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The federal government on Tuesday announced it will delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River’s major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that will temporarily address declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.
The decision will keep more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river’s other primary reservoir.
Last year, federal officials ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million people.

Water levels are at a historic low at Lake Powell on April 5, 2022 in Page, Arizona.
Rj Sangosti| Medianews Group | The Denver Post via Getty Images

The federal government on Tuesday announced it will delay the release of water from one of the Colorado River’s major reservoirs, an unprecedented action that will temporarily address declining reservoir levels fueled by the historic Western drought.
The decision will keep more water in Lake Powell, the reservoir located at the Glen Canyon Dam in northern Arizona, instead of releasing it downstream to Lake Mead, the river’s other primary reservoir.

The actions come as water levels at both reservoirs reached their lowest levels on record. Lake Powell’s water level is currently at an elevation of 3,523 feet. If the level drops below 3,490 feet, the so-called minimum power pool, the Glen Canyon Dam, which supplies electricity for about 5.8 million customers in the inland West, will no longer be able to generate electricity.
The delay is expected to protect operations at the dam for next 12 months, officials said during a press briefing on Tuesday, and will keep nearly 500,000 acre-feet of water in Lake Powell. Under a separate plan, officials will also release about 500,000 acre-feet of water into Lake Powell from Flaming Gorge, a reservoir located upstream at the Utah-Wyoming border.
Officials said the actions will help save water, protect the dam’s ability to produce hydropower and provide officials with more time to figure out how to operate the dam at lower water levels.
“We have never taken this step before in the Colorado Basin,” assistant Interior Department secretary Tanya Trujillo told reporters on Tuesday. “But the conditions we see today, and what we see on the horizon, demand that we take prompt action.”
Federal officials last year ordered the first-ever water cuts for the Colorado River Basin, which supplies water to more than 40 million people and some 2.5 million acres of croplands in the West. The cuts have mostly affected farmers in Arizona, who use nearly three-quarters of the available water supply to irrigate their crops.

In April, federal water managers warned the seven states that draw from the Colorado River that the government was considering taking emergency action to address declining water levels at Lake Powell.

Later that month, representatives from the states sent a letter to the Interior agreeing with the proposal and requesting that temporary reductions in releases from Lake Powell be implemented without triggering further water cuts in any of the states.
The megadrought in the western U.S. has fueled the driest two decades in the region in at least 1,200 years, with conditions likely to continue through 2022 and persist for years. Researchers have estimated that 42% of the drought’s severity is attributable to human-caused climate change.
“Our climate is changing, our actions are responsible for that, and we have to take responsible action to respond,” Trujillo said. “We all need to work together to protect the resources we have and the declining water supplies in the Colorado River that our communities rely on.”

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CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday defended Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell and said that the beaten-down state of previously inflated stocks shows the Fed chief is on the right track to corralling inflation.
“He wants to take the air out of everything I just mentioned and guess what, if you look at the stock market, sadly, for the bulls, or perhaps good for the economy and the country, he’s winning,” the “Mad Money” host said.

CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday defended Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell and said that the beaten-down state of previously inflated stocks shows the Fed chief is on the right track to corralling inflation.
“I am sick and tired of the critics who keep trying to belittle or humiliate Jay Powell, the Fed chief who … arguably did more to save us from a pandemic-induced depression than anyone else in the government. They act like Powell should’ve known omicron wouldn’t require a lockdown,” the “Mad Money” host said.

“Jay Powell measures his words. He wants to take the air out of everything I just mentioned and guess what, if you look at the stock market, sadly, for the bulls, or perhaps good for the economy and the country, he’s winning,” he added.
The S&P 500 gained 0.48% on Tuesday while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.20%. The Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.22%.
Tuesday’s gains come as all eyes are on the Fed, which is expected to raise interest rates by 50 basis points Wednesday and lay out a roadmap to tighten its balance sheet.
Cramer earlier in the show highlighted groups of stocks “that need to turn around if we’re ever going to get a sustainable rally and out of this miserable period.” He cited housing, financial, e-commerce and semiconductor chip companies as some examples of stocks that are hard-hit despite having fundamentals that are in “fabulous shape.”
“The endless cloud IPOs and the SPAC stocks were the most inflated part of our economy and they crushed the market in the end,” he said, referring to initial public offerings and special purpose acquisition companies.

