The host also names the show's hottest location ever. Jeff Probst addresses doubling over after calling Survivor 49 challenge

The host also names the show's hottest location ever.

Jeff Probst addresses doubling over after calling Survivor 49 challenge

The host also names the show's hottest location ever.

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

EW's editorial guidelines

October 30, 2025 7:00 a.m. ET

Jeff Probst hosting 'Survivor 49'. Credit:

We're used to seeing *Survivor* players doubling over or collapsing after an exhausting challenge in intense heat. What we're *not* used to seeing is that sort of activity from the *Survivor* host, but that's exactly what happened this week on *Survivor 49.*

The scene was a day 11 reward challenge, before which the remaining players were redivided into three new tribes. The contestants then had to compete in a physically taxing challenge that involved pushing a heavy cart along a bumpy path, stacking sand bags, climbing ladders, knocking discs off poles, and then finally knocking down four bamboo targets.

But the players were not the only ones running on empty after the contest. Jeff Probst walked to the side after calling the challenge and immediately doubled over with his hands on his knees.

"Jeff, you out of breath, too?" asked Rizo Velovic.

"It's no joke, man," answered Probst.

"Welcome to *Survivor*," Rizo responded, not able to pass up the opportunity of throwing one of Probst's most famous lines back at the host.

***Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for 's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. ***

Probst was asked about the oppressive heat that led to his post-challenge exhaustion on the latest episode of the *On Fire with Jeff Prosbt* podcast, and the host revealed that the particular spot where they ran that competition was partly to blame.

"The island where that challenge took place is the single hottest spot we ever shoot in Fiji," Probst says on the podcast. "It might be the hottest spot in all of Fiji."

And why is that? "I don't know why," Probst continues. "And I've asked people on our team, and I never get a good answer. And I'm sure there's somebody listening right now saying 'Probst, it's a basic barometric pressure thing.'"

But whatever the reason, the heat is suffocating in that particular challenge field (which is used for various competitions over the course of a season). "It is so dense [in] that one spot. It's like you're in a sauna and someone is pouring more water on the coals. And I'm not exaggerating."

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It's also a sweltering wake-up call compared to what precedes it. "Here's what happens," explains the host. "You have this amazing boat ride. It's beautiful skies, the wind is blowing your hair back, you feel amazing. And then you step off the boat and walk into this dense forest."

And then it becomes something of a competition among the crew to see who is going to mention it first. "The cliche is, everybody says, 'Man, it's so hot today.' And we all know we say it and we all try *not* to say it. 'I'm not gonna say it today. I'm not gonna complain about the heat. I'm not gonna say anything.' And then you walk in and you go, 'But my God, it's hot! It's so hot again today!'"

While the host and showrunner has talked early and often about how debilitating the heat is this season, his *On Fire* cohost (and *Survivor: Cambodia* winner) Jeremy Collins has faced worse, and he's been able to do the comparison himself.

"I've been to Cambodia," Jeremy reminds Probst on the podcast. "And, to me, Cambodia is the hottest place on Earth. And I've been to Fiji. There's no way it's hotter than Cambodia."

To that, the host agrees. "No, I think Cambodia was the hottest place we've ever shot. You win that."

Check out more from Probst on the latest episode of *On Fire.*

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Jeff Probst addresses doubling over after calling Survivor 49 challenge

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The new Uli team is out for challenge blood. Survivor 49 tribe confronts 'do or die' moment in exclusive deleted scene

The new Uli team is out for challenge blood.

Survivor 49 tribe confronts 'do or die' moment in exclusive deleted scene

The new Uli team is out for challenge blood.

By Dalton Ross

Dalton Ross is a writer and editor with over 25 years experience covering TV and the entertainment industry. *Survivor* is kind of his thing.

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October 30, 2025 8:00 a.m. ET

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With all the tribe switching and tribe contracting and tribe expanding going down on *Survivor 49*, it's been a bit difficult to keep track of who is on what beach, and who exactly is on that beach with them.

This week's episode of *Survivor 49* once again shuffled the deck, going back to three tribes while also mixing up the contestants on each… just for funsies. After the latest switcheroo, original Hina tribe members Sophie Segreti and Kristina Mills found themselves on Uli 3.0, joined by a double dose of Moores — Nate and Alex.

Being on a tribe of just four people is super scary. If you lose an immunity challenge, you have a 25 percent chance of being voted out, and even if you think you have the numbers to stay, a stray advantage or immunity idol can potentially take you out with a single vote. Like I said, scary.

Nate Moore and Kristina Mills on 'Survivor 49'.

So the new Uli tribe could be excused for feeling a bit nervous upon receiving an ominous day 12 Tree Mail message about an upcoming immunity challenge, and you can see their reaction in the exclusive deleted scene above.

After heading to the Tree Mail station, Nate reads the parchment to the rest of the tribe: "Brains and brawn must galvanize, and most certainly maintain composure. If you don't possess finesse and vision, your flames all risk exposure."

