California
Feds offer $1B to keep California’s last nuclear plant open
The Biden administration on Monday introduced preliminary approval to spend as much as $1.1 billion to assist hold California’s final working nuclear energy plant working, whilst officers turned down a request for monetary assist to restart a closed nuclear plant in Michigan.
The Vitality Division stated it was making a path ahead for the Diablo Canyon Energy Plant on California’s central coast to stay open, with last phrases to be negotiated and finalized. The plant, which had been scheduled to shut by 2025, was chosen within the first spherical of funding for the administration’s new civil nuclear credit score program, meant to bail out financially distressed house owners or operators of nuclear energy reactors.
This system is a part of Biden’s effort to chop planet-warming greenhouse gasoline emissions in half by 2030, in contrast with 2005 ranges.
“This can be a essential step towards making certain that our home nuclear fleet will proceed offering dependable and inexpensive energy to People because the nation’s largest supply of unpolluted electrical energy,” Vitality Secretary Jennifer Granholm stated in a press release.
Approval of the funding got here because the Vitality Division turned down a request by the Palisades nuclear plant for funding to restart operations. The plant alongside Lake Michigan was shut down final spring after producing electrical energy for greater than 50 years.
Granholm served two phrases as Michigan governor earlier than turning into Vitality secretary. A spokeswoman stated Monday that Granholm’s tenure as governor performed no position within the choice on the Palisades plant.
Michigan’s Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had introduced collectively a coalition to develop a plan that will have reopened a non-operational nuclear plant for the primary time in U.S. historical past. Regardless of the non permanent setback, Whitmer “will proceed competing to carry residence transformational initiatives creating hundreds of good-paying jobs to our state in autos, chips, batteries, and clear power,’’ stated spokesman Bobby Leddy.
Palisades proprietor Holtec Worldwide stated they absolutely understood that trying to restart a shuttered nuclear plant can be each a problem and a primary for the nuclear trade.
The Biden administration launched the $6 billion effort in April to rescue nuclear energy crops susceptible to closing, citing the necessity to proceed nuclear power as a carbon-free supply of energy that helps to fight local weather change. Nuclear energy supplies about 20% of electrical energy within the U.S., or about half the nation’s carbon-free power. The bailout program is the most important federal funding in saving financially distressed nuclear reactors.
Most U.S. nuclear crops had been constructed between 1970 and 1990, and prices to function the getting old fleet are growing.
PG&E, which operates Diablo Canyon, stated the federal funds can be used to pay again a mortgage from the state of California to assist extending operations on the plant and decrease prices for patrons. PG&E spokesperson Suzanne Hosn stated there are nonetheless further federal and state approvals required to resume the plant’s license and to function previous 2025.
PG&E is taking actions to hunt re-licensing whereas additionally persevering with to plan for the eventual decommissioning of the plant, Hosn stated. The seaside plant positioned halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco produces 9% of the state’s electrical energy. California Gov. Gavin Newsom has stated continued operation of Diablo Canyon past 2025 is “essential to make sure statewide power system reliability” as local weather change stresses the power system.
Newsom signed laws in September to open the way in which for the plant to function for an extra 5 years, a transfer he stated was wanted to push back doable blackouts because the state transitions to photo voltaic, wind and different renewable power sources.
Newsom stated Monday he appreciates the “essential assist” from the federal authorities and appears ahead to working collectively to “construct a clear, inexpensive and dependable power future.”
“This funding creates a path ahead for a limited-term extension of the Diablo Canyon Energy Plant to assist reliability statewide and supply an onramp for extra clear power initiatives to come back on-line,” Newsom stated in a press release.
The Vitality Division intends to just accept annual functions for the civil nuclear credit score program by way of fiscal 2031, or till the $6 billion runs out. Nuclear plant house owners or operators can bid on credit for monetary help to maintain working. To qualify, plant house owners or operators have to point out the reactors are projected to retire for financial causes and emissions would enhance.
The primary spherical prioritized reactors which have already introduced plans to shut. The second spherical can be opened as much as extra economically at-risk amenities, the Vitality Division stated. This system was funded by way of President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure legislation.
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McDermott reported from Windfall, Rhode Island. Related Press writers Kathleen Ronayne in Sacramento, California, and Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
California
Dickies to say goodbye to Texas, hello to Southern California
FORT WORTH, Texas — Dickies is leaving Cowtown for the California coast, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
The 102-year-old Texas workwear brand, which is owned by VF Corp., is making the move from Fort Worth to Costa Mesa in order to be closer to its sister brand, Vans.
