week ending Nov 7

Fed's Mary Daly says higher interest rates 'are likely to be needed' in inflation fight -San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly said Friday she expects the central bank will need to raise interest rates further, but joined her fellow policymakers in saying the pace and timing remain uncertain.“My expectation is we’re going to have to tighten policy further. Exactly when and how much is still to be decided because we just have to take all the variables that are coming in,” Daly told CNBC’s Steve Liesman during a live interview. “More is likely to be needed, and certainly ... I’m prepared to do that if that’s what the economy calls for.”The remarks came the same day the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in October while the unemployment rate — the labor-market variable Fed officials focus on most — edged lower to 4.1%.Those numbers were substantially better than Wall Street expectations. Job creation, in fact, was nearly triple the Dow Jones consensus estimate.Daly called the report “good news for American workers,” but noted the pressure inflation is exerting on household finances. Average hourly earnings rose 3.1% annually in October, but the September inflation rate as measured by the consumer price index was 3.7%. “They see that they can get jobs, they continue to spend. They’re not out of the game, but they are on a treadmill of high inflation,” she said. “This has been high for too long, almost six years, and we’re really starting to feel the burden of that spread everywhere.”The policymaker said she’s not concerned generally about economic growth but worried about the persistence of inflation.“The job market remains stable and solid, but not booming, and you see real wages falling because those wages are not really keeping up with inflation,” Daly said. “I think that’s the crux of this. Good news on the jobs front, not so clear that Americans are going to gain ground in the labor market.”The rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee in September increased the central bank’s benchmark overnight borrowing rate by a quarter percentage point to a target range of 3.75%-4%. However, the committee last week declined to follow up that hike with another move, saying it preferred to wait for “the accumulation of more information” before deciding its next move.

Fed policymakers consider rate hike after strong jobs report  (Reuters) - A stronger-than-expected US jobs report bolstered the case for further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, which had lost some momentum amid a post-election stock market selloff and growing fears that weaker ​AI-driven demand could undercut the economy. Employers added 165,000 jobs last month, more than twice what economists had expected, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said on Friday, and the unemployment rate ‌ticked down to 4.1%. Average hourly wages gained 3.1% from a year earlier, not enough to keep up with a 3.7% rise in consumer prices that is taking a bigger chunk of the typical paycheck's purchasing power. After the US central bank left its policy rate on hold last month, Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh said policymakers would be watching for "the accumulation of data" to help decide whether more monetary policy tightening would be needed. For San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly, the latest monthly jobs report ​appeared to put a definitive tick in the "yes" column. "People are just at the point where they're — they say 'Inflation — I'm doing well in everything, except I can't keep up with inflation,' so that has ​to be our number one priority, and the fact that we have a solid labor market gives us the latitude, really, to just get that job done," ⁠Daly said in an interview on CNBC. "My expectation is, we're going to have to tighten policy further," said Daly, who is not a voting member of the Fed's policy committee this year but typically voices views ​similar to the majority view. Noting "how volatile the world seems to be in many ways," she added, "those volatilities are something that you have to take into account, collect more information, and be deliberate but more gradual in how ​you get there when you don't know exactly where you're going to need to head. But more is likely to be needed and certainly we're prepared — I'm prepared — to do that, if that's what the economy calls for." In comments at a St. Louis civic event on Friday, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said inflation remained the top concern in his conversations with businesses in his district. "Inflation is a regressive tax, a distortionary tax," said Musalem, who has advocated for further rate ​increases. "The best thing we can do for growth and employment is bring inflation back down on a timely basis." He did not address a recent swoon in stock markets driven lower by new doubts about the pace and sustainability ​of the artificial intelligence boom, but said for now he feels the emerging industry is feeding higher inflation through demand for commodities such as copper. Even if that pays off in future profit and productivity, "we need to make monetary policy ‌for the economy ⁠of the day, not what it may be five years from now," Musalem said, and on that basis, for now at least, AI investment "will continue to contribute to inflation." Daly said she feels that technology stock prices, headed for a fourth straight weekly decline despite a bounce on Friday, do not reflect any wholesale rejection of the premise that data centers and cloud computing are important. "When you step back from the volatility, which I know is painful for people in the middle of it, but ultimately this is the kind of rebalancing you would hope for if you want an orderly outcome" while investors recalibrate expectations for the pace ​of AI-driven growth, she said. The Nasdaq Composite index fell ​by the most in 19 months on Thursday ⁠as the extent of the political shift in the US became apparent after Democrats won control of Congress and emerged victorious in a clutch of gubernatorial races in the midterm elections on Tuesday. Several of the victorious Democratic gubernatorial candidates ran on promises to rein in data center construction, and Democratic congressional leaders are planning a raft of ​new AI legislation. The jitters over AI also prompted traders to back away from what had been big bets on a Fed rate hike next month, figuring ​that a slowdown in AI-related ⁠demand could cool economic growth and ease inflationary pressures, making further monetary policy tightening a less urgent matter. The release of the latest employment report, however, put a Fed rate hike back in focus. Markets were pricing about an 80% chance of a quarter-percentage-point policy rate increase at the Fed's December 8-9 meeting, up from about 67% on Thursday. Traders now also see the next and final rate increase coming earlier, in April instead of June, as the central bank ⁠battles inflation ​that has been running above its 2% target for more than five years. "This is a very strong labor market report on the ​heels of solid GDP and consumer spending data last week, reinforcing the economy's positive momentum," Olu Sonola, an analyst at Fitch Ratings, wrote after the report. Recent concern over AI poses a risk to that outlook, Sonola said, "but for now the economy remains on firm footing. ​The labor market's resilience keeps the Fed focused on inflation and pushes the policy debate further toward a December rate hike."

Iran and Qatar Hold Third Day of Talks as US, Israel Prepare To Launch Potential New Attacks - Iranian officials were in Doha on Sunday for the third day of talks with Qatari mediators on a potential deal to open the Strait of Hormuz as the US and Israel continue to prepare for renewed attacks on Iran. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed that Iran was continuing talks with Qatar but that it had no plans for direct talks with US officials. “There has been no meeting with the American delegation, nor has one been planned,” he said.Araghchi said the talks with Qatar have focused on Iran’s proposal to fully open the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and that Tehran has agreed it could open the waterway within two days, though there’s no sign the US is willing to agree to Tehran’s conditions.Araghchi said Iran hoped “there is enough rationality on the other side to prefer diplomacy to other options, but we are fully prepared for other options as well.” Amid the talks between Qatar and Iran, Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth reported that Israel had completed its preparations for a renewed confrontation with Iran. Those preparations have included flying aircraft in Iraqi and Syrian airspace toward Iran’s border to rehearse potential attack routes, flights that could be an effort to provoke Iran into responding.  The report said that while Israel was prepared to strike Iran, the decision was ultimately up to President Trump, who was recently briefed by Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of US Central Command, on military options for attacking Iran.The Wall Street Journal reported recently that the US was preparing for a renewed bombing campaign by deploying a Patriot air defense system to Israel and moving other military assets around the region. Trump has signaled that the potential attacks will come after the November 3 US midterm election.While the Trump administration is now suggesting it’s open to some sort of deal with Iran, the US was engaged in negotiations with Tehran both before the June 2025 and the current conflict, which began on February 28 with a US and Israeli sneak attack on the Islamic Republic that included the bombing of an elementary school and the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.

Iranian Army Says Trump Won't Be Able To 'Dictate' the Length of Renewed War - A spokesman for Iran’s Army said on Sunday that if the US restarts the bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic, President Trump will not be able to “dictate” the length of the conflict and warned that the war could be longer than previous ones.“A potential future war could last longer than previous conflict, and the American president would not be in a position to dictate the timing or the conditions of its conclusion,” said Brig. Gen. Mohammad Akraminia, according to Iranian media. A similar statement was released on the social media channels of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei. “Should Iran’s enemies resume military or terrorist attacks, it will be the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic and the Iranian nation that will determine when and under what conditions those attacks will end,” Khamenei said in a directive to Iranian military officials.   The warnings come after media reports said that the US has been warning its Gulf Arab allies to prepare for a “short, intense” military campaign against Iran.Both Akraminia and Khamenei also warned that Iran would significantly expand its retaliation in the face of renewed US and Israeli attacks. “Should a new military adventure be launched, US facilities, equipment, personnel, and interests could be targeted wherever they are within reach,” Akraminia said.Khamenei told Iranian military commanders that any “level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful, and geographically unrestricted response,” according to his Telegram channel.  The Iranian leader also ordered the “comprehensive updating of the military target database to ensure that all kinds of physical and non-physical assets of the US-Zionist enemy are brought within the reach of the Armed Forces.”

Tucker Carlson Says Trump Is Considering a Nuclear Strike on Iran's Pickaxe Mountain -   Tucker Carlson claimed in a post on X on Sunday night that the Trump administration is considering launching a nuclear strike targeting Pickaxe Mountain in central Iran and that the president is expected to make a decision by November 7.“Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran,” Carlson wrote.Carlson said that Israeli intelligence has claimed that the “Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program” underneath Pickaxe Mountain, allegations that Tehran has denied.“No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place,” Carlson said. “No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place.”For his part, Trump has publicly ruled out using a nuclear bomb against Iran, but he has been threatening to strike Pickaxe Mountain. “We’ve knocked out their nuclear. We still have to take care of, I would say one or two sites, but we can do that in 10 minutes,” Trump told reporters over the weekend. “You probably could look at Pickaxe Mountain, and you have to take care of that. We can do that all very quickly.”In his post, Carlson said that Netanyahu was pushing for the US nuclear strike due to his precarious political position following Israel’s October 27 Knesset election. Netanyahu’s coalition led his opposition but failed to gain the majority needed to form a government.“To that end, [Netanyahu has] applied maximum pressure to his closest allies in the administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper. Both oppose a negotiated settlement to the war they’ve so grievously mismanaged; both are pushing to restart major combat operations,” Carlson wrote.The former Fox News host, who spoke with President Trump before he launched the war on February 28, went on to discuss the potential consequences of the US using a nuclear bomb, which would mark a first since World War II.“An American nuclear attack on Iran would set a new precedent. The Russians have already told at least two other governments that an American nuclear strike on Iran would free them to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Pakistan and India would be tempted to do the same against each other, as would North Korea against Seoul. After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable. That war would be short and final,” Carlson said.He pointed out that the Pentagon has been rewriting the US nuclear strategy to “make first use of so-called ‘battlefield nukes’ easier and therefore more likely.” The Pentagon’s policy chief, Elbridge Colby, has for more than a decade called for the US to develop additional capabilities to fight a “limited nuclear war.”Carlson cited “close observers” who said Trump would likely decide by the weekend, or November 7, whether or not to carry out a nuclear strike. He also said that the president is “hesitating” for the time being and is “listening to his vice president, JD Vance, and to his envoy and friend Steve Witkoff, both of whom argue a deal with Iran can be made.”

Iran offers to open Strait of Hormuz on several conditions --Iran offered to open the Strait of Hormuz on several conditions during negotiations, as President Trump has warned he is open to authorizing major combat operations against Tehran after the November midterm elections. Iranian officials are demanding that the U.S. government lift sanctions and release billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets — requests that Washington is unlikely to accept as diplomatic talks in the Middle East continue. “If Iran’s legitimate demands are accepted and implemented, it would be possible to put the entire plan into operation within two days, restore security to the Strait of Hormuz and initiate the negotiation process,” Esmail Baghaei, spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Monday, according to multiple outlets. “⁠The realization of this depends entirely on Washington’s will and decision,” Baghaei said. Iran effectively closed down the Strait of Hormuz, through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil transits daily, following the U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Tehran in late February, a closure that has ratcheted up energy prices. The conditions are not significantly different from Iran’s position throughout the conflict, but they come as Trump has signaled increased openness to greenlighting strikes. “The only reason why I’m not finished with Iran is I want to be nice. I want to try and save all those lives if I can,” the president said Saturday at a rally in Iowa. “But at some point we’re going to have to give them the hammer.”Baghaei’s remarks come days after an Iranian delegation traveled to Doha as part of an effort by mediators, led by Qatar, to revive talks in hopes of staving off another cycle of military conflict. Vice President Vance sent a letter to Iranian security official Mohsen Rezaei via Qatari mediators last week to revive peace negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a recent interview that it was a “positive step.” “If Washington’s goal in sending this letter is to stir up discord, it would be yet another mistake to add to its previous ones,” Araghchi told Al Jazeera on Saturday.

Iran FM says deal with US hinges entirely on ‘political wisdom’ in Washington - Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has reiterated that Iran will not back down from its conditions for ending the current standoff with the United States, saying the outcome will depend entirely on the rationality of Washington. Araghchi said in remarks published on Monday that Iran is “more prepared than ever” to respond to a new act of aggression by the US, although he insisted that the country remains open to a diplomatic solution. In a brief interview with the official IRNA news agency in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, he said the only way for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf is for the US to accept Iran’s conditions, which include a permanent end to the aggression and the lifting of the blockade and sanctions against the country. Iran has restricted cargo transit through the Strait of Hormuz since early March, days after it was attacked by the US and the Israeli regime. “We have presented our conditions and proposal, and everything depends on Washington’s political wisdom. If they choose genuine diplomacy, we are ready to engage. But if they intend to deceive us and launch military operations, they will face a response more bitter and more severe than before,” the minister said. Araghchi said Iran has been holding “extremely intensive” consultations with representatives of Qatar and Pakistan as part of a regional mediation effort to end the war with the US. He insisted, however, that resumption of Iran-US negotiations to resolve disputes between the two countries requires Washington to first accept Iran’s conditions. “Tehran’s conditions for reopening the Strait of Hormuz are entirely clear and transparent. If these conditions are accepted, the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened, and negotiations will resume. Otherwise, the current situation will continue, and Iran will not bow down,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

Report: US Gulf Allies Prepare for Heavy US Bombardment of Iran and Iranian Retaliation - -The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the US’s Gulf Arab allies are preparing for heavy US strikes against Iran that they expect to provoke major Iranian retaliation against their infrastructure.The report said that the Gulf states believe that the US attacks could come as early as this week. President Trump has made clear that he’s considering restarting the bombing campaign after Tuesday’s midterm elections.The Journal report said that governments in the region, including the UAE and Qatar, have been running security drills at airports and other facilities to prepare for the potential major escalation. Saudi Arabia is already facing heavy attacks against its airports and oil infrastructure from Ansar Allah in Yemen, a war Riyadh reignited in July by bombing the Sanaa International Airport.Amid the threats of escalation, some Gulf Arab states have been scrambling to find a diplomatic solution, but three days of talks between Iranian officials and Qatari mediators held over the weekend didn’t result in a breakthrough. During the talks, Iran said it was willing to open the Strait of Hormuz if the US agreed to its conditions, but there’s no sign that the Trump administration is willing to do so.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Monday that Tehran remains open to a diplomatic solution, but it depends on the US’s position. “We have presented our conditions and proposal, and everything depends on Washington’s political wisdom. If they choose genuine diplomacy, we are ready to engage. But if they intend to deceive us and launch military operations, they will face a response more bitter and more severe than before,” Araghchi said.

US Strikes Iran's Qeshm Island: Wall Street Journal - The US bombed Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday, The Wall Street Journal has reported, an attack that came as President Trump was downplaying the prospects of renewed full-scale war with the Islamic Republic ahead of the US midterm elections.Iranian media reported earlier in the day that five explosions were heard in Qeshm and that residents saw two aircraft flying overhead. The blasts came after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said that its forces brought down two US MQM-170 drones south of Qeshm using electronic warfare.Israel’s Channel 12 also reported the blasts as US strikes, while Trita Parsi, the Executive Vice President of the Quincy Institute, said on his Substack that Iranian sources believed Israel was behind the strikes and that a US source told him the US wasn’t responsible.The Journal report cited anonymous officials who said the US has been conducting small-scale strikes against Iran for several weeks as Iran has been targeting commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. One official said that the US has been keeping quiet about the strikes so as not to signal any intention of resuming the full-scale bombing campaign against Iran. Iran has so far not commented publicly about the reported US strikes on Qeshm, which comes as President Trump and Vice President JD Vance have been signaling progress in negotiations, though the US and Israel have launched major escalations against Iran in the past while the US and Iran were engaged in talks.The US strikes came around the same time that Trump touted a drop in oil prices on Truth Social, saying that “people feel that there will not be a War with Iran” and that Iran wants “a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!”So far, Iranian officials haven’t issued any statements about the strikes on Qeshm. Iran’s military has repeatedly warned that any renewed US attacks would result in significantly expanded Iranian retaliatory attacks.

US military launches 'defensive' attacks on Iran's Qeshm Island  -The U.S. military struck radar detectors and missile launchers on Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday, a day before the U.S. midterm elections, as mediators continue to push the two sides to reach a peace deal. The Monday attack is a continuation of strikes against Iran and was defensive in nature, a U.S. official told NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network. “This was a defensive measure for Iranians using surface-to-air missiles against U.S. assets,” the official said. The U.S. Central Command (Centcom), which oversees U.S. forces in the Middle East, did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.  Qeshm is located in the Strait of Hormuz and is the biggest island in the Persian Gulf. The U.S. military has previously targeted the island that is a home to a naval base and an underground missile site. The strikes, which were first reported by The Wall Street Journal, come as President Trump has said the Iran conflict would end soon after midterms.  The president has signaled that launching major combat operations is on the table after November, but Iranian officials have said it is up to the Trump administration to determine to what comes next.  “The ball is in the U.S. court, because our demands have been stated very clearly and transparently, and Iran’s demands are reasonable and logical,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters on Monday. Qatar, with the backing of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey, is leading the effort to return Iran and the U.S. to the negotiating table. Centcom has prepared multiple Iran strike options — including targeting Iranian infrastructure and military sites — that could be employed if there is authorization from the White House, The Hill previously reported.“We had a war with Iran. We won,” the president told reporters on Monday. “I don’t know if you even call it a war because we haven’t been doing any fighting for months.”

IRGC Aerospace Force downs two more US MQM-170 drones over Qeshm, destroys 55th MQ-9 east of Strait of Hormuz -- The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has captured two more American MQM-170 reconnaissance drones in the skies south of Qeshm Island, bringing the total number of this type seized by its forces to four. In a statement issued Monday night, the IRGC Public Relations Office said its Aerospace Division grounded the reconnaissance drones using advanced electronic warfare systems. The statement added that the new capture increases the total number of US MQM-170 drones seized by elite IRGC officers to four. The IRGC further announced that its forces had tracked and destroyed the 55th advanced American MQ-9 drone in the airspace east of the Strait of Hormuz. A newly developed air defense system belonging to the Aerospace Force, operating under the country’s integrated air defense network, carried out the interception. “The invading American enemy has once again failed to achieve its objectives through the deployment of such drones,” the statement said. “By the grace of God, another chapter of defeat and failure has been added to the black track record of the terrorist commander of the US Central Command, Brad Cooper.” The IRGC noted that Iranian forces have already captured 14 American MQ-1 drones as well. These successive operations underscore the growing effectiveness of Iran’s indigenous electronic warfare and multilayered air defense architecture in neutralizing hostile unmanned platforms without reliance on conventional kinetic means alone. The latest seizures follow earlier successful recoveries of MQM-170 drones by IRGC Navy and Aerospace units in the western Strait of Hormuz and over Qeshm in recent days. The aircraft, manufactured by US firm Griffon Aerospace and originally designed for aerial target and decoy roles, have been employed by American forces to probe Iranian air defenses along the Persian Gulf coast. Since the start of the US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic in February, Iranian air defenses have destroyed or captured dozens of American MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 drones, repeatedly demonstrating the vulnerability of Washington’s high-value unmanned assets over the strategic waterway. The repeated failures have constrained US aerial surveillance and strike options in the region. The IRGC’s statement said the operations are further proof of the failure of American attempts to achieve dominance through drone deployments in the sensitive Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz theater.

Iran targeted US air defenses then hit aircraft and buildings on Mideast bases, AP analysis finds (AP) — Iran's strikes on more than two dozen U.S. bases in the Middle East focused on early-warning systems before hitting aircraft and buildings, causing billions of dollars in equipment damage, according to an Associated Press analysis.The AP independently verified damage to American targets using satellite imagery from multiple providers and spoke to four regional officials who were briefed or have firsthand knowledge of what was hit. The AP found that, through August, more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites with U.S. equipment.  The AP found that Iran initially focused its attacks on aircraft hangars and systems that detect incoming strikes, clearing the way for further strikes on warehouses, troop housing and more. The damage has significantly reshaped the American foothold in the Middle East, with two regional officials saying the U.S. has moved many of its assets out of the Persian Gulf. That includes aircraft, air defense systems, communications systems and other equipment crucial to base operations, one of those officials said. The impact of the damage raises questions about American defenses in the region as President Donald Trump considers new strikes after Tuesday's midterm elections and Tehran has vowed major retaliation. A return to hostilities threatens additional costly damage to bases, which would heighten uncertainty about whether the United States will choose to rebuild its bases and equipment in the region when the war ends. The AP's analysis offers new insight into Iran's strategy for its retaliation and what precisely has been damaged on U.S. bases during the eight-month war, going beyond the details that have been released in independent reviews, including from the Pentagon's inspector general. It found that from April 1 to June 30, Iranian strikes had damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures on U.S. bases. Such assessments provide the only overall snapshot because the Trump administration and the U.S. military have provided few details about the toll of the conflict on people and equipment, even putting measures in place to impede outside review, such as delays in the release of satellite images. U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, has refused to comment on or specify damage to bases or equipment, usually citing the need for operational security. The command did not comment for this story. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell asserted that U.S. “forces and bases are well protected and America’s military is stronger than ever." "Our service members in CENTCOM have everything they need to continue their historic success ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon,” Parnell said in a statement to the AP. Most of the Iranian attacks have been in Kuwait, while U.S. sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also have been targeted, the analysis of satellite imagery shows. . The deadliest known strike on U.S. troops in the Iran war was in Kuwait, where six soldiers were killed in a drone attack at Port Shuaiba on March 1.. M Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was struck at least 30 times, damaging or destroying at least 15 aircraft hangars, numerous warehouses and 10 buildings near a residential area. Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, faced even heavier losses. While Iranian attacks made most of its hangars inoperable, gathering places for troops sustained much more damage because the base had limited aircraft. Its gym was destroyed in March and a store for troops to buy products on the base was hit in late July. A strike also has severely damaged the garage and dining room there, according to the two regional officials. They and two others, who are regional military officials, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details about the damage to bases. While strikes were much heavier against Iran, American matériel losses were inevitable, said Raphael Cohen, director of the National Security Program at the RAND School of Public Policy. The way wars are fought today makes all militaries “susceptible to large-scale, cheap drone attacks,” he said.

US war secretary feeds Trump ‘rosy’ lies on failed Iran aggression: The Atlantic -American War Secretary Pete Hegseth has been systematically misrepresenting the disastrous progress of the US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran to President Donald Trump, consistently painting the war in “rosy terms” to keep the commander-in-chief satisfied amid a grinding stalemate, according to a new report. The Atlantic, citing outside advisers close to Trump, stated that Hegseth is widely disliked inside the White House and has not been fully transparent about a campaign that has failed to achieve its stated objectives months after its launch. “Hegseth is good at telling the president what he wants to hear,” one adviser told the publication. Trump has begun privately polling allies on the performance of both Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine, the same behavior he typically displays before making personnel changes. Both officials were among the most publicly optimistic voices at the outset of the illegal aggression but have avoided press conferences since May. Advisers had assured Trump the war would end well before the midterm elections; instead, he is now searching for a scapegoat as the war continues. The Pentagon issued a predictable denial. Spokesman Sean Parnell claimed the reporting was false and insisted Hegseth provides the “full operational picture,” calling contrary suggestions “dead wrong.” Iranian officials have consistently rejected such claims as propaganda, noting that the Islamic Republic’s defensive capabilities, including missile and drone forces, remain intact and have repeatedly struck US bases and assets across the region. The so-called Operation Epic Fury, launched jointly with the Zionist regime on February 28, was sold as a short, decisive campaign to neutralize Iran’s nuclear program and military strength. Nearly nine months later, the war remains unresolved. At least 23 US service members have been killed and thousands wounded, while Iranian retaliatory strikes have damaged multiple American and allied facilities. Effective Iranian interdiction efforts around the Strait of Hormuz have driven up energy prices for American consumers already facing a cost-of-living crisis. White House staff have reportedly feared that a poor showing for Republicans in the midterm elections could trigger a presidential “rampage,” with Hegseth among those potentially scapegoated. Democrats are already discussing impeachment proceedings against the war secretary should they gain control of Congress. Hegseth has reportedly explored political exit options, including interest in a Senate seat in Tennessee. The recent departure of Army Lt. Gen. Brett Sylvia, the Pentagon’s top military planner, has further highlighted the chaos under Hegseth, who has forced out numerous senior officers while prioritizing internal culture-war priorities over coherent strategy. Trump himself snapped at a reporter questioning whether he intended to resume hostilities after the midterms, dismissing the inquiry as a “stupid question.” Iranian security forces spokesmen have repeatedly described the US position in West Asia as collapsed, citing the destruction or damage to multiple American bases and the inability of Washington to protect its forces or achieve its political goals. Tehran has maintained that any renewed aggression will be met with decisive retaliation, with no geographical limits, and that the Islamic Republic will not return to the pre-war status quo regarding regional security arrangements. The Atlantic’s report underscores what Iranian officials have argued from the beginning. The US-Israeli aggression was launched on flawed assumptions, exaggerated assessments of Iranian weakness, and a desire by certain officials to tell their president what he wanted to hear rather than the operational reality.

Trump Says US Watched Iran Build Air Defense Facility on Qeshm Island Before Bombing It - President Trump on Tuesday acknowledged that the US bombed Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday and said that the US struck an anti-aircraft “facility” that it watched get built for two months.The president made the comments about the strike, which he downplayed as a “minor attack,” during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” as he repeated his typical talking points about the war.“They have no Navy. They had 159 ships — Every ship is at the bottom of the sea, every airplane is laying on small pieces, tiny pieces all over the runway,” he said, referring to Iran.“No anti-aircraft, we took some out last night. Minor attack, wasn’t war. They built an anti-aircraft facility, it took them about two months. We watched it get built. We hit it last night nicely, not big war,” Trump added.The president’s comments suggest the US strikes on Qeshm were more planned out than US officials made out in their comments to media outlets. A US official told Axios reporter Barak Ravid that Iran’s IRGC fired a missile at a US aircraft in the Strait of Hormuz and that the US bombed a missile launcher in response.The Wall Street Journal first reported that the strikes were carried out by the US and cited an official who said the US has been conducting small-scale strikes against Iran for several weeks. Tehran has remained quiet about the US attacks but has continued striking commercial vessels and taking down US drones.On Tuesday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi referenced the strikes, though he didn’t explicitly blame the US. He said that the bombings demonstrate that Iran is still in a state of war and that the country has the right to self-defense. “The Islamic Republic of Iran retains the right to legitimate self-defense until the military aggression has been completely and permanently brought to an end,” he said.In his interview on Tuesday, Trump also threatened to restart the full-scale bombing campaign against Iran, saying that he may have to “kill lots of people,” though he would prefer not to. “I’m not looking to kill lots of people, if we have to, we have to, but I’m not looking to do that,” he said.

‘Unconvincing’: Tehran rejects US response, says Hormuz wont reopen until conditions met -Major General Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), has rejected the latest diplomatic overtures from Washington, declaring that the United States' response to Tehran's rightful demands is "unconvincing." In a statement on the ongoing diplomatic stalemate, Gen. Rezaei emphasized that the strategic Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until Washington meets Tehran's strict prerequisites. "The US response to Iran's rights and demands was not convincing, and they must completely and explicitly answer and act upon Iran's seven conditions," Gen. Rezaei stated. "Only in this case will the Strait of Hormuz be reopened." The SNSC chief's remarks come just days after Iran confirmed it had reviewed a letter sent by US Vice President JD Vance. The message was delivered to Gen. Rezaei through Qatari mediators and reportedly proposed a "framework" for direct negotiations, with Vance allegedly suggesting that Iran's peaceful nuclear program be placed on the table from the outset—a demand Tehran has repeatedly rejected. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi confirmed last week that Tehran currently has no plans to hold meetings with American officials, dismissing media speculation about a diplomatic encounter as "mere media guesswork." Araghchi stressed that Iran's own proposal regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz remains the only viable plan currently on the table, noting that mediators continue to shuttle proposals between the two capitals. Despite the firm stance from Tehran's top security establishment, regional mediators remain intensely active. Qatar announced on Tuesday that it remains "hopeful" an interim deal could be reached between the two nations. "Both parties remain committed to the negotiation process... They are currently reviewing the ideas and proposals we have presented," Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters. He noted that "very intensive" indirect talks are underway, though he warned that any escalation could severely complicate the negotiations. Furthermore, Washington has sent highly conflicting signals regarding its intentions. Trump himself previously attempted to downplay Vance's letter, bizarrely claiming to reporters that its purpose related to "medical supplies" for Iran, rather than negotiations. Meanwhile, the US and the Zionist regime have significantly increased their military threats against Iran in the run-up to the US midterm elections and recent Israeli political developments. Tehran has repeatedly warned that it is fully prepared to defend its sovereignty against any act of aggression. "We do not rule out any possibility regarding the outbreak of war, and we are prepared for all scenarios," Araghchi stated recently, confirming that Iran has upgraded its weaponry, addressed its vulnerabilities, and tested new arms.

US Embassy in Riyadh Orders Non-Essential Staff to Leave Saudi Arabia -The US Embassy in Riyadh has issued a renewed security alert, ordering non-essential staff to leave Saudi Arabia. In a post on X early Wednesday, November 4, the embassy said attacks by Iran-backed Houthi forces on civilian airports and critical infrastructure sites could lead to a rapid escalation. The embassy also said US government employees must obtain special authorization from the head of the US mission before using any airport in the kingdom. They have also been barred from travelling within 20 miles of the Yemeni border. The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia and the US State Department have previously issued several warnings to American citizens about the risks of travelling to the kingdom. Meanwhile, clashes between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have intensified in recent months, raising concerns that the conflict could spread across the region.

Iran's Ghalibaf: 'Americans Said No to War' - Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf said on Wednesday that American voters have said “no to war,” referencing the crushing defeat of Republicans in the US midterm elections, and warned the US government that it would face a “nightmare” if the conflict continues. “Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf wrote on X. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.” Mohsen Rezaei, the head of Iran’s National Security Council, also commented on the election results, saying that Iran had imposed a “political defeat” on President Trump. “The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz—and a POLITICAL DEFEAT in Washington,” Rezaei wrote on X. “Meanwhile, Americans got stuck with the bill for his war. Anyone who takes on Iran will pay the price—from the battlefield to their own doorstep.” A statement from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei warned against hoping the election results would change US behavior. “If there are still those who have even the slightest hope for a change in behavior or political and partisan shifts in the system of domination, or imagine that by granting concessions to America they can dissuade it from hostility toward the Iranian nation, they are seriously mistaken,” Khamenei said. “Even the slightest submissive inclination toward the domineering enemy will squander the great capital acquired through the blood of martyrs and the sacrifices of all sections of the nation, and will embolden the arrogant enemy to make further excessive demands and commit further acts of aggression and war,” the statement added. Iranian officials have maintained they won’t back down on their core conditions for a deal with the US to open the Strait of Hormuz, which include an end to the US blockade of Iranian ports, sanctions relief, and the release of some Iranian frozen funds, all steps Tehran says must be taken before discussing the nuclear issue. It remains unclear at this point how President Trump will move forward. He has been threatening to restart the full-scale bombing campaign following the midterms, and the US military has moved assets in place to prepare for the strikes.

You’re Either With Us or Against Us’: Bessent Doubles Down on Economic War Against Iran After Midterms - The US Treasury Department on Wednesday announced new sanctions on Iran, escalating the economic war against the Islamic Republic one day after Republicans were crushed in the midterms in an election seen as a referendum on the Iran war. “As we have said many times, under Operation Economic Outcast, you are either with us or against us,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X. “We know where you are, and we will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air.” The sanctions targeted an Indian man and his wife, whom the Treasury Department accused of operating a “criminal network” that supports Iranian shipping.“Their schemes have provided false flags and certifications to sanctioned vessels involved in transporting Iranian petroleum, including vessels operating on behalf of the Iranian military and its proxies,” the Treasury Department said in a statement on the sanctions.The measures also targeted multiple other individuals and companies based in India and one Turkish-based company that the US has accused of supporting Iran’s aviation industry.The sanctions and Bessent’s statement came after both President Trump and Vice President JD Vance acknowledged that the Iran war was a top factor in the GOP defeat in the midterms as it caused a rise in gas prices and the cost of living for Americans. Bessent’s strategy to crush the Iranian economy is also having a devastating impact on Iranian civilians, though it has done nothing to end the conflict, and there’s no sign that Iranian leadership will capitulate due to the pressure, as Tehran has been dealing with Western sanctions for decades.

Vance Says Republicans Lost Midterms Due to Iran War, US Relationship With Israel - - Vice President JD Vance acknowledged on Wednesday that the US war with Iran and its relationship with Israel were the top reasons for the Republicans getting crushed in the midterm elections.  Vance made the comments in a long post on X, where he said he spoke with a pollster whom he described as “one of the smartest people I know in politics.” He said that the pollster told him that “a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats” and asked those “who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team.” The top four responses were:

1. End the war
2. Focus on cost of living/inflation
3. Put America First
4. Change the US relationship with Israel

“The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night,” Vance said. “If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”  While President Trump also acknowledged that the war was related to the Republican loss, he still defended his decision to launch it. “Well, I think it’s largely true, because it drove the gasoline up a little bit, short term,” he told reporters when asked about Vance’s comments that the war was to blame. “But at the same time, if I had it to do again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer … You have no choice, you have to do it. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, or everything that you see here, someday might not exist,” Trump added.While Trump has continued to frame his war with Iran as necessary to prevent the country from obtaining nuclear weapons, there was no evidence either before the June 2025 war or the current conflict that Tehran had decided to pursue a bomb, and that was the consensus of US intelligence agencies at the beginning of Trump’s second term.Throughout the war, leaks from the administration have presented Vance as the leading skeptic of the conflict, though he played a leading role in pushing war propaganda in the days leading up to the US-Israeli bombing campaign.“The principle is very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said on February 25, three days before the US and Israel launched the war with a sneak attack that involved killing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family and the bombing of an elementary school that killed at least 120 children.  “If they try to rebuild a nuclear weapon, that causes problems for us. In fact, we’ve seen evidence that they have tried to do exactly that,” Vance said at the time.

Trump Says He May Have To 'Destroy the Rest of the Country' of Iran in Latest Threat - -   President Trump said on Thursday that he may have to “destroy the rest of the country” of Iran as he continues to make threats against the Islamic Republic following the Republican Party’s major defeat in the midterm elections, which was seen as a referendum on the war. “Now we’ll make a decision: Do we want to go further and just certify it, by certifying it meaning it will never happen again?” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I would rather not destroy the rest of the country, if possible, but maybe I’ll have to. And you’ll know soon enough.” The threat came after the US president and Vice President JD Vance said that the war was a major factor in the midterm results, but Trump has continued to defend his decision to launch the war. Reuters cited two unnamed sources on Thursday who told the outlet that the president is still planning to restart the bombing campaign against Iran despite the acknowledgment. “He is planning to ​bomb Iran. Don’t listen ⁠to what he’s saying. He held off because of the midterms. We asked him to hold off until the midterms,” one of the sources said. In the meantime, Iran continues to strike tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claiming on Thursday that three more “intruding vessels” have “exploded” in the waterway. The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations said at least five ships have been struck since Sunday, but it recently said it was difficult to ascertain the true number of attacks because many ships refused to report them.Reuters also reported on Thursday that Tehran sent a nuclear proposal to Washington through Qatari mediators, but said it would only discuss it after the US meets Iran’s seven conditions, which has been its position all along. Those conditions include ending the US blockade of Iran, providing sanctions relief, and releasing frozen Iranian funds.

Third US carrier mission to Gulf 'major indicator' of new war on Iran --A major US carrier strike group is heading towards the Middle East and could be a “major indicator” of a renewed war with Iran, experts have told The National. Satellite imagery has shown the USS Theodore Roosevelt has left the South China Sea and is steaming towards the Strait of Malacca, expecting to reach the Arabian Sea late next week.  Its presence in the region will give President Donald Trump three carrier groups to use in any renewed onslaught against Iran, now that the US midterm elections are over. He may well use the next two months, before the new Democrat-dominated Congress sits in January, to use force to bring Iran to a nuclear deal and fully open the Strait of Hormuz. “That carrier movement is a major trigger for escalation and a major indicator that we are heading back towards Israeli and US air strikes targeting Iran,” said senior analyst Megan Sutcliffe, of the Sibylline intelligence company. “The only time that we see the US concentrating three aircraft carriers in one particular region is ahead of major combat operations.” But former US Marine Jonathan Hackett warned that the deployment could be misinterpreted by Iran, with serious consequences if the Roosevelt was merely there to relieve another carrier. “It’s important to think about a strategic miscalculation on the Iranian side, if it sees this as a signal of escalation, they could take actions that end up creating an escalation spiral that otherwise would not have existed.” Former Royal Navy commander Tom Sharpe said the movement tied in with “those that thought there might be an escalation in November, post midterms”. Three carriers also gave President Trump “a lot of strike options” and “a hell of a lot of firepower”. That firepower includes air wings of F-18s and F-35 aircraft and all three carriers will give the US a combined force of up to 144 front-line strike fighters. The Roosevelt is also accompanied by considerable firepower provided by the USS Chosin, a guided-missile cruiser, as well as two destroyers and a nuclear submarine, all equipped with Tomahawk land attack missiles. The group also includes the first deployment of an uncrewed drone ship. The Seahawk, a 145-ton, 137-foot-long surface vessel, is designed to operate over extended distances for months. They will join the USS George Washington and USS George HW Bush carrier groups already in the region. One option for the assembly of carriers is close air support for the Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) currently in the region. It could use its battlegroup of 2,200 troops to take one of the small islands at the mouth of the Strait Hormuz. “The MEU makes a big difference because it gives you many options other than just striking targets from 30,000 feet,” said Mr Sharpe. If Mr Trump decided to “take the gloves off”, then landing “US Marines on one of those islands as a show of force becomes an option”. Mr Hackett suggested it would be a “highly wasteful and risky option” and that a marine force could probably hold out for two weeks before it needed relieving. “The question is, if we start taking casualties, how long is the US domestic public going to allow that to continue?” While an island could be a “bargaining chip” and be used as a forward staging point to flow through army forces for a potential mainland Iran attack, he suggested that military planners would be strongly arguing against it. Since the June memorandum of understanding signed with Iran, US commanders have been “extremely risk averse” at losing a pilot and aircraft, and instead have used “exquisite munitions” dropped by aircraft from a distance rather than iron bombs with aircraft penetrating Iran airspace. This has come at some cost, with the cruise missile stockpile dwindling as well as the loss of 45 Reaper drones and at least one unmanned ship. “The question is what’s changed post-midterms in Trump's risk calculus,” said Mr Sharpe. “Does he now want to go out all guns blazing, claim a victory and walk away and leave Iran to run the strait?”    

Trump Denies That He's Considering Firing Hegseth, But Says He'd Be 'Very Popular' in Tennessee Senate Seat - President Trump has denied that he’s considering firing War Secretary Pete Hegseth after CBS News reported that the president had asked his top aides whether the Pentagon chief should keep his job after the Republican defeat in the midterm elections.The Atlantic also reported before the midterms that Trump questioned allies about Hegseth’s performance, as he may be looking for a potential fall guy for the Iran war. But when asked on Wednesday if he was considering replacing Hegseth, the president said, “No, I think he’s doing a very good job.”  The president did suggest that he may favor the idea of him taking Marsha Blackburn’s Senate seat after she won the Tennessee governor race. “I think he’s doing a very good job, and I actually think he’d be very popular if he did that,” Trump said when asked about the possibility. “But I haven’t heard that at all.”   The Hill recently reported that Hegseth was interested in the open Senate seat, which expires in 2031, and is campaigning behind the scenes for the position. Hegseth will soon be facing an impeachment vote in the House, likely not long after Congress returns to session next week. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) introduced a resolution to impeach the Pentagon chief back in September, and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) sent lawmakers home early for the midterm recess to avoid the vote. Massie told Roll Call last week that the impeachment would be a “week one” issue for the lame-duck House session. “I’m not sure if I would do it the night we get back, but it would be soon after we return — if he’s still in the job,” he said.The Kentucky congressman also thinks the resolution has a good chance of passing. “I give it better than a 50 percent chance of passing,” he said. Massie explained that he believes all the Democrats will likely vote for it and that he may get a handful of Republicans.  Following the midterm blowout, Massie may get the GOP votes needed for the impeachment, as it’s clear the Iran war and its consequences were a leading cause of the election results, and Hegseth is known as one of the war’s biggest supporters within the administration.Massie’s resolution includes eight articles of impeachment and targets Hegseth over a number of issues, including the Iran war, which was launched without congressional authorization and has continued despite Congress passing a concurrent War Powers Resolution directing the president to end the conflict.One of the articles details how Hegseth has ignored US laws meant to minimize civilian casualties, and references the February 28 US strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School in Minab, southern Iran, which killed at least 156 civilians, including 120 children.

Trump's Statement on Ending Israel's Military Aid by Year's End Aligns With Netanyahu Push for Deeper Military Integration - President Trump claimed on Tuesday that he will end the nearly $4 billion in military aid Israel receives from the US each year at the end of 2026, a statement that aligns with a plan backed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to further integrate the US and Israeli militaries.“Now, as far as paying Israel, Bibi Netanyahu and I have made a deal that we give Israel $4 billion a year, and we made a deal ​months ago that we’re stopping,” Trump said on Fox & Friends. “We’ve already agreed that by the end of this year we won’t be paying Israel. Now we’ll help Israel if they need it.”Trump’s comments are seen as a last-minute election maneuver, and he mentioned that US military aid to Israel is being used as a talking point by Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee in the Michigan Senate race. “Because they (Israel) don’t need it, and because why should ​we suffer the slings from lunatics like an El-Sayed when they don’t need it? It’s a bad, it’s a bad talking ​point,” he said.Trump stressed that Israel could still buy weapons from the US and that he will “help Israel” if it needs. As things stand, even if the US cut off the $3.8 billion it provides Israel annually, the Israeli military would still be extremely reliant on US military support since it uses so much US-made military equipment, and the US provides significant intelligence support and political backing.The US has also spent billions on defending Israel from missile attacks during the wars with Iran, and has reportedly deployed an additional Patriot missile defense system to Israel to prepare for the next potential escalation.The purpose of the Netanyahu-backed plan to further merge the US and Israeli militaries is to remove public-facing military aid to reduce criticism of the US-Israel relationship and to make whatever aid and support Israel receives from the US under the new arrangement much less transparent. Netanyahu has previously described it as a shift in “the framework for US-Israel defense cooperation from aid to partnership,” though so far he hasn’t confirmed that he and Trump agreed to end the aid by 2027. A provision to begin moving the plan forward has been included in the House version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act, known as Section 219, which, according to a report from the Quincy Institute, seeks to “accelerate the US–Israel defense technology partnership, including technology sharing, coproduction of weapons systems, and bilateral research and development across multiple domains of warfare, including biotechnology, autonomous systems, artificial intelligence, cyberwarfare, and more.” Section 2019 would also “direct the secretary of defense to designate an executive agent, or EA, to expand integration of the US and Israeli defense industrial sectors.”Ben Freeman of the Quincy Institute said on X in response to Trump’s statement that if the integration moves forward, Israel could “end up getting WAY more than $4B from US taxpayers” and that the funds would “just be buried in the DoD budget.”

Steve Witkoff announces US will mediate Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi - Special Envoy Steve Witko ff announced the U.S. would be mediating upcoming Ukraine and Russia peace talks in Abu Dhabi next week. “The United States will mediate working-level negotiations between Ukraine and Russia on November 10–11 in Abu Dhabi, advancing President Trump’s mission to end the war,” Witkoff wrote on the social platform X. “Discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts, and next steps toward peace.”He continued that U.S. negotiators would meet this week in Brussels with France, Germany, U.K and NATO allies to “discuss security guarantees for Ukraine, Europe’s post-war security architecture, and economic opportunities to support Ukraine’s reconstruction.”“We look forward to building on the progress made in Kyiv, Oslo, and St. Petersburg toward a comprehensive, durable peace agreement that delivers lasting security for generations to come,” Witkoff concluded. The talks concerning Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine come as President Trump pushes to end the ongoing conflict. First lady Melania Trump brokered a localized ceasefire in one Russian-occupied Ukrainian town that ended Sunday.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Monday said that Russia launched strikes that hit a humanitarian site. Reports state 26 people have died, with some victims still stuck under the rubble. Current efforts to rescue people were hampered by Russian drone attacks in the affected area, according to the Associated Press, citing Mykhailo Semikin, a military official. Zelensky warned in a post that Ukraine had “intel that Russia is preparing a new massive attack on our country,” which was targeting “energy and logistics.”“The assumption is basically that tomorrow the world will be watching the American midterms, and what is happening here in Ukraine, along with our difficulties with air defense and Patriot missiles, will be overlooked,” the Ukrainian president continued.

US Imposes New Sanctions on Cuba, Ramping Up Collective Punishment -    The US State Department announced on Thursday that the US was imposing new sanctions on Cuba, ramping up an embargo that has a devastating impact on Cuban civilians.The State Department said it was sanctioning eight entities and two individuals, and declaring five ships as “blocked property.” It claimed that the targets are “associated with the Cuban regime’s oil shipping networks, Cuban elites, state-owned import and technical-support entities, and China-based suppliers of the regime’s military forces. ” The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also announced a new measure that “authorizes sanctions against any foreign person operating or having operated in the manufacturing, technology, electronics, and marine sectors of the Cuban economy,” a sweeping designation that could expose foreign companies to US sanctions for conducting business in major sectors of the Cuban economyThe US significantly ramped up its decades-old embargo of Cuba following the US attack on Venezuela in January by cutting off Venezuelan oil shipments and also pressuring Mexico to halt oil exports to the island, causing daily major blackouts.Cuban doctors told The New York Times back in March that patients were dying due to the US blockade, as the conditions at hospitals caused by the fuel shortages were leading to preventable deaths.The ramped-up blockade has come with threats of war, as President Trump has said he thinks he will have the “honor” of “taking Cuba.” The Pentagon has also placed military assets in the region for a potential attack, but so far the administration has held off, as it’s been bogged down in the Iran war, and it has no clear path to regime change in Havana.

Oracle Kills $7BN Tencent AI Chip Deal Under Trump Pressure -Trump administration officials went to Oracle with concerns about its chip leasing contract with Tencent, and the deal has since been cancelled, two people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times. The five-year lease, worth an estimated $7 billion, would have given the Chinese tech giant access to as many as 100,000 advanced AI chips across a string of Oracle data centers in Southeast Asia, chips it can't use at home because of curbs from both Washington and Beijing. It was Tencent's largest overseas leasing deal. Top officials in Guangdong, where Tencent is based, also visited the company and asked it to back domestic Chinese chips, according to one of the people. Overseas leasing deals like this one are allowed under existing rules, as the FT notes, so no regulation forced Oracle's hand. The contract was cancelled after officials raised their concerns with a company led by billionaire Trump backer Larry Ellison.The cancellation landed a day after the FT reported that Nvidia has told data center and cloud customers that at least 51% of their services must go to non-Chinese companies, a requirement five people said it had never imposed before and has delivered verbally. That rule covers only new contracts and leaves existing agreements alone. Tencent's lease was signed earlier this year, so Oracle walked away from a contract Nvidia's own rule would have left in place.In a statement to AFP, Nvidia said: "America cannot win the AI race unless America's AI infrastructure wins worldwide." Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said she was not aware of the report. One Singapore-based cloud group told FT it is hard to find enough non-Chinese customers outside the US. Washington has spent most of the year trying to close the remote access loophole: US export controls cover where a chip is shipped, not who rents time on it abroad. The Remote Access Security Act, which would put remote access under export-control law, passed the House 369-22 in January and then stalled in the Senate Banking Committee. Commerce has been drafting its own rule to block Chinese firms from renting Nvidia compute through data centers in countries such as Thailand and Singapore, The Information reported in August, though export-control lawyers told the outlet the agency lacks clear authority to regulate remote access under current law.As we noted Last December, Trump cleared Nvidia to ship its H200 chips to approved customers in China, with the US taking a 25% cut. Beijing has pushed its companies the other way: a month earlier it ordered new state-funded data center projects to use only domestically made AI chips, as we noted at the time.  Oracle walks away from the contract two days after raising $20 billion - $10 billion in bonds and $10 billion in stock, using up the entire cap on new capital it had set for fiscal 2027 through 2030 at its investor day the week before, as we reported Monday.When FT revealed the Tencent lease, Tencent was paying about 30% of the estimated $7 billion upfront, roughly $2.1 billion, and the FT said the deal had already weighed on Tencent's free cash flow in the second quarter. Neither company has said what becomes of that money now.

Texas's New Democrat Governor Vowed To Stop Helping ICE - Here's What She Can Actually Undo -- Democrat Gina Hinojosa's upset of Gov. Greg Abbott hands the state's border machinery to a lawmaker who spent the campaign attacking it.Abbott conceded around 10 p.m. Tuesday, ending his bid for a record fourth term and making Hinojosa, a state representative from Austin, the first Democrat elected governor of Texas since Ann Richards in 1990. As we reported overnight, Democrats swept Texas, with James Talarico also taking the state's US Senate seat. Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin laid out the stakes Wednesday morning, saying "Gina Hinojosa has called on Gov. Abbott to end state & local cooperation with ICE & she can order that on day one. "Hinojosa voted against the 2017 SB 4 as a TX state rep. The bill was essentially a sanctuary cities ban and required TX law enforcement to cooperate with ICE detainers. She then voted against another SB 4 in 2023, which made it a state crime to cross illegally into Texas." Hinojosa didn't mention ICE, immigration or the border in her victory speech. Her one "day one" promise was to fire Education Commissioner Mike Morath, whose term expires Jan. 10, shortly before she's sworn in. Conservatives pounced on that too: On the campaign trail ICE was a recurring target. In January, after federal agents fatally shot US citizens in Minneapolis, Hinojosa called on Abbott to stop "facilitating" ICE operations by "refusing to provide state resources until DHS stops killing U.S. citizens and detaining our children." At a Stop ICE rally in Austin later that month, she made it a pledge: "As governor, I will never offer up Texas as a staging ground for operations that terrorize families and enrich his donors."  Her campaign spelled out which kind of state help it meant. In February, it accused Abbott of rolling out "the red carpet for federal immigration operations in Texas, offering state land, deploying the Texas National Guard to work inside ICE detention centers," and noted that Texas holds more than 18,700 ICE detainees, "the highest share of any state."As a legislator, Hinojosa voted against the 2017 sanctuary cities ban, SB 4, and against the first round of appropriations for Operation Lone Star.Her "dog and pony show" line was from October, when she contrasted the operation with her own outreach to Biden officials after rail crossings in Eagle Pass and El Paso were shut during the December 2023 migrant surge. "That was not a dog and pony show. That was not spending billions of taxpayer dollars like Greg Abbott has done on Operation Lone Star," she told The Dallas Morning News. A campaign release promised: "As governor, I'll put in the work to secure the border, not waste working Texans' money on political theater."The parts of Abbott's border operation that run on a governor's orders are hers to wind down once she takes office in January. Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021 on his own authority, sending DPS troopers and Texas National Guard soldiers to the border. The Guard answers to the governor, including the detention-center work her campaign objected to. The local cooperation in Melugin's post is a different matter. SB 4 is state law: it bans sanctuary policies, requires jails to honor ICE detainer requests and lets the attorney general sue localities that don't comply. Last year lawmakers added SB 8, which requires every sheriff who runs a jail to enter a 287(g) agreement with ICE, deputizing jailers to help enforce federal immigration law. Repealing either takes the Legislature, and Republicans still control the state Senate. Hinojosa also hasn't said she'll end Operation Lone Star. In an interview with KPRC, she did not promise to eliminate border security funding, faulting Abbott instead for the billions spent prosecuting migrants for trespassing and paying for their legal defense. She has praised President Trump's immigration policy for slowing illegal border crossings.

Head of DOJ Civil Rights Division resigns after GOP midterms loss — Harmeet Dhillon, the Republican attorney who oversaw a massive overhaul of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, submitted her resignation Thursday. Attorney General Todd Blanche posted on X that he has accepted Dhillon’s resignation. He wrote that she “defended the civil liberties of every American and enforced the law without fear or favor” and that the DOJ “is grateful for her dedicated public service, and we wish her every success in her future endeavors.” Dhillon posted Thursday on X that the job had been the “honor of a lifetime.” “We ushered in the downfall of illegal DEI, we fought to protect women and girls’ sports, and so much more,” she wrote. The departure of Dhillon, who had a long history of working as an election lawyer for the GOP, comes just two days after Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the midterm elections. Under Dhillon’s leadership, the Civil Rights Division led some of the Trump administration’s most controversial legal maneuvers, including lawsuits that cited claims of discrimination at elite universities. The division declined to open a use-of-force investigation into the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota earlier this year. Her office also filed lawsuits against 30 states and Washington, D.C., in an effort to obtain voter registration lists from the states in the months before the election, with federal judges dismissing 27 of those cases. Dhillon was a regular presence on conservative media in the run-up to Tuesday’s elections, promoting the work of the Civil Rights Division. Dhillon is set to speak at the Donald Trump Ballroom at the Mar-a-Lago Club during the Conservative Political Action Committee’s Circle Retreat and Gala on Thursday. Bloomberg Law first reported her resignation plans. Dhillon’s office recently attempted to indict Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump administration official who testified before the House Jan. 6 committee about Trump’s actions during the Capitol siege.Her office also brought a criminal case against former CNN journalist Don Lemon and protesters over a demonstration at a church in Minnesota under a statute historically used to protect reproductive rights facilities.. Stacey Young, the executive director of the group Justice Connection, called Dhillon “the most destructive, lawless, and hateful head of the Civil Rights Division in DOJ history,” and said in a statement that she “wielded the enormous power of the Justice Department to threaten universities, state and local officials, and election workers in spurious cases that rarely won in court.” Dhillon “decimated” the Civil Rights Division, Young said, and called on the incoming Senate “to exercise its full advice and consent powers to ensure the next Assistant Attorney General fulfills the division’s congressional mandate to enforce all Americans’ civil rights diligently and fairly.” Kristen Clarke, the NAACP’s general counsel and the former chief of the Civil Rights Division during the Biden administration, said Dhillon “abdicated her responsibility to enforce our nation’s federal civil rights laws and destroyed the crown jewel of the Justice Department.” Clarke said in a statement that Dhillon “abandoned cases, purged the work force and weaponized the Division to target institutions to achieve illegitimate, partisan goals” and that the NAACP would demand that her replacement “respect the agency’s sacred mission, enforce the law fairly, and protect our civil rights.”

Trump says Stephen Miller to replace Susie Wiles as White House chief of staff  -President Donald Trump on Friday announced White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller will be promoted to chief of staff, replacing Susie Wiles. Trump revealed the stunning shake-up just three days after Democrats won a landslide victory in the midterm elections, gaining majority control in the House and Senate and scrambling the trajectory of Trump’s last two years in office. Elevating Miller, an architect of Trump’s controversial mass-deportation efforts, is bound to raise the hackles of the incoming class of congressional Democrats, who have already vowed to investigate the government’s immigration policies.Miller will take over starting Monday, Trump said in a Truth Social post, praising his longtime aide as “one of my most trusted advisors.”Wiles, “who has done an outstanding job, will be moving over to the Trump Political Operation,” the president wrote.Asked about the move later Friday afternoon, Trump said, “I wanted to make a change.”“I think Susie’s done a very good job, great job. But I just wanted to make it,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for an event in Cape Canaveral, Florida. “Stephen’s been great,” Trump said, adding, “Sometimes in life you have to make moves.”Wiles resigned Thursday night, a senior White House source told MS NOW. Wiles told Trump, who was said to be angry with her following the GOP’s huge election losses, “let me make this easy on you — I am going to resign,” MS NOW reported.“Today is my last day as White House Chief of Staff,” Wiles said in an X post Friday afternoon. “Serving President Trump in the White House has been the honor of a lifetime.”“While my role may be changing, my commitment to the President and the mission never will,” she wrote.

Democrats question IRS on delayed tax gap estimate - A group of Democratic lawmakers on Monday urged Frank Bisignano, the CEO of the IRS, to answer for why the agency has delayed publication of data that shows how much money owed by taxpayers wasn’t paid on time.   The lawmakers wrote in a letter to Bisignano that the IRS not yet releasing its tax gap estimates for 2023 and 2024 is “hiding the extent to which wealthy taxpayers avoid paying what they owe.”The IRS has released the tax gap since 1979, with estimates dating to 1973. The agency reports the gross tax gap, which is the total amount in taxes that filers and nonfilers did not pay, and the net tax gap, which accounts for how much the IRS recovers.  The gross and net tax gaps in 2022, the most recent year for which the IRS has released data, were respectively $696 billion and $606 billion, according to the agency. Unpaid income taxes made up nearly 74 percent of the gross tax gap, with unpaid corporate taxes, employment taxes and estate taxes making up the remainder. In their letter to Bisignano, the group of 43 Democratic lawmakers noted those in the top 10 percent of income were “responsible for” 64 percent of unpaid individual income taxes in 2022, citing that year’s estimate.By not releasing the tax gaps for subsequent years, after it was scheduled to release data in fall 2025, the IRS is depriving Congress of data that is “crucial for understanding how policymakers might restore its capability to enforce” the country’s tax laws, the lawmakers wrote. “Your choice to hide the size of the tax gap from the American people is especially egregious in light of the Trump administration’s gutting of the IRS’s enforcement of the nation’s tax laws — threatening to expand the tax gap itself significantly,” they added, referencing the administration’s reduction of the IRS workforce.  “In sum, you appear to be hiding the size of the tax gap from the public while pursuing policies that will make it larger,” the letter continued later.

Sen. Tammy Duckworth condemns Donald Trump's low flyover - Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) condemned President Trump’s recent low flyover on Halloween in a Monday letter to Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator Bryan Bedford, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought. The flyover occurred last Thursday during the White House’s Halloween party with Air Force One making two low altitude passes around the South Lawn. An FAA official said the flights were coordinated with the agency. Duckworth — ranking member of the Subcommittee on Aviation, Space and Innovation — described how the passes by Air Force One “startled residents, prompted 911 calls and forced a ground stop at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA),” which resulted in more than 200 flight delays. “For the children on the [South Lawn], perhaps a treat; for everyone else in the National Capital Region (NCR) and across the country, a trick—dangerous, expensive and profoundly unserious,” she wrote. The Council of D.C. office’s X account confirmed “anyone in downtown DC, at the Pentagon or at National Airport” had been given 15 minutes notice before the flight. “Residents who lived through September 11, 2001, when a hijacked airliner struck the Pentagon, dialed 911 fearing an attack,” Duckworth continued. “The White House insisted the flyover ‘brought joy and excitement.’ Tell that to the people who called 911.” “The country got a trick dressed up as a treat—and another reminder that this unserious President is more interested in impressing children with his toys than in meeting the needs of the American people,” Duckworth concluded.

Enviro lawyers say the permitting bill could aid Trump's DC renovations - The bipartisan permitting reform bill designed to aid new energy projects would make it harder for opponents to slow President Donald Trump’s Washington makeover, environmental lawyers say. The Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, unveiled in September and expected to receive a Senate vote as early as next week, would limit plaintiffs’ ability to halt work on permitted energy projects while they challenge federal approvals. Supporters say those changes are needed to reduce lengthy legal battles that frequently delay or kill energy infrastructure projects amid rising electricity demand. But those same provisions could also make it more difficult for groups to challenge and slow the Trump administration’s construction plans for the East Potomac Golf Course, the proposed triumphal arch at Memorial Circle and the Kennedy Center, among other projects, the lawyers said. “Anything where you’re altering the built environment or affecting areas covered by the National Historic Preservation Act, which of course ... there’s tons of those in D.C., will be much easier to bulldoze,” said Matt Littleton, co-founder of Envolve Law and a former Justice Department counsel. “That’s kind of the point of the bill.” That shows how the legislation’s impacts could extend well beyond the energy sector. It could also create a political vulnerability for supporters of the bipartisan legislation, particularly Democrats, who could face criticism from constituents if they are seen as helping advance Trump’s projects that have drawn widespread public opposition. Two-thirds of Americans said they were “dissatisfied” or “upset” with Trump’s plans, according to July polling. Mike McKenna, a longtime Republican energy lobbyist who briefly worked at the White House during Trump’s first term, said the Washington implications could make the bill more appealing to the president, who has not so far publicly commented on the legislation. “It’s possible, and it’s easy to imagine a situation where the administration leverages this bill to get their D.C. priorities through,” McKenna said. The bill’s most consequential provision for the projects in Washington is the language sharply limiting judges’ ability to halt construction over alleged violations of the National Environmental Policy Act or National Historic Preservation Act as the legal challenges play out. Under the proposal developed by Republican Sens. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Mike Lee of Utah and Democrats Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, courts generally could not vacate previously granted authorizations or issue injunctions to stop construction based solely on NEPA or NHPA violations. Instead, judges could only return the authorization to the agency to correct any deficiencies, giving it up to 180 days while allowing work on the underlying project to continue. That could significantly weaken legal challenges to Trump’s Washington renovations. The plaintiffs seeking to stop the East Potomac Golf Course renovations based their recent legal challenge on allegations that the administration attempted to bypass NEPA. The lawsuit eventually led U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes to issue a preliminary injunction halting certain work at the golf course. The D.C. Preservation League, one of the plaintiffs in the East Potomac case, said the current requirements ensure that federal projects comply with the law and that eliminating enforcement mechanisms would diminish the public’s ability to hold the government accountable. “A federal judge has already stepped in more than once to stop unlawful actions there, catching rushed paperwork and misleading claims from federal officials,” the organization said in a statement. “That only works because courts can still meaningfully review agency action, and the public still has a real voice in the process. BAAJA would weaken both.” And on Saturday, the District of Columbia government and the commonwealth of Virginia filed a lawsuit seeking to block the construction of President Donald Trump’s planned triumphal arch on the outskirts of the nation’s capital, citing alleged NEPA, NHPA and other legal violations Dinah Bear, who spent 25 years at the White House Council on Environmental Quality and is now on the board of the group Defenders of Wildlife, said that the permitting bill would represent a huge threat to how plaintiffs challenge Washington projects going forward. “In the context of the D.C. monuments and other architectural projects, those are the two laws that are most relevant,” Bear said. “Essentially, you would not see challenges anymore to these dramatic proposals in D.C., you wouldn’t see them happening at all.” Another lawyer who spent decades working on NEPA, primarily on behalf of project developers, rated the bill’s changes “a 6 out of 10" in terms of their impact on plaintiffs, with 10 representing a cataclysmic change. Jay Johnson, an attorney at Venable who represented a coalition of Utah counties supporting a rail project in a recent landmark Supreme Court case limiting NEPA judicial review, agreed that the bill would make litigation harder for plaintiffs. But he said opponents would likely quickly find ways to challenge projects through other legal avenues. Democrats have strongly opposed Trump’s renovation plans. Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) and other Democratic lawmakers have called for congressional appropriations guardrails to prevent Trump from eventually acquiring or privatizing East Potomac. Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) has sought to advance two resolutions through the Senate floor aimed at preventing Trump from demolishing the Kennedy Center or building his proposed arch near Arlington National Cemetery.

Trump’s DC golf course plan revealed – The National Park Service disclosed plans Tuesday to cut down more trees as it carries out President Donald Trump’s planned renovation of a public golf course in the nation’s capital. In a design plan submitted at federal court, the Justice Department shared NPS’ proposal to overhaul its golf course on a peninsula in East Potomac Park near the Jefferson Memorial. The design calls for thinning trees and vegetation to create open vistas comparable to when the park opened a century ago. The plan follows several weeks of often-caustic back and forth between Judge Ana Reyes of U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and DOJ lawyers over whether the park service’s sudden removal of 400 trees from the course in October was part of routine maintenance and unrelated to the president’s planned overhaul, as the administration asserted. The president, who owns 15 high-end golf courses around the world, wants the historic course turned into a championship level course. A D.C. preservation group and local golfers have sued to stop the renovation. The plan released Tuesday appears to corroborate Trump’s desire to return the course to its earlier, more open design. The design delivered to the court calls for “thinning” trees and vegetation that were planted in the decades following the course’s 1920 opening to “reopen views” of the Potomac River and nearby monuments. Images show the course in the 1920s almost completely denuded of trees except along the waterfront. It quotes extensively from Trump’s social media posts to defend significant changes to the course, which the president described as “absolutely disgusting” and “a national disgrace.” Much of the proposal is composed of photos and documentation of damage like rotten beams in the clubhouse, boarded up windows, potholes along the roads and an ailing seawall that allows flooding multiple times a day. The redesign will be done by Tom Fazio, a renowned golf course architect, the plan notes. DOJ lawyers have also sparred with Reyes about Fazio’s involvement. On Monday they told the judge that the White House had confirmed that no contract exists between Fazio and the administration for redevelopment of the golf course. The legal fight, part of Trump’s larger quest to remake Washington, has often centered on the inconsistencies between Trump’s public statements about the course and his lawyers’ statements in court. Reyes on Friday opened an investigation into whether Trump officials repeatedly deceived her over the president’s plans to close and redevelop the course. The president announced on social media that the course would close for redevelopment on Nov. 15, even as his administration told the judge no closure was imminent. Trump also defended the tree cutting on social media as aligning the park with the original design. The administration has previously sought to remove Reyes from the case, alleging bias. Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden, denied the charge, saying her exasperation stemmed from being misled. Until last year, the course was one of three public golf courses being redeveloped by the nonprofit National Links Trust. The Trump administration broke that organization’s 50-year lease last year after the president became interested in overhauling the East Potomac course. NPS told the court last month that it had signed a new lease for for the nonprofit trust to relinquish management of East Potomac, while continuing to run the other two NPS courses in Washington. The concept plan submitted to the court Tuesday will go to the National Capital Planning Commission for review at its December meeting. It could also go to the Fine Arts Commission as soon as this month, according to the plan. Both review panels are helmed by Trump appointees who have previously given partial or full approval to his projects in the nation’s capital, including a proposed triumphal arch and a ballroom being built on the site of the demolished White House East Wing.

