The Daily Populous

The two largest reservoirs in California are already at 'critically low levels' and the dry season is just starting

Years of low rainfall and snowpack and more intense heat waves have fed directly to the state's multiyear, unrelenting drought conditions, rapidly draining statewide reservoirs.

Meanwhile, further south, Lake Oroville is at 55% of its capacity , which is 70% of where it should be around this time on average.

Shasta Lake's water levels are now less than half of historical average.

"Cities and towns that receive [Central Valley Project] water supply, including Silicon Valley communities, have been reduced to health and safety needs only.".

Reclamation officials are in the process of securing temporary chilling units to cool water down at one of their fish hatcheries.

Both reservoirs are a vital part of the state's larger water system, interconnected by canals and rivers.

California depends on storms and wintertime precipitation to build up snowpack in the Sierra Nevada, which then gradually melts during the spring and replenishes reservoirs. »

3 experts break down why Russia is set to lose its status as a top global oil power under an EU embargo: 'It could surely cripple the Russian oil and gas industry'

Authored by markets.businessinsider.com

"An EU embargo on Russian energy would surely cripple the Russian oil and gas industry," a top oil analyst told Insider.

A European Union embargo on Russian oil would devastate production and topple Moscow as a top global oil power, experts told Insider.

In addition to an oil embargo, the EU also wants to restrict European companies from providing services for Russian oil. »

Austin becomes the first Texas city to experiment with ‘guaranteed income’

Authored by click2houston.com

Austin will be the first major Texas city to use local tax dollars to give cash to low-income families to keep them housed as the cost of living skyrockets in the capital city.

Eight Austin City Council members voted Thursday to establish the “guaranteed income” pilot program and contract with a California nonprofit to run it.

Austin joins at least 28 U.S. cities, like Los Angeles, Chicago and Pittsburgh, that have tried some form of guaranteed income. »

Xbox downtime leaves some users unable to boot games

Authored by videogameschronicle.com

Some Xbox users were left unable to purchase or launch games for 12 hours on Friday and Saturday, after Microsoftâs servers experienced a major outage.

The server issues were first acknowledged by Microsoftâs support team at 1:46pm PT / 9:46pm BST on Friday, when it said it was aware that some users were unable to âpurchase games, launch games or start Cloud Gaming sessions.â.

At the time of publishing this story, Xbox Support has acknowledged that some users are still unable to access media streaming apps such as Netflix and Disney+. »

FTC Forces ISP Frontier to Install Fiber After It Lied About Speeds

Authored by pcmag.com

The FTC made the demand as part of a 2021 lawsuit against Frontier that accused the company of lying about its DSL internet speeds to subscribers in several states.

The order also forces Frontier to reform its practices nationwide, according to the FTC.

FTC added that the proposed order forces Frontier to prepare a $250,000 fund to reimburse consumers in California harmed by the company’s practices. »