Austin, TX
ERCOT says grid is prepared for freezing temperatures
AUSTIN, Texas — Snow shovels may not be needed next week, but Spectrum News meteorologist Dan Robertson says northeast Texas down to San Marcos should prepare for colder weather.
“In this particular case, the freezing temperatures will mainly be overnight, early morning, and each afternoon most of the state will rise a little bit above freezing,” said Robertson.
Officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas expect the grid to be adequate in a winter storm. However, there is a 50 to 80% chance of rolling blackouts if a storm lasts several days.
ERCOT said in a statement that it is “closely monitoring the winter weather conditions moving into Texas next week. Grid conditions are expected to be normal.”
“One of the things that we don’t really know for sure is how long this is going to last, these polar air masses being very dense and heavy. They tend to get into the area and then just hang around until something comes along to push them out,” said Robertson.
In correlation with low temperatures, ERCOT forecasts show an increased energy demand early next week. Energy expert Ed Hirs predicts the power plants will remain operable, but at a cost to consumers.
“If a few of these plants don’t show up, then the price across the grid will go from, say, $50 a megawatt hour to $5,000 a megawatt hour, or in wholesale terms for the consumer, it will go from 5 cents a kilowatt hour to $5 a kilowatt hour,” said Hirs.
Competitive pricing for consumers is why the Rio Grande Electric Co-op, which owns power lines across 18 Texas counties, wants to connect its New Mexico consumers to the Texas power grid.
“Connect to ERCOT, then we have a bigger pool to, you know, find better pricing, a better source,” said Theresa Quiroz, CEO at Rio Grande Electric.
ERCOT and the Public Utilities Commission of Texas, which regulates the grid, oppose the out-of-state connection.
In a filing, PUCT warns that Rio Grande Electric’s request could trigger federal oversight and “disrupt the jurisdictional status quo for ERCOT and the utilities operating in ERCOT that the PUCT regulates.”
“We can’t leave our members out in the dark,” said Quiroz.
In November, Rio Grande Electric asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to determine whether connecting its New Mexico customers to ERCOT would require federal regulation.
“In our filing we talk about hypothetical projects that could come to fruition if, you know, the FERC matter gets resolved and they give us permission to move forward. Now, once we get that, then we go to the Public Utility Commission with an actual project that they can review, dissect and inform us which direction we need to go in,” said Quiroz.
But energy experts warn federal oversight may be unavoidable if ERCOT can’t keep the power on this winter.
“I would expect that President Trump is going to make an effort to throw ERCOT under federal oversight and regulation, simply because this is a huge national security issue for this country,” said Hirs.
As the freezing weather moves closer, power plants are required to weatherize equipment, and Texans are advised to weatherize their homes.
“The main thing is to make sure that your heating ventilation system is well-functioning and is ready to be tested over the next seven days or so,” said Robertson.
Austin, TX
Mother searching for answers after Texas college student Brianna Aguilera found dead after football game
The mother of a Texas college student is desperately searching for answers after her daughter was found dead near campus after attending a tailgate, according to reports and authorities.
Brianna Aguilera, a 19-year-old student at Texas A&M University, was discovered dead outside an apartment complex around 1 a.m. Saturday morning, just hours after she attended a tailgate for Texas A&M’s football game against the University of Texas, KSAT reported.
Aguilera’s mother, Stephanie Rodriguez, told the outlet that she has received inconsistent answers from the Austin Police Department after investigators said Aguilera likely died by suicide.
Detectives told her she had fallen from 17 floors, the mother recalled.
“There are a lot of inconsistencies with the story,” Rodriguez said. “He told me they said she jumped, and then he told me that the friends said they didn’t know her whereabouts.”
The heartbroken mother said her daughter, a sophomore at the university, was not suicidal and was looking forward to her future as a lawyer.
Rodriguez called police after her daughter did not answer her phone after Friday’s game, noting she saw Aguilera’s phone pinging in Austin.
Cops then instructed her to wait 24 hours before filing a missing persons report, the outlet reported.
