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Three winners in the May 19 primary
A few clear winners have emerged since the polls closed on Tuesday — and not just the candidates that will appear on the November ballot.
Arne Slot responds to Mohamed Salah’s Liverpool criticism
Mohamed Salah is due to play his final game for Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday, but vented his frustration at the club’s form and style of play this season in criticism of Arne Slot’s approach
Opinion | The Democrats Who Could Upend American Politics in the Years Ahead
Why 2026 might tell us a lot about 2028.
Manhattan liberals could elect a Kennedy to Congress in Manhattan
The nostalgia of Kennedy's short-lived "Camelot," now over six decades old, contrasts with modern American politics in 2026 around Trump and AI.
Ideal €30m problem-solver is coming to Liverpool
Liverpool have had trouble at right-back all season long. Jeremie Frimpong has proven to be an awkward fit while Conor Bradley has been absent since January owing to an injury. Arne Slot has been forc...
“Continue to Lie About CC’s Health”: Caitlin Clark’s Injury Report Invites Fans’ Rage for Stephanie White and Fever
Caitlin Clark and Indiana Fever are in a weird spot at the moment. There is a lot of controversy surrounding the fever team in recent past.
Comedian taking over Colbert’s timeslot says there will be no politics on the show
Space X’s Ambitions Are Intergalactic. Its Business Is Selling You Internet.
The world’s richest man needed lots of money—and a moonshot. So he built Starlink.
How the anti-weaponization fund evolved from a 2024 Trump campaign idea into a reality
As Donald Trump plotted his return to the White House in late 2023, a group of campaign advisers began working on a plan to compensate political allies.
Judge recommends Maine transgender sports referendum be invalidated
A judge has ruled that the proponents of the referendum, “An Act to Designate School Sports Participation and Facilities by Sex” has too many invalid signatures. It will be up to Secretary of State Shenna Bellows to make a final decision on whether or not it will appear on the November ballot.
Maine transgender sports referendum is poised to fall off the 2026 ballot
Conservative referendum to bar transgender girls from school sports in Maine is at risk of falling short of signatures needed for the November ballot.
Michigan Democrats seek to bolster voter ballot access with new legislation
The bills’ introduction comes as voter rights are weakened at the federal level ahead of the 2026 midterms.
What’s next for Tampa’s Water Street? A lively entertainment district
Tampa’s Water Street development took a sleepy area dominated by parking lots and turned it into a bustling downtown with high-rise apartments and high-end restaurants. That transformation is most pal...
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Shadowdrops Purgation Update, Patch 13 Adds New PvE Mission and a Lot More
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 Purgation Update out now, check out the patch notes.
As an aspiring science communicator, I learned a lot from an “eco artist”
Artist Xavier Cortada, in front row, fourth from right, was joined by students – including the author of the essay below, Sophia Bolivar, to his right – as well as faculty and staff as he brought...
2-Time NASCAR Champion Kyle Busch Hospitalized With Severe Illness
Two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch has been hospitalized with a severe illness and won’t compete in the Coca-Cola 600 this weekend at Charlotte.
Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
The AI agents are coming. A lot of them.
Bennett turns in signatures to qualify for November ballot
Independents, also called unenrolled candidates, do not compete in party primaries but must get 4,000 signatures by June 1 to qualify for the November ballot.
Opinion | How Democrats Lost the Plot
We need leaders who tell us hard truths while insisting that the present state of our politics is not permanent.
Bucks County is ready to be the center of the political universe (again)
Gov. Josh Shapiro kicked off Pennsylvania Democrats' general election campaign in Bucks County, where key races for Congress and state Senate will be on the ballot in the fall.
Why College Sports Should Go Corporate
Teams are worth a lot of money that public universities could use to fund academic priorities. It’s also an opportunity to abandon the myth of the “student-athlete.”
'MOP UP MICHIGAN' | Group targets utility spending, mystery money in MI politics with proposed ballot initiative
NC lawmakers pass bill to place amendment on ballot that would limit property taxes
North Carolina lawmakers in the House and Senate passed HB 1089, which places a constitutional ballot in November to enact a property tax levy limit.
2020 election misinformation continues to ripple through Wisconsin politics - Wausau Pilot & Review
by Henry Redman, Wisconsin Examiner May 20, 2026 As the long tail of the 2020 presidential election continues to reverberate through Wisconsin politics, a
Runoff surprises and shockwaves: What Tuesday’s results may reveal about Georgia’s political mood
According to the Georgia Secretary of State's website, with a nearly 28% turnout of active voters, more than two million people cast a ballot in the May 19 Georgia primary election. A panel of political analysts discussed what the results and voter turnout will mean for the November midterm election.
Money Out of Politics group ‘confident’ proposal will make Michigan ballot
Organizers seeking to ban political contributions by DTE, Consumers and large state contractors say they’re ‘very confident’ they have enough signatures to put their proposal on the Nov. 3 ballot.