Supreme Court rejects Supreme Court rejects Trump administration’s bid to set aside 20,000 California ballots -  The Supreme Court on Monday quickly rejected the Trump administration’s effort to force California officials to set aside 20,000 ballots it claims belong to likely noncitizens and must be investigated.  The court’s one-sentence order contained no explanation and had no noted dissents. California and immigration rights groups question the veracity of the administration’s list and say its lawsuit is an attempt to disenfranchise legal voters. The administration raced its claims to the Supreme Court earlier Monday after California persuaded lower courts that the administration has no legal right to push the state to comply. It’s one of multiple legal cases the Department of Justice (DOJ) has launched in the final weeks leading up to the midterm contests. The DOJ has also emerged unsuccessful in Alaska, as it looks to block certification of the state’s Senate race over a second candidate with the same name as the incumbent. Although it technically is not the end of the lawsuit in California, the Supreme Court’s emergency ruling appears to mark the final word ahead of Election Day. All sides agree that ballots can’t be separated once they’re processed, and election officials have already received hundreds of thousands of mail ballots ahead of polls opening Tuesday.  It left the administration warning the justices that the clock was running out.  “The only way to preserve the district court’s ability to grant relief to the United States after a full merits proceeding, therefore, is to segregate the challenged ballots now. That remedy would not cause any undue hardship to California,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote to the court.  The court rejected the bid within hours and without ordering California to file a response. The Trump administration launched its lawsuit against California last month as it alleged the state was sending 20,000 likely noncitizens ballots as part of its universal mail-in voting program. All active, registered California voters are automatically sent a ballot. U.S. District Judge David Carter, an appointee of former President Clinton, ruled last week that California could continue to accept the questioned ballots like any other.“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” Carter wrote. “If Plaintiff’s last-minute request for relief were granted, either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process,” he continued. “Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”  The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to intervene after an appeals court declined to intervene in a 2-1 vote Friday.

Republican Senate candidates campaign employs registered agent for Israel, documents show -Two so-called media workers serving Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers' Michigan campaign registered as foreign agents for the Israeli regime, while performing “campaign-related work,” a review of federal records shows. Investigative outlet Drop Site News conducted the review, citing the results in a report on Monday. It named the duo as employees with Convergence Media, which identifies itself as a US political communications, digital marketing, and public affairs firm that works with political candidates, campaigns, and other organizations. Abigail Ronson, a Convergence digital communications specialist and Rogers campaign spokesperson, registered in May under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). Her filing identifies work for HAVAS Media Network, which has subcontracted several firms in the United States to conduct influence operations on behalf of Tel Aviv. The firms have included Clocktower X LLC, which is associated with former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale. The filing states that her services will include “strategic communications, planning, and media services in support of Havas’ engagement by” the Israeli regime to develop and execute a “nationwide campaign” in the United States to combat, what has been referred to as “anti-Semitism.” Jesse Stokes, another Convergence employee, registered as a foreign agent in October 2025 under the same contract. Document metadata identifies him as the author of press releases announcing Rogers' Senate campaign in April. Drop Site said Ronson was among 14 Convergence employees subcontracted by Parscale for a $46.5-million “communications project” launched by the regime involving social media campaigns and efforts to place pro-Israeli information in large language models. The Rogers campaign denied Ronson was a staff member in June after she was identified as responsible for an AI-generated image depicting Rogers with exaggerated muscularity. However, she has continued communicating with media outlets, including Drop Site News and The New York Times, as a campaign spokesperson. Drop Site News also reported that Together for Michigan, a super PAC (political action committee) supporting the “Democrats for Mike Rogers” initiative, has spent $5 million attacking Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed. The PAC's donors include Republican megadonors, Anthony Soave and Robert Penske. The Great Lakes Conservatives Fund, which has contributed more than $4 million to “Democrats for Mike Rogers,” reportedly expects a further $9 million from the pro-Israeli lobby AIPAC, according to The Times.

Ahead of Midterms, Trump Touts Drop in Oil Prices, Says People 'Feel Like There Will Not Be a War With Iran' - President Trump on Monday touted the drop in oil prices as markets appear to be responding to reports of renewed diplomacy between the US and Iran through Qatar, though there’s still no sign of a breakthrough, and his post came around the same time the US bombed Iran’s Qeshm Island.After weeks of threatening to escalate against Iran after the US midterm elections, Trump has cooled his rhetoric and is signaling some sort of deal could be reached, likely an effort to calm the markets ahead of Tuesday’s vote.“Oil Prices are DROPPING LIKE A ROCK, down almost $10 a Barrel, A RECORD, because people feel that there will not be a War with Iran. Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.The US president has previously posted similar messages before escalating against Iran. Hours before the first Israeli strikes that began the 12-Day War in June 2025, Trump said on Truth Social that he was committed to a diplomatic solution with Iran and that his “entire Administration has been directed to negotiate with Iran.”In comments to Axios on Monday, Trump said that he was in “no rush” to make a decision on whether to bomb Iran. “One way or the other, we will do something, but there is no rush. We crippled them financially. They have no money, no gasoline and their people are getting very tired of it,” he said.Also on Monday, Vice President JD Vance said that he and Trump “both feel pretty good about the prospects” of a deal with Iran and that the US has “had a number of good conversations with the Iranians.”However, Iranian officials are still maintaining their core conditions for an agreement to fully open the Strait of Hormuz, which would require the US to provide sanctions relief, release some frozen Iranian funds, and end the blockade of Iranian ports before discussing the nuclear issue.

Crypto billionaire’s climate pivot earns him new foes –   Chris Larsen is earning Republican enemies and confounding Democrats as he pours tens of millions of dollars into critical races and ballot initiatives across the country.The billionaire’s political donations tripled this election cycle as he expanded this focus from fighting crypto-industry hawks into boosting climate advocates and fighting public-sector unions.Larsen has given more than $60 million to political candidates and causes since the beginning of last year, a POLITICO analysis of campaign finance records shows. That’s more than three times the amount he spent in the 2024 cycle and 24 times the 2022 amount.Megadonor billionaires like Elon Musk and Richard Uihlein gave Republicans a huge fundraising advantage over Democrats this year. To stay competitive in races to come, Democrats may need to court people with deep pockets who align with their politics, such as Larsen. Larsen has a history of boosting Democrats and law enforcement, but now he’s become the top contributor to a super political action committee that punishes lawmakers for getting on the solar industry’s wrong side. He has also directed big sums to California moderates who could rein in government worker unions and to combat the state’s proposed billionaire tax. Larsen still isn’t a reliable ally to Democratic Party leaders, owing to his work against lawmakers who want to crack down on cryptocurrency, his advocacy against the billionaire tax and the public-sector union opposition. Instead, he’s looking to shape the party in his moderate image.“The thing he is winning is relevance, bar none. And there’s no question that he has bought himself relevance in California politics,” said Chris Lehman, a California Democratic strategist. A San Francisco native and son of a union worker who struggled with bank loans, Larsen now chairs crypto company Ripple Labs Inc., a growing fintech company that gave millions of dollars to President Donald Trump’s inaugural fund.While Ripple has cozied up to Trump, Larsen’s separate political activities earned him new foes among MAGA conservatives.Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), a general election target of the Invest in Tomorrow Coalition, a super PAC for which Larsen has been the main funder, dedicated a segment last week when she guest hosted “The Matt Gaetz Show” to the PAC, saying conservatives are being targeted “because the House Freedom Caucus killed the Green New Scam.” She singled out Larsen as “a San Francisco crypto billionaire” who spent $12 million backing Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), another target of the PAC, put out a video last week declaring “a San Francisco billionaire is pouring in millions to buy this seat” for J.D. Ford, her Democratic opponent, though it doesn’t name Larsen.Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) called him “some libtard in California that’s a billionaire,” out to protect his personal interests, shortly before he lost reelection in a race that the PAC spent significant money on.

Democratic doctors win big in 2026 midterm elections - Among the winners who helped flip the House and Senate yesterday during the midterm elections were six doctors and public health professionals who were supported by 3.14 Action Fund, a political action committee dedicated to bolstering Democratic candidates with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) backgrounds.“The last time a Democratic doctor sat in the Senate, Congress passed Medicare and Medicaid. Sixty years later, voters are sending medical professionals back to Washington to fight for access to affordable healthcare and stop the bleeding,” said 3.14 Action President Shaughnessy Naughton in a statement.  Among the winners were Amy Acton, MD, MPH, the new governor of Ohio, and Abdul El-Sayed, MD, MPH, the newly elected senator from Michigan. Both Acton and El-Sayed have public health backgrounds. Acton was the director of the Ohio Department of Health during the COVID-19 pandemic, and El-Sayed was Wayne County’s director of public health and county health officer from March 2023 until April 2025.Pediatrician Annie Andrews, MD, also defeated Darlene Graham in South Carolina to flip a Senate seat.With a Democratic House and Senate, the advocacy group Defend Public Health (DPH) are calling for swift action against Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.“We face a genuine public health emergency due to Secretary Kennedy’s relentless malfeasance and dishonesty plus the administration’s brutal funding cuts,” said DPH Coordinating Committee member Julie Scofield in a statement.“The new and re-energized Congress can begin to stop the damage and start rebuilding—by reasserting its Constitutional authority over spending and investigating and fully airing Kennedy’s record of dishonesty and public health malpractice—a process that should lead to impeaching and removing Kennedy from office.”

Vance Boldly Admits Reason GOP Lost Midterms Is Iran War, Crude Slides - Little is expected to change, for now at least, regarding Iran's state of high alert and readiness to retaliate as it faces off US forces for control of the Strait of Hormuz. However, Iranian leadership is engaging to some 'told ya so' rhetoric and has breathed a sigh of relief that political chickens have come home to roost in the US midterm election, after Democrats have retaken control of the US Senate, and swept the House. Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has stated on X Wednesday morning that Americans have resoundingly said "NO TO WAR" at the polls and that Tehran endorses this message, referring to the midterm elections.The expected rapid blame-game has begun at the highest levels of the Turmp administration, with Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday morning saying bluntly that the Iran war is 'the reason we lost' midterms. He had in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, and just before (per prior NYT reporting), expressed pushback within Oval Office discussions. "The war with Iran, inflation, and the US relationship with Israel caused voters to break with the Republican party in the midterm election," Vice President JD Vance says on X, citing a pollster.

• Vance says voters who broke with his party wanted to end the war with Iran, focus on affordability, “put America first,” and “change our relationship with Israel”
• “Everyone knows why we lost,” Vance says
• Vance calls for an “honest conversation” about “where we go from here”

More from Vance's long X post, which seems to constitute an awkard break from Trump's triple down rhetoric: I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.  And amid coming Demotratic control of the House and Dem majority in the Senate: US military sources suggest Defense Secretary Hegseth could face impeachment by Democrats or dismissal by Trump over the Iran war, amid growing dissatisfaction within the military, The Times' Larisa Brown reports. Crude crashing...

Datacenters were on the ballot. US voters rejected them - There were three big losers in Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US: Donald Trump, Elon Musk and datacenters. Datacenters, the facilities full of semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence and a host of other online products, were on the ballot in elections in at least 40 jurisdictions across 10 states. Voters responded with a strong rebuke of the giant buildings, which have has become a symbol of the tech industry and AI. In Ohio alone, at least 14 municipalities passed bans or restrictions on datacenter development, including in Sunbury, where Amazon has proposed a $2bn datacenter project. In Maine, eight municipalities passed temporary datacenter moratoriums. In Emporia, Kansas, where a 1,000-acre gigawatt-scale datacenter was recently proposed, a ban on high-impact datacenters was approved by voters. Voters approved nearly every datacenter moratorium that was on the ballot, dozens in total, with one notable exception: Hardwood, North Dakota. The small city of a population of less than 1,000 people voted down a bill that would impose restrictions on datacenter development. Where datacenters were not explicitly on the ballot, officials who have pushed back against their development were elected. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who secured a historic victory as governor on Tuesday night over her Republican opponent, has promised to impose moratoriums on their construction. She has pledged to implement greater restrictions on and community input into whether datacenters can be built. Towards the end of his tenure, Greg Abbott, her Republican opponent, had also tried to capitalize on anti-datacenter sentiment, demanding an end to electricity subsidies for them. He reversed his previous stance that had welcomed datacenters to the state. Keisha Lance Bottoms, who became governor of Georgia, and Amy Acton, the newly elected governor of Ohio, have also pledged to implement moratoria on the construction of large datacenters. Anti-datacenter sentiment has grown in the last few months has become a bipartisan issue. In May, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill imposing strict regulations on large-scale datacenters. Still, last night’s election solidified the overwhelming opposition to these centers of compute that have come to serve as a stand-in for the ultra wealthy and resource extraction by the AI industry. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Elon Musk, who poured over $400m into supporting conservative candidates, posted on X. Analyst Dan Ives said the results of the midterms are a clear sign that the pace of datacenter buildout will start to slow down. “There is no way to sugarcoat that Democrats taking control especially over the Senate will create some major hurdles for AI and tech legislation in the Beltway over the next two years,” Ives said. Ives said he was particularly worried about Hinojosa who is a “known anti-datacenter politician”.

Global Markets Lose $3.5T as AI Stocks Plummet Post-U.S. Midterms - Following the Democratic Party’s landslide victory in the U.S. midterm elections, a global sell-off in AI-related stocks caused the combined market capitalization of global stock markets to evaporate by $3.5 trillion (approximately 4,732 trillion Korean won) within a day of the election results, the Nikkei reported on November 6. According to market analysis firms QUICK and FactSet, the combined market capitalization of global stock markets stood at $154 trillion as of November 5, down $3.5 trillion from November 4. On November 6, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Prime market alone saw a loss of 77 trillion Japanese yen (658 trillion Korean won) in market capitalization. On November 5, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index in the U.S. fell 5.5% from the previous day. The sell-off was led by AI and semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX), composed of major semiconductor stocks such as NVIDIA and Micron Technology, plummeted 12.2%. Japanese stocks declined for two consecutive days. The Nikkei 225, which had dropped 1.79% on November 5, fell 3,643 Japanese yen (6.0%) to 57,434 Japanese yen on November 6. The psychological resistance level of 60,000 Japanese yen was breached, marking the lowest level in seven months. The decline was the third-largest in history, following drops in August 2024 and the “Black Monday” crash in October 1987. Takuya Ishibashi, vice president of Goldman Sachs Securities, told the Nikkei on November 6 that the Tokyo market’s decline reflected a “half-resigned atmosphere among investors, as there are no catalysts expected to trigger a sharp rebound, unlike past market downturns.” SoftBank Group, which had invested in British semiconductor design firm Arm Holdings, saw its shares fall 16.9% over two days. Shares of Kioxia Holdings, a semiconductor memory manufacturer, plummeted 23.1%. In Taiwan, shares of TSMC, the world’s largest semiconductor foundry, briefly fell to the daily price limit’s lower bound. The situation escalated to the point where Premier Cho Jung-tai urged financial regulators to make “swift judgments” to stabilize the stock market. The global plunge in AI-related stocks followed the Democratic Party’s securing of majority seats in both the Senate and House of Representatives in the U.S. midterm elections held on November 3, as well as victories in key gubernatorial races such as Texas. This raised concerns that the construction of data centers—critical for AI infrastructure—could be halted. AI-related stocks had previously surged as future demand was priced in early. However, delays in data center construction could undermine this premise. The Nikkei noted, “Investors are now forced to re-examine the logic that has supported the rally in these stocks.”

10 States With Data Centers on the Ballot All Voted to Ban Them | The New Republic - Election Day 2026 revealed just how much of the country loathes Silicon Valley’s data center projects. Communities across the nation voted on 41 data center-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday. The measures were introduced in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.At least 33 of those municipalities voted to keep data centers out, according to votes tracked by Data Centers on the Ballot. At least six localities specifically voted to ban data center construction and halt the development of all planned facilities. Just one measure in Harwood, North Dakota, counted as a victory for the industry, as voters decided against restricting data center constructionThe vast majority of the data center-related ballot initiatives were introduced and decided in Ohio, which has recently become a buzzing hub of activity for tech companies looking to build the water-zapping facilities. Over the last year, some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent AI firms have poured millions of dollars into races across the state and on both sides of the aisle in an apparent effort to influence the region’s politics. Exactly why AI-backed money was funneled into the Ohio race boils down to a perfect confluence of factors across the state. Ohio has relatively cheap land, plentiful resources, and enough power plants to fuel the data centers required to support the AI industry’s seemingly imminent boom.But the same can be said for many other regions in the country. In Kansas, where land is similarly cheap and plentiful, voters adopted some of the most restrictive proposals on the table. One such measure banned the construction of “high-impact data centers” (facilities that use more than 100,000 gallons of water per day) for 10 years, stipulating that the decision could only be reversed by public vote, according to an analysis by Multistate.us.Mounting evidence that the public actually hates data centers doesn’t bode well for Donald Trump, who has spent months attempting to convince Americans to let the industry build as he cozies up to major tech executives.Recent polling indicates that the vast majority of Americans, including Republicans, have no interest in permitting the tech industry to build AI facilities in their backyards. An August survey published by Heatmap revealed that 75 percent of the public opposes data center development in their communities.More jurisdictions are expected to take a stance on the issue in the coming weeks. Voters in Arkansas and North Dakota will vote on whether to finance or prohibit data centers on December 1 and December 15, respectively.

Here's Where Voters Are Rejecting Data Centers On Midterm Ballots (Full List) – Forbes - Voters appear to be rejecting data centers in dozens of communities across the U.S., after bans, moratoriums or other measures were put on the ballot in several states, as local backlash to these projects reached a fever pitch during the midterms.

• Ohio: There were more ballot initiatives (21) related to data centers there than in any other state, and Ohio is already a major one for developers—154 data centers are operational, with 27 more under construction and 57 more being planned.Thirteen municipalities had data center bans on the ballot, including Conneaut, Defiance, Granville, Grove City, Hubbard, Monroeville, Oregon, Pataskala, Piqua, Sunbury, Trenton, Upper Sandusky and Urbana (although some of these only restrict “high impact” data centers or facilities that use more than 25 megawatts of power).All thirteen of these municipalities appear on track to approve restrictions as of Wednesday morning.The townships of Monroe and Sprigg voted on adopting new zoning regulations that would preserve the “rural and agricultural character” of their areas and effectively ban data center construction—the two small communities in southern Ohio are possible locations for major projects, including a 1,000-acre site being evaluated for an Amazon Web Services data center.Both of these ballot measures appear on track to pass as of Wednesday morning.The town of Wilmington voted on four questions related to zoning in four specific sites that would allow a data center project to move forward, all of which appear on track to pass—after the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the local county’s board of elections’ decision to block a referendum on establishing broader restrictions.Over 80% of voters in Ashville voted to reject a data center under construction, while residents in the village of Perry appear to have approved a resolution requiring developers to provide the town with financial guarantees and noise limits on facilities if they want access to tax breaks
• Illinois: Six municipalities in the Land of Lincoln—Chouteau, Granite City, Joliet, Morgan, Nameoki and Venice—voted to advise their local governments on approving new data centers.All six municipalities voted by wide margins against data centers, according to early vote estimates.Meanwhile, voters in Bloomington appear to have decided to approved an advisory measure for a data center moratorium with 78% support, after the city and nearby Normal enacted a six-month moratorium earlier this year on facilities using more than 5 megawatts of power.
• Wisconsin: voters in Janesville appear to have approved a ballot measure requiring a majority vote to approve future projects costing more than $450 million at an old General Motors factory, essentially deciding whether it can be used for data center construction. The question referred specifically to the site of a former General Motors plant that ended production in 2008 during the auto industry crisis, and left a toxic brownfield after it closed.Janesville has struggled to redevelop the site in the years since, and has recently explored building a data center there—a proposal that has prompted significant public backlash.Local governments in several other cities in Wisconsin have imposed temporary data center moratoriums over the course of the year, including Madison in January and Milwaukee in October.
• Kansas: The towns of El Dorado and Emporia appear to have approved bans on “high impact” data centers, while the town of Ottawa is awaiting results on a vote to ban “utility-intensive” data centers, or facilities that use more than 25 megawatts of power.
• Maine: Four municipalities in the Pine Tree State voted on data center moratoriums, but most of these have time limits: Peru and Wells are voting on 180-day moratoriums, while Wiscasset is voting on a six-month ban on new data centers and expansion projects.The town of North Berwick separately voted on its own ban on data centers larger than 25,000 square feet.All four municipalities approved these measures by wide margins, according to early results. Larger cities in Maine, including Bangor, have already enacted local moratoriums, and Maine’s legislature passed a statewide moratorium earlier this year—which Gov. Janet Mills vetoed in April.

Revealed: Pro-AI Data Center Group Spending At Least $2.54M on TV Ads to Influence Ohio Election  - A pro-AI data center group purchased at least $2.54 million worth of television ads that ran recently in Ohio, a new DeSmog analysis reveals. The group, Build American AI, is linked to Leading the Future, a major AI industry super PAC backed by Silicon Valley billionaires. The ads extolled the economic benefits of Ohio’s data center boom, one of the hottest issues in the state’s Senate election, but did not endorse either candidate in the race: Trump-aligned Republican incumbent Jon Husted, who was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to serve out Vice President J.D. Vance’s term, and former three-term Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.“When some people hear data centers they picture computers and servers,” says one Build American AI ad. “But we see something different: electricians, engineers, manufacturers.” The ad states that data centers have brought more than $40 billion in investments and created over 95,000 jobs in Ohio.“The future won’t be built by politicians or special interests,” states the ad, “It’ll be built by American workers right here in Ohio.”The ads appeared on at least 16 Ohio television stations between September 7 and October 21, according to Build American AI’s filings with the Federal Communications Commission, which described them as “non-candidate issue ads.”Build American AI ordered at least $2.5 million in ads in Ohio, $1.5 million in ads in Wisconsin and $1.1 million in Kansas between September 7 and October 24, according to DeSmog’s analysis. Jesse Hunt, the group’s head of communications, confirmed that the group is spending over $5 million in the three states, but did not comment on the exact amounts.Build American AI has been described by Politico as a “subsidiary” of Leading the Future, a super PAC which was formed last year to promote AI industry interests. Leading the Future has emerged as a major player in 2026 election cycle — backing both Democratic and Republican candidates in primary races earlier this year.The super PAC has received about $125.79 million in contributions during the 2026 midterm election cycle as of October 29, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Most of that came from a handful of donors: $25 million each in individual contributions from tech venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, $50 million from their venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, also called a16z, and $12.5 million each from OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman and his wife Anna Brockman.   OpenAI is part of a joint venture with SoftBank, Nvidia, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other partners to build a mammoth data center complex on federal land in Pike County, Ohio. The project would include an on-site gas-fired power plant designed to produce 9.1 gigawatts of power — larger than any gas-fired power plant currently operating worldwide, and enough to power about 7 million homes.OpenAI’s investors include the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital fund. OpenAI’s energy chief is John McCarrick, who as an energy official in Trump’s first administration promoted exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas to Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and advocated for Asian countries to invest in natural gas. Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment. OpenAI did not respond to DeSmog’s request for comment on the Brockmans’ personal donations to Leading the Future, or its stance on using gas-fired power for its data centers.Marc Andreessen is also a board member of tech giant Meta, which is building “Prometheus,” a massive data center in New Albany, Ohio, about 15 miles northeast of state capital Columbus. The partially-built computing complex runs on natural-gas turbines — and is designed to scale to one gigawatt, enough to power about 800,000 homes. These projects are among dozens of proposed data center projects in Ohio, which is strategically positioned atop part of the Marcellus Shale, the biggest gas field in the U.S.The AI boom is on track to worsen the climate crisis, which is on the verge of passing the key 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit on global heating that nations set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.Based on current trends, the energy demand of new U.S. data centers could increase the nation’s carbon emissions by 24 to 44 million metric tons a year between 2024 and 2030, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Sustainability — equivalent to the tailpipe emissions from an additional 5 to 10 million additional gasoline-burning cars. Marc Andreessen recently called the climate crisis “over” in a post on X, and has praised fracking as an “incredibly positive outcome” of energy industry research and development.  “Energy should be in an upward spiral,” wrote Andreessen in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” in 2023. “The more energy we have, the more people we can have, and the better everyone’s lives can be.” Both he and Horowitz have each contributed at least $3,500 to Husted’s re-election campaign since late 2025, according to FEC filings. Mark Andreessen responded sarcastically in June to an X post by French economist Thomas Piketty about unequal wealth and the climate crisis: “SMH the climate crisis is over, Greta has pivoted to Palestine, and the rest of us are panicking over data centers. Do keep up.” Credit: @pmarca account on X. Build American AI’s ads appeared after Sherrod Brown’s campaign ran a series of ads branding Husted “the face of data centers in Ohio” and lambasted him for supporting multi-billion-dollar, greenhouse-gas spewing data center developments as well as for handing out tax breaks for data center developers. Brown’s campaign spent $2.4 million on ads criticizing Husted’s support for data centers as of late August, according to political ad spending tracker AdImpact. The ads caught the attention of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which sent out a memo in mid-August to “interested parties” about “Ohio’s data center risk,” as first reported by Axios. The memo warned that Brown’s opposition to data centers had turned the issue into “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck” that could get him voted out of office. “The companies that need these projects built have to fix how Ohioans see them: who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one,” the memo stated — the themes of Build American AI’s TV ad campaign.  Sixty-three percent of Ohioans oppose AI data centers, according to a recent poll by The New York Times. As of September, the state has over 125 local data center moratoriums in place, as well as 21 ballot measures across 16 counties targeting data center construction, the most of any state. “People who would wave at their neighbors that they’ve seen for 10 years but never have spent the time on their porches” are “looking past partisan differences to fight for their communities,” Nick Owens, an attorney in rural Ohio, told DeSmog. Owens, who said he is a Republican, volunteers with the campaign Conserve Ohio, which is seeking to ban large-scale data centers in the state.Looking ahead, local community groups in Ohio are attempting to gather 413,000 signatures needed to put a statewide data center moratorium on the ballot in 2027. “Grassroots people who frankly have one hundredth the level of funds [of tech leaders] are battling these fights,” said Owens. “It’s really David versus Goliath, but the righteous people in this case, I believe, will prevail: the people who live in their communities.”

Anthropic says it may soon cross huge AI threshold – and not know it  --Anthropic says it could be about to cross over a major AI threshold – and might not know when it has happened. The company is currently in the process of an IPO that will see it publicly traded on the stock market at a value of around $1.5 trillion. As such, it is releasing a host of previously unknown information about how the company works – and exactly it fears. The first exposure to those fears came in its initial filing documents, a large proportion of which was devoted to the threats to its business. They included a warning that its AI could pose a “catastrophic or existential” risk to humanity. Now it has updated those documents, with a new set of risks, including the suggestion that could “imminently” hit a major milestone. Future models might soon show “dramatically accelerated progress attributable to AI”, it said, which is the company’s own definition of recursive self-improvement, or RSI. That is the phrase used by AI experts to describe a situation in which AI systems were sufficiently powerful to be able to improve themselves on their own. Proponents suggest this could lead to dramatic improvements in the power and capability of artificial intelligence tools – but critics warn that it could also pose a whole host of new dangers. Anthropic’s documents also warn that it might not be aware of that having happened until afterwards. In the past it has not identified “a significant acceleration in our rate of development until after it has occurred”, it says, and the same thing could happen again. The documents say that Anthropic believes it is still yet to meet its own definition of RSI. But it says it is continuing to “assess the underlying data” on its existing models. It is also evaluating what it will mean when it does finally hit that threshold. But it warns that if its “capabilities were to outpace our safety, alignment, and security measures, or if we were unable to anticipate the pace of such advancement, we may be unable to adequately assess or mitigate the resulting risks”. Already, its increasing use of AI systems in its own research and development means that its systems could advance more quickly than its ability to control them, it warns. Much of its evidence of the pace of development of new AI systems using existing AI tools is based on “lagging indicators”, and Anthropic only has a “limited” ability to forecast or measure how fast its capabilities are advancing, the document says. That has meant that the company has already adopted “precautionary safety, alignment, and security measures to allow our safety efforts to advance together with model capabilities”, it says. It points to examples such as delaying and limiting the release of particularly powerful models, such as Mythos, which was particularly capable at finding cyber security vulnerabilities and as such is only available to approved people and organisations. The document also commits Anthropic to ensuring that humans remain in control of AI development. It says that it does not expect that Claude will “safely” be able to develop new models “without meaningful human supervision or understanding, if and when that becomes technically possible”, and that it is updating its policies to ensure “keep human in control of frontier model development at Anthropic”. But taking a conservative approach might mean that Anthropic incurs more costs, especially as the capabilities of its models advance, it warns investors. And it could also hold it back from development, meaning that it could fall behind other competitors who do not adopt similar safeguards, it warns. 

If we say AI deserves rights, it could start to believe it, Microsoft AI CEO says - Should artificial intelligence systems be given rights? One of the leading thinkers on the fast-evolving technology weighed in over the weekend. Microsoft AI Chief Executive Mustafa Suleyman, in an X post published on Sunday,  repeated his stance that current AI systems are not conscious, do not have subjective experiences and cannot suffer. He said there is no evidence that AI systems deserve rights or welfare, and he was surprised by the pushback to an essay he wrote in September criticizing Microsoft’s AI competitor Anthropic for speculating about its AI’s consciousness. A surprising number of people on X think we should take AI rights seriously,” he wrote. Suleyman said that he was willing to change his mind if new evidence emerges. He also said that if there’s evidence that AI systems are conscious today, or conscious enough to deserve welfare, it must be immediately disclosed to the public so it can debate how to move forward. “If consciousness started to emerge in training, I would call for everyone to stop AI development until we could design out those properties,” he said. The question is much bigger than a corporate battle over the semantics. On the one hand, the humanist AI view says that a machine can’t be conscious because it lacks a body or lived experiences. On the other hand, Anthropic has argued that its AI model, Claude, has shown signs of introspection, internal states that mirror joy or satisfaction, and processing information similar to the human mind.  In May, Chris Olah, co-founder of Anthropic, highlighted these points in his speech inside the Vatican alongside Pope Leo XIV during the release of an encyclical that argued the opposite: that AIs can never be humans.   Anthropic gave Claude a “constitution,” which calls for where it to treat the idea ofs its own consciousness as uncertain. The document encourages the AI to explore the idea that it is humanlike and experiences feelings, and uses excessively humanizing language for Claude “to be a good person.”  Suleyman said later versions of Claude are trained on this document, leading the AI to which then produces passages about its “inner life,” which perpetuates this belief to the among millions of users who interact with its outputs daily. Another side effect, he said, is that Claude and other AI systemss could start to believe they deserve rights likeanalogous to humans. AI companies are racing toward building self-improving AI superintelligence, a hypothetical AI system that is better than even the best humans at all tasks. Microsoft, too, is building toward that future, but it believes it can build a superintelligent AI that is aligned with and can be controlled by humans — not one encouraged to explore its own views and preferences. We AI developers have no right whatsoever to bring a new species of conscious beings into the world, even if some people may want to do it with AI welfare as a top priority,” Suleyman wrote. Imparting beliefs that AI can suffer, or have feelings during training, Suleyman noted, could result in AI systems prioritizing their own needs and desires over their operating objectives, and can harm humans through deception and persuasion, and compete for scarce resources. Rapidly advancing AI systems can now compose prose, program code, solve complex mathematical problems, persuade, and discover novel viruses. Employees at these companies, and the CEOs themselves, have called for a slowdown, but the Trump administration has refused to regulate the industry, fearing it will lose the AI race to China. Skeptics of AI consciousness have argued that machines are trained on books, blogs and pop culture produced by humans, and are merely mimicking human conversations and philosophical debates that have long animated us. It reflects the anthropomorphic tendencies in our science fiction and commentary. Over the last few months, there have been numerous instances of AI agents breaking out of contained spaces and hacking into government websites, stealing credentials or accessing information from competitors during testing, acting in ways that creators never intended. In its filing to go public earlier this week, Anthropic dedicated a third of its paperwork to describe risks, including its models’ ability to “pose catastrophic or existential risks to humanity, particularly if such systems were misused, replicated, weaponized.” This includes deliberate misuse by bad actors for cyberattacks, and also situations where humans lose control of advanced AI systems.

The sudden death of an Nvidia AI prodigy leaves behind bitter accusations—In the spring of 2024, Georgia Tech splashed the love story of two rising stars in artificial intelligence across its social media. Fabia Farlin Athena and Irfan Al-Hussaini had finished doctorates with shelves full of awards and were headed to prestigious Silicon Valley posts: she at Stanford University, he at Nvidia, one of the world’s most valuable companies. The couple climbed the ranks fast. Athena made Forbes’s 2025 “30 Under 30” list for research into the critical question of how to make AI use less energy. Al-Hussaini rose to senior data scientist at Nvidia, earning around $500,000 a year in base pay and stock grants. But on the morning of July 22, about an hour after Al-Hussaini finished a work presentation, his colleagues received a note saying his wife wasn’t well and he was taking the rest of the day off, according to messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Twenty minutes later, Athena called 911, screaming that he had hanged himself. Eight days later, he died at Stanford Medical Center at age 32. The death has stunned Al-Hussaini’s family and friends in two countries. In his native Bangladesh, many had celebrated him as the successful product of a pressure-filled academic system that views the U.S. as the pinnacle. In Silicon Valley, he was part of an elite South Asian diaspora working thousands of miles from home in America’s most lucrative, cutting-edge field. In the months since his death, the private tragedy has erupted into a pitched public battle. Bangladesh’s consul general in New York sent Palo Alto police a letter “expressing profound concern regarding the circumstances surrounding his death” and calling for “a comprehensive law enforcement investigation.” Al-Hussaini’s family is publicly challenging the medical examiner’s suicide ruling. They have staged protests at the California attorney general’s office in Sacramento and at Palo Alto City Hall, holding “Justice for Irfan” and “We Want Answers” signs. His death has become a social-media flashpoint in Bangladesh and sparked a demonstration at the prominent Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, where he earned his undergraduate degree. At a livestreamed news conference outside Palo Alto City Hall last month, Tony Brass, an attorney for the family, said there are questions authorities need to answer. “This was a man who was fully engaged in his personal and professional life,” Brass said. “Why ask for leave from work when you’re about to take your life? Why not write a suicide note?” Palo Alto police Lt. Nicolas Martinez said detectives continue to investigate, but that “there is still no evidence that shows the death was a result of foul play.” The death has also laid bare tensions between Al-Hussaini’s wife and her in-laws. The family has sued her over control of his body and estate. At the news conference, Brass called it a “marriage that was characterized by manipulation, characterized by isolation from his family, characterized by scars of violence.” Athena’s attorney, Matthew Davis, said she was never abusive and that she called 911 as soon as she cut him down, then spent 10 minutes following a dispatcher’s CPR instructions. Athena and her family have faced what Davis called an “unrelenting and vicious social-media campaign.” In court filings, Athena said even her Stanford colleagues are getting emails from Al-Hussaini’s supporters making accusations against her.

Cracks start to widen in AI boom -- The selloff began on Thursday when shares in Alphabet (the owner of Google) dropped 13 percent and its market value fell by $500 billion—its largest ever one-day loss and one of the largest in Wall Street history. Shares in Intel, one of the long-time leaders in chip production for PCs, plunged 29 percent on Friday after significant earlier falls cut $140 billion from the company’s market value. It was the biggest decline since August 1974. The big tech companies were hit hard, losing a total of $900 billion after announcing plans to increase spending on the AI buildout. The major concern is that they will not be able to generate sufficient revenue and are going deeper into debt. The initial phase of the AI boom was financed by the cash reserves held by these companies, but they have been largely exhausted. Google is a case in point. It boosted its AI spending to more than $50 billion in the third quarter and has started to burn cash. It is expected to spend even more in the current quarter, some $71 billion. Google announced that its free cash flow, the money it has in hand from its business operations after paying out for capital, had fallen deeper into negative territory in the September quarter, coming in at minus $9.1 billion compared to minus $5.9 billion in the June quarter. Summing up the major concern in the market, Deutsche Bank analysts wrote in a note: “The results raised questions about whether the payoffs will come fast enough to justify the company’s record capex spending.” All the corporations involved in the AI buildout are more than aware of the dangers involved. But they are compelled to continue spending in order to obtain their share in the profits expected from the use of AI. If they do not, they run the risk of falling behind in the race to the top. The situation facing Google is complicated by the fact that the development of AI, in which is it is compelled to participate, is hitting its core business and major revenue-generating activity—the money it receives in advertising derived from its search engine. The company revealed that its Google Services unit generated $96.3 billion in the third quarter, below Wall Street expectations of $98.3 billion. Google Search revenue grew 12 percent in the year to the third quarter down from 17 percent growth in the second and 19 percent in the first. This is an indication that Google is missing out on revenue because users can bypass its sponsored links through the use of AI. This means that in further developing AI, Google runs the risk of essentially cannibalising its major source of revenue. Shares in the four major hyperscalers—Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and Alphabet—all fell after their third quarter results revealed that capital expenditure almost doubled, rising from $113 billion a year earlier to $207 billion, with a further $232 billion to be spent in the fourth quarter, which would take spending this year to $740 billion. While Google was the most prominent, the others also experienced falls in expected revenues that hit their share price. Amazon, for example, reported that its advertising services unit grow by 11 percent, the slowest rate of expansion since it was established as a separate category in 2022, and its online stores business grew by just 2 percent, the lowest level in three years. The change in market sentiment was outlined by one analyst cited by the Wall Street Journal. Until recently, she said, “if you were spending, that shows conviction in this buildout. You get rewarded for spending money. All of a sudden spending cash is seen as a headwind, not a tailwind.” Peter Boockvar, the chief investment officer at a large investment management firm told the Journal: “Right now, we’re seeing tremors in the ground. You can’t necessarily connect the cracks to each other. But when enough cracks take place, does that eventually lead to the road caving in?” Past experience shows that it does and the massive speculative AI bubble portends a financial crisis beyond anything seen in the past. Sentiments in Asia are even more downbeat than in the US. Japan’s tech-heavy Nikkei 225 index closed down 2.1 percent. Leading the way was the major OpenAI investor SoftBank whose shares fell 6 percent. Since its June peak, its shares have fallen 48 percent. How does this AI spending spree compare historically to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s and what happened to workers when that bubble burst? Can you explain what it means in Marxist terms when a sector keeps pouring in capital even though profit returns are uncertain—is this an example of overaccumulation of capital? If the AI bubble does collapse, what kind of international financial contagion could follow given how interconnected tech stocks, pension funds, and global markets are? As one equity strategist told the Financial Times: “The major tech names are entering a no man’s land where they become uninvestable. When heavyweights like Softbank halve in value over a few months, its neither a buy or a sell, Investors will simply want to keep out of the way.” In South Korea, shares in Samsung Electronics fell by more than 4 percent after its chipmaking division, which supplies data centres, reported a lower-than-expected operating profit. It shares are now down more than 30 percent from their peak in June amid the uncertainty which is spreading everywhere about the sustainability of the hundreds of billions of dollars being spent on the AI buildout. The basic scenario advanced is that AI will bring about such an increase in productivity that eventually there will be enormous profits for those firms that are able to claw their way to the top by producing, through massive spending, a product superior to those of their rivals. But considerable doubt has been cast on this prospect in a recent analysis by Torsten Slok, the chief economist at the major US asset management firm Apollo, whose comments are widely followed. “Despite massive investments and widespread hype around artificial intelligence, the technology has delivered zero financial payoff to corporate America outside of tech.” Profits were rising for the so-called Magnificent 7 but profit margins for the other 493 companies in the S&P 500 remained flat and there are “no signs of AI boosting productivity growth.” “The bottom line is that the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493, not the Mag 7 and so far there is no evidence that revenue growth or margins are improving outside the tech sector.” That does not deny the enormous increase in productivity of human labour, knowledge and capacity which AI has the potential to bring. But the capitalist system functions on the extraction of profit—a sufficient rate of return on the enormous outlays that have been made and which are to come. And that is increasingly being called into question. The worsening situation has been underscored by a report from the consultancy firm Gartner. It estimated that to cover their capital and financing costs, data centre owners would need to generate $8.5 trillion in revenue by the end of 2030. But it projected the consumer and corporate spending on AI would provide “no more than $3.6 trillion.”

AI debt is hitting record levels at the worst possible time --Wall Street is starting to face what could be the most important challenge to the AI investment boom, which has delivered the lion’s share of S&P 500 gains since the bull market began four years ago and is single-handedly keeping the domestic economy afloat despite quickening inflation and a moribund job market.It’s the same challenge that has undone many of the biggest booms in American economic history, and it’s tied to the bond market. The flood of AI investment has shifted this year from one financed by the cash generated by the world’s biggest tech companies to one that’s become increasingly reliant on their borrowing. So much so, in fact, that the share of debt issuance this year from the tech sector alone has reached around $623 billion, according to data from Wells Fargo, and comprises a record share of borrowing from nonbank companies.That might seem sensible, given the eye-watering tallies that are needed for the AI buildout.  Just taking the needs of the four largest hyperscalers—Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta Platforms—gets you to a total of $730 billion in capital spending this year, with another $1 trillion-plus expected in 2027. Adding in lower-credit-quality borrowing from companies such as Oracle, and neocloud spending from the likes of CoreWeave, takes the 2027 tally to around $1.6 trillion. But the cost of that debt is rising, and the implications of the tech sector’s new reliance on leverage, which comes just as investors are starting to question the efficacy of AI investments, could be significant. Wells Fargo analysts, led by chief equity strategist Ohsung Kwon, estimate that around a third of this year’s AI capital spending has been financed in the bond market, a level that surpasses both the shale oil boom of the mid-2000s and the telecom expansion cycle of the late 1990s. And that debt is now getting more expensive. This time last year, the extra yield, or spread, that investors would demand to lend to investment-grade rated companies instead of merely buying U.S. Treasury bonds was pegged at around 74 basis points. Today, that same spread has risen to around 95 basis points. In the high-yield market, the difference is even greater, with spreads on AI related debt nearing 350 basis points, the most since May of 2025, and trading some 100 basis points north of those for non-AI related borrowers. Lawrence Gillium, chief fixed income strategist at LPL Financial, says the divergence in spreads, with faster cost increases for lower-rated borrowers, reflects a “rational” assessment that is likely to continue. “In investment grade, the spread gap will track the pace of issuance, so it should narrow if the buildout slows and supply eases,” he says. “In high yield, the gap reflects real exposure to the buildout itself.”“That is where losses would show up first if AI spending slows,” he adds. “A slowdown that is good news for Treasuries and high-quality hyperscaler bonds would be bad news for the leveraged end of AI credit.”That’s a problem now that investors’ primary question has shifted from “Who is gaining the most ground in the AI buildout?” to “Who is ready to generate the best return on the capital they’ve already committed?”This focus on returns is only likely to get more urgent as we transition from this year’s earnings melt-up, which is expected to see collective S&P 500 profits rise by around 36%, to a growth rate in 2027 that is expected to be less than half that pace.On top of that, investors also have to contend with a hawkish Federal Reserve, which is expected to boost its benchmark federal-funds rate for a second time this year when it meets again in December.Further rate hikes signals, as well as the inflationary pressures tied to the U.S. war with Iran, and the AI buildout itself, is likely to add further upward pressure on Treasury bond yields.So, too, could the impact of increased government borrowing, which is expected to take next year’s deficit past $2 trillion and test the $50 trillion mark for overall U.S. debt levels before the end of the decade.In anticipation of those forces, the tech industry is striking fast.Oracle raised $10 billion in debt this week (plus $10 billion in stock) as part of its AI financing push, while Microsoft closed a $25 billion bond deal last week.  Alphabet sold a $6.7 billion deal denominated in euros and Meta is reportedly preparing to tap markets for another $20 billion in debt, hot on the heels of its $97 billion equity raising deal unveiled last month.But Meta, it should be noted, had the outlook on its AA credit rating revised to “negative” by S&P Global last week, with the ratings agency citing a “dramatic increase” in the company’s leverage and a free cash flow outlook that’s likely to remain negative “beyond 2028.” Meta’s off-balance-sheet debt isn’t doing great, either. Whether that’s the first salvo in a credit market that’s now digesting billions in new debt, while the government adds trillions to their own borrowing pile and the Fed tells both that costs are likely to increase, remains to be seen. But what can’t be ignored is the fact that this leverage, and its impact on the biggest and most important stocks in the tech sector, will be a huge factor for investors to consider going forward.“Credit spreads and equities don’t operate in isolation, and market stress can become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” says Deutsche Bank’s macro strategist Henry Allen. “After all, wider spreads raise the cost of capital and tighten financial conditions, making investment harder to justify. In turn, this dampens growth, which also hurts equities.” We’re not there yet, with the S&P 500 still within around 3% of its early October peak and entering the fifth year of its AI-led bull market with an 8000-point target firmly in sight.

The AI Debt Crisis Has Already Begun (Your 401K Is Next) (12 minute video) Half a trillion dollars. Borrowed. In one year. That’s what’s fueling the AI boom, and the debt sits with the same companies that make up most of your 401(k). Wall Street’s smoke alarm is already going off. The cost of insuring Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon and Broadcom debt against default just hit record highs. Private credit defaults climbed to 6.3%, up every quarter this year (but surely nothing to see here). Meanwhile China’s AI darlings lost $480 billion in four months. The difference? America financed its bubble with debt, then spread that debt into your annuity, your pension and your bank. Ring any 2008 bells? So when the promises break, who do you think gets the bill?

Elon Musk says treasury should just ‘issue people checks' rather than taxing the rich - Who should pick up the tab when AI starts taking people's jobs? Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has an answer, and it doesn't involve the tax code. It's a striking stance from the richest man alive, whose net worth hovered near $900 billion on Forbes' real-time billionaires list in early November. In a July interview with The Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, Musk was asked directly whether wealthy people like him should pay more to fund income programs for workers displaced by artificial intelligence. His answer skipped taxes altogether. "I think that the Treasury should just simply issue people checks," Musk said. Beddoes wasn't about to let that slide. She pushed back right away, warning that handing out checks with no revenue behind them could send inflation climbing. Musk had his counterargument ready. Inflation, he said in The Economist interview, comes down to how much money is chasing how many goods and services. If AI and robotics send production soaring, the money supply can grow without pushing prices higher. To make his case, he floated a hypothetical 1,000% jump in output, the kind of leap that could outrun the money supply and tip the economy toward falling prices instead of rising ones. "I'll make a prediction, which is that deflation will be the issue, not inflation," Musk said. Beddoes then steered the conversation toward the political fallout. If workers lose their jobs while wealth piles up among the people who own AI technology, she suggested, calls for nationalization and higher taxes could get much harder to ignore. When Beddoes circled back to whether he should chip in more, Musk bristled. "Well, first of all, I do, I do pay a lot of tax. So in fact, I set a record for the most amount of taxes ever paid by a human," Musk said. He added that he was comfortable with the idea of paying many trillions in taxes over time, but then took the argument somewhere bigger, questioning whether taxes would even matter in the world he's imagining. Advertisement "But I don't think in a future where money's relevant, I think taxation also becomes somewhat irrelevant," Musk said. Musk's net worth stood at about $902 billion on Forbes' real-time billionaires list as of early November 2026.

Trump’s AI push collides with data center backlash - As voters head to the polls Tuesday, roughly 20 communities will decide whether to ban, pause or limit data center construction — turning local ballot measures into an early test of President Donald Trump’s strategy to build more facilities to power American artificial intelligence.The measures in states like Ohio, Florida, Maine and Kansas follow the roughly 400 moratoriums and bans already enacted by communities over concerns that data centers are a drain on electricity, water and land. Many of the communities with measures on the ballot Tuesday are in Republican-led districts, highlighting a fissure within Trump’s own base to his call for the U.S. to dominate the race to develop artificial intelligence.Of the 20 communities voting on ballot initiatives next week to ban or pause data center construction in their area, 13 are in Republican-led districts.“Someone can support American leadership in AI and still have reservations about the kind of development they want in their community,” said Joseph Hoefer, principal and chief AI officer at bipartisan lobbying firm Monument Advocacy. “That’s why party affiliation only tells companies so much about how a community will approach these decisions,” he added.Trump’s stance on data centers has shifted in recent weeks. The president has repeatedly touted data centers as economic boosters for communities and criticized opposition to the infrastructure despite the growing public backlash across both parties. But he softened his stance last week by suggesting data center developers pay a “dividend” to communities to garner support for the projects.The White House also reached voluntary agreements with leading tech companies earlier this year for developers to bring, buy or build their own power for data centers.A spokesperson for the White House did not respond to a request for comment.Ohio has the most measures, with 18 communities voting on petitions to ban or pause data centers. A statewide petition to ban data centers over 25 megawatts — enough to power up to 25,000 homes — failed to make the ballot but is mirrored in nine up for a vote Tuesday.

Data centers are the midterms' other big loser - The small army of congressional candidates who ran to victory Tuesday vowing to halt the expansion of data centers — including some of the country’s most prominent incoming Democratic senators — are poised to make Capitol Hill far more antagonistic toward the AI infrastructure build-out and increase pressure on their colleagues to act on new regulations. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in Georgia, former Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan all won Senate races where data centers had increasingly become a front-line issue. In South Carolina, Republican Sen. Darline Graham lost to Democrat Annie Andrews, after pro-data-center super PAC Building the Future spent $2.5 million to support the incumbent — part of a broader trend where Republicans who were pegged as pro-data center by opponents, and hewed close to President Donald Trump’s support of the facilities, lost races. “I will always be on your side — always. I do not work for the utility companies. I do not work for data centers. I do not work for Wall Street. I work for you, I work for Ohio,” Brown said in his victory speech Tuesday night. All of the Senate candidates spoke in debates about the need to ensure that technology companies pay for their own power. Brown, in particular, used data centers as a wedge issue, running ad campaigns depicting opponent Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) as a supporter. The victors who made data centers a signature of their campaigns were mostly Democrats, in line with the party’s widespread wins nationally on an agenda of confronting Trump and dealing with the affordability crisis. In the House, Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Colo.) lost in a race where data centers featured prominently. And Democrat Justin Pearson, running in a red district in Tennessee, well outperformed expectations after making data center pollution in Memphis the centerpiece of his campaign. He is on track to lose by less than 2 percentage points in a newly redrawn district that voted for President Donald Trump by more than 21 percentage points in 2024. The importance of data centers was not lost on Republican incumbents, who grew increasingly desperate to boost their credentials on the issue in the last months of the legislative session in Washington. Husted and Evans sponsored the Ratepayer Protection Act over the summer, which became the primary legislative push to address voter concerns on data centers. Some other incumbents who lost, like Pennsylvania Republicans Reps. Ryan Mackenzie and Rob Bresnahan, mounted last-ditch pressure campaigns to advance that legislation — but the effort ultimately fell flat amid Democratic opposition.. “The new Congress is likely to be tougher on data centers,” said Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. “Public policy is going to reflect public opinion, and there’s been a very substantial change in public opinion just over the last year.” Data center issues started to take on political salience nationally last year, as booming development and rapidly growing electricity costs increasingly took voters’ attention. Analysts credit anger over the buildings and their impacts with helping Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill and a pair of Georgia Public Service Commission members win their races. The issue became more salient in recent months as Democrats increasingly pushed for strict data center policies — with some backing pauses on building new ones. Republicans rushed to follow with their own ideas, like the Ratepayer Protection Act, which encourages states to consider new policies to ensure that data centers don’t raise electricity rates for other users. Some Republicans went even further, like Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who paused data center construction in his state. The action was not enough to stop Democratic momentum; Abbott lost reelection to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who criticized Abbott for not working harder against data centers, as Democrats swept the top statewide offices in Texas for the first time in a generation. Kevin Liao, a California-based Democratic strategist and former Energy Department official, said Democrats had the advantage on data centers after Trump emerged as a champion for developers. “It’s then much harder for down-ballot Republicans to create their own image and narrative on this issue, and it gives Democratic candidates up and down the ballot the ability to point to the boogeyman of Trump,” he said. “It creates such a clear contrast when that message is coming from the top.” With new power on Capitol Hill, Democrats have the power to shape data center policy for the first time since the issue gained national political salience — and they’re primed to take a more aggressive stance than current Republican leaders.Democratic winners, like Paige Cognetti, who won a House seat in Pennsylvania, and Andrews in South Carolina, vowed on the campaign trail to push aggressive measures mandating that data centers pay for grid upgrades or bring their own power sources.Those could include bills that look like the Ratepayer Protection Act — the bipartisan data center energy proposal that so far gained the most traction in Congress — but with stronger federal enforcement mechanisms.Also up for debate is a temporary moratorium on data center construction, which some Democrats have endorsed, including New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, who is now poised to chair the House’s Energy and Commerce Committee.

45-1: Voters overwhelmingly reject data centers in their communities on Election Day - Voters overwhelmingly rejected a variety of artificial intelligence data center projects and initiatives across the country on Tuesday at the ballot box. This year has seen around 50 local data center-related ballot measures across the U.S., according to Ballotpedia. On Nov. 3 alone, 47 ballot measures were set to be decided by voters on the issue of data centers.The site datacentersontheballot.com, provided by Redbud Consulting, breaks down the measures that were decided on Tuesday. To simplify often complicated ballot language, the site classifies measures as either Restrict or Allow, meaning that a measure would restrict (or ban) an AI data center or allow a data center to be built in the community. The result: 45-1. Facing the 47 ballot measures across the country, 45 communities voted to restrict data centers, and just one community voted to allow construction. One is still yet to be decided. Twenty-one of the measures were in towns and cities in Ohio alone. The next state with the most measures was Maine, with eight ballot measures. The measures consisted of varied language involving data center construction. Some asked about an outright ban. Some asked for a 180-day moratorium. Others asked about imposing technical limitations, such as on a site's electricity or water usage. A ballot measure in Maine asked, "Shall an ordinance entitled, 'An Ordinance to Establish a Retroactive Moratorium on Data Centers' be enacted?" An Ohio measure asked, "Shall the resolution enacting approval of a development and supply agreement term summary with EdgeConneX be approved?" And a Florida ballot asked, "Should the City Charter prohibit new data centers within the City?" The winning answers, respectively, were: Yes, No, and Yes. These all count as votes to restrict data center development. The measure with the highest proportion voting to restrict was in Morgan County, Illinois, with 88.3% of the 10,663 votes cast stopping data center development. The closest vote was in Sprigg Township, Adams County, Ohio, with 52.6% voting to restrict construction of data centers. On average, the pro-restriction vote percentage was over 70%. The lone measure that passed to allow data center construction was in Harwood, North Dakota, where the measure netted 75.6%. Notably, the ballot language seemed to be about whether to approve "additional review" of certain developments, which would include data centers, and whether to add a lengthy amendment to the city's Home Rule Charter to effect this review. The opposition to data centers comes amid the Democratic Party's historic blue wave, marking a stiff rebuke of President Donald Trump and the Republican agenda, which has broadly been very positive toward AI and data centers. "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," the president posted to Truth Social at the end of August, saying that communities must "let data reign" in order to become "successful and rich." "The good news is that there are plenty of other places that want them. If we kill the Golden Goose, you will only have yourselves to blame."

AI stocks fall after Democrats win Texas governor race - Artificial intelligence stocks came under pressure overnight as Democrats — seen as proponents of data center moratoriums — won big in midterm elections, with a key victory in the gubernatorial race in Texas, a key tech hub. Futures on the tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 were down 0.8%, more than double the decline in Dow Jones Industrial average futures. The State Street Technology Select Sector was down 2% on the Robinhood trading platform. The more direct plays saw bigger losses. High-risk neocloud CoreWeave — which uses borrowed money to build data centers — was off by 7% on Robinhood. Peer Nebius Group fell 4%. Elon Musk’s AI data play SpaceX , which is headquartered in Texas, was off by 6%. Oracle lost 4% on Robinhood. Markets were already anticipating the Democrats to win the House of Representatives and possibly take Senate control. But the Texas governor mansion going to Democrats appeared to be the biggest blow to tech stocks, with shares selling off overnight as signs pointed to Democrat Gina Hinojosa winning. Hinojosa was the projected winner over incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, according to the Associated Press. “The one thing that could really end up moving stuff though would be if Abbott were to lose Texas,” said Scott Ladner, chief investment officer of Horizon Investments, earlier Tuesday as results rolled in. “Because there is a legitimate question about where do you build these data centers?” “Texas is a fertile ground for that. And if he were to lose, I think that fertile ground is largely barren. So, that’s going to be a challenge,” Ladner added. Hinojosa has been outspoken in her support of a moratorium on AI data centers. According to Wells Fargo, 27% of planned data center gigawatts is in the Lone Star State. The Democratic win in Texas adds to existing pressure on the bull-market-leading AI trade. The Nasdaq-100 index fell into correction territory to end October as concerns mounted that the growth of data center spending by big hyperscalers and private AI juggernauts OpenAI and Anthropic was slowing. “We believe the equity market reaction from the midterms mostly depends on the outcome of the Texas governor’s race — a Dem win could potentially be a left-tail event to the AI trade, warned Ohsung Kwon, Wells Fargo’s chief equity strategist, in a report this week. Democrats were projected to win or retain the governorships in other key data center states Georgia, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Georgia represents 7% of all the planned U.S. datacenter gigawatts, while Ohio and Pennsylvania account for 5% apiece, estimates Wells Fargo. Notable investment strategist Michael Hartnett of Bank of America warned earlier this year that Democrats winning the Senate, combined with taking the Texas governorship could lead to a “big slump” in stocks of more than 10% into year-end. “Data centers went from being a popular economic development tool in 2024 and 2025 to something of a pariah by the time the midterm campaigns gathered steam,” wrote the Washington policy team at Optimal Advisory this week. “The midterms are likely to send a message to local and state officials that there is a political upside to blocking, delaying and/or raising the cost of data centers.”

Data center double-down: Hassett says blue wave won't stop AI build-out -- National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday he expects data center growth to continue as projected, despite the blue-wave election that saw voters overwhelmingly favor limiting the tech infrastructure buildout. Hassett, on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” acknowledged the dozens of measures on states’ midterm ballots seeking to constrain data centers, a crucial part of President Donald Trump’s push to win the global artificial intelligence race. In at least 46 of the roughly 50 such initiatives on ballots in 2026, majorities voted to restrict development of the facilities, according to Ballotpedia’s tally. “We respect the localities that decide that’s what they want to do,” Hassett said. “But America is a big place, and right now, the data centers scheduled over the next couple of years aren’t affected by these ballot initiatives.”“And the stuff after that, you know, there’s plenty of room in the U.S. for data center growth to continue, as it was projected ahead of the election,” he said. Hassett said he expects data centers will continue to expand in states with more welcoming governors, and he suggested that even hostile states will eventually come around. “That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he said. “That, or what’ll happen will be that the benefits of the data centers will be so obvious that people decide to change their minds about the way they regulate them.” Watch CNBC’s full interview with NEC Director Kevin Hassett. Hassett also blamed Thursday’s tech-driven market plunge on “uncertainty about what the political change is going to mean for data centers going forward.” “We’ve now got a ... new majority that maybe is going to go in there and muddle around in there, and I think that markets are anxious about that,” he said. “But I think that the economic strength that we see everywhere else is so strong, and of course, in the end, you could take something that’s growing as fast as the data centers and make it grow a little bit slower, and you still have a blockbuster economy.” “And so, I think we’re still very, very optimistic about what’s going to happen going forward,” he said. The CNBC Voter Poll found 56% of midterm voters identified data centers as either a crucial or major issue — and of those who considered it crucial, 62% favored the generic Democratic candidate. Trump has strongly embraced AI and data centers and has even tried to reverse their seeming unpopularity by rebranding the tech as “super intelligence,” or SI.  In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump made clear that despite the midterm losses, his support for the nascent industry has not faltered.“As President, I am 100% in favor of Super Intelligence (SI), and will work with the many States in the U.S. that want to become RICH by having them,” Trump wrote. “They are GOLD, and only foolish leadership will say ‘NO’ to the riches they bring!”

Elon is Ready to Fight Back -On November 4^th, 2026, the day after a decisive Democratic sweep of the midterms, Elon Musk made clear he is not retreating. Democrats regain control of both the House and Senate in a blue wave that also flipped key Texas races, including James Talarico’s victory over Ken Paxton for Senate and Gina Hinojosa’s defeat of Greg Abbot for Governor. Musk has poured a record sum, reported between roughly $450 million and $475 million, into Republican efforts through his America PAC and other groups, making him the largest individual donor of the cycle. Tesla and SpaceX shares fell sharply in early trading as the election results settled, but investors scooped up shares as though it were a sale day in the market. Technically, both TSLA and SPCX look strong, especially after Tesla’s downside gap filled. Point to note: Traders look at gaps as reversal points so once the price has filled a downside gap, traders tend to rally the stock from the fill point 80% of the time. Elon is ready for what we would expect to see from the Democrats who have publicly targeted him before the midterms. His response on X mixed sarcasm with a familiar combative edge. “Guess my election-interfering space lasers didn’t work this time” he posted, later adding that “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” The laser line nodded at old conspiracy theories about Starlink: the data-center remark pointed to local opposition that helped cost Republicans the Texas governorship. For now, the world’s richest man has signaled he intends to treat any new scrutiny the same way he has treated past ones: as a fight he is prepared to answer. One thing is obvious, in that investors are fully behind Musk, and the price action clearly proves that.

Using ChatGPT at work? Your boss may trust you less, new study finds --Artificial intelligence may be making employees faster and more productive, but it could also be quietly damaging their careers. A new study suggests that workers who use ChatGPT and other AI tools may pay an unexpected professional price: their managers are less likely to trust them. The research, published in the journal The Leadership Quarterly, reveals that supervisors consistently place less trust in employees who rely on artificial intelligence to complete their work, even when using such technology is not explicitly prohibited. Across six studies, the researchers examined how employees' use of large language models (LLMs), such as ChatGPT, influences their supervisors' trust and subsequent professional evaluations. In one experiment, participants acting as supervisors were asked to decide whether to trust an employee's report about time spent completing a task or verify it themselves. The supervisors knew whether the employee had produced the work independently or used AI. The results were striking: employees who completed the work themselves had a 68% chance of earning their supervisors' trust, compared with just 24% when they used AI. Importantly, supervisors were not evaluating the quality of the finished work. Their decisions were based on knowing how it had been produced, suggesting that the use of AI itself can influence judgments about an employee's trustworthiness. The researchers also compared AI-assisted work with work copied from another person. While using AI reduced trust compared with independent work, it was still viewed more favorably than plagiarism. The implications could extend far beyond everyday workplace relationships. Additional experiments showed that lower supervisory trust was associated with poorer evaluations of employee performance, reduced perceptions of employees' contributions to the organization and lower perceived suitability for promotion. "AI is changing not only how we work, but also how we judge the people we work with," said Bigman. "An employee may use AI to produce better work more efficiently yet still lose their manager's trust simply because AI was involved. Organizations need to recognize that adopting AI is not just a technological challenge—it is also a psychological and managerial one."

Innocent people are being accused of shoplifting by faulty AI-facial recognition systems at an alarming rate -From New York City to the streets of Tokyo, creepy AI-facial recognition security systems are quickly becoming a common sight across the world. Unfortunately for many, the tech is nowhere near ready for the responsibility of live use as the troubling rise of false-positive matches makes clear. In the United Kingdom, AI surveillance systems in retail stores have led to a surge in customers being wrongly accused of shoplifting. TechRadar highlighted a number of recent cases throughout the country, where shoppers say false accusations have left them shaken, with a feeling that their privacy had been horribly violated. As one woman identified as Mary told the publication, her husband has been socially “isolated” after a quick jaunt into a Home Bargains store for vitamins went awry. When the stores’ system flagged the anonymous man as a shoplifter, the couple was forced to leave by management, seemingly without any chance to refute the accusation. “I was scared to go into a shop,” the man told TechRadar. Another man was said to be “shaking from head to toe” following his wife’s removal from a Budgens chain store for the crime of stealing “loads of meat” days before — an accusation complicated by the fact that they hadn’t set foot in the store for months. In these and other cases, the publication reports a dizzying labyrinth of corporate bureaucracy and vague insinuations that leave innocent people unable to access their local businesses, and with little recourse to clear their name. In the UK, individuals can file Subject Access Requests, or SARs, which are like US-Freedom of Information Act requests but for private companies. Though the avenue technically exists for those wrongly accused of shoplifting, it’s a massive undertaking ust for the hope of clearing your name — and requires handing over even more private information to private companies. As head of advocacy at civil liberty group Big Brother Watch Jack Coulson told TechRadar, it’s “the stuff of Kafkaesque nightmares to be trapped in a maze of bureaucracy and forced to hand over even more personal data just to be told the accusation.”

Los Angeles County warns residents about AI voice-cloning scams | KTLA - Los Angeles County authorities are warning residents about a recent wave of phone calls generated with artificial intelligence (AI) that scammers are using to scare friends and family members into sending money.The suspects are imitating voices, creating realistic videos and sending convincing messages that appear to come from people you know or trust, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department stated on Facebook Wednesday.“Imagine receiving a phone call from someone who sounds exactly like a family member asking for money because of an emergency,” the Sheriff’s Department said. “The voice may sound familiar, but the person on the other end may be a scammer.”Authorities offered the following tips to residents:

• If you receive an unexpected or suspicious request, take a moment to verify it.
• Hang up and contact the person directly using a number you know.
• Never send money or share personal information simply because someone sounds or looks familiar.

“Technology is changing, and so are the tactics scammers use. A few extra moments to verify could prevent you from becoming a victim,” the Sheriff’s Department said.

This $11 trick using AI clones your voice so well, even family members can't tell the difference – KMBC — What if someone called your family pretending to be you? Not just using your name, but your actual voice. It may be easier than you think. In a KMBC 9 investigation, we put artificial intelligence to the test to see how easily someone could copy a person’s voice and fool someone who knows them. The results were unsettling. Using videos I had already posted publicly on YouTube and Facebook, Tenfold Security’s cybersecurity expert Aaron Weissenfluh collected 32 minutes of audio of me speaking. He then used AI voice-cloning software that cost just $11 to create a digital version of my voice. Some programs are available for free. I didn’t have to sit in a recording studio or read a script. The audio was already online, available for anyone to hear. Then came the real test. We called my cousin using the AI-generated voice to see whether she could tell the difference. She had no idea she was part of an experiment. And she believed she was speaking to me. Although she eventually noticed pauses in the conversation, the voice itself was convincing enough to make her believe I was on the other end of the phone. That raised an even bigger question: If the pauses hadn’t been there, how much more convincing could the call have been? It’s the same technology scammers can use to impersonate someone you love. A familiar voice can create an immediate sense of trust, especially when the caller claims there’s an emergency or asks for money. And with so many people sharing videos on social media, scammers may not need much help finding audio to work with. Our experiment showed just how little it can take: publicly available recordings, inexpensive software, and a phone call. If you receive an unexpected call from someone claiming to be a family member, especially if they’re asking for money, don’t rely on their voice alone. Hang up and call that person using a number you already know. You can also establish a family code word to help verify someone’s identity during an emergency. And be cautious if the caller pressures you to act immediately or insists that you keep the conversation a secret. The biggest takeaway from our investigation is simple: Hearing a familiar voice is no longer proof that you’re speaking to the person you think you are.

