Battle Ground Public Schools placed teacher Kevin Weeks on administrative leave Sunday after police in Albany, Oregon arrested him on suspicion of soliciting a minor online.

Albany police officers arrested Weeks on Saturday on the charge of first-degree online sexual corruption of a child, which is defined in Oregon statute as an adult using online communication to seek sexual contact with a minor and taking steps to meet physically.

Weeks is a business teacher at Battle Ground Schools and has worked there since 2002.

“Due to the serious nature of this matter, this person was placed on administrative leave and will not be at Battle Ground High School or any Battle Ground school until a full investigation is completed. We will also cooperate with the law enforcement investigation,” the district told families in an email on Sunday. “Of course, this person’s actions do not in any way align with the values or character of Battle Ground High School or our district. We will take all measures necessary to ensure that our students are educated in a safe environment.”

A spokesperson for the Albany Police Department declined to comment on the arrest on Sunday, citing an ongoing investigation.

The posted the video of the arrest on their page

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Summary

Artificial intelligence (AI) computing is a core technology thrust for the U.S. military and its allies, and much research is going into emulating human reasoning in computer hardware and software. One big challenge involves packaging AI computers that are small and rugged enough to operate on the leading edge of the battlefield, where systems are subject to extremes in shock and vibration, temperature, and electromagnetic radiation.

Given limited resources, packaging challenges for AI on the battlefield involve optimizing software, making do with limited computing, networking, and power resources, relying on inference engines rather than computer learning, choosing augmented vision capabilities, cooling and thermal management, and how to feed data to deployed battlefield AI systems.

Join us for this webinar where we’ll explore how aerospace and defense computing designers can overcome these challenges and package AI computer hardwareand software to withstand the rigors of the battlefield today and in the future.

The US state of Virginia saw some 50% of the nation’s Civil War casualties. Now, mass construction of AI data centres is encroaching on historic lands, the environment and local communities.

As the gunner of the Bull Run Legion lifts the explosive charge from its container and carries it up to the cannon, dozens of phones are lifted from pockets. Visitors open camera apps and raise devices high, focusing in on the handful of blue-uniformed men as they swab the gun’s barrel with an era-appropriate sponge fastened to a stick.

The cannon blasts its shot out into the air, and in the same moment, each phone fires its parcel of data at the cloud, landing in a data centre where banks of diligent servers sort, clean and route it along.

On 21 July 1861, Union soldiers defending the United States watched over the crest of the same hills now framed on tourists’ smartphones, as rebelling Confederate forces charged out of the forest in the first major battle of the American Civil War. A century and a half later, the Bull Run Legion, a group of “living historians” (better-known as re-enactors), still gather at Manassas National Battlefield Park using historic techniques and uniforms to commemorate that struggle.

But today, the march of technology has turned this historic landmark into the scene of a new kind of battle.

How Memphis became a battleground over Elon Musk’s xAI supercomputer

toggle caption Houston Cofield/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Down a long, flat road in the industrial zone of South Memphis, a newly occupied factory is humming with activity. It’s a low-level white building that spans the length of several football fields. Workers in fluorescent green vests excavate the surrounding land, and a parade of construction trucks comes and goes. More than a dozen generators steadily burn methane gas.

This part of Memphis, Tenn., is known for its factories and smokestacks. Nearby are a handful of historically Black neighborhoods, where poor air quality has given residents elevated asthma rates and lower life expectancy.

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Now, they have a new neighbor: Elon Musk.

He took over the massive factory just a few months ago with the goal of building the “world’s largest supercomputer.” It’s named “Colossus,” sharing the title with both a mutant Russian comic book character and a sci-fi movie about a supercomputer that becomes sentient and goes rogue. The name originally comes from the Greek statue “Colossus of Rhodes.”

This data center will supply the compute power for Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI. It could be a test case of this technology’s groundbreaking advances, and also its unintended consequences. AI requires more electricity to complete even simple tasks compared to typical search queries. In the U.S., about 60% of that electricity comes from burning fossil fuels, which is the primary driver of climate change.

toggle caption Apu Gomes/Getty Images

xAI launched in July 2023 with the stated mission to “understand the universe” and a plan to “accelerate human scientific discovery.” It says it raised $6 billion in funding in May. Since xAI’s arrival in Memphis, flight logs show that Musk’s private jet has flown back and forth to the city twice a month.

