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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Education Department said Thursday it is opening a civil rights investigation into Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia over the admissions policy at an elite, selective high school.A change in the admissions policy introduced five years ago at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology led to the enrollment of more Black and Hispanic students and faced a court challenge from some parents. The plaintiffs argued it came at the expense of Asian American students, whose numbers at the school dropped. The investigation comes one day after the office of Virginia’s attorney general, Republican Jason…

Meta signed another big solar deal on Thursday, securing 650 megawatts across projects in Kansas and Texas. American utility and power generation company AES is currently developing the solar-only projects, with 400 megawatts to be deployed in Texas and 250 megawatts in Kansas, the company told TechCrunch. Meta said it signed the deal to power its data centers, which have been expanding to support its growing AI operations. The company already has more than 12 gigawatts of capacity in its renewable power portfolio. AES typically signs new power purchase agreements two to three years before they begin commercial operations, and…

During its inaugural developer conference Thursday, Anthropic launched two new AI models that the startup claims are among the industry’s best, at least in terms of how they score on popular benchmarks. Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, part of Anthropic’s new Claude 4 family of models, can analyze large datasets, execute long-horizon tasks, and take complex actions, according to the company. Both models were tuned to perform well on programming tasks, Anthropic says, making them well-suited for writing and editing code. Both paying users and users of the company’s free chatbot apps will get access to Sonnet 4…

Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestine protest leader targeted for deportation by the administration of US President Donald Trump, has sought to have the case against him thrown out in a consequential immigration hearing. Khali’s lawyers were set to present evidence they say shows “egregious government misconduct” surrounding his March 8 arrest during Thursday’s hearing in Louisiana. “When there are egregious violations, the case should be thrown out, and that’s what we’ve asked the immigration judge to do,” Mark Van Der Hout, a lawyer representing Khalil, told reporters the night before the proceedings. The violations in question, Van Der Hout said, include…

The team behind Vercel’s V0, an AI-powered platform for web creation, has developed an AI model it claims excels at certain website development tasks. Available through an API, the model, called “v0-1.0-md,” can be prompted with text or images, and was “optimized for front-end and full-stack web development,” the Vercel team says. Currently in beta, it requires a V0 Premium plan ($20 per month) or Team plan ($30 per user per month) with usage-based billing enabled. We’re releasing v0’s AI model:• Specialized web-dev knowledge• OpenAI-compatible API• Use in Cursor, Codex, or your own appNow in beta in the API, AI…

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives has passed the “Big, Beautiful Bill”, the sweeping tax and spending bill by a single vote. The legislation, which would enact much of President Donald Trump’s policy agenda, passed early Thursday morning after an overnight session. The bill, which is now headed to the Senate, will cut taxes, but also saddle the country with trillions of dollars more in debt. The bill would fulfil many of Trump’s populist campaign pledges, delivering new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boosting spending on the military and border enforcement. It will add about $3.8 trillion…

John Acunto, Cofounder & CEO of metaverse company Infinite Reality, which recently renamed itself Napster after acquiring the music sharing application for $207 millionSportsfile via Getty Images A Florida-based upstart called Infinite Reality held a private investors-only Zoom meeting on May 15, at which it told some of its 1,500 shareholders that it was rebranding itself as Napster Corporation, a nod to the peer-to-peer file sharing application cofounded in 1999 by Facebook’s first president and now billionaire Sean Parker. (He’s no longer affiliated with Napster.) The once-revolutionary app, which had some 75 million users at its peak, declared bankruptcy in…

Get ready to amplify your TechCrunch Sessions: AI experience with the electrifying lineup of Side Events taking Boston by storm during the week of June 1-7. As the countdown to TC Sessions: AI begins, we’re thrilled to share our Side Events lineup to foster meaningful connections within the vibrant Berkeley, California, tech community. Whether you’re a seasoned industry pro or a budding entrepreneur, our Side Events promise an unforgettable week filled with networking opportunities, innovation showcases, and engaging conversations. So mark your calendars, secure your spot, and dive into the excitement of Sessions: AI Week like never before! Quick Side Event disclaimers: Registering/RSVPing to a Side…

US President Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa during a meeting at the White House in Washington, DC on Wednesday when he claimed that a “genocide” against white Afrikaners is taking place in South Africa. This claim has been widely discredited. Here are some of the key moments from the meeting. Ramaphosa came bearing golfers and a book The South African leader appeared to have arrived at the Oval Office with hopes of mending a tricky relationship between the United States and South Africa. Trump started the meeting by referring to Ramaphosa as a man who is, “in…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration revoked Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students in its escalating battle with the Ivy League school, saying thousands of current students must transfer to other schools or leave the country.The Department of Homeland Security announced the action Thursday, saying Harvard has created an unsafe campus environment by allowing “anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators” to assault Jewish students on campus. It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese communist party, saying it hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024.“This means Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing…