But we can make burrito jokes. TJIC, call your office, please.
The popularity of this Chipolte among the NYPD might – just might – have something to do with the 50% discount they give to uniformed officers. Of course, accepting this discount violates NYPD policy, or so the department says. However, offering the discount does not violate Chipolte’s policy, according to a spokesman for the chain.
Back in 2008, Austin Energy (the city’s electric utility) made a deal with Nacogdoches Power LLC to purchase the entire output of a proposed new power plant. The key here was that the new power plant would produce electricity from burning “wood waste”, a renewable resource, and thus would avoid potential federal taxes on carbon-based fuels.
This was not a popular decision at the time. Even the local environmental activists were opposed to the plant. Many people felt the city wasn’t releasing all the relevant information and was rushing into the deal.
The plant went live yesterday.
More:
Austin Energy is currently paying “a little more than” 4 cents a kilowatt hour for “coastal wind” power. If I’m reading the article correctly, natural gas is running at about 2 cents per kilowatt hour.
And sometimes there’s not an easy answer.
What is justice?
What is redemption? How do we decide when a person is redeemed? Are there crimes that are beyond redemption?
What is the purpose of prison? What should our goals be when we lock people up? Protection of society? Punishment? Reform?
How should we treat young people who commit horrible crimes? Do we lock them away for life? Do we give them a chance to reform? What if we’re wrong, and reform doesn’t take?
Greg Ousley is serving a 60 year sentence in the Indiana prison system. He’s been there since 1994. In that time, he’s earned a degree in liberal arts from Indiana State (summa cum laude, no less). The corrections staff at his prison apparently thinks the world of Mr. Ousley.
His former work supervisor, Cindy Estes, was more explicit. “This kid has jumped through every hoop the state has put in front of him,” she told me. “He deserves to come out. There’s absolutely nothing to be gained by keeping him in there for another 10 years.”
He’ll be eligible for parole in March of 2019, unless a judge agrees to modify his sentence.
What did Mr. Ousley do? At the age of 14, he shotgunned his parents to death.
I don’t know what to do with Mr. Ousley. I don’t claim to know whether he’s reformed enough that he deserves to be let out. I don’t have answers to those questions. The only thing I have is the knowledge that I’m glad I don’t work in the justice system, because I don’t have those answers.