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☆ Musk’s haphazard philanthropy is under scrutiny
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-12 | by ( Allison Morrow | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

As CEO of Tesla, “I’ve done more for the environment than any single human on Earth,” he told the New York Times last year. But American tax law dangles some significant incentives for them to do so. Musk likely managed to shave a couple billion off his $11 billion tax bill in 2021, thanks to the $5.7 billion he donated to the Musk Foundation, according to the Times. In Musk’s case, according to the Times, that meant giving millions of dollars to Cameron County, Texas. “The way I see Elon Musk is that he’s really pushing the limits of the alternative approaches to philanthropy,” Pasic said.

Persons: CNN Business ’, New York CNN — Elon Musk, Tesla, ”, MacKenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos, “, ’, ’ ” Musk, Musk, ” Amir Pasic, Indiana University Lilly, Elon, ” Pasic Organizations: CNN Business, New York CNN, New York Times, Musk, Times, Indiana University, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, SpaceX Locations: New York, Cameron County , Texas

☆ Half of donations made by The Musk Foundation had links to Musk, his businesses: NYT
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-11 | by ( Alia Shoaib | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Half of donations made in 2021 and 2022 had links to Musk, his employees, or his businesses, it found. The Musk Foundation also regularly falls short of minimum required donations set by tax laws, it said. download the app Email address Sign up By clicking “Sign Up”, you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy . About half of the donations made by Musk's charitable Musk Foundation in 2021 and 2022 had some link to him, one of his employees, or one of his businesses, the analysis found. For instance, in March 2021 the Musk Foundation gave millions to Cameron County — a pledge made by Musk within hours of a SpaceX rocket blowing up and scattering metal across the area.

Persons: Elon, — Organizations: New York Times, Musk Foundation, Service, The New York Times, SpaceX, Business Locations: Cameron

☆ Elon Musk Has a Giant Charity. Its Money Stays Close to Home.
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-10 | by ( David A. Fahrenthold | Ryan Mac | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Before March 2021, Elon Musk’s charitable foundation had never announced any donations to Cameron County, an impoverished region at the southern tip of Texas that is home to his SpaceX launch site and local officials who help regulate it. Then, at 8:05 one morning that month, a SpaceX rocket blew up, showering the area with a rain of twisted metal. The Musk Foundation began giving at 9:27 a.m. local time.

Persons: Elon Organizations: SpaceX, Musk Foundation Locations: Cameron County, Texas

☆ First U.S. malaria cases diagnosed in decades in Florida and Texas
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Sharon Bernstein | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Tobias Schwarz//File PhotoJune 26 (Reuters) - Five cases of malaria have been confirmed in Florida and Texas, the first time the potentially fatal mosquito-borne disease has been locally acquired in the United States in 20 years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Monday. The four Florida cases, along with one in Texas, have been diagnosed over a period of two months, the agency said. The state of Florida said that its first case was diagnosed on May 26 in Sarasota County, while officials in Texas said on June 23 that a Texas resident who worked outdoors in Cameron County had been diagnosed with the disease. The CDC said in an alert released Monday that malaria is considered a medical emergency, and that anyone with symptoms should be "urgently evaluated." However, the CDC said that risk of malaria remains low in the United States, and that most cases are acquired when people travel outside of the country.

Persons: Tobias Schwarz, Sharon Bernstein, Stephen Coates Organizations: REUTERS, Centers for Disease Control, Prevention, CDC, Thomson Locations: Leipzig, Florida, Texas, United States, Sarasota County, Cameron County, Africa

☆ The US documented 3 locally transmitted malaria cases for the first time in 20 years. It's not a reason to panic, but sheds a light on the concerns of climate change
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-27 | by ( Hannah Getahun | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Three cases of malaria spread locally have been identified in Texas and Florida. But in Texas, the Department of State Health Services confirmed Friday that a person working outdoors in Cameron County, Texas, contracted malaria locally. According to the DSHS, although Texas sees about 120 malaria cases a year from international travelers, the last locally acquired case in Texas was detected in 1994. About 1,400 miles away in Sarasota County, Florida, however, two more cases of locally transmitted malaria infections have been identified this year — one in May and one in June. "And I think we should be funding more public health responses."