Naturally, the tribe then all attempts (unsuccessfully) to decipher the clues as to what kind of competition they will be facing, but Alex lays it all out for us in a confessional interview in terms of what is at stake.

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"The new Uli tribe checks Tree Mail and we know we're going to battle today," he explains. "This immunity challenge is do or die. We have to win."

I mean… do you? Couldn't you just get second place and be all good? Isn't that the way the three-tribe format works?

But Alex doesn't want to hear that type of resigned loser talk! He is all in and ready to take no prisoners! (NOTE: Taking prisoners on *Survivor* is not allowed.) "The Tree Mail talks about brains and brawn, and I think we have both," he argues. "So I'm really feeling good about today and just hoping we can pull out a win, because I have to be here. I have been fighting too hard to go home now, so I'm ready for it. And I'm ready to go to battle."

Sophie Segreti, Alex Moore, Nate Moore, and Kristina Mills on 'Survivor 49'.

***Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for 's free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. ***

And he's not the only one! Kristina and Sophie both proclaim that "We gotta go for first." Good for you! Of course, they would *not* get first. In fact, they were extremely fortunate to not get *last* after going into the final table maze at a huge time deficit. But like we tried to tell Alex, second place is fine! Embrace average competence!

To watch the whole thing go down for yourself, check out the video at the top of the article, and also make sure to read our full episode recap.

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Stranger Things creators break down season 5 trailer: First look at Vecna 'rebuilt,' Will's 'full...

&34;It's a brutal season,&34; Matt and Ross Duffer tell EW of the show's final installment. Stranger Things creators break down season 5 trailer: First look at

"It's a brutal season," Matt and Ross Duffer tell EW of the show's final installment.

Stranger Things creators break down season 5 trailer: First look at Vecna 'rebuilt,' Will's 'full circle' story, and more (exclusive)

"It's a brutal season," Matt and Ross Duffer tell EW of the show's final installment.

By Nick Romano

Nick Romano is a senior editor at ** with 15 years of journalism experience covering entertainment. His work previously appeared in *Vanity Fair*, Vulture, IGN, and more.

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on October 30, 2025 9:13 a.m. ET

'Stranger Things' season 5. Credit:

"At long last, we can begin."

Vecna (Jamie Campbell Bower) arrives in full view in the new *Stranger Things* season 5 trailer, which sees the transmogrified form of Henry Creel (a.k.a. One) come face to face with Will Byers (Noah Schnapp). Levitating an immobilized Will towards him, the living nightmare ominously declares, "You are going to help me...one...last...time."

The fifth and final season picks up in the fall of 1987, which is more than a year after the events of season 4. Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown) is back in hiding, training up for Vecna's eventual re-emergence, while dodging the government's hunt for her and the military occupation of Hawkins.

Matt and Ross Duffer, the sibling filmmaking duo and creators of *Stranger Things*, sit down exclusively with ** to break down some of the big reveals from the new trailer.

Will and Vecna face to face

According to Ross, the key to understanding Vecna's line to Will lies in season 2, episode 6, "The Spy," when the Byers boy was brought to Hawkins Laboratory for evaluation. He calls it "the most important episode," teasing, "Will was really working, in a way, for the Mind Flayer."

Now in season 5, Ross adds, "We start to learn more about what happened and what the connection is to all of this and Vecna."

The trailer reaffirms that Will is crucial to the conclusion of this story that began nine years ago when the show premiered on Netflix. "Because the story really began with Will and his disappearance, it felt, in order to go full circle, it needed to really end with him in so many ways," Matt says. "In the last couple seasons, we hadn't really centered much of the show on Will. So there was so much to explore with him from a character perspective and plot perspective."

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*Stranger Things* first introduced Vecna/Henry Creel/One in season 4, while Will was off in California, but the character returned to Hawkins in the finale — a distinction that yielded "really rich territory to explore their connection and relationship," Matt adds.

It's also why the final season begins in the fall of 1987, near the anniversary of Will's disappearance in the Upside Down. "So much of the season was built around the idea of coming full circle, answering many of the questions that were posed all the way back in season 1," Matt continues. "I think the two biggest questions that we didn't really answer in season 1 that we do answer this season is 'what is the Upside Down, truly?' and 'why was Will taken?'"

An "undefeatable" Vecna glow-up

Noah Schnapp's Will on 'Stranger Things 5'.

Courtesy of Netflix

Vecna is sporting a new look these days. In the years since we last saw him, he apparently has been hitting the Upside Down gym, his body visibly caked with thicker tendrils.

Matt says the team "wanted to reinvent his look a little bit; level him up, so to speak." He also confirms there's "a whole backstory" about why he's been away for as long as he has, which will be unveiled piecemeal throughout the season.

