Coloradans on the Front Range may lose power this week as strong winds and critical wildfire conditions hit the state, Xcel Energy warned customers on Monday.
Strong winds will blow across Colorado starting Wednesday afternoon and may prompt a “targeted Public Safety Power Shutoff” to reduce wildfire risks, according to the Xcel alert.
Fire danger will be elevated because of warm, dry weather over the last several weeks, including a recent 10-day stretch of near-record temperatures on the Front Range, the utility said.
“Energy crews will restore power as quickly as safe conditions permit,” Xcel officials stated in a news release. “Xcel Energy’s top priority is protecting customers and communities.”
During a public safety power shutoff, Xcel proactively cuts off power to areas with an elevated wildfire risk, according to the utility.
“Proactively shutting off power is not a step we take lightly,” the company stated on its website. “We consider weather, wind speeds, relative humidity, fuel moisture and temperature as well as critical customers and infrastructure before deciding to implement a PSPS.”
Power restoration will begin after the high winds and fire danger subside, according to the website.
The timeline for restoration can range from several hours to several days, depending on the area, utility officials said. Crews need to patrol the entire line to ensure it’s safe before it can be re-energized.
Even if Xcel does not proactively shut off power, the utility still expects to implement what it calls “enhanced powerline safety settings” on Wednesday.
That means power lines will remain active, but they will be more sensitive and will shut off if issues are detected, such as a tree branch or other object touching the line, Xcel officials said in the release.
Xcel customers can monitor current outages online and report outages from their accounts. Customers may also report an outage by texting “OUT” to 98936 or “STAT” to check the status of an outage.
A United States District Court judge on Thursday ruled that the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was wrong to cancel a program
that has funded infrastructure resiliency efforts in communities across the
country.
The Building Resilient Infrastructure Communities (BRIC) program provided more than $200 million worth of
projects to protect North Carolina’s infrastructure, including nearly $7
million to relocate Hillsborough’s pump station out of a flood plain.
FEMA cancelled the program in April, calling the grants “wasteful
and ineffective.”
In July, North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson sued
FEMA over its decision to cancel.
“We’re asking the court to treat this as an emergency,”
Jackson told WRAL News in an interview at the time.
Nineteen other attorneys general joined Jackson in the
federal lawsuit.
Thursday’s summary judgment order says “the court declares
that the termination of the BRIC program is void and of no force or effect.” It found that plans to divert BRIC funds to other programs was also unlawful.
U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stevens wrote that canceling the program was “unlawful Executive encroachment on the prerogative of Congress to appropriate funds for a specific and compelling purpose.”
While he ordered FEMA to “promptly take all
steps necessary to reverse the termination of the BRIC program,” he did not directly order that funds be released for the infrastructure projects, including the one in Hillsborough.
Crumbling infrastructure has forced the closure of a low-security prison in San Pedro that has housed a host of infamous inmates over the years including Al Capone and Charles Manson, the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed this week.
Conditions at the Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island, which houses nearly 1,000 inmates, have been a years-long problem. An assessment conducted last year by an architectural and engineering firm identified more than $110 million in critical repairs needed at the prison over the next 20 years. The prison is currently home to disgraced celebrity lawyer Michael Avenatti and former cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.
More recently, officials discovered problems involving the support structure of the steam system used for heating the facility, which “prompted immediate action,” including the relocation of inmates, said Donald Murphy, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
“We take seriously our responsibility to safeguard the inmates in our care, our staff, and the broader community. Once we have assessed the situation further and ensured the safety of all those involved, we will determine the next steps for FCI Terminal Island,” Murphy said.
Entrance to the Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
The prison, which opened in 1938, is the latest federal correctional facility to close over the past year amid serious budgetary and operational challenges, including severe staffing shortages, lack of funding to repair aging infrastructure, sexual assault of inmates and contraband across the prison system.
It is not clear how long the Terminal Island facility will be closed. Inmates will be moved to other facilities, though officials did not specify where, saying only that the agency is prioritizing keeping people “as close as possible to their anticipated release locations.”
Federal Bureau of Prison Director William K. Marshall III cited problems with underground tunnels containing the facility’s steam heating system in a memo to staff on Tuesday obtained by the Associated Press.
Ceilings in the tunnels have begun to deteriorate, causing chunks of concrete to fall and putting employees and the heating system at risk, he said.
“We are not going to wait for a crisis,” Marshall told employees. “We are not going to gamble with lives. And we are not going to expect people to work or live in conditions that we would never accept for ourselves.”
This isn’t the first time the prison has faced critical infrastructure problems.
BOSTON — House Democrats are walking back a controversial proposal to ease the state’s climate change mandates following pushback and threats of legal action from environmental groups opposed to the changes.
Legislation pending before the House Ways & Means Committee would make the state’s benchmark goal of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 50% compared with 1990 levels by 2030 “advisory in nature and unenforceable” and slash funding for the budget for Mass Save — the state’s primary energy efficiency program.
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ROCKPORT — A New Hampshire man is being held without bail, accused of attempting to trying to a Rockport resident’s vehicle by force.
Todd Andrew Wilbur, 42, of Derry, N.H., was arrested at 6:46 a.m. Wednesday on Story Street on charges of carjacking and assault and battery, according to a police log entry.
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(Reuters) -The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data centre projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically-made artificial intelligence chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.
In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centres that are less than 30% complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage will be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said.
