Daily Archives: October 24, 2021

For most of the first half, Matanzasplayed toe to toe with one of the best football teams in Northeast Florida.

The Pirates scored on theirfirst two possessions and ledSt. Augustine 14-7 before the Yellow Jackets closed outthe second quarter with 17 straight points on the way to a 37-21 victory Friday, Oct. 22, at St. Augustine.

"We couldn't have scripted a better opening start," Matanzas coach Matt Forrest said. "There are no moral victories, but I thought we played our best game of the season against the toughest team on our schedule to date."

"We couldn't have scripted a better opening start. There are no moral victories, but I thought we played our best game of the season against the toughest team on our schedule to date."

MATT FORREST, Matanzas football coach

Noah Cundiff ended an eight-play, game-opening drive with a 17-yard touchdown catch from sophomore quarterback Dakwon Evans. After the Yellow Jackets tied it up at 7-7, Matanzas moved methodically downfield againwith Evans closing out an 11-play drive with a 10-yard touchdownrun.

"The first half we gave it everything we could," Forrest said. "We played well offensively, but we made mistakes on defense and special teams, and when you play a good team like that, you can't give them anything.

"St. Augustine has a longstanding tradition," Forrest added. "And the thing about them is they don't get rattled. In the third quarter when they went up by 17we went into a lull."

The Pirates would not score again until Tate Winecoff punched it in with a 2-yard run late in the fourth quarter.

"Our offensive line played a great game," Forrest said. "(Defensive back/receiver) Jordan Mills played well on both sides of the ball. Dakwon Evans played his best game of the season, and Noah, besides his touchdown catch, caught a lot of balls underneath."

St. Augustine improved to 5-2 overall, 3-2 in District 4-6A. Matanzas, which saw its two-game winstreak snapped, fell to 3-6 and 1-3.

After 10 straight weeks of football,including the kickoff classic, the Pirates will finally have a bye week before hosting cross-town rival Flagler Palm Coast on Nov. 5 in the season-ending Potato Bowl.

"We're going to rest and recover," Forrest said. "A lot of guys are banged up. It's been a long season. We're going to focus on ourselves, trying to getbetter, and we'll worry about Week 11 when it comes."

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Plucky Pirates pleased with progress heading into Potato Bowl showdown - Palm Coast Observer

Wall Street likes what its hearing from Washington lately.

The S&P 500 inched to a new high on Thursday, continuing a rally aided by signs of progress in spending talks that could pave the way for an injection of some $3 trillion into the U.S. economy.

The index rose 0.3 percent to 4,549.78, its seventh straight day of gains and a fresh peak after more than a month of volatile trading driven by nervousness over the still-wobbly economic recovery and policy fights in Washington.

But even baby steps by lawmakers have helped end a market swoon that began in September.

Share prices began to rise this month when congressional leaders struck a deal to allow the government to avoid breaching the debt ceiling, ending a standoff that threatened to make it impossible for the country to pay its bills. The rally has gained momentum as investors and analysts grow increasingly confident about a government spending package using a recipe Wall Street can live with: big enough to bolster economic growth, but with smaller corporate tax increases than President Bidens original $3.5 trillion spending blueprint.

It seems like were kind of reaching a middle ground, said Paul Zemsky, chief investment officer, multi-asset strategies at Voya Investment Management. The president himself has acknowledged its not going to be $3.5 trillion, its going to be something less. The tax hikes are not going to be as much as the left really wanted.

Share prices had marched steadily higher for much of the summer, hitting a series of highs and cresting on Sept. 2. But a number of anxieties sapped their momentum as the certainty that markets crave began to evaporate. Gridlock over government spending, continuing supply chain snarls, higher prices for businesses and consumers and the Federal Reserves signals that it would begin dialing back its stimulus efforts all helped sour investor confidence. The S&P 500s 4.8 percent drop in September was its worst month since the start of the pandemic.

It has made up for it in October, rising 5.6 percent this month. But its not just updates out of Washington that have renewed investors optimism.

