Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield and attorneys general from 11 other states filed a lawsuit Monday seeking to block Paramount Skydance Corp.’s proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery, arguing the merger would reduce competition and ultimately raise costs for consumers.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges the merger violates the Clayton Act by substantially lessening competition in the film and television industries.

California, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington are the other states involved in the lawsuit.

The coalition said it is prepared to seek a temporary restraining order if the companies do not pause the deal as the case moves forward.

“If this massive corporate merger is allowed to go through, Oregonians will pay the price – through higher bills, fewer jobs, less choice at the box office, and fewer editorial voices,” Rayfield said in a press release on Monday. “Despite the federal regulators rubber-stamping this bad deal, we’re stepping up to protect families, small businesses, and Oregon’s film industry.”

READ ALSO | Warner Bros shareholders back $81B Paramount takeover in preliminary vote

According to the lawsuit, the combined company would control nearly one-third of U.S. theatrical film distribution and basic cable programming. The states argue the merger would eliminate competition between two of Hollywood’s five major film distributors and two of the nation’s five largest basic cable companies.

The complaint alleges the merger would reduce competition in theatrical film distribution, blockbuster movie releases and licensing basic cable television channels.

The filing follows Oregon’s investigation into the proposed merger. In early July, Rayfield asked a Multnomah County judge to compel Paramount to produce records the state said it had sought since June, including documents related to the company’s lobbying of the White House and U.S. Department of Justice.

“Paramount has already shown that they think they’re above the law by refusing to comply with Oregon’s investigation,” Rayfield said. “This litigation is the next step to protect Oregonians before irreparable harm is done.”

The U.S. Justice Department isn’t challenging the deal — and instead released an unusually lengthy statement in support, maintaining a Paramount-Warner combo would “increase competition across the media and entertainment ecosystem, with benefits for American consumers and workers,” according to a report from the Associated Press.

In a statement sent out on Monday, Paramount said the lawsuit “distorts settled antitrust law” and maintained its merger would create a “stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market for theatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry.” Paramount went on to say it will “vigorously defend” the transaction.

This story was adapted from a radio broadcast script using artificial intelligence. Every story, including those adapted with AI, is reviewed by a human editor before publication to ensure that KSL’s editorial standards are upheld.

SALT LAKE CITY — As Utah looks for ways to meet growing electricity demand from data centers, artificial intelligence, manufacturing and population growth, nuclear energy has become part of the state’s energy conversation.

Gov. Spencer Cox has said Utah must embrace nuclear energy if it wants to meet surging electricity demand and remain competitive in the global economy.

“And as I’ve said many times, if you are serious about energy abundance, you have to be serious about nuclear energy,” Cox said.

Much of that demand is being driven by artificial intelligence data centers, which require enormous and reliable power supplies. Proponents say small modular reactors are the answer — offering stable, carbon-free electricity that traditional renewables struggle to match.

Critics, including downwinders and environmental advocates, said Utah’s history with radiation exposure should make state leaders more cautious.

Listen to parts one and two of the nuclear energy reporting on KSL News Daily below. 

Advocates tout nuclear reliability and clean air benefits

John Kotek, senior vice president of policy and public affairs at the Nuclear Energy Institute, said nuclear power’s fuel cycle gives it an edge over fossil fuels.

“Once you fuel a nuclear reactor, it’ll run between 18 and 24 months before you have to shut it down and put new fuel in it,” Kotek said. “So you’re not dependent on shipments of coal or gas in a pipeline or what have you.”

Kotek added that nuclear energy produces no carbon emissions or air pollutants, saying it has “a real role to play in cleaning up air quality in the West.”

Dr. Tatjana Jevremovic, director of the nuclear lab at the University of Utah, said the math also favors uranium.

“The amount of energy you get out of a kilogram of uranium is about 10,000 times the amount of energy you get out of a kilogram of coal or petroleum,” Goodell said. “And also it is an energy source that has basically zero carbon emissions along with it.”

