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Tech and energy giants pour billions to turn Pennsylvania into an AI hub as part of Trump’s tech push | CNN Business

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Tech and energy giants pour billions to turn Pennsylvania into an AI hub as part of Trump’s tech push | CNN Business




CNN
 — 

President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced an investment of more than $90 billion from private companies across tech, energy and finance to turn Pennsylvania into a hub for artificial intelligence — a technology that’s expected to upend everything from the economy to health care and education.

The announcement was made during the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh, hosted by Sen. Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, and is part of a push by the Trump administration to ensure the United States stays ahead of China in the AI race. A key part of that will be to make sure the United States has the energy necessary to power it all, which was the central focus of Tuesday’s event and the billions in funding.

The event emphasized a key part of Trump’s vision for the American economy: making as much as possible within US borders, at every stage of a product’s life cycle.

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“With that historic announcement and the new commitments being made today, we’re building a future where American workers will forge the steel, produce the energy, build the factories and really run a country like, I believe, like this country has never been run before,” Trump said at the event.

A swath of high-profile companies, including Anthropic, Blackstone, Brookfield, CoreWeave, Google, Constellation Energy and Meta, are among those making investments as part of the initiative. The push comes as China has been ramping up its energy efforts, particularly in renewable energy sources and coal.

Tech giants are grappling with the demanding energy needs required to power AI applications. Electricity demand from data centers globally is expected to double to around 945 terawatt-hours by 2030, slightly more than the entire electricity consumption of Japan.

That’s according to an April report from the International Energy Agency, a body that works with governments and industries to provide data and policy recommendations. Energy provider Dominion Energy has also increased its estimated power needs for the next decade because of surging data center demand, according to a 2024 research note from JPMorgan.

Blackstone is investing $25 billion in data center and energy infrastructure in northeast Pennsylvania, while Google inked a 20-year deal with Brookfield to support two hydropower facilities to support the state. Meta is committing $2.5 million toward a partnership program with Carnegie Mellon to support rural Pennsylvania startups.

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Anthropic is providing $1 million over three years to support a cybersecurity education program for middle and high school students, as well as an additional $1 million for energy research at Carnegie Mellon.

During the summit, tech, policy and business leaders raised concerns about what could happen if the United States were to fall behind in AI. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who made headlines in May for his stark warning that AI could cause a spike in unemployment, said AI could have a major impact on the future of national security, adding that it’s crucial that the US “lock down every piece of the supply chain, from…the chips to the companies building the AI to especially energy.”

He said that in a few years, AI models will be like having a “country of geniuses in a data center.”

Trump has made AI and investment in American technology a cornerstone of his presidency thus far. He declared a national energy emergency during his first day in office and shortly after announced a $500 billion AI infrastructure project called Stargate, which involves a collaboration between OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son and Oracle Chairman Larry Ellison. He also said he would roll back Biden-era AI export restrictions on AI chips.

The AI race between the United States and China ratcheted up earlier this year with the arrival of Chinese startup DeepSeek, which made waves with its supposedly cheap-to-train yet powerful R1 AI model.

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“We’re here today because we believe that America’s destiny is to dominate every industry and be the first in every technology, and that includes being the world’s number one superpower in artificial intelligence,” Trump said. “And we are way ahead of China. I have to say we’re way ahead of China.”



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Pennsylvania

House Republicans stall activity, Pennsylvania Rep. Meuser calls tactics ‘foolish’ | Fox Business Video

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House Republicans stall activity, Pennsylvania Rep. Meuser calls tactics ‘foolish’ | Fox Business Video


House Speaker Mike Johnson sent representatives home early as hardline Republicans stalled floor activities, demanding action on the SAVE America Act. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social, urging House Republicans to unify and avoid giving power to Democrats. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) labels the stalling tactics ‘foolish,’ emphasizing the need for legislative progress and appropriations.



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Measles detected in two more counties in Pennsylvania as health department recommends early vaccination

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Measles detected in two more counties in Pennsylvania as health department recommends early vaccination


Pennsylvania health officials have now detected measles cases in York and Northumberland Counties as cases in Lancaster County, the center of an ongoing outbreak, continued to rise.

And the state health department is now recommending early measles vaccinations for infants beginning at 6 months in affected areas in an effort to protect them against the spread of the highly contagious disease, which is particularly risky for young children. The same precautions should be taken by families with infants traveling to these areas.

Six Pennsylvania counties have now seen measles cases since an outbreak was first confirmed in Lebanon County in April. In all, the state has reported 81 measles cases across eight counties in 2026, more than five times the cases reported in 2025.

State health officials said it was too early to tell how the latest cases in York and Northumberland Counties are connected to others in the region, but that contact tracing investigations are continuing. All cases were among people who had not received at least two doses of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) or whose vaccination status was unclear.

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As of Wednesday, six cases had been confirmed in Northumberland County, to the north of Dauphin County, and one case had been detected in York County, along Lancaster’s western border.

Lebanon County has reported 20 cases and Dauphin and Berks Counties have reported two cases each.

Lancaster County has seen 38 cases of measles since late April, with health officials confirming seven cases in the last two weeks. The area was at the center of a prior measles outbreak in January, when state health officials confirmed eight cases in Lancaster County and an additional four between Chester and Montgomery Counties.

