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<keyword id="19941210" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Kangana-Ranaut" source="keywords">Kangana Ranaut</keyword>’s much-anticipated film Emergency, a biographical drama centered on former Prime Minister <keyword id="19913949" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indira-Gandhi" source="keywords">Indira Gandhi</keyword>, has been delayed due to a certification battle with the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Initially slated for a September 6 release, the film has faced hurdles as the CBFC's revising committee suggested certain cuts before issuing a certificate. The <keyword id="19905533" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bombay-High-Court" source="keywords" meta.keywordsubtype="org" meta.entityname="Bombay High Court" meta.hostid="261" meta.entityid="Bombay High Court">Bombay High Court</keyword> is now involved, with further hearings scheduled, raising questions about when the film will finally hit theatres. <h2>The battle for certification</h2>On Thursday, the CBFC told the Bombay High Court that a certificate would be issued to Emergency only if the recommended cuts were made. Ranaut, who directed, co-produced, and stars as Indira Gandhi in the film, had accused the CBFC of intentionally delaying the film's release by withholding certification. She suggested that the delay was politically motivated, especially given the upcoming elections in states like Haryana. The film's co-producer, <keyword id="20068359" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zee-Entertainment" source="keywords">Zee Entertainment</keyword> Enterprises, took the matter to court, seeking a directive for the CBFC to issue the required certificate. The division bench of Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla expressed frustration with the CBFC’s indecision. In a previous hearing, the court had remarked that the censor board cannot sit on a fence and has to take its decision one way or the other as it would otherwise amount to curtailing the freedom of speech and expression. In response to the court’s directive, CBFC’s counsel Abhinav Chandrachud explained, “The committee has suggested some cuts before a certificate can be issued and the movie can be released.” Senior counsel Sharan Jagtiani, representing Zee Entertainment, requested more time to decide whether these cuts could be accepted, with the court now awaiting a final decision in the next hearing scheduled for September 30. The delay in certification stems partly from objections raised by some <keyword id="23262146" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Sikh-organisations" source="keywords">Sikh organisations</keyword>, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, accusing the film of misrepresenting their community and historical facts. This controversy has only added to the uncertainty surrounding the film’s release, as sensitive portrayals of political and historical events often attract close scrutiny in India. <h2><keyword id="23323607" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="political-motivations" source="keywords">Political motivations</keyword></h2>The controversy has led to speculation about political motivations, with Zee Entertainment alleging that the certificate was being withheld due to the upcoming elections in Haryana. This claim has raised eyebrows, given that Kangana Ranaut has been a vocal supporter of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and is herself a BJP MP. The court even wondered aloud why the ruling party would take issue with the film. Emergency was expected to be a major release, particularly due to its portrayal of one of the most significant and controversial periods in Indian political history — the 1975-1977 Emergency imposed by then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. However, the film’s release is now dependent on the outcome of the ongoing court proceedings and whether Kangana Ranaut and Zee Entertainment are willing to comply with the CBFC’s suggested edits. The CBFC’s recommended cuts have not been publicly disclosed, leaving many wondering what specific elements of the film are in dispute. With the next court hearing scheduled for September 30, it remains to be seen whether Emergency will make its way to theatres soon or face further delays. (With inputs from PTI)

What will it take for Kangana Ranaut’s 'Emergency' to finally hit theatres?

<ul class="summary-list"><li>An IT outage is causing global chaos, with reports that 911 services are down across several US states.</li><li>The Alaska State Troopers confirmed that 911 services are down due to a "nationwide" outage. </li></ul>Emergency lines have gone down in several US states <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/major-disruptions-airline-bank-london-stock-exchange-microsoft-outage-2024-7">after a massive IT outage</a> sparked chaos across the globe.Major airlines, banks, and retailers are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mass-it-outage-companies-operations-airlines-affected-microsoft-crowdstrike-2024-7">experiencing widespread disruptions</a> after Microsoft reported problems with its online services, linked to an issue at cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.The Alaska State Troopers service <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.facebook.com/AlaskaStateTroopersOfficial/posts/pfbid022K5MYDVWd8fKxJqbYVCm9sKz1UTCd2SB4T9z5s7tRA3ZP5cPupbg4TU6Ev4bxi5Ul?locale=en_GB">confirmed in a post on Facebook</a> that 911 and non-emergency call services were down across the state due to the "nationwide" outage, with emergency services in New Hampshire and Ohio posting similar messages."Due to a nationwide technology-related outage, many 911 and non-emergency call centers are not working correctly across the State of Alaska," the police force wrote in a Facebook post.It is unclear how widespread the outage is. Emergency services in other states also took to social media to warn of issues with 911 services.The Office of Emergency Management for the city of Nashua, New Hampshire, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.facebook.com/NashuaOEM/posts/pfbid02CP8ZLrB7hrNjPrhixpuddgaGnEmEuD5w919asZbBMoxXEow11AXgeGLJpC9T5mUsl?locale=en_GB">posted on Facebook</a> that "statewide 911 is down," while an X account for the Middletown Division of Police in Ohio wrote that they were <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/MPDOhio/status/1814185068153147489">experiencing a phone outage</a> "that includes 911."A spokesperson for the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates 911 communications, said the agency was aware of reports of 911 outages."The FCC is aware of reports of a systems outage that is causing disruptions in service, including 9-1-1. We're closely working with other federal agencies to provide assistance and determine the extent of these service disruptions," they said.Business Insider did not receive a response to a request for comment from the Alaska State Troopers, the New Hampshire Office of Emergency Management, and the Ohio State Police, which were sent outside of working hours.Details are still emerging about the scale of the global IT outage. The disruption has already impacted airlines, banks, and grocery stores worldwide.American Airlines, Delta Airlines, and United Airlines are among the airlines that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/major-disruptions-airline-bank-london-stock-exchange-microsoft-outage-2024-7">have issued ground stops</a> for their aircraft due to communication issues.Budget airline Frontier Airlines wrote on X on Thursday that its services were being impacted by a "major Microsoft technical outage."Early Friday, it said that the ground stop had been lifted, its systems were "gradually normalizing," and it was in the process of resuming flight operations.

