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Apollo 17 samples reveal that the moon is 40 million years older than previously thought

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Geologist and astronaut Harrison Schmidt used an adjustable sampling scoop to retrieve lunar samples during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.

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Lunar dust collected by the Apollo 17 astronauts in the 1970s revealed that the moon is 40 million years older than previously believed.

After landing on the moon on December 11, 1972, NASA astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmidt collected rocks and dust from the lunar surface. A new analysis of that sample found zircon crystals and dated them to 4.46 billion years old. According to previous estimates, the Moon was formed by a massive celestial collision, 4.425 billion years old.

The findings were published in the journal Monday Geochemical Review Letters.

“These crystals are the oldest known solids that formed after a giant impact. Because we know how old these crystals are, they serve as an anchor for the lunar chronology,” said Philip Heck, Robert A. Pritzker said. Report.

The early days of our solar system — when Earth was still forming and growing in size — were chaotic, with rocky bodies often colliding in space. Around that time, 4 billion years ago, an object the size of Mars slammed into Earth, turning from a large chunk of rock into the Moon, researchers report. But scientists have struggled to precisely date this important event.

The energy of the impact of a Mars-sized object hitting Earth melted the rock that would eventually form the surface of the Moon.

“When the surface was melted like that, zircon crystals could not have formed and survived. So any crystals must have formed on the surface of the moon after this lunar magma ocean cooled,” said Heck, senior director of the museum’s Negaunee Integrated Research Center and a professor in the University of Chicago’s Department of Geophysics.

“Otherwise, they would have melted and their chemical signatures would have been destroyed.”

Previous research by Bidong Zhang, an assistant researcher in the Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, had suggested that determining the age of crystals in lunar dust could reveal the moon’s true age. Well done.

Zhang and co-author Audrey Bouvier, a professor of experimental planetology at the University of Bayreuth in Germany, approached Heck, a research associate in geosciences at the University of Glasgow, and lead study author Jenica Greer, to use an advanced technique to look at crystals at the nanoscale. Determine their chemical composition and state the age of the moon.

Jennica Greer/Northwestern University

A lunar zircon grain is shown under a microscope.

The research represents the first application of the analytical method of dating crystals by atomic scanning tomography and was carried out using instruments at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, the study authors report.

“In atomic tomography, we start by sharpening a piece of the lunar sample to a very sharp tip, using a focused ion beam microscope, like a very fancy pencil sharpener,” said Greer, a postdoctoral fellow at the Field Museum. and the University of Chicago when he worked on research. “Then we use UV lasers to vaporize atoms from the surface of that tip. The atoms travel through a mass spectrometer, and that tells us how fast they’re moving and how heavy they are, which tells us what they’re made of.

The analysis shows how many uranium atoms within the zircon crystals experienced radioactive decay. If their atoms have an unstable configuration of protons and neutrons, some of them will decay – similar to how uranium turns into lead. By tracking how long this process takes, scientists can determine the age of something by comparing the ratio of uranium to lead atoms.

“Radiometric dating works a bit like an hourglass,” Heck said. “In an hourglass, sand flows from one glass bulb to the other, indicating that sand has accumulated in the lower bulb over time. Radiometric dating works similarly by counting the number of parent atoms and the number of daughter atoms they have replaced. Since the transformation rate is known, the passage of time can be calculated.

The research team used lead isotopes within a lunar dust sample to determine that the crystals were 4.46 billion years old, indicating that the moon itself must be at least as old.

“It’s amazing to have evidence that the rock you’re holding is the oldest bit of the moon we’ve ever found,” Greer said. “This is a key point for many questions about Earth. If you know how old something is, you can better understand what happened to it in its history.

Dieter Isheim/Northwestern University

Lead study author Jennica Greer, a research associate in geosciences at the University of Glasgow, works at Northwestern University’s Center for Nuclear-Probe Tomography in Evanston, Illinois.

Although lunar samples were returned to Earth more than 50 years ago, it took time to develop the technology necessary to conduct detailed analysis of the crystals. This is what NASA is waiting for Unravel some archaic models Collected during the Apollo era until recent years, using more advanced methods allow more insights into our planet’s natural satellite.

“The Moon is an important player in our planetary system,” Heck said. “It stabilizes the Earth’s spin axis, it’s the reason there are 24 hours in a day, it’s the reason we have tides. Without the Moon, life on Earth would be different. It’s part of our natural system that we want to understand better, and our study is a small part of that whole picture. Presents the puzzle piece.

UAW expands strike to Stellantis pickup truck plant in Michigan

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  • The United Auto Workers expands its strike to the Stellandis plant in suburban Detroit.
  • About 6,800 workers are on strike at Stellandis’ Sterling Heights assembly plant in suburban Detroit.

