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A nearly complete wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island and Connecticut faces an uncertain future as the states’ Democratic governors, members of Congress, and union workers are calling Monday for the Trump administration to let construction resume. The administration halted construction on the Revolution Wind project last week, saying the federal government needs to review the project and address national security concerns. It did not specify what those concerns are. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Monday it’s not commenting further at this time. The Democratic politicians are getting involved because stopping work on Revolution Wind threatens local jobs and their states’ climate goals, and could drive up electricity prices throughout the region. Officials say the project is 80% complete, with all the underwater foundations and 45 out of 65 turbines already installed. Large, ocean-based wind farms are the linchpin of government plans to shift to renewable energy, particularly in East Coast states with large populations and limited land for wind turbines or solar arrays. President Donald Trump has made sweeping strides to prioritize fossil fuels and hinder renewable energy projects. Those include reviewing wind and solar energy permits, canceling plans to use large areas of federal waters for new offshore wind development and stopping work on another offshore wind project under construction for New York, although construction was later allowed to resume. Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee is headed to North Kingstown, where the logistics and operations hub for the project is located. The governor has said the wind farm is critical to the regions economy and energy future. Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont spoke at State Pier in New London, where components for the Revolution Wind project are kept before being taken out to sea. U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut said during Monday’s press conference that it was nuts, crazy, insane to halt a fully approved project that would save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars. He expects the courts to agree that the Trump administration acted unlawfully when it stopped the project based on secret information. Revolution Wind is expected to be Rhode Island and Connecticuts first large offshore wind farm, capable of powering more than 350,000 homes. Power would be provided at a rate of 9.8 cents per kilowatt hour, locked in for 20 years. That is cheaper than the average cost of electricity in New England. About 1,000 union members have been working on Revolution Wind, and those jobs are now at risk. This isnt work that anybody can do, Keith Brothers, business manager of the Connecticut Laborers District Council, said about the specialized skills the workers on this project have. Weve taken people from the military, weve placed them on jobs on this specific site, thats important. A statement from North Americas Building Trades Unions was more direct: President Donald Trump just fired 1,000 of our members. The developer, Danish energy company Orsted, is evaluating the financial impact of stopping construction and considering legal proceedings. The project site is more than 15 miles (24 kilometers) south of the Rhode Island coast, 32 miles (51 kilometers) southeast of the Connecticut coast and 12 miles (19 kilometers) southwest of Marthas Vineyard. Rhode Island is already home to one offshore wind farm in state waters, the five-turbine Block Island Wind Farm. The Trump administration previously stopped work on Empire Wind, the New York offshore wind project. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said it appeared former President Joe Bidens administration had rushed through the approvals, although the developer Equinor spent seven years obtaining permits. Construction was allowed to resume in May after two of the state’s Democratic leaders, U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer and Governor Kathy Hochul, intervened. Jennifer McDermott, Associated Press Associated Press writer Isabella OMalley contributed to this report. The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
Category:
E-Commerce
For months, a group of Hood County, Texas, residents has been pushing to create a new town of their own. The effort began in March, when citizens living in a two-square-mile unincorporated stretch of the county, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, started gathering signatures to form what they hope will become Mitchell Bend, Texas. By April, organizers believed they had enough support and submitted their petition to county officials. After it was verified, Hood County Judge Ron Massingill agreed to place the incorporation question on the November ballot. But what seemed like a straightforward process soon ran into complicationsdisputes that have only deepened in the months since. At the heart of the fight is a Bitcoin mining operation that sits inside the same unincorporated area. The facility, owned by Florida-based MARA Holdings, has become a flashpoint for residents who say its nonstop noise has made daily life unbearable. What began as a push for self-governance has quickly turned into a broader battle over corporate power, local control, and the future of their community. Attorneys for MARA challenged the petition, arguing that it contained at most 42 valid signaturesshort of the minimum required. Earlier this month, Massingill vacated the petition on those grounds. A second petition was then circulated, this time securing 59 qualified signatures. Massingill approved it on August 13. Still, outrage over the first petitions invalidation remains strong. One resident, Cheryl Shadden, has accused Massingill of official oppression and election interference, alleging he unlawfully invalidated the first petition without notifying residents of his decision. Although the second petition guarantees the issue will appear on the ballot, Shadden is pressing forward with her lawsuit. “You look at us in this rural community. People think we are a bunch of country bumpkins,” Shadden told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. “You cannot stomp people into the ground like this. You dont answer to a conglomerate.” MARA Holdings did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment on the incorporation effort. The residents concerns, however, echo familiar complaints across Texas, which has become a hub for cryptocurrency mining. Neighbors of such facilities often report sleep disturbances, tinnitus, or even permanent hearing loss. Others say property values have fallen. Climate advocacy group Earthjustice has also sued, claiming MARAalso known as Marathon Digital Holdings”creates a private nuisance by causing and then failing to mitigate excessive noise pollution caused by their 24/7 proof-of-work cryptocurrency mining operations.” If residents succeed in forming Mitchell Bend, the new town could enact ordinances to regulate the mining facility. That could quiet the noise but also cut into the companys production and profits. The Hood County facility isnt MARAs only Texas operation. In Glasscock County, more than four hours west, the companyone of the worlds largest Bitcoin minersrecently purchased a 200-megawatt data center near a wind farm. MARA says the site will reduce operating expenses by 20%. Despite Bitcoins gains this year, spurred in part by legislative actions in Washington such as the GENIUS Act, miners like MARA have not enjoyed stock market success. While Bitcoin prices are up nearly 20% year to date, MARA shares have dropped 11% in 2025, now hovering just over $15. Competitors have fared no better: Bitdeer Technologies has fallen 42.5% to $13.15, and Core Scientific is down 5% to $13.72. Riot Platforms, however, has bucked the trend. Its shares are up 24% this year, currently trading around $13.