New in Edge for Business: AI for work, safe from day one
TL;DR: Edge for Business adds agentic browsing in limited preview, a Copilot-inspired new tab page, and mobile availability for multi-tab reasoning and YouTube summarization. These experiences are built on a secure enterprise browser foundation w
MLB outfield power rankings entering week 9
The 2026 MLB season is entering its ninth week. There has been tremendous baseball played in the early part of the season. Many players are making early cases for All-Star selections and yearly awards. There is a lot of baseball…
Scientists discover massive natural hydrogen source beneath Canada
Scientists in Canada have discovered that ancient underground rocks are naturally producing hydrogen gas — and lots of it. Measurements from mine boreholes in Ontario show the gas can flow continuously for years, offering a potential new source of clean energy called “white hydrogen.” Researchers say this hidden resource could help power industries and remote communities while cutting carbon emissions and reducing dependence on fossil fuels.
Even while courting moderates on voter ID, GOP leaders still push debunked fraud narrative
Republicans call their voter ID ballot measure ‘common sense’ to appeal to moderate voters, while alienating liberals with election conspiracy theories
Embracer Group announces plans to spin-off Fellowship Entertainment
Structural change announced alongside Q4 results showing a 24% net sales decline and $765.2 million non-cash impairment
Five Games Are Available Today Across Multiple Tiers Of Xbox Game Pass (May 20)
Lots of new titles on XGP
'The system is likely to reach a breaking point': Major Italian volcano is speeding toward a transition, and a major eruption could be on the way
Campi Flegrei, a volcanic caldera near Naples, is speeding toward a transition, a new study suggests, but there are still a lot of questions as to whether it will erupt in the near future.
£52m Bundesliga star still an option for Liverpool
Nico Schlotterbeck Emerges as Ideal Long-Term Liverpool OptionLiverpool’s search for defensive stability may yet lead them back towards Liverpool FC target Nico Schlotterbeck, with the Borussia Dort...
Phillies Japanese Scouting Report Will Fire Fans Up
The Philadelphia Phillies organization has done a lot right over the past few years, but there have also been times when the organization hasn't done what's needed.
Three men headed to prison for $2B healthcare fraud – but kingpin is in the wind
Three men are headed to prison for their roles in an elaborate international scheme to con health insurers by sending $2 billion of phony telemedicine prescriptions – but the plot's alleged kingpin...
First Ballot: Kevin Harvick Voted Into NASCAR Hall of Fame
Former Cup champion and current FOX Sports analyst Kevin Harvick will be among the three inductees of the 2027 NASCAR Hall of Fame class.
Business owner, parkgoers call for Charlotte beach brawls to get under control
Rochester, N.Y. (WHAM) — It's not even Memorial Day weekend and Ontario Beach Park in Charlotte has already had two brawls this season.
Sprawling new entertainment complex coming to Southern California city, with hotel, venues and ‘Jewel Plaza’
The project would overhaul the city's sleepy, parking lot heavy civic campus from the 1970's into what leaders hope becomes a bustling, action-packed destination.
Experts: Maine-famous names might be liability this year
With early voting already underway leading up to the June 9 primary, Maine voters are seeing familiar family names on both parties’ ballots.
ACC baseball championships: Duke eliminates NC State, full bracket, results, schedule
The ACC Baseball Championship is being held in Charlotte. It is a 16-team, single-elimination event.
As an aspiring science communicator, I learned a lot from an “eco artist”
Globally renowned, Xavier Cortada creates artwork to generate awareness about climate challenges. He inspired students during a campus visit, among them one who hopes to advocate for the environment.
Voters cast ballots in several high-profile primary elections
Voters head to the polls in primary elections in Pennsylvania, Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama. Follow for live news updates.
Thick as Thieves Review
There's not a lot to it, but it’s hard to find much fault with these stealthy co-op heists.
Former LSU, NBA Basketball Talent And Renown LSU Sports Psychologist Set For 10-Day Strategic Mission To Burundi
Tyrus Thomas, in an NBA playoff game with the Charlotte Hornets..
Free Primary Care Is a Promising New Idea for Democrats
Democrats could benefit from new something to say on health care policy, and free primary care would help a lot of people, too.
Mocs Sole Support Gives Back During Public Health Week
Every year during National Public Health Week, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Public Health Student Association (PHSA) aims to educate the campus community on a variety of health topics. Mocs Sole Support allowed students to drop off shoes and clothing for donation to the local nonprofits Soles4Souls and First Things First.
Xbox fans want exclusives, more backward compatibility, and free online multiplayer
Microsoft’s new Xbox Player Voice portal makes fan feedback a lot more visible.
1 hurt in shooting at west Charlotte check cashing business
It happened just after midnight at the PLS Check Cashers on South Tryon Street at West Boulevard, officials said.
Uncertainty makes science powerful — and incredibly vulnerable
Related Content Science fiction and the authoritarian imagination Thinking outside Schrödinger’s cat box: Reality as quantum Chatbots aren’t conscious, but it’s important to understand the science and philosophy of why In Silicon Valley, creationists and atheist post-libertarians have a lot in common Why thinking about aliens can help us better understand philosophy of science What […]
Neymar included in Brazil's 26-man World Cup squad
Forward Neymar is included in head coach Carlo Ancelotti's 26-man Brazil squad for this summer's World Cup.
