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Days after a winter storm dropped ice and record-breaking snow, cleanup efforts were underway Thursday in several major Southern cities such as New Orleans, where crews were removing snow the same way they remove trash, drink cups, and plastic beads after Mardi Gras.Temperatures were gradually rising across the U.S. South, bringing hopes that remaining snow and ice would melt away.“We have to be honest with ourselveswe’re from Louisiana, we know crawfish, we know football, but we don’t really know snow and ice and that’s okay,” said Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development spokesperson Daniel Gitlin. “It’s going to go away and we’re better off letting Mother Nature do what she needs to do right now.”Up to 200 miles (320 kilometers) of interstate was expected to remain closed until Friday due to treacherous patches of black ice, Gitlin said. Louisiana has nearly run out of its salt supply after treating roads, he added.In the Big Easy, a private waste management firm has been contracted to repurpose equipment that’s typically used to clean up Mardi Gras beads and cups to clear snow from the streets.IV Waste President Sidney Torres said his company has deployed a 4,000-gallon (15,000-liter) “flusher” truck to spray water on the ground to soften the ice for removal in the historic and festive French Quarter. The truck normally sprays lemon-scented fragrance “to get rid of that funky liquor, urine, puke smell from the night before,” Torres said. “We’re finding new solutions and better techniques to dealing with this.”Arkansas sent Louisiana snowplows, dump trucks, salt spreaders, and other equipment, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said.The snowfall likely broke several records across the region, including in Florida where a preliminary report of 10 inches (25 centimeters) in one town would set a new all-time record for the state, if confirmed.Snow totals reached 3 inches (8 centimeters) this week in Savannah, Georgia, the most that the state’s oldest city has recorded since December 1989.The snow was lighter in metro Atlanta, where the southern suburbs saw more snow and ice than areas north of the city. In Covington, southeast of Atlanta, Jesse Gentes used a flame thrower to deice the roads in his subdivision. In better weather, he typically uses the flame thrower for brush removal, he told WSB-TV.Light freezing rain was forecast Thursday in the port city of Brunswick and surrounding Glynn County, where local officials had imposed an overnight curfew because of icy roads and frigid temperatures. Officials opened three warming stations where people could escape the biting chill, and nearly 4,000 residents of the county were still without power Thursday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.South Carolina reported at least one death in the storm. A 71-year-old man died from a medical condition while shoveling snow Thursday morning in Berkeley County, Coroner Darnell Hartwell said. About 3-4 inches (8-10 centimeters) of snow fell in the area, according to the National Weather Service.The snow and ice had staying power and left a mess on the roads in coastal South Carolina. In Charleston, ice that melted and then refroze overnight closed the James Island Connector, a bridge that links the city to its western suburbs. Police said on social media that “while crews are working hard, it is unlikely to reopen soon.”Schools and county offices remained closed as officials in most areas south and east of the state capital, Columbia, asked people to stay home at least one more day.It was a similar story in North Carolina, where slick roads remained a danger to drivers after snow melted and then refroze overnight. Schools were also affected, including in Cumberland County where Fayetteville is located, where the school system announced that students would have an “asynchronous” learning day allowing students to complete assignments at home. Several other school districts operated on a two-hour delay.Some school systems in central and south Alabama remained closed Thursday because of concerns about remaining ice on roads or the possibility of frozen pipes in schools. In coastal Baldwin County, sections of Interstate 65 and Interstate 10 were shut down because of ice.Across the South, airports were gradually recovering from the weather interruption. Nationwide, about 600 flights scheduled to fly into or out of U.S. airports had been canceled by midday Thursdaya marked improvement over previous days when the storm was at its peak, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.com. Bynum reported from Savannah, Georgia. Associated Press Writers Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Makiya Seminera in Raleigh, North Carolina; Sara Cline in Key Largo, Florida; Jeff Martin in Kennesaw, Georgia; and Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed. Jack Brook and Russ Bynum, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
