Good evening. Here's the latest at the end of Wednesday. |
 | | The Port of Los Angeles on Wednesday. Allison Zaucha for The New York Times |
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1. Rapid inflation persists, causing political problems for the Biden administration and an economic dilemma for the Federal Reserve. |
Consumer prices jumped more than expected last month, with food, rent and furniture costs surging. The Consumer Price Index climbed 5.4 percent in September compared with the previous year. |
Officials had been hoping that rapid price increases would fade despite a limited supply of housing and a shortage of goods tied to supply chain troubles. The data raises the stakes for both the Fed and the White House, which are now facing a much longer period of rapid inflation than they had expected. |
 | | A Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccination site in Newark in March.James Estrin/The New York Times |
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2. People who received a Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine may be better off with a booster shot from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, a new study found. |
The researchers found that those who received a Johnson & Johnson shot followed by a Moderna booster saw their antibody levels rise 76-fold within 15 days, while those who received another dose of Johnson & Johnson saw only a fourfold rise in the same period. A Pfizer booster shot raised antibody levels 35-fold in Johnson & Johnson recipients. |
Still, the authors cautioned about the study's small size. A separate F.D.A. analysis questioned the strength of evidence submitted by Johnson & Johnson. An advisory panel will decide on Friday whether to recommend authorizing Johnson & Johnson's booster shot, as well as Moderna's. |
 | | Vera Csizmadia teaching pre-K students in Palisades Park, N.J.Mary Altaffer/Associated Press |
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3. The safety net spending bill proposed by Democrats in Congress would provide four big benefits for families. But in negotiations over the size of the bill, they may need to choose. |
Senator Joe Manchin, one of the two centrists whom Democrats must persuade to vote with them, has suggested that they pick just one: paid leave, child care, pre-K or child allowances. So we asked 18 academics which one they would choose. The winner: Public preschool for children ages 3 and 4, with half the experts choosing it. |
 | | Offshore Wind Farm turbines near Block Island, R.I.Chang W. Lee/The New York Times |
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4. The Biden Administration announced a plan to develop large-scale wind farms along nearly the entire coastline of the U.S. |
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said that her agency would formally begin the process of identifying federal waters to lease to wind developers by 2025, in the first long-term strategy from the government to produce electricity from offshore turbines. |
In other climate news, private equity companies have invested at least $1.1 trillion in the energy sector since 2010, according to new research. The companies are picking up assets on the cheap, and keeping some of the most polluting wells, coal-burning plants and other inefficient properties in operation. |
 | | Supporters of the Czech Republic's opposition coalition celebrating in Prague on Saturday.EPA, via Shutterstock |
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5. A Czech coalition defeated the country's populist prime minister in elections, a sign of coalescing opposition to strongman leaders in Eastern and Central Europe. |
The success of a coalition of a wide range of parties could have major repercussions in the region and beyond. |
In other Europe news: Several people were killed and others wounded in an attack by a man using a bow and arrows in a town in Norway, the police said. A suspect is in custody. |
 | | Some of the excess sodium in the American diet comes from restaurants.Nicole Craine for The New York Times |
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6. You may want to think twice before asking to pass the salt. |
The F.D.A., citing an epidemic of diet-related illnesses, asked food manufacturers, restaurants and food service companies to voluntarily scale back their use of salt by 12 percent over the next two and a half years. That goal translates into 3,000 milligrams of salt — a little more than a teaspoon — compared with the 3,400 milligrams that the average American typically consumes in a day. |
Lowering sodium intake by 40 percent over a decade could save 500,000 lives, the F.D.A. said. But the F.D.A.'s acting commissioner declined to say whether the agency would consider mandatory limits should the food industry fall short of the goals. |
 | | Audrey Powers, William Shatner, Chris Boshuizen and Glen de Vries on the landing pad of New Shepard.Mario Tama/Getty Images |
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7. Captain James T. Kirk returned to space today. |
William Shatner, made famous by the "Star Trek" role, and three others went to the edge of space in a tourist spacecraft built by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' company. At 90, Shatner became the oldest person ever to reach such heights. The mission lasted about 10 minutes. Watch the launch here. |
"I'm so filled with emotion with what just happened," Shatner said once back on the ground, breaking into tears. "I hope I never recover from this." |
 | | Freddie Freeman's solo home run in the eighth inning put Atlanta on top on Tuesday.Todd Kirkland/Getty Images |
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8. The M.L.B. playoffs are moving into league championship territory. |
In the National League, the Los Angeles Dodgers forced a Game 5 yesterday against their bitter rivals, the San Francisco Giants. They'll play a winner-take-all game on Thursday. "This is what baseball wants," Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts said after a grueling 3 hour 38 minute game. One of them will meet the Atlanta Braves for the National League Championship Series. |
To the chagrin of many around baseball, the Houston Astros — a franchise still trailed by a cloud of suspicion for cheating during the 2017 World Series winning season — advanced to the American League Championship Series for a fifth year in a row. They'll play the Boston Red Sox, who rode a wave of offense into the A.L.C.S., in Game 1 on Friday. |
 | | "We are united in feeling alone or frightened when we have a big change in our lives," Selma Blair said.Magdalena Wosinska for The New York Times |
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The film is an unflinching account of Blair's life with multiple sclerosis and the stem-cell transplant she underwent to treat it in 2019. Blair hopes the documentary can help others as it has helped her — by determining how much of her identity has been shaped by her disease. |
 | | A rendering of a planet orbiting a type of star called a white dwarf.Adam Makarenko/W. M. Keck Observatory |
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10. And finally, Earth is doomed, but Jupiter could be OK. |
Five billion years from now, our sun is going to incinerate Earth and then dramatically collapse into a dead ember known as a white dwarf. Scientists have not been sure whether planets farther away, such as Jupiter or Saturn, would survive the ordeal. Now, astronomers have observed a tantalizing preview of our solar system's afterlife: a Jupiter-size planet orbiting a white dwarf some 6,500 light years away. |
The study adds to the growing evidence that planets can survive the death of their star. It can also yield insights about the search for extraterrestrial life and the potential habitability of white dwarf systems. As for us humans, if we are still around in five billion years, we'd have a better chance of survival on a moon of Jupiter than on Earth, the study's lead author said. |
Have an out-of-this-world night. |
| Bryan Denton compiled photos for this briefing. |
Your Evening Briefing is posted at 6 p.m. Eastern. |
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