Grazing goats wanted for wildfire protection at California observatory

• April 12, 2023

They’re affectionally known as the fire-eating goats: Star Grazer, Chewbacca, Galileo and Death — Destroyer of the Weeds.

The goats don’t actually eat the flames. They feed on its fuel. Soon the resourceful animals will be grazing the hills of Mount Hamilton, east of San Jose, surrounding Lick Observatory — destined to clear the brush and make the expansive pasture less prone to fire.

“There’s a big history of fires sweeping through the Diablo Range,” said Matthew Shetrone, deputy director of the University of California Observatories. “If you’re going to put a $65 (million) or $70 million facility at the top of a mountain, fire likes to climb mountains, so you’ve got to make sure you’re well protected.”

A Lick Observatory building destroyed by the SCU Lightning Complex Fire atop Mount Hamilton, Calif., on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2020. Weed-eating goats will soon be seen grazing the hills for fire prevention around the observatory. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

Over the past several decades, devastating fires have blackened the mountain. In 2020, the SCU Lightning Complex Fire burned 396,624 acres — the third-largest wildfire in California history — and came dangerously close to enveloping the more than century-old observatory. Fifty firefighters made an overnight stay on Mount Hamilton and stopped the blaze just 25 yards from several of the telescope domes.

RELATED: Snow falling on telescopes: Astronomy shut down on Mount Hamilton

Bringing goats to Mount Hamilton comes a year after the UC system utilized the livestock at its Santa Cruz campus, an initiative Shetrone described as a success. The observatory is currently campaigning to raise money to hire the goats — and their shepherds — for an initial season. The observatory is hoping to obtain a grant to fund the weed eaters for years to come.

Right now, the priority is to deploy goats around the cell towers, especially because new ones have been installed this year and are critical for emergency services. If there’s enough money, the observatory intends to station goats around the helipad and create a 5-acre buffer around some of the telescope buildings. The ultimate goal would be to cover more than 58 acres.

As of Monday afternoon, the observatory has raised nearly $72,000. They have yet to finalize a contract with a goat vendor.

Goats at Robertson Park wait to be moved from one grazing area to another in Livermore, Calif., on Thursday, May 7, 2015. Weed-eating goats will soon be seen grazing the hills for fire prevention on Mount Hamilton surrounding Lick Observatory. (Doug Duran/Bay Area News Group)

Because the goats won’t make their grand arrival until May and June, the observatory is still working out some of the details.

There are concerns about deploying the goats, including the potential for predators.

“We don’t know if the mountain lions will come out of the nearby mountains and eat up all the goats or what other problems we’ll have,” Shetrone said.

To comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, the observatory must conduct a plant survey to identify any endangered plant species on Mount Hamilton and determine how to protect them from the grazing goats.

Using goats for fire protection has become an increasingly popular strategy in recent years for beating back brush as California’s wildfires intensify.

Genevieve Church, executive director at the San Francisco-based goat company City Grazing, said she’s seen a dramatic shift in the Bay Area in the last five to ten years as the seasons are quickly evolving.

While drought-plagued years have been a concern for many fire experts, rainy seasons, like this past winter, also pose fire risks. “When we have a drought, we have faster dry out, and in years we do have significant rainfall, we have more growth that is drying out faster,” Church said.

Many of City Grazing’s clients — which include municipalities, universities and schools — contract their goat services in May and June. However, many of California’s worst wildfires in recent years have occurred in the fall — most of that stemming from regrowth, Church said.

“We get as much done as we can in the early spring,” she said, “but really the best time in terms of preventing fires is between August to October.”

​ Orange County Register 

Dennis Schröder lifts Lakers with his energy and efficiency

• April 12, 2023

LeBron James had the basketball and the Lakers’ play-in game against the Minnesota Timberwolves in his capable hands as the final seconds of the fourth quarter ticked down Tuesday. Everyone watching inside Crypto.com Arena and on TNT knew what would happen next.

James would drive and score the tie-breaking basket and the Lakers would complete their comeback from a 15-point third-quarter deficit, defeating the Timberwolves in the closing seconds and advancing to claim the seventh-seeded spot and a first-round date with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Well, James did drive to his right, drawing the Timberwolves’ defenders to him.

But then something unexpected happened.

James passed the ball to teammate Dennis Schröder, who was stationed in the opposite corner, with both feet planted behind the 3-point arc. Schröder accepted the pass and swished a 3-pointer that gave the Lakers a 98-95 lead with 1.4 seconds remaining. The sellout crowd roared.

