The following links are just news items and opinions that pass my desk throughout the week. I don’t necessarily support or advocate any of the items, they are just interesting reads.
‘When is enough enough?’ PG&E rates to rise again after California regulatory vote – State regulators have voted to approve another bill hike for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers that will add just under $5 a month for typical households, piling onto a sharp increase in bills that hit in January.
PG&E asked for the increase to recover expenses paid for projects in 2020 through 2022 that mostly dealt with wildfire prevention and modernizing the company’s infrastructure. PG&E said most of those projects were mandated by the state.
Even so, the increase comes as customers are reeling from dramatically higher utility bills.
PG&E already raised its electricity rates 20% this year, which means typical residential customers will pay about $400 more annually, according to the company’s estimate. And the commission is still considering allowing PG&E to charge customers even more to pay for a range of programs, from emergency storm response, past wildfire expenses and keeping its Diablo Canyon Power Plant in operation.
The $4.68 per month estimated increase for average households will last for a period of 12 months starting in April.
But bills could climb even higher this year if the commission takes up another proposal from PG&E that would add $14 to $15 per month for average residential customers to recoup costs incurred during last year’s winter storms. Read More > in the San Francisco Chronicle
Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power – Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.
In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.
Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.
The soaring demand is touching off a scramble to try to squeeze more juice out of an aging power grid while pushing commercial customers to go to extraordinary lengths to lock down energy sources, such as building their own power plants.
A major factor behind the skyrocketing demand is the rapid innovation in artificial intelligence, which is driving the construction of large warehouses of computing infrastructure that require exponentially more power than traditional data centers. AI is also part of a huge scale-up of cloud computing. Tech firms like Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft are scouring the nation for sites for new data centers, and many lesser-known firms are also on the hunt.
The proliferation of crypto-mining, in which currencies like bitcoin are transacted and minted, is also driving data center growth. It is all putting new pressures on an overtaxed grid — the network of transmission lines and power stations that move electricity around the country. Bottlenecks are mounting, leaving both new generators of energy, particularly clean energy, and large consumers facing growing wait times for hookups.
The situation is sparking battles across the nation over who will pay for new power supplies, with regulators worrying that residential ratepayers could be stuck with the bill for costly upgrades. It also threatens to stifle the transition to cleaner energy, as utility executives lobby to delay the retirement of fossil fuel plants and bring more online. The power crunch imperils their ability to supply the energy that will be needed to charge the millions of electric cars and household appliances required to meet state and federal climate goals. Read More > in The Washington Post
Race to replace Supervisor Glover likely headed for runoff – The race to replace longtime Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover likely isn’t over yet.
With all precincts reporting in, Antioch City Councilmember Mike Barbanica was ahead with just over 41% of the vote (8,007 votes) on election night. Pittsburg City Councilmember Shanelle Scales-Preston was in second, with just over 33% (6,468 votes).
Pittsburg City Councilmember Jelani Killings garnered 2,792 votes, with insurance agent Iztaccuauhtli Hector Gonzalez rounding out the field with 2,147 votes.
Since no candidate apparently received more than 50% of the vote, Barbanica and Scales-Preston are likely headed to a November runoff. The election results aren’t official yet. Read More > at Danville San Ramon
Contra Costa County pauses all-electric building requirements, natural gas ban for new construction – Contra Costa County officials will stop enforcing building codes that require most new buildings to be all-electric — at least for now.
The about-face comes after a three-judge panel in April struck down Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction, ruling that cities do not have the authority to prohibit the installation of natural gas plumbing in buildings.
The Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors agreed to pause enforcement on Tuesday, attempting to avoid litigation or other legal issues because the ordinance that went into effect June 2022 was similar to Berkeley’s now-illegal ban.
There’s a growing wave of local governments reconsidering their approach to embracing clean, carbon-free energy in residential and commercial buildings — currently the source of roughly a quarter of California’s emissions, according to the California Energy Commission.
San Mateo County also recently halted enforcement of its building “reach” codes, and the city of San Luis Obispo announced a similar pause in July. It’s unclear what elected officials in Oakland, San Jose and San Francisco are planning to do about similar rules that are now caught in these legal crosshairs. Read More > in The Mercury News
Three More Major Retail Locations Announce San Francisco Closures – Several stores San Francisco announced on Wednesday that they would be closing this month, including cosmetics companies L’Occitane and Sephora at San Francisco Centre and outdoor equipment company The North Face at Union Square, becoming the latest casualties in the continuing decline of stores in San Francisco.
