Latest news with #contractors
Washington Post
20 hours ago
- General
- Washington Post
Carolyn Hax: Girlfriend's fury at partner's job is so raw they can't discuss it
Adapted from an online discussion. Dear Carolyn: My girlfriend gets angry when I talk about my job. I'm an editor at a web site and she is a project manager working with government contractors. She gets actively angry about my job for a variety of reasons. Sometimes she is mad that the website crashes, or she hates the way ads block the content. I offer to submit bug and crash reports, but she expects me to speak up at weekly editorial meetings to declare that things must change, must be fixed.
CBS News
a day ago
- Climate
- CBS News
Xcel Energy working to restore service in Twin Cities metro after severe storms
Xcel Energy said Monday that it had restored power to more than 85% of customers who lost electricity during Sunday night's storms across Minnesota. The severe weather brought wind gusts over 60 miles per hour, heavy rain, hail and lightning. Nearly 80,000 customers were impacted, with most outages concentrated in the Twin Cities metro area. As of Monday afternoon, around 70,000 customers have had their power restored, Xcel says. More than 1,000 workers and contractors are now in the field, with more set to arrive by Tuesday morning. Crews are prioritizing larger outages first, but the company says the high number of smaller, scattered outages means some customers may be without power longer than others. In New Hope, Minnesota, Lenore Brodney says she was preparing for a two-day outage but was surprised to find her power restored just before midday Monday. "Kids and I were watching TV, just having our usual evening night, and all of a sudden the power flashed and then went off," Brodney said. "As soon as I got home, I got a bunch of notifications that my power was on ... so I'm very lucky that it came on quickly." Xcel is also monitoring the possibility of more storms Monday night and is urging customers to stay away from any downed or sagging power lines. Anyone who sees a line down is asked to stay back and call 1-800-895-1999 to report it. For real-time updates, customers can check the Xcel Energy outage map.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
New Botley Road walkway tunnel is on schedule
A new walkway being built by Network Rail contractors will be ready by the end next month. The rail infrastructure company closed the Botley Road at the rail bridge in April 2023, as part of a major scheme to revitalise the station. The project includes replacing the rail bridge, with better access provided for pedestrians and cyclists, creating a new western entrance to the station, and building a new platform to improve East West rail links. The scheme has been hit by repeated delays and the Botley Road is not due to reopen until August next year. READ MORE: Allotments space could be used for Botley Road buses The cost of the project has increased due to the delays, and the £161m total cost has now increased to about £230m, according to rail minister Peter Hendy. However, the pledge to complete a new walkway helping people get past the bridge works, into Frideswide Square, will be completed soon Network Rail bosses are promising. The pathway leading from Botley Road to the square has been reconfigured on numerous occasions to accommodate the ongoing work. A poster advertising the new walkwayA spokesman said: "'Work is progressing well and we are currently on track to open the new wider walkway in Botley Road, improving accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians, at the end of next month.' In a newsletter, residents have been told the first new walkway/cycleway route will open at the north side of bridge at the end of August. The newsletter said: "We're creating a strong, level base for the concrete structure that will support the bridge and carry pedestrians and cyclists underneath. "We've also been making good progress with the retaining wall that will tie in the new railway bridge to the additional track planned as part of the future station expansion. "We've installed sheet piles and drainage - and removed obstructions - ahead of the planned installation of pre-cast concrete sections that will form part of the wall. "This work, in the area of the former YHA building, is needed before we can open the new walkway/cycleway as planned." Work in the Botley Road area has led to buses being diverted into Abbey Road, Cripley Road and Cripley Place so they can turn around. For a short time, after a water main burst, the buses were switched to the Osney Mead industrial estate but now they have returned to the Abbey Road area where residents, including campaigner Julian Le Vay, claim they face several hundred bus movements in the neighbourhood every day. Julian Le VayHe has campaigned to hold Network Rail to account for their failings relating to the scheme, and wrote a booklet documenting the losses of local businesses, and recording the experiences of local residents. He said earlier residents in the Abbey Road area have been left feeling "desperate". A proposal to use a strip of allotments space off Botley Road as a bus turning circle is being considered by Network Rail, as an alternative to buses using the Abbey Road area.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Tiny Louisiana town sees housing prices skyrocket