"We wanted him to be scarier," Matt continues. "So much of season 4, he was attacking you within the mind. One of the differences this season is he's also attacking in the real world. Because of that, we needed to take his abilities to a new level."

Story wise, Ross points to how Nancy (Natalia Dyer) burned and shot Vecna before he fell out a window in season 4. "So the idea being more that he has rebuilt his body, which is why there are still literal holes and you can see through pieces of his body," he says. "He's lost what remained of his human body and has become more a part of the Upside Down. If there is any humanity left within him, it's diminished."

Viewers will spot the unconscious (or perhaps dead?) bodies of soldiers littering the pavement around Vecna in the trailer. It's clear humanity's military efforts are woefully unprepared for this monster's might. "We wanted him to feel really undefeatable," Matt explains. "We thought a lot about *Terminator*, *Terminator 2*, specifically, and also the relentless quality of the bad guys in those films."

Ross mentions another cinematic reference for Vecna 2.0: Darth Vader's dramatic arrival in *Rogue One: A Star Wars Story* (2016) — "to really see his powers in full display and how exciting that was," he says. "You certainly see Vecna's full powers on display in this."

"A lot of this season takes place in the Upside Down"

The Upside Down on 'Stranger Things 5'.

The military is turning Hawkins upside down — and even entering the Upside Down.

Certain trailer shots showcase Eleven using her telekinetic powers to propel her over a high fence into some kind of army compound, which certainly looks like it's in the Upside Down beneath that alternate dimension's dark sky crackling with red lightning. The Duffers don't want to dig into that too much other than to point out the obvious.

"These gates have opened up. We have a full military present in Hawkins and it's under quarantine," Ross comments. "I will say, of course the military is doing stuff in the Upside Down, but it really is a mystery to our characters and the audience for the beginning of the show."

Matt chimes in: "A lot of the season takes place in the Upside Down. If I have to look at one more visual effects shot, I don't know what I'm gonna do. We will never make anything else with floating anything. Snow, spores, ash, I'm done with all that."

And what about floating islands? Another snippet from the trailer shows someone falling from the sky in the Upside Down as hovering masses of land bob around the clouds. That's another piece the Duffers decline to talk much about. "As you start to discover more about the Upside Down, that's when that imagery comes into play," Ross says.

"We reveal really everything about the Upside Down, all of which was planned out in season 1," Matt adds. "It was fun to finally pull back the curtain on all of that."

Dialing up the powers to Eleven

Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven on 'Stranger Things 5'.

Courtesy of Netflix

Like Vecna, Eleven is getting a power boost this season. One of her new tricks is this telekinetic leap of hers. It's like Elizabeth Olsen's Wanda Maximoff in the MCU, but circa *Avengers: Infinity War*.

"It's like she's pushing down at the ground and having that energy propel her up, in a way," Ross describes. "So she's not really flying, but she is boosting herself and getting some serious air."

The duo wanted to "level her up" but in a way that felt "within the realm of possibilities of what we've shown in the past," Matt adds. "We didn't want her flying around like Superman. She's just using those abilities in new ways."

Volume 2 lookahead

Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Joe Keery, Charlie Heaton, and Gaten Matarazzo in 'Stranger Things 5'.

Courtesy of Netflix

Among the shots the Duffers don't want to say much about just yet is that red energy pulse emanating from a giant antenna. "It plays a very important role on the show," Matt comments. "You're not gonna see that in Volume 1, either. It's in Volume 2."

The first four episodes of the final season will be released as Volume 1 on Netflix on Nov. 26, while the next batch of three will release as Volume 2 on Christmas Day. Then on New Year's Eve, the series finale will screen simultaneously in movie theaters and on Netflix.

From the trailers released so far, Matt confirms the footage has mostly been from Vol. 1. However, "There are shots from every single episode, including the finale." This new one in particular "has something from [episodes] 7 and 8. So I think every episode is accounted for," Ross says. "The marketing team actually hasn't seen the finale, but we did send them a couple shots that we thought could work. They're in there, but I'm not gonna tell you which shots."

Nancy Wheeler (Natalia Dyer) and Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton) on 'Stranger Things' 5.

Matt Kennedy/Netflix

Being that this is the final season, everyone is wondering who will make it to the finish line. There have been a number of important character deaths on the show thus far, from Barb (Shannon Purser) to Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn), but the core crew stuck it out. Will that change by finale's end?

"I don't know if we want to say, but certainly the stakes are higher and it's more dangerous than ever before," Ross says. "What it really comes down to for us is stories and the situations."

Nancy features in one dramatic shot from the trailer, in which she's crying while rinsing blood off her hands in a bathroom sink. "How do you know that's blood on her hands and not paint?" Matt jokes. "Maybe she's just upset 'cause she got splattered with paint. Who knows?"

Ross does concede, however, "It's a brutal season, I will say that."