When the supercomputer gets to full capacity, the local utility says it’s going to need a million gallons of water per day and 150 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 100,000 homes per year. Last week, Musk posted on X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, that Colossus was brought online over Labor Day weekend, saying “from start to finish, it was done in 122 days.”

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“Moreover,” he added, “it will double in size.”

xAI’s central focus is a tool called Grok. It’s an AI chatbot, similar to ChatGPT, that the company flaunts as “having a sense of humor.” Musk has called it the “most fun AI in the world.” It has fewer rules than other AI chatbots and has been known for creating controversial deepfake images, such as Mickey Mouse as a Nazi and Kamala Harris in lingerie.

The primary purpose of the Memphis supercomputer is to provide compute power for Grok.

The project has moved at breakneck speed and has been cloaked in mystery and secrecy. Musk has yet to make a public appearance, and officials from the local utility who were briefed on the project signed nondisclosure agreements, according to the utility’s spokeswoman. The NDAs were first reported by Forbes. The news dropped on Memphis in a press conference in June that was announced with little notice and caught members of the City Council, environmental agencies and the community off guard.

toggle caption Ariel J. Cobbert/for NPR

“We have been deemed by xAI not even valuable enough to have a conversation with,” says KeShaun Pearson, who grew up a few miles from the facility and is president of the local nonprofit Memphis Community Against Pollution. “To not even be included in conversations about what is transpiring in our own backyards.”

Musk and xAI did not return requests for comment.

The limited oversight and rushed nature of this project have allowed xAI to skirt environmental rules, which could impact the surrounding communities. For instance, the company’s on-site methane gas generators currently don’t have permits.

“Artificial intelligence may be a cutting-edge technology,” says Amanda Garcia, a senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center. “But it’s imposing the same kinds of pollution burdens on communities that industrial sources have been for the past 100 years.”

City Council kept in the dark

Memphis Councilwoman Yolanda Cooper-Sutton was in her living room watching the evening news on June 5 when a report came on that made her sit up in her chair. The city’s local chamber of commerce was announcing that xAI was moving to Memphis to build its “Gigafactory of Compute.”

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“I’ll give you a perspective,” Ted Townsend, the CEO of the Greater Memphis Chamber, said in a press conference that day. “If you take the two largest supercomputers in the world and you combine them, and you multiply that by four — that’s what we’re building here in Memphis.”

Cooper-Sutton says she couldn’t believe her ears. This was the first time she’d heard anything about the project.

“Wow,” she says, recalling her feelings that day. “One word. Wow.”

toggle caption Ariel J. Cobbert/for NPR

Cooper-Sutton wasn’t the only one who’d been kept in the dark. Community leaders and other City Council members told NPR they also didn’t find out until the night before or day of. Those who were in the loop include the chamber, Memphis Mayor Paul Young and representatives from the local and state utilities.

At first, details were scant. During the June press conference, when a reporter asked where the supercomputer would be located, Townsend said that “due to global security concerns, we are not at liberty to identify the location.” He said the project was a “multibillion-dollar investment” in Memphis, and the number of jobs generated and investment specifics were still being calculated by xAI.

A spokeswoman for the chamber declined to answer NPR’s questions.

It’s since been announced that xAI took over a former manufacturing facility that was run by the company Electrolux. The local utility says xAI will generate 300 jobs; although it’s unclear whether these are temporary or permanent. Currently, the company has 37 job listings and the majority are based in California. Data centers are highly automated, so they have few employees. Microsoft, for example, says it employs about 50 workers per facility.

Mayor Young told NPR in an email that xAI has “chosen to go the no-incentive route, which means that they will pay the full amount for property taxes.” He said he sees Musk choosing Memphis as an endorsement of its “get-it-done attitude.”

“Elon and his team dream big, and we love that,” the mayor said. When NPR asked for more information on the project plans, he said, “it is probably best to leave any forward planning discussions related to the overarching vision to Elon and his team.”

how june started & how it’s going

come 🧑‍🍳 with us at xAI & 𝕏 if you like building & running the biggest computers in the world!https://t.co/E9BY2xFmcLhttps://t.co/NU05SX5tVb pic.twitter.com/qFMpJcizw2 — xAI (@xai) July 2, 2024

After community outcry, the local utility (Memphis Light, Gas and Water, or MLGW) issued fact sheets and participated in a community forum. It laid out how much electricity and water xAI will use and says residents won’t be impacted. It added that the increase in electricity sales means $500,000 more for Memphis annually. MLGW says it has seven contracts with xAI, including for electricity, water, gas and use of the gas pipeline.

