Free Republic

Mayor Eric Adams is set to use his State of the City address Wednesday to unveil a new push to use a slew of city-owned properties for affordable housing projects, The Post has learned. The new plan will make use of public sites across the Big Apple in a bid to advance a total of 24 housing projects by the end of the year, according to an early snippet of Hizzoner’s speech obtained by The Post. The ambitious project — dubbed “24 in 24” — will create or preserve more than 12,000 affordable homes scattered across the five boroughs, according...

We knew Big Apple public housing is in dangerously bad shape — but it turns out it’s twice as bad as we thought. New York City Housing Authority officials just revealed the $40 billion estimated in 2017 for the new roofs, pipes and boilers the aging projects need has ballooned to $78 billion.

The Department of Energy on Thursday announced a grant of $118 million in funding for domestic production of biofuels, part of the Biden administration’s emission-reduction goals. Funding was divided between 17 projects, each of which received between $500,000 and $80 million, according to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. The projects are sited in nine states and the District of Columbia, according to the department. They are divided into four categories: emission reduction using ethanol and integrated biorefinery technology in the pre-pilot, pilot and demonstration stages. Biofuels are quickly produced fuels derived from organic material, distinct from fossil fuels both for their...

Share Tweet ... More House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Friday gave an approximately 25-minute floor speech opposing a $1.7 trillion omnibus government funding package, his final show of opposition to the funding bill before its expected passage later that day. “This is a monstrosity. That is one of the most shameful acts I’ve ever seen in his body,” McCarthy said. “The appropriations process has failed the American public, and there’s no greater example of the nail in the coffin of the greatest failure of a one-party rule of the House, the Senate and the presidency.”

The State of California will suffer a $25 billion deficit in 2023-2024, despite enjoying a record-setting $98 billion budget surplus this year, according to new analysis from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office. The new projections, released Wednesday, come just over a week after elections in which Democrats, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), were reelected to every statewide office after a year of lavish public spending. The Legislative Analyst’s Office explained that the deficit could be even worse, if a recession is particularly bad (original emphasis):

Based on recent polling, RealClearPolitics projects Republicans will win the hotly contested gubernatorial races in four states that were once seen as Democrat strongholds: Wisconsin, Oregon, Nevada, and, yes, Michigan. One wonders how the latest polling out of Minnesota — polling that shows Republican Dr. Scott Jensen leading his Democrat opponent Tim Walz, 46.3 to 45.8 percent — will affect that RealClear projection.

President Biden on Thursday slammed Republicans for what he called taking credit for legislation that they opposed during an appearance at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting. “They ain’t got no shame!” Biden said after impersonating some Republican lawmakers touting bills they voted against. “They don’t have any shame!”

(video) In 2020 I became immersed in the marvelous world of quadrupedal robots. Viewing YouTube videos of robots such as SPOT by Boston Dynamics, and the MIT Mini Cheetah has inspired me to make my very own. These cleverly crafted bots are known for their dynamic movements and realistic appearances. Over the past year, I've made it my personal goal to create my very own affordable quadrupedal robot. One that could function similar to the high-end quadrupeds. Here I present ARES, a fully 3D printed 12 DOF robot dog capable of omni directional travel as well as many other maneuvers....

The Department of Energy (DOE) invested $1.1 billion in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects, many of which were unsuccessful or canceled, over the last decade, according to a federal watchdog report.The DOE’s $684 million investment in coal CCS projects resulted in just one operational facility and seven canceled projects, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published in late December. One of three facilities that received a share of the department’s $438 million investment in industrial CCS projects was also nixed.The department ultimately failed to properly evaluate the projects — which use advanced technology to reduce emissions from...

Construction kicked off Tuesday on a 19-story homeless housing project designed to reshape a corner of skid row in the image of more well-to-do environs. The metal-and-glass high-rise will “improve the neighborhood through architecture," Weingart Chief Executive Kevin Murray said in announcing the conceptual plan by Joseph Wong Design Associates in a 2017 interview. AXIS/GFA Architecture + Design is the project architect. “One of the things we asked the architect is we don’t want it to look like a housing project,” Murray, a former state senator, said “We want it to look like one of these other first-class downtown apartments.”...

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) recently released a list of some of the agency's most impactful road and bridge construction projects to drivers for 2021. UDOT will be working on 185 projects across the state in 2021, with a value of $3.45 billion over the life of the projects, many of which span multiple years. Planned improvements range from repaving rural highways and building freeway-style interchanges to widening and repaving interstates and demolishing and rebuilding bridges. The traffic delays from these projects range from overnight lane restrictions to full road closures with major detours. “These projects are an essential...

