POWER

President Biden has vowed to tackle the rising rate of inflation in the U.S. But many Americans don't feel like his administration is doing enough, despite steady economic growth during his first year in office. Chief economist for Morning Consult John Leer joins CBSN's Lana Zak to discuss.

The NY attorney general used a court filing to outline evidence investigators have gathered. The filing was meant to persuade a judge that Donald Trump and two of his children, Don Jr. and Ivanka, should be forced to answer questions under oath. (Jan. 19)

President Biden is set to hold his first formal news conference of 2022. It comes a day ahead of the first anniversary of his presidency. CBS News chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes joined CBSN to discuss.

Former Trump allies Rudy Giuliani, Jenna Ellis, Sidney Powell and Boris Epshteyn were subpoenaed by the House January 6 committee. CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane joins CBSN's Tanya Rivero with the latest on the January 6 investigation.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with the Ukrainian president Wednesday, as Russia continues to amass military forces at the country's border. Blinken said Moscow has two choices in the standoff: diplomacy or confrontation. CBS News correspondent Christina Ruffini joined CBSN to discuss the possible outcomes of the tense situation.

President Joe Biden, whose approval rating stands at 44% amid an uphill battle on his domestic agenda, will face questions from the press Wednesday afternoon during his first formal news conference since November. CBS News senior White House and political correspondent Ed O'Keefe joined CBSN with more about the administration's efforts.

New York State's Attorney General Letitia James' office said in a court filing she wants to question former President Trump, his son Donald Trump, Jr., and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, under oath. Her office said it told a court its investigators has evidence Mr. Trump's company used "fraudulent or misleading" asset valuations to get tax benefits and loans.

Nuclear power is emerging as an answer to stave off the worst effects of a warming...

Nuclear power is emerging as an answer as states transition away from coal, oil and natural gas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and stave off climate change.

Many states in the U.S. are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not be enough to keep the lights on as they seek to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels.

As 2021 ends and we reflect back on the year -- one event Texans will not forget is the winter freeze that caused major power outages across the state.

The latest deaths are part of a major problem for two governments with few good options available.

As the four-day royal tour of Egypt and Jordan ends, our royal correspondent reflects on its impact.

Nuclear power is being promoted as a source of 'clean' energy, but is it safe?

Transgender pop star Kim Petras says her performance at next week’s MTV EMAs in Hungary will be “pretty powerful.”

With Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny imprisoned, a phalanx of fiery young communists is in the Kremlin’s firing line.

Workers have never had more power. If they quit rather than get a vaccine, or need to be fired, it will be expensive and difficult for a company to replace them.

Advocates for Stephen Lara say his case shows how the government abuses its power to seize assets.

Former customers of Griddy Energy are off the hook. A settlement between the Texas Attorney General and the wholesale electric provider means customers stuck with huge bills from the February freeze won't have to pay a dime.

Summer is not over yet folks!

Will Power took the lead early Saturday, then watched it shrink over the final half of the race before holding on to win another Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Former Dixon comptroller Rita Crundwell, who pleaded guilty in 2012 to what authorities then called the largest municipal fraud in the country’s history, was released from prison Wednesday.

The head of the U.S. Agency for International Development is expressing concern about the “dehumanizing rhetoric” used by Ethiopia’s leaders amid the nine-month conflict in the Tigray region, whose forces last month were described as “weeds’ and “cancer” by the country’s Nobel Peace Prize-winning prime minister

The city of Evanston has decided not to amend its regulations of plantings done by residents in parkways, the city-owned strip of land between a sidewalk and a street.

The new head of the U.S. Agency for International Development speaks with 60 Minutes+ about the Biden administration's response to the historic increase of migrants coming to the U.S. southern border. See the interview, streaming now, only on Paramount+

The extremist threat shows no sign of slowing down.

On Tuesday, Gov. Greg Abbott signed sweeping legislation to prevent another weather disaster that crippled the state back in February.

KPRC 2 Investigates presents a “Power Struggle: The Texas Energy Crisis.”

Then, as now, those in power denied racist intent, he noted. Then, as now, they claimed they wanted to protect the “integrity” of elections. Then, as now, they imposed restrictions such as poll taxes and literacy tests that they claimed would apply to all voters but that in practice applied overwhelmingly to people of color.

