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ORLANDO, May 18, 2026 — Eighty-six percent of American farms are family-owned and generate less than $350,000 a year in revenue, making the managed services and information technology infrastructure that precision agriculture requires economically out of reach for most of the farms that grow the country's food supply. State broadband and agriculture agencies remain siloed despite precision agriculture's growing connectivity demands, panelists said.
AI tools are helping bad guys automate bigger, faster, more sophisticated attacks. FBI data show cybercrime losses in the U.S. surged by more than 25% last year. AI itself is also being used to defend systems, but many organizations have chronically underinvested in security. And industry groups have long pointed to a gaping shortage of people with the skills to fend off hackers and phishers. Now, a lot of job-seekers trying to break into the field are hitting a firewall. Megan Osteen is one of them. She’s wanted to work in tech pretty much forever. “My dad was a software engineer, and I just remember, a lot of my childhood, I would sit in his office with him, and he would explain to me what he was doing, like how it worked,” she said. Life sort of got in the way of her plans. She left college when she became a mom and grabbed the work she could, most recently as a behavioral therapist for kids with autism. When her dad died a few years ago, she decided it was time to make a career leap.
The Trump administration is building a surveillance network to spy on its own workforce across multiple agencies. It has already given Palantir an initial $3.9 million to do so at the USDA, federal spending disclosures show. The artificial intelligence war profiteer will “design, configure, deploy and manage a secure, user-friendly tool to track USDA employees’ return to the office,” according to a disclosure. The contract started May 1 and has the potential to grow to $13.3 million over the next fiscal year, which runs from October 1 to September 30. The Lever first reported in March that the USDA had hired Palantir to help it enforce its return-to-office demand, a story based on an initial disclosure justifying the reasoning behind the department’s opting for a sole-source contract, commonly known as a no-bid contract, before a dollar amount had been published. Since then, union officials and additional spending disclosures show that the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) are seeking to implement similar programs.
The search to find out who was behind the South Florida Standard shows how easy it is for the real people behind digital doppelgangers to remain in the shadows. Sham news sites are increasingly common in Florida and across the country, a dangerous development for American democracy. South Florida journalist Sofia Delgado was having a great year. Reporters at the news outlet she helped launch a few months ago, the South Florida Standard, had been regularly publishing three stories a day, every day of the week – including weekends – with articles ranging from a story detailing the Florida Legislature’s budget breakdown, to federal health care workers quitting rather than taking mandatory assignments at Guantanamo Bay, to revelations that deaths at state mental hospitals were linked to systemic neglect. Born and raised in Hialeah, the bilingual editor-in-chief and mother of two, and her team even published four stories on Easter Sunday. It would be an impressive – and grueling – output for many local news outlets in this era of shrinking newsroom budgets. If it were real.
TAMPA, Fla. — Cowboy Space has filed plans with the Federal Communications Commission for a 20,000-satellite “Stampede” orbital data center constellation, shortly after raising $275 million to develop rockets whose upper stages would serve as the computing platforms.
Lots of monopoly-related news, as usual. Inflation picked up according to the official numbers, kick-ass anti-monopolist Rohit Chopra got a powerful job as a California regulator, and the Supreme Court took a step towards re-regulating trucking. Before getting to that, I want to observe a pick-up in rage from the wealthy, as they begin to hear the public disdain for what they stand for. Let’s start with something that has been happening to a few commencement speakers at college graduations. They bring up artificial intelligence, and get booed by the students getting their diplomas. It’s a spontaneous expression of frustration and disrespect for the powerful, by the next generation. This kind of move stings; public speaking is difficult, and having people reject you en masse stays with you. And it even happened to former Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
ORLANDO, May 17, 2026 — A new industry standards body launched in February to solve the integration bottleneck blocking open access fiber, a model in which a single network owner leases infrastructure to multiple competing internet service providers, from scaling in North America. A 165-member standards body aims to make it cheaper and faster for internet providers to share fiber networks across North America. AT&T and COS Systems, a Swedish internet access software company, are co-leading the effort.
OpenAI is once again reorganizing its executive ranks as part of its effort to unify ChatGPT and Codex into one core product experience. OpenAI told staff on Friday that it would reorganize the company as part of an ongoing effort to unify its product offerings, WIRED has learned. OpenAI cofounder and president Greg Brockman will now lead the company’s product strategy, in addition to his work on AI infrastructure, OpenAI confirms to WIRED. Brockman was previously assigned to oversee OpenAI products on an interim basis while the CEO of AGI deployment, Fidji Simo, was on medical leave; the change is now official. “We’re consolidating our product efforts to execute with maximum focus toward the agentic future, to win across both consumer and enterprise,” Brockman said in a memo to staff seen by WIRED. Brockman added that OpenAI’s products are naturally converging, and that the company has decided to merge ChatGPT and Codex into one unified experience.