“It’s Dennis, it’s classic Dennis,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham would later say.

The story didn’t end there, through no fault of Schröder’s. But, after Minnesota’s Mike Conley hit three free throws with 0.1 remaining to send the game to overtime, the Lakers seized control and subdued the Timberwolves for a 108-102 victory. Schröder had 21 points in a reserve role, including his clutch 3-pointer.

In many ways, the game and the ending were a microcosm of the season. There was a little good, a little bad and, ultimately, a pleasing result for the Lakers in the end.

“I told LeBron to get a great shot and attack the rim and just lay it up and get it over with,” Schröder said late Tuesday night. “But he always makes the right reads. He’s been doing this for 20 years. Middle of the season, I missed one of those to win the game, and (Tuesday) I was ready.”

Pressed for details, Schröder said he couldn’t remember his missed shot.

“It was one game,” he said. “I had a wide open shot in the corner.”

The past was in the past.

What mattered for the Lakers was that Schröder picked them up in ways great and small on a night when their supporting cast didn’t do enough supporting of James, who had 30 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, and Anthony Davis, who had 24 points, 15 rebounds and four assists.

Schröder made 5 of 12 shots, including 3 of 4 from beyond the 3-point arc, and had four rebounds and two assists in 33 minutes. He played all but one second of the pivotal fourth quarter, when the Lakers held the Timberwolves to 12 points on 3-for-15 shooting, and all five minutes in overtime.

D’Angelo Russell sat out all but a few seconds in the fourth quarter and OT, scoring only two points on 1-for-9 shooting in 24 minutes by game’s end. Malik Beasley scored five points on 2-for-3 shooting in 14 minutes, and Troy Brown Jr. had two points on 1-for-5 shooting in 17 minutes.

“Whatever the team needs right now, I just try to get it done,” Schröder said when asked about shifting from a starter to a bench player. “I didn’t even know before I got here. I see my name, that I’m not starting. End of the day, to play with those guys is easy, whether I’m coming off the bench or I’m starting. So, we are just competing on the highest level. We showed it again, and I’m glad we got the win.”

Ham said Schröder “lives for those types of moments,” reiterating his fondness for the 6-foot-3 guard from Germany who is in his second stint with the Lakers. Schröder’s standout play Tuesday was much-needed and much-appreciated, as Ham pointed out at game’s end.

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“Yeah, man, the kid is just – his heart, his competitive spirit, just his ability to make big plays and take tough matchups in the biggest of moments, his attitude, his confidence,” Ham said of the 29-year-old playing his 10th season in the NBA. “He’s unbelievable, extraordinary.

“Guys are going to have tough nights and other guys have to be ready to step up. It’s not about trying to just – I don’t know, I don’t know what the word is – but everybody is all-hands-on-deck. It’s about getting the win. It’s not about your way, my way, his way, but the best way to go about getting the win.

“He put us in position to come out on top.”

​ Orange County Register 

USPS raising cost of first-class stamp to 66 cents

• April 12, 2023

The United States Postal Service is set to raise the cost of a first-class stamp to 66 cents.

The increase from 63 cents will take effect July 9, 2023 unless a postal regulator overrules the hike. The agency’s price increase from 60 cents was approved in January.

The USPS has raised prices four times in the last two years and by 32% since 2019, when stamps went from 50 cents to 55 cents.

The new rates from the USPS board of governors raise overall first-class mail prices by 5.4%.

First-class mail accounted for about 31% total USPS revenue of $78.8 billion in 2022. However, the agency has seen a decline in mail and package volume so far in 2023.

The price jumps are part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s plan to make up a projected $160 billion budget shortfall.

“As operating expenses fueled by inflation continue to rise and the effects of a previously defective pricing model are still being felt, these price adjustments are needed to provide the Postal Service with much needed revenue to achieve financial stability,” the agency wrote in a news release. “The prices of the U.S. Postal Service remain among the most affordable in the world.”

American Postal Workers Union president Mark Dimonstein expressed concern and stressed how the agency needed to strike a balance.

“There’s certainly a balance. We’re not economists, we understand inflation’s far too high for working people, but it also affects the Post Office. They are going to have to raise some rates, in order to be able to carry out its mission. But we don’t want them raised so far that they’re hurting customers,” Dimonstein told Federal News Network.

