A grassroots coalition, Hampshire Next, has secured $2 million in pledges from 1,400 donors to purchase the 800-acre Hampshire College campus in Amherst. The group aims to create an "educational village" for interdisciplinary learning after the college closes at year's end, competing with two other proposals for the site.
An investigation is active in Aiken County after a man's body was discovered in a drainage ditch along Jefferson Davis Highway in North Augusta. Authorities have identified the victim but are withholding his name pending family notification, with an autopsy scheduled in Newberry to determine the cause of death.
A major crash on the Garden State Parkway in Lacey Township, New Jersey, has resulted in one fatality and eight injuries. The incident, described as a mass-casualty event, led to the closure of northbound lanes for an extended period, causing significant traffic delays in Ocean County.
OpenAI is preparing to enter the hardware market with a premium, doughnut-shaped smart speaker priced between $300 and $400, developed in partnership with legendary designer Jony Ive. The battery-powered, screenless device is designed to be a proactive AI companion with moving parts to convey "personality," a camera to perceive its environment, and a targeted 2027 release, though it faces a legal hurdle from Apple over alleged trade secret theft.