A SHUTDOWN of the federal government looms as a large possibility (Shutterstock).

The possibility of a government shutdown grew on Thursday as members of the House of Representatives left Washington, D.C. for the weekend in the wake of another failure of Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s latest effort to pass a defense funding bill before the end of the month.

According to the Associated Press, the White House will on Friday advise federal agencies to prepare for a shutdown next week.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans have a slim majority and hard-right conservatives are demanding steeper cuts in government spending.

Under the Constitution, all spending bills must originate in the House. “This is a whole new concept of individuals who just want to burn the whole place down,” said McCarthy.

Biden’s migrant move backfiring?

THE BIDEN Administration has granted “temporary protected status” to 472,000 Venezuelans (Shutterstock).

President Joe Biden’s action to grant “temporary protected status” to 472,000 Venezuelans may become a political issue.

The New York Times is reporting that the move was made to enable the migrants to apply for jobs and support themselves instead of being a burden on the cities that must provide for them.

Republican leaders argue that giving “protected status” – good for 18 months – will encourage more migrants. There are now nearly one million people who have fled the South American nation, which is beset by corruption, poverty and political violence.

Sports: Angels come-from-ahead to lose

Repeating a pattern that’s plagued them all season, the Los Angeles Angels gave up two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning and lost 5-4 to the Tampa Rays on Thursday.

Jo Adell’s two-run homer in the sixth inning gave the Halos a 4-2 lead. But the home team scored once in the bottom of the sixth. The Rays got a single, an Angel error, a sacrifice fly and a bloop single for a walk-off win.

The Angels (69-84) will move on to Minneapolis to take on the Twins Friday in the start of a three-game series, having lost seven of eight games.

The Los Angeles Dodgers are hosting the San Francisco Giants and are leading 3-2 in the sixth. J.D. Martinez homered for the Blue Crew in the fourth and drove in Will Smith with a sacrifice fly in the sixth.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RESULTS

Ocean View 14, Pioneer of Whittier 7.  The Seahawks are now 4-2.

Aliso Niguel 14, Marina 7. The Vikings are now 2-4.

Weather: Warming by the day

A warming trend is under way for our West Orange County area with Friday’s daytime forecast high to be 76 with an overnight low of 62 under cloudy skies. On Saturday it will hit 81(59) under partly cloudy skies. Daytime highs will vary from 78 to 83 over the next several days.