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How does cryptocurrency mining affect the Texas power grid?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) – Everything is bigger in Texas, including cryptocurrency mining operations. Texas is currently home to the largest cryptocurrency mining facility in North America and, of all the facilities in the state, accounts for about 15% of mining worldwide, according to researchers.  NEXT: This one thing could prevent El Niño forming Attached to these mining operations is a Texas-sized use of power. In order to “mine” for cryptocurrency, computers must run computation algorithms to verify transactions. The computers that solve an algorithm get a “reward” in the form of cryptocurrency – such as Bitcoin – according to the Texas Comptroller. The more calculations a computer can solve, the higher the chance of receiving the reward, per the Texas Comptroller. “In a nutshell, it is an extremely energy-intensive process to mine a Bitcoin. That is why the scale of these computing demands has reached the point that they can rival the consumption of a city’s worth of electricity,”...

Travis County Parks Foundation hosting kickoff event this weekend

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — There’s a newly-formed foundation aimed at enhancing the outdoor experience at all Travis County Parks.On Saturday afternoon, the Travis County Parks Foundation will host an inaugural event at Richard Moya Park along Onion Creek in East Austin.‘For the Love of Parks’ is free for anyone to attend, as it’ll celebrate the start of the new nonprofit.The kickoff event will include a petting zoo, food trucks, disc golf along with a musical performance from Austin-based Latin rock band Del Castillo.Travis County Parks Foundation executive director Joanna Wolaver says her goal is to raise support for parks through outreach, advocacy and education.“There are 27 parks spread out over 11,000 acres in Travis County. It's a large system,” she explained. “We're really excited to partner with the Travis County Parks staff, to increase opportunities for programming.”Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez plans to be at the event on Saturday afternoon.“It's very important they got...

Cider Belly Doughnuts celebrates National Donut Day

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) - It's National Donut Day on June 2! If you're looking to check out a fan favorite spot in the Capital Region, look no further than Cider Belly Doughnuts.The donut shop has a loyal following, offering cider-based donuts that you can enjoy year-round, not just in the fall. Their vegan and gluten-free donuts have fans all over the country. Celebrate National Donut Day around the Capital Region Cider Belly is located at 53 Fuller Road in Albany. Their North Pearl location is temporarily closed following the increase in ingredient prices and slower foot traffic downtown following the pandemic. The manager of the Fuller Road location says they hope to open the other location in the near future and in the meantime the space is being used for their catering operation. Cider Belly temporarily closes N. Pearl Street location Cider Belly Donuts is holding a giveaway of two $50 gift cards. Participants must like their posts on social media, tag a friend they would lik...

5 things to know this Friday, June 2

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Happy Friday! According to Meteorologist Jill Szwed, highs will make a run at 90 degrees today before cooling down heading into the weekend. Get the latest, news, weather, sports and community events delivered right to your inbox! Some families of the victims in the Schoharie limo crash are moving towards a civil lawsuit. Meanwhile, part of U.S. Route 20 was renamed in New York. These stories, and more, are covered in your five things to know this Friday morning. 1. Settlements in principle reached in Schoharie limo crash and Mavis Discount TireThis week’s sentencing of Nauman Hussain in the Schoharie limo crash trial is another chapter in the heart-wrenching journey that the victims’ families live every day. NEWS10 has learned some of the families are moving forward in a civil lawsuit.2. U.S. Route 20 renamed in New YorkU.S. Route 20 reaches from Massachusetts to Oregon, covering 3,365 miles. In 2017, a foundation out of Bend, Oregon led the drive to rena...

Scattered showers and storms forecasted for Friday

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

ST. LOUIS -- The temperatures have been gradually increasing by a degree or two each day. Looking ahead to Friday, it is expected to be a sunny and warm day initially, but as the day progresses, clouds will start to form, and there will be scattered showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon and early evening. The western regions have higher chances of experiencing rainfall today. The high temperature is anticipated to reach 93 degrees.Moving on to the weekend, a hot spell awaits. Both Saturday and Sunday will see highs in the low to mid-90s. The heat will persist on Monday, but relief is in sight as a cold front approaches from the northeast. This approaching cold front has the potential to slightly lower the temperatures and reduce the humidity starting from Tuesday.