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©2023 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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​ Orange County Register 

Here’s when Disneyland’s Splash Mountain is closing

• April 12, 2023

Disneyland’s iconic Splash Mountain ride, which has thrilled and soaked millions of parkgoers since 1989, will close for good on May 31, officials have announced.

The closure allows work to begin on a new attraction —Tiana’s Bayou Adventure — which will remake the ride using the theme of the “Princess and the Frog” movie’s continuing story. The ride will also be remade at Walt Disney World. The Splash Mountain attraction in Florida closed in January.

The Splash Mountain log flume ride opened in Disneyland’s Critter Country on July 17, 1989. Park designers reused animatronic creatures from the closed “America Sings” ride, and based them on sequences from the 1946 Disney movie “Song of the South,” also adding new characters such as Brer Bear, Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit. In total, the ride has 103 creatures.

Splash Mountain in Critter Country at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA, on Wednesday, August 10, 2022. Splash Mountain is a log flume based on the animated sequences of the 1946 Disney film Song of the South. In June 2020, Disney announced that the U.S. versions of the ride would be replaced with a theme based on Disney’s 2009 film The Princess and the Frog. The new ride, which will be titled Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, is expected to open at both Disneyland and Magic Kingdom in late 2024. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Riders get into a “hollowed-out log” and ride it through swamps and bayous, ending up in a giant 52-foot waterfall drop, during which many, if not most, people get wet.

The ride was envisioned by famed designer Tony Baxter while he was stuck in traffic in 1983, according to the Disney archives. It also opened later at Walt Disney World and Tokyo Disneyland.

In today’s world, it has come under fire by some for using elements from “Song of the South” that critics say perpetuate racial stereotypes.

As the first African American Disney princess, Tiana and her friends will freshen up the mountain and bayou setting.

“Tiana’s Bayou Adventure builds on the story of Princess Tiana, a character whose pride and perseverance reminds us of a universal truth: within us lies the potential to make our dreams come true,” Disney announced on its Disneyland blog Wednesday, April 12.

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Disney announced Wednesday that magical fairy godmother Mama Odie will be part of the attraction. She will also be voiced by Jenifer Lewis, who provided her voice in the animated Disney movie.

Designers are planning to add dozens of new animatronic figures to the reimagined ride, along with music and even the smell of New Orleans beignets.

In addition to Princess Tiana, returning characters from the film include Prince Naveen, Mama Odie, Louis, Eudora, Charlotte, “Big Daddy,” the King and Queen of Maldonia, and Prince Ralphie.

​ Orange County Register 

Middle Class Tax Refund: Early filers can amend 2022 returns to recoup taxes, IRS says

• April 12, 2023

The IRS reversed course this week, advising early tax filers who included the Middle Class Tax Refund as taxable income to recoup the money by amending their 2022 federal tax returns.

The Internal Revenue Service issued an advisory Tuesday, April 11 regarding various tax refunds issued by 21 states, California among them.

“Taxpayers who filed before Feb. 10 … should check their tax return to make sure they paid tax on a state refund before filing an amended return,” the IRS said.

READ MORE: Why does my accountant insist I file now instead of Oct. 16?

The agency also suggested taxpayers who worked with a tax preparer or accounting consult with them first to determine if an amended return is necessary.

Just two months ago, the agency advised tax filers not to amend their 2022 returns.

The MCTR was intended to be a stimulus payment for California residents who were paying more for just about everything thanks to record-high inflation. The Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom set aside $9 billion from the budget’s surplus in order to send taxpayers a “refund” ranging from $200 to $1,050 to qualifying taxpayers. (Social Security and welfare recipients who do not file taxes were not eligible for the MCTR.)

While it sounded simple enough, directing $9 billion to 16.8 million people wasn’t so simple. A third-party vendor, the Money Network, was hired to keep fraud in check. Instead, it struggled to get the payments to recipients, leading to jammed phone lines and millions of extremely frustrated Californians.

The New Year came with much confusion for MCTR recipients who got a 1099 form from the IRS, courtesy of the Franchise Tax Board.

Would the inflation rebate be taxed as a 1099 typically requires? For weeks, nobody knew.

RELATED: Tax filing deadline, for most in California, shifts to October

Accountants pondered the question in blog posts. Local readers sent dozens of emails our way asking for guidance. (Never mind the hundreds of emails asking, “Where’s my refund?” Some of those still persist today.)

