“We knew today, with the eyes of the nation watching action in Austin, that we needed to send a message,” state Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer, a San Antonio Democrat, said at a news conference held at a historically Black church in Austin early Monday, shortly after he and other lawmakers left the state Capitol. “And that message is very, very clear: Mr. President, we need a national response to federal voting rights.”
June 01, 2021 at 05:41AM
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/texas-voting-rights-congress/2021/05/31/a3ff5f6a-c229-11eb-93f5-ee9558eecf4b_story.html
After defeating restrictive voting bill, Texas Democrats send loud message: ‘We need Congress to do their part’ - The Washington Post
Liberty is the gift that keeps on giving. In this case, it’s also the gift that keeps being given.
France will send the U.S. a new Statue of Liberty on June 7, Le Journal du Dimanche reported on Sunday. The statue will arrive in New York on the 4th of July, the U.S.’s Independence Day, and represents the historic links between France and the U.S. The statue will be much smaller than her big sister, reaching 2.83 meters.
The Statue of Liberty that can be seen off the coast of New York today was a 19th century gift from France to celebrate the first century of U.S. independence. “We wanted to reconnect with this Franco-American history,” the French ambassador to the U.S. Philippe Etienne said, adding that the Statue of Liberty “is a double symbol, of liberty, but also of welcome.”
Le Journal du Dimanche reports that, when the idea was conceived in July 2019, it was meant to show to the U.S. that “France stayed loyal to the spirit of friendship” between the two countries that originated in their shared history. France supported what would become the U.S. in the American Revolutionary War.
The project was postponed however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and taken up again during the winter. The statue will be celebrated on its departure from Paris, its first arrival to the U.S. in New York, and then when it reaches its destination on July 14.
The monument will be placed in the garden of the French ambassador’s Washington, D.C. residence, where it will remain for ten years as a loan from the Conservatoire du Quai d’Orsay.
France’s gesture comes as the U.S.’s approach to Europe feels the effects of Biden’s election. Relations are vastly improved, although some have complained of persisting exceptionalism.
China says three male astronauts will blast off next month for a three-month mission on China’s new space station
ByThe Associated Press
May 31, 2021, 2:00 AM
• 2 min read
BEIJING -- A three-man crew of astronauts will blast off in June for a three-month mission on China’s new space station, according to a space official who was the country's first astronaut in orbit.
The plans for the station’s first crew were confirmed to state television by Yang Liwei, the manned space program’s deputy chief designer, as an automated spacecraft was launched with fuel and supplies for the Tianhe station.
The Tianhe, or Heavenly Harmony, is the third and largest space station launched by China’s increasingly ambitious space program. Its core module was launched into orbit April 29.
The Shenzhou 12 capsule carrying the crew will be launched from the Jiuquan base in China’s northwest next month, Yang said in comments broadcast Saturday by China Central Television.
They will practice spacewalks and conduct repairs and maintenance as well as scientific operations.
Yang, who orbited Earth in 2003, gave no details of the astronauts’ identities or a flight date and said the crew will come from the program’s two earliest groups of astronauts.
Asked whether women would be in the crew, Yang said, “on Shenzhou 12 we don’t have them, but missions after that all will have them.”
The Tianzhou-2 spacecraft that docked with Tianhe on Sunday carried 6.8 tons of cargo including space suits, food and equipment for the astronauts and fuel for the station, according to the space program.
The space agency plans a total of 11 launches through the end of next year to deliver two more modules for the 70-ton station, supplies and the crew.
Beijing doesn’t participate in the International Space Station, largely due to U.S. objections. Washington is wary of the Chinese program’s secrecy and its military connections.
China has sent 11 astronauts, including two women, into space beginning with Yang’s flight in October 2003. The first female astronaut was Liu Yang in 2012.
All of China's astronauts to date have been pilots from the ruling Communist Party's military wing, the People's Liberation Army.
Astronauts on the Tianhe will practice making spacewalks with two people outside the hull at one time, according to Yang. China’s first spacewalk was made in 2008 by Zhai Zhigang outside the Shenzhou 7 capsule.
Also this month, the Chinese space program landed a probe, the Tianwen-1, on Mars carrying a rover, the Zhurong.
My son turned one earlier this month. We received a lot of presents from friends and family through Amazon. But we aren't sure where to send some of the thank you cards.
If you buy an item from Amazon and have it shipped somewhere else, it'll just arrive in a box without any sort of note for the recipient about who sent it. Amazon knows you have a record of the purchase through its website. It makes sense most of the time. But, if you're sending a gift, you need to mark it as a gift before you finish the purchase.
When you do that, Amazon will ship the item with a gift receipt and a note that shows who bought the item. And then people like me will know who to thank. (Thank you for the gifts, by the way.)
How to send items as gifts on Amazon so people know who sent it
Find an item you want to buy and add it to your Amazon cart.
On the cart subtotal screen that opens next, click the small checkbox that says "This order contains a gift."
How to send a gift from Amazon
Click proceed to checkout.
You'll see a screen that shows here option to customize a message -- it's autopopulated with "Hi, Enjoy your gift!" and a note who it's from.
Make sure the "gift receipt" box is checked if you want the recipient to have the option to return or exchange it. Prices are hidden.
You can include an optional gift bag for an added fee. In this example, my fee is about $5.
Click "Save gift options."
