United Airlines to expand operations, increase 1,300 jobs at home

CHICAGO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The United Airlines will expand its operations and increase 1,300 new jobs in its domestic services, local officials said.

"I'm most pleased with this because Chicago is an aviation leader," said Rahm Emanuel, new mayor of Chicago, in an appearance with United Airlines President and CEO Jeff Smisek at the airlines' new headquarters at Willis (formerly Sears) Tower.

"It (Chicago) is one of the most important cities in the world and in the area of aviation, which is a growing sector in this country and growing sector in the world," said Emanuel, who vowed to keep Chicago's position as a global aviation hub.

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Stimulus: Obama putting $3.4B toward 'smart' power grid, creates jobs, saves $$, reduces energy use.

President Barack Obama, during a visit to a solar energy facility in Arcadia, Fla., is announcing Tuesday that he is making available $3.4 billion in government support for 100 projects aimed at modernizing the power grid. The projects include installing "smart" electric meters in homes, automating utility substations, and installing thousands of new digital transformers and grid sensors.

The biggest projects are  awarded to these companies:
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co (MY). - $200,000,000
Centerpoint Energy (TX)—$200,000,000, 
Duke Energy Business Services (NC)  LLC—$200,000,000,
Florida Power & Light Co.—$200,000,000,  Progress Energy Service Co. LLC (NC)—$200,000,000: and  PECO Energy Co. (PA) :—$200,000,000:

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Best Of Both Worlds: Geothermal Energy That Sucks CO2 From The Atmosphere

Work by scientists at the University of Minnesota could result in a new way to capture heat from underground geothermal sources, which lets us generate clean electrical energy for our own uses while simultaneously disposing of some of the CO2 that's responsible for global warming.

Though it sounds implausibly positive, it actually all lines up in terms of science, and best of all, this piece of lateral thinking was achieved in a flash of inspiration during a road trip--the best type of idea.

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