Environmental, health groups raise alarms

Not everyone is convinced the benefits outweigh the risks. Carmen Valdez, a senior policy associate at Heal Utah, said co-locating reactors with data centers creates compounding dangers.

“If something were to catch on fire, if something were to fail, you are now accumulating a lot of issues as well as creating toxic spaces,” Valdez said. “If we’re concerned about the cancers coming from data centers, what is the concern about a data center with a nuclear reactor, with spent fuel, on site?”

Valdez urged state lawmakers to invest instead in resources Utah already has in abundance.

“We are extremely equipped for solar. Maybe we should start looking at rooftop solar for our large communities and consumers,” Valdez said. “We have battery storage. We have so many opportunities.”

Waste disposal remains unresolved

Even nuclear supporters acknowledge one lingering challenge: the United States has no permanent disposal facility for radioactive waste.

“The very good part about spent nuclear fuel is that it’s very easy to manage. You put it in pools for a few years, you put it in these concrete and steel containers, and you can leave it on site,” Kotek said. “The challenge is, of course, it is radioactive, so it needs a long-term place to be stored and ultimately disposed.”

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is an independent federal agency that licenses and regulates the civilian use of nuclear energy.  Kotek said the commission has helped to significantly improve plant safety over decades of operation.

“We’ve been operating commercial nuclear power plants in the United States for more than 60 years,” Kotek said. “And when you do something that long, you learn a lot about it. You get good at it.”

Utah’s Downwinders say history demands caution

Between 1951 and 1962, the U.S. government conducted above-ground nuclear testing at what was then called the Nevada Test Site. As a result, the wind carried radioactive debris to thousands of people in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico.

The people subjected to that fallout are known as Downwinders. For Mary Dickson, a Downwinder and thyroid cancer survivor, the push for nuclear energy carries a deeply personal weight. Dickson advocates for Utahns harmed by radiation exposure from nuclear weapons testing, and she said the state’s history should give leaders pause.

“The idea that they would be so cavalier and just welcome nuclear energy and everything that goes with it, including nuclear waste, into our state makes us expendable,” Dickson said. “And you’d think with our legacy, we would be far, far more cautious and just say ‘no.’”

Dickson said the concern extends beyond reactors themselves.

“They’re pushing for the facilities for every step — to develop uranium for reactors, to mine it, mill it, fabricate it, enrich it, all of that,” Dickson said. “And they’re looking at these throughout the state.”

Modern reactors designed to contain worst-case scenarios

Goodell said residents worried about safety should consider the track record of communities that already live near nuclear plants. He said modern facilities are engineered with multiple layers of protection.

“We don’t just design them to prevent accidents. We design them to contain accidents, so that even in a worst-case scenario for a nuclear power plant, all of the nasty radioactive material will stay at the plant,” Goodell said.

Graphic accessed from the Downwinders.info website. It indicates which counties in Arizona, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah experienced fallout from nuclear testing.

Dickson acknowledged that newer technology is safer than past designs but said no system is foolproof. She called on Utahns to demand answers from government leaders and push for regulations that protect public health and safety.

Contributing | Simone Seikaly

It may be the middle of July, but the Old Farmer’s Almanac is already looking ahead to the fall with cooler temperatures ahead.

The Almanac, which has been one of the most trusted weather prediction sources for more than two centuries, recently released its fall forecast, showing a wide range of weather throughout the United States.

But what about in the Washington DC region? Here’s what the Almanac says.

What is the fall weather forecast in the Washington DC area?

DC sits along the Almanac’s Atlantic Corridor, and that region should expect a “cool, dry” fall, according to the forecast.

“Expect cooler and wetter conditions than usual this fall,” the Old Farmer’s Almanac says. “Below average temperatures are forecast, along with an uptick in precipitation over traditional averages.”

Last year, DC received 6.53 inches of rain during September, October and November — significantly lower than the city’s 30-year average of 10.50 inches, according to the National Weather Service.