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Virginians deeply divided on Spanberger months after her landslide win
A Washington Post-Schar School poll finds that Virginia voters are highly polarized over Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D), who ran as a unifying centrist.
Hungary’s illiberal democracy
Viktor Orbán has led Hungary since 2010, and has remade its political institutions. But elections this month pose a major challenge
Savannah Guthrie returns to 'Today' for the first time since her mother's disappearance
Savannah Guthrie is making her return to NBC’s “Today” show Monday for the first time since her mother's disappearance more than two months ago. Guthrie is coming back to a job she loves but is...
On plant health and embracing new plant-breeding techniques in South Africa
The major challenge currently confronting South Africa’s agriculture is the spread of foot-and-mouth disease. For many farmers across the country, the most urgent tasks are both securing sufficient vaccines and rolling them out quickly in the coming months, particularly as the beef and dairy industries continue to suffer big losses. There is also pressure on sheep, goats, and other livestock to prevent the disease from spreading. As efforts to get the country through this monumental challenge continue, I believe it is important to sharpen our focus on the broader task at hand: strengthening biosecurity. This covers both animal and plant health. In recent years, we haven’t focused much on plant health, except a few times, such as when we had a goss’s wilt scare in the maize industry, a few cases of citrus black spot, or cases of sclerotinia in sunflower seeds. But the fact that South Africa managed to control the outbreaks of these particular diseases when they occurred a few years ago was due to organized agricultural and government scientific capabilities, and, most importantly, the availability of crop protection or agrochemicals necessary to address some of them. Therefore, as the animal health division in the Department of Agriculture focuses on the pressing challenge of the day, the foot-and-mouth disease, there is an opportunity for the plant health division to assess if they have all the requirements to tackle any outbreak that may occur on fruits, vegetables or crops in future. The challenge with crop diseases is that they can spread quickly and cause much more rapid damage in the field than we typically see with livestock. Therefore, speed is everything in ensuring the appropriate controls are available. I raise this as an important area, particularly given the drastic climate variation we observe across the country. The production conditions in some areas have changed noticeably over time, which may introduce new risks. The other essential part is ensuring that South Africa has access to the best crop protection technology available in the market. Many technology developers worldwide have operations in South Africa. Therefore, the Department of Agriculture, along with the Agricultural Research Council, must continuously interact with technology developers to assess the various crop protection technologies they are releasing globally and determine their suitability and need in South Africa. This will require a proactive approach from the government, unlike the current approach, in which technology developers typically approach regulators with new technologies. The government, recognising the food security risks, must take a proactive approach to ensure that South African farmers have access to the latest crop protection technologies, thereby safeguarding the country’s food security. Beyond crop protection, we must never forget that South Africa’s agriculture is key to ensuring that the country is the most food-secure country at the national level in sub-Saharan Africa. South Africa is also the only African country in the top-40 global agricultural exporters, having more than doubled since 1994 on the back of the adoption of high-yielding seed cultivars. South Africa has been the only African country to adopt a bold approach to embracing science and adopting genetically engineered seeds for grains and oilseeds in the early 2000s. Since then, we have seen crop yields improve noticeably, contributing to the gains we mentioned above. But ensuring that South Africa improves further is not a given. The key lies in South African regulators’ attitudes towards new technologies. We have to maintain a progressive approach and not give in to the politics of non-food and non-scientific voices that shout on the sidelines. Food security is national security, and the government must ensure we progress, leaning on science. Therefore, the registration of high-yielding new genomic techniques is required. South Africa cannot afford to fall behind the EU, the USA, South America, and many of its competitors in global agriculture. The Department of Agriculture’s crop science division must adopt a progress-and-science-embracing approach for the good of the country. Thanks for reading AgriView! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. Subscribe Share
Warriors' Draymond Green reveals 'ideal' outcome for upcoming free agency
It remains to be seen what the future holds from Draymond Green beyond the current campaign, but the veteran forward has an idea of how he would like it to go. Green recently laid out his “ideal” scenario for his NBA future, which would entail him declining his $27 million player option for the 2026-27 season in favor of a new extension to close out his career in Golden State. “Rich [Paul] and I discussed it a couple months ago briefly,” Green said.
Canadiens clinch playoff spot for second consecutive season
The Montreal Canadiens wrapped up their second straight playoff spot Sunday when Detroit fell 5-4 to Minnesota, making them the first Canadian team to secure a postseason berth. Last season, Montreal took the final spot in the Eastern Conference before falling to Washington in five games in the first round. Montreal went into its game Sunday night against New Jersey second in the Atlantic Division.
Vault: The break from crypto politics is over
It’s been three months since the collapse of the Senate Banking Committee’s effort to advance a landmark crypto market structure bill. Now, with election season right around the corner, the panel is gearing up to try once more.
