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I thought I'd always use Chrome, until I tried this lightweight alternative

Everything feels faster on this minimal browser

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Apr 4 • 8:30 AM EDT • Technology • androidpolice.com
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

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Apr 4 • 8:03 AM EDT • Entertainment • shatterthestandards.com
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These women had their breasts removed to thwart cancer. Then came the pain.

Post-mastectomy pain syndrome, or PMPS, is estimated to afflict tens of thousands of U.S. women each year. It is not well understood.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • usatoday.com
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A retired grandpa thought he was in good health — until he fainted during a bike ride

John Cantrell was enjoying his retirement until an unexpected condition forced him to choose between two kinds of heart surgery.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • cbsnews.com
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Trump Slashed Funding for Science. Now the U.S. Faces a Costly Brain Drain.

The White House’s attacks on academia and budget cuts for research have provided an opening for other countries to poach leading scientists.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • nytimes.com
Scientists discover hidden gut signals that could detect cancer early

A new study reveals that gut bacteria and metabolites may hold the key to detecting serious digestive diseases earlier and more easily. Using AI, scientists found that biomarkers linked to one condition can often predict others, showing these diseases are more interconnected than previously thought. This cross-disease insight could lead to faster diagnoses without invasive procedures.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
A massive arctic thaw is unleashing carbon frozen for thousands of years

A sweeping new study reveals that as Arctic permafrost thaws, it is dramatically reshaping rivers and releasing vast amounts of ancient carbon that had been locked away for thousands of years. By analyzing decades of high-resolution data across northern Alaska, scientists found that runoff is increasing, rivers are carrying more dissolved carbon, and the thawing season is stretching further into the fall. This carbon eventually reaches the ocean, where some of it turns into carbon dioxide, intensifying global warming.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Tom Pohlad to lead Twins business operations throughout 2026 season

Twins owner Tom Pohlad initially considered hiring a president of business operations after Derek Falvey resigned in January.

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Apr 4 • 8:00 AM EDT • Business • startribune.com
Fossils from China show complex life evolved millions of years earlier than once thought

Newfound fossils from China suggest that complex animals were around millions of years earlier than thought, among them possibly our vertebrate ancestors.

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Apr 4 • 7:30 AM EDT • Science • cnn.com
5 Passive Income Business Ideas That Require Less Than $1,500 to Start

No matter your skillset, there are several passive income business ideas you can start without a major financial commitment upfront.

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Apr 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • inc.com
Democrats rebounding without learning necessary lessons

“When we fight, we win!” That, reportedly, was the chant heard over and over again at the Colorado Democratic Assembly a week ago. It suggests that pugilism has been the piece missing from the Democratic toolkit. Perhaps it was just me, but I seem to recall Democrats exhibiting plenty of fight back in 2024. The […]

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Apr 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • coloradopolitics.com
RFK Jr. launches midterm travel push to shore up ‘MAHA’ support

The Trump White House counts RFK Jr. as a top surrogate – but he comes with downsides, too.

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Apr 4 • 7:00 AM EDT • Politics • politico.com
This $8 Harbor Freight Gadget Should Be The First Thing You Pack For Hotel Stays

There are certain things you shouldn't leave home without when going on a trip. For under $10, bringing this Harbor Freight gadget is a no-brainer.

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Apr 4 • 6:45 AM EDT • Technology • slashgear.com
House Democrats to hold California 'shadow hearings' on midterm election security

House Democrats will hold informal hearings in California on midterm election security, following multiple threats of intervention in state-run voting by the Trump administration.

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Apr 4 • 6:00 AM EDT • Politics • latimes.com
Meta, Block rebrand some managers as 'org leads' and 'player-coaches'

As AI reshapes how work gets done, Meta and Block are doling out new job titles without the word 'manager.'

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Apr 4 • 5:48 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
What it's like flying Southwest after all the changes; A-List helped

I hit the spending threshhold on my Chase Reserve card in 2025 to secure free A-List status on Southwest. Now, I wouldn't fly the airline without it.

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Apr 4 • 5:11 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Are allergies genetic?

Although babies born from parents with allergies are also more likely to have them, there are a number of outside factors that affect whether and how someone develops allergies.

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Apr 4 • 5:00 AM EDT • Science • livescience.com
LinkedIn Hidden Code Secretly Searches Your Browser for Installed Extensions

Every time you open LinkedIn in a Chrome-based browser, hidden JavaScript silently scans your computer for installed software without your knowledge, without your consent, and without a single word in LinkedIn's privacy policy.