California will spend $2.5 billion to help the Los Angeles area recover from recent deadly wildfires under a relief package signed Thursday by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.Newsom signed the laws after the state Legislature approved them with bipartisan support earlier in the day. The measures include $2.5 billion for the state’s disaster response efforts such as evacuations, sheltering survivors, and removing household hazardous waste. Lawmakers also approved $4 million for local governments to streamline approvals for rebuilding homes, and $1 million to support school districts and help them rebuild facilities.“This is about distilling a sense of hopefulness,” Newsom said at a news conference in Pasadena, a city recovering from one of the destructive fires that ignited earlier this month.The aid won approval a day before President Donald Trump is set to visit California for a look at damage from the blazes. He’s suggested any federal wildfire relief should come with conditions, though congressional Republicans who represent the state have pushed back on that idea. Former President Joe Biden already approved some disaster aid for the region earlier this month.Newsom called lawmakers into a special session in November to prepare for legal battles against Trump ‘s administration. But after major fires broke out around Los Angeles, the governor shifted gears to prioritize fire relief funding. He expanded the focus of the special session to pass the recovery funding under pressure from Republican state lawmakers who said the focus on Trump was misplaced while the state dealt with the disaster.The governor said he hasn’t spoken with Trump about his visit to the state, but that he hopes to work with the president despite their political differences.Republican state Sen. Kelly Seyarto criticized Newsom for not issuing the fire relief funding on his own, but ultimately Seyarto supported the bills.He said in the future, Democrats should do a better job of working with Republicans on crafting legislation for fire response and prevention funding.“We need a plan from all of us to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” he said.The state Senate also approved $25 million Thursday to defend the state against legal challenges by the federal government, along with another $25 million in part for legal groups to defend immigrants facing possible deportation and other threats. The vote fell largely along party lines. The state Assembly would still have to pass the bills before they can reach Newsom’s desk.The largest of the recent Southern California blazes ignited on January 7, ripping through the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles and killing 11 people. The Eaton Fire, which broke out the same day near Altadena, has killed 17 people.The region is also now battling the Hughes Fire, which ignited Wednesday north of Los Angeles, spread more than 15 square miles (39 square kilometers), and led to evacuation orders or warnings for more than 50,000 people.State Senate President Pro Tempore Mike McGuire, a Democrat representing the North Coast, said the fires have been “nothing short of devastating.”“But we promise we have your back, and we’re going to get through this,” he said before Newsom signed the aid into law.Newsom’s administration said the state expects to be reimbursed by the federal government for the disaster relief funding.The governor also announced a commitment Thursday by 270 state-chartered banks, credit unions, and lenders to provide mortgage relief to homeowners impacted by fires in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, a Democrat from Encino and chair of the chamber’s special session budget committee, said his family was ordered to evacuate for six days while firefighters battled the Palisades Fire.The funding the Legislature passed Thursday is “the first of many steps” lawmakers will take to support wildfire survivors and to protect communities from the threat of future blazes, he said.“No community is immune from these wildfires,” Gabriel said. “That’s part of what the tragedy in Los Angeles proved to us.”__Associated Press writer Jaimie Ding in Pasadena, California, contributed to this report.-Austin is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Austin on X: @ sophieadanna Sophie Austin, Associated Press/Report for America
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E-Commerce
