A tweak to the zoning ordinance was the ultimate step to closing the deal
Somewhere in Greenville — few know the exact location — dozens of transport containers may quickly seem on the panorama. These containers, often known as “modular data-processing facilities” — however which are really cryptomining operations — shall be jammed with lightning-fast computer systems whose blinking lights point out they’re considering.
The computer systems are concentrating. They’re mining cryptocurrencies, digital cash like Bitcoin and Ethereum, by fixing complicated mathematical puzzles by way of trillions of guesses. It’s onerous work, all this considering. The computer systems get scorching and should be always fanned.
All of this — the computer systems, the mind energy, the followers — requires monumental quantities of electrical energy. Electrical energy generated largely by fossil fuels, the drivers of local weather change. [Read more…]
2. NC GOP’s judicial impeachment threats are a new low in Trump-like lawlessness (Commentary)
The state Auditor’s Workplace says that the mayor of a coastal city used confidential info to purchase city property at a worth not accessible to the general public.
Ocean Isle Mayor Debbie Smith bought land and a former police division constructing on the appraised worth of $460,000 for an actual property firm that she co-owns. The city board improperly mentioned particulars of the sale in closed session, the audit says, and the mayor was ready to make use of info that was not public in making her buy supply. Additional, the city board mentioned sale of the property in closed session, in line with the audit report, a subject that can not be mentioned behind closed doorways. [Read more…]
7. State Fair cited for environmental violations related to controversial parking lot
The North Carolina Division of Agriculture has been cited for 4 water high quality violations associated to its clear-cutting of 19 acres for a State Honest car parking zone, in line with environmental paperwork. The truthful operates beneath the Agriculture Division.
Policy Watch reported final September that State Honest officers had exploited authorized loopholes to timber the land at 5900 Chapel Hill Street in Raleigh, which abuts the residential Westover-Mt. Vernon neighborhood. A November 2021 letter addressed to David Smith, deputy agriculture commissioner, from the NC Division of Environmental High quality described how on Oct. 4, inspectors discovered 10 toes of an unnamed stream had been illegally stuffed with grime and rock. [Read more…]
8. States weigh how to shield election officials from threats, harassment
Following the turmoil of the 2020 election, a photograph of Washington state Election Director Lori Augino marked with crosshairs, her tackle, and the phrases “your days are numbered” was posted on a website alongside photographs of quite a few different state election officials described as “enemies of the individuals.”
Washington Secretary of State Kim Wyman mentioned in a press launch in December 2020 that she reported the so-called doxxing to the U.S. Division of Homeland Safety and the FBI. But it surely’s unclear whether or not the perpetrators were ever recognized or if they confronted any prices — the secretary of state’s office didn’t reply to questions on what resulted from the stories. Each Augino and Wyman have since left office.[Read more…]
Earlier than the first snowflakes started to fall final week, meteorologists were advising North Carolinians when the wintry combine would arrive, how extreme situations would be, and the way to greatest put together for the impeding storm.
Dr. Jonathan Fast, an adjunct professor at the Duke International Well being Institute, envisions a future in which we have an analogous system for forecasting the unfold of COVID-19 and future variants.
Fast and two of his colleagues at Duke College fielded questions Monday about what it would imply for the COVID-19 pandemic to develop into endemic. [Read more…]
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