in the game for 40 years. I’ve known of it for 40 years, sign stealing itself,” Dombrowski said. “I’ve known of people that I talk to that played back in the ’50’s that talked to me about sign stealing, so I do think sign stealing has been taking place for a long time. I will acknowledge that.”

The Times, according to unidentified sources, said the MLB probe started after Yankees general manager Brian Cashman filed a complaint with the commissioner’s office that included video. The newspaper said the video showed a member of Boston’s training staff looking at his Apple Watch in the dugout and relaying a message to players.

“I think there was something that was suspected of going on,” Yankees outfielder Brett Gardner said before Tuesday night’s game in Baltimore.

The Times said the Red Sox filed a complaint Tuesday against the Yankees, alleging the club used a camera from its YES television network to steal opponents’ signs.

“No chance,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said.

Said Manfred: “I do believe that this is a charged situation from a competitive perspective, when you have the kind of rivalry that the Yankees and the Red Sox have. I guess it’s not shocking you could have charges and counter-charges like this.”

The Times said the Red Sox told MLB investigators that club personnel watched monitors and then electronically sent pitch signals to team trainers in the dugout, who relayed the information to players.

The newspaper said video showed Boston assistant athletic trainer Jon Jochim checking his Apple Watch and relaying the info to Red Sox players Brock Holt and second baseman Dustin Pedroia. The newspaper said one clip showed Pedroia passing along the intelligence to Boston outfielder Chris Young, who formerly played for the Yankees.

The Red Sox won two of three from the Yankees during the series Aug. 18-20. The Times reported that in the first game, after Boston first put a runner on second, Rafael Devers hit a home run. The Red Sox went 5 for 8 in that game when they had a runner at second and won 9-6.

Sign stealing to help hitters know what pitch is coming has long been a part of baseball lore. Often times it happens when a runner at second base peers in to see the catcher’s sign and then subtly flashes a signal — maybe a hand movement, or the positioning of his feet — to the batter to let him know whether the next pitch will be a fastball, curveball or something else.

The most famous example of sign stealing was a secret for almost a half-century. It took that long before it was positively revealed the New York Giants used a spyglass-and-buzzer system to relay pitch signals to their hitters during their famed 1951 chase of the Brooklyn Dodgers, which culminated with Bobby Thomson’s bottom-of-the-ninth, winning homer in the decisive Game 3 of their NL playoff.

Players are allowed to try to figure out the opponents’ signals on their own. Computers, cameras and electronics are not permitted.

To combat signs being stolen, teams often change their signals when an opposing runner reaches second base. Signs can change from batter to batter and even pitch to pitch — the Yankees are a team that frequently has its catcher go out to the mound to discuss with pitchers what to throw.

Electronics and video have become more a part of baseball and all sports in recent years. The increased usage has also put leagues on alert over how to control improprieties in many areas.

In July 2016, a federal judge sentenced the former scouting director of the St. Louis Cardinals to nearly four years in prison for hacking the Houston Astros’ player-personnel database and email system.

“Electronics is the world we live in today,” Girardi said. “It’s changed the world we live in and it will continue to change as we move on. Again, there has to be something the catcher, the pitcher and the middle infielders can do to combat all this. Football’s gone to headset. They’ve talked about how they don’t know how feasible that is in the game of baseball, but I think we have to try something.”

(© Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

FORT WORTH (CBSDFW.COM) – The fallout continues after the huge Equifax data-breach affecting more than 143 million Americans.

The Texas Attorney General’s office said 12 million of those victims live in Texas.

“I’m absolutely furious,” said Phillip Bristow of Fort Worth.

He’s is one of the millions of Americans whose information was compromised in the massive hack.

“It panics me, I have properties. I built myself up to good credit but it took me a lot of years to do it,” said Bristow.

Bristow and his wife went searching for remedies and decided to freeze their credit report.

“A credit freeze allows the creditor to make sure you are who you say you are,” said financial counselor Regina Blackwell with the Dallas non-profit Transformance.

Blackwell said a freeze makes it impossible for thieves to open up new lines of credit in your name.

You can stop the freeze any time you want to apply for new credit by using a personal identification number.

• Click Here To Freeze Your Equifax Account

Briston said he couldn’t believe Equifax was actually charging him $10 to freeze his account.

“Ten dollars isn’t a lot of money but I didn’t make the mistake. Why am I having to pay for it,” asked Bristow. ”

Equifax announced plans to waive the freeze fees for 30 days after hundreds of upset customers complained on social media.