Shares in Venture Global, Inc. are expected to make their debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) after the company raised $1.75 billion in its initial public offering. Venture global’s IPO is the largest public offering ever for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer and comes at what may be one of the most opportune times for the companyimmediately after Donald Trump has returned to the presidency with the intention of unleashing Americas energy-producing potential. Heres what you need to know about Venture Global and its IPO. What is Venture Global, Inc? Venture Global is a producer of liquified natural gas (LNG). It was founded in 2013 and currently has five liquified natural gas projects in various stages of production, reports Reuters. Those projects are all located in the Gulf of Mexico, near Louisiana. Besides LNG production, Venture Global is also in the business of natural gas transportation and regasification. The companys first facility, called Calcasieu Pass, started producing LNG in January 2022. A second facility, called Plaquemines LNG, began LNG production last month, in December 2024. Venture Global is the second-largest LNG exporter in the United States. Venture Global is one of the companies expected to benefit after President Trump signed an executive order earlier this week that ended a moratorium on new export permits for liquified natural gas. The executive order was a move to boost Trumps desire to increase Americas energy production. A reduced public offering Venture Globals public offering makes it the largest liquified natural gas IPO ever on a global scale, notes Reuters. It is also the third-largest energy and utility sector public listing in the United States since 1995. However, the company was forced to almost halve its sought valuation after investors doubted its long-term profit estimates for its export business. Originally, the company sought to sell 50 million shares for between $40 and $46 each, which would have given Venture Global a valuation of as much as $110 billion. Instead, the company settled on selling 70 million shares for a revised range of $23 to $27 per share. On Thursday, the company announced that shares were priced at $25 apiece. When is Venture Globals IPO? Venture Global priced shares on Thursday. It expects to begin trading today: Friday, January 24, 2025. What is Venture Globals stock ticker? Venture Globals stock will trade under the ticker VG. Which exchange will Venture Global shares trade on? Venture Global shares will trade on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). What is the IPO share price of VG? Venture Globals IPO share price is $25, which is in the middle of its revised $23 to $27 price range. How many VG shares are available in its IPO? Seventy million shares of its Class A common stock were made available in its IPO. How much will Venture Global raise in its IPO? At $25 per share, Venture Global raised $1.75 billion in its initial public offering. That was down from the $2.3 billion it sought to raise before its IPO price revision. What is Venture Globals valuation? As of its IPO, Venture Global had a total valuation of $60.5 billiondown from the $110 billion valuation it would have had if it had not revised its original IPO plans. What else is there to know? Some experts expect the U.S. IPO market to ramp up this year following Trump’s return to the White House. Lynn Martin, president of NYSE, expressed optimism around Trump’s “pro-growth agenda” this week at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, according to Bloomberg. However, uncertainties such as inflation and the impact of tariffs remain.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump has pledged cheaper prices and lower interest rates, but an economy transformed by the pandemic will make those promises difficult to keep.Economic growth is solid, driven by healthy consumer spending. And budget deficits are huge and could get even larger. Meanwhile, businesses are borrowing more to step up their investments in data centers and artificial intelligence, leading to a greater demand for loans that can raise interest rates.And if Trump follows through on his promises to impose widespread tariffs on imports and deport millions of immigrants, economists expect inflation could worsenmaking it less likely the Federal Reserve will cut its key interest rate much this year.All of these trends will likely keep borrowing costs higher, including for homes and cars.Yet on Thursday during the World Economic Forum’s annual event in Davos, Switzerland, Trump said he would reduce oil prices, and then “I’ll demand that interest rates drop immediately, and likewise, they should be dropping all over the world.”Later, in Washington, Trump told reporters that lower energy costs would reduce inflation, which would “automatically bring the interest rates down.” Asked if he expects the Fed to listen to him on rates, Trump said: “Yeah.”Yet Trump may be facing a bigger challenge than he expects. The surprising resilience of the economywhich has weathered the aftermath of the pandemic, an inflation spike, and several recession scares just in the past few yearsmay keep borrowing costs higher.Jan Hatzius, chief economist at Goldman Sachs, says the economy is “in the sweet spot of healthy growth.”It has expanded at an annual rate of at least 3% for four out of the last five quarters, the longest such streak in a decade. Unemployment is at a historically low 4.1%. And inflation, which soared to a four-decade high in 2022 and soured most Americans on the economy, is back down to 2.4%, according to the Fed’s