Newsletter Oct 25, 2021

Democrats have been behind closed doors hacking away at President Biden's Build Back Better plan, but the final version is almost vote-ready.

3 things you must know

Do Democrats finally have a deal on human infrastructure bill?
President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders spent Sunday trying to push his Build Back Better agenda across the goal line, and it appears the infrastructure bill might finally be in the red zone -- albeit it at a drastically reduced price and without several key components.
Biden spent Sunday meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and holdout Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who wants a bill about half the cost as the $3.5 trillion originally proposed, as well as the elimination of clean energy provisions. Fellow holdout Sen. Krysten Sinema, D-Ariz., is opposing tax hikes on the rich, which Dems seem to have addressed with the scaled-back price tag.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi appeared more confident than in her recent comments, boldly predicting the $1.2 trillion bipartisan bill and another one in the $2 trillion range will come to votes this week. Now it's up to the Democrats not to fumble before the reach the end zone.
FIND OUT WHAT THE SCALED-BACK BILL WILL LOOK LIKE

Yellen calls for patience in dealing with rising inflation
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen did her best cheerleader impersonation on the Sunday talk show circuit, saying that she expects inflation to level off next year following the current crunch. Yellen said it will take time for supply chain logjams and other pandemic-related issues to be corrected by the second half of 2022.
Good to know, but what about the millions of Americans who are struggling with the fallout now? The U.S. saw a 5.4% increase year-to-year and the latest numbers show inflation continuing to rise on items that hit the middle class the most -- food, shelter and gas. Still, Yellen says the trend is temporary and a year away from fixing itself.
FIND OUT WHY YELLEN BELIEVES INFLATION WILL SUBSIDE

American innovation rises to the occasion of the pandemic
It took more than 736,000 deaths and 45.4 million cases of COVID-19 for the U.S. to solve some serious problems, but the lessons learned from the pandemic could go a long way toward preparing America if and when the next global crisis comes our way.
Perhaps the foremost weapon the U.S. possesses is innovation, which saw industries respond and cooperate with the government and other private companies to address dire needs. The use of automakers to build ventilators, distilleries to make hand sanitizer, and drugmakers to develop life-saving vaccines in record time serve as bright spots from a dark era that offer hope for future challenges.
FIND OUT HOW THE US IS LEARNING LESSONS FROM COVID

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Voting map overlaps with cases, vax rates

It's sometimes scary how much geographical analytics can tell America about itself, but sometimes it's a simple matter of common sense. The same red and blue states that were divided over the 2020 presidential election are seeing contrasting results in the battle against COVID-19.

Seventeen of the 20 states that voted for former President Donald Trump also rank the highest for COVID cases and the lowest for vaccination rates. Conversely, 19 of the 20 states with the lowest COVID case rates and the highest vax rates pulled the lever for President Joe Biden. Again, not surprising but definitely telling about the divided state of America.

SEE THE STARK CONTRAST IN THE NUMBER OF COVID DEATHS

District of Cats? DC cracks down on felines

There are scores of untamed, carnivorous creatures roaming the streets of Washington, D.C. -- and we're not just talking about the lawmakers. Large numbers of feral cats and other felines have made the nation's capital their home, and now the human population has had enough.

DC Cat Count has launched a massive effort to track its growing feline population, becoming the first major U.S. city to create a cat task force. Wildlife cameras have been placed throughout the city to document the cat population, which is estimated at 200,000 -- with half of those living outdoors. Perhaps D.C. holds the solution to New York's rat problem.

FIND OUT WHY WASHINGTON, DC IS LITTERED WITH FERAL CATS

'Algorithms, start your engines' at Indy race

The sport of auto racing is the ultimate partnership between man and machine, but what if you subtract man from the equation? That's exactly what engineering teams did over the weekend at the inaugural Indy Autonomous Challenge involving a competition of self-driving race cars.

Designing and programming the cars to make six laps at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, teams took the steering wheel out of the hands of a human driver and left the hard-nosed competition to the pit crews. The Technical University of Munich (TUM) won the $1 million prize, but the high-tech competition still ended up being decided by human error.

SEE HOW A MISTAKE OF A SINGLE DIGIT DECIDED THE OUTCOME