"Yeah, it's very brutal," Matt continues. "It's violent. The stakes are higher than ever. Because you're hurtling through the end, a lot more is on the table, I will say. Hopefully it's surprising and earned, what's happened. We weren't going for shock value."

The Duffers don't take death lightly. Exploring the death of a main character often felt "so heavy," Matt admits. "It feels like it completely changes what the show is. So we're just very careful about when we do it and who dies."

For example, the loss of Eddie, who died from Demobats in the season 4 finale, "affects the entirety of season 5," Matt notes. "There is no season 6, so we need to make sure, if and when there are deaths, that it makes sense in terms of where we want our characters to end up at the end of the show. That was a lot of the discussion this year."

Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair and Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield on 'Stranger Things 5'.

Max's fate is still a big mystery on *Stranger Things*. She technically died back in season 4, but she managed to bring herself back at least to coma status. She's been in this unconscious state ever since and fans are eagerly awaiting that reveal.

The Duffers already worked out the answer back in season 4, Ross confirms. "We hadn't fully figured out the plot of 5 at that point, so we didn't know exactly how it was gonna factor in," he says. "But, yeah, it's been planned for a while."

Is her fate tied directly to Vecna's larger plans for Hawkins? "Could be," Matt replies, playing coy once again.

Linda Hamilton as Dr. Kay in 'Stranger Things 5'.

Courtesy of Netflix

There are many *Terminator* references on *Stranger Things* this year. Even Nancy's hair this season, Matt points out, "is based on Linda's hair from *Terminator 1*." But there's no more overt nod than the arrival of Sarah Connor herself.

In the absence of Dr. Martin Brenner (Matthew Modine), who died at the end of season 4, the Duffers needed a replacement. Enter Linda Hamilton's Dr. Kay, who's leading the government's investigation into the Upside Down and the strange occurrences in Hawkins.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

"Usually when we're casting these new roles, we're working with our casting director to come up with the actor before we write the roles," Ross says. "When Carmen Cuba, our casting director, suggested Linda, we got really excited because she's very, very different from Modine. She's equally intimidating and intelligent, but she can fight. If it comes down to it, she can shoot a gun, she can get in a fist fight, she can kick your ass."

Matt clarifies Hamilton isn't channeling Sarah Connor, noting an "unhinged quality" she brings to Dr. Kay. "Part of the reason she's scary," he adds, "is that she, unlike Dr. Brenner, has no emotional connection to Eleven. There was that paternal quality that Brenner had. Dr. Kay has none of those feelings. She really views her just as a weapon that needs to be acquired."**

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9-1-1: Nashville preview shows Jessica Capshaw's Blythe at war with LeAnn Rimes' 'dangerous' Dixi...

&34;Dixie Bennings is a threat to your family,&34; private investigator Charlie (Jessejames Locorriere) says in an exclusive clip from season 1, episode 4, &34;

"Dixie Bennings is a threat to your family," private investigator Charlie (Jessejames Locorriere) says in an exclusive clip from season 1, episode 4, "Bad Case of the Blues."

9-1-1: Nashville preview shows Jessica Capshaw's Blythe at war with LeAnn Rimes' 'dangerous' Dixie (exclusive)

"Dixie Bennings is a threat to your family," private investigator Charlie (Jessejames Locorriere) says in an exclusive clip from season 1, episode 4, "Bad Case of the Blues."

By Patrick Gomez

Patrick Gomez is an Executive Editor at . Formerly at People magazine and The A.V. Club, the Critics Choice and Television Critics Association member has appeared on 'Today,' 'Extra!,' 'Access Hollywood,' 'E! News,' 'CNN,' and 'Nightline,' and can be seen frequently on 'Good Morning America.' Follow the Texas Native at @PatrickGomezLA wherever your media is social for all things 'For All Mankind' 'Top Chef,' and puppy related.

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Hell hath no fury like a wife facing off with her husband's "on a break" one-night-stand who bore his secret child.

Socialite and businesswoman Blythe Hart (Jessica Capshaw) has been navigating a complicated family drama on *9-1-1: Nashville*, after her husband's secret son, Blue (Hunter McVey), started working in the family business as a firefighter alongside his dad, Don (Chris O'Donnell), and half-brother, Ryan (Michael Provost).

Along came with Blue was his mother, Dixie (LeAnn Rimes), who appears to be carrying a torch for Don — and is in desperate need of money as she faces medical issues (and bills).

In a preview clip exclusive to ** from season 1, episode 4, "Bad Case of the Blues," Blythe meets up with a private investigator, Charlie (Jessejames Locorriere), to learn more about what she's facing.

Jessica Capshaw as Blythe and LeAnn Rimes as Dixie on '9-1-1: Nashville'.

Disney/Jake Giles Netter (2)

"Dixie Bennings is a threat to your family," Charlie tells her, citing financial reasons Dixie could go after the wealthy Harts ("She's filed bankruptcy twice, she's upside-down on her mortgage"), but "there's always old-fashioned revenge."

