HOUSTON (AP) — An elaborate parody appears to be behind an effort to resurrect Enron, the Houston-based energy company that exemplified the worst in American corporate fraud and greed after it went bankrupt in 2001. If its return is comedic, some former employees who lost everything in Enron’s collapse aren’t laughing. “It’s a pretty sick joke and it disparages the people that did work there. And why would you want to even bring it back up again?” said former Enron employee Diana Peters, who represented workers in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings. Here’s what to know about the history of Enron and the purported effort to bring it back. Once the nation’s seventh-largest company, Enron filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 2, 2001, after years of accounting tricks could no longer hide billions of dollars in debt or make failing ventures appear profitable. The energy company's collapse put more than 5,000 people out of work and wiped out more than $2 billion in employee pensions. Its aftershocks were felt throughout the energy sector. Twenty-four Enron executives , including former CEO Jeffrey Skilling , were convicted for their roles in the fraud. Enron founder Ken Lay’s convictions were vacated after he died of heart disease following his 2006 trial. On Monday — the 23rd anniversary of the bankruptcy filing — a company representing itself as Enron announced in a news release it was relaunching as a “company dedicated to solving the global energy crisis.” It also posted a video on social media, advertised on at least one Houston billboard and a took out a full-page ad in the Houston Chronicle In the minute-long video full of generic corporate jargon, the company talks about “growth” and “rebirth.” It ends with the words, “We’re back. Can we talk?” In an email, company spokesperson Will Chabot said the new Enron was not doing any interviews yet, but "We’ll have more to share soon.” Signs point to the comeback being a joke. In the “terms of use and conditions of sale” on the company's website, it says “the information on the website about Enron is First Amendment protected parody, represents performance art, and is for entertainment purposes only.” Documents filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office show College Company, an Arkansas-based LLC, owns the Enron trademark. The co-founder of College Company is Connor Gaydos, who helped create a joke conspiracy theory claiming all birds are actually government surveillance drones. Peters said she and some other former employees are upset and think the relaunch was “in poor taste.” “If it’s a joke, it’s rude, extremely rude. And I hope that they realize it and apologize to all of the Enron employees,” Peters said. Peters, 74, said she is still working in information technology because “I lost everything in Enron, and so my Social Security doesn’t always take care of things I need done.” “Enron’s downfall taught us critical lessons about corporate ethics, accountability, and the consequences of unchecked ambition. Enron’s legacy was the employees in the trenches. Leave Enron buried,” she said. But Sherron Watkins, Enron’s former vice president of corporate development and the main whistleblower who helped uncover the scandal, said she didn’t have a problem with the joke because comedy “usually helps us focus on an uncomfortable historical event that we’d rather ignore.” “I think we use prior scandals to try to teach new generations what can go wrong with big companies,” said Watkins, who still speaks at colleges and conferences about the Enron scandal. This story was corrected to fix the spelling of Ken Lay’s first name, which had been misspelled “Key.” Follow Juan A. Lozano on X at https://x.com/juanlozano70A $28 million water treatment facility construction project has been greenlit by trustees of the Stillwater Utilities Authority. The water chemical treatment improvement project will nix outdated facilities that can’t meet future needs and put into place new facilities, equipment and technology that can, Senior Project Manager Chris Humes said Dec. 16 ahead of the trustees’ vote. “Although these facilities have safely moved almost 100 billion gallons of safe drinking water in the past 39 years, as you can see they are looking a little tired,” he said. Stillwater water treatment plant facilities constructed in 1985 were originally made to move a maximum of 12 million gallons per day. The improved facilities and technology would expand that capacity to 24 mgd. Humes said because of age and required frequent maintenance – and parts difficult or sometimes “impossible” to obtain – the facilities and equipment cannot meet the future demand for the City of Stillwater and surrounding areas. The new water chemical treatment facility improvement project was designed with the future in mind, Humes said. Highlights of the project include replacement of the lime system, improvements to chlorine and ozone systems, replacement of the carbon dioxide feed system and installation of an anti-corrosion and water stability systems. The total expenditures of $28,013,060 were broken down by Humes as follow: - $24,968,000 for the bid - $463,419 for third party inspection services - $35,000 for additional inspection services and testing - $2,546,641 for contingency Humes said it would be paid for, in part, by what will be leftover from a $37 million Drinking Water State Revolving Loan Fund ($17,849,944 total towards this project from that loan), $5 million from an EPA Congressional Directive and $5,163,116 from the Water Fund. The other part of the $37 million DWSRF loan will pay for the finish water pump station and the recover water pump station of these new water treatment facilities. The DWSRF was established by 1996 amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act and is a financial assistance program to help water systems and states to achieve the health protection objectives of the SDWA. Congress appropriates funding for the DWSRF and the EPA then awards capitalization grants to each state for their DWSRF based upon the results of the most recent Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment. The state provides a 20% match. Mayor Will Joyce thanked Rep. Frank Lucas (R-OK) for helping Stillwater to secure the $5 million from an EPA Congressional Directive towards this project. The construction bid has been awarded to Crossland Heavy Construction.