Head to Key City in April to enjoy live rooftop music
VICKSBURG, Miss. (VDN) — April is bringing the vibes to the rooftop! Join the group at Key City Rooftop for a month of great music featuring talented local and regional artists. Whether you want to sit back and enjoy the sounds or jump in and be part of the action, Key City has you covered—bring your […]
Easter Bunny Leaves Sweet Surprises Across Jay’s Hoppy Trails
JAY - The Easter Bunny took a scenic route through Orleans County this weekend, leaving a trail of treasures for local children to discover on the Jay Community Recreational Centre’s
Suspected measles outbreak kills nearly 100 children in Bangladesh
Health ministry data show children aged six months to five years with suspected measles symptoms soared to 6,476.
'Little belief remaining for Slot's side at present'
A year ago today, Liverpool fans were still basking in the glow of a Merseyside derby win that took them to the brink of the Premier League title. Nobody that day would have believed that less than 12 months on, a fanbase so united behind its team and its manager would be, at best, apathetic as to whether Arne Slot remains in the job. Saturday's harrowing 4-0 defeat at Manchester City in the FA Cup quarter-finals was just the latest in an ever-growing list of dismal days for Liverpool and their supporters in a season most cannot wait to see the back of.
As Montana Prepares to Roll Out Medicaid Work Requirements in July, Health Care Advocates Propose Best Practices
As the state’s Department of Public Health and Human Services (DPHHS) gears up to begin checking for Medicaid work requirements this summer, department officials this week announced the launch of a new government webpage designed to help patients navigate the upcoming changes. “Our priority is to ensure that Montanans covered by Medicaid Expansion have the […]
Microsoft calls Copilot ‘entertainment only’ while charging $30 a month for it
Microsoft's Copilot Terms of Use label it "for entertainment purposes only", yet the company charges up to $30/user/month and has spent $80bn on AI. Only 3.3% of users are paying.
North Shore businesses suffer in aftermath of Kona-low storms
Spring break is typically busy at Sharlyn Foo’s budget accommodations in Haleiwa. But last month, instead of welcoming surfers and families, Foo spent her days canceling reservations, refunding payments and responding to repeated calls from travelers asking whether Oahu’s North Shore was even open.
State rankings: How are the Durango High spring sports doing?
April is here, and that means it’s time to look at the progress of the Durango High School spring sports teams. Demons sports squads have been practicing for over a month and have been competing in ga...
Double Take -- Sisco: America needs universal health care
Since the Affordable Care Act went into effect in 2010, millions of people were able to purchase health insurance. For many of these folks, though, making the monthly payments has
University of Nebraska State Museum hosts monthly science lab on climate change
The University of Nebraska State Museum in Morrill Hall hosted its monthly Investigate Saturday Science Lab, with this month’s topic focused on climate change.
I let a smart planter maintain itself while I was away for 2 months
The LeafyPod smart planter will turn even the worst plant killer into a green thumb.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science reopens
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – After eight months of the New Mexico Natural History Museum being closed for renovations, residents finally got to see what the wait was for. The museum closed last summe…
Luca Langoni sparks Revolution to 3-0 victory over Montreal
Luca Langoni scored early before notching his league-high fifth assist on defender Mamadou Fofana's first career goal, and the New England Revolution beat CF Montreal 3-0 on Saturday. New England (2-3-0) has lost all three of its road matches under first-year coach Marko Mitrović, but the Revolution have won their two home matches by a combined 9-1 score. Montreal falls to 1-5-0 as ends a six-match road trip to begin the season.
University of Nebraska State Museum hosts monthly science lab on climate change
The University of Nebraska State Museum in Morrill Hall hosted its monthly Investigate Saturday Science Lab, with this month’s topic focused on climate change.
Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham
It's back, Albuquerque! The New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science reopens today, April 4th after eight months of renovations! Expect a revamped lobby, the brand-new Animal Armor traveling...
Apple’s latest acquisition is telling sign of where the company is headed
Last month, Apple acquired a popular Final Cut Pro plugin maker: MotionVFX. It isn’t clear what this acquisition will turn...
Queens slashing suspects wanted for attacking man near sports bar in bloody assault
Detectives in Queens are looking for two men behind a violent, bloody slashing near a sports bar last month that left a man seriously wounded.
Nancy Guthrie Update: FBI’s ‘Best Lead,’ According to a Cybersecurity Expert
'Today' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mom, 84, remains missing more than two months after her Tucson, Arizona, kidnapping.
Nancy Guthrie Update: FBI’s ‘Best Lead,’ According to a Cybersecurity Expert
'Today' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mom, 84, remains missing more than two months after her Tucson, Arizona, kidnapping.
