Texas mayor who told residents ‘no one owes you’ amid winter blast says wife got fired: report

Winter storm cripples Texas green energy grid

Center for Industrial Progress founder Alex Epstein discusses how the reliability of renewable energy was tested in Texas.

The mayor of Colorado, Texas, who made headlines after telling residents “no one owes you or your family anything” during a winter blast, resigned from his post on Wednesday due to backlash over the comments.

David Hoover, the Colorado City manager, told NBC News that Tim Boyd had stepped down from his position. Boyd posted earlier that he was “sick and tired” of people looking for handouts. He also wrote that “Only the strong will survive and the weak will parish [sic].”

The Dallas Morning News reported that Boyd said he wrote the Facebook message as a private citizen, not the mayor of Colorado City. CBS DFW reported that he said his wife was “fired” after the comments.

Weather-related outages have been particularly stubborn in Oregon, where some customers have been without power for almost a week.

The worst U.S. outages by far have been in Texas, where 3 million homes and businesses remained without power as of midday Wednesday. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report

Stamps.com Q4 Results Climb, Warns On FY21, Sees Higher Expenses; Stock Down

Shares of Stamps.com (STMP) were losing around 9 percent in the extended trading on Wednesday after the provider of postage online and shipping software warned that there is substantial uncertainty in 2021, despite reporting strong fourth-quarter results. The company also projects higher operating expenses.

The fourth-quarter net income was $46.5 million, up 129 percent from last year’s $20.3 million. Earnings per share were $2.36, 108 percent higher than last year’s $1.13.

Adjusted income per share was $4.13, compared to $2.12 a year ago.Adjusted EBITDA was $74.0 million, up 44 percent from prior year’s $51.4 million.

Total revenue climbed 28 percent to $206 million from $160.9 million last year. Total Paid Customers for the fourth quarter was 1.02 million, up 266 thousand from the previous year.

Looking ahead, the company said it is not providing specific earnings guidance for fiscal 2021 this time as there is substantial uncertainty from the myriad of macroeconomic factors associated with the ongoing pandemic, and the resulting effect on global e-commerce.

The company said it plans to continue to invest in global technology platforms and would expect operating expenses in 2021 to increase as much as 20 percent or more, reflecting annualization of investments made during 2020 as well as additional investments expected in 2021.

Stamps.com shares closed Wednesday’s trading at $260.88, down 4.8 percent. In the after hours trading, shares fell 9.5 percent to $236.

Cigar Mag’s Tribute To Rush Limbaugh Leaves Out 1 Very Inconvenient Detail

Cigar Aficionado magazine paid tribute to right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh, who died Wednesday at the age of 70. 

But it left out one key detail about the longtime smoker. 

The tweet called Limbaugh “a giant among cigar smokers,” and the story spoke of his love of attending cigar events as well as his relationship with Editor-in-Chief Marvin Shanken, who recalled dinners in a “smoke-filled-room” and their time together on the golf course.

“I can’t count the number of cigars we smoked together, just the two of us,” Shanken wrote.  

The magazine made no mention of Limbaugh’s cause of death: lung cancer, a disease often caused by smoking, including cigar smoking. 

Twitter users lit into the magazine for the omission: 

White House ramps up effort to tackle automotive chip shortage

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Top economic and national security officials in the White House have launched a new effort to help the U.S. auto industry fight a growing shortage of semiconductor chips that has forced production cuts worldwide, a White House official said.

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The administration of President Joe Biden has held meetings with automotive companies and suppliers to identify chokepoints and urged companies to work cooperatively to tackle the shortage, the official said on Wednesday.

The White House has also tasked U.S. embassies to identify how foreign countries and companies that produce chips can help resolve the global shortage.

US SENATORS URGE WHITE HOUSE ACTION ON AUTO CHIP SHORTAGE

The effort includes outreach to Taiwan, home of key chip maker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), to find ways to resolve the shortage.

In a Feb. 17 letter, Biden's top economic adviser Brian Deese thanked Taiwan's Economic Affairs Minister Wang Mei-hua for working to help to resolve the shortage in coordination with the island's manufacturers.

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(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

Tesla reduces price of base variant of Model 3 and Model Y

(Reuters) – Tesla reduced the price of its base models of Model 3 and Model Y cars, according to the company’s website.

Tesla lowered the prices of its Model 3 Standard Range Plus to $36,990 and Model Y Standard Range Plus to $39,990.