Colombia stocks higher at close of trade; COLCAP up 0.47%House and Senate Democrats moved Monday to redirect more than half a billion dollars headed for the state’s long-term savings account and instead use it to close a budget gap and fund some additional spending. Lawmakers surfaced and quickly approved their final plan ( H 5132 ) for closing the state’s financial books on fiscal 2024, sending it to Gov. Maura Healey’s desk minutes before Beacon Hill budget-writers formally kicked off the process of planning for fiscal 2026. The newly approved “closeout” budget has a $701.2 million bottom line, with a projected net cost to the state of $133.6 million after federal reimbursements, according to a House Ways and Means Committee official. The proposed appropriations address accounts underfunded in the annual budget and fill a fiscal 2024 budget gap that materialized in part due to non-income surtax revenue collections that didn’t hit projections, leaving a shortfall of about $233 million. Legislative Democrats moved Monday to bridge the shortfall and fund some spending by using more than half a billion dollars that would have otherwise flowed into a state savings account. Each year, capital gains tax revenues above a certain level are split up with 90% deposited into the state’s “rainy day” stabilization fund, 5% used to fund pensions, and 5% used for other post-retirement benefits. The new spending bill would dramatically change that formula on a one-time basis. It would steer 85% of excess capital gains — about $502 million — to the general fund, and direct only 5% or $29.5 million to the stabilization fund, according to the House Ways and Means official. Pensions and other post-retirement benefits would each receive the same 5% as the traditional formula. That’s a shift from the approach the House and Senate first sought to take. The original House bill directed 47% of excess capital gains revenue to the General Fund and 43% to the stabilization fund. The original Senate bill sought to use 15% of excess capital gains revenue for the General Fund, and would have steered higher shares toward pensions and other post-retirement benefits. Healey proposed navigating the gap by using surtax collections that surpassed projections to backfill education- and transportation-related spending in fiscal 2024, freeing up originally appropriated dollars to plug the hole. But Healey also agreed to use capital gains tax collections as a similar type of backstop in the current cycle. The fiscal 2025 budget she signed in July allows the state to divert up to $375 million in excess capital gains tax revenue from the rainy-day pipeline and instead use it to balance the books for the cycle that runs from July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025. After previously drawing scrutiny from ratings agencies for dipping into the rainy day fund, Beacon Hill in recent years has worked to build up a sizable nest egg and resisted calls to spend its more than $8 billion balance. A House Ways and Means committee official said the funding shuffle will also allow about $162 million to be swept into the Student Opportunity Act reserve fund, which helps pay for increases in K-12 state aid outlined in a 2019 law, bringing its balance to about $460 million. Spending in the bill would flow to a range of areas, including $7.3 million for the Residential Assistance for Families in Transition program, $8.7 million for the state’s universal school meals program, and $2.5 million to cover start-up costs for online Lottery games. The vast majority of the spending, about $565 million, would go to MassHealth. Senate Democrats previously estimated that line item would carry a $0 net cost to the state after federal reimbursements. Healey will get 10 days to review the bill. Lawmakers were once again weeks late on completing the closeout budget, at least according to deadlines written into statute. The state comptroller by law is supposed to file a key financial report by Oct. 31, but cannot do so until the governor signs into law a closeout budget. Lawmakers have made a habit in recent years of blowing past that date and delaying the comptroller’s work as a result. Michlewitz and Rodrigues have completed a closeout budget before Oct. 31 only once in their six cycles as Ways and Means Committee chairs. Alison Kuznitz and Sam Drysdale contributed reporting.
