Sen. Tina Smith (D-MN) is calling for federal investigations into possible price gouging of natural gas in areas afflicted by the severe winter storms that have caused power outages in Texas and other large swaths of the country.
Why it matters: In a letter to regulators sent Saturday, Smith said spot prices for natural gas increased by over 100 times their typical levels, raising utility costs for people in the affected areas.
Severe monsoon flooding across several areas of Indonesia's capital forced more than 1,300 people to evacuate on Saturday, Reuters reported.
The big picture: The country's meteorology agency warned that conditions are expected to worsen as the heaviest rain of the season could fall in and around Jakarta over the next week, per Reuters.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said Saturday that blaming this week's mass power outages on renewable energy is "disingenuous."
Driving the news: Several Republicans, as well as conservative commentators have falsely blamed wind and solar energy for the blackouts, which left millions of people across Texas in the dark amid frigid temperatures and snow and ice storms.