SCI Lab: Finding common ground on divisive science - Morgridge Institute for Research
As a scholar on societal perceptions of scientific research, Dominique Brossard focuses a lot of energy on divisive, challenging and controversial topics. But her ultimate goal is to find the "rock" we all stand together on.
UC faculty and staff rally for state investment in science
UC President James B. Milliken and other leaders urged state lawmakers to pass SB 895, bipartisan legislation that would place a $12 billion bond to fund scientific research across California on the November 2026 ballot.
Ask Pinstripe Alley: Yankees mailbag questions request
A lot went wrong for New York in a week’s span. What can they do about it?
Google just made big changes to Gemini usage limits
Following in the footsteps of GitHub’s Copilot plans, Google’s AI subscriptions are moving to “compute-based” usage limits rather than a fixed number of requests.
Whoa! Netflix is Sending Narnia Heading to Theaters...What This Means for the Future of Film
(Welcome to the “Most Important Story of the Week”, my bi-weekly strategy column analyzing the most important (but often not buzziest) news story of the last two weeks. I’m the Entertainment Strategy Guy, a former streaming executive who now analyzes business strategy in the entertainment industry. Please subscribe.) Here’s a funny thing about the debate over whether streamers should release their movies in theaters first: Both sides think the other side represents the “conventional wisdom”. If you’ve been reading me for any amount of time, or even just scanned my front page, you know I think movies make more money by having a robust theatrical window compared to going straight-to-streaming. I’ve published thousands of words on this topic. And for years, I felt like I was standing up to a wave of opposition. See, while the “put your films in theaters to make money” take was obvious at any point before 2019, post-streaming revolution, most of the trendy thinkers took the opposite point of view. Big names argued that Netflix putting their film straight-to-streaming (“S-to-S” from here on out) actually made more money. Netflix was “disrupting” theaters, just as they disrupted Blockbuster Video, and since innovation is always good, this too was a great idea. This thinking then leaked into the mainstream business outlets like the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. I read many articles whose take boiled down to “Netflix makes tons of money from S-to-S releases” and “theaters were in structural decline” anyways. Covid-19 shutting down theaters and the 2023 strikes shutting down film production seemingly justified this point of view, as the box office struggled to return to 2017-2019 heights. Yet I’ve also read folks arguing the opposite point: the conventional wisdom says to put films in theaters! From some writers’ points of view, “everyone” actually agrees/agreed with my “send your films to theaters” take—especially the stodgy traditional studios—and folks still didn’t understand Netflix’s genius. I feel like, for the last two years, many people have argued this point as if it’s conventional wisdom. You know what? I may have been wrong. At this point, the “S-to-S strategy makes money” might be the minority viewpoint. Especially with the news this month that Netflix will put at least one film—Greta Gerwig’s Narnia film The Magician’s Nephew—in theaters in 2027 for a full 49-day run is big news. So that’s the story of the week, but I’ll also explain why they’re making this move now and why Netflix may not completely embrace theaters, along with other topics, like how I don’t buy Disney’s “super app” strategy, the latest good news out of the unions, my take on the latest attacks against free speech, and a whole lot more. Let’s get started. Subscribe Most Important Story of the Week - Netflix Goes to Theaters! Listen, I promise not to victory lap too hard today. As I just wrote, I’ve argued against sending films straight-to-streaming for—checks calendar—eight years now. Since 2018. Yikes. That’s a long time. And for years, others painted my thinking as “conventional” in that I was standing up for the status quo against trendy, cool disruption. And that’s not cool! But math is math, and I never could make the S-to-S numbers work. The only thing that ever enabled that model was Wall Street’s brief exuberance for it. It seems like the heads of Netflix now agree with me. (There were always rumors that former head of film for Netflix Scott Stuber argued internally for theatrical releases as well.) As they announced: “The Magician’s Nephew_—the first film in a Narnia series of films—will open on 12-Feb-2027, with a 49 day theatrical exclusive run.”_ I’m a little surprised at how little coverage this big change actually got. Credit to Bloomberg for leading with it and Matt Belloni’s The Town for highlighting it with the provocatively titled podcast “Hell Hath Frozen Over”. But after that? Instead of getting as much coverage as, say, the FCC’s latest egregious crackdown on free speech, this news story got crickets. But it’s massively more important for the future business of entertainment. So let’s start with the obvious question… Why Put Your Movies in Theaters? So…why should Netflix put (some!) of their movies in theaters? Well, I’ve already written that in a very, very, very long article from 2022: [ ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) [ The Data Is In: Theatrical Films Massively Outperform Straight-To-Streaming Films ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) Entertainment Strategy Guy · April 5, 2023 [ Read full story ](https://entertainment.substack.com/p/the-data-is-in-theatrical-films-massively) To summarize, theatrical runs make much more money, especially blockbusters, because they earn more money per viewing,1 and that helps boost home entertainment sales. Theatrical films also perform as well or better than the streaming-only films. Now, partially this is driven by increased marketing for said films, but said marketing ultimately boosts the awareness of the movies and drives improved streaming and library performance as well. Again, I’ve made this case after reviewing the economic models and streaming data for years. Just last week, Emily Horgan also made the