"More governors are shifting their stances or taking more steps to squeeze data centers as the midterm elections near and public opinion sours on the energy-hungry behemoths that tech giants and developers are building to fuel artificial intelligence products and cloud computing. The backlash to the massive server warehouses is enveloping races for governor in some of the nation’s biggest states and presidential battlegrounds."

"Prolonged heatwaves are turning summers into deadly heat traps, with the very young and the elderly hit the hardest." "Prolonged heatwaves pushed death tolls to new levels this year in Maryland, which recorded its highest number of heat-related deaths with more than a month left of summer."

"The data center capital of the world is shifting more transmission costs onto the energy-hungry sector." "The decision is expected to shift hundreds of millions of dollars in transmission costs away from the public."

"Trump has lashed out at U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she dropped vandalism cases and blamed damage at the pool on rushed and flawed work by a contractor."

"Democrats are reacting to the Justice Department’s move to drop its Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool vandalism case against Olympian David Hearn, saying the move validated their longstanding criticism that the administration is weaponizing the Justice Department."

"Round-the-clock disruptions drive a Central Virginia man to file a lawsuit against the tech giant as it seeks to build its latest digital warehouse in the commonwealth."

"Last week, a flood devastated portions of north central West Virginia and killed two people in Upshur County. Lawmakers have done little to fund prevention and recovery as climate change puts more of the state at risk of flooding."

"Internal emails obtained by POLITICO through a public records request paint a portrait of an agency that moved quickly to defend the only data center in Virginia that is powering itself — in what former officials and environmental health advocates described as an unusual effort to shape the debate around an industry whose global epicenter is in the state."