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UPI
16 minutes ago
- UPI
Federal Reserve governor Kugler resigns, creating vacancy for Trump
Adriana Kugler announced she will be leaving as Federal Reserve governor on Aug. 8. Photo by Federal Reserve Aug. 2 (UPI) -- One of the seven members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Adriana Kugler, announced she is stepping down next week, creating an opening for President Donald Trump to fill. Her term was set to expire in January but Kugler said Friday she will depart in seven days. President Joe Biden appointed Kugler, a 55-year-old labor economist, in September 2023. Governors' terms are for 14 years, and Kugler filled an opening. "The Federal Reserve does important work to help foster a healthy economy and it has been a privilege to work towards that goal on behalf of all Americans for nearly two years," Kugler said in her resignation letter to Trump. "I am proud to have tackled this role with integrity, a strong commitment to serving the public, and with a data-driven approach strongly based on my expertise in labor markets and inflation." Kugler said she plans to return to teaching public policy at Georgetown University in the fall. She was a vice provost for faculty at Georgetown and earned her Ph.D. in economics at the University of California at Berkeley. "I am especially honored to have served during a critical time in achieving our dual mandate of bringing down prices and keeping a strong and resilient labor market," she wrote in the letter. Kugler did not vote on Wednesday when the central bank's Federal Open Market Committee kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a range of 4.25% to 4.5% for a fifth consecutive meeting. Two of the 11 committee members who did vote dissented, backing Trump's desire to lower rates. The 12-member committee includes the seven governors, the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and four remaining 11 Reserve Bank presidents who serve one-year terms on a rotating basis. "We just found out that I have an open spot on the Federal Reserve Board. I'm very happy about that," Trump said late Friday before boarding Marine One. He later posted on Truth Social that Fed Chairman Jerome Powell "should resign, just like Adriana Kugler, a Biden Appointee, resigned. She knew he was doing the wrong thing on Interest Rates. He should resign, also!" The replacement may ultimately replace Powell, whose term ends in May, though he can remain as a governor until 2028. The president appoints each of the board members and designates one to serve as chair for four years. Trump appointed Powell during his first presidency in 2018. Biden appointed him to another term as chairman. "Trump's influence on interest rates will now be felt earlier and more strongly," Derek Tang, an economist at LHMeyer, an economic consulting firm, told The Washington Post. Contenders to lead the Fed are National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh and Fed governor Christopher Waller, each with distinct strengths, The Washington Post reported. Trump has said he wants Scott Bessent to remain as Treasury secretary. Trump has sought to replace Powell, calling him on Truth Social "a stubborn MORON" and "too late" on lowering interest rates. But he can only be fired "for cause," such as malfeasance, neglect of duty or inefficiency, rather than disagreeing with policies. Experts say his removal could disrupt the financial markets.
Boston Globe
18 minutes ago
- Boston Globe
Nevada is all in on solar power
Some of Vegas' iconic casinos, convention centers and hotels -- and thousands of households across the city, too -- are using the sun to save money and better the planet's odds at tackling climate change. Today in Nevada, about one-third of all energy demand is met by solar panels. The state has the highest solar electricity generation per capita in the country, as well as the most solar-industry jobs per capita. It comes down to cost. Take the Strip. It uses more electricity than 300,000 households, which is more than the rest of Las Vegas combined. Advertisement The state's biggest employer, MGM Resorts International, which has 11 properties on the Strip, is betting on solar. 'It gave us control of what we're going to pay for energy over the next few decades,' said Henry Shields, MGM's vice president for research and analytics. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up MGM installed 26,000 panels on the roof of Mandalay Bay, an enormous casino and convention center at the Strip's southern end. Then, northeast of the city near a place called Dry Lake, on a valley slope tilted toward the rising sun and dotted with sagebrush and red barrel cacti, MGM teamed up with a clean energy company to build an array of 322,000 panels. The panels now provide 90% of MGM's daytime power. Advertisement And the company is investing in a similar facility, coupled with large batteries for storage, that will power things into the evening. 'For a long time, the hospitality industry wanted to make power consumption invisible -- like, just come here and forget about that kind of thing,' said Michael Gulich, MGM's sustainability executive. 'Now we advertise it.' In 2019, Nevada pledged to produce half of its electricity from renewables by 2030. That goal is enshrined in its state constitution. Solar energy companies have flocked to the state. On a surface level, it's easy to see why: 97% of annual daylight hours in and around Las Vegas are unblemished by clouds. Off the Strip, away from guys dancing in gorilla costumes, gals in American-flag bikinis and the tipsy tourists stumbling around in Tommy Bahama shirts, is a much quieter city. And it is one where scarcity, not excess, is front of mind. Water use is strictly policed. Lawns are banned. Southern Nevada has a water patrol that drives around ticketing those who violate conservation rules. 