Select your payment method and continue checkout as normal.
That's it! Now, the recipient of your gift will know who sent it.
The series For All Mankind (2019) is a fictional alternate history that imagines a world where the Soviet Union was the first power to send an astronaut to the moon. From that starting point, the two rival superpowers compete to establish their own lunar station.
Just a few short years later, the scenario is no fantasy. Fifty years after the Apollo 11 mission in 2019 the United States announced its intention to return to the Moon in 2024. In light of the concept of “New Space”, this new ambition highlights a growing geostrategic competition, particularly given China’s precipitous rise.
Artemis, one step ahead
To succeed on this mission, NASA has promoted the Artemis program, a consortium led by the United States that brings together eight other countries – Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Ukraine, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. NASA and Brazil signed a statement of intent in December 2020 to join the program. Each participant will contribute to the completion of the mission with technical and scientific support.
NASA is also counting on the private sector, including the SpaceX Starship (SN1), to fulfill the human landing system (HLS) program. The program will have three stages:
Artemis I, an unmanned flight scheduled by the end of 2021.
Artemis II, a manned flight with the goal of positioning the spacecraft in orbit around the Moon in 2023.
Artemis III, which will launch the lunar lander with two astronauts in 2024.
In Japan, the Toyota Group has partnered with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to propose a pressurized lunar vehicle that would participate in future missions of the international program.
China also has an ambitious program in the works – the January 2019 landing of the Chang'e-4 spacecraft on the far side of the Moon demonstrates its spectacular progress. In the summer of 2020, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) reiterated the country’s intention to create an international lunar research station (ILRS) as soon as 2036. Moscow signed a memorandum of understanding in March 2021 with China to create a lunar station, but no further details are known at this point.
India is another contender. While the country’s space program does not currently envision the construction of a lunar base, it is preparing astronauts for a lunar mission. However, critical failures such as the Chandrayaan-2 crash have slowed down the program’s development. Along with the Gaganyaan program, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) planned to send a manned flight to the Moon, but it will not occur before the next decade.
Settling on the Moon, for what purpose?
Some consider the Moon as a necessary step before a manned mission to Mars, serving as a training ground for astronauts and forming the basis for a long-term human presence. However, the differences between their respective environments limits the validity of this hypothesis: Mars has an atmosphere that changes the access conditions. For the time being, these projects remain in the realm of wishful thinking.
Although no one really knows the possibility and profitability of mining activities on the Moon, groups such as the Planetary Society argue that there are significant resources that could favor such an enterprise.
In recent years, discoveries have indicated significant water-ice deposits at the poles of the Moon. In a multitude of microcraters, 60% of the deposits would be set in the South Pole as recent studies suggest. Although no one has ventured to attempt a complete estimation, some research indicates that a significant volume of water is present – ranging from 100 million to 1 billion tons for each polar area. NASA’s interest in establishing a lunar station in this region is linked to the possibility of extracting water, a critical resource for sustainable human presence. However, the determination of water-ice morphology, concentration, distribution and abundance remains essential, because the energy cost of its extraction depends on its nature. These data will determine the ability to execute any plan to exploit water-ice on the lunar surface.
The lunar soil could also conceal important reserves of helium-3, whose volume would represent nearly 2.5 million tons according to Russian researchers. Rare on Earth, this non-radioactive isotope could potentially serve as fuel for nuclear fusion reactors. But such reactors do not yet exist, and few people dare to make predictions about when they will be built. Very hypothetical to date, the use of helium-3 in the long term would require the design of a cost-effective extraction method with adequate infrastructure and the ability to transport it to Earth.
Furthermore, mining raises major legal issues as the United States has yet to sign the 1979 Moon Treaty along with China and Russia. On April 6, 2020, then-president Donald Trump issued an executive order stating that the United States did not consider outer space to be part of global commons. In his first 100 days in office, President Joe Biden signed more than 60 executive orders, but had not yet indicated if there would be a change in the US’ position on space resources.
Finally, NASA has unveiled the LunaNet architecture in its Artemis program. This device would facilitate the transfer of data between the Earth and the Moon, allowing astronauts to be alerted in real time when solar flares threaten space-based weather instruments. Complemented by positioning and navigation services, this architecture would secure human activities on the Moon.
Limits and challenges
Returning to the Moon implies significant budgetary efforts, even as the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic have hit world economies hard. NASA’s 2021-2025 budget for the Artemis program is assured until 2024, set at $28 billion, including $16 billion dedicated to the lunar lander. As yet the Biden administration has not stated that it will increase spending to enable humans to return to the lunar surface, and it could be delayed until after 2024.
The political context of the current Moon project differs from that of the Apollo program in the 1960s. At that time, the United States wanted to assert its superpower status, and the program had bipartisan support from the start. The current NASA program has the support of Congress, but budget negotiations are always troubled in the United States, particularly with the current partisan divisions. While the Democratic party control the House and Senate, the margin is exceedingly thin, particularly in the Senate. Therefore, NASA’s program needs lasting political support to be successful.
Given the financial uncertainties, technological hurdles, and logistical obstacles, a successful implementation of the US space program faces a wide range of challenges. In the context of the Earth’s environmental crisis, therein lies a question: will this return to the Moon be sustainable or will it just be a last-ditch effort?
