Fed chair faces scrutiny at major policy speech ... Also, bats

The most powerful economic policymakers in the world will descend on Grand Teton National Park in Jackson, Wyoming, this week for one of the most exclusive gatherings of the year.

- COLBY SMITH

The most hotly anticipated event at the conference, known informally as Jackson Hole, is a speech by Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair. He will provide his economic outlook at the storied Jackson Lake Lodge on Friday morning at a time of immense uncertainty about the trajectory for inflation and the labour market and a drumbeat of calls from the White House to lower borrowing costs.

But first, lodge staff and conference organisers have had to deal with the bats.

A suspected colony of bats recently took up residence in a block of cabins on the property, which is run by the Grand Teton Lodge Co. The bats are thought to have snuck in through a small, roughly half-inch hole on the roof of one of the rooms and, through a connected attic space, got into seven other cabins.

Seven of the eight bats were captured and screened for rabies, and all tested negative. One was set free by a guest.