By Feb. 10, two weeks after the tax filing season began, the IRS issued official guidance, saying the MCTR would not be taxed.

“In the interest of sound tax administration and other factors, taxpayers in many states will not need to report these payments on their 2022 tax returns,” the IRS said on Feb 10.

The IRS said that after a review, it determined it “would not challenge the taxability of payments related to general welfare and disaster relief.”

Also, if you’re filing an amended 2022 return, the IRS reminded us Tuesday that those can be filed electronically with any associated refund now available via direct deposit.

On Feb. 9, the IRS announced that people electronically filing a Form 1040-X would “for the first time be able to select direct deposit for any resulting refund.”

The IRS began accepting Form 1040-X electronically in 2020, but until 2023 did not offer direct deposit as an option for a refund.

Prefer to send a paper amended return? Send it here:

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Austin, TX 73301-0052

If you still haven’t gotten a Middle Class Tax Refund and believe you qualify, here are some numbers to call:

The debit card customer line is 800-542-9332.

The Franchise Tax Board at 1-800-852-5711.

​ Orange County Register 

CSUF food pantry collaborates with community partners

• April 12, 2023

By Nicole Gregory, contributing writer

Students who are experiencing food insecurity never have to go hungry at Cal State Fullerton. The Associated Students Inc. Food Pantry is a free and permanent service for currently enrolled students. The 700-square-foot pantry in the Titan Student Union is open Monday through Friday and is stocked with produce, frozen and canned foods, and freshly prepared meals, all with the support of key partners, including the Fullerton Arboretum.

When it opened in 2021, CSUF’s food pantry served about 100 students each week, but that number has since climbed to 600 per week, said Kristen Johansson, a graduate student who is about to get her master’s degree in public health and who works part time in the pantry. She records how many students come to the food pantry each week and how many total visits the food pantry gets each month.

The pantry will move into a bigger space by the beginning of the next school year to accommodate the increased number of students who use it.

“A lot of our students have many responsibilities — they’re working, they’re students, they’re parents — and they don’t always have money for all their basic needs,” said pantry coordinator Bernadett Leggis, who added that inflation is a contributing factor for the growing number of students who need the food pantry. Whenever possible, Leggis and her team help students connect with the Cal Fresh program, which provides food benefits to low-income families.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines two degrees of food insecurity. “Low food insecurity” means a person’s diet lacks quality, variety, or desirability. “Very low food insecurity” is when a person’s eating patterns are disrupted and food intake is reduced.

“Produce is really a necessity for students, and they request it, so we do our best to give them produce options,” Johansson said. Depending on the season, the Fullerton Arboretum provides the ASI Food Pantry with oranges, grapefruit, pears, plums, peaches, lemons, limes and avocados. The pantry reciprocates by donating compost to the Arboretum.

“Once a week on Thursdays, we take the composting we have and drop it off in the Arboretum’s composting pile,” she said. “And they provide us with extra produce harvested that week.” This arrangement was started a year ago and has been a success — the Arboretum has donated 1,900 pounds of produce, and the pantry has contributed 6,000 pounds of compost to its gardens. “It’s a wonderful collaboration,” Johansson said.

Donations from local businesses also help keep the shelves stocked with food. “Second Harvest is a food bank that helps feed people throughout Orange County,” Leggis said. “They provide donations to the pantry of two to three large pallets of food each week, which is about 1,000 pounds of food per pallet.” This includes milk, dairy, frozen meat, produce and nonperishable canned foods.

Thanks to the class of 2022, donated food pickups have gotten a lot easier — the class gift was money for the pantry to purchase a van. “It allows us to go out into the community more often and receive the donated food,” Leggis said. Food pantry assistants drive the van to pick up donations each week from two Ralphs stores and a Sprouts Farmers Market store. This food might be overstocked items or items close to the labeled date.

Another major partner is Bracken’s Kitchen, a 501(c)(3) in Garden Grove that provides culinary training and also makes — and then donates — freshly prepared frozen meals and soups for people in need. “They make thousands of meals per week,” Leggis said.

Food pantries are now open on many college campuses around Southern California. “Every CSU has a food pantry, and most UCs have some form of pantry, too,” Johansson said.

Each student who comes to the ASI Food Pantry is given an amount of free food they can take home. “Because we are donation-based, the amount we have of each food per week differs,” Leggis said. “There is a limit for some food items to create an equal chance for everyone,” she said. “We also have items that don’t count toward your limit,” she said. “For example, right now we have so much canned tuna, so 10 canned tunas count as one item.”

