The Last U.S. Nuclear Boom Applied to Build 26 Reactors and Finished 2. 

NuScale Carries a $4 Billion Market Value on $10.7 Million of Sales.

Daniel Sparks, 

The Motley Fool
Fri, August 14, 2026 

NuScale Power (NYSE: SMR) is worth about $4.2 billion at today's stock price. Its revenue over the past 12 months totals about $10.7 million.

With a gap that wide, the market is paying for what the small modular reactor (SMR) developer might build (reactors for the utilities and artificial intelligence (AI) data-center operators now shopping for around-the-clock power), not for anything it sells today. That isn't automatically a mistake, of course. But the United States has run the new-reactor experiment before, recently, and the results are worth having in hand before paying for this one.

The 26-to-2 record

In the late 2000s, the United States launched what was called a nuclear renaissance. By mid-2009, utilities had filed combined license applications with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) for 26 new reactors at 17 sites.

Two of them were finished.

Georgia's Vogtle Units 3 and 4, originally estimated at $14 billion and expected in service in 2016 and 2017, entered commercial operation in July 2023 and spring 2024. The final cost was more than $30 billion. Seven years late, more than double the money.

South Carolina's V.C. Summer expansion got far enough to start construction before its utilities halted the project in 2017. The rest never produced an operating reactor. Some were withdrawn or suspended, and several won licenses only to be left to lapse. And when Vogtle's second new unit entered service in 2024, no other reactor was under construction anywhere in the country.

The failure mode wasn't the technology. Nuclear projects died in the delivery -- the years and the billions between an application and a working plant.

NuScale's answer

NuScale's pitch is aimed at exactly that problem. Its 77-megawatt reactor modules are built in a factory rather than assembled on site, and they can be deployed in configurations of up to 12 modules per plant. The company holds the only SMR design certification the NRC has issued, and it received approval for an updated design in May 2025.

It also says it has built a supply chain of more than 60 partners and has executed over 30 supply agreements. But a 12-module plant tops out at 924 megawatts -- less than a single new Vogtle unit produces.

"[T]he question for off-takers is no longer whether to go with nuclear -- it is which technology can actually deliver, and when," CEO John Hopkins said in the company's second-quarter release.

The financials, however, describe a company still waiting for its market to arrive. Second-quarter revenue came in at $75,000, down from $8.1 million a year earlier, when NuScale was still collecting engineering fees from its Romanian project work. That work wrapped up in late 2025, and revenue for the first half of 2026 totaled just $640,000. The company's second-quarter net loss attributable to its Class A shareholders was $47.5 million.

NuScale does hold $1.9 billion in cash and investments, so it can fund itself for years to come. But that cushion has come from shareholders. The weighted-average Class A share count nearly tripled year over year, to about 365 million shares, and the company added a new $750 million at-the-market stock sale program on Tuesday.

Two deals, both pending

To me, the last cycle sets a clear test for a growth stock like NuScale: not interest, not agreements to study -- a signed, funded order.

Neither of NuScale's two lead opportunities has reached that line yet. The Tennessee Valley Authority is in discussions with ENTRA1 Energy, NuScale's commercialization partner, toward a definitive power purchase agreement the company says would potentially be the largest nuclear deployment program in U.S. history. And in Romania, the six-module RoPower project, the most advanced SMR effort in Europe by NuScale's description, is still working through conditions attached to a shareholder vote to advance it.

Both could get there. Sure, this cycle has something the last one lacked: a new class of buyer in data-center operators, with urgent power needs and deep pockets. But the last boom had committed utilities, federal support, and 26 proposed reactors on file. It ultimately produced two reactors, both late and far over budget.

A $4.2 billion valuation on $10.7 million of trailing sales is arguably priced for the moment the orders arrive. In the last cycle, getting the order turned out to be the easy part.

Daniel Sparks and his clients do not have positions in any of the stocks mentioned. 

Cubans find rest on rooftops as blackouts drive them from home

Lisandra COTS
Fri, August 14, 2026


Alexis Mijan sets up his rooftop bed in Old Havana (YAMIL LAGE)

Every night, when summer heat and blackouts make sleep impossible at home, Cubans head for rooftops, porches and public spaces where they can catch a breeze.

Alexis Milan waits with his blind 17-year-old son for the sun to disappear behind the horizon of Central Havana, so they can head to the roof.

Over the months, the rooftop of his three-storey building has become a communal bedroom.

"We started getting a lot of people coming with us, and now almost the entire building has come up here," the 59-year-old tells AFP.

Among the tanks, pipes, and clotheslines, each family has carved out its own space.


His patch is on top of an empty water tank, where he spreads out a sheet and arranges two pillows.

He does not have a mattress, but up here at least some air is moving.

His apartment is baking and it is "impossible to live with all the mosquitoes."

Looking across the city, only a few patches of light survive, scattered in the gloom.

There is the intermittent purr of generators, dogs barking, and, from time to time, the dry clack of domino tiles echoing in the street.

Since January, a US fuel embargo has worsened prolonged power and water cuts.

Now every night, the roofs, parks, and porches of Havana fill with people lying on cardboard, mattresses, or directly on the ground.

Facing the sea, Havana's famous Malecon seawall has ceased to be a promenade for tourists or lovers.

Now dozens of people settle onto the still-warm concrete after sunset.

While some gaze into the darkness of the Florida Strait, others try to sleep, making the most of the breeze coming in from the sea.

Sheets, backpacks, and outstretched bodies transform the emblematic seafront promenade into an open-air dormitory for a few hours.

At dawn on the rooftop, alarms of the few cell phones that still have battery wake the neighbors one by one.

