The race to replace Pelosi: A conversation with Scott Wiener
California state Sen. Scott Wiener isn’t a San Francisco native, but the towering 6-foot-7-inch politician has weaved his way throughout the Bay Area as someone who can comfortably call The Golden City his home. The lawmaker has ruffled more than a few feathers with his leather-clad appearances at the Folsom Street Fair, and garnered applause for his apparent ability to reach across the…
Virginia Supreme Court strikes down Democrats’ redistricting plan, dimming party’s midterm hopes
The Virginia Supreme Court on Friday struck down a voter-approved Democratic congressional redistricting plan, delivering another major setback to the party in a nationwide battle against Republicans for an edge in this year’s midterm elections. The court ruled that the state’s Democratic-led legislature violated procedural requirements when it placed the constitutional amendment on the…
Trump fraudster learns the hard way that a pardon only goes so far
Turns out that a pardon from President Donald Trump doesn’t actually protect you from everything. Michele Fiore is one of the scuzzier and more low-rent denizens of Trump world. She scammed people out of $70,000 in donations that she solicited for a statue to honor a slain police officer, instead spending it on cosmetic surgery, rent, and her daughter’s wedding. That is, of course…
DK6 Week 4: End of Week Update
The Current Work List The Fix List Product Requests for the Commenting Platform I have the opportunity to meet with the Viafoura product team and ask them for an ordered list of our top priority fixes (“make it work like DK5” is not specific enough, unfortunately). This is my Top 7 list. What do you think, is this what you would prioritize? What am I missing?
Trump promised cheaper drugs. Some prices dropped. Many others shot up.
By Elisabeth Rosenthal and Arthur Allen for KFF Since his second term started, President Donald Trump has announced, negotiated, or floated a flurry of initiatives aimed at taming the excesses of the pharmaceutical industry. No surprise. About 60% of American adults are “worried about being able to afford prescription drug costs for themselves or their families…
A guide to defeating the GOP
A cartoon by Clay Bennett. Related | Pain at the pump? Republicans have a scapegoat for that.
With Tesla Big Rigs Rolling Out, California Can Breathe Easier
This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
Back in 2017, Tesla promised to bring an all-electric semitruck to market that would have a longer range and lower cost than its competitors. Then, the trucking industry waited—and waited. The initial production target of 2019 came and went, as did each newly announced date over the next three years.
But in 2022, Tesla finally unveiled its Tesla Semi and started to get pilot versions on the road for testing. The Class 8 battery-electric truck hit performance targets well beyond what Daimler, Volvo, Kenworth, Peterbilt, and other companies were delivering with their all-electric models. As of April 29, Tesla says it has finally started high-volume Semi production at its factory in Sparks, Nevada.
Now, the Semi’s combination of mileage and price appears set to transform an industry hungry for an affordable way to move freight without burning diesel—especially in California, the country’s top market for electric trucks.
“Heavy-duty trucks emit more than half the transportation sector’s harmful air pollution.”
So says Ray Minjares, heavy-duty vehicles program director at the International Council on Clean Transportation. The nonprofit research group has been tracking applications from truck purchasers seeking vouchers under California’s Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP), the country’s biggest state-administered program to incentivize the shift to heavy-duty clean vehicles.
Of the 1,067 requests for vouchers submitted during the latest application window, which launched in December 2025, 965 were for Tesla Semis, he said. That’s far more applications than for any other model of truck, he added—and more than the total number of HVIP applications for all heavy-duty trucks since 2021.
And if all those Tesla Semis are actually delivered by the end of this year, that could make up about a third of heavy-duty truck sales in the state, Minjares said. That’s far above the 10 percent target for zero-emissions Class 8 vehicles set under California’s Advanced Clean Trucks regulation, he noted.
This would be an important environmental accomplishment. Heavy-duty trucks emit more than half the transportation sector’s harmful air pollution, with disproportionate health impacts for lower-income areas and communities of color.
“The Tesla Semi is twice the range, and half the charging time, of trucks from traditional manufacturers.”
It would be even more striking given that the Republicans in Congress passed legislation last year nullifying California’s power to set its own emissions reduction standards for trucks and cars under the federal Clean Air Act, he said. The Trump administration has also moved to weaken national fuel economy standards and claw back federal funds for electric trucks and EV charging.
Considering the policy headwinds, “states that have severe air quality challenges and climate goals need to find alternative pathways to enable this transition,” Minjares said. And one of the most important ways to do that is “putting downward pressure on the price that fleets are paying for the vehicles.”
The median price for a Tesla Semi capable of driving about 500 miles on a single charge is just under $300,000, according to HVIP data. That’s about $138,000 to $224,000 less than competing Class 8 battery-electric vehicles with roughly half the range, he said.
And while Tesla has tested the patience of buyers with its delays, the early models it put on the road got high marks from trucking companies and drivers.