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Apr 4 • 12:15 AM EDT • Technology • cybersecuritynews.com
Utah Jazz vs Houston Rockets recap and final score

The Utah Jazz and Houston Rockets played and we will now forget it happened

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Apr 3 • 11:32 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Laie business seeks community help after flood damages thousands of pairs of slippers

J-Slips Hawaii faces heavy losses from Kona Low flooding and calls on volunteers to help clean and restore affected inventory.

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Apr 3 • 11:08 PM EDT • Business • hawaiinewsnow.com
Rockets Take Care of Business vs The Jazz: Three Takeaways

The Houston Rockets got the job done at home over the Utah Jazz as they continue to build momentum.

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Apr 3 • 10:35 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Three ripple effects of Luka Dončić's injury: Lakers have lingering questions as playoff picture muddies

Luka Dončić is unlikely to play again this season unless the Lakers can make a deep playoff run without him

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Apr 3 • 10:35 PM EDT • Sports • cbssports.com
Arts and entertainment throughout the region

A listing of arts and entertainment events throughout the region.

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Apr 3 • 10:00 PM EDT • Entertainment • timesnews.net
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Trump Contemplates Other Cabinet Changes as He Faces Political Clock

With the midterms approaching, the president may be running out of time to get new cabinet members confirmed without bipartisan support.

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Apr 3 • 9:03 PM EDT • Politics • nytimes.com
President Trump signs executive order intended to stabilize college sports

In the order signed hours before the women's Final Four tipped off one of the biggest weekends in college sports, President Donald Trump went after eligibility rules, transfers and the spiraling costs associated with an industry that now pays its players millions of dollars per year.

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Apr 3 • 8:47 PM EDT • Sports • wral.com
Game room owner says she thought business was legal following BCSO raid

Carrie Gutierrez said she was transparent from the start about her business, and said she believed it was a legal operation.

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Apr 3 • 8:24 PM EDT • Business • ksat.com
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These overlooked brain cells may control fear and PTSD

Astrocytes, once thought to be mere brain “support cells,” are now revealed to be key players in fear memory. Researchers found they actively help form, recall, and weaken fear responses by interacting with neurons in real time. Changing astrocyte activity directly altered how strong fear memories became. This breakthrough could lead to entirely new treatments for anxiety-related disorders.

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Apr 3 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Meteor impacts may have sparked life on Earth, scientists say

Asteroid impacts may have helped kick-start life on Earth by creating hot, chemical-rich environments ideal for early biology. These impact-generated hydrothermal systems could have lasted thousands of years—long enough for life’s building blocks to form. Scientists now think these environments may have been common on early Earth, making them a strong candidate for where life began. The idea could also guide the search for life on other worlds.

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Apr 3 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Mangat Group bets $250M on West Valley small business spaces

A developer plans to invest $250 million in small industrial units, targeting small business squeezed out by large warehouses.

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Apr 3 • 7:47 PM EDT • Business • ktar.com
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Houston East End underpass floods again, drivers stranded and businesses impacted

A flood-prone underpass in Houston’s East End is once again causing problems for drivers and businesses, with neighbors saying even light rain can make the road impassable.

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Apr 3 • 6:33 PM EDT • Business • click2houston.com
Danville to expand two-hour parking limits in River District; businesses raise concerns

Parking in Danville’s River District will soon come with a time limit as the city expands two-hour parking rules.

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Apr 3 • 6:08 PM EDT • Business • wset.com
Hoosiers identifying as Christian nationalists increasing ahead of primary election

As early voting begins in Indiana’s primary election, new survey data shows support for Christian nationalism is not just holding steady—it is growing in the state.

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Apr 3 • 6:00 PM EDT • Politics • thestatehousefile.com
Trump's budget singles out L.A. homelessness agency as he proposes housing cuts

Trump’s proposed budget attacks L.A.'s homelessness agency in push to eliminate a federal program that funds housing and services for homeless Americans.

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Apr 3 • 5:47 PM EDT • Politics • latimes.com
Scientists Have Made French Fry Breakthrough

Researchers have developed a method of making french fries that results in a healthier bite without sacrificing crispiness.

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Apr 3 • 5:23 PM EDT • Science • wired.com
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Kids, Competition & Pressure: Keeping Sports Fun

How can parents help their children enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmed?