case for kids films! Yes, it is probably conventional wisdom, but that’s also because it’s true! I’d also argue we’ve seen a lot of data in the various studios’ behavior. As I’ve noted before, the more a studio needs to make money, the likelier they are to put films in theaters. As such, Disney, Universal, Warner Bros., Paramount and Sony all send their major films to theaters. Even if they once made a big S-to-S push (*cough* Disney *cough*), they’ve since relented and returned to theaters. The tech companies don’t need to make money, per se, so it took them years to embrace theaters. Apple doesn’t need to make money because it doesn’t disclose their (likely) Quibi-sized losses each year. (They fear bad press more than losing money.) Amazon announced two years ago that they planned to make Amazon-MGM Studios/Prime Video profitable on its own, and guess what? Now they’re putting films in theaters. That leaves Netflix. They’re in between the “no need to make money at all” and the “desperately need to make money to offset linear TV declines”, so they had less pressure to put some films in theaters. Plus, for years, they were the sexy disruptor, and Wall Street rewarded them for that. (Honestly, they still do.) Yet, even Netflix likely saw the money they were leaving on the table (I’ve estimated it at an easy billion dollars before) so they changed their course. I heard one pundit argue that, because Netflix already makes so much money, they don’t need to make more money, which sort of goes against everything I’ve ever learned about business and economics. Again, to be super-nuanced, sending “films to theaters” does not mean EVERY film. TV movies have been a thing for decades. Lifetime films, Hallmark holiday films, Disney Channel Original Movies, and so on, don’t need theatrical runs. But films above a certain budget level (say $25 to 50 million) almost certainly need theaters to maximize their revenue. The Scenarios (with a Dose of Skepticism) Now time for some skepticism: it won’t surprise me at all if Netflix re-changes course. Specifically, Netflix announced that their Narnia film will go to theaters. And I’d bet anything we see KPop Demon Hunters 2: The Huntering2 also goes to theaters, cause it’s the surest hit outside of a Disney animated sequel right now. But how much does Netflix truly commit to theaters? They’ve already tried to emphasize that this is a one-off move. I see three broad scenarios:
25 high-paying jobs that are projected to grow a lot
Software developers had a median annual pay of $135,980 in 2025, and employment was projected to increase by 267,700 from 2024 to 2034.
Sphere Entertainment secures $1.7B investment from Abu Dhabi for first international venue
The venue will built on a plot of land between Yas Mall and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi.
Cowboys schedule includes seven standalone games
The Cowboys have a lot of standalone games in 2026.
Left my job and boyfriend for LA; came back within months
I'd always wanted to live in the US, so I took an opportunity to leave London for Los Angeles. I came home weeks later, but the move taught me a lot.
Maryland ballot blunder triggers GOP push for federal review of blue state's voter rolls
Republicans call for a federal review of Maryland's voter rolls after a ballot vendor error forced the state to resend thousands of primary ballots.
AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Oregon’s primaries
Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and the nearly two dozen challengers hoping to defeat her are among the candidates on the ballot in Oregon's primary.
AP Decision Notes: What to Expect in Oregon’s Primaries
WASHINGTON (AP) — Oregon’s Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek and the nearly two dozen challengers hoping to defeat her are among the candidates who will seek their parties’ nominations for state and federal offices in Tuesday’s primary. Voters will also decide a statewide ballot measure that would raise ...
Indianapolis Tabbed No. 3 Best Sports Business City by Sports Business Journal
CHARLOTTE – Sports Business Journal (SBJ) has named Indianapolis as the No. 3 Best Sports Business City in the United States, the organization announced on Monday. The Best Sports Business Cities™ list highlights the top 50 cities for businesses operating in and around sports and influences strategic direction for sports business professionals across the United States. Started in 2023, Best Sports Business Cities™ is an editorial initiative developed by Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading news source on the business of sports. Using extensive data from dozens of sources and insights from nearly 120 influential sports business executives, SBJ evaluated more than 2,000 markets to identify the top cities based on opportunity, economic environment and industry sentiment to identify cities with strong business presence, hiring potential and long-term investment viability.
Indianapolis Tabbed No. 3 Best Sports Business City by Sports Business Journal
CHARLOTTE – Sports Business Journal (SBJ) has named Indianapolis as the No. 3 Best Sports Business City in the United States, the organization announced on Monday. The Best Sports Business Cities™ list highlights the top 50 cities for businesses operating in and around sports and influences strategic direction for sports business professionals across the United States. Started in 2023, Best Sports Business Cities™ is an editorial initiative developed by Sports Business Journal, the industry’s leading news source on the business of sports. Using extensive data from dozens of sources and insights from nearly 120 influential sports business executives, SBJ evaluated more than 2,000 markets to identify the top cities based on opportunity, economic environment and industry sentiment to identify cities with strong business presence, hiring potential and long-term investment viability.
Houston's new budget could come down to this feud
Two of Houston's top elected officials are quietly plotting ambitions for the next mayor's race.
Brian Kemp passed on a Georgia Senate run. Then he threw himself in the middle of the GOP primary
Brian Kemp may not be running for US Senate — but the Georgia governor is campaigning like his name is on the ballot.