The country has seen a sharp drop in coronavirus infections in recent weeks, raising, once again, the prospect that economic activity can begin to normalize. And the recent round of corporate earnings results that began in earnest this month has started better than many analysts expected. Large Wall Street banks, in particular, reported blockbuster results fueled by juicy fees paid to the banks deal makers, thanks to a surge of merger activity.

Elsewhere, shares of energy giants have also buoyed the broad stock market. The price of crude oil recently climbed back above $80 a barrel for the first time in roughly seven years, translating into an instant boost to revenues for energy companies.

But the recent rally seemed find its footing two weeks ago. On Oct. 6, word broke that Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader, was willing to offer a temporary reprieve allowing Congress to raise the debt ceiling. The market turned on a dime from its morning slump, finishing the day in positive territory. That week turned out to be the markets best since August.

Once done as a matter of course in Washington, raising the debt ceiling has been an increasingly contentious issue in recent years with sometimes serious implications for the market. In August 2011, a rancorous battle over the debt ceiling sent share prices tumbling sharply as investors began to consider the prospect that the United States could actually default on its debts.

But the recent deal on the ceiling even though it only pushed a reckoning into December suggested to investors that theres little appetite in Washington for a replay of a decade ago.

I think that let some pressure out of the system, said Alan McKnight, chief investment officer of Regions Asset Management. What it signaled to the markets was that you can find some area of agreement. It may not be very large. But at least they can come together.

With the impasse broken, the rally gained strength. Last Thursday, the S&P 500 jumped 1.7 percent its best day in roughly seven months as financial giants like Morgan Stanley and Bank of America reported stellar results.

Potential progress on a deal in Washington has only brightened investors outlook.

Democrats are now moving in the same direction, and hard decisions are being made, wrote Dan Clifton, an analyst with Strategas Research, who monitors the impact of policy on financial markets, in a note to clients on Wednesday.

What is the debt ceiling? The debt ceiling, also called the debt limit,is a cap on the total amount of money that the federal government is authorized to borrow via U.S.Treasury bills and savings bonds to fulfill its financial obligations. Because the U.S. runs budget deficits, it must borrow huge sums of money to pay its bills.

When will the debt limit be breached? After Senate leaders agreed to a short-term dealto raise the debt ceiling on Oct. 7, the Treasury estimated that the government can continue borrowing through Dec. 3. The deal sets up yet another consequential deadlinefor the first Friday in December.

Why does the U.S. limit its borrowing? According to the Constitution, Congress must authorize borrowing. The debt limit was instituted in the early 20th century so the Treasury did not need to ask for permission each time it needed to issue bonds to pay bills.

What would happen if the debt limit was hit? Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told Congressthat inaction on raising the debt limit could lead to a self-inflicted economic recession and a financial crisis. She also said that failing to raise the debt ceiling could affect programs that help millions of Americans, including delays to Social Security payments.

Do other countries do it this way? Denmark also has a debt limit, but it is set so high that raising it is generally not an issue. Most other countries do not. In Poland, public debt cannot exceed 60 percent of gross domestic product.

What are the alternatives to the debt ceiling? The lack of a replacement is one of the main reasons the debt ceiling has persisted. Ms. Yellen said that she would support legislation to abolish the debt limit, which she described as destructive. It would take an act of Congress to do away with the debt limit.

On Thursday, analysts spotlighted the news that the White House and congressional Democrats were moving toward dropping corporate tax increases they had wanted to include in the bill, as they hoped to forge a deal that could clear the Senate. A spending deal without corporate tax increases would be a potential boon to profits and share prices.

A stay of execution on higher corporate tax rates would seem a potentially noteworthy development, Daragh Maher, a currency analyst with HSBC Securities, wrote in a note to clients on Thursday.

An agreement among Democrats on whats expected to be a roughly $2 trillion spending plan would also open the door to a separate $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan moving through Congress. Progressives in the House are blocking the infrastructure bill until agreement is reached on the larger bill.

But the prospects for an agreement have helped to lift shares of major engineering and construction materials companies. Terex, which makes equipment used for handling construction materials like stone and asphalt, has jumped more than 5 percent this week. The asphalt maker Vulcan Materials has risen more than 4 percent. Dycom, which specializes in construction and engineering of telecommunication networking systems, was up more than 9 percent.