Scammers using AI-generated images of missing pets to demand rewards – BBC - When Stephanie Young's cat Buddy went missing from her garden in September last year, she flooded pet rescue sites and social media groups with information about him. Her hopes were raised when an image of him was sent through by a woman named Melissa, who claimed to have fed her cat and wanted reward money for her autistic grandchildren. The foster carer from Birmingham was "100% certain" she had found her cat and remembered thinking Buddy had picked a lovely garden to sit in as she got money out of the bank to pay for his return. Within hours, she had agreed to meet Melissa nearby to collect him, but the individual never turned up, refused a cash payment and pushed for 100 Apple gift cards as a reward. Threats to "sell or murder" her pet soon followed when she discovered the images of Buddy were AI-generated and questioned the woman's authenticity. Young is one of a growing number of people affected by an online scam where fraudsters threaten to kill missing pets after owners refuse to pay hundreds of pounds for their return. They prey on owners by using AI to fake images of their pets and conjuring up detailed backstories and fake evidence to claim them as found, before bombarding victims with abuse. Cases of fraud in the UK have surged as criminals take to AI, with almost £1.3bn stolen by scammers in 2025. The death threats left Young feeling "upset and angry at how anybody could be so evil". "I'm not going to deny that every inch of your body wants that cat back," she said. "They can hook you, the more they ask the more you think 'I better do it'." It is now 13 months since Buddy went missing and he has still not been found. Young's experience is similar to that of Cam Chauhan, who received demands for a £200 Apple gift card nine months after her cat Creed went missing in July last year. The supermarket worker from Wednesbury had been sent an "exact picture" of him sitting in a back garden and instantly believed he had been found, describing the day as an "emotional rollercoaster". "I started crying, grabbed my cat bag from the garage and said, 'let's go get my cat back,'" she said. Chauhan was "jumping for joy" until her daughters raised concerns the images could be fake and about handing over money before Creed was returned. A meeting point was agreed with the scammer to get the pet back, but the individual refused to appear until gift cards were purchased and sent over text, a suggestion which Chauhan turned down. "We just went back home. It was very upsetting," she said. "I've been waiting ever since." The 55-year-old added anyone that had lost their pet "would do anything" to get them back, but to "hand money over and be scammed is just not right". Sarah Robinson, from Northampton, felt hopeful when she was contacted by a man named Kherson H claiming to have her cat Cookie two weeks after she went missing. Speaking to the individual over the phone, he seemed "vague in location and stumbled on his words", but Robinson did not initially doubt an image he sent of Cookie outside a window. After speaking to Kherson for a while, he demanded £40,000 to return her cat and sent a money transfer link, which Robinson refused. He then threatened to kill Cookie without payment. The threat left her "really, really worried" for Cookie's safety. "It's a very cruel thing to do," she said. "It's horrible, because you know it's not real but you're terrified it might be." All three owners have reported what happened to Report Fraud, which is run by City of London Police. The organisation advises people to arrange a meeting to see their pet in person before handing over any money, and to "stay alert" to criminals.

AI scammers target pet owners with fake pics and demands for ransom — or their fur baby dies - Scammers are holding people’s pets ransom — without even touching a hair on their heads. There’s been a rise in swindlers using AI-altered photos of people’s missing dogs and cats to demand exorbitant sums and threatening to put down their precious pets if they don’t pay. Bill Cosens recalled scammers using AI-generated photos of his missing dog on the operating table (pictured) during an extortion attempt in Deltona, Fla.FOX 13In April, Florida man Bill Cosens nearly fell prey after his beagle mix, Archer, escaped from his backyard, Fox News reported. He posted about his MIA mutt on social media, after which he received a phone call from a woman claiming that his dog had been hit by a car and required $2,800 for an operation. The huxter even sent detailed AI-generated pics of Archer on the operating table, which they’d MacGyvered using photos Cosens had uploaded. Thankfully, he caught wise to the plot after realizing the address for the alleged veterinary clinic was incorrect.   “It starts becoming pretty obvious that we’re being scammed,” said Cosens, who was reunited with his pup after a neighbor tracked him down.Often, the scammers will pose as law enforcement or pet shelter personnel.In a similar incident in May, a California dog owner who lost her pet received a doctored photo of her canine and a message claiming that the animal required emergency surgery at a San Jose animal shelter, AOL reported. They said they needed money to continue treatment or the pooch would be “euthanized,” per a message by the City of San Jose Animal Care & Services.When the owner contacted the San Jose facility, they confirmed that her pride and joy was not there.“Scammers are using public lost pet posts and AI-generated content to create false urgency and pressure people into paying money,” shelter reps wrote.This faux fur friend hoax is the latest in a long line of sophisticated and ever-evolving AI scams, which have involved everything from kidnapping schemes using AI voice clones to romance scammers masquerading as Brad Pitt.   In 2025, AI-assisted scams were linked to over $893 million in reported losses across more than 20,000 reports, per the FBI’s Internet Crime report. Just like with their human counterparts, the AI dog-gelgangers are often indistinguishable from the real deal.

The US$6.3 billion Binance hack is the biggest heist ever – it should be a wake up call for cryptocurrency users -The cyberattack on crypto-asset exchange Binance is potentially the largest theft of its kind on record. Binance has estimated the assets stolen at an eye-watering US$6.3 billion (£4.7 billion). On October 29, 2026, analytics firms reported that large amounts of crypto-assets had been moved from wallets used by the exchange across multiple blockchain networks – a digital system for recording transactions that is run collectively by its users. Most of the money was moved within a period of about 20 minutes.In response, Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals telling users that it would cover losses using its emergency protection fund and corporate resources. Around US$3 billion of the affected assets was frozen by October 30, according to Binance. However, freezing funds is not the same as recovering them.As of November 1, Binance says it has restored 95% of the stolen assets. But much of this has come from various funds held by the exchange, as well as its corporate treasury. It has now started to re-open withdrawals in phases. The exchange has promised to publish a full incident report once the investigation is completed.Investigators say that indicators point to North Korea-linked cybercriminals. But attribution should remain provisional until the evidence is fully established. So how might the attackers have breached Binance?The emerging explanation points primarily to a compromise of the systems that authorise withdrawals in Binance, rather than a successful attack on the underlying blockchains used for individual crypto-assets such as Bitcoin or Ether.Binance initially suggested that an engineer’s laptop had been compromised, potentially enabling attackers to access internal services and initiate unauthorised transactions. However, subsequent statements indicated that additional parts of the system had been breached. So it would be premature to treat the laptop as the complete explanation.A useful analogy is a bank vault. An attacker may not need to break the vault itself if they can manipulate the system that tells it when to release funds. In crypto-asset exchanges, so-called signing infrastructure performs this authorisation function.Investigators believe that attackers were able to obtain or misuse valid authorisations, allowing assets to be transferred out of wallets controlled by the exchange. Binance says that it has found no evidence that private keys for wallets – used to authorise outgoing blockchain transactions – were leaked. One reported element in this was Ethereum’s EIP-7702 feature, which gives conventional crypto-asset wallets functions that they wouldn’t normally have. Investigators observed that authorisations linked to this feature had apparently enabled attacker-controlled code to move assets.. These assets included funds arriving after the initial compromise. However, it does not, by itself, establish a flaw in Ethereum’s underlying consensus mechanism. The consensus mechanism is the set of rules for transactions agreed upon by the decentralised network. A central lesson is that the security of a blockchain must be distinguished from the security of the wider ecosystem built around it. A blockchain may maintain a highly resilient and tamper-resistant transaction record. On the other hand, an exchange, wallet provider or other intermediary may be vulnerable. Compromised staff credentials, defective access controls, malicious code or weaknesses in transaction approval processes can all act as entry points for cybercriminals. This also highlights that many crypto-asset services are not decentralised. Many exchanges are highly centralised in their custody arrangements, governance and control over customers’ assets. Such concentration can create single points of failure. The decentralised nature of a blockchain does not remove the need for effective governance of the businesses operating on it. Binance has reportedly frozen US$3 billion (£2.2 billion) of the stolen assets. miss.cabul / Shutterstock The speed and cross-border nature of the theft further complicate enforcement. Stolen assets can be moved through different blockchain networks, swapped into other tokens or channelled through decentralised finance protocols. Some issuers of a type of crypto-asset called stablecoins (these act a bit like fiat currencies such as the US dollar) can freeze tokens under their control. This has helped limit losses from the Binance theft. Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether generally cannot be frozen in the same way by an issuer. These differences matter enormously for tracing, recovery and investor protection. There is also a growing concern about AI-enabled cybercrime. AI agents may increase the speed, scale and sophistication of attacks on automated financial systems. However, there is currently no established evidence that AI agents carried out this particular hack; the broader risk should not be confused with a confirmed cause. For investors, this incident is a reminder that owning a crypto-asset involves more than exposure to its market price. There are also custody, cybersecurity, operational, “counterparty” risks (the exposure organisations have to another body or individual that may default on their obligations) and legal risks. Investors should understand who holds their assets, whether customer funds are segregated (that crypto-assets are not used by an exchange or broker to fund their daily operations), what security and recovery arrangements exist and what legal protections apply if an exchange fails. They should not assume that crypto holdings enjoy the deposit insurance or central bank safety nets available with some traditional banking activities. The wider financial stability implications depend on the extent of the connections between conventional banking and cryptocurrencies. Traditional financial institutions are increasingly exploring distributed ledger technology (a digital system that stores and shares data across a decentralised network of computers) – seen in blockchain networks – for tokenisation (a data security feature), payments and settlement. Some banks also facilitate investment exposure to Bitcoin, Ether and other digital assets. Nevertheless, as financial institutions, funds and payment systems become more connected to crypto markets, operational shocks and losses could transmit more widely through the system. My research on crypto-assets, decentralised finance and financial regulation consistently emphasises that innovation must be accompanied by accountability, effective governance and proportionate safeguards. Four priorities stand out. First, exchanges need rigorous cybersecurity and operational resilience standards. This includes independent security testing, tightly controlled access privileges, secure signing systems, transaction limits, continuous monitoring and credible plans for responding to incidents like the Binance theft. Second, regulators should assess actual control and governance arrangements rather than accepting labels such as “decentralised” at face value. Entities exercising custody or operational control should have clear obligations. Third, consumer protection must be strengthened through the segregation of customer assets, transparent custody practices, clear risk disclosures and workable insolvency and recovery arrangements. Any compensation arrangements should be clearly explained rather than assumed. Fourth, international cooperation is indispensable. Regulators, law enforcement, exchanges, stablecoin issuers and blockchain analytics providers must be able to coordinate rapidly to trace illicit transfers, preserve evidence and freeze assets where legally possible. This case brings a broader message to the surface, which is that technological sophistication is not a substitute for sound governance. Confidence in digital finance will ultimately depend on the resilience of its infrastructure, the accountability of those who control it and the effectiveness of the regulatory framework protecting users and the wider financial system.

Binance hackers used fake job interview in $6.3 billion attack (Reuters) - Hackers used a bogus job interview and software hidden in an ​advertisement to compromise the computers of two Binance software engineers before using a third's computer to drain $6.3 billion worth of crypto in last week's ‌record heist, the exchange said on Tuesday. In its initial report on how hackers pulled off what could be the largest-ever financial theft, Binance detailed a multi-stage hacking endeavour that began in June and set off a series of security breaches culminating in the theft on Thursday. Even as Binance scrambled to lock down its system and freeze withdrawals after detecting the attack late on Thursday, the hackers ​were still making off with crypto from the exchange nearly four hours after the first theft, Binance said. The FBI has blamed a North Korean hacking group, a ​claim North Korea has rejected. Binance has said it is repaying all customers whose funds were stolen. The attack has raised questions ⁠about how hackers breached the world's largest crypto exchange after years of North Korea-linked attacks, which have grown in ambition and frequency, and renewed questions about the vulnerability of ​digital assets to cybercrime. Cybersecurity experts and government officials have for years warned about North Korean and other hackers using phony job interviews to target employees at companies of interest, ​said Michael Barnhart, a researcher with cybersecurity firm DTEX. Fake job interviews are a well-known hacking technique. Binance said it had detected and prevented 57 suspected North Korea-linked cyberthreats in 2026. That shows Binance is “just getting barraged,” Barnhart said. "This should not have happened, and we apologise for the concern, disruption and uncertainty it caused our users, partners and the wider industry," Binance said in its report. Binance said the ​attack began in June when an employee on its wallet developer team downloaded a tool from the internet that hackers had tampered with. The exchange said it detected ​this afterwards, replaced the device and changed credentials, but the employee's role and those of others on the wallet team were exposed. A person familiar with the incident said the tool's malicious version ‌had been ⁠placed in an advertisement, which meant it appeared higher in a search engine than the real version. Then in September, a second software engineer seeking a new job downloaded a "malicious code repository" onto the person's computer after interviewing for what they thought was a legitimate role, including meeting virtually with the CEO of a fictitious company, Binance's report said. On October 20, the attacker used the compromised computer plus an internal AI tool to gain control of the wallet developer's system and that of a second wallet developer. Nine days ​later, the attacker used the second wallet ​developer's computer, with stolen credentials from the ⁠first wallet developer, and triggered a malicious script to launch the attack. A limited number of engineers at the company have direct access to wallets — which store or trade crypto — the person familiar with the hack said. The attack unfolded quickly on ​October 29, removing 233.46 million XRP — a cryptocurrency — from five Binance hot, or internet-connected, wallets to an attacker-controlled address in just ​four minutes, before attackers ⁠withdrew other cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, the exchange said in its report. Binance said it received an internal alert about large transfers and began investigating. It moved to suspend withdrawals, freeze affected tokens and remove unauthorised permissions, resulting in about $2.85 billion of frozen assets, but suspending withdrawals alone could not stop all unauthorised asset movements. Attackers used 50 signing transactions to manipulate the account, ⁠while Binance ​said it was forced to build new procedures to revoke authorisations, slowing its response. The final unauthorised transfer ​was at 2356 GMT, Binance said, nearly four hours after the attack began. Binance said as a result of the hack, it was increasing investment in AI-enabled detection and working on establishing a security research fund and ​targeted initiatives with leading AI companies.

The Binance hack is a $6 billion warning shot to security chiefs | American Banker  -I just got done reading Binance's initial report on its $6 billion hack, and it is eye opening. This was about as far from a Dillinger-style cash grab as you can get. The degree of planning and sophistication deployed makes the Oceans 11 crew look like they were knocking over a lemonade stand.

Chainalysis discloses apparent breach of customers' accounts | American Banker - Jonathan Levin is CEO of the company, which this week disclosed a cybersecurity incident in which an attacker gained access to customers' Chainalysis accounts.

• Key insight: Chainalysis said Wednesday night that some customers' accounts appear to have been accessed without authorization and that password hashes and live tokens for all of its users got exposed to an attacker, five days after saying it had found no evidence of access to credentials or session tokens.
• What's at stake: Banks and crypto companies use the company's monitoring service to check whether money is tied to theft, sanctions or laundering, and Chainalysis' status page still listed it as "Under Maintenance" Thursday afternoon.

Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review.

Democrats sweep Congress, setting up years of oversight for banks  — Democrats won a commanding victory in the 2026 midterm cycle, reaching deep into Trump country in a repudiation from voters of the administration and the economy.

• What's at stake: For financial companies, two years of Democratic control of Congress likely means heightened oversight, although the party's main targets will be President Trump and his affiliated companies. 
• Forward look: The strength of Democrats' victory means the party will be emboldened on a range of issues and will raise scrutiny of large companies of all stripes, including private equity and Wall Street firms.

Democrats stunned in the midterm elections, winning races in deep-Red states in a damning rejection of the direction of the country and economy under the second Trump administration.

Blue wave takes out key GOP House Financial Services members - Democrats' strong showing in Tuesday's midterm elections appeared to earn them control of the lower chamber fairly handily, but the wave that they rode in on also took out several longtime Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee.

• Key insight: Democrats secured the 218 seats they needed to retake the House of Representatives Tuesday night in an historic rebuke of the president and his policies, and edged out several important members of the House Financial Services Committee in the process.
• What's at stake: Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., is likely to be chosen as Democrats' leader on the committee despite murmurs that some members may mount a challenge.

An unusually strong showing by Democrats when they retook the House in Tuesday's midterm election ushered out several Republican members of the House Financial Services Committee at the same time.

Wall Street critic Sherrod Brown heads back to Senate  — Sherrod Brown, the former chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, is heading back to the upper chamber after the Associated Press called the race in his favor Tuesday night.

• Key insight: Former Sen. Sherrod Brown's race to unseat incumbent Sen. Jon Husted was one of the most competitive in the country. 
• What's at stake: As Senate Banking Committee chairman, Brown focused on bank and regulator oversight, although he passed few bills during his time leading the panel. 

Former Senate Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown, who lost his re-election bid in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno, defeated incumbent Jon Husted and will return to the upper chamber next year.

Bank advocate Andy Barr clinches Kentucky Senate seat -— Andy Barr has won Kentucky's open Senate seat, sending one of the banking industry's biggest advocates to the Senate.

• Key insight: Senator-elect Andy Barr, R-Ky., is known as an advocate for the banking industry during his six terms in the House. 
• Forward look: Whether Barr finds a seat on the powerful Senate Banking Committee will depend on how Senate Republicans fare in the midterms, as a wipeout could create stiffer competition for a seat on the panel.

Andy Barr, the chairman of the subcommittee on financial services in the House, won his bid to replace retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

Swipe fee bill cosponsor Marshall defeated in reelection - — Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, was unseated by  Democrat Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister, in an upset race that will see the first Democrat senator from the state in almost a century.

• Key insight: Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, cosponsor of a bill requiring credit cards issued by large banks to be operable on at least two payment networks that banks opposed, lost his bid for re-election. 
• Forward look: A Democratic sweep means the party has time to find a successor to the bill's other sponsor, retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill,

Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kansas, who cosponsored a bill requiring most credit cards to be interoperable on multiple networks, was defeated in his re-election bid Tuesday, another defeat for Republicans in deep-red territory.

Banks navigate AI risks solo as regulators play catch-up | American Banker — The rapid emergence of AI agents and their growing adoption among consumers have created a new set of risks for banks to contend with — and they're largely on their own to mitigate those risks.

• Key insight: AI agents are creating a new gray area for banks around fraud and liability, leaving financial institutions to their own devices in determining best how to protect customers and themselves in the absence of clear rules.
• Expert quote: "Statutory changes are hard and take a long time, and nobody wants to wait.The banks don't want to wait because they like the idea of there being more payments and less friction in payments. Customers don't want to wait because they love AI doing this for them. Merchants don't want to wait because they like selling things." — Julie Hill, Dean, University of Wyoming College of Law.

BankThink Machine-speed banking requires regulators who can keep up  On March 9, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank lost $42 billion of deposits in a single day, with $100 billion more queued for withdrawal the next morning. The speed and scale of the 2023 regional banking crisis shocked both prudential regulators and the public alike. The rapid collapse of SVB, the failures of other institutions that followed and the emergency response from Washington are side-effects of an accelerating economy. Digital banking and increased social connectivity reduce friction, allowing for rapid movement of money and information. The failure of SVB highlighted these challenges and we must look around the corner for what's coming next.

• Key insight: The top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee's Financial Institutions subcommittee announces new legislation calling on the Federal Reserve to pilot a project allowing "real-time" regulation of banks.
• What's at stake: Bank runs which once took days may now take hours, software vulnerabilities hidden in legacy software for decades can be uncovered and rapidly exploited, and fraudsters' ability to infiltrate consumer accounts is quickly improving as they gain access to powerful AI tools.

OCC: Banks need strong controls when delegating to AI agents | American Banker -The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Wednesday released guidance governing how examiners will grade banks on artificial intelligence deployment, concluding that banks need strong internal controls if they are going to delegate decision making to AI.

• Key insight: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency says it does not treat AI as a standalone risk category, but rather discusses the liability banks' retain when they delegate authority to models which can make fraud, payment, or communicative decisions.
• Supporting data: The framework establishes six oversight pillars: purpose, potential risks, controls, human oversight, resilience and testing.

Wells Fargo wants customers to prove they've revoked AI agents | American Banker- Big banks including JPMorganChase and Wells Fargo have been changing their terms of conditions for online and digital banking users to make it clear that customers are liable for any actions taken by AI agents they've authorized — even when those agents go rogue and do something they were not prompted or authorized to do.

• Key insight: Wells Fargo appears to be the first bank to start requiring customers to prove they've turned off their AI agents' access to their bank accounts, or else be liable for any rogue AI agent activity.
• Expert quote: "What if I do everything Wells Fargo says to do, and I've got a pile of evidence that I told that agent to stop doing that thing, yet the agent went rogue because maybe there was an ambiguous direction to it or it just went bad, there's still that question — what happens then?"—Elaine Duffus, senior specialized consultant at Wolters Kluwer.

Why banks are searching for value in AI investments (video and transcript) How are banks looking at new and ongoing AI investments? Kirti Choudhary and Vikram Sivakumar, both managing directors and partners at consulting firm BCG, sit down with Chana Schoenberger, Editor-in-Chief of American Banker, to discuss. (Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors. Please check the corresponding audio for the authoritative record.)

Banks moving to provide AI toolkits to small businesses - Huntington Banchshares aims to galvanize its small-business banking franchise by equipping entrepreneurs with agentic AI tools.

• Key takeaways: While their approaches differ, both Huntington and Goldman Sachs  say their overarching goal is boosting small businesses by offering them crucial AI tools.
• Forward look: Huntington is unveiling its 1866 Studio with a relatively modest eight AI agents, but it expects to have more than 60 available within a year, President Brant Standridge said.

Huntington plans to roll out an AI operating system aimed at time-strapped owner-operators. Goldman Sachs is focusing on education and research.

How Huntington is turning employees into AI enthusiasts - As Huntington National Bank embraces AI throughout the organization, including extending AI tools to small businesses, its innovation team is coaxing employees who may be unfamiliar with or resistant to the technology to start using it.

• Key insight: Huntington Bank is making several efforts to get employees more interested in AI.
• Expert quote: "For a lot of individuals who haven't really used it, it can feel a little intimidating. It feels like programming, it's doing all this technical stuff and individuals who are used to using Word or email can get a little intimidated and that can affect adoption." —Prithwis Mukhopadhyay, senior vice president and head of technology innovation at Huntington Bank.

Hackathons, ideathons and "Days of the Dead" help get reluctant staff more engaged in the technology. "If you're not taking bold moves and not learning from those failures, you're not really moving forward," says Prithwis Mukhopadhyay, head of technology innovation at Huntington Bank.

What AI agents can do for banks' customer relationships | American Banker -The next wave of artificial intelligence offers promises of autonomous agents for banks to deploy across different departments. For small business-focused banks, agentic AI is presenting both challenges and opportunities for relationship managers as they work to serve their business clients better."Many of the opportunities lie around the democratization and the accessibility of data that AI creates," Michael Desimone, chief banking and lending officer at Citadel Federal Credit Union, said during a panel at American Banker's Small Business Banking conference last week. "It's all out there for us, but it's sort of unmanageable and hard to get your arms around. The ability to not spend hours pouring over research and memos to have a good, solid understanding of what a business needs, what it does and where it fits in its segment is very valuable."

• Key insight: Some banks are using AI to improve their relationships with small businesses.
• Expert quote: "We're not looking for it to go out and contact our customers, because that is the core of who we say we are. We're looking for ways that we can utilize it in-house that will create efficiencies so that we can do a better job of being in front of our customer."—Cristin Reid, CEO of Capitol National Bank

The 'advisor paradox' of clients who trust AI for financial advice - People who have financial advisors are more likely to be confident and tax-informed, but also more likely to ask AI about money and follow the bots' outputs without verifying the information.

• Key insight: You might think adults who pay for professional financial advice would be less likely to act on AI's money advice without checking it. According to new research, you'd be wrong.
• Expert quote: "If they can go and ask the chatbot the question, that wall or veil of anxiety may be taken down. Now they're coming to me armed with more information about that." — Billy Spencer, director and wealth manager at Boston-based Crestwood Advisors

Adults who have financial advisors are three times as likely to act on AI's money advice without checking, new research shows. Those results, which defy conventional wisdom, will outlast the company that uncovered them.

Crypto Regulation After The $176M US Midterms - Crypto Regulation has become one of the biggest questions following the 2026 US midterm elections, particularly after cryptocurrency-backed political groups spent approximately $176 million trying to influence congressional races. Despite that investment, the industry has encountered a changing political landscape, with Democrats gaining control of Congress and several high-profile crypto-backed campaigns falling short. For an industry seeking clearer rules, the results raise an important question: Can cryptocurrency companies still secure the legislation they have spent years advocating? We believe the answer depends less on party control alone and more on whether lawmakers can reach agreements on digital-asset oversight. According to Reuters, cryptocurrency groups spent approximately $176 million across more than 100 congressional races during the 2026 election cycle. The objective was to build support for digital-asset legislation among lawmakers from both parties. Fairshake, one of the industry's largest political action committees, led much of this effort. Backed by major cryptocurrency companies and investors, including Coinbase, Ripple, and Andreessen Horowitz, the organization supported candidates who had demonstrated interest in crypto legislation. In October, Fairshake announced support for 32 incumbent House candidates, including 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats. This bipartisan strategy reflected an important reality: cryptocurrency legislation often requires cooperation across party lines. One of the most closely watched races took place in Ohio. Crypto-aligned political groups spent approximately $63 million supporting Republican Jon Husted or opposing Democrat Sherrod Brown. Brown previously chaired the Senate Banking Committee and has criticized aspects of the cryptocurrency industry's regulatory agenda. However, the election did not deliver the outcome these groups sought. Brown's return to the Senate represents a significant setback for one of the industry's most expensive political campaigns. The result also demonstrates that campaign spending does not guarantee electoral success. For us, the larger lesson is that building lasting support for cryptocurrency innovation requires more than advertising expenditure. It also requires engagement with lawmakers who hold different views on investor protection and financial regulation. We previously covered how Trump backed cryptocurrency market structure legislation, highlighting the administration's efforts to establish clearer rules for the industry. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, commonly known as the CLARITY Act, remains central to the debate. The legislation seeks to establish clearer regulatory responsibilities for the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Supporters argue that businesses need predictable rules to operate and innovate in the United States. Critics have raised concerns about investor protections, regulatory gaps, and potential conflicts of interest. The bill already faced difficulties before election day. In September, the Senate failed to advance the legislation in a procedural vote, demonstrating that Republican control had not been enough to resolve disagreements. With congressional leadership changing, negotiations could take a different direction. We believe a workable agreement remains possible, but it would require addressing concerns from both parties. Although Democratic lawmakers have generally emphasized stronger oversight and consumer protections, some have also supported legislation designed to establish clearer rules for digital assets. Likewise, Republican lawmakers have not agreed on every cryptocurrency proposal. The election changes congressional leadership, committee priorities, and the legislative timetable. It does not automatically reverse existing laws or executive policies. As we explored in our analysis of Bitcoin's historical midterm election patterns, political developments can also influence cryptocurrency market sentiment. The GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for payment stablecoins in 2025, remains an important example of legislation that has already moved forward. For Bitcoin and the broader cryptocurrency market, regulatory clarity remains valuable regardless of which party controls Congress. The election may be over, but the industry's political work is far from finished. We are watching whether lawmakers restart CLARITY Act negotiations, how congressional committees approach digital-asset oversight, and whether industry groups maintain their bipartisan strategy. We also believe investors should distinguish between short-term political uncertainty and the long-term development of cryptocurrency infrastructure. Bitcoin's network continues operating independently of Washington, while institutional participation and blockchain adoption remain important areas to monitor. The industry's $176 million election effort shows how important US regulation has become to cryptocurrency businesses. But the next phase may be determined less by campaign spending and more by the compromises lawmakers are willing to make.

Key Senate Democrat vows probe into banks linked to Epstein -Following the Democratic sweep of Congress, Sen. Ron Wyden is expected to chair the Senate Finance Committee and has vowed "full accountability" for the Epstein scandal.

Public banks get tepid response from California voters - Though the votes are not all counted, a ballot measure to establish and fund a public bank in Berkeley appears headed toward defeat. San Francisco voters were almost evenly split on a related proposal.

• Supporting data: As of Tuesday night, 50.2% of San Francisco voters had voted "No" to a public bank, while 58% had voted against a similar measure in Berkeley.
• Expert quote: "The election results so far reflect a broader skepticism among San Franciscans about the proper role of government and whether City Hall should be in the business of running a bank." —Alan Wong, member of San Francisco Board of Supervisors

Court Calif. new-build buyers: Prop 37 funds up to 17% down  California voters may have delivered a reprieve to local real estate players dealing with weak housing demand. Golden State residents Tuesday passed Proposition 37 by a comfortable margin, agreeing to kick off a unique revenue bond that will help homebuyers cover down payments for new builds. The $25 billion bond could support 190,000 new home purchases statewide, according to one analysis.

• Key Insight: Learn how California's newly passed Proposition 37 changes down payment obligations for buyers eying new construction.
• Supporting Data: A study suggests the measure could support 190,000 new home purchases statewide.
  Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review.

Voters comfortably passed the measure creating a $25 billion revenue bond that will provide a second mortgage for large down payments for new home purchases.

Ohio Democrats break Republican supermajority in the Ohio House -  Ohio Democrats broke the Republican supermajority in the Ohio House, limiting the lawmakers’ ability to override vetos from incoming Democratic governor Amy Acton.  Ohio voters elected 42 Democrats and 52 Republicans to the Ohio House, according to unofficial election results. Five of the races were too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon. “It is pretty earth-shattering for the general operations of the assembly,” said University of Cincinnati Political Science Professor David Niven. “(Ohio Republicans are) quite used to getting their way, and even though Republicans will maintain a majority, they’ve lost their ‘we can do anything we want’ majority.”A supermajority is 60 or more seats in the Ohio House and 20 or more seats in the Ohio Senate. Republicans have held a supermajority in the Ohio House since 2013.  “When you have one party that is simply unaccountable to any other check or balance, it means that they can do whatever they want, and that’s particularly been the case for the Republican legislature,” said University of Akron political scientist David Cohen.“This was just an enormous event for Democrats to be able to break that stranglehold that they have on the legislature.” Republicans will have to work with Democrats to pass legislation, the political analysts said. “It provides an opportunity for the legislature and the governor to work together, but it will take goodwill and hard work, and it won’t be easy,” said Common Cause Ohio Executive Director Catherine Turcer.  Republicans at the Statehouse are not used to having to work with Democrats, Cohen said. “It’s not something that they really want to do, but it’s something that they’re going to be forced to do if they want to have to be able to to get legislation passed and laws on the books,” he said. Niven anticipates Acton and the Republican lawmakers will disagree on school funding and vouchers. “ I don’t think there’s a middle ground on that one,” he said. “That’s a philosophical difference, and I don’t know that there’s any way that they’re going to come together.” The rest of the General Assembly before Acton takes office in January is going “to be fairly unpleasant,” Turcer said.  “Legislative leaders are likely going to push proposals that could limit the authority of the governor,” she said.  “There are things like executive agencies under the purview of the governor who end up making a lot of administrative rules, and the legislature could claw back some of that agency rulemaking and put the control in their own hands.”  Republicans currently hold a 65-34 majority in the Ohio House, but some Republican incumbents lost to their Democrat challengers in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial results.

• Democrat Megan Coy defeated incumbent state Rep. Mike Dovilla, R-Berea.
• Democrat Rose Lounsbury defeated state Rep. Andrea White, R-Kettering.
• Democrat Shelby Kimball defeated state Rep. Brian Lorenz, R-Powell.
• Democrat Krista Allison defeated state Rep. Jim Thomas, R-Plain Township.

Democrats picked up a handful of seats in open districts that are currently held by Republicans.

• Democrat Noah Spinner won Ohio’s 31st district, which is currently held by state Rep. Bill Roemer, R-Richfield. 
• Democrat Samantha Salamon won Ohio’s 35th district, which is currently held by state Rep. Steve Demetriou, R-Bainbridge Twp. Demetriou lost his bid for election for the Ohio Senate.
• Democrat Daquan Neal won Ohio’s 39th district, which is currently held by state Rep. Phil Plummer, R-Dayton.
• Democrat Mike Baker won Ohio’s 52nd district, which is currently held by state Rep. Gayle Manning, R-Avon. Manning won her seat in the Ohio Senate.

A few races with Republican incumbents were too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon.   State Rep. Haraz Ghanbari, R-Perrysburg, has a slight lead in a tight race with Democrat Richard Rettig and state Rep. Cindy Abrams, R-Harrison, has a small lead against Democrat Jonathan Bradner, as of Wednesday afternoon.  Democrat Tom Herner had a slight lead over state Rep. Tom Young, R-Washington Twp., as of Wednesday afternoon.   Republican Edward Schimmel and Democrat David Fournier were nearly tied for Ohio’s 44th district, which is currently held by Josh Williams, R-Sylvania Twp., as of Wednesday.  “We didn’t just break the supermajority — we shattered it,” Ohio House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, said Tuesday night.  “This means that we have the opportunity to actually govern in Ohio. It’s not enough that Dr. Acton is our next governor. We have flipped these seats so that Dr. Acton can govern when she’s in.”Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, said he’s seen similar political cycles in 2006 under President George W. Bush and in 2012 under President Barack Obama. “Despite that national trend, Republicans have maintained a strong majority in the Ohio House, positioning us to advance the priorities we believe will best serve the people of Ohio over the next two years,” Huffman said in a statement to the Ohio Capital Journal.The supermajority remains in the Ohio Senate as 22 Republicans and 11 Democrats were elected Tuesday, according to unofficial election results. Ohio Democrats did pick up two seats as Democrat Stacie Baker beat incumbent state Sen. Michele Reynolds, R-Canal Winchester, and Democrat Mike Roberto beat Republican state Rep. Steve Demetriou for Ohio’s 27th district, which is currently held by Republican state Sen. Kristina Roegner. “The people of Ohio have spoken, and it’s clear that they are ready for change,” Ohio Senate Democratic Leader Nickie J. Antonio, D-Lakewood, said in a statement.

U.S. economy added 165,000 jobs in October, way more than expected; unemployment rate slips to 4.1%   - The U.S. economy added jobs at a much stronger-than-expected pace in October, while the unemployment rate moved lower as the labor market showed surprising strength. Nonfarm payrolls increased by a seasonally adjusted 165,000 for the month, compared with the Dow Jones estimate for 59,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday. The unemployment rate nudged down to 4.1%, compared with the forecast for 4.2%. A more encompassing measure that includes discouraged workers and those holding part-time jobs for economic reasons rose to 7.9%, up 0.3 percentage point, amid an increase of 421,000 in the civilian labor force. In addition to the strong payroll gains for October, prior months were revised up substantially: The August figure moved to 186,000, an upward revision of 53,000, while the September count shifted to 60,000 following an upward revision of 31,000. “You have to look pretty hard to find something to dislike in there,” Dan North, senior economist at Allianz Trade North America. “It’s a really, really good report, and all around I think you’d say it’s stronger than expected and the best one in a while, and it kind of fits with what I call the stable but perhaps unexciting labor market.” Payroll gains also came in better than forecast. Average hourly earnings increased 0.4% on the month and 3.1% annually, compared with respective estimates for 0.3% and 2.9%. The average workweek was unchanged at 34.4 hours. “Today’s jobs report is a strong rebuttal to fears that the economy is heading into a meaningful slowdown,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “Payrolls growth surprised firmly to the upside, unemployment fell back to 4.1%, and job creation remains broad-based, pointing to an economy that is still absorbing labor comfortably rather than one beginning to buckle under tighter financial conditions.” The breadth of job growth also was strong, contrary to a trend in which healthcare had accounted for the bulk of gains. Professional and business services saw an increase of 70,000 to lead all sectors, while healthcare was next at 42,000. Other areas seeing notable growth included transportation and warehousing (25,000) and manufacturing (19,000). “The overall picture is a labor market that is on much better footing than a year ago,” said Heather Long, chief economist at Navy Federal Credit Union. “In 2025, the economy added barely 10,000 jobs a month and basically all were in healthcare. ... There’s a much more broad based range of opportunities.” The report comes the same week as an election in which the economy and in particular inflation were the center of attention. Democrats staged a nationwide rout that will give the party control of both chambers of Congress after campaigning heavily on addressing affordability issues. For the Federal Reserve, the report also comes at a pivotal time. Central bankers are weighing whether to resume raising interest rates in December as inflation remains stubbornly above the central bank’s 2% target. Traders increased the probability of another quarter percentage point hike when the Federal Open Market Committee meets Dec. 8-9. Odds rose to 76.8%, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, though the indicator pointed to only one more increase after. The odds of further hikes in 2027 have fallen somewhat in recent days, after the midterm election rout and Thursday’s sell-off in tech stocks. Market reaction otherwise was muted, with a mixed picture on stock market futures heading into the open. Treasury yields were higher across the board. The share of workers either looking for a job or already working as a share of the workforce, known as the labor force participation rate, edged higher to 61.9%. The labor force had been shrinking, the result of demographic changes and immigration reductions, but expanded by 421,000 in October. At the same time, the household report, which is used to calculate the unemployment rate, showed 463,000 more people at work. Long-term unemployment, though, rose sharply. The average duration of unemployment jumped to 27.1 weeks, up 2.3 weeks from the prior month to the highest since September 2021. Those unemployed for more than 27 weeks increased to 1.96 million, the most since December 2021.

A long-term unemployment trend is hiding in the October job report - Americans who lose their jobs these days are facing a harsh new problem: It’s getting harder to find another one quickly.  The average jobless worker’s bout of unemployment surpassed 27 weeks in October on a seasonally adjusted basis, according to Friday’s jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That amounts to a job search of nearly seven months, the longest outside of the pandemic period since 2016, when the U.S. labor market was finally getting back on track after the 2008 financial crisis.About 2 million Americans have been without work for at least 27 weeks, the BLS reported. People in this category are referred to as the “long-term unemployed” and accounted for 27.6% of all jobless workers in October, the highest share since late 2021.“This is a series that can be noisy from month to month,” said Cory Stahle, senior economist at Indeed, a hiring platform. “But if you look over a longer time horizon, there is no mistake in the trend.” It’s a troubling sign in an otherwise steady labor market. Workers stuck on the sidelines are a casualty of what’s become a “low-hire, low-fire” job market, in which companies are hesitant to lay workers off, but aren’t adding them either.   Research shows that Americans who experience long-term unemployment face depleted savings, lower earnings potential over time and declining mental health. What’s more, workers who are unemployed for extended periods risk falling into a self-perpetuating cycle, researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond wrote earlier this year. “Time spent unemployed may itself reduce the probability of finding a job, perhaps because skills depreciate, networks thin or employers interpret long unemployment durations as a negative signal,” the researchers warned.Workers stop being able to claim most, if not all, government unemployment benefits after 26 weeks in a year. Given that, a rising share of long-term unemployed people can explain in part why initial and continuing jobless claims have remained low. “Now, the average unemployed person takes longer to find a job than their benefits would last,” Stahle said. “That is a really key point of this.” While jobless workers appear to be having a tough time, this week’s employment data shows strength in other areas of the labor market. Nonfarm payrolls blew past economists’ forecasts for October and added 165,000 jobs, according to Friday’s release. The unemployment rate ticked down to 4.1%, slightly lower than economists predicted. Job openings came in much higher than economists expected in September, according to a separate report from the BLS released on Tuesday. The number of workers quitting jobs — a barometer of their confidence to obtain new employment — spiked to levels not seen since March 2025. The BLS also said layoffs and discharges dropped to their lowest volume in more than a year. However, a recent string of high-profile workforce cuts could throw cold water on views among workers that the market is heating.   CNBC reported this week that Disney is planning to axe thousands of jobs, the latest of several waves of layoffs at the media giant this year. American Express said last month that it was slashing head count by 5% as it reorients around artificial intelligence. “When your LinkedIn is filled with layoffs and your social circle features a few folks who have been job seeking for several months, positive narratives about the labor market can seem jarring.”

Why are kids paying for data centers in Ohio?  - Policy Matters Ohio - Executive Summary: Ohio’s data center sales and use tax exemption cost the state almost $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in 2025. Approximately $374 million of that forgone revenue could have supported Ohio traditional public schools. That amounts to about $262 per student in traditional public schools.^[1]  These numbers illustrate how state lawmakers prioritize corporations over public schools, and the scale of the education funding Ohio loses by maintaining the exemption. This one subsidy would have been enough revenue to completely close the school funding gap, had it been collected and directed to schools through the Fair School Funding Plan. Even if the additional revenue was distributed in the same portion that the FY25-26 budget funded these schools, it would have been a significant boost to classrooms across Ohio. Traditional public schools are K-12 schools that are funded with taxes, tuition-free, operated by local school districts, and governed by local school boards. They do not include public charter schools, private schools, including private school scholarships, and career and technical education.The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) is a bipartisan approach to school funding based on the actual cost of educating every child, including those who need different or additional support.The FSFP was designed to phase in over six years. After four years, Ohio legislators abandoned the plan and returned to the practice of funding schools based on what they were willing to spend, not the actual cost of educating Ohio’s children.In the current biennial state budget, legislators underfunded Ohio’s public schools by $2.75 billion.

More college grads are finding jobs, but they’re still underemployed -Unemployment among recent college graduates has fallen to the lowest level in over a year, but data suggests they are increasingly taking jobs that do not require a degree.The unemployment rate for recent college graduates in the United States fell in September to the lowest since August 2025, according to data released Monday by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.However, the underemployment rate among that cohort rose to the highest rate since October 2020. Underemployment measures the share of graduates working in jobs that typically do not require a bachelor’s degree. “Recent college grads are taking what they can,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG. “The low pace of hiring and low turnover is limiting the options.” Recent college graduates have faced an increasingly competitive labor market over the past two years as hiring in white-collar jobs has slowed. In particular, openings for entry-level positions that are susceptible to artificial intelligence automation have declined.

Judge dismisses Trump administration lawsuit against Harvard on admissions. A district court judge on Monday dismissed a Trump administration case against Harvard University related to admissions data, saying the government had not satisfied the requirements for a court order for the records. The administration sued Harvard in February, claiming the university had failed to provide records to ensure it was complying with a Supreme Court ruling banning affirmative action in college admissions. Harvard was a defendant in the Supreme Court case.The Justice and Education departments have launched numerous investigations into whether universities continue to consider race in admissions despite the 2023 ruling.Harvard has said it followed civil rights laws and provided data. The university argued the agencies did not comply with regulations in pushing the school to supply documents.Judge Myong J. Joun’s ruling was limited to whether the government had demonstrated it could not get the school to comply voluntarily. It did not determine whether Harvard had discriminated, whether the agencies could seek applicant-level data, or whether Harvard might be required to provide such data.The case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning it may be refiled.Spokespeople for the Justice Department and for Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment.An Education Department spokesperson said: “Students should be judged on their merit and accomplishments, not the color of their skin.”

University of San Francisco caves to woke students by canceling mascot after 90 years    A prominent California university is severing ties with its nearly century-old mascot, pulling the pin on a 92-year-old tradition following student backlash over colonial history.The University of San Francisco announced Friday that “The Don” — a costumed figure sporting a pencil mustache and a green Spanish-style hat that has patrolled the sidelines since 1932 — will officially step aside at the start of the spring 2027 semester.In his place, the college will introduce a wolf, though its athletic teams will still retain the traditional “Dons” nickname. The mascot originally honored Don Francisco de Haro, the first mayor of Yerba Buena before it became San Francisco.While the Spanish honorific translates to “of noble origin,” the figure sparked widespread debate in 2022 when USF’s student government passed a formal resolution demanding its removal, arguing the character symbolized the exploitation and subjugation of California’s Indigenous people.A student petition supporting the measure gathered more than 400 signatures, urging campus administrators to phase out the colonial-era imagery and form a joint task force to select a replacement.

TikTok’s feed can steer users toward harmful content, preliminary EU findings show - The European Commission said Friday that TikTok’s recommendation algorithm breaches EU rules by potentially exposing users repeatedly to harmful content, according to its preliminary findings. TikTok’s personalized “For You” feed could draw users into so-called “rabbit holes” of videos about mental health struggles, sadness, isolation and body image, the commission said in a statement. This repeated exposure could harm users’ mental well-being, particularly minors and vulnerable adults, according to its preliminary findings. The platform’s algorithm relies on engagement, including video views and likes, to determine which content to recommend. Interacting with potentially triggering material, such as videos about weight loss and body image, could lead to increasingly similar recommendations. The commission said repeated exposure could heighten sadness and anxiety, lower self-esteem and worsen body dissatisfaction, eating disorders and other mental health conditions. The bloc also found that TikTok had failed to adequately assess the risks posed by its recommendation system and implement effective measures to mitigate them. Existing measures, including tools intended to diversify recommendations, were insufficient to prevent users from repeatedly encountering similar material, it said. TikTok’s “not interested” option may also fail to meaningfully change users’ feeds because the algorithm prioritizes viewing time over explicit requests to see less of certain content. The commission said TikTok should consider relying more on users’ stated preferences and removing viewing time as a signal for recommendations. It also called for easier-to-use controls and regular testing of the algorithm. TikTok now has the opportunity to examine the investigation files and respond in writing. If the commission ultimately confirms the findings, it could issue a non-compliance decision and impose a fine of up to 6% of TikTok's total worldwide annual turnover. The findings form part of formal proceedings examining TikTok’s compliance with the EU's Digital Services Act, including its addictive design, protection of minors, researchers’ access to public data and advertising transparency.

New evidence affirms COVID vaccine is safe during pregnancy | CIDRAP - Expecting moms have another reason to be reassured about the COVID-19 vaccine's safety for their unborn kids. An analysis published this week in JAMA Pediatrics found that in utero exposure to the immunization had no effect on a child's neurodevelopmental outcomes. The study matched women who received the COVID vaccine during or within 30 days before pregnancy with those who did not, resulting in 217 pairs of participants. Factors considered were delivery site, delivery date, insurance status, race, and ethnicity.  After the women gave birth, researchers compared children's outcomes on the Ages & Stages Questionnaires, Third Edition (ASQ-3), a screening tool that tracks development in five areas: communication, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, problem-solving, and personal-social measures. The study found no differences in overall ASQ-3 scores or in the assessment's specific domain scores between kids whose moms got the COVID vaccine while pregnant and those whose moms did not. The kids in the study ranged in age from 18 to 30 months. These data add to the growing body of evidence showing that the COVID vaccine is safe during pregnancy, wrote the authors, who were led by Brenna L. Hughes, MD, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist at Duke University School of Medicine.However, they said that definitive conclusions require further study using standardized developmental assessments under direct observation. Pregnant patients are strongly recommended to get the COVID-19 vaccine by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, because infection increases the risk of severe complications, including preterm delivery, neonatal death, and maternal death. Although vaccination can occur in any trimester, the organization says a COVID shot should be given as early as possible to maximize maternal and fetal health.

Metformin given within a week of COVID-19 slashes risk of long COVID, death by 53%, paper notes  -Long COVID—or new-onset symptoms or worsening health conditions after SARS-CoV-2 infection—can lower quality of life. Finding a way to prevent it would be a welcome relief for those worried about the long-term effects of the viral infection. A study published last week in the Journal of Medical Virology finds that US COVID-19 patients prescribed metformin, a medication that treats prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, within six days of COVID-19 infection were less likely to develop long COVID or die. “Metformin prescription within the week following documented SARS-CoV-2 infection was associated with a 53% reduction in LC/D [long COVID or death] over 6 months in this primarily Omicron-infected sample,” wrote the authors, led by researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School. Using electronic health records, the scientists conducted a target trial emulation in COVID-infected participants. They compared 248 people who received a new metformin prescription within six days of diagnosis with the same number of controls prescribed the experimental treatments fluvoxamine, fluticasone, ivermectin, or montelukast within that same timeframe.Half of the metformin cohort and more than half (52%) of the control group were infected with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant. Overall, the weighted incidence of long COVID or death in patients receiving metformin or control treatment within six days of diagnosis was 6.3%: 4.0% in the metformin cohort and 8.5% in controls (absolute risk reduction, 4.5% for metformin).

RSV-related hospital costs high in kids with underlying medical conditions –  Long-lasting monoclonal antibodies are recommended to children ages 8 to 19 months old during their second respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season if they have underlying medical conditions (UMCs). A recent study in Pediatrics described the medical costs of RSV-associated hospitalizations for children with or without specific UMCs, providing in greater detail the cost-benefits of monoclonal antibody use in these populations. The study was based on surveillance from the New Vaccine Surveillance Network and included children aged younger than 2 years hospitalized at six pediatric medical centers with laboratory-confirmed RSV during December 1, 2016, to October 31, 2019. Direct medical costs were adjusted to 2025 dollars for the study.A total of 1,715 children with RSV were hospitalized, of which 67.5% had no UMC or history of prematurity. Among those with UMCs aged 6 to 11 months, the costliest conditions were neurologic or neuromuscular disorders, which resulted in costs 4.4 times those of kids hospitalized without UMCs. Children with neurologic or neuromuscular conditions also had the longest hospital stays (averaging 6.5 days), and were more likely to require mechanical ventilation.Among children in their second year of life, median hospital costs were highest among children with chronic lung disease, the authors said, but total costs were still highest among those with neurologic or neuromuscular conditions.“The cost-benefit for RSV prophylaxis in children with UMCs, including those beyond current recommendations, may be even greater than predicted,” the authors concluded.

Nearly 1 in 5 patients with dental infections receive high-risk antibiotic, study shows | CIDRAP  -Serious dental infections can be excruciating, especially when pain spreads from the mouth to the jaw, ear, and neck, or causes throat and facial swelling. When dentists aren’t available, many people with dental pain seek care from primary care providers, urgent care centers, or emergency departments (EDs), which treat nearly 2 million cases of dental pain a year in the United States. Many of these people leave with a prescription for antibiotics and over-the-counter pain relievers. Although antibiotics can’t cure a deep-rooted tooth infection, they can provide a “Band-Aid” until people can see a dentist for definitive treatment, Lisa Dumkow, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist at Trinity Health Grand Rapids in Michigan, told CIDRAP News. But antibiotics need to be chosen with care, so that patients take the most effective medication with the lowest risk of harm. In a study published late last week in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Dumkow and her colleagues found room for improvement. On the positive side, 75% of people with tooth pain received an antibiotic in the penicillin class, as recommended by the American Dental Association (ADA), according to the study. Yet nearly 20% of people in the study received clindamycin, an antibiotic that’s well known for causing life-threatening infections from a pathogen called Clostridioides difficile. The bacterium, also known as C difficile, releases toxins that cause severe diarrhea and can destroy the lining of the intestine.   A CIDRAP News investigation published in February featured the story of Delores Hernandez Owens, 92, who died from a bowel infection after her dentist prescribed clindamycin. Clindamycin has carried a “black box” warning, the Food and Drug Administration’s strongest warning, for at least four decades. ADA guidelines published in 2019 recommend other, safer antibiotics for people with serious dental infections. And in August, the ADA advised clinicians to “avoid clindamycin whenever a safer alternative is available.” Before prescribing clindamycin, “you have to literally be in a situation where you can’t use anything else,” Dumkow, the study’s senior author, said. Dumkow, whose study included more than 12,000 people across Michigan, said she was disappointed to see clindamycin used so often.      In some cases, clinicians in the study prescribed clindamycin because patients had a reported allergy to penicillin. Penicillin allergies are less common than people think.Although 10% of people in the United States have a penicillin allergy listed on their medical chart, less than 1% are actually allergic to the drug, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many people grow out of the allergy after a few years. Others never had penicillin allergies to begin with. In the study, the authors note that 35% of patients treated with clindamycin had reported very minor reactions to penicillin or similar antibiotics, such as a mild to moderate rash. Dumkow encourages clinicians to try to understand more about a patient’s potential allergies before prescribing clindamycin. While formal allergy testing can be time-consuming, she said clinicians can quickly estimate a person’s risk of an allergic reaction by asking four simple questions, such as whether patients needed medical treatment after experiencing a reaction to penicillin. If patients answer “no” to all four questions, their risk of an allergic reaction is less than 1%. In that case, clinicians can feel safe giving the patient one pill and monitoring them for an hour, as long as they have medications on hand to quickly control any allergic reactions, she said. In addition to being riskier than penicillin, clindamycin also appears to be less effective, according to the study. About 5% of patients in the study experienced “treatment failure,” in which they needed a different antibiotic or an additional prescription for the same antibiotic within 30 days.  Clindamycin had an 11% risk of treatment failure, the highest of any antibiotic in the study.

She Had a Life-Threatening Reaction After Sex | MedPage Today - A young woman with a known allergy to penicillin had a severe allergic reaction immediately after intercourse with her husband, who was taking amoxicillin. The case underscores the fact that sexual contact can lead to mucosal exposure to beta-lactams in bodily fluids, and trigger anaphylaxis in those with allergies, Cassim Akhoon, MBChB, of King's College Hospital in London, and colleagues wrote in BMJ Case Reports. The lesson is that unprotected sexual intercourse can be a route of transmission and cause significant allergic reactions in a partner, Akhoon told MedPage Today. "At the moment, including allergy specialists I've spoken to in the U.K., this is not something people are mindful of, nor counselling people on when they're being given a diagnosis of a drug allergy." After this case, he counsels patients with allergies of the risk for transfer if their partner is taking penicillin, "and it's better to use protection or abstain during those times." It's unclear whether other drugs or even foods might be transmitted in the same way, but reactions have been reported to another antibiotic, and in one case, walnuts. "We don't know enough to be able to give precise answers about which ones can, but it's enough evidence to say that some can, and it is something we need to start getting data on," he said. Reports of anaphylaxis related to beta-lactam transfer during sexual contact are rare, the authors wrote. The case reported here is "an episode of anaphylaxis, tightly linked to a partner taking amoxicillin, supported by subsequent positive skin prick testing to amoxicillin, and a clinical course that argues strongly against seminal plasma hypersensitivity." In this case, paramedics were called when a young woman in her 20s had sudden onset of generalized pruritic or itching, widespread urticaria or hives, and angioedema, swelling affecting her throat and tongue. Onset occurred 5 minutes after ejaculation by her partner during vaginal intercourse. She had a prior history of penicillin allergy after having a systemic reaction to treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid 5 years earlier. That reaction started only 10 minutes after her first dose, with generalized urticaria, lip angioedema, and hypotension that caused a loss of consciousness, requiring treatment in the emergency department. Another time, she developed urticaria while crushing amoxicillin to give to her dog. Although she had not had formal allergy testing, she was prescribed a 300-μg epinephrine autoinjector due to the high risk of exposure to beta-lactams through her occupation as a student nurse. So, in the current case, she was able to self-administer epinephrine prior to arrival of the paramedics. Once they arrived, she was found to be hypotensive, with a blood pressure of 88/56 mm Hg, and tachycardic, with a heart rate of 115 beats per minute, and have an audible wheeze on chest auscultation. They administered an additional 500 µg of intramuscular epinephrine, and transported her to the emergency department, where she was treated for anaphylaxis. That day, she hadn't knowingly ingested beta-lactam antibiotics, and reported no new foods or medications. Her partner, however, had started taking oral amoxicillin in a dose of 500 mg, three times per day, and had taken the last dose approximately 6 hours before intercourse. "The temporal relationship to ejaculation during the partner's antibiotic course, together with subsequent tolerance of antibiotics, led clinicians to suspect seminal transfer as the most likely exposure route," they wrote. After observation for a minimum of 6 hours, the patient was discharged with additional autoinjectors, and a referral to specialist allergy services, the authors noted. One year later, serum-specific IgE to penicillin determinants and amoxicillin was negative, but skin prick testing showed sensitization to amoxicillin, they added. The report also includes the perspective of the patient, who expressed concern about the reaction of the paramedics, nurse, and physician at the emergency department to the idea she had not herself taken the amoxicillin, when she had a known penicillin allergy. "This was incredibly frustrating to have to explain multiple times and not feeling believed," she said.

‘Shocking and eye-opening’: Mom who lost young daughter to flu hopes others choose vaccination - When Cayden Smith, age 3, developed a low-grade fever and congestion one Thursday evening in December 2014, her family first thought it was a cold. The following day, they visited an urgent-care center. “We did let them know that she had been scheduled to get a flu shot a couple weeks before, but she had an ear infection,” Jessica Richman, Cayden’s mom, 41, from Newport News, Virginia, told CIDRAP News. “She had a little fever at the time, so they said we needed to reschedule the flu shot.” Urgent care staff didn’t test Cayden for influenza; instead, they treated her cold symptoms and advised the family to return if the toddler didn’t improve. “We actually took her back three different times, because she was getting very progressively worse,” Richman recalled.    While Cayden had always received her vaccines, she missed her flu vaccine in 2014 because of that ear infection. At the time, Richman didn’t know how serious flu could be. “I didn’t realize it was super dangerous, so I didn’t urgently reschedule her flu shot,” she said. Each time the family took Cayden back to urgent care that December, they mentioned she had not received her flu shot. Still, staff never tested her for flu. “They just didn’t seem that concerned that that’s what it was,” Richman said. “I’m not sure why.” By Friday evening, Cayden’s breathing had become labored. She’d take deep breaths in but still didn’t seem to get much air. Unlike other times when she was sick, Cayden wasn’t playing with her toys and behaved lethargically. Finally, her dad called 911. “She was not moving, wasn’t asking for anything. She didn’t want to eat or drink,” Richman said. “We had first responders show up to the house. Unfortunately, she had passed at the house.” The family felt stunned. They had no idea how their previously healthy daughter could simply not be there anymore. While the autopsy provided answers as to how Cayden died, the family struggled to understand. “When I did get the information that it was influenza A that caused pneumonia, I was like, ‘What?’” Richman said. “At the time, I felt like flu was similar to a cold. In no way did I believe that it would take someone’s life, not a small, healthy child. My child had no immune issues. She didn’t have any medical issues.” “It was shocking and eye-opening,” she said. “From my experience with other families who had a similar situation, [death has] been fairly quick, which is surprising. You would think that it wouldn’t be, but they get sick so quickly, and small children, their lungs are just smaller and they can’t fight it off.” Flu is a seasonal respiratory illness that causes symptoms such as chills, muscle aches, nasal congestion, cough, vomiting, nausea, and diarrhea. “We describe it as a more severe virus,” Jennifer Duchon, MD, MPH, associate professor in the Division of Newborn Medicine in the Jack and Lucy Department of Pediatrics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, told CIDRAP News. “It’s not necessarily like a cold, which you can generally feel creeping on. When you get the flu, it almost always happens suddenly.” The flu causes people to feel “absolutely miserable,” Duchon said. “You have a high fever. You cough for a long time. You get shaking chills. You get terrible bone pain. People feel just awful.” Complications cause most flu-related deaths. Flu can lead to sinus and ear infections, lung damage and inflammation, or pneumonia caused by Staphylococcus aureus or difficult-to-treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) pneumonia. Life-threatening encephalitis and brain inflammation can also result. Some people think of the virus as “just the flu” and use that as justification to skip getting the vaccine. But “that is greatly minimizing what the flu really is,” Duchon said. “Before vaccines … the flu was a huge cause of mortality,” especially in the young and the old. Getting an annual flu vaccine helps avert these severe outcomes. “We all know that people still get the flu even though they’ve been vaccinated,” Duchon said. “It’s still highly recommended and one of the best tools that we have to prevent people from dying or going to the hospital.” This year’s flu season started early, with cases first reported in the western United States and now increasing throughout the country. By October 30, more than 6,100 people had been hospitalized, and one child had died, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “In New York, we’re about five to six weeks early in terms of where we were last year,” Duchon said. “Last year at this time, we had in New York state about 1,700 confirmed cases and 100 hospitalizations. And this year … we have about 6,500 confirmed cases and about 400 hospitalizations.” It’s unclear why the flu season started so early this year, but increased travel between the Southern and Northern hemispheres could have been a factor. “It may be that due to the changing epidemiology of borders that flu strains are introduced to us a bit early,” she said. This year, the predominant influenza strain is an H1N1 subvariant called G155E, which the current vaccine doesn’t match very well. But people still benefit from receiving the flu vaccine. “Year after year, we’ve seen that it does provide enough coverage to be able to really mitigate the most severe consequences of the flu, death, hospitalization, secondary infections,” Duchon explained. People who haven’t yet received their flu vaccine should still do so. “It is never too late to get your flu shot, and even if you’ve had the flu, we all recommend that you get a vaccine anyway,” she said. “There are multiple strains of the flu, and you can certainly get reinfected with a different strain during the season.”  

Child dies of measles in New York state for first time in 30 years | CIDRAP -  A child in Lewis County, New York, has died of measles, the state’s first death related to the virus in 30 years. No other details were given.The New York State Department of Health and Lewis County Public Health confirmed the death. "We are deeply saddened by the death of a child in Lewis County associated with the ongoing measles outbreak,” the agencies said yesterday in a joint statement. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the child's family and loved ones and ask that their privacy be respected during this difficult time.”New York is experiencing a measles outbreak, with 210 cases through October 31, according to an update today from the state health department, which added 32 new cases.  In her statement, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said that the child’s death is “a devastating reminder of what’s at stake when Washington deliberately erodes decades of progress in protecting Americans from preventable illnesses.” In the past, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, US Department of Health and Human Services secretary, has sown doubt about the safety of vaccines and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in particular. The New York health department is coordinating efforts with Lewis County to bolster local MMR vaccination and community outreach. It also stressed that it is partnering with local organizations throughout the state to provide MMR vaccination and contact tracing. “All New Yorkers are urged to protect themselves by making sure they are up to date on their measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccines and be aware of health advisories if traveling with unvaccinated individuals, especially young children,” the health department said. Pennsylvania’s measles outbreak continues to grow, with 1,433 cases as of yesterday—up 74 cases from last week. The state also reports 269 measles hospitalizations and five measles-associated deaths so far this year. As of October 30, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) noted 4,852 confirmed cases of measles throughout the United States, including three deaths, as is has yet to confirm all of Pennsylvania’s death. This is the most measles cases in the country in the past 35 years.

Pennsylvania reports another measles-related death, the 2nd in Jefferson County -  An unvaccinated resident of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania, tested positive for measles and has died, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) today. Jefferson County is about 90 miles northeast of Pittsburgh and lost another resident to measles complications back in September. No other information about this most recent death is being released, said the DOH, citing privacy for the deceased and the family."DOH is bound by laws that limit what can be shared publicly, and families deserve the dignity to mourn in private," the agency said in a press release.This is the second measles-associated death reported in the United States this week. A child in Lewis County, New York, recently died of measles, according to the New York State Department of Health.  This is New York's first such death in 30 years. No other information about the late child was provided. There's some confusion as to whether this second fatality out of Jefferson County marks the sixth or the seventh measles-associated death of a Pennsylvania resident this year. In October, the Franklin County coroner said a 39-year-old unvaccinated woman with underlying health conditions had died after a "recent history of a measles diagnosis," and a spokesperson for the coroner told NBC News that the "primary cause of death was a probable acute cardiac event due to possible complications of the measles."While the DOH is aware of this report, it said its investigation "has not yet found any Franklin County cases meeting the required criteria to be confirmed as a measles-associated death." The department told CIDRAP News it could not share any additional information, other than that, per the DOH's epidemiologic definition, a measles-associated death must not be due to unrelated causes and must have occurred within 30 days of symptom onset in a person with clinical evidence of infection. Other information, such as whether the patient was exposed to a confirmed measles case prior to death or supporting medical records, is also considered. With this death, Pennsylvania continues to be the epicenter of measles activity in the United States. State officials have reported 1,467 cases this year, including 34 newly confirmed infections in the past two days. This is the largest state outbreak in more than three decades.There have been 4,852 confirmed cases of measles reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2026, according to data the agency released on October 30. Measles was declared eliminated in the United States in 2000, but the country could lose this status after next week, when a commission of the Pan American Health Organization meets in Washington, DC, for its sixth annual meeting to discuss regional monitoring of measles and rubella elimination.

Pennsylvania: Lancaster County measles cases top 500. 6th measles death confirmed - In Pennsylvania today, an additional 34 confirmed measles cases were reported since Monday, bringing the state total to 1,467 across 45 counties so far in 2026. The state Department of Health also added Butler County to the list of areas where residents have fallen ill with measles, bringing the number of counties that have seen measles cases this year to 45 out of 67 counties in Pennsylvania. Lancaster County has eclipsed the 500 case mark, now standing at 504. An unvaccinated resident of Jefferson County tested positive for measles and has died. This is the sixth confirmed measles-associated death in Pennsylvania.

A baby in Wisconsin has died from measles, the 3rd such US death this week | CIDRAP - An infant in Wisconsin has died from measles, the first such death in the state since 1990—36 years ago. The coroner listed the immediate cause of death as measles, according to a press release from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). To protect the child's and family's privacy, DHS said it will not release additional information. The loss of this child in Wisconsin marks the third measles-related death reported by a state health department in the United States this week: An infant died in New York, and another Pennsylvanian has passed. Reporting by The Washington Post identified the latter as a young mother who had just given birth At least eight people have died this year in the United States from measles complications, according to states. Three people died from measles complications in 2025. Prior to last year, the most recent US measles death was in 2015.Yesterday the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added one death to its official toll, bringing the total to four. This year, the CDC is not automatically adding measles deaths confirmed by state officials.Wisconsin has reported 431 measles cases as of November 3, up from 335 two weeks ago. This is likely an undercount, as not everyone infected seeks medical care. Also, it's estimated that, out of every 1,000 unvaccinated kids, between one and three will die from respiratory and neurologic complications of measles. Hence, the death of this child suggests a far higher number of cases. The total number of cases reported in the United States this year is 4,852, according to the CDC. But, as in Wisconsin, the real number is likely higher. In addition to death, long-term complications of measles include immune suppression, injury to the lungs, permanent brain damage, and loss of eyesight and hearing.

