Tech
Newsom touts California’s record battery energy gains at UN climate conference
California added 1,200 megawatts of battery energy storage to its electrical grid over the last six months, further building on its nation-leading capacity and pushing the state closer to its clean energy goals, officials said on Nov. 13.
Gov. Gavin Newsom announced the latest milestone while making the rounds at the United Nations Conference of the Parties climate summit in Belém, Brazil, where he is touting the state’s international climate leadership amid the notable absence of officials from the Trump administration.
With the latest additions, the Golden State has reached 16,942 megawatts of available battery storage—about one-third of the estimated capacity needed to reach its goal of 100% clean energy by 2045.
Battery energy storage systems capture excess wind and solar power and push it onto the grid during hours of peak demand, or when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.
Newsom used the announcement as an opportunity to swipe at President Donald Trump, who has focused heavily on the growth of fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal while simultaneously slashing funding for renewable energy projects in California and across the U.S.
“Donald Trump’s reckless energy agenda puts China first and America last—letting Beijing seize the global clean energy economy and the good-paying jobs, manufacturing, and economic prosperity that come with it,” the governor said in a statement. “California won’t stand by and watch.”
While China continues to burn fossil fuels, the country is breaking global records with its investments in renewable energy and battery storage. In 2024, China commissioned 37 gigawatts of battery storage, more than the combined additions of the U.S. and Europe, according to the energy think tank Ember.
But battery storage has also been transformative for California, helping the state avoid rolling blackouts and urgent calls for energy conservation, known as Flex Alerts, in the last several years. California now has more installed battery capacity than any other jurisdiction on the planet except for China, according to Newsom.
“We now dominate,” he said at a climate investors event in São Paulo before heading to Belém.
Experts say the state’s gains are impressive. The U.S. has about 37 gigawatts of total operating battery capacity, nearly half of which is in California, said Maia Leroy, founder of the energy consulting firm Lumenergy LLC.
“California is claiming a huge victory here,” Leroy said. She said the state’s capacity of 16,942 megawatts—or 16.9 gigawatts—is enough to power about 13 million homes for four hours, the typical duration of a battery.
The surge in storage is meeting with even faster growth of solar in the state. Together, solar plus batteries have eliminated more than 37% of fossil gas use on the state’s main grid, the California Independent System Operator, in just the last two years, according to Mark Z. Jacobson, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University.
“That is an enormous amount of batteries,” Jacobson said.
Energy storage is one of many ways California is hoping to stand out at this year’s COP summit. Representatives from the state—including Newsom, California Natural Resources Secretary Wade Crowfoot and Air Resources Board Chair Lauren Sanchez—have also entered into several partnerships and agreements with other regions and nations this week.
Among them is the Global Energy Storage and Grids Pledge, an initiative started at last year’s COP conference that sets a global target of deploying 1,500 gigawatts of energy storage and building about 15.5 million miles of new transmission infrastructure by 2030. California became the first subnational entity to join the pledge, which has been backed by more than 100 countries and organizations.
The pledge is a good start, but the world needs more than just storage and transmission, Jacobson said.
“California is moving faster than the U.S. as a whole, but to really make inroads, California needs to also electrify transport, industry and buildings as fast as it is building batteries, while growing offshore wind, utility solar, rooftop solar and enhanced geothermal,” he said.
The state is working toward those goals, including pushing forward with a major offshore wind project that lost nearly half a billion dollars in federal funding from the Trump administration this year.
Other agreements signed at COP so far this year include joint partnerships and memoranda of understanding with Colombia, Chile, Nigeria, the Brazilian state of Pará and the German state of Baden-Württemberg on issues such as wildfire prevention and response, sustainable urban transportation and greenhouse gas emission reductions.
2025 Los Angeles Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Tech
Border Patrol Agents Sold Challenge Coins With ‘Charlotte’s Web’ Characters in Riot Gear
US Border Patrol agents are raising money by selling coins that commemorate last year’s wave of immigration enforcement “operations” across the country, along with other merchandise. The funds are for nonprofit organizations that list Border Patrol buildings as their address in IRS paperwork. At least two of the organizations have dedicated US Customs and Border Protection email addresses.
The front side of one coin for sale reads, “NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2025,” along with the acronyms for US Border Patrol and the acronym for “fuck around and find out”—a phrase that was initially popularized by the far-right group the Proud Boys and has been used by various Trump officials. In the center, the coin depicts a gas mask, a riot control smoke grenade, and a pepper ball launcher. On the other side, the coin appears to have a portrait of Border Patrol’s now retired commander-at-large, Gregory Bovino, with his arm raised in a salute, along with the text “COMING TO A CITY NEAR YOU!” It lists seven cities, many of which actually saw federal enforcement surges in 2025: Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, Phoenix, Portland, Charlotte, and Atlanta.
The coin is for sale by Willcox Morale Welfare and Recreation, a nonprofit that the IRS most recently declared tax-exempt during the Biden administration and whose address on IRS paperwork matches that of the Willcox Border Patrol Station in Arizona. A request for comment sent to Willcox MWR’s dedicated CBP email address went unanswered.
Employees of the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency for Border Patrol, are allowed to start private, not-for-profit employee associations within DHS, so long as they get formally recognized by the agency and follow certain rules. According to DHS policies, officially recognized groups can fundraise using government property and create merchandise with the agency’s name and logos–but they have to receive advance approval from the agency.
Willcox MWR is just one of several groups across the country that cater to Border Patrol agents and refer to themselves as MWRs, a reference to the US military’s “morale, welfare and recreation” programs. The groups tend to throw holiday events and retirement parties, and sometimes raise money for the families of agents going through hard times, including those not getting paid during the current shutdown.
