OAKLAND — PG&E received a record-setting $15 billion federal loan guarantee in one in all the ultimate acts of Joe Biden's presidency, an approval that would help the utility and its customers get monetary savings on various key projects.

The U.S. Department of Energy's loan guarantee could allow PG&E to tap unique sources of financing that may allow it to have lower payment costs than would otherwise be the case in business financial markets.

Oakland-based PG&E said it could save customers as much as $1 billion.

“The loan guarantee is intended to align with the state’s policy goals of reducing electricity costs for customers,” PG&E said. “The savings from cheaper financing would be used to reduce customers’ bills.”

PG&E said the loan might be used to finance already approved work that may must be done anyway whatever the loan guarantee.

The federal funding would fund planned projects aimed toward improving California's energy infrastructure similar to hydroelectric facilities, helping ensure reliability and supporting distributed energy resources similar to battery storage and electric vehicles, while reducing costs for purchasers, the utility said.

“These projects are not new work,” said Lynsey Paulo, a spokeswoman for PG&E. “Partially funding these projects with lower-cost financing from the DOE Loan Program Office would allow us to complete already approved grid work at a lower cost to our customers than traditional borrowing.”

The energy credit guarantee program is one in all the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which Biden signed earlier.

Among President Donald Trump's quite a few executive orders in recent days was a directive for federal agencies to suspend the distribution of funds – including the federal loan guarantee – made possible by two pieces of laws approved by Biden, the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law .

On January 17, PG&E filed a regulatory document with the Securities and Exchange Commission indicating that the corporate has not yet received funds from this system, but has only received approval from the Department of Energy.

Any savings can be a welcome change from recent increases in PG&E electricity and gas costs, which have risen faster than the Bay Area's overall inflation rate.

Recent reports on consumer prices within the Bay Area and across the country released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed dramatic differences between the region's inflation rate and the associated fee of operating services like those offered by PG&E.

In December 2024, electric utility services increased by 11.2% annually. Gas supply services increased by 6.3%, the Federal Employment Agency reported. In contrast, the Bay Area's inflation rate rose just 2.4% annually in December.

However, there are some hopeful signs for PG&E customers.

Starting with this month's billing cycles, a typical PG&E residential customer who receives each electric and natural gas service from the investor-owned utility began paying a mean of $295 monthly.

This is $1 greater than the $294 monthly that typical PG&E residential customers paid for combined electric and gas services in January 2024.

The average that customers paid for combined services in January 2024 was 22% higher than the $241 that customers paid in January 2023.

Originally published: January 21, 2025 at 3:35 pm PST

Christian McCaffrey's status will proceed to be assessed on a spontaneous basis, together with his availability being judged more on the premise of his well-being and with a view to the long haul somewhat than a particular Sunday.

McCaffrey was surprisingly ruled out of Monday night's 32-19 win over the New York Jets at Levi's Stadium resulting from a calf/Achilles tendon injury.

And this problem has been happening for a while, which implies there could possibly be lots more Jordan Mason within the 49ers' immediate future with a road game against the Minnesota Vikings coming up in Week 2.

Mason gained 147 yards on 28 attempts, each profession highs, and scored a touchdown against the Jets.

McCaffrey suffered a calf strain in Week 17 against Washington last season after which sat out the ultimate game of the regular season against the Los Angeles Rams. He was on the injured list with a calf injury within the divisional playoff win over Green Bay but made it through the playoffs.

But McCaffrey, who has long set the pace in practice, largely stayed out of the fray while a two-year contract extension was negotiated. At the club's mandatory minicamp in July, McCaffrey told NFL Network he was effective and would play if it was an actual game.

Except when the actual games start, McCaffrey doesn't play. Why? According to educate Kyle Shanahan, since it's not a playoff game.

“If it was a playoff game, he made it very clear to me that he thought he could go,” Shanahan said Tuesday in a conference call with local reporters. “But when you hear something like that and it's not a playoff game and it's Week 1 — especially when you're dealing with lower extremities like that — it was a tough decision. But hearing all the words and stuff made it easier in the long run.”

In any case, McCaffrey's condition might be closely monitored to maintain him healthy throughout the season and never maintain the danger of further injury in a sensitive area that’s liable to setbacks and re-injury.

“It's not just a calf, it's Achilles tendonitis and Achilles tendinitis and things like that come and go,” Shanahan said. “When it starts causing problems, you have to be very careful.”

It was a calf/Achilles problem in 2019 that led to the Warriors' Kevin Durant eventually tearing his Achilles tendon within the NBA Finals. Linebacker Dre Greenlaw sat out Week 18 against the Rams last season with Achilles tendinitis and eventually tore his Achilles tendon while entering the sector within the Super Bowl.

Even though McCaffrey is listed as day-to-day, you’ll be able to safely assume the 49ers won't add last yr's NFL Offensive Player of the Year back to the lineup until they deem the danger to be minimal.

Shanahan said the one other injuries from the Jets game were a calf injury to protect Aaron Banks and an ankle injury to wide receiver Jauan Jennings. Both injuries, Shanahan said, are being treated on a day-to-day basis.

A choice might be made later this week as as to if defensive end Yetur Gross-Matos (knee), safety Talanoa Hufanga (knee) and linebacker Dee Winters (ankle) might be available for the sport against Minnesota, Shanahan said.

