Meta AI, Rex Heuermann, & Beetle Prank

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Adam Rogers
April 09, 2026

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Meta launched Muse Spark yesterday, its first AI model since Mark Zuckerberg overhauled the company's artificial intelligence program after Llama 4 failed to meet expectations in 2025. The model now powers the Meta AI app and website in the US. It will roll out to WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger, and Meta's camera glasses in the coming weeks, reaching more than 3 billion users across its platforms.
Muse Spark supports both text and image input and offers two modes: a faster "Instant" option and a more thorough "Thinking" mode. Meta is pushing the model's health capabilities, saying it can answer complex medical questions and analyze images and charts, a controversial space given concerns about AI handling sensitive health data.
Muse Spark is the first in Meta's new Muse series, with larger models in development and open-source versions planned.

Rex Heuermann, a 62-year-old Manhattan architect, pleaded guilty to eight murders in the Gilgo Beach serial killing case — a case that went unsolved for nearly two decades on Long Island. Heuermann also admitted to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, who disappeared in 1996 and had not been part of his original charges.
The Gilgo Beach case began in 2010 when police searching for a missing woman stumbled onto the remains of four women along a remote stretch of Long Island highway. The discovery triggered a wider search, uncovering remains of women who had vanished as far back as 1993.
The key break came in 2023 when DNA from a pizza crust Heuermann discarded matched a hair found at the crime scene. He was arrested outside his Manhattan office that July. Sentencing is set for June 17, with prosecutors recommending three consecutive life sentences plus four 25-year-to-life terms.

Democrat Chris Taylor won a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court Tuesday, expanding liberals' majority to 5-2 and locking up control of the state's highest court until at least 2030. Taylor, a state appeals court judge and former Democratic legislator, defeated conservative Maria Lazar by more than 20 points — a 21-point swing from Wisconsin's 2024 presidential result.
Liberal candidates have now won four straight Wisconsin Supreme Court elections. The court has already reshaped Wisconsin politics, overturning gerrymandered legislative maps in 2024 and striking down the state's 1849 near-total abortion ban last year. Democrats are now eyeing lawsuits over Wisconsin's congressional map, where Republicans hold six of eight House seats.
Tuesday's race drew just $6.5 million in spending compared to $85 million last year, yet Democrats won by a wider margin. Another conservative seat opens in 2027, giving liberals a chance to push the majority to 6-1.

President Trump threatened a 50% tariff on any country that supplies weapons to Iran, effective immediately with no exceptions. (More)

March 2026 was the hottest March ever recorded in the US, topping the long-term average by more than 9 degrees, with 10 states setting all-time March temperature records. (More)

A Cape Air flight from Nantucket turned back after part of the cabin door opened mid-flight. No one was hurt, and the plane has been grounded for inspection. (More)

Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz yesterday after Israeli strikes on Lebanon killed at least 112 people, threatening to collapse the fragile US-Iran ceasefire announced earlier the same day. (More)

Russia's GRU-backed Fancy Bear hacking group ran a large-scale campaign stealing passwords and emails by compromising poorly protected Wi-Fi routers across governments in at least nine countries, the FBI said. (More)

North Korea fired multiple ballistic missiles toward the sea, its second launch in two days, hours after a senior official dismissed South Korea's calls for improved relations. (More)

US stock markets closed higher on Wednesday (S&P +2.51%, Nasdaq +2.80%, Dow +2.85%) after President Trump agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran. (More)

Disney plans to cut about 1,000 jobs in the coming weeks, with marketing among the hardest-hit departments. (More)

Bank of America raised its 2026 global semiconductor revenue forecast to $1.3 trillion, up $300 billion from four months ago, projecting the industry will hit $2 trillion by 2030 driven largely by AI demand. (More)

A woman known as the "Ketamine Queen" was sentenced to 15 years in prison for supplying the drug that killed actor Matthew Perry in October 2023. (More)

The Masters tees off today with defending champion Rory McIlroy, world number one Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, and Jon Rahm among the top contenders at Augusta National. (More)

The Pittsburgh Pirates signed 19-year-old shortstop Konnor Griffin to a nine-year, $140 million extension, the largest in franchise history, just days after his major league debut. (More)

MIT researchers used an AI tool to identify nearly 3,000 previously unknown proteins that protect bacteria from viral attacks, a task that traditionally takes months but now takes minutes. (More)

A 300-million-year-old fossil long celebrated as the world's oldest octopus is actually a nautilus relative, meaning octopuses likely emerged far more recently, during the Jurassic period, roughly 150 million years ago. (More)

Researchers are making progress against KRAS, a protein behind some of the deadliest cancers, with new drugs that degrade it entirely rather than just block it, though a cure likely requires combining treatments. (More)

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