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  • Walz unveils Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge

    Walz unveils Harris’ plan for rural voters as campaign looks to cut into Trump’s edge

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic vice presidential nominee Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday unveiled his ticket’s plans to improve the lives of rural voters, as Vice President Kamala Harris looks to cut into former President Donald Trump’s support.

    The Harris-Walz plan includes a focus on improving rural health care, such as plans to recruit 10,000 new health care professionals in rural and tribal areas through scholarships, loan forgiveness and new grant programs, as well as economic and agricultural policy priorities. The plan was detailed to The Associated Press by a senior campaign official on the condition of anonymity ahead of its official release.

    It marks a concerted effort by the Democratic campaign to make a dent in the historically Trump-leaning voting bloc in the closing three weeks before Election Day. Trump carried rural voters by a nearly two-to-one margin in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. In the closely contested race, both Democrats and Republicans are reaching out beyond their historic bases in hopes of winning over a sliver of voters that could ultimately prove decisive.

    Walz, wearing a flannel coat and a campaign camo hat, announced the plan during a stop in rural Lawrence County in western Pennsylvania, one of the marquee battlegrounds of the 2024 contest. He is also starring in a new radio ad for the campaign highlighting his roots in a small town of 400 people and his time coaching football, while attacking Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

    “In a small town, you don’t focus on the politics, you focus on taking care of your neighbors and minding your own damn business,” Walz says in the ad, which the campaign said will air across more than 500 rural radio stations in Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. “Now Donald Trump and JD Vance, they don’t think like us. They’re in it for themselves.”

    The Harris-Walz plan calls on Congress to permanently extend telemedicine coverage under Medicare, a pandemic-era benefit that helped millions access care that is set to expire at the end of 2024. They are also calling for grants to support volunteer EMS programs to cut in half the number of Americans living more than 25 minutes away from an ambulance.

    It also urges Congress to restore the Affordable Connectivity Program, a program launched by President Joe Biden that expired in June that provided up to $30 off home internet bills, and for lawmakers to require equipment manufacturers to grant farmers the right to repair their products.

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  • Rulings signal US courts may be more open to lawsuits accusing foreign officials of abuses

    Rulings signal US courts may be more open to lawsuits accusing foreign officials of abuses

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — A U.S. court has given two top associates of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman until early November to start turning over any evidence in a lawsuit from a former senior Saudi intelligence official who says he survived a plot by the kingdom to silence him.

    The order is among a spate of recent rulings suggesting U.S. courts are becoming more open to lawsuits seeking to hold foreign powers accountable for rights abuses, legal experts and advocates say. That is after a couple of decades in which American judges tended to toss those cases.

    The long-running lawsuit by former Saudi intelligence official Saad al-Jabri accuses Saudi Arabia of trying to assassinate him in October 2018. The kingdom calls the allegation groundless. That’s the same month the U.S., U.N. and others allege that aides of Prince Mohammed and other Saudi officials killed U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, whose columns for The Washington Post were critical of the crown prince.

    Al-Jabri’s lawsuit asserts that the plot against him involved at least one of the same officials, former royal court adviser Saud al-Qahtani, whom the Biden administration has sanctioned over allegations of involvement in Khashoggi’s killing.

    The ruling is among a half-dozen recently giving hope to rights groups and dissidents that U.S. courts may be more open again to lawsuits that accuse foreign governments and officials of abuses — even when most of the alleged wrongdoing took place abroad.

    “More and more … it seems like the U.S. courts are an opportunity to directly hold governments accountable,” said Yana Gorokhovskaia, research director at Freedom House, a U.S.-based rights group that advocates for people facing cross-border persecution by repressive governments.

    “It’s an uphill battle,” especially in cases where little of the alleged harassment took place on U.S. soil, Gorokhovskaia noted. “But it’s more than we saw, definitely, even a few years ago.”

    Khalid al-Jabri, a doctor who like his father lives in exile in the West for fear of retaliation by the Saudi government, said the recent ruling allowing his father’s lawsuit to move forward will do more than help recent victims.

    It “hopefully, in the long run, will make … oppressive regimes think twice about transnational repression on U.S. soil,” the younger al-Jabri said.

    The Saudi Embassy in Washington acknowledged receiving requests for comment from The Associated Press in the al-Jabri case but did not immediately respond. Lawyers for one of the two Saudis named in the case, Bader al-Asaker, declined to comment, while al-Qahtani’s attorneys did not respond.

    Past court motions by lawyers for the crown prince called al-Jabri a liar wanted in Saudi Arabia to face corruption allegations and said there was no evidence of a Saudi plot to kill him.

    The Saudi government, meanwhile, has said the killing of Khashoggi by Saudi agents inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was a “rogue operation” carried out without the crown prince’s knowledge.

    Khashoggi’s killing and the events alleged by al-Jabri took place in a crackdown in the first years after King Salman and his son Prince Mohammed came to power in Saudi Arabia, after the 2015 death of King Abdullah. They detained critics and rights advocates, former prominent figures under the old king, and fellow princes for what the government often said were corruption investigations.

    Al-Jabri escaped to Canada. As with Khashoggi, the lawsuit alleges the crown prince sent a hit team known as the “Tiger Squad” to kill him there but claims the plot was foiled when Canadian officials questioned the men and examined their luggage. Canada has said little about the case, although a Royal Canadian Mounted Police investigator has testified that officials found the allegations credible and said they remain under investigation.

    Saudi Arabia detained a younger son and daughter of al-Jabri in what the family alleges is an effort to pressure the father to return to the kingdom.

    Until now, efforts to sue Saudi officials and the kingdom over Khashoggi’s and al-Jabri’s cases have foundered. U.S. courts have said that Prince Mohammed himself has sovereign immunity under international law.

    And judgments in civil cases against foreign governments and officials can have little effect beyond the reputational hit. Courts sometimes find in favor of the alleged victim by default when a regime or official fails to respond.

    U.S. courts noted the alleged plot against al-Jabri targeted him at his home in Canada, not in the United States, although al-Jabri alleges the crown prince’s aides used a network of Saudi informants in the U.S. to learn his whereabouts.

    Late this summer, a federal appeals court in Washington reversed a dismissal of al-Jabri’s claims by a lower court. He is legally entitled to gather any evidence to see if there is enough to justify trying the case in the U.S., the appeals court said.

    Federal courts ordered al-Qahtani and al-Asaker last month to start turning over all relevant texts, messages on apps and other communication in the case by Nov. 4.

    It’s an “exciting development,” said Ingrid Brunk, a professor of international law at Vanderbilt University and an expert in international litigation.

    Courts in the U.S. and other democracies have been favorite venues to bring human-rights cases against repressive governments. But rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court since 2004 had choked off such lawsuits in cases involving foreign parties, which often have little link to the U.S., Brunk said.

    Lately, however, particularly strong lawsuits against foreign officials and governments have been gaining footholds in U.S. courts again, she said.

    “There’s been some very good lawyering here,” Brunk said of al-Jabri’s long-running case.

    Other lawsuits also have pushed ahead. A U.S. appeals court in San Francisco last month allowed the revival of a case by Chinese dissidents accusing the Chinese government of spying on them.

    Rather than suing China, however, the dissidents targeted Cisco Systems, the Silicon Valley tech company they accused of developing the security system that allowed the spying.

    A federal jury trial in Florida this summer found Chiquita Brands liable in the killings of Colombian civilians by a right-wing paramilitary group that the banana company acknowledged paying. Lawyers called it a first against a major U.S. corporation.

    U.S. courts also have allowed human-rights-related lawsuits naming Turkey and India to move forward recently.

    Some of the uptick in human-rights cases — those naming foreign officials and governments or targeting U.S. corporations — in U.S. courts again stems from plaintiffs “pursuing really promising, really creative” legal approaches, Brunk said.

    Khalid al-Jabri said the family isn’t seeking money in its lawsuit. They want justice for his father, he said, and freedom for his detained sister and brother.

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  • Don’t fall for fake dentists offering veneers and other dental work on social media

    Don’t fall for fake dentists offering veneers and other dental work on social media

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — If you have stained or chipped teeth, you might be considering veneers, customized teeth coverings that can restore a photogenic smile without more extensive dental work.

    But dentists warn that these pricey cosmetic enhancements are at the center of a worrisome online trend: unlicensed practitioners without proper training or supervision offering low-cost veneers.

    These self-described “veneer techs” often promote themselves on Instagram and TikTok, promising a full set of veneers for less than half of what dentists typically charge. Some also market their own training courses and certifications for people looking to get into the business.

