U.S. economy loses jobs in July
The U.S. labor market in July as the economy unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs, according to new data released Friday by the Trump administration’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate was 4.1%. July’s job gains marked a sharp slowdown from June’s total. The July report fell far short of economists’ expectations for a 95,000-job gain. Friday’s report adds to signs that employers are becoming more cautious about hiring as they navigate growing headwinds, which include an aging population, the rapid adoption of AI, higher oil prices, policy uncertainty and the war with Iran. Driving July’s job losses were sectors such as local government, which shed 57,000 jobs and leisure and hospitality, which dropped 40,000 jobs.
Trump tries to get around Supreme Court decision on birthright citizenship
Donald Trump has signed two Executive Orders in an effort to end birthright citizenship after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected his previous attempt to wipe out the right guaranteed in the Constitution. Trump’s new orders are more narrowly focused than was his first effort that the court threw out. One of Trump’s new actions limits the number of people in the U.S. who can be granted birthright citizenship after being born in the country. The other action limits the circumstances under which people can come to the U.S. to give birth to babies. Trump said that the Supreme Court made a bad decision and that his new attempts should end what he defined as the “suffering” caused the U.S. by birthright citizenship.
Colorado River system running out of water
Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States, has fallen to a record low — yet another sign that the Colorado River system is spiraling further into crisis. Water levels on Thursday in Lake Mead dropped below the previous record low in July 2022, according to data published by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation on Friday. The lake is now lower than it’s ever been since it was created nine decades ago. Experts fear another vital reservoir, Lake Powell, could reach record low levels in the next few weeks. The Colorado River is the lifeblood of the Southwest, irrigating more than 5 million acres of farmland, generating enough electricity to power around 700,000 homes and providing water for 40 million people.
Murkowski to vote against Blanche; Cassidy to vote for him
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Friday she will vote against Todd Blanche’s nomination to be attorney general, while Sen. Bill Cassidy said Friday he would vote in favor of Blanche, making it likely Blanche will be confirmed by the Senate. With Sen. Mitch McConnell absent and all Democrats expected to vote against the confirmation, Blanche cannot afford to lose any more Republican votes. Maine Sen. Susan Collins, who’s facing a competitive reelection, has already announced she’ll vote against Blanche. Murkowski said she feared Blanche would bring back Donald Trump’s $1.8 billion slush fund from which he intends to pay the people who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Judge tosses Reflecting Pool case
A judge on Thursday officially tossed out a case the Justice Department brought against former Olympian David Hearn, whom they had accused of vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool earlier this summer. Judge Todd Edelman stopped short of barring U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s prosecutors from being able to revive the same case against Hearn in the future, as Hearn’s attorneys had asked. The judge asked for more arguments over that request before he made a decision on it. Pirro acknowledged in a court filing in the case that President Trump’s $14 million renovation of the Reflecting Pool was “hasty and botched” and that there wasn’t evidence to support their assertion that Hearn had criminally damaged the pool. The about-face from the Justice Department angered Trump, who lashed out both publicly and privately at Pirro.
One Trump-backed candidate loses, another wins, in Tennessee
Former Tennessee Agriculture Commissioner Charlie Hatcher will defeat conservative firebrand Rep. Andy Ogles in the Republican primary in the state’s newly redrawn 5th District in Tennessee, CNN’s Decision Desk projects. It is the latest loss for a candidate backed by Donald Trump. Hatcher will face Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder, who CNN projects will win the Democratic primary, in November. It was one of several key races on the ballot in Tennessee Thursday, as voters cast their first ballots under a new Republican-drawn congressional map aimed at delivering Republicans a clean sweep of the state’s nine districts. Trump saw some success in the redrawn 9th District, where his chosen candidate for Congress, Republican state Sen. Brent Taylor, won.