NPR requested these contracts and a spokesperson said to file a public records request. NPR’s subsequent public records request was denied on account of not being a citizen of Tennessee.

Cooper-Sutton says she eventually met with representatives from xAI and the chamber, but still doesn’t have concrete answers around how this project came about, the timeline of events and why the city of Memphis wasn’t made aware of the deal before it was set. She says she asked to meet with Musk, since he’s the head of xAI, but is still waiting for that to happen.

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“I have an old saying from my grandparents: What it won’t get in the wash, it’ll take care of in the rinse,” she says. “So, if there’s any secrets and if there’s a dead cat on the line — it’ll soon show up.”

“Southwest Memphis is ground zero”

One mile from xAI, across a stretch of the Mississippi floodplain and a thicket of towering hardwood forest, is one of Memphis’ oldest neighborhoods. It’s called Boxtown. The southwest Memphis community was first started in the aftermath of the Civil War by formerly enslaved people. They later built homes from leftover boxcars. Boxtown still houses the oldest church in Memphis.

Today, it’s a leafy neighborhood that has the feel of a tight-knit community. It’s sprinkled with modest brick and wood-paneled homes that have tidy yards. Some hang American flags out front; others have charcoal smokers. KeShaun Pearson grew up nearby and has spent a lot of time here.

He’s 35 years old, tall and lean. Pearson is also disarmingly friendly, speaking to every stranger he comes across. As he slowly drives through Boxtown, he points things out. There’s the community garden and a tiny white house that looks like it could almost be original architecture.

“My grandmother is buried down that road,” he says. “God rest her soul.” Both of Pearson’s grandmothers died of cancer in their 60s and he’s convinced it had to do with living in South Memphis.

toggle caption Ariel J. Cobbert/for NPR

The cancer rate in South Memphis is four times higher than the national average, according to a ProPublica report. And a 2020 University of Memphis study found the life expectancy here is 10 years lower than other parts of the city. South Memphis also has elevated asthma rates, and the American Lung Association gave it a failing grade for air quality. Experts say this is largely due to the neighborhood’s proximity to Memphis’ industrial zone.

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Down the road from xAI, there’s a decommissioned coal plant where the city is still dealing with issues from coal ash, and there’s a steel mill, an oil refinery, a wastewater facility and the state’s power plant.

It’s common for the county health department to issue “code orange” ozone alerts here. This means ozone levels exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s safety standards and sensitive groups, like adults with respiratory issues and children, shouldn’t go outside.

“They have a very serious air pollution problem,” says Garcia from the Southern Environmental Law Center. “Southwest Memphis is ground zero.”

Garcia, Pearson and other environmental justice advocates fear that xAI will add to the pollution burden of this already overburdened community, because of its high demand for energy. They say it’s particularly concerning that the project has had little government oversight and the community has been left out of the process.

“It’s frustrating because it could be better,” Pearson says. “The dissonance of having essentially the future of technology powered by fossil fuels is, you know, it just leaves me speechless.”

xAI adds gas generators without a permit

The factory that xAI now inhabits sits on 217 acres of land and has the possibility to add an additional 580 acres. The main building is 785,000 square feet (roughly the size of 13 football fields) and comes with a cooling tower, heavy electrical power feeds and is fully air-conditioned. Phoenix Investors, which is leasing the site to xAI, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Alongside the factory are at least 18 portable methane gas generators, which visibly emit a steady stream of hazy smoke into the air. These turbines help fuel the company’s AI.

They started to appear in June and have multiplied over the last couple of months. According to the Southern Environmental Law Center, it’s estimated these generators can provide enough electricity to power 50,000 homes. And they have the capacity to emit 130 tons of harmful nitrogen oxides per year, potentially making them a major source of the pollutant in Memphis.

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xAI doesn’t have air permits for these turbines, according to the Shelby County Health Department and the Environmental Protection Agency.

The county health department told NPR that it only regulates gas-burning generators if they’re in the same location for more than 364 days. “Given the mobile nature of the gas-turbines in question … [the health department] does not have current permitting authority,” a spokeswoman wrote in an email. She said this is the Environmental Protection Agency’s jurisdiction.