The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a pause in trade hostilities between Washington and Beijing, and achieve its quest for AI chip self-sufficiency.
China’s access to advanced AI chips, including those made by Nvidia, has been a key point of friction with the U.S., as the two wrestle for dominance in high-end computing power and AI.
U.S. President Donald Trump said in an interview aired on Sunday following talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week that Washington will “let them deal with Nvidia but not in terms of the most advanced” chips.
The latest move by Beijing, however, would dash Nvidia’s hopes of regaining Chinese market share, while giving local rivals, including Huawei, yet another opportunity to secure more chip sales.
It is unclear whether the guidance applies nationwide or only to certain provinces, sources said. The sources did not identify which Chinese regulatory bodies had issued the order. They declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
Besides Nvidia, other foreign chipmakers that sell data centre chips to China include AMD and Intel.
The Cyberspace Administration of China and the National Development and Reform Commission, two of Beijing’s most powerful regulators, did not respond to requests for comment. Nvidia and AMD did not respond, while Intel declined to comment.
NVIDIA THE BIGGEST CASUALTY
AI data centre projects in China have drawn over $100 billion in state funding since 2021, according to a Reuters review of government tenders. Most data centres in China have received some form of state funding to aid their construction, but it is not immediately clear how many projects are subject to the new guidance.
Some projects have already been suspended before breaking ground as a result of the directive, including a facility in a northwestern province that had planned to deploy Nvidia chips, one of the sources said.
The project, being developed by a private technology company that received state funding, has been put on hold, the source said.
Beijing has long been irked by Washington’s export controls aimed at impeding China’s tech progress and has taken a series of measures, including retaliatory moves, to wean itself off U.S. technology.
The U.S. has justified its restrictions by alleging the Chinese military would use the chips to increase its capabilities.
China discouraged local tech giants from purchasing advanced Nvidia chips over security concerns this year, while showing off a new data centre powered solely by domestic AI chips.
And in 2023, Beijing banned the use of Micron’s products in its critical infrastructure, which paved the way for a decision this year by the largest U.S. memory chipmaker to exit the server chip market in China, Reuters reported last month.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has repeatedly lobbied Trump and his cabinet to allow the sale of more AI chips to China, arguing that keeping its superpower rival’s AI industry dependent on U.S. hardware was good for America’s interests.
Its current share of the Chinese AI chip market is zero, compared to 95% in 2022, according to the company.
Excluding foreign chipmakers like Nvidia from big state projects would eliminate a significant portion of their China revenue, even as a deal is agreed to allow the resumption of advanced chip sales to China.
The new guidance on data centres covers Nvidia’s H20 chips, the most advanced AI chip the U.S. firm is allowed to sell to China, but also more powerful processors such as the B200 and H200, the sources said.
While the B200 and H200 are barred from being shipped to China by U.S. export controls, they remain widely available in China through grey-market channels.
BOON AND RISKS FOR DOMESTIC FIRMS
With the latest directive, the Chinese government is carving out even more market share for domestic chipmakers. China has a range of AI chip companies, from the most prominent, Huawei Technologies, to smaller players such as Shanghai-listed Cambricon and startups including MetaX, Moore Threads, and Enflame.
Products from these Chinese companies already rival some of Nvidia’s offerings, but they have struggled to crack the market. Developers used to Nvidia’s reliable software ecosystem have been reluctant to adopt domestic alternatives.
While the move would help boost sales of domestically developed chips, it also risks widening the U.S.-China gap in AI computing power.
U.S. tech giants like Microsoft, Meta, and OpenAI have spent or allocated hundreds of billions of dollars to build data centres powered by Nvidia’s most advanced chips.
Meanwhile, leading Chinese chip manufacturers like SMIC are facing supply constraints due to U.S. sanctions on semiconductor manufacturing equipment that have hit advanced chip production capacity.
(Reporting by China Newsroom; Editing by Eduardo Baptista, Miyoung Kim and Sonali Paul)
BAGHDAD (Reuters) -Iraq signed a deal with Turkey on Sunday under which water infrastructure projects to be carried out by Turkish firms will be financed with revenue from oil sales, a Turkish official said.
The Iraqi prime minister’s office said in a statement that the two countries had signed an accord on an implementation mechanism for a water cooperation agreement that they sealed last year. It did not provide details on the mechanism.
Iraq’s government will establish a committee for water infrastructure projects and invite bids for them from Turkish companies, with payments for the projects to be financed by revenue from Iraqi oil sales to Turkey, the Turkish official said.
The initial batch of projects expected under the agreement includes three water harvesting dam projects and three land reclamation initiatives, an Iraqi water resources official said.
The original framework water agreement was signed in April 2024 during a visit to Baghdad by Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, which marked a new phase of better relations between the two neighbours after years of strained ties.
Scarce water resources in Iraq have long been an issue between the two countries, with around 70% of Iraq’s water resources flowing from neighbouring countries, especially via the Tigris and the Euphrates rivers. Both flow through Turkey.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara and Ahmed Rasheed in Baghdad; Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jan Harvey)
Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, its widely used 365 services, Xbox, and Minecraft started suffering outages at roughly noon Eastern time on Wednesday, the result of what Microsoft said was “an inadvertent configuration change.” The incident—which marks the second major cloud provider outage in less than two weeks—highlights the instability of an internet built largely on infrastructure run by a few tech giants.