    It’s misleading, health professionals warn — and illegal. All states require dental work, including veneers, to be performed under the supervision of a licensed dentist.

    On Thursday, Georgia law enforcement officials arrested Brandon Diller, who promoted himself to 158,000 Instagram followers as “Atlanta’s top veneer specialist and trainer.” Diller practiced dentistry without a license and sold “training and certificates, which were worthless” and “provided no legitimate or legal credentials,” according to an arrest warrant from Fulton County’s District Attorney’s office.

    Here’s what to know about veneers and how to avoid bogus providers and services:

    What are dental veneers?

    Veneers are thin, custom-made dental coverings used to hide minor imperfections or to fill in gaps between teeth. Unlike crowns or more invasive dental implants, veneers are almost always considered cosmetic dentistry and generally aren’t covered by insurance.

    This article is part of AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health. Read more Be Well.

    Dentists usually charge between $1,000 and $2,000 per tooth for veneers, with higher prices for those made from porcelain compared with lower-grade materials.

    Placing veneers involves stripping some of the natural enamel from the tooth and bonding the new covering into place. Because of that process, getting veneers is considered an irreversible procedure, according to the American Dental Association. They are not permanent, and can be expected to last between 5 to 15 years before they degrade and need to be replaced.

    In recent months the ADA has been stepping up warnings about the risks of veneer procedures done by unlicensed individuals.

    “Quality control is lost without the involvement of a licensed dentist,” said Dr. Ada Cooper, a New York-based dentist and ADA spokesperson. “We undergo years of education and training and need to be licensed by various regulatory bodies before we can practice.”

    What are the risks of getting veneers from someone who isn’t licensed?

    Improper veneer procedures can cause a range of health problems, including severe pain, nerve damage and tooth loss.

    Patients need to be anesthetized before the enamel is removed from their teeth.

    “It could be incredibly painful if they’re not anesthetized correctly,” said Dr. Zach Truman, who runs an orthodontics practice in Las Vegas. “You can also go too deep into the tooth and penetrate what’s called the pulp chamber, which contains blood vessels and nerves.”

    One of the biggest problems Truman sees with unregulated veneer work is that customers aren’t getting screened for existing dental problems, such as gum disease and cavities.

    “If you put a veneer on a tooth that has an active cavity, you’re just going to seal it in there and eventually it’s going to progress to tooth loss,” Truman said.

    Dental veneers aren’t the only option for improving the appearance of teeth. Over-the-counter whitening kits can help with minor stains and discoloration. And dentists can sometimes use composite materials to reshape chipped or uneven teeth. But Truman says those fillings are prone to crack and won’t last as long as veneers.

    How can I spot bogus veneer providers online?

    One clue: Many individuals performing unlicensed dental work promote themselves on social media as “veneer technicians.”

    Instead of working out of a dental office they often perform treatments at beauty salons, hotel rooms or private homes. Some advertise multi-city tours and encourage clients to message them to book an appointment in advance.

    Much of the appeal of the services is in their pricing, with some offering a full set of veneers for a flat fee of $4,000 or $5,000. That’s less than half of what patients can generally expect to pay at a dental office.

    Performing dental work without an appropriate license is illegal, the ADA notes.

    Dentists and hygienists are licensed by state governments, who also define the work dental assistants can perform. But in all cases, veneers and other dental procedures must be supervised by a licensed dentist.

    Earlier this year, Illinois law enforcement officials arrested a woman running a business called the Veneer Experts after she posted videos of herself fitting braces, veneers and other dental products without a license. She was previously arrested in Nevada on similar allegations of practicing dentistry without a license.

    What are the best ways to find legitimate dental providers?

    The ADA maintains a website detailing the training and licensing requirements for dentists across the U.S. Most states also maintain websites where you can lookup and verify licensure information and find any past disciplinary actions for dentists and other health professionals.

    “It’s really critical to understand that dentistry is a regulated health care profession that requires formal educations and licensure,” Cooper said.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • Top US trade official sees progress in helping workers. Voters will decide if her approach continues

    Top US trade official sees progress in helping workers. Voters will decide if her approach continues

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — As the U.S. trade representative, Katherine Tai is legally required to avoid discussing the presidential election. But her ideas about fair trade are on the ballot in November.

    Voters are essentially being asked to decide whether it is best to work with the rest of the world or threaten it. Do they favor pursuing worker protections in trade talks, as Tai has done on behalf of the Biden-Harris administration? Or should the United States jack up taxes on almost everything it imports as Donald Trump has pledged to do?

    After nearly four years in her job, Tai feels she is making progress on getting the U.S. and its trade partners to focus more on workers’ rights. Decades of trade deals often prioritized keeping costs low by finding cheap labor that could, in some cases, be exploited.

    “You can’t do trade policy by yourself,” Tai said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I am confident that the path that we are on is the right path to be on. I think the only question is how much progress we are able to make in these next years.”

    It is an approach that has drawn criticism from business leaders, economists and Republicans who say that the U.S. has not made enough progress on new trade partnerships and countering China’s rise.

    “There have been no trade deals, no talks to expand free trade agreements,” Rep. Carol Miller, R-W.Va., said in an April congressional hearing with Tai. “Compared to China’s ambitious agenda, the United States is falling behind in every region in the world.”

    Trump says that broad tariffs of at least 20% on all imports -– and possibly even higher on some products from China and Mexico -– would bring back American factory jobs. Most economists say they would hurt economic growth and raise inflation, though the former president has dismissed those concerns.

    “If you’re a foreign country and you don’t make your product here, then you will have to pay a tariff, a fairly substantial one, which will go into our treasury, will reduce taxes,” Trump, the Republican presidential nominee this year, said at a recent rally in Erie, Pennsylvania.

    An Ivy League background and a blue-collar perspective

    Tai has degrees from Yale University and Harvard Law School, but strives for a blue-collar perspective on trade. She said that she has injected once-excluded labor union voices into the trade process.

    The Biden-Harris administration has not rejected tariffs. It kept the ones on China from Trump’s presidency. It has imposed a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicles, even though there is not much of a U.S. market for these vehicles that can cost, without tariffs, as little as $12,000. Tai sees that as a way to shield an emerging industry against subsidized and unfair competition.

    But the administration also is looking to bolster U.S. workers in the face of competition from China through other industrial policies, such as funding for computer chip factories and tax breaks for technology in renewable energy sources.

    The reality, according to some economists, is that domestic factories did not simply lose jobs to China. There were productivity gains that meant some manufacturers needed fewer employers and there was a broader shift as more workers moved away from manufacturing and into the services sector. Those factors often get less emphasis from Tai, said Mary Lovely, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

    “It seems to me that she’s focusing on the easy one — the one where you can blame the ’bad guy,’ China,” Lovely said.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    There is unfinished work.

    The trade pillar of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework spearheaded by Tai remains incomplete. That effort by Washington and its allies in Asia is meant to counterbalance China’s ascendance without needing a trade deal, but it puts more of a focus on workers’ rights and environmental protections than past proposals.

    “What I have discovered is that we actually all want the same thing,” Tai said. “Fundamentally, what we’re doing is innovating the way you do trade policy, innovating the way globalization is going to play out into the future.”

    Tai said she is trying to foster a trade policy with other countries that “allows for us to build our middle class together and to stop pitting them against each other, because that’s been the model we’ve been pursuing for the last several decades.”

    William Reinsch at the Center for Strategic and International Studies said it is not surprising that Asian countries involved in the initiative would say they support their middle-class workers. But he saidt Democrats have not provided the access to U.S. markets that trade partners want in return for the focus on workers.

    “The consistent message we have gotten from the Asian partners is that they are looking for tangible benefits, and the U.S. is not providing any,” he said. “Trying to rearrange the traditional social order, however meritorious that would be, can be an uphill battle.”

    The revised North American trade agreement is a model

    Tai sees herself as having a proof of concept that her approach to trade can thrive. It just happens to come from the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement, the revised North American trade deal signed during the Trump administration and cited by Trump as evidence that he knows how to negotiate with the rest of the world.

    In her interview, Tai said the agreement includes a “rapid response mechanism” that enables the government to penalize factories that violate workers’ rights. Tai said that as of late September, the U.S. government has invoked the mechanism 28 times and concluded 25 of those efforts.

    Tai said that has directly benefited 30,000 Mexican workers who could elect their own union representation, allowing them to receive higher wages, back pay and other benefits.

    “We are empowering workers through trade,” she said. “And by empowering Mexico’s workers, we are ensuring that America’s workers do not have to compete with workers in our neighboring country who are being exploited and who are being deprived of rights.”

