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The Debt Limit Bill: Yet Another Triumph for Bipartisanship

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

The U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on June 2, 2023.Photo: Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesThis weekend, President Joe Biden is expected to sign a bill raising the federal debt limit for approximately two years. It passed the House 314-117, with 149 of the yes votes coming from Republicans and 165 from Democrats. The bill passed the Senate 63-36. Forty-four Democratic senators voted for it, along with 17 Republicans and two independents.The New York Times concludes that, compared with previous Congressional Budget Office forecasts, it will cut federal spending by $55 billion in 2024 and $81 billion in 2025. Moody’s Analytics estimates that, thanks to the bill, there will be 120,000 fewer jobs at the end of 2024 than there would be without it. According to the CBO, cuts to Internal Revenue Service enforcement will lead to tax revenues falling to the degree that it will actually increase the deficit on net, thereby accomplishing the exact opposite of the bill’s purported ai...

DC rated best city for parks for 3rd straight year

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

Photo of series of waterfalls in Meridian Hill Park in northwest Washington D.C. This park is an example of neoclassicist park design and has some of the most beautiful architecture in the city.(Courtesy Getty Images/iStockphoto/Coast-to-Coast) Photo of series of waterfalls in Meridian Hill Park in northwest Washington D.C. This park is an example of neoclassicist park design and has some of the most beautiful architecture in the city.(Courtesy Getty Images/iStockphoto/Coast-to-Coast) D.C. has been rated the top city in the nation for public parks for the third straight year, according to an annual ParkScore ranking by the Trust for Public Land.The nonprofit said the District scored high on a number of factors i...

Second bald eaglet falls to the ground from Dulles Greenway nest

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

One of the Dulles Greenway eaglets before two of the birds fell from their nest this week (Courtesy Dulles Greenway) One of the Dulles Greenway eaglets before two of the birds fell from their nest this week (Courtesy Dulles Greenway) For the second time in a week, a section of the bald eagle’s nest along the Dulles Greenway in Leesburg, Virginia, collapsed, this time sending the eaglet known as DG3 tumbling to the ground.The latest collapse happened early Friday morning, according to Terry Hoffman, the public and customer relations manager for the Dulles Greenway.Hoffman explained he woke up at about 5:30 a.m. on Friday morning and checked the eagle cam before heading to his gym for a workout.“So I’m halfway throu...

More Weekend Storms in Store

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

South Florida has endured a stormy stretch of weather much of this week and unfortunately that looks to continue this weekend with scattered to numerous showers and storms. All this while we track Tropical Storm Arlene that is moving to the south and toward Cuba across the eastern Gulf of Mexico. Thankfully, this system will not directly impact South Florida and is forecast to weaken back into a tropical depression later today.In South Florida on this Saturday, expect a mix of sun and clouds this morning with a few spotty showers and thunderstorms, mainly across our local waters and near the Florida Keys. Then during the afternoon, showers and thunderstorms will develop and should affect much of metropolitan South Florida at some point in the afternoon. As of this morning’s model guidance, it appears that our best chance for seeing rain will be during the 2-7pm time period. Given the repeated rounds of heavy rainfall in spots, a Flood Watch remains in effect through tonight ac...

Global plastic treaty talks limp on despite blockade by oil-rich countries

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

PARIS — Getting 170-plus countries to agree on a global treaty to fight plastic pollution was never going to be easy. But negotiators didn’t think clearing the first hurdle would be this hard.A second round of U.N. talks for an international plan to tackle plastic pollution limped toward its conclusion Friday, marred by delays, protests, and geopolitical tensions.A key aim for many countries was to give the go-ahead for the broad strokes of a plastics treaty to be drafted, giving them something to work off of at the next round of talks in Kenya in November.The meeting ended Friday evening with a mandate to draft the text — to the relief of countries in the High Ambition Coalition, which is pushing to “end plastic pollution by 2040,” and NGOs. “After a week of negotiations, the world is one step closer to the unmissable opportunity of a global treaty to end the plastic pollution crisis,” said WWF Special Envoy Marco Lambertini. “The first draft of t...