The renewed confidence remains fragile, with good reason. The coronavirus continues to affect business operations around the world, and the Delta variant demonstrated just how disruptive a new iteration of the virus can be.

Another lingering concern involves the higher costs companies face for everything from raw materials to shipping to labor. If they are unable to pass those higher costs on to consumers, it will cut into their profits.

That would be big, Mr. McKnight said. That would be a material impact to the markets.

But going into the final months of the year traditionally a good time for stocks the market also has plenty of reasons to push higher.

The recent weeks of bumpy trading may have chased shareholders with low confidence sometimes known as weak hands on Wall Street out of the market, offering potential bargains to long-term buyers.

Interest rates are relatively stable. Earnings are booming. Covid cases, thankfully, are dropping precipitously in the U.S., Mr. Zemsky said. The weak hands have left the markets and theres plenty of jobs. So why shouldnt we have new highs?

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Stocks Hit a Record as Investors See Progress Toward a Spending Deal - The New York Times

The Progress MS-17 spacecraft approaches the International space Station for docking Friday. Credit: Roscosmos

A Russian Progress supply ship docked with the new Nauka lab module at the International Space Station Friday, completing a 29-hour free flight after detaching from a different port at the complex.

The relocation positions the Progress spacecraft to assist with leak checks of the Nauka modules propulsion system, which will be used to help control the space stations attitude, or orientation, as it loops around Earth in orbit every hour-and-a-half.

The unpiloted Progress MS-17 supply ship undocked from the space stations Poisk module at 7:42 p.m. EDT (2342 GMT) Wednesday and backed away to a distance of 115 miles (185 kilometers) from the orbital outpost.

Once the spacecraft was the proper distance from the station, the Progress initiated a new approach to the complex using space-based navigation and a Kurs rendezvous radar system. The automated approach culminated in a docking with the Nauka module at 12:21 a.m. EDT (0421 GMT) Friday.

The docking was the first link-up of a Progress cargo freighter with the Nauka module, which arrived at the space station July 29, becoming the largest addition to the research complex in more than a decade. A Soyuz crew ship relocated to the Nauka module last month before departing Oct. 16 to head for landing, freeing up the modules docking port for the Progress MS-17 supply ship.

Nauka, which means science, had a troubled flight to the space station after launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on July 21. After encountering propulsion problems during the flight to the station, the Nauka module successfully docked with the Zvezda service module to wrap up the eight-day trip.

But hours after docking, thrusters on Nauka inadvertently started firing due to a software glitch. The thrusters forced the space station off its proper attitude and into a slow tumble. The station made one-and-a-half rotations before its other thrusters regained pointing control.

The Progress MS-17 spacecraft now docked to Nauka will perform leak checks of the modules propellant lines over the next few weeks.

Russias new Prichal node module will take the place of the Progress MS-17 spacecraft at the Nauka docking port next month.

The Prichal module is scheduled for launch Nov. 24 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Soyuz rocket, followed by docking to the Nauka module Nov. 26.

Once the Prichal module is in orbit on the way to the space station, the Progress MS-17 spacecraft will depart Nauka on Nov. 25, taking with it a docking adapter that launched with Nauka to temporarily accommodate Soyuz and Progress vehicles.

The Prichal module will become a standard docking location for visiting Soyuz crew ferry ships.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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Progress cargo ship relocated to new module at International Space Station Spaceflight Now - Spaceflight Now

WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Brawling factions of the Democratic Party on Thursday worked feverishly toward agreement on a huge U.S. social spending bill, even as Senator Joe Manchin said there would not be a deal "anytime soon" on broad outlines of legislation that is a pillar of President Joe Biden's agenda.

The warning from the key centrist lawmaker indicated that Democrats were still not close to agreeing on the size and contents of Biden's spending package.

"This is not going to happen anytime soon," Manchin told reporters.

With closed-door talks being held throughout the day, there were conflicting assessments of how rapidly disagreements could be resolved.

