Biden admin hit with legal challenge over gas appliance crackdown
The natural gas industry is challenging the Biden administration over its regulations targeting traditional gas-powered residential furnaces, which a rulemaking energy groups says will impact more than half of all U.S. households. Led by the American Gas Association (AGA), whose members provide natural gas to more than 74 million customers nationwide, several trade associations and one manufacturer filed the legal challenge late Monday against the Department of Energy (DOE) over the regulations, which were finalized in late September. The groups argued the agency’s action effectively bans the sale of a large swath of furnaces enjoyed by consumers. “AGA has attempted to work with the Department of Energy to address the rule’s profound impacts on consumers and homeowners with a solutions-oriented approach to energy conservation that protects consumers and ensures continued availability of low-cost, low-emission natural gas furnaces,” AGA President and CEO Karen Harbert said in a statement. “Unfortunately, our 114 pages of comments have been summarily ignored.” “This ruling from DOE will push American families with natural gas heat into a corner — when their furnace goes out, they’ll be forced to choose between retrofitting for electric with the increased month-to-month utility bills that entails or engaging in a costly and time-consuming renovation to retrofit their home for a completely different type of natural gas furnace,” she continued. BIDEN INVOKES WARTIME POWERS TO FUND ELECTRIC HEATERS AS HE CRACKS DOWN ON GAS APPLIANCES Harbert added that as a result of the regulations, families and businesses will be “saddled with increased costs with little environmental gain.” The DOE’s finalized regulations, which are slated to go into effect in 2028, specifically require furnaces to achieve an annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE) of 95%, meaning manufacturers would only be allowed to sell furnaces that convert at least 95% of fuel into heat within six years. The current market standard AFUE for a residential furnace is 80%. EXPERTS WARN BIDEN ADMIN’S WATER HEATER CRACKDOWN WILL HIKE PRICES, REDUCE CONSUMER CHOICE Because of the stringent AFUE requirements, the regulations would largely take non-condensing gas furnaces — which are generally less efficient, but cheaper — off the market. However, consumers who replace their non-condensing furnace with a condensing furnace after the rule is implemented face hefty installation costs. Overall, AGA has estimated the DOE regulations would remove up to 60% of current residential furnaces off the market. Additionally, AGA said on Monday that the regulations impact 55% of American households and would lead to higher costs for 30% of senior households, 27% of small businesses and 26% of low-income households. DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm has defended the regulations, and a slew of other Biden administration actions targeting popular home appliances, by arguing they will lead to more efficient appliances, lower costs and reduced carbon emissions. “At the direction of Congress, DOE is continuing to review and finalize energy standards for household appliances, such as residential furnaces, to lower costs for working families by reducing energy use and slashing harmful pollutants in homes across the nation,” she said after finalizing the furnace regulations on Sept. 29. According to the DOE, altogether, its past and planned appliance regulations will save Americans $570 billion and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 2.4 billion metric tons over the next 30 years.
Hawaii Gov. Green proposes $425M recovery budget for Maui after devastating wildfires
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday said he was requesting $425 million from lawmakers during the next fiscal year to help Maui recover from August’s wildfires — and millions more to reduce the risk of wildfires statewide. The proposed budget is Green’s first since a fast-moving wildfire killed at least 100 people and destroyed Maui’s historic town of Lahaina on Aug. 8. “We took to heart our need to care for those who lost everything on Maui. We’re going to make them whole. We’re going to help them survive,” Green said at a news conference. HAWAII GOV JOSH GREEN SAYS ‘VERY REAL’ GLOBAL WARMING CAUSED CONDITIONS FOR DEADLY WILDFIRE The blaze displaced about 12,000 people, half of whom are still living in hotels due to a severe housing shortage on the island. Wildfires have long been relatively rare in Hawaii, which is better known for a lush landscape of rainforests and waterfalls. But climate change has increased the frequency and intensity of droughts, raising the risk of wildfires on the islands. The federal government is covering the expenses for much of Lahaina’s clean-up and emergency housing. Green said that while it will cost more than $5 billion to recover from the fire, the state’s share will be about $500 million. The governor’s proposals are for the fiscal year beginning July 1. Lawmakers will consider the proposals when they draft the state’s budget during the legislative session set to start on Jan. 17. The proposals include: 1. $200 million for anticipated Maui insurance claim payments 2. $186 million for other recovery costs as they arise 3. $10 million for fire and emergency response equipment for the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, which is responsible for state forests, with $7.4 million to go to the same department for fire response and prevention efforts 4. 20 positions to work on firebreaks, fire assessments and wildfire matters at the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency 5. $33 million, mostly from federal funds, to repair and rebuild state highways in Lahaina In addition to fire response, Green proposed spending $22 million on housing for older adults in Honolulu, $10 million for Hawaii Public Housing Authority building improvements and $30 million in tax breaks for families with children in preschool. LAHAINA RESIDENTS PETITION HAWAII GOV. JOSH GREEN TO DELAY TOURISM REOPENING The governor said he didn’t dip into the state’s $1.5 billion rainy day fund. He said this fund, plus at least $500 million surplus expected at the end of the fiscal year, will give the state a cushion. This gives the state a higher credit rating and allows it to float bonds at lower interest rates, Green said. The tax revenue outlook for Hawaii hasn’t been as bleak as initially feared — even though after the fire, tourism dropped sharply on Maui, which is one of the state’s biggest hubs for visitors. Carl Bonham, the executive director of the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization, said last week the state has had several months of strong tax revenue growth lately, in large part due to income taxes. Excise tax and transient accommodations tax revenue — both of which are heavily influenced by the number of travelers to the state — have been weak as expected, he said. The state Council on Revenues, which predicts tax revenue for the governor and Legislature, is scheduled to meet on Jan. 8 to update its forecast.