    Praise for the agreement appears to be a rare point of convergence on trade between Trump and the Biden-Harris administration. But their perspectives are different. Trump tells voters that his threats of massive tariffs can cause foreign governments to accept America’s terms on trade and immigration.

    “I ended NAFTA, the worst trade deal ever made and replaced it with the USMCA, the best trade deal ever made,” he said Monday, referring to the North America Free Trade Agreement signed by Democratic President Bill Clinton.

    Tai, barred by the federal Hatch Act from weighing in on the presidential campaign from her office, is cautious in her remarks. But she disputes Trump’s claim.

    She notes that there were actually two negotiations on trade with Canada and Mexico. The first negotiation was among the Trump administration and the other two nations. But the second was between Trump’s team and congressional Democrats who needed to ratify the deal and that led to worker protections, a component Tai worked on when she was a congressional staffer.

    But then, she added, just getting a written deal on trade protections and rights is never enough. The text needs to be backed up by action.

    “They’re just words on the page unless it’s implemented,” she said.

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  • US disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response as a ‘truly dangerous narrative’

    US disaster relief chief blasts false claims about Helene response as a ‘truly dangerous narrative’

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official said Sunday that false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene — spread most prominently by Donald Trump — are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance.

    “It’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people,” said Deanne Criswell, who leads the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “It’s really a shame that we’re putting politics ahead of helping people, and that’s what we’re here to do. We have had the complete support of the state,” she said, referring to North Carolina.

    AP AUDIO: Correspondent Julie Walker reports after the deluge, lies and misinformation are clouding the recovery effort from Hurricane Helene.

    Republicans, led by the former president, have helped foster a frenzy of misinformation over the past week among the communities most devastated by Helene, promoting a number of false claims, including that Washington is intentionally withholding aid to people in Republican areas.

    Trump accused FEMA of spending all its money to help immigrants who are in the United States illegally, while other critics assert that the government spends too much on Israel, Ukraine and other foreign countries.

    “FEMA absolutely has enough money for Helene response right now,” Keith Turi, acting director of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery said. He noted that Congress recently replenished the agency with $20 billion, and about $8 billion of that is set aside for recovery from previous storms and mitigation projects.

    There also are outlandish theories that include warnings from far-right extremist groups that officials plan to bulldoze storm-damaged communities and seize the land from residents. A falsehood pushed by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., asserts that Washington used weather control technology to steer Helene toward Republican voters in order to tilt the presidential election toward Democrat Kamala Harris.

    Criswell said on ABC’s “This Week” that such baseless claims around the response to Helene, which caused catastrophic damage from Florida into the Appalachian mountains and a death toll that rose Sunday to at least 230, have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.

    “We’ve had the local officials helping to push back on this dangerous — truly dangerous narrative that is creating this fear of trying to reach out and help us or to register for help,” she said.

    President Joe Biden said in a statement Sunday that his administration “will continue working hand-in-hand with local and state leaders –- regardless of political party and no matter how long it takes.”

    Meantime, FEMA is preparing for Hurricane Milton, which rapidly intensified into a Category 1 storm on Sunday as it heads toward Florida.

    “We’re working with the state there to understand what their requirements are going to be, so we can have those in place before it makes landfall,” she said.

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  • Fed’s favored inflation gauge shows cooling price pressures, clearing way for more rate cuts

    Fed’s favored inflation gauge shows cooling price pressures, clearing way for more rate cuts

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation measure on Friday provided the latest sign that price pressures are easing, a trend that is expected to fuel further Fed interest rate cuts this year and next.

    Prices rose just 0.1% from July to August, the Commerce Department said, down from the previous month’s 0.2% increase. Compared with a year earlier, inflation fell to 2.2%, down from 2.5% in July and barely above the Fed’s 2% inflation target.

    The cooling of inflation might be eroding former President Donald Trump’s polling advantage on the economy. In a survey last week by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, respondents were nearly equally split on whether Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris would do a better job on the economy. That is a significant shift from when President Joe Biden was still in the race, when about six in 10 Americans disapproved of his handling of the economy. The shift suggests that Harris could be shedding some of Biden’s baggage on the economy as sentiment among consumers begins to brighten.

    Grocery costs barely rose last month, according to Friday’s report, and energy costs dropped 0.8%, led by cheaper gasoline.

    Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices rose just 0.1% from July to August, also down from the previous month’s 0.2% increase. It was the fourth straight time that monthly price increases have fallen below an annual rate of 2%, the Fed’s target. Compared with 12 months earlier, core prices rose 2.7% in August, slightly higher than in July.

    “Sticky inflation is yesterday’s problem,” Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said in a research note.

    With inflation having tumbled from its 2022 peak to barely above the Fed’s 2% target, the central bank last week cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates. The policymakers also signaled that they expect to reduce their key rate by an additional half-point in November and in December. And they envision four more rate cuts in 2025 and two in 2026.

    The ongoing decline in inflation makes it even more likely that the Fed will cut its key benchmark rate further in the coming months.

    On Thursday, Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, expressed support for a cautious approach to rate cuts. In an interview with The Associated Press, he said he favors reducing the Fed’s key rate “somewhat.” But Barkin said he wants to ensure that inflation keeps cooling before cutting the benchmark rate to a level that would no longer restrain the economy.

    Friday’s report also showed that Americans’ incomes and spending ticked up only slightly last month, with both rising just 0.2%. Still, those tepid increases coincide with upward revisions this week for income and spending figures from last year. Those revisions showed that consumers were in better financial shape, on average, than had been previously reported.

    Americans also saved more of their incomes in recent months, according to the revisions, leaving the savings rate at 4.8% in September, after previous figures had shown it falling below 3%.

    The government reported Thursday that the economy expanded at a healthy 3% annual pace in the April-June quarter. And it said economic growth was higher than it had previously estimated for most of the 2018-through-2023 period.

    The Fed tends to favor the inflation gauge that the government issued Friday — the personal consumption expenditures price index — over the better-known consumer price index. The PCE index tries to account for changes in how people shop when inflation jumps. It can capture, for example, when consumers switch from pricier national brands to cheaper store brands.

    In general, the PCE index tends to show a lower inflation rate than CPI. In part, that’s because rents, which have been high, carry double the weight in the CPI that they do in the index released Friday.

    Recent reports suggest that the economy is still expanding at a healthy pace. On Thursday, the government confirmed its previous estimate that the U.S. economy grew at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June, boosted by strong consumer spending and business investment.

    Several individual barometers of the economy have been reassuring as well. Last week, the number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits fell to its lowest level in four months.

    And last month, Americans increased their spending at retailers, suggesting that consumers are still able and willing to spend more despite the cumulative impact of three years of excess inflation and high borrowing rates.

    The nation’s industrial production rebounded, too. The pace of single-family-home construction rose sharply from the pace a year earlier. And this month, consumer sentiment rose for a third straight month, according to preliminary figures from the University of Michigan. The brighter outlook was driven by “more favorable prices as perceived by consumers” for cars, appliances, furniture and other long-lasting goods.

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  • Russian disinformation slams Paris and amplifies Khelif debate to undermine the Olympics

    Russian disinformation slams Paris and amplifies Khelif debate to undermine the Olympics

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The actor in the viral music video denouncing the 2024 Olympics looks a lot like French President Emmanuel Macron. The images of rats, trash and the sewage, however, were dreamed up by artificial intelligence.

    Portraying Paris as a crime-ridden cesspool, the video mocking the Games spread quickly on social media platforms like YouTube and X, helped on its way by 30,000 social media bots linked to a notorious Russian disinformation group that has set its sights on France before. Within days, the video was available in 13 languages, thanks to quick translation by AI.

    “Paris, Paris, 1-2-3, go to Seine and make a pee,” taunts an AI-enhanced singer as the faux Macron actor dances in the background, seemingly a reference to water quality concerns in the Seine River where some competitions are taking place.

    Moscow is making its presence felt during the Paris Games, with groups linked to Russia’s government using online disinformation and state propaganda to spread incendiary claims and attack the host country — showing how global events like the Olympics are now high-profile targets for online disinformation and propaganda.

    Over the weekend, disinformation networks linked to the Kremlin seized on a divide over Algerian boxer Imane Khelif, who has faced unsubstantiated questions about her gender. Baseless claims that she is a man or transgender surfaced after a controversial boxing association with Russian ties said she failed an opaque eligibility test before last year’s world boxing championships.

    Russian networks amplified the debate, which quickly became a trending topic online. British news outlets, author J.K. Rowling and right-wing politicians like Donald Trump added to the deluge. At its height late last week, X users were posting about the boxer tens of thousands of times per hour, according to an analysis by PeakMetrics, a cyber firm that tracks online narratives.

