🤖 The Data Center Divide: How AI’s Physical Footprint Is Rewriting Local and National Politics

A new 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' poll shows Americans aren’t hostile to AI data centers—until one lands in their backyard, exposing a partisan split that could reshape midterm elections.

The artificial intelligence boom runs not just on algorithms and ambition, but on concrete, steel, electricity, and water. And as the physical infrastructure behind AI spreads across the United States, it is triggering a political fault line that is proving far trickier than Silicon Valley anticipated.

Across the country, communities from Madison, Wisconsin, to Chandler, Arizona, are rejecting proposals for new data centers—vast, energy-hungry facilities that power cloud computing and AI systems. Local officials cite rising electricity rates, strained power grids, depleted water tables, and environmental concerns. Yet nationally, public opinion remains fluid.

A new 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Poll, conducted by London-based independent firm Public First, suggests data centers are not broadly unpopular. Thirty-seven percent of respondents said they would support a data center in their area, compared with 28 percent who oppose one. Another 36 percent remain undecided—an unusually large bloc that leaves the industry with room to maneuver.

That gap between national ambivalence and local resistance is now shaping the politics of AI infrastructure.

The Backyard Effect

Voters tend to support data centers in the abstract, associating them with jobs, investment, and economic growth. The poll found that 37 percent of respondents identified job creation as the primary benefit. But proximity changes the equation. Nearly one-third of respondents cited higher electricity costs as their top concern—an issue that becomes tangible only when a project is nearby.

⛷️🏅 Trump’s Shadow Looms Over Milan as Winter Olympics Become a Geopolitical Battleground

As President Trump skips the opening ceremony, allies and rivals alike arrive in Italy with more than medals on their minds—turning Olympic competition into a proxy test of global power, pride, and political rupture.

When the Winter Olympics open this week in Milan, President Donald Trump will not be seated among world leaders in San Siro Stadium. Yet his presence—political, rhetorical, and strategic—will be felt across the ice rinks, ski slopes, and locker rooms of the Games.

For many of America’s closest allies, defeating the United States will no longer be just a sporting triumph. It will be a statement.

Trump’s second-term foreign policy—marked by public clashes with allies, unpredictable tariff threats, revived ambitions over Greenland, and a combative tone toward Europe—has unsettled the traditional global order. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney recently described the moment as an international “rupture,” and the Olympics are shaping up to be one of its most visible stages.

“Beating the Americans isn’t just a game anymore,” said Charlie Angus, a former Canadian lawmaker and outspoken Trump critic. “In this climate, it feels existential.”

🎙️'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Black History Series Kamala Devi Harris (1964– ): A Record of Firsts That Redefined American Power

From Oakland to the Oval Office’s second-in-command, Vice President Kamala Devi Harris has reshaped the nation’s political map—breaking barriers across race, gender, and governance.

On November 3, 2020, Kamala Devi Harris made history when she was elected Vice President of the United States alongside President Joe Biden. Sworn in on January 20, 2021, Harris became the nation’s 49th vice president—the first Black woman, the first woman, and the first American of South Asian descent to hold the office.

The moment capped a career defined by “firsts.” In 2016, Harris won election to the U.S. Senate from California, becoming the first Black woman to represent the state and only the second African American woman ever elected to the chamber, following Carol Moseley-Braun. Before Washington, Harris had already carved out unprecedented territory as California’s attorney general and as San Francisco’s district attorney—again, the first woman of African American and South Asian heritage to hold each post.

“The DOJ Cannot Be Trusted”: Inside the Epstein Files—and the Battle for Accountability

As the Epstein documents drip into public view, Rep. Robert Garcia argues the real story is not what’s been released—but what remains hidden, and what it reveals about power, secrecy, and democratic trust.

In American politics, few things are as corrosive as the suspicion that truth is being rationed. Fewer still cut as deeply as the belief that justice itself is selective. For Robert Garcia, the ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, the slow, partial release of records tied to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has become a defining test of institutional credibility.

“The Department of Justice cannot be trusted,” Garcia told 'TELL IT LIKE IT IS' Magazine in a wide-ranging interview that read less like a partisan skirmish than a moral indictment. At stake, he argued, is not only whether survivors receive long-delayed clarity, but whether Americans can still believe that transparency applies to the powerful as rigorously as it does to everyone else.

At the center of the dispute is volume—and absence. More than three million pages have been released from the Epstein investigation, yet Garcia and other Democrats say that number masks a deeper problem: compliance. A congressional subpoena, issued months before Congress passed a transparency law, remains only partially fulfilled. The United States Department of Justice, Garcia contends, is invoking statutory carve-outs to avoid producing materials that the subpoena plainly demands.

“The DOJ says this is over,” Garcia said. “We believe it’s just beginning.”

🎶🏆Bad Bunny’s Grammy Breakthrough Is a Cultural Win — and a Political Flashpoint for Latino America

The Puerto Rican superstar’s historic Album of the Year triumph arrives amid ICE crackdowns, turning celebration into resistance

When Bad Bunny walked onto the Grammy stage, tears in his eyes and history in his hands, he wasn’t just accepting a trophy. He was carrying generations.

His album Debí Tirar Más Fotos became the first primarily Spanish-language album to win Album of the Year at the Grammys, a milestone decades overdue after Latin artists helped shape the sound, rhythm, and soul of American music. For many Latinos watching, it felt like validation at the highest level — recognition in the language our mothers pray in, dream in, and remember home in.

But the moment was also painfully bittersweet.