Charlie reveals that while there are a few bar fights and public intoxication charges on Dixie's rap sheet, "I'm afraid this isn't going to be as easy as the time I got rid of the zoning commissioner for your father."

Blyth thanks Charlie for the intel, and asks him to keep their conversation confidential.**

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"As long as you're paying the bill, your daddy doesn't need to know," Charlie replies.

"LeAnn is our series villain, but she plays her with such grace and dignity," *9-1-1: Nashville* showrunner Rashard Raisani previously told EW. "Even when she's a little trashy, she plays her with so much just poise and she has a real code to her."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.***

"Leanne brings such a great dynamic to this character in this role," O'Donnell added. "She's just got this kind of a fire in her, and she's going to be great. I think she's going to come off really, really fun."

*9-1-1: Nashville* season 1, episode 4 airs Thursday at 9 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.**

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Ukraine says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russian forces

Ukraine says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russian forces SAMYA KULLAB November 1, 2025 at 4:23 AM 0 1 / 2Russia UkraineIn this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Oct.

- - Ukraine says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russian forces

SAMYA KULLAB November 1, 2025 at 4:23 AM

0

1 / 2Russia UkraineIn this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, Russian servicemen attend a practice for sabotage operations behind enemy lines at a training ground on an undisclosed location. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces hit an important fuel pipeline in the Moscow region that supplies the Russian army, Ukraine's military intelligence said Saturday, a claim that came amid a sustained Russian campaign of massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.

The operation was carried out late Friday, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging channel. The agency, which is known by its acronym HUR, described it as a "serious blow" to Russia's military logistics.

HUR said its forces struck the Koltsevoy pipeline, which spans 400 kilometers (250 miles) and supplies the Russian army with gasoline, diesel and jet fuel from refineries in Ryazan, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow.

The operation, which targeted infrastructure near Ramensky district, destroyed all three fuel lines, HUR said.

The pipeline was capable of transporting up to 3 million tons of jet fuel, 2.8 million tons of diesel, and 1.6 million tons of gasoline annually, HUR said.

"Our strikes have had more impact than sanctions," said Kyrylo Budanov, the head of HUR, referring to international sanctions on Russia imposed over its full-out war and the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Elsewhere, a civilian died and 15 more were injured after Russia struck southern Ukraine with a ballistic missile on Saturday morning, local official Vitaliy Kim said. A child is among those injured in the strike on the Mykolaiv regi, he said and added that Russia used an Iskander missile.

Another Russian strike early Saturday sparked a fire at a gas plant in the central Poltava region, Ukraine's emergency service reported.

The latest strikes came as Russia keeps up massive drone and missile attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure — attacks that brought power outages and restrictions across Ukraine earlier this week, in what Kyiv described as a "systematic energy terror."

Moscow launched 223 drones at Ukraine overnight into Saturday, 206 of which were shot down, according to the Ukrainian air force. Seventeen struck targets in seven Ukrainian regions, the air force said, without providing details.

Russia also hit an agricultural enterprise in Ukraine's northern Chernihiv region, injuring a 66-year old woman there, according to a Telegram update by regional government official Viacheslav Chaus.

___

Follow AP's coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://ift.tt/w5oprYE

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Ukraine says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russian forces

Ukraine says it hit a key fuel pipeline near Moscow that supplies Russian forces SAMYA KULLAB November 1, 2025 at 4:23 ...

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Farmers fight an 'extension cord' for data centers

Farmers fight an 'extension cord' for data centers Bracey HarrisNovember 1, 2025 at 3:30 AM 0 The proposed route for a widely protested highvoltage power line starts near Brandon and Marie Hill's farm in Parkton, Md. (André Chung for NBC News) MT. AIRY, Md.

- - Farmers fight an 'extension cord' for data centers

Bracey HarrisNovember 1, 2025 at 3:30 AM

0

The proposed route for a widely protested high-voltage power line starts near Brandon and Marie Hill's farm in Parkton, Md. (André Chung for NBC News)

MT. AIRY, Md. — Standing in a 40-acre field of Christmas trees, Lisa Gaver traced the path of the high-voltage power line that could one day cut through the heart of her family's farm.

The 500-kilovolt line would skim a parking lot, cross through the woods and over a metal deer fence, before running diagonally across a field of Douglas firs and blue spruces and continuing as far as the eye could see.

Gaver, a seventh-generation farmer, wants no part of what she and other landowners in rural Maryland call an "extension cord" for data centers in Northern Virginia 50 miles away. She figures that the tens of thousands of patrons who descend on the 150-acre farm annually to pick pumpkins, find their perfect Christmas tree and munch on apple cider doughnuts don't either.

"It's going to financially devastate us," she said. "There's $4 million worth of inventory in this field."