    The boxing group at the root of the claims — the International Boxing Association — has been permanently barred from the Olympics, has a Russian president who is an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and its biggest sponsor is the state energy company Gazprom. Questions also have surfaced about its decision to disqualify Khelif last year after she had beaten a Russian boxer.

    Approving only a small number of Russian athletes to compete as neutrals and banning them from team sports following the invasion of Ukraine all but guaranteed the Kremlin’s response, said Gordon Crovitz, co-founder of NewsGuard, a firm that analyzes online misinformation. NewsGuard has tracked dozens of examples of disinformation targeting the Paris Games, including the fake music video.

    Russia’s disinformation campaign targeting the Olympics stands out for its technical skill, Crovitz said.

    “What’s different now is that they are perhaps the most advanced users of generative AI models for malign purposes: fake videos, fake music, fake websites,” he said.

    AI can be used to create lifelike images, audio and video, rapidly translate text and generate culturally specific content that sounds and reads like it was created by a human. The once labor-intensive work of creating fake social media accounts or websites and writing conversational posts can now be done quickly and cheaply.

    Another video amplified by accounts based in Russia in recent weeks claimed the CIA and U.S. State Department warned Americans not to use the Paris metro. No such warning was issued.

    Russian state media has trumpeted some of the same false and misleading content. Instead of covering the athletic competitions, much of the coverage of the Olympics has focused on crime, immigration, litter and pollution.

    One article in the state-run Sputnik news service summed it up: “These Paris ‘games’ sure are going swimmingly. Here’s an idea. Stop awarding the Olympics to the decadent, rotting west.”

    Russia has used propaganda to disparage past Olympics, as it did when the then-Soviet Union boycotted the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. At the time, it distributed printed material to Olympic officials in Africa and Asia suggesting that non-white athletes would be hunted by racists in the U.S., according to an analysis from Microsoft Threat Intelligence, a unit within the technology company that studies malicious online actors.

    Russia also has targeted past Olympic Games with cyberattacks.

    “If they cannot participate in or win the Games, then they seek to undercut, defame, and degrade the international competition in the minds of participants, spectators, and global audiences,” analysts at Microsoft concluded.

    A message left with the Russian government was not immediately returned on Monday.

    Authorities in France have been on high alert for sabotage, cyberattacks or disinformation targeting the Games. A 40-year-old Russian man was arrested in France last month and charged with working for a foreign power to destabilize the European country ahead of the Games.

    Other nations, criminal groups, extremist organizations and scam artists also are exploiting the Olympics to spread their own disinformation. Any global event like the Olympics — or a climate disaster or big election — that draws a lot of people online is likely to generate similar amounts of false and misleading claims, said Mark Calandra, executive vice president at CSC Digital Brand Services, a firm that tracks fraudulent activity online.

    CSC’s researchers noticed a sharp increase in fake website domain names being registered ahead of the Olympics. In many cases, groups set up sites that appear to provide Olympic content, or sell Olympic merchandise.

    Instead, they’re designed to collect information on the user. Sometimes it’s a scam artist looking to steal personal financial data. In others, the sites are used by foreign governments to collect information on Americans — or as a way to spread more disinformation.

    “Bad actors look for these global events,” Calandra said. “Whether they’re positive events like the Olympics or more concerning ones, these people use everyone’s heightened awareness and interest to try to exploit them.”

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  • Top AI business leaders meet with Biden administration to discuss the emerging industry’s needs

    Top AI business leaders meet with Biden administration to discuss the emerging industry’s needs

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Top Biden administration officials on Thursday discussed the future of artificial intelligence at a meeting with a group of executives from OpenAI, Nvidia, Microsoft and other companies. The focus was on building data centers in the United States and the infrastructure needed to develop the technology.

    White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters at the daily press briefing that the meeting focused on increasing public-private collaboration and the workforce and permitting needs of the industry. The computer power for the sector will likely depend on reliable access to electricity, so the utility companies Exelon and AES were also part of the meeting to discuss power grid needs.

    The emergence of AI holds a mix of promise and peril: The automatically generated text, images, audio and video could help to increase economic productivity but it also has the potential to displace some workers. It also could serve as both a national security tool and a threat to guard against.

    President Joe Biden last October signed an executive order to address the develop of the technology, seeking to establish protections through steps such as the watermarking of AI content and addressing consumer rights issues.

    Attending the meeting for the administration were White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, National Economic Council Director Lael Brainard, national security adviser Jake Sullivan, deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, among others.

    Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Alphabet President and Chief Investment Officer Ruth Porat, Meta Chief Operating Officer Javier Olivan, and Microsoft President and Vice Chairman Brad Smith were among the corporate attendees.

    Matt Garman, the CEO of AWS, a subsidiary of Amazon, also attended. The company said in a statement that attendees discussed modernizing the nation’s utility grid, expediting permits for new projects and ensuring that carbon-free energy projects are integrated into the grid.

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  • Congress targets Chinese influence in health tech. It could come with tradeoffs

    Congress targets Chinese influence in health tech. It could come with tradeoffs

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — A California biotechnology company that helps doctors detect genetic causes for cancer is among those that could be cut out of the U.S. market over ties to China, underscoring the possible tradeoffs between health innovation and a largely bipartisan push in Congress to counter Beijing’s global influence.

    The competition between the world’s superpowers is hitting Complete Genomics, whose employees, some in white lab coats stitched with U.S. flag arm patches, spin samples in test tubes and huddle around computers in San Jose. Its founder and chief scientific officer said he’s frustrated that geopolitics is interfering with science.

    “It’s just a loss for the research and for the industry,” Radoje Drmanac said.

    The U.S. House this week overwhelmingly passed the BIOSECURE Act, which cites national security in preventing federal money from benefiting Complete Genomics and four other companies linked to China. They work with U.S. drugmakers to develop new medications or help doctors diagnose diseases.

    It is part of a sweeping package of bills aimed at countering China’s influence and power, especially in technology, that Congress largely backed this week. The biotech measure, which cleared the House with a 306-81 vote, now heads to the Senate.

    Supporters say the legislation is necessary to protect Americans’ health care data, reduce reliance on China in the medical supply chain and ensure the U.S. gains an edge in the biotech field, which both countries call crucial to their economy and security.

    Opponents say the bill, which would ban China-linked companies from working with firms that receive U.S. government money, would delay clinical trials and hinder development of new drugs, raise costs for medications and hurt innovation.

    Rep. Brad Wenstrup, an Ohio Republican and the bill’s sponsor, said House approval was the first step in protecting Americans’ genetic data and reversing the trend of relying on Beijing for gene testing and basic medical supplies.

    “For too long, U.S. policy has failed to recognize the twin economic and national security threats posed by China’s domination of particular markets and supply chains,” he said.

    Rep. James Comer, a Kentucky Republican who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said it’s necessary to protect U.S. interests before these companies “become more embedded in the U.S. economy, university systems and federal contracting base.”

    Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., argued that the legislation, which he opposed, should not name specific companies without due process, saying, “If one of these five companies does not belong on the list, too bad, Congress doesn’t like you, and that’s that.”

    Drmanac of Complete Genomics, a subsidiary of China-based company MGI, said the privacy of Americans’ personal information is not a concern because his company’s instruments are only connected to local U.S. servers.

    The company also has argued that Congress should broadly apply data protection standards and requirements rather than targeting a small subset of companies.

    Some analysts see the issue as more about industry competition than protecting people’s personal information from the Chinese government.

    “You want to make sure that American pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology companies are on an even footing in terms of their ability to compete both inside the U.S. market and then also abroad,” said Andrew Reddie, a public policy professor at the University of California, Berkeley, who studies the intersection of technology, politics and security and founded the Berkeley Risk and Security Lab.

    Complete Genomics is listed in the legislation along with BGI, MGI, WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics. MGI is a spinoff of BGI, a heavyweight genomics company based in China that offers genetic sequencing services for research purposes in the U.S.

    BGI Group called the bill “a false flag targeting companies under the premise of national security” and said, “We strictly follow rules and laws, and we have no access to Americans’ personal data in any of our work.”

    MGI said the bill would “serve only to stifle competition and foster a monopoly in DNA testing.”

    WuXi AppTec and WuXi Biologics work as contractors providing research, development and manufacturing services for U.S. drugmakers. Such services are considered crucial for American pharmaceutical companies to develop and make new drugs.

    WuXi AppTec said it and others in the industry are concerned about the bill’s impact on biotechnology innovation, drug development, patient care and health care costs. It urged the Senate not to move forward without addressing “these serious consequences.”

