May 5, 2023 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Month after month, the nation’s job market has stood its ground against howling headwinds — rising interest rates, chronic inflation, major bank failures and economic uncertainties across the world. Hiring has gradually slowed, along with pay growth and job openings. Yet by historical standards, the labor market has remained surprisingly strong, with an unemployment rate still hovering near half-century lows. When the Labor Department issues the April jobs report Friday morning, it’s expected to show that the trend has continued: Forecasters have predicted that employers added 182,000 jobs last month. That would be a respectable gain that would show that many employers still need to fill jobs.
May 5, 2023 4:22 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — A Republican donor paid two years of private school tuition for a child raised by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Thomas didn’t disclose the payments. That confirmation of a published report comes from a lawyer who’s represented Thomas and his wife, Virginia. The revelation of tuition payments made by Dallas billionaire Harlan Crow is the latest example of Crow’s generosity to Thomas and his family. And it’s raising more questions about Thomas’ ethics and disclosure requirements in general. The payments, along with the earlier examples of Crow’s financial ties to Thomas, were first reported by the nonprofit investigative journalism site ProPublica.
May 5, 2023 4:20 am
Consumers who used TurboTax may soon get reimbursement from a $141 million multi-state settlement. About 4.4 million consumers will receive checks in the mail as a result of the multistate settlement with TurboTax’s owner, Intuit. Pennsylvania will receive more than $4.76 million for the 158,779 consumers who paid to file their federal tax return for a service that should have been provided for free, state Attorney General Michelle Henry announced. Eligible consumers will be contacted by email about the settlement, and checks are expected to be mailed in May. In 2022, attorneys general from Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Texas, and Washington announced the agreement with Intuit for deceiving millions of low-income Americans into paying for tax services that should have been free. All 50 states and the District of Columbia have signed the agreement. Eligible consumers include those who paid to file their federal tax returns through TurboTax for 2016, 2017 and 2018, but were eligible to file for free through the IRS Free File Program. Those who are eligible will receive a check in the mail automatically, without filing a claim. The amount each consumer receives will be based on the number of tax years for which they qualify. Most who are eligible will receive $29 to $30. For more information, visit www.AGTurboTaxSettlement.com.
May 5, 2023 4:09 am
Washington City Council spent much of its voting meeting recognizing efforts of residents in several different arenas. Starting off, Mayor Scott Putnam awarded the Pride of Washington Certificate of Appreciation to Robert Griffin, Executive Director of the Washington County Redevelopment Authority. Putnam described Griffin’s lifelong devotion to the city with his work at the NAACP, his church, as a football coach and now with the Redevelopment Authority. Putnam also recognized Dougie DeCosta. He received a proclamation honoring his efforts in the rescue of two children kidnapped from Zanesville, Ohio. His recognition of the car and children from an Amber Alert saw him contact police and secure the apprehension of 46 year old Thomas Pritchard. Council also saw the hiring of one policeman, and the promotion of two others. The fire department promoted one firefighter and accepted as full time, three other firefighters. In city business, council approved a $303,000 road paving project that according to public works director Joe Pintola will cover 5 roads and the paving in the park from the upper fields and down. The city will also partner with the Washington Rotary Club and the Pennsylvania Resources Council to provide a glass recycling facility at the public works building. Lastly, a public hearing is scheduled for June 5 at 5:00 PM to collect public opinion on a proposed medical residential facility that will care for people overcoming addiction.
May 4, 2023 4:23 pm
(AP) – A coroner says a gunman killed two relatives and a fast food worker in rural south Georgia before taking his own life Thursday. Coroner C. Verlyn Brock in Colquitt County said the shooter killed his mother and grandmother at two neighboring homes and a woman at a McDonald’s restaurant, all in the small city of Moultrie. Brock says the gunman then fatally shot himself. The coroner did not immediately identify the dead. Police swarmed the McDonald’s restaurant in Moultrie after the shooting there, snarling traffic in the area. Moultrie is a city of about 15,000 people located about 60 miles northeast of Tallahassee, Florida’s state capital.
May 4, 2023 12:40 pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio and three other members of the far-right extremist group have been convicted of a plot to attack the U.S. Capitol to keep Donald Trump in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election. A jury in Washington, D.C., found Tarrio guilty of seditious conspiracy after hearing from dozens of witnesses over more than three months in one of the most serious cases brought in the stunning attack that unfolded on Jan. 6, 2021, as the world watched on live TV. The charge carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
May 4, 2023 9:14 am
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits jumped last week but remain low overall, even as the Federal Reserve has furiously raised interest rates to beat down inflation and cool the labor market. The Labor Department reported Thursday that applications for jobless claims for the week ending April 29 rose to 242,000 from 229,000 the previous week. The weekly claims numbers are considered a proxy for layoffs. The four-week moving average of claims, which flattens some of the week-to-week volatility, rose by 3,500 to 239,250. American workers are enjoying unusual job security despite rising interest rates and economic uncertainty.
May 4, 2023 4:23 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — White House economists are warning of “severe damage” to the U.S. economy in the event of a debt default. And in a new report, they detail potential job losses and stunted economic growth if lawmakers engage in “brinkmanship” before ultimately reaching a deal to meet the government’s financial obligations. The experts’ analysis evaluates three potential scenarios as the Treasury Department says that without congressional action, it’ll run out of tools as soon as June 1 to avoid a default. One scenario is a protracted default and the second is a short one. In the third scenario, lawmakers take the country’s full faith and credit to the wire, but avert default. The report says all three would hurt the economy.
May 4, 2023 4:20 am
LONDON (AP) — There will be dissenters among the cheering crowds when King Charles III travels by gilded coach to his coronation. More than 1,500 protesters will be dressed in yellow for maximum visibility and they plan to gather beside it to chant “Not my king” as the royal procession goes by on Saturday. Graham Smith of the campaigning group republic says the coronation is “a celebration of one man taking a job that he has not earned.” Republican activists see the coronation as a moment of opportunity. Opinion polls suggest opposition and apathy to the monarchy are both growing now that Charles has replaced Queen Elizabeth II who died in September after 70 years on the throne.
May 4, 2023 4:19 am
An Oklahoma sex offender who was released early from prison shot his wife, her three children and their two friends in the head and then killed himself, authorities confirmed Wednesday as concerns grew about why he was free in the first place. The discovery of the bodies Monday near Jesse McFadden’s home came on the very day that he was to stand trial on charges that he solicited nude images from a teen while he was imprisoned for rape. McFadden had been sentenced to 20 years in 2003 in the sexual assault of a 17-year-old and was freed three years early, in part for good behavior, despite facing the new charges.