Album Review: 6WA by BigXthaPlug & 600 Entertainment
BigXthaPlug spent eight months in Nashville making a country-rap album that debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200, put “All the Way” with Bailey Zimmerman at No. 4 on the Hot 100, got him a Rolling Stone cover, and filled arenas with Jelly Roll. And then he came back to Dallas, rounded up four of his signees, and made a gangsta-rap record with N.W.A’s Straight Outta Compton on the cover. 6WA is the second group release from 600 Entertainment, named after the 600 block of Meadowridge Street in Ferris, Texas, where BigX and his people grew up. The whole thing is loaded with West Coast samples. From N.W.A.’s “8Ball,” Eazy-E’s “Real Muthaphuckkin G’s” and “Boyz-N-The-Hood,” Ice-T’s “6 in the Mornin’,” Snoop Dogg’s “Nuthin’ but a ‘G’ Thang” and more. BigX is staking his name on the lineup he built—Rosama, MurdaGang PB, Yung Hood, KevanGotBandz, KaineMusic—and claiming a lineage from 1,400 miles away while insisting Dallas is its own thing. A million dollars in cash, split and handed straight to his mother. That’s the first place BigX goes on “From the Bottom.” He’d probably still be in the streets if he didn’t have his son and daughter. He only started rapping to make life better for Carter. Couldn’t start his car back then, now people get starstruck at Starbucks, and he throws the whole field away in one sentence: “How you think we competin’? You on the same bag, I just made me some millions off country.” Goyard bags off a Nashville payday, and he wants you to know exactly how far he’s come from everybody else. “Safe to Say” does something similar but looser. It’s a straight Ice Cube “It Was a Good Day” flip, and BigX nails it. Wakes up, checks both phones, nobody’s locked up, kid accounts look good. Gets pulled over, only catches a warning. Pulls up on the squad to liquor, ladies, and haze. Rosama takes the second verse and matches him. Wakes up to his girl cleaning his cuticles, twins playing peekaboo, pays off his car, calls a cousin, sees the opps and they don’t trip. Lawyer calls, he beat his case. Rosama is the strongest voice in the 600 camp after BigX, and “Life of a Gangster” is why. Third person, riding low, blacked-out windows, snub-nose revolver. A character who chose sticking people up over selling dope. “Quick eraser like a number-two pencil.” He never breaks character, and his delivery drops lower and slower than anything he does on the group cuts, like he’s telling you something at a cookout that he probably shouldn’t. Then on “Long Live Fre$h” he’s a completely different rapper. “Short-bus diamonds, these bitches retarded,” wide-body Durango he can’t even park. That kind of range matters on a group record. MurdaGang PB’s best verse is on the title track. Feds at his door at 6 AM, cameras busted, flushing dope, ram truck putting everybody on the floor. Yung Hood on “The Hottest” just lays out four reasons to keep hustling. Who wants to be broke, women cost money, you need bail, and home has to be straight. It’s funnier and more honest than most rappers get when they’re trying to explain why they sell drugs. KevanGotBandz on “Ain’t Never Slowin’ Down” talks about his father getting caught on the dope while he’s sitting on $300K somewhere in the hills, which is a specific kind of guilt that doesn’t usually make it onto crew tapes. KaineMusic, the newest signee, takes the back half of “Who Dunnit” and introduces herself in third person—“Took flight just to show these hoes how to perform”—but it’s too short to know if she can hold a full song. The flex tracks fill the middle of the LP and mostly run together. “I Go” is Rosama and PB trading brands, guns, and food punchlines. Rosama’s “anemic, my iron tucked low in this shirt” is a slick gun bar, PB fires back with “.223 with a clip ‘bout as big as a toddler” and “I go Burger King, stay with that whopper.” Quick, funny sometimes, but it’s all shopping lists. “Dopeman” is a chant. “6ixer Party” brings Snoop Dogg, who does exactly what you’d expect Snoop Dogg to do. BigX contributes the night’s wildest overshare: “She say she brought a friend too, well, I’m tryna put sausage on her dental.” These songs move fast and don’t overstay, but three or four of them could trade verses and nobody would catch it. Midway through, The D.O.C. shows up for a spoken-word interlude. Tracy Curry. West Dallas native, former N.W.A affiliate, co-writer on a lot of the records getting sampled on this very album. He thanks BigX for the tribute and then gets direct: “This your time, this DFW time. You need to do it like we do it down here.” Leave bread crumbs so everybody behind you can eat. Keep God in your life. It’s fatherly and generous, and it does raise the question of whether 6WA follows that advice. The album borrows heavy. The cover art, the Eazy-E samples, “Amerikkka’s Most Wanted” opening with a direct “Boyz-N-The-Hood” lift, Yung Hood rapping “Flag on my left side, Crip until I die.” But the stuff that actually stays with you is Dallas. BigX talking about Pleasant Grove, Rosama calling himself a country boy, PB recounting a raid that could’ve been last Tuesday. The record smells most like itself when it smells like Ferris, Texas, and least like Compton. BigX on “The Hottest” says his father was the first person he knew who had chickens. Not the way rappers usually wave at the drug trade. He means his actual father, his actual family. On “600 Degrees,” Rosama compares his chopper’s stutter to a speech disorder, PB claims he still has the block on his back even after leaving the city. BigX closes that one saying he used to spin and smack, and now the plaques are platinum. Thirty-two minutes was right for this. Nobody overstays, Tony Coles and Rance and Charley Cooks keep the production punchy, and BigX gives his signees real room instead of crowding every song. 6WA doesn’t reinvent anything. Five rappers, good beats, short clock. Most of what they say you’ve heard before. Some of it—the million to his mother, the cuticles and peekaboo, the four reasons to hustle—you won’t forget. Solid (★★★½☆) Favorite Track(s): “Safe to Say,” “From the Bottom,” “The Hottest” Subscribe
Binge drinking just once a month may triple your risk of liver scarring
Many people think that occasional binge drinking is harmless if they otherwise drink in moderation, but new research suggests that assumption may be dangerously wrong. A large U.S. study found that people with metabolic dysfunction–associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), a condition affecting about one in three adults, face a much higher risk of serious liver scarring if they engage in heavy drinking even just once a month.