He added that while some stocks like financials did go up on Tuesday, it was short-term and shouldn’t give investors hope that those stocks have entered a long-term rally.

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Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck heralded the company’s first attempt on Monday to catch its Electron rocket booster using a helicopter after launch as “phenomenal.”
Beck told CNBC that the test “achieved 99%” of the company’s goals toward reusing rockets.
In making its boosters reusable, Rocket Lab would be able to launch more often while simultaneously decreasing the material cost of each mission.

The Electron booster comes into view of the company’s helicopter for the catch.
Rocket Lab

Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck heralded the company’s first attempt on Monday to catch its Electron rocket booster using a helicopter after launch as “phenomenal,” telling CNBC that the test “achieved 99%” of the company’s goals toward reusing rockets.
“Yesterday was a demonstration that it all works – it’s all feasible. You can successfully control and reenter a [rocket] stage from space, put it under a parachute .. and then go and recover it with a helicopter in midair,” Beck said.

Rocket Lab wants to make its rocket boosters reusable, like those of Elon Musk’s SpaceX, but with a very different approach. After launching its Electron rocket from New Zealand on Monday, the company used a helicopter to snag the parachute that was slowing the rocket’s booster down as it returned to Earth.
SpaceX uses its rocket’s engines to slow down during reentry and deploys wide legs to land on large pads.
While Rocket Lab’s helicopter “had a good hook up” and began flying while carrying the booster, Beck said, the helicopter’s pilot saw that the load from the booster was different than previous testing and released the booster, which dropped into the Pacific Ocean. The booster was then recovered from the water by Rocket Lab’s ship. Beck said the rocket is in “excellent” condition and that the pilot “made the right call.”
Rocket Lab’s Sikorsky S-92 helicopter is capable of lifting 5,000 kilograms, Beck noted, with the Electron booster weighing “just a little under 1,000 kilograms.” While the test had “a ton of margin,” Beck said, Rocket Lab used “really conservative estimates” to maximize safety during the catch. The helicopter flies with a crew of three: A pilot, a co-pilot and a spotter.

In making its boosters reusable, Rocket Lab would be able to launch more often while simultaneously decreasing the material cost of each mission.

Beck disclosed that the Electron’s booster makes up between 70% and 80% of the total cost of the vehicle. Reusing it would bring significant savings for the company and shrink the number of boosters it needs to produce.
Rocket Lab will next return the Electron booster to its factory to strip it down, inspect it and begin the process of refurbishing it for the next flight.
While Beck cautioned that the company needs “to do a bunch of testing” on the booster, Rocket Lab will “endeavor to fly that one again” – in what would be its first reused rocket launch.
Beck estimates about half of Rocket Lab’s missions will utilize reusable rockets. Night launches, when the helicopter wouldn’t fly, or launches that require the rocket’s full capability bring that number down. (Rocket Lab loses about 10% of payload capacity on the Electron in its reusable configuration.)
“Reusability is an iterative process. As we’ve seen with SpaceX – for the first one, the turnaround time was six months or more, and then look to where they are now: taking weeks for turnaround,” Beck said.

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Some of the hottest migration destinations also happen to be home to the hottest regional inflation rates, according to Redfin.
Phoenix, Arizona, had the highest metro inflation rate at 10.9% and was a popular destination for homebuyers during the pandemic.
San Francisco tops the list of metro homebuyers who moved away and it had the lowest inflation rate in the country at 5.2%.
The financial benefits of moving to relatively affordable areas may eventually diminish over time.

Some of the hottest pandemic-migration destinations also happen to be home to the hottest regional inflation rates.
The relationship between migration and inflation has strengthened significantly as more people relocate from expensive coastal cities to more affordable metro areas, according to an analysis released by Redfin on Tuesday.

“We saw an acceleration of inflation happen particularly when we looked at the metro level inflation data. We saw right away that inflation was highest in Phoenix and lowest in San Francisco,” Redfin deputy chief economist Taylor Marr told CNBC.
For example, Phoenix saw prices of goods and services rise 10.9% in the first quarter from the year-earlier period, ranking it the metro region with the highest inflation rate in Redfin’s analysis.
According to Redfin’s migration data, Phoenix was also the second-most popular destination for homebuyers looking to move from one metro area to another in the first quarter, behind only Miami, Florida.
Meanwhile, San Francisco, which tops the list of metro areas that homebuyers moved away from during the first quarter, had a 5.2% inflation rate, the lowest in the Redfin analysis.

