BREAKING NEW BRIEF
Texas power grid CEO has been fired in the wake of last month’s fatal blackouts
Bill Magness, CEO of the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, was fired in the wake of February’s deadly blackouts that left millions without electricity and heat in freezing temperatures. The company’s board of directors gave Magness a 60-day termination notice. He has not released a statement yet on his termination, but he informed the board that he would not seek or accept severance pay.
ERCOT, which oversees 90% of the state’s power grid, came under fire for downplaying the severity of the winter weather, according to state legislators. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott was among a group of state leaders who called for Magness to resign because of his role in one of the worst power outages in U.S. history.
“They downplayed the severity of it, at the same time telling me and the public that they were fully prepared for it,” Abbott said at the Feb. 25 hearing. “Texans suffered last week in ways they shouldn’t have to suffer.” Magness, who testified at the hearing, claimed that the scale of forced blackouts was necessary for preventing an even larger energy failure.
At least 40 people have died due to the severe weather in Texas.
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GET ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THIS NEW EMERGING MEGATREND
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He revolutionized online payment processing with PayPal….
He is revolutionizing space exploration with SpaceX and the auto industry with Tesla.
And now Elon Musk is getting ready to unveil his next big project.
S.A.V. will change everything…. and make a lot of people rich.
MORNING MARKET UPDATE
This is your Friday morning market update
Futures on the three benchmarks indicated opening gains on Friday, as investors anticipate good news from the government on the job front. This morning, economists expect to learn that 210,000 new payrolls were created for the month of February, compared to 49,000 in the prior month.
Today’s slight upward momentum follows losses on Thursday when Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said increasing bond yields “caught his attention” but didn’t mention how he would handle it.
“Equity investors, in our conversations, are really grappling with two things they may not have had to deal with for the last 10 years,” said Fundstrat’s Tom Lee. “One is the potential for inflation to actually have to be priced into equities. I think there’s a lot of confusion. Then it’s a bond market that seems to be testing the Fed, which kind of scares people.”
What else should you be paying attention to this morning?
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IT’S FITNESS FRIDAY
These are the 7 best affordable treadmills you can buy
Treadmills provide a great workout and can really help you reach your fitness goals, but the catch is they can be extremely expensive. If you’re in the market for a treadmill and want to save some money, we have seven of the most budget-friendly treadmills to share with you.
The Merax L510C Folding Treadmill is the most cost-effective treadmill on the list. Coming in at a reasonable $329, the Merax will give you all of the basic features you need in a solid treadmill, but also comes with a few extras as well. It has one of the highest top speeds of the treadmills on the list at 7.5 miles per hour, and it has a nice LED display.
Joining the list with a $379 price tag is the MaxKare Folding Treadmill. This treadmill has three manual incline levels and a running belt that is designed to absorb shock and reduce noise. What other treadmills made the list and which one was named the best value overall?
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LIFE HACKS
Here are 25 brilliant life hacks you should be using all the time
Life hacks are simple tricks that make life just a bit easier. And who doesn’t want to make things simpler, especially with all the stress we’ve been dealing with over the last year?
Some of the best life hacks dealing with organization, cooking, cleaning, and living life a bit more efficiently. For example, have you ever thought about adding a Lazy Susan to your fridge? Think about it: no more having to juggle plastic containers to get to that one thing all the way in the back.
How about using walnuts to remove scratches from wood furniture? The oil from the walnut will fill in the scratch, creating a near-perfect color match.
And did you know you can get the perfect slice of cake by using dental floss to cut it? It sounds weird, but it works!
These are just a few of the most popular life hacks out there, and the list keeps growing. Give them a try if you’re ready to make your life a little easier.
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LEARNING FROM THE PAST
There’s no doubt about it – Winston Churchill was one of the greater orators in the 20th century.
And it was on this day back in 1946 that he made what was probably his most important address as the Leader of the Opposition.
While the speech coined several terms and phrases, like “the special relationship” and “the sinews of peace” there was one term coined on this day that entered the American lexicon in a very big way – “the iron curtain.”
Just that phrase alone garnered immediate international attention and had a massive impact on the public opinion in both the United States and in Western Europe.
In fact, Russian historians mark this speech as the official beginning of the Cold War.
Here’s everything you need to know about this momentous historical occasion.
More Learning From The Past
On this day, smoking tobacco got introduced to Europe by this man
Oddly enough, 65 years later, this US state became the first to enact a temperance law
Stay Informed,
Rex Jackson
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