OUR PICKSAmerica’s AI Leadership Depends on Energy | Infections, Sewage and Mosquito-Borne Illness Outlast Hurricanes | History of Voter Intimidation Plans, and more

Leaked Docs from Far-Right Militias Show History of Voter Intimidation Plans  (Tess Owen, Wired)
“All the state leaders should be getting their people out … to watch for ballot stuffing,” wrote the leader of the American Patriots Three Percent militia. “Our nation depends on this.”

The Danger Is Greater Than in 2020. Be Prepared.  (Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic)
A citizen’s guide to defending the 2024 election.

The Flood-Protection Rule That Trump Rolled Back  (Lisa Friedman, New York Times)
A Trump-era rollback of flood-protection rules has left critical infrastructure projects at higher risk, experts say.

America’s AI Leadership Depends on Energy (Jason Bordoff and Jared Dunnmon, Foreign Policy)
Microsoft’s plan to restart Three Mile Island points to the way forward.

This AI Tool Helped Convict People of Murder. Then Someone Took a Closer Look  (Todd Feathers, Wired)
Global Intelligence claims its Cybercheck technology can help cops find key evidence to nail a case. But a WIRED investigation reveals the smoking gun often appears far less solid.

Georgia Judge Blocks Ballot Counting Rule and Says County Officials Must Certify Election Results  (AP / VOA News)
A judge has blocked a new rule that requires Georgia Election Day ballots to be counted by hand after the close of voting. The ruling came a day after the same judge ruled that county election officials must certify election results by the deadline set in law.
These are victories for Democrats, liberal voting rights groups and some legal experts who have raised concerns that Donald Trump’s allies could refuse to certify the results if the former president loses to Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris in next month’s presidential election. They have also argued that new rules enacted by the Trump-endorsed majority on the State Election Board could be used to stop or delay certification and to undermine public confidence in the results.

Tech Firms Increasingly Look to Nuclear Power for Data Center  (Rob Garver, VOA News)
As energy-hungry computer data centers and artificial intelligence programs place ever greater demands on the U.S. power grid, tech companies are looking to a technology that just a few years ago appeared ready to be phased out: nuclear energy.
After several decades in which investment in new nuclear facilities in the U.S. had slowed to a crawl, tech giants Microsoft and Google have recently announced investments in the technology, aimed at securing a reliable source of emissions-free power for years into the future.

Infections, Sewage and Mosquito-Borne Illness Outlast Hurricanes  (Eduardo Cuevas, USA Today)
Along with the threat of infectious diseases, hospitals in North Carolina are also busy treating injuries that happened during the storms.

Insurance ‘Nightmare’ Unfolds for Florida Homeowners After Back-to-Back Hurricanes  (Rob Wile, NBC News)
Many victims facing catastrophic losses due to water damage “are just walking away.”

The Atlantic Ocean’s Currents Are on the Verge of Collapse. This Is What It Means for the Planet  (David Thornalley, BBC)
Scientists are concerned that the Atlantic Ocean’s system of currents may be about to reach a tipping point. If it does, it’ll have severe consequences for all of us.