“How about forever,” laughed Bristow.

Plus, financial experts say having a freeze at just Equifax won’t help you.

You need to freeze your credit at all three bureaus.

Bristow said Equifax should pick up the tab.

“This is their problem. They need to fix their problem,” said Bristow.

• More From The Federal Trade Commission 

NEW YORK (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Best Buy is expanding an after-school tech program for underprivileged teens as it hopes to create workers with the skills to serve increasingly savvy shoppers as well as groom future inventors who can help fill its stores with new gadgets.

The Minneapolis-based chain said Wednesday the number of tech centers will grow to 60 from 11 over the next three years. The centers, hosted by nonprofit organizations with strong financial support from Best Buy, let teens explore technology such as robotics and 3-D printing.

A Best Buy sign outside a store. (credit: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images)

“It’s not about getting them into the store but getting the next thing in the store,” said Laura Bishop, Best Buy’s chief corporate responsibility officer. Best Buy started its first tech center four years ago and works with suppliers like Sony as well as educators and public officials.

There is already a Best Buy teen tech center in Dallas, located in the Juanita J. Craft Recreation Center. No word if any of the new centers being built as a part of the announced expansion will be located in North Texas.

The company is also creating post-high school mentorship programs that will serve 2,000 students per year in poorer neighborhoods. That training will include internship opportunities at local businesses. And Best Buy will expand its Geek Squad Academy summer camps for youths aged 10 to 18, which number around 40. The camps feature classes in areas like 3-D design, digital music production, and coding.

The company says it will invest $30 million in the programs over the next three years.

(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Intel has big plans to steer toward new business in self-driving cars, virtual reality and other cutting-edge technologies. But first it has to pull out of a skid caused by a serious security flaw in its processor chips, which undergird many of the world’s smartphones and personal computers.

Intel CEO Brian Krzanich opened his keynote talk Monday night at the annual CES gadget show in Las Vegas by addressing the hard-to-fix flaws disclosed by security researchers last week. At an event known for its technological optimism, it was an unusually sober and high-profile reminder of the information security and privacy dangers lurking beneath many of the tech industry’s gee-whiz wonders.

Some researchers have argued that the flaws reflect a fundamental hardware defect that can’t be fixed short of a recall. But Intel has pushed back against that idea, arguing that the problems can be “mitigated” by software or firmware upgrades. Companies from Microsoft to Apple have announced efforts to patch the vulnerabilities.

And Krzanich promised fixes in the coming week to 90 percent of the processors Intel has made in the past five years, consistent with an earlier statement from the company . But he also added that updates for the remainder of those recent processors should follow by the end of January. Krzanich did not address the company’s plans for older chips.

To date, he said, Intel has seen no sign that anyone has stolen data by exploiting the two vulnerabilities, known as Meltdown and Spectre. The problems were disclosed last week by Google’s Project Zero security team and other researchers. Krzanich commended the “remarkable” collaboration among tech companies to address what he called an “industry-wide” problem.

While Meltdown is believed to primarily affect processors built by Intel, Spectre also affects many of the company’s rivals. Flaws affecting the processor chips also endanger the PCs, internet browsers, cloud computing services and other technology that rely on them. Both bugs could be exploited through what’s known as a side-channel attack that could extract passwords and other sensitive data from the chip’s memory.

Krzanich then launched into a flashy and wide-ranging celebration of the way Intel and its partners are harnessing data for futuristic innovations, from 3D entertainment partnerships with Paramount Pictures to virtual-reality collaborations with the 2018 Winter Olympics and a new breakthrough in so-called quantum computing.

A self-driving Ford Fusion rolled onto the stage of the casino theater where Krzanich gave his talk. It’s the first of a 100-vehicle test fleet run by Mobileeye, the Israel-based software company that Intel bought for $15 billion last year. Mobileeye processes the information cars “see” from cameras and sensors.

A flying taxi — the German-built Volocopter — later lifted from the stage. Then came the drones, in a musical performance that Krzanich said would mark a Guinness record for the “world’s first 100-drone indoor lightshow without GPS.”

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

DALLAS (1080 KRLD/CBSDFW.COM) – Amazon has narrowed it’s list of cities for its second U.S. headquarters to 20, including two cities in Texas.

On Thursday, Amazon cut their list of possible sites from 238 to 20, and the Dallas metro area, as well as Austin, are on the list of possible locations for Amazon’s ‘HQ Two.’

