Greg Guenthner:

Democrats Split on Clarity Act as Crypto Bill Passes Key Senate Committee Vote

The Senate Banking Committee has voted to advance the Clarity Act, a key piece of cryptocurrency legislation, to a full Senate vote.

Senate Democrats splintered Thursday in their support of the Clarity Act during the crucial vote, with two pro-crypto members of the party voting for the landmark crypto bill, and all others voting against.

Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) voted for the legislation, despite the fact both had indicated they would not do so unless a deal on language related to limiting President Donald Trump’s personal crypto ventures had been met by the time of today’s vote. No such deal has yet been reached.

During the Senate Banking hearing, all Republican committee members joined Gallego and Alsobrooks to support the bill, which now moves to the Senate floor for final consideration. If passed and signed into law by President Trump, the Clarity Act would formally legalize most crypto activity in the United States.

The bill will need support from at least seven Democrats on the Senate floor to ultimately pass.

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Davis Wilson:

Tech Layoff Wave Has Already Hit 100,000 Jobs This Year

After easing in 2024 and 2025, tech layoffs have surged again in 2026, with more than 100,000 jobs already cut worldwide by early May. Layoffs totaled around 81,700 in the first quarter alone, the highest quarterly figure since early 2023, before adding about 20,000 more in the first six weeks of the second quarter.

This marks a sharp reversal from 2025, when layoffs remained relatively contained at around 27,000 to 37,000 per quarter, and from 2024, when cuts steadily declined from about 57,000 in Q1 to just over 13,000 in Q4.

The renewed wave has hit major tech companies, with firms such as Meta, PayPal and Cloudflare announcing thousands of job cuts in recent months as the industry continues to prioritize efficiency and investment in artificial intelligence.

Despite the recent spike, layoffs have not yet reached the levels seen at the peak of the previous wave. In early 2023, quarterly job cuts climbed to more than 160,000 in Q1 alone. Still, the current trajectory suggests the sector may be entering another period of restructuring, with 2026 already on track to rival the scale of layoffs seen in previous downturns.

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Enrique Abeyta:

Utility Provider Cutting Electricity for 50k Lake Tahoe Residents to Power AI Data Centers

NV Energy – the Nevada utility company that has supplied most of Lake Tahoe’s electricity for decades – has informed Lake Tahoe's Liberty Utilities that it intends to stop delivering power to the region sometime after May 2027, forcing the provider responsible for servicing 50k area residents to scramble for replacement energy sources.

Northern Nevada has emerged as one of the country’s fastest-growing AI infrastructure hubs, with Google, Apple, and Microsoft expanding operations around the Tahoe-Reno Industrial Center near Reno.

Climate group "Western Resource Advocacy" estimates that 12 proposed data center projects in Northern Nevada will demand nearly 5,900 megawatts of electricity by 2033, a staggering increase tied directly to AI compute growth.

Tahoe residents and energy advocates say the region is being sacrificed to support industrial-scale AI expansion. “It’s like we don’t exist,” Danielle Hughes, the CEO of consumer electricity advocacy group "Tahoe Spark", said.

The anticipated changes create an uncertain future for leisure activities in one of America's largest ski and recreation areas.

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