Persons: —, Vox, Photini Sinnis, Johns, Sinnis, it's, mosquitos Organizations: Service, Department of State Health Services, Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute, WHO Locations: Texas, Florida, Southern, Cameron County , Texas, Sarasota County , Florida, States, United States, mosquitos

☆ At Least 7 Killed After Driver Plows Car Into Group in Texas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-07 | by ( Edgar Sandoval | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

At least seven people were killed in Brownsville, Texas, on Sunday after the driver of a vehicle plowed into a crowd of migrants outside a center that serves homeless people, an official said. The official, Judge Eddie Treviño Jr. of Cameron County, said the group was outside the Ozanam Center, near a bus stop, when a Range Rover barreled down upon them around 8:30 a.m. local time. It was unclear whether the driver had lost control or had intentionally run over the group, Judge Treviño said. He said the driver had been injured and taken to a hospital.

CNN —Environmental groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration in federal court over SpaceX’s launch of its massive Starship rocket last month. ‘All kinds of environmental harm’Ahead of the launch on April 20, the FAA issued a finding that the launch would have no significant impact on its surrounding environment. Margolis told CNN that the SpaceX explosion proves the groups’ legal argument that the FAA erred in its decision-making. The FAA’s roleThe FAA licenses commercial rocket launches and gave the green light for the SpaceX launch attempt after more than a year of back-and-forth. When asked about potential legal backlash from environmental groups on Saturday, Musk was defiant.

☆ FAA sued over SpaceX Starship launch program following April explosion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The SpaceX Starship explodes after launch for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas, on April 20, 2023. The groups argue that the FAA should have conducted an in-depth environmental report, known as an environmental impact statement (EIS), before ever allowing SpaceX to move ahead with its Starship Super Heavy plans in Boca Chica. Later, "based on SpaceX's preference," the lawyers wrote, the federal agency settled on using "a considerably less thorough analysis," which enabled SpaceX to launch sooner. The exact impacts of the launch on the people, habitat and wildlife are still being evaluated by federal and state agencies, and other environmental researchers, alongside and independently from SpaceX. Boca Chica land and wildlife there, namely ocelots, are also sacred to the Carrizo-Comecrudo tribe of Texas.

In the test mission, SpaceX’s Starship launched toward space atop a Super Heavy rocket booster. That could be the determining factor in how long it takes the company to get a new Starship on the launch pad. Such investigations are routine and have taken place after previous — but smaller-scale — Starship test launches in South Texas. Joe Skipper/ReutersSpaceX is not permitted to make another launch attempt of a Starship vehicle until that review is complete. NASAThe US space agency was not directly involved in the Starship flight test, but it has a major stake in Starship’s overall success.

☆ SpaceX Starship explosion ignited 3.5-acre fire and sent debris thousands of feet, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Lora Kolodny | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

Debris litters the ground on April 22, 2023, after the SpaceX Starship liftedoff on April 20 for a flight test from Starbase in Boca Chica, Texas. Fish and Wildlife Service disclosed new details on Wednesday about the aftermath of last week's SpaceX Starship Super Heavy launch and mid-air explosion, including that a "3.5-acre fire started south of the pad site on Boca Chica State Park land," following the test flight. In the agency's e-mailed statement, a spokesperson for the Fish and Wildlife Service said that following the launch and mid-air explosion, "Cameron County closed Boca Chica Beach and State Highway 4 for 48 hours due to launch pad safety concerns." The road closures prevented FWS staff from "accessing refuge-owned and managed land" until mid-morning on April 22, the agency confirmed. Elon Musk's defense contractor designed its Starship Super Heavy with the ambition of taking people and supplies on a Mars mission one day.

☆ SpaceX's Starship mega-rocket was too powerful for its own good
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( Chris Panella | Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Rocks and other debris fly around remote cameras as SpaceX’s Starship lifts off atop its Super Heavy booster for the first time. Starship was too strong for its launchpadA field of debris surrounds Starship's launchpad after the rocket's launch blew up concrete beneath it. Debris litters the Starship launchpad, with damaged fuel tanks visible in the background. PATRICK T. FALLON / Contributor / Getty ImagesThere were no injuries related to the Starship launch, according to the FAA. In addition to the mishap investigation, SpaceX must request a modification to its launch license in order to fly another Starship.