According to Amazon, they expect to invest over $5 billion in construction for their second North American headquarters. The new headquarters will also bring in at least 50,000 jobs.

Dallas Regional Chamber of Commerce Vice President of Economic Development Sarah Carrabias-Rush is part of the team which put together proposals from across North Texas.

“We are inspired and thrilled by the opportunity of bringing this kind of transformational project to our region because we think it brings a lot of opportunity” said Carrabias-Rush. “We are excited to be in the chase.”

Amazon says the Dallas metro area is in the running for the headquarters, but since all the North Texas proposals were submitted as a bundle, there’s no way yet to know which cities in the region Amazon is considering.

After the announcement the Dallas Regional Chamber and Fort Worth Chamber released a joint statement that said, in part –

“In collaboration with regional economic development partners, the Dallas Regional Chamber and the Fort Worth Chamber worked closely throughout to collect, organize and deliver the regional-level data and information that was requested by Amazon.”

Mike Rosa, with the Dallas Regional Chamber, said, “The DFW Region’s unified submittal was diligent, thoughtful and comprehensive in responding to the specific questions outlined in the Amazon RFP and gave us a chance to showcase the many reasons DFW has been such a strong and growing business community over the past eight years.”

Brandom Gengelbach, with the Fort Worth Chamber, said,“One of the most compelling aspects of our proposal was the diversity of options we offer as a regional hub of economic development.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott made a statement on Dallas and Austin being named finalists.

“Texas is the land of opportunity, and I am thrilled to see that Amazon has included both Austin and Dallas as finalists for its forthcoming HQ2. Texas is a hotbed for the tech industry, and both Austin and Dallas have proven themselves to be among the most sought after locations for companies looking to grow and thrive. When industry leaders like Amazon consider investing in the Lone Star State, they know that our our low-tax and limited-regulation environment will appeal to a company’s bottom line. Texas has also repeatedly been recognized as having one of the best – if not the best – workforces in America. I am confident that the economic advantages of an Amazon expansion in Texas speak for themselves, and make either Austin or Dallas an ideal fit for Amazon’s HQ2.”

Amazon says it wants its second headquarters to be in a low-tax climate with arts and culture, easy access to public transportation and bike paths, and a strong workforce.

Other cities that made the cut include: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Columbus; Denver; Indianapolis; Los Angeles; Miami; Montgomergy County, Maryland; Nashville; Newark, NJ; New York City; Northern Virginia; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; Raleigh, NC; Toronto; and Washington, D.C.

The company will make a decision later this year.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – Setting up a likely legal fight with the Trump administration, Washington has become the first state to enact its own net-neutrality requirements.

The Federal Communications Commission voted in December to gut U.S. rules that meant to prevent broadband companies such as Comcast, AT&T and Verizon from exercising more control over what people watch and see on the internet.

Because the FCC prohibited state laws from contradicting its decision, opponents of the Washington law have said it will lead to lawsuits.
Gov. Jay Inslee said he was confident of its legality.

Violations would be enforceable under the state’s Consumer Protection Act.

While several states introduced similar measures this year, so far only Oregon and Washington have passed legislation. But Oregon’s measure wouldn’t put any new requirements on internet providers.

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

(AP) – Artificial intelligence has a new challenge: Whether and how to alert people who may not know they’re talking to a robot.

On Tuesday, Google showed off an AI assistant that makes convincingly human-sounding phone calls, at least in its prerecorded demonstration. But the real people in those calls didn’t seem to be aware they were talking to a machine.

Google says its digital voice assistant can make some of our most tedious calls, such as reservation for dinner or a haircut. The AI speaks with pauses and “ums” and “mmm-hmms” to sound more human.

But it may not be fair — or even legal — to trick the hairstylists and restaurant employees answering the calls.

Google calls the new service, known as Duplex, an experiment.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Top U.S. tech executives and researchers are planning to press the Trump administration to invest in artificial intelligence and craft policies they hope will strengthen the economy without displacing jobs.

The White House is hosting the “Artificial Intelligence for American Industry” event Thursday. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Microsoft are among dozens of tech firms attending. Top universities are also pitching for investment in basic research.

The meeting comes as some technology experts have criticized President Donald Trump and his administration for not paying enough attention to science and technology. They worry that the U.S. could fall behind.