Disco Elysium’s spiritual successor can’t escape its phantoms
Zero Parades: For Dead Spies carries the ZA/UM name, but the studio has changed a lot since its previous hit.
Delaware health protections, human trafficking awareness bills advance
A slew of health care affordability, protections made waves in Dover, while bill to preserve lottery sales cleared committee. Catch up here.
Inside the U’s baby science research lab, a look at how the world learns
The University of Minnesota Child Brain and Perception Lab explores how infants and toddlers make sense of the people around them. MPR News spent a day recently at the lab watching one of the “pilot babies” discover their world.
The 'fibermaxxing' trend has health benefits worth the hype
There are a lot of wellness trends that make health experts roll their eyes in skepticism. But there is one big trend that many experts can get behind – with a few caveats: fibermaxxing.
'Calculated' Salah has 'sensed an opportunity and taken it'
Not for the first time this season, Mohamed Salah seems to have taken a thinly veiled dig at the manager. You can't apportion blame when we don't know the full story and why Salah feels the way he does. It will now be interesting to see in that final game of the season at Anfield, his farewell to the supporters and the City, how Slot reacts in terms of team selection and how the fans react to a legend going out in unsavoury fashion.
GPT-5.3-Codex is now the base model for Copilot Business and Enterprise
As announced on March 18, 2026, GPT-5.3-Codex is now the base model for all Copilot Business and Copilot Enterprise organizations, replacing GPT-4.1. The base model is used when your organization…
Reno council scheduled to consider 18-month pilot program for indoor live entertainment
Reno's independent, online news and events source. Established in 2009.
Business Notes: Virginia Beach disability advocates honored; free mortgage for military family
View the latest business happenings in Hampton Roads.
Local nonprofit hosts expo to celebrate Small Business Week
The nonprofit Aspire Community Capital wrapped up its celebration of Small Business Week with an expo at West Charlotte High School.
Astros vs. Rangers Game Thread: Game 48, 5/17/2026
TODAY’S GAME: The Houston Astros (19-28) will play the final game of their seven-game homestand today as they go for a sweep in the first round of the Silver Boot Series, presented by the Texas Lottery, against the in-state rival Texas Rangers (21-24). RHP Peter Lambert (2-3, 2.76 ERA), a minor league free agent signing […]
Report: Apple to upgrade Genmoji in iOS 27 with new automatic suggestions
According to the Power On newsletter from Mark Gurman, Apple is planning an interesting new Genmoji feature in iOS 27...
Byron Allen says ‘Comics Unleashed’ will avoid politics when moved into Colbert's late-night time slot
Byron Allen told CNN that “Comics Unleashed” will focus on comedy instead of politics as the show moves into Stephen Colbert’s CBS late-night time slot.
'Slot is dreaming' - fans on boss' comments
Melinda: Yes, I believe we have to give Slot chance to right his wrongs in the window and I believe he will do better. Nothing against Arne Slot, I just think he isn't the man for the job. Segie: Slot is dreaming if he thinks the new transfer window is going to change things for Liverpool.
Packers last Wednesday game came nearly a century ago
The NFL has successfully invented a new timeslot with the Packers and Rams playing on “Thanksgiving Eve” this year. And though a game on the night before Thanksgiving might be a new phenomenon, it’s not the first time the Packers have played on a Wednesday. Buckle up, because this is a weird one. Though it’s […]
Friendship, family, relationship breakups over politics all rising, new study finds
Politics in America is no longer just dividing voters at the ballot box... it may also be wrecking group chats, family dinners, and lifelong friendships.
The new political era of insurgent candidates is roiling the Pennsylvania primary
A decade after Donald Trump upended the Republican Party by attacking the GOP establishment in his first presidential campaign, the political outsiders...
China unveils a giant rideable robot straight out of sci-fi movie
A Chinese robotics company has started selling a giant pilotable robot. It costs €500,000, walks on two legs, and can also smash through walls. Welcome to the future?
Beyond the Forecast: The science of temperature inversions
Ever notice how some mornings the air feels incredibly still, and fog or chimney smoke just hovers flat over the neighborhood instead of rising? When you see this, you’re looking at a classic…
Blackstone seasoning blend recalled over possible salmonella contamination
Blackstone Products is recalling select lots of its Parmesan Ranch seasoning after a supplier-issued milk powder recall raised concerns about possible salmonella contamination.