The biggest machine on Earth delivers more than $400 billion of electricity a year across nearly 7 million miles (11 million kilometers) of transmission and distribution lines. It’s the U.S. power grid.

The advertiser paid a fee to promote this sponsored article and may have influenced or authored the content. The views expressed in this article are those of the advertiser and do not necessarily reflect those of this site or affiliated companies. Have you considered switching energy providers? It might be on your mind especially following last month’s winter storm. If you recall, the winter storm left millions of Texans without power.

One Texan is now working on a restaurant thanks to a legion of 600K TikTok followers. Texans were without power for an average of 42 hours, according to the study.

HOUSTON – After two days and two hearings, Texas state senators and representatives will begin deciding how to reform the embattled Electric Reliability Council of Texas, ERCOT, which manages the flow of electricity across our state. Magness testified ERCOT is asking each of the 185 power plants that went down during the storm to provide specific reasons for the outages. Nye testified his list did include natural gas facilities, but he learned during the storm his list was not the most current. Garland Power and Light COO Tom Hancock told state senators the company invested in a robust winterization effort following the 2011 winter storm that caused similar problems in Texas. Hancock said as a result none of the natural gas facilities in their territory went offline.

HOUSTON – Last week’s electric shortage has given some customers a jolt. Some people who were on variable rate wholesale electricity plans now owe thousands of dollars for just one month of power. If you were to switch providers today, Jesson Bradshaw, the CEO of Energy Ogre says rates are not bad. CenterPoint is now going back and correcting that usage data to send to retail electric providers so they know what to charge customers. And if you’re on a switch hold, you can not switch from your provider,” said Davies.

The Griddy app displays the current wholesale electricity price on a phone in this 2019 file photo. HOUSTON – A Chambers County woman has filed a proposed class action lawsuit against the electric company, Griddy. This is not the first time Griddy customers have felt the effects of extreme weather on the electric bills. This means that if the company’s wholesale price goes up, the customer’s price goes up as well. It’s unclear how many other Texans also pay wholesale prices from other companies.

As part of our Ask 2 series, the newsroom will answer your questions about all things Houston. Question: Do we still need to conserve electricity? ERCOT ended emergency operations last Friday after power outages forced the electrical grid to conserve power during the winter storm. Thank you for your help in saving energy while the need was greatest! @ERCOT_ISO has returned to normal operations and conservation is no longer being requested.

On February 8, ERCOT notified power generators freezing temperatures were on the way and would last from February 11 to 15. At 12:17 a.m. on February 15, ERCOT moved to a Level 1 Energy Emergency Alert and asked for power conservation. ERCOT is urging consumers and businesses to reduce electricity usage.”At1:25 a.m. ERCOT was at EEA Level 3, the highest level. AdERCOT reported a total of 185 power plants were offline during the storm. Once adopted, power plants could face stiff penalties if weatherization standards are not followed.

Investigating the Texas power gridThe forecast was for record breaking cold for Texas, including Houston. KPRC Investigates reporter Robert Arnold takes a deep dive into what went wrong and is a guest on this week’s Houston Newsmakers with Khambrel Marshall. After his second impeachment acquittal, former president Trump may have a renewed ability to play a pivotal role in the future of the Republican Party but to what end? “He has the ability to make life very difficult for the Republican party, particularly in seats that are competitive seats where they want some moderate or centrist moderate candidates,” Jones said. “I think that he’s going to be the butt of national jokes for a while,” Professor Rottinghaus said.

How the Red Cross is helping Texans in need Power has been restored to most of Texas, but now a water crisis is underway. Roughly a quarter of the state's population is under a "boil-water advisory." The rolling power outages caused pipes to burst in homes and shut down water treatment plants. Dan Halyburton, a spokesperson for the American Red Cross, joins CBSN to discuss how his organization is providing aid to those affected by this deadly winter weather.

