Worth Repeating: The Katie Ledecky Page -- Previously Posted -- March 31, 2017

The Katie Ledecky Page

Katie Ledecky named PAC-12 newcomer of the year. 

Stanford wins its first national swimming and diving title in 19 years.

One year after the heartbreaking loss Stanford suffered to Georgia, The Cardinal have made it back to the top for the ninth time in their school history in their first NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship since 1998.

It was a dominate victory by Stanford who pretty much had it wrapped up by the end of day 3.

It was a special final race to end the night in the 400 free relay as Stanford’s Lia Neal, also an Olympian, would swim the anchor leg in her last race as a Cardinal.

Before the race, head coach Greg Meehan told the other swimmers on the relay, Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky and Janet Hu, to go out and win this for Lia. They stood on the blocks, went out fast and never looked back. By the time Lia’s final lap came, all she had to do was bring them home.

Stanford ended up setting a new American and NCAA record with a time of 3:07.61, breaking the previous record they had set back at Pac-12s by 0.9 seconds. It was a storybook ending for Lia Neal and the Stanford Cardinal’s unforgettable season.

There's a nice video at the link -- the 400 Free Relay -- Ledecky had the third leg, and had a slight, very slight lead as she dived (dove?) in; she lengthened the Stanford lead by about a full body length, ensuring that Stanford would win. Stanford, 1st; then Georgia, and then USC.

And somewhat older news (previously reported): Ledeckky wins the 1650 free with second fastest time in history. Again, a nice video but it's almost 20 minutes long. The question was whether she could be the first woman to come in under 15 minutes. Not this time. A little over 15 minutes, 3 second.

But the big story was how much Stanford dominated this year (remember, they had not won the national championship in almost 20 years):

• Stanford: 526.5 points
• California: 366 points
• Texas A&M: 292.5 points
• Georgia: 252.5 points
• Texas: 252 points

US Energy Production Falls For First Time Since 2009 -- The Market And Energy Page, T+69 -- March 31, 2017

US energy production falls year-over-year for first time since 2009.

U.S. primary energy production totaled 84.1 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 2016, falling 4% from the 2015 level, the first annual decline in U.S. energy production since 2009. The decline in production coincided with an increase in both total energy imports and exports. --- EIA  

Fracking 2.0. That's what The Wall Street Journal is calling it. Today a nice article on EOG.

Memo to self: send note to Jane Nielson. Previously posted, and posted often:

This still remains one of my favorite posts. Jane Nielson says:

Frequent Internet users are getting emails about the Bakken Formation in North Dakota and Montana, supposedly a great oil bonanza just waiting to be tapped if only nasty enviros would let it happen. The emails and websites say that Bakken would solve all our petroleum “needs.” (What, me worry about  global warming?)

Don’t believe it. There’s some oil to be gotten out of Bakken, and it’s going to be exploited. But the “bonanza” is nothing but hype.

Then cite these two posts following the NDIC April, 2017, hearing dockets:

• Slawson proposes 25 wells on a 1280-acre drilling unit  
• Slawson proposes 30 wells on a 640-acre drilling unit  

Apple: another record high? I think so. 

The Jobs Report, T+69 -- March 31, 2017

Updates

Later, 10:18 a.m. Central Time: the wages and spending report was not particularly noteworthy, but first reading suggests it was all good news. And yet, the press continued the theme that was noted earlier this morning with the jobs report: "if the financial news is good, report it as not as good as predicted."

Original Post

 

This is a day late. I got sidetracked with the NDIC hearing dockets yesterday.

This will be a stand-alone on the jobs report today.

Three links::

• Econoday: unusual opening line.
• Business Insider: keeps with the theme.
• Kiplinger: and Kiplinger simply gets it wrong --

• unrevised level of 261,000
• the unemployment rate, which is derived from a separate survey, edged down to 4.7% 

The jobs reports for the past couple of weeks have not been particularly good.

Having said that, the opening line for at Econoday seemed a bit unusual:

Initial jobless claims did fall 3,000 in the March 25 week but the level of 258,000 is higher than expected and, next to the prior week's 261,000, is the highest so far this year. 

And Business Insider kept up that theme, with this opening line:

Initial jobless claims fell less than expected.

I don't ever recall that being the narrative during the Obama administration but I do have selective memory.

It appears that under Trump, even if we have good news, even business reporters will find a way to paint it in a negative fashion.

But, I do have to agree: the jobless reports for the past couple of weeks have been a) horrendous -- last week; and, b) not much better -- this week.