As a student of public health working in the food pantry, Johansson has a close-up view of how a community addresses food insecurity. “It’s been very eye-opening and heartwarming,” she said. “Through the different collaborations, our common goals — basic needs, supporting the environment, preventing food waste — are achieved. The ASI food pantry is mighty and these collaborations make us so incredibly mightier.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Recipe: Here’s how to make Asian-style green beans

• April 12, 2023

Green beans cooked to perfection, somewhere between hard and soft, are delicious tossed with a sauce made with Asian-style ingredients. Oyster-flavored sauce, that bottled oh-so-tangy condiment, adds umami to the mix. Mirin, rice vinegar and sugar balance out the flavors with sweetness. Toasted sesame seeds add a gentle crunch and welcome nuttiness.

In Chinese restaurants, a version of this dish often features Chinese long beans. They have a distinctive bean taste and are often steamed or stir-fried. Green beans are a little sweeter and easier to find in the marketplace.

Asian-Style Green Beans

Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons white sesame seeds

2 tablespoons oyster-flavored sauce

2 tablespoons mirin; see cook’s notes

1 1/2 teaspoons Asian roasted sesame oil

2 teaspoons rice vinegar (not seasoned rice vinegar)

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Optional: 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon Sriracha

Salt

3/4-pound green beans, trimmed, if long cut in half crosswise

Cook’s notes: Mirin is a type of rice wine and a common ingredient in Japanese cooking. It is something like sake but with a lower alcohol content and higher sugar content.

DIRECTIONS

1. Place a plate next to the stove. Place sesame seeds in a small skillet on medium heat. Shake handle of skillet to redistribute seeds as they lightly brown, 1 to 3 minutes. Keep an eye on them because they burn easily. Transfer seeds to plate.

2. Add oyster sauce, mirin, sesame oil, rice vinegar and sugar to small saucepan. Using medium heat stir until sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Taste sauce. If you want to add spicy heat, stir in Sriracha to taste.

3. Bring a large deep saucepan of water to a boil on high heat. Add about a teaspoon of salt. Add green beans and boil until beans are tender-crisp (on my stove, I set a timer to seven minutes, that gives a minute or two for the water to come back to a boil, then about five minutes for the beans to blanch in boiling water). Drain. Shake colander to remove excess water.

4. Place beans in bowl. Stir sauce and pour over beans. Toss and add most of toasted sesame seeds, reserving some to sprinkle over beans as a garnish. Toss and taste; sprinkle on a little salt if needed. Sprinkle on remaining sesame seeds and serve.

Cooking question? Contact Cathy Thomas at cathythomascooks@gmail.com

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​ Orange County Register 

Cheaper gas and food provide some relief from US inflation

• April 12, 2023

By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER  | AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON — U.S. consumer inflation eased in March, with less expensive gas and food providing some relief to households that have struggled under the weight of surging prices. Yet prices are still rising fast enough to keep the Federal Reserve on track to raise interest rates at least once more, beginning in May.

The government said Wednesday that consumer prices rose just 0.1% from February to March, down from 0.4% from January to February and the smallest increase since December.

Measured from a year earlier, prices were up just 5% in March, down sharply from February’s 6% year-over-year increase and the mildest such rise in nearly two years. Much of the drop resulted from price declines for such goods as gas, used cars and furniture, which had soared a year ago after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Excluding volatile food and energy costs, though, so-called core inflation is still stubbornly high. Core prices rose 0.4% from February to March and 5.6% from a year earlier. The Fed and many private economists regard core prices as a better measure of underlying inflation. The year-over-year figure edged up for the first time in six months.

As goods prices have risen more slowly, helping cool inflation, costs in the nation’s services sector — everything from rents and restaurant meals to haircuts and auto insurance — have jumped, keeping core prices elevated.

Boxed milk products are shown in a grocery store, Tuesday, April 11, 2023, in Surfside, Fla. On Wednesday, the Labor Department reports on U.S. consumer prices for March. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

“It’s comforting that headline inflation is coming down, but the inflation story has had some shifts under the hood in the last couple of years,” said Sonia Meskin, head of U.S. economics at BNY Mellon’s investment division. “Overall inflation still remains much too strong.”

