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Data Centers - TPR's In Focus - September 4, 2026 · In Focus with Carolyn Hutcheson

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  Support comes from the Wiregrass Archives at Troy University's Dothan
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  campus, identifying and preserving historical documents and photographs
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  for research related to the Wiregrass region. More information at
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  troy.edu/wiregrassarchives.
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  From Troy Public Radio, this is the News Wrap from InFocus.
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  I'm Kyle Gassiott sitting in for Carolyn Hutcheson, and I'm happy to be joined as
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  always by Todd Stacy, of Alabama
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  Public Television, who is the host of Capitol Journal. Hey, Todd,
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  how's it going? Going great. How are you? I'm good. So I
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  imagine you've got a little news to lay on us. So go for it.
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  Well, yeah, we're getting into campaign season, and it's kind of always
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  campaign season, but Labor Day kind of is the traditional start when people
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  start paying attention. And this week did not disappoint.
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  The 2 nominees for governor, Doug Jones and Tommy
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  Tuberville, are really starting to go at it.
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  Jones had a press conference this week really criticizing Tuberville,
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  saying he has investments
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  tied to artificial intelligence, and that means data centers.
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  Jones wants a moratorium on data centers, no new data centers.
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  Tuberville has been pretty pro-data center, talking about
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  all the economic benefits and things like that. But this goes deeper than
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  that. Jones is looking at all his stock trading, some of
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  the stocks that Toverville has owned and arguing that that's a conflict of interest.
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  Toverville responds saying, look, he has a
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  lot of investments. It's handled by a broker. He doesn't even know the companies.
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  And that's how a lot of stuff like that works and really pushing
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  back on some of this. But it's the first kind of salvos
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  in what's going to be a really interesting campaign this fall.
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  Because this is an issue that's animating races across the country,
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  right? Oh yeah, the data center issue is not just in Alabama,
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  it's nationwide. There's a lot of things driving
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  it. Part of it is just anxiety over AI
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  and the data capacity out there
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  is going up and up and up. We're consuming more and more data
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  each year on our cell phones, on all these social media apps.
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  All right, so I imagine you'll be keeping an eye on the race for us
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  on Capital Journal and maybe even talking about that Friday night and Sunday
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  afternoon. So who's going to be joining you? Absolutely. Well, we're starting
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  our interviews with candidates. So we're going to interview each candidate for
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  statewide office. This week, it starts with the candidates for Agriculture
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  Commissioner. That's on the Democratic side. That's Ron Sparks. He's actually the previous— he
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  was Ag Commissioner before. And then Corey Hill is the Republican
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  nominee. So each week, you'll see a different race highlighted
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  on Capitol Journal. That'll include Tovarville and Jones at some point. I'm hoping to have
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  them on a couple of times. Also joining me tonight is State Representative
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  Chris England. He's one of the most outspoken lawmakers about
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  Alabama's prison problem. I mean,
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  the range of problems with Alabama's prisons. And so we're going to talk about that
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  and what we can look forward to as this prison construction continues.
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  So yeah, a good show tonight on Capitol Journal. Well,
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  Todd, we always appreciate you keeping an eye on all these things for us,
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  and especially as we get into election season, having a resource like that That is
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  so valuable, but it's also valuable to have a little bit of
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  laughter at the end of every week, wouldn't you say? So I think you got
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  a wild card for us. What do you got? Well, yeah, last week, you know,
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  we talked about a snake getting into the Capitol here in Alabama.
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  Uh, this week, these capybaras— that's these cute
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  little Brazilian creatures, uh, they kind of look like dogs,
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  um, they're cute looking— they got into the Brazilian
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  state legislature, or state legislature down in Brazil.
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  And these rodents, they are rodents, larger rodents,
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  just strolled through the front door and got all in the legislative business.
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  And there's a great video of these animals
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  just walking around. Imagine debating bills on the floor of the statehouse
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  and suddenly a bunch of wild animals get
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  in the doors. So yeah, that was a wild card for sure. I mean,
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  it's always very important where everybody sits in the Capitol. So where do you put
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  capybaras? I mean, where do they sit? You know, probably wherever
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  they want. Yeah, there you go. Well, I see it's well known in
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  the Statehouse that Toby, my dog, likes to come to work with Dad. And so
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  it's kind of a fun thing for guests to come down to our studio
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  and get a little pet, you know, from Toby before they go on air.
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  Cools the nerves. He needs a capybara friend. That's what he needs. I think he
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  would be friends with a capybara. Well, it sounds good to me.
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  Well, Todd, We thank you as always, and you have a great Labor Day weekend.
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  Thank you. Same to you.
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  That was Todd Stacy, the host of Alabama Public Television's Capitol Journal,
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  which you can find on Alabama Public Television and on their
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  YouTube channel. He also joins us every week for the news
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  wrap from In Focus, which you hear Fridays right here
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  on Troy Public Radio. You can send us a message about the program at
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  infocus@troy.edu. I'm Kyle Gassiott sitting in
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  for Carolyn Hutcheson, who returns next week. And this is
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  listener-supported Troy Public Radio. Have a great Labor
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  Day weekend.