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Over 500 elected officials have endorsed DeSantis as presidential battle heats up ahead of Iowa caucuses
FIRST ON FOX: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign has now received the endorsements of over 500 elected officials across the United States as the governor campaigns this week in Iowa with several of those supporters including GOP Rep. Chip Roy. As of Tuesday, the DeSantis campaign tells Fox News Digital that 543 current and former elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels have endorsed him for president as part of a list that shows the “significant strength of his momentum in early states.” The DeSantis campaign published a map on its website outlining where all the more than 500 endorsements from elected officials came from which includes 97 elected officials in Iowa, 63 in New Hampshire, and 68 in South Carolina. Rep. Roy, who will be joining DeSantis on the campaign trail in Iowa this week, told Fox News Digital he is looking forward to “barnstorming Iowa with Ron and Casey this week as they put in the hard work needed to win the Iowa Caucus.” WATCH: DESANTIS’ TOP MOMENTS ON ISRAEL, IMMIGRATION, TRUMP AND HALEY AT CNN TOWN HALL: ‘AN EASY ANSWER’ “I fully endorse Ron Desantis because it’s time for a new generation of leadership, and he is the candidate who will deliver for Americans,” Roy said. “Reining in reckless spending, securing our border, and ending the weaponization of government once and for all. In addition to Roy, DeSantis was joined by GOP Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky in Iowa for an event on Saturday and Oklahoma’s Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt is hitting the campaign trail for the Florida governor at events in Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday. DESANTIS ARGUES TRUMP ‘WILL SAY IT’S STOLEN, NO MATTER WHAT’ IF FORMER PRESIDENT LOSES IN IOWA OR NH “Iowans will hear directly from these national leaders who’ve seen first-hand Ron DeSantis fight the tough battles against the left and deliver big wins for conservatives,” DeSantis communications director Andrew Romeo told Fox News Digital. “They’ll make sure there is no doubt in the minds of Iowans that Ron DeSantis will deliver on his promises to stop the invasion at our southern border, restore our economy, and revive America.” DeSantis, who recently earned the coveted endorsements of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, currently sits at 20% in Iowa, according to the Real Clear Politics average. Former President Donald Trump’s polling average is 52% and former ambassador Nikki Haley is at 15.8% rounding out the top 3.
Biden campaign co-chair admits she’s ‘afraid’ Biden will lose big due to border crisis
A co-chair of President Biden’s re-election campaign admitted that she is “afraid” of the effect the worsening border crisis could have on Biden’s re-election effort. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-Texas, argues that Congress, and not the president, is to blame for the steady flow of hundreds of thousands of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border each month. Immigration has been one of Biden’s least popular issues throughout his administration, but Escobar suggested to Politico that he is only being blamed because he is in the White House. “It is our job,” she said, referring to Congress. “We have failed over and over again.” “I do worry that Democrats will get blamed simply because the president is in the White House,” she added. When pressed about whether she fears Biden will face political consequences for the crisis, she responded, “I hope not, but I’m afraid of that.” IL ALLOCATES $160 MILLION TO AID MIGRANTS IN CHICAGO DURING WINTER MONTHS Escobar’s comments come just after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed legislation allowing state law enforcement to arrest migrants who cross the border illegally. CHICAGO RESIDENTS RAIL AGAINST PLANNED MIGRANT SHELTER At the signing ceremony, Abbott said the goal of Senate Bill 4 was to “stop the tidal wave of illegal entry into Texas.” Once in custody, migrants could either agree to a Texas judge’s order to leave the U.S. or be prosecuted on misdemeanor charges of illegal entry. Migrants who do not comply could face arrest again under more serious felony charges. Fiscal Year 2023 has seen an unprecedented spike in illegal immigration, with more than 2.4 million migrant encounters at the border. WHERE NO CONGRESS HAS GONE BEFORE: FACING GALACTIC-SCALE FISCAL CLIFF AND BORDER SECURITY THREATS September saw a record for encounters at the southern border, and the following month saw a record for encounters in October, with more than 240,000 encounters border-wide. Congress remains deadlocked over potential border legislation. Biden and fellow Democrats have refused to negotiate on the issue, leading Republicans to make Ukraine funding contingent on first addressing the crisis at home. Fox News’ Bradford Betz contributed to this report.