"I don't see an end to this," says Milan as he folds up the sheet and the pillows before heading to his job at a warehouse.

lis/arb/des

TRUMP'S OTHER WAR

After killing hundreds in boat strikes, US military expands campaign on land in Latin America

MEGAN JANETSKY and ISABEL DEBRE
Mon, August 17, 2026
AP


Military personnel take part in a U.S.-sponsored multinational military exercise in Panama City, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)


Helicopters fly during a U.S.-sponsored multinational military exercise in Panama City, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)


Military personnel train to board boats during a U.S.-sponsored multinational military exercise in Panama City, Thursday, Aug. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hundreds of people have been killed in the year since the U.S. military began bombing boats it accused of ferrying drugs off Latin America's Caribbean and Pacific coasts. Now, the Trump administration says it is seeking to extend that lethal campaign to land, pursuing deals that would put U.S. forces on the ground in allied nations across the region.

President Donald Trump's defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, announced last week during a visit to Panama that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil, following Ecuador, which launched similar missions with the U.S. in March. Guatemala, however, has denied reaching such an agreement.

It will be "like you saw with the strikes on the drug boats," Hegseth said during a military drill in the jungle in Panama. "Same effect on land. And so we're working with Ecuador. We're working with Colombia. We're working with partners to bring the fight to the (designated terrorist organizations) on land."

The expansion marks a new phase in the Trump administration's campaign to pressure governments across Latin America to align with its security priorities and assert what it calls "American dominance over the Western Hemisphere."

Voters across the region are increasingly embracing Trump-aligned leaders, giving Washington more willing partners. But critics warn that the widening U.S. military campaign risks civilian casualties and a backlash against the U.S. that could outlast the Republican administration.

"What's going on is an attempt to legitimize the increased use of the U.S. military in the region," said Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert at the Inter-American Dialogue think tank. "It projects power, demonstrates military superiority and enables Washington to impose its agenda. This is not cooperation, it's obviously a very asymmetrical relationship."
Escalating unilateral boat strikes to joint land operations

The U.S. military has operated in Latin America for generations, supplying allies with weapons, intelligence and training to fight drug trafficking, while leaving a fraught legacy of support for military coups and dictatorships.

But since Trump returned to office in January 2025, Washington has pursued its most interventionist approach to the region in decades.

His administration has designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as "foreign terrorist organizations," sent U.S. forces into Venezuela to capture its president and involved CIA agents in drug lab busts in Mexico. It has killed more than 200 people in over 60 boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, offering little evidence that those targeted were "narco-terrorists" and drawing questions about the strikes' legality.

But sustained U.S. combat operations alongside local forces would be "new and different," said William LeoGrande, a Latin America specialist at American University, testing deep-rooted sensitivities over national sovereignty and the presence of U.S. troops.

Hegseth provided few details about what joint operations with Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras would look like. But in Colombia, where Trump-backed Abelardo de la Espriella took office this month, he raised the prospect of U.S. forces joining strikes against armed groups including the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia's last major guerrilla group. Hegseth said de la Espriella had requested greater U.S. military involvement.

"Anywhere you traffic drugs or you threaten the American people or our partners, you are a target just like ISIS or al-Qaida," Hegseth said, equating drug traffickers with Islamic extremist groups that dominated U.S. national security priorities for decades.

On Saturday, following a drone attack by the ELN on troops, de la Espriella vowed the rebels would "pay a high price."
Concerns over US military presence in Latin America

Ecuador has emerged as the clearest case of direct U.S. military involvement, launching joint raids with Washington despite voters overwhelmingly rejecting foreign military bases in a November 2025 referendum. A New York Times investigation found that one strike on an alleged drug lab in March instead destroyed a cattle farm.

The push to extend such agreements has gained the most traction among Trump's ideological allies in the region — conservative leaders elected on promises of aggressive crackdowns on crime in recent months.

Guatemala stands out as an exception. Its progressive government has worked closely with Washington on security despite political differences. But President Bernardo Arévalo has denied agreeing to joint anti-drug operations, saying they would be illegal without congressional approval.

Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador did not respond to requests for comment on Hegseth's remarks.

A notable outlier from the new U.S. anti-trafficking alliance is Mexico, a major source and transit point for fentanyl and other drugs entering the U.S. Progressive President Claudia Sheinbaum has cooperated closely with Washington on security but resisted mounting pressure for a U.S. military role in fighting cartels on Mexican soil.

"Ultimately, the United States will have to define what 'joint operations' means in each of these countries. It may discover pretty quickly that this is something most governments — even governments on the right — are quite uncomfortable with," said Adam Isacson, a defense analyst with the Washington Office on Latin America.
'There is only so much sovereignty they can cede'

Observers question whether a more militarized approach would produce lasting security gains. Shifter said the campaign may serve partly as a show of force, building on the capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as the Trump administration seeks to offset foreign policy setbacks elsewhere, including in the Middle East.

Others warn the strategy risks civilian casualties, particularly in Colombia, where armed groups operate among civilian populations and often function as de facto authorities in areas beyond the state's reach. Rather than beating back those groups, military strikes are more likely to force them to adapt, said Jeremy McDermott, co-director of the Colombia-based investigative organization InSight Crime.

"The U.S. bombs an ELN camp in Colombia or in Venezuela, what is the first thing the ELN are going to do? They're going to dismantle all their camps and move into the villages and towns," he said.

In the long term, experts say, deeper U.S. military involvement could test how far voters are willing to go in putting security over sovereignty, potentially constraining even Trump's closest allies.

