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Your Social Security COLA increase could be smaller than expected next year
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Approved, Fox Business, National

Your Social Security COLA increase could be smaller than expected next year

By Megan Henney  | Fox Business Social Security recipients are on track to receive a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) next year that is smaller than previously expected after inflation moderated more than expected in May. Mary Johnson, a retired Social Security and Medicare analyst, estimated the adjustment could be about 3%, based on May inflation data, which showed the consumer price index was unchanged from the previous month and is up 3.3% from the same time last year. Both figures are lower than expected, suggesting high inflation is loosening its grip on the U.S. economy. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX BUSINESS
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Skilled workers are in demand; these trade jobs pay the most
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Skilled workers are in demand; these trade jobs pay the most

By Breck Dumas | Fox Business Trade jobs in the U.S. are in a renaissance with high demand for skilled workers and waning interest in college among young adults. The shortage of workers in the trades has driven up the pay, making those positions more attractive and the training a better payoff than a four-year college degree, in many instances. Using data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, job site Indeed recently reported that the average salary for a trade job in America is $61,900, but several occupations pay much more, even just starting out. READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX BUSINESS
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Report: Home foreclosures are on the rise again nationwide
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Report: Home foreclosures are on the rise again nationwide

By  Megan Henney | FOX BUSINESS Home foreclosures rose again in May as Americans continue to grapple with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.  That is according to a new report published by real estate data provider ATTOM, which found that there were 32,621 properties in May with foreclosure filings, which includes default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions. That marks a 3% increase from the prior year, although it is down 7% from the same time last year.  "May’s foreclosure activity highlights nuanced shifts in the housing market," said ATTOM CEO Rob Barber. "While we observed a slight increase in foreclosure starts, the decline in completed foreclosures indicates resilience in certain areas." READ THE FULL STORY AT FOX BUSINESS
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Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks, gun accessories used in 2017 massacre
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Approved, National, The Washington Times

Supreme Court strikes down Trump-era ban on bump stocks, gun accessories used in 2017 massacre

By Lindsay Whitehurst | The Washington Times The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Trump-era ban on bump stocks, a gun accessory that allows semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns and was used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. The high court found 6-3 the Trump administration did not follow federal law when it reversed course and banned bump stocks after a gunman in Las Vegas attacked a country music festival with assault rifles in 2017. He fired more than 1,000 rounds in the crowd in 11 minutes, leaving 60 people dead and injuring hundreds more. A Texas gun shop owner challenged the ban, arguing the Justice Department wrongly classified the accessories as illegal machine guns. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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Supreme Court rules for Starbucks in union case over terminated ‘Memphis Seven’
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Approved, National, THE HILL

Supreme Court rules for Starbucks in union case over terminated ‘Memphis Seven’

By ZACH SCHONFELD | The Hill The Supreme Court on Thursday tossed a lower court’s ruling ordering Starbucks to reinstate seven Memphis-based employees terminated amid a unionization drive.  The decision makes it more difficult to immediately block alleged unfair labor practices as they are litigated in a sometimes years-long administrative process. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote the majority opinion on behalf of eight justices, while Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson partially dissented.  The case arose from the “Memphis Seven,” seven Starbucks employees who were terminated in 2022 during a unionization effort. The employees had publicly posted a letter addressed to the company’s CEO and sat down in the store with a television news crew to discuss the...
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House GOP holds AG Garland in contempt of Congress over withholding Hur’s Biden tapes
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Approved, National, Politico

House GOP holds AG Garland in contempt of Congress over withholding Hur’s Biden tapes

bY JORDAIN CARNEY | Politico House Republicans voted on Wednesday to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress — dramatically escalating their fight with the Justice Department. There was lingering skepticism just hours before the 216-207 vote about whether GOP leaders would be able to lock down the near unity required. Ultimately, nearly every Republican voted to take the largely symbolic step, which refers the attorney general to the DOJ for prosecution, with Democrats united in opposition. Only Ohio Rep. David Joyce voted against it on the Republican side. “As a former prosecutor, I cannot in good conscience support a resolution that would further politicize our judicial system to score political points. The American people expect Congress to work for the...
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Sloan: In Mexico, don’t expect much to change with new President
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Approved, Commentary, National, Rocky Mountain Voice

Sloan: In Mexico, don’t expect much to change with new President

By Kelly Sloan | Contributing Columnist, Rocky Mountain Voice You may have missed it, but at the beginning of this month Mexico elected a new President. By which to say they elected an extension of their previous one.  Claudia Sheinbaum, former mayor of Mexico City, won the election in what can only be described as a landslide for the ruling left-wing Morena Party. Sheinbaum happens to be Mexico’s first female President (it’s first Jewish one too, though it seems she likes to keep her Jewishness rather suppressed unless politically convenient.) More importantly, she is a protégé of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador known somewhat affectionately as “AMLO”. Both are socialists, after a fashion, and it is not expected that President Sheinbaum will stray much from the pol...
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Fed holds interest rates at 23-year high as inflation hits plateau
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Approved, National, THE HILL

Fed holds interest rates at 23-year high as inflation hits plateau

By TAYLOR GIORNO  | The Hill The Federal Reserve held interest rates at a 23-year high Wednesday as its battle to bring down inflation drags deeper into 2024. The announcement follows a two-day meeting of the central bank’s monetary policy committee, which raised borrowing rates from near zero in March 2022 to a range of 5.25 percent to 5.5 percent as pandemic-induced inflation skyrocketed. While inflation has dropped drastically from its 9 percent peak two years ago, the Fed has expressed concern that the economy is still too hot, the labor market is still too strong and prices are still rising too fast to start cutting rates. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE HILL
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Hunter Biden found guilty on all counts by Delaware jury in gun trial
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Approved, National, The Washington Times

Hunter Biden found guilty on all counts by Delaware jury in gun trial

By JEFF MORDOCK | The Washington Times A federal jury convicted Hunter Biden Tuesday of three felony counts stemming from the purchase of a gun in October 2018 while in the throes of a crack addiction, making him the first child of a sitting president to be convicted of a crime. The panel of six men and six women, all Delaware residents, deliberated for three hours over two days before rendering the guilty verdict which could have political implications for President Biden. Republicans have sought to tie his son’s legal problems to him in the midst of a tough reelection campaign against former President Donald Trump. The defendant’s wife Melissa and his uncle, James Biden, were in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. First lady Jill Biden, who attended most of the weeklon...
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Hunter Biden won’t testify, defense rests in federal gun trial
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Approved, National, The Washington Times

Hunter Biden won’t testify, defense rests in federal gun trial

By JEFF MORDOCK | The Washington Times Hunter Biden decided not to testify Monday in his federal gun trial, moving the case closer to the jury that will decide whether the president’s son is guilty of lying about his drug addiction when he purchased the firearm. Defense lawyer Abbe Lowell told the court that the defense rests, one week after the trial began. Prosecutors are calling one rebuttal witness before closing arguments will begin. Defense attorneys rested their case after calling three witnesses over a span of roughly three hours, including Naomi Biden, the daughter of Hunter Biden and the president’s granddaughter. The other two witnesses were employees of the store where Hunter Biden purchased a Colt Revolver in October 2018. READ THE FULL STORY AT THE WASHINGTON TIME...
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