David Lidsky's Blog, page 272

Calls for Costco boycott mount after board upholds DEI commitment

Some supporters of President-elect Trump accuse the retailer of “illegal discrimination,” fueling online outrage.

Costco’s Board of Directors is standing up for its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) program. As a result, Trump loyalists are vowing to boycott the retailer, while some are applauding the brand’s commitment to inclusivity.

How the creator of ‘Wallace & Gromit’ brought the franchise back for the next sequel

Nick Park, the man behind the beloved British duo, is keeping things analog in an increasingly CGI world.

The cheese-loving English inventor Wallace and his loyal dog Gromit have been stars since the beginning.

In the 35 years since Nick Park introduced the world to his stop-motion creations and their eccentric, unapologetically British existence, they’ve won Oscars, and appeared in commercials, video games, animated series, and even the occasional bit of (unofficial) protest art. Feature films, however, have been few and far between. Part of the reason is the difficulty: Even a 30-minute short can take upward of two years. Besides, why mess with a formula that’s produced only classics?

Ski patrol strike for higher wages snarls the country’s largest ski resort

Nearly 200 ski patrol and safety workers are on strike over demands for higher pay at Park City Mountain Resort. This week is the busiest ski week of the year.

Holiday skiers at Utah’s Park City, the biggest U.S. ski resort, reported on social media that they were encountering long lift lines and some closed trails on Tuesday as a strike by ski patrol workers entered its fifth day.

New government support for hydrogen fuel to come before Biden leaves office

The long-awaited guidance will provide a pathway for hydrogen produced using nuclear power to access tax credits.

The U.S. Treasury Department intends to release guidance on how to access tax credits for hydrogen production under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act later this week, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Dartmouth men’s basketball team ends its unionization campaign to avoid Trump’s NLRB

The union representing the Dartmouth men’s basketball team filed a request to withdraw the NLRB petition rather than take its chances with an unfriendly labor board likely to take over in the new presidential administration.

The Dartmouth men’s basketball team on Tuesday dropped its attempt to unionize, abruptly ending a push to become the first college athletes to bargain for a contract in order to avoid a potentially damaging precedent from a National Labor Relations Board that soon will be controlled by Republicans.

Musk’s ‘Kekius Maximus’ persona deepens his alignment with Trump’s far-right base

The billionaire’s profile update triggers a 700% surge in cryptocurrency value—along with pointed criticism.

Elon Musk has raised eyebrows with a change to his handle on X (formerly Twitter), adopting the name “Kekius Maximus.” Along with this name change, Musk also updated his profile image to feature Pepe the Frog, a meme that has been associated with various far-right movements. The move has prompted discussions about Musk’s ties to digital currencies and the controversial symbolism tied to the meme.

New Jersey offshore wind project can’t find anyone to build its wind turbine blades

Leading Light Wind had already received one pause on its project from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, which acknowledged the difficulty the project has had in finding a manufacturer for the blades.

A New Jersey offshore wind project is seeking a second delay, saying it still can’t find someone to build crucial equipment for the turbines in the latest patch of turbulence striking the industry.

Quadrantid fireballs expected to light Friday’s sky

The shower draws its name from a vanished constellation and could unleash over a hundred meteors per hour for early-rising observers.

The Quadrantid meteor shower, the first major meteor display of 2025, will peak on the night of Friday, January 3. The annual event offers skywatchers a chance to see bright meteors streak across the sky, with the possibility of observing up to 120 meteors per hour at its peak.

Massive outage hits Puerto Rico, leaving over a million in the dark

Authorities say a failed underground power line triggered the shutdown, with restoration efforts underway despite holiday challenges.

 massive power outage struck Puerto Rico early Tuesday, leaving more than 1.2 million out of 1.4 million in the U.S. territory without power. The outage appears to be from a failing underground power line. 

Medicare’s new $2,000 drug cap promises hefty savings

Seniors with high medication costs stand to significantly reduce their annual out-of-pocket spending when the cap starts in 2025.

Going into the new year, seniors who take prescription drugs and receive Medicare benefits are likely to shell out less for those treatments. That’s due to a provision in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, set to begin in 2025, which will cap out-of-pocket costs on prescriptions at $2,000 annually.