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Way back before NRG was making electric DeLoreans and building solar power plants, it co-owned a slew of power facilities in California with Dynegy — an energy outfit that got caught up in a long-term litigation over some old energy contracts with the state. Long story short, that legal dispute became NRG’s problem in 2006, after it acquired Dynegy’s majority stake in the partnership — a problem it’s finally resolving by peppering California with 200 fast-charging EV stations. The $120 million settlement promises to create jobs, invest in the state’s economy and provide job training for the stations’ maintenance and installation crews.

NRG may be shelling out some serious cash, but the deal is still mutually beneficial — those extra vehicle chargers will be running on its own fee-based eVgo network, after all. Governor Jerry Brown calls the settlement the beginning of a “virtuous circle” that will boost EV sales for the state, which will in turn, provoke investors to expand California’s charging infrastructure, which will, of course, sell more cars. In fact, he’s banking on it, and has signed an executive order setting targets for EV adoption. If all goes as planned, you’ll be looking at a smog free San Francisco skyline by 2050. Won’t that be nice?

Continue reading NRG to bring 200 fast-charging EV stations to the Golden State, pump $100 million into CA infrastructure

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STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Pennsylvania State University, reeling from a child sex abuse scandal that has shocked the nation, will try a first step toward repairing its shattered image at a football game on Saturday.

Students, fans and the university’s battered administration are looking for the noon game between No. 12 ranked Penn State and No. 17 Nebraska as a way to put explosive allegations of child rape and cover-up behind it.

Former assistant coach Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky, 67, was charged last Saturday with sexually abusing eight young boys over more than a decade. Prosecutors said Sandusky met all his alleged victims through a nonprofit group he founded.

Security teams and measures will be boosted to prevent a repeat of mob violence seen on Wednesday night when thousands of students turned into what police called a “riotous mob” after trustees fired Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football, along with college President Graham Spanier.

“I hope and I believe that we will see the best of our students tomorrow,” interim President Rod Erickson told reporters on Friday.

Instead of the usual pregame rally late on Friday night, an estimated 10,000 students carried out a candlelight vigil in front of the main administration building for the young boys who were victims of alleged sex abuse.

Fans going to the game, the last home game of the season, were urged to wear blue — the color associated with a “stop child abuse” campaign — rather than traditional white.

“People want to move forward to rebuild the reputation that Penn State had, and the game tomorrow is going to be the start of it,” student Laura Ross, 21, said at the traditional home game tent encampment outside Beaver Stadium known as “Paternoville.”

Sandusky retired in 1999 and was once considered a likely successor to the legendary Paterno. The grand jury alleged, among other charges, that Sandusky had sexually assaulted a boy in a Penn State football locker room in 2002 and university officials failed to report the incident.

Sandusky contends he is innocent, his attorney has said.

Adding to the shock waves on campus, Penn State athletic director Tim Curley and finance official Gary Schultz were also charged with failure to report an incident and perjury.

Curley has been placed on administrative leave and Schultz resigned. They have maintained their innocence and their attorneys have called the cases against them weak.

Paterno, who was not charged, said he was told in 2002 that Sandusky engaged in sexually inappropriate behavior with a young boy. He told his boss but did not call the police.

ADMINISTRATIVE LEAVE

Mike McQueary, an assistant football coach who allegedly witnessed the 2002 incident, was placed on administrative leave on Friday. The university earlier had barred him from attending Saturday’s game, citing “multiple” threats against him.

The scandal reverberated as far as Wall Street when ratings agency Moody’s warned of a possible credit downgrade for Penn State.

“Over the next several months, Moody’s will evaluate the potential scope of reputation and financial risk arising from these events,” Dennis Gephart, a senior analyst at Moody’s said in a release.

The agency said the scandal could lead to lawsuits and settlements, weaker student demand, declines in philanthropic giving, and significant management or governance changes.

Penn State’s board of trustees on Friday appointed Kenneth Frazier, the chief executive of drugmaker Merck & Co. and a Penn State alumnus, to head a special committee to investigate the events that lead up to the charges against Sandusky.

“We are going to do everything we can to restore the public’s faith,” Frazier told reporters.

The mother of one boy who was an alleged victim of sexual abuse said on Friday she feared Sandusky could have had many more victims than the eight covered by the charges.

“The people that hid this need to pay for their actions. They allowed this to happen to a lot of kids,” the woman told ABC’s “Good Morning America.” The program did not identify her and disguised her voice and appearance.

The campus was calm and even somber on Friday but police are beefing up their presence for Saturday’s game to bar a repeat of Wednesday’s violence.