☆ SpaceX's Starship launch kicked up soil and sand that rained down on a nearby beachside town 5 miles away
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( Rebecca Cohen | Chris Panella | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SpaceX's Starship launch kicked up soil and sand that rained down on a town 5 miles away. Port Isabel residents shared pictures of the "particulates" that rained down in the area. One representative from a nearby elementary school said cars were covered in the dust. Starship's explosion shortly after launch also caused a disturbance for Port Isabel residents. "The doors were shaking," the Derry Elementary School representative told Insider.

The congressional races were seen as tests of what has become conventional wisdom and a GOP mantra: that Latino voters are shifting to the Republican Party after President Donald Trump made inroads in the region in 2020. Vallejo won 55.3% of the vote to De La Cruz’s 42.7%, according to unofficial results from the Texas secretary of state. Gilbert Hinojosa, the Texas Democratic Party chairman, said Wednesday that Republicans' "red wave didn’t materialize." In the 34th District, Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez ended Republican Rep. Mayra Flores' short stint in Congress. Suzanne Gamboa / NBC NewsAs voter Benjamin Garza saw it, the Rio Grande Valley is a Democratic oasis in Republican Texas.

☆ Republican Rep. Mayra Flores faces off against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Republican Rep. Mayra Flores is running against Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in Texas' 34th Congressional District. Texas' 34th Congressional District candidatesIn June, Flores flipped the 34th District seat previously held by Democrat Rep. Filemon Vela during a special election after Vela resigned in March. Gonzalez, a three-term congressman who currently represents Texas' 15th Congressional District, serves on the Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth. He chose to seek reelection in the 34th Congressional District after the state legislature placed his home, and much of his old district's urban core, in the newly drawn district. Voting history for Texas' 34th Congressional DistrictTexas' 34th Congressional District stretches from Kleberg County on the Gulf Coast to Cameron County and includes a part of Hidalgo County.

☆ A woman has been charged with trespassing after entering SpaceX's Texas facility because she wanted to speak to Elon Musk, police say
▼ + stars: | 2022-06-06 | by ( Kate Duffy | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Cameron County has charged a woman with trespassing SpaceX's facility in Texas, Sheriff Garza said. The 20-year-old said she was a SpaceX worker and wanted to speak to Elon Musk, per a press release. Parker had stated that she worked at SpaceX and wanted to speak to Musk, the press release said. SpaceX's facility in south Texas, near Boca Chica village, is where the company plans to launch its Starship rocket from. Police issued an arrest warrant in May 2021 for a YouTuber who got into the SpaceX facility and filmed himself walking around the launch site, near the Starship rocket.

☆ SpaceX has become the largest employer in Brownsville, Texas, and estimates $885 million gross output for the county it’s based in, reports say
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-23 | by ( Jyoti Mann | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

The company estimates a gross output of $885 million for the county. The company expects to contribute $885 million in gross economic output for Cameron County, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said on Thursday at the "State of the City" event, per the outlet. SpaceX wanted to expand its Brownsville site and add another launchpad but US Army Corps halted the plans earlier this month as it sought more data. The Brownville-based rocket production site, called Starbase, first started testing rocket engines and flights in 2019. The company started buying up Cameron County properties as early as 2012 and unveiled Texas as its launch site in 2014.

☆ Couple paid $100 for abandoned car they found in a storage unit—Elon Musk bought it from them for nearly $1 million
▼ + stars: | 2019-12-01 | by ( Tom Huddleston Jr. | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Photographer: Bronte Wittpenn/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesIn 1989, a couple from Long Island, New York paid roughly $100 for an unclaimed storage unit. Actors Barbara Bach and Roger Moore, stars of the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me," sit on the 1976 Lotus Esprit. But after they loaded the car onto a truck and set off for home, truckers contacted them via CB radio to let them know they were hauling a James Bond car, according to Redenius. National Motor Museum | Heritage Images | Getty ImagesMusk said he'd grown up watching the Bond movie. The 1976 Lotus Esprit, known as "Wet Nellie," that was used in the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me."

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