Microsoft’s problems specifically originated from Azure’s Front Door content delivery network and emerged just hours before Microsoft’s scheduled earnings announcement. The company website, including its investor relations page, was still down on Wednesday afternoon, and the Azure status page where Microsoft provides updates was having intermittent issues as well.
Microsoft described in status updates on Wednesday that it went through a process of sequentially rolling back recent versions of its environment until it could pinpoint the “last known good” configuration. At 3:01 pm ET, the company said it had identified and pushed this stable configuration and that “customers may begin to see initial signs of recovery. We are currently recovering nodes and routing traffic through healthy nodes.”
A Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement, “We are working to address an issue affecting Azure Front Door that is impacting the availability of some services. Customers should continue to check their Service Health Alerts.” The company did not immediately respond to questions from WIRED about the nature of the configuration change that caused the outage.
In addition to occurring on Microsoft’s earnings day, the outage comes nine days after Azure rival Amazon Web Services suffered a massive outage that impacted sites and services around the world. Major cloud providers, often called “hyperscalers,” standardize and often improve baseline security and reliability for their customers, but problems and outages can cause them to become single points of failure for large populations of critical digital services
“Even Azure’s outage status page is down,” says Davi Ottenheimer, a longtime security operations and compliance manager and a vice president at the data infrastructure company Inrupt. “Another configuration change error—we are in the age of integrity breach more so now than ever.”
Azure blocked customers from making configuration changes to their instances while it worked to address the issue. The company said in a status update at 3:22 pm ET that it expects “full mitigation” of the situation by 7:20 pm ET.
“Organizations may think they’re insulated by their choice of cloud provider, but dependencies run deeper,” says Munish Walther-Puri, an adjunct faculty member at IANS Research and the former director of cyber risk for the city of New York. “When key partners rely on other hyperscalers, exposure multiplies. As AI becomes the next layer of critical infrastructure, these outages demonstrate the brittleness of our digital backbone.”
LONDON (Reuters) -The British government expects to have full and unredacted access to China’s plans for a huge new embassy in London ahead of its decision on whether to approve the project, its housing minister said on Tuesday.
Concerns that the new embassy could be used as a base for spying have prompted some politicians in Britain and the U.S. to warn the government to block Beijing’s plans.
The government has said it expects to make a final decision by October 21 after it pushed back an August deadline, blaming Beijing for withholding detail on the blueprints.
But the timing is problematic for Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government, after it was accused in recent weeks of downplaying the threat China poses to Britain’s national security by allowing a trial of two British men charged with spying for China to collapse.
Housing minister Steve Reed said he would be able to see the embassy plans in full, without any blacked-out areas, when asked about the government’s decision on Beijing’s plan to build the largest embassy in Europe on the site of a two-century-old building near the Tower of London.
“I expect to see everything that’s being proposed before I take a decision,” Reed told Times Radio, without clarifying how much of the plans he had seen.
Asked whether the government was downplaying the risk to secure investment from China, he said that was not the case.
“This government recognises that China poses a threat to national security,” he said. “The decision will be taken on the merits of the case in front of me. We would never compromise national security.”
Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 on Monday issued a rare public warning to members of parliament that they were being targeted by spies from China, as well as Russia and Iran.
In August, the planning consultancy working for the Chinese government said its client felt it would be inappropriate to provide full internal layout plans, when asked about the blacked-out areas on the drawings.
The Ministry of Housing did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether it still plans to meet its October 21 deadline for a decision.
(Reporting by Sarah Young and Sam Tabahriti, writing by Sarah Young; Editing by Ros Russell)
SBA loan delays and furloughs threaten local business growth
Sales tax revenue declines could hurt Nassau and Suffolk budgets
Infrastructure projects stalled due to frozen federal funding
The business advocacy group that represents Long Island’s largest owners of real estate are warning the region’s representatives that the federal government shutdown has begun to cause “enormous economic damage.”
The Association for a Better Long Island (ABLI), whose members include owners of some $15 billion in properties, sounded the alarm in an open letter sent Thursday to Long Island’s four-member congressional delegation.
“A federal government shutdown is not a harmless administrative pause,” said Kyle Strober, ABLI’s executive director. “It is an active drain on our region’s economic health.”
The ABLI letter outlined the impacts that the shutdown, which began on Oct. 1, is already causing or will shortly be triggering in several sectors of the economy.
Among those are the strain on small businesses due to the anticipated reduction in consumer spending caused by economic uncertainty; the uncertainty for the 31,000 federal employees that reside on Long Island, with some facing furlough and potentially permanent job loss; and delayed capital and investment, as the processing of Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and loan guarantees are on hold, starving businesses of operating capital, “stifling job creation and paralyzing growth initiatives across Nassau and Suffolk counties.”
In addition, ABLI cited the decline in tax revenue that a prolonged shutdown would cause by generating “a climate of financial uncertainty” leading to less consumer spending. Not only concerning for small businesses, a drop in spending is also a problem for local municipalities, the letter reads, as sales tax revenue accounts for 41 percent of total revenue in Nassau and 45 percent in Suffolk.
ABLI says a further worry is infrastructure and development uncertainty, since Long Island depends heavily on federal grants and programs for essential infrastructure improvements, including transit, clean energy projects, and environmental remediation. The federal shutdown freezes the review, approval and reimbursement of these funds, which leads to project delays and can short-circuit long-term economic development plans.
