Author: News

CDC blocks Covid ‘vaccine’ study publication amid methodology dispute…

WASHINGTON — The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention blocked publication of a study showing COVID-19 vaccines reduced severe illness by about half last winter, citing methodology concerns that have divided public health experts and sparked accusations of political interference.
Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya delayed publication of a March 2026 study showing COVID-19 vaccines reduced hospitalization risk by 55% for healthy adults.

Mamdani boasts of savings in $124.7B NYC budget plan — that’ll nickel-and-dime New Yorkers with hidden fee hikes…

Mayor Zohran Mamdani officially rolled out his $124.7 billion spending plan Tuesday as he patted himself on the back for closing a so-called multibillion-dollar budget gap with short-term fixes — but included a menu of hidden fee hikes.
Fiscal watchdogs poked holes in Hizzoner’s cheers that his first-ever budget was “evidence of a new era of government in our city” as his administration touted numerous ways the city would hold onto $1.7 billion over the next two years.

Biden FBI Secretly Set Up Trump to Be Indicted After He Leaves Office, Arctic Frost Memos Suggest

In the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, FBI agents tied to Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation memorialized anew their belief that President Donald Trump broke the law in contesting the 2020 election and secretly arranged to preserve their evidence until 2030 in memos that raise alarm they could revive their prosecution after Trump leaves office.
The FBI memos and emails closing out the controversial Arctic Frost investigation – obtained by Just the News – show the bureau chose not to relinquish the evidence it gathered after Smith went to court to dismiss charges against Trump, even though that is the normal practice for agents. Instead, they created a preservation order keeping the evidence in FBI custody for two years after Trump’s second term ends, claiming it was necessary to do so because of ongoing litigation, the memos show.

Tennessee Legislature Strips All Democrats of Committee Assignments After Redistricting Protests

The move followed days of disruptive protests during a special session to redistrict congressional maps.

House Subcommittee Holds Hearing on Sharia Law and the US Constitution: Part II

The House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government holds a second hearing on sharia law and the U.S. Constitution at 10 a.m. ET on May 13.

76,000 students vanish from Texas public schools in one year…

Charter enrollment has grown significantly in recent years, even as traditional public schools lost students, according to a 2025 report by the Texas A&M University Private Enterprise Research Center.
In many counties with growing populations, traditional independent school districts (ISDs) still saw enrollment declines.

Stop Chrome Browser From Downloading a Hidden 4GB AI File

If your Mac’s storage has been mysteriously shrinking recently and you use Google Chrome, you may have already identified the culprit. The browser has been downloading a 4GB AI model file onto computers without explicit user consent. Here’s how to reclaim the space.

The file in question is called "weights.bin," which powers Google’s on-device Gemini Nano AI model – the engine behind Chrome features like scam detection, autofill suggestions, and the "Help Me Write" tool. Local models tend to be pretty big storage-wise, and this one is no different. The problem is that Google hasn’t clearly signposted the fact that it’s eating 4GB of your drive with training data.

The issue only recently came to light thanks to security researcher Alexander Hanff, who noticed that Chrome installs the model on any device meeting the minimum hardware requirements, only without prompting you whether you’d like it there in the first place.

How to Check if the File Is on Your Mac

The first thing to do is confirm that the model is actually taking up space on your machine. While there’s no clear answer in Google’s release notes, recent reports suggest that the file started appearing after updating to Chrome version 148.0.7778.97. Here’s how you can find out if your computer was affected:

Open Finder, then click Go in the menu bar.

Hold the Option key and click Library in the dropdown menu.

Open Application Support ➝ Google ➝ Chrome ➝ Default.

Look for a folder named "OptGuideOnDeviceModel."

If the folder exists and contains a file called weights.bin, the model is installed. You can right-click the file and choose Get Info to confirm its size. If the folder isn’t there, you can relax – Chrome hasn’t downloaded the model to your Mac.

How to Remove the 4GB File for Good

Simply deleting weights.bin from Chrome’s library folder isn’t a long-term solution because Chrome will likely quietly re-download it the next time you launch the browser. To make the removal permanent, you need to disable Chrome’s on-device AI features.

Open Chrome.

Click the three-dot menu in the top-right corner, then choose Settings.

In the left sidebar, click System.

Toggle off On-device AI.

Once this setting is switched off, Chrome will remove the model and should stop downloading it in future updates. Remember that deleting the model will also disable any Chrome features that rely on it.

If you don’t see the toggle in Chrome’s Settings, it likely hasn’t propagated to your computer yet. In that case, type chrome://flags into Chrome’s address bar and disable any AI-related flags you see, then delete the weights.bin file manually in Finder. If after that you’re still concerned about the lack of consent, it might be worth switching to a different browser.Tag: Chrome

This article, "Stop Chrome Browser From Downloading a Hidden 4GB AI File" first appeared on MacRumors.com

Discuss this article in our forums

Illinois Sued Over Allegedly Using Race as a Factor in Congressional Map

The lawsuit comes after a recent Supreme Court decision that found using race as a factor in drawing districts unconstitutional.