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☆ Some electric vehicles from BMW, Nissan, Hyundai and Volkswagen will no longer get federal tax credits
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-18 | by ( Emma Newburger | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Brown | AFP | Getty ImagesFewer electric vehicles now qualify for federal tax credits after the Biden administration this week unveiled stricter rules for battery sources that will prioritize domestically manufactured models. The new list published by the Treasury Department includes 16 U.S. manufactured models from Ford , General Motors , Tesla and Stellantis . Ten of the models on the new list will qualify for the full $7,500 tax credit, with the rest qualifying for half that amount. Vehicles losing credits include those from BMW, Hyundai, Nissan, Rivian , Volkswagen and Volvo Cars. The bill set various manufacturing requirements for new all-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles to qualify for the $7,500 tax credit.

☆ These US port cities are fighting to restrict cruise ships. It's easier said than done.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Hannah Towey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The pandemic offered coastal communities across the US a taste of life without cruise ships. Now, port cities in Florida, Maine, Alaska, and California are fighting to limit or ban the vessels. A few weeks prior, Juneau, Alaska's city assembly voted to cap the number of cruise ships visiting the capital's downtown port at five per day. According to one study commissioned by Stand.earth, an environmental organization, found that cruise passengers visiting Victoria, a major Canadian cruise port, were responsible for less than 2% of tourism spending. Do you live or work near a US cruise port?

Another atmospheric river storm brought strong winds, rainfall and flooding to California this week, prompting levee breaches and mudslides and breaking decades-old rainfall records across the state. Only about 36% of California now remains in drought, according to data from the U.S. Drought Monitor released on Thursday. Since the storms have eased some water supply shortages, the board of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recently lifted water restrictions for nearly 7 million people. The governor noted that widespread damage across the state from the winter storms was an indication of how climate change is triggering worsening weather extremes. The state's emergency agency and private weather forecasters in January estimated that damage from California's winter storms could surpass $1 billion.

☆ Biden calls on Congress to tighten rules to claw back executive pay, levy penalties in bank failures
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden called on Congress to give regulators more authority to claw back pay and penalize executives at distressed banks "whose mismanagement contributed to their institutions failing." "No one is above the law – and strengthening accountability is an important deterrent to prevent mismanagement in the future," Biden said in a statement Friday. Biden noted his powers to hold executives accountable were constrained by the law and asked Congress step in. "Congress must act to impose tougher penalties for senior bank executives whose mismanagement contributed to their institutions failing," Biden said. Signature Bank in New York, which was shuttered Sunday over similar systemic contagion fears as SVB, had been a popular funding source for cryptocurrency companies.

☆ Wet winter eases California drought, giving way to spring flood risks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

"Climate change is driving both wet and dry extremes," NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. "We're not calling for catastrophic and major widespread flooding," said Ed Clark, director of NOAA's National Water Center. California's winter was marked by a punishing succession of so-called atmospheric river storms, the product of vast, dense airborne currents of water vapor funneled in from the tropical Pacific. The storms have unleashed widespread flooding, mudslides, power outages, fallen trees, surf damage, road wash-outs and evacuations since late December. "Winter precipitation, combined with recent storms, wiped out exceptional and extreme drought in California for the first time since 2020, and is expected to further improve drought conditions this spring," NOAA said.

☆ California’s Levee System Under Strain After String of Storms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Jim Carlton | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Houses were inundated and vehicles submerged when the Pajaro River burst over a crumbling levee overnight Friday into Saturday. PAJARO, Calif.—When Andres Garcia was routed from his home as a child by a levee break in 1995, it was three decades after federal officials had first concluded the protection system for the Pajaro River was “inadequate.”Mr. Garcia, now 37, had to evacuate again last weekend when the still-vulnerable Monterey County levee ruptured another time, sending floodwaters gushing into this town of about 3,000 people—many of them Latino immigrants who work in the surrounding strawberry fields.

The Nor'easter left about 190,000 homes and businesses in New York and New England without power as of Wednesday morning, according PowerOutage.com, a tracking service. In California, about an equal number of customers had no electric service on Wednesday in the wake of the latest in a series of atmospheric river storms to churn through the state this winter. [1/3] A California plate is seen at an area affected by floods after days of heavy rain in Pajaro, California, U.S., March 14, 2023. Along California's coast and lower inland areas, the heavy rain and melting alpine snow triggered renewed flooding from rain-swollen rivers and streams, compromising levees. "It's a little too soon to say for sure if it's another atmospheric river, but the storm is coming," he said.

☆ Biden Seeks to Strengthen Gun Background Checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Sabrina Siddiqui | Andrew Restuccia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden is expected to direct the Justice Department to step up FBI background checks of would-be gun buyers. President Biden on Tuesday is expected to announce an executive order aimed at reducing gun violence, including increasing background checks, while visiting the area of a January mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif. The White House said Mr. Biden’s actions are designed to move the U.S. “as close to universal background checks as possible” without the passage of legislation in Congress, where partisan divides have left most gun-safety legislation dead on arrival.

