By: Keith Klein (photo: The IndyChannel.com)
The Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission is extending its power shut off moratorium, giving customers struggling to pay their energy bills 45 more days before a power shut off is allowed. The disconnection moratorium will now end August 14th. The IURC also denied Indiana’s gas and electric companies’ request to increase costs to recover lost revenue from the coronavirus pandemic. The IURC also deferred the joint utility petitioners’ requests related to increased operations and maintenance expenses until it can be evaluated more thoroughly.
A report details a grim image of the newspaper industry’s decline from 2004 to 2019, a period during which more than 2,000 newspapers closed and a 44% drop in circulation occurred. The result; many communities no longer have a local paper, whichauthorities say contributes to societal divisions and an erosion of trust in institutions. “I see a big difference in awareness of the issue by community activists, government officials, by ordinary citizens and politicians,” said Penelope Abernathy, professor at the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina. The coronavirus also has led to 35 newspapers shutting down.
In the latest move to change place names, leaders of Orange County, California’s Democratic Party are pushing to drop film star John Wayne’s name, statue, and likenesses from the county’s airport because of his racist and bigoted comments. Officials passed an emergency resolution condemning Wayne’s statementsmade in a 1971 interview. The resolution asks the County Board “to restore its original name: Orange County Airport.” Leaders say it is part of “a national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names.” Party leaders say, in a 1971 Playboy magazine interview, Wayne made bigoted statements against Black people, Native Americans, and the LGBTQ community.
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