Emergency services say 911 lines are down in several states as a mass IT outage causes havoc

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Electricity and labor headwinds slow Amazon's data center buildout.</li><li>The company's predicament highlights challenges faced by the broader cloud industry.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-big-tech-cash-king-wall-street-wants-a-piece-2024-10">Amazon</a> is spending heavily on <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">data centers</a> to support booming <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ai-sales-machine-aws-google-microsoft-pressure-pay-speed-2024-9">AI</a> workloads, putting it on pace to build 240 new facilities by 2040, according to one estimate.These plans are increasingly running into physical constraints that are slowing the buildout, according to an internal document, people familiar with the matter, and emails obtained through a public-records request."Across the AMER region, we are experiencing headwinds in power, zoning and permitting, water, and workforce/labor that are providing challenges to our long-term capacity growth," the internal document stated, referring to the Americas market, Amazon's largest.As the biggest cloud provider, Amazon's predicament highlights broader <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-energy-centers-water-energy-land-2023-10">problems</a> facing the tech industry as generative <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-ai-sales-machine-aws-google-microsoft-pressure-pay-speed-2024-9">AI</a> upends the status quo. While more companies want access to cloud computing for AI initiatives, there's only so much power, water, and labor available to support these services.It's not just an Amazon problem. Sequoia Capital general partner David Cahn recently predicted data center delays across the sector."The need for more power and a better functioning grid was clear before AI," he wrote in a blog post. "Now, it is becoming urgent."<h2 id="4e19455f-0a20-458d-a775-e305cc9aed23">Energy demand is growing</h2>It may be natural for a company like Amazon, one of the largest and fastest-growing data center operators, to face these challenges when it is expanding at breakneck speed.Marc Wulfraat, president of consulting firm MWPVL, told BI that Amazon is probably rolling out even more than 240 data centers in coming years. That's because the cloud giant also leases space in buildings shared with other companies. Collectively, this building spree amounts to almost 75 million gross square feet of space, according to his estimates. That's the equivalent of roughly 27 Empire State Buildings.In an email to BI, Amazon's spokesperson said customers' energy demand "continues to grow," and the company is continuously working on ways to "efficiently build and operate data centers" to meet their needs."Nobody knows better than we do that building data centers is exceptionally complex, and by embracing that challenge, we've become really good at it over the years," the spokesperson added. "We're confident we can continue to build at a rapid pace to provide the cloud capacity our customers will need."<h2 id="3ffef594-735b-4945-a7b0-176832400209">Doubts about electricity supply</h2>Power might be the most scarce resource. US data center electricity consumption is forecast to triple by 2030, according to <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/bcg-on-energy_the-impact-of-genai-in-electricity-activity-7112787574032674816-uDEX/">Boston Consulting Group</a>, much of it to power generative AI. Bernstein Research recently <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-centers-us-power-grid-gpu-nvidia-cerebras-amazon-2024-7">estimated</a> that electricity demand for AI data centers could exceed supply in just two years without action.At Amazon, electricity shortages have been a major concern and a topic of almost every leadership meeting in recent years, according to the people familiar with the matter.Amazon is experiencing power-supply issues in Oregon, Ohio, and Northern Virginia, according to the internal document from May. For example, it noted that PacifiCorp, Amazon's Portland-based utility partner, has electricity shortfalls and generation constraints forecasted until 2030.This is leaving Amazon with unpredictable energy supply in some markets and a possible loss of "bridging" solutions that help maintain power during the early stages of construction."With the utility power headwind, we are seeing continued risk driven by transmission constraints as well as unexpected changes to committed/available generation, gaps in promised vs delivered incremental power, and potential loss of bridging power as utility infrastructure projects are delayed," the document explained.<h2 id="e085ef5b-5190-4456-935c-6cab05b23795">'Zombie' data centers</h2>In some markets, so-called "zombie" data centers exist. That's a term used by some Amazon employees who spoke with Business Insider about the electricity-supply problems.These facilities are also described internally as "operationally blocked" because the data centers can sometimes sit idle as they don't have access to enough power to run them, according to the people familiar with the matter.Amazon's spokesperson told BI the company is not familiar with these terms, but said there are a "very small number of cases" where the company decides to complete data center construction before building power is available. "These situations are all managed as part of the standard course of business," the spokesperson added.<div type="image" title="AWS CEO Matt Garman" height="4320" width="6751" msid="114502575" hostid="261" sizebytes="742626"></div>Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman recently spoke publicly about challenges related to AI data center buildouts, including accessing enough GPUs and power.During a podcast interview in August, he said customer demand is "mind boggling," which is requiring "a lot of investment.""We're probably going to be tight for the next little bit of time," Garman added.<h2 id="d47a3f17-b6c1-4c0c-91d9-5918b3a4761f">'Mosquitoes to light'</h2>The company is on the hunt for more energy. It's conducting "power studies" with utility partners to evaluate additional transmission capacity, which could result in more power allocation, according to the internal document.The company is also working on ways to reclaim stranded and retired power, the document said, likely in reference to the practice of redeveloping old power plants that have become inactive for economic or sustainability reasons.Amazon has been more actively seeking partnership opportunities with third-party colocation data center providers, one of the people said. At these facilities, Amazon would simply lease space, transferring the need to secure power to the data centers' owners.Additionally, Amazon has started looking beyond well-established data center markets, such as Northern Virginia and Arizona, and is expanding into newer regions like Indiana. Crowded data center regions are running out of power and other resources, making newer locations <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/ai-data-centers-energy-cloud-microsoft-chatpgt-amazon-google-2023-7">more appealing</a>.The company is also more aggressively pursuing alternative energy sources. Last week, Amazon <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-invests-in-nuclear-for-aws-following-google-and-microsoft-2024-10">unveiled</a> a plan to lead a $500 million funding round to develop small modular nuclear reactors, following an earlier announcement to purchase a nuclear power plant in rural Pennsylvania."It's almost like mosquitoes to light — we are attracted to power," one of the people familiar told BI.Amazon's spokesperson said the company's data center expansion strategy considers several factors, including system resiliency and latency, the availability of renewable energy, and the local government's long-term commitment. Amazon is also constantly seeking ways to make its data centers more energy efficient by using carbon-free resources, in-house processors, and natural air cooling systems, the spokesperson said.<h2 id="82c2fbef-48d1-4af8-8635-cf74ee12697d">Higher costs in Silicon Valley</h2>In some cases, Amazon is paying higher prices to get its new data centers up and running.One example is an Amazon facility in Santa Clara, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. For the last 2 years, Amazon has held talks with the city of Santa Clara to secure power for a new data center located near Levi's Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers, according to a <a target="_blank" href="https://santaclara.granicus.com/player/clip/2140?view_id=1&amp;meta_id=190407&amp;redirect=true">city council meeting</a> held in July.Amazon is in talks for a 15-year, 20-megawatt proposal for this facility under the condition that the company pays the full cost of the energy, whether it uses the power or not, Manuel Pineda, the chief electric utility officer of the City of Santa Clara, said during the meeting. Amazon will have to pay up to 50% higher rates than normal and will be entitled to additional "financial assurances" to cover any contractual risks, Pineda added.As part of the deal, Amazon also plans to use the 20-megawatt power agreement for a second building on-site, which currently has no electric capacity, according to Pineda.Amazon's spokesperson told BI that this arrangement has not been finalized, and the project is progressing as expected.<div type="image" title="AWS Santa Clara data center planning slide" height="586" width="1056" msid="114502585" hostid="261" sizebytes="101810"></div><h2 id="5e7acce5-2a9c-4e0c-873a-74b683e1b0a3">Amazon escalates Santa Clara delays</h2>Amazon appears to be dealing with further delays in Santa Clara. On August 28, an AWS employee wrote to a city official about another facility, a former Owens Corning factory the company purchased in 2023. The email discussed delays at the site and noted that the problems are raising concerns internally at Amazon."Delays as significant as this unfortunately impact our ability to serve our customers which has resulted in escalation," said the email, which was obtained by BI through a public-records request.The next day, another Amazon employee wrote to a Santa Clara city official. "This is time sensitive," the staffer said. "AWS executives are highly concerned about the constant push in the results."<h2 id="a5ae3cc3-4484-42c7-a232-b1135b2bd3e0">'Straining' water infrastructure</h2>Another problem is water supply. A growing number of data centers rely on water instead of air to cool the servers and other equipment inside the facilities. This liquid-cooling technology <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/arizona-running-out-of-water-data-centers-blame-microsoft-google-2023-6">requires a lot of water</a>.Amazon is "straining local jurisdictions' existing infrastructure" for water in some regions and is "dependent on long-term infrastructure upgrades or building our own solutions" to mitigate the issue, the internal document stated.There are zoning and permitting problems, too. Some local jurisdictions are not supporting the re-zoning of industrial property for data center use and have stricter environmental regulations, the document explained. Amazon is "working proactively" with local municipalities to solve these challenges, as they can impact its "future capacity options," the document added.Amazon is "one of the world's most water efficient operators" and its data centers are much more water efficient than the industry average, the company's spokesperson told BI.<h2 id="74b62895-25bd-411f-8890-035613989c55">'Lack of available skilled labor'</h2>An even bigger problem may be a lack of skilled electricians to build and run these data centers, according to the internal document and people directly involved in these Amazon projects.Electrical work is a major part of data center construction. But Amazon has struggled to find enough people to do the jobs, especially in rural areas, these people said. Amazon has talked to local colleges, general contractors, and labor unions in certain markets to increase the supply of electricians, one of the people said.<div type="image" title="amazon data center oregon" height="3072" width="4608" msid="114502582" hostid="261" sizebytes="883326"></div>A <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/27/americas-demand-skilled-electricians-boom.html">shortage of skilled electricians</a> is a growing industry problem. According to last year's <a target="_blank" href="https://datacenter.uptimeinstitute.com/rs/711-RIA-145/images/2023StaffingSurvey.Report.12152023.pdf">Uptime Institute Data Center Staffing Survey</a>, more than half of respondents said they struggled to fill open positions due to demand outstripping supply."For workforce/labor, we are seeing a lack of available skilled labor," Amazon's internal document stated. "Which requires us to prioritize where we allocate these resources, and we are becoming increasingly reliant on more expensive travelling [primarily] electricians."Amazon's spokesperson shared <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/workplace/our-upskilling-2025-programs">blog posts</a> detailing its <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/government-education/workforce-development/aws-fiber-optic-fusion-splicing/">training programs</a> in this space, adding, "AWS has established a number of workforce development programs and collaborations with education institutions to help ensure a strong pipeline of talent."Do you work at Amazon? Got a tip?Contact the reporter, Eugene Kim, via the encrypted-messaging apps Signal or Telegram (<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" class="c-link">+1-650-942-3061</a>) or email (<a target="_blank" href="mailto:ekim@businessinsider.com">ekim@businessinsider.com</a>). Reach out using a nonwork device. Check out Business Insider's <a target="_blank" rel="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/insider-guide-to-securely-sharing-whistleblower-information-about-powerful-institutions-2021-10">source guide</a> for other tips on sharing information securely.

