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Across the country, Americans have seen their electricity bills spike this year. Energy prices have been rising faster than inflation, and are expected to just keep rising. In two states in particular, this issue became a core tenant of the Democratic candidates governors races. Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia both ran in part on a promise to keep electricity costs downand both won big on election night. Voters in New Jersey and Virginia chose leaders ready to take on soaring energy costs and the powerful interests driving them higher, Evergreen Action executive director Lena Moffitt said in a statement. Governors-elect Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger earned voters trust with common-sense plans to lower costs by fixing [electricity grid operator] PJMs broken system and expanding cheap, homegrown, faster-to-build clean energy, she added. In elections defined by the skyrocketing cost of living, voters made clear they want leaders who will actually do something about it.” How New Jerseys new governor will tackle electricity prices Rising electricity rates have hit New Jersey particularly hard. Residents there saw prices spike about 21% over this past year. Sherrill, who won New Jersey with just over 56% of votes, pledged to declare a state of emergency on utility costs on her first day in office. She has also promised to freeze residents utility rates, build more cheaper and cleaner power, and push utility companies to be more transparent. Sherrills state of emergency could be seen as a counter to the states of emergency that President Trump declared at the beginning of his second term. Trumps move to declare a national energy emergency cited a need to boost oil and gas production, even though increased drilling doesnt necessarily translate to lower gas prices for consumers, and renewable power is the cheapest form of new energy to build. Trump also promised to slash electricity bills for Americans during his run for the presidency, but so far into his term, energy price are up, and expected to keep climbing. Experts have blamed his actions like inhibiting renewables, canceling federal energy assistance, and enacting tariffs on energy imports. For New Jersey, the governor declaring a state of emergency is a signal of her priorities. Its put everyone on notice that I am no longer going to allow the can to be kicked down the road, she said on WNYC Thursday morning. It gives everyone a sense of urgency that this has got to be tackled, and it’s got to be tackled now. That pledge has already resulted in utility companies saying theyll come to the table to negotiate, and spurred discussions among workers about programs that could help the electricity grid, she added. Sherrill also campaigned on developing plans for new nuclear capacity in New Jersey. How Virginias new governor will tackle electricity prices Virginia is home to the biggest data center market in the world, with more than 600 clustered around Washington, D.C., and Richmond. And though the states electricity prices havent risen as steeply as New Jerseys, theyve still risen about 6.7% over the last year. As even more data centers are proposed and built, experts say energy prices are likely to increase to meet growing energy demands. Dominion Energy, the biggest electric utility in the state, is also looking to build more natural gas units to support those data centers. That raises environmental concerns, and also price concerns. Natural gas is getting more expensive because the U.S. is exporting more and more of it to other countries. Spanberger, who won Virginia with just over 57% of the votes, made an Affordable Virginia Plan a core part of her campaign. Along with housing and healthcare, the plan specifically calls out energy bills as an area shell focus on. To do so, she says shell expand and support Virginias local electricity generationincluding its nation-leading offshore wind development. She plans to incentivize more solar energy projects on rooftops, parking lots, former industrial sites, abandoned mines, schools, and public buildings, supported by battery storage. Shell also encourage the development of nuclear, geothermal, fusion, and hydrogen. Spanberger has called out data centers specifically as well, saying shell make sure they pay their own way and their fair share of their new electricity and transmission needs. Its not yet clear how exactly shell do that, and Dominion contests the idea that data centers are being subsidized by consumers; instead, the utility has blamed inflation for rising costs. But Dominion is also currently seeking to raise rates even more to increase its profit margins. Depending on how that case pans out, Spanberger said during a debate that it may require action within the General Assembly to ensure that large utility users like data centers are paying their fair share for the energy that they consume.
