** Former ComEd CEO Anne Pramaggiore is sentenced to two years in prison for her role in a bribery scheme that involved giving jobs to associates of Illinois’ former House Speaker in exchange for favorable legislation.
** The U.S. Commerce Department’s Inspector General launches an investigation into whether the Trump administration’s staffing cuts at the National Weather Service affected the agency’s forecasting of this month’s fatal flooding in the Texas Hill Country.
** Bankrupt Texas solar company Sunnova Energy becomes a case study for the U.S. residential solar industry, which has struggled due to consumer complaints and some companies’ misleading sales tactics even as utility-scale solar farms have boomed across the state and nation.
** The Trump administration proposes extending deadlines for reporting and groundwater monitoring at coal ash landfills and dumps as part of what critics say is a likely push to delay or eliminate such rules altogether.
** The Port of Corpus Christi moved a record 102.4 million tons in crude oil, liquified natural gas, and bulk material exports for the first six months of 2025.
** Mercedes-Benz will pause production and close domestic orders for its EQ EVs at its Alabama factory.
** Dodge has paused production of the Hornet crossover and is using President Trump’s tariffs as an excuse for the move. If the model line were at least somewhat popular, we would be more apt to believe that’s the reason. Also, the Hornet has been imported into countries other than the US in the past.
** Commonwealth Fusion Systems will harness energy from the stars to power AI data centers. Bob Mumgaard, the company’s CEO, says Google’s investment in the company signals a greater demand for energy.
World
** China warned on Wednesday against the risk of power supply disruptions as people struggled to keep cool in record heat baking large swathes of the country, which also spurred warnings to the elderly to guard against heat stroke. Power demand exceeded 1.5 billion kilowatts for the first time last week, energy officials said, the third successive record for China this month, when its first nationwide alert on heat-related health risks also went out.
** A tanker will not load fuel from India’s sanctions-hit Nayara Energy refinery as scheduled, according to three industry sources and LSEG shiptracking data, becoming the second such vessel to change plans following the European Union measures.
** In an unprecedented show of China’s advanced civilian drone technology, a swarm of heavy-lift unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) has carried 180 tonnes of construction materials up a remote mountain in the country’s southwest, according to state media. State broadcaster CCTV reported last Thursday that the aerial operation had taken place in May at a solar power project in Xichou county in Yunnan province, where rugged karst terrain and cliffs made traditional transport difficult.