"All of these presidents, no matter how far right they are, face pressure to do something about security and to make a show of pursuing the 'bad guys' who are making people feel unsafe. There is broad agreement on that," Isacson said. "But they also know there is only so much sovereignty they can cede before public opinion begins turning against them."

___

DeBre reported from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Associated Press journalists Sonia Pérez D. in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Marlon González in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, and Astrid Suárez in Bogotá, Colombia, contributed to this report.

Four 'extraordinary' Renaissance paintings stolen from Italian museum

Aleks Phillips
Sun, August 16, 2026 


Three of the five surviving panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio were taken [Reuters]


Four Renaissance paintings of "extraordinary value" have been stolen from a museum in Sicily, Italy's culture minister has said.

Alessandro Giuli confirmed that three panels of the Polyptych of San Gregorio and a double-sided panel of the Madonna with Child and Christ in Pietà, all attributed to Antonello da Messina, were taken from the Regional Interdisciplinary Museum of Messina on Saturday night.

Police are now probing how the thieves were able to enter the museum without triggering its alarms and who may have been responsible.

The incident is the latest in a string of museum heists across Europe that have led to a growing number of priceless works disappearing from public view.


Investigators are working on the initial suspicion that the paintings were stolen to order by black market art thieves, according to Italian news agency Ansa.

It reported that the Madonna and Christ in Pietà was removed directly from inside a secure display case, while all the paintings taken were on wooden panels, preventing them from easily being rolled up.

The museum's director Marisa Mercurio said the theft was thought to have occurred around 21:50 local time (19:50 GMT) on Saturday.

"We are shocked by what happened," she told Ansa, describing it as "a great loss for the museum, for the city, the community and the art world".

Antonello da Messina was a 15th Century painter born and raised on Sicily, who would go on to become one of the early Renaissance period's master painters.

His San Gregorio Polyptych, painted in 1473, depicts the Virgin Mary holding an infant Jesus Christ, flanked by St Gregory and St Benedict as well as several angels.

The artwork, of which five panels survive, was commissioned for the monastery of Santa Maria.

A double-sided panel of the Madonna with Child and Christ in Pietà was also stolen [Reuters]

Meanwhile, his double-panel showing an infant Christ blessing a follower while being held by the Virgin Mary on one side and an adult Christ in death on the other was painted around the same time, though exactly when is unclear.

Its small size suggests it was originally used for private worship.

Federico Basile, the mayor of Messina, said he was "deeply outraged" by the "heinous criminal act".

"A heritage belonging to all the people of Messina has been violated," he said. "Messina will not let its history be stolen."

The theft comes just days after Italy's specialist art crime unit announced it had recovered three artworks stolen from a museum near Parma earlier this year.

The paintings by Cézanne, Renoir and Matisse had a combined worth of €9m (£7.8m) and were taken by a gang in a matter of minutes, with the museum's alarm system preventing them from taking more.

The security of priceless artworks and artefacts in European museums was thrown into question late last year when a gang of thieves broke into the Louvre in Paris in broad daylight, making off with €88m worth of historic jewellery.

Meet Carina, the $4.74M Cow with a Guinness World Record

Jessica Tucker
Sat, August 15, 2026

 A-Z Animals.

Nelore ox© Murillo Mazza/Shutterstock.com
Carina, a Nelore cow, sold for a record-breaking $4.74 million at auction in Brazil.

The post Meet Carina, the $4.74M Cow with a Guinness World Record appeared first on A-Z Animals.

Cattle are prized commodities around the world, especially in Brazil.

The South American country, which produces 25% of the world's beef, is known for its prized Nelore cattle. While generally reasonably priced, one such elite specimen made headlines in 2024 for her incredible price tag. Meet Carina, the $4 million cow.
Carina the Cow Sold for Over $4 Million

The beef industry is booming in Brazil. This comes after a Nelore cow fetched over $4 million at auction, making her the most expensive cow to ever be purchased at auction.

Before being sold, the remarkable Nelore cow had already made a name for herself in Brazil. Officially named Carina FIV do Kado, Carina for short, the cow exceeded all standards set for her breed. This led to her winning three consecutive national championship titles in Brazil's most prestigious cattle competitions.

Carina, the Nelore cow, sold for .74 million in 2024.
©Greatest Reactions / Instagram – Original

Ultimately, Carina set the new standard for all other Nelore cattle. At the age of three, Carina aged out of competition, retiring a champion.

In 2024, Carina went to auction. She sold for a record-breaking $4.74 million USD. No other cow, regardless of breed, had ever sold for such a high price. But the four investors who now collectively own Carina knew they would recoup their investment thanks to Carina's superior genetics.

Carina Fetched a High Price for Her Genetics, Not Her Meat

Carina is a striking-looking Nelore cow. At a weight of over 2,400 pounds, Carina would be an excellent beef cow. But it is not her meat that made Carina so highly prized. It is her genetics.

Carina's eggs will be sold off individually to create superior future generations of Nelore cattle.
©Greatest Reactions / Instagram – Original

The reason the ranchers who collectively bid on Carina did not bat an eye at her price tag was that they stand to make that money back and more in a very short time. Carina's eggs will be harvested and sold off individually to different ranchers. The eggs will be implanted in surrogate cows, in hopes of creating award-winning cattle like Carina. Subsequently, each egg has an estimated value of at least $110,000 USD.

Currently, Casa Branca Agropastoril is the farm to rival for outstanding Nelore cattle specimens. While Carina is the current Guinness World Record holder for the World's Most Expensive Cow Sold at Auction, in 2023, another Nelore cow, Mara, held that honor. Sold for $4.38 million, she, too, was bred at Casa Branca Agropastoril. Needless to say, these cattle not only receive the best of the best veterinary care but are also guarded around the clock to prevent them from being stolen.

