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Rep. McCaul defends Texas power grid: ‘We’re not used to this type of weather’
Power-sharing, McCaul acknowledged, “would [also] have been helpful. We could have shared with other power grids.” He described a 2011 report from the state’s Legislature that contained recommendations “as to how to winterize our operations,” which was never properly implemented. “That’s what we’re going to be taking a look at moving forward,” he said, “so this never happens again.” “The difference between Texas and, say, the Northeast, is we’re not prepared for this,” McCaul went on. “We’re not used to this type of weather.” The grid “was not winterized for subzero-degree temperatures.” “All of what happened this past week was foreseeable and preventable,” Houston ...
‘She became an easy target’: GOP opposition to Haaland rankles Native Americans
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, has been a sharp critic of fossil fuel development, a stance that has made her nomination among the more contentious of Biden’s picks. And she may also face tough questioning from the Democratic chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Joe Manchin, who is the most pro-fossil fuel Democrat and whose opposition may have scuttled another Biden nominee, Neera Tanden. Haaland has been a rising star among progressives since her election to Congress in 2018. She grew up in poverty and her official disclosures show she is still paying off the loans from the University of New Mexico law degree she earned in 2006. She worked on former President Barack Obama’s campaign in the state in 2012 and later chaired the state’s Democratic Pa...
Facebook to Lift Its Australian News Ban
Facebook blocked Australian users from accessing and sharing news last week after the House of Representatives passed the draft law late Wednesday. Initially, the Facebook news blockade cut access — at least temporarily — to government pandemic, public health and emergency services, sparking public outrage. The Senate will debate amended legislation on Tuesday. Frydenberg described the agreed upon amendments as “clarifications” of the government’s intent. He said his negotiations with Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg were “difficult.” “There is no doubt that Australia has been a proxy battle for the world,” Frydenberg said. “Facebook and Google have not hidden the fact that they know that the eyes of the world are on Australia and that is why they have sought to get a code here tha...
Mogwai, Olivia Rodrigo Lead U.K.’s Midweek Charts
Mogwai are leading a tight race for the U.K. chart crown. At the halfway stage in the chart week, the Scottish instrumental rock veterans hold the edge with As The Love Continues (Rock Action), their tenth studio album. As The Love Continues rules the Official Chart Update, though just 1,800 chart sales currently separate a Top 3 that also features Foo Fighters’ Medicine At Midnight (up 3-2 via Columbia) and British grime MC Ghetts’ Conflict of Interest (new at No. 3 via Warner Records). You Deserve to Make Money Even When you are looking for Dates Online. So we reimagined what a dating should be. It begins with giving you back power. Get to meet Beautiful people, chat and make money in the process. Earn rewards by chatting, sharing photos, blogging and help give users back their fair...
Sony Music Publishing Signs The Kid Laroi to Global Deal
Born Charlton Kenneth Jeffrey Howard, the Kamilaroi musician made history in his homeland earlier this month when his mixtape F*ck Love (Savage) climbed to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart. As a result, he’s now the youngest Australian solo artist to nab top spot on the survey, aged just 17 years, 5 months and 22 days. F*ck Love bowed at No. 8 on the Billboard 200 last year, and he scored three ARIA Award nominations, for best male artist, breakthrough artist, and best hip-hop release. More recently, the mixtape hit No. 3 on the Billboard chart. In Australia, the set hasn’t left the ARIA Top 40 since the original version was released last July, and it’s amassed more than 1 billion global streams. Were it not for the domination of Olivia Rodrigo’s “Drivers License,”...
Biden targets smallest businesses with exclusive aid window
Less than half of the PPP’s more than $284 billion in current funding has been used since it relaunched Jan. 11, with little concern that it would be exhausted. But the program has been dogged by worries since its creation last year that it was failing to reach the hardest-hit employers, particularly minority-owned businesses that lack relationships with banks responsible for processing PPP applications. While the Small Business Administration, which runs the PPP, has seen improvements in funds reaching smaller businesses, administration officials told reporters Sunday night that they were limiting access to the program to push lenders to do even more to work with the smallest employers. Ninety-eight percent of small businesses have fewer than 20 employees, according to the Biden adm...
