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Hope and concern swirls for Ohioans around ‘world’s largest datacenter’

Piketon datacenter promises to generate thousands of jobs, but environmental groups voice concern over project

On a winding road tucked away behind forests in the Appalachian foothills of southern Ohio is where OpenAI, Nvidia and Japanese investors are set to spend $500bn on one of the largest artificial intelligence datacenters on the planet.

Last March, the energy secretary, Chris Wright, the commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick and a host of Japanese and other dignitaries briefly descended on Piketon to enthusiastically break ground on a project to build 8GW worth of AI computing power.

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© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

© Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

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A mosque in Ohio was attacked for the third time. Members doubt Trump’s FBI will call it a hate crime

Latest attack happened amid Islamophobic blowback against Arab and Muslim Americans running for office

Nashid Shakir describes how assailants used wire cutters to break into the Westwood Islamic Community Center in the early hours of 3 August.

“They cut the wire and broke the window to get in. They broke into the office, too. It was total disarray,” says Shakir, a board member, and member, at the community center since the 1960s.

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© Photograph: Cincinnati Islamic Community Center

© Photograph: Cincinnati Islamic Community Center

© Photograph: Cincinnati Islamic Community Center

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In JD Vance’s hometown, comment on his new memoir is hard to find

The US vice-president’s most recent memoir may be widely read in Middletown, Ohio, but no one seems to be talking about it

Nearly two months since JD Vance’s most recent memoir, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith, was released, and following sales of 64,000 copies in its first week, Vance’s hometown of Middletown, Ohio, has had time to take it in.

At the town library, administrators say there has been interest in the book among the wider public.

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© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images

© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images

© Photograph: MediaNews Group/Orange County Register/Getty Images

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