Inflation and migration in Q1 2022 data charted by Redfin shows the consumer price index’s annual change and the net flow of Redfin user migration.

The consumer price Index, which averages prices across America, rose by 8.5% in March 2022 from a year ago, the fastest annual gain in 40 years.

“We know a lot of people that we’ve been tracking throughout the pandemic have been leaving in places like the Bay Area and New York or D.C. on the East Coast. And they’ve been pouring into these hot migration destinations throughout the pandemic, like Phoenix, Miami, Tampa, Atlanta,” Marr said.
Atlanta, Georgia, had the survey’s second-highest inflation rate at 10.6% while Tampa, Florida, had the third highest at 9.9%.
Redfin’s analysis showed Atlanta ranked the 10th-most popular migration destination, and Tampa was the third-most popular migration destination.  
On the reverse side of the trend, New York City had both the second-lowest inflation rate at 5.4% and was the the top third place homebuyers moved away from. Similarly, Los Angeles clocked in at number two for residents relocating and generated a middle-of-the-road inflation rate at 7.8%. 
The influx of people moving into Phoenix, Tampa and Atlanta during the pandemic also has led to rapidly rising home prices in those regions. And that’s just one contributor to outsized inflation there.
“When people move to an area, it puts additional demands on local goods and services, such as restaurants, and that enables them to raise their prices,” Marr said.
Marr says the financial benefits of moving to relatively affordable areas may eventually diminish over time.
“Most of the people moving to these areas are moving there with higher budgets. They have higher incomes… So, the cost of living might be really affordable to someone who is moving into the area. But, for an existing resident who is already there, they might be feeling more of the pains if they haven’t had strong income gains and they are still facing higher prices,” Marr said.

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Starbucks said it will hike wages for tenured workers and double training for new employees as it seeks to beat back the union push from its baristas.
However, the coffee giant will not offer the enhanced benefits to workers at the roughly 50 company-owned cafes that have voted to unionize.
In total, Starbucks plans to spend $1 billion on wage hikes, improved training and store innovation.

A Starbucks barista fulfills an order in a South Philadelphia store.
Mark Makela | Reuters

Starbucks said it will hike wages for tenured workers and double training for new employees as the company and its CEO, Howard Schultz, seek to beat back the union push from its baristas.
However, the coffee giant will not offer the enhanced benefits to workers at the roughly 50 company-owned cafes that have voted to unionize. Such changes at unionized stores would have to come through bargaining, Starbucks said.

“So, partners will receive these pay, benefits and store-improvement investments at all U.S. company-operated stores where Starbucks has the right to unilaterally make these changes,” the company said in a statement. “However, at stores where workers have union representation, federal law requires good faith bargaining over wages, benefits and working conditions which prohibits Starbucks from making or announcing unilateral changes.” 
In total, Starbucks plans to spend $1 billion on wage hikes, improved training and store innovation during fiscal 2022, which ends in the fall. On Schultz’s first day back at the helm of the company, he suspended its buyback program to invest in workers and stores.
“The transformation will accelerate already record demand in our stores,” Schultz said on the company’s conference call on Tuesday. “But the investments will enable us to handle the increased demand — and deliver increased profitability — while also delivering an elevated experience to our customers and reducing strain on our partners.”
It’s Schultz’s third go-round as Starbucks CEO. He is working on an interim basis until the company hires a successor for the recently retired Kevin Johnson.
Schultz told store managers last month that the company was reviewing its benefits for workers. However, he said the new benefits legally couldn’t be extended to stores that have voted to unionize without separately negotiated contracts for unionized workers. The Starbucks union, Starbucks Workers United, filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board about his comments.

