White House officials say Ajay Banga — President Biden's choice to head the World Bank — is poised to transform its climate work, but his resume is something of a Rorschach test on this claim.
Catch up fast: Banga is a former Mastercard CEO and is currently vice chairman at private equity giant General Atlantic.
A sprawling, high-impact winter storm continues to affect the Lower 48 states, with the worst effects felt in the Upper Midwest, Northeast and West Coast Thursday.
The big picture: As rare blizzard warnings were issued for the Southern California mountains, combined outages due to ice, high winds and heavy snow across the U.S. left more than 800,000 customers without power as of early Friday.
Nearly 44,000 aquatic animals were potentially killed as a result of the derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said Thursday.
Driving the news: The department estimates about 38,222 minnows were killed, along with an additional 5,500 species, including fish, amphibians, crayfish and others.
An industry group seeking stronger federal and state policies to scale up a suite of technologies that permanently remove CO2 from the atmosphere launched Thursday morning.
Driving the news: The Carbon Removal Alliance brings together 20+ members, spanning removal companies with multiple methods, buyers and more.
Temperatures will sizzle toward record territory for many in the Mid-Atlantic on Thursday. Baltimore and Washington, D.C., could reach 80°F.
The big picture: The freakishly mild winter in the East has led to a sense of unease. This is February, when Nor'easters normally churn the Atlantic and strong winds toss a messy wintry mix at the I-95 corridor, dumping heavy snow for millions.
A sprawling, high-impact winter storm that will soon stretch from coast to coast has at least 75 million people in the U.S. under winter weather alerts on Thursday.
The big picture: The National Weather Service (NWS) describes the storm's reach as "massive" and warns it will affect every region of the Lower 48 states with winter weather, severe thunderstorms or extreme temperatures.