Amazon's AI data center dream runs into the reality of 'zombie' facilities, higher costs, and labor shortages 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Fires at DHL warehouses this year may have been part of Russian sabotage operations, officials have said.</li><li>The Kremlin is suspected of ramping up hybrid attacks on Europe in recent months.</li></ul><a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spy-chief-warns-suspected-sabotage-nearly-caused-plane-crash-2024-10">Suspected Russian sabotage activities</a> targeting the air freight industry have been on the rise this year, and the industry is preparing for further action.Brandon Fried, the executive director of the Airforwarders Association, which represents US air cargo companies, told Business Insider that the industry had been on high alert since 9/11."So regardless of who is perpetrating this, whether it's another country or whether it's a terrorist organization, our industry has been vigilant for quite some time," he said, referencing two fires at DHL warehouses earlier this year that have been linked to Russia."They want to cause fear and panic, but we, as a community, are not going to let them. One of our overriding messages is that we're vigilant," Fried said.Western officials have said the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/spy-chief-warns-suspected-sabotage-nearly-caused-plane-crash-2024-10">fires, which took place at two DHL sites in the UK and Germany</a> in July, may have been part of Russian sabotage operations that ultimately aimed to target North America, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.wsj.com/world/russia-plot-us-planes-incendiary-devices-de3b8c0a">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported earlier this week.One package caught fire before being loaded onto a plane at a DHL freight center in Leipzig, eastern Germany, while a similar incident took place at a DHL warehouse in Birmingham in the UK.Thomas Haldenwang, the president of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, said in October that it was a "lucky coincidence" that the package in Leipzig caught fire on the ground and not during the flight.Haldenwang did not explicitly blame Moscow, but the German news agency DPA reported that security services were working on the assumption that the attack was connected to Russia, per the <a target="_blank" rel=" nofollow" class="" href="https://www.ft.com/content/b83353a7-bdf0-486b-8f12-d2834261d44f">Financial Times</a>.A police spokesperson told BI that counterterrorism officers were leading an investigation into the Birmingham incident and working to identify any links to similar incidents across the continent.The Wall Street Journal report said the fires were caused by electric massagers implanted with a magnesium-based flammable substance.The devices that ignited in the UK were traced to Lithuania, where officials say they appear to have been part of a wider Russian plot to get such devices on planes to North America, the Journal reported.Frank Umbach, a research director at the European Cluster for Climate, Energy, and Resource Security at the University of Bonn, said that Russian hybrid warfare had escalated from spying on critical infrastructure to active sabotage across the whole of Europe."Hybrid warfare has intensified here in Europe, particularly against Germany," Umbach said, adding that there was concern that German intelligence services had been "heavily penetrated" by Russian agents.Moscow has already been linked to a number of <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russian-sabotage-germany-factory-weapons-car-parts-ukraine-diehl-2024-6">sabotage incidents</a> in Europe this year, including arson attempts and a reported plan to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-planned-to-assassinate-german-arms-firm-ceo-report-2024-7">kill the CEO of the German arms firm Rheinmetall, </a>which has made munitions and military equipment for Ukraine.Russia is suspected of using <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.occrp.org/en/investigation/make-a-molotov-cocktail-how-europeans-are-recruited-through-telegram-to-commit-sabotage-arson-and-murder">social media platforms such as Telegram</a> to recruit proxies to carry out such activities.Speaking a few months after the DHL fires, the chief of the UK's MI6 intelligence service, Richard Moore, said he believed Russian intelligence services had "gone a bit feral."And experts think it's unlikely such incidents will stop any time soon.Shashank Joshi, a former senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute who is now the defense editor at The Economist, told BI that he believed the suspected Russian sabotage operations were part of a "pretty broad-brush campaign" that could see the Kremlin target any EU or NATO member."I don't think that anyone is particularly immune as such," Joshi said.A spokesperson for Germany's Military Counterintelligence Service, known as BAMAD, said that the German military and NATO forces in Germany "continue to be a priority target for Russian espionage activities."Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied Russia's involvement in sabotage operations in Europe.The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany's domestic intelligence services, and the BND declined to comment further.<div type="image" title="The RT logo at the company's headquarters in Moscow." height="683" width="1024" msid="115082510" hostid="261" sizebytes="75584"></div>Western officials say Moscow has also launched <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/news/russia-behind-cyber-attack-with-europe-wide-impact-hour-before-ukraine-invasion">cyberattacks</a> and sought to <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.state.gov/disarming-disinformation/">spread disinformation</a> as part of its alleged sabotage operations.Russian state media sites like RT have already faced sanctions in the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.state.gov/alerting-the-world-to-rts-global-covert-activities/">US</a> and the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/03/02/eu-imposes-sanctions-on-state-owned-outlets-rtrussia-today-and-sputnik-s-broadcasting-in-the-eu/">EU</a> over allegations of disinformation.Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia Program, said that Russian disinformation campaigns, espionage operations, and sabotage attempts were "intimately interlinked.""Objectives in the information domain can be served by kinetic actions and vice versa," Giles said. "The information component of warfare is seen as an integral part and interdependent with all of the other activities that Russia is undertaking.""That's something that's played out very clearly in Russia's war on Ukraine after the full-scale invasion," he added.

