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☆ California invested an enormous amount of money into getting EVs on the road, but practically nothing when it comes to dealing with the waste: 'It's totally like the Wild West.'
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-11 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +13 min

"It's totally like the Wild West," said Zora Chung, co-founder of ReJoule, Inc., a startup project based in Signal Hill that is exploring repurposing used batteries from EVs. However, there are no EV battery recycling plants that exist in California, nor tried-and-true recycling programs in place to deal with the fallout. Currently, the company has used batteries deployed at the American Museum of Ceramic Art in Pomona, where solar panels feed electricity into the used battery storage units. Charging station for electric and hybrid cars using solar panels to generate electricity to charge car batteries. "Imagine if it just took you one full work week to qualify one used battery," Chung said.

☆ Michelle Yeoh joins cast of Jon M. Chu's 'Wicked' films
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-09 | by ( ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +1 min

Michelle Yeoh has joined the star-studded cast of Jon M. Chu’s “Wicked” movies, Variety can exclusively reveal. The “Everything Everywhere All At Once” star will play Madame Morrible, the headmistress of Crage Hall at Shiz University. Jeff Goldblum continues to be in talks to play the Wizard, but a final deal has not been signed, according to sources. “She is funny and unbelievably talented and unbelievably sweet and truly working hard. I’m excited for both of us.”Reps for Yeoh and Universal did not comment.

☆ Feds cite rarely used law to charge 12 with violent scheme to 'monopolize' business at U.S.-Mexico border
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Https | Media-Cldnry.S-Nbcnews.Com Image Upload Newscms Julia-Ainsley-Circle-Byline-Template.Jpg | Julia Ainsley | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

The Justice Department invoked a rarely used, 132-year-old law on Tuesday to charge 12 people with running a violent and sometimes deadly scheme to “monopolize” the resale of American cars and other goods in Central America by fixing prices and retaliating against those who refused to be extorted. The Justice Department charged the group under the Sherman Act of 1890, an antitrust regulation used to break up American monopolies Standard Oil in the 1920s and AT&T in the 1970s. Those who challenged the group were met with threats, kidnappings and even death, the indictment said. The defendants’ addresses in the indictment range from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to just across the border in Matamoros, Mexico. The indictment said the group met at the Holiday Inn in Harlingen, Texas, in March 2019 to divide $44,000 in cash.

☆ Ex-'socialite heiressblogger' Emily Brill is back — and she's terrorizing the pet industry
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-06 | by ( Kate Taylor | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

Emily Brill might be the most hated woman in the pet industry. Now, Brill — the preppy blond daughter of the media magnate Steven Brill — is reinventing herself as the founder of the dog-centric publication The Canine Review. Courtesy of Emily Brill Show less One reader even threatened to cancel their subscription because of the so-called bird-massacre photo shoot. Courtesy of Emily Brill Show less Brill says the photos reassure readers that "I'm not a stereotypical sort of Manhattan, head-up-my-ass, agenda, PETA person." It isn't a bad start, but "she's got a long way to go to make it really thrive," Steven Brill told Insider.

Trinidad Gonzales, a professor of history and Mexican American studies at South Texas College, has been honored with the 2022 John Lewis Award for History and Social Justice. Refusing to Forget's work spurred an award-winning exhibit at the Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin — the first time the state had publicly addressed "La Matanza." He played a role in a five-year battle to help change state standards for high school Mexican American history classes. “We all knew internally that it wasn’t just simply a fight for Mexican American studies,” Gonzales told South Texas College. "We're fearful that they're going to try to eliminate Mexican American studies, African American Studies, Indigenous Studies and Asian American studies," Gonzales said in the interview.

☆ Seattle man, 22, sentenced to 4 years in prison for attempting to join ISIS
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-30 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

SEATTLE — A 22-year-old Seattle man was sentenced Tuesday to four years in prison after being arrested while trying to board a flight to join the Islamic State group last year. U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour imposed a four-year sentence to be followed by 15 years of supervised release. “Indeed, he repeatedly stated his intention to commit an act of terror here at home if he could not travel overseas. Members of a Seattle-area mosque tried to deradicalize Williams, helping him with housing, food and tuition for a semester of college. They also gave him a cellphone and a laptop in hopes he would use them to find a job, the complaint said.