Dean Garfield, CEO of the Information Technology Industry Council, says it’s been disappointing not to have more of a national movement around AI. But he says it’s “better late than never.”

(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

CEDAR HILL (CBSDFW.COM) – It started with a wish: that YouTube was G-rated to protect the innocence of its youngest viewers.

“There’s a lot of great content out there, but a lot of that content has swear words in them, and a lot of parents don’t want their kids to be exposed to objectionable language,” says 16-year-old Roman Scott of Cedar Hill.

So the rising high school junior, who had already built a computer, decided to build an app – and “Nofanity” was born.

“I combined the words no and profanity in order to make NoFanity, so it’s kind of like a play on words there,” he says.

The desktop app launches the YouTube browser and filters out the curse words on videos using speech recognition algorithms.

“I had to create a process to where the app would scan the audio for swear words and then it would find the timings on each word in the audio and bleep it out from there,” he says.

Roman fought through setbacks and completed the app just this week.

“It was a lot of work, hundreds and hundreds of hours that he put in,” says his mother, Elizabeth Scott. “It was just a labor or perseverance and dedication, and I was just so proud of him to finally have accomplished it.”

“It’s a really rewarding experience, because when you’re creating something, you want to do something that helps people and not hurts people, so by me creating this app, I feel like I’d be able to make a difference in the lives of a lot of kids.” Roman says.

You can download Nofanity through the website, Nofanity.com. It costs $2.99 a month and is for computers only.

NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – The Unicode Consortium has 179 proposed draft candidates for the next generation of emoji.

Tuesday Emojipedia shared some details on new emoji candidates suggested for inclusion to Unicode 12 in 2019.

Their draft list for 2019 is a big win for diversity… and for those with disabilities.

The Emoji draft list for 2019 is a big win for diversity… and for those with disabilities. (photo courtesy: emojipedia.org)

New candidates include a service dog, deaf people, a person with mechanical limbs and mixed race couples.

The proposed additions include emoji couples holding hands – with a total of 55 skin tone and gender combinations.

The final list of new emojis will be decided at the unicode technical committee’s September meeting.

The new emoji generation is set for release in the first quarter of next year.

(The-CNN-Wire & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company contributed to this report. All rights reserved.)

AUSTIN (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Apple is set to build a $1 billion campus in North Austin and establish smaller new locations in Seattle, San Diego and Culver City, California, the company said Thursday.

The tech giant based in Cupertino, California, said the new campus in Austin will start with 5,000 employees working in engineering, research and development, operations, finance, sales and customer support. It will be less than a mile from existing Apple facilities.

The other new locations will have more than 1,000 employees each.

Austin already is home to more than 6,000 Apple employees, representing the largest population of the company’s workers outside of Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

Apple added 6,000 American jobs in 2018 and now employs 90,000 people in all 50 states.

“Apple has been a vital part of the Austin community for a quarter century, and we are thrilled that they are deepening their investment in our people and the city we love,” said Austin Mayor Steve Adler in a statement.

The company also said it plans to expand in Pittsburgh, New York and Colorado over the next three years.

The Austin announcement comes nearly a year after Apple disclosed it would canvas the U.S. for another location.

Cities wooed Apple with various incentives, though Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company wasn’t trying to stage a competition like Amazon, which encouraged civic leaders to come up with enticing packages if they wanted their cities to become the home of its second headquarters.

Amazon announced last month that after a 14-month search it had selected Long Island City, Queens, and Arlington, Virginia , as the joint winners. Each site will get 25,000 jobs.

(© Copyright 2018 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

SHENZHEN, China (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Chinese tech giant Huawei, the No. 2 smartphone maker, is challenging a U.S. law that labels the company a security risk and would limit its access to the American market for telecom equipment.

Huawei Technologies Ltd.’s lawsuit, announced Thursday, asks a federal court to reject as unconstitutional a portion of this year’s U.S. military appropriations act that bars the government and its contractors from using Huawei equipment.

It comes as the biggest global maker of network equipment fights a U.S. campaign to persuade allies to shun Huawei . That effort threatens to block access to major markets as phone carriers prepare to invest billions of dollars in next-generation, 5G networks.

The complaint, filed in Plano, Texas, the headquarters of Huawei’s U.S. operations, cites the framers of the U.S. Constitution, including Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, in arguing that the law in question violates the constitutional separation of powers, denies due process and amounts to a “Bill of Attainder” that singles out a specific entity for adverse treatment.