preferred measure.Wages, which badly trailed prices in 2021 and 2022, have risen faster than inflation for the past 18 months, which provides the needed fuel for ongoing growth.A healthier economy spurs more Americans to borrow to buy cars, homes, and large appliances, and businesses to invest in IT equipment and factories. Such moves are great for the economybut more demand for loans to fund all that spending can also keep interest rates elevated.And steadier growth could keep prices higher. Companies that see healthy consumer demand may decide they can charge more, as Netflix announced it would do Tuesday after signing up a surge of subscribers.Such trends are a big change from the last time Trump entered the White House in 2017. Back then, the U.S. economy was emerging from an extended period of sluggish growth and very low inflation that followed the painful 2008-2009 Great Recession. Millions of households saved more and spent less after a borrowing binge earlier in the decade that drove up mortgage and credit card debt.“Households were shrinking their balance sheets relative to their income, and that’s a very significant disinflationary force that is not present now,” said Julia Coronado, president of MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Fed economist.Today, most households are carrying less debt and upper-income families in particular are benefitting from strong gains in home values and stock market wealth. About 40% of homes are now owned free and clearwithout a mortgage. Greater wealth can spur ongoing spending on travel, electronics, and dining out.In addition, high-tech firms are ramping up their investment in data centers to accelerate their work on artificial intelligence. Trump announced Tuesday a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and Japan’s SoftBank to invest $500 billion in data centers and electricity generation to fuel AI research. Before the pandemic, many companies were stockpiling cash and weren’t investing as much, which can keep interest rates lower.“We are in a different world,” said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, a tax advisory and consulting firm. “Gone is the era of low inflation and low interest rates. In its place is a new framework featuring scarce capital and higher rates.”As a result, Trump’s promises to stimulate the economy through tax cuts and deregulation, while also promising to impose tariffs and immigration restrictions, could keep prices elevated.“That’s going to be inflationary, and that’s going to push (Fed) policymakers to adopt more stringent policies than they would otherwise,” said Gregory Daco, chief economist at EY. “So you’re going to be in a higher interest-rate environment.”Even if the Fed does reduce its key rate in the coming months, that won’t necessarily reduce borrowing costs. Financial markets also affect the cost of borrowing for a home or car. Since the Fed began cutting its key rate in September, the yield on the 10-year Treasury notewhich strongly influences mortgage rateshas actually risen substantially.Gennadiy Goldberg, head of U.S. rates strategy at TD Securities, says investors are anticipating a continuation of stronger growth, in part fueled by Trump’s proposals to cut taxes and reduce regulation. In that scenario, the Fed would be less likely to cut its key rate.Many investors are discounting Trump’s tariff threats, hoping that he intends to use them as leverage in international talks, rather than permanently impose them.“I think there was an expectation that President Trump would bring all of the good policies and leave all of the bad policies for growth at the door,” Goldberg said.Another trend that Trump has helped spark is the rise of protectionist measures around the world, after two decades of globalization that lowered the prices for manufactured goods.“Instead of globalization driving prices lower, or at the very least putting a constraint on them, we’re now relocating supply chains and protectionist barriers are going up,” Brusuelas said. Nearly all economists forecast that will push prices higher, though the increase could be modest.Another shift is that stubbornly high yearly budget deficits threaten to lift interest rates as well, because Wall Street investors may require higher yields to buy all the Treasury securities needed to finance the debt.Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this year’s deficit would likely reach $1.9 trillion, and grow to $2.7 trillion in a decade. Trump’s proposals to extend his 2017 tax cuts, and implement new ones, such as eliminating taxes on tips, would raise deficits further.“If we don’t get fiscal deficits down, we’re going to see higher longer-term bond yields,” said Fed governor Chris Waller earlier this month. “And that’s what we’re starting to see.” Christopher Rugaber, AP Economics Writer
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E-Commerce