For more than a year, tensions over a plan to construct a 67-mile transmission line across three Maryland counties — Baltimore, Frederick and Carroll — have rocked the state's farming communities. Landowners have staked signs along the highway declaring, "No eminent domain for corporate gain." A court battle has escalated into threatening social media posts and heated confrontations between farmers and land surveyors. Local officials from all three counties have opposed the project, and some have pleaded with state and federal officials to intervene.

Lisa Gaver worries future power lines may deter the public from visiting her family's Christmas tree farm. (André Chung for NBC News)

"People are scared," said Steve McKay, a councilman in Frederick County. "It brings people to tears. It makes others angry — the notion that this out-of-state firm is going to come in and potentially be given the authority by eminent domain to take land."

The $424 million Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is an effort by PJM Interconnection, which operates all or part of the electric grid for 13 states, including Maryland, to address climbing power demands amid the growth of energy-hungry data centers and an artificial intelligence boom.

"Without these upgrades, Maryland may face severe grid congestion, threatening both affordability and reliability for ratepayers," the Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), the New Jersey-based utility company responsible for building the line, said in a statement.

Battles over data centers and the enormous resources they require are riling communities across the country, part of a growing backlash against the infrastructure needs of America's artificial intelligence industry. Zoning meetings have turned into standing-room-only showdowns. Opponents say data centers harm property values and guzzle power and water while providing few long-term jobs and often benefiting from tax breaks. Local officials in Kentucky, Missouri and Georgia have passed temporary moratoriums on new data centers; in Michigan, a developer recently sued a town for rejecting its request to rezone farmland for a data center.

Farmer Rebecca Stoecker-Dolly, shown with her mother, Weida Stoecker, worries about the loss of agricultural land. She sees farming as a way to honor her late father. (André Chung for NBC News)

Few fights have grown as heated as the pushback in Maryland, where PSEG has floated using eminent domain to take farmland from residents who won't agree to host the new transmission line. After farmers organized to keep PSEG's land surveyors off their property — and some farmers were accused of threatening the surveyors with guns and dogs — the company asked a federal judge to send in U.S. marshals.

The judge did not agree, but the divisive debate in Maryland shows just how critical data centers' demands have become and the impact they will have on the country's open spaces. Thousands of acres of agricultural land from North Carolina to Indiana are now earmarked for the facilities. Companies including Meta and Amazon are building sprawling structures on fields that once grew soybeans and corn. While some farmers are opting to sell, others are fighting what they see as an intrusion ultimately benefiting Big Tech.

"I don't want to be bought out," said Renée Wilson, a fourth-generation farmer in Parkton, Maryland, who runs The Farmyard, a popular learning farm. The proposed power line would cross her livestock fields, and PSEG sued her to gain access for surveyors; a ruling is pending. "I'm going to fight this tooth and nail as long as I can," she said.

PSEG's latest move that rankled opponents came in late October, when the company asked a judge to temporarily block deer hunting on properties it plans to survey, to keep its workers safe.

PJM has argued that Maryland needs the project not just to support companies across state lines in Virginia — where a "Data Center Alley" hosts roughly 200 of the facilities for major tech firms — but also to feed data centers within Maryland's borders and to shore up the state's grid. Maryland imports 40% of the electricity it uses, and the existing lines are expected to be so overburdened that the state could see brownouts as soon as 2027, PSEG said.

Asked about farmers' concerns, PSEG said it would "work proactively to limit any impacts." The company added, "Our experience has been that agriculture and agritourism can coexist with transmission lines."

Power lines are already adjacent to Brandon Hill's driveway in Parkland, Md. He expects new transmission towers on his farm if the Maryland Piedmont Reliability Project is built. (André Chung for NBC News)Farmers caught in limbo

The state's Public Service Commission isn't expected to decide on the project until 2027, which means residents are facing years of uncertainty.

Melvin Baile, a farmer in Carroll County expects the transmission line to hover over the cornfields he leases. He worries it would interfere with the drones and helicopters farmers use to spray crops to fight destructive fungi, like tar spot.

"We literally are fighting the unknown here," he said. "It's really scary."

Baile doesn't know how he would farm if he can't spray, so he's joined other farmers, including Gaver, in a case before the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals challenging the rights of surveyors to come onto their property to examine the line's potential path.

The resistance has been brewing for months.

In April, PSEG began suing property owners who barred crews from their land and a federal judge ruled surveyors had to be granted access. By August, the company said that some crews were facing threats.

Leslie Alfred White was one of the landowners the company accused.

Leslie Alfred White, who opposes the project, is one of several landowners sued by PSEG for refusing access to survey crews. (André Chung for NBC News)

White had sent a letter to the home of a worker denying PSEG access to his 10-acre farm and offering what he described as a warning about the area: "In many communities in Northern Baltimore and Carroll Counties, there is a 'shoot first, ask questions later' attitude," he wrote.

