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Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News : VC funding in physical AI companies totaled $47.4B across 521 deals in H1, up 80% from H1 2025, and more than the $41.9B invested from 2022 to 2024   —  Funding to physical AI companies is booming in 2026.  —  Venture investors appear to increasingly see physical AI as the next leg of the broader AI boom.

The mayor of a northern Massachusetts town went viral on social media in recent days after his lawyer told reporters the mayor doesn’t speak English when they pressed him about being arrested for COVID-19 pandemic relief fraud. Lawrence Mayor Brian DePeña, 61, was arrested Friday morning after an investigation into his alleged misuse of more than $1.5 million of Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), a program administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) under the CARES Act to assist struggling businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. "He doesn’t speak English. No comment," DePeña's lawyer said in the clip as DePeña repeatedly smiles and says, "God bless you," to the reporters. The clip of the exchange quickly spread on social media, prompting criticism from users wondering aloud why the mayor wouldn’t be able to answer questions in English. MASSACHUSETTS MAYOR CHARGED WITH WIRE FRAUD IN $1.5M COVID RELIEF SCHEME "OMG," conservative i...

Ina Fried / Axios : OpenAI says it has made several changes to its safety practices following the Hugging Face breach and has paused two weeks of deployment-focused RL training   —  OpenAI said Tuesday that it has made several changes to its safety practices following its determination that an upcoming system …

The Department of Homeland Security called out a "depraved freak" sex offender and illegal immigrant whom the agency said it recently deported after he abused his own daughter in Democrat-run Virginia Records from the Albemarle County Circuit Criminal Division show Mexican national Marcelo Vasquez Reyna was convicted in March after pleading guilty to a charge involving a parent violating a child between the ages of 15 and 17. The incident took place in 2018. He was sentenced to five years and six months in prison, with five years of the sentence suspended. Local outlet ABC 7 reported that Vasquez Reyna was arrested in March following his conviction. The outlet said he was also charged with attempted rape and abduction. In an X post, DHS wrote that "ICE has DEPORTED Marcelo Vasquez-Reyna, a depraved freak who sexually abused HIS OWN DAUGHTER." ICE NABS ILLEGAL ALIENS CONVICTED OF CHILD SEX CRIMES AND METH TRAFFICKING IN NATIONWIDE ENFORCEMENT SWEEP The agency adde...

Bloomberg : Sources: Stripe has finalized a deal to acquire AI model marketplace OpenRouter for more than $7B; OpenRouter was valued at $1.3B in May   —  Stripe Inc. has finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter Inc., a startup that helps companies switch between artificial intelligence models …

Social media is erupting over a viral video of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey showing off his awkward dance moves while attending the Black Entrepreneur State Fair, with the clip quickly spreading across X as users call the dance a "cringe" performance. The clip, posted on TikTok last week, shows Frey moving his hips and shoulders to hip-hop music while wearing sunglasses and interacting with an emcee on the dance floor , prompting a wave of mockery from conservative commentators. "Why are they always like this? This is almost worse than when he pretended the Somali food he was choking down his throat was delicious. He’s a walking humiliation ritual," said conservative commentator Benny Johnson . "What an embarrassment," said one user. SOCIAL MEDIA ERUPTS WITH MOCKERY AS DEM SENATE CANDIDATE'S PEP TALK GOES VIRAL: 'IS THIS FOR REAL?' "I’d honestly prefer that he defund the police," joked commentator Emily Jashinsky . "One of the wo...