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Austin Water leader responds to KXAN Investigation over customers’ smart meter complaints

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Following a KXAN investigation in September showing customers’ concerns of suspected overbilling with Austin Water’s new smart meters, the director of Austin Water is defending the digital meters’ accuracy and how the agency collects and responds to complaints. Customers complain of suspected inaccuracies with Austin Water’s new smart meters “It’s a big city and a big job but we have a lot of professionals here who are committed to excellent customer service,” Austin Water Director Shay Ralls Roalson told KXAN Investigator Mike RushEven so, more customers reached out to KXAN after our initial investigation with similar concerns.Kimi, who did not want to disclose her last name, is one of them. The Northwest Hills resident said, ever since her analog water meter was replaced with a digital meter, “This water usage is just way out of whack.”Kimi in Northwest Hills believes her new digital meter is giving false readings, doubling the amount of water she said she normal...

Oil, gas regulators boost KP Kauffman’s proposed $10M well cleanup bond to $133M

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

In a move regulators said shows they are serious about making the oil and gas industry clean up after itself, the Colorado Energy and Carbon Management Commission rejected a company’s plan for financing its cleanup costs.The ECMC unanimously voted against the plan by K.P. Kauffman Co. Thursday after several hours of testimony stretching over three days. The company originally proposed putting up $10.3 million to ensure it will take care of all its wells. ECMC members voted to require the company to provide roughly $133 million over 10 years.A so-called financial assurance plan is required of all oil and gas companies under new rules approved in 2022 and are intended to ensure that operators have enough money to cover the cost of closing wells and reclaiming well sites.Previous required bonds were seen as too low, making it easier for some companies to walk away rather than pay to plug a well, clean up the site and restore surrounding land.“In order for us to make a state...

How should we manage the drying Colorado River? Here’s what’s at stake in negotiations for its long-term future

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

An immediate crisis on the Colorado River has been averted, but negotiators now must turn their attention to the next problem at hand: How will they manage the drying river after the current guidelines expire at the end of 2026?Federal officials announced this week that last winter’s heavy snowpack and cuts in use likely will be enough to keep the river basin’s two major reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, from draining to water levels too low to generate power or move water downstream for at least three years.Federal officials, the seven Colorado River basin states and 30 tribes in the basin are negotiating the future of water management on the Colorado River and creating the next set of guidelines that will govern use of the critical water source in decades to come. The negotiations will be a “rollercoaster ride,” but history shows that the states are capable of coming to a consensus, said Jennifer Gimbel, a senior water policy scholar with Colorado Stat...

Nuggets’ Justin Holiday has two halves of a ring ceremony, but they don’t make a whole

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Justin Holiday experienced the Nuggets’ championship ring ceremony on opening night the same way he received his own ring seven years ago: off to the side.Denver’s only NBA-specific free agent addition of the 2023 offseason stood by the bench Tuesday night, watching as his new teammates collected their hardware. He soaked in the atmosphere, thinking it was a cool event to witness and experience, even though he wasn’t part of the 2022-23 championship team.“It’s funny,” he reflected, “because I’ve won a championship before, and I wasn’t actually there for that ring ceremony. So that was my first one.”No better way to summarize Holiday’s career.He’s never in one place too long. The Nuggets are his 10th NBA team. He hasn’t played 200 games with any of the previous nine. He’s had multiple stints with two franchises. Played professionally in two European countries. Been waived four t...

Nuggets Journal: In new NBA in-season tournament, Denver will encounter how wild the West is

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Only one game into the season, the arduous but invigorating obstacle imposed by the next 81 was already on Michael Porter Jr.’s mind.The Nuggets had just taken care of the Lakers by double digits on opening night. When asked about Los Angeles, Porter’s mind drifted a bit, and he repeated a point he made at preseason media day.“I think the West is so crazy this season,” he said. “That’s why we had such an emphasis on starting strong. Because from top to bottom, the West is unbelievable.”Another incentive for the defending champions to start strong? Another championship, of course. When the Nuggets host the Mavericks next Friday (8 p.m., ESPN), that and six other games will mark the beginning of the NBA’s inaugural attempt at a league-wide, in-season tournament. A champ will be crowned Dec. 9 in Vegas, but first comes a group stage that will take place throughout the course of November and count toward teams’ regular-season records. Thin...

