By ADRIAN SAINZ

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — The NAACP filed an intent to sue Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI on Tuesday over concerns about air pollution generated by a supercomputer near predominantly Black communities in Memphis.

The xAI data center began operating last year, powered by pollution-emitting gas turbines, without first applying for a permit. Officials have said an exemption allowed them to operate for up to 364 days without a permit, but Southern Environmental Law Center attorney Patrick Anderson said at a news conference that there is no such exemption for turbines — and that regardless, it has now been more than 364 days.

The SELC is representing the NAACP in its legal challenge against xAI and its permit application, now being considered by the Shelby County Health Department.

Musk’s xAI said the turbines will be equipped with technology to reduce emissions — and that it’s already boosting the city’s economy by investing billions of dollars in the supercomputer facility, paying millions in local taxes and creating hundreds of jobs. The company also is spending $35 million to build a power substation and $80 million to build a water recycling plant to the support Memphis, Light, Gas and Water, the local utility.

Opponents say the supercomputing center is stressing the power grid, and that the turbines emit smog and carbon dioxide, pollutants that cause lung irritation such as nitrogen oxides, and the carcinogen formaldehyde, experts say.

The chamber of commerce in Memphis made a surprise announcement in June 2024 that xAI planned to build a supercomputer in the city. The data center quickly set up shop in an industrial park south Memphis, near factories and a gas-powered plant operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.

The SELC has claimed the use of the turbines violates the Clean Air Act, and that residents who live near the xAI facility already face cancer risks at four times the national average. The group also has sent a petition to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Critics say xAI installed the turbines without any oversight or notice to the community. The SELC also hired a firm to fly over the site and saw that 35 turbines — not 15 as the company requests in its permit — are located there.

The permit itself says emissions from the site “will be an area source for hazardous air pollutants.” A permit would allow the health department, which has received 1,700 public comments about the permit, to monitor air quality near the facility.

At a community gathering hosted by the county health department in April, many of the people speaking in opposition cited the additional pollution burden in a city that already received an “F” grade for ozone pollution from the American Lung Association.

A statement read by xAI’s Brent Mayo at the meeting said the company wants to “strengthen the fabric of the community,” and estimated that tax revenues from the data center are likely to exceed $100 million by next year.

“This tax revenue will support vital programs like public safety, health and human services, education, firefighters, police, parks and so much more,” said the statement, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

The company also apparently wants to expand: The chamber of commerce said in March that xAI had purchased a 1 million square-foot property at a second location, not far from the current facility.

One nearby neighborhood dealing with decades of industrial pollution is Boxtown, a tight-knit community founded by freed slaves in the 1860s. It was named Boxtown after residents used material dumped from railroad boxcars to fortify their homes. The area features houses, wooded areas and wetlands, and its inhabitants are mostly working class residents.

Boxtown won a victory in 2021 against two corporations that sought to build an oil pipeline through the area. Valero and Plains All American Pipeline canceled the project after protests by residents and activists led by State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, who called it a potential danger to the community and an aquifer that provides clean drinking water to Memphis.

Pearson, who represents nearby neighborhoods, said “clean air is a human right” as he called for people in Memphis to unite against xAI.

“There is not a person, no matter how wealthy or how powerful, that can deny the fact that everybody has a right to breathe clean air,” said Pearson, who compared the fight against xAI to David and Goliath.

“We’re all right to be David, because we know how the story ends,” he said.

Reporter Travis Loller contributed from Nashville, Tenn.

LEMBATA, Indonesia (AP) — Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki volcano in south-central Indonesia erupted on Tuesday, spewing towering columns of hot ash into the air. Authorities raised the eruption alert to the highest level and expanded the danger zone to about 5 miles from the crater.

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Indonesia’s Geology Agency said in a statement it recorded the volcano unleashing about 32,800 feet of thick grey clouds on Tuesday afternoon, following significant volcanic activities, including 50 in two hours, rather than the usual daily 8 to 10 activities.

The ashes expanded into a mushroom-shaped ash cloud that could be seen from the cities located about 56 miles to nearly 93 miles from the mountain.

There were no casualties reported.