The air freight industry is on high alert after fires at DHL warehouses were linked to Russian sabotage operations

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Data centers and large commercial buildings waste a lot of heat.</li><li>The utility Con Edison plans to capture the heat to help power underground thermal energy networks.</li></ul>Less than a block from the bustling Chelsea Market on the west side of Manhattan, data centers hum 24 hours a day in a nondescript building.All that computing power generates an enormous amount of heat, which has to be removed to keep the equipment cool and prevent outages. That heat becomes wasted energy when it's vented out the roof.All that computing power generates an enormous amount of heat, which has to be removed to keep the equipment cool and prevent outages. That heat becomes wasted energy when it's vented out the roof.The utility Con Edison wants to capture the heat and pipe it to a nearby affordable-housing complex, in a system known as a thermal energy network. A closed-loop network of water pipes and electric heat pumps circulates energy through buildings, creating an efficient heating and cooling system that avoids burning fossil fuels in residents' homes.The pilot could be one of three that ConEd builds in and around New York City to test a cleaner way of delivering energy to customers. The proposals are in the design phase and likely won't be fully approved by regulators until late 2025, Gregory Koumoullos, ConEd's department manager of thermal energy networks, said. But the intention is to eventually scale the networks to help New York achieve its climate goals, because burning fossil fuels in buildings accounts for 32% of the state's greenhouse-gas emissions — the largest single source.The pilot could be one of three that ConEd builds in and around New York City to test a cleaner way of delivering energy to customers. The proposals are in the design phase and likely won't be fully approved by regulators until late 2025, Gregory Koumoullos, ConEd's department manager of thermal energy networks, said. But the intention is to scale up the networks to help New York achieve its climate goals, because burning fossil fuels in buildings accounts for 32% of the state's greenhouse-gas emissions — the largest single source.If the pilots go well, they could prove a business model for other gas utilities to follow to decarbonize entire neighborhoods, and potentially lower energy bills along the way."These pilots are just the first phase," Koumoullos said. "The larger the network you have, the lower the cost is because you can connect more customers with less infrastructure and they are sharing more waste heat. Thermal networks really bloom at a larger scale."The technology isn't new. But ConEd is among the first utilities in the country to propose thermal energy networks after New York enacted a law two years ago requiring the utility to try it. Six other states, including Colorado and Massachusetts, have enacted similar laws either allowing or mandating pilots. Gas utilities have legal mandates to sell gas, so states have to pass laws allowing them to expand into new systems.In Framingham, Massachusetts, the utility Eversource is leading the way. The utility already connected dozens of residential and commercial buildings to a geothermal network for a two-year pilot, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wbur.org/news/2024/03/08/networked-geothermal-eversource-framingham-pilot-project-decarbonization">WBUR reported</a>. The project involved drilling boreholes hundreds of feet below ground, where the temperature is usually a constant 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Water pipes are connected to ground-source electric heat pumps in buildings, which exchange and push energy around the system.ConEd is proposing its own geothermal network for Mount Vernon, a suburban neighborhood north of New York City where up to 76 buildings, including homes, apartment complexes, churches, and fire stations, could be hooked up. But drilling boreholes isn't always feasible in densely packed cities, which is why capturing waste heat from data centers and other buildings is being tested. Rockefeller Center in NYC is the other proposed site.<h2 id="7f12dc53-e013-48cb-ae17-f381e823311d">High upfront costs, but long-term benefits</h2>Retrofitting buildings and laying new pipes is expensive. The estimated price tag of all three pilots combined is $255 million, which would be spread across ConEd's customer base, Koumoullos said. For those participating in the pilots, ConEd would guarantee that energy costs won't go up during a 5-year test period. The utility is also looking at tax breaks under the Inflation Reduction Act to offset the cost to customers. ConEd would use the pilots to find out the actual costs of building thermal energy systems and test different ways to charge customers.The high up-front costs are a barrier to wider adoption. But climate advocates point out that an increasing amount of money is also being spent on replacing old gas lines every year. Between 2011 and 2022, gas utilities' capital expenditures on distribution infrastructure tripled from $7 billion a year to nearly $21 billion, according to a report by HEET, <a target="_blank" href="https://assets-global.website-files.com/649aeb5aaa8188e00cea66bb/663a27270c0fa4fffcfe447d_Leaked-and-Combusted-May-2024.pdf">a climate-solutions nonprofit</a> that spearheaded the push for thermal energy networks.Whether utility-scale projects can recoup the upfront costs in energy savings remains to be seen. That was the case at Colorado Mesa University, which built a geothermal network in 2008. Kent Marsh, the university's vice president for capital planning sustainability and campus operations, said switching to geothermal saved $1.5 million a year. The system paid for itself within about 11 years.Morgan Hood, the manager of new product development at Vermont Gas, told Business Insider that some utilities are looking for new business models. Vermont Gas aims to be net zero by 2050, so is considering community geothermal as a way to get there. Hood helped launch the Utility Networked Geothermal Collaborative, which now includes 27 gas utilities in North America that serve about half the customers in the US, so they can keep tabs on pilot projects and share information."All eyes are on New York, in large part because it will show how these systems can be regulated within a utility environment," she said.

