Meter Reading: Chicken Lovers Go For Dark Meat, More Chesapeake Finances Revealed, and More

Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images

Here are some of the stories we’re reading this morning:

Chicken Prices Going Thigh-High – “Pat LaFrieda Jr. can’t get enough chicken thighs. If his family business, featured on the new Food Network series “Meat Men,” orders 100 cases of boneless, skinless thighs, his supplier might deliver only 60. That’s because consumers have discovered something chefs have long known about dark meat: “It was always the least expensive protein that you could buy, but it had the most amount of flavor,” LaFrieda said.” — – San Antonio Express-News

Inside Chesapeake, CEO Ran $200 Million Hedge Fund – “Behind the scenes [Chesapeake CEO Aubrey] McClendon also ran a lucrative business on the side: a $200 million (123 million pounds) hedge fund that traded in the same commodities Chesapeake produces.” — Reuters

Hot Summer Could Put Market Operators On The Hot Seat – “March 2012 shattered US temperature records. What about the summer? Electricity market operators are not generally fond of hot summers, when consumers turn up their air conditioners to stay cool, while straining the network, sometimes to the brink of disaster. This summer is no exception, especially in a few places where supplies are likely to be tight.” — AOL Energy

EPA Reconsiders: Matagorda Not on List of Smog Violators – “The Environmental Protection Agency will not add mostly rural Matagorda County to the list of Texas places in violation of federal limits for smog-forming pollution. The decision announced Tuesday marks a reversal by the federal agency, which previously asserted that the county contributed significantly to the dirty halo over nearby Houston.” — Houston Chronicle