“The current situation demonstrates that every American—regardless of socio-economic status, political ideology, or the size of their business—is impacted by a federal government shutdown,” Strober writes in the letter. “It compromises the financial security of workers, weakens the viability of large and small businesses, and undermines the public trust in governing institutions. We recognize the complexities involved in reaching a consensus, but the cost of continued inaction is simply too high for the Long Island economy to bear. We urge you to work diligently to end the shutdown. Your efforts demonstrate your continued prioritization of the economic well-being of our region.”
A lawsuit filed by Anoka County over the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s planned distribution of millions of dollars for a whitewater surf park in the city of Anoka claims the move would violate the state’s Constitution.
Court documents say a part of the 139-page omnibus transportation bill passed in June includes what is called in the lawsuit Section 19. The legislation, introduced by state DFL Representative Zack Stephenson, commands the MnDOT commissioner to ignore the agency’s guidelines and policies regarding money management and to take funds used to benefit transportation projects across the county and redirect them to the City of Anoka for a new pedestrian overpass where the Rum River dam is located.
The document says voters and elected officials for Anoka County don’t want a third pedestrian bridge over the Rum River. In addition, the county says it wasn’t notified of the proposed bill or given time to consult about it.
Although republican Representative Harry Niska attempted to amend the bill during a House special session, that amendment failed with a vote of 62-67.
“This is one of the backroom deals that’s still in the bill, unfortunately. It’s a provision, a mandate on Anoka County to spend a portion of its sales tax money on something that was never a bill that was presented to the legislature. It’s a pet project for the co-chair of Ways and Means Committee,” said Niska.
“There is nothing about this that is as nefarious as he would indicate. This is a project that received vetting in a committee that was included on a House floor vote, and that was agreed to in a signed spreadsheet by leaders and held out in the public,” said Stephenson.
The project also doesn’t fall within any categories authorized by the legislature when it passed a law in 2023 regarding a special sales tax to support transportation projects within the seven-county metro area, according to the lawsuit. It goes on to say the sales tax fund law was created to be used on projects that would benefit residents of an entire county.
According to the lawsuit, the Minnesota Constitution prohibits this type of special legislation unless the local government unit affected by it approves it. The lawsuit, filed in late September, says Anoka County hasn’t approved Section 19, and won’t consent to the decision to divert transportation funds to the City of Anoka.
However, MnDOT has said it will distribute more than $6 million of transportation money to the city starting next year, even if Anoka County doesn’t consent to it. Once the funds are given to the city, the lawsuit says they are lost forever to the county, and there’s no independent source of funds that could replace the diverted money.
Anoka County says the funds could instead be used to create a grade-separated underpass on the Rum River Regional Trail in St. Francis, make improvements to trails in Kordiak Park in Columbia Heights or reconstruction work in Blaine’s Bunker Hills Regional Park.
The lawsuit goes on to say the plan “sets a dangerous precedent” that would allow a single legislator to divert county funds to a city in his district.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump Administration’s desire to send long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine may not be viable because current inventories are committed to the U.S. Navy and other uses, a U.S. official and three sources said.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that Washington was considering a Ukrainian request to obtain long-range Tomahawks that could create havoc deep into Russia, including Moscow. On Wednesday, Reuters reported the U.S. will provide Ukraine with intelligence on long-range energy infrastructure targets in Russia.
But a U.S. official and sources familiar with Tomahawk missile training and supplies questioned the feasibility of providing the cruise missiles, which have a range of 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles).
The U.S. official stressed there was no shortage of the workhorse weapon, which is often used by the military for land attack missions, suggesting other shorter-distance options could be supplied to Kyiv.
The official said the U.S. may look into allowing European allies to buy other long-range weapons and supply them to Ukraine, but Tomahawks were unlikely.
In recent weeks, U.S. President Donald Trump has sharply shifted how he talks about the war in Ukraine, suggesting Kyiv could retake all the land Russia has seized and calling the Russian military a “paper tiger.” The U.S. decision to help Ukraine target Russian energy infrastructure appears to be one tangible outcome of the new stance.
A new financial mechanism, the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), has been developed by the U.S. and allies to supply Ukraine with new weapons and those from U.S. stocks using funds from NATO countries.
Supplying Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine could significantly expand its strike capabilities, enabling it to hit targets deep inside Russian territory, including military bases, logistics hubs, airfields and command centers that are currently beyond reach.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that if the U.S. provides Tomahawks to Ukraine, it would trigger a new round of dangerous escalation between Russia and the West.
According to Pentagon budget documents, the U.S. Navy, the primary user of the Tomahawk, has thus far purchased 8,959 at an average price of $1.3 million each.
The Tomahawk missile has been in production since the mid-1980s. In recent years, production has ranged from 55 to 90 per year. According to Pentagon budget data, the U.S. plans to buy 57 missiles in 2026.
Russia said on Monday that its military was analyzing whether or not the United States would supply Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into its territory.
(Reporting by Mike Stone in Washington; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Defense Minister Israel Katz warns Hamas to disarm and release hostages as the IDF gains control of over half of Gaza City and demolishes terror infrastructure.
Defense Minister Israel Katz threatened Hamas terrorists in Gaza with serious consequences if the war continues in a post on X/Twitter on Saturday night.
“If Hamas does not release all the hostages and disarm, Gaza will be destroyed and Hamas will be eliminated,” he wrote.