Residents were warned to be vigilant about heavy rainfall triggering lava flows in rivers originating from the volcano.

An eruption of Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki in November killed nine people and injured dozens.

The 5,197-foot mountain is a twin volcano with Mount Lewotobi Perempuan in the district of Flores Timur.

Indonesia is an archipelago of 270 million people with frequent seismic activity. It has 120 active volcanoes and sits along the “Ring of Fire,” a horseshoe-shaped series of seismic fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin.

In the leadup to Texas’ 89th legislative session, the Republican leadership apparatus was under siege and the party in open warfare as the sitting House Speaker Dade Phelan decided not to seek another term with the gavel. 

This power vacuum created unbridled chaos among the GOP ranks, largely divided between those who aligned with Phelan and more mainstream House Republicans, and those right-wingers, including many who had just won their seats by ousting incumbents, who were seeking a total upheaval of the status quo. 

In the middle were 62 Democrats.

Ever since Republican Speaker Tom Craddick was dethroned in January 2009, the Democratic caucus has delivered the decisive votes to choose the speaker. First for the more moderate Joe Straus, then Dennis Bonnen, and then Phelan. 

This has been the Democrats’ modus operandi: maximizing their minimal leverage to prevent a more hardline conservative takeover of House leadership—to secure a seat at the speaker’s table, maybe a handful of committee chairmanships, and at least some semblance of negotiating power on policy matters. Over the last decade, this also preserved the House as a bulwark against the increasingly extreme Senate of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.

At a high level, this has allowed Democrats to negotiate some concessions and horsetrading on legislation, to kill some very bad bills and make others better. But as the GOP has grown ever brasher in its pursuit of a radical conservative agenda, the fruits of that inside strategy have become ever-less bountiful. 

In late 2024, in the midst of the all-out speaker battle, Democrats found themselves with a chance to play things differently. They could stand by and watch the fractured Republican ranks duke it out, withholding their support until a speaker candidate met their demands—or otherwise they’d simply cast their votes for a Democratic speaker. For a moment, it looked like that’s what they might actually do. 

Then came the stampede. A couple dozen Democrats, many of whom had been a part of Team Phelan, lined up behind Dustin Burrows, a top lieutenant for the prior two speakers—and then came a dozen or so more. Burrows was perhaps an odd choice for Dems to rally around. The Lubbock Republican had carried the “death star” legislation to gut local control the previous session, and he was a staunch supporter of school vouchers.

Gene Wu, House Democratic caucus chair, on the floor in May (Jordan Vonderhaar for the Texas Observer)

The case made by the so-called Burrowcrats was that he was the lesser evil—or, at least, the devil they knew—while his challenger and the GOP caucus choice, David Cook, was a more unknown commodity that the party’s far-right faction had latched onto. In early December, Burrows announced he had the votes to win the speakership: 38 Democrats plus 38 Republicans. (A smaller bloc of mostly progressive members fought against this strategy and declined to get in line.)

“Many members came to the obvious conclusion that we must have a speaker who would not simply trample all over the minority and take a pledge that says, we will not pass any of your bills—we won’t even work on your bills—until we pass every single one of our bills,” the newly elected Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told the Texas Tribune at the time. 

But it was never clear exactly what, if anything, the Burrowcrats had secured in exchange for their support beyond this vague understanding that he would not entirely block Democrats from power. And it certainly wasn’t clear that they’d secured any significant promise on the session’s most meaningful issue: vouchers. In fact, Burrows declared right out of the gate that the House had the votes and would pass the bill.

Fast forward to June 2, sine die. Dan Patrick declared that the Texas Senate had just completed its most conservative and successful session in history as the upper chamber nearly ran the table on his priority legislation and he had his way with the House on many key issues, including a total ban on THC hemp products and a litany of red-meat social conservative legislation. 

Governor Greg Abbott had already signed his white whale, the school vouchers bill, in early May and was about to declare victory on his long-coveted goal of limiting access to bail. And Republicans successfully passed legislation to provide several billion dollars more to once again modestly ease the burden of local property taxes on homeowners.   