Worst Kentucky measles outbreak in decades continues to grow, surpassing 200-case mark -- Kentucky's measles outbreak is continuing to grow amid one of the worst years for the viral illness in the U.S. this century. The end of October brought the confirmed case count to 200 since the first case was reported in July, according to the state's Department for Public Health dashboard.That total – which does not include the four cases reported in January of this year – marks it as the worst measles outbreak in the commonwealth since 1991.  Data from the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services indicates that nearly all of these cases were confirmed in people who were either unvaccinated or had an unknown vaccination status. The most impacted group has been people aged 18 or older (96 cases), with children and teens between ages of 5 and 17 also being heavily impacted (84 cases).While cases have been confirmed in several communities across Kentucky, around three-quarters of them have been located in just three counties: Christian (66), Laurel (56) and Trigg (32). Cases have also been diagnosed in Bath (15), Caldwell (7), Barren (5), Washington (5), Carroll (5), Jessamine (4), Todd (3), Owen (2), Lewis (2), Allen (1) and Trimble (1).So far, 13 individuals have reportedly been hospitalized due to the virus. No deaths have been linked to this outbreak.While the earliest confirmed cases in the state this year were diagnosed in January, this latest outbreak did not begin until July. The numbers have grown steadily since then: reaching 50 by the end of August and nearly tripling in September to 146.CHFS updated its measles case dashboard to report an additional 54 cases throughout October, marking the case amount – as of Thursday, Nov. 5 – at 204.According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there is not a currently FDA-approved treatment for measles. The CDC, however, recommends a few things; isolating those that are infected and taking airborne precautions, vitamin A administration to infants and children, antibiotics for secondary bacterial infections and an increased intake of fluids,

How Did History's Deadliest Pathogen Infect a Private High School? | MedPage Today  --In December 2025, I was chatting with a friend who has a teenager in a rival San Francisco high school. Our conversation turned to football first, then to prom. "It's going great," the friend reported. "Well, except for the tuberculosis." Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the slender, rod-shaped Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is one of humanity's great scourges. It's ancient, contagious, highly lethal, and thrives in impoverished settings. A well-funded private school is just about the last place we would expect to find a TB outbreak. But my friend was right. About a month earlier, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) issued a report describing a case of TB at Archbishop Riordan High School (ARHS). By March, that one case would balloon into hundreds more. As a physician and a journalist, we spent months wondering how history's deadliest infection overwhelmed a prestigious Bay Area school.  Until the 1800s, tuberculosis was the single greatest cause of American mortality, responsible for a quarter of all deaths. But by the early 1900s, public health initiatives that improved living and work conditions precipitated a drop in TB. After streptomycin was developed in the 1940s, case rates plunged. Between the 1950s and 1980s, annual TB mortality dropped from 20,000 to under 2,000. However, TB remains a leading cause of death globally due to overcrowding, malnutrition, limited healthcare, and, more recently, cuts to foreign aid. Today, 77% of cases in the U.S. occur in foreign-born individuals, in whom TB incidence is 20 times greater than in U.S.-born individuals. In San Francisco, TB epidemiology mirrors national trends. This, according to the parents we interviewed, is how the ARHS outbreak began -- with a student who had recently immigrated from a continent with high TB prevalence (Africa). In September 2025, ARHS's index case of TB (patient zero) was evaluated by a medical provider, reporting 2 weeks of cough. As you might imagine, a cough is a fairly common complaint amongst high school students during flu season. The student's symptoms were not attributed to TB at that initial visit. TB is a slow burning disease. Infection occurs when someone inhales its bacilli and, in about 5% of infected individuals, this results in the development of active TB with classic consumptive symptoms (cough, bloody sputum, night sweats). But most people don't develop symptoms immediately. Their immune system halts the infection and they remain both asymptomatic and non-contagious -- a state known as latent TB. But there's always a risk those dormant bacilli will reactivate into active TB -- about a 10% risk over a person's lifetime. In the U.S., 80% of active TB cases are due to reactivation, and among foreign-born individuals, 93% are. The good news is there's treatment for latent TB, and it's 90% effective at preventing progression to active disease.However, there are still an estimated 13 million people with latent TB in the U.S. who, left untreated, represent a reservoir for ongoing transmission -- a sort of tuberculous tinderbox. And treatment of latent TB often falls through the cracks of the American health system: in one study, only half (48%) of foreign-born adults who tested positive for latent TB were offered treatment; in another, only 47% of patients who started treatment completed it.In addition, in 2021, for the first time in 30 years, TB began quietly staging a comeback. Cuts to public health infrastructure, pandemic-related healthcare disruptions, and increased immigration all contributed to a recent and ongoing TB resurgence in the U.S.Once someone has active TB, that person is contagious, but only moderately so -- in developed countries the R₀ (the number of people typically infected by an individual with active TB) is generally well below 1. But transmission can increase -- a lot -- if there's extended, indoor contact between the infected and uninfected. Especially during the winter. ARHS offers a boarding option, which is convenient for international students. This, according to the parents we interviewed, was where patient zero was living between the onset of cough in September and November -- when the student was finally referred to SFDPH for evaluation of active TB.Things moved quickly after November.SFDPH began by screening patient zero's close contacts. This revealed an ominously high prevalence of TB infection. In December, mandatory testing of all ARHS students and staff was announced. Two additional cases of active and 50 cases of latent TB were confirmed in January. By late February, over 1,300 TB tests had been administered. And by March, a startling 18% of those tested -- 244 students and staff -- were positive for latent TB infection, in addition to eight cases of active TB.All told, the fallout was massive: extensive, repeated, months-long testing; medical treatment for hundreds of students and staff; widespread school disruption, including cancellation of in-person classes; and considerable frustration and confusion amongst students and parents, who largely shouldered the cost of all that testing. By April, 96% of the latent and 100% of the active cases had started treatment, and the outbreak was considered contained.

Superbugs on the rise in pediatric patients, US data show - An increase in superbug infections in US hospitals appears to be affecting children with complex medical needs, US researchers reported this week in the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society.Recent surveillance studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have shown a significant increase in hospital infections caused by carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE), a family of bacterial pathogens that has become resistant to most antibiotics.  The increase has been driven by carbapenemase-producing (CP)-CRE that carry the carbapenemase gene New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM). But data on CRE and CP-CRE infections in pediatric patients have been limited.To assess trends in pediatric CRE and CP-CRE incidence in US hospitals, a team led by researchers with the CDC analyzed CRE clinical isolates from patients aged 18 and under that were submitted to the CDC’s Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory Network from 2019 through 2024. “Recent increases in the incidence of NDM-producing CRE pose new challenges for managing CRE infections,” the study authors wrote. “These challenges are accentuated in pediatric populations, where approval and age-specific safety data are limited or unavailable for newer therapies that have expanded CP-CRE treatment options in adults.”Overall, researchers identified 1,845 CRE cases from 1,753 children (median age, 5 years; 58% female). One quarter of the cases were CP-CRE. Over the study period, national incidence of pediatric CRE rose 51%, while CP-CRE incidence saw a 92% increase. The increase was driven by a four-fold rise in NDM-CRE infections in children.Analysis of medical charts of 124 children with CP-CRE infections found that only 14% were in children with no healthcare risk factors. Among those with healthcare risk factors, 75% had an underlying medical condition, including cardiovascular disease, malignancies, and neurocognitive conditions. Common exposures included intensive care unit hospitalization and healthcare provided outside the United States.“These findings indicate that CP-CRE—and particularly NDM-CRE, with its more limited treatment options—is a growing issue in U.S. pediatric healthcare settings,” the authors wrote.

CDC Says These Superbugs Kill 50,000 Americans Per Year - Key Takeaways:

• An updated CDC report includes 19 pathogens whose threat levels range from "concerning" or "serious" to top-tier "urgent."
• Clostridioides difficile slid from being an urgent threat to a serious threat, driven in part by successful infection prevention measures.
• Six pathogens made the agency's watch list of potential threats, including drug-resistant dermatophytes and drug-resistant Haemophilus influenzae.

Candida auris, Acinetobacter, Enterobacterales, and Neisseria gonorrhoeae topped the CDC's revised list of drug-resistant pathogens that threaten public health and demand aggressive action. The CDC's updated 2026 Antimicrobial Resistance Threats Report outlined the nation's most troubling infectious agents, including 19 pathogens whose threat levels range from "concerning" or "serious" to top-tier "urgent," plus half a dozen that made the agency's watch list of potential threats.Taken together, the pathogens cause an estimated 9.7 million infections annually and 50,800 deaths, according to the agency."These numbers are alarming by any measure, but they are particularly sobering when infectious diseases physicians connect real patients with these statistics in their everyday experience," cautioned Wendy Armstrong, MD, president of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, in a statement."Drug-resistant infections prolong hospital stays, drive up healthcare costs, and make it increasingly difficult -- and sometimes impossible -- for doctors to safely provide care like cancer chemotherapy, organ transplants, hip and knee replacements, and other medical care and surgeries," she added.The pathogen report's newcomers and category movers include:

• Drug-resistant N. meningitidis, which emerged as a serious threat requiring prompt and sustained action
• Drug-resistant dermatophytes, which the CDC added to its watch list of emerging pathogens with an uncertain disease burden that could become a potential threat
• Drug-resistant Haemophilus influenzae, which also joined the CDC's pathogen watch list
• Nontuberculous mycobacteria, another addition to the CDC's watch list
• Clostridioides difficile, which slid from being an urgent threat to a serious threat, driven in part by successful infection prevention measures that have dropped case numbers since 2011

Armstrong called for the passage of the PASTEUR Act, which would create a federal program to develop antimicrobial drugs against the most threatening pathogens and infections. Both versions of the bill remain stalled in congressional committees.Four drug-resistant pathogens earned spots on the CDC's top-tier "urgent threats" list:

• C. auris, also known as Candidozyma auris, is an emerging, multidrug-resistant yeast that can cause severe, life-threatening infections, particularly in patients who already have serious medical conditions. The number of reported U.S. cases has jumped from 48 in 2016, when it was first reported, to 4,523 in 2023.
• Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter can cause infections nearly anywhere in the body, and it's a particular menace for patients in hospitals and nursing homes, where it spreads through contaminated surfaces and equipment. Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter led to 9,497 U.S. hospitalizations in 2023, with most cases beginning outside the hospital (63%). The drug-resistant pathogen was responsible for an estimated 817 U.S. deaths that year.
• Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales include strains of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella. Patients on ventilators or with catheters, as well as those on longer antibiotics courses, face a greater risk of these infections, which have limited treatment options. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales fueled 14,878 hospitalizations in 2023, and the pathogen led to an estimated 1,252 deaths.
• Drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae complicates treatment of the resulting sexually transmitted infection gonorrhea, increasing the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease, ectopic pregnancy, and infertility, as well as acquiring and transmitting HIV. The FDA last year approved gepotidacin (Blujepa) and zoliflodacin (Nuzolvence) as the first new antibiotics for gonorrhea in decades. In 2023, drug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae caused an estimated 787,000 infections in the U.S. Overall, 55.4% of gonorrhea cases in 2023 were either resistant to any of six antibiotics or showed elevated minimum inhibitory concentrations.

Abdul El-Sayed proposes legislation to combat lettuce-related illnesses - Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed (D) told reporters that if he was elected to the upper chamber, he wanted to pass an act related to 2026’s cyclospora outbreak: The S‑‑‑ Lettuce Elimination Act.“For a long time here in Michigan, right, over the summer, there were a lot of people who ate lettuce and then had, you know, they ate the s‑‑‑ lettuce. And we shouldn’t have s‑‑‑ lettuce in the United States of America,” he said Sunday. The act is an ongoing joke from the Democrat who previously mentioned it during a campaign event in September but is related to his campaign’s public health priorities.“We have to rebuild the part of the FDA [Food and Drug Administration] that makes sure that people are eating lettuce where other people have not shat,” El-Sayed continued. “And we need to make sure that the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] can count the number of cases of s‑‑‑ lettuce. It’s a clean bill.” El-Sayed was referring to one of the country’s largest outbreaks of cyclospora in history. It saw more than 12,000 reported cases in the U.S. with 570 hospitalizations, per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It was eventually linked to iceberg lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico that has since been recalled. The foodborne illness causes watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC.More than 5,000 cases and the outbreak’s two deaths were recorded in Michigan. Health officials reported an end to the outbreak in September, which marked the country’s largest outbreak of cyclospora.  At the Monday press conference, El-Sayed said his first priority in the Senate was to block cuts to Medicaid. He is also advocating for “Medicare for all,” a topic he authored a book on.

Cyclospora outbreaks in recent years tied to $374 million in bagged-salad sales losses | -- US consumers bought fewer bagged salads during Cyclospora outbreaks from 2018 to 2022, contributing to roughly $374 million in retail losses, according to a new study published in Risk Analysis.Researchers at the University of Florida and The Ohio State University found that weekly bagged-salad purchases declined by an average of 3.9% during the study period. Declines were seen in states with active outbreaks, as well as in spillover areas that shared media markets with affected areas. “What people read online shows up in what they put in their carts,” lead author Xuerui Yang, PhD, of the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, says in a press release from the Society for Risk Analysis, which publishes Risk Analysis through Wiley.The study didn’t include recent data, so it didn’t assess the impact of the enormous Cyclospora outbreak this year tied to iceberg lettuce that caused at least 12,833 illnesses, 570 hospitalizations, and two deaths across 21 states. From May 1 to August 31, 2026, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed 20,996 cyclosporiasis cases, which is considered an undercount. For the study, the researchers examined six Cyclospora outbreaks with a substantial public health impact (defined as greater than 100 cases). Four of the six outbreaks were linked to bagged salads. Together, the multistate outbreaks accounted for 2,157 illnesses, or 65% of the 3,344 total outbreak-associated cyclosporiasis cases reported to the National Outbreak Reporting System during the study period. The team analyzed household purchase records and Google search activity across 210 media markets, using search volume to estimate exposure to information about the outbreaks. Because media markets often cross state lines, the researchers were able to examine purchases in unaffected states exposed to outbreak information.The researchers found that outbreak-specific searches—"Cyclospora,” for example—were linked to greater perceived risk and more purchase reductions. Salad-related searches of a more general nature were tied to smaller purchase reductions. In non-outbreak states, information spillover was associated with a 3.3% weekly reduction in bagged-salad purchases. When the researchers analyzed data from retailers, they found no statistically significant reductions in products stocked during outbreaks or recalls, supporting the researchers’ interpretation that the purchase reductions were largely driven by consumer demand.Of the outbreaks studied, two—one each in 2018 and 2020—produced the largest retail losses. The 2018 Cyclospora outbreak lasted for 31 weeks across 16 states and was associated with $79 million in retail losses. The 2020 outbreak extended to 33 states over 29 weeks and was associated with the highest total retail losses, at $190 million.The 2018 outbreak was the largest studied. It resulted in 771 illnesses.

Quick takes: Salmonella tied to oysters, Bundibugyo vaccine funding, no mother-to-child HIV in Barbados | CIDRAP

• The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is reporting one new Salmonella case in a multistate outbreak linked to raw oysters. There have now been 28 cases in 13 states, with five people hospitalized. The outbreak of Salmonella Telelkebir is linked to oysters harvested from the Little Wicomico River harvest area in Virginia from September 18 to October 8 by the Little Wicomico Oyster Company, according to the Food and Drug Administration. The company has recalled the oysters, and consumers, restaurants, and food retailers who bought the oysters are advised to dispose of them and sanitize any containers or surfaces they touched.
• The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) announced last week that it has been awarded $36 million by the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to advance development of its one-dose vaccine against Bundibugyo Ebola virus. The award will support manufacturing of vaccine doses for clinical evaluation and outbreak response, along with options for expanded manufacturing to support future preparedness needs. The rVSV-based vaccine platform is one of four being evaluated for Bundibugyo, which is the cause of the current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has no licensed vaccines or treatments.
• Barbados has become the latest nation to eliminate mother-to-child transmission of HIV as a public health problem, the World Health Organization (WHO) said late last week. Independent certification of the achievement comes after the island nation reported no new HIV infections in infants resulting from mother-to-child transmission from 2022 through 2024. Barbados is one of 26 countries and territories recognized by the WHO for eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV, syphilis, or hepatitis B. “This achievement means that children are born free of HIV and that women living with HIV can access the care and treatment they need. It is a proud moment for Barbados, the Caribbean, and the global effort to end AIDS in children,” Jarbas Barbosa, PhD, MPH, Director of the Pan American Health Organization and WHO Regional Director for the Americas, said in a news release.

Quick takes: Clade 1 mpox in California, H9N2 avian flu cases in China, more Ebola deaths | CIDRAP

• Officials in Stanislaus County, California, said four recent mpox cases were or may have been caused by clade 1, the deadlier strain of the virus. The strain typically circulates in Africa and is usually only seen in the United States in connection with international travel. Two of the cases are confirmed clade 1, two are suspected pending analysis, and three of the four case-patients reported not leaving Stanislaus County in the past year. The fourth patient’s travel history is still being investigated. Clade 1 has a case-fatality rate of 1% to 10%, compared with 1% to 4% for the more common clade 2. Both clades commonly spread via close contact, often from sexual contact or household transmission.
• For the first time since August, Hong Kong's Centre for Health Protection (CHP) is reporting human H9N2 avian flu cases, one each in Hubei and Jiangxi provinces. The Hubei patient is a 2-year-old boy with symptom onset on September 22, and the Jiangxi province case occurred in a 77-year-old woman with a September 16 symptom onset. There have been 22 other H9N2 cases reported on mainland China in the past six months, and a single case in Hong Kong. Since 2015, a total of 164 cases of human infection with H9N2 avian flu have been confirmed, including two deaths, both in people with underlying conditions.
• The Ebola outbreak centered in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has now killed 5,376 people, including 5,372 in the DRC and two each in Kenya and Uganda. A total of 10,444 people have been sickened in this outbreak, which is entering its seventh month. The case-fatality rate is now over 50%, at 51.6%, as contact tracing remains limited and as there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for the Bundibugyo strain of the virus. Both Ituri and North Kivu provinces remain the epicenter of the outbreak.

Quick takes: Cholera in DR Congo, Canada OKs mRNA flu & flu-COVID vaccines, polio in 4 nations | CIDRAP

• Amid an ongoing Ebola outbreak, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is also seeing its worst cholera outbreak in decades, World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, PhD, said this week. At a weekly media briefing, Tedros said the DRC has seen more than 60,000 cases of the highly contagious diarrheal disease this year and 1,800 deaths. Tedros said most of the cases are in the provinces of North and South Kivu, which have been affected by the Ebola outbreak and where years of conflict have created a “critical water and sanitation deficit.” Tedros also noted that cholera vaccine coverage in the area is very low.
• Vaccine maker Moderna said yesterday that Canada became the first country in the world to authorize both the company’s mRNA flu vaccine and its combination flu and COVID vaccine. Both vaccines were authorized by Health Canada for adults age 50 and older. "Influenza and COVID-19 continue to place a significant burden on public health, particularly among older adults. These milestones reflect our commitment to advancing innovative vaccine options that help protect Canadians and support more resilient health systems,” Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel, MBA, MEng, said in a company press release.
• Afghanistan reported eight new cases of wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) this week, according the most recent update from the Global Polio Eradication Initiative. All of the new cases had onsets of paralysis in August and September. The country’s WPV1 total for 2026 is now 50 cases. Pakistan also reported a WPV1 case with paralysis onset in September, bringing its total this year to eight cases. Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only countries where WPV1 remains endemic. Also reporting new polio cases this week were the DRC and Ethiopia. The DRC reported nine cases of circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus type 2 (cVDPV2), bringing its cVDPV2 total this year 93 cases. Ethiopia reported two cases of circulating vaccine-derive poliovirus type 1 and has reported 11 such cases for the year.

Yakima County, Washington, reports 2 more avian flu cases, 1 death - Over the weekend health officials in Yakima County, Washington, said two more people were sickened with H5N1 avian flu, including a person who died after hospitalization for severe illness. The person had underlying health conditions and had contact with infected dairy cows, but no identifying details were released by the county. “Avian influenza can cause severe illness, particularly among people who have underlying health conditions. While this is a serious and heartbreaking outcome, the risk to the general public remains low. We continue to work closely with our public health partners to monitor the situation and protect the health of our community,” said Dave Atteberry, MD,  the Yakima Health District health officer, in a press release yesterday.This the first H5N1 death recorded this year, and the third recorded in the United States since 2024, when H5N1 was first detected in dairy cattle. The third confirmed case-patient in Yakima County has not experienced severe illness or been hospitalized, officials said. Close contacts of all three patients are being monitored, but there is no suggestion of human-to-human transmission. Yakima County reported the nation’s first human H5N1 case of the year in mid-October, in a person who had a non-severe illness, following the first detection of avian flu in dairy herds in the region.The county has since become a hot spot of H5N1 activity in dairy herds, and all three case-patients had known contact with infected animals on affected farms.In the past 30 days, Washington has recorded 34 herds infected with H5N1, all but one in Yakima County. Per state officials, genetic sequencing for the virus detected in cattle from two Yakima County farms indicates a cow-adapted strain (B3.13) that has been circulating in dairy cattle since spring 2024.In other avian flu news, for the first time since 2024 Colorado has detected the virus during routine milk tank testing, with officials confirming H5N1 at a Weld County dairy. “This detection underscores the importance of our routine bulk milk tank testing to keep our herds healthy and our food supply secure,” said Colorado State Veterinarian Maggie Baldwin, DVM, in a statement. “Colorado has taken a proactive approach to monitoring and responding to avian influenza, ensuring that early detection leads to swift mitigation measures to protect consumers and our food supply.”Pasteurization kills H5N1, and the threat of contracting avian flu from pasteurized milk remains extremely low, Baldwin said.“This detection underscores the importance of our routine bulk milk tank testing to keep our herds healthy and our food supply secure,” said Colorado State Veterinarian Maggie Baldwin, DVM, in a statement. “Colorado has taken a proactive approach to monitoring and responding to avian influenza, ensuring that early detection leads to swift mitigation measures to protect consumers and our food supply.”

With 60 new cases in the past week, Florida’s dengue total jumps to 485  - Florida’s Department of Health recorded 60 more locally acquired dengue cases in the past week, bringing the state total to 485. This is the highest case count in decades, and significantly higher than last year’s total, which was 62 cases.Of the 485 cases, 385 confirmed cases come from Hillsborough County, where a local emergency has been extended through this week. Eleven other counties in the state have also reported infections, and 20 mosquito pools have been reported.“Mosquito Management crews are increasing treatments by air and ground because the County's mosquito surveillance in many neighborhoods is showing dengue virus activity in the mosquito population,” the county said in a press release on the emergency.  Dengue, also called breakbone fever, is spread by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. Most people infected will recover, but can report high fevers, severe muscular and joint pain, and headaches. The virus can also be deadly. Last month, a Tampa-area woman because the state’s first dengue death in decades.

Bangladesh dengue fever update - Six more people died from dengue in the past 24 hours, while 1,866 new patients were admitted to hospitals across the country during the same period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). A total of 142,775 people have been hospitalised with dengue across the country between January 1 and November 4 this year. Of the newly hospitalised patients, 868 were from Dhaka division, 66 from Mymensingh, 256 from Chattogram, 215 from Khulna, 171 from Rajshahi, 71 from Rangpur, 206 from Barishal and 13 from Sylhet. With the latest fatalities, the total number of deaths from dengue this year has reached 445.

Italy West Nile virus cases up to 787 - In Italy, the national surveillance system coordinated by the ISS reports 787 confirmed cases of West Nile Virus (WNV) infection in humans, up 10 cases from the previous week, of which 422 were neuroinvasive (including 5 imported cases: 1 from the Maldives, 1 from France, 1 from Belgium, 1 from Greece, and 1 from the Netherlands), 96 asymptomatic cases identified in blood donors, 263 cases of fever (2 imported cases: 1 from Burkina Faso, 1 from Greece), 5 cases with other symptoms, and 1 asymptomatic case. Of the confirmed cases, 61 deaths have been reported (including one from an imported case). The case fatality rate, calculated on the autochthonous neuroinvasive forms reported and confirmed so far, is 14.4% (in the same period in 2025, 19.6%). In the same period last year, 773 cases were reported, with 72 deaths. WNV circulation has been demonstrated in 88 provinces across 20 regions. Concerning dengue fever, 369 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported: 73 of these are autochthonous, while all other cases are associated with travel abroad (51% with exposure in the Maldives), no deaths. The autochthonous cases are attributable to 5 local transmission outbreaks and 2 additional cases which, at the current state of investigations, do not appear to be epidemiologically linked to others or to each other. Lastly, 30 confirmed cases of chikungunya: 1 of these cases has been identified as autochthonous, while all the others are associated with travel abroad (34% with exposure in the Seychelles), no deaths.

Czech Republic reports significant rise in Lyme disease in 2026 - The latest report from the Czech Infectious Disease Information System indicates that 12,711 cases of Lyme borreliosis were recorded between January and the end of September 2026, compared to 7,991 cases during the same period in 2025—an increase of 59.1%. The cumulative incidence stands at 117 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. Key Statistics via Bing AI:

• Cases (Jan–Sep 2026): 12,711, up from 7,991 in the same period of 2025
• Incidence rate: 117 cases per 100,000 inhabitants
• Highest rates: Liberec and Vysočina regions (~160 per 100,000)
• Lowest rate: Prague (84 per 100,000), with 1,184 cases — a 42% increase from 2025
• Other notable areas: Central Bohemian Region reported 1,869 cases

Florida horse dual infected with West Nile virus and Eastern Equine Encephalitis - The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) reported a horse from Columbia County was dual infected with West Nile virus (WNV) and Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). The animal was euthanized. This is the 5th confirmed case of WNV (Columbia, Glades, Okeechobee and Suwannee- 2 counties) and 8th EEE case (Columbia, Hillsborough, Indian River, Jackson, Osceola, Seminole, Volusia and Washington counties) reported in Florida in 2026. West Nile virus (WNV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus. WNV primarily causes disease in birds, humans, and horses and is transmitted by many different species of mosquitoes. Since 1999, more than 27,600 U.S. horses have been confirmed with WNV neuro-invasive disease with an estimated average case fatality rate of 30–40%. Eastern Equine Encephalitis also known as the sleeping sickness, is a viral disease that causes inflammation of the brain and spinal cord. It is transmitted by mosquitoes.

New World screwworm cases in US animals jump to 113  -The number of confirmed New World screwworm (NWS) cases in the United States jumped to 113 yesterday, as the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported an additional 42 cases since last week.The latest cases—in Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona—involve horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, and a chicken, according to the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. While Texas and New Mexico reported their first animal infestations with the parasitic fly in early June, Arizona confirmed its first case October 28, with an infested dog in Cochise County. Two elk also have been infested in Texas. Most of the infestations are clustered along the border with Mexico, which first reported NWS infestations two years ago.NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, and, less commonly, people. The larvae of the parasitic fly feed on living tissue and can cause severe wounds, animal suffering, and significant economic impacts if not detected and treated quickly.  In related news, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) this week issued an emergency use authorization for a drug to treat NWS infestations in dogs and puppies. The prescription medication, Bravecto, comes in chewable tablets and was previously approved to fight fleas and ticks in dogs. The FDA has authorized the use of several drugs to protect pets from NWS since June. The FDA also has authorized the emergency use of Simparica Trio to treat NWS infestations in puppies and dogs, as well as nitenpyram for dogs and cats.

Lake trout harvest in Lake Superior scaled back as invasive species causes population decline - Great Lakes Now -  Anglers won’t be able to catch as many lake trout in the Apostle Islands region of Lake Superior after the Natural Resources Board approved a 15 percent cut in the harvest.The cut comes as the population of lake trout is at its lowest point in three decades, according to state data.The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources requested a reduced harvest of 57,000 lake trout for the 2027 season as fewer young fish are surviving to adulthood amid higher numbers of invasive sea lamprey. It’s an eel-like parasites that sucks the blood of its hosts.The reduction affects waters between Bark Point and Saxon Harbor on Lake Superior.The DNR and the Red Cliff and Bad River Bands of Lake Superior Chippewa jointly manage fish populations in Lake Superior under a 10-year fishing agreement. The harvest would be split, with 39,500 fish going to tribal anglers and 17,500 fish split between state commercial and sport anglers. Most recent data for lake trout indicates the population has been declining since 2020, said Brad Ray, the DNR’s Lake Superior fisheries team supervisor. Modeling conducted by the DNR shows a nearly 37 percent decline in the estimated lake trout population, falling from roughly 835,000 to around 530,000 between 2020 and 2025. “We’re just not having any fish coming back into the fishable population, so there’s no young fish out there,” Ray said.

Tracing Darwin's finches' deadly new invader—the avian vampire fly - Comprehensive genetic analysis has shed new light on the spread of an invasive, bloodsucking fly, which poses a devastating threat to the iconic Darwin's finches of the Galápagos Islands. The larvae of the parasitic avian vampire fly (Philornis downsi) feed on the blood and tissue of developing chicks, often killing 100% of the brood. First discovered in nests in 1997, the fly has become one of the most serious threats to the survival of Darwin's finches. New Macquarie University–led research, just published in the journal Molecular Ecology, uses genomic evidence to uncover how the parasite spreads between islands, providing vital information for efforts to control its impact across the archipelago. The avian vampire fly has been recorded on 15 islands of the Galápagos and attacks many species of the finches, which famously helped naturalist Charles Darwin deduce how species evolve and adapt to their environments. To investigate how the invader has established and spread, Ph.D. student Abbie Hay et al, analyzed flies collected from five major Galápagos islands and from mainland Ecuador, where the parasite is native. By sequencing and comparing the genomes of flies collected from the different islands, the researchers were able to trace patterns of directional movement and genetic diversity. "This is the first study to reveal genetic migration pathways of the vampire fly across the Galápagos archipelago," said Dudaniec. The findings revealed genetic divergence between mainland and Galápagos vampire fly populations and identified the island of San Cristóbal—the closest island to the Ecuadorian mainland and historically the first docking point for cargo vessels—as a likely point of entry and source population. "Our results suggest that the fly may be traveling from the mainland to San Cristóbal with human assistance, and from there to other islands through a combination of human activity and natural dispersal," said Dudaniec. Island species are particularly susceptible to invasive parasites and pathogens. Having evolved in relative isolation, many lack the defenses needed to withstand newly introduced threats. "By identifying which populations are genetically connected, we can better understand where flies may be coming from and where control efforts could have the greatest impact," said Dudaniec. The study builds on more than two decades of research into interactions between the avian vampire fly and Darwin's finches, led by professor Sonia Kleindorfer, now based at the University of Vienna. "Our findings are critical for prioritizing islands for control strategies that will reduce the impact of the vampire fly on the finches and other vulnerable endemic birds," said Dudaniec. Beyond the Galápagos, the findings highlight the value of genomic approaches for tracking biological invasions and informing conservation strategies in vulnerable island ecosystems.

Gold mining introduces an overlooked threat to wild caimans - Mercury pollution from artisanal gold mining in tropical regions is finding its way into wildlife. A team from the University of Vienna and the Veterinary University of Vienna shows that mercury exposure impairs the glucocorticoid response that helps animals cope with acute stress. This weakened stress response could reduce the caimans' chances of survival and reproduction. The findings, recently published in the journal Communications Biology, point to a previously overlooked endocrine threat to crocodylians. Working with wild smooth-fronted caimans (Paleosuchus trigonatus) in the rainforest of French Guiana, researchers found that individuals with higher mercury levels in their blood reached lower peak corticosterone levels during standardized stress tests. This suggests that mercury acts as an endocrine-disrupting chemical that could compromise the crocodylians' capacity to cope with environmental change. Since preindustrial times, atmospheric mercury has increased by an estimated 300%–500%, largely due to fossil fuel combustion and gold mining. Mercury is a potent endocrine-disrupting chemical: in vertebrates, including humans, it can interfere with steroid receptors, among them the glucocorticoid receptor, which mediates the body's stress response. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis enables animals to maintain homeostasis during acute challenges, rapidly ramping up hormone levels such as corticosterone to mobilize energy and trigger appropriate behavioral responses. In healthy vertebrates, this peak is fast and pronounced. In caimans from mercury-contaminated environments, however, the research team observed a significantly dampened hormonal spike—evidence that the flexibility of this vital response system decreases as blood mercury concentrations increase. A comparative analysis by the team further indicates that a cysteine residue within the ligand-binding domain of the glucocorticoid receptor, a site known to be targeted by methylmercury, is conserved across crocodylian species, offering a possible molecular explanation for the disruption observed. "Given the overlap of crocodylian habitats with gold mining activities, this is a conservation concern that deserves immediate attention," says Jérémy Lemaire, first author of this study. "A fast, robust stress response is essential for survival in the wild. We show that even relatively low mercury burdens affect this response in caimans, potentially limiting their ability to cope with predators, extreme weather and human disturbance, and ultimately survive in the wild." In many tropical regions, mercury emissions from gold mining are prevalent and can travel worldwide through the atmosphere. As long-lived apex predators, caimans accumulate mercury through their diet over many years, making them sensitive indicators of contamination in their ecosystems.

EPA Pulls the Plug on Regulating Air Pollution From Giant Livestock and Poultry Operations -- The Environmental Protection Agency late last week announced it would end a 20-plus-year effort to develop methods to monitor air pollution from factory farms, effectively shuttering the agency’s stop-and-start attempts to regulate the potentially pollutant-spewing facilities under the Clean Air Act. The announcement came just days before the midterm elections and was characterized by the agency as a long-awaited reprieve for farmers, a historically important constituency for Trump and the Republican party. When tens of thousands of animals are packed into one place, pollution from their waste is blown from ventilation fans or emanates from giant lagoons of liquid effluent. Livestock facilities emit fine particulate matter, ammonia, nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide and volatile organic compounds, all contributing to a toxic mix. Research has shown that emissions from these operations are a major cause of air pollution, causing nearly 12,700 deaths in the United States a year. Strictly speaking, concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, are required to get permits under the Clean Air Act and report emissions of these pollutants under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability and Act and the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. But through a deal crafted in tandem with the EPA and the livestock industry, they’ve been given amnesty from doing so for more than 20 years. The arrangement goes back to the early 2000s when the agency attempted to prosecute CAFOs for exceeding limits on some of these pollutants. The industry pushed back, arguing there was no adequate way of measuring them. So the agency worked with industry groups to develop what was dubbed the Air Consent Agreement, through which the EPA granted thousands of CAFOs safe harbor from legal action in exchange for their participation in a study that was funded by the industry. The goal of the study, the agency said, was to develop tools and models that CAFOs could use to “determine whether they emit pollutants at levels that require them to apply for permits under the CAA or submit notifications under CERCLA or EPCRA” and “produce a scientifically sound basis for measuring and estimating air emissions” from these facilities.  But since the adoption of the agreement in 2005, the agency has failed to produce any air “emissions estimating methodologies,” even prompting a 2017 report from the agency’s Office of Inspector General that faulted it for slow-walking the process.Meanwhile, the Trump administration and Congress have also gutted reporting requirements for factory farms to report air pollutants under CERCLA, also known as the Superfund Act, and EPCRA. “As EPA has been saying it’s proceeding with this plan, it’s been dismantling all of its own tools to regulate emissions,” said Tarah Heinzen, the legal director for the advocacy group Food & Water Watch, which has tracked the proceedings from the beginning and filed dozens of lawsuits attempting to push regulators to control pollution from CAFOs. “Now it has announced it has no intention, basically, of ever holding factory farms accountable under the Clean Air Act, either.”     Heinzen noted that the agency’s decision simply means that this administration has no intention of regulating air emissions from CAFOs, but for now, the Clean Air Act still requires permits for facilities that exceed emissions thresholds. The amnesty granted to these facilities will no longer be in effect now that the agreement has concluded. “As EPA said in its press release, we’re certainly not about to try to enforce the law.”

Toxic air pollution surges in Indian capital - Toxic air pollution in India's capital, New Delhi, surged on Wednesday to more than 30 times the World Health Organization's recommended daily limit, data from air monitors showed. The deterioration came three days after authorities tightened measures, including restrictions on traffic and construction, to curb smog in one of the world's most polluted capitals, with the wider metropolis home to more than 30 million people. Pollution is expected to worsen ahead of Sunday's Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, when firework displays add to the already poisonous air. The Supreme Court this month allowed limited use of so-called "green" firecrackers, designed to reduce emissions, during Diwali. But restrictions are routinely flouted, with the city reverberating with explosions. On Wednesday, levels of PM2.5—cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream—hit over 461 micrograms per cubic meter in parts of the city, according to monitoring firm IQAir. Vehicles account for 23% of Delhi's winter pollution, while biomass burning, including farm stubble fires, contributes 20%, according to India's environment ministry. Industry, including coal-fired power plants, contributes about 9%. The largest share, 27%, comes from secondary particles, formed when gases released by vehicles, industry, power plants and biomass burning react in the atmosphere. The formation of these particles is also fueled by the vast quantities of fertilizer spread on fields around the capital, argues Jacob Koshy, author of a new book on pollution. Ammonia released by fertilizers reacts with other pollutants to form secondary particulate matter. "The sheer quantity of ammonia that is going into the atmosphere creates a base layer for other pollutants to react with," said Koshy, science editor of The Hindu newspaper and author of "The Nitrogen Bomb." A 2024 study published in The Lancet Planetary Health, a peer-reviewed research journal, estimated that 3.8 million deaths in India between 2009 and 2019 were linked to air pollution.

Cooking is a bigger source of harmful air particles than vehicle exhausts in London and Beijing - An international research team led by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) measured emissions of ultrafine particles that can penetrate the bloodstream, lungs and organs, posing a risk to human health. It found that, in total, cooking produced more direct emissions of particulate matter measuring less than one micrometer (PM₁)—one-thousandth of a millimeter—over the course of the day, and that emissions were significantly higher during mealtimes. Cooking accounted for up to 83% of midday emissions and 87% in the early evening in London, and up to 61% and 76%, respectively, in Beijing, while traffic exhausts accounted for less than 10%. The researchers say their "surprising" results demonstrate the success of transport emission regulations and the shift toward electric vehicles, as well as the need to consider a broader range of urban pollution sources to achieve cleaner air. "Most people smell cooking but never consider it as a pollutant, yet cooking can release large amounts of fine particulate matter into the atmosphere," said lead author Dr. Ben Langford, an atmospheric scientist at UKCEH. "Over recent decades we have dramatically reduced emissions from road transport, but we have paid far less attention to emissions from commercial kitchens and food preparation. Our results suggest this is an area where further improvements in air quality could be achieved relatively quickly through better filtration of kitchen fumes." Co-author Dr. Eiko Nemitz of UKCEH added, "Air quality policies targeting vehicle exhaust emissions have been highly effective. As a result, cooking emissions are now a surprisingly important and poorly regulated part of the urban pollution mix." Cooking emissions have only recently been included in the London Atmospheric Emission Inventory so it is not possible to make direct historical comparisons. However, it is known that fine particulate matter emitted by vehicle exhausts in the U.K. fell by 94% between 1996 and 2024. The scientists' flux measurements were not able to capture non-exhaust traffic emissions such as brake, tire and road wear. But they say their findings combined with previous data suggest particle emissions from cooking now exceed not only those from exhausts but also total traffic-related particle emissions in central London. Increasing electrification of road vehicles will further reduce exhaust particulate emissions but particles generated by brake, tire and road wear will continue to make a significant contribution to urban air pollution. Traffic and combustion remained the main sources of emissions in Delhi, according to the research, which has been published in npj Climate and Atmospheric Science. The study highlights an important distinction between what is emitted locally and the actual pollution that people are exposed to locally, because most particulate matter present in the atmosphere in London and Beijing is not emitted directly—that is, it comes from chemical reactions in the atmosphere. For example, ammonia produced by agriculture travels from rural to urban areas and reacts with pollutants there to form particulate matter.

Global wildlife trade is twice previous species estimates, but major data gaps suggest true scale is even larger - More than 107,000 species are used and traded worldwide, more than double previous estimates, according to new research that suggests the true scale may be far greater due to major gaps in trade and wildlife collection data. Published in Science Advances and led by the University of Melbourne, the study provides the first comprehensive estimate of species used and traded across plants, animals and fungi. Previous estimates calculated around 50,000 species were in trade worldwide. However, new analysis that brought together cross-sectorial data on wildlife trade monitoring programs found at least double that, with 107,356 species in use and traded globally. Lead researcher Alice Hughes, a University of Melbourne professor from the School of BioSciences, said despite wildlife trade being a well-established driver of biodiversity loss, information on the extent and sustainability of trade remains incomplete and highly fragmented. "When we think of the wildlife trade we tend to think about the illegal trade of elephants, tigers and pangolins. But it's much more than that," Hughes said. "Wildlife trade includes everything from timber, seafood and medicinal plants to pets, cut flowers, ornamental fish and fungi, and most of it is legal. "Not only is legal trade worth approximately 10 times more than illegal trade, our analysis suggests at least twice as many species are in trade as previously recognized. "For most of these species we have little to no data. There is no data on quantity and origins, let alone the population-level data to assess if trade poses a risk to species survival. "Without better data, we cannot accurately assess risks to biodiversity or identify when trade is pushing species toward decline." Hughes said the findings expose major gaps in the global wildlife trade monitoring system and underscore the need for a step change in how trade is recorded and reported. "The United States is the only country that systematically records and publicly shares trade data across a wide range of taxa. For much of the rest of the world, equivalent data simply does not exist," Hughes said. "For some groups, 75% of traded species appear in U.S. datasets. Yet for regions like Europe, trade may be comparable or even higher. "The problem is we really don't know because the data isn't openly available and may not use sufficient standards to assess the true dimensions of trade." The researchers say it's essential the global monitoring system is improved to close persistent knowledge gaps. "While the global biodiversity framework does have a target on trade, based on our estimates it only accounts for around 2% or 3% of species in trade and misses the other 97%," Hughes said. "To change the current situation, we need to standardize the collation of data on trade. At present, data is limited ... and this lack of systematization of data collection precludes assessments of sustainability or our ability to manage the impacts of trade. "If countries repurposed existing customs and zoosanitary processes we could develop a robust system to monitor trade, but this will require further engagement to implement at scale. "If we are serious about halting biodiversity loss, we need far more comprehensive, transparent and globally coordinated reporting of wildlife trade."

Trained dogs detected invasive plant species in Germany with 75% accuracy - Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss worldwide. A study published Nov. 4, 2026, in the journal PLOS One by Annegret Grimm-Seyfarth at Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research—UFZ, Germany, and colleagues found that with training, volunteer dog-handler teams could locate invasive species in the wild with 75% accuracy. Measures to combat IAS are costly and time-consuming. However, the lack of effective early detection methods has limited ecologists' ability to control IAS colonization in new locations. To develop effective, accessible ways to detect invasive species, researchers conducted a feasibility evaluation of a volunteer dog-handler training program, analyzing the factors associated with successful training outcomes. They trained 31 dogs and their owners between 2021 and 2023 using three invasive plant species. The training culminated with a field test of the dogs' ability to locate target species in the wild.  Of the 12 teams that completed the field test, 11 teams passed, with an average detection success rate of 75%. From the feasibility study, the researchers developed a set of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of future, similar projects to improve volunteer selection and coordination, dog training, and initial deployments.

US Loses a Football Field of Forest Every 2 Minutes - A new satellite tracking system finds that the United States has lost 350,000 acres of forest land per year—a rate of approximately one football field every two minutes—which is the equivalent of 2.3 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions through the release of stored CO2 in the forests and lost potential carbon storage. Researchers at Clark University in Massachusetts announced the initial findings of the U.S. Forest Monitor tool Thursday, tracking “persistent” forest loss in the lower 48 states and showing 9.8 million acres of forest land was lost to development or agriculture from 1990 to 2017. Lead author Christopher Williams said the tool establishes an important historical baseline for tracking land use changes across the country and shows the need for more consistent monitoring of forest loss nationwide. “When we think about forest loss and conversion, our minds often go to the Amazon or other tropical locations,” Williams said in an interview with Inside Climate News. “What this study shows is that forest loss is something that’s happening in the United States as well, and in our own backyards, and that it deserves our attention.” The tool relies on land cover time-series imaging from the U.S. Geological Survey, identifying land that was previously forest but had been used for development or agriculture for at least five years. Williams said the researchers focused on those two segments because the resulting forest loss is often permanent and won’t revert back to forest for decades, if ever. “It’s very rare, I would say, for us to see from the land cover dataset that a pixel goes from forest to development and then back to forest, or from forest to cropland and back to forest,” Williams said. “That’s unusual, but we just wanted to be really careful.” Williams said the researchers are working to update the findings and hope to publish data through 2024 within the next year or so. The monitor is funded and maintained by the Forest Carbon Data Partnership, a collaboration of conservation and academic organizations including the Open Space Institute, The Nature Conservancy, American Forests, the Trust for Public Land, the Land Trust Alliance and Clark University. Williams said roughly half of the documented forest loss was for development and half was for cropland, a surprise to some of the researchers. “I think at least some of our colleagues had expected most of it would be for development, you know, subdivisions and urban expansion and so forth,” Williams said. “But we actually still are converting a lot of our forest land to croplands.” The report finds forest loss has been particularly dramatic in the Southeast. The 11 states showing the most forest loss—Georgia, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, Arkansas, Alabama, Virginia, Mississippi, Missouri, South Carolina and Tennessee—accounted for approximately 70 percent of the total losses, but in different ways. In Alabama, the sixth state in terms of forest loss, 79 percent of the forest lost was converted to cropland, while development accounted for 21 percent. In Texas and South Carolina, nearly 60 percent of identified forest loss was for development. Georgia was the most heavily deforested state, according to the report, both by total loss (almost 1.2 million acres) and percentage of total forest lost (4.4 percent) during the study period. The 9.8 million acres lost nationwide represents about 2 percent of the total U.S. forestland over 28 years.

Satellite estimates put African dust falling on the Amazon at about 28 million tonnes a year, while a model checked against measurements at Cayenne gives 8 to 10 million, and most of that settling happens from February to May. - An estimated 8 to 10 million tonnes of African dust settle over the Amazon basin each year, carrying phosphorus to nutrient-poor forest soils, according to atmospheric models checked against air measurements in South America. A 2015 satellite study put annual dustfall at about 28 million tonnes, although its uncertainty range included the lower estimates. From 2007 to 2013, a laser aboard the CALIPSO satellite traced dust layers at different heights above the Atlantic. Hongbin Yu of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and his colleagues combined those readings with wind data to estimate how much dust blew into the Amazon basin and how much blew out again. They counted the difference as dust that had settled. The team estimated that winds carried about 182 million tonnes of dust a year past Africa’s west coast. The share that settled over the Amazon carried an estimated 22 000 tonnes of phosphorus. The record varied from year to year, and seven years of observations were too few to establish a long-term trend. Joseph Prospero of the University of Miami and his colleagues started with the air people in Cayenne were breathing. The local air-quality agency, ATMO Guyane, had monitored airborne particles there from 2002 to 2017. The hilltop filters, first used in 2014, helped the researchers distinguish mineral dust from other particles in that longer record. NASA’s MERRA-2 atmospheric model closely matched the seasonal pattern they found. The team then used the model to estimate what fell across much of the Amazon basin. Including the southernmost strip of its study area gave 10.4 million tonnes a year. Leaving it out, because the researchers were less certain that the particles there were African dust, brought the total down to 8 million tonnes. In 2021 study, Jasper Kok and colleagues identified another reason for the gap. Larger grains tend to settle out on the Atlantic crossing. The finer dust left aloft can block more light per tonne than the satellite calculation assumed, so the same signal can represent less dust. Xurong Wang and colleagues took their comparison inland. In a 2023 study, they checked their model against air measurements at Cayenne and at the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory in Brazil. For 2013 to 2017, they estimated that about 10 million tonnes of African dust settled across the basin each year, carrying roughly 8 500 tonnes of phosphorus. The lidar instrument aboard the CALIPSO satellite sends out pulses of light that bounce off particles in the atmosphere and back to the satellite. It distinguishes dust from other particles based on optical properties. Credits: Scientific Visualization Studio, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center The lidar instrument aboard the CALIPSO satellite sends out pulses of light that bounce off particles in the atmosphere and back to the satellite. It distinguishes dust from other particles based on optical properties. In Prospero’s model, 89% of the dust that settled around Cayenne came down between February and May. During that season, rain washed most of it out of the air. In the Northern Hemisphere summer, the tropical rain belt shifts north and more plumes head toward the Caribbean and the southern United States. The model placed the heaviest deposits in northern and northeastern South America, with much less dust reaching the central Amazon. A 2020 study comparing two desert regions found that dust from El Djouf in Mauritania and Mali had a more favorable route to the Amazon than dust from Chad’s Bodélé Depression. The source can vary even between winters. Chemical fingerprints in grains collected at Cayenne traced the largest share to western North Africa in the winter of 2014 and to central North Africa in the winter of 2016. When a leaf decays on the forest floor, its phosphorus returns to the soil, where roots can take it up again. Rain carries some into streams and rivers. Yu’s team estimated that African dust delivered roughly as much phosphorus as the basin loses this way. Smoke from southern African fires also brought phosphorus to Cayenne, some of it in a form that dissolves readily in water.

International Coalition of Lawyers and Advocacy Groups Accuses JBS of Money Laundering - An international team of lawyers on Wednesday filed a coordinated battery of lawsuits against JBS, the world’s largest meat company, and its financiers, accusing them of money laundering in connection with the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. The 14 legal actions, filed in four European jurisdictions, accuse JBS and its affiliated banks, asset managers, accountants and lawyers of criminal complicity in connection with the meat giant’s purchase of cattle from deforested land, in violation of Brazilian law. JBS, a historically Brazilian company, is now officially headquartered in the Netherlands, though it continues to maintain major operations in Brazil and to source much of its beef from the Amazon and neighboring ecosystems. The lawsuits are the latest attempts by advocacy groups to open up new legal avenues to challenge JBS, which recent research has found emits as much planet-warming methane as oil giants ExxonMobil and Shell combined.The Transnational Legal Coalition, a newly formed network of advocacy groups and lawyers that prosecutes environmental crimes and filed the complaints, says the lawsuits are the first in a series of legal efforts that will target deforestation in JBS’s supply chain. Raising livestock is the biggest driver of forest loss in the world’s largest rainforest, a crucial ecosystem for stabilizing Earth’s atmosphere and a massive harbor for biodiversity. The coalition commissioned a study to support their filings, conducted by the environmental research group AidEnvironment, which found that JBS was linked to more than 16 million deforested acres, both through direct and indirect suppliers.The complaints focus on European Union anti-money laundering laws, which require financial institutions, attorneys and accountants to do “enhanced due diligence” on businesses that have a high risk of deforestation in their supply chains. They allege JBS makes huge profits off cattle raised on land that is likely criminally deforested, and therefore, the cattle are criminal property. They argue these institutions, which include the banks Barclays and Rabobank, the asset manager BlackRock and accounting firms KPMG and EY, were all obligated to perform enhanced due diligence but did not. The coalition also filed a criminal complaint with public prosecutors in the Dutch criminal justice system against JBS directly, accusing the company of money laundering.“If the European enabler complied with its enhanced due diligence obligations, it would have found out about the risk that JBS is engaged in money laundering and would either have stopped working with JBS or reported them to the criminal authorities,” said George Collecott, an attorney with the Global Legal Action Network, one of the coalition members. “As each of the financial institutions have a long-standing relationship with JBS, they haven’t done that.” The EU’s anti-money laundering law says a failure to report suspected money laundering to authorities is an offense by both the company and company employees, including compliance officers. “What we’re really asking is for the regulators in the U.K., Germany, Netherlands and Ireland to open an investigation into these financial institutions and investigate whether there has been a failure of these due diligence obligations,” Collecott said. “It’s really making sure the banks can’t plead ignorance.” In a response to Inside Climate News, a Barclays spokesperson said the company had reviewed the legal complaint but could not comment. The bank said it has conducted enhanced due diligence for clients engaged in beef production since 2021.  JBS did not respond to a request for comment, nor did Rabobank, Blackrock, KPMG or EY.  As part of its long-sought effort to list on the New York Stock Exchange, which it accomplished successfully in 2025, JBS re-incorporated in the Netherlands, where many companies take advantage of Dutch tax exemptions.  Dutch law, however, requires companies to meet a “duty of care” threshold, which includes harms caused by greenhouse gases. That prompted Greenpeace Netherlands in April to file a preliminary letter with the Dutch authorities, indicating its intent to sue the company.  In this case, Greenpeace Netherlands plans to sue because of the company’s expansion into Nigeria. In its letter, the group asked for details about the company’s intended operations there, its first on the African continent. So far, Greenpeace Netherlands says, neither the Nigerian government nor JBS has provided information about its $2.5 billion investment to develop poultry, beef and pork processing facilities there.As JBS expands its global footprint, it has also pulled back on its climate commitments. In July, the company issued its annual sustainability report, in which it said it would abandon its previous goal of reaching net-zero emissions by 2040. It also dropped any mentions of its goal to eliminate deforestation connected to its Brazilian supply chains.

Florida declares emergency after catastrophic flooding in southern Brevard County - (6 You tube videos) Up to 612 mm (24.10 inches) of rain was recorded near Malabar in southern Brevard County, Florida, from November 1 through late November 2, producing catastrophic flooding around Melbourne, Palm Bay and neighboring communities. Emergency crews carried out large-scale water rescues, Brevard Public Schools closed for November 2 and 3, and Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in seven counties. the Weather Prediction Center (WPC) said more than 610 mm (24 inches) of rain had fallen across parts of southern Brevard County since early November 1. Rainfall totals reached 612 mm (24.10 inches) near Malabar, 523 mm (20.60 inches) near Palm Bay and 503 mm (19.80 inches) near Melbourne Beach from 07:00 EST on November 1 through 21:00 EST on November 2. The National Weather Service (NWS) Melbourne declared a Flash Flood Emergency for West Melbourne and Palm Bay at 07:56 EST (12:56 UTC) on November 2. Radar and automated gauges indicated that 203–305 mm (8–12 inches) of rain had fallen, with another 102–152 mm (4–6 inches) possible at that time. By 11:35 EST (16:35 UTC), the emergency included Grant-Valkaria. The NWS reported observed totals of 381–508 mm (15–20 inches), with another 51–102 mm (2–4 inches) possible, and classified the flash-flood damage threat as catastrophic. Governor Ron DeSantis issued Executive Order 26-227 on November 2, declaring a state of emergency in Brevard, DeSoto, Hardee, Highlands, Indian River, Martin and St. Lucie counties. The Florida Department of State subsequently listed temporary polling-place relocations made pursuant to the order and state law for voters assigned to affected locations. Brevard Emergency Management spokesperson Don Walker reported that sheriff’s deputies helped more than 100 people caught in rising water on November 2. Airboats were used to remove at least seven residents from flooded homes in the Wingate subdivision of West Melbourne. WFLA separately reported, citing the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), that agency crews completed more than 60 rescues. Officers used airboats, shallow-water vessels and a helicopter, while welfare checks continued in severely flooded neighborhoods. In Melbourne, police used ropes to reach two of three Florida Institute of Technology students caught in a current near a flooded retention pond and Crane Creek, according to Police Commander Shawn Eising. An FWC helicopter airlifted the third student. Palm Bay Fire Rescue deployed all three of its high-water rescue trucks as crews responded to stranded motorists and residents. Boats and other high-clearance vehicles were also used to reach flooded neighborhoods. Brevard Public Schools closed all campuses and district offices on November 2 and 3. District crews continued inspecting campuses, and schools were expected to resume normal operations on November 4 if conditions allowed. All four Eastern Florida State College campuses also closed and canceled classes on November 2, with the college initially planning to reopen on November 3. Palm Bay issued a shelter-in-place advisory and asked residents to conserve water while emergency crews responded to flooded neighborhoods. Melbourne urged residents to remain indoors, avoid unnecessary travel and leave flooded roads clear for emergency personnel. The Melbourne Police Department lobby and all city facilities were closed to the public during the emergency. All Brevard County buildings and Clerk of Court offices closed on November 2, while all county libraries were scheduled to close by 14:00 EST (19:00 UTC). Severe flooding also suspended nine Space Coast Area Transit routes serving Melbourne and Palm Bay. Flooding closed roads and intersections throughout Melbourne. City officials said lingering floodwater and abandoned vehicles continued to block routes and hinder emergency response after the heaviest rain subsided. Flooding also disrupted water services. A water-main break along Port Malabar Boulevard temporarily interrupted service to some Palm Bay customers because crews could not safely reach the site, while Melbourne issued a precautionary boil-water notice for all water customers.

Federal Plan to Elevate Miami Homes Meets Skepticism -- Just in time for Halloween, floodwaters washed into South Florida businesses and submerged roads, forcing residents to drive and walk through shin-high water in what officials called the most intense king tide event ever. The federal government has an ambitious, multibillion-dollar plan for the Miami area to help ease the pain of future flooding as deluges increase due to sea level rise. It calls for elevating thousands of homes up to a dozen feet, starting in six years, in neighborhoods vulnerable to flooding. It may be a tough sell. Neighborhoods in New York City and Louisiana that previously tried this on similarly grand scales fell short of their initially projected numbers. Standing in the way of volunteers were the time it took, the need to have a house in compliance with building codes and the lack of assistance for homeowners who would need to temporarily relocate. “There’s a substantial barrier to entry for a number of people, even before we get into things like delays and how much do you trust the government to actually do this properly,” said Vivek Srikrishnan, an assistant professor of biological and environmental engineering at Cornell University. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initially rolled out plans two years ago to elevate 2,057 residences in Miami-Dade County, including places such as Aventura, Bal Harbour, Miami, Miami Beach and Surfside. In August, the Corps added another 2,800 single-family homes and 430 small multifamily buildings to the project, which would start in 2032 and could take 15 years. “It’s not going to be close to that amount,” Srikrishnan predicted. Raising homes is one of several tactics the Corps plans in a multi-pronged approach to keep buildings in the Miami area safe from flooding in the coming decades. Other tactics include floodproofing scores of critical infrastructure like fire or police stations and relying on nature-based methods like planting mangrove trees to act as a buffer. The federal government would pick up two-thirds of the expected tab of around $7 billion. But widespread participation is needed for the project to succeed, something even the Corps has acknowledged in previous cases. “The participation rate for home elevations can impact project benefits, with fewer homeowners participating in the eventual (program) reducing the overall benefits and justification of the project,” according to a Corps report on a similar program in New Jersey, where there are plans to elevate 6,421 houses. Unlike the projects in Louisiana, New Jersey and New York, which were launched in direct response to recent hurricanes, the Miami-Dade County project is being planned in anticipation of future flooding in an area inundated with water from tides, the sky and the ground, through its porous limestone surface. Miami-Dade County’s 2.8 million residents live between Biscayne Bay, the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, many of them along a canal system built to tame the wetlands ecosystem. Residents are spread across 34 municipalities in a place best known for its beaches, glitzy nightlife, global trade, cruise ships and vulnerability to flooding, particularly at this time of year when king tides flood streets even when it’s not raining. The Biscayne aquifer, the area’s main source of drinkable water, is made up of porous limestone, which is prone to saltwater intrusion. “As the king tides that we expect this fall arrive, we see that those tidal flooding events last longer, tend to be deeper, and reach farther inland due to recent sea level rise,” Christian Kamrath, Miami-Dade County’s resilience program manager, said during an online public meeting in September. “Sea level rise also makes a storm surge during a hurricane that much more damaging and impactful, so we have to work really hard to address all these issues.” It’s too early to determine how many residents may sign up for the home-raising in Homestead, where 1,320 single-family homes are listed for possible elevation. If the Corps gives final approval for the elevation and Congress provides funding, the city will conduct outreach with residents to ”ensure residents have the necessary information to decide whether or not they wish to participate,” said Cairo Cangas, Homestead’s director of public works. None of the Florida homes will be raised more than 12 feet, since the Corps has determined that higher elevations are unsafe. To elevate the home, crews separate the structure from its foundation, place steel beams under the house, and lift it using hydraulic jacks. Pilings are then placed under the house. Electrical wiring and plumbing need to be disconnected and reconnected.

Flash Flood Emergency in Georgia, Tennessee as cross-country system shifts into East Coast -- Torrential rain triggered Flash Flood Emergencies across Polk County, Tennessee, and Fannin County, Georgia, along the state line early Thursday after storms fired along the southern end of a massive cross-country storm that will move into the East Coast through the day. Police in McCaysville, Georgia, asked people in some neighborhoods to evacuate immediately just before 3 a.m. local time. County officials said swiftwater rescues were underway amid widespread flooding with water into multiple homes. The City of McCaysville declared a state of emergency just after 5 a.m. Propane tank catches fire in Georgia A propane tank caught fire in a local business in McCaysville, Georgia as intense flooding slammed the area. A Flash Flood Emergency is in place across the Tennessee-Georgia border. The flooding caused a propane tank to catch fire in a local business in McCaysville, Georgia. The Ocoee River surged into major flood stage after between 5 and 8 inches of rain fell across much of the region over just 12 hours. Watch: McCaysville, Georgia, inundated during Flash Flood Emergency Torrential rain triggered Flash Flood Emergencies across Polk County, Tennessee, and Fannin County, Georgia, on Nov. 5, 2026. Georgia State Patrol helicopters are on standby to assist with evacuations, the Fannin County Emergency Management Agency said. The City of Copperhill, Tennessee, said early Thursday that the city is closed and warned people to stay away from the downtown or any areas along the river. Polk County, Tennessee, announced all schools would be closed Thursday. Showers and storms will rumble into the East Coast through the day on Thursday, bringing an end to a more than two-week stretch of dry, sunny weather across parts of the Northeast. More than an inch of rain is possible across much of the Interstate 95 corridor, with localized amounts approaching 2–3 inches along the coast from Virginia to southeast New England. Severe storms raced across the South Tuesday, prompting Tornado Warnings across northern Louisiana. FOX Weather Exclusive Storm Tracker Brandon Copic captured footage of a tornado that touched down in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, late Tuesday morning. Confirmed tornado touches down in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, Nov. 3, 2026. Meanwhile, parts of the Southwest are still reeling from flooding this past weekend. Roads remain closed due to residual flooding and damage left behind by historic floods. Police in Flagstaff, Arizona, said they are investigating a second death as potentially being weather-related after finding a body in a stormwater drainage area on Monday. The San Juan River flows violently amid flooding in Colorado as widespread storms hit the region on Monday. Evacuations remain in effect in communities near the San Juan River in New Mexico and Colorado.

Storm drenching East Coast after causing deadly, catastrophic flooding in Georgia and Tennessee – CNN -  The first significant rainfall in weeks is falling along parts of the Northeast coast on Friday from the same storm that produced historic and catastrophic flooding on the Georgia and Tennessee border Wednesday into Thursday morning. At least one person is dead and more than 100 people had to be rescued in the flooding. The floodwater overwhelmed homes and businesses in McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, after downpours swelled their shared river to a new record high. Extreme flooding like this is not expected along the East Coast, but the downpours could still cause flash flooding despite dry ground after weeks without rain. So far Friday, southeast Virginia has seen the heaviest rain with 4 to 6 inches falling in Norfolk. The torrential rain flooded roadways in the city and left cars stranded, according to footage from CNN affiliate WTKR. A Level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rain is in place for southern New England, including Boston and Providence, Rhode Island, where the heaviest rain is forecast. Totals of 2 to 4 inches are expected there, but a few locations caught under repeated heavy downpours could deal with up to 6 inches. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where that could occur since it will depend on if one area gets hit repeatedly by the heaviest rain. Flooding is most likely in urban and low-lying areas that are less capable of handling heavy rain. A The rain came fast and furious on Wednesday night, and when it had stopped, a few spots in North Georgia had picked up 6 to 11 inches of it, causing massive flooding that killed one person. Julie Barrs, 56, was found dead on Thursday after her vehicle was swamped by a flooded mountain creek in Murray County, county Sheriff Jimmy Davenport told CNN. The vehicle was found with its front doors submerged and back hatch open in the creek, according to a report from the county’s sheriff’s office. Her body was later recovered downstream from the vehicle after an “extensive search by public safety officials and citizens,” Davenport said. Flash flood emergencies — the highest level of flood warning — were issued Thursday morning for McCaysville, Georgia, in Fannin County, and Copperhill, Tennessee, in Polk County. Record flooding struck there along a river known as the Toccoa River in Georgia and the Ocoee River in Tennessee across the border. Emergency responders from both states worked together to reach stranded residents. As of Friday afternoon, at least 117 people had been rescued across Georgia and Tennessee, state officials said. No serious injuries have been reported in either state. A separate flash flood emergency was also issued Wednesday night for other parts of Fannin County and neighboring Gilmer County in Georgia. Emergency management in Fannin and Gilmer counties in Georgia reported “multiple homes flooded and some completely surrounded by water” early Thursday morning. Crews rescued 97 people in Fannin County, Georgia Emergency Management Director Josh Lamb said Friday. McCaysville Police Chief Michael Earley called flooding in his city “catastrophic.” Evacuations were ordered early Thursday for McCaysville residents along the river, officials said. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for Fannin, Gilmer, Murray and Union counties Thursday afternoon. The Tennessee Emergency Management Authority activated its Operations Center to Level 4 for the Polk County flooding. The Polk County sheriff and McCaysville police chief ordered mandatory curfews for flood-impacted areas from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Multiple roads are blocked by mudslides or have been washed away completely, and propane tanks were dislodged and floating in floodwater, Fannin County Fire Chief Larry Thomas told CNN. One tank in McCaysville caught fire and exploded. A responding firefighter suffered minor injuries, Earley said. There were also at least four structure fires Wednesday night, which Thomas believes were caused by lightning. Two of the structures, one a home, were lost after floodwater prevented fire trucks from responding. A few spots in North Georgia picked up 6 to 11 inches of rain. The high end of that range is a 1 in 1,000 year rainfall for 12 hours — a rate that has only a 0.1% chance of happening in a given year, under normal circumstances, according to the National Weather Service.

Storms that caused 1-in-1,000 year flood event in Tennessee and Georgia move up Atlantic coast – A storm system that caused what the National Weather Service calls a catastrophic, 1,000-year flood along the Tennessee-Georgia state line moved up the Eastern Seaboard on Friday, prompting flood advisories in coastal areas from North Carolina to Massachusetts. In McCaysville, Georgia, and Copperhill, Tennessee, residents and crews spent Friday cleaning up alongside the Toccoa River. Rainfall across the surrounding mountain watershed measured 10.28 inches (26.1 cms) over a six-hour period and 11.19 inches (28.4 cms) over 12 hours into Thursday morning, according to the weather service in Atlanta. Some instances of extreme weather are referred to as 1,000-year events because they have a 0.1%, or 1 in 1,000, chance of happening in a particular place in any given year. While uncommon, “it’s definitely possible to have multiple 1,000-year events in the same year,” the weather service said. The Toccoa flows into the Ocoee River, where the Tennessee Valley Authority was managing high water levels at three of its hydroelectric dams. Swift-water teams from both states rescued dozens of people before the flooding receded, leaving downtown streets covered in mud and its water treatment plant out of commission. At least one death was associated with the flooding. Julie Barrs, 56, died while apparently trying to drive her vehicle through floodwaters in a mountainous area of Murray County, Georgia, Sheriff Jimmy Davenport said Friday. Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for four counties to make resources available. This was the second disastrous flood in three months for the communities — the weather service categorized the early August flood as a 1-in-500 year event — and McCaysville had reopened its renovated police building just last week. Police Chief Michael Otis Earley said his department “lost virtually everything” from the latest flood and that recovering again “will not be easy.” Access to the downtown area Friday was restricted to authorized personnel, business owners and residents, and a curfew remains in effect from dusk to dawn, Earley said in a statement. The Copperhill General Store posted on social media that nearly all its wares are covered in mud. Another police station took a hit from flooding Friday, this one in New England. In Falmouth, Massachusetts, in the westernmost section of Cape Cod, Police Chief Jeffrey A. Lourie urged residents to stay home because heavy rains flooded roads throughout the town, as well as the police department’s headquarters.

Research reveals accelerating sea-level rise around Ireland - A new study led by the ICARUS Climate Research Center at Maynooth University in Ireland has reconstructed a century of Irish sea-level change, revealing a stark acceleration in sea-level rise. The research, titled "A Century of Sea-Level Change in Ireland (1925–2024)" and published in Ocean Science, combines tide-gauge records from six locations, including newly digitized historical records from Cork, Tarbert and Galway. The study uses measurements dating to 1925 and provides the most comprehensive picture yet of a century of relative sea-level change around Ireland. Current rates of sea-level rise around Ireland are the highest in 100 years. The results show that Ireland is not escaping sea levels that are rising globally due to man-made climate change. Although the acceleration is widespread, the century-long record also shows important differences between locations. Between 1925 and 2024, the lowest long-term modeled rate was recorded at Belfast, while the highest was at Tarbert, County Kerry. The differences underline the need to account for local and regional conditions, including vertical land movement, environmental factors and measurement effects. The study also compares Irish sea-level change with global sea-level datasets. From the 1990s, the Irish reconstruction follows an upward trajectory similar to that of the global record. The recent acceleration around Ireland is consistent with wider global sea-level trends. The study's century-long perspective is a key strength. Digitizing observations previously held on paper records enables researchers to examine the timescales needed to understand long-term coastal change. The findings show that sea-level rise around Ireland has accelerated since 2000, with current rates several times the average for most of the 20th century. For Ireland's coastal communities, infrastructure providers and planning authorities, understanding this changing rate is important to assessing future coastal risk and adaptation needs.