ORLANDO, Fla. — UCF coach Gus Malzahn is resigning after four seasons with the school. ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to report the move, which will see Malzahn to leave to take the offensive coordinator job at Florida State. Malzahn previously worked with FSU coach Mike Norvell during their time at Tulsa under then-coach Todd Graham from 2007-08. The Knights ended a disappointing 4-8 season in which they lost eight of their last nine games, the longest losing streak since 2015. Malzahn, 59, was in the fourth year of a contract through 2028. His buyout, it is reported, would have been $13.75 million. He finished 27-25 at UCF but lost 16 of his last 22 games and was a dismal 4-14 in two seasons in the Big 12. After back-to-back nine-win seasons in 2021-22, the Knights went 6-7 in 2023 and 4-8 in 2024. This season started with high expectations as Malzahn made sweeping changes to the program. He retooled the strength and conditioning department and hired Ted Roof and Tim Harris Jr. as defensive and offensive coordinators, respectively. He also added nearly 50 new players to the roster, leaning heavily on the transfer market. UCF started by winning its first three games against New Hampshire, Sam Houston and a thrilling comeback at TCU, but offensive struggles saw the Knights tumble through a TBD-game losing streak to finish the season. Terry Mohajir hired Malzahn on Feb. 15, 2021, six days after he was hired to replace Danny White. The move came eight weeks after Malzahn had been fired at Auburn after eight seasons of coaching the Tigers. The two briefly worked together at Arkansas State in 2012 before Malzahn left for the Auburn job. “When he [Mohajir] offered the job, I was like, ‘I’m in.’ There wasn’t thinking about or talking about ...,” Malzahn said during his introductory press conference. “This will be one of the best programs in college football in a short time. This is a job that I plan on being here and building it.” UCF opened the 2021 season with non-conference wins over Boise State and Bethune-Cookman before traveling to Louisville on Sept. 17, where quarterback Dillon Gabriel suffered a fractured collarbone in the final minute of a 42-35 loss. Backup Mikey Keene would finish out the season as Gabriel announced his intention to transfer. The Knights would finish the season on the plus side by accepting a bid to join the Big 12 Conference in September and then by defeating Florida 29-17 in the Gasparilla Bowl. Malzahn struck transfer portal gold in the offseason when he signed former Ole Miss quarterback John Rhys Plumlee. Plumlee, a two-sport star with the Rebels, helped guide UCF to the American Athletic Conference Championship in its final season. However, Plumlee’s injury forced the Knights to go with Keene and freshman Thomas Castellanos. The team finished with losses to Tulane in the conference championship and Duke in the Military Bowl. Plumlee would return in 2023 as UCF transitioned to the Big 12 but would go down with a knee injury in the final minute of the Knights’ 18-16 win at Boise State on Sept. 9. He would miss the next four games as backup Timmy McClain took over the team. Even on his return, Plumlee couldn’t help UCF, on a five-game losing streak to open conference play. The Knights got their first Big 12 win at Cincinnati on Nov. 4 and upset No. 15 Oklahoma State the following week, but the team still needed a win over Houston in the regular-season finale to secure a bowl bid for the eighth straight season. From the moment Malzahn stepped on campus, he prioritized recruiting, particularly in Central Florida. “We’re going to recruit like our hair’s on fire,” Malzahn said at the time. “We’re going to go after the best players in America and we’re not backing down to anybody.” From 2007 to 2020, UCF signed 10 four-star high school and junior college prospects. Eight four-star prospects were in the three recruiting classes signed under Malzahn. The 2024 recruiting class earned a composite ranking of 39 from 247Sports, the highest-ranked class in school history. The 2025 recruiting class is ranked No. 41 and has commitments from three four-star prospects. Malzahn has always leaned on the transfer market, signing 60 players over the past three seasons. Some have paid huge dividends, such as Javon Baker, Lee Hunter, Kobe Hudson, Tylan Grable, Bula Schmidt, Amari Kight, Marcellus Marshall, Trent Whittemore, Gage King, Ethan Barr, Deshawn Pace and Plumlee. Others haven’t been as successful, such as quarterback KJ Jefferson, who started the first five games of this season before being benched for poor performance. Jefferson’s struggles forced the Knights to play musical chairs at quarterback, with true freshman EJ Colson, redshirt sophomore Jacurri Brown and redshirt freshman Dylan Rizk all seeing action at one point or another this season. This season’s struggles led to several players utilizing the NCAA’s redshirt rule after four games, including starting slot receiver Xavier Townsend and kicker Colton Boomer, who have also entered the transfer portal. Defensive end Kaven Call posted a letter to Malzahn on Twitter in which he accused the UCF coaching staff of recently kicking him off the team when he requested to be redshirted. Get local news delivered to your inbox!Ohio State football’s loss vs. Michigan raises a question: What’s next for coach Ryan Day?