United Auto Workers President Shawn Fine greets workers at the Stellandis Sterling Heights Assembly Plant to mark the start of contract negotiations on July 12, 2023 in Sterling Heights, Michigan, USA.

Rebecca Cook | Reuters

DETROIT – The United Auto Workers union is expanding a strike at the Stellandis plant in Michigan that makes Ram 1500 full-size pickup trucks.

About 6,800 workers at Stellantis’ Sterling Heights assembly plant in suburban Detroit are on strike, the union announced publicly after the walkout began Monday morning.

“Currently, Stellandis has a poor proposal regarding wage increases, temporary worker pay and conversion to full time, cost of living adjustments (COLA) and more,” the UAW said in a release.

The plant is one of the most important U.S. plants for Stellandis, although the automaker is willing to wait out a truck plant strike more than its crosstown rivals General Motors and Ford Motor Co., with healthy Ram pickups ready.

The unannounced walkout at SHAP brought the total number of UAW members on strike with Detroit automakers to more than 40,000. The targeted strikes began five weeks ago on Sept. 15 after the union and the Detroit automakers failed to reach new agreements.

This is breaking news. Check back for updates.

Foxconn faces China tax probe amid Taiwan election – sources

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TAIPEI, Oct 23 (Reuters) – Foxconn ( 2317.TW ), a key supplier of Apple ( AAPL.O ) iPhones, is facing a tax investigation in China, two sources close to Foxconn confirmed on Monday. Through a state-backed paper for political reasons related to Taiwan’s upcoming elections.

On Sunday, China’s state-backed Global Times tabloid said some of Foxconn’s key subsidiaries in China were subject to tax audits and that China’s Ministry of Natural Resources had conducted on-site investigations into the land use of Foxconn companies in Henan and Hubei provinces and elsewhere.

Both sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter, said several companies they did not name had been audited by Chinese authorities in recent months, but they believed Foxconn’s investigation was the only one made public for political reasons.

They highlighted the audit as coming less than three months before Taiwan’s presidential election and amid Foxconn’s diversification drive to move some manufacturing out of China.

Chinese officials in Henan, Hubei, Guangdong and Jiangsu did not immediately respond to faxed requests from Reuters about Foxconn’s audits.

Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd, employs hundreds of thousands of people in China and is a major investor there, regularly hailed by Beijing as an example of the success of Taiwanese investors in the country.

The first source told Reuters they saw the audit as a “warning” to Foxconn, which is shifting some of its products from China to India, including products for iPhones.

“Their economy is not good. It’s a warning to see big companies like us moving to India,” the source said.

“They want you to be on one side. You stay with us or leave,” said the first source.

The source said it could not be a coincidence that the audit was made public by a state-backed news agency just as Foxconn founder Terry Gou was set to become Taiwan’s next president in January elections.

A second source said the audit was “unexpected” and relatively “unusual”.

A woman drives past Foxconn’s logo outside the company’s building in Taipei, Taiwan on November 9, 2022. REUTERS/Ann Wang/File Photo Obtain licensing rights

The Global Times, known for its nationalistic tone, did not provide details of tax or land-use surveys that were not officially announced by any Chinese government department.

Foxconn said in a statement on Sunday that legal compliance is a “fundamental principle” of its operations everywhere and that it will “actively cooperate with relevant departments in related work and activities.”

On Monday, Foxconn said it had no further comment.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Foxconn’s billionaire founder Gou, who has no role in the company’s day-to-day operations and stepped down as the company’s chairman in 2019, is running as an independent candidate for president despite being down in the polls.

He accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of bringing the island to the brink of war with China with its hostile policies, and that only he, with his extensive business and personal connections in China and the United States, could keep the peace.

Huang Shih-hsiu, Gou’s campaign spokesman, referred questions about the Foxconn probe to the company, saying Gou was entrusted to run the company four years ago, no longer sits on the board, and is now only a shareholder.

Taiwanese Premier Chen Hsien-jen offered Foxconn government support, while Economy Minister Wang Mei-hua said his ministry was already in contact with the company.

Speaking at a campaign rally on Sunday, Taiwanese Vice President Lai Ching-te, the DPP’s presidential candidate and poll frontrunner, said the Chinese report on the investigation was “unexpected” and “regrettable”.

“So I hope all of our people can support Hon Hai and support Taiwanese companies,” he said in comments carried by Taiwanese television stations.

Foxconn shares fell as much as 3% on Monday. The broader market (.TWII) was down about 1%.

Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong, Edwina Gibbs and Sonali Paul

Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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Yimou Lee, a Reuters senior correspondent, covers everything from Taiwan to critical Taiwan-China relations, including China’s military aggression and Taiwan’s important role as a global semiconductor powerhouse. A three-time SOPA award winner, her reporting from Hong Kong, China, Myanmar and Taiwan over the past decade has included Myanmar’s crackdown on Rohingya Muslims, Hong Kong protests and Taiwan’s battle against China’s multi-pronged campaigns to annex the island.