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Apr 3 • 5:02 PM EDT • Sports • wnem.com
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Katherine Schwarzenegger sparks backlash with Chris Pratt dollhouse video

Katherine Schwarzenegger posted a video of husband Chris Pratt building a dollhouse for their daughters. Then the comments rolled in.

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Apr 3 • 4:57 PM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
DI Sports picks | No. 3 Illinois’ Final Four matchup with No. 2 UConn

The waiting game is coming to an end for No. 3 Illinois as it prepares for its first Final Four appearance in 21 years on Saturday in a revenge game against No. 2 UConn. After two physical, hard-fought wins last week over the No. 2 Houston Cougars and the No. 9 Iowa Hawkeyes, the expectations...

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Apr 3 • 4:45 PM EDT • Sports • dailyillini.com
NFL execs have ‘conflicting’ thoughts on 49ers offseason

How did others around the NFL view the 49ers offseason?

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Apr 3 • 4:06 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Georgia lawmakers fail to settle voting machines conflict before end of annual session

The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without a plan for new equipment to overhaul the state's voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground.

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Apr 3 • 3:58 PM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Trump gives rare praise to persistent GOP foe after White House ballroom vote

Trump gives a special shout out to Sen. Rand Paul after the fiscal hawk votes yes on plans for the estimated $400 million White House ballroom project.

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Apr 3 • 3:47 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
How Abdukodir Khusanov Became Man City's New Fan Favorite

Hours after Manchester City's Carabao Cup final win over Arsenal, fans began to praise "absolute beast" Abdukodir Khusanov as a new fan favorite.

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Apr 3 • 3:29 PM EDT • Sports • foxsports.com
Cuba begins releasing prisoners under scrutiny of rights groups, U.S. govt

Cuba began releasing prisoners from its jails on Friday just hours after its communist-run government announced a sweeping amnesty coinciding with the most intense pressure campaign applied by the U.S.

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Apr 3 • 3:27 PM EDT • Politics • unionleader.com
Pritzker calls on Trump officials to testify over ICE crackdown, White House blasts move as ‘political stunt’

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker calls on Trump administration officials to testify before his commission targeting ICE enforcement operations in the state.

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Apr 3 • 3:09 PM EDT • Politics • foxnews.com
Las Vegas entertainment icon stages backyard production

Mac King and several comedy-magic friends put on a whopper of a show at his house.

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Apr 3 • 3:05 PM EDT • Entertainment • neon.reviewjournal.com
Idaho Democratic leaders say Republican-led cuts are an ‘unbelievable mess’

Senate and House minority leaders railed against their Republican colleagues at a news conference following the end of the legislative session.

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Apr 3 • 2:30 PM EDT • Politics • idahostatesman.com
New research suggests the microplastics health risk may not be as bad as we thought

However, that's definitely not to say microplastics aren't still a big problem, study authors warn.

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Apr 3 • 2:00 PM EDT • Health • fastcompany.com
Kremmling candidates talk election, redesigning trails at ‘pizza and politics’ mixer

Kremmling voters are getting ready to elect their new trustees and mayor by April 7. The Kremmling Chamber welcomed the candidates at their March 30 Pizza and Politics Mixer. The event, held at Kremmling House...

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Apr 3 • 2:00 PM EDT • Politics • skyhinews.com
Moon-bound Artemis II astronauts get help for Microsoft Outlook glitch

A day into their historic 10-day journey around the moon, astronauts told Houston they had a problem: They couldn’t open their email.

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Apr 3 • 1:59 PM EDT • Technology • seattletimes.com
Former U.S. ambassador speaks about Iran at UMaine

Nicholas Burns, who served as ambassador to China, NATO and Greece, shared his thoughts on the Trump presidency, U.S. relations with China and the war in Iran: “When you conduct a war, the whole reputation and future of the country is on the line."

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Apr 3 • 1:52 PM EDT • Politics • spectrumlocalnews.com
NIH would get $5 billion cut under Trump’s 2027 budget, but Congress unlikely to go along

The White House is asking Congress to cut $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health and downsize the number of institutes and centers from 27 to 22

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Apr 3 • 1:50 PM EDT • Health • statnews.com
Cavaliers Deep Dive, Lakers Lose Luka + Sky Trade Thoughts
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Apr 3 • 1:48 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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Warhammer 40K: Apocalypse Rules Aim To Make Playing Big Games Easier

Getting all your miniature on the tabletop is tough enough. Now 40k Apocalypse rules should help speed up the fun of actually playing!