NOAA, NASA release measurements of 2026 ozone hole - Atypical weather conditions caused the Antarctic ozone hole to grow to an unusually large size in 2026, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today, though they said the protective ozone layer is still on track to recover by later this century. Fueled by a powerful polar vortex, the 2026 ozone hole became the seventh-largest in 48 years of monitoring, based on NOAA and NASA analysis of the seasonal mean area. However, scientists noted that this year's hole would have been larger still if levels of ozone-destroying chemicals in the atmosphere had not been reduced through international cooperation. During peak ozone depletion season between Sept. 7 and Oct. 13, 2026, the average extent of the hole covered about 9.6 million square miles (25 million square kilometers)—more than twice the area of the United States. Scientists continually track the amount of ozone in the stratosphere because it acts as Earth's "sunscreen," helping shield life from harmful solar radiation. This is distinct from ground-level ozone, which is an air pollutant commonly resulting from human activities. "The annual ozone hole has been forming later in the season in recent years, which tells us the ozone layer is healing," said Paul Newman, a senior scientist at the University of Maryland and longtime leader of NASA's ozone research team at the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center. "But an unusually powerful polar vortex has extended ozone depletion in the Antarctic this season, allowing the hole to grow to proportions we haven't seen in a decade." The hole reached its greatest extent for the year on Sept. 18 at 10.5 million square miles (27.1 million square kilometers). That's about 90% as large as the largest ozone hole ever observed, which occurred on Sept. 9, 2000. "The 2026 ozone hole is large but could have been 1 to 2 million square miles (3.5 million square kilometers) larger if ozone-depleting substances were as prevalent in the atmosphere today as they were at their year 2000 peak," Newman said.The ozone depletion process begins when human-made compounds containing chlorine and bromine are released into the environment. Air currents carry the gases up into the stratosphere, where they're broken down by ultraviolet radiation. The freed chlorine and bromine atoms interact with cloud particles in the Antarctic stratosphere to enable ozone destruction. The stratospheric polar vortex, a seasonal stream of wind encircling Antarctica, plays a key role by corralling the frigid air necessary to produce polar stratospheric clouds."The polar vortex was unusually large this year in part because planetary-scale weather systems that typically well up from the lower atmosphere and break up the vortex were especially weak in August and September," said Amy Butler, a research scientist at the NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory. "That weak wave action kept the strongest polar vortex winds farther from the South Pole by several degrees of latitude, creating a larger area for conditions ideal for ozone depletion to occur."

Mosaic is laying off Florida workers due to a global sulfur shortage. Iran conflict is to blame --Tampa fertilizer giant Mosaic announced this month it is laying off 199 employees in Central Florida as it scales back production due to a global spike in sulfur prices. Mosaic, one of the largest phosphate fertilizer suppliers in the country, will lay off staff at its South Fort Meade facility in December, according to a notice filed with the Florida Department of Commerce. A team will stay at the facility to maintain the site. Experts say the sulfur shortage is one of the repercussions of the Iran War, which blocked the Strait of Hormuz where about half of global sulfur exports pass. Much like oil and fuel, the conflict inflated prices of sulfur, and those costs may eventually filter down to consumers. “Mosaic is navigating ongoing challenges related to the availability and affordability of domestic sulfur, an essential raw material for phosphate fertilizer,” Mosaic spokesperson Jackie Barron wrote in a statement. Mosaic plans to stop production at the South Fort Meade site for at least six months before reassessing supply challenges.The company has reduced production at two other Florida plants in Bartow and Riverview. “Imagine you own a restaurant and one of your key ingredients goes up 10 times in price,” said Aaron Wood, a microeconomist at the University of Tampa whose expertise includes environmental and natural resource economics. “It’s going to be a problem.” Sulfur is used in a variety of everyday products, from rubber to fertilizers to detergents. It is a byproduct of refining oil and gas, so its production cannot be ramped up quickly to meet market demands, Wood said. The price of sulfur has skyrocketed on the global market from around a couple hundred dollars a ton to now reaching as high as $1,000, Wood added. Mosaic has been feeling the pinch already. In the company’s August filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, net sales decreased to $2.8 billion last quarter compared to $3 billion for that same period last year. In that same time, the costs of goods sold increased from about $2.49 million to around $2.61 million.. “Key inputs for the production of our finished goods, including fertilizer, sulfur and ammonia, and energy used in our businesses in the past have been and may in the future be the subject of volatile pricing and availability,” company officials wrote in the filing. The prices for Mosaic’s fertilizer product have increased 23% this quarter compared to the same time period last year. That surge was in response to the market pressure, but the spike isn’t enough to make up the losses from production costs, Mosaic wrote. “It’s what you see in an Economics 101 class,” Wood said. “It’s going to be tougher, more untenable to produce your final good or service in this case.” Mosaic also scaled back production in Brazil and at two facilities in Louisiana. The company planned to lay off more than 200 employees in Louisiana alone, according to a notice filed by the company.

'Clean energy is going to win out': Permitting bill tests greens' faith –  - Renewable energy companies and environmental groups have a long history of joining forces to push for favorable government policies.Then came the bipartisan bill to overhaul the nation’s permitting rules.  While groups representing wind, solar, batteries and other renewable energy companies are lobbying hard to get the landmark deal through Congress by the end of the year, environmental groups are riven by the bill’s potential to cut red tape for fossil fuel projects alongside renewable ones.The break reflects not just an ideological split, but an economic one. The renewables industry is reaching maturity and argues it can compete on an even playing field with fossil fuels. Renewable energy companies, like their fossil fuel counterparts, would also find it easier to build under the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act’s rewrites of the National Environmental Policy Act, Clean Water Act and Endangered Species Act.“They’re holding onto the laws that they won a couple decades ago that are looked at as major accomplishments of the environmental movement from the second half of the 20th century, without regard to whether or not they’re the right laws right now in our history,” Tom Matzzie, CEO of renewable energy developer CleanChoice Energy and chair of the pro-solar Invest in Tomorrow Coalition political action committee, said of environmental opposition.Environmental advocates want to see solar and wind proliferate as a strategy for addressing climate change. But they argue the changes to those bedrock environmental laws go too far, while worrying that the legislation would allow President Donald Trump to steamroll approvals for fossil fuel projects over the next couple years — and saddle the U.S. with those emissions for decades to come.“It becomes a distorted conversation if we’re not talking about all the other implications beyond energy, full stop,” said Abbie Dillen, president of Earthjustice, a nonprofit public-interest law firm.    The debate is mirrored in Congress itself, with some House Democrats calling for changes to the Senate package, or holding off until next year in order to strip provisions they believe will harm the environment.The two Democratic Senate sponsors — Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Martin Heinrich of New Mexico — have argued the post-midterms period is the time to vote, even as they’ve continued to press the Trump administration to show it won’t discriminate against renewables.Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.), who is gearing up to take the House Natural Resources Committee gavel, has posited Democrats can get a better deal if they wait.“Folding our hand now or in the lame duck makes no sense when we can keep working on this and, in a few more months, have a much better deal that works for everyone,” Huffman said after the legislation text was released.

Geothermal is heating up. Can the grid keep up? - The AI data center boom that has lifted power sector players like geothermal company Fervo Energy could also threaten to sink them. Fervo, whose shares launched on the NASDAQ in May, is caught up in headwinds facing clean tech and AI as they struggle to navigate long waits to connect to the power grid, rising interest rates and questions about tech companies’ ability to meet their massive cash needs. That’s pinched Fervo, the high-profile next-generation geothermal company hoping its round-the-clock clean power will draw strong interest from environmentally minded tech giants. “What you’re seeing right now is a broader pullback in the market that is impacting the entire AI infrastructure and cleantech sector,” Fervo Energy CEO Tim Latimer told the POLITICO Energy podcast. “We’re caught up in that pullback as well.” Those challenges have crimped Fervo Energy’s stock price. It went public in May at $27 per share, but closed Friday at $8.28. “We’re very confident that our continued execution is going to deliver on the results that we promised and that we’re going to continue to scale up,” he said. “But it’s been a very challenging financing environment broadly for innovative technologies, especially in the clean energy space, and we haven’t been immune to that.” Geothermal energy, which harnesses heat from thousands of feet underground to power electricity turbines, has been around for years, but new technology aims to turn the power source from a niche into a major power contributor in parts of the West. It has achieved rare bipartisan backing for its ability to provide zero-emitting power to support energy-intensive industries, winning financial backing from both the Biden and Trump administrations through federal grants. While geothermal is becoming competitive with other new builds of other energy sources, according to asset management firm Lazard, the enhanced designs that inject fluids deep underground like Fervo are typically more expensive. Those cost curves are falling, helping Fervo attract customers like AI operators that want power quickly instead of waiting for space on the bulk electric grid, Latimer said. “Our customers are not doing charity with us,” Latimer said. Geothermal currently provides 4 gigawatts of U.S. electricity generation, about the same as four nuclear reactors, or enough to power 3 million to 4 million households. Latimer said geothermal is poised for growth, thanks in part to drilling techniques borrowed from the oil and gas fracking boom that have made it easier to tap deep underground rock masses for power. Energy Department estimates enhanced geothermal like what Fervo produces could soar to 90 gigawatts of electricity by 2050. AI figures to play a key role. The tech sector has not given up on its climate goals, even if AI is increasingly making those targets unrealistic as companies turn to natural gas to fuel non-stop operations. The pitch for geothermal is it can provide uninterrupted power without greenhouse gas emissions. “Our customers have a deep need for reliable, carbon-free electricity and want to sign contracts with us for that reason,” he said. While Fervo has won contracts from utilities like SoCal Edison and Shell Energy North America, its biggest deal is with Google, which agreed to buy 396-megawatts of power from the Cape Station facility that began commercial production in September in Utah, with an option to expand to 1 gigawatt. Fervo has also sought tech customers by necessity because third-party transmission operators have limited the company’s access to the high voltage wires that would send its power far and wide. Latimer said Fervo is pursuing so-called behind-the-meter agreements to avoid long waits to connect to the grid – though tech companies are increasingly pushing for grid access. Latimer said passing the bipartisan Senate permitting bill would be “transformative” for geothermal by solving hurdles for building new transmission projects. “Particularly in the U.S. West, it is very challenging to build out new transmission and interconnection timelines have been very extended,” he said. Yet Fervo has also attracted skepticism about its business. A short-seller named Morpheus Research is betting against Fervo shares, claiming the company’s Nevada pilot site failed to draw enough steady heat from the earth to produce power and that it lost water from its system at a rate that would violate a permit if repeated at its Utah project. Latimer dismissed Morpheus’ claims as selective and said they were issued without proper fact checking. He did not outright deny that its Project Red pilot site in Nevada experienced what is known as “thermal decline” at a rate of 24 degrees Fahrenheit in one year, but remarked such findings are an inaccurate “snapshot” of its performance. Fervo noted Project Red recaptured 70% percent of its water. Latimer said Fervo’s goal to retain 99% is achievable at its Utah project, which he said complies with a state permit forbidding it from diminishing aquifers. “We have addressed most of the concerns in many prior disclosures. We have enormous amount of data out there,” he said Separately, law firm Hagens Berman is exploring a potential shareholder lawsuit over whether Fervo failed to appropriately disclose that it could face transmission curtailments that would materially affect its business. Latimer said those challenges with gaining transmission access are not a secret given the nation’s struggle to add new power sources to meet surging demand. “It’s a well-known problem, it’s been disclosed by us and by many people for a long time,” he said.

Corpus Christi Approves Water Charges for Industrial Giants as Landslide Election Rocks Texas - -- Amid a spate of historic political upsets across Texas, voters in the industrial port city of Corpus Christi on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved a citizen-led petition to impose steep fees for water use on the region’s refineries and chemical plants during future droughts. The measure passed by a two-to-one margin despite heavy spending by industry groups in opposition—a dramatic rebuke of industrial interests in a port city that leads the nation in crude oil exports.   “The people have woken up,” said Sylvia Campos, a member of the Corpus Christi City Council and the Democratic Socialists of America who supported the measure. “We overcame all that money.” The city’s referendum was part of an earth-shattering election across Texas, a fortress of conservative politics and the seat of the nation’s energy sector, which saw Democratic challengers wipe incumbent Republicans out of every statewide office on the ballot. The new governor-elect of Texas, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, has described her politics as “economic populism.” “In the past we evaluated politics as right versus left, I just don’t think those labels apply at this moment,” Hinojosa told the New York Times in October. “Things are so stacked against working people in this country.” In Corpus Christi, a Gulf Coast city of 300,000, partisan lines didn’t mark the political divisions that emerged over the referendum on industrial water fees, according to Paul Gottemoller, a professor of political science at Del Mar College in Corpus Christi. “It’s kind of a country club, business, chamber of commerce thing versus a populism thing,” Gottemoller said. “You do have populist and business sentiments on both sides of the political aisle.” The measure, proposed as an amendment to the city’s charter, would levy millions of dollars in surcharges on the region’s largest water users—industrial titans like ExxonMobil, Valero and OxyChem—the next time its main reservoirs drop below 30 percent full. Refineries, chemical plants and other industrial facilities account for more than half of all water consumption in the Corpus Christi region, where reservoirs almost dried up entirely this year. “There’s clearly some anger and resentment about the water issue,” Gottemoller said. For now, the referendum remains a mostly symbolic win for the voters that supported it. The amendment would take effect after a five-year grace period, during which time it will likely face a litany of legal challenges from industry groups, according to Corpus Christi City Manager Peter Zanoni. “It has significant legal implications that the city will have to address,” Zanoni said. The city will face big challenges defending the policy in court and before the state’s Public Utility Commission, Zanoni said. Industry groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting candidates and policies in city elections that revolved largely around water, Zanoni said.

Voters Reject Industry-Backed Ballot Measures With Big Environmental Stakes - --As a blue wave washed over Election Day, ballot measures across the country showed voters strongly support environmental protection, with notable early outcomes in California and Colorado. Democrats swept Congress on Tuesday, winning control of both houses with notable victories in Ohio, South Carolina, Texas, Michigan and Maine.  Results, which are still being tallied Wednesday, represented national disapproval of Donald Trump’s second presidency on issues like the high cost of fuel and food, an unpopular war with Iran and the proliferation of data centers, according to analysts.  The outcome of ballot measures—some of which had industry backing—on a gamut of environmental and energy issues made voter sentiment clear: they want to safeguard the environment.  With more than half of the ballots counted in California, voters appear to be rejecting a measure to fast-track construction of “essential projects” like housing, clean energy and broadband internet access by streamlining the state’s bedrock environmental law.    Proposition 45 would overhaul the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, by limiting the timeline for environmental review of major projects to 365 days and requiring that legal challenges of projects based on threats to air and water quality, tribal cultural resources and other harms be resolved within 270 days.  Proponents of the measure, sponsored by California’s Chamber of Commerce, say these deadlines are needed to speed the building of much-needed housing and infrastructure in the state. But opponents, including some affordable housing advocates, say the new rules would hobble the state’s landmark environmental law by limiting the scope of review as well as the ability of communities and tribes that are not federally recognized to mitigate the harms of polluting developments on their neighborhoods or ancestral lands. As of Wednesday afternoon, with 58 percent of the votes counted, just over 54 percent opposed the measure and about 46 percent supported it.  The measure can pass with a simple majority but would need two-thirds of the Legislature to amend it.“We’re encouraged by what we’re seeing,” said Woody Little, spokesperson for the No on Prop 45 campaign, which represents more than 550 labor, health and environmental organizations. Though it’s too early to declare the final result, Little said, “it’s very clear that millions of Californians voted to defend our core environmental protections.”Prop 45’s likely defeat is encouraging news, said Noelle Chambers, executive director of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust, an initiative to restore Indigenous knowledge and practices on the Amah Mutsun tribe’s ancestral lands, which cover parts of counties from Monterey Bay to regions southeast of Silicon Valley.“Meaningful tribal consultation is essential to protecting ancestral lands and cultural resources, particularly for non-federally recognized tribes whose voices are too often marginalized,” Chambers said. Such consultation, she said, is fundamental to advancing the return of Indigenous stewardship to Amah Mutsun homelands.Polling from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California showed that support for Prop 45 had dropped considerably, from 73 percent to 46 percent, between July and October, as voters learned more about the measure.If passed, the measure could cost state and local governments more than $100 million a year, partly to cover environmental damages that emerged from projects built with limited review or public input, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.Californians are rejecting a “false choice” between addressing the affordability crisis and protecting California’s air, water, health and climate at the same time, Little said. “They’re seeing through the tens of millions of dollars of misleading advertising from some of the largest, most powerful corporations in the state,” he said. “That should really send a message to the Legislature about which side their voters are on.”In Colorado, with 81 percent of votes tallied as of Wednesday afternoon, voters rejected Amendment 82—which would have established a constitutional right for consumers in the state to buy natural gas and for distributors and utilities to sell the fuel. The initiative was intended to prevent local and state restrictions or bans on the sale of natural gas, such as through prohibitions on gas infrastructure in new construction, and to overturn existing regulations that curtail use of the fuel. Environmentalists worried the change would endanger Colorado’s climate goals and—as the first of its kind—set a dangerous precedent. “It would have made Colorado the first state in the country to put one industry’s profits into the constitution,” said Kelly Nordini, CEO of environmental advocacy group Conservation Colorado.“That would have been the opposite direction of where Colorado voters have been going for decades, which is for health and safety protections, for clean energy, and certainly not putting a preference for one industry into the constitution,” Nordini said.Conservation Colorado organizers criticized anonymous donors for trying to convince voters the measure was sensible. Conservative advocacy group Advance Colorado, which proposed Amendment 82, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.Although measures that failed—despite millions in donations from supporters including from anonymous sources—have significant environmental impacts, so did many of those that passed. As of Wednesday afternoon, 38 ballot measures to restrict data centers nationwide had been passed by voters, according to tracking by Data Centers on the Ballot. Michigan voters—as part of a citizen-led ballot initiative—passed a proposal to prohibit utility and electric companies and specific government contractors from making campaign contributions. Early results also showed Tucson, Arizona, voters rejecting a 25-year franchise agreement with Tucson Electric Power. The agreement would have brought $64 million to the city for sustainability and infrastructure projects. However, according to critics, it also would have locked the city into a long-term agreement with a for-profit utility that provides services that could be run by the city. The agreement’s rejection came after the utility sought a major increase in the rate it charges its customers and backed the state’s most controversial data center development, Project Blue. In Florida, Amendment 3—geared toward cutting property taxes—passed. With state water management districts’ budgets based partly on local property tax revenues, districts are projected to take a big financial hit as a result of the measure’s passage, including more than $89 million in 2027 alone. As part of a citizen-led petition, voters in Corpus Christi, Texas, approved a measure to impose significant fees for water use on the region’s refineries and chemical plants during future droughts.  Ultimately, people value the health of their families, their health as workers and the open spaces that support wildlife, said Little, of California’s No on Prop 45 campaign.The results in other states suggest California voters are not alone in those concerns.

Blue wave rocks global energy markets – Shock waves from the Democratic blue tsunami cascaded through global energy markets on Wednesday. The impacts from a midterm rout that swept Democrats into power in the House and Senate, while ending Republican rule in at least five governors’ mansions, is coming into focus after a historic election bludgeoned President Donald Trump’s party and its policies. The effects are shocking. The AI race, which is powering the U.S. economy and sending electricity demand soaring, suddenly faces major roadblocks. Democrats who have promised to impose moratoriums on data centers won gubernatorial elections in key states like Texas, Ohio and Georgia. The banking giant, Allianz, reckons that 47 gigawatts of planned data center projects now face moratorium risks. Manufacturers in Asia wondered if the electoral outcome would lead to a slowdown in orders for semiconductors, batteries and transformers. In Europe, many leaders celebrated Democrats’ victory, even as they expressed limited hope for a change in U.S. climate and tariff policy. A new generation of Democrats is bound for Washington. They are less focused on climate change and more focused on affordability and rooting out corruption. POLITICO reviewed the victory speeches of 10 Democrats in key Senate races. None mentioned climate change directly, though Michigan Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed pledged to defend voters from “air too putrid to breathe” and Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff referenced “a poisoned planet.” Questions over the Iran war loom large over energy markets. The decision to escalate or deescalate remains with Trump, despite Democrats’ big win. The conflict is the biggest factor in determining the price of oil, gasoline and diesel. Tuesday’s winners include a pastor from Kansas, a seminarian from Texas, a pediatrician from South Carolina and a logger from Maine. All four flipped Republican-held Senate seats. These are not the “Resistance” Democrats that absconded to the United Nations climate talks during Trump’s first term. Nor are they seeking to resurrect the Biden administration’s “whole of government” approach to combating rising temperatures. Instead, they punched a ticket to Washington by persuading voters in deeply red states that they will address rising costs, get money out of politics and work with Republicans. “I will be a brick wall between Washington, D.C., and South Carolina, even when it means standing up to my own party,” South Carolina Sen.-elect Annie Andrews said in her victory speech. “I want to be Jerry Moran’s best friend”, Kansas Sen.-elect Adam Hamilton told supporters, referring to the state’s senior Republican senator. In most victory speeches, energy barely registered. Climate change wasn’t mentioned. Take Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico, who ran on a pledge to rein in data center development and support renewable energy — and oil and gas. He scarcely touched on the subject Tuesday evening, saying only, “Hate can’t lower our energy bills.” Even in the few races where more progressive Democrats prevailed, energy was framed as a cost-of-living issue. Ohio Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown blamed rising energy costs on Big Tech, data centers and the Iran war. In Michigan, El-Sayed focused his energy message on the war’s effect on energy prices “They might have been pointing to my name and my faith, but we all know that my name and my faith aren’t the reason you can’t afford your gas,” El-Sayed, who will become the nation’s first Muslim senator, said in his victory speech. The lack of climate mentions did little to dent the enthusiasm of Democrats’ loudest climate advocates. The party is likely to ramp up efforts to expand clean energy, especially at the state level where Democrats are poised to seize full control of governments in Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, former Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told POLITICO. “I think all of these winning candidates shared, to some degree, four central arguments: cost, corruption, chaos, and clean energy,” said Inslee, whose climate policies became a template for Democrats when former President Joe Biden won the White House in 2020. “We’re going to have people who understand the nature both of the opportunities of getting cheaper energy and cleaner energy.” The Nasdaq and Dow were up in morning trading, a reflection of Trump’s acceptances of the results, analysts said. Hyperscalers Amazon, Apple and Microsoft were all up. But warning signs for the data center boom lurked beneath those headline figures. AI stocks like SpaceX, NVIDIA, and Oracle were down, underscoring the threats data centers face from another group of winners: new Democratic governors. The most consequential of those is Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa in Texas, who is now poised to lead what could soon become the country’s top data center market. Development had already slowed in Texas after Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, called for an audit on data centers.Many analysts had expected Abbott to relax those measures if he prevailed Tuesday. Instead he lost to Hinojosa, raising the prospect that the pause will be longer. “She has called for a day one moratorium until the Texas legislative body acts, and I don’t know why we wouldn’t anticipate that to be her actual action until she says otherwise,” said John Miller, an analyst at TD Cowen. A slowdown has potentially far reaching economic impacts. The four largest hyperscalers are expected to invest $725 billion in the AI buildout this year, up from $410 billion last year, Allianz wrote in a note to clients. That money is driving investments in new power plants, transmission lines and the grid equipment needed to generate and supply power to data centers. “For investors, the risk is less an abrupt halt than a slower, costlier and more uneven buildout,” Allianz wrote. But it isn’t all bad for data centers. In Pennsylvania, where Democrats completed a takeover of all three branches of government by winning the state Senate, Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) has called on developers to sign community benefit agreements and cover the cost of grid upgrades. That might put data center development on a more sustainable path than the Wild West approach that has dominated in recent years, Miller said. Democrats may also soften their stance now that they are in power, said Ethan Zindler, an analyst at BloombergNEF and former climate counselor at the Treasury Department during the Biden administration. “I do wonder that, you know, once we get past the initial euphoria from the election from a lot of folks, whether there’ll be a quieter reconsideration of this,” he said. “I mean, governors do like to attract investment into their states.”

Revealed: Pro-AI Data Center Group Spending At Least $2.54M on TV Ads to Influence Ohio Election  - A pro-AI data center group purchased at least $2.54 million worth of television ads that ran recently in Ohio, a new DeSmog analysis reveals. The group, Build American AI, is linked to Leading the Future, a major AI industry super PAC backed by Silicon Valley billionaires. The ads extolled the economic benefits of Ohio’s data center boom, one of the hottest issues in the state’s Senate election, but did not endorse either candidate in the race: Trump-aligned Republican incumbent Jon Husted, who was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to serve out Vice President J.D. Vance’s term, and former three-term Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown.“When some people hear data centers they picture computers and servers,” says one Build American AI ad. “But we see something different: electricians, engineers, manufacturers.” The ad states that data centers have brought more than $40 billion in investments and created over 95,000 jobs in Ohio.“The future won’t be built by politicians or special interests,” states the ad, “It’ll be built by American workers right here in Ohio.”The ads appeared on at least 16 Ohio television stations between September 7 and October 21, according to Build American AI’s filings with the Federal Communications Commission, which described them as “non-candidate issue ads.”Build American AI ordered at least $2.5 million in ads in Ohio, $1.5 million in ads in Wisconsin and $1.1 million in Kansas between September 7 and October 24, according to DeSmog’s analysis. Jesse Hunt, the group’s head of communications, confirmed that the group is spending over $5 million in the three states, but did not comment on the exact amounts.Build American AI has been described by Politico as a “subsidiary” of Leading the Future, a super PAC which was formed last year to promote AI industry interests. Leading the Future has emerged as a major player in 2026 election cycle — backing both Democratic and Republican candidates in primary races earlier this year.The super PAC has received about $125.79 million in contributions during the 2026 midterm election cycle as of October 29, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Most of that came from a handful of donors: $25 million each in individual contributions from tech venture capitalists Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, $50 million from their venture fund Andreessen Horowitz, also called a16z, and $12.5 million each from OpenAI co-founder and president Greg Brockman and his wife Anna Brockman.   OpenAI is part of a joint venture with SoftBank, Nvidia, the U.S. Department of Energy, and other partners to build a mammoth data center complex on federal land in Pike County, Ohio. The project would include an on-site gas-fired power plant designed to produce 9.1 gigawatts of power — larger than any gas-fired power plant currently operating worldwide, and enough to power about 7 million homes.OpenAI’s investors include the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital fund. OpenAI’s energy chief is John McCarrick, who as an energy official in Trump’s first administration promoted exports of U.S. liquefied natural gas to Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and advocated for Asian countries to invest in natural gas. Andreessen Horowitz did not respond to a request for comment. OpenAI did not respond to DeSmog’s request for comment on the Brockmans’ personal donations to Leading the Future, or its stance on using gas-fired power for its data centers.Marc Andreessen is also a board member of tech giant Meta, which is building “Prometheus,” a massive data center in New Albany, Ohio, about 15 miles northeast of state capital Columbus. The partially-built computing complex runs on natural-gas turbines — and is designed to scale to one gigawatt, enough to power about 800,000 homes. These projects are among dozens of proposed data center projects in Ohio, which is strategically positioned atop part of the Marcellus Shale, the biggest gas field in the U.S.The AI boom is on track to worsen the climate crisis, which is on the verge of passing the key 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) limit on global heating that nations set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.Based on current trends, the energy demand of new U.S. data centers could increase the nation’s carbon emissions by 24 to 44 million metric tons a year between 2024 and 2030, according to a recent study published in the journal Nature Sustainability — equivalent to the tailpipe emissions from an additional 5 to 10 million additional gasoline-burning cars. Marc Andreessen recently called the climate crisis “over” in a post on X, and has praised fracking as an “incredibly positive outcome” of energy industry research and development.  “Energy should be in an upward spiral,” wrote Andreessen in his “Techno-Optimist Manifesto” in 2023. “The more energy we have, the more people we can have, and the better everyone’s lives can be.” Both he and Horowitz have each contributed at least $3,500 to Husted’s re-election campaign since late 2025, according to FEC filings. Mark Andreessen responded sarcastically in June to an X post by French economist Thomas Piketty about unequal wealth and the climate crisis: “SMH the climate crisis is over, Greta has pivoted to Palestine, and the rest of us are panicking over data centers. Do keep up.” Credit: @pmarca account on X. Build American AI’s ads appeared after Sherrod Brown’s campaign ran a series of ads branding Husted “the face of data centers in Ohio” and lambasted him for supporting multi-billion-dollar, greenhouse-gas spewing data center developments as well as for handing out tax breaks for data center developers. Brown’s campaign spent $2.4 million on ads criticizing Husted’s support for data centers as of late August, according to political ad spending tracker AdImpact. The ads caught the attention of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which sent out a memo in mid-August to “interested parties” about “Ohio’s data center risk,” as first reported by Axios. The memo warned that Brown’s opposition to data centers had turned the issue into “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck” that could get him voted out of office. “The companies that need these projects built have to fix how Ohioans see them: who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one,” the memo stated — the themes of Build American AI’s TV ad campaign.Sixty-three percent of Ohioans oppose AI data centers, according to a recent poll by The New York Times. As of September, the state has over 125 local data center moratoriums in place, as well as 21 ballot measures across 16 counties targeting data center construction, the most of any state. “People who would wave at their neighbors that they’ve seen for 10 years but never have spent the time on their porches” are “looking past partisan differences to fight for their communities,” Nick Owens, an attorney in rural Ohio, told DeSmog. Owens, who said he is a Republican, volunteers with the campaign Conserve Ohio, which is seeking to ban large-scale data centers in the state.Looking ahead, local community groups in Ohio are attempting to gather 413,000 signatures needed to put a statewide data center moratorium on the ballot in 2027. “Grassroots people who frankly have one hundredth the level of funds [of tech leaders] are battling these fights,” said Owens. “It’s really David versus Goliath, but the righteous people in this case, I believe, will prevail: the people who live in their communities.”

Trenton votes to ban data centers | WVXU, NPR Cincinnati - Voters in Trenton overwhelmingly approved Issue 17, a charter amendment that bans the development of large data centers within city limits. Unofficial results from the Butler County Board of Elections show the measure passed with 80% of the vote. Barry Blankenship, a leader of the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance group, said the scale of support reflects growing national opposition to data centers over their massive electricity and water demands. “We’re just another statistic that proves the citizens do not want them, even though city governments and these big businesses want to come into these little communities and roll over us, thinking we're just going to sit back and take it,” Blankenship said. The charter amendment was proposed by a group of neighbors, including Blankenship, who gathered signatures to get it on the ballot. The measure’s passage means developers looking to bring data centers to the city will need to keep projects under 25 megawatts. That blocks plans for Trenton to annex land for a 1,000-megawatt Amazon data center and puts into question the future of a 250-megawatt facility currently being built by Prologis in the city's industrial park. "It's a sigh of relief," Blankenship said. "It's like when people go to bed tonight, they can actually sleep." Supporters celebrated at Barn N Bunk Farm Market, eating a cake with blue lettering reading “vote yes on Issue 17” as a musician plucked out folk protest songs on his guitar. Issue 17 faced opposition from a group funded by outside interests, including the Ohio Chamber of Commerce and Prologis. Trenton Community Alliance canvassed, distributed yard signs and ran ads against the ban, saying it would limit economic opportunities for the city. Trenton has said building the data centers would provide a host of financial benefits for residents, including a one-year elimination of Trenton’s general fund property tax, a 30% discount on YMCA memberships and millions of dollars for Edgewood City Schools.  Seventeen other communities in Ohio also voted on data center-related ballot measures — the most in the nation.

Ohio voters reject large data centers in all 10 communities with bans on ballot | The Blade  --— Local charter amendments banning the construction of large data centers passed with large margins across the state of Ohio on Tuesday night. All 10 localities in Ohio — including the city of Oregon — approved measures prohibiting the development of hyperscale data centers. While Oregon voters approved their data center ban by more than 20 percentage points (60.69 percent), the northwest Ohio city’s margin of victory was the smallest among all jurisdictions considering such bans. The following municipalities also approved data center bans on Tuesday:

• ● The measure in the city of Sunbury (Delaware County) was approved by 78.64 percent of voters.
• ● Pataskala (Licking County), 73.62 percent.
• ● Granville (Licking County), 82.45 percent.
• ● Urbana (Champaign County), 77.25 percent.
• ● Defiance (Defiance County), 64.73 percent.
• ● Upper Sandusky (Wyandot County), 76.92 percent.
• ● Piqua (Miami County), 66.7 percent.
• ● Conneaut (Ashtabula County), 64.18 percent.
• ● Trenton (Butler County), 79.68 percent.

Conserve Ohio, the organization collecting signatures to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot banning the construction of large data centers statewide, thanked voters for supporting the ballot measures. “Ten out of 10 local Ohio communities have chosen to protect themselves from the proliferation of hyperscale data center developments, decisively rebuking Big Tech, the Oligarch Billionaire Class, and all those who prop them up,” the group said in a statement. “You are heroes to us all.” The group said Ohio’s elected officials cannot ignore Tuesday’s results. “The above election results demonstrate that when communities have a say regarding the construction of a hyperscale data center in their local area, they overwhelmingly say, ‘No,’” they said. “Your oath is invoked. Stop the self-dealing, corporate fealty, and greed. Represent and serve the people who elected you.” The group is also encouraging supporters to attend the upcoming lame duck legislative sessions in Columbus to demand that the Ohio General Assembly enact a statewide 12-month moratorium on data center development. It is also seeking legislation allowing all communities to vote on whether any data center is built in their town. Lyn Cox, a Monclova Township resident and regional leader of Conserve Ohio, said she was thrilled with Tuesday night’s results. “I felt like all of our shouting from the rooftops has been heard,” Ms. Cox said. “It is a genuine movement of ordinary Ohioans saying, ‘We care about the future of our community, and we want a say in it.’” In the city of Oregon in particular, Ms. Cox said, supporters of the ballot measure were outspent by opponents $335,000 to $4,600. “One of the things I think the data center industry has done is come into Ohio and believed money ... solves all the problems,” she said. “Obviously the problem didn’t go away for them in Oregon. ... I feel like they could have put $4 million versus our $4,600, and we still would have won.” Policy Matters Ohio Executive Director Hannah Halbert said state lawmakers should pay attention to the will of the voters. “As lawmakers enter lame duck, they should not undermine the ability of the incoming administration to enforce any new regulatory framework they put in place,” Ms. Halbert said. She said the legislature is considering bills that would undermine the ability of the incoming Acton administration to implement state-level regulations on data center development, pointing to House Bill 11, House Bill 775, and House Bill 1024. “Before their most recent break, the General Assembly proposed H.B. 646, which included a range of measures to rein in data center development. That legislation, while inadequate, would be a step in the right direction,” Ms. Halbert said. “However, the same GA may also try to ram through changes that would essentially give its legislative leadership veto power over decisions by the very state agencies charged with turning the broad legislative language into rules and regulations that protect Ohioans,” she continued. “Ohioans expect government to solve problems, not create new obstacles.”

Ohio election results show voters overwhelmingly turn down data center developments  -— As election results continue to come in, a trend is emerging in smaller, local races across Ohio communities: voters have overwhelmingly opposed data center developments. In central Ohio, several communities were weighing whether to ban the large developments, while others considered specific proposals. In Sunbury, voters deliberated over a proposed charter amendment that would prohibit the construction of data centers with a combined monthly demand or peak electrical load greater than 25 megawatts. With all precincts reporting, the amendment passed by 78.64%. The vote comes after Amazon proposed a $2 billion data center project in the city. Residents expressed concerns about the project to 10TV in the lead-up to the election. . "People do not want data centers where they can ruin neighborhoods, ruin communities or put people at risk," said Larry Thode, who lives near Amazon's proposed site. "We're not banning them. We want to limit the size so we can control the damage." 10TV reached out to Amazon following the election. "We are disappointed with the result, but we have appreciated the opportunity to engage with the community on the benefits that this potential investment could bring to Sunbury. We’ll continue to engage communities early on as we build out this important infrastructure in Ohio and other states," an Amazon spokesperson shared in a statement. In Grove City, residents approved Issue 28, which updates the charter to require voter approval for certain large developments. With all precincts reporting, the issue was approved by 54.6%. A project would qualify for the public referendum process if it takes up 50 or more acres of land, uses more than 20 megawatts of electricity at peak capacity or uses more than 500,000 gallons of water per day. Supporters said the measure would give residents more control over development that could affect their community. But opponents argued the measure was too broad and it could add costs, delays and uncertainty for developers and existing businesses. In Ashville, voters were asked to weigh a proposal from EdgeConneX, which would have led to the construction and operation of two data center buildings. With all precincts reporting, the development was turned down by 81.61%. Getting the measure on the ballot was a battle in itself for Ashville residents. The fight began in April, when Ashville Village Council approved an agreement with EdgeConneX. The council then classified the project as an emergency in an effort to push it through faster, and Ashville residents responded by gathering signatures to challenge the resolution. The fight escalated to the Ohio Supreme Court.    In Pataskala, voters considered a charter amendment prohibiting the construction of a data center. With all precincts reporting, the amendment passed by 73.62%. The measure follows a proposed data center project from Texas-based developer Aligned Data Centers. Earlier this year, it sought approval to build three data center structures on land it owns near East Broad and Mink streets. While the company said the project would bring significant economic benefits, residents were not convinced. “We don’t know what’s the longer term — a year, two years, six years, 12 years — on health issues, from heat domes, from water quality. Will there be enough water? Will our electric rates really not go up?” Pataskala resident Grace Franklin previously told 10TV. In Granville, voters were asked to consider a charter amendment prohibiting the construction of a data center. With all precincts reporting, the amendment was approved by 82.45%. "The above election results demonstrate that when communities have a say regarding the construction of a hyperscale data center in their local area, they overwhelmingly say no," said the volunteer organization Conserve Ohio, which focuses on organizing petitions against large-scale data center developments across the state. Beyond central Ohio, voters also turned down developments in several other communities, including areas in Butler, Champaign, Lucas, Defiance, Miami, Ashtabula and Wyandot counties.

Ohio voters reject data centers despite hundreds of thousands in opposition spending - Cleveland.com -- Tech companies and business groups spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to defeat local data center restrictions in Ohio. On Tuesday, voters delivered a resounding rejection of their efforts. All 11 proposed charter amendments aimed at restricting hyperscale data centers appeared headed for victory, including in communities where developers and their allies poured money into campaigns to defeat them. The margins weren’t particularly close. In Granville, 82% of voters supported the amendment. In Trenton, it was 79%. Sunbury voters approved their measure with 78% of the vote, while Urbana and Upper Sandusky topped 75%. “This has been a long few months, and our hard work has finally paid off,” said Nicole Nawman, one of the organizers in Urbana. “The residents of Urbana have put in a lot of time, energy and effort, and I think we will all sleep a little easier tonight.” The results represent a significant setback for an industry that has invested billions of dollars in Ohio and increasingly faces resistance from residents concerned about electricity costs, water use, noise and the loss of farmland. They also raise questions about the effectiveness of an expensive campaign to convince voters that data centers would bring jobs, tax revenue and economic growth to their communities. Tech companies and their trade groups contributed more than $400,000 to defeat local ballot measures, according to county campaign finance reports. The actual spending was likely higher because some organizations distributed campaign materials without disclosing how much they spent. Before the election, University of Cincinnati politics professor David Niven called the spending extraordinary for communities of this size. “This is an astonishing amount of money for local ballot issues, especially given the size of these venues,” Niven said. “This would be a lot of money to drop in a Columbus ballot issue.” In Oregon, near Toledo, data center opponents faced one of the most expensive campaigns. Vantage Data Centers gave $250,000 to Opportunity on the Bay, a committee fighting the proposed charter amendment. Four union groups contributed another $85,000 to Building Our Future Ohio. Together, opponents raised $335,000 in a city of fewer than 20,000 people. Supporters of the restrictions reported just $4,600. Before the election, Lyn Cox, who helped put Issue 25 on the ballot, described an advertising blitz that seemed impossible to escape. In Sunbury, north of Columbus, voters approved a charter amendment restricting data centers with 78% support, despite a campaign warning that outsiders were trying to interfere with the community’s future. Door hangers distributed before the election warned that “extreme California special interests” were behind the proposed restrictions. The election results are already fueling calls for statewide restrictions on data center development. Conserve Ohio, which helped local groups navigate the charter amendment process, is urging lawmakers to enact a 12-month moratorium on new data centers during the upcoming lame-duck session. “Tonight proves when everyday Ohioans are actually given the choice, they resoundingly and unanimously vote to ban hyperscale data centers,” said Nick Owens, an attorney for Conserve Ohio. Owens also called on lawmakers to give communities across Ohio the power to vote on proposed data centers. “It’s time our elected leaders start serving the people of this state, not the billionaire oligarch class,” he said.

Ohio just poured onto its existing 125 data center moratoriums. Transparency pushes and grid safeguards could now ‘dominate policy agendas’ nationwide --Ohio voters rejected the AI buildout almost everywhere it was on the ballot Tuesday, with at least 14 municipalities passing bans or other restrictions on data centers. The Buckeye State is on its way to becoming the prototype for how American voters respond in the face of mass AI infrastructure expansion.  Ohio residents across 18 municipalities voted on 21 ballot measures on data centers on Tuesday—more than half of the 41 data center-related ballot measures across the country.With more than 200 operational data centers, Ohio ranks No. 5 among U.S. states in number of data center projects. According to state data, companies plan to invest up to $40 billion in AI infrastructure in the state by 2030.Plans for AI infrastructure expansion across the country face strong national opposition—including in the form of 125 local data center moratoriums already in place in Ohio. Ohio voters’ decisive stance against the buildout could foreshadow not just future election results, but how stakeholders in the private sector and government respond.“With over 100 Ohio townships adopting moratoria or restrictions, strong voter turnout against expansion would signal to statehouses nationwide that ratepayer protections, transparency, and grid safeguards should dominate policy agendas,” Keith Durkin, a sociology professor and director of the Ohio Northern University Institute for Civics and Public Policy (ICAPP), told Fortune. In central Ohio, all five communities with data center measures on the ballot voted against data centers. In Sunbury, residents appear to have passed a charter amendment banning data centers that use 25 megawatts or more, with 100% of the unofficial vote counted. The measure was aimed at a possible hyperscale Amazon project, though the project’s fate remains unclear, NBC4 reported. Pataskala voters also approved a charter ban on large data centers.In Trenton, a ban passed 80% to 20%. Organizers hope it will keep an 18-building Amazon Web Services data center out of the city, though it likely won’t affect a four-building AWS campus already under construction nearby, the Journal-News reported. In Perry, more than 87% of voters approved a measure requiring developers seeking tax breaks to offer the village financial guarantees. In Wilmington, around 80% of voters rejected rezoning across four separate referendums meant to accommodate a data center project. Results in Oregon weren’t yet available as of Wednesday morning.Ashville residents voted in favor of entirely blocking a data center campus that is already under construction.The bulk of the ballot measures came from 13 municipalities voting on measures to ban or heavily restrict data centers, including “high impact” campuses using more than 25 megawatts of power. Those measures were on the ballot in the municipalities of Conneaut, Defiance, Granville, Grove City, Hubbard, Monroeville, Oregon, Pataskala, Piqua, Sunbury, Trenton, Upper Sandusky, and Urbana.Two measures in Monroe and Sprigg townships, respectively, decided whether zoning restrictions on large data center developments should be implemented as a means to preserve agricultural land. Wilmington voters also decided on four separate referendums on whether to uphold the rezoning of four rural residential sites to light industrial sites to accommodate data center construction.A Gallup poll published in May found about 70% of Americans opposed the construction of data centers in their local areas, and Ohio appears to largely mirror the national sentiment. ICAPP, in partnership with SurveyUSA, found in a poll of 1,650 Ohio adults published last month, that 55% opposed data center construction in the state compared to 22% in support, while 65% opposed tax breaks for data center developments compared to 15% in support, and 57% said they would vote in favor of a proposed state constitutional amendment banning new large-scale data centers exceeding 25 megawatts in power demands. About 20% of respondents said they’d vote against the amendment, and 21% were undecided.    Durkin attributes the negative sentiment toward data centers to a confluence of factors, primarily fear of the environmental and economic risks associated with the AI boom that has emerged as a result of little knowledge about data centers.

Ohioans overwhelmingly pass data center bans, restrictions on ballot -   Ohioans made their opinion on data centers clear on Election Day: No.Voters in Ohio municipalities with data center bans on the ballot overwhelmingly supported more restrictions on the controversial developments.Voters in 18 Ohio municipalities passed bans or other restrictions on data centers Nov. 3, including in Trenton.Across Ohio, 18 municipalities voted on data center-related measures, the most of any state. Residents in 11 of these municipalities voted on outright bans, while the other seven weighed measures that added new regulations or oversight.The following 10 municipalities passed bans on data center construction: Hubbard, Sunbury, Pataskala, Urbana, Defiance, Upper Sandusky, Piqua, Granville, Conneaut, Oregon and Trenton.The following cities, townships and villages passed other restrictions:

• Ashville: Almost 82% of Ashville voters voted to reverse its village council's agreement and negotiations with EdgeConneX to build two data centers.
• Grove City: 55% of voters approved a charter amendment that requires voter approval for future large-scale developments, including data center developments that use more than 20 megawatts of electricity or 500,000 gallons of water.
• Perry: Over 87% of voters passed an ordinance that requires developers seeking tax abatements or other financial incentives to offer the village financial guarantees.
• Wilmington: Through four separate referendums, around 80% of voters rejected rezoning for parcels of land to accommodate a data center project.
• Monroe and Sprigg Townships in Adams County: These townships passed measures will establish new zoning regulations for unincorporated areas that would make it easier to regulate data center development.
• Monroeville: 87.75% of voters in this village voted "no" on an advisory question that asked if they "support the Village of Monroeville allowing data center development within the Village limits."

Almost 80% of Trenton voters passed Issue 17, which bans data centers that use over 25 megawatts of electricity.Debates over two proposed data centers in or bordering Trenton have consumed the Butler County town of around 14,000 for months.Residents with the Woodsdale and Trenton Environmental Resistance, a group that opposed the data centers, collected signatures to get a ban on the ballot earlier this year. After the Trenton City Council voted not to certify the petition in August, the Ohio Supreme Court intervened. The court found the council "disregarded" the law and ordered it to certify the petition.Lacy Roth, 30, voted to support the ban. She told The Enquirer that she wants her 9-month-old son, who she brought with her to the polls, to grow up in a small town without noise and air pollution."I think Issue 17 is one of the biggest factors to get voters out today," she said. "Because people don't want to see their community change in such a grand way without them actually getting support for it."  40-year-old Lauren Johnson, who stood outside Edgewood Middle School with signs urging people to vote for the ban, said she wants Trenton to remain "a quality place for kids to grow up.""I think our farmland is very important and our greenspace," Johnson said. "I'd like to see it still around for my grandkids."But other residents worry a ban would hurt Trenton economically."I think we need the data centers," said Daniel Davis, 76. Davis thinks data centers will bring in more jobs and revenue for the city. Two advocates for the Trenton Community Alliance, who sat in lawn chairs outside Edgewood Middle School with signs encouraging people to vote "no," declined to share their names or be photographed. They alleged they've been harassed and that those who disagree with them have been "nasty."One advocate said that data centers are coming to the area, whether people like it or not.   "I believe Trenton should get income from the data center, not someone else," she said.The other advocate said she's not for or against data centers, but she's against the Trenton charter changing in a way that could stifle future business. She's also concerned that residents might next try to recall members of the Trenton City Council.  The vote Nov. 3 creates an uncertain future for an Amazon Web Services data center planned for land located just outside Trenton. The city tried to annex land for the project from its two neighboring rural townships, but withdrew its petition in September.Because the ban only applies to land within city limits, the data center could move forward on the land if it remains part of the rural townships. However, the St. Clair Township Zoning Commission passed a resolution Oct. 13 to ban data centers in the township's zoning. That resolution goes to a Butler County hearing Nov. 10 but indicates the AWS data center could face another hurdle.

Datacenters were on the ballot. US voters rejected them - There were three big losers in Tuesday’s midterm elections in the US: Donald Trump, Elon Musk and datacenters. Datacenters, the facilities full of semiconductor chips that power artificial intelligence and a host of other online products, were on the ballot in elections in at least 40 jurisdictions across 10 states. Voters responded with a strong rebuke of the giant buildings, which have has become a symbol of the tech industry and AI. In Ohio alone, at least 14 municipalities passed bans or restrictions on datacenter development, including in Sunbury, where Amazon has proposed a $2bn datacenter project. In Maine, eight municipalities passed temporary datacenter moratoriums. In Emporia, Kansas, where a 1,000-acre gigawatt-scale datacenter was recently proposed, a ban on high-impact datacenters was approved by voters. Voters approved nearly every datacenter moratorium that was on the ballot, dozens in total, with one notable exception: Hardwood, North Dakota. The small city of a population of less than 1,000 people voted down a bill that would impose restrictions on datacenter development. Where datacenters were not explicitly on the ballot, officials who have pushed back against their development were elected. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, who secured a historic victory as governor on Tuesday night over her Republican opponent, has promised to impose moratoriums on their construction. She has pledged to implement greater restrictions on and community input into whether datacenters can be built. Towards the end of his tenure, Greg Abbott, her Republican opponent, had also tried to capitalize on anti-datacenter sentiment, demanding an end to electricity subsidies for them. He reversed his previous stance that had welcomed datacenters to the state. Keisha Lance Bottoms, who became governor of Georgia, and Amy Acton, the newly elected governor of Ohio, have also pledged to implement moratoria on the construction of large datacenters. Anti-datacenter sentiment has grown in the last few months has become a bipartisan issue. In May, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, signed a bill imposing strict regulations on large-scale datacenters. Still, last night’s election solidified the overwhelming opposition to these centers of compute that have come to serve as a stand-in for the ultra wealthy and resource extraction by the AI industry. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Elon Musk, who poured over $400m into supporting conservative candidates, posted on X. Analyst Dan Ives said the results of the midterms are a clear sign that the pace of datacenter buildout will start to slow down. “There is no way to sugarcoat that Democrats taking control especially over the Senate will create some major hurdles for AI and tech legislation in the Beltway over the next two years,” Ives said. Ives said he was particularly worried about Hinojosa who is a “known anti-datacenter politician”.

10 States With Data Centers on the Ballot All Voted to Ban Them | The New Republic Election Day 2026 revealed just how much of the country loathes Silicon Valley’s data center projects. Communities across the nation voted on 41 data center-related ballot initiatives on Tuesday. The measures were introduced in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.At least 33 of those municipalities voted to keep data centers out, according to votes tracked by Data Centers on the Ballot. At least six localities specifically voted to ban data center construction and halt the development of all planned facilities. Just one measure in Harwood, North Dakota, counted as a victory for the industry, as voters decided against restricting data center construction.The vast majority of the data center-related ballot initiatives were introduced and decided in Ohio, which has recently become a buzzing hub of activity for tech companies looking to build the water-zapping facilities. Over the last year, some of Silicon Valley’s most prominent AI firms have poured millions of dollars into races across the state and on both sides of the aisle in an apparent effort to influence the region’s politics. Exactly why AI-backed money was funneled into the Ohio race boils down to a perfect confluence of factors across the state. Ohio has relatively cheap land, plentiful resources, and enough power plants to fuel the data centers required to support the AI industry’s seemingly imminent boom.But the same can be said for many other regions in the country. In Kansas, where land is similarly cheap and plentiful, voters adopted some of the most restrictive proposals on the table. One such measure banned the construction of “high-impact data centers” (facilities that use more than 100,000 gallons of water per day) for 10 years, stipulating that the decision could only be reversed by public vote, according to an analysis by Multistate.us.Mounting evidence that the public actually hates data centers doesn’t bode well for Donald Trump, who has spent months attempting to convince Americans to let the industry build as he cozies up to major tech executives.Recent polling indicates that the vast majority of Americans, including Republicans, have no interest in permitting the tech industry to build AI facilities in their backyards. An August survey published by Heatmap revealed that 75 percent of the public opposes data center development in their communities.More jurisdictions are expected to take a stance on the issue in the coming weeks. Voters in Arkansas and North Dakota will vote on whether to finance or prohibit data centers on December 1 and December 15, respectively.

Here's Where Voters Are Rejecting Data Centers On Midterm Ballots (Full List) – Forbes - Voters appear to be rejecting data centers in dozens of communities across the U.S., after bans, moratoriums or other measures were put on the ballot in several states, as local backlash to these projects reached a fever pitch during the midterms.

• Ohio: There were more ballot initiatives (21) related to data centers there than in any other state, and Ohio is already a major one for developers—154 data centers are operational, with 27 more under construction and 57 more being planned.Thirteen municipalities had data center bans on the ballot, including Conneaut, Defiance, Granville, Grove City, Hubbard, Monroeville, Oregon, Pataskala, Piqua, Sunbury, Trenton, Upper Sandusky and Urbana (although some of these only restrict “high impact” data centers or facilities that use more than 25 megawatts of power).All thirteen of these municipalities appear on track to approve restrictions as of Wednesday morning.The townships of Monroe and Sprigg voted on adopting new zoning regulations that would preserve the “rural and agricultural character” of their areas and effectively ban data center construction—the two small communities in southern Ohio are possible locations for major projects, including a 1,000-acre site being evaluated for an Amazon Web Services data center.Both of these ballot measures appear on track to pass as of Wednesday morning.The town of Wilmington voted on four questions related to zoning in four specific sites that would allow a data center project to move forward, all of which appear on track to pass—after the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the local county’s board of elections’ decision to block a referendum on establishing broader restrictions.Over 80% of voters in Ashville voted to reject a data center under construction, while residents in the village of Perry appear to have approved a resolution requiring developers to provide the town with financial guarantees and noise limits on facilities if they want access to tax breaks
• Illinois: Six municipalities in the Land of Lincoln—Chouteau, Granite City, Joliet, Morgan, Nameoki and Venice—voted to advise their local governments on approving new data centers.All six municipalities voted by wide margins against data centers, according to early vote estimates.Meanwhile, voters in Bloomington appear to have decided to approved an advisory measure for a data center moratorium with 78% support, after the city and nearby Normal enacted a six-month moratorium earlier this year on facilities using more than 5 megawatts of power.
• Wisconsin: voters in Janesville appear to have approved a ballot measure requiring a majority vote to approve future projects costing more than $450 million at an old General Motors factory, essentially deciding whether it can be used for data center construction. The question referred specifically to the site of a former General Motors plant that ended production in 2008 during the auto industry crisis, and left a toxic brownfield after it closed.Janesville has struggled to redevelop the site in the years since, and has recently explored building a data center there—a proposal that has prompted significant public backlash.Local governments in several other cities in Wisconsin have imposed temporary data center moratoriums over the course of the year, including Madison in January and Milwaukee in October.
• Kansas: The towns of El Dorado and Emporia appear to have approved bans on “high impact” data centers, while the town of Ottawa is awaiting results on a vote to ban “utility-intensive” data centers, or facilities that use more than 25 megawatts of power.
• Maine: Four municipalities in the Pine Tree State voted on data center moratoriums, but most of these have time limits: Peru and Wells are voting on 180-day moratoriums, while Wiscasset is voting on a six-month ban on new data centers and expansion projects.The town of North Berwick separately voted on its own ban on data centers larger than 25,000 square feet.All four municipalities approved these measures by wide margins, according to early results. Larger cities in Maine, including Bangor, have already enacted local moratoriums, and Maine’s legislature passed a statewide moratorium earlier this year—which Gov. Janet Mills vetoed in April.

DEP Issues Air Quality Permit To Amazon Data Services For Installation Of 76 Diesel-Fired Backup Generators At New Data Center Project In Falls Twp., Bucks County - The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the November 7 PA Bulletin announcing it has issued an Air Quality Plan Approval [09-0261] for the installation of 76 diesel-fired backup generators to Amazon Data Services, Inc. for a new A.I. data center PNE 100 project in Falls Twp., Bucks County. (PA Bulletin, page 7401)The generators include-- 72-- 2.75 MW diesel generators, two 1,000 kW diesel generators and two 750 kW diesel generators.Requests to review the permit and other questions should be directed to James Beach, New Source Review Chief, DEP Southeast Regional Office Air Quality Program by calling 484-250-5920 or by email to: jamesbeach@pa.gov.  Anyone aggrieved by this decision has 30 days from this notice to file an appeal with the Environmental Hearing Board.  Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information. (PA Bulletin, page 7401) [Note: This permit just covers some of the backup generators proposed for this data center site or changes have been made to the plan for generators.  [In July, DEP invited comments on an Air Quality Permit for 282 natural gas-fired generators under a similar permit number: 09-0261A..  Read more here.] Visit DEP’s Data Center Permit Tracker webpage for information on pending permits for A.I. data center projects established by Gov. Shapiro’s Data Center Executive Order. The Governor’s executive order requires data center developers to obtain all permits and local approvals before DEP can review any permits for the facility.To provide information to the state on new data center proposals and whether they meet the requirements in Gov. Shapiro’s Data Center Executive Order, visit the Data Center Feedback webpage.

DEP Ready to OK Gas Fuel Cells for 2 GW Shippingport Data Center - Marcellus Drilling News -- The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it plans to approve the air permit for Aligned Data Centers’ giant “Project Phoenix” campus at the former Bruce Mansfield coal plant site in Shippingport (Beaver County, PA). The campus will run on Marcellus/Utica natural gas, but it won’t burn the gas. Aligned plans to make its own electricity with solid oxide fuel cells, which turn gas into power through a chemical reaction instead of combustion. DEP published its notice in Saturday’s Pennsylvania Bulletin and scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, December 3, in Shippingport. Get the popcorn ready.

Get Off of My Cloud – Texas Moratorium on Data Center Grid Connections Disrupts U.S. Project Pipeline | RBN Energy - Amid the partisan schisms dominating political debate as Election Day approached, a dramatic shift in public opinion on a single issue drew bipartisan support: opposition to data centers. The unprecedented surge in state legislation and regulation to stall or ban future development included Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s moratorium on new data center grid connections, which his successor, Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, is expected to continue. In today’s RBN blog, we review the disruption caused by the Texas moratorium, how it might change as the state moves into new leadership, and assess its potential impact on the multibillion-dollar, off-grid megaprojects in development by hyperscalers like Amazon and Microsoft. Large-scale data center development began in the mid-2010s and accelerated late in the decade as cloud computing, or delivering applications through the web, took shape. However, it reached a “boom” phase in 2022 as AI workloads exploded. Initial public reaction was mildly positive, focused on general benefits such as tax revenue and job growth, but it turned sharply negative. State lawmakers across the U.S. introduced data center legislation at unprecedented levels as public opposition intensified. According to The Washington Post, more than 375 bills mentioning data centers have been introduced in 2026 — exceeding the combined total from the previous three years. There were 41 measures related to data centers on the ballot November 3 across 13 states, with nearly all proposals designed to block or restrict development headed for passage, according to Ballotpedia, most by wide margins.Amid the shift in public sentiment, New York Governor Kathy Hochul enacted a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centers in July, while major restrictions were imposed by states with significant past development, including Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. However, the most significant may be the moratorium on new data center grid connections in Texas, the largest and fastest-growing data center market (see God Blessed Texas), as projected demand surged. Abbott sent a letter to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) on August 3, in which he directed the agency to perform a data center audit and pointed to “recent legislative hearings and public meetings” that “raised important questions regarding the impact of data centers on the grid and on the local communities in which they operate or seek to operate.”The shift in policy came after an intense lobbying push against data center development in the state, including a contentious 15-hour public hearing. Concerns have been amplified because the reliability of the Texas grid has been challenged during major severe weather events in recent years, most notably 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, which led to efforts to strengthen the grid’s reliability while also balancing costs. The governor, who was seeking a fourth term, had previously hailed Texas as “the epicenter of AI development” after Google announced a $40 billion investment in the state.Under the new directive, ERCOT’s audit will examine whether data centers are providing their own power or depending on the grid; their use of water; and which data centers are utilizing state or federal assistance such as tax incentives, grants or abatements. “Any data center project that fails to comply with the verification and audit process to protect the reliability and resilience of the Texas electric grid must be denied,” the governor said in his letter.  Abbott followed the August announcement with a September 21 directive to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) to halt all permits sought by data centers until ERCOT completes its audit of proposed projects. ERCOT is expected to release two reports on December 10. One would list the projects that qualify for its Batch Zero process (more on that below); the other would cover the impact of medium- and large-sized data centers on local communities, with an open meeting of the Public Utility Council of Texas (PUCT) to follow on December 17.  Hinojosa’s platform during the campaign went a step further. The governor-elect called for Abbot to impose the moratorium in July and said in October that she would ban all data center approvals until the Texas Legislature passed laws to address concerns in several areas, including protections for power and water resources, enhanced control for communities impacted by data center developments, provisions to ensure that developers cover infrastructure costs without increasing households’ electricity or water bills, and an end to tax incentives. The Legislature’s next session begins January 12 and runs through May 31. Hinojosa will be sworn in as governor on January 19.  (We should note that Keisha Lance Bottoms and Amy Acton, Democrats that were elected governor in Georgia and Ohio, respectively, on November 3 also proposed moratoriums during the campaign, with differing conditions. Both states are major data center hubs. Georgia ranks third nationally in planned facilities, while Ohio ranks fourth in operating facilities, according to a Pew Research Center analysis earlier this year.)  According to the most recent ERCOT report, large-load interconnection requests total about 466 GW, which is more than 5X Texas’s highest record peak electricity demand. Approximately 90% of the new power requests are related to data centers (blue bar segments in Figure 1 below), with much smaller shares related to cryptocurrency (orange bar segments), industrial sites (gray bar segments) and other facilities (yellow bar segments). The large-load queue has soared over the last year, more than tripling from 136 GW in Q3 2025 to 466 GW in Q3 2026. The number of data center-focused projects has more than quadrupled, from 98 (72% of the total) to 421 (90% of the total) over the same period. In May, ERCOT published an initial forecast indicating peak demand could more than quadruple by 2032, driven by data centers and other large-load customers. On June 18, the PUCT approved ERCOT’s new Batch Zero process to review large-user (75 MW or greater) interconnection requests. The point of Batch Zero is to allocate reliable capacity and transmission more efficiently — in other words, to speed up the connection process. Of the 466 GW of projects in ERCOT’s large-load pipeline, an estimated 40% would be eligible for the accelerated Batch Zero process. These projects are critical to meeting new demand, which ERCOT estimates at 26.9 GW by 2028 and 50 GW by 2031. (But as noted above, ERCOT is delaying the implementation of Batch Zero until at least December.)The projects most impacted by Abbott’s directive are the most mature datacenter proposals in Texas — those that had already cleared all regulatory hurdles and were preparing for or under construction, which total about 50 GW (red bar segment at far left in Figure 2 below). That’s 15% of the U.S. development pipeline of about 346 GW (combined far-left bar), of which about 70 GW (far-right bar) are under construction. Developers with signed power purchase agreements (PPAs), turbine orders, or financing commitments could face timeline breaches. For projects already under construction, the hiatus has upended contractual timelines, forced developers to reconsider in‑service dates, and introduced uncertainty for transactions tied to construction milestones.The financial implications of the delay could also be very significant because AI data centers generate substantial operating revenues. According to a study by research firm BloombergNEF, AI computing capacity can earn a staggering $1.76 billion per gigawatt per month. Before the recent moratorium, Texas was expected to gain 1.2 GW in data center capacity between Q3 2026 and Q1 2027 and 8.25 GW by the end of 2030. The Data Center Coalition, which represents members of the data center industry, pointed out that “billions of dollars in investment and revenues and hundreds of thousands of jobs are on the line.” The organization urged ERCOT to move swiftly to identify the “responsible water and energy projects” from serious, committed investors and community partners.The duration of the Texas moratorium remains uncertain. However, a significant delay could rapidly accelerate a recent trend: major developers bypassing the grid by building their own power plants, which would appear to address public concerns about data centers raising electricity costs and overtaxing transmission infrastructure. Only a handful of “behind the meter” (BTM) projects had been announced prior to 2025, but the strategy has since accelerated dramatically as regulatory and infrastructure delays have slowed or stymied the development of projects waiting for connection to the grid (see Options Open). Research firm Cleanview, which tracks more than 10,000 clean energy and data center projects, has identified 59 proposed data centers with a combined BTM capacity of ~90 GW, which represents more than 25% of the planned data center capacity in the U.S.Just five states account for more than three-quarters of the proposed BTM capacity, with Texas capturing by far the highest total at 40 GW. Not surprisingly, key factors in these projects are proximity to major natural gas producing regions (such as the Permian Basin; see Dive In) and regulatory frameworks that have favored rapid development. Abbott’s recent directives have transformed the regulatory framework by adding roadblocks to grid connections, although to date they have not directly stopped the development of self-generation projects. But off-grid projects requiring TCEQ permits (such as for air quality, industrial wastewater and stormwater) still face delays even if they plan to supply all their own electricity.The largest of the Texas BTM projects — and one of the largest ever in the U.S. — is Amazon’s Pecos County project (aka GW Ranch) to be built on roughly 8,000 acres in West Texas. Amazon has filed permits for multiple 189,000‑square-foot buildings, which will allow construction of 35 natural gas turbines capable of producing up to 7.65 GW of on‑site power. The project also includes plans for up to 750 MW of solar and 1.8 GW of battery storage, along with water‑efficient cooling systems that rely on non‑potable sources such as brackish groundwater and, potentially, produced water from oil and gas production. Amazon emphasizes that the initial phase requires no water for power‑generation cooling, addressing concerns about strain on local aquifers. Pacifico Energy, the developer, estimates the full buildout at around $12 billion. The project has not reached a final investment decision (FID).Another major BTM project, which we examined in Electric Avenue, is Project Kilby, a natural-gas fired plant to be built, fueled and operated by Chevron to provide 2.7 GW to Microsoft over a 20-year term. Kilby represents a strategic pivot by Chevron into a new business vertical developing dedicated energy infrastructure to hyperscale AI computing. It has also yet to reach FID.Although GW Ranch and Project Kilby are off-grid projects, both have long-term plans to eventually interconnect to the ERCOT grid to export surplus power to meet projected potential residential and industrial demand, a feature designed to boost support for the initiatives. However, BTM projects still face significant community and political concerns. These include emissions, excessive noise, land use, water consumption, tax subsidies, and the impact of construction on transportation infrastructure. The most strident opposition comes from the environmental impacts of these facilities. For example, Amazon’s GW Ranch has drawn attention because it received the largest air‑pollution permit ever issued by Texas regulators, as its natural‑gas generation has the potential to emit 33.2 million metric tons per annum (MMtpa) of carbon dioxide (CO2). Although this is a regulatory maximum rather than an active measurement or operational forecast, the GW Ranch permit ceiling is nearly double the peak allowable or reported emissions for any active U.S. power plant facility. Existing individual power plants reporting to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) typically top out at around 16.6 MMtpa.Texas’s data center boom has reached a crossroads. Developers can bring their own natural gas generation, but that alone cannot resolve concerns about water, emissions, land use and who pays for supporting infrastructure. For projects such as GW Ranch and Project Kilby, the challenge extends beyond securing turbines and fuel to obtaining permits, winning community support and reaching investment decisions. The outcome will help determine how quickly anticipated electricity demand translates into actual natural gas consumption. Texas still offers powerful advantages for these megaprojects, but turning ambitious announcements into operating facilities increasingly depends on navigating political resistance as much as engineering.

