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Walker Orenstein

@walkerorenstein.bsky.social
1.9K followers 563 following 202 posts

Reporter for the Star Tribune covering energy. From St. Paul, but a Washington Husky. Email: walker.orenstein@startribune.com

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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Before Michele Tafoya can win a U.S. Senate seat, she has to win over her own party first. A look at how Tafoya's is pitching Minnesota Republicans and how the GOP is reacting: www.startribune.com/michele-tafo...
startribune.com
Michele Tafoya courts wary GOP activists in Senate run
Star power is meeting skepticism as the ex-sportscaster works to win over the Republicans who will decide the endorsement.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 24/02/2026
NEW: Google will build a data center in Pine Island, near Rochester. The tech giant will also pay for a significant amount of new wind, solar & battery power. Google has been eyeing the state for at least a year, but had been quiet about its plans: www.startribune.com/google-annou...
startribune.com
Google announces Minnesota data center in Pine Island, near Rochester
An agreement with Xcel Energy includes an investment in clean energy the utility provider says will help the state meet carbon-free goals.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 19/12/2025
Minnesota Power says it won't use energy from the Nemadji Trail Energy Center, a setback for the $1 billion gas plant proposed in Superior, Wi. MP said litigation and permitting has gone on too long, and it needs energy quick: www.startribune.com/northern-min...
startribune.com
Northern Minnesota utility drops plan to use energy from controversial Wisconsin gas plant
Minnesota Power said the Nemadji Trail Energy Center in Superior, Wis., has been delayed too long by litigation and permitting.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
NEW: We asked every city and county with a known data center proposal if they signed an NDA related to the project. Here's how Minnesota officials use NDAs, code names and shell companies to support data center secrecy: www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...
startribune.com
How Minnesota officials support data center secrecy
Governments are signing non-disclosure agreements and concealing basic information about potential data centers.
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Jana Hollingsworth @janahollingsworth.bsky.social · 18/12/2025
The secrecy behind data centers in Minnesota. From @walkerorenstein.bsky.social and me. www.startribune.com/ndas-code-na...
startribune.com
How Minnesota officials support data center secrecy
Governments are signing non-disclosure agreements and concealing basic information about potential data centers.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 26/11/2025
NEW: Among farm fields and tiny towns in SW Minnesota, a power developer is planning a $4b data center that could grow to $10b. The project would be remarkable for its rural location, size and an idea to bundle clean power with a data center. www.startribune.com/in-minnesota...
startribune.com
In Minnesota farm country, a plan for a $4 billion data center takes root with vast wind, solar and battery projects
The plan reflects breathtaking change in the energy sector, but it’s a long way from fruition.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Xcel Energy has asked state regulators to increase rates for gas heating customers by 8.2%, a typical bill increase of $85.32 annually. Here's a short explanation from Xcel about why:
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
Otter Tail Power is asking state regulators to approve a 17.7% rate increase for its customers, which would cost the average household nearly $218 per year. Below is the company press release with the reasons for the hike, such as ending electricity supply from a coal plant:
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 24/10/2025
An update on the Isle Royale saga. But still no info from federal investigators. www.startribune.com/son-killed-f...
startribune.com
Son killed father in Isle Royale murder-suicide, newly released records show
Michigan officials offered the first new information about a case that drew national interest since June, when the bodies were found by park rangers.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 22/10/2025
North Dakota, Montana and three southern states are trying to block a $22b plan for power lines across the Midwest that will reshape the grid as coal plants retire and demand surges. Our regulators call it an 'economic attack.' www.startribune.com/attempt-by-n...
startribune.com
Minnesota clashes with North Dakota over power lines
The fight is the latest example of how the switch to clean energy has made basic grid infrastructure a partisan battleground.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
RIP to my great aunt Miriam, who survived the Holocaust, fleeing the Nazis after Kristallnacht. She was a brilliant writer and person with an incandescent spirit and a magnetic personality. stljewishlight.org/obituaries/m...
stljewishlight.org
Miriam Spiegel Raskin - St. Louis Jewish Light
Miriam Spiegel Raskin, a writer and Holocaust refugee whose life reflected courage, honesty, and intellectual curiosity, passed away in St. Louis on October 13, 2025. Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1930,...
