USDA makes profound announcement that could alter the future of our food system: 'We've got to build'
The grants and loans are primarily allocated to build new wind, solar, and battery facilities, with some proposals also including hydropower and nuclear energy facilities. About $5.5 billion worth of grants exclusively for nonprofit, member-owned electric cooperatives in rural communities are supplemented through the USDA's Empowering Rural America (New ERA) program.
Nonprofit, member-owned electric cooperatives provide power to over 42 million Americans and 92% of poverty-stricken counties, benefitting citizens throughout the nation who may otherwise struggle to afford electricity.
Do you think our power grid needs to be upgraded?
Definitely
Only in some states
Not really
I'm not sure
Click your choice to see results and speak your mind.
This new structure will also ensure that profits are reinvested in the company and returned to members rather than investors.
"These programs put the money exactly where it is most needed and most effectively used," Ted Compton, board president of La Plata Electric Association, a cooperative located in Southern Colorado, told Canary Media.
In addition, $565 million in partially forgivable loans will be awarded to companies that promise to bring affordable clean power to rural communities through the Powering Affordable Clean Energy (PACE) program.
The PACE programs are part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to help rural Americans gain access to clean, cheap, renewable energy. By investing in solar panels and EVs, consumers can save money and receive financial incentives directly from the government in the form of tax benefits that can easily exceed $20,000 if they know what to look for.
"If we're going to meet our climate goals and meet the rising demand for energy, we've got to build a lot of clean energy. And rural communities have to be partners in that," said Josh Ewing, director of the Rural Climate Partnership, a nonprofit that represents rural communities in climate policy initiatives.
Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Miami Herald
21 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
111-year-old grocery store chain announces major closures in 4 states
After closing over 30 underperforming stores last year, Ahold Delhaize-owned Stop & Shop is continuing its streamlining efforts. This time, it is targeting its e-commerce business and making even more cuts to its real estate portfolio. The grocery chain announced it will close seven of its "warerooms" across four states, part of a broader strategy to optimize operations and cut costs. Don't miss the move: Subscribe to TheStreet's free daily newsletter Stop & Shop's warerooms are fulfillment hubs where products are stored for online orders. The grocery chain currently operates over 20 warerooms, many located near retail stores. They typically range from 8,000 to 10,000 square feet, each holding about 8,000 items. Related: The Container Store gives vendors a harsh ultimatum after bankruptcy Norwalk, ConnecticutWindsor, ConnecticutEast Northport, New YorkRiverhead, New YorkRevere, MassachusettsWhitman, MassachusettsNorth Providence, Rhode Island Despite the closures, Stop & Shop says customers won't see any disruptions in e-commerce orders. In fact, the company plans to expand its same-day pick-up and delivery options and offer a broader range of products. "Stop & Shop will continue to offer online pickup and delivery to all local customers after the facility closures, and we look forward to delivering an even better omnichannel customer experience with more options for same-day pickup and delivery, plus an even broader assortment of products," a Stop & Shop spokesperson said. As for the affected employees, Stop & Shop says it is working with union representatives to provide them with other job opportunities within the company. Image source: Shutterstock Stop & Shop's decision to close these warerooms is part of an effort to optimize its e-commerce operations. Like many grocers, Stop & Shop (ADRNY) expanded its online ordering infrastructure during the Covid pandemic to provide more options for consumers and meet the surge in online grocery demand. It deepened its partnership with Instacart and increased the number of fulfillment centers. Now, instead of relying on separate fulfillment facilities, the company plans to shift order processing directly to its retail stores. It believes this strategy will be more efficient and cost-effective without sacrificing service quality. Related: Claire's stops mass store closings after getting a second chance This change in its strategy aligns with a broader consumer trend. According to Capital One Shopping, U.S. online grocery sales increased 104% during the pandemic, and are projected to grow at an annual rate of 12.3% through 2029. In 2025, around 148.4 million Americans, nearly 52% of the population, are expected to buy groceries online. The wareroom closures follow a larger transformation at Stop & Shop. In addition to closing underperforming stores, the company has been remodeling locations since 2018, with 119 stores upgraded to date. The company claims these renovated locations consistently outperform non-renovated ones. Stop & Shop has also cut prices on thousands of products across multiple stores and added kiosks that make printing and activating digital coupons easier for customers, aiming to drive loyalty and market share growth in the U.S. More Retail News: Coca-Cola makes a scary change with Fanta ahead of Halloween 2025Kellogg making major change to Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, moreTrader Joe's Halloween tote bags 2025 leak ahead of release All these efforts led the company to achieve e-commerce profitability on a fully allocated basis for the second quarter of 2025, along with a 14.4% increase in online sales, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. "Our focus on striking the right balance between investing in growth and creating opportunities to drive operational excellence continue to fuel the positive outlook for our company," said Ahold Delhaize CEO Frans Muller in a statement. "I am confident we are well prepared to navigate the complexities of the current business environment and position the company to drive brand strength and market share growth in the coming periods." Related: New Walt Disney partnership brings 'evil' into your home The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Time Business News
2 hours ago
- Time Business News
The Rise of USA-Africa Flights Opens Up New Opportunities For Travelers
For years, U.S. travelers wanting to visit Africa couldn't escape long, complicated trips with many stops. A vacation in Africa was a dream that required a lot of planning and patience. Luckily, things are changing. Flights between the United States and Africa are now more accessible, frequent, and traveler-friendly than ever before, with more and more tours to Africa becoming available everyday. This increase was caused by high demand and the need for more transcontinental routes. Getting to Africa is no longer the hard part; it's just the start of the adventure. Whether you're interested in ancient cultures, exciting safaris, or the business opportunities in Africa's growing economies, now is the time to go! More and more U.S. airlines are putting money into direct and one-stop flights to Africa through added, more frequent routes and codeshares. This makes it easier for Americans to see all that the continent has to offer. There are now flights from cities such as New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and Chicago to prominent African cities like Johannesburg, Lagos, Nairobi, Accra, and Cape Town. Delta is one of the companies that has led this change. Over the years, the number of flights to Africa has steadily grown. Travelers looking for Delta flights from New York to Africa or connections through Atlanta are finding it easier and more comfortable to travel, with shorter travel times and easier connections across Africa. United and American Airlines, among others, have also added more flights, which has led to healthy competition and new ideas across the board, such as better service on flights, lower prices, and more flexible schedules. Africa is one of the most diverse continents in the world. It has more than 50 countries, many ecosystems, and a wide range of cultures, languages, and landscapes. However, for a long time, a lack of flights made it difficult for many Americans to access this wealth of experiences. A trip to Africa is no longer just a 'once in a lifetime' dream; it's a real, repeatable travel option now that air travel has become more accessible. These flights are more than just a way to get from one place to another. They are also for business travel, connecting with people from the diaspora, tourism, and humanitarian work, making it easier for people to get to know each other and build bridges between countries. The rise in flights between the U.S. and Africa means that safari dreams are easier to realize. Smoother air connections mean less time in transit and more time on the ground, whether you're going to the grasslands of the Serengeti or on a game drive in the Kruger National Park. Direct flights also make it easier to switch between airlines and find lost luggage, which is great for anyone who is travelling with gear or has a tight schedule. Travelers today want flexibility, dependability, and a smooth booking process, and that's exactly what U.S. airlines are giving them. Delta Africa flights are especially known for being on time, comfortable, and having outstanding customer service. Their reputation makes them a favorite among both new and experienced travelers to Africa. There are more flights between the U.S. and Africa than ever. The question is no longer 'Can I get there?' but 'Where do I want to go first?' TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Immigrant population in US drops for the first time in decades
Advertisement But experts predict looming negative economic and demographic consequences for the United States if the trend persists. Immigrants are a crucial workforce in many sectors, and the country's reliance on them is growing as more baby boomers retire. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up After campaigning on a promise of mass deportations, Trump has introduced sweeping measures to reduce immigration. His administration has restricted access to asylum at the southern border, tightened visa requirements for students and tech workers, and deployed thousands of federal agents to detain and deport immigrants without lawful status. The crackdown has led immigrants to leave the country voluntarily and has discouraged others from coming. Lillian Divina Leite, 46, chose to use the government's new self-deportation program to return to Brazil. A housekeeper in Charlotte, N.C., Leite said that she had begun to panic when she saw immigrants being 'hunted down like hardened criminals.' Advertisement 'I got really scared,' said Leite, who had fallen out of legal status after overstaying a six-month tourist visa. 