☆ Biden Issues Executive Order to Strengthen Gun Background Checks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Sabrina Siddiqui | Andrew Restuccia | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

President Biden on Tuesday signed an executive order that he said was aimed at reducing gun violence, including changes that could increase the number of gun buyers subjected to background checks, while visiting the area of a January mass shooting in Monterey Park, Calif. The White House said Mr. Biden’s actions are designed to move the U.S. “as close to universal background checks as possible” without the passage of legislation in Congress, where partisan divides have left most gun-safety legislation stalled.

REUTERS/Bing GuanMarch 14 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will announce an executive order on Tuesday that reinforces background checks for gun buyers in what the White House is promoting as the most comprehensive policy the president can enact without Congress. In a country with more than 40,000 gun deaths per year, Biden is betting that voters will embrace more proactive gun control. The Biden administration is pointing to public opinion polls that show a majority of Americans support background checks. A Reuters/Ipsos poll last year found 84% of respondents supported background checks for all firearms sales and 70% backed red flag laws. Some gun rights advocates oppose background checks, saying they infringe on constitutional rights to possess arms while failing to stop criminals from getting them.

☆ Watch live: Biden announces new plans to curb gun violence, months after Lunar New Year mass shooting
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-14 | by ( Emma Kinery | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

President Joe Biden is in Monterey Park, California, to announce plans for a new executive order to combat gun violence, less than two months after a mass shooting during Lunar New Year celebrations rocked that community. Biden's executive order will include increasing the use of background checks for gun buyers and promoting safe storage of firearms. But the White House says the number of mass shootings in 2023 alone shows it did not go far enough. There have been at least 110 mass shootings in the United States in the two and a half months of 2023, according to the Gun Violence Archive. More than 8,300 Americans have died due to gun violence since the beginning of the year alone, the organization's data says.

[1/7] Floodwaters from the Pajaro River are seen flowing under Highway 1, currently closed by officials, in Monterey County, California, U.S. March 14, 2023. read moreNine atmospheric rivers already lashed California in rapid succession from late December through mid-January, triggering widespread flooding, levee failures, mudslides and punishing surf. Massive flooding from failed levees on the Pajaro River in Monterey County this weekend prompted hundreds of evacuations and dozens of water rescues. Mandatory evacuation orders remained in effect for residents in 10 California counties on Tuesday, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and Nathan Frandino in Monterey County, California; Editing by Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ California, Northeast menaced by late-season winter storms
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-13 | by ( Brendan O'Brien | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

[1/2] A general view shows flooded streets in Pajaro, California, U.S., March 12, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. On the West Coast, the storm targeted areas of northern and Central California already saturated from the unusual bout of bad weather. It promised to dump as much as seven inches (18 cm) of rain in higher elevations and up to three inches elsewhere, the National Weather Service said in its forecast. The growing frequency and intensity of such storms amid bouts of prolonged drought are symptomatic of human-caused climate change, experts say. The storm in the Northeast threatened to produce wet snow that could topple power lines and trees, causing power outages.

☆ 'River in the sky' forces thousands to evacuate as floods hit California, leaving 2 dead
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-12 | by ( Bethany Dawson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A "river in the sky" has poured down on California, causing flooding. Thousands are under evacuation orders as another storm is set to come on Monday. First responders and the California National Guard had to save over 50 people overnight from the water overnight, AP reports. Approximately 15 million people are under flood watches in California and Nevada as a second "river in the sky" approaches, CNN reports. They added that it "won't take long once the steady heavy rain gets started for flooding impacts to resume."

☆ Rain and Snow to Pound California Again
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Workers made repairs after a road was washed out in Soquel, Calif., this week. Northern California residents are bracing on Saturday for another wet weekend amid flooding concerns and snow predictions in parts of the storm-weary state. Isolated thunderstorms and showers are expected to produce lightning, hail, gusty winds and funnel clouds on Saturday and continuing into Sunday, according to the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office. Parts of Monterey County had to evacuate in the morning after a levee was breached.

☆ Rain and Snow to Pound California Again Over Weekend
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-11 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Northern California residents were bracing Saturday for another wet weekend in the midst of flooding concerns and snow predictions for parts of the storm-weary state. Isolated thunderstorms and showers were expected to produce lightning, hail, gusts and funnel clouds on Saturday and continuing into Sunday, according to the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office. Parts of Monterey County had to evacuate after a levee was breached.

☆ California Battered by New Winter Storm After Weeks of Heavy Snow
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( Suryatapa Bhattacharya | Gareth Vipers | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

A large winter storm brought rain and flooding across parts of California, a state already reeling from weeks of record snowfall that left some residents trapped in their homes. Central California bore the brunt of the storm, known as an atmospheric river, early Friday afternoon and residents in parts of San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties were under evacuation orders or warnings.