Former real estate rivals Opendoor and Zillow now partners in Colorado

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

Zillow and Opendoor once fought each other to provide sellers with instant cash offers. Now they are partnering to exchange customer leads in Colorado.“The reality is that once Zillow had left our space, there was a really nice symbiosis between us. We share the vision that consumers deserve to have an e-commerce-like buying and selling experience,” said Brian Tolkin, vice president of product at San Francisco-based Opendoor.Opendoor is the nation’s largest iBuyer, a model that provides sellers with instant cash offers, handles repairs for them and allows more control over the timing of a sale than waiting around for a buyer to show up. The company has purchased and resold about 4,000 homes locally since its arrival in Denver in October 2018, Tolkin said.Its chief competitor in Denver and elsewhere had been a Zillow subsidiary called Zillow Offers, which entered the Denver market in 2018 but closed shop in November 2021 after its property valuation models caused it...

Miami Heat couldn’t solve riddle of Nuggets’ offense in Game 1 of NBA Finals: “Yeah, we’re definitely going to have to go to school on it.”

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

The Denver Nuggets’ offense was a riddle that the Miami Heat couldn’t solve.In Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Heat had a hard time matching up with Denver’s physicality. Two-time MVP Nikola Jokic effortlessly put up 27 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists. And Jamal Murray, who totaled 26 points and 10 assists, got to his spots at will.When the buzzer sounded on the Heat’s 104-93 loss on Thursday night, it was evident they have more to learn about controlling the Nuggets’ offense.“Yeah, we’re definitely going to have to go to school on it,” Miami coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They are in a pretty good rhythm, especially in that first half.”The final score doesn’t tell the tale of how much Denver dominated Miami. Murray and Jokic’s two-man dance was too much to handle.In the fourth quarter, Murray knocked down a fadeaway jumper that extended the Nuggets’ lead to 92-76 with 6:26 to go. When the Heat managed to cut into the deficit, Murray connected with Jokic on back-to-back baskets ...

Dev Shah wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee on the word ‘psammophile’

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

By BEN NUCKOLS (Associated Press)OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — Fifteen months ago, Dev Shah spent a miserable five hours spelling outdoors in chilly, windy, damp conditions at a supersize regional competition in Orlando, Florida, only to fall short of his dream of returning to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.“Despondent is the right word,” Dev said. “I just didn’t know if I wanted to keep continuing.”Look at him now.Soft-spoken but brimming with confidence, Dev asked precise questions about obscure Greek roots, rushed through his second-to-last word and rolled to the National Spelling Bee title Thursday night.Dev, a 14-year-old from Largo, Florida, in the Tampa Bay area, first competed at the national bee in 2019, then had his spelling career interrupted. The 2020 bee was canceled because of COVID-19, and in the mostly virtual 2021 bee, he didn’t make it to the in-person finals, held in his home state on ESPN’s campus at Walt Disney World.Th...

Johnston: Skepticism of my plan abounds, but yes, we can end unsheltered homelessness in Denver

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

When I was a young first-year principal at a high school here in Denver, my mentor told me there are only two things you can offer students: truth and hope. She said, “if you never tell them the truth, they’ll wake up every morning searching for something that doesn’t exist. But if you don’t give them hope, they won’t go searching for anything at all.”That sentiment rings true in Denver today. On any given night, over 1,000 Denverites are outside trying to find a sidewalk to sleep on or a bridge to sleep under because they have nowhere else to go. These are the hard truths facing our city.A few weeks ago, I met a man waiting in line outside a shelter with a bag in one hand and a hard hat in the other. He was a disabled veteran who served two tours in Iraq, and when he came back to the United States, he got hooked on opioids. He told me that he has to be on-site for his construction job by 5:30 am, but he also needs to get on the bus at 5 am to go across town to the methadone clinic ...

Opinion: The president today’s America needs (is not Trump or Biden)

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:18:36 GMT

The president America needs is, unfortunately, Czech, and the Constitution rules him out. He is also, sadly for the world, dead. Václav Havel, playwright and leader of those who opposed the Czechoslovakian communist regime — and went to prison for it several times — was elected the free nation’s first president after the 1989 “velvet revolution,” in which the regime just gave up. He served his nation as president from 1989 to 2003, and died in 2011.A few days ago, after reading through lots of news about current American politics, I came upon Havel’s memoir “To the Castle and Back” in a thrift store. Fifty pages in, I thought, “Why can’t we have a president like this?”One of the great men of this and the last century, Havel actually thought about the world and what was right to do, and not just what would get him what he wanted. And one of those right things to do, probably the most important thing to do, was to tell the truth, a...