Covid 19 Pandemic

Teens have long been vital to filling out the summertime staffs of restaurants, ice cream stands, amusement parks and camps. Now, thanks to one of the tightest labor markets in decades, they have even more sway, with an array of jobs to choose from at ever higher wages. To ease the labor crunch, some states are moving to roll back restrictions to let teens work more hours — much to the chagrin of labor rights groups, who see it as a troubling trend. Economists say there are other ways to expand the workforce without putting more of a burden on kids, including by allowing more legal immigration.

The agency's leader defended the awards, emphasizing that the money and ventilators were handed out during a public health emergency with the goal of keeping health care providers open.

A state audit faults the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for how it awarded grants and ventilators to health care providers during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The agency’s leader, in her response, defended the awards, emphasizing that the money and ventilators were handed out during a public health emergency with the goal of keeping health care providers open and able to provide care to patients. The nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau reported Wednesday on its review of the grant distribution and ventilator program. Department of Health Services Secretary Kirsten Johnson says the agency will follow recommendations in the audit.

The independent bookselling community continues to grow, with membership in the American Booksellers Association reaching its highest levels in more than 20 years. Three years after the pandemic shut down most of the physical bookstores in the U.S. and the independent community feared hundreds might close permanently, the ABA has nearly 300 more members (under stricter rules for membership) than it did in 2019, the last full year before the spread of COVID-19. Allison Hill, CEO of the trade association, says “It speaks to a sea change coming out of the pandemic. Some new owners cite the rise in book bannings as the reason they went into bookstore ownership.

Alaska Native villages have long been caught on the wrong side of the digital divide with no internet connections or a sluggish link at best. For some, the only option is a bank-busting satellite uplink. One village is paying $3,000 a month. Jill Biden late Wednesday made the first visit by a first lady to the southwest Alaska community of Bethel to tout broadband investments in Alaska Native villages and other tribal organizations through the $1 trillion 2021 infrastructure bill. So far, nearly $1.8 billion has been awarded to 157 tribal entities to improve broadband access across the U.S. In Alaska, 21 projects have received more than $386 million.

Starting pay for Wisconsin public defenders and assistant district attorneys would increase to $36 an hour, or about $75,000 a year, under a Republican-authored plan the Legislature's budget-writing committee. The raises, passed unanimously Tuesday, surpass what Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed in his $104 billion two-year budget. Low pay and high workloads for state attorneys have contributed to high turnover rates and case backlogs that could take years to resolve. Currently, starting pay for assistant district attorneys and public defenders is $27.24 an hour, or about $57,000 a year. When the Legislature completes the budget later this year, Evers will be able to revise it with partial vetoes.

Starting pay for Wisconsin public defenders and assistant district attorneys would increase to $36 an hour, or about $75,000 a year, under a Republican-authored plan the Legislature's budget-writing committee. The raises, passed unanimously Tuesday, surpass what Democratic Gov. Tony Evers proposed in his $104 billion two-year budget. Low pay and high workloads for state attorneys have contributed to high turnover rates and case backlogs that could take years to resolve. Currently, starting pay for assistant district attorneys and public defenders is $27.24 an hour, or about $57,000 a year. When the Legislature completes the budget later this year, Evers will be able to revise it with partial vetoes.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has begun his first term leading the nation's third-largest city. Johnson struck a positive tone in his inaugural address after being sworn in Monday, even as he faces an influx of migrants in desperate need of shelter, pressure to build support among skeptical business leaders and summer months that historically bring a spike in violent crime. The former union organizer’s ability to turn many progressive proposals into solutions will be immediately tested. Public safety, economic growth across the city and housing affordability top his list of priorities.

Some of America's largest cities that challenged their 2020 census numbers are hearing back from the U.S. Census Bureau. They're not all getting what they hoped for. In Memphis, the bureau actually subtracted three people from the official headcount in an initial appeal. The biggest winner among big cities so far is Boston, where the bureau conceded that thousands of college students were missed amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Census Bureau has received more than 100 submissions from cities, towns and villages of all sizes. They're trying to get a bigger piece of federal funding based on population numbers.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has signed a law providing full disability benefits to Chicago police officers and firefighters struck by COVID-19 before vaccines were available. Pritzker presided Wednesday over an emotional statehouse ceremony which marked the end of a financial struggle for responders including the brother of Comptroller Susana Mendoza. The Act-of-Duty law ensures disability benefits of 75% of salary plus health insurance for anyone unable to work after contracting the coronavirus from March 9, 2020, when the flare-up intensified in Illinois, until June 30, 2021.  Mendoza's brother, veteran police Det. Joaquin Mendoza, contracted COVID-19 in 2000 and cannot work. But he was denied benefits beccause he couldn't prove he caught the illness while on the job.

The U.S. Department of Labor said last week that inflation reached a 40-year high of 9.1% in June.