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Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 06/10/2025
Serious crime is down on Metro Transit, but riders continue to report “quality of life” crime that makes some feel unsafe on light rail.
bit.ly
What a week’s worth of rider text messages reveals about Metro Transit’s problems
Serious crime is down on Metro Transit, but riders continue to report “quality of life” crime that makes some feel unsafe on light rail.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 01/10/2025
GIP, buyers of Allete, making another splash in the utility market: www.ft.com/content/009d...
ft.com
BlackRock’s GIP nears $38bn takeover of utility AES
Global Infrastructure Partners in talks to acquire energy group that supplies power to data centres
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 29/09/2025
How the Minnesota Star Tribune used AI to bolster its traditional reporting to cover a mass shooter www.poynter.org/reporting-ed...
poynter.org
How the Minnesota Star Tribune used AI to bolster its shoe-leather reporting to background a mass shooter - Poynter
A team of journalists relentlessly tracked the shooter’s digital and paper trail. But AI provided deeper insight into her thoughts before the shooting.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
A massive development proposal that Hermantown is describing only as a “communication services facility” was identified as a data center in a January letter sent to city officials. Story w/ @janahollingsworth.bsky.social : www.startribune.com/northern-min...
startribune.com
Northern Minnesota mystery project identified as data center
Mystery has been swirling around the project for months amid zoning changes and offers to buy homes.
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Melissa Santos @melissajsantos.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
I've struggled to put into words how I feel about Cascade PBS cutting its entire newsroom today. That newsroom (formerly Crosscut) gave me space to do the most in-depth, informative public policy journalism of my career -- work other journalists continued after I left. The region is now worse off.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
Xcel Energy disconnected 52,549 Minnesota households from electricity or gas last year. That is more than triple the number from 2019, the year before the pandemic moratorium began. It’s far more than any year in at least a decade: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 18/09/2025
NEW: Minnesota utilities are shutting off power to customers in record numbers in the years after a temporary ban on the practice during COVID-19. For Xcel, the ability to disconnect remotely with 'smart' meters is playing a role in the enormous spike: www.startribune.com/xcel-is-cutt...
startribune.com
Xcel is shutting off power in record numbers
Economic conditions after the COVID-19 pandemic, and new smart meters that allow Xcel to remotely disconnect homes, are behind a spike that has drawn criticism from consumer advocates.
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Minnesota Star Tribune @startribune.com · 10/09/2025
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after being shot at a college event, Trump said.
bit.ly
Conservative activist Charlie Kirk dies after being shot at Utah college event
Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and close ally of President Donald Trump, died Wednesday after being shot at a college event, Trump said.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 09/09/2025
Perhaps more than any other Minnesota city, Becker’s fate is linked to the changes transforming Minnesota’s energy sector. That now includes the convulsive data center industry. Amazon's retreat from Becker is the latest 'gut punch' in a volatile era: www.startribune.com/amazon-retre...
startribune.com
Amazon's data center retreat is latest 'gut punch' to Becker
Becker's future is intertwined with a changing energy system, and depends on the whims of an AI gold rush by the nation’s largest tech companies.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 04/09/2025
I spent a horrifying amount of time reading and translating the Annunciation shooter manifesto to report on it, and this rang true to me: www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...
theatlantic.com
The Mass Shooters Are Performing for One Another
The goal of these attacks is to join a lineage of infamous killers.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
In the debate over the future of northern MN's largest power company, the rhetoric has turned nasty. The $6.2 billion sale of Allete/Minnesota Power has exposed tensions over funding clean energy and whether private equity will hurt customers: www.startribune.com/as-state-wei...
startribune.com
Minnesota Power sale brings fight over clean energy, private equity
Allete says its buyers would provide the cash to comply with Minnesota’s carbon-free law. Skeptics say BlackRock would hurt utility customers.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
“Do they think that they can wave a magic wand and put the fires out? People have lost their homes and livelihoods. It’s not like we’ve gone around and started these fires just for the hell of it.” www.startribune.com/north-of-min...
startribune.com
Northern wildfires have smoked out Minnesota’s summer, but in Canada it’s been devastating
The smoke that has drifted south is evidence of Manitoba’s worst wildfire season in three decades.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
The impact of wildfire smoke on health & happiness in Minnesota is real. So is the political tension. For our neighbors in Manitoba, the fires have devastated communities. Thanks to Kristoffer Tigue & Carlos Gonzalez for this illuminating work: www.startribune.com/north-of-min...
startribune.com
Northern wildfires have smoked out Minnesota’s summer, but in Canada it’s been devastating
The smoke that has drifted south is evidence of Manitoba’s worst wildfire season in three decades.