Both the San Francisco Centre Mall, soon to be renamed Emporium Centre San Francisco, and Union Square have been losing businesses for the last several years. At the mall, many large retailers, such as Nordstrom and Cinemark left last year. In the last few months, Hollister, Addidas, and The Lego Store have also left.
Meanwhile in Union Square, companies have also been fleeing in the wake of the 2021 and 2022 smash and grab robberies that plagued the area. While multiple boutique stores have left, the biggest recent departure was only a week ago when Macy’s announced that it would be leaving their location of 95 years.
The reason for the departures have been all over the map, ranging from high taxes to low business to the general decline of retail to online shopping competition. But the baseline through every closure so far this decade has been one either stated or heavily hinted thing: crime. Break-ins, shoplifting, flash mob robberies, and so much more have caused small retailers and big retailers like Walgreens and Target to leave for years. The city has denied that that is the reason for years, but employees, managers, and others have told the Globe that no matter what is said, crime has at least been a factor. For some industries, like food stores, San Francisco has been hit so hard that a new ordinance currently being looked at would require companies to give six months notice of a closure to help plan around it. Read More > at California Globe
‘Progressivism Is Out’: San Franciscans Pass Ballot Measures Requiring Drug Testing for Welfare, Expanding Police Surveillance – San Francisco voters who’ve grown tired of the crime, homelessness, and drug use plaguing their left-wing city overwhelmingly approved a pair of ballot measures on Tuesday that will expand police powers and require welfare recipients to be screened for drugs.
Proposition E, which authorizes police to use surveillance equipment — cameras, drones, and even facial-recognition technology — without prior permission from an oversight body, passed with 59,818 votes, or 59.9 percent. The proposition will also loosen restrictions on police chases and require that officers spend less time on paperwork and administrative duties.
Proposition F, which mandates that anyone receiving public-assistance benefits be screened for a substance-abuse disorder, passed with 63,295 votes, or 63 percent.
As part of the proposition, public-assistance recipients found to be drug-dependent could be offered treatment. If it is made “available at no cost, the recipient will be required to participate to continue receiving” public benefits, according to the proposition.
“Progressivism is out—for now,” the San Francisco Chronicles’ website read in bold letters on Wednesday morning, “Voters make it clear: S.F. can no longer be called a progressive city.” Read More > at National Review
Mountain House poised to become California’s newest city – A San Joaquin County community is on the verge of becoming California’s newest city. Early election results show high support for a measure to incorporate Mountain House.
“Right now, it’s trending in that positive direction,” said Jodi Almassy, the deputy general manager for the Mountain House Community Services District. “This is huge I can’t say enough.”
As of Wednesday night, preliminary results from the San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters showed 91% of voters cast ballots in favor of the incorporation of the City of Mountain House.
If Measure D formally passes, the plan is for Mountain House to make the switch to cityhood July 1. Residents, Almassy said, shouldn’t expect to see drastic changes in their day-to-day lives despite the gravity of the change. Read More > at KCRA
Californians face higher costs for goods and services than before the pandemic despite inflation slowing – Pandemic-era inflation has fallen from its peak two years ago, but the costs of many goods and services continue to rise and are still higher than before the onset of COVID-19, a couple of closely watched economic indicators show.
Prices have grown about 20% overall since 2020, according to an analysis by the California Legislative Analyst’s Office based on the most recent consumer price index data. Over the past couple of months, prices in California appear to have risen slightly more than the country as a whole, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Continued rising prices are why many Californians are struggling in an economy that’s widely considered to be doing OK because the nation has avoided a recession, experts say.
While a slowdown in inflation, or price growth, is “great news, it’s not like those prices are declining,” said Sarah Bohn, economist and director of the Public Policy Institute of California Economic Policy Center. “When you go to the grocery store, your total bill is still much higher overall than a few years ago,” she said.
What’s more, Bohn said Californians’ wages have not kept up with inflation: “Wages only grew 15% than before the pandemic. On paper, that looks amazing, like a $5-an-hour increase. But after inflation, it feels like a pay cut — I calculated that it’s like a $1.25-an-hour cut.” Read More > at CalMatters
California schools gained billions during COVID-19. Now the money is running out – After years of cash windfalls, California schools are bracing for a stretch of austerity that could jeopardize students’ already precarious recovery from the pandemic.
An end to billions of dollars in federal Covid relief funds, declining enrollment, staff raises, hiring binges and stagnant state funding should combine over the next few months to create steep budget shortfalls, with low-income districts affected the most.