Nick Madrigal hit a tiebreaking triple in the seventh inning as the White Sox completed a four-game sweep. The AL Centrals have won six of seven and climbed a season-high 12 games over .500.
Giolito (5-4) allowed a run, three hits and three walks in seven innings. His 12 strikeouts were one shy of his career high.
The Orioles loaded the bases against Giolito in the sixth with a bunt single and two walks before Anthony Santander struck out and Maikel Franco fouled out. Baltimore scored just seven runs in the series.
Liam Hendricks pitched a perfect ninth for his 13th save and third in three games.
It was 1-all in the seventh when Tim Anderson singled, stole second, took third on a wild pickoff throw by Dillon Tate (0-3) and scored on Madrigal's triple. Yoán Moncada followed with an RBI single.
Anderson, Madrigal and Moncada had two hits apiece. DJ Stewart homered and Cedric Mullins had two hits for the Orioles.
Stewart homered off Giolito in the third.
Billy Hamilton hit a solo shot off Keegan Akin in the Chicago third. It was the second time in Hamilton’s career he has homered in back-to-back games, the previous time coming in 2014.
Hamilton's last multi-homer season was 2018, when he hit four with Cincinnati. In 870 career games, the speedster has 24 homers.
Akin allowed a run and five hits in 4 2/3 innings in his first start of the season.
Adam Plutko replaced Akin and walked José Abreu to load the bases in the fifth. Yermín Mercedes grounded out to end the inning.
Orioles: IB Trey Mancini (bruised right elbow) returned to the lineup. He was hit by a pitch Thursday. … OF/1B Ryan Mountcastle (left hand) was available off the bench. His hand remains sore, manager Brandon Hyde said. … RHP Hunter Harvey (left oblique strain) is eligible to come off the IL Monday but will likely make another rehab appearance, Hyde said.
White Sox: OF Adam Eaton (hamstring) will likely play in one or both games of Monday’s doubleheader against Cleveland, manager Tony La Russa said. Eaton has been out since Wednesday. … RHP Michael Kopech (left hamstring) was expected to rejoin the team Sunday after going on the bereavement list Thursday.
UP NEXT
Orioles: RHP Jorge López is scheduled to start Monday to begin a three-game series against visiting Minnesota and RHP José Berríos (5-2, 3.67). He also faced the Twins in his last start, giving up three runs in six innings.
White Sox: LHP Carlos Rodón (5-2, 1.29) will start a game of Monday’s doubleheader at Cleveland to open a four-game series. Rodón threw a no-hitter against the Indians April 14. RHP Triston McKenzie (1-3, 5.94) is expected to start a game for the Indians. The teams had yet to announce the other starters.
The National Weather Service's high temperature forecast for Tuesday, June 1, 2021.
Forecast: NOAA/NWS | Map: Dennis Mersereau
A formidable heat wave will grip the western United States over the next week as a sprawling ridge of high pressure settles into place across the region. Temperatures will creep over the 100°F mark as far north as eastern Washington during the peak of the heat, with temperatures near 110°F possible in some communities in California’s Central Valley early this week.
A wavy jet stream will set the stage for the dome of heat that will build over the western United States this week. Steep upper-level ridges are often the catalyst for intense heat waves because air sinks beneath ridges. Sinking air warms up as it descends toward the ground, intensifying the warmth of the late-spring sunshine.
The National Weather Service’s latest forecast calls for extreme heat to build across lower elevations west of the Rockies and away from the Pacific coast. High temperatures above 105°F are likely in California’s Central Valley each day from Sunday through Wednesday, with highs potentially pushing 110°F in some locations. Triple-digit readings will push farther north into southwestern Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern Idaho by Wednesday.
While many cities in the west are accustomed to high heat during the summer months, a heat wave this intense is unusual so early in the season.
The National Weather Service's high temperature forecast for Monday, May 31, 2021.
Forecast: NOAA/NWS | Map: Dennis Mersereau
The NWS’s predicted Wednesday high temperature of 101°F in Walla Walla, Washington, would be the city’s second-earliest reading at or above 100°F since records began at the airport there in 1949. The agency’s forecast high on Monday of 106°F in Sacramento, California, would register as the third-earliest reading above 105°F since steady record keeping began in 1948.
MORE FOR YOU
Excessive heat warnings are already in place for the duration of the heat wave in the Central Valley, and it’s likely that more heat alerts will go up for places expecting elevated temperatures in the coming days.
Even though this is going to be a relatively dry heat, overexertion when air temperatures are this warm can quickly lead to heat-related illnesses such as heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Extreme heat is an underrated safety risk even among folks who are otherwise healthy and fit.
The U.S. Drought Monitor for May 25, 2021.
Analysis: NDMC/USDA/NOAA | Map: Dennis Mersereau
Such an intense heat wave will exacerbate an already precarious drought situation across the west. The region is mired in one of its worst droughts in recent memory, which is quite the feat given the droughts of the past decade. Parched land, high heat, and little relief in sight all leave experts concerned about another potentially historic wildfire season over the coming months.
In 1527, with the Sack of Rome, Florentines, including Michelangelo, supported a Republic and overthrew the Medicis. Among the ousted princes was Lorenzo di Piero’s sometimes volatile son, Alessandro, whom many historians consider a real piece of work. Michelangelo couldn’t stand him, and when the Medicis stormed back, it was Michelangelo’s turn to flee.