☆ I make $19,800 a month in revenue from 'Airbnb for boats' in Miami. Here's how I built my business.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Kimanzi Constable | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Mylène Garot loved being on the water and wanted to start a boat-rental business in Miami. Garot used her savings to purchase a boat and started renting it on Boatsetter, an Airbnb for boats. I was Googling platforms similar to Airbnb and found Boatsetter, where boat owners can list their boats for people to rent. My husband was a boat captain and managed property — it seemed pretty perfect. The revenue was growing, but a private renter, renting outside Boatsetter, damaged one of the boats in September 2020.

☆ The coast of Southern California is becoming a hotspot for great white sharks
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-01 | by ( Kelsey Vlamis | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Great white shark numbers are increasing off the coast of Southern California's beaches. Adult white sharks can reach 12-20 feet, but they rarely come close to the shoreline. California banned actively targeting white sharks in 1994, as well as certain fishing nets that often entrapped the sharks. Warning signs for shark sightings remain in Long Beach, California, on May 16, 2017, where Great White sharks and their pups have been sighted regularly off southern California beaches. Researchers emphasized it is still safe to swim along the Southern California coast, which sharks have historically inhabited longer than us.

☆ Putin wanted to boast about Russia launching a nuclear-capable ICBM — but the launch failed so he couldn't, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A recent Russian test launch of its Sarmat missile appears to have failed, two US officials told CNN. But Putin didn't mention the Sarmat launch in his annual speech, his first since invading Ukraine. The Kremlin tipped off the US in advance about the planned test launch using deconfliction channels, one of the unnamed officials told the outlet. Footage from a prior Sarmat test launch. Russia's most recent notable test launch of the Sarmat missile was in April, just after its invasion of Ukraine began.

☆ California farm worker pleads not guilty to 7 murder counts
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The next hearing in the case was set for May 3, the district attorney, Steve Wagstaffe, confirmed to Reuters. Zhao is charged with seven counts of premeditated murder and a single count of attempted murder in a criminal complaint that also cites "special circumstance" allegations accusing him of "personally and intentionally" shooting to kill. read moreUnder California law, defendants convicted of murder with "special circumstances" are eligible for the death penalty, though Governor Gavin Newsom in 2019 declared a moratorium on executions. Authorities said the Monterey Park assailant, Huu Can Tran, 72, shot himself to death the next day as police closed to make an arrest. Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles Editing by Alistair Bell and Aurora EllisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Biden will deliver his second State of the Union address at about 9 p.m. (0200 GMT Wednesday). It will be broadcast live on major U.S. broadcast television networks and online by the White House and the House of Representatives. The speech could deliver Biden his largest television audience of the year. The White House has also invited Brandon Tsay, who disarmed a gunman responsible for a mass shooting in Monterey Park, California. Republicans have picked Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary under Donald Trump, to deliver their response.

Following are some of the guests expected to attend:* Brandon Tsay: Tsay was called a hero by authorities for disarming a gunman who shot dead 11 people during a celebration of the Lunar New Year in Monterey Park, California. The White House called it a "recognition of sustained U.S. support for Ukraine nearly a year after Russia launched its unprovoked attack." * The White House has also invited Paul Pelosi, husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "The attack reportedly was politically motivated, with the intruder's alleged intent to harm and kidnap the former Speaker," the White House said. The United States completed the withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan in August 2021 after a 20-year war.

WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden will face Republicans who question his legitimacy and a public concerned about the country's direction in Tuesday's State of the Union speech that is expected to serve as a blueprint for a 2024 re-election bid. Biden's public approval rating edged one percentage point higher to 41% in a Reuters/Ipsos poll that closed on Sunday. Reforms in policing will loom large in Biden's speech after the death of Tyre Nichols, a Black man fatally beaten by officers in Memphis, Tennessee last month, with his mother and stepfather to be guests of first lady Jill Biden. He will also run through a wish list of economic proposals, many of which are unlikely to be passed through Congress, the White House said. [1/3] The U.S. Capitol building is seen on the day of U.S. President Joe Biden's State of the Union Address to a joint session of Congress on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., February 7, 2023.

☆ I tried 25 of Trader Joe's award-winning foods, and would buy at least 21 of them again
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Savanna Swain-Wilson | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +42 min

I hit up my local Trader Joe's and bought as many award-winning foods as I could to see which ones deserved their hype. In other words, I agree with the many customers who have dubbed this their favorite Trader Joe's snack. As long as I live within reasonable driving distance of a Trader Joe's, I will continue to buy this loaf. Trader Joe's butter chicken with basmati rice is a satisfyingly spicy comfort meal for oneTrader Joe's butter chicken with basmati rice had a delicious sauce. Trader Joe's cheddar with caramelized onions offers a memorable balance of savory, salty, and sweetThe cheddar smelled like caramelized onions.

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