Why Are Nelore Cattle So Prized?

Ongole cattle were first brought to Brazil from India in the 1860s. The DNA characteristics considered valuable in Brazil were bred for over generations, resulting in Nelore cattle. These cattle are known for being resilient and adaptable to Brazil's climate. Today, 80% of the cattle in Brazil are either purebred or hybrid Nelore cattle.

Nelore cattle are a hardy breed. They can survive in drought and poor-quality food.
©Alf Ribiero/Shutterstock.com

The reason Nelore cattle are so prized stems from several factors, including:

Disease resistance


Climate tolerance


Not requiring intensive feeding


Reproduction efficacy


Quick growth rate


Producing highly flavored beef

Because of these factors, Brazil has become a leader in beef production, exporting to countries such as the United States, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, and more. By using Carina's eggs to create future generations of cattle, ranchers are ensuring that purebred Nelore will remain the gold standard for beef production.

US Lettuce-linked parasitic outbreak spreads. 

Mary Walrath-Holdridge,

 USA TODAY
Fri, August 14, 2026

Lettuce-linked parasitic outbreak spreads. See map, more updates

An outbreak of cyclosporiasis, a parasitic infection known for causing explosive diarrhea that has been linked to recalled iceberg lettuce, has expanded to two additional states since early August, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

An unprecedented wave of infections has hit the United States since May, resulting in thousands of illnesses and two deaths. The CDC, which lags significantly behind states in reporting infections, pinpointed 13,895 laboratory-confirmed cases across 47 states between May 1 and its latest update on Aug. 10. At least 10,455 additional cases have not yet been confirmed by laboratories, the CDC said.

Is lettuce safe to eat now? What to know amid cyclospora outbreak

Ohio and Michigan have led the charge in reporting cyclosporiasis incidents, with Michigan's health department stating on Aug. 13 that it had 13,909 cases, including the first two deaths identified in the nationwide outbreak.

Cyclosporiasis, an illness caused by the parasite Cyclospora cayetanensis, results in unpleasant gastrointestinal symptoms, often associated with food poisoning, such as diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. It is usually contracted through contaminated food or water, and it is not generally known to be deadly; however, it can cause more serious complications in people with compromised immune systems or other underlying health issues.
Multiple outbreaks, only one tied to lettuce

Not all of these clusters have been linked to the same source, however. The largest outbreak was traced by the Food and Drug Administration back to recalled iceberg lettuce grown by produce giant Taylor Farms in central Mexico.

The Taylor Farms-related outbreak was previously identified as reaching 15 states: Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

It has since expanded to include Maine and Massachusetts, according to the CDC. At least 9,481 cases were confirmed as being part of the lettuce-related outbreak, up from 6,358 on Aug. 5.

Additional information about where the lettuce was sold has also emerged, thanks to FDA enforcement reports - and it wasn't mostly Taco Bell. The popular fast food chain made headlines as the first to be named in the investigation.

Outbreak linked to lettuce expands to more states. See map

The states identified as being specifically affected by illnesses traced back to lettuce were identified after health officials interviewed and tested sick people to determine whether their infections were related. Those that are related are considered part of the same outbreak, likely stemming from the same source. Thus far, these states are the only ones the CDC has been able to confirm as related to one another and trace back to the lettuce.

Most recalled Taylor Farms lettuce was sent to Walmart, other retailers

While Taco Bell was the first chain to make headlines in the FDA's investigation, it actually received only a very small portion of recalled lettuce, according to an FDA enforcement report.

Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC and Pizza Hut, received only 5,900 of the 236,192 total recalled lettuce cases - a little less than 2.5%

The largest recipient by far was Walmart, specifically under its in-house brand Marketside, which received 109,476 cases (about 46%) of whole and shredded iceberg lettuce. Taylor Farms itself received the second-largest amount, with 68,897 cases or about 29%.

Other recipients included fast-food chains Subway and Jack in the Box, distributor Cross Valley Farms and food service providers Sysco, Markon and Peak.

In addition to the Michigan-centered outbreak, officials are investigating multiple separate clusters of the gastrointestinal illness, including one that has sickened at least 172 people. The FDA has not yet identified the source of additional outbreaks.

The source of a cyclosporiasis cluster is more difficult to track than foodborne illnesses due to a long incubation period, difficulty obtaining samples and the inability to use the same genetic tracking tools available for pathogens like E. coli and listeria, as previously reported by USA TODAY.

Mexico races to clear record seaweed surge from Caribbean beaches

By Paola Chiomante
Fri, August 14, 2026
REUTERS


FILE PHOTO: Members of the Mexican Navy collect sargassum seaweed from a beach in the hotel zone in Tulum, Mexico, July 22, 2026. REUTERS/Paola Chiomante/File Photo

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Aug 14 (Reuters) - Mexico is scrambling to contain a record surge of foul-smelling sargassum along its Caribbean coast, as the brown seaweed swamps ‌beaches in the heart of the country's tourism belt.

Officials in Quintana Roo, home to resort ‌destinations including Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Tulum, have cleared more than 105,000 metric tons of sargassum so far this year, ​according to data released this week, a figure that already exceeds last year's record 92,783 tons.

The haul also puts the state on track to blow past earlier projections for 2026 and deepen what officials have described as one of the worst sargassum seasons on record. Authorities had previously estimated that about 119,000 ‌tons could wash ashore this year.

Scientists ⁠say the outsized blooms are being fueled by a mix of nutrient-rich runoff — including fertilizer-linked nitrogen and phosphorus, particularly from agricultural powerhouses such as Brazil — and ⁠shifting ocean conditions. The seaweed's buildup on beaches can drive tourists away as it releases hydrogen sulfide gas as it rots that irritates nasal airways.