Taylor Swift lands in Kansas City for another head game

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Taylor Swift attended Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium. This will be the third straight Chiefs home game Swift has attended amid confirmed rumors that Swift is dating tight end Travis Kelce. She was watching the game with Brittany, Sterling and Jackson Mahomes. KMBC 9 was able to confirm that the pop icon’s jet did indeed land in Kansas City ahead of the game. You can watch video of Swift’s plane landing at the downtown airport in the video player above. It’s a different NFL player that seems to have cemented Swift’s presence in the upcoming AFC West matchup for former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar. The long-retired QB posted a picture with Swift before the game. CBS Sideline Correspondent Tracy Wolfson has confirmed that the Grammy winner will be back at GEHA Field on Sunday. His source: tight end Travis Kelce. While the Chiefs were out last weekend following an appearance on Thursday Night Football, Kelce and Swift were seen holding hands following cameos on Saturday Night Live. Eagle-eyed at Swift’s gameday outfit. -The songwriter sports one of his signature friendship bracelets with #87The Chiefs kickoff against the Chargers at 3:25pm on Sunday. Get tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs game by clicking here: Ticketmaster | StubHub | SeatGeek | Clear Seats | Ticket City

Taylor Swift attended Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Los Angeles Chargers at Arrowhead Stadium.

This will be the third straight Chiefs home game Swift has attended amid confirmed rumors that Swift is dating tight end Travis Kelce.

Swift is back in Mahomes’ package for the game. She was watching the game with Brittany, Sterling and Jackson Mahomes.

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI - OCTOBER 22: Taylor Swift and Britney during a game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City #x20;at GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium on October #x20;City, Missouri.

KMBC 9 was able to confirm that the pop icon’s jet did indeed land in Kansas City ahead of the game. You can watch video of Swift’s plane landing at the downtown airport in the video player above.

This content was imported from Twitter. You can find the same content in a different format or find more information on their website.

It’s a different NFL player that seems to have cemented Swift’s presence in the upcoming AFC West matchup for former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar. The long-retired QB posted a picture with Swift before the game.

This content was imported from Twitter. You can find the same content in a different format or find more information on their website.

CBS Sideline Correspondent Tracy Wolfson has confirmed that the Grammy winner will be back at GEHA Field on Sunday. His source: tight end Travis Kelce himself.

This content was imported from Twitter. You can find the same content in a different format or find more information on their website.

While the Chiefs were out last weekend following an appearance on Thursday Night Football, Kells and Swift were seen holding hands following cameos on Saturday Night Live.

An eagle-eyed look at Swift’s gameday outfit shows the singer-songwriter sporting one of her signature friendship bracelets with #87.

This content was imported from Twitter. You can find the same content in a different format or find more information on their website.

The Chiefs kickoff Sunday against the Chargers at 3:25 p.m.

Get tickets to a Kansas City Chiefs game by clicking here: Ticketmaster | StubHub | SeatGeek | Clear seats | Ticket City

Fantasy Football Week 7 Breakdown – Who’s In and Who’s Out?

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AJ MassESPN staff writerOctober 22, 2023, 09:56 AM ET5 minutes of reading

Is Aaron Jones ready to return from injury this week?

Stefania Bell discusses Aaron Jones’ road to recovery from his hamstring injury and how he can return in Week 7.

Who should start? Who should sit? To set your fantasy football lineups and avoid starting an offensive player who isn’t in the lineup, we’ll be posting fantasy-related updates and analysis here as NFL teams release their official inactive lists. Any rankings quoted in this column are from us ESPN Fantasy Staff Rankings

Official Sunday blackouts begin approximately 90 minutes prior to scheduled kickoff times: 11:30 a.m. ET for early games and 2:30 p.m. ET for afternoon games.

Update often for latest information.


games at 1 p.m. ET

Damien Harris, RB, BUF Out/IR
Impact: James Cook and Latavius ​​Murray will split carries in the Buffalo backfield.

Quintin Morris, TE, BUFoutside
Impact: Dalton Kincaid returns from a concussion and will split targets with Dawson Knox.

Rosen Johnson, RB, CHIoutside
Impact: He’s still dealing with post-concussion issues, so a time split between De’Onta Foreman, Travis Homer and Darinton Evans will be in effect.

Justin Fields, QB, CHIoutside
Impact: Rookie Tyson Pageant, out of Division II, will get the call in his place.

Deshaun Watson, QB, CLEquestionable
Impact: Although he hasn’t played since Week 3, there are signs Watson will be back.

Kareem Hunt, RB, CLEquestionable
Impact: It will be decided after the pregame warm-ups. Dion Jackson was promoted to the active roster, so Sunday will see a healthy dose of Jerome Ford (and no Hunt).

