Welcome to Curated Morning. A compendium of news, information, and stories that economic development professionals, community development leaders and elected officials read every week to stay in touch with what is happening in our economy.

The Main Thing:

You see them everywhere around election time. I'm not referring to political signs in yards and on roadways. I'm referring to the small stickers people wear after they have cast their vote. You know the ones I'm talking about: "I voted.” It's their civic participation trophy.

There is no harm in wearing those little symbols of having participated in our democracy.

Wearing these stickers is just one part of our civic duty, a duty that's deeply ingrained in American culture. I've proudly worn mine, and I make it a point to never miss an election, whether it's for dog catcher or President.

For many, this may be the extent of their civic engagement, and that's perfectly okay. It's a small but significant part of our democratic process.

For me, having discussions about policies and debating issues is also essential. However, more and more, we can all agree that this is becoming increasingly difficult to do as well. The public forum for Socratic debate is either going away or has become largely obsolete. Name-calling, internet memes, and our personal idea bubbles have replaced it. People are retreating to their idealistic proverbial hilltops, ready for the next verbal onslaught.

​
Surprisingly, economic developers have a significant role to play in this. We have the power to create and model an environment that encourages honest debate and, most importantly, transparency. This is not just an act of kindness, but a crucial step in providing future generations with a blueprint for a functioning democracy.

Read how civic responsibility requires more than an "I Voted" sticker for economic developers in this week's blog post.

Focus On AI

Five AI Truths Every Economic Developer Should Know (Before Your Competitor Does)

​
The Kellogg School of Management faculty has distilled decades of artificial intelligence research into five critical insights that cut through the hype and anxiety surrounding the rapid adoption of AI. Their research shows that AI has a surprisingly long development history and uneven benefits across scientific disciplines. The findings also expose a troubling training gap: outside of computer science, mathematics, and engineering, most fields aren't adequately preparing their workforce for AI integration, creating winners and losers in the AI economy. Meanwhile, AI's ability to generate hyper-personalized content—from fake images to targeted advertisements—is reshaping how businesses communicate and how consumers must evaluate what they see online.

Why This Matters: Your community's economic future may hinge on how quickly you can close the AI skills gap. The research makes it clear that disciplines with fewer AI-trained professionals—particularly those in the social sciences and humanities—are already falling behind in capturing AI's benefits.

For economic developers, this translates directly to workforce competitiveness: regions that fail to integrate AI training across industries will not only miss opportunities, but also watch businesses and talent migrate to communities that do. The finding that AI adoption requires interdisciplinary collaboration also highlights a competitive advantage for communities that can foster cross-sector partnerships among tech companies, educational institutions, and traditional industries. Perhaps most importantly, the research dismantles the notion that AI will replace jobs overnight—giving economic developers a critical window to shape how AI augments rather than eliminates local employment.

Take Action: Partner with community colleges and universities to integrate AI literacy training into all programs, not just tech-focused curricula, ensuring that every graduate enters the workforce with foundational AI skills. Convene interdisciplinary roundtables bringing together manufacturers, healthcare providers, educators, and tech companies to identify sector-specific AI applications and training needs. Develop incentive packages that reward businesses for upskilling existing workers in AI tools rather than replacing them, positioning your community as a hub for human-AI collaboration.

Read Take 5: AI’s Past, Present, and Future based on the research of Sergio Rebelo, Dashun Wang, Matthew Groh, Hatim Rahman, Jacob D. Teeny and coauthors | KelloggInsight

​

When the Ladder Disappears: The $20,000 Bootcamp That Led to an Ice Cream Shop

Jonathan Kim invested $20,000 and countless hours in a coding bootcamp that promised a pathway to a six-figure software engineering career. Instead, he's scooping ice cream at his uncle's Los Angeles shop after sending 600+ job applications with zero offers. His story isn't unique—it's becoming the norm as AI systematically eliminates the entry-level coding jobs that bootcamps were designed to fill. Placement rates at major boot camps have declined from 83% in 2021 to 37% in 2023, while new graduate hiring in tech has dropped 50% from pre-pandemic levels. The irony is stark: as entry-level opportunities vanish, experienced AI researchers now command bonuses exceeding $100 million annually, and companies like Anysphere reach $10 billion valuations with just 150 employees. The boot camp model, which once democratized tech careers by offering alternatives to elite universities, is crumbling, and Silicon Valley is reverting to recruiting exclusively from MIT and Stanford.

Why This Matters: The coding bootcamp collapse serves as a warning sign for workforce development strategies across all sectors. Economic developers have spent the past decade championing bootcamps and similar accelerated training programs as solutions to skills gaps and pathways to economic mobility. However, this article reveals how quickly AI can render entire workforce development ecosystems obsolete. The traditional logic that drove your community's workforce investments—identify high-demand jobs, create training pipelines, connect graduates to employers—may no longer hold when AI can eliminate those entry-level positions faster than you can train people for them. Anthropic's CEO predicts AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years, putting virtually every workforce training program at risk.

