Southwest
Top Texas GOP official rallies around Trump's AI, crypto plans amid state's crucial investments
One of the top officials in Texas says he is on board with President Donald Trump’s aggressive plan to expand the AI and crypto capabilities of the United States.
“There’s no daylight between President Trump and I on this issue,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told Fox News Digital this week. “
“I totally support the president and his Stargate Plan. We are completely aligned in our desire to see Texas and America lead in AI, data centers and crypto. These industries understand they will have to supply their own power needs and are diligently working toward that goal so costs are not disproportionally shifted onto residential and small businesses customers.”
Patrick, long considered a loyal ally of Trump, raised eyebrows last year when he warned of the burden that crypto mining and data centers could put on the state’s electrical grid. However, he repeatedly emphasized that there is “no daylight” between him and Trump on these issues.
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“We need to take a close look at those two industries,” Patrick posted on X in June 2024 while expressing concerns that data centers and crypto mining expansion add more to the grid than they pay off in jobs.
“They produce very few jobs compared to the incredible demands they place on our grid. Crypto mining may actually make more money selling electricity back to the grid than from their crypto mining operations… Texans will ultimately pay the price. I’m more interested in building the grid to service customers in their homes, apartments, and normal businesses and keeping costs as low as possible for them instead of for very niche industries that have massive power demands and produce few jobs.”
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Crypto mining and data center expansion have been dominant themes of the Presidential Transition’s economic messaging, including earlier this month when Trump announced a new $20 billion foreign investment for the expansion of data centers across several U.S. states, including Texas. The announcement drew praise from many conservatives, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.
Trump has also garnered significant support from the crypto community and raised large chunks of money from the industry along with his promotion of a message emphasizing energy independence, economic growth and framing the expansion of crypto mining as an essential tool toward ensuring the U.S. leads the industry.
“The need to quickly scale data center capacity to support the 21st-century economy continues to increase, given the growing demand for AI and other digital services by individuals, households, businesses, government, and organizations of all sizes,” Dan Diorio, senior director of state policy at the Data Center Coalition, told Fox News Digital.
“The data center industry appreciates President Trump highlighting the essential role of the data center industry in advancing America’s national security and global economic competitiveness. We also appreciate his commitment to promoting the rapid development of additional data center and energy capacity to support the nation’s leadership in AI,” Diorio continued. “Texas is uniquely poised to benefit from this. With continued support for data centers, Texas can continue to drive innovation and investment while promoting American economic leadership and national security today and into the future.”
Last week, Trump announced Stargate, a joint venture of OpenAI, SoftBank and Oracle that will invest up to $500 billion in AI-related infrastructure.
Texas will serve as ground zero, with 10 data centers by the venture already under construction in the state, 10 more on the way and the first project based in Abilene, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison said. Each building will occupy half a million square feet.
Patrick said in a statement last week to The Texas Tribune that he believes Texas should be the “world leader in AI, data center and crypto. The key is to ensure they have the power they need without a major impact to our electrical grid. The industries understand that and they are working on solutions.”
Texas’ main grid operator predicts power demand will nearly double by 2030, in part due to more requests to plug into the grid from large users like data centers, crypto mining facilities, hydrogen production plants, and oil and gas companies.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Southwest
‘Side-by-side’: Texas deploys hundreds of troops, choppers to help Trump tackle border crisis
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday announced that he is deploying troops and helicopters to the southern border in order to help the Trump administration with its new ramped-up efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.
Abbott announced that he has ordered the deployment of the Texas Tactical Border Force to the Rio Grande Valley “to coordinate with U.S. Border Patrol under the Trump administration to secure the border.”
The force will send 400 additional soldiers, as well as C-130s and Chinook helicopters. That is in addition to the Texas National Guard soldiers already stationed at the border as part of Operation Lone Star, which Abbott launched in 2021 to tackle the then-rising border crisis.
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“Texas has a partner in the White House we can work with to secure the Texas-Mexico border,” Abbott said in a statement.
He contrasted the Trump administration’s more aggressive stance on the southern border with what he saw as inaction by the Biden administration.
“For the past four years, Texas held the line against the Biden Administration’s border crisis and their refusal to protect Americans. Finally, we have a federal government working to end this crisis,” he said. “I thank President Donald Trump for his decisive leadership on the southern border and look forward to working with him and his Administration to secure the border and make America safe again.”