Mounted and undercover officers will be deployed and authorities will be monitoring Facebook and Twitter feeds, Captain John Gardner of the State College Police Department said.

“The eyes of the nation are on Penn State and the Penn State community. Let’s show them what the real Penn State spirit is,” he told reporters.

(Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder, Editing by Peter Bohan and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111112/us_nm/us_usa_crime_coach

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BANGOR, Maine — Horror author Stephen King is stepping up to help struggling Maine residents buy heating oil.

The state is facing deep cuts to a federal heating oil assistance program.

The Maine native announced Tuesday that his foundation will work with the three radio stations he owns in the Bangor area to raise $140,000 to buy heating oil for low-income residents.

He’s asking listeners to donate $70,000, and the foundation will double it.

The federal government told the Maine State Housing Authority that it should expect to receive $23 million in heating oil assistance this winter, down from $55.6 million last winter.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/10/stephen-king-heating-aid-maine_n_1085415.html

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PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) ? The state of Pennsylvania and college football fans across the country were rattled on Sunday by sexual abuse charges filed against a celebrated former assistant to legendary Penn State coach Joe Paterno.

Former defensive coordinator Gerald “Jerry” Sandusky, 67, of State College, where Penn State is located, faces an array of charges related to sexually abusing eight boys, according to state prosecutors.

“I sincerely believe this has shaken the campus. Everyone from students to people affiliated with the campus were really taken aback,” said Lexi Belculfine, a senior student and editor-in-chief of The Daily Collegian newspaper.

The charges include seven counts of first-degree involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, each punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine, according to Pennsylvania State Attorney General Linda Kelly.

“This is a case about a sexual predator who used his position within the university and community to repeatedly prey on young boys,” Kelly said.

Sandusky, who was defensive coordinator for 23 years and was once considered a likely successor to Paterno, allegedly targeted boys from 1994 to 2009, a grand jury report said.

Since the charges were announced, at least one state legislator has called for an investigation. State senator Jeffrey Piccola suggested university trustees investigate how Penn State officials handled the alleged reports of sexual abuse, according to The Patriot-News in Harrisburg.

Sandusky was also charged with aggravated indecent assault, eight counts of corruption of minors, and four counts of unlawful contact with a minor.

One victim, a boy about 11 years old when he met Sandusky in 2005 or 2006, testified Sandusky performed oral sex on him more than 20 times through early 2008, and forced the victim to perform oral sex on him, the report from the grand jury said.

Sandusky met the victims through his Second Mile organization, a statewide non-profit organization devoted to “helping troubled young boys,” the report said. Sandusky was arraigned on Saturday and released after posting $100,000 bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for November 9.

‘MAINTAINS HIS INNOCENCE’

His attorney Joe Amendola told reporters Sandusky, who left Penn State coaching in 1999, was shaken by the charges but knew they were coming. “He’s maintained his innocence.”

The scandal reaches into the upper echelons of the Penn State athletic organization.

Athletic Director Timothy Curley, 57, and Gary Schultz, 62, senior vice president for finance and business, were each charged with failing to report the crimes and perjury.

Penn State President Graham Spanier issued a statement on Saturday saying Curley and Schultz had his “unconditional support,” and allegations against both would prove groundless.

Attorneys for Curley and Schultz issued statements on the University’s website on Saturday saying the two men were innocent and that they would fight the charges.

Doug Gamber, 51, of Rossville, Pennsylvania, who said he was a 1982 Penn State graduate and maintained contacts with the school, described his reaction to news of the charges as “shocked, appalled.”

Asked if they would reverberate across the state, he told Reuters: “Without a doubt. Penn State has kind of a pristine reputation.”

Paterno, the winningest coach in the highest division of collegiate sports, has not been charged. Paterno alerted Athletic Director Curley when he learned of the assault.

“He’s an impeccable sort of figure, a grandfather figure,” Penn State graduate Gamber said of Paterno.

The alleged sexual assaults came to light after a graduate assistant witnessed Sandusky “sexually assaulting a naked boy who appeared to be about 10″ at the Lasch Football Building on the Penn State campus in March 2002, the statement said.

The statement said the graduate assistant told Paterno, who alerted Athletic Director Curley. It said Curley and Schultz later told Sandusky not to bring boys to the football building. But they did not alert police.

Sandusky had an office and telephone in the Lasch Building, according to court documents. He had access to all recreational facilities and other privileges negotiated as part of his retirement, it said.

“I always liked Jerry Sandusky. I thought he was a terrific coach,” Frank, a 65-year-old retiree from central Pennsylvania who did not want his full name used, told Reuters. “I just feel bad about it. It will be a reflection on Penn State.”