Marvin Jones Jr., WR, DEToutside
Impact: Jones did not travel with the team for personal reasons. Expect an improvement in goals from Jameson Williams.

David Montgomery, RB, DEToutside
Impact: Jahmir Gibbs should handle most of the backfield touches, especially since Craig Reynolds is listed as questionable with a rib injury (Reynolds is expected to be active).

Alec Pierce, WR, INDquestionable
Impact: He trained fully late in the week, so the signs are good that he will be able to play. However, Michael Pittman Jr. and Josh Towns are the best fantasy options here.

Kylen Cranson, TE, INDoutside
Impact: Mo Ali-Cox and Drew Ogletree are likely to rotate in and out of the lineup.

Jimmy Garoppolo, QB, LVoutside
Impact: Brian Hoyer will start in his place and throw to Davante Adams, who was removed from Friday’s injury report.

Kayshon Boutte, WR, NEquestionable
Impact: Demario Douglas and JuJu Smith-Schuster are also listed as questionable. One of these three is going to get a chance to fit in, but none of them make decent fantasy options right now.

Hunter Henry, TE, NEquestionable
Impact: Even if he plays, he likely won’t be eligible to start this week — the same goes for Mike Gesicki, who will see more pitches if Henry sits.

Daniel Jones, QB, NYGquestionable
Impact: Tyrod Taylor would be good to get another start for a Giants team that has been underperforming all season.


4pm ET games

Zach Pascal, WR, ARIquestionable
Impact: Michael Wilson passed him so high in the WR pecking order that Pascal’s status deteriorated relatively.

Kyler Murray, QB, ARIoutside
Impact: His training window to return from IR has begun and a Week 8 start is possible. For now, Joshua Dobbs is under center.

Greg Dulcich, TE, DEN Out/IR
Impact: Dulcich injured himself last week and the Boomerangs are back on IR. Adam Trautman will start but it’s not a fantasy.

Aaron Jones, RB, GPquestionable
Impact: His hamstring continues to linger, prompting a game-time call. Be prepared for AJ Dillon to take the lead, but at least for now, Jones is expected to do just that.

Justin Watson, WR, KCoutside
Impact: He will not be placed on IR, but is expected to sit through at least Week 10. Kadarius Toney and Rashee Rice will benefit in the short term, but Mecole Hartman Jr. was reacquired by the Chiefs and may have something to say about that.

Jalen Kyden, WR, LACoutside
Impact: Although his three-week return from IR has begun, he’s still not ready to play. Next week may be a different story.

Kyron Williams, RB, LAR Out/IR
Impact: Darrell Henderson Jr. was promoted from a practice squad that already included rookie Zach Evans, Royce Freeman and Myles Gaskin. Adam Schefter reports that Freeman and Henderson will do the heavy lifting today.

Deontay Johnson, WR, PITActivated from IR
Impact: His return comes at a good time for a Steelers team that has placed TE Pat Freiermuth on IR due to a lingering hamstring injury.

TK Metcalfe, WR, Cquestionable
Impact: After a limited practice Friday, he could be a game-time call-up. If you have a healthy option to play in the early window, you may not want to wait for Metcalf.

Zach Charbonnet, RB, SEAquestionable
Impact: It’s like sitting here. Kenneth Walker III will see more carries than usual. DeeJay Dallas is expected to step into the backup RB role this week.


Sunday night game

Jeff Wilson Jr., RB, MIAActivated from IR
Impact: Eventually, he’ll share the backfield with Raheem Mostert, but it’s unclear how soon he overtakes Salvon Ahmed for that privilege.

Julio Jones, WR, PHI Promoted from practice squad
Impact: He’s only signed with the team, so expecting more than a limited snap this week might be too optimistic.

Marvin Harrison Jr. Masterclass Ohio State Beats Penn State 20-12

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Two heavyweight fighters felt their opponents up Saturday in a punt-filled first quarter, and the lessons learned were all too clear to the audience: Penn State and Ohio State are remarkably similar ball clubs.

Both teams leaned heavily on their stingy defenses — when was the last time you saw Ohio State kneeling in the locker room with three timeouts — and worked through inherent growing pains with a young, inexperienced quarterback. However, PSU quarterback Drew Allar saw no rest in his unproven receiving corps, and Ohio State gunner Kyle McCord drove away from the Nittany Lions in a Maserati.

Marvin Harrison Jr. solidified his first-round draft pick candidacy on Saturday, hauling in 11 receptions for 162 yards in Ohio State’s 20-12 victory Saturday.

During OSU’s opening drive, McCord stared down one of the best defenses in college football early Saturday, shredding the Blue-White secondary and completing all five of his opening passes. A dump down to Chip Traynum extended 19 yards into the red zone, but with the goal line choking its neck, Penn State’s defense finally began to match its pedigree. McCord promptly fired three consecutive incompletions, blocking a Buckeye drive and forcing a field goal.