Democrats have spent months arguing about the size and scope of what Biden initially proposed as a $3.5 trillion plan to expand the social safety net and fight climate change.

Negotiators might cut it down to about $2 trillion or less. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal told reporters his goal was $2 trillion.

Manchin - who along with fellow moderate Senator Kyrsten Sinema has been pushing for a smaller package - had said earlier he believed Democratic negotiators could settle on a final figure by Friday. That would resolve a key sticking point, although progressives and moderates would still have to sort out the substance of the bill, including what programs to keep, what to cut, and how long to fund them.

Neal said he had talks with Sinema and that the two lawmakers were in "full agreement" on major initiatives, such as extending an expanded child tax credit and family and medical leave.

"I still think there's a long ways to go but the conversation was really good," Neal said.

Raising tax rates for corporations and wealthy individuals has been a hot-button issue for months in negotiations, spurring ideas for other ways to raise revenues.

"Senator Sinema has agreed to provisions in each of President Biden's four proposed revenue categories - international, domestic corporate, high net-worth individuals, and tax enforcement - providing sufficient revenue to fully pay for a budget reconciliation package in the range currently being discussed," a source familiar with the negotiations said.

The source did not provide details.

Sinema has told the White House she will not support Biden's proposed rate increases for corporations and wealthy individuals. The White House told some Democrats this week that the corporate tax hikes may be dead.

Representative Pramila Jayapal, who heads the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said the tax provisions were vital to the success of the legislation.

"I think it says terrible things about us as Democrats if we can't get those in here because of one senator," Jayapal told reporters.

FRAMEWORK DEAL SOON?

Democratic Senator Ben Cardin said he expected Democrats would agree on a total price tag within days, leaving lawmakers to fill in the details.

"I think they've got to stay in over the weekend to try to get this resolved," he said.

Biden told lawmakers on Tuesday he thought he could get Manchin and Sinema to agree to a figure in the range of $1.75 trillion to $1.9 trillion, according to a source familiar with the talks, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Getting to that number could mean giving up or delaying priorities, including a plan to offer all Americans the opportunity to attend two years of free community college, and scaling back others such as a child tax credit and funds for affordable housing.

Disagreements over the scale of the bill have held up Biden's domestic agenda, with progressives in the House of Representatives refusing to vote for a $1 trillion infrastructure bill already passed by the Senate until a deal is reached on social programs and climate change.

If a deal is promptly reached on the outlines of the big social spending bill, it could clear the way for House passage of the infrastructure bill as soon as next week.

Another stumbling block involves how to lower pharmaceutical prices.

A Sinema aide rejected media reports she does not want to give the government authority to negotiate lower drug prices for the Medicare healthcare program for seniors. The issue as been a Democratic priority for decades.

"As part of her direct negotiations over the reconciliation package, she is carefully reviewing various proposals around this issue," said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the final package could contain no tax rate increases at all.

During a visit to his native Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Wednesday, Biden said the social spending legislation, plus the infrastructure bill, would create 2 million jobs a year for 20 years and not raise the deficit.

Reporting by David Morgan and Richard Cowan; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Timothy Gardner; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Jonathan Oatis and Peter Cooney

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Divided Democrats see slow progress on Biden's social spending bill - Reuters

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Bring on the infrastructure progress | Opinion | swoknews.com - The Lawton Constitution

As Golden State ran its offensive system deeper into the shot clock, the Lakers helplessly chased Stephen Curry and Jordan Poole, running after the Warriors backcourt like a child chasing a puppy always too many steps behind to stop them.

The hope is that months from now the Lakers will be so connected and in tune with their defensive philosophies that theyll make up for not always being quicker by being smarter and more disciplined.

Obviously, we want to contain the ball one-on-one, win our one-on-one matchups. But if a guy gets beat and guys are gonna get beat off the dribble or off a closeout then our team defense has to be there, Anthony Davis said after Lakers practice Thursday. And its not just guarding the first action. If they drive, kick it, swing, pick and roll, swing, drive its multiple actions. And thats where weve got to get better, just playing through the whole 24.

