Hacker News with Generative AI: Texas

Doubts remain over reliability of Texas power grid (npr.org)
Four years after deadly blackout, doubts remain over reliability of Texas’ power grid Officials say they've improved the grid, but new challenges have emerged as demand grows

Texas, Energy, Power Grid, Reliability, Blackouts

66 points by geox 5 days ago | 70 comments

More Solar and Battery Storage Added to TX Grid Than Other Power Src Last Year (insideclimatenews.org)
As the market for renewables in Texas continues to strengthen and innovate, the power makeup of the state’s electric grid is slated to keep shifting toward adding more renewables. Last year, solar and battery storage installation led capacity growth within Texas’ electric grid, according to research from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas published in January.

Renewable Energy, Texas, Energy Storage

111 points by indigodaddy 6 days ago | 119 comments

Nine unvaccinated people hospitalized as Texas measles outbreak doubles (arstechnica.com)
An outbreak of measles in one of Texas' least vaccinated counties continues to rapidly expand, with officials reporting 24 cases Tuesday, up from just nine confirmed on Friday.

Public Health, Texas, Measles, Vaccines, Disease Outbreaks

12 points by rbanffy 8 days ago | 6 comments

Measles outbreak erupts in one of Texas' least-vaccinated counties (arstechnica.com)
Health officials in Texas are battling a growing measles outbreak in an area that has some of the state's lowest vaccination rates and highest non-medical exemptions.

Health, Texas, Measles, Vaccines, Public Health

9 points by rbanffy 11 days ago | 0 comments

Measles outbreak erupts in one of Texas' least vaccinated counties (arstechnica.com)
Health officials in Texas are battling a growing measles outbreak in an area that has some of the state's lowest vaccination rates and highest non-medical exemptions.

Health, Public Health, Texas, Vaccination, Measles

11 points by smy20011 13 days ago | 8 comments

Exxon is quietly planning a new $8.6B plastics plant in Texas (grist.org)
Diane Wilson had heard rumors for months that Exxon might be coming to Point Comfort, Texas, which sits on the Gulf Coast south of Galveston. She recalls whispers about the global behemoth hiring local electricians and negotiating railroad access. Two days before Christmas, the first confirmation quietly arrived: an application for tax subsidies to build an $8.6 billion plastics manufacturing plant.

ExxonMobil, Plastics Industry, Environmental Issues, Texas, Business

5 points by Brajeshwar 14 days ago | 0 comments

Texas Tempts Meta (bloomberg.com)
If you are a shareholder of a public company, how would you like that company to be run? Here are two options:

Meta, Texas, Business, Technology, Acquisitions

15 points by feross 18 days ago | 5 comments

Island residents are still dealing with the fallout of exploded Starship (cnn.com)

SpaceX, Accidents, Texas, Environment, Local News

76 points by janpot 20 days ago | 46 comments

Elon Musk claims Tesla will launch a self-driving service in Austin in June (techcrunch.com)
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday his company will launch a paid ride-hailing robotaxi service in Austin, Texas using its own fleet vehicles this coming June — the latest in a long line of sky-high promises he has yet to meet about autonomy.

Tesla, Self-Driving Cars, Transportation, Austin, Texas

10 points by sdhillon 23 days ago | 12 comments

Austin rents have fallen for nearly two years (texastribune.org)
A massive apartment building boom in the Austin-Round Rock region has driven rents downward, real estate experts and housing advocates have said.

Real Estate, Housing, Austin, Texas

56 points by matthest 26 days ago | 63 comments

Texas Is Enforcing Its State Data Privacy Law. So Should Other States (eff.org)
States need to have and use data privacy laws to bring privacy violations to light and hold companies accountable for them. So, we were glad to see that the Texas Attorney General’s Office has filed its first lawsuit under Texas Data Privacy and Security Act (TDPSA) to take the Allstate Corporation to task for sharing driver location and other driving data without telling customers.

Privacy Laws, Data Privacy, Texas, Lawsuits, Consumer Protection

106 points by hn_acker 27 days ago | 19 comments

The Last Cowboy Boot Masters of El Paso (atlasobscura.com)
On an otherwise quiet weekday morning in Segundo Barrio, a working-class neighborhood on the south side of El Paso, the tap, tap, tap of Jose Contreras’ hammer echoes from inside the blue warehouse on Cotton Street.

Texas, Culture, Craftsmanship, El Paso

28 points by Brajeshwar 35 days ago | 4 comments

Texas Sues Allstate over Its Collection of Driver Data (nytimes.com)
The State of Texas sued Allstate on Monday, accusing the insurer of illegally tracking drivers by way of their phones through a subsidiary called Arity that claimed to have the “world’s largest driving behavior database.”

Texas, Lawsuits, Insurance, Data Privacy, Automotive

7 points by elsewhen 38 days ago | 1 comments

Wends of Texas (wikipedia.org)
The Texas Wends or Wends of Texas are a group of people descended from a congregation of 558 Sorbian/Wendish people under the leadership and pastoral care of John Kilian (Sorbian languages: Jan Kilian, German: Johann Killian) who emigrated from Lusatia (part of modern-day Germany) to Texas in 1854.[1] The term also refers to the other emigrations (and all descendants) occurring before and after this group. However, none came close to the size or importance of the Wendish culture in Texas.

Texas, History, Culture, Immigration, Germany

69 points by benbreen 45 days ago | 45 comments

Most cars registered in Texas won't need to pass a safety inspection (texastribune.org)
Starting in 2025, many Texas drivers will no longer have to have their car inspected for safety.