White said the letter wasn't intended as a threat, and he ultimately agreed to follow a court order allowing PSEG on his property, where workers pick kale and collards by hand. But when the surveyors arrived in July, White wasn't home and they found a sign near the driveway emblazoned with a picture of a gun, reading: "Prayer is the best way to meet the Lord / Trespassing is Faster."

PSEG later said in court that Weida Stoecker, one of White's tenant farmers, threatened the surveyors with dogs; Stoecker denied that, saying she simply wanted to ensure the dogs didn't bother the surveyors. The surveyors left. In a court filing requesting protection from the U.S. Marshals Service, PSEG said one of the workers feared for her safety.

White told NBC News he didn't give his tenants permission to display the sign, and he was shocked by PSEG's request for protection.

"I think they might have been trying to turn a molehill into a mountain," he said.

A federal judge denied PSEG's request, writing that the "circumstances — at least at present — do not warrant sending U.S. Marshals to accompany PSEG and its agents."

Fourth-generation farmer Charles Stoecker harvests kale on land his family rents from Leslie Alfred White. (André Chung for NBC News)'American dream' at risk

The farmers have also appealed to higher authorities, including Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, who has expressed "grave concerns" about the power line but has not acted to stop it, and President Donald Trump, who has pledged "global dominance" in AI.

Carroll County Commissioner Kenneth Kiler, part of a local delegation that recently sent a letter to Trump, hopes the president will listen to a community that swung strongly in his favor in 2024.

"Life's life and we may not like the final answer, but we would like some communication," Kiler said.

Moore's office didn't comment. Taylor Rogers, a White House spokesperson, blamed Maryland's electricity issues on the closure of coal plants and said Trump supports efforts to "meet the growing energy demand and win the AI arms race." The White House said it would be better to meet that demand by building more power plants rather than new transmission lines.

For Brandon Hill, the power line is an unwelcome obstacle to his plans for the farmland he purchased in Baltimore County three years ago. Hill and his wife, Marie, envision a 60-acre "food forest" growing walnuts, berries and chestnuts.

"That was our American dream and we were building it," Hill, 31, said.

Brandon Hill holds hybrid American chestnuts harvested on his farm. (André Chung for NBC News)

He has paused on planting prairie grasses and wildflowers on half the property while he waits to see exactly where the new line will go and what is allowed to grow beneath it. In the meantime he is volunteering with the Tri-County Coalition, composed of farming and environmental advocacy groups that oppose the power line.

Like White, Hill was also named in PSEG's motion seeking protection for surveyors. The surveyors visited on a day Hill was away from home, and PSEG said his father called a Black security agent a racial slur, threatened to shoot the crew in the head and nearly hit a worker with an ATV.

In court documents, Hill's lawyer said Hill apologized after learning of his father's alleged actions and that his father had a mental health condition. Hill's lawyer told the court that Hill's father won't be there when surveyors return.

For now, Hill is guiding fellow landowners in how to have a say as the lengthy approvals process unfolds. State regulators will begin holding hearings next year.

Questions about the future

Back in Mt. Airy, a "stop the power lines" sign greets patrons at Gaver's Christmas tree farm. She and her husband were newlyweds when they began selling trees in the 1980s.

When they added a corn maze in the late 2000s, social media was still novel. Now, visitors pose with props like antique trucks, and families use the trees as backdrops for Instagram posts and Christmas cards.

Gaver said the proposed power lines would run above the tree line along the length of the property and would be visible from any point on the farm. (André Chung for NBC News)

"Twenty years ago, if you would have told me our farming would have changed to selling photos," Gaver mused on a recent Thursday.

She tried to imagine a transmission tower looming over the hayride drop off, just paces away from a trailer repurposed as a cider stand. She wondered: Would anyone want to pick apples under a transmission line? What if her deer fence picked up the current? Would her insurance company consider the line a hazard and charge more than she could afford?

Lisa Gaver has written to Maryland's governor and joined a legal battle over the line. (André Chung for NBC News)

"It's hard to say, 'I worked and built this up for 43 years and someone's just going to walk in and destroy it as a land grab for out-of-state corporations,'" Gaver said. "It's devastating."

For now, she was reminding her daughter to order more cases of "apple sippers" — apple-shaped kids' cups that she sells filled with cider. The skies were blue as families snapped their pictures.

The surveyors arrived the next week.

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November 01, 2025

Farmers fight an 'extension cord' for data centers

Farmers fight an 'extension cord' for data centers Bracey HarrisNovember 1, 2025 at 3:30 AM 0 The proposed rout...

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Obamacare premiums double, adding post Halloween fright for US health insurance shoppers

Obamacare premiums double, adding post Halloween fright for US health insurance shoppers By Amina Niasse, Nathan Layne and Andy SullivanNovember 1, 2025 at 3:04 AM 0 FILE PHOTO: Signs for former Obamacare health insurance plans lay next to a fence in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S., January 28, 2023.