Now What? With Carbon Pricing Eroded and Pipeline Politics Advancing, Here Are the Pathways for Climate Success
At the end of a whirlwind week of news on carbon pricing and electricity strategy, capping a madcap year of pretty much non-stop, dramatic change, the word across much of Canada’s climate and energy transition community is that climate policy in this country has been shredded. Eviscerated. Hit with a sledgehammer by policy rollbacks that have pushed the country’s 2050 net zero target “well out of reach”. That means it’s never been more important to look for the rays of hope and glimmers of possibility. To glimpse the seeds of the next set of strategies to get Canada’s climate pollution under control and the country into the accelerating global dash away from fossil fuels. And then, once we’ve spotted those possibilities, get on with the hard, day-to-day slog of trying to make them a reality. Nothing takes away from the frustration and the deep disappointment so many climate and energy hawks are expressing, the sense of betrayal by the author of Value(s) and the former UN special envoy for climate action and finance. But we knew two things as the week drew to a close. We’re looking at the world as it most definitely is. And we don’t get to give up finding the pathways to confront climate change and deliver faster, deeper carbon cuts that leave no one else behind. So really, the first question we all have to ask ourselves is: What’s next? Subscribe All the Oxygen in the Room The outpouring of anger and grief over the carbon pricing deal between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith has been absolutely understandable. So much of the climate community poured years, more than a decade, into dragging the current federal pricing regime across the finish line, then defending it from a deluge of three-syllable rhymes after the Trudeau government proved utterly incapable of delivering its own message. The policy foisted on us by neo-classical economists took up all the oxygen in the room, burned through years of climate response time that we won’t get back, while cornering climate hawks into the position that the best response to the crisis of our lifetimes is a new tax…in an era of historic anti-tax sentiment. I mean, really—what could possibly have gone wrong? Against that history, let’s appreciate columnist Max Fawcett’s point that even a modest carbon pricing agreement with a government as off-the-wall libertarian/conspiracist as Danielle Smith’s—those adjectives are mine, not Max’s—is a win worth savouring (as long as Smith keeps her promises for a change). But part of living in the world as it is (no, I’m not letting that go) is to be clear-headed about what we can and can’t control. And one thing we get to decide, after seeing this week’s carbon price festivities take up all the oxygen yet again, is whether we want to keep letting that happen. Particularly when success down that road depends on a factor that no one with a climate agenda can control or influence—a provincial carbon pricing mechanism that has been manipulated and eroded beyond its lowest possible denominator. Thankfully, that’s not the way it has to go. Not when we have so many other powerful, practical tools at our disposal, including the ones still available to us through this abominable Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and Alberta. Tools In Our Toolbox When I started roughing out this list, I didn’t expect it to grow to nearly a dozen bullet points. It’s probably still incomplete. Some of the greatest hits in today’s climate solutions toolbox include: • No Carbon Capture, No Pipeline: On Friday, Prime Minister Mark Carney explicitly stated that there’s been no change to the MOU provision that there will be no West Coast pipeline without an industry commitment to build its massive, $16.5-billion carbon capture and storage (CCUS) hub in Northern Alberta, and vice versa. The two megaprojects were joined at the hip when the MOU was signed Nov. 27, and the implementation agreement this week affirmed that they still are. A parade of independent analysts have spent years pointing to the economic and technical flaws in CCUS, while the industry kept postponing its investment decision until it could arm-twist the government for more “clarity” (by which it meant even more lavish taxpayer subsidies) on the project. Now the industry itself is running away from the CCUS hub and insisting the pipeline should proceed without it, but Carney doesn’t seem to be budging from a central tenet of the MOU to which Smith has signed on. • No Subsidies, No Investors: Climate analysts and advocates have quite rightly been hammering away at Carney and his team, insisting that any new capacity the industry wants to build must proceed without new subsidies. The government has responded with a growing collection of funding and financing mechanisms for the very wide menu of industrial development and nation-building projects they say they want to take on, and that menu always includes fossil fuel infrastructure. But it’s hard to see how even the combined fiscal clout of the federal and supportive provincial governments will deliver the financial backing private investors would need when the business case for new fossil fuel development is evaporating before their eyes. Particularly when… • No Market, No Demand, No Investors: As our friend Markham Hislop at Energi Media (our apparently sleepless friend, given the massive volume of great material he’s been churning out) points out this morning, the biggest vulnerability in any pipeline deal is the assumption that Asian buyers will want the oil or liquefied natural ga that our fossil industry is so keen to send them. Hislop writes in part: Ottawa and Alberta are effectively betting that countries like China and India will continue increasing oil imports for decades as their economies grow and energy consumption rises. That assumption underpins the entire economic rationale for expanding oil sands production and building billions of dollars in new export infrastructure. But Asian energy systems are changing rapidly… China, India, South Korea, and other major hydrocarbon importers are now investing hundreds of billions of dollars into electricity systems built around wind, solar, batteries, nuclear, hydro, and expanded transmission infrastructure. Domestic “energy sovereignty” is increasingly replacing the old energy-security model based on stable oil and gas imports. Those investments are expected to sharply slow oil demand growth and eventually reverse it, even as overall energy consumption continues rising. There are also refining constraints. Many Asian refineries and petrochemical complexes are already optimized