In 1531, the Medici Pope Clement VII pardoned Michelangelo, who went back to work on the family chapel. But by that time, Alessandro had become Duke of Florence. Michelangelo soon left town, and the unfinished chapel, for good.
“Alessandro was terrible,” said D’Agostino.
Alessandro’s relative, known as the “bad Lorenzo,” agreed and stabbed him to death in 1537. The duke’s body was rolled up in a carpet and plopped in the sarcophagus. It’s unclear if his father, Lorenzo, was already in there or moved in later.
“A roommate,” D’Agostino said.
In 2013, Bietti, then the museum’s director, realized how badly things had deteriorated since a 1988 restoration. The museum cleaned the walls, marred by centuries of humidity and handprints, revealed damages from the casts and iron brushes used to remove oil and wax, and reanimated the statues.
“Come and see,” Bietti said, pointing, Creation-of-Adam-style, at the toe of Night.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has challenged his group to remain hungry after they were crowned champions of Europe on Saturday.
The German manager tasted his first piece of silverware as Blues boss with a 1-0 victory over Manchester City, just a month after his side's 1-0 defeat to Leicester City in the FA Cup final.
"We have a strong group, a strong bond, that can defend as a unit which is a huge part of football and have answers for questions in the game," said Tuchel in his post-match press-conference, as quoted by Football London.
PHOENIX (AP) — Tyler O'Neill can do no wrong for the St. Louis Cardinals these days.
On the other side of the field, the Arizona Diamondbacks can't seem to do anything right.
O'Neill homered for a third straight game, Yadier Molina had three RBIs and the Cardinals won 7-4 on Saturday night over the Diamondbacks, who have lost 13 games in a row.
The Diamondbacks are stuck in their longest losing streak since dropping a franchise-record 14 consecutive games in 2004. Arizona lost 111 games that season, and this year is quickly trending in a similar direction. The team’s 18-35 record is the worst in the National League.
O'Neill has been on a roll since Thursday, when he returned from a stint on the 10-day injured list due to a fracture in his left middle finger. The 25-year-old outfielder added two doubles and finished with three RBIs. He also made a diving catch in left that saved a run in the fourth inning, which impressed St. Louis starter Adam Wainwright.
“We’ve seen him do that a bunch,” Wainwright said. “You wouldn’t think a guy as muscle bound as him could do so many things athletically. You wouldn’t know he was such an incredible athlete.”
Said Cardinals manager Mike Shildt: “That's the kind of player he is. He can beat you on both sides of the baseball.”
Trailing by three in the ninth, the Diamondbacks put their first two batters on base, bringing the tying run to the plate. Cardinals closer Alex Reyes retired Eduardo Escobar on a flyout and David Peralta and Christian Walker on strikeouts to earn his 15th save.
“We’re in every game. We’re right there,” Arizona catcher Stephen Vogt said. “Tying run at the plate, winning run at the plate. One hit, one pitch away from winning these games. We’re frustrated, we’re upset, we’re unhappy.”
The Cardinals jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first on Molina's RBI single. They broke the game open in the third, scoring five runs on four hits, a walk and a hit by pitch.
St. Louis led 7-0 in the fifth but Arizona fought back. The Diamondbacks scored two runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth to make it 7-4. They could have had more in the sixth after loading the bases with one out, but Génesis Cabrera retired Domingo Leyba on a flyout and Josh Rojas on a grounder to end the threat.
“We couldn’t close up that gap,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said. “We had some opportunities.”
Wainwright (3-4) got off to a great start, retiring the first eight batters he faced. But the Diamondbacks started to hit the veteran right-hander hard in the fifth and sixth. Vogt connected on a two-run homer and Walker brought home two more runs with a single.
The 39-year-old Wainwright went 33 outs between giving up hits, from his one-hit outing against the Cubs earlier in the week through part of Saturday's game versus the Diamondbacks. Molina was impressed when he heard that stat postgame.
“That's pretty good,” the catcher said, grinning. “For an old guy.”
Seth Frankoff (0-2) struggled most of the night and lasted just five innings. He gave up seven earned runs on seven hits, walked four and struck out five.
WEBB GETS CONFIDENT
Cardinals left-hander Tyler Webb pitched a scoreless eighth inning, which was a nice change for him during a rough season. Webb's been a mainstay in the St. Louis bullpen the past few years, but had an 11.57 ERA in 19 appearances before Saturday.
“It felt good to hold them right there,” he said. “Then Alex came in and shut the door.”
TRAINER'S ROOM
Cardinals: Placed INF Max Moroff on the 10-day injured list after he hurt his shoulder during batting practice Friday. ... Transferred RHP Miles Mikolas (forearm strain) from the 10-day IL to the 60-day IL. ... Optioned RHP Johan Oviedo to Triple-A Memphis. ... Called up INF Jose Rondon and RHP Junior Fernandez.
Diamondbacks: Walker (oblique strain) returned to the team after a rehab assignment at Triple-A Reno. He was in the starting lineup and batted fifth. The team optioned INF Andrew Young to Triple-A to make room for Walker. ... Lovullo said INF Asdrubal Cabrera (hamstring strain) has started to take batting practice and was doing some light running. ... RHP Zac Gallen (sprained right elbow) has been doing some throwing on flat ground.
