West
Experts rip 'triple crown of bad regs' as Biden admin posts gas stove rule it denied was a ban
After repeatedly denying that it wants to formally ban natural gas-powered stoves, the Energy Department posted to the Federal Register its finalized regulation targeting kitchen appliances.
Critics from Congress to energy advocacy groups slammed the new rule, which administration officials have long denied would constitute a ban.
But American Energy Alliance president Tom Pyle said it nonetheless wins the “Triple Crown for bad regulations.”
“It’s ineffective, unnecessary, and likely illegal,” Pyle said, going on to acknowledge that the administration had watered down the original 2023-drafted policy.
BIDEN ADMIN BACKS OFF GAS STOVE CRACKDOWN AFTER WIDESPREAD PUSHBACK
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
“After receiving severe backlash for moving to ban gas stoves, the Biden-Harris administration settled for this rule, which they claim would lower costs for families. Of course, what they don’t tell you is their so-called savings is a mere 21 cents a year.”
Pyle said that if Democrats continue to hold power, the rule will be a “mere down payment” on future regulatory overreach that will try to control other mundane aspects of daily life like cooking.
“American consumers [are] fully capable of choosing the appliances that best suit their needs,” he said.
The Department of Energy, however, defended the regulation — including against claims that it had waffled on the matter.
A spokesman said the rule posted to the Federal Register mirrors the regulation devised earlier in the year, and that this final rule has the support of groups like the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.
A spokesman for the Energy Department it is “building on decades-long efforts with industry to ensure our appliances work more efficiently and save Americans money.”
“When you look past misleading rhetoric, you’ll see that our appliance standards actions are intended for nothing more than promoting innovation and increasing energy efficiency without sacrificing the reliability and performance that Americans have come to expect and rely on,” they said.
However, lawmakers who have tried to blunt “bans” or regulations on home appliances and other implements that require fossil fuel power were not convinced of the new rule’s benefits.
In 2023, Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Wash., successfully drafted an amendment to an energy bill that would prohibit Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s department from implementing the original energy standard for cooktops.
“If this draconian rule were carried out, it would eliminate anywhere between 50-95% of today’s gas appliances,” Newhouse said at the time.
WHITE HOUSE FINALIZES RULE INCREASING CLEAN ENERGY SUBSIDIES FIVEFOLD IN BID TO SUPPORT GREEN JOBS
President Biden. (Getty Images)
“Gas appliances are at the center of American households. They power our stoves, furnaces, water heaters and fireplaces,” he said, calling natural gas “affordable, reliable and safe.”
On Thursday, a spokesman for Newhouse said the lawmaker’s efforts were a “leading factor” in having the original rule rescinded and revised to its current form.
“While this new rule will still require strenuous federal oversight by Congress, it does prevent states like California and Washington from implementing sweeping, radical rules that are completely unreasonable for consumers and producers and will only pave the way for other states to follow,” the spokesman said.
Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., whose Gas Stove Protection & Freedom Act passed the House but has languished in the Senate for a year, called the new rule being posted “incredibly frustrating and out of touch.”
“Americans are concerned about the fentanyl crisis that is crippling communities, and many Americans are worried about being able to provide for their families and put food on the table. Instead of considering the immediate needs of many Americans, the administration has chosen to prioritize attacking gas stoves to appease climate extremists,” Armstrong said, adding that it shows that the administration wants to control every aspect of life.
Heritage Action for America Vice President Ryan Walker said the Department of Energy is “villanizing natural gas” despite its affordability and clean-burning qualities.
“After insisting they had no plans to ban gas stoves, the Biden-Harris administration just plowed ahead with its new rule that may price the hugely popular appliances out of existence,” Walker said, adding, “The Left only cares about virtue signaling and pandering to their extreme base, not the hardworking Americans trying to make ends meet and put food on the table. The next conservative administration can and should reverse the Biden-Harris appliance crackdown.”
Democrats who were either vociferously opposed to Republican efforts to blunt regulations or in favor of such rules did not offer reaction to the news.
Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Washington. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., the ranking member on the House Energy & Commerce Committee, said of 2023 efforts to stop such regulation, “House Republicans are once again putting polluters over people.”
Pallone did not respond to a request for comment.
Neither did Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, D-Pa., who previously called cost-related concerns about forcing Americans off natural gas a “conspiracy theory cooked up to embroil Congress in culture wars that shed more heat than light on the issues facing our nation.”
The Philadelphia lawmaker said in 2023 the rule proposed at the time would save consumers $1.7 billion collectively.
One longtime Democrat did, however, speak out against the original 2023 draft of the rule, as Sen. Joe Manchin, I-W.V., said the feds “have no business telling American families how to cook their dinner.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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New Mexico
New Mexico confirms latest measles case at a local jail
The number of confirmed measles cases in New Mexico increased to six after the state’s Department of Health confirmed Wednesday a new case inside a local jail in Las Cruces.