On May 14, 2026, the Federal Communications Commission officially approved Verizon’s $1 billion acquisition of spectrum assets from U.S. Cellular. This transaction enables Verizon to integrate key airwaves into its existing infrastructure to enhance network capacity and performance across the United States. The deal is a strategic move to address increasing data consumption and ensure the immediate utilization of national wireless resources. Strategic Integration of Wireless Assets
The approval marks a significant phase in the consolidation of the American telecommunications sector. By acquiring these licenses, Verizon intends to deploy the spectrum immediately to improve service reliability. Regulatory leaders have emphasized that transferring these assets to major carriers prevents airwaves from sitting idle, ensuring they contribute to the national digital infrastructure.
The FCC reports... Today, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced that the Commission has sent three Letters of Inquiry to Minnesota educational institutions to investigate potential misuse of federal funds disbursed through the E-Rate program. This marks the latest effort by the Commission to combat fraud, waste, and abuse in Universal Service Fund (USF) programs.
The West Central Tribune reports... It’s official. The city of Willmar is on its way to becoming a “gig-city” following the groundbreaking for Willmar Connect — a city-owned, citywide broadband network. “Willmar Connect will help ensure that Willmar is connected and in a position of success for generations,” said Willmar Mayor Doug Reese. “Years from now, we will look back on today as the moment Willmar took control of its digital future and invested boldly in the next generation.”
You're invited to join a private podcast (hosted on Transistor.fm). In this exclusive bonus episode of Master Plan, former Attorney General Edwin Meese speaks with David Sirota and Jared Jacang Maher for a rare interview featured in Episode 4 of The Kingmakers. Meese reflects on the origins of the “unitary executive” theory, Iran-Contra, war powers, the Reagan Justice Department’s push to expand presidential authority, and his recent departure from the Heritage Foundation.
[Click here] for a transcript and to view the archival documents mentioned in this interview.
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The US is arguably leading the world in enabling favourable regulation for 6 GHz Wi-Fi – but that doesn’t mean that current rules cannot be improved. Two rules in particular would boost Wi-Fi performance: Incorporating building entry loss (BEL) into AFC calculations for indoor standard power 6 GHz Wi-Fi and permitting higher power density for 6 GHz low power indoor (LPI) Wi-Fi. Here’s what all of that means. The process to enable more and better Wi-Fi everywhere through more favourable 6 GHz Wi-Fi rule making by regulators is never ending – and now it looks like there’s a real chance that the FCC may adopt (at least) two more rule changes that could dramatically improve indoor Wi-Fi. The broad Wi-Fi industry – including special interest groups such as WiFiForward and a coalition of tech vendors – are largely united behind efforts to secure at least these two changes. The FCC issued its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on 6 GHz rule improvements in February (the document can be found here). The industry is pushing for building entry loss inclusion into AFC calculations and higher spectral power density for low power indoor 6 GHz Wi-Fi.
It’s inevitable. Eventually, according to one of Silicon Valley’s most well-connected venture capitalists, we’ll all submit to implanting a Neuralink-style chip in our brains. “Someone you work with will get it first. And you’ll hold out for a while, the way you did with the smartphone. But eventually, you won’t,” D. Scott Phoenix, who founded the neurotechnology company Vicarious before moving into investing, said at TED 2026 in Vancouver last month, dressed in all black with a tiny mic attached to his ear. “The advantages of integration will be hard to compete with.” Put bluntly, in his view, “We’re on the cusp of the next major transition, the merger of humans and AI.”
On May 14, 2026, the three largest U.S. carriers announced a joint venture to pool spectrum for a unified direct-to-device (D2D) satellite platform. While the public narrative centers on rural coverage, this is a defensive restructuring of telecom power. Satellite connectivity is scaling aggressively. SpaceX’s V3 satellites and Starship launches will soon drive a 10x capacity increase, while recent regulatory shifts have elevated Starlink from a vendor to a sovereign spectrum holder. Concurrently, Amazon’s acquisition of Globalstar gives the hyperscaler direct access to Apple’s D2D consumer market. Far beyond eliminating dead zones, this JV marks a high-stakes power struggle between legacy Tier-1 operators and vertically integrated space titans for the control of next-generation communications. Inside the coordinated push for standardization: How the 'Big Three' are turning the satellite revolution into a wholesale utility to shield their multi-billion-dollar billing engines.
Corporate business and political journalism is increasingly being devoured by artifice, helping to normalize corrupt and terrible men. I was reading this recent Financial Times interview with Trump FCC boss Brendan Carr, and stumbled across this paragraph: "I’m trying my best for a serious conversation. I’m here to learn how a previously obscure telecoms lawyer became one of the central figures of Trump’s presidency and, according to critics, the administration’s agenda to curb free speech and intimidate the press. But Drake is playing in the background of the King Street Oyster Bar and, as the track reaches a crescendo, I’m met with the dab." Brendan Carr dabbed. "Critics say" he might be bad. We are having brunch.
Carr is easily the most extreme, bigoted, captured, and censorial zealot to ever helm America's top media and telecom regulator. And that's saying something.