UP NEXT
The teams wrap up their four-game series Sunday. Arizona will send RHP Matt Peacock (1-1, 4.91 ERA) to the mound to face LHP Kwang Hyun Kim (1-2, 3.09).
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Mizzou Track & Field will be represented by five field athletes at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships in Eugene, Ore., after advancing out of the NCAA West Preliminary Championships held Wednesday to Saturday.
The Tiger's first qualifier came on Thursday afternoon with freshman Skylar Ciccolini (Lewistown, Pa.) finishing fourth overall in the women's javelin with a 53.84m. Her mark ranks seventh between the east and west regionals.
Ciccolini burst onto the scene in 2021, setting a new program record in the event at the Rock Chalk Classic in April, throwing for 56.08m. Her record mark sits as fifth nationally this season.
Mizzou had two more athletes punch their tickets to the championships during the rain-shortened Friday competition. In the men's discus, freshman Mitch Weber (Saint Clair, Minn.) got into qualifying position under the wire after fouling his first two attempts. His 57.04m was good for fourth in the region.
In the men's triple jump, sophomore Georgi Nachev (Yambol, Bulgaria) also qualified for Eugene with a 16.12m jump to finish sixth in the region. Nachev ranks in the top-20 in the event nationally with a season and personal best jump of 16.29m.
Nachev was joined on the final day by freshman Mara Häusler (Straslund, Germany) and sophomore Arianna Fisher (San Jose, Calif.) in the women's triple jump. Hausler's qualifying mark of 13.56 also set a new school record for the event. She takes the crown from Fisher, who had set the previous school record of 13.54 at the SEC Championships two weeks prior.
Runners Martin Prodanov, Chris Conrad and Karina Liz all qualified for the second round of races in the men's 1500, men's 800m and women's 800m, respectively, but fell short of qualifying for a trip to the Pacific Northwest.
The Tigers will conclude the 2021 outdoor season at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships from Wednesday, June 6 to Saturday, June 9 in Eugene.
Analog Devices(NASDAQ:ADI) has had a wild ride on the stock market in 2021 thanks to the broader tech sell-off, but investors looking to take advantage of fast-growing markets such as connected cars, electric vehicles, 5G technology, and industrial connectivity shouldn't be bothered by the short-term volatility.
Analog Devices has been delivering robust growth in recent quarters. More importantly, it isn't going to run out of steam anytime soon, as it has a bunch of solid catalysts. Let's look closely at the reasons this tech stock's terrific growth is here to stay and why now is an excellent time to go long.
Image source: Getty Images.
Analog Devices is pulling the right strings
Analog Devices recently released fiscal Q2 results. Its revenue shot up 26% year over year to $1.66 billion, while adjusted earnings jumped 43% to $1.54 per share, driven by margin gains. Analog's adjusted gross margin increased 320 basis points to 70.9% in Q2 as compared to the year-ago quarter. Adjusted operating margin shot up 370 basis points to 41.7%.
Analog Devices registered this impressive growth on the back of strong demand. The company's focus on streamlining its manufacturing operations also helped it cut down on expenses during the quarter. What's more, Analog Devices expects its gross margin to improve further in the second half of the year, thanks to savings arising from the consolidation of its manufacturing operations.
A robust demand environment in key end markets should ensure consistent growth in Analog's top line. The industrial market, for instance, is benefiting from the increasing deployment of wireless connectivity. CEO Vincent Roche pointed out on the latest earnings conference call that industrial customers are "looking to add sensing, edge processing and connectivity to make supply chains more robust, more efficient and flexible."
This was evident from the new design wins scored by Analog last quarter. The company said that a couple of large industrial machine manufacturers in Europe selected Analog's Ethernet solutions, while an automation company chose its ultra-high-frequency wireless solution to power its robotic systems in a bid to lower costs and reduce downtime.
The industrial business accounted for 59% of Analog's total revenue last quarter and recorded 36% year-over-year growth. The recent design wins indicate that it won't be running out of steam, while the broader market's prospects should ensure sustained growth in the industrial business for a long time to come. According to a third-party estimate, the usage of connectivity and automation in the industrial market -- popularly known as Industry 4.0 -- is expected to increase rapidly in the coming years, clocking nearly 20% annual growth through 2025.
Two more reasons to buy
Analog Devices' automotive business is sitting on secular catalysts thanks to a rise in vehicular connectivity and the increasing demand for electric vehicles. The segment produced 16% of the company's total revenue last quarter, recording 42% year-over-year growth as automotive production improved over last year. Analog Devices saw particularly strong growth in the electric vehicle (EV) market, where the demand for battery management systems (BMS) more than doubled over the prior year.
The company is now supplying its BMS solutions to Volvo, along with two Asian automakers and a luxury car maker from Europe. With the BMS market expected to clock a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 20% through 2024, don't be surprised to see Analog Devices sustain elevated levels of growth in the automotive business.
The communications business, however, turned out to be a slow performer for Analog last quarter. The segment's revenue was flat year over year on account of muted 5G network deployments so far in 2021. But Analog Devices is optimistic for a turnaround, as 5G builds are expected to pick up the pace in the second half of the year.
