[The 7] Trump’s taxpayer-paid ads; data centers changing U.S. landscape; how dogs understand us; and more

The Trump administration has been running government-produced advertisements using public funds, raising concerns among critics who see the spots as veiled propaganda rather than legitimate public information campaigns.

Watchdog groups argue that directing taxpayer money toward messaging that promotes the president personally crosses an ethical and possibly legal line, while the White House defends the ads as routine government communication.

Massive data centers are proliferating across rural and suburban America, fundamentally altering local landscapes, water supplies, and power grids.

Communities near these facilities report surging electricity demand and noise pollution, even as tech companies and local governments tout the economic benefits of thousands of new jobs and tax revenue. The tension between infrastructure growth and environmental impact is intensifying as AI workloads drive construction to accelerate.

New research suggests that dogs process human language and emotion far more sophisticatedly than previously believed, with brain imaging showing that they distinguish not only tone but also the meaning of specific words. Scientists found that dogs integrate verbal and emotional cues simultaneously, a cognitive ability once considered the exclusive domain of primates.

The findings deepen our understanding of the human-animal bond and may influence how dogs are trained and cared for.

Congress is again facing a tight deadline to pass a spending measure before a potential government shutdown, with deep divisions between fiscal conservatives demanding cuts and moderates wary of disrupting essential services. Negotiations have stalled repeatedly, and leadership on both sides is struggling to cobble together enough votes for even a short-term funding bill.

The standoff reflects broader dysfunction in Washington as lawmakers head into an election cycle with little appetite for compromise.

Scientists have released new data confirming that the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events have accelerated significantly over the past decade, with heat waves, wildfires, and flooding now occurring at unprecedented rates.

The report calls on governments to accelerate adaptation measures and warns that delays in policy action will sharply raise the human and economic cost of future disasters.

Federal regulators are intensifying their scrutiny of major technology platforms, examining whether dominant players in AI and cloud computing are engaging in anticompetitive practices that shut out smaller rivals.

Cases against several major firms are advancing in court, and the outcomes are expected to set important precedents for how AI-era monopolies are defined and regulated in the United States.

The American housing market remains deeply unaffordable for middle-income families, with home prices and mortgage rates staying elevated despite earlier expectations of relief. Analysts warn that the shortage of available homes is structural in nature, meaning short-term interest rate changes alone cannot solve the crisis.

Policy proposals ranging from zoning reform to federal subsidies for first-time buyers are under debate, but political agreement on any single approach remains elusive.