It says the law causes the company “concrete and particularized injury, and imminent future injury” and subjects it to a “burden that is severe, permanent and inescapable” that amounts to a corporate “death penalty.”

Huawei, China’s first global tech brand, is at the center of U.S.-Chinese tensions over technology competition and cyber-spying. The company has spent years trying to put to rest accusations it facilitates Chinese spying or is controlled by the ruling Communist Party.

Increasingly, both sides appear to be resorting to courts to press their cases.

“We are compelled to take this legal action as a proper and last resort,” the company’s rotating chairman, Guo Ping, said at a news conference. Guo said the ban would limit competition, slowing the rollout of fifth-generation communications and raising consumer prices.

Huawei has pleaded not guilty to U.S. trade-theft charges after a federal court in Seattle unsealed a 10-count indictment in January against two of its units, Huawei Device Co. and Huawei Device USA. The charges include conspiracy to steal trade secrets, attempted theft of trade secrets, wire fraud and obstruction of justice.

The company’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, is fighting extradition to the U.S. after she was arrested in Vancouver, Canada on Dec. 1. U.S. prosecutors have filed charges accusing Meng, who is the daughter of Huawei’s founder, of lying to banks about dealings with Iran.

Huawei denies any wrongdoing.

At a routine briefing Thursday, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman noted that the Chinese government has also objected to the law.

“We believe that it is perfectly proper and fully understandable for companies to defend their legitimate rights and interests through legal means,” Lu Kang said. He said he had no information about whether China would join Huawei in the lawsuit.

Huawei has about 40 percent of the global market for network gear. Its U.S. sales evaporated after a congressional panel in 2012 cited the company and a Chinese competitor, ZTE Corp ., as security risks and told phone carriers to avoid dealing with them.

U.S. authorities “have hacked our servers and stolen our emails” but have presented no evidence to support their security claims, Guo said. He complained Washington was “sparing no effort to smear” the company.

Huawei says the new law would shrink its potential U.S. market further by prohibiting the government from buying the Chinese vendor’s technology and from buying goods or services from or giving grants or loans to companies or other third parties that do. The United States accounts for 20 to 25 percent of the global market for computer and telecom technology.

Huawei says the U.S. law it is protesting improperly has Congress play the role of a court.

The ban is “based on numerous false, unproven and untested propositions,” said Song Liuping, the company’s chief legal officer, at the news conference. “Huawei has an excellent security record and program. No contrary evidence has been offered.”

The Chinese government says Washington fabricates or exaggerates security concerns to block competition.

Huawei, based in Shenzhen, near Hong Kong, is a leading developer of 5G along with rivals Nokia Corp. of Finland and Sweden’s LM Ericsson. Industry analysts say excluding the Chinese vendor from markets for 5G equipment would reduce competition and might lead to higher prices.

Founded in 1987 by a former military engineer, Huawei overtook Ericsson in 2017 as the biggest global supplier of network gear. It says it supplies 45 of the world’s top 50 phone companies and has contracts with 30 carriers to test 5G wireless technology.

European governments are balking at U.S. pressure to ban Huawei. The company has announced contracts with customers including the United Arab Emirates in the Middle East for network technology.

China’s government arrested two Canadians, a former diplomat and a businessman, on Dec. 10 in what was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Canada to release Meng, the company’s CFO.

On Monday, Beijing accused the two men of acting together to steal state secrets. That followed the Canadian government’s announcement Friday that the extradition proceeding for Meng would be allowed to continue.

Huawei executives say American security warnings have yet to affect sales outside the United States. The company’s 2018 revenue forecast is $100 billion and its founder, Ren Zhengfei, said last month this year’s target is $125 billion.

Some European officials and others cite a Chinese security law requiring companies to cooperate with intelligence agencies they say might oblige Huawei and other tech companies to install “backdoors” in equipment to allow eavesdropping.

Huawei denies altering its equipment to facilitate spying. It has set up testing centers in Britain, Canada and continental Europe to allow governments to examine its technology.

“Huawei has not and will never implant ‘backdoors,’ ” said Guo, the chairman.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

LUBBOCK, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Texas Tech basketball player Deshawn Corprew has been suspended while the school investigates a Title IX complaint against the junior forward.

MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA – APRIL 04: Deshawn Corprew #3 of the Texas Tech Red Raiders speaks to the media in the locker room prior to the 2019 NCAA Tournament Final Four at U.S. Bank Stadium on April 4, 2019 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Mike Lawrie/Getty Images)

The school said coach Chris Beard suspended Corprew after learning of the allegations. Title IX complaints can involve allegations of sexual misconduct or gender discrimination, but the school declined to comment beyond its statement.