Both defenses continued to perform at an elite level, forcing nine first-half punts, and linebacker Curtis Jacobs punched the ball away from a scrambling Kyle McCord in what appeared to be a momentum-changing blow in front of Penn State. A 56-yard fumble recovery touchdown in the second quarter.

A jubilant Jacobs jumps in celebration, however, as the Penn State secondary is whistled for a defensive tackle, giving Ohio State new life and new downs. McCord took full advantage, riffling Harrison Jr. at the four-yard line before handing the ball off to Mian Williams.

Penn State sandwiched Williams’ score with a pair of field goals to take Ohio State’s lead to 10-6 into the locker room.

That same stingy defense consumed the entire third quarter, seven combined possessions with five punts, one turnover and a fumble. But as Ohio State began to stretch its lead to four points in the fourth quarter, McCord turned to ol’ reliables Harrison Jr. and Kate Stover — who combined for 81 percent of OSU’s receiving yardage Saturday — for a pair of 30-yard grabs. The Buckeyes should be pushed into the opposing zone.

Ohio State knocked off a crucial field goal from 40 yards out, and a fourth-down stop in front of midfield set up a short field for the Buckeye defense, which Harrison Jr. eventually clinched with a 13-yard TD score. Penn State managed a consolation touchdown in the final minute, but the Buckeyes received an on-side kick and improved to 7-0 on the season.

House Republicans offer unity ‘guarantee’ to guarantee a speaker

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The Republican Study Group backed the strategy quickly on Saturday with signatures from speaker candidates Reps. Austin Scott (Ga.), Mike Johnson (La.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jack Bergman (Mich.) and Kevin Hearn (Okla.).
Rep. Byron Donalds (Fla.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (Minn.) are the only announced candidates who have not indicated support for the pledge.

However, they are only early contenders.

Lawmakers have until noon Sunday to make their nominations official before Monday night’s nominating forum and Tuesday morning’s GOP convention vote.

In a Saturday morning post, Emmer vowed to “always be honest and direct” with every Republican lawmaker and “never make a promise I can’t keep.”

“Our conference is at a crossroads and the deck is stacked against us,” Emmer warned.

Johnson released a lengthy letter to colleagues on Saturday listing his priorities if elected, including rebuilding trust and involving individual lawmakers in the policymaking process.

“It is incumbent upon us now to decide on a consensus candidate who will serve as a faithful caretaker and a good steward,” Johnson wrote. “We must govern well and expand our majority next year.”

House Republicans’ razor-thin majorities have enlarged and empowered the small group of lawmakers who ousted McCarthy.

Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry said he is not concerned about making it difficult to settle on a large pool of candidates in one choice. “We have a process, we have rules of convention,” he said.

“On Monday we’re going to come back and start over,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Friday.

A new crop of contestants spend the weekend working on the phones and recruiting partners to build their platform for the speakership. The same way Jordan spent last weekend.

With McCarthy, Scalise and Jordan all falling due to splits within the convention, many House Republicans are concerned that none of the new nominees will be able to get the 217 votes needed to secure the 217 votes needed without a major shift within the House GOP.

“I think the space and time for the overhaul is an important issue for House Republicans,” McHenry said Friday, explaining why he thought a weekend break was necessary in the process.

McHenry has promised to hold a third House vote in as many weeks, once the Republican convention decides on its next speaker nominee. However, if the House once again failed to elect a Speaker, he did not ask the Convention to pass a resolution authorizing him to introduce legislation.

Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.

After devastating wildfires, Maui pushes to honor its past

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Two months after a devastating wildfire, there is no clearer symbol to the outside world of Lahaina’s storied history and its rebirth than the 150-year-old banyan tree now in the center of town. , new, green leaves will sprout.

An image of the tree adorns T-shirts and coffee mugs with “Lahaina Strong” logos for sale by online merchants. When President Biden visited Maui after the fire, he pointed to the tree as a symbol of hope and resilience.

“I believe this is a powerful, very powerful, symbol of what we can and must do to overcome this crisis,” the president said.

However, the history of Lahaina – and the history of its most famous tree – is complex, intertwined with the painful loss of land and sovereignty to Native Hawaiians.

For many of those descendants, the banyan tree is a remnant of colonialism, planted by the son of missionaries who helped overthrow the Hawaiian kingdom, paving the way for annexation by the United States five years later and eventual statehood.

“There’s a growing sense that Native Hawaiians are really sick and tired of hearing stories about the banyan tree,” said Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp, an author and researcher specializing in Native Hawaiian history.

