grants

EPA grants California vehicle emissions waiver [Video]
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EPA grants California vehicle emissions waiver [Video]

In one of its last major actions on climate, the Biden administration on Wednesday finalized a key waiver allowing California to set its own vehicle pollution controls effectively allowing the nation’s most populous state to implement its 2035 ban on selling new gasoline cars.File video from 2022 above: Gov. Newsom signs climate laws to dramatically cut California’s use of oil and gasThe Biden EPA also granted a separate waiver allowing California air regulators to significantly cut emissions of polluting nitrogen oxides from heavy trucks and off-road vehicles.”California has longstanding authority to request waivers from EPA to protect its residents from dangerous air pollution coming from mobile sources like cars and trucks,” said EPA administrator Michael Regan in a statement. “Today’s actions follow through on EPA’s commitment to partner with states to reduce emissions and act on the threat of climate change.”For decades, federal law has granted California the authority to set its own vehicle emissions standards. President-elect Donald Trump revoked that authority during his first administration in 2019, but President Joe Biden reinstated it in 2022.Later that year, California air regulators voted to phase out sales of new gas vehicles by 2035, the first regulation of its kind in the U.S.The California regulations have interim standards as well: Starting with 2026 models, 35% of new cars, SUVs and small pickups sold in California will be required to be zero-emission vehicles. That quota will increase each year and is expected to reach 51% of all new car sales in 2028, 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035. The quotas will also allow 20% of zero-emission cars sold to be plug-in hybrids.California’s vehicle regulations matter a great deal to the auto industry because close to 20 other states and the District of Columbia have adopted them.Yet electric vehicle advocates widely expect Trump to revoke California’s authority once he takes office in January as part of a broader rollback of Biden’s climate and pollution policies. Trump has repeatedly promised to overturn regulations to expand EVs and fuel-efficient hybrids when he takes office.Some climate advocates remain hopeful California’s rules will still set an important example.”Even with the first Trump administration revoking that waiver, California was able to continue driving progress in the transport sector, coming to agreements with companies that saw the writing on the wall,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director for clean energy advocacy group Evergreen Action.The EPA is reviewing several other waivers California has in front of the agency, and is expected to make a decision on them before Biden’s term ends.The Supreme Court declined earlier this week to take up an appeal from conservative states challenging California’s ability to establish its strict vehicle emission rules.The move, which effectively leaves in place a lower court ruling upholding those regulations, comes days after the court agreed to hear a narrow slice of the fight: whether fuel companies have standing to sue over the regulations.”We hope SCOTUS upholds decades of sound legal precedent, but even if they don’t, the momentum is on the side of electrification,” Moffitt said. “There will be years of litigation that once again will provide backdrop for California trying to push for progress in every way they can.”A busy week for climate actions from BidenThe Biden administration is also out with a detailed report warning that “unfettered” development of terminals to ship liquified natural gas (LNG) overseas could raise energy prices for American consumers and add billions of tons of pollution to the atmosphere in the coming decades.If the U.S. increases LNG exports beyond what’s currently authorized, the resulting emissions would amount to an additional roughly 1.5 gigatons of planet-warming pollution per year by 2050, or a quarter of annual U.S. greenhouse gas pollution, according to the report published Tuesday.The Biden administration used the months of work on the study to justify a pause on new federal approvals for LNG terminals in January.There will be a 60-day comment period on the report, which will bleed into the incoming Trump administration.”The final decision is in the hands of the next administration,” Energy Sec. Jennifer Granholm told reporters. “We hope they’ll take these facts into account to determine whether additional LNG exports are truly in the best interest of the American people and the economy.”Granholm said the study found the U.S. government has already approved enough LNG export terminals that could ship enough natural gas “to meet global demand for decades to come.””The main takeaway is that a business-as-usual approach is neither sustainable nor advisable,” Granholm said. “With additional unfettered exports, wholesale domestic natural gas prices would increase by over 30% and the average American household will pay more than an extra $100 annually on their gas bills and their electric bills will likely go up as well.”Energy Department officials said the Biden administration study can’t be altered, but the Trump administration could release their own version in the months ahead.The LNG industry is advocating for this and also urging the Trump administration to take its time with a new study, rather than rushing to approve new export terminals on day one.A rush to approve could hurt export terminals’ chances in the courts, where environmental groups will challenge them.”We would obviously like to see our permits upheld in court challenges,” said Charlie Riedl, executive director for the Center for LNG, a trade group.

Spokane businesses receive grants to enhance downtown experience [Video]
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Small Business Funding

Spokane businesses receive grants to enhance downtown experience [Video]

SPOKANE, Wash. Six downtown Spokane businesses are set to receive more than $26,000 in grant funds, thanks to the Downtown Spokane Partnership and BECU Philanthropy. The Small Business Faade Enhancement Grant Program, launched earlier this year, aims to improve the appearance and functionality of business entrances and building faades. The upgrades are expected to

A Cheap Satellite with Large Fuel Tank Could Scout For Interplanetary Missions [Video]
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Small Business Funding

A Cheap Satellite with Large Fuel Tank Could Scout For Interplanetary Missions [Video]

A spacecraft that can provide the propulsion necessary to reach other planets while also being reproducible, relatively light, and inexpensive would be a great boon to larger missions in the inner solar system. Micocosm, Inc., based in Hawthorne, California, proposed just such a system via a NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant. Its Hummingbird spacecraft would have provided a platform to visit nearby planets and asteroids and a payload to do some basic scouting of them.