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Bobby Nightengale @nightengalejr.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Joe Pohlad tells Phil Miller why the Twins are no longer for sale and the Pohlad family will remain principal owners of the team. The Pohlad family is adding two new groups of minority partners in their ownership structure. Story: www.startribune.com/minnesota-tw... @startribune.com
startribune.com
Twins chairman Joe Pohlad: ‘I don’t think we could have imagined a better outcome’
Joe Pohlad, in an interview with the Minnesota Star Tribune, declined to reveal two groups of new minority partners. He said recent moves to trade away a large group of players were not an ownership d...
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
@jigarshahdc.bsky.social endorses the sale of Minnesota Power in Duluth. Shah ran a huge clean energy loan program for Biden. "Public markets are increasingly volatile and swayed by global forces like tariffs, inflation and even speculative trends like AI" www.utilitydive.com/news/allete-...
utilitydive.com
Allete sale would help fund clean energy investment for Minnesota
The proposed sale would inject a massive infusion of private capital into Minnesota Power, capital guided by a long-term perspective rather than short-term market pressures.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 11/08/2025
NEW: Slayton, Minnesota, wants to kick Xcel Energy out and form its own government-run electric provider. It's an extraordinary step and one driven by frustration with Xcel's service and emergency response. A city of 2,000 is squaring off with a $43b company: www.startribune.com/this-tiny-to...
startribune.com
This tiny town wants to be the first in Minnesota to evict Xcel Energy and start its own utility
A four-hour wait to shut off power to a burning utility pole was one of the last straws for Slayton.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 04/08/2025
The MN Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling by the state Public Utilities Commission to shrink bill credits for subscribers of 700+ community solar gardens. Ruling below: mncourts.gov/_media/migra...
mncourts.gov
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Here is background on how we got here. Upper Sioux built solar for its casino. Now its electric supplier vows to cut off power: www.startribune.com/a-minnesota-...
startribune.com
A tribe built solar for its casino. Their utility says it will cut power
The unusual conflict has pitted assertions of tribal sovereignty against claims that the solar array flouts state utility laws.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
NEW: Minnesota utility regulators excoriated an electric co-op for its threat to cut power from the Upper Sioux casino because of the tribe's large new solar array. "I think you have lost your tether to the purpose of an electric utility." www.startribune.com/minnesota-re...
startribune.com
Minnesota regulators bash electric co-op for threatening to shut off tribe’s power
The state Public Utilities Commission said it would investigate and possibly punish a rural electric cooperative after it opposed the Upper Sioux Community’s solar project.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
NEW: A Minnesota economic development team convened a meeting in March about a potentially colossal data center on farmland near Rochester, Minn. One tech company was invited: Google. www.startribune.com/state-invite...
startribune.com
Minnesota invited Google to talk about data center near Rochester
The record from the Department of Employment and Economic Development is the first concrete evidence of the company’s search for a data center site here.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
Xcel Energy reports this morning that Unit 1 at its Prairie Island nuclear plant is down following a reactor trip yesterday during a test. Not an emergency situation, and no impact to health and safety. Unit 2 at Prairie Island is still running.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Interesting new NYT quiz: Should you get a heat pump? Here's the answer for a Minnesotan switching from natural gas to a heat pump. Price of electricity vs. gas a major factor, says the story: www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Power is out for about 10,000 Xcel Energy customers in Minnesota this morning, amid the heavy rain, according to Xcel's outage map. The outages are mainly in Hennepin County.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
NEW: An Administrative Law Judge has recommended that Minnesota regulators *deny* the sale of Duluth-based energy company Allete to Global Infrastructure Partners/BlackRock. The decision still rests with the Public Utilities Commission. www.edockets.state.mn.us/turnstile?re...