Take Action: Conduct an immediate audit of all workforce training programs your community supports or promotes, assessing which are targeting job categories vulnerable to AI displacement within the next 2-3 years. Shift workforce development investments away from entry-level skill acquisition toward programs that emphasize AI tool proficiency, complex problem-solving, and skills that complement rather than compete with AI.

Read From bootcamp to bust: How AI is upending the software development industry by Anna Tong | Reuters

​

The $16 Billion Bill Nobody Voted For: How AI Data Centers Are Rewiring Your Power Grid and Your Politics

​
Pennsylvania Senator Katie Muth toured a data center in her suburban Philadelphia district expecting to see a quiet, clean facility—and she did, until she reached a corner where AI server cabinets shook and radiated heat, "revving up" at peak times like a digital engine. That innocuous corner explains why Pennsylvania electricity rates jumped as much as 40% this June, why a regional capacity auction skyrocketed from $2 billion to $16 billion in two years, and why at least a dozen bills are now battling through the state's divided legislature. The commonwealth finds itself caught in a familiar trap: Amazon's $20 billion investment promises 1,250 "high-skilled" jobs. Still, transmission companies are already passing infrastructure costs onto consumers, and utilities predict another 1-5% rate increase next year. Meanwhile, Governor Josh Shapiro's "Lightning Plan" collides with Republican permitting proposals. At the same time, environmental concerns about the millions of gallons of water used daily are often overshadowed by the rush to accommodate an industry "no one is prepared for," according to a former state environmental secretary, who warns that Pennsylvania is repeating its historical pattern of rolling out the red carpet first and discovering mistakes later.

​
​Why This Matters: Pennsylvania's data center struggle is a preview of what's to come in your community, and it reveals a complex political and economic landscape that economic developers must navigate carefully. The traditional playbook—attracting significant investments, touting job creation, and streamlining permitting—is colliding with constituent fury over electricity bills that force grandmothers to choose between running air conditioning and affording groceries. The Pennsylvania experience demonstrates how quickly data center economics can shift from opportunity to liability: Amazon's $20 billion investment creates just 1,250 direct jobs, while generating $9.3 billion in grid capacity costs that are socialized across millions of ratepayers. Economic developers must also grapple with a troubling realization that the infrastructure financing models that worked for previous industrial expansions (where utilities spread costs across all customers) break down when single facilities require massive grid upgrades but employ relatively few people, creating a political math problem where costs exceed the visible local benefits.

​
​Take Action: Immediately assess your utility rate structure and cost-allocation policies for large industrial users before any data center proposals arrive, establishing whether your community would saddle existing ratepayers with infrastructure costs or require developers to "bring their own power." Develop "high-load customer" tariffs modeled on Oregon's policies, which require power-intensive facilities to fully cover the transmission and distribution upgrades their operations necessitate. Create transparent public dashboards that show the full fiscal impact of proposed data centers, including infrastructure costs, long-term utility rate projections, water consumption, and jobs-per-megawatt ratios, to preempt constituent backlash. Reframe your value proposition: rather than chasing every data center with incentives and expedited permits, position your community as the place where developers partner with residents on sustainable infrastructure and equitable cost-sharing—turning what's becoming a political liability elsewhere into your competitive advantage.

Read The AI boom is coming for Pennsylvania. How will lawmakers respond? By Kyle Bagenstose | Inside Climate News --RouteFifty

Other Articles of Interest this week:

Economic Development -- The Absurdity of Highway Spending as Economic Development by Charles Marohn | Strong Towns -- With MnDOT's buttonhook design, “supporting business” is the sales pitch, but corporate subsidy is the product.

Green Economy-- Honda circularity center opens in Ohio by Elsa Wenzel | Trellis -- The automaker's new hub will find ways to reuse, repurpose or recycle factory tools, parts and packaging.

Leadership -- The Top 20 Leadership Challenges by Center for Creative Leadership -- Data from over 48,000 leaders helped us identify the most common challenges of leadership around the world. Use our research to ensure your L&D programs address the top issues your leaders face.

Technology -- Engineers design AI-triggered airbag bubble to protect passengers in plane crash by Sujita Sinha | The system deploys smart airbags in under two seconds and uses GPS and beacons to aid rescue teams.

Housing -- How climate policies can help cities to tackle housing shortages by C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, C40 Knowledge Hub -- Many cities are facing a huge and unmet demand for housing. Urban population growth, the financialisation of housing, a lack of long-term affordable rental properties and other local issues mean that there are not enough homes and that too many of the homes that are available are unaffordable or of poor quality.

Something You Should Read:

Anthropic, the progenitors of Claude AI, recently wrote a report about AI usage and patterns across the United States. The report provides a comprehensive analysis of how AI adoption patterns are evolving across various geographies and within enterprises. Here are the key findings:

Main themes:

1. Rapid but uneven adoption: AI adoption among US employees reached 40% in 2025, up from 20% in 2023—much faster than historical technologies like PCs or the internet
   ​
2. Geographic concentration: Usage strongly correlates with income, with high-adoption countries like Singapore (4.6x expected usage) and Canada (2.9x) far ahead of emerging economies like India (0.27x) and Nigeria (0.2x)
   ​
3. Shift toward automation: Directive automation conversations jumped from 27% to 39% over eight months, marking the first time automation usage exceeded augmentation.
   ​
4. Enterprise patterns: Among enterprise API users, 77% of usage involves automation patterns, compared to about 50% for individual Claude.ai users, with coding and data analysis dominating business applications
   ​

Note: I asked Claude to locate the report and provide me with some key takeaways that I could include in this newsletter. It only seemed right to do so.