to process discounted heavy crude from the Middle East and Latin America. That raises serious questions about how much additional Canadian bitumen Asian markets can absorb at profitable prices. Small wonder that there’s still no private sector investor for the project, despite Smith’s government desperately beating the bushes to put together a deal. For now, Alberta is acting as proponent and covering early start-up costs for a pitch to the federal Major Projects Office, which could actually turn into the next tough hurdle for Smith and her pipeline to jump. • Canada Day Looms: How ironic that Canada’s birthday this year could become a major chokepoint for the provincial premier who’s been working so diligently to tear the country apart! The July 1 target date for Alberta’s pipeline proposal is baked into the MOU, was reaffirmed by the implementation plan, but it hadn’t dawned on me that it cuts both ways. As one very smart colleague wrote in an email yesterday, “they’ve thrown the ball into Alberta’s court to get the project proposal on the table really quickly and to have to do a whole pile of work to put together a massive, complicated project that would typically take years to assemble, and they’ve given them weeks to do it.” That makes July 1 a looming deadline that Smith won’t be able to run away from politically, especially with the separatists in her party and her caucus breathing down her neck. (See previous ref to off-the-wall.) But if Alberta comes in with a sloppy, incomplete submission, even after Carney bent over backwards to simplify the application process and the rules that govern it, it may be harder for the province or the industry to blame Ottawa and insist on the faster process they claim their investors are demanding. (Oh, wait—which investors would those be??) • We’ll See You In Court (Then We’ll See You Again): If Carney did cave, that would be just one more reason for Indigenous and other affected communities to take the government and the process to court—Just as Alberta First Nations did, successfully, in response to Smith’s half-baked separation referendum. Veterans of the Harper era have been warning that a shoddy process around fossil fuel infrastructure or other major projects will be a recipe for the very delays that process seeks to avoid. And now more than ever, with renewable energy and energy storage eating fossil fuels’ lunch in import markets around the world, a delayed pipeline or LNG terminal may be as good as a cancelled one. • Charged Up, Ready to Go: With its goal of doubling Canada’s electricity supply to meet a doubling of demand by 2050, the national electricity strategy that Carney unveiled Thursday has a lot to like. With its explicit language about speeding the shift from fuels to more efficient and affordable electricity, global investment and deployment patterns that already favour that shift, an emerging bidirectional power grid, the role of front-line options like rooftop solar and heat pumps, the emergence of electric vehicles as behind-the-meter energy storage, and the domestic jobs and manufacturing to make it all happen, the document doubles down on the essential cornerstone of a faster shift off fossil fuels. The strategy envisions a more prominent role for gas and nuclear power. But some of those provisions were already in the Clean Electricity Regulations that climate hawks are now fighting so hard to defend, inserted as a compromise in a futile attempt to mollify the industry and its political representatives in Alberta and Saskatchewan. But once again, gas will be a tougher sell when it’s more expensive and now so much more unpredictable than the clean alternatives. The new nuclear technologies are still speculative and deeply vulnerable to cost overruns. Increasingly, utilities, developers, and investors know it. Carney declared Thursday that “it doesn’t do us good to be sitting in court all the time with provinces. It doesn’t do us good to be talking past each other. What does do us good is to come together with specific projects.” There are no guarantees, but so much of the language and narrative-building in the electricity strategy suggests the lion’s share of those projects will be renewable. • The Party Has Already Started: The electricity strategy only rarely digs down to specific projects, but provinces representing three-quarters of Canada’s population are already embracing a faster transition. Hydro-Québec is working on a 10-year, $185-billion renewable energy and grid buildout by 2035. Ontario recently brought 10 provinces and territories together in a National Energy Corridor Agreement to boost interprovincial and -territorial transmission infrastructure. And the MOU implementation agreement commits Alberta to facilitate investment in renewable energy projects, a big step back from its continuing, punitive restrictions on renewables development. The electricity strategy envisions much of the financing and infrastructure that will be needed to pull those advances together into an integrated whole. • Delivering on Affordability: The MOU implementation plan has little or nothing to say about affordability (are you surprised?), but the electricity strategy does, with a top-line pledge to reduce home energy costs for seven out of 10 Canadian households by 2050, a total saving of $15 billion across the board. It’s just a start, but it puts affordability on the government’s narrative map. If they’re serious and deliberate about patching together a least-cost energy strategy, it’ll have little if any room for oil, gas, or nuclear—not with powerful evidence, for example, that electricity prices are higher when those prices are set by gas. • Smith Proves that Canada Works: By signing a deal that makes it harder to claim the federal government is blocking a new pipeline, Smith has helped prove Carney’s constant anti-separatist refrain that “Canada works”—incurring the rage, no doubt, of her own political base. Canada also needs to work for anyone who depends on a clean environment, healthy and thriving ecosystems, and safe, stable climate. But with Smith and her separatist constituents setting up as a fifth column for annexation by Donald Trump’s United States, let’s set aside any notion that 51st state status for Canada is a recipe for anything other than climate disaster (and so much else). Resisting and withstanding Trump (just 170 more sleeps until mid-term elections, which is a damn sight better than the 730 we started with) doesn’t mean a free pass for a pipeline, but we can still appreciate it that keeping Canada whole and sovereign is still Carney’s Job One. • The Words Not Spoken: Apart from a commitment to export a million barrels of “low-emission” Alberta bitumen per