The efforts come amid a flurry of moves by the Trump administration to push back against illegal immigration and secure the southern border.
Trump ordered the deployment of the military to the border in a day one executive order, along with a slew of other border measures. Troops began arriving in Texas and California on Thursday evening, with approximately 1,500 troops adding to the already 2,500 service members stationed there in response to the border crisis in 2023.
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“This represents a 60% increase in active-duty ground forces since President Trump was sworn-in Monday,” acting Defense Secretary Robert Salesses said in a statement late Wednesday.
The new stance on the border was on display on Sunday when a diplomatic spat occurred between the U.S. and Colombia on deportations. Colombian President Gustavo Petro refused to accept deportation flights, but later backtracked after Trump threatened tariffs and other measures.
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American officials sent two flights of Colombian illegal aliens as part of Trump’s deportation program. Petro rejected the flights, writing that the U.S. cannot “treat Colombian migrants as criminals.”
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The White House confirmed on Sunday that the Colombia’s president had caved “to all of President Trump’s terms, including the unrestricted acceptance of all illegal aliens from Colombia returned from the United States, including on U.S. military aircraft, without limitation or delay,”
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Los Angeles, Ca
A warm weekend could turn into a rainy couple of days in Southern California
Above-average temperatures are in store to kick off February in Southern California before another spell of wet and rainy weather, according to predictions.
A weekend warmup is anticipated on Saturday with weather that is expected to be “fairly unexciting,” according to the National Weather Service.
Highs on Saturday and Sunday are expected to be in the mid-to-high 60s and low 70s across the region.
Saturday highs include 67 degrees in Los Angeles, 69 in Glendale, 72 in Northridge, 67 in Thousand Oaks, 63 in Santa Monica, 69 in Anaheim, 71 in Riverside, 70 in Ontario and 72 in San Bernardino.
On Sunday, highs are expected to be 1 or 2 degrees more than Saturday.
Meanwhile, while the Southland sees clear and sunny skies on the weekend, a low-pressure system looming over the Pacific Northwest will give stormy and rainy conditions to the neighbors up north.
By Tuesday, the tail end of that system is expected to touch down in Southern California, giving the region another wet couple of days.
As far as rain totals, early predictions from Tuesday to Thursday show between 1 and 2 inches for San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, between 0.5 and 1.5 inches for Ventura and Los Angeles counties, less than 0.5 inches for Orange County and less than 0.3 inches in the Inland Empire.
Southwest
Escaped Alabama inmate captured more than 600 miles away at Buc-ee's in Texas
Law enforcement officials are crediting license plate technology for assisting in the capture of an Alabama inmate who escaped custody and was captured over 600 miles away at a Buc-ee’s in Texas.
Melissa Police confirmed to Fox News Digital they successfully captured Pierson McKinnley Anthony, 25, who was wanted out of Marion County, Alabama, after he escaped custody.
Just before 5 p.m., on Sunday, Jan. 26, officials said they were alerted to a vehicle in connection to Anthony’s escape after a Flock camera flagged it near the Buc-ee’s in Anna.
Once officers arrived at the location, they said Anthony was leaving the parking lot of the Buc-ee’s, and a high-risk felony traffic stop ensued.
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Officials said Anthony surrendered without incident, and it was later discovered that the driver of the vehicle also had an active felony warrant for assisting in Anthony’s escape.
Both Anthony and the driver were taken into custody, and officials said that they both remain in the Collin County Jail while awaiting extradition to Alabama.
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Officials added that Anthony has also been charged with a third-degree felony.
Melissa, which is about 65 miles from Fort Worth, is more than 600 miles away from the jail that Anthony escaped from in Alabama.
It was not immediately known what Anthony’s original charges were for and why he was in custody.
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The Melissa Police Department credited the use of Flock technology to locate Anthony.
“This successful apprehension highlights the importance of interagency communication and the dedication of our officers to keeping Melissa safe,” Melissa Police Chief Erik Stokes said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital. “This is an example of how effective FLOCK technology can be in the apprehension of wanted fugitives from across the country.”
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The Flock safety technology is used by law enforcement agencies, neighborhoods and communities to help reduce crime by utilizing license plate recognition and providing real-time alerts to authorities to help locate wanted suspects, according to the company’s website.
Fox News Digital reached out to Marion County officials and did not immediately receive a response.
Stepheny Price is writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business. Story tips and ideas can be sent to stepheny.price@fox.com
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