“The fiscal cliff is going to vary,” said Marguerite Roza, director of the Edunomics Lab at Georgetown University. “The districts that got the most Covid relief dollars, those that have the most low-income students, are going to face the biggest losses.”
In his budget proposal released in January, Gov. Gavin Newsom largely spared schools, keeping intact popular initiatives like transitional kindergarten, universal school meals, community schools and after-school programs. He proposed dipping into reserves and delaying some expenses to make up a projected multi-billion-dollar shortfall.
But the exact numbers are shifting. The Legislative Analyst’s Office predicted that the shortfall may be much higher than Newsom calculated and cuts will be unavoidable. Newsom will release a revised budget in May, and the Legislature has until June 15 to pass a final budget.
Meanwhile, federal Covid relief funding for schools will end in September. In a series of grants known as Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief, the federal government gave California schools $23.4 billion to pay for everything from air purifiers to after-school tutoring. Read More > at CalMatters
Exclusive: Historic California dam removal, meant to help salmon, sees massive die-off – Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are believed to have died this week at the site of a historic dam removal project on the Klamath River, after an effort to restore salmon runs on the newly unconstrained river went awry, the Chronicle has learned.
The dead chinook salmon were among the first hatchery fish released on the Klamath since four hydroelectric dams were breached near the California-Oregon border, to allow the river to flow freely again and ultimately help fish flourish. One of the dams has been fully removed, and the three others are scheduled to come out later this year.
The salmon die-off, discovered downstream of the 173-foot Iron Gate Dam, is thought to be the result of trauma the small fish experienced when they went through a tunnel at the dam’s base, which had been opened to allow the river to pass and dam demolition to proceed. Water pressure in the outlet tunnel was presumably too great, causing the fish to die of what appears to be gas bubble disease, California officials told the Chronicle. Read More > in the San Francisco Chronicle
Monster blizzard shatters California ‘snow drought’ with up to 10 feet of new snow – A monster blizzard that blasted California’s Sierra Nevada with gusts of up to 190 mph and dumped more than 10 feet of snow over the weekend shattered the state’s “snow drought” and significantly boosted vital snowpack levels.
The statewide snowpack by Monday had swelled to 104% of normal for the date, with a snow water equivalent of 24.4 inches. Snowpack was about 94% of its average for April 1, the date when it is typically at its deepest.
On Thursday — hours before the chilly winter storm was set to hit — the snowpack had measured only 80% of normal. It was an impressive turnaround compared with the beginning of the year when the snowpack was 32% of normal.
Officials were optimistic the blizzard would offer a significant snow boost. It ended up being a game-changer.
“It takes us effectively from needing about 25% of our snowpack to get up to a good water year to being within about 6%, which is absolutely fantastic,” said Andrew Schwartz, a lead scientist at the UC Berkeley Central Sierra Snow Lab. “We’re exactly where we want to be, realistically.” Read More > in the Los Angeles Times
California to stay drought-free through 2025 following 2 winters of epic storms, AccuWeather experts say – In the wake of a biblical blizzard that unloaded nearly 100 inches of snow on California, AccuWeather is making a major announcement: California will be free of widespread drought through at least 2025.
“The combination of the abundance of rain and snow from the winter of 2022-2023, the state of the reservoirs, and what has happened this winter gives a high confidence that drought conditions will remain absent in California well into 2025,” AccuWeather California Weather Expert Ken Clark said.
This is good news for both the short-term drought concerns and the long-term battle against widespread drought. Years of drought took their toll on the state’s water table, so back-to-back winters with blockbuster storms have replenished water reservoirs and quenched the parched landscape.
“AccuWeather was the first source to indicate there would not be drought in California into 2025,” AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter said, citing a drought forecast issued back in October. “This announcement builds on that past bold forecast.” Read More > at AccuWeather
After winter storms, California can expect a late start to the wildfire season – A series of late-season winter storms has filled reservoirs, boosted snowpack and left forecasters anticipating a late start to California’s wildfire season.
And while the odds are also tilting toward a milder than normal fire season overall, that outlook could change by July, said National Interagency Fire Center meteorologist Jonathan O’Brien.
“It’s just a little too early to tell at this point what the peak season months are going to look like,” said O’Brien, who works for the NIFC’s Predictive Services in Riverside.
For now, Predictive Services is forecasting below-normal large fire activity in Southern California in May and June, and normal activity in Northern California.
The rainy season has already been wetter than normal for Southern California, and forecasts call for periods of rain and snow well into April, if not early May, O’Brien said. Vegetation at lower elevations is moist and green; in the high country, it’s buried in snow.