Texas, Automotive, Policy, Safety

9 points by geox 47 days ago | 2 comments

U-Haul Growth Metros and Cities of 2024: Dallas Top Metro for In-Migration (uhaul.com)
PHOENIX, Ariz. (Jan. 3, 2024) — The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metropolitan area, better known as the DFW Metroplex, is the leading U-Haul Growth Metro of 2024.

Demographics, Migration, Urban Planning, Dallas, Texas

27 points by rawgabbit 49 days ago | 13 comments

Yemeni Coffee Shops in Texas (texasmonthly.com)
They’re popular hangouts for Arab and Muslim populations, but they also attract a diverse group of customers who seek alcohol-free spaces that are open late.

Texas, Coffee Shops, Culture

242 points by Geekette 49 days ago | 200 comments

3D-printed neighborhood nears completion in Texas (yahoo.com)
GEORGETOWN, Texas (Reuters) - As with any desktop 3D printer, the Vulcan printer pipes layer by layer to build an object – except this printer is more than 45 feet (13.7 m) wide, weighs 4.75 tons and prints residential homes.

3D Printing, Architecture, Construction, Texas

81 points by whoisstan 55 days ago | 117 comments

Samsung gets $4.7B grants for Texas fabs (nist.gov)
The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded Samsung Austin Semiconductor, LLC, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics (Samsung), up to $4.745 billion in direct funding under the CHIPS and Science Act to strengthen the resilience of the U.S. semiconductor supply chain, advance U.S. technology leadership, and fuel U.S. global competitiveness.

Government Funding, Semiconductors, Texas, Manufacturing, Technology

32 points by osnium123 63 days ago | 6 comments

AT&T Hits Texas Man with $6k Bill for Using 3GB of Data (pcmag.com)
An AT&T customer in Texas claims they were hit with a $6,223.60 wireless bill for the month of November because of a pay-as-you-go data charge.

Data Overages, Telecommunications, Consumer Issues, Texas

8 points by thunderbong 65 days ago | 0 comments

In Defense of Y'All (texasmonthly.com)
A New York Times columnist says it’s “much too slangy, regional or what you might even call ethnic to ever gain universal acceptance.” We couldn’t disagree more.

Language, Culture, Texas, Regionalism

169 points by scour 66 days ago | 362 comments

Texas medical school says hackers stole sensitive data of 1.4M individuals (techcrunch.com)
The Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center confirmed hackers accessed the personal and sensitive health data of over 1.4 million individuals during a September cyberattack.

Cybersecurity, Data Breaches, Healthcare, Texas

4 points by impish9208 66 days ago | 0 comments

Hospitals gave patients meds during childbirth, then reported them for drug use (themarshallproject.org)
Amairani Salinas was 32 weeks pregnant with her fourth child in 2023 when doctors at a Texas hospital discovered that her baby no longer had a heartbeat. As they prepped her for an emergency cesarean section, they gave her midazolam, a benzodiazepine commonly prescribed to keep patients calm. A day later, the grieving mother was cradling her stillborn daughter when a social worker stopped by her room to deliver another devastating blow: Salinas was being reported to child welfare authorities.

Health, Legal Issues, Texas, Childbirth, Pregnancy

62 points by anigbrowl 70 days ago | 34 comments

SpaceX Seeks Approval to Turn Texas Starbase Site into New City (bloomberg.com)
Elon Musk is attempting to turn the Starbase site in Texas where SpaceX builds its Starship rockets into a new city and officially move his space company there.

Space Exploration, SpaceX, City Planning, Texas, Elon Musk

31 points by JumpCrisscross 70 days ago | 45 comments

Attorney General Ken Paxton sues companies over "forever chemicals" (texastribune.org)
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit Wednesday against chemical giants 3M and DuPont, accusing them of decades-long misrepresentations and omissions regarding the safety of PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” sold for use in countless consumer products.

Lawsuits, Environmental Issues, Chemicals, Texas

7 points by adomasm3 71 days ago | 0 comments

The revenge of the company town: Elon Musk, the new Baron of Bastrop (sherwood.news)
The Baron de Bastrop arrived in Texas with big ambitions.

Elon Musk, Texas, Companies, History

7 points by julianozen 72 days ago | 0 comments

404 Media Objects to Texas AG Ken Paxton's Subpoena to Access Our Reporting (404media.co)
In October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed 404 Media, demanding that we hand over confidential information about our reporting and an anonymous source to help the state of Texas in a wholly unrelated case it is pursuing against Google.

Journalism, Law, Texas, Google

10 points by cdme 74 days ago | 0 comments

404 Media Objects to a Texas Subpoena for Our Reporting (404media.co)
In October, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton subpoenaed 404 Media, demanding that we hand over confidential information about our reporting and an anonymous source to help the state of Texas in a wholly unrelated case it is pursuing against Google.

Journalism, Law, Texas, Google

9 points by DyslexicAtheist 74 days ago | 0 comments

Dickies moving its headquarters from Texas to California (abc7.com)
Dickies, the popular workwear and lifestyle apparel company, is moving its headquarters from Texas to Orange County.

Business, Companies, California, Texas, Relocation

46 points by geox 76 days ago | 29 comments

Study shows Texas' abortion ban is straining the OB/GYN pool (texastribune.org)
Texas’ new abortion laws are stressing the state’s already beleaguered OB-GYN workforce, and threatening the pipeline of new doctors that would help provide relief, a new survey shows.

Health, Politics, Texas, Law, Healthcare

13 points by malshe 84 days ago | 2 comments