The developer said that the project qualifies for Investment Tax Credits (ITC) under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), and energyRE has signed a ten-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with regional utility Dominion Energy South Carolina for power produced at Lone Star.

On top of the PPA, energyRe said that Belgian-headquartered chemical company Syensqo will purchase all of the Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) generated by Lone Star Solar, which will offset 35% of the company’s US emissions from electricity purchases.

To see the full version of this article go to PV Tech.

NEW YORK — Keith Davidson will be back on the stand Thursday morning to continue testifying against former President Donald Trump in a New York criminal trial.

Davidson, who had represented the two women at the center of the trial, began testifying Tuesday.

He is the sixth witness to testify against the former president in this case. Trump faces 34 felony counts alleging that he falsified New York business records in order to conceal damaging information to influence the 2016 presidential election. Trump claims the trial itself is “election interference” because of how it is disrupting his 2024 bid for president.

Who is Keith Davidson?

Davidson testified on Tuesday that he was at one point the lawyer for both Karen McDougal, a Playboy model, and Stormy Daniels, an adult film star. Both women alleged that they had affairs with Trump, stories that the prosecution argues Trump wanted to quash as he was running in the 2016 presidential election. He testified Tuesday afternoon before court adjourned until today.

How does he fit in the prosecution’s case?

Davidson testified to negotiating the payments McDougal and Daniels received in exchange for selling their stories to the National Enquirer tabloid. Leadership at the National Enquirer promised Trump they’d help his campaign by finding stories that could be harmful and paying for the rights of the stories but never running them.

Jurors saw text exchanges between Davidson and National Enquirer editor Dylan Howard that showed Davidson negotiating dollar amounts for McDougal and Daniels. He also testified to knowing that the tabloid would not publish the stories. He said he was looking to get the biggest payout for his clients, and he knew this would benefit Trump’s election efforts, even though he did not know about the specific deal made between Trump and tabloid leadership.

The payments made constitute the 34 “falsified” business records the prosecution alleged Trump made. In opening statements, prosecutors argued that Trump’s lawyer Michael Cohen submitted 11 “phony invoices” paid for by checks with “false entries” signed by Trump himself.

Trump has pleaded not guilty and argues that all he did was pay his lawyer.

Who else has the jury heard from so far?

Jurors have heard from five other witnesses including:

• David Pecker, former CEO of American Media Inc. He testified about making a deal with Trump and Cohen in 2015 to help Trump’s campaign by finding potentially damaging stories and helping to kill them.
• Rhona Graff, a longtime executive assistant at the Trump Organization. She testified against her former boss about how she entered McDougal’s and Daniels’ contact information into the Trump Organization’s directory. Her testimony verified Trump’s contact lists.
• Gary Farro, a former banker at First Republic Bank. He testified about opening accounts for Cohen that would eventually be used to pay Daniels. He said if he had known what the accounts would be used for they may not have ever been opened. 
• Robert Browning, executive director for archives for C-SPAN. He verified two 2016 Trump campaign clips and one 2017 press conference clip where Trump called Cohen a talented lawyer and where Trump called allegations from women lies.
• Phillip Thompson of Esquire Deposition Solutions. He verified video and transcript of a 2022 deposition Trump gave for his civil defamation lawsuit against writer E. Jean Carroll. In a video clip played from the deposition, Trump confirms his wife is Melania Trump and his Truth Social handle, among other things.

Copyright 2024 NPR

I’ll never forget discovering GamecockCentral.com.

Growing up, I wasn’t really into college sports. I was more of an NFL, NBA kid. That’s what was on the TV growing up. Being from Anderson, I was generally surrounded by Clemson and Georgia fans. While neither of those segments was able to capture me, there wasn’t exactly a wealth of Gamecocks around, either.

It wasn’t until high school, when I took a visit to South Carolina’s campus with my friend, that I began to understand.

My buddy’s sister went to Carolina and invited us down to Columbia. The Georgia Bulldogs were in town. Troy Williamson took a slant 64 yards for a touchdown. Ko Simpson picked off David Greene and took it to the house. The fans in Williams-Brice Stadium were losing their minds.

The second half didn’t go as well. The Gamecocks would go on to lose a heartbreaker, 16-10.

It didn’t matter to me.

I was hooked.

From there, I started really paying attention. I looked online for websites with information on USC sports and recruiting and came across a cool website run by someone named Brian Shoemaker.

