San Diego Union-Tribune: Emails Show CPUC Chief Had Meetings at Bars, Restaurants, Across the Globe

Newly obtained emails suggest that improper contacts between the former California Public Utilities Commission president and utility executives were more extensive than previously known.

Consumer advocates and at least one lawmaker are worried the behavior may not be limited to Michael Peevey, whose twelve-year stint as the top state utility regulator ended Dec. 31 amid criticism.

“This is the tip of the iceberg,” state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Bruno, said after reading some of the correspondence. “It is very unethical and illegal, in my opinion. We need full disclosure of all email communications between sitting commissioners and the utilities they regulate.”

Wall Street Journal: Electric-Car Pioneer Elon Musk Charges Head-On at Detroit

But because of the unwavering intensity of Mr. Musk’s determination, investors have flocked to Tesla and shrug off the fact that the automaker has never made an annual profit. They don’t care that the Model S usually sells for more than $100,000, or about double the company’s original projection.

In the first nine months of 2014, Tesla had revenue of $2.24 billion, up 60% from a year earlier. Its net loss grew to $186.4 million from $57.7 million.

“There are a lot of investors whose main thesis is based on Elon Musk and his vision for the future of vehicles,” says Colin Langan, an auto-industry analyst at UBS AG. He has a “neutral” rating on Tesla shares.

Guardian: Obama's India Visit Could Yield Progress on Climate Change and Solar Power

There could be progress on U.S.-India civil nuclear cooperation, solar power and climate change when U.S. President Barack Obama visits India in two weeks, U.S. officials said on Sunday.

While stressing there were no guarantees that some of the most vexing economic issues between India and the United States would be resolved, the officials said some agreements were conceivable.

Reuters: Hacking of Korea's Nuclear Operator Raises Risk of Aging Reactor Closures

The hacking of South Korea's nuclear operator means the country's second-oldest reactor may be shut permanently due to safety concerns, said several nuclear watchdog commissioners, raising the risk that other aging reactors may also be closed.

The future of Wolsong No.1, shut in 2012 after reaching its 30-year lifespan, is seen as critical to the fate of other reactors, including the oldest, Kori No.1, which had its lifespan extended by ten years to 2017. Nuclear power accounts for about a third of South Korea's electricity supply.

Reuters: ND County Feels Bakken Boom Ebb Away as Oil Falls

Just over a decade ago, this sleepy farming community on the edge of North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation hosted the state’s first horizontal oil well to be hydraulically fractured, or fracked, helping set in motion an economic revolution that shook the world.

Today, Divide County may be another vanguard for the state, this time ominous, as the first to feel the full effect of a collapse in prices that has lopped more than 50 percent off the price of oil since the summer.