The multiple growth drivers Analog is sitting on are reflected in the company's outstanding guidance. The company anticipates adjusted earnings of $1.61 per share on $1.7 billion in revenue this quarter. Adjusted operating margin is expected at 42.5%. These numbers indicate that Analog is anticipating year-over-year growth in the high teens this quarter -- and it may be able to sustain such growth for a long time to come.
Investors looking to add a growth stock to their portfolios have plenty of reasons to go long on Analog Devices, especially considering that it trades at a reasonable 23 times forward earnings.
This article represents the opinion of the writer, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a Motley Fool premium advisory service. We’re motley! Questioning an investing thesis -- even one of our own -- helps us all think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.
Bank regulators are rushing to come up with cryptocurrency rules, according to the Federal Reserve official overseeing financial regulation, but many fear the rule-making comes too late, and the unregulated bonanza may already be on the cusp of crashing and causing a broader recession that would hurt the poor most intensely.
Fed Vice Chair of Supervision Randal Quarles said on May 25 that his agency and two others — the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) — are taking the lead in what appears to be a scramble to act amid a period of instability with the potential to do serious damage to the rest of the economy. About 1 in 5 financial industry professionals believe that a cryptocurrency downturn could deliver a “salient shock to financial stability” over the next 12 to 18 months, according to a Fed survey conducted between February and April.
Though the rich might lose substantial sums in economic downturns, working-class people invariably suffer the most. The last four recessions and the ongoingCOVID-19 recession sent millions of people on the margins into poverty, with people of color hit the hardest.
“We along with the OCC and the FDIC are engaged right now in what we are calling a ‘sprint,’” Quarles said at a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee. The OCC is the primary regulator of federally chartered banks, and the FDIC is the agency that guarantees customer savings and oversees state-chartered banks. The Fed oversees bank holding companies and non-bank financial firms, and regulates the stability of the financial system as a whole.
Quarles said the three agencies have been working “over a relatively concentrated period of time, to pull together all of our work in digital assets, and to have a joint view, a joint framework for their regulation and supervision practices with regard to them.”
“It would be premature for me to tell you where that’s going to turn out,” he added, “but this is something that is a high priority not only as a matter of importance, but as a matter of chronology. And we expect to be able to give at least some results from that soon.”
The sudden “sprint” by regulators to examine cryptocurrencies might come too late, with the entire market on the brink of collapse. A sell-off earlier this month saw cryptocurrencies lose some $1 trillion in value in a week, from a peak global market cap of $2.5 trillion on May 11.
Volatility has been fueled by the structure of cryptocurrency markets. Traders can borrow 50-125 times the amount of cryptocurrency that they purchase on popular exchanges. Ownership of cryptocurrencies is highly concentrated in the hands of a relatively small number of owners, with some 42 percent of all Bitcoin owned by 2,155 unique purchasers. The value of cryptocurrencies has also fluctuated wildly in recent weeks in response to restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, and tweets from billionaire Elon Musk.
“While it’s welcome that the Fed, OCC and FDIC are going to be examining regulatory gaps when it comes to crypto, it’s crucial that they also examine any implications for systemic risk,” said Alexis Goldstein, a senior policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform and a Truthout contributor. “With no cryptocurrency reporting requirements whatsoever for hedge fund or private equity funds, the regulators are in the dark.”
Regulatory agencies had an opportunity to act two and a half years ago, after a previous cryptocurrency crash. Since then, the global market has grown significantly, making the negative consequences of a downturn more severe. The value of the cryptocurrency market’s most recent peak, at $2.5 trillion, was three times the size of its previous peak of $815 billion in January 2018. The most recent market boom has also come at a time of great uncertainty and hardship for many throughout the world amid the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that the growth might be driven by irrational optimism.
By comparison, there was roughly $1.3 trillion in outstanding subprime mortgage debt in March 2007 amid the housing market meltdown that caused the Great Recession. Banks might now be engaged in safer consumer lending practices than they were during the subprime mortgage crisis, but corporations have borrowed heavily in recent years, racking up some $10.5 trillion in debt under relaxed lending standards. Fed Governor Lael Brainard warned on May 6 that inflated stock prices and “very high levels of corporate indebtedness bear watching because of the potential to amplify the effects of a re-pricing event.”
Cryptocurrencies have recovered somewhat since shedding $1 trillion in value earlier this month, but numerousanalysts have said the market resembles a bubble. This cohort of skeptics includes Vitalik Buterin, the 27-year-old who co-founded Ethereum, one of the more popular cryptocurrencies. “It could have ended already. It could end months from now,” Buterin told CNN.
Nouriel Roubini, an economist who became famous in 2008 for predicting the subprime mortgage crisis and the Great Recession, also believes that a cryptocurrency bubble is bursting. Unlike Buterin, he questions whether cryptocurrency has any use-value at all.
“A bubble occurs when the price of something is way above its fundamental value. But we can’t even determine the fundamental value of these cryptocurrencies, and yet their prices have run up dramatically,” Roubini said on May 21. “In that sense, this looks like a bubble to me.”
Despite Quarles’s promise of a “sprint,” recent remarks made by one of his colleagues failed to convey the same sense of urgency. FDIC Chair Jelena McWilliams said on May 11, at the height of the market, that her priorities in examining cryptocurrencies were to “allow entrepreneurship to flourish in the United States,” and that she would be consulting with the banking industry to see “what (if anything) the FDIC should be doing.”
