Author: Money Mechanics

53% of U.S. residents oppose building a data center in their area, while 34% support it, per a recent Redfin survey.  U.S. residents are more likely to oppose data centers in their neighborhood than any other type of building; for instance, 39% oppose a new apartment complex nearby.  AI data centers are controversial because they strain electricity and water resources, and can disrupt communities with noise and large structures.  But a Redfin analysis found that AI data centers have benefits: In northern Virginia, taxes on data center equipment are likely contributing to a surge in education spending. Meanwhile, individual homeowners’…

Kristie Opaleski was drowning in a sea of guilt.In 2021, her mother and her father were diagnosed with devastating illnesses; her father with leukemia and her mother with Alzheimer’s.For four years, Opaleski, 48, found herself driving what seemed like an endless loop from her home in Howell, N.J., to her parents’ house 45 minutes away in East Brunswick. This was in addition to working as a high school teacher and raising a teenager. From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just $107.88 $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues CLICK…

Rapper Snow Tha Product is an independent artist who has achieved mainstream success collaborating on blockbuster soundtracks like “The Hamilton Mixtape” and “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever”—but instead of being entrenched in Los Angeles like so many other musicians, she’s able to run her entire music business from an expansive ranch just outside of Burbank, CA.Putting some distance between her home base and the hub of the music industry was a deliberate choice to protect her peace, while still keeping within close proximity to her career network, the Mexican-American performer reveals in the latest installment of Celebrity Sanctuary.“Because I’m an independent…

Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SPCX) — or SpaceX — is now what Wall Street calls a “broken IPO,” meaning a stock trading below its IPO price. The company was valued at $135 in the largest IPO in history. The stock’s first trade on June 12 was $150, and it closed just above $200 on that day. Since then, however, it has fallen back to Earth and even investors who got in at the IPO price are now at a loss.   The IPO price is a psychological benchmark that traders anchor to as a fair valuation. Falling below this level can…

A “Coming Soon” sign outside a home for sale in Hercules, California, US, on Wednesday, June 17, 2026.David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesMortgage rates continued their climb last week, but homebuyers trickled back into the market, perhaps taking advantage of less competition and some price cuts. That helped push total mortgage demand last week 1.9% higher compared with the previous week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index. The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with conforming loan balances, $832,750 or less, increased to 6.69% from 6.65%, with points decreasing to 0.62 from 0.67,…

Jack Wallen/ZDNETFollow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.ZDNET key takeawaysIf you’re just starting with Linux, follow this calendar.In 10 days, you’ll feel right at home.Just remember to take it slow and easy.So, you’ve finally decided to give Linux a try, but you’re worried because you’ve never used anything but MacOS or Windows. What’s in store for you? Can you make this work? Change is hard, and leaving an operating system that you’ve used for decades is certainly a big change. But if you’re serious about giving Linux a try, you don’t have to expect to become a pro overnight. It…

(By Oil & Gas 360) – The global energy transition is reshaping investment, policy, and technology. Solar and wind continue to break installation records, battery storage is expanding rapidly, and governments are investing billions of dollars to accelerate decarbonization. Headlines often suggest the world is moving quickly beyond fossil fuels.   The data tell a more measured story. Despite extraordinary growth in renewable energy, fossil fuels still generate roughly 60% of the world’s electricity, with coal remaining the single largest source of power generation, followed by natural gas. Hydroelectric power contributes about 14%, nuclear energy approximately 9%, while wind and…

Listed options trading continued at record levels through the first half of 2026. Average Daily Volume (ADV) in the second quarter of 2026 reached 72.8 million contracts, up more than 19% from a year earlier, according to the Q2 2026 State of the Options Industry report. The gains were led by index and ETF options, while a rebound in retail activity, faster growth in contracts with same-day expirations and a rise in FLEX options all pointed to a broadening options market heading into the second half of the year.A Broad-Based Climb in VolumeThe second quarter extended a decade-long expansion of…

A luxurious Vermont mansion that features a climate-controlled underground tunnel, reinforced concrete vault, and a host of over-the-top amenities has been put on the auction block—with no minimum bid and no reserve.​That means that the homeowners, Adam and Sarah Hergenrother, are handing over the property to the highest bidder, regardless of price.​Located in Stowe, VT, the property known as The Preserve at Wade Pasture sits behind the gates of one of the town’s most prestigious mountain enclaves, Robinson Springs. Guests are welcomed to the property by an antique red Stowe Mountain Resort gondola.”An offering of this caliber is seldom available—don’t…

Alphabet investors have very publicly worried that the company’s massive AI spending isn’t worth the money. With the company’s latest earnings report, those investors should be able to relax a little. The takeaway: Google’s cloud business — driven largely by enterprise AI adoption — is booming. The search giant saw Google Cloud revenue spike 82% from where it was this time last year, climbing to $24.8 billion. That’s well above last quarter’s generous year-over-year growth, which showed a revenue jump of 63% to $20 billion — and it handily beats what Wall Street analysts expected for this quarter’s growth (the…