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E-Commerce
Ive been writing professionally since 2002, and in that time, Ive experimented with lots of different strategies to keep myself on track. (Ive been a columnist at Fortune and Fast Company, and am now a contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion Section, in addition to cohosting Slates Money podcast, and Ive been an editor, reporter, and opinion writer for a number of other places.) I also have, shall we say, a fragmented attention span, and my therapist likes to routinely bring up how many women my age have undiagnosed ADHD, which I now take as a not-so-subtle hint. So I need systems and routines maybe a bit more than the average person, and it has taken me a while to find the right ones. But I stumbled upon my biggest problem with developing a consistent writing practice by accident when I added a couple of components that focused not on the writing itself, but on idea generation and development. Like most professional writers, I take notes and carry a notebook everywhere, and my journalistic background has primed me to capture details and thoughts even when Im not on the clock. That said, there was not much consistency to it for a long time, and I didnt have a process for taking those notes and thoughts and fashioning them into something that might qualify as a good work product, or if I was being really ambitious, art. The problem was that I was not giving myself enough raw creative material to work with, and would come up short when I needed to get something onto the page. The system I use now is a combination of physical note-taking, collation, and then review and organization once a month. I am fascinated by and have tried the Zettlekasten method, but its way too complicated for me. A lightweight solution My version is much more lightweight. My physical note-taking is the same, and I added morning pages right when I get up, which more than anything just allows me to clear my head of to-do list items and anxieties so I can think clearly about other things. The nature of my job(s) also means that I cant stay out of the news cycle or off social, though consuming less of both would certainly enhance my concentration, so I try to cordon it off in time blocks and get much of my writing done before I get sucked into whatever new chaos is brewing in the outside world. Once a week, I add notes and references that I think I want to keep to a master file similar to Steven Johnsons Spark file and once a month, I set aside an hour or two on a Sunday to review it and break useful pieces into notes for discrete columns or fiction or wherever I think they belong. As a result, I never really have to sit down to a blank page. Theres always something in progress to work on and new ideas in the pipeline. I dont have to stare at a screen in an increasing state of despair and desperation until something finally emerges from my addled brain. This specific system may not work for everybody, but what I think is generalizable is that its hard to keep up a writing practice if you let the well of creativity run dry. Its important to keep it full, even when youre not working on anything in particular. Im teaching a Zoom workshop in December on how to make this process work for you and how to set up a creative practice in general, if youre interested in learning more about how to do this. (Registration and info are here.) Im also interested in what other people do to make their creative practice sustainable, so suggestions and tips are welcome!
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E-Commerce
Last night, Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo to become the next mayor of New York City. Cue the online crashouts. Leading the pack is Will & Grace star Debra Messing, who is now facing intense backlash for sharing dozens of posts smearing the Democratic candidate on Instagram in the run up to polls closing. Messing took part in early voting last week, sharing in a post that she cast her ballot for Cuomo, who ran as an independent. Before the race was called, Messing took to her Instagram Stories to share an onslaught of anti-Mamdani graphics and videos, many including blatant Islamophobia. She reposted a video of one influencer calling Mamdani Osama bin Mamdani. Another featured a ballot on which the options were A Democrat and An Actual Communist Jihadist A literal Karl Marx-quoting, America-hating jihadist. Mamdani is not a communist but a democratic socialist. Messing, who is Jewish and an advocate for Israel, also shared one meme saying Jews do not fly planes into buildings, as well as a Truth Social post from President Donald Trump saying that any Jewish person who votes for Mamdani is a stupid person. Other posts that appeared on Messings Story came from conservative outlets such as CPAC, Breitbart, and Newsmax. Her 100 plus Instagram Story crashout did not go unnoticed. The way my thread ended abruptly because this woman reached her 100 instagram stories a day limit by 1pm eastern, one X user wrote, citing Instagrams 100 Storiers per day limit. She said 431st of all, another quipped. I think Zohran has actually broken her brain, one wrote. Fascinating albeit kinda scary to watch though.” As Mamdani swept to victory Tuesday night, receiving 50.4% of the vote to become New York Citys new mayor, Messings meltdown is unlikely to be soon forgotten. I will personally make sure that Debra Messing’s Islamophobic crashout on Instagram is written into the history books, one wrote. Fast Company has reached out to Messing for comment. Messing is not alone in publicly voicing her displeasure with last nights result, much to the amusement of Mandani voters. Where the meltdowns at, i need the best rightwing meltdowns to laugh at, one X user posted. Messings crashout is high up in the replies. Actor and comedian Michael Rapapaport also features on the list, with one calling his online reaction the greatest crash out in history. Mamdanis election makes him the first Muslim and Indian American mayor for the city and, at 34, youngest mayor in generations. He will take office on January 1, 2026. I feel compelled to report that Debra Messing has not posted a single instagram story since the results were announced, one X user noted. .
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E-Commerce
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