WASHINGTON, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday is set to consider whether President Joe Biden's administration can implement guidelines - challenged by two conservative-leaning states - shifting immigration enforcement toward public safety threats in a case testing executive branch power to set enforcement priorities. Biden campaigned on a more humane approach to immigration but has been faced with large numbers of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Republican state attorneys general in Texas and Louisiana sued to block the guidelines after Republican-led legal challenges successfully thwarted other Biden administration attempts to ease enforcement. Circuit Court of Appeals in July declined to put that ruling on hold, Biden's administration turned to the Supreme Court. The administration also told the justices that the guidelines do not violate federal immigration law and that the mandatory language of those statutes does not supersede the longstanding principle of law enforcement discretion.

☆ Trolls, propaganda & fear stoke Bukele's media machine in El Salvador
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-29 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +23 min

In examining Bukele’s media operation, Reuters interviewed more than 70 people, including former media operatives and social media researchers. It showed Bukele with an 86% approval rating in El Salvador, making him the most popular leader in the region. “The threat in El Salvador used to be from the gangs, now it's from the state,” said Angelica Carcamo, the organization's president. “I found a lot more manipulation in El Salvador than in Mexico,” Escorcia said. A native of Guatemala, Torres has been critical of the governments of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras for creating conditions that spur migration.

In 2019, Martin Scorsese said that Marvel movies were “not cinema” and worried cinema was being “invaded” by them. As it happens, I’m not a fan of Marvel films either. For almost the entire history of movies, women haven’t had access to the capital required to make them. There were at least 15 women directors in the commercial film industry during that time. That’s dismal but more than twice as high as the number of female film directors of the same era.

☆ No place for flowers: El Salvador's biggest lake swamped by trash
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-24 | by ( Jose Cabezas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAKE SUCHITLAN, El Salvador, Nov 24 (Reuters) - A horse wades through a sea of plastic bottles, tin cans and green sludge that fills El Salvador's largest freshwater lake, stark images showing how a key drinking water source goes neglected even as global environmental concerns are on the rise. Known locally as Suchitlan, meaning "place of flowers" in the indigenous Nahuatl language, the Cerron Grande reservoir's ecosystem is home to native fish, waterbirds and mammals such as cougars and ocelots. [1/5] Members of "Piedra del Idioma" (Language Stone), a cooperative of fishermen and farmers, clean the the El Cerron Grande reservoir in Potonico, El Salvador September 14, 2022. REUTERS/Jose Cabezas 1 2 3 4 5The reservoir's mounting trash comes from the Lempa River, which flows from the Guatemalan highlands via neighboring Honduras, before settling in Cerron Grande, located at the foot of El Salvador's biggest hydroelectric dam. El Salvador is one of Latin America's poorest nations.

☆ Look inside Ellen DeGeneres's latest home for sale — a $5.8 million century-old Montecito cottage with a posh outdoor dining space and a guest house
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Robert Davis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi have been busy flipping houses in Montecito. If sold, the property would be DeGeneres' 8th home sale just this year. The 64-year-old comic and wife Portia de Rossi have listed their posh 1,900-square-foot cottage in Montecito, California for sale for $5.8 million. DeGeneres purchased the home just six months ago for $5.4 million, according to a report by Dirt. There's also an outdoor dining area in one of the property's most shaded areas, and a one-bedroom guest cabin.

☆ What Title 42 is and how it connects to El Paso migrants
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-16 | by ( Catherine E. Shoichet | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

The judge’s order ending Title 42 isn’t scheduled to go into effect until December 21. Is there a connection between Title 42 and what’s been happening in El Paso? At this point there isn’t any known connection between the rise in crossings and the looming end of Title 42. Jose Luis Gonzalez/Reuters“We’re talking about Title 42 being lifted and what that would do here in the community. “Title 42 was never about public health, and this ruling finally ends the charade of using Title 42 to bar desperate asylum seekers from even getting a hearing,” he said in a statement.