‘Wear masks, avoid crowded areas’: Kerala issues advisory after rise in Covid-19 cases
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INDIA bloc meet: Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal propose Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s name as PM face
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Ex-Miami Young Republicans director, Rubio intern and DeSantis campaign organizer arrested on Jan. 6 charges
The former director of the Miami Young Republicans, who was allegedly captured on surveillance video breaching the Crypt of the U.S. Capitol, was arrested last week on charges in connection to the Jan. 6 riot, according to newly unsealed court documents Monday. Barbara Balmaseda, 23, of Miami Lakes, Florida, is charged in a criminal complaint filed in the District of Columbia with a felony offense of obstruction of an official proceeding and misdemeanor offenses of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds, disorderly conduct in a Capitol building or grounds, and parading, demonstrating, or picketing in a Capitol building, the Justice Department announced. According to the Miami New Times, Balmaseda, a Florida International University (FIU) student and South Florida GOP strategist, previously interned for U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., between 2018 and 2019 and worked as an organizer for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 2018 gubernatorial campaign. She was arrested on Thursday in Miami Lakes and made her initial appearance in the Southern District of Florida. Balmaseda’s attorney, Aubrey Webb, deemed the 23-year-old’s arrest by a task force of “FBI, Marshals, ATF and Metro-Dade Police” as a “waste of law enforcement resources” for what amounts to “essentially trespassing charges,” according to Politico. SUPREME COURT TAKES CHALLENGE TO JAN. 6 CHARGE THAT COULD HAVE IMPLICATIONS FOR TRUMP “Maybe if the FBI spent less time and resources focusing on J6 trespassers with no criminal history, they might be able to make an arrest of the suspect who left pipe bombs at the DNC and RNC offices on Capitol Hill on January 5, 2021, who currently remains at large,” Webb said in a statement. “We hope, of course, they will rein in the DOJ’s politically-motivated prosecution of January 6 demonstrators.” The attorney further stated that Balmaseda is “relieved this process will finally move toward a final resolution,” stressing that she is not charged with violence or destruction of property. Last week, the Supreme Court notably agreed to hear a case involving three Jan. 6 defendants disputing an obstruction charge that could have implications for one of former President Trump’s criminal cases. Over 300 people have been charged by the Justice Department with obstructing an official proceeding in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. The new complaint takes issue with how Balmaseda and former Proud Boys member Gabriel Garcia, who once sat on the Miami-Dade Republican Party Executive Committee, exchanged hundreds of texts and images from August 2020 through January 2021 and snapped a selfie together leaving the steps of the Capitol on January 6. Garcia was found guilty in November on felony charges of obstruction of an official proceeding and interference with law enforcement during a civil disorder in connection to the riot. His sentencing is scheduled for Mar. 28, 2024. Meanwhile, court documents allege Balmaseda traveled from Florida to Washington, D.C., to protest the result of the 2020 presidential election. Prior to her arrival in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 5, 2021, Balmaseda exchanged messages with several associates in which she participated in communications reflecting her belief that the 2020 presidential election had been stolen and her knowledge about the certification process scheduled to take place on Jan. 6, 2021, prosecutors say. On January 6, court documents say Balmaseda was photographed in Black Lives Matter Plaza – the two-block area in front of the White House renamed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser during the 2020 George Floyd protests and riots. Shortly after, at about 2:00 p.m., Balmaseda approached the Capitol building with another individual and was in position to see the crowd of rioters climbing the scaffolding on the west side of the Capitol and plumes of smoke that billowed into the air, federal prosecutors alleged. By this time, rioters had overwhelmed officers on the west front, bypassed the officer lines, and gained access to the northwest stairs of the Capitol. Around 2:09 p.m., rioters pushed past officers on the middle landing of the stairs and surged toward the Capitol building. JUDGE PAUSES JAN. 6 CASE AGAINST TRUMP AMID FORMER PRESIDENT’S APPEAL TO DISMISS Eventually, U.S. Capitol Police closed-circuit television (CCTV) captured Balmaseda entering the Capitol building via the Senate Wing door at approximately 2:16 p.m., just four minutes after rioters initially breached the building. According to the allegations, when Balmaseda entered the building, broken glass was scattered on the ground, and an alarm blared near the doorway. After entering the Capitol, Balmaseda made her way toward the Crypt and pushed her way to the front of a crowd of rioters who were confronting a police line, federal prosecutors say. The mob eventually overran the police line and proceeded into the Crypt. Balmaseda moved forward, joined a crowd of rioters, and headed towards an area known as the “OAP Corridor,” where another line of officers initially blocked a hallway. The complaint says officers eventually backed away, and the rioters, including Balmaseda, continued to move forward. The Justice Department says Balmaseda then made her way back to the Crypt and eventually entered the Rotunda, where she took photographs and exited the area at approximately 2:53 p.m., Balmaseda returned to the Rotunda and stood nearby as a group of rioters attempted to push through an officer line. At approximately 3:11 p.m., law enforcement officers received additional support in the Rotunda and were able to corral rioters, Balmaseda included, towards the nearest exit, the Rotunda doors. In the 35 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,230 individuals have been charged in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol, including more than 440 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement, a felony, the DOJ notes. The investigation remains ongoing.