Theyre not their yet. Minus the kind of elite on-ball defense that former Lakers like Alex Caruso and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope provided, the Lakers are going to need to be better as a group. That takes time and patience.

Obviously, thats a concern of mine, coach Frank Vogel said of the Lakers lacking a wing stopper. But we have to get the job done regardless of that. What I like is that we have two-way players. Everybody on our roster is good on both sides. Theres just not this specialist that we had guys that are elite on that side of the ball.

But theres other benefits to the other side, too, you know what I mean? And our thing is we just have to get our guys really executing our scheme at a high level. If they execute our scheme and chase their perimeter guys into our bigs the right way, and then pass them off the way we want to within our scheme, were confident that we should have an elite defense again.

The Lakers have had two top defenses in the top three during Vogels tenure, and hes regarded as one of the NBAs best tacticians in that regard. But the team doesnt have the same pieces, particularly on the perimeter.

With news that backup guard Kendrick Nunn, considered by some scouts to be one of the Lakers best perimeter defenders, will miss the next few weeks because of a bone bruise, the options on the outside are even thinner.

He joins guard Talen Horton-Tucker (thumb), forward Trevor Ariza (ankle) and guard Wayne Ellington (hamstring) as players unavailable for the Lakers game against Phoenix on Friday at Staples Center.

The great thing is we have depth, Vogel said. If everybody is healthy, were gonna have to make some difficult decisions as to which guys to go to, its just brought clarity to those decisions. Its not a situation where we dont believe in the guys that we have. We have the right depth to still get the job done. We dont feel like thats going to limit us.

The Lakers might end up turning more to veteran guard Avery Bradley, who the team claimed off of waivers after Bradley lost a bid for a spot with the Warriors.

Davis said Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka checked with him and LeBron James this summer once the Houston Rockets turned down Bradleys team option, wanting to make sure there were no bad feelings about Bradley opting out of the NBA bubble. He cited concerns for the health of his young son, who struggled to recover from respiratory illnesses, as to why he stayed behind.

It got brought up to us and Rob asked us, obviously, because of the whole bubble situation and all that to make sure we were all good. And we were all good, Davis said. And then this summer, we knew we had an opportunity from the buyout. We talked to him for a little bit. It didnt work out. And then we had another opportunity and we were able to get him the third time around. We definitely wanted him here. What he can bring to us defensively and offensively is something that we need.

After badly struggling in his first game with the Lakers, guard Russell Westbrook impressed his teammates with his attitude and production during Thursdays work.

He was himself. As a person and on the floor, Davis said. He got to some of his moves, the post-ups, where he scores. Dribble back downs where he scores and dribble pull-ups off the glass his go-to when he scores. Talking [expletive] to everybody and all that.

He was his normal self and its good to see that. He had a day off to reflect, get over it, flush it. And then come back to practice and get back to being himself. And hopefully it carries over to tomorrow where he can be Russell Westbrook.

Carmelo Anthony said while he doesnt know what Westbrook is dealing with specifically as he integrates to a new team, hes walked in those shoes before strangely enough when he joined Oklahoma City to play with Westbrook and Paul George.

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Were here to keep him positive, keep him motivated, keep him understanding that theres only one game. Hell figure it out. Youll figure it out. Well help you figure it out, Anthony said. But yeah, I know what its like, I know what its like being from here and wearing the white hat on the team to being one of the guys whos wearing the white hat on the team. So its a different feeling, a different emotion, a different mindset that you have to have.

UP NEXT

VS. PHOENIX

When: 7:30 p.m., Friday

On the air: TV: ESPN, Spectrum SportsNet; Radio: 710, 1330

Update: The Lakers season debut of their overhauled roster ended with a thud Tuesday against the Golden State Warriors, and things should only be tougher Friday when the Phoenix Suns come to Staples Center. The Suns are coming off a trip to the NBA Finals and have retained all their key players while the Lakers are still figuring each other out. Considering Phoenix lost its home opener, youd expect Chris Paul, Devin Booker and the Suns to be extra sharp on Friday.

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Lakers' defense is a work in progress that will take time - Los Angeles Times