AI-driven power boom will drive demand 38% higher on top US grid
By Naureen S. Malik, Bloomberg News
Electricity demand on the largest U.S. grid is poised to rise so fast thanks to the AI boom that it’ll be the equivalent of installing two New England networks in the coming decade.
Tax season has begun. Here’s when you’ll get your refund
By CORA LEWIS
NEW YORK (AP) — Tax season is underway, and the IRS expects 140 million people will file returns by April 15. The agency has also debuted a new online tool to help taxpayers check the status of any refund they may be entitled to.
Fed hold rates steady, sees inflation as ‘elevated,’ as Powell declines comment on Trump
By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday after cutting it three times in a row last year, a sign of a more cautious approach as the Fed seeks to gauge where inflation is headed and what policies President Donald Trump may pursue.
In a statement, the Fed said the job market is “solid,” and noted that the unemployment rate “has stabilized at a low level in recent months.” The Fed also appeared to toughen its assessment of inflation, saying that it “remains somewhat elevated.” Both a healthier job market and more stubborn inflation typically would imply fewer Fed rate cuts in the coming months.
In a news conference Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell largely deflected questions about recent comments from President Trump, including one from last week, when Trump said he would lower oil prices and then “demand” lower rates. He also said he would speak with Powell about it.
Nominations open for Orlando Sentinel 2025 Top Workplaces
Nominations are now open for the Orlando Sentinel’s 2025 Top Workplaces program, which seeks to identify and recognize Central Florida’s top companies and what employees say makes them great places to work.
Any company, nonprofit, public organization or government agency with 35 or more employees in Orange, Seminole, Osceola, Lake, Sumter, Polk, Brevard, Volusia, Flagler or Marion counties may participate in Top Workplaces. Participation is free, and there is no obligation to purchase any product or service.
Company owners or workers may nominate themselves at OrlandoSentinel.com/nominate or by calling 407-428-2696. The deadline for entries is March 7, and winners will be announced in the fall.
The Top Workplaces process involves having employees evaluate their companies with a short, 25-question survey. Companies will be surveyed through mid-May.
For the seventh consecutive year, the Sentinel is partnering with Energage as the program’s survey firm.
Pennsylvania-based Energaged conducts Top Workplaces surveys for media in 65 markets nationwide and surveyed more than 2 million employees at more than 8,000
organizations in the past year.
Elon Musk says Trump calls on SpaceX to bring Starliner astronauts home ASAP
SpaceX’s delay in getting its new Crew Dragon spacecraft to fly to the International Space Station has meant a longer stay on board for the pair of NASA astronauts that flew up on Boeing’s Starliner last summer but were left behind when it flew home without crew because of safety concerns.
Now, Elon Musk has said President Trump has asked SpaceX to bring home Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams “as soon as possible,” according to a post on X Musk made on Tuesday.
“We will do so. Terrible that the Biden administration left them there so long,” Musk posted.
Already Williams and Wilmore were assigned to come home with SpaceX instead as part of the Crew-9 mission’s return flight.
Boeing Starliner astronauts remain busy on ISS, but ‘eventually we want to go home’
The Crew-10 mission that was supposed to fly up in February to relieve Crew-9 on board, though, has been delayed by at least a month as SpaceX’s new fifth Crew Dragon spacecraft was not yet ready to fly, according to both SpaceX and NASA officials.