How New York City's data centers and Rockefeller Center could help power a climate solution.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Baltimore bridge collapse is indicative of the country's struggling infrastructure.</li><li>Approaches to the bridge's rebuilding could help improve other construction projects.</li></ul>A key feature is missing over the Patapsco River in Baltimore. The water still glistens, and cargo ships still pass by on their way in and out of the port. But the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/doj-lawsuit-baltimore-francis-scott-key-bridge-ship-crash-2024-9">Francis Scott Key Bridge</a>, which had spanned the river since 1977, is no longer there.In March, a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-we-know-dali-francis-scott-crash-collapse-maryland-bridge-2024-3">container ship</a> crashed into one of the bridge's piers. The bridge <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/francis-scott-key-bridge-no-chance-against-large-impact-experts-2024-3">collapsed</a>, killing six people. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-bridge-collapse-response-timing-mayday-call-saved-lives-2024-3">Rescue efforts</a> began immediately, and local authorities sprang into action to keep commerce and traffic flowing.Now, six months out, the conversation has shifted from <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/wes-moore-interview-baltimore-port-key-bridge-collapse-supply-chains-2024-4">recovery</a> to rebuilding. The Maryland Transportation Authority board <a target="_blank" href="https://mdta.maryland.gov/blog-category/mdta-news-releases/mdta-board-approves-progressive-design-build-contract-francis">approved a $73 million phase-one contract</a> with Kiewit Infrastructure West Co., a firm with a long history of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.kiewit.com/markets/transportation/bridges/">bridge projects</a>. The rebuild is expected to begin next year, with the replacement bridge scheduled to open in fall 2028.James Harkness, the chief engineer for the Maryland Transportation Authority, told Business Insider the phase-one contract was one of the biggest milestones to date on the bridge-rebuilding project."We are beginning to meet the new team, get acquainted, and start design concepts in earnest," Harkness said.As the project gets underway, insights are emerging on how to reconstruct the Francis Scott Key Bridge to best future-proof the roadway for supporting local transportation and global supply chains. Baltimore project teams could draw from US bridge projects in the recent past and consider new risks in today's society.<h2 id="fcb7f918-af82-424b-8798-edfb2bc63ccf">Lessons from bridge to bridge</h2>Baltimore and other bridge tragedies over the years have raised alarms on infrastructure nationwide. For decades, "our nation has sunk into <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/baltimore-bridge-fracture-critical-vulnerable-collapse-2024-3">ignoring the status of its bridges</a>," with maintenance falling by the wayside, said Barry LePatner, a construction attorney, the founder of LePatner &amp; Associates, and the author of "Too Big to Fall: America's Failing Infrastructure and the Way Forward."In its 2021 Report Card for America's Infrastructure, the American Society of Civil Engineers said that about 46,000 of the country's bridges, or 7.5%, were in <a target="_blank" href="https://infrastructurereportcard.org/cat-item/bridges-infrastructure/">poor condition</a> and that 42% of bridges were at least 50 years old.The impact of deteriorating infrastructure extends beyond the initial damage from a collapse, reverberating to surrounding communities. In Baltimore, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-fedex-deliveries-baltimore-could-be-impacted-by-bridge-collapse-2024-3">businesses on either side of the bridge took a hit</a> as traffic was redirected to the city's tunnels and other roads.<div type="image" title="Police car blocking off an entrance to the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland." height="2187" width="3281" msid="113607063" hostid="261" sizebytes="590462"></div>"If there's a diner on either side of the bridge that collapsed, those diners don't have any business," LePatner said, adding that local businesses and communities could face millions of dollars in "economic harm," depending on how long repairs and reconstruction took.The Baltimore bridge collapse reminded many in the industry of a 1980 tragedy in Tampa, Florida, where a freighter struck the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.tampabay.com/news/pinellas/2024/03/28/sunshine-skyway-baltimore-bridge-collapse-dolphins-barriers/">Sunshine Skyway Bridge</a>, causing it to collapse. The incident prompted US government officials to publish requirements for new structures in the 1990s, including the addition of fenders to help bridges withstand a ship collision. But older bridges were grandfathered in."There are many changes since the late '60s, early '70s when Key Bridge was permitted and designed, so we're going to be meeting or exceeding all of the current standards for the new bridge," Harkness said.The Federal Highway Administration classified the Baltimore bridge, along with thousands of others in the US, as "fracture-critical." This term describes bridges with nonredundant components or connections, meaning the structures rely on individual parts to support them."That means if one piece breaks, the entire bridge goes down," LePatner said.LePatner pointed to the Governor Mario M. Cuomo Bridge as a standout example, which replaced the Tappan Zee Bridge, north of New York City, in 2018. The Tappan Zee, built in the '50s, was also fracture-critical and at risk of collapsing.While the bridge isn't near a seaport like the Key Bridge, the new Cuomo bridge was "built with all the redundancies," LePatner said, adding: "It's state of the art."<h2 id="45e9f35a-a748-432f-9497-71eec2ed98fd">An era of new risk</h2>Some experts view the original construction of Baltimore's Key Bridge in the '70s as well done for its time. Vessel traffic was less frequent, and cargo ships were smaller and lighter. Standards didn't require bridges to account for the risk of ship collision, said Michael Shields, an associate professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore."The risk to major bridges today is very different than it was in the 1970s," Shields said.It wasn't until 2016, when an expansion of the Panama Canal opened, that <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-increasing-size-of-container-ships-collapsed-baltimore-bridge-2024-3">megaships</a> started to transit the waterways. The newer ships are about 235 feet longer than the older ones, and they can carry <a target="_blank" href="https://www.aapa-ports.org/files/Panamax%20vs%20Post-Panamax%20comparison%20article.pdf">12,000 shipping containers</a>, making them significantly heavier than older vessels transporting 4,500 containers."Nobody ever envisioned the size of the ships today," said Bill Doyle, the CEO of the Dredging Contractors of America and a former executive director of the Port of Baltimore. "The size and the mass and the weight of that ship — it's taking something down" if it collides with a bridge, he added.The change to ships, along with growth in global trade and e-commerce, has driven an increase in cargo tonnage at many US ports, including the Port of Baltimore.Before the bridge collapse, Baltimore's tonnage hovered around <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://opendata.maryland.gov/Transportation/Maryland-Port-Administration-General-Cargo/2ir4-626w/data_preview">700,000 container tons a month</a>, Maryland's Open Data Portal found. Before the Panama Canal expansion, the figures were closer to 500,000. Shields said his research indicated that the Key Bridge was among "the most heavily trafficked bridges for extremely large ships in the US."<h2 id="20eccb2d-ce52-4ab8-8aa0-f8ac93407689">Building for the future</h2>Experts expect the Baltimore rebuild team to consider the risk of ship collision, the construction of redundancies, and ongoing maintenance.With large, heavy cargo ships going under the bridge, LePatner predicts the eventual Key Bridge may be supported from one end of the ground to the other across the waterway, instead of with piers. That way, in the event of a ship collision, there may be damage but not an entire collapse.Doyle hopes to see a holistic approach that focuses on the bridge's engineering and design, as well as the operations of ships passing beneath it. That includes using tugboats to guide massive ships. Doyle said he suspected if tugboats had helped guide the ship in and out of the Port of Baltimore on the day of the crash, the collision may not have happened.Shields advised doing an assessment of ship-collision risk ahead of the Baltimore rebuild and for future bridge projects. Across the US, "we don't currently have a good enough understanding of the risks to make informed decisions about what protections are appropriate for a given bridge — new or existing," Shields said.As the project gets underway, the lessons learned in conducting risk assessments and designing the bridge could serve as a guide for rebuilding other parts of America's infrastructure."Everyone is watching this project," Harkness said. "It's of national and international interest."

