November 1, 2024 8:44 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s employers added just 12,000 jobs in October, a total that economists say was held down by the effects of strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off payrolls. The report provided a somewhat blurry view of the job market at the end of a presidential race that has pivoted heavily on voters’ feelings about the economy. Last month’s hiring gain was down significantly from the 223,000 jobs that were added in September. But economists have estimated that Hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with strikes at Boeing and elsewhere, had the effect of pushing down net job growth by tens of thousands of jobs in October. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.1%.
November 1, 2024 5:02 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans on Friday will get their last major look at the state of the U.S. economy — the October jobs report — just four days before Election Day. The view, though, is likely to be obscured by the effects of strikes and hurricanes that left many workers temporarily off payrolls. The government is expected to report that employers added just under 118,000 jobs last month, which would be a decent if hardly spectacular gain. But it would mark a sharp drop from the unexpectedly strong 254,000 jobs the economy added in September. Economists have cautioned, though, that Hurricanes Helene and Milton, combined with ongoing strikes, including at Boeing, had the effect of pushing down net job growth in October.
November 1, 2024 5:01 am
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea is boasting that its new intercontinental ballistic missile is “the world’s strongest,” a claim seen as pure propaganda after experts assessed it as being too big to be useful in a war situation. The ICBM launched Thursday flew higher and for a longer duration than any other weapon North Korea has tested. But foreign experts still doubt North Korea has functional missiles that can carry warheads to the U.S. mainland. North Korea on Friday identified the missile as a Hwasong-19 and called it “the world’s strongest strategic missile” and “the perfected weapon system.” But experts say the ICBM and its launch vehicle are oversized. That would make them harder to move and easier for enemies to see.
November 1, 2024 5:00 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House press officials altered the official transcript of a call in which President Joe Biden appeared to take a swipe at supporters of Donald Trump, drawing objections from the federal workers tasked with recording the president’s remarks for posterity. That’s according to two U.S. government officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity and an internal email obtained by The Associated Press. The White House found itself scrambling to respond to a wave of queries from reporters after Biden appeared to refer to Trump supporters as “garbage” during a call with Latino activists. In that moment, there also was a difference of opinion between the press office and the official stenographers on just what Biden said.
November 1, 2024 4:58 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s deep partisan divisions extend to trust in the vote tallies for this year’s election. A new poll finds that Republicans are much more skeptical than Democrats that ballots will be counted accurately. The AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that voters generally show more distrust toward nationwide voting results compared to the tallies done by their own local election offices. The survey also found older voters have more faith in the vote count at all levels than younger voters. This year’s election marks the first presidential race since former President Donald Trump began a campaign of lies about a stolen 2020 election. Election experts warn that Trump may be laying the groundwork to once again challenge the election if he loses.
November 1, 2024 4:56 am
GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump has launched another attack on former Rep. Liz Cheney, calling the Republican former Wyoming congresswoman a “war hawk” and suggesting she might not be as willing to send troops to fight if she had guns pointed at her. Cheney has vocally opposed Trump since the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and has endorsed his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. During an event Thursday in Glendale, Arizona, the Republican presidential candidate called Cheney “deranged,” “very dumb” and “a radical war hawk.” He then added: “Let’s put her with the rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her. OK, let’s see how she feels about it.”
November 1, 2024 4:54 am
PHOENIX (AP) — Kamala Harris says Donald Trump’s comment that he would protect women whether they “like it or not” shows that the Republican presidential nominee does not understand women’s rights to make decisions about their own lives. Harris spoke Thursday in Wisconsin before spending the day campaigning in the Western battleground states of Arizona and Nevada. The remarks by Trump come as he has struggled to connect with women voters and as Harris courts women in both parties with a message centered on freedom. She’s making the pitch that women should be free to make decisions about their bodies and that if Trump is elected, more restrictions will follow.
November 1, 2024 4:52 am
Israel’s air force pounded Beirut’s southern suburb of Dahiyeh overnight, though casualty numbers are not yet known. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency says the attack early Friday morning destroyed dozens of buildings in several neighborhoods. Recently, Israel has intensified its airstrikes on the northeastern city of Baalbek and nearby villages, as well as different parts of southern Lebanon. International mediators are ramping up efforts to halt the wars in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, circulating new proposals to wind down the regional conflict. Lebanon’s Heath Ministry said more than 2,800 people have been killed and 13,000 wounded since Oct. 8, 2023. That’s when Hezbollah began firing rockets almost daily into Israel, drawing retaliation.
November 1, 2024 3:49 am
Washington County Coroner Tim Warco has identified the passenger killed in a head-on crash Tuesday night in Fallowfield Township as 36-year-old Tiffany Rider of Uniontown. The accident happened just before nine o’clock in the six-hundred block of Old Route 71. Warco says Rider was a front-seat passenger in the vehicle that was traveling east when an oncoming vehicle traveling west crossed the center line and collided head-on. Warco says Rider was not wearing a seatbelt. Four people were airlifted to hospitals while one person was taken to a local hospital in an ambulance. State Police continue to investigate the cause of the crash.
November 1, 2024 2:53 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The national and state Republican parties are appealing a Pennsylvania court ruling that would relax the rules for mail ballots. The GOP filed an emergency request on Thursday that asks the state Supreme Court to put on hold a lower-court ruling that says the envelopes voters use to send in mail ballots don’t need to have been accurately hand-dated. The Republican groups say that if the high court doesn’t stay the Commonwealth Court order, it should at least modify it to say it’s not in force for the voting that concludes on Tuesday. The Commonwealth Court ruled Wednesday that 69 mail ballots should be counted in two Philadelphia special elections last month. (Photo: AP)