Abbott had ensured that so-called school choice was likely a foregone conclusion this session, but perhaps Democrats could have at least pushed the speaker to hold out on vouchers as a bargaining chip until the Senate had played nice on a public school funding package (which had died last session because Abbott tethered it to vouchers and which the House paired again with vouchers as a “Texas two-step.”) Instead, the speaker’s decision to pass both the funding and privatization bills early handed all leverage over to Patrick, who later seized control of the details of the school finance legislation.

To be fair, the House did manage to moderate some bills, including on bail reform and tenant rights, and kill others, including an ugly tort reform bill and a craven abortion-pill bounty hunter bill. And Democrats played some part in this.

All told, things could have gone worse, but the power structure solidified this session isn’t promising: There’s little evidence to believe, if Abbott and Patrick decided to play hardball on some of this year’s failed conservative legislation, that the House would or Democrats could successfully resist. And even within the House there are signs the GOP speaker can peel off Democrats as needed when he has a pet project of his own.

For instance, some 30-plus Dems supplied the necessary support for constitutional amendment resolutions, which need 100 votes, to ban any future possibility of state taxes on securities transactions and capital gains, highly unlikely prospects in Texas but ones that Republicans wanted to pass as a show of fealty to the titans of Dallas’ growing “Y’all Street.” 

The factions within the Democratic caucus are not primarily along ideological lines but more about legislative strategy: whether to quietly work within the power structure and influence the margins, or to loudly confront the power structure and make the party’s own agenda front and center.

While some Democratic members performed fierce opposition to school vouchers, along with anti-immigrant and anti-DEI legislation, the feeling that this was hollow theater was particularly strong in this year of Abbott, Patrick, and Trump dominance. 

And more and more, Democrats have responded to the growing strain of anti-corporate populism within the Texas GOP by themselves co-opting old pro-business Texas Miracle messaging, by going along willingly with the governor’s Elon Musk-inspired push to turn Texas into a corporate haven. 

On the matter of property tax relief—perhaps the most important, broadly salient policy issue in the state—the policy divide was largely between the two Republican-run chambers, not the two parties. Democrats did not offer any sort of alternative policy message of their own, such as demanding that the state exclude downtown skyscrapers or Gulf Coast refineries from the property tax cuts, or ensure that the roughly one-third of Texas households that are renters are also provided some semblance of direct relief. 

Perhaps it’s time for House Democrats to toss out the old playbook that centers around speaker selection—one that increasingly comes at the expense of diluting Democratic politics.

Having spent so long as the minority party in the Texas Capitol, Democrats’ emphasis on playing an inside game—to quietly make some bad bills less bad, while individual members get some traction on their own piecemeal legislation—has seemingly become the consuming identity of the party. 

Still, in that time, abortion has become near-totally outlawed. The public education system has been pushed to the brink and local school districts made the target of fear-mongering and social conservative dictates. The floodgates of publicly funded privatization have been opened with the passage of vouchers. Medicaid, far from being expanded, is hollowed out. Corporate welfare programs run rampant. 

And yet, Democrats are no closer to controlling the Texas House, to say nothing of statewide office, than they were 10 years ago. 

The time may have come for Democrats in the Legislature to withhold their cooperation, sacrifice some of the bipartisan chumminess that prevails in the House, and focus on building a party that knows why Texans should vote for it.

The post A Caucus, if You Can Keep It appeared first on The Texas Observer.

By AAMER MADHANI and CHRIS MEGERIAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump in about eight hours went from suggesting a nuclear deal with Iran remained “achievable” to urging Tehran’s 9.5 million residents to flee for their lives as he cut short his visit to an international summit to return to Washington for urgent talks with his national security team.

Trump arrived at the White House early Tuesday at a moment of choosing in his presidency. Israel, with five days of missile strikes, has done considerable damage to Iran and believes it can now deal a permanent blow to Tehran’s nuclear program — particularly if it gets a little more help from the Republican president.

But deepening American involvement, perhaps by providing the Israelis with bunker-busting bombs to penetrate Iranian nuclear sites built deep underground or offering other direct U.S. military support, comes with enormous political risk for Trump.

Trump, as he made his way back to Washington, expressed frustration with Iranian leaders for failing to reach an agreement. He said he was now looking for “a real end” to the conflict and a “complete give-up” of Tehran’s nuclear program.

