Latest news with #SWEPCO
Yahoo
27-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
SWEPCO cuts power to avoid 'catastrophic damage' to power grid
SWEPCO has cut power to more than 30,000 customers in Bossier and Caddo parishes to prevent what the utility said could be "catastrophic damage" to the power grid. SWEPCO said it's working with the Southwest Power Pool in what it deemed an "emergency situation." SWEPCO and Southwest Power Pool manage the flow of electricity in northeastern Louisiana's population hub. "In this instance, our grid operators were instructed to take immediate action, which did not give us time to inform you before the outage occurred," SWEPCO said in a news release. The utility didn't say when power would be restored, only calling it a temporary outage. Greg Hilburn covers state politics for the USA TODAY Network of Louisiana. Follow him on Twitter @GregHilburn1. This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: SWEPCO cuts power to avoid 'catastrophic damage' to power grid
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Severe storms, tornadoes, and hail hit South, causing power outages
(KTAL/KMSS) — At approximately 3 p.m. till 6:31 p.m., severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, and hail moved across the south, significantly impacting residents in northeast Texas. As of April 4, at 6:29 p.m., more than 8,567 SWEPCO customers were without power, 3299 in Arkansas, 461 in Louisiana, and 4,807 homes impacted. SWEPCO is assessing conditions to estimate its restoration efforts. UPDATES: Tornado Watch until 9 pm Meteorologist Todd Warren says there is a tornado watch for the Ark-La-Tex and Oklahoma area, and some residents have reported golf ball-sized hail concentrated around Cass County, Texas. To view the outage map, visit You can submit photos or videos. Click here. . Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Belle Chasse Bridge toll system delayed again
PLAQUEMINES PARISH (WGNO) — Belle Chasse Bridge drivers have a little extra time to commute without being charged, as bad weather has stopped the ability for workers to complete the final touches on the bridge, thus delaying the start of the new tolling system until April 8. 'Weather issues have impacted the striping and signage activities, and those have to be done before the tolling can start,' Belle Chasse Bridge project spokesperson Angi Noote said. Local economist weighs potential impacts from tariffs Noote says while new bumps are hard to predict, no more delays are expected. 'If this still can't get completed because of weather, it will not start on time; but we do not anticipate that, so right now, to answer your question, there is no plan for it to go beyond that, but we have to be ready for anything,' Noote said. While workers continue to prepare for the tolling to begin, so do Plaquemines residents who plan to use the bridge. Some aren't fans of the new system. Some say it could be a positive like Jim Bouchie who says it could bring in some helpful revenue for their parish. 'Naturally, being a Belle Chasse resident, Plaquemines resident, the toll is much smaller for us. We have our little toll tag and it's all been validated so it doesn't matter to me when it starts or finishes,' Bouchie said. Superdome transformed ahead of Monster Jam He also believes the non-GeauxPass prices, which begin at $2.26, may be a little too expensive for some people. 'Man I tell ya what, that can pretty much strangle some people. I'm not sure if $2 is the right fee. I don't know who calculated that and who did the math to come up with that amount, but that seems a little steep to me,' Bouchie crimes included in the latest Wheel of Justice report Belle Chasse Bridge toll system delayed again SWEPCO reporting power outages following severe weather Tariffs expected to hike up costs of Toyota trucks made in Baja IBWC head identifies pinch points while surveying flood damage in Rio Grande Valley Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Who is the Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman Awards 2025 winner
Holy Angels announced this year's Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman Award winner during its ninth annual award luncheon at East Ridge Country Club Thursday, March 6. This year's winner is Vivian Andrews, Former Sr. HR Consultant at AEP/SWEPCO. The event, sponsored by Red River Bank and The Shreveport Times honors women in the community who have made significant contributions by providing their expertise, time and resources. Six women were recognized for their work in the community, but Andrews was selected as the 2025 Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman Award winner. Andrews works with many organizations in the Shreveport-Bossier community, volunteering at YWCA Northwest Louisiana, The Arc-Caddo Bossier, Pleasant Hill Baptist Church, Bible Study Fellowship Day Women, WiNUP Ark-La-Tex Chapter, WiNUP International, Champion Board Louisiana STEM Girl Collaborative, and the University of University (Ohio) Board of Counselors. She has received numerous accolades, including 2024 Women Who Care Share Woman of the Year, 1st Black Manager of SWEPCO 1992, Numerous SWEPCO 'Shining Star'/Key Contributor Awards, Cambridge Who's Who Among Executive and Professional Women, Athena Award Nominee 2004 & 2009, Spring Street Historical Museum Governing Board-Appointed by the Governor of Louisiana