Many MWRs also sell customized medallions known as “challenge coins” that commemorate specific teams or events. While anyone, including CBP alumni, can design and sell coins, current DHS employees are not supposed to use government resources to sell ones that use the agency’s seals or logos without permission, or ones that the agency considers inappropriate or unprofessional.
CBP did not provide comment about its relationship to Willcox MWR or any other nonprofit mentioned in this story, nor whether the agency had green-lit the “North American Tour” coin design, ahead of publication.
Under Willcox MWR’s Facebook post about the “North American Tour” coin, someone named Juan Diego commented, “Sign up SDC BK5 MWR for 10.”
“Shoot us an email,” someone managing the Willcox MWR account replied, giving out what appeared to be a dedicated cbp.dhs.gov email address for the group.
SDC BK5 MWR, also a registered nonprofit, lists an address on its website that matches that of a government facility in Chula Vista, California. It says on its site that it was started by San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents and sells custom merchandise “designed to raise funds for morale and relief efforts.”
Diego did not respond to a request for comment.
The SDC BK5 MWR website has listings for over 200 different products in addition to the North American Tour coin. One of those listings was a “Chicago Midway Blitz” challenge coin in the shape of a gas mask that doubles as a bottle opener. Embossed around the edges of the coin are the names of several municipalities and neighborhoods caught up in DHS’s immigration enforcement surge of the same name last fall. Like the North American Tour coin, it features the US Border Patrol logo and the acronym for “fuck around and find out.” Opponents of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement activity in Illinois are unamused.
Tech
One of Our Favorite 360 Cams Is 35 Percent Off
Tired of taking your action camera on an adventure, only to get home and find out you missed the action with a bad angle? One option is to switch to a 360-degree action cam, so you can capture all of the action and then edit down to just the good stuff later. One of our favorite options, the DJI Osmo 360, is currently available for just $390 on Amazon, a $209 discount from its usual price, and it comes with a selfie stick and an extra battery.
The DJI Osmo 360 achieves its impressive all-around video quality by leveraging a pair of 1/1.1-inch sensors, larger than some other offerings, and by supporting 10-bit color. You can really see that in the camera’s output, with colors that are vivid and bold, to the point that you may need to dial them back a bit in post if you want something more natural. With support for up to 50 frames per second at 8K when recording in 360 degrees, or 120 fps at 4K when shooting with only one sensor, you’ll have plenty of material to work with. In our testing, it ran for just shy of two hours at 30 fps, which is also around the time the internal storage had filled up anyway.
If you plan on catching any serious discussions with your Osmo 360, you’ll be pleased to know it connects directly to DJI’s line of wireless lavalier microphones, including the excellent and frequently discounted DJI Mic 2 and Mic Mini. If you want to mount it to something other than the included 1.2-meter selfie stick, it has both DJI’s magnetic attachment system and a more traditional ¼”-20 tripod mount. The DJI Mimo app lets you control the camera and adjust any settings, and there’s even a simple editor for on-the-fly production. For desktop users, DJI Studio has even more in-depth settings and editing options, in case you don’t want to pay for Premiere.
The DJI Osmo 360 is one of our favorite action cameras, and is particularly appealing at the discounted price point, but make sure to check out our full review for more info, or head over to our full roundup to see what else is available.
Tech
Artemis II: Everything We Know as Its Crew Approaches the Far Side of the Moon
On day six of its mission, Artemis II is closing in on the far side of the moon. Meanwhile, the historic journey has not been without fascinating and curious stories, from the images and videos that its four crew members have shared with the world to the inevitable unforeseen events—including a tricky toilet situation.
A few hours before the crew begins its lunar flyby, here’s how things are going on Artemis II.
When Will They Reach the Far Side of the Moon?
While Artemis II won’t actually land on the moon (that won’t happen until Artemis IV), that does not make this mission any less compelling. Once the Artemis II astronauts finish flying over the dark side of the moon, they will have the historic distinction of being the humans who have traveled the farthest from Earth.
They will also test all the systems needed for future lunar missions, validating life support, navigation, spacesuits, communications, and other human operations in deep space.
But when are they supposed to reach this far-off point? First, the Orion capsule reached what is known as the moon’s “sphere of influence” on Sunday night. This is the point where the moon’s gravitational force is stronger than the force of the Earth.
At present, Orion is circling the moon. Once the capsule is on the dark side of the moon, approximately 7,000 kilometers from the surface, communications with Earth will be interrupted. For six hours, they will be able to view the far side of the moon, something no human being has ever seen with their own eyes—not even the astronauts of the Apollo program, as this region of the moon was always too dark or difficult for them to reach.
That six-hour flyby of the dark side of the moon is expected to begin Monday, April 6, at 2:45 pm EDT and 7:45 pm London time.
After that, the capsule will use the moon’s gravity to propel itself back to Earth. Splashdown, when the astronauts reach Earth, is scheduled for April 10 in the Pacific Ocean, not far from the coast of California, the tenth day of the mission.
Remember that you can follow the live broadcast of the Artemis II mission from NASA’s official channels.
What Has Happened so Far?
Since its successful launch on April 1 from Kennedy Space Center, the Artemis II crew has shared several spectacular photos, such as the featured image in this post, which shows mission specialist Christina Koch looking down at Earth through one of Orion’s main cabin windows.
This incredible photo of a Earth, taken on April 2, went viral on social media, referencing the famous “Blue Marble” image captured by the Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972.
View of Earth taken by astronaut Reid Wiseman from the window of the Orion spacecraft after completing the translunar injection maneuver on April 2, 2026.Photograph: Reid Wiseman/NASA/Getty Images
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