Prices for certain homes in a tiny part of northern Louisiana have more than doubled thanks to construction beginning on a massive Meta data center, a project that is set to create thousands of jobs. The massive facility, comparable in size to 70 football fields, will sit on more than 2200 acres of what used to be farmland near Holly Ridge in Richland Parish. Meta and its team of general contractors said the herculean undertaking will require 5,000 construction workers. Even with all that manpower, the data center isn't expected to be up and running until 2030. Once operational, Meta believes about 500 employees will be needed to maintain it. Ever since the four-million-square-foot center was announced in December 2024, the value of homes near the construction site have increased by record amounts. A 5,000 square-foot mansion on an 816-acre lot 'just 20 minutes' from the data center is on the market for $16.3 million. In November 2024, the listed price was $7.5 million, less than half of what it is eight months later. This same phenomenon has been observed with more modest homes in the area, such as a $775,000 property for sale in Oak Ridge. That home, also about 20 minutes from the data center, was going for just $463,000 in December. Data centers contain hundreds or even thousands of servers that power basic functions of the internet, which make them crucial facets of American infrastructure. In the case of Meta's 28 data centers across the globe, they have server space to process and store the billions of messages, posts and images circulated on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp every single second of the day. In an Instagram video , Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the Louisiana data center will help make its AI model get smarter, faster and more useful. All this hype around Meta's newest development has supercharged the Richland real estate market, an area that still has high rates of poverty. Realtor Heather Stephenson of Brown Realty told The Shreveport-Bossier City Advocate that her phone is ringing off the hook. She said land within about a 10-mile radius of the data center is getting the most attention. 'We're getting more and more calls and more and more interest. You know, some of those that kind of sat on the market, have been on the market for a while, that are now priced good because they're $15,000 when, you know, comps are higher,' Stephenson said. Lee Brown, the Richland Parish Tax Assessor, mentioned a piece of property along Interstate 20 that is listed for $430,000 per acre, double what is was before the Meta announcement. Brown said development around the data center is booming in anticipation of the much larger foot traffic the area will experience over the coming years. 'Delhi has got a truck stop travel center, for lack of a better word coming, Holly Ridge has one. There are three hotels, and I know of six, off the top of my head, different restaurants,' he told the Advocate.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Climate
- BBC News
Need to know: Manx roads closing for resurfacing work
A series of roads across the Isle of Man are set to close for resurfacing works. The Department of Infrastructure has said that affected residents have been notified by letter, and the road closures mean that on-street parking will be routes would be marked and information boards are in place at each area, the Department of Infrastructure has work, which is weather dependent, is being carried out by contractors Kiely Bros. Ltd. Saturday South Quay in Douglas will close from the lifting bridge to the stone bridge, which will start early and is hoped to be completed by 08:00 morning will also see the closure of Groves Road, Saddle Road, and Poortown Road for the the afternoon continuing into Sunday Cranstal Road in Bride will be closed from the Point of Ayre to Bride Village roundabout, but access to the village carpark will not be affected. Sunday On Sunday, works will be undertaken on Lhen Road in Bride, from Thurot Cottage Road to Bride Village, and will continue on Cranstal Road in full length of Ballacrye Road in Ballaugh, Ballamona Road in Ballaugh and Sandygate Road in Jurby will be closed. Monday On Monday, Colby Glen Road in Arbory will be closed from Main Road Colby to Ballagawne Road, along with Summerhill Road in Jurby. Next steps Roads will then be swept to remove loose chippings, and a road surface treatment will be applied from 2 August to lock the chippings into the road surface which aims to improve durability and prevent damage to the markings will be reinstated on 3 August which is expected to take about a week. Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.
