First Run News

Staggering from the impact of hurricanes that walloped Texas, Florida and neighboring states, the economy lost 33,000 jobs in September, the first monthly decline in employment in seven years, the government reported on Friday. But economists discounted the discouraging report, describing it as a blip in a job market that was fundamentally strong. Some of the good news released by the Labor Department — a drop in the jobless rate to 4.2 percent and a year-over-year gain i

Staggering from the impact of hurricanes that walloped Texas, Florida and neighboring states, the economy lost 33,000 jobs in September, the first monthly decline in employment in seven years, the government reported on Friday. But economists discounted the discouraging report, describing it as a blip in a job market that was fundamentally strong. Some of the good news released by the Labor Department — a drop in the jobless rate to 4.2 percent and a year-over-year gain i

WASHINGTON — The rapid-fire push by the Trump administration to wipe out significant chunks of the Obama environmental legacy is running into a not-so-minor complication: Judges keep ruling that the Trump team is violating federal law. The latest such ruling came late Wednesday, when a federal magistrate judge in Northern California vacated a move by the Department of Interior to delay compliance with rules curbing so-called flaring, a technique oil and gas c

WASHINGTON — President Trump was clearly looking to make some kind of news, but about what, exactly, was not clear. And the mystery, as it often does with a president whose statements baffle even his staff, only deepened the next day. On Thursday evening, the White House told the presidential press corps that Mr. Trump was done with his public schedule for the day. But around 7 p.m., Mr.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Every day dozens of Puerto Ricans straggle into the Orlando area, fleeing their homes and lives ravaged by Hurricane Maria. In the months to come, officials here said, that number could surge to more than 100,000. And those numbers could remake politics in Florida, a state where the last two presidential and governor’s races were decided by roughly one percentage point or less. There are more than a million Puerto Ricans in Florida, a number that has doubled since 2001, driven largely until now by a faltering economy.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Every day dozens of Puerto Ricans straggle into the Orlando area, fleeing their homes and lives ravaged by Hurricane Maria. In the months to come, officials here said, that number could surge to more than 100,000. And those numbers could remake politics in Florida, a state where the last two presidential and governor’s races were decided by roughly one percentage point or less. There are more than a million Puerto Ricans in Florida, a number that has doubled since 2001, driven largely until now by a faltering economy.

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials are divided over how to handle a United States citizen that the military has held in Iraq for more than three weeks as a suspected Islamic State fighter, according to an official familiar with internal deliberations, raising a dilemma that could resurrect some of the biggest wartime policy questions of the post-9/11 era. Providing the first details about a predicament that the Trump administration has kept draped in near-total secrecy, the official said the problem facing Pentagon and Justice Department officials is how to ensure that the man — who s

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials are divided over how to handle a United States citizen that the military has held in Iraq for more than three weeks as a suspected Islamic State fighter, according to an official familiar with internal deliberations, raising a dilemma that could resurrect some of the biggest wartime policy questions of the post-9/11 era. Providing the first details about a predicament that the Trump administration has kept draped in near-total secrecy, the official said the problem facing Pentagon and Justice Department officials is how to ensure that the man — who s

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, normally reluctant to speak publicly about American troops deployed around the globe, took a different tack this week on Capitol Hill. Pressed by lawmakers, including Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona and the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, about the Pentagon’s failure to provide more details about the Afghanistan war plan, Mr.

LAS VEGAS — Still unable to identify a motive five days after the massacre of 58 concertgoers, local and federal officials sounded increasingly desperate for leads on Friday, announcing plans to erect billboards with the message, “If you know something, say something.” “There are still a number of people out there that know that something looked out of place,” said Undersheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. “Someone may have been acting suspiciously that night, or in the years prior, the months prior.