Statewide, the snowpack most recently measured 104% of normal for March 5, and 95% of the April 1 average, when it’s typically the deepest. Read More > in the Los Angeles Times
California’s fast food workers are getting a raise. But the labor-industry truce is fraying – Both sides billed the high-profile California fast food deal last year as a resolution to two years of escalating political tensions.
One of workers’ biggest wins in the Legislature during “hot labor summer,” the agreement in the session’s final week resulted in a minimum wage hike for employees and some guarantees for companies. In exchange, the industry agreed to stop fighting the issue at the ballot box and lawmakers backed off on even stricter regulations.
But a month before the new wage — $20 an hour for workers at fast food chains with 60 or more locations nationally — goes into effect, the temporary truce is unraveling.
The renewed fights have moved to the local level, too.
Some franchise owners are cutting jobs in advance of the minimum wage increase, while workers have begun pushing for additional benefits in San Jose and Los Angeles, prompting businesses to gear up to lobby back.
Worker advocates are also pledging to push for job security measures once a first-in-the-nation fast food regulatory council (another part of the deal) is in place. On Friday, Newsom announced his seven appointees to the council, including Chairperson Nicholas Hardeman, chief of staff to state Senate leader emeritus Toni Atkins. The governor’s other picks are a mix of franchisees, workers and others.
And some McDonald’s franchise owners, who have complained they were frozen out from last year’s deal-making, are retaliating against state lawmakers who supported it as they seek other public offices in Tuesday’s primary. The new California Alliance of Family Owned Businesses PAC formed earlier this year as an offshoot of prior lobbying by owners of local McDonald’s restaurants.
Its opening salvo: attack mailers against Assemblymembers Chris Holden, a Pasadena Democrat running for the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, and Kevin McCarty, a Sacramento Democrat running in a crowded primary for mayor. Read More > at CalMatters
The Skyrocketing Costs Driving Cheeseburger Prices Up—And Restaurant Owners Out – A $16 bacon cheeseburger may not be enough to save your neighborhood bar and grill.
Independent restaurants are on financial life support, owners say, squeezed between escalating payroll costs and diners’ dwindling tolerance for ever-higher checks. Wages for waitstaff, table bussers and line cooks will grow more expensive for many eateries this year, with 22 states in January raising the minimum wage for hourly workers.
The industry’s economic strains can be seen on the appetizer plate at Chef Zorba’s Restaurant in Denver. Owner Karen LuKanic recently swapped Greek giant beans for homemade stuffed grape leaves to save money, and switched to cheaper shoestring potatoes from thick-cut fries. Denver has increased its minimum wage annually since 2020, most recently in January to $18.29 an hour, while Colorado has expanded paid sick leave and other employee benefit requirements.
Continue reading
“We are just keeping our head above water,” said LuKanic, who estimated about half her restaurant’s sales now go to payroll and other employee-related costs.
Chef Zorba’s charges $15.75 for a bacon cheeseburger, $5 more than in 2018. Even at those prices the 78-seat restaurant can’t turn a profit. LuKanic said she would consider closing if her Small Business Administration loan wasn’t guaranteed by her house.
American restaurants emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic to find their traditional economics no longer work. After struggling to stay afloat through lockdowns, restaurant operators endured surging food costs and supply chain shortages. Restaurateurs raised menu prices. In January, prices for food eaten away from home were up 30% compared with the same month in 2019, Labor Department data showed.
Restaurants’ food bills have stopped their pandemic-era surge. But payroll costs are still climbing.
In January, 59% of small-business owners reported higher labor costs were their biggest source of inflation, according to a survey of more than 425 entrepreneurs conducted for The Wall Street Journal by Vistage Worldwide, a business-coaching and peer-advisory firm. Read More > in The Wall Street Journal
US salaries are falling. Employers say compensation is just ‘resetting’ – The mass US layoffs of the past few years are continuing. In 2024 alone, thousands of workers across many sectors, including media and technology, have lost their jobs and are on the hunt for new ones. But some are finding an unwelcome surprise as they scan listings for open roles. A salary bump is all but impossible; in many cases, wages seem lower than their previous pay – even for the same jobs.
They aren’t imagining things. A 2023 report on pay trends from ZipRecruiter showed 48% of 2,000 US companies surveyed lowered pay for certain roles.
But, say experts, companies aren’t necessarily just seizing a moment in a tight job market to reduce costs. In some cases, stagnant and even lowered salaries are the result of an overdue reset for a pandemic era surge in compensation when companies were scrambling to fill roles during the Great Resignation.