6 months after Baltimore's bridge collapse, lessons are emerging for a rebuild

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Democrats hope blue states can be the party's redoubt against Trump's second term.</li><li>Democrats will be in the minority in both houses of Congress in January 2025.</li></ul>With Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential election loss, President Joe Biden leaving the White House in January, and Democrats looking ahead to life in a Senate chamber that they'll no longer control, the new year will bring a new reality: the party's power in Washington, DC will be diminished.A newly empowered Donald Trump, meanwhile, is aiming to reshape the federal government to a degree that he failed to achieve in his first term. He's assembling <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-white-house-staff-cabinet-picks-list-2024-11">an array of loyalists</a> to help further his goals on everything from immigration to foreign policy.Early in Trump's first presidency, protests against his administration were common in Washington and other cities. And as Trump's first term progressed, Democrats remained laser-focused on opposing him. The party harnessed that energy to retake the House in 2018, win back the presidency in 2020, and flip the Senate in 2021.But this time, the Democratic Party appears to be coalescing around a revised strategy.Democratic officials and activists are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/16/us/politics/democrats-anti-trump-battle-plan.html">hoping blue states</a> can be the center of opposition to the president-elect, The New York Times reported. From abortion rights to paid leave, the party sees its Democratic strongholds as bulwarks against Trump, especially with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-supreme-court-conservatives-election-2024-11">the US Supreme Court</a> dominated by conservative jurists.Democrats are also building up a legal operation to challenge the new administration, according to the Times. The newspaper reported that advocacy groups are rallying hundreds of attorneys to fight Trump's agenda from the start of the president-elect's second term.Skye Perryman, the CEO of Democracy Forward, a nonprofit organization created after Trump's win in 2016, told the Times that challenges to the president-elect will be different in his second term."Resistance this time is a lot more about collective power building," she said. "It's using the law and using litigation."Democrats are also already looking ahead to the 2028 election.While Democrats are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harris-trump-blue-wall-democrats-suburban-voters-unions-2024-11">still smarting over Harris' loss</a> — and trying to assess how their party can reverse electoral gains that Trump made with working-class voters — many of the party's crop of governors have emerged as potential 2028 contenders.Democrats occupy 23 of the nation's 50 governorships, which will remain unchanged at the beginning of the year. Some of them — like Govs. <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/gavin-newsom-california-gubernatorial-recall-election-landslide-win-2021-9">Gavin Newsom</a> of California, JB Pritzker of Illinois, and Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan — have long been considered White House aspirants.For Democrats, the focus on states will give many of these leaders a platform as Trump aims to enact a conservative agenda in a nation that remains politically divided. Harris easily won California and Illinois in the general election, but she lost Michigan — a state that for years had been <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/harris-trump-blue-wall-economic-message-unions-michigan-pennsylvania-wisconsin-2024-10">part of the party's vaunted blue wall</a> — by about 1.4 points.After the election, Newsom called a special session, which will begin on December 2 in Sacramento, to boost the state's legal resources to challenge the incoming administration on issues like abortion, civil rights, climate regulations, and immigration.Pritzker <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/elections/2024/11/07/pritzker-donald-trump-second-term-defend-illinois-remarks">pledged to work</a> with the Trump administration but also called himself a "warrior" for his state."To anyone who intends to come take away the freedom, opportunity, and dignity of Illinoisans, I would remind you that a happy warrior is still a warrior," the governor, now in his second term, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://x.com/GovPritzker/status/1854686495975551159">wrote on X</a>. "You come for my people — you come through me."Meanwhile, Whitmer reiterated that she worked with Trump during her first term and would find a way to do so again."We'll figure out how to work with a Trump administration into this last two years of my term," she told reporters after the election.

Democrats are hoping blue states can hold the line in their battle against Trump's second-term agenda

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.</li><li>Four international and several smaller airports are set to close ahead of the storm arriving.</li></ul>Four international airports are set to suspend commercial flights as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/hurricane-milton-tampa-mayor-castor-evacuation-orders-die-warning-helene-2024-10">Hurricane Milton</a> approaches Florida, while American Airlines scheduled extra services for evacuees.Milton intensified into a Category 5 storm — the most severe classification — in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday. It later weakened to an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 storm and is expected to make landfall in Florida on Wednesday night.The National Hurricane Center estimated peak storm surges as high as 15 feet in the Tampa Bay area.Orlando International, Sarasota-Bradenton, St Pete-Clearwater International, and Tampa International airports have all announced closures. All except Orlando are located in counties with mandatory evacuation orders.Tampa International will close Tuesday at 9 a.m., followed by Sarasota-Bradenton at 4 p.m. and St Pete-Clearwater after the last flight departs on Tuesday.As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, close to a third of 158 flights at Tampa International had already been canceled, per FlightAware.Orlando International said it would end commercial operations on Wednesday morning but remain open for emergency, aid, and relief flights. Jet bridges were being tied down in preparation.Several public airports are also closing down, including Peter O. Knight, Tampa Executive, and Plant City.Miami International Airport aid it would remain open but was monitoring the situation and encouraged travelers to confirm their flight status with their airlines.<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://news.aa.com/news/news-details/2024/American-provides-extra-seats-customer-flexibility-in-Florida-ahead-of-Hurricane-Milton-OPS-DIS-10/">American Airlines</a> added several flights to help people evacuate on Monday and Tuesday.It's added 11 flights from Tampa International and one from Sarasota-Bradenton, totaling about 2,000 seats. Passengers can check two bags at no cost.American and other airlines have issued travel alerts and are waiving change fees while some are also waiving cancellation charges.The disruption comes two weeks after <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pete-buttigieg-elon-musk-hurricane-helene-call-best-thing-2024-10">Hurricane Helene</a> devastated the southeastern US with more than 1,000 flights canceled.A spokesperson for the Federal Aviation Administration said its Joint Crisis Action Team will handle Hurricane Milton centrally from its command center, "so there is a strong coordinated communication and planning effort."At airports, radars are shut down to protect antennae and their motors from wind damage, while air traffic controllers are evacuated from towers to seek shelter in a lower level of the building."The FAA has personnel on the ground to make sure damaged equipment and services are restored quickly to aid in a rapid response to hard-hit areas," the spokesperson said. "Relief and restoration routes are opened to assist after the storm passes."

