BusinessFlare Take (Double Feature)

North Korea’s New Remote Work Hack – Cities Beware! Turns out your company or city’s “remote worker” might actually be reporting to Pyongyang. A shocking new report reveals North Korea is placing thousands of undercover remote employees in American tech jobs, funneling millions back home to support Kim Jong Un’s missile habit. Think it can’t affect your local economy? Think again – cities welcoming remote work hubs and digital nomads could be unwittingly rolling out the red carpet to hackers, spies, and state-funded cybercrime. Local leaders: vet your workers before your city becomes Pyongyang’s new favorite cash machine. Read more at WSJ

Trump’s Deportations Impacting U.S. Military Readiness In a bitter twist of economic irony, aggressive immigration crackdowns are hitting America’s military-industrial complex. Major defense contractors see essential labor deported en masse, gutting productivity and slowing weapons deliveries. Cities anchored by defense industries can suffer the fallout directly, losing skilled workers, weakening their economic foundations, and risking national security. The lesson for local leaders? Immigration policy isn’t abstract; your city’s economic health and America’s security might literally depend on sensible policies that keep skilled labor right here. Read more at WSJ

Street Economics Insights (Double Feature)

Inside Stargate: The AI Data Center That’s Redefining Cities OpenAI and SoftBank are building Stargate, a massive, state-of-the-art AI data center aimed at powering next-gen cities. The economic takeaway? Stargate’s energy needs and labor demands are so huge, local communities hosting such centers could either see explosive growth or buckle under infrastructure strain. It’s a high-stakes gamble: embrace tech’s biggest opportunity or become collateral damage in the AI boom. Cities must choose: leverage this AI gold rush or risk getting flattened by its demands. Read more at Bloomberg

AI’s Hollywood Takeover – Cities in Economic Spotlight AI isn’t just reshaping jobs—it’s reshaping films. Google‘s Veo and Runway are now powering Hollywood blockbusters and reshaping creative industries from LA to Atlanta. Cities anchored by film and TV production must pivot quickly, retraining workers and updating infrastructure or risk losing their competitive edge. Economic developers, take note: AI isn’t coming for Hollywood’s jobs, it’s already taking them. How your city responds could help shape its economy. Read more at WSJ

Drama Meter

Stockton’s Double-City-Manager Debacle (Drama Level: Off-the-Charts) Stockton hired an interim city manager who immediately turned around and hired another city manager for $11k a month using public funds without the City Council’s explicit approval. Citizens are outraged, council members are pointing fingers, and city hall has officially descended into administrative chaos. Stockton’s taxpayers are left wondering exactly how many city managers their city actually needs, and why their money’s funding a bureaucratic clown show. We give this one a 7 out of 10 on the Drama Meter. Read more at Stocktonia

Book Drop – Governing for Economic Development

Springfield’s City Manager Contract – A Case Study in Economic Governance Springfield just approved a contract for new City Manager David Cameron, highlighting economic development as central to his performance metrics. But real economic development isn’t just the sexy economic development stuff like ribbon cuttings or Chamber events that seemed to be driving his supporters, it’s as much or even more about creating places people genuinely want to live, work, and invest, the things his detractors were focused on. Things we delve into in Gut Sandwich and Unleash Your Unfair Advantage as well as Governing. Springfield’s approach, tying city manager evaluations explicitly to economic results aligns directly with principles in Governing for Economic Development: true prosperity requires bold governance, transparent accountability, and making your city a magnet for people, not just businesses. Read more at News Leader

ECOSINT Signal

Securing America’s Critical Minerals – Cities on the Front Lines In the third of this issue’s economic open source intelligence related stories, and found not on a traditional news outlet but from the Special Operations Association of America, are important insights on our critical minerals future. The fight for America’s critical minerals, used in everything from phones to fighter jets, is a quiet economic-security war being waged daily. Eric Muschinski’s new report warns that America’s reliance on foreign minerals directly threatens local economic stability and national security. Cities hosting tech, manufacturing, or defense industries must urgently pivot toward securing domestic mineral supply chains, or face economic paralysis if global tensions escalate. Your city’s economic fate might depend on rocks you’ve never even heard of. Read more at SOAA

Red River Flavor

Ghost Kitchens – Big Food’s Latest Economic Con Your favorite “local” burger place? It might actually be a Big Food ghost kitchen in disguise, operating out of anonymous warehouses. Corporate food giants are saturating cities with fake “local” restaurants through delivery apps, gutting authentic small businesses and local food scenes. Cities serious about their food economies and residents serious about their health must push back against this deception or risk losing their authentic culinary identity to corporate fakery. Read more at Byline Times

The Music Cities

AI Producers; Music Cities Face Existential Threat A new study reveals that many top music producers secretly use AI to compose hits, reshaping the economics of the entire music industry. Cities banking on creative music economies (Nashville, Austin, Atlanta) must urgently recalibrate; what does music-driven economic development mean when machines write the songs? If cities don’t help artists adapt fast, AI could leave their music economies and cultural brands as obsolete as vinyl records. Read more at Entrepreneur

Space Economy Signal

Inside Stargate: Space Cities’ New Economic Gravity The Stargate AI data center by OpenAI and SoftBank is not only powering AI, it’s redefining the economics of space exploration. Cities hoping to anchor space-tech clusters must understand the implications: Stargate’s tech could determine which regions lead in space commerce, attracting billions in investment and talent. Ignore Stargate’s potential at your city’s economic peril; embrace it and you might secure a central role in the new space economy. Read more at Bloomberg

Purple Cow of the Day

Amish Innovation Saves Chimney Rock – A Real Purple Cow Moment When Hurricane Helene battered Chimney Rock, the solution wasn’t FEMA, it was Amish ingenuity. The Amish community stepped in to rebuild homes swiftly, efficiently, and sustainably. It’s economic development at its most authentic: locally driven, community-centric, and astonishingly effective. Cities chasing trendy tech solutions could learn from Chimney Rock’s experience: sometimes your greatest innovation is already in your backyard, wearing suspenders and wielding a hammer. Read more at WCNC

About Street Economics Daily

Street Economics Daily cuts through noise, jargon, and bureaucracy to deliver sharp, actionable insights for civic and economic development professionals. Curated by a 30+ year economic developer and former Army Intelligence professional, it is blunt, irreverent, and grounded firmly in reality, it’s essential daily reading for city leaders who refuse to settle.

BusinessFlare |Street Economics |Drama Meter |The Music Cities |Goodnight’s Red River