‘Now we go.’ As Jameson Taillon returns to form and bullpen steps up in 1-run win, the Chicago Cubs must ride the momentum.

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

Jameson Taillon’s start to his four-year deal with the Chicago Cubs largely has been forgettable.A left groin strain and time on the injured list two weeks into the season spiraled into a five-start stretch that produced 21 earned runs in 17⅓ innings. Encouraging moments have been fleeting for the 31-year-old veteran this season, with the Cubs believing in his track record as a big-league starter with a career 3.84 ERA and 107 ERA+.“I’ve been just grinding trying to find it,” Taillon said Friday. “After you come to a new team and organization, you just want to impress and you want to prove that you’re worth the commitment that they gave you. I feel like up until this point, I haven’t been doing that, I haven’t been pulling my weight.”Taillon delivered his best outing in a Cubs uniform with a tone-setting performance in a 2-1 win Friday against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.The Padres managed only one base runner on an ...

Column: It’s no Taylor Swift concert, but Chicago White Sox hope to to shake off possibility of a cruel summer to start homestand

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

The opener of a three-game series between the Chicago White Sox and Detroit Tigers on Friday might have lacked some of the anticipation of the Taylor Swift concert a few miles north.There was no bad blood between the teams, as was the case in years past. All the Sox could do after their 23-35 start in April and May was to shake it off or face the possibility of another cruel summer on the South Side.Manager Pedro Grifol was just excited to have his whole team back for the first time, with Elvis Andrus and starter Mike Clevinger coming off the injured list Friday, four days after the return of closer Liam Hendriks from non-Hodgkin lymphoma.“Having a full roster like this and having some depth is going to allow us to rest people more often than we have been able to,” Grifol said before Friday’s 3-0 victory. “And that’s important for us to allow bodies to recover while we still have the depth in our lineup.”How Grifol deals with the rare abundance of...

MIT Graduation

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

On a beautiful summer like day, MIT graduated members of its class of 2023 with their first degrees from the world renowned institution.

Lucas: IRS still gunning for taxpayers under Biden

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

Joe Biden will soon have a bigger army than the U.S had when it invaded Normandy in World War II.That invasion, which led to victory over Nazi Germany, took place on June 6, 1944 — the longest day — and will be commemorated Tuesday.Excluding the UK and Canada, the U.S. had some 71,000 troops in that invasion, 54,000 who stormed the beaches at Omaha and Utah, along with 13,000 paratroopers and 4,000 glider infantrymen who landed inland.Joe Biden’s army in his war against the American taxpayer is made up of 85,260 new IRS agents – down from 87,000 — which not only doubles the existing size of the agency but will cost the taxpayers billions to pay for the expansion.It is too bad Biden will not send IRS agents to the southern border to protect the American people from the millions of illegal immigrants who have invaded the country. Instead, they will go after Americans.Biden administration maintains that the new agents will only go after tax dodging corporations and billiona...

Battenfeld: Could Biden health concerns trigger Democratic doomsday scenario?

Published Wed, 19 Feb 2025 21:00:20 GMT

Some falls are funny and some are alarming. The tumble by 80-year-old President Biden on the stage in Colorado falls into the alarming category.As you’ve probably seen, Biden tripped over a sandbag and fell head first onto the stage at the Air Force Academy after speaking, drawing audible gasps from the audience. Looking dazed and confused, the commander-in-chief pointed at the sandbag, as if it had jumped out in front of him.The media coverage of the incident was almost apologetic, as if covering for the president. The media pool report described Biden as looking “spry” after the fall. The headline in the Reuters story was, “Biden trips and falls during graduation ceremony, recovers quickly.” White House officials called him “totally fine.”A number of media had to go back to 1975 to talk about a fall then-President Gerald Ford took, as if to somehow imply this was common.But it wasn’t. If your 80-year-old father fell like that, you wouldn’t be quite so dismissive. You’d be naturall...