Car wash planned on city's Southside
The Chattanooga-Hamilton County Regional Planning Commission gave approval for a new car wash to go up at 3100 Broad St.
Developer Mike Moon said the $2.7 million car wash should be ready in about a year.
"We saw a need in the neighborhood," said Moon.
Ann Weeks of the South Broad Redevelopment Group said she doesn't have a problem with the car wash, though there are conversations about its appearance.
"I think we can come to an agreement," she said.
VW Atlas has 6-year, 72,000-mile warranty
Volkswagen will offer what it calls a best-in-class six-year or 72,000-mile "bumper-to-bumper" warranty on its new Chattanooga- made Atlas sport utility vehicle as well as the 2018 Tiguan SUV.
"We specifically designed and built the all-new Atlas and Tiguan for American customers. This warranty further addresses the needs of American buyers head-on," said Hinrich J. Woebcken, Volkswagen Group of America's chief executive officer. "We're confident in the reliability and workmanship of these SUVs, and we want our customers to be confident in their purchase. We believe this warranty will lead to reduced cost of ownership for Volkswagen owners."
The warranty includes powertrain coverage for the vehicles' engines, transmissions and optional 4Motion all-wheel-drive system. VW said major competitors to the Atlas - such as the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, Toyota Highlander and Nissan Pathfinder - offer a three-year/36,000 mile basic warranty and a five-year/60,000 mile powertrain warranty.
Chinese dissidents sue Yahoo for $17 million
A group of Chinese political activists filed a lawsuit in federal court against Yahoo on Tuesday, saying the company failed to properly oversee a $17 million fund it created a decade ago to help Chinese writers, democracy advocates and human rights lawyers persecuted for standing up to the country's government.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court in Washington, accuses Yahoo senior executives of turning a blind eye as the fund's manager, Harry Wu, illegally spent millions of dollars on high-end real estate, inflated staff salaries and a museum documenting the history of forced labor camps in China.
According to the lawsuit, Wu, a veteran Chinese dissident who died last April, spent less than 4 percent of the money on humanitarian aid.
The lawsuit demands Yahoo replenish the trust, which has been significantly depleted.
California gets 40 percent of its energy from solar
California met its goal to produce about half the state's electricity from renewable sources for three hours on March 11, a new estimate from the U.S. government shows.
The U.S. Department of Energy's statistics division used data from the California Independent System Operator, which manages the electricity grid across 80 percent of California and part of Nevada. The record was set when almost 40 percent of the electricity flowing across the grid came from large-scale solar power plants.
Factor in electricity produced by area homes and businesses, and solar met about half the overall electricity demand in the middle of the day.
Although the surge in renewable power is a key part of California's fight against climate change, it creates its own set of problems. California produces so much solar power on bright summer days that some is shunted off the grid, in a process known as curtailment.
"We're seeing the potential for more curtailment this summer," Independent System Operator spokesman Steven Greenlee said. "The thing is, we're seeing this happen sooner than our initial analysis suggested."
California aims to have 50 percent of all electricity come from renewable sources by 2030.