Kazakhstan andCroatia agree to enhance diplomatic dialogue and economicpartnership, reports. Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan, MuratNurtleu, on the second day of his official visit to Croatia, wasreceived by Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia, AndrejPlenković. Continuing the bilateral talks between President of Kazakhstan,Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, and the head of the Croatian government,which took place during COP29 in Baku in November this year, theparties discussed further steps aimed at strengthening politicaldialogue and expanding business ties between the two countries. In particular, the minister briefed his counterpart on theinstitutional political and socio-economic reforms taking place inKazakhstan. Nurtleu invited Croatian companies to establish and developtrade and investment partnerships with Kazakhstan, highlightingpromising sectors such as energy, transportation and logistics,agriculture, information technologies, education, and tourism. In this context, both sides expressed a shared opinion that thegrowth of business relations should be facilitated by the work ofthe Kazakh-Croatian Intergovernmental Commission on EconomicCooperation and the Business Council “Kazakhstan-Croatia,” with thenext meetings scheduled to be held in Astana in 2025. For his part, Plenković confirmed the mutual desire tostrengthen political dialogue and mutually beneficial partnershipsbetween Astana and Zagreb, based on trust and mutual support. As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed to continueconstructive cooperation between the two countries, includingthrough organizing and holding high-level visits. Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairsof the Republic of Kazakhstan, Murat Nurtleu, met with CroatianMinister of Foreign and European Affairs Gordan Grlić-Radman, wherediscussions focused on the significant potential for expandingmutually beneficial cooperation between Kazakhstan and Croatia inareas such as energy and transportation.
USC freshman guard Kennedy Smith is out indefinitely after having a surgical procedure, the program announced on Saturday. Smith was not available against Notre Dame on Saturday, but the Trojans expect her to return at some point this season. No additional details have been released regarding what kind of procedure Smith underwent. The Trojans are currently ranked No. 3 in the nation, and having the top recruiting class in the nation has been a key part of that. Smith, a California native, arrived to USC as the No. 6 recruit in the class of 2024. She earned a spot in the starting lineup right away and was averaging 10.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in her first four games. With Smith unavailable against the No. 6 team in the country, freshman Kayleigh Heckel made her debut as a starter. Heckel played for Long Island Lutheran High School in New York and was the No. 13 player in the class of 2024. She has been averaging 9.8 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.7 steals. While Smith has been a valuable piece for the team, there is still plenty of talent in Lindsay Gottlieb's roster. JuJu Watkins is fresh of a historic year in which she broke the all-time scoring record by a freshman. She carried over that momentum into her sophomore season and is leading the USC offense with 21.5 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds. The team also got stronger during the summer with the addition of Stanford transfer Kiki Iriafen, who gives USC 17.3 points per contest and a team-high 7.5 rebounds.UConn announced a two-year contract extension for head football coach Jim Mora on Saturday, just before the team took the field for the Fenway Bowl against North Carolina. Mora’s contract extension will run through 2028 and will pay him $10 million through the remaining four years, with the opportunity to earn more in incentives. The 63-year-old coach is set to make $1.7 million next season, $1.9 million in 2026 and $2.3 and $2.4 million in 2027 and 2028, respectively. UConn then went out and thrashed North Carolina, 27-14, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated. “I am forever grateful. I’m grateful to (athletic director) David (Benedict) and (school president) Radenka (Maric) and the Board of Trustees, but this is about what the (UConn players) did today,” Mora said when asked about the extension in the postgame press conference. In a statement released by UConn ahead of the game, Mora said: “I’d like to thank David Benedict, Radenka Maric and the University of Connecticut leadership for their trust in me and their commitment to our football program. When I first got here, I talked about where we wanted this program to go and we have shown great progress but we still have plenty of work to do. The commitment and dedication from the university and the athletic department has me excited about the future for our football team.” “Three years ago, I tasked Jim Mora with the challenge of leading our football team back to success and through his experience, energy and leadership he has done just that,” UConn athletic director David Benedict said in a statement. “He has taken our program to post season bowl games twice and just guided our team to one of the best seasons in UConn football history, building a momentum to keep this program moving forward. I look forward to his leadership of our football team in the years ahead.” Mora is coming off one of the most successful seasons in UConn football history, having led the team to an 8-4 record and an appearance in the Fenway Bowl. It’s the Huskies’ second bowl appearance in three years. UConn’s eight wins is the most for the program since 2010, and the Huskies had their first winning season since that year, too. A win Saturday would give UConn nine wins for just the third time in program history, with the last two such seasons coming in 2003 and 2007. UConn quarterbacks coach Brad Robbins is heading to Tulsa as an offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, according to a report from CBS Sports. Robbins was part of a coaching staff that helped the offense produce its most prolific attack since the 2009 season and fifth-most in program history (32.3 points per game). Robbins worked at FCS Tennessee Tech and Division II North Greenville before joining Jim Mora’s staff in spring 2023. Get local news delivered to your inbox!