With the New York Yankees addressing their need at first base with Paul Goldschmidt, the stove has gone from red-hot to ice-cold for Brian Cashman, who has spent $64 million through numerous trades and signings. Their work isn’t done yet, as according to Jon Heyman, they’re still involved in the bullpen market with left-handed veteran relievers Andrew Chafin and Tim Hill being at the top of their list of free agent targets. While the bullpen is a strength for the Yankees right now, they have some redundancy due to the flurry of right-handed arms in that group. Hill, who spent last year with the Yankees as an unsung hero, is the fan-favorite incumbent option, but Chafin brings a veteran arm as well as he posted a 3.51 ERA and 28.5% strikeout rate in his age-34 season with the Tigers and Rangers. Tim Hill and Andrew Chafin Garnering Interest From Yankees It’s easy to see why the Yankees would want Tim Hill back, who served an extremely valuable role in the Yankees’ bullpen as their primary lefty with a strong sinker and excellent groundball numbers. While he had just a 10.7% strikeout rate between Chicago and New York, he posted a 3.36 ERA and had a 68.2% groundball rate, improving his production with the Yankees mid-season. In 35 appearances with the Bronx Bombers, Hill posted a 2.05 ERA and 69.9% groundball rate, being even better in the postseason where he was a reliable weapon for manager Aaron Boone in their biggest games. Hill posted a 1.08 ERA with a 55.6% groundball rate across 10 playoff appearances, showing off his elite sinker even though he sits at around 90-91 MPH with it. Entering his age-35 season, he’s only a few months older than Andrew Chafin , who brings some more swing-and-miss thanks to his wicked slider. He posted a 3.51 ERA last season with a 28.5% strikeout rate, struggling in Texas after a strong first half with the upstart Tigers who sold at the deadline. Andrew Chafin has elite swing-and-miss numbers, running a 34.5% Whiff Rate which ranks in the 96th Percentile for pitchers. His gyro slider produced over 43 inches of vertical drop and generated a Whiff Rate north of 50% as a result, with batters slugging a measly .186 against the pitch. Chafin’s four-seamer and sinker didn’t have the same kind of success, as his fastball velocity has sunk from 93-94 MPH in his younger years to about 91-92 MPH. He still generates a good amount of horizontal movement on his sinker and vertical movement on his fastball, but perhaps the Yankees are able to get some value out of him by finetuning his fastballs or adding to his repertoire with a cutter. The Yankees would love to improve his groundball numbers from the last two seasons, and they might be able to by shifting his sinker locating a bit. Perhaps having him attack inside to right-handed batters and away from lefties could play up his cross-fire delivery, but that’s an adjustment that would be left up to more informed people such as Matt Blake and Sam Briend. Second base (or third base) remains a hole on the roster for the Yankees to address as well, although suitable options to upgrade with aren’t as apparent on the market right now with the team over the fourth threshold. This article first appeared on Empire Sports Media and was syndicated with permission.Timbercreek Alternatives LP and Aspen Properties Close Acquisition of Calgary’s 1 Palliser ...Ding Liren lets Gukesh D off hook in Game 5 draw as world title match remains deadlocked
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Harden Settling In, Coach Rankings, and Top Five CentersEnvironmental advocates are cautiously optimistic after the Supreme Court left California’s nation-leading auto emissions standards in place — at least for the moment. The Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge from Ohio and 16 other conservative states that aimed to strip California of its authority to adopt vehicle emissions standards stricter than federal benchmarks. However, days earlier, justices announced they will decide whether red-state fuel producers have legal standing to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for alleged financial losses caused by California’s stringent fuel economy standards and electric vehicle mandate. State policymakers and environmental advocates view the Supreme Court’s decision to leave California’s regulatory powers intact as a triumph. But, as an adversarial presidential administration is poised to take office, experts say they anticipate a flurry of legal objections over nearly all forthcoming California clean air policies. “The Supreme Court was right to turn away this radical request by Republican-led states to upend decades of law letting California cut pollution and clean our air,” said Daniel Villaseñor, a spokesperson for Gov. Gavin Newsom. “California’s authority was codified in the Clean Air Act by none other than Republican Richard Nixon, who recognized that California should continue serving as a lab for innovation to show the nation what’s possible with smart policy.” The battle to alleviate air pollution and reduce planet-warming gases will be waged largely in the courts over the next four years, according to experts. And the legal strategy, they say, will need to focus on defending California’s aggressive clean air rules as much as it will be about ushering in new regulation. “It’s good news, at least in the short term,” said Joe Lyou, president of California-based nonprofit the Coalition for Clean Air. “Everyone’s concerned about what’s going to happen in the long term. But this is a good start to what will undoubtedly be a long, long battle over clean air over the next four years. A lot of it is going to be up to the lawyers.” Several industry groups have already filed litigation to contest California’s rules, including a ban on new sales of gasoline vehicles in 2035. Last week, when the Supreme Court announced it would review a legal challenge over how California regulations affected fuel producers, it signaled its willingness to consider objections to California’s vehicle emission rules. However, the justices won’t be weighing the merits of the case, only whether the fuel companies have the right to sue. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals had previously ruled the lawsuit invalid, in part, because fuel producers are challenging California emission standards adopted in 2012. Because car manufacturers already comply with the standard, there is no feasible remedy for their claims, experts say. Another part of the fuel producers’ argument is that the Clean Air Act only grants California the ability to regulate conventional vehicle pollution for clean air — such as smog-forming nitrogen oxides — not planet-warming gases such as CO2 to address global warming. “Their argument is this authority was given to California because they have really bad smog problems, not because of climate change,” said Ann Carlson, the founding director of the Emmett Institute on Climate Change & the Environment at UCLA. “And therefore, they shouldn’t be able to regulate greenhouse gases under this special power they have.” But many environmental advocates say that argument may be moot. California air regulators have long maintained that air quality issues in major California cities — including smoggy Los Angeles — are so severe that electric vehicles are necessary to meet pollution standards. Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions go hand in hand, they say. “You have a technology, in these zero emission vehicles, that can reduce the full spectrum of pollution,” said Alice Henderson, lead counsel for transportation and clean air policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, an organization that has helped defend California rules. “And it is sort of laughable to think that these air agencies should be forced to ignore that technology.” But the fight to enshrine clean air rules is not just legal sparring. For Lyou, it’s about the health consequences of inhaling air pollution. According to the California Air Resources Board, air pollution contributes to roughly 5,000 premature deaths each year in Southern California. “It really comes down to whether people are going to have asthma attacks, whether people die prematurely or whether people have heart attacks,” Lyou said. “These are lives at stake.”