Entertainment schedule taking shape for NFL Draft
Pittsburgh’s turn in the spotlight is getting a little brighter this month thanks to even more festivities announced this week in conjunction with the NFL Draft.
Woman saves money living in a 50-foot narrowboat she bought for $40K
Dottie Turnbull left her one-bedroom cottage and bought a narrowboat for about $40,000. Five years later, she says it saves her money every month.
Nancy Guthrie Update: FBI’s ‘Best Lead,’ According to a Cybersecurity Expert
'Today' co-anchor Savannah Guthrie's mom, 84, remains missing more than two months after her Tucson, Arizona, kidnapping.
XAI's cofounder chaos, rebuilding is vintage Elon Musk
xAI lost Ross Nordeen, its final non-Musk cofounder, this month. What does the turnover mean for the startup's looming IPO with SpaceX?
Parker Roberts inspires Sporting Jax women's soccer with ACL recovery
In fewer than seven months, Sporting Jax women's soccer midfielder Parker Roberts has fought through a torn ACL to return to action.
For Many Patients Leaving the I.C.U., the Struggle Has Only Just Begun
A long stay in intensive care can bring physical, cognitive and mental health challenges that can take months or longer to resolve.
A month of war in Iran prompts clashing political views on Long Island
Polls show that a majority of Americans disapprove of President Donald Trump's launching of a military operation against Iran.
The global oil crisis is turning into an everything crisis
One month into the war in Iran, a growing shortage of crude oil is threatening to morph into something worse: a shortage of nearly everything.
Teen Science Cafe/ AI in Everyday Life and Healthcare
We are excited to invite you to the Alexandria Teen Science Café on April 16, where we’ll explore how emerging technologies are reshaping the future of health. This month’s café will show you how the data behind everyday apps is being transformed into powerful tools that help solve medical challenges once considered impossible, even predicting
Caesars Entertainment (CZR) Valuation Check As Shares Rebound Despite Multi Year Return Weakness
Caesars Entertainment overview and recent performance snapshot Caesars Entertainment (CZR) has been drawing attention after recent price moves, with the share price last closing at $26.53 and total return data giving a mixed picture across different time frames. Over the past day, the stock showed a 0.08% decline, while the past week reflected a 1.34% decline. Over the past month, total return stands at 6.04%, and over the past 3 months at 12.61%. Year to date, Caesars shows a 12.61% total...
Bears’ Caleb Williams: ‘Iceman’ trademark application is to protect my business interests
He applied for a trademark last month.
New Apple TV Waiting for Siri: Here's What's Coming When It Launches
We're long overdue for an Apple TV update, and there have been rumors about an imminent refresh since late last year. It's now sounding like we're not going to get a new version for several months because of Siri delays. If you're holding out for a new model, here's a recap on what to expect when it eventually comes out so you can decide whether to continue to wait, or buy now. Design Apple TV design updates are few and far between, and that's not changing in 2026.
Clint Eastwood Turns 96 Next Month and Is Reportedly Done With Hollywood for Good
A source close to Clint Eastwood says the legendary director has quietly walked away from Hollywood.
Dead by Daylight Devs Celebrate 10 Years of Eldritch Evil and Hope for Many, Many More
At the Game Developers Conference last month, I sat down with Behaviour's head of partnerships Mathieu Cote, and creative director Dave Richard, to talk to them about Dead by Daylight's tenth anniversary.