'I thought, I haven't done anything wrong in my life,' she said, 'and suddenly I could be imprisoned.' Despite the study's findings, Kevin Lynn, executive director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy, which advocates for less immigration, said that foreign workers who enter lawfully continue to pour into the United States and undermine Americans. 'There has been no letup,' he said. 'People coming here legally, whether on green cards or employment visas, are impacting American workers at all strata, whether low-skilled or high-skilled.' Net migration — the difference between the number of immigrants arriving and departing — has turned negative, a shift that the chief Pew demographer, Jeffrey Passel, called a 'demographic certainty' so far in 2025. His team's analysis did not calculate a separate number for immigrants without lawful status who seem likely to represent the largest number of departures, because heightened enforcement probably diminished immigrants' participation in the census survey that was used to make estimates, he said. They may have been undercounted, which would suggest the drop is not as severe, or their low participation could mask an even more striking decline. The United States experienced negative net immigration in the 1930s, during the Great Depression, when between 400,000 and 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans left, many under coercive repatriation programs. In July, the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute projected net migration in 2025 would be flat or would even drop and predicted that the Trump administration's policies would continue to squeeze out low- and high-skilled foreign workers at least through 2026. Advertisement 'A rapid decline in immigration is going to cause economic harm,' said Tara Watson, an economist at the Brookings Institution and one of the authors of the report. Political pushback and legal challenges could lead the Trump administration to ease its crackdown and, thus, soften the impact, she said. But legislation recently passed by the Republican-controlled Congress has significantly increased funding for immigration enforcement, suggesting that the restrictive approach could extend throughout Trump's term. If so, 'we could go into a spiral of continued decline,' said Watson, which could undermine US competitiveness for global talent. 'If things are really bad, we no longer are the place where people go to do science or tech, and that could have generational repercussions,' she said. In addition to targeting migrants without lawful status, the administration has introduced measures that have undermined legal immigration. It has paused the refugee program, which offered green cards and a path to citizenship to people fleeing persecution. It has increased screening and vetting of visa applicants, which experts expect will reduce the numbers of foreign workers and students. The Trump administration has ended several Biden-era programs that had allowed people from troubled countries to live and work temporarily in the United States. Thousands of immigrants are set to lose their protected status in coming months. Migration across the southern border, which had begun to slow under asylum restrictions imposed late in the term of President Joe Biden, has declined further since Trump returned to office. Employment opportunities have long been the primary draw for immigrants, with migration typically slowing during economic downturns. During the Great Recession, more Mexicans without authorized status left the United States than arrived. Advertisement But the current decline is unfolding in response to stringent policies and at a time when the United States needs immigration to offset a falling birthrate and an aging population. 'We have more and more people over 65 and not in the workforce,' said Dowell Myers, a demography professor at the University of Southern California. 'A new baby won't help us for 20 years, but a young immigrant helps us immediately.' 'If you take a sledgehammer to the labor force by cutting immigrant flows,' he said, 'we are all going to be seeing the consequences in our everyday lives.' Restaurants, farms, and assisted-living facilities are already grappling with labor shortages that could become more pronounced, he said. Many of those roles are filled by unauthorized immigrants, whose population reached 14 million in 2023, according to Pew, and who accounted for 4 percent of the total US population and about a quarter of the foreign-born population. California had the most unauthorized residents in 2023, at 2.3 million, followed closely by Texas, with 2.1 million. Florida had the largest increase, adding 700,000 for a total of 1.6 million. Through mid-2024, the unauthorized population continued to grow at a fast clip, before starting to contract following policy changes in 2025, according to a preliminary Pew analysis. About half of the 14 million unauthorized immigrants in 2023 had been in the United States for more than a decade, and 4.6 million US-born children have parents who are in the country without lawful status. Pew's estimates are based on an analysis of Census Bureau data, including the American Community Survey and the Current Population Survey. Advertisement The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency is holding a record 60,000 immigrants in detention, and that number is expected to soar as planned facilities open. Confined immigrants often agree to be swiftly deported rather than languish in custody while awaiting court rulings on whether they can remain in the United States. This article originally appeared in