The season could last until early or mid-October, though forecasts remain uncertain, said ​Oscar ​Rebora, Quintana Roo's environment minister.

"It will depend on winds, ​currents and tides," Rebora said, adding that ‌the latest tally was current as of Tuesday. Playa del Carmen has recorded the largest volume collected so far, he said.

For workers charged with clearing the beaches, the seaweed has become an almost constant presence. In Puerto Morelos, cleanup worker Vitinia Villamontes said sargassum had been arriving without letup.

"This year it didn't stop. From July to July, sargassum kept arriving," she said. "It's basically impossible to keep it ‌under control this year."

Sargassum has increasingly inundated parts of the ​Caribbean over the past decade, fouling once-clear beaches and threatening ​the tourism industry that underpins much of ​Quintana Roo's economy.

Some companies say creating a market for the algae could help ‌offset the high cost of collection.

"We believe ​one of the strategies to ​mitigate the sargassum problem is creating value from it," said Sebastian Aguilar de Alba, technology and innovation director at Carbonwave, which processes sargassum into liquid biostimulants and fertilizers.

Mexico's environment ministry ​has previously identified dozens of projects ‌that could turn sargassum into products including fertilizers, biofuels and bioplastics. Backing for commercializing ​sargassum remains limited, however, with most public funds still aimed at cleanup.

(Reporting by Paola Chiomante, ​Writing by Daina Beth Solomon and Andrea Ricci)

‘Uncharted territory’: Second-largest reservoir in US plunges to a record low

Laura Paddison, 

CNN
Sun, August 16, 2026

The Wahweap Marina floats on Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on July 15, 2026. - John Locher/AP


Lake Powell, the second-largest reservoir in the United States, provides water and electricity to millions in the West. It has now has shrunk to its lowest level on record, in the latest sign of the alarming crisis unfolding on the drought-stricken Colorado River.

The reservoir's levels dropped to 3519.91 feet on Saturday, breaking the record low of 3,519.92 feet set in April 2023, according to data from the US Bureau of Reclamation published Sunday. It is now just under 30 feet away from the point at which its dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower.

The record comes nine days after downstream Lake Mead, the US's biggest reservoir, dropped to its lowest level since it was first filled nine decades ago. "We are in uncharted territory," said Jack Schmidt, director of the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.

Lakes Mead and Powell, which are essentially one gigantic reservoir separated by the Grand Canyon, hold just under 60% of the total water currently stored in the Colorado River basin. The unprecedented decline of these vast bodies of water, which have been shrinking for more than 20 years, drives home the perilous state of the river that feeds them.

Known as the lifeblood of the Southwest, the Colorado River starts in the Rocky Mountains, fed by melting snowpack, and ends in the Gulf of California in Mexico. It provides water to roughly 40 million people and irrigates more than 5 million acres of farmland across seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

Climate change-fueled drought and increases in temperature, combined with years of heavy water use, have caused the crucial waterway to shrink by roughly 20% since 2000. And Mead and Powell have been heavily affected.



People view the Glen Canyon Dam from a viewpoint above the Colorado River, Tuesday, July 14, 2026, in Page, Arizona. - John Locher/AP

A view of the Colorado River at Horseshoe Bend on July 31. - Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Spanning parts of Arizona and Utah, Lake Powell formed behind the Glen Canyon Dam, which was constructed in the 1950s. The vast reservoir started filling in 1963 and took 17 years to reach its full pool level of 3,700 feet above sea level.

It's often referred to as a water "bank account" that can be used in dry years to send supplies downstream to cities, farms and businesses.

The reservoir's level has always fluctuated. Every year, between May and July, it's boosted by runoff from melting snow. It then decreases over the rest of the year, leaving distinctive "bathtub ring" formations along its rocky shoreline.

However, this year, as with many recent years, Powell has suffered from a dearth of snow — last winter was one of the driest and warmest on record for the western US.

A bathtub ring on the canyon wall shows the high water mark of the reservoir as a person takes a picture during a tour on Lake Powell on July 15. - John Locher/AP

A major concern is the impact on energy generation. The force of the Colorado River turns the Glen Canyon Dam's eight huge turbines, producing enough electricity each year to power nearly 500,000 households. It's relied on by Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and Nebraska.



The reservoir could now be barreling toward "minimum power pool" — at 3,490 feet — when water levels will be too low to spin the turbines and generate electricity.
More in U.S.

This "scary threshold" will be reached this year unless "extraordinary measures" are taken, said Brad Udall, a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University. These include reductions in water releases from Lake Powell and upstream, he added.

The most alarming scenario would see Lake Powell reaching "deadpool" levels of below 3,370 feet. At this point water would no longer be able to flow downstream from the dam at all.

It's very hard to imagine this, Utah State's Schmidt said. "I would expect draconian steps to decrease water use to prevent this from occurring. But who knows?"

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Reclamation said it and the Department of the Interior remained "committed to reducing the collective risk of both Lake Powell and Lake Mead falling below critical elevations to protect critical infrastructure to continue to meet the water and hydropower needs of the basin."

Houseboats are moored at the Antelope Point Marina on Lake Powell at the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area, on July 15. - John Locher/AP

Experts don't currently believe there is a risk of people's taps running dry; the Colorado River is a slow-moving crisis and many water managers have taken steps to prepare.

Cities like Pheonix and Tucson "are extremely aware that they are first in line for cuts," and have taken steps to ensure they have the back-up supplies to meet demand, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. But while cities can pay for alternative water supplies, this might be less feasible for Tribes and smaller communities along the Colorado River, she added.

