FERC Chairman Laura Swett said PJM faces "a grave legitimacy crisis" and must adopt board-independence and stakeholder-process reforms by the end of September; PJM CEO David Mills said the RTO is "fully committed to rise to the challenge."

FirstEnergy's signed data center capacity reached 6.4 GW in the second quarter, and subsidiary Mon Power plans a customer surcharge to help finance $2.7 billion in new West Virginia generation built mainly for a data center.

NextEra Energy and Brookfield are developing a $100 billion data center campus in Kentucky, a source told Reuters on July 29, adding to the large-load buildout pressuring interconnection queues across the eastern grid.

Gov. Josh Shapiro's office announced DHS will abandon plans to convert Berks and Schuylkill county warehouses into ICE detention centers, a reversal he brokered through DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin the same week he helped land LeBron James for the 76ers.

Bresnahan backs federal bill giving local governments leverage over data centers

U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan (co-op: Claverack) told a Hazleton-area chamber audience he supports federal legislation granting local governments protections in their dealings with data center developers.

Garrity calls for shielding PA farmland from data center development

Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity used a Thursday agriculture roundtable in Lackawanna County to call for protecting Pennsylvania farmland from data center development.

Bipartisan bill would redirect state-lands revenue to rural PA counties and school districts

Proposed bipartisan legislation would give counties, municipalities and school districts a share of revenue generated by Pennsylvania's state-owned land, aimed at rural communities hosting tax-exempt state forests and parks.

House · Bill On Concurrence (keywords: data center, data centers)

Senate · Third Consideration (keywords: data center, data centers)

Trump said his Board of Peace struck a deal for Hamas to disarm, Israel to pull out of Gaza and a new Palestinian government to take over; Hamas confirmed the agreement, but Israel has not publicly weighed in.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday he had not spoken with Trump in almost two weeks as the president pressed the SAVE America Act, which lacks even majority support, and MAGA hardliners pushed to cancel the five-week August recess.

The League of Conservation Voters' super PAC will spend $50 million for Democrats, while Elon Musk's America PAC plans more than $100 million across the Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan and Ohio Senate races and House contests.

Senators have voted 17 times this Congress on war powers resolutions with only one Iran success, and Sen. Tim Kaine said Democrats are now turning to the appropriations process to try to limit U.S. military operations.

Cincinnati won 3-2 Thursday when De La Cruz scored on a ninth-inning fielder's choice; Lowe hit a 402-foot solo homer for Pittsburgh, opener Ramirez went 2 IP with 4 strikeouts and no earned runs, and Soto (5-3) took the loss as the Pirates fell to 55-55.

Aaron Rodgers and DK Metcalf connected for a touchdown in Thursday's two-minute drill while cornerbacks Joey Porter Jr. and Donte Kent and DB Jalen Ramsey stayed on the PUP list through the NFL-mandated ramp-up period.