- - Obamacare premiums double, adding post Halloween fright for US health insurance shoppers

By Amina Niasse, Nathan Layne and Andy SullivanNovember 1, 2025 at 3:04 AM

0

FILE PHOTO: Signs for former Obamacare health insurance plans lay next to a fence in Columbia, South Carolina, U.S., January 28, 2023. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

By Amina Niasse, Nathan Layne and Andy Sullivan

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Americans shopping for 2026 Obamacare health insurance plans are facing a more than doubling of monthly premiums on average and are likely to postpone signing up in hopes of a last-minute reprieve, or walk away, health experts say.

COVID-19 pandemic-era subsidies, due to expire at year-end, are at the center of the month-long U.S. government shutdown, with the potential to affect election outcomes and increase the rate of U.S. uninsured.

The subsidies helped double Obamacare enrollment to 24 million since they were put in place in 2021.

Enrollment opens on Saturday for the plans created by President Barack Obama's signature 2010 Affordable Care Act. Enrollees on average will see premiums rise about 114%, with the impact varying among the 22 million people who receive subsidies, according to research firm KFF.

Austin Jeha, a 24-year-old medical billing professional from San Ramon, California, relies on insurance to help pay for specialty care for his ulcerative colitis. Jeha's new monthly premium is set to rise to $436 from $215.

Jeha regularly receives treatment from a specialist, handing over an $85 co-pay. "You're at a higher risk of colon cancer," he said, so doctors "want to check in to see if you're in remission or not."

Jeha has reached out to his representative in the U.S. Congress, Democrat Mark DeSaulnier, and is waiting to see if an agreement in Washington would cut his costs.

Large swaths of the U.S. government have been shut since October 1, leaving hundreds of thousands of federal workers without pay and disrupting a wide range of services, from financial oversight to medical research.

Democrats say any package that would reopen the government must also extend ACA subsidies. Republicans say they are open to addressing that issue, but insist Congress must first vote to restore government funding.

Residents in Florida, Texas and Georgia are among those who will be most affected. In these and seven other Republican-led states, Medicaid is limited to the poorest residents, leaving many low-income families to seek out ACA plans because of the subsidies.

Scott Darius, executive director of nonprofit Florida Voices for Health, said working-class residents and small business owners have come to rely on these plans at a time of persistent inflation.

"That's who will suffer with the expiration of these tax credits. It's people who are working really hard, sometimes working multiple jobs, just jobs that don't provide health coverage," Darius said in an interview.

When the subsidies sunset, those with incomes over 400% of the federal poverty level will no longer be eligible.

In every congressional district across Florida, enrollees over age 60 with incomes just above 400% of the federal poverty level — roughly $84,600 for a couple — will see 2026 average premiums at least four times more expensive, according to a KFF analysis of government data.

The Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment, pointing to a fact sheet that said enrollees this year will have access to, on average, plans with lower premiums after tax credits and more plan choices overall.

Dr. Mehmet Oz, who oversees the program, recently said the premium for the average person enrolled would rise about $13 to $50 monthly.

The likelihood that enrollment will be unaffected by the fight over subsidies - whether they are extended or not - is slim. Subsidized enrollees are expected to see an average premium increase to $1,904 a year from $888 in 2025, KFF said.

"Consumers are going to consume differently because of the various price points that they're being told," said Shawn Martin, CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Four insurance industry experts told Reuters enrollment will fall even if there is an extension of the subsidies after enrollment begins.

"If somebody logs in during open enrollment and sees their premium payment doubling and then walks away and decides not to purchase their plan anymore, that damage has already been done," said Cynthia Cox, a vice president at KFF.

According to a Congressional Budget Office estimate, over 4 million Americans would become uninsured if Congress does not extend these credits.

Even before calculating subsidies, health insurance prices have risen, as insurers like CVS Health's Aetna have exited the ACA market. Departures and higher healthcare costs have contributed to price increases on average of 26%, KFF said.

Timothy McCann, a 42-year-old financial professional based in Elmwood Park, New Jersey, expects his monthly insurance premium to increase to $1,851 from $1,517, according to the Healthcare.gov website. McCann purchased the insurance to cover treatments for him and his wife, who both have autoimmune diseases, and kidney surgery for his three-year-old son.

"We need constant visits, so it's probably a net gain at the end of the day. But it's still a crazy amount of money to spend," said McCann, whose total out-of-pocket medical expenses reached $33,000 this year.

(Reporting by Amina Niasse and Nathan Layne in New York City and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Additional reporting by Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)

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Source: "AOL Money"

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Source: ONEEL MAG

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byLiam Oneel

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November 01, 2025

Obamacare premiums double, adding post Halloween fright for US health insurance shoppers

Obamacare premiums double, adding post Halloween fright for US health insurance shoppers By Amina Niasse, Nathan Layne ...

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