Airports are closing and American Airlines is operating evacuation flights as Hurricane Milton nears Florida

<ul class="summary-list"><li>American Airlines runs its giant aircraft operation from a tornado-withstanding facility in Texas.</li><li>The Integrated Operations Center houses over 20 teams and supports nearly 6,000 daily flights.</li></ul><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/airline-pilot-pay-salary-american-delta-united-captain-first-officer-2024-4">American Airlines' pilots, flight attendants</a>, and airport staff are the face of nearly 6,000 flights operated by the carrier around the world each day.However, a team of nearly <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pilot-shortage-american-airlines-heres-why-2021-12">1,700 other employees</a> who work behind the scenes in a giant operational center hidden from the public is just as essential to plane movement.American invited Business Insider to tour its Integrated Operations Center, or <a target="_blank" href="https://s202.q4cdn.com/986123435/files/doc_downloads/fact-sheets/hub/IOC-fact-sheet-2024.pdf">IOC</a>, at its headquarters in Dallas/Fort Worth. For privacy reasons, the company requested photos of certain screens, and employees' faces be blurred.<div type="image" title="The American Airlines IOC building in Texas." height="3024" width="4032" msid="110342415" hostid="261"></div>Mark Groat, American's IOC system customer service manager who led the mid-May tour, described the 149,000-square-foot, tornado-resistant IOC as the "nerve center" of the airline.It runs 24 hours a day, every day of the year. The complex houses over 20 teams responsible for dispatching planes, monitoring weather, organizing maintenance and cargo, and preventing misconnects, among myriad other duties.<h2 id="5ed1178e-7e29-404c-8a58-bf60db99ba7f">The IOC doesn't look like your typical cubicle office</h2>American's open-space IOC is strategically set up to enable communication and collaboration between the teams, Groat said.For example, the lights are dimmed to reduce strain when looking at screens all day, and the phones use a color light system above each seat to indicate if that person is on a call.<div type="image" title="Inside the AA IOC with people sitting at screens." height="2966" width="3955" msid="110342416" hostid="261"></div>"A red light means you're on the phone, and a green light means your phone is ringing," Groat said, noting the maintenance team, for example, has a line to airport hangars. "So, you can kind of gauge just looking over the floor what kind of day we're having."He noted on busy days when everyone is talking and walking around, white noise is pumped into the IOC to keep the room quiet.<h2 id="f0a984f2-3998-400e-af69-162e230961a6">American uses automation to help manage irregular operations</h2><a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/most-on-time-airlines-in-north-america-ranked-2023-12">American's delay and cancellation rate</a> isn't the best in the US, but the carrier climbed to third place in 2023, according to the aviation data provider Cirium. It lost to Delta Air Lines and narrowly edged out United Airlines.All of these disruptions pass through the heart of the IOC in a section called the "bridge." This is where the IOC director oversees and guides the thousands of daily flights.<div type="image" title="American teammembers working on the &quot;bridge&quot;" height="2612" width="3482" msid="110342417" hostid="261"></div>Alongside the director are managers who work with American's hubs, like Dallas/Fort Worth, Miami, and Charlotte, to build plans for "irregular operations" that will impact the fewest customers possible. They're looking at things like staffing, resources, and gate constraints, Goat said.While much of this analysis is done manually, Goat said American launched a new automation tool last year known as the "Hub Efficiency Analytics Tool," or HEAT, to help dispatchers, coordinators, and other employees make more proactive decisions.It analyzes things like when a crew member exceeds their regulated duty period, which flights have the greatest number of connecting customers, how many top-tier loyalty customers are flying, and whether impacted flights are domestic or international — domestic being easier to accommodate.<div type="image" title="A giant television near the center of the IOC displays the diversion airports used at that time, with the colors indicating how close to capacity each is." height="3024" width="4032" msid="110342418" hostid="261"></div>"Instead of separate units canceling flights one by one and customers being rebooked repeatedly, HEAT allows us to update the system with all the delays and cancellations at one time," Groat said."This maintains the integrity of connecting bags, and it means we aren't arbitrarily rerouting somebody who could have ultimately made their connection."On the day of my visit, smoke from a wildfire in the Bahamas was impacting operations at Nassau International Airport. IOC employees were walking desk-to-desk discussing options, while others were analyzing how flights would be impacted — which is where HEAT could come into play."We'll most likely divert en route planes to Miami to wait out the event," Groat said. "If the delay times get longer and crew time becomes an issue, we'll have to evaluate options like canceling some flights or consolidating two into one so we can get our resources back into the system and where they need to be."<h2 id="48ea96de-a4bd-434d-a873-9c673e6b9a52">Crew scheduling and dispatch are among the biggest teams</h2>Planes can't go anywhere without at least two pilots and at least one flight attendant per 50 seats. Crew scheduling is responsible for keeping some 14,000 crew on track every day.There are three different areas within the crew scheduling department, Groat said. One handles day-to-day crewing, a second is responsible for tracking disruptions and calling in reserves, and a third helps make decisions regarding delays and cancellations.<div type="image" title="An American Airlines flight attendant serving passengers on a 2018 flight." height="3256" width="4884" msid="110342419" hostid="261"></div>The job relies on computer systems and knowledge of specific regulations regarding fatigue and duty time, but American also provides automation tools like HEAT to help schedulers quickly and accurately staff flights.He noted that there are times when things get so displaced that not every flight can be accommodated, so the crew coordinators identify "critical" flights that need to be prioritized for operational needs.For example, if a key plane doesn't make it to its next airport and no replacement can get there either, a chain of disruption could occur.Beyond crew scheduling, nearly half of the IOC floor is dedicated to teams that oversee specific fleets, including sections for the Boeing 737 family, the Airbus A320 family, and widebody jets.These teams consist of flight dispatchers, planners who work with maintenance, and crew coordinators. There are also customer service managers who are "the voice of the passenger" and try to proactively find solutions during disruptions.<div type="image" title="Passengers check in for an American Airlines flights at O'Hare International Airport on October 11, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois." height="3648" width="5472" msid="110342420" hostid="261"></div>Groat also pointed to a relatively new but highly specialized team of irregular operations leads who examine long-term strategies to prevent hourslong delays from impacting flights down the line.For example, the team may consider rerouting specific planes over water to avoid severe weather in Florida or analyze how de-icing delays in Chicago could impact departures, he said."Every flight that we can route around a disruptor is another slot we keep flying," he said.<h2 id="e5e4684a-74bd-450b-9fac-ae099a40819d">Smaller workgroups are still essential to the operation</h2>While crew scheduling and dispatchers make up the IOC's bigger work groups, smaller teams like cargo and maintenance coordinators, load planners, air traffic liaisons, regional dispatchers, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/teenager-wrong-flight-puerto-rico-instead-of-ohio-2024-1">unaccompanied minor </a>organizers also have roles to fill."When disruption happens, we need to know what cargo is on the airplane that we need to care for, like perishable items, live animals, or pharmaceuticals," Groat said. "Load planners ensure the aircraft are within the right weight and balance."<div type="image" title="American Airlines Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet aircraft in the sky." height="3533" width="5300" msid="110342422" hostid="261"></div>Regional dispatchers coordinate <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/american-regional-pilots-getting-massive-pay-raise-envoy-piedmont-2022-6">American's subsidiary and contract flying</a> and help find replacement planes when the regional side is disrupted. Groups like schools and sports teams are especially harder to re-accommodate<h2 id="1f2382ee-7914-4ad5-a642-0cc8f0a24b4a">A command center is set up for emergency events</h2>The command center is a giant, glass-enclosed room that is designated for incidents and accidents. Groat said it's only been put to use twice since moving into the IOC building in 2015.He said the first use was after the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/2-explosions-reported-at-brussels-airport-2016-3">bomb attack at Brussels Airport in 2016</a>, which didn't impact American directly, but the airline still used the command center as a point of contact to help find where its customers and team members were.<div type="image" title="A model aircraft of an American 787." height="2943" width="3924" msid="110342423" hostid="261"></div>Groat said the second event was the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/boeing-crashes-groundings-timeline-737-max-777-air-force-tanker-2024-1">grounding of the Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft</a> after two crashes killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019."For the Max, we had 24 planes taken out of the system very quickly, and all of them were in Miami," he said. "We needed the means to find replacement aircraft from other parts of the system to restore the schedule there."