Kiplinger, of course, got it wrong when they said the previous week's number was "unrevised." In fact, it was revised upward from 258,000 to 261,000. Had last week's number not been revised, this week's number would have been the same: 258,000. Whatever.

Finally, Kiplinger says the unemployment rate edged to 4.7% (not saying what it was previously -- it was 4.8%) and not noting that was very old news. That is February's unemployment rate and the number was released back on March 10.

The Political Page, T+69 -- March 31, 2017

Updates

April 4, 2017: Knoxville could be first US city where ObamaCare fails. CNN reports that Humana, the only insurer left on the Affordable Care exchange in the Knoxville area, is set to exit the market in 2018.

Original Post

 

Penal shock! Maybe it's just me but I find it amazing/striking/depressing/surprising (all of the above) that more than 20% of federal prisoners are non-citizens.  Link here.

Health Shock! ObamaCare stalwart Anthem seen likely to retreat for 2018. Data points from Bloombergsupports Trump's narrative -- Bloomberg:

• Anthem likely to "pull back"
• Anthem is "leaning toward exiting a high percentage of the 144 rating regions in which it currently participates"
• Anthem was one of the few big insurers that stuck with ACA
• UnitedHealth Group and Aetna Inc. have already exited most states
• Humana planning to stop offering individual ACA plans entirely for 2018

Surrendering! Fox Business News hypes fight between Trump and the GOP faction that killed the Ryan-TrumpCare bill. Spokesman for the latter appears to have gotten the message. Says new bill will be passed before Easter. If that happens, speaks volumes about presidential tweets.

ND Budget. UND may cut women's hockey, and both men's and women's swimming programs in response to "state's bleak financial picture." I think Rob Port over at SayAnythingBlog will discuss this at length. It's only a matter of time before the state legislature taps the untappable Legacy Fund.

Legacy Fund. Through March, 2017, total deposits to the Legacy Fund were $3,833,534,676. Deposits to the fund do not equal value of assets in the Legacy Fund. According to the state's annual budget report released June 30, 2016, data points for the Legacy Fund (and this is why the fund's investment strategy is not talked about much):

• fair value: $3,809,485,184
• rates of return (for fiscal year ending 6/30):
• 2016: 1.06%
• 2015: 3.31%
• 2014: 6.64%
• 2013: 1.15%
• 2012: --

Natural Gas Supply / Demand Scenarios For Injection Season -- RBN Energy -- March 31, 2017

Active rigs:

	3/31/2017	03/31/2016	03/31/2015	03/31/2014	03/31/2013
Active Rigs	49	30	99	194	188

RBN Energy: the series continues -- US natural gas supply / demand scenarios for injection season.

Scott Adams: when to invest in climate change.

******************************

The Katie Ledecky Page

Katie Ledecky named PAC-12 newcomer of the year. 

Stanford wins its first national swimming and diving title in 19 years.

One year after the heartbreaking loss Stanford suffered to Georgia, The Cardinal have made it back to the top for the ninth time in their school history in their first NCAA Swimming and Diving Championship since 1998.

It was a dominate victory by Stanford who pretty much had it wrapped up by the end of day 3.

It was a special final race to end the night in the 400 free relay as Stanford’s Lia Neal, also an Olympian, would swim the anchor leg in her last race as a Cardinal.

Before the race, head coach Greg Meehan told the other swimmers on the relay, Simone Manuel, Katie Ledecky and Janet Hu, to go out and win this for Lia. They stood on the blocks, went out fast and never looked back. By the time Lia’s final lap came, all she had to do was bring them home.

Stanford ended up setting a new American and NCAA record with a time of 3:07.61, breaking the previous record they had set back at Pac-12s by 0.9 seconds. It was a storybook ending for Lia Neal and the Stanford Cardinal’s unforgettable season.

There's a nice video at the link -- the 400 Free Relay -- Ledecky had the third leg, and had a slight, very slight lead as she dived (dove?) in; she lengthened the Stanford lead by about a full body length, ensuring that Stanford would win. Stanford, 1st; then Georgia, and then USC.

And somewhat older news (previously reported): Ledeckky wins the 1650 free with second fastest time in history. Again, a nice video but it's almost 20 minutes long. The question was whether she could be the first woman to come in under 15 minutes. Not this time. A little over 15 minutes, 3 second.

But the big story was how much Stanford dominated this year (remember, they have not won the national championship in 19 years):

• Stanford: 526.5 points
• California: 366 points
• Texas A&M: 292.5 points
• Georgia: 252.5 points
• Texas: 252 points