OpenVault recently published its Broadband Insights Report for the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. One of the most useful statistics from OpenVault is the average monthly broadband usage for households and small businesses in gigabytes. Below is the trend in average monthly U.S. download and upload volumes since the first quarter of 2022. As can be seen in the table, upload usage has been growing at a faster pace than download usage. In this report, OpenVault credits most of the growth in upload usage to computers syncing with the cloud. I expect that the average household would be surprised by the volume of data they are uploading each month and probably wonder what data their computer is uploading.
WASHINGTON, May 16, 2026 (AP) – Social media CEOs once again are being called to testify before the Senate in light of mounting legal and public pressure to protect young users on their platforms. The leaders of Meta, Alphabet, TikTok and Snap were invited to testify next month before the Senate Judiciary Committee, a committee spokesperson confirmed Friday. The hearing is set for June 23, which is recognized as Social Media Victims Remembrance Day.
Residents in different states were curious why their water was being diverted to data centers instead of their homes in water-fraught communities. In the first week of May, two data center developments, one in Arizona and another in Georgia, were caught taking public water without authorization. In both cases, data center developers consumed water they were prohibited from taking, in communities already experiencing water stress, and in both cases it was the residents who discovered it. When residents complained of low water pressure in Georgia or dust control efforts in Arizona, they unknowingly tipped off regulators in areas fraught with depleting water supplies, and added to an escalating conflict over data center water use across the country.
DCN, Range, and WIN Technology, three regional backbone fiber providers, announced a joint investment, known as the Heartland Fiber Project, to expand high‑capacity fiber infrastructure across the America’s heartland. The initiative, known as the Heartland Fiber Project, will create a new long‑haul fiber route designed to increase network capacity, resiliency, and flexibility to support the rapidly growing connectivity requirements across the industry and meet demand from AI hyperscale data center development in the region. The Heartland Fiber Project will span seven states – Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois – establishing a route containing high fiber count and future path conduit to support future growth between Denver and Chicago. The $700 million investment represents a 2,000-mile expansion of regional network infrastructure that is designed to deliver the scale, resiliency, and performance demanded by next‑generation AI workloads and hyperscale computing environments.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — April 29, 2026 — Brightspeed, the nation’s third-largest fiber broadband builder empowering families and businesses with multi-gig-speed internet service, today announced a major milestone in its Wisconsin expansion: 30 percent of the company’s planned fiber network in the state is now complete. More than 67,000 homes and businesses already have access to Brightspeed Fiber Internet, with an additional 146,000 locations planned statewide as construction continues. As Wisconsin communities prepare for the next era of technology, fiber is becoming essential infrastructure. The growth of AI-powered tools, connected devices, cloud-based applications, remote work, telehealth and online learning is driving demand for faster, more consistent internet connections that can handle more data, in more directions, at the same time. Brightspeed is investing in fiber in Wisconsin because the networks that will power tomorrow’s economy must be built for much more than yesterday’s internet use.
WASHINGTON, May 14, 2026 – Elon Musk’s Starlink is expanding the broadband market by serving rural communities. New Street Research found that Starlink has 10 million subscribers globally, with 2.7 million of them in the U.S. The company has become a Top 10 U.S. Internet Service Provider. The study found that cable has 60% of the U.S. broadband market, and only 20% of Starlink subscribers were former cable subscribers, meaning that very few are switching from cable to Starlink.
Two of the world’s richest people faced an airing of their dirty laundry amid their messy, bitter feud over OpenAI. Anine-person jury is set to decide whether Elon Musk’s allegations of “stealing a charity” against Sam Altman and OpenAI are legitimate, with deliberations to begin in earnest on Monday. Whatever its outcome, the case has been an illuminating, at times exhausting, look behind the scenes at the history of OpenAI and how some of the most powerful figures in the tech industry operate. Attorneys for both sides have introduced reams of private text messages, emails and even diary entries to support their arguments. A who’s who of Silicon Valley testified in the trial, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the mother of some of Musk’s children, Shivon Zilis. Both Altman and Musk also took the stand for hours, facing combative cross-examinations that painted them each as untrustworthy. Over the course of three weeks in an Oakland, California, federal courthouse, the trial has pit the richest person in the world against the biggest names in artificial intelligence. It has provided moments of embarrassment for both tech moguls and underscored just how bitter the feud between them has become.
Our AI future lives inside miles and miles of windowless data centers spreading across the US. Communities trying to fight back are on their own. Virginia might be for lovers, but more recently, it’s for data centers. The state has more data centers than anywhere in the world, and companies are pushing to build more of them, including around some of the most hallowed ground in the country: the Manassas National Battlefield Park. “The amount of surface land that is being displaced by data centers and everything that goes with that, I don’t think people understand what’s really happening,” says Elena Schlossberg, a leading activist against data center development in Northern Virginia. “There’s NIMBY and there’s NOTE, and NOTE is ‘not over there, either.’” This week on Reveal, we look into our AI future and the local machinations that are pitting neighbor against neighbor. And we listen in as our “tech lords” talk about the future they are planning for us, whether we want it or not.
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