“The construction industry needs to attract 439,000 new workers this year to meet demand, otherwise costs will rise — putting some projects out of reach — per projections from the Associated Builders and Contractors trade group out Friday morning.”
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“Immigrants make up about 26% of the construction workforce, per census data cited by Pew Research Center last fall.”
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“An estimated 13% of construction workers are undocumented”
“A deal to spin off the U.S. assets of TikTok was put on hold after China indicated it would not approve the deal following President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement this week, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Trump on Friday extended by 75 days a deadline for ByteDance to sell U.S. assets of the popular short video app to a non-Chinese buyer, or face a ban that was supposed to have taken effect in January under a 2024 law.”
‘Trump is post-literate, meaning he can use social media, but doesn’t read books. He doesn’t understand the origin, history, and nature of the Western alliance because he hasn’t taken the time to understand it. That would require reading.’
Trump doesn’t understand complex global supply chains.
““I’ve been talking about it for 40 years, because I saw what was happening,” he said, referencing old interviews from when he was “young, very handsome.”
“I’d be talking about how we were being ripped off by these countries,” he continued. “I mean, nothing changes very much. The only thing to change was the countries, but nothing really changes.””
“The list of 185 places hit Wednesday with a minimum 10 percent tariff include Heard Island and the McDonald Islands, Australian territories in the vast Indian Ocean between Africa and Antarctica.
Also on the list are tiny Norfolk Island in the South Pacific and an uninhabited spot in the Arctic Ocean called Jan Mayen, part of a Norwegian territory with the islands of Svalbard near the North Pole.
It’s all led to some head-scratching around the world as leaders digest Trump’s effort to punish countries that he says have taken advantage of U.S. trade policy to steal American jobs.”
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“The country that received the most severe tariffs, Lesotho, is one that “nobody had ever heard of,” according to Trump. The White House list said the landlocked African kingdom has its own tariffs of 99 percent — and thus will face a 50 percent penalty from the U.S.”
“Experts say they see peaks and valleys with these kinds of illnesses over the years, but there have been about 6,600 cases already in 2025, almost four times the number at this point last year.”
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“Concerned about increasing cases, experts are urging vaccination.
The US had more than 200,000 cases of whooping cough every year before the vaccine was introduced. By 1948, the vaccine was widely used, and infection rates began to drop.”
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“Boosters are recommended because protection from the vaccine can fade over time, which may be one reason for the ongoing outbreaks.
Declining vaccination rates are another reason. The percentage of US kindergartners who received the DTaP vaccine has steadily declined over the past five years, leaving thousands vulnerable to infection.
Organizers within the state say that although many people have become hesitant about vaccinations, another issue is a lack of access.”