    In filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, dozens of U.S. biotech companies have flagged the BIOSECURE Act as a concern, saying it could have major effects on the pharmaceutical supply chain because of the industry’s extensive partnerships with Chinese companies.

    Drugmaker Eli Lilly says its third-party suppliers are “sometimes the sole global source for a component” but it has been working to move some development and manufacturing closer to home, which typically takes several years “due to scientific and regulatory complexity and the need to ensure process and product quality.”

    BIO, the largest advocacy group for U.S. biotech companies and research institutions, supports the bill, saying it reinforces the industry’s national security imperative.

    The bill, which gives U.S. companies eight years to break ties with Chinese firms, has provided “a reasonable timeframe” for the decoupling, group CEO John Crowley said.

    ___

    Daley reported from San Jose.

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  • Teen vaping hits 10-year low in the US

    Teen vaping hits 10-year low in the US

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Fewer adolescents are vaping this year than at any point in the last decade, government officials reported Thursday, pointing to a shrinking number of high school students who are using Elf Bar and other fruity, unauthorized e-cigarettes.

    The latest survey numbers show the teen vaping rate fell to under 6% this year, down from 7.7% in 2023. More than 1.6 million students reported vaping in the previous month — about one-third the number in 2019, when underage vaping peaked with the use of discrete, high-nicotine e-cigarettes like Juul.

    This year’s decline was mainly driven by a half-million fewer high school students who reported using e-cigarettes in the past month, officials said. Vaping was unchanged among middle schoolers, but remains less common in that group, at 3.5% of students.

    “This is a monumental public health win,” FDA’s tobacco director Brian King told reporters. “But we can’t rest on our laurels. There’s clearly more work to do to further reduce youth use.”

    King and other officials noted that the drop in vaping didn’t coincide with a rise in other tobacco industry products, such as nicotine pouches.

    Sales of small, flavored pouches like Zyn have surged among adults. The subject of viral videos on social media platforms, the pouches come in flavors like mint and cinnamon and slowly release nicotine when placed along the gumline. This year’s U.S. survey shows 1.8% of teens are using them, largely unchanged from last year.

    “Our guard is up,” King said. “We’re aware of the reported growing sales trends and we’re closely monitoring the evolving tobacco product landscape.”

    The federal survey involved more than 29,000 students in grades 6 through 12 who filled out an online questionnaire in the spring. Health officials consider the survey to be their best measure of youth tobacco and nicotine trends. Thursday’s update focused on vaping products and nicotine pouches, but the full publication will eventually include rates of cigarette and cigar smoking, which have also hit historic lows in recent years.

    Officials from the FDA and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention attributed the big drop in vaping to recent age restrictions and more aggressive enforcement against retailers and manufacturers, including Chinese vaping companies who have sold their e-cigarettes illegally in the U.S. for years.

    Use of the most popular e-cigarette among teens, Elf Bar, fell 36% in the wake of FDA warning letters to stores and distributors selling the brightly colored vapes, which come in flavors like watermelon ice and peach mango. The brand is part of a wave of cheap, disposable e-cigarettes from China that have taken over a large portion of the U.S. vaping market. The FDA has tried to block such imports, although Elf Bar and other brands have tried to find workarounds by changing their names, addresses and logos.

    Teen use of major American e-cigarettes like Vuse and Juul remained significant, with about 12% of teens who vape reporting use of those those brands.

    In 2020, FDA regulators banned fruit and candy flavors from reusable e-cigarettes like Juul, which are now only sold in menthol and tobacco. But the flavor restriction didn’t apply to disposable products, and companies like Elf Bar stepped in to fill the gap.

    Other key findings in the report:

    — Among students who current use e-cigarettes, about 26% said they vape daily.

    — Nearly 90% of the students who vape used flavored products, with fruit flavors as the overwhelming favorite.

    — Zyn is the most common nicotine pouch among teens who use the products.

    ___

    The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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  • News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

    News organizations seek unsealing of plea deal with 9/11 defendants

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Seven news organizations filed a legal motion Friday asking the U.S. military commission at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to make public the plea agreement that prosecutors struck with alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and two fellow defendants.

    The plea agreements, filed early last month and promptly sealed, triggered objections from Republican lawmakers and families of some of the nearly 3,000 people killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaida attacks. The controversy grew when Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced days later he was revoking the deal, the product of two years of negotiations among government prosecutors and defense attorneys that were overseen by Austin’s department.

    Austin’s move caused upheaval in the pretrial hearings now in their second decade at Guantanamo, leading the three defendants to suspend participation in any further pretrial hearings. Their lawyers pursued new complaints that Austin’s move was illegal and amounted to unlawful interference by him and the GOP lawmakers.

    Seven news organizations — Fox News, NBC, NPR, The Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Univision — filed the claim with the military commission. It argues that the Guantanamo court had failed to establish any significant harm to U.S. government interests from allowing the public to know terms of the agreement.

    The public’s need to know what is in the sealed records “has only been heightened as the Pretrial Agreements have become embroiled in political controversy,” lawyers for the news organizations argued in Friday’s motion. “Far from threatening any compelling government interest, public access to these records will temper rampant speculation and accusation.”

    The defendants’ legal challenges to Austin’s actions and government prosecutors’ response to those also remain under seal.

    The George W. Bush administration set up the military commission at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo after the 2001 attacks. The 9/11 case remains in pretrial hearings after more than a decade, as judges, the government and defense attorneys hash out the extent to which the defendants’ torture during years in CIA custody after their capture has rendered evidence legally inadmissible. Staff turnover and the court’s distance from the U.S. also have slowed proceedings.

    Members of the press and public must travel to Guantanamo to watch the trial, or to military installations in the U.S. to watch by remote video. Court filings typically are sealed indefinitely for security reviews that search for any classified information.

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  • Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

    Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo.; Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark.

    ___

    NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.

    ___

    CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Nikki Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C.; Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Jim Himes, D-Conn.

    ___

    CNN’s “State of the Union” — Sens. John Fetterman, D-Pa., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

    ___

    “Fox News Sunday” — Sens. John Cornyn, R-Texas, and Chris Murphy, D-Conn.

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  • With charges and sanctions, US takes aim at Russian disinformation ahead of November election

    With charges and sanctions, US takes aim at Russian disinformation ahead of November election

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration seized Kremlin-run websites and charged two Russian state media employees in its most sweeping effort yet to push back against what it says are Russian attempts to spread disinformation ahead of the November presidential election.

    The measures, which in addition to indictments also included sanctions and visa restrictions, represented a U.S. government effort just weeks before the November election to disrupt a persistent threat from Russia that American officials have long warned has the potential to sow discord and create confusion among voters.

    Washington has said that Moscow, which intelligence officials have said has a preference for Republican Donald Trump, remains the primary threat to elections even as the FBI continues to investigate a hack by Iran this year that targeted the presidential campaigns of both political parties.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    “The Justice Department’s message is clear: We will have no tolerance for attempts by authoritarian regimes to exploit our democratic systems of government,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

    One criminal case disclosed by the Justice Department accuses two employees of RT, a Russian state media company, of covertly funding a Tennessee-based content creation company with nearly $10 million to publish English-language videos on social media platforms including TikTok and YouTube with messages in favor of the Russia government’s interests and agenda, including about the war in Ukraine.

    The nearly 2,000 videos posted by the company have gotten more than 16 million views on YouTube alone, prosecutors said.

    The two defendants, Kostiantyn Kalashnikov and Elena Afanasyeva, are charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering and violating the Foreign Agents Registration Act. They are at large. It was not immediately clear if they had lawyers.

    The Justice Department says the company did not disclose that it was funded by RT and that neither it nor its founders registered as required by law as an agent of a foreign principal.

    Though the indictment does not name the company, it describes it as a Tennessee-based content creation firm with six commentators and with a website identifying itself as “a network of heterodox commentators that focus on Western political and cultural issues.”

    That description exactly matches Tenet Media, an online company that hosts videos made by well-known conservative influencers Tim Pool, Benny Johnson and others.

    Johnson and Pool both responded with posts on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, calling themselves “victims.” Calling Russian President Vladimir Putin a “scumbag,” Pool wrote that “should these allegations prove true, I as well as the other personalities and commentators were deceived.”

    In his post, Johnson wrote that he had been asked a year ago to provide content to a “media startup.” He said his lawyers negotiated a “standard, arms length deal, which was later terminated.”

    Tenet Media’s shows in recent months have featured high-profile conservative guests, including RNC co-chair Lara Trump, former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake.