The Environmental Protection Agency told NPR it hasn’t issued air permits for these turbines, but after getting inquiries from media outlets and citizen groups it’s “looking into the matter.”

toggle caption Ariel J. Cobbert/for NPR

LaTricea Adams is from South Memphis and says she was shocked to hear about the generators. She’s a member of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and founder of the nonprofit Young, Gifted & Green.

“Now you have turbines, but you don’t have an air permit. Like, in what universe is that acceptable?” she says. “It’s like the Spider-Man meme, where everybody’s pointing at each other, but the community is who’s losing.”

This isn’t the first time one of Musk’s companies didn’t have permits for high-emissions machinery.

His spaceship company SpaceX was fined for allegedly discharging industrial wastewater numerous times in Texas without a permit, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. This was first reported by CNBC. The Boring Co., which is his underground tunneling business, was also fined in Texas for failing to get a permit to discharge industrial stormwater. And his electric car company Tesla was cited by California for 33 air quality violations.

“There’s a way to do this right,” says Adams. “I don’t think that all is lost, but it’s going to take all of the powers that be to be more transparent and make this mutually beneficial.”

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Artificial intelligence puts a strain on the grid

On a sweltering August day, KeShaun Pearson drives down the flat road to xAI. As he pulls up, he points across the street to a multibuilding power plant owned by the Tennessee Valley Authority. This is the federal utility that ultimately has to approve xAI’s power plan.

Typically, data centers the size of xAI have to wait years before they can get on the grid, according to a report by Bloomberg. That’s because utilities need to ensure that the facilities won’t strain the grid for residents and other customers.

xAI has already gotten the go-ahead for 50 megawatts of electricity from MLGW. But it’s requesting 100 megawatts more — enough to power tens of thousands of homes — and for that, xAI needs Tennessee Valley Authority’s approval.

A spokesman for the utility says it’s reviewing xAI’s electricity demands and is waiting for more information from the company.

This weekend, the @xAI team brought our Colossus 100k H100 training cluster online. From start to finish, it was done in 122 days.

Colossus is the most powerful AI training system in the world. Moreover, it will double in size to 200k (50k H200s) in a few months.

Excellent… — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 2, 2024

Musk says xAI has already dealt with “power fluctuation issues.” During an interview with podcaster Lex Fridman last month, he said that training his AI necessitates quick bursts of 10 and 20 megawatts of electricity and “the electrical system freaks out about that.”

Water is another issue for xAI. Data centers use massive amounts of water to cool their servers; xAI says it will need 1 million gallons of water a day, which is about 3% of the total capacity of the local wellfield, according to the nonprofit Protect Our Aquifer. This is the same wellfield that provides drinking water to residents.

“It would put stress on the wellfield,” says Scott Schoefernacker, science director for Protect Our Aquifer. He adds that “a lot of the water is just being used as cooling and it evaporates.”

MLGW is adamant that xAI won’t impact the grid or water availability. It also says it’s in talks with the company to build a gray water plant to use treated wastewater for cooling, along with the installation of large-scale batteries for electricity storage.

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Several tech companies, including Google and Microsoft, have started using renewable energy sources at their data centers but still mostly rely on fossil fuels. According to the Bloomberg report, one of the reasons for that is because AI’s demand for energy is so high that renewable energy suppliers can’t keep up.

After watching xAI’s buzzing construction activity for a while, Pearson starts up the car and drives back through the industrial zone. He points to a dense forest in the distance where 50-foot-tall trees, hanging with vines, tower over the landscape. He explains that this is T.O. Fuller State Park and that it was the first state park east of the Mississippi for Black people.

Now, he says, it’s impossible to enjoy because of all of the pollution from nearby factories.

To: Interested Parties

From: Pete Maysmith, LCV SVP of Campaigns

Date: November 22, 2024

Re: Despite major losses, voters across the country delivered key 2024 climate victories

Donald Trump’s victory was clearly not the result we were working toward in 2024. We have no doubts that his presidency will be marred by attacks on our most bedrock environmental protections, undermining of our foundational democratic rights and values, and giveaways to his ultra-wealthy friends and Big Oil donors. His cabinet nominations have already shown he plans to continue his legacy as the most anti-environment president in American history. LCV, alongside countless allies and partners stand ready to fight his agenda and protect the clean energy future Americans again and again say they support.