Williams holds on

Left tackle Trent Williams played 70 of 72 snaps after missing all of coaching camp and participating in just 4 practices before games. Shanahan was curious to see how Williams would do, but wasn't surprised by the top result.

“You never know how someone is going to come back when you haven't seen them for so long,” Shanahan said. “But watching him practice on Monday and seeing how he was on Wednesday was a good sign that he was going to be OK.”

Williams said afterward he was in “uncharted territory” and needed two infusions to get through it, but he didn't expect any problems until Week 2 in Minnesota.

Originally published: September 10, 2024 at 11:50 am

Young people could determine the 2024 presidential election.

It is a story as old as time – a story The appears everyone Choicealmost like clockwork.

The narrative is similar this election cycle. There is palpable excitement about the potential for young people raising their voices in 2024.

Young people particularly have clearly expressed their support for Vice President Kamala Harris, who will officially accept her party's presidential nomination on the Democratic National Convention on August 22, 2024.

Harris' young supporters have popular TikTok videos and widespread Memes with Coconut trees and diverse references to the stylish term “Brat”.

Both former President Donald Trump and Harris try to capitalize on the keenness of young people – through Participation in live streams with popular, young content creators and by copying a number of the specific Colors and themes that usually appear in young people’s online content.

The vibrations may indicate that a “youth wave” comes.

Young people predominantly support Harris

Harris is currently confident leadership under youth.

Depending on the survey The you seeIf the election were held today, Harris would likely receive about 50 to 60 percent of the vote from young people, that’s, people ages 18 to 29 or, in some cases, 18 to 34.

Trump would only appeal to about 34 percent of young people.

That's an enormous difference. You could have a look at that difference and say that young people could actually make the difference on the ballot box in November.

It is difficult to say exactly what number of young voters Harris must win over to win the election. but many political experts have argued that Harris must be certain that she secures a dominant majority amongst them.

But no matter whether or not they support Harris in pre-election polls, my research shows that many young persons are probably not to indicate up and truly forged their vote.

Young people often don’t vote

Assessment of young people’s participation in American elections is darkAlthough young persons are the most important group of eligible voters, can be found at significantly lower prices than older Americans.

In the Intermediate examinations in November 2022For example, only 25.5% of 18- to 29-year-olds forged their votes, while 63.1% of those over 60 forged their votes.

Although November 2020 saw a record high in youth voter turnoutOnly 52.5% of 18- to 29-year-olds voted, in comparison with 78% of those over 60.

While it’s difficult to predict what number of young people will vote in November 2024, Leading indicators – corresponding to the variety of young individuals who say they’ll vote – suggest that this pattern of low youth voter turnout will proceed.

The United States has certainly one of the lowest voter turnout amongst young people worldwide. The Gap between 18- to 29-year-olds and people over 60a typical measure, is greater than twice as high here as in other countries corresponding to Canada or Germany.

In our 2020 book: “Winning over young voters: transforming civic attitudes into civic motion“, political scientist Sunshine Hillygus and I sought to raised understand what prevents young people from voting and what might be done to alter this trend.

Why increasingly more young people are usually not voting

There are two primary obstacles to young people voting. One problem is that young people are usually not particularly occupied with voting. Current surveysAbout 77% of young people say they definitely wish to vote within the upcoming elections in November.

Among older residents, this figure is 90%.

However, a second – and maybe even more serious – problem is that young individuals who wish to vote often don’t put their intentions into motion.

By examining survey data and conducting interviews with dozens of young people in 2018 Hillygus and I discovered that many young people lack self-confidence and are unable to navigate the primary electoral process.

Many told us that voting often falls by the wayside of their busy, hectic and always changing schedules.

Due to highschool and work commitments and a scarcity of experience in completing voter registration forms and voting, many young people find voting to be an insurmountable burden.

What helps to extend voter turnout amongst young people?

A typical assumption amongst many youth organizations appears to be that more young people would vote if voting were considered cool. We saw this approach again this election cycle, when activists clamored for support from celebrities like singer Taylor Swift.

The problem is that this approach is just not compatible with the proven fact that young persons are occupied with politics and find it difficult to take the crucial steps.

The biggest hurdle for a lot of young people is voter registration particularly. In 2022, data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that only 40% of young people said they were registered to vote within the midterm elections.

Programs that help young people register to vote can particularly effective to encourage them to forged their vote.

It has also turn out to be more common for political campaigns to support young adults Make a plan for voting by outlining when and where you’ll vote and the way you’re going to get to your polling place.

Other methods, corresponding to sending SMS remindersAutomatic calendar reminders and providing transportation to polling stations are also effective in helping young individuals who wish to vote to truly accomplish that. Although a few of these strategies utilized in Many of those are usually not common within the 2024 election.

A government measure that makes voter registration and voting easier would also increase voter turnout amongst young people.

Same-day voter registration is especially effective in encouraging young people to vote. 16 and 17 12 months olds Voter registration before the age of 18 also can significantly increase the variety of voters under 30. 21 statesincluding California, Massachusetts, Florida and Louisiana, allow 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote.

Our research suggests that countries that implement such reforms close the gap between older and younger voters by a couple of third.

There is a few evidence that Harris has latest strength the youth voice.

Whether the young residents will show up and let Harris take the presidency or stay home and let Trump take the lead stays to be seen.