Category: 4-FrequentNewsStreams

Lately, tech companies like Meta have been putting hundreds of billions toward building new data centers to power their AI ambitions. Some communities have been pushing back, however, arguing these facilities strain local resources. But demand for data centers isn’t expected to slow down anytime soon. On the show today, Landon Marston, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, explains what data centers actually are, why they require so much energy and water to operate, and how they can affect nearby communities. Plus, how can data centers become more sustainable?

Later, reflections on Medicaid cuts and the power of journaling. And, a listener makes us smarter about “100-year floods.”

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• "Their Water Taps Ran Dry When Meta Built Next Door" from The New York Times
• "Coreweave stock pops after company announces $6 billion AI data center in Pennsylvania" from CNBC
• "Meta's Zuckerberg pledges hundreds of billions for AI data centers in superintelligence push" from Reuters 
• "How A.I. Is Changing the Way the World Builds Computers" from The New York Times
• "China Is Putting Data Centers in the Ocean to Keep Them Cool" from Scientific American 

• ”The 100-Year Flood” from the U.S. Geological Survey

  
  

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Since the mid-’90s, employers have been using an online system to verify the legal right of employees to work in the U.S. That system often falls short, and now employers have been encouraged to recheck workers' legal status as the Trump administration has canceled work authorizations for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. But first: Universal Music Group is closer to selling shares on a U.S. stock exchange. And, how long will the housing market remain stagnant?

From the BBC World Service: Drugmaker AstraZeneca says it’ll invest $50 billion in the United States by 2030, its biggest-ever manufacturing investment in the country. The AngloSwedish firm plans to build a major new site in Virginia, the latest in a string of big pharma bets on the U.S. as President Donald Trump threatens steep tariffs on drug imports. Plus, a bike shop boss reflects on business during the Tour de France.

While Ford City Mall in West Lawn faces demolition and going the way of many of its mall brethren, two other suburban shopping centers in the area are thriving. A “reader’s choice” report from USA Today says Oakbrook Center in the western suburbs and The Fashion Outlets of Chicago in Rosemont are among the best in the nation. Reset looks at what makes these and other Chicago-area shopping centers great and discusses how local malls are changing to draw visitors at a time when malls nationwide have been in decline. Our guests: Amanda Lai, Director of Food Industry Practice at McMillanDoolittle; Meha Ahmad, Reset senior producer; Rachel Herzog, Crain’s Chicago Business commercial real estate reporter. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.

Bridget and Ryan get a question from listener Deji - who wants to know, how much debt is too much debt? Before they can answer, the pair run into Ghost Pirate Blackbeard, who has the same question! Together, they learn more about debt, and what everyone, even a ghost pirate, needs to know before borrowing money.

If your family is interested in learning more about the questions we answered in this episode, check out our website. We’ve got discussion questions and tips!

This episode is sponsored by Greenlight. Sign up for Greenlight today at greenlight.com/million.

You might have heard Meta has been on a bit of a hiring spree recently as it tries to build out its new AI Superintelligence team. The company has reportedly been offering hundreds of thousands of dollars or more to attract leading AI researchers from rivals like OpenAI, Google and Apple.

And it's not just Meta doing the poaching. Tech companies big and small are jumping into the AI Wars.

Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino spoke with Natasha Mascarenhas, a reporter at The Information, about the AI talent wars happening behind the scenes of Silicon Valley.

More on this

“Meta hires two Apple AI researchers for Superintelligence push, Bloomberg News reports” - from Reuters

“Anthropic Revenue Hits $4 Billion Annual Pace as Competition With Cursor Intensifies” - from The Information

It is a pivotal moment in Ukraine as Kyiv announced it will hold another round of peace talks with Russia on Wednesday. It's the first such meeting in seven weeks and comes as NATO leaders try to answer Ukraine’s desperate call for more weapons after Moscow launched one of its largest-ever aerial assaults. Nick Schifrin reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

We like to say it a lot here at Marketplace: the stock market is not the economy. But it can help tell us how the economy is doing — if people and businesses are spending or saving, investing or hunkering down. This week, some major companies will report their second quarter earnings, giving us insight into where this economy is headed. Also in this episode: how summer roadwork is hurting businesses in one Vermont town, and why health insurance premiums are going up next year.

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Marketplace is more than a radio show. Check out our original reporting and financial literacy content at marketplace.org — and consider making an investment in our future.

An ongoing Sun-Times investigation tracking items at Jewel, Mariano’s, Target and Walmart shows most common grocery purchases cost more today in the Chicago area than they did when President Trump came into office promising lower prices. And local shoppers are struggling to keep up. Reset learns more about how Chicago residents and business owners are adapting to higher prices and what comes next. Our guests: Stephanie Zimmermann, Chicago Sun-Times consumer investigations reporter; Amanda Lai, director of food industry practice, McMillanDoolittle; Errol Schweizer, publisher of The Checkout Grocery Update; and Sana Syed, senior director of strategic initiatives at IMAN, which runs the Go Green Community Fresh Market. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.