“We will not stop until all the war’s objectives are achieved,” he added.
Katz noted that his warning comes amid the IDF intensifying operations in Gaza City, with over 750,000 residents evacuating to the south of the enclave.
During the operations, the IDF has destroyed terror infrastructure, including what Katz referred to as “terror towers.” The military linked terror infrastructure with Gaza City high rises which were demolished in the beginning of the operation to take control of the last remaining Hamas stronghold.
Smoke rises as a building hit by an Israeli air strike collapses, in Gaza City, September 5, 2025 (credit: REUTERS)
Southern Command assesses IDF controls over half of Gaza City
The IDF’s Southern Command assessed that the military gained operational control of more than half of Gaza City as of Saturday.
Sources in the Southern Command told Walla that the IDF’s territorial gains resulted from coordinated maneuvers at multiple points by various divisions as part of Operation Gideon’s Chariots II.
The agreement sets out hiring timelines that the company must also hit to receive these tax incentives: Meta can receive the highest property tax exemption as long as it hires the equivalent of 300 “full-time” jobs by 2030, 450 by 2032, 475 by 2033 and 500 by December 31, 2034.
Louisiana’s agreements ask for more than some other states’ tax subsidies. According to Good Jobs First, nearly half of state tax subsidies for data centers don’t require any new jobs to be created. But Miller has concerns that the tax breaks were not necessary at all to entice a company as large as Meta. “While everyone likes to avoid taxes, they’re not going to hire people in Richland [Parish] just because they’re going to get a tax break,” Miller says.
Louisiana had already amended a tax rebate to create an exemption for data centers in 2024 to entice Meta; in its latest iteration, it says data centers can receive a full sales tax exemption for equipment purchases in the state as long as they hire 50 full-time jobs and invest at least $200 million by July 1, 2029. A separate contract viewed by WIRED affirms that this applies to the Richland Parish data center, in addition to the PILOT agreement.
Good Jobs First says that at least 10 states have subsidies for data centers that are worth more than $100 million each, and “have suffered estimated losses of $100 million each in tax revenue for data centers,” according to its data. In total, these states forgo more than $3 billion in taxes annually for data centers. Texas revised the cost of its data center subsidy in 2025 from $130 million to $1 billion. In 2024, a pause on data center subsidies was passed in Georgia but vetoed by governor Brian Kemp.
The Franklin Farms site in Holly Ridge, the area of Richland Parish where Meta’s data center is being built, was purchased by Louisiana specifically for economic development projects. In its ground lease with Meta, Louisiana offered the 1,400-acre plot to the company for $12 million, which the lease says was the cost to the state of acquiring and maintaining the land. The lease also says Meta’s $732,000 a year “rent” is “credit toward the Base Purchase Price,” meaning the company will have paid for the property by a little over 16 years into its 30-year lease.
The price for the potential sale would be slightly higher if Meta does not reach minimum hiring and investment thresholds: As an example, the lease says if Meta only spends $4 billion in the state instead of $5 billion, the property would end up costing it $19 million. Louisiana Economic Development reserves the right to reclaim the property if Meta doesn’t invest at least $3.75 billion and hire the equivalent of 225 “full-time” jobs by 2028. When asked if Meta plans to purchase the property, Clayton said, “We’ll keep you updated on our future plans for this site.”
Meta’s presence has already caused land values to jump. A nearby tract of 4,000 acres of land in Holly Ridge is for sale for $160 million, or $40,000 per acre—more than 4.5 times the price paid by Louisiana for the data center’s site.
But there’s also a concern that Meta could delay or abandon the data center project. The PILOT agreement its subsidiary signed with the state says the company’s timeline will depend on “numerous factors outside of the control of the lessee, such as market orientation and demand, competition, availability of qualified laborers to construct and/or weather conditions.”
“My general fear is that too many data centers are being built,” Miller says. “That means some of the data centers are just going to be abandoned by the owners.”
She says in the scenario that Big Tech cuts back investments in data centers, Meta would not even be able to find another buyer. “Essentially, the state will be stuck with this warehouse full of computers,” Miller says.
Update: 9/22/2025, 12:50 PM EDT: Wired has clarified the subhead to reflect how critics perceive the data center.
Even in picturesque California, few landscapes are as stunning – or as fragile – as Big Sur. The constant storms and seismic activity that forged its dramatic cliffs and canyons also make its infrastructure a nightmare to maintain.
The primary road through the region, world-famous Highway 1, which clings to cliffs high above the Pacific Ocean in postcard worthy fashion, is almost constantly closed by landslides, isolating communities and stranding weary travelers.
Local hiking trails don’t fare much better.
The Pfeiffer Falls Trail intersects with the Valley View Trail, a lovely loop that provides gorgeous views of the state park clear out to the Pacific.
(Lisa Winner / Save the Redwoods League)
So, as if they had just taken a deep breath and crossed their fingers, California State Parks officials announced this week that one of the region’s most beloved hikes, the Pfeiffer Falls Trail, will finally reopen after a towering redwood collapsed in a 2023 storm taking out its signature pedestrian bridge.
The trail, a .75 mile stroll that cuts through Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park and ends with a stunning view of a 60-foot waterfall, is one of the prime draws for a park that attracts roughly 750,000 people each year.
For such a short walk, the trail has a long history.
