Axios

There's a growing push to use new technology to boost U.S. copper processing amid surging demand from the AI boom.

Why it matters: The U.S. has decent copper resources, but the majority of processing happens in large, toxic smelters overseas, much of it in China.

Willie Nelson has become an unlikely barometer of America's biggest infrastructure fights. He once protested the Keystone XL pipeline and fracking. Today, he's fighting data centers.

Why it matters: The American icon's latest cause underscores how the politics surrounding AI infrastructure are beginning to resemble the last decade's fights over fossil fuels.