The Texan Podcast - Daily Rundown - November 25, 2024
Episode Date: November 25, 2024Want to support The Texan and help us continue providing the Lone Star State with news you can trust? Subscribe today: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/The Texan’s Daily Rundown brings you a quick re...cap of the latest stories in Texas politics so you can stay informed with news you can trust.Want more resources? Be sure to visit The Texan and subscribe for complete access to our in-depth articles, subscriber-exclusive newsletters, videos, podcasts, and more.Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review!
Transcript
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Howdy folks, today is Monday, November 25. And you're listening to the Texans daily rundown.
I'm the Texans assistant editor Rob Lausches. And here is the rundown of today's news in Texas
politics. First up, President Elect Donald Trump has begun to fill out his cabinet with new names
coming each week. And two recent nominations have strong ties to Texas.
Nominated to be Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development,
Trump has tapped former member of the Texas legislature, Scott Turner.
Turner served as a member of the Texas House from 2013 to 2017. He challenged then-House Speaker
Joe Strauss, but ultimately lost his run for the gavel. Trump in his first administration
appointed Turner to head the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.
The 2025 president's budget has requested $72.6 billion for HUD and $185 billion over 10 years
for affordable housing investments. Next, the state of Texas and its main power grid are coping
with a drastic increase in
electricity demand brought in by computer-heavy operations such as virtual currency miners.
Texas' utility regulator will now require these facilities to register with the state.
An April report from the Electric Reliability Council of Texas raised the bar for expected
2030 demand by 40,000 megawatts, substantially higher than the projection just
one year ago. Much of that growth is attributable to the standard factors of population and economic
expansion, but a chunk of it stems specifically from data centers and virtual currency mining
operations. Both of these facilities use massive amounts of electricity to power their computing.
Despite that, they're a welcome addition to grid regulators due to their flexible nature, their ability to quickly reduce operations or turn them off entirely should the
electricity supply demand margin shrink. One Bitcoin miner in Rockdale, Riot Platforms,
did this in the summer of 2023 and brought in $39 million because of it, coordinating both with
ERCOT and its utility company TXU. The flexibility allowed TXU to
avoid paying high electricity prices on the open Aircot market when conditions got tight,
and it gave Aircot flexibility to avoid triggering emergency conditions.
In other news, get ready for Black Friday because the Texans' annual subscription will be 50%
off this Friday, November 29th. This sale will continue through Cyber Monday,
so don't miss out on your chance for a year's worth of news you can trust for just half the price.
Visit thetexan.news for more information. Remember, this sale runs this Friday through
next Monday, so don't miss out. Last but not least, the post-mortem,
the aftermath, the latest episode of Smoke-Filled Room. Senior Editor Mackenzie DeLulo and Senior Reporter Brad Johnson dissect the numbers,
explain the historical significance, and give a comprehensive breakdown of Texas' 2024 general election results.
Visit thetexan.news or wherever you get podcasts to listen now.
Thanks for listening.
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