The tightening labour market has left US workers with fewer options than just years earlier. Beginning 2020, employers boosted salaries to new heights to attract talent to a deluge of open roles. But amid an uncertain economy, employers have pulled back from new hires and cut jobs.
“There is now less competition to hire workers – and therefore less need to boost wages,” says Nick Bunker, US-based director of North American Economic Research at Indeed. “Job postings have dropped quite a bit, while the supply of workers has grown.”
At its peak in early 2022, US wage growth for advertised roles climbed to 9.3% year-over-year, according to Indeed data. It has fallen precipitously ever since, as demand for workers has slumped. By January 2024, it had plummeted to 3.6%. The downward trend continues, and it’s unclear when it will reach the bottom.
Now, with a decline in open roles, workers have fewer opportunities to get new jobs and secure better compensation. Simply, employees have less leverage to negotiate pay or secure a better starting salary – especially if they’re clawing for any type of employment they can get. Read More > at BBC
Why daylight saving time is starting again in California – In the wee hours of Sunday morning, Californians (and most of the rest of the country) will have to move their clocks one hour forward, starting eight months of daylight saving time. The change means we get to experience more daylight later in the day, but the sudden hour of lost sleep can be jarring for some people — and can even increase health risks, experts say.
Didn’t Californians vote on this issue? Yes, sort of, but it isn’t quite that simple.
In November 2018, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 7. But the measure only allowed the Legislature to change daylight saving time, either by establishing it year-round or abolishing it.
A change still requires a two-thirds majority of both the state Assembly and Senate and the governor’s signature. Permanently keeping daylight saving time also requires congressional action — and that hasn’t happened.
California doesn’t have to wait on Congress to use standard time, which is what Hawaii and most of Arizona do.
So this year Republican Sen. Roger Niello of Roseville introduced legislation to do away with daylight saving time for good and establish standard time year-round. (Westminster Republican Tri Ta is carrying a twin bill in the Assembly.)
Arguing that standard time makes “the most sense,” Niello says his bill has the backing of the California Medical Association. A large portion of the medical and sleep expert communities also agree that standard time coincides better with people’s natural clocks. Read More > at CalMatters
Rubio renews effort to ‘end this stupid practice’ of changing our clocks – Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is back at it again for another year to renew his push to make daylight saving time permanent ahead of this Sunday’s time change.
“We’re ‘springing forward’ but should have never ‘fallen back.’ My Sunshine Protection Act would end this stupid practice of changing our clocks back and forth,” the Florida senator said in a statement.
In 2022, Rubio’s bill passed the Senate but was stopped in the House, and last year, it was reintroduced as the Sunshine Protection Act of 2023.
Rubio said that the locking in the clock has “overwhelming bipartisan and popular support.”
Nineteen states have passed legislation or resolutions supporting year-round daylight saving time, and last year, at least 29 states were considering related legislation.
Sens. James Lankford (R-OK), Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), Ed Markey (D-MA), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), Tina Smith (D-MN), Rick Scott (R-FL), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) are co-sponsors of Rubio’s legislation. Read More > in the Washington Examiner
Goodbye America! A quarter of US adults want their state to secede – Texans, Californians, and New Yorkers are closest to the exit, but can YOU guess which state wants out the most? – Calls for Texas to secede from the US are growing louder, with advocates saying it could then stop migrant flows from Mexico without being hamstrung by the federal government.
The Lone Star state may have the country’s noisiest secessionist movement, but it is not the most popular.
That label goes to Alaska, a new survey shows.
Researchers found that more than a third of Alaskans — 36 percent — want the Last Frontier to call it a day and leave the union.
That’s a more popular movement than the 31 percent of residents who seek a ‘Texit,’ as the departure of Texas is known.
It’s not just Republican-leaning states that want out, says pollster YouGov.
Democrat-run California and New York are next in line to abandon ship, with 29 percent and 28 percent of residents favoring secession, respectively.
Oklahomans (28 percent), Nebraskans (25 percent), Georgians (25 percent), Floridians (24 percent) and Washingtonians (24 percent) are also eyeing the door.
At the other end of the spectrum is Connecticut, with just 9 percent of its relatively content residents seeking an out.
Pollster Taylor Orth said last month’s survey of some 35,000 adults revealed ‘significant support’ for carving up the country.
Nationwide, 23 percent of respondents said they wanted their state to opt out.