Vice President-elect JD Vance visits western North Carolina to survey damage from Hurricane Hurricane [Video]
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Vice President-elect JD Vance visits western North Carolina to survey damage from Hurricane Hurricane [Video]

Vice President-elect JD Vance on Friday surveyed damage from Hurricane Helene and talked to first responders in western North Carolina in one of his first public appearances since the November election.The hurricane struck in late September and caused at least $53 billion in damage in North Carolina, according to a state government estimate. More than 100 North Carolina residents died from the storm, which the state estimates damaged over 120,000 homes, at least 6,000 miles (9,700 kilometers) of roads and over 160 sewer and water systems.The incoming vice president and his wife, Usha, visited the Fairview Volunteer Fire Department, where he learned that the building flooded with 4 to 6 inches of water and that roughly a dozen people got walking pneumonia as they responded to the hurricane’s destruction. Power outages meant that some first responders could not talk with their own families for several days.At the height of it, I imagine yall were working nonstop, Vance said as he listened to a presentation.By going to the Asheville area, Vance ventured into Democratic territory. More than 60% of voters in Buncombe County backed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee, in November’s presidential election. Liberal-leaning Asheville is known for its vibrant arts scene and the Biltmore Estate tourist attraction. The citys arts district faced substantial damage from Helene.But the majority of North Carolina voters supported President-elect Donald Trump, and he generally fared better among voters hurt by Hurricane Helene. The Republican gave a blistering critique of the Biden administration’s relief efforts, which President Joe Biden characterized as unAmerican misinformation.AP VoteCast, an extensive survey of the electorate, found that 26% of North Carolina voters said the hurricane affected their lives by damaging their homes, causing extended power outages or interfering with their ability to cast a ballot. Trump won 53% of those voters.Vance has largely stayed out of the public eye since the election aside from shepherding Trump’s Cabinet nominees around Capitol Hill.State lawmakers have already allocated more than $900 million in disaster relief, but North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper has sought at least $3.9 billion. The Democratic governor and other state leaders have now asked the federal government for $25 billion in aid.Hundreds of miles of roads have been reopened and water systems are back online, but the work has been slow-going. More than 100,000 western North Carolina residents were told just two weeks ago that they could once again use water coming out of Ashevilles water system to bathe and to drink from the faucet. A destroyed water system in at least one isolated county could take years to rebuild.Many Republicans and residents were critical of the initial recovery operations by the federal government and Coopers administration. Housing for displaced residents for the winter has become a concern, and some allies of Cooper have blamed GOP lawmakers for failing to provide grants to small businesses at risk of failing and housing renters faced with eviction.

What’s next for TikTok now that the app might get banned? [Video]
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What’s next for TikTok now that the app might get banned? [Video]