Coronavirus: Nigeria records 18 more deaths, 645 new infections
A total of 1,831 deaths have now been recorded from COVID-19 in Nigeria after 18 more people died on Saturday, health authorities have said. The 18 deaths on Saturday indicated a significant increase from the eight fatalities recorded on Friday. Nigeria also reported 645 new infections on Saturday, increasing the total number of known cases in the country to 151,553. This is according to an update by the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) Saturday night. Low testing figures in many states has limited Nigeria’s ability to determine the true extent of the spread of COVID-19. A recent general fact sheet published by the NCDC showed that Kogi, Cross River and some other states were not conducting enough tests. More than two-third of the over 151,000 people infected by COVID-19 in Nigeri...
Nigerian bank chief calls for review of educational reforms
The managing director/CEO of Sterling Bank Plc, Mr Abubakar Suleiman, has called for a review of Nigeria’s educational system so as to make it relevant to current and future human capital requirements in the country. Suleiman made the call while speaking as a panelist in a session on “Roadmap To Shared Prosperity – Ensuring Inclusive Human Capital Development” at the just concluded 8th Lagos Economic Summit, Ehingbeti 2021. He observed that Nigeria’s current educational system will continue to fail in its role of delivering the human resources needed by industry now and in the future unless the federal government redefines its commitment to the system. According to him, “The educational system that is operational in the country today appears to be only suitable for academia and not for inc...
Gombe governor suspends Mai Tangale selection process
Gombe State governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, has suspended all proceedings leading to the selection of a new traditional ruler of Tangale Chiefdom until peace is fully restored to the troubled area which has seen days of violent protests. This follows confirmation by the state’s commissioner of Police, Maikudi Shehu confirmed that three persons have been killed during the crises. The police commissioner who spoke when the governor led some members of the government on assessment tour of the destruction of lives and property in Billiri local council area said: “So far we have arrested 10 suspects and we are still counting. About three people died during the cause of incident.” Meanwhile, governor Inuwa Yahaya during statewide broadcast yesterday shortly after returning from Billiri that th...
Australia premier vaccinated as rollout begins
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has received the coronavirus vaccine as the country prepares to start inoculations this week. His jab was televised on Sunday in order to help boost confidence in the vaccine rollout across Australia. Vaccinations officially begin on Monday and at least 60,000 doses are expected to be administered next week. On Saturday, small crowds of anti-vaccination demonstrators gathered to protest against the launch. Mr Morrison was part of a small group of people vaccinated on Sunday along with some frontline health workers and care home residents. Australia’s chief nurse Professor Alison McMillan and Chief Medical Officer Professor Paul Kelly were also immunised. Speaking at ahead of his vaccination, Mr Morrison said: “Tomorrow our vaccination programme star...
Benue governor commiserates with assemblyman over wife’s demise
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue has commiserated with the Majority Leader of the Benue State House of Assembly (BSHA), Mr. Tyoapine Cheme, on the death of his wife, Roseline. This is contained in a statement signed by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Terver Akase, and made available to newsmen on Saturday in Makurdi. Ortom in the statement described the death of Mrs Cheme as “shocking and quite painful, not only to her family but also to the entire state”. He described her was a God-fearing woman who upheld true Christian virtues and related cordially with those who came in contact with her. The governor urged the Majority Leader and the entire Cheme family to take solace in the fact that their wife and mother lived an exemplary life and had gone to be with the Lord. Get more stories like this...
Femi Falana: Bala Mohammed punished Abuja residents for trespassing but defends open grazing
Naijaloaded Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), says Bauchi State Governor, Bala Mohammed, while serving as Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, demolished people’s houses because they encroached on government land. Falana, therefore, stated that it was funny that Bala could turn around to say that herdsmen have a right to stray into people’s land and reside in forest reserves without government permission. The senior advocate said this in a write-up he sent to newsmen on Saturday. He wrote, “Under the Bala Mohammed administration in the FCT, thousands of houses were demolished on the grounds that they were illegally built on landed properties belonging to the Federal Government. “The ex-minister wanted to demolish the entire Mpape housing over a million people. He had claime...