The fire that swept across West Maui on Aug. 8 claimed 98 lives, more than any U.S. wildfire in more than a century. Along with that, the human population lost a lot of history, including family traditions, old land records, etc. The flag, which was lowered after the Hawaiian kingdom was overthrown in 1898, and the entire museum help tell the city’s centuries-old story, beginning with the Polynesian sailors who first settled the islands.

Now, as conversations about rebuilding Lahaina take shape, native Hawaiians who fear their city will become a glitzy tourist destination like Honolulu’s Waikiki are demanding that their place in the city’s history be at the forefront of future Lahaina.

“It’s going to be a challenge to go forward in that way and remember it appropriately,” said Kalapana Kollers, an expert on Native Hawaiian culture who works for the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. Has a banyan tree.

But before rebuilding can begin and a complete history can be made, the precious pieces of Lahaina’s history that survived the fire must be rescued from the ash landscape.

So far, authorities have not allowed people back into the city to recover historical artifacts, and that has archaeologists like Kimberly Fluke, the foundation’s deputy director, worried that time is running out. He reviewed satellite images and took a guided tour through the city that allowed him to see the ruins. From what she sees, pieces of Lahaina’s history are waiting to be salvaged.

She saw ash and rubble from China, jade fu dog figurines and fragments of plantation-era ceramics and metalware, symbols of the time when Chinese laborers came to Maui to work in the sugar cane fields.

Mrs. Fluke’s research into how some objects survive the fire has given hope that other objects will return to museum shelves: scrimshaw dominoes left behind by 19th-century sailors whose whaling ships docked in Lahaina Harbor, and native objects made from volcanic rock, such as lie-pounders and fishing gear. .

But it could be weeks before authorities allow experts to search for artifacts. As people trickle back into inspecting their possessions, she worries that some items may be inadvertently damaged and other items stolen by thieves interested in history.

Although many items are recovered, the repositories for them must be recreated, in some cases from scratch. All but one of the 14 historic buildings, the museums where the foundations were maintained, were either destroyed, or heavily damaged. The Wo-Hing Museum, set up by Chinese immigrants in the early 20th century, remains a pile of ashes. Gone are the wooden gatehouses and cell blocks of the old Lahaina Jail, built in the 1850s to deal with rowdy sailors on shore leave. The Master’s Reading Room, a resting place for officers on whaling ships, was destroyed, only its stone wall still standing.

“It’s huge,” said Theo Morrison, director of the Lahaina Restoration Foundation. “I can’t even wrap my head around it.”

The Smithsonian Institution has offered to provide boxes and storage boxes for salvaged materials and materials for cleaning tents, as well as personal protective equipment for rescue workers.

It’s a role the Smithsonian often plays in an age of climate-change-related natural disasters like wildfires and hurricanes, said Katelyn Averitt of the Smithsonian’s Cultural Recovery Initiative, which was established after the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

He said there was growing concern that Ms Fluke’s artefacts could not be recovered, but said this was common in the early stages following a disaster.

“Frustrations can really build and accumulate because you know the value and importance of these sites and the things that are there, and you feel them so deeply,” he said.

For Native Hawaiians, the destruction of the Na’aikanae o Maui Cultural and Research Center is one of the losses of a center for Hawaiian history and a venue for seminars on contemporary issues such as water rights. “Old documents. Maps. Genealogy. Books actually signed by our kings,” said Kiyamoku Kapu, who oversees the center. told NPR.

While the talk is about the future and how to shape the rebuilding of Lahaina, many believe the fire will be a catalyst to elevate Native Hawaiian history, often overshadowed by stories of missionaries and sugar plantations.

A royal headquarters surrounded by a lagoon when Lahaina was a verdant wetland — once called the “Venice of the Pacific” — Moku’ula is today buried beneath a baseball field, but invisible to all but archaeologists. Who is plumbing it?

After the fire, there is a push back To rescue Moku’ula. And there are New calls A Berlin museum returned a statue of the Hawaiian deity Kihawahine taken from Moku’ula, a German microbiologist who conducted leprosy research on the island in the 1880s.

“Mokuela is the beginning,” said Archie Kalepa, who traces his ancestry back nine generations in Lahaina and is working with search teams as a cultural curator. “So you have to show respect and honor to the startup in order for us to move forward.”

Mr. Kaleba appreciates Banyan Tree’s existence as a cherished gathering place in the city, but believes it has obscured indigenous history.

“The banyan tree is part of Lahaina, but it’s not part of the original history of Lahaina,” he said.

A fire destroyed the home of one of his great-grandmothers, where all of the family’s documented genealogy and old photographs were stored.

“The only thing we have now is each other,” he said.

That and memories:

“Going down the front street and smelling different smells like flowers, fruit, dirt. It was a unique smell that you can only smell in this place. You could walk down the street with your eyes closed and you’d know where you were if you lived here.

“That’s how well we know this place. It’s gone.”