TikTok’s U.S.-based users could have only a few more weeks to enjoy scrolling through their For You Page before the app is banned in the country starting on January 19, 2025.A U.S. appeals court on Friday upheld the law that requires TikTok to be sold off from its Chinese parent company ByteDance or face a ban, dealing a major blow to the social media platform that’s used by more than 170 million Americans.Under the law, app stores could face major fines if they continue to host TikTok following the deadline, if it’s not sold. For users who already have the app downloaded, that likely means they could continue to use it for a while but would not be able to receive updates, which would eventually make it buggy and potentially useless.While the ruling increases the likelihood that TikTok will be banned, it’s not a done deal just yet.Is the case over?TikTok indicated that it plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. “The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes said in a statement Friday.However, the company suggested it has not budged on its earlier stance that it would not separate from ByteDance. Hughes said: “The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025.”Beyond a successful appeal, there are a few other ways a TikTok ban could be delayed or avoided, including potential support from President-elect Donald Trump after he takes office. President Joe Biden could also technically grant a one-time, 90-day extension of the deadline, although he has not indicated that he will do so.What will TikTok’s appeal look like?When it appeals the ruling, TikTok could also ask for a stay essentially, a pause of the law while the Supreme Court reviews the case, which could mean TikTok avoids the January ban deadline, at least temporarily.Stay or not, there’s reason to believe the Supreme Court will move quickly to render a decision on the case. Both TikTok and the US government had previously asked the US appeals court to expedite its ruling so the case could be appealed before the ban deadline.”The Supreme Court could set a schedule for briefing and set an oral argument in the first week of January,” Josh Schiller, partner at law firm Boies Schiller Flexner, told CNN.However, Schiller said TikTok is still likely to face an uphill battle in the Supreme Court.”Given the composure of the Supreme Court being largely conservative, and largely ideologically in favor of a limited federal government, even with that background I have trouble thinking that the conservative force on the Supreme Court would not see this as a (national) security case,” and therefore rule in favor of upholding the law, Schiller said.The Supreme Court could also decide not to review the case, in which case TikTok may be out of luck, according to Gautam Hans, associate director of the First Amendment Clinic and professor at Cornell Law School.”I am skeptical that the Supreme Court will take this case,” said Hans, who had signed on to an amicus brief supporting TikTok in the case. “They were pretty careful to write the opinion in a way that makes it less likely the Supreme Court would grant a review, and I think part of that has to do with the national security implications here the court was really willing to take those claims seriously.An assist from President-elect Trump?Trump could also represent a lifeline for TikTok’s US presence.Although it was Trump who first tried to ban TikTok from the United States during his previous term, he has more recently suggested that he no longer wants to ban the app.Trump said in June in a video posted to the platform itself that he would “never ban TikTok.”However, it’s not clear whether Trump will be able to do anything about it, given the ban is set to go into effect one day before his inauguration.Trump could ask Congress to repeal the law, although experts say that effort would probably fail. From there, he likely has two options: He could direct the attorney general not to enforce the law or he could announce that TikTok is no longer subject to the law, University of Minnesota associate law professor Alan Rozenshtein told CNN last month.The first approach would involve signaling to TikTok’s tech partners like Apple which stand to face fines under the law if it continued to host TikTok on its app store after the deadline that they “should feel free to continue business with TikTok,” Rozenshtein said. “But again, if you’re the general counsel of Apple, does that really give you a lot of confidence? You’re still violating the law. Trump is very mercurial.”The second option would rely on a portion of the law that gives the president some authority to determine if a “qualified divestiture” of TikTok has taken place. In theory, Trump could declare that it has, whether or not that’s true, and then would have to hope it doesn’t get challenged in court. That approach could be more successful, given that “it’s not clear who could sue to enforce the law,” Rozenstein said.What are users saying?Friday’s ruling renewed jitters over a potential ban among US TikTok users who go to the platform to find connection, get entertained, seek information and earn a living.Some TikTok users had previously urged their representatives to vote “no” on the law. Others said that transitioning a large audience from TikTok to another platform is tricky, because each site has its own unique algorithm and monetization scheme.”TikTok is a huge part of my income and my livelihood, so I don’t want to see it falter,” lifestyle content creator Carrie Berk told CNN Friday. “However, there has been much discussion about TikTok being banned since 2020 and nothing has happened yet, so I’m skeptical. All we can do is cross our fingers for now that it doesn’t get banned.””I still have my hopes that TikTok will not get banned in the United States but, currently, it doesn’t look good,” another user said in a video posted to the platform Friday.However, not every TikTok user is so concerned.”I don’t think it’s going to get banned” because of the millions of small US businesses who rely on the app, Keenya Kelly, a content strategist and creator who uses TikTok, told CNN. “I do think that they’re going to force TikTok to do some things that they don’t want to do, but I don’t think it’s going to be completely banned.”

Kansas City businesses burglarized hope city grant funds can help [Video]
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Kansas City businesses burglarized hope city grant funds can help [Video]

Governor Stumpy’s Grill House was burglarized and suffered property damage last week, and it’s certainly not the first Kansas City business to be hit by crime. But Kansas City is giving a boost to small businesses impacted by break-ins.The city announced Thursday that it will distribute more than $70,000 in Back to Business funds to over 30 local businesses to help them with repairs to damaged property, including smashed windows and doors.The owner of Governor Stumpy’s, Kevin Ryan, said he plans to apply for the fund. Ryan said the burglars didn’t take anything, but they caused $2,000 to $3,000 in damage.Surveillance video shows four burglars outside of Governor Stumpy’s around 3 a.m. Nov. 25. One burglar could be seen smashing the window of the door to the back porch to get inside.The burglars didn’t stick around long, however, as an alarm began to sound. The burglar inside the restaurant quickly climbed through the broken window and leaped off the porch. The burglars then drove away.”Thankfully, nobody was hurt. They weren’t even hurt,” Ryan said. “Because of the other break-ins prior to theirs … we were able to talk with the other business owners and get some information. We even had two off-duty police officers come and offer some security advice.”Not all break-ins come with minimal damage, though. Betty Rae’s ice cream shop in River Market has had a different experience, suffering two burglaries in the last few months.Owner Matt Shatto said he’s taken a more than $10,000 hit from the burglaries. On Monday, he received some of the Back to Business grant money, which covered part of his repair costs.”I’ve kind of been a opponent of it from the beginning, just from the standpoint of, you know, let’s stop crime. Let’s not reimburse people for the effects of it,” Shatto said. “But because it was available, of course, we applied for it, after they worked through the bugs as it related to kind of just getting the program up and running.”Shatto said he received the money pretty quickly after submitting his information. He said he was only able to apply once even though his store was burglarized twice.