​You can read the full report by clicking here. ​

Overheard:

“The person who asks a question is a fool for a minute, the person who does not ask is a fool for life.”

-- Confucius

The Rabbit Hole:

Claude to the Rescue

This week, the featured topic is AI, and the news and articles continue to bombard this office daily. I admit, it's hard to keep up. I have utilized AI, specifically Claude, to aid in brainstorming and developing ideas. I have even asked Claude some questions about drug interactions I was interested in.

Specifically, do Tumeric or Magnesium, both of which are supposed to be good for old arthritic joints, interact with the blood thinner I take? I also tested that question in Perplexity and Gemini to see what they had to say. I used that information to pose a more educated question to my doctor. (The answer is generally no, but within limits.)

There are practical and pragmatic ways to use AI that make perfect sense for the average user. You don't have to be trained in writing prompts, but providing more details and guidance provides a better answer when you write a prompt.

This article will help you understand how AI can help you with personal and straightforward tasks, including conversations with your doctor.

​Read the article here.​

​ ​

Islands in the Sun

If you have ever been to Key West, you feel like you are at the end of the earth. Here, you stand on the most southern point of the US, on a tiny spit of sand that has somehow survived hurricanes and the passage of time, so you can enjoy a margarita whenever you visit.

There is a point in Key West that is considered the southernmost point in the contiguous USA. I’ve been there. I have also been to the most western point in the USA, near Cape Flattery in Washington State, as well.

What is even more interesting about the southernmost point is that you can keep going. You can get on a boat and continue 70 miles to west to visit the Dry Tortugas National Park.

The Dry Tortugas are only accessible by boat or seaplane, yet it is widely visited. Located on the site is Fort Jefferson, a Civil War-era prison. It is considered the largest masonry building in the USA, with over 16 million bricks having been used in its construction.

The Dry Tortugas are just one of several islands in the USA that are reachable only by boat or plane. If you have either, consider visiting each of these as outlined in this article.

​
​Be Like Mike… er, Charlotte

Years ago, I took a Yoga class through the local community college. I enjoyed it, even though my flexibility was limited. Knowing that Yoga, like meditation or any other skill, is something to be learned, which is why it is called a ‘practice.’ I vowed to continue this practice.

However, I didn’t.

Yet today, I keep thinking about starting again, as my knee and hip are aching from osteoarthritis. My doctor wants to medicate me, and my chiropractor keeps adjusting me to no avail.

I think perhaps there is an alternative:

I need to move to France and take lessons from Charlotte. Charlotte Chopin is a 102-year-old woman who lives in Lere, France, and teaches Yoga. Yes, at her age, she teaches local villagers downward dog, warrior poses, and has the flexibility of a twenty-something.

​This article and video tell you how she does it. In the meantime, I will see if there is a local teacher who will take on an overweight, arthritic, 60-something guy.

Hopefully, one day, they will write an article about me.

$97.00 / year The JustBe Newsletter​​Founders Subscription After decades of chasing success, I finally learned to apply wisdom from advice given to me long ago and 'just be.' I... Read more Get it now!

​

Thanks for Subscribing and Reading

If you know someone who might enjoy this newsletter, please feel free to share it with them.

If someone forwarded this to you and you would like to subscribe, you can do so by clicking below. All the cool people are doing it!

Let's work together!

With over three decades of experience in economic development, public administration, and small business, I can now bring my expertise to benefit you. What are the issues facing your community? What obstacles are you facing in growing your business? Let's work on this together.

While I am experienced in a wide variety of sectors and issues, here is where my interests lie, and thus where I can benefit you most:

1. Organizational and Leadership Development -- Culture assessment, culture shifts, board and leadership development, mentoring, coaching, strategic planning, innovation, economic development education, and strategic foresight. Click here to schedule a conversation about how we can collaborate on this topic.
2. Small Business Ecosystems -- Start-up environment assessments and benchmarking, scaled peer-to-peer mentoring systems (C7), Incubation, and small business ecosystems design. Click here to schedule a conversation about how we can collaborate on this topic.
3. Personal Transformation -- Transformative personal coaching, training, and education in high-level productivity concepts of Flow, Grit, Resiliency, and leadership. Additionally, leadership masterminds cater to both new leaders and wise elders. Click here to schedule a conversation about how we can collaborate on this topic.

$12.99 Mindset for Leaders A new way of looking at things that promote learning and development can be helpful for your career and personal... Read more Get it now!

​

If you have any thoughts or comments regarding any articles in this newsletter please feel free to contact me through email at martin@martinkarlconsulting.com.​

You can review my services and offerings at www.martinkarlconsulting.com​