In 2008, the 162,818-acre Basin Complex Fire devastated much of the route and surrounding forest. It took $2 million and nearly 13 years to complete a renovation project — removing aged and damaged concrete, rerouting the trail and constructing the bridge — to finally reopen the hike in June 2021.
About 18-months later, that storm arrived and a towering redwood crashed the party.
The Pfeiffer Falls Bridge in 2023 after a giant redwood fell on part of the structure, closing the trail.
(California State Parks)
The tree splintered a 15-foot section of the bridge. Crews salvaged much of the original structure but replaced the damaged section with fiber-reinforced polymer in the hope of making the span stronger and more resilient to its unforgiving environment.
“It’s unfortunate that the trail had to close so soon after our original renovations,” said Matthew Gomez, senior parks program manager for Save the Redwoods League, a non-profit that helped with the repairs. “But our close partnership with California State Parks allowed us to rebuild the bridge better than ever.”
It is a truly spectacular hike. Enjoy it while it lasts.
Almost two years of displacement have left scars not only on infrastructure but on the very social fabric of northern Israel, and the question is no longer only how to rebuild.
The drive up the green slopes of the Upper Galilee still carries a deceptive sense of tranquility. Vineyards stretch across the hills, the valley opens into a vast plain, and villages appear nestled against the border with Lebanon. Yet behind this pastoral landscape lies a reality marked by rockets, evacuations, shuttered businesses, and mounting debts.
Almost two years of displacement have left scars not only on infrastructure but on the very social fabric of northern Israel, where the question is no longer only how to rebuild, but instead whether families will truly return and choose to rebuild.
“This is an opportunity we must come out stronger from after the war,” said Asaf Levinger, head of the Upper Galilee Regional Council. “It is a national imperative to build something different here.”
Levinger, who represents dozens of communities stretching along Israel’s northern border, speaks with both urgency and defiance. He notes that around 85% of evacuated families have returned, and insists that the focus should not be on those who left.
“There are new families joining,” he said, pointing to Kibbutz Yiftach, less than a kilometer from the border, where thirteen new families have arrived. “We even have forty sons of the kibbutz talking about coming back. In Manara, we are already placing temporary mobile homes, and there are hardly any empty houses left in many of our communities.”
A huge 35 square meters Israeli national flag is raised on the eve of Yom Kippur to remember the fallen soldiers of the 1973 Kippur War in the Golan Heights, Tel Saki Memorial Site, Golan Heights, October 11, 2024. (credit: MICHAEL GILADI/FLASH90)
Resilience, though, stands alongside devastation. In Manara, nearly three-quarters of homes were damaged by Hezbollah fire. “Seventy-five percent of the houses in Manara were hit,” Levinger explained. “It will take three years to fully rebuild, some of it through evacuation and reconstruction. We have already renovated part of the houses, and people are moving in, but most of it is still ahead.” Roads and public infrastructure remain only partially repaired; a process the council chief admits is far from completion.
Funding, he stresses, is the bottleneck. Under the current model, municipalities must finance projects upfront and only later request reimbursement from the state. “Most of the money we received so far was for direct compensation to residents and some initial infrastructure repairs in evacuated communities,” he said.
“The rest has not arrived. Some of it has been approved in government decisions but not transferred, and in some cases, there is not even a government decision yet. We opened the school year, but the decision on special education programs for evacuated children hasn’t even been made.”
The result is a patchwork of unfinished reconstruction, with local councils forced to take loans and businesses left in limbo. “The biggest challenge is restarting the economy and making this region attractive again,” Levinger insisted.
“Tourism, which should be flourishing, is empty. Cafés and small businesses cannot find workers. We are missing thousands of students from the local college, which has not returned. That is 5,000 students who are not living here, not consuming, not sustaining the local economy.”
For Levinger, the crisis also exposes a long-standing neglect. “The Eastern Galilee is disconnected. We are not connected to the national railway, not connected to the national water carrier. This detachment is visible: fewer children came back here compared to the Western Galilee,” he said.
“There is enormous potential here, but without connectivity, without investment, families will not stay. We do not have full government support. It is not zero, but it is not complete. With the right backing, we can build a different reality.”
That “different reality,” in his view, would combine world-class education, agricultural research, and cultural life with a revival of tourism and hi-tech. “We want to turn the local college into a university,” he explained.
“We want to attract companies, connect hi-tech with agri-tech, and create a unique community that people will choose not only for the air and the landscapes, but for opportunities. The Galilee can be an example for Israel in food security and social resilience. But it requires decisions now.”
With no government transfers, donations or loans are the only answer
Inbar Bezek, CEO of the Upper Galilee Economic Development Company and a former member of the Israeli parliament, describes the same reality from the ground level of construction and bureaucracy. “We were promised 15 million shekels to build 55 safe rooms in kindergartens and schools. We started in January, we finished half of them, and until today we have not received even one shekel,” she said.
“Municipalities have to raise donations or go to the bank and pay interest. Strong councils can borrow, but weaker ones cannot. And then small contractors get stuck without payment. Everyone suffers because the government does not transfer the money.”
Her frustration is palpable. “They promise billions on paper, but when you look for the money on the ground, it is not there. We cannot start new neighborhoods if we don’t know when or if the state will reimburse us,” she explained. In her view, the government has “given up the periphery” and is prioritizing coalition politics over reconstruction.