Vaccination rates among kindergarteners have decreased across Pennsylvania in recent years, and some counties affected in the current outbreak have particularly low rates, including Lancaster, where about 88.5% of kindergarten students are vaccinated. Health experts say that 95% of a community must be vaccinated to prevent the spread of the disease.

Health officials have been conducting contact tracing to detect as many cases as possible. In the current outbreak, they have twice warned Lancaster residents that they could have been exposed to measles.

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Shoppers and employees at a local Kohl’s were potentially exposed to the virus over four days after a staffer tested positive in late May, LancasterOnline reported. And a person with measles visited the Lancaster County Courthouse on June 3.

But doctors in Lancaster County say they fear some measles cases are going unreported, either because patients don’t understand the importance of tracking measles cases or because they fear repercussions.

No cases have been confirmed in the Philadelphia region during this outbreak. But Delaware County health officials said last week that they had detected measles in two wastewater samples, indicating that someone with measles had used a bathroom connected to the county’s public water supply. It was unclear if that person lived in the county or was passing through.

Early vaccination recommended

On Wednesday, a statewide health alert urged physicians to accelerate vaccination schedules to protect children against measles. Officials had said they were considering the measure earlier this month as cases continued to rise.

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Measles can infect nine in 10 unvaccinated people who are exposed to it, and can linger in the air for up to two hours and incubate in patients for three weeks. The disease typically presents with a fever and a rash but can cause brain inflammation and pneumonia in serious cases.

Typically, children receive the first of two MMR vaccines at 1 year old, then a second between 4 and 6 years old.

But children as young as 6 months can receive an additional “dose zero” to protect them from the disease amid an outbreak. In its alert, the state health department said parents should vaccinate infants between 6 and 11 months with the “dose zero” if they live in affected areas or if they’re planning to travel there.

Those children should then receive additional MMR doses at 12 to 15 months and 4 to 6 years.

This “dose zero” is less effective than doses given at 1 year old, officials cautioned. But it’s 58% effective against measles when given at 6 to 8 months, and 83% effective when administered at 9 to 11 months.

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“Early MMR vaccination is safe and provides modest protection when measles is spreading,” officials wrote in the alert.

Children older than 12 months who haven’t been vaccinated should get an MMR dose immediately, and a second 28 days later, health officials said. Unvaccinated adults, or those without evidence of immunity, should also get two MMR doses.

And anyone who has received one dose of the MMR vaccine in the past should get a second at least 28 days after their first, officials said.

Usually, children who received a first dose at around 12 months wait to get their second dose until they’re 4 to 6 years old. But in an outbreak situation, those children should get their second doses early — at least 28 days after their first shot.

Adults born before 1957 are typically considered immune, but healthcare workers in that age group who don’t have lab evidence of immunity or prior infection should consider getting vaccinated, state officials said.

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Adults who received an inactivated measles vaccine between 1963 and 1967 are considered unvaccinated during an outbreak, and should also get two doses of the current MMR vaccine.

Pregnant people, people with severely weakened immune systems, and people who have a history of experiencing severe allergic reactions, like anaphylaxis, to a vaccine ingredient or to a previous dose of MMR cannot receive the vaccine.



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The Dish: Caesar salad with a twist from Rivertown Taps in Phoenixville, Pa.

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The Dish: Caesar salad with a twist from Rivertown Taps in Phoenixville, Pa.


PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) — We are heading to Rivertown Taps in historic Phoenixville, Pennsylvania, to make a classic fan favorite, Caesar salad.

And when they say “taps,” they mean it.

There are dozens of drinks, beer and beyond, on tap at Phoenixville’s first self-serve drink tap wall.

“Phoenixville has always been a very beer-centric town, and we’re beer-centric people, so we wanted to have a really curated selection,” says Chef Owner Lewis Leiterman. “We have 36 drinks on tap.”

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Just grab a charge card, choose your glassware and choose your own adventure.

“You pay for whatever you pour by the ounce,” says Leiterman. “You can pour as much or as little as you like.”

The building dates back to the 1800s, and Leiterman made sure to preserve pieces of that history, while bringing something super fresh to the strip.

“We make pastas from scratch,” he says. “We extrude all of our own pastas in house. We do all of our fresh-filled pastas all by hand. We make all our own breads. Everything that’s in here is from scratch.”

The mission includes a commitment to locally sourced food.

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Today, we’re making a house favorite: the Caesar salad – with a twist.

“I hate chasing croutons around a salad, like, the fork never kind of sticks into it,” says Leiterman. “We still wanted that crunch factor, like the classic crouton, but different. What we did was we took some of our old bread and we kind of toasted it up and made a coarse panko texture.”

It’s becomes a universal crouton that makes its way throughout the salad.

“We like to feature seasonal vegetables in our Caesar salad, just for a little bit more flavor and nutrition,” says Leiterman.

He grills up some nice asparagus, and then adds some protein.

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“I love a soft boiled egg on a salad to add more sustenance to a salad and a little bit of heartiness to it,” he says.

The build starts with a mix of greens, like red romaine and red watercress.

The dressing gets a gourmet kick.

“We do a black garlic and truffle Caesar,” he says. “We don’t like to overdress it. My pet peeve is those thick Caesar dressings.”

Add the asparagus to gently warm the salad, shave on some Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, add the soft boiled egg and finally, the breadcrumbs.

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