Election 2026: Brown hopes for a political comeback; Challenger says Ohioans want something new
Sherrod Brown has not lost a primary election in his 50-year political career and he hopes to keep that streak alive next month when he faces Ronald Kincaid, a retired
Company backed by Trump sons looks to sell drone interceptors to Gulf states being attacked by Iran
The sales drive by Florida-based Powerus – which announced a deal last month to bring aboard Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. – positions the company to potentially benefit from a war that their father began.
Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) Valuation After Recent Share Price Weakness
Context for Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) After Recent Price Moves Tencent Music Entertainment Group (TME) has seen its share price under pressure in recent weeks, with a one-month return of a 35.5% decline and a past three-month return of a 48.7% decline catching investor attention. Against that backdrop, investors are weighing how the company’s core China-focused music and audio platforms, alongside reported annual revenue of CN¥32,902 and net income of CN¥11,056, align with its...
California cracks down on luxury car buyers evading taxes through 'Montana Loophole'
California targets wealthy luxury car owners and dealers using the Montana loophole to avoid sales tax, launching audits to recover millions in revenue.
H.H.S. Takes a First Step Toward Restoring Vaccine Advisory Committee
A federal judge last month questioned the legitimacy of the panel and overturned its recent work. A notice suggests that it may be revived on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s terms.
Business News: Minerva Repositions In New Role As “Distinct Entity” Within Montblanc Brand
New watches will display the standalone Minerva name on the dial.
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani plans an April rally to mark his first 100 days in office
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani will host a rally next month to mark 100 days since his inauguration.
Faith vs. Sports: Bulls' Jaden Ivey waived after alleged anti-NBA Pride Month remarks
Start your morning with The National News Desk as Angela Brown sits down with the co-founder of Transformation Church and Pastor Derwin Gray to discuss former C
Gemma 4 and what makes an open model succeed
Having written a lot of model release blog posts, there’s something much harder about reviewing open models when they drop relative to closed models, especially in 2026. In recent years, there were so few open models, so when Llama 3 was released most people were still doing research on Llama 2 and super happy to get an update. When Qwen 3 was released, the Llama 4 fiasco had just gone down, and a whole research community was emerging to study RL on Qwen 2.5 — it was a no brainer to upgrade. Today, when an open model releases, it’s competing with Qwen 3.5, Kimi K2.5, GLM 5, MiniMax M2.5, GPT-OSS, Arcee Large, Nemotron 3, Olmo 3, and others. The space is populated, but still feels full of hidden opportunity. The potential of open models feels like a dark matter, a potential we know is huge, but few clear recipes and examples for how to unlock it are out there. Agentic AI, OpenClaw, and everything brewing in that space is going to spur mass experimentation in open models to complement the likes of Claude and Codex, not replace them. Especially with open models, the benchmarks at release are an extremely incomplete story. In some ways this is exciting, as new open models have a much higher variance and ability to surprise, but it also points at some structural reasons that make building businesses and great AI experiences around open models harder than the closed alternatives. When a new Claude Opus or GPT drops, spending a few hours with them in my agentic workflows is genuinely a good vibe test. For open models, putting them through this test is a category error. Something else to be said about open models in the era of agents is that they get out of the debate of integration, harnesses, and tools and let us see close to the ground on what exactly is the ability of just a model. Of course, we can’t test some things like search abilities without some tool, but being able to measure exactly the pace of progress of the model alone is a welcome simplification to a systematically opaque AI space. Share The list of factors I’d use to assess a new open-weight model I’m considering investing in includes: Model performance (and size) — how this model performs on benchmarks I care about and how it compares to other models of a similar size. Country of origin — some businesses care deeply about provenance, and if a model was built in China or not. Model license — if a model needs legal approval for use, uptake will be slower at mid-sized and large companies. Tooling at release — many models release with half-broken, or at least substantially slower, implementations in popular software like vLLM, Transformers, SGLANG, etc due to pushing the envelope of architectures or tools. Model fine-tunability — how easy or hard it is to modify the given model to your use-case when you actually try and use it. The core problem is that some of these are immediately available at release, e.g. general performance, license, origin, etc. but others such as tooling take day(s) to week(s) to stabilize, and others are open research questions — with no group systematically monitoring fine-tunability. In the early era of open models, the days of Llama 2 or 3 and Qwen pre v3.5, the architectures were fairly simple and the models tended to work out of the box. Some of this was due to the extremely hard work of the Llama, Qwen, Mistral, etc. developer teams. Some is due to the new models being genuinely harder to work with. When it comes to something like Qwen 3.5 or Nemotron 3, with hybrid models (either gated delta net or mamba layers), the tooling is very rough at release. Things you would expect to “just work” often don’t. I’ve been following this area closely since we released Olmo Hybrid with a