Loren Steffy

The blogs they are a-changin’

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 12:32:25 -0600

Come Monday, you'll probably notice a new look around the ol' blog. Over the weekend, the technology gnomes at Chron.com are moving the blogs to new system running WordPress. This shouldn't have an impact on the content or your ability...

A chilly weekend in Omaha?

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:21:30 -0600

Once described by Warren Buffett himself as "Woodstock for capitalists," this year's annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway shareholders begins this weekend under the cloud of scandal. APThis year, chill at Berkshire's meeting won't be coming from Dairy Queen's tasty treatsLast...

Sing a song of home prices

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:21:17 -0600

Earlier this week, NPR's Planet Money wanted to do a piece on the latest monthly home price data using the Case-Shiller Home Price Index. The index is useful because, as NPR notes, you can see the boom-bust cycle of the...

How should electric rates be set now?

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 08:55:59 -0600

That's the question that lurks behind a bill currently winding its way through the Legislature. Sponsored by Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, House Bill 3610 and its companion, Senate Bill 1693, would allow streamlined rate cases for the one piece of...

Fed has no plans to enter the oil business

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:01:25 -0600

APThe Beard: Gasoline prices don't affect inflation until they do.That was one of the key points from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's historic news conference this afternoon. Asked if the Fed could do anything about rising gasoline prices, Bernanke replied:...

BP posts strong earnings, but shares lag

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 09:03:35 -0600

AP BP appears to have shaken off the brunt of the financial effects from last year's Deepwater Horizon disaster, reporting first-quarter net income rose 16 percent, to $7.2 billion from $6.2 billion a year earlier. The problem, though, is that...

Bernanke goes live–post your questions

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 08:18:22 -0600

That's right folks, the day after Charlie Sheen hits Houston, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is staging his own, slightly more sedate, public appearance. The Beard will give the first press conference in the Fed's history in Washington this afternoon,...

A holiday from sales tax holidays?

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:50:41 -0600

State Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, is vowing to preserve the state sales tax "holiday" if the Legislature moves forward with a proposal to kill it. Eliminating this little exercise in government-subsidized marketing would save about $110 million a year, according...

Spill report’s findings raise broader concerns

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 15:40:23 -0600

AP The U.S. Coast Guard's findings that Deepwater Horizon owner Transocean poorly maintained the doomed rig, inadequately trained workers and was responsible for safety lapses that may have contributed to the accident raise troubling questions about deepwater drilling projects...

The spill’s other lingering effects

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 09:49:29 -0600

An oyster from Bill Parker's reef in the spill zone. Note the darkening around the gills along the bottom edge. Earlier this week, I went to New Iberia, La., to meet with Bill Parker, owner of Pearl Reef Oyster Co....

Drilling ban’s bite felt far from the coast

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:05:22 -0600

Harvey Cooper is now semi-retired, but not by choice. He blames that decision on Kenneth Feinberg, the government "spill czar" who's in charge of claims related to the BP oil spill.AP Cooper owns American Medical Auditors in Katy, which specializes...

Southern Louisiana then and now

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 07:02:07 -0600

A solitary front-end loader is a dramatic change from the booms and bustle on this beach last summerThe toilet is still there, but the sign is gone. Last summer, with the oil staining the beaches of Grand Isle, a frustrated...

Video: Grand Isle is quiet now

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 06:50:57 -0600

This video is a little hard to hear. The Flip camera I'm using only has a built-in mike, and it's difficult to screen out wind noise. But it does offer a glimpse of the beach in Grand Isle and the...

Why electricity isn’t like airlines

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 06:19:05 -0600

Yesterday, the Chronicle published an op/ed by Federico Pena, who served as secretary of energy and transportation during the Clinton administration. Pena was extolling the virtues of electric deregulation, and he began by comparing it with the choices he has...

Are offshore failures preferable to new permits?

Loren Steffy / chron.com — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 07:45:57 -0600

The offshore energy industry has been awash in conspiracy theories for the past year, many of which go something like this: the Obama administration is trying to destroy the oil business by withholding drilling permits in the Gulf of Mexico....