The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors will likely approve more than $100 million in permanent housing for low-income residents. At their Tuesday meeting, supervisors will consider approving five housing complexes that would total to 566 new units and house roughly 2,100 people. “This is our ‘all in’ program meaning we’re going to make sure we get our homeless community housed, and those who are also in high need of housing,” Chavez said in front of a potential site in Alum Rock on Monday. The funding will come from a 2016 Measure A housing bond passed by voters authorizing the...

A combined $1.3 million will go toward three developments in Bend that will create more than 400 units of affordable housing. Bend City Council this week approved $1.3 million that will go toward three new affordable housing developments. The projects will create more than 400 units of affordable housing in the coming years. Bend remains among Oregon’s fastest-growing cities, which has contributed to a housing shortage in recent years. The city doesn’t have enough available housing, particularly for low- and middle-income people, nor does it have adequate shelter space and transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness. Continued population growth makes...

Republicans are criticizing House Democrats for their newly unveiled coronavirus relief bill, which is packed with funding for projects such as $50 million in “environmental justice grants.” The $3 trillion package revealed Tuesday immediately drew the ire of Republicans, including a tweet from the official Twitter account of the Senate GOP, which accused Democrats of “trying to take advantage of a crisis.” “1,815 pages, 347,144 words, 44,803 paragraphs. It took us over 6 MINUTES just to scroll to the end. Even the media calls it a 'wish list' that will 'never become law.' THIS is what trying to take advantage...

If we're honest with ourselves, there are some things around the house we know we ought to do but we tell ourselves we never have the time. While many of us are under stay-at-home orders, now is the time to handle projects to fight boredom that might have always been put off until "someday when I have the time". Don't come out of this forced staycation wishing you had done some of these because you'll probably never have a better time to do them:

SACRAMENTO — California will open vacant state land to emergency shelters for homeless people under an executive order that Gov. Gavin Newsom intends to sign Wednesday. The order, which Newsom announced ahead of his annual budget plan due this week, would also create a fund to pay rent and build affordable housing for homeless people. The governor will propose to start the fund with $750 million in taxpayer money, which the Legislature would have to approve. With the homeless population surging by double-digit percentages in many cities across the state, and California coming under fire from President Trump for its...

A long-dormant commission charged with planning major road construction opted not to advance any projects after a five-year hiatus that ended Friday. The Transportation Projects Commission met for the first time since 2014 on Friday. The commission is charged with advancing planned highway projects to the Legislature and directing the study of others as part of the Wisconsin Department of Transportation’s Major Highway Development program, typically among some of the biggest in the state. “This committee has been un-functioning for several years and we want to have an opportunity for a good group of people to think through transportation issues...

MARTINSVILLE-How do you build Interstate 73? How would you expand U.S. 220 in either direction? The Virginia Department of Transportation is open for suggestions, for these or any other road projects in the commonwealth. To do that, the department is holding a series of “hack-a-thon” events throughout the commonwealth, setting up one in each region. For Martinsville and Henry County, the regional meeting will be this Friday and Saturday at CoLab Roanoke, 1327 Grandin Road SW. “Data and technology are changing how we do business,” saidVDOT Chief Deputy Commissioner Rob Cary in a statement. “These hackathons are opportunities for innovators...

Design-bid-build may still be the No. 1 project delivery method for U.S. construction, but other processes are rising that could challenge DBB’s stake in how some projects are carried out.One such arrangement, public-private partnerships (P3), is gaining steam with talks from Washington, D.C., about employing the method for President Donald Trump’s $1.3 trillion infrastructure spend. While more states and local entities are successfully turning to P3s to tackle major infrastructure overhauls and new projects, the method still runs up against a perception problem. Some elected officials are hesitant to employ P3s because they don’t want to let a private firm...

The Gintong Pamana Awards Foundation has presented Illinois Tollway Deputy Chief of Program Implementation Clarita Lao with its 2017 Panday Pira Award for Outstanding Achievements in Engineering. The award recognizes “Filipino Americans nationwide whose accomplishments inspire, motivate and sustain others in the Filipino community.” The group recognized Lao for her engineering career accomplishments spanning more than three decades, her leadership and management skills and dedication to engineering excellence. As deputy chief of program implementation, Lao is responsible for providing overall project management and support for multiple engineering projects from inception to completion, including projects that are part of the Tollway’s...