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco 49ers star running back Christian McCaffrey will not need surgery on his injured right knee but he will miss the rest of the regular season. Coach Kyle Shanahan said Monday that McCaffrey will be out at least six weeks after injuring his posterior cruciate ligament in a loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night . McCaffrey will be placed on injured reserve for the second time this season after previously missing the first eight games with Achilles tendinitis. “I just feel for him,” Shanahan said. “It was a real frustrating year for him. He worked his ass off to get back to this point and I think he was really feeling good and about to take off and just had that real unfortunate injury last night. I know he’s as crushed as anyone, but he’ll get through this. He’s a hell of a player, a hell of a person and an unbelievable 49er. He’ll be back stronger than ever next year to help us.” San Francisco (5-7) sits alone in last place in the NFC West standings, two wins behind division-leading Seattle, and in jeopardy of missing the playoffs a year after losing to Kansas City in the Super Bowl. The 49ers also lost McCaffrey's backup to an injury with Jordan Mason also set to go on injured reserve after suffering a high ankle sprain in the game against the Bills. It has been a frustrating season for McCaffrey, who won the 2023 AP Offensive Player of the Year then signed a lucrative contract extension in the offseason. McCaffrey injured his Achilles tendon early in training camp and missed the first eight games of the season. He rushed for just 149 yards on 43 carries in his first three games back as he struggled to get back to form. He looked much better early Sunday night with seven carries for 53 yards, including a 19-yarder that was his longest of the season. He appeared to hurt his knee on an 18-yard run in the second quarter. He then went down immediately on his next carry on a sweep to the left on a snow-slicked field for a 5-yard loss. Mason had played well as McCaffrey's replacement, rushing for 789 yards and averaging 5.2 yards per carry this season. San Francisco will now turn to rookie Isaac Guerendo and promote Patrick Taylor from the practice squad. Shanahan said the team will also look to add another running back to the mix. In other injury news from the game, defensive lineman Kevin Givens tore his pectoral muscle and will be out for the rest of the season. Shanahan said cornerback Deommodore Lenoir should be back at practice Wednesday after missing the game with a knee injury and that stars Nick Bosa (hip, oblique) and Trent Williams (ankle) will be evaluated as the week goes on. Bosa and Williams have both missed the last two games. Williams has also been dealing with family tragedy as his wife announced on Instagram that she gave birth to stillborn Trenton O’Brien Williams Jr. on Nov. 24. Sondra Williams also wrote that she was initially pregnant with twins and lost the other child earlier in the pregnancy. Shanahan said Williams spent time with his family last week but is trying to get back to play. “He was there at the hospital with her and got to meet him and say bye,” Shanahan said. “Then he had to cremate him on Friday. So he’s been dealing with that and he’s working through it. We’re all just trying to be there for him through it all.” NOTES: OL Aaron Banks and DT Jordan Elliott remain in the concussion protocol. ... LB Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles (knee) is day to day. ... LB Dre Greenlaw will get more work this week after his practice window was opened last week for the first time since he tore his Achilles in the Super Bowl. ... S Talanoa Hufanga (wrist) will have his IR practice window opened this week. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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