Listen To This Story

AOL Will End Its Dial-Up Internet Service (Yes, It’s Still Operating) (Maria) 

The author writes, “AOL announced that its dial-up internet service will be discontinued next month. If this is how you learned that AOL’s dial-up still exists — presumably you are reading this on a broadband internet connection — you’re not alone. The service, seen by many as a relic of the early days of the internet, will be discontinued Sept. 30, the company said.”

Supreme Court Formally Asked To Overturn Landmark Same-Sex Marriage Ruling (Sean) 

From ABC News: “Ten years after the Supreme Court extended marriage rights to same-sex couples nationwide, the justices this fall will consider for the first time whether to take up a case that explicitly asks them to overturn that decision. Kim Davis, the former Kentucky county clerk who was jailed for six days in 2015 after refusing to issue marriage licenses to a gay couple on religious grounds, is appealing a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages plus $260,000 for attorneys fees.”

Trump’s Moves Toward Taking Over Washington Are Unprecedented. Here’s What the Law Says (Reader Steve) 

The author writes, “The law is specific to D.C., and doesn’t affect other communities around the US referred to as having their own ‘home rule’ powers in relationship to their state governments. [Monica Hopkins, executive director of the ACLU of Washington], said Trump’s moves in Washington could foreshadow similar tactics in other cities. ‘That should alarm everyone,’ she said, ‘not just in Washington.’”

To Florida’s Miccosukee Tribe, the Lands Around Alligator Alcatraz Are Sacred, Pythons and All (Laura) 

From Inside Climate News: “For many generations, Florida’s Miccosukee people have inhabited the soaring cypress swamps and sweeping sawgrass prairies of this remote region of the Everglades, a watershed that spans much of the peninsula and is responsible for the drinking water of thousands of Floridians. During the First and Second Seminole Wars, in the first half of the 19th century, the indigenous people were pushed deep within the watery wilderness and found sanctuary on the tree islands scattered here. For them the land is sacred, because it saved their tribe from annihilation.”

Trump Is Launching an AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity (Laryn) 

From 404 Media: “According to the announcement, ‘the mission of Trump Media is to end Big Tech’s assault on free speech by opening up the Internet and giving people their voices back.’ Which is a funny thing to put in an announcement about Trump partnering with a company whose investors include Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and the former CEO of GitHub. Perplexity’s Truth Social search engine will be powered by stolen content. Earlier this week, Cloudflare reported Perplexity used stealth and undeclared crawlers to evade websites that explicitly set themselves up to avoid being catalogued by LLMs.”

AI’s Thirst Trap: Data Centers Guzzle Water While Droughts Drain Communities (Sean) 

The author writes, “As data centers multiply to meet the soaring demand for artificial intelligence and cloud computing, their massive water consumption is raising concerns about the strain on freshwater resources, particularly in drought-prone regions. Data centers, critical to powering everything from streaming services to AI models, are consuming vast quantities of water, primarily for cooling servers to prevent overheating…In 2021, the nation’s 5,426 data centers consumed an estimated 449 million gallons per day, totaling 163.7 billion gallons. The rise of AI-focused data centers has intensified this demand.”