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Apr 3 • 1:35 PM EDT • Technology • belloflostsouls.net
Democrats see Georgia's failure to curb data centers as an electoral gift

Georgia lawmakers have ended their legislative session without addressing concerns over data centers

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Apr 3 • 1:31 PM EDT • Politics • washingtonpost.com
Cowboys should target this high speed edge rusher

Who is your favorite edge rush prospect to wind up with the Cowboys?

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Apr 3 • 1:00 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
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:

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Apr 3 • 12:57 PM EDT • Technology • interconnects.ai
White House proposes 23% cut to NASA budget, slashing science funding and prioritizing moon missions

The White House is proposing $18.8 billion for NASA's fiscal year 2027 budget, reducing science funding while prioritizing moon missions.

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Apr 3 • 12:51 PM EDT • Science • yahoo.com
Trump Budget Seeks to Fund NASA’s Lunar Base, Cut Total Spending

The White House is once again asking Congress to cut NASA’s science budget nearly in half, mimicking an effort last year that was rejected by lawmakers.

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Apr 3 • 12:07 PM EDT • Science • bloomberg.com
Do your kids play sports? Here’s how to keep it fun and stress free

The American Academy of Pediatrics reports 40% to 50% of youth athletes feel stressed by sports-related expectations. So how can parents help their children enjoy the game without feeling overwhelmed?

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Apr 3 • 11:59 AM EDT • Sports • news4jax.com
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White House proposes 12% cut to federal health agencies in 2027 budget request

Congress largely ignored President Trump's previous budget proposal, instead boosting federal health spending.

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Apr 3 • 11:35 AM EDT • Health • statnews.com
Trying Amtrak's business class on long ride; not worth it every time

My eight-hour ride in Amtrak's business class on the Pennsylvanian to New York City had perks, but the upgrade didn't feel so different from coach.

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Apr 3 • 11:25 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
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‘Marathon’ Players Are Furious About A Broken Endgame Weapon

In Marathon weapon balance is key given how one unbalanced gun results in not just lost rounds, but tens of thousands of dollars of forever lost loot.

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Apr 3 • 10:51 AM EDT • Technology • forbes.com
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 […]

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Apr 3 • 10:10 AM EDT • Business • maconbibb.us
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Packers warn possible changes to Sports Broadcasting Act pose ‘existential threat’ to team

The Sports Broadcasting Act of 1961 allows professional sports leagues like the NFL to negotiate broadcast deals collectively. However, a review of the law by the House Judiciary Committee could bring changes.

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Apr 3 • 9:49 AM EDT • Sports • uppermichiganssource.com
White House seeks massive increase in defense spending with $1.5 trillion ask in new budget request

The White House is seeking roughly $1.5 trillion for defense as part of a fiscal 2027 budget request – a proposal that would boost military spending to its highest point in modern history as the Trump administration wages its war with Iran.

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Apr 3 • 9:39 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Trump calls for a major increase in defense spending alongside cuts in domestic spending

The White House is releasing details of President Donald Trump’s 2027 budget, including a $1.5 trillion defense spending request. That's the largest of its kind in decades.

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Apr 3 • 9:16 AM EDT • Politics • pbs.org
Even Astronauts Need IT Help. Artemis II Faces Microsoft Outlook Login Issues

Commander Reid Wiseman had two Microsoft Outlook accounts on his personal computer, and neither were working. Houston Mission Control stepped in to fix the issue remotely.

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Apr 3 • 8:57 AM EDT • Technology • pcmag.com
Microsoft releases new AI models: competition with OpenAI ramps up

Microsoft AI has made its in-house models for transcription, speech recognition, and image generation available on Foundry.

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Apr 3 • 8:39 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Italian football must change

No miraculous cure-all, no controversial VAR decision, no scapegoat or savior of the nation pulled out of a hat should distract too much attention: the reforms Italian football has been waiting for fo...

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Apr 3 • 8:22 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
GameStop Thought Buying Games Online Was A 'Passing Phase'

In a GDC talk, Impulse creator Larry Kuperman explained how the retail chain bet the farm on brick and mortar

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Apr 3 • 8:14 AM EDT • Technology • kotaku.com
What is the skinny budget and what does it mean for NASA?

The White House Office of Management and Budget has released its budget for fiscal year 2027. Here's what it includes, and what it means for NASA.