When I started my business nearly two decades ago, I shared the same reservations as many first-time entrepreneurs. As a natural introvert, I doubted whether I had the personality to lead a company. Fortunately, I pushed through those self-doubts and gradually discovered my leadership style. Today, however, many leaders face a new type of challenge: feeling like imposters in the age of AI. A recent Korn Ferry survey of 10,000 workers and executives found that AI contributed to 71% of CEOs and two-thirds of other senior leaders feeling imposter syndrome in their roles. With technology evolving at an ever-faster pace, the fear of falling behind is understandable. But it begs the question: Why are so many professionals adopting a wait-and-see approach to AI? In my experience, the best way to get started with AI is to carve out a bit of time for experimentation, explore new tools, and integrate them into daily workflows. As AI transforms industries, leaders cant afford to sit on the sidelines. If youre not already onboard, here are a few ways AI is helping CEOs run their companies more effectively. Transforming the decision-making process Being a CEO requires navigating an almost constant stream of decisions. While theres an argument for leaning on intuition, data is essential for wading through todays increasingly complex world. George C. Lee, co-head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, advocates leveraging AI in the C-suite to enhance effective decision-making. Writing for Fast Company, Lee explained that an AI-enabled system can analyze market trends, customer reviews, and competitive dynamics. He noted that such tools could broaden the context of any discussion, introduce novel insights, and connect the dots across complex scenario analyses. While some companies are developing proprietary AI models, widely available tools like ChatGPT are a great way to get started. They can conduct research and synthesize vast amounts of data in seconds, enabling CEOs to improve the quality of their decisions and make them faster and more confidently. Then, they can dedicate more time to big-picture topics like innovation. Theres a caveat: AI tools like ChatGPT are powerful tools, but they have the unfortunate habit of occasionally hallucinatingmaking things up. Its good practice to always verify essential information before relying on it for major decisions. Streamlining operations to focus on strategic growth As CEO of Jotform, Im always on the lookout for new automation opportunities. Integrating these tools requires an upfront time investment, but once the processes are in place, I regain that investment and more, leaving me wide swaths of time and energy to focus on strategic growth. According to an IBM survey of over 1,600 senior European executives, 82% of the business leaders reported having already deployed generative AI or intending to this year. A common motivation was the desire to improve efficiency by automating manual tasks. Leaders can use AI to automate routine tasks, such as tracking business metrics and trends. Tools like Microsoft Power BI provide centralized dashboards for real-time KPIs, while predictive analytics deliver trend updates and forecast outcomes, obviating the need to gather data manually. Or, take executive-level recruiting: CEOs can combine AI tools with personal insight to connect with talent faster. As Nancy Xu, Founder and CEO of Moonhub, said at Summer Davos this year: In a world where talent is traditionally the bottleneck for growth, I think the really exciting opportunity for AI agents is actually to compress the time scale that it takes to build ideas or companies to impact and make it possible to do that in a much more compressed time frame. As a result, CEOs can focus more on higher-level work, like ensuring their companies are continually evolving. Enhancing soft skills and boosting team morale Soft skills have long been underrated for CEOs, overshadowed by technical skills and business acumenbut that seems to be changing. According to Deloitte research, organizations are increasingly prioritizing soft skills in the C-Suite, like communication and critical thinking. CEOs can leverage AI tools to build and enhance these skills. For example, natural language processing tools, such as Grammarly or ChatGPT, can help leaders refine their communication style and messaging to be clearer, more personalized, and more empathetic. Sentiment analysis tools, like IBM Watson or Qualtrics, can analyze employee feedback or survey responses to take the temperature on team morale. That information in hand, CEOs can pinpoint areas where additional support might be needed and keep employee morale afloat. While AI will never replace leaders or human decision-makers, it can help them work faster, more efficiently, more effectivelyand at the same time, provide more guidance and support to employees. By experimenting with AI tools and integrating them into workflows, CEOs can navigate the increasingly complex modern business world and enhance, rather than eliminate, the human touch.
Category:
E-Commerce
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