Short Takes – 8-17-23

$220 billion is helping build US cleantech infrastructure. Here are the projects. ArsTechnica.com article. Pull quote: ““There’s just so many new [plants] going out,” said Gregg Lowe, chief executive of Wolfspeed, a semiconductor manufacturer that announced a $5 billion factory in North Carolina last year. “[The biggest challenge] is probably going to be the labor to build the factory ... then the second challenge is once you build the factory, you got to fit it out with tools, and lead times for semiconductor tools have definitely stretched out.””

Purported names, photos and addresses of Fulton County grand jurors circulate on far-right internet. CNN.com article. Pull quote: “Unlike the federal system, when someone is indicted in Fulton County, the indictment includes the names of all the grand jurors who served on the 26-member panel that handed up the charges. However, the indictment, which is a public record that’s available on the court website, does not include their addresses or any other personally identifiable information.”

Leaders in both parties agree to pursue a stopgap to avoid shutdown. GovExec.com article. Another take on a probable CR. Pull quote: ““You cannot keep the government open if you just want to do it with one party, it just won't work the way our government is structured,” the majority leader said. “And so we hope that our House Republicans will realize that any funding resolution has to be bipartisan or they will risk shutting down the government.””

Walmart sales soar as Target slumps. LinkedIn.com news article. Pull quote: “Many shoppers are also trying to make their budgets stretch further. Walmart is picking up customers because of its ‘low price’ position. Target has a ‘good value’ position and that’s not quite as compelling in the current environment.”

US virtual power plants expected to proliferate as reliability needs rise with increasing renewables. UtilityDive.com article. Pull quote: ““Once [a household or business] has a battery in place, the grid operator is saying ‘wait a second, we could benefit if we could use that battery on the worst day of the year,’” Borenstein said. “We could know that we could dispatch that battery right when we need it.’””

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