Pentagon Awards Multiple Companies $200M Contracts for AI Tools

by  Frank Konkel

Four tech firms just won big.

The awards were issued to Anthropic, Google, OpenAI and xAI.

“The adoption of AI is transforming the Department's ability to support our warfighters and maintain strategic advantage over our adversaries,” Chief Digital and AI Officer Dr. Doug Matty said in a statement. “Leveraging commercially available solutions into an integrated capabilities approach will accelerate the use of advanced AI as part of our Joint mission essential tasks in our warfighting domain as well as intelligence, business, and enterprise information systems.”

Under the contract, the Defense Department can deploy the latest AI offerings, agentic AI workflows, large language models and technologies developed by these firms.

 Read full story at NextGov/FXW…

State DOGEs Tackle Local Spending, Property Taxes

by  Chris Teale

Florida has asked for line-by-line accounting of its local governments' spending and any evidence of financial distress. Iowa appears to be targeting local taxation.

Federal funding cuts from the Department of Government Efficiency continue to worry state leaders as they ponder the impact on their budgets and services, especially with more cuts potentially on the horizon.

Governors raised concerns about cuts to Medicaid in March as part of President Donald Trump's One Big, Beautiful Bill, which passed last week. Meanwhile, DOGE has brought thousands of job losses across the country, and state leaders believe they won't be able to fill in the gaps.

“The governors ultimately need to be standing up for when it's cuts to money and programs, showing what the impact will be in their states,” former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock said during a recent event hosted by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

 Read full story at RouteFifty…

States Can Navigate FY 2026 Budget Uncertainty Through IT Modernization

by  Curtiss Strietelmeier

Artificial intelligence and IT modernization are becoming bigger priorities as states face the prospect of shrinking budgets in fiscal year 2026 and beyond.

Fiscal year 2025 comes to a close for 46 states on June 30. Most states have proposed FY 2026 budgets, while others have already enacted theirs for July 1, 2025. All of them face a degree of uncertainty as previous years' revenue surpluses and federal funding dwindle.

This will likely lead to technology becoming a core priority for more states. Artificial intelligence (AI), automation and IT modernization in particular can help achieve operational efficiency in FY 2026 and beyond.

States face some uncertainty with every budget proposal, but several unusual factors are converging to make FY 2026 a fiscal challenge.

 Read full story at …

Consumer Alert: Are You Really Out of Cloud Storage?

by  Leada Gore | lgore@al.com

We've all received the warning that we're out of cloud storage. Is it true?

We've all gotten the message: You're almost out of cloud storage space. All you need to do is pay a little extra and the problem goes away.

But is that email from Apple, Microsoft or Google real? How can you be sure the link to upgrade for virtual storage isn't part of a scam designed to separate you from your money?

…Like other phishing scams, the emails are designed to look legitimate and to encourage you to click the link where you may be asked to pay money. Or, the link will open your device to malware installation that can compromise your personal information.

 Read full story at AL.com…

Elon Musk's AI Chatbot Grok to be Used by Federal Agencies

by  Winston Cho

The announcement of the $200 million contract to xAI comes less than a week after Grok came under fire for sharing antisemitic comments.

The government is accelerating adoption of artificial intelligence technology, beginning with the U.S. Department of Defense using Grok, the AI chatbot embedded into X.

Elon Musk's startup xAI announced … a $200 million government contract as the Defense Department aims to address national security concerns with AI technology. It's also rolling out what it called “Grok for Government,” a suite of products that can be customized for specific uses across science and health care, among other things.

 Read full story at The Hollywood Reporter…

Meta Is Building Massive Gigawatt Data Centers as It Pours Billions Into AI

by  AJ Dellinger

"Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan," Mark Zuckerberg said.

Meta's AI spending spree continues. After reportedly offering tens (or in some cases, hundreds) of millions of dollars to lure away top researchers from competing artificial intelligence operations, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced via Threads that the company plans to build several multi-gigawatt superclusters to ramp up its compute power.

Zuckerberg said the first of the superclusters, called Prometheus, will come online sometime in 2026, with “multiple more titan clusters” to follow. According to Zuck, “Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan.” According to a report from SemiAnalysis, an AI research firm, Prometheus is being built in Ohio. Another one of its clusters, reportedly named Hyperion, is currently being built in Louisiana and is expected to go online in 2027.

 Read full story at Gizmodo…

The Regulator's Dilemma: Balancing Grid Modernization With Rising Power Bills

by  Herman K. Trabish

Load growth and aging infrastructure require investment, but customer electricity prices are up 4.5% nationally, almost twice the 2.4% national inflation rate.

Utility regulators across the U.S. face a paradox that demands resolution, panelists at the American Clean Power Association's CleanPower 2025 conference said.

There were 726 policy actions on grid modernization in the U.S. in the first quarter of this year, many requiring significant new investments, per the Clean Energy Technology Center's most recent Grid Modernization policy update. But customer electricity prices are up 4.5% nationally, almost twice the 2.4% national inflation rate, according to the June Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Price Index.

“Utility regulation has always been a complex balancing act and the lesson learned is the need to ensure investment value and utility accountability,” said Regulatory Assistance Project, or RAP, Principal, Research and Strategy, Mark LeBel. Regulators must choose “the most cost-effective investments from a realistic set of alternatives,” he added.

 Read full story at UtilityDive…

Utilities Slowing Development Of Self-Powered Data Centers

by  Dan Rabb

Data center developers are pursuing more projects with on-site generation to reduce their reliance on regional power grids. But industry leaders say the utilities that provide that grid power are often standing in the way.

With wait times for connecting to regional power grids nearing a decade in many major data center markets, developers are increasingly exploring whether the fastest path to power is to build their own on-site generation or contract “behind the meter” with firms that develop and operate power plants.

By the end of the decade, more than a quarter of new data centers will produce most of their own power on-site, according to a study released last month by Bloom Energy.

For overwhelmed utilities and grid operators facing an unprecedented surge in demand from data centers and other large electricity users, data center firms' willingness to bring their own power and collaborate to reduce their grid impact should be embraced as a welcome reprieve, industry leaders said at Bisnow's National DICE Power Capacity, Energy and Sustainability event.

 Read full story at Bisnow (Note: Although the content is free, Bisnow requires registration to read full story)

What's Holding Back the Modernization of Your Utility Infrastructure?

by  Jeremiah Karpowicz

Utilities are using smart grid technologies and digitalization tools to modernize the power grid as customer expectations evolve.

Contrary to popular belief, the biggest challenge with change adoption isn't typically about technical complexity, team experience, or even broader industry trends. As others have noted, enhancing operational efficiency is less about technology and more about organizational inertia that stems from “the way we've always done it” thinking. It's the reason that entire industries tolerate inefficiencies and leave themselves vulnerable to disruption.

The utilities sector is different, though. In light of increasing demand and aging infrastructure, utilities don't have the luxury of tolerating inefficiencies or delaying modernization efforts. Additionally, the need to integrate renewables, strengthen cybersecurity, and design more sustainable grids is now widely understood. The imperative for change is clear, but effectively utilizing tools and strategies to enable it can be complicated by policy or funding challenges. These issues cause many to retreat to what's familiar rather than commit to what's required.

So what does it mean to move forward rather than fall back? Utility companies are answering this question by defining the necessary planning and management that makes sense for their current situation and future goals. This approach can turn organizational inertia into a strategy that reshapes their entire landscape.

 Read full story at FactorThis…