My people have been pulling tendons, trimming fat and finding our way around the joint for generations. To cook meat well, you have to care about it, form a relationship with it. A good month before Thanksgiving, I like to take a hot cup of tea to a soft chair along with a half-dozen of my favorite cookbooks to start looking for turkey inspiration. I close the books feeling the full weight of the 12- to 14-pound traditional grande dame I will probably, inevitably, make. I tell myself that a big, brown turkey is what everyone wants—but is it just what they expect?

☆ Legumes can help fight climate change, but 'bean hesitancy' might stand in the way
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-10 | by ( Morgan Mcfall-Johnsen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Lentils, beans, and peas are low-carbon protein sources that can help prevent fertilizer pollution. People have told her they don't like beans, don't know how to cook them, or don't want to deal with the gas they get from eating them. We don't need to research what they do for the human body — there's mountains of research proving that. We don't need to research how many ways there are to cook it, because there's mountains of cookbooks also proving that. But we do need to understand what is this hesitancy among Americans to eat beans," Ichikawa 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.

McALLEN, Texas — Republican Monica De La Cruz is the winner in Texas' 15th Congressional District race, NBC News projects, defeating Democrat Michelle Vallejo in an open South Texas district that had once been solidly blue. De La Cruz said amid cheers at the Radisson Hotel McAllen, where about 200 to 300 supporters had gathered, anxiously waiting for election results. It is a win for all South Texas," De La Cruz said. De La Cruz outraised Vallejo, a progressive, by $4.2 million to $1.9 million, according to the campaign finance tracking site Open Secrets. De La Cruz, a businesswoman, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.

Vallejo is one of three South Texas Democrats locked in highly competitive congressional races with Republicans who are Latina. “This is South Texas fighting for South Texas, and I need everybody in this fight with me,” Vallejo said at the event Monday. Clinton praised gains and growth in the Rio Grande Valley and South Texas. McCarthy, R-Calif., was in South Texas on Sunday for an event on behalf of the three Republican Latina congressional candidates who call themselves the Triple Threat. “We think it’s great that Bill Clinton is campaigning for Texas Democrats.

☆ Electric vehicle maker Lucid reports third-quarter loss, confirms it's on track to meet production guidance
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-08 | by ( John Rosevear | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Electric vehicle start-up Lucid on Sept. 28, 2021 said production of its first cars for customers has started at its factory in in Casa Grande, Arizona. Here's what the company reported:Revenue: $195.5 million, versus $232,000 in the year-ago quarter, when it was beginning production of the Air sedan. $195.5 million, versus $232,000 in the year-ago quarter, when it was beginning production of the Air sedan. On Oct. 12, Lucid said that it produced 2,282 vehicles and delivered 1,398 vehicles to customers in the third quarter. The funding round is structured to keep the Saudi public wealth fund's stake in Lucid at its current level.

☆ Biden appeals to young voters in U.S. West as midterms near
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-03 | by ( Trevor Hunnicutt | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] U.S. President Joe Biden delivers remarks on "student debt relief" during a campaign stop at Central New Mexico Community College (CNM) Student Resource Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S., November 3, 2022. Biden and other Democratic speakers made no mention of high consumer prices that analysts say are overshadowing abortion and other social issues in the election. Biden heads to California on Thursday evening and Illinois on Friday before traveling to Pennsylvania on Saturday for a rally with former President Barack Obama. He plans to contrast his economic plan with a Republican push to roll back loan forgiveness, the White House said. Opposition parties historically fare better in midterm elections, providing a balance for new presidents in the second half of their terms.