similar architecture, and Qwen 3.5 is just starting to work well in the various open-source tools that need to all play nice together for RL research. That’s 1.5 months after the release date! This is just to start really investing more into understanding the behavior of the models. Of course, others started working on these models sooner by investing more engineering resources or relying on partially closed software. The fully open and distributed ecosystem takes a long time to get going on some new models. All of this is lead-in for the most important question for open models — how easy is it to adapt to specific use-cases? This is a different problem for different model sizes. Large MoE open-weight models may be used by entities like Cursor who need complex capabilities in their domain, e.g. Composer 2 trained on Kimi K2.5. Other applications can be built on much smaller models, such as Chroma’s Context-1 model for agentic search, built on GPT-OSS 20B. The question of “which models are fine-tunable” is largely background knowledge known by engineers across the industry. There should be a thriving research area here to support the open ecosystem model. The first step is to understand characteristics of different base and post-trained models to understand what they look like. The second step is to tune pretraining recipes for open models so they’re more flexible. Interconnects AI is a reader-supported publication. Consider becoming a subscriber. Subscribe For The ATOM Project and other Interconnects endeavors, we’ve put in substantial effort to measuring adoption trends in the open ecosystem. Everything takes a long time to unfold after a model is first publicly available — and adaptability is why. What we know for sure now, when Qwen has been going from strength to strength with its releases, is that technical staff across the industry has gotten comfortable working with Qwen models. Countless research methods and datasets were made to work with Qwen. It’ll take patience for any other model family to get to this point — a patience I’m not sure many open model builders have. This takes us to Gemma 4, Google’s latest open models. Gemma 3 was released more than a year ago, in March of 2025, and is a bit underrated. Gemma 4 comes in 4 sizes for now, with a bigger, MoE model of over 100B total parameters rumored but not released yet. The models we have today come in sizes of ~5B dense, 8B dense, 26B total 4B active MoE, and 31B dense. I’m most excited that they’re finally adopting a standard Apache 2.0 open source license. This’ll massively boost adoption. The standard of better licenses for strong open-weight LLMs was set by mostly Chinese open model labs in the last 1-2 years, and now U.S. companies are following suit. I will personally be so happy if the horrible Llama licenses and Gemma terms of service were an ~18-month transient dynamic of the industry being nervous about releasing strong open models. The Gemma 4 scores look very solid, the small models have incredible benchmark scores (especially in general domains like LMArena) and the 31B model rivals the recent Qwen 3.5 27B, which is the leading member of that class. The ~30B size range is an important one, as it’s accessible both to researchers and to enterprises looking to deploy the model in real use-cases. Where the 7B model scale is the default for tinkering and research, a 30B model is the default for seeing if an open model can unlock substantial value in your specific workflow — a good mix of intelligence, low price, tractability for downstream training, etc. This takes us back to the above adoption criteria I mentioned for open models and the bigger question — do I think Gemma 4 will be an overwhelming success? Previous Gemma models have been plagued by tooling issues and poorer performance when being finetuned. Gemma 4’s success is going to be entirely determined by ease of use, to a point where a 5-10% swing on benchmarks wouldn’t matter at all. It’s strong enough, small enough, with the right license, and from the U.S., so many companies are going to slot it in. I’m cautiously optimistic that Gemma 4 is going to work better here. Winds are shifting for open models built in America. We saw GPT-OSS go through a bumpy launch to become an overwhelming success. There’s a collective energy around the likes of Reflection, Arcee, Nemotron, Gemma, Olmo, and peers that show substantial demand for building new stacks around open models. There’s capital to be spent on AI stacks across the economy by those who want more ownership of everything, including the model. After launching The ATOM Project 240 days ago, the conversation is shifting into the next stage. Summer of 2025 was a crisis moment where the U.S. AI scene realized it can’t wait and figure out open models after building AGI. The two markets will capture different areas and proceed in parallel. Now that more companies in the U.S. are releasing strong models, we need to improve the ecosystem so that these models are easy to use, understand, and build value around. It’s the hard work to build another inflection point in these adoption plots I’ve been updating consistently, but that’s the work to be done. Join me in it. More data coming soon! Here’s a sneak peek:
‘The Madison’ Star Ben Schnetzer Reveals His Favorite Scene to Film
Why there was something magical about that day on set in Montana.
JSU launches Bachelor of Science in Aviation
Submitted by JSU Jacksonville State University (JSU) announced the launch of its newest academic program — a Bachelor of Science in Aviation, set to begin in Fall. The Alabama Commission on Higher Education approved the aviation program on Friday, March 13, during its meeting in Montgomery. JSU’s Bachelor of Science in Aviation is designed to […]
Exclusive: Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a hospital last month in previously undisclosed incident
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito was taken to a hospital after becoming ill last month at a Federalist Society dinner in Philadelphia, according to people with knowledge of the March 20 incident.