    In the other action, officials announced the seizure of 32 internet domains that were used by the Kremlin to spread Russian propaganda and weaken international support for Ukraine. The websites were designed to look like authentic news sites but were actually fake, with bogus social media personas manufactured to appear as if they belonged to American users.

    The Justice Department did not identify which candidate in particular the propaganda campaign was meant to boost. But internal strategy notes from participants in the effort released Wednesday by the Justice Department make clear that Trump was the intended beneficiary, even though the names of the candidates were blacked out.

    The proposal for one propaganda project, for instance, states that one of its objectives was to secure a victory for a candidate who is currently out of power and to increase the percentage of Americans who believe the U.S. has been doing too much to support Ukraine. President Joe Biden has strongly supported Ukraine during the invasion by Russia.

    Intelligence agencies have previously charged that Russia, which during the 2016 election launched a massive campaign of foreign influence and interference on Trump’s behalf, was using disinformation to try to meddle in this year’s election. The new steps show the depth of those concerns.

    “Today’s announcement highlights the lengths some foreign governments go to undermine American democratic institutions,” the State Department said. “But these foreign governments should also know that we will not tolerate foreign malign actors intentionally interfering and undermining free and fair elections.”

    The State Department announced it was taking action against several employees of Russian state-owned media outlets, designating them as “foreign missions,” and offering a cash reward for information provided to the U.S. government about foreign election interference.

    It also said it was adding media company Rossiya Segodnya and its subsidiaries RIA Novosti, RT, TV-Novosti, Ruptly, and Sputnik to its list of foreign missions. That will require them to register with the U.S. government and disclose their properties and personnel in the U.S.

    In a speech last month, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said Russia remained the biggest threat to election integrity, accusing Putin and his proxies of “targeting specific voter demographics and swing-state voters to in an effort to manipulate presidential and congressional election outcomes.” Russia, she said was “intent on co-opting unwitting Americans on social media to push narratives advancing Russian interests.”

    She struck a similar note Thursday, saying at an Aspen Institute event that the foreign influence threat is more diverse and aggressive than in past years.

    “More diverse and aggressive because they involve more actors from more countries than we have ever seen before, operating in a more polarized world than we have ever seen before, all fueled by more technology and accelerated by technology, like AI, and that is what we have exposed in the law enforcement actions we took today,” she said.

    Much of the concern around Russia centers on cyberattacks and disinformation campaigns designed to influence the November vote.

    The tactics include using state media like RT to advance anti-U.S. messages and content, as well as networks of fake websites and social media accounts that amplify the claims and inject them into Americans’ online conversations. Typically, these networks seize on polarizing political topics such as immigration, crime or the war in Gaza.

    In many cases, Americans may have no idea that the content they see online either originated or was amplified by the Kremlin.

    Groups linked to the Kremlin are increasingly hiring marketing and communications firms within Russia to outsource some of the work of creating digital propaganda while also covering their tracks, the officials said during the briefing with reporters.

    Two such firms were the subject of new U.S. sanctions announced in March. Authorities say the two Russian companies created fake websites and social media profiles to spread Kremlin disinformation.

    The ultimate goal, however, is to get Americans to spread Russian disinformation without questioning its origin. People are far more likely to trust and repost information that they believe is coming from a domestic source, officials said. Fake websites designed to mimic U.S. news outlets and AI-generated social media profiles are just two methods.

    Messages left with the Russian Embassy were not immediately returned.

    _____

    Associated Press writers Dan Merica and Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, Ali Swenson in New York and Alan Suderman in Richmond, Va., contributed to this report.

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  • You aren’t likely to lose a job in the US but may find it harder to land one

    You aren’t likely to lose a job in the US but may find it harder to land one

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Laid off by the music streaming service Spotify last year, Joovay Arias figured he’d land another job as a software engineer fairly soon. His previous job search, in 2019, had been a breeze.

    “Back then,” he said, “I had tons of recruiters reaching out to me — to the point where I had to turn them down.”

    Arias did find another job recently, but only after an unexpected ordeal.

    “I thought it was going to be something like three months,’’ said Arias, 39. “It turned into a year and three months.’’

    As Arias and other jobseekers can attest, the American labor market, red-hot for the past few years, has cooled. The job market is now in an unusual place: Jobholders are mostly secure, with layoffs low, historically speaking. Yet the pace of hiring has slowed, and landing a job has become harder. On Friday, the government will report on whether hiring slowed sharply again in August after a much-weaker-than-expected July job gain.

    “If you have a job and you’re happy with that job and you want to hold onto that job, things are pretty good right now,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director for North America at the Indeed Hiring Lab. “But if you’re out of work or you have a job and you want to switch to a new one, things aren’t as rosy as they were a couple of years ago.’’

    Since peaking in March 2022 as the economy accelerated out of the pandemic recession, the number of listed job openings has dropped by more than a third, according to the government’s latest monthly report on openings and hiring.

    Temporary-help firms have reduced jobs for 26 of the past 28 months. That’s a telling sign: Economists generally regard temp jobs as a harbinger for where the job market is headed because many employers hire temps before committing to full-time hires.

    In a roundup this week of local economic conditions, the Federal Reserve’s regional banks reported signs of a decelerating job market. Staffing agencies have said that job gains have slowed “as firms are approaching hiring decisions with greater hesitancy,” the New York Fed found. “Job candidates are lingering on the market longer.”

    The Minneapolis Fed said that a staffing agency reported that “businesses are getting a lot more picky” about whom they hire. And the Atlanta Fed found that “only a few” companies planned to step up hiring.

    Job-hopping, so rampant two years ago, has slowed as workers have gradually lost confidence in their ability to find better pay or working conditions somewhere else. Just 3.3 million Americans quit their jobs in July, compared with a peak of 4.5 million in April 2022.

    “People are staying put because they’re afraid they won’t find new jobs,’’ said Aaron Terrazas, chief economist at the employment website Glassdoor.

    And the Labor Department has reported, in its annual revised estimates of employment growth, that the economy added 818,000 fewer jobs in the 12 months that ended in March than it had previously estimated.

    In one respect, it’s not at all surprising that the pace of hiring is now moderating. Job growth in 2021 and 2022, as the economy roared back from the COVID-19 recession, was the most explosive on record. Workers gained leverage they hadn’t enjoyed in decades. Companies scrambled to hire fast enough to keep up with surging sales. Many employers had to jack up pay and offer bonuses to keep employees.

    It was inevitable — and even healthy, economists say, in the long run — for hiring to slow, thereby easing pressure on wage growth and inflation pressures. Otherwise, the economy could have overheated and forced the Fed to tighten credit so aggressively as to cause a recession.

    The post-pandemic jobs boom was a marked contrast to the sluggish recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Back then, it took more than six years for the economy to recover the jobs that had been lost. By contrast, the breathtaking pandemic job losses of 2020 — 22 million — were reversed in less than 2 1/2 years.

    Still, the surging economy ignited inflation, leading the Fed to raise interest rates 11 times in 2022 and 2023 to try to cool the job market and slow inflation. And for a while, the economy and the job market appeared immune from higher borrowing costs. Consumers kept spending, businesses kept expanding and the economy kept growing.

    But eventually the continued high rates began leaving their mark. Several high-profile companies, including tech giants like Spotify, announced layoffs last year in the face high interest rates. Outside of the economy’s technology sector, though, and, to a lesser extent, finance, most American companies haven’t cut jobs. The number of people filing first-time applications for unemployment benefits is barely above where it was before the pandemic struck.

    Yet the same companies that are keeping workers aren’t necessarily adding more.

    “Compared to a year or two ago, it’s a lot more difficult, particularly for entry-level folks,’’ Glassdoor’s Terrazas said. “Because of the gradual drip of layoffs in tech and finance, in professional services over the past year and a half, there have been a lot of high-skilled, experienced folks on the job market.

    “By all evidence, they are finding jobs. But they are also pushing more entry-level folks further and further down the queue… Recent grads, folks without a lot of on-the-job experience are feeling the effects of suddenly competing with people who have two, five, 10 years’ experience in the jobs market. When those big fish are in the market, the little fish naturally get squeezed out.’’

    Despite the pressure of the highest interest rates in decades, the economy remains in solid shape, having grown at a healthy 3% annual pace from April through June. Most Americans are enjoying solid job security.

    Still, given the growing difficulty of changing jobs, even some of those job holders are feeling the chill.

    “The reality is a lot of people, even when they have jobs, are feeling a lot of angst about the economy,’’ Terrazas said. “People are feeling a little bit job insecurity, a lot more pressure in the workplace than they have in a while.’’