This marks the third wage increase to baristas’ paychecks since company-owned stores in Buffalo, New York, filed a petition to unionize. In October, under the leadership of Johnson, Starbucks announced two wage hikes that would bring its pay floor up to $15 an hour by August.
The latest round of hikes is for tenured workers and managers. Employees who have been with the company between two to five years will receive either a 5% increase or get paid 5% above the market’s start rate, earning whichever rate is higher. Workers with more than five years of tenure will get a 7% increase or get paid 10% above the market’s start rate, earning whichever rate is higher.
Starbucks also said it would double the planned investments in pay for store managers, assistant store managers and shift managers hired as of Monday. Those changes amount to one-time adjustments to base pay, and the employees would still receive the raises planned for fiscal 2023 this fall.
Starbucks also said it would double the amount of training that new baristas and shift supervisors receive based on feedback from employees during listening sessions attended by Schultz and other top executives.
More investments are also planned. The company said it will introduce credit and debit card tipping by late 2022, and it is planning equipment and technology enhancements, like upgrading in-store iPads and accelerating the rollout of new ovens and espresso machines.
Schultz’s willingness to wage an aggressive and expensive campaign against unionizing workers hasn’t drawn much support from Wall Street. Starbucks shares have fallen 19% since his return early last month.
Starbucks’ stock rose 3% in extended trading after the company reported its fiscal-second quarter results. Strong sales growth in the U.S. offset sharp declines in China, helping the company top Wall Street’s estimates for revenue and meet earnings expectations.

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NASA administrator Bill Nelson strongly backed fixed-price contracts with companies – and decried more variable cost-plus contracts as “a plague” on the agency.
Nelson’s emphasis on competition likely represents a boon for the growing swath of space companies looking to provide low-cost services to NASA.

The Artemis 1 mission Space Launch System (SLS) rocket
Frank Michaux / NASA

The head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration on Tuesday discussed a dramatic shift in how the agency plans to issue contracts for its space exploration programs, citing success with cost-saving competitive bids.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson, testifying before a Senate subcommittee on the agency’s budget for landing astronauts on the moon, strongly backed fixed-price contracts with companies – and decried more variable cost-plus contracts as “a plague” on the agency.

Nelson’s emphasis on competition likely represents a boon for the growing swath of space companies looking to provide low-cost services to NASA, and a sharp curtailing for aerospace and defense contractors that traditionally benefited from cost-plus deals.
Fixed-price contracts set a maximum payout for a good or service, while cost-plus agreements result in the government paying for the cost of the work, plus additional fees, which can balloon over the course of the project.
The biggest difference between the contract structures comes down to who picks up the bill for delays or cost overruns: fixed-price assumes the companies building the systems absorb any unanticipated expenses, while cost-plus leaves NASA on the hook.
NASA holds agreements of each structure for the most expensive parts of its lunar Artemis program: The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion capsule designed to take astronauts to the moon’s orbit, under cost-plus contracts, and SpaceX’s Starship rocket to carry the astronauts to the lunar surface, under a fixed-price deal.
NASA has awarded numerous multi-billion dollar cost-plus contracts to a wide variety of contractors to develop SLS and Orion, primarily to Boeing, the lead contractor building SLS; Lockheed Martin, leading Orion development; and Northrop Grumman, supplying the rocket’s boosters.

Since 2012, NASA has spent about $20 billion to develop SLS, and more than $12 billion on Orion, according to the agency’s Inspector General. And, not including development funding, the cost of each SLS launch has ballooned eightfold since 2012: From $500 million to $4.1 billion, with the rocket’s debut delayed five years and counting.
By comparison, NASA has had steady success with major fixed-price contracts – most notably through its Commercial Crew program. Under Commercial Crew, the agency awarded SpaceX about $3.1 billion and Boeing about $4.8 billion over the past decade to develop spacecraft to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station.
With the debut of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon in 2020, NASA began purchasing transportation services for its crew from Elon Musk’s company. And, while Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft has yet to fly crew, the company has absorbed the costs of its delays, rather than NASA.
NASA estimates that, due to the competitive approach, the Commercial Crew program is saving the agency between $20 billion and $30 billion.
SpaceX last year won a $2.9 billion fixed-price contract from NASA to use the company’s Starship rocket to deliver astronauts from lunar orbit down to the moon’s surface. SpaceX was the sole winner in a competition against two other privately-led landers, from teams led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics.
Nelson’s comments on Tuesday come as he urges Congress to approve funds for another competition, to develop a second lunar lander. He emphasized that SpaceX won because its bid was “by far the most economical of the three,” but said the agency now wants a second lander because, “with that competitive spirit, you get it done cheaper.”
“We can leverage that money by working with a commercial industry and, through competition, bring those costs down to NASA,” Nelson added.

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Southwest Airlines will temporarily offer travelers free Wi-Fi on certain flights starting this week, part of a test to bring faster internet to more customers.
The free Wi-Fi on Southwest will be available from May 4 through June 10 on certain flights in the western U.S.