I was a poor college kid, but I just had to get the premium subscription anyway. The information was too riveting, the message boards too entertaining.

From a computer in my Whaley’s Mill apartment on USC’s campus, I perused recruiting profiles and discussed with friends all the four-star prospects who were definitely going to be the next stars in Columbia.

I could have never predicted that that website would allow me to be employed just a few years later.

And I couldn’t have dreamed that I would still be here 15 years after that.

The plan at USC was to finish undergrad and go to law school, but I had always enjoyed writing. My first job out of college was as a legal assistant for a criminal defense attorney.

I was so deep into the world of Gamecock sports that I began to do some freelancing. I sometimes did this in the middle of my duties helping to defend the wrongfully accused. The first football story I ever wrote online was a piece on South Carolina’s special teams, coached at the time by Shane Beamer.

I had opened up a conversation with Shoe about possibly doing some part-time work for him. One day, he sent an email that went something like this:

“Actually, I’m going to have a full-time position open.”

I was surprised, mainly that he would want to talk with me about that job. Nonetheless, an interview was set.

The meeting took place in – almost hilariously now – the Whitney Hotel.

Somehow, I got the job.

I think it’s most likely because some guy named Wes Mitchell was under contract elsewhere and Shoe couldn’t hire him.

Either way, I was in. And boy, was I clueless.

On top of getting married in just a few months and needing to buy a house, I also needed to really learn how to do this job that Shoe had hired me to do. I was stepping into a competitive market with little experience. The vast majority of USC fans would have no clue who I was, and for good reason.

I had a little runway before I would officially start, but I got to work behind the scenes. I cold-called potential sources and worked on building relationships. I tried to absorb and learn what I could, but I had a long way to go.

That first summer, I covered one of Steve Spurrier’s summer camps. Spurrier, who was brilliant but sometimes aloof, ran across me. When he found out I was with the media – even though the camps were open to everyone including media – he nearly kicked me out. Then-quarterbacks coach G.A. Mangus stood nearby, watching it all and trying not to laugh.

Not all was smooth at the beginning. Plenty of other things happened in those early days that were not funny. Many lessons were learned the hard way.

I onboarded at a fun time. Spurrier was recruiting a running back who could revolutionize the team in Marcus Lattimore. The Gamecocks made the SEC Championship game for the first time ever the second year I covered the program.

Before college football got all paranoid, we viewed entire preseason practices. I sat in my tailgating chair on the old Proving Grounds, watching Alshon Jeffery go against Stephon Gilmore in practice.

Clowney arrived. The team won 33 games in three seasons and beat Clemson for five straight seasons.

A couple years later, Spurrier left. It happened unexpectedly at the end of a Monday night practice. Wes – who had by then joined us at GamecockCentral – and I worked to run down the story, beaten barely by a national reporter.

We covered the hiring – and firing – of Will Muschamp, then the search that led to Shane Beamer.

I’ve had a chance to hear the funniest, craziest stories. I’ve been fortunate to break some stories. I’ve been beaten on a bunch of them, too.

There’s not much, by the way, like the thrill of chasing a big scoop and being able to publish it.

That feeling still pales in comparison to the joy from the relationships I’ve been able to form because of this job. I’ve met people I never would have otherwise met in these 15 years. I am very thankful for all those folks and to everyone who’s done so much for me professionally and personally. It seems almost silly sometimes that this is how I get to make my living.

The people that I need to thank the most are the ones that are reading this.

A lot has happened in 15 years. The football team has won games and lost games. Recruits have committed, decommitted, transferred, and even transferred back. On a personal level, I’ve had two children, lost my dad, and gone through more of the real world stuff that gets all of us at one point or another.

Through all of, GamecockCentral has been a constant. You all have been there.

When I published my first Insider Report 15 years ago today, you gave me a chance.

When I stepped away for a bit in the summer of 2022, you all were waiting when I came back.

A couple of years before that, none of us knew if we would even have jobs for much longer, because sporting events were on halt. You stayed subscribed, and we’re still here.

To everyone who has logged on to GamecockCentral.com to read one of our stories, I appreciate you.

For all of our subscribers – many of you far predate my arrival here – the fact that you trusted us enough to join is the reason I get to have this incredible gig.

I hope I can have it for a while longer.

[GamecockCentral for $1: In-depth coverage and a great community]