In 2023, during three weeks of test-drives hosted by the nonprofit research group North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE), Tesla Semis that beverage giant PepsiCo tried out hit 384 miles on a single charge. One truck traveled 1,076 miles in a single 24-hour period with multiple partial recharges using Tesla’s 750-kilowatt Supercharger. In another NACFE test-drive in 2025, a Tesla Semi operated by freight company Saia consistently traveled 465 miles on a single charge while operating two shifts per day, said Mike Roeth, NACFE’s executive director.
As of today, Tesla has boosted the range of its Semi to up to 350 miles for the standard model and up to 500 miles for the long-range model. It has also launched its Megacharger, capable of delivering up to 1.2 megawatts of power—enough to replenish about 60 percent of a Semi battery in 30 minutes—available both for truck depots and at an expanding set of public charging sites.
“The Tesla Semi is twice the range, and half the charging time, of trucks from traditional manufacturers,” Roeth said. “And early data is showing it’s a third less expensive to purchase.”
These are all appealing characteristics to Jennie Abarca, founder and CEO of King Fio Trucking in Long Beach, California. She already has 11 electric trucks in her 35-truck fleet serving the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, including models from Volvo, a major manufacturer, and Nikola, a startup that went bankrupt last year.
“Both trucks have been exceptional,” she said. “But now you have something like the Tesla coming in: 500-mile range, 30-minute recharge, and $150,000 less than the current option out there—wow.”
Abarca has applied to secure HVIP vouchers for 20 Tesla Semis, with each voucher providing a $120,000 discount to the up-front cost of a truck. Additional incentives available from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and from utility Southern California Edison for drayage trucks, which carry cargo from ports to inland warehouses, can further reduce that cost by up to 90 percent.
“I can go to San Diego and back. I can be competitive with diesel in other areas where I couldn’t compete before.”
Buyers must still pay sales and excise taxes on the full sticker price of the vehicle and cover registration fees. But with the full stack of incentives, the cost of a Tesla Semi “will look more like a really nice used diesel [truck], which is what I would normally buy,” Abarca said.
And once it’s on the road, an electric truck is less expensive to fuel and maintain, she said. These operating advantages, along with lowered electric drivetrain and battery costs, are expected to bring electric trucks into parity with diesel vehicles in terms of total cost of ownership within the next five to 10 years, according to research from the International Council on Clean Transportation, NACFE, and other groups.
To be clear, “I can’t buy these trucks without incentives,” Abarca said. “The trucking industry has been in a hole since the end of 2022” due to the supply chain disruptions and inflationary pressures of the Covid pandemic, she said. “And I don’t have investors. I only have the profits I make from my business.”
Rudy Diaz, owner of Long Beach–based trucking firm Hight Logistics, also said he wouldn’t have been able to buy the 25 electric trucks in his 75-vehicle fleet without incentives.
But he believes that electric vehicles are the future of the industry—if they can come down in price and weight and their range can be increased between charges. That’s why he’s applied for HVIP vouchers for 15 Tesla Semis and plans to install several Megachargers at his Long Beach depot.
The Volvo and BYD trucks he now operates are capable of making it from ports to the complex of distribution warehouses in the Inland Empire region of Southern California and back on a single charge, “and not necessarily run out of battery,” he said. “But to do that, you’re going to have to have downtime for charging.”
With the Tesla Semi’s 500 miles of range, he notes, “I can go to San Diego and back. I can be competitive with diesel in other areas where I couldn’t compete before.”
Such flexibility is what could make the Tesla Semi launch “the kind of thing that truly catalyzes change,” said John Verdon, co-founder and chief commercial officer of Nevoya, a startup that owns and deploys electric trucks carrying freight in California, Arizona, and Texas for large corporations and third-party logistics operators.
Nevoya has been operating five preproduction Tesla Semis in California as part of its fleet of about 50 electric trucks, Verdon said. Most of the company’s routes are between the ports of LA and Long Beach and the Inland Empire. But its Tesla trucks are able to make longer runs from Southern California to the Central Valley and San Francisco Bay Area, he said.
Extended range isn’t just about longer hauls, though, he said—it’s about getting the most value out of vehicles whose higher up-front costs can be more than counterbalanced by lower operating costs, as long as they’re being used as often as possible. “We’re no longer bound by the notion that we have a vehicle that’s superexpensive, has limited range, and inadequate spots for them to charge.”
It’s too soon to tell how the Tesla Semi might push its competitors to improve the range or pricing of their electric trucks. But as Minjares noted, legacy truck manufacturers face a structural challenge in competing against their all-electric rival, with relatively low volumes of electric vehicles being built on production lines designed to support both internal combustion and battery-electric models.
“Legacy manufacturers are stuck between multiple technologies, weighing them down with development and production costs,” he said. “But Tesla has bet on one technology, giving the company greater focus and discipline.”
Tesla will face tough competition from Chinese EV manufacturers, including Windrose, which already has trucks on US highways.
Whether the trucking industry has the buying appetite to make that bet pay off is another question. Roeth noted that Tesla has stated its Nevada factory is capable of producing about 50,000 Semis per year. For context, there are only about 2,000 electric heavy-duty trucks on US roads today, according to International Council on Clean Transportation data. In fact, 50,000 vehicles would constitute roughly a quarter of the total annual US market for heavy-duty diesel-fueled trucks.