Big Month for Small Business in Macon-Bibb
Macon-Bibb County’s Office of Small Business Affairs (OSBA) hosted and co-hosted five workshops and panels throughout March, reaching nearly 800 participants across the community. “These workshops and panels are about making sure our small businesses have access to the information, connections, and opportunities they need to grow,” said OSBA Director Charise Stephens. “When we invest […]
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science to reopen this weekend
The New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science is set to reopen this weekend after being closed for the past seven months.
iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 12 New Features
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not expected to launch for more than five more months, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the screen on the devices, which will result in merely a smaller Dynamic Island.
US economy added 178,000 jobs in March, well above expectations
The Labor Department released the March jobs report on Friday which showed the economy added jobs at a solid pace last month after an unanticipated decline in February.
Take-Two Interactive lays off head of AI months after backing generative tech
Take-Two Interactive has just had a huge internal shake-up by laying off the head of Artificial Intelligence alongside a number of employees.
Despite soaring jet fuel prices, air fares aren’t up that much. But they will be
Gas prices are grabbing the headlines, but jet fuel prices have doubled in the last two months. So far, air fares are only up modestly.
Maui Mental Health Providers Face Stress And Uncertainty About State Jobs
Staff at a state-run clinic serving wildfire survivors in Hawai‘i have waited months for permanent jobs. Instead, they got another temporary contract.
Save the Michaels is out of business
Another addiction services provider will take over the nonprofit's last facility, following months of financial and organizational turmoil.
Trapanovski question mark as injury ends 'difficult campaign'
Dundee United manager Jim Goodwin has lamented the loss of "one of the best wingers in the league" for the rest of the season, leaving a question mark over the North Macedonia international's future at Tannadice. Goodwin confirmed Kristijan Trapanovski "underwent some surgery" on Wednesday on a knee injury the 26-year-old sustained in last month's Scottish Cup defeat away to Falkirk. Trapanovski, who has two caps for his country, is out of contract this summer having signed a two-year deal when arriving from Shkupi in his homeland in 2024.
Trump pushed the Iran war in prime time. The public wasn’t sold.
The president is in a precarious political moment seven months before the midterm elections, facing some of his lowest approval ratings and presiding over an unpopular war.
Maui Mental Health Providers Face Stress and Uncertainty About State Jobs
Staff at a state-run clinic serving wildfire survivors in Hawaii have waited months for permanent jobs. Instead, they got another temporary contract.
Meadow Montessori students showcase projects at science fair
Top student science projects from Meadow Montessori School will be displayed at Ellis Library through April 10.
💸 Goalkeeper joins the attack! La Liga's top earners
L'Équipe recently published numerous player salaries from Europe's top leagues. Of course, La Liga was included too. Here’s how much the top 5 in Spain earn per month (gross).5. Jude Bellingham (Re...
Congressmembers give surprise visit to Otay Mesa Detention Center for health inspection
Two members of San Diego’s Congressional delegation visited the Otay Mesa Detention Center Thursday to follow up on months of complaints from people held inside.
Jackson business owners concerned amid surge of break-ins
JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – For the past two months, some Jackson businesses have seen an influx of break-ins, leaving owners questioning if it’s worth staying in the capital city or worth staying open at...
Deafness reversed: One injection restores hearing in just weeks
A new gene therapy is giving people born deaf the chance to hear, often within just weeks. In a small but groundbreaking study, researchers delivered a working copy of a key hearing gene directly into the inner ear using a single injection. All ten patients, ranging from young children to adults, experienced improved hearing, with some showing rapid gains in just one month.
HCMC co-administrator steps down after four months
County officials are pushing the state to approve a 1% sales tax that would support the safety-net hospital in Minneapolis.
As manufacturing jobs decline, Vermont business leaders take their concerns to the Statehouse
Also in Final Reading: Budget battles, crime victim notifications and endorsements.
Judge tosses Blake Lively’s sexual harassment claims against Justin Baldoni one month before trial
A federal judge tossed out all of Blake Lively’s legal claims against her “It Ends With Us” director Justin Baldoni, leaving only three claims against other defendants to be addressed at the upcoming trial.
North Carolina health officials discuss Davidson County Social Services takeover: ‘Care about the children, families of Davidson County’
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Two and a half months since the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services took over the Davidson County office, leaders say promising changes are h…
Android Auto might have a new copilot for your drive home, with Gemini widely rolling out
After months and months of waiting, a lot of Android Auto users are all of a sudden getting access to Gemini in their vehicles.
High school sports round up
Standout Claremont High School baseball team pitcher Brady Houlton delivers during the team’s 6-5 loss at Diamond Bar on Tuesday. With the loss the Wolfpack is now 2-1 in Palomares League play, 13-4 overall. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo
Philadelphia 76ers star rookie receives major NBA acknowledgement
Philadelphia 76ers star rookie V.J. Edgecombe was acknowledged by the NBA for his productive play throughout the month of March. On Thursday, the league announced that Edgecombe has officially been named the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for games played in March. The acknowledgement is the first career monthly award for Edgecombe, who becomes the eighth player in Sixers franchise history to be named Rookie of the Month.