“Living in the north means you earn less, you receive less, and your quality of life is lower. Yet we return because we were born here, because this is the most beautiful and green area in Israel. But for years, the state has invested only in the center. It is in Israel’s national interest to strengthen the north, yet everything pushes young families toward Tel Aviv instead.”
Bezek also points to the social dimension. With Kiryat Shmona closed for nearly two years, restaurants, shops, and cultural activities disappeared, widening the gap with central Israel. “About 50% of the restaurants we had have not reopened. Some relocated permanently. People who lived for two years in Haifa or Tiberias discovered a better quality of life. Why would they come back to closed shops and buses every two hours?” she asked.
The economic toll extends beyond services to the fields themselves. Ofer Barnea, CEO of the Upper Galilee Agriculture Company, describes a landscape of destruction and waiting. “About 3,000 dunams of orchards near the border were destroyed, mainly apple groves,” he said. “Farmers have not received compensation. Bureaucracy is slow, it takes months and years. Unlike the south, where support programs are functioning, here in the north nothing has arrived. They talk, they appoint committees, they change project managers, but on the ground, nothing reaches us.”
During the war, he explained, no foreign workers or labor contractors could enter. Harvests were lost, irrigation systems burned, and orchards uprooted. “The labor force has returned now, but the damage is long term. When an orchard burns, it takes years to replace. Egg and poultry farms were badly hit, and this affects the entire country, not just the north. Food security is a national issue,” he stressed.
Barnea, like Levinger, insists the crisis could be an opening. “If funds arrive, recovery will be quick. This is the opportunity to provide planting grants for new orchards, to finally build water reservoirs. After war and drought, we need strategic water infrastructure. The plans exist. Everything is approved. The money has not arrived. That is the opportunity.”
The sense of neglect runs deep across these conversations. Levinger does not hide his frustration. “Haifa and Yokne’am receive the same benefits as the Upper Galilee. So for a business, why would they come here, where everything is harder? Good air and flowing streams are not enough. We need to create an added value, a unique community. Otherwise, companies will always choose elsewhere,” he said.
And yet he insists on hope. “It is amazing to see the embrace from communities abroad, Jewish and non-Jewish alike, during and after the war. This warmth gives us strength,” he said. “We must emerge stronger. It is the moment to build something different.”
The words echo a choice Israel has faced many times: whether its periphery will remain a frontier of sacrifice or become a frontier of opportunity. In the Upper Galilee, leaders are warning that time is running out, and that the promises on paper must finally reach the ground.
A barrage of airstrikes killed at least 32 people across Gaza City as Israel ramps up its offensive there and urges Palestinians to evacuate, medical staff reported Saturday.The dead included 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought.In recent days, Israel has intensified strikes across Gaza City, destroying multiple high-rise buildings and accusing Hamas of putting surveillance equipment in them.On Saturday, the army said it struck another high-rise used by Hamas in the area of Gaza City. It has ordered residents to leave as part of an offensive aimed at taking over the largest Palestinian city, which it says is Hamas’ last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain there, struggling under conditions of famine.One of the strikes overnight and into early morning Saturday hit a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a family of 10, including a mother and her three children, said health officials. The Palestinian Football Association said a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club, Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed in the strikes, along with 14 members of his family. Images showed the strikes hitting followed by plumes of smoke.Israel’s army did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes.Hostages’ relatives rally in IsraelMeanwhile, relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand a deal to release their loved ones and criticized what they said was a counterproductive approach by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in securing a resolution.Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, described Israel’s attempted assassination of Hamas leaders in Qatar this week as a “spectacular failure.”“President Trump said yesterday that every time there is progress in the negotiations, Netanyahu bombs someone. But it wasn’t Hamas leaders he tried to bomb — it was our chance, as families, to bring our loved ones home,” Zangauker said.Some Palestinians are leaving Gaza City, but many are stuckIn the wake of escalating hostilities and calls to evacuate the city, the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, according to aid workers. However, many families remain stuck due to the cost of finding transportation and housing, while others have been displaced too many times and do not want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the enclave is safe.In a message on social media Saturday, Israel’s army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to leave “immediately” and move south to what it’s calling a humanitarian zone. Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City — from an estimated 1 million who live in the area of north Gaza around the city.The United Nations, however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The U.N. and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. Sites in southern Gaza where Israel is telling people to go are overcrowded, according to the U.N., and it can cost money to move, which many people do not have.An initiative headed by the U.N. to bring temporary shelters into Gaza said more than 86,000 tents and other supplies were still awaiting clearance to enter Gaza as of last week.Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, raising the toll to 420, including 145 children, since the war began.The bombardment Friday night across Gaza City came days after Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, intensifying its campaign against the militant group and endangering negotiations over ending the war in Gaza.Families of the hostages still held in Gaza are pleading with Israel to halt the offensive, worried it will kill their relatives. There are 48 hostages still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive.The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed, and around 90% of some 2 million Palestinians have been displaced.
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip —
A barrage of airstrikes killed at least 32 people across Gaza City as Israel ramps up its offensive there and urges Palestinians to evacuate, medical staff reported Saturday.
The dead included 12 children, according to the morgue in Shifa Hospital, where the bodies were brought.
In recent days, Israel has intensified strikes across Gaza City, destroying multiple high-rise buildings and accusing Hamas of putting surveillance equipment in them.