A federal inmate being held in the Doña Ana County Detention Center is the latest person to have tested positive for measles. The New Mexico Department of Health said others may have been exposed to the highly contagious disease from this confirmed case if they visited the U.S. District Court building in Las Cruces on Feb. 24.
State heath officials are now urging anyone who was at the courthouse that day to check their vaccination status and report any measles symptoms from now until March 17 to a health care provider.
“The New Mexico Department of Health continues to urge people to get the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination,” Dr. Chad Smelser, New Mexico’s deputy state epidemiologist, said in a statement. “Vaccine is the best tool to protect you from measles.”
Measles spreads through the air and people who contract the virus may experience symptoms such as runny nose, fever, cough, red eyes and a distinctive blotchy rash. These symptoms can develop between one and three weeks after exposure.
All of the six confirmed measles cases in New Mexico so far are federal detainees.
The first measles case was detected in the Hidalgo County Detention Center on Feb. 25, when a detainee, whose vaccination status was unknown, tested positive for the disease by the New Mexico Department of Health’s Scientific Laboratory.
Two days later, a second federal inmate in the same jail tested positive for the virus alongside two detainees in the Luna County Detention Center and another in the Doña Ana County Detention Center.
Both the Luna County and Doña Ana detention centers are local jails that also serve as holding facilities for federal immigration enforcement.
New Mexico health officials said they are the state’s first confirmed cases of this year, following a statewide outbreak in 2025 that sickened 100 people from mid-February to mid-September.
With two measles cases reported on each of the three local jails, Smelser said that the New Mexico Department of Health has sent vaccination teams to all three facilities.
State health officials are also “coordinating with all the facilities to assure all quarantine, isolation, testing and vaccination protocols are followed to minimize risk of measles spread.”
According to the NBC News measles tracker, more than 1,000 cases have been counted nationwide just in the first two months of this year. That’s nearly half the amount of cases confirmed in the United States in all of last year.
As 2026 already stands as one of the three worst years for measles infections in the country since 2000, another measles outbreak was confirmed this week in Texas inside the nation’s largest immigration detention facility.
On Wednesday, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson told NBC News that a least 14 cases of measles were confirmed inside Camp East Montana, which is located on the Fort Bliss Army base in El Paso.
The people who tested positive for measles have been “cohorted and separated from the rest of the detained population to prevent further spread,” the ICE spokesperson said.
Oregon
Where Oregon Ducks rank in industry recruiting rankings for 2027 class
With the winter evaluation period of high school football recruiting now behind us, we’ve seen some of the top recruiting sites update their rankings over the past few weeks and start to reset their boards for the 2027 class. In February, On3 shifted players around after getting fresh looks at the class, and 247Sports did the same earlier this week.
So with Oregon’s handful of commits getting new ratings, where does the Ducks’ class rank nationally in this cycle?
If you look at sites individually, it looks different, with 247Sports having Oregon sitting at No. 13 in the nation. At Rivals, though, they take the industry ranking, which factors in their own rankings, plus an average from 247Sports and ESPN.
In the industry rankings, Oregon sits at No. 9 in the nation, with five commitments.
Going into the summer months, the Ducks are in a great spot, leading or among the top schools for a handful of the top prospects in the nation, like 5-star QB Will Mencl or 5-star WR Dakota Guerrant. We will see what movement Oregon can make in the coming months after official visits take place early in the summer.
Contact/Follow @Ducks_Wire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oregon Ducks news, notes, and opinions.
Utah
22-year-old arrested in Utah in connection to Las Vegas double-homicide
LAS VEGAS (FOX5) — Officials have identified a 22-year-old man as the suspect in a Las Vegas homicide case that killed two people in a Southern Highlands neighborhood.
Detectives say 22-year-old Ziaire Ham was the suspect in the case. According to officials, Ham was located on Tuesday, March 3, by the Ogden City Police Department and the Utah Highway Patrol.
Ham was taken into custody and booked into the Weber County Jail. Las Vegas authorities said he will be charged with open murder with the use of a deadly weapon and will be extradited back to the valley.
MORE ON FOX5: LVMPD corrections officer arrested on multiple felony charges
The shooting occurred Monday night at the 11000 block of Victoria Medici Street, near Starr Ave and Dean Martin Drive.
According to police, officers were conducting a vehicle stop in the area when they heard gunfire. After searching nearby neighborhoods they found a car with bullet impacts with a woman and a toddler inside suffering from gunshot wounds.
The pair were transported to hospital where they later died. The Clark County Coroner’s Office identified them as Danaijha Robinson, 20, and 1-year-old Nhalani Hiner.
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