It is understandable for attention to be focused on the chaos and implications of the presidential election. But it is crucial to not overlook the number of victories for climate further down the ballot that show concrete progress is still happening today and present major opportunities for continued climate action in the future. At the start of Trump’s first term, 1% of people in the United States lived somewhere that was committed to 100% clean energy. Now over 40% of the country does. That’s entirely due to state action. State leaders have proven they are capable of taking up the mantle for climate action. Below is a breakdown of 2024 statewide, state legislative, and other down ballot victories that show they can keep that progress alive once again.

Congressional Race Wins

Battleground U.S. Senate seats

LCV Victory Fund made major investments in Senate races in presidential battleground states where pro-environment candidates prevailed despite the headwinds at the top of the ticket. 2024 saw far more ticket splitting between votes for President and Senate candidates. This is a testament to the strength of the campaigns run to support candidates and shows who we have in these elections still matters to voters. This includes Ruben Gallego in Arizona, Jacky Rosen in Nevada, Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, and Tammy Baldwin in Wisconsin. Each of these programs included a mixture of field, paid ads and other tactics which clearly had positive impacts in these incredibly close races.

Battleground U.S. House seats

LCV Victory Fund made significant investments across the most competitive seats nationwide. We ran critical programs in every called House race that ultimately flipped from pro-polluter to pro-environment hands. This work included paid media and field investments to support George Whitesides in flipping CA-27, Dave Min in holding CA-47’s open seat, and propelling Derek Tran to a slim lead (currently uncalled) in CA-45. Additionally, we ran field and paid media programs in NY-04 to support Laura Gillen’s win and NY-22 to boost John Mannion in flipping his Central New York district. We also invested in paid media programs to support Josh Riley’s win in NY-19, Kristen McDonald Rivet’s win to hold MI-08, and Janelle Bynum’s history-making win in OR-05 to become the first Black person to represent the state in Congress.

A full list of all the new pro-environment, pro-democracy members of the House and Senate joining Congress next year can be found in LCV’s New Member Guide.

Statewide Victories

California Voters Approve Prop 4, Authorizing $10 billion climate bond

California voters passed Proposition 4, a $10 billion climate bond, which addresses the impacts of climate change. The bond will fund projects in water conservation, wildfire resilience, coastal protection, and renewable energy, with at least 40% allocated to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities. Mike Young from California Environmental Voters said “Californians have made it clear that they’re eager for the urgent, transformative action needed to address the climate crisis.”

Michigan Supreme Court pro-environment candidates win big

Despite disappointing 2024 losses in the State House, there were major state-level victories to celebrate in Michigan. Incumbent Justice Krya Harris Bolden held onto her seat while Kimberly Thomas beat state Representative Andrew Fink to join the Michigan Supreme Court. Both received over 60% of the vote and were endorsed by Michigan LCV, Thomas will replace retiring Justice David Viviano, growing the 4-3 pro-environmental majority to 5-2, which will help uphold major environmental legislation.

North Carolina state level environmental champions wins up and down the ballot

North Carolina had a huge year for electing state level environmental leaders. Josh Sein was elected as the next Governor of North Carolina, who the NCLCV called “the greenest Attorney General in our state’s history.” Through its independent expenditure PAC, the Conservation Votes PAC (CVP), they spent nearly $2 million supporting Stein in his race. North Carolina voters also elected environmental champions as Attorney General, Lt. Governor, the Supreme Court, and successfully broke the legislature’s anti-environmental supermajority.

Central Ohio voters approve Issue 47, levy for public transit and infrastructure

While not entirely statewide, this vote was a case study for voter support for alternative transportation investments when they have the opportunity. The Ohio Environmental Council (OEC) Action Fund celebrated the successful approval of Issue 47 after a major campaign. The LinkUS transit initiative is a major victory for sustainable transportation in Central Ohio. With community support, LinkUS will expand sidewalks, greenways, and Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) services across the region.

Washington voters resoundingly reject Initiative 2117, upholding the state’s carbon market and Governor Inslee’s legacy

Over 62% of Washington voters rejected Initiative 2117 that would have dismantled the state’s carbon market, established under the 2021 Climate Commitment Act. The carbon market has generated over $2.15 billion for green projects, such as electric vehicle rebates, air quality initiatives, and clean energy infrastructure. This initiative had been nominated by Washington Conservation Action Votes to this year’s LCV Victory Fund Dirty Dozen in the States and was a key focus of their voter outreach programs this year. This stinging rebuke to anti-climate forces was of particular importance in Washington, the state that is in many ways setting the climate policy roadmap for the nation.