Officers later found Aguilera’s cellphone on Saturday. However, Rodriguez was not told until 4 p.m. that day that her daughter was in the morgue, the mother recalled.
Rodriguez believes something more sinister could have been at play leading up to the fatal fall.
She maintained that one of the 15 people inside the apartment must know something about her daughter’s death.
“There was a fight that happened between my daughter and another girl, and they were all staying in the same apartment that I have actual text messages of, and the detective just disregarded them,” Rodriguez said.
Austin police said Aguilera’s death is not being investigated as a homicide, as the investigation has not revealed any suspicious details, the outlet reported.
The Travis County Medical Examiner’s Office will determine the aspiring lawyer’s cause of death.
Aguilera hailed from Laredo, where she attended United High School. She was a “seasoned cheerleader” and received Magna Cum Laude honors before graduating high school, according to a GoFundMe organized for her loved ones.
“She was pursuing her dream of becoming a lawyer and was attending The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M,” the statement continued.
“The details surrounding what happened next remain unclear, and her mother is still awaiting answers,” the fundraiser continued.
The GoFundMe has since raised over $28,000, more than double its $12,000 goal.
“Im so grateful for your love and support at this moment. The unexpected loss of my brie brie has been a tremendous challenge, but I find strength in the outpouring of kindness,” Rodriguez said in a Monday message to the hoards of supporters.
“I’ve experienced every parent’s worst fear, but I’m comforted by the knowledge that my brie brie touched so many hearts.”
Texas A&M University did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Austin, TX
Austin Light Rail gets ‘medium-high’ rating from federal transit officials
AUSTIN, Texas — The Austin Light Rail project is creeping closer to the station after a promising rating from federal transit officials last week.
In an annual funding recommendation report from the Federal Transit Administration, the project received an overall project rating and local financial commitment summary rating of “medium-high.” It also received “medium” ratings for mobility improvement, land use and project justification summary.
The line received a cost-effectiveness rating of “low,” which may reflect the problems the Austin Light Rail has faced since its 2020 voter approval as part of Project Connect. The project included “a generational $7 billion transit overhaul and an ongoing 20% property tax increase,” the Austin American-Statesman reported, but the cost of the light rail has since increased.
The funding recommendation ratings are set to allow the Austin Transit Partnership to compete for federal funding through the Capital Investment Grant. The line’s overall rating also “signals that federal staff view the project as financially and technically viable,” according to the Statesman.
Austin Light Rail was 27 miles long at the time of Project Connect’s passing but has since been reduced to under 10 miles. It would run north to south between 38th and Oltorf streets and include an eastern spur stretching from Lady Bird Lake area to near the inside of State Highway 71.
Austin, TX
What seed did Texas volleyball get in the NCAA Tournament?
For the first time since 2022, Texas volleyball will enter the NCAA Tournament as a No. 1 seed.
The NCAA Tournament’s selection committee released its field of 64 Sunday, and Texas (23-3) received one of the coveted top-four seeds, which means the Longhorns won’t leave Austin until a possible trip to the Final Four Dec. 18-21 in Kansas City, Mo.
Texas, the No. 3 overall seed, will open the tournament Friday at 7 p.m. against Florida A&M at Gregory Gymnasium on the Longhorns’ campus. With a win, the Longhorns would face either No. 8 seed and defending national champion Penn State or South Florida this weekend in a second-round contest.
If Texas wins both its games this upcoming week, the Longhorns could face No. 4 Indiana, No. 3 Wisconsin or No. 2 Stanford in the regional tournament. Those programs are the other top-four teams in the Longhorns’ Austin Quadrant.
The NCAA will release its full tournament schedule later Sunday.
The NCAA volleyball tournament is structured like college basketball’s postseason tournament and features 64 teams, including 31 automatic qualifiers and 33 at-large selections. The selection committee seeded the top 32 teams with the top 16 identified in rank order.
Top-ranked Nebraska, the nation’s only unbeaten team, is the No. 1 overall seed while SEC champion Kentucky is the No. 2 seed. Pittsburgh earned the final No. 1 seed and the fourth overall seed.
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