(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper in Boston and Ian Simpson in Shrewsbury, Pennsylvania; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111106/us_nm/us_crime_coach_pennsylvania

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DES MOINES, Iowa ? With just two months until Iowa’s presidential caucuses, Republican Rick Perry is redoubling his effort to introduce himself in the state that holds his political fate.

Trailing in the polls, the Texas governor on Monday introduced his second ad in the nation’s first caucus state, just a week after his first, setting his jobs and fiscal record as his chief assets and poking at his chief rival’s superior debating skills.

“If you’re looking for a slick politician or a guy with great teleprompter skills, we already have that, and he’s destroying our economy,” Perry says in the new ad, poking directly at Democratic President Barack Obama, but also nudging Romney. “I’m a doer, not a talker.”

And he’s about to get some help in another early-voting state. A super political action committee that supports Perry and is run by several Perry associates, Make Us Great Again, planned to run TV ads in South Carolina as early as Tuesday, telling TV stations to reserve airtime for him.

It was unclear what the content of the South Carolina ad is, but the fact that the group is planning to run advertisements on his behalf indicates that Perry’s allies are making similar efforts to boost his poll numbers in that key state.

Perry’s quick release of a second ad and two trips to Iowa this week reflect his urgency for a good showing in the state. Perry needs a strong performance in the Jan. 3 caucuses to carry him into New Hampshire, where Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, lead in polls ahead of its leadoff primary.

Perry placed fifth in The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll published Sunday, tied with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with support from 7 percent of likely caucus goers. Businessman Herman Cain led with 23 percent, followed closely by Romney with 22 percent.

But the Texas governor’s new ad projects confidence. An open-collared Perry, backed by a lively string accompaniment, nods assuredly into the camera while noting Texas’ healthy economy in the past two years, Perry’s calling card as he seeks to challenge Romney as the candidate best able to attack the GOP’s chief concern: jobs.

The new ad picks up the theme of Perry’s first campaign ad, a 30-second spot also launched in Iowa that promises 2.5 million jobs and points to his economic record as Texas’ three-term governor.

And while Perry has admitted struggling during the string of recent debates, in the new ad he turns the criticism around by arguing his record is more relevant than his debate polish.

The new ad and a stepped up Iowa presence follow Perry’s steady decline in national polls since he entered the race on Aug. 13 and shot to the top of GOP surveys.

They also follow last week’s reinforcement of his national campaign staff, which had primarily been longtime Texas hands, with seasoned national presidential operatives.

Meanwhile, Perry introduced economic proposals this month, including last week’s proposed flat tax and changes to Social Security and Medicare.

Iowa Republicans can expect to hear Perry tout the proposals and Texas’ job growth at a forum in Iowa Tuesday co-hosted by Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, a pro-business Republican who has held out the possibility of endorsing a candidate before the caucuses.

Gingrich and other Republican presidential hopefuls Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum are also scheduled to attend the forum at Vermeer Manufacturing southeast of Des Moines.

Romney declined the invitation to participate in the forum, even though the former investment capital executive is stressing his decades in the private sector over his one term as Massachusetts governor to present himself as the field’s most economics-savvy candidate.

And while Romney has ramped up his outreach in Iowa after laying low for most of the year, he is avoiding multicandidate forums in the state where he waged an all-out campaign for the caucuses only to finish second four years ago.

Perry on the other hand is has been to Iowa more than twice as often as Romney this year, only to find himself trailing.

The one-two punch of advertising and aggressive travel will help boost his brand, Perry’s national communication director Ray Sullivan said.

“Republicans in Iowa should expect to see Gov. Perry a lot between now and when voting starts, not only on the air, on TV and other paid media, but also on the ground and at speeches and traditional campaign events,” Sullivan told The Associated Press. “Iowa is very important to Gov. Perry, and he will continue to make it a priority.”

Perry also plans to campaign in the Des Moines area Tuesday, and return Thursday and Friday, capping his busy week in Iowa with four others in a Iowa GOP fundraiser in Des Moines.

Perry aides say the Register’s poll reflects fluidity in the race and an opportunity for Perry. Perry’s ad was hitting airwaves at about the same time as almost 60 percent of those polled last week said they could be convinced to support another candidate in the next two months.

“I think the schedule can be summed up in one word: aggressive,” Perry’s senior Iowa adviser Bob Haus said. “He will be in a position to shine where he does best, and that’s retail campaigning. When he meets people, he’s converting them and that’s what he needs to do.”

___

Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111031/ap_on_el_ge/us_perry2012

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