Bad Bunny’s triumph unfolded against the backdrop of aggressive immigration enforcement by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, part of a broader crackdown tied to the Trump administration’s renewed immigration posture under Donald Trump. As families face detention, deportation, and fear, the contrast was impossible to ignore: American music’s most prestigious institution affirming Latino artistry on one stage, while Latino communities are told they don’t belong on another.

That tension is what gave Bad Bunny’s words their power.

Earlier in the night, he delivered a blunt declaration that cut through the room: “ICE out. We’re not savages. We’re not animals. We’re not aliens.” It wasn’t a slogan for applause — it was a rallying cry. And it landed harder knowing that, even as his name was being called, families across the country were being torn apart.

The irony sharpened for many watching at home. Videos circulated online showing ICE detentions in Latino neighborhoods — men taken away in unmarked vehicles, identities unknown, futures uncertain. One man, handcuffed in the cold, warned another passerby in Spanish: “¡Corre!” Run. His fate remains unknown.

🏀🐅 Auburn Women Hit the Road Seeking Florida Season Sweep as SEC Stakes Rise in Gainesville

Tigers eye history, road redemption in rematch with Gators after January defensive gem at Neville Arena

Auburn Women’s Basketball Back on the Road at Florida Thursday

A quick turnaround sends Auburn Tigers women's basketball back on the highway Thursday night with a clear objective: finish the job. Auburn travels to Gainesville to face Florida Gators women's basketball at 6 p.m. CT inside the Stephen C. O’Connell Center, aiming for a season sweep and a potential momentum shift in SEC play.

The Tigers (13-10, 2-7 SEC) already own the blueprint. In the first meeting on Jan. 11, Auburn clamped down defensively to earn a 60–50 victory, holding Florida to a season-low point total. That performance wasn’t a one-off—Auburn has limited eight of nine SEC opponents below their season scoring averages, signaling a defensive identity that travels.

Florida (13-11, 1-8) enters after a brutal stretch of three straight games against top-10 opponents, most recently a road loss to No. 5 Vanderbilt. The Gators remain dangerous, however, led by prolific guard Liv McGill, the SEC’s second-leading scorer, and interior presence Me’Arah O’Neal on the glass.

On the Air

• Radio: ESPN 106.7 FM with Brit Bowen (5:45 p.m. CT pregame); also on AuburnTigers.com and the Auburn Athletics app
• TV/Streaming: SEC Network Plus (Ryan Urquhart, Brittany Davis)

🏊‍♀️ Giele Goes Back-to-Back: Alabama Freshman Captures Second Straight SEC Weekly Honor

Tessa Giele powers Alabama’s 200 medley relay into the national top five, sets a pool record, and continues a breakout freshman surge.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. | The freshman wave in Tuscaloosa is gaining serious momentum.

Tessa Giele was named Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Week for the second consecutive time, the league announced Tuesday, after delivering another meet-defining performance for the Alabama Crimson Tide swimming and diving team.

Giele played a central role in Alabama’s emphatic dual-meet victory over Auburn last Friday, anchoring a record-setting 200 medley relay that now ranks fifth nationally and stands as the fastest time in the SEC this season.

The honor comes just one week after Giele claimed her first Freshman of the Week award following Alabama’s meet against Texas A&M, underscoring her rapid emergence as one of the conference’s most impactful first-year swimmers.

National Speed, Conference Statement

Swimming alongside Emily Jones, Jada Scott, and Cadence Vincent, Giele helped the Crimson Tide post a blistering 1:34.34 in the 200 medley relay — capturing the event by more than a second while also setting a new Alabama Aquatic Center record. The performance vaulted the relay into the national top five and sent a clear message ahead of the postseason stretch.

Giele wasn’t done there.

The freshman standout also claimed first place in the 100 butterfly for the second straight week, touching the wall in 51.67, more than half a second ahead of the field. Her versatility continued to shine in relay action, as she contributed to the 400 freestyle relay, which posted the fastest time of the dual meet at 3:13.22, winning by two seconds.

Individually, Giele added a second-place finish in the 50 freestyle (22.08), finishing just behind teammate Cadence Vincent to complete a loaded night for the Crimson Tide.

🏀 Troy Women Surge Late, Lock Down Ninth Straight Win Behind Fourth-Quarter Takeover

Zay Dyer posts a monster double-double as Troy outclasses App State 19–10 in the final quarter to stay hot in the Sun Belt title race.

TROY, Ala. | Championship habits showed once again inside Trojan Arena.

Up just one entering the final 10 minutes, the Troy Trojans women’s basketball flipped the switch in the fourth quarter, outscoring Appalachian State Mountaineers women’s basketball 19–10 to pull away for a 69–59 victory Wednesday night. The win marked Troy’s ninth straight overall and continued its steady march toward the top of the Sun Belt Conference standings.

The Trojans improved to 19–4 overall and 10–2 in league play, moving within a half-game of first-place Arkansas State. App State fell to 10–12 (3–9 SBC), officially eliminating itself from contention for a bye into the conference semifinals.

Dyer Dominates, Jenkins Delivers the Daggers

Zay Dyer was everywhere. The junior forward turned in one of the most dominant performances of the Sun Belt season, finishing with 20 points, 19 rebounds, and four blocks for her 15th double-double — extending her conference lead.

Fortuna Ngnawo added her own double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds, while Emani Jenkins provided the knockout blows late. Jenkins drilled two clutch three-pointers during a decisive fourth-quarter run, finishing with 13 points and reaching 71 made threes on the season, becoming just the third Division I player in program history to hit 70 or more in a single year.