Powell's record low comes as the seven states that share the Colorado River's water wait to find out what cuts will be imposed. After years of fraught negotiations between the states failed to yield a deal, federal authorities have stepped in and are expected to publish a plan in the coming days specifying the exact reductions required of states through 2028.

There is some hope that the El Niño climate pattern, which tends to bring more frequent rain and snow to the Southwest, could help. But experts are clear it will take more than one very wet winter to pull the Colorado River out of crisis.

"Even record snowpack this winter will not be enough to get us out of the danger zone," Porter said.

So GM Reopened the Ohio Battery Plant. Don't Let That Distract You From What Happened to Indiana and Tennessee.

Shawn Henry
Sun, August 16, 2026 



Seven months after the lights went out, General Motors and LG Energy Solution are flipping them back on at their Ultium Cells battery plant in Warren, Ohio. About 1,400 workers will return Monday. Production of the NCMA pouch cells that power the Chevrolet Equinox EV, the Cadillac Lyriq, and most of GM's electric lineup will resume.

Fine. But here's the part nobody's writing about.

While the Warren plant sat idle for seven months, GM was quietly executing one of the most significant restructurings of its battery manufacturing strategy since it announced the whole thing. It sold its stake in a $3.5 billion Indiana battery factory to Samsung SDI — before the plant ever produced a single commercial cell. It invested $70 million to convert its Tennessee Ultium Cells facility from EV batteries to lithium iron phosphate cells for grid-scale energy storage — specifically including power infrastructure for AI data centers.

Ohio came back. Indiana was handed off. Tennessee found a new boss.

This is not a comeback story. It's a liquidation and reallocation.
The Plant That Reached a Milestone and Then Went Dark

The Warren facility is the original Ultium Cells plant — GM and LG Energy Solution's first large-scale US facility, the proving ground, the one they built from a steel skeleton starting in May 2020. At 2.8 million square feet — roughly 45 football fields — it's capable of producing 45 gigawatt hours of cells annually using advanced NCMA chemistry.

By December 2024, the plant had produced its 100 millionth battery cell. A milestone worth celebrating. Six weeks later, production stopped.

The official reason was "weaker EV demand." The actual trigger was more specific: the elimination of the $7,500 federal EV consumer tax credit on September 30, 2025. When Congress axed the credit, GM's EV sales forecasts changed overnight. The company had already built more battery manufacturing capacity than it needed for a slower market, and Warren — with roughly 850 temporary layoffs and 480 permanent cuts — bore the first consequences. Workers who had been told they'd return in June got another delay to August. Now it's actually August.
What they're returning to is a plant that supplies cells for GM's best-selling EVs — a lineup that has shown genuine recovery signs in the second quarter of 2026. Chevrolet and Cadillac EV sales were up meaningfully. The market isn't fixed, but it's not getting worse.

So Ohio makes sense. That's the easy part.
The Factory That Never Shipped a Cell

The Indiana story deserves more scrutiny.

In April 2023, GM and Samsung SDI announced a $3.5 billion joint venture to build a battery factory in New Carlisle, Indiana. The plant was designed to produce prismatic nickel-rich cells — a different format than the pouch cells made in Ohio — under Samsung's PRiMX brand. Mass production was scheduled to begin in 2027. The facility was expected to employ over 1,600 people and produce 27 gigawatt hours annually, with potential to scale to 36 GWh.

This week, Samsung SDI acquired GM's roughly 50 percent stake. The purchase price was not disclosed.

The Indiana plant has not shipped a single production battery cell. GM committed to a $3.5 billion factory, spent roughly three years reconsidering, and then walked away before the thing opened. Samsung SDI is keeping the plant — converting part of it to energy storage system batteries — and the two companies signed a separate agreement to jointly develop next-generation prismatic batteries. So GM still gets the technology. It just doesn't own the factory.

Think about what that means from a manufacturing strategy standpoint. GM essentially co-funded Samsung SDI's first wholly owned battery factory in North America, then handed it back and said, "We'll buy cells from you." That is a remarkable reversal for a company that spent years insisting domestic battery ownership was non-negotiable.
Tennessee Found a Different Customer

The Spring Hill, Tennessee Ultium Cells plant tells the most surprising chapter of the three.

In March 2026, GM and LG Energy Solution announced they were investing $70 million to convert part of the Tennessee facility to produce lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells — not for EVs, but for stationary energy storage systems. Grid projects. Renewable energy installations. And specifically, power infrastructure for AI data centers. By July, the plant had started LFP cell production.

LFP chemistry is cheaper, longer-lasting in cycle terms, and more thermally stable than the NCMA chemistry used for EV applications. It's ideal for large stationary storage installations that utility companies and data center operators need. It gives up energy density — a problem for a car, a non-issue for a warehouse full of battery racks.

Here's the irony that should stop you cold: the technology that many argue is responsible for accelerating electricity demand and straining grids — AI computing — is now the paying customer keeping an American EV battery factory operating. The EV slowdown created idle factory capacity. AI's relentless appetite for electricity created demand for exactly the kind of batteries that idle factory could pivot to make. One problem fed the other's solution.

GM and LG didn't save Tennessee from the EV market. AI did.
The First Unionized Battery Contract in American History — Then Layoffs Six Months Later

There's one more detail in the Warren story worth acknowledging.

In June 2024, the UAW ratified its contract at the Ultium Cells plant in Warren. It was, by any measure, a historic moment: the first unionized battery manufacturing contract in American history. Workers at a facility that didn't exist four years earlier had secured union representation and a collectively bargained agreement.

Six months later, they were laid off.