Home-field advantage swings the NLCS in favor of the T-Backs

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PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks are getting a world-class education in the 2023 postseason. They teach the Philadelphia Phillies a few things.

Lesson no. 1: There is a big difference between playing regular season baseball in downtown Phoenix and playoff baseball at Chase Field.

The latest example was Friday’s stunning 6-5 win over the Phillies in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series.

“When we do things like this, the baseball world sees the Arizona Diamondbacks as a good team,” T-backs manager Torrey Luullo said. “I’m tired of that narrative that we’re lucky to be here.”

The stats don’t tell how the Diamondbacks tied the NLCS at two games apiece. Their offense is often leaked. Some of their stars are struggling, notably Corbin Carroll and Christian Walker.

The difference is their home field advantage. A raucous, relentlessly sold-out crowd shattering reputations and eardrums. In a game that featured 36 players and was slogged to 16 pitchers, 47,806 fans wouldn’t stop screaming until the Diamondbacks stepped into the winner’s circle.

Once again, Lovullo took some time after the game to personally thank the Arizona fans.

“It’s really loud,” Lovello said. “It helps us get through those emotional highs and lows. You carry us through those down times.

The game was not an easy watch. The T-backs tiptoed through a delicate tapestry for the first six innings, piecing together a bullpen game to mask their flawed starting rotation.

They lost their grip as a pair of left-handed pitchers struggled to give relief to left-handed hitters in Philadelphia’s powerful lineup. Kyle Schwarber went deeper than Kyle Nelson in the fourth inning, passing Reggie Jackson for most postseason home runs by a left-handed hitter; And an inning later, Brandon Marsh hit an RBI double to left off Andrew Chalfrank.

Bullpen games are great during the dog days of summer. They are dangerous in October because so much is required and so much can go wrong. A platoon of relief pitchers isn’t always as pretty as the matchups appear on paper. As the Phillies got their footing on Friday, they felt like they had a stranglehold on the NLCS.

But the T-backs kept grinding. When Alec Thomas smashed a pinch-hit home run into the pond to tie the game in the eighth inning, it was Bedlam time in the Valley. Neither the home team nor the home crowd were deterred.

“A lot of people didn’t think we’d be here,” Thomas said. “None of that matters … (It’s been) a crazy season, a crazy playoffs, and I’m just so grateful to be here with all the guys.”

What a twist. In the first two games of the NLCS, the difference in pedigree and class seemed stark. It felt like the Phillies were too much of a baseball team for the T-backs to handle. The story turned on deaf ears.

The big twist is inside Chase Field, a field that is sparse and quiet during the regular season, often referred to as a morgue or an airplane hangar. Not anymore. The team is now 3-0 at Chase Field in a postseason where every game has been a thrilling experience and full-decibel madness. And it gives the D-backs an edge they lacked for much of the regular season, proving another axiom of baseball:

Before placing the rings on your fingers, you should listen to the ringing in your ears.

The US deficit, set at $1.7 trillion, will effectively double by 2023

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The U.S. federal budget deficit is set to double in fiscal year 2023 as falling tax receipts, rising interest rates and continued demand for expiring pandemic relief benefits strain the nation’s finances.

The latest Treasury Department figures show a budget deficit of $1.7 trillion in 2023, up from $1.37 trillion in 2022. Those are the numbers The deficit will be small than last year because of the accounting scare associated with President Biden’s proposed student-loan forgiveness program last year.

That plan was struck down by the Supreme Court this summer and never went into effect. But the Treasury booked it as spending in 2022, pushing up that year’s deficit. After the court killed the plan, the Treasury booked it as savings, artificially reducing this year’s deficit.

Those student loan effects changed the deficit figures for both 2022 and 2023. When they are calculated, the deficit will rise from about $1 trillion in 2022 to $2 trillion in 2023, administration officials confirmed on a call with reporters on Friday.

In other words, the Treasury assumed it saved $300 billion by 2023, when all it actually did was replace a rate that never existed.

By raising taxes on high-income earners and corporations, Mr. Officials downplayed the increase in press releases announcing deficit totals, focusing on Biden’s proposals.

“The Biden administration remains focused on leading the transition of our economy to healthy and sustainable growth,” said Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said in the release. “As we do, the president and I are committed to addressing the challenges to our long-term fiscal outlook.”

The widening gap between what the government spends and what it earns comes at an awkward moment, as the president looks to a divided Congress for aid to Israel and Ukraine. Amid concerns about government spending and whether the U.S. could finance two wars.

Republicans — who helped run large budget deficits with tax cuts and increased spending while they were in power — have begun pushing for deeper budget cuts in order to reduce the federal deficit. The widening deficit means getting Congress to agree to a series of spending bills that must be passed next month to avert a government shutdown will be even more challenging.

On Friday, Mr. Biden’s administration has formally asked Congress to approve more than $100 billion in emergency spending, including military aid to Ukraine and Israel, humanitarian aid in those countries and Gaza, and new efforts to improve US border security.