OntheRunPhoto | iStock Editorial | Getty Images

Southwest Airlines will temporarily offer travelers free Wi-Fi on certain flights starting this week, part of a test to bring faster internet to more customers.
The carrier has outfitted 40 of its Boeing 737s with upgraded hardware for its Wi-Fi service, according to a memo to employees sent Tuesday. Southwest’s Wi-Fi upgrades are the latest effort by an airline to improve connectivity on board.

Hawaiian Airlines last week said it plans to offer free Wi-Fi as early as next year via SpaceX’s Starlink service, which it hopes will bring fast internet to passengers on long trips over the Pacific Ocean. Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian has repeatedly said the airline plans to offer free internet connection. The carrier trialed the complimentary access before the pandemic.
The free Wi-Fi on Southwest will be available from May 4 through June 10 on certain flights in the western U.S., Tony Roach, vice president of customer experience and customer relations, wrote in the memo to staff.
The airline currently offers Wi-Fi for $8 per day and says on its website that it blocks access to some high-bandwidth sites such as Netflix, HBO Max and Zoom.
“This trial will allow Customers to stream, browse, and engage on the internet at no cost just like other complimentary services,” Roach wrote. “Our goal is to evaluate how the new hardware improves performance while delivering a reliable internet experience used by a large volume of Customers.”
Southwest declined to provide more detail.
Correction: Southwest currently offers Wi-Fi for $8 per day. A previous version misrepresented the offering.

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Tim Hortons is anticipating Canadian same-store sales growth in the mid-to-high single digits in 2022 as its turnaround takes hold in its home market.
The Restaurant Brands International chain also said that it set a long-term goal for same-store sales growth of 2% to 3% annually.
The Covid pandemic served as another roadblock to its comeback as outbreaks in Canada led to more restrictions.

Restaurant Brand International restaurants’ Tim Hortons and Popeyes.
Randy Risling | Toronto Star | Getty Images

Tim Hortons is anticipating Canadian same-store sales growth in the mid-to-high single digits in 2022 as the coffee chain’s turnaround takes hold in its home market.
The Restaurant Brands International chain also said Tuesday during an investor presentation that it set a long-term goal for same-store sales growth of 2% to 3% annually. Tims reported Canadian same-store sales growth of 10.8% in 2021 and same-store sales declines of 16.5% in 2020.

Because of its large Canadian footprint, Tim Hortons typically accounts for more than half of Restaurant Brands’ revenue, but recent sluggish sales have weighed on the restaurant company’s overall results.
Over the last few years, Tims has shuffled its executive team, updated its coffee and breakfast offerings, and revamped its loyalty program in the hopes of once again driving sales growth in its home market. Even before the Covid pandemic, sales and traffic were stagnating as Canadians chose Starbucks or McDonald’s for their coffee instead.
“In Canada, it’s gotten more competitive over the last 10, 15 years than it was 30 years ago,” Restaurant Brands CEO Jose Cil said.
The pandemic served as another roadblock to its comeback as outbreaks in Canada led to more restrictions, although Tim Hortons President Axel Schwan said mobility is now returning.
“Canada had some of the longest lockdowns, really, in the world,” Schwan said. “Coming out of [the first quarter], we see a lot of momentum, traffic picking up, people getting out again.”

Earlier on Tuesday, the coffee chain reported same-store sales growth of 8.4%, falling short of StreetAccount estimates of 9.6%. Canadian same-store sales rose by double digits during the first quarter.
Executives laid out their strategy during the presentation to go “back to basics” to draw in customers. The approach focuses on its food and beverage offerings, digital engagement and the in-restaurant experience.
“Over the next few years, we will remain focused on expanding into high-growth dayparts and products, enhancing our leading digital ecosystem and maintaining our leading operations and optimizing our restaurant performance,” Schwan told investors.
Technology plays a key role in those plans, like rolling out digital menus nationwide for drive-thru lanes. In addition to being able to suggest menu items based on weather and other factors, those menu boards will display digital versions of Tims’ bakery cases. Executives noted that drive-thru customers typically buy fewer baked goods than customers who order inside, where pastries and other baked goods are showcased.
Shares of Restaurant Brands fell 2% in afternoon trading, despite the company topping Wall Street’s estimates for its first-quarter earnings and revenue.
Correction: Jose Cil is CEO of Restaurant Brands. An earlier version misstated his title.

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