“Once Coach Beard was made aware of Title IX allegations against Deshawn Corprew, the men’s basketball student-athlete was immediately suspended from all team activities, pending a full investigation,” athletic department officials stated in a press release Monday.

Corprew averaged 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.5 minutes per game as a sophomore in his first season with the Red Raiders, who lost to Virginia in overtime in the national championship game.

The 6-foot-5 Corprew, who attended a prep school in North Carolina, spent his freshman year at South Plains College in Levelland, Texas, about 30 miles west of Lubbock.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

NORMAN, Oklahoma (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Jalen Hurts passed for 413 yards and three touchdowns, and No. 6 Oklahoma rolled past Texas Tech 55-16 on Saturday.

Hurts also ran for 70 yards and another score for the Sooners (4-0, 1-0 Big 12). His 483 yards of total offense ranks eighth in Oklahoma history. It was the first 400-yard passing game for the senior transfer from Alabama.

“He’s seeing the field really well,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “He’s understanding how we want to attack people. He was a little more confident today, a little bit more steady.”

CeeDee Lamb had career highs of 183 yards receiving and three touchdowns, Charleston Rambo had 122 yards receiving on just two catches and Trey Sermon ran for 76 yards and two scores for Oklahoma.

The Sooners, who entered the game leading the nation in total offense, gained 642 yards. They have totaled at least 600 yards in each game this season.

Jett Duffey passed for 120 yards and SaRodorick Thompson ran for 96 yards for Texas Tech (2-2, 0-1). Duffey got most of the action at quarterback in place of Alan Bowman, who sat out with a shoulder injury.

Hurts passed for 306 yards and two touchdowns and ran eight times for 60 yards and two more scores in the first half to help Oklahoma take a 34-10 lead.

It was a tough loss for first-year Texas Tech coach Matt Wells. He tried to reassure his team after the game.

“The message is that it’s a process,” he said. “So many times, we get short-sighted by results. I understand I get paid to deliver results, but there’s not a quick fix.”

Tech now has a 2-2 record and will play against Oklahoma State next Saturday at 11 a.m.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — Texas Tech quarterback Jett Duffey continues to give West Virginia fits.

The junior moved the offense at will in the first half and the Red Raiders used a fast start to beat West Virginia 38-17 on Saturday, handing the Mountaineers their fifth straight loss.

Duffey threw for one touchdown to boost his total to 10 scores with two interceptions in his last five games after taking over in mid-September for the injured Alan Bowman.

“We came out with a great focus. We have to continue it,” Jett said. “I always believe in myself, I always believe that if I work hard and do what I need to do, then I will achieve what I want to achieve, no matter what’s in my way.”

Ta’Zhawn Henry and SaRodorick Thompson each had two first-half short scoring runs for Texas Tech, which broke a three-game losing streak and now has a bowl bid to fight for with three games left.

“A lot of people are counting us out,” said Texas Tech coach Matt Wells. “(We have) a little underdog mentality right now.”

West Virginia (3-6, 1-5) fell into a last-place tie with idle Kansas.

Texas Tech scored touchdowns on its first five drives and led 35-10 at halftime. Duffey accounted for 281 of Texas Tech’s 337 first-half yards. He took advantage of a decimated secondary with four first-half passes of 20 yards or longer, including an 81-yard scoring toss to a wide-open Dalton Rigdon.

“He’s really done a nice job of protecting the ball in the pocket better,” Wells said.

Duffey finished 24 of 34 for 354 yards.

“A frustrating day all the way around,” said West Virginia coach Neal Brown. “We got off to an extremely poor start defensively. We didn’t get pressure on the quarterback all day. He made a bunch of plays on us. He’s active. He got the ball out of his hand fast.”

A year ago, Duffey ran for 86 yards in a 42-34 loss to the Mountaineers in a game that West Virginia led by as many as 25 points.

On Saturday, the Red Raiders managed just a field goal after halftime and didn’t allow West Virginia to mount a comeback. The Mountaineers outgained Texas Tech 549-481 but squandered several scoring chances.

West Virginia turned the ball over on downs four times after incompletions deep in Texas Tech territory.

