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LSU at 170: LSU ranks No. 170 in Forbes’ 2026 list of America’s Top 500 Colleges, which evaluates schools based on academic and career outcomes, including graduation rates, alumni earnings, student debt and return on investment. The ranking comes as families face rising college costs and uncertainty over how artificial intelligence will reshape the job market, making the value of a degree an increasingly important consideration. MIT retained the No. 1 spot, while five Ivy League schools placed in the top 10 and UC Berkeley was the highest-ranked public university at No. 9.
Fuel fight intensifies: President Donald Trump urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries, arguing the strikes are contributing to global diesel shortages as U.S. prices reach record levels. Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure, disrupting refining capacity and contributing to Moscow’s restrictions on diesel exports, while the conflict in the Middle East has further tightened global fuel supplies. U.S. diesel prices surpassed $6 per gallon, while crude prices climbed above $100 per barrel amid continued disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz and other energy infrastructure. CNBC has the full story.
AI’s $110B tab: The U.S. data center boom is expected to require $110 billion in new power-generation investment through 2030, with 45 gigawatts of capacity needed to support the growth of AI and cloud computing. More than 30 gigawatts is projected to come from natural gas, while most of the remaining capacity will come from solar and energy storage. The buildout could add $25 billion to $30 billion annually to U.S. electricity costs, while regulators face growing concerns that the power grid cannot expand generation, transmission and interconnection capacity quickly enough to keep pace with data center development. Bloomberg has the full story.