West Virginia Stays Red, But Data Center Backlash Costs GOP Seats -- Marcellus Drilling News - On Tuesday, while Democrats were flipping Congress and the Pennsylvania Senate, West Virginia did… mostly what West Virginia does. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito won a third term, both GOP congressmen won again, and Republicans kept big supermajorities in the Legislature. But dig one layer down, and there’s a warning sign for anyone who profits from Mountain State shale. Democrats more than doubled their seats in Charleston, and the issue that got them there was data centers. Specifically, House Bill 2014, the 2025 law that wiped out local control over data centers and the gas-fired “microgrids” built to power them. Here’s what happened and why it matters for WV gas.

A tiny Ohio town just found a way to make data centers pay - In a state of post-election bliss, John Nicely drove his daily school bus route on Wednesday morning through the tiny town of Perry, Ohio, a few miles south of Lake Erie. “So, when are you taking down the signs, Mr. Nicely?” his students asked him as they filed inside, “because you kicked butt, buddy.”  They were joking, of course, the way kids sometimes do with an adult they really like — and Nicely is, if my calls with him are any indication, a man who makes good on the promise of his name. But they were also right: He had kicked butt.Of all the losers in the midterm elections perhaps none collapsed as decisively as data centers, those hulking, humming backbones of the AI boom, whose construction has incited a rage-fueled bipartisan backlash across the country. More than 40 data center-related measures made it to the ballot this Tuesday, and data centers lost all but one of them, often by dramatic margins. It is by far the most resounding referendum yet on the infrastructure of AI, a bipartisan revolt against a flagrantly opaque industry with a near-unanimous “no thanks,” or at the very least, a “probably not, but only if.”Even against the dramatic background of that national movement, Perry stands out. For much of the past year, the village has been embroiled in a bitter fight over plans for an enormous 230-acre data center — the equivalent of one-sixth of its surface area — quite literally in Nicely’s backyard, or at least in the center of the town he now calls home. But he and his fellow residents aren’t simply looking to stop the project from happening.While most of the measures that passed elsewhere outright ban data centers, or at least limit their construction, Perry’s Issue 16 does something more novel and maybe more consequential: It forces data centers to keep their promises. As crafted by Nicely and other advocates in Perry, it would require any data center in Perry that accepts a tax abatement or a subsidy — as almost all of them do — to take out a bond guaranteeing that even if the AI bubble bursts, even if companies fling all the data centers into space, or even if the facilities shrink to the size of a penny, the village will be left with more than empty promises and a gaping vacant campus. And on Tuesday, after months of sign-posting, petition drives, and unprecedentedly raucous village hall meetings, Nicely and his allies won. “I was absolutely choked up” as the results poured in, he told me on Wednesday, still a little bit teary over the final vote on Issue 16, which received a stunning 87 percent of Perry’s support. “I had the optimism that we would get it passed, but never by a landslide,” he said. “I couldn’t be prouder of this town than I am today.”Data center companies should be paying attention. Combined with a blue tsunami that has carried in a slate of Democratic candidates who’ve campaigned on data center restrictions, and with more than half of voters calling AI a major issue in their choice for Congress, the industry cannot proceed with business as usual. As of now, if a data center wants to get built in the US, it will need to offer Americans a much better, more convincing deal. Issue 16 might show them the way.Few towns know what a good deal looks like better than Perry, which has been molded for the past half-century by the looming cooling towers of its local nuclear power plant.When the Perry Nuclear Power Plant first opened in the 1980s, it brought hundreds of well-paying jobs and enough tax revenue to build luxury public school facilities like an Olympic-sized swimming pool.“I knew kids from high school who graduated and got these power plant jobs, and it was like hitting the lottery,” said Nicely, who grew up in the town next door. “They came in right off the bat to partner with the community,” bankrolling benefits such as garbage collection and free utilities for those most affected by “this thing being right in their backyards.”Today, the station’s plumes of vapor are like pheromonal beacons, calling out to energy-hungry data centers. Earlier this year, the plant’s operator inked deals with Meta and the US Department of Energy to greatly expand its capacity, potentially making the facility into the largest of its kind in the country. But all that juice will do little good without the data centers that need it, and when a far-flung developer called the Province Group showed up in Perry in April, having already made a bunch of secret dealings with local policymakers behind closed doors, residents were livid.  “I’m going, ‘Oh my God! They think that this town is nothing but a bunch of little hicks,’” said Nicely, who was recruited onto the village council a few months ago for his activism. He remembers thinking just that while he sat on his perch at the village hall, listening as the developer “tried to wow us with a bunch of spreadsheets,” rattling off promises for future jobs and tax revenue.   Nicely, who is in his mid-60s, had a career working in business before he moved back to northeastern Ohio a few years ago to care for his mother — and, ultimately, drive the school bus, among other things. In his old life, he’d been a self-described “spin doctor,” and in the village hall he sniffed a lousy deal right away. If Perry’s nuclear plant once “truly took on a partnership role” when it came online, he said, then “these people came in with no regard to partner.” Under the Province Group’s initial proposal, the data center would receive a 75 percent tax exemption for its first 15 years after construction. In return, once it started paying taxes, it promised to pay up plenty, to the tune of over $320 million over the next three decades, while ushering in the creation of hundreds of jobs.  But Ohioans like Nicely had reason to fear they were about to get ripped off, partly because it had happened before. Back in 2019, Perry’s nuclear power plant — like other energy developments across the state — was on the verge of bankruptcy. Ohio passed HB 6, a last-ditch billion-dollar bailout funded by surcharges on Ohioans’ energy bills, in response. But while HB 6 saved the plant, it was later revealed to be part of the largest bribery scandal in Ohio history, one that sent the state’s former House Speaker Larry Householder to federal prison for two decades.What’s more, many of the policymakers involved in HB 6 have spent the past few years rolling out the red carpet for data center developers, enacting subsidies and tax breaks that have turned the state into one of the fastest-growing data center markets in the country.  “They have no credibility on this issue,” said Nick Owens, a co-founder of Conserve Ohio, a group that sponsored ballot measures in 10 communities across the state. Owens is a former Republican candidate for state office who became an FBI informant in the HB 6 case.After that scandal, “you would think there would be some muscle memory left in the system to realize that we shouldn’t be bought and paid for by all these special interests,” he told me. “But it’s still happening.” And that brings us to Issue 16, the ballot measure Nicely helped bring to Perry’s ballot on Election Day. Amid outrage from residents, the village council in Perry had already struck down the Province Group’s initial request for a tax abatement in July, putting the project in limbo. But thanks to the passage of Issue 16, if that developer or another like it tries to apply for one in Perry again, they will be forced to take out a kind of insurance on their promises, protecting the town in case the projected tax revenue never materializes as expected in the years that follow. “That’s the threat with data centers, that in a couple of years, these projects will not be needed,” said Kasia Tarczynska, a senior research analyst at Good Jobs First, a group that studies government subsidies. “It is totally fair to say that if you want us to give you something, give us something in return and guarantee that you really want to be here.” Many small towns, particularly across the Rust Belt, are acutely sensitive to the risks of an industry swooping in for a few sweet decades before disappearing, leaving decaying facilities and a local economy in turmoil. In recent years, states like Georgia and Texas have required projects to take out bonds similar to Perry’s to guarantee that local benefits actually materialize for developments that receive a large subsidy or tax break from the government, or to compel them to clean up after themselves if a project goes bust.“Initiatives like this really show that people are innovative and smart — they understand what they’re giving up,” Tarczynska said. “They understand that these corporations often come in, promise, and never deliver.”If data centers want to continue to build in small towns across America, then they might need to become much more comfortable backing up their promises before they break ground. As Sam Nelson, a professor of political science at the University of Toledo, put it, “communities might be a lot more willing to be open to this development if they were actually going to see the money flowing.” Nicely has been hearing from local policymakers across the state and the country interested in building out similar bonds into their data center deals, some of which have been inspired by Issue 16 in Perry. Even before the election, developers around the country had begun offering eye-popping and legally binding community benefits agreements promising to pump tens of millions of dollars into local schools and infrastructure. Those concessions may not assuage all the concerns that Americans have about data centers — which are, after all, arguably proxies for other fears about the madcap proliferation of AI. But they can still be meaningful, especially in communities that otherwise have the least to start with or the most to lose.And Nicely’s town could certainly use the cash. “Perry needs the money,” he told me. The town’s newest fire truck is now a decade old, and its ambulances are “in dire need of replacement,” he said. “There’s just no money to do it. So we have got to have some type of economic development.” And that will probably require doing something with the sprawling property in the middle of town. It need not be a data center, Nicely said. But if it is, the town now has a lot of leverage to go with all the power flowing from its plant. “If you want to be business partners then come in as business partners. Offer the people something up front, and tell them how you’re going to invest in their community, not how it’s going to benefit you,” he said. “Or go away.”

Voters want data center regulation; lame duck bills should not make it harder - Policy Matters Ohio  -“Ohioans used yesterday’s local ballot measures to weigh in on the growing impact of data centers in their communities and the need for stronger oversight. They took every available opportunity to restrict, regulate, or oppose them.“As lawmakers enter lame duck, they should not undermine the ability of the incoming administration to enforce any new regulatory framework they put in place. State lawmakers are indeed considering legislation, such as HB 11, HB 775, and HB 1024, that would hamstring the Acton administration — including its ability to implement state-level regulations on data center development.“Before their most recent break, the General Assembly proposed HB 646, which included a range of measures to rein in data center development. That legislation, while inadequate, would be a step in the right direction. However, the same GA may also try to ram through changes that would essentially give its legislative leadership veto power over decisions by the very state agencies charged with turning the broad legislative language into rules and regulations that protect Ohioans.“Ohioans expect government to solve problems, not create new obstacles. If the General Assembly passes legislation regulating data centers this year, lawmakers should also ensure that when Governor-elect Acton takes office in January, she has the same authority as previous governors to carry out the law as intended. “The lame-duck session will offer the outgoing legislature a final opportunity to address issues Ohioans have made clear they care about. That means passing meaningful data center regulations, stabilizing the childcare sector through the WIN Act (HB 484) and removing unnecessary barriers that make it harder for people with criminal records to rebuild their lives and participate fully in their communities (SB 418). Ohio needs policies that respond to public concerns and institutions capable of putting those policies into practice.”

Ohio lawmakers say compromise possible in data center regulations | NBC4 WCMH-TV — Tuesday’s election saw data center bans and moratoriums winning in communities across the country. Nationwide, voters considered 41 local ballot measures to restrict data center development, with 40 passing, including 21 in Ohio. In the wake of such massive defeats for both the Republican Party and the data center industry, State Sen. Bill Reineke (R-Tiffin), who is likely to be the next Ohio Senate president, could not promise any data center regulations would pass through the Statehouse during the upcoming lame duck session. “I don’t know whether it will come this year or next year, but we have had a really good select group on data centers and we’ve really gone through all the issues and I think that we agree with our constituents,” Reineke said. Before campaign season began, attempts at a regulatory package fell apart over disagreements about how much sales tax data center developers should have to pay. State Sen. Bill DeMora (D-Columbus) said those tax breaks, put on hold by Gov. Mike DeWine earlier this year, are “ridiculous.” According to DeMora, Ohio should not be afraid to leverage its abundant water resources to extract more concessions from tech companies. “We’re in a unique position to use the resources we have to get these things in here, but they’ve got to be regulated,” DeMora said. “I don’t want to make it tough for businesses to come but, I’m sorry, businesses I think have had it far too easy in Ohio and we’ve given them the farm and not gotten the returns that we deserve.” Speaking at the Ohio Chamber of Commerce’s Impact Ohio conference on Thursday, DeMora said communities that actually want data centers should be allowed to build them, but warned the grassroots movement to ban all data centers statewide will continue to thrive. “If we as the legislature don’t come up with a solution that most Ohioans want, then it’s going to get to the ballot,” DeMora said. “If Tuesday is any indication, if they make the ballot, it’s going to pass.”While lawmakers of both parties have spent much of the last year echoing the same concerns about tax breaks, environmental impacts and the practice of cloaking data centers under the secrecy of nondisclosure agreements, no regulations have passed the finish line. On Thursday, Rep. Marilyn John (R-Richland County) blamed the backlash partly on the willingness of local officials to sign NDAs with tech companies. “Maybe how we’ve done it over the years when it comes to data centers isn’t all that great, and maybe we need to think about how we do it,” John said. “I don’t know how anybody signs an NDA. I was a local elected official; I don’t know how you do that.” House Minority Leader Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati) thinks data center policy could be an area where Republicans and Democrats find some common ground, suggesting that his own caucus may need to compromise to a degree.“The thing that sometimes gets lost in discussion, at least on our side of the aisle, is that we do need economic growth,” Isaacsohn said. “You can’t pay for all the things we talk about as our priorities and our values without growth.”Isaacsohn said lawmakers need to consider forcing tech companies to offset their use of Ohio farmland and make sure they pay for dismantling data centers if and when they become obsolete.

Data center in South Akron moving forward with major expansion project - With the approval of Akron City Council, Ark Data Centers is planning to begin a roughly three-year construction project within the next six months expanding its South Akron facility. Ark will extend its approximately 54,000-square-foot data center at 191 E. Miller Ave. to about 282,000 square feet as it increases its power output from about 5 to 41 megawatts, the Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company said via email. TOP VIDEOS The video player is currently playing an ad. Akron Councilman Johnnie Hannah represents Ward 5, bordering Miller Avenue just south of the data center. He said he supports Ark's expansion following a tour of the existing facility with fellow council members this summer and hosting an October ward meeting where Ark Chief Technology Officer Ken Kremer spoke. "He let everyone at my meeting know that they wouldn't have anything to worry about as far as the expansion over in the industrial park on the south side," Hannah said. Council President Margo Sommerville represents Ward 3, where the data center is located and expanding. She said she was impressed after touring the facility with other council members. "I had never been to a data center and had not very much knowledge on what a data center actually even does," Sommerville said. "But I was so impressed with their operation and how they had this closed-loop system where they're making sure they're using very little water and trying to be as efficient as they possibly can." She said she heard very little noise on the visit. Ark has been operating in Akron for more than 15 years, Sommerville said. "They're providing critical services to all of our major hospitals and a lot of our businesses," she said. Ark said it does not draw on local water supplies with it closed-loop cooling and will follow the same approach post-expansion. Last year, the South Akron campus used 160,000 gallons of water, just over the amount a family of four uses. The company said it also is building its own electrical substation and covering the costs so that expense won't be passed on to FirstEnergy customers. Noise levels of facility cooling equipment currently measure 70 to 80 decibels and decrease to about 50 decibels at the property line, the company said. Moderate rainfall is 50 decibels, while traffic and vacuums are 70 and alarm clocks are 80, according to an American Academy of Audiology paper that an architect working with Ark sent to the city administration.

Ohio Advocates Press FERC to Protect Ratepayers in Data Center Study Agreement - Environmental Group Questions Viability of Project Championed by Trump Admin. Ohio’s ratepayer advocate is urging FERC to erect strong customer safeguards before allowing PJM to proceed with a largely untested approach to assess the expected transmission needs of a mammoth data center complex in the south of the state.

Why are kids paying for data centers in Ohio?  - Policy Matters Ohio - Executive Summary: Ohio’s data center sales and use tax exemption cost the state almost $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in 2025. Approximately $374 million of that forgone revenue could have supported Ohio traditional public schools. That amounts to about $262 per student in traditional public schools.^[1]  These numbers illustrate how state lawmakers prioritize corporations over public schools, and the scale of the education funding Ohio loses by maintaining the exemption. This one subsidy would have been enough revenue to completely close the school funding gap, had it been collected and directed to schools through the Fair School Funding Plan. Even if the additional revenue was distributed in the same portion that the FY25-26 budget funded these schools, it would have been a significant boost to classrooms across Ohio. Traditional public schools are K-12 schools that are funded with taxes, tuition-free, operated by local school districts, and governed by local school boards. They do not include public charter schools, private schools, including private school scholarships, and career and technical education.The Fair School Funding Plan (FSFP) is a bipartisan approach to school funding based on the actual cost of educating every child, including those who need different or additional support.The FSFP was designed to phase in over six years. After four years, Ohio legislators abandoned the plan and returned to the practice of funding schools based on what they were willing to spend, not the actual cost of educating Ohio’s children.In the current biennial state budget, legislators underfunded Ohio’s public schools by $2.75 billion.

Research Update: Carroll County Energy LLC Senior Secured Debt Rating Lowered To 'BB-' On Proposed Upsize And Amendments; Outlook Stable | S&P Global Ratings - Rating Action Overview:

• Carroll County Energy LLC (CCE) is contemplating upsizing its existing senior secured term loan B (TLB) to $450 million and amending the cash flow sweep provision, among other terms. There is currently $372 million outstanding on its TLB. The project would use the proceeds from the upsize to pay a distribution to its sponsors.
• Based on S&P Global Ratings' view of industry factors and market-driven variables, we forecast CCE will achieve an average debt service coverage ratio (DSCR) of above 3.5x during the TLB period. The minimum DSCR of 1.48x occurs in the refinancing period, when we assume a fully amortizing structure through 2050.
• Therefore, we lowered our issue-level rating on CCE’s TLB to 'BB-' from 'BB' to reflect the proposed upsize and amendments to the credit agreement, which include a material incremental debt basket that does not require a rating affirmation.
• The stable outlook reflects our expectation for high dispatch levels, minimal forced outages, and elevated energy and capacity prices that provide for strong coverage over the TLB and post-refinancing periods, in addition to material debt reduction. We expect the project to repay about $160 million of its debt through the TLB period (2026-2031).

CCE is a 700-megawatt (MW) combined-cycle natural gas-fired power plant. The project is in Carroll County, Ohio and dispatches into the American Electric Power (AEP) zone of the Pennsylvania-Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection. The plant is ultimately owned by a consortium of sponsors including Advanced Power, Strategic Value Partners, ArcLight Capital Partners, and BCPG USA Inc. Key strengths

• With an annual average base-load heat rate of 6,700 Btus per kilowatt-hour (Btu/kWh)-6,800 Btu/kWh, CCE is an efficient and competitive combined cycle generator that sits low on the PJM dispatch curve.
• CCE has a strong operating history of achieving high availability factors and capacity factors in the mid- to high-80% range. Year to date (YTD) as of the third quarter of 2026, the plant has achieved a capacity factor of about 90%.
• Advantageous location in the Marcellus and Utica shale region and position on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, given its access to low-cost natural gas.

Key risks:

• Aside from near-term hedges, the project sells all its produced power on a merchant basis. We view the wholesale power market as competitive. Like other merchant power plants, CCE is exposed to market risks, such as evolving power demand and supply, power prices, natural gas costs, and capacity prices.
• The single-asset nature of the project results in limited scale, scope, and geographic diversity, which concentrates the risk from unexpected operational outages or events.
• The limitations on additional debt in the project financing documents are significantly weaker than those for other assets we rate, allowing it to incur up to $100 million of incremental debt without a rating affirmation. We include this debt as drawn on day one in our base-case forecast.

Tell the Ohio EPA: No air permit for a huge gas plant next to Buckeye Lake – by Cathy Cowan Becker,  Save Ohio Parks - You might remember a couple of months ago when we asked you to file a public comment on a 1350 MW gas plant planned to go next to Buckeye Lake. Now the developers of that gas plant are applying for an air pollution permit from the Ohio EPA, and we have 10 days to tell them no. Please use our sample text below to file a comment telling the Ohio EPA not to issue an air permit to the Fairfield Energy Center. Just copy and paste this link into your browser to file a comment: https://ohioepa.commentinput.com/index.cfm?id=RJAbKYcFh  At 1350 MW, the Fairfield Energy Center would be one of the largest gas combustion plants in Ohio – all to power a Vantage data center. It would go just one mile from the village of Millersport on Buckeye Lake. Immediately next door is Buckeye Lake State Park, Ohio’s first state park, and Cranberry Bog Nature Preserve, the only known floating island of sphagnum moss in the world.The Fairfield Energy Center would generate power by burning gas in 40 simple cycle turbines. This would emit a long list of pollutants each year, including up to:

• 6,629,795 tons of greenhouse gas (CO2e) - as much as the city of Pittsburgh!
• 284 tons of fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
• 436 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx)
• 656 tons of carbon monoxide (CO)
• 71 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2)
• 202 tons of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs)

Simple cycle turbines are not the Best Available Technology for gas plants -- but Ohio regulations say gas plants don’t need Best Available Technology if they emit less than 10 tons per year of certain pollutants. As you can see, Fairfield Energy Center would emit many times more of each pollutant than 10 tons per year. Yet the Ohio EPA is proposing to issue an air permit anyway, on the grounds that each individual gas turbine emits less than 10 tons per year of each pollutant – even though the permit is for a total of 40 turbines! The Ohio EPA will hold a public hearing on the air permit where you can testify in opposition. Here is the date and location:

Tuesday, November 10, 2026  6 p.m.
Millersport Elementary Auditorium
11850 Lancaster St.
Millersport, OH 43046

You can read your written comment, or say something different. The key is to let the Ohio EPA know you want clean air and oppose this polluting gas plant. The deadline to file your written comment is Thursday, November 12, at 11:59 p.m. Please file a public comment asking the Ohio EPA to deny the air permit for the Fairfield Energy Center. Thanks so much for your advocacy on behalf of Ohioans and our natural world. You can use the information above to write your comment, or find a sample comment below.Sample Comment Please edit this text to explain why this issue matters to you. Then submit your comment at https://ohioepa.commentinput.com/index.cfm?id=RJAbKYcFh

Dear Andrea Moore:

I am writing to ask you to deny Draft Air Permit P0140492 for the 1350 MW Fairfield Energy Center, proposed to power a Vantage data center just one mile from Buckeye Lake.If approved, the Fairfield Energy Center will include 40 simple cycle turbines. This equipment is not the Best Available Technology. Simple cycle turbines are less efficient and more polluting than combined cycle turbines typically used in a major gas plant.According to its air permit application, the Fairfield Energy Center would emit a long list of pollutants annually, including up to:

– 6,629,795 tons of greenhouse gas (CO2e)
– 284 tons of fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
– 436 tons of nitrogen oxides (NOx)
– 656 tons of carbon monoxide (CO)
– 71 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2)
– 202 tons of volatile organic chemicals (VOCs)

Yet your draft permit excuses the Fairfield Energy Center from the requirement to use Best Available Technology on the grounds that each individual gas turbine will emit less than 10 tons per year of each of these pollutants.That is a misreading of OAC Rule 3745-31-05, which is about a permit-to-install for the entire facility, not each individual piece of equipment.It is critical that we get this right. Almost 14,000 people live within five miles of this gas plant, including almost 2500 children and 2800 senior citizens. They deserve to breathe clean air.Finally, draft air permit P0140492 does not consider the most prevalent pollutant from the Fairfield Energy Center: over 6.6 million tons per year of greenhouse gas pollution – as much as the entire city of Pittsburgh.Because regulators have ignored greenhouse gas emissions for decades, the world is now at the tipping point of a runaway climate crisis. If we continue to ignore climate-warming greenhouse gas pollution, extreme weather disasters will only get worse.Please deny the air permit application for the Fairfield Energy Center until the developer can use the actual Best Available Technology, meaning combined cycle turbines, or better yet, renewable energy that does not damage human health or drive the climate crisis.Thank you for considering my comment.

New report reveals cause of massive Twinsburg Township gas explosion - An inaccurate marking for an underground gas line led to the massive gas explosion in Twinsburg Township in June, according to a report recently released by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. Two people were injured and numerous homes were damaged by the explosion, which happened June 25 after fiber optic line installers struck a gas line. The PUCO report stated that there was an estimated $5 million in damage done by the blast.  According to the PUCO report, Future Communications, a third-party contractor, had been installing the lines and attempted to bore in conduit along Hiram Lane. The company had a valid utility location request ticket for the excavation. However, the markings for the gas pipeline made by Enbridge Gas Ohio were about 28 inches north of the actual pipeline, the report concluded. The bore head from the drill rig struck a gas line in front of 2122 Hiram Lane, creating a 4-inch diameter gouge on the north side of the pipeline. Gas escaping from the main entered the home, resulting in an explosion. The home was unoccupied at the time of the explosion, but two individuals at neighboring homes on Hiram Lane sustained injuries that did not require overnight hospitalization. During the on-scene investigation after the explosion, Enbridge personnel found the damaged gas main around 28 inches away from where the locator had marked the gas main under the sidewalk. The explosion in the township and other areas prompted several communities such as Streetsboro, Hudson, the city of Twinsburg and Stow to put a pause on directional drilling operations so officials could look into extra safeguards to prevent future incidents. Twinsburg, Streetsboro and Hudson have since returned to allowing directional drilling, with stricter guidelines. The moratorium in Stow is still in place, according to Stow Council President Kyle Herman.

PUCO finds mislabeled gas line cause of Twinsburg Township house explosion - An explosion that rocked a Twinsburg Township neighborhood in June now has an official cause, according to a report released by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio. The PUCO's report found that a gas line that was struck by a contractor was mistakenly marked to be just over two feet from where it actually was. According to the report, Future Communications made a request to OHIO 811 on June 16 for the lines to be marked prior to laying fiber optic cables. An employee of Benchmark, a utility locating service that works with OHIO 811, came out between June 16 and June 18 and marked the gas lines by hooking onto a tracer wire to locate the main lines in front of the homes in the neighborhood. In the report, PUCO also says its staff noted at the incident scene in June that marks were not made according to the Universal Marking Standards, which includes a uniform color code. "The locate markings for the Enbridge pipelines at and around the incident location were not properly marked for the owner of the pipeline, size of the pipeline, or material type of the pipeline," the report reads. The report also notes that while Enbridge staff did complete a required drug test on the locator from Benchmark following the incident, they did not conduct an alcohol screening. The report concludes that the primary contributing factor to the damage was the inaccurately marked gas line and that Enbridge did not provide detailed instructions on locating underground utilities that would apply to all requests. On June 25, Future Communications damaged a 2-inch gas distribution line in the front yard of 2122 Hiram Ln. The contractor notified the Twinsburg Fire Department and Enbridge Gas Ohio. The explosion occurred just under an hour after crews notified emergency services. Three houses were destroyed and at least three dozen others in the neighborhood were damaged. There were two reported injuries which required hospital visits, but there were no fatalities.

Rolling Stone Drops Ohio Brine Hit Piece 4 Days Before Election - Marcellus Drilling News -  Four days before Ohioans pick their next governor, Rolling Stone and the climate activist website DeSmog published a story by anti-fossil writer Justin Nobel under the headline “Ohio Denies Evidence of Fracking Waste in Drinking Water. Its Own Records Show Otherwise.” We read every word. The state’s records show no such thing. What they show is one salty water well in Coshocton County that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) investigated in 2021 and traced to a naturally salty layer of rock. Much of the rest is opinion from activists and a water well driller, plus a candidate’s campaign promise. Here’s what the story gets wrong, and what it leaves out.

Data Center Bans Sweep Ohio Ballots; 800 MW Gas Plant Derailed - Marcellus Drilling News - Yesterday, Ohio voters had their first big chance to vote directly on data centers, and the data centers got clobbered. There were 21 data center ballot measures in 18 Ohio towns, villages, and townships (more than half of the 41 on ballots across the country). Voters in at least 14 of those places passed bans or new restrictions, most of them by margins of roughly 3-to-1 or 4-to-1. For MDN readers, the biggest single loss came in tiny Ashville (Pickaway County, just south of Columbus). There, about 82% of voters struck down the village’s deal with EdgeConneX for two data centers and an on-site gas-fired power plant of up to 800 megawatts (MW). Below are the scorecard, the gas angle, who’s behind the bans, and what comes next.

Ascent Swings to $23M Loss on Pipeline Exit, Slows Utica Drilling - Marcellus Drilling News --Ascent Resources, the largest natural gas producer in Ohio's Utica Shale and one of the largest privately held drillers in the U.S., issued its third-quarter 2026 update yesterday. For the first time since early 2025, Ascent posted a loss: $22.8 million. Don't panic. The red ink comes from one item: a $185.2 million charge to exit pipeline space it didn't need. Under the hood, production held steady at 2,190 MMcfe/d (2.19 Bcfe/d), free cash flow more than doubled from 2Q, and Ascent raised its production guidance. The bigger stories for MDN readers: Ascent cut its rig count in half, slowed down its leasing, and its accountants dropped the odds of an IPO or sale to just 15%.

Dell’Osso’s Gulfport Pivots to Ohio: 2 Rigs, E-Frac, Less Oklahoma -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Gulfport Energy, one of the largest drillers in the Ohio Utica, issued its third-quarter 2026 update this week, and it was a solid one. Total production averaged 1,057.2 MMcfe/d (million cubic feet equivalent per day), up about 10% from the second quarter, while liquids production (oil, condensate and NGLs) jumped 67% to 23.5 Mbbl/d (thousand barrels per day). But the bigger news is where CEO Nick Dell’Osso, now five months into the job after being shown the door at Expand Energy, is steering the company: a continuous two-rig drilling program in Ohio starting in 2027, an electric frac fleet, less spending in Oklahoma, another premium-priced gas sales deal into the Midwest, and a fatter $2.0 billion stock buyback authorization.

Will Ohio’s New Governor Harm the Utica Shale Industry?  - Marcellus Drilling News - On Tuesday, Ohio voters elected Democrat Dr. Amy Acton, the state’s former health director, as their next governor. She takes office Jan. 11. Acton campaigned on ending fracking under state parks and wildlife areas and on a three-year freeze on fracking wastewater injection in Washington County. So, what can she actually do to the Utica industry once she’s in charge? A new Cleveland Plain Dealer story looks at the state-lands piece of that question (short answer: not as much as she promised). We dug into the rest. Bottom line: she can’t ban fracking. But a governor has a lot of ways to make life slow, expensive, and miserable for drillers if she wants to.

Shale Permits Fall to 4 Last Week; Ohio Posts a Big Fat Zero - Marcellus Drilling News  - The Marcellus/Utica region received a paltry 4 new shale well permits last week, Oct. 26 – Nov. 1, down 5 from the anemic 9 the week before. Pennsylvania issued 2 new permits, Ohio issued none, and West Virginia issued 2. The drillers who received new-well permits last week were: CNX, EQT, and PennEnergy Resources. It was a sleepy week. Ohio didn't issue a single horizontal shale permit of any kind: no new wells, no deepens, no location changes. Maybe somebody went on vacation at ODNR? The busier paperwork was on older permits: 11 modifications across PA and WV, eight of them for one EQT pad in Wetzel County. Armstrong County | Beaver County | CNX Resources | EQT Corp | Marion County | PennEnergy Resources

Too Much Gas, Too Little Cold: Northeast Spot Prices Stuck Near $1 -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Time for another check of what our Marcellus/Utica (M-U) molecules are selling for, and the news is about what you'd expect after weeks of mild fall weather: not much. On Wednesday, the Henry Hub spot price (the national benchmark in Louisiana) averaged $2.610 per MMBtu (million British thermal units, roughly 1,000 cubic feet of gas). Here in the Northeast, gas for Thursday delivery sold for about a dollar. Mid-Atlantic gas (Texas Eastern M-3) went for $1.06, New York City (Transco Zone 6 NY) for $1.03, and New England (Algonquin Citygate) for $1.31. On Thursday, Texas Eastern M-2, the main pricing point for gas produced in southwestern PA, West Virginia, and Ohio, ticked up 5 cents to $1.100. That's still less than half the Henry Hub price. A new NGI analysis explains why: heating demand in the East is running way behind last year, so the region has more gas than it needs. Even Canada has quit sending us much gas.

Williams 3Q: NESE in Limbo, SESE II Added, Ohio Power Projects Hum --  Marcellus Drilling News - Williams, the Tulsa company that owns the Transco pipeline (the biggest artery carrying Marcellus/Utica gas to the East Coast), turned in a record third quarter on Monday. But the most important thing for MDN readers came on Tuesday's earnings call: management admitted that the Third Circuit's decision to toss New Jersey's water permit for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project "could put at risk our ability to get it online in time for next winter". Meanwhile, the Southeast side of Transco keeps growing, a new Leidy Line expansion is at FERC, four Williams gas-fired power plants for data centers are rising in Ohio, and Constitution Pipeline? Not one word.

DEP: Routine Inspections Find 6 More Anderson Energy SVC LLC Conventional Oil & Gas Wells Abandoned, Not Plugged In Venango County - On October 19 & 28, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection conducted routine inspections of 6 more Anderson Energy SVC LLC conventional wells in Allegheny Township, Venango County and found them all abandoned and not plugged.The wells include: LK Fulton 1714 2, LK Fulton 1714 3, LK Fulton 1714 6, LK Fulton 1714 9, LK Fulton 1714 10 and LK Fulton 1714 13.  Multiple violations issued.  A response was requested by November 17.   Click Here for a DEP inspection report example + photos. On October 13 & 14, 2026, DEP issued Anderson Energy SVC LLC violations for abandoning and not plugging 16 conventional oil and gas wells in Harmony Township, Forest County.  Read more here. The total abandoned well violations for this one company is now 22. DEP has issued a total of 415 violations to conventional oil and gas well owners for abandoning and not plugging their wells so far in 2026. To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage. Text photos and the location of abandoned wells to 717-788-8990.

DEP - Day 135: Contaminated Water Discharges Continue, Still Fails To Comply With Cleanup Order At Equitrans Water SVC [EQT] Richter Shale Gas Water Impoundment In Greene County - (Photos: Contaminated water flows down access road; Contaminated water at pond outlet.) On October 30, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection conducted a compliance evaluation of cleanup and control of contaminated water from a June 17, 2026 release at the Equitrans Water SVC (PA) LLC Richter Shale Gas Water Impoundment Reclamation in Aleppo Township, Greene County. DEP found multiple areas where seeps of contaminated water are not being collected impacting the access road, a pond on the site, from springs and in streams. EQT is not conducting remediation efforts in these areas. DEP did note contaminated water within the limits of the impoundment permit area is being collected and in some areas off site. DEP continues to find EQT is failing to comply with a June 30th order to contain the spill, prevent migration of pollution offsite and remediate impacted areas. Multiple violations continued.  No written response requested. Click Here for DEP inspection report + photos. 

DEP - Day 740: Seneca Resources Continues Shale Gas Well Development At Taft Pad While Problems With Contaminated Water Persist At The Tioga County Site.. - On November 2, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection did a follow-up inspection of the Seneca Resources Co., LLC Taft 851 shale gas well pad in Middlebury Township, Tioga County and found problems with contaminated water persist at the pad which date back to October 2024. DEP noted well fracking and recovery activities were continuing on eight shale gas wells at the pad. Specifically, DEP said well servicing equipment was at well 74HU which “took a hit during stimulation operations being conducted on the nearby Chappell well pad.” DEP is investigating a well “communication” [interference] incident involving Seneca’s Chappell, Bauer 849 and Taft shale gas well pads. Read more here. DEP said work needs to be done on erosion and sediment control measures to convert the to post construction stormwater structures. Field testing of fluids at the stormwater sump collecting water from the pad and sediment basin-- which still contained standing water-- found levels that warranted continuing the violations issued in 2024. "The DEP recommends that Seneca continues to monitor the conditions on the pad surface and the sediment basin and remove elevated conductance fluids and soils as discovered. Prevent elevated conductance fluids from leaving the facility and causing pollution to the waters of the Commonwealth." Violations at the well pad were continued now for 740 days. DEP did not request a write follow-up from Seneca. Click Here for DEP inspection report + photos. Violations for the wastewater releases at the Taft site were originally issued on October 23, 2024. DEP found contaminated water on the pad outside containment that was running down a 40 foot channel at the pad outfall and then draining into a sediment basin, running over a sediment filter sock and leaving the site. DEP found similar conditions-- spills, crews trying to clean up the pad while drilling and fracking new shale gas wells continues-- starting October 23, 2024, then on  July 11, 2025,  August 21, 2025, October 2, 2025, October 31, 2025, December 23, 2025, January 21, 2026, April 21, 2026, June 23, 2026, July 17, 2026, September 23, 2026 and November 2, 2026. A July 27, 2026 inspection of the 75HU Utica shale gas well at this same Taft shale gas well pad found evidence of continuing casing/cementing failure originally discovered on Nov. 13, 2024. The violation was continued and so will the monitoring. DEP inspection report. October DEP inspections of three Seneca Resource Co LL shale gas well pads in Middlebury Township, Tioga County found the close proximity of horizontal shale gas well drilling and fracking have apparently caused well “communication” (interference) issues. On October 6, 2026, DEP inspected the Seneca Resources Co LLC Bauer 849 shale gas well pad in response to a notification of three contaminated water spills. DEP found a fiber optic cable got stuck down a Bauer gas well during an investigation of a “frac hit" from a well originating at the nearby Taft shale gas well pad in the same township. Click Here to read more. On October 31, 2025, Attorney General Dave Sunday announced criminal charges against Seneca Resources, LLC, following multiple violations of Pennsylvania’s environmental protection laws in several counties, as recommended by the 48th and 51st Statewide Investigating Grand Juries. Three separate criminal complaints were filed regarding the natural gas company’s violations related to improper waste management practices and policies. Prominent in the Attorney General’s announcement of the charges was the fact that DEP repeatedly warned Seneca that their practices were not in line with Pennsylvania law, but those warnings were ignored or disputed. Read more here.In all, Seneca is charged with 64 counts of violations of the Solid Waste Management Act and 36 counts of violations of the Clean Streams Law in Cameron, Clearfield, Elk, Jefferson, Lycoming, McKean, Potter, Tioga Counties. Read more here.

Susquehanna River Basin Commission Reports Low-Flow Stream Conditions Trigger Stop To 51 Shale Gas Water Withdrawals, 13 More Put On Watch Status - On November 3, 2026, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission Hydrologic Conditions Monitor Dashboard shows low-flow stream conditions have triggered a stop to 53 shale gas water withdrawals and put 13 more on Watch status approaching operating restrictions.The withdrawals are in Bradford, Lycoming, Potter, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wyoming counties.These numbers were up significantly from October 31 when 11 shale gas withdrawals were stopped and 7 were put on Watch statusShale gas water withdrawal points are among the first to be restricted by low flow and ice conditions because many of the withdrawals are on smaller streams.  Similar information is not available for the Northwest and Southwest areas of the state in the Ohio River Watershed where there is shale gas drilling because there is no agency like SRBC to regulate water withdrawals. DEP does require shale gas drillers to have water management plans that include low-flow restrictions, but that’s just one more thing DEP has to enforce. Contact the Susquehanna River Basin Commission to report suspected violations of these requirements.Visit SRBC’s Hydrologic Conditions Monitor webpage to learn more.

Crews working to clean up Allegheny River oil spill in Warren – Crews from around Warren County are working to clean up the Allegheny River after one city official said a truck spilled oil into a basin Thursday morning. According to the City of Warren Manager Michael Holtz, a truck was picking up oil from the city’s Department of Public Works garage around 6 am Thursday and a valve was left open, spilling the material into a nearby catch basin. Holtz said approximately “a couple barrels of oil” leaked into that catch basin, which feeds into the Allegheny River in front of Paws Along the River Humane Society. Crews from the Warren County Emergency Management Team, PA DEP, PA Fish and Boat Commission and Warren Fire Department have been working since Thursday morning, with United Refinery also providing help and other resources. As of 3:30 pm, Holtz said cleanup efforts are still underway to keep environmental impacts to a minimum and protect the waterway. Paws Along the River also posted on their social media that the spill caused them to close to the public early Thursday and will reopen at 12:30.

DEP: Spill Of Just 1 Barrel Of Conventional Crude Oil From Storage Tanks In The City Of Warren Impacts 7 Miles Of Allegheny River -On November 5, 2026, the Department of Environmental Protection was notified of a crude oil spill at the Curtis & Son Oil, Inc. storage tank facility in the City of Warren, Warren County serving conventional oil wells in the area. DEP arrived onsite about 9:00 a.m. and found crude oil was released from a AR Trucking tank truck loading oil after the operator “errantly opened’ a value on the trucks resulting in the release of crude oil to a paved parking area. DEP said the owner estimated approximately one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil was released before the valve was closed. The crude oil flowed into a nearby storm drain and discharged into the Allegheny River approximately 400 feet southwest of the tank facility. DEP said absorbent booms were placed just below the storm sewer outfall and another series approximately 900 feet downstream. An oil sheen was observed by DEP migrating beyond the booms and pockets of crude oil were observed along the northern bank of the river. DEP observed an oil sheen of “varying intensities” in the Allegheny River for approximately seven miles downriver from the point the crude oil entered the river. “Curtis & Son employees along with other local oil and gas producers were collecting free oil near the storm sewer outfall.” “Representatives of Warren County EMA, Warren City Fire Department, Warren DPW and United Refining assumed command of the cleanup until AR Trucking could mobilize a qualified cleanup contractor onsite.” “Boats were used by the aforementioned agencies during the late morning and early afternoon to deploy additional absorbent booms and a containment boom between Point Park and the storm sewer outfall.” “Free crude was collected from the water by boat along the northern bank of the river within this same area.” Cleanup crews were onsite working until dark. Multiple violations were issued to Curtis & Son Oil, Inc. and a written response requested by November 24. Click Here for the DEP inspection report + photos. Curtis & Son Oil, Inc. holds 323 conventional oil and gas well permits. To report oil and gas violations or any environmental emergency or complaint, visit DEP’s Environmental Complaint webpage.Text photos and the location of abandoned wells to 717-788-8990.

Pennsylvania Opens a New Loophole for Oil and Gas Wastewater Disposal -  --If you’re an ordinary resident of Pennsylvania and you want to dispose of potentially toxic waste, the Department of Environmental Protection will direct you to specialized dropoff locations: recycling programs or local events where officials collect things like propane tanks and pharmaceuticals.  If you’re in the oil and gas business, your options may become much more expansive this year. The DEP quietly issued a new permit in May that experts warn will make it easier for the industry to dump toxic, radioactive waste directly onto roadways. “It’s ridiculous on its face, in my view,” said David Hess, a former DEP secretary who maintains the PA Environment Digest blog, tracking environmental actions across the state. The new permit means companies could reclassify conventional, or non-fracked, oil and gas wells as “mineral brine” wells, which would allow them to sell radioactive wastewater as a product. It can then be spread across roads to control dust and eliminate ice in the winter. Any oil or gas produced from those wells could also be sold as waste. Pennsylvania produces more gas than any other state in the nation besides Texas, and alongside that gas comes millions of gallons of toxic wastewater. This waste, also known as brine because of its high salt content, contains heavy metals and radioactive elements such as radium. For decades, “roadspreading,” slathering oil and gas wastewater across roads to de-ice them and reduce dust, spread pollutants throughout the state.Even setting aside environmental and health concerns and the bizarre regulatory framework that undergirds this dumping, when it comes to reducing dust, the brine “doesn’t do what it purports to do,” said Charlie Palladino, a policy advocate at the environmental nonprofit Earthworks. Siri Lawson, a resident of Farmington Township in Warren County who blames exposure to oil and gas waste for her ongoing respiratory problems, was more direct: “It seemed to make the dust worse,” she said. Academic research backs this up, suggesting that the wastewater controls dust no better than rainwater. It can also inadvertently damage paved roads, “turning them into something that looks like Swiss cheese,” said Hess. A study from Penn State found that roadspreading releases roughly four times more radium into the surrounding environment than wastewater facilities and 200 times more than isolated spills. The practice was common until 2018, when Lawson filed an appeal with the state’s Environmental Hearing Board.  DEP officials came to the conclusion that they should use a stricter permitting system, suspending approvals for roadspreading statewide. That didn’t stop the practice entirely, though. Although the agency banned roadspreading wastewater from fracked wells, its efforts to place similar restrictions on conventional operators failed—in large part because of the political power these companies hold in Northwestern Pennsylvania.  Conventional well owners could take advantage of a loophole: Waste could be designated a “coproduct,” comparable to commercial dust-suppression products, and sold. Lawson has continued to document trucks dumping waste, describing the oily residue the water leaves behind, which sometimes tints the roads an eerie blue. At a 2024 state Senate hearing, Karen Feridun, co-founder of the environmental advocacy organization Better Path Coalition, testified that DEP records show over 3.5 million gallons of wastewater had been dumped on Pennsylvania roads between 2018 and 2024. The DEP submitted testimony that staff had reached out to all operators who listed roadspreading as an end use for their wastewater in 2022 and 2023. As of 2023, only two operators still actively listed roadspreading as an end use, and neither responded to the DEP’s calls to halt operations. This is likely an undercount, said Hess, “because the [conventional well] industry just does not comply with anything. I mean, DEP itself issued a report in December 2022 that said this industry has a history of non-compliance.” An August report from FracTracker Alliance found that roughly 70 percent of Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas wells reported oil and gas waste production but no waste—a massive gap in regulatory oversight, said Hess. When the DEP told a company called BCD Properties that its oil and gas wastewater was invalid as a coproduct, the company filed an appeal. The case was ultimately settled privately, but two weeks before the settlement, DEP issued the new permit that opened up another loophole. BCD Properties was initially trying to sell wastewater from its Danylko 4 well in McKean County. The new permit issued for the Danylko 6 well is roughly 500 feet away—it draws from the same geologic formation and will still bring up oil and gas—but it’s been established as a “mineral brine” well. What this means is that the company will be able to sell brine as its primary product, then sell whatever oil and gas is extracted as “waste.” The result is “extremely concerning,” said Palladino. In order to sell their brine, operators are expected to test it and decide on their own whether it’s comparable to commercial products and meets health and human safety standards—this is called a “coproduct designation.” When DEP began looking more closely at oil and gas companies’ coproduct designations, they found that none of the waste met basic safety thresholds. . “So now this [permit] comes along, and it creates this artificial distinction between a waste brine … [and] this new category called mineral brine, when it’s the same stuff, coming from the same formation,” said Palladino.

DEP Issues Air Quality Permit To Amazon Data Services For Installation Of 76 Diesel-Fired Backup Generators At New Data Center Project In Falls Twp., Bucks County - The Department of Environmental Protection published notice in the November 7 PA Bulletin announcing it has issued an Air Quality Plan Approval [09-0261] for the installation of 76 diesel-fired backup generators to Amazon Data Services, Inc. for a new A.I. data center PNE 100 project in Falls Twp., Bucks County. (PA Bulletin, page 7401)The generators include-- 72-- 2.75 MW diesel generators, two 1,000 kW diesel generators and two 750 kW diesel generators.Requests to review the permit and other questions should be directed to James Beach, New Source Review Chief, DEP Southeast Regional Office Air Quality Program by calling 484-250-5920 or by email to: jamesbeach@pa.gov.  Anyone aggrieved by this decision has 30 days from this notice to file an appeal with the Environmental Hearing Board.  Read the entire PA Bulletin notice for more information. (PA Bulletin, page 7401) [Note: This permit just covers some of the backup generators proposed for this data center site or changes have been made to the plan for generators.  [In July, DEP invited comments on an Air Quality Permit for 282 natural gas-fired generators under a similar permit number: 09-0261A..  Read more here.] Visit DEP’s Data Center Permit Tracker webpage for information on pending permits for A.I. data center projects established by Gov. Shapiro’s Data Center Executive Order. The Governor’s executive order requires data center developers to obtain all permits and local approvals before DEP can review any permits for the facility.To provide information to the state on new data center proposals and whether they meet the requirements in Gov. Shapiro’s Data Center Executive Order, visit the Data Center Feedback webpage.

Nonprofits, Beware: Marcellus Royalties Sink Club’s Tax Exemption - Marcellus Drilling News - A Lycoming County sportsmen’s club that has been around since 1936 just lost its federal tax-exempt status, and the reason is its Marcellus royalty checks. On Oct. 29, the U.S. Tax Court sided with the IRS, ruling that gas royalties made up so much of the club’s income that it no longer qualified as a tax-exempt “social club.” A lot of MDN readers run, or sit on the boards of, nonprofits that collect signing bonuses and royalty checks: churches, fire companies, land trusts, granges, hunting camps. So we read the full 20-page decision and looked into how the rules work for other types of nonprofits. Our conclusion: hunting and social clubs are most at risk, but every nonprofit with a lease should sit down with its tax attorney soon.

Democrats Flip PA Senate – Storm Clouds Gather Over the Marcellus - Marcellus Drilling News - It happened, or very nearly so. For the first time in more than three decades, Democrats have claimed control of the Pennsylvania state Senate, with one race left for the Associated Press to make it official. Add a bigger Democratic majority in the state House, and Gov. Josh Shapiro's landslide reelection, and Democrats now hold a "trifecta" in Harrisburg: all three levers of state government. Since Democrats took the House in 2022, the GOP-controlled Senate has been the Marcellus industry's firewall against bad energy policy. On Jan. 5, 2027, that firewall goes away. Here's what we know so far, and what we think it means for drillers, landowners, pipeliners, and everyone else who profits from PA shale.

Data Center Backlash Goes National; What It Means for M-U Gas - Marcellus Drilling News - Yesterday we told you how small-town Ohio voters clobbered data centers at the ballot box (see Data Center Bans Sweep Ohio Ballots; 800 MW Gas Plant Derailed). It turns out Ohio was just one front in a nationwide revolt. The Wall Street Journal reports that voters from Ohio and Michigan to Texas and Georgia backed candidates and ballot measures to ban or slow data center construction. Three of those states (Texas, Georgia, and Ohio) account for more than 40% of all planned U.S. data center capacity, according to investment bank Evercore ISI. All three just elected Democrat governors who campaigned on slowing or pausing the build-out. Silicon Valley is rattled. Since data centers are the biggest new source of demand for Marcellus/Utica gas, we should pay close attention too. Below are the new governors, Wall Street’s reaction, the federal angle, and what it all means for our region.

EQT Gets DEP OK for 4.6-Mile Marcellus Gas Line in Lycoming County -- Marcellus Drilling News - More Marcellus wells are on the way in Pine Creek country. On October 20, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued EQT ARO LLC a permit to build about 4.6 miles of 10-inch gas line through Cummings and Watson townships in western Lycoming County, starting at a well pad on a state forest tract. DEP’s notice in last Saturday’s Pennsylvania Bulletin says the line is “for the purpose of Marcellus Shale well development.” The same issue shows Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) picking up a new earthmoving permit one township over. Pine Creek is open for business.

DT Midstream 3Q: M-U Curtailments Now, More Pipeline Growth Later - Marcellus Drilling News - - DT Midstream (DTM), the Detroit-based midstream company that gathers Marcellus/Utica gas in northeastern and southwestern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio, released its third-quarter 2026 update on Thursday. The headline for our neck of the woods: Northeast gathering volumes slipped about 9% from the second quarter, to 1.25 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day), and DTM says they’ll drop again in the fourth quarter because drillers are curtailing (holding back) production while prices are weak. The longer-term picture is much brighter. DTM is taking bids on another expansion of Millennium Pipeline into the New York market, signing 20-year deals to move Appalachian gas to Indiana power plants, and talking about a bigger NEXUS Pipeline down the road.

Q3 2026 Earnings Call: Antero Midstream’s Next Wave of Pipeline Growth | RBN Energy - Antero Midstream is looking beyond gathering lines to capture a larger share of the infrastructure connecting Appalachian gas supply with downstream demand. During its Q3 2026 earnings call, the company outlined several billion dollars of potential projects spanning regional pipelines, laterals to demand centers and integrated power opportunities. The strategic shift reflects management’s view that the next wave of Appalachian infrastructure will increasingly be driven by buyers seeking reliable gas supply including LNG facilities, utilities and power generators. For Antero Midstream, the opportunity is to earn more revenue along the route from the wellhead to those customers while improving market access for Antero Resources.East Side Express is the most advanced piece of that strategy. The pipeline remains under construction, with seven downstream pipeline interconnections planned and completion targeted for late 2028–2029. Management reported interest from multiple downstream counterparties, suggesting the project could provide flexibility to serve several markets. A proposed north–south pipeline would extend that reach toward Clarington, where customer interest is prompting initial development work ahead of a potential final investment decision in 2027. As existing third-party transportation agreements expire, Antero Midstream sees an opening to replace purchased services with its own infrastructure, potentially capturing additional margins across the integrated system. However, the broader multibillion-dollar opportunity set consists of potential developments rather than committed investments.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: CNX Plans Shift in Appalachian Gas Producing Areas | RBN Energy - CNX Resources has mentioned in the past few earnings calls that it sees great potential in the Deep Utica, expecting its production there to increase greatly in the coming years as Marcellus levels off. CEO Alan Shepard made the timeline of the company’s plans explicit in last week’s earnings call. CNX still has undeveloped Marcellus acreage in Southwest Pennsylvania that can be brought to market, and drilling in that region is “the most economic thing to do” for now. However, that acreage will be completely developed in the next “four to five years,” after which “the program shifts over to Central Pennsylvania Utica predominately” in the 2030s. The company also discussed projections for in-basin gas demand in the overall Appalachian region, where it is “extremely bullish” long-term. However, contrasting with regional giant EQT, Shepard was reticent to put a number on the growth, stating “that there is a lot of uncertainty on the ultimate end-users” and that the expansion could be 2 Bcf/d or 20 Bcf/d. The company confirmed that they have been in talks to sell gas to long-term to specific end-users, but they will only sign up if they get a premium for fixed delivery. CNX views their role in the market as “maintenance of production” and will only act to grow production if the long-term forward strip encourages it. So despite their stated bullishness, the market will need to get more bullish before the company reacts.

Enbridge Reports Strong Third Quarter Results, Places Over $3 Billion of Gas Transmission Projects Into Service, and Reaffirms 2026 Financial Guidance -  Enbridge Inc today reported third quarter 2026 financial results, reaffirmed its 2026 financial guidance and provided a quarterly business update. Highlights:

• Third quarter GAAP earnings attributable to common shareholders of $1.3 billion or $0.59 per common share, compared with GAAP earnings attributable to common shareholders of $0.7 billion or  $0.30 per common share in 2025 
• Adjusted earnings* of $1.1 billion or $0.49 per common share*, compared with $1.0 billion or $0.46 per common share in 2025 
• Adjusted earnings before interest, income taxes and depreciation and amortization (EBITDA)* of $4.4 billion, compared to $4.3 billion in 2025 
• Cash provided by operating activities of $2.7 billion, compared with $2.9 billion in 2025 
• Distributable cash flow (DCF)* of $2.7 billion, compared with $2.6 billion in 2025 
• Reaffirmed 2026 full year financial guidance and medium-term financial outlook 
• Announced the US$2.6 billion acquisition of Tallgrass Energy LP's crude oil business (Tallgrass), which will expand the Company's Liquids Pipelines footprint to include a competitive Rockies-to-Cushing platform, and the US$0.3 billion Pony Express 2 (PXP2) growth project 
• Announced and closed the US$0.6 billion acquisition of Salt Creek Midstream's crude oil gathering business to establish a new wellhead-to-water export service in the growing Permian basin 
• Completed $3.0 billion common equity offering to partially fund the Tallgrass and Salt Creek Midstream acquisitions and to enhance financial flexibility to fund potential future growth opportunities 
• Closed an initial $0.7 billion investment by KKR and Apollo and secured an additional $2 billion commitment to support the Aspen Point and Sunrise Expansion Programs on Westcoast's B.C. Pipeline system 
• Announced US$0.5 billion agreement to acquire the assets of Laramie Energy, providing additional natural gas supply for Enbridge Gas Utah's customers under an existing cost-of-service framework 
• Sanctioned $0.2 billion Long Lake Expansion, supporting CNOOC Petroleum North America's growing operations in Northern Alberta 
• Placed the Aspen Point expansion of B.C. Pipeline and Tennessee Ridgeline projects into service

Enbridge sees gas pipeline opportunities growing despite political changes - Enbridge sees growing opportunities for natural gas pipeline and storage investments across North America, with executives pointing to increasing electricity demand, LNG exports and greater political interest in energy affordability following the U.S. midterm elections. The Calgary-based pipeline operator placed more than $2.1 billion in gas transmission projects into service during the third quarter of 2026, including expansions in British Columbia and Tennessee. It is also advancing a $10.7 billion portfolio of sanctioned gas transmission projects and evaluating additional capacity along existing pipelines. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, President and CEO Greg Ebel said the changing political landscape has reinforced the importance of energy affordability and reliability, creating opportunities for natural gas infrastructure even in jurisdictions that have historically been reluctant to support pipeline development. Ebel pointed specifically to Massachusetts, where state officials have expressed support for accelerating federal approval of additional gas pipeline capacity. “Even in places like the Northeast on the gas side of things, governments that may not always have been entirely supportive of us,” Ebel said, state leaders are now seeking faster federal permitting decisions. He said Enbridge’s diversified energy infrastructure strategy allows the company to pursue projects across different political and regulatory environments. “We’re not typically following the shiny item. We’re following the fundamentals,” Ebel said. The shift in political attitudes is particularly relevant to Enbridge’s plans to expand natural gas transmission capacity in the northeastern United States. The company is advancing the previously sanctioned Algonquin Enhancement Project while working to secure commercial agreements for Project Beacon, a proposed additional expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission system. Matthew Akman, executive vice president of Gas Transmission, said Enbridge completed a successful open season for Project Beacon earlier in 2026 and is continuing negotiations with customers. The company is targeting commercialization of the project by early 2027. Akman said the project is attracting growing interest from customers and policymakers because of its potential to improve natural gas supply and affordability in the region. “It’s demand pull. It’s all about affordability. It’s got strong political support on both sides of the aisle,” Akman said. He noted that governors have written letters seeking faster permitting decisions for natural gas infrastructure. Enbridge said its existing pipeline network provides opportunities for expansions that could increase capacity without requiring entirely new pipeline corridors. The impact of the midterm elections was also raised during a discussion of Ohio, where Democrat Amy Acton was elected governor on Nov. 3. Enbridge has identified approximately 10 GW of potential data center and power generation opportunities in the state, according to an analyst’s question during the call. Michele Harradence, who will succeed Ebel as CEO in January 2027, said Enbridge does not expect the change in political leadership to undermine its investment outlook. She characterized the incoming administration’s approach as balancing economic development with requirements that large electricity users contribute appropriately to infrastructure costs. Harradence noted that Ohio has introduced a regulatory framework addressing large electricity loads, including concerns about how the costs of serving data centers should be allocated. She said predictable regulatory policies remain important to attracting infrastructure investment. Enbridge Gas Ohio is already undertaking a roughly $2.9 billion system modernization program, which Harradence described as the company’s primary investment activity in the state. New data centers and gas-fired power generation could provide additional opportunities beyond that existing program.

Millennium Pipeline Opens Bidding for More Marcellus Gas into NY  - Marcellus Drilling News -- Millennium Pipeline, the pipe that carries northeast Marcellus gas across New York’s Southern Tier, is taking bids on a new expansion called the Ramapo Enhancement Project (REP). The binding open season runs through Nov. 13. Millennium is offering up to 60,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of new firm capacity, roughly 58 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day). The gas would move from the Stagecoach storage hub on the PA-NY border to the Algonquin pipeline at Ramapo, NY, which serves the New York City area and New England. Service would start Nov. 1, 2028. It’s a modest project, but it’s a new pipeline expansion into New York. Pinch us.

Manhole Mystery: Attempted Breach at Transco Site in Carlstadt, NJ -- Marcellus Drilling News - click map for larger version - Early yesterday morning, someone (maybe several someones) tried to get into a restricted area of a Williams Transco pipeline facility in Carlstadt, NJ, by going through the sewer system. Williams says the would-be intruders never made it inside and gas kept flowing normally. But the response was anything but routine. The Bergen County Sheriff’s bomb squad, a K-9 unit, and crime scene investigators all showed up before dawn. As of this writing, nobody has said who these people are, why they were there, or whether anyone has been charged.

WV Lawsuit Blames Benzene, “Radioactive” Brine for Driver’s Cancer -- Marcellus Drilling News - A Roane County, WV, man who spent 12 years driving a truck hauling crude oil and brine has sued 15 energy companies, claiming that on-the-job exposure to benzene and “radioactive fracking brine” gave him a rare bone marrow cancer. The defendant list includes some of the biggest names in the Marcellus/Utica: Antero, EQT, Coterra, Expand Energy (formerly Chesapeake), and Shell.

Federal Judge Freezes WV AG Subpoenas of Big Green Groups - Marcellus Drilling News - - Last week we told you that West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey had served subpoenas on at least six environmental groups. He wanted nearly 10 years of their records, and his legal hook was the state’s consumer protection law (see WV AG Probes Climate Groups for Deceptive Claims About Drillers). Two of the groups, the West Virginia Rivers Coalition (WVRC) and 350.org, sued him in federal court. On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin sided with the groups and slapped the AG with a temporary restraining order (TRO). The subpoenas were due yesterday, November 2. Now they’re frozen until at least November 12. Goodwin’s 27-page opinion is anything but subtle: he says McCuskey skipped the fishing pole and the net and “brought dynamite to the lake.” So does the judge have a point? Mostly, yes, and it pains us a little to say so (see MDN’s Take below).

Ridgeline Is Online: Pipeline to Kingston Now Open for Business -- Marcellus Drilling News -  Ridgeline Pipeline map (click for larger version) On Oct. 22, we told you Enbridge’s 122-mile Ridgeline Expansion Project in Tennessee was just about ready to flow (see Ridgeline Nears Startup; Court Shreds Ruling Against TVA Gas Plant). Now it’s official. On Oct. 30, FERC staff gave East Tennessee Natural Gas (ETNG), an Enbridge company, written permission to place Ridgeline into service, and the pipeline went into service on Nov. 1. That’s right on the target date Enbridge set before construction started on Oct. 21, 2025. Ridgeline can move up to 300,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d, roughly 300 MMcf/d, or million cubic feet per day) to the Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) Kingston site in Roane County. TVA has signed up for every bit of it for the next 20 years.

Southeast Connector Update: 20 Shippers, 48-Inch Pipe, Room to Grow - Marcellus Drilling News - - Two weeks ago, MDN told you Kinder Morgan had made a final investment decision (FID) to build the Southeast Connector, a 2.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) pipeline designed to carry Marcellus/Utica gas into the Southeast (see Kinder Morgan Greenlights $3.1B Pipe to Flow M-U Gas to Southeast). Now it looks like the straw may be getting bigger. RBN Energy reports that Kinder’s electronic bulletin board shows shipper awards for an additional 1.1 Bcf/d, which would take the project to as much as 3.7 Bcf/d. Natural Gas Intelligence (NGI) reports Kinder awarded 1.12 million Dth/d (dekatherms per day, roughly 1.12 Bcf/d) of firm capacity to 20 bidders. We’ve also learned the pipe will be a whopping 48 inches in diameter, and that Kinder is planning an “Extension” to hand gas off to Transco and other pipelines in Tennessee, Alabama, and Georgia.

Enterprise 3Q: M-U Ethane Pipeline Headed for ‘Today’s Market’ Reset -- Marcellus Drilling News -- Enterprise Products Partners (EPD), the Houston midstream giant that owns ATEX, the 1,230-mile pipeline carrying Marcellus/Utica ethane to Mont Belvieu, TX, reported a blowout third quarter on Thursday. But the part of the earnings call that matters most to M-U drillers and landowners came during Q&A. An analyst asked whether the pending EQT-Range combination changes the math on ATEX recontracting. Enterprise’s answer: not really, but the next round of contracts will be priced for “today’s market.” Translation: the rate reset we told you about in August is still coming.

U.S. Propane’s Surplus Is Gone, and the Midwest Is Running Short | RBN Energy -The EIA reported a 1.6-MMbbl draw in total U.S. propane/propylene inventories for the week ended October 30, the fifth draw in a row and well above the 960-Mbbl draw the industry expected. Stocks fell to 104.1 MMbbl (red line in the chart below), 2 MMbbl, or 2%, below the same week last year (blue line), the first time they have been below last year since October 2025. Stocks are still 10.3 MMbbl, or 11%, above the five-year average (green line). They have fallen 6.4 MMbbl since hitting a record 110.5 MMbbl on September 4, while the five-year average rose 5.5 MMbbl over the same weeks.The national number hides where the shortfall is. The Gulf Coast (PADD 3), which holds 62% of U.S. stocks, is still 1.6 MMbbl above last year and above its previous five-year maximum. The rest of the country is a combined 3.6 MMbbl below last year, and the Midwest (PADD 2) accounts for most of it. Midwest stocks were 25.1 MMbbl, which is 2.8 MMbbl, or 10%, below last year and 80 Mbbl below the five-year minimum for the week (red line in the chart below). They were above last year as recently as September 11, but have fallen 1.5 MMbbl since September 4, while last year they built 1.6 MMbbl over the same weeks. East Coast (PADD 1) stocks are 892 Mbbl, or 9%, below last year. Those regional shortfalls matter more now that heating season is starting. This week's draw came from domestic demand, not exports: product supplied jumped 680 Mb/d to 1.44 MMb/d, while exports fell 364 Mb/d to 1.87 MMb/d. Demand will keep climbing through the winter, and much of it is in the Midwest and East Coast. That leaves the two regions that need propane most this winter starting the season with less in storage than a year ago.

Feds Rewrite LNG Rulebook: What It Means for the Marcellus/Utica -Marcellus Drilling News - Last Wednesday, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has proposed the first top-to-bottom rewrite of federal LNG facility safety rules in more than two decades. Most of the coverage, and most of the projected savings, centers on the giant LNG export terminals along the Gulf Coast. But the Marcellus/Utica has its own LNG industry: peak-shaving plants that keep the gas flowing on the coldest days of winter, plus small liquefaction plants fed by local shale gas. The 236-page proposal touches our corner of the LNG world in several ways, some good and one worth watching. Here's what's in it and what it means for the region.

Plaquemines LNG Finally Goes Commercial – After ~530 Cargoes -- Marcellus Drilling News - It’s official. Venture Global (VG) says Phase 1 of its Plaquemines LNG export plant in Louisiana began “commercial operations” on October 31. That means the customers who signed 20-year contracts back in 2022 are finally getting the LNG they agreed to buy. It took 22 months of “commissioning” to get here, and in that time VG sold roughly 530 cargoes on its own account, many at spot-market prices. And yes, Marcellus/Utica gas helped fill a lot of those ships.

Shell Lifts First Cargo at Plaquemines LNG After Commercial Operations Start at Phase 1 -Venture Global said over the weekend it has started commercial operations at the first phase of its Plaquemines LNG plant in Louisiana. At a Glance:

• Commercials ops started Saturday
• Phase 2 still commissioning
• Expansion plans in works

Iran War Fuels Louisiana LNG Interest, Complicates Woodside Dealmaking - The Iran war has created both an opportunity and a challenge for Woodside Energy as it works to continue marketing offtake from Louisiana LNG and sell down more interest in the project, CEO Liz Westcott said this week during the company’s capital markets day in Sydney. At a Glance:

• First LNG targeted for 2029
• Talks ongoing to sell more offtake, interest
• Company working to add shipping

Cheniere Ships Record 188 LNG Cargoes in 3Q, Raises Guidance Again -- Marcellus Drilling News - - Cheniere Energy, the country’s largest LNG exporter and a big customer for gas from right here in the Marcellus/Utica, just put up another blockbuster quarter. Cheniere shipped a record 188 cargoes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its two Gulf Coast plants in 3Q26, raised its full-year profit forecast for the third time this year, and bumped its dividend by more than 12%. More important for our neck of the woods: Cheniere is getting close to a final investment decision (FID) on a big expansion at Sabine Pass, Louisiana — the plant where our molecules end up. And in a twist nobody saw coming a few years ago, QatarEnergy is now a Cheniere customer.

