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Trump is giving massive federal tax breaks to tech companies building data centers on rural farmland. Ken Paxton admitted in leaked audio that he has no control over his own Senate campaign. A Wisconsin Democrat sent a cease and desist to her Republican opponent for using AI deepfakes of her in campaign ads. And a Texas family is fighting in court after their land, donated for a public park, was sold to a data center developer for $10 million.
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A microchip is now more likely to qualify for federal poverty assistance than you are.
The Trump administration is using the Opportunity Zone program, which was meant to encourage investment in low-income communities, to give massive tax breaks to data center developers who build in rural areas. Developers are allowed to write off nearly a third of their investment.
Congress created the program in 2017 to help struggling communities, and the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” made it permanent this year with a new rural category that offers even bigger write-offs. Governors will redraw the zone maps later this year, opening up new land to developers.
Data centers drew more than $30 billion in private construction funding in 2024 alone, and developers are already looking at low-income areas as possible locations. Pew Research Center found that 67 percent of planned data centers in the United States are going to rural areas and 39 percent are going to counties that have never had one.
Meanwhile, several states have moved to strip data center tax breaks instead of expanding them. Washington state eliminated tax exemptions for data centers after July 2026, while Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon has proposed banning data centers from the Opportunity Zone program altogether.
It is rare to hear a hostage video recorded at a fundraiser.
In a leaked audio recording from a September fundraiser, Texas Attorney General and Republican Senate nominee Ken Paxton told donors that the White House is managing his campaign, saying “I don’t control the message or what we’re doing” and that “it’s all coming from D.C.”
“I don’t have ability to change anything. So I have to live with whatever I’ve got,” Paxton said.
His campaign adviser claimed the comments were about the legal prohibition on coordinating with super PACs, but nothing in Paxton’s statements suggest he was talking about outside groups.
Republican candidates have said the same thing in private for months. Trump’s political operation in Washington has control over messaging in key Senate races, prioritizing the president’s national agenda over the needs of individual candidates.
Trump has repeatedly pledged his support for Paxton, but hasn’t committed any money from his $400 million MAGA Inc. war chest to help him win. Last month, Trump held a Houston fundraiser that was said to be for Paxton’s campaign, but the money actually went to the Republican National Convention.
AI has gotten so bad that politicians have forgotten how to lie for themselves.
Democratic candidate for a western Wisconsin House seat Rebecca Cooke sent a cease and desist letter to her Republican opponent, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, over a series of AI-generated campaign ads that use her face and voice to create scenarios she was never in.
One of the ads shows Cooke in a conversation with former President Joe Biden, who says he plans to “take advantage of as much corruption as possible.” The conversation never happened, but Van Orden ran it with no disclosure that it was artificially generated.
The cease and desist letter, sent by the Elias Law Group, noted that Wisconsin law bars the use of deepfake videos in political messaging. Van Orden’s campaign has been running the ads online through a loophole that exempts federal candidates from the state’s disclosure requirements.
Van Orden posted another AI-generated video in response to the letter. That one had a talking duck that was obviously meant to be Cooke complaining about the fake ads.
Conservative candidates nationwide have used AI to falsely show their opponents driving undocumented immigrants to the polls, picking up bags of cash, and holding hands with other politicians to suggest they were in a romantic relationship. These ads have been called “slopaganda,” a combination of the words “AI slop” and “propaganda.”
Texas took a farmer’s generosity and marked it up by a factor of one million.
A Texas farmer’s family is suing to block the construction of a data center on 87 acres he sold for $10 in 1999 on the condition it be turned into a public park. The city of Taylor removed the parkland language from the deed and sold the property to a developer for $10 million.
The original deed from 1999 included a 14-word clause that the land was to be held in trust as parkland for Williamson County. That clause was not carried forward when the property changed hands in 2003, and no park has ever been built on the site.
The case was heard last month in a Williamson County court, and a ruling is expected soon. Separately, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has opened an investigation into whether the language of the trust in the original deed was properly addressed before the sale.
The developer’s proposed 60-megawatt plant would use huge amounts of electricity and water in a region where both are already in limited supply. A handful of permanent workers would occupy land that was meant to be open to all in the county.
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Federal Judge Blocks Border Wall Construction Across Texas’ Big Bend Region. A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from constructing a border wall in the entire Big Bend region in Texas, dealing a major blow to one of the president’s signature campaign promises. U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone found the groups challenging the construction are likely to win on the merits of at least one of their claims and would suffer serious, irreparable harm if the court doesn’t intervene. The ruling applies to the entire 500-mile Big Bend sector, about a quarter of the southern border, not just the national park.
New York City’s Click-to-Cancel Rule Takes Effect. The new click-to-cancel regulation in New York City went into effect October 1, requiring companies to make it possible for customers to cancel subscriptions the same way they signed up for them. It applies to gyms, streaming services, subscription boxes, and free trials that turn into paid plans. New York is the first city in the country to adopt that requirement at the city level, after the FTC’s national version was overturned last year by a federal appeals court. The city estimates the rule could save residents between $21.5 million and $162.5 million annually. Violations can result in civil penalties of up to $3,500.
California Signs Law Allowing Balcony Solar for Renters and Apartment Dwellers. Governor Gavin Newsom has signed SB 868, the Plug and Play Solar Act, which will allow Californians who can’t install rooftop solar panels to instead use small plug-in solar systems on their balconies and patios. The systems can produce as much as 1,200 watts per household, plug into a standard outlet and utilities can no longer require approval or charge fees prior to a household installing one. The law is intended for renters and apartment dwellers who have been locked out of residential solar until now. Two other bills signed the same day direct regulators to expand virtual power plants and require utilities to publish data on unused grid capacity.
New York City to Deliver Free Child Care to More Than 22,000 Low-Income Families. New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced that the city will eliminate all out-of-pocket child care costs for the roughly 22,000 low-income families currently receiving assistance through vouchers and contracts under the Child Care Assistance Program. The policy builds on the city’s first free 2-K program, which will provide universal child care for two-year-olds regardless of income or immigration status. The program is expected to expand to 12,000 seats citywide by fall 2027, driven by more than $1.2 billion in funding from Governor Kathy Hochul.