Ms. Yellen said this week that the United States was able to absorb those costs.

“The United States can certainly stand with Israel and support Israel’s military needs, and support Ukraine in its fight against Russia,” Ms Yellen told Sky News.

Despite worries in Washington and on Wall Street about the tight fiscal path, lawmakers have been unable to coalesce around plans to enact meaningful spending cuts or tax increases. The impasse in the House of Representatives, which has been unable to elect a speaker since Republicans ousted Rep. Kevin McCarthy this month, has prevented Congress from passing any legislation or short-term spending packages.

Economists and deficit hawks warn that the current path of borrowing is unsustainable, especially if rates remain high for long.

The national debt was $33 trillion this year, and financial watchers warn that within the next three decades, debt interest costs will be the nation’s biggest expense. Congressional Budget Office By 2053, the public’s federal debt 177 percent of GDP.

The Treasury said on Friday that net interest on the debt would increase to $659 billion in 2023 from $475 billion last year. The Peterson Foundation, a financial watchdog, noted Friday that $10.6 trillion in net interest costs over the next decade will be more than double what the U.S. has spent on interest over the past 20 years.

“I believe we’ve reached a critical moment — our fiscal affairs are completely off track,” Kent Conrad, a senior fellow at the Bipartisan Policy Center, told lawmakers Thursday at a congressional hearing on the need for a new fiscal commission. “Rising deficits and debt are an economic and national security concern.”

Deficits have increased this year due to a number of factors, including delays in collecting tax revenue as a result of severe weather and the unexpected high costs of some federal programs. For example, the Internal Revenue Service is paying billions of dollars in tax refunds related to the Employee Retention Credit, a pandemic-era benefit that was recently suspended due to concerns about fraud.

The Biden administration hopes to rely on a beefed-up IRS to boost tax collections, securing $80 billion in new funding as part of last year’s climate legislation. While the agency has had some early success in cracking down on tax evasion, it already faces the prospect of losing a quarter of that funding. A Congressional Budget Office report this week predicted $25 billion would be cut from the IRS budget Add a deficit of more than $24 billion.

In 2017, former President Donald J. Biden administration officials sought to blame the deficit on Trump. Those cuts have reduced federal revenue and increased the deficit since they were enacted, analysts agree. Some officials agree that the deficit has grown significantly more than the administration had predicted last year. A Congressional Budget Office analysis suggests the unexpected growth is the result of higher borrowing costs and a decline in tax revenue.

That decline was attributed to falling capital gains tax receipts, increased claims — possibly fraudulent — for a pandemic-era tax break and the I.R.S. Decision to delay tax filing deadline for people in California and other states hit by natural disasters

“The increase in the deficit last year was largely due to a sharp drop in tax revenue, while spending on programs other than Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid actually fell slightly as a share of the economy,” Mr. Biden’s National Economic Council. “As budget analysts warn, Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and big corporations are increasing the deficit and our national debt.”

Mr. Biden has proposed more than $2 trillion in tax increases and other measures to reduce future deficits in this year’s budget. He signed two tax increases into law: a minimum tax for large corporations and a tax on stock repurchases. He has increased funding for the IRS to crack down on tax evasion and attract more revenue. Those measures will reduce the deficit from what it has been, but not enough to offset the overall growth in the deficit in the coming years.

Some administration officials agree that the president should propose more comprehensive deficit reduction — certainly in the form of higher tax increases on high-income earners and corporations — if interest costs don’t fall in the future.

Expiring in 2025, Mr. Top Democrats in Congress say the sharp increase in borrowing costs will embolden them to fight against Trump’s tax cuts, or at least Republican efforts to make permanent rules that benefit high earners and corporations. Mr.

“We’re in a very different interest rate environment today than we were a year ago — about a 180-degree difference,” said Rep. Brendan F. of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the budget committee. Boyle said in an interview.

“As we continue to reduce inflation — and all the trends are pointing in the right direction — I believe you’ll see those interest rates come down, which will give us some relief when it comes to the deficit,” he added. . “But there’s no question as we look to 2025, and the expiration of the Trump tax cuts, we need more revenue.”

Republicans have focused more on controlling spending on social safety net programs like Social Security and Medicare, which are the largest and most expensive federal programs.

“The mandatory spending and entitlement programs are driving the debt, and if we don’t address them we will really bankrupt this country,” said Rep. Jody C. of Texas, the Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee. Arrington said. , said this week.

Despite the relative strength of the US economy internationally, its long-term fiscal problems are a matter of concern for global economic policymakers.

“Fiscal policy is very loose at this point,” said Geeta Gopinath, first deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, in an interview last week. “We think it’s time for fiscal consolidation and rebuilding buffers.”

Ben Casselman Contributed report.