That's not a criticism of the union, GM, or LG. It's a reflection of how quickly the economics of EV manufacturing can shift. The $7,500 federal tax credit wasn't just an incentive for consumers. It was the load-bearing wall of GM's near-term EV demand projections. When Congress removed it in September 2025, the wall came down and the production schedule collapsed with it.

Those workers are going back now. But the sequence — ratify the first union battery contract in the country, hit 100 million cells, get laid off within half a year — captures the volatility of building a career in a market that depends as much on congressional arithmetic as on consumer demand.

What This Is Actually About

The Warren restart will be reported as good news, and it is. Jobs are returning. EV cells are flowing again. GM's electric lineup — the Equinox EV, Silverado EV, Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq, Vistiq, and the GMC electric vehicles — has enough consumer demand to justify running the plant built for exactly this purpose.

But step back from the individual plant and look at the portfolio. A year ago, GM owned three major Ultium Cells facilities in the United States. Now it owns two, and one of those two has been partially converted to serve AI data centers instead of car buyers.

That's not an EV strategy. That's a battery company strategy. GM is repositioning itself less as an automaker that happens to make batteries and more as an entity that manages battery manufacturing assets across multiple end markets: consumer EVs, commercial EVs, grid storage, AI infrastructure. Whether that's a smart adaptation to a turbulent market or a quiet signal that the original EV ambition has been permanently downgraded is the question nobody is asking Monday morning in Warren.

The Ohio restart isn't the answer. It's the last line of a three-chapter story most readers never followed.

The real test is whether Tennessee's AI batteries and Indiana's Samsung hand-off generate enough revenue and technology returns to hold the broader strategy together until EV demand catches back up to where GM originally projected it would be by now.

Nobody clocking back in at Warren Monday morning is thinking about that. They're thinking about getting back to work.

Which is, honestly, the most reasonable possible response.

Ferrari’s first electric car sells for £30m

Andrea Vogt
Sun, August 16, 2026 

THE TELEGRAPH


The Maranello carmaker had the last laugh over critics of the car


Ferrari's first all-electric car was met with derision, mockery and an 8 per cent fall in the company share price when it was unveiled in May. But that hasn't dampened its sale price.

The Luce was described as "an aesthetic and technological insult to anyone who loves Ferrari" by a former company executive, as it was compared to a Nissan Leaf.

But the Maranello carmaker had the last laugh over the weekend as the first Luce in the run sold for $40m (£30m), making it the most expensive new car ever sold at auction.

The sale astonished the crowd at the Monterey Car Week in California, which had expected the "tailor-made" version of the car to go for around £750,000.

"Tailor-made" cars are one-of-a-kind vehicles customised to a buyer's precise specifications. The model, with chassis number 0, was designed with LoveFrom, the studio founded by Jony Ive, Apple's former design chief and a key figure behind the iPhone and iMac.

Rumours swirled that the purchaser of the car might have been a billionaire close to the project

The RM Sotheby's charity auction for the Luce, in mother-of-pearl white, saw bids start at $1m and race up, sometimes in increments as big as $5m.

It closed at $40m after a brief but intense bidding war in which a young man with a West Coast accent, chewing gum and wearing a black suit, yelled out "thirty," "thirty-five" and then "forty" between hushed conversation with someone on the other end of his iPhone.

"Going for the third and final time, here, only as can be done at RM Sotheby's, the car is sold," said Sholto Gilbertson, a British auctioneer, bringing the hammer down on the record-breaking sale.

No buyer's name has been disclosed, but rumours swirled on Sunday that the purchaser might have been a Silicon Valley billionaire close to the project, such as Apple's Tim Cook or entrepreneur Laurene Powell Jobs.

Proceeds will be donated to "elevating global education initiatives" via the Ferrari Foundation.

The backlash began almost immediately.

"Wow, 40 million for a washing machine with a Ferrari logo. Unbelievable," commented Fernando Sánchez, a Spanish investor, under the auction house's Instagram reel.

Regular versions of the Luce were on sale for £470,000. In May, at the unveiling, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the company's former chairman, said the Luce "risks destroying the myth" of Ferrari, and even suggested it should be stripped of the company's prancing horse logo.

No buyer name has been disclosed for the buyer of the Ferrari Luce

Ferrari's marketing chief quit after the reaction to the company's first fully electric vehicle.

Enrico Galliera, a 16-year veteran of the supercar maker, has been replaced by Massimiliano Di Silvestre, BMW's former head of Italian operations, after the disastrous launch of the Luce.

But Benedetto Vigna, Ferrari's chief executive, has vigorously defended the Luce, saying the company is already receiving orders and deflected any comparison to cheaper electric cars, saying: "You have to see it and drive it to understand that it wasn't copied – not the interiors, not the exterior, not the performance."

The car is a four-door saloon with four electric motors and a 122kWh battery, which provide a top speed of 190mph. It can reach 62mph in just 2.5 seconds and has a range of 329 miles when fully charged.

Although a record sale for a new car, it is not the most expensive car ever sold.

In 2023, a vintage 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO was bought for £42m, and in January, a "unicorn" one-of-one 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO Bianco Speciale sold for £32,855,797 to a mystery buyer.

The most expensive car ever sold at auction was a 1955 Mercedes 300 SLR Coupé modelled on the race car that Sir Stirling Moss broke the Mille Miglia record in. That was sold for €135m (£115m) in 2022.

World’s largest electric plane takes flight on $5 of power

Popular Science
Mack DeGeurin
Sun, August 16, 2026 



Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator, the largest battery-electric aircraft ever flown, crosses the Champlain Valley near Plattsburgh, New York, at sunrise during its first flight in August 2026.