And Washington Voters elected champions across the board for statewide offices: Governor, AG, and Public Lands Commissioner

By wide margins, Washington voters elected pro-environmental leaders for every major statewide position. Attorney General Bob Ferguson was elected as the state’s new governor, following Governor Jay Inslee’s long record as one of the greenest governors in the country. Nick Brown was elected as the state’s new attorney general and the first Black man to hold the position. Finally, Dave Upthegrove will be the state’s new public lands commissioner, defeating Jaime Herrera Beutler, who was nominated to the LCV Victory Fund 2024 Dirty Dozen in the States. All three candidates have made commitments to take on polluters, protect the state’s lands and waters, and were endorsed by Washington Conservation Action.

Key State Legislative Gains

Alaska maintains bipartisan governing majority

Alaskans voted to maintain a bipartisan governing majority in the state senate while adding a new one in the state house. These victories mean that the state’s legislature in the coming two years will be significantly more friendly to pro-environment policies and less prone to partisanship and infighting, especially as compared to many other legislative bodies across the country.

Connecticut protects pro-environmental majorities ahead of key legislative sessions

Over 80% of CTLCV-endorsed candidates won their races (a total of 56), with several key victories in competitive districts and tight races. One Senate seat and five House seats were flipped from anti-environment incumbents to committed environmental advocates. The next two legislative sessions will be critical to build on the state’s clean electricity work and offshore wind development.

Montana voters flip historic number of seats

Despite the monumental loss of Senator Jon Tester, Montanans didn’t just break the anti-conservation supermajority in the Montana legislature, they flipped 12 seats. This unprecedented success—the highest number of pickups in a single legislative chamber nationwide in 2024—marks a historic shift for the state, unmatched since 1990. Montana Conservation Voters Action Fund led the charge for pro-conservation candidates, moving closer to a pro-environment legislature that reflects the state’s long held values. This victory is a significant boost for conservation efforts heading into the next legislative session. Judge Katherine Bidegaray also won her seat on the Montana Supreme Court helping ensure strong judicial support for Montana’s pro-conservation Constitution.

New Mexico builds on past success

Despite fierce opposition by industry and outside special interest groups, pro-climate, pro-democracy candidates swept key races across the Land of Enchantment in the 2024 general election. Among contested races, victories included several pro-conservation incumbents, including Sen. Carrie Hamblen (SD 38) and Rep. Nathan Small (HD 36), who had highly competitive races.

Oregon recaptures a pro-environment supermajority in the State Senate

Entering this year one-seat shy of a supermajority in both chambers, OLCV was able to strategically invest resources to win a pivotal state senate seat and recapture the supermajority in that chamber. As of mid-November, there are still votes to be counted that could yet also deliver a supermajority in the Oregon State House as well.

Pennsylvania held a pro-environment majority in the State House

Despite major headlines and tens of millions of dollars on the airwaves attacking incumbent champions, pro-environment lawmakers retained control of the state House, maintaining their one-seat majority in the face of strong challenges. The majority will allow Pennsylvania’s state legislature to continue to play a major role in the fight against climate change and protecting the state’s clean air, water, and open spaces. Notable victories included protecting Representatives Brian Munroe in Bucks County, Jim Haddock in Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties, and Mandy Steele in Allegheny County. Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Victory Fund invested more than $2.2 million in critical state legislative races, with a heavy focus on canvassing that ultimately saw some targeted races won by only 1,000 votes – demonstrating the impact field investments had on the control of power in Harrisburg for the next two years.

Wisconsin post-gerrymander sees major gains

After more than a decade of gerrymandered legislative lines that severely disenfranchised Wisconsinites, this cycle saw democracy return and with it major changes to the legislators elected to office. Wisconsin Conservation Voters IEC invested more than $1.5 million this cycle to break the Republican supermajority in the state picking up 5 seats for pro-environmental candidates, while paving a clear path to achieving a pro-environmental trifecta in 2026. These state senate victories also included the defeat of Duey Stroebel nominated who made this year’s Dirty Dozen in the States list.

Stay tuned for more state progress updates

In the week following Thanksgiving, LCV will release our annual Clean Energy For All report, which highlights all the major clean energy progress that was made in states over the last year. There were some major wins you may have missed so please keep an eye out to see more about where progress is already being made.