Marketplace: News Archives

Monday, December 11, 2000

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It's Monday, December 11. I'm David Brancaccio.

The nine top judges in the country listened and posed questions today as attorneys for Texas Governor George Bush urged them to put an end to a recount of ballots rejected by vote counting machines. Attorneys for Vice President Al Gore asked the Supreme Court to allow the hand counting to resume. The winner in this may take all. From Washington, Marketplace's John Dimsdale reports:

Dimsdale: "Outside, in the chilly, damp air, several hundred demonstrators once again voiced their opinions. Inside, lawyers for Al Gore and George Bush were each assaulted by some tough questioning from the Justices. Bush lawyer, Ted Olson, had to justify why a federal court should be asked to second guess a state supreme court that is merely interpreting state law. Olson said the state court has changed the rules of the election - after election day - which is a violation of federal law. Olson also argued Florida's manually-counted votes cannot be considered legitimate because different counties have been using different standards for interpreting the intent of the voters. But it was Gore's attorney, David Boies, who faced the most skepticism in his attempts to defend the state Supreme Court's ruling to re-start the vote counting. Several justices wondered why the state court hasn't answered the questions they raised ten days ago, about the state court's postponement of the vote certification. Sandra Day O'Connor is one of the crucial swing votes on the Court..."

O'Connor: "And I did not find, really, a response by the Florida Supreme Court to this court's remand in the case a week ago. It seemed to kind of by-pass it and assume that all those changes and deadlines were just fine and they'd go ahead and adhere to them. And I found that troublesome."

Dimsdale: "This is not a good sign for the Gore forces, who will need to be able to persuade moderate Justices to rule in their favor. So, we're waiting for a decision from the 9 Justices, which could come at any time. In Washington, this is John Dimsdale for Marketplace."

The United Airlines cancelled three quarters of its flights from its Chicago hub today, in the midst of a big blizzard. American Airlines cancelled 544 flights, or about 80 percent of its total through Chicago.

The snow is part of a cold front sweeping through the mid-part of the country, with the temperature set to drop to 11 degrees overnight in Chicago. Natural gas traders, able to receive the weather channel on their cable systems, noticed the cold front, and drove already high natural gas prices up 9.7 percent to $9.41 per million BTUs. That's just under an all-time high. If you heat with natural gas, don't say we didn't warn you.

In California, where the overnight local overnight temperature will remain at a temperate 53 degrees, there's still a big problem getting enough power. Electricity prices are soaring as officials in the West try to manage a formal emergency that could lead to blackouts. From Los Angeles, Marketplace's Sarah Gardner has the latest…

Gardner: "On friday, energy officials lifted the price cap on wholesale California electricity, hoping to ease shortages in the west. This means power companies can charge more than $250 per megawatt/hour, if they can justify the cost. Today, on the California Power Exchange, they got a heck of a lot more than that. We talked to power exchange spokesman Jesus Arredondo..."

Arredondo: "I think that we're going to see today anywhere from $350 a megawatt to a thousand dollars a megawatt. There's quite a bit of demand and there's not a lot of supply."

Gardner: "A few small signs of hope: several California power plants that were shut down are now back online, and some big manufacturers that use a lot of electricity are opting to close down temporarily and sell their power back into the market. But what California energy officials really want for Christmas is warmer temperatures in the Northwest, so they can import more power from that region. Meanwhile, Tony Ornellas, of Willow Glen, California, told the local paper he's stringing more than 70,000 Christmas lights this year in the interests of conservation, however, he'll burn them one hour less every night. I'm Sarah Gardner for Marketplace."

Smith: "This Thursday, five officials at the FTC will meet to decide whether to approve the 183 billion dollar deal, the largest corporate merger in history, or to block AOL and Time Warner from joining forces. FTC officials have been talking with AOL-Time Warner for months, trying to hammer out a deal to ensure that the new media behemoth doesn't completely take over the nation's broadband wires, blocking access to other content providers. The FTC brokered a deal between AOL-Time Warner and Earthlink. But Critics say that small, local, and regional ISPs - the ones that have given the internet its diversity - could never afford the terms of the Earthlink deal, and will be blocked out as the country shifts to internet access through cable. Jeff Chester heads the Center for Media Education, a non profit internet policy group..."

Chester: "They're in a crisis. ISP providers undertsand they are digital toast in the new economy unless the FTC imposes safeguards so they can access the AOL TW network."

Smith: "Sources familiar with the matter say this might be the most difficult review decision even made in FTC history, because of the size, and the issues involved. European regulators signed off on the deal two months ago. If U.S. Trade officials also say OK, then the federal communication commission will be the next, and last, stop for AOL and Time Warner. In New York. I'm Jessica Smith for Marketplace."