“They should have done the deal. I told them, ‘Do the deal,’” Trump told reporters on Air Force One. “So I don’t know. I’m not too much in the mood to negotiate.”

Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only, and U.S. intelligence agencies have assessed that Tehran is not actively pursuing a bomb.

Trump, who planned to meet with advisers in the Situation Room, appears to be gradually building the public case for a more direct American role in the conflict. His shift in tone comes as the U.S. has repositioned warships and military aircraft in the region to respond if the conflict between Israel and Iran further escalates.

Trump made an early departure from G7

The White House announced Monday, while Trump was at the Group of Seven summit in the Canadian Rockies, that he would cut his trip short.

“Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” he wrote on social media. “I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!”

Asked about his evacuation comment aboard Air Force One, Trump told reporters: “I just want people to be safe.”

“We’re looking at better than a ceasefire. We’re not looking for a ceasefire,” Trump said.

Trump said he wasn’t ruling out a diplomatic option and he could send Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff to meet with the Iranians.

He also dismissed congressional testimony from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who told lawmakers in March that U.S. spy agencies did not believe Iran was building a nuclear weapon.

“I don’t care what she said,” Trump said. “I think they were very close to having it.”

Speculation grows that Trump may be tilting toward more direct involvement

The Israelis say their offensive has eviscerated Iran’s air defenses and they can now strike targets across the country at will. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the Israeli bombardment will continue until Iran’s nuclear program and ballistic missiles are destroyed.

So far, Israel has targeted multiple Iranian nuclear program sites but has not been able to destroy Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility.

The site is buried deep underground — and to eliminate it, Israel may need the 30,000-pound GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which uses its weight and sheer kinetic force to reach deeply buried targets and then explode. But Israel does not have the munition or the bomber needed to deliver it — the penetrator is currently delivered by the B-2 stealth bomber.

Israel’s own defenses remain largely intact in the face of Iran’s retaliatory strikes, but some of Tehran’s missiles are getting through and having deadly impact.

The White House dispatched Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for a prime-time TV appearance as speculation grows about whether Trump could be tilting toward more direct U.S. involvement. Hegseth told Fox News Channel that “of course” Trump wanted to see a deal made to curb Iran’s nuclear program.

“His position has not changed,” Hegseth said. “What you’re watching in real time is peace through strength and America first. Our job is to be strong. We are postured defensively in the region to be strong in pursuit of a peace deal. And we certainly hope that’s what happens here.”

Trump continues to push Iran to negotiate on its nuclear program

Trump, meanwhile, during an exchange with reporters on the sidelines of the G7, declined to say what it would take for the U.S. to get more directly involved. Instead, he continued to press Iran on negotiations over its nuclear program.

“They should talk, and they should talk immediately,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. He added, “I’d say Iran is not winning this war.”

To be certain, Trump in the days-old conflict has sought to restrain Netanyahu. He rejected a plan presented by Israel to the U.S. to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, according to a U.S. official familiar with the matter, who was not authorized to comment on the sensitive matter and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Israelis had informed the Trump administration in recent days that they had developed a credible plan to kill Khamenei.

A widening schism over Iran among Trump’s MAGA supporters

Trump bristled when asked about some of his MAGA faithful, including conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, who have suggested that further U.S. involvement would be a betrayal to supporters who were drawn to his promise to end U.S. involvement in expensive and endless wars.

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that,’ IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’” the president wrote on social media.

Other prominent Trump supporters have also raised concerns about how far the president should go in backing Israel.

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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk are among prominent Trump World allies who have noted that voters backed Trump because he promised not to entangle the nation in foreign clashes and to be wary of expanding U.S. involvement in the Mideast conflict.

He ran on a promise to quickly end the wars in Gaza and Ukraine but has struggled to find an endgame to either.

But there are also Trump backers, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who are making the case that this is Trump’s moment to deliver a decisive blow to Iran. Graham is calling for Trump to “go all-in” in backing Israel and destroying Iran’s nuclear program.

Associated Press writers Josh Boak, Tara Copp, Darlene Superville and Will Weissert contributed to this report.