Good morning.

In today’s edition:

• ⚡ Data center dilemma
• 🎭 New highest-grossing actor
• 🚨 Trump threatens Insurrection Act

…and much more.

Ready, Set, Go: Today’s news should be a ~4.06-minute read (1,081 words).

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P.S. We’ll be off on Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

“A person is but the product of their thoughts. What they think, they become.”

–Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

If your electricity bill spiked because of a warehouse full of AI servers that guzzle power faster than your nephew’s soccer team slamming Gatorade at halftime, you wouldn’t be too happy.

Now scale that up by thousands of megawatts, and you’ve got America’s data center dilemma.

Microsoft is one company pulling out all the PR stops. This week, the Copilot developer rolled out a “Community-First AI” plan that promises to cover the full electricity costs for its US data centers, so locals don’t get stuck with higher rates.

Microsoft’s five-part pledge includes:

• Covering full electricity costs to prevent utility rate hikes for nearby residents
• Minimizing water use and replenishing more than it withdraws
• Paying full property taxes on data center sites
• Creating local jobs in the communities that host data centers
• Funding AI training programs to boost regional workforce skills

It also unveiled a new water-recycling cooling system, already live in Wisconsin and Georgia, to reduce local strain in drier areas.

AI data centers are a growing point of contention

Communities from New Jersey to Kentucky are pushing back against the recent AI-fueled rise in data centers, which help drive up local electricity prices and stress an already aging US power grid.

• In some areas, electricity costs have soared nearly 267% over the past five years, with data centers often blamed for the surge.
• The load is still growing fast: overall US power demand in 2030 is projected to be 25% higher than it was in 2023—largely because of data center needs—after holding relatively steady for decades.

Potential solutions are controversial. In September, PJM, the America’s largest grid operator, floated plans to cut power to data centers during peak demand unless they build their own energy supplies. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet have pushed back on the proposal, arguing the move could delay critical AI infrastructure projects and give countries like China a competitive edge.

Looking ahead…Microsoft says it’ll start implementing its promise to cover full electricity costs of its data centers by mid-2026.

📊 Flash poll: In your opinion, which of the following should be prioritized?

• Gaining a global edge in AI development
• Ensuring data centers don’t raise local power prices
• Unsure/other

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Here are five stats from this past week that made our team go “whoa.” Hopefully you will, too.

🍿💰 Zoe Saldaña is now the highest-grossing actor in history, with a combined estimated box office gross of $15.4+ billion following the recent release of Avatar: Fire and Ash.

💼 The average new hire in 2025 was 42 years old, up from 40.5 in 2022 and 40 in 2016, per a recent analysis by workforce data company Revelio Labs.

🧑‍⚖️ Last year, district courts ruled in favor of Trump administration policies 25% of the time, while appeals courts did so 51% of the time and the Supreme Court stood at 88%, per a NYT analysis.

🏘️ For the first time since 2020, the share of US homeowners with mortgages at 6% or higher is greater than those with mortgages below 3%, per federal data. Overall, 80% of mortgage holders still have rates below 6%.

📲 Global downloads of all mobile apps via the App Store and Google Play fell 2.7% last year—but consumer spending on apps rose by 21.6% over the same period, per data from Appfigures.

BUSINESS & MARKETS

• 💰 US budget deficit totals $602 billion through the first three months of FY2026 (October-December); that figure is $109 billion less than the same period a year ago (-15%).
• 🏬 Amazon threatens “drastic action” against Saks Global’s recent bankruptcy filing on the grounds that it pushes the tech giant down the repayment pecking order; Amazon invested $475 million into Saks’ acquisition of Neiman Marcus roughly a year ago, a stake Amazon says is now effectively “worthless.”
• 📲 Verizon is offering a $20 credit to customers affected by a massive service outage that was resolved late Wednesday night; the outage, which lasted ~10 hours, affected wireless voice and data services.

SPORTS, MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

• 🏀 26 people, including current and former college basketball players, were charged by the FBI in connection to shaving and fixing the outcome of games in the 2023-24 and 2024-25 season. The case is among the largest gambling conspiracies in the history of college athletics.
• 🏈 New York Giants reportedly sign former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh to a five-year deal worth nearly $100 million.
• 🎶 Spotify is raising US subscription prices within the month, with individual plans landing at $12.99/month. | Hans Zimmer—the legendary composer who scored The Lion King, Inception, Interstellar, and 100+ other movies—will score HBO’s upcoming Harry Potter series, set for release in 2027.

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SCIENCE, SPACE & EMERGING TECH

• 🦈 Greenland sharks, the longest living vertebrates on the planet at up to 400 years old, likely evolved to resist age-related eyesight degeneration, new research suggests; the findings could hold clues to preserving vision in humans.
• 🏋️ Five extra minutes of exercise and a half-hour less sitting time each day can reduce people’s risk of death by 7%-10%, with greater benefits seen in less-active people, per new study.
• 🦟 Mosquitoes become increasingly reliant on humans for food as biodiversity in their area decreases, according to a new study from Brazil.

US, WORLD & POLITICS

• 🚨 President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces in Minneapolis amid recent anti-ICE protests; Trump's latest threat came a few hours after an immigration officer in Minneapolis shot a Venezuelan man in the leg, who DHS says was in the country illegally and attacked officers while trying to flee a traffic stop.
• 🏥 Trump unveiled the broad outline of a health-care plan—dubbed “The Great Healthcare Plan”—which the White House says will lower drug prices and insurance premiums
• 🏛️ Congress approves a limited spending package to fund certain parts of the federal government through the end of the current fiscal year; however, the vast majority of gov’t programs still need to be funded before a deadline of Jan. 31 to avert another gov’t shutdown.

☝️ The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore recently launched a new Paws on Parchment exhibition that explores the role of cats in the Middle Ages, including the above instance of tiny toe beans smeared across a manuscript while drying some ~500 years ago.

🤔 Did you know? Mariah Carey holds the record for most No. 1 singles by a solo artist on the Billboard Hot 100, beating out both Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. When also counting musical groups, Carey’s 19 chart-toppers rank second all-time behind The Beatles (20).

📰 Worth a read: Will AI be the long-awaited translator between humans and sperm whales?

🖱️ What we’re clicking:

• What 'only children' bring up the most in therapy
• 8 of the biggest historical anniversaries of 2026 (and why they matter)
• Horses can smell how you’re feeling

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How well did you pay attention this week? Find out here.

🏈 SportsTok Sports talk: Press Sports is a free 3x/week newsletter covering the top stories around the NFL, NBA, CFB, MLB, and more in a quick, easy-to-digest format—3 minutes or less.

👴 Wise words from a wise man: 95-year-old investing legend Warren Buffett shares his best advice for living well.

🗣️ How to win friends and (positively) influence people. This simple '30-second rule' can help you shine in every conversation, even if you're a little awkward.

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*A message from our partners

1. What’s the value of the Roman numeral M, minus the value of the Roman numeral D?
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