West Virginia’s Austin Kendall was intercepted twice, one of them into triple coverage that Texas Tech’s DeMarcus Fields caught in the end zone in the third quarter. Kendall also fumbled the ball away on fourth down as he was hit attempting a first-quarter pass.

Kendall finished 26 of 43 for 355 yards before being replaced late in the third quarter by Bowling Green transfer Jarret Doege, who made his season debut. Kendall and Doege each threw a touchdown pass.

West Virginia wide receiver Sam James caught 14 passes for 223 yards.

West Virginia’s losing streak is its worst since losing five straight in 2012.

The Raiders are now 4-5 and will play against TCU next Saturday at noon.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

AUSTIN, Texas (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — President Donald Trump came to Texas Wednesday and celebrated tech behemoth Apple keeping its Mac Pro computer manufacturing plant in Austin.

Trump’s visit follows Apple’s announcement in September that it would continue manufacturing the latest generation of the Mac Pro in Austin — a move that came once the Trump administration agreed to waive tariffs on certain computer parts made in China.

“When you build it in the United States, you don’t have to worry about tariffs,” Trump said, with Apple CEO Tim Cook standing by his side.

U.S. tariffs are set to take effect Dec. 15 on an additional $160 billion in Chinese products — a move that would extend sanctions to a wide range of consumer goods, including clothes, toys and iPhones.

Cook has argued to Trump that competitor Samsung would not be subject to the same tariffs, and Trump said Wednesday he was “looking at” the possibility of exempting Apple from the tariffs.

“The problem we have is, is you have Samsung,” Trump said. “It’s a great company, but it’s a competitor of Apple, and it’s not fair. … We have to treat Apple on a somewhat similar basis as we treat Samsung.”

President Donald Trump (L) and Apple CEO Tim Cook tour the Flextronics computer manufacturing facility where Apple’s Mac Pros are assembled in Austin, Texas, on November 20, 2019. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Even in the middle of the country, Trump couldn’t completely get away from ongoing impeachment inquiry hearings. He falsely declared that European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland’s testimony in Washington earlier in the day exonerated him.

“Let me tell you: It’s a hoax, it’s a disgrace, it’s an embarrassment to our country,” Trump said of the impeachment inquiry.

Sondland told investigators that Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani explicitly sought a “quid pro quo” with Ukraine, leveraging an Oval Office visit for political investigations of Democrats. His testimony directly disputed Trump’s repeated declarations that there had been “no quid pro quo.”

The quick visit to Texas gave Trump a chance to highlight job growth in a state crucial for Republicans in 2020, both in terms of campaign contributions and votes.

As he left Washington, Trump called the Austin plant a “fantastic facility” and said he’d been pushing Cook since before he was elected to locate facilities in the U.S.

Cook, for his part, had pitched Trump on the problem that higher tariffs would pose for Apple, particularly its iPhones. Trump said following an August meeting that “it’s tough for Apple to pay tariffs if they’re competing with a very good company that’s not.”

Cook led Trump, along with Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and senior adviser Ivanka Trump, on a tour of the plant.

The president put Cook on the spot as they stood before reporters and asked him to gauge the health of the U.S. economy.

Cook responded that he believed the U.S. economy was the “strongest in the world.”

The president and tech leader have had frank discussions during Trump’s nearly three years in office despite their differences on policies such as immigration and climate change.

Trump told reporters last summer: “The reason I speak to Tim Cook: He’s the one that calls me. The other ones don’t call. They go out and hire — for millions of dollars — consultants that have less power than you do.”

Trump heard firsthand from employees about how products are assembled at the plant. The White House said that maintaining production in Austin was made possible through the president’s “pro-growth and pro-business economic policies.”

Still, not all manufacturers are thriving under the president’s tariff policies. Twelve of 18 manufacturing industries contracted in October, led by primary metals, clothing and textile mills.

The tariff war between China and the U.S. has prompted some manufacturers to delay purchases and investment. The two countries have been working on a “Phase 1” deal that was announced Oct. 12 but still isn’t final.

Apple is deeply rooted in Austin, where it has built its largest campus outside its Cupertino, California, headquarters. The company says about 6,000 of its employees work in Austin, and it has plans to create an additional 5,000 jobs as part of a $1 billion expansion announced last year. The Mac Pro assembly plant is run by Flex Ltd.

“What I wanted Apple to do from Day One, from before I got elected, I said, ‘Someday, we’re going to see Apple building plants in our country and not in China,’” Trump said.

(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)