Me & My Car: Oakland man’s ’92 Allanté one of Cadillac’s unique models

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

Did you ever have a friend tell you that they just bought a major appliance, maybe a new refrigerator, and they say “It’s the Cadillac of refrigerators?” To that friend, this means there isn’t a better refrigerator on the market and they wanted to let you know they spent a lot of money for it.Related ArticlesLocal News | Me & My Car: Pleasanton man owns first-, last-generation Thunderbirds Local News | Me & My Car: ’71 Pantera in Livermore proved to be a good investment Local News | Me & My Car: East Bay owner loves his 1947 Willys Jeep pickup truck That reference didn’t happen by accident. Cadillac has been around a long time, going back to 1902 when Henry Ford and his investors had a disagreement with Ford actually leaving the Henry Ford Co. but leaving the company’s name unchanged. The surviving investors hired Henry Leland, an automotive engineer, and started a new company called the Cadillac Automobile Co.,...

When Idiot Savants Do Climate Economics

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

William Nordhaus speaks during a press conference after winning the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., on Oct. 8, 2018.Photo: Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty ImagesWilliam Nordhaus, who turned 82 this year, was the first economist in our time to attempt to quantify the cost of climate change. His climate-modeling wizardry, which won him the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences in 2018, has made him one of the world’s most consequential thinkers. His ideas have been adopted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, global risk managers, the financial services industry, and universities worldwide that teach climate economics. Nordhaus’s work literally could affect the lives of billions of people. This is because his quantification of the immediate costs of climate action — as balanced against the long-term economic harms of not acting — is the basis of key proposals to mitigate carbon emissions. ...

American hockey player dies after ‘freak accident’ during game in England

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — American hockey player Adam Johnson has died after a “freak accident” during a game in England on Saturday, his club said.The 29-year-old Minnesota native was playing for the Nottingham Panthers in a Challenge Cup game against the Sheffield Steelers when he suffered a slashed neck during the second period of the game at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena.“The Nottingham Panthers are truly devastated to announce that Adam Johnson has tragically passed away following a freak accident at the game in Sheffield last night,” the team said Sunday morning.“The Panthers would like to send our thoughts and condolences to Adam’s family, his partner, and all his friends at this extremely difficult time. Everyone at the club including players, staff, management and ownership are heartbroken at the news of Adam’s passing.”Minnesota-born Johnson played for the Pittsburg Penguins in the National Hockey League before spending the 2020-21 season in Sweden with the Malmo ...

FOTOS | La vida de Matthew Perry en imágenes

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

(CNN) — Matthew Perry, quien interpretó a Chandler Bing en “Friends”, murió este sábado en un aparente accidente por ahogamiento en su casa de Los Ángeles, dijeron fuentes policiales a Los Angeles Times. No se sospecha de ningún juego sucio. Tenía 54 años.En “Friends”, Perry protagonizó junto a Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston y Lisa Kudrow la comedia sobre un grupo muy unido de amigos que viven en la ciudad de Nueva York.El peculiar papel le valió una nominación al Primetime Emmy en 2002. También disfrutó de otras cuatro nominaciones para el prestigioso premio de actuación televisiva, incluidas dos por su interpretación de Joe Quincy en “The West Wing”.“Friends” fue una producción de Warner Bros. Television, propiedad de la empresa matriz de CNN, Warner Bros. Discovery.Frases y momentos icónicos de Chandler Bing, el entrañable personaje de Matthew Perry en FriendsEl programa de TV ayudó a impulsar l...

The Springboks are not truly representative of African rugby. African rugby is struggling

Published Fri, 21 Feb 2025 10:58:14 GMT

HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) — Once again, Africa is home to the Rugby World Cup champion.The Springboks beat New Zealand in an epic final on Saturday in Paris, winning back-to-back titles.But a South Africa led by charismatic captain Siya Kolisi isn’t a true representation of African rugby.Outside of South Africa, African rugby struggles to be competitive, and is a gold mine of talent without the means to unearth it.Rugby Africa president Herbert Mensah welcomed the decision this week to expand the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia from 20 teams to 24. That could mean Africa receiving a second extra qualifying berth. But he warned that a second berth will not help grow the game in Africa or make African countries competitive unless it comes with the right support.“We are a continent of 1.4 billion people, with some of the most talented athletes in the world. But we simply don’t have the investments to be able to compete at the levels that we need to compete,” said Mensah, who ...