About half (51 percent) opposed secession, and 27 percent were unsure. Read More > at Daily Mail
Alzheimer’s Might Not Actually Be a Brain Disease, Expert Reveals – The pursuit of a cure for Alzheimer’s disease is becoming an increasingly competitive and contentious quest with recent years witnessing several important controversies.
In July 2022, Science magazine reported that a key 2006 research paper, published in the prestigious journal Nature, which identified a subtype of brain protein called beta-amyloid as the cause of Alzheimer’s, may have been based on fabricated data.
One year earlier, in June 2021, the US Food and Drug Administration had approved aducanumab, an antibody-targeting beta-amyloid, as a treatment for Alzheimer’s, even though the data supporting its use were incomplete and contradictory.
Some physicians believe aducanumab never should have been approved, while others maintain it should be given a chance.
With millions of people needing an effective treatment, why are researchers still fumbling in this quest for a cure for what is arguably one of the most important diseases confronting humankind?
For years, scientists have been focused on trying to come up with new treatments for Alzheimer’s by preventing the formation of brain-damaging clumps of this mysterious protein called beta-amyloid.
In fact, we scientists have arguably got ourselves into a bit of an intellectual rut concentrating almost exclusively on this approach, often neglecting or even ignoring other possible explanations.
Regrettably, this dedication to studying the abnormal protein clumps has not translated into a useful drug or therapy. The need for a new “out-of-the-clump” way of thinking about Alzheimer’s is emerging as a top priority in brain science.
My laboratory at the Krembil Brain Institute, part of the University Health Network in Toronto, is devising a new theory of Alzheimer’s disease.
Based on our past 30 years of research, we no longer think of Alzheimer’s as primarily a disease of the brain. Rather, we believe that Alzheimer’s is principally a disorder of the immune system within the brain.
The immune system, found in every organ in the body, is a collection of cells and molecules that work in harmony to help repair injuries and protect from foreign invaders. Read More > at Science Alert
To Revive U.S. Steel, Allow Its Transfer to Better Hands – Remember U.S. Steel? It isn’t what it used to be. Founded in 1901 by Andrew Carnegie and J.P. Morgan, the company was the symbol of American industrial power. But employment peaked 80 years ago at 340,000; it’s now 23,000. Once the largest corporation of any kind in the world, U.S. Steel now ranks 27th among global steel producers — and dropping. “It’s done nothing for decades,” according to steel industry analyst Charles Bradford.
Stagnation in steel is hardly inevitable. In 1969, another American steelmaker, Nucor, pioneered the electric arc mini mill, which recycles scrap metal, but U.S. Steel is still devoted to less efficient blast furnaces that produce three times the CO2 emissions. Nucor is now the number-one steelmaker in the country by far, its stock rising by a factor of 12 in the last two decades.
The obvious solution to U.S. Steel’s problem was to find a deep-pocketed purchaser — and that’s what it did. The company in December accepted an offer by Nippon Steel Corp., the world’s fourth-largest steel producer. Nippon agreed to pay $14.9 billion for the company, a surprisingly large all-cash sum – a 142% premium to the price of the stock on Aug. 11. That’s when Cleveland-Cliffs, a blast-furnace producer about the same size as U.S. Steel, made the original attempt to buy the company. In the end, Nippon outbid Cleveland-Cliffs, which wanted to pay with cash plus shares of a stock that’s been lackluster.
Customers gathered recently at the Tampa Steel Conference disagree. Along with most U.S. Steel workers, they are thrilled with the deal. The head of the United Steelworkers of America called the sale “shortsighted,” but the union is probably just trying to gain negotiating leverage. Actual U.S. Steel employees were more worried about their company continuing to wither away and about potential layoffs with a Cleveland-Cliffs acquisition.
Sure, we can shed a brief tear over a Japanese company buying an American icon, but what U.S. Steel needs is not nostalgia but capital and up-to-date technology. Nippon has a shot at providing both and thus reviving an American icon.
U.S. Steel is not alone in its distress. Much of the American steel industry is fragmented and starved for investment. A wave of buyouts and consolidations is the sector’s best hope. “We don’t need one or two deals,” said Waldo Best, an industry analyst with Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. “We need 10 or 20.” Read More > at Real Clear Markets
Electric vehicles release more toxic emissions, are worse for the environment than gas-powered cars: study – Electric vehicles release more toxic particles into the atmosphere and are worse for the environment than their gas-powered counterparts, according to a resurfaced study.
The study, published by emissions data firm Emission Analytics, was released in 2022 but has attracted a wave of attention this week after being cited in a Wall Street Journal op-ed Sunday.