Dickies was founded in Fort Worth in 1922 by E.E. “Colonel” Dickie. Today, Dickies Arena is the entertainment hub of the city and home of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo.
The company is expected to make the move by May. Approximately 120 employees will be affected, the report said.
By moving one of its offices closer to the other, VF Corp. says it can “consolidate its real estate portfolio,” as well as “create an even more vibrant campus,” Ashley McCormack, director of external communications at VF Corp. said in the report.
Dickies isn’t the only rugged brand owned by VF Corp. The company also has ownership of Timberland, The North Face and JanSport.
VF Corp. acquired Dickies in 2017 for $820 million.
“Their contributions to our city’s culture, economy and identity are immeasurable,” District 9 City Council member Elizabeth Beck, who represents the area of downtown Fort Worth where Dickies headquarters is currently located, said in a statement to the Fort Worth Report. “While we understand their business decision, it is bittersweet to see a company that started right here in Fort Worth take this next step. We are committed to supporting the employees who remain here and will work to honor the lasting imprint Dickies has left on our community.”
California
Caitlyn Jenner says she'd 'destroy' Kamala Harris in hypothetical race to be CA gov
SAN FRANCISCO – Caitlyn Jenner, the gold-medal Olympian-turned reality TV personality, is considering another run for Governor of California. This time, she says, if she were to go up against Vice President Kamala Harris, she would “destroy her.”
Jenner, who publicly came out as transgender nearly 10 years ago, made a foray into politics when she ran as a Republican during the recall election that attempted to unseat Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. Jenner only received one percent of the vote and was not considered a serious candidate.
Jenner posted this week on social media that she’s having conversations with “many people” and hopes to have an announcement soon about whether she will run.
Caitlyn Jenner speaks at the 4th annual Womens March LA: Women Rising at Pershing Square on January 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Chelsea Guglielmino/Getty Images)
She has also posted in Trumpian-style all caps: “MAKE CA GREAT AGAIN!”
As for VP Harris, she has not indicated any future plans for when she leaves office. However, a recent poll suggests Harris would have a sizable advantage should she decide to run in 2026. At that point, Newsom cannot run again because of term limits.
If Jenner decides to run and wins, it would mark the nation and state’s first transgender governor.
California
Northern California 6-year-old, parents hailed as heroes for saving woman who crashed into canal
LIVE OAK — A six-year-old and her parents are being called heroes by a Northern California community for jumping into a canal to save a 75-year-old woman who drove off the road.
It happened on Larkin Road near Paseo Avenue in the Sutter County community of Live Oak on Monday.
“I just about lost her, but I didn’t,” said Terry Carpenter, husband of the woman who was rescued. “We got more chances.”
Terry said his wife of 33 years, Robin Carpenter, is the love of his life and soulmate. He is grateful he has been granted more time to spend with her after she survived her car crashing off a two-lane road and overturning into a canal.
“She’s doing really well,” Terry said. “No broken bones, praise the Lord.”
It is what some call a miracle that could have had a much different outcome without a family of good Samaritans.
“Her lips were purple,” said Ashley Martin, who helped rescue the woman. “There wasn’t a breath at all. I was scared.”
Martin and her husband, Cyle Johnson, are being hailed heroes by the Live Oak community for jumping into the canal, cutting Robin out of her seat belt and pulling her head above water until first responders arrived.
“She was literally submerged underwater,” Martin said. “She had a back brace on. Apparently, she just had back surgery. So, I grabbed her brace from down below and I flipped her upward just in a quick motion to get her out of that water.”
The couple said the real hero was their six-year-old daughter, Cayleigh Johnson.
“It was scary,” Cayleigh said. “So the car was going like this, and it just went boom, right into the ditch.”
Cayleigh was playing outside and screamed for her parents who were inside the house near the canal.
I spoke with Robin from her hospital bed over the phone who told us she is in a lot of pain but grateful.
“The thing I can remember is I started falling asleep and then I was going over the bump and I went into the ditch and that’s all I remember,” Robin said.
It was a split-second decision for a family who firefighters said helped save a stranger’s life.
“It’s pretty unique that someone would jump in and help somebody that they don’t even know,” said Battalion Chief for Sutter County Fire Richard Epperson.
Robin is hopeful that she will be released from the hospital on Wednesday in time to be home for Thanksgiving.
“She gets Thanksgiving and Christmas now with her family and grandkids,” Martin said.
Terry and Robin are looking forward to eventually meeting the family who helped save Robin’s life. The family expressed the same feelings about meeting the woman they helped when she is out of the hospital.
“I can’t wait for my baby to get home,” Terry said.
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