“Tesla has two things it has to do: Convince customers to buy electric, and convince customers to buy its electric,” Roeth said.
While the Tesla Semi has already established its clear performance and price advantages, it has yet to demonstrate the “reliability and durability” of its technology “at 500,000 miles, at 750,000 miles, at 1 million miles,” he said.
Tesla won’t hit its full Semi production capacity right away, according to Minjares. It’s also likely to seek out markets outside the US. It will face tough competition from leading Chinese electric vehicle manufacturers that now dominate the industry, as well as new entrants like Windrose, which last month sold its first electric truck in the US at a price comparable to the Tesla Semi’s.
But Minjares believes these kinds of competitive pressures are what’s needed to make other manufacturers stop fighting state clean-trucking policies and start embracing innovation. “This transition was never going to be sustainable if the underlying economics were not favorable,” he said. “The challenge on the policy side has brought that into clearer focus.”
Trump’s bribe plane will soon take flight
So, how are you planning on celebrating the nation’s 250th birthday? Have you been yearning, hoping against hope that President Donald Trump will get his luxury bribe jet from Qatar up and running by the Fourth of July? You are in luck! The Air Force, which apparently doesn’t have enough to do these days despite being in a war and all, is racing to meet the July 4 deadline for Trump to fly…
Why drug dealers can thank Trump, and Rudy Giuliani wants free healthcare
A daily roundup of the best stories and cartoons by Daily Kos staff and contributors to keep you in the know. Meet Neil Gorsuch’s biggest hero—Neil Gorsuch Someone is pretty dang proud of himself. Trump is making Big Oil even richer Everyday Americans are obviously not his constituents. Trump’s immigration crackdown benefited real criminals Thanks a lot, ICE.
Beach day with Trump
Consider supporting my work so I can continue creating it: Substack: https://nickanderson.substack.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/editorialcartoons Ko-Fi: https://www.patreon.com/c/editorialcartoonsCartoon Related | Trump wants revenge on Comey, no matter the cost to the GOP…
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Redrawing the lines
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Mr. Wonderful’s Utah Data Center Will Be More Than Twice as Big as Manhattan
Kevin O’Leary is best known as “Mr. Wonderful” on Shark Tank, or maybe as the bad guy from Marty Supreme. On Shark Tank, he invests in—or crushes the spirits of—small business owners. He describes himself as an “investor, chef, sommelier, collector, photographer, and musician.” But he might soon be able to add “AI infrastructure kingpin” to that list of titles, as he pushes forward with a massive data center project in northern Utah.
Other celebrities have dabbled in AI. Ashton Kutcher’s Sound Ventures put $30 million into OpenAI, an investment that’s now worth over a billion dollars. Ben Affleck’s AI post-production company InterPositive was recently acquired by Netflix for about $600 million.
Others have simply cut advertisements for AI companies, like Ryan Reynolds’ OpenAI/Mint Mobile TV spot two years ago. But O’Leary stands out for his evident commitment to the game of bringing star appeal to the decidedly unsexy subject of hyperscale computing infrastructure.
He’s the primary investor backing a giant data center project called Stratos in Utah. Stratos, which would be about two-and-a-half times the size of Manhattan, would be 100-percent powered by gas generators, one of the developers told the Salt Lake Tribune. This single project could increase Utah’s net greenhouse gas emissions by up to 50 percent, one University of Utah professor estimated. It’s backed by Utah’s Military Installation Development Authority, which has granted the project significant tax breaks.
On Shark Tank, O’Leary once said, “The market has spoken, and it’s basically telling you people hate this product.” He said this regarding a line of toddler pants with built-in squeakers in the knees. While the market, such as it is, may be more excited about data centers than noisy pants, there are certainly plenty of locals in Utah who seem to hate O’Leary’s new product.
I’m the only developer of data centers on earth that graduated from environmental studies. I'm pretty aware of what these concerns are. They are around air, water use, heat, noise pollution. So sustainability is at the heart of what we do in terms of all these proposals. We… pic.twitter.com/Qvob70uEmh
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) May 5, 2026Hundreds of people came out to protest O’Leary’s plan Monday evening at a meeting of the commissioners of Box Elder County, where the data center will be located. They were not allowed to speak, instead forced to hold signs in the back of the room as the county commissioners approved a permit for the billion-dollar data center. Roughly 3,700 additional people have filed protests asking the Utah Division of Water Rights to reject the data center’s permit. O’Leary claimed after the meeting that the protesters were “professionals” bused in from out of state.
“I’m the only developer of data centers on earth that graduated from environmental studies,” O’Leary said in a video posted to X. “We think over 90% of the protesters are actually not people who live in Utah…I don’t think it’s going to work out for them.”
This isn’t O’Leary’s only AI-oriented investment. He’s also backing Bitzero, a company that produces “data centers for a greener, more sustainable world.” (His non-AI investments include a cat DNA testing company and a company that mails you potatoes as a gag gift.) Another data center campus O’Leary is backing, in Canada, has been stalled for the past year.
Transportation chief fails to inspire confidence as gas prices soar
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