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Apr 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • planetary.org
Ranking Member Lofgren Blasts Trump Budget Request

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology

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Apr 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Science • democrats-science.house.gov
WHO’s head of emergencies reaffirms support to Lebanon’s health system amid escalating needs

Lebanon’s health system continues to function despite the mounting pressures of conflict, displacement and repeated attacks on health care – but without urgent action and sustained international support, access to essential health services is increasingly at risk.

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Apr 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • who.int
‘We watched them die before our eyes’: Sudan health workers helpless amid medical shortages

As violence forces tens of thousands to flee Sudan’s South Kordofan state, doctors in a key maternity hospital are facing impossible choices – with too few supplies, too many patients, and lives slipping away.

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Apr 3 • 8:00 AM EDT • Health • news.un.org
How to Run a Business in a High-Tax State (Without Giving All Your Money to the Government)

Death and taxes are inevitable. We can help you with the second part.

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Apr 3 • 7:00 AM EDT • Business • inc.com
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.

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Apr 3 • 6:01 AM EDT • Health • civilbeat.org
'Saints will give Arsenal a right go in FA Cup'

Southampton fan writer Glen de la Cour gives his thoughts on the Arsenal game on Saturday when Saints host the Gunners in the FA Cup.

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Apr 3 • 5:27 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Here's where ICE is buying up warehouses to make detention centers

ICE is snapping up real estate in a push to streamline its mass deportation efforts.

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Apr 3 • 5:21 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Clock is ticking on law's billable hour, says Cleary Gottlieb lawyer

For decades, elite corporate law firms have relied on the billable hour to fuel profits. Can the model survive the age of AI?

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Apr 3 • 5:00 AM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Johnson said Wembanyama’s sore ankle, though minor, is …

Johnson said Wembanyama’s sore ankle, though minor, is …

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Apr 3 • 3:59 AM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Georgia Lawmakers End Annual Session Without Settling Conflict on Voting Machines

ATLANTA (AP) — The Georgia General Assembly ended its annual session early Friday without a plan for new equipment to overhaul the state's voting system by a July deadline, plunging into doubt the future of elections in the political battleground. The lawmakers' failure to offer a solution after ...

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Apr 3 • 3:57 AM EDT • Politics • usnews.com
Toddler talk: How to criticize adults without destroying them

A 2-year-old’s critique during a car ride leads to a new approach to talks with the next generation.

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Apr 3 • 3:00 AM EDT • Business • farmprogress.com
The nation’s cartoonists on the week in politics

Every week political cartoonists throughout the country and across the political spectrum apply their ink-stained skills to capture the foibles, memes, hypocrisies and other head-slapping events in the world of politics. The fruits of these labors are hundreds of cartoons that entertain and enrage readers of all political stripes. Here's an offering of the best of this week's crop, picked fresh off the Toonosphere. Edited by Matt Wuerker.

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Apr 3 • 1:00 AM EDT • Politics • politico.com
Jim Bob Duggar scolds son Joseph for ‘terrible decisions’ in jailhouse email: ‘Pray that God would have mercy on you’

'19 Kids and Counting' star Jim Bob Duggar had some advice for Joseph, his second son to be charged with a sexual crime related to children: "You have made some terrible decisions, but God has already forgiven you if you have asked him.'

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Apr 3 • 12:48 AM EDT • Entertainment • ew.com
Todd Blanche takes over the Justice Department, where there’s no escaping the Epstein files shadow

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who President Donald Trump tapped Thursday to serve as the interim head of the Justice Department, managed the day-to-day operations of the department over the past year, often taking a more public-facing role when Pam Bondi was in hot water with White House officials.

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Apr 3 • 12:01 AM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
Public higher education is the people’s business

Transparency and accountability have long been the hallmarks of government and should be of the state’s flagship university as well.

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Apr 3 • 12:01 AM EDT • Business • ctmirror.org
How the Chattanooga INCubator became a powerhouse for small business growth and innovation

In 2025, the Chattanooga Chamber's INCubator program solidified its role as one of the Chattanooga region's most powerful engines for small business growth, innovation, and economic resilience. As a flagship program of the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce and manager of the 127,000-square-foot Hamilton County Business Development Center, the INCubator exists for one clear purpose: to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses, create jobs, and strengthen the economic heartbeat of the region. The programs progress in 2025 demonstrated that mission in action -- through expanded programming, deeper engagement, and measurable impact across the local entrepreneurial ecosystem.