day (memo to Smith and Carney: You realize that that’s less than the industry is already exporting??), the MOU implementation plan says nothing about the international trade and economic sovereignty deals that Carney has been travelling the world to negotiate. It didn’t have to. Carney doesn’t need permission from Danielle Smith, her American enablers, or her separatist allies to continue building the alliances that will ratchet down our economic dependency on our unstable, unreliable neighbour to the south. But every connection he builds with countries outside North America helps align our economy and our future with a faster shift off fossil fuels. Little if any of this was on our bingo cards a year or two ago. But it’s the pathway that has opened up to us. And if it gives Canada any climate or energy gains at all in an era still dominated by Trump and his increasingly ridiculous tariffs, his loutish trade negotiations and his continuing annexation threats, we have to take the wins. Not least because they’ll be the point of departure for what we can achieve in 2027, 2029, and beyond, as Trump’s grip and this era begin to loosen and then fade. What is Carney Doing? If this line of thought is right—and it’s a possibility, not a prediction—it means that Carney’s actions and decisions are largely about buying time. Time for Trump’s power to wane. Time for Alberta’s separatist/conspiracist virus to spread, mutate, die out, or at least die back, with help from a vaccine of federal steadiness and calm (appropriate enough, for a movement populated largely by vaccine deniers) that no conspiracy theory can dismiss. And time for the government’s trade and investment agenda to deliver results—even knowing that some of those results will bring impacts that front-line communities will not and should not accept. In the immediate moment, none of this changes the way the wider climate community has to respond, from campaigners to investors to front-line practitioners. All of our voices are still essential. But those voices will be stronger and more confident if we have a clearer sense of the brutal game we’ve been pulled into, and a plausible path (or two it three) for playing it to the win we need. This conversation also underscores our biggest task for the remaining years of what was supposed to be the “decisive” decade for climate response: if we can shift the energy narrative in Canada, make it a mainstream view that the country’s preoccupation with oil and gas has us falling farther behind a changing world, we’ll see far better results in the 2030s and beyond. For many veteran climate advocates, taking on that part of the fight will begin with recognizing that most of our friends and family, neighbours and colleagues already understand that climate change is real and right in front of us: they’re looking away and staying silent because they don’t have what climate communicator Katharine Hayhoe calls “efficacy”. As Hayhoe recently pointed out in a feature interview with The Energy Mix, it amounts to science denial to keep hammering away at the dire news about global warming without also helping audiences understand what they can do about it, with multiple studies telling us why that won’t work. Far better to open those conversations with the dominant crises like energy security, food security, emergency preparedness and business continuity, affordability, and financial security that have knocked climate change far lower on the list of public priorities, and will likely keep it there. We Knew This Would Happen Climate hawks have always known this day would come. For decades, we warned that everyone had to pay attention to climate change right now, because it would be much tougher to respond once the crisis itself started affecting our daily lives. We were right, and here we are. But now, thanks to decades of hard work, communities and countries have an alternative to doubling down on fossil fuels. “In 10 years everyone will have ‘always known’ that solar and batteries were going to win,” Morgan Solar Executive Chair Mike Andrade writes on LinkedIn. With the disruption in the Strait of Hormuz roiling energy priorities around the world, Canada and the United States are among the shrinking number of countries that are still very keen on fossil fuel development. Understanding that gap is a first, essential step in spotting the opportunities ahead, and averting the deep economic as well as environmental and social risk we face if we don’t seize them. Thanks for reading The Energy Mix Weekender! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support our work. Subscribe Mitchell Beer traces his background in renewable energy and energy efficiency back to 1977, in climate change to 1997. Now he and the rest of the Energy Mix team scan 1,200 news headlines a week to pull together The Energy Mix and The Energy Mix Weekender. Chart of the Week BYD Eyes 20 Dealership Locations After Canada Greenlights Chinese EV Imports ‘Sledgehammer’ Carbon Price Deal Boosts Emissions by 230Mt, Aims for Fall 2027 Pipeline Approval ‘Worse Than Harper’: Regulatory Rollback Would Stop Canada from Assessing Project Impacts, Critics Warn Electricity Strategy Aims for Doubling by 2050, Allows ‘Flexibility’ for Gas Power Plants Opposition Mounts as O’Leary’s Data Centre Approved in Drought-Stricken Utah Diluted Carbon Price Misses ‘Reality of the World We’re In’, Could Impede Diversified Trade: Climate Institute $200B in Clean Energy Investment Will Need On-Time Delivery, Reliable Policies, Trade Association Says ‘Sovereign Pipeline’: CEO Pitches to Keep Trans Mountain in Government Hands What a Supercharged El Niño Could Mean for Canada Canada’s future is electric, and here’s how a power grid superhighway would get us there (Toronto Star) The Perilous Waters of Hecate Strait (Globe and Mail) Saudi Aramco profits jump despite conflict in Middle East (The Guardian) Farmers confront rising cost of fertilizer and fuel as spring seeding under way (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) Clarkson forecasts 24% decline in offshore oil, gas capital expenditures (Oil & Gas Journal) Pipe Dreams: How Oil and Gas Fail to Deliver Economic Development in Africa (Oil Change International) Developing countries must hold the pen to script the fossil fuel transition (Climate Home News) Iran war threatens the dream of a post-oil economy in the Gulf (Washington Post) U.S. Oil, Gas Work Force Hits Lowest Level Since 2022 (Rigzone) Why Polestar Is Doubling Down on Net Zero as Rivals Pull Back on EVs (Bloomberg) Why this Michigan utility plans to sell its hydro dams for $13 (E&E News/Politico) Levees can no longer save New Orleans (Vox)
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