☆ Democrat Michelle Vallejo faces off against Trump-backed Republican Monica De La Cruz in Texas' 15th Congressional District election
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( Hanna Kang | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Democrat Michelle Vallejo is running against Republican Monica De La Cruz in Texas' 15th Congressional District. Texas' 15th Congressional District candidatesVallejo is a small business owner and co-founder of two organizations designed for community leaders and minority women in business. Gonzalez, who currently represents the 15th Congressional District, is running for reelection in the safer 34th Congressional District following Texas' redistricting process, which made the 15th District more competitive. Voting history for Texas' 15th Congressional DistrictTexas' 15th Congressional District is located in the Rio Grande Valley and runs from Guadalupe County east of San Antonio to the Mexican border in Hidalgo County. The National Republican Congressional Committee has alone accounted for about one-third of that spending.

Some sponsors are U.S.-based relatives of Venezuelans eager to flee political and economic turmoil back home. Diaz, a Venezuelan-American advocate who has lived in the United States for the past 25 years, got in touch with Venezuelans seeking sponsors via social media. Around 7,000 Venezuelans have been approved for the new program since the Oct. 18 launch, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters. U.S. sponsors do not need to be related to Venezuelans to support their applications, but they must have permission to reside in the United States. A week after the new program was announced and the Mexico return policy was enacted, U.S. authorities saw an 80% decrease in Venezuelan border encounters.

☆ New Mexico House race wrangles oil and gas, climate change
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-01 | by ( Andrew Hay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Polls show issues like climate change and abortion are important but the economy may be the driving factor in a state that is one of the poorest in the country and also a top global oil producer. First-term Republican incumbent Yvette Herrell is known as a defender of the Permian Basin oil and gas sector, a region she represents. RIO GRANDE RUNS DRYSome voters in West Side and South Valley Albuquerque areas believe fossil-fuel-driven climate change is harming their quality of life and the livelihoods of farmers. Vasquez has been hit with attack ads saying his policies will cost the state tens of thousands of oil and gas jobs. Herrell, a target of the League of Conservation Voters and other green groups, said New Mexico's emission controls meant the state's oil and gas industry was far cleaner than foreign competitors and did not contribute to climate change.

☆ Venezuelan migrants stranded in Mexico
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-26 | by ( Jeremy Schultz | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Venezuelans Marilin de Los Angeles Medero Pina (R) and her 15-year-old son Hector Alejandro Medina Medero are pictured on the banks of the Rio Grande after they tried to cross into the United States, but were told by U.S. Border Patrol that they...moreVenezuelans Marilin de Los Angeles Medero Pina (R) and her 15-year-old son Hector Alejandro Medina Medero are pictured on the banks of the Rio Grande after they tried to cross into the United States, but were told by U.S. Border Patrol that they should go back because of new migration enforcement orders from the Biden Administration in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, October 18. Hector suffers from a sickness which he need treatment for, and the family was detained multiple times in Mexico, forcing them to delay their arrival to the border. REUTERS/Paul RatjeClose

Brazil’s potentially record-breaking soybean crop was 34% planted as of Monday, behind last year’s 38%, and progress slowed significantly in No. The southern state was 44% planted as of Monday, the date’s slowest pace in eight years and about 12 points below average. Soybean planting progress in Parana, BrazilBut Parana’s large second corn crop, planted right after soybean harvest, is certainly at risk if the soy season becomes delayed. The Center West state is among Brazil’s most stable soybean producers as it has not harvested a poor soy crop in seven seasons. A third straight season with La Nina, the cool phase of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, should keep analysts on guard as it tends to dry out Southern Brazil during its growing season.

Rep. Mayra Flores speaks at the University Draft House in McAllen, Texas, on Oct. 10. “I still believe at the end of the day this is still a solid, moderate Democratic region,” González said. A fighting chanceOf the three Latina Republicans running, Mónica De La Cruz, endorsed by former President Donald Trump and running in an adjacent congressional district, Texas' 15th, is considered the party's best chance to win. Soon after being sworn in to Congress, Flores voted against the landmark gun safety bill pushed through Congress by Sen. John Cornyn, the Texas Republican. Francisco Medrano Jr., of Harlingen, says he’s likely to support Republican Mayra Flores.

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