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Apr 3 • 12:00 AM EDT • Business • timesfreepress.com
Spoiler Alert! Devils Rout Caps Behind Bratt, Hughes

Look at the Devils delivering maximum damage to a pair of Metropolitan Division rivals this week, although in very different ways. First, on Tuesday, they rolled over and played dead for a hapless Rangers team that got two points that won’t help them in their race to the bottom for Gavin McKenna. Forty-eight hours later […]

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Apr 2 • 11:49 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
Artemis II astronauts had problems opening Microsoft Outlook

Artemis II zoomed past Earth's atmosphere without a hitch. Then came the real challenge: opening Microsoft Outlook.

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Apr 2 • 11:40 PM EDT • Technology • businessinsider.com
Artemis II astronauts had problems opening Microsoft Outlook

Artemis II zoomed past Earth's atmosphere without a hitch. Then came the real challenge: opening Microsoft Outlook.

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Apr 2 • 11:40 PM EDT • Business • businessinsider.com
Virginia Tech football: James Franklin acknowledges chip on shoulder

Yes, James Franklin is motivated.

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Apr 2 • 11:33 PM EDT • Sports • sports.yahoo.com
John Elberling, combative S.F. nonprofit housing leader and political power player, dies at 79

The nonprofit leader helped preserve affordable housing in South of Market and shaped San Francisco politics for decades.

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Apr 2 • 10:44 PM EDT • Politics • missionlocal.org
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City of Gadsden breaks ground on Phase 5 of improving Gadsden Sports Park

Gadsden Mayor Craig Ford says he grew up in the neighborhood and is proud to see the facility where it is today.

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Apr 2 • 10:29 PM EDT • Sports • wbrc.com
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‘I Think It’s Time’: The Inside Story of Pam Bondi’s Ouster

The attorney general was always on the ropes but thought she was finally on safer footing. She wasn’t.

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Apr 2 • 9:00 PM EDT • Politics • wsj.com
This tiny claw in a 500-million-year-old fossil just rewrote the origin of spiders

What started as routine fossil cleaning turned into a major scientific surprise when researchers uncovered a tiny claw in a 500-million-year-old specimen where no claw should exist. That detail revealed Megachelicerax cousteaui, the oldest known relative of spiders, pushing the origins of this group back by 20 million years. The fossil shows that key features of modern spiders and horseshoe crabs were already emerging during the Cambrian Explosion.

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Apr 2 • 8:00 PM EDT • Science • sciencedaily.com
Thieves take more than $100K worth of equipment at bizarre business break-in, HPD says

Houston police say they are searching for suspects after a group of thieves broke into a construction services company overnight and made off with multiple pieces of heavy equipment.

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Apr 2 • 7:40 PM EDT • Business • abc13.com
😐 Neutral (14%)
Rockets showing progress on ball control with Jazz up next

Down the stretch on Wednesday, when it became obvious that the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks refused to roll over, the Houston Rockets faced a defensive tactic that'd previously given them fits.

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Apr 2 • 7:34 PM EDT • Sports • cbssports.com
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Exclusive: US intelligence assesses Iran maintains significant missile launching capability, sources say

Roughly half of Iran’s missile launchers are still intact and thousands of one-way attack drones remain in Iran’s arsenal despite the daily pounding by US and Israeli strikes against military targets over the past five weeks, according to recent US intelligence assessments, three sources familiar with the intel told CNN.

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Apr 2 • 7:16 PM EDT • Politics • cnn.com
The Raspberry Pi 4 With 3 GB RAM Is No Joke

Although easily dismissed by some as another cruel April Fools joke, Raspberry Pi’s announcement of a new 3 GB model of the Raspberry Pi 4 along with (more) price increases for other models w…

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Apr 2 • 7:00 PM EDT • Technology • hackaday.com
Gov. Josh Stein tours ECU Health’s new 150-bed behavioral health hospital

Governor Josh Stein toured ECU Health’s new Behavioral Health Hospital in Greenville today.Built back in December, this new state-of-the-art facility houses nea

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Apr 2 • 6:44 PM EDT • Health • wcti12.com
Mass. Senate proposes $1M to revive cannabis health awareness effort

Funding would restart a long-mandated public education campaign, though it remains below requests and is not yet guaranteed.

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Apr 2 • 6:30 PM EDT • Health • wcvb.com
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