See inside American Airlines' massive flight operations center, where it dispatches 6,000 flights every day 

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Russia is proposing alternative payment systems and commodity centers.</li><li>The proposal aims to strengthen BRICS economies' sovereignty and reduce dollar reliance.</li></ul>Russia has released new details on how it could move away from the dollar, part of a long-running effort to buoy trade amid Western sanctions.Earlier this month, Russia's Finance Ministry, its central bank, and Moscow-based consultancy Yakov &amp; Partners outlined the country's vision of what the country is aiming for in a <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.yakovpartners.com/publications/imfs/">report.</a>Other than championing <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/dedollarization-russia-actively-working-brics-local-currencies-platform-us-dollar-2024-6">alternative payment</a> systems based in non-dollar currencies, Russia is also pitching the set-up of centers for mutual trade in commodity resources.Russia is a commodity giant and a major producer of oil, natural gas, gold, and grains. However, the country has been heavily sanctioned by the US following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has impacted its oil and gas trade.The report proposed setting up foundations for commodity trading centers but did not provide details. However, it explained why it was a good idea."This measure will ensure independent pricing and strengthen the sovereignty of the BRICS economies," the report said, referring to Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa — the anchor members of the BRICS emerging markets group.Such a measure would add to what Russia is already doing to keep trade humming amid sweeping sanctions, such as those that block banks from dealing with <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-economy-all-china-banks-refuse-yuan-ruble-transfers-sanctions-2024-8">payment transactions</a> involving Russian companies.Another offbeat way Russia is beating sanctions is <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-barter-pakistan-mounting-sanctions-western-war-allies-international-trade-2024-10">barter trade. </a>One Russian company struck an agreement to trade chickpeas and lentils for tangerines, rice, and potatoes from Pakistan, according to Tass state news agency earlier this month.Such alternative payment systems and bartering "are based on a notion that any involved institutions, even if faced with extraterritorial restrictions, will retain unchallenged access to their domestic market that will allow them to effectively facilitate domestic and cross-border transactions," the report said.Moving BRICS trade to trading centers within the bloc would also involve the use of local currencies and facilitate a move away from using the dollar for trade, according to the document.Russia's report on alternative payments and trading systems came weeks before the annual BRICS summit, which will be held in the Russian city of Kazan from October 22 to October 24.The proposal also came months after Russia proposed a grain-trading exchange for BRICS members, as <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/101594/">Interfax</a> news agency reported in April.BRICS member countries are <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.usda.gov/oce/commodity/wasde/wasde1024.pdf">major producers and exporters</a> of grains in the world market, with Russia accounting for about one-quarter of the world's wheat exports. Meanwhile, Brazil accounts for about 60% of the world's soybean exports, and India accounts for about 40% of the world's rice shipments.Most global grain prices are set on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and are dominated by the US dollar."The BRICS countries, being key participants in the global grain market, cannot fully participate in the formation of prices for economically fundamental and food security-essential products as wheat, barley and corn, world prices for which are formed, and often manipulated, in third countries," Russia's Union of Grain Exporters wrote in a letter to the country's Agriculture Ministry in December when it proposed a BRICS grain exchange.Russia faces an uphill battle in changing the basics of dollar-dependent financial trading systems. Right now, dollar-based trade participants can easily enter and exit their positions, whereas bartering or using other currencies could reduce liquidity and flexibility.Since there's already heavy trading in CME's grain markets, it would be challenging for new exchanges and their products to lure participants over en masse.Brent crude oil futures, for example, are still the world's benchmark and are actively traded. However, their namesake <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shell.co.uk/about-us/sustainability/decommissioning/brent-field-decommissioning/brent-field-decommissioning-programme.html">Brent oil fields</a> in Scotland are being decommissioned due to resource depletion.As the <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.imf.org/External/Pubs/FT/GFSR/2015/02/pdf/c2_v2.pdf">International Monetary Fund</a> explained in a 2021 report, "because of the network nature of markets, effects tend to be self-reinforcing— high market liquidity tends to attract more traders and so forth."

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