It found that brakes and tires on EVs release 1,850 times more particle pollution compared to modern tailpipes, which have “efficient” exhaust filters, bringing gas-powered vehicles’ emissions to new lows.
Today, most vehicle-related pollution comes from tire wear.
As heavy cars drive on light-duty tires — most often made with synthetic rubber made from crude oil and other fillers and additives — they deteriorate and release harmful chemicals into the air, according to Emission Analytics.
Because EVs are on average 30% heavier, brakes and tires on the battery-powered cars wear out faster than on standard cars.
Emission Analytics found that tire wear emissions on half a metric tonne of battery weight in an EV are more than 400 times as great as direct exhaust particulate emissions. Read More > in the New York Post
OPEC+ members extend oil output cuts to second quarter – OPEC+ members led by Saudi Arabia and Russia agreed on Sunday to extend voluntary oil output cuts into the second quarter, sources said, giving extra support to the market amid concerns over global economic growth.
Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), said it would extend its voluntary cut of 1 million barrels per day (bpd) through the end of June, leaving its output at around 9 million bpd. The cuts would be reversed gradually according to market conditions, state news agency SPA said.
The oil demand outlook is uncertain for this year. OPEC expects another year of relatively strong demand growth of 2.25 million bpd, led by Asia, while the International Energy Agency expects much slower growth of 1.22 million bpd. Read More > at Reuters
World’s Top Oil Trader Sees Oil Demand Peak After 2030 – A slower pace of the energy transition will push peak oil demand beyond 2030, according to the world’s biggest independent oil trader, Vitol Group.
“Oil demand has a good few number of years still to climb … before it plateaus,” Vitol’s chief executive Russell Hardy said at the International Energy Week in London, as carried by Reuters.
Overall global demand for oil, natural gas, and coal is also set to peak later than expected as the energy transition is progressing slower than initially thought, according to the executive.
Vitol’s view on peak oil demand is several years later than the International Energy Agency (IEA), which advocates for a faster energy transition and has insisted for half a year now that global oil demand will peak before 2030.
According to the Paris-based agency, demand for all fossil fuels – oil, natural gas, and coal is set to peak before 2030, undermining the case for increasing investment in fossil fuels.
Vitol, however, says that the energy markets have changed in recent months and peak oil wouldn’t occur this decade. Read More > at Oil Price
Surprise! Study Finds The Greenest Car Isn’t An EV – But The Next Four Are – This year’s GreenerCars rankings just came out and a vehicle with a gas-burning engine beat all the rest. Coming in second through fifth though were all-electric vehicles. Here’s a breakdown of how these rankings came about, who the big winners were, and which EV also managed to be one of the worst offenders in the scoring.
Ranking how “green” a car could be done several ways from fuel cost over the course of a year, how efficiently a vehicle slips through the air, and other metrics. Here’s the way that GreenerCars comes to the rankings that it does.
“To calculate GreenerCars scores, ACEEE evaluates each model year 2024 car on its cost to human health from air pollution associated with vehicle manufacturing and disposal, the production and distribution of fuel or electricity, and vehicle tailpipe emissions.”
For 2024 the first-place winner is the Toyota Prius Prime SE with a score of 71. ACEEE estimates you’d only need $529 to fuel the Prius over the course of a year. It’s the third time that it’s won and most of the victory comes down to weight. “It’s the shape of the body, the technology within it, and the overall weight,” said Peter Huether, senior research associate for transportation at ACEEE to the Washington Post. “And all different types of Priuses are very efficient.” Read More > at Car Scoops
Study finds daily fiber supplement improves older adults’ brain function in just 12 weeks – A daily fiber supplement improved brain function in people over 60 in just 12 weeks. The study, published recently in Nature Communications by researchers from the School of Life Course & Population Sciences showed that this simple and cheap addition to diet can improve performance in memory tests associated with early signs of Alzheimer’s disease.
However, the prebiotic supplements inulin and FOS were found to have no effect on muscle strength over this period.
“We are excited to see these changes in just 12 weeks. This holds huge promise for enhancing brain health and memory in our aging population. Unlocking the secrets of the gut-brain axis could offer new approaches for living more healthily for longer,” says first author Dr. Mary Ni Lochlainn from the Department of Twin Research.
Researchers assigned 36 twin pairs—72 individuals—over 60 years old to receive either a placebo or the supplement every day for 12 weeks. Neither the analysis team, nor the participants knew which they received until the analysis was complete (double-blind). Alongside this, all study participants did resistance exercises and ate a protein supplement which was aimed at improving muscle function.