and Shreveport Mayor's Women Commission. Andrews has also been featured in several local publications with her husband for being a power couple while continuing to serve the community. Andrews told the Shreveport Times in a prior interview, "community services provides me an opportunity to share with others the gifts that God has given me. I love people and it gives me so much joy to lift the spirits of others as I scatter those gifts, making an impact--hopefully leaving my community, my world a better place." More: Check out the six Shreveport Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman 2025 Honorees Makenzie Boucher is a reporter with the Shreveport Times. Contact her at mboucher@ This article originally appeared on Shreveport Times: Meet the Virginia K. Shehee Most Influential Woman Awards 2025 winner: Vivian Andrews
Yahoo
02-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
IN FOCUS: Inside local government with Longview City Manager Rolin McPhee
TYLER, Texas (KETK) – In this edition of East Texas In Focus, KETK's Tyler Henderson sat down with Longview City Manager Rolin McPhee to talk about his role in local government as a part of our new series on East Texas city managers. IN FOCUS: A conversation with Texas Agricultural Commissioner Sid Miller McPhee took the time to sit down with KETK to explain what he does on a day-to-day basis for the city and what the city's plans look like going forward into the future. As Longview City Manager, McPhee is the head of the city's administration and operations. This means he's almost like a CEO in that he's appointed by the city council and mayor like a business board appoints a CEO to manage a company on their behalf. A city manager like McPhee has to manage all the city's departments and he must propose a budget to fund those departments. The city's departments oversee things like water, streets, parks, public safety and maintenance. All of these departments have to do their best work within the city's limited budget and that's what city managers like McPhee help make happen. Proposed food truck regulations could affect how Longview business operate 'I believe city manager's jobs are actually supposed to make the departments within the city successful, and make sure they have the resources needed to do their job, in spite of the limitations,' McPhee said. McPhee actually got his start as an engineer. He went to Texas A&M University in College Station and received his Bachelor's of Science degree in civil engineering. He worked with water and sewer lines and then as a licensed engineer in Longview before becoming the city engineer of Marshall. 25 years ago in Dec. 2000, the City of Longview hired McPhee and he worked as utilities engineer. He then went on to work as an engineering manager, assistant director of public works, director of public of works and he was appointed by the mayor and city council as city manager in 2022. With all the things the city does manage like sanitation, water bills, maintaining the parks and the streets, it may make residents wonder just what doesn't the local government maintain? McPhee explained how the city has partners like SWEPCO which provides the city's gas and the various hospitals and businesses that keep Longview running have relationships with the city as well. Longview City Council buys land to expand Heritage Plaza 'We have relationships with people who invest in our community, but we don't dictate where they invest and we don't dictate the policies of those respective organizations,' McPhee said. 'We do a terrible job talking about the things we do,' explained McPhee. For a city of more than 50,000 people, Longview's city government has to do a lot of stuff which goes unnoticed. McPhee told Tyler about how the city has to mow all the lawns in the parks, help clean litter, time all the traffic signals and they also provide housing and information services for other communities outside of Longview. McPhee is optimistic about Longview's outlook going forward because of the community's reinvestment in infrastructure and the services that the city provides like water which is a hot topic across Texas. Newly purchased shopping center indicates continued growth for Longview 'Longview has had a continued reinvestment within the infrastructure over the last 20 years. In fact, when they brought me in back in 2000, we were building a new plan and securing water rights. And actually based on our current growth, if you look out 50 years, which is what the regional water planning groups plan for, Longview actually has enough water for the next 50 years,' said McPhee. He credits the city's fortunate future to the thoughtful planning of other city government leaders who came before him. 'So Longview's in a really fortunate position. A long architect before me, I was not the one that should get the credit for it, but there was a lot of action put towards reinvestment in that infrastructure,' McPhee said. 'And actually, the City of Longview utility system is actually in fantastic shape and real close to retiring its debt. So in a great position for the long term, for the next 50 years, there's a lot of good stuff coming out of Longview.' Tyler also asked McPhee several questions sent in to KETK from Longview residents. All those questions and more can be seen in the full episode of East Texas In Focus above. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