On Saturday, the army said it struck another high-rise used by Hamas in the area of Gaza City. It has ordered residents to leave as part of an offensive aimed at taking over the largest Palestinian city, which it says is Hamas’ last stronghold. Hundreds of thousands of people remain there, struggling under conditions of famine.
One of the strikes overnight and into early morning Saturday hit a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, killing a family of 10, including a mother and her three children, said health officials. The Palestinian Football Association said a player for the Al-Helal Sporting Club, Mohammed Ramez Sultan, was killed in the strikes, along with 14 members of his family. Images showed the strikes hitting followed by plumes of smoke.
Israel’s army did not immediately respond to questions about the strikes.
Hostages’ relatives rally in Israel
Meanwhile, relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas rallied in Tel Aviv on Saturday to demand a deal to release their loved ones and criticized what they said was a counterproductive approach by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in securing a resolution.
Einav Zangauker, the mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, described Israel’s attempted assassination of Hamas leaders in Qatar this week as a “spectacular failure.”
“President Trump said yesterday that every time there is progress in the negotiations, Netanyahu bombs someone. But it wasn’t Hamas leaders he tried to bomb — it was our chance, as families, to bring our loved ones home,” Zangauker said.
Some Palestinians are leaving Gaza City, but many are stuck
In the wake of escalating hostilities and calls to evacuate the city, the number of people leaving has spiked in recent weeks, according to aid workers. However, many families remain stuck due to the cost of finding transportation and housing, while others have been displaced too many times and do not want to move again, not trusting that anywhere in the enclave is safe.
In a message on social media Saturday, Israel’s army told the remaining Palestinians in Gaza City to leave “immediately” and move south to what it’s calling a humanitarian zone. Army spokesman Avichay Adraee said that more than a quarter of a million people had left Gaza City — from an estimated 1 million who live in the area of north Gaza around the city.
The United Nations, however, put the number of people who have left at around 100,000 between mid-August and mid-September. The U.N. and aid groups have warned that displacing hundreds of thousands of people will exacerbate the dire humanitarian crisis. Sites in southern Gaza where Israel is telling people to go are overcrowded, according to the U.N., and it can cost money to move, which many people do not have.
An initiative headed by the U.N. to bring temporary shelters into Gaza said more than 86,000 tents and other supplies were still awaiting clearance to enter Gaza as of last week.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Saturday that seven people, including children, died from malnutrition-related causes over the past 24 hours, raising the toll to 420, including 145 children, since the war began.
The bombardment Friday night across Gaza City came days after Israel launched a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, intensifying its campaign against the militant group and endangering negotiations over ending the war in Gaza.
Families of the hostages still held in Gaza are pleading with Israel to halt the offensive, worried it will kill their relatives. There are 48 hostages still inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed to be alive.
The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, abducting 251 people and killing some 1,200, mostly civilians. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 64,803 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not say how many were civilians or combatants. It says around half of those killed were women and children. Large parts of major cities have been completely destroyed, and around 90% of some 2 million Palestinians have been displaced.
From the Rio Grande to Lake Travis, from the Ogallala Aquifer to the Red River, Texas’ water supply is under duress. The state’s rapidly expanding population, deteriorating infrastructure, and warming climate threaten its water supply — and by extension, its economy and way of life. The state’s regional diversity and patchwork of governments complicate matters further.
To understand the threat each region faces, Texas Tribune journalists traveled across the state and closely followed the legislative debate in Austin. This special report presents their ongoing work.
Texas voters will be asked this fall to approve a $10 billion package to protect the state’s water supply. The proposal — which was approved by lawmakers earlier this year — calls for 50% to be spent on improving the state’s water infrastructure. The other half will be spent on finding new water supply, like cleaning salty groundwater. Voters previously approved a similar, but much smaller package, in 2023. While it might sound like a lot of money — and it is — the $10 billion is just a fraction of what some experts believe the state needs to invest going forward.
Below, you’ll find guides explaining the problem and possible solutions, an AI-powered chatbot answering questions about the state’s water supply and a tool for local water supply data, and our best reporting from across the state. The Tribune will have full coverage of the election this fall.
Join us Oct. 8 in Longview or online to discuss the state’s water crisis and the November election.
Water gushes from Rick Bradbury’s truck to Shannon Montague’s reservoir as the Bradbury’s make a delivery Saturday, March 16, 2024 in Terlingua.
The state’s water supply faces numerous threats. And by one estimate, the state’s municipal supply will not meet demand by 2030 if there’s a severe drought and no water solutions are implemented Read more
Understanding water lingo
The secondary clarifier at the Bustamante Waste Water Treatment Plant expansion in El Paso on March 5, 2025.
Water is complex. So are the terms used to describe it. Get to know the language as Texas debates how to save its water supply. Read more
How the state is trying to save its water supply
Treated water at the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 in Austin, TX. The treatment plant will undergo a billion dollar expansion starting this summer to meet the increasing demand due to the growth the city has faced. Sergio Flores for The Texas Tribune
State lawmakers are poised to devote billions to save the state’s water supply. These are some of the ways the state could spend the money. Read more
Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas’ most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November.
DANVERS — Municipal leaders from various North Shore communities met Wednesday for the North Shore Chamber of Commerce’s annual State of the Region discussion that was dominated by housing and infrastructure issues.
The breakfast meeting at Essex North Shore Agricultural & Technical School featured updates about the projects and initiatives underway in each community
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