At one point on Tuesday, more than 4 million customers were without power. Wintry conditions impacted power production from natural gas, coal, renewables and other sources, just as consumers turned up their thermostats amid frigid temperatures. Natural gas production across Texas dropped about 30%, making it hard for power companies to find the gas they needed to run their power plants. Henry Hub natural gas futures slid slightly to $3.071 per million British thermal units on Friday. For the week natural gas gained more than 5%.

HOUSTON – Leaders with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) ended emergency protocols and ceased rotating outages Friday morning. ERCOT leaders said enough power plants came back online to bring stability to the state’s power grid. With the crisis now passed, Magness said ERCOT is sending out Request for Information to all power generators who went offline during the storm. Magness said these RFI’s will help ERCOT gain a better understanding of exactly why 185 power plants tripped offline Sunday night and Monday morning. AdDan Woodfin, ERCOT senior director of system operations, said the state’s grid unexpectedly lost 40% of its power supply during the storm.

HOUSTON – Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) officials held a news conference Thursday to address the current power situation in Texas, saying there is a possibility that outages could continue if demand outstrips supply as people come back online. AdIn addition to the discussion about the current situation, ERCOT said information about the facilities that failed and a timeline of events will eventually come out in weeks or even perhaps months ahead. The officials also addressed local calls for the ERCOT board to be replaced, saying if the Texas Legislature would sanction such a change, it would follow such governance. Discussing winterization of facilities, ERCOT officials said that’s a matter for the owners who operate the facilities across the state. The ERCOT officials declined to give a grade to themselves when pressed by reporters, with one saying, “I think other people ought to grade us.

Not because it will get anyone’s lights on faster, but because residents and business owners could be out a lot of money if some electricity providers start to fold in the days ahead. CenterPoint said customers without power should be prepared to have no power for several more days. - These conditions in the electric industry mean we will likely start to see some retail electric providers (These are the companies you pay for electricity.) That is what the retail electric providers pay to get it. Some electric providers are telling customers to please leave... even offering $100 off their last electric bills to encourage customers to go somewhere else.

Greg Abbott on Tuesday declared the reform of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas an emergency item for the upcoming 2021 legislative session. “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has been anything but reliable over the past 48 hours,” Abbott said in a statement Tuesday. “Far too many Texans are without power and heat for their homes as our state faces freezing temperatures and severe winter weather. I've asked the House State Affairs and Energy Resources Committees to convene a joint hearing on Feb. 25 about the factors that led to sustained power outages across Texas. Governor Dan Patrick also expressed his concerns over ERCOT’s handling of the power outages, announcing that the Senate Business & Commerce committee would move forward with hearings to assess the ERCOT’s operations.

Meghan Ballard Arthur, of Montgomery County Office of Homeland Security & Emergency Management, is doing her best to keep her family warm. Like many residents of Montgomery County, Arthur and her family have been without power for the last 24 hours. She says she and her family have used blankets to seal windows and doors, and have moved into an inner room of the home to stay warm. She asks that Montgomery County residents be patient as crews work to get power restored, and acknowledges that power infrastructure was not set up for an event such as the one experienced in the area, with temperatures plummeting into the teens. Warming stations have been set up for residents with no power or water.

HOUSTON – More than 1 million customers in the Houston area are left without power in the coldest stretch of weather in decades. “The private company providers and generators of that power, their operations totally froze up,” Abbott said. He posted a Tweet that said, “Neither the City of Houston nor Harris County controls or regulates ERCOT or the power generators. “The ERCOT market design is fatally flawed,” said Ed Hirs, the University of Houston energy fellow. Hirs said those generators typically focus their efforts on the summer months -- when they expect their power plants to have high demand.

INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power will start from the pole Saturday at Indianapolis after posting the fastest lap in morning qualifying. It's his fifth pole this season and the 61st career pole, which is second all-time behind Mario Andretti (67). “We made a lot of changes last night," Power said, explaining he was not satisfied with Friday's car. And when Newgarden won Friday's race , with Dixon finishing ninth, the lead was trimmed to 40 points with two races remaining. “It will take more horsepower we'll use more in these conditions, where as in July it would have been easy to do a two-stop race," Power said.

The destructive power of Vesuvius Volcanologist Michael Sheridan shows Scott Pelley a model of Vesuvius’ eruption 4,000 years ago and explains what it could mean for the future.