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By Tim Henderson, Stateline.org Virginia and New Jersey may be among the states most affected by the hiring slowdown that enraged President Donald Trump when it appeared in an Aug. 1 jobs report showing the United States had 258,000 fewer jobs than initially reported in May and June. Such revisions to earlier reports are based on more up-to-date payroll data and are routine. But the scale in this case was shocking — showing the smallest monthly job gains since pandemic-era December 2020 and the largest jobs revision, outside recessions, since 1968. In response, Trump declared the numbers were wrong, fired…

By Brooks Johnson, The Minnesota Star Tribune Typically, when some product becomes too expensive, people buy less of it. Not so with beef. Despite record high prices for the red meat — thanks to a record low number of cattle raised for slaughter — demand for the fresh protein keeps rising. Folks are more interested in a Jucy Lucy than following the law of supply and demand, it seems. A recent report from CoBank said the “remarkably steady allure of beef, even at current prices” stems from “heightened interest in dietary protein, changing health perceptions surrounding beef and the availability…

By Henry Larweh, Rachana Pradhan, Rae Ellen Bichell, KFF Health News The Trump administration’s cuts to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funding for state and local health departments had vastly uneven effects depending on the political leanings of a state, according to a KFF Health News analysis. Democratic-led states and select blue-leaning cities fought back in court and saw money for public health efforts restored — while GOP-led states sustained big losses. The Department of Health and Human Services in late March canceled nearly 700 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grants nationwide — together worth about $11 billion.…

Bishop Montgomery High School in Torrance announced Monday that its varsity football program “has been suspended for the 2025 season and all games are forfeited.” The decision came a day after a booster claimed to have paid parents of players at Narbonne and St. Bernard in the past, and said he had been “helping” the Bishop Montgomery program in recent months. After an investigation, done in coordination with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles Department of Catholic School (DCS), the school administration said it had “self-reported additional violations of the CIF-SS bylaws related to transfer students.” Last month, Bishop Montgomery, which…

By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Golf caddies, blackjack dealers and house painters are among the jobs covered under the Trump administration’s preliminary list of occupations not required to pay income tax on their tips under Republicans’ new tax cuts and spending bill. A bit more unexpected? Podcasters and social media influencers will also be excluded from forking over a portion of their tips, according to the list released Tuesday by the Treasury Department. The provision in the law signed by President Donald Trump in July eliminates federal income taxes on tips for people working in jobs that…

By MEAD GRUVER, Associated Press A judge has ruled that Utah lawmakers must proceed with redrawing the state’s congressional district map right away, pointing to Texas and California in rejecting their argument that the job can’t be done in time for the 2026 midterm elections. The ruling keeps Utah firmly among states where partisan redistricting battles stand to tilt the outcome of the next congressional election. Utah lawmakers were wrong to disregard an independent commission’s map in drawing one that has been used for the 2022 and 2024 elections, Salt Lake County District Judge Dianna Gibson ruled Aug. 25. The…

LOS ANGELES — Josh Lewin eschews the limelight. He spends his late springs and early summers surrounding himself with a handful of local newspapers, talking shop with folks while sipping on a pint of cider – during this time of year, it might be the closest Lewin gets to the back-and-forth buzz of sports talk radio. These outings have reached small English town pubs, such as The Purple Turtle in Reading, transporting Lewin from the broadcast booth to a wooden barrel table adorned with a husk umbrella, shading him from the sun. Lewin marked his 10th anniversary as UCLA’s football…

By Madyson Fitzgerald, Stateline.org This year, comprehensive privacy laws are going into effect in eight states to regulate how businesses handle digital information and to give consumers more protections over their personal data. The laws in Delaware, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey and Tennessee have taken effect already this year, according to a database from the International Association of Privacy Professionals’ Westin Research Center. Maryland’s privacy law, signed by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore last year, will go into effect Oct. 1. Privacy laws enacted in Indiana, Kentucky and Rhode Island will go into effect next year. Several other…

By FRED SHUSTER | City News Service Jasveen Sangha — the so-called “Ketamine Queen” — is expected to plead guilty Wednesday in Los Angeles federal court to illegally selling the ketamine that killed “Friends” actor Matthew Perry in October 2023. The North Hollywood woman has agreed to enter her plea to one count of maintaining a drug-involved premises, three counts of distribution of ketamine and one count of distribution of ketamine resulting in death or serious bodily injury. Upon entering her guilty plea, the 42-year-old Sangha will face up to 65 years in federal prison, according to prosecutors. Matthew Perry…

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) — Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has praised a U.S. strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs in the southern Caribbean and said that all traffickers should be killed “violently.” U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that 11 people were killed aboard the boat that had departed Venezuela, which is located near Trinidad and Tobago. “I, along with most of the country, am happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in their mission,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement late Tuesday. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I…