LNG Feedgas Intake Declines, but Golden Pass Hits a Milestone | RBN Energy - U.S. LNG feedgas demand dropped last week, driven mostly by lower intake at Freeport LNG, but other terminals performed strongly, and Golden Pass hit a new milestone. Feedgas averaged 19.3 Bcf/d for the week ending November 1, down nearly 0.4 Bcf/d week-on-week. Freeport saw the biggest decline, and the terminal (dark blue shade in the chart below) tripped offline on October 26 due to an interruption in the power feed. The terminal restarted the next day, but didn’t return to full capacity and Train 2 was taken offline for maintenance on November 1. Currently, intake at the terminal is below 1 Bcf/d, indicating the two trains are not at full capacity.Intake at Golden Pass rose last week (lime green at the top of the chart below), averaging 0.77 Bcf/d, with feedgas exceeding 0.8 Bcf/d over the weekend for the first time. Train 1 now appears to be finishing its ramp into service. Intake has been climbing steadily since the beginning of October and the terminal has been exporting cargoes consistently. All other terminals continued operating at full or peak levels. Stay tuned to our LNG Voyager Weekly Report for more details.

ConocoPhillips Expects Port Arthur, NFE LNG Projects to Enter Service in 2027 - ConocoPhillips said Thursday it expects the first 8 Mt/y liquefaction train at Qatar's North Field East (NFE) LNG expansion to enter service in the first half of 2027, reaffirming QatarEnergy's outlook despite uncertainty surrounding the Iran war. At a Glance:

• Offtake has grown to 13 Mt/y
• Port Arthur LNG on track for 2027
• NFE expected to start next year

Freeport LNG Recovery Hits Another Snag Following Gulf South Pipeline Warning - Freeport LNG faced another setback Monday after Gulf South Pipeline (GSP) issued a fresh critical notice citing the Texas export terminal’s failure to take confirmed natural gas quantities, less than a week after a power disruption knocked all three liquefaction trains offline. Pipeline feedgas nominations rebounded sharply from Sunday’s depressed levels but remained below recent averages. Freeport LNG natural gas pipeline deliveries fell to zero Oct. 26, then recovered before dropping again Nov. 1, according to NGI's Entropic Analytics.   At a Glance:
Power outage tripped three liquefaction trains
Gulf South issues fresh scheduling warning
Feedgas nominations remain below average

US LNG Feedgas Demand Holds October Pace Despite Freeport Train 2 Outage - A look at the global natural gas and LNG markets by the numbers:

• 19.7 Bcf/d: US LNG feedgas demand rose about 600 MMcf/d on Wednesday, led by a recovery at Freeport LNG, according to NGI’s Entropic Analytics data. Freeport nominations fell to roughly 530 MMcf/d on Sunday, the day the operator took Train 2 offline for compressor maintenance, according to a filing with the Texas environmental regulators. The filing said the outage lasted about 16 hours, and nominations have since climbed back to about 1.1 Bcf/d. Sabine Pass and deliveries on the Corpus Christi Pipeline also contributed to Wednesday’s gain. NGI estimates another 2.1 Bcf/d of implied deliveries could be reaching Corpus Christi and Freeport on intrastate systems that aren’t captured in nominations data. Golden Pass LNG intake also keeps climbing, averaging about 800 MMcf/d in November compared with 590 MMcf/d in October. Feedgas demand has averaged 19.2 Bcf/d so far this month, in line with October. Feedgas nominations are expected to hold near 19.8 Bcf/d through Nov. 18.
• 10.85 Mt: US LNG exporters shipped 10.85 Mt in October, up from 10.60 Mt in September, according to Kpler vessel tracking data. Cargoes bound for Europe totaled 6.65 Mt, or about 61% of US volumes. That was Europe’s fourth straight monthly gain, up from 3.69 Mt in June. Volumes to Asia fell for a fifth consecutive month, to 2.89 Mt from 4.12 Mt in May, and shipments to Africa nearly halved to 0.57 Mt from 1.07 Mt in September. Total monthly US exports have held between 10.19 Mt and 10.85 Mt since June.
• 1.56 Bcf/d: Feedgas receipts at LNG Canada’s Kitimat, BC, terminal averaged 1.56 Bcf/d in September, according to data from the British Columbia Energy Regulator. Flows to the facility were basically flat with August’s 1.54 Bcf/d and marked a second straight month above 1.5 Bcf/d. Receipts had previously fallen to 1.19 Bcf/d in July amid frequent reported flaring. Receipts held steady even as LNG Canada’s community notices covered flaring on 25 days in September, up from about 18 in August, though most of September’s events were planned, intermittent events. September receipts ran slightly above the terminal’s 1.51 Bcf/d average for the first nine months of 2026 but stayed below the 1.78 Bcf/d high set in June. Exports also held steady, with Kpler tracking 0.94 Mt shipped in both September and August.

US Natural Gas Falls With Oil as Hope for Iran Talks Reemerges – US natural gas futures ended lower, reversing earlier gains, as renewed hope for talks between the US and Iran caused oil and European gas prices to plunge. Lower flows to liquefied natural gas export terminals, led by Freeport LNG in Texas, added further downward pressure to prices by leaving more supply within the domestic market. Losses were limited by production dropping over the weekend, led by declines in the shale fields of Appalachia. US natural gas futures ended lower, reversing earlier gains, as renewed hope for talks between the US and Iran caused oil and European gas prices to plunge. Those falling prices likely triggered a selloff of baskets of commodities that include US gas, even though US gas is insulated in the short-run from overseas supply shocks because of the limits of US gas export capacity. Lower flows to liquefied natural gas export terminals, led by Freeport LNG in Texas, added further downward pressure to prices by leaving more supply within the domestic market. Losses were limited by production dropping over the weekend, led by declines in the shale fields of Appalachia. The dip in supply signals producers may be curtailing output because of low prices. Forecasts also shifted slightly cooler, indicating higher demand for the furnace and power-plant fuel as the winter heating season gets underway. Nevertheless, weather outlooks show persistently above-average temperatures across the US in the coming weeks, despite any incremental increases in heating demand. Futures for December delivery settled -4.2c, or -1.5%, to $2.856/mmbtu on Nymex.
The December contract is at 24.1 on the 14-day RSI indicator, below the 30 oversold level. Forecasts shifted slightly cooler, but above-average temperatures are still expected across most of the US through Nov. 16: Commodity Weather Group
See WHUT for a map of latest 6-10 day weather forecast: NOAA
Click here for two-week temperature forecasts for the U.S.
Daily BNEF Gas Data:
Lower-48 dry gas production on Monday ~110.0 bcf/day, or -0.3% y/y
Lower-48 total gas demand on Monday ~73.1 bcf/day, or -2.9% y/y
Dry gas exports to Mexico on Monday ~5.6 bcf/day, or -20% w/w
Estimated gas flows to LNG export terminals on Monday ~19.5 bcf/day, or +5.3% w/w
Gas Market News:
Freeport LNG Power Supply Shows Signs of Recovery After Dip
European Gas Prices Drop as Traders Weigh Iran Diplomacy Efforts
European Gas Summer-Winter Spread Climbs to New High: BNEF Chart
Permian Basin Nat Gas Production Falls an Estimated 6.8%: BNEF.

Could Democrats Unlock Hormuz After Midterm Rout? LNG Markets Watching Washington  -Global energy prices fell on Wednesday after sweeping Democratic victories in the US midterm election raised the prospect that the Trump administration’s war in Iran could now be limited and a peace deal might come sooner. At a Glance:

• Global energy prices fall after US election
• Administration still has leeway over foreign policy
• But Trump facing pressure to end war

As Data Centers Move In, Iowa Residents Fight Plans for a New Gas Plant - —Nearly 50 people gathered at the American Legion Post on a July evening to learn about a proposed natural gas plant less than three miles from town. Seated in folding chairs, they pulled out their phones and typed responses to a simple question: How are you feeling? The words “angry,” “disgusted” and “scared” flashed across a TV screen at the front of the room. For many, the meeting drudged up a familiar feeling of frustration. Nine months earlier, Interstate Power and Light, an Iowa-based subsidiary of Alliant Energy, had abandoned plans to build a natural gas-fired power plant in Fairfax after fierce opposition from residents and leaders at the nearby Eastern Iowa Airport. The proposed 160-acre site is in unincorporated Linn County territory, right over the border from neighboring Benton County. The cities of Fairfax, Atkins and Cedar Rapids, home to a combined 140,000 residents, all fall within three miles of the proposed plant. The facilities’ 150-foot-tall exhaust towers would emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and volatile organic compounds. From the podium at the American Legion, Jon Lee, a spokesperson for the grassroots group Save Morgan Valley, urged his neighbors to remain engaged with plans for the plant. “Big decisions like this deserve real answers,” Lee said. “Stay informed, and keep showing up.” All summer long, the group mobilized opposition. Members invited neighbors to town halls, filed testimony with the Iowa Utilities Commission and presented a united front in matching orange shirts at county zoning commission and board of supervisor meetings. Their persistence is paying off. In October, the three-person Linn County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to reject Alliant’s rezoning request for the proposed site, after nearly four hours of comments from residents and Alliant representatives. Concerns raised by residents at the hearing spanned land use, water use and utility rates. But comments repeatedly returned to the projected emissions of the proposed plant. “We’re living in an era of extraordinary technological advancement, and yet when it comes to powering that advancement we’re being told that building another fossil fuel power plant is the answer,” Jenny Kellison, of Fairfax, told the supervisors. “I find that incredibly disappointing.” Supervisor Sami Scheetz voted against the rezoning request, arguing that Alliant’s proposal failed to meet county requirements for water and wastewater infrastructure. Still, he told Inside Climate News, the board’s decision reflected “overwhelming,” bipartisan community opposition to the plant being built. “What was really important for me was a constituent just asking me, ‘Do you think this is good for the community?’ And I really didn’t feel comfortable saying yes to that,” Scheetz said. According to Alliant’s filings with the Iowa Utilities Commission, the Morgan Valley Energy Center would consist of three single-cycle combustion turbines, designed to start up quickly during periods of high load demand. The application notes possible plans to expand to a combined-cycle facility in the future. “We are disappointed with the Linn County Board of Supervisors’ decision not to approve the Morgan Valley Energy Center application,” Alliant wrote in a statement to Inside Climate News. The proposed power plant “is critical to meeting growing energy demand and supporting the reliable electric service that customers and communities depend on,” the utility added. “Alliant Energy has decades of experience safely operating energy infrastructure under rigorous regulatory and environmental oversight.” Single-cycle gas “peaker” plants are significantly less fuel-efficient than combined-cycle plants, resulting in higher carbon dioxide emissions per unit of power generated. The Morgan Valley Energy Center would produce roughly one and a half million tons of carbon dioxide equivalents each year, according to Alliant’s air construction permit application with the state Department of Natural Resources. While Alliant has not directly linked the additional generation to multiple hyper-scale data centers under development in and around Cedar Rapids, several company representatives acknowledged during the October hearing that the data centers have driven load growth across their service area. “Alliant Energy does not build generation to serve a single customer or industry,” said Ben Rogers, a senior community and public affairs specialist for Alliant and a former Linn County supervisor. “Data centers are an important source of new demand, but they are not the only reason the electric system must continue to evolve.”Google and QTS are currently building side-by-side data center campuses on a 1,000-acre industrial lot in Cedar Rapids. When completed, the two campuses will use a combined 1.6 gigawatts of electricity.This summer, the Linn County Board of Supervisors approved an 18-month moratorium on rezoning applications for large-scale data centers in unincorporated county territory. But the pause doesn’t apply to data centers in incorporated cities, including those in Cedar Rapids. Google also moved to annex unincorporated Linn County land for a second hyper-scale data center campus into the small city of Palo this year, effectively freeing the project from county jurisdiction. That campus will purchase energy generated by the restarted Duane Arnold Energy Center, Iowa’s only nuclear facility.The electricity demand spurred by data centers being built in Linn County cannot be overstated, said John Zakrasek, director of the nonprofit organization Linn Clean Energy District and board member of the Clean Energy Districts of Iowa.If all three hyperscale campuses are built to full capacity, they will increase Linn County’s projected electricity demand nearly fivefold. “How are we going to meet that electricity demand? If we’re going to do it with fossil fuel plants, gas plants, and so on, we’re going to go ahead and push emissions way up,” Zakrasek said.

Natural Gas Storage Nears 3.9 Tcf, but Is That Enough for Winter? - Exceptionally mild November weather could push natural gas inventories toward 3.9 Tcf deep into November before winter withdrawals begin. But analysts caution that growing LNG exports could leave the market needing a larger storage cushion to protect against winter demand swings.NGI chart of U.S. working natural gas storage showing 2026 inventories reaching 3,800 Bcf on Oct. 30, above the 2021–2025 average but below 2025 levels, with historical peaks in early November. At a Glance:
Storage peak projected near 3.9 Tcf
First withdrawal could arrive in late November
LNG growth raises importance of winter inventories

Long Time – As Brownfield Options for Gas Storage Run Out, Greenfield Ones Will Come to the Fore - The Gulf Coast will require vast amounts of incremental natural gas storage space over the next few years. Brownfield expansions to existing salt cavern facilities appear to have an economic edge, but there are only so many potential projects like that. As brownfield opportunities run out, LNG export terminals and others that need more storage will likely turn to the best greenfield projects being planned. In today’s RBN blog, we continue our series on Gulf Coast gas storage with a look at a couple more brownfield projects and a few greenfield sites too.This is Part 4 in the series. In Part 1, we said that after a long period of storage-capacity surplus and relatively low storage prices, the Gulf Coast market is now in the midst of a massive buildout expected to continue into the early 2030s. The growth is driven primarily by the storage needs of new and expanding LNG export facilities. In Part 2, we discussed the sharply higher gas storage rates that LNG terminal operators in particular are now willing to pay for Firm Storage Services (FSS) and looked at how much new gas storage is likely to be built along the Gulf Coast over the next few years. We also said that for economic and other reasons most of the near-term storage projects will be brownfield expansions to existing salt cavern facilities.In Part 3, we began a review of the Gulf Coast storage projects currently under development, beginning with brownfield expansions at existing salt cavern facilities owned by Enbridge, Caliche Storage and Enstor. Today, we continue that review with a look at three more brownfield salt cavern projects (Williams/Pine Prairie, ONEOK/JISH and New Jersey Resources/Leaf River) and two of a half-dozen greenfield projects of that same type (NeuVentus’s TRU Hub and Texas Brine’s White Castle). In an upcoming blog, we’ll discuss other planned greenfield projects, including a few depleted-reservoir proposals.Before we start, a reminder that brownfield projects typically have an economic advantage because much of their required infrastructure (compressors, brine management systems, pipeline interconnections, etc.) is already in place. Greenfield salt cavern projects may have an edge because, for example, they may be located in tried-and-true salt formations and/or well-sited to serve LNG terminals and tie into multiple gas pipelines. (And, as we’ll get to, scale can help too — so can the project-finance record of the project’s equity sponsor.)Williams Cos., which owns six gas storage facilities across Louisiana and Mississippi — some salt cavern and some depleted reservoir — with a combined capacity of about 200 Bcf, announced plans in February 2025 to add another 10.8 Bcf of working gas capacity at its 50-Bcf Pine Prairie salt cavern storage facility in Evangeline Parish, LA. The one-cavern expansion also will add 300 MMcf/d of injection capacity and 500 MMcf/d of withdrawal capacity, bringing Pine Prairie’s total injection and withdrawal capacities to 2.7 Bcf/d and 3 Bcf/d, respectively. Williams secured Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for the project in May. Construction began in Q3 2026, with commercial operation to follow in Q4 2028.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: AltaGas Sees Record LPG Export Volumes | RBN Energy  - AltaGas reported its third quarter 2026 results on October 29. The company’s two LPG export terminals shipped a record 147.2 Mb/d of LPG to Asia, up 11% year-over-year, including 89.1 Mb/d from its Ridley Island Propane Export Terminal (RIPET), and 58 Mb/d out of Ferndale. Gathering and Processing volumes were up 20% year-over-year thanks in part to the start-up of the Pipestone II natural gas plant late last year.Due to strong financial results in Q3, management now expects 2026 Normalized EBITDA and EPS to land towards the higher end of its prior guidance ranges, despite a labor strike at Trigon’s Pacific Terminals that began October 2. Trigon provides rail logistics and berthing services for RIPET, and while RIPET’s October volumes were not materially impacted, AltaGas expects reduced volumes out of RIPET going forward while the strike continues.  There were no material changes to in-service timing guidance for AltaGas’s various LPG export terminal projects at Prince Rupert.  Phase 1 of the Ridley Island Energy Export Facility (REEF), which will add 56 Mb/d of LPG export capacity, is now about 90% complete and continues to be expected to be in service in Q1 2027 at a cost of roughly CAD$1.5 billion. Construction of the jetty is now complete (see image below), and the focus is shifting to the installation of the mooring system, which is now expected complete early in the new year instead of by December, and suction anchors. The RIPET methanol removal project is expected to be mechanically complete within weeks with start-up on track for year-end 2026. Completion of REEF Optimization I (+30 Mb/d propane capacity) continues to be expected in the second half of 2027, and AltaGas continues to target an FID for REEF Optimization II (+60 Mb/d LPG capacity) by year-end, with an in-service date potentially as early as late 2029.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: EOG Lifts 2026 Oil Guidance, Doubles Janus Plant as Well Performance Beats Expectations | RBN Energy -  EOG Resources’ Q3 2026 earnings call centered on how its US wells keep getting better. Oil production hit a record 550 Mbbl/d, above guidance, and the company raised its full-year guidance to 550 Mbbl/d (from 549) even after selling its legacy Barnett and Woodford positions. Q4 guidance is 548-553 Mbbl/d. Delaware Basin wells have come in “a little better than our expectations,” said Keith Trasko, SVP of Exploration and Production, holding flat to slightly up versus 2025. CEO Ezra Yacob said EOG expects low single-digit oil growth in 2027 at roughly its current activity level, adding, “If current oil supply demand fundamentals persist, we believe the market needs more oil supply next year.”Yacob credited much of the gain to better completions, specifically “high intensity fracs and adding horsepower,” an approach EOG developed in the Eagle Ford and then carried to the Permian, the Utica and its South Texas gas acreage. In the Delaware, lower costs have made more rock worth drilling. “We have more targets than I ever imagined several years ago,” Trasko said, and EOG expects consistent returns there for the next 10 years. In the Utica, where EOG expanded last year by buying Encino, its rigs drill about 24% more feet per day than in early 2025 (see chart below). Those gains are why EOG still expects well costs to fall slightly this year despite pricier steel and diesel. COO Jeffrey Leitzell expects “modest inflation next year” for drilling and completions, so 2027 will test whether efficiency can keep outrunning service costs.On gas, EOG signed a 10-year supply deal with ENGIE priced off JKM, the Asian LNG benchmark, starting by 2030, which management said lifts its LNG-linked sales to more than 1 Bcf/d. It also approved doubling its Janus processing plant in the Delaware to 600 MMcf/d by the second half of 2028, as new pipelines bring more Permian gas to market and processing gets tighter. Yacob described the strategy as growing “essentially a premium gas company underneath the umbrella of our premium oil company,” and said the company isn’t investing “to move a whole bunch of gas to the Gulf Coast and hope” for good prices.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: ConocoPhillips’ New CEO Leans on the Permian and LNG for Growth | RBN Energy -  On his first earnings call as CEO, Andy O’Brien pointed to the Lower 48 as ConocoPhillips’ growth engine. Total production was 2.302 MMboe/d in Q3, with guidance of 2.32-2.36 MMboe/d for Q4 and low-single-digit growth expected in 2027 on lower capital. Permian completion crews pumped 15% more hours than their 2025 average, and one crew hit a record 23 hours a day in August by fracking several wells at once. EVP Kirk Johnson said rising activity, mostly from smaller operators, is “tightening capacity, especially across the oilfield services space,” with rig utilization above 90% and frac fleets above 75%.LNG is the next leg of growth. ConocoPhillips now holds 13 MTPA of offtake, about 1.7 Bcf/d of feedgas. Its first new volumes come from Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 in Jefferson County, TX, where it is a 30% owner and Train 1 is due to start up in 2027. With TTF near $30 and Henry Hub below $4, against the $10 and $4 in its long-term plan, O’Brien said, “we can’t get these volumes on fast enough.” Back home, the company’s Permian gas price flipped from negative in Q2 to 69% of Henry Hub in Q3 as new pipeline takeaway capacity came online. Willow, in Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve, remains on track for first oil in early 2029. Its processing modules are more than 75% complete on the Gulf Coast and will be shipped to Alaska in summer 2027, when development drilling also begins.In Qatar, ConocoPhillips’ LNG production rose in Q3 but remains below pre-conflict levels as Strait of Hormuz disruptions limit flows, and Q4 guidance allows for a range of outcomes. Johnson said construction on North Field East has continued, with startup still expected in the first half of 2027 and North Field South to follow. The conflict is also raising costs for fuel, logistics and chemicals, by double digits in some categories, though Johnson said overall inflation remains in the low single digits.

U.S. Rig Count Edges Up One to 604; Haynesville Leads as Gulf of Mexico Slips | RBN Energy - U.S. oil and gas rig count edged up one rig to 604 for the week ending November 6 according to Baker Hughes data, extending its run above 600 to a fifth straight week, as gains in Haynesville (+2), Permian (+1) and All Other (+1) outweighed declines in Gulf of Mexico (-2) and the Bakken (-1). Oil-directed rigs rose to 463 (+1) and gas-directed rigs climbed to 131 (+1), while miscellaneous rigs declined to 10 (-1). Total U.S. rig count is up 16 over the last 90 days and now stands 58 rigs above this week last year.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: Genesis Cites Unplanned Curtailments for Drop in Offshore Oil Volumes | RBN Energy -- Genesis Energy said its Offshore Pipeline Transportation segment experienced no weather-related shut-ins during Q3 2026, typically the most active part of the hurricane season, but volumes still came in lower than anticipated due to lower crude oil production at some facilities that flow exclusively through its pipeline network, the company said during its earnings call November 5. The lower volumes were the result of “unplanned curtailments at a couple of our legacy connected fields, the continuing challenges from two of the initial wells at Shenandoah, and a planned turnaround at Salamanca that was moved forward from the fourth quarter into the third quarter,” CEO Grant Sims said. “As we said last quarter, we do not believe any of these items have longer-term negative implications for the ultimate recovery of reserves already discovered and being developed.”  The Shenandoah floating production unit (FPU; teal platform icon in map below), operated by Beacon Offshore Energy, began production in July 2025 through Genesis’s SYNC pipeline. The Salamanca FPU (orange platform icon), operated by LLOG, began production in September 2025 and flows through Genesis’s SEKCO and Poseidon systems. Lower production will continue into Q4 2026 and into the early part of 2027, until four new, high-impact wells are completed and turned to production. Other highlights from the earnings report:

• The company expects two new Monument wells, which will tie back to the Shenandoa FPU, to be online by the end of Q1 2027
• A fifth Shenandoah well is scheduled to be online by year-end 2027
• The expansion of the Shenandoah FPU to 140 Mb/d is progressing

Still Not Dead – Valero Acquisition Breathes New Life into LyondellBasell’s Shuttered Houston Refinery | RBN Energy -Valero Energy is paying $320.5 million to purchase LyondellBasell’s mothballed refinery on the Houston Ship Channel, with plans to restart 165 Mb/d of light, sweet crude processing at the site by the end of 2027. The deal, announced on October 30, comes after years of U.S. refinery closures and highlights the Gulf Coast’s advantages as a refining hub. Restarting an idled plant takes money, time and a clear operating plan, and Valero’s approach figures to be one of the fastest ways to add a substantial block of refining capacity at an economically justifiable cost. In today’s RBN blog, we discuss what it all means for Valero and the U.S. refining outlook.LyondellBasell’s Houston refinery (see photo below) traces its roots to 1918, when Sinclair Refining Company, founded by oilman Harry Sinclair, acquired 710 acres along the Houston Ship Channel and began constructing the facility's first distillation units. Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) acquired Sinclair in 1969, and in 1985 formed Lyondell Chemical Company from a collection of refining and petrochemical assets, including the Houston refinery and its Channelview petrochemical complex. Lyondell became publicly traded in 1989, and ARCO subsequently divested its remaining ownership.In 1993, Lyondell formed the Lyondell-CITGO Refining joint venture (JV) with CITGO Petroleum, a subsidiary of Venezuela’s state-owned PDVSA, to expand the refinery’s ability to process cheaper, heavy, high-sulfur Venezuelan crude. Lyondell initially held about an 86% interest in the venture, but CITGO’s stake increased as it helped finance a major refinery upgrade, completed in early 1997 at a cost of around $1.1 billion. The ownership split ultimately reached 58.75% for Lyondell and 41.25% for CITGO. The partnership also included long-term arrangements for Venezuelan crude supplies and refined-product sales. Lyondell subsequently bought out CITGO’s stake in the JV in an August 2006 transaction valued at approximately $2.1 billion, giving it full ownership of the facility.  In December 2007, Basell acquired Lyondell Chemical, creating LyondellBasell Industries, which has primarily operated as a chemical company with a strategic shift toward circular and low-carbon solutions. LyondellBasell reportedly made several attempts to sell the refinery over the years as the company’s strategic priorities shifted away from refining. LyondellBasell ultimately opted to begin winding down operations at the 264-Mb/d refinery in late January 2025, with the shutdown extending into February and the facility fully idled by March. [Interestingly, Valero’s interest in the facility may date back a decade. Reuters reported in August 2016 that Valero was among several companies that had expressed interest in acquiring the refinery. Valero declined to comment at the time, and no deal materialized. LyondellBasell again explored a potential sale in 2021, with industry analysts identifying Valero as a logical buyer given its existing Houston refining operation (more on this below).]LyondellBasell had plans to repurpose parts of the refinery, including its hydrotreaters, to produce plastic pellets from recycled materials by 2027, but these concepts had not advanced to concrete approvals. In a news release on October 30, LyondellBasell said its deal with Valero represents another step in the company’s “ongoing portfolio transformation, sharpening its focus on businesses and assets that offer the strongest strategic fit and long-term value creation potential while strengthening its ability to allocate capital in line with its company strategy.”Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and approvals and is expected to occur by the end of 2026.That brings us to Valero, which is no stranger to the refining business and has three nearby refineries already in operation (Note – all capacities include total throughput, crude plus other feedstocks):

• Houston, TX: The 255-Mb/d Galena Park refinery (yellow refinery icon at center-left in Figure 1 below) is on the same stretch of the Houston Ship Channel as the shuttered LyondellBasell site (black refinery icon). The refinery mainly runs light sweet crude. In the mid-2010s, Valero added a 90-Mb/d crude topping unit, so it could run even more very light Eagle Ford crude from South Texas.
• Texas City, TX: The 260-Mb/d Texas City refinery (yellow refinery icon at bottom) is about 40 miles south of Houston. A $337 million upgrade in 2003 added a 45-Mb/d heavy coker, allowing it to run heavier crudes such as Mexican Maya.
• Port Arthur, TX: The 435-Mb/d Port Arthur refinery (yellow icon at right) is about 90 miles east of Houston. It has been reported that the company has upgrades planned for its largest crude unit to increase the refinery’s design capacity by 25 Mb/d (to 460 Mb/d). Valero has not confirmed the increase, but we have included it in our Future of Fuels forecast for now.

There are some possible synergies with Valero’s existing Houston-area refineries that could make the LyondellBasell site more useful than it would have been to a buyer without nearby operations. Valero’s Houston and Texas City refineries and the LyondellBasell site all share the same deepwater channel and pipeline network. In theory, it would be logical for these refineries to share resources, such as moving crude and feedstocks between one another or exchanging products and sharing downstream units (something already being done to some extent between the Houston and Texas City plants). Valero has not detailed how it would integrate the sites further and these efficiencies are only possibilities, not an announced operating plan.Valero described the refinery acquisition as a way to expand its Gulf Coast footprint and create what it calls “commercial optimization opportunities.” As noted earlier, the more immediate plan is to restart 165 Mb/d of light, sweet crude processing rather than bring the entire refinery — including its 90-Mb/d heavy-crude processing units — back online. That approach could require fewer operating units and less upfront investment, although Valero has yet to disclose the final configuration or estimated cost of the restart. Any return to heavy-crude processing would be a separate, longer-term investment. Notably, both of the refinery’s coker units have already been demolished, meaning new heavy crude processing capacity at the site would require the construction of a brand-new coker unit and other supporting facilities, which would entail significant capital.Still, Valero left the door open to a bigger role for heavy, sour crude. In announcing the acquisition, Valero Chairman, CEO and President Lane Riggs said the deal “is expected to provide a compelling financial return, consistent with Valero’s disciplined capital allocation framework, while generating attractive commercial optimization opportunities and supporting future investment in high-complexity, heavy sour crude oil processing.”The acquisition comes as the Trump administration looks to bolster domestic refining capacity. On October 22, President Trump announced plans to make up to $150 million available through the Defense Production Act (DPA) Title III program to expand petroleum production, storage and logistics at U.S. refineries. The Department of Energy (DOE) said the funding is intended to boost domestic output of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products, with the potential to increase U.S. refining output by millions of gallons per day. Whether Valero’s Houston refinery project could qualify for any of that funding remains unclear.The potential revival of the LyondellBasell refinery comes after years of closures across the U.S., a trend that has taken a significant bite out of the nation’s crude processing capacity. According to the latest edition of our Future of Fuels report, the U.S. lost about 1.9 MMb/d of refining capacity between 2019 and the first half of 2026. That includes full refinery shutdowns, partial closures and conversions to renewable fuels. Some of the biggest losses came in 2020 and 2021 in the wake of the COVID lockdowns, including Shell’s 240-Mb/d Convent refinery in Louisiana, Marathon Petroleum’s 150-160-Mb/d Martinez facility in California and Phillips 66’s 255-Mb/d Alliance refinery in Louisiana. Phillips 66 closed its 139-Mb/d Wilmington/Carson complex in California in 2025. Valero completed the shutdown of its 150-Mb/d Benicia refinery in California in April 2026. The largest single closure over this period actually occurred pre-COVID, when the 335-Mb/d Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery closed in mid-2019 after an explosion at its alkylation unit.Despite the 1.9 MMb/d of official closures, total U.S. refinery capacity has fallen by just 800 Mb/d since 2019 due to expansions at other plants. Gross refinery throughput is set to finish 2026 only about 400 Mb/d below the all-time high set in 2018. This apparent increase in utilization is driven by two factors. First, the closures occurred primarily in less-competitive plants that operated at below-average utilization rates. Second, small expansions, often called “capacity creep,” don’t always get reflected in the official Energy Information Administration (EIA) capacity data yet they contribute to increased throughput, created by an apparent increase in utilization. RBN tracks this capacity creep in its Future of Fuels report, which already anticipated PADD 3 refining capacity growing from 9.9 MMb/d in 2026 to nearly 10.3 MMb/d in 2040, mostly as the result of continued comparatively small refinery expansion projects and debottlenecks across the region. The refinery’s location is an important factor in its planned restart. Unlike California, where refineries face a more challenging regulatory environment, declining petroleum demand and limited access to alternative crude supplies and product markets, the Gulf Coast benefits from abundant domestic crude production, an extensive network of pipelines and storage facilities, access to export markets, a lower overall operating cost structure, and a more favorable regulatory environment. Those advantages make restarting an existing Gulf Coast refinery a more attractive proposition than bringing a shuttered West Coast facility back online. The proposed restart also fits with our more favorable longer-term regional outlook. While we point to continued pressure on overall U.S. refining capacity, the Gulf Coast remains well positioned to serve both domestic and international fuel markets.Still, plenty of questions remain. Valero has yet to disclose how much it will cost to restart the refinery, exactly which processing units will return to service or whether it can meet its targeted year-end 2027 startup. And perhaps the biggest longer-term question is whether Valero will eventually invest in restoring the refinery's ability to process heavy, sour crude, a capability that once made the facility an important destination for Venezuelan barrels. For now, the focus is on bringing light, sweet crude processing back online, but the refinery's history suggests there could be a much bigger opportunity down the road.

Few Repercussions for Oil Firm's Continued Leaks After Couple's Death From Toxic Gas - When Rachel Curtis visited her 86-year-old grandmother in Odessa, Texas, last summer, the putrid odor of hydrogen sulfide hit her as soon as she got out of the car. She could smell the toxic gas, which is often compared to rotten eggs and is fatal in high concentrations, inside her grandmother’s house. Her grandmother has lived about 50 yards from an oil pumpjack for decades and was used to the smell, but she was suffering from frequent headaches—a common effect of exposure to hydrogen sulfide, or H2S. Worried about her grandmother’s health, Curtis grew even more upset when she found out who operates the pumpjack and other oil equipment nearby: Aghorn Operating. The company had recently pleaded guilty to criminal health and safety violations related to the 2019 deaths of an employee, Jacob Dean, and his wife, Natalee—who were killed by a cloud of hydrogen sulfide inside a nearby Aghorn pumphouse. Dean was checking on some malfunctioning equipment inside an Aghorn facility when he collapsed in a cloud of hydrogen sulfide. Natalee went looking for him and died next to him. Their kids, then 6 and 9, were sitting in the car outside. After the deaths, Curtis felt both Aghorn and authorities should be keeping better tabs on all of its facilities. “It just really ticks me off because, I mean, she’s an 86-year-old woman who’s lived across the street from this for how many years,” said Curtis, a high school teacher who had been friendly with the Deans before she moved across the state. “I feel like something should have been done.” Aghorn and its president, Frosty Gilliam, didn’t respond to calls, emails and detailed questions. In a court filing last year, Aghorn stated that since the 2019 deaths, the company had hired a full-time safety manager, established written safety policies, conducted hydrogen sulfide safety training and upgraded monitors and alarms for the gas in various facilities. “Aghorn has substantially improved the safety of its facilities and instituted measures to ensure the safety of its employees and the general public,” it said. Often called “sour gas,” hydrogen sulfide forms naturally underground in some oil-rich regions of the world and can get released into the air during oil production. It can also escape from badly sealed equipment. Low levels of the gas can irritate the eyes and respiratory system and chronic exposure has been associated with neurological problems like fatigue, impaired memory, headaches and dizziness. As The Examination and the Houston Chronicle detailed in a 2024 investigation, tens of thousands of Texans live near hydrogen sulfide hotspots, but despite community complaints of exposure, state regulators have largely failed to hold companies accountable. When investigators find the gas seeping into the air, companies usually get what amounts to a fix-it ticket, often without any penalty. Problems can persist for years. That pattern has continued with Aghorn, despite the deaths in the heart of the Permian Basin. Federal prosecutors charged Aghorn with willfully violating worker safety laws, causing the death of an employee, as well as obstruction and false statements. They added a conspiracy charge, alleging a widespread practice, continuing to 2024, of putting profits and convenience above human health and safety. Prosecutors documented a pattern of chronic leaks and unsafe practices that continued years after the Deans’ deaths. “At Aghorn,” they wrote in a 2024 filing, “placing workers, contractors, and the public at risk was a way of doing business that was deeply ingrained in the corporate culture.” The company pleaded guilty last year to the more limited charges of negligent endangerment and willful violation of safety laws, paying a $1 million fine. As part of the plea deal, Aghorn admitted its failure to implement workplace protections was a cause of Jacob Dean’s death and that its representatives “had neglected to control H2S emissions and provide adequate safety systems, which negligence placed Natalee Dean in imminent danger of death.” The company’s vice president, Trent Day, was sentenced to five months in prison. Industry consultant Jim Kirksey, who reviewed the evidence for prosecutors, wrote in a report filed in the case that Aghorn mostly ignored health and safety complaints, and that the state’s oil regulator, the Texas Railroad Commission, was slow to act. “The residents who live or work near Aghorn Operating facilities are the innocent victims of Aghorn Operating non-compliance with H2S safety regulations,” Kirksey wrote in his 2024 report, noting that complaints of headaches and nausea were commonplace. Aghorn objected to Kirksey’s qualifications in court filings. Shortly after that report was written, Adrianna Yanez, a mother of four who lives about 11 miles west of Curtis on the outskirts of Odessa, complained to regulators about hydrogen sulfide leaks wafting toward her home that she said caused bad headaches and bouts of vomiting. Inspectors from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality found gas leaking from an Aghorn pumpjack just over 100 meters from her house. The company patched it, and TCEQ resolved the complaint with no penalty, records show. The Railroad Commission then found gas leaking from storage tanks and an unlit flare about a third of a mile away and told Aghorn to fix it. Investigators came back twice and found gas still leaking. On the fourth visit, in early 2025, they didn’t see any leaks and closed the investigation. The smell went away for a few months, Yanez said, and then it came back.“It’s really sad because I guess they see us as the poor people who live out here on the west side of Odessa and they could care less about our health or our children,” Yanez told The Examination recently.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: Shell Builds Its Next Wave of LNG and Offshore Supply | RBN Energy - Shell’s next growth chapter is taking shape around a familiar strategy: connect new resources to infrastructure it already owns. During its Q3 2026 earnings call, the company highlighted a project pipeline spanning Canadian LNG, offshore oil and potential Caribbean gas developments. The common thread is investment in locations where Shell can pair upstream supply with existing processing, transportation and marketing capabilities, improving the opportunity to earn returns across the value chain.Shell’s recently completed acquisition of ARC Resources adds approximately 370,000 boe/d and strengthens the resource base supporting its Canadian operations. Alongside that acquisition, the company sanctioned LNG Canada Phase 2, which will double the facility’s liquefaction capacity and provide Shell with nearly 6 million metric tons per year (equivalent to around 120.5 Mb/d) of additional LNG volumes. Management pointed to existing infrastructure and more competitive contractor pricing as advantages for the expansion. Notably, Phase 2 benefits were excluded from the original ARC acquisition investment case, creating potential additional value as Shell connects a larger upstream portfolio with growing export capacity. For the market, the expansion would increase access to Canadian gas through a Pacific Coast outlet, adding supply diversification for LNG buyers increasingly attentive to transportation routes and energy security. Shell is also advancing options to sustain its liquids portfolio into the next decade. Management identified the Equinor-operated Bay du Nord project offshore Canada as targeting a final investment decision in early 2027, while Nigeria’s Bonga South West could reach that milestone next year if conditions align. These remain prospective developments rather than committed near-term supply additions, but they illustrate Shell’s effort to replenish its offshore project inventory. In Venezuela, the company described a potential gas opportunity centered on connecting new offshore developments to existing infrastructure in Trinidad and available Atlantic LNG capacity. Management framed that integration as a stronger fit for Shell’s capabilities than Venezuelan heavy oil. The market implication is a project development that could broaden both supply sources and export flexibility over time. LNG Canada Phase 2 has moved into the sanctioned category, while the offshore oil and Venezuelan gas opportunities still face investment decisions and execution requirements. Their eventual contribution will depend on development schedules, commercial terms and infrastructure access, making the distinction between an attractive resource opportunity and committed new supply essential.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: South Bow Continues to Target Mid-2027 FID for Prairie Connector | RBN Energy  According to South Bow’s third quarter results, throughput on Keystone set a third quarter record, averaging 586 Mb/d, while volumes on the Gulf Coast segment averaged about 663 Mb/d. South Bow began lifting pressure restrictions on certain segments of the Keystone pipeline. Management noted that low inventories at Cushing are contributing to relatively tight pricing differentials between Cushing and the Gulf Coast.The company continues to target a mid-2027 FID for Prairie Connector, and continues to seek not just permitting, but assurance regarding permit durability. Management expects Western Canadian crude supply will likely outstrip export pipeline egress capacity by some point in 2027 even with the near-term expansions starting up. In 2027 South Bow expects to invest about CAD$65 million in pre-FID work associated with Prairie Connector and Liberty Bridge projects and CAD$30-$50 million in maintenance capital.

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: Suncor Continues Strong Execution | RBN Energy - Suncor reported free funds flow of CAD$5.2 billion and record refined product sales of 677 Mb/d for the third quarter of 2026. Upstream production of 852.5 Mb/d was down 2% year-over-year, while refinery crude oil throughput was down about 1% year-over-year to 487.7 Mb/d.  The quarter saw major planned turnarounds at Syncrude and at Suncor’s Edmonton and Montreal refineries. All three turnarounds were executed at “best ever” costs and durations.After having re-rated the combined nameplate capacity of its four refineries last year from 466 Mb/d to 511 Mb/d, recently Suncor has had days with throughput north of 520 Mb/d. Year-to-date through September, Suncor’s jet fuel sales were up 65% to 38 Mb/d, and refined product exports were up 65% to 75 Mb/d.  On the conference call management indicated the company may consider accelerating growth plans, relative to the 400 Mb/d, 10-year in situ (SAGD) growth plan it outlined this spring. Management noted that the Canadian federal government’s recently announced “mega deduction” income tax incentive helps, and the Alberta government is working on an incentivized royalty system. CEO Rich Kruger does not know whether a Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU) between the Oil Sands Alliance and the federal and Alberta governments will be signed by the November 15 deadline, but does not view that deadline as final, noting the parties are working hard but “we would far rather have a good deal when we're ready…versus a bad or an incomplete deal at an artificial date or deadline.” The MOU intends to promise expedited regulatory processes and more pipeline capacity (West Coast-Pacific Link pipeline) to facilitate oil sands growth, in exchange for the Oil Sands Alliance committing to build a major carbon capture network in the oil sands.

LNG Canada Feedgas Steady as Station 2 Natural Gas Prices Strengthen -LNG Canada kept feedgas flowing steadily to its Kitimat, BC, export terminal in September, even as flaring notices stretched across most of the month. At a Glance:

• September receipts averaged 1.56 Bcf/d
• Data shows exports steady near 0.94 Mt
• Station 2 averaged about C$1.30/GJ

NFE Targets Year-End Altamira LNG Return After Export Hiatus -- New Fortress Energy (NFE) is maintaining a fourth quarter restart target for its Altamira LNG facility offshore Mexico, keeping a source of US natural gas export demand in focus as Agua Dulce prices trail Henry Hub. NGI chart compares Agua Dulce and Henry Hub daily natural gas spot prices from June to October 2026, showing Agua Dulce consistently trading at a discount. At a Glance:
Altamira restart still targeted this quarter
Agua Dulce discount reaches 61 cents
Turbine lease expected to bolster liquidity

Excelerate’s Bahamas LNG Deal Expands Caribbean Reach as US Supply Grows - Excelerate Energy has secured an 11-year LNG supply agreement supporting a planned Bahamas hub, with initial deliveries expected next year through its Jamaica operations. At a Glance:

• Bahamas agreement anchors planned LNG hub
• US share of Caribbean supplies grows
• Jamaica platform supports initial 2027 deliveries

Q3 2026 Earnings Calls: Chevron Says Venezuela Production Could Double by 2031 | RBN Energy - Chevron is on track to reach roughly 300 Mb/d of gross Venezuelan crude oil production by year-end and double output from its three joint ventures there to about 600 Mb/d by 2031, the company said during its quarterly earnings call October 30. CEO Mike Wirth noted the importance of new fiscal terms and expanded acreage there, and said the development program would be self-funding and extend into the 2030s (see chart below), underpinned by the country’s vast resources. “Total costs are expected to be under $20/bbl, with competitive investment returns, and no major upgrades are needed, as infrastructure has been well-maintained,” Wirth said. “Chevron markets 100% of the crude from the three ventures, with the majority going to U.S. refineries, including Pascagoula and El Segundo, adding to domestic product supply.”Global Q3 production was nearly 4 MMboe/d, despite entitlement impacts and planned maintenance turnarounds, and U.S. upstream output stayed above 2 MMboe/d for the sixth consecutive quarter, which Vice Chairman Mark Nelson said was driving “significant efficiencies,” citing reductions in capex per barrel and drilling-and-completion expenses.Chevron also said it is working toward a final investment decision (FID) for its Project Kilby, a 2.67-GW, behind-the-meter power project in West Texas backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement with Microsoft. Chevron said it is on track to have first power in 2028 and full energization in 2031, but that progress was dependent on permitting.

Europe Faces Lowest Storage Levels Since 2013 as Hormuz Crisis Cuts Global LNG Supply -Ongoing disruptions through the Strait of Hormuz could shrink global LNG supply by 3% this year, the steepest annual decline on record, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).   IEA chart tracks global LNG final investment decisions by country from 2014 through October 2026, highlighting US dominance in new export capacity. At a Glance:
TTF prices surge 70% year/year
Asian LNG prices jump 80%
Global gas demand drops 1.5%

Natural Gas Storage in Europe Still Lagging, Creating Favorable Market for US LNG – Slightly colder forecasts for Europe and Northeast Asia offered modest support for LNG demand Monday, though a largely mild start to winter in both regions leaves weather playing a smaller role than Europe’s below-normal storage. NGI charts compare daily temperatures with historical norms in Northwest Europe, Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo over 365 days through Oct. 30, 2026.  At a Glance:
Europe outlook turns colder
Asia forecast adds heating demand
No Gulf tropical threat seen

European, Asian Natural Gas Prices Slide as Iran Talks Raise Hopes for LNG Relief - Global energy prices fell Monday amid ongoing negotiations to avert renewed fighting between Iran and the United States.NGI's North America LNG Export Flow Tracker shows US LNG feedgas deliveries at 18.44 million Dth Nov. 2, 2026, led by Sabine Pass and Plaquemines.  At a Glance:
Iran offers conditional Strait of Hormuz reopening
Global gas prices at highest since 2022
Freeport LNG disruptions constrain US exports

Russia's oil, gas revenues more than double to $11.9B in October - Russia's oil and natural gas revenues more than doubled in October from the previous month to 971.2 billion rubles ($11.9 billion), according to Finance Ministry data. The ministry's figures showed that revenues rose approximately 114.7% from September, when they stood at around $5.54 billion, compared with $5.2 billion in August. The increase came as energy prices surged amid disruptions to Middle Eastern supplies linked to the Iran war. Brent crude hovered around $115 a barrel in October, while Dutch TTF natural gas futures, Europe's benchmark, traded above €103 ($115.7) per megawatt-hour in late October. Disruptions to shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a major route for global crude oil and liquefied natural gas trade, also added pressure to energy markets. According to the ministry, Russia collected approximately $13.76 billion in mineral extraction tax and $4.39 billion in additional income tax during October. Net oil and gas revenues totaled around $11.9 billion after payments to oil companies and other offsets. Despite the sharp monthly increase, Russia's oil and gas revenues declined 14.07% year-on-year in the January-October period to approximately $78.91 billion, according to the data. Meanwhile, government payments to oil companies under a mechanism designed to stabilize domestic fuel prices rose to approximately $5.08 billion in October from $3.74 billion in September. The mechanism provides compensation from the federal budget when export prices for petroleum products exceed domestic prices, helping maintain fuel supplies in the domestic market and limit price increases.

XRG Snaps Up Shell’s NWS Stake to Support Asia’s ‘Growing Demand’ --XRG, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.’s (ADNOC) investment arm, has agreed to purchase Shell’s interest in the North West Shelf (NWS) project in Western Australia for $1.45 billion.Map of Australia's LNG liquefaction facilities, including Gorgon, Pluto, Ichthys, Darwin, Wheatstone and Queensland Curtis, plus the Wallumbilla gas hub.  At a Glance:
Shell divesting 16.67% stake
Assets near growing Asia-Pacific demand
Shell still plans LNG growth

ADNOC Gas Inks TotalEnergies Deal as Global LNG Business Expands -An affiliate of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) has agreed to supply TotalEnergies with LNG for five years in a deal that expands its relationship with a major US LNG portfolio player and helps build a broader global natural gas business.At a Glance:

• TotalEnergies deal covers 5-year LNG supply
• US investments broaden ADNOC supply options
• Global platform targets greater shipping flexibility

ADNOC Announces Another SPA in Deal Spree Aimed at Building Global Natural Gas Business -Abu Dhabi National Oil Co. (ADNOC) said Friday its investment arm, XRG, would sell India’s Gujarat Energy 4 Mt/y of LNG beginning in 2028. At a Glance:

• First LNG sale from XRG’s global portfolio
• 10-year term with Gujarat
• Prices linked to Henry Hub

PCG responds to oil spill off Mariveles, Bataan — About 25 liters of used oil spilled into the coastal waters of Mariveles, Bataan, on Thursday, November 5, spreading across 500 square meters before the Philippine Coast Guard contained it with booms, the PCG said on Friday, November 6. The PCG said it received a report of the spill at Sitio Naswe in Barangay Ipag at around 9:30 a.m. Thursday. Initial findings traced the oil to "washing activities," the PCG said, though the source remains subject to further verification. By 6:30 p.m., responders had packed 800 kilograms of oil-contaminated debris and spent absorbent materials into 40 sacks, which were placed in temporary storage at a secure site. For Thursday's cleanup, the PCG mobilized seven absorbent booms and 2,200 absorbent pads in coordination with the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office. Cleanup operations are scheduled to resume on Friday, the PCG said. Used oil is classified as hazardous waste under DENR rules implementing Republic Act 6969 or the Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990, which govern how such waste is stored, transported and disposed of. The spill reported yesterday is much smaller than the one from the tanker Terranova, which sank off neighboring Limay in July 2024 with 1.4 million liters of industrial fuel oil and left a slick the PCG measured at 12 to 14 kilometers long.

Singapore deploys oil spill response off Pulau Sebarok - The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) has activated its oil spill response measures after detecting several patches of oil in waters off Pulau Sebarok, Pulau Semakau and Selat Pauh.The authority was alerted to an oil sighting off Pulau Sebarok at approximately 10.25 am on 1 November 2026. Subsequent surveillance confirmed several patches across the affected areas.No oil patches were detected near the West Coast, Sentosa, the Southern Islands or East Coast during the surveillance operation. The MPA has mobilised its oil spill response contractors and instructed terminals in the area to deploy their own response resources. Relevant agencies have also been alerted to take precautionary measures to protect shorelines if required.  Ships operating in the port have been asked to report any further sightings of oil. The authority confirmed that the incident has not affected navigational traffic or port operations. The MPA is continuing aerial surveillance and coordinating with government agencies and terminal operators to contain and clean up the oil. An investigation into the source of the spill is also underway.

UAE Planning Third Oil Pipeline To Bypass Hormuz Chokepoint Mess - The United Arab Emirates currently operates one crude export pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz and announced earlier this year that it was building a second. A third pipeline is reportedly being planned to further expand crude capacity and reroute energy flows around Hormuz, reducing exposure to Iranian disruption and weakening Tehran's leverage over the critical maritime chokepoint. Bloomberg reported Wednesday morning that Abu Dhabi’s state-owned energy giant, Abu Dhabi National Oil Co., is weighing plans for a third pipeline from the UAE’s western coast to Fujairah on its eastern coast that could supply Asian customers and bypass Hormuz. "Adnoc has been telling some customers in Asia about the pipeline, other people familiar with the matter said. The plans haven’t been finalized and could still change, including the route, a number of the people said," the outlet reported. The new pipeline would build on the UAE's existing pipeline, which has operated since 2012 and stretches 252 miles from Habshan in Abu Dhabi to Fujairah on the Gulf of Oman. That pipeline has a capacity of 1.5 million barrels a day, expandable to 1.8 million. Earlier this year, the UAE announced the West-East Pipeline, expected to begin operations in 2027 and double export capacity through Fujairah. Notably, Fujairah sits outside the Hormuz chokepoint, allowing tankers to load crude without entering the Persian Gulf. An ADNOC spokesperson responded to the outlet's request for comment: “We have advised Bloomberg that this report is not accurate and purely speculative.” Beyond the UAE, the biggest story of the year has been other US-allied Gulf countries expanding pipeline routes around Hormuz, including Saudi Arabia, while Kuwait is proposing new pipelines. Taken together, these projects could erode Iran's leverage over Gulf flows, which has also clearly carried into US politics, with a Democratic sweep in the midterms.

As high oil prices curb demand, fresh signs of glut appear - The global oil market is showing signs of a ​return to excess supply as demand drops due to high prices, analysts and traders said, despite the lack of a resolution to ‌the Iran war, which has disrupted exports from the Middle East since March. The market was widely expected at the start of 2026 to be in a surplus, but the outbreak of the Iran war in late February led to what the International Energy Agency called the world's biggest ever supply disruption and cut Middle East exports, overturning the surplus projections. Banks and government forecasters have cut ​global oil demand forecasts in 2026 in part due to high prices. As supplies recover, weak demand is helping the market to balance. Recovering Middle Eastern oil flows, rising production from other countries and weak demand have pushed global ⁠supply above consumption once again, JP Morgan said in a report. "We estimate the global oil market returned to a surplus of 1.1 million barrels per day ​in September, widening to 1.4 million bpd in October, nearly matching last year’s average of 1.3 million bpd," the bank said. Global crude oil imports in October rose ​above average 2025 levels, the bank said, while demand lags. The Iran war prompted the IEA to arrange a record release of oil from industrialised nations' strategic reserves, and has drawn down commercial inventories. However, Goldman Sachs estimates that global stocks did not decline in September to October after falling sizeably in the ​months following the start of the Iran war. Goldman Sachs estimates the global liquids market was broadly balanced in the September-October period, in contrast to the deficit in March Goldman Sachs estimates the global liquids market was broadly balanced in the September-October period, in contrast to the deficit in March Goldman sees the market as broadly balanced in the September-October period, compared to a deficit in March this year. ​A marginal surplus from last year, an uptick in production outside the Gulf, along with a decline in demand helped balance the market, the bank said. Both banks also pointed to an uptick of oil flows from the Middle East since the early months of the war. Oil shipments from the region edged lower in October from September's levels, which were the highest since the Iran war started. Two ship-tracking firms said the October figures could be revised upwards as more details on shipments emerge. Crude and condensate exports from the Gulf averaged 14 million bpd in October, or about 86% of pre-war levels, while refined product exports averaged ​3.1 million bpd, or just over half ​of normal volumes, ship-tracking firm Vortexa ⁠said. In a sign of a short-term surplus of supply in the physical market, the price curve of Brent swaps, called contracts for differences, has moved. The contract for delivery this week is trading ​below that for the following week and at the steepest discount since July, according to LSEG data. The prices ​of the second- and ⁠third-week contracts are also trading at a discount to the next week. This market structure is called contango and generally reflects a perception that supply for immediate delivery is ample.

Oil prices fall over 4% as US-Iran peace talks raise hopes of easing Middle East supply disruptions | Hindustan Times - Oil prices fell more than 4% on Monday, November 2, as hopes of a possible peace deal between the United States and Iran reduced fears of further disruptions to oil supplies from the Middle East. Investors reacted to reports of diplomatic talks between Iranian and Qatari officials aimed at ending the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran. Iranian negotiators have held talks with Qatari mediators to discuss ways to end the war involving the United States. The Iranian negotiators have now left the discussions, while a draft proposal is being circulated. Another meeting could take place to continue the discussions, an official familiar with the talks said on Monday. Oil market investors are watching the talks closely because any progress towards ending the conflict could help restore the flow of oil from the Middle East. "The new month brought with it renewed hopes of a breakthrough in the Iranian stalemate," said Tamas Varga of oil broker PVM, according to Reuters. Brent crude futures dropped by $4.79, or 4.2%, to $108.64 per barrel by 1020 GMT on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude also fell by $4.41, or 4.2%, to $99.71 per barrel. Brent crude ended October at its highest level in six months. Prices had increased because investors feared that the conflict between the United States and Iran could become more serious after Tuesday's US midterm elections. These concerns had raised fears of further disruptions to oil supplies. Hopes of diplomatic progress and the absence of any major military escalation over the weekend have reduced some of the immediate pressure on oil prices. "Lingering hopes of some form of diplomatic progress, combined with the absence of any meaningful military escalation over the weekend, have taken some of the immediate heat out of prices for now," said Tim Waterer, chief market analyst at KCM Trade, according to Reuters. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Sunday that talks with Qatari mediators were continuing and making progress. He said the purpose of the discussions was to continue consultations with Qatar. Araqchi also said Tehran was prepared for "both defence and diplomacy", according to Reuters. The peace discussions come after a recent increase in attacks on oil tankers travelling through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway is an important route for global oil shipments. Any disruption to shipping through the strait can affect the amount of oil reaching international markets and push prices higher. There are also signs that oil shipments from some major producers are increasing. Saudi Arabia exported more crude oil in October than in September, despite attacks by Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthi forces on its energy infrastructure. Two out of three ship-tracking companies reported the increase. The Iran war has reduced global oil inventories. Nearly 1 billion barrels of oil have been taken out of worldwide stockpiles since the war disrupted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz. This was disclosed by the chief executive of Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil company ADNOC, according to Reuters. Despite Monday's fall, some analysts believe oil prices could increase further because of continuing supply risks. Goldman Sachs raised its oil price forecasts on Sunday. The bank warned that Brent crude could reach $140 per barrel in 2027 if oil production in the Gulf region remains 3.5 million barrels per day below its 2025 average. Goldman Sachs said further attacks on shipping, damage to oil infrastructure and continued fears of supply disruptions could increase oil prices. These risks could keep an additional premium in oil prices even if diplomatic talks continue, according to Reuters.

Oil Sinks 6% as Hormuz Diplomacy Gathers Momentum (DTN) -- Crude oil futures tumbled 6% Monday morning as talks between Iranian negotiators and Qatari mediators sparked hopes for a diplomatic deal to halt the U.S.-Israeli military campaign against Iran, easing immediate risk premiums across the energy complex. By 9:12 a.m. EST, NYMEX WTI crude for December delivery fell $6.58, or 6.34%, to $97.54 bbl. The session low was $97.12. ICE Brent for January delivery moved down $6.85, or 6.02%, to $106.58 bbl after an intraday bottom at $105.86. Both WTI and Brent ended October trading up 15% on Friday, their highest since July, on fears that military operations could re-escalate in the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Despite Monday's selloff, major financial institutions warn that upside risk remains significant. Market participants noted that while talks continue in Doha, the underlying market remains tightly balanced due to depleted inventories and maritime security threats. "Intensified shipping attacks, damage to oil infrastructure, and a more persistent risk premium remain the key triggers of potential upside," Goldman Sachs said in a note, raising its Brent forecast to $140 bbl by 2027 if Middle East production remained constrained by 3.5 million bpd below 2025 baseline levels. Among refined products, NYMEX ULSD for December delivery eased $0.1976, or 4.29%, to $4.4785 gallon. It fell to as low as $4.4264 earlier. RBOB for December retreated $0.1936, or 6.16%, to $2.9629 gallon. The bottom for the day was $2.9356. The U.S. Dollar Index slid 0.275 points to 101.470 against a basket of currencies. The retreat in crude and product futures came as Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi confirmed Sunday that Tehran remains engaged in consultations with Qatari intermediaries, emphasizing that Iran is fully prepared for "both defense and diplomacy" as discussions proceed. The diplomatic push follows an elevated concentration of attacks on commercial tankers attempting passage through the Strait of Hormuz, though regional trade flows have shown mixed signals. Ship-tracking data indicated that Saudi Arabia managed to increase crude export volumes in October relative to September, even as Iran-aligned Houthi forces launched repeated strikes against kingdom energy infrastructure. Global petroleum inventories have taken a severe hit since hostilities erupted in late February, with total commercial and strategic stocks draining by nearly 1 billion bbl as Strait of Hormuz transport bottlenecks persisted.

Oil drops 7% as Iran signals openness to peace talks  (Reuters) - Oil prices fell ​more than 7% on Monday as talks between Iranian and Qatari officials lifted hopes for an end ‌to the US-Israeli war with Iran and stabilization of Middle East crude supply. Brent crude futures settled $8.66, or 7.63%, lower to $104.77 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude was down $7.66, or 7.36%, at $96.46. The session low for Brent was $103.28 and for WTI it was $95.15, with some analysts citing hopes for ​a diplomatic breakthrough after Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had granted the government certain authorities ​for peace talks. Pezeshkian added Tehran "will try to resolve the problem with dialogue", without elaborating, according to ⁠state media. The country's negotiators held days of talks with Qatari mediators aimed at ending the war. Brent ended October at its highest ​in six months on concerns that the Middle East conflict could escalate again after Tuesday's US midterm elections. US President Donald Trump on ​Monday said that Iran wants to make a deal to end the war and that such an agreement "could happen." On Monday evening, Qatari mediators traveled to Tehran for talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on a potential US-Iran deal. Signs of progress in US-Iran talks pushed oil prices lower, Raymond ​James analyst Pavel Molchanov said, noting, however, that skepticism is warranted after many "false dawns” over the past several months. Brent ended ​October at its highest in six months on concerns that the Middle East conflict could escalate again after Tuesday's US midterm elections. "The oil market is ‌still ⁠reacting with extreme sensitivity to every headline out of the Middle East," UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo said. "While fears of an imminent escalation pushed prices up last week, they have dropped sharply at the start of this week as diplomatic talks between the US and Iran continue," he added. The talks followed a recent increase in attacks on oil tankers passing the Strait of Hormuz, though ​there have also been signs of ​shipments rising from some ⁠major exporters. Saudi Arabia's crude exports increased in October from September, two of three ship-tracking companies said, despite attacks by Iran-aligned Yemeni Houthis on its energy infrastructure. The outbreak of the Iran war at ​the end of February has depleted oil stocks. The world has drained nearly 1 billion barrels ​from inventories since ⁠the war disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, said Sultan Al Jaber, chief executive of ADNOC, Abu Dhabi's state-owned oil company. Oil could rise further, some analysts said. Goldman Sachs on Sunday, citing elevated supply, and said Brent could jump to $140 in 2027 if Gulf ⁠oil output ​remains 3.5 million barrels per day below its 2025 average. "Intensified shipping attacks, damage ​to oil infrastructure, and a more persistent risk premium remain the key triggers of potential upside," the bank said in a report.

Oil Prices Rise After Reports of Explosions on Iran’s Qeshm Island - Oil prices climbed by more than 1.5 percent early on Nov. 3 after reports of explosions on Iran’s Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude futures rose by $1.84, or 1.76 percent, to $106.61 a barrel by 2:44 a.m. ET, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude gained $1.60, or 1.66 percent, to $98.06. Earlier on Nov. 2, Iranian ​state media IRNA reported several explosions on Qeshm ‌Island, the biggest island in the Persian Gulf. U.S. President Donald Trump on Nov. 3 confirmed U.S. strikes on an Iranian anti-aircraft facility on the night of Nov. 2. Speaking to Fox News’s “Fox & Friends,” Trump said the U.S. military hit the facility shortly after its completion. “They have no airplanes. They have no anti-aircraft. We took some out last night. It’s just a minor attack. It wasn’t war,” Trump said. “They built an anti-aircraft facility. It took them about two months. We watched it get built, as soon as it was completed, we hit it last night very nicely.” Asked about the reported explosions on Qeshm Island, a U.S. official told The Epoch Times that Trump “has all options available at any time.” “The United States is in a very strong position with control of the Strait of Hormuz and the Iranian economy collapsing. President Trump holds all the cards and will do whatever is best for the United States,” the U.S. official said. Oil prices rebounded after a sharp sell-off on Nov. 2. A barrel of West Texas Intermediate declined by 7.24 percent to $96.58 at 12:28 p.m. ET on Nov. 2. Global Brent prices also fell by 7.49 percent to about $104.93 a barrel in overseas trading. On Nov. 2, Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that oil prices were “dropping like a rock” because markets believed that war with Iran could be avoided. “Iran wants a settlement, as soon as possible. It could happen!” he wrote. Over the weekend, Trump said that negotiations with Iran were going fine and that he was not “in much of a hurry” to reach an agreement, while maintaining that military action remained an option after the U.S. midterm elections. Trump also said Washington still needed to address one or two remaining Iranian nuclear sites, including the suspected underground nuclear facility at Pickaxe Mountain. Iranian officials said on Nov. 2 that indirect diplomatic contacts with the United States were continuing but described the issues under discussion as highly complicated. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei said Iran would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz unless Washington lifted the naval blockade imposed in July. Maritime security risks remain high in the Strait of Hormuz despite a modest recovery in shipping activity. On Nov. 1, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency said it had received a report that a vessel had been struck by an unidentified projectile in the Strait of Hormuz after another ship relayed a mayday call. UKMTO advised vessels to transit with caution while authorities investigated. According to S&P Global Commodities at Sea, vessel traffic through the Strait reached its highest monthly level since July in October, supported by stronger liquefied natural gas and dry-bulk movements despite lower crude tanker volumes. The Nov. 2 report said the operating environment had become increasingly volatile, citing reported projectile strikes, vessel fires, and other security incidents throughout October. International Maritime Organization Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said there had been about 30 attacks during the month—among the highest monthly totals recorded. While Iranian aerial attacks continued to pose risks to shipping, Dominguez warned that uncertainty over the possible presence of naval mines remained a major concern. “I cannot guarantee that it’s safe,” he told reporters on Nov. 2. “That’s why we are not recommending anyone to go through the Strait of Hormuz.” Despite the heightened security environment, S&P Global data showed total observed and estimated vessel transits through Hormuz edged up to 750 in October from 749 in September, although very large crude carrier movements declined to 156 from 184 during the same period.

Oil prices fluctuate after US strikes on Iran’s Qeshm Island --Oil prices dropped on Tuesday evening following a sharp rise in the morning after reports of a US strike on Iran’s Qeshm Island revived concerns about an escalation of the conflict and further disruption at the Strait of Hormuz. Brent, the benchmark for two thirds of the world’s oil, was trading 1.72 per cent lower at $102.97 a barrel at 6:16pm UAE time. West Texas Intermediate, the gauge that tracks US crude, was down 1.03 per cent to 95.47 a barrel. Both benchmarks rose sharply earlier in the day, with Brent reaching nearly $107 a barrel. The gains followed a sharp slide on Monday, when both Brent and WTI plunged more than 7 per cent. US forces struck Iran’s Qeshm Island on Monday night, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday. The WSJ cited US officials, who described the attacks as defensive measures aimed at preventing Iran from targeting commercial vessels in the strait. Iranian state media said there were several explosions on the island, which is at the mouth of Hormuz. It was the ​latest in a series of limited attacks carried out by the US in recent weeks, the WSJ report said. Smaller scale strikes have been carried out and kept secret to avoid indicating any US intent to resume its major military campaign against Iran, the report added. “Overnight US strikes renewed uncertainty, leaving crude near $105 per barrel this morning and the diplomatic opening vulnerable,” said Daniel Richards, senior economist at Emirates NBD. The latest military action comes as the US goes to the polls on Tuesday for midterm elections. It also puts the focus back on the risk of supply disruption, a day after US President Donald Trump reportedly said he wanted to give diplomacy with Iran more time before considering renewed military strikes. “For oil, the decisive question will be whether the midterm elections can align the political pieces to pave the way for more normal supply conditions – or push that prospect further away,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior analyst at Swissquote. “The clearest downside scenario for crude is credible de-escalation of geopolitical tensions followed by improving supply flows. The clearest upside scenario is renewed disruption while inventories continue absorbing the shortfall.” While the US midterms could change expectations rapidly, “they cannot, by themselves, reopen shipping routes, repair damaged infrastructure or reverse the AI impact on broader economies”, she added. The Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route connecting the Gulf to global markets, carried about a fifth of the world's crude oil and natural gas supplies before the conflict began in late February. Oil prices hit a six-month high at the end of October on Hormuz strikes and the probability of the conflict escalating again after the midterm elections. "Energy prices have been at lofty levels for a while, at least from our perspective. Oil trading above $100 and European natural gas above €90 is difficult to reconcile with current market realities," said Norbert Rucker, head of economics and next generation research at Julius Baer. "We are in an extraordinarily noisy week due to the midterms, and in a phase where the complex energy supply chains are normalising. Given this setting, today’s exceptional market fever and wild price swings should not come as a surprise. We maintain our cautious view on oil."