76ers' Edgecombe, Kings' Raynaud named March Rookies of the Month
76ers guard VJ Edgecombe and Kings center Maxime Raynaud have been named the NBA Eastern and Western Conference Rookies of the Month for March.
Leela Gray hauls $561K within months of challenging Anna Paulina Luna for CD 13
Gray averaged roughly $10K per day in fundraising since launching and said more than 75% of contributions came from within Florida.
Apple bans vibe coding apps from the App Store
Apple pulled Anything, Replit, and Vibecode in March under Guideline 2.5.2. Last month it added AI coding to Xcode.
Microsoft takes on AI rivals with three new foundational models
MAI released models that can transcribe voice into text as well as generate audio and images after the group's formation six months ago.
Grab These Resident Evil PSN Avatars for Free This Month
Mark the 30th anniversary on your PSN profile
A Game Pass for indie games: meet Indie Pass, a $7-a-month subscription launching with 70 titles
Indie.io's Jess Mitchell says the platform will help smaller creators with discoverability in an ever-busier games landscape
Poll: Congressional redistricting popular among Republicans, underwater with everyone else
Legislators are expected to convene later this month for a rare mid-decade reapportionment.
Business Brief: Gibbons inducted into Triangle Federal Credit Union Hall of Fame
John Gibbons Jr., who served as president and CEO from 1987 to 2024, was recently inducted into the Triangle Federal Credit Union Hall of Fame during the credit union’s 66th annual meeting last month.
Entertainment briefs | ‘Stampede’ at Humboldt County Fairgrounds next month
Creekside Arts and EXIT Theatre will present “Ali, Cosell, My Dad & Me,” an original play by Michael Bickford, directed by John Heckel and starring Larry Crist, from April 17 to 26 at EXIT Theatre, 890 G St., second floor, Arcata.
Big South Conference to Begin Sponsoring Women's Flag Football in 2027-28
The Big South Conference Council of Chief Executive Officers has approved the addition of Women's Flag Football starting with the 2027-28 academic year, it was announced today by Big South Commissioner Sherika A. Montgomery. Flag Football was added to the NCAA's Emerging Sports for Women program on Jan. 16, and the Big South is the first Division I multi-sport conference to sponsor the sport. Women's Flag Football will become the 19th sport sponsored by the Big South.
Your guide to April entertainment in Erie, Pa.
We’ve compiled a list of suggestions for what to do in the month of April from comedy shows to musicals and more. See the options here.
Monaco’s Folarin Balogun attracting Premier League interest
After two sub-par seasons at the Principality, Folarin Balogun (24) has grown in stature at AS Monaco in recent months and he could now be set for a departure, according to a report from L’Équipe....
Lamont, Democrats split on Connecticut Option health plan
House Speaker Matt Ritter, D-Hartford, said establishing any new health insurance plan “would be a tall order.”
Puttin' on the glitz, and reveling in beauty
A gala at the NorthRiver Yacht Club offered many reminders of how power and wealth can enrich the lives of others.
Sports paper reveals figures! These are the Bundesliga top earners
French sports newspaper L'Équipe today estimated the gross salaries of the highest-paid Bundesliga players and coaches. Who do you think makes the most money per month? Coaches2. Kasper Hjulmand (Le...
Wall St futures slide as Trump signals tougher Iran strikes, oil jumps 6%
Futures tracking Wall Street's main indexes slid on Thursday as U.S. President Donald Trump signaled more aggressive attacks on Iran, dampening expectations for an end to the month-long war and sending crude prices up 6%.
Google's $20 per month AI Pro plan just got a big storage boost
Google's $20 per month AI Pro plan, which includes Gemini, Veo and Nano Banana, just got a big storage boost and some other new perks.
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science to reopen after monthslong revamp
The museum's $3.7 million renovation includes a new sewer line, fresh skylights and the latest in scientific knowledge.
Denmark’s unique political model is in crisis – I blame the boomerang effect
Voters rejected rule from the centre in last month’s election – but could end up with another centrist government, says Rune Lykkeberg, editor-in-chief of the Danish newspaper Information
NFL star Nacua enters rehab: US reports
Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua has checked himself into rehab, his attorney told US media Wednesday.Last month, a Jewish woman filed a lawsuit against Nacua alleging that he made an antisemitic statement and later bit her during a night out in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.
High gas and food prices won’t halt business for Fort Wayne food truck
FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – Between the rising cost of gas and food, a food truck in Fort Wayne is feeling the pinch. As the warmer months approach, the owners of the Paddywagon food truck won&…
Motorola Razr 70's colors leak
It's expected soon alongside the Razr 70 Ultra. The Motorola Razr 70's specs got outed by its TENAA certification in China earlier this month, and today a...