Researchers monitored participants remotely via video, online questionnaires and cognitive tests. They found the fiber supplement led to significant changes in the participants’ gut microbiome composition, particularly an increase in the numbers of beneficial bacteria such as Bifidobacterium.
While there was no significant difference in muscle strength between the groups, the group receiving the fiber supplement performed better in tests assessing brain function, including the Paired Associates Learning test which is an early marker for Alzheimer’s disease, together with tests of reaction time and processing speed. These measures are important for daily living—for example reacting to traffic or stopping a simple trip-up turning into a fall. Read More > at Medical Xpress
Public rejects Biden’s pleas, buys more guns – The nation’s gun-buying binge remained robust last month amid the Biden administration’s latest plans to cut sales and intimidate customers.
The FBI said it conducted 2,336,390 checks through its National Instant Criminal Background Check System. The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the industry trade group, said that included an estimated 1,343,478 specifically for gun sales.
February was the 55th consecutive month that gun sales approved by the FBI exceeded 1 million. NSSF said the number was likely higher since the FBI count does not include all other legal pathways to obtaining a firearm.
The record-breaking sales were in part a reaction to President Joe Biden’s efforts to tighten gun control, NSSF spokesman Mark Oliva said. Read More > in the Washington Examiner
De-extinction of the woolly mammoth takes a major step forwards: Scientists successfully reprogramme elephant stem cells – and it could allow them to resurrect the lost species by 2028 – It has been more than 4,000 years since the woolly mammoth last walked the Earth, but these extinct giants might not be gone for good.
Researchers have made a major breakthrough that could see woolly mammoths returning to life before 2028.
Scientists from Colossal Biosciences have successfully created elephant ‘pluripotent’ stem cells which can grow into any cell in the body.
Dr George Church, co-founder and lead geneticist of Colossal, told MailOnline that the creation of these cells ‘opens the door’ to the de-extinction of the mammoth.
The key to this development is the ability to induce elephant cells to become pluripotent stem cells.
In 2006, a scientist named Shinya Yamanaka discovered a way to use a chemical cocktail to trigger cells from adult animals to turn into stem cells – those with the unique ability to grow into any other type of cell.
While this has already been done successfully in humans, rabbits, big cats, and even the northern white rhino, until now, it had never been done before with an elephant. Read More > in the Daily Mail
Nine Species of Human Once Walked Earth. Now There’s Just One. Did We Kill The Rest? – Nine human species walked the Earth 300,000 years ago. Now there is just one. The Neanderthals, Homo neanderthalensis, were stocky hunters adapted to Europe’s cold steppes.
The related Denisovans inhabited Asia, while the more primitive Homo erectus lived in Indonesia, and Homo rhodesiensis in central Africa.
Several short, small-brained species survived alongside them: Homo naledi in South Africa, Homo luzonensis in the Philippines, Homo floresiensis (“hobbits”) in Indonesia, and the mysterious Red Deer Cave People in China.
Given how quickly we’re discovering new species, more are likely waiting to be found.
By 10,000 years ago, they were all gone. The disappearance of these other species resembles a mass extinction. But there’s no obvious environmental catastrophe – volcanic eruptions, climate change, asteroid impact – driving it.
Instead, the extinctions’ timing suggests they were caused by the spread of a new species, evolving 260,000-350,000 years ago in Southern Africa: Homo sapiens.
The spread of modern humans out of Africa has caused a sixth mass extinction, a greater than 40,000-year event extending from the disappearance of Ice Age mammals to the destruction of rainforests by civilisation today. But were other humans the first casualties? Read More > at Science Alert
What Sweden brings to NATO – Sweden is joining NATO, and it’s not coming empty-handed.
Sweden’s membership is a huge geopolitical boost for NATO. Alliance members now encircle the Baltic Sea (with the exception of the narrow entry to St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad). As well as making life difficult for Russia’s Baltic Sea Fleet, it also gives the alliance the ability to monitor critical pipelines and cables beneath the surface.
It makes everything from Saab JAS 39 Gripen single-engine supersonic fighters to Carl Gustav recoilless rifles, AT4 shoulder-fired anti-tank weapons, Gotland-class submarines, and RBS15 anti-ship missiles. It also cooperates with other military producers, with one example being the Stridsvagn 122, the Swedish version of the German Leopard 2 tank.
Sweden first applied for NATO membership in May 2022, along with Finland, just three months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While Finland successfully joined the alliance in just under a year, Sweden’s road to membership was elongated and faced significant opposition from Turkey and Hungary. Read More > at Politico
Romick in Oakley 