The world's largest, fully battery-powered jet officially completed its maiden flight. The successful test run marks a noteworthy step forward for long-awaited electric aircraft and battery technology broadly, but don't expect to book a fully battery-powered flight anytime soon.

Manufactured by Los Angeles-based Heart Aerospace, the plane is called the X1. It has a 106-foot wingspan, measures 76 feet from nose to tail, and weighs more than 25,000 pounds, roughly the weight of an empty school bus. The 30-seat plane took off earlier this week from a regional airport in upstate New York, and flew for 27 minutes on battery power alone, reaching an altitude of 1,100 feet. It didn't carry passengers, just a single pilot.

This week's flight was an early test run for Heart's broader commercial ambition: a hybrid-electric plane called the ES-30, which the company ambitiously hopes to bring into service by 2031. That model has already garnered interest from major airlines including United, Air Canada, and JSX, drawn in by the promise of lower maintenance costs and insulation from volatile jet fuel prices.

"With the first flight of X1, Heart Aerospace has demonstrated electric flight at the scale of a commercial airliner," Heart Founder and CEO Anders Forslund said in a statement.

Heart Aerospace was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, but officially relocated to Los Angeles in April 2025 as part of its effort to get its regional hybrid-electric plane off the ground. It's one of several aviation companies capitalizing on rapid innovation in battery tech in recent years to try to reshape air travel, or a small, regional segment of it at least. The potential benefits are two-fold. On one hand, battery-powered planes, especially those drawing electricity from renewable sources, offer a cleaner alternative to environmentally harmful jet fuel. Aviation broadly accounts for an estimated 2.5 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions. Worse still, planes produce other harmful heat-trapping emissions like nitrogen oxides. The aviation industry set a goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2050, but even with innovations in sustainability and cleaner fuel, that target seems almost certain to fail.

The cockpit mockup installed aboard Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator aircraft for its rollout. Image: Heart Aerospace

Emerging electric aviation could make a dent in those emissions, but it certainly won't transform the industry in the near future. The bigger sell for airlines comes from promised cost savings. Anyone who's flown in the past six months likely knows that the cost of jet fuel is heavily subject to world events. Jet fuel prices averaged $3.50 per gallon a week prior to the test flight. That's up 63 percent from last year. Beyond just fuel, though, electric motors also have fewer moving parts, which, in theory at least, means they should require less costly maintenance and repair. Automakers have made similar arguments when advocating for electric vehicles.

Heart claims that a combination of less fuel and maintenance combined should make their eventual ES-30 40 percent cheaper to operate than conventional regional aircraft of similar sizes. Going further, the company claims that all electric X1 test flights used just $5 of electricity. That sounds impressive at first, but it's worth noting what that eye-grabbing figure leaves out. That single-figure dollar only measures the raw energy costs and not other operating costs like crew, airport fees, maintenance fees, long-term battery degradation, and other expenses. How much airlines actually save if they switch the hybrid eclectic plane, and whether any of those savings get passed on to travelers, remains somewhat unclear.

"Electric commercial aircraft have the potential to fundamentally reshape airline economics and, ultimately, lower the cost of air travel for passengers," Forslund added

Heart claims that savings on fuel and maintenance combined should make its eventual ES-30 40 percent cheaper to operate than conventional regional aircraft of similar size. Going further, the company claimed Wednesday that the all-electric X1 test flight used just $5 worth of electricity. That sounds impressive at first, but it's worth noting what that undeniably eye-grabbing figure leaves out. The five-dollar stat only measures raw energy consumption, and doesn't account for other major operating expenses like crew, airport fees, maintenance, long-term battery degradation, and insurance. How much airlines would actually save by switching to the hybrid-electric plane, and whether any of those savings would be passed on to travelers, remains unclear.
Fully electric air travel lack range

Heart isn't the only company trying to electrify the sky. Rolls-Royce has built a small, fully electric race plane that can reach a zippy top speed of 387 miles per hour. Harbour Air, meanwhile, has developed a fully electric, six seater sea plane. Much-hyped vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) companies like Joby Aviation and Archer Aviation are also bringing small, helicopter-like electric planes to market, aiming to ferry travelers from city centers to airports over shorter distances.

That's all well and good, but extending electric aircraft range to the point where it can reliably replace a regional commercial carrier remains difficult. Several companies, such as Washington state-based Eviation Aircraft, are competing in the space, but they are ultimately limited by the inherent trade-offs of battery tech. Basically, the larger the plane gets, the larger the battery it needs to fly. But batteries are consistently heavy, and eventually they get so large that the plane simply can't carry them alongside passengers and cargo. Worse still, batteries are dead weight: unlike conventional gas-powered planes, which get lighter as they burn through jet fuel during a flight, electric planes maintain essentially the exact same weight from takeoff to landing.

Heart Aerospace's X1 demonstrator aircraft taxis past the control tower at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York. Image: Heart Aerospace.

That's where Heart's hybrid approach kicks in. When running entirely on battery power (as the X1 did this week), the plane has a top range of around 125 miles. That's simply not enough to reliably replace most regional air travel, while maintaining required reserves for emergencies. However, with the addition of a combustion engine range-extender, that maximum range extends closer to 500 miles. That's more than enough to cover short regional hops, like routes along the heavily trafficked Northeast Corridor.

In other words, as noteworthy as it is to see an electric plane of the X1's size successfully take flight, the true next step in terms of what travelers might actually feasibly board is hybrid-electric. For now, at least. Battery technology continues to improve, giving optimists hope that a hybrid approach (much like with cars before it) could buy time and provide a smooth transition while technology catches up to make fully electric solutions viable