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Bahrain Unveils New Airport Terminal (Fri, 26 Feb 2021)
Bahrain's new airport terminal. (Image courtesy of Bahrain Economic Development Board.) The Kingdom of Bahrain has opened a significantly expanded, state-of-the-art new airport terminal that is four times the size of the previous facility—and aims to become a major travel hub in the Gulf region. The cost: $1.1 billion dollars. The terminal can now handle 14 million passengers a year (the previous facility saw 9.5 million in 2019). And while it’s much bigger than before, it prom...
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Autodesk Acquisition of Innovyze a $1 Billion Bet on Wet Infrastructure (Wed, 24 Feb 2021)
 Innovyze, once known as MWH Soft, is a leading supplier of software for design and simulation of wet infrastructure projects, like sewer systems. (Picture courtesy of Innovyze) Autodesk has announced that it will be acquiring Innovyze, a water-systems software company, for $1 billion, all of it in cash. It will be the largest acquisition ever in Autodesk’s history, topping the $875 million spent on PlanGrid. It is a big bet but Autodesk can cover it. The company had $1.5 billion...
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Texas & Louisiana Construction News

Corps Report Sets Stage for $1.4B Wetlands Restoration Project (Fri, 05 Mar 2021)
Benefits are worth the risk, according to state officials and experts, on the proposed $1.4 billion project to rebuild Louisiana’s coastal wetlands.
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Cold Weather Causes Power Blackouts, Disruptions on Jobsites (Tue, 16 Feb 2021)
In Central Texas, contractors have temporarily halted work and are monitoring the weather day by day.
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Today in Energy

Cold weather brings near record-high natural gas spot prices (Fri, 05 Mar 2021)
Natural gas spot prices at several trading hubs approached their record highs briefly during the week of February 14 amid significantly colder-than-normal weather that affected most of the Lower 48 states. The cold weather led to natural gas supply and demand imbalances. Natural gas production declined because of freeze-offs (temporary interruptions in production caused by cold weather) amid high demand for heating and power. At the benchmark Henry Hub, natural gas prices reached $23.86 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) on February 17, the highest real (inflation-adjusted) price since an Arctic blast on February 25, 2003. Henry Hub prices averaged $5.49/MMBtu in February, the highest monthly average since February 2014.
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Texas and Florida had large small-scale solar capacity increases in 2020 (Thu, 04 Mar 2021)
TAs of December 2020, the states with the most small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity were California (10.6 gigawatts (GW)), New Jersey (1.9 GW), and Massachusetts (1.8 GW). Of the 4.5 GW of small-scale solar capacity added in the United States in 2020, California accounted for 31%, the largest share by far. Although Texas and Florida have less total small-scale solar capacity than states such as California or New Jersey, capacity has grown rapidly in these states in recent years. In 2020, Texas added 422 megawatts (MW) of small-scale solar, and Florida added 282 MW. State incentives, strong solar resources, and policy changes are largely driving these gains.
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Business

Mega-retailers are duking it out over their minimum wage (Sat, 6 Mar 2021 18:57:06 UT)
This grocery chain says it has been paying its employees $15 an hour since 2019.
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Elon Musk tweets plans to create Texas city named 'Starbase' (Thu, 4 Mar 2021 13:52:00 UT)
If anyone has the ability to surprise the world with his ambitious projects, it is Elon Musk . The billionaire announced that he is building a new city in Texas to be called Starbase , around the rocket launch site of his company SpaceX . Used to causing a stir by typing just a few words, Musk posted on Twitter that he is "creating the city of Starbase , Texas ." Later, he alluded to his project to colonize the red planet, hinting that Starbase would be just the beginning to go further. “From there to Mars. And hence the Stars ” , detailed the CEO of Tesla . From thence to Mars, And hence the Stars. - Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 2, 2021 The tycoon, who is currently the second richest person in the world , said that his city will occupy an area "much larger" than Boca Chica , a place that houses a launch site for SpaceX and where the company is building its Starship rocket. Elon Musk shared some characteristics that his new city would have, such as that it will be friendly to dogs. He also hinted that it would be directed by "the Doge" , which can be interpreted in two ways. . ..
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