McWilliams made the remarks in a speech to the Federalist Society, a highly ideological right-wing organization known for its embrace of laissez-faire dogma, and for handpicking judicial nominees for the Republican Party. The FDIC issued a request for information on digital assets the week after giving her speech.
Both McWilliams and Quarles are Republicans who were appointed to their current positions by former President Donald Trump. Quarles’s term as a top Fed official is set to expire in October. McWilliams’s FDIC Chairmanship won’t expire until 2023.
Quarles, in particular, has a reputation for having a rosy view of what will happen if banks are left to do whatever they want. In June 2006, while serving as under-secretary of the Treasury, he reacted to predictions of a housing market downturn by remarking: “I have to say that I do not think this is a likely scenario.” About two years later, the collapse of the U.S. housing market brought down the entire global financial system.
The Fed vice chair was criticized at the May 25 Senate Banking Committee hearing for more recent laxness by Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Warren berated Quarles for the Fed’s decision to relax its supervision of Credit Suisse before the bank lost $4.7 billion in late March after the collapse of the family fund Archegos — a firm run by Bill Hwang, a man who had been previously banned by U.S. regulators from managing public money after pleading guilty in 2012 to insider trading and wire fraud charges.
Warren ripped Quarles and the Fed for their decision last year to absolve Credit Suisse and other foreign banks from answering to an oversight board called the Large Institution Supervision Coordinating Committee. She noted that prior to this decision, Credit Suisse had failed a Fed stress test in 2019 because its models were unrealistic. “Your term as chair is up in five months, and our financial system will be safer when you are gone,” Warren told Quarles.
Though the Credit Suisse debacle involved more conventional forms of assets, there are lessons for those concerned about digital asset markets, Goldstein told Truthout. She noted that family funds like Archegos Capital Management aren’t subject to disclosure requirements like other asset management firms.
It would be one thing if rich asset managers were only harming themselves. But by recklessly playing with huge sums of money, they risk spreading calamity throughout the economy. The Great Recession was caused by predatory lending and complex derivatives leading to systemic failure that spread misery among the working class, starting with the collapse of the investment bank Lehman Brothers in 2008. In the ensuing recession, neighborhoods with more than 40 percent of inhabitants below the poverty line increased their population by 5 million between 2010-2014. A recession could similarly spread should the market for cryptocurrency plummet even further.
“There may be multiple Archegos-sized crypto whales in the shadows,” Goldstein said. “If so, they’d all be invisible to regulators because of the total lack of reporting requirements for cryptocurrency.”
WILMINGTON, N.C. – Cole Weiss had three hits and drove in five runs as UNCW advanced to its sixth straight Colonial Athletic Association championship round with an 8-4 win over top-seeded Northeastern on Friday at Brooks Field.
The Seahawks improved to 32-20 with the win while the Huskies, who will play the College of Charleston at 1 p.m. on Saturday, fell to 33-10.
Weiss tied his career-high with five runs batted in with four coming across the plate on a second inning grand slam that gave the Seahawks a 6-1 lead. It was his sixth home run of the season.
UNCW starter Adam Smith (6-1) earned the win, allowing three runs on six hits over the course of six innings. Smith, who was a second-team All-CAA selection, struck out three and recorded eight ground ball outs.
Freshman reliever Ethan Chenault retired all eight batters he faced to notch his third save.
Max Viera and Jared Dupere each had two hits. Dupere, the league's Player of the Year, belted his 19th home run of the season in the bottom of the first.
Spencer Smith had a two-run single in the sixth inning for the Huskies.
Kyle Murphy (6-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing six runs on seven hits.
How it happened: The Seahawks jumped on Murphy with two in the top of the first as Suggs doubled in a run and Weiss followed with an RBI single to left. UNCW added four in the second as Weiss' grand slam to left made it a 6-1 Seahawk lead.
Notes: The Seahawks won their 10th consecutive game at Brooks Field and moved to 27-7 … UNCW landed its leadoff hitter on base in four innings … Weiss' grand slam was the third grand slam for the Seahawks this season … Baldwin recorded his eighth outfield assist of the season.
Up Next: The Seahawks will play either Charleston or Northeastern on Saturday at 5 p.m.
AUSTIN (KXAN) — On one of the final days of the 87th Texas Legislative Session, the Texas Senate added 23 new amendments to HB 1525, a clean up bill intended only to make subtle corrections to the historic public education funding from last session.
One of those changes would give the Texas Education Agency discretion to use more than half a billion dollars.
That’s not sitting with some lawmakers and education advocates who say it’s the district’s that need full control of that money, not the state.
“At a minimum, we need to understand what is going on here. Why are we taking this money from the school districts and giving it to the TEA?” questioned Representative Gina Hinojosa, a democrat from District 49.
Hinojosa tweeted on Friday, pointing to the last-minute amendment that pulled $620 million earmarked for school districts to spend on technology and books.
Hugely concerning:
TX schools are now facing a
$620 million CUT to technology & books funds because of last-minute Senate change to HB 1525 that moves $ to TEA to divy up at discretion.
Schools need their $ NOW – & not a power grab by TEA. #txed#txlege
Sen. Larry Taylor, the author of the amendment, explained school districts will have a wealth of funds to use at their disposal from the billions of dollars the U.S. Department of Education is providing as a stimulus package for COVID-19 relief.