'People here saw the writing on the wall years ago,' said Lauren Boitel, who directs ImpactNV, a sustainability nonprofit founded by the state and former casino executives. 'I've been here 35 years,' she said. 'We've decreased the water we use per capita by half, even as the population has doubled. We're world leaders even if Vegas usually gets dinged for this perception of waste.' That other Vegas, an expanse of strip malls and gated communities spread across an enormous arid plain, is also home to the greatest concentration of residential rooftop solar in the continental United States. State and federal tax credits help. The city makes it easy, too. 'You're pretty much in and out of our office with a permit in 30 minutes,' said Marco Velotta, the city's chief sustainability officer. Advertisement The demand for rooftop solar comes from all kinds of people, local installation companies said. At the corner of Man O War Street and Real Quiet Drive, in a subdivision called Lamplight Estates, one man named Dave, who was decked out in a National Rifle Association hat and shirt, said his decision to install solar came down to cost. 'People just want to be efficient, you know,' he said. He declined to give his full name. Autumn Hood - who called herself a real believer in sustainability - made a similar point. Rooftop panels have saved her money and made her feel more independent. But any climate concerns were secondary. Both said they could pay off their investment through savings on electric bills in less than 10 years. At the level of a single household, rooftop solar offsets only a tiny amount of greenhouse gas emissions. If many people do it, however, all of those individual choices can make an entire grid less fossil-fuel dependent. 'When we all do it, and when industry does it, it's a different story,' Hood said. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Nintendo Announces U.S. Price Rises for Original Switch, Warns Price Rises for Switch 2, Games, and the NSO Membership ‘May Be Necessary in the Future'
Nintendo has announced a range of price rises for various OG Switch products in the U.S., and warned price rises for the Switch 2, video games, and the Nintendo Switch Online membership may be coming down the line. The price rises, which are "based on market conditions," Nintendo said, come into effect on August 3. However, they briefly kicked in at Target, as spotted by Wario64 on X / Twitter. Assuming the new prices shown at Target are correct, they are as follows: Nintendo price rises announced August 1, 2025: Nintendo Switch: $339.99 (up from $299.99) Nintendo Switch OLED: $399.99 (up from $349.99) Nintendo Switch Lite: $229.99 (up from from $199.99) Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo: $110 (up from $99.99) Joy-Con 2 controllers: $100 (up from $94.99) The announcement comes a month after Nintendo signalled price rises in Canada, which were also "based on market conditions." Nintendo has yet to go into further detail. In today's announcement, Nintendo said that the newly-launched Switch 2, physical and digital Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 games, as well as a Nintendo Switch Online membership, will not be impacted by the impending price adjustment, though all models of the original Switch (the OG Switch, Switch Lite, and Switch OLED) are impacted. "Certain" Switch 2 accessories, "select" amiibo, and the Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, will also see their prices go up, Nintendo continued. In a post on its website, Nintendo issued the following statement: Pricing for the original Nintendo Switch family of systems and products will change in the United States based on market conditions, effective August 3, 2025. These include Nintendo Switch – OLED Model, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite and select Nintendo Switch accessories. Other Nintendo products, including certain Nintendo Switch 2 accessories, select amiibo, and the Nintendo Sound Clock: Alarmo, will also see adjustments. Pricing for the Nintendo Switch 2 system, physical and digital Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2 games, as well as Nintendo Switch Online memberships, will remain unchanged at this time. However, please note that price adjustments may be necessary in the future. Pricing information for United States consumers can be found at didn't name Trump's tariffs in its statement, but analysts are pointing to them by way of explanation for these and other price rises in the video game industry. Daniel Ahmad, Director of Research & Insights at Niko Partners, tweeted to say he wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo ended up raising Switch 2 prices at some point as well. "20% tariff on Vietnam, 30% tariff on China, 15% tariff on Japan," Ahmad tweeted in response to the news. "All markets that Nintendo relies on for hardware and software production." News of the Switch price hike comes just hours after Nintendo reported its first financial results since the Switch 2 came out in June. As expected, the company saw a significant boost to sales and profits, with the Switch 2 itself selling more than 6 million units in just seven weeks. In the financial results, Nintendo said the OG Switch was still continue to hold its own despite its age and the launch of the Switch 2. The number of annual Nintendo-playing users between July 2024 and June 2025 has remained above 100 million, which means Nintendo launched Switch 2 into an environment where a huge number of people were already playing Switch. Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ or confidentially at wyp100@ Sign in to access your portfolio