Even so, the March data offered some signs that suggest inflation is slowly but steadily headed lower. Rental costs, which have been one of the main drivers of core inflation, rose at the slowest pace in a year. And grocery prices fell for the first time in 2 1/2 years.

Grocery prices dropped 0.3% from February to March. The cost of beef fell 0.3%, milk 1% and fresh fruits and vegetables 1.3%. Egg prices, which had soared after an outbreak of avian flu, plunged nearly 11% just in March, though they remain 36% more expensive than a year ago.

Despite last month’s decline, food costs are still up more than 8% in the past year. And restaurant prices, up 0.6% from February to March, have risen nearly 9% from a year ago.

Paul Saginaw, who owns Saginaw’s deli in Las Vegas, said nearly all the costs of a Reuben sandwich — his most popular — including corned beef, cheese and bread, have soared. He charges 10% more for a Reuben than he did 2 1/2 years ago, although he said “our costs have gone up a lot more” than that.

Saginaw is also paying more for paper goods and packaging, just as takeout and delivery orders have become a much bigger part of his business. One clamshell-style food container has jumped from 43 cents apiece to 98 cents.

“Everything we use has gone up,” he said.

Rich Pierson, a semi-retired owner of a financial planning business who was shopping this week at Doris Italian Market and Bakery in North Palm Beach, Florida, said high restaurant prices have led him and his wife to eat much more at home.

“We cook more at home than we ever have due to the rising costs,” he said. “You do look for the occasional deals and add value when you can — that’s for sure.”

Gas prices fell 4.6% just from February to March, a drop that partly reflected seasonal factors: Prices at the pump usually rise during spring. Gas costs have tumbled 17% over the past year.

Yet price increases in the service sector are keeping core inflation high, at least for now. That trend is widely expected to lead the Fed to raise its benchmark interest rate for a 10th straight time when it meets in May.

Travel costs are still rising as Americans make up for lost vacation time during the pandemic. Airline fares rose 4% from February to March and are up nearly 18% in the past year. Hotel prices jumped 2.7% last month and are up 7.3% from a year ago.

Among the biggest drivers of inflation has been rental costs, which make up one-third of the government’s consumer price index. Rental costs rose 0.5% from February to March. Though still high, that was the smallest such increase in a year.

According to Wednesday’s government report, rents have risen by about 9% from a year ago. Yet Apartment List, which tracks real-time changes in new leases, shows rents rising at a 2.6% annual pace. As more apartments reset with those smaller increases, the government’s inflation data should show milder increases in coming months.

“It’s something that’s certainly coming, there has been some moderation in rents,” said Mark Vitner, chief economist at Piedmont Crescent Capital.

Fed officials have projected that after one additional quarter-point hike next month — which would raise their benchmark rate to about 5.1%, its highest point in 16 years — they will pause their hikes but leave their key rate unchanged through 2023. But officials have cautioned that they could raise rates further if they deem it necessary to curb inflation.

When the Fed tightens credit with the goal of cooling the economy and inflation, it typically leads to higher rates on mortgages, auto loans, credit card borrowing and many business loans. The risk is that ever-higher borrowing rates can weaken the economy so much as to cause a recession.

On Tuesday, the International Monetary Fund, a 190-nation lending organization, warned that persistently high inflation around the world — and efforts by central banks, including the Fed, to fight it — would likely slow global growth this year and next.

There are other signs that inflation pressures are easing. The Fed’s year-long streak of rate hikes are also starting to cool a hot labor market, with recent data showing that companies are advertising fewer openings and that wage growth has been slowing from historically elevated levels.

A more worrisome trend is the possibility that banks will pull sharply back on lending to conserve funds, after two large banks collapsed last month, igniting turmoil in the United States and overseas. Many smaller banks have lost customer deposits to huge global banks that are perceived to be too big to fail. The loss of those deposits will likely mean that those banks will extend fewer loans to companies and individuals.

Some small businesses say they are already having trouble getting loans, according to a survey by the National Federation for Independent Business. The IMF said Tuesday that pullbacks in lending could slow growth by nearly a half-percentage point over the next 12 months.

A slowdown in the economy could cool inflation and as a result would help the Fed achieve its objectives. But the blow to the economy might prove larger than expected. Under the worst-case scenario, it could mean a full-blown recession with the loss of millions of jobs.

Associated Press Video Journalist Cody Jackson contributed to this report from North Palm Beach, Florida.

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​ Orange County Register