Retail sales go up in June, reversing May decline
Retail sales rose 0.6% in June, the Commerce Department said Thursday, rebounding from the steep 0.9% decline in May. June’s number was much stronger than the 0.2% gain economists projected in a FactSet poll. Spending climbed across categories last month, including at car dealerships, which saw one of the biggest monthly increases. Those sales were up a robust 1.2% in June. Sales at restaurants and bars — often seen as a barometer of discretionary spending — rose a solid 0.6% in June. Whenever consumers cut back, spending on eating out and alcoholic drinks is usually first on the chopping block.
Senate passes Trump’s budget cuts including cut of $1B for PBS and NPR
In a 51 to 48 overnight vote, the Senate passed the spending cuts that were proposed by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and sent the package to the House. Two Republicans — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — opposed the measure and raised concerns about the potential for adverse consequences. The bill would slash $9 billion in federal funds that Congress had already approved. Roughly $8 billion will be pulled from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) programs and another $1.1 billion will be withdrawn from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund NPR and PBS. The House needs to act on the cuts by tomorrow.
Trump Administration ready to destroy food intended to save starving people
The Trump Administration is moving ahead with its plan to destroy nearly 500 metric tons of taxpayer-funded high-nutrition food biscuits and additional tons of high-nutrition peanut butter paste that was intended to save people from starvation. The nutrient-dense biscuits have been sitting in a Dubai warehouse for months. The peanut butter spread is in warehouses in the U.S. The destruction of the critically needed food is part of the Trump Administration’s destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Trump Administration has refused to allow nonprofit organizations to step in and distribute the food at no cost to U.S. taxpayers.
Massive shopping mall fire kills dozens in Iraq
At least 61 men, women and children perished in a massive fire that ripped through a 5-story shopping mall in eastern Iraq. According to a statement from Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, the bodies of 14 people remain unidentified. “Despite the severity of the situation, Civil Defense teams heroically managed to rescue more than 45 people who were trapped inside the building, with remarkable dedication and courage,” the interior ministry said. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known. The building, which housed a restaurant and a large supermarket, had only been open for seven days. The region’s governor has declared three days of mourning for the victims.
Trump shuts down flood risk research
The Trump Administration has paused work on a new database that is designed to provide Americans with precise estimates about their risk of experiencing flash floods. The database would, for the first time, take climate change into account when making precipitation frequency estimates, which would help people plan for the future when designing and building infrastructure projects. “This is about engineers and businesses and public works, making the best informed decisions possible so that we’re not in a situation where we build something today, and in 20 years we have to go back and retrofit it,” said Dan Walker, co-chair of the American Society of Civil Engineers-NOAA task force on climate resilience in engineering practice. Trump has called climate change a hoax.
Singer Connie Francis dies at age 87
Connie Francis, a pop singer and actress whose hits such as “Lipstick on Your Collar” and “Who’s Sorry Now?” became a soundtrack for a generation of teens in the 1960s, has died, according to her publicist and friend, Ron Roberts. She was 87. One of her biggest hits was “Where the Boys Are,” which was the title song of the movie of the same name. “It is with a heavy heart and extreme sadness that I inform you of the passing of my dear friend Connie Francis last night,” Roberts wrote. Francis was recently hospitalized for pain issues and had to cancel some appearances earlier this month, according to posts she shared on social media.