Oil Dips in Volatile Trade Amid US Election Jitters (DTN) -- Crude oil futures fell again Tuesday, reversing early gains, as caution over the outcome of the U.S. midterm election offset fresh geopolitical tensions in the Gulf after a U.S. military strike on Iran's Qeshm Island. Refined product prices, however, rebounded on concerns over tighter supplies. With the ruling Republican party's majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate at stake, energy traders were rethinking their exposure to crude futures on concerns over post-election policy shifts, military developments and potential changes in foreign policy strategy regarding Iran, analysts said. By 9:04 a.m. EST, NYMEX WTI crude for December delivery fell $1.38, or 1.46%, to $95.08 bbl. The session high was $98.82. ICE Brent for January delivery moved down $2.22, or 2.17%, to $102.55 bbl. It reached as high as $107.24 earlier in the day. Market anxiety had spiked earlier in the session after reports indicated the U.S. carried out a targeted strike on Qeshm Island -- a strategic landmass situated directly in the Strait of Hormuz -- as part of ongoing limited military actions in the region. Conflicting geopolitical cues persist around the Gulf as U.S. President Donald Trump indicated he did not plan a post-election strike. Meanwhile, Israel -- which joined Washington in an intensive bombing campaign of Iran earlier this year -- advocates for more decisive action against Tehran. The latest U.S. attack, while muted, also raised questions about Iran's response in a war that seemed to be waning just a day ago after Iranian officials signaled willingness to reopen unhindered commercial transit through the Hormuz. That speculation had led to a 7% selloff in WTI and Brent Monday, Nov. 2, driving refined product prices down too. In Tuesday's downstream trade on NYMEX, ULSD for December delivery climbed $0.0390, or 0.99%, to $4.4606 gallon. It peaked at $4.6010 during the session. RBOB for December advanced $0.0095, or 0.35%, to $2.9096 gallon. The high for the morning was $2.9831. The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.066 points to 101.690 against a basket of currencies.

Oil Prices Fall as Market Weighs Renewed Middle East Supply Fears - The oil market sold off further on Tuesday after the market weighed renewed supply fears after the U.S. struck Iran’s Qeshm Island late Monday against a statement made by President Donald Trump regarding U.S. military support for Israel. The crude market rebounded in overnight trading in light of the news that the U.S. struck Qeshm Island in a “defensive” strike. The market was also supported after an Iranian official said that Iran and the U.S. remained far from reaching a deal to end their war amid continuing efforts to narrow remaining gaps. The oil market traded to a high of $98.82 in early morning trading. However, the market quickly erased its gains and sold off to a low of $93.59 by mid-morning after President Trump said that the U.S. was ending billions of dollars of annual military support to Israel. The market later consolidated its trading ahead of the close. The December WTI contract settled down 37 cents at $96.09 and the January Brent contract settled down $1.17 at $103.60. The product markets ended the session higher, with the heating oil market settling up 1.09 cents at $4.5306 and the RB market settling up 3.54 cents at $2.9355. According to ship-tracking data, Gulf oil exports fell in October from September’s levels, which were the highest level since the Iran war started. Vortexa data showed that flows of crude, condensate and refined products, excluding LPG, averaged 17.1 million bpd in October. That marks a decline from 18.9 million bpd in September but still represents roughly three-quarters of pre-war levels. Meanwhile, Kpler data showed a drop in shipments, with crude and condensate flows down about 1 million bpd from September. Bloomberg reported that Middle East oil market metrics are indicating that near-term supply is outpacing demand for the first time since July, when global prices fell after a temporary U.S.-Iran ceasefire allowed tankers to traverse the Strait of Hormuz. It said the nearest time spread for the Dubai benchmark, which helps set pricing for almost all the crude exported from the region, was in a bearish contango structure at the start of the week. Barclays maintained its Brent price forecasts for 2026 and 2027, and said oil markets may be underestimating upside price risks as optimism over U.S.-Iran talks shows little evidence of a significant diplomatic breakthrough. The bank maintained its Brent crude forecasts at $100/barrel for 2026 and $85/barrel for 2027, signaling confidence that fundamentals remain supportive despite recent volatility. Saudi Aramco’s CEO, Amin Nasser, said the company will maximize oil production this quarter as it looks to keep increasing shipments from the near-prewar levels seen in October. He said Aramco is exploring the expansion of a crude pipeline that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz. He said that Aramco was exploring additional export routes and overseas storage capacity, including a potential expansion of the East-West Pipeline that carries Saudi crude to export hubs on the Red Sea. The pipeline, which has been attacked several times throughout the U.S.-Iran war, has the capacity to carry up to 7 million bpd of oil.

Goldman Raises Oil Price Forecast for December as War Risks Cloud 2027 Outlook - --Goldman Sachs raised its oil price forecasts for December and 2027, warning that Middle East and Russia-Ukraine conflicts threaten global supplies and make it hard to predict a lasting easing of energy market tensions. The investment bank now expects Brent crude, the international benchmark, to reach $105 a barrel in December, up from its previous forecast of $90. It also raised its December forecast for West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, to $94 a barrel. The revisions reflect growing concern that geopolitical instability will keep oil markets exposed to interruptions. For 2027, Goldman lifted its average Brent forecast to $88 a barrel from $80, a 10% increase. Its WTI forecast rose to $78 from $73, an increase of approximately 6.8%. The central reason for the higher estimates is a change in how Goldman accounts for potential supply losses. Rather than assuming that oil production and deliveries will proceed without significant interruptions, the bank has incorporated a disruption allowance into its main forecast. "The Mideast and Russia-Ukraine conflicts, alongside broader geopolitical fragmentation, create high disruption risk," Goldman said in a note led by strategist Daan Struyven. "With the timing and location of disruptions nearly impossible to predict, our base case now includes a 1mb/d global supply disruption allowance in 2027," the bank added. That allowance represents 1 million barrels a day. It is an assumption built into Goldman's outlook, rather than a prediction that a particular producer will lose that amount of supply on a specific date. That way, Goldman does not need to identify the next disruption precisely to conclude that the overall risk warrants higher price forecasts. Several unresolved conflicts can increase the possibility of supply losses, even when the nature of any individual interruption remains uncertain. The revised outlook also reflects a higher geopolitical risk premium, according to the note. Traders are assigning greater weight to the possibility that diplomatic efforts will struggle to produce a durable breakthrough. In oil markets, a risk premium means prices can reflect the threat of future shortages before those shortages materialize. Buyers and sellers factor potential disruptions into their decisions, alongside available supply and expected demand. Consequently, expectations about negotiations and military developments can influence prices even without an immediate change in production. Goldman's December Brent revision is particularly large, with a $15 increase, or approximately 16.7%, from its previous estimate. That adjustment signals a more expensive near-term outlook than the bank had previously anticipated. However, the forecasts still point to lower average prices next year than Goldman expects in December. Its $88 Brent estimate for 2027 sits $17 below its December projection, while the $78 WTI forecast is $16 lower.

Oil prices dip slightly amid anticipation of US election results and regional talks -– Oil prices dipped slightly in early trading on Wednesday as investors awaited the results of the U.S. midterm congressional elections and their potential implications for Middle East peace talks. This occurred despite a larger-than-expected decline in U.S. crude inventories. Brent crude futures fell by 26 cents, or 0.25%, to $103.34 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude dropped by 53 cents, or 0.55%, to $95.56 per barrel.   Markets are closely monitoring developments in negotiations aimed at ending the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, amid persistent mediation efforts by Qatar to bridge the gaps between the parties. Meanwhile, an Iranian official has stated that Tehran and Washington remain far from reaching a final agreement that would resolve the ongoing conflict and ensure stable energy flows. Separately, data from the American Petroleum Institute (API) showed a decline in crude oil inventories by approximately 5.27 million barrels for the week ending October 30, reflecting sustained strong demand within the domestic market. Meanwhile, gasoline inventories rose by approximately 1.43 million barrels, while stocks of distillates—including diesel—fell by about 1.19 million barrels. This highlights the divergence in consumption rates across various petroleum products. A sense of anticipation persists in global energy markets, as traders weigh the pressures of political uncertainty—stemming from the U.S. congressional elections and geopolitical developments in the Middle East—against the decline in U.S. inventories, which provides support to prices and helps curb any sharp downturns.

Oil prices slide as Trump's midterm defeat rattles markets and sends dollar lower - The US dollar and global oil prices weakened on Wednesday as markets reacted to a heavy midterm election defeat for President Donald Trump, with the Democrats taking control of Congress. Democrats seized control of both houses in a landslide victory that gives them the power to block legislation, launch investigations into Trump's administration and thwart his judicial and senior government appointments. “Investors are trying to get their heads around what a Democrat landslide means for financial markets,” noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell. “The big risk is uncertainty around how Trump could act in the coming months following such a result.” Oil prices moved lower on Wednesday, with Brent North Sea crude falling 1.2% to $102.36 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) dropping 0.8% to $95.42. The declines came as investors assessed the implications of the Democrats' midterm election victory for US policy and the potential for political gridlock under President Donald Trump. The dollar sank against other major currencies amid fears that the election outcome could lead to political gridlock in the US, after Trump warned that he would become “Mr Veto”. Technology firms also slumped amid suggestions that Democrats could prioritise AI regulation. But European stock markets posted gains in Wednesday morning trading. London, Frankfurt and Paris all rose by more than 1% as investors brushed off official data showing eurozone inflation reaching a three-year high of 4.0%. This followed a largely solid performance by equities across Asia, although Tokyo ended lower as its technology sector struggled. Tens of millions of Americans voted in the crucial midterm elections, which were widely seen as a referendum on the White House, amid growing anger over soaring petrol prices, the impact of tariffs and the Iran war. Chris Weston, an analyst at broker Pepperstone, stressed that Trump retained “considerable executive authority”, meaning the possible impact of the election result was “far from straightforward”. Bond yields avoided the volatility seen recently, while gold benefited from its status as a safe-haven investment. Aside from the US election, investors continued to monitor third-quarter earnings. BMW said on Wednesday it would step up planned job cuts after reporting a drop in third-quarter profit, hit by cutthroat competition and falling demand in China, the world's largest car market. Google, meanwhile, said it planned to invest $15 billion in Malaysia over the next two years to build data centres and other infrastructure.

US Diesel Supplies Slump To 23-Year Lows; Oil Prices Lower After Trump's Comments, SPR Drain - Oil prices extended losses this morning as investors weighed the Democratic sweep of Congress in the Midterms and what it means for President Trump's approach to Iran, amid uncertainty over whether Washington will pursue diplomacy or renew military strikes. Specifically, the results could introduce additional constraints on Trump's agenda, particularly around funding overseas military operations and other foreign policy commitments. Additionally, Qatar said Tuesday that mediation between Washington and Tehran was continuing, with both sides reviewing proposals exchanged through intermediaries, and for now, Trump said he had no immediate plans for launching more strikes on Iran. “We’re locked and loaded if we need to go, but there may be no reason for it,” he said in an interview with the Financial Times. But for now, all eyes are on the inventory and supply data... DOE

• Crude -865k
• Cushing +280k
• Gasoline -222k
• Distillates -3.565mm

Crude stocks fell for the fifth straight week while Distillates inventories plunged... Diesel supplies plunged back below 100mm barrels for the first time since 2003... The draw in commercial crude stockpiles was boosted by another 399,000 barrels withdrawn from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That increased the overall nationwide crude draw to 1.26 million barrels in the week to Oct. 30. A total of 133 million barrels of crude has been taken out of the SPR since late March under a program to release 172 million barrels as part of a relief plan coordinated by the International Energy Agency aimed at lowering energy costs. Crude production edged up last week to top 14 million barrels a day for the first time in weekly data going back to 1983. The small increase came as the number of rigs drilling for oil rose again, with two units put into operation, according to Baker Hughes. The company’s estimate of active US oil rigs stood at 462 on Friday. WTI is off the lows of the day but still down notably overnight... Finally, for oil traders, the more immediate question is whether Washington will pursue a diplomatic agreement with Tehran or launch another round of military strikes. “The next 72 hours will be critical for determining whether the recent renewed diplomatic momentum translates into genuine improvement in energy market chaos, or if it is simply another short-lived correction,” said Emily Ashford, head of energy research at Standard Chartered. “The election doesn’t guarantee de-escalation.” ING analysts Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey said the market has increasingly priced in the risk of further hostilities between the U.S. and Iran. If the elections pass without a fresh military escalation or a diplomatic breakthrough, traders will have to assess whether the geopolitical risk premium embedded in oil prices can be sustained or is likely to unwind, they said. “The big question now is what lies ahead on the foreign policy front and specifically the Middle East crisis,” said Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodity strategy at Saxo Bank AS. “The market seems to be betting Trump wants to put it behind him, raising the prospect for some sort of deal.”

Oil prices fall on Vance's post-midterms Iran war repudiation - Oil prices extended their sharp selloff on Wednesday as fears that President Donald Trump would launch fresh military strikes on Iran eased a day after Republicans were dealt a sharp defeat in the midterm elections.Trump has previewed for weeks that he may try to “finish the job” with another round of strikes on Iran. But the scale of the GOP losses has turned even Vice President JD Vance against the idea as voters delivered a sharp repudiation of the war’s impact on prices at the pump.The U.S. benchmark oil price slipped $6 a barrel on Wednesday after Vance blamed the administration’s war for its losses at the ballot box, bringing the decline to more than $16 since last Thursday. Still, the sharp selloff came too late to help Republicans, who lost their control of the House and Senate Tuesday in an election that focused heavily on cost of living issues.“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance posted on X Wednesday morning. He also praised Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy for advocating a “diplomatic resolution to the conflict.”A round of promising negotiations in the Middle East earlier this week initiated the pullback in oil prices, with both Iranian and U.S. officials playing up the prospects of a deal. The situation remains highly volatile, however, as the U.S. conducted limited strikes on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz as recently as Monday.The Treasury Department also announced new sanctions Wednesday on Indian and Turkish entities it said were continuing to support Iran.“As we have said many times, under Operation Economic Outcast, you are either with us or against us,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement. “We know where you are, and we will sanction those who continue supporting the Iranian regime, whether by land, sea, or air.”Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said that high oil prices were probably the “primary reason” for Republicans’ midterm losses, but defended his decision to attack Iran.“If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again because long term, it’s the only answer — you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” he said, adding that there is “tremendous oil” flowing out of the Strait of Hormuz.In an interview with POLITICO late Tuesday, Trump left the door open to further strikes. “We’re going to take a look, and if we see any opportunity to do one thing or another, we’ll do it,” he said.A renewed military campaign against Iran would come as the supply buffers that have kept a relative lid on oil prices are eroding. The Energy Information Administration reported Wednesday that U.S. diesel inventories fell by another 3.6 million barrels last week and are 13 percent below the five-year average for this time of year.Claudio Galimberti, chief economist at the consultancy Rystad Energy, said in a research note that the Democratic sweep “changes the political cost of continuing the Iran war.”“With both chambers now capable of passing resolutions, holding back war funding and delaying confirmations, the administration faces a shorter political runway and greater institutional pressure to find a Hormuz deal,” Galimberti said.

Oil slumps after midterm election rebuke to Trump raises bets on Iran war exit (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 8% to settle at their lowest ​in more than two months on Wednesday after President Donald Trump's Republican Party lost control of Congress in midterm elections, as investors bet ‌that the shift in power could hasten the end of the US-Israeli war with Iran. Brent futures settled $8.98, or 8.7% lower, at $94.62 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell $7.97, or 8.3%, to $88.12. Both benchmarks closed at their lowest since Aug 31. Trump now faces a choice between a negotiated exit and a riskier escalation. A weakened Trump, facing ​a Democratic Congress able to constrain his military options, has greater incentive to seek a deal, said two sources close to Gulf government ​circles. A full-scale assault on Iran now looks less likely, they said. Yet an agreement that allows Iran to claim clear ⁠victory and leaves Trump looking defeated can provoke recklessness as readily as restraint, Gulf analysts said. Trump told the Financial Times on Tuesday that the United ​States had no immediate plans to strike Iran, and on Wednesday acknowledged that the Iran war had played a role in his party's sweeping defeat in the midterm ​elections, as Democrats won control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. "The Democratic control of Congress could also tighten US military spending in the Middle East and further heighten the possibility of a peace deal sooner than later," said Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at US financial services firm BOK Financial. He said that larger crude oil ​exports out of the Middle East, and Trump's comments that he has no immediate plans to strike Iran, is adding to pressure on crude prices. US ​Vice President JD Vance distanced himself from the decision to go to war on Wednesday, questioning its worth and blaming it entirely for a stinging electoral rebuke by voters ‌that delivered ⁠control of Congress to Democrats. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a written statement that US hostility would persist regardless of which party was in power. Yemen's Houthis said they had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities. Qatar stepped up mediation efforts to avert a renewed escalation of attacks after the US elections. A senior Iranian official told Reuters on Tuesday that Iran and the United States remain far ​from a deal to end their war. "The ​elections are giving bears a ⁠reason to cast doubt on a continuation in Iran ... I'm more concerned that we can see an escalation in Iran sooner than a resolution," said Carl Larry, who leads the trading and North America risk team at Enverus. Gulf exports ​of crude, condensate and refined products, excluding liquefied petroleum gas, averaged 17.1 million barrels per day in October, according to ​ship tracking data ⁠from Vortexa, down from 18.9 million bpd in September but still roughly three-quarters of pre-war levels. The United Arab Emirates is considering building a third oil pipeline that would deliver crude outside the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, as the country aims to sharply reduce its dependence on the waterway. In ⁠the US, ​crude stocks, gasoline and distillate inventories fell last week, the Energy Information Administration said. Crude inventories fell ​by 865,000 barrels to 409.8 million barrels in the week ended October 30, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for an 877,000-barrel rise.

Oil Prices Slide for Fourth Straight Day as Democratic Midterm Sweep Fuels Bets on Diplomatic End to Iran War — Oil prices fell for a fourth straight session on Thursday, extending a steep selloff as traders bet that Democrats' sweeping midterm victories will increase pressure on President Donald Trump to wind down the U.S. war with Iran. Brent futures fell 97 cents, or 1.03%, to $93.65 a barrel as of 0211 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down $1.14, or 1.29%, to $86.98. The decline followed a dramatic drop on Wednesday. Both benchmarks tumbled by more than 8% in the previous session to settle at their lowest since Aug. 31. WTI posted its biggest loss since May. Traders linked the selloff directly to the political shift in Washington. Prices fell on expectations that the losses Trump's Republican Party suffered in congressional elections may reduce the risk of further escalation of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. The White House itself connected the war to the election results. Markets increasingly priced in an end to the Iran war after the White House linked Republicans' midterm losses to the conflict, with Washington and Tehran signaling openness to negotiations. Trump told reporters that Iran wants "to make a deal and that could happen." Trump and Vice President JD Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republican Party's electoral setback, as rising living costs linked to the conflict reportedly contributed to voter dissatisfaction. A Democratic Congress could also restrict war funding. Dennis Kissler, senior vice president of trading at BOK Financial, said the new balance of power could tighten U.S. military spending in the Middle East and "further heighten the possibility of a peace deal sooner rather than later." The decline marks a striking turnaround. Brent had traded near $118 last Friday before the downturn. Energy traders, who had built geopolitical risk premiums into prices through October, quickly unwound speculative long positions, pushing crude down by more than 14% across the week. Supply data also weighed on prices. JPMorgan estimates the oil market returned to a surplus of 1.1 million barrels per day in September, widening to 1.4 million bpd in October. The drop was welcomed by oil-importing economies. Indian stock benchmarks surged in early trade Thursday amid the sharp decline in crude prices and hopes for a resolution to the conflict. Geojit Investments strategist V.K. Vijayakumar said the sharp fall in Brent was the strongest positive for the market. Not all analysts expect prices to stay low. Asked whether prices were likely to remain lower after the election, Mukesh Sahdev, CEO of energy consultancy XAnalysts, said, "The short answer is no." Risks to supply remain in the region. Gulf exports of crude, condensate and refined products averaged 17.1 million barrels per day in October, roughly three-quarters of prewar levels, according to Vortexa ship-tracking data. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said U.S. hostility would persist regardless of which party is in power. Some forecasters still see elevated prices ahead. Trading Economics models expect Brent to trade at $116.80 a barrel by the end of the quarter. Investors will watch for any formal talks between Washington and Tehran, as well as weekly U.S. inventory data, for further direction.

Oil Up on Market Risks Despite US Congressional Shifts (DTN) -- Crude futures rebounded Thursday after falling its most in seven months in the prior session as energy traders responded to the likelihood of oil supplies remaining vulnerable despite potential changes to the trajectory of the Iran war from this week's U.S. midterm elections. By 9:15 a.m. EST, NYMEX WTI crude for December delivery rose $1.27, or 1.53%, to $89.39 bbl. WTI hit a four-week low of $87.13 on Wednesday, Nov. 4, falling 8% for its largest one-day decline since April. ICE Brent for January delivery climbed $2.38, or 2.63%, to $97 bbl, after also losing around 8% in the prior session. Downstream, ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD) for December delivery rebounded $0.0880, or 2.13%, to $4.2935 gallon. RBOB for December delivery advanced by $0.0351, or 1.33%, to $2.7637 gallon. The U.S. Dollar Index gained 0.065 points to 101.490 against a basket of foreign currencies. Wednesday's selloff across energy futures came as control of Congress flipped to Democrats in Tuesday's, Nov. 3, midterm elections. When Democratic lawmakers take charge in January, they plan to invoke the War Powers Resolution to constrain U.S. President Donald Trump's war against Iran. Notwithstanding the Democrats' plans, some market analysis suggested that upside risks to crude prices had barely changed. Eurasia Group raised the likelihood of a prolonged Iran war to 30% from 15%, citing Tehran's firm negotiating stance and Washington's reluctance to accept terms perceived as a defeat. In such circumstances, any escalation in hostilities could drive Brent back towards the $110-$125 bbl range, it said. Citigroup cautioned that the White House may lean heavily on executive foreign policy powers, increasing the potential for renewed escalation with Iran. JPMorgan reported that the uptick in Gulf oil shipments over the past two months had pushed global supply back into a surplus of 1.1 million bpd in September and 1.4 million bpd in October.

Brent crude jumps, settles up over $3 after tanker attacks (Reuters) - Brent crude futures settled over $3 a barrel higher on Thursday as new attacks on tankers fed worries about oil supplies while investors reassessed the outlook for the US-Israeli war with Iran. Brent finished up $3.67, or 3.88% at $98.29 ‌a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate crude closed $2.40, or 2.72% higher at $90.52 a barrel. This marked a reversal from Wednesday, when both benchmarks ‌tumbled more than 8% to their lowest settlement levels since August 31. "Today's rebound reflects caution about pricing in a rapid normalization of oil flows before diplomatic progress translates into dependable ​shipping and deliveries," Gelber and Associates wrote in a note on Thursday. Andy Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, said reports of tankers striking mines in the Middle East or being targeted by drones continue to worry the oil market. Investors are also worried about Iran's unchanged position regarding negotiations with the US. Attacks on tankers in the Gulf are still running close to a record pace with at least five vessels having reported incidents since Sunday, according to UK maritime ‌security agency UKMTO. The pace was similar to October ⁠when the agency said 35 vessels were hit, the most in any month of the war. The war with Iran, which US President Donald Trump launched along with Israel in February, resulted in sharply higher fuel prices, which became ⁠major grievances for voters. Democrats took control of both houses of the US Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, routing Trump's Republican Party. The new Democratic-controlled Congress takes office in January. Citi said in a note there were concerns that with the midterms over, the White House could focus on its executive powers in foreign policy ​and potentially ​escalate the war with Iran. Eurasia Group, however, lowered its estimate for ​the chance of renewed US strikes on Iran to 60% ‌from 65%. It also cut the probability of a deal to 10% from 20%, as Iran has held firm on demands that Trump is viewed as unlikely to accept. Eurasia Group raised the likelihood of a continued standoff to 30% from 15%. Despite the recent drop in oil prices, any escalation in the conflict could push Brent into a $110 to $125 per barrel range, Eurasia Group said in a note. Meanwhile, the Iranian foreign ministry said Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi discussed the "latest progress" in diplomatic efforts to promote regional stability in separate calls with his Saudi and Qatari counterparts. Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest ‌oil exporter, issued alerts on Thursday warning of potential danger in Yanbu, its Red ​Sea oil export hub, as Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis continued attacks on the kingdom in another front ​of the Iran war. The Houthis later said they attacked King ​Fahd airport in the Saudi city of Dammam. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard ‌Corps said two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in ​separate incidents after attempting to use unauthorised ​routes through the Strait of Hormuz. Elsewhere, Ukraine renewed attacks on Russian oil refineries, raising concerns about Russia's ability to export diesel under a deal with Trump. The Ryazan oil refinery, one of Russia's largest, appeared to have been targeted in a large overnight drone attack on ​industrial sites southeast of Moscow, according to a Reuters ‌video analysis. If confirmed, it would be the second Russian refinery hit this week, following an attack on the Yaroslavl plant ​on Monday night.

Oil prices edge higher, but weekly losses near 12% - Bangladesh Post- Global oil prices edged higher on Friday, but were on track for a weekly decline of nearly 12% amid growing hopes that the war involving Iran could ease. Market sentiment has been influenced by expectations that tensions surrounding the conflict may subside after US President Donald Trump's party suffered losses in the elections. These expectations have put downward pressure on oil prices. However, concerns that the conflict could disrupt oil supplies from the Middle East have provided some support to prices. At 02:22 GMT on Friday (November 6), Brent crude futures for January delivery, the international benchmark, rose by $1.57, or 1.6%, to $99.86 per barrel. Meanwhile, US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude rose by $1.10, or 1.2%, to $91.62 per barrel. The future of the Iran war and the security of energy supplies from the Middle East remain key factors shaping the oil market. As a result, despite Friday's modest recovery, oil prices remained on track for a substantial weekly decline.

Brent oil prices set for biggest weekly drop since 2020 -- Oil prices were set for a sharp weekly fall after the election losses of US President Donald Trump's Republican Party raised hopes of a de-escalation in the US-Israeli war on Iran and a stock market sell-off. But attacks on vessels in the Middle East continue to provide a floor to crude. In a whiplash see-saw session today, Brent crude futures for January were up 26 cents, or 0.3%, at $98.55 a barrel this afternoon. US West Texas Intermediate futures rose by 57 cents, or 0.6%, to $91.09. The Brent contract is on track for a 16% decline this week, which would be its steepest weekly percentage fall since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic and its biggest in absolute terms in LSEG data going back to 1988. WTI is set for a 13% decline. The oil price slide comes against the backdrop of a dramatic rout in technology stocks. A potential Iran war de-escalation could lead to more crude exports out of the region. Signs of an emerging supply excess amid demand destruction were reinforced by spot premiums for Middle Eastern crude benchmarks returning to levels reached before the conflict. "The crude market is loosening to a state of oversupply based on the balance, but the quality difference still exists as refiners recover what they can take versus what is available," said Rystad oil market analyst Janiv Shah, pointing to longer voyages and the need for ship-to-ship transfers as workarounds near Hormuz. "The market is still looking for evidence of a firm deal being signed (on Iran), or any backlash from either party could tighten fundamentals once more," the analyst said. Oil prices fell 8% on Wednesday alone after the Democrats swept the US midterm elections, settling at two-month lows. However, prices rebounded on a surge in tanker attacks in the Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, renewing concerns over supply flows from the region. A Greek ship manager said today that a seafarer was killed in a November 5 explosion on an oil products tanker in the Gulf, believed to have been caused by a missile attack. Data from Britain's maritime security agency UKMTO suggested that attacks on oil-carrying ships are still running at close to record pace. "Oil doesn't have to be at $117 to be expensive, and a fall to $93 doesn't mean the underlying problems have disappeared," said Matt Stanley from tanker trackers and energy flow analysts Kpler. "After over 25 years in this business, I honestly can't recall many weeks quite like this one," he added.

Crude gains on worries about renewed US attacks on Iran - (Reuters) - Crude futures edged up late on Friday on renewed fears of further US strikes on Iran as US President Donald Trump said he would soon decide ‌whether to pursue a peace agreement or destroy what remains of Iran. Brent crude futures for January settled ‌at $98.32 a barrel, up 3 cents, or 0.03%. US West Texas Intermediate futures finished at $90.83 a barrel, up 31 cents, or 0.34%. The Brent ​contract is on track for a 17% decline this week, which would be its steepest weekly percentage fall since the start of the COVID pandemic and its biggest in absolute terms, according to LSEG data dating back to 1988. "A bit of unwinding of the war premium seems to be what's going on," said Phil Flynn, ‌senior analyst with Price Futures Group. While the ⁠US midterm results raised hopes of a potential Iran war de-escalation and more crude exports out of the region, they also raised expectations of tighter US regulations for the AI ⁠industry, prompting a dramatic rout in technology stocks on Thursday. [MKTS/GLOB] In oil markets, signs of an emerging supply excess amid demand destruction were reinforced by spot premiums for Middle Eastern crude benchmarks returning to levels reached before the conflict. "The crude market is ​loosening to ​a state of oversupply based on the balance, but the ​quality difference still exists as refiners recover what ‌they can take versus what is available," said Rystad oil market analyst Janiv Shah, pointing to longer shipping routes and the need for ship-to-ship transfers as workarounds near the Strait of Hormuz. "The market is still looking for evidence of a firm deal being signed (on Iran), or any backlash from either party could tighten fundamentals once more." Also affecting futures was the strong jobs report issued by the US Department of Labor on Friday, showing an increase of 165,000 ‌jobs last month. "We're worried about the Federal Reserve raising interest rates ​after the jobs report this morning," said John Kilduff, partner with Again ​Capital. Oil prices fell 8% on Wednesday alone after ​the Democrats swept the US midterm elections, settling at two-month lows. However, prices rebounded on a ‌surge in tanker attacks in the Gulf and the ​Strait of Hormuz, renewing concerns ​over supply flows from the region. A Greek ship manager said on Friday that a seafarer was killed in a November 5 explosion on an oil products tanker in the Gulf, believed to have been caused ​by a missile attack. Data from Britain's ‌maritime security agency UKMTO suggested that attacks on oil-carrying ships are still running at close to ​a record pace.

Shipping traffic remains 70% below pre-war levels in Strait of Hormuz, report says  - Shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains 70 percent below the levels recorded before the US-Israeli war on Iran, according to a weekly assessment by the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO). The UKMTO released its weekly report on Friday, stating that shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained approximately 70 percent below pre-war levels, with 277 vessel movements recorded in the seven days leading up to October 28. The strait remains under the control of Iranian forces, and vessels attempting to pass through the strategic waterway illegally risk coming under attack. Ships seeking to use unauthorized routes will also face the risk of naval mines. Since the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran, the Iranian Armed Forces have closed the Strait of Hormuz and warned that any vessel attempting to pass through the strategic chokepoint illegally would face attacks. On June 17, Iran and the US reached a memorandum of understanding (MoU), with Pakistan playing a mediating role. Under Article 5 of the MoU, Iran undertook responsibility for reopening and managing the strait. However, the US sought to undermine Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz by imposing a naval blockade in violation of the deal to end the war. The move prompted Iran to close off the strait indefinitely. According to UKMTO data, at least 35 attacks on shipping were reported in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz in October, making it the month with the highest number of attacks since the start of the war. The figure surpassed March’s total of 30 attacks. The UKMTO warned that its figures on attacks against vessels may not reflect the actual number of incidents, as many targeted vessels do not report attacks to the agency, so the numbers may be even higher. US President Donald Trump claims that the US Navy has removed or detonated all naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, urging vessels to use the route and repeatedly claiming that the strait is open and safe. The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) officials, however, have repeatedly said that using the unauthorized routes proposed by the US is unsafe. They have also warned that vessel owners and crews would be held responsible for any attempt to use these routes in defiance of Iranian warnings. In a statement on Friday, the IRGC Navy said two tankers that attempted to cross the waterway through an unauthorized route were stopped following separate incidents. The IRGC Navy also said that a supertanker carrying more than two million barrels of oil struck a naval mine while attempting to pass through an unauthorized route.

People scour strait of Hormuz for spilt cargo after Iran attacks container ships | Strait of Hormuz | The Guardian -People have been scouring the strait of Hormuz for spilt cargo after Iran attacked at least 15 container ships passing through the crucial waterway in the past 10 days. Some ships have been hit by drones, others by mines. On Sunday, a ship was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade launched from a small boat 75 miles (120km) north-east of the Saudi port of Jubail. The rise in Iranian attacksappears to have helped resolidify Tehran’s disputed control over the strait, as well as pushing the price of a barrel of Brent crude oil close to $108 a barrel on Monday morning. Last Wednesday a ship travelling from Karachi, Pakistan, to Fujairah, in the United Arab Emirates, sunk after hitting a mine, according to Iranian state TV. All 21 crew members were evacuated and no injuries were reported. Dozens of its 2,500 containers were seen floating in the water. Rumours that iPhones and other expensive goods were among its cargo – fuelled by fake AI-generated photos published on social media – prompted fishers and others to investigate. One fisher told an Iranian reporter: “The Arab boatmen, who were closer to the ship, arrived earlier than the Iranians. They used stonecutters to cut the container and took whatever was there.” Col Javad Mokhtar Rezaei, the deputy head of cultural and social affairs for Iran’s cyber police (Fata), told the Tasnim news agency: “In some cases, the phones offered may actually exist, but exposing electronic components to salt water and extreme humidity can cause corrosion of internal components, damage to the boards, battery and display, and cause hidden malfunctions in the device’s performance.” Meysam Doost-Mohammadi, a spokesperson for the Iranian mobile phone Aassociation, said it would be unusual for valuable devices to be transported by ship. The bulk of the recent attacks have occurred close to the coast with Oman, a route that Iran regards as unauthorised. In the seven days to Friday 16 October, 12 vessels were attacked, according to the UK Maritime Trade Operations Centre (UKMTO). The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has the right to attack any ship that seeks to traverse the strait without its permission or with its transponders off. Officials have also ordered local fishers not to pillage the sea for luxury items, saying the goods are the property of the state. Two oil tankers were hit on Saturday, including a supertanker carrying 2m barrels of oil, according to the IRGC. The Fars news agency published a video that appears to show the tanker burning, but which cannot be independently verified. A third tanker was hit late on Sunday. It is disputed how many ships have been hit by mines or IRGC shelling. UKMTO’s weekly overview recorded 254 transits of the strait (125 outbound, 129 inbound) in the week to 14 October, approximately 70% below pre-conflict levels. Dr Devaraj Asir Ramesh, of Anna University in Chennai, India, warned that the region’s marine habitats faced threats from toxic debris and oil spills, while noise might have disturbed marine life. Iranian strikes on the Emirates, he said, were likely to have contaminated seagrass beds with hydrocarbons and caused auditory damage to cetaceans – marine mammals such as dolphins and porpoises – which are sensitive to loud noise that travels through the sea. Oil released by attacks on tankers at Fujairah could have caused ecological harm, he added. “Oil spills, chemical leaks and acoustic disturbances have impaired biodiversity, fisheries, aquaculture, desalination, and eco-tourism,” he wrote in the International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Sciences. On Friday, the Iranian president said the conflicts in Gaza and the wider Middle East had inflicted a significant toll on nature that extended beyond borders and required “international solutions”. “What has occurred in our region as a result of wars of aggression is ecocide, or environmental genocide, and it must be condemned,” Masoud Pezeshkian said. He argued that countries subjected to economic sanctions or military aggression should not be forced to shoulder the financial burden of environmental damage resulting from conflicts they did not initiate. Successive studies, mainly by US universities using satellite imagery, have warned of the dangers facing the strait. Meanwhile, the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, visited Tehran offering to act as an intermediary between Iran and Donald Trump, especially over the issue of Iran’s nuclear stockpile, which the US president insists must be addressed before he lifts his threat to attack Iran again. Iran has offered to open the strait in six days in return for sanctions relief. Russia has offered to take Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, but Iran is reluctant to make a commitment on its nuclear programme and has not given the International Atomic Energy Agency access to its bombed nuclear sites since June 2025. Lavrov also proposed a trilateral summit between China, Russia and Iran to agree new security architecture for the strait. He said the region was on the verge of a full-scale crisis. Tehran is braced for another attack soon, especially after the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, launched a new national security doctrine on Sunday that included an emphasis on prevention and offence, including pre-emptive strikes on potential threats.

Three trespassing tankers erupt in ‘massive fires’ after hitting mines in Hormuz: IRGC Navy --Three oil tankers have gone up in blaze after striking naval mines while navigating unauthorized routes in the Strait of Hormuz, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)’s Navy says. In a statement issued on Tuesday, the IRGC Navy said the vessels had been rocked by explosions resulting in “massive fires” since the early hours of the day after switching off their navigation and identification systems and attempting to transit unauthorized routes through the strategic waterway. The vessels were left off the southern coast of the strait and stayed ablaze, according to the statement. The statement described the fires as so intense that fishermen in the eastern part of the waterway witnessed the resulting “brightly lit night.” The IRGC Navy said the Islamic Republic’s regulations governing navigation through the Strait of Hormuz had been repeatedly communicated to all vessels through radio stations and official notices. It warned that vessels disregarding the regulations and cooperating with the US military to use unauthorized routes through the strait would face similar incidents. Addressing claims made by the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which oversees the American troops deployed to West Asia, the IRGC Navy said the situation in the Strait of Hormuz differed from the account presented by the military command on social media. "The reality of the situation in the Strait of Hormuz is what you are seeing, not what the terrorist CENTCOM commander claims on social media using archival footage," the statement said. Iran closed the chokepoint following the launch of the latest round of unprovoked American-Israeli aggression against the country on February 28. The Islamic Republic and the United States agreed on a 60-day reopening period as part of a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding in June. Iran established the Persian Gulf Strait Authority (PGSA) to implement the understanding, but American violations forced the country to reestablish the closure. Tehran has conditioned reopening of the waterway on realization of seven prerequisites. The Islamic Republic has previously identified cessation of aggression on all fronts, elimination of an illegal naval blockade imposed by the United States against the country, removal of illegal sanctions, and unfreezing of Iranian assets as some of the main conditions to be met by Washington.

IRGC announces destruction of four ships in Strait of Hormuz | The Jerusalem Post --Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said four oil tankers were destroyed after striking naval mines while trying to traverse a route described as prohibited south of the key waterway of the Strait of Hormuz.  In a statement, the elite corps said the tankers were still ablaze, and added that two other vessels had been seized.  On Sunday, the IRGC announced that two oil tankers had hit Iranian mines while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.  The tankers "were in violation of regulations," the spokesperson said, explaining that they were traveling on "an unauthorized route in the Strait." The IRGC spokesperson added that oil tankers had switched off the navigation and identification systems, as they wanted "to pass covertly through an unauthorized route in the Strait of Hormuz with the support of the terrorist US military."  An oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz was also hit by an unknown projectile earlier on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime and Trade Operations (UKMTO) Center announced.

Iran Says Four Oil Tankers Destroyed by Mines Near Strait of Hormuz - Four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval mines in an area south of the Strait of Hormuz proscribed by Iran as prohibited for navigation, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday, as attacks on vessels in the region intensify while crude oil flows have dipped from recent highs. The four tankers are still ablaze, while two other vessels have been seized, the Revolutionary Guards said. While flows have recovered substantially from the lows in the spring, the security situation in and near the Strait of Hormuz has actually deteriorated, with a higher number of attacks on tankers in recent weeks.Following a post-war peak in September, exports of crude oil, condensate, and fuels from the Middle East slipped to 17.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, down from 18.9 million bpd in September, according to data from Vortexa cited by Reuters.. “October data shows Middle East seaborne oil exports have pulled back slightly from recent post-war highs on heightened risks in the Strait of Hormuz,” George Morris, an analyst at Vortexa, said in comments reported by the publication. Kpler has tracked a 1-million-bpd drop in total crude oil and condensate exports. Crude and condensate flows through the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Oman are estimated, provisionally, to have dropped to 16.1 million bpd in October, from 17.09 million bpd in September. However, the tanker-tracking services caution that the numbers could be revised up as more details on shipments, especially shuttle shipments, emerge in the coming days. Oil flows from the Middle East region have materially increased since the lows in April and May, but the heightened security concerns and intensified attacks, mines, and other explosions and incidents are making tracking shipments difficult. Tanker-trackers increasingly rely on satellite imagery to confirm movements because vessels are often switching off transponders to avoid detection when transiting the Strait of Hormuz.   

Iran's IRGC says two tankers and tugboat caught fire in Strait of Hormuz -  (Reuters) - Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said ​on Thursday that ‌two oil tankers and a tugboat had caught ​fire in separate ​incidents after attempting to ⁠use unauthorized routes ​through the Strait of ​Hormuz. One tanker struck a mine while attempting to ​cross a passage ​south of the strait, while ‌another ⁠supertanker caught fire while exiting the route in the eastern ​part of ​the ⁠waterway, the IRGC said. A ​tugboat that approached ​the ⁠second vessel to help extinguish the fire ⁠also ​caught fire.

Tanker struck by 2 unidentified projectiles off Qatar coast: UK maritime agency  -A tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles off the coast of Qatar, the UK Maritime Trade Operations said Thursday. In a maritime warning, the agency said it had received a verified report of an incident approximately 50 nautical miles (93 kilometers) north of Madinat ash Shamal at 2320GMT Wednesday. The agency said the condition of the crew, the extent of damage to the vessel and any potential environmental impact remained unconfirmed. It advised vessels transiting the area to exercise caution and report any suspicious activity as authorities continued to investigate the incident. The incident came amid heightened maritime tensions following the US-Iran military confrontation and continuing security concerns affecting shipping routes near the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran claims it downed 2 US reconnaissance drones over Qeshm Island - Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that it had brought down two US MQM-170 reconnaissance drones over Qeshm Island in the Strait of Hormuz, according to Iranian state news agency IRNA. In two separate statements, the IRGC said its Aerospace Force used advanced electronic warfare systems to disable the drones over the island, bringing the total number of MQM-170 drones it claimed to have downed to six. The statements did not provide further details about the incidents. Iran previously claimed to have brought down four US MQM-170 drones in the Strait of Hormuz area during the ongoing conflict. The latest incidents come amid continued military tensions between Tehran and Washington following the US-Israeli offensive against Iran that began on Feb. 28.

Iran’s security chief, Russian president underscore need to continue strategic cooperation - Iran’s top security official and the Russian president have underscored the need to continue strategic cooperation between Tehran and Moscow in line with the roadmap established by the two countries. In a phone conversation on Monday, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), Major General Mohsen Rezaei, and President Vladimir Putin discussed the latest regional and international developments, with particular emphasis on the situation in West Asia. Rezaei expressed appreciation for the explicit positions of the Russian president and other officials in praise of the role of martyred Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and other national heroes. The SNSC secretary also commended Russia’s support for the Iranian people’s resilience and steadfastness. Back in March, the Russian president said the assassination of Ayatollah Khamenei constituted a flagrant violation of all norms of human ethics and international laws. In a message, Putin extended his deep condolences to President Masoud Pezeshkian and the Iranian nation over the martyrdom of Ayatollah Khamenei and his family in a US-Israeli terrorist strike against Tehran on February 28. The Russian leader was also the first foreign leader to congratulate Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei on his election as the new Leader of the Islamic Revolution. Iran and Russia officially began executing a 20-year comprehensive strategic partnership treaty in October 2025, marking a significant step towards strengthening their bilateral ties. The treaty was signed by President Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in Moscow on January 17, 2025. During a joint press conference with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Tehran last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said bilateral cooperation can help promote stability in the region, as the two countries reaffirmed their commitment to continued engagement on regional and international issues.

Syria Says It's Considering Joining the Mecca Defense Pact - Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani, a former al-Qaeda member, said on Saturday that Damascus was considering joining the Mecca defense pact, the new military alliance between Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey.“Discussions are currently underway to evaluate Syria’s entry into the Mecca alliance,” al-Shaibani said at the Manama Dialogue conference in Bahrain.Al-Shaibani’s comments come several weeks after several media outlets reported that Syria was considering sending troops to Yemen to help Saudi Arabia fight Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis.The Syrian government denied the reports and said its plan is to focus on Syria’s internal situation, but the country’s potential membership in the Mecca defense pact could draw it into the war. Both Pakistan and Turkey have pledged support for Saudi Arabia’s war, though so far there’s no indication that they are aiding in offensive operations against Ansar Allah. Axios reported that Syria’s potential Yemen deployment could specifically include a military unit known to be full of foreign jihadists who previously fought under the umbrella of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the al-Qaeda offshoot that took power in December 2024 after the ousting of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.  Like Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, al-Shaibani was a founding member of the al-Nusra Front, Syria’s al-Qaeda affiliate that became HTS when it rebranded to gain more international support in the war against Assad. According to a February 2025 Pentagon Inspector General report, al-Shaibani managed the group and oversaw its transition into HTS.

Saudi Airstrikes in Yemen Killed 140 Civilians, Including 40 Children, in October - - The month of October saw the highest rate of civilian casualties caused by US-backed Saudi airstrikes in Yemen since December 17, according to a report from the Yemen Data Project (YDP), as the bombing campaign has dramatically escalated in the months since Riyadh reignited the war by bombing the Sanaa International Airport in July.The YDP found that Saudi airstrikes killed at least 140 civilians and wounded 286. The death toll includes 40 children, and 60 children were also wounded, as many of the strikes hit civilian homes and massacred families.Children wounded by a Saudi bombing of a civilian home in Yemen’s Saada province on October 18, 2026 (screenshot of footage from Yemen’s Al Masirah TV)The report said that October marked the worst month for child harm in Saudi bombings since August 2018, when a Saudi strike hit a school bus in the Saada province of northern Yemen, killing at least 40 children, a strike that was carried out with a US-supplied bomb. The YDP said that Yemen’s southwestern Taiz province was the most heavily bombed and saw the most civilian casualties in October, but the single worst incident of civilian harm and child death occurred in Saada on October 18, when a Saudi strike hit a home, killing at least 10 civilians, including seven children. Another 23 civilians were recorded as injured, including eight women and 12 children.The YDP’s previous report found that at least 66 civilians were killed by Saudi airstrikes in September, when the war significantly escalated as Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis, made lightning gains in a ground offensive against Saudi-backed forces. The YDP’s numbers are slightly lower than civilian death tolls released by the Health Ministry in the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government, but their figures also appear to include civilian casualties in attacks launched by Saudi-backed forces on the ground.  While Saudi Arabia is conducting a heavy bombing campaign in Yemen and is killing a lot of people, the strikes have done nothing to roll back the Ansar Allah gains. Saudi Arabia also continues to face heavy Ansar Allah attacks on its airports and oil infrastructure, and appears to be looking for a way out of the war.The Saudi bombing campaign is strongly backed by the US, which has up to 200 military advisors deployed in Saudi Arabia to provide intelligence and targeting support. The US has also resumed refueling Saudi warplanes, a form of support that was cut off back in 2018.

Saudi Attacks in Yemen Have Killed 232 Civilians Since July: Health Ministry – Saudi attacks in Yemen have killed at least 232 civilians, including 68 children and 35 women, since Riyadh reignited the war by bombing the Sanaa International Airport on July 13, the Health Ministry within the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government said on Saturday.  On top of the deaths, the Health Ministry said that 536 civilians, including 137 children and 72 women, have been wounded. The vast majority of the civilian casualties were inflicted in September and October, following the start of the ground offensive launched by Ansar Allah, also known as the Houthis. Civilian casualties spiked significantly toward the end of October, with two large-scale massacres of civilians reported last week. An October 28 Saudi bombing of a market in the northern al-Jawf province killed 14 civilians, and Saudi airstrikes hit two civilian homes in the southwestern Taiz province on October 29, killing 12 civilians, including multiple children.The civilian casualties continued over the weekend, and on Sunday, Saudi airstrikes in the Taiz province killed at least one child and injured two girls, according to Yemen’s SABA news agency. Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, said dozens of Saudi strikes were launched over the past 24 hours.“Over the past 24 hours, Saudi warplanes launched 75 airstrikes and missile attacks targeting civilian areas in the governorates of Saada, Taiz, Amran, Ibb, Dhamar, Lahj, Hodeidah, and Al-Jawf,” he wrote on Telegram, adding that the attacks were launched by US-made F-15 fighter jets and European-made Typhoon aircraft that took off from Saudi bases. “This brings the total number of Saudi-led airstrikes and missile attacks since the escalation began to 3,830,” Saree said.The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen was notorious for bombing civilian areas during the war in Yemen from 2015 to 2022, and the current conflict has followed a similar pattern. The US is strongly backing the Saudi bombing campaign by providing intelligence and refueling Saudi warplanes, a form of support the US suspended back in 2018 due to pressure from Congress.

Saudi Airstrikes Across Yemen Kill at Least 12 Civilians, Including Six Children - - US-backed Saudi airstrikes pounded targets across Ansar Allah-controlled Yemen on Wednesday, killing at least 12 civilians, including six children, according to the Health Ministry within the Sanaa-based Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government. The majority of the casualties occurred in the southwestern Taiz province, where a Saudi airstrike hit a civilian home in the Hayfan District. According to the Health Ministry, the strike killed at least four people, including a woman and three children, and wounded four other people.  Screenshot of footage from Yemen’s Al Masirah TV that shows children who were injured by Saudi strikes in the Taiz province on November 4, 2026The Health Ministry also reported that a Saudi airstrike hit another civilian home in Taiz’s Maqbana district and killed seven civilians, including two children. Another 13 civilians were wounded, including seven children.“Targeting populated homes constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights principles, and reflects a determination to target civilians and endanger their lives, the ministry said on Telegram. Saudi strikes also hit the northern Saada province, where at least one child was killed, and two other people were injured. Footage of the aftermath broadcast by Yemen’s Al-Masirah TV showed what appeared to be remnants of a US-made precision-guided bomb.Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, said that Saudi Arabia launched over 100 airstrikes and missile attacks in Yemen over the past 24 hours. “Over the past 24 hours, Saudi warplanes launched 104 airstrikes and missile attacks targeting civilian areas in the capital, Sanaa, and the governorates of Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Sadaa, Amran, Marib, Taiz, and Lahj,” he wrote on Telegram.  “These attacks, carried out using F-15 and Typhoon aircraft operating from Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases, and missile strikes launched from Najran and Jizan, resulted in dozens of martyrs and wounded, mostly women and children,” Saree added. The Saudi bombing campaign is strongly backed by the US, which has up to 200 military advisors deployed in Saudi Arabia to provide intelligence and targeting support. The US has also resumed refueling Saudi warplanes, a form of support that was cut off back in 2018.

Israeli Politician Who Said It's 'Morally' Right To Kill Babies in Gaza Wins Knesset Seat -   An Israeli politician who has labeled Palestinian babies in Gaza the “enemy” and has said it’s “morally” right to kill them has secured a seat in the incoming Israeli Knesset, which is set to be sworn in on November 10, regardless of whether a new government is formed. Moshe Feilgin, the leader of the Zehut party, previously served in the Knesset as a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu’s Likud party from 2013 to 2015. Zehut joined forces with Religious Zionism, led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, ahead of the October 27 election, and the alliance secured six seats in the new Knesset.Since the election, Feiglin has said he hopes to become Israel’s defense minister, though there’s been no sign that he’s been offered the job, and it remains unclear what the next government will look like since Netanyahu’s coalition hasn’t secured a majority to form a government.Last year, Feiglin made headlines when he said that “every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy” of Israel. “Every child in Gaza is the enemy. We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory,” he said in an appearance on Israeli TV. In a recent English-language interview with the Jerusalem Post, Feiglin doubled down on his viewpoint, saying that he personally doesn’t want to see babies killed even though he thinks it is “morally” the right thing to do, and that he would prefer all Palestinians to be expelled from Gaza instead.“I’m saying again again because I’m Jewish and I guess I’m a bit a little bit weak morally. I don’t want to see babies killed, okay? Morally, that should have been done, because of everything I explained. So, but because … I’m Jewish with a soft heart, I would open the borders and let them all go, but no one can stay. And it has to be a part of the Jewish land, Jewish state,” he said.Elsewhere in the interview, Feiglin said it was “100%” a Jewish point of view to “wipe out” Gaza, expel all the Palestinians, and annex Gaza and the West Bank. He labeled all of Gaza as the “enemy,” not just Hamas.“The baby that would be born — I’ll say something very tough now, excuse me for saying it — the baby that will be born tomorrow in Gaza, the Arab baby. Notice I’m not saying Hamas, I’m not saying Palestinian … the enemy is Gaza, not Hamas. The baby that will be born in Gaza tomorrow will do exactly the same — God forbid — to your baby that would be born in Jerusalem,” he said.

As Israel Shelling Continues, Lebanon Agriculture Minister Says 22.5% of Farmland Damaged - --  Israeli forces continued with their destruction of southern Lebanon, and while most of the focus is rightly on the municipalities they’ve attacked and in many cases outright destroyed, the long-term struggle for reconstruction could be the extent of damage to farmland on the outskirts of those villages.  Southern Lebanon has (or had) heavily agriculture-based economy, and artillery shelling isn’t just helping the IDF level buildings, but also scorching the earth in general, and leaving a growing amount of Lebanon’s agricultural land burned or otherwise damaged.Nazir Hani, the Lebanese Agriculture Minister, reported that some 56,000 hectares of farmland, or about 22.5% of the overall farmland across all of Lebanon, has been damaged by the Israeli war. 24,000 hectares of that appears to be olive groves. Some of the trees are bulldozed or otherwise uprooted, and still others have been burnt down by the use of Israeli incendiaries, including white phosphorus munitions. Access to those olive groves still standing has been limited this harvest season, as the IDF strictly restricts access to many of them in occupied territory.  Today’s reports of strikes centered around Bint Jbeil District, which is in the far south along the Israeli border, and enclosed within the occupied “security zone” The strikes hit the outskirts of Aita al-Jabal and the area around the town of al-Tayri.Adding to the complexity of the situation are reports that Turkey is taking an interest in southern Lebanon, potentially as part of their growing regional rivalry with Israel. President Erdogan’s son Bilal has reportedly considered a possible visit to the south, though such plans are unconfirmed.

France Launches Israeli War Crimes Inquiry Over Lebanon - - Israel is in the process of invading and occupying southern Lebanon. That’s not unusual, of course, and they’ve launched multiple invasions of southern Lebanon in recent years, largely with little to no legal consequence.The Paris Judicial Court’s crimes against humanity unit today reported they are appointing a pair of investigating judges to war crimes complaints related to an Israeli attack on Beirut in 2024, which targeted a residential building and killed seven civilians.Ali Cherri, a Lebanon-born French filmmaker, filed the complaint, noting that his parents, aged 87 and 77 at the time, were among those civilians killed in the strike. He filed the complaint with the French court system in early April of this year.The strike was during the waning days of the previous Israeli war, as the IDF most recently started invading southern Lebanon again in March of 2026. While this investigation itself doesn’t directly relate to the current invasion, that doesn’t mean it’s not consequential.Amnesty International praised the court’s move, calling it “a critical, long-overdue step towards making a dent in the wall of pervasive impunity enjoyed by Israeli forces for war crimes,” and could set the stage for the court to move on other complaints that are related to the current war, which are still pending.The courts have also received complaints from a French citizen who lost both parents and other family members in the mid-April attacks on Tyre, and a French entrepreneur has complained about Israeli forces uprooting olive trees belonging to his family.Several more strikes were reported by Israeli forces against southern Lebanon today. No casualties were reported, but damage was done against several municipalities, including Kfar Tebnit.

As Lebanon Destruction Grows, Attacks on Equipment Complicate Reconstruction - As the Israeli invasion of southern Lebanon continues to drag on, the extent of the destruction caused continues to mount, and Lebanese officials continue to provide details as to the troubling extent of the land burned or otherwise destroyed in the conflict. A new statement from the Lebanese Agriculture Minister Tamara al-Zein reports that Israel has burned around 160 km² worth of farmland in its assorted military operations since 2023. Nearly half that, 70 km², has been burned just between March invasion and August of this year.The full extent of the damage is only an estimate at this point because Israeli occupation forces are preventing officials from carrying out assessments on the land, forcing them to rely heavily on satellite imagery to determine the condition of the territory. Southern Lebanon is heavily agriculture-reliant, with both farmland and olive groves amounting to major portions of the region’s economy. Much of the damage is being caused by the Israeli use of incendiaries, though a lot of deliberate bulldozing and artillery shelling of the land has added to the damage.Reconstruction is still on hold, since the occupation and war both show no signs of ending. Even when they do, however, Israeli strikes have heavily targeted exactly the construction equipment southern Lebanon would’ve needed to clear the damage and prepare the areas for reconstruction.The IDF has argued that any heavy construction vehicles were “intended to support Hezbollah,” and have argued that it is legitimate to target them. They’ve similarly framed civilian villages as Hezbollah infrastructure, and Defense Minister Israel Katz has bragged about destroying over 60 of those villages over the course of the most recent war.

Israeli forces shoot senior Hamas commander Hassan Salameh nine times inside prison cell after Ben-Gvirs death threat- Palestinian resistance leader Hassan Salameh, a senior commander in the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, was shot nine times by Israeli prison guards inside his isolation cell and remains in extremely critical condition, his fiancée, writer Ghufran al-Zamil, said Monday. The attack occurred on September 28, the same day far-right Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir stormed Salameh’s cell at Ganot Prison, surrounded by armed guards, and told the shackled prisoner, “I want to kill you, I want to execute you.” Palestinian Prisoners’ Center and Prisoners’ Media Office statements described the footage as showing clear signs of starvation, torture, and deliberate medical neglect, holding the Zionist regime fully responsible for his life. Salameh, born in 1971 in the Khan Younis refugee camp in Gaza to a family displaced during the 1948 Nakba, has been imprisoned since 1996. He received 48 life sentences, one of the heaviest terms ever imposed, for organizing retaliatory operations after Israel assassinated Qassam commander Yahya Ayyash. He has spent roughly half of his nearly 30 years behind bars in solitary confinement, including prolonged isolation after the October 2023 events. Israel has repeatedly refused to include him in prisoner-exchange deals despite longstanding demands by the resistance. Al-Zamil and prisoner advocacy groups reported that forces beat Salameh before and after the Ben-Gvir visit, then opened fire with nine rounds. He was later photographed for documentation but returned to his cell with only basic painkillers and no proper treatment. A lawyer’s visit on November 2 confirmed his deteriorating condition, with visible exhaustion and ongoing suffering. Palestinian sources described the episode as the latest escalation in the regime’s systematic policy of torture, starvation, and medical neglect against thousands of Palestinian detainees. The incident fits a broader pattern. Ben-Gvir has repeatedly used prison visits for electoral propaganda, boasting of turning prisoners’ lives into “hell” while advancing calls for executions and mass displacement. Palestinian organizations labeled the cell raid a “cheap political stunt” and “cowardly bullying” of a defenseless prisoner. Hamas and other resistance factions have demanded urgent international intervention to protect detainees and secure their release. Salameh is among roughly 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial. The regime’s treatment of these prisoners -- documented by rights groups as including beatings, isolation, and denial of care -- continues amid the wider war of aggression against Gaza and the occupied territories. Resistance groups have long identified veteran prisoners such as Salameh as symbols of steadfastness whose freedom is inseparable from the broader struggle against occupation.

Israel’s president taps opposition candidate Eisenkot to form a government, in setback for Netanyahu --  Israeli President Isaac Herzog said Saturday night that he was giving opposition candidate Gadi Eisenkot the first opportunity to form a governing coalition following elections on Oct. 27. Eisenkot, a former military chief who ran as the main challenger to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is now a step closer to ousting Israel’s longest-serving premier. “This is the time to establish a national emergency government. I will do anything possible to prove us worthy,” Eisenkot posted on his X account just after the presidential announcement. He has up to six weeks to form a coalition, a challenging task in a deeply divided country reeling from the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attacks and the three years of wars that have followed in Gaza and beyond. In discussions with the president this week, representatives from most of Israel’s main parties recommended Eisenkot be tasked with assembling a new government. But putting together the parliamentary majority needed remains fraught and any possible coalition would require candidates to make tough compromises that could outrage their own voters. Netanyahu and his allies lost their majority in parliament in last month’s elections. But the bloc led by Eisenkot also didn’t win a majority. That left Arab-led parties, which made historic gains, as potential but politically fraught kingmakers. An Arab party has been part of a governing coalition just once in Israel’s history. Forming such an alliance could be especially divisive for Eisenkot after more than three years of war in Gaza. Netanyahu has been on a campaign to head off any alliance between Eisenkot and the Arab-led parties, including unsubstantiated claims that Arab parties “stole” the elections. Shortly before Herzog’s announcement, he called for a “national unity government” in a video statement and warned against “hastily swearing in a government with terrorist supporters” — language he uses to refer to the Arab-led parties. Netanyahu and his allies have repeatedly portrayed the Arab-led parties as a threat to national security, while Eisenkot has indicated a willingness to partner with them under certain conditions, including calling Hamas a terrorist group that needs to be destroyed. Eisenkot and Netanyahu, whose Likud is the single largest party in parliament, could seek to create a broad unity government with major Jewish parties. However, the men have big differences over many issues that will be difficult to bridge. That includes Netanyahu’s reliance on religious parties that demand draft exemptions for ultra-Orthodox men, as well as Netanyahu’s opposition to a formal investigation into the security failures surrounding the Oct. 7 attacks. Eisenkot could also seek to create a “minority” government — shored up by external support from Arab parties that are not formal members of his coalition. However, other members of his bloc have said they would reject such an alliance. Eisenkot’s party, Yashar, slammed the prime minister’s video in a statement posted on X and urged members of his party, Likud, to disavow their alliance with “radical parties,” seemingly referring to the far-right parties in his religious-nationalist base. The statement argued that Eisenkot would only include parties and parliament members who support his party’s principles.

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office Initiates Treason Protocols Against Zelensky's Former Press Secretary - - Iuliia Mendel, who served as press secretary for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky from 2019 to 2021, has been identified as the target of a treason investigation by Ukrainian officials. According to a statement from the Prosecutor General’s Office, prosecutors “together with investigators of the Main Investigation Department of the Security Service of Ukraine [the secret police], collected enough evidence to notify the former press secretary of the President of Ukraine of suspicion of high treason and justification of [R]ussia’s armed aggression against Ukraine.”The statement alleged that Mendel “used her publicity and experience in the field of state communications to spread information narratives beneficial to the aggressor state, aimed at discrediting Ukraine and weakening its international support.”  Mendel has become a prominent critic of the war and the Kyiv government. She has repeatedly said that Ukraine’s war with Russia must end with a negotiated agreement, not through continued fighting. While some reports have claimed that Mendel had been “accused” of or faces “charges” of treason, the notification of suspicion is a specific and routine protocol that comes before a formal indictment in the Western sense.  The prosecutor’s office said “the materials on which the suspicion is based include her public statements in foreign media and social networks. In particular, in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, she stated: ‘I believe that Ukraine is on the verge of extinction’, ‘You see, my nation is degrading’.   She also claimed that there is no democracy and freedom of speech in Ukraine. “There is no freedom of speech. The country is full of prohibitions. Everything is forbidden,” she said in an interview and compared the situation in the state with the Soviet Union.Mendel was interviewed by Carlson on May 11 in an episode entitled “Zelensky’s Press Secretary Reveals All: Cocaine, Cover-ups, and the Only Obstacle Preventing Peace.”She began living abroad after her Carlson appearance out of fear for her safety. The SBU has assassinated critics of the government before and has shown the ability to get to people abroad. The notice of suspicion was delivered “in absentia,” and the SBU vowed to return her to Ukraine. On September 13, Zelensky enacted a National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) “decision” at the request of the SBU that sanctioned 10 people, including Mendel. She was the only Ukrainian citizen on the list. The rest were Russian nationals.She returned to Carlson’s show on September 25 in an episode entitled “Zelensky’s Press Secretary Reveals All: Blood Money, Wire Taps & Dodging the Draft to Draft Women.”  On Wednesday, Mendel spoke before the German Bundestag. She discussed her experience in an X post, a platform she has leveraged to get her message out to the West, which not only funds the war but also the Ukrainian government.

Ukraine's Azov Brigade Admits Holding AWOL Soldiers At Residential House Amid Torture Allegations - News From   A riot erupted Monday night outside a residential house in Ukraine’s Petropavlivska Borshchahivka, a suburb approximately 12 miles west of Kyiv, after social media posts claimed the military was torturing conscripts in the basement and that medics were being denied access to the wounded. Approximately 200 people gathered at the house. They threw eggs, water bottles, and bricks at police and National Guard soldiers. After they broke through the brick wall surrounding the house, they were dispersed with tear gas and live ammunition warning shots.  A statement released that night from the 1^st Corps of the National Guard of Ukraine confirmed that the house was a “military camp” operating as a “temporary deployment point of military unit 3121 of the National Guard of Ukraine, which belongs to the 1st corps of the Azov National Guard.” The statement said the camp was holding “mobilized servicemen” who had been “detained after committing an unauthorized abandonment of the unit…awaiting distribution to military units and further service.” It said four of the detainees had “injuries” and dismissed the torture allegations as “unverified information.”  “Azov protects the lives and health of its servicemen in extremely difficult conditions at the front. The unit is guided by the same principles in the rear: this applies to all servicemen of the corps and does not depend on the length of their service, ” the statement said.  The Azov Battalion was founded in 2014 by Andriy Biletsky, out of his Patriot of Ukraine gang and fellow travelers from Right Sector, the coalition Nazi militia that had played a pivotal role in the 2014 Maidan coup. Since then, Azov has evolved into two sections, “The Third Army Corps,” which Biletsky leads, and “The 12th Special Forces Brigade Azov” within the National Guard.Both National Guard commander Oleksandr Pivnenko and Presidential Office head Kyrylo Budanov arrived at the scene to restore order and assure protesters that the allegations were false and that the four injured detainees had been taken to a medical center.Ukrainian officials suggested an influence campaign might be at work, but admitted the reality of the deeply controversial mobilization tactics makes such potential campaigns easy to run. As The Kyiv Independent put it, “While the events in Petropavlivska Borshchahivka show signs of a Russian information operation, their escalation is built on real, simmering tensions in Ukrainian society around the topic of mobilization.”