    In an August survey, the New York Fed found that Americans as a whole are more worried about losing their jobs now than at any time since 2014, when people were just beginning to feel the full effects of the recovery from the Great Recession of 2008-2009.

    Adding to the anxiety is that memories of the recent job boom are still fresh.

    “The reference point for most people is still 2021, 2022, when the job market was very strong, and what looks like for us economists as a normalization (of the job market from unsustainable levels), I think for a lot of people feels like a loss of status,’’ Terrazas said.

    Consider Abby Neff, who, since graduating from Ohio University in May 2023, has struggled to find the “old-fashioned writing job’’ that she hoped to land in journalism

    “It’s been pretty tough,” she said, “to find a permanent journalism job.”

    In the meantime, Neff, 23, has joined the government’s AmeriCorps agency, which mobilizes Americans to perform community service, in southeastern Ohio. The job doesn’t pay much. But it has given her the opportunity to write and to learn about everything from forestry to sustainable agriculture to watershed management.

    She hadn’t expected to encounter such difficulty in finding a job in her field.

    “I feel like I did all the ‘right things’ in college,’’ Neff said ruefully.

    She edited a campus magazine and made contacts in the business. She has landed some interviews, only to learn later that the job was filled without her having heard from the employer.

    “I will get ‘ghosted,’ ‘’ she said. “I almost feel like I have to hunt employers down to even get a response to an application or submission.”

    Arias, the software engineer, started looking for a job “the minute I got laid off’’ in June 2023. At first, he was casual about it. He took time off to care for his newborn daughter and drew money out of his severance package from Spotify. But when the job hunt proved difficult, he “decided to really ramp it up’’ early this year.

    Arias started driving for a ride-sharing service and getting job leads from passengers. He reached out to a company through which he had taken part in a computer coding bootcamp, seeking contacts. Eventually, the networking paid off with a new job.

    Yet the process proved much more frustrating than he had envisioned. Employers he had communicated with would vanish without explanation.

    “That’s the worst part about the experience,’’ Arias said. “You get that introductory message. Then you send your resume. And then that’s it. Communication would end there. Or you’d get an automated response. So you don’t know what happened, what you did wrong … It just feels really demoralizing, really stressful, because you don’t know what happened.”

    ___

    AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this report.

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  • Yellen says ending Biden tax incentives would be ‘historic mistake’ for states like North Carolina

    Yellen says ending Biden tax incentives would be ‘historic mistake’ for states like North Carolina

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned voters in the battleground state of North Carolina that they could lose jobs if Republicans weaken a signature Biden administration law that encourages investments in manufacturing and clean energy.

    Yellen said that Republican-dominated states like North Carolina are greatly benefiting from tax incentives under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and that eliminating them would be a “historic mistake,” in a Thursday speech a community college in Raleigh.

    North Carolina has emerged as a key battleground this election cycle between Republican former President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, where Trump ultimately won North Carolina in the 2020 presidential election.

    Yellen said Treasury data shows that 90,000 North Carolina households claimed more than $100 million in residential clean energy credits and $60 million in energy efficiency credits.

    “Rolling them back could raise costs for working families at a moment when it’s imperative that we continue to take action to lower prices,” Yellen said. “It could jeopardize the significant investments in manufacturing we’re seeing here and across the country, along with the jobs that come with them, many of which don’t require a college degree. And it could give a leg-up to China and other countries that are also investing to compete in these critical industries.”

    “As we see clearly here in North Carolina, this would be a historic mistake,” she said.

    Some Republicans have called on their leaders to reconsider repealing IRA energy tax incentives.

    A group of 18 House Republicans in August called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to reconsider efforts to eliminate them.

    “Prematurely repealing energy tax credits, particularly those which were used to justify investments that already broke ground, would undermine private investments and stop development that is already ongoing,” the letter reads. “A full repeal would create a worst-case scenario where we would have spent billions of taxpayer dollars and received next to nothing in return.”

    But Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, tweeted on social media site X that the lawmakers who signed the letter want to “preserve so-called ‘green’ handouts to Democrats’ corporate cronies.”

    “The GOP must ignore K-Street lobbyists and refuse to fund the climate corporate cronies destroying our country,” he said.

    The Republican case against the Inflation Reduction Act hinges on the argument that the spending is wasteful and benefits China.

    IRS data released in August states that 3.4 million American families have claimed $8.4 billion in residential clean energy and home energy efficiency tax credits in 2023 — mostly towards solar panels and battery storage.

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  • Having a family is expensive. Here’s what Harris and Trump have said about easing costs

    Having a family is expensive. Here’s what Harris and Trump have said about easing costs

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — The high cost of caring for children and the elderly has forced women out of the workforce, devastated family finances and left professional caretakers in low-wage jobs — all while slowing economic growth.

    That families are suffering is not up for debate. As the economy emerges as a theme in this presidential election, the Democratic and Republican candidates have sketched out ideas for easing costs that reveal their divergent views about family.

    On this topic, the two tickets have one main commonality: Both of the presidential candidates — and their running mates — have, at one point or another, backed an expanded child tax credit.

    Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination last week, has signaled that she plans to build on the ambitions of outgoing President Joe Biden’s administration, which sought to pour billions in taxpayer dollars into making child care and home care for elderly and disabled adults more affordable. She has not etched any of those plans into a formal policy platform. But in a speech earlier this month, she said her vision included raising the child tax credit.

    Delaney Griffin, center, plays with toddlers at the child care center where she works, March 13, 2024, in Lexington, Ky. (AP Photo/Dylan Lovan, File)

    Former President Donald Trump, the Republican, has declined to answer questions about how he would make child care more affordable, even though it was an issue he tackled during his own administration. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, has a long history of pushing policies that would encourage Americans to have families, floating ideas like giving parents votes for their children. Just this month, Vance said he wants to raise the child tax credit to $5,000. But Vance has opposed government spending on child care, arguing that many children benefit from having one parent at home as caretaker.

    The candidates’ care agendas could figure prominently into their appeal to suburban women in swing states, a coveted demographic seen as key to victory in November. Women provide two-thirds of unpaid care work — valued at $1 trillion annually — and are disproportionately impacted when families can’t find affordable care for their children or aging parents. And the cost of care is an urgent problem: Child care prices are rising faster than inflation.

    Kamala Harris: Increase the child tax credit

    When Harris addressed the Democratic National Convention, she talked first about her own experience with child care. She was raised mostly by a single mother, Shyamala Gopalan, who worked long hours as a breast cancer researcher. Among the people who formed her family’s support network was “Mrs. Shelton, who ran the day care below us and became a second mother.”

    As vice president, Harris worked behind the scenes in Congress on Biden’s proposals to establish national paid family leave, make prekindergarten universal and invest billions in child care so families wouldn’t pay more than 7% of their income. She announced, too, the administration’s actions to lower copays for families using federal child care vouchers, and to raise wages for Medicaid-funded home health aides. Before that, her track record as a senator included pressing for greater labor rights for domestic workers, including nannies and home health aides who may be vulnerable to exploitation.

    What to know about the 2024 Election

    This month at a community college in North Carolina, Harris outlined her campaign’s economic agenda, which includes raising the child tax credit to as much as $3,600 and giving families of newborns even more — $6,000 for the child’s first year.

    Image

    This combination photo shows Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at an event, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J., left, and Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Raleigh, N.C., Aug. 16, 2024. (AP Photo)

    “That is a vital — vital year of critical development of a child, and the costs can really add up, especially for young parents who need to buy diapers and clothes and a car seat and so much else,” she told the audience. Her running mate selection of Tim Walz, who established paid leave and a child tax credit as governor of Minnesota, has also buoyed optimism among supporters.

    Donald Trump: Few specifics, but some past support

    For voters grappling with the high cost of child care, Trump has offered little in the way of solutions. During the June presidential debate, CNN moderator Jake Tapper twice asked Trump what he would do to lower child care costs. Both times, he failed to answer, instead pivoting to other topics. His campaign platform is similarly silent. It does tackle the cost of long-term care for the elderly, writing that Republicans would “support unpaid Family Caregivers through Tax Credits and reduced red tape.”

    The silence marks a shift from his first campaign, when he pitched paid parental leave, though it was panned by critics because his proposal excluded fathers. When he reached the White House, the former president sought $1 billion for child care, plus a parental leave policy at the urging of his daughter and policy adviser, Ivanka Trump. Congress rejected both proposals, but Trump succeeded in doubling the child tax credit and establishing paid leave for federal employees.