In addition, Taylor said the TEA will be required to use that money to implement intensive support for school districts, like college and career readiness grants and high level tutoring for struggling students.
Even still, Hinojosa said this change is rushed and isn’t allowing for discussion from both chambers.
“I think it’s important to shine a light on what we are doing, create transparency, especially when it comes to our public schools,” Hinojosa said.
On Friday, Rep. Dan Huberty refused to concur on Texas Senate amendments, so the final details will be ironed out behind closed doors in a conference committee.
Mark Wiggins with the Association of Texas Professional Educators said it’s important to keep an eye on what changes are made during that conference meeting.
“It’s really incumbent on members to take a good look at what the legislation is, what it does, the amendments that were added on both sides, and we cannot take our eyes off the ball,” Wiggins said.
May 29, 2021 at 09:55AM
https://www.kxan.com/news/education/last-minute-changes-could-send-millions-of-dollars-from-school-districts-to-texas-education-agency/
Last-minute amendments could send millions of dollars from school districts to Texas Education Agency - KXAN.com
SPRINGFIELD — Democrats and Republicans alike agreed on Friday that drawing new legislative maps was a process driven by pure partisan politics — but they parted company on who was behind those political motives.
Each pointed squarely to the other side of the aisle.
That disagreement didn’t stop the Democrats from pushing through their revised legislative maps for the House and Senate late Friday — and the legislation to put those new, proposed boundaries into place.
Nor did it stop the Republicans from complaining that they, and the public, are being shut out of that process.
Over those GOP objections, those new maps and the legislation to implement the new boundaries for the General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court and the Cook County Board of Review passed through both chambers so they could be sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his signature.
The House passed the maps shortly before 10 p.m. on a straight, partisan 71 to 45 vote. The maps passed the state Senate in the same fashion earlier in the day.
“We are not going to let Republicans gridlock the process, solely for political gains,” state House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch said minutes before the House vote. “It’s not going to happen. Not here. Period.”
But Republicans argued to chart a different course on the maps.
“We need a new way people, we need a new way,” state Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, said on the House floor Friday afternoon.
Butler joined other House Republicans ahead of Friday’s votes on the various redistricting bills to say Democratic claims that GOP concerns about being packed into the same districts had been taken into account were a “complete fabrication.”
State Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, speaks on the House floor Friday afternoon.BlueRoomStream
A spokeswoman for Welch said Republicans’ public statements about incumbent pairings show it is a “blatant mistruth” that Republicans “never had any issue with being drawn in the same district.”
“We alleviated those concerns to the best of our ability without disrupting other districts,” she said, adding that Republicans “don’t participate in conversations with Democrats” and “only go to the media to make their complaints.”
Republicans also took shots at Democrats for their handling of the process.
“Transparency is important in our government, and we have had ample time to alert the public about a variety of measures that will be undertaking today, and we have chosen, in every step of the process, to obfuscate the intentions to operate in secrecy and deprive the people of the state of Illinois, or in this case the people, the great people of Cook County, the opportunity to weigh in on to this subject and many more,” said state Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria.
During their debate on the bills, Republicans questioned their colleagues across the aisle, but some of their questions — like who drew the maps — were met by Democrats who at times answered, “I don’t know.”
Across the hall, the state Senate also passed legislative and Supreme Court redistricting maps Friday afternoon with Senate President Don Harmon saying his chamber “produced a fair map that represents the diversity of our state.”
But state Sen. Sue Rezin, R-Morris, called the maps a “desperate attempt by those in power to hold on to power at all costs.”
“The people of Illinois deserve better than this,” Rezin said. “They deserve better than bad data, fake deadlines and sham hearings.”
Harmon said the real culprit behind the use of the American Community Survey data — rather than U.S. Census figures not yet available — in drawing the maps is former President Donald Trump, earning the Oak Park Democrat jeers from the Republican side of the aisle.
“We would not be here if Donald Trump’s Commerce Department had even a passing interest in an accurate and prompt census,” said Harmon.
With just four days left before the General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn, Democrats pushed to beat a separate June 30 deadline.
Had they failed to pass maps by then, an eight-person bipartisan panel would be created to take over the task.
When that panel inevitably deadlocked, a ninth member would be randomly chosen by the Illinois secretary of state — giving the Republicans a 50-50 chance of taking over the map-drawing tools.
And Democrats called the minority party out on that strategy — arguing that was the GOP’s true political motive.
State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, speaks on behalf of the newly redrawn maps on the House floor on Friday.BlueRoomStream
State Rep. Will Guzzardi, D-Chicago, said legislators took an oath of office to uphold the state constitution, and that “requires us to engage in this process, not some other idealized, independent ... process.”
House Majority Leader Greg Harris, D-Chicago, accused Republicans of trying to “take [the map-making] decision away from folks with a name out of a hat, in the hope that perhaps you could attain power again.”
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, said Republicans were “trying to run [out] the clock and gamble on a random drawing.”
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, speaks on the House floor in Springfield on Friday.BlueRoomStream
“Let’s not pretend that the folks on the other side of the aisle — if the roles were reversed —would be doing anything differently,” Cassidy said.
Despite the division, the three redistricting bills passed through the General Assembly along partisan lines. The approved bills now head to Pritzker.
A spokeswoman for the governor said he has “not yet looked at the final maps” and would need to do so before considering whether to sign them.
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