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Minnesota utility regulators will probably ask our electric utilities to file a new plan about how they will speed up their carbon free projects because of the BBB. Here's a proposal from PUC Commissioner Audrey Partridge:
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
Inbox: Allete/Minnesota Power has announced a deal with Gov. Walz's Commerce Department over the sale of the Duluth-based utility. Commerce will withdraw its opposition. Here are the basics, from Allete:
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Xcel Energy's Bob Frenzel is Minnesota's highest-paid executive among the state's three investor-owned utility companies, ranking No. 13 in our top 50 CEOs list after ranking No. 24 last year. $11 million in total compensation, a +91% change from 2024. www.startribune.com/minnesota-ce...
startribune.com
Minnesota's highest-paid CEOs made 7% more, with highest paid making $59.4M
The 50 highest paid CEOs made a total of $495.5 million. Still, that figure is down 23.6% from 2020.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 30/06/2025
We hiked deep in Isle Royale to learn what we could about the deaths of two campers at the rugged and remote national park in Lake Superior. It's a place known for its moose and wolves. But as one camper said: “The danger is from the people you go out here with.” www.startribune.com/two-dead-bod...
startribune.com
Two dead bodies, one remote island and a whisper network: What happened on Isle Royale?
The Lake Superior island off Minnesota’s coast grapples with a mysterious north woods tragedy.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
New photo leading Strib live blog. "Loved ones, who declined to give their names, of Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark embraced after hanging a sign with pictures of the couple and their dog Gilbert at a memorial outside the House Chambers" www.startribune.com/vance-boelte...
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Joshua J. Friedman @joshuajfriedman.com · 16/06/2025
With ten minutes to deadline, @startribune.com redesigned tomorrow's front page in a flash, per senior assistant managing editor Greg Mees
Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune, with a banner headline reading "SUSPECT CAUGHT."
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 16/06/2025
NEW: Officers searched Boelter's vehicle and found at least three AK-47s, a 9mm handgun, a list of names & addresses of other public officials. Officers found in the area a ballistic vest, a disassembled 9mm, a mask, & a gold police-style badge. READ: www.startribune.com/read-the-cha...
startribune.com
Read the charges against Vance Boelter
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 15/06/2025
Fact check: Did suspect in Minnesota shootings have close ties to Gov. Tim Walz? www.startribune.com/fact-check-d...
startribune.com
Fact check: Was suspected assassin Boelter close with MN Gov. Walz?
Boelter was appointed to an advisory board in 2019, but one member says the board does not interact with the governor on a regular basis.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
NEW: Is the data center bill at the Legislature a good compromise or the worst of both worlds for data center companies and environmental advocates? A look at where Minnesota landed, and what it means: www.startribune.com/what-new-rul...
startribune.com
What Minnesota's new data center rules mean for environment, big tech
Some wanted tougher standards for water use and transparency, while others fear Minnesota is falling behind in competition for construction jobs.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 11/06/2025
NEW: Is the data center bill at the Legislature a good compromise or the worst of both worlds for data center companies and environmental advocates? A look at where Minnesota landed, and what it means: www.startribune.com/what-new-rul...
startribune.com
What Minnesota's new data center rules mean for environment, big tech
Some wanted tougher standards for water use and transparency, while others fear Minnesota is falling behind in competition for construction jobs.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 09/06/2025
Amazon has announced another massive data center campus in a state with a Democratic governor that is not named Minnesota. This one is a $20 billion project in Pennsylvania: dced.pa.gov/newsroom/gov...
dced.pa.gov
Governor Josh Shapiro Announces Amazon Plans to Invest $20 Billion in Pennsylvania for AI Infrastructure in Largest Capital Investment in Commonwealth History
Amazon investment in Pennsylvania will bring 1,250 jobs and expand education and training programs Berwick, PA –  Governor Josh Shapiro today announced that Amazon is planning to invest at least […]
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Correction to this: The deal does *not* include exempting backup power generation like diesel generators from a Certificate of Need. Mixup from lawmakers as reporters haven't seen the language.
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
Really worth a read, from Dennis Anderson: He paddled solo into the BWCA and didn't come back www.startribune.com/anderson-he-...
startribune.com
Anderson: He paddled solo into the BWCA and didn’t come back
An experienced canoeist, Bob James sought fish, solace in the Boundary Waters
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 06/06/2025
NEW: Sen. Nick Frentz says the outline of the MN legislative deal on data centers is roughly: - Repeal tax break on electricity - $ for weatherization - A clean energy tariff - Water use and permitting language - Bill protection language - Some type of CN exemption for backup gen
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Walker Orenstein @walkerorenstein.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Notable: Two weeks after suspending a massive project in Minnesota, Amazon has announced a $10 billion data center campus for AI in North Carolina --> apnews.com/article/amaz...
apnews.com
Amazon planning $10B investment in North Carolina for data center and AI campus
Amazon is expanding its cloud computing infrastructure and artificial intelligence activities into a rural North Carolina county.
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