    In his 2019 State of the Union address, Trump said he was “proud to be the first president to include in my budget a plan for nationwide paid family leave, so that every new parent has the chance to bond with their newborn child.”

    This year, there are signs that his administration might not pursue the same agenda, including his selection of Vance as a running mate. In 2021, before he joined the Senate, Vance co-authored an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal opposing a proposal to invest billions in child care to make it more affordable for families. He and his co-author said expanding child care subsidies would lead to “unhappier, unhealthier children” and that having fewer mothers contributing to the economy might be a worthwhile trade-off.

    Vance has floated policies that would make it easier for a family to live off of a single income, making it possible for some parents to stay home while their partners work. Along with his embrace of policies he calls pro-family, he has tagged people who do not have or want children as “sociopaths.” He once derided Harris and other rising Democratic stars as “childless cat ladies,” even though Harris has two stepchildren — they call her “Momala” — and no cats.

    Even without details about new care policies, Trump believes that families would ultimately get a better deal under his administration.

    The Trump-Vance campaign has attacked Harris’ record on the economy and said the Biden administration’s policies have only made things tougher for families, pointing to recent inflation.

    “Harris … has proudly and repeatedly celebrated her role as Joe Biden’s co-pilot on Bidenomics,” said Karoline Leavitt, a campaign spokeswoman. “The basic necessities of food, gas and housing are less affordable, unemployment is rising, and Kamala doesn’t seem to care.”

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    The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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  • First rioter to enter Capitol during Jan. 6 attack is sentenced to over 4 years in prison

    First rioter to enter Capitol during Jan. 6 attack is sentenced to over 4 years in prison

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — A Kentucky man who was the first rioter to enter the U.S. Capitol during a mob’s attack on the building was sentenced on Tuesday to more than four years in prison.

    A police officer who tried to subdue Michael Sparks with pepper spray described him as a catalyst for the Jan. 6 insurrection. The Senate that day recessed less than one minute after Sparks jumped into the building through a broken window. Sparks then joined other rioters in chasing a police officer up flights of stairs.

    Before learning his sentencing, Sparks told the judge that he still believes the 2020 presidential election was marred by fraud and “completely taken from the American public.”

    “I am remorseful that what transpired that day didn’t help anybody,” Sparks said. “I am remorseful that our country is in the state it’s in.”

    U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly, who sentenced Sparks to four years and five months, told him that there was nothing patriotic about his prominent role in what was a “national disgrace.”

    “I don’t really think you appreciate the full gravity of what happened that day and, quite frankly, the full seriousness of what you did,” the judge said.

    Federal prosecutors recommended a prison sentence of four years and nine months for Sparks, a 47-year-old former factory worker from Cecilia, Kentucky.

    Defense attorney Scott Wendelsdorf asked the judge to sentence Sparks to one year of home detention instead of prison.

    A jury convicted Sparks of all six charges that he faced, including a felony count of interfering with police during a civil disorder. Sparks didn’t testify at his trial in Washington, D.C.

    In the weeks leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, Sparks used social media to promote conspiracy theories about election fraud and advocate for a civil war.

    “It’s time to drag them out of Congress. It’s tyranny,” he posted on Facebook three days before the riot.

    Sparks traveled to Washington, D.C, with co-workers from an electronics and components plant in Elizabethtown, Kentucky. They attended then-President Donald Trump’s “Stop the Steal” rally near the White House on Jan. 6.

    After the rally, Sparks and a friend, Joseph Howe, joined a crowd in marching to the Capitol. Both of them wore tactical vests. Howe was captured on video repeatedly saying, “we’re getting in that building.”

    Off camera, Sparks added: “All it’s going to take is one person to go. The rest is following,” according to prosecutors. Sparks’ attorney argued that the evidence doesn’t prove that Sparks made that statement.

    “Of course, both Sparks and Howe were more right than perhaps anyone else knew at the time — it was just a short time later that Sparks made history as the very first person to go inside, and the rest indeed followed,” prosecutors wrote.

    Dominic Pezzola, a member of the far-right Proud Boys extremist group, used a police shield to break a window next to the Senate Wing Door. Capitol Police Sgt. Victor Nichols sprayed Sparks in the face as he hopped through the shattered glass.

    Nichols testified that Sparks acted “like a green light for everybody behind him, and everyone followed right behind him because it was like it was okay to go into the building.” Nichols also said Sparks’ actions were “the catalyst for the building being completely breached.”

    Undeterred by pepper spray, Sparks joined other rioters in chasing Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman as he retreated up the stairs and found backup from other officers near the Senate chamber.

    “This is our America!” Sparks screamed at police. He left the building about 10 minutes later.

    Sparks’ attorney downplayed his client’s distinction as the first rioter to enter the building.

    “While technically true in a time-line sense, he did not lead the crowd into the building or cause the breach through which he and others entered,” Wendelsdorf wrote. “Actually, there were eight different points of access that day separately and independently exploited by the protestors.”

    But the judge said when and where Sparks entered the Capitol was an important factor in his sentencing.

    “I think it’s undeniable that the first person” to enter the Capitol “would have an emboldening and encouraging effect on everyone who was at least in your vicinity,” Kelly told Sparks. “To say it wasn’t a material, key point in the mob’s taking of the Capitol, I think, is just ignoring the obvious.”

    Sparks was arrested in Kentucky less than a month after the riot. Sparks and Howe were charged together in a November 2022 indictment. Howe pleaded guilty to assault and obstruction charges and was sentenced last year to four years and two months in prison.

    More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes. Approximately 950 riot defendants have been convicted and sentenced. More than 600 of them have received terms of imprisonment ranging from a few days to 22 years.

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  • Harris campaign reserves $370M in ads after Labor Day, including battleground state push

    Harris campaign reserves $370M in ads after Labor Day, including battleground state push

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris ‘ campaign says it is reserving $370 million in advertising to run between Labor Day and Election Day.

    In a memo Saturday, the Harris-Walz campaign said the fall advertising push will include $170 million in television reservations running for nine weeks, starting Sept. 3, in battleground states. It also includes more than $200 million in digital reservations on platforms such as Hulu, Roku and YouTube.

    That does not include spending on ads on social media or search services.

    Former President Donald Trump ‘s campaign has only reserved advertising time after Labor Day in two states, the battlegrounds of Pennsylvania and Georgia, according to data from the media tracking firm AdImpact.

    Quentin Fulks and Rob Flaherty, deputy campaign manager for the Democratic candidates, said in their memo that the television ads they were reserving included spots around high-viewership moments such as major sporting events and season premieres.

    It also included daytime reservations on Fox News Channel, where the campaign believes they can reach an audience of conservative-leaning independents who had supported former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley over Trump in the Republican presidential primary.

    Ad reservations can allow candidates and campaigns to lock in rates before they go up as dates come closer.

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  • Former DC employee convicted of manslaughter in fatal shooting of 13-year-old boy

    Former DC employee convicted of manslaughter in fatal shooting of 13-year-old boy

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Washington, D.C., city employee was found guilty of manslaughter Friday in the fatal shooting of an unarmed 13-year-old boy that sparked public uproar in the nation’s capital.

    Jurors found Jason Lewis, 42, not guilty of second-degree murder, but convicted him of manslaughter and other charges after the trial in D.C. Superior Court over the killing of seventh grader Karon Blake.

    Lewis, a longtime Parks and Recreation Department employee, turned himself in last year to face charges in Blake’s killing, which happened in January 2023 around 4 a.m., across the street from the middle school Blake attended, authorities said.

    Lewis was seen on video leaving his house and firing at two young people who had been breaking into cars, prosecutors said. After a car was hit with gunfire, Blake ran in Lewis’ direction, and Lewis fired two shots, killing him, prosecutors said.

    Prosecutors played for jurors a video in which Blake could be heard repeatedly saying “I’m sorry” and telling Lewis, “I’m just a kid,” according to media reports.

    An attorney for Lewis didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment from The Associated Press on Friday.

    Lewis took the witness stand in the case, arguing that he acted in self-defense. He told jurors that he thought he saw another person open fire on him and feared for his life, local media reported.

    He is scheduled to be sentenced in October. The manslaughter charge carries up to 45 years in prison.

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  • Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

    Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — ABC’s “This Week” — Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.

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    NBC’s “Meet the Press” — Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y, and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, D-Mich.

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    CBS’ “Face the Nation” — Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio; Gov. Andy Beshear, D-Ky.; Anne Milgram, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration; Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee.

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    CNN’s “State of the Union” — Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y.; Govs. J.B. Pritzker, D-Ill., and Chris Sununu, R-N.H.

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    “Fox News Sunday” — Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Republican vice presidential nominee; Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del.

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