Yemen’s Houthis ‘will not stop’ Red Sea attacks until Israel ends Gaza war
US launches maritime coalition to counter attacks the rebel group says are a response to Israeli ‘crimes’ in Gaza Strip. Yemen’s Houthis will not halt attacks on ships linked to Israel in the Red Sea, despite the United States announcing a new maritime protection force to counter them, a spokesperson for the rebel group said. “Even if America succeeds in mobilising the entire world, our military operations will not stop … no matter the sacrifices it costs us,” Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a senior Houthi official, said in a post on X on Tuesday. The Houthis would only halt their attacks if Israel’s “crimes in Gaza stop and food, medicines and fuel are allowed to reach its besieged population”, al-Bukhaiti said. He spoke after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a coalition on Monday to protect trade in the Red Sea after the attacks forced shipping lines to suspend operations. The Iran-linked Houthis have waged attacks on more than a dozen commercial ships in an attempt to pressure Israel to end its bombardment of the Gaza Strip. “These reckless Houthi attacks are a serious international problem and they demand a firm international response,” Austin said about the new 10-nation coalition. He said the force would operate “with the goal of ensuring freedom of navigation for all countries and bolstering regional security and prosperity”. After the US announcement, Houthi Major General Yusuf al-Madani said in a statement: “Any escalation in Gaza is an escalation in the Red Sea … Any country or party that comes between us and Palestine, we will confront it.” Spokesperson al-Bukhaiti told Al Jazeera on Monday that the group would confront any US-led coalition in the Red Sea. Not an act of ‘defiance’ “You have the military establishment in Yemen, in the areas controlled by the Houthis, warning that they will continue to target ships cruising through the Bab el-Mandeb strait and the Red Sea and they insist they are doing this to protect people in Gaza, in particular,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said, reporting from Doha on Tuesday. “A top Houthi official, Mohammed Abdulsalam, who is also a senior negotiator, said the attacks by the Houthis are not an act of defiance but if this new coalition is adamant on launching attacks, then they will have to bear the consequences of what he described as a broader conflict in the region. “But he said at the same time that the Houthis are still adamant on the need for the Israelis to stop the war if they want the Houthis to stop the attacks,” our correspondent added. On Tuesday, Abdulsalam told Reuters news agency that the US-led naval patrol mission is “essentially unnecessary” – as all waters near Yemen are still safe, except for Israel-linked ships or vessels travelling to Israel. The US and British navies said over the weekend that their destroyers had shot down a total of 15 drones in the waterway. In the latest incident on Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, said four small boats, each carrying four to five people, approached a vessel off the coast of Djibouti in a “suspicious” manoeuvre – but that no weapons were seen during the incident. At least 12 shipping companies, including the Italian-Swiss giant Mediterranean Shipping Company, France’s CMA CGM and Denmark’s AP Moller-Maersk, have suspended transit through the Red Sea due to safety concerns. UK oil giant BP on Monday became the latest firm to announce it would avoid the waters. Houthi attacks have effectively rerouted a significant portion of global trade by forcing freight companies to sail around Africa, imposing higher costs and delays for energy, food and consumer goods deliveries. About 12 percent of global trade passes through the Red Sea, which connects to the Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal, including 30 percent of container traffic. [embedded content] Adblock test (Why?)