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E-Commerce
Robb Rynd and his brother grew up farming and wanted to do more of it outside their day jobs, so they went in together on what’s now a little over 200 acres of corn, soybeans, wheat, and sorghum. Last year was a good year, and Rynd said he enjoyed walking the fields with his kids to see how the corn was doing. This year is a different story. All summer he’s been scouting for brown and wilting leaves or ears of corn with kernels missing, and now it’s becoming clear that every kernel will count this harvest. Its almost kind of depressing to go out there and look at it and say, oh yep, it does look bad, he said. Across major corn-growing states, climate change is fueling conditions that make watching the corn grow a nail-biter for farmers. Factors like consistently high summer overnight temperatures, droughts and heavier-than-usual rains at the wrong time can all disrupt the plants pollination making each full ear of corn less of a guarantee and more of a gamble. Overall, corn growers got lucky this year with late-season weather that contributed to what is now predicted to be a record bumper crop. But experts say bouts of extreme weather are intensifying the waiting game during a critical time of year between planting and harvest. Human-caused climate change has worsened multiple U.S. extreme heat events this year and has steadily increased the likelihood of hotter overnight temperatures since 1970, according to Climate Central, an independent group of scientists who communicate climate science and data to the public. The hot nights too, like the corn’s never getting a break. Its just hot all the time,” Rynd said. I know its wearing on me. How excessive heat and rainfall can impact corn pollination As a corn plant grows, the leaves unroll to reveal the tassel, the part that sheds pollen, explained Mark Licht, an associate professor of agronomy and an extension cropping systems specialist at Iowa State University. If the plant grows too fast, which can happen when it’s consistently very hot, the tassel may be wrapped too tightly by the leaf, meaning less pollen gets released. That can lead to patchy ears of corn. Tight tassel wrap was reported in pockets across parts of the Midwest and the Plains, according to some agricultural trade publication reports during the growing season. Licht said he’d only seen tassel wrapping issues once before in his 20 years as an agronomist. High temperatures can stress corn in other ways, lowering pollen production, reducing pollen’s viability or drying out other parts of the plants, reducing fertility. “I think any of the pollination issues that we might be having are more because the nights have been so exceedingly warm,” said Larry Walton, who farms near Rynd in southwestern Michigan, where many farmers irrigate because it’s a drier area. We tend to see pollination issues being more problematic when we have high temperatures and drought conditions or lack of rainfall, Licht said. Yet Iowa had plenty of rain and still saw some pollination issues. Excessive moisture can cause corn smut, a type of fungus that grows on the ears. He said farmers are having to pay more attention to this because there’s just more variable weather.” Overall monster yield expected despite tricky weather conditions This winter, the U.S. drought monitor reported drought in nearly 60% of corn production areas in the Midwest. But near or above normal rainfall nearly everywhere east of the Rockies this summer brought that down to just 3% as of the beginning of August, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That, combined with consistent heat, means that “we are expecting a monster U.S. corn crop in 2025,” Rippey said. But it wasn’t easy for everyone. This has probably been one of the most difficult growing seasons that Ive experienced in my career, said Philip Good, a farmer in Macon, Mississippi and chair of the United Soybean Board. He planted his corn and soybeans 60 days behind schedule because it rained nearly every day for two months. They lost some fertilizer and some plants died in standing water, Good said, but they made up for it with some lucky weather later in the season. The rain does fall in heavier bursts, Rippey said. He said that can be an issue for farmers because even when it doesn’t cause flash floods, the moisture doesn’t necessarily percolate into the soil. It runs off and carries fertilizer with it, which is a problem for rivers’ health and farmers’ pocketbooks. The trend toward higher humidity levels and warmer ocean temperatures, contributing to hotter nights, could be a bigger issue going forward, putting stress on crops like corn and soybeans, Rippey added. Climate variability adds stress to a critical time for farmers Late summer is a make-or-break time for farmers: They’re trying to gauge how much they’ll make from the year’s crop and planning their next steps, and patchy pollination doesn’t help. Wed like to upgrade a tractor . . . or wed maybe try to pick up some more ground, Rynd said. Its hard to want to go do those things when you have a bad year like this. When the uncertain pollination is at its worst, if 15% to 25% of every ear of corn doesn’t have kernels, that could mean a significant yield loss over a large field said Nicolle Ritchie, a Michigan State University extension agent who helps Walton and Rynd survey their crops. Jason Cope cofounded a farm tech company called PowerPollen whose equipment can mechanically collect pollen and then pollinate future crops. He said that due to extreme weather events, the number of rescue pollination jobs they’ve done for customers to save fields that didn’t naturally pollinate very wellhas nearly doubled since they started in 2018. Walton said he can manage as long as the pollination issues don’t get too bad. You learn to roll with the stress part of it because most of that you cant control anyway, he added. The Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. Melina Walling and Joshua A. Bickel, Associated Press
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E-Commerce
Netflix will open the doors to its two gigantic in-person venues ahead of the busy holiday shopping season, letting fans step inside their favorite shows and movies at these experiential spaces. The Netflix House at the King of Prussia Mall near Philadelphia will open on November 12, followed by the Netflix House at the Galleria Dallas on December 11. These experiential spaces, which both occupy former department stores, were first announced in 2023 by the Los Gatos, California-based streaming service. The venues will offer a permanent year-round home for fans to engage with Netflix content, including a mix of complimentary and paid experiences. They are somewhat of a movie theater on steroids, offering theaters to catch screenings ofyou guessed itNetflix movies and shows, as well as some games and other experiences inspired by the streaming giants library of content. Both sites will also feature casual, full-service restaurants serving food and cocktails. Fans can sign up for the wait list to visit each location, including a choice of ticketed experiences. The Philadelphia location will offer mini golf and virtual reality games, while the Dallas location will have a game room. [Image: Netflix] STEP INTO SHOWS Netflix will be hyping some of its most-popular shows at these locations, including Wednesday, Squid Game, KPop Demon Hunters, and Love Is Blind. Whats more, the long-awaited final season of Stranger Things will premiere on November 26, eight days after the Philadelphia location opens. Theres an internet joke about whats happened since the last season of the show was released in 2022and the Netflix Houses offer a pertinent example, as they were announced and will open sooner than fans get the final season of the show. Netflix previously announced a third location, planned for the Las Vegas Strip, which is slated to open in 2027. The streaming giant is obviously betting its subscribers will have an appetite to play, shop, and taste their favorite content in-personand promises to update the experiences within regularly so theres a reason to return. This is fandom coming to life, where you can actually step inside the worlds youve been watching and loving for years, Marian Lee, Netflixs chief marketing officer said in a statement. Netflix is the most popular streaming service among American consumers, and 72% of respondents in a Pew Research Center survey released in July said they ever watch Netflix programming. By opening in-person experiential locations, Netflix will up the ante in the streaming wars, particularly as Hulu will soon be integrated into Disney+. Netflix reported second-quarter results in July, though executives did not mention the houses in its presentations to investors. The company reported another quarter of steady growth.
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E-Commerce
Delta Air Lines is trying something new. Its letting customers, as well as its employees, choose a new destination for its summer 2026 schedule. The airline recently announced that it would host the first-ever Route Race contest, which kicks off Monday and runs through August 29. It will let loyalty program members, SkyMiles Members, and Delta employees vote on a new European destination. The winning destination will be added to Deltas schedule next summer.“SkyMiles Members and Delta people are at the center of everything Delta does,” said Paul Baldoni, Delta’s senior vice president of network planning in a press release. “The Route Race is a celebration of their influence, giving our community a voice in where they want to fly next and inviting them to help shape Deltas global network.”Baldoni added, “The destinations where Delta flies are more than just dots on a maptheyre gateways to culture, connection, and possibility, and this is a chance for our Members and employees to bring one of them closer.” According to the announcement, Delta flies to over 300 destinations, which, this summer, included its largest transatlantic schedule yet and its first nonstop flight to Sicily. In an effort to continue expanding, it’s now asking its loyal customers and employees to weigh in on the next stop.Traditionally, airlines choose their destinations by analyzing trends, using market research, and staying competitive with what flights other airlines are offering. According to AeroTime, many airlines will frequently add European flights in the summer, so the new addition will likely already be in line with demand. Plus, since customers and employees are the ones deciding where to fly, the chances that the new destination will be a popular one seem fairly high. Loyalty members and Skymiles